Very, very sad

Original story here.

In NYC recently, a man lay on the sidewalk, fairly common. He was homeless, also pretty common. The strange thing was the man was bleeding because he had been stabbed, a little less common but still not outlandish by NYC standards. As the story goes, surveilence shows that for hours numerous people walked past this man but never did anything about it. In the end, when someone finally feels the need to call the cops to let them know about it, homeless man dies.

The saddest things about this are twofold. One: after viewing a lot of video, the authorities figured out that the reason the homeless man was stabbed was because he was helping a woman who was under attack. Had he not stepped in, I assume the woman would have been stabbed instead. He chases the criminal until colapsing on the street, where he will eventually meet his death.

Two: This just proves how, more and more, we as a society are so wrapped up in our own lives that we really don't care about others. Or maybe it's not "I don't care" but more "I don't have the time," you make the call. Now, I realize that a huge factor in no one helping this man was that he probably looked, well, homeless. That right there proves how judgmental we are most times, which is a whole other discussion. Homeless people in this country are lower on the food chain than homeless pets; most people will care way more about a cat on the street than a human being. That being said, sometimes it is their (homeless) own fault that they get such a bad rep. However, the man was still a human being and there is nothing saying you have to touch the man and physically help him. Just call 911, that's all. But no, we can't do that for another individual. This is truly a modern day incidence of The Good Samaritan. I would like to hope that I would not have been one of those who would have walked by, looked at him, and decided it was none of my concern and too much of a hassle to notify anyone.

What's even sadder is that this man was a decent enough guy due to the whole reason he was stabbed in the first place: he was helping a woman being attacked. It's really sad that, after doing this good deed, he had to lose his life because no one else would return the favor.

What do you see?

When I was a younger, I had three distinct topic interests that I remember. They were: Native Americans, the Titanic, and space and the planets.

Well, as I've gotten older, things change a little. I still find all of those topics interesting, but not nearly as much. But I gotta tell ya, I still am just fascinated by outer space. It just blows my mind, just thinking about how space is infinite. There is nothing on earth that goes on forever, so this idea is really, really difficult for me to grasp. There's no 'wall' in space, there is no end, so you'll just keep on going and going. And this brings me to the point of today's blog: I don't know about you, but when I get thinking about space, the beauty and mystery of it, and it's infinite qualities, I see of God.

For me, space is one small sign that there is a God. He created these absolutely beautiful stars and galaxies and planets and... I could just go on and on. I love it when the sky is clear at night and I can look up at the stars with Jarrod. And as far as the infinity part, space and God are kind of similar, you know? There is no beginning or end in space, just as there is no beginning or end with God. And that just blows my mind; I can't comprehend it.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." --Revelation 22:13.

To showcase what I'm talking about, here are some of my favorites. To me, these images are so many things: astounding, incredible, beautiful, and all-around awesome (in the original meaning of the word, too.)  The colors, the shapes, the movement are all breath-taking.


Three light-year tall pillar of gas and dust:

Source: Hubblesite.org

Close-up of a galaxy in infrared:

Source: Hubblesite.org

Star cluster:

Source: Hubblesite.org

Our sun:

Star cluster in the Large Magellanic Cloud:

Source: Hubblesite.org

Cat's eye Nebula:

Source: Hubblesite.org

Crab Nebula:

Source: Hubblesite.org

A butterfly:

Source: Hubblesite.org

Cone Nebula, star-forming pillar of dust and gas:

Source: Hubblesite.org

Jet in Carina:

Source: Hubblesite.org

Helix Nebula, also called "The Eye of God":

Source: Hubblesite.org

It was a good movie, but I couldn't stand it

Yeah, I know that's kind of a weird title. And a weird opinion on a movie, but that about sums up my experience watching Requiem for a Dream.

I had heard this was a tough movie to watch, but I can't remember where I heard that. To whomever made that statement, I agree with you. The indie drama was about drugs and the hell that comes with them. It truly goes into the perils of addiction in a very, very raw way. So in a nutshell, that's what we're dealing with here.

If you want to see it, quit reading because I lash out some spoilers. If not or if you don't mind, click and read on...


In a more elaborate nutshell, there are four characters who become addicted. The mom wants to lose weight, her doctor prescribes her something, and they turn out to be amphetamines. She gets thin but also loses her mind and becomes addicted to them and to her television. (Oh, that's another thing I almost forgot: the TV show/infomercial she watches every frickin' day is SOOOOOO annoying. I could not stand it after a while, either.) Her son becomes a dealer, loses his money, and goes on a quest to get back on top. In the process, he starts using his own stash and in the end, he loses his arm from infection from shooting up so often. His girlfriend becomes increasingly addicted, too, needing a fix all the time. She does almost anything to get money for her fix. Their friend also tries to become a dealer, but ends up in prison mopping floors.

I have never been on drugs but boy did I feel like I was on something while watching this movie. Or I was a paranoid schizo. When it was over, I felt like I had to recover for a bit to tell you the truth. The music was repetative: there were about 5 tracks used throughout the entire movie. There were more and more flashing lights (think annoying office lights that are going out.) The scenes and cuts became more abrupt. And it got to a point where I could not take it anymore! I'm serious. I ended up speeding up the movie a bit and/or muting it because the repetative mood music just grated on your nerves like nails on a chalkboard. I was still interested to see what happened, yes, but I just wanted to get through the darn thing when it was 2/3 over. I cannot even imagine seeing this one in a theater where A, you can't pause the movie, and B, you are surrounded by it and it's loud.

Now, despite all that, I think that's how I'm supposed to feel. I think that is what the director wanted the audience to feel like by the end of it: like you've been on a bad trip. The dull music was a sign of how routine the drugs became in their lives. There was a very methodical way that they depicted when they took their drugs, too. It was the same each time, again driving home the routine and the point that the drugs stay the same, it's the people who are changing. The characters get sucked down, becoming more addicted and more paranoid, and you go down with them. So, in that view, I think the movie was a success. Did I enjoy it? Not really, it's not very... fun. Is it a good movie to show some mature teens? Yeah, it'll work way better than D.A.R.E. any day. Do I want to see it again? Nnnnnno. But it was an interesting movie because the story and the way it was all put together was just so real.

I'm very aware of drugs; I live in the #1 meth county in America and am very accustomed to headlines regarding the subject. To act like they don't impact people's lives, and ruin them many times, is just denial. So despite the difficulty in watching it, I feel the movie does a good job of bringing that impact to the screen because it impacts you, the audience, in the process.

Mom found this...

Our chips love us back.

Weekend wrap-up

This weekend was nice and relaxing. It was the first time in the past three weeks I've had some time to chill out. Last weekend I was in Mississippi, the weekend before that it was Easter, and the one before that I was in Mississippi, and the one before that was my CRHP retreat weekend. Whoa, that's a lot of busy.

I just finished watching the final disk of Mad Men Season 3, so now I am all caught up. Oh man, did it end well. They left quite a few cliffhangers on many aspects of the show. Like other die hard fans, I am now anxiously awaiting the next season. It'll just suck following it week by week, haha, instead of watching everything so quickly with Netflix rentals! My next couple movies are going to be Kolya, a Czech film, and Requiem for a Dream.

I watched that Cardinals game last night from about the 8th inning to the 20th. By about 15, I felt like I couldn't turn it off! I'd watched it that long already, might as well watch till it ends. But it was such a crazy game and almost laughable at points. I was glad when it ended, even though the Mets won.

I am so glad that I do not live in Europe right now. I'm not positive, but I would bet I would need some sort of mask if I ever went outside. All that ash would definitely bother me.

In more recent years, I've become more of a dog person but I still find this extremely cute and intriguing. Apparently this little vid has become quite the web hit. If I had an iPad, I'm not so sure I would let me cat play with it, but I know that their claws can't hurt the screen so... engh.

If I were a cat, I would be thinking 'What is this strange thing?'

Enjoy.



PS—I was not too into the iPad before this, and I'm not saying that I want one now, but after seeing one in action (not just demoed by Mr. Jobs) it's pretty sweet lookin'.

Twitter is cute

This popped up the other day. And I liked it.

Review: Coco Avant Chanel

I just finished a nice little French movie called Coco Before Chanel. It truly was about Chanel's life before she became the famous fashion designer we all know her to be, because only the last twenty minutes of the film were devoted to the beginning of her career. Turns out, too, that her name was not Coco (if you had not guessed that before) but Gabrielle. Coco was a nicknamed she was given by her father and later by another gentleman in her life. It just stuck, and from a brand standpoint, it sounds nice.

What I really loved about this movie was the use of color and the cinematography. In the late 1800s in France, women wore elaborate white (or very, very pale pink) dresses and huge gaudy hats. Men wore darker colors, usually some sort of suit. Chanel was a true innovator in her time and what was awesome about her was that she did not care if people stared, which I'm sure they did in real life and not just in the movie. She didn't wear white all the time but wore dark colors, prints, and most shockingly: pants. She also didn't wear the frilly, humongous hats. Instead she wore simple, but still elegant, straw hats, which is how she actually got her start. So the use of color and the contrast of Chanel's clothes to those around her was done really well.

Like I said, I also enjoyed the cinematography. Many scenes were simply picturesque and lovely. Also, something else I really appreciated was the point of view shots with Chanel. These usually happened when she was in some sort of crowd and was looking around at everyone's clothes. The camera would move along, just like someone's vision does, but it would stay in focus as it passed by people and it was obvious they were pointing out very specific details about the clothes; maybe a collar here or the cut of a coat there. It was really nicely done.

All in all, I gave it three stars of five and if you're up for renting a French film, give this one a try.

I'm going to call this unfair

I just saw this and it ticks me off:

Federal judge rules Day of Prayer unconstitutional

The Associated Press
Thursday, April 15, 2010; 3:45 PM

A federal judge in Wisconsin ruled the National Day of Prayer unconstitutional Thursday, saying the government cannot call for religious action.

Full article here.

Wow... wow... I just can't believe sometimes how out of hand our country is becoming. I don't know how it is in other countries, but around here it is getting to be effing ridiculous! I truly feel that I can say with confidence that our founding fathers did not intend for things like this to happen. I doubt this is what they meant when they put that whole "Separation of church and state" bit in there.

In case non-believers forgot, something else we have in this country is freedom, which in this case would mean that if they don't want to say "under God", they don't have to. If they don't want to pray on the National Day of Prayer, they don't have to. No one is holding a gun to their head saying "If you don't do this, it'll cost you your life." NO ONE DOES THAT! It would be another thing if the government DID do this or DID make us believe in something. I'm Catholic and if you're not, that's fine. Heck, I really don't mind if you're Hindu, Buddhist, or Muslim. If Catholicism is not for you, find something that is, take hold of it, and go with it full force. If the government said 'Hey, everyone has to be [insert religion here] or else!' then yeah, I could understand some protest. But they don't do that.

I've had this following discussion with a few people, and everyone agrees. Since when did the minority have the say in everything? When did we, as a society, start becoming a bunch of candy-ass wimps who stopped saying 'No, we're not going to accommodate you'? According to some stats I just dug up, over 76% of this country is Christian. Around 2% are atheist and 2% are agnostic. That's FOUR PERCENT! And we're bowing down to them, saying 'Oh, well we don't want to offend you, four percent, so us seventy-six percent are just going to not care. That's fine that you don't want to pray.' It's not a very fair way to conduct things...

By this thinking, McCain or someone else should be our president. I mean, he got less votes; the less majority, right? I am SO SICK AND TIRED of having to make exceptions for THE MINORITY! If eight kids in a school are fat, oh well let's just ban soda; if someone repeatedly abuses a privilege at work, oh well let's change the rule and we won't have to single her out and talk about it; if a bunch of atheists speak up, oh well let's just throw prayer out the window so they'll shut up.

I AM SO TIRED OF THIS! But it's how our society seems to be nowadays: less majority wins.

Okay, cooling off now... take a deep breath with me...

Sadly, what I find most unfortunate about this is that what we need most now is prayer. Children don't grow up and stay with their religion often anymore, everyone knows that church attendance is down, and prayer or belief in God is just not generally encouraged in our media. With all the shows that display promiscuous sex as 'the norm' (um, Two and a Half Men?), making entertainment out people constantly getting made fun of, or something like Life of the American Teenager... I don't know about you, but I don't see a whole lotta religion in there. Granted, I will admit that I watch some of those shows too, so in a way this is hypocritical, but the big difference in this is that I am old enough to know the difference between "just entertainment" and what's right, children are not. I would argue that many teenagers can't tell the difference either. So with the combination of where our country is today, our media, how children are growing up, and most parents' lack of emphasis on religion, the one thing we need is prayer.

So take a moment with me and say a prayer.

Because even if our Department of Justice tells us not to, no one can tell our hearts and minds not to.

It's mid-April

Here's a nod to my mom who said to me "You haven't posted something on your..." "Blog?" "Yeah, blog." So here I am, posting after a slight hiatus. And here are some random Spring thoughts...

I got to take a trip to Ole Miss this past weekend. I realized that it is the last time I will every HAVE to drive there. That, my friends, is something to be happy about because that means that Jarrod is almost done with school. Next time I will most likely ride with his family to go to his graduation ceremony. And any time after that that we might go to Ole Miss, I will be riding with Jarrod. So that's kind of exciting.

Our friend Paul was able to come with me this time too, which was lots of fun. Unfortunately the baseball team was away and we didn't get to go to any games, but we did spend some time outside at the park. It was great being outside in the beautiful weather. Even though I still can't throw a boomerang and give it enough umph to have it come back to me and not drop dead mid-flight, it was fun. Funny story: we sabotaged some ants by damaging their anthill homes. The ants would go nutso and start climbing onto the boomerang as if it was a bridge to escape. Once we had a good deal of ants on the boomerang, Jarrod or Paul would throw it, giving the ants a mini-vacation. I almost wish that the ants would have had tiny ant-voices so they could have said "Wheee!" as they were flung off the piece of wood.

It was also the first time this season that I've been able to be barefoot, and that made me really happy; getting to walk around with no shoes, conditioning my feet all over again to tolerate the grass. It's nice to see green grass and green trees again too.

But, sadly, the bane of Spring's existence is: allergies. Jarrod is uber bothered by them (the worst I've ever encountered, honestly.) And Paul was bothered by them down there. And I was too. The pollen is different down there, I assume they have a different mixture of trees growing there, and it's more abundant. I would not want to be a CF kid living down there.

Besides walking barefoot on grass and dealing with sneezes, Spring also means baseball, which is what I'm watching right now. I don't know what it is, but opening day is always kind of exciting. Having lived around St. Louis my whole life, I always wonder if opening day is such a big deal elsewhere? I mean, everyone says how much St. Louis is a "baseball town." Living in St. Louis and NOT caring about the Cardinals is like living in Canada and not caring about hockey; you don't find many people like that. I guess we are big on baseball, but I have nothing to compare it to.

So, in conclusion, bare feet+green grass+trees+allergies+baseball=Spring. And by that equation, Spring>Winter.

Bye, y'all! (No, I didn't come home with a Southern accent, haha!)