2004

I finally got on my butt and wrote up my Top 10 movies of 2004. Realize that these are the movies that only I saw last year. Sorry for all the true movie buffs out there who saw the real quality movies that weren’t put out in the box office]. You know…all those indie movies that 75% of Americans never hear about because it was advertised on TV. I love that. Anyhow, here it is:


10. The Terminal – Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks come together again to make a wonderful movie. It’s all taken place in an airport, yet it is entertaining and light-hearted throughout the two hours or whatever it was. I found it interesting the idea of learning all about America through an airport. Brilliant!

09. Friday Night Lights – Amazing sports movie! It was a toss up between this and Miracle for the best sports movie of 2004, and I went with this one. I just like football better than hockey (sorry cousins!), plus this movie seemed to be more than winning for your country or town or state. It had that feeling that life was more than the sport, and it was fun to see a whole town to come to that realization in the movie.

08. The Bourne Supremacy – Yeah, the editing really sucked, but I couldn’t get over the awesome story about a super cool government assassin who wants out. Conspiracies, great fights, and the best car chase ever!

07. Spider-man 2 – So far, this is the best comic movie I’ve seen. The comic feel was truly brought onto the big screen in Spider-man 2. The action was dopeness to the third level, doood. As much as I liked it, I could only put it at No. 7 because, when it comes down to it, the movie is just a comic book movie. Nothing much else to it.

06. Ray – This is the only movie I saw that got the Best Picture nomination in the Academy Awards. That’s too bad, but this movie does deserve it. Jamie Foxx is amazing, and it is a good biography of Ray’s life. The impact he made in our country through his music is extraordinary, and it was done well in this movie.

05. Garden State – I’m glad Natalie Portman totally redeemed herself in this movie after doing those abominations to the Star Wars series. Call me strange, but I really loved this movie. Very eccentric humor - the way I like it! Plus the message of the movie made me want to get off my arse and do something meaningful. Kind of ironic that I’m writing that while I sit here writing up this post.

04. Kill Bill Vol. 2 – Quentin Taratino is an amazing writer and filmographer. I love both these movies, but since the first came out in 2003, I’ll go with this one for 2004. Though the story as a whole is pretty terrible (glorifying bloody revenge and all), it was told extremely well. A very artistic film with action, cool.

03. The Incredibles – The whole Pixar collection is pure gold, The Incredibles does not come short for their newest installment. I watched this movie in the theatres three times. Yes, it’s that good! If Shrek 2 beats out this movie in the Academy Awards, I’m going to murder someone.

02. Collateral – I just realized…I have a lot of movies on this list about trained contract killers. Awesome. Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx was a great match up for this movie, and this movie took action to another level. The world does seem to look as hypocritical as Vincent says; it scares me sometimes.

01. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – This is my favorite movie of 2004 for its brilliance and cleverness. The acting was superb, the story telling was amazing, and the filmography was nothing short of artistic genius. There is nothing wrong with this movie. It is flawless. FLAWLESS!!!!!


So there you have it. For David’s list, go here. Here is a list of the rest of the movies I saw, just to show you how much money I spent in the theatres. What a waste.

50 First Dates, The Alamo, Alexander, Along Came Polly, Around the World in 80 Days, Cinderella Story, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Hellboy, Hidalgo, I, Robot, Ju-on: The Grudge, King Arthur, Ladder 49, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, Man on Fire, Mean Girls, Miracle, The Passion of the Christ, Saved!, Shark Tale, Shrek 2, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Spartan, Starsky and Hutch, Taking Lives, Troy, Van Helsing, Vanity Fair, Walking Tall, White Chicks, Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!

Happy.

This post is a response to David's post on Dobson and his attack on Spongebob Squarepants. I advise you to read that first (along with the article) before tackling this overreaction to what he said. I felt like trying to sound smart today...it goes with the sleep deprivation.

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Though I do understand what you're saying, I also understand why Dobson addressed the issue of SpongeBob. I think targeting Nickelodeon for that show instead of ABC for Desperate Housewives was a smarter move. The age group of kids who love Spongebob wouldn't be interested in wives looking to get some hanky panky, so they wouldn't go out of their way to watch it. Flipping through channels, kids would stop at cartoons, not drama about middle-aged women. They wouldn't get it.

On the other hand, I read the article, and Sponge Bob is probably not the best show to make this point on homosexuality. I don't know much about the story (and I didn't see the video), but it didn't seem like he had strong support to back him up. If I were him, I would have brought up the movie Shark Tale where there is a shark who is different than the rest and doesn't want to eat/kill other fishies. The way it was portrayed had that whole Tolerance Pledge idea in it. Obviously, it never referred to the Tolerance Pledge exactly, but the message was totally thrown in the kids' faces. That's insanely manipulative to tell kids that hey! just because people are wired differently doesn’t mean their bad people…period. It may be somewhat true, but to say that all people who are different are not bad is false. Me being someone from a standpoint of Christian morals and values, that statement is terrible. The movie puts Christians in the wrong. Call me sensitive or paranoid, but the movie was almost an attack on anyone with Christian beliefs on homosexuality.

I think the main point that Dobson was trying to make is that we need to defend our children from such ideas like the Tolerance Pledge makes in the area of homosexuality. Why? Children are our future. Our society and culture is handed down to these people, and it is up to us to teach them and make them understand what is right and what is wrong from God’s perspective; for God’s idea of right and wrong is the absolute. This is a very important issue indeed! Dobson was trying to make the point that cartoons having messages to tell children to accept homosexuality is spiritually degrading for our children.

We shouldn’t tolerate beliefs that support homosexuality. That doesn’t mean that I will avoid gays or spit in their faces when they pass me by, but respectfully help them understand where they are at fault. As Christians, we must try our best to lovingly show them the Way. if we get ridiculed or hated for it, so be it. I would rather know I tried by best discussing this issue with a homosexual and failing than to ignore him and condemn him to hell. I’ll leave the condemning to God.

That’s my two cents.

P.S. Disney owns everything.

Santa Maria.

I am here in a Holiday Inn hanging out with Kuya, Chesney, Daniel, Shawn, and Caleb. I don't really know why we all decided to drive to Santa Maria to hang out with each other, but it's been a fun evening. Applebee's is a good place to eat. Heh.

Also, happy birthday Jon! Twenty-two and going strong. Last night was rockin', and I'm happy that I beat you a couple times in Super Smash Brothers. I'll kick your big, yellow Pickachu ass anyday!

Real World is such a great class! I love it...for the most part. The only drawback are the news quizzes and the fact that I need to go to school tomorrow morning for our make up class. Ewwww! Oh, well. At least I can still go to church right after it's over. Otherwise, I'd be even more upset.

So anyway, things have been good. Good family, good friends, and school is good. God is good. Now I'll just wait for when a bad thing happens and completely destroys my foundations.

kuya tim is so awesome.

But I'm awesomer.

The aftermath.

As anyone living in So Cal knows, it rained here the past week. Not only rained but stormed...bad. Ventura County got it really heavy as well. Major flooding on highways and homes, overflowing of rivers, and a major landslide. It is nice to know that the worst of it is over...I think. I want to give out my sympathy to those who were involved in someway in the La Conchita landslide. You are in my prayers.

Here is a picture of Brooks after the major rains were done.


Totally insane. 

I don't want to sound cold-hearted or anything, but this is just a small nibble of what people are going through in Southeast Asia right now with the tsunami disaster. We can't forget those on the other side of the Pacific, and must encourage those who are helping (both there and here at home) with the tragedies.

I learned on the news just 10 minutes ago about a father and husband helping to search for survivors in La Conchita including his wife and three daughters. I'm unable to even imagine the stress and pressure he is under right now, but I hope that he will accept everyone's deepest love and concern for him and his family.

Prayers to all. God is with us.

Identity.

You Are Beer!

You don't need to get totally wasted when you hit the bars. More of a social drinker, you just like to have fun with your friends. And as long as the beer keeps flowing, you're a happy camper. But don't mix things up: "Beer Before Liquor, Never Been Sicker!"

What alcoholic drink are you?

On Dawson's Creek.

"Our brain's aren't deteriorating, they're slowly losing response to outside stimuli. They're becoming caked with layers and layers of cheese that it's hard to get to them."

-Tim Machlan

Can't...stop...must...stop...

Run Like Mad sung by Jann Arden

My heart is in my hands
My head is in the clouds
My feet have left the ground
My life is turning around and round.
Every voice inside my head is telling me to run like mad
Oh bows and arrows
Stars and sunsets
Hey hey hey yeah
Hey hey hey yeah.
Every heartbeat every kiss just
Makes me wonder what all this is
Suits of armour
Hearts and arrows
Hey hey yeah.

What an insane song! But then again, it's the Dawson's Creek theme song on the fourth season dvd set. Tim and I have proudly memorized it. Even before I looked up the lyrics!

Also, we've had a ton of one thing today. Cheese! It's amazing how much we can have. We've had so much, my brain is slowly deteriorating. In fact, we're still having it. Tim and I have been watching Dawson's Creek all night. Cheese! Pure cheese! We are about to finish the third dvd, which means six more episodes and I have finished the whole season within a span of three days!

Vegetable.

Guess what I did today? I spent most of the day watching dvds of tv shows. Tim and I managed to watch half of the fourth season of DAWSON'S CREEK! Mmmmhmm! Yessir!

We did take a break, though. We had to pick up Rachel from school. On the way there, Tim and I tried to talk like they do in Dawson's Creek. I must say, it's was quite difficult. Amazing that this show was so hot on tv. Over-aged casting, way too intelligent dialogue, terribly unbelievable drama for high school kids. Yet it's so strangely addicting.

I also finished 24: Season Three with my parents. Great show. The most depressing ending out of the three seasons. It's still great, though. Probably the most intense part of the story surpassed anything in the previous seasons. A good watch.

Season Four looks interesting, and I'm glad Dawson's Creek is over. And yet...I can't stop watching the show! It's like heroine without the needles.

First post of the year!

So I gotta make it good!

I think I'll just post a video.

It's dedicated too all the drunks who were pulled over last night. May you never drink and drive ever again.