Semi-Charmed Life

Thank You

If you're reading this, thank you.

I have no clue who you are or how you came here. A lot of hits I get are from google image searches of eminem. I posted a picture of him a while back and I guess that pops up on a google image search. A common search phrase that leads to my blog is "Magno Gama," who is one of the instructors at my gym, and "Boo" or "Cutest dog in the world." I guess boo is just that fucking cute.

I'm serious.

Look.

Some other random searches that bring people here:

"will there be a star trek voyager full length movie"

No clue man.

"python mouth guards reviews"

They're pretty dope. Great customer service. I can't recommend Scott enough. My review.

Besides search engines, I have about 10 to 20 people visiting my feeds a day according to CyStats, the wordpress statistics plug-in I use. I have no idea how accurate it is because it seems like every stat engine I use gives me different numbers.

It's pretty cool that 10-20 people have me on their rss feeds because really, I have no idea why anyone would read this blog. Everything's quite mundane and a large majority of the stuff I post is about grappling, which only a small minority of people in the even know about or care about. The other stuff I post is just random rambling.

Blogs are awesome though and more people should blog!

I was on Xanga for 8 years until I decided that although I liked blogging as an outlet, I didn't like the whole weirdness of a social blogging network. I felt compelled to write for an audience and it just didn't seem like a very personal blog anymore. A post or two might have been "featured" in the main page before and I remember it feeling like there was a big blinding spotlight all over me.

But Xanga was great because at the time when it was very popular amongst all my friends, it was cool to read about what they had to say. Facebook is just not the same. I guess it's just that people don't like to write these days. 140 characters is all the attention we can afford to writing or reading.

So thank you to whoever is reading this, because I have no idea how you came here and if you actually subscribe to my feed then you're most likely somebody I know. Because really, why would ANYBODY READ THIS BLOG? Especially a blog about nothing. Although Seinfeld thrived on being a show about nothing so I could be on to something very big.

If you came here via a search for eminem on google images, I hope you at least have the decency to host your own image and not steal my bandwidth by linking to mine.

Thanks!

I have an idea for a contest. If you are a person I do not know who has my blog on your rss feed, leave a comment with your email. I will paypal you 50 cents. I am serious about this but this will only last for the next 24 hours. You have til 12:30am Friday.

Go!

My First Favorite Female Actress

For a long time I've never really had a female actress on my list of favorite actors/actresses. That's not to say that there are no great actresses out there, just that I did not care much for them.

I saw The King's Speech last night and what impressed me the most was Helena Bonham Carter's performance. She did not have too much screen time, and the screen time she did have she did not appear to be as outrageous as some of her past characters, but something about her performance just really impressed me and made me think back to all of her past performances.

She was not glamorously beautiful in the movie and she was not the main character (is she ever?), but right there and then I think she cemented her spot in my list of favorite actresses. She always adds a unique flair to her roles and I think a lot of her performances have an impact on the overall substance of a movie (I have Fight Club and Alice in Wonderland in mind here).

I'm very happy that she won Best Supporting Actress. Her talent deserves to be recognized.

Revolution in Egypt

I thought this was a great piece on the the events leading up to the revolution and a great recap of the whole ordeal right through to the point where Mubarak stepped down.

Dual Uprisings Show Potent New Threats to Arab States

The morning where Mubarak was widely expected to step down but did not:

 Considered the heir apparent to his father until the youth revolt eliminated any thought of dynastic succession, the younger Mubarak pushed his father to hold on to power even after his top generals and the prime minister were urging an exit, according to American officials who tracked Hosni Mubarak’s final days.

The defiant tone of the president’s speech on Thursday, the officials said, was largely his son’s work.

“He was probably more strident than his father was,” said one American official, who characterized Gamal’s role as “sugarcoating what was for Mubarak a disastrous situation.” But the speech backfired, prompting Egypt’s military to force the president out and assert control of what they promise will be a transition to civilian government.

Could this be the future?

“If a small group of people in every Arab country went out and persevered as we did, then that would be the end of all the regimes,” he said, joking that the next Arab summit might be “a coming-out party” for all the ascendant youth leaders.

I guess I learned nothing from the success of non-violent rebellions in the past. I did not believe that peaceful protest was going to lead to any positive change.

For their part, Mr. Maher and his colleagues began reading about nonviolent struggles. They were especially drawn to a Serbian youth movement called Otpor, which had helped topple the dictator Slobodan Milosevic by drawing on the ideas of an American political thinker, Gene Sharp. The hallmark of Mr. Sharp’s work is well-tailored to Mr. Mubark’s Egypt: He argues that nonviolence is a singularly effective way to undermine police states that might cite violent resistance to justify repression in the name of stability.

Reading about how resilient and disciplined the Egyptian people were in sticking to the path of non-violence was very inspiring. This was the message that they all believed:

“This is your country; a government official is your employee who gets his salary from your tax money, and you have your rights.”

It was greating reading how different factions in Egypt work together toward this common cause.

Even Obama got in on the action. Some of the words that were reportedly said to Mubarak in conversation:

“You have a large portion of your people who are not satisfied, and they won’t be until you make concrete political, social and economic reforms.”

“I respect my elders. And you have been in politics for a very long time, Mr. President. But there are moments in history when just because things were the same way in the past doesn’t mean they will be that way in the future.”

Shortly after, Mubarak was expected to resign but did not.

It was that rambling, convoluted address that proved the final straw for the Egyptian military, now fairly certain that it would have Washington’s backing if it moved against Mr. Mubarak, American officials said. Mr. Mubarak’s generals ramped up the pressure that led him at last, without further comment, to relinquish his power.

“Eighty-five million people live in Egypt, and less than 1,000 people died in this revolution — most of them killed by the police,” said Mr. Ghonim, the Google executive. “It shows how civilized the Egyptian people are.” He added, “Now our nightmare is over. Now it is time to dream.”

This is not the end. Things are just beginning over in Egypt.

The Perfect Husband

Maribelle Anes

This girl is so talented. I think her singing is good, not great, but what I'm really impressed by are her original works. She writes and produces her own stuff, and I think it's pretty high quality stuff. I mean, if you're into pop and can appreciate that type of music.

And she's only 15!

She hails from Australia and I hope one day in the very near future she's going to be picked up by some major record label. At the very least, she can definitely become a prolific songwriter to some major stars.

Here's another original of hers that I thought was very good:

She's definitely a very talented individual. I think it'd be wise of her to invest in some better a/v equipment though. Some of her vids are such terrible quality.