Friday, May 20, 2011

Thanks A Lot, Sis!

This morning, Friday, May 20th my sister was in a hurry, as she typically is. But without a ride today, she was in a particular hurry. And in this particular hurry, she proceeded to romp about the house looking and asking various family members for the keys to my car.

Initially, she went to my room expecting to get them right then and there. Yet, I was in the mood for some hardball. I lied when she asked, saying that they were in the drawer near where I put my shoes.

She scoured, ripping out each drawer in that room with vigor. And later went upstairs yelling at my mother. She came a second time, as I tossed them across the hallway before she could get there. Then she called me a "fucking asshole". For what purpose?! I thought I was being nicer than most brothers by giving them to her period. And she could have at least thanked me. Well now, I don't think I want her driving it ever again, so that was possibly her last chance.

As she was loading her things into the car, I walked up to her, asking "What was it that you said to me?" She replied, "Fine, punch me!" Adamantly, I said, "I'm not going to punch you!" She again said the expletive she once called me as I responded with, "You're not driving." She then threatened to key the sunroof of the car. I'm not sure what that would achieve though. She rarely is ever logical, even when she isn't in such a fit of rage. As she hopped in and turned on the car, I went to open the passenger door of the car to talk to her.

Then unexpectedly, she decides to floor it, backing the car up with its door open and me in its way into the trash bin, hurling me backwards. Further giving credence to stereotypes about women and driving, she shifts into drive as if to close the door.

Now, the scalp on the right side of my head is loose, making me worry, but more so making me wonder why I have such a maniacal sister.

I am in a mood more than ever to say horrible things about my sister, but with graduation right around the corner, I will decide against it.

What I said is purely factual, not exaggerated or hyperbolic whatsoever. I'm angry.

Now, I can't bear to think of the damage she has caused to the car; the inner door panel, the door hinge, and maybe even an outward dent! Oh the horror for my baby to face! My first car. This is a BMW, which is not German for Ford, Toyota, Chevrolet, nor "Beater". This was a car worth upwards of $30,000 when new. My sister is no doubt going to wreck my beloved when I'm gone. She's just that careless.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

"Seller-Speak"

In the midst of my search for a BMW E30 (1984-1991 BMW 3-Series) I encounter a hell of a lot of "seller-speak", or in other words, seller BS. Craigslist sellers, while they are for the most part either credible, or made up of ads generated by dealerships in a utilitarian attempt to get the word out about their cars, they have their share of equally bad ones.

Some sellers I have seen claimed their car was "rust-free", while piles and piles of that horrible bronze material graced a number of the car's panels.

A more common thing to see not only Craigslist sellers say is something along the lines of '...the car's in good condition, I just haven't had time to replace the engine fan belt", or the radiator, or the camshaft. The seller, right after saying this, will claim '...it's an easy fix' just so they can unload their problems onto you in exchange for an amount of money they never deserved in the first place.

Be wary, fellow car-seeker for these two potential scams.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

The Ignatius Experience

I transferred into Saint Ignatius College Prep my sophomore year, and so as not to bore you with the details, I will describe what it is like to have finally [for the most part] finished senior year.

Relieving. The school reaches an all-time climax during your final week of school. Shenanigans have achieved a new standard, as "S-I-C-Penis" and "One-One" chants can be heard throughout the entire school. In addition to this, are the overwhelming number of final projects your teachers will assign you in the midst of not only AP exams, but also the stress associated with senior Prom. I had final projects due in all my six classes (which is a fair amount for the average senior), and as a result, didn't have the wherewithal to submit a photo for the Prom slideshow that was being showed around the venues in which Prom and Post-Prom took place, or to arrange for a pictures session at someone's house (thanks go to Maddie Greybar for her last-minute accommodation), or to set up our table for eating at Prom.

But now that that's all said and done with, why don't I expound on Prom itself? Prom was in many ways no different than the average Ignatius school dance. There was a dancefloor, a DJ, some tacky lights, teachers scouring our every move for the total four hours, and a wide slew of music. Now speaking of the music, it certainly did not at all lend itself to dancing. Starting with mainstream hits from Taio Cruz, Katy Perry, Usher, etc. gave the dance a light-hearted feel. Then all of a sudden, the DJ decided at seemingly an instant's notice to shift to through-going rap music.

Clearly the audience ate the music up, but what they didn't know is that music they perhaps weren't familiar with could be more conducive to more enjoyable dancing. Dance music, one of my favorite genres of music has many tracks that completely lack any vocals whatsoever. To me, this is not a bad thing whatsoever. Yet the crowd seemed more interested in reciting the lyrics to the numerous rap songs, rather than dancing to them. You can say rap isn't my cup of tea. The point is, I found it difficult to dance to a good number of the rap songs. While many of them have already-established dances associated with them like the 'Swag' song, or 'Dougie', there seemed to be little room for creativity in peoples' dancing.

For a lot of the more intense songs, people would more or less mosh, throwing their hands up at the sound of a thumping kick drum or "drop". To mingle more seamlessly, I found myself attempting to guess the next set of lyrics or remember the refrain so that I could sing along with the crowd.

I'm not going to provide much disclosure for this post, as all I want to say is that while Prom wasn't particularly bad, it wasn't exactly excellent either. It didn't blow me away, partly because the rap music got to me a little, and the dance didn't set itself apart from the typical Ignatius dances. The only distinction from this and the school dances is that for this people were actually dancing and there wasn't too much room, as there inevitably is in the gym, which is either for better or for worse.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Analyzing Myself: Facebook

The ever-intriguing social-network, Facebook is a topic that will seemingly always remain new and exciting to write about. It is a quite interesting experiment in sociology, tracking how people with spread information regarding their personal lives, entertainment interests, activities, etc. What's more is how otherwise normal people by day can be the world's most rampant and [either intentionally or not] most self-glorifying exhibitionists by night. In addition is this 'what happens on Facebook stays on Facebook' mentality that provokes people to rather rarely discuss their recent activities in person.

One problem I experienced with the site, and it may not have been explicitly the site's fault, but rather, the nature of my social circle and my interaction with it is that I unavoidably felt ignored. While others would be ranting a blue streak, I hopelessly would standby, unsure if such and such was expecting an immediate response from me. And whenever I would give in to the temptation of replying to a status or wall post, 9 out of 10 times would it be ignored, while the comments surrounding my own would receive comments praising user X's sense of humor, or user B's wit, all the while I began to assume a niche in which I would post strange, less conventional comments, statuses, and other contributions.

This hints at another issue in society that I believe was present before Facebook's existence, but now that Facebook is as popular as it is today, it is more pronounced. This is the collective egotism of mankind. Now that we all have our own mini-blogs, à la Twitter and Facebook, we are beginning to take this for granted and constantly expect more attention from our peers, acquaintances, friends, and family. But rarely do we fully deserve all of this attention. Most of the time, attention is rather unfairly earned using purely ruthless virtual means. People will post about a new relationship they're involved in, a film they've just seen, whatever it be, and cry to the outer heavens at the top of their lungs, saying, 'Look at me, look at me! I saw this movie, therefore, you should too! I'm so cool'. In other cases people don't know when to stop posting about something. Whether it's on every single friend's wall, or simply a constant stream of the same content, I soon become sick of the bickering.


Sunday, May 1, 2011

Latest Track!: Depth + Breadth

Depth + Breadth by FlammenHund

Quick Clip on BMWCCA Windy City Autocross Clinic

SoundCloud.com Account Change!

Ebert: The Disgruntled Old Man

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times has been reviewing films for over 30 years, and his reviews are invariably very critical.

Well, you probably say to yourself, 'He is a critic, so why should it matter that he's critical?' The issue with Ebert's style of reviewing film is that it's critical, and that's about it. It's not critical and praising, it's not critical and fanboy-ish, or enthusiastic, or passionate, or recommending, or positive in any way. No, his style is not any of these things but critical.

Ebert can't help but always look on the negative side of things. He never compliments films for what they may do well or inspire, and can never enjoy a mainstream film. Film to Ebert must be a progression of an art form. It cannot simply be fun, enjoyable, or spontaneous. It must push the boundaries of the art form that he so intently believes film is.

You know what? I size him up as a disgruntled old man. He's the jaded film critic who's lost his love for film. He's sick and tired of conventions, and nothing is ever good enough for him anymore. He doesn't adequately realize the size of his audience and influence of his opinion, and thus, has had people miss films they would otherwise have enjoyed because of his outright old man-ness.

There's a point at which his reviews go from critical to cynical. It makes me worry that he's on his way to depression. This guy needs to take a breather, and not be so downright hard on movies and rediscover the joys to be had when watching movies.

Take for example his recent Fast Five review that all but knocks it for being action-packed and not a noir film.


This quote is particularly disgusting, "...it all comes down to is a skillfully assembled 130 minutes at the movies, with actors capable of doing absurd things with straight faces, and action sequences that toy idly with the laws of physics. That can be amusing for some people, not so much for me...I missed [the] laughs, although I got a good one right at the end, when we were warned that the driving in the movie was done in a controlled environment by professionals, and we shouldn't try those stunts ourselves."

The man's ego is through the roof, as he clearly can't resist the temptation of flaunting it at every possible opportunity and acts as if he is the sole high-kingly-chancellor of all that is artistic and high-brow film.

I think at this point, he can't turn off his cynical switch.