Imma gonna getsa new tattoo!

My brother is turning 18 next month (September 20, to be exact), and to celebrate, the two of us are going out to get tattoos. I would consider my brother to be in my oh-so exclusive list of best friends, so we're getting a "brother-sister" tattoo sort of thing. More specifically, we're both getting Star Wars tattoos. This will Shane's first tattoo and my fifth, but it'll easily be my biggest one. I've always wanted to have the glory of Star Wars inked permanently into my skin, so I'm pretty excited, and I'm not pulling out any stops. I plan to have some sort of variation of the shown picture of Princess Leia slapped onto my torso, probably on my left side (which is definitely going to hurt like a bitch). Shane is getting the Rebel Alliance insignia with silhouettes of Luke and Vader crossing lightsabers (ala the original poster for Revenge of the Jedi, before the name was changed to Return of the Jedi).

The only one not excited about this is our mom. Go figure.

Pull it together, McFly!

Sitting the in dungeon-esque testing center at work allows time for a lot of thinking. Pondering, if you will. Whereas some people may mentally examine the darkest depths of their souls (eg. every episode of "The Adventures of Pete & Pete"), I prefer to stick to more important aspects of the universe: time travel. Out of any and all sci-fi plot devices, time travel is my favorite. Why? I'm sure a lot of people agree with me that it would kick ass to go back and fix a stupid personal mistake, or maybe take advantage of a missed opportunity. Or in the case of Back to the Future, make your dad less of a pussy, have your brother be a successful business man (who still lives at home...?) and your sister a man magnet. Oh, and you'll have a sweet 4x4 waiting in your garage!

I love Back to the Future. But can we agree that it makes no goddamn sense? Seriously. My lifelong love of this classic franchise blinded me to the blatant issues for a long time. Aside from stating the obvious of "Yes, I understand that having a DeLorean that has the ability to travel through time via plutonium and going 88 miles per hour isn't exactly plausible", the fundamental use of time travel is completely nonsensical. Time travel can't be used to confirm preordained events AND change the future.

In the first Back to the Future, Marty goes into the cafe to use their public telephone where he accidentally bumps into his horrendously awkward teenage father (note: this part rocks because it's where Biff utters the always great "McFly, you Irish bug!" line). But anyway, Goldie Wilson starts gabbing to the cafe owner that he's been studying at night school and is going to make something of himself, to which a stunned Marty blurts out "That's right! He's going to be mayor!". Goldie's eyes light up because now he has the great idea to work really hard and become mayor. Because we saw a "Re-Elect Mayor Goldie Wilson" campaign car roll by in 80s Hill Valley 20 minutes ago (or 30 years ahead, if that's how you care to look at it), we get a chuckle because it is now implied that Marty was behind it all. Okay so far, so good. Marty has pushed along a preordained event.

Skip to the end, and Marty has completely changed the way his family appears and behaves. His dad is totally cool, writes sci-fi novels, wears Ray Bans and drives a BMW. And Biff is his bitch. Awesome, right? No. Marty has altered his future. As badass of a future as it is (please refer back to the 4x4 mentioned previously), it sort of sucks because Marty has no knowledge of this future. Everything that happened before he wakes up for the last scene of the movie, he has no memories of. That really fucking sucks. I mean, honestly!

Oh and by the way, BTTF Part II makes no sense either. Given that Marty and Jessica run off with Doc at the end of the first film to travel into the future to save their delinquent children (both played by Michael J. Fox, disturbingly) they would have no children to save. They just spent all that time zooming around in a flying DeLorean!

BTTF Part III makes no sense because there is a FUCKING FLYING TRAIN at the end. STUPID. What a horrible way to end a sweet trilogy.

Praise you, music deities!

I have been nothing but a good luck musical magnet recently. Everything I've been wanting to hear recently and all the music I have been craving has been appearing in odd places and making me outrageously happy. Just recently, I remembered how much I loved the song "I Saw Her Standing There" by The Beatles. I literally hadn't heard it in years. And then over the course of three days, I heard it in a CVS and then again in a Dairy Queen. Then I felt a lust growing for the soundtracks to Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction. Well, I had a hand in the Kill Bill soundtrack being played, but it was there, and that's all that matters. And I went to get a burrito today and the Pulp Fiction soundtrack was playing at Big Mamma's Burritos on Court Street.

Trust me, I'm well aware that this doesn't sound that earth shattering, but it's been putting me into wonderful moods recently.

Thoughts on "The Big Lebowski"

So, after being pushed, nudged and prodded, I finally watched The Big Lebowski. For a long time, this movie had a large window display dedicated to it at a poster / memorabilia store in Athens. That's why I stayed away from it for so long. In my mind, The Big Lebowski is one of those incredibly stereotypical "college" movies. One of those "OMG I just got to college and now I deeply appreciate the connotations of Bob Dylan songs / think that Bob Marley really speaks for my generation / discovered that motion pictures reached a zenith when Fight Club was made" etc., sorts of things. And it's not even that these things are inherently bad. I like Bob Dylan okay, I'm not the hugest fan of reggae music in general, so Bob Marley is a little lost on me, and Fight Club isn't horrible or anything. But for whatever reason, a lot of people cling on to this stuff for dear life once they get to college.

But I digress. I watched it. And I liked it. I liked it a lot. I didn't love it, though. I loved the characters, but I only liked the plot. Like any Coen brothers movie, it was outrageously intricate and winding. I understand that it is clearly in the vein of many of their other films, but sometimes it just seems like there is just too much going on. Jeff Bridges was pretty hilarious as the ever-chill Dude (and I appreciated his affinity for White Russians, one of my personal favorites), and I particularly enjoyed his interactions with psychotic Walter (John Goodman) and oft-confused Donny (Steve Buscemi). Oh, and that dream sequence was a big WTF (but in a good way). But of course the best scene was them nonchalantly eating In-N-Out Burger because 1) they just went apeshit on a random guy's sports car, who in turn fucked up their station wagon but they still found time to eat burgers, and 2) it was the fucking In-N-Out Burger, one of the most delicious things to grace God's green earth!

In short, I liked it enough to spend a few dollars on a used copy that I came across at Half Price Books a day or two later. Sadly, I didn't realize it wasn't a widescreen edition. It doesn't seem vital to watch this particular movie in widescreen, but I'm really spazzy about that, so we'll see if this specific DVD ever interfaces with the television.

Friday Night Fun for all

On Friday night, I had the pleasure of visiting Andy Lee's Cleveland Heights abode with Chuck and Stephens. Needless to say, I had a good time:

1. I got to go to liquor store on Mayfield Road called "Hollywood Video Liquor". It is literally an ex-Hollywood Video store and the only changes made are the shelves have booze instead of movies on them, and the marquee out front says "STATE LIQUOR AGENCY NOW OPEN". Pretty much one of the greatest places I have ever been.
2. I drove Andy Lee's incredibly sexy Mustang GT. I'm not going to pretend that I know a lot about cars and all the finer elements that separate good cars from bad ones, but I know a good one when I see it. It went fast, the V8 engine made beautiful noises and the dashboard lights could change color. And it was yellow. That's it, I'm in love.
3. I drank a lot of José Cuervo Especial Silver tequila (salute to Andy for going shot for shot with me). It was delicious and led to numbers 4 and 5.
4. I sang my heart out on Rock Band, and due to being fairly inebriated, I held little regard for looking or sounding bad, a formula for getting pretty excellent scores.
5. We made Velveeta macaroni and cheese, and it was the best thing I had ever tasted.

I know I've had a fun time when I wake up wearing someone else's shirt and inexplicably sitting in the bathtub in my parents' house. Friday night gets two big thumbs up from this corner.