What I've Been Doing Instead of Working on Ethics
I am way behind on my Ethics class. I don't know why I ever thought I could do a correspondence class. Now, I am capable of self-motivating myself, like with work and such (though, the fact that I'm writing this at work is not a good example). When I'm at home, my brain is wired to think of that as my relaxing time, when I don't have to worry about school or work, which, normally, I like. In the past, if I need to get some work done, I get out of my apartment to do it, but that's kinda hard to do in Longview. So, anywho, here's what I've been doing instead:
*Bamboozled - I haven't seen many Spike Lee joints, but this one was very good. It always looked interesting, but I never had a chance to see it until now. It's a satire about a "satirical" television show. Basically, the main character, black television writer, is fed up with his boss, so he pitches the most offensive and racist show he can think of: a minstrel show with black actors in black-face, set in a Watermelon patch in Dixie. The two main characters of the show, Mantan and Sleep n' Eat, are foolish and ignorant whose plans always fail, but through dumb luck, they make it through everytime. He pitches this idea as a satire of racism, but in actuality, he just wants to make something that people hate so much, that he will be fired and take part of the network down with him. The twist is that everyone loves the show and he becomes a success from it. I won't say how it ends, but I highly recommend that everyone go rent it.
*Kill Bill, vol. 2 - I finally saw it. I didn't like vol. 1 because of the over-the-top gore and what not, it just wasn't appealing to me. Vol. 2, however, was very enjoyable. I felt there was more story and though there was still some gory action, it felt more spread apart and less intense. Since practically everyone has seen it, I won't go into the same detail I did for Bamboozled.
*Quake 4 - I got it on its release day. I felt obligated to do so. I remember going to Quakecon 2004 and listening to Todd Hollenshed talk about those who pirated Doom 3 and it made me sad. Sad because I was at Quakecon and on my computer was a pirated copy of Doom 3. I felt like he was yelling directly at me. Because of this, I felt obligated to buy Quake 4, and it is pretty good. Everything looks so pretty and the single-player is a lot of fun. I've seen on some of the reviews that, since it is so much like Quake 3 on the multiplayer side, it hasn't been doing as well. My thought is, Quake 3 was probably THE most successful multiplayer game ever. I mean, Quake 3 was released in like 1999 (at least, that's when I got a copy of it) and people are still playing it six years later. I think of Quake 4's release like the release of Half-Life 2; you get a great single-player game, plus an upgraded version of a multiplayer game, but in the case of Quake 4, an upgraded version of the greatest multiplayer game. I was originally thinking about getting a job during my winter hiatus between the co-op and school, but instead, I think I'm going to be busy between Quake, Battlefield 2, XBox 360, and all of the tv shows I have downloaded over the past 6 months and still haven't had a chance to watch.
*Talking to Meredith - Now, on to something a little less nerdy. For the past week, I have talked to Meredith everyday, either on the phone, through text messages, or on AIM, and some days, on all three. For those who don't know, Meredith and I went to high school together, we were both in band. Back then, I knew *of* her, but we were in different groups of friends, so we never really talked. Well, as it turns out, we both go to the same hair stylist. I call her my stylist, because I don't know what else to call her. I don't want to call her my barber, because: a) Barber sounds very masculine b) She doesn't have the red & white stripped pole c) She doesn't have a handlebar mustache. So, now that I've established that she cuts my hair, I'll just call her Lisa. So, anywho, Lisa is telling both of us about the other, and so I decide, why not? So, I get the number on a Friday, but since I won't be in town until 2 weeks from that time and under the advice of sonia, I don't call her until Thursday. So, I do, and at first, I was very nervous, seeing as that I haven't ever *really* talked to this girl, at least nothing I can recall, but it ends up being a very nice conversation. So nice, in fact, that, as I said above, we've talked everyday since, and we should be going out to do something sometime this Saturday.
So, there you have it, all of my distractions from this week. I really need to work on Ethics. As it is, I'm going to probably need to beg for an extension. They already don't like the fact that I'm still working on it, since they've moved onto a new edition and want to wrap up the older ones. It is, of course, my own fault. I wasted like 8 months without even looking at the book. I need to put on some Beck and just churn it out. I have done 4 out of the 13 assignments, all of which while listening to Beck's Guero. I try not to listen to CD when I'm not either reading or writing for Ethics; I don't want to get sick of the album and then be more distracted when I'm trying to work.
With all that said, I should get back to work. Peace.
*Bamboozled - I haven't seen many Spike Lee joints, but this one was very good. It always looked interesting, but I never had a chance to see it until now. It's a satire about a "satirical" television show. Basically, the main character, black television writer, is fed up with his boss, so he pitches the most offensive and racist show he can think of: a minstrel show with black actors in black-face, set in a Watermelon patch in Dixie. The two main characters of the show, Mantan and Sleep n' Eat, are foolish and ignorant whose plans always fail, but through dumb luck, they make it through everytime. He pitches this idea as a satire of racism, but in actuality, he just wants to make something that people hate so much, that he will be fired and take part of the network down with him. The twist is that everyone loves the show and he becomes a success from it. I won't say how it ends, but I highly recommend that everyone go rent it.
*Kill Bill, vol. 2 - I finally saw it. I didn't like vol. 1 because of the over-the-top gore and what not, it just wasn't appealing to me. Vol. 2, however, was very enjoyable. I felt there was more story and though there was still some gory action, it felt more spread apart and less intense. Since practically everyone has seen it, I won't go into the same detail I did for Bamboozled.
*Quake 4 - I got it on its release day. I felt obligated to do so. I remember going to Quakecon 2004 and listening to Todd Hollenshed talk about those who pirated Doom 3 and it made me sad. Sad because I was at Quakecon and on my computer was a pirated copy of Doom 3. I felt like he was yelling directly at me. Because of this, I felt obligated to buy Quake 4, and it is pretty good. Everything looks so pretty and the single-player is a lot of fun. I've seen on some of the reviews that, since it is so much like Quake 3 on the multiplayer side, it hasn't been doing as well. My thought is, Quake 3 was probably THE most successful multiplayer game ever. I mean, Quake 3 was released in like 1999 (at least, that's when I got a copy of it) and people are still playing it six years later. I think of Quake 4's release like the release of Half-Life 2; you get a great single-player game, plus an upgraded version of a multiplayer game, but in the case of Quake 4, an upgraded version of the greatest multiplayer game. I was originally thinking about getting a job during my winter hiatus between the co-op and school, but instead, I think I'm going to be busy between Quake, Battlefield 2, XBox 360, and all of the tv shows I have downloaded over the past 6 months and still haven't had a chance to watch.
*Talking to Meredith - Now, on to something a little less nerdy. For the past week, I have talked to Meredith everyday, either on the phone, through text messages, or on AIM, and some days, on all three. For those who don't know, Meredith and I went to high school together, we were both in band. Back then, I knew *of* her, but we were in different groups of friends, so we never really talked. Well, as it turns out, we both go to the same hair stylist. I call her my stylist, because I don't know what else to call her. I don't want to call her my barber, because: a) Barber sounds very masculine b) She doesn't have the red & white stripped pole c) She doesn't have a handlebar mustache. So, now that I've established that she cuts my hair, I'll just call her Lisa. So, anywho, Lisa is telling both of us about the other, and so I decide, why not? So, I get the number on a Friday, but since I won't be in town until 2 weeks from that time and under the advice of sonia, I don't call her until Thursday. So, I do, and at first, I was very nervous, seeing as that I haven't ever *really* talked to this girl, at least nothing I can recall, but it ends up being a very nice conversation. So nice, in fact, that, as I said above, we've talked everyday since, and we should be going out to do something sometime this Saturday.
So, there you have it, all of my distractions from this week. I really need to work on Ethics. As it is, I'm going to probably need to beg for an extension. They already don't like the fact that I'm still working on it, since they've moved onto a new edition and want to wrap up the older ones. It is, of course, my own fault. I wasted like 8 months without even looking at the book. I need to put on some Beck and just churn it out. I have done 4 out of the 13 assignments, all of which while listening to Beck's Guero. I try not to listen to CD when I'm not either reading or writing for Ethics; I don't want to get sick of the album and then be more distracted when I'm trying to work.
With all that said, I should get back to work. Peace.