Tofur's Ramblings

Amazonian New Beginnings

2020-10-21T02:47:00.000-06:00

Today marks the end of my first 3 weeks of working at Amazon’s Fulfillment Center new my house. So, what are my thoughts? The first two things that stand out above everything at this time is that I am beyond tired and I am wracked with pain. Not that bad kind of pain either. The good kind that reminds you that you are getting stronger from the physical activity. I have even lost just shy of 10 pounds since staring. I can stand to lose 3+ pounds a week for a little bit.

OK…let’s break down some of the pros, the cons, the cool and amusing things being at Amazon so far. Let's start with cons...

CONS:

My Schedule (also a partial pro, more on that later). I work night during the grave yard shift normally from 6:45pm to 5:15am. On MET shifts (Mandatory Extra Time) the shifts are from 7pm to 7am. Those shifts suck. As a result, I sleep from around 8 or 9am to 1 or 3pm. This is causing me to not see my family as much. Viki and I are crossing paths as I get home and she gets up for the day…that sucks.

I am tired…tired beyond belief. For the past 25 years, I have been in a leadership role at the theatres. Despite being in charge, I did have to have some physical labor from time to time but I had “minions” to do the majority of this work for me. As a result, I became more sedentary over the years and packed on some weight. Suddenly being thrust into a physical job requiring to be not only on my feet for 10-12 hours (used to that), but I am also physically moving, stowing and packing merchandise on an incredibly massive scale has taken a temporary toll of draining me to brink of exhaustion and given me pain to muscles that I did know I had, mainly the ones in the core.

I am at the ground level of something new. Being the one on top of the food chain at the theatre and going through hell due to corporate take overs & restructuring, DM gaslighting, backstabbing crooked GM’s in a corporation that does no oversee them that well and COVID, I left the industry I desperately love. It hurt. Still hurts even 3 weeks later at the new job but that pain is a little dulled now seeing that Regal has closed all of their doors again, AMC is on the brink of bankruptcy, the studios pushing for home streaming/digital releases…the theatrical exhibition industry is the closest to death I have seen it and it will takes a few years for it to recover. It will eventually but I do not have time to wait. I had to get a job and quickly and they had quite a few to hand out even it is at the bottom.

On The Job Music. Every once in awhile, the leadership will fire up the PA systems in various parts of the warehouse floor and start blasting music. 90% of the time it has been modern top 40 pop trash. You know, where it is either some female vocalist that is plain wailing away (think Mariah Carey, Witless Hussey, etc) or the crap that is overly autotuned and the melody sound likes it was made up by some child with no knowledge on how music or music theory works and they are singing in their bedroom when no one is watching. The other times it has been the worst of the poser hair metal bands with half of them with White in their name. Man oh man I hate that trash. Luckily the robots and the conveyors can overpower that noise.

PROS:

My Schedule. I get “me” time. Lots of it. I also get to actually live my vampire life style and sleep during the day and be up all night and not feel guilty about it now due to working the grave yard shifts. I am also working 4 days and off 3 days. The extra day off WILL be awesome when the schedule gets back to normal. Prime week had us all getting a TON of overtime. My 2^nd and 3^rd weeks I got nearly 20 hours of OT and I am getting an additional bonus for having perfect hours and attendance during Prime week. I will take the money

Physical Activity. I have been way too sedentary for the past decade or so. Nothing wrong with sitting on your butt from time to time but the theatre made it easy for me to fall into that lifestyle and I have gotten a bit chunky around the middle as a result. Being physically active for 10-12 hours nearly nonstop during the shift has caused feel muscle pain and fatigue on an epic level on the first week. I have also have been hitting near aerobic/cardio levels of activity. Fatigue and exhaustion on the first week was EXTREME. However, as each day goes by, I am adjusting and getting used to it. A bonus is that I am losing the weight I put on the proper way through the activity. Not like how I was losing weight 2 years ago under the Regal DM gaslighting stress diet program that they put all the GM’s on when the new company took over. Assholes.

The ability to use my skills later. After 30 days, I can looking into moving into other departments. I have skills in financial, administrative, tech, IT, maintenance, HR, training, customer service, food service, marketing, PR and all thanks to the movie industry. I can use some of those in some capacity in other departments at Amazon. I am looking at the AR floor robots on the inbound side of the building in either programming them or repairing them. The whole AR robot stow system they have is incredible to see in action and cool as hell on how it works. The way they store items in the warehouse for picking and packing is genius. There does not seem to be any rhyme or reason because the stowing of items after their uncrated is random…very random. Again, no rhyme or reason…at least on the surface. However the computer systems knows where everything is throughout the roughly 2.5 MILLION square feet of floor space spread over 4 floors and 64k storage pods and 5k AR robots shuffling said pods around. This link shows the AR floor in action…cool shit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUx-ljgB-5Q

AMUSING THINGS & OBSERVATIONS:

I have seen the orders put together and get sent out to you. Some are amusing…

1. There are a ton of people getting their freak on out there. Lots and LOTS of dildos, vibrators, “massagers”, lubes and other toys getting sent out. Even had one order with 21 dildos. I guess they were for some sort of 21 dildo salute.

2. Lots of good pet parents out there. I have packed a number packages with a ton of goodies to spoil your pets.

3. This one is the biggest amusement…a shit ton of you order things on small orders that can be easily picked up at your local Walgreens or convenience store. A single mall order with a single stick of eyeliner, a pack of gum, a pack of batteries, a box of hair dye and nothing else. Nothing in bulk. I know COVID has had an effect on people’s shopping habits but getting a handful items ordered on line that could have been easily picked up if you just drove around the corner to a local shop. Hell…I don’t care. It keeps me employed but I do find it odd even during a pandemic.

4. Did I mention 21 dildos?

5. The employee pool is a broad spectrum people. Evenly mixed across the board on anything you can categorize them for. I think that may be a side effect of COVID fucking with people’s livelihoods and Amazon being available to take on the labor pool.

6. Dildos

Overall, I like the new environment and it is kinda cool for the moment to not have any responsibilities. This is all despite getting my ass kicked physically. Come November, I will start looking into the tech side of things and robotic apprenticeships or looking into leadership roles. I cannot be a mindless drone for much longer. I thrive better with some responsibility.

2019 Has Been A Bag Of Suck

2019-12-19T03:11:00.000-07:00

2019 JUST PLAIN SUCKS

The wife recently posted something similar (just a little shorter) and I am feeling the need to get some sort of cathartic release as well. With that, I am not trolling for sympathy. I am not looking for help. I am not looking for any sort of validation…well…maybe a little of that. What I am actually looking for is somebody to just listen outside of the family. To lend an ear and listen to my grips for a moment. Viki and I have done of enough venting with each other but the rest of the world has been seeing an Academy Award winning performances from each of us. As far as everybody has been concerned, everything has been hunky dory on our end. The end of 2018 and all of 2019 has been an epic bag of suck for this part of the Duvall clan here in Colorado. A bit of the writing was on the wall in the early part of 2018 but I was at the time, blind to it.

While I and Viki usually accept our troubles since most of the time it has been due to our faults (like our bankruptcy 10 years ago), this is not the case this time.

THE SETUP/BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

Over a year and a half ago, Regal Entertainment Group was bought out by a smaller theatre chain in England and they slowly started restructuring things, went private, new logo, and made slight name change. Everything seemed promising at first. I was blind of what was coming due to drinking the Kool-Aid they were serving. I did not see some key players leaving the company, radically changing their role or just going dark in communication. New players come into power and little changes started happening. Long story short, I started getting gas lighted in late October in the worst way by my new boss into thinking that I was incapable of doing my job. I was eventually forced out after nearly 25 years of loyal service on trumped up charges of negligence and failure to uphold the “new standards”. I felt it was bullshit because I got wind of the target on my back a couple of months later in January when I heard Matt Eyre (CEO) off mic at a GM conference actually say that “NO gm should be making x amount of dollars.” I was currently making more than x amount. The gas lighting increased from my boss right up until 3/17/19 and I was officially terminated. Despite what the “official” answer from the boss and what HR rubberstamped about me “not doing the job”, I knew it came down to money. My replacement was put in fairly quickly and I found out that he was making about $50K less than I was making…just proving that it has always been about money. My mistake was that I dug my heels in and should have found a more graceful way out.

BTW, I found this meme online after I started hearing that many of the GMs with Regal were being axed left and right. It also confirmed the idea that I was indeed being gas lighted by the boss into thinking that I was worthless and that they were building a weak case to get me out of the company and
replaced with somebody cheaper.

CURRENT SITUATION:

I got a new job with AMC through an old contact (my old boss with them). Just not as a GM at this time. One of the many reasons why you should avoid burning bridges. In any case, we have hard landed in a shaky way but we on our feet. I am making just less than half of what I was making. Wouldn’t be that bad BUT we had just bought a new house and the mortgage was based on what I was originally making. Luckily, Viki’s job gave her a nice promotion and raise to offset some of what I lost in pay and we also were sitting on a sizable tax refund from earlier in the year. As the months wore on up to our current frame, we have been budgeting and rebudgeting each week. We started cutting small unnecessary things out of the budget. Our yearly camping trip was cut. Extra expenditures were cut (no video games, no movies, no junk food, basic 1^st world creature comforts cut out). Then tighter budgets came in. I need to go to the dentist but cannot because I cannot afford to pay the deductible at this time. I need medications for migraine prevention and elimination but cannot afford the doctor copay or the medical copay despite having insurance. $30 is $30 and I would rather eat than do away with a migraine. Viki is currently uninsured because her job has REALLY expensive insurance and my job will not cover her due to her having the option to get her employer’s insurance. It is now just a mere 12 days away from 2020 and we have tightened our budgets so tight that we are living on roughly $100 a week for food and we are down to basic survival to keep our house, pay our utilities, and pay our car’s gas. That’s it...just a $25 per person food budget in the house and household bills. We have NO safety net. No more savings and we are barely scraping by check to check and doing everything in our power to keep our heads above water. The only thing we able to keep a budget for is the internet and our phones at this time and if things got worse, they would have been cut too by now. This has been beyond frustrating and just plain putting our all of us in the family on edge with one another since we never go out to do anything anymore and we are up in each other’s space every day. Except Viki and myself. I no longer have a regular schedule that I control and we barely see each other and when we do, we are either tired, frustrated or both by our situation. When together, all we can do is commiserate about how we cannot buy Christmas gifts this year for our kids, that I will have to deal with migraines again after I use my one last injection or how she cannot get insurance at all or just that we would like open our food budget more.

Before ANY of you even think of trying to pony up anything for us…don’t. In the name of all things holy…please do not do anything for us. We are fine…frustrated as hell but we are fine. The light at the end of the tunnel is in sight for some breathing room. Some MAJOR expenses are going away in the next month or so and we will be able to spend on the things we must have again and have a little disposable income again. We are almost there. I have been through this sort of thing before when I was a kid bouncing between divorced parents. Helped me cope with it. Viki is frayed but she is strong and doing her best to hold things together Our kids have been amazing and even the eldest has stepped in a couple times to help with some expenses when she didn’t have to. We will survive…it just plain sucks at this moment.

Overall, I just needed to get up onto a soapbox for a few minutes to whine and bitch about how shitty things are right now...at this very moment. A rant to get off my chest. I just needed to scream out into the void for a moment. I know there are many others out there dealing with something similar or even much MUCH worse that what we are dealing with. This is why I do not want help. I have a roof over my head, the heat is on, and there is some food on the table. Viki, Kaitlyn and I all have a steady income coming in and things are getting paid. I would much rather see somebody else in a much more dire situation get the charity than us. We are survivors and we got this.

Thank you for lending your ear and listen to me bitch for a few minutes. Now back to the daily funny memes, cat videos, general bullshit and shenanigans.

Getting Fed Up With Facebook

2019-11-11T23:40:00.000-07:00

Just got hit with a 30 day ban on Facebook. In the past 90 days, I have been hit with 3 stretches of Facebook Jail. The first was a 24 hour ban for describing a person I read about in an article that was a racist, bigoted piece of shit as "white trash". The second stretch was a 7 day ban for posting a rather racy meme. The last one was also for a racy meme and it got me 30 days.

One may say I was breaking the rules, and you would be right. However, a few years ago, many of us found that there was no such rules overseeing private/secret groups. It allowed us to post whatever we wanted in said groups with no issues. That was true for all of us until recently. Now all of us are getting 7 and 30 day bans like trick or treaters get candy on Halloween. If they changed the rules for private groups, they didn't tell us. When it comes to Terms Of Service, it is not something any of us would read on the reg. However, it would have been nice to let us know before they started banning us for days, weeks or months at a time. That is incredibly frustrating. Fine, whatever...new TOS that we have to follow. No need for private groups anymore I guess. Everything is going to be boring now as a result. Fine. I will tolerate a sanitized Facebook.

HOWEVER...Here is the infuriating aspect of these bans. None of them were ever reported by anybody. The group is an echo chamber of like minded degenerates with a very sick sense of humor. None of us were hateful, racist, bigoted or mean spirited...just warped. For the past few years we all had a good laugh at many things...many wrong things. What flagged me and what flagged everybody else is the draconian algorithm that scans everything and drops ban hammers on anything they feel is wrong despite wherever it was posted. Cool tech bro...but it is being implemented in the wrong way. For my ban and others that got bans, we got hit with the ban the second we hit the post button. That means the algorithm knew what I and the others were about to post. Instead of preventing it from happening and giving a warning that whatever is about to be posted was considered wrong, they insta-ban the offender. That is ABSOLUTE bullshit. That type of draconian handling of posts is going to cause a multitude of people to get irate and disgruntled with the platform.

I beyond pissed off on how they handled this. I can get over the fact that I will have to somewhat sanitize my posts in the private group but I will go screaming and kicking into the night if Facebook continues with this approach of using an algorithm/AI program to ban people instead of using it to prevent such posts.

Lastly, to add insult to injury, I and other are getting these bans for posting juvenile, filthy jokes but there are actually harmful and hateful groups openly posting their hateful messages and and doing harm or planning to do harm and yet we see nothing happen to them.They get to harass other and spew hatred with no repercussions, yet we post a dick or fart joke and we are corrupting the "community standards" and get the ban hammer.

My message to Facebook, get your shit together or risk losing many to up-and-coming social sites.

New Chapter & Some Mild Anxiety

2019-03-18T03:39:00.001-06:00

So...After 24 years, I have parted ways with Regal as a GM and not really by choice either. The Reader's Digest version...a year ago, Regal was bought by a UK exhibitor (CineWorld) and they brought a brand new culture to the company. I and a very large number of people from the GM level on up to the upper executives have been leaving the company in a form of a mass exodus. Some by choice and some not. If you were to ask me, the people that left and ask them on why, you will get a multitude of different reasons from each of us. However, those reasons really do not matter from any of us and I am not going to go into the details. The long and short of it is that they do not want me and those others around anymore and I am not going to try and fight it.

Now here we are after a nearly 4 weeks and I am feverishly trying to chase down a lead with another company I feel I will be a better fit to work with. I am trying strike a balance where I am not being a total pain in the ass where they are soured by my presence but let them know that I am the one they want. However, I am confident that I should be able to get this spot.

I am also setting up what I have been calling my "side hustle" as a freelance photography with a focus in concert shooting. Since I was a wee young'un, I have always had a camera of some sort and have always loved taking pictures. About 15 years ago, I got my first DSLR and started learning how to properly use the thing. I have since then upgraded the equipment and added gadgets to use it and have upped my skills and understanding. Nearly 5 years ago, I started shooting concerts for some predominant rock and industrial bands. Lords of Acid, Chuck Mosely, Chant, KMFDM, <PIG>, Genitorturers, CombiChrist, and a few others. I am getting to the point I am somewhat decent and could make some cash doing it. The only thing that is holding me back is needing a better lens or two and a better camera body. I can make do with the body but the lens is crucial to get better images.

I have come up with a name for my little venture, CeeDy Photography, based on on my initials but as a double entendre to sound like "seedy photography". I have come up with a logo that I am still refining. I think I have a final idea that I will unveil soon. I have also setup a Facebook page, an Instagram account, a Twitter account and Hootsuite. I am in the hunt for an image hosting site that is free. I just need to research what pricing is considered competitive and appropriate for this upstart. This has been keeping me busy for the time being.

Despite zeroing in on this new job and getting my side venture underway, I have had the most time off I have ever had since I started working in 1986. 4 weeks. I have never had 4 weeks off in a row. Whenever I took a vacation week off, I would get antsy before the week was up. Here at 4 weeks and I am starting to go stir crazy. There are things I want to do around the house but it all involves using money and I do not want to spend any money until I get a steady income coming back in the house. It is stressing me out.

This is where I ask you, the reader for some help. If you have any contacts at Alamo Drafthouse that can help speed the hiring process up, it would be greatly appreciated.

For those of you in the music industry that are looking for a cheap photographer here in the Denver area, I am your man. I can be paid under the table but if you need to be on the up and up, I can fill out a W9 too.

I will keep everybody posted on what plays out and below will be my social links for the photography.

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/CeeDyPhotography
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ceedyphotography
Twitter https://twitter.com/CeeDyPhotos

Offensiveness and the Subjectivity of Humor

2018-07-31T10:34:00.004-06:00

Facebook had the audacity to tell me that I have been wasting my life on their site for 10 years. In those 10 years, I have reconnected to many old friends, made new ones, found communities of like minded people and it helped me stay in touch with my family. Those that have known me…REALLY KNOWN me since before social media have always known that my sense of humor has always dipped into the very dark and very blue area. I blame my parents for that. My dad has a typical “dad joke” sense of humor coupled with some very dark undertones. My mom, she loved “working blue”. She was the queen of the dirty joke. For both of them, no subject was off limits. And yes, that was mixed and stirred and fermented into my psyche after I had absorbed it through osmosis. My parents planted the seeds and I became that overrun weed. This past week, I have suddenly been attacked because I poked fun at some popstar OD'ing on heroin despite the years of putting thing up MUCH worse than that. It is as if they don't even know me.

I have taken the philosophy that NOTHING is too sacred to poke fun at, including myself. In fact, the more sacred it is viewed, the more I feel it needs to be poked at. It can help open dialog about bad things, it can make awful things be reduced and viewed ridiculous and also weakened to those who support said awful things. It also can be cathartic in tragedy and so on. Many people do this too. Life is too short and too tragic to be taking it seriously all the time. If you cannot laugh at things around you from time to time, you WILL find yourself miserable. Now, are there some good to follow rules when making jokes about taboo subjects? Yeah, for the most part, there is. You should try to punch up and not down. Self-deprecating humor also helps. You should try to attack character and content and not what somebody physically is. Even then, there are times it is ok to bend that. Being generally mean is not the goal.

Over the years, I have made a million jokes about a million bad things. Some of it highbrow, some of it tackling the low hanging fruit and it all ranges from race, sex, sexism, sexual preference, gender identity, drugs, rape, tragedy, disabilities, death, pedophilia, body shaming and the list goes on. I even make shock jokes too. A joke that is intended to solely to get a rise out of people. I do that to see people squirm and be uncomfortable. It makes ME laugh to see somebody not be comfortable in what they just read or heard. These have their place in the world too but you should know your audience for that. Does this mean I actually believe in these jokes on how you should actually treat people? No. You have to be some sort of complete idiot if you do. ACTIONS DO speak louder than words.

Here’s the thing, if you are easily offended, overly sensitive or what have you about any of this, that is ON YOU and not the joke teller. If you do find yourself offended or triggered, it means you cannot control your emotions, you are probably not seeing the context and you probably have some issues that you need to sort out. Yeah, I may cross a line occasionally and not follow the rules I stated above, but know this, those are jokes and I will NEVER apologize for making them. I shouldn’t have to. Look at my character, my actions, how I actually treat people and you will see the real me. I am not a perfect person but I will always try to be best person I can be in most situations.

Nobody has time in this world to be triggered or offended by some taboo jokes. If you are going to be triggered, offended, pissed off at something…do that against the people calling the police against a black family having a picnic in the park. Be pissed off at the police violence against people of color. Be triggered by those assholes that are trying to normalize racial bigotry. Be angry at the politicians trying to legislate the female reproductive system when that has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with running our government. Be offended that people like Jared of Subway for doing horrible things to children. Be incensed by the monsters that are running Hollywood that been taking advantage of women for years. Be intolerant of those that refuse to accept the responsibility of their actions when they put themselves in harm’s way by picking up that addictive substance for the first time but STILL KNOW that it could do harm. Get up in arms over that business that refused to do business with people of a different sexual preference than what their religious books claims is right. Be outraged by our government treating immigrants as animals. These are things to be offended by. Not some jokes about it.

Now that I have explained that, I have to get back to constructing a joke about a hungry Ethiopian child being raped by Harvey Weinstein and Jared along with Papa John cheering them on in the corner all after the child was caught and beaten by ICE while crossing the border with his belly filled with condoms full of cocaine by the drug lords that keep him as pack mule slave.

IT (2017) review

2017-09-09T18:54:00.000-06:00

I finally had the opportunity to sit down and watch IT with my family. I could have watched earlier in the week but then I would have been tossed into the sewers by the family for doing that.

The short, version:

I absolutely loved IT. It had everything that a PROPER horror movie needs. The right amount of gore/violence, sense of dread, humor, intelligent writing, and plenty of atmosphere. If you are big ole scaredy cat, you need to seriously avoid this movie because it will fuck you up. If you are already fucked up like me or love a good scare, you need to see this and you need to see this on a large format screen to truly appreciate this in its full glory.

The long version:

This is not your dad’s IT from 1990. While Tim Curry was amazing as Pennywise the Dancing Clown, the TV miniseries overall was poorly executed. Bill Skarsgård brings something completely new to the part and comes across so much more creepy and menacing. Maybe I am physiologically damaged or callused but the movie did not frighten me in the slightest. It could also mean I have seen WAY too many horror movies in my life and I KNOW that it is fake and it did not scare me like it has many other people. However, I did recognize that it was a truly frightening movie to many others. To be honest, I was actually giddy like a school child watching the horror unfold on the screen. If you are one of those babies that needs a stupid trigger warning, you might as well just save your money, stay home in your safe space and play with your stuffed animals because this movie is NOT for you. Again: me giddy, you trigger babies probably curled up in the fetal position and sucking your thumb holding your blankie. There was one thing that I did find to be truly disturbing and it was the adults of Derry. They were so much more truly disturbing than the clown himself. Therefore, I may not be as damaged as I stated because I know that there are real monsters like them in the real world.

I may have not read the original book but I do know the story well enough through osmosis from the biggest Stephen King fan I know out there…who I happened to be married to. Over, this movie is fairly true to the book with some very minor changes and it also had a character or two that did not fully get fleshed out as they should have been. Other than that, it hits every mark including the gruesome deaths. Do not think that because there are children in the movie that the director and producers of the movie will shy away from any harm to them on screen. They depict that horror on screen as close and viscerally as they could from what was written on the page.

Even though the movie was somewhat long for a horror movie, it moved at a pretty decent pace. I felt slightly that it did not have enough breathing room to help build up the dread as much as it should between each scare. However, the movie still was able to build up the enough needed dread in the short space between each scare. Kudos to the director, editor and writers on that. On top of that, the writers and director used a clever trick of having well placed humor in the dialog with the kids, especially with Finn Wolfhard (also of Stranger Things) who played Richie. Besides the humorous dialog with the kids , there was a great dynamic with the kids which felt oddly familiar, especially if you had seen STAND BY ME and /or STRANGER THINGS. They only kid I felt that was not given the proper screen time was the character of Mike played by Chosen Jacobs.

Lastly, for those that are going to brave the crowds or just the movie itself, I strongly suggest that you spend the extra money and see it on an IMAX or any other large format screen. That just helps you get more immersed into the movie. I saw IT on my IMAX screen which had a highly aggressive sound mix with an amazingly deep low end that rattled the building. The other large format screens have a similar aggressive as well.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed IT and I am sure that you King fans and fans of horror in general will be very pleased with this first part of what will be a two part movie. For the rest of you that are scared of clowns or are one of those people that needs a trigger warning for everything, do not bother showing up. It only feeds IT more of what it wants...delicious fear.

30 Years of Rocky Horror / Starting a New Generation

2016-10-28T18:53:00.000-06:00

Halloween night 1986, I ventured into a show of THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW at the insistence of Kevin Fyffe, an old friend from high school. I knew he had been going for some time and Halloween after doing my thing dressed as Freddy Krueger, I headed over to the old UA theatre at Lynnhaven Mall in Virginia Beach (which is no longer around). After that show, I ended up going every weekend that I could and eventually got conned into playing Brad when their Brad did not show up and ending up joining the cast immediately.

Also on that Halloween night in 1986, my wife Viki, also attended her very first RHPS in Norfolk, Virginia. She was also, interestingly enough, dressed as Freddy Krueger. She also ended up joining their cast and played Crim. In 1990, the GM (Hayden Ware) of the UA theatre I was performing at threw our cast out because he never liked Rocky Horror and made whatever excuse he could to toss us out. For a few months, without doing a show, I got antsy and decided to wander on over to Norfolk to see their show. I ended up joining that cast shortly after that despite being hit on two of the cast mates I had no interest in…Looking at you Collin and Jenn wherever you two may be. Around then is when I eventually met Viki. By 1996 we were dating and by 10/31/1998, we were married.

Here we are, October of 2016 and neither one of us have performed a show since 2001 but have seen a few shows and we are going out tonight to see the show here in Denver at the Esquire Theatre. We have seen this cast (Colorado’s Elusive Ingredient) perform before at Red Rocks in front of a world record audience back on 8/13/2013. You can check it here.

What makes this show special? Not only is this marks nearly 30 years ago we both saw this movie and change our lives and led us to each other, we will be also sacrificing our oldest daughter to the Virgin Gods of Rocky Horror. She has never seen this show LIVE and really has no idea what is coming her way. More to come...

REVIEW: The Rocky Horror Picture Show (FOX 2016)

2016-10-21T15:46:00.000-06:00

Most of you that actually know me know that Rocky Horror has been a HUGE part of my life. I met my wife there. A good portion of my friends are or used to be part of a shadow cast. That movie, performing it on a stage with two different shadows cast and being part of the audience participation have greatly made up a huge part of what I am today. I even still have portions of my costume that probably do not fit me anymore. I have seen various stage productions and the movie so many times that I cannot tell you exactly how many times I have seen it. If I were to hazard a guess, it would be more than 1500 times. I bring this up because on 10/20/2016, FOX dared to air a remake TV movie of THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW and I know people are going to ask me about it.

I want to start off right now and get to the point of this so you can know my overall thought of it was…I liked it. I really, truly, honestly really like it. Did I think it was great…no. However, I thought it was a great representation of the play and the movie and it adds more. My thought is “Yay! We have more Rocky Horror in this world to enjoy!” With that, there were a few things I did not like or agreed with but those things I feel did not detract from the overall production. Let’s get to my negatives first…

The biggest complaint I had about this production was not the casting of Laverne Cox as Frank, it was her portrayal of Frank. I have played Frank twice and in my opinion, not so well. That is an amazingly tough character to play. Tim Curry in that stage and film version set the bar so damn high, it is nearly impossible to hit his bravado and swagger that he carries in it. He walked and amazingly fine line between being both masculine and feminine at the same time. You knew it was a man but there were feminine qualities infused in everything he did. He WAS the Sweet Transvestite. Laverne Cox has that swagger down but she did not walk that fine line between being masculine and feminine. She came across entirely too feminine in look and attitude. She looked and acted fully like a woman with tons of swagger. The next biggest complaint is the music. The music is a huge part of any production of any production of this show. It is a nearly a raw old form of rock. Every production I have seen has kept this aspect of the music in some way. However, FOX decided that they wanted to go with a super high polished and over produced version of the music and the singers performed like they were all contestants on the overly homogenized American Idol. I found that rather disappointing. The bite and attitude was stripped away from the music. That is basically the only complaints I have at this time. Additional viewing may bring up other minor complaints. As for the majority of complaints I have seen online, I think they are pretty much unwarranted. Those individuals had a common thread in all of their complaints…it was not the original movie production. They were the worst form of purists. They felt it should have not been touched. I also suspect that they have never seen other productions of the show either and do grasp that this an ever evolving show.

Tim Curry on the left as Frank and Laverne Cox on right as Frank

For the good, I have quite a few things I felt they did was awesome. They broke the fourth wall and had an audience in a theatre watching the show. From time to time, you got to see them throw out an audience participation line but no so much that it was totally distracting. It was something new and a very nice touch. The set production and costuming was updated for the times but it was not overly slick and stripped down like the music. It had a lot of the attitude that was sorely missing from the music in this production. For you purists out there, the script was followed nearly to the letter. I think I heard maybe one or two deviations of the film script but I was actually pleasantly shocked and delighted how close were to it. I guess perfection does not need to be mucked with and that helped keep the attitude the show has in place. Lastly, the direction of the cast was tweaked for a modern audience and they made some changes to some reactions and timings that matches our current culture so it would not feel dated. Another tweak I noticed was that they knew that this not something to take serious and they turned up the campiness in their portrayals and line delivery. Brad in particular. They made is dialog come across like a bad super hero movie where he is the hero. His lines came across stilted and I found that hilarious…you have this guy coming across that he thinks he has got it all under control and cool under pressure and we all know that he is just an asshole.

Why am I not bashing this production and actually embracing it? Rocky Horror has been a part of my 47 years on this planet for a better part of 30 years. An old friend encouraged me to go to see a midnight show in 1986 at now long gone UA Lynnhaven Mall location in Virginia Beach, VA. Yeah, I am talking about you Kevin Fyffe. In those 30 years, as I have stated, I have seen the original movie nearly countless times along with other live stage productions. This is a living and breathing show. It adapts and changes with the productions, the shadow casts and with the audience participation. This is why it has endured and even thrived for over 43 years when the first stage show premiered in London 6/19/1973. It taps into an attitude that gives a voice to those that feel like outsiders. If you understand this about Rocky Horror, then any production should be welcomed if they stick to the camp and attitude which for the most part, this new production does. For you purists of Rocky Horror, shame on you. You should know better that this is open for different interpretations as long as they keep the attitude and play it campy. We all know that Tim Curry is a god when it comes to Frank but you should also check out

David Bedella as Frank in the live production that aired in 2015 on the BBC. He rivals what Curry did and brought some new energy to the role.

David Bedella as Frank in the 2015 live production of Rocky Horror

If you have not seen the FOX production yet because you heard the complaints from the purists, just forget them and just go in with an open mind and try to forgive the overly produced music and overly feminine portrayal of Frank. It is actually fun if you are not trying to recreate the original movie and that is what it is all about. And you purists out there, it is not like they actually changed the original movie. You will always have that fall back on.

The Political Shit Show Named Trump

2016-08-29T00:51:00.002-06:00

I have been avoiding politics because it is a total shit show out there. Venom being spewed, insults being slung and hatred being projected to one another and that just the politicians. In my years that I have been able to vote, this has been the worst of the elections I have seen played out. Things appear fishy all around and I wish I had the answers. I just know that things are not right.

And now for the reason for this post and it will REALLY piss of those that exclusively vote party and not issue. Firstly, if you vote only party…you are a retard, socially and intellectually. Through the years, parties have come and gone and have evolved and/or changed with the times. The two big parties, Republicans and Democrats, have even switched up on their platforms. With this constant change in thinking of these parties (and other issues like no term limits), voting for the same party over and over is NOT what is best for the people and this country. Your thinking is stifled and you are stifling our growth.

With that, this brings me to why you should not strictly vote party this election. Trump. Everybody that is eligible to vote needs to vote. Be a part of this election and do your civic duty. However, because some of you stick your guns and only vote party despite who that party’s candidate is, you are doing a disservice to this country and you Republicans that are doing this this election are truly mentally ill if you are voting Trump. That man has absolutely no business running this country, let alone any country. He does not have the skills, the temperament, the class, or any other redeemable feature to do this job and it is not what is best for this country. “But Hillary is a crook.” Maybe…maybe not. I know the Republicans think so. I am no fan of hers either and I never have been. This election has proven be the worst case scenario of a turd sandwich and giant douche.

What it comes down to is this. Be smart, not some sort of mouth breather that tows the party line. Break those bonds and vote for somebody that is not trying to turn us into some sort of worldwide reality shit show to line his own pockets. Trump is not concerned about anybody but himself and his gold plated lifestyle and possibly a few of his rich compatriots. If you really think Trump is the way, I am calling you out right now. You are truly beyond stupid and there is no argument that you can use that convince me or anybody with any intelligence to vote for him. While I agree that most of the other candidates stink and leave a bad taste in my mouth, Trump will sink this country in ways we cannot even fathom. So please, be smart…vote for somebody OTHER than Trump. Anybody. A vote for ANYBODY else is billion times smarter than him. So got out there and vote for whoever your state has put on the ballot OTHER than the vulgar racist, sexist and grossly unqualified one named Donald Trump. For those that wondering who I am voting for…I am not sure yet because I am still researching who I think will best for ALL OF US. I do know who it WON’T BE.

Did you hear the one about Jared and the prison dick in his ass?

2015-08-21T22:11:00.002-06:00

Really?!? You are going to unfriend really good people for a fucking joke?

The reason for this rant? Some people don’t like the Jared getting raped in prison jokes.

First, I can assume that most of us here are fairly reasonable human beings and that we can all agree that rape is pretty fucking vile. It may be worse than killing somebody. Prison rape is also a real issue and problem in our prisons and should be condemned. What do I think is probably worse? Pedophilia. The words actually escape me on how evil I think it is. I know if somebody were to touch my kids that way and I would risk doing prison myself after I cleaned up the blood from the murderous rampage I would go on. I am also fairly sure many parents would feel that same exact sentiment.

So, I am perusing my Facebook wall tonight on my phone (my mistake on my part) and I see some people bitching that they will pretty much unfriend (defriend? Whatever) anybody that makes a prison rape joke about Jared. My first thought is that somebody does not understand the inner workings of edgy comedy. Making light of prison rape on its own, probably not funny. Making light of pedophilia, also probably not funny. Making a joke about a pedophile getting prison raped…fucking hilarious. To my FB friends that are butthurt over this, the problem is you and you will lose quite a few friends (good friends) over being this extremely sensitive. You are acting as if these jokes did not exist, the real horrors would go away.

The point of edgy or caustic comedy is to take some of the things horribly wrong in this world and society by making it ridiculous and take its power away or find a way us to cope with the grief or the horror of it. Jared is an evil monster that pretty much lost all his rights and dignity of being human the second he touched a child and he deserves everything that he has coming to him and that includes getting anally violated by a very large inmate. The comedy is the irony. Jared used his size and influence to do evil things to children and now he is going to get the same in return.

Reminds me of the situation with Louis CK and SNL. He made a pedophile joke where he made the monster the butt of the joke and it was brilliantly funny. A ton of people went ape shit over the joke but not once did the victim end up there with the monster. This takes the power away from the monster. It lessens them into something that deserves being ridiculed and not feared. It helps up cope with that horror.

In my mind and many like me, to state that you are going to unfriend somebody on FB because they said Jared was going to get a footlong in prison, it sounds like a child stomping their feet in anger because they did not get their way. You want a safe little world where all jokes are tame and mild? Not going to happen. You might as well learn to cope with directly rather than stick your fingers in your ears and yelling “LA LA LA LA!!! I CAN’T HEAR YOU!” It also sound like you are trying to defend Jared…you may not be, but it sure does look that way. Yeah…we get it, prison rape is bad but pedophilia is worse and this man is evil…pure and simple. He used is money and influence to get underage CHILDREN to have sex with him. In return, I hope this subhuman has a very large unwanted and unlubricated penis shove very far into his rectal cavity repeatedly. I want an inmate to fuck Jared so hard in the ass that he will never be able to get the taste prison dick out of his mouth. I want his ass to be parted like the Red Sea. This should be the tip of the lesson that he should NEVER ever touch a child that way…that sick fuck.

Ugh. I need some fucking comedy now.

So…I want everybody to post in response in the comments here on the blog, on Facebook or on Twitter with their best Jared getting raped in the ass by prison inmate jokes in text or meme form. I want all of us to collectively take the power from that slime and ridicule him into oblivion. The whole world needs to know that piece of shit will be remembered for being a monster and what we would like to see happen to him. I want his name to be so trashed that no one will ever use it again like what happened to the little mustache that Hitler wore.

Hit me with your best ones…GO!

Offended by Triggers

2015-06-12T18:14:00.000-06:00

Over the last year or so I have been either more aware of it or it has been on the rise…not quite sure and I cannot quite put my finger on when it started with its current intensity. I know this overall trend started in the early 90’s with the political correctness movement but it seems to be hitting a fever pitch lately. I am speaking trigger warnings and being offended.

WARNING

With that, I am going to pause right here and set a warning now. This post will probably be filled with “triggers” and some offensive material. I will probably use what some may call vulgar language, misogynistic phrases, racist material, blasphemous thoughts and just down right naughty talk. If you find any of this beyond your ability of being able to mentally handle it, why don’t you just go ahead and fuck off? Seriously, you need to fucking spur up and get over that shit. I will cover more of that shortly but another pause is in order but for another disclaimer.

DISCLAIMER

I was raised in such a way to think for myself. My mother gave me the skills to look at things and step back then question why, question authority…question EVERYTHING and not take it at face value when an answer is spoon fed back to you. I was to figure things out and use my head as much as possible and try to separate fact from “truth” because neither of them are exclusive to one another. An example of this would be…a room is 73 degrees F = fact. A person that is a fat fuck will think it is hotter than hell but somebody else with poor circulation may think it is chilly = truth to each person. With this form of free thought being dropped into me, I pretty much see people as humans and not a collection of males and females or various racial groups. Life is too damn short to be worrying about some spic cunt, wop prick, sand nigger whore or that chink tranny. I will leave that to those that watch Faux News or have no intelligence…shit, I think they are one in the same. In short, I may use phrases that are generally can be demeaning to either sex, to race, to preference or whatever YOU decide to read into it. Just know that I do not care what sexy fun bits you have or don’t have or plan to alter and I really don’t give a shit what color your skin is or what part of the world you born in. I treat everybody the same depending on how you treat me and others.

We all sufficiently warned and know that I really don’t give two fucks to who and what you are? Good…moving on.

What the fuck is wrong with you sissy ass pussies? “You called that person a ‘cunt’.” “You made a tranny joke about Jenner.” “AHHHH!!! That thing is a trigger. That word is a trigger. I am offended by this. I am offended by that.” Shut the fuck up. You know what? Who fucking cares? Because YOU got offended by something does not give you any rights to shut somebody down, censor them or deny them any rights. I saw plenty of you fucktards get your undies in a knot because Louis CK said that child molesters must REALLY like molesting children so much that they would risk their own freedom to molest a child. The way he pointed it out was comedy genius. “OMG, pedophiles are a trigger!!! I am so never watching SNL or Louis CK ever again. They made light of pedophilia.” I heard this so much and it made me watch choke slam every one you dumbasses who did not get it because not ONE of you assholes heard what he said. The point Louis made is that these child predators are sick and are willing to do anything at the risk of losing their freedom or even their lives so they can touch a child. However, you in the PC crowd, heard him say something about pedophiles to get a laugh. Pedophilia = incredibly NOT funny. Pointing out how sick those perverts are in an absurd way = hilarious.

The whole being offended MEANS nothing especially if the so called offence is in the form of a joke. When comedy is done right, it is to make people think. Comedy should never be safe and should be controversial. It is to point out and draw contrasts of right and wrong or just plain fucked up. Because somebody made a joke about rape, pedophilia, incest or any generally nasty subject matter, it does not mean that they approve of said subject matter or go out doing it. It is in all on how it is presented. If I make a joke about rape, my target should be the rapist. If Louis CK makes a joke about pedophilia, his target should NOT be the child and that is how it was presented. Laughing at the horrors in this world can help soften the blow on how much life truly does suck and does nothing to promote the culture of these atrocities that DO exist.

Lastly, yes…rape culture exists. Pedophilia exists. Misogyny exists. Racism exists. These are nasty things and the role that many comedians out there are trying to do is to get us to talk about them without having an anxiety attack. However, there are some bad apples out there that don't get how that works. Instead of acting all indignant and saying that you are offended or have a panic attack…try this: Ignore the ones that don't get it and listen to the ones that do. Don’t give the bad guys the time of day. They are the bully that loses interest when no one gives them the attention they desire.

So suck it up buttercup and stop walking around with your own head firmly placed up your ass and relax a little. Have a laugh. Life is too short for being offended by words and ideas. Instead, try to do something that makes life easier when those horrors are about instead of yelling at the messenger.

Zero Fucks Given

2015-06-05T21:07:00.001-06:00

I have been for most part, pretty quiet about the whole Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner brouhaha. Many would think that would be something I would jump on and be raunchy about. You be right in most cases. However, I decided to step back and watch this mess unfold online. Also, I hate talking about anything remotely related to the Kartrashian Klan. However, since most of you asshats out there won’t fucking drop it and every other post on the social networks is about it on way or another, I might as well put my 2 cents in on it.

My thoughts? I have a ton of respect for Jenner and I just want to let him do what he wants to do but overall…Who fucking cares. Every one of you fucktards that keep posting on this has this sick fascination about this man that is about chop off his pee pee to become a woman. Guess what...transgender surgeries have been going on for quite a while and they barely make news except this one…the one attached to the Klan of Ass…you won’t let this slip on by. Sigh. You do realize that there are bigger things going on in the world than this petty bullshit, right? The nasty parts of the Patriot Act went away (huzzah) but YOUR representatives in congress took advantage of you and came up with a whole new nasty law that not reinstates those provisions to spy on you, it also strengthened them. If you dummies kept an eye on the ball and not Bruce’s, this may have not happened. I could go on about the other things going on but you are just starting to realize that I am not talking about Jenner anymore and are getting bored with it. Ass.

Another point I wanted to make is to those of you that are taking this WAY too seriously. Yeah, I know, transgender discrimination is a real thing in this country and the around the world and these people have been treated like subhumans much like the Tea Billys treat everybody that is not a white male. However, if you cannot see the humor of one the manliest men in sports in the 1970’s deciding to trade up his piss rod for piss curtains, then something is wrong with you. The irony to almost too much to take. I have seen QUITE a few of you get all up in arms on Facebook because somebody took a humorous shot at Jenner and now you are going to unfriend them/ report them/ leave a group…etc. Those that are having the problems with the jokes claim to be this open minded liberal type but are actually just as intolerant as the fuckwits making the REALLY bad jokes. Are some of the jokes demeaning and horrible? Yep. However, I have seen some that are just plain funny and do nothing to degrade Jenner in any way but those with the thin skin are grabbing the pitchforks over it. Lighten the fuck up already…it is a joke and not a death threat.

In short…I don’t care that Jenner is turning his twig & berries into dog food and I don’t care that some people made some tasteless jokes about him. I do care that I keep seeing this shit in my multiple feeds.

This is the internet and we have the most information imaginable at our fingertips and we are wasting it on this tripe. Now let’s get back to what the internet is truly for…bitching and posting memes & cat videos.

Oh, BTW...Fuck the Kartrashian Klan with a red hot barbed poker. Double fuck Kanye with one laced with herpes.

Happy Anniversary

2014-10-31T01:47:00.000-06:00

As all of you know by now...or maybe not…I don't know. I am not in your damn head so who knows. Ahh hell, I digress as usual. In any case, for those that DO know me, know that I am a Halloween and horror nut case. I obsess about making my house scary every year and one upping it for the next year. I have added two new goodies to the haunt this year I have even started thinking on what I can for next year. Yeah…obsessed

However, this blog post is NOT Halloween but it is about October 31^st. In fact, it is about that date ever since 1998. That was the day I married my enabler, partner in crime and best friend. And yes…we ARE BEST friends. I could not operate without her. She makes me a better person and would be totally lost without her. Our partnership has made us a ruthlessly efficient parenting team. As she put it earlier, we are yin and yang. One cannot be without the other.

Viki, thank you for putting up with my shit for all these years but most importantly, keeping me grounded and raising the best little hooligans around. Here’s to 16 years of incredibly short madness and let’s hope the next 16 years don't move as fast as the first ones.

I love you Viki and happy anniversary.

15 Movie Challenge

2014-09-09T16:11:00.001-06:00

Well shit...I have been tagged to do a 15 movie challenge on Facebook. I have decided to take this to my blog to give the breathing room I need. While I normally bow out of such shenanigans, movies are my life. Almost literally. Movies have been my job for nearly 30 years now. As a kid, I watched movies regularly with the family at the local drive-in. We would see a movie on a whim on the weekend because we could. Many a Friday and Saturday night in the 70’s were spent with my dad watching CREATURE FEATURE with Count DeVol on channel 20 or THE GHOST HOST on channel 45 in the DC/Baltimore area during the drive-in off season. I was baptized in fake blood of horror movies and as a result, most of the movies I have listed are of the horror genre. I also have been steeped in the musical through my mother. As a result, this challenge sort of sings to me.

The challenge is to list 15 movies that have stuck with me. Does not matter if I like them or not. The thing is, being that I have made a career out of movies, the ones that have stuck with me have a deep love from me.

#1 DRACULA (1931 with Bela Lugosi): I was indoctrinated in movie lore by my parents with the sheer number of movies we watched while I was growing up. However, up until I was 5 years old, I really was not aware of horror movies. My father started our weekly horror movie tradition when I was 5 or 6 when he sat me down to watch DRACULA. I had no idea that you could make a scary movie. My love of horror and Halloween was born that night. We watched horror movie every Friday & Saturday night and this was the one that kicked it off.

#2 ALIEN: By 1979, I had seen my fair share of horror movies from good to bad and was pretty sure I had seen it all even though I was only 10 years old. The family took one of final trips to the drive-in and they were running a double feature of FREAKY FRIDAY and ALIEN. I had seen the ads and was intrigued. Especially since I had my scifi love lit on fire 2 years prior with STAR WARS. Normally, I would fall asleep at the drive-in when I was a kid before the second feature. Not this time. I was determined to watch this one. I did not care to watch FREAKY FRIDAY and spent most of my time on the playground. As soon as the Fox logo hit the screen, I sat in the seats at the concession building and watched it from there alone away from the family. This hit me like no other movie has before or since then. The design work, the atmosphere, the sheer horror…I had never seen anything like this ever and I became obsessed with the Alien creature and its life cycle. Where the hell was the internet when I needed it to fuel this obsession?!? I truly feel this is the movie that drove me to work at the theatre in 1986 when the sequel came out. Of the bunch here on this list, this one has probably the most influence on me after #3.

#3 THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW: After I started working at the theatre, I was asked if I had seen this movie playing at the competition across the street from us. I knew of the movie but really had no interest in seeing it. After being asked a billion times from coworkers, I finally broke down and made a solo trip over to see it and I was blown away. I eventually joined the cast and then joined the rival cast at the larger venue when we were tossed out for being too dirty. This was the first place I ever felt welcomed for being the nerd/geek/dork/weirdo that I was. It made me aware of the underground/cult movie scene that I started researching through local video store with all the cash I had from the movie theatre. It was also the place that I met my future wife and the lifelong friendships I made. The show and cast helped me become the person I am today and embrace myself for who I am and not give a shit what society thinks of me. “Fuck society. One by one. Starting with me.”

#4 THE THING: By the time this one came out, ALIEN was the trend setter in the rush of gory and scary scifi movies but they all paled in comparison. They were all missing something. Not this one. John Carpenter tapped into something amazing with this one. DELIBERATE pacing. A sense of dread much like ALIEN had and the most fucked up practical special effects that seriously hold up so well today at 32 years after its release. It was these special effects that made sit up and take notice that nothing can be off limits in designs. Despite that, the dread that permeates this film is still something to behold and it is something that all modern horror films have seemed to have forgotten.

#5 HELLRAISER: Here is a movie that had poor acting choices and a very low budget but was still able to deliver one of the most evil things I have seen on screen up to this point in 1987. It was one of the first times I have seen the idea of hell and demons that was not biblical or Faustian in background. A new twist. It was also one of the most twisted things I had seen on screen. It was also one of the first times I have seen what should have been the villain not be the villain. The Frank and Julia were the villains, not Pinhead. They were even more monstrous. Even though the second movie is superior in every sense, this movie sticks with me.

#6 STAR WARS: You knew this one had to be here. Interesting thing though…I did not want to see it originally when it came out in 1977. I thought the title was stupid even for this 8 year old. It was peer pressure that made me go with the family…and the fact that my parents weren't going to leave me at home being 8 years old. For those that are not old enough to remember this time frame, you could not go a second without a reference to STAR WARS. For me, this is the most a movie has influenced our culture. Nothing has come even remotely close to this one. It was also the first time that I like the villain more than the heroes. Come on…Darth Vader…are you kidding me?!? He was the baddest mother fucker in the galaxy and I wanted to see more of him on screen.

#7 EVIL DEAD II: This was the second “unrated” movie I had ever seen. The first was REANIMATOR. REANIMATOR was great and I do truly love it but EVIL DEAD II did something I had never seen before…mixed comedy with gore. I remember watching this for the first time and being shocked by some of the gore on the screen then followed by laughing to something that appeared to be written by the 3 Stooges. WHY HADN’T SOMEBODY DONE THIS BEFORE?!?

#8 BLADERUNNER: This was the third movie I remember seeing that made the future/scifi look used and beat up. STAR WARS was the first and ALIEN was the second. Ridley Scott really nailed the look in this movie…perfected it if you will. The future actually looked bleak which was a rarity at the time.

#9 NAME OF THE ROSE: This was one of the first free movies outside of FERRIS BUELLER and ALIENS I saw when I started working at the theatre. It was a fairly by the numbers mystery flick but is was the setting the captivated me. This was one of the most dread filled flicks I had seen. It was dripping with a gothic horror atmosphere that was made the movie a blast to watch being that it was a mystery. It is one of my go to movies to watch whenever I have nothing of interest to watch on. I just now need to find it on Blu-Ray. I have always felt that SE7EN captures some of the feeling in this movie.

#10 THE SHINING: This is another one of those movies just hell bent on delivering atmosphere like no other. Not much gore but it doesn’t need it. I remember seeing it for the first time on HBO in 1980. They played it all the time but I did not care. I soaked it up.

#11 ANGEL HEART: This is another film in the same vein as NAME OF THE ROSE that came out about the same time frame. Alan parker delivers a great mystery film noir movie just dripping with atmosphere. I see a theme here regarding mood and atmosphere. Then there is that heavy handed twist at the end.

#12 MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL: One of the most over quoted flicks of all time by geeks all around the world. With that, I really don’t remember when I saw this for the first time. Did I see it at the drive-in with the family when it came out? On TV? I don’t know. However, I do remember discovering this around the same time I discovered Python on TV and I was forever hooked on the absurd British comedy styling.

#13 FIGHT CLUB: I went into this movie not thinking it would amount to anything. Boy was I wrong. This movie spoke to me. Here it is, 15 years later and I still cannot 100% put my finger on why this movie speaks to me but it does.

#14 THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS: Danny Elfman soundtrack: check. Tim Burton visual styling: check. Amazing stop motion animation: check. A movie that is centered on Halloween: double check. How could I not include this movie?!? My home looks like a museum dedicated to this movie. I have a life size Jack and Sally standing in my living room. I would so love to actually walk down the streets portrayed in this movie. I want a theme park designed on it. Obsessed much? Maybe…

#15 HEAVY METAL: I was just around 12 years old when I saw it on cable for the first time (1981 or 1982 I think). Up until then, animation was for the kids. I never thought of a cartoon for adults. It was unheard of in my small world at the time. I had no idea what FRITZ THE CAT was or most of the catalog by Ralph Bakshi except for THE HOBBIT. Here comes this animated movie with girls with big tits, drugs and violent dystopian imagery. Again, another defining moment on film that anybody can do whatever they want in whatever medium they wanted.

My Journey To The Bass

2014-02-24T04:20:00.004-07:00

Music has played a huge…HUGE part of my life. My mom was very influential in this. She watched MGM musicals all the time, sing show tunes around the house and she even performed off Broadway before I was born. Both of my parents had a MASSIVE vinyl library of eclectic music ranging from Steppenwolf, Crosby Stills & Nash, Santana, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, various musical sound tracks, Barry Manilow and Bette Midler. Just about any and everything under the sun…old and new, rock, jazz, soft and even some country. I loved the smell of the vinyl. I was allowed to peruse the collection and listen to what I wanted to. I mainly was attracted to some of the cool album covers…hey, I was just a kid. I really had no taste. I remember the some of the covers vividly like the Herb Alpert, the Steppenwolf and the one that started my love affair with music…Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Band.

I remember being drawn to Sgt. Pepper’s due to its vibrant cover. It was also the first album I remember having the lyrics printed in it and there was also card with these paper cutouts of mustaches and badges to dress up like the band. I HAD to listen to THIS album. I have heard of The Beatles and heard plenty of their songs on the radio but every song on this one I had never heard before. This was well before the 80’s and the invention of the “classic rock” radio station. It was nothing like I have ever heard before. It seeped into my very being even though I was just a dumb kid. Later I learned the history of that album and its effect on the music recording industry. Even the Doors that hated the Beatles for being bubblegum pop shit had to take a step back and take notice and pay respect for the masterpiece that Sgt. Pepper’s was. I made a point to seek out any every Beatles album I could. I saw numerous albums in the vinyl collection but I filled in the gaps through the local library by checking them out…over and over.

I had three more albums and few songs that hit me like this later on at pivotal points on my life. Through the mid to late 70’s, the album buying by my parents pretty much stopped and the music input I got was from the radio and my parents kept it mainly on the rock stations and as a result, I did too. I grew bored of what I was hearing over and over. It was the same old shit. Yeah, there were songs that I liked (I really took notice to Bowie) but most of it was banal crap. The new wave moment started with guys like Joe Jackson, The Knack, DEVO (RIP Bob2) but Gary Numan hit me like a ton of bricks with Cars in 1979. Electronic music?!? Hell yeah! I soooo loved that sound. The early 80’s exploded with that new wave sound all over the place. I ate that shit up. However, corporations completely assumed control of all radio and started shoving crap what THEY think YOU should be listening to. All of top 40 became a wasteland of R&B pop with very little rock at all. Fuck Paula Abdul, Mariah Carey, boy bands and everything in between. Now for those albums, let’s investigate those…

At a point in the mid 80’s I was at a party and somebody at the time I vaguely knew from high school but knew was popular comes storming with a girl under each arm proceeds to bring the party to a stop and made an announcement that no party can truly start until Oingo Boingo’s Dead Man’s Party was played. Thank you Jeff Pool, you have had huge impact on my life with that album. Also, this was nothing like what I ever heard before. That shit was never on the radio. Another black mark was dealt for radio that night. Oingo Boingo led to my love of ska music since they heavily borrowed from that sound. Shortly after that in 86, I had a coworker (Mark) drop The Cure’s greatest hits album, Staring At The Sea, in my lap. I just discovered goth music. Again…none of that shit was on the radio. Now I was fully suspicious of the radio. The Cure became my gateway to bands like Bauhaus, Joy Division, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Sisters of Mercy and etc. Of course, those bands reflected the old guard of underground music of the 70’s and strengthened my love and my respect for guys like Bowie, Iggy Pop, Velvet Underground and Marc Bolan. Then the final nail in the coffin for radio was this final album. The man that ended up the best man at my wedding and vice versa, dropped probably the most influential album on me, Nine Inch Nails Pretty Hate Machine in 1989. Another thank you goes out to Chris Szurgot. I ended up recalling Gary Numan had this effect on me with Cars. This level of electronica fused with metal and/or punk with a dash of goth had my head spinning. I went seeking more of this and dove in head first. I love me some industrial music and the various sub genres thereof. Anything from BiGod 20 to Skinny Puppy to KMFDM to Meat Beat Manifesto to Nitzer Ebb to Gary Numan to Ministry to Die Krupps. ALL OF THE INDUSTRIAL MUSIC.

Yeah, Industrial may be my overall preferred go to genre of music, but I pretty much have a love of most music with some exceptions…country, top 40 shit on the radio, gangsta rap and anything like what shows American Idol is pimping out is ALL crap.

Now…the reason for this long winded opening of this post. Sometime about 20-24 years ago, I started thinking of learning to play an instrument and I was really attracted to the bass guitar. I just like the sound of it and found myself generally humming out the bass lines of quite a few songs or humming out the root note of the chords…which is pretty much what bass players are doing. I had an acquaintance sell me her ex’s POS silver Palmer p-bass and Gorilla practice amp for about $50. I started learning a few things on how to hold it and few basic easy bass lines but had a very hard time learning it even suffering the normal finger blistering and peeling that comes from that. But I was not making any headway and I put it away. Every once in a while, I would pull the bass out of storage and try again. Again, more trouble. Away it went again. I tried again and learned that there were issues with the bass and I learned how to repair the wiring and some body maintenance. Improved the bass and was able to learn a little easier but still had trouble getting it. Away it went again. This went on and off for about 20 years. I even thought to myself a few times that playing may not be cut out for me.

For the past few years, I started making musician friends online and it would come up if I played anything and I would skirt it or say something like “I would love to learn” and etc. This last year, the number of people in bands I talk to online has even grown more. As a result, my interest in the bass cropped up again. I pulled it out of storage, cleaned it up and made a promise to learn the damn thing back in November. At the insistence of Chris Kniker, one of the guys behind Primitive Race, egged me on to pick up a copy of Rocksmith 2014 and swore by it. He nailed it. It has been teaching me quite a bit and my fingers have callused up quite nicely. I ended up picking up the first Rocksmith and some DLC to go with it. I still had issues with that bass however. Now with the internet being full of info now, I did some research and realized that my bass was fucked up with all sorts of issues and learned how to repair those issues. I was able to repair most of them but one was beyond my scope. The neck was so warped and the adjustment of the truss rod could not fix it. The action on the strings took too much effort to fret it right. The bridge was jacked up too and I could not hit the harmonic on the 12th fret even if I adjusted it. However, I kept practicing despite not being able to have the software hearing the notes even though the bass was mostly tuned. The wife saw me getting frustrated and making adjustments after adjustments to no avail. She encouraged me to take it in to get properly repaired or possibly buy a new one.

Due to finances, buying a new one was the way to go and I got a decent Fender Squier PJ Bass. The first thing I noticed that it took nowhere near the effort to get a note played. My hands were much stronger than I thought. The learning took off significantly with the software.

I still need to work on my dexterity and accuracy of my fretting hand but it is getting better every day I practice (which I try to do at least an hour every day). At least my fingers do not burn anymore. I also have been reading up little on music theory and the typical role of the bass play in a band like hit the root of the chords and etc. blah blah blah. I really need to learn how to read sheet music when I get a chance. However, a side effect has come up from learning the bass…I am starting to recognize some of the different types of tuning like E flat, Drop D and standard. I see patterns in everything I am learning and sometimes can have an idea what fret is getting played…not all the time. I am not that good yet but things are looking good.

Now to what inspired to write this post…Tonight I learned a simple song without the assistance of software and did it all by ear. I heard the song GROOVE ME by King Floyd in the car and I immediately thought “Hey, I can I think I can play that.” I fired up the computer and listened to it again and started figuring out the song. After 3 play through attempts, I was able to pretty much nail the song. Because of this seemingly small hurdle clearing, I am feeling VERY confident on how it is going and somewhat accomplished.

Les Claypool, Geddy Lee, Flea, Sting, Victor Wooten, Bootsy Collins, Paul McCartney, John Entwistle, Cliff Burton, John Paul Jones…I am putting all of you on notice. I am coming to join your ranks. I will learn this instrument and WILL be one of the greats like you.

My Obsession

2013-10-31T04:48:00.001-06:00

I am obsessed with technology. I am obsessed with gadgets. I am obsessed with movies. I am obsessed with science. I am obsessed with most things that fall in the category of general geekiness. However, my first obsession as far back as I can remember is Halloween. It always has been and it will always be my main obsession. It even influences some of my other obsession, mainly movies.

It probably started with my parents fostering that obsession through movies as early as 4 years old. My father sat me down February 10^th 1973 to watch the original 1931 Dracula with Bela Lugosi. It was on channel 20 WDCA in the DC area on the show Creature Feature with host Count Gore de Vol. It was the first horror movie I ever watched and the host of the show had a name that sounded much like my own last name…Duvall / de Vol. Through the years, my mother and I watch most of the Roger Corman, Universal Monster and Vincent Price horror flicks and my father with the Hammer and grindhouse horror movies. Seeds FIRMLY planted.

Then there was trick or treating. I got to play dress up as some of my favorite character through the years. Most of my costumes growing were home made with help from either of my parents with the occasional cheap plastic ones in the late 70’s (ugh). My mother introduced me to prosthetic makeup when I was in the 4^th grade with the official Dick Smith Horror Make-Up kit. It was my first experience with spirit gum and something like alginate. It won me first prize at the costume contest in school as Mr. Hyde. As I got older, I got more adept and used more modern materials like latex. In my late teens, I toyed around with appliances and did a Freddy Krueger costume for a few years. The past 10 years I have mainly been an 1800s undertaker or grim reaper…nothing too elaborate. I have been saving my energy for the other part of my obsession.

Sometime in the late 70’s, my dad started giving me ideas for creating a cemetery in the yard. Cutting out big boxes to create tombstones with a little paint. Using toilet paper to create fake creepy moss in trees and etc. As a result, through the years, I tried to create bigger and better ideas and props to scare the ever living shit out children (what the hell is wrong with me?!?). It first start off like what my father told me…make tombstones and built dummies. Then places like Spirit Halloween started springing up every year and I started buying my props. Got some really good ones over the past 10 years. Now, I am starting to rely on my other obsession…technology. I am now using technology by building new props using motors and relying on tricks like projecting video on the house. Every year I make or add something new. I am now at the point where I plan new ideas up to 2 to 3 years ahead. I am looking to add a ghost/ghoul that will drop in from a high point out of sight to the front door just when somebody sets it off when they pass a certain point on the sidewalk for next year. It will also reset itself. I am pretty sure I can make this happen and somewhat cheaply too. A few years from now…there will be an expansion into the back yard with displays that will eventually lead the kids into the back of the garage with a bloody Dr. Satan like scene with me performing an autopsy.

The past few years with my setup, I have been able to get kids to NOT come up to the door and even cry. My payment for putting all this work into the haunt has been the tears of frightened children. I am now at the point where that may be not enough anymore. I am now want to be paid with pants getting soaked in urine. Not to be greedy, maybe one day, I might get paid with somebody dropping a major load in their pants. I really need to up my game if I am ever going to get that.

With that, I need to head to bed so I can get up early enough to finish putting up the rest of the haunt. It is pay day and I need to feed my obsession.

15 (Very Short) Years

2013-10-31T02:48:00.001-06:00

It is now officially sometime after midnight (voice over “In your time zone”) and the date is now October 31^st 2013. For the most of the world, today is Halloween and by far my most favorite time of the year. It is a dark holiday (as we all SHOULD know) celebrating death, monsters, evil spirits and just about anything relating to the macabre. I have obsessed with Halloween for all my life and still do to this day. My parents fed my obsession for Halloween as a child. I received model skulls for Christmas (from multiple family members) due to loving creepy shit. I go ape shit every year to build a haunt in my yard. I start planning for the haunt for next Halloween the second I strike the props after trick or treating is done. However, this blog post is NOT about Halloween and my obsession with it.

15 years ago this day, I put aside my obsession with all things creepy and dark did something actually joyous and extremely NOT dark and macabre. I married my best friend, Viki. Since then, she has been my partner (“in crime” some say), confidant and whatever cliché BS you can throw at it. In these 15 years, we have gained two cats (and sadly lost one of them), lived in 4 different cities (Colonial Heights (blech), Rockville, Vegas and now Denver), gone through trials and tribulations (bankruptcy is a mother fucker) and had two AWESOME kids (better than yours nah nah). During the thick and thin, ups and downs and what have you, I have been as happy and content with my life as anybody could be and have the best person to spend my life with. I can prove that too…Viki and I have never…and I mean NEVER... have had a fight. We love and respect each other that much not to torture ourselves with that crap and have our kids witness that shit. Oh we can disagree on things and I know I frustrate the hell out of her from time to time…but no fights. Have we found the secret to the perfect relationship? I am not sure, but I know it is working for us. I mean FUCK…15 fucking years!?! It feels like it was just the other day.

What will the next 15, 30, 45 years hold for us? I do not know and I cannot tell the future. I am not one for grand romantic gestures or ANYTHING romantic in general but I can say this, I will continue loving Viki for as long as she continues wanting to stay by my side and putting up with my shit. With that, I can extrapolate that we will probably live a very happy life together until we need to be cremated. I just hope it will be a VERY long time from now because I want to enjoy her company until death do us part.

Briefly Felt Old

2013-02-01T01:10:00.001-07:00

In one of those fleeting moments I rarely actually have, I felt old. I am 44 years old...some will say that is old, others will say that is young. I just say I am 14 with 30 years of finding dick and farts jokes the epitome of high culture. However, I digress ad usual...

A little over a year ago, we picked up THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: SKYWARD SWORD. I started playing it and adjusting to the new Wii interface changes based from the last game. Was digging it and but waiting for the meat of the game to start to kick in. Fairly bland...then the first major boss battle hit. What followed next was a torrent of profanities spewing from my gob and controller throwing rage. BTW, if you have a Wii and use it properly, you know that is impossible to do. After 2 days of trying with each sitting only lasting about 15 of trying I said "fuck it" and put the game away for over a year. Seriously... Fuck that game and fuck that boss.

Fast forward to this current week. I am at home taking a staycation and I loom at the rack of games and try yo figure out what I want to play and I see it there...Skyward Sword...mocking me. That fucking bitch. OK, I put on my big boy gamer pants and grab that case and fire up the game on the Wii-U. After getting reacquainted with the controls, I dive in and go after the boss. Took me six tries and nailed that bitch to the wall. FUCK YEAH! I was the master of my own domain. I felt like the master gamer that I like to think of myself.

Tonight, after seeing me rock this game this week, she decided to get back onto the game herself. She stopped much sooner than I did in the game. She gets to the boss and was very worried about it and was a bit scared to go in after him. She tooled around for an hour then went in. She fucking beat the shit out of him in the first go...no deaths, no potions, no trouble. WHAT?!? One try and beat him like it was nothing. Fuck me.

It was at the moment I realized I was old. My 12 year daughter is turning out to be a better gamer than her old man. Something that most girls tend to not be. But you know what, I am damn proud of her. I now have to tap into my inner 12 year self and get back to basics.

With that being said, I need to show her what I find funny...I am gonna tell to her to pull my finger.

Be Proud Of Who You Are* (*within reason of course)

2012-10-11T13:28:00.000-06:00

Today is NATIONAL COMING OUT DAY. This day generally reserved for the homosexual community to "come out of the closet" and let others know. If you are a gay man or woman, be proud and let the world know who you are. There should be ABSOLUTELY no shame on being yourself. If somebody tries to shame you for being gay, their issue is not with you...it is with themselves and they need to come to terms with it.

Now that I have said that, I would be remiss if I did not say this to my atheist brothers and sisters out there. For many years I closeted myself from the majority of the world about being an atheist. My mom insisted that I do not disclose that information due to fears of retribution from small minded religious types. I only let a very small minority of people know if my rejecting and lack of faith of an imaginary sky fairy created to control the masses . Even then, some of them seems off put by that notion that I could believe in their imaginary friend. That re-enforced what my mom told me. The fact that some of my close friends did not feel comfortable in my lack of faith struck a raw nerve. So I kept mostly quiet and only discussed these matters with other atheists.

Along comes the internet. Hooray for the internet. With advent of social networks and anonymity within the internet, I could start stepping out of the atheist closet more and more. Only within the last 10 of my 43 years of life I have been fully open with my lack of belief. In fact, to the point now that I am comfortable enough of shoving back at the small minded religious types. It is so amazingly liberating not having to conceal myself. I have heard this same thing from many of my gay friends that now live life as themselves and not what the small minded majority expects them to be. With that being said, I do make a quick step back in the atheist closet when I am at work and when I I am dealing with my kids school and social community involved therein. My kids do not need the grief placed upon them from any of their indoctrinated classmates...kids can be cruel enough without the extra added fuel for their taunts.

So, if you are gay, lesbian or atheist...kick open that closet door and let the world know who you are. If somebody gives you shit, flip them the bird and tell them "Fuck off! I don't need acceptance from small minded fools."

Fun With Dry Ice: Part I

2011-12-07T18:04:00.000-07:00

We received a package of tasty meat products from Omaha Steaks (cheap plug to possibly get free stuff)(fingers crossed), all courtesy of my pop. As usual, the package is loaded with a HUGE chunk of dry ice to keep said tasty meat products from Omaha Steaks (another cheap plug) fresh.

This, of course, means I get to have some fun with the geeklings...

Science Will Be The REAL Religion

2011-12-04T02:52:00.000-07:00

I have seen this video a few times and it ALWAYS astounds me. It makes me want to learn as much as can about the universe a the science that makes it tick.

When you actually open your mind and really begin to see how big our universe is just from what we can see here on this little rock we call home, you will actually begin to understand why god and religion starts to look quaint and silly. There is so much more out there to see and learn than be confined to a narrow minded mythical human construct that restricts your knowledge to a fraction of what "they" deem acceptable.

Now I never followed my destined career path of programming or engineering that I went to school for and instead got sidetracked into another passion In any case, I have still kept my hunger for knowledge in the sciences. I still read science documents and blogs daily and try to keep current on the newest technological advances we (the human race) make. I "geek out" almost daily whenever I see new breakthroughs and discoveries in the sciences.

However, I am almost instantly heartbroken see these advance and breakthroughs denied by politicians due to power or monetary greed some of the time and religious reasons the other times because they think their imaginary figurehead has demanded that. What makes me sadder is when I see some of my older friends that I have known for years that have yet to remove the blinders of faith and still subscribe to rules written in the bronze age and arbitrarily cherry pick those rules from their playbook. They limit themselves mentally. I pity them. Maybe they want to stay in a tiny pocket of the universe. However, if they could just only take a step back and see the real big picture, they could possible enjoy the awe and wonderment I experience when I see how big the universe is and the exponential growth in humankind's acquired knowledge. They may think or say they experience some of these things with that imaginary friend of theirs, but that is just their spiked Kool-Aid talking.

Like many of the thousands of religions that have come and gone, Christianity, Judaism and Islam will all fade into mythology just like the others. Hopefully, these three will be the last fictionally and spiritually based religions and will be replaced by science. By the way, science has been the one thing that has truly stood the test of time as every cult and religion fell into oblivion. Science has taken a few punches to the chin by religion over the centuries. There is a reason why the Dark Ages were called "The Dark Ages". With that being said, science is coming on strong in a big way and people are losing faith with their god(s) around the world. Europe in particular is seeing this spread quickly like a firestorm. Countries like Scandinavia, Norway and the like are seeing the majority of the population being atheist now. I have a friend in the UK that told me that most of England is seeing Christianity disappear there. America is seeing this happen and people like me are coming out of the closet and being outspoken. The religious right is entrenching unfortunately and getting ready for what they see as a war and willing to step all on our governing document, The Constitution. Sigh.

However, it is inevitable that science and reason will prevail because knowledge and the way it is communicated is now to the point that it cannot be held back. The people WILL wake up and replace all of their imaginary friends with science and reason with a good dash of skepticism. I just hope that it happens in my lifetime.

My Theatre Origins

2011-10-02T05:27:00.001-06:00

It has been a very interesting week in my personal online life. It all started early this week when I received a blip on my friend request button on Facebook. It was from a former coworker and friend that I have lost contact with over the years. Upon accepting Cheryl’s friend request I saw that she posted a picture of herself and another, Don, at the job in 1987. From that point, between her, me and two others (Rich and Arland), we ended up having a nostalgia fest from those days that is currently a 1000+ comment thread on that very picture. Others have joined in that conversation but it is primarily the 4 of us talking of the glory days. All four of us had a ton of memories flooding back from back then and it prompted me to create a Group Page dedicated to those memories on Facebook.

For those that have been reading my tripe on this blog, Twitter, Facebook and Google+, you should know that I am currently in the movie theatre biz. That was also my first job and it started in 1986.

Depressing...

There she is…Lynnhaven 8 Theatres. It was AMC’s former and now closed flagship theatre in the Norfolk/Virginia Beach area that opened in May of 1986. It is now a sad pathetic shell of a gutted building that now houses an indoor go-cart track. It is always sad to see something like that happen to a movie theatre. It is even sadder to see it happen to this particular one. However, for the years it was opened, I know it was filled with many memories of good times. I remember the summer or fall of 1985 seeing the structure start to go up. I would zip by on my bike wondering “What the hell is this building? The architecture doesn’t make sense.” I knew it looked like a theatre but there was one already in the mall no more than 200 yards away. In any case I watched it go up over the winter in anticipation wondering what it will be. Spring rolls around and signage is going in place. By then I KNEW what it was and I was giddy. As you already know, I love movies…I mean I REALLY love movies. I always have too. By having more screens in the area meant more movies for me to watch. Little did I know how many that I would end up watching in my near future.

The building opened in May of 1986 with their big title being COBRA with Sylvester “You are the disease and I am the cure.” Stallone. LABYRYNTH was the first movie I saw there in theatre #6. July of that summer, I saw ALIENS in 70mm with 6track Dolby in their #8 house. That may have clenched it I think for me. I was so enamored with that presentation that I came back a couple more times to see it. Not the movie…the presentation. The sound and the picture just blew me away. I had never seen a movie with sound like that and the picture was so damn big compared to the shitty shoebox theatres I had been to before that like the shit box that UA had at the mall across the way.

Holy shit...I am LITERALLY almost half the guy I am now. Seriously...I am about 115 lbs there and now 200.

So, it was the summer of 1986 and I am a 17 year old scrawny geek (see pic above from 1987 at theatre) and I am about a month away to starting my junior year of high school. I was lazing about the house and my father came to me and said those fateful words that most fathers say to their boys, “Dammit boy, go get a job and stop laying about. Make yourself useful.” Therefore, I got on my bike and started picking up applications for things nearby like McDonalds, grocery stores, hardware stores and the like. I got a wild hair up my ass and decided to bike on over to the new theatre 3.5 miles away from the house and pick up an application there too. I really did not think I had a chance but I thought “what the hell”. Took them all home and filled them out. On Tuesday morning 8/5/86 I grabbed the applications, got on my bike and headed out. My 10 year old brother tagged along with me as I was turning in applications from place to place making my way down towards the theatre slowly. At the last stop, I dropped off the application and an assistant manager, Annette Belanga, takes the application and looks it over as I was about to walk it out. She stops me and asks if I was available for an interview later that day. Stunned, I nervously said yes and said I will have to go home and change. I race home with my kid brother as fast as I could and came back about an hour early in an Oxford shirt, dress pants and a tie and waited outside. A few minutes before I had to be there I walked in and Annette greeted me and led me to what was the employee break room to interview me. After what felt like an eternity for me probably babbling and stammering nervously, she said that she wanted hire this spaz and to have me start that Friday. FUCK YES!!!!!!!! My planned course for my life was forever changed at that moment. I did not know it at the time but it was. I need to say this here before going on any further…thank you Annette. You had probably had the biggest affect on my life other than my parents by taking a chance on this geek and hiring me that day.

For the next 3 years at this theatre, I had the most influential period of my life. The people there I worked with and for were like family. Yeah, we had our share of working alongside morons, bullies and jerks but all families have those too. You have to take the bad with the good. And there was much more good than bad when I look back. I am not even going to dignify this post with calling out the idiots there because in looking back…I would not be the person I am today if it was not for EVERYONE there. The managers there acted more like parents and counselors than bosses. We recieved guidance more often than punishment when we screwed up. There was an air of camaraderie among the staff even if we were all part of different cliques and went to different schools outside of work. We would playfully call each other awful names, play pranks on each other, bust our asses together, have parties after work and fought with each other. Much like a strong family unit, we had respect and dare I say it…love for one another. I strongly believe that the head honcho there was the chief person responsible for setting up that environment.

Ed Moyer was the General Manager. When he walked in the building, you knew he was the one that was in charge by the way he carried himself. He really never had to repeat himself. Whenever he said something, that was it and it was understood. He surrounded himself with most dynamic and versatile team. Each one of them had very different strengths and he used them effectively. Moyer was really good, but his team made him appear nearly infallible. To this day, I try to emulate him in many of those aspects. I try to surround myself with strong team with different skill sets. I try to be fair but firm. I am a strong believer of second chances and giving out guidance instead of doling out punishments. I do not think I am a fraction of how good he was there. However, using what I have learned from him, I have done quite well for myself in this industry. It has gotten me the GM spot at a theatre in Colorado that is about to expand with IMAX. I could not be any happier either. Thanks Ed…maybe one day I could live up fully to what you have become.

While at Lynnhaven, I became a projectionist or what they called a “booth usher”. It was a double duty position where we ran projection and helped the ushers. I remember hounding the managers all the time when I first got there to learn the booth. A couple a months later, the managers put me in. I do not know if it was because they felt I had the talent or I just wore them down and they just gave in to shut me up. In any case, I was taught by some really talented projectionists…Liz and Jonathan. They really set in me the importance of proper presentation and showmanship. I eventually got a key to come in the building early in the mornings to build up and screen the new prints every week. Even though I loved running the booth more than anything else there, it afforded me to fuel my passion for movies.

Similar projector head that we used at Lynnhaven 8

I saw so many movies while I was there. I would skip school and stay there all day watching movies sometimes. I would see movies that I would never have given the time before starting there. As of now, in 2011, I have calculated that I have probably seen, give or take a few hundred, about 20,000 movies. That equals about 4 years of my life of solid continuous movies. Hell, as I write this, I just finished watching THE THING from 1981 and rolled into watching 3 O’CLOCK HIGH from 1987.

While at Lynnhaven 8, I was in high school up through the first year or so of college. Even though school was teaching me for what I originally thought was going to be my career path of computer programming, Lynnhaven 8 was making me like a heroin junkie for the biz. However, with me being a male hitting twenty and going to college, I started getting all sorts of head strong and self righteous. You can say that I caught a case of swelled head syndrome with a dash of know-it-all-ism. I felt I should have been pushed up in rank and further along than what I was then. I was feeling combative and resentful as result and by the spring of 1989, I said fuck it and left so I could concentrate on my school. I probably burnt a few bridges, but I did not care at that time. I had a couple different jobs in the video game industry repairing arcade machines and then got a programming gig near the mall. Even though I was think that I was fulfilling my work I did in college by programming, I was not happy. It did not help that the boss was a religious nut job that had us indirectly working for an even bigger religious nut job, Pat Robertson. I felt like a fucking sell out and I got progressively more depressed because this was not what I went to school for. I kept looking back at the time I had at the theatre and wondered why I had my head up my ass. Luckily for me, I also had a second job repairing games and managing a game room in Pembroke Mall and the theatre across the hall from me was just bought out by Regal Cinemas. One of their assistants that I knew was promoted to GM to take over a new theatre going up in Chesapeake. I saw an opportunity and I jumped all over it.

I basically came back to the first job that I loved in 1995. I had surgically removed my head from my ass that I had firmly placed up there 6 years earlier from feeling self entitled. I started at the bottom of the food chain there and busted my ass for 2 years until they gave me the keys to my first building to call my own and to be cliché, the rest is history.

And I owe it all to that little 8 plex that was at 2736 North Mall Drive, Virginia Beach, VA.

Now I have some catching up to do with some old “family” members…

The Frustrated Atheist

2011-08-24T01:19:00.002-06:00

I know that it seems that I have been getting angrier and angrier with these posts but I am tired of seeing many of my friends, colleagues and family wasting their short precious time on this planet with religious garbage. I know it is garbage because there is ZERO evidence to your claims of your imaginary friend. I know it is garbage because I have blasphemed your god's name almost daily since I was ten years old and I have not been taken out by your imaginary friend. I know it is garbage because the historical record shows not one instance of Jesus, the twelve guys he hung out with and his whore except when a historical document references the bible itself. Only ONE book says that it does exist but there are literally millions of historical documents that don't. You know...that fucking frustrates me to no end.

I have many frustrations too. The people all around me walk around with the blinders on to all the overwhelming evidence to the contrary but they take them off for some guy in a big hat and fancy robes because he says the stuff in bible are true. I am frustrated because we, the formally greatest country in the world, are being past by in education, science research and technology in other nations that have dropped all ties to their former gods and religions. They are no longer being held back by ancient beliefs. I am frustrated that this country could have found cures for many types of diseases, injuries and disorders but the religious extremists in this country have forced that kind of research out of our labs and into other country's labs. I am frustrated that people like me are being persecuted, maligned and being labeled as evil by the religious when in reality, nearly all of the truly insidious evils in the world have been perpetrated by the religious. I am frustrated that 10% of people are BORN with different sexual orientation and they get treated like social lepers and denied the same freedoms that the other 90% can enjoy. I am frustrated that I see all the potential intelligence being wasted on sticking to Bronze Age, dogmatic thinking when we could be applying it to the betterment of mankind.

Granted, as a philosophy tool on living a good life in the Bronze Age, the bible and religion has helped mankind in its infancy. And just because I am an atheist, don't think I don't know about the bible. I do. It was one of the many reason why I became an atheist...I fucking read it.

"When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Corinthians 13:11"

Mankind is no longer in its infancy. Religion was the warm blanket that kept us warm and feeling safe. We don't need it any longer. We are growing up and can fend for ourselves but there are many that are still clinging on it like a baby clings on that beat up blankie. That REALLY frustrates the shit out of me.

I have said some really horrible things about believers in the past. Some of it I meant but most of it I did not. I said it out of frustration. What I truly feel about the faithful in this world is pity and it frustrates me that most of them ABSOLUTELY cannot see a much bigger universe around them because they refuse to come out of their blanket. They say I live in a world of despair, unhappiness and anger. They could not be any further from the truth (much like the bible). I am actually a very happy person. I marvel at the wonders in this universe...natural and manmade. I have much love in my life unlike what the faithful have to say about me. I am a good person and try to do the right thing because it IS the right thing to do. Not because I fear some made up eternal damnation.

Despite all that, I am unfortunately frustrated. Ugh, I am so fucking frustrated with all of this. I think am going to do something entertaining now to put a smile on my face.

American Delusions

2011-08-24T00:12:00.000-06:00

This post is SPECIFICALLY to those people that I see post on FB and Twitter that think that the U.S. is a Christian nation. If you truly believe that, then you know nothing of the Constitution and WHY this country was founded. It was founded on many principles and reasons but #1 reason in the Bill Of Rights was for religious freedom. Freedom to worship and have faith in whatever religion or deity you want...or not. Like the writer of this article said, "America is not one nation under God, but one nation under a Constitution." I could have not said it better.

For you Christians that have been saying things like "This is a Christian nation and if you don't like it, get out." Let me correct you by saying to you...go read the Constitution (THE GOVERNING DOCUMENT OF THIS COUNTRY) and if YOU don't like that...YOU can get out.

Yes I am trolling...but I am allowed. It is my Constitutionally given right. Just like it is your Constitutionally given right to be deluded into thinking that there is some imaginary sky guy controlling our lives and destinies.

Now that I have set this up, please go read this MUCH better written article from the AMERICAN ATHEIST website...

Congress Shall Make No Law…

Ignorant Panicky Christians, I Have No Time For You Anymore

2011-07-30T07:20:00.002-06:00

Warning: I will be a dick. However, for my religious friends and family, you need to hear me out.

I am wound up tight real right about now. The whole cross thing at the Ground Zero memorial is working up atheists and Christians in a frothing frenzy and the stupid is rising quickly to the limelight. I guess I should throw in a little of a back story for those that have no idea what I am on about.

Unless you were living under a rock everybody should know what happened 10 years ago this September. I am not going to go into the conspiracies, the politics or the possible reasons this attack happened except that it happened. Out of a the rubble of the twin towers, a riveted section of two girders fell to the ground that happen to look like the Christian cross. Humans have a driving urge to make sense out of the senseless, see patterns in chaos and anthropomorphise things that are meaningless. This is called apophenia. So when this random hunk of girders was found, the Christians gravitated to it immediately and saw it as a ”sign from God”. Whatever…

Here we are…10 years later and a new building is going up and there will be a memorial. Here is where this story gets dicey. The memorial is a public works project funded by the taxpayers. This means the government is building it. The Christians that have now turned that random piece of metal from the buildings into a religious symbol and now worship it. They want it placed at the memorial. Let me digress again…

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The highlighted part in red is referred to as the “Establishment Clause”. I am no expert in constitutional law but I do know what that part is. Thomas Jefferson and the founding fathers wrote that part to create that little thing called the “Separation of church and state.” They meant this to be a secular country. No religions are to influence the government and vice versa. This was one of the reasons why they left the Old World. Govern ourselves and not be controlled by the church.

Now where were we…oh yeah…the placement of a religious symbol on publicly owned land. You see, if this were to happen, this means our government will be publically endorsing a religion which is expressly forbidden by our bill of rights. Atheist groups are now suing to keep this from happening and this is stirring up the Christian nut bags around the country. Fox News is also fanning the flames of this controversy to boot on their Facebook page. The extreme ignorant Christian nutters come out of the wood work in the name of their “loving god” and their “religion of peace” and start calling for the death of atheists everywhere. Now Fox News tried to save face and had the posts removed but not quickly enough. Some clever people were able to screen grab them and have them posted here http://me.lt/9P8u6L .

Now let’s get to meat of this post.

For people claiming to be “Good Christians”, what they are saying is not very Christ like at all. Just pure evil if you ask me…as evil as the extreme Islamic radicals that took down the towers. Both calling for the deaths of people that do not line up with their outdated bronze age beliefs that should have no bearing on this modern world. Now, I realized I was an atheist by the time I was 10 years old and kept pretty much to myself about it except for a select few around me out of fear of being beat up, teased and rejected. I silently sat by for years knowing that there were people secretly wanting me dead or hurt…even by some I personally know. Luckily I could hide in plain sight form these hateful people.

Thanks to social networks I have found others like me and discovered that atheism is growing by leaps and bounds. This is scaring Christians around the country and they are afraid. Actually panicky is a better word to describe them. This is causing the most hateful thoughts come to light. With our growing numbers, we are gaining the courage to uncloset ourselves and speak out. I did the same in the last 10 years. I have actively decided to push back at the risk of losing friends and family and it has given me some peace. My eyes are more open to the short sightedness, the ignorance, the hate and evil that religion(s) have wrought on this world. Only the death of all religions will see this end but as long as ignorance and the willingness to be a sheep lingers we will continue to see more 9/11’s and Norway bombings.

With that being said, let this serve as a warning to all my religious friends and family:

I will only get more outspoken in these matters. If you truly value my friendship, I plead with you, PLEASE WAKE UP and see the light of reason. Embrace humans and scientific progress…not dogmatic principles made up by fearful and ignorant men to control you. If you are truly intelligent you will see that there is no invisible sky guy controlling everything. For those that will not and refuse to be mentally free from religious slavery, I am about to break a cardinal rule of a few of us atheist…I am going to be a dick.

If you are so small minded to actually think these written fairy tales in these “scriptures” written by men to be true…GO FUCK YOURSELF. You are truly mentally retarded. I may be at some peace that I have embraced and opened up on who I am but I will be at true peace when I stop hearing and seeing the violent and progress stopping bullshit that you and your fucktard brethren have brought forth on the human race. If you cannot use your brains and see that religion is holding back humanity AND YOU, then you are too stupid for me to even entertain the thought of being around you. I want to lead a good life and I want my kids to grow up in a world of peace and progress and I do not need a fucking retarded idea of a “god” in my life or my kids lives bringing us down to a primitive mindset.

To sum up, religious types are getting squirrely over the fact their numbers are dwindling and they are starting to show how stupid they really are. I do not have the time or patience to deal with that anymore and I asking my friends and family to either wake the fuck up or fuck off. Free your minds or crawl into a hole to talk to your imaginary friend. Learn to questions things instead of attacking them. I do not wish any of you religious types harm, death or ill will like you would upon me. I just wish that you will embrace the intelligence that evolution has brought us on this planet or go away and let evolution completely eradicate the need to believe in the unbelievable.

I am, as always willing to debate talk about things. However, I have ALWAYS seen it break down into name calling and circular logic on the side of the religious types. If you can control yourself and want to talk to me off line, I will. If you want to talk shit to me, don't waste your breath. I have better things to do that do not include killing kids and bombing buildings.