I Saw

I saw Tom Ridge yesterday, near Farragut North Metro station. He’s definitely bigger than he looks on television.

UFO News!

According to Variety there will indeed be a film version of UFO! This news rocks and can only be made better if Gerry Anderson plays a role, perhaps as Executive Producer. If this film is handled well, and is a hit, perhaps a movie version of Space: 1999 will not be far behind.



And if those two wishes pan out, then perhaps Mr. Anderson will get the resources he needs to bring Eternity to the small screen.

Will Someone Please...

give Guillermo his own movie, or at the very least his own television series, he’s hilarious!. Here is again in a Star Trek (I almost typed ‘Star Wars’ ) trailer parody.



This guy is too funny, and still seems relatively shocked that what is happening to him (namely becoming a staple on the Jimmy Kimmel Show), which means that he probably isn’t acting like a dick as his relatively new-found fame rises to his head faster than cheap domestic beer moves through your system.

And while you’re at it Hollywood, consider this lady, whose name happens to be Stephanie Courtney, as well. She seems like she would be just perfect as the ’wacky friend’ on a sitcom.

I Think I Will See 'Wolverine' This Weekend

Call me a glutton for punishment, but I really need to see this for myself. I am going in not expecting too much, so unless it’s Uwe Boll awful then I will probably enjoy it. And as much as I hate to spotlight illegal footage, here’s Wolverine.



Did I write ‘Wolverine?’ I meant ‘Wolberine!’

Final Multimedia Assignment

I just finished my last multimedia assignment for MPJO-781 and Keith Jenkins. I think that it worked really well. It started out as an assignment on homelessness, and evolved somewhat. I am glad that I let it do so, as opposed to sticking rigidly to my original idea. I was really nervous about my use of music, but I think that it doesn’t distract and enhances the impact of project.

Commercial Obsessions

While lately I am not a big television watcher, when I do watch there are things I see that demand a response. The commercial from the Verizon Hub (a communications device that appears to have features that people didn’t even know that they needed) is one of them.

You’ve all probably seen this commercial for the Verizon Hub:



What bothers me most about this commercial is the son’s reaction to paella. Now, I understand that this is a commercial, but at the same time the kid is overplaying the rebellious son card a bit because my mother would have said that if I weren’t eating what she was preparing, I just wouldn’t be eating that night. There would be no pizza in my immediate future; though that is not to say that there were things that I wouldn’t eat.

Head cheese, for example. Too many varied animal parts for my liking. Perhaps if they stuck to just one I could manage to stomach it, but head cheese can contain, feet, tongues and hearts, which sounds more like an anatomy lesson than a meal.

I have also never been a fan of various condiments, such as ketchup (or catsup), because I have never quite understood the logic of it. I mean, aren’t tomatoes good enough for some people? Anywhere you can put ketchup, you can use a tomato, so why bother with a pale substitute?

For awhile I would not eat mayonnaise, though I would eat tuna (which my mom made with tuna, onions, and mayonnaise) so I couldn’t quite find the logic of that particular culinary decision.

Charlie Brown, Lucy and Footballs

Picture 15

I was watching television yesterday, and saw a commercial for MetLife insurance. For some reason the agency that does their advertising seems to have sold them on using the Peanuts characters–Snoopy most prominently–as their spokes characters. I suspect that this was done with the idea of making an insurance company seem less distant, and more accessible to people–most of whom I suspect would rather choose Darth Vader as better representing a large insurance corporation.

Here’s a YouTube clip of the Peanuts shilling for MetLife:




Perhaps the oddest thing about the commercial is that I could see such behavior from Charlie Brown and Snoopy, but Schroeder always seemed somehow above such antics.

The worse things is that, for me, the Peanuts were like comfort food for the brain. Their consistency (let’s be honest. When Charlie Brown finally kicked that football, didn’t your spirits soar as high as it did), is something that’s often missing from our hectic lives today.

As an aside, this is also probably why shows like Law & Order have lasted so long. It’s a reassuring despite the fact that it is a crime show and–essentially–is the same from one episode to the next.

If there was a holiday, there was a Charlie Brown special for it. When Halloween rolled around, so did ‘It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!’

As you ate turkey with your family during Thanksgiving, you probably watched ‘A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.’

Christmastime? Charlie has you covered with ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas.’

Even as a child, one subtly picked up on the fact that Charlie Brown was a bit morose, as well as somewhat of a loser. And as if that weren’t bad enough, his greatest dream, to kick that damn football, was for too many times literally pulled out from underneath him by Lucy van Pelt, who was as close to a nemesis any of the Peanuts gang could claim to have.

I submit as evidence this clip of Lucy, Charlie Brown and the Football, via YouTube:

Part of the charm of the Peanuts is that that they were not on all the time (as much as I liked the characters, I never got into their animated series when I was younger), so they never wore out their welcome like many other cartoons. This made them special.

They remind me of a friend that you see only a few times a year. When they appear you immediately recall the great time you had during their last visit. Strangely enough, because part of you knows that the visit will be relatively short, you take advantage of every moment you have.

Now, while I still enjoy seeing the Peanuts gang, and find the commercials interesting, I am wondering when this friend is going to wear out their welcome.

To Be

Let’s see...how do I begin. How about with my name. It’s Brian, and I am currently attending Graduate school at Georgetown University. I have no idea how I am going to pay my loans, or even if in today’s economically trying times going back to school is the best idea, though there is one thing that I do know.

And that is what would happen if I didn’t.

Which is that I would become a zombie, of sorts. I would shamble to work everyday, even enjoying myself for the most part, though I would not be truly content because I would see myself, in the distance of time, exactly where I am right now.

“Got no future, got no past. Here today, built to last.”
West End Boys, The Pet Shop Boys

It’s a terrible thing to see such a bleak vision of a possible future, never mind having to live with it like an old, too familiar friend.

Now, despite going to school, I could end up in the same place I am now, though it would be different in that at least I made the effort to learn new skills, and to better myself.

It’s not much, but sometimes you have to take whatever you can get.

Though that is not to say that I am implying that there is anything wrong with working for a living; but a job has to offer more than just a wage. Ideally there should be opportunities for growth, challenge, and advancement.

And it’s a major plus if you can find the job that enriches the soul while delivering those other very necessary things.

At my current job, before I moved on to a new position, that’s what I felt.

Now things are better, though I don’t think that it will last forever (I don’t like to use that phrase because the last time that I checked no one lived forever) so I have to prepare the groundwork for moving on.

It may not be today, it may not be tomorrow, but it will have to be.