I Have Nothing New to Write About...

Basically, all I can say about today is that I am still sick of the people who attend my college (if you want to call it that). My professor was late today and one of the more outspoken female students decided to get up front and mock him by immitating him. This was so embarrassing to me that I got up and left the room. When I got back, the teacher (who is a very laid-back person) was sitting in the front of the lecture-shaped room and wathcing her do this impression. He was rather amused, but not because of her "obvious wit", but because of how ignorant these people are. Anyway, I was embarrassed, and I felt bad for him. But I shouldn't because he is a mature man and the students do not share that quality.

BTW - Writing on a lap-top keyboard is the shit.

Cancelled Class...

In the future, there will be an internet uplink in each of our heads. One that we could connect to at anytime to recieve certain information... Like if I'm on my way to class in fucking Des Plaines, I could connect and find out say... What the weather will be like, or how the presidential elects are doing as far as support goes, or... Maybe finding out IF MY CLASS IS GODDAMN CANELLED OR NOT. It happens quite often. More than I'd like. I mean, I could be sleeping right now. Wait, maybe I'm just reiterating the plot to Johnny Neumonic.

Anyway, so yeah, Erin's back at school and I need to write thank-yous to some relatives. That's about it.

"Work Prize"

mstan59: at work yesterday, i got a customer to open up an old navy account, and since it is the company's 10 birthday this month, the person who opens up a certain number ONA of that day gets a special prize and i got one!
mstan59: i was so proud of myself.
mstan59: :-D
mstan59: $10 gift card to old navy
mstan59: hehe
flirish07: awesome!
flirish07: what are you gonnna buy yourself?
mstan59: that story sounded better in my head, sorry. :-P I plan on getting those flip flops i think
flirish07: nice! i really like those

Yeah, I'm so fucking proud of myself! There is no end to my delight.

A Brand New Mix... (Cont'd)

Disc Two

1. Young Marble Giants - Clicktalk
2. New Pornographers - It's Only Divine Right
3. The Postal Service - We Will Become Silhouettes
4. The Shins - Girl on the Wing
5. The Spin Doctors - Two Princes
6. Belle & Sebastian - I'm a Cuckoo
7. The dB's - Black and White
8. Sufjan Stevens - Sleeping Bear, Sault Saint Marie
9. Stereolab - The Way Will Be Opened
10. Magnetic Fields - Why I Cry
11. Michael Penn - Half Harvest
12. New Pornographers - Miss Teen Wordpower
13. My Morning Jacket - Golden
14. The Shins - Kissing the Lipless
15. The Smiths - Girlfriend in a Coma
16. The Rooks - Always You and Me
17. Sufjan Stevens - Say YES! to MICHIGAN!
18. Belle & Sebastian - Step Into My Office, Baby
19. Magnetic Fields - You And Me And The Moon
20. Stereolab - The Flower Called Nowhere
21. The Postal Service - Sleeping In

A Brand New Mix...

Disc One

1. Sufjan Stevens - Flint
2. The Jesus and Mary Chain - Just Like Honey
3. The Shins - Pink Bullets
4. The Rooks - Reasons
5. M. Ward - a voice at the end of the line
6. Magnetic Fields - With Whom to Dance
7. Bruce Springsteen - Atlantic City
8. Schneider TM - Frogstears
9. Lou Reed - Walk on the Wild Side
10. The Righteous Brothers - Unchained Melody
11. T. Rex - Lady
12. Mike Stanislawski - & you'll see...
13. My Morning Jacket - One Big Holiday
14. Michael Penn - This and That
15. Stereolab - L'enfer Des Formes
16. Belle & Sebastian - Asleep on a Sunbeam
17. Squarepusher - Every Day I Love
18. Sufjan Stevens - The Upper Peninsula
19. The Smiths - William, It Was Really Nothing
20. The Shins - Turn a Square
21. The Rooks - House of Fortune
22. My Morning Jacket - Master Plan
23. Magnetic Fields - Love Is Lighter Than Air

A Solid Wrap-Up to a Solid Spring Break...

So... What could possibly complete this spring break from hell? Howabout driving all the way to the Metro to see something I'd been looking forward to for a month or so only to be REJECTED (damn, this has become a common theme lately) at the door by a large sympathetic man saying I needed a photo ID... Okay, I'll admit, I brought this one on myself, but I've been told in the past that when you drive on a ticket, you can use it for everything you can use a driver's license for.

Anyway... My brother drove me to the closest "L" at Addison and the Kennedy (only because I had held him up from seeing Kid Koala and Amon Tobin and others far too long as it was), and I missed the train by about three seconds, and, on a Sunday night/Monday morning, the trains do not run quite as often. I waited about 25 or 30 minutes for the next one, got on it, and got off ten minutes later at Harlem and walked the five or so blocks home. It was pretty cold, and I had not a hat or headphones or anything. I felt like shit before I left, and listening to my bro's advice, I got up and walked around and went with them to the concert. Truth be told, it definitely did make me feel a little better, but I won't be surprised if I get sick this week.

The stress from this "Break" has caused me to have the first migraine I've had in over a month. Okay, you don't know that I usually get (on a scale from 1-10) an 8 or 9 on the "'graine-scale" twice a week. Anyway.... Yeah. Worst week ever? Pretty solid contender...

Whatever, you whiny bitch.

Spring Break, indeed...

So Erin came in on Tuesday and we spent the day together on Wednesday (St. Patrick's day, for those of you who care). All I can really say is that life.... Well, life is really meaningless all of a sudden. We basically spent the last part of the day on the couch where, for the last three years, we have hung out, cuddled, talked, lauged, loved, etc, etc, etc... And for me, the place where I saw all the difficult and complicated parts of love just fade away and melt into a wonderful smile greeting me as she came down the stairs...

Not anymore.

I spoke of yearning for this break last month on this blog on Feb 28th, and now I can see how blinded I was (and still am) by hope. My ex-girlfriend (My god. That's the first time I've called her that), Erin, came home and we discussed on her couch about how she wants us to be... just. friends. You must understand that in her attempts to make it easy for me, she held off telling me of her feelings (which she had been holding for quite some time, since about mid-way through her first term away at college) until the day after she got back from winter break, and even then, she didn't tell me the whole story, which left me with the hope that once again, when she would come in that she would be swept away by the past (that being the reason she didn't tell me over winter break), and everything would be, though not entirely alright, but somewhat "together". However... she eventually told me that not only does she think we will not be anything more than friends, she has also admitted that there are certain things which we will never share. Some things which had become routine for us, and others which we were planning on sharing with eachother for the first time.

My inner dilemma - I am cursed with being so concerned with Erin's happiness that I've, in the process, driven myself to every "edge" concievable. I have diliberately inflicted pain on myself in many ways. All in order to make her happy. One of which, and the most recent - was agreeing to a friendship. I had originally declined, and basically said that for me, it was the best route to take seeing how that everytime I think of her, I am saddened by the events that have taken place recently. I could only have imagined how it would be if we were to simply hang out, sitting on a couch apart from eachother with me not being able to touch her or even look at her in the way I have come to know and love. But... I accepted because she said she needed me, and even if it is not true (I truly do believe her, though), she is the only close friend I have made that still shows any type (as little as it may be) of concern for me...

I'll be honest... I need a friend. Well, actually what I need is Erin to change her mind, but I think that despite our friendship most likely will drive me insane and only fuel my hopes, I have no other choice if I am to one day be happy with her...

And that... is what is tearing me apart...

Tony Hawk's Underground is quite nice. This'll be fun to play when my brother comes in tonight. I have not played, nor have the slightest clue what the two-player mode is like, but it doesn't really matter. Its there, and soon, so will "mah baugh!"

Mega Man!

Bought Mega Man 8 for PS One today (as well as rented T.H.UG. for PS2) and all I can say is:

"Who slipped the acid into my food???"

Whoa. This stuff is not purely fucked up, but the combination of being really caught off guard by the cut scenes and it bringing back old memories of MM2 did a nice little number on my psyche. Great game to pick up... If you can find it for $7 like I did.

Number Time (Cont'd)

As expected, I didn't get number 5. Oh well. I got number 6, which is, technically, the next bes--... well, its the next thing.

Number Time & Spring Break

Okay. Today is the day the baseball team gets its uniforms. I have requested number 5, but will not get it due to the fact it belongs to the starting catcher. That really sucks because this will be the first time I have not had that number since I was... it was a long time ago. Oh well, the crowd'll never know anyway...

On another note: Spring fucking break starts for me today. This is gonna be wonderful. A few days of sleeping followed by a week of hanging out with Erin (if she comes back from AZ in time, that is). I plan on taking her to Second City follwed or preceeded by a dinner at the Flat Top Grill. Wonderful times. I also plan on seeing Amon Tobin (w/ Kid Koala), DJ Shadow, AND Sufjan Stevens in the next month or so. All I can say is... Yay.

Dead Man (cont'd)

So... yeah... Messed up. Depp went crazy like I thought he would (telling a local sheriff that is hunting him: "I'm William Blake. Would you like to hear some of my poetry?", then proceeding to shoot the man three times.).

The score was entirely composed and performed by Neil Young just fucking around on his guitar on high distortion. It is so out of place in the story (set in the mid 1800's west), that it works for the movie completely. It can be a bit jarring, but then again, so can the situations that Depp and his Native American friend "Nobody" are placed in.

BTW - Yeah... So yesterday was my birthday, and it was spent mostly at work. Nonetheless, I appreciated some phone calls from friends I had imagined wouldn't call. So, all in all, decent day. The celebration, however, is most likely not over.

Oh yeah, Happy anniversary Mom & Dad! 24 Years!

Dead Man

Just saw the first half of Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man starring Johnny Depp in my humanities class... I'm at the part where Billy Bob Thornton goes down, just after requesting that Johnny Depp should "go down" in another, more disturbing way...

Time to get to archaeology.

flirish07: I'm here mike

New Film...

mstan59: ive had a lot of people try and pressure me into registering
mstanmstan: why have you not
mstan59: i honestly thought i did.
mstanmstan: wiat what
mstan59: the guy at the dmv said i did. but i found out that was the selective service
mstan59: btw, speaking of servicing me...
mstan59: when do you come in town next?
mstanmstan: shudder
mstan59: not what you think
mstanmstan: not this weekend. maybe next though! if i can get my sched/transportation in order
mstan59: mmmm... service....
mstan59: sorry. what i meant to say....
mstan59: was that i need you
mstan59: r help with a film im about to undertake.
mstan59: ....
mstan59: not a porno.
mstan59: im on a roll.
mstanmstan: . . . .
mstanmstan: what kind of not-porno.
mstan59: a short film ive recently written called "let's walk 'n chalk"
mstan59: great premise...
mstan59: hear this: stop action...
mstan59: going through grant park....
mstan59: and our main character....
mstan59: *youll love this - very image union*
mstan59: a little man on a chalk board
mstan59: !!!!
mstanmstan: heehee
mstanmstan: i like that
mstan59: the chalk board stays square to the camera the whole time
mstanmstan: that you remember image union warms the cockles of my heart
mstan59: shudde -.... oh
mstanmstan: heehee
mstan59: the chalk board stays square to the camera the whole time, so we actually draw a new perspective whenever the camera moves!
mstanmstan: ooooh
mstan59: it will take 3 chalk boards and a lot of chalk and two people
mstanmstan: i support this
mstan59: one to operate the camera and one to redraw everything
mstanmstan: the chalk board will need to be narrow enough so you can see its surroundings in the field of view, without zooming out too far
mstan59: im planning to start base photography this spring *to help out with story boarding* - right, ive thought of that - and do the actual filming this summer.
mstanmstan: cool.
mstan59: and i plan on getting erin to help with the drawing and she will operate my new camera to film the behind the scenes footage
mstan59: which will be on the award-winning dvd
mstan59: along with my acceptance speech at the oscars
mstan59: anyway - interested?

Anyone interested?

Oscar Night...

Ok... It's fairly obvious that the Oscars are a joke. I found myself wondering half way through (to no avail for a long time, might I add) who the past three best picture winners were. This has always been a popularity contest (as seen by Lord of the Rings sweeping the oscars). However, this year had some nice things to offer.

Billy Crystal's opening song was pretty damn hilarious, and I was happy with most of the nominations. Especially for best actor; very unusual but good choices. I have not seen Mystic River, but from what I can gather from the "highlights" they showed, its just Sean Penn crying for a couple of hours. However, this is most likely the result of bad choices on what to show the audience. Bill Murray was snubbed. He expanded himself as an actor and broke the stereotype of himself by creating a film that a lot of things, the least of these things is a comedy. People have tried to catagorize Lost In Translation as such.

I have not seen all of the "Best Actress" films, but nonetheless, I was strangely giddy when Charlize Theron won. I felt extremely happy for her and anyone who likens her to Julia Roberts will soon feel my wrath.

Supporting Actor and Actress? Good for them. Tim Robbins has always been a favorite of mine.

Director? Please. Peter Jackson, no disrespect intended, is not a good director. His methods are obvious and his style is not subtle or discrete. This award should have gone to Sofia Coppola because she was the only director in the group, the rest were just story tellers with cameras.

Score? Tough one. But I thoroughly enjoyed the score to all three L.O.T.R. films. Well-deserved.

Animated film? I've got two words for you: NE - MO. Deserved. End of story.

I was glad to see L.I.T. and Master & Commander get nods for something. But L.I.T. should have gotten best picture, actor, director, screenplay, and ass in a leading role.