PREPARE FOR 2012!!!!!

One way to prepare for the future is to reflect on the past. I've reflected and compiled...


          The Best Advice I Received in 2011
It’s often said, “Good advice usually works best when preceded by a bad scare.” So before I share some good advice, I’m going to be a little dramatic not unlike Harold Weir from “Freaks and Geeks.”          
             Check out this short clip in the player below.

               

Good Advice
A doctor once told me to look both ways after midnight before crossing intersections. Drunk drivers tend to blow through red lights.

Eat like your ancestors –Unprocessed organic foods. Eat foods that actually go bad! The food that keeps the longest is usually the worst for you. Fresh food has the highest nutrients, but food loses nutrition the longer it’s kept.

Losing weight and achieving the body you want comes from a change in mindset. Getting in shape is actually only 30% exercise and 70% of what you’re putting in your body.

Set aside time for hobbies. Spend time exploring the depths of what you enjoy doing. Fun is the fuel of life.

Buy a new Toothbrush!

Statistics say concerning purchase rate, only one toothbrush is bought per person per year! Yuck! Really?! Throw out your toothbrush right now if you’re smiling, because the typical life of a toothbrush is less than one month! Bent bristles = OLD

Mindfulness teaches you not to get stuck in unpleasant sensations by redirecting your attention to more happy sensations. I personally break out into song to change the subject matter when I find myself in a negative conversation.

Experience a sense of accomplishment everyday even if it’s just completing errands by making lists and crossing items off.

Get drunk on H20.

Drink 64 ounces of water a day! That’s 8 -8oz glasses or 4 -16oz bottles. It improves complexion, reduces tiredness, and aids in concentration and weight loss. But as in most things, “the poison is actually the dose.” Too much of anything is bad… yes you can OD on water and DIE!!

Hops is a herb found in all Beer that contains a lot of estrogen which actually decreases male hormones and performance and puts the drinker to sleep. Beer use to be made from gruit, which was a mental and physical stimulant, but the herb grew everywhere and there was no way to regulate it. 


Hops legally became the main ingredient that certifies beer as beer and can not be sold otherwise. Here's a link to 20 things you should know about beer.

Get renter’s insurance, life insurance, and most importantly health insurance. Having these types of insurance takes a lot of pressure and stress off of everyday life. AAA has great renter’s and life insurance policies at very inexpensive prices. Blue Shield of California offers great health insurance plans at affordable prices.

Alcohol removes the stickiness of freshly painted nails and prevents smudging. 

If you find yourself in a serious relationship be sure to maintain your individuality, passion projects, and friends.

Be kinder than necessary for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.  

             There's a formula for everything...

To lose weight, you need to use more calories than you eat. It is possible to eat any kind of food you want and lose weight. You need to limit the number of calories you eat every day and/or increase your daily physical activity. Portion control is key. 

This weight tool will calculate how many calories you should be taking in daily to maintain your weight according to your current height, weight, and exercise regimen. Link to Women's Weight Tool & the Link to Men's Weight Tool
 

To lose one pound, a person must burn 3,500 calories more than are consumed per week (500 calories per day over the course of a week). 

Side note to skinny boys (claiming they can't gain weight): This method works in reverse as well. So to gain one pound, you must eat 3,500 calories more than are needed per week (500 calories per day more over the course of a week).

No one gives better advice than Mr. Feeny from “Boy Meets World!" 

“How is it this generation’s verbal and mathematical skills have sunk so low when you have the highest level of technology at your fingertips? Gutenberg’s generation thirsted for a new book every 6 months, your generation gets a new webpage every six seconds. 
And how do you use this technology? To beat King Koopa and save the Princess… Shame on you, you deserve what you get!”


Reflect on the events in 2011, and see if you can't find some advice/lessons learned to help you prepare for 2012. Our past experiences, whether good or bad, should not be looked at as scarring or damaging, but rather as growth and polish to our character.

Where were you in life a year ago today? It's important to take time to reflect on just how far you've come rather than much further you have to go. Most people have no idea what they are capable of but the uneasiness of the the unknown, that path that lies in the shadows, keeps them from exploring. Recognize the possibilities that exist in 2012 and begin exploring the depths of your wildest dreams!
 

-->

Future Predictions: It’s year 3000, and we’re driving around space staking claims on planets like Columbus… 

The Secret . . .

Bring someone back from the 18th century and give them a talk show! That’s my number one suggestion for how our society might be able to overcome the unforgiving and torturous nature we have slipped into.  

Everything seems to be evolving quite nicely, and any overworked soul from the 18th century would be overwhelmed and amazed by just how far we’ve come. It would appear everything has evolved with the exception of man. The society we live in has begun to not only reject its members, but also stone their reputations past recognition.   
We are still sitting in an arena paying to see our fellow neighbors torn to pieces and fed to the lions. Why do we enjoy seeing people suffer for their mistakes, and even worse the mistakes of their colleagues?  

Exactly where we went wrong as man may unfortunately lie in the ways we grew industrially. Today, we spend our days complaining about pretty much everything. AND, we have several ways to make sure everyone we ever met, hears about it.  Survival may still be our first instinct, however, our day is no longer consumed by hunting down our food, building our shelter, or sewing our clothes. But if you had spent all day hunting down your food, I bet it would taste better purely based on the effort exerted to obtain it. And, if your mother had handmade your only jacket, I doubt it would end up on the floor, in a friend’s car, or stolen last night at the club. 

Unless you were involved in the work that went into making or doing something, it’s often difficult to understand, and unfortunately too easy to disrespect and take things for granted. Everything our ancestors did, they did with a sense of permanence, not the 'oh well, you only live once' slogan of our modern day society. Is it modern conveniences that have produced the insensitive, stubborn, and unappreciative bitch our society can unfortunately be generalized as?

Our entire society, the poor included, are all rich compared to the agricultural society of yesterday. Life was hard for them, the physical labor they exerted each day just to survive, would be unimaginable and excruciating for our current society. But at the end of the day, they rested in a bed they literally made, so it ‘s not hard to understand just how aware they were of the world they lived in.

The people of the agricultural society would be incredibly appreciative and amazed with the industrial and technological revolution. But they may not think so highly of our gossiping media, our heavy reliance on mirrors, (and dare I even speak it) empty churches.

Our society lacks awareness of pretty much everything outside of the media. We can read about and find answers to almost anything thanks to the Internet, but what we are actually reading can be summarized as societal junk food. It’s either news a.k.a. gossip or entertainment a.k.a. a more dramatized kind of fake news/gossip in the form of movies and TV shows.  

How would we live our lives differently if the average life expectancy was still under 50 years? Would cutting our lives in half trigger a desire for greater understanding and awareness? 

It’s always important to be aware that things are perhaps not the way you see them. In order to understand something you must first be aware of the possibility that other views exists –and rather just have yet to exist in your mind.  

Awareness provides the raw material from which we develop ideas about our experiences and the world around us. The mind may be aware of much more than we chose to take in and contemplate. Just because we don’t, does not mean we are not capable of more. Heightening one’s awareness is a choice, but primarily is arrived at by doing for oneself.

Instead of buying the perfect dinner for your date, try making it. Instead of buying a painting for your bedroom, paint it yourself. Instead of buying endless amounts of beer, try home brewing. Instead of just simply handing over money for everything, or being spoiled by parents or your partner, try doing for yourself and experience the awareness and appreciation and understanding that will naturally occur.  

Anything forced-practiced for a period of time, can become routine and performed with ease.

So make the philosophy of awareness a habit and understanding can be achieved. 

There’s a way to articulate our thoughts in a specific way that will minimize miscommunication and improve understanding. The right words in the right order –a golden combination- will deliver indisputable satisfaction and unlock pure silence. Silence a sign that the depths of understanding have been reached. 

You can dismiss this philosophy by oversimplifying the reality of our current society, but that would be ignoring the obvious imperfections even our government is unable to hide. 

The philosophy of awareness extends much deeper than words, actions, and appreciation. It’s about achieving a deeper existence, the nature of being with the world. An inner peace achievable by seeking more control over our own thoughts and works, and allowing that which is not in our control to simply be. The society of the 18th century was not necessarily better than ours, but they certainly were more self reliant, content in their life styles, and better understood and accepted their place among the chaos. A combination of their demeanor with our advancements would be a golden combination.

                The Philosophy of Awareness

Ima G+

Google Plus... sounds awesome already right? Actually, I would have called it Googleface and just like the design of google changes everyday, your name and profile picture would automatically uniquely change everyday. But enough hype, what the #$%^ is Google Plus?

Before writing this blogpost, I tried to join Google Plus because I wanted a first hand experience to truly analyze what is said to "Seize and Conquer the Facebook Universe." However, the Google Plus project has temporarily exceeded capacity, so unfortunately all I could do was take the interactive tour. The tour should have been promising, misleading, and full of colorful lies -not unlike a presidential campaign- but instead was colorless, prude, boring, and mechanical much like a PC world. 

Google Plus vs. Facebook can similarly be compared to the Mac vs. PC campaign. If apple created a social network I can see it being very creative and innovative by allowing you cut and edit videos on your friends walls and photoshop your photos directly on the site. Buttttt a Google Plus/PC -never exceeding the basic minimal standard functionality- social network site is exactly what I found when exploring Google Plus.

The articles I read promoting Google Plus projected Facebook as a freakshow that is growing in sideshow acts. Google Plus is showcased as having the original functionalities of facebook minus the growing sketchiness of ads and weird applications. I admit facebook has reached a point to which the owners should consider drawing boundaries and building fences, however, the daily grind is boring enough, I think I'll keep my freakshow.

Google Plus allows you to put your friends in circles and only share information that is relevant to the people in that specific group. But sometimes it makes my day when Sarah Wheeler from 4th grade shows up on my newsfeed talking about some new -totally irrelevant to my life- shit that I would never know without the total randomness and sometimes freakiness of facebook. 

Google Plus... you can keep your boring cliques and sparks of news you think might interest me, but you never puked on my desk in 4th grade and I will until the end of time still find -what Sarah Wheeler from 4th grade is eating today- more interesting than what your robotic, emotionless, and boring computer code generates for me to read.

I have no doubt Mark Zuckerburg is about to unleash some monstrously dominating new features he's been feeding in the trapped doors of the facebook arena...   But if not, I have some ideas!

    1. The best part of facebook remains photo sharing capabilities so let's improve that by adding photoshop like editing tools.

    2. Dating websites are becoming solely responsible for marriage rates increasing. Facebook could capitalize with a function that allows you to not just suggest friends for your friends, but to suggest possible datemates. What better way to meet than through friends?

    3. Video messages. This function already exists in the post section, but I rarely see people taking the opportunity to be the leading role on their friend's fcbk wall. Out of embarrassment perhaps, but I think with some new quick editing features and hype -the function would become trendy...which could possibly seize and conquer YouTube ;)

    4. Question of the Day feature. Facebook could generate a new question of the day and list friend's answers in the sidebar. This would initiate unique conversations, add a reason for daily use, and no doubt spawn devilish and rude comments from all of us!

     5. Add the Google Function to facebook so I can search for some more ideas.

Be Happy!

If you’re not happy change it up! Maybe you’re feeling stuck in life and you’ve fallen into an unsatisfying routine that requires less energy. Maybe you're burnt out and just going through the motions. If you’re constantly being nagged by an inner voice to do something more, you should listen to that tiny motivation that's dying to take action. 

Change can be hard and to avoid the stress of change, people fall into routines. But change doesn't have to be hard, it's often our perception that makes things seem so difficult. You may consider changing your perspective and the way you look at yourself and the world around you. It's important to be consciously aware that all you know in life comes from your experiences and what others may have told you. Not only should you not believe everything you hear, but it's very dangerous to mold your thinking around any one particular experience. It’s important to believe that you are not only capable of anything, but also that anything is possible given the right circumstances. 

If you’ve formed strict boundaries of what you think is and is not possible, you need to find the power to move beyond those boundaries.You are cheating yourself out of life if you don't go out of bounds. It’s common for people to say things aren’t possible because they don’t see a way of them working out. Perhaps you're simply lacking the knowledge or understanding of what you consider to be impossible. 

Once you have the understanding of the impossible, only then will you be able to gain control and power through those debilitating boundaries of the mind. 

A good place to look for understanding of the impossible is the world wide web of shared information/experiences. There’s an incredible amount of information that can be found just by typing a question into an Internet search engine. Of course everyone has used search engines to find the lyrics to their favorite song, but I use search engines (google) every time I want to know anything. You're not the first person to be in your exact situation, and reading about someone else's trials and tribulations "how they did it" -can give you insight from another perspective, a perspective that you are perhaps not capable of seeing yourself. This may sound like common sense to some, but I don't believe everyone actually does this or we would have a more efficient world.

YOU ARE NOT STUCK! There are other ways, which may only seem possible if you are working towards them. There’s always going to be something else out there for you and here’s five ways to change it up!

1. Change the look of your daily environment:
You could do something simple like change the background of your computer -Desktop wallpapers here.

Or buy a plant for your room. If your bedroom walls are white, buy a poster or some inspiring art or …better yet, buy some paint and explore your artistic skills.  Here’s a link on how to become an artist.

2. Be aware of time:
If you don’t own a watch or a calendar both these things are on eBay for pennies! It’s unbelievable to me how many people never know the time or date. Time is slipping away. If you don’t wear a watch you are more likely to waste time without realizing it. My friends without watches on their wrists and calendars on their walls always tell me they use their phone for both, but I personally would never date a man without a watch. Keeping track of time makes more things possible. Once you get that watch you can do number 3!

3. Set dates to look forward to:
Make plans! Make future plans so you are moving forward. Make dinner plans or plan to meet up with an old friend. Planning ahead promotes organization and makes things seem more possible when you have time to prepare. Now, that you have that calendar you can start filling it in, and with that watch you won’t be late!

4. Reward: Buy or order yourself something you’ve been wanting. Not only can you mark on your calendar the arrival of your new toy, but the anticipation alone should keep your spirits high. I’m not an advocate of consuming things like movies, videogames, action figures or even books because all these things will undoubtedly become knickknacks grazing your walls, making it harder for you to move because you’ve collected so much useless sh!t in your life. BUttttt… instead buy something you are likely to use every week if not every day. A good example would be my recent purchase of a contact lenses case in the shape of a frog and his lily pad. This -under five dollars- purchase makes putting in my contacts every day a little more exciting! Don’t believe me? Order yours here. 

5. Escape yourself: Do something out of character
Okay be careful with this one. I’m not telling you to slam the door behind you on a stranger’s face or attempt a high-speed race with a cop instead of pulling over. But do something you wouldn’t usually such as:

Stand up at open mic night!  Eat something you think is gross.

Plan a trip somewhere you’ve never been! -Exploring the land is sure to break down a few of your ignorant views.

Watch a movie you think looks stupid.

Asking out that girl/guy you’ve had a crush on to a FRIENDLY night of fun. I don’t promote acting like a couple for a night with someone you barely know, which is often perceived to constitute as a date in modern times. Instead, ask them to come to board game night and be sure to invite other people they know. Date your friends not strangers.

Read the books you own. Admit you were wrong. Join the RoundTable -yup this is a link.

Get a haircut or flip your hair to the other side.
But don’t fall to being a creature of habit with a daily routine.

What’s bad about being a creature of habit?
 
.....You’re boring! 

You’re going to not only bore yourself into depression you’re going to bore your girlfriend, boyfriend, roommate, friends, and friends’ friends.

  

If you’re changing, you’re growing

and if you’re growing, you’re going 

and if you're going, you’ll get there!

           Be happy!

I'm NOT a Hipster!?

Yes, I am. And you might be too if you value independent thinking, appreciate art and indie-rock, creativity, intelligence, and witty banter. 

I was recently called a hipster after playing the song,"Country Lane" by Telekinesis, which I've conveniently placed below for you to listen to as you continue reading. This particular blog entry was inspired by the cruelty of name calling :)

I enjoy  music that features folk roots, melodic string accompaniment, acoustic sonority, electric guitar riffs, and an emotional male lead vocal performance. Admiring the chemistry of sound is probably another characteristic of a hipster, but I'm no longer in denial. 

I shun mainstream societal conventions and rules that apply to relationships, dating, and love. I try my best to ignore the media, advertising, especially movie reviews. Everyone has their own framework of understanding, but I prefer not to be influenced before going through the process myself. People are becoming brainwashed zombies entranced by the power of the media. The media promotes ethnocentric ideas that poison self-expression and originality. Unfortunately, independent thinkers are an endangered species in modern times.

You don't have to look like you just came from a rave to be a hipster.

I don't wear thrift store clothing, old-school sneakers, or thick rimmed glasses. I don't dress like the stereotypical hipster, and I'm definitely not attracted to men dressed in colorful, bright, and often animal print, skinny clothing. I don't frequent coffee shops. My hair style isn't edgy, and I possess more than 2% body fat. 

But I do have a degree from a liberal arts college. I'd like to think I have creative analytical thinking abilities and good taste in music. I'm not a wasteful person, or a collector of material things. I contribute to independent culture. I have an appreciation for indie music and independent film. I do like ironically themed parties and weird food. I love philosophy and brain teasers. As the hipster definition suggests, I have been called bi-polar, but definitely not boring. 

Those who reject the hipster way often also reject social change in general, but won't admit to admiring those who are more sensitive, intelligent, and culturally aware.

Hipsters are also associated with beatniks or the Beat Generation of the 1950's and 60's, who rejected materialism, consumerism, and censorship. The Beat Generation was made up of anti-conformists, and others who liberated themselves from mainstream ideals.

Beatnik, Hipster, call me what you want you bore me!

What’s the point?

When thinking about the big picture and the limited time we have to live, it’s often difficult for us to see the point of things. We spend so much time talking about doing things and all these things just seem rather pointless after wasting so much time discussing them.

The word “things” seems rather meaningless and pointless as well, so allow me to specify. 

Pointless:

Consuming/collecting

Excessive documentation/paperwork

Being stubborn/Unwilling

Arguing/Blaming

Stressing

Waiting/Wasting

Forgetting/Lying

Negativity/Dwelling

Indecisiveness

Debating

Hate

Important:

Finding inspiration and capturing/preserving it’s magical touch

Creating/Leaving a permanent, ageless existence of yourself.

Making a difference and improving self/environment/others

Learning and acquiring knowledge/Reading

Listening and understanding

Live music/Good Food

Family/Friends/Meeting new people/Love

Being active and eating healthy

Breathing Fresh air/absorbing sunlight

Learning to let go

Making lists

Thinking/Questioning/Discussing

Remembering

Honesty/Faith/Change

Efficiency/Competence

Dreaming/Focusing/Planning

Exploring the depths of your abilities

Exploring your desires and acting on temptation

Setting and completing challenges/goals

Traveling/new experiences/Taking Risks

Escaping

Critiquing the Critic

     In 1984, Peter Travers started writing film reviews for People Magazine. He moved to Rolling Stone in ‘88 and continues writing film reviews for them today. Through this critique, I will explore Travers’ perspective, style, method, and technique. I would describe Travers’ style of writing in the same way he describes Batman Forever; “It’s a thrill-packed joy ride that knocks itself out to please – so much so that it often threatens to collapse from plot overload.”

     Travers writes feature film reviews ranging from 500 to 1000+ words. His reviews are sometimes short and direct like his 1987 Spaceballs review, while others such as The Dark Knight are intensely descriptive and full of critical analysis. He chooses to review a variety of genres including comedy, horror, drama, action, sci-fi, and thriller.

     Travers leads his reviews with a very short paragraph, normally 3-4 sentences tops. The lead usually opens with a short, catchy line, which is either a fact or a snappy judgment about the film. Examples of this are “Mel Brooks is a gutbuster.” (Spaceballs) and “Sometimes a shamelessly stoopid, proudly profane R-rated comedy is all you want out of life.” (Role Models) It’s structured simplistically to grab the audience’s attention, get to the point of the article, and encourage the reader to continue reading. His methods effectively entertain and amuse the reader.

     The basic information of the film is hidden throughout the review in summary content and other judgments he makes about the movie.  In Travers’ earlier reviews like Thelma & Louise, he focuses on plot summary and talks about the actors in the order they appear in the narrative. But lately, he’s been leaving summary at the theaters and only telling the basic set-up like in his Eastern Promises and Apocalypto review. In the ’80s, he focused on plot summary and it could usually be found in the second, third, and fourth paragraph of his review.  Now, he gives the reader a short set-up in the second paragraph, and goes on to discuss the actors, director, writers (and if deserved) the cinematographer.

     Travers’ simple style makes his work easy to follow and fun to read. He chooses to heavily describe actor’s performances and only focuses lightly on cinematic elements, which expands his audience rather than closing it down to technical terms that only professionals would comprehend. His specific descriptions of characters and selected quotations help the reader re-experience the films.  He isn’t likely to incorporate quotes into every review, but when he does he pulls only the best lines from the film’s most memorable moments. 

In his 2008 review of The Dark Knight, Travers quotes the Joker just as he’s holding a razor blade to a victim’s face telling the man how his father carved his smile permanently into his face. Travers quotes the Joker at this plot changing moment saying, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stranger.” This significant quote not only reveals character, but also comes from an extremely memorable scene that highlights the theme of the human condition. The relative ratio of factual information to critical commentary and interpretation was 50/50 earlier in his career. But now that he has gained much experience and seniority at Rolling Stone, his reviews are dominated with critical judgments and pleasurable commentary at 75/25, which is much better than his earlier safe reviews.

      The scope of Travers reviews deal mostly with the actors and genre. But sometimes he centers his review on the most popular person involved in the film. Sometimes the focus of his review is the director such as Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto. All of his judgments about Apocalypto revolve around Mel Gibson and his style of filmmaking. The same is seen in his Freddy Got Fingered review where he concentrates on the wacky Tom Green who stars in the film.

    Travers’ knowledge of film seems to extend as far as that he has seen many pictures, but not necessarily taken any critical analysis film classes. He does however, appear very knowledgeable about actors, directors, and their past performances. He doesn’t speak of any one person or genre without including a comparison or their most recent appearance. He includes these references in very interesting ways.  In his review of Batman Forever, when he’s referencing Jim Carrey’s past performances compared to The Riddler, the character he plays in this film, Travers sites, “Hammered for the crudities of “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” and “Dumb and Dumber,” Carrey continues to play by his own rules.” He sneaks in references to past performances with similar critiques of the actor’s role.  

   I have yet to read a review where Travers presents himself by using “I.” He does, however, speak directly to the audience in numerous occasions saying how you should feel or what you should do. “Don’t ask whether or not you should take The Day After Tomorrow seriously. Don’t take it at all,” Travers declares in his 2004 review of The Day After Tomorrow.

     Travers expresses his attitude of films through his short and to the point phrases that precede many of his in-depth character and plot analysis paragraphs. These simple judgments prepare the reader for the complex sentences that follow and allow for easier interpretation.  All of his reviews include vigorous comparisons to similar genres and artists. His writing flows smoothly with transitions leading into each and every paragraph. If he knows he wants to talk about a specific character in the next paragraph he includes them in a scene or quote in the end of the previous paragraph. His transitions stream by seemingly unnoticed and holds the piece together like invisible glue. His recent reviews are always focused and sustain a single line of interpretation that is reiterated at the end. Travers’ writing style is very basic, but nonetheless informative, persuasive and of course entertaining.

please take a Risk...

This is just a compilation of phrases I read on the Internet today that may assist in your daily escape.

everybody could potentially have their brain chemistry tweaked so that their baseline emotional state would be that of greater happiness.
but I had to go well out of my way to find the motivation.

keep looking.

It depends on what you can be content with.
so many options open to you.

a process of elimination

others don’t want to help themselves

Continued existence.

explore all those possibilities

Mentally becoming what you want to be.

please take a risk

The dangers arising from environmental abuses.

100 hours on the couch exploring, for example, the meaning of dreams.

turn your attention to other things, and it comes and sits softly on your shoulder

you actually ENJOY your position of victimhood.

it’s called self-pity

but mostly the things making people happy are the ones they've always been - friends and family, achievement, religion.

afraid I won’t find it because I can’t give enough of myself to one thing to be able to tell if that’s what I want.

transhumanist.

Elimination of old age.

It is only human to grow much too attached to the ills of the world

Physically becoming what you want to be

the problems caused when true mindcrafting becomes possible will be worth it?

to lack intelligence

to discriminate against others

the possibilities opened by mapping the human genome.

Something to transcend.

Incredibly Useful Information

MUSIC

I think music makes most things more enjoyable so check out this new song while you read my blog! Just press play, it won't open up a new window. "Devils" is a new song by the band Say Hi.

ESCAPE

If you're headed to the theaters this week I suggest checking out Cedar Rapids. Comedies are said to attract the most consumers to the theaters these days, and I usually won't pay to see a flick that's going to make me scared, sad, or hopeless, so I would agree with this statement. If there was a comedy as good as Cedar Rapids out every weekend, I would definitely frequent the theaters more. John C. Reilly makes the film worth watching. Check out the trailer here.

TV

Party Down was a half hour comedy that premiered on Starz March 20th 2009. The show was canceled after two seasons, but the best shows always are so don't let that stop you from watching. Produced by my favorite, Paul Rudd, and many others, Party Down is about a Los Angeles Catering company full of misfit workers, actors, and writers who didn't make it in Hollywood. The show documents the crew as they provide less than average service at a new event every episode. The show stars Martin Starr (who I very much adore), Lizzy Caplan, Jane Lynch, and Adam Scott. Watch the Party Down trailer here.

WATCH ONLINE

If lately the sites you used to go to -catch up on a TV show you normally follow or a movie you missed in theaters- aren't working or now want you to pay to watch, you should check out theiwatchnetwork.com. I've used this site after coming to find surf the channel and Hulu have started charging their viewers and want you to download a bunch of plug-ins to watch anything. This site offers links to each show after you've selected the episode using Loombo, which is a safe and free uploading file service. It's pretty self explanatory once you're on the site.

CHANGE YOUR OIL

You could change your own oil or you could go to the Mobile Gas Station located at 17661 Ventura Blvd Encino, CA (818) 788-3626 where they change your oil, hand wash your car, and detail & vacuum the inside of your car all for $28.00. You should change your oil every 3,000-5,000 miles. If you don't live in LA, I would suggest going to your local Wal-Mart!

FOOD

If all this reading has made you incredibly hungry you should check out my new cooking blog: http://eatingkristen.blogspot.com/

LOANS

A lot of my friends who graduated after me have been asking me for help concerning their student loans. As mentioned in my last blog, you can easily consolidate your loans here, however I failed to mention if you have private school loans they may not be able to help you and in the case of have private loans you should consolidate your loans here.

Before you consolidate though, you can always put your loans into forbearance so you do not have to pay on them right away. I would suggest putting your loans into forbearance for as long as you can so you have time to save money for when you must begin paying on them. Finding a well-paying job right out of college isn't likely for anyone and to qualify for forbearance you can claim a temporary hardship, unemployment, or part time job. It's also important to know that after the forbearance is over you will NOT have a lump sum of accumulating money to pay, instead the bills begin generating after the forbearance is over.

Consolidation does take 30-90 days though, so you should begin this process 1-3 months before your forbearance is over. There are many consolidation plans to choose from including a new income-base plan that fluctuates according to your salary, but does not go over the general planned amount per month. These plans tend to stretch 20-30 years, however you will not be paying on theses loans for the rest of you life. After the 20-30 years, whichever time period you chose, the rest of what you owe is forgiven.

THANKS

Thanks for checking out my blog!

Everything else!

Enough about movies what about everything else?

    I doubt you're getting any useful information out of reading about what I think of character driven films or that awesome comedy I reviewed, Adventureland soooooo......Obviously I've taken a trip back in time with my latest blog posts, because I'm busy with everything else! Busy with more important things such as finding affordable insurance, which you can do here http://www.ehealthinsurance.com/. (I pay $140.00/month total and that includes dental insurance. My deductible is only $900, which for the state of CA is really good. I chose Blue Shield of California as my health care provider and Dr. Maurice Haber in Valley Village, CA  (818) 766-5231 -gets me in the day I call!)

     I've also been busy job hunting as I still have not found that dream job I thought a college diploma would get me. Which reminds me, I recently consolidated my school loans, and you can do the same by clicking here! Some good sites for jobs: http://www.mandy.com/ & http://www.indeed.com/. Also, if you're looking for work in the LA area and would like to receive my job list blasts email me at: kristen.snyder@rocketmail.com.
     
    And oh yeah I started an awesome cooking blog, which you can check out here: http://eatingkristen.blogspot.com/ ...And use it to cook that someone special something tasty for Valentine's Day <3

    And I'm still playing with my Christmas Gifts! I'm learning how to play my new guitar, listening to vinyls on my "NEW" record player, and I just finished watching Twin Peaks -which i highly recommend watching.

   Twin Peaks was a television series Created by David Lynch and Mark Frost, which premiered April 8th, 1990 on ABC. Those of you from small towns especially would enjoy this series. It's about a girl everyone knew and loved in a small town being murdered and the effects her death has on the entire town. The investigation is led by FBI special agent Dale Cooper, and the audience follows Dale around as he discovers the many secrets that inhabit this small town. I recommend buying this series online, at a Borders Book Store, or order it off Netflix.

    As if this blog entry wasn't random enough, here's an awesome song I've been listening to on repeat!