So...my parents gave me a double bass pedal for Christmas.
Sweet.
However, I've made an interesting discovery...
PLAYING DOUBLE BASS IS FRICKIN' HARD!!!!!!
Seriously. A lot of drummers make it sound pretty simple. Even Lars Ulrich (one of the most overrated drummers on the planet) can do it. But I can't even keep a solid rhythm going.
Obvious conclusion: Those drummers I referred to have a lot of time to practice.
It's times like this that I really wish I was home for more than a couple months a year. Especially now that I have a band.
Incidentally...has anyone listened to the demo yet? Anyone?
Bueller?
Sorry for the...extremely light posting, but I needed a week off.
Anyway, here's my Christmas gift to all SIT readers:
Open thread!!!
Rain. On Christmas.
Rain.
On.
Christmas.
Ah, yes, it's good to be home...
As I mentioned the other day, I recently finished writing my first real screenplay, "Action News." It's for a screenwriting class, so I had to make it...you know...good. The Bob and Joe scripts were just for fun, but this thing...man. I can't believe I pulled it off...
Can you tell by my relative incoherence that I'm ridiculously stressed right now?
Anyway, I'm putting the script on the blog for anyone who's interested. As usual, all feedback is greatly appreciated. I know you don't all have time to read a full-length script, but since I don't really blog much anymore...this should hold you for a while. Those of you who read the preview I posted a couple months ago may be especially interested (wait...did anyone even read that?).
A few notes, as usual:
1. Like I said, this is the real thing. It's written in a style pretty much identical to what Hollywood producers see every day.
2. Unlike the rather silly Bob and Joe series, this is somewhere between tragedy and black (the color, not the ethnicity) comedy.
3. The main story is about media sensationalism, but there's a subtle B-story containing a healthy dose of political satire. I don't think anyone at school has caught it, but it should be obvious to anyone who frequents this site. Hint: One character represents Howard Dean. I'll let you figure out who it is...
4. It's rated R for adult language and some violence (no sex/nudity, though. Sorry).
5. Most of the character names are totally arbitrary, but three main characters (try to figure out which ones!) have symbolic names. I just wanted to point that out because I did a lot of research to come up with them.
6. I think Earl and Harriet Stanford are the best characters I've ever created. You'll understand when you get to page 12.
7. I worked really hard on this, probably at the expense of my political science and philosophy grades, so...seriously, let me know what you think.
Anyway, here it is, in PDF or RTF format:
Check it out, yo.
If you haven't seen this yet, I highly recommend it. The very fact that these morons feel the need to identify themselves and advertise their various causes kind of shoots down the whole selflessness angle.
Hmmm...it reminds me of a song...
It took the entire night...and I had to put everything else on hold...but my script is finished. 97 pages of pure awesome. Expect it to be posted sometime Thursday.
And now, I must reflect on just how screwed I am, since I have a 10 page essay exam due on Friday afternoon that I haven't started writing, and a huge final exam on Friday night that I haven't studied for.
Buh-bye.
I have about 10 pages of philosophy essays and 30-40 pages of a script to write, as well as hundreds of pages of constitutional law to study, so...don't expect a lot of blogging this week.
However, I figured I'd post this meme I've been seeing in various places lately. The responses (if anyone responds) should be interesting...
"Remember the time we..."Please post a comment with a completely fictional memory of you and me. It can be anything you want– good or bad, silly or stupid, believable or not – but it has to be fake.
Let's see what all you loyal minions come up with...
You know the problem with having a lot of work to do? It's not necessarily getting everything done; It's deciding where to start.
Yay, finals week!
In the spirit of the previous post, here's another random thought that I've been carrying around for a while, but never bothered to mention on the blog. I have quite a few of these...
Anyway, I'm sure most of you have noticed that human beings, no matter what they believe, have a tendency to exaggerate. This often leads to people making up reasons to believe one idea or oppose another (something that I touch on in my upcoming script, incidentally).
But think about it...if you have to lie about why you believe something, does it make sense to believe it in the first place? It seems to me that any valid position should have enough factual evidence to support it that you would never need to make up a cover story...although cognitive dissonance probably has a lot to do with it (read the Grand Theory of Leftism for more on that).
I don't know...maybe I'm just rambling.
I'm not going to say what inspired this, because it's really several things, but I have a very simple bit of knowledge that too many people seem to have missed when learning how to make a point. I'm going to put it in all caps to make sure nobody is confused. Ready?
THE FACT THAT SOMEBODY SAID SOMETHING DOESN'T AUTOMATICALLY MAKE THE STATEMENT TRUE.
This pisses me off to no end. I'm tired of people quoting a political/historical/celebrity/etc. figure without any context and expecting everyone to say "oh, okay, you win."
News flash, dumbasses: The purpose of quotations is to provide a basis for your argument, not to actually make the damn argument. If you don't explain why "overused historical quotation #3,942" or "witty slogan misattributed to Benjamin Franklin/Voltaire" or whatever is an accurate statement, you've proven nothing.
That is all.
After the most ridiculously warm summer/fall I can remember, we're finally getting some normal Central New York weather: Snow!!!
To get an idea of just how heavily it's snowing, compare that to the picture in this post, which was taken from about the same angle.
It's amazing...I've been living in the Northeast for almost 21 years, and I'm still fascinated by snow. It's actually one of the reasons I chose to go to Syracuse. There's just something strangely magical about it...
*Goes back to staring out the window*
All right, I know I haven't been posting much, but bear with me. Final exams are coming up and everything...
Just a brief update: My brilliant script is currently on page 58, and it should be finished by sometime next week. I'll be posting it once I've turned in the hard copy next Thursday, so be ready for that. In the meantime...where is everybody? Seriously.
If you're looking for something to read (and you have a lot of free time), this is one of the greatest comment threads in the history of blogging.
Examples:
Dick Cheney takes candy from babies, then later gives it to diabetic babies.
Dick Cheney wipes his ass with scorpions.
Cheney killed the dinosaurs, because that's how you make oil.
Colonel Kurtz's village in Apocalypse Now was loosely based on Dick Cheney's summer home, but with 30% less Hmong tribal warriors and 175% less impaled corpses.
During Dick Cheney’s last heart surgery, the doctors opened his stomach to find a half-digested great white shark. Inside the shark’s belly, they found eleven sea turtles, forty-three pounds of fish, two tires, six and a half feet of rusty chain, and one golf club.
Follow the link for over 600 more (really).
Check out this letter from today's Daily Orange:
Is SU really 'No Place for Hate?'It is absolutely reprehensible that the university would essentially disregard the chancellor's opinion on the bigoted, homophobic and sexist sham of a television station that is HillTV. After numerous student accounts on how they were adversely affected by "Over the Hill's" antics, those concerns were completely dismissed. Chancellor Cantor's stance against HillTV and "Over the Hill" could have been the impetus to social change on campus. To ignore the chancellor's demands to actively embrace the university's colloquialism on "No Place for Hate" is not only disrespectful, but a baffling and a contradictory stance, by those on the HillTV hearing panel. Now, what could have potentially been a drastic change in white supremacy, sexism and homophobia and other ideals of hate on campus has turned out to be nothing more than a university endorsement of such ideals. The decision represents the retrogressive attitudes members of the Syracuse University community have towards a cohesive campus environment for all students, faculty and staff alike. Merely changing the name of the station or allowing a two-month suspension of the station just adds a Band-Aid to an already gaping wound; the history will still be there. The university that proclaims itself as "No place for Hate" should not allow an organization that for months defended members of its organization by saying hateful language was protected by the First Amendment. If it is indeed the case that hateful language is protected by the First Amendment, it is still in direct opposition to the university's diversity compact. Or is the diversity compact, too, just mere rhetoric?
It's like November 3, 2004 all over again!
That's right, cry about it. Fucking oversensitive assholes. If you pompous morons think that exaggerated racial stereotypes, offensive though they may be, qualify as "hate," then you really need to open your eyes and take a look at a little thing called the real world.
And regardless, the fact is that THE VAST MAJORITY OF HILLTV MEMBERS HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH "OVER THE HILL."
But I guess that acknowledging this fact would violate your nice little collectivist world view, where every member of a certain group thinks the same way.
Hmmm...sounds an awful lot like your definition of "hate" to me...WHY ARE YOU OFFENDING ME WITH YOUR BIGOTRY, YOU BIGOTED BIGOTS??!?!!?!!111/?/!!??
Okay, I'm done.