Only in..

http://www.avclub.com/content/blog/taste_test_sonic_s_mac_n_cheese

Did I mention I miss the United States?

Weird situation in Paris

So while in Paris, this guy yells at me in French while in his car.

"Hi. Sorry, I don't speak French." (Me)
"oh... Do you know where the Louvre is from here?" (guy)
"Oh. I have no idea. This is my first time in Paris. I'm kind of..."
"Wait, what else you speak?"
"Um. I speak Spanish" (Said in Spanish, conversation continues in said language)
"Ah! Espanol! De donde eres? No eres Espanol verdad?"
"No, I'm not I'm from California."
"Ah, California. Are you Mexican?"
"Yeah, yeah I am actually. How'd you know?"
"Well, you speak Spanish and you live in California right?"

Anyway, the conversation continued for a while with me being suspicious of this guy's behavior and niceness (I'm in a touristy city and this guy had a mustache and sunglasses, so my suspicion was not unwarranted) until at some point, he shared with me that he worked for Armani, and, because I'm from California and he's such a nice guy, he wanted to give me a free promotional suit so I can "get the ladies at the cabaret" (or something to that effect).

Guy let me feel the cloth of the suit and put it in my hands, to which I was thankful, but kind of afraid. Should I accept this guy's offer? It was then that he asked me to do a slight favor for him. Showing me his empty gas tank, he asked if I could spare him maybe fifty euros to fill it up.

I wasn't sure what to do, so, rather than extend the possibility of some kind of harm or theft, I handed back the suit and thanked him but said I couldn't go through with this kind of deal.

What the fuck? Any ideas what this guy's deal was? I can't have been paranoid in my suspicions, but I wonder what the goal of his ploy could have been. Any guesses would be appreciated.

Besides that, going to Valencia this weekend. I know very little about the place other than that they have a dialect that isn't Spanish, it is the third largest city, and apparently they have delicious Paella, which is a very creative dish, what with the rice and the meat and stuff.

PS: Holy crap. Stephen Colbert might actually win this election.

Dream act cont.

Also, to be fair. Some democrats also voted against the bill. Assholes.

But as to why I especially blame the Repubs- they are especially bad for trying to frame the bill as some sort of Democratic ploy to prevent the functions of government. Yeah, because a bill that would help at least a hundred thousand of the hardest working young people residing in this country better themselves through the opportunity to get an education is completely symbolic and political. As opposed to, you know, a flag burning amendment. Or building an enormous wall along the US-Mexican border.

Dream Act

Schwarzenegger vetoed the California one while the other was knocked down because you need a super-majority to get anything done in the Senate.

Why is this bill even controversial?

I would usually say shame on you, Republican leaders. But I think an enormous "Fuck you" isn't out of order with this one.

Overheard in a Paris hostel

Scene: Blonde girl and French Guy in Paris hostel communicating for God knows what reason

Frenchie: Zo, Kelly. What kind of muzeek zoo you like?
Kelly: Um. Well, like, what do you mean?
Frenchie: Well, yoo know. Rock? Jezz? What exactlee?
Kelly: Um. Well. Rock. I guess.
Frenchie: Oh... Like what banz?
Kelly. Er... Have you heard of the Dave Matthews Band?
Frenchie: No I aven't. Is ee good?
Kelly: Yeah, they're okay. It's a whole band of people.
Frenchie: I zee.

*pause*

Frenchie: Can I lizen?
Kelly: Oh. Yeah, sure. Let me give you the Ipod. *hands it over*
Frenchie: *listens* He zounds sad. Are all his songs this this sed?
Kelly: Heh. Um. I don't think so. Depends.

I then got the hell out of there.

Spain is funny

One thing that is fun about Spain is making fun of it.

For example, Spaniards kind of smell like my dad which is not really a good thing (he is a manual laborer). Also, they use words like "parking" and "ticket" in their everyday language even though there are perfectly reasonable non-anglocized versions of those words in Latin American Spanish.

I though Latin Americans were the ones who were supposedly ruining the language.

Anyway, headed to Paris this weekend. Cause, you know, that's not really a big deal. I'll post about that at some point.

Madrid, Spain - excuse the Hemingway-ness

So, yeah. Been in Spain for something like six weeks. Sorry for ignoring the blog, but I’m afraid that if I had written an entry during the beginning of my stay you would have thought I was having the worst time of my life. Also, I’m lazy. Orientation was kind of crappy and I was sick during two instances in the beginning of the program. Ugh, that sucked. But I’m better now. Spanish food is treating me as well as it will ever treat me. I don’t mind the eggs or the ham as much but I sure do miss beef and decently cooked vegetables. Definitely don’t miss salt or olive oil.

Been going to school for something like a month. I have few complaints. Not really in love with my classes but I’m trying to make the best of them. My favorites are probably Historia del Presente (we just go about discussing random topics in Spanish culture and recent Spanish history) and Lengua (which, despite the busy work, is taught by a very friendly Peruvian professor who is a pretty good instructor. The workload isn’t too intolerable, although I’m in class more than I’m used to and weekdays are pretty busy for me. Then again, I have three day weekends and those are pretty great.

I can’t really complain about my homestay either, although, of course, I will. My senora is great, and her kids are not bad. They’re pretty different from me but generally respectful and not too annoying or intrusive. They’re on the older side so it makes sense. The worse happens when they argue and yell at eachother. The mom, though nice, is a bit of a nagger, and the 16 year old kid is kind of at his most rebellious, so everything requires disagreement. Including, but not exclusively, making his bed, eating dinner, going out to play basketball, studying. It’s amusing to experience but kind of awkward. I’m not used to family altercations, especially since when I’m at home I just avoid them by reminding myself that the living situation is incredibly temporary. My Senora’s cooking isn’t bad for the type of diet they eat here. The only other thing I should mention is that I leave NOWHERE near anyone else I have met which makes hanging out a bit of a chore. I live in a southeast Madrid barrio named “Vallecas” which has a strong working class and immigrant population (yes immigration is an issue here too in case you didn’t know). So it’s not too weird when I hear people speaking languages I don’t understand in Spain. My guess typically tends to be Romanian as to the foreign language of choice when I don’t know what’s being spoken since they are the strongest new wave of immigrants in this country. At least the documented ones.

I’ve had a good time in Spain and definitely don’t regret having come. Done some cool stuff, seen some things. Left Madrid twice (Segovia and Salamanca). Both were excellent trips in different ways, but I am still looking forward to getting out of Castille and seeing the very different parts of Spain. As of now I know I’ll definitely be hitting up Andalusia (southern Spain) and Valencia. Time is running out as well as money, and I know I will probably not be here again for a long while or, possibly, ever again. So I’m trying to get out of here and visit some new place at least once every weekend.

Heading for Paris next week. Don’t know what to expect. Heard good things but it’s a lot of stuff to fit into two days. London was great but it was kind of overwhelming too, so I can only assume it’ll be similar although probably more rushed. Also hear it’s expensive. Great news for me!

As for postcards, um, I’ll start working on those today. I’ve been really busy this past week especially when my cousin Kati, the one who I stayed with in Lyon, came to Madrid. Those were definitely excellent times and I’m glad she was able to make it out here, but I’ve been playing catch up with life and schoolwork. Generally caught up though.

Anyway, how is everyone in the States? I’m online quite a bit so feel free to send me a message randomly. I miss things in the states like you people, Costco, and one dollar McDonald’s double cheeseburgers. If I’m on and not away I’m probably there and wanting attention. So… feel free to indulge me.

I’ll try posting more regularly after this, I swear. Bye for now.

PS: Also went to a bullfight. Perhaps some thought on that experience later.

PPS: Here is a picture of some Paella:

Lyon, France

I never posted anything about Lyon, so I'm remedying that right now with a summary of thoughts. Yup!



It seems like such a long time ago that I actually came up with this pre-program itinerary. I feel like it had always somehow been set in stone that I would be flying in to London, somehow spending five days there, then flying to Lyon, where my cousin resides, in order to spend an equal amount of time hanging out with her. I guess that was a conscious decision at some point, and, I must say, it was a pretty good one, although I think that, at the time, I underestimated how much money both excursions would cost. Still. it was worth it.

Being in Lyon was really different than being in London. First of all, and most obvious of the differences, I can't speak the language at all.

I've never taken a French class or made an effort to get to know the language. nor am I particularly well versed in the differences between American and French culture or, for that matter, was I particularly interested in finding them out. I don't know what I was thinking when I decided going to France was a good idea. I guess I figured I could visit my cousin who I haven't seen in two years as well as visit a city in another European country.


Anyway, as far as the inability to speak any French, this concerned me due to the logistics of meeting up with my cousin. Aside from having no phone or idea what I was doing, not being able to communicate with anyone could act as somewhat of an impediment to discovering information. When I'd discuss the issue with others, I was assured that "People speak English in France" and that "I would probably be fine."

Well, I was fine. But people definitely do not speak English in France. At least not Lyon. So, lesson learned. Always underestimate Western European country's abilities to speak English. You will probably be right in your assessment.

Second of the big differences, is that I felt more like I was on my own in this trip. Even though I ended up spending a lot of time with my cousin Kati, she was more of a guide than a travelling partner, having lived in the city for something like three years and speaking the language fluently. Also, besides her, I knew no one else, and so I ended up befriending and meeting a good amount of her acquaintances, whose company I actually enjoyed. She has a good and interesting network of people out there. I could see how isolating it must have been when she was living in Anessy mostly on her own.


Also, I had no Rick Steves to guide me through the sights, give interesting (though often inane) commentary or ratings regarding the sights. What three pyramid attractions should I visit, Rick!? Without you how will I travel Europe through the back door?

I managed fine.I kind of liked the feeling of being on my own that first day when I walked the old city by myself and somehow actually ended up seeing a good amount of sights. I also ended up groaning my way through a lunch transaction, something which, although incredibly frustrating, felt somehow rewarding in the end.

Lyon is a much smaller city than London, but then again, London is a megametropolis, so that isn't saying a whole lot. Lyon is still pretty big in relative terms as it's the third biggest city in France. I found it to be a nice size, and to have a really interesting layout. It's a pretty compact urban area with two hills, one of which has an enormous glistening white basilica on the top of it. Also, there's a random satellite tower next to it which I am not entirely sure how I feel towards.

It definitely is a city with character.

A final observation regarding size, I was surprised to see how incredibly small the airport was in what is supposed to be the third biggest city in a leading industrial country. It's nice and all, but there's only a single terminal. It reminded me of the Santa Barbara airport in terms of sparseness and smallness.

It makes sense in terms of the geography, though. As my cousin Kati explained to me, France isn't necessarily made up of bustling urban areas, something which, I wasn't particularly aware of.

Although I already mentioned finances, I have to say that the euro treated me much better than the pound, although, it's somewhat worrying that I'm getting used to the fact that eating at a fast food restaurant usually costs more than eight dollars for a somewhat satisfying meal (it is only truly satisfying if at the end of my meal, I feel like I never want to eat at that establishment ever again). Oh well.

Originally, plans included perhaps making a day trip to Paris, but upon realizing how busy my cousin Kati would be, along with my real life tired state after the whirlwind that was England, I took it a lot slower. I walked a lot (most of the city in fact, it's not that much of a walk). Saw the sights, and even stumbled my way through some conversations through which I was somehow able to communicate my desires. Great!

Surprisingly, I really, really liked France. It is, perhaps, my favorite European country so far in which I don't understand anything that is being spoken. Nonetheless, it's hard to figure whether that opinion is completely unbiased, or a product of the great time I had due to the company of my cousin and her friends.

Anyway, I'm excited to go back next month and see Paris. Also, I've been in Madrid for about a week and a half. I'll write more about that later, but suffice it to say that I'm enjoying myself, adapting, and that I like my homestay. The food on the other hand...

The Beginning

Rather than write a laundry list of things I’ve done during the past week, I’ll try to write a decent narrative of the last week. Here goes.

I arrived in Heathrow confused, queasy, but ready to begin my adventure. Finding my travel companion, Nick, was not too difficult. My late plane ended up arriving minutes before his so we actually saw eachother before we even left the terminal. It was comforting to have someone there who also had no idea how this whole being abroad thing was going to work. I guess the European light country that is England, though, is probably a good place to start.

The plane ride wasn’t too bad. It felt pretty short since I slept through a lot of it. I was feeling kind of nauseous for most of it for absolutely no reason. I’ve got to say, though, British Airways has a pretty thorough choice of airline entertainment. Any airline that allows me to watch the last episode of Spaced back to back with the completely unnecessary cinematic excursion that is Shrek the third is okay in my book.

London is an incredible city. The history, diversity, visual splendor, culture, and overall largeness of the hub of the UK are an impressive sight as well as a lot of fun to explore. I’ve never experienced such an awesome public transportation system. It’s pretty easy to get lost in central London due to the short streets, unmarked street names, and constant changes, but figuring out where you are with a map isn’t too difficult, especially with the ubiquitousness of tube stops. Can’t complain about our hostel either. Despite staying in a 28 person room for 3 nights, it was not that bad. Curtains really go a long way to creating a better sleeping environment. The odor could have been improved, however.

I'd like to mention a shout out to Max who played host to Nick and I for two of the days we were there. Unfortunately, his schedule didn't allowing for him to join us on some of our excursions, but his company was much appreciated when it was available. Here, now look at this picture.

I saw most everything I wanted to see, but was slightly disappointed by the closing of several wings of the National Gallery. If I had more time I’d probably have visited the Tate Modern, the Churchill Museum as well as the National Portrait Gallery and the inside of Westminster Abbey.

I’ll have plenty of time to see excellent art elsewhere though, so missing out on the art museums is not too big a loss.


Despite my enjoyment of the place, I’ll be damned if it wasn’t really expensive. Especially when you take into account that I saw two musicals into the equation. As for those, Spamalot was actually somewhat underwhelming, but Wicked was quite impressive. The songs didn’t catch me as particularly ear-catching on first listen, but repeat plays of the soundtrack on my Ipod have been happening recently, so I guess that means something.

Also contributing to my loss of funds was a general ignorance of the way things worked in London. By the time we left, though, I think I basically got the hang of it. Too bad that is when it was least useful.

As for the populace, I was impressed as well as surprised. Brits were more or less friendly, although this might have something to do with the fact that they were robbing us blindly (The smallest bill denomination is the equivalent of ten US dollars. That is asinine!) I didn’t expect too much considering it was an urban environment, having grown up in LA, but London was different. People actually acknowledged the fact that you exist.

We ended our stay in the city of Bath which is to the southwest of London, close to the coast. Although the historic nature of the bath spas and their general condition was not as impressive as I was hoping, the city is quite beautiful. As is often the case, this is mostly the result of a government institution with strict mandates on architecture and building materials. The city does a well job of marketing itself though, what with free walking tours as well as a generally friendly attitude towards tourists.

Other highlights of the trip include a discussion of comparative real estate with our honorary guide on the walking tour, as well as a conversation with a student at the University of Bath who aspired to go to phoenix in order to further his research on public spaces and hot weather.

I kind of wished we had had more moments like that with the locals, but those that did happen were pretty enjoyable, and occurred more often in Bath than in London. Anyway, I’m looking forward to these kind of interactions when I’m settled in to Spain, especially since I read that the Spanish are such big fans of random conversation.

I think it’s true that you can’t really form a valid opinion on travel experiences until while after they happen. While I was in London, I constantly had to sort of shake myself to help myself realize that I was thousands of miles away in a foreign city of vast international significance and such strong influence.

Sometimes it’s easy to get used to the fact that you’re so far away from home seeing incredible sights. Like most anything, you just get used to the fact that you’re far away from home and having so many new experiences.

Anyway, I’m in Lyon now. But I’ve been a homebody pretty much all day. We’ll see how tomorrow goes, especially since I’m venturing by myself and don’t speak the language at all.

Bye!

In London

I'm in London! Pounds Sterling are kicking my ass.

Been a while

Lots of stuff has happened since I last posted. I'll spare the details, but events include camp ending, my computer's hard drive crashing, visiting Disneyland, and getting all the last minute details set for my trip.

I leave Monday.

Camp ending was, at the time, sort of a relief. Although now that I have had time to reflect on the good times I do miss a busy schedule. I was really exhausted by the end of those 3 weeks and I was beginning to show it. I found myself acting stranger and caring less about most everything. Even the pretty great UCLA dining commons food was wearing me down. I guess that's an inevitability when you are eating the same things over and over again.

I met some pretty cool people through the job and hope I stay in contact with them. It's weird to think of the randomness of the whole job. Getting called up a day before the start of camp and thrown into an enclosed space with people I didn't know at all. It's strange how the completely unfamiliar can become familiar so quickly.

Also, I should thank SIG, for forcing me to return to a somewhat normal sleeping schedule for what I think is the first time in years. I can't remember the last time I would voluntarily wake up before 10 AM.

In unrelated news, in a surprisingly positive turn of events, it turns out I will probably end up seeing Wilco, it just won't be at the Santa Barbara Bowl. They just announced a Madrid date in November. I haven't been able to find ticket buying details yet though. Hooray for going to concerts by myself!

Anyway, I leave for Europe on Monday. Make sure to give me your address and stuff if you want me to send you a postcard. If I feel nice enough I'll actually keep my promise and send you one.

Mexicans, Spain, and my life in general

So, apparently Mexicans have made the jump into the twentieth century in another way. No, not socialized health care or fluid traffic infrastructure, but tempting and innumerable offers of unmanageable amounts of debt!

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-mexcredit11aug11,0,2943407.story?coll=la-home-business

Hooray for Mexicans on both side of the border now having something else in common!

As my fellow paisa and kindred spirit Gustavo Ariano, writer of the Ask a Mexican! column, has always claimed, Mexicans really are some of the most American (or is it U.S.-ian?) people on the planet.


Camp goes well. Unfortunately I haven't been able to take many pictures, but those will be provided at some definitely future point in time. There are a lot of characters here that I could go on about, but I won't.

I'm enjoying it. I like my kids most of the time, and UCLA is a really nice place. Also, my brief glimpse of home during my day off this week reminded me of the monotony and boredom that summer unemployment provided me with. Even though the hours are long, it's pretty easy work.

Weekdays consist of me attending classes and watching over the kids during recreation time, evening activities and study tutorial.

The schedule technically goes from about 7:30 until 9:00 at night, but I can usually sneak some break time in between. The classes I TA for are not very intense, and include such academically challenging choices as "Spying, Surveillance and Espionage" as well as "Awesome Archery!" I'm not quite sure why the archery is so awesome or why alliterations are so necessary in naming these classes.

Although, to be fair, Awesome Archery is probably my favorite class. I don't know if it's quite worthy of being awesome though.

Weekends are more laid back. They usually consist of excursions as well as planned activities, such as last week's Super SIG Challenge.

To give you an example of a typical day at work, today, Saturday, I went to the Long Beach Aquarium and the LA Zoo. I just watched a group of seven boys aged 10-12 during this time, making sure they didn't kill each other or disappeared. In regards to this specific trip, the kids had a good time at the first and an awful one at the second. Although that may have been a result of fatigue and extreme heat that existed at this point in the afternoon.

On another note, and in reflecting on other recent excursions, I'm pretty sure there was a higher ratio of Mexicans at the Los Angeles Zoo than in all of Tijuana. It was kind of nice to be surrounded by the version of Los Angeles I'm more familiar with, considering I've been holed up in a dorm in Westwood for the past two weeks. Not even the custodial workers here are Mexican! It's kind of weird. Also, they don't even serve Mexican food at the dining commons. At least they half ass it at UCSB. Not here though I guess.

Also, a special thanks to the city government of the city of Los Angeles for making me laugh. The attempts to capitalize politically on a city owned zoo can be seen fairly obviously at the park, as both a councilman and "Mayor" Antonio Villaraigosa are featured prominently in the map. Way to go, city government. There's a reason no one cares about you unless you are involved in corruption or something sexy.

I can't believe I'll be in Europe in less than two weeks. Should I see Spamalot while in England? What should I spend my 1100 dollars from work on?
Also, when did my problems and decisions in life become so bourgeoisie?

Anybody?

A sudden change of events

Rather than start with some vague quote about the absurdity of life, I'll just show you a picture that will demonstrate it.


















Yep. That's definitely a truck with a giant plush woolly mammoth and the movie poster for The Day After Tomorrow plastered on the side of it advertising an ice show over loudspeaker in Tijuana, Mexico.

Way better than any Camus book you will ever read. Trust me.

I went up to Santa Barbara for most of the week. It was a week full of fun, lounging and excellent discoveries, Including a raccoon and its four children, as well as sweet light up cups that look cool when you are looking through them.



The other thing I did was randomly go to Tijuana in the middle of this week. It's something like a 9 hour drive to and from, so, of course this was a great idea.

My friend Alvaro only gets two days off of his entire six week live in nightmare of a job, and, somehow, I have been able to experience both of them, the second being this Tijuana trip. What is there to say besides "Tijuana es golf."


Oh, and screw the people who try to rip you off. Twenty nine dollars for a wrestling mask? What a rip off. Also, here's a tip Tijuana, people aren't as big a fans of Nacho Libre as you think,. So you should probably stop trying to peddle so make bootleg merchandise based on that intellectual property.

As for my other announcement:

I have a job! It's for a gifted kid's camp. I'm a counselor and I have absolutely no information to share about it other than that I got the call today and that it takes place at UCLA.

Anyway, even it if sucks, I'm only going to be there for three weeks. Better than being broke.

In non-completely life based news, I am listening to lots of new music that I like. Specifically, as for my ongoing addiction to indie singer-songstresses, I am currently listening to a woman named Annie Clark. Unlike many of these acts, she can actually play her instruments really well and performs well live.

She reminds me of My Brightest Diamond (both have shared backing duties for Sufjan) except that St. Vincent is slightly less weird and operatic. Equally artsy though.

Oh, and watch this. It's beautiful.


In other news, I find myself morbidly curious with the new Rilo Kiley single, which I have termed their own "Beverly Hills." That's not a compliment by the way. But the whole album can't be that bad, right? It's hard to top a video with porn stars and a funky bass line. Oh well, at least Jenny Lewis is still attractive.

We'll see. I'm considering going up to Birmingham while I'm in the UK to see them in concert. I hope it happens, but I'm only there for five days and a trip to another random city that isn't London might not end up being on the agenda.

Life is good!

Anglophilia

Before I start my argument, I'd like to make a quick post that says that:
A) I have a job
B) I don't have to move to do it, so it is perfect.

Tutor.com finally hired me, but, unfortunately, they give me very very few hours since I am still provisional or whatever. Hopefully I'll be able to move my way up pretty quickly. We'll see though.

Anyway, back to the core of my discussion.

Why are Americans obsessed with British shit? Their movies, their culture, their awful accent.

Granted, they have made some enormous cultural contributions including The Beatles, Monty Python, Ricky Gervais, and various important literary figures.

But this is just picking and choosing, not a holistic argument for British cultural superiority. Either way though, the Beatles stole their music from black people, the Pythons work without John Cleese in the later seasons and in contemporary times has been mediocre, and Ricky Gervais... well, he's been in some pretty crappy movies.

So in appreciating British culture, we should recognize all aspects of it.

Here, I will present some aspects of England that suck.


First: Mr. Bean






Granted, Rowan Atkinson has done some genuinely funny stuff, but his most persistently popular character internationally remains a slapsticky, silent, stupid, and genuinely unoriginal character that makes a MadTV skit look like Citizen Kane. Awful.


Benny Hill:





As ironically funny as this guy can be, I feel I can genuinely say that global culture is not any better for his stupid, contrived and derivative brand of comedy. Terrible. Why are British people considered smarter and more sophisticated than us again?

Their accent.


This is probably a controversial statement, but British accents are more amusing to me than attractive or whatever the hell they're supposed to be. Why should someone be complimented for their accent? They didn't work for it, it came naturally. It's stupid. People say that their version of English is more "proper" but it's just different just like any other version of English. This is perhaps the most prevalent form of illogical Anglophilia, and, to me, one of the most annoying. For the sake of equality, I usually go out of my way to make British people feel stupid for their funny way of talking.

Imperialism.



These assholes set many, many countries up for a historic path of instability, violence and dependence. Although British wasn't the only country to do so, they were one of the worst perpetrators of it. What a bunch of jackasses. Who are the savages again?




Also, their food is terrible.

And finally, there's this.



Oh, God. Why?

That said, I'll be arriving in London on August 27th. I'm sure I will begrudgingly enjoy it. Even though it is stupid and expensive.

There's more than meets the eye to me

Besides completing a mock tutor session, I haven't done much in the recent past that is particularly noteworthy. (By the way, that went well. Maybe I'll be able to make some money after I graduate and while in Spain) Nonetheless, that won't prevent me from writing a long post about nothing in particular. First thing is first.

So, I saw Michael Bay's Transformers yesterday, and, overall, I enjoyed the event and was incredibly amused by the so called "movie." Despite this, I can't help but feel that even with a running time of over two and a half hours, the movie could have used with less humans talking and more robots fighting. Surprisingly, the Shia Lebeouf guy wasn't entire awful. I'd have to agree with Shalom though when he said that, unlike other "everyman" actors like Tom Hanks, this guy isn't exactly likeable or charming. He gets the job done though.

As for random Australian chick, Anthony Anderson, Bernie Mac and Jon Voight? Why? The resource spent on these actors could have gone into valuable robot fighting time.

Unsurprisingly, Transformers, with an enormous cast of mostly hackneyed and flat characters, is a movie that plays on racial stereotypes and expectations as a shortcut for character development and understanding. I'm looking at you Tyrese and annoying Puerto Rican guy. Oh, and Bernie Mac, do you really have to use the word "mammy" to refer to your fictional mother? Awesome. Surprisingly, however, the movie also choose to do this through one of its robots.

Introducing, Jazz, the first black Transformer. What a huge step forward for civil rights.



Black people are good at music, so his name is musical! Cool, huh?
At least they made him a good guy and gave him the ability to transform into a sweet car.
I couldn't really figure out what this robot's special abilities were besides mouthing off as well as a propensity to use urban slang. Also, like any black character in an action movie, just as you are starting to get to know him and like him, he gets killed. At least he's saying something smarmy at the same time as he's doing it.

Upon coming home, and further researching the topic, I was delightfully surprised to find out who voiced everyone's favorite black robot. Remember this guy!?

That's right. Eddie Winslow from Family Matters. It could be worse, I guess. You could have won an Oscar and then be starring in something like Daddy Day Camp. You can't exactly say that that the mighty have fallen on this one.

I think I can rightly say then, that Transformers is the best almost three hour long toy commercial I've ever seen. Also, product placement is awesome.

I have more to write about other movies, but that's it for now.

Bye.

Not a narrative post, but a few things worth reading

Illumination regarding the Catholic concept of the trinity:

"It's sacreligeous, but I always thought of it as Holy voltron."

May Shalom rest peacefully in hell after the apocalypse he incites.

Well, I'm still pretty bored, but I have set before myself the goal of reading a lot of the bible and further educating myself in regards to religion as a whole, but Judeo-Christianity specifically. I feel that I am grounded well enough in my spiritual beliefs, but I could probably stand to learn a lot more specifics in terms of names, dates and locations. Also, the bible is kind of funny.

Since I probably won't be getting a job this summer, I've also considered gaining some sort of practical skills in order to help me gain employment after graduation. However, because I am wasteful and frivolous, I've decided to learn more Japanese instead. Most people, upon finding out that I've been to Japan before, think that I miraculously gained the ability to speak Japanese. I used to think so too, at least to a very small extent. The more I take these computer lessons the more I realize how wrong we were.

On another note, upon finding out that one of my favorite bands, Camera Obscura, are on a Spanish label, I started investigating the other label's artists and was delighted to find Spanish-speaking, upbeat equivalents to my almost-favorite band. Enjoy a single by "La Casa Azul," a fake band who effectively mix the sunniness of 60's pop with the flamboyance and production of the seventies! Also, the white people singing in Spanish reminds me of Mexico. I guess both countries aren't too different.

Jealousy

This is one thing that you should be jealous that I got to see.









Here is another.

A summary of things

I have some things on the horizon, and some recent events that I will share.

On the horizon:

Re-taking my driving exam
Perpetual unemployment
Sleeping

Recent events:

Signed up for Netflix
Perpetual Unemployment
Boredom
Went to Santa Barbara
Boredom
Going to the Spanish Consulate three times to attempt to get my student visa

The last event was an excellent introduction to the workings of European government and civil society. I'm taking two poli sci classes on the subject, so I'm sure that'll help me understand why they are so lazy.

In unrelated news, I didn't get to watch Live Earth live because another music event involving music I actually enjoy happened at the same time. Also, I am not always at my computer. What I saw on Sunday seemed okay. Spinal Tap was not bad, and The Police sounded better than I remember. As always, unnecessary live collaborations with rappers continue to be unnecessary.

PS: I'm leaving for Europe on the 27th of August. I'm pretty sure I'll post stuff here although if I don't that's probably a good sign of my being busy. Although it could also mean that I am already bored with the idea of a blog.

PPS: I am already bored with the idea of a blog.