Alright, well, maybe being at work during it. Yeah, that'd definitely qualify. I've resisted the urge to rattle on about sports on my little blog, but I'll make an exception today. Anyone who knows me knows I'm FAR more into Football than Baseball, but there is a particular purity about Baseball that is so welcoming. It's a comfort sport.
You can't really lounge at a football game. There's too much going on. There's a big play developing and the guy in front of you stands, so you stand, (she'll stand up... it'll be anarchy, sir) and beer is spilled all to just see Matt Leinart overthrow another pass.
Baseball is a great time to sit and watch something casually with friends. Catch up on things. Enjoy spending time with someone instead of trying to look through your friend's head at the play.
So I'll be celebrating today, even though opening day is one more reminder of the Arizona summer that is on its way. I'll grill some dogs and toss a burger on as well. I'll bring extra RELISH (haters...) with all the other fixings, open a beer, turn on the game, and probably fall asleep in the 6th inning.
When Paul Fischer checked his bank account Friday night, he had a happy surprise. His balance had exploded to $88,888,888,888.88. A very lucky number indeed, and close to $89 billion.
Of course, the balance was a technical error by SunTrust Bank (NYSE: STI - News), which quickly fixed the problem. It also may have occurred in other accounts.
"You say, 'Eighty-eight billion, what can I do with that?'" said Mr. Fischer, who owns a jewelry concessionaire for Florida theme parks. "Maybe a handful of us could have brought down SunTrust Bank."
Mr. Fischer had other ideas as well. Before the problem was fixed, he asked a SunTrust rep if he could move the money to an interest-bearing account until it was reclaimed and donate the interest to charity. Total interest: more than $7.3 million.
The bank said no.
The money was stripped out of his account by Saturday morning.
"It's all gone. I'm poor again," he said. "I was a billionaire for five hours."
This kind of bank error happens frequently. But Mr. Fischer raises an interesting question: What if, for five hours, you truly did have $89 billion?
What would you do with the money? The ground rules are that you would have to give the money back — and whatever you bought or invested with it — after five hours.
This is a really tricky list. I used to have a list of 200+ movies, but then I discovered friends.
Honorable Mention: Anchorman
10. Vanilla Sky
Plenty of people dislike or even hate this movie. I don't think the theme is too unique, but it does a wonderful job of portraying the consequences of living the dream.
9. The Dark Knight
I love comic books and Batman Begins was a paradigm shift. I couldn't imagine how the Dark Knight could measure up, but it exceeded the first in almost every way. The entire movie was about escalation. The relationships were more strained, the gadgets were more extreme, the consequences more dire. Christopher Nolan may be my favorite director. (The Prestige and Memento are both fantastic)
8. Gangs of New York
Picture really says it all.
7. Meet Joe Black
A buddy of mine was in a dead-end relationship that no one could seemingly talk him out of. We tried everything to open his eyes to the fact that he wasn't happy and he had to make a change. I figured it was a lost cause and time passed. One day he came over and Meet Joe Black was on. We didn't talk and after the movie just simply got up to leave. He paused by the door and said that he needed to go call his girlfriend and break up with her. I never asked him what about the movie solidified things for him, but Claire Forlani didn't hurt.
6. Dark City
Probably the most obscure movie on the list, Dark City isn't for everyone. It's a murder mystery with a sci-fi theme. Some outstanding questions are asked and this movie started a one-sided 10 year love affair with Jennifer Connelly.
My list of 10-30 is probably more popular, with movies like Office Space, Breakfast Club, ... crap... how do I not have the Departed in the top ten?? Ugh, this was a terrible idea.
There are a few taboos that you're not supposed to talk about so flippantly; politics, sex, and religion. I typically adhere to this when I'm in a group and I don't know all the parties too well -- I'm mortified by the thought of being rude... well, when it's not intentional...
Stay focused, Shibu. ... My personal ideology is bit like Jello. I can see it. I've gone through phases of craving it and other phases when I didn't think too much of it. It isn't very easy to describe and explain to others. The flavor might work for some, it might not work for others. It's really just a single serving for me and consensus by others isn't a factor on whether it holds merit.
It's also malleable. That's probably the most important factor my ideology serves for me. I want to continuously be open to ideas and concepts that make sense. I'm somewhat arrogant and I'd like to believe that I have it all figured out or that I've found an outlined path that is empirically true -- so I try to curb that as much as possible. My lifetime has been less than a blink compared to the existence of the earth. I've seen about .1% of the world. So I try to steer from beliefs as that would feed into my ego and instead I've built a set of ideas. Things that I believe are important. Things that I should hope define my core. However, as much as I might agree with some of these ideas, I want to be open to the possibility of re-thinking any of these ideas given new information.
A personal relationship with God makes sense to me. I respect organized religion. I believe that it serves as a pillar for countless individuals and, almost always, serves as a tool that engenders a positive impact to a community. However, like all tools, it can be used for questionable motives as well.
Leave it to a few yahoos to ruin the party for everyone. The responsibility and honor of acting as a interpreter/speaker for any religion is immense. The vast majority of occupants in these roles execute their position with the utmost integrity and honesty. However, while I believe that man is generally good, I also believe that man is inherently flawed. Not broken, just a work-in-progress. Therefore a person that acts as a go-between or even a resource to help me better define my relationship with God... I've always been a bit hesitant to accept that with open arms.
There is a lot of debate between those that believe in a higher power and those that do not. Historians have cited scripture. Science has been used as a irrefutable witness... by both sides. The debate used to interest me, but, in my estimation, it's a futile exercise. People may be able to "prove" that something in the Bible or Koran is factually inconsistent, but should that remove all merit from the text? I see books of scripture not as books of fact, but books of faith. As such, there is nothing to prove true or false.
People sometimes ask, "do you believe in God?" I've augmented the question a bit... "given the choice, would you prefer to find out that God exists or God doesn't exist? If you could open a door and you'd see God or nothing, which would you prefer?" That question (yes, technically two questions, but really just restating the first) is pretty easy for me to answer, but it's also irrelevant. Faith isn't about being right. Faith is knowing what's behind the door without having to open it.
An eclectic mix. Brand New has really grown on me recently. They'll make another appearance soon...
Rogue Wave - Eyes The Roots - You Got Me Peter Gabriel - Solsbury Hill Brand New - Jesus Christ A Perfect Circle - The Hollow (constantly consuming remix)
Pretty soon I'm going to start stealing Cole's songs. =)
Recently I was talking to a friend and they told me how they had missed out on (an unacceptable) number 80s movies. As I threw one fantastic suggestion after another [all of my suggestions in any matter range from incredible to amazing] I started to wonder how my list would change if a particular film was viewed for the first time today.
This brings me to a confession. This isn't the first time I encountered this question in my head. I've dated a younger girl or two in my time. Age gaps mean less to me as I'm getting older but when I was 26 I was dating a 21-year old for a bit. She had a lot of great qualities but our music/movie tastes did not sync up at all. INXS, George Micheal, Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, The Cure, ... nothing. Instead it was Simple Plan or something like that. Never again.
So either I'll significantly cut off a pipeline of eligible girls because of their lack of exposure to the wonders that the 80s provided (and if they've already suffered so much from being deprived of the 80s, should I really punish them by ensuring them a bu-less existence? Too cruel...) or I can come up with some methods to test how compatible with the 80s they are.
Here's a list of the Top 5 80s movies that would utterly break my heart if they did not hold up over time:
Top Honorable Mention: The Lost Boys
The Lost Boys is the preemptive male counter to Twilight. Ladies, feel free to swoon over Edward and Jacob, I'll take horrible effects and choice dialog such as, "Death by stereo!" any day. This is exactly the type of movie that SHOULDN'T hold up over time, but it's so 80s that it'd be tragic if it doesn't stand the test of time.
I give the Twilight series a pretty hard time. Let me offer some praise. I love the setting. The first 1/2 of Twilight (the first book) introduced some questions I wanted answers to. And...the music is awesome?
5. Rocky IV
I don't know that Rocky IV is the best Rocky, but it's my favorite. The movie has the Russians portrayed as crazy communists who dope up their athletes to unheard of levels... and it's totally TRUE! Wrap it up with a Baboa speech about acceptance and tolerance after we stereotyped the ish out of you. Love it.
4. Real Genius
Out of the others on this list, this one is probably the most obscure. Val Kilmer wasn't bloated looking and was too cool for school. The use of Tears for Fears, "Everyone wants to rule the world" was on point.
3. Beverly Hills Cop / Die Hard
Where are my detonators, Mr. Cowboy. Die Hard is the best action movie from the 80s. There aren't a ton of special effects, Carl Weathers isn't in it... but it's still legit.
Beverly Hills Cop was the first R movie I saw. My mom loved/loves this movie so much that she didn't care to that we watched it with her.
2. Breakfast Club Confession. I didn't see this start to finish, unedited, until about three years ago. One of my top errors. Claire is a fat girl's name.
1. Top Gun
I'm a guy. Was there any doubt? The quintessential 80s movie. Overly aggressive males. Motorcycles. Jet planes. Kenny Loggins.
As a special treat, this is one of the best videos I've ever seen:
I took movies series off the list (save for Die Hard - I refuse to recognize the other Beverly Hills Cop movies), so Karate Kid, Indiana Jones, National Lampoons, Ghostbusters, and Back to the Future didn't make the cut. Here are some others that are worthy: Better off Dead, Can't Buy Me Love, The Big Chill, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, Risky Business, Labyrinth, Legend and Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
