The Goods....

Here's a list of things I got for Christmas.

DVD Player from Droib and Bucket
Hat, Gloves and Sled from my Godparents
Best Buy Gift Certificate from my cousin Ashley
Shaun of the Dead, Matrix Reloaded, and MP3 Player from my parents
Some interesting boxer shorts from joe
Stardust from Ben
Some magic and Pirate Boosters from terrence

That's all I can think of right now... it seems like there was more...
Anyway Christmas was great this year. Terrence was home and it wasn't too crazy.

I hope you all had similarly pleasant Christmas's.

Dirty Laundry With Rufus Wainwright

I had this dream last night. My father and I went to go see this play starring a certain R. Wainwright. The play was horrible but it ended with a Rufus song. The play took place at old Notre Dame. There were like 8 people there, one of which was David Kiblinger. We stayed after the play to talk to Rufus. We were nice to him, but he was rude to us. Later Rufus came over to my house to do laundry. He was nice when he was at my house. But he was rude after his shitty play. Go figure.

Christmas is coming up. I need to get presents for my brothers.

I'm listening to the Christmas podcast. I recommend it. I speak with a couple of amazing accents.
http://www.crappyasst.com
Dig it.

Why I didn't like King Kong.

Um... there are some spoilers ahead, or something.

The movie opens with the Great Depression... or maybe it's just a depression. People are living in shacks by the zoo, wading through muddy make-shift streets and alleys, standing in soup lines, stealing food, going to Vaudeville shows! HEY It's a fun time at the old Vaudeville theater! People are dancing, having a good time then BAM! Depression again. Vaudeville's closed. Naomi Watts and her amazing CGI juggling are out of a job, and her friend an elderly gentleman actor desides to move back Chicago, did he I mention he was sort of a father figure? Cause he is... trust us! (us meaning the screenwriters) Yup, life pretty much sucks for Ann Darrow. She can't get a job as a serious actor and has no choice but to work at a burlesque. She can't catch a break.

Enter Carl Denham, played by Jack Black. Is he comic relief? Is he a horrible person that exploits people for his own personal gain? Is he a visionary filmaker who refuses to give up on his dream? YOU DECIDE! We certainly won't tell, we'll just leave it in a sort of awkward middle ground. Carl picks up Ann and takes her aboard his ship leaving for skull island, where he's filming his latest picture.

On the boat we meet Jack Driscoll, played by Adrien Brody. Ann happens to be a fan of Driscoll, who is the screen writer for the movie Denham is making and a playwright of some note. There are some sparks between Driscoll and Ann. They kiss, then the movie is over. Well technically there are two more hours of monkey fighting left after the kiss but that's about it.

The last 2 hours of the movie... maybe even more than that are devoted to character development for Kong. I suppose Phillipa and Pete thought, well since he can't talk, there is no way people will understand that Kong is to be pitied unless we spend TWO HOURS MAKING HIM THE MOST PITIFUL CREATURE IN CINEMA HISTORY! Kong's life sucks. We get it. Aren't there other characters in this story that we could learning about, maybe see grow? "No no," say the screenwriters, " don't you see Kong HELPED Ann, he's a good guy. See, he's not a monster. He's just tortured relentlessly by the creatures of the island, and revered by the Skull island natives for some inexplicable reason... No no... you don't understand... he doesn't want to hurt people... he just wants his friend back! He's a kind creature at heart. It's not his fault that he was gassed and put onstage and exploited then goaded into a rage by the blinding flashes of camera bulbs... don't you see? Kong is the victim here!" REALLY!? You think?!

The thing that really bothers me about this film is the fact that I can't put my finger on why I don't like this movie. The 3 hour running time was a bit much... but I thought that Peter Jackson would make good use of that time. Make a better Kong story. Maybe tell parts of the story that the original left out. I don't know. The one thing that suprised me about this movie is how much I liked Adrien Brody. I really like him in this movie. I thought he was terrific. Naomi Watts was good. She did a lot of screaming. Jack Black was... I didn't like Jack Black in this movie. Why would you cast Jack Black in this movie. His performance was inconsistant... he was good at the parts where he was supposed to be funny... well not really. I don't know. This movie puzzles me.

Jiggity

What is probably the last ever new episode of Monster House was shown last night. It was a pitiful ending to what was a great television show. The show started with a story from Mr. Regis Philbin. The story had something to do with Dean Martin and a steak that was eaten by a dog. Anyway, Regis was congratulating Monster House for renovating the house they fixed up for this particular episode. I think he refered to it as a rest home... maybe he didn't, but he certainly made it seem like Steve and the crew were doing some sort of service project. It turns out that the house they fixed up was that of a former upper class hollywood family, that wasn't upper class any more. They were upper middle class, or maybe just middle upper middle class, but the point is Monster House fixed up the back yard and pool house, that's right a Pool House, of this Mansion for some 75 year old guy, who's dad interviewed Marilyn Monroe on the radio or something... I was insulted. Then the reveal, which will go down in history as the worst reveal ever, was seasoned with "look-alikes" of old movie stars. I put look-alikes in quotes because none of them really looked anything like the celebrity they were supposed to look like. Anyway it was cheesy and forced, and the guy who was supposed to be a young Ronal Reagan just stood on the diving board looking like a jack ass the entire time.

I just watched The Polar Express. It's ok. Some of the people I work with really want to see it. I kind of wanted to see it. I just rented it because my mother was with me at Hastings and she wanted to see it. Hey, those three sentences I wrote are dynamite. Read them out loud a couple times and you will see my literary brilliance. I am a master of words. Don't forget the true meaning of Christmas; Santa. And some presents. But seriously: Santa Claus.

Good jorb

I did nothing today. That is not entirely accurate. I went to mass, came home, played some spellforce, took a nap, bought Ian James a Christmas present, ate at Buckner's with my friends, played celebrity, podcasted. I did nothing constructive today. That's why I like working so much. When I work, I feel like I'm doing something. When I don't work, I feel like I'm wasting time.

Recently I've been thinking about societal concessions and unwritten rules. I tend to not question the written rules, like the ones that ban killing and stealing and stuff, but there's other rules... things that we sort of just take for granted, things like customs and manners. Like saying hello to people you pass that you don't know. Saying God Bless you when people sneeze. Stuff like that. I don't know what I think about that stuff, I've just been more aware of it recently.

There is something inherently dissapointing about Christmas Presents. There is no such thing as the perfect Christmas present. A wrapped one is as close as it gets. A wrapped present could be anything. It could be just what you always wanted, but never thought to ask for. An opened present is finite and flawed. I have my cousin Ian's name for my mom's family's gift exchange. His mom said he wanted some sort of X-Men transformer, so I bought him an X-men transformer. It looks pretty cool on the box, but the toy itself is less than pristine. It's not that I got a defective product, it's just that toy itself is sort of lackluster. I don't know what I'm trying to say here. I love Christmas, I love giving presents.

Um... school is over next week, officially.
Yup

Watching the Simpsons, thinking of food...

Man I'm hungry.

This weekend we, the Essner's, are painting our front room and just generally making it more liveable...livable... I don't know how to spell that word... We're also putting up our Christmas tree.
My goal this weekend is to get as many Christmas presents as possible... get as in purchase not receive...

Someone is trying to sell the second season of the Golden Girls for $40. I just saw an advertisement for it on television. What is this world coming to?

I know I've been tooting this horn a lot lately (tooting...tee hee) but seriously... Arrested Development is, by far, the best television show ever. It continues to make me laugh. Even when I watch episodes I've seen over and over again.

This weekend I need to see Narnia. I would also like to eat Domino's pizza, preferably deep dish... of the beef or bacon variety.

Ok, now I'm going to go to sleep or get something to eat... YOU DECIDE!!!

Christmas Shopping and Plastic Yoda

The title of this post has nothing to with the content. At least, I assume it won't, I haven't written it yet (it meaning the content, not the title). I haven't started my Christmas shopping yet. I'll prolly start on Saturday. Yeah. Saturday. Which reminds me... it reminds me of nothing.

Hey my cousin Nick Essner turns 30 years old this year. That's crazy. I flat out refuse to believe that any of my cousins is that old.

I have no idea what to get the people I have to get presents for. Well... I think I know what to get Ian james Wells. But other than that, I'm drawing a blank.

I'm tired. I'm going to sleep.

I bought some PJ's

Pants are awesome. For those of you not wearing pants now, congratulations.

Scholar bowl tournee tomorrow! I love reading at scholar bowl tournaments. It's so... nostalgic.
Speaking of nostalgia, today while I was driving my route I tried to name as many people from my high school graduating class as I could. I think I came up with about 60 people. Something like that. I was sort of impressed with how many I remembered. I was sort of dissapointed with myself for ones I didn't remember. Biggest moment of shame was Dustin Klipfel. I was in his class every year of grade school and he was like the 58 I remembered. I'm sorry Dustin. You're good people. Paul Tellow, you're also good people, you were number thirteenish, why haven't I seen you for 2 years?

Hey I need to wake up in 5 and a half hours.... Time to watch Arrested Development till I fall asleep!

I'm gonna be honest, I've been listening to a lot of Rufus today

I have no idea why. Rufus's stuff is just so listenable. Um... tomorrow is the first of the month. That means bad things for Commerical Mail services... namely mail and lots of it.

I've watched some of the first season of Arrested Development again. It's so good. The second season is good too, as is the third, but the first season is just ridiculously good. It saddens me that this show is likely to be cancelled. Who isn't watching it? Oh that's right, America.

I thought of an interesting concept for a game. I might propose it to Matthew as an activity for the annual Christmas get together. I rented a David Sedaris a Dave Barry book from the library. I can't really read Mr. Barry any more. I've been spoiled by more subtle humorists (D. Sedaris, Mike Nelson).

Ok. I'm off.