Thursday Bullets

• IHOP coffee is terrible, but i had about 8 cups of it last night.
• I am addicted to coffee in general. I used to drink it just socially with people, but now I find myself going to get coffee alone just because I want/need it. They say caffeine can cause delirium. Maybe I have a problem. 
• Speaking of coffee and cigarettes, a pair I really enjoy, there is an interesting film I saw recently called "Coffee and Cigarettes." Written and directed by Jim Jamusch (an independent movie icon), it contains a series of short vignettes filmed in black and white that depicts the characters conversing over none other than coffee and cigarettes. My favorite vignette had RZA and GZA (pronounced Rizza and Gizza) from the Wu Tang Clan (rap group) enjoying tea at a diner and being served by the one and only Bill Murray (who is evidently a waiter as a cover from adoring fans). Bill offers them coffee, which they deny (because of GZA's holistic medicine beliefs decry caffeine consumption), then sits with them as they discuss the health consequences of coffee drinking and cigarette smoking. Bill doesn't seem to care, and RZA/GZA seem to be a bit worried that their favorite Ghostbuster star is damaging himself so much. It's an entertaining sketch, to say the least, because it puts something so nominal as small talk in a diner into real focus. Something about it (it was in no way spectacularly artsy) just made me think "wow, this is really good." I recommend it, if you can find a copy.
• The segment, via YouTube.
• 2 other interesting vignettes from the movie: The first sketch is between slow-speaking comedian Steven Wright and fast talking Italian actor Roberto Benigni (from the fantastic foreign film Life is Beautiful), as they talk about how weird it is that they meet over C&C. Another sketch is between Iggy Pop and Tom Waits (famous rock legends, if you didn't know). They talk about Tom as a practicing doctor and Iggy recommends a drummer for Tom's next album (the same drummer is mentioned in two other vignettes to link all these C&C conversations together). 
• Speaking of cigarettes/smoking, I really miss cigars. I used to be exclusive to smoking only cigars. If I had to pick 3 cigars I could smoke regularly (besides Cubans), they would be: Arturo Fuente Don Carlos Rubustos, Romeo Y Julieta Reserva Real Rubustos, and Ashton VSG Churchills. The best smoke I've ever had was the famed Opus X cigar at the 2007 Baylor Homecoming Bonfire after some hard to work to make all of that happen. 
• I miss the pickup football games we played at William's Stadium. They were always  full of good athletes,  funny occurrences, close/competitive games, and ultimately why I still love football over basketball. 
• Speaking of football, I hate spread offenses. This may be from a former GHS player, but passing 80% of the time is pansy ball. There's a certain toughness and strength required in running the ball 80% of the time. In my time in high school, our QBs probably threw the ball 8 times a game on average. That was still enough to get Greg Hunter to set GHS records in passing my senior year (impressive for a school with an 80+ year football history). This is why I like Baylor running the football a lot. It shows that while we may not be near the level of top competition in the Big 12, we're at least staying competitive through being the second best rushing team in the conference (behind OSU). 
• I pretend to root for the Cowboys, but my disdain for the NFL prevents me from really caring. The order of sports I care about: NCAA Football, NBA, NCAA Basketball, NFL, NHL, MLB. 
• I really wish things like Facebook didn't attempt to replace the importance of secure e-mail communication, personal web pages, and address books (so you could remember friends' birthdays and call them). 
• Waco was boring for nearly 2 years. But after living here full time for almost a year now, I've found places and things to make it bearable. It's a shame I'll be leaving it soon. 

RP

The Album of My Life

Here's 10 songs that would be on my favorite songs album:

1. "Blue In Green" - Miles Davis

*My absolute, most favorite jazz song ever. The album, Kind of Blue, is his magnum opus, if not the magnum opus of the modern jazz movement of the 60s. This is my favorite on that CD.

2. "End Theme" - Zero 7

*It's mellow, it's upbeat, it's digital and analog all in one. Zero 7 kind of caught that whole high off their track on the Garden State soundtrack (Waiting Line), but this song represents their whole underrated and unnoticed thing. 

3. "Genesis" - Justice

*I fell in love with this song long before it was being used on Caddilac CTS commercials. The lead track from their CD "Cross," Genesis is a power rock techno song. Perfect, as the commercial utilizes, for night driving.  

4. "Get Well Soon" - Reggie and the Full Effect

*I'm not going to pretend that I know this Swedish band really well. Ted (of the TK Daily) introduced me to this song several years ago. It's campy, and not much sticks out about it except the knowledge that the synth player is certainly head banging during his opening solo. Still it's so catchy that I love it. 

5.  "Friends In Low Places" - Garth Brooks

*If you don't know the lyrics to this song, learn them. 

6. "Birth and Death of the Day" - Explosions In the Sky

*EITS is my favorite band, and this song from their latest studio effort is epic. Who am I kidding, all of their music is epic. I almost went to one of their shows on a Tuesday night Freshman year, but Seth and I both had tests that week. We studied, and I wept.

7. "September" - Earth, Wind, and Fire

*If you went to the GHS Man Show '06, you know that I really dig this song. EWaF knows how to put a groove in my soul, and this one is the epitome of that. 

8. "The Distance" - Cake

*This song is like all Cake songs... a bit different than your usual rock song. The opening lines "Reluctantly crouched at the starting line..." is iconic and known by many.

9. "Higher Ground" - Red Hot Chilli Peppers

*My favorite song by the legendary RHCP. Also a Stevie Wonder cover, so it earned bonus points.

10. "Throw It Up" - Pastor Troy, Lil' Jon and the Eastside Boys

*This song is the best pump-up song ever. Completely explicit lyrics? Yes. Overly violent? You bet. Unnecessary yelling? Oh yeah. The locker room at the Garland Feildhouse before a home game wasn't right without this song.

RP

Interesting Net Articles

The crisis as a small-town story.

Pretty interesting and easy-worded way to explain how the housing/mortgage problem is the catalyst for this multi-trillion dollar loss. Also, nice use of "Joe the Plumber" as the story's protagonist.

Comparing the 80s collapse of the USSR with a possible US collapse.

You get the idea that it's written by a moderately uneducated Russian, but it's an interesting premise. Maybe, through a terrible political system and an economy that people had nothing invested in, the Russians were able to cope with their collapse better than any country in their situation would be. But I still don't think the US will fall to shambles like USSR. The US economy survived the Great Depression in between two World Wars. A financial crisis based on a mortgage slump will be bad, but not the force that will bring down this goliath yet.

Last but not least, the movie Hot Fuzz killing a classic:



RP

Criggo

This is my new favorite website.

Thank you www.delicious.com for alerting me to this awesomeness.

From Republican to Libertarian: My Reasons

This election is going to be pretty big. Not because Barack Obama is black. Not because Sarah Palin is a woman. Not because John McCain would be the oldest president. Not because the last time we saw a Democratic Presidency and Congress was in 1992, which saw a swift swing to a majority Republican Congress in 1994 in the middle of Bill Clinton's first term.

No, but because this is where I see a split. At least in my own political alignment. Growing up, I was Republican because it's what I was familiar with. After growing in my knowledge of political systems, parties, and theories, I still identified most with the Republican party.

College came about, and my switch in majors from Economics to Philosophy really helped me achieve a metaphysical and ethical understanding to the roles that political theories play in both utopias (thanks, J.S. Mill) and reality (Louis Pojman's essay on solutions to the equality issue is probably the most influential thing I've ever read on politics). I started saying I was a Libertarian, but never really meant it.

Now I do.

I don't support Barack Obama because I fear the coming of Socialism in America, a bigger budget fiasco, and the inevitable job loss from increased taxes for social programs. I don't support John McCain because not only has his Senate track record been all over the place, so has his campaign promises. That, and Sen. McCain hasn't really shown what I hope year after year in Republican candidates, yet never receive (a return to responsible government spending, more intelligent foreign policy, and a devotion to protecting individual freedoms).

So I am now a Libertarian. I know, that's an especially vague term. But really, I am.

I believe in total economic freedom based on a market system. This bailout is a bad idea. The government shouldn't be forcing the taxpayers to save those who are struggling. Why didn't we research the possibility of allowing private entities to purchase the bad debt that has flooded the market? Why not let the market participants (in reality, all of us) work the plan out? The current restrictions on the market set in place by the Federal Government really contain the possibilities of private persons, firms, corporations, etc. from not only alleviating the stress the market is taking, but also potentially profiting from it. Instead, the taxpayer is now going to buy the safety nets that will catch those who pushed us to the brink of the market bottom, and there's no guarantee that our forced investment will work. Forget the restrictions, encourage competition, and place the emphasis on the individual and you'll see increased innovation, better products and services, and prices that will answer to supply-demand research as opposed to government enforced price ceilings and floors.

I believe in states' rights. At first glance, I'm sure your US History lessons from way-back-when are alerting you that what I said was fairly Confederate, but hear me out. The Federal Government has most likely reached it's limit as far pushing out society to even greater heights, and that's for one simple reason: it's too expansive. Want to improve education in America? Make the states fully control it. Place benchmarks tailored specifically for every state. Allocate money from the federal budget to every state for the purpose of reaching those benchmarks. The state is then given free reign to take that money and address its specific situation (rather than D.C. staff workers generalizing the entire nation and failing to address key problems of the vastly different education situations in various states). If the state reaches the benchmark, it will continue to receive the budgeted money with new benchmarks. If the state fails to reach the benchmark or does not properly allocate funds, the federal government then offers the same budgeted allowance to private schools tasked to reach similar benchmarks. If the state can't handle it, then the all-important individual (in this case, the individual entity of a private school) can and will handle it. Competition will breed success.

I believe in choice/freedom. I myself do not condone homosexual partnerships. Does that mean our government should outlaw it? No. One thing that continually disappoints me in politics is the control that religion seems to have. We formed a Democratic nation to allow ourselves to have the freedom to believe what we wanted to believe. I am a Christian. I hate how Christianity once began as a small fellowship of believers outlasting persecution by the Romans to preach the Gospel, only to gain in power and persecute others (the Inquisitions, the Crusades, the Church of England, American witch-hunting, etc). So now we have our current state of politics, where a candidate who "believes in the principles America was founded upon" will readily vote in Congress to prevent a fellow citizen to seek out their own beliefs because it isn't consistent with Christian teachings. It should be allowed, so long as it is not infringing on the right to life, liberty, and property of someone else. That's why the same sex marriage aspect captures this perfectly. It is not consistent with Christian teachings. But why is it only legal as civil unions in 3 states? I believe it should be allowed in all. If it is allowed, the moral judgement is then restored to the Church rather than the government, as it should be.

I believe in a Federal Government that returns to the role it should play. A protector of freedoms, life, and property. An ambassador to other nations. The silent engine behind economic, social, and global improvement through encouragement of freedom and liberty.

Therefore, I am now considering myself a full on Libertarian. I don't know who to vote for yet. I have a general distaste for both candidates. But I will still believe in and serve my country, following all orders of the Commander and Chief. But times, they are a changing, and I will stick to my ideals.

RP

Fantasy Basketball

I'm starting a fantasy basketball league for this coming season. If you want in, shoot me an e-mail at ryanmatthewparker@gmail.com. It's on Yahoo's fantasy sports website, so be sure to have a Yahoo account set up (if not, it only takes about 5 minutes).

As far as the league goes, here's some FAQ bullets:

LEAGUE ID#: 58640
LEAGUE PASSWORD: 123456

• The league has room for 20 fantasy teams.
  
• Head-to-head scoring, which means teams are scheduled against each other, points are accumulated during the week, and a winner is proclaimed at the end of the week.
• Rosters go 12 players deep, with 5 starters and 7 bench players.
  
• Once a player is released from a team, he hits the waiver wire for 2 days before becoming a free agent.
  
• Each team is allowed up to 5 player acquisitions per week.
  
• Scoring is based on several categories: FG%, FT%, 3PM, AST, Assist/Turnover Ratio, OREB, REB, BLK, PTS, and STL.
  
• The draft style and date will be determined once the league is set.

Any other questions, be sure to e-mail me.

RP

Aristotle and Sun Block

Ok so this weekend, I've come to a realization that I really could use some discipline in life. I know that when I'm in the Navy, I'll become disciplined in some aspects such as work and Navy things. But what I'm talking about is disciplining myself for moderation. Too often the extremes are taken, and rarely do I take the moderate, middle road approach. For those in the philosophical know, this is a very Aristotellean ethical view. But I was always endeared to his ethical commentary because it made sense to me. Virtue, as Aristotle writes, is devoid of excess or deficiency. For example: it is wrong to eat or drink excessively. It is wrong to not eat or drink at all. It is virtuous to eat and drink in moderation. It makes sense. Eat or drink more, and you'll become gluttonous. Never eat or drink, and you'll harm your body. Do in moderation, and you'll most likely be healthier.

The only thing you should be in excess of is virtue. The only thing you should be deficient in is vice. So, for that reason, I am going to try and commit myself to "virtuous" living. By doing so, I feel that I'll become mentally, physically, and emotionally healthier. It'll be difficult at first, but I hope that with enough self-discipline, I'll be able to seriously become virtuous (in the Greek tradition).

Shout outs:

• Those crazy C-Pots. Once a Chamberman, always a Chamberman.
  
• My blog readers (that I know of). Liz, J-Huck, Greg, Brittany, Susan (my Mom), and Ted. Thanks for reading.
  
• Makers of Aloe Vera: my bright red and burnt facial skin thank you for helping to alleviate the pain.
• Makers of the NCAA Football video game series, for without you, my boredom the past 8 years would've been unremedied.
  
• Hip-hop DJ's who aren't selling out to the new electro fads. Sure, those songs are catchy. TI's song with Rihanna is a hit. But there's nothing quite like hearing an old R&B or motown boogie sampled over a dry beat of drums. I know first hand it doesn't take much to throw synths over an 808. But take two records and create a masterpiece on turntables, and you have both talent and respect.
  

Remember, kiddos, if you'll be spending 4+ hours in a stadium watching your favorite team get run up and down the field, be sure and do your skin a favor: put sun block on.

RP

You Should Get a Blogger Account

• New blog title. Parker's Public House, or Parker's Pub, has a better ring to it. http://parkerspublic.blogspot.com
  

• Shout out to Ted Krause, aka TK of http://thetkdaily.blogspot.com . Ted is a friend of mine from back in Garland, and has joined me in blogging. He's currently in France right now, so that's an added bonus. Ted was a DJ for Denver University Radio last year, so I'd say he is pretty knowledgeable on his music blog. Go check it out and give him a shout out.
  

• You should get a Blogger account, too. Most of my readers right now read this from Facebook notes. Try blogging, just for a little bit. It's fun.
  

• That's all I have for now. I might edit later and make some comments on some movies I've seen recently.
  

RP

Late Night Bullets 1

• I have to be a borderline insomniac. Since high school I've had problems falling asleep before midnight; I would usually have to be dog tired or on medication of some kind. It wasn't noticeable too much during high school. Working hard for GHS football, band, and doing homework for IB classes was enough to wear me out. But every summer, it'd be the same. I'd fall asleep extremely late. In college, that seemed to be the case consistently. I suppose that's why I was such a good fit in Chamber. The late night work was perfect for me. I didn't have too many problems hanging a banner at 3 in the morning... although I probably should've spent the time studying more. But now that my Chamber shenanigans have come and gone, my insomnia is no longer put to use. Thus, Blog Reason #79... insomnia. I also figure I'll get up and run when I can't sleep. It'll tire me out for sleep, keep me in shape for boot camp, and waste some time all at once.

• I am southern through and through. But I do identify a lot with the northern half of the US. I was born in Texas. Lived here until a few months before my 5th birthday. Moved to Illinois. Stayed there until I was around age 8 or so. Moved back to Texas. Been here since. So, while the Illinois time may seem small, it was spent during the "growing up" years. So while I enjoy and identify with Southern Culture (from football, to manners, to pretty girls, and everything in between), there are some Yankee aspects of my personality (fast talking, cold loving, and a general distaste for the majority of country music.

• I'm going to blog a lot about movies on here. I love movies to death. I'm writing a screenplay right now (I know, how cliche). Yeah, it's going to be terrible. No, it'll probably never make it in front of a camera. And you're right, the plot probably has been exhausted. But we'll see. At any rate, I've seen a lot of movies in my time, and I'm constantly putting on something I've never seen before. I'm not too big on the independent scene, and there's a reason for that. Independent movies, while rightfully claiming their place in movie culture and history, are oftentimes too pretentious. I say that a lot when I talk about movies, but it's true. If a movie tries too hard to be art, to convey a message, to be cool, etc., it turns me off. If I'm watching a movie and can tell that the writer/director/producer/actors want me to think a certain thing, then I just stop enjoying it alltogether. Take Juno, for instance. Everyone loved that movie. Ellen Page is adorably witty, it's an endearing story about a pregnant teenager deciding to keep the baby, etc. I get it. But when I watched the movie, I lost interest when every single one of her lines was something no 17 year old girl would and could rattle off with a blink of an eye. It reeked of writer jotting witty things he thought of down in a little notebook to be annotated to the script later on. I hated it. The lines were hilarious. I laughed at a lot of them. But I just hated that I couldn't believe that Juno was this special girl. Don't know who to blame on that one, but it soured my experience with the movie. Now, movies I love capture me in a way that I forget about the unbelievableness for a second. Take numero uno, Pulp Fiction. The time distortion was offsetting, but ultimately clever. The shock value was phenomenal (for those who have seen it, think about that scene with Uma Thurman near death or the basement at the pawn shop). The dialouge was purposefully campy, yet so amazingly perfect. The cast was an all-star lineup. It didn't matter that Tarrantino was off his rocker when he wrote it. It didn't matter that he stood on the genius of other writers and directors to form his masterpiece. It just clicked. The cast knew it, the audience knew it, and the Academy knew it. That's why I loved it. Nothing was such a blatant blemish that I couldn't watch the movie.

• I can not wait until October 13th when the stupid Never Ending Pasta Bowls leave the Olive Garden.
  

• Another movie bullet: American Psycho is a crazy movie. Christian Bale's monologues in that movie are astounding. It pretty much vaults him into my favorite actors lists. He's the best Batman so far (although, if Val Kilmer had dark hair he'd be tbe best). But American Psycho has all the little subtle nuances of 80s pop culture that are so pure it's hysterical. He's such a yuppie in the movie, and that's why his killings are just... well, psycho.

• Baylor plays Oklahoma on Saturday. Realistically, the #1 team in the nation should handle the Bears pretty well in Waco. But the B-A-Y-L-O-R-BAYLOR-BEARS-FIGHT in me still holds onto hope that maybe we can see a Miracle on the Brazos part deux.
  

Ok, it's time for me to run (literally).

For you Facebook readers out there, you can read this and other posts at:

http://parkerspublic.blogspot.com

RP