If Mumford and Sons didn’t exsist, The Head and the Heart would be in the running for my favorite band. This is my favorite song from them, and it nicely concludes this week’s theme of habits and love and stuff.
Latest Entries »
Almost all TV shows have a _________ of the week format (that they occasionally deviate from). Chuck had a mission of the week. Fringe has a scientific case/monster of the week. Every single CBS drama has a crime of the week. Each episode follows basically the same format. This helps the showrunners to get into the habit of producing new stuff for each episode, even if they are just going through the motions and the “new stuff” is actually recycled plotlines.
I’m not for or against this current TV show setup. In terms of quality, it worked great for shows like Pushing Daisies. It wasn’t so great for Alcatraz. I like that it establishes a sense of consistency. The characters on a TV show are like a family. A family that stays together and deals with the situation of the week until the show ends (due to contractual obligations). TV show families are much more reliable than real life families like that.
But even in through this ________ of the week format, TV shows almost always include a long running plotline that develops and matures as the story progresses. And once you’ve invested a certain level of love in the characters, you are totally okay with the show deviating from the format in order to see the culmination of what the characters are going through. This usually happens in the season finale. And, the more problems you’ve faced with people you love, the more awesome it is to see them break the usual routine to reach their lifelong goals and overcome their demons.
Holiday World is building a new water coaster this year. Right next to the old water coaster of last year. The news of this attraction upset me, just like the Leviathan news upset me. But then I thought about the Koch family. I would never question a decision they made.
“So why did they make this decision?” I asked myself.
Then I read their reasoning. Their old water coaster was extremely popular. People loved it, but they did not love the long lines. When polled, the people wanted another, similar slide. So, in an effort to please the people and reduce lines, Holiday Wolrd is building a similar ride to the one they built the year before. I should know. I’m the one who likes to find something I love and then stick with it until it becomes a habit. Fortunately, the Koch family has developed the habit of building awesome things, and I look forward to Mammoth more than most new rollercoasters.
Oh, and the fact that the new ride has a circular seating arrangement will ensure that the two ride experiences are at least somewhat different.
I love my habits. They are the imaginary guidelines that my imaginary father has set forth for me. If I stray too far from my daily routine, I will get scared and stressed out. Which unfortunately happens a lot.
When Subway runs out of meatballs . . . momentary flash of fear as I try to figure out what to order now.
When a professor changes the format in which homework is due . . . indignation as I mentally prepare myself for this new system.
When the person who always sits in the same study room as me in not there . . . instant depression as I feel like they might not like sitting in the same room as me.
I cling to my habits like my life depended on them, but there is one thing that can make me let go of them right away. There have been two cases in my life where I’ve stopped biting my nails. Both involved me meeting someone I loved. I stopped because I knew that those people wouldn’t like me biting my nails. But then they moved away and I started again. Same thing happened at Subway. I’d always get American cheese until someone I really cared about forced me to get Pepper Jack because “Pepper Jack Cheese is the best kind of cheese.” Now I always get Pepper Jack cheese.
You too can be like the Pepper Jack Cheese guy. Because if there’s one habit that I can’t break, it’s the habit of loving things that people that love me love. Now read that last sentence over again. I promise it makes sense.
This song sums up my experience with politics in ten words, and then goes on to much more important topics.
You know which politician DIDN’T compromise?
That’s right! Abraham Lincoln . . . when he was obliterating all the vampires!
A lot of people seem to be hating on this movie. Something about Hollywood running out of ideas and historical inaccuracies. But whatever. I think it’s awesome. Much more interesting than whatever Speilberg is doig with his Lincoln movie. So yeah, I also hear its based on a book and stuff, and that the book is actually pretty good. So I’m gonna try to read it before June 22 (when the movie comes out). You should read it too. Then we can watch the movie together and complain and all that. Here’s the trailer:
Several years ago, Six Flags Magic Mountain was seen as “the ghetto” amusement park (when compared with Disney and Knott’s). Then, it went under new management that transformed it into a much cleaner, more family friendly park. The new management succeeded, and the park became cleaner as old worn down rides got rennovated and the sun came out and the birds sanghappy songs announcing a glorious new beginning.
But then Magic Mountain went under new new management. And dark clouds loomed over the park once more. Reports came in about park representatives being rude and belittling guests. Rides got removed from the park . . . but the signs announcing their presence remained.
Which brings us to the present state of Six Flags Magic Mountain, a theme park which has fully emraced the business the idea that every decision it makes should be monetarily motivated. Things haven’t gotten as bad as they used to be, but I fear that expansion without attention to quality could continue to cripple the park until it is no more than a vast metallic waste land that future gangs will battle to control. But I may be getting carried away.
I wish Magic Mountain could keep things nice without having money be the only motivation. Then old rides like Colossus wouldn’t be sitting around getting rough and unridable while the management figures out a way to market a renovation as a brand new ride. And then we also wouldn’t be subjected to thousands of commercials while we are waiting in the long lines. But then again, the Koch family can’t run everything.
If you ever watch the news with the members of the conservative community, there will come a time (many times, actually) when the people around you shake their heads and mutter, “That wasn’t what our founding fathers intended.” And by that, they mean, “The founding fathers meant us to live in a nation where prayer and the Bible are promoted in schools and there is no gay marriage and things are all-around better.”
And there’s no real way to argue with this. I’m sure the founding fathers were much more conservative than most people today. I’m sure many of them would not have liked the notion of gay marriage or prayer being banned from schools. However, the founding fathers knew that they were forming a new country when they were writing the Contisution, and they knew that unless they specifically stated something in the Constitution, the changing tide of people’s opinions would lead them to enact policies that they did not intend.
I am of the firm belief that the founding fathers wrote into the constitution and the Bill of Rightsall the things they deemed especially important.
You know what they deemed especially important?
Separation of church and State
You know what didn’t make the cut?
ALL of the morally convervative issues based on the values of the church
Who’s fault is that?
I would say it’s the founding fathers’ fault. They were too cowardly to uphold their own morality in the Constitution. They spent so much time compromising and planning the logistics a country that worked well that they skimmed over the moral aspect of what drives a society. If I was planning a country, I would get rid of the whole “separation of chuch and state” nonsense. Everyone has an opinion about what is right and wrong, and those opinions will always carry over into political offices, no matter what politicians say. And if you can’t get a nation to accept Biblical morality (or some other clearly defined moral code of conduct), there will never be an end to the fight between liberals and conservatives. Both parties have to be standing to the same moral ground to come up with a good solution.
If I fathered a country, the end of its Constitution would look like this:
* When interpreting the above document, use the Bible.
Now that I think of it, I should probably end all my written statements like that.
I probably like this Arcade Fire song more than all the other ones. And it’s probably because, in addition to fitting in to this week’s theme, I feel like I understand 50% of what they are talking about. As opposed to the 10% I normally understand.
Like almost everyone else on the planet, I’m sick and tired of Disney Channel making shows about singers and/or “a normal kid with a HUGE secret.” Apparently, Disney has taken notice, because their upcoming slate of shows sounds very promising. Here’s the three shows that stuck out to me the most:
1) Adverturers: Disney, in conjunction with Disney Nature and the Jane Goodall Institute has already begun filming on this groundbreaking docudrama, which focuses on the lives of three very different children brought together by their families’ mutual quest to protect the world’s wildlife. Each 30 minute episode will chronicle the kids’ journey as they learn to get along and work together with their families, all while shedding light on a real wildlife issue. It is being written by Lockie Leonard scribe Keith Thompson.
2) Mr. Entropy: Official synopsis: “While growing up in a terrible orphanage, Edward coped with his tragic situation by studying hard and meticulously structuring every aspect of his day. He never expected to be adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Entropy as a teenager. Now, living in a crazy house with three rambunctions new siblings and two artists for parents, Eddie Entropy slowly learns that a family’s love is more important than organization, while his new family learns that a little order in their life can be a good thing.”
3) The Boxcar Children: In an effort to bring the quality and hype of Mad Men to Disney Channel, plans have begun to move forward on a one-hour mystery show based on The Boxcar Children. Not much is being said about this project yet, but sources have confirmed that it will have the same time period and main characters as the book series, and each episode will be based off of one book in the series.
I would be super excited for this awesome news . . . except for the fact that I made it up. Sorry if I got your hopes up.
