About martineden

I am not here to please anyone.

The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby is in my humble opinion one of the top 5 books ever written and at least a top 3 one by an American writer.  The book is about as vivid as one can be not only to the characters but also in regards the time period and overall atmosphere.  Simple themes excited brilliantly.

I have the same feelings about the movie, The Great Gatsby released in 1974.  It is one of my personal favorites and strikes a chord in me that few movies do.  Robert Redford and Mia Farrow clearly are the stars of the show but Sam Waterston’s portrayal of Nick Carraway was what worked best for me throughout the movie.  His character keeps the entire process moving straightforward while ethereal presences, Farrow and Redford, flop about as they should.  Love this film.

Now fast forward to today and seeing the following new movie trailer…

First off, do not make snap decisions on the music as this is only a trailer.  Second, I do not like Baz Luhrmann as I found Moulin Rogue atrocious and Romeo & Juliet sloppy & shlocky at best.  However, his visual sense is ideal for Gatsby and now that he is using great source material (Please stick with the book Mr. Luhrmann) I think this has all the potential in the world.  The cast is dead on in every way from DiCaprio to Mulligan to Bachchan and especially with Maguire in the Carraway role.

Overall I am intrigued and excited about this one and it gives me something fun to do Christmas evening with the weefe.

Innovative & Fun…

Now will the weefe buy into it?

IdeaPaint is one fricking innovative company.  These are the same guys who came out with  chalkboard paint a few years ago, which is killer, and did they decide to stand pat on that product?  Hell no.  They have now released IdeaPaint CLEAR that basically a varnish that can go on any surface and turn it into a dry erase board.  Here it is in their words…

Think waaaaay beyond the whiteboard with CLEAR, a new transparent top coat that delivers dry erase functionality to smooth surfaces of any color. Apply directly over painted walls, or even wood, to create a seamless think-space that matches any décor. With CLEAR, your walls won’t look different, but they’ll act different. So will you.

  • Apply over any existing surface and color
  • Virtually odorless formula
  • Easy, single coat application
  • Apply with roller or HVLP
  • GREENGUARD Children & School Certified
  • SCAQMD and LEED compliant
  • 10 year warranty

CLEAR is available in kits that each cover 50 sq. ft. of surface and includes recommended roller, stir stick, can opener and wet paint sign. To determine the number of kits you need, simply multiply the height x width of the space you are looking to paint.

I am in love with this idea for my office as it would be great to have at least one solid wall painted with this so I could go to town writing on the walls whenever I want.  However, I am  really digging this for LARGE’s room in the house.  I would love to re-paint her room and coat it with this stuff and then have her invite over her friends and sisters and go to town on the walls.

Something about letting my kids draw on the walls is right up my alley.

Thanks for the words

Excuse me have I spoke to soon / my eyes have always followed you around the room / cause you’re the only God that I will ever need

It might be blasphemy to most but it is true to me.  My god does not live in the clouds but lays next to me every night.  My god is love.

Why Not.

I have so many percolating issues in my head ranging from the whole BS with same sex marriage to the continuing bullshit within the Catholic Church (ala Legion Of Christ) but lacking a creative way to spit it out I will postpone it for another day.

In the meantime enjoy one of the greatest songs EVER….

Douchebag-ette Of The Week

I try to stay away from the low hanging fruit when it come to the DB Of The Week but this week it is way too easy.  And trust me, no fruit is lower than Bristol Palin.  The younger braniac in this family stump has clearly inherited the stupid gene in excess.

This week President OBama finally declared war on the far right regarding supporting same sex marriages.  In my opinion this is something that he should have done the first week in office but better late than never.  The president said the following as “part” of his overall speech..

Malia and Sasha, they have friends whose parents are same-sex couples,” Obama said. “There have been times where Michelle and I have been sitting around the dinner table and we’re talking about their friends and their parents and Malia and Sasha, it wouldn’t dawn on them that somehow their friends’ parents would be treated differently. It doesn’t make sense to them, and frankly, that’s the kind of thing that prompts a change in perspective.”

He does not say that his kids made the decision but clearly this is evolution at it’s finest in a family where communication, education and compassion reign supreme.

Now Bristol grew up in a house where silly things like science and education were ignored for more important home schooling topics like creationism, world geography and the birds and the bees.  Her response to the above in part is…

“While it’s great to listen to your kids’ ideas, there’s also a time when dads simply need to be dads.  In this case, it would’ve been helpful for him to explain to Malia and Sasha that while her friends parents are no doubt lovely people, that’s not a reason to change thousands of years of thinking about marriage”

I just love that last sentence in particular “not a reason to change thousands of years of thinking about marriage”.  Should we apply that same theory to child labor? Slavery? Women’s rights?  The fact that organized religion has defined marriage for thousands of years is the EXACT reason why we should challenge it.

Evolution is not only a physical response but also a simple survival trait and that is why humans rule this planet.  Not because the magic man blessed us with it, we have the ability to think, rethink and adjust our lives accordingly and 3,000+ years of one way of doing things is clearly too long.

So unless you want to sign your kid up for the first slave ship out of Wasilla and start whoring yourself out (I mean physically and not just for FOX) then you better hope that the rest of us keep evolving as you clearly cannot.

Congrats Bristol on being My Douchebag-ette Of The Week.

Shadows Fall

Right now the Massachusetts-based band Shadows Fall is the best Metal/Metal-Core band out there for my money.  2 solid album releases with a third dropping this week and they show no signs of letting up as they continue to evolve but never stray too far from their original roots.  Unless, Killswitch beings back Howard (not happening) I see Shadows Fall making a major leap up in sales and popularity over the next 3-6 months.  Check the following out for some good metal and killer drums courtesy of Jason Bittner -

Congrats North Carolina…You’re Fucking Stupid.

Please note that any section in color indicates where close minded drones live.

In not surprising news the hillbilly province known in America as North Carolina has banned Gay Marriage.  Voters approved a state amendment defining marriage as the union between a man and a woman…..you can still be brother and sister I think.

This is quite a shocker to all that this passed based on North Carolina’s historical tolerance of others.  So besides saying “Gays are bad” and “Smoking is good” it looks like North Carolina will have nothing else to offer for another 50 years or so.  Enjoy the stone ages and smoke em’ if you got em’.

Refreshing

For the last few months I have been in a bit of a reading funk.  It’s not that I have not read as much as usual but most of the books I have read have varied from average to tedious.  Even if a subject or character intrigued me for a minute it seems like the author figured out a way to either fuck it up or flat out give up.  The more excruciating part of it is that I have read many books by what appears to be hacks.  No sense of timing.  No real prose.  No ability to use simple tools to guide the story and instead relying on flat out pandering or silly devices to swing the reader.

And that brings me to me the book I just finished, Anne Rice’s The Wolf Gift.  Much has been much said about Mrs. Rice ranging from her topics to her style, however one thing any once can notice is that she is NOT a hack.  Not by a long shot.  She has a command of the written word that few authors have today and even fewer that have done it for as long as she has.

The Wolf Gift / 2012 / Anne Rice

I will admit that I am biased to Mrs. Rice since I started reading her as a 17 year old in Greensboro, NC and fell in love with her style at this time.  Not every book of hers is perfect or even suited to my taste’s but you can still tell from the first page to the last that she is a true writer.

Often fantasy writers such as herself or Clive Barker get lumped into the wrong category for the wrong reasons but at the end of the day they are writing true literature that harkens back to something as terrifying as Shelley or to something as luscious as Dumas.  The subject is just the means to explain the true human condition and they never really stop or stoop to pander to the audience (please take note Stephanie Meyer).

So kudos to you Mrs. Rice for another well written book – I dare say your best since Blood & Gold in 2001.  And please take note and appreciate well written books wherever you may find them as they are as rare as they sound.

Know Your Fucking Audience & Role

Silenzio

If you see fucking headphones on someone what should you not do? Any guesses? Bueller? Bueller? That’s right, do not talk to said person wearing said headphones.  If you have kids teach them one simple lesson…..know when not to fucking talk. Otherwise they will turn into jabber monkeys. Oh, you want to know what a jabber monkey is? I’m so glad you said yes.  A jabber monkey is that fucker who never shuts the hell up, the same person who would talk to you about paint drying. A jabber monkey asks you what you are listening to after they make you take off your god damn headphones and then drone on like a gnat stuck in your ear.

You want to know what I am not…I am not a jabber monkey’s captive victim. I have no need to engage in conversation and no need to pretend to be interested in shit that I am not. Make no mistake, I’m civil, I’m polite but I am not nice. I do not care to be seen or thought of as nice or friendly by you or anyone else.

So make my words you jabber monkeys of the world….I will choke you with my beats cord and I will smile throughout the experience the next time you fuck with me.

And also on a side note….if you like the “black” album by Metallica never, ever, ever for one god forsaken minute think we have something in common.