Friday, March 30, 2012

revamps and upgrades

How does one reinvent oneself?
Change the name  and have it reflect something personal about yourself.
You  will be  seeing a more interactive and descriptive page develop here. I have even told  you  something about me. 
I am going to  tell  you more and more as time goes by. My other blogs will also  tell so should you figure out how to  read them. I can see at least  3 more blogs or  pages developing out of some  of the stories I have shared so far. Perhaps one day  all this will become a book that people will want to read and then they  will say, "I knew this guy  Mike- I wonder how he  pulled it all together and made it into this fantastic book."
Well I got to tell you.  You  were here when it happened.
I might have started out mumbling but I am  speaking now and very soon (tomorrow infact) I will began telling you all about life...according to me (mike)!

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Truth be told

Most of the time, I don't know what to talk about here. Truth be told, I really am finding it hard to say much. I think I might rename this blog to something a bit more serious- at least as long as I can hold a straight face that is. Anyway just a couple of thing today.
God is the Universe...what else is there that I cannot fully comprehend other than the Universe?
The fool in me is excited, our day is fast approaching.
Yeah I know that I could say the same thing about understanding women and they me- perhaps its time for me to post the He said, She said poem.....
as long as we are comprehending things or not, I wish...
I wish to go to the festival...
I wish to live in a fairy tale...
I wish I had a smart girlfriend... though I would probably settle for a lot of things.

Well it's time to go back into the woods...

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Sunday morning blues

I got the Sunday morning blogging blues
Cause I have to only my finger and iPhone to use
To update my status to express views
Yes I got the Sunday morning blogging blues!
Autocorrect is changing every key I play or use!

Saturday, March 24, 2012

why you should never blog after dark

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz what was I saying zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Really that is why blogging after dark is never a good idea for me.
Losing a train of thought and dozing off mid sentence does not lead to brilliant blog thoughts.
So, where does that leave us ( and by that I mean assuming that there is an "us" and not me just talking to myself without having to pose in front of the mirror)? Blogging before Noon obviously. but I digress.

So maybe one should not try to blog while listening to Wait, Wait don't tell me while blogging.
except it puts me in a good mood. So the Snookie state is considered the least corrupt state in the union.

writing books, short stories and posting poetry has been a mixed experience that has reaped mostly good/positive results. 1. I am writing more and thinking about writing more.
2. I am reading about the same and yes I hate listening to the radio so half of my "reading" is actually listening to books on tape and CD in the car.
3. getting published is less important than getting it posted.

and there it is. The benefits of avoiding whatever I was going to talk about in the first place and in a way that is better than typing 2 pages and going to sleep and not posting anything.

Friday, March 23, 2012

why at&t is a black hole

Why is At&T a black hole. It sucks and just keeps on sucking.
left town and came back 4 days later to find my dsl modem fried, but no problem since it was just out of warranty so all i had to do was get another one and then when that one wouldn't work get another. Well this one might be the charm, knuckle bite and hope for the bst, seeya tomorrow

Friday, March 16, 2012

I just came across this thing i wrote about 7 years ago

it doesn't fit anywhere else exactly, so its here then.

It begins like this-
“Don’t worry, Honey, I’ll be back in an hour.”
Or
“4:00, yes Mom, I’ll be on time.”
Or
“Okay Linda, I’ll meet you at the plaza at 7:15. I’ll be there so you don’t have to wait.”

To wait, to wait-
That is what happens to all the women we love- be it our girlfriends, wives, mothers, sisters and so on. And they will wait for you; because they love you, believe in you, and because they believe that you love them too.

Now most women will wait all night or at least long enough to feel ridiculous. Most women will believe that her man, brother, son, etc will call at least; but by then it is already too late.

Lost. You have already lost. You have already thrown it all away and what’s worse is that you don’t even know that you have lost. Might never.

Now you look at your situation- that being that you didn’t do what you said you would- and maybe you realize you’re late or something/ someone reminds you about it.
Well, you may resent the fact that she expects you to be there. After all, you deserve your time- your space, right? Wrong.

She is home, concerned about you. Worried if you are okay, fretting about your safety. She will ask herself if she is at fault for your absence. She will think that she has crowded you out, or that you don’t want to be there. She might even think that she isn’t good enough, patient enough, pretty enough, loving enough, and so on…
Who will answer her fears- only the silence and echoes.

Finally you realize that you have to go back and you think that you must provide an alibi or reason for your absence; so, you invent a story.
Now the story is the ultimate accomplishment of MANkind, word or example from fathers to sons or friends to friends has passed the story since time began. The story could be the truth- as far as you are concerned- with embellishments. The story could be an elaboration of the truth or it could be a good old-fashioned lie. There are other types of stories but most men have little imaginations for them.
            The story is conceived usually with help from friends- who will also serve as witnesses and alibi’s if the need arises. You will practice the story, making more embellishments, elaboration’s, and details as you drive back to her. You will trim the story down to rid yourself of the weak points into a concise, easily repeatable story.
Women often call this story “The Big Lie.”

You think the story is great, so did your father and his before him. The “success” of the story comes from the following:
1.      It provides a built-in excuses for future reference- in fact many men use the same story more than once.
2.      It provides a means of misplacing guilt and blame. Many men feel better just by telling it- especially to forums of other men.
3.      Practice makes perfect, so you tell it over and over again to your friends, who will help you iron out the deficiencies in the plot.
4.      It provides leverage if you are late again and you will be- especially if your story is based on work-related subjects.
5.      The story makes you the victim of happenstance or misfortune.

The story is great, “yep” it’s great- a work of sheer genius on the part of men. Except when the story bites you back. What does that mean? It means that most men get caught in their own lies.
Why?
First, most men change their stories and get caught in one of the changes while repeating it. Second, only a few men are good poker players or actors. And lastly, many men believe that women are gullible and at least somewhat stupid.

Guess who looks stupid when the truth comes out?

So, you go back to the woman. Now most men will try to sneak in undetected- in hopes of sleeping the night and approaching it in the morning- wrongly believing that a woman will cool overnight.
Here’s hint- women don’t ever cool overnight. If there is cooling down to be done, it is usually freezing by morning.

Not that many men succeed in sneaking in undetected. Most men get caught in the door. Some men don’t get caught- lucky for them or rather unlucky. What do you think women do in that silence before morning?

Finally the moment of “truth.” Whether it is the next morning or that night, you tell your story.
Most women will let you tell it through the first time. At this point men fall into different categories as to the deliverance of the story. No man has ever proven which type of deliverance is most effective-, as it matters what kind of woman you tell it too- as the survivors will attest. What works on one woman may not work on another.
Anyway here are the types of deliverance:

·         Type I. Men who tell their story through once and wait for the results.
·         Type II. Men who tell their story and then try to blow it off.
·         Type III Men who tell their story and fervently hope it goes unquestioned.
·         Type IV. Men who tell their story, but feel that they let something out, so they tell it again in hopes of catching the error, thereby covering their “ass.”
·         Type V. Men who tell their story and repeat it adding more detail and seeing how far they can push their luck. Testing the waters for future stories.
·         Type VI. Men, who tell their story, wait to get mad and then walkout before getting caught.
·         Type VII. Men who wait to be questioned and then tell their story in the form of answers.
·         Type VIII. Men, who having told their stories, go back on them and confess when questioned or out of fear of being so.
·         Type IX. Men who don’t care to tell their story or tell it and don’t care about getting caught.
I am sure there are other types of deliverances, but they are uncommon and often unapproachable. Men will use time-honored weapons while telling their stories- mixing them in to add flavor, sympathy and hopes of forgiveness from women.
You will add, interject or say:
·         “______ (Name of woman or pet-name), I’m sorry.”
·         “I guess I really screwed up.” guess being optional.
·         “I’m a loser.” This is an instant sympathy weapon.
·         “Can you ever forgive me?” Some men actually mean it.
·         “I love you.” Most used and powerful in arsenal.
·         “This is the last time.” Everyone who believes that stand on your ear!
And occasionally –if the situation warrants:
·         “Well, it wasn’t my fault.”
·         “I would have called but- (insert excuse here, like “I was afraid to wake you up.”)
·         Just blame it all on your friends.

Some women actually believe this crap, some women will make themselves believe it, and some women will try to understand why you feel that you must explain it.
These women will not only take it the first, but the second and the third time.
Some women will trap you in your story.
Some women will nod and say nothing.
Some women will cry.
Some women will be angry.
Some women will be furious and verbal and loud.
Some women will laugh.
Some women will vow never to forgive you- but usually do.
Some women will just sigh and shake their heads.
Most women will let it pass; hoping that it will not become habit.

All women will feel humiliation.

Most women will make peace one way or another for the sake of love, children or the relationship and its security.

Lost, I had said that you had lost at the moment when you did not keep the engagement, commitment, or date. In the real world- if you do this with a doctor or therapist- they probably will be reluctant to reschedule you and might even charge you. If you do it with your job- you probably will not have one for long. But in a relationship, leeway is affordable though much more painful. Not only have you let her down, but also you have hurt her feelings by letting doubt and fear speak your absence. Not only have you told a lie, but also shamed her to her face with it. Now, in order, to forgive you she must make a sacrifice to believe you or your promises.
So, each time you don’t keep your word or commitment, you destroy a little piece of her as well as your relationship. You destroy a piece of her self-esteem with every shame and you can destroy her altogether.

I, as a man, never realized this until now.
No idea of the pain, no suspicion of the shame, no understanding of the humiliation that our actions cause to the ones we love.
No appreciation of what it means to be prompt, considerate and honest with the people that you are most likely to lie to.
Men often consider honor to be their special quality and yet this is a most dishonorable act. It is odd but true that we hurt the ones we love the most.

Therefore, I vow to reform my ways, apologizing my actions to the women I have loved and let down.






Bullying and Suicides

The question is posed: Should bully's be held accountable where their victim commits suicide?

yes, but it largely depends on the extent of the bullying. I was bullied a lot in high school and made fun of but I did not commit suicide. Suicide is not a direct result of bullying. Suicide is a reaction to circumstance. I suspect that if you were to look at the circumstances of suicides where bullying and cyber bullying are concerned you would find that the victims suffer from a lack of support and understanding at home, a lack of a safe place to retreat to, feelings of extreme isolation brought on by environment and social dynamics. It is one thing to get pushed around and another thing to feel as if everyone hates you and there is no out for your situation.
 To hold someone accountable in these circumstances I would need to be convinced that the perpetrator had pushed the victim to this action directly and that there were no other factors that led to the act itself. I suspect it would be very hard to say that the bully was the only one at fault in the circumstances.

today I will be talking about one of my favorite things

THING #1 Movies.
Movies have always been one of the way that I escape my own reality and allow myself to feel things that I don't get to experience or believe will ever happen to me in the life that I have lived so far. One day I will tell you about the things I don't get to feel when I am not watching movies/tv/reading books nor writing them. But today I will tell you about this movie that I trashed on principle in my typical anti-academy fashion then watched the trailer and decided that maybe I am an arrogant ass prone to snap judgments about things I should see for myself.
First let me describe how I rank movies.
1. Does it make me laugh?
2. Does it make me cry?
3. Do I get lost in the action of the movie- am I transported into its reality?
4. Like the Greeks, does it make me feel better about life in general?
5. Would I see it again or will I find other movies like it or with some of the actors in them?
and finally my own Academy award requirement- 2 levels here
6. Will I copy/rip it to my media server?
7. Or is it worthy of being bought on Blu-Ray/DVD and added to my shelf of movies?

I know that you might ask about special effects/coolness/excitement/sex/nudity things that drive many men to the movies. I own and have movies that make this qualification easily but many of them aren't particularly good or great or memorable movies. Yes I like them but I don't love them.
Blu-ray purchases for me represent a significant investment in a film and while I am guilty of buying some Blu-Rays that don't make the list they were more impulse buys and probably will end up being ripped to disc and resold. G.I.Joe is an example of this- I was like WOW that was cool but now I am like Nah, probably not going to commit to watching this by itself again, it's more of a cool movie that falls into a set of action movies than something I will hold out as a great and thus collectible film.

One more thing. Like with my other favorite things, They all get ranked on how they make me feel, not on critical acclaim or how many award and standing ovations they get at the laurel crown logo film festivals they show in the trailers. I appreciate films like that like I appreciate art and music and books but you won't find them on my shelf at home. As far as I am concerned most of the Critics out there are ranking films with little filters that their literary professors decided all good culture should be judged on.

Now lets discuss The Artist.
I first heard about The Artist after the Academy award had been on. Lately I have pretty much despised many of the Academy choices for best picture and other awards since most of my favorite films often don't get noticed or even win any award other than Best EFX or Soundtrack or occasionally cinematography. So I rejected The Artist on principle, then on Facebook I heard via second hand knowledge that my Brother- the "Film-Snob" had made negative comments about the movie so I figured that my Brother- the Film-Snob couldn't be wrong or (gasp) misquoted! Then another friend posted a College Humor short on how the public view the Academy selection process and it was funny. That pretty much cinched it.
I also had never heard anything about the picture before it surfaced. I watch almost every trailer that makes it to the net, there are admittedly several that slip by the trailer sites (Quicktime and Crave/Coming Soon are my major sources). So I made a snap judgement based on no direct information or exposure. The reason I talk about all this is because my movie selection process is in part motivated by this, a general disgust for TV commercial interruptions and the ever rising price of movie tickets never mind the distance it takes to drive to a decent movie theater, dealing with talkers, texters, cell phone jerks and poor sound systems, underlighting, overlighting, commercials at the movies, and uncomfortable seating. AND I no longer eat the concessions at movies (but that is another matter altogether).
So what changed my mind?
I come up from Tennessee to West Virginia around Ashburn/Harpers Ferry to visit my dad and he asks me if I would like to go see a movie and I say sure and I check Fandango and the local offering sucks. And then there it is a single showing of The Artist in a small theater in a nearby town. On impulse I watch the trailer and change my mind. I am a proud and arrogant guy, but I am also honest and can admit when I have been hasty and wrong. So I decide we will go see this rejected movie and I can say honestly I did not regret it from the beginning to the very end.
The Artist is a remarkably fresh movie, its not unique unless you consider that it is one of a kind when considering everything it includes and excludes. It is almost a silent movie, There is about 3-6% of it that has direct sound but the rest is in the silent movie genre/age. It is a modern movie about a bygone era of film-making that in many ways made actors work that much harder to convince people of the roles they portrayed. People can sneer at silent pictures but I would go so far as to say that those people have never played charades. If you have ever played charades, then one can quickly pick those silent movies that were indeed great from the ones that employed conventions to convey action/dialogue and detracted from the artform. This movie goes to lengths to convey the main character as not only a successful movie star but one that was truly a master of his field.
The art of The Artist is discovered in fine (silent) performances by actors who are both well known here and abroad, several of the actors only appear briefly while others go on to prove that they have come a long way from the B-movie beginnings. Perhaps the most obvious example of this is  John Goodman who gives an outstanding and convincing performance as a Hollywoodland producer. There acting is not a stretch for him but the lack of dialogue pushes Goodman to go beyond words and into the conveyance of feelings.
One of the biggest surprises of the movie is that of  Malcolm McDowell  who only appears briefly but what you see of him drove home one of the ideas of the movie that the art of silence is infact truly an art. James Cromwell James Cromwell is another well known actor who has had a variety of roles but here I found he shines more than most of the others I remember seeing him in. What I mean by that, is now that I recognize him, I will be looking up his filmography and backtrack his other movies and see them. For me this is one of the major requirements I have in selecting movies.
Which brings me to the two main characters: Peppy and George, who I must say are naturals to this movie. The dynamic is amazing and I feel transported by their performances into the world they portray. I want to dance like they dance in the movie. I want to feel the emotions they are feeling. In fact I do feel the emotions portrayed. I want to hit Netflix and fill my Queue with other Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo movies
So there you have it, The Artist is a fantastic movie that not only captures a moment in history but the feelings and emotions of the people all without saying almost a single word. Did it make me laugh? of course it did. George and his Dog are very effective comic relief as are various other characters. Did it make me cry? Yes and I was surprised because getting me to cry means that the movie carried me away into its reality. Did I feel Catharsis? Yes, the movie made me feel good and rejuvenated so i think my Greek Ancestors would give the thumbs up on this one. Will I own it? Probably in one form or another. Not sure about Blu-Ray yet, probably have to see it again back down in K-ville. So that's it folks, occassionally i can love what Hollywood says they loved this year.


Thursday, March 15, 2012

today I break at least three rules of what you should never blog about


  1. I don't blog everyday. The hell of it is I would and actually I almost do but (there is always a but) I often get distracted by "real" life like the Daily Show- see it's Jon Stewart's fault that i cannot blog everyday! Was that boring- yeah probably.
  2. Moving on! I am still trying to figure out what "joining the community" means, when I look at the blogging community I have the distinct impression it's like walking into a Barnes & Noble Super store where there are rows and rows of endless blog listings and where do you start if you are not distinctly a categorical blogger? The first blogs to look at on these sites are chosen by people i barely can relate to. Also, it's not like there is a dating service for bloggers, but maybe there should be....
  3. reading about blogging! Want to make money at anything write how to guides telling people how to do what they want to do and what's more how to make money at it. Problogger comes to mind since it loves to blow its own horn. And not because it is not helpful but because it is.
  4. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz purpose zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Got to have a gimmick says the carnie, got to know the territory says the traveling saleman, got to have an angle says the con man, got to know a mark says just about anyone trying to sell anything. Shakespeare says to your own self be true. So I listen to everyone and then I do or I don't like this blog is simply what is streaming out of my mind and through my fingers on this USB Dell keyboard that is in fact not connected to a Dell computer. I have a purpose yes, but it isn't as simple as a category. It is as complex as an onion and sweet as the taste of success although it will probably take an act of the Neuromancer to get any.
  5. maintain quality or like I like to say; second guess myself. There is a time to blog and a time to weep in other words. No wait that might be a song by Dylan and a group of tortoises or monkeys and barnyard birds but I digress. The bottom line is that blogging is being made into a complex art form where less is more and spelling is not anymore sacrosanct than grammar. 
  6. have something to say. Well duh, just hope that what you have to say someone will want to read. The sad truth of the matter was that I didn't really read blogs or other internet literature until I started blogging. I mean there were some site I did read but mostly for work related issues, but actually reading someone's fiction or poetry was pretty much beyond me. It's pathetic but it is also true. How many books in Skyrim or Oblivion did you actually read?
  7. that is because I like the number 7. find a job that makes you happy and one where you will probably not shoot the guy in the cubicle next to you or down the production line or somesuch. Always have something else to do with your time. Blogging is very time consuming especially if you are like me and easily distracted from ranting.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

keeping up

blogging catchup, I am a semi-inconsistent blogger. Just watched THE INVENTION OF LYING and a couple episodes of Mr. Bean and Hogan's Heroes and feeling no pain. The art of absurdity is in and of itself a relief from reality which by my definition of things only as bad as you choose to believe it to be. Life can be hard if you let it, if your brain functions on a fairly normal level and the hallucinogens that you may or may not consume work to your liking. Also a bunch of other variables that do matter much after the third beer or first kiss.
Desire is another thing I like to ramble on about since my life tends to only be filled by the distinct lack of such things like it. I wish.... I wish I could be like the guy in the movie and get Jennifer Garner in spite of the fact that I am not going to. I somehow missed the bus and continue to miss the bus despite the fact that the desire has remained the same since the beginning. Maybe, I should stop lusting after video game women and long for a woman in my immediate surroundings instead like...like... oh well none come to mind. Guess I will go back to Lydia or Lara.
There is always the escape of writing and making my life more heroic and loved as it is now.

Friday, March 2, 2012

PC Repair will eat you alive

PC repair is an all encompassing beast of a job, since you end up spending more hours than you can afford to get paid to get a customers computer back up and running. I just spent 1 and a half days working my PC magic for a new client at the cost of sleep and only made 7 to hours for my 20+ hours effort. An effort that is done on the basis that they will continue to employ me to handle the computer problems and refer me to others so I might actually make $30 an hour for real.
This client got a 4122 (actually the number may have been different now that I just typed it) Stop error and unmountable volume error on their Windows XP Dell System. According to Dell the hard drive was toast, according to initial troubleshooting in Win 7, which included a repetitive request to reformat the primary partition the drive was unreadable. Seagate recovery started to recover files but kept locking up and telling me the best thing to do was remove the drive and sent it to them. (I hope the $99) I spent on the software does pay off. It did recover about 40GB of data before declaring the rest of the drive unreadable. Even Sea tools proved to be unhelpful. In the end it was by putting the drive in a working win 7 system and reloading win 7, that good old chkdsk came to the rescue and partially rebuilt/reparsed the damaged sectors.
I accessed the drive and rescued a majority of the clients files 2 hours before I ran out of time and took it back to them.
Now wasn't that exciting!