How Bout a Vlog?

First a quick Fantasy Football update.

Here are the people who still need to email me at: blogfootball_69@yahoo.com if they want to play fantasy football...

Matt-Man
Bond
NE
Al

If I don’t hear from you guys by Wednesday somebody else gets your spot.


-----


Okay, now for this weeks vlog....

A couple of weeks ago my friend Fortune Cookies from No More Empty Fortune Cookies sent me an email telling me about this book called “The Fourth Turning” and asked if I would like to read it. So, I said yes and she sent it to me. But, she didn’t just send the book, she sent some other goodies too.

So, I decided to do a vlog about it ...



Direct Link


Okay, for those of you who don’t have video, or audio or whatever I will recap the last part. When she sent me the book I told her that I would send it back when I was done with it if she wanted. But, she said not to. Instead, she said I should send it on to another blogger who would like to read it and then they could send it on to someone else and on and on.

I thought that was a brilliant idea. So when I finish reading it, I will post about it and then everyone who thinks they would like to read it can let me know and I’ll hold a drawing (live on video so there isn’t any funny business going on) and send the book on to the person who wins the drawing. Okay?

Look Who I Met Or Look Who Met Me

I was at the Orioles game last Friday, you know, the one where they lost, yeah that one. I was walking to my section where I hear this voice yelling, "Eludius! Eludius! Mr. Eludius!"

I turn my head and I see this man walking toward me. He asks, "Are you the famous blogger, Eludius?"

"Indeed I am" I tell the man. He then pulls out his camera and asks if he can get his picture with me. I said sure. Then I realized that is was Democratic Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-7).

Now, always wanting to be fair and balanced, I agreed to the photo opportunity. Unfortunately, he ran off before I got to ask him a couple questions, such as:

1) if Democrats outnumber Republicans 2:1 in Maryland (that's 33% Republican), why is it that only 12% of Congressmen are Republican? Would it be because of the illegal Gerrymandering of District 2, District 3, and District 4 ?

2) You mentioned that Federal aid to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina was delayed because of racism in the Republican party, despite the government never having rescued any area after a hurricane. Do you stand by this statement? Do you think that Republicans in your district are racists?

3) Why did you vote against making it a crime to kill an unborn fetus while committing another crime? Is it okay to kill an unborn child if you beat up the mother for her wallet?

4) Despite proof that babies can feel pain at this point in their life, why did you vote against the ban on partial birth abortion which allows doctors to rip a baby to shreds?

Unfortunately, my questions will go unanswered. I must say though, that Congressman Cummings was very polite.

Celebrity Interview ...

Has everyone seen the new John McCain ad where you see glimpses of Brittney and Paris? It is his latest lame ad aimed at telling us how horrible Barack Obama is. Nice respectful campaign your running, John Boy.

Anyway, I’m sure he is in no way trying to do the old “OMG the big scary black guy is coming after all the white chicks” thing. He’s got way too much integrity to do something like that. No, what he’s trying to say (and seriously, if you have to explain your ads how effective can they be) is that Obama’s popularity is purely superficial and he is a person of no substance. Just like Brittney and Paris.

Well, I thought it would be a good time to do a little interview with a couple of John McCain’s biggest supporters. And since they support Johnny Mac, you know they are deep, thoughtful, Christian people.

I’m talking about Heidi and Spencer from The Hills, of course.


Me: “Hi-de Heidi!” haha
Heidi: *stares with a confused look on her face*
Me: “Uh .. Hello Heidi, thanks for being here today”
Heidi: “Yeah whatever. Are you sure your important enough to be interviewing me. I’m a pretty big deal ya know.”
Me: “Yeah, it’s cool. I promise. My blog has a big audience.”
Heidi: *smiles and bounces up and down* “I’m so excited!”

Me: “Hellooooo Spencer .. Spencerino ... Spence .. How are things in Spencylvania?” haha
Spence: “Huh? What are saying dude? I’ve never been to Spencylvania. I live in LA dude.”

Me: “HO-Kay ... anyway, let’s just start the interview whaddaya say?”
Heidi: “Totally”
Spence: “Cool”

Me: “So you guys are both big supporters of John McCain?”
H&S: *stare blankly*

Me: “The guy running for President?”
H&S: “Ohhhh .. haha .. absolutely. He’s cool!”

Me: “Why are you supporting him?”

Heidi: “Well, I support John McCain because he is a ... a ... *shows notes to Spencer*
Spencer: *whispers* “Maverick .. you know, like Tom Cruise in ‘Top Gun?’”
Heidi: “RIGHT! He’s a maverick who is in...de..pen..dent of his party. You know that’s important! I go to a lot of parties and it’s important to remember that the person who throws them is NOT responsible for stupid shit people do.”
Spencer: *Nods in agreement*

Me: “Ok. Anything else?”
Heidi: *looks back down at notes* “Well, he is a decent and honest man who served his country in war. I think he was in that Afghanistan place or something.”
Spencer: “You dummy! We’re not fighting in Afghanistan. It’s Pakistan.

Me: “No, we are fighting in Afghanistan, not Pakistan.”
Spencer: “Really?”
Heidi: “HA! Take that! I was right.”
Me: “Well, not about McCain. He didn’t fight in Afghanistan.”
Spencer: “Right! Cause he’s way to old for that. It was like World War I, right?”
Heidi: “Now who’s the dummy? America didn’t fight in WWI.”
Me: “Umm .. yeah we did actually.”
Heidi: “Really? Did we win?”
Me: “Yes we did.”
Heidi: “Yay!”
Spencer: “U-S-A!”

Me: “Anyway, John McCain fought in Vietnam.”
Heidi: “Huh? Where’s that?”
Spencer: “Oh yea .. you know .. that’s where Tila Tequila is from or her family is or whatever.”
Heidi: “How do you know that about that little slut? Hmm??”
Spencer: “Hey, she has a show on the same network with us. I just thought I should know these things.”
Heidi: “You are so dead.”
Spencer: “What?”

Me: “Ok, lets get back on track here. You support McCain because of his heroism in Vietnam, right?”
Heidi: “Right. Oh yea. He was like kidnapped when we was there.”
Spencer: “He wasn’t ‘kidnapped’ he was taken prisoner.”
Heidi: “Same thing. Anyway, he’s like a real badass too. Got kidnapped and then escaped. And, they’re still trying to kidnap him to this day.”
Spencer: “What?”
Heidi: “Didn’t you see that when he was in like Iraq and he was out in public and they had him covered in armor from head to toe. And they had like 100 Marines surrounding him and tanks and helicopters. Those people that he escaped from are still pissed apparently.”
Spencer: “That’s seriously badass there!”
Heidi: “Totally!”

Me: “Right. Well, are there any other reasons why you support McCain?”
Heidi: “No I think we about covered it.”
Spencer: *nods in agreement*

Me: “Okay then. Thanks for your time”
Heidi: “Oh no problem whatsovever. Hey, did you bring a camera? I thought maybe you would want some pics for your blog. I’m pretty popular you know. But, nothing too risqué. I’m totally a Christian and good girl who is totally a better person than LC and Audrina.”


Spencer: *rolls eyes*
Heidi: “What? Oh why don’t you just go find your little Vietnamette chick.”
Spencer: “It’s Vietnamese you idiot.”
Heidi “Whatever. She’s not a real American so nobody cares.”
Spencer: “Yeah, well I bet she can find Vietnam on a map.”
Heidi: “So what? She’s short and I’m a tall blonde with great boobs.”
Spencer: “Yeah, fake boobs. Which you just got so you could be on more gossip sites”
Heidi: “Like you haven’t enjoyed these? Please!”

Spencer: “Oh like you got those for ME! HA!”
Heidi: “Hey I do everything for us. My fame is what keeps us going dude. You know, come to think of your kind of like John McCain.”
Spencer: “A badass who would kick ass in war?”
Heidi: “No. You’re a pussy who could sign up and go now, but won’t.”
Spencer: “Yeah, well I don’t see you signing up.”
Heidi: “They don’t allow girls dummy.”
Spencer: “Whatever.”
Heidi: “Anyway, you’re like John McCain cause he was like nothing much until he dumped his first wife, the cripple, and married a hot chick who had tons of money. See, we’re kind of the same. You’re a nobody who is only a celebrity because your with me and my talent and hotness is what accounts for our fame.”
Spencer: “Yeah, whatever. Your ‘fame’ is pretty much a load of crap.
Everybody loves L.C. way more than you.”

Heidi: “Oh that’s it! You can just stay home when I go to the beach today and you won’t be in any of my gossip pics.”
Spencer: “Yeah, well they’ll all just be like ‘Where’s Spencer? Why isn’t he here?’”
Heidi: “OMG! That’s brilliant!”
Spencer: “What?”
Heidi: “They’ll think we broke up! They’ll be talking about us for weeks! We’ll both be like ‘No comment’ and stuff like that.”
Spencer: “That’s brilliant babe! I love it. Have fun at the beach!”

Me: “Well I’ll be going now. Thanks for the interview.”
Heidi: “Huh? Oh sure whatever. Be sure make to me look hot. Mention my perfect body at some point okay? And how much better of an actress I am than Lauren Conrad. I notice SHE wasn’t invited for any interviews.”
Spencer: “Yeah, it was fun dude!”


Well, there you have it folks. An interview with a couple of John McCain’s smartest and most accomplished supporters. I can see why he used a couple of really vapid, self-absorbed people like Britney and Paris to compare Obama to. Having supporters like Heidi and Spencer is part of what makes McCain so superior.

Great Directors: Bertolucci chews the scenery

***This is the third of five in-depth essays on great directors.***

The Conformist might not be Bernardo Bertolucci’s greatest film (it is in no way my favorite), but it fulfills the essence of what the famous director believes: challenge authority, topple the norm, be subversive at all costs. The incestuous, riot-provoking teens of The Dreamers obliged to this mantra, as did Paul and Jeanne in that steamy apartment in Last Tango in Paris. Even to a certain extent did Lucy Harmon, the tattered soul in search of resolution in one of Bertolucci’s tamer films, Stealing Beauty. His films deal with moral corruption at the basest levels, on levels that are so human and so simple that to even question them is in its own right a subversive act. Notice in The Conformist how Marcello, during his confession, argues with the priest so vehemently the priest must stop and correct him — “You are talking to a priest,” the man of the cloth says. Marcello waves it off, as if no priest will hold his beliefs hostage. He talks about his “carnal sin” and a murder and then rails on the priest when he wants to know more about one and less about the other. “You don’t care that I murdered, only that I never went to confession,” he says. I think this scene is evocative of Bertolucci’s style because confession is a rather simple act, but because his characters deal in truth — or just subverting the truth — a simple confession can turn into a hateful rage fueled by a man’s lust for self-worth, which is maybe why Marcello was a cog in a very large Fascist machine. The confessional scene is also very funny to me: all Marcello had to do was complete a confession for his wife, but he makes it this big argument, this massive revelation of his character. It signals his uncompromising position in the film’s landscape.

Every time I see The Conformist it reminds me more and more of three movies. The first one is Jean-Luc-Godard’s Breathless, which was released a decade earlier. More on the other two later. Breathless, the film that sparked the powder keg called French New Wave, was told utilizing a technique I call Abstraction Interaction: it broke the fourth wall, it featured a staccato composition of jump cuts and other camera trickery, and frequently did nothing at all inside its story — yet nothing at all, of course, is very much something. The Conformist, which is also set in Paris like Breathless, rolled forward (literally, too, as Marcello drives to the assassination) on a series of flashbacks, utilizing a hard-to-follow story structure, allowing room for his characters to vent and mull over their lives. Occasionally the film would jump between points with such sharp precision, and to jarring effect, that it would unseat the viewer inside its time loop. Notice the way Marcello gets out of the car at the beginning and begins walking in the mist and fog. The scene cuts quick to the tree-lined street where Marcello, as a young boy, meets the chauffer. Then back to the mist and fog, and finally back again to the boy and his first homosexual experience. Or notice in the scene when Marcello agrees to go to confession that there is an obvious jump cut, or maybe just a continuity error (which is unlikely). One moment he’s leaning against a wall, the next he’s away from it embracing his wife who is happy he has agreed to talk to a priest. Are we seeing a subjective perspective of Marcello’s life? I think we are and Bertolucci utilizes an almost New Wave-like style to hammer it home.

The other two movies it reminds me greatly of are rather strange comparisons to make: The Godfather and Star Wars, both because they share interior space. Bertolucci gave his Conformist interesting rooms to work in. They’re large spacious halls, marble-lined antechambers, padded green rooms and the claustrophobic professor’s homes. With each, though, they have character. That’s what reminds me of The Godfather, with its large offices and meeting rooms with darkened corners. The settings don’t serve the story so much, but they become great because great things are discussed in them. And even though the characters barely interact with furniture, lamps or fixtures in the room, they are memorable and full of character and personality. That’s the way I feel about The Conformist and its various interiors. There’s also another element, the Fascist element to the interior designs and the architecture. This is what reminds me of Star Wars, which had numerous empire sets designed to look cold and evil, fascist to a certain degree. The echoing chambers of the Ministry of the Interior, the colorless Greek-like insane asylum, the large waiting areas where men with falcons and busts criss-cross the halls … these are rooms that bolster the fascist elements of this film. I find humor in the way George Lucas borrowed camera angles and setups from Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of Will, a film that chronicled Hitler’s ascent to power at Nuremberg in 1934. Maybe Triumph of the Will, through Star Wars and The Conformist, was the film that told us large, stone rooms with high ceilings and cold surfaces made for fascist imagery.

It’s not just the rooms, though, it’s the way Bertolucci and his cinematographer move through them. Some things are framed slightly askew, or completely crooked, while others are just framed in a very unorthodox manner, using Camera Thirds (divide a frame horizontally and vertically into thirds and then center subjects on the intersections of those lines). Watch the blind party — as large a metaphor you can make without venturing into parody — how the camera hangs above people’s heads, making things almost out of frame completely. Then also watch the scene in the park as Marcello’s assassin comrade walk in the park talking to himself; watch as he sits down and the camera pans so the man is behind a tree. Through all these devices, Bertolucci was showing us the shifty perspective of Marcello’s narrative. As a whole I don’t much care for The Conformist, but the details, like the cinematography and the interiors, have always intrigued me. They’ve also shown how subversive Bertolucci can be with his filming style. He really does provoke us to think outside of what we already know and understand.

In Case You Think I Died ...

I didn't.

But my computer did.

Or at least it's in a coma, and at the computer hospital.

I'm told it will recover.

Eventually.

Right now I'm at the library, and the ten-year-old kid beside me is typing 50 times faster than I am. I am planning on doing one of two things:

(1) I'm never again going where anybody will ever see me type again,

or

(2) wait for that kid in the parking lot.

(I favor the second idea. I'm bigger than he is.


In any case, I'll be back in a few more days. (I'm goin' buggy doin' nothin'. I MISS YOU!

JB

HARRY POTTER MANIAAAAAAAA!!!!!

oh my freaking goodnessssss!!!!!

The teaser trailer for the sixth Harry Potter movie is out. I am simply AMAZED that the movie is going to come out this year. But that also means it could be a "rushed movie" for it to come out so soon. I was not the biggest fan of the sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince so I am not sure how I will like the movie. From the trailer, I am already a litte disappointed. I see it may have more focus on Voldermort's story. And I still don't like the new Dumbledore (well he isnt so new anymore). I really need to reread the last couple books to really remember and digest them.

When the last seventh book came out, Pachia and I actually went to one of those crazy Border parties the night before. It was pretty chaotic but a VERRRY interesting experience. But we were dumb enough to forget to pre-order the book so we ended up leaving at 1 am without a book but bought it the next day. As we were leaving, some guys were trying to sell the books outside of Borders, only five dollars higher (how stupid...). We were like "nawwww" but as we were in the car, Pachia said she wished she had asked to at least HOLD the LAST HARRY POTTER BOOK. Haha, good times. I read the seventh book in one night (from 12pm to 6am the next morning). It was pretty intense. I even went jogging after that with two of my friends, that morning, even without the sleep.

I started reading Harry Potter in second grade. My mom went and bought because she saw the big craze on the news so she wanted to know why the big hype. My mom read them also, but she stopped at book four. But I was pretty into them. I wasn't a super crazy fan, but close enough. One Christmas, I got a whole bunch of Harry Potter crap like a Hedwig stuffed owl, board games, a couple tee shirts, all that nerdy stuff. No matter how much my peers thought Harry Potter was "gay" as I got older, I still defended my love for Harry Potter books. I practically grew up alongside Harry, Hermornie, and Ron. They were around the same age as me when I first started reading them. And the movies, oh my goodness. They were more than I could imagine. They were like the perfect reflection of what I imagined while I read the books. I think the first three movies (and books) were the best. I used to reread the Harry Potter series every summer (back in my elementary days), from book one to the latest book.

One summer when the fourth book came out, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (that was a great book!!!), my cousins from Washington were visiting. I think I was in...fourth grade? fifth grade? Well my mom went to Costco with my cousins to go buy the book and grocery shopping, and my mom came back and said that they ran out of books. Well she was actually lying to me (and of course my cousins thought it was soooo funny ;[), and I was very very depressed. I wanted to CRYYYYY!! Well my aunt came later that day (she had just flown in) and she had bought presents for me and my cousins, she bought two Harry Potter books, one for me and one for my cousin! Well later my mother was the one feeling like a FOOOOOOL because she also had bought two Harry Potter books, one for me and one for her. So now I actually have THREE books of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Here are some pictures from the upcoming movie for you to drool over.






Over the years, I have fallen more in love with Ron, Rupert Grint. He is just too cute. I am not big fan of Daniel Radcliffe. He was much cuter when he was younger, but as he got older and his different hairstyles, I always felt a bit "ehhh" about him. But Rupert Grint has always been cute.

I am looking forward to the movies because that is all that is left. No more books, only movies. :( I will be very sad when the Harry Potter chapter of my life is gone. I hate it when a good series comes to an end. I will honestly feel depressed about it for a long time.

---ck.

Are You Ready For Some .....

Foooootballlllllllllllll!?!



Fleaflicker.com won out in the contest to see which site would earn the privilege of hosting our Fantasy Football league. As I was looking around I found lots of really good reviews of this site so I checked it out and decided to go with it. It is also the site that hosts AOL’s fantasy football this season. It has fully customizable leagues, real time scoring and it’s free. That’s enough for me.

So, here’s what you gotta do. The people who said that they wanted to play need to send me an email at ....

Blogfootball_69@yahoo.com

Hehe .. My inner 13 year old added the “69” just for the fun of it.

After everyone emails me I will then send out the link to the league and everyone can sign up. Whatever email you send me should be the email you use when you sign up, so you can use your regular email or just make up one strictly for the league. Just be sure to let me know who you are in your email. Sometimes I get emails from people who don’t identify themselves or their blog when they email and I’m left trying to figure out who they are.

Also .... and this is important .... the email from Fleaflicker might go into your spam folder! It probably will if you use Yahoo. So, you’ll have to move it back over to your inbox and make sure it’s labeled as “not spam!”


The name of the league is: ... Cynical Blog League


Once you get registered and have named your team, you will have to check your email and go back and confirm your email address for Fleaflicker then you can sign back in and this is the page you should get...(click the pics to go to my flickr and see them full sized)


Then you just click on the league name and you will go to this page...


Couple of things here. On that main page when you first sign in you will notice a link for “MOCK DRAFT.” I highly recommend you do this a few times before the live draft, so that you will have an idea of how the live draft will work.

Also, on the League Page you will see that you can click many different tabs including “Scoring Rules” and “League Rules.” Learn ‘em, know ‘em, live ‘em. If you think any of the league rules should be changed or aren’t fair don’t hesitate to email me at the Yahoo email I set up for the league and I’ll take your recommendations under advisement. I changed a lot of the scoring rules already, but if you think they should be changed more let me know. Same goes with the league rules. I find the waiver wire rules a bit complicated so those might get changed if they don’t work well for us. But, I won’t change any rules without first notifying everyone.

The live draft will be on August 21 at 7:30 PM CENTRAL time. That means 8:30 EASTERN, 6:30 MOUNTAIN and 5:30 PACIFIC.

The draft day and time can change if the majority of people need it to. We’ll see how that works out. I like having it late in the pre-season though because I hate having one of my players blow out an ACL in a meaningless game after I’ve drafted him.

If you won’t be able to make it to the draft, then you can just create a draft list (or use the player rankings provided by Fleaflicker) and it will auto-pick for you on draft day.

There are lots and lots of fantasy football guides available on the internet explaining how to play and how to draft and different strategies and all that cool stuff. Also, during the season there are a number of sites that will literally update several times a day keeping track of injured players and players that are moving up or down in the rankings.

On of the best ... and by best I mean hottest ... is Fantasysportsgirl.com


Okay, so maybe there are actually better fantasy sites out there. If you just do some basic searches for fantasy football info you will find oodles and oodles of good stuff.

Maybe some of you guys who have played before can post some links in comments to good sites where people can learn how to play and get some good info?

Anyway, there it is. Fire off an email to me at the address above and I’ll send you the link to the league and we’ll go from there.

42 years old model Liz Hurley

Letizia and Cristiano Ronaldo

Taking full advantage of his time in Los Angeles, Cristiano Ronaldo has been making his rounds over the past week or so. And yesterday he got yet another taste of what celebrity can get you in the US.

As previously reported by the Gossip Girls, the Manchester United stud enjoyed a morning shopping spree at Christian Audigier’s Ed Hardy store, picking up a few items before heading out.

Then he was off to Malibu for a relaxing afternoon in the sun at a private beach house. Mr. Ronaldo was spotted in his bathing suit sans crutches, a sign that his recent ankle surgery is healing quite nicely.

Cristiano was joined at the Malibu beach house by a gaggle of hotties, including his alleged new girlfriend Letizia Filippi. One report claimed that the 30-year-old model snagged the soccer hunk with a “gaze that melted him like an icicle in the sun”.

After cleaning up and getting dressed, Ronaldo indulged his appetite for LA night life with a trip to Eva Longoria’s Beso restaurant, followed by a visit to the Villa Lounge for drinks and partying.

fro-yo crazy.

So my boss wants me to make the website for Red Berry, the place I work at, which happens to be a frozen yogurt joint. I have taken web design and intermediate web design and I have sufficient skills to make a nice website, though I think I lack creativity. Well Min, my friend and co-worker took the photos of our yogurt and the interior of our little place.

So in Sacramento, frozen yogurt has taken storm. But unlike usual places in San Diego or L.A. where frozen yogurt is full service, our frozen yogurt places are usually self-serve. YES YOU DO IT YOURSELF!!! Before working at Red Berry, I had a couple experiences at other yogurt joints but I was not a frequent customer to any particular yogurt place. I liked the idea of doing it yourself but I wasn't a big fan yet. Red Berry opened in late May, by Safeway that is two minutes practically from my home and I applied with Min and we were lucky enough to get a job. Well since I have been working there since practically the opening, I know the business in and out. And I eat yogurt practically every day (when working) and I am addicted/sick of it.

Here are some lovely pictures of our dear place:

Our logo (on the wall)

the machines

area where we have the fresh fruit, mochi, chocolate bars, etc
(YES THEY ARE FRESH, we cut them EVERYDAY)


our cool ikea chairs and our variety of toppings


just some examples of our yogurt.

I am a yogurt connoisseur after working for Red Berry for so long (two months?). I think our yogurt is pretty damn good though. And the variety of toppings leave endless choices to change it up each time. Personally I like granola, mandarin oranges, Nabisco cracker crumbs, thin mint cookie grind and lots of butterscotch and hot fudge sauce with my cheesecake frozen yogurt or cheesecake/cookiesncreme swirl yogurt. IT IS PURE SINFUL HEAVEN! Though I get too caught up in trying too many toppings and it ends up in a crunchy mess, with not enough yogurt to spread it out. But still, it is good either way.

---ck.

Temporary and Permanent ....

Brought to us by the captivating Tink of Pickled Beef. This weeks words are Permanent and Temporary.

Don't forget to clickr for biggr in Flickr!

Both of these drinks provide a bit of temporary relief from the heat...




Heavy rains washed out this low water bridge. I’m sure the damage and the inconvenience are just temporary and they’ll get this fixed soon ....


The levees and all these plaques and a permanent reminder of the Great Flood of 1961 ....




Life is temporary, then you get taken to your permanent resting place ...




Except me of course. I have no intention of being stuck in the ground and just left there. Spread my ashes on the main stage at a strip club or on a nude beach somewhere please. ;-)


Ok, so that was kinda weak this time around. So, here are some pics of the sky I took the other night...







Just for the fun of it I changed the settings on my camera to try to get a much bluer sky. I think it worked. Check it out ...