Well this just figures.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/04/30/bomb.plot.ap/index.html

Figures it was a God damn Yankees fan.

The path to terrorism
The slightly built Yankees fan from Queens described how he mingled with radicals from the fall of 2001, when he quit a job as a computer programmer and left New York for Lahore -- saying he was radicalized by the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan.

Grizzly Bear's Gonna Getchya

Hi O

So I found this video of Grizzly Bear performing their song The Knife as they walked down a street.

Reading

When will we have sleeping logicians, sleeping philosophers? I would like to sleep, in order to surrender myself to the dreamers, the way I surrender myself to those who read me with eyes wide open; in order to stop imposing, in this realm, the conscious rhythm of my thought. Perhaps my dream last night follows that of the night before, and will be continued the next night, with an exemplary strictness. It’s quite possible, as the saying goes. And since it has not been proved in the slightest that, in doing so, the “reality” with which I am kept busy continues to exist in the state of dream, that it does not sink back down into the immemorial, why should I not grant to dreams what I occasionally refuse reality, that is, this value of certainty in itself which, in its own time, is not open to my repudiation? Why should I not expect from the sign of the dream more than I expect from degree of consciousness which is daily more acute? Can’t the dream also be used in solving the fundamental questions of life? Are these questions the same in one case as in the other and, in the dream, do these questions already exist? Is the dream any less restrictive or punitive than the rest? I am growing old and, more than that reality to which I believe I subject myself, it is perhaps the dream, the difference with which I treat the dream, which makes me grow old.

- André Breton

Dialectical behavioral therapy:

In the 1990s, a new psychosocial treatment termed dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) became established in the treatment of BPD [Boarderline Personality Disorder], having originally developed as an intervention for patients with suicidal behavior. Dialectical behavior therapy is derived from cognitive-behavioral techniques (and can be seen as a form of CBT) but emphasizes an exchange and negotiation between therapist and client, between the rational and the emotional, and between acceptance and change (hence dialectic). Treatment targets are agreed upon, with self-harm issues taking priority. The learning of new skills is a core component - including mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness (e.g. assertiveness and social skills), coping adaptively with distress and crises; and identifying and regulating emotional reactions.
DBT can be based on a biosocial theory of personality functioning in which BPD is seen as a biological disorder of emotional regulation in a social environment experienced as invalidating by the borderline patient.
Dialectical behavioral therapy has been found to significantly reduce self-injury and suicidal behavior in individuals with BPD, beyond the effect of usual or expert treatment, and to be better accepted by clients although whether it has additional efficacy in the overall treatment of BPD appears less clear. Training nurses in DBT has been found to replace a therapeutic pessimism with a more optimistic understanding and outlook.

Wow. Just wow.

http://bloggingwestford.blogspot.com/

Sox-Yanks...

What the hell was that? I know we're 21 games in. I think the Yankees will get better and I think that they'll win one of the remaining games. I'm sure I'll eat these words, but it just doesn't seem like a meeting of two titans. Half our line up look like squibs up there and yet we bat them around like crazy. Seeing Rivera pulled after 1/3 of an inning was surreal. The announcers down in New York said it was because they wanted to keep him down to a certian pitch count so he'd be available tomorrow but honestly, did you see his face?

Help...

Help out Thoughtsonfilm.com... rather than going to amazon when you want to buy a movie, first go to thoughtsonfilm, look for the review of the movie under the alphabetical archive and then click on the movie's image in the lower right hand corner. This will automatically put it in your amazon.com cart to buy and give us a little percentage of the sale to offest the costs of running the page and eventually this could lead to me writing movie reviews full time for pay. Which would be totally awesome. You think I wanna spend ten bucks to review Next? No. I don't. I dont' care how tax deductable it is. Uh-uh. No way.

Summer Session Vol. 1

OK so Spring/Summer time is here officially. The boiz of summer are playing their diamond ball, not the old leather pumpkin. The girls are throwing sexxxy car washes in their short shorts while listening to some funky songs. I cry every night cause I don't have a grill or someone to grill food for me. And I officially have sworn off pants!

So to start the season, I am posting the first half of my summer jam scams. These are more Jams then Scams per say. So here we go, these are my hip hop songs and some techno songs to get your ass shaking at the car wash. Some of these songs are new some are old, but all are glorious, like your momma:

1. Fat Joe ft R. Kellz, Lil' Wayne, T.I. and Rick Ross - Make it Rain (Remix) - Official anthem of the summer you can quote me on it!
2. Notorious B.I.G. - Parties and Bullshit (Ratatat Remix) - classic song with a new twist you listen to this song and realize why BIG is the GOAT (greatest of all time also makes a solid cheese, what can I say the man could do amazing things)
3. Kanye, Nas, Rakim, KRS-1 - Classic (Nike Remix) - Old Skewl throw back
4. Amy Winehouse ft Pharoahe Monche - Rehab (PM Remix) - Pharoahe Monche throws in some sweet rhymes about Britney, Lindsey, Paris and the on that looks like a skinny retarded version of Star Jones
5. Busdriver - Casting Agents and Cowgirls - This song has so much energy it makes me dance at my desk all the way to my apartment
6. Plastic Little - Get Close (Honey King Remix) - A song about a one night stand set to the music of Close to Me by The Cure. A little weird, but infectious
7. Clipse ft The Re-Up Gang- Ain'cha - Ill hook Ain'cha?
8. T.I. - Big Shit Poppin' - New TI song, dood has some stupid raps but overall I dig it
9. UGK ft. Outkast - International Players Anthem - Old Soul throw back
10. Lupe Fiasco ft. Jill Scott - Daydreamin' - Another goal of the summer is to "make cocaine kewl. We need a few more half-nekkid woman up in the pool."
11. Three 6 Mafia - Stay Fly - Don't forget to Stay Fly

I was looking for a picture of the guy from the BOOST Mobile commercials...cause that looks like me. Instead I used Brandon Bird's rad ass painting. Cause nothing says summer like Walken working in his garage!

*Coming Soon my Indie Rock playlist for the summer.*

Put 4 holes in ya sweater.

Bjork is Bjweird

So I just finished watching some awesome baseball and drank a ginormous Red Stripe and thought I should post this new Bjork song. I am not sure how I feel about it. I think the muzak is interesting but her vocals are kind of meeeeh.

This picture also makes me believe that Bjork is going to shoot lightening bolts out of her hands if you don't like her songs.

But on the real I am pretty excited for Bjork's new album VOLTA!

Bjork - Earth Intruders

XKCD - 90s Flowchart!!!

This is the nerdiest webcomic ever, but I love it. XKCD.com almost always comes through with the funny, even if its only a little funny. Its often very clever too, but sometimes you have to understand math or computer programming or video games or love to get it. So tough luck to you super-cool, cold-hearted bastards that frequent this blog (I'm looking at you, Chu).

People who are on the overnight....

Most of the people I work with are pretty cool people who just don't want to deal with the hassles of working in New York in the hospitality business that the day shift people have to deal with. (Mainly the sheer volume of people.) A couple of us, myself included, are twixters with other aspirations we're striving for, the rest though are, well, take for instance the cleaning woman who is afraid to ride in the elevator with me. I'll grant you, I am very tuff looking for a jewy, underweight, 5'8" white guy but... anyway, so I went down to the cafe to grab a snack and I made the mistake of saying 'hi' to the oldest of the Jamaican cleaning guys, who promptly cornered me to share his crazy, rambling thoughts on the VA Tech shootings. Apparently he feels the schools dean should 'hang' because he committed 'treason.' I'll grant you the situation wasn't well handled but... well that was an awkward half hour of my life I'll never get back.

Alive and with stuff!

Here's what Gin and I have been working on. I know they're not banners per se, but still, pretty rocken.

I think Ginny's trying to Kill me.

My white pills I take twice a day were replaced by yellow pills that are just slightly larger... If anything should happen to me its important that you guys know the truth.

Also, see to it that my body is committed to a bog. I wanna be fossilized.

My first review

So I just mailed in my first review for ThoughtsOnFilm.com. Check out the site we need some readers....

Blog Got Funny!

Okay damn the blog got mad funny over the past couple of days. Bry, R would be so proud of you - you really GET him, and he knows that. Jeff, I wish you could see me right now cuz I am doing that "thank you" face that the "kinda you can't figure out if she is black, hispanic or what" girl on SNL does when she gets a Dick in a Box and a rose rubbed in her face. Doin it right now.

My world is more about groundhogs, one special hog to be specific. His name is Mr. Snuggles and we have shared a few different fruits. In this picture you can see that we are great at sharing and really enjoy our time together. Some confuse the look on my face for anger or frustration but it is actually one of peacefulness and revelry. The other day Snugs was out of his hole scavenging for clover and other delicious treats and I came across him on my way to class. I hand fed him the cherriest of clovers and he let me pet him for a while. We might as well as have had sex - that is how close we felt afterwards, and tired.

keep sexy

Sad Skeleton

I was going through some old files of mine when I found this. I made it a few years ago, and it doesn't have the ability to loop, so if you want to watch it again you'll have to reload the page. Sorry. Anyway, this one goes out to Dan, skeleton's number one fan. Oh, it might take a few seconds to load.

Banners

A while back Jeff challenged us to make banners. I came up with mine right away but have needed Ginny's help... now it is almost time to unleash the greatest... because I'm fairly confident I'm the only one working on this... banner!

R. Kelly ExtravaTonyDanzWithMonaGanza

Here it is Suckahz the mother f-ing R. Kelly extravaganza!!

Well, it seems that the evil genius that is R. Kelly has been quite a busy little fella. From working on new chapters of the R&B Opera Trapped in the Closet to working on 50 million remixes. Here are just a few, with my favorite lines from the superhero known as R. Kelly.

Uno: Fat Joe, Lil Wayne, T.I. Rick Ross & RKELLY
Best line by R. Kelly - "I be drillin' these bitches like Major Payne. When I make it rain they be like do it again"
4 out of 5 R. Zorros for throwing it back to the amazing movie Major Payne.

Dos: JJ Brown - Woozy/I am Love (Ludacris and R. Kelly vs. The Jackson 5)
Best Line by R. Kelly - "So Pretty and So Sweaty and So Sexy and So Ready Girl I'm Suprised you so Nasty."
1 out of 5 R. Zorros because he can do better than this and honestly he knows it.

Tres: R. Kelly - Red Carpet (Pause, Flash)
Best Line: "All I need is my partner. We go together like a hand and glove."
4 out of 5 R. Zorros. That is some deep metphor bidness. Matt your poems got nothing on R. Kellz written words.

Four: R. Kelly - Blow it Up
Best Line: "Fuck what you heard cause Kellz is the realness. Cause we got a lot of ass in the place. Perfect cause I like ass in my face."
5 out of 5 R. Zorros. Those are the most mind altering lyrics ever. He refers to himself as the Kellz (3 out of five R. Zorros) then explains that yes, yes he does indeed love ass in his face. Which is why it is perfect cause there is a lot of ass in the place.

Fiverz: R. Kelly, T.I. and T. Pain - I'm a Flirt
Best Line: "Yeah Yeah homie you say she yo girlfriend but when I step up to her I'm gonna be like cousin"
3 out of 5 R. Zorros. I don't understand what he is saying but seriously...This song is sick.

Six(DeNiNe): Twista Ft. R. Kelly - This is Why I'm Cold
Best Line: "In the club fallin' all over motherfuckers cause I'm intox."
4 out of 5 R. Zorros. Excellent use of the abbreviation of intoxicated. I'm gonna get intox tomorrow.

Seven: Young Jeezy and R. Kelly - Go Getta
Best Line: "Trap all day play all night. This is the life of a go getta"
0 out 5 R. Zorros. This song seriously needs some more information on that Rosie the nosy neighbor. Get with projam R. Kellz!

There you are 7 awesome songs involving one awesome man.

My Regional Sports Team Can Still Beat Yours!

Hey Joey Gathright,

Your team still sucks even if you can jump over a parked car.

Check it check it OUUUUUUUT.




Tonight the R. Kellz Extravatonydanzabonanza!

Reading

Come on, shake your body baby,
do the conga
I know you can't control yourself any longer
Come on, shake your body baby,
do the conga
I know you can't control yourself any longer.

Come on, shake your body baby,
do the conga
I know you can't control yourself any longer
Feel the rhythm of the music getting stronger
Don't you fight it till you've tryied it
Do the conga beat

Everybody gather 'round now
let your body feel the hit.
Don't you worry if you can't dance
let the music move your feet.
It's the rhythm of the island
and like sugarcane, so sweet.
If you want to do the conga
you've got to listen to the beat.

Come on, shake your body baby,
do the conga
I know you can't control yourself any longer
Feel the rhythm of the music getting stronger
Don't you fight it till you've tryied it
Do the conga beat

Feel the fire of desire
as you dance the night away.
'Cos tonight we're gonna party
till we see the break of day.
Better get yourself together
and hold on to what you got.
Once the music hit your system
there's no way you're gonna stop.

Come on, shake your body baby,
do the conga
I know you can't control yourself any longer
Feel the rhythm of the music getting stronger
Don't you fight it till you've tryied it
Do the conga beat

Come on, shake your body baby,
do the conga
I know you can't control yourself any longer
Feel the rhythm of the music getting stronger
Don't you fight it till you've tryied it,
do the conga
Come on, shake your body baby,
do the conga
I know you can't control yourself any longer
Feel the rhythm of the music getting stronger
Don't you fight it till you've tryied it
Do the conga beat
Come on, shake your body baby,
do the conga

- Gloria Estephan, "Conga"

Gentlemen Cat On the Prowl

Before reading this post download the following mp3, load it up, hit play, and then start reading the rest of this post again. Its okay, I'll wait.

Wax Stag - Short Road.mp3

Welcome back and Happy Easter! Hell, thats worth at least a few more exclamation points, so !!!!!!!

I'm making dinner for my parents and Amber's family tonight. The main course is going to be rack of lamb. I had to settle for lamb when the butcher said he didn't have anything cuter than that. No dolphin, no koala bear, no red kangaroo, nothing. So needless to say I won't be going there again.

While looking for an appropriate picture to post (you can't beat a gentlemen cat greeting two hawt chicks!!) I discovered that some people don't like Easter. Specifically the Jesus part of it. Though they seemed wary of plastic eggs and chocolate also. They didn't seem to mind that people eat lamb, so I can still enjoy that. And maybe you can enjoy it too, but you can't have any of mine. I've got a full house already!!!

Get excited for my Spring mix-tape I'm going to post sometime soon. I've been working hard on it, and as the song you're listening to now shows, I have awesome taste in stuff.

Matt's Reading post from Thursday now has the accompanying song. Chu smells bad. Dan is RED HOT. Kline is pregnant? Gutter is a tool.

You should probably be looking around your place right now because I hid eggs!!! Keep the music playing while you search. It will help.

Hitler!

Fuck Hitler, you know?

Reading

Chu, you crazy bastard. Did you do that? I remember drawing dinosaurs to illustrate my answer to a question on MCAS. It gets the point across nicely. Fucking MCAS.

Anyway here's another poem:

"Poetry Is a Destructive Force" by Wallace Stevens

That's what misery is,
Nothing to have at heart.
It is to have or nothing.

It is a thing to have,
A lion, an ox in his breast,
To feel it breathing there.

Corazon, stout dog,
Young ox, bow-legged bear,
He tastes its blood, not spit.

He is like a man
In the body of a violent beast.
Its muscles are his own . . .

The lion sleeps in the sun.
Its nose is on its paws.
It can kill a man.

Math and Sciences?!?!?!

I'm no teacher, but I believe this student should have gotten an A++++++.

Man, science and math are hard. I'd rather take the physical challenge.

Coming soon my all new R. Kelly Remix ExtravaganzaTonyDanzabonanza !!!!!!1

love games?

Good news everyone. Dan is back on the ol' blog! This time I am Old Greg and I am all about playing love games. Will explain more later in future posts of deliciousness. For now I just want you all to know that I would be happy to show you my downstairs mix-up and thus fall in love at any time. I need a lesson on adding videos, images, and spunk to my blogs so I am hoping to connect in a real and meaningful way with jeff, sco klin, notapenis, or bi chu in the most near future.

Remember that time Ashley Ratchford wore that fucking shirt?

"Lesson in Reading" is now "Reading," don't tell anyone.

You've lived so brightly.
You've altered everything.
I find myself searching for old selves,
Whilst speeding forward through the plateglass of maturing cells.

I've played the unraveler, the parhelion,
But even Apocalypse is fleeting.
There's no death, no ugly world.

Sometimes I wonder if you're mythologizing me like I do you.
We want our film to be beautiful, not realistic.
Perceive me in the radiance of terror dreams
And you can betray me, but teach me something wonderful.

- Of Montreal "The Past Is a Grotesque Animal"

Of Montreal - the past is a grotesque animal.mp3

Genre, Elements, Corollary

Genre Abstract: Over View of Comedy

There's a reason why comedies are popular not just with the movie going audience but with the studios as well. When we look at comedies, as a whole, and examine how comedies that received a theatrical release have performed in domestic box office (from 1978 to Present), we see that the average gross is $38.8 million dollars. (This figure reflects domestic box office totals across multiple subgenres and incorporates 366 films with budgets as low as $27 thousand and theatrical releases as limited as one theater.)

When we look closer at the comedy subgenres two emerge as relating most strongly to our picture; the high school comedy and the what if comedy. The high school comedies tend to have a lower budget than other comedies but still perform quite strongly. When we look at the 49 films released since 1980 that qualify as high school comedies, we see that on average they gross $30.2 million dollars during their domestic theatrical runs.

What If comedies are among the strongest performers of all the comedy films. The 31 films released theatrically since 1977 that qualify as what if comedies have averaged $56.8 million dollars in total domestic box office.

Elements Abstract: Over View of Time Travel in Movies

Time travel has been a popular element of fantasy and science fiction movies since HG Wells' Time Machine was first brought to the small screen in a British live teleplay in 1949. But it wasn't until decades later in the mid 1980's that time travel fully caught on in the American public consciousness with hits like Back to the Future and the Terminator. When we take a broad view of all movies released since 1980 with time travel as a major element we find that 39 films have enjoyed theatrical releases and averaged nearly $44 million dollars in domestic box office.

From these films we can pull the strongest corollary to Future Spence, a picture which performed very typically for time travel movies, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. Released in 1989 Bill & Ted's grossed nearly $40.5 million dollars and qualifies, like Future Spence, as a comedy, a high school movie and a time travel movie. It also spawned a sequel (Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey) as well as an animated series (Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures).

How do ratings correlate to box office?

In 1999 R-rated films grossed $3 billion dollars in domestic box office receipts while PG-13 movies took in $2.5 billion, but what was interesting about the domestic box office in 1999 was that it took three times the number of R-rated films than PG-13 films to reach their respective box office totals. The major studios noticed the difference in performance and began pouring more money into movies rated PG-13.

Today, R-rated films still out number PG-13 films, but the financial trend first noticed in 1999 continues. Over the last five years PG-13 movies have averaged between $39.5 million and $47.9 million dollars domestically. When compared to the $10 million to $15.8 million that R-rated films averaged in grosses over the same time period a clear picture of how profitability relates to a movie's rating emerges.

The driving force behind this trend is made clear by MPAA data which tells us that males under the age of 25 enjoy going to the movies more than any other group. Further examination shows that nearly half of all youths between the ages of 12 and 17 attend, on average, at least one movie a month. By comparison only a quarter of adults over the age of 18 attend as frequently. (And, again, the majority of the adults who do attended movies once a month are under 25).

Lesson in Reading

"I believed that I was learning how to live. I was learning how to die." - Leonardo da Vinci

Classic

Writing is hard, so I'm going to just share another music video again. This song features Kanye(!), KRS-ONE (!!), NAS (!!!), and Rakim(!!!!). Oh yeh, and it was produced by DJ Premier (!!!!!!). I think thats just barely enough exclamation points for how much talent is on this track. The video itself kinda sux, and the song was put together a while ago for some anniversary of a Nike shoe, so they mention that a few times. Still, the beat and the flows are pretty killer.



With all these amazing rappers representing, I'm curious who your favorite MC's are. My personal faves are B.I.G., O.D.B, and MF Doom. I also love letters, so go figure.

"Lesson in Metaphysics of the day" is now "Lessons in Reading," tell your friends.

"The Next Poem" by Dana Gioia

How much better it seems now
than when it is finally done–
the unforgettable first line,
the cunning way the stanzas run.

The rhymes soft-spoken and suggestive
are barely audible at first,
an appetite not yet acknowledged
like the inkling of a thirst.

While gradually the form appears
as each line is coaxed aloud–
the architecture of a room
seen from the middle of a crowd.

The music that of common speech
but slanted so that each detail
sounds unexpected as a sharp
inserted in a simple scale.

No jumble box of imagery
dumped glumly in the reader's lap
or elegantly packaged junk
the unsuspecting must unwrap.

But words that could direct a friend
precisely to an unknown place,
those few unshakeable details
that no confusion can erase.

And the real subject left unspoken
but unmistakable to those
who don't expect a jungle parrot
in the black and white of prose.

How much better it seems now
than when it is finally written.
How hungrily one waits to feel
the bright lure seized, the old hook bitten.