Sometimes, to love yourself means to not care about the calories

Bad day. I'm tired. I didn't get enough sleep. Got relationship issues on top of that. It also rained pretty hard and the carpet outside my door is soaked. I do not need another crappy thing to end the day.

Good thing there's Ben and Jerry's. They sell heaven for a price of $7.59.

Ben & Jerry's Banana Split (front view)

 "Three scoops of ice cream atop a split banana..."
I picked Vanilla, Strawberry Cheesecake, and Cherry Garcia. 

shot on the side

 "...hot fudge, caramel, fresh whipped cream..."
The hot fudge feels good on the lips. The cold ice cream together with and the warm fudge play tricks in your mouth. 

drippin' - rear view

"... and your choice of two toppings.  It's a boatload!"
I got four! Walnuts, pecan, Oreos, and M&M's!

Now I can go to bed.

The Pleasure of Doing Nothing

Two years ago when I got my first job right off college, I remember telling my boss during a company standard regular one-on-one expectations discussion that I did not want to be not doing anything. I said I'd find being idle at work boring (and I still feel that way), and I told him that I did not want to be treated like a "new" hire. If there was going to be some form of initiation for juniors, I was basically telling him to go ahead and not take it easy on me. And I was not doing that to impress him. I seriously just do not like being useless. I guess it was the drive speaking being fresh from college and all, and finding my first official work exciting but what I know now is that I was eager to put my name to the test. Right at this moment, I still feel that way.

Green Bean, Greensboro, NC

See, I think I work hard and that's a personal need. There is a level of self-fulfillment when I get used up. I get tired and somehow that's a pleasing feeling. And I have never really given thought as to why I am that way other than realizing, or more like accepting, that this is just who I am. I am also aware that people can perceive that differently, just like a piece of news. Depending on what people know, or what they think they know, and what their experiences are, a piece of news can mean anything. I have talked with people who disagree with this attitude. I have heard people maneuver contrasting cliché about work and living life to the fullest to basically just tell me that there is a whole big world of fun out there that I'm missing out. What these people don't understand is that happiness, regardless of shape and form, is happiness. It is a non tangible scientific thing. It is personal yet universal. Personal in the sense that I get to define what makes me happy, sometimes not even by choice but by experience. Universal in the sense that happiness is not isolated only to people who own a 500-acre back yard. There is no "standard". It is measurable, yes, but only by the person experiencing it. It is not or should not be comparable. It is an experience. And when people experience something over and over, it also then becomes skill.

The other reason why I like to work hard is because it heightens my senses for the opposite - for when I'm not doing anything. When you're thirsty and you don't have access to anything to drink, by the time you finally do, it's rewarding. Drinking which is nothing extraordinary, suddenly becomes an experience you recognize and want. A simple can of Diet Coke, which you probably had over and over before, somehow just tastes better! Suddenly it's not just the soda that you can get for a dollar in a machine. It's the elixir of life! You instantly appreciate the way the cold can feels in your hand, the popping sound when you open. It tastes sweeter, and better, and you get to experience it all over again. Diet Coke, or at lest how you experience it, has been redefined all because you were momentarily deprived of it.

Downtown Greensboro, NC

 The purpose of this post is not to prove to "those people" that I'm missing out on anything. I'm not gonna say that I spend (or used to spend) my entire weekend wakeboarding, and then I got a concussion mastering the kicker, and then weeks later I passed out after hitting my head on the water by trying another trick (people with a brain injury shouldn't be doing sports for while unless they have a death wish), and then drowned (water was getting through my mouth and to my lungs), and basically would have died, had my friend not seen me floating head submerged five or ten minutes later. Oh Well, I think I just did. The point really is: happiness is personal. Some people seem to think that's present outside work, at least I think that's how some people see it. I on the other hand, just seem to find it both at work, and when I'm doing an extreme sport, or just when I'm just sipping macchiato in a coffee shop somewhere. The art of finding happiness in the sunset creeping in through your window sounds gay but it is happiness. Happiness is personal and I think we should just respect how people experience it differently.

X-Men: First Class - A Movie Review

I have never bought a single Marvel comic book (or any illustrated novel for that matter) in my life. But X-Men was a HUGE part of my childhood.  I grew up not missing a single episode aired Friday nights on TV, played with the action figures, and in countless occasions engaged in arguments with friends about things like which types of mutations and superpowers are the best. And so to say that I wouldn't have any expectations on the X-Men films would really be next to impossible. There were a couple of inconsistencies in X-Men: First Class. Did I like it? Nope. I loved it.

Watching a movie based on a story that’s been told and followed so many times is like reading the Bible. The only way to appreciate it is to get the message. And X-Men: First Class gets that – it retells the story and sends the message to its audience. Pretty simple. The film is 130 minutes long – enough to chronicle “the beginning” in the right pace and in the process no key character roles were reduced. X-Men: First Class is ultimately just about that – how the first class of mutants came to be, how heroes and villains got defined, and how Professor Charles Francis Xavier was able to assemble his first group of students. It is less about showing off and more about the narrative. By showing off, I don’t mean less visual effects. As a matter of fact, I don’t think there is a single frame in the film that does not, in one way or another, showcase  the mutant abilities of each of the character in the story. There is a big solid chunk of visual effects, flashes, and levitation, so fans who are expecting those types of digital tricks will not be disappointed. What the film is also able to do is live up to its name and purpose. Who are the First Class? How did it all start? These are the questions that the film answers. It’s not the kind of film that was created to intimidate, and show off, which is an easy mistake Hollywood makes by putting superheroes in a paradigm and equating superpowers to millions of dollars of visual effects. This film encompasses human emotions (the human side of the mutants), history, and not to mention multiple continents.

The Cast

I like the fact that they didn’t use “big” celebrities to play out the roles of the mutants in this film. People who watch X-Men do so not so much because Hugh Jackman is going to be in it (for the record I think Hugh Jackman’s portrayal of Wolverine is superb), but because they already love X-Men to begin with. It is the kind of story that people already have an attachment to; there is an assured audience who will reach out to it and so there is really no need to do promotions through excessive all star casting. I believe it is partly for that reason that actors like Kevin Bacon and James McAvoy were, in the eyes of the viewer, able to slide right through their characters discreetly in the film. It is certainly easier for the audience to see past through the names and engage with the characters that the actors portray when the film credits is not the list of the highest paid celebrities in Hollywood. I also thought Michael Fassbender did a great job in portraying the younger bitter Magneto. He had a sort of Jason Bourne quality in his acting for this role but with more range. I think he did Magneto justice by showing enough emotion to show where the pain and anger is coming from but not too much so as to depart from the vengeful and heartless Magneto that most people came to know.

The Theme and Setting

X-Men: First Class - Nazi Concentration Camp Scene (trailer snapshot)

X-Men: First Class spans from the height of the Nazi Germany in the 40’s until the US-Russia Cold War in the 60’s. With that, there are numerous historical events that the film can play with. The first scene in the film is set in the Nazi concentration camp which is a recreation from the scene in first X-men movie where the young Magneto bends the gates when the guards separate him from his parents. I thought this scene was classic and powerful from the first time I saw it. What I would have loved in this franchise is a little more stretch and intensity. A sullen and eerie musical score would have brought this scene to the next level. Also when Sebastian Shaw (played by Kevin Bacon) forces the boy Magneto to magnetically move a coin in his office, the killings that happened shortly after should have been made a little more brutal. Of course, I was not expecting a Quentin Tarantino type of gore; I know Century Fox had to keep the movie child-friendly. But I thought the killings were merciless at best but they were not evil in the Nazi sense of the word. This falls a little short when compared to the  first scene in Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds’ End which, amidst being a Walt Disney franchise, shows pirates – men, women, and children – on the process of being hanged while The Pirate Song was sang somberly in the background and everything was in slow motion. That is ironically  more intense.

JFK's televised speech - Cuban Missile Crisis (trailer snapshot)

Amidst the 60’s setting, the film had several allusions and references to issues confronting present times. Issues like being different and societal acceptance are a key theme throughout the film. “Mutant and proud” is repeatedly uttered by the characters. The film also focuses on the art of forgiveness, and the philosophy of anger and revenge.

The Humor

I think this franchise incorporates humor more than any of the other previous X-Men films. And that is a good thing. X-men: First Class essentially shows mutants in their teens and so humor is an easy and almost necessary accessory. There is a scene where the members of the First Class were introducing themselves and their mutant abilities to each other.  That had a lot of laughter packed in it. Professor X and Magneto as close friends rounding up mutants, and going to a strip club was also fun and light. There are also a couple of cameo appearances from characters in the previous films.

All in all, this is definitely a great movie for kids and for those who worship Marvel and X-Men. I’m not sure how avid comic fans are going to receive this franchise but on the first night of showing, critics are already giving positive Box Office forecasts on this film for the weeks to come. If you haven’t already watched it, make sure you do. This is definitely one of the must see films of 2011. 

For my article on the previous X-Men films, click here. 

Food Politics

I drove by Back Yard Burgers to try out their Junior BYB. While I was waiting for my order, this red bottle caught my attention.

Back Yard Burgers, High Point, NC

Yes sir, it is!

Pretty neat marketing stuff.

The End of Oprah Era

On Oprah's last show, "who will be there? Nelson Mandela? 

The reincarnation of Michael Jackson? God?"

  - Richard Zoglin (TIME)                                    

                              

25 May 2011 - The Last Oprah Winfrey Show

Sweet Oprah, Thanks! For making my 25 years and the world I grew up in 

a time and place tolerant, and loving of ideas. Cheers!

Last Monday in May

 An Old Wooden Chair
(a Memorial Day Poem by Roger Robicheau)

Green Hill Cemetery, Greensboro, NC

An old wooden chair, out on the porch

Shaded by trees, the sun couldn’t scorch

A child loved to play, not far away
When tired this chair, was where to stay...

As the years passed, the chair bore no change

But the small one did grow, adding new range...

Off to the service, such great pride did show
Protector of freedom, youthful brave glow

 A loved one of course, now guards this chair
Holding fond memories, each one so dear

With prayers to God, dear mother does wait
Till her brave one's home safe, a want so great

That now empty chair, shaded by trees
If it could just talk, starting with "Please..

In Memoriam

"You can’t experience being alive without realizing that you have to die, she thought. But it’s just as impossible to realize you have to die without thinking how incredibly amazing it is to be alive. "

— Jostein Gaarder (Sophie's World)

Green Hill Cemetery, Greensboro, NC

I have always admired cemeteries and old stuffs. I think that anything on earth that stayed from history is a treasure. Whether they represent life, or death, something wonderful, or bad - they all tell us a story about how humanity lived. I particularly find graveyards artful not only because of the worn out stones and statues. It's also the names of all these the strangers and the dates and years that are engraved alongside them. Walking through these markings is like walking back in history and getting flashes of the kind of time and place that these people once lived in. The idea that you can immediately imagine stories or develop questions in your head by just looking at these names that are actually stranger to you is stimulating for me. I find the contrast between the old stationary and meaningless markings on tombstones and the sense of life that you acknowledge when you're in the middle of all of it amazing. I think that there is some level of sanctity on the idea of burial as a ritual. I think burial, regardless of religion or culture, is a human expression of love.