The Future

The future. It's a funny thought. Websters dictionary defines it as: Time regarded as still to come. People talk so much about the future, even though there is no way we can really connect to it. Sure, some people claim they can predict the future via magic, but do you really believe them? Of course not, as they have no proof of their beliefs. Thats's what I'm talk about today: the future and what it really means.

Personally, I don't get why people think about the future so much. There are two common phrases: If you look too far ahead of yourself, you'll trip over your own feet, and, Carpe Diem ( Latin for seize the day ). That is one of my favourite sayings, and a rule I live by. I think that you can get through life by just thinking about the present, better than always worrying about how todays decisions will effect you tomorrow. I get that sometimes you have to make sure you don't do some things that will have a massive effect in your life tomorrow, but I don't think that in general you should worry about how your decisions will later effect you.

One of the things I don't like about this world is how people try to get you to believe that they can predict your future. I guess some people could get really convinced that they can really predict the future via two ways: magic or science/math. Some countries people are convinced that they can tell the future by using special cards, or a magic ball. I understand that it is possible for you to get convinced that they can really predict the future if by coincidence the 'magic' works and correctly predicts your future. The one thing I don't get how you can believe that math and/or science can predict your future. This is all based on past events, and how there might be a pattern to life and that what happens on Earth has a purpose, and what happens is not random. I do believe that their is no pattern to life, and these people are 100% mislead. I have a good example of this: around 20 years ago N.A.S.A. sent a capsule with the song Across The Universe by the Beatles across the universe. But when Stephen Hawking heard about this, he began to fret that they had doomed the Earth. He claimed that he had somehow found a way to predict that N.A.S.A.'s capsule had angered advanced aliens and that our world was doomed to extinction. And we're not dead yet.

So that's what I think of the future, a random time that there is no way to connect to, and is pointless to look to for answers.

I commented on Marcus' blog on Basketball.

2 is for 24

The most over-the-top thing ever made that isn't in any way connected to either Tim Burton or Quentin Tarantino. It's what gives you your weekly dose of action. What has nuclear bombs planted in Manhattan almost every season, and an agent who will stop at nothing to get what America wants. What other show can predict the next president ( at the beginning of the series a George Bush kind of president was the leader of the United States of America, then a black man became president just like Barrack Obama did. Currently, a woman is president in this awesome show ). The show I have just described follows an agent named Jack Bauer ( Kiefer Sutherland ) and that show is 24.
It began on November 6th, 2001, when the world was still in shock from the horrid events of 9/11. But this was a perfect opportunity for Joel Surnow to show the world what he was/is capable of. My guess is that he thought the world ( especially America ) would love a TV show about a James Bond-like, terrorist fighter. Obviously, it caught on. At the height of this series in season 5 ( in 2006 ) 13.78 million people on average watched it weekly in the U.S. alone.
There is a near infinite amount of reasons why I like this show: from its over-the-top filled episodes to the confusing, but action-filled, plots. But why I like it the most is because it occurs in real-time. The show is a hour long in our time, and 60 minutes there. Every season is 24 episodes ( hence the name) but is only one day in the show. This really helps me connect with the characters. You can really see how much pain they are going through as they try to take down the terrorists.
But this part of the show can also show the holes in the plot. I mean, in the current season ( season 8 ) , they stop a evil Russian mob group from smuggling nuclear rods into N.Y.C. Right when C.T.U. ( a private security company hired by the American government ) finds a dirty bomb in the middle of Manhattan, the companies headquarters gets hit by an electromagnetic pulse ( E.M.P. ) and all their electronics go down. But then Jack realizes that there is a double agent within C.T.U so he captures her and begins to torture her until she gives him the location of the bomb. They then find it and disarm it with only 5 seconds to spare. After the investigation, they find out that the Russian government was behind the bombings, but the president decides not to accuse them because that would mean that the peace deal between them, the I.R.K, and the Russians would be off. When Jack realizes how they're planning not to accuse the Russians, he goes rouge and tries to find the terrorists. I know how that sounds crazy enough to happen in one season, but since each episode is in real-time, that means that all of the above happened in just one day!
I really like this show, even though the holes in the plot. Whenever I realize how crazy the storyline is, I stop and think to myself and say, You know what Michael, I don' t watch this show because of the plot. I watch it because of how much action there is and how over-the-top it is. And I do think I'm right when I say that, that I don't care about the storyline, only about the action.
That's 24 for you, and I promise you that you will NEVER find anything quite like this.

Life Lesson: Only look at the good things in this world, and ignore the bad things.

I commented on Rowena's blog about Life!

Q is for Quentin Tarantino

This guy might have the weirdest mind in the entire world. At least in Hollywood, that's for certain. In 2007 Total Film named him the 12th best director of all time. For his two most successful movies, he has been nominated for 15 Oscars, and won 3. He has directed, wrote, produced, and acted in films. He is known for his nonlinear storylines, and exaggeration of violence in his movies. This man's name is Quentin Tarantino.
Tarantino was born in 1963 in Knoxville, Tennessee. He was raised by his mother, as his parents were separated before he was born. He moved to Torrance, California a few years later, and took drama classes at his local high school until he dropped out at age 17 so he could go to an acting school full-time. When he was at acting school, he decided to quit his acting career to become a director, because he respected them more. He has no children and is not married and says that he would not consider marrying or having children before the age of 60, when he says he will retire.
He is one of the people that you either like or hate. Many people don't like him because they think that he just copies other peoples ideas, and changes them just enough so that they are his own. I have only noticed this in one of his movies, Kill Bill, which was almost word-for-word copied from a Japanese Chanbera film. Personally, I don't think he copies other people's ideas, but instead mixes many ideas, and puts them together as one. Many more people love his work because of his weird mind. Only Tim Burton can rival his odd movies. Take any one of his many movies, and just look at them. They never lack a plot ( some movies have NO plot and just try to win you over with their affects like Transformers ) but they still have loads of great affects and good amounts of action.
But the main reason why people either love or hate him is the incredible amounts of violence and how over-the-top they are. Look at Inglorious B*****s for example. There is two main scenes that stick out because of their over-the-top violence and how only Quentin could make a movie like that. One is when Brad Pitt & Co. ambush a German patrol squad. They kill all of them in gruesome ways, but not before a 5-minute side-story where they show how one of Pitt's men became one of them. The other part is when they lock the entire Third-Reich in one room and kill all of them, with a movie of a evil-laughing person in the background as the entire room on fire.
That is Quentin for you. A sick-minded director who makes the most violent, odd, but sometimes funniest movies out there. He will make you laugh, or cringe and you will always have to finish his films when you start them.

Sometimes it is hard to believe how messed-up some minds are.

I commented on Andy's music blog.