I will be posting something soon

Regarding Wikileaks(assignment)

PAUL IS UP

Paul is up and he seems great. His motor skills are a little slow and his hand eye coordination isn't great, but it's such a great sight to see him talk and make jokes. It's all going to come back to him sooner or later, and it's just awesome to see he is up and about.

Paul Mungarulire update

I'm not certain of his status as of yet, like in details. but the good thing is that he is moving around. he opened his eyes a little, and he was moving his knees. That is always good. I'm not sure what is going to happen, but I am praying for the best. I feel like he's making progress, but i'm not sure. I'm not a doctor. Don't take my word for it, and if you know Paul you know that he's not going to let something like this stop him. He's a fighter and a great person.


Paul you need to wake up buddy, because you still need to pull a Vinny Chase in Hollywood. If he just knew how much people are supporting him and waiting for him to wake up, he would wake up in an instance. Just pray for him, and hope that he makes progress daily. Have a good thanksgiving, and keep Paul in your thoughts and prayers.

I honestly would try to be there all the time, but I don't want to impose on the family, and I need to attend to my own matters which sucks.

Paul Mungarulire

My good friend Paul M is in the hospital right now. He needs our positive thoughts & /or prayers tonight. He's in the ICU at the hospital. The prognosis isn't clear at this point, and he's not conscious.  We are not sure if he is hearing anything people around him are saying, but he might be, and they are operating as if he can hear everything. I will post updates here as I have them.

DUB FX[VIDEOS INCLUDED]

Here are some videos:









-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I urge you to watch all four of those videos. They are all favorites of mine.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dub Fx

The Greatest Musician on the Internet

I came across Dub Fx via facebook. Something popped up on my mini-feed that I thought was something random, and I clicked on the link for the helluva it. It was a link to a youtube video for Dub Fx, Love Someone. Immediatley I was stunned. I've never heard something so pure but at the same time powerful. His type of music made me fall in love with all of his songs.  It astounds me that we can have trash like Justin Bieber, Ke$ha, Soulja Boy, making a crapload of money, and this guy is barely noticed. Dub Fx is an incredible source of entertainment, and the music he makes is incredible.

Some background information on Dub Fx. His real name is Benjamin Stanford and is originally from Austraila. All Dub Fx performs with is a microphone and a board assorted with dubstep equipment. What he basically does is makes live music on the spot by speaking into the microphone, which he can record and loop it. So he can makes beats, choruses, and an assortment of things. He can also manipulate his voice to sound like harmonies and bass lines via his effects pedal on the dub board, and creates music.  This is where most of the appreciation of his music comes from and which makes it so awesome. He does it all live and on the spot. There are many other dubsteppers, but the way he does it feels so original. Maybe it's just me, but I have never seen anything like this.

 I wish I could see him live because it would be like watching Houdini perform the water-tank escape act in the early 1900's. Just pure magic. Another thing that seperates him from other dub-steppers, and other street performers, his is originality. He doesn't repeat the same beat nor does he repeat the same song 5 times an act. His beats sometimes get different, sometimes even for the same songs. And more importantly, he has different songs. They all mean something, and they all sound different, but not too different. It's different to the point where it's fresh, but not to the point where you don't know you're listening to Dub FX.

 This is something you really have to watch to get the full effect. Don't get me wrong the music is awesome, but you will truly appreciate him more if you watch him. Take it from me.

English TIB Essay

I really liked this essay so I thought I would post this up. It's from english.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TIB Essay

I believe being selfish is not a bad thing, because humans are instinctively selfish. But for some reason, selfishness has a negative connotation to it. Being selfish is important, it’s what keeps us alive.  Everything we do is motivated by reward. When I say selfish, what do I mean? I mean putting your own priorities over everyone else’s. I’m selfish and I’ll admit it. I’m selfish because I want the best in every situation, I want to ride shotgun when I’m not driving, I want the biggest slice, and I want the better-looking clothes. Is that really so bad? Everyone feels like that despite how much they deny it. How did I come up with this belief? Ironically, at a religious sermon.

A while back as I was waiting for prayer, with the usual large showing of people on Friday, a man was giving a speech. Usually before prayer, the mosque invites guest speakers to talk about Islam and their personal stories. This one speaker got my attention. He was a tall, skinny, African-American man who spoke with a strong and imposing voice; it would be impossible to not listen. He was talking about charity and good deeds. Just the way he spoke made you want to throw your money in the donation box. As the speech went along, he started to talk about generosity, giving charity, helping your fellow man, and all that jazz. Then he told us that God will reward us for our great deeds. Now let’s be clear, I’ve heard that phrase over a million times, it just never stuck with me.  But for some reason I thought to myself “How selfish!”  The only reason we do good things is to be rewarded for them. That’s why religious people give charity, that’s why we are suppose to “love thy neighbor”; because God approves.  I’m not bashing religion in any sense; selfishness exists outside of religion as well.

I still had the conception that being selfish is a bad thing.  I keep thinking to myself what is the point of being generous if you are doing it for the wrong reasons. When people donate money they should do it to help out those in need, not so they have a ticket into heaven. Then, I started branching out of religion. I realized that a lot of things humans do are selfish, even the minor things like cutting someone off in traffic. Everything we do is for something or for ourselves.

I was driving home from the mosque with my mom. She wasn’t thrilled with this new belief. I told her that I was convinced that nearly everything we do is motivated by our own wants. This can be taken from any example, from the suicidal kid to the philanthropist. The philanthropist may donate money because of his religious beliefs. But, my mother brought up a good argument about people who don’t have a religion. “What motivation is there for atheists to help someone?”

In response to her, if you want to do something you do it because you get something out of, whether it is “God’s approval” or something as small as a nice fuzzy feeling inside. That fuzzy feeling will come from anything. Some people donate to feel good about themselves or want to feel better. There is always the argument that people are just nice. Well sure, they like helping people out, but they are still selfish like everyone else. That person will not help someone if helping someone conflicts with his or her own interest. They can help someone, as long as it doesn’t stop them from achieving what they want to.

It’s a complicated idea that being selfish is not bad. It’s a concept that is hard to wrap your head around. Hell, it was difficult for me to try to understand it. But some people won’t admit that humans are instinctively selfish, no matter how many examples I give them. So that’s not what I am going to do. Rather I’m going to explore selfishness even more and also how it may be a good thing for someone else. This can be seen through an experience I had in 11^th grade.

At this point of my life I started to have more and more doubts about religion, and didn’t have the epiphany on selfishness yet. I was on my way home from school and took the usual route. I got off of I-66 and was glad to be out of that traffic-jammed mess. I approached the red light coming off the highway and saw a tall white homeless lady, covered in dirt and in ragged clothes, standing on the corner. Next to her she had a garbage bag and a shopping cart filled with miscellaneous things. She carried a cardboard sign that read “Homeless and Hungry. Please help!”  I drove away. Day after day, I kept seeing the same lady with the same sign, standing there. The sight kept eating away at me because she kept getting sicker and weaker. Then a few weeks later, I approached the same red light. The lady was gone. I don’t know where she went, and haven’t seen her since that day, don’t know what happened to her. I felt terrible because I knew I could have at least tried to help, but did nothing in the end. The next day I saw a black man with a white t-shirt, jeans, and in crutches, wearing a Washington Redskins hat. He was holding a sign in one hand that said “WARTIME VETERAN, ALWAYS LOYAL” and a cup in the other. I dropped a dollar and a couple of cents into his jar. Suddenly, that feeling that was eating away at me got slightly better.

There was one reason to give that man money. I was on the verge of throwing away religion from my life completely, so religion wasn’t the reason. The reason I did it was because watching that lady deteriorate in front of me daily made me feel so guilty, I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to do something to get that pressure off of me. Giving to that man lightened the load and it help me deal with it. I felt sorry for that man and it made me feel better.  This is applicable to everyone, not only me. How many times have you seen something on the news about kids in Africa starving or the destruction of Haiti? Unless you’re an emotionless human, you will get some emotional response from it. Being selfish is not bad; we are selfish whether we like it or not, and sometimes our selfish actions can help others out. Even though I was thinking purely for myself, I helped that homeless man. Giving to others, or helping others is what keeps the world moving. We learn sharing in kindergarten, and we still need to be using those values today. We don’t share always because we want to; we share sometimes because we have to. In a broader sense, if we do not give to each other, the world will go to shit.

Hopefully you don’t view this as consent to be assholes. This is not what this essay is about. Look at this essay as a different perspective on selfishness. It’s not bad to be selfish, because we are all selfish. We all do things for ourselves or for something. I’m a selfish person. Nearly everything I do is for myself in someway, even if I don’t know it.  Sometimes that can be a good thing. We are all selfish, and this is what I believe.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I got an A on this paper, and it was actually really interesting to write. 

 

Religious Tone of the posts

****Assignment*******

I've been reading "Black Like Me" by John Howard Griffin and just finished reading the Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr. If something is not done to stop the irrational fear of Islam, we are heading straight down the same shitstorm that we faced 60 years ago.

 So about the religious Overtone of my posts...



This is not my fault... entirely. Most people don't like religion or want to hear about religion from an 18 year old, but that is part of my communications work. I am suppose to elaborate on what I believe. Most of my beliefs come from religion and that is what I feel I have to write about.


I hate talking about religion.  Absolutely hate it. Not because I hate religion, but just because of the shit that religion is getting these days. Especially Islam. More and more people are becoming afraid of Islam without rationale, and honestly it's just going to get worse.I'm fearing for Muslims not only in America, but around the world. The ones who aren't blowing themselves up, or the ones are trying to live their lives peacefully and practice their faith.

There is an estimated 1.57 billion Muslims in the world.  That is a lot of people and people who are not the same. It's not only Arabs, but it's Africans, Chinese, English, American, and others. The core beliefs are the same, but the extremities of individuals is so different, that it would be a crime to classify all Muslims as one.

People get tired of hearing this, but the people you see on TV's that are the "Muslims" that supposedly represent Islam, do not represent the Majority. I don't even think they represent 1% of those who think. And those who think like that, are just viruses to the religion and the Islamic community. Those people only represent themselves and their ideas. They don't represent mine. I don't want to kill the Infidels, I want to help people understand our religion without imposing my religion upon you.

But, just like those extremists who don't represent all Muslims, I don't represent moderate Muslims or anyone except for me. These are my beliefs and if someone shares those belief, well that's great. But the point is that I can't speak for him/her.


(If you know me personally, I never talk about religion. So this is kind of new for me, but it is something very dear to my heart as of recentley. I'm worrying more and more of the consequences of being a Muslim in America, and as a citizen of the World. It is fine as of now, but it will get worse. Something needs to be done.)



-
TC

Haven't been posting that much

I've been busy with midterms. My teacher is completely fine with it. I just need to reach a certain quoto by the end of the semester so I'm not that worried about it. Will be posting more after this week is done.

Islam in the Middle East is in a shit-storm

*********Assignment*************


Just because a country is 99% muslim, does not mean you can implement Sharia law.  It's not an Islamic state if everyone there is not following Islam. It's a country where a vast majority is Muslim. That's what I think the Islamic states don't see.You are throwing away that 1% of the population's basic human rights to believe what they want to believe. That is wrong.

First off,  when we think of Shariah Law, we think of the killings, and the stonings, etc. That is not all of it. There are a lot of attributes that you could in fact apply to modern day society which could make it better.

A Shariah government would work great if it was in a country where the population was 100% Muslim and understood the reasonings of Shariah Law. If you acknowledge their is an afterlife and believe in Islam, then and only then does Shariah Law make sense and is applicable.

That is in an ideal world, where people are perfect. In the real world, some countries will never be 100% Muslim.

That is the problem. And those who are 100% currentley, are either a collapsed state (Somalia) or under a tyrannic regime. We see these heinous news stories about women being killed for showing their ankles, or something completely miniscule. That is not Islam. That is the tyranny that has plagued the Middle East and Asia for the last 50 years. That is the tyrants abusing Islam for their own personal gains.

That being said, just because you don't follow Islam, it's not a free pass to do whatever you please. Which is why there is the secular system. It's a universal punishment system that applies to everyone. The problem that many religious extremists(of all religions) see is that the punishments are getting less and less harsh. But that is arbitrary. Someone's idea of harsh may be different than my idea of harsh.

The problem that Islamic states have currently(because we don't know how well or how poor they were in the past or the future) is that they think people cannot think for themselves. Well this is true when people are not educated. Which can be blamed on these states that don't prioritize education first, and have terrible school systems. But, when people are educated they make educated decisions, surprising I know. When you don't educate your people, you end up with uneducated leaders for the future. Additionally, people base everything off of emotion, rather than rationality, and our only voice of reasoning is our common sense(which isn't that reliable). That is the predicament that the Islamic states are currently in.

This is why no one with half a brain who is Muslim, and if by some miracle got elected president; would  implement Shariah law in America. Because rationally it does not make sense. When you force someone to follow your religious code, you are taking away that person's right to make his or her own choices. It's going against everything America stands for.Why haven't we gone back to the guillotine like good ol' medieval England? It's the same rationale. Just because we could have a Muslim leader in the future, does not mean we will be stoning every criminal. Hopefully, we still have the secular system.
 
When you implement Shariah law where everyone is not Muslim, you are throwing away human rights. The most essential part of human rights is the luxury to believe what you believe, do what you want, and think what you think. You can do anything as long as it does not harm others. I can't stress this enough.

Hopefully the situation in the Islamic world works out because it is definitively a system that can work. But the only place it can work is in an Islamic state where everyone is a Muslim. All you need to do is educate everyone. Educate your women, educate your children, and educate your leaders. But for the time being, secular law does work.

The Social Network Review

*****ASSIGNMENT********

Alright, part of my communications homework was to watch The Social Network, a movie about the thing that changed the way we communicate with others. Right off the bat, this isn't that much about Facebook. It plays a key role in it, but the movie is not about Facebook. It's about the character Mark Zuckerberg and the lawsuits against him. The movie is seen through three different viewpoints. Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg), Eduardo Saverin(Andrew Garfield), and the Winklevoss Twins(Armie Hammer).

The movie starts off with Mark Zuckerberg and his girlfriend Erica Albright (Rooney Mara) in a bar talking. The audience gets to see what kind of person Zuckerberg is in the opening minutes during their conversation and the opening credits. Zuckerberg talks about how he is wanting to get into a Final Club, and spouting off about random stuff as well. Erica tries to keep up with him, and then things get a little tense, in a humorous way for the audience. The banter between the two of them was hysterical and then the following scene is literally a minute of him just running through the streets all the way to the Kirkland house(his dorm). The way David Fincher executed these two scenes made me feel a little more comfortable sitting in the theater. The opening sequence could have gone wrong, but it was fresh and executed in a timely manner.

I'm not going to say much about the plot because I don't want to spoil it. Zuckerberg gets dumped by his girlfriend in the first minute, he runs back to his dorm, starts blogging and says some things that shouldn't be said, and then he starts working on a site called facemash.com, not facebook. A site where people can rank two girls side by side. He crashes the server and gets his name spread around the Harvard campus. That's all I can say really before the movie starts getting deeper and deeper. The movie moves pretty quick, talking too much about it will take the freshness out of the movie.


The casting was absolutely perfect. David Fincher, the director, hit the nail right on the head with the casting. No one did terrible at all and all put up magnificent performances. When I came into the movie, I thought it was going to be Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Timberlake making witty cracks at each other. It's not. Andrew Garfield and Armie Hammer steal the show. Not to take away from Eisenberg's or Timberlake's stellar performances.

Speaking of Eisenberg, I can't stress how well he did. His portrayal of Zuckerberg was Oscar-worthy. I've always liked Eisenberg. I loved him in The Squid and the Whale, and I liked him in Adventureland and Zombieland, although he played basically the same character. But, he is not that character in this movie.

Zuckerberg is a guy stuck in his own world. You are going to hate him at times, you are going to laugh with him at times, and you will feel sorry for him at times. He is self-centered, egotistical, and is a very jealous person. He screws a lot of people over. He is basically an anti-hero. You love it when he is a dick, because that is who he is, but wonder if he is wrong when he gets too out of hand. Yet the audience knows that he is troubled, because he has that lifeless look on his face. He is regretful about some of the things he has done, and feels terrible for some of the things he did. You really question his true motives at times. Did he do this, or did he mean to screw him over. Zuckerberg is a tragic anti-hero and the ending really shows you what I mean.

The script is incredible. If Aaron Sorkin doesn't win Best Screenplay in the Oscars, I'll be dissapointed. The timing was nearly perfect throughout the movie. It was smart, witty, charming, and fresh. It was such a great idea and it worked out so well.

This is going to be a big Award winner, I can feel it. 4/4. It was a great movie. The acting was superb, the writing was flawless, and the direcion of the movie was executed perfectly. This isn't so much a movie about Facebook, as it is a movie about the development of a troubled guy and his rise to the top.  I loved this movie and would watch it again if I had the time.


WATCH THIS MOVIE!!!!!

I hate talking about religion

It hurts my head so much.

Anti-Islam

****ASSIGNMENT*********

It's a hot button topic nowadays. Everyone is saying Islam is evil, blah, blah, blah. I don't care about this stuff. But....This scares me. A lot.



Let me start off by saying,

I don't believe that all Muslims are good, nor do I think everyone else is evil. There are a mix of both in every community and area.


In the news recently, there has been a lot of media coverage on Islam due to the Ground Zero Mosque. I don't care how far it is, people are going to have a problem with it no matter what. That is why I'm scared,  that people have a problem with this. Muslims died during 9/11, so I don't see how it was a victory for their families or for those who perished. But the results of these protest have lead to one thing, people now are able to show publicly that they hate Islam. Because honestly it's not about the mosque anymore, it's about hating on Islam.

This scares me. Because soon enough, there are going to be protests that somehow become violent, and innocent people are going to get hurt. It is ridiculous that stuff like this happens.

There is a giant misconception about Islam in America. The general public has this image of the Islamic community in America to be powerful, and can overthrow the U.S laws. The Muslims are planning to implement Sharia law into the United States, and start a terrorist/socialist regime, blah. How can that even happen? There are an estimated 4 million Muslims(cair.com/aboutislam/islambasics.apsx) in America to an estimated 307,006,550 U.S citizens(U.S Census Bureau). Even if all 4 million were citizens, which some are not, that is 1.3% of the entire population. It's going to be hard to overthrow the U.S. 

I have to take a step back. I'm generalizing here. I don't want to become part of the problem. Not everyone thinks like that, but it's much easier to make a point when you generalize. I guess the reason we do think that a whole lot of people think similar is because of the media. News channels need the ratings and nothing gets ratings like instilling fear into the public. The media is definitely part of the problem, but us individuals are also to blame.

Why do we hate each other so much?(Sorry for generalizing) Why do we have a problem with each others beliefs? I don't have the answers. It's not a rhetorical question, seriously. Why are we like this? It honestley puzzles me. It's not just Christians, and not just muslims, it's everyone. Everyone needs to have a say in what other people want to do. When people don't listen to others, discussions escalates to violence, and here is we get all our problems from. Wars come out of this.


(I have an assignment about wars, I'm going to elaborate more on this)


My beliefs:

• I like to think of myself as a humble guy. 
• I like to acknoweldge other people's opinions, analyze them, and give my side. 
• I don't think I'm better than anyone else, and I don't think anyone is better than me.
• I always try to look at the big picture in life, and always strive for more.Whether that be a little tidbit of information, or some extra change in my pocket.
• I don't like wasting time. 
• I try to make everything I do for the sole purpose to better myself, or else I wouldn't do it. 
• This is actually a recent phenomena for me, because before college I never thought like this. I would always waste time doing something stupid. 
• Now, other than playing video games, I strive to do something to help me out. 

Now what does that have to do with Islam... well nothing really, but it was a decent preface of who I am.
My beliefs about Islam may seem pretty non-conventional from an Islamic standpoint. Which is kind of weird to me, because from analyzing the translated text, my current beliefs is what I got out from it.


I think a lot of parents do a bad job of explaining religion and beliefs to their children. Many parents force their children into their religion, and many kids don't understand their religion. They are, and i am using this in the most non-evil sense of the word, brainwashed into the religion. This is scarier to me because some kids blindlessly follow a religion without asking questions, and that is a problem. But some parents force religion and rather than a lifestyle, religion becomes a chore for the kids and the kids don't care.

Now the parents want what's best for their child, and obviously saving your children from hellfire is as good as it gets, but forcing them is not the way you go about it. Nurture your child into religion. Show them why they should believe in what you believe in. That is the thing I noticed with "Muslim" kids. I see, a lot of them act out and go against their "beliefs". The only thing I can assume is that either their parents forced religion down their throats, thus leading them to not be interested, and this is how they rebel. Or they know too little about it to care. That is why I commend atheists for asking questions, obviously I don't agree with them, but still... Job well done.
 
I see religion to be between you, your god, and your community( group of people that believes in what you do.) I think the community part plays a really small part in the equation.  The only one who knows if you are a good person or muslim, is you and God(my belief, not fact).  It shouldn't be an individual's responsibility to impose his or her religion on others. Rather live your life to the best as you can live it, and set an example. Make people interested in your religion because they are genuinley interested, not because you told them to.


*The reason I don't take the community into account as much as you and God, is because you can be whoever you want to be in front of others. The only one who knows you is you and "God". You can be the best Muslim in the world at the mosque, and be the worst person at home. Also, the whole group mentality thing that comes along with the community may influence you and this may or may not be a good thing. That being said, I think it's important to have a genuine interest in others and to guide them down the right path*


I am a Muslim, if for some reason you could not tell. The reason for my belief is kind of weird. I think life is too coincidental for everything to be a coincidence. There are some magnificent things out in the world that humans don't know the answer too, but the thing that intrigues me are the little things. Just these little things that occur spontaneously and somehow drive all our actions one way instead of another. It fascinates me. I just don't think that all these littles thing that occur way to often life are left by chance. Now why this strengthened my belief in Islam and not in another religion,  I don't know. I guess because Islam is all I really know and it makes sense to me.


Islam is a scholarly religion (which can be said really about any religion). That being said peasants can believe in the fundamental values of Islam. Very few can fully comprehend the religion to it's full extent. Which is what some people think they can do. Some people believe they ca I think the majority of Muslims are linear thinkers, those who read and implement their beliefs solely off the literal words of the text. Very few can interpret the Quran and Islam. Sadly, many people think they are smarter than they actually are and try  I am a linear thinker when it comes to Islam because it's dangerous to interpret religion if you are not 100% qualified to do so. That does not only apply to religion, it applies to everything in life. Go ahead and listen, but don't take it to heart. Don't take anyone's word for anything, unless they are qualified to do so. I'm not advising anything here except for common sense, so you can take my word for it.



(Also, I checked in the Quran, there is no secret agenda to take over America.)

Look at this freakin' catch!

Tony Moeaki is looking like Tony Gonzalez





Side note: The Chiefs are looking impressive as hell. They are 3-0 and their defense looks solid and fast. I thought that first game against San Diego was a fluke, but the Chiefs are starting to look like the team in the AFC West. The team is stacked with talent on both the offensive and defensive side. Offense has my favorite rookie this year, Dexter McCluster. Watch out for him. Also watch for Todd Haley to get Coach of the Year nods for this already impressive turnaround.

Anyone know how I can ease my mind?

I'm so pissed off

Bad day...

Today just sucked.

It was raining, which always detracts from the day. I hate it when people say "Isn't it great when it rains?", trying to be funny. NO. It's not great. It's dark outside, everything is wet, you get your shoes dirty, and there is always traffic because people are scared to drive. So we are already off to a bad start.

My first class wasn't that bad, because all I had to do was take some notes. Then English came along, and that wasn't bad until the very end. I end up getting a B- on a paper I thought I rocked. Apparently I do not rock. So that was pretty bad. Not the worse.

Right after English, I have to haul ass to the other side of campus and get ready for my math recitation class. We have weekly quizzes that I thought I was prepared for. NOT! The teacher introduces a brand new topic, and I am caught completely offguard. I'm not a bad math student, so I got half of the stuff down just from common sense.  Then the last 2 questions. I don't know em that well, but I know it well enough to finish the problems. So i turn my paper in and head out the door. I'm not blazing with confidence but I feel I did well.

Then I start talking to one of my classmates about the quiz, he said yea i got infinity for #3, and 0 for #4. I respond with "Don't you mean the opposite?" 
"No, the last problem was the cos problem."

Then it hit me. I switched the answers for the problems. I had all the work down, but put the answers in the wrong place. I wanted to smash my head into the door.

I tried to take my head off of my screw-up, but somehow it kept on popping into my head. I hated today. And I feel terrible. I've never felt this bad in a while.

The Social Network

I actually want to see this movie. It's ridiculous how hyped this movie is getting. It's getting compared to Citizen Kane.

Top 30 movie list

I tried doing a top 20, but it was impossible.


30.Silence of the Lambs
Anthony Hopkins appeared for 16 minutes I think. He also won an Oscar for that performance. That says something.

29. Fargo
This is a great movie. It mixes comedy with suspense. Steve Buscemi and Frances McDormand both give great performances. I love Buscemi

28. The Lion King
It was the first movie I watched and could understand the words. I think I was like 5 when I saw it.

27. Usual Suspects
This movie has the greatest twist ever. The way you just see everything happen is amazing.

26.Gran Torino
I love this movie. It was such a quick film to watch and the premise was so simple. But the symbolism in the movie was pure magic. I loved it.

25. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
This Sergio Leone classic is the end of "The Man With No Name" trilogy. Clint Eastwood was pure magic, but so were his supporting cast.

24.Shawshank Redemption
This movie is a classic. If you have seen this movie, words need not to be spoken.

23. Spartacus
This movie was made in 1960. 1960. This movie is one of the most intense movies I have ever seen. It was almost as fun to watch as Gladiator. But when Kirk Douglas spears that egyptian dude.. that was awesome.

22. Godfather Part I.
I love this movie. I consider it one of the successes in film making history. The reason this is not ranked higher is because I fell asleep during the movie, not becasue of the movie, but becasue I was incredibly tired. I love this movie, but there are more I prefer over it.

21.Godfather Part II
I loved this movie. Way more than the first one.


20. The Untouchables
This is a great movie. Very underrated and not talked about enough. This is an incredible movie. Everyone does a GREAT job acting, from the bottom to the top of the cast list. Robert DeNiro, Kevin Costner, Sean Connery was incredible, and a young Andy Garcia surprised me.

19. American Beauty
This is one of Kevin Spacey's classics. Not many know about this funny movie due to its controversial subject, but i love it. Spacey validated himself with his movie by getting an Oscar, not that he needed to.

18. The Wrestler
The movie has such a simple premise and such a simple story. Nothing was forced down our throats and everything seemed so real. I guess because Rourke was going through something similar.

17. The Big Lebowski
If you are a guy, you love The Big Lebowski. That's it dude.

16.Dirty Dozen
Crazy fun

15. Traffic
I love this movie. I don't know why. Everyone did so well. Micheal Douglas was great and Bencio Del Toro was amazing. I love the guy. He was so good during the 90s.

14. District 9
Such a great movie. Not only was it smart, it was fun as hell to watch. When he gets into that machine at the end. OH OH OH OH. That was crazy.

13. Requiem for A Dream
This one was one of the fucked up movies I was not use to during my beginning days as a movie hobbyist. This was a crazy movie. I have never seen a movie jam their message down the audiences' throat like RfaD.

12.Se7en
Kevin Spacey is god.

11.One Flew over the Cuckoo's nest
I've read the book. I love the movie. I prefer it over the book, not because it is better. But it's so different. But different in a good way, the movie is not narrated by the chief unlike in the book. The story itself works so well. Jack Nicholson's change to insanity is so sad. You really want to kill Ratchet at the end.This is a crazy movie about a crazy guy played by a crazy actor.



10. Inception and Dark Knight and Memento and the Prestige
I kind of cheated, but who cares. I love all of these movies. ALL OF THEM. with a burning passion.
Inception was an incredible movie, evident by the response it got afterwards. Dark Knight was a great superhero movie, but more importantly it was a great crime drama. Memento was one of Christopher Nolan's early work and is a mindfuck. Honestly, if The Prestige came after Inception, Christopher Nolan would be viewed as a god.


9. Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Reservoir Dogs and Inglourious Basterds
These movies were so different, but you can tell that QT had something to do with these movies. Quentin Tarantino may be a freak, but he is one of the greatest creative minds in Hollywood.  All of these movies are incredible. Out of these four movies, RD is my favorite, then PF, then IG, then JB. I absolutely LOVE Reservoir Dogs.


8. Fight Club
One of the cult classics of the 90s. One movie that everyone has seen and one of the greatest quotes of all time. "Welcome to Fight Club. The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is: you DO NOT talk about Fight Club!"

7. City of God
One of the rare gems in cinema history. It's a foreign film about the slums of Rio De Janero. It's an incredible film that I just love watching over and over again.

6. Chinatown
Jack Nicholson is a great actor. He is such a class act and his acting is so unique. He's kind of like Leo DiCaprio. He plays the same guy nearly in every movie, but the way he does it, it makes it fresh. The story is so captivating with a great twist at the end.

5. Raging Bull
Martin Scorsese and Robert DeNiro meet up to create one of DeNiro's, if not the greatest, piece of work ever. I love this movie with all my heart. Bob and Joe Pesci are so good. Like beyond words. DeNiro's commitment to acting is evident as seen through his 60 lb weight gain. And the Jail scene is one of the most emotional scenes I have seen.

4. Taxi Driver
This movie is crazy. Literally crazy. Everytime I watch it, i realize how crazy Travis truly is. His true motives, his attention to detail, it's scary. Robert DeNiro is incredible in this movie.

3 Deer Hunter
I can't believe I almost missed this movie. This movie is an incredible movie. Really solidified Robert DeNiro's legacy. Christopher Walken is actually a great actor. I always saw him as a joke, but the man can act. It's a touching story, that makes you feel for every character in the movie. I love it. Meryl Streep is also very good in the movie.

2. Apocalypse Now
Talk about an epic film. Seriously. Nothing can touch Apocalypse Now. From the beginning to end, there is an eerie tone to the film. When you start watching, you don't know what's going on, you're a little grossed out, but don't know from what. But you keep watching. Martin Sheen is incredible and starts of with a great opening scene. He is so creepy, but it works. Marlon Brando is godlike at the end. The cast is incredible. Francis Ford Copolla proves that he is one of the greatest directors ever.

1. American History X
I love this movie. I love it. I don't care what anyone else says. This is my favorite film of all time. I can safely say that. 1 and 2 are so close, but 1 definitely wins out. Edward Norton puts on the greatest performance I have seen from an actor. Have you seen Edward Norton? He is such a lovable guy, that you can't see him with a swastika across the chest. He is stupid good. Edward Furlong does a great job as Danny Vinyard. No one did a bad job. This, Reservoir Dogs, and Dark Knight are the only films I have on Blu-ray. I would never spend that much on a movie I did not love.

Honorable Mentions:
Kill Bill
Scarface
Donnie Darko
Snatch
Lock, Stock, and Two smoking Barrels
3:10 to Yuma
Unforgiven
Gran Torino



I left out so much movies. I would have done a top 50 but i have no time. Note that I love all these movies. Just because a film is 30, does not mean it's a bad film. Its a great film, and out of all the ones I have seen, it's in the top tier. See all of these films. Note some of them may be out of order due to time constraints, but for the most part pretty much in order. And if a movie is in the top 5, I love it so much. like with all my heart. But Chinatown is crazy good. There are not enough spaces in my top 5.

Top fave actors
10. Bencio Del Toro
9.Russell Crowe
8.Don Cheadle
7.Clint Eastwood
6.Jason Statham
5. Tim Roth
4.Jack Nicholson
3.Brad Pitt
2.Robert DeNiro
1.Edward Norton

Seriousness fail

I tried writing about something serious. But I couldn't. I am so tired, I couldn't process a coherent thought. College is stuffing my schedule with crazy amounts of reading. It's ridiculous. Thank God the weekend is coming.

The Assignment.

Now, I have some clear directions on what is the point of this. I'm suppose to be posting on here at a minimum weekly. I'm suppose to have like a running series, like for example I could do a weekly Fantasy football update, or how my day went, or take questions and answer them,  or etc. I think I might do the Fantasy Football thing or just rant. I guess whatever is on my mind, I'll just write about it.

15 followers!

YES! There was a reason for you to follow on my blog. It was for a grade, and I thank you for that.

Who knows, maybe this thing will grow.

I don't think my teacher knows how blogs work...

I told him it's suppose to be short and precise. I'll try to keep all of them pretty short. Maybe a paragraph or two. Depending on what I'm talking about.

Movies!

My english teacher asked me to talk about one hobby I have. He told me to write on my blog about it. Go in to as much detail as I can.


I love movies. I still remember the first movie I watched when I could put together thoughts, The Lion King. A classic that every kid must have watched when they were little. I re-watched it recently and still love it. I never got the whole symbolism and deeper meaning to the movie then, I just loved it because of that epic scene at the end where Scar and Simba fight in the fire. That was so awesome.

In fact, I didn't start caring about deeper meaning or messages until around 9th grade. That was the first time I saw my first truly "fucked up" movie. American History X. Nothing like some good ol' rape and curb stomping scenes to get the body pumping. I was truly stunned that people made movies like this. But it wasn't the vulgarity of the movie(of course that was something different),  it was the acting, the story, the cinematography, and the overall message. I was so use to watching movies like the Fast and the Furious and Spider man, that I had such a narrow vision on how to watch movies. American History X turned a meaningless waste of time to a full blown out addiction.

I started watching more and more movies as time passed. I don't want to put an exact number, but I can safely say that I have watched over 100-200 movies in the past year or two.  I don't know if that's good or bad, but that it's too much. I watched all types of movies. 1920s-Present, foreign, sci-fi, horror, dramas, etc. I watched anything. I started out with the imdb 250 list, which was a great starting point. If i was going to get into movies, I wouldn't want to start out with shitty ones. I saw the classics like Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Chinatown, 2001:A Space Oddysey, The Godfather 1 and 2, Apocalypse Now, A Clockwork Orange, Full Metal Jacket, Platoon, Rear Window, Psycho, and so many more. All I can say is that these people who directed these movies were freaking geniuses. I have so much respect for people like Martin Scorsese, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, and Frank Coppola. The magic  these people created is amazing.

Also with this insane movie run, I realized why Robert DeNiro, Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, the Sheen family(before charlie went crazy), and Quentin Tarantino were recongized with such praise. I always thought it was people just hyping these people up. It's not. Marlon Brando may have been the greatest actor of all time. I've only seen Godfather I, A streetcar named desire, and on the waterfront. All three great movies.

I'm not living in the DeNiro era either, because despite him still acting, I wasn't alive during his golden years. But I freaking love DeNiro. To me, DeNiro is the greatest actor of all time, bar none. Raging Bull and Taxi Driver are two INCREDIBLE films. I don't know why but for some reason, everytime I watch Taxi Driver, Travis seems creepier and creepier. I think the viewer sees how fucked up he truly is. The ending is so great, when he makes the gun with his fingers, and then "poosh". Gives me chills just thinking about it.
Raging Bull just showed the commitment the guy had. He put on 60lbs for a movie. His acting wasn't too bad either. Got an Oscar. He was great in nearly everything he did. He did Heat, Godfather part II, Goodfellas(great fucking movie), and The Deer Hunter. Jesus christ. I didn't even talk about Deer Hunter? Deer Hunter is an epic of all epic movies. 3hrs and 20 mins, with one of the most chilling scenes ever. Great movie.

I'm dragging on. I'll post my top 10 list of movies and my top 5 favorite actors.

First Blog!

Had to do this for English class. I don't expect much from here. But just follow along, i guess.

-
Tay