Thinking About Yourself

Hello!

               So today’s kind of a weird day for me. I’m used to doing these blogs in a rush because I’m also trying to complete all my other homework. But not today! I’m taking my time, and since I’m not doing much I get to think about a whole variety of weird stuff. For example, if you had one thing that you could do that would have no negative repercussions, what would it be? For me, it could be a variety of things. If it was instant, for example, I’d wish for a cure to cancer. That’d be awesome for several reasons. It’d be helping people, which is something that I find pretty legit. Next, it’d probably make me very, very rich. Like, pony-made-of-diamonds rich. That’d be a pretty legit pony. And because there are no negatives to my cure for cancer there wouldn’t be a zombie apocalypse, such as the one seen in “I Am Legend.” No one likes zombies, so I’d consider that a bonus. But in all honesty, if I had to work for it, I’d leave finding the cure to someone else. I have other things in mind than becoming a doctor.

               The important part about this little anecdote of mine is that I found out a lot about myself, just thinking about a simple little question like that. So maybe if you take a chill pill, sit down and just think on it, you’ll discover something that you didn’t know about yourself. Like your absolute infatuation with the idea of a pony made out of diamonds. That would be the best pony in the world.  Like, ever, man. See you next time.           

Xmas

Hello!

               So today is the 23^rd of December, and we’re all counting down the days until Christmas. Well, all of us except our Jewish friends are. And I suppose all of the other people that don’t celebrate Christmas. So I guess I have to say that a select few people are counting down the days until Christmas. That really just puts a damper on my whole thought process. I’ll just blunder on into the actual topic of discussion.

As Christmas approaches I am both excited and appalled, each in equal amounts. On the one side, ‘tis the season and all that. On the other, we have capitalism to the point where it’s almost sickening.

This holiday season might be the worst I’ve ever seen, or maybe I’m just now old enough to realize how different it is from what it “should be.” The season is no longer driven by the “spirit of giving.” It is no longer enough to simply be with your family and enjoy it, we’re also expected to give everyone gifts, and this is driven home by the wonderfully large amount of sales that stores have when the snows start to fall. These sales just encourage us to buy more, too. These large retail stores pump us for cash so hard during this season that it has become more than 30%  more profitable than all the other seasons combined. That’s kind of gross.

So during this season, I challenge all of the readers of this blog post to do a few things. Firstly, don’t fall into this giant pit of despair that is the over-capitalized American society. By all means, buy your family presents, I certainly will. But don’t go out and buy everything that’s on sale. You’re just feeding the corporations. I’m also not encouraging you to set stuff on fire, start any fight clubs, or blow up a credit card company. If you got the “Fight Club” reference, you deserve a high five. Now go pick a fight with a random person on the street, and lose. The second thing that you should do this season is enjoy your family. You don’t got ‘em forever, folks. So enjoy them while they last. Get off your computer and go spend time with your mother/father/grandfather/uncle/cousin/second cousin/other relations. It’ll make their day (possibly, unless you’re a major dick.) and you’ll be doing something nice. So go out and have fun. Aw yayuh.

Post-Apocalypse

Hello!

               Up until a few days ago everyone was talking about the newest upcoming event. Unfortunately it wasn’t some awesome party or stupid school dance or anything like that, but it was the end of the world. Some Mayan dude way back when either died or decided that someone else could finish his calendar, so he put down his chisel and went  out to party with his friends. This meant that he got to have fun, but it meant that we also have to deal with it now, with long-bearded people wearing cardboard “The End Draws Near” signs wherever they go. It does bring up a few interesting points, though.

               Firstly, if the world was going to end, how would you spend your last few days/hours/minutes? Would you suddenly find God if you hadn’t already? Would you spend the rest of your earthly minutes in the arms of family and friends or would you spend it doing those things you’d always wished you’d done? Personally, if I was actually convinced that the end of the world was coming I’d probably do a mixture of all these things. I’d spend some time in the arms of the people I love, because in my opinion family matters more than most things (No matter how dysfunctional your family may be). But I’d also probably loot, break stuff, and engage in all other possible forms of debauchery. I mean, why not? Mankind loves to break things, it’s in our nature. So I’ll succumb to the animal side of that nature for a while and beat the snot out of something with a sledgehammer.

               Secondly, if the world was sure to end, would you regret anything? It sucks to live with regrets, but to die with them would be even worse, in my opinion. To never have made peace with the ghosts in your past, or the skeletons in your closet seems like a waste to me. So would I live with regrets? Probably. I would regret that I wasn’t the best son I could be. I would regret that I wasn’t the best friend, and that I could have done better. I would regret the time I wasted, no matter how much fun I had. I would regret not being able to serve my country, and to help people from other countries. I would regret my inability to say I fathered a family and went to all my son/daughter’s school functions, etc. To be honest, there’s not too much I’ve done in my sixteen years that I’d constitute as living a full life. So I guess I’d regret that too.

               Alas, it’s the 23^rd and the world hasn’t ended yet. We didn’t all die in some fiery holocaust, we’re still here. I still get to live my life, and I think everyone should take that to heart. Although we were never in any real danger, maybe reflecting on what you’ve done and what you still have to do would make you a tad bit better as a person. At the very least, go hug your mother/father/sister/brother/other sibling. I’m sure they’d appreciate it. At any rate, bad news Mayans, but maybe next year.

Connecticut Shooting

Hello!

               A few days ago our nation as devastated by a shooting that occurred in a Connecticut elementary school, where children and adults were gunned down in cold blood. This is terrible to begin with, but then has been made worse. In an interview with the press, a father of one of the deceased children broke down crying. This is natural, and should have been expected. But you could hear in the background the sudden rush to take pictures, and the clicking of cameras became easily audible. This disgusts me. I mean, I know it’s all for “a good story.” But step into the shoes of that man for a moment. Your child’s dead. You’re being interviewed in front of hundreds of people, and you lose control of your emotions. You shouldn’t have to be subjected to having your every tear reported the next day. It’s just sick. To all of the families devastated by this event, you have my deepest sympathies.

Thanks for reading

Matt Finley

The Hobbit Results

Hello!

               So a few days ago I was talking about my plans to go to The Hobbit’s midnight release. I did end up going, and had some points that I wanted to talk about. 

               First, the “pro” parts. I have always enjoyed going to the midnight releases of movies, because it’s just so much more fun. Firstly, you get to stay up all night, and for those of us who are teenagers, that’s pretty legit. Secondly, you get to hang out with your friends that are going to the midnight release. Thirdly, you get to hang out with all of the cool, nerdy people that are fans enough of a certain movie/franchise that they’ll show up to the midnight release (Example: Guy who was dressed up in full chainmail for this particular release of The Hobbit.). Now some things about this specific release that I liked was the lack of a line. At the theater I went to they didn’t have people line up, they just sent them directly into the theater. This was really nice, because since they sold out three showings of the film, I didn’t have to wait in line with close to 500 other people.

               Those are just the things that I really enjoy about midnight releases in general, plus a few things about The Hobbit’s. But the movie itself was pretty good as well. I won’t spoil too much of it, but I’m going to make a big point of giving a big thumbs up to the soundtrack.  The soundtrack for the Lord of the Rings trilogy was high and brassy. It fit the movies very well, though. There was a lot of action and it was intended to be very epic, and you’d really have to watch the movies to get what I’m trying to say. Now since The Hobbit was produced by the same dude that did the LotR trilogy, I assumed the soundtrack would be the same, or at least very similar. My mind was blown when I heard the main theme for the movie. It fits way better than the trilogy’s would have. It’s more low and throaty than the trilogy’s, as well. To hear it, look up the trailer on Youtube, and watch through the whole thing. All-around, it was a pretty good movie as a whole, although I did have a few complaints about it.

               One of my complaints would have to be the length. I mean, I really do not want to sit through a three hour movie, even though it’s The Hobbit. A lot of the stuff could have been condensed or left out, as well. And another gripe about it is that this is the first of at least two, but possibly three movies. Because they would all be about the same length, it seems like they’re just milking this cow for as much as it’s worth, instead of putting real effort into it. I mean, the Lord of the Rings books were two or three times the size of The Hobbit, and there were three of them. Another complaint of mine is that they didn’t adapt to the growth of the audience very well. Although the book was written for children, the kids that read it “back in the day” are now in their late teens or early twenties. So this movie seems to be tooled more towards younger kids, with many elements of it that are far more fanciful than the trilogy films.

               Aside from these few complaints, though, The Hobbit was definitely a two-thumbs-up movie. I really enjoyed it for the most part, and will probably see it again on the big screen. To those of you who are unsure of whether you want to see it or not, I’d definitely recommend it.

Thanks for reading

Matt Finley

Prepare Yourself - The Hobbit is Coming

Hello!

                So today, I’m sitting here at approximately 2 o’clock in the afternoon, typing this in my AP Language and Composition class. In a little under ten hours I’m going to be taking my seat at something I’ve waited for all year, and then some. “The Hobbit” is coming out tonight! Aw yeah! Sorry for nerding out a little there. Very similar to hulking out, but I actually lose 30 pounds, develop bad eyesight, talk in a squeaky voice, and start loving Captain Picard of “Star Trek.”

                My love for the Lord of the Rings series probably developed when I was just a wee lad. I vividly remember when I was sick at some point when I was in kindergarten, and my mother read to me from “The Hobbit.” This got the ball rolling for not just the Lord of the Rings series, but epic fantasy in general. I’ve been a fan of that particular genre for as long as I can remember, and have probably read too many books in that genre. It’s okay, though, if America ever falls back into the dark ages I’m prepared.

                The first time I watched the Lord of the Rings movies was with my brother, and it was the most epic nerdapalooza I’ve ever taken part in. Watching from start to finish, all three movies, with not only the director’s cut, but the EXTENDED director’s cut, takes approximately 13 hours. It’s honestly one of the best times I can remember having with my brother. So much pizza was eaten, and so much Mountain Dew was drunk on that day. There was so much sword fighting and other such epicness that my eyes hurt from pure awesomeness (Or maybe that was the thirteen hours of staring at a TV screen).

                So, in short, I’m explaining my hopes for the night. I’ve had high hopes for this movie for a while, and hope that it works out for the best. Even if it is the worst, most awful, epitome-of-terrible movie in the world, though, there will still be some sense of camaraderie, I’m sure. I have to give a shout-out to all of the other nerds out there, some whose level of geekiness far surpasses my own. Yes, I’m talking about those people who are camped outside of the movie theaters right now, so they can get the /PERFECT/ spot to watch the movie tonight. In any case, it’ll be fun. I hope. I’ll probably get back to y’all at some point. (Most likely Sunday night when I write the rest of my blogs, scrambling to find a topic.)

Thanks for reading,

Matt Finley

12/21/12

Hello!

               So for the past few days one of the big things that I hear people talking about is December 21^st, 2012. Apparently some calendar designed by a bunch of dead people is going to end on this day, and that means that everyone’s freaking out. Honestly, the guy making this calendar many hundreds of years ago either died or thought, “Hey, maybe since I made this calender last so long, someone will continue it later.” They were probably not thinking at the time “Er Mer Gerd end of the world!” They were probably more concerned with everyday things, like getting food. But also, Nostradamus predicted a thousand “golden years of peace” right about this time, and I figure that the best chance we’ve got is if everyone is dead. So maybe the world will end, we won’t really know until the 21^st, eh?

               So my advice for you this apocalypse season is to do exactly what you’d normally do. Don’t go do stupid crap because some very dead guy didn’t finish his stupid calender. In the event that the apocalypse actually happens, though, feel free to do whatever the heck you want, whenever the heck you want to. I’ll see you in the looting. I will have a gun though, so don’t mess with me. You might want to have the three most important necessities of life close at hand – A shotgun, goldfish crackers, and a full set of plate mail. There is nothing that you can’t do if you’ve got those things. Plus, I mean who wouldn’t love to run around in a full suit of armor just for the hell of it? Definitely not me. But yeah, have fun, I’m rambling now. Don’t die, that would suck. If the apocalypse happens, though, I suppose this blog doesn’t really matter, so I’m going to stop now. Buh bye.

Thanks for reading,

Matt Finley          

OM NOM NOM

Hello!

               So as the year goes on, I can definitely tell it’s starting to be winter. The days are getting shorter, the air is getting colder, and this morning we had a few minutes of slushy crap that I suppose could be called snow. Although it has a lot of downsides – I really, really, REALLY hate shoveling snow, for example – one of my favorite parts of the holiday seasons is the food. I’m not a chef of any caliber, but my mother cooks the best stuff I’ve ever had. Fudge is a holiday staple at my house. I swear, my mom makes at least 20 different kind. Chocolate Orange, Plain Chocolate, Dark Chocolate, Peppermint – You name a flavor of fudge and I’ve probably had it made for me.  Another piece of kitchen witchery that she creates is little round pretzel things, with a Hershey’s Kiss melted on top, and then an M&M  pressed into that, then allowed to cool. They taste wonderful, and I could eat them all day. Another of my favorite things around the holidays is the food for Christmas itself. My family doesn’t have any relatives that live anywhere near Iowa, but we cook a big meal all the same. So I hope this sounded pretty good, ‘cause here’s some recipes, yo.

               Chocolate-Covered Pretzel Things:

Ingredients

-Pretzel Sticks

-Chocolate for melting

-Sprinkles

Directions

               Take your pretzel sticks. Dip them in the melted chocolate. Roll them in sprinkles. Eat them. Victory.

               Chocolate M&M Pretzel Things

Ingredients

               -Circular Pretzels

               -Hershey’s Kisses or Rolos or whatever chocolate you want

               -M&Ms

Directions

               Put a ton of pretzel circles down on a piece of wax paper that’s on a cookie sheet. Then place the Hershey’s Kisses down on top of these, facing up. Pop them in the oven for three or four minutes, just until the chocolate gets soft. Then take it out and carefully press an M&M down onto the top of each of these things. Pop the whole mess into the fridge, or in this weather just put them outside until they cool down. Then eat. Enjoy. Win.

              

Chocolate Fudge:

Ain’t nobody got time fo’ that!

               But really. Go ham this holiday season, pun intended. Food’s awesome. Your friends/parents/significant others will appreciate it very much. And even if they’re Grinches and hate food, which is an odd combination, at least it’ll give you something to do this holiday season.

Thanks for reading,

Matt Finley

We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Program . . .

               I’m throwing off my weekly blogging schedule quite a bit here by adding a fourth post to my usual 3-post, 1200 word count schedule. This breaking news report is brought to you because my wonderfully quiet friend Kendall has done something that few people can actually do – left me speechless. Her response to my post “Extroverts Will Inherit the Earth” was so successful at shutting down my original post that I don’t even know what to respond with. So, in short, she wins. Go visit her blog, Everything Counts Eventually. (everythingcountseventually.blogspot.com) If you know her, go give her a high five. She deserves it.

Extroverts Will Inherit the Earth

Hello!

                So recently I’ve found myself interacting with a group of people infected with a common disability, and I’m afraid it might be contagious. In the words of a high school socialite, “lol jk.” In actuality, I’ve found myself hanging out with my introverted friends more and more in the last few weeks, and I just don’t get it. Why would you choose to be an introvert? And don’t think that it’s not a matter of choice, because it totally is. One would have to put more effort into not socializing than they would have to if they did socialize. Personally I don’t see too many positives to being one of those people that stares at their feet through every conversation they’ve ever had with another person, ever. There are a lot of disadvantages, though.

                For starters, you miss out on a lot if you don’t socialize with your peers. You don’t get as much out of the time you spend in school, for sure. School would just not be the same without the group of close friends that I have, because we take part in some pretty crazy shenanigans. Although we do a lot of stupid stuff that we probably shouldn’t do, it makes it a lot more fun and a lot more memorable. If you’re too quiet to make friends very well, you definitely won’t have as much of a fun time.

                Kennedy is a wonderful place filled with all kinds of people. Everyone could find at least one person they “connect” to. ‘Nd usually, high school is a pretty decent place to start seriously dating. Not many people are going to make fun of you, etc, etc. Downsides to being a shy, introverted person continue here. At some point in the future an introvert might decide that they’ve finally found “the one” and want to start dating him/her. Love will have to wait, though, because Mr(s). Introvert doesn’t have any idea what they’re getting into. Lots of laughing will probably occur when the aforementioned introvert messes up and ends up falling straight on their metaphorical face.

                Another reason why being introverted would suck is because it’s nice to be loud. If you’re confident in yourself enough to go through the halls screaming about your love for turtles with a pink sequined cowboy hat on and the breeze blowing through your knees in your nice new kilt, I can vouch for your obvious manliness, and give you props as well.  At this point there are not many things that you can’t do. Besides gaining back the respect lost from your friends. But who’s counting?

Thanks for reading,

Matt Finley

Morgan Freeman!

Hello!

               So yesterday I had some friends over to my place, where we screwed around for a bit. As it got a bit later we decided to pop a movie into the DVD player, and “Shawshank Redemption” got picked. As a fan of Morgan Freeman, I’ve seen the movie before, but not for a long time. So watching it for the second time, I really paid close attention to the smaller details, and found it to be really good. There were a lot of jokes that I understood this time around that made the movie that much more enjoyable.

               Firstly, though, is Morgan Freeman. It was really interesting seeing Morgan Freeman as a younger actor playing an older person, instead of what you usually see now – Morgan Freeman as an older actor playing an older person. It was cool seeing how his acting style has changed over the years. But hands down, he’s the best actor in the movie. I really enjoy Morgan Freeman’s acting in any movie, and he didn’t disappoint in this one. He both plays a character as well as narrates, which is a bonus. I’d listen to Morgan Freeman narrate paint dry, if such a thing was sold.

               On to the actual movie, though. The main character is a banker who’s falsely accused of murdering his wife and is thrown into Shawshank prison, where he meets a variety of people who are both helpful and hurtful to him. He meets “Red,” who’s played by Morgan Freeman (Aw Yeah!), who helps him learn the ropes of the prison, and can get him anything from a rock hammer to a poster of Marilyn Monroe.  To counteract the wonderful voice of Morgan Freeman, though, is the Warden. He runs the prison, and helps and hurts our main character depending on what mood he’s in. I love this character because if you think about it, you can probably relate the Warden to someone you know. Makes the movie that much more enjoyable. I also really thought that the plot twist that happens at the end was pretty good, and I didn’t see it coming. This movie was really nice overall because it doesn’t conform to the standard mold of most movies, which we’ve all seen. You know, “boy meets girl, boy falls in love, etc.” I’ve seen that kind of thing too many times to get any enjoyment out of it. So this movie was a refreshing breath of air, as it were.

Thanks for reading,

Matt Finley

Finals Anxiety

Hello!

               All of us at some point have taken a final. And around finals time, if you’re anything like me, you get a little bit stressed. I mean, who wouldn’t? Finals will usually “make or break” your grade in high school, and most definitely will in college. So yeah, we’ve all got a right to be stressed, because our society drills into our head that we need a good grades to get into a good college, and need to get into college to get a good job, and need a good job to have a good life, etc, etc.

               There are a few other things that add to the stress of taking these end-of-term exams, as well. For example, some teachers, towards the end of the term, will continue with the curriculum but also start adding review, which doubles the workload of the students. On the other side, some teachers won’t review at all, and leave all of it up to you. This leaves you scrambling for information and equally as stressed. One final thing that I see around finals time that’s stressful is when teachers wait until weeks after all the other teachers to grade your final. This shows laziness on their part, and increases the time from when students take the test to when they get to see their final grades for a class. That just irritates everyone.

               There are some ways to relieve this stress, though! When I’m studying for finals, I try to study with a friend when I can. That way you can bounce ideas and whatnot off of another person, plus it’s not one hundred percent work, one hundred percent of the time. I find that a little screwing around every now and again helps me to do better work when I have to. Another thing that I find works is when I take breaks from studying for finals. Study for an hour or so, then take a break and check your twitter, or facebook, or whatever it is that needs checking. If it doesn’t work for you, that’s too bad, because it allows me to get my studying done and have a little fun at the same time. Madness, right?

               So next time finals come around, maybe you could find your own things that relieve stress, instead of just giving your teacher the ol’ one-two and slug ‘em in the gut.

Thanks for reading,

Matt Finley