Paul Thomas Anderson's "Magnolia"

I watched a very compelling and one of the most interesting pieces of film I have ever seen last night: Magnolia. I know, I know, I am over ten years (!) late to the party on this movie, but I have always been that way about things. I sort of stumble upon things. Anyways, I digress.

Magnolia opens with three coincidences that occurred in the past.

One is the robbery and murder of a man by three people with the last names Green, Berry, and Hill. The area where the murder occurred ending up being called Greenberry Hill.

Then there is the case of the blackjack dealer who also likes to scuba dive. One night while dealing cards, a patron ends up not getting the hand he had hoped for, and jumps over the table to fight the blackjack dealer. Later, this same patron is piloting a firefighting airplane that fills its tank with water in the same lake that the blackjack dealer he previously fought is swimming in. Accidentally, the airplane scoops up the blackjack dealer while filling up with water and the dealer dies of a heart attack. Hearing this news and feeling guilt, the patron/pilot commits suicide.

Lastly, a 17 year old boy attempts suicide but is instead shot by his unsuspecting mother as he tumbles to his death. This 17 year olds parents fight constantly, and even threaten each other with an unloaded shotgun. Not being able to take it any longer, the boy loads the shotgun hoping that the next time his parents fight and they "threaten" each other with the shotgun that one of them actually pulls the trigger and kills the other. Little does he know that at the SAME moment the 17 year old decides to jump from the roof of his apartment complex, his mother actually does take a shot at her husband (not knowing the gun is ACTUALLY loaded) and the father dodges the shot, but the son who is falling right by the window to his supposed death is struck by the shotgun blast and killed instantly. Had he not loaded the gun in hopes that his parents would shoot one another, he would have survived his fall because of a net at the bottom of the building for some window washers that he did not know existed.

The narrator, who has been taking us through these events, then says "...this is not just 'Something That Happened.' This cannot be 'One of those things...' These strange things happen all the time."

Goosebumps formed on my arm at this point.

What followed were a slew of characters and events all interconnected (ala Crash or Traffic). The thing is, Magnolia was made before all of these.

There isn't really a moment when everything comes together (like in a Seinfeld episode) and all of the characters meet one another and figure it all out. No, not this time around.

But, there is a part when frogs start raining from the skies. And, Tom Cruise yells "Respect the Cock" in one of his best on-screen performances.

Like I said before, I stumble upon things. For example, the band Brand New released "The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me" and it got great buzz. I listened, never hearing Brand New before that, and then listened to the rest of their albums, missing out on them when they first hit the scene.

The same thing happened with Magnolia, me stumbling upon the film because of a book I am reading called "Rebels on the Backlot" which discussed six directors from the 90's who changed Hollywood.

From the opening frame to the closing frame, Magnolia is a film you will not be able to look away from. The performances are spectacular (with John C. Reilly standing out as a policemen who likes to narrate to himself when on the job like he's on an episode of COPS). If you haven't seen it, check it out.

The stress that is Linus

Linus is our cat. He is named after one of the most manipulative characters in history, Benjamin Linus from Lost. His name suits him well.

Every morning he scratches at our bedroom door within an hour of when I am supposed to get up. I am a light sleeper, so the second he starts the scratching, I wake up. Rachel is like a rock and doesn't budge. Sometimes I can get back to sleep after he gives up the scratching, but sometimes it's so close to the real time I am supposed to be up that I just lay there.

Once I am up, I take a shower and Linus sits on the bathtub ledge looking into the shower at the water. I don't know what it is about water, but he LOVES watching it go down the drain or run down the shower curtain. Sometimes though, he gets adventurous and decides that he wants to try and get into the shower with me. This has happened a handful of times, and the outcome is always humorous. He will jump in, start getting soaked and look for a way out. Then, because the shower curtain is in the way, he will have trouble getting out so I have to reach down and pick him up, dripping wet, and put him on the bathroom floor. Normally he is nowhere to be seen for about a grand total of two minutes, and then BAM, he is back on the ledge watching the water, licking his soaking wet self.

After the shower, I brush my teeth and whatnot, and he once again shows his interest in water (I swear, the cat should be a friggin' plumber or something) by jumping up on the counter and watching the water in the sink. Once I am finished brushing my teeth, and the water drains, he jumps into the sink to lick up the remnants. Sometimes he doesn't wait until I am finished and jumps into the sink while the water is still running, once again getting soaked.

After all of this is done, I need to get dressed, and the fun continues with Linus. We have closets in out apartment that bend when you open them (like an accordion). Linus loves them, but they're dangerous as hell. As soon as I open them, he sticks his paws in the tracking part of the closet and then moves his paws to the opening where the closet bends. Crazy cat. Next, while I am picking out my outfit, he loves climbing into the closet and playing with my belt, which hangs from a hanger. Then he hides in the littlest nook and waits. Because the closet is so dangerous and he is so interested in it, I have to lure him out of it before I attempt to close it. That can be a chore in itself since he sometimes sits there looking at me dangling a toy thinking "haha, you want me out of this closet so that you can continue with your morning. I know this, AND I am going to sit here and be cute and look at you with big eyes. I won't of course jump out of the closet until you least expect it, and then I will claw your hands at the same time." Those reading might say "why don't you just lock him out of the room with the closet?" Well, if I did that then he would scratch at our bedroom door and wake up Rachel. And besides, he is just so darn cute.

After I am done getting dressed, he bolts all over the apartment and wants to play. Uh, sorry bud, I have to go to work. I prepare my coffee and grab my lunch while dodging him as he jumps at my legs or attacks my shoes.

Then, it's time to deal with ANOTHER closet, the one with my jacket in it. Normally it's not too tough to get him out of this closet because it's small, and there are not many places for him to hide.

Finally, I am ready to leave, which is also known as "pick up a toy and throw it and then race to the door before he tries to get out". Lately Rachel has been there to pick him up, which allows me to slip out easily. But, when she leaves she has to deal with him trying to go out the door, and it stresses her out as well.

He is only a kitten, and all of this behavior is normal/cute. One day he will just plop himself on the floor in the mornings and not move until he is fed, and I will miss the days of him taking a shower with me, or trying to attack my pants leg. Rachel said her friend Jen has a crazy cat like Linus (John Locke??) and that the cat is 8 years old and still hasn't grown out of the craziness. Oh joy...

His name is Linus and he's crazy.

Swoosh

Hear that? That's the sound of your mid-20's flying by. Well, it's the sound of mine.

I don't remember turning 20 very much, but I do remember when I turned 21. I was at Towson, living in Towson Run apartments and I had a party. But, after that things kind of speed up, and 5 years of my life all ball up into what feels like 2 years or so. I have memories of my birthdays (going to Fells for one, going bowling for another, etc.), but I can't place exactly what year things happened.

I remember moving from Towson Run to Walker Manor with Kevin my "sophomore" year and having some damn good times. Kevin and I have always thought that of all the places we lived in college, Walker Manor was the best. There was just something about it. Good place to sleep, good place to be artistic, good place to be in the fall. Just an awesome awesome place. Of course there was that one night where we both heard someone threatening another with a knife in our foyer. And then the one time Kevin was drunk as hell and some guy knocked on our door asking for some money for a cab and saying he would pay us back, and Kevin handing the guy 20 bucks or something (Kevin never saw that money again haha). Or the time there was a package at the place next to ours that sat there for a good month till we decided it was ok to take the package and see what it was (for those who care, it ended up being Focus Factor, a pill that you take that makes you FOCUS more. Kevin said it worked...). Then there was the time the cops came to the door because I was playing my bass guitar and the woman above us decided to call the cops instead of come down the stairs to tell me to keep it down.

I decided I was kind of missing out on "college life" by living in Walker Manor, so I moved back onto campus to Millennium where I met Jawhar and Jake. It was pretty cool, but my room was like a closet pretty much.

From there I ended up meeting Steve Shaw in class. He needed a roommate in his Cockeysville apartment called Briarcliff. At this point, which was my 3rd year or so at Towson, I had only been to the Target in Cockeysville so I was unaware of the area. I took the place, and had some good times there.

Then, Kevin and Scott decided to make the journey to Cockeysville (as well as Rachel, Lindsay & Karen). So, I moved from one apartment in Briarcliff to another. I actually remember Scott and I putting my mattress on the roof of my car and holding it there while driving the 2 blocks or so to the new place. Highlights there include our Hween party, cookouts, making Two Orange Brains, Noah trying to steal my blanket in the middle of the night, etc.

Then, Scott and I got a place at Century, also in Cockeysville. It was quiet. Never really had any parties there, but I liked it. Hurtruss.com's amazing pepper spray incident was filmed there. Kevin moved in for a little too and crashed on our couch.

Well, every weekend we were finding ourselves downtown, and we all worked downtown too. So Kevin, Scott and I decided to get another place together. This time it was in Hampden. I loved it there. We had many parties, and it was cool living in a house. Soon thereafter, Rachel and I began dating and since they hated their house in Mount Vernon, her and Lindsay moved in as well. One big happy family. Five people in that house... you would think it would have been crazy. At times it was, but we made it work and I wouldn't change anything from the experience.

Then, Rachel and I decided it was time to get our own place. So, we first thought we would stay downtown in maybe Hampden. Then it changed to maybe getting an apartment. We decided that since we both loved Cockeysville, and on the weekends we were now finding ourselves going to the movies in Hunt Valley, or at Target... we should just live there again. So, we moved to Steeplechase, got a cat, and the rest is history. We both love it there, and are starting our lives together (awwwww).

Swoosh...

Some things you just never expect to hear...

About a week or so before Thanksgiving my mom, who lives alone in a row home in Hampden, was walking down her steps. She was wearing socks, and this coupled with the hardwood steps made her slip, and tumble down to the bottom. She actually ended up dislocating her shoulder. Now, she dislocated her shoulder previously in her life when she slipped on some ice, and I have heard that once it happens, it is more prone to happen again. Well, needless to say, she was alone lying at the bottom of her steps in some serious pain. According to her, she picked herself up, limped over to her couch and sat down. Luckily her cell phone was in her pocket, so she mustered up enough strength to call 911. Then, once the call was completed, she picked herself up again and walked to the front door to unlock it, and then walked back to the couch to wait. It's funny how the easy things like making a phone call or unlocking a door can be so tough when you have an injury like a dislocated shoulder. Soon thereafter she was taken in an ambulance to the hospital, and they put her shoulder back into place and all was fine... at least we thought.

So, normal protocol is for her primary care physician to do an Xray on her shoulder to see if there was any ligament damage from the fall, so he did. There was no damage to the shoulder, but there was something that showed up and was puzzling: two lumps in her lungs. A PET Scan was needed before anything could be determined, but this news was not favorable to my mother or the rest of our family. So, she had the scan and then had to wait about a week to find the results. It was around the holidays, but I think the waiting was not abnormal. Well, my mohter had to suck it up for Thanksgiving and try and have fun. She did, and we all had a wonderful holiday at Rachel's parents house.

Well, the next week or so she found out that she actually had Stage 3A Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer. We were all taken aback. My mother is not and had never been a smoker. She is one of the healthiest people I know. Why her? The only connection would be my dad who was an avid smoker from the day my parents met till about 15 years ago or so (roughly the first 10 or so years of their marriage... they are no longer married).

Well, the news was just so unbelievable, and something that you just never expect to hear. It almost seemed like it was all a dream and that at any moment I was going to wake up. Or maybe it was a bad April Fools joke and that someone would let me in on it soon. Nothing like that happened. It was reality.

Well, over the next month or so we all spent time together and supported my mom. On New Years Eve Day, my sister and I went with her to her first consultation at Johns Hopkins, the place where she will be starting her treatment. We met with the doctor and he seemed fine. Kind of doom and gloom though, but it's not a doctors job to be emotionally involved with a patient. During the consulation, we found out that the cancer was actually in her bloodstream because it actually had spread. Not good news. It seemed like the doctor thought we already knew this information, which was not the case. When my mom got home, she decided to email the doctor and ask that if it was in the blood, then how could it still be Stage 3A? He responded saying that it is in fact in Stage 4. News to all of us.

My mother is the strongest person I know, and is continuing her strength through this all. She does live alone, which makes it hard on her (and us). But, she is not letting this get her down, still going to work, still going out on the weekends... still living her life. She starts chemo in the next week or so, and will be getting a full body treatment intravenously.

It's going to be a tough next few months, but the support we give to her and the strength she emits will be some of the best medicine. Some things you just never expect to hear...

The weekend

Well, it's Monday in these parts... and that means the weekend is OVER. It also means a recap of the weekends events is in order.

Friday after work I got home and Rachel and I quickly cleaned up our already spotless apartment in preperation for Kevin and Lindsay who were coming to hang out and see Linus. As always, Linus entertained and everyone loved him. Then we went to Noodles & Co. in Hunt Valley for dinner. The weirdest thing happened while we were there. So, Lindsay and Rachel ordered their food and then Kevin and I ordered ours. Well, when we were done ordering, we went into the restaurant area looking for our GFs. They were NO WHERE to be found. We both looked at each other like we were in an episode of Twilight Zone. So, we thought maybe they both went to the bathroom. Almost 10 min passed, and still, no sign of them. By this time, Kevin and I had taken a seat and were talking about things like "maybe we never had girlfriends" and re-enacting scenes from our lives where a girlfriend would be there (like signing a lease to an apartment) and looking crazy because we really had no girlfriends. Then, we saw the guy with our food and our GFs food going to a secret area in the restaurant. So, we followed and finally, there they were. Why they didn't come looking for us is beyond me.

Next, we went to Caribou and L & K got some coffee. Rachel didn't get anything cause she was going to get popcorn at The Charles for the movie we were going to see... or so we thought. Well, Kevin and I played checkers for like 20 min and the girls sat at another table and chatted. Then, It was 8:40 and I said we should leave soon for our 9:25 movie. Kevin was like, "you mean 9:10 movie?" Of course he was right about the time, and we had to bolt out the door and get downtown and park and buy our tickets and get our seats in a half hour. We actually did it though, so that's good. But, Rachel did NOT get her popcorn :(

We saw "Precious", and it was remarkable. Some of the most real movie scenes I have seen (ha) in awhile. Comedian Mo'Nique plays Precious' mother, and like Rachel said, "they should just hand her the Oscar right now". I don't know if Mo'Nique grew up in a house like the one portrayed in the movie, but man oh man was she terrifying. Definitely chilling to watch some of those scenes. I also thought Precious' teacher was great, and I actually liked Mariah Carey in the film too (Precious' guidance counselor). Precious herself was great, but she may be the odd one out come Oscar time. I thought the direction was good in the movie, but some of the choices of shots were questionable. Overall, definitely a good movie, and The Charles was a good place to see it.

Saturday morning Rachel and I slept late, mainly because Linus decided to scratch at the door from 7 am till we got up, once every hour pretty much. When we did get up, I worked on freelance and Rachel went out with Jackie. Then, when I was done working, I went to the AT&T store and found a new phone I want. I am getting it online though, cause it's cheaper.

Then, my sister and Jamie came over to see Linus since they were in the area. That was cool.

Then the night rolled around, and Rachel and I went to Hairspray at the Lyric. What a great show! I had only really seen Cats on Broadway, and then A Bronx Tale at the Hippodrome before this show. Hairspray was non stop music. All of the roles were acted very well. I liked the dad a lot, and I thought Seaweed was great, and of course his sister too. And, the main role of Tracy Turnblad was well done. Overall, a great show. Our seats were awesome too.

AND, I did not have the Cowboys score ruined for me. I had my headphones on at intermission, and then when we were leaving, and no one ruined it for me. But, then when we got home... I almost ruined the game for myself. I pressed a button on my cable remote, and it went to the game LIVE. Luckily I didn't see anything, and I didn't ruin it. (Oh yeah, the Cowboys won 34-14... first playoff victory in 14 years).

Sunday, Rachel's family came over for some of my pizza and the Ravens game. Good times! THe Ravens won too, so that was good for her dad and everyone. Linus was entertaining again. Everyone loves him haha.

Then Sunday night Rachel and I watched a movie (I let her pick because she was very understanding with the whole Cowboys thing on Saturday night). We watched Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Interesting movie, and I can see why there is a huge cult following. I liked it! The lead role was great, and the guy even directed the movie.

Overall, awesome weekend!

I knew it would happen

Well, the Dallas Cowboys have won the NFC East and host the Philadelphia Eagles in the Wild Card first round of the playoffs this weekend. The game time? 8 pm on Saturday night. The same time that I am going to see Hairspray with Rachel (a gift from her parents... no fault on them at all!). The reason I entitled this "I Knew It Would Happen" is because I knew this would happen!!

About a month ago or so, Rachel told me about the Hairspray show and that I needed to see it and I agreed, having heard great things about it. She told me it was going to be playing at The Lyric Opera House in Baltimore, and that we should go. I said sure. So, then I forgot about it, till a week or so later when Rachel mentioned that her parents wanted to get us a gift for the holidays and that them getting us the tickets would be a good idea. I agreed, and thought that would be a great little night for us. Then, I looked at when the date of the show was. It was on January 9... which, if the Cowboys made it, would possibly be the night of their first playoff game. Not wanting that to be an issue, I tried to forget about that and let the season play out. For all I knew at the time, the Cowboys could have missed the playoffs entirely, or they could have gotten a first round bye.

So, the holidays rolled around and we got the tickets as a gift (great seats too!). I still hadn't mentioned to Rachel the potential of the Cowboys playing at the same time as the show because I thought, if I talk about it and think about it, it will happen.

Well, it happened. They will be kicking off the game right at the same time that the curtains will come up at the Lyric. I just have to say one thing: Thank the Lord for DVR!!

Here is my plan: I am going to obviously DVR the game so that it is waiting for me when I get home from the show. That is a fail safe thing (unless the power goes out or something). But, then there is the potential for someone to blurt out the score at Intermission of Hairspray or when we're walking out after the show has ended. With the whole world in your pocket these days, people can check on the score at any time and let others know... even while they're at the Theater. So, assuming that during the show no one will be looking at their phones for the score, I am going to bring my iPod and my headphones with me for the times I may need to get up and use the rest room, or when we are leaving. I know this sounds crazy to some, but can you imagine if I get through 99 percent of the night and I am about to get into the car and the parking attendant or something yells over to his friend "The Cowboys are up 24-10 in the fourth". Not taking that chance, I just am not. I DVR Capitals games all the time, and it is easy to avoid that score around here, being that no one really cares about hockey. But, the NFL is a pop culture thing, so the chances of the score being blurted out in public is very high.

Let's hope my plans work out and I get home Saturday night and know NOTHING about the game. I think I will be successful... I hope.

How long has it been?

Hello out there in virtual land. Rachel decided to start blogging, and said that I should join the fun and blog as well. I actually already did blog, about a year ago. It was mainly about the Capitals and their unforgettable 7 game series in last years NHL playoffs vs. the Penguins (the Pens won it in a seventh game where the Caps laid an egg).

Now, I am back. And, I am going to try and keep this blog up and running. Yes, I will talk about sports (mainly the Capitals and the Cowboys), but I also want to explore other things such as music, television, and life experiences.

We'll see how long I keep up with this. I really don't lead that interesting of a life, so there isn't much to say. Recently though, some things have come about that are definitely good and bad. They would make for good blog entries, but that is for another time...