The Art of Plagerism

I will not attempt here to persuade you that movie makers are getting desperate for good stories and stealing ideas from other places. I am perfectly confident that they try their best to come up with original plot-lines and premises... Okay, I'm fibbing. I finally saw the "critically-acclaimed" Avatar last night. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the movie. I thought the graphics were incredibly cool, and the action scenes and climactic elements were very exciting and intensely fun to watch. However, I have my complaints.

I felt, before I ever saw the movie, that I didn't need to see the movie because I'd already seen Disney's Pocohontas (Not to mention Fern Gully, Dances With Wolves, etc.) I felt like the story lines sounded so similar that it was pointless to see the newest take on it. Of course, I conceded and decided to see it as I was interested to see what all the hype was about... I will admit, I truly enjoyed myself.

The only problem is that when I watch a movie, I judge based on many aspects. I usually give about 50 percent of my opinion to the story and how well crafted it is, and the other 50 is divided respectively among cinematography, acting, scripting, etc. The latter elements of the movie were, to say the least, incredible. (Even though I've never liked Weaver's acting, and even in this film, it left something to be desired...) I just felt that the story itself was very predicatble and a little hackneyed. I did appreciat Cameron's "flare" that he added, but overall, the story was a little blah. Add to that the awkward hokeyness of the chanting, swaying, communal tree cult with glowing bums, and we can say there were some somewhat lame parts as well. (Really? Sigourney Weaver died anyway? No way! Never saw that coming!)

Again, don't get me wrong. If I want to watch a god action movie with awesome effects, I'm all over this movie. But let's sum up my feelings on the plot-line with this link...

I also think Avatar was a stupid name for the movie... especially being that M. Night Shamyalan's new Avatar: The Last Airbender movie is coming out soon! Blah!

Well, of course this is a blog. But my name's not Jack. It's Greg... I mean Jason...

See, I published that last post because I want people to see how funny my friend thinks he is. Very nice Court. Very nice... I'll jack your blog! But I won't grease your handle.

heh heh heh....blog-jacked!

Yup yup yup, this isn't Jason. This is a mysterious 3rd party member who has snuck into his account and blogged without mercy!!!!

.....I have nothing to say.

Okay... You Got Me...

So, I promised that I would never have a blog, then I promised I would never get too far behind in my posting... well, we see the results of both of my promises now. So, here I am at work, posting when I should be working, just so I can catch up a bit.

I mostly feel guilty because my friend Court, who is really good at posting, especially lately, has been bugging me for days to read his blog. Anyway, here we go.

I'm pretty excited because my brother, Michael, and his family are coming next month to visit for the weekend. As I haven't seen any of them in a year and a half, it will be nice to visit with them again.

Among the activities planned for this visit is a trip to the Space Center in Pleasant Grove for to celebrate my nephew Alex's birthday. I am also stoked because they have also invited Court to come.

It is interesting to me how much of my life this friend has been there for. Also interesting is how much Michael and Tiffany and the kids love and appreciate him. To quote Mike, "Yeah, get Court's butt over there, he's part of the family too!" It's really true. He has been there for me through much, but also for my family. My wife, whom I love more than anything or anyone, even Court, continually jokes that Court and I share more than a friendship. "Your lover is on the phone," she'll say. While this is obviously an exaggeration, we truly do hold more than a friendship alone. (Though it stops long before the word "lover" is ever considered... *shudder* icky...)

Anyway, this wasn't meant to be a post about my undying love for my best friend, but I guess it turned out that way.

Let's just say, it's been a busy few months and leave it there for now. Hopefully I can get to more posting later... phew!

There Is Work Enough To Do

Yesterday, my boss's boss sent out an email requesting three of four people to help out in a different department here at work for a month or so, or until they catch up. I'm not sure what possessed me to email him back, but, for some reason, I volunteered. I mean, take into account the fact that it will provide more income for our small family, and that I hardly see my wife anyway, and it doesn't seem so bad. It is a data entry job, which I don't mind, and will help to break up the monotony of my current position. The only thing that makes it difficult is that this is on top of my current work load. I now work from 12 noon until 8 at night. Add to that the full-time school-load and I'm pretty well swamped. I will probably not see my friends ever again and I will do good to even keep up in my classes. My wife laughs at me because she is already working full time with full time school. I don't know what the difference is, but I guess she's a little bit stronger than I am. (Did I just admit that?) Don't get me wrong though. I am pretty excited for this opportunity and I do feel really good about it. Just don't be surprised if you see a headline about me soon... maybe an obituary even...

Enjoying The Journey

Well, Stake Conference was this last weekend and I would like to highlight one thing I appreciated from the vast array of spiritual knowledge that was given. The stake Patriarch spoke about "enjoying the journey". While this may be a fairly oft spoken of topic, I really enjoyed his remarks. He was an older gentleman (not surprisingly) and was very enthusiastic and warm. He, and others that night, from the adult session, talked about being young and newlywed and having so much to do. He quoted people saying, "Well, I'll be able to be happy and satisfied when we have a house." or, "When we have a new car, we can enjoy ourselves." He listed a lot of things that apply there: Children, money, education, etc. It's important to remember that these things aren't "when life finally begins", they ARE life. We're living our life right now. It's already begun. Enjoy it while you can. There will always be a next "when". You'll never run out of things to shoot for so you might as well enjoy yourself getting to the milestones. By no means do I mean be lazy or spend all your money, or do anything unwisely. All things, especially children and other life-changing decisions, take deliberation, and even prayer and fasting, in some cases, to know if you're ready for it. Just don't spend so much time "getting there" that you forget where you're trying to get to.
This is good advice to me. This last month or so has been very busy, very stressful, and very fast. Money is not in abundance and neither has my patience been. Even now, I am lying on the couch, trying to fight off the achy pain in my teeth from the dental work I just had done, feeling bad about the fact that I haven't gotten to cleaning the house yet and my wife is only at work for another five hours.
Well, that's my advice to you. Learn to enjoy your time here. Another thing the Patriarch said was that life isn't a test. When you get done with a test, you say, "Whew! Glad that's over with!"
a more fitting ideal is that this is our chance to Enjoy the Journey, but just don't forget where you're going either. This is definitely made easier when the person I'm traveling with is also the person I plan to spend forever with.

Collegiate Whiners

Well, school is going well, though I won't lie and say it hasn't been overwhelming. My classes are surprisingly light in load, but it has been difficult keeping track of what is due when. This is only compounded by the fact that the professors are constantly changing the syllabus without notifying the students until the day before. However, this blog is not about my whining. Goodness knows that's enough. This is more about the people who sit behind me in my respective classes. Whenever the teacher introduces a concept or runs quickly through something, there is, without fail, a murmur of complaints from behind me. "Oh my gosh...", "Why are we learning this?", etc. I'm not saying I dont, from time to time, complain about things, but it seems silly to me that they would complain about a class that they are taking of their own free will. For example, college algebra, in most cases, is only required if you plan on continuing to calculus. There are other math classes you can take. It just is ignorant for someone to take this class when there are at least two other easier choices for people who hate math and never plan on crunching a number again. If you don't need it, why are you taking it? Anyway, I guess it's not that important of a rant, but I find it relevant as I have decided what I want out of life and I'm going for it. Unlike some people apparently... So it was mean, sue me.