If 95% of black men and 96% of black women voted for Barack Obama, but only 57% of white men and 53% of white women voted for John McCain, can anyone ever claim that white voters are racists again?
I think not.
Just thought I'd get that out there.
I thought this was kind of cool...
In spite of the fact that i'm not a big Matrix fan. That is, I hate the Matrix trilogy. And I think this is a waste of money, energy and shelf space. In spite of all that, I think this is kind of cool...
If you live at home and are a big mouth-breathing nerd.
It's a big box of Matrix DVDs, in case you couldn't stand to watch it to the end.
I know there are better ways to use my time, but for the last seven minutes, I had so much fun keeping a telemarketer on the phone, I think I would enjoy doing it again. If only I had the foresight to somehow audio record the conversation.
Obviously I won't be able to give you a transcript of the entire dialogue, but here are some excerpts of how this conversation transpired:
Marketer: Is this Mr. Andrew Hsu?
Me: Enjoy.
Marketer: Yes. Can I speak to Mr. Andrew Hsu?
Me: Enjoy your time.
Marketer: Yes, this is Tyra Forest of internetmarketers.com...
Me: dot net.
Marketer: No, sir, dot com.
Me: dot net. dot org. dot com.
Marketer: Yes, sir. Am I speaking to Mr. Andrew Hsu?
Me: Enjoy it. Are you Lorna?
Marketer: No, sir. I am Tyra.
Me: Tyra West?
Marketer: Tyra Forest from internetmarketers.com.
Me: Enjoy your time. Enjoy it.
This went on with slight variations for seven minutes. A few times she said - in as calm and polite a tone as she could muster - "for the last time, am I speaking with Mr. Andrew Hsu?" to which I would respond, "Last time. Last time was last time. Last time."
I have to give her credit. She kept her cool for the whole phone call. Even when she said she "didn't want to waste my time or hers", she said it in a nice way. Hers was certainly a fair assertion, so I responded with the equally fair assertion, "don't waste time. don't waste water."
I wonder if they'll call back soon.
For my mobile WORK blogging, I've downloaded Typepad mobile for the
iPhone. That app works pretty well.
Cheers!
Now that new firmware has been released for the iPhone, I am researching some applications that will allow me to post pictures taken with my iPhone directly to this blog. I have a few different apps I'm considering for this purpose and once I figure out which one I like best, I will start posting iPhone pictures much more frequently.
So stay tuned!
Cheers!
As I mentioned in my previous post, there is a misconception that Hollywood is busy making movies that everyone wants to see (e.g., movies with excessive gore; sex; and hateful, anti-American, anti-Military themes.) But when you look a little bit past the surface, you see that Hollywood makes these movies because they like them. Especially when it comes to the anti-American stuff, it's the message they want to spread and it's what they believe that counts.
Some of the recent anti-American/anti-Military movies released this year or last reveal that there is no money to be made in these types of movies. If Hollywood was interested in making money, they'd make more movies like The Passion of the Christ.
Let's look at some numbers. (all numbers based on "The-Numbers.com")
In 2006, Oscar-winning best picture, "Babel" took in $34,302,837 US box office which was about $14 mil profit from their $20 mil budget. The moral equivalency in "Syriana" drew a beefier $50,824,620 US box office earning, but was profiting a paltry $824k over their $50 mil budget.
Conversely, the conservative, family-friendly PG-13 "Pursuit of Happyness" drew $162.5 million in the US and profited more than the other two liberal films combined ($107.5 mil vs. $15.1 mil.)
The revisionist history of Flags of Our Fathers had a worse showing than that by LOSING $20 mil in the US box office only to get back in the black in worldwide box office tickets (+$8.9 mil).
The Chronicles of Narnia, on the other hand earned over $291 million in the US. Grossing 32x Flags' net and itself netting a total of $568 million (not counting the ad budget.)
Is there any question that American's don't like watching movies that root against America?
Let's look at some of 2007/2008 movies.
Openly anti-American, anti-American values, anti-American military films like "Lions for Lambs", "In the Valley of Elah", "Rendition", and the pedophile-friendly "Little Children" had US box office grosses totaling $38,217,868.
The Nativity Story, an under-advertised, heavily-protested, religious film about the birth of Jesus grossed $37 million by itself. There are no big name stars in this film, either, unlike Lions for Lambs which boasts past and present superstars like Meryl Streep, Tom Cruise, and Robert Redford.
"Well, maybe it's because American's are just tired of war movies," you say? Well, you're not the first to use that excuse.
About "Stop-Loss", Paramount's mouthpieces made this excuse, "No one wants to see Iraq war movies. No matter what we put out there in terms of great cast or trailers, people were completely turned off. It's a function of the marketplace not being ready to address this conflict in a dramatic way because the war itself is something that's unresolved yet. It's a shame because it's a good movie that's just ahead of its time."
Oh really?
Then how come Michael Mann's politically neutral (notice I didn't say "Pro-American") "The Kingdom" still managed $47 mil domestically and $38 mil internationally as opposed to Stop-Loss' don't-laugh-out-loud $5.5 US box office sales?
This year's pro-American "Vantage Point" grossed $130 million worldwide ($69 mil domestically.) I don't think people are tired of war movies. They're just tired of war movies depicting American troops as idiots, killers, and rapists.
Don't forget that "The Passion of the Christ" grossed over $611 million worldwide with $370 of it coming from home.
From 1995 to this point in 2008, every top grossing movie has been rated G, PG, or PG13. This, in spite of the fact that 30.35% of movies in this span were rated R (second to PG13 movies at 44.14%.)
If you're really interested in making money instead of making movies you WANT to make or spread agendas that you WANT to spread, why make so many mone-losing movies? Why make 14% more rated R movies if they earn, on average, $24.7 million dollars LESS per film? Does this make any sense at all?
I think it's pretty clear that Hollywood has its head in the sand and is pretty content churning out crud that no one wants to see.
Most people, when examining why Hollywood makes so many liberal films filled with sex, gore, drugs and other unwholesome things, simply say, "it's what people want" and "it's all about money."
Well, a new study from the publishers of Movieguide (20-years in the making!) reveals what most of us already knew... Hollywood makes message movies for their own sake and the real money is to be found in family-oriented movies where good is good and bad is bad. Moral equivalency need not apply.
According to the study, for 2007, "seven films with a G or PG rating earned more than $100 million at the domestic box office, and three PG-rated films ("Shrek the Third," $322 million; "National Treasure: Book of Secrets," $216 million; and "Alvin and the Chipmunks," $213 million) were among the year's top 10 earners."
In fact, only one R-rated film was in the top 10 grossing films. It was Frank Miller's 300. No moral equivalency in that movie, to be sure.
More after the jump>>>
Mostly, I'm uploading this here so I can get the Google Video embed link to give to my friend who will, in turn, upload it to her site. Tech-Savvy. Some have it. Some don't.
"Dr Wilson and Dr Storm found several unexpected differences between the groups. Liberal teenagers always felt more stress than conservatives, but were particularly stressed if they could not decide for themselves whom they spent time with. Such choice, or the lack of it, did not change conservative stress levels. Liberals were also loners, spending a quarter of their time on their own. Conservatives were alone for a sixth of the time. That may have been related to the fact that liberals were equally bored by their own company and that of others. Conservatives were far less bored when with other people. They also preferred the company of relatives to non-relatives. Liberals were indifferent. Perhaps most intriguingly, the more religious a liberal teenager claimed to be, the more he was willing to confront his parents with dissenting beliefs. The opposite was true for conservatives."
More after the JUMP.
This study is trying to determine where morality evolved from - a precept I fundamentally disagree with - but the pragmatics of how liberals and conservatives spend their time is pretty amusing.
My eyes are dried out and sting-y from all the eye-rolling I've been doing.
Apparently Whoopi Goldberg was shamed to tears when she emoted that she was hurt that the a Oscar's montage from Sunday's telecast didn't include her big fat face and giant Predator-like hairdo.
Whoopi Goldberg's omission from an Oscar montage – perceived by her and others to be a slight that left the View host in tears – was "an absolute oversight," the award show's producer tells PEOPLE.
Although described as a montage of hosts, the piece shown at Sunday night's telecast on ABC was actually "supposed to be a montage of 80 exciting moments of the Academy Awards" culled from hundreds of hours of footage, says Cates. "Basically, that was not a montage about hosts."He noted that former host Steve Martin also wasn't in the montage.
Stumbled across Victoria Jackson's website today: www.victoriajackson.com
She could use some web design help, but the content of her site is so refreshing! All this from a product of Hollywood?!
In this New Year of 2008, I pray to God for the safety of our troops, blessing, protection and wisdom for our President and leaders, forgiveness for our country, and a renewed sense of obedience to God's Ten Commandments, (which are basically Love God and Your Neighbor as Yourself,) healing for my sick friends, salvation for my lost friends and enemies, safety and blessing on my children, and some good roles for myself....roles, not rolls. Oh, and that my husband...oh, that's too personal. (TMI
for the Internet.) And, thank you Lord, for your amazing creation of nature and our bodies and the stars and all the other mysterious wonders you have made. You are an awesome God. Your will be done. In Jesus name, Amen.
Open Letter to Joy Behar and Others Who Speak Like Her:
I'm really tired of your hatred rants against Pres. Bush. Have some respect for authority and for the people like me who voted for him. I did not vote for Bill Clinton, but I would never use my SNL connection to publicly criticize him and I would never speak of another human being with such vitriol. Pres. Bush did not start the war against America and he is doing a great job with the situation that was put upon him. Also, we do not have a king. Our system of government has checks and balances. Instead of complaining, why don't you take a political history course and run for office and see what good you can do for the world. The tongue is a powerful little thing. Use it for some good.
Love,VJ
Check out this article from the cool guys at Caffeine Fiend.
200mg absorbed straight to the head in 15 minutes definitely gives a noticeable head change. A constriction can be felt quickly around the eyes and tongue, leaving a numb feeling for the duration of the gum...
How long is a zillion years? About as long as the perceived duration from when I last posted to now.
For the latest news, check out my soon-to-be-much-more-frequently-updated-work-blog, StudioMSV.net.
For other personal (and controversial) posts, continue to check back here. :-)
