End Of Watch

I love movies. I watch movies more than I watch TV, and even when the TV is on, I’m usually on one of the movie channels. I love seeing new movies in theaters, but lately I’ve been too busy to keep up with what’s been released recently. Quite frankly, I couldn’t even name three or four titles in theaters right now.

When I first saw a preview for End of Watch and saw Jake Gyllenhaal on a late night talk show promoting the film, I had no desire to see it. If you haven’t seen the preview for the movie, check it out here:

So maybe it’s the fact the movie is about cops. Maybe it’s the fact that it deals with drug cartels and gangs in South Central. Maybe it’s the fact that I thought the humor was going to be forced or out of place in an action movie. Whatever the case may be, I just didn’t see myself spending money to see this movie. It just didn’t seem like my kind of movie.

I met up with a friend from work tonight, however, and we decided to see what was playing at the theater. The lineup was pretty sad. I either didn’t recognize some of the titles, or I just didn’t want to see them at all. I mean, when it’s between Finding Nemo 3D, Trouble With the Curve, The House at the End of the Street, and The Possession, options look a little grim. But my friend suggested End of Watch, so I just rolled with it. On a side note, this is the first time I’ve gone to a theater since the July 20th shooting in my hometown. Just kind of a weird afterthought to me.

On another side note, I love movie previews. I did see a trailer for the new Silent Hill: Revelation movie coming out soon, and I’m stoked.

When the movie started, I didn’t realize the whole thing would be in a documentary format, which makes the first-person point of view a little different than most films. I was a little skeptical when some of the gang members started talking; as weird as it sounds, they were talking a little too “hood” for me. I just want to know if they really sound like that or if it was as forced as it seemed to me. Whatever the case, the whole film, even from the gang’s vantage point, is seen through a first-person camera lens.

The humor wasn’t as faked as I thought it would be. The entire movie is full of quips between the two main characters, police partners Brian Taylor and Mike Zavala, and it really serves to strengthen the bond and sense of brotherhood between both the two cops, and the rest of their police force. I was almost immediately sucked in.

To me, the humor also served to exemplify the severity of the situations that follow. The two cops get interesting calls, and though I believe most were unrelated, they were astounding. It’s hard to believe that stuff like that actually happens, but the sad truth is that the events could, and probably do, take place in real life. I commend officers who can deal with the situations presented.

And then shit gets real. Shit gets real, very fast. I sat on the edge of my seat for about the last quarter of the movie, mouth likely agape, but who knows? I wasn’t paying attention to my facial expression. At least, until I started to feel myself tear up.

It is very rare that I find a movie that can actually make me cry. Like legitimately tears-down-the-cheeks, sniffly-nose cry. This movie came closer than any movie has in a long, long time. And that impresses me.
The only bad thing about this blog is I don’t want to say too much for fear of giving something away. Instead, I urge people to go see it, even if it’s not your particular cup of tea. It may shock you. I feel like this movie was extremely well-made, and highly recommend it to anyone. I might even go see it again, but I know this time around, I probably will legit cry.

http://movieline.com/2012/05/03/end-of-watch-trailer-everyone-wants-to-kill-jake-gyllenhaal-and-michael-pea/


Seen any good movies lately? Seen any that make you cry everytime?

Nerd moment #248: A Little Out of Character While Being In Character

It started with a simple conversation over a Chinese buffet dinner a few months ago. And ended with this:



Oh yeah. That conversation went there.

A couple of my friends are pretty big Anime and video game fans, and while I’ve seen a few Animes, I barely know any of the ones they talk about. I’m not that big of a fan. However, I’m all about video games. So while eating dinner with the two of them one evening a few months back, they were discussing a convention that Colorado has every year dedicated to both Anime fans and gamers alike. It’s called NDK, and one of my friends goes every year. I just so happened to be there while he was trying to convince my other friend that he needed to go with him this year, and let’s just say I ended up in the crossfire.

Now, I’ve never been to NDK, Wasabicon, Comicon, or any other crazy conventions that come to town, though I’ve always wanted to go to Comicon. I love comics, I love video games, and I love costumes, but I just never seemed to combine them. Until now.

After convincing me that I should go and try it out with them, we decided that I had to go big and dress up for NDK. It’s not required, but that’s half the fun. People dedicate mass amounts of time and money towards making a costume to resemble their favorite character, and I’ve never made a costume before, so I figured it was time to go for it. After much deliberation, I settled on Yuna from the game Final Fantasy X-2 (even though Final Fantasy X was a much better game…).

It’s so difficult to go solely based off screenshots and pictures in order to determine detail in someone’s costume. That, plus I’ve never even attempted anything like this before, plus I had no sewing machine. So I set off, with help from one of the aforementioned friends and enlisting my mom (much better seamstress than I), we slowly but surely HAND-SEWED something that actually wasn’t half bad compared to the character.



It was so interesting to see everyone dressed up and displaying all their hard work and effort. Like I said before, I’ve never done anything like this, the costume or the convention, and while it’s up in the air whether I’ll do it again, I commend those who find a lot of happiness and passion in it. I was basically in it purely just to dress up, but I respect those who wait all year for the convention to come to town so they can see the latest in Anime, games, and meet others with the same interests. I just loved watching all types of people roaming around the hotel, and I gotta say, I loved the attention I got for my costumre, too. All kinds of people kept coming up to my friend (dressed as an amazing Link from the Legend of Zelda games) and I, asking to take a picture or asking for hugs. Definitely an interesting experience.

Here’s some of the awesome people I got to meet and take pictures of:



Hello Kitty Samurai. No, it doesn’t make sense. No, you really don’t ask questions at these events.



My friend (on the right) and another of the many Links running around NDK.



Ru-fi-oooooooooooooo!!!!



Most of the Final Fantasy characters.



Sailor Moon characters.



Tidus and I. For those who don’t know, Tidus is the main character in Final Fantasy X, and my character is the main one in X-2. Boy meets girl, girl has to die in order to save world, boy tries to save girl, boy is actually from 1000 years in the past so boy must return home in the end, girl seeks out boy in the second game.



My buddy Link facing a Beer Knight. His armor is made entirely of Dos Equis cans. ‘Nuff said.



Chain “Link” fence. Get it?

And for no reason, here's a Storm Trooper on vacation.

Overall, the experience was interesting, to say the least. I’m actually really glad I went and took the time to make a costume for it. And while there were so many more people and pictures and whatnot, my blog can only handle so much nerd right now. It might be ready to explode.

Have you ever been to Comicon or any convention like it? Have you ever dressed up as an animated character? What have you done recently that was a little out of character for you?

Taste of Colorado

I’ve lived in Colorado my whole life, and I had yet to experience the Taste of Colorado. So I got to check it out this past weekend with my mom and two family friends, and it was pretty much worth the trip downtown.
They had some of the Denver streets blocked off for the festival, and there were rows and rows of different vendors selling food and drinks and all kinds of cool crafts and clothing. And people. By God there were so many people.



This picture was taken one rare moment when I wasn’t surrounded by people from every angle and could actually take full steps. But it was a beautiful day and the people-watching was prime.

And if you’ve ever been to downtown Denver, you know exactly the kind of prime people-watching I’m talking about. There’s people of every variety imaginable with every type of odd hairstyle or dress or talent being showcased.



This guy looked like a copper cowboy statue until people walked up and gave him money. That was the only time he would move or change position. When I walked by, it actually took me a couple seconds to realize that it was a real person, not a real statue.

My mission at the Taste of Colorado was to try some interesting food. I had high expectations for the types of cool things the booths might have. Unfortunately, I was informed that this was one of the worst years for the festival, having been downsized since last year and lacking as much variety. They had the basics; pizza, fries, etc., etc., but they did have some more ethnic-type foods, such as gyros and some Mexican dishes. I was determined to find something that I couldn’t necessarily find anywhere else; I didn’t come to the Taste of Colorado to end up eating CiCi’s pizza, who did have a booth set up there. I did walk past a booth with fried alligator on the menu, but I just wasn’t feeling that brave. I ended up eating some vegetable pakora from a booth set up by a restaurant called India’s, and I definitely want to eat at that restaurant at some point after trying it. I was admittedly a little disappointed by the food selection, but it was good nonetheless.

The highlight of my day was when we walked past the Colorado Lottery tent. We got sucked into spending $10 on scratch tickets so that we could spin a prize wheel and win more scratch tickets. Or at least, that’s how it started.



How it ended was us four sitting on the curb for a half hour, scratching more tickets and using the winnings to buy more scratch tickets and spinning the prize wheel again and again. We finally had to cut ourselves off and cut our losses. We did win some of the money back, but it ended up going towards more scratch tickets. We were addicted.

Overall, it was nice to just head downtown for the day and watch all the crazy people and performances. The vendors had some interesting crafts, one booth inspiring me to make my own tank top (blog post on that later) and one booth offering samples of sexually-named chocolate honey mixtures. Nothing like trying a little “Original Sin” while your mom samples “Chocolate Slut” right next to you.

I highly recommend checking out the festival if you haven’t already. I’ll definitely go back next year and see what kind of crazy stuff they have. Still have high expectations for the food though….it is called the Taste of Colorado for a reason.

Buried Treasure

When I’m flipping channels on TV, I occasionally get stuck watching National Geographic or The History Channel for hours. Okay, that seems to happen more often than not, but who counts? But anyway, on both channels, there’s always shows with the concept of “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” People are always searching through their houses for junk that may be of value and trying to get money out of it. It’s actually amazing what people find hiding in their houses sometimes.

This past weekend and a couple before it, my family’s been cleaning out my great aunt’s house and finding all sorts of old stuff. A lot of it has no value, some of it was trash. But then there was the stuff that had a lot of value whether it be monetary or sentimental. But searching through the worthless stuff makes finding the valuable stuff all the better.

My great Aunt Evelyn had a house and a shed full of stuff, partially because of how long she lived in this particular house, and partially because she would forget that she had things, so instead of search for them, she would just go out and buy more. While it wasn’t quite like an episode of Hoarders, I never imagined having so much stuff in such a small space. I realize that so far, I’ve used the word “stuff” more than anyone ever should in one small narrative, but that’s really the only good description to encompass the random conglomeration of items all combined at this residence. Like I said, some had value, some didn’t. It was all randomly assorted. We spent time sifting through boxes and bags, laughing at some of the old memories and even being shocked at some of the finds. We cleaned out the kitchen cupboards and pantry and found more extremely expired food than I ever want to see again. For instance, this is 23-year-old ketchup:



Notice how it’s almost black in color…and it was practically liquefied. As tempted as I was, no, I did not open it and smell it.

The rest of the time, I felt like I was in my very own episode of American Pickers. I felt like an explorer in someone’s house, trying to salvage something valuable, or at least worthy of Goodwill. There was an endless parade of homemade crafts, clothes, and little odds and ends. Here were some of the interesting finds:



Portable speakers attached to a cassette player. Unfortunately I didn’t see what cassette was still in it, or if it still worked. My uncle told me to put it with my 8-track player.



Oil lamp (which had a glass top until my grandpa accidentally held it up to show everyone and it wasn’t securely attached…), bundt cake pan, grab bar for a shower, homemade doilies, Tupperware, and other assorted goodies heading to Goodwill.



Gigantic roast pan and a motion detecting security light.



Abalone shell seahorse.

Among the other random finds were a huge Jesus tapestry and my great grandmother’s immigration card from 1909. I didn’t take pictures of those, but I should’ve, especially the immigration card. That was actually a pretty cool piece of family history. At the risk of sounding corny, the best buried treasure we found was just the time spent together going through all those memories. I hardly get to see some of my family, so it was nice just to see them and look through ridiculous artifacts with them. The fact that they were there put more value on items that I had deemed worthless. My grandpa got to keep his mother’s immigration card. My uncle got to put on a weird frilly yarn hat and tell us “Don’t worry, be happy. The guy who wrote that killed himself.” I got to see things my great aunt took the time to make and we got to pass them down and keep the heirlooms going. Things like that are more valuable than any ancient artifact or piece of American history any day.

Have you ever taken the time to just dig through old stuff? Do you have any great memories buried away in your house, waiting to be rediscovered? What would you want people to find in your house when you’re gone?

MRE

I have a lot of friends in the military. But when you show up at one of their houses to hang out with them and they’ve got MREs strewn across their bed, things get interesting and curiosity takes over.



For those of you who don’t know, MRE stands for “Meal, Ready to Eat” (or as some put it, Meal, Regurgitated Easily) and is what the military gives our armed forces when they go on training exercises, deployment, or basically anywhere where food is not readily available. They are dehydrated meals in easy-to-carry packages, and all you do is add water. They crack me up because they try to pass off as gourmet meals, such as “Vegetable Lasagna,” “Meatballs in Marinara Sauce,” and “Beef Stew.” In case you’re wondering, they’re not exactly 5-star restaurant quality.

My friend had these left over from the training exercise he just did in California, and he had “Chili with Beans” open already, so I started to investigate. I’ve heard all about these things, but I’ve never seen them in person. I attribute that partially to the fact that I’m not military and partially to the fact that I’ve heard them described as the real weapons of mass destruction.

He showed me the details behind MREs. This is the contents of the Chili and Beans package alone:



That is a spoon, the bag you put it all in to heat it up, crackers, cornbread, chili and beans, cheese sauce, “beverage base orange powder,” a package with seasonings, and a “chocolate chip ranger bar.” My friend then explained to me that the package with the seasonings (shown bottom right) is a mystery grab bag, and then warned me not to eat the gum. When I asked why, he said it’s the equivalent of a laxative because “these things will get you backed up.” Needless to say, I didn’t touch that package again.



This is a close up on the cheese sauce. Note that the last line explains that any ingredient with a star next to it is “ingredients not in regular cheese.” You also have to “knead package before opening.”

If this wasn’t enough to ask me what the hell we feed our military, the preparation instructions dumbfounded me.



You put the chili and beans into this bag, and add water. But here’s the clincher:



This warning is on the top of the plastic bag. If you’ve ever used those little handwarmers that heat up when you rub them, then you’ll understand this warning. Because they essentially have that as a heating element at the bottom of the bag. But the warning tells you “vapors released by activated heater contain hydrogen,” so your meal is now flammable, and “hot water leakage can burn and cause a cold-weather injury.” You should also avoid “drink[ing] the water remaining in the bag or use it in food items.” This meal could turn harmful in two seconds if you’re not careful. And from what I hear, it’s harmful to your digestive system after you eat it, too.

I’m not gonna lie, I didn’t eat any of this. I’m not part of the military, and I’m not that badass or desperate for food. But I did take a bite of the “chocolate chip ranger bar.” And let me tell ya, if they made chocolate flavored charcoal, it would be called a chocolate chip ranger bar.

Does anyone else question this? Like, I understand the thought behind it; it’s easy, it’s portable, it doesn’t NEED to be any fancier than this. But seriously?

Bro Moments: UFC

I never win anything. I know everyone always says that, but it’s true. However, my last Friday morning was made complete by winning these bad boys:



That’s right. I got to go to my first professional MMA fight. For free.

I’m a huge bro about it, too. I’m a bro about a lot of things. But one thing is for sure: I LOVE my MMA fights. Let me tell ya, if they held more fights in Colorado, you could count on seeing me at every one. They are an awesome experience.

UFC 150 was a rematch between Benson Henderson and Frankie Edgar for the Light Heavyweight Championship. The co-main event was an awesome match up as well because Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone is a great fighter from our very own Colorado Springs. There were 10 fights total, and even if they’re not big names in UFC, they’re still so cool to see.

For winning tickets and not having to pay a dime, the seats were amazing. We were three rows up from the railing, and we were sitting next to the hallway where the fighters came out to enter the octagon. It was the next best thing to having floor seats. Here’s a few of my favorite shots from the evening:

That’s me and my friend Clay. I was supposed to be punching him in the face, but I apparently missed the concept of fighting and appear to be punching myself…TKO? Yup.

Amazing night overall, including a fight that lasted just 17 seconds. UFC never ceases to amaze me, and seeing it live was ten times better. I took over 60 pictures, and bought a sweet shirt, because I’m a tourist at these kind of things.



Do you like MMA fighting? Do you have a favorite fighter? Do you like sporting events? If so, what’s your favorite?

If I only knew then…

I was never an avid poetry slam fan. I’m still not. However, George Watsky is my hero. I love a lot of his stuff, and if you’ve never checked it out, I highly recommend it. As a matter of fact, if you’re reading this blog, I’m going to force one of his videos upon you:

This is one of my favorite pieces by him. And no matter how many times I watch it, it makes me wonder what I would tell my 16-year-old self, or any of my past selves for that matter. Oh if I only knew then what I know now:

Dear younger self,

Stop worrying so much about what others are thinking about you. They probably don’t even know what to think of themselves. Worry about what you think about yourself and just roll with that. It’s a lot more fun and stress free that way.

High school is not your life. Your first job, nor your second job, which you might think you want to do forever, is not your life. It’s just high school. It’s just a job. It can easily be your life, if you let it. But you can also make it temporary.

Don’t ever stop doing what you love, even if you’re not that great at it. And if you are great at it, all the more reason to keep doing it.

Don’t stop putting 110% of yourself into everything you do, even if you don’t get 110% back. That’s who you are, that’s the type of dedicated person you are, and don’t ever half-ass it no matter how many times being that passionate bites you in the ass. It may suck to not get that kind of effort back from people, from hobbies, from jobs, from anything. But don’t stop.

You can be weird. You can be unique. You can be cliché. You can be whatever the hell you want to be. Just be it. In a few years, you’ll come to love an Avett Brothers lyric: “Decide what to be, and go be it.” And you will listen to that song on repeat just to hear that line and yell it at the top of your lungs. You’ll throw emphasis on it. And people will look at you weird. But oh well, they'll do that anyway, with or without your emphasized lyrics.

Signed,

The ever-changing person you want to be, who will probably have more advice for that person in a few years.

There are a million things I would tell myself if I could. But that’s why we change. That’s why we better ourselves instead of dwelling on the way we should’ve been. Learn from your past self. Move forward.

What would you tell your younger self if you could?