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Augi to Garett: “If you can kick her in the face, I’ll give you a dollar”

“I don’t like those pennies… I dont like copper flying at my face” - O.G.

So, this blog post is going to unfold into two very different parts. This past Saturday night I had two very extreme revelations hit me at once, the first one being “Holy shit, I need my own private movie theatre box!” and the second being “OMG, I completely hate the American way of thinking about movies!” Now, I know that these are two very bold statements, so, let me elaborate on both.

Part 1: “Holy shit, I need my own private movie theater box!”

Okay, so, over the weekend I had the privilege of experiencing how the “other half” lives. One of those many (and when I say many I mean MANY) perks being a private movie theater box that sits over the regular movie theater. Not only do you not have to deal with crying babies (which, by the way, seems to have been getting worse in the past couple of years), sneezing/coughing sick people, cell phones and any other kind of movie theater nonsense that comes with mildly retarded movie-goers these days, you get your own full service bar. Oh, and, as Blake (the new Australian Deckhand on the boat that Scott works on) so eloquently put it; “Holy crap! You get your own blanket!” Yes, that’s right. Each seat comes with its very own chenille blanket. Now, anyone that knows me, knows that if the temperature even mildly dips below 76 degrees, I freeze immediately. The news that there were blankets on hand was especially thrilling for me. Maybe next time I go to a movie I’ll bring my own blanket from home. I wonder if anyone would say something to me…..

Moving on…

Part 2: “OMG, I completely hate the American way of thinking about movies!”

Walking into the private movie box, I was in an overall fantastic mood (the to-go cup of wine I had gotten from our excellent meal minutes before was definitely enhancing my general attitude), so I couldn’t help but think that my cinema experience would be no less than a stellar one. Unfortunately, one tiny little detail of the evening destroyed every ounce of happiness that was in my body at that particular period of time; The movie. If anyone saw Pride and Glory and actually enjoyed it…. I feel a deep, overwhelming concern for your black little heart. Every ounce of love and kindness that is in the world was stripped from this film, leaving an hour and some-odd minutes of complete violence…. blood, rage and death just for the sake of violence.

Let me take a moment to clarify, because although a lot of times I can me semi-sarcastic and a bit of an over exaggerator, this subject really does make me sad and angry.

I know that getting heated about the subject matter of a movie, for the most part, is a complete waste of energy. But, you know what? I just can’t help it. Why is it that the story about the love of two gay men is more controversial than the illicit slaughter of 20-30 men in a movie. Why is it that blood, torture, gore and death are more widely accepted in the movies and television than love, sex and the human body. Call me a tree hugging hippie but I think that there is something extremely wrong with this mentality. I think it’s completely ludicrous that in certain regions of the United States children are taught about guns and gun safety while sex education and human sexuality is completely banned. The sheer thought of it makes me want to vomit.

When the movie ended, all seven of us were completely disgusted (I should note that I was in the minority being American… the rest of the group were from South Africa, Ukraine, England and Australia, respectively). I had tears in my eyes, not because of the way the movie ended, but because it made me so completely horrified that somewhere out there, there are human beings who actually sat through and enjoyed this movie and the death that was glorified in it.

Wow. This post was definitely a heavy one, but I feel strongly enough about the subject that, for me, it had to be said. That being said, the next movie that I see will probably be the sappy Nicholas Sparks movie Nights in Rodanthe. He always turns out a good tear jerker. Go ahead and laugh at the “cheese” factor. I don’t care. I’d rather leave a theater with my heart filled with absolute love.

Oh, and, I’ve made up my mind. I’m bringing a blanket too.

yeah… so it’s been a while. almost 3 months EXACTLY (maybe I should post date this post as August 15, just to make it a good solid 4 months to the date).

Anyway.

I dunno why it’s been so long. Probably a combination of different things…

25% = Me so excited to be out of school and having free time that I actually went out and got a life

25% = Me being so extremely ashamed that my blog design sucked that I didn’t want to post anything else

49.9% = Scott has finally been home for a good amount of time, and we like to snuggle.

.1% = I’m lame.

So there you go folks. That’s the percentage breakdown. Give or take a few percentage points here and there. But I’m back baby (for all 2 of you who visit this site). Oh and I’d also like to note that I have defaulted back to the original Wordpress theme. This will be in effect until I design something kickass, which I’m working on right now 

Lately (well… at least the past 3-4 months lately) I’ve been spending a nauseating amount of time on school work. If I’m  not at work I’m at school/doing school projects and vice versa. Not exaggerating, I’ve had very little time to myself, so I could very well post about how tired, exhausted and burnt out I am.

Surprisingly, I’m not going to.

I’ve spent most the the past 5-6 days finalizing, printing and hanging up my piece in the gallery for the graduating class of 2008 Art Exhibition. And although I have cried, screamed, thrown stuff and given up at least 100 times (thank you to all those who put up with me during those trying times, especially Scott and Natalie), call me misogynistic but I can honestly say that I loved it. Maybe it’s just because I see the light at the end of the tunnel with the Show being 2 days away, but I really am happy with everything that I have done. My blood sweat and tears have all gone into making my first (and hopefully not last) gallery show a fantastic one. I know, going away from this, that there isn’t anything more that I could have done to make thing better.

The other fabulous thing about this show is that I didn’t have someone barking over my shoulder about how “this is wrong, you need to do it this way”. Did I get constructive criticism from my peers? Yes! Tons of it! All of it completely taken in and appreciated. On top of that, a professor from the art department had to approve of my piece. It was completely nerve-racking, and although I changed my mind about what to ultimately do (several times) the choice was always mine, and nothing was ever wrong, just improved upon. That’s what is fantastic about art. Art isn’t wrong. Art is art. It is a form of expression and introspection. I don’t want to lose that. I don’t want to lose the feeling of doing something that moves people instead of always just trying to play “catch-up” with my peers. I have found, in this short semester, that I really do have talent. Although Scott tells me this every single day (thank you baby, you really are my best friend), I haven’t felt that way in a while.

Anyway, enough of the super-analytical baloney for tonight. I’m tired and I’m going to bed. If you are reading this, and you do happen to live in or around the Boca Raton area, I would love it if you came to the show on Thursday, at the FAU Ritter Gallery from 7-9 p.m. I can guarantee that you will get a glimpse of my heart in the piece that I will be presenting that night.