U-Haul. Wait, no you don't.

So, I moved this past weekend, which was great fun for all - mainly me, because I moved into a sweet new apartment in Oak Forest. Super close to the Metra which I now take to work. Why, I can walk to the Metra it's so darn close. Which I did, this morning. This move went way smoother than any other move I've had - and I know, because I've moved three times now. I thought ahead and rented a U-Haul this time, which was my first mistake.

"But Pete," you say, "That seems like a mighty good idea!" which it was, in theory. However, there are reasons that U-Haul is a cheaper rental service than, say, Penske or Budget (which, isn't actually made for people with a budget. But I digress...) Yes, I reserved a U-Haul online a week before Sunday's moving date. They called me to confirm the order last Saturday, which I thought was great. That was about the end of the great service.

I got to the Uhaul dealership thanks to Rich, and proceeded to wait in line. And wait. And wait for some guys credit card to get rejected. And for some woman to have to run to her car to pay with cash. And for the guy at the counter to make small talk every two seconds. I waited for 45 minutes...with only three people ahead of me. Then, when I finally, finally get to the counter, they told me my reservation was for a local truck.

What does that mean to me, the guy who was moving 33 miles away? Oh, I'd have to bring the truck BACK to the same location because you messed up the reservation? I have to inconvenience myself because you screwed it up? Great, that's exactly what I wanted to hear on an already stressful moving day. "Oh," the guy at the desk says, "We'll only charge you for a one way move". Yeah, frickin' right you're only going to charge me for a one way trip. What an incompetent asinine worker. So I finally get my U-Haul after about an HOUR wait.

Thank God that was the end of the stressfulness of the day. Rick and Jenny offered to take the Uhaul back, and the load in and drive went very well. So many people helped me move from the Uhaul into my new place it only look about 45 minutes tops! Thanks to Rick, Jenny, Rachel, Carrie, Branden, Jenn, Mary, my Dad and Mom, Keith, James, Rich, Liz, and Brenden for all the help! I am now pretty much moved into the place and it's looking very nice.

Stay updated for a housewarming party...

Pete

District 9

The movie industry these days is all about giving us sequels, remakes, or movies based on childhood memories. In the same year, we have G.I. Joe, Terminator 4, Star Trek, and Transformers 2. Every one of these movies can be traced back to some sort of previous incarnation. Not that I'm lambasting any of these movies (in fact, I've only seen Star Trek out of the four I listed), but it seems that Hollywood has given up the little bit of creativity it had, favoring the fact that it can drag money right out of our wallets if we are already familiar with the concept. Of course, this works most of the time. However, film nuts like me (and you) are probably tired of entering the theaters with some knowledge of what's going to come on the screen.

Enter District 9, a film directed by Niell Blomkamp. Neill has only done visual effect work and directed one short movie on which D9 was based before directing this movie. Most of you know that he was slotted by Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings director) to create a Halo Movie, which is on indefinite hiatus for now. Niell wrote and directed D9, which comes on the screen as one of the most original and creative sci-fi's, not to mention movies, of recent days.

The movie centers around Wikus Van De Merwe, played by Sharlto Copley, who has never acted before this movie save a small role in Blomkamp's short Alive in Joburg. Wikus is a yes man and works for his father in law, who he aims to please. He is given the task of relocating an alien refugee camp, known as District 9. The aliens have been stranded on Earth for 20 years in this alternate timeline, because they and their ship lack a certain black bionic fluid that is used to pilot their ship and use their weapons. No black fluid, no weapons, no ship, no travel. So, the aliens (nicknamed Prawns) have become Multi-National United's problem, a mega-corporation located in Johannesburg, South Africa, where the ship has come to hover.

Much of the controversy I have been hearing about D9 is from "plot holes", of which there are none. We simply are not given much backstory as to how the aliens came. I feel as if we are made to see the alien presence through the eyes of humanity, and humankind here is brutally cruel to the alien refugees and doesn't seem to care where they came from. The first part of the film, shown in a documentary style, focuses on interviewing researchers, doctors, and civilians, all of whom show varying levels of disgust towards the D9 residents. The rest of the film is shown through Wikus' perspective. After he goes through an...ordeal, he starts to view the aliens through different eyes, although he still harbors resentment towards them. I am reminded of Edward Norton's character in American History X, who took years in prison to get over his racism.

Despite the lack of backstory, what we have here is a completely original piece of work, drawing quite obviously from South Africa's real history of racial segregation to set a background for a movie full of drama and action. The film's 30 million dollar budget (which seems large) is hardly noticeable, all the effects look and sound beyond spectacular. The creative mind of Blomkamp is certainly one to watch, as he creates such an edge-of-your-seat scenario that we are literally left begging for more. More than one person I left the theater with stated "I wish they had shown more!" Which just makes me want to go back for round 2.

Rating - ON

Waivering

I think the biggest problem I have is making too big of a deal out of the little things in life. Products not working correctly. Traffic on the way home from work. People's little problems, like someone losing something. I tend to make the biggest deal out of these things.
Then again, I guess most of the county does.
We forget how well off we are, how great things are going that we tend to make large problems out of the little things. Because we have things like food, shelter, and clean water and clothes to wear. We have money (or at least the ability to spend money we don't even have).
Perhaps it will take a crisis to make people realize how good we actually had it. Perhaps gas will go up to 10 bucks a gallon, perhaps the economy will dive bomb and we will have a second great depression. Perhaps we will get attacked by Iran or North Korea or China or Terrorists.
Perhaps it will take a National tragedy - no, a National Horror to get us to realize that we did have things better than the rest of the world.
When and if these things happen, what can I fall back on?
The strength of God because I will have none left. And sometimes I feel like I have no strength left at all, so it must always come from above.
God, please, hold me up.

New Years, Resolution.

Well, it's now well into 2008, and with every year comes something we like to call "New Years Resolutions", those things we promise we will work on in the upcoming new year but rarely remember come the third week of January. So, is it a complete waste of time for me to be making resolutions now? Well, only if I have some intention of keeping them, perhaps. First, let us look at some past resolutions I think I might have said once.

"Be nicer to Keith"


Let it be known I was quite an ass to my brother pretty much my whole life, but as of college it seems that the dust has settled and we've come to some sort of terms. I'm not quite sure what those terms are, but they're there.

"Never make resolutions"

Obviously a bad resolution to make, considering I am breaking it right now.

Actually, that's all the resolutions I think I've made in the past years. Now let's look at some new ones for this year.

Lose the Gut

Actually, I have put on a bit o' the poundage ever since working at Willow, I chalk it up to living farther away from work than ever before. When I get home I am usually out the door right away. This makes me have no time for exercise, and all the eating out doesn't help either. Anyways, I've bought some weights and I'm lifting and crunching to lose the pounds I've gained since the job. So far I've lost like 2. Super.

Consider more music

Everyone knows that I am a huge jerk when it comes to music, often never considering other's music before my own, always considering my taste the best ever. While that may be true (er...) I've decided to, just today, consider music I usually wouldn't shake a stick at. This means you, Rachel, Jake, Heidi...I want everyone to start making me 14 track CDs with their favorite new music on it so I can listen to them on the way to work. I find my musical tastes often expand when I am on the road, or more specifically, alone.

Don't be a jerk

This is actually a roll over from last year, but since I have been with Rachel, she's taught me the ways of being nice to the following people: Those working retail, people in the drive thrus, and cashiers. Especially cashiers. No longer will I give a snobbish "I GUESS so" to those who tell me my birthday is coming up when it's really in like four months.

...

And on a completely other note... I read an article in the Sun-Times today by one Teresa Puente, which listed the top ten reasons why Mike Huckabee shouldn't be president. Now, I'm not sure where my vote lies yet, but I can tell you I have nothing against Huckabee in any way. This article pointed out some good "points" about Huckabee, but it wasn't anything that was vital to one running for president for instance, he messed up a word, he also forgot where some boarders lie in Asia, whatever. But the most ludicrous slander of Huckabee was this, and I quote:

"he's a self-described "recovering foodaholic."Wow! Now I give Huckabee credit for shedding more than 120 pounds. It takes willpower to resist all those corn dogs, fried chicken and Southern-fried goodies. But all that weight loss makes me wonder if Huckabee also lost some brain cells."

What? You're slandering the man because he's lost weight?

Can someone explain why this isn't just outright stupidity, or looking for faults where they clearly don't lie?

Thanks.

Pete

Dear Chad Johnson

So, I was browsing Yahoo news when I came across an article about one Chad Johnson, a player on the Cincinnati Bengals, who apparently commandeered a television camera after he scored a touchdown and swung it around. He then drew a penalty for excessive celebration, a penalty that shouldn't even be in existence, but had to be created for idiots like Johnson.
Wow, what a jackass. You'd think maybe he was the first football player ever to score a touchdown. I'm so impressed! He had to swing a television camera around because he did what he was supposed to do? What he's getting paid to do? Next time I'm at work and key out a green screen, I'm going to start racing my office chair down the hallway.
Geez, what a twat. It's not enough that players started doing touchdown dances and prances. Now they have to swing cameras around. Next they'll be knocking over benches and throwing helmets into the crowd. What's worse is this quote from the Cincinnati defensive coach: "He's been working hard. I told him to keep it up. I told him if he needs a penalty to get himself going, go ahead."
What?! Are you kidding me? He really needed to draw a penalty for being an idiot to "get himself going?" What about the millions of dollars he's getting to play the game? Can't that get him going? No, he has to act like a complete moron out on the field, and what's worse, the defensive coach backs him up. It's like a mother making excuses for her little kid's outburst.
See, this is why I hate football sometimes. Play the damn game, Johnson. You're an idiot.

[pete]

(Source)

Wouldn't It Be Nice?

As many of you know, I am strongly influenced in opinion by reading things that I respect, such as reviews on Allmusic.com (especially those of Stephen Thomas Erlewine), and those of Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot (of the radio show Sound Opinions). Recently I heard a podcast of Sound Opinions where Jim and Greg discussed classic album openers. Of all their suggestions, I was most profoundly impacted when they mentioned "Wouldn't It Be Nice" by the Beach Boys, off of the 1966 release Pet Sounds. Now I know this seems like such a trivial load of tripe, especially stacked up against some of the other Beach Boys songs (for example, Surfin' Safari, Surfin' USA...you get my point). Jim pointed out that Brian Wilson was actually going through some crazy shit at the time (which I supposed makes for some of the best rock and roll songs, anyways). However, through listening to this song over and over, I realize it's so relevant to my own current situation in life...in fact, more than any other song I've heard.
You see, I desperately want to jump on board the engagement train, but Rachel and I have decided to wait, at least for a little bit, for her to graduate before we get married. Which is totally fine, but it sucks working so far away, and not seeing her every day like in the summer. Let me convey some of these lyrics to you...

Wouldn't it be nice if we were older
Then we wouldn't have to wait so long
And wouldn't it be nice to live together
In the kind of world where we belong
You know its gonna make it that much better
When we can say goodnight and sleep together.

God, Brian, I hear you. It seems like I never get enough time with Rachel, and sometimes all I want to do is just stay the night, just hold her close and sleep and sleep. But I live at home, and Rachel in the dorms, and all I want to really do is move out of this house...but I can't until I get a job...
So it seems I'm perpetually waiting. It's a good wait, but it's a long wait.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could wake up
In the morning when the day is new
After having spent the day together
Hold each other close the whole night through...

Although Wilson might have written some of this song with sarcasm in mind...we could be married...then we'd be happy...and we both know that marriage isn't always the epitome of happiness, it would mean seeing Rachel every day, and I don't see how that could ever, ever be bad.
Which brings me to the next song on the album that really speaks to me, "God Only Knows".
Possibly the best song ever written...I take music on an emotional level, and you can't listen to this song and not hear the emotion in the lines. The story is simple: If you leave me, life isn't worth living. Extreme? Perhaps. But in my opinion, it's such a welcome view in this age of "if you leave me, I'll get the house, we'll split child support". Which extreme is better?

God only knows.

As for me, I have no idea where I'd be without Rachel. We've been together for a year now, and it's easily the best one of my life. There's little more to say. I'm speechless and in love.

[pete]

www.bacon-grease.blogspot.com

Did You Come From Xanga?

If so, I don't envy you. Xanga was good for my college days (gosh, I've had it since Freshman year of college), but all in all it wasn't a good blog. It was more of an online journal, so I couldn't understand why people were debating whether or not to share their "personal" thoughts on it. It's an online journal, so it's really up to you the kind of information your sharing (shoving) down the masses throat's. I suggest, like me, to move on to a different blog. I guess the only downside to Blogger.com is that really no one I know is on it, so I can't get comments like the way I used to in Xanga. However, seeing as how no one uses Xanga anymore, I wanted to start afresh and give people a chance to come here who really, really wanted to come here.
Let's recap some great Xanga moments:
-The Post about Robots
-The Posts about new relationships
-The Posts about relationships ending
-More posts about those relationships
So, all in all, Xanga was more of a personal bitching site. Let's take a random Xanga post and see what it says. I bet you it's bitching about something...

"I desperately need a new job"
"Who cares, right?"
"And drink the damn water!"

My my my. Seems like everyone's got something to complain about. Actually, I'm incredibly hypocritical here, since I also used Xanga as a bitchfest. But no more, friends! The only bitching you'll see on Bacon Grease will be slathered with such wonderful prose full of delightful banter that you'll mistake it for intellect!

[pete]

My sugar sweet's so obtainable