Fanta Fanta, Don't You Wanta!!

So lately I've been noticing a lot of odd things I do, so just for fun I'm going to see how many I can find and just list them, and everyone else can laugh at me. But first, I wanted to say hip hip hooray for Heath Ledger winning the Oscar. I cried about that for ten or fifteen minutes. Then I asked myself, Why am I even crying? I couldn't figure it out at first, but now I think it's because seeing Heath's family on that stage, accepting an Oscar for their son, or brother, made me realize that Heath is really gone. We'll never get to see his talent in a movie again, and that is probably the biggest tragedy in television right now.

Oh, also, I'm upset at the Oscars because they didn't nominate the Dark Knight soundtrack, but they felt inclined to play it the entire ceremony. Where is the justice in that? If I were Hans or James I would be... well, mad as a hornet.

Anyway, this is kind of the opposite of what I was just talking about. I volunteered at the Human Rights Education Center of Utah on Saturday, and when I went to the bathroom I saw this sign and I laughed my head off. No one thouught it was as humorous as I did apparently, but I think it's pretty sweet.

Oh yeah, thesis statement: I have a lot of odd quirks.

1. I brush my teeth in the shower. They feel cleaner that way.

2. I can't use water that has been sitting out for more than twenty minutes

3. I can't use water that is put into an old plastic bottle.

4. I drink out of a gallon jug of water.

5. Usually I choke when I drink out of said jug. (I have a drinking problem).

6. I have a fear of public restrooms.

7. If I have to use a public restroom I have a system that I must follow in order for the restroom to be sanitary enough to use.

8.I only curl my hair on the weekends, even though it takes less time than straightening it.

9. I arrange my CDs on my shelves according to first name, the way iTunes does, and it drives my dad crazy.

10. I talk to my cat in meows.

11. I never spell my name right when I sign something.

12. Any book that comes out as a "big hit" I can't stand. Examples: Eragon, Twilight, A Series Of Unfortunate Events, etc.

13. I have two flashlights in my room that I can grab if I wake up in the middle of the night if I need them. Both do not function properly.

14. I spend more time thinking about what I'm going to do than I do actually doing what I was thinking about.

15. I count the number of hours of sleep I would get if I fell asleep that instant when I'm attempting to fall asleep.

16. I actually prefer Scarecrow to the Joker. Scarecrow just makes those nursery rhymes cool again. Not to mention, in Batman and the Monster Men, he was the founder of Arkham Asylum. Not as the Scarecrow of course, but as Johnathon Crane.

17. I use sticky notes for everything.

18. It takes me longer to find a number in my phonebook (on my cell phone) than it does for me to just punch in the number I want to call.

19. I can't text worth crap.

20. Whenever I try to write a story, I get so caught up in the story that's happening in my brain which I'm trying to write down, I never actually end up writing anything. I just kind of stare off into space. La la la....

21. I could eat a whole box of cheez its if I had access to them during a 2-3 hour movie.

22. This one's pretty random. I like brussel sprouts.

23. When I'm graphing something, all of my X and Y axes must have the same number of dashes.

24. I have a T.V. crush on Charlie Epps from numbers and also Jim from The Office.

25. I AM FREAKING EXCITED FOR WATCHMEN!!!!

HAHA XOXO

I Believe In Gotham City

Let us start this with a little kick. This is a picture of a coffee I made myself the other day. When I poured in the shot, I thought it looked like a dinosaur, so I had to take a picture. My dad says it looks more like a cat, but I think it's definitely a dino.

Onto something a little more sinister...

The Joker.

Probably the world's most famous "homicidal maniac." Don't just take my word for it, that's what Mr. J says too!

What is it that we like about him so much? Obviously we do like him, The Dark Knight was such a financial success. This enduring comic book villian is more than just a character however. He is what we can never be. Yes, everyone likes Batman (not necessarily Christian Bale), but we don't think of him the same way we do the Joker. In order to analyze the Joker you have to start with Batman. Without him, the Joker wouldn't exist.

Why does Batman choose to do the things he does? He's driven by vengeance. He needs to fight against crime for what crime did to him: killed his parents. Bruce Wayne is so dedicated to this ideal that he is willing to spend years of his life training his muscles and bones, traveling around the world, getting familiar with crime, studying all about computers and electronics, staying in touch with what is expected of him as Bruce Wayne, and also training his mind in general. This is a lot of self-induced pressure. In one comic book (don't ask me which, I can't remember) Batman says that training his body came easily, but training his mind was the difficult part.

So here Bruce Wayne is, however many years later, all buffed up and intelligent. This is when he becomes "The Bat-Man." This was his early crime fighting stage, and he realized at this point that to fight the corrupt, "superstitious" group that criminals are, he needed to go to extremes. His extremes were donning the cape and cloak, and using the criminals mindset against them. There is only one thing he would not do. Any guesses? He will never take a life. This is what separates him from the criminals he intends to bring to justice.

Okay, so we know about Batman, but what does that really have to do with the Joker? I mentioned that Bruce decided to go to extremes to fight the criminal fraternity. The Joker is a lot different than Batman, but he's also very similar. In a lot of ways, he is more like Batman than he is different. Let's examine the similarities. They both have "secret" identities. They're both extremists. They both have a taste for the theatrics. Difference? I wish I could say that only the Joker was crazy, but Batman has to be too, to a certain degree. The only real substantial difference between the Joker and Batman is that the Joker is willing to kill.

So why did we talk about Batman? Without Batman there would be no Joker. The Joker, although there are many stories trying to explain how he became the Joker, really has no clear origination. The only fact that we know for sure is that the Joker's appearance is directly correlated to Batman. The Joker is Batman, only cynical and evil.

Okay, I'll talk about why we like this guy so much now. Mr. T. asked "Why is it that a character as twisted as the Joker can make us laugh?" Now, let's think back to that class when (Bailey this is for you) that kid is sitting there, and you're imagining twisting his head off or cutting off all of his toes just to put him through the same physical pain you've been enduring mentally. When we see Mr. J stab a pencil through someone's head, just because that guy got on his nerves, that brings back an emotion we've all felt before. The whole violence as a funny thing doesn't apply to everyone. My mom didn't find that amusing at all, which makes no sense to me.

I think we all see a little bit of ourselves in the Joker. I think this is what has made him such a popular character both in writing and in the movies. He does have a plan, like Mr. Thompson said, but I think the difference between his plan, and anyone else's plan, is that he doesn't care if his plan works or not. As long as it's destructive, chaotic, or exciting, it was successful. He is a lot more intelligent than he let's on. The Joker has an intimate understanding of human psychology. I wouldn't find it surprising if Dr. Quinzel let him borrow some of her psychology textbooks. Mr. J understands what makes people tick, and how to really get under their skin. In almost any comic book or movie, the Joker is seen driving a bus, or stealing a plane, or riding around in a helicoptor, maybe using some bizarre technilogical advances that modern society as we know it does not know about yet. How in the world could he know how to do all of these things? He has to have spent countless hours learning how to do all of these things. I think the reason he seems so deep is because he is deep. When you read a comic book or watch a movie featuring the Clown Prince of Darkness, you have to agree with what he is saying. He always has a point. I think the Joker has stumbled upon some secret that the rest of us have yet to find. He doesn't care what happens in his life, as long as it has an outcome in his favor.

At the end of The Dark Knight Batman saves the Joker from his death, and the Joker says to Batman, "You just can't let me go!" When you think about it, the Joker just can't let Batman go either. It could be incredibly easy to kill the Batman, but the Joker doesn't. Why? Without Batman, the Joker is nothing. His life would be pointless, there would be no challenge. The Joker came into existence because of the Batman, and the Joker thrives on it. It is because of this attraction between the two, the idea that "they are destined to do this forever" (or at least until they get to Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, in which my hero.. I mean villian, dies. Very sad..) that the Joker is even in existence.

Besides, doesn't the Joker do Bruce's job for him sometimes?

I'll wrap this up with a little quote from The Long Halloween, my favorite comic book. Batman is trying to find the Holiday killer, and he meets Mr. J on a plane (stolen by the Joker, naturally). This is their conversation.

Joker: I don't know what you're so mad at me for. I'm trying to stop Holiday just like you are!

Batman:By killing everyone in Gotham Square?

Joker: Why not? You don't know who Holiday is. I don't know who Holiday is. But, the odds are he or she might be in the crowd tonight and --

Batman: You're Insane.

Joker: Has it really taken you this long to notice?

HAHA XOXO

I Must Warn You, I'm A Protege Of Foxy!

Aaaah... A warm cup of peppermint coffee and blogger. What more could you want?

Hm, how about something to write about?

I have this issue just about every time I sit down to write a blog. Maybe for some people it comes as a breeze to just spill their heart out onto some random website for people they don't know to read, but for me, it just doesn't work that way. I don't want all of my thoughts and ideas written out for anyone to read and think they understand.

I'm too complicated for that.

Oh by the way, here's a thesis statement. When writing a blog, I'm never really sure what to write.

The ironic thing about not knowing what to write, is that because of that, it has given me a subject to write about.

Okay, the reason I threw in the thesis statement there, was because I just now noticed that on the third term contract, there is some fine print which states "All blogs must have a thesis that is supported and elaborated with interesting details and examples." That's right, it's midterm, and I obviously haven't even read the contract that closely.

Another great thing I just found on that contract, "Submit the completed tutorial quiz by February 13 2009." Great, another thing I have to do this week. I've been a little caught up in fitness for life, so I guess I didn't even think about when that was due.

(Kind of on a side note, because I just went to the grocery store and came back, when I sat back down to my computer (1) it was malfunctioning and I had to restart it and (2) blogger had put 4 line breaks for every one I had made originally. I just thought that was kind of weird).

Next order of business, Mr. Thompson has to slow down on the Great Expectations forum entries, because I'm barely to page 45. Some of us have other things that need to be addressed in our lives besides reading.

Okay, now getting to the good stuff. Right off the bat (no pun intended) I am so excited that Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard won the grammy award for their soundtrack to The Dark Knight! The freaking grammy! That is so cool. I'm way proud of those guys (It is the best soundtrack of the year, so really it's no surprise).

Now for a little bit of playlist stuff. Here's what I want you to do. First listen to the entire second song (it's only a minute long and it's amazing anyway). Next, listen to the third song, The Traveling Song. You're not required to listen to all of that one, it's not so good. After you've listened to both of those, listen to the fourth song, Alex On The Spot. I think it's so cool It takes those two completely different songs and combines them into one. That's impressive to me, maybe not to anyone else. You have to listen to them in rapid succession if you want it to be cool though. So do it now!

Hmmm, I was going to go into the Joker a little bit, but I think I'll actually save that for next week. I don't get a good topic very often, and I could go on about this one for hours.

HAHA XOXO

Don't Worry, It's Just A Clip On!

I've had a headache for the past three days and I'm ready to rip out my brain. Actually it's more throbbing in my eyes so maybe I'll just take those out (that way I'll still be able to function).

Anyway, I saw Madagascar 2 on Saturday. It took long enough. Madagascar is one of my favorite movies, and definitely one of the best Dreamworks productions ever. I was not disappointed either, much to my relief. I was kind of worried it wasn't going to be very good, but I thought it was just as good as the first one.

You should listen to the first song on my playlist now. It's not my favorite song from Madagascar 2, but it has the same zoosters breakout theme that I love. Zoosters Breakout was my favorite song from Madagascar 1, and it might be my favorite song ever released by Hans Zimmer. I was so excited when I went into the movie and heard all of the zoosters theme rearranged and made even better. Now I'm going to go on a little rant because I just love Hans Zimmer's music that much.

So, that one guy from the Black Eyed Peas, Will.i.am, sang a bunch of times on the Madagascar 2 album, so everyone who liked him went out and bought it. Now when you go to iTunes and look it up, all of the reviews for it are "Will.i.am is so great," or "I love the Traveling Song!" or whatever. The people who bought the album don't even bother to listen to any of Mr. Zimmer's stuff, even when he wrote the entire thing. It's like, I'm sorry, but Will.i.am is a hip hop artist. That means he sings and raps to beats made by keyboards with little circuits inside. He doesn't understand music theory and he can't make beautiful music by writing down single notes for 50 different instruments.

That said, I don't want all y'all to think that I just go around making fun of artists. That's not true. I actually took the time to listen to his music on the album. Yeah, it's pretty good, especially the song that's on my playlist now, but I still like Hans Zimmer better. I'm trying really hard to be more open to different kinds of music, especially because I used to always joke with my dad about how sucky his music is (some of it is pretty bad).

I guess what I'm trying to say is you should give the entire album a chance. If you only wanted the songs from a certain artist, you should have bought only those songs.

Also, iTunes should change their little review page to a fan mail page, because that's all it really is. People log on and talk about how much they love a certain song but that isn't a review. It's fan mail, and fan mail is not what belongs on that page. iTunes really needs to figure something better out.

I guess to end this with a life update, I'm taking the ACT on Saturday, and I'm kind of freaking out. (This ACT is by choice, so I don't need any sympathy.)

HAHA XOXO