These Videos Make Me Laugh

In order to spread "holiday cheer" I have compiled a column of funny videos (mostly cat based, I apologize). So here you go...

Gotta Tell You This

I just watched a little documentary called "Exit Through the Gift Shop" (Available on Netflix Instant Queue) and it got me thinking about graffiti or a nicer term is "street art".

I've always had mixed feelings about graffiti. On one hand, I don't like the idea of breaking the law and vandalism, on the other, I love provocative art and art that was kind of dangerous and risky to produce.

However, it's hard to see graffiti from good artists and not think 'yea, this art should be everywhere', but there is really stupid graffiti of just people's names, penises or some personal logo, which I think gives all street art a bad reputation.

Some of the artists I came upon you may have heard of already. "Banksy" is most well known in Great Britain and is illegal art installations and wall paintings always cause a stir, but they are just phenomanal so here click here to see his website and look at some of his stuff.

Most older art in a museum, I feel like most people passively look at it and take it in, but then forget about it just in time for the next painting. Banksy's work and artists like him make me laugh and emote a lot more than I would with a Monet painting. And the idea behind these painting or sculptures doesn't go over my head. I never feel too dumb or too smart for any of this work I look at.

Some other street art names are "Obey" (his website); every American should know him for designing Obama's "Hope" poster. Also, Thierry Guetta, street artist name=Mr.Brainwash (his website) is the french "filmmaker" turned street artist that the movie I watched is about.

There's something addictive about these mixtures of modern art, pop art and street art and I hope it keeps happening.

Random Thoughts: Wednesday Edition

I feel like people that bought Smart Cars failed to remember what winter weather can do to the roads...

When SUV's, 18 wheelers and buses are slip-slidin' on icey roads like hockey players do Smart Car owners really want to be the size equivalent of a puck? And the content of the picture didn't even occur on icey roads.

Women Changing Last Names After Marriage

I just heard that the singer Katy Perry is taking her new husband's last name and apart from not caring too much what she does I think that's great. Here's my opinion: a woman should take her husband's last name after they get married. UNLESS he genuinely has a really stupid name. I'm talking about names like "Doowop" or "Cracker" or "Lamo"; I'm not sure if these are actual last names, but something tells me they are and they should probably be put to rest.

I'm 22; I don't know if I would be considered old fashioned, but I just have a hard-ass mom and grandma that drilled into me that that's what you do as a female.

I feel like I've heard all of the feminist arguments; my favorite being the whole concept derived from men actually owning women as slaves that would take the name of their master. And while yes, I wish enslavement didn't exist, but I just have a hard time believing that that is the exact origin of this practice.

I'm going to quote the Old Testament on this one, but I want to also say that as a Christian I know that we don't follow OT laws anymore, but we still carry some of the traditions. The following passage from Genesis is a common reading at weddings for obvious reasons and comes right after God makes Eve:

Gen. 2:24 - "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh." Jesus quotes this again in Matthew 19:5, but adding that "So they are no longer two, but one." Sooo "one flesh" or body should have one name. I don't see any reason that a man couldn't take his wife's last name, but I'll explain later why I still don't like that idea.

The argument I'm making is religious and if you're not Jewish or Christan I suppose the concept doesn't apply to you, but let's all remember that marriage is not an practice started by European civilizations or America, but the Judeo-Christian God. So if you've shunned organized religion maybe marriage and name changing isn't for you anyway even though I hear it comes with great benefits. Mmmmm benefits....

My next argument for a name change is unity. Religious or not, a family is united by blood (or adoption). Hopefully, they're all under one roof when starting out. I feel like the one thing that that shows a physical unity of a family is the last name; not your looks, not your house, not the belongings. My brother Jeff and I don't look anything a like, but we're both Pernouds; when people see our last names they know that we grew up together. I just don't understand how parents with two different last names decide what to name their kids. Do the children decide when they're older? I feel like children have identity problems as it is without having to worry about "hmm do I like mom or dad's last name better and which one is better suited for me?"

I realize that some people will hyphenate their last name with their spouse's last name and while I guess that's better, what are the children supposed to do when they get married? Tack on three names after their middle name? It would suck if your parents had long names and did that. "Hello. I'm Jim, but my full name is Jim Lichtensteinzee-Autobonkerhorse and yes, I'm German and I hate my parents." So I say to all of the women who complain about this nonsense, THINK OF YOUR FUTURE CHILDREN!

The same last name taken from the father's side also establishes the man as the head of the household and often times the financial provider. And I know feminists will be up in arms about this too and I realize that women now a days can make just as much if not more money than a man as they should. Heck, my parents are professional equals, but men are just naturally stronger and bigger (NOT smarter); instinctively, they will be the ones to stop a burglar in the house and should be the first person to die for their family in a life or death situation. I guess it just too much sense to me.

That's another thing: I feel like feminists, specifically, aren't taking they're husbands last name because they're a man. Are they like "I'll marry you because I love you as a person, but I hate the fact that you're a man and I won't be your slave so :-p ?" I know I'll gladly take my husband's name when the time comes and I'll do it because I love him as a person and because he's a man (hopefully a good man...with strong arms...and some chest hair, but not too much).

I love my last name and even though I feel like it's a huge part of my identity, I know it's not the literal name I'm completely attached to, but kind of the essence or legacy that I know about my family history. I also know more about my mom's side than my dad's and I respect both, but I'm not about to change my last name to my mother's maiden name. However, I understand that most women who don't change their last name don't do it because they're too attached to the last name they were given at birth. Still, just because I would be taking a new name doesn't mean I'm betraying my roots. In fact, I'll probably talk about my family/heritage/roots all the time to my kids probably to the point that it annoys them (as my mother does me).

I want to hear your arguments and comments in a kind fashion and because there wasn't anything visually relevant for this post, here is a picture of some pretty orchids I found.

4 a.m. Is When It All Comes Out

I would like to get a few things off my chest...

First, I watched the episode of "Celebrity Ghost Stories" a few weeks ago that featured Marilyn Manson on it, which isn't bad in itself. However, Mr. Manson looked more normal than I've ever seen him (without make-up or crazy apparel) and he was talking about being bullied in high school and I just found the whole gestalt very appealing. So I must admit that now I'm slightly attracted to Marilyn Manson. I tried to get a picture of him looking normal to show ya'll, but you're just going to have to believe me on this one.

Second, I was going out to bars at Saint Louis University post-graduation, post-moving out of my swanky Coronado apartment when I hear a familiar phrase being yelled.

Fast-forward 2 years: "the Margs" and I had always been crazy enough to yell out of our 10th floor apartment window.

If we were to look to our left a little bit this is what we saw, besides the snow....except in winter. We would typically just remember when each of us (the roommates) was coming back from a class so we could yell at them and single them out in front of everybody. For example, Margaux is walking down Lindell to the crosswalk:

Margaret: "Hey you! You with the striped umbrella and Michael Kors coat!" All six people walking across the street look directly up at us, but Margaux keeps her head down, hoping that no one realizes it's her we're screaming about. But they do :). This behavior probably got funnier as the months passed.

It was the spring of 2010, my roommates and I had our apartment windows open because one of us had burnt something in the oven. It might have been me, I'm not going to lie. I'm staring out the kitchen window just watching the standard student walk home from the library or ghetto person walk to where ever they walk to that late at night. A commercial pops into my head; I get really excited and motion my crazier roommate over.

"Margaret, yell "It's My Money And I Want It Now" out the window."

"Ok" Margaret says back excitedly.

"IT'S MY MONEY AND I NEED IT NOW!"

Asian exchange students are looking around wondering where this noise is coming from. "It's a voice from heaven" they must be thinking.

"Margaret" I say, "yell it again."

"IT'S MY MONEY AND I NEED IT NOW" she repeats even louder

A black man from the street replies, "YEA, I WANT MY MONEY TOO"

It was a delight and shortly after I was literally ROFLMAO.


Needless to say that wasn't the last time we pulled that stunt and why not? No other sober, female Coronado resident had the balls to yell out their window. Until....

there I was walking along Lindell by myself (on the other side of the street from the Coronado) and I hear a girl yelling with a deep, waspy tone: "IT'S MY MONEY AND I NEED IT NOW".

People on the streets chortled, "m'eh m'eh m'eh that's what those people yell out the window in that commercial". My eyes squint and I feel a slight rage building. I wanted to tell those people that that had been done before and their laughter was without merit, but it wasn't their fault; they were conned. So I was going to yell back at the girl, "B*t*h, you stole that from 10M!", but I didn't.

Since I'm graduated and can no longer provide such entertainment for SLU students I decided to think of my forgiveness as a passing of the baton.

And that's all for now, but the next time you find yourself gazing down on the street from a mildly tall to tall building you remember this story.

50th Anniversary Film For My Parents

The following video is something that I kind of through together a week before heading to Colorado Springs for my parent's anniversary. I had to do it on my dad's computer, which explains the amateur quality. I wanted it to feel like a children's book story and I must at admit that I didn't put everything in the correct order as my parents later told me. There are even pictures of baby Suz :D. Sorry if it's hard to read; Windows Movie Maker is for Preschoolers.

I'm curious if people not in my family find it humorous. I think you'll enjoy it; my family was laughing to tears...P.S. The fourth pic of my mom and dad standing in front of car on the street was taken before they went on a date at Saint Louis University ;) ENJOY!!

To avoid any lawsuits, below is a list of the songs I used.
1. A Beautiful Morning - The Young Rascals
2. Happy Together - The Turtles
3. Lean on Me - Bill Withers (duh)
4. I Can See Clearly Now - Johnny Nash (Not my favorite interpretation)
5. Time In A Bottle - Jim Croce

Films Today

As is custom in film classes, I learned the different transitions of film much like a Music major would learn about the transitions in music from Baroque to Romanticism to Impressionism. Most films of a certain time in history can be categorized by their imagery, directorial technique or common themes like Film Noir, Independent Films and most recently the CGI era.

Today, one film genre that has fallen off the radar almost completely, is the Western. Believe it or not, there were more Westerns made in the 30's to the 60's than any other genre. It's no surprise with popular American icons like John Wayne, directors like John Ford (Grapes of Wrath, The Searchers, Stagecoach etc.) that Americans were drooling over stories from the unexplored West.

My theory as to why movies like these are hardly made is because we've domesticated the American West. The once unexplored areas of California, Nevada etc. now house civilized (arguable), cultured and heavily populated cities. For the most part we know what is in Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas and the like. Even though we don't have old fashioned cowboys riding horses chasing Indians anymore, there is a logical genre that has taken the place of the Western, but is still absolutely parallel.

It wasn't until my 'Introduction to Film' professor told me this that I realized the connection, then it was like 'YES'! We've discovered the American west, yes, but what hadn't we discovered in the mid 20th century? *tick, tock* SPACE! What popular TV series started in the 60's and has been a great part of American culture ever since? Star Trek! There's a reason the series explores "the final frontier".

So the Science fiction genre takes the place of the Western. Instead of indians there are aliens. Instead of horses there are spaceships. Instead of John Wayne there is Captain Kirk (or Captain Picard if you prefer). Someone could argue that films about exploring the future (in some instances past) could be another parallel to the Western/Sci-fi because humans are exploring a mysterious space. For example, there is Blade Runner, Back to the Future 1, 2, and 3, A.I. etc., which can all still be categorized as Sci-fi, but are a little different thematically.

So while that's awesome, what does the parallel of Westerns and Sci-fi have to do with present day film? Also, where else can these "exploration" like films go? What can humans explore if space has already been covered cinematically? I feel like the next parallel has already started and it makes sense now, but I would have hated to be the director rattling my brain on where to take this art next.

*Warning: The following is not a result of any research, but just my own mental tangents.*

Cue the Wachowski brothers. Their popular 1999 film, The Matrix, I want to believe, did not just display a new way of film making, but transitioned American film into a new wave to make us think of what is still undiscovered. I'm going to call The Matrix, as well as the 2nd and 3rd films of the trilogy, transition films and not just a new film in itself because the plot involves uncharted territory like the Western genre and also the future and extreme technological advancements like Sci-fi. So it is not entirely new unto itself. What The Matrix trilogy explored is what our minds perceive as reality.

The Matrix boasts a complicated plot, but I feel like in a slightly twisted way, the "exploration" that the protagonist Neo makes is in his mind; he is trying to decide what is reality and what has been virtually created by a computer, which can also be explored. It seems like a futuristic thought that what still needs to be explored isn't even tangible; it's fake (or is it?). Just because we can't physically live in our memories, dreams or let's say the storyline of really good book, does that mean it can't be explored? I guess not in the technical sense, but certainly in a mental sense.

It would be hard for film theorists to see how The Matrix impacted future films in the year 2000, but now there are more films being pumped out that follow the same principles. It wasn't until I saw Chris Nolan's Inception that I realized that the next "frontier" in cinema would be the mind. In Inception, specifically, is the exploration of dreams. Interestingly, both The Matrix and Inception's quasi-realities have "architects"; an advanced computer program or architecture major (Ellen Page in Inception) have setup a maze of sorts that will be later filled in with the mental details of those that will occupy that maze-like "world" like Neo or Cobb (Leonardo Dicaprio). If you think about it, there is little that is unimaginable so I'm sure that will give this generation of film makers a lot of stories to tell.

Now that that's explained (I hope), I've been wondering what parallel will come next. What else will there be to explore after we've had decades of films like Inception? The fact of the matter is that moviegoers will always be enchanted by stories involving the mysterious and unknown.