Right At Your Door (B-):

Do I recommend this movie? Yes. Is this movie for the faint of heart? Well I suppose it can be, but not for someone who can't handle mass-chaos scenes (however there are only a few instances of mass-chaos in this movie). Basically this brings a "real first person" feel to something that probably could happen to all of us at one point in life, which is both scary and sad. I for one think we (at least my generation or the two generations below mine) will see the demise of Earth thanks to humans. Maybe not the whole Earth, but the human race will see it's demise thanks to humans. Somehow we will screw it up.


Over the past 100 years or so technology has advanced so fast (on a scale of 1 to fast - we are now above fast) that I hope we don't implode ourselves - but for some reason I believe it is bound to happen during our lifetime. Anyway, don't get depressed, these are just my pessimistic thoughts that I probably should have omitted from this rant - however when looking at a bell curve over time it is a possibility. That's all I am saying.


For some reason this Chris Gorak movie from 2006 was just released to DVD (I believe in January 2008 in the US). I guess it was a timing thing considering all of the trouble we've had since 9/11. Movies like this are touchy for sure. I guess now of all times makes the most sense since our terror level is currently low. So, as you can guess this is a movie about a dirty bizombing in Los Angeles (I have to say that so I don't get flagged, remove the "iz" to understand better). It then has a very M. Night Shalamalamadinger feel to it - basically filmed through the eyes of Rory Cochrane, aka Lucas from Empire Records. (Where has he been since 1995?) Mary McCormack is his wife. The plot for this movie gets an A+ however the story gets a bit long mid-movie, which is why I gave this an overall B- as a movie. The twist at the end definitely makes this movie worth watching.


Brad (Rory Cochrane) is an out of work rocker who helps his wife get ready for work and then just sits at home, but on this particular day L.A. is the spot of massive attacks (of which he can see from his window - the L.A. cityline). The rest of the movie is done very well in regards to how a person would react in this situation. He trys to go and get her until he hits a jam and the police won't let him get any farther, steals supplies from a store in which the owner/workers have fled, he runs into some of his neighbors and reacts in an interesting way (I don't want to give anything away), and he also decides that he has to give up on his hope for his wife's return and board himself inside his house.


I realize now to spice this movie up I could have used an Alvaro (Brad's neighbor's gardener) and Brad fist-off during this movie. That is just the action-guy inside of me speaking. There is much frustration between these two characters during the movie and a good yell-fest or fight could have made the middle of the movie more realistic and exciting.


After watching this movie I realized I don't have enough canned soup, jarred nuts, bottled water, plastic sheets, and duct tape. Oh, and a giant adult sized tricycle. I think everyone needs one of these to maneuver should we not have access to gasoline/cars.

The Ocean

Dudes, have you ever hear that song 'The Ocean' by Led Zeppelin? It is pretty groovy. Classic rock sounding for sure. I do actually recognize this one from the radio, however never really listened very hard to it.

Let me explain this seemingly stupid statement. About 10 months ago I asked my pal if he could burn me copies of some of the Zeppelin stuff, because I haven't really ever gotten into them, nor do I know what they sing when compared to the Doors, Beatles, etc. (they sort of all were in one big pot to me). Anyway as nice of a pal as he is, he bought me the entire box set from Zeppelin. So I added all 85 songs to my iPod and then occasionally on shuffle (iPod) I will get to hear on of their songs (amongst the other 6,300). Today I heard 'The Ocean'. Pretty good. You should check it out sometime.

being a Dad

More and more funny events keep happening as my Dad-time on Earth grows larger. Here are two recent instances:


My 4.5 year old was riding with me in the car on our way to soccer lessons on Saturday and asked me, "Daddy, why don't you have your straight signal on?" It took me a minute but after final absorption of his statement I realized he had a very good point. It's very astute of him to make that correlation actually. If we use signals to go left and right - why not for going straight? I then proceeded to tell him most drivers can't even find the left and right signals because they are lazy and stupid and don't care to let others know their intent while driving a large piece of potentially deadly sharp metal, thus creating 13% more accidents monthly...and by asking them to also put on a straight signal would be just asking too much.


Another event with the same child as noted above occurred on the way home from swimming lessons on Tuesday. He was watching the directional indicator (N, S, E, W and NW, NE etc.) on my car dash as we drove in different directions. It was stuck on W for a long time and he asked me, "Daddy, when is Y going to come?" Funny stuff. Large corporations should hire 4.5 year olds to solve internal problems.

- Do people behave like their true selves in dreams? -

Without having done any prior research on the topic, this thought came up today during a conversion with my pal about Hollywood deaths (don't ask how we jumped from one topic to the other). The thought revolved around the substance of a person's dream when compared to the person who is dreaming it. Basically does someone who takes no risks, has no impure thoughts, and is outright bland in brain thought end up having bland dreams about happy-go-lucky things like tulips, eating cereal, and filing documents at work? Or can/do they have demented dreams that make them feel as if they have sinned when they awake (for a lack of a better description)? And also for the opposite personality: does your typical horror/sci-fi movie watcher who isn't scared to think outside the box end up dreaming more crazy-styled dreams?


I am sure there has been research about topics similar to this...and I need to check into that, but it is a good question to me. Does your normal brain, your normal thoughts, and your normal actions end up directly influencing your daily dreams? Does the person you are when you are awake end up molding your dream state?


My dreams are crazy yet pretty true to what my brain thinks daily. However I don't really know any other way to think because I'm just me - in comparison I don't know what someone with other brain thoughts thinks or dreams either. I guess that is part of the question. I need to research the stats on this pronto. In my dreams I still have a healthy conscience. For example, I will never cheat on my wife in my dreams (stupid conscience won't even let me get away with one freebie while sleeping, haha). Also I won't do harmful things to someone in my dreams, unless they are a burglar - even so it is pretty harmless (and in slow motion). These I believe are an attribute to my normal awake brain functions and thoughts. Whereas overall I feel I am a kind person who means well. Then there is the zany side of my dreams, which I'd like to think everyone gets the luxury of experiencing. For example when I am flying around with Ving Rhames on a surf board in Hummelstown looking for the golden bird of supreme power. I also have many scary dreams which are probably directly linked to the horror movies I watch just prior to going to bed. With all of that said and to regroup to the main point - if I did nothing but focus on goodness and boringness my whole life - would I then dream that way?


Anyways, get back to me on this if you have an opinion or know more about this topic than I. I'll also have to do some research and get back to myself.


Here are two bonus thoughts to think about along these lines...if any of the above holds true in any sense, what's the deal with people who can't dream or rather can't remember their dreams? And, how does lucid dreaming effect the above discussions and also potentially your normal awake life? That's another blog topic altogether.