In Search of the Almighty Dollar

After being laid off in December, I sat myself down and said "Self" I said, "this is a crossroads. You can choose to let this event define you, or you can choose to define this event and make it work for you." Having never finished my undergraduate studies, I thought this new career flexibility to be the perfect opportunity to complete that goal, and move on to the bigger and better things in life. A new journey began that day.

I frequently had to summon the willpower to not get discouraged daily. I got a severance package and received unemployment compensation, and had a little nest egg in the bank. It wasn't enough to be "funemployed", but it was enough to know I had the bills covered. I started chipping away at the debt that has prevented me from enrolling in school, and at the end of this month, I will have completed this goal, to the tune of over $8,000.

Gone now are my savings. My severance barely skimmed my account on it's way out the door. My paycheck from my part-time customer service job is enough to pay the bills, but not much more. School is coming up, and though financial aid will get me through, I'll need money for things like books, a laptop, food and other ancillary expenses. The job market doesn't look too hopeful, and I need to find some creative revenue streams.

I've been thinking about starting a grassroots fundraising movement, and blogging about the experience. I know, I know. It's so very three years ago. I'm curious, though, about the possibility of something like this becoming viral, and the different directions it could take. Even if it fails and I can only manage a few donations, I feel like I could learn something about the world I live in, and perhaps get a cheap lesson in something I sorely lack; humility.

Is this a good idea? Or am I just shilling for cash and dressing it up as something more noble?

Ready. Set. Popcorn!

For the first summer in a decade, I do not work in the movies. I won't be facing mile long lines at the box office, the smell of popcorn permeating every fiber of clothing I own, or last minute tech support calls from frantic managers who can't seem to figure out how to program the midnight shows. For the first time in my life, I can actually enjoy a summer movie season.

In honor of this first-of-a-lifetime opportunity, I feel the need to share with the masses some of my thoughts on this summer's lineup. Instead of hating the blockbusters and the chaos they bring, I can actually be excited!

What I'll be watching:

First and foremost is Star Trek. JJ Abrams reboots the 40 year old franchise and makes it all shiny with big-ass explosions, insane space battles and sexy actors. Now, while this may sound like a sure-fire hit to most, it scares a Trekkie like me more than a drunk Klingon with a Bat'leth. The Onion, in it's comedic genius, has perfectly summed up my feelings:


Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable'

That being said, Wil Wheaton liked it, so I probably will, too.

Excite-o-meter:
(3.5 comm badges/4)

Terminator Salvation is the next on the list, and it, like Star Trek, challenges a very rigid canon by messing about with the established timeline. I'm not even close to as big a Terminator fan as I am Trek, but I have seen the movies, and for me, Terminator 2: Judgement Day was the finale. T3 was a throwaway piece of garbage, made solely to cash in on fanboyism, and my fear is Salvation will do the same. This time around, the cast is much improved, but nutcase director McG (Charlie's Angels, The O.C.) seems intent on challenging canon. Again, sexy people + big-ass explosions + robots from the fututre usually spells success, but I'm a bit more cautious.

Excite-o-meter:
(2.5 human skulls/4)

It seems tedious at this point to argue the merits of a Pixar flick. Simply stated, everything they do is brilliant. I'll save the witty analysis for the critics; just watch this trailer and tell me you don't want to watch this movie:



Excite-o-meter:
(4 hot air balloons/4)

I never wanted to become a Harry Potter fan. In fact, I was vehemently opposed to it, until the first movie was set to come out in theatres. As a proud member of the film exhibition community, I decided it may be a good idea to get to know the product we'd be selling to the kids of the area, and seeing no harm in quickly reading a children's book, I picked up The Sorcerer's Stone. Lo and behold, I became one of those reprehensible adult fans.
The film series has had to make some clear cut sacrifices toward the source material in favor of runtime (most notable in the rushed pace of 4 - Goblet of Fire) but nonetheless has provided fantastic entertainment with strict regard for canon. HP6 - Half Blood Prince may be the best film adaptation yet, under the helm of the clearly talented David Yates.


Excite-o-meter:
(4 lightning bolt scars/4)

What I'll be skipping:

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen - blasphemy, I know, but I fell asleep and never finished the first one, so why see the sequel?

Angels & Demons - The DaVinci Code made a great weekend beach read. It also made a horrible movie, devoid of the intrigue and mystery of the novel. I wasted two hours with the first one, why waste more with a prequel?

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian - I'll admit, I still haven't seen the first film. A lot of my cinophile friends tell me it's good, clean fun, but Ben Stiller makes me want to stab icepicks into my sensory organs, so I avoid him at all costs. I'll be skipping the carnage and another Night at the Museum.

Don't overlook:


District-9 - A derelict alien craft lands in South Africa, and the governments of Earth quickly contain the alien visitors in an internment camp, called District 9. This mocumentary film takes a detailed look at prejudice from both sides of the coin, and gives us an alien visitor that is neither hostile nor superior. My pick for sleeper hit of the summer.



Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea - Hayao Miyazaki and his Studio Ghibli are famous for making some of the most imaginative and fantastic animated films in history, but have been largely ignored by the American film audience. If you haven't seen the 2003 Best Animated Feature Oscar winner Spirited Away (also by Miyazaki,) go ahead and toss that in your Netflix queue and start getting excited for Ponyo.


Brüno - I've been a fan of Sacha Baron Cohen for a good long time, so the success of Borat was no surprise to me. In his 3rd feature film based on characters he's created (Ali G Indahouse, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan,) Baron Cohen plays Brüno, an extremely flamboyant Austrian fashion journalist. In the same style as Borat, Brüno gets unwitting citizens to betray their own prejudices in front of a camera, and hilarity of course ensues. If you want to laugh until you pee, this is your film.

Recessionomics vs. Conor Oberst

News of the worldwide economic recession is everywhere. In fact, with the exception of Swine Flu and another (potential) Brett Favre comeback, it's the only news out there. I can claim to be a front line victim of the recession, along with many others, having lost my job in December. I made the obvious concessions at first; mobile internet, eating out and elaborate vacations were scrapped for the here and now. I adapted to these changes. I mean, who really needs internet on their phone, after all. Today, however, I came face to face with a moral dilemma due to my current station.

I am a big fan of a lot of indie bands, and one of my all time favorite artists released a new album today. Conor Oberst & the Mystic Valley Band dropped an album called Outer South today, and it's already out on bittorrent trackers. I've been listening to Conor's music (most of which released under the moniker Bright Eyes) for damn near a decade now, and I always buy his albums, usually straight from Saddle Creek's (his indie label) online store. This new album isn't available in the store, so I'd be forced to buy it from a big box or Amazon. As much as I want to support the artist, I don't want 40% of my purchase price to go to overhead.

Can I even justify the purchase at all? I've lived frugally since losing my job, and my new part time gig barely pays the bills, so is a CD that I'm just going to rip to digital worth my $11 investment?

Sad truth is when morals and money clash, money always wins.

I Have Trouble Blogging

I like blogging. I love having the power of self publication. It's amazing that journalism, something that was controlled only by the social elite a few dozen years ago, now rests in the hands of the masses. It's empowering. It's also geeky. I love geeky things, so theoretically I should be blogging every day, twice a day. But I'm not.

I've thought about why it's difficult for me to blog. I've had a few incarnations of blogs under my name, and none of them are ever sustainable. I've come up with a few reasons why:

- I don't want a vanity blog. The people who care about what I'm doing and how I feel already know. The world doesn't need to be involved.
- I have too many interests. My mind flutters about between so many things on a daily basis that I have a hard time focusing it into a sensible and topical post.
- I'm no expert. I am knowledgeable in many areas, due to my varied interests. I love technology. I'm passionate about NFL football. I enjoy movies and television and music. I don't feel I'm much more qualified than the next guy to talk about any of those topics. If I create a blog that includes them all, I'm only interesting to people exactly like me.
- Sometimes I just don't feel like it. I get home from a long day of fixing computers and the last thing I want to do is sit down at my PC and grind out a blog post.

All of these obstacles could be overcome, but the wealthy, self employed blogger is a myth, so is it worth the effort? No, not really. What I think I'll end up doing is shooting out a post when I feel like I have something worth saying, and hope it's interesting enough for people to stick around during the droughts.