My Blog and Blogosphere Essay

Blogging is a completely new concept for me. I have written stories and poems before, but I’ve never had the freedom to write whatever I please on a consistent basis. Blogging gives you the freedom to explore your own creative ideas. Some blogs can follow certain guidelines, consistently following a certain concept or idea. However, for my blog I chose to write about whatever was on my mind. I wrote about life, my activities, politics, poems I had written, and even my vacation plans. My blog didn’t follow any guidelines, I just wrote mainly about what I felt or thought. Blogging gave me the freedom to explore myself, my life, and my passions.
My favorite post was about a friend of mine, Bill Kapoun, who passed away over a year ago. I wrote about what he meant to me, how he influenced me, and how he affected my idea of life. He was a brilliant man, who had a passion for travel. He lived life for the moment, and explored many aspects of life that others only dream about. No one I have ever met has influenced me as much as Bill. He was the one that fueled my passion for travel. When he passed away, I really began to review my life and how I wanted to live. I don’t want a normal, traditional life. I want to explore the world, see it through a different light. Every place on Earth has something unique to give us all. No person lives life the same way. We can all learn something from different cultures. There is no wrong way to live, it’s just that in order to live, you must follow your heart, live with no regrets and follow your passions. This particular blog allowed me to share with anyone who was interested in reading, how my friend viewed life.
The “blogosphere” is a great place to share your passions, activities, and life with everyone. I have never really enjoyed writing, especially when it has to follow a particular structure. Blogging gives people the freedom to write freely. I have learned that writing can be fun and influential. It doesn’t always have to be so serious. Through blogging you can learn many things about a person, that’s the beauty of it. By reading some of my classmates blogs, I learned many things about their personality. You can learn about people’s humor, their likes, dislikes, what pisses them off, what they are passionate about, and what they enjoy doing in their free time. Blogging has opened my eyes on writing. The “blogosphere” is a good place to write down your feelings, especially if you don’t feel comfortable talking about them. It’s a good way to meet people, and allow people to truly get to know yourself as a person.

Chopped and Screwed

The first time I ever heard "Chopped and Screwed" music was sometime in high school. At first I thought it was awful, the tempo is slow and lazy, I thought it was boring. Some friends of mine were really getting into it, especially the Houston, Texas scene. But it just wasn't for me I rarely ventured away from classic rock n' roll. When I would hang around these certain friends, they were always listening to it. My interest in it slowly began to raise. It was unique and so different. It was a completely different style then any other rap I had ever heard. These artists were bold and confident. Now I listen to chopped and screwed music everyday.

Sports

Opening day for baseball was several days ago. Basketball season is winding down, and for me it's sad. I love sports, but not particularly baseball. This is the one part of the year that bores me the most. Baseball will soon be the only major sport in action. Unless of course you watch Nascar, golf, or hockey, maybe? Baseball without a doubt is the most boring sport to watch on tv. I often will turn the games on just to fall asleep too. Don't get me wrong, I love going to baseball games and eating nachos, and peanuts. But as far as being America's "greatest pastime?" At one point it certainly was, maybe 50 years ago though. In my eyes the NFL, and football have become America's new, "greatest pastime." Every play in football is filled with action, big hits, great catches, smooth jukes. When you watch baseball, it could be one hour before someone even hits the ball. I like sports with high scoring action. Not a game that can be 1 to 0, like soccer, or hockey. Boring.

April Fools

Yesterday was April 1st, also known as Aril Fool's Day. Luckily, I didn't have any classes yesterday, and wasn't around many people. I've been sick all week, and would have been extremely pissed off if someone pulled a "funny" prank on me. Don't get me wrong, I think it's hilarious when people get tricked or fall for something. Just not yesterday, and especially not if it happens to me. You see, I am someone that can really get mean, I love picking on other people. However, I am also a hypocrite. I can dish all kinds of shit out, but if someone decides to dish it all out on me, I get pissed off. Last year on April 1st, I was going to school at IU. I was hanging out with a friend, and we decided to go cruise around. It was raining outside and had been for a while. We were driving around campus looking for giant rain puddles. When someone was walking by one of them, we would time it up right, and drench them by running over the puddle in the car. If this ever happened to me, I would probably try to chase the car down, and punch the window out. It's enough to ruin someone's day, maybe even their week. I thought it was hilarious.

Summer Trip

For most of this semester I have been working two jobs. One at a pizza restaurant, where I deliver pizzas. Also, one at a campus carwash, where I wash campus buses and vehicles. I've been working very hard, sometimes the weeks are exhausting and drag on. However, I've been able to put most of the money aside and save it for a trip. My sister graduates on May 9th, after this I plan on leaving for L.A. the next day. I haven't finalized anything yet, but I'm almost positive I'm going to book a flight. My friend, "Smalls," moved to L.A. in January and rents an apartment in Orange County. I plan on flying to LAX, where he will pick me up. Ideally, I will spend four, as Smalls said, "stoned to the bone" days here. Afterwards, I will head off to NYC. Last year I was enrolled at Indiana University. It was here that I became good friends with Sam Behymer. He lives in Hartford, CT, which is only about 30 minutes from NYC. I've talked to him recently, and he offered me the opportunity to stay with him. I'm probably going to spend three nights there, and then it's back to the Midwest. The most exciting part for me will be visiting my high school buddy in California. Ever since I was a little boy, I have lusted over California. The pictures that filled my brain when I thought of Cali, were the most majestic and beautiful sights. Anyways, after this trip it's back to reality. Afterwards, I will be spending the rest of my summer working at Byerly Tent Rentals. This is where I worked last summer. I make really good money, around $1,500 a month, but I work long, exhausting hours. Last year we were setting tents up for a racetrack in New Castle. The day started at 8:00am and ended at 1:30am the next day. Then the next morning we had to be back at work at 7:00am. Just a day in the life haha.

Spring Break

With spring break in full swing, many students are out and about in the sun. However, I prefer to roam around my house looking for new places to take a nap. On average I have been waking up around 1 o'clock everyday, eating, and then taking a nap by 3. Usually I don't wake up from that until around 5, then it's off to work. After work I will usually go out with friends and do a bit of boozin'. This leaves me out until about 3 in the morning. From there I take a ride on the sleepy train and set it's engine on snooze control. Spring break is sweet.

The Boondock Saints: Movie Review

The Boondock Saints follows fraternal twins in Boston through a transformation from local blue-collar boys to defenders of justice. Being Irish,of course it starts one drunken St. Patty's night as the boys get into an altercation with a couple of enforcers for the Russian Mafia. This leads to retaliation by said enforcers but the boys subdue them. In a possible case of destiny becoming manifest, the pair decides that they shouldn't just stop at taking out two lowly mob guys but rid the entire world of evil. Maybe they don't decide something so grand right on the spot but it begins there and for the rest of the movie we follow in their exploits. As well as those of an F.B.I. agent hot on their trails, towards their seemingly pre-ordained life of executioners of the evil.

The movie is full of religious themes. They're not particularly subtle either as it takes to smashing you over the head with them by using language, and even a prayer, that can be described as ceremonial in nature. That's why it works though. It is an action-packed, funny, sort-of in your face social commentary that doesn't forget it is also meant to entertain.

A lot of the enjoyment from this movie comes from its actors. Everyone, from the main characters to the comedic bartender, are filled in enough as characters that the actors seem to lose themselves in their parts. No one seems superfluous, no matter how cartoony they might seem.

The Boondock Saints also benefits from a good director. Besides using some interesting angles and choosing, score and soundtrack, Troy Duffy employs an interesting technique in the use of flashbacks to the "crimes" that Willem Dafoe's Agent Smecker is investigating. He intersperses flashbacks through Smecker's examinations of the crime scenes bringing the length of time he spends in each time frame to smaller and smaller intervals as Smecker's and the Twins' paths converge until there are no more flashbacks and Smecker and the Twins are in the same place at the same time. It a true case of editing as part of the story.

It may be a cult classic now and have a much greater following than when first released but by definition not everyone has seen it. If you, or your friends, are one of those few that haven't I recommend doing so as soon as possible. Like the movie says, indifference, in this case of the good movie-watching public, is a true evil that needs to be fought.