Lars and the Real Girl

Maybe it's too soon to talk about this movie. I just finished watching it. It's a ridiculous premise. I had very low expectations. I hadn't heard anything about it. There may have been some buzz from critics, but it seemed a little too quirky for me.

Lars is such a lovable character. I'm a little embarrassed to recommend the movie, but I'm going to anyway. A cynic will laugh. An enlightened viewer will cry. I did both. Very, very good.

My Mistress

Last night I was alone. The wife and kids are out of town, so of course I stayed up way too late. There I was, finally in bed, listening to Coldplay. I started thinking about my mistress.

Yeah, that's right, I said it. My mistress. She has green eyes.

Green Eyes - Coldplay

Honey you are a rock
Upon which I stand
And I come here to talk
I hope you understand
That green eyes,
yeah the spotlight,
shines upon you
And how could, anybody, deny you
I came here with a load
And it feels so much lighter,
now I've met you
And honey you should know,
that I could never go on without you
Green eyes
Honey you are the sea
Upon which I float
And I came here to talk
I think you should know
That green eyes, you're the one that I wanted to find
And anyone who,
tried to deny you
must be out of their mind
Cause I came here with a load
And it feels so much lighter,
since I met you
Honey you should know,
that I could never go on without you

I love you Money. Sorry we can never be together.

Hip Hop Lyrics

One Mic - Nas
All I need is one blunt, one page, and one pen
One prayer - tell God forgive me for one sin
Matter fact maybe more than one

Hip Hop Saved My Life - Lupe Fiasco
He said, I write what I see
Write to make it right, don't like what I be
I like to make it like the sights on TV
Quite the great life so nice and easy
See, now you can still die from that
But it's better than not being alive from straps
Agreed
A Mead notebook
and a Bic that click when its pushed and a whack @** beat

Memories Live - Talib Kweli
In my lifetime, ain't too many things better
Than watching your first son put his sentences together
Yo, it kinda make me think of way back when
I was The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
All them teenage dreams of rapping
Writing rhymes on napkins
Was really visualization
Making this here actually happen

A Day in the Life of Andre Benjamin - Andre 3000
You'd dropped me off by the dungeon
Never came in, but I knew that you were wondering
Now are these n*ggas in this house up to something
Selling crack sack by sacks so they could function?
W-W-Well, yes and no
Yes we were selling it
But no it wasn't blow
Cook it in the basement then move it at a show
Then grab the microphone and everybody yelled HO...

August Rushed

Let me just get this out of the way right now. I hated this movie. But I'll tell you everything I loved about it.
I'm not trying to be funny. Or clever. I promise. I'm just trying to figure out how to articulate how I feel about this movie. I cried in the preview, months ago. I'm soft, I know. But it got a pretty low rating on Rotten Tomatoes (36%), so I was scared to watch it. Tonight we finally did. Yeah, I cried. But there was so much wrong with this movie I don't know where to begin. I felt absolutely NOTHING in the scene where they fall in love. And I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff. I believe EVERYTHING. My suspension of disbelief is probably the strongest muscle in my body. But some of the stuff in this movie...c'mon...

I loved what the movie was trying to do, though. Music is powerful. Love is powerful. And as a great man once said, you gotta have faith. I was inspired. But this is where things get weird. It wasn't the movie that inspired me. It was what the movie was trying, but failed, to do. (Then did it fail?)-

I'm not a musician, but I appreciated the music theme (though I didn't like the music). Not everyone can hear the music. Not everyone is listening. (I'm reminded of Sidney Deane tellin' Billy Hoyle he can't hear Jimmy).

But here's what I took away from this terrible movie that I hated and loved at the same time: Follow your dream. No matter how silly and unbelievable it may seem. I'll take a little bit of inspiration anywhere I can get it. Even from a bad movie.

Dreams...

Man. So here's the dream. Write.

That's it. I just want to write. I hate to fulfill the saying, those who can't do, teach. But I can't help it. If I could write full-time and make enough to support my family, I'd recycle my teaching degree and never look back. I hope that doesn't mean I'm going to be a crappy teacher.

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

-Langston Hughes, "Harlem"

He's Back...

It's been nearly a year. I've deleted some boring school-related posts. And now I'm back. What in the world should I write about? Let me just sum up the past year. And then we'll worry about the rest later. Let's see...

Accepted to the teaching program. Started working at Overstock.com. Left to be a salesman for a couple of months (What a disaster). Returned to Overstock. Read A Writer's Paris. Went to church. Began student teaching and coaching basketball at Viewmont. Left Overstock again. Read Life of Pi. My first state basketball tournament. Returned to Overstock again. Watched Juno (best movie I've seen since Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). Finished student teaching. Read High Fidelity. Bo turned 2. Cy's turning 4 in a couple of days. I'm graduating next month. I'm starting to interview with local school districts. I'm watching The Office marathon in preparation of next week's RETURN!

And that about sums it up.