a new broom always sweeps clean...

...sometimes those "left-overs" you keep around in the fridge, need to go. i know, i know, but you really liked it the first time around, and you plan on having more later...it's a nice thought, but lets be honest, if it's been too long, it's been too long. time to make room for the good stuff, the fresh stuff.
..."spring cleaning", "out with the old, in with the new" ...if there's clothes in my closet i haven't worn in a year, it's time to go to good will.

i guess our lives need the same sort of attention in general. not sure what i mean? well, it's pretty simple. we need to "clean out" our mind's, our heart's, our soul's, ect. every now and then, so we can make room for the "good stuff", the "fresh stuff". looking for tomorrow in a "hungry-man" sort of way. to be motivated about the positive things life has to offer us for today, and our future, we need to make sure we have room for it. if we embrace and focus on the old news of yesterday, it can make it tough to grab onto all that tomorrow has to offer. why do "new beginnings" only take place at start of a new season, at the end of something bad happening to you, or some sort of major event taking place? every morning you hang your feet over the edge of the bed, and plant them to the earth with determination to face the day, you should look at it as an opportunity for new beginnings. it's been said that a new broom always sweeps clean...so why keep using that ratty old one? it's not so much that everything in the fridge has gone bad, and needs to go, but if it's time for new groceries, you gotta make a decision, and cut loose from the excess baggage. "new beginings", "spring cleaning", "out with the old, in with the new" ...
i think we need to be a little more "choosy" with what this "new" stuff is, we bring in. you want positivity in your life, surround yourself by positive people. you want to succed and excell in life, surround yourself by those who want that also, and who can help you get there. time to say "good riddence" to that old and moldy cheese. life is a "team-work" oriented game that we must play. we've got to learn to play well with others. if we conduct ourselves in such a manner, that our decision making process is founded only on me, myself, and i, then your only gonna get as far as "you" can get. but if you have the mindset to surround yourself with people you can help, as well as can help you, then you'll be able to get so much further.
one drop of pure water cannot purify a cup of dirty, but unfortunately, on drop of dirty water can taint a cup of pure. so that being said, it's time for new beginnings; pour out that cup, fill it up again, and be selectful on what kind of drops you let in. i love a new season. new beginnings. mmmmmm

...ode to ray.

for those of you looking for less substance but more "wow effects" in movies, just simply watch anything with a bunch of cgi explosions, and alien invasions, ect. and just appreciate it for what it is: some dude sitting in front of a computer for a day or two creating it all in some animation program, then dubbing it into some poor attempt at a plot and character growth story. want to see a great movie, made with blood sweat and tears, countless days and months of creating, and a classic tale of trying to set out for a goal, and learning that it can only be accomplished through honorable means, then sit through "Jason and the Argonauts". this classic tale has it all. action, adventure, hero, heroin, good vs. evil, proper character development through the plot building decisions throughout, and some amazing effects.(especially for it's time.) in a time when there was no use of computers to control camera motion, green-screens, cgi, and ect., film makers had to rely on what they could do with their hands, and out of this necessity was bred the wonderfully amazing art of stop-motion-animation, and a man by the name of Ray Harryhausen made it his goal to use this craft in ways not seen before.
realistic plastic and clay models were made, and photographed manually with a motion of 1 millimeter at a time....hours upon hours of hard, meticulous work, for merely a minute or so of an action sequence.
during world war 2, he was employed by certain military branches to create stop-motion-animation educational film shorts on the dangers and benefits of certain tactics on the battlefield, where it would be impossible to have the proper equipment to document what it was really like.
...wanna watch a good movie? be engaged by the characters, be impressed by the visual effects of "hand-made" hard work? then look up some of his films. you won't be dissapointed.

How to Bridge a Gorge (1942) (producer)
Tulips Shall Grow (1942) (chief animator)
Mother Goose Stories (1946) (producer)
The Story of Little Red Riding Hood (1949) (producer, animator)
Mighty Joe Young (1949) (first technician)
Rapunzel (1951) (producer)
Hansel and Gretel (1951) (producer)
The Story of King Midas (1953) (producer)
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1954) (visual effects)
It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955) (visual effects)
The Animal World (1956) (effects technician)
Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956) (special photographic, animation effects)
20 Million Miles to Earth (1957) (visual effects)
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) (associate producer, visual effects)
The 3 Worlds of Gulliver (1960) (visual effects)
Mysterious Island (1961) (special visual effects)
Jason and the Argonauts (1963) (associate producer, visual effects)
First Men in the Moon (1964) (associate producer, visual effects)
One Million Years B.C. (1966) (special visual effects)
The Valley of Gwangi (1969) (associate producer, visual effects)
The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974) (producer, visual effects)
Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977) (producer, visual effects)
Clash of the Titans (1981) (producer, visual effects)
The Story of the Tortoise & the Hare (2003) (director, co-producer, animator)
Ray Harryhausen Presents: The Pit and the Pendulum (2007) (executive producer)

..."RAPE" rape...

...does "no" mean no? or does "no" only mean no when regards to "joe american", not the celebrities and polliticians we look up to with such great esteem?
apparently, there seems to be a second set of rules, and laws that were written some time ago, and handed out to certain individuals once they've assumed the role of celebity, like some sort of "fame handbook of do's and dont's".
lets just say, for conversation purposes, you had an under-age daughter, and she was lured to someon's house, drugged, sodomized, photographed nude, and told to never tell anyone about it. ...horrible, right? you would want the animals responsible for this life changing, horriffic, encounter, to be made accountable for it. punishment dished out, like a well-deserved icecream to a good-mannered little boy.
well, it seems like that would be the popular consensus about it, but that's only if the party responsible isn't a celebrity. remember, their set of rules to live by, as governed by their manual: "handbook for fame: the Do's and Dont's as pertaining to the public eye." allows them certain liberties that we don't have. one of them being, immunity on charges of immorality and such.
celebrities seem to rally together for this child-rapist/genius filmmaker hero of theirs named Mr. Roman Polanski. a great mind of our time, or a pedophile, rapist, pervert. why is everyone demanding the release of such a monster? as acclaimed people like, natalie portman, susan sarrandon, and whoopie golberg start to vie for the freedom of this evil-dooer, they start to show their own moral aptitude as well. whoopie was quoted as saying that it happened too long ago to bring into any sort of relative legal standpiont, and that it wasn't even really RAPE rape, it is what is considered statatory rape. not RAPE rape.
...what does that even mean? ...not RAPE rape? this poor child has had to live with the horrible experiance of being lured to a creepy older dudes house, drugged, photographed nude and sodomized, all these years. rape is RAPE. any angle you view it as is rape. it is what it is. " R A P E ". ...unless, that is of course you are going by the set of laws that pertain to the "famed" folk.
you can get completely hammered, drive a car recklessly, directly into the drink, if your last name is Kennedy. you can kill your girlfriend, go on a high-speed police chase, and get off scott-free, if you were a proffessional football player turned actor. you can pillage and plunder millions of dollars illegaly from coworkers and get off with a slap on the wrist, if you know how to make pretty little house-hold crafts for television. you can do whatever the hell you want in life and never deal with consequence if your name is paris hilton. ...and apparently you can drug a minor, photograph her nude, then sodomize her, and not have to be accountable, if you make good films....hey, it's not even "RAPE" rape.
oh humanity. i feel like society's morals have been "RAPE" raped.
...and what is accountability anyway?

..."bible-thumper"?...really?

...today i'm here to stand up for christianity. ...i may have just given you a reason to not read any further and surf to your next destination, but i feel this is necessary. for those of you who are curious where i'm going with this, it's simple. media, public society, and even government at this point has seemed to almost deny christianity as a viable religion. it seems that all other beliefs are protected so closely, even by those that don't hold any of it close to their heart. if a comment is made in public in a negative manner towards the jewish faith, it's a hate crime, if it's towards the muslim faith, it's a prejudice, if it's towards buhddism, it's a hate crime, if it's towards anything but christianity it is looked at as a dispicable, non-tolearnt view. however, when someone has the balls to admit he believes in Jesus Christ, goes to church, or has a faith in the God-breathed creation of mankind, it is almost always poked fun at...phrases like "bible thumper", and "jesus freak" ect. are often used, and somehow socially acceptable. when did the faith that this country was founded on, become something of a joke, while all the other faiths are guarded and protected so closely? it seems like we are being taught to be so tollerant of others and their personal beliefs as long it fits within one of the other categories. even those that don't have faith in anything, or consider themselves athiests, have their "non-beliefs" guarded and protected. the pledge of alliegence was removed from the school systems because it said "...one nation under God..", our currency; money, is being slowly taken out of circulation and replaced with such that does not say "IN God we Trust". i think we should all be extremely tollerant of ALL forms of faith and religion; that is the freedom our country has fought soooo hard for through the ages. it looks as though our youth is being taught through the example of the media, public society and so on, that if you let it be known that you consider yourself a christian, then you better keep it to yourself or be prepared to be mocked. ??? i feel like we are being hurded into an athiest society, not because of the belief or non-belief of it all, but because it is the safest place to be...free from persecution, and mockery. i understand that trends come and go in circles, but when did tollerance of different faiths fall into "trends"? i wonder what faith, or religion, it will be cool to be apart of next week? will it be the faith of the "Jedi"?

...the slightly "dark-yellow" rule...

A new twist on an old cliche' ?
-well, do unto others before they do unto you...
-im gonna get mine before they get theirs...
-"how many people will i step on, on the way to the top?...as many as i can.
-it's a dog-eat-dog world...

...seems to be the way of modern society.
we've allowed ourselves to be convinced that this is all acceptable behavior. so many people want to "break-up" with their significant other before the other does it to them, quit their job before they get fired, hurry up and take everything they can from everyone else before someone else takes it from them, step on as many people as they can before they get trampled, and be the dog that eats before they get eaten, all because society has told us this is the way it has to be.
why don't we consider the ripple-effect when making decisions anymore?...mostly because we expect to be out of the "wake" of it before it would have any effect on us.
i can remember when it was the popular mindset to consider first how our decisions affect those around us, before we made them, or to see what the "big-picture" would look like as a result. ...oh, to see the forest for the trees, now that's a concept.
instant gratification has become the demise of our culture. we are already becoming a society of lonely, miserable people striving for fame , or "success". bbut what is "success"? it used to be summed up with one ever-encompassing idea: HAPPINESS.
i'm starting to see, that as a whole, people value their success by things i would say merely complicate the process of ever being able to obtain true, pure happiness. it's measured by how many nuts a squirrel has gathered, not by how many squirrels he has to share them with. sad.
"human beings" we are. it sounds like a brand name, or specific make and model.
we are "human" beings. that groups us as a pural number of the same thing. we have that in common, we share that with each other.
even if we choose to ignore the truth that our decions that we make in life, do affect all those around us, life will always have a way of coming full circle. that pond ripple will eventually reach our boat.
there's definately some tarnish on the golden rule.

running out of smooooth...

...our past seems to be the only place to see a great example of what a man was to be. smooth, shivalrous, confident, upstanding, independant, honorable, yet also a rebel, (against what he believed was wrong), sometimes a trouble-maker; when everything had gone too stale and needed some shaking up, curt and kind. the "silver screen" portrayed such great examples of these things, many older books and plays portrayed such greart examples of these things. it didn't matter what you looked like, who you hung with, what you did to pass the time, what your interests or hobbies were, what kind of women started your motor... you could still be all of those things, and none of those things. Perfect examples, these men as men, and the charachters they so often portrayed: Paul Newman, Marlon Brando, Steve Mcqueen, ect....
today, we seem to have lost something in translation. if you're not the typical abercrombie & bitch wearin, escalade sittin on 24's drivin, platnum grill teethin, sterotype, then you aint got it. ??? bling shming. not at all smooth, not at all likely to open the door for a lady, not at all likely to stand up for the little guy, or even the big guy. not unless that is, someone stepped on the tip of your puma's or talked trash about the size of your chain. WTF
smooth, where the hell have you gone? watch a movie today or read a new book or see a music video, and all our youth has to look up to for men of example, is a few and far between poor excuse for something we should shake our heads at, not model our vocabulary after. where oh where have you gone mister mans man? the closest thing we seem to get nowadays in our "popular culture" is when hollywood decides to do a throwback to a classic, or give us a sampling of the oldschool in something new. Sampling...it's one thing to give a homage, it's another to rip it off, however i guess we got to take it when we can get it.
damn.
time for some new examples men! be it. live it. do it.
there are a few, you've just got to look really hard. it's the self-made, smart and smooth, well-spoken badasses like Jesse James for example. but hey, all most people know about him is "he's that guy from monster garage, right?" ...ugh.

it just seems like todays popular culture is definately running out of smooth.

so, today is a new day...

so today is a new day, and yesterday has already happened. i woke up at 6:30 this morning to a 1/2 inch of snow on the ground, and more coming down...ya, totally didn't see that one coming. it's not even halloween yet,WTF. i got up, proceeded to get myself ready for the day, walked in the other room and gave my son a kiss on the cheek. that seems to make everything else in the world not matter. o.k., now i'm ready to go on with my day. yup, the snow is still there,WTF.
iv'e decided that everytime a customer calls the shop and proceeds to talk to me like i'm a used car salesman, i'm going to proceed to act like one. ...if i quote $200 for a certain tattoo, that means it will cost approx.$200. it does not mean that you can tell me that your friend gets tattooed by some kid up the street in his kitchen for $40 bucks and i should consider doing it for something closer to that or you'll just go to him. go to him. the price just went up to 220. try me again, and it'll go up to 250, and so on. the funny thing is, the tattoo was actually worth more like 250-300, but i liked the idea, so i cut a break: $200. ...and i'm greedy?
the "economy" is not some tangible creature that lurks in the night like a masked man looking through your kitchen window, waiting for you to fall asleep so he can sneak in through the back door, rape your dog and steal your best china. the "economy" is more like the fictional character you use in a ghost story told around a camp fire late at night while on a weekend fishing trip up north with too much whiskey in your system...it is whatever we make it. sit around and complain about it like it is something that just "happened" to us, like an event of natural disaster, and it will turn into such an event. do something about it, make of it what you want and you'll get out of it what you want.

why i decided to do this...

i sometimes think about stuff waaaaaayyyyyy too much, and never seem to actually finish a thought. sometimes it's important, and sometimes it's trivial. either way, the lack of closure, or the happenstance of losing track of my mind, and the "where the hell is this goin" mentality breeds the need . sometimes i feel like my life seems to read like the "run-on sentences" i too often use when trying to describe the contents of my always-spinning wheel of a mind.
so, without further adue, the short and tall of it all seems best to be summed up with the train of thought that sometimes a little distraction is exactly what we need, wether it be a distraction from the little things, or a little distraction from the big things.
It's these important vacations from the irrelevant chapters of the day that we tend to focus so strongly on, that are almost mandatory in order to remain aware of the little beauties that surround us. Now is the time to be; yes to simply "be". However, it is not the time to "be simple". How do you explain "time", and all the times it's showed up at your front door at the most inconvenient times? Well, "time" is like clockwork, but only better. It can never be fooled. It keeps score for all of those times you've taken your eyes off the game.
Sometimes it almost seems as though we've forgotten what it means to live our lives one breath at a time; to be the last one up the mound and still feel like you are king of the hill, and to walk down the sidewalk looking directly into the eyes of every soul you pass. And with a smile on your face. It's these little moments of inspiration that we step over so carefully like a puddle in the path.
It's those small town, dime-store philosophies that we need to heed in order to keep our eyes on the road and both hands on the wheel, even when we're blinded by the traffic. Indulge once in a while? No. Indulge eternally, because even a song has to end. Just merely redefine the boundaries and depth of our so-called self control, and our so-called refined discipline. Once we step outside, we can see that the cliche' american dream is probably the most realistic abnormality. This is yet closer to us than we'd allow ourselves to consciously realize. We've all got the poison, and we all Know it. "Wether we know it or not."
...see what i mean?