Straw Dogs? Balancing Realism with Bloodlust

    Wow, I have not been keeping up on my posting.  Shame on you Luke.  Well the excuse LUKE! WE DON'T WANT TO HEAR YOUR EXCUSES RAGE!!!!!! RAGE!!!!!!!!  Cool down guys, I know you don't care about excuses, so I'll just say I have several posts in the draft stage, but I haven't really had the time, or the attention span to complete them yet.  You'll see a bunch of new ones coming out in the next couple days.  I think they might even be worth skimming.
    OK, today's post is going to touch on some of my views towards movies, specifically using Straw Dogs as an example.  If you have even looked at my more recent posts, you know that I am in love with making and watching videos.  Going to the movie theater is one of my favorite things to do...unless there are a bunch of giggling tweens in the row behind you, putting their feet right next to your head, and whispering how hot Taylor Lautner is.  I speak from experience.  I guess that's what I should expect going to see Twilight. Yes I actually went and saw the first one, and the most recent one...aaand yes it was because Taylor Lautner is freakn' HOT.  I digress.  
    I am going to level with you right now.  I have watched R-rated movies, and I do not plan on avoiding a good movie just because some company that has no affiliation with the church puts a little R on the box because they said a couple words that we all hear regularly anyway.  I don't look down on those who choose to not watch those movies, that is their choice, and choosing to watch them is my choice.  Granted, there are a lot of R-rated movies that should not be seen.  They received that rating because there is excessive gore, or sensual nudity, or needless vulgarity, and I avoid those movies because they are inappropriate and only add those elements to cater to their target audience. Now there are some R-rated movies that do tell a good story, send a good message, and use those elements tastefully to convey that message.  A couple of the most famous examples would be Saving Private Ryan and Shindler's List.  Both magnificint movies that are R-rated, but use those harsh elements to convey a valuable message, or really get the audience's emotions going.  Good emotions like empathy, pride (as in in one's country, family, origins, not the bad pride), and joy.  The crummy R-rated movies also drum up emotions, but ones like, bloodlust or inappropriate passion.
    I have never seen Straw Dogs, nor do I plan to, and I do not plan on seeing the remake coming out sometime next week.  I know the premise of this movie, and while people may say that it was an iconic movie for showing brutal reality, it is really a piece of junk geared at an audience that wants to see a girl get rapped and a guy freak out and hack-up an entire town to pieces.  In cases like this, the movie should be treated as what it is, like trash.  It reminds me of the movie Clockwork Orange which I did watch to review for some competition thing, and I had heard that it is a great cult classic.  Well I did not end up watching the whole thing because it is an unpleasant 120 minutes that feels like 4 hours about a British gang who likes to dress up at night and go rob, bludgeon, and rape the English population.  Do not watch ether of the movies mentioned in this paragraph, they are not worth your time.
    Well I need to run, but I really want to post this before I go so I have to cut it short.  THANK GOODNESS!!! I ONLY READ THIS CRAP BECAUSE I'M LUKE'S FRIEND AND HE EXP... OK, I get it.  See you next time...

Did the Top Fall?

    I wonder how many people have put up their theory of whether or not the top fell at the end of Inception.  Well I just finished watching Inception for the fourth time, and I think it's time to give my own theory.

Oh Luke, Inception is soooo last year, why are you bringing up such an old movie?

    Because, Inception is the greatest movie to have conversations about because there is so much complexity and so much to talk about.  At least of the movies I have seen.  Now, did the top fall?  I have come to the understanding that people think if the top falls then he is in reality, and if it kept spinning then he is still locked in some extra-deep limbo world.  To this I pose another question, does it even matter if the top falls?

    Let me explain better.  A question the movie touches on---not really the main question of the movie---is what is realty.  Think back to when Leonardo DiCaprio and the architect girl (their character names escape me) are on the snowy mountain covering the outside of the base, and Molly comes and shoots Fisher (the guy they are trying to inception an idea in).  Earlier the architect girl ask Leo if killing the security was destroying parts of Fisher's mind, he said no they are just projections.  However, when the girl told Leo that Molly wasn't real and just a projection, he retorted, "How do you know that"?  For that instant, Leo was not sure what reality was.  The movie also asks the viewer earlier in the movie when they see all the people who pay to be in dream world a few hours a day.  The guy there says, "They come here to wake up.  Who are you to tell them what reality is."  (That may not be verbatim).  So in other words, is reality reality because it is indeed something that is and is the same for everyone else, or is reality what we think is real?

    I've mentioned before the book The Answer by John Assaraf.  In the first couple chapters of the book they show that scientists are discovering that we can actually change the outcome of certain experiments just by observing the experiment.  We can also change things by how we think about them.  Go pick up a copy and read it, it will blow your mind.  My father was the one who introduced me to this book, and he said he made a lot of connections with the first couple chapters and ... was it the first book of John?  Where it says in the bible, "In the beginning there was the word and the word was God and God was the word..." or something like that.  Well after reading The Answer, I think that you could replace the word "word" with idea.  In the beginning was the idea, and the idea was God.  In other words, the reason we exist is because God thought us up.  I don't want to go writing my own scripture, but I feel like there could be some truth to this. 
    Getting back to Inception.  Was Leo's projection of Molly actually real?  He could see her, hear her, smell her, touch her, and even talk to her.  It seems to me that the only real difference between the "real" world and the dream ones is which one we accept as reality.  Molly accepted that the dream world was reality, and so when she left it, she was convinced that even when everybody else thought told her she was in the real world, that she was not.  It is all based on our thoughts and ideas, so why couldn't Leo's idea of Molly be real? 
    All this brings be back to did the top fall at the end.  I say it did, but not because Leo woke up, but because he had accepted his reality, whether it was the same one he had before or what he would have called a dream world.  He thought he was in reality, and because he thought that, the top would have fallen.  The end. 
    Did that make sense? No?  It is a very complex thing that is difficult for me to explain, but I feel confident in it.  It is very late at the moment, so maybe I'll have to come back to this once I am more awake and make it make sense.  What do you think?  Leave your comments and theories below!  Please?

Daydreaming Amid the Flowers for a Couple of Hours

    Well I thought since school was over I would have so much free time, but once again I get busy and I push aside things like friends and this blog and other things.  I don't really have enough time to write a big ole' post now, but I thought if I am going to have a chance at getting to 100 that I'd have to start sometime soon.
    There is a man in my ward, Brother Haügen, who originally hails from Norway or Sweeden...some European country that is frozen 9 months of the year.  Anyway he was going to be gone for a large chunk of the day, and I was asked to watch his house while he was away (if that seems odd, there are more details to it, I just don't want to tell you so there).  I was at his house just short of 5 hours, so I had plenty of time to clear my mind, meditate, and daydream.  That was when I got this idea I want to share with you.
    Before I start with that though, I would like to preface it by informing you that I do realize this life epiphany or whatever you call it is coming from a young man who still lives at home and is given a very cushy life.  I would not say my parents are rich, but we do have enough to live quite easily.  So my opinion I am about to share might change once I get into the real world and start paying for my own car and insurance and house, and food, and clothes, and most everything else.  It is important that you understand that I do acknowledge my naïveté because I know you audience.  Once I share my feelings with you you are going to be all,

"Oh Luke, you have no idea what real life is like.  You are probably some hippy who thinks the world is powered by love juice and daisy farts."

Love juice and daisy farts?  Not only are you guys crude, but you make no sense.  ANYWAY, keeping my lack of life experience in mind, let me tell you what I think.
    I highly doubt I am going to have the same standard of living as my parents.  I doubt I will come even close.  I am saying I will have a lower standard of living than them, not a higher one.  The thing is that I don't think I want the way my parents live.  Now before you call me a hippy and throw your rotten tomatoes at me, remember that I have said I think anyone who says they wouldn't want to be a rock star is either a saint or lying.  I still believe that, and I am no saint.  Sure it would be fun to be rich and/or famous, and go everywhere in a private jet, drink orange juice out of a champagne glass (name that reference!), and being able to buy anything that you ever wanted.  I just quoted three rappers in that sentence, I think that's a record.  However I do not have that passion to be filthy stinking rich.  Not even just stinking rich or filthy rich, or any kind of rich (no that's not true, because you do not need a lot of money to be rich).
    My dad is really an inspiration.  He works so hard for easily 18 hours or more a day.  He loves what he does so it is not too much of a burden, and he gets paid very well for what he does.  I do not want to work 18 hours a day.  I didn't even think there were that many hours every day... wait... I am being told that we have the technology to know how many hours are in a day... there are 24...is that every time?... Yes I am being told every day has 24 hours...that seems like a lot.  Unless I find a career that I love and would do for free (which I hope I do) I would never work that long on any one thing.
    Maybe it's still my youthful ignorance, but I feel like if I was making like 30K a year that I would be rich.  Lets do some math! OK, 30K a year is 25hundred a month.  So lets take out  $400 rent, $120ish utilities, $425 for car and insurance, $250 food, oh duh! of course $250 tithing, like 13% tax($325), $50 clothing (gotta be in style), $80 cell phone, $80 internet (that covers all my TV and most entertainment), and $250 for fun (movies, games, dates, etc), and that still leaves another $270 to save for a rainy day.  Naturally things get more expensive when you have a family, but one person could live fine on that money if they are smart with it. 
    I have been considering working in North Dakota on the oil rigs after my mission.  People starting out can make anywhere from 75K to 90K a year.  If I can live fine on 30K imagine what I could do with that.  Even if I only worked one year, that is college (living expenses and books included) taken care of.  Maybe even enough to buy a used car.  The only problem is you have to live in North Dakota in the middle of nowhere. 
    I would like to drive around in a black 2007 Mercedes E class? Heck yes!  That car makes me drool.

However, it isn't worth going into huge amounts of debt, or working 24/7 to pay for it.  At least not to me.  The only things I care for in a car...well deeply care, is that the outside looks good (i.e. no dents, scratches, the paint is all one color) The inside is clean and does not smell like a dog kennel, and that it starts when you turn the key. 

    Would I enjoy living in a 20,000 sq.ft. house?  Maybe if I had a staff to keep it clean for me.  Though it would not be very fun if I was single, or if I had a large family.  I like architecture, there are some beautiful huge houses, but I would never like to live in one.  This I can say for sure, after living in my parents house which is 8,000sq.ft.+.  It is just too much work, and incredibly expensive.  I want to live in a smaller house regardless if I can afford a bigger one or not.  I wouldn't want a two bedroom one bath if I ended up having 10 kids...I want just enough space so we are comfortable, but no excess.  All I want in a house, in addition to what I said before, is for it to be cool, have interesting furniture, or at least some personality, and for it to be clean.  I hate living in a mess, which is one reason why I don't like my parents house because it is always messy because there is just too much to clean.
    I need to wrap this up.  What you should take from this, is that things and luxuries are fun, but in the end they are just things, and it is just money.  Those fun things are not what is important, and not what we should be focused on getting.  I am not a socialist or a communist, spend your money however you want, if you work hard, you should be rewarded blah blah blah Rush Limbah FTW!!!  That reminds me of a joke: 
    So the richest man in the world dies in his bed one night, and Saint Peter comes to collect him.  Saint Peter congratulates him on being good enough to get into heaven, and tells him he can take one thing with him.  The man was a good man, but he liked money and wealth, so he thought about taking all the cash in his vault.  Then he thought, "No, what if the dollar isn't worth much in heaven".  So he looked around his room and saw his wardrobe of fine linens and thought maybe he could sell them when he got there, but he noticed how Saint Peter and all the other angels were wearing white robes so they probably wouldn't value fine clothes.  Then he thought that gold carries the same value everywhere, so he carried with him as much gold as he could.  Peter looked puzzled, but said nothing.  The man entered the pearly gates and soon saw one of his old friends.  The man's friend greeted him, but couldn't stop laughing.  "What is it?" the man asked.
    "Well I think it is funny that you were allowed to bring any one thing with you, and out of all your possessions, you decided to bring pavement."
    *Crickets chirping*  You decided to bring PAVEMENT! ...get it? ...Oh it's just not funny?... oh...

Going the Distance

Here is me recording walking down Bourbon Street in New Orleans

    Hello everyone, School is over!  I did enjoy this term, but not having to worry about homework or whatever is a welcome break.  I find it funny that I would post blogs a lot more when I had other homework to do, but once it became an assignment I put off most of them until the last days before they were due.  Now when the blog goes back to leisure writing, I put up a post less then a week after school is out.
    Have you ever heard of the song "Going the Distance" by Cake?  Cake is one of my favorite bands, and that song is such a fun song to exercise to.  Go check it out on grooveshark or something.  I titled this blog after that song partially because I am listening to it right now, and to say that I am "Going the distance" with this blog....  Meaning I am going to keep it going.  I was surprised to see 41 posts when I logged in today.  This one will make 42...the answer to everything!  I never thought I would get this far.  When I started it, I thought maybe I'd do like 10 posts and get bored of it, but I think it is great fun. 
    So here is the deal, I want to make a goal.  If you have been following my blog from the beginning, you know just how good I am at keeping these goals.  Not at all would be an accurate statement.  ANYWAY, I'd want to have at least 100 posts by the time I go on my mission.  I just counted, I have 85 days until I leave.  So that is...58 more posts (after this one) in 85 days, so I would have to post a little more often then every other day.  I can do that.

Me and my best friend Kevin, we've known each other since we were three

   If I am going to be doing this, I want to make what I write interesting, and after reading a lot of the blogs in my (former) class, there are a few things I can do to make it more worth reading.  I personally like lots of pictures, even when the writer is writing something that I find interesting, it is hard for me to stay focused unless there are pictures (I'll just throw some random ones in here).  That just goes with the media I guess.  Another thing, is I like hearing more personal stories, not explicitly detailed stories about their first child's birth, but like this one.
    That means I'll have to take more pictures...Which I would do more, but I lost the cable to load them onto my computer.  OK, I'll get a new cord, and do some exciting stuff so I can tell you about it.  Thanks for reading this, here is a picture to keep you on focus.

Here is my R700 airsoft gun, it shoots .4gr bbs at 650+ feet per second...I shot through a wall in my room once.  This is what I use for airsoft competitions.

Who Is My Audience? (Conclusion)

    Our blog for class is supposed to be directed at a particular audience.  This is possibly my weakest aspect in writing: defining your audience.  This is an especially bad problem because not knowing who your audience is weakens most every aspect of your paper.  I started this blog when I began college only because a friend of mine said he kept a blog of his own, and I thought it sounded like something fun.  At first it was basically copy pasted sections from my journal that I thought my friends might find entertaining.  I took out the really personal stuff, but if you read my journal right before college, you would be surprised at how similar they are to my first six or so blog posts.
   Once I was told we would be keeping a blog for this class, I thought that I should make the class my audience, and write about Ethos, Pathos, Logos, Kairos, and other class terms.  I quickly came to realize I could not keep that up for the whole semester.  It was ridiculously tedious to write even one post.  I then thought of what I blogs I like, and how I spend free time on the internet.  When I go online, and I have nothing to do, my first stop is usually facebook (this is also usually my first stop when I do have something that needs to be done, but that's another story).  Next is youtube, then tumblr.  I go to these places to watch the personalities like ShayCarl, Philip Defranco, Mitch&Adam, and others.
    With that in mind, I decided to write to an audience like a group of friends where I can clearly write out my opinions, and share amusing anecdotes, but with a gospel spin, and attempt to make it somewhat intelligent for class.  It is a pretty complicated audience, but thinking that I am writing to others and not just for myself really affects what I put in here.  I use periods for example, and try to have some variety in my vocabulary.  This is the most prominent thing I have learned keeping a blog, is remembering why I am actually writing and who is going to read it.

Hindsight Really is 20/20

The semester is finally over.  Writing 150 was my only class this time, but it was a busy semester nonetheless.  In addition to this class, I had work, chores, applying for a mission, getting a mission call, filming, editing, skateboarding...it’s a hard life.  It is natural for us to reflect on something when it draws to a close.  There were some assignments in this class that I really enjoyed, especially keeping a blog.  Through these assignments, and others, I feel like I have improved my writing, and have at least learned to be more responsible.
    I liked the blog assignment; maybe it is because I am part of the social networking generation.  I had a blog before this class, and I plan to continue to update it after I am done with class.  I enjoy writing.  I do it for fun, but when I write it is really informal, as you can see in this excerpt from my third post Wait a Minute...It’s Wednesday!!! At Least I Think I Know What I’m Doing Now..., “This is starting to get to be a lengthy post, and you know how much I don't like those (what you didn't?  ... oh.. well you do now) So I'll wrap this up”.  I like to pretend that I am having a conversation with the reader and only write my side of it.  While this might be fun and make sense to me, it might be more difficult for someone else to understand what I am doing, especially if they do not know me personally like people in my class.  These blogs are mainly graded on completion, but I thought since I was doing it for a class, I should put a little more effort into it to making sure the reader knows what I am trying to say.  I had to take my audience in consideration.  The lesson of remembering your audience in your papers is something that really clicked for me this semester.  I had been told to take your audience into consideration before, but I never practiced it in my papers.
    My writing has improved because of this.  I have always thought that I am naturally a decent writer.  Decent enough to get A’s on essays that I wrote in one draft the night before it was due.  I can even do that in some college classes, but not many.  To be able to get an A in college, I have to actually think about what I am writing and why I am writing.  I need to read and reread it, get other people to put their input in, and think about who will be grading this if I want to get an A for sure.  Audience is crucial in writing.  In school your audience is your teacher who determines your grade.  At work, writing to the wrong audience can get you into trouble.  You are not going to describe to your science class how water evaporates then you are to your five-year-old brother.  Your audience affects your tone, word choice, length, and just about every other aspect that goes into writing your paper.  When I wrote my blog post A Year in Provence, I had a different audience in mind then I usually do.  I wrote it like I was writing for my art history teacher, so I said, “You can see by their fairly simple clothing that this is not the French Bourgeoisie or Aristocracy, they are the working class after work or on a weekend enjoying themselves at a cafe”.  I would never use Bourgeoisie or Aristocracy if I was describing this to a friend.  I would say something closer to, “They aren’t wearing very fancy clothing, so they are probably working class people at a cafe.”
    I, like so many other students out there, suffer from chronic procrastination.  As I have said earlier, I have usually been good enough in school to put everything off until the last minute and still get good grades.  College is a bit more difficult, and I have found, and am still learning that life is much happier when you are responsible and do your work on time.  I am still working with this, I have my ups and downs, but at least I am not constantly putting things off like I used to.  I have taken many steps to try to be more responsible.  Using a day planner has worked well for me, since a common reason for me procrastinating is I will actually forget that I have an assignment.  Writing down what I am going to do and when helps me remember everything and stay organized. 
    I have enjoyed this class this semester, and I really feel like I got something out of it.  Hopefully I won’t forget to remember to think of the audience when I write papers.  I have plenty of school and writing to go, and remembering your audience is key in organizing and composing your paper.  What I really need to improve on is leaving myself enough time to write and do my assignments, and then actually use that time well. 

My First Video

   Hello all, since I have talked quite a bit...written quite a bit about how I love to make videos, here is an example.  What you are hopefully going to see is a video I did for my high school choir back in 2010.  Please just keep in mind that this was one of my first videos, back when I used *shudder* imovie.