November 23, 2011

word

bibliophage [bib-lee-uh-feyj] n. an ardent reader; a bookworm

birthday

William H. “Billy the Kid” Bonney (1859) (most likely inaccurate), Boris Karloff (1887), Harpo Marx (1888), Bruce Hornsby (1954), Chris Hardwick (1971), Miley Cyrus (1992)

standpoint

I’ve watched a lot of movies. And when it comes to movies there’s about a million lists out there of the best this and the worst that and what have you. But one list that’s mostly overlooked is The Biggest Assholes in Movie History. Sure there are a few out there but it’s largely an explored area. So I thought I would weigh in on this topic that is obviously in dire need of address. So here’s my list…so far.

Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker in The Social Network – Usually, Timberlake does his best to look squeaky clean in his cinematic endeavors but I gotta respect the guy for taking this role and doing a great job with it.

Hart Bochner as Harry Ellis in Die Hard – Ok, I know he’s more comic relief than serious asshole but the guy exemplifies every douchebag in the 80s. (Side note: I had no Bochner directed PCU until I had to look him up for this post.)

Matt Damon as Charlie Dillon in School Ties – If you can watch this movie and not want to punch real-life Matt Damon in the face, you’ve got ice water running through your veins.

Gene Hackman as John Herod in The Quick and The Dead – This clip doesn’t really reveal the extent of what a gigantic shithead Hackman plays in this movie but it’s the best scene so I thought I would include it.

William Atherton as Walter Peck in Ghostbusters – Atherton might be a very nice guy in real life but he will always be known for being one of the biggest assholes to ever grace the screen. I could’ve also cited him for Die Hard or Real Genius.

So that’s that. Feel free to comment if you think there are any I’ve overlooked.

quotation

I celebrated Thanksgiving in an old-fashioned way. I invited everyone in my neighborhood to my house, we had an enormous feast, and then I killed them and took their land. ↔ Jon Stewart

tune

Here’s the thing about The Muppets: They’re fucking awesome. Even though, they’re not technically members of the human race, they sum up everything great about it. They always assume the best about whatever situation they find themselves in. But they’re also incredibly sarcastic and, at times, they do actually get angry. But, in the end, they always forgive. I love this clip of Jason Segel’s SNL monologue from this past Saturday. (Sorry, you’re going to have to clip on the link. It wouldn’t embed properly.)

gallimaufry

→ Last night, CNN aired the GOP National Security Debate. I listened to most of it as I was preparing this post. When is the GOP going to realize it is doing itself absolutely no service by holding all of these debates? It’s become comical. My favorite part was when Herman Cain addressed Wolf Blitzer as “Blitz.” Here’s an article on some of the other gaffes from last night’s hi-jinks.

→ I know I’m probably beating this to death but what else is new? Yesterday, on 97.5 The Fanatic, Mike Missanelli interviewed Eric Lindros and John LeClair. During the interview, they discussed their latest charity efforts with CHOP (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia), what it was like to play with each other, Lindros’ feelings about his return to the city that shunned him and lots of other stuff.

→ I won’t be posting again until sometime next week. Happy Thanksgiving!

October 24, 2011

word

erudition [er-yoo–dish–uhn, er-oo-] n. knowledge acquired by study, research, etc.; learning; scholarship

birthday

Melvin Purvis (1903), The Big Bopper (1930), Bill Wyman (1936), F. Murray Abraham (1939), Kevin Kline (1947), Scott Peterson (1972)

standpoint

Why aren’t you posting everyday? I noticed you haven’t updated your blog, is everything okay? Hey, you need to start posing again, I miss reading your blog every morning, why did you stop?

Every time I take a break from writing here, I get emails asking me those questions. Not a ton of emails but enough to make me feel like I’m disappointing people. And then I feel like I need to start posting again and feel guilty when I don’t.

Often, I regret naming this blog the euneJeune daily, mainly because of the daily. It’s not easy coming up with five posts a week and some weeks I might not even have two in me. And then I get frustrated that I can’t keep up the pace I established when I first started writing here over two years ago. The discouragement I feel inevitably leads me to step back from it, always intending to come back.

When I’m actively posting here, I enjoy it very much. I’m leaps and bounds away from being the most popular blogger on the Internet but when it comes to traffic, I do all right garnering 150-200 hits on days with new posts and 50-75 hits on days without. I can live with that. It’s a pretty solid amount considering I’m doing no promotion save for a Facebook update via Twitter (via Twuffer).

Writing this blog is satisfying when I’m doing it right. But I’m not always doing it right. Sometimes I half-ass it just to get a new post up. Or I don’t have thoughts worth sharing. Or I do but I’m a little muddled for any number or reasons. Or I’m simply tired. Or I’m out having a good time with someone somewhere. Or, well, you get the idea.

Another occasionally troubling aspect of this blog is most readers are people I personally know. Plenty of times I’ll be writing passionately about something I believe in and all of a sudden my mind goes to who’s going to be reading. What will my girlfriend think? What about my parents’ friends? What about some of my regulars at the bar? And so on. I worry my opinions might make people think differently, or maybe even less, of me. So I start toning things down and pulling back until I’ve created a post easily digestible by all. Granted, often I write whatever the hell I want. But, in my opinion, I should be doing that each and every time, not just when I can summon the nerve.

So what am I getting at here? I’m not sure yet but when I dwell on it, I keep coming back to the idea that I’m going be fundamentally changing this blog. Streamlining, trimming the fat as it were. Being honest no matter what. Making it concise and more readable so that readers won’t have to sift through things they’re not interested in to get to what they are.

For better or worse, that’s where I’m headed. Thanks for reading.

quotation

Make the best of every moment. We’re not evolving. We’re not going anywhere. ↔ David Bowie

tune

One positive aspect of my hiatuses from this blog is that, when I come back, I’ve got a brand new arsenal of new music to share. Here’s “Shaky” from The Duke & The King. It’s one of the best songs I’ve heard in a while.

gallimaufry

→ During my absence I gained exactly zero ground on struggles with the second season of Louie. It’s frustrating because I know I’m supposed to like it. It should be located squarely in my wheelhouse but for reasons I can’t fathom, it’s simply not clicking like it could. And when Chuck Klosterman chimed in I imagined I would finally get to the bottom of this completely inconsequential inner squabble. It didn’t help.

→ From what I’ve read about Sean Parker, he appears to be a master of flimflam. But he may have a point here.

→ Hey, Iran, we might be leaving Iraq but don’t think that means you should feel free to just stroll right in after we’re gone. Just do us a fucking favor and be cool for once. I mean seriously, why do you guys always gotta be such dicks?

06.11.09 – Thursday

Word: inure [in-yoor, i-noor] v. 1. to accustom to hardship, difficulty, pain, etc.; toughen or harden; habituate (usually fol. by to): inured to cold 2. to come into use; take or have effect 3. to become beneficial or advantageous

Birthday: Ben Jonson (1572), Richard Strauss (1864), Vince Lombardi (1913), Gene Wilder (1933), Frank Beard (1949), Joe Montana (1956), Hugh Laurie (1959), Peter Dinklage (1969), Ryan Dunn (1977), Joshua Jackson (1979), Shia LeBeouf (1986)

Quotation: Just because everything is different doesn’t mean anything has changed. – Irene Peter

Tune: Just got Noble Beast by Andrew Bird. So far, I’m digging “Anonanimal” the most.

Gallimaufry: Trent Reznor, one of the most active musicians on Twitter, may be hanging up his social networking spurs. On the official Nine Inch Nails website “Forum” section, Reznor had this to say, “I will be tuning out of the social networking sites because at the end of the day it’s now doing more harm than good in the bigger picture and the experiment seems to have yielded a result. Idiots rule.” Indeed they do, but did he really need Twitter to grasp that concept? ∞ The NFL (National Football League) is ready to play hardball with the NFLPA (National Football League Players’ Association).  With relatively-new NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and brand new NFLPA head DeMaurice Smith not wanting to look weak in their first head-to-head matchup, it should be fun to watch as the two groups square off over revenue sharing. Because, really, in a terrible economy, I can’t imagine what people would love to see more than insanely rich people fighting over money. My advice? Settle this one quickly and quietly, fellas. ∞ It’s hard to believe 10 years ago this month, Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker released Napster. I caught onto Napster really early, completely by accident. (A girl at a bar told me about it.) Once I found it, I was completely hooked. Sure, by today’s standards, it was clunky and time-consuming, but for a music junkie like me, it was internet crack cocaine. The day it got shut down, I didn’t light a candle or anything. But still. It sucked. I’ve never been able to bring myself to try the new pay version.   

Incoming: Relax, will ya? Be patient.