It recently occured to me that I’m one of the only men, let alone, straight men, that I know who enjoys the television hit Gossip Girl to such an insane extent. By posting a picture of Vanessa (played by Jessica Szohr), one would be led to believe that my interest in the series is to simply fuel my possible infatuation for her. If only that were the case, then my interest in the show would be written off as a harmless crush on beautiful young woman. Instead, I’ll man up and admit that I watch Gossip Girl for a handful of reasons. I’m sure none of which would come as much as a surprise for any man who shares my taste in fashion, women, and manipulation. I’ve always been curious to see how my wealthier counterparts lived. There have been a fair share of events in my social life that would make for a good script, but my bank account balance doesn’t intimidate CFOs of Fortune 500 companies. In fact, my bank account balance has prompted me to adopt the ‘face-palm’ into my arsenal of tactical combat maneuvers. I’m a fairly fashionable man, if I do say so myself, but my couture is more penny-pinching and scrounging for deals, as opposed to custom suits for Chuck Bass.
Alright, I’m ranting. In any case, I’ve been following the show intently ever since I stumbled across the first season in a fellow Marine’s external hard drive while we were deployed in Iraq. He denied ever watching the show, since I’m certain of his assumptions about having to brood masculinity all the time and hide behind his homophobia instead of being himself was a necessary way to live his life. Unlike my shameful brother-in-arms, I am not ashamed of anything that I like, especially when the character analysis has so much depth. Where else could I watch a series that allows a 14 year old protagonist go from naive high school freshman, to small time ecstacy dealer to socialites just so she can keep up with the status quo? I don’t watch Gossip Girl for realism, I watch it for entertainment. It just so happens that I’m entertained by messy emotions, characters who are morally rephrensible, a lot of sex, and Fashion Week. I’m so fucking excited about the continuation of season three, it’s ridiculous.
The combination of our server temporarily going down, and Comcast providing shitty internet, has had fameONE.net out of commission for a few days. Fret not, my faithful internet followers. All 10 of you shall be pleased to know that I am fully functional again. Also, I have some good news on top of the good news; Tuesday is my last day at my job in Northern Virginia. After a three month stint to come in the Baltimore area, I’ll be back in Japan, with a fantastic camera. You know what that means, right?
Well, do you?
Yes, I’m incredibly late on this (yet again), but I finally saw Zombieland last night. A good friend of mine came over with his girlfriend and the dvd. We blessed the bottle of Hennessy and proceeded to laugh our asses off for 81 minutes. The movie was delightfully hilarious, and the narrative off the main character Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) was brilliant. I also felt his role realistic in the sense that he was a character that most introverted young men with similar interests could relate to. His relationship with Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) unfolded nicely into the big bro/little bro scenario that I haven’t seen since Finding Forrester. Since the movie was light-hearted, none of the main protagonists died. To my surprise, I wasn’t disappointed. The two female accomplices who then men encountered added a bit of depth to the male characters, but not so much for them. Columbus’ neuroticism with women and Tallahasee’s desire to have another child were themes put on blast with the addition of Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin). Throw in a bunch of comedically done violence, a Bill Murray cameo and a ‘the guy finally gets the girl’ scene, and it made for an enjoyable Saturday night.
On a more serioud note, what’s with our society’s recent obsession with the apocalypse? There are far too many movies that have been released over the past few years to ignore the possibility that there may be a subliminal message being sent to movergoers; prepare to die. Dramatic, isn’t it? I think so as well. I find it difficult to ignore that this is more than just a trend writers/producers are following to make money, but maybe even a ploy to play on the nation’s 2012 hysteria. All of this reminds me of 1998; when the Y2k ‘problem’ was suggested. Fellow conspiracy theorists (I’m ok with admitting this now) experienced paranoia early on, where as the rest of the world was focused on partying like the world was going to end. This time around, no one is advertising an ‘end of the world’ party, but as we close in on 2012, it’s like we’re constantly being reminded that we ‘might’ die by way of; natural disaster, zombies, or Sarah Palin being in a high position of authority. I think nothing of a possible apocalypse. If the world ends, the world ends. I can say this, though; I know my way around quite a few weapon systems, so bring on the zombies, and I’ll bring on the M2, M16A4, Barrett, Desert Eagle, and an authentic replica of Ichigo’s Zanpakuto in Bankai form (sharpened, of course). That’ll prove to be more fun than Iraq.
