I like to consider myself a fan of motion pictures. Comedies, dramas, thrillers, mysteries, documentaries (but only if they are about something interesting/ something that I care about. If it's about the history of Ukranian amateur theater or something boring like that, I couldn't care less. But if it's about pirates, or giant, deadly sea monsters, or guns, I'll watch it all day)... I can appreciate all types and genres. Although I have a special place set aside in my heart for action movies. Man, I love those things. There is nothing I enjoy watching more than two massive armies rushing dramatically in to meet each other in battle with swords clashing and spears soaring. Or a sweet, slow-motion gun fight (The Matrix style). Or the fury of fists and feet swiftly flying through the air to break the jaws and crotches of anyone unfortunate enough to get in their way (also The Matrix style). Sorry, I just get carried away when thinking about a good action scene.
Anyway, I love movies, but I'm not much of a critic. There are very few movies of which I can't enjoy enjoy even a small part, aspect, or facet because I tend to enjoy and evaluate movies based upon what they are intended to be. To me the purpose of a movie, the reason it was made, is fundamental in its evaluation. Was it made to tell a good story? Was it made to get a cheap laugh? Was it made to scare the viewer, or perhaps present a mysterious story? The intent of the movie's maker, to me, is paramount. So, for example, when I saw "Napoleon Dynamite," I loved it. I laughed out loud through the whole thing. I heard so many people say, Man, that movie was so stupid! There was no point to it!"
Really? because I'm pretty sure the point of the movie was specifically to be stupid.
I can say with at least 93% certainty that there was, indeed, a point to that movie. Granted, the filmmakers probably didn't have Oscar intentions, but just because there was no specific plot in the sense of having an exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution, does not mean that there was no "point" to the movie. Did it ever occur to you that the purpose could be to, perhaps, simply show us a humorous glimpse into the daily lives and interactions of some silly characters? Well, did it?
Along those same lines, what aggrivates me is when people evaluate movies based on what they expect a movie to be, rather than what it actually is. Take the Mel Gibson epic, Braveheart, for example. I love this movie, but so many critics focus on Braveheart's "historical accuracy" (or lack thereof).
Most conversations go something like this:
Me: Man, have you seen Braveheart? That is such a good movie.
Critic: Yeah. It was soooo innacurate, though. I mean, C'mon! Everyone knows that King Edward I actually outlived William Wallace by a few years! In the movie, they died at the same time (or insert whatever boring historical fact that no one really cares about here)!
Me: Yeah it's not very exact, but it's still entertaining, though. Don't you think?
Critic: Well yeah it's a good movie, just innacurate.
That's what I was asking in the first place! I get so sick of junk like that. I said it was a GOOD movie, not an ACCURATE one. Weren't you listening? It told a good STORY. And in a very entertaining way. Those are two completely different isues. To me, if a movie accomplishes what it's supposed to, then it was good. The point of Braveheart was to tell a good story, not to present the facts. The point of Napoleon Dynamite was to be a dumb movie, not to tell a compelling tale. So in those terms, both movies (in my opinion) were spectacular.
So, next time you watch a movie, keep in mind what the movies is trying to do. Ask yourself what it is trying to do for you as the viewer. Is it trying to make you think? Is it trying to make you bite your nails in suspense? Think about it. If it does just that, then, if you ask me, which I KNOW you will, the chances are that it was not as bad as you might have thought.
Random thing of the day: Did you know that the spanish word for "wife" ("esposa" - which literaly means "female spouse") is the same word for "handcuffs" (esposas)? Interesting, isn't it?
I'm the same way. There aren't very many movies which I would say were horrible, because I'm usually entertained, which is the purpose. And you don't know how much I appreciate that you said "couldn't care less" instead of "could care less."
I know!! I hear you are staying with Bo. Nichole and the baby are moving into their apartment this afternoon so there will be "room for you at the inn" but I think Bo might cry if we switch the plan now.
And thanks for being such an easy kid to raise. I know there have been things that we've struggled with, but overall there have been no disciplinary problems or huge worries. You just always did the right thing. I think I took you for granted a lot because I could always depend on you. Thank you so much for being such a wonderful son. I love you.
I love them. I'm not talking Erik Estrada here, I'm talking about Doritos. They're great. I love the taste, I love the texture, I love the variety... evertything. My two favorite flavors are probably Doritos Cool Rach and, call me old fashioned, Nacho Cheese. But there's a difference between chips, and real food. Steak, rolls, salad, what-have-you. I'm talking about a real meal. You see chips are a snack food. And snack foods alone are not enough to nourish the body properly. Sure, they taste great, and they are fun to munch on, but when it comes down to what really matters, they are simply not enough.
So, you're probably asking, "What is this, a beach ball? Or is there a point to this?"
My point is simply this, my posts as of late have been the metaphorical chips of literature. They have tasted good, they have been enjoyable (I hope), they have been fun to write, they have been humorous (at least, to me they have. As a matter of fact I pretty much only write things that I think are funny. To me it doesn't really matter who thinks what about what I write. Just so long as I do. Although, I must say, I am quite disappointed that only one person got my subtle reference to one of the all-time heroes of the galaxy, Han Solo, in that last post), but they have had little in the way of substance. They have not provided the proper mental nourishment that the reader must have in order to sustain his or her deeper cognitive needs.
Now don't misunderstand me here. You might be saying, "Nic, chips are fun, chips taste great, chips make a great party food! it's okay to enjoy chips every once in a while!" and I would agree with you. I've already mentioned how much I enjoy chips. But if we ate chips and only chips for the rest of our lives, our health would be shot, we would look terrible, and our fingers would be constantly covered with that crumbly, cheese-flavored, chip residue.
So, I'll try to make a dedication to you, the readers who are still interested in this long-malnourished dot in the internet universe. I'll try to post more meat, and fewer chips. I'll try to write posts with more substance. The last few updates I've made have been chips. It's like eating something just because you are bored, or because you like the taste, so you eat some chips. My entries have been made simply for the sake of posting. So here's to more substance.
Oh, and I don't plan to totally give up chips. Literal or otherwise.
Thanks for weighing in on my Dark Knight post, and reminding me that you're alive. Man cannot live by chips alone. What are you going to be when you grow up? I can't remember. If it's a writer, then we are traveling on the same path, my friend.
Hey...Evan just started season 3 of 24. How close are you and Jess to being done with season 4? He moves through them pretty fast. Maybe you could bring it with you when you come for K's b-day??
Hey...it looks like those trips to the gym have really paid off. You should have told us you are in the Olympics. We would have made the trip to Beijiing to see you. I guess we'll have to settle for the picture.
Yeah...Evan will be done with the other by then. He thinks he's Jack Bauer. The other day we caught him walking around the house with his gun strapped on his hip. He put it on to answer his phone but when he saw himself in the mirror, he thought it looked so cool that he left it on. Can you say DORK?
I think he thinks it would be fun to be 4 years old again. I do NOT think that because that means I would have to raise him all over again. Then again...maybe I'd get it right the second time around.
So, with all that lead-in, I was expecting to get to the MEAT of the post...are you going to keep us in suspense? While we wait, I think I'll go have some chips...Ranch-flavored for me...
I'm just sitting here at work so I figured I would update. As I said, not much going on. Everything's perfectly all right now. We're fine. We're all fine here now, thank you. How are you?
Who out there has cool plans for the 4th of July? The wifey, Zeus, and I are going to good ole' Lyman, SC for the weekend to spend some time with family out there. So that'll pretty much rock.
Random thing of the day
When you are trying to type pleonast.com in the address bar of your friendly, local internet browser, do you ever type pleoanst.com instead? Man, I do that all the time. I seriously hate it.
Doing well here, thank you for asking! A family BBQ with Zo's fam and then off to a local fireworks show. It should be fun! And I don't think I ever mistype Ploenast. ;-)
I'm pretty pumped that you liked the DVD. I painstakingly gathered every clip of video ever taken of her and tried my best to put them into chronological order. Kinda hard, considering she looked the same for so many of them.
OH SEP!!!! you get to see me on thursday and i get to see Zeus and Jess :) maybe when i leave my next comment i will be sitting right next to you again
Ah yes. God answers prayers. My last post was in reference to a new job that I had just received. In case you are reading this and have not been keeping up with recent events in my life, I am no longer working at Wal-Mart. I both wanted and needed to get out of there, and, thankfully, God answered my pleas for a new opportunity for employment. Hence my posting as such. But that was back in October, and much more has transpired since then. So, here's a quick recap:
- Anniversary - Jess and I celebrated our first whole year of marriage on May 26th. It was awesome.
- New post (obviously)
- New job (as mentioned above)
- New dog. His name is Zeus, and we got him from her. He's pretty stinkin awesome. Emphasis on the "stinkin."
- Double majoring in Spanish and Communication Studies - Casi estoy a punto de ser bilingüe ;-)
- Graduation in December of this year
- I learned how to do this ---> (\(\;;/)/) Isn't it awesome? It's totally a spider
- Um, that's about it...
I'm gonna try to be a little more active on here if I can. So feel free to drop me a line and I will try to respond promptly. Emphasis on the "try". But don't hold your breath.
Random thing of the day: I find it rather strange when a person has an unexplainable and irrational discomfort with the word "moist." Have you heard of this? I just don't "get" it. It's just a word that describes something that is somewhat damp, wet, or otherwise accompanied by or connected with liquid or moisture. What is so nasty about that? Honestly
do you mean discomfort with the idea of the word or the word itself. i have a few words i hate. so, i could understand not liking a word. congrats on your first year of marriage...i get to celebrate my second week tomorrow! :) lol.
I'm way excited to see you guys, although by the time you actually read this comment, I'll probably already have seen you. So I guess save this for after you get back and apply it to my excitement for the next time I see you.
P.S. She has a hatred of the word "moist" also. I didn't realize it was a common thing. Weird. Emphasis on the weird.
