NOOOOOOOOOOOO-TES!

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (SLIPCASE EDITION)
AMAZON: $26 (...) (no cashback)
BUY Mktplce: $25.38 (4.5% cashback)
DEEPDISCOUNT $25.50 (4.5% cashback)

BUY.COM MARKETPLACE is the way to go!!!

Hopefully these prices will be good in January (and maybe shortly thereafter...).

CARTEL - CYCLES
DEEPDISCOUNT: $8.38 until Nov 29th (4.5% cashback via Bing)
BUY/BUY MTKPLCE: $11+ ($4.5% cashback via BigCrumbs)

Hopefully I'll get some B-day $ from Gramma...(on or near my birthday...fingers crossed heavily!).

CD LIST:

1. Cartel - Chroma
2. Cartel - Cycles
3. Genesis - Invisible Touch
4. Genesis - Live/The Way We Walk Volume One: The Shorts
5. Genesis - Live/The Way We Walk Volume Two: The Longs
6. Hidden In Plain View - Resolution
7. Oingo Boingo - Skeletons In The Closet: The Best Of
8. Toto - Toto IV

DVD LIST

1. Ghostbusters
2. Ghostbusters II

BOOK LIST

1. Michael Crichton - Jurassic Park
2. Shirley Jackson - The Haunting of Hill House
3. Harper Lee - To Kill A Mockingbird

REAL

This is why I don't like films about films:

1) filmmaking, by definition, is a lie, is lying about the truth. It either simplifies the truth, ignores most of it, or flat out lies all together. For instance, where does a person's entire life ever get documented in a movie, in complete honesty? Films focus on one or two small aspects of life.
2) the ideas/facts that movies focus on should have significance. but even the small details should be either interesting or true, either in a metaphorical sense or a hardcore sense.
3) filmmaking is only interesting to people who want to be something they are not (which is a dishonest way to live), or other filmmakers. Film should not serve the filmmaker, unless the film is to be distributed internally, as opposed to the genera public.
4) to sum it, if you make a movie about filmmaking, you are either telling a tale that's already been told or telling a lie.

Examples:
BAD:
FINDING NEVERLAND - based on the life of someone who nobody would care about if he hadn't created "peter pan". So basically it's a drama-version of Peter Pan, since all the other details are rooted in details related to "peter pan".
THE AVIATOR - Glorifies old-school Hollywood, making it look appealing, drawing sentiments of "the good ol' days" and a bunch of other b.s.

Examples:
GOOD:
BATMAN BEGINS - A film about how crime effects people. How basic can you get? The details, every last one of them, is a visual wonder. It's not a ripoff, a tribute, or any other phony crap. It's real, but, be warned, it's also fake.
MYSTERIOUS SKIN - A tale of innocence lost. Another basic tale. Every detail is rooted in deep emotion(s), again, no tributes or phony crap. It's real, but, again, it's also fake.

~Jonathan

so this is Xmas (what have I done?)

YEAR ONE - CUT

Unto my nose comes the scents of autumn
Winter is approaching, slowly
The crisp air makes its acquaintance with my nostrils
I feel no complaint as I stroll down the street on my way to the convenience store to acquire a morning latte
I make my way back home and enter the house
The sun has made its way through the skies at last and I feel like celebration
Melodies from the previous autumn enter my heart and flood my head
It’s all about yesteryear, since nothing has changed
I’m living here and now, but I might as well be living in the past
I guess I’m doing both
Strange how nothing goes as it should
Or maybe there really is something I could do
Something to make this year special?
Well, I guess there’s still time
Sunset is many hours away
I suppose life is a series of coincidences
Much of the previous year was aided by people I met
Nobody I planned on meeting
Some of it was aided by tools and services
None of which I planned on discovering
I guess this year will be memorable in its own way
I have my family
My sister’s leaving forever, but she spent nine months of it still here
I moved in with my mother since she can’t afford to not live with my sister, who bought a house that she can’t afford to keep making payments on unless she stays here, which she can’t do, because her husband forbids it
So I live with my mother, so to speak
It’s all good though
I probably will never marry, as sad as it sounds
But I feel OK with that.
I knew for many years that I’m weird
So damn weird
So it is
It took a little bit of time for me to accept it
But I’ve done that much
And Thanksgiving and Christmas have yet to arrive
Oh, and did I mention 2009 is the year of the arrival of the first post-1994 car I’ve ever ridden in on a long term basis?
My so-called friend in high school [we only hung out during school hours, and only saw each other once or twice after graduation, which after reading a passage or two in A Walk To Remember by Nicholas Sparks, strikes me as not much of a friendship, although if it were still the way it was then I might beg to differ…] let me ride around the block in his car. I don’t remember what it was but it wasn’t the ratty old cars my mom’s been driving in the last 20 years give or take a couple…
So…the melodies and sentiments within me are at least partially rooted in the past
Maybe next year I’ll be reminiscing on Cartel’s newest CD (CYCLES)
Maybe I’ll love it more then than I do now
It’ll be awesome
And nostalgic
Wow

October 31st, 2009

AGAIN!

(hoowh!)

1. Various - Ghostbusters Original Soundtrack Album
2. Various - Nightmare Revisited
3. The Academy Is… - Fast Times At Barrington High
4. American Football - s/t
5. Armor For Sleep - Dream To Make Believe
6. Armor For Sleep - What To Do When You Are Dead
7. Better Than Ezra - How Does Your Garden Grow?
8. Jackson Browne - The Next Voice You Hear: The Best Of
9. Cartel - Chroma
10. Cartel - Cycles
11. Cold - Year Of The Spider
12. Phil Collins - Both Sides
13. Counting Crows - Recovering The Satellites
14. Counting Crows - This Desert Life
15. Dashboard Confessional - The Places You Have Come To Fear The Most
16. Genesis - s/t
17. Genesis - Invisible Touch
18. Genesis - Live/The Way We Walk Volume One: The Shorts
19. Genesis - Live/The Way We Walk Volume Two: The Longs
20. The Goo Goo Dolls - A Boy Named Goo
21. The Graham Colton Band - Drive
22. Hidden In Plain View - Resolution
23. Billy Joel - Greatest Hits Vol. III
24. Avril Lavigne - Let Go
25. Aimee Mann - The Forgotten Arm
26. Oingo Boingo - Nothing To Fear
27. Oingo Boingo - Skeletons In The Closet: The Best Of
28. Rush - Power Windows
29. Saves The Day - Stay What You Are
30. Semisonic- Feeling Strangely Fine
31. Senses Fail - Let It Enfold You
32. Senses Fail - Life Is Not A Waiting Room
33. Simon & Garfunkle - Bookends
34. Paul Simon - Graceland
35. The Starting Line - Say It Like You Mean It
36. Taking Back Sunday - Tell All Your Friends
37. Third Eye Blind - Blue
38. Toto - Toto IV
39. Trespassers William - Different Stars
40. Trespassers William - Having
41. Virginwool- Open Heart Surgery
42. The Wallflowers - Bringing Down The Horse

gosh, FORTY TWO albums!!!!! ((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((!))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
STEREO

paper chase & more...

I had The Academy Is...'s "Paper Chase" stuck in my heart a few minutes or so ago so I thought "should I buy the MP3 or the whole album?"...I decided I should listen to it on Imeem and then decide. I'm doing that now. Album! Except I'm out of $ until January...so...stay tuned!

1. Various - Nightmare Revisited
2. The Academy Is… - Fast Times At Barrington High
3. American Football - s/t
4. Armor For Sleep - Dream To Make Believe
5. Armor For Sleep - What To Do When You Are Dead
6. Jackson Browne - The Next Voice You Hear: The Best Of
7. Cartel - Chroma
8. Cartel - Cycles
9. Cold - Year Of The Spider
10. Phil Collins - Both Sides
11. Counting Crows - Recovering The Satellites
12. Counting Crows - This Desert Life
13. Dashboard Confessional - The Places You Have Come To Fear The Most
14. Genesis - s/t
15. Genesis - Invisible Touch
16. The Goo Goo Dolls - A Boy Named Goo
17. The Graham Colton Band - Drive
18. Hidden In Plain View - Resolution
19. Billy Joel - Greatest Hits Vol. III
20. Avril Lavigne - Let Go
21. Aimee Mann - The Forgotten Arm
22. Rush - Power Windows
23. Saves The Day - Stay What You Are
24. Semisonic - Feeling Strangely Fine
25. Senses Fail - Let It Enfold You
26. Senses Fail - Life Is Not A Waiting Room
27. Simon & Garfunkle - Bookends
28. Paul Simon - Graceland
29. The Starting Line - Say It Like You Mean It
30. Taking Back Sunday - Tell All Your Friends
31. Third Eye Blind - Blue
32. Toto - Toto IV
33. Trespassers William - Having
34. Virginwool- Open Heart Surgery
35. The Wallflowers - Bringing Down The Horse

[rolls eyes]

Yeah, music should be AMAZING, infused with life, infusing life unto said listener, and there are several CDs that have done that for me, but it all mostly depends on where I'm at in life and what mood I'm in. However stupid it is, nostalgia is probably the most commonly felt strong emotion I encounter. So I guess it's important, to me. So it'd be kinda dumb to throw away or discard music that has been pivotal at crucial points in my life...like the time I moved out from my mom's house in 2004, where Cold's YEAR OF THE SPIDER was a source of sympathy for that time. And the time I got my second cat, Harrison, and I felt sad that my First cat, Napoleon, wasn't getting the fulfillment I'd hoped he would because he was so angry at the situation. Aimee Mann's THE FORGOTTEN ARM was there for me then. And when I had recently graduated high school, Avril Lavigne's LET GO came out, and shortly before graduation her single "Complicated" was all over the radio. I've tried to remove any music that I have doubts about, music that I can't be sure of its emotional authenticity, such as Michael Jackson and The Grateful Dead etc., and have tried to remove any music that I've enjoyed purely for the "hype"/"cool" factor(s) and/or simply used it to pass the time away.

So here's the best I could think of;

1. Armor For Sleep - Dream To Make Believe
2. Armor For Sleep - What To Do When You Are Dead
3. Jackson Browne - The Next Voice You Hear: The Best Of
4. Cartel - Chroma
5. Cartel - Cycles
6. Cold - Year Of The Spider
7. Phil Collins - Both Sides
8. Counting Crows - This Desert Life
9. Dashboard Confessional - The Places You Have Come To Fear The Most
10. Genesis - s/t
11. Genesis - Invisible Touch
12. The Goo Goo Dolls - A Boy Named Goo
13. The Graham Colton Band - Drive
14. Hidden In Plain View - Resolution
15. Avril Lavigne - Let Go
16. Aimee Mann - The Forgotten Arm
17. Rush - Power Windows
18. Saves The Day - Stay What You Are
19. Semisonic- Feeling Strangely Fine
20. Senses Fail - Let It Enfold You
21. Simon & Garfunkle - Bookends
22. The Starting Line - Say It Like You Mean It
23. Taking Back Sunday - Tell All Your Friends
24. Third Eye Blind - Blue
25. Toto - Toto IV
26. Trespassers William - Having
27. Virginwool- Open Heart Surgery
28. The Wallflowers - Bringing Down The Horse

JACK'S INFERNO

People say it - "I do", that is - all the time. Jack and Sue never understood it. Until they decided they couldn't live without each other, at least not without poor sleep and some serious illnesses deriving from poor dieting and exercise, not to mention constant sorrow...
It was true. They meant it. They really did.

Sue was a devout Christian. She didn't just read her Bible, she felt it, almost breathed it. She knew what most people would say about getting married on Halloween, that it was bad luck; many would wonder if she and her husband were secretly a part of a cult. She saw it as something to eclipse Halloween, something bigger, so big she'd forget Halloween existed. New acquaintances, some perhaps to become friends, would ask "What are you doing this Halloween?" and she'd say "celebrating my anniversary", and these acquaintances would hear the melt in her voice, the sound of something beautiful and special.

Less than two years after their anniversary, Sue had died in a car crash. She was dead before she was in the hospital. It was a busy street and half the people on it, including Sue, did not have their minds fully attendant to the road.

It was August 22nd, 2011 when she was taken from Jack. He spent most of his time indoors, in constant sorrow as he knew he would without Sue in his life. They were both rather young, mid-20's; it wasn't logical, but it was nonetheless. Jack tried to uplift himself with the thought that she was in a better place. But Jack knew she had everything she ever dreamed of in the life she already had, not to mention he couldn't envision what this place was like. Heaven. Where exactly had his wife been taken??!?! He didn't know. The Bible provided no hint.

Halloween was once again around the corner. To Jack it was more sinister than ever. He looked out his window and saw kids dressed as witches and cats and such; the costumes were designed to look colorful and happy. He watched them through his window. It seemed like they were headed somewhere...
He decided to remove himself from his indoor outhouse - the smell resulting from his lack of care towards cleaning after months of nothing to live for would suggest that much - and follow the dressed up kids.
It didn't take long before they suspected he was following them and they turned a corner. Jack followed them. this happened about 3 or 4 times before he found himself in a dungeon of some sort. He heard laughing. Then he heard horrified cries of someone unable to fathom their pain. He regained his eyesight and saw a kid, about 11, tied and chained to the ceiling. An apple was placed in his mouth with tape around it. He was bleeding.
The cells in Jack's body were suddenly confused, the fiber in his body turning warm with rage and terror. One of the kids approached the 11 year old with a shovel. Jack took it from his hands and with about one and a half seconds worth of consideration, smacked the child with it.

the child lay dead in his own blood, head severed but still partially connected. It was Jack who called 9-1-1 after realizing what a fool he'd been. Kids are innocent, of course; it takes a negative influence or many of them to bring about this level of savageness. Jack sobbed and apologized, but he'd done the deed and jail time he served, until he died of malnutrition, presumably now with his loved one, wherever that is...

The End