Saturday, November 20, 2004
 

What in the Wide Wide World of Sports...

...was going on in Detroit last night?
I'm assuming most people have seen/heard about it, but if not I'll give you a quick recap. Ben Wallace (Pistons player) had a flagrant foul (see shoved in the face) against Ron Artest of the Pacers. Tempers flared but the refs eventually got everyone calm...until a fan decided to throw a full beverage at Ron Artest. At which point, Artest jumped into the stands and began to pummel the fan! What happened afterwards can only be described as a riot as some fans/Pacers players attempted to stop the fight and other fans/Pacers began to instigate more fights. The refs ended up calling the game right then, which only incited the crowd more, causing beer, popcorn, and even chairs to be hurled at the Pacers as they retreated to the locker room. It was an absolutely horrific and unbelievable scene.

...was Paige Laurie thinking?
If you missed this story on 20/20 or elsewhere in the media, let me give you a quick recap. Bill and Nancy Laurie are Columbia, MO residents and long-time supporters of the University of Mizzou. They're also filthy rich, due in most part to Nancy being the daughter of Bud Walton (co-founder/brother of Wam-Lart's Sam). Having this huge fortune, they donated a $25 million dollar chunk towards a new sports arena at Mizzou and thus secured the naming rights for it. However, the Lauries said they would not name the arena after famed coach Norm Stewart and threatened to take away their check if the University wanted to do so. Alas, the University acquiesced and Bill Laurie decided to name the arena after his daughter, Paige, who never attended Mizzou, but instead opted for USC to pursue "an interest in filmmaking." She graduated in communications...or at least she received the diploma. You see, according to a 20/20 story last night, Ms Laurie apparently paid another student approximately $20,000 over the course of three years to do all of her coursework. And what did she get for all her hard work- a $75 million arena named after her! What a success.

...happened to K-State football?
I'll admit, I didn't think K-State was going to be as successful as last year, but this season was an embarrassment! The first losing record in fifteen years. Darren Sproles looking like a mediocre running back. One of the worst teams in the Big XII. I can't figure it out, but at least I have the Royals and Chiefs to pep me up. Oh...wait...

posted by Jason | 5:11 PM
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Friday, November 19, 2004
 

Prime Viewing

I skipped out on the tail end of work yesterday to see the film Primer at the subplanted Glenwood Arts theatre. It's an extremely low-budget ($7,000!!) sci-fiction movie that won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival this year and yesterday was the last showing in Kansas City, so I felt fully justified in leaving work early (plus my job is extremely boring). It's one of the most thought-intensive movies I've seen in quite awhile. If you don't wanna hear plot points, feel free to go make some bunt cake. Anyways, most films dealing with time-travel avoid addressing the obvious paradoxes and implications of the technology; Primer, on the other hand, stares them in the face. That being said, there are definitely parts of the film that get extremely confusing, but you have to admire the audacity of attempting to answer these bizarre implications. If I travel back in time and meet myself, could I convince myself not to travel back in time? Would this break of causality (cause/effect) not then kill myself? Even more bizarrely- What if it didn't? The complexity of certain pieces of the story seduce you into seeing this film at least a couple more times. I don't really mind-; Unfortunately, due to its very limited release, I'll most likely just have to wait for the DVD. I don't think anyone can fully understand the film after just one viewing, but that's part of what makes it so fun. The story just continues to revolve in your head after you've seen it. (Joe and I both felt as though we had spent about a day's worth of mental activity afterwards- ha) I'm sure a large part of my fascination with the film is directly tied to my interest in physics and science-fiction (the good kind). However, for those of you who shudder at the invocation of the word(s?) sci-fi, the director/writer/producer/musician/actor/everythingman Shane Carruth puts it nicely- "Science Fiction is one of the best tools that any writer has available because it allows you to freely address universal themes, qualities of being alive on this planet -- and that’s what’s incredibly interesting to me.” So ditch those mundane hours of your workday, find this film, take a deep breath and have fun facing the paradox of all time!

posted by Jason | 9:50 AM
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Thursday, November 18, 2004
 

Power Supplies Not Included

Well, Half-Life 2 was finally (see waiting for 4+ years) released on Tuesday and I eagerly grabbed a copy at 2am that morning. Unfortunately, after taking two hours or so to install the game (what a shock- Valve had problems with the giant influx of people trying to use their online authentication software) I fastly discovered how inferior my system truly is. Knowing that upgrading one piece of my bizarrely configured system would require a rehauling of the entire thing, I began to put together a list of all of the pieces I will need to build my own machine. So for no other reason than no reason at all, here's a list of the pieces I desire:

The last two I won't really need to put together a new system, but I would eventually like to add them to it. Albeit, all this metal is gonna burn a nice hole in my pocket, but I hope to have it all put together by my birthday (I also hope to have a job that could fund these purchases by then).

posted by Jason | 11:41 AM
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Tuesday, November 09, 2004
 

Funny stuff

So I'm bored at work today and the server is constantly locking up and I stumbled upon a list of great jokes and thought this one was too good not to share:

The king of Sweden was out hunting in the woods with one of his assistants. As they looked around, suddenly there appeared in the clearing another man. The king raised his rifle. The man shouted, "I'm not a moose!" The king fired a shot and killed the man. Stunned, the assistant said, "Sire, he said, 'I'm not a moose.' " "Oh," said the king. "I thought he said, 'I am a moose.' "


posted by Jason | 12:03 PM
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Monday, November 08, 2004
 

Addictification

"How much unhealthy food can one person eat in a week's time?" - This being the question my mind is asking my body at the moment. Actually, it's probably been closer to two weeks. It all started when I was heading to lunch one day and found a pastel colored paper fluttering underneath my windshield wiper. I plucked it out and gave it the obligatory once-over, noticing that it was an advertisement for a new Chinese restaurant opening a block away from my workplace with the uber-original name China One! (Apparently there are never sequels to this restaurant, only endless repetitions) Being a fan of the Chinese cuisine, I gave the place a shot. Two weeks later, I can't stop eating there. They must've laced their food with heroin or something because I get a nearly irresistable craving around one o'clock every day. How bad is Chinese food for you? I mean, it at least has a good helping of vegetables, right? Anyone with me??

I've also been on a steady diet of Xbox for the past couple weeks, stemming from the ridiculously good sale on games they had at Toys 'R Us a few weeks back (<-- sorry I can't make the R backwards). I've mostly been playing a tactical RPG named Gladius, which is extremely fun for the cheap price I nicked it at. This gaming increase is only compounded by the fact that the long awaited masterpiece Half-Life 2 is finally hitting shelves in a couple weeks! I've been waiting for this game for going on 5 years now, dating back to my sophomore year in college where half of my time (no pun intended) was spent playing the original Half-Life and it's numerous mods. The new one looks incredible and the early reviews are raving (some calling it the greatest video game ever made). Unfortunately, I'll probably have to upgrade my video card and memory in order to maximize my computer for it. Anyone have recommendations on video cards (Radeon or GeForce or some other third party) or memory (I get confused by which variations fit my computer)?

I'm also (finally) getting around to organizing my room in the way I would like it. It started two weeks ago when I began searching every store within a 20 mile radius for a bookcase that I had spotted in an ad back in August. I couldn't find it anywhere until this last Thursday when my Mom spotted it at Bed, Bath, and Beyond (The home decorating store that courageously attempts to decorate extraplanetary living spaces). So, I borrow my parents van, haul the bookcase back to my apartment, switch cars back at my parents place, and begin to assemble my long awaited prize...only to find the stupid machine that made it decided to drill the holes a half inch off! BAH! Two weeks of searching for a rather simple piece of wood that can keep my books off of the floor only to be thwarted by a dim-witted machine. But anyways, I exchanged it yesterday for one that was built correctly. I'm also going to get my parents bed whenever they get around to buying a new matress (I'm guessing late December). Thus the pieces for my room realignment are beginning to shift into place. Mikey, maybe you could help me out there since I find your decoratorial skills to be nicely honed. I'm wanting to have a somewhat Japanese flavor to my room, replete with lickable walls ("The water chestnuts taste like water chestnuts! The Kung Pao Chicken tastes like Kung Pao Chicken"- maybe that would make the walls Chinese instead of Japanese. Or is Kung Pao a Japanese term...definitely something to mull over).

And speaking of our neighbors across the Pacific, I saw one of their steadily growing American horror movie remakes last night- The Grudge! Watch out people that house is pissed at you! But honestly, it wasn't a very good house or movie for that matter. Every character was at some point required to film this scene:

IGNORANT HUMAN (Iggy for short) wanders into seemingly abandoned house. Iggy notices no one is home. Iggy hears requisite horror noises emanating from upstairs (meowing cats, creaking floorboards, pittet-patter of feet).

      IGGY
Hello?

Iggy slowly climbs stairs and hears the noises coming from room down dimly lit hallway.

      IGGY
     (Louder)
Hello?

Iggy decides it is best he/she discovers what is making these mysterious noises by his/herself. Iggy enters room and finds noises coming from closet. Iggy thinks it is best to press on investigation. Iggy opens closet. Iggy crawls into closet in order to learn by osmosis (?). Iggy opens panel in ceiling and sticks arm/head/body into dark opening. SICKLY JAPANESE CHILD WITH UNWASHED HAIR eats Iggy's soul.

Repeat that scene about ten times or so and you can save yourself the eight bucks. Or go rent The Eye (Jian gui for my Asian visitors), which is another 'angry ghost' Japanese movie that I actually had fun watching. I'm sure it'll get the remake ticket here shortly too. I also saw The Incredibles this weekend which was really enjoyable. For anyone that liked it, you should rent writer/director Brad Bird's first animated film The Iron Giant which is one of the best animated movies ever. The preview for the next Pixar movie, however, looked atrocious. It's called Cars and it's about cars... who can talk! They even drive around in circles like those nasCARS. It looks like the first serious misstep by Pixar. I dunno, it could maybe be decent, but it just looks like those Chevron commercials to me. And now, I will go to feed my heroin..er...dietary addiction once more. "The Rangoon tastes like Rangoon!"

posted by Jason | 11:37 AM
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