Mark Cuban Saves Reality TV, My Mother Goes Ape-Shit

No, she doesn't go apeshit over The Benefactor, which I will come to in a minute, nor was she angry at me or any of my family (anymore than usual, anyways). No, my parents marked their 25th Anniversary a couple of weeks ago, and to commemorate the occasion, me and my siblings, with help from my mom's best friend, threw a surprise party for them this past Saturday. Ok, really, my mom's friend did most of the work, and my sister. My brother and I had the task of keeping the 'rents in the dark, and as such did virtually nothing to clean, prepare, etc. We succeeded totally. My mom was utterly clueless that Seventy odd people were going to descend on our house Saturday evening. Dad suspected something, but only about 15-20 people
or so.

The best part was that 8 of her 12 siblings were able to make it down. We really only get to see them now about once or twice a year, usually at weddings or other events, so it was nice to see them for a day or so. All of my dad's sisters came down, as well as a bunch of cousins. My cousin, we'll call her Cindy, has absolutely the most adorable and precocious little girls, 4 and 3 years old. My mom was a little upset that the 3 year old is able to read better than a number of her Grade 3 students. Anyone else think this is a problem? Anyways, enough about that, a good time was had by all, and we have lots of left over turkey, pop, and most importantly, date squares :)

As mentioned above I watched The Benefactor on Monday, and I believe this is the first reality show that I actually liked. Survivor pissed me off too quickly with all the "betrayal" and "alliances" and bull shit that Jeff Probst would spend far too much time analyzing. Big Brother has been retarded from the get go, and The Bachelor seems indicative to me of the fall of Western Civilization. But, this, is finally it.

Everything is based on what Mark Cuban wants, so there's none of the false objectivity or bone-head political maneuvering of most of the other shows. I mean, Elimination Jenga? This man kicks ass I don't know if he can top that, but heres hoping. That said, Cuban is pretty annoying, and arrogant as all hell, so we'll see if this series can hold my interest. Honest Mark, "stupid" isn't always a bad word. And I was disappointed that Grayson lost to William. Will just annoys the hell out of me. Anyways, that's all I can remember about the show now. I really need to post immediately after the fact.

That was weird

Just finished watching 19 Months courtesy of the Lethbridge Film Society. Movie was pretty funny in that quirky Canadian way, similar to Made in Canada, The Newsroom, and that one on Parliament Hill ( I forgot the name). Damn it, Canada makes funny shit, but unfortunately, the CBC can't compete with I want A Famous Face.

Anyways, the weird thing was that the film locked and melted with like 2 minutes to go. That's never happened to me before, and damn does it go quick. for a moment, most of us thought it was some sort of weird, post-modern artsy twist ending. And then the lights came up. So, if you've seen the last two minutes of 19 Months, lemme know how it goes.

Also watched Duck Soup in class today. I have never seen a Marx brothers film before, so it was pretty neat. Lots of old, bad jokes. Also some racist ones that would never fly anytime since 1960. But, that's the way things were. It's easy to see how this film influenced later physical comedy, particularly the "Mirror Scene".

God, now I need to write a journal entry on each. Man, schoolwork gets annoying fast.

Back to school! Back to school, to prove to Dad that I'm not a fool!

So, back in classes, and finished at the slaughterhouse. Of all my summer jobs, that was probably the best as far as work environment, although definitely not for the money. I got hooped out of taking Anatomy and Physiology like I wanted to, to see if I had a knack for it, but it might not be so bad. I picked up History 260: Western Civilization instead. I was hoping for an Abnormal Psych course or something else totally different from what I want to do, but this was the only course that: a) I was remotely interested in, b) didn't conflict with anything else, and c) actually transferred somewhere.

On that note, why the Hell is the U of A so anal about transfer credit? Looking at the LCC Transfer guide, it looks like they only accept about a quarter of what the U of L and U of C do( and significantly less than Athabasca, but they'll take anything it seems). Now admittedly, LCC is primarily concerned with compatibility with the U of L, and most of the courses here aren't really University courses at all. But still, a junior survey course of Western History can't be all that different from any other, correct? And its not like its just some idiot teaching it. I have a Ph.D. teaching it, which is very rare for this place, and Dr. Ellis seems to know what he's doing, as well as being relatively well published. Whatever, hopefully I can get credit, and if not, then I can challenge a course.

Overall, this semester should be pretty fun and easy. Two of my instructors are pretty good, and I'm taking 3 courses form the one ( I had him last semester). Haven't met the third one yet, for my programming course. Taking Introductory Programming in C, Pop Culture, Film Studies, World Religions, and the afore-mentioned Western Civilization. If they would allow me to, I would challenge the religion and history. The hard part is just going to be avoiding writer's block, like last semester, and keeping up with the Film Studies Journals, and reflections, blah blah , etc for Religion. If I don't get a 3.8ish this semester, I hereby give every reader of this blog permission to smack me hard, with either a back hand or some suitable, dull object.

Also, if you haven't yet, give Ben Harper: Live from Mars a listen. I got a copy of the electric disc a few years ago, but never really listened to it til last week. Looks like I'll go buy it, in order to get the acoustic disc as well. Hear that RIAA, music sharing can increase sales, you idiots!!

Also, Pearl Jam: Live at Benaroya Hall kicks ass. And for those of you in Edmonton, if your not going to see Los Lobos, The Corb Lund Band, and some other dude tonight at the Winspear, then I will be disappointed in you.

PS, apparently the world "blog" is not included in Blogger's spell-check dictionary.

Meta-Contest Time

Also, I've had a G-Mail account for a few months now, and it kicks ass. Apprently I now get invitations to let people into the beta test, so, to get rid of them I will be having a contest for readers of this blog. But first I need to decide what type of contest to have. Therefore, I am having another contest, to determine which kind of contest I should have to get rid of the G-mail invites. So, post your ideas on the comments, or sendthem to markjess@gmail.com. Winner of the Meta-Contest will also recieve a G-Mail account if desired. The other five accounts will go to the winners of the yet-to-be-determined contest.

Not Quite Dead Yet....

Sorry for the Hiatus. Bear with me until Wednesday. I'm losing my only functioning computer (which I just got fixed last night, but whatever) to my sister, who is moving up to Westlock to attend Grant MacEwan's Nursing Rural Delivery Programme. But, I wil be able to use the pc's in the Campus lab,so posting will resume remi-regularly.

Anyways, In order to provide some sort of entertainment, here is a list of things i learned working at the slaughterhouse this summer.

1. 1300 Pigs take up less space than one would think, once neatly packed into boxes.
2. The Japanese eat some really, really weird shit. I mean, Pork Rectum? Tongue Cartilage? Thanks, I'll pass.
3. Wearing a Chain Mail Gauntlet is inherently cool.
4. If your incredibly bored, performing phallic and/or homo-erotic gestures on a pork loin will always get you a laugh.
5. And if your too tired for that, simply giving your Supervisor/Lead Hand/Co-Worker/Plant Manager the middle finger will at least get a smile, and aabout 5 seconds of relief form the monotony. Same applies to calling Lead Hand/Supervisor etc by any name that refers to female anatomy and a lack of work ethic. Or just telling them to fuck off.

That's about all for now. Will post more on Wednesday.