Monday, June 27, 2005
Stuff I have to do
1. Mow the Lawn
2. Fill out my fafsa thing
3. Get my class E drivers license (I can't spell that word)
4. Get the Caprice's belts checked out
5. Get Bucket's birthday present
Here is a list of things I'd like to do
1. Fix up that old electric guitar
2. Get new glasses
This weekend was pretty spiffy. I hung out with Pete and Steve Friday night/saturday. I really like Cairo. It's nifty. I got to hang out with my brothers. Joe is a tool, but that's how it goes... I have a lot of fun when my brothers are around. Wow... I'm writing like a 7 grader. I'm not going to bitch about how much work is going to suck this week, cause if you're reading this, then chances are that you're one of the people i would've already complained about how much work is going to suck this week to.
Anyway, I think I'm going to read some Order of the Phoenix now.
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Matt Essner: Comic Book Geek
The End
Not really, but it is the end if you haven't seen Batman Begins. If you haven't seen the movie, stop what you're doing. No go and see it. For those of you that have seen it, here are some of my reactions.
SWEET FUCKING FUCK!
That movie was amazing. FUCK! I'm speechless. Better than the other Batman movies, definately, best superhero movie, without a doubt, best comic book movie, very probably. This movie beat the crap out of X2 and Sin City. Ok let's break it down. The cast. Damn. Fuck. Damn.
I'm reduced to curse words.
Ok I'll start with the weak points. The costume isn't all that great. It seems bulky and difficult to move in, but you wouldn't know it from the action sequences. To some extent, the movie isn't as good when Batman is on screen. Actually a better way to say it is Christian Bale is much better at playing Bruce Wayne than Batman. He plays both roles, however, better than anyone else who's tried before him. Why do super hero movies always have to turn into lessons in ethics. remedial ethics, with superheroes as the teachers. There might be more, but after one viewing....
ok the good stuff. They decided to make Gotham a place. It's not just a series of banks, warehouses, Arkham and the police station. It's a real city.
The cast is amazing. It's good on paper, it's mindblowing on film. Liam Neeson is as Liam Neeson always is, his performance always lends so much credibilty and realism to whatever he is in. Morgan Freeman is one of the finest actors of his generation. He makes movies better by being involved. He can do Kevin Costner movies and still be one of the most respected actors in Hollywood. Micheal Caine plays Alfred as well as he's played any role he's ever played. Ken Watanabe's performance is subtle, and entirely appropriate for his role. Cillian Murphy is the best actor I've never seen before. Christian Bale delivers. Gary Oldman should be in every movie (especially ones of a pornographic nature) he's that good.
I really liked this movie because it's everything a Batman movie should be. People who go to this movie expecting something other than a Batman movie, are going to be dissapointed.
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
So I watched Dr. Strangelove...
What else, what else. I'm going to see Batman Begins tomorrow. Woo hoo? It's the comic book movie for the summer. I remember a time where there was a comic book movie that came out like once every two years maybe. Nowadays we've got at least one a season. That's not necessarily good, in fact it's usually bad, but every once in a while you get a gem like Sin City. Hopefully Batman Begins will be good. Fantastic Four is going to blow.
Monday, June 13, 2005
WHY!?
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Not just another entry about work and stuff
Ok here's some interesting facts about me. Some people have internal monolouges, wherein they examine things in a rherotical, intenal way. Although I have those sometimes, I am more prone to external dialouges. When I want to examine a line of thought I have, I speak out loud, to myself. I don't just say something, then reply though, not at all. I will say something, propose an idea or theory, then reply in a scottish accent. That way I appear twice as crazy. Actually I don't know why I do that. I discussed that with myself last night. The weird thing is, is that the Scottish me doesn't always play the same part in the dicussion, like sometimes I be the pro and scottish me will be the con, than halfway through the argument we switch posisitions. Anyway I usually only do this when I'm commuting somewhere, like last night, when I was riding my bike home from work.
During the course of said ride I determined that I have a crush on someone. This is a rather infrequent occurence for the sole reason that I do my best to prevent such situations from arising. I suppose that is a foolish thing attempt to do, because in my experience a crush is something that occurs without any sort of warning. It just sort of happens. Trying to prevent a crush is like trying to prevent the wind. You can go places where you can't feel it, but it's still there. Maybe that was a bad analogy. Maybe it wasn't, that's not for me to say. Anyway, I spent the majority of my ride home discussing the nature of crushes. Is it rational to have a crush? I decided that it is not inherently irrational to have a crush (but I think mine is somewhat irrational), just like no emotion is inherently irrational...well actually that's not true. Love is irrational...probably hate as well...but most emotions are rational or not irrational by their very nature. What is a crush? This one I never answered to my, or my scottish accented self's satisfaction. We both agreed on things that a crush is not, but had a hard time defining what a crush is. By the time I got home I was too tired to care, but I brought it up again on the way to work this afternoon. My scottish voice brought his irish and english friends and they also had no idea, nor did the australian voice that sometimes makes an appearence in these conversations. None of them showed up on the way home from work. I think we'll just agree that "a crush" is something that is best defined without words, and leave it at that. Ok, so now I'm going to tell you who I have a crush on, but you have to promise to not make fun of me. Zooey Deschanel. Yes, that Zooey Deschanel. This is why I think my crush is somewhat irrational. I have never met Zooey Deschanel, I will probably never meet Zooey Deschanel, I have only seen her in movies, and yet I find she enters my thoughts without me requesting access to any Zooey Deschanel information, which is why someone would normally enter my thoughts (that last part was implicit, but I seem to have a problem with explicit vs implicit meanings). I will be contemplating something or thinking of a story, and all of a sudden I am presented with a situation where I run into Zooey Deschanel at a book store or a gorcery store or a record store (why is retail always involved... that is a question for another time) and I must come up with something witty and charming, yet sincere and earnest to say in order to impress Zooey Deschanel. In order to demonstrate the dillusional qualities of this feeling I have, before I comitted Zooey Deschanel's name to my blog, I looked it up on IMDB to make sure I spelled it correctly, because I believe there is a chance that Zooey Deschanel could be reading this. She could google her name or something and find my blog, read this post and e-mail a polite note saying hello. Also, several sentences ago I said " I will probably never meet Zooey Deschanel" that was going to read "I will never meet Zooey Deschanel" but I didn't have the heart to type it. Surely this is some sort of madness.
Saturday, June 04, 2005
Fanfiction
Tomorrow night is the reading for the latest competition. The topic is "Firefly". I've started mine, I know what I want it to be about, I just haven't sat down to finish it yet. I'm not a very good or dilligent writer.
I saw episode 3 for the third time today. It's a fun movie, and it's a good excuse to hang out with Bob. I remember when Bob and I first watched a Star Wars movie. I think we watched Return of the Jedi first. That used to be my favorite of the Original Trilogy, was I ever that young? Anyway, Bob and I have devoted a sizable portion of our lives to Star Wars, we used to have Star Wars campaigns with our action figures, we'd play the Star Wars video games, read Star Wars books. We really like Star Wars. Recently though, we've been reinvisioning the entire series. Tonight we worked up an outline for what the movies would be like if we made them. We came up with a mythology/theology/origin for the Star Wars Galaxy. It's pretty cool. Our Star Wars movies would not have cheesy blind wipes, in fact there would be no Powerpoint editing at all in our movies. There would be nine of them, and they'd all rule.
Oh yeah, work was a bitch last week. My machine died, and Pat is on vacation. Other Pat is kind of slow, so I'm picking up a little bit of slack. Not much, cause I suck at running Pat's machine. It's a piece. My machine ran anything. It was a real trooper. Pat's machine is a total bitch and I hate it. The End.
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Attack of the Clones
Yesterday was Memorial Day. I didn't have to work. That was nice. I will today though. No one told me when to come in today though... I'm afraid I'll be awoken at like 10 by a call from Earl asking me to come in. Such is life. YAY capitalism.
I want to be excited about Magic again. I think I will be by the time the Draft occurs. Magic is fun. I don't play it as much anymore, but I still enjoy it.
It is becoming harder and harder to resist reading Serenity spoilers. Everytime I go to Aint it cool news, there is a new review/spoiler up. Curses.
Damn it. I think Doughty is this weekend. I'll really have to not spend any money if I want to be a guitar and go see Doughty. Maybe this will be another really busy work week so I can obtain large amounts of money. I'll go to Shivelbines tomorrow or something and check prices... or something.
Goodnight, sweet blog.
Oh yeah, Attack of the Clones is a good movie. Not original Trilogy good, but I certainly enjoyed the majority of the movie upon my most recent viewing of it.
Monday, May 30, 2005
Memorial Day and Stuff
Tonight me and the boys played some Risk, Clone Wars Style! It was fun. Bucket and I lost horribly the first game, and the second game we schooled Matthew and Droid in a considerable fashion, even with my lapses in attention.
Episode 3 is better the second time around. Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy continues to be excellent well into the fourth viewing. I saw both movies with my brother Ben Jamin James this weekend, he enjoyed them both as well.
Tomorrow I play golf with my family. It should be an event.
In other news Pete said he wants us to write some songs and stuff. Jolly Good I say! I'm greatly looking forward to that happening. Though Spaeth and Matthew are most agreeable to write songs with, having another "musician" to help with the accompaniment will be grand. Grand I say.
PS: Speaking of Wissinger's I feel like I never do anything with Steve. Not that I don't like doing stuff with Pete, but both Wissingers are my good friends and it seems like when I'm going flying solo with one of them it's Petis. Maybe Steve secretely hates me... He did have several classes with Mr. Adam Cox. Hmmm... Could he have been corrupted by the VS. This will require some pondering...and perhaps a call to Mr. D Weinkauf.
PPS: I think I am going to start using more aeronautical metaphors in polite conservation. 10-4. Wings. Rudder?
Thursday, May 26, 2005
It begins...
The first is for my Tactics TV series. Live action, action/dramady. Ramnza beats ass, Mustadio shoots stuff and is funny, Agrias is Ramnza's love interest, filling out the primary cast are Rafa and Malak, Heaven and Hell knights disguised as a dancer and a bard. I'm trying to figure out if they're going to be brother and sister or husband and wife... how about both! I think they could just be good friends. Worker 8 will make an appearance toward the end of the first season, as will Cloud in a very special and forshadowy episode. There will be a hardcore battle of the bands episode with Rafa and Malak, light an acutal battle of the bands. The pilot will cover pretty much the first chapter of the game semi-closely, after that I'll be taking many a liberty with the story. Agrias isn't going to be in every episode. She's actually on the opposing side of the conflict Ramnza is involved in which has somethign to do with Delita and Ramnza's bastard brother Assbag... I mean Zalbag (he's such a dick).
The second idea
This started as an idea for a graphic novel or movie called "Three Days in Hell", it was about what Jesus did after he was crucified. It wasn't Sunday School stuff, it was interesting and not preachy. Anyway, I took a sort of side plot from that story and thought, hey I could make a series around it. Here's the premise: Suppose that all the mythological creatures/gods/heroes/monsters actually existed. They all were real, but then the one God came and exerted control on them all, the God, being God. Anyway, so God didn't just kill or dispose the others, he put them in Eden which is sort of like purgatory... it's complicated... Anyway that stuff isn't really that important because the meat of the series is Gaberiel and Micheal, the Archangels, going around and beating ass. Capturing escaped deities that flee into the real world or whatever. It would be set, for the most part in a contemporary setting, but would often involve flashbacks to earlier battles. It's really cool in my head. I'm sorry it sucks toast in words.
Idea three
Halloween game 2005. I started writing it today. It's going to be really good...hopefully. I still don't know who will be playing it. I do have a tentative cast list though. I haven't officially talked to anyone yet, but here's a little spoiler for y'all: Pete Wiss as Fr. Tom Shuler. That's all I will say on that matter... for now.
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Josh leaves. I'm still watching Firefly.
Yesterday was the my second ever 8 hour day at Commercial Mail services. I prefer the 8 hour days that end at 8 to the ones that end at 10. I got to ride along on Adam's route. It was very educational. Adam is quite the philosopher in his own right. He also has very interesting insights into the opposite sex. I don't know if they are accurate, but they are certainly interesting. Anyway, Adam is a good person to know, and I'm glad I work with him.
I hope I get to see Jimmy again before he leaves to go both to NYC. I don't feel like we got to hang out much on Saturday when he came by.
Ummm...what else. My car has brakes now. That's pretty tasty. Tomorrow's wednesday (actually today is wednesday, but who's counting), all my friends are bowling. Maybe I'll go see Episode 3 again with Bob.
Night.
Monday, May 23, 2005
The Cat
Tonight I took Ben up to St. Louis, then came home. It was fun. My cousin Josh and my good friend Justin Spaeth accompanied me and it was a most enjoyable trip. We listened to some nice tunes, talked some philosophy, just generally hung out. I don't hang out with Josh as much as I should. We'll hang out for like a week, then go six months without seeing each other. It probably has something to do with the fact that he lives in Indiana, and I live in Cape.
This week I'm going to look for another job. Maybe something where I'd just work weekends or something. Yeah. Weekends. Nice.
So I was at my cousins' graduation party this evening, and my cousin Aaron Jofuss Essner came up to me and said, "I saw your Heggeman's blog song. It was pretty neat, I couldn't understand it though." That was wild. (Plus I think it was a diss on Matthew cause he was the one singing, BURN!)
Thursday, May 19, 2005
Jar Jar is the Key
So when I say I'm going to post something later that day, or the next day, I don't. That's what happens. I say I'm going to post, then I don't. It's a little game I play. A game that only I win! MU ha ha ha!
Ben should be coming home tonight. He's coming home with my grandparents, who are up in St. Louis for my cousin Domo's birthday.
So I started this post about a half an hour ago, then I started looking at the Decemberists site. Then I went to take a shower, then I was like, oh yeah, I was bloggin. I tried watching Magnolia, but I'm too damn tired to watch it now. I got like five and a half hours of sleep last night. When Pete and/or (I'm not supposed to use the phrase "and/or" cause in logic "or" is inclusive so and/or is a redundant clause) Steve spend the night I usually don't get much sleep. We watched some Firefly. I'm really obsessed with that show now. THANK'S A LOT WISSINGERS! That was meant to be sincere. Maybe I shouldn't have put it in caps. Thanks a lot Wissingers! There, that's better.
I feel like I'm not really living up to my part of the music/movie/tv/book sharing with Pete and Steve. In the past month they've introduced me to a really great band and a really great, and really cancelled, TV show. The only new music I've really picked up recently is a certain Mr. Wainwright. The only new TV show I've watched is an old British nostalgia piece about pre-war country vetenarians. Maybe I should be more adventurous with my music finding.
Jimmy should be coming into town sometime soon. I'm not really sure when though. I should check the e-mail he sent me. I think I'll do that now and post this.
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
A list of things that are on my desk.
1. One desk of well shuffled playing cards; they've never been used to play cards, just for shuffling
2. Guitar Picks; 1 yellow, 3 black (the same color black as the top of my desk so they blend in and I can't see them), 1 white Thumb pick
3. The St. Benedict cross that my mom got me that I don't wear cause it hurts my neck.
4. Two Speakers.
5. A Rather large stack of CD's; Some games, some music, some data
6. Pikachu clock
7. Cup full of pens, knives, and a pezz dispenser
8. The white phone
9. A travel bottle of shampoo
10. Some pennies
11. Buddy Christ
12. A monitor
13. The One Ring.
There's other stuff too.
Today's my birthday. It's been a pretty good day so far. Joe is going to drink for me today, so I don't have to.
I've been thinking a lot about my ensemble cast fantadromedy tv show. It's based on Final Fantasy Tactics. I think about it when I want to think about something pleasant, which is fairly often. One of the things I enjoy about my job is the fact that it doesn't require too terribly much of me mentally. So I can go into my little writing room and my brain and write episodes for the show. I have a couple already planned out. The last episode of the first season is written in a way such that, if the show gets canceled, the ending would be appropriate as a series finally, which I like.
I think I'll write some more tonight. Matthew accused me of never posting anything. I'll show him. It is officially on.
Sunday, May 15, 2005
Here's a post for today.
I'm trying to find music to accompany my melancholy mood. It's not working.
One day, when I'm feeling like typing a whole bunch, I'll fill you in on my feeling towards fame and fandom. Right now, I'm going to bed. I have to go to a family reunion later, I figure I'll need sleep.
Here's a post I wrote for Thursday. My internet wasn't working. Here it is. I'm afraid it's not as relevant as it once was. I apologize.
I saw Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy for the third time tonight. It's still awesome. I saw it with Pete and Brendan. They both enjoyed it.
In other, more interesting news, I'm into a new band. They're called the Decemberists. They are fairly good. They came to my attention via Pete Wissinger/Steve Wissinger via David "Kibbles" Kiblinger. This band is the latest in a long line of great bands recommended to me by the Wissinger duo; which includes but is not limited to Guster, Ben Kweller, Mike Doughty, The post trippy Beatle's music, and they are also responsible, though indirectly, for my Rufus Wainwright fascination.
To comment on this phenomona and whatever else he feels like is guest blogger Pete Wiss.
People say that they dont like Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy are either a) illiterate, or b) too loaded in the ass with jizz to enjoy much of anything....yeah...
The Decemberists deserve your attention...unfortunately, if you live in the armpit called
So Vin Deisel is gay...roll that one around in your head for a while...gross...and you thought he sucked before you knew he was a fudgepacker...hahaha
mandolins...yes or no? I say yesyesyes
Either Way...best song ever...if you get tired of that, go for rainy day...wow....so amazing...like a shit filled doughnut
if you want more of me, find my blog...i will give you one clue...my name is Pete Wissinger...good luck! there is a prize for the 1st matt essner fan to post a comment...the prize is a bucket of shoes (for your foyer) so you can be a big dog
That was Pete. It's now tomorrow. This post was started two hours ago. Pete and I have been jamming for that long. Actually I think jammin' might be a more appropriate word. Anyway Toodles!
Sunday, May 08, 2005
Mothers Day and such.
This week is final's week. I should be studying for finals. Tomorrow is my easiest final. It's Early european civ. It's all matching. My theory for studying for matching tests is this: You don't know have to know all the terms, just enough to eliminate all the wrong answers. I really need to do well on my Ethics final, and I'd like to do well on my African Civilizations final. Like I said, I should be studying.
Today I went over to my Grandma Essner's house and hung out with my cousins. Three of my cousins are seniors in high school this year. They are the exact opposite of my friends that are seniors in high school this year. At least they have differing opinions. For one, I asked them how senior week went they said, "It was great" and "It was a lot of fun". Only two thirds of my senior cousins were there tonight though. My cousin Katie, who I lovingly refer to as "my dumbest cousin", was absent. I miss hanging out with Katie. Her brother Josh is coming home for a couple of weeks this summer. Becky said he should be in by Wednesday. He's living in Lafayette this summer, which is where he goes to school (Purdue Univeristy: "Go Boilermakers?"), and is in a fraternity. He seems to dig the frat life, as many people seem to do. Good for him, it's not my bag though.
I think if I really put my mind to it I continue this post for several more paragraphs. But I won't.
I will however start biking again this week.
Thursday, May 05, 2005
Scat Factory
Work was not the cool tonight. It was in fact the least the cool this week. Hopefully tomorrow it will be better. What else... The Episode 3 game comes out tomorrow. Mothersday is Sunday. I'll post something interesting tomorrow, I promise.
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
The day I finished reading
SAUSAGE... OH MY GOD!
Monday, May 02, 2005
Kablam! Mr. Jangly Change has left the building.
Friday/Saturday= 9 hours of sleep 3 hours of Douglas Adams (2 for Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and 1 for Dirk Gently Wholistic Detective)
Saturday/Sunday= 10.5 hours of sleep 1 hour of Douglas Adams
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, all I can say is Damn. Damn Damn, damn damn damn. Shadamn.
In case you can't tell, which is fairly understandable, I really like Hitchhiker's Guide. It owned.
So Family Guy started again tonight. It was funny. Not as funny as it was before it got canceled, but I have high expectations. Hopefully Seth MacFarlane will use American Dad for his Bush bashing and politcal humor, and keep Family Guy a platform for humorous obscure pop culture references.
I've decided that this post needs to be more centered around me. My opionions are taking up too much blog space. This blog should be an advertisement for me, Matt Essner.
I am awesome! I am the coolest. I rule.
Matthew and I didn't get to WOW this much this weekend. But that's ok, we don't need to WOW to have a good time. For those who don't know, WOW stands for World of Warcraft. It's an online RPG that we play. I bet you thought it was something dirty... well it is kindy dirty. But one should expect that kind of language on a battlefield. I mean come on, people are getting stabbed and stuff, of course the language will be a little colorful.
10 minutes pass...
Apparently I have more to say, because I've yet to post this. Um... let's see. Work is going to suck beyond suck tomorrow. I mean it. Suck. With a capital SU.
15 minutes pass...
So I'll type a sentence or two, go surf the internet, and then come back. I really should end this thing before it gets too huge... Ladies, you know what I'm talking about... I'm sorry. I don't even know what that mean. I'm just rambling now. I need to just post this.
10 minutes later...
Nope... still not posted. People have my blog linked from their blog. That's cool of them. I wish I knew how to link people. I don't though. I'm not what you would call "Blog Savy". I am also not what you would call "A Bowl of Cabbage".
Goodnight everybody!
Friday, April 29, 2005
The little things.
This just blows my mind. I think I'm regressing intellectually. I'm starting to think like a 5 year old. It's not advanced moral philosophies or meta physics that interest me. It's things like whales and bears and water.
Anyway, that's my introspection for the day. And now a song: *Listens to Ben Folds's 'Landed'*
Still not as good as his other stuff.
This is about 40 minutes later. I still haven't posted this. I'm reading a Peter Singer essay. It's compelling.
I'm going to post this now.