It’s safe to say that I’m not a big High School Musical fan. At all. In fact, I wish the franchise would die already they would quit beating that dead horse of a franchise and move on with something else to make pre-adolescent girls wet their panties and emit helium-pitched screams of exorbitant and misplaced adoration. (Jonas Brothers, anyone?)
Nevertheless, I did happen to catch part of the new HSM reality show Get in the Picture Monday night. And I couldn’t help but applaud them for what I witnessed:
I don’t know if you knew what you were doing, guys, but good show. Good show.
While sifting through my feeds and email today, I discovered some very intriguing spam items:
Apparently, I’m not alone. I did alittleresearch to see if I was the only one who noticed this. Here’s another guy’s spam folder with even better headlines:
I never thought I’d do this, but I must applaud the spammers for coming up with new ways to catch our attention. Of course, I’m not easy enough to give in to something like this, but I’d much rather click one of these than an email that assures me I can “make her scream all night long.”
Try it out for yourself.
(Oh, and since I run Ubuntu instead of Windows, I’m immune to the viruses that the spam links to. So the jokes on them.)
I’ll admit it: I’m a Pixar fanboy. I have yet to see a Pixar movie that I didn’t like, and while some movies weren’t as good as others (Cars), I still prefer their movies to the movies of rival companies, like Dreamworks and Blue Sky.
That’s why I’m stoked about Up, the next film in Pixar’s queue. The movie, which will hit theaters on May 29, 2009, is said to take us “to a lost world where anything can happen and will happen.”
From the Academy Award nominated team of director Pete Docter (”Monsters, Inc.”) and co-director Bob Peterson comes “Up,” a comedic adventure taking off (and lifting spirits) in summer 2009. Carl Fredricksen spent his entire life dreaming of exploring the globe and experiencing life to its fullest. But at age 78, life seems to have passed him by, until a twist of fate (and a persistent 8-year old Wilderness Explorer named Russell) gives him a new lease on life. “Up” takes audiences on a thrilling journey where the unlikely pair encounter wild terrain, unexpected villains and jungle creatures. When seeking adventure next summer — look “Up.”
Looks pretty interesting to me. Up is said to be Pixar’s most nontraditional film to date, and probably their best. Whether or not this will be Pixar’s greatest film will be decided next summer, but even if it isn’t, I have faith that Pixar will yet again deliver a film that surpasses the standard of current animated movies.
I’ve been gone for a couple of months, away from technology for pretty much the whole time. But now I’m back, so perhaps I should update this blog more frequently…
But wait! Did you guys see the new The Dark Knight trailer? It’s fantastictal! I can’t help but salivate in anticipation! Just thinking about seeing Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, and Aaron Eckhart duke it out in an awesome orgy of chaos and carnage and coolness makes my spine tingle with exhilaration.
But I’m faced with a dilemma: which one should I be more fanatical about? All my friends are wanting to see both, but they’ve begun to pick sides.
“Batman could own Iron Man.”
“No, he couldn’t! Iron Man has a frickin’ awesome suit.”
“Batman would just build a magnet and pwn with ease.”
“Iron Man has ceramic suits, you know…”
Stuff like that. And they want me to pick a side.
I don’t really want to. I want to like them both equally, at least until I see them both. I’m not much of a comic book geek at all, so if I picked a side, I’d have no idea what I was talking about and look like a poser. So it’d have to be a decision just based on the movies. Or, because I haven’t seen either movie, it’s going to be based on movie trailers.
But both are so awesome! Honestly, I think the Dark Knight trailers have more variety and cool scenes, but Iron Man isn’t far behind in awesomeness. And Iron Man has lived up to its trailer, apparently; it’s the best reviewed movie of 2008.
So what am I going to do? I hate being forced to choose sides! Why can’t we all just get along, friends? Why must we bicker about such trivial matters? Aren’t they both heroes? Are we not allowed to get equally excited about each of them?
Ahah! Here’s what I’m looking for:
Okay, so there we go. I don’t have to pick a side. If Batman and Iron Man are comfortable with being friends, I suppose I can be okay with loving both of the movies equally. Even if I haven’t seen them yet.
Wednesday, I took the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), a popular personality test, with a group of about forty other people. Personality tests* used to frighten me because of their unnatural ability to describe me to a T. I considered them to be creepy, invading—how the heck do they know so much about me? I also wasn’t fond of the fact that I was able to be shelved so well into a predefined category—that meant that there were others just like me, ruining the “I’m so unique!” ideology that I learned in first grade when we made paper snowflakes. Recently, I’ve grown to appreciate them, not because of the deep insights I learn about myself, but because of the extraordinary powers of manipulation I can derive from the tests. As I learn more about the different types of people, I also learn what makes them tick, what turns them on, and what makes them cry. The ability to exploit others by knowing which buttons to push and what pressure points to attack is nifty.
While I won’t divulge the results of my test or my specific personality type for fear of being exploited myself (I’m such a hypocrite), I will admit that I was quite pleased with the results. The portrait for my certain type was 98% accurate. Still, I’m not sure what to think about this particular personality test. After researching the Myers-Briggs test, I discovered that only 47% of those who take the test again score the same. Others say that this test (and other personality tests) can cause confirmation bias, the tendency to interpret any given information in a way that reinforces one’s inclinations while ignoring or discarding any contradicting evidence or information. It can also lead to the Forer effect, where individuals interpret broad, general statements as statements specifically for them. (The Forer effect can also be observed in fortune cookies and horoscopes.) Still, the Myers-Briggs test did provide me with accurate information, so I’m not really too concerned about it.
What does concern (and annoy me) about questionnaires like this is the extreme way people apply their results. It’s been two days since we took the MBTI, and I still hear people coming up with the stupidest applications. For example:
Rob: I finally figured out why people don’t seem to like me! Me: Oh really? Rob: Yeah. I’m an ESFJ. The majority of my peers are ENFPs. I don’t think the two types get along. Me: Oh. I had always thought it was because you talk too much and never give anyone a chance to— Rob: You think I talk to much? You must be an INTJ. You’re too critical. Me: Actually, I am an— Rob: Yeah, you’re definitely an “I.” That’s for introvert. Me: I know, we have the same— Rob: I guess your people and my people just don’t get along. Me: “My people?” Rob: You have “J” qualities too. Always over-analyzing and turning everything into a racial slur. Me: What?
Or:
Jaylan: No wonder we broke up. Me: What? Jaylan: Me and Eric. We’re totally different types. We SO wouldn’t have lasted as a couple. None of our letters are even the same. Me: Didn’t you dump him for Brian? Jaylan: Oh yeah! Thanks for reminding me; I need to see what type he is. I bet we share at least three of the same letters. Me: I hope so; it’d suck if you had to dump him because you only shared a single “E.” Jaylan: Oh, don’t be dumb. It’s only a stupid personality test.
I’m constantly being reminded just how screwed up the human race is. For the smartest living things in the universe, we really are quite stupid. Not only are we stupid, we’re cruel, heartless jerks who will do anything for entertainment at the expense of others.
Today I’m particularly piqued at radio hosts.
I’m sure we all remember last year’s Wii Water-drinking contest. The levels of stupidity involved in this obtuse stunt is unfathomable. It’s one thing to promote asinine, dangerous forms of entertainment if you don’t know about its harmful effects (then you’re just ignorant, or dumb), but it’s another to continue to promote such behavior after being warned of the consequences (then you’re a douche).
A more recent example (the one that triggered this post), though not fatal, is as equally repulsive as the Wii incident. A couple of inane DJs promised a woman Kanye West tickets if she would convince her husband that their 9-year child did not belong to him. Great job, guys. Way to ruin a marriage.
Of course, it would be unfair to entirely blame DJs for either of these unfortunate circumstances. While I’m sad about the death of Jennifer Strange, and even sadder for her son (he won’t ever be able to experience the joy of a Wii), she deserves a Darwin award for her foolish actions. She should have known better. The couple with an inevitable divorce were both at fault–the wife shouldn’t have been so cruel, and the husband…indeed, the husband had some skeletons in his closet. Both the hosts and the people involved share the blame in each situation. Both sides were stupid. Like all of us, they were stupid.
Actually, I take that last sentence back. We’re not all stupid. Some of us have enough sense to think through our decisions and see their consequences. I hope that you are smart enough to discern your actions. Learn from the mistakes of others. Don’t be stupid. Don’t be a douchebag.
(Yeah, I intentionally left Imus out of this one. Jesse Jackson has enough spit flying Imus’s way for me to worry/care about him.)
