A few words on yesterday...

"We're willing to extend a hand if you're willing to unclench your fist."
President Barrack Obama

Only in America could a day like yesterday have happened. Yesterday we came together from all corners of the country and every far corner of the world to see history made with the inauguration of the first African American president Barrack Hussein Obama. I watched history and by the days end I truly felt that something had changed. Last year I went through a lot, I lost friends, my full time job and I went to a bad place mentally. I learned that I suffer from social anxiety depression and possibly A.D.D. or Dyslexia. Currently I’ve gotten the help needed and I’m learning to cope with it every waking day. In November with the election of Barrack Obama (an election I wish dearly now that I had voted in) that’s where things started to change for me. I saw in this man the inspiration and hope that I believe now I had been searching for deep down inside of me. Also I found the guiding voice in making a difference in the world. I believe now in Barrack Obama and that he will lead this country to take the much needed steps in the right direction. But Barrack Obama has stated many a time that he alone can only do so much. It’s up to us as a people to come together united to do our part in the rebuilding of this country. I already have begun to do my part. I volunteered my time (just like our President) on Martin Luther King Day to help AmeriCorps in renovating a homeless shelter in my town. I plan to do more volunteer work hopefully once I’m working full time again I plan to save my money to go down to New Orleans to help in the rebuilding effort down there.

So that is what has changed in me. Once again I’m excited when it comes to politics. I am ready to finally find my way in the world. I plan to do my part for I feel that I owe it now to the President who I know now I would have voted for. Yes change certainly for me has come.

Where's Kelly?

Where’s Kelly?


Norah Johnson pulled into the parking lot behind the movie theater at Mashpee Commons. She slowly got out of her gold Saturn Ion because her body hurt all over. She may have looked like she was in her 30’s but she defiantly felt 40. Plus it was getting to be that time of the month, so that wouldn’t help her at all. A light winter rain was falling as Norah made her way past Siena restaurant where she had been trying to have her husband take her for the last month and a half. Arriving at the movie theater she went inside expecting her daughter Kelly to be waiting for her in the lobby. Only Kelly was not in the lobby, the only person in the lobby that Norah saw was a young male floor staff member of the theater sweeping up the lobby. Norah checked the time on her blackberry and saw that it was 7:05. Kelly said the movie got out at 7 didn’t she? Norah though to herself. Norah approached the ticket booth where a guy and a girl in their early 20’s were chatting.
“Excuse me?” Norah asked.
“Yes ma’am?” Said the young lady.
“What time does Yes Man get out?”
“It should be getting out any moment ma’am” Informed the young lady to Norah.
“Thank you.” Norah said making her way towards the hallway where the different theaters were. Norah checked her blackberry again which read 7:08. Any minute now Norah thought trying not to get nervous. A few minutes later after the crowd from “Yes Man” had come out and Kelly was not among them Norah began to get nervous. Well Norah thought maybe she’s in the bathroom, and I hope it’s her time of the month as well as mine. Norah made her way down a hallway to the right of the theaters to the ladies room. Norah noticed the oddly the door to the ladies room was propped up as she made her way in and called out.
“Kelly it’s mom are you in here?” No answer because in her growing nervousness Norah had not noticed that the stalls were empty. Norah did not wait for the silence to finish answering because she quickly made her way out of the ladies room and back to the lobby. Norah made her way into the hallway of theaters to theater #3 where “Yes Man” had been showing. She walked in and looked around the now empty theater only that was a lie on my part because Norah found Kelly’s jacket in one of the rows of seats. Now Norah really began to worry as she franticly called Kelly on her blackberry. She got only the voicemail and left a nervous message asking Kelly “Where are you young lady!?!?” and to “Call me or meet me where you were suppose to!!!!” Picking up her daughter’s jacket Norah made her way back out to the lobby and to the ticket booth.
“Can I help you ma’am?” Asked the same young lady from earlier.
“Yes I’m trying to find my daughter.” Norah asked franticly.
“What does she look like?” Asked the same young man that had been chatting with the young lady. In her nervousness Norah had not even noticed him standing off to the side, but no one ever seemed to noticed him is what he thought at times.
“She’s tall, slender, with brown hair in kind of a butch hair cut and glasses.” Norah said quickly but at the same time noticing a certain kind of shyness in this tall young man with brown hair and thick black rim glasses.
“No Ma’am I’m sorry I haven’t seen her, have you Heather?”
“No I haven’t either.” Heather said with a look of concern on her face.
“I found her jacket in the theater, would you mind if I checked the other theaters for her? I tried calling her but her phone is off.” Norah asked the nervousness really showing in her voice.
“Sure I can have one of the staff escort you with a flashlight. Hey Jack can you go with this nice lady, she’s trying to find her daughter.” Heather called to a young brown haired teenager in the concession area of the lobby.
“Sure.” Said Jack picking up a flashlight from behind the concession counter and making his way out to the lobby to help the lady check for her daughter.
“Well that’s kind odd don’t you think Justin?” Heather asked after the lady and Jack had gone down the hallway.
“Yeah very strange indeed.” Justin said.
About ten minutes later Jack and Norah after having no luck in the other theaters came back out to the lobby.
“I just can’t believe this, this is not like her at all!” Norah said almost yelling now. It was clear to Heather and Justin that this lady was very upset, but being the manager Heather was the one to handle it as she made her way from the ticket booth she said the following.
“Ma’am if you like I could call security to look for your daughter?” Only it would not be necessary because the door to the theater opened and Justin looked up and saw a girl with glasses and brown hair in a butch hair cut.
It was Kelly.
“Kelly!” Norah yelled making her way over to her daughter angry but at the same time somewhat relieved.
“Hi mom…” Was all Kelly could get out.
“Don’t hi me young lady you never leave the theater! Now where were you?” Norah said in a stern angry voice as Justin thought oh boy this lady is going to cause a scene. But Norah handed Kelly her jacket and took her by the arm leading her out of the theater.

Kelly would make up a story claiming that she was outside of the theater because she was on the phone and didn’t want to disturb the other people in the theater. The truth though is that Kelly is a lesbian and was meeting her girlfriend Filly on a secret rendezvous because Kelly has learned the truth that Norah and her husband Joe are homophobes. They believed that Prop 8 was a good thing to vote for and they would be ashamed if their child was gay.

100+ Word Reviews: Tetley's English Ale

Tetley’s English Ale

These days I’ve very much slowed down with my drinking, but being the adventurous type I’m still trying new beers. Tonight I stopped by the local package store and after pondering on what to buy I decided on “Tetley’s English Ale”. It was a wise choice because it’s a great ale. Hands down Guinness is currently my all time favorite beer and if you’ve had Guinness you know how bitter it is and that in my opinion is one of the key things on if a person ends up liking Guinness or not. With Tetley’s you get only the slight bit of bitterness and a very smooth tasting ale that goes down very easy and doesn’t have that heaviness that Guinness has. To quote Tony Soprano when he was talking to his son A.J. about drinking champagne “You’ve got to savor it…” Well the same can be said about Tetley’s English Ale.

100+ Word Reviews: Charles Bukowski at Bellevue

Charles Bukowski at Bellevue

What was once lost was found and true Bukowski fans can be thankful. Shot in 1970 we see a middle aged Bukowski at the beginning of what would be a great career. The poems read here are classic Bukowski and most of them I had not read myself. The quality of the film is very much raw but that’s a good thing for this had been only Bukowski’s fourth reading and as he says during this reading he’s still very much raw at the whole poetry reading business. It’s a truly remarkable thing to see where the great poets began and this one is a great treasure. As I sat in my room on this snowy December morning I was taken in by the voice of Bukowksi. I laughed at all the right places and if it had been 1970 and I had been there that evening I would have left that poetry reading feeling that I had discovered a great poet.

200+ Word Reviews: Girl Talk's Feed The Animals

Girl Talk’s Feed The Animals

Mashup:

Mashup has a few of definitions:

(1) To be stoned or drunk
(2) To look raggedy or beaten-up in appearance
(3) A mix of different music tracks to produce a new track

Love him or hate him DJ Girl Talk defiantly knows how to mashup songs. The first time I heard Girl Talk was at a party with friends. I was buzzed pretty good (music always seems 100x more epic drunk) and Girl Talk’s “Night Ripper” came on and I swear that I had never heard anything like it before. I had heard remixes but Girl Talk was the first time I had heard a mashup. Once I heard Notorious B.I.G. mashed up with Elton John I can honestly say that my mind was blown. With “Night Ripper” I enjoyed the first fifteen minutes or so and then the rest of it just sounded like the typical mashups you hear in clubs (Then again I could be wrong cause I don’t go to clubs).
With “Feed The Animals” Girl Talk has crafted a truly mashed up album of genius. You listen to the album as it goes all over the spectrum of pop music and hip-hop old school and new school songs alike. I would say what tracks I like the most but it’s my opinion that you have to listen to “Feed The Animals” as a whole album whether you’re just sitting in your room chilling or getting crunk at a party with friends. The appeal of Girl Talk is that if you listen to a wide range of music then you can probably appreciate the genius ways that Girl Talk mashes up one song with several other songs. I mean seriously Flo Rida mashed up with The Velvet Underground or Jay-Z mashed up with Radiohead? Genius simply genius.

Girltalk- Feed The Animals

300+ Word Reviews: Wall-E

Wall-E

Finally got around to seeing “Wall-E.” Going into it I kind of ignorantly expected a Disney/Pixar take on the “Short Circuit” movies. Well I was greatly mistaken and what I got out of “Wall-E” was another great and refreshing animated film from Disney/Pixar. They defiantly have come a long way since the first Toy Story movie. To make this review short simple and to the point all I have to say is if you want to see a Charlie Chaplin like movie with a robotic sci-fi twist then see “Wall-E.” Also due to the amazing out of this century (I say that because the movie takes place about 700 years in the future but still on Earth) computer animation. This is another film that I’m defiantly looking forward to watching on HD-TV someday.
As for the talk of “Wall-E” winning best picture at the Academy Awards, here’s my opinion on it. “Wall-E” is a great movie with a great story and I felt very much invested in it till the very end. That alone in my opinion is a good enough reason to at the very least nominate it for best picture. In all honesty it’s been a pretty slim year for me on great movies released this year. So if “Wall-E” won best picture I would have no problem with that. History however has taught us that animated films don’t win best picture they win best “animated” picture and no matter what ultimately happens with “Wall-E” it would defiantly win best “animated” picture hands down. But I think that much like Chaplin’s little tramp a character that really pulls at your heart strings I feel that “Wall-E” could very well pull at the heart strings of the academy and we could see history made at the Academy Awards this year.

History of Art Paper

I could have easily chosen one of the many works by Jackson Pollock my favorite painter but I decided that I would choose a painting that we covered in class this semester. The painting I chose was Piet Mondrian’s “Composition II in Red, Blue, and Yellow“. For me personally it’s a very interesting choice because as I stated I’m a big fan of Pollock’s work and if you were to compare any of his many drip paintings to “Composition II” the difference in them is vast. There’s just something about “Composition II” that speaks to me and that I find interesting. I’ve been pondering just what about the painting that draws me in when it’s to me at least such a simple looking painting. Although in it’s simplicity there’s a certain kind of complexity and I think the reason I see that may have to do with the fact that nothing like this had been done when Mondrain painted it in 1930. The fact that he painted what looks like such a simple idea for a painting is amazing to me. Having painted a little myself I can say that this is the kind of painting when I look at it I stop and say to myself “Now there’s a painting I wish I had thought of.”
While I was thinking of paintings to do my paper on I had thought about doing a paper on Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica” and how I myself don’t find that painting all that interesting. Well I’d like to say that I find Mondrian’s “Composition II” more visually stimulating to look at then Picasso’s “Guernica.” In “Guernica” I don’t see the so called anti-war painting that many art historians claim it to be I just see a poor man’s Ralph Steadman or a blob like cartoon like mass of figures. To me a great anti-war painting is Goya’s the “Third of May.” But With “Composition II” yes the painting is very simple and flat but there’s just something about the way it’s composed and the use of red blue and yellow that to me speaks volumes more then “Guernica” and makes it a painting that I consider to be a timeless painting.
As I stated I consider “Composition II” to be a painting that’s timeless and the evidence I give to support this claim is of course the Nike shoes done up in the style of Mondrain’s Composition paintings. When I saw those shoes that made up a big part of why I chose this painting, the fact that Nike one if not the biggest shoe companies in the world thought enough to make a shoe out of a Mondrain painting really speaks volumes about it. Yes I am going to someday get a pair of those shoes because they look so visually appealing just like the painting itself.
In closing all I have left to say is that I really like this painting. I mean it was the only painting that really had an affect on me that wasn’t a Jackson Pollock or another favorite artist of mine Andy Warhol. I guess in “Composition II” I see a part of myself that even though my mind is the abstract drips of a Jackson Pollock on the outside I’m just a simple looking kind of person like Piet Mondrian’s “Composition II in Red, Blue, and Yellow.”