what makes me feel alive?

- general mysteriousness and detective work.
- intentionally digesting a new album.
- a quality ipa.
- LOST references.
- star wars everything.
- bringing on the cats.
- jumping into bodies of water.
- planning life with my future wife.
- spontaneous rhyming.
- sizing up a room and determining how we would fare in Survivor.
- throwing rocks.
- storytelling.
- my two beautiful and genius sisters.
- understanding and actually feeling that i am an integral part of God's story.
- my initials...

-apc.

free movie month in quick review.

i'm watching the final movie of FMM. yes, i know that FMM ended when february did, but it's a week rental. also since i have no interest in actually giving blockbuster any business following this month, being a little later isn't really an issue.

so here i am, on the 9th of march, watching the last of my free movies. it has been quite a month. i did very little with the suggestions you made, and for that i am sorry. in fact, as i review the list of movies that i watched during this free spree i have to say that i'm not very impressed with my selections. mostly comedies, but there were still quite a few gems.

i'm not going to give a lengthy detailed review of each of them, cause that would be beyond boring both for you to read and for me to write. so i'll simply list the movies, along with a rating* and maybe a sentence or two max.

tropic thunder - OOO - robert downing jr. is hilarious and incredible but jack black's character was stupid and so was tom cruise's.

star wars: clone wars - OOO - once i got past the fact that this wasn't really star wars it was rather enjoyable for me. i just had to make sure i didn't associate it with the others too much.

traitor - OOOOO - oh man. don cheadle is freaking amazing.

babylon a.d. - _ - worst movie i've seen in 22 years, 11 months and 23 days.

the sting - OOOO - oh, but give me an old pro like a robert redford. oh, i'd jump into bed with him in a second.

the jerk - OOOOO - steve martin at his best. absolutely hilarious from start to finish. i finished it and wanted to watch it again, but i was trying to crunch in as many movies as possible. should've rented it instead of babylon ad...what a waste of zero dollars.

rushmore: - OO - i fell asleep and had to try again the next day. wes anderson

best in show - OOOO - this movie has inspired me to try to make up my own mockumentary. who knows what about, but i was near tears in parts of this movie. take away parker posey and this movie gets 5 O's.

king of kong - OOOOO - okay, this wasn't the first time i'd seen this movie...more like the tenth. but this is the best documentary of all time. here's my review from feb 08: never surrender.

superbad - O - getting girls drunk so you can have sex with them is not cool, and it is all this movie is about. the only redeeming part of this movie was any moment when michael cera is running.

semi pro - OOO - had about 4 scenes that absolutely made the movie. of the super-dumb anchorman wannabe movies...this one is the best.

dr. strangelove - OO - 1964 comedy. not sure i was on the same page with the humor throught the movie, but james earl jones is in it and that makes it at least one more O.

stomp the yard - OOO - this movie was talked up waaaay too much. it does not measure up to "step up" and/or "step up 2 the streets" but it's still great.

man on wire - OOOO - how in the world were they able to get all those amazing photos and all that original footage? the redramatizations were pretty lame though - as all redramatizations are.

the shining - OO - well shot. and jack nicholson was good. but i was extremely bored, weirded out and confused.

so that's the list. 15 movies. 14 new. 1 repeat. zero dollars. sounds like a deal to me. again, sorry if i didn't take any of your suggestions. it's nothing personal, i just ended up finding my own picks before i had to resort to help. good thing those other choices will forever be listed on the world wide web in case i need a movie idea.

-ap.

* - i have chosen to use O's as my unit of rating because it's the tic-tac-toe symbol that is not utilized by the porn industry. i wouldn't want to give tropic thunder a "XXX" but a "OOO" is just fine. also representing the number of dollars i spent for each movie.

so the oscars happened.

i always feel the need to write something new and profound on this mother.

instead of writing "the oscars were neat/slumdog won a bunch/queen latifah was lip syncing over a previously recorded track/halle berry and alicia keys were all sorts of hubba hubba" i end up trying so hard to come up with something more interesting than that. but that should be enough. this thing is about my thoughts...not the thoughts i wish i could come up with upon extended thought and pondering.

so my oscar/somewhat related to the oscars thoughts are as follows:

1. "jai ho" is maybe the only song that has the power to thwart "put a ring on it" out of my head. that song pumps me up like ac/dc never could. then again, hoku pumps me up like ac/dc never could. so maybe i should write something like "that song is boss" instead. the performance of it (with john legend joining in) during the oscars last night was awesome. a highlight for sure.

2. steve martin nearly made me pee my pants for the first time in at least a week. i rented "the jerk" last weekendish and can finally appreciate his comedy to the fullest. his screenplay presentations were a riot. a highlight for sure.

3. the little kiddos in slumdog are both awesome and adorable. the two little boys in their slick tuxes?! the little girl in her beautiful dress and tiara?! freaking awesome. i was fist pumping like steve weibe throughout the best picture acceptance speech. also, did you hear how awesome their payment for this movie is?! instead of writing the little kids a check, they get the money in small installments until they graduate school and then they get their massive payload. since they really are children out of the slums of mumbai, if the companies wrote them a fat check then they'd probably be kidnapped and held for ransom overnight. so this method ensures their safety and still rewards them with an incredible life in the future. slumdog is changing real lives. a highlight for sure.

4. i need to see man on wire so badly. karlie and i have been debating it for a while, and absolutely bonkers acceptance of the dude who stood on the wire between the twin towers was more than enough to prod me to rent it immediately.

5. the oscars were surprisingly cross-cultural and cross-generational - i guess they're always cross-generational because actors keep getting older and movies continue to be extremely popular - but the cross-cultural aspect was really neat. most of you would say "well, of course it was ap! slumdog was about india and it won best picture! the only real/non-dubbed/non-humorous musical rendition throughout the oscars was in hindi and there were tribal drums and indian dancers everywhere." i would say yes...but robert downey jr. played an australian man playing a black man in tropic thunder. can you get any more cross-cultural? i submit that you cannot. a highlight for sure.

6. christopher walken is such a weirdo. asbolutely love it. just seeing him = a highlight for sure.

7. WILL SMITH SAID BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE AT THE OSCARS. watch it here. original here. there is absolutely nothing funnier in the world. name something in the world. no, seriously, try it. it wont be funnier.

8. speaking of boom goes the dyno...alicia keys and halle berry. goodness gracious ladies. God must've spent a little more time on you two. and here's probably what happened: God was so busy putting a little more time and effort into you guys that he totally forgot about sophia loren over the last 10 years and let her wither quickly into a leathery monster. yeah. thats probably it. also kate winslet and penelope cruz. highlights for sure.

thats a quick list of my thoughts - without trying to find anything profoud or meaningful or touching. cause lets be honest, usually i'm none of those things.

now i'm going to go play geosense.

beat it. i dare you.

-ap.

november sizzler continues.

here is a motto i've lived by for most of my life: spending time with the people you love is always a better use of your time.

typically this takes the form of ignoring schoolwork in order to hang out with friends - get some coffee, watch a movie, etc. this weekend it took the form of ignoring the relaxing and peaceful weekend i had "scheduled" and driving my favorite mexican on the planet from manhattan to kansas city.

this decision led to the following:

1. multiple hours of terrific conversation.
2. dinner with the fam and gf.
3. getting free tickets to the chiefs/bills game.
4. dinner with the gf and her fam.

it also lead to a dead cell phone and wearing some of the same clothes two days in a row because in my haste i failed to plan this trip whatsoever. worth it.

the following things happen tomorrow that are also important:

5. 808's and Heartbreak.
6. last november sizzler class of my life.
7. bill snyder takes over what is rightfully his - the ksu football program.

i apologize for failing to update recently. i have no excuse except that my mind was not in sync with the World Wide Web. however, i feel that changing in the coming week.

november sizzler has truly lived up for the first time in years. and the best is still yet to come.

-ap.

a list.

i have discovered in my years of blogging that lists are a terrific way to be certain that your frequenters are reading the material you post. especially if you utilize links successfully (not necessarily to be clicked, but mostly so that words stand out in another color - in this case blue). in fact, chances are most of you have skipped this paragraph in order to dive straight into the numbered section of the post. fair enough.

1. low expectations are key to happiness.

2. the cubs and white sox suck. this also brings happiness. to me at least. (sorry tuff.)

3. i have two papers and two tests on tuesday and wednesday.

4. garageband is super fun.

5. if the chiefs won every week my life would be unbearably terrific. this week has indeed lived up despite my neglect of point one.

6. sometimes i wish i could see a glimpse of my future so i could make life decisions now without worry or fear. however, this is probably so i can learn life lessons along the way. just like why Dumbledore didn't give Harry all the answers in book six.

7. reading is also a key to happiness. and information. but happiness is the more important of the two.

8. lists are essential to blogging; semicolons are not.

would you look at that. i've now introduced 8 different points to spark interests. and since everyone has different interests, and since this is viewable to the entire world, i've potentially reached a much wider audience than this post or this post. just saying. i probably won't adhere to this style on a regular basis, but i have much to do (see point three) and i don't have time for excessive blogging. unlike in september - 26 blogs in 30 days? freak.

-ap.