...To Keep With Tradition.... What Keeps You Up Nights Mr. Dillinger? Coffee.

Holy crapanollee! A blog post!!!

Life must be getting pretty boring for me, I know... But anyway, I actually have a point to this blog. I saw "Public Enemies" the other day, and thought, Hey! the second to last time I saw a movie (I forgot about blogging when I saw "Up") I wrote a review of it! So heck, that's what I''m going to do with Public Enemies. But right up front, if you're trying to decide whether or not to see it, the answer is yeah, you should definitely see it in theaters. Especially if you're a Depp fan like I am. Here's the trailer for starters, if you're not sure exactly what goes on in the movie. And here's the IMDB web page for the movie, which is your source on pretty much everything you could ever need to know. Make sure you check out the trivia page. My favorites are the 16th and 11th ones down.

Oh, and the other point to this is to introduce some of the music from the movie. Sadly a lot of it isn't on the Internet yet, and it doesn't help that Elliot Goldenthal is not a very well known composer. I happen to really like him, and oddly enough, he was the composer for the Batman and Robin movie. Everything I do goes back to Batman! I don't really know why he's so little known, because he has won academy awards and golden globes and all that jazz. Regardless, there's some great music on the soundtrack, and not all of it is from him. There's quite a lot of Billie Holiday on there, which is so-so to me, and then there are a few Otis Taylor songs that I really like. The one that came up in my playlist is "Nasty Letter" which I like a bit more than this one, "Ten Million Dollar Slaves." Don't forget to follow that link and listen to the song (hehehe)! Oh, also if you want to sample the entire CD you can play around with it here.

They used a whole lot of kind of, banjo music,. bluesyish stuff in the movie. My dad told me a joke the other day. I think it was Willie Nelson who said something along the lines of "the best banjo is a broken one." There was also an awful lot of big band which of course had to be there because the movie took place in the thirties. Dang, I was soooooooooooo born in the wrong era.

Enough about the music! I meant to actually review the movie and actors/actresses; all that jazz (or should I say big band?). I'll start with an overview of the movie as a whole.

The movie is about John Dillinger (Johnny Depp), a felon wanted for robbing banks. The leading investigator, Agent Purvis (Christian Bale) is out to stop him, but somehow Dillinger always gets away. Anyway, the movie starts out with Dillinger escaping from jail, and it reminded me a lot of The Dark Knight the way the movie just starts and you're in. Overall the screenplay is good, and you really get that 30s feel. Michael Mann is an extremely talented director, but he's one of those guys (like Quentin Tarantino) that loves to experiment with the gunshots exploding out of heads and all that gross stuff. For me, I find it humorous, but other's who are sensitive to that kind of thing, ahem, my mother, probably should wait for it to come out on DVD so you can fast forward through those scenes. It's not particularly gory (hello, Grindhouse) but if you're squeamish it may not be the best idea. There is this one gunfight scene that lasts an eternity. It may have had something to do with the fact that I had to pee like nobody's business... but, that brings up an interesting point:

Why don't characters ever have to inconveniently pee in the actual film?

But I really did have to pee. And then when I figured I was in that last half hour, wrapping up the movie stretch, the agents were interviewing Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard, interesting sidenote, she was in a lot of french movies, but this is only her first or second American film) she's getting the crap beaten out of her (maybe not that extreme) but then she interrupts their interrogation with "I have to go to the bathroom." I'm sitting there (miserable) thinking, "Oh, of course she had to say that. Oh well, at least that's over." Then a few minutes later, Purvis comes in and he's like, "You can go to the bathroom now." I wanted to stand up and hit Christian Bale in the face. Really? Really?!?!

Anyway, so I missed a few minutes of that movie, but the rest of it was much more enjoyable.

Overall, the movie itself was good. On the standard.net find showtimes website it has a 3 1/2 out of four stars, which might be a tad bit high, and on IMDB it's 7.7 out of ten, which is more what I would say. Moving on to the individual performances. There are usually two different links, one for the character and the other for the actor/actress.

John Dillinger (Johnny Depp)-- What do I even have to say about Mr. Depp? He's one of my favorite actors, and, as usual, he completes the movie. Originally they were going to cast Leonardo DiCaprio in his role, and this movie would have been a flop with him. I was a little disappointed to see all the makeup they but on Johnny, but the touch of eyeliner on the lower lashes gave me a little bit of that "pirates" vibe.

Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale)-- As usual, Bale is a fail. I honestly don't understand how he get's work. He wasn't absolutely terrible in this movie because his lack of emotion fit the character, but my goodness his fake accent was annoying. If you watch the credits Bale had an accent coach, but Johnny did not. I think they should have just gotten Johnny to give Bale lessons. It would've saved them a few bucks. Personally I think whenever Bale is in a movie he reduces its value a little bit. He's too straightforward and he just can't deliver. I think they should have skipped the voice coach and gone to an acting coach.

J. Edgar Hoover (Billy Cudrup)-- Honestly, Hoover didn't show up enough to really critique him, but I just thought it was weird, because I saw him and the entire movie I couldn't remember who he was, but then I realized! He was Dr. Manhattan (or I guess the voice of Dr. Manhattan, and the body of Jon) in Watchmen. Pretty weird.

Lastly I'll take a look at Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard)-- I think she did a fabulous job. Her teeth were a little distracting to me at first, but I got over that pretty fast. Her emotions were very real and convincing, and I cried like a baby at the end. She definitely deserves the Academy Award she has won (not on this movie, but another.)

Overall a good movie. I would say 8/10.

HAHA xoxo

FINAL BLOG POST OF THIS SCHOOL YEAR!!!!

Aw man, this is depressing! I hate the end of the school year. It's the most depressing time ever. It seems like the last month or term of school is always the best! The rest of the year just kind of stinks compared to this term. I figured I'd spend this entire blog post reminiscing of things past all through junior high, and planning for the future. Kind of a depressing end to the year in a way. I'll try and end it with something funny.

You know really, I don't remember seventh grade that well. It was just kind of a transition period. I do remember that it sucked because I was a half Merlin half Saker team member. It always messed up my schedule. I do remember one particular time though, with Mr. Hirschi. Since I was on two different teams the end of that year was a total mess for my schedule. I was having different lunches every day, and sometimes I missed Mr. Hirschi's fifth period for like every day except the second to last one of that week at the end of the school year. It's important to note at this point in the story that I never really talked to anybody in Hirschi's class the entire last third of the year because I didn't really like anyone in there. So I finally show up again on the last day of school to his class, and have him sign my yearbook. He gave me this look like, "Wow, you are so antisocial you ended up in ISS for the last week of school." Good times, good times.

Hmm, let's see, good memories from eighth grade. Well, I guess I'll just list memories period, because there aren't very many particularly "good" ones. I remember the rah rah recruit, or as I liked to call it, "The international tour of the elementary schools." I never knew I could dismantle my violin and a stand, and put it back together so fast. Uh, there was also Conor... he wasn't a good memory. I had zero crushes in eighth grade, which was kind of... lonely. What else do I remember from eighth grade? I went to a psychologist. That was, for lack of a better word, interesting. Oh, and I had more friends than I did in seventh grade, which was nice.

On to the last year of junior high. Ninth grade was by far my favorite year. I knew so many people, I had so many good times. If tenth grade is half as fun... it will feel like eighth grade... hmm.

So, in ninth grade there was french, while it lasted. I loved french, but I really didn't like Comiskey. That was a sad day when I dropped it. Teen Living was the best class ever! I loved that day that Beth broke the plate and me and Kati were cracking up and later, all Carly could say was, "Oh I thought that's just how you guys were." Really? Do we come off as that cruel? Apparently so. Clothing was a blast too. I loved that class. It really shouldn't have been called clothing. Let's see, first semester of Van Vleet's class was hysterical. Second semester was awesome because Bailey was in there. Social dance... eh. Algebra was just like seventh grade again! All of us back in the same class. Lastly, there's foods. The last period of my day, and probably the best. It's so much fun in there, even on the boring days. I love Mrs. Harrison's obliviousness to the "that's what she said" jokes she's always making. The food we make in there gets me so hyped up I can hardly speak. Seriously, when will we make something healthy in that class? Ninth grade has been a great year.


I am so gonna miss junior high. I guess I'll use this as a (sort of) final farewell to all of those of you who are going to Layton high next year. FAREWELL MY FRIENDS!!!


haha XOXO for all the years I won't get to see you in the future...

You Are The Ocean Waves, You Are My Thought Each Day, You Are The Laughter From Childhood Games

Wow, really mixing it up with the blog title. Not a quote, but a lyric.

Yeah, okay I know. I changed from the Joker. I just kind of felt like something different and I liked the colors on this template. Plus it's kind of cool anyway. But, yeah, I still love the Joker and all, I just didn't feel like that background anymore.

I'm not any less crazy than I was before.

So, in any event, (I had to throw that in because today I was thinking about this kid's dad I used to know, whose house I tracked mud through, that used to always say "in any event" like all the time) it's really freaking hot outside. I am not a fan of the hot weather. I get really cranky when it's hot. During the winter I'm always thinking about how I'll keep the house all nice and clean every day during the summer, and make dinner when my parents get home and stuff, but then it turns out to really suck because I'm hot and tired and very, very cranky.

This is freaky as heck, but I'm actually kind of in the mood to work out. It's like, I'm hot and sweaty anyway, I might as well gain something from it. Of course, I'll probably start running or whatever, and then get bored and want to stop. That's usually how it goes. Maybe I should re-enroll myself in Fit for Life just so I can actually try to exercise. I'm actually going to start training for a 5K this summer (yeah, imagine me, RUNNING!).

Seriously though, have I mentioned that it's hot? I'm going to have to move my violin downstairs now. She (I'm pretty sure my violin's a girl... I mean, look at the violin's shape! don't tell me that's not a girl!) hates the heat. Her tuning gets all wacky and I think it's because she was manufactured in Romania... which, in case you're wondering, is right here (I was one of those wondering. I guess that it's colder there).

Anyway, on my way home from school I was talking to my brother about weird things that boys do. Earlier today somebody burped in my face and I was wondering what the heck that meant.

My conversation with my brother:

Lauren: So, if a guy burbs on you, is that a sign of acceptance, or a sign of affection, or just being plain old rude?

Dylan: Well... How did he burp? It really depends on how he did that?

L: I don't know how to burp like a guy! (Attempts to make burp sound). See!

D: Well was it like a burp and a blow, or just a burp?

L: Burp and a blow... I guess.

D: Oh, that means he has accepted you as "one of the guys."

L: Lovely. So what would it have meant if it would have been just a burp?

D: Well, that means he either wasn't expecting it, or he's trying to be rude and gross you out.

L: So what is a sign of affection then?

D: If he burps and then says "Excuse me."

AND GUYS THINK GIRLS ARE IMPOSSIBLE TO FIGURE OUT!


HAHA XOXO

I Am Not I, If There Be Such An Eye, Or Those Eyes Shut Which Make Thee Answer 'I'

I had a very pleasant day today. It was actually kind of weird, because I never really felt "unpopular" all day. It seemed like even in the classes I don't talk to anyone in I had someone to talk to. I mean, I wouldn't consider myself unpopular, but I wouldn't say I'm popular either. The weird thing about this is that I went home and I was really tired, so I decided to just watch some TV, and I turned the Tellie on to Tyra Banks' show, and she was doing this show on teenage popularity. They had this popular girl (who thought that she was very attractive. Trust me, even a girl could tell she was anything but) dress up like an "unpopular girl." That means baggy clothes and ratty hair. They gave this newly unpopular girl acne and stuck her in a room full of "popular" kids who made fun of her for a couple of hours.

Next thing you know, this girl is sobbing, saying how mean they were. Five minutes later, she's fine and defending herself that she would never have done any of that stuff.

See, the thing is though, that there are two guilty parties. No, not a party party, but a group of people party. (I must be thinking about parties too much... teehee..). Anyways, popular kids might make fun of unpopular kids, but heck, unpopular kids are making fun of what popular kids are doing, or saying, or wearing. I think that popularity will never go away... I mean, if it did, we would never have any more of those great teenage girl movies like Mean Girls. That movie really did bring girls together. It doesn't matter where you live, what school you go to, who you're friends with, or how popular or unpopular you are. You just love Mean Girls. It is one of the best movies ever...

I'm kind of overusing the period period period aren't I? I should probably stop that... It' s not very formal. It's probably because I'm addicted to Facebook. Never before have I wasted so much time doing absolutely nothing. I mean, two hours later, I've commented on someone's status, looked at a few pictures and taken three or four quizzes. What kind of an accomplishment is that? Usually I'm just waiting for someone to get online so I can talk to somebody. It's been a little bit of a bummer ever since I got my new computer, because I don't want to put MSN Messenger on here because that's where I got my virus before. I'm just going to play it safe.

I am so sad this year is ending!!! I swear, the last term of school is so much fun, I don't want it to end. (Okay, yeah, maybe I need sixty more words and I have NO idea what to talk about now) . It seems like it's fourth term when you finally get to know all the people in your classes, and then all of a sudden you have a summer break and you don't call anybody or do anything, and you totally lose contact with them. Well not this year. I'm breaking the habit... tonight. Haha, Linkin Park reference right there. I don't even like them, and do you know how long it took me to realize that Linkin Park was like Lincoln Park, like the memorial park or whatever? Shows how smart I am.

HAHA XOXO

Whatcha Mcdoin' McProbie?

So I have comcast and it's extended cable I guess, but they always mail us random channel changes and the like, because it would just be too convenient for channels to stay the same for a little while. Anyway, in the 900s (note the correct lack of use of an apostrophe) there are music channels. The other day they sent us one of the channel changes lists and there were a bunch of new music channels. To make a long story short, my brother and I spent yesterday listening to the channel called "Toddler Tunes." This was actually really funny because there was this one song that was like, "If I could talk to the president/ I'd tell him to take all those nuclear bombs/ (extremely long pause in which my brother and I stop doing whatever it was we were doing and stare at the TV like "what the heck?")/And throw them all away." It was a hilarious song. The pause just made it sound like this little kid was talking about nuclear warheads. I really can't see any little kids actually listening to that crap. I mean, when I was a toddler I was into Barney and stuff, but not music.

Right now I'm on the Light Classical channel, listening to Elgar's (never heard of him either) "Wand of Youth Suite No. 2/March." It's kind of cool because it also says the orchestra that's playing (New Zealand Philharmonic Orchestra on this song) and then it also does little trivia things up at the top. Apparently the New Zealand Philharmonic Orchestra was the one that played Howard Shore's Lord of the Rings soundtrack. New Zealand is awesome. Now the TV is playing this obnoxious guitar song from "The Spanish Album." It's just kind of obnoxious, not really pretty.

In other TV news, we were watching NCIS on demand, (I have never seen a repeat of that show) and we were getting all into it finally because the storyline was kind of confusing on this particular episode, and it was like "To Be Continued..." and we were sitting there, mouths open in astonishment, trying to figure out when it came on. Well, Comcast doesn't mail us TV guides, which would actually be helpful, so we had to go through all of the free episodes On Demand and figure out which day they were being added to the lineup. We realized it was a Tuesday, so we switch the TV back to regular TV mode (as opposed to On Demand mode) and we flip forward three days to Tuesday and get to about 3:30 PM and it decides that's when it will stop telling us what is on. So, just now I was checking CBS and have finally found that NCIS comes on Tuesdays at 7 PM. Finally I can see the rest of that episode. NCIS, Monk, and 30 Rock are probably my top three right now. The Office is good, but its not nearly as good as the rest of those three.

Oh, and although this is quite random, I finally found out what probie means. Donozzo uses it in reference to McGee all the time on NCIS and I never understood what it meant. Apparently, it means probationary, like rookie. Who'da thunk it?

Ha, well my brother's friends dad just came by to tell them they need to go home and clean up their backyard, (they're moving out of their rental) and my brother's friend goes "Noooo-uh." Just like that. The sad thing is, I used to say the exact same thing.

Enjoy your week, we've only got a few weeks of school left. As of today, Monday night, 23 days including Lagoon Day and Yearbook Day. I probably shouldn't really count them, but...


HAHA XOXO

Come now, birdboy! You're not going to sleep on me already, are you? The party's just got started!

I just finished Batman: a Death in the Family. Holy cow. These are the kind of comic books I live for. It sure makes Frank Miller look like crap. Actually this story was pretty darn good. Apparently after fifty years of Batman, the editors at DC were thinking, we should bring Robin back, but we can't bring back Dick Grayson. He's moved on. He's part of the Teen Titans as Nightwing now, and it will make no sense to bring him back. So they created Jason Todd. I never really liked him, so it was a relief when he died. I guess that's how they decided whether or not he would live. After issuing the second to last book in this series they had a telephone poll asking people whether they wanted Jason to live, or die. At the back of the book it says the end vote was 5271 for, 5343 against. Bye bye Jason. But the way they killed him seems a little harsh, even to me. It does bring up an interesting point about the Joker though.

We all know the Joker kills people. Duh. That's his thing, he's good at it, and he loves it. But when we watch a movie about him, or read a comic book (which few people besides me does anymore) about him, we feel a sense of detachment. We don't know any of the people he's killed. We don't care about those people. They're not important to the storyline. They're just more of the Joker's victims. But in A Death in the Family it makes it more personal. You've seen this kid. You know what he's been through. His parents are dead, he just found out that his real mother is alive, and he's worked with the Batman fighting crime. When he dies it's actually a sad thing. It almost makes you hate the Joker. Batman doesn't kill him because he thinks he's too insane to know what he's doing.

The Joker knows. He always has and he always will.

"I know the difference between the crazies and the freaks like you who just enjoy it."

It really is a fabulous comic though. The term "can't put down" is an accurate description of me while I was reading it. I'm forcing myself to read Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again and quite simply, I don't enjoy it. Everyone (meaning the online community of comic bookers that I've talked to, or rather, read) seems to think that Miller's books are classic works of graphic novels, but I just don't understand it. Maybe I'm not old enough to understand it. That's what my dad predicted about Watchmen though, and I love that book. The only thing I can come up with is that it's just not a good book.

In other news, there are a bunch of new Umbrella Academies out, but the last one I saw was number 3 and I just can't get three before the rest of the series. I'm sure it's probably finished the series out by now. I've missed quite a few comic book wednesdays. Speaking of which, my dad got a popcap on his Sobe the other day that said "Comic Book Wednesday."
I want it...


HAHA XOXO

Falcone Floods The Streets With Drugs And Violence, Creating New Joe Chills Every Day!

I'm sick today while I'm writing this blog. I think that sentence might have been gramatically incorrect, but oh well. I hate being sick. I hate wasting my time, lying there, feeling sorry for myself. What a waste of time, really. I'm going back to school tomorrow no matter what. I'm so sick of being sick. The worst part of being sick is missing school and then having to make it up when you could have just done it at school and had no homework at all. I missed like three tests that I have to go in early to take now. It's very annoying. You would think teachers would have figured out a better way to allow students to check their missing work and find what they did in school that day. Thompson has the best for that kind of thing so far, but it could still be improved. Like, who knows how long it's going to take me to get caught up on Journal entries again.

While I've been sick I've watched Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. The Dark Knight for about the tenth time and Batman Begins for probably the fifth. Christian Bale does a much better job as an actor in Batman Begins than he does in The Dark Knight. My mom came in while I was watching Batman Begins and proceeded to ask me if I knew that "That guy" (which she meant as Henri Ducard/Ra's al Ghul) was Liam Neeson. I told her yeah, I knew that, and she said, "Did you know--". I interrupted her and said, "Yeah I know his wife was the one that hit her head on the bunny slope when she was learning how to ski." His wife was the mom from The Parent Trap for all y'all that don't know. It really is sad that she died though. And over the stupidest little thing.

Anyway... I'm also doing my magazine article right now, and I'm doing it on an article about male lactation. That's right, male lactation. I didn't actually know this was possible until just now, but apparently dudes can breast feed. That's kind of cool, but kind of disturbing at the same time, I don't know why. It makes sense of course. I mean, why would men still have nipples if they had no use for it, er, them? Maybe eventually men will lose their nipples, but until that day comes they will probably be able to lactate. Haha... It's just funny somehow...

This was a great time to get sick too. I couldn't do anything with my relatives that were here for the last two days because I was sick. Colorguard stuff is today and then for the next two weeks too, so I better start feeling better fast. My mom is nice enough to go get the information for me from Davis High. Hopefully Kati is still doing it... I also have Violin Federation on Saturday and I haven't been able to practice my song for the past four days and I took a week off a few days before that. I also didn't get to have a lesson because I had to go to my grandpa's funeral. Right now, everything is kind of a disaster, but hopefully I'll be able to get it all sorted out soon.

HAHA xoxo