Going Green Equals Economic Recession

If everyone in the world (and by that I mean the uber-consumers of the western civilization, not to be prejudiced by any means) decides to suddenly go completely green - recycle everything they use, ride bikes, scarcely use any water, and reduce their consumption to levels of mere necessity - the world with be healthier, but our economy will be taken out with our cardboard and newspapers in the blue bin. In other words, the economical graph will flatline. In other words, it will freaking crash! If everybody decreases their consumption drastically, who is going to buy those gas-guzzling SUV's and the swimming pools with tons of water that evaporates into thin (or rather smog-clogged) air? Basically, what will happen to those multi-trillion dollar companies that survive off selling complete luxuries and greenhouse-gas/garbage/pollution producing unnecessaries, if people suddenly refuse to buy them? Even now, in this recession, companies like GM are suffering terribly and this isn't even a particularly bad recession. They blame other reasons for this recession, but I think this whole "green" trend has a lot to do with it too. There's a reason why the most public calls for government subsidies are from companies like GM who happen to produce vehicles. Vehicles which produce incalculable amounts of greenhouse gas. Vehicles that people have been told to not drive because of said gases filling our (apparently) delicate atmosphere.

Anyways, I'm obviously not an economist by any means. If there are any economists out there reading this little blurb (which, of course, there isn't), please don't e-mail me with an essay as to how completely wrong I am and that I should spend my hard-earned (I can't even type that with a straight face) dough on a basic economics class, or that I should just keep my wildly flapping trap shut about things that don't include the word "film".

Now, as to what I've been up to: school has started so I'm getting into the groove of things in that arena. Pretty good classes. However, my Art History Prof is so old and opinionated, I fear at any moment he could just keel over and heave his last wheezy breath. Yes, I do know that opinionated doesn't necessarily mean that he could die soon, but it's been known to happen...

Now, I also have many "film" events coming up pretty soon that I am pretty excited about. It's like all at once a bunch of things are falling into place. Mostly thanks to the not so grandios, but still opportunistically amazing, Calgary International Film Festival. This Saturday, I'm going to a documentary called "Rock Prophecies" and then to the after-party, which should be fun. Then the following Saturday, I'm going to a couple of film industry panels to learn about the art and industry of Canadian film and just film in general which should also be pretty interesting. In addition, I will soon be joining the Calgary Society of Independant Filmmakers and hopefully taking a workshop or two with them.

Exciting! Exciting!

...and now for the entertainment portion of the blog!
The strange game-show-host-esque quality that sentence was suppose to contain was stifled by the electronic nature of the blog, but I have faith in the power of your imagination that you can effectively conjure the correct vocal quality and replay it properly in your head.
Thank you.

Here is Beyonce singing "Listen" from the movie "Dreamgirls" live on Oprah. She has one of the best voices in the industry today, and this performance is certainly a great display of that.



Here is a video of two more of the greatest voices in the world. Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman singing "Time To Say Goodbye" (or if you're Italian, "Conte Partiro").



Here's another one of Andrea Bocelli. Just because he's awesome. The song is "Because We Believe".



OK, and I have got to admit, straight up, that I am a total and utter Gleek! That is "Glee" and geek put together... Yes, I LOVE that show! Matthew Morrison is awesome! This clip is particularly wicked because he raps!



OK, I think that's it for now.

Gleek!

Developing Addictions and Contracting STD's

That is what happens when you stay out too late at night hanging out behind 7/11's with shady characters you hardly know.
I'm just saying...
Not directed towards anyboby specific.
OK it is, and this person (young female) is the most two-faced, disrespectful, egomaniacal person I know.
You know who you are...

I would also just like to say that I have done neither. I just want to clear that up. Thank you. Unless, of course, my obsession with Junior Mints counts as a genuine addiction. I don't think so. I haven't had those in a long time and I'm totally fine. Totally fine...

Oh and I'm pretty sure they are technically called STI's now. I'm not changing the title.

Now I feel as if I should erase that, because I promised myself I wouldn't voice personal vendetta's on my blog. Oh well, I've already typed it out.

Anyways, school starts on Tuesday. Today is Sunday. That's really soon.
I'm also super excited about all of my TV shows that will be starting! House MD is coming back (of course)!! Totally psyched for that! There is also a new show called Glee that I really wanna watch. Oh, and So You Think You Can Dance is starting up again. We tried watching So You Think You Can Dance Canada but it seriously sucks asphalt.

I've recently discovered that my favourite accent (as of now) is the Scottish accent. It really is quite awesome. Difficult to imitate and some versions are nearly impossible to understand. Definitely an awesome accent. If I had a list of my favourite accents, it would definitely be near the top, if not number one. The English accent is also awesome, and Irish and Australian are nice too. However, there are some accents that just don't have that nice ring to them. Texan... German... Russian... All OK accents if you have them, just not exactly a great attracter of the opposite sex... IF ya know what I mean. I also happen to quite like the New York accent. It's not for everyone but I find that it has that... dangerous thing going for it.

I'm watching "The Breakfast Club" right now. Cool movie. Bender is hilarious. I love those Brat Pack movies from the 80's. "Weird Science", "Pretty in Pink", "Ferris Beuller's Day Off" and all that.

I'm gonna sign off but, as per (relatively) usual, I'm gonna leave you with something. This time it's a music video of Sam Roberts song "Bridge to Nowhere". Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HuXrAqT3J0

Boi!

My Love/Hate Relationship With The Internet

So tonight I was attempting to hook up the wireless internet to my vile sister's Wii, and I encountered a problematic situation. By "problematic" I mean that it was one that seemed simple enough but turned into one that made me want to peel the skin off my palms with a butter knife.

Now I never claimed to be a computer or technology whiz, and I certainly never will, but I never considered myself a particular dunce when it came to that stuff either. However, this task might just do me in...

I just spent the entire night searching online, troubleshooting, for ways to find out why it wasn't connecting. It told me a whole array of procedures and strategies, none of which worked, that included refreshing the IP address, finding the WEP or WPA keys, and doing strange things with firewalls. I tell you, I'm close to setting a real wall on fire.

Now, you must be thinking about the title of this here blog post and it also contains the word "love" in reference to the internet and you might be confused because I have only been ranting about the "hate" part.
Here's the kicker. The reason I love the internet is because of the fact that I actually could look up the specific problems I was having and find very specific answers to the exact problem! The great thing about the internet is that if you are having a problem, there is always someone else out there with the EXACT SAME problem who will post it on the internet along with some solutions. It truly is great. Anything from Wii internet connections to the amount of chocolate your dog can eat without kicking the bucket to how to gain mob family members in the iPod game-app iMob.

So, thanks to the internet, I now know that all I have to do tomorrow is restore the default settings on my wireless internet router and then I should be able to find the WEP key and all should be well! If I could only be so lucky...

All of this just so my sister can download songs for Rock Band II. Sheesh.

Moving on. I did go camping this past weekend. It was an interestingly strange, yet all-around pretty fun, experience. I've never played Rock Band that was projected on to the side of a trailer in the middle of the wilderness before.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm actually looking forward to this up-coming school year. Gasp! I know, I know. I think I'm looking forward to it because it's not like high school. I am only taking the classes that I want and I have so much more freedom to do what I want with my time. I'm getting the feeling that with summer and everything, the family is just getting sick of being around each other, so school should definitely help with that.

Actually, as summer is sort of wrapping itself up (in the sense of no-school, not in the sense of the season because it's certainly still hot enough to be summer), I am kind of disappointed that I didn't do more of what I had planned to do. I wanted to do lots of writing and art and movie-stuff in the summer, but I just either didn't have the time, or didn't have the energy. I really do enjoy my days of doing absolutely nothing and as I get older (*boo hoo*) I know I won't have anything like that in the future, so I'd like to embrace my doing-nothing time while I'm still young (*boo hoo*). However, I must say that various events throughout the summer and the past year have certainly given me many (and I mean tons) of ideas for writing. The best inspiration is life-experience.

Well, I'm pretty tired so I think I'll turn in.
Before I go, I'd like to leave you with three things:

1. A lovely picture of Edward Norton:

2. A lovely video of Neil Young singing "Old Man":



3. A lovely quote from the Anglo-Irish painter Francis Bacon:

"Champagne for my real friends and real pain for my sham friends."

Bleep.

I Love American History

"American History X" that is.

Just watched that movie last night. It is the best movie that I have seen in a really long time. Holy crap, it was freaking amazing! I was bawling like a baby at the end, and I darn near cried thrice while watching it! I've always liked Edward Norton, but now I think I'm in love. He is just so freaking talented, and severely good-looking to boot! Heck, I'm STILL in shock at how hard-hitting and incredible that movie was! Good Lord, I'm glad I bought it!

In case you don't know what it's about, it's about neo-nazi skinheads. Derek Vinyard (Eddie Norton) goes to jail for killing two guys and when he comes out, he no longer believes in the whole white-supremacy thing and he tries to save his younger brother from his same fate. So very good!

Edward Norton is the buff one with hair.

I also watched "Atonement" a few days ago. It's not really my kind of movie. It was OK, not one of my faves. I do love James McAvoy though!

Doesn't it seem like a pattern that I am willing to watch terrible movies just because I like a particular actor that may be in it? Haha, oh well. Not that "Atonement" was terrible, it wasn't, just not my cup of tea.

Here's James. He's Scottish!

Well, I gotta get back to doing nothing. I can't fall behind on that, or I'll just be cramming my doing-nothing time into a smaller time-slot later. That can't happen. I do have to work tonight, so I have even less time to do nothing. I better get on it!

Alrighty, I'll post later, and in the mean time; go watch "American History X". You won't regret it. Just make sure you are 18, because I'm pretty sure it's rated R.

X.

My Hand Really Hurts For Some Reason

I have no idea why though... I don't remember banging it against anything.

Ya, so if you haven't guessed, nothing is really new with me.

Oh, I did get a hair cut. Well more than one hair, all of the hairs on my head were cut; and coloured. It's OK.

The trailer for "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" just came out!
Check it out:



Heath Ledger and Johnny Depp in one movie!! Lovin' it!!

This weekend, I'm going to totally chillax and do nothing but watch movies on TV (meaning ones that I don't own). I love seeing movies that I've never seen before, but I also love watching movies that I have seen before but love. I just love movies, but not bad ones apparently.

OK, I gotta go ice my hand.

Ouch.

How Will I Survive Work Now?!

This just in: Tim Horton's is leaving the Crowfoot RONA at the end of August.
This can only be described as the ultimate tragedy.

It's not like I went there every shift or anything, but when I did... it was heavenly, and it made working there all the more tolerable. Oh... so sad.

Whilst wollowing in self-pity at the loss of my beloved Tim Horton's, I realized something completely random. I can probably give you a top 100 list of my favourite actors, but I haven't really considered who my favourite actresses are. Here are a few in no particular order:
Kate Winslet, Helena Bonham Carter, Judi Dench, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Charlize Theron, Franka Potente, Audrey Tautou, Emily Watson, Marion Cotillard, Kerry Washington, and many more.

I've decided that this Friday will be the day that I get my iPod Touch. So excited!

There was a crazy thunderstorm last night. The hail was so loud, the rain so heavy, and the wind so strong! I felt like my house was going to lift up and get whisked away to somewhere horrible! Like Quebec...

Anyways, I'm going to sleep, but I'll post again fairly soon.

Snooze.

Home, Home on the Range!

Where the deer and the dirty clothes play.

And yes, there is certainly an abundance of them. Dirty clothes, not deer. Well, there are a lot of deer in Alberta, but nowhere near me. Whatever. Anyways, the clothes are so foul that I think they could possibly get up and play just to tease me with their grossness.

The reason there are so many nasty clothes is because we just got back from vacation today. Had a really fun time. Not really a fan of the stinking heat that exists in California, but we dealt with it. I won't go into details about the trip on my blog, but if you want to know every little part, then just talk to me. Communication is a beautiful thing, but it gets tarnished via the internet. It is actually like taking Cinderella (and she was supposed to be beautiful, right?) and taping her mouth up so she has to talk (and sing, because she does that) through writing on a chalkboard around her neck. Oh, and putting a silly hat on her.

I sure did miss a lot (entertainment-wise) while I was gone! My goodness gracious! The Tim Burton "Alice in Wonderland" movie trailer came out, and here it is. I'm lovin' it so far.



I also missed the debut of the brand new music video for Coldplay's song Strawberry Swing. It has got to be one of my favourite music videos. Not just out of Coldplay's videos, but of all of the videos I've ever seen! Here it is.



I really want to get my iPod Touch asap, but I just had to pay my cell phone bill, so I'm a little short on the moola at the moment. I guess it'll have to wait a "touch" longer (pun absolutely intended).

While I was away, Tif looked after the house (plants and cat) and did a mighty fine job of the task if I do say so myself. My tomato plants look A-wait for it-MAZING! I even see a couple of buds on there, which means I'll actually get tomatoes off of those plants (it was touch-and-go there for a bit).

Wow, this particular blog post uses the word "touch" a lot. OK, only four times. Let's see what I can do about that.

"Once upon a time there was a little girl who liked to make cards. She made touching cards for her mother and her mother was always so touched. When she made the cards she touched the paper, and she touched the crayons, and she touched the glue and the glitter, and she touched the scissors. Her mother found her creativity touching, but then she found the little girl cruelly touching the family dog and now the little girl isn't allowed to touch her scissors and the dog at the same time. Now it's a touchy subject. Not so touching."

Nice, in that strangely terrible little paragraph, I have increased the total to eleven.

OK, I'm done.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand... cut.