Top Movies 5-1

Continuation of list...

5) Reservoir Dogs. Quentin Tarantino is my favorite director with this movie being among my favorite ever. A classic classic movie about a robbery gone bad with an insane scene that involves a police officers ear getting chopped off...you have to see it. Great cast and just a very entertaining movie all around. 

4) American History X. This is the movie that I knew Ed Norton is one of the best actors of our time. His character is a white supremacist is very powerful and the kid from Terminator 2 actually does a good job in his role as Norton's little brother. This movie has a lot of memorable and disturbing scenes and really is a eye opener. 

3) The Dark Knight. All you can really saw about this movie is wow. It is the fourth highest grossing movie world wide and the second highest in America. Besides saying wow, you can say Heath Ledger. Ledger puts on a classic memorable performance as The Joker and brings a new meaning to the modern day villain. It was a step up from Batman Begins which some people thought to be impossible, and it was the best comic book movie ever made.

2) A Clockwork Orange. Krubrick outdoes himself with in my opinion his best movie. An adaptation of Anthony Burgess novel of the same title, this is a very eerie and great movie which focus on Britain in a future tense. It shows corruption in the government and has a great story and ending. Classic Classic Classic.

1) Pulp Fiction. This is the definition of a great movie. It has everything you look for in a movie and probably has one of the best casts ever. Such a classic movie and has some of the most iconic scenes and performances ever. Willis, Travolta, Jackson, Rhames, Thruman are just to name a few. It won the academy award for best adapted screenplay and is my favorite movie of all time. 

Top Movies 10-6

I'm going to compose a list of my top 10 movies of all time. These movies are movies that are near and dear to my heart and they are some of the greatest films that have ever graced the screen. These are all my opinion and are in no way fact.

10) Seven. Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman are detectives trying to figure out a serial killer, Kevin Spacey, as he imitates the seven deadly sins in real life. Great drama/mystery movie. 

9) Cloverfield. Never have been so excited or amped up for a movie in my life. Great viral campaign and promotions. One of the best horror/monster movies ever made. J.J. Abrams is a visionary genius. 

8) Fight Club. Fincher again, makes a classic that has really become a cult classic over the years. Based on a book of the same title, Brad Pitt and Ed Norton shine on screen in a crazy story about a crazy split personality maniac whos dead set on destruction.

7) Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. The third part of the LOTR trilogy. The best movie all around with all the aspects of a classic movie. Great fight scenes, an exciting climax, and a happy ending. Won the academy award for best picture and is a classic already. 

6) The Shawshank Redemption. Tim Robbins gives one of the greatest performances ever in a convict who is guilty of a crime he didn't commit. Morgan Freeman is great as Robbins best friend and it is a very powerful movie that has an appropriate ending. 

808s and Heartbreak

Being a Kanye West fan, I was highly anticipating his new release 808's and Heartbreak. The CD does not disappoint, and Kanye takes a different and new route on his musical journey. All of his songs relate to relationships with significant others in life. The whole CD is done in a certain style that alters Kanye's voice, and there isn't much rapping apparent. All in all it is a new vision for Kanye and it works.

The CD is highlighted by tracks such as Love Lockdown, Heartless, and Amazing. Lockdown uses a very complicated African drum beat, and Kanye uses his powerful voice in a chilling chorus. Heartless has a great beat that really shows Kanye's producing ability and he talks about his girl problems. Amazing has a sad and dreary sound where Kanye shows off his lyrical ability. I was impressed with all aspects of the CD.

Although it may not be as game changing as Through The Wire, or as innovate as Late Registration, or as classic as Graduation, 808's and Heartbreak is from the heart and Kanye proves he is still making the best music out there today.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was very nice this year. I ate at my godmothers house in new jersey. we had turkey, sweet potatoes, carrots, corn, stuffing, and all that good stuff. the family gathered to watch football and share old family stories. i only ate thanksgiving with my mothers side of the family, because thats the tradition in my family. 

After a lot of eating and a lot of sleep, it dawned on me that it was now Christmas season. i turned on the radio and even heard some christmas songs being played and i laughed to myself. they really dont waste any time. im going to need to go shopping for my family and spend money that i dont have. christmas brings back good memories for me and i know that i will get to see my whole family and have a good time. 

i also saw in the news that somebody was trampled on black friday. thats not cool. remember that gifts are only material things and they are not the most important thing in life.

Worst car ride ever

After having a great thanksgiving break, i had to drive back up to school today. being that this is usually a routine drive for me by now, i didn't think much of it. for some reason today was just one of those days where everything could go wrong. for some reason there was a rediculous amount of traffic. and it rained. all day.

Needless to say, it took me a long time to get to school. try 11 and a half hours. on a trip that should in all honesty only take about 4 hours. i can remember times in my life where ive been in a car for that long, but never have i encountered traffic like i did today. sitting in traffic for about four straight hours on the same road is not fun let me tell you. it was more of the fact of just not knowing what was the cause of the traffic which was bothering. i dont remember passing one accident and i felt like most of the time the traffic was just because there was so many people on the road. 

O well, I guess its not so bad. i got to school alright and there was no accidents on the way. hopefully next time it wont take me half a day to get to school. 

Weird Feeling

After voting today, I had an odd sense of grown-upness and responsibility that I hadn't felt in a long time. It has reminded me that I am an adult and I can do some pretty important things now with my age.

Pretty soon I'll be 21, and with that age comes the whole nine yards. No more restrictions, no more holding back. But anyway, voting was definately cool. I feel like I had a voice and I got to give my thoughts on what's going on in the country. I won't tell you who I voted for, but lets just say I am hoping for a blue morning. 

On another note, does anyone else think that those voting booths are extremely confusing? When I walked in i had no idea what I was doing. Nobody has ever explained to me what to do when I got in there, and it was very over whelming. I had no idea candidates were running for more than one party, which was where most of my confusion came in. 

Go Obama.

LG vs Samsung

Another debating going on in my head is about cell phones. Specifically LG vs. Samsung cell phones. After having a Samsung for two years, and now having an LG, I have to give the edge to LG.

I currently own  the LG Voyager, and it is probably the best phone I have ever owned. I has a beautiful touch screen, and a larger keyboard when in flips open. The battery life is amazing, and all of the graphics are great. It is kinda the next generation enV, and it is an awesome phone. I've only had it for a couple of months, but I can already say that it is a better phone than Samsung.

Samsung is just ok. On the broad spectrum, that is exactly what they are. They make ok phones. I had the alias for about two years, and after the first couple months I was already sick of it. The way that Samsung set's up their phones is not ideal and their products often have weird and odd defects or imperfections that make it frustrating to the buyer. Like the Samsung Glyde for instance, I just don't understand it. After comparing the two companies, LG is definately the winner in my books. Just overall a better product and better services on the cell phone. I would recommend any phone from LG over Samsung. Phones like the voyager, Env2, venus, and dare would all make you feel cool and content with your cell phone. 

Mac vs. PC

With endless commericals on this question, I have come to the conclusion that even though Windows set the standard for the American computer, I have to say that Mac is an overall better product at this point. 

Mac's are simply a better computer. With flashy programs, more innovate designs on products, and just a cool feeling to them, I believe that they are superior to PC's and all Windows applications. The pros of Macs are not few. You don't have to worry about viruses when using a mac, because there aren't any viruses made for their programs. All of mac products are very elegant and visually stunning. It is considered an upper class product. It runs very fast and efficiently. Programs like Ichat and Idvd make life a whole lot easier. They are also very easy to use and are easy to figure out. My mom who is not even close to computer savvy now sees me multiple times a week because of Ichat. One con I can say about Macs is that they cost a pretty penny and they have horrible customer service, but thats a story in itself. 

PC's have really fallen off the map in my opinion in the past couple of years. I feel like Microsoft really has taken into the gaming industry with products like the Xbox 360 (which is one of the greatest things of our time.) Windows Vista was apparently a horrible program and people even wanted to switch back to XP. Vista's look and feel was more like that of a copy cat of Mac's OS X program, except Vista was much more complicated. Personally I prefer Leopard to anything, but that's just my opinion. Don't get me wrong, I had Windows 1996, Windows 2000, and Windows XP just like the rest of the world, but I decided a Mac would be best for me for college. I feel like Microsoft just tried to keep up with the popularity of Mac, and they didn't really do a good job.

Things like the Ipod and Iphone probably havent helped Microsoft much either. All of these things are compatable and really compliment the Mac's, and with the popularity of these things who is suprised with the results. Mac has really taken over in America, and I would suggest it to anyone. 

Football

Some big games today in football...

The giants had a big win today. they beat the san francisco 49ers 29-17. This moves them to 5-1. Buffalo won against the Chargers 23-14. This also moves them to 5-1. Carolina Panthers beat up on the Saints 30-7. Chicago beat the Vikings 48-41. Steelers beat the Bengals 38-10. Titans beat the Chiefs 34-10 and move to 6-0. Ravens beat the Dolphins 27-13. Rams beat the Cowboys 34-10. Houston beat Detroit 28-21. Green Bay beat Indy 34-14. Oakland beat the Jets 16-13. Washington beat Cleveland 14-11, and the Bucs beat the Seahawks 20-10.

Overall, I'd say this was the most suprising week for the Cowboys. They went into St. Luis without their star quarterback, and they just got stomped on. Brad Johnson looked horrible. The Titans stay perfect which is suprising. The Giants still look strong, and Indy lost again which is not good. Another entertaining week in football.

Vote

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vtHwWReGU0

Before reading my post...please copy and paste this link into your URL and watch the video...

Hopefully after watching that, it might change your mind about voting. This next presidential election could change many things for our lives and for our childrens lives. It is our privledge as a free country to have the right to vote. Some countries don't have that right. Take advantage of this opportunity, learn about the people that are running, and vote. It will make a difference. 

Cold

What happened Cortland? After having a nice weekend home, I return to frost, to cold winds, and to an overall very depressing situation. Why does it have to be so cold here. It's only October. Last night it was in the 30's. You can see your breath wherever you walk. 

Cold weather isn't all so bad I guess. Cold weather means that snow is right around the corner, and who doesn't love snow right? Cold weather means that some pretty sweet holidays are coming up. Halloween is always fun. I love candy and getting a costume. Cold Weather means Thanksgiving. I love food. Cold weather means Christmas. I also love presents.

So cold weather brings good and bad, but for now I'll complain. It's the beginning of October, and I'm already wearing my winter jacket (even though its not winter)

Finally home!

I am finally going home! What relief. Time to get away from all the stress of school and swimming. Finishing up my first CPN paper was quite an experience, but I had a sense of relief when finishing it. Hopefully going home will be a nice and relaxing time. Spending time with my family and my puppies should be a nice alternative to being at school. 

This week in football, the Giants are playing the Seahawks. Should be an easy game, although the Seahawks are a good team. They are currently 1-3 and are not looking as strong as of recent years. Coming off a bye week should mean that we are rested, and hopefully Eli will have another big game. Hopefully with Plax being suspended we won't lose the threat of the pass... any way, lets go G-men.

Baseball is getting exciting. Even though the Yankees aren't in the playoffs, it's still exciting to watch. Baseball is a fun sport to watch, and usually the best is seen in October. That's all for now...lets all hope that the Angels give the Red Sox hell.

Start of Season

I recently had my first official team practice for swimming. Needless to say I slept like a baby that night. On the first day of practice our coach decided to give us a test set, which was 7x100's on 1:25 then descending interval for every set, which went through 4 times. With a 300 in between every set that comes out to 4,000 yards. That was more than I've swam combined since I've been at school. Everyone was beat after that, and then we finished off with an extended sprint set. If anyone doesn't know swimming, 1 lap is equal to 25 yards, 2 is 50, etc. So 4,000 yards is equal to 160 laps. We ended up doing about 5,500 yards, so all in all it was a god day.

On other news, I'm going home on Thursday which is pretty exciting. I haven't seen any of my family in a month, and I'm going to surprise them by coming home unannounced. Hopefully all goes well.

No computer

The worst thing that could have possibly happened to me just did. This is not a lie; as I was doing my CPN homework, my harddrive on my macbook crashed. With no warning or sympathy it froze, shut off, and that was that.

After panicking for about 3 hours I finally called mac, and I learned many things. 1) they have the WORST customer service in the world, for the sole fact that you need to pay for it. 2) Their protection on equipment SUCKS. Mine was only for a year. So now a new harddrive is going to cost 700 dollars. Awesome.

Besides the fact that I don't have 700 dollars to buy a new harddrive, I also lost all of my schoolwork files, Itunes files, pictures, etc. It is just a really shitty situation and I would advise all of you to get insurance for your items.

Guest Speaker...c'mon

Last night, my sports team was required to see a guest speaker. The name of it was "Tapping the Keg of Truth." Being on a sports team, and being forced to go, I thought it was going to be an educational show on drinking in college. I was wrong.

First of all I just want to say that this show had no educational value at all. It was pointless and stupid, and the man is a comedian more than informative. I feel like the whole time he was just plugging his book and trying to make everyone laugh. He mentioned alcohol a couple of times, but none of what he said made me not want to drink and do better in school.

He played dumb songs that he made up on his guitar, and often joked about things that weren't that funny. He went out into the crowd and tried to get them involved, but that was just a ploy to waste time and try and win the audience over. With the heavy loads of work, especially in my CPN class, I was wondering why we were forced to be there.

All in all it was a pretty silly presentation. The guy used vulgarity and talked about sex to get the attention of college students. I wish I wasn't forced to go see him, and I'm kind of mad it wasted two hours of my life that could have been devoted to school work.

Pressure

I am finding myself very pressured these days. Tests are starting to pop up, athletic teams are starting, lack of sleep never helps, trying to be in good shape, and many other things tend to have a snowball effect and just make me feel overwhelmed sometimes. Here I sit, at 843 and I can barely keep my eyes open. This isn't fun.

It's funny how in college you really live for the weekend. I guess it is because on the weekend there is no pressure. No class, no tests, not as much practice for teams, and just a lot more downtime. On the weekend you can go out, have fun, party, hang out with friends, and just escape from the hardships of college. 

I also how I am so tired that this is the only thing I can muster up in my brain. I am supposed to be a successful college student, and the only thing I can think of to write a blog about is that I'm tired. Some student eh?

I guess pressure is sometimes good. Pressure makes or breaks us. It can make you suck or can make you great. If you can handle academics, athletics, and everything in between, I'm sure you will be successful and happy. But if pressure gets the best of you, your grades will show it and I'm pretty sure most teams require certain GPAs. Hopefully everyone handles pressure for the better.

Finally!

Finally! After years of suffering through all of this Patriots are the best team ever crap, they have finally got what they had coming to them. In the first game of the season, the Patriots quarterback, Tom Brady, who is also the best in the game, was hit from the defense awkwardly in the leg, and tore his acl. When hearing this information, I immediately smiled and knew that this was the end of that annoying dynasty.


Being a Yankee and Jets fan for the past, say, 5 years has been horrible. The Pats have been the most dominant team in football, and we all know about the Red Sox two World Series wins since 2004. Even this year with the struggles of the Yankees and the reality that they will not make the playoffs for the first time in 13 years, this Tom Brady injury was a breath of fresh air. It means that the Patriots will not be going undefeated for the whole season. It means that Tom Brady will not break any QB records for the season. It means hopefully that the Jets can win the division.


Maybe this year will be different for the Jets. Maybe we can make the playoffs this year and pull off a run similar to the Giants of last year. One thing is for sure, Tom Brady will not be making an impact on the game. I'm sure every New York fan is sick of seeing teams from Mass. win, and this is just the thing that we needed.

Drinking Age

Reflecting on my past weekend, I started wondering on wether the drinking age should be lowered to 18. I feel like it all comes down to this simple fact; kids that are under the age of 21 are going to drink. There's no stopping it. Whatever law or rule that is in place cannot change this and this is why I think it should be changed. 

Let's think about our struggling economy for a second. Over the past year, the price of liquor has gone up immensely. Think about how many kids aged 18-20 would be pumping money into these stores, and lets not forget about how much bars and clubs would benefit from this age group's money. 

Also, wouldn't it be a lot easier for college campuses if they didn't have to deal with all these rules about drinking. Hell, they could even have parties on campus with supervision to make sure no kids drink to much or get hurt. They also wouldn't have to deal with the police, which I'm sure would make everything a lot easier.

I'm not saying that my opinion is right, but all in all, I believe that the drinking age of 21 is silly and we are all kidding ourselves if we think that kids aren't underage drinking. 

Too young to die...

After recently seein The Dark Knight in the movie theatres, it's hard to comprehend that Heath Ledger is really dead. His role as the Joker in that movie is iconic and will be remembered as the greatest villian in a movie ever, and that's not because of the situation. He stole the movie, and took the role to a new place, and will probably get an Oscar nomination for his role.


It's kind of hard to get away from the actor. When I was flipping through the channels yesterday, 10 Things I hate About You was on. The day before that, A Knights Tale was on, and the day before that, Brokeback Mountain was on. It kind of makes you sad everytime you see this actor on the screen because every performance he did was better than average, and the reality that we will never see it again is upsetting.


If you think about it, don't we all know someone personally who died too young? And if not personally, just someone who made an impact on our lives that passed at a young age. It just makes you think about a lot of stuff in your life, and for me anyway, it makes me appreciate things a lot more.


I guess all we can do is celebrate Heath Ledgers life by watching his films and talking about how great of an actor he was. I personally believe that he deserves the Oscar for his role as the Joker, and I believe that will solidify his name as an icon.

Michael Phelps

I was reflecting on this past summer olympic games, and I realize how big of a summer it was for swimming. Michael Phelps has single handedly put swimming on the map as one of the bigger sports in the country. As a swimmer, I know that it isn't that big compared to baseball, basketball, or football. But in other countries such as Australia, swimmers are considered celebrities, and are even more recognizable than movie stars. 

To comprehend what Michael Phelps did by winning eight gold medals, you have to look at what he did for the past four years. He dedicated his whole life, he didn't work, he didn't have much of a personal life, to just swimming. Putting in hours and hours in and out of the pool to train his body to just survive the grueling schedule of the olympics is a feat in its own. 

He is simply the greatest swimmer there ever was, and I will even go as far as saying the best athlete ever. Nobody has done what he has done in their respective sport, and I believe it will be a very long time before we see another great like Michael Phelps. 

New CPN Class

The first week of classes have went pretty smoothly. I have no problems with any classes, and for the most part, all of my professors are really nice. The one class that has jumped out at me as being a class that will be fun and interesting is CPN 101 with Professor Emerson. The syllabus looks very interesting and all of the reading material seems to be within reach of my ability.

Last year, for my CPN 100 class, I kind of had a bad experience with my class. I was a transfer student, and hadn't taken an English class in my previous school. I felt like I was just thrown into a class that was required and I had no desire at all to take. The work was very tedious and the judgements on my portfolios were not stellar to say the least, so my experience was not a good one. I feel like this year everything will be different.

The professor seems like a nice guy and I feel like I will get more help and guidance with my writing. Since I am reading more material that interests me, hopefully everything shuld be easier to write about also. Plus, there's no portfolios for this class, and who can complain about that? I have high hopes for this class and hopefully I will have fun and become a better writer at the same time.