End of year ramblings

So 2008 is almost done and dusted and I thought I would make one final post before closing the first chapter of this blog page. It has been an interesting year but more on a personal level for myself than anything. 

First things first, the 4h site (4horsemensite.com) has had an up and down year, slow but steady with mild peaks here and there. The multimedia section is taking off tho so we should score points for that at least. A great year for Metallica, a kick ass new album which has been receiving mostly positive news (aside from the whole sound issue, which you can read about on my opinion page at heavymetalnation.com) and a tour to boot. 2009 will see that tour continue on as well for those wondering what’s next on their menu. Music overall has been decent, a few quality highlights, a lot of shit releases not worth mentioning, same ol’ same ol’ as the saying goes. Albums which I did like which are worth mentioning include “Conquer” from Soulfly, “Black Ice” from AC/DC,  “The Formation Of Damnation” from Testament, “These Are The Good Times People” from PUSA and of course, Death Magnetic from Metallica. More good stuff to come out early 2009.

Slim pickins for movies this year, everyone was raving about the new batman movie “Dark Knight”. Admittedly I never REALLY got into the batman series or any comic book series for that matter but I did like the first 2 batman  movies with Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson. The new one had Christian Bale and Heath Ledger, 2 people I know nothing about nor do I particularly care as none of their movies even remotely interests me or their talent either. To compare the 2 pairs, well I’m not gonna ramble on about it but arguably from anyone I have spoken to about this, I don’t think there is a comparison as far as I’m concerned. Keaton and Nicholson were much better, but I know saying that stirs up a lot of shit! Oh and don’t get me started on Bale starring in Terminator 4. Ignoring his presence in the film, the terminator franchise is nothing, and I mean NOTHING without Arnie in it, he made the terminator series. Fuck while we’re at it, Sarah Connor’s character is sorely missed, anyone who saw Terminator 3 can vouch for that and fuck me if the Sarah Connor Chronicles was at least half decent purely because of her character. The trailer for T4 looks decent but at the end of the day, no Arnie, who cares? But as I said, as far as 2008 is concerned, there wasn’t a whole lot happening, a few choices here and there. The new Rambo was fun, good to see a real action star back on the big screen, these full blown action films are just lacking them these days, The Happening was another decent film, would have been better if it wasn’t for the atrocious acting from Mark Wahlberg, who isn’t usually that bad but M. Night Shyamalan usually puts out quality stuff (Lady In The Water just sucked); Religulous was probably the most interesting film/documentary put out this year. As an Atheist (or anti-theist is more along the lines of where I’m at) it was a very entertaining film but it’s really not catered just for atheists, even those who believe in religous mythology and such who saw the film also found it entertaining, if not interesting and thought-provoking. If you haven’t seen it, regardless of what side of the issue you are at, I highly recommend it. if that’s not convincing enough, the guy who directed Borat also directed this film along with comedian Bill Maher who fronted the film itself, tho in saying that, I did not find Borat to be even remotely humerous barring a few scenes here and there but must admit, the mankini is hilarious! Day Of The Dead and Diary Of The Dead, both from zombie horror mastermind George A. Romero are also noteworthy. Gotta love zombies! Which reminds me of Metallica again, har har! (All Nightmare Long video, go watch it!). Speaking of zombies, there was a video posted earlier this year from Teller, one half of comedy legends Penn & Teller which was submitted for a contest, basically the video is about zombies, and posed the question: When Las Vegas is hit by the epidemic, how will you tell the living from the dead? Check it out for yourself, quite surreal in itself – http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=28947955

As far as other releases go, the only thing worth mentioning is George Carlin’s complete DVD boxset of all his HBO specials plus a few bonus features as well. Though released last year, I only got it at the beginning of the year, it is just pure brilliance, that’s all I can say. No words can describe this man and the amount of comedy and thinking this man did. R.I.P. George, you will be missed.

The year started kinda ordinary but has ended pretty shit, I think most would agree. The world economy alone has put a damper on things tho it must be said, it’s a little exaggerrated if you ask me. Unless you had major stock in the market or are involved in that area of the finances, whether it’s retirement funds or your company was directly affected by it all, then I don’t see why people are freaking out. If you have a steady secure job, are renting or have a moderate mortgage and don’t live outside your means then you don’t really have anything to be worried about. I would worry however if you are unemployed with no work experience or education, no money or invested your life savings in a company that went down with the economy or lived well outside your means. While I sympathize with many who were unintentionally affected by it through job loss or loss of savings in a retirement fund etc, I do not sympathize with those who thought the good times were always going to be around and so decided to not live within their means. You know the ones, it’s either these young kids straight out of high school who thought they could get any job they wanted and did until they realized or will realize that all the money they spent on frivolous materialistic things was a waste and now have nothing to show for it, or it’s these well to do yuppie types who blew all their money on risky investments and now also have nothing to show for it. And these car companies who recently asked for bail out money from the government because they themselves had no money. No money? Bullshit! These pricks flew to Washington in private jets to beg for money just so they could keep their cushy lifestyle. I really hate these kinds of people, rich selfish arrogant pricks who step all over everyone else just to keep that extra buck in their pockets. Business managers are the same except they have no balls, just a bunch of yes men who blame and abuse all the wokers below them just to save ther own asses, to justify their jobs so they don’t lose their previous lifestyle because they know that when the economy goes down and companies have to cut their losses, the first to go are always middle management. But they won’t go down first unless they can get rid of people below them. No sympathy for them, NONE! Fuck em all!

Speaking of snobbish rich cunts, when is this obession with Paris Hilton going to stop? Enough already, who gives a fuck about this skinny  materialistic rich bitch, she is a worthless media whore who takes up far too much time on TV etc and for what? What does she do? She isn’t really an actor because she can’t act and she has had no acting training nor does she ever receive real film scripts, just typical z-grade pre-teen stuff that noone really cares about, she’s not a singer, shes even worse at that and she has no real power in the entertainment industry, even Kate and Ashley Olsen while pretty much in the same boat as her as far as talent is concerned, have legit star power because of their huge media enterprise ranging from films to fashion. Granted, it’s pre-teen kind of stuff but it’s made them millions of dollars and they actually have power in the industry. But most of all, they actually work for a living. Paris Hilton is a leech on society, on top of being a leech off the Hilton franchise. She bought her fame, she didn’t earn it which is why I cannot understand why she is even famous other than being the hereiss to the Hilton Franchise. Stop with the obsession people, she isn’t a real celebrity!

Anyway, as I mentioned earlier, this year was particularly interesting for me on a personal level. I turned 30 in August and while it didn’t seem so significant at the time, reflection on it afterwards has made me realize that life seems to get better as the years go on. It’s true what some say, the older you get the more you learn and the wiser you are. Granted, I am still a pup in the grand scheme of things but I like to think I have lived a pretty eventful life so far and I know there’s a shitload of thing I know now which I didn’t when I was 20. 10 years doesnt sound like much but it is and a lot happens in your 20’s, maybe more so than in any other time in your life. I’ve been around the world, worked in several jobs, met many people in many countries and yeah, a few ups and downs but it’s all things I can say I have done and I know, I now know and yet there is still much to learn. I look forward to gaining some numbers and earning some silver. I used to think school and college was places you learn and then you stop learning, get a job, get married, buy a house, have kids, retire, travel a bit and then die. That’s life. But it just ain’t that simple and I now know that even though that is considered the norm, that life doesnt and shouldnt be regulated like that, and I’m glad it isn’t. Life experiences are different for everyone, not everyone gets married or has kids or is lucky enough not to have to work. I did buy a house with my girlfriend last year, our first for both of us. We have no plans to get married, anytime soon, if ever at all, for reasons alike but different. Being opposed to religous bullying in our society makes it very hard for me to go through such a religous ceremony and I realized that first hand after attending 2 weddings this year. The word “God” mentioned in any kind of ritual or celebration is a difficult thing to get past but I know many atheists still get married anyway, even if it is not in a church. My girlfriend is an atheist as well but opposed to marriage for more personal reasons which I won’t disclose here. It’s funny tho cause we mention this when we are asked when we plan to get married by everyone, family and friends and they always question why we don’t want to get married. Again, another reason why I want no part of such a religious ritual to begin with. We are happy as we are and, god forbid (pun intented!) we do break up, no messy divorce! We just don’t feel the need to have a bit of paper that says we are married because we love each other, we know that ourselves, noone and nothing else can make that official but us. Kudos to those who do, I certaintly am not opposed to other people partaking in it but just leave the rest of us alone. The other thing that made 2008 a personal year for me was, as part of getting older and becoming wiser, is just the universe in general, the sheer size of the universe and just how insignificant we, humans, on this planet earth, really are. I’ve always been fascinated with astronomy and space and all that stuff but this year was the first time where I actually wanted to learn more about where we are, who we are and where we came from. Just to show the tip of the iceberg on how insignificant we are, we sit on a tiny planet in a solar system that sits in the corner pocket of a huge galaxy that contains millions of other solar systems and stars much like our sun. And our galaxy, the milky way, is one of millions, maybe billions of other galaxies in the universe. And whenever I think of that fact, It makes me realize time and time again how silly all of our troubles on our planet are, the whole environmental issue, the wars, the religions, the politics, even life itself when you get down to it, truly doesn’t mean anything in the grand scheme of things in our universe. You and I die, our planet burns out and the universe continues on as if nothing happened. Life isn’t sacred, it’s short and insignificant and we only have to go through it once. We should make the best of it while we can.

I’ll see ya next year!