2008 almost over and what a year it was

Okay it is the 30th (or 31st if I'm to lazy to finish before midnight) of December and it's time to put the year under a microscope. Were gonna seperat the year into three sections; The Good, The Bad, and The Unexcpected.

PS: The ugly is being loped into the bad because of a lot of unexpected stuff has come up.

The GOOD

The movies of this year have been stupendous. The Dark Knight, Wall-E, Changeling, Frost/Nixon, and many others. This has easily been one of the best movie years in the past decade. The award season this year is gonna rule.

The music of this year has totally ruled. Chinese Democracy finally got released and it did not fail to impress. ACDC had Black Ice, Coldplay with Viva la Vida, Metallica with Death Magnetic. I was extremely impressed with the music situation in 2008.

Stephane Dion got canned. (nuff said)

Canadian Idol got taken off the air. (I hope for good)

The Conservatives did not get a majority in the election.

AND DRUM ROLL PLEASE
OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA
The 44th president of the USA will be Barack Obama. The first african american president ever and hopefully he will be good enough to reverse the eight years of hell GWB put the country through.

THE BAD

The Stockmarkets crashed. Every country in the world has a plunging econemy and will still be in hell for at least a year.

Amy Whinehouse won five grammy awards.

Bernie Mac, Isaac Hayes, Sydney Pollack, and of course, Heath Ledger died.

ALthough there were some great movies this year there were also some real stinkers. Twilight, The Hottie and the Nottie, The Love Guru, Hanna Montana concert in 3-D, 10,000 BC, The House Bunny, Fools Gold, Meet the Spartans, and of course, Disaster Movie.

The Jonas brothers, Miley Cyrus, and many other diney stars are still popular.

Stephen Harper is still prime minister.

THE UNEXPECTED

Britney Spears rebounded. I can't believe it happened. I stillhate her but she still did it.

They actually came out with 5 different movie's that hit the top of IMDB bottom 100. Ive never seen that happen. 5 Movies in one year.

They succesfully remade Halloween. I know I just cant belive it was good.

Saw 5 was a decent movie. I thought they sunk the ship with 4 but they pulled it back out.

Joe Liberman is still a senator.

They announced a returning for Futurama (that would have been under the good it was just really unexpected)

I saw a movie from the "Movie series" that wasn't horrible. Superhero Movie is actually a watchable film.

P.S
If you have any other noteworthy events to be put on my list please leave a comment.

This is really starting to piss me off

I'm all for the animal rights movement. I don't condone torture on animals. But I'm still going to eat meat. I have no guilt in me for eating dead animals. That's the way it has been for a long long time and it's not going to change now. Groups like PETA (AKA People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) are giving the entire human race a bad name for killing animals. They are saying that animals need to have their rights protected and and everyone should stop eating meat for good. Well I've got to admit that a lot of the animal rights things they talk about are true. But that only means that animals shouldn't be tortured. Has anyone in this organization thought about what would happen if the human race stopped killing animals for food. The entire balance of nature would be thrown off. Animals would reproduce at an alarming rate. The entire earth would start to over populate because of how the other predators of the world couldn't hold it off. I have tons of friends who are become vegetarian or vegan because of stuff they found on the PETA website. It makes me sad that they cant see through the torture problems to realize what would happen if the world stopped eating meat.

Some of my friends who I spoke of in my last entry are fundamentalist Christians. Some of them are getting sucked into this whole shtick. Now my problem with that is that it is completely hypocritical. If they belive that the world was made in seven days then they have to believe that man was put on this earth to rule over beast. Which includes eating them. If you look at the natural animal kingdom without humans you will see that the natural balance of nature is that the predators kill and eat the prey. How is that diferent from humans killing (humanely) and eating other animals. There is no difference. So with all that in mind how can you be offended by people eating animals? It just dosent make sense.

To end this off I would just like to repeat my view on this. I think that animal cruelty should stop. I dont condone the use of torture to strip animals for fur. I do think that humans should have the right to eat animals, and that PETA should limit its efforts to informing people about torture and inhumanity.

No Offense

Before I get into my topic I have a message to all readers. If you feel offended, disturbed or just pissed of at anything I say in this entry I apologize. I will not revoke any statements but I'm sorry if they offend anyone.

Okay it's time to bite the bullet. I've been boycotting this topic for quite some time because of how controversial it is. It has been the cause of a genocide, has well has hate crimes across the world. It has been causing wars since it was first created. Religion is what I'm talking about. I have had multiple talks (more argument like but...) with my friends (more like acquaintances during our chats but...) about religion. What do I believe in? What do you believe in? How can you not believe in god? These are some of the questions asked in our discussions and the argument never gets settled.

Just to set the record straight about my beliefs when it comes to religion I have a saying. I'm not ignorant enough to believe that god made everything in 7 days and I'm not arrogant enough to believe that it all just happened with no help. I prefer to mix my two beliefs together. I believe that there is a god and his divine actions were events like the Big Bang and the start of the evolutionary chain. Everything else is up to interpretation whenever it gets brought up in conversation. The reason that I choose to believe has I do. It is because it gives me a sense of belonging in this world. Simply it lets me sleep at night.

So when it comes to these discussions I have with my friends I'm always on the evolution is right side of things while the fundamentalist's on the opposing side of the table are the evolution is a bunch of BS. I say fundamentalist because in my circle of friends there are the fundamentalists(bible thumpers has my dad calls them), the athiests, the people who dont like talking about it, and the people like me. So the fundamentalists are the extreme right wing people and the athiests and I are the mid left wing people. That always makes for a fun discussion filled with insults, name calling, and just pure meanness.

Normally every disscusion ends before I'm able to say this one crucial thing. I respect everyone's beliefs. I do not care what you belive in as long has you respect other peoples beliefs has well. If you dismiss other people's beliefs than you have no respect form me.

One of the most pathetic things Ive ever heard

Today while I was going on my usual internet scourge, I found something that was not only insulting but embarrassing as well. I found a study done in 2006 of grade twelve students in Ontario. The basis of the study was "How many Canadian Born Grade Twelve Students can pass the Canadian Citizenship test." Guess what the findings were. 43% of grade twelve students that participated in the survey are actually knowledgeable Canadians. Only 43% of the students have the knowledge to be a Canadian. I found that so insulting and embarrassing. The second part of the study was done on Immigrant Children. They had a 90% pass rate. The reason that this is somewhat embarrassing is that means that Canadian born kids don't care about knowing their country.

It really hit me for the first time when I heard my friends talk about the US election in November. They were so excited. They were so happy. I'm not saying that I wasn't happy but at least I cared about the Canadian Election too. No one I knew had any care for our own election except for saying it was pointless (which it was but that's not the point) and that they all hated Stephan Dion.

I honestly hope when they do the next study on that topic, the students show a bit more enthusiasm about their country. Because if they don't the Canadian electoral system will be come useless system leaving the choices that the country makes to rich greedy old men who could care less about the good will of the Canadian people.

Your Opinions on the best and worst of 2008

A couple of nights ago, I came out with my Oscar predictions for this year coming up. No one commented but that's not a surprise since it's not a usual topic. So instead of that I am going to post my list of the best ten movies of 2008 and the 2 worst. Please comment and leave your own lists.

New entry for #1 Frost/Nixon (tied with TDK)

1. The Dark Knight

2. Iron Man

3. Wanted

4. The Bucket List

5. Wall-E

6. Quantum of Solace

7. Changeling

8. Body Of Lies

9. Charlie Bartlett

10. 21

the Two Worst

2. Twilight

1. The Hottie and the Nottie

I'd Rather be a Pessimist

I would rather be a pessimist and be happy once in a while than be an optimist and be disappointed all the time. -Anonymous

Have you ever been really depressed? I mean like really depressed. I mean slit your own throat shoot your self in the head depressed. Well I have and it is the best thing that can happen to you. I'm serious, when you hit rock bottom then you know how bad it can get. It puts a new perspective on things. It lets you think straight and get the things you want. I know that many tell you that if you have a positive outlook on life than you will be happy. What I'm telling you is this. If you have a positive outlook on everything your just going to crash damn hard.

I once had a positive outlook on life. I thought that the world was a great place and that universal peace was just within our grasp. Well needless to say I was wrong. I ended up with divorced parents an abusive ex-stepfather and horrible academic achievements(or lack there of). Around the age of 13 I started to look at the world differently. I decided to lower my expectations. You wanna know what happened? I was happy. Maybe not just saved a life happy. Maybe not just one the lottery happy. But for the first time in a long time I wasn't totally suicidal. (I was still suicidal but only for about three months).

Since then my life just keeps getting better and better. I started to do well in school. I started to do things I used to be scared of doing. And again, I'm happy. So I suggest to all of you to do what I do. Be a pessimist.

Golden Globes to the Oscars

Starting in November each year three seasons start. The holiday gift spree season, the race to the Superbowl in the NFL and one that is ofter overlooked until the 27th of December. I'm referring to the Film Award Season. The first major nominations come from our friends at the Golden Globes. (For a full list http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/66th_Golden_Globe_Awards) Then the BAFTA, the SAG, the Directors Guild, and the people's choice awards follow suit. Finally on January 22nd the pinnacle of film awards announces their nominees. The Academy Awards, the Oscars, the most prestigious awards in the film industry today.

Of course the buzz goes on for the two months before they announce their nominations but the best predictions come from early January. By that time all the films that are illegible for awards are in and people start coming forward with more accurate lists. http://www.thefilmexperience.net/Awards/awards.html is the site I go to for my information. It normally is very accurate with its predictions. I do have a voice of my own so I'm not going to take all of that sites predictions for myself. I've got my own take on things.

Best Picture Nominees
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Milk
The Wrestler
Gran Torino

Best Actor Nominees
Mickey Rourke for the Wrestler
Sean Penn for Milk
Leonardo Dicaprio for Revolutionary Road
Brad Pitt for Benjamin Button
Clint Eastwood for Gran Torino

Best Actress Nominees
Meryl Streep for Doubt
Angelina Jolie for Changeling
Anne Hathaway for Rachel Getting Married
Cate Blanchette for Benjamin Button
Kate Winslet for Revolutionary Road

Best Supporting Actor
Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight
Philip Seymour Hoffman for Doubt
James Franco for Milk
Robert Downy Jr and Tom Cruise for Tropic Thunder

Best Supporting Actress
Penelope Cruz for Vicky Christina Barcelona
Viola Davis for Doubt
Amy Adams for Doubt
Kathy Bates for Revolutionary Road
Frances McDormand for Burn After Reading

Best Director Nominations
Gus Van Sant for Milk
Christopher Nolan for The Dark Knight
Dan Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire
Clint Eastwood for Gran Torino
Clint Eastwood for Changeling

That Is My Oscar Short List. Please Comment if You have opposing Opinions or Recommendations.

XMAS 2-Question

Ok i know i already wrote a blog tonight, I'm just very happy.
I'm getting a brand new guitar for Christmas and it totally rules. (http://www.electricguitarplanet.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/epiphone_les_paul_standard_plus.jpg) Its like that one but darker.

So anyways onto bigger and brighter things. I'm going to post a question and I hope you all answer it. If you like a girl/guy but theyre already in a relationship. should you go for it or stand back until they break up?

Atention All Teenagers

I was speaking to a friend today about the current goings on in Ottawa. He is a year older than me and was very oblivious to the way our parliamentary system works. I've been thinking about this all day and have this to say. Teenagers in Canada should be more informed when it comes to politics in Canada. I would (and probably will) be very disappointed when i grow up, start voting and see my peers at that age who are still completely ignorant to the parliamentary system. I'm not suggesting that they become obsessive about learning all they can but only that they get the proper information. It is a huge shame that so many people were drawn into the whole anti coalition fiasco the King Stephen created. It shows how horribly uninformed the people are and how despicable King Harper is for taking advantage of it (unless of course he is also unaware of it). So as a closing note, I say to the government of Canada, the government of Ontario, the DDSB and all teenagers currently in high school that a new, more informative program should be implemented on the workings of the government. It would help the future of canada considerably and would help teenagers become interested in poiltics.

Sorry-Update

I'm sorry about my last post if it offended anyone. I was just stating my opinion and hoped that it wold not be an issue but since it is I apologize for my comments. I still do think that Twilight sucks canal water but if you want to read it go ahead. It is not my job to tell you all what to do.

So onto bigger and more aggravating things. Michael Ignatief has been given a clear path to take the Liberal leadership. I hope he does well but I still think that Bob Rae would have been a beter choice. The one thing Ignatief should do is make sure that when he speaks to Harper about ideas concerning the economy he informs the Canadian people so when King Harper ignores them he will get crucified.

I got the Dark Knight kast night and it was has good has it was when i saw it in theaters. I love Batman played byChristian Bale and the Joker played by the amazing Heath Ledger (RIP). The later deserves an Oscar for his performance.

Thats all for now. Leave new topic idea's in the comment sectione please.

Twilight Series

Everyone has heard the hype, most girls (and their boy friends) have seen the movie and girls are drooling over Edward like there's no tomorrow. Obviously I'm talking about Twilight. The book series has been captivating girls everywhere with it's very chick story appeal. I was pressured into reading the first book last summer and to be brutally honest the only thing I found good about that book was the cover page. It was the most dry reading material since the dictionary. I hate it with a passion and tell all guys who are in their right mind to read it.

If you guys are into vampires than I suggest you start with the Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris. They are a great series with a lot of suspense. If you like that series or if you dont than I still suggest you watch the HBO show based upon them. they are ten times better than the novels.

Back to my original point I HATE TWILIGHT WITH A PASSION. It is the worst book Ive ever read and ranks just above Dora the Explorer and the Teletubies on my list of thing that George Bush should have nuked whil in office.

XMAS

"I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas"
Well it's Christmas time again and the annual Christmas present rush is on. Has always there are 2 big problems with this time. What should women get men for Christmas and vice-versa. It's impossible for us men to know what to get women because of how vague the ideas they give us are. Normally an obsessively organized woman is annoying but when it comes to gift ideas, they could be very helpful. An actual list of 5 or 6 ideas would be perfect cause then we could get like 2 things off the list and it would still be a sort of surprise.

Well enough with me bitching about that, I can actually give advice on the other question. Us men are simple beings. We are rarely interested in thing that we need. We prefer toys. So, girls, if the guy your buying a gift for likes to cook then you get like a knife set or a grill. If the guy is a computer nut then get some computer gadgets. With me it's CDs and DVDs that i prefer. Clothes are a bad choice unless your family. Books are only for book nuts. And for gods sake if you're buying him a movie stay away from the chick flicks.

HALL OF FAME TV SHOWS
House Three Stories
House Skin Deep
House The Jerk
House Alone
House Birthmarks

NDP-Liberal Coalition

By now many people have heard that the New Democrats and the Federal Liberal parties of Canada have formed a coalition with the support of the Bloc Québecois. If you don't know what the purpose of a coalition is than; a coalition can be formed when a vote of no confidence goes through in the House of confidence. The parties who form the opposition go to the governor general and ask to take over the government to avoid an election.

Well right now, sitting in Ottawa, waiting for the December 8th economic update vote, are eager NDP and Liberal Mp's waiting to throw Stephen Harper into the official opposition seat. Personnally I think this is a good thing because of 3 things; STEPHEN HARPER LIED, he said during the election campaign that he would not run a defecit, then after the election he said he would, then in the economic update, guess what, he didn't. 2; I love the NDP and this will help their popularity. 3; because of the awesome deal that Ed Broadbent and Jean Chrétien helped create, there will be no election for at least 18 months.

There is one thing that Stephen Harper said thought that really creats strong opinions in my heart. He said that what the NDP and the Liberals are doing is undemocratic. (http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/545828) He really needs to educate himself because what there doing is something completely democratic. If a governing powere is doing things for the good of them selves and not for the good of the country then the people who can take responibility have the duty to take responsibility. It is the most democratic thing that a party can do so to quote Shakespear Ibite my thumb to you Mr Harper and I hope you and all your lackeys die a miserable and painfull political death.

TREKKIES

I am a huge Star Trek fan. A second generation fan but that doesn't change anything. I have clear memories of sitting in my living room when i was 5 or 6 and watching Star Trek and Star Trek TNG with my dad. Then when I was 8 and 9 I watched the movies and since then I've been in love. I decided to write this in the light of the new movie coming out next year. I hope it'll be good and think that they couldn't have chosen a better Spock.

So with all that out of the way I'm going to start reviewing the series and movies in order.

The Original Series
Funny but had some serious moments. Favorite episodes The Tholian Web, Space Seed, The Trouble with Tribbles, and of course The City on the Edge of Forever.

Star Trek The Next Generation
Ok lets be honest, the first two seasons wer 95% crap. but of course after that the show became one of the best in TV history. Favourite Episodes ( God this is really really hard) Yesterdays Enterprise, Cause and Effect, All Good Things, The other seven episodes where Q appeares.

Star Trek Deep Space 9
My least favourite of the series but still amazing. Has some of the best characters the franchise has ever seen and had some very good plots. Favourite Episodes Emissary, Q Less, In The Pale Moonlight.

Star Trek Voyager
LOVE LOVE LOVE. This series has my favourite cast and my favourite writing. Chakotay and Doctor are my favourite character in the whole franchise. Favourite episodes Caretaker, Eye of the Needle, and of course Scorpion.

Star Trek Enterprise
It may be less popular than the other series but I love it just the same. Favourite Episodes: In a Mirror Darkly and These are the Voyages.

Now just has a side comment I would like to take the Time to iniciate the best Television episodes of all time list by adding THE CITY ON THE EDGE OF FOREVER, CAUSE AND EFFECT, SCORPION, ALL GOOD THINGS, and IN A MIRROR DARKLY.

back to the reviews....
Star Trek the Motion Picture 6/10 mediocre special effects but miserable story line.
Star Trek 2 The Wrath of Khan 9/10 Fantastic Movie nuff said
Star Trek 3 The Search For Spock 6.5/10 ehhh
Star Trek 4 The Voyage Home 8/10 nuclear vessles lolololololol
Star Trek 5 The Final Frontier 2/10 Horrible Movie nuff said
Star Trek 6 The Undiscovered Country 9.5/10 has close has the origional series cast came to perfection
Star Trek 7 Generations 6.5/10 ehhh
Star Trek 8 First Contact 9.5 has close has the TNG series cast came to perfection
Star Trek 9 Insurrection 8/10 My favourte of the odd numbered Trek Movies
Star Trek 10 Nemesis 7/10 The worst of the even numbered movies

So that's my Star Trek

Serial Dramas

Ok, I know the trend of the past decade has been show like Prison Break, 24, Heroes, and Lost. They have been replacing the famed Drama shows of the past like CSI, L&O, NYPD blue. Well I cant decide which ones i like better. I love Prison Break, and 24 but I also love L&O, House, Bones, and CSI. The serial drama's have the disadvantage of being completely predictable after the 2nd season. But they also have the best enemies. I mean come on T-Bag rivals Hannibal lector on the Vilain scale. But on the other hand, House, and Bones have some of the best hero characters.

So with the new TV season going on Ive been watching PB, House, Bones, and CSI to decide and after watching them I'm even more undecided than I was before. Prison Break finally got its grooe back and House, bones, and CSI are better than ever. so what i finally decided was that having both of them together is a good combination. Having only serial Dramas would suck but life with out could be just has bad.

With all that in mind I'm going to end this by saying that I cant wait for 24 season 7 to start, Prison break is still keeping me on the edge of my seat, and Bones CSI and House are still good as ever.

Parents

Everybody who reads this obviously has had problems with their parents. Whether it's them punishing you for something you didn't do, not allowing you to do the stuff all your friends do, or even not letting you stay up late we all have our own parental problems. Mine are how they never understand how much of a pain in the ass my sisters are. One of my friends thinks that his mom hates all of his friends(including myself). Another one of my friends has parents that'll slap him if he swears so I've been thinking about all these rules and regulations our parents set upon us kid's. I'd love to hear most parents say that they've never sworn, or never illegally watched an R rated movie, or even smoked in they're lives because we all know that they have. So what I'm saying is that parents need to lighten up. If they were a bit looser on they're rules we wouldent be so eager to break them.

Guitar Hero vs Rockband

Ok, everyone knows what I'm talking about with this topic. Guitar Hero and Rock Band are 2 of the biggest video games currently available and both are incredibly popular. Currently Rock Band has 1 game out while Guitar Hero has 5, but both games have a game planned for release this year. Now onto the dispute, most people who I know, are big fans of Rock Band because of it's full band concept and were angry with the fourth release of guitar hero because there was no new game play additions except for battles. But the biggest thing that sparks confrontation between the 2 sets of fans is the drum's. The drumming is what is making old guitar hero fans very angry with the upcomming 6th release. The fact that the title is still going to be "Guitar Hero World Tour" upsets people because of how it will be a full band game. Ok, wait a second, why is everyone putting up a fuss about the title. It's just a title, and if the drumming gameplay is has good has i hear it is than it shouldent matter what the title is. Now to shift the focus to Rock Band for a moment, the new drum set will be the old drumset but with the game for more money you can purchase two extra cymbals but the catch is that these cymbals will only attach to the new drumset (maybe theyll change that, but right now that is the way it is). The guitar has some new features that willl probably make no difference and, well, the vocals have nothing new. So were onto the finall verdict, who will prevail, Guitar Hero or Rock Band. Well I think that both games are gonna last a while and that neither will fall under until people lose intrest.

Psychics-Credible or Phony

Hello this is your friendly neighborhood blogger, wwefreakjon. So, today I'm gonna talk about psychics. If any of you are Numb3rs fans and saw last nights episode on showcase than you'll know some of the factual history about psychics and the U.S Government. To recap in case you haven't seen the episode in the 70's the U.S government hired people who claimed to have psychic powers to hopefully be able to aid them in the cold war for inteligence. Now that is speculation but no one has denied it. So back to my dilema, are these so called psychics credible or is it all a big hoax.

Although there is no science behind it, scientists have found a fair amount of people who can do certain tasks such has identifying what cards are without looking at the front of the card. These people are usually alienated from society because of there "special" talents. The explanation for these talents normally has something to do with evolution which is why it is so controversial. By evolution I mean that the human brain is said to always be evolving and growing. Currently scientists say that humans use anywhere from 2 to 15% of thier brains so it is predictable that if we could use, say 50 to 75% of our brains we could have telechanisis and special psychic powers like moving objects with our minds or being able to see what someone is thinking. these predictions are what make it conceivable that the odd person could have a further evolved brain and could possess special powers.

My first Blog

This is my first time on blogger so dont judge me just by this. Well I'm Jon and I'm an aspiring journalist. One thing that you need to know about me is that I'm obsessive about movies, music, tv, and politics. I love watching movies and tv shows aswell as critisizing them and talking about them. Music is and as always been an incredibly large part of my life and im extremely open to new times. Finally there's politics, sure I'm 14 and shouldent be worried about anything like that but I really dont care, I'm curious and have been known to spend hours on end reaserching random historical and politcal facts.

Well any ways I'm now gonna start my first topic which is Movies. With the monumental release of The Dark Knight, people have been talking about how outstanding the film is. I'm not gonna say it's not fantastic because it is but I think it raises an interesting point. But before I get to that I'll just recap on it's history; It currently holds 5 box office records including, best opening day and weekend, It has a 95% approval rate on rottentomatoes.com and is on top of the imdb top 250 movies with a 9.4 rating. Now the point i was referring to earlier was if a superhero/summer blockbuster movie could theoretically be one of the greatest general and artistic films of all time. Personally I think it can, it's not a superhero film but a true cop drama. The acting is spectacular and the writing and filmography is epic. But is it better than say Citizen Kane, The Godfather, Casablanca or, many other films that have been highly influentual. Well that's a very personal opinion because there's no way to really decide from a large view of people. Personally I love the film and it is only topped by The Shawshank Redemption and A Few Good Men. Just to finish up, this is one of the fiew movies in history that was hyped to the extreme and was still able to surpass all the hype.