Disconnection

Are we becomming disconnected as a culture? I watch as hundreds of people scurry to class, most of them with their iPods on or talking on their cellphones. People no longer talk to each other, especially to strangers. I notice this as someone who is guilty of it myself. How many times have I sat on the bus beside someone with my headphones and completely ignored the person. Oddly enough, my first year at PSU I met a kid, who I never learned his name, at the bus stop. We must have had class in the same building and waited everyday for the bus after class. We would talk for a good twenty minutes and it was something I honestly enjoyed. It would be nice to see more people be friendly and just say hello to the random people beside you, trust me, it cannot hurt. I want everyone to talk to a random person this week, whether it be on the bus, in class, walking on campus/in town, or even in line at the ATM machine.

Hard Candy

I just finished watching the movie Hard Candy, which stars Ellen Page (Kitty Pryde from X3). The movie was fantastic. I do not want to talk about it too much here in fear of ruining it for someone else, but I highly recommend renting it, buying it, or stopping over and viewing it with me sometime. For those of you who have seen it, tell me what you thought.

New Orleans

I wanted to make a few comments about the Saints game, but got sidetracked. It was great to see the city so alive after everything it has been through. Kacie and I have been talking about going somewhere on vacation, and maybe Stef going too. I would like to take a trip down to New Orleans. Last time I was there I was all alone and had a great time, this time I would like to share it with some friends. The people are by far the friendliest I have met in any city, aside from in Jordan/Egypt. If anyone thinks it would be fun to take a trip down sometime, let me know.

Heroes

You have to love the joys of TiVo. I got home at 9:30, watched the Saints/Falcons game, and then watched Heroes without commercials. To begin, I must say I absolutely loved the show. I enjoy that it is starting off a little bit slow in order to let us get to know the characters. I think so far my favorite character is Claire, the Texas chick who can regenerate. Characters like her are always interesting, they can learn to endure so much pain knowing it will heal, but it does not change the fact they still feel the pain. Look at Wolverine, he has no problems letting his skin get burnt off even though it hurts like hell. Also she has that insecurity of being popular and being afraid of becoming a freak. It also does not hurt that she is hot. Speaking of hot, Ali Larter, mmmm. Wonder what her powers are? Does her son have super intelligence? A mom and son duo, could be interesting. I am guessing her powers are some kind of rage, like the Hulk, but without changing into a big monster.

This show does not seem like any comics out there at the moment, but has a feel of Rising Stars. It will be interesting to see if and how the show will try to break from that mold. I only hope they can come up with some different super powers, there are so many things that one can explore, but more writers like to stick with invulnerability, flight, strength, invisibility, and so on.

The next question is who are the evil bad guys? The government, some corporation? Who knows, my guess the government. A group inside the government who does not want to see the next step of evolution occur.

Anyways, I would like people to comment on the episode, do not just say "I liked it!" or what not. Give me your opinions, your predictions. I will try to comment after each episode, as well as after Lost and maybe other shows.

What To TiVo

The weather is getting colder and the leaves are beginning to change colors and I could care less about any of that. What I care about are the premieres of some damn good TV shows, which I will definitely be TiVo-ing (amazing that this "word" can be used as a verb).

1. Lost, October 4th at 9:00 PM on ABC. After finishing season two in about a week, I have decided to not wait for season three to come out on DVD, but instead TiVo it and maybe burn it to disc, who knows. This show blows me away every episode. Maybe I will start a poll each week to see who everyone thinks will beat up Sawyer that week. Let me know...

2. Smallville, September 28th at 8:00 on CW (former WB/UPN). It's a show about Superman, of course I am going to like it. I have to get season five off James though and watch that before starting the new season.

3. Heroes, September 25th at 9:00 on NBC. People get superpowers at random, then we start to learn maybe it was not so random. Sounds good to me. Only thing that bothers me about the idea, is that NBC claims it will be "their" Lost. I just hope that does not mean it is a blatant rip off.

4. Veronica Mars, October 3rd at 9:00 on CW. I have never seen this show, but Wizard Magazine says it is pretty good and they are usually right (the loved Smallville and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and once I started watching them, I was hooked.) Plus, the chick who plays Veronica is really hot, which never hurts to watch.

Well those are the shows I plan to watch, let me know what you will be watching.

The Jesus Papers

Over the summer I read Michael Baigent's new book, The Jesus Papers. He is the guy who wrote Holy Blood, Holy Grail, which helped influence Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code. On the cover of the book he says he has incontrovertible proof of the greatest cover up in Christianity. He goes on throughout the book to tell us all about a set of papers found, which he has seen, written by Jesus. The papers are an explanation of what Jesus means when he claims to be the son of God. He does not mean the physical son, but in spirit, and by following his teachings anyone can be a son of God. That's all well and good, except Baigent does not tell us who has these papers, if anyone has ever translated them, how he knows they are from 34 CE and so on.

His basic thesis leads one to believe that he has the proof, he can show us, but no, we have to trust him on faith. It would be like saying "I have proof of who really killed Kennedy!" And then when you have every one's attention going "Oh, well I heard from this guy that Kennedy was killed by a group of....well let's just say it's a conspiracy!"

The interesting parts of his book though are in the middle. He gives lots of information about the Inquisition and how it never disbanded, but instead kept changing it's name. He also lets us know that the current Pope was the head of the renamed Inquisition. I really cannot remember why he pointed all this out, he kind of loses his train of thought for awhile, the book could have been summed up in ten pages, instead of however long it is. Also, the fun part is his discussion of where Jesus learned his mysticism. He gives a fun insight into what Jesus' early life may have been like, but unfortunately he is not a Biblical scholar, and neither am I, therefore I cannot tell you if some of his conclusions regarding language are extremely far off.

I can tell you this though, it's an entertaining book, but like the Da Vinci Code it is not to be confused as 100% true. Biblical Archaeology Review has a pretty good review of it this month which bashes the book, mainly from it's archaeology points, first being that no papyrus has been found in Jerusalem because of the wet climate. Baigent claims the guy found his papyrus in the basement of an old house.

Has anyone else noticed the high number of fictional and even nonfiction religious books out there? I saw there is a book about Mary Magdalene, I believe it is a work of fiction, plus all sorts of books discussing the Judas gospel. I really have nothing to say about it, just thought I would point it out. Well leave me your comments, tell me how you feel about this kind of stuff. I find it fascinating. Not the books, but the way people read them and either get upset or start to truly believe in what they read.

No More Best Buy Service Plans!

Best Buy Service Plan Sucks

A few weeks ago my mp3 players screen cracked. It was in my bag and i think i set something on it. I took it to Best Buy because when I purchased it, the salesperson convinced me to get the service plan. I remember him saying how if anything happens to it, even if the manufacturer will not fix it, or replace, then best buy would give me money for a new one. It's why I shelled out the extra $50 for the plan. Well, when I went in, the Geek Squad Dude looks at it and says it looked like it had been dropped and that best buy, nor Iriver would fix it or give me a new one. I remember the guy saying if you drop it or whatnot, it would be covered, but in actuality that was a big fat lie. Well, I will no longer be purchasing the stupid service plan for anything else I buy, and I figured I should let the rest of you know too, so you do not waste your money.

Fetus or Feti?

I will never understand why people get so bent out of shape about abortion. Outside my apartment right now are a bunch of guys yelling about how abortion is murder. As they yell, random girls will start fighting with them about it being their body, their choice. I really do not think guys should be out fighting the abortion battle. I am probably in the minority here, but that is okay with me. I see no point in arguing for or against abortion. I will never have one. How can I tell some girl that she is wrong for having one? And lets be honest here for a second, if you are Pro-Choice, and some guy comes up and starts yelling "ABORTION IS MURDER!", does that make you go, "oh, I have been wrong, I will change my beliefs."??? NO, you probably think to yourself, why the hell is this lunatic allowed out in the street? I guess my point is, stop protesting, stop trying to get your message out there. You will not change people's beliefs and you will definitely not motivate me to become involved in either side's campaign.

Well I think I will go back outside and listen some more, or maybe ask them if they have any recipes for a good Fetus pasta...

Smoking Not Evil, Restrictions Are

I recently read James' blog about the proposed smoking ban, and figured I might as well chime in. I agree with James 100%. It's ludicrous to ban smoking from bars. Yeah, it would be nice to come home from the bar one night and not smell like the Marlboro Man, but c'mon, isn't that the fun of the bars? I will not delve deeper into the reasons why because James blog says it all. I would rather discuss something that has been bothering me lately.

As most of you know, lately I have been smoking Blackstone cherry cigars. They are the little cigarillos that KFD smoked. They are made from cherry pipe tobacco, which smells quite heavenly. Many of the downtown bars will not allow me to smoke them, they say it bothers the customers. My problem with that is, if people don't mind smelling Marlboro Reds, then why would they mind the sweet smell of cherry? At the Rathskellar, they told me to smoke them outside, so I complied with their orders. Upon going outside, the bouncer comes over and tells me to stand in the far corner because he does not like the smell of them, while smoking a cigarette.

Have you seen that they are going to edit Tom & Jerry cartoons where they show smoking in a positive or cool manner? Yeah, if Tom tries to impress a girl and lights up a cigarette, that will be edited out, BUT if the evil crime boss cat smokes a cigar then that will be accepted. What kind of world are we living in? Is this 1984? The question is what will be next? Will comic books be forced to not show smoking by the good guys? Can anyone imagine Nick Fury or Wolverine without his cigar? And lets say these parent groups and health advocates finally get their wish, and smoking is banned all together? What will they attack next? You guessed it, A-L-C-O-H-O-L. Can you picture how boring bars will be then? No drinking, no smoking, better not hit on a girl because sex is no longer to be enjoyed. The world as we know it will cease to exist, it will be replaced by a totalitarian society. Don't believe me? Then go ahead, allow it to happen.