A Real America

A quote from President Grover Cleveland, in response to his veto of the Texas Seed Bill.  Congress had attempted to purchase $10,000 worth of seed after a Texas drought ruined several crops across the state:

“I can find no warrant for such an appropriation in the Constitution; and I do not believe that the power and duty of the General Government ought to be extended to the relief of individual suffering which is in no manner properly related to the public service or benefit. A prevalent tendency to disregard the limited mission of this power and duty should, I think, be steadily resisted, to the end that the lesson should be constantly enforced that, though the people support the Government, the Government should not support the people.”

Sure doesn’t sound like our America

The United States of Socialism

Why is this happening and nobody is saying anything?

Why is our government allowed to intervene in the housing market?  The government, using OUR tax dollars, has absolutely no right to help bail out people who made bad financial decisions concerning their home purchases.  They should’ve understood all the terms and conditions going into it.  Or maybe they could understand this primary purchasing principal:  DON’T BUY STUFF YOU CAN’T AFFORD!!!

If you cannot afford a house, you should have never received a loan in the first place.  I applaud you, homeowners, who work hard to make monthly payments, and dont rely on socialist, government handouts to bail you out of bad decisions YOU made yourself.  Too bad the government doesn’t reward you for doing things right.  Maybe I’ll start defaulting on my students loans, or buy a new car and default on the payments.  Why worry?  The government will pick up the tab.  Now there are your tax dollars at work.

An Affair to Remember

US Media + Obama = True Love

Apple = 1,000,000. Sean = -9

It all started last summer.  The iphone came out.  It was a really cool product, but I wanted to wait until they worked out some of the kinks, lowered the price a good amount, and added a few more features before i splurged and picked one up.  A year later, they release the 3g model, with more gigs, more apps, and a GPS.  Now I was sold….or was I had?

I traveled to the Apple Store here in Fresno on Saturday, hoping to pick up a 16gig white iphone.  As soon as I walked in, I could tell something was wrong…terribly, terribly wrong.  Turns out, they had sold out about an hour before I had arrived…good timing, Sean.  I proceeded to call every at&t store in Fresno county, even as far down as Tulare and Visalia.  But nothing.  Everywhere was sold out.

Monday, July 21st.  The Apple Store informs me they will be receiving a shipment of iphones at noon today.  I left work on my lunch break and made it to fashion fair in 10 minutes.  There was a line, but not too bad of one.  I ask a sales person how long the wait is, and after answering, he says they only have 8gig models.  COME ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I seriously wanted to do this:

I finally just gave up and ordered one from the at&t store on blackstone.  Should be a few weeks before it arrives.

If I ever get it, I’ll let you know how much I love it.  You clearly win this round, Apple.  I’ve wasted more on gas driving to your stupid store than I’m spending in total on an iphone.  But it’ll be worth it?

The Dark Knight

Go see this masterpiece.  Now.  It surpassed all my expectations.  It is the greatest superhero movie, and one of the greatest films, period.

Yes We Can, or, Si se puede

Forbid the United States ever pass legislation recognizing English as the official language of the United States.  How terrible would that be?  People communicating easier, language barriers broken down, oh the horror! We’ve seen first hand countries such as Brazil (Portuguese), Italy (Italian), Jordan (Arabic), and Taiwan(Mandarin) collapse from within after recognizing an official language.  Obama’s nailed it again, this guy’s a genius:

Forget the economy, forget Iraq, forget oil prices and taxes.  It is far too embarassing for an American to only speak english.  I really hope the government gets involved soon and forces us to learn more foreign languages.  We can’t stand the embarassment much longer.

If anybody can’t read this cause they only speak Spanish, I’m sure Obama would love to translate for you.

A Dying Medium

Renting movies used to be the funnest thing in the world. The sense of awe and wonder one gets from browsing a video store as a child is an amazing feeling. Before Blockbusters and Hollywood Video’s took over the globe, small mom and pop video stores absolutely owned these large chains. They had movies that weren’t released in theaters, that won no oscars, got no publicity, but still managed to garner a large cult following among movie buffs and geeks. If there was one local business I would choose to reopen in Sanger, it would be Jensen Video. They reigned supreme in cult cinema.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the disappointment I’ve faced going to rent movies. I have come up with the following theory: If it did not make $100 million in its’ box office run, neither Blockbuster or Hollywood Video will carry it. I understand Netflix and Blockbuster online now account for a large portion of the movie rental industry, but when it comes down to it, a vast amount of people still physically go into a store to search for a film. Before I turned 16, I did not care too much for films. I didn’t know who Dario Argento, Akira Kurosawa, or Wes Anderson were. I did not care. Then some friends starting letting me borrow movies. From Evil Dead 2, to Ringu, to Riki-Oh, to Versus, to Dawn of the Dead, to Suspiria, I felt reborn! This same year I discovered imdb, which is still one of the greatest websites of all time. I spent hours upon hours reading and researching movies. Movies I had never heard of before, and some I didn’t even think existed, or should exist. I felt like I was a kid again, browsing the largest video store in the world. At the same time, Jensen Video enacted their now infamous rental policy: 5 movies, 5 dollars, 5 days. I do not know how many rentals I accumulated, but I’d like to think it was in the 100’s. The best thing about Jensen Video was they carried the rare, cult movies that you could not find at a chain store. When I began working at Jensen Video in June 2002, I was in heaven (the job was actually terrible, but the rentals were enough to off-set it.) Where else could you find the original, uncut version of Dead Alive? Or original copies of The Vanishing, or Cinema Paradiso? Too bad the store had to close 3 months after I began working there. I carry those memories in a locket close to my heart.

I understand most people who read this blog probably don’t care, or even took time to read all of it. Bottom line is, movie stores are just not fun anymore. Why? Because they only rent hits. No thank you, but I’ll take one copy of the masterpiece Les Diabolique over 250, guaranteed in stock copies of Norbit. But the masses have spoken, and they’d rather watch crap than take the effort to research a movie they’d actually enjoy. How else would Wild Hogs open at number one at the box office last year?

So if anyone knows where I can find these movies (Tenebre, Deep Red, Don’t Look Now) I would be much obliged. Hollywood Video used to carry them, but no longer do. Sad, isn’t it? I’m such a victim.

Why is this news?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080707/ap_en_mu/people_jack_white

Who honestly cares?

Bond is Back