Hop's Thoughts

Just a list with a quick note...no classics, which most of my friends haven't seen.  Just obscure, odd films I like a lot.  I will try to leave out the plethora of foreign films on my list and stick to American films. Easy A - Emma Stone in this "teen" comedy. Hilariously funny, but very thoughtful. One False Move - Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton before they were stars. Thrilling. 44 Inch Chest - Irish Mob movie starring Ray Winstone & Ian McShane. Top notch acting. Alpha Dog - Emile Hirsch, Justin Timberlake. You will be in shock by Timblerlake's performance. Badlands - Martin Sheen & Sissy Spacek in Terrence Malick's beautifully filmed crime drama. Bug - Ashley Judd, Michael Shannon and Harry Connick Jr in this claustrophobic thriller. Elephant - Gus Van Zant's film based on Columbine from different perspectives. Difficult at times. Eve's Bayou - A respected surgeon's infidelities wreak havoc on his family in the South. Felici...

About three and half years ago I started this blog.  I've abandoned it. I've gone to another site, but I've come back for different reasons.  When the blog started, it was meant to be comical.  Then it turned serious.  Finally it turned into a therapy session for me at time.  The worst part about the blog has been the fact that it's kept me from writing anything substantial.  The best part, is it's allowed me to work through some problems I just haven't had others to help me with.  I've had as many as 60 people read my blog and I've had as few as one.  Sure I'd love it if thousands of people read it.  I'd be happy if all my friends and family read it, but the reality is, everyone is busy with their own thing. I've delved into my personal life way more than I had ever wanted to and many have actually been worried for me.  It's never gotten that bad, trust me.  The blog has seen an angry time in my life.  Not anger, so much as ...

I'm so scattered tonight, I can't even think of a topic.  The storm blew in and caused so much havoc for so many and I thought I'd be one of those without power.  Alone in the dark, wishing things were different.  I have been sitting here for the better part of the last twelve hours, reading, watching, looking at the devastation.  Someone would laugh at that last line if we were still friends.   Odd thoughts are in my head this morning.  I want to walk outside and soak in all this rain and damage.  I don't even know if it's bad. I haven't heard to many sirens this evening, but friends are suffering through it.  I want a bagel from Garth Road.  I'm in the mood for a cheeseburger, but a really crappy one...like from McDonald's.  I have two movies, but don't feel in the mood for either.  The Help and Shotgun Stories.  I have nothing to do for the next two days. Schools are closed tomorrow and Wednesday I don't have class. I need m...

Everyone knows I am very opinionated and I am a bit of an insomniac.  These are givens and I won't bore you with them tonight.  A lot of people say to me, "you have a lot to say about others, but ....."  Well here's some fodder for the next time you want to abuse me or some items to let you know where I am coming from. In the past year, if I'm not trying to figure something out in my head, I get very distracted.  I need stimulation or I get depressed. Sometimes I give myself math problems just to clear my head.  Two nights ago, I was really depressed about something, so I took an IQ test.  Surprisingly I did very badly...and I won't say what I got, because people will think I'm a dick. If I'm leaving my apartment, I flick the lights on, then off before I leave.  When I leave the building I always check to see if I have my keys about five or six times.  I almost always look up and to the left whenever I walk through the door.  I have only ...

Last year I wrote a a blog mapping out a three day Halloween inspired film festival which Featured two double features and capping off Halloween night with, well obviously, Halloween.  So this year we'll plan on a six day Halloween festival, leading up to the big night.  The movies in last year's festival were Nosferatu, Night of the Living Dead, Frankenstein, Texas Chainsaw Massacre & Halloween.  So we need some serious changes. Friday - You're tired from a long work week. Weather is getting a little colder. You want to start the festival off right, but you're also looking for something light.  Maybe a comedy.  The perfect horror/comedy to start this off is Shaun of the Dead.  Simon Pegg stars a Shaun in this hilarious and not remotely scary zombie. What the movie lacks in terror it makes up for in wit.  A perfect beginning. Saturday - We dipped our toes into horror last night, so let's dive right in.  I'm suggesting Hellraiser.  Pin...

http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/videos/lana-wachowski-opens-up-about-difficult-past-and-attempted-suicide-20121024 Today I saw a link to a video for a speech by Lana Wachowski.  The last name rung a bell, but I could't put my finger on it. Lana, used to be Larry, one of the writer, director, producers of the Matrix trilogy, V for Vendetta and the upcoming Cloud Atlas.  Lana is transgendered and has "come out" as a woman.  She was being honored by the Human Rights Campaign. I didn't know what to expect when this broad woman with crazy hair and a raspy voice began to speak.  She began with the usual pleasantries and told of her hair dresser. She then tells of her desire to be a quiet person and how hard the success of the Matrix movies made this.  The first ten minutes is telling of how she's not quite ready to be this spokesperson.  Then she speaks about the new movie Cloud Atlas and reveals the heart of the movie and this speech. She states,"The resp...

What Happened? I need to unload my mind. Today has been depressing. Grew up in Brooklyn surrounded by blacks, Spanish, Oriental.  They were people.  My people. Today, 40 some years later, we live in a world with more hate than those days.  When did the world become this way.  Stop blaming 9/11.  I'm missing Game one of the world series, but not that sad. I am changing. Giving less meaning to sports and more to the world around me. How can I help? I donate to charity. I fight for causes, but my two cents there and ten dollars here makes as much difference as spitting into the ocean.  I'm tired. Tired of not sleeping. Tired of looking for something to do for a living that will make me happy. The kids make me happy. I'm at peace with them. One told his mom he said bad words, she applauded his honesty, but scolded his behavior.  Mom's like this get it. Another mother came in, moved a barricade I had to protect the children and didn't put it back. ...

Breakups are never easy.  Vincent knew this and he was not taking it well.  His relationship with Emma had ended badly and their friendship seemed doomed as well.  He felt he had devoted himself for the better part of six, nearly seven years and in the end, he had nothing but a bruised ego and an aching heart.  He hadn't done much in the way of socializing with friends in many years and he wasn't sure how to start over.  He made a call and he and his friends decided to get together for drinks.  He had mixed feelings about it since he felt they had abandoned him years before when he needed them.  He was going in expecting a bit of a backlash, but also armed with his thoughts.  He was prepared. That night ended with out many fireworks and he felt  as if he had rekindled whatever lost ties there had been.  He was gleefully drunk and thinking about his future.  Vincent had just returned to school that year and laughed at the irony tha...

Insomnia Sleep. Those moments when nothing matters. Adrift in a sea of dreams that only feels like reality.  I miss when I dream. I dreamed last night. Eight hours of sleep.  Eight hours of sleep for an insomniac. You don't know what it's like.  Less than 30 all week.  I hate it. I just turned off the hum of the air conditioner.  My feet are like icicles. I want to sleep. I just can't. Bones ache. I slept last year, arms wrapped around another, it felt like eternity, I'd awake again and again. I wasn't asleep at all. I know I'm physically tired now, I am misspelling everything, spell check for free writing, is it legal? A price to pay for the sleepless nights. The incarceration of darkness and life not moving at 4am.  I hear cars or a neighbor stirring, but they aren't part of my world.  I need something, to make me tire.  I miss the days when knees were strong and I would run for miles. I would tire and refuel. I have nothing to refuel from ...

I started writing a blog about the relevance of profound quotes by Dr. Seuss and how they relate to my life.  The monotony and the repetition became painful enough to scrap the idea. I start again with realizations.  Realizations about my life, my situation and my future. I've come to the realization that life is very precious. I recently lost a friend to suicide. I won't lie to over-dramatize our friendship for effect. I will be honest.  I was friends with her on Facebook and knew her when I was a counselor at a camp. Her younger brother was in my first group about 15 years ago. When I first met her she was about 14 maybe.  She was 28 when she died.  I don't know how she was as an adult, other than that she was beautiful, successful and charitable.  I believe she was in a relationship and I believe she appeared to all, to be happy.  I know no difference and other than my condolences, that is all the contact I have.  I think about my life and ho...

I've been giving myself themes for this free writing experiment, but the reality is, that takes the free part out.  Sure I get off topic and that is the point, but I'm gonna try true free writing right now.  For the next ten minutes I'm just going to write whatever pops in my head. Right Here, Right Now We spend so much dwelling on the past. The movie I watched is about a man in his 80's looking to get better.  I wish I had that drive. I don't and I know it. I spent the day looking at pictures of beauty, surrounded by empty walls. An awful thought, I was jailed. Imagine the horror, but I self impose such sanctions on myself daily. I want to go somewhere do something be someone. anything I/m  not doing now I want to do, but the limitations are endless not the possibility are endless.  I don't like cliches, but I just wrote one. Fuck it.  I want something so silly, so unattainable, but whatever.  That s what is called desire. Once we get it we los...

Writing Can think about anything to write again, but a friend found me something a little inspirational.  So here's what the plan for this.  I'm going to write about what I write about.  Sounds like one of those shadow box things that goes on forever. I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about right now, because my sleep schedule is off and I just ate a steak sandwich at 3am and it was technically my late breakfast, because I woke up four hours ago.  Anyway, ten minutes of non-stop babble about my writing. I write a blog, movie reviews, food reviews, facebook jargon and twitter, I write what comes into my head and what I experience. Nobody cares and I know this. We live in a world where nobody care about anyone but themselves.  They say they do, but they don't.  I write about this. I write about the delicate flavors in a sushi dish and the bold in coq au vin.  I talk shit about friend's restaurants when they suck and praise them when they do...

With lack of sleep, there becomes an abundance of time to think. While most of it is as scattered as the clothes on my floor, there are those occasional moments of clarity.  They are, by my own admission, few and far between.  I have so many ideas that would be great for me, if I only had the resources to begin these ventures. While in college I wrote a marketing plan and mission statement for a food delivery service.  My professor laughed at me. A year later, Newsweek or some other major magazine had an article about a teenager who hired his friends and made a million dollars delivering groceries in his community.  A few years later I tried to sell an idea to open up a store, that would eventually use the Internet, to sell only athletic team hats.  Nearly four years later, the first LIDS, Inc. opened and turned into a multi-million dollar corporation. I've joked with others about some silly ideas that actually became realities, like Chefs Express, but never h...

I am at a loss right now, so here's what I'm going to do.  I'm going to play my 21 games of Words With Friends and write a sentence using the word I play in a sentence that reflects something about me or what is going on in my life right now.  Here it goes.  It's like free writing, but slower and dumber.  The word will be capitalized. Despite having numerous long and short term relationships, I have not asked a girl on an actual DATE since 6th grade. I have not been in any clothing STORES in over a year. I'm GLAD to be back teaching my kids again.  Cablevision is charging me a $200 FEE for letting my cable get shut off and not returning the box.  Sometimes I TOUT myself as a movie expert, but I'm ashamed to, as I've never seen Gone with the Wind. Do re mi fa so la ti do used to be do re mi fa so la SI do and is a song from one of my favorite movies.  People usually say women do it most, but I can GAB with the best of them. Nobody ever refers to ...

The people who tell you that you need to exercise the most, are usually the people I find to be socially inept. The people who complain the most about their health seem to have tons of other issues too. The people who say how happy they are constantly usually don't seem that happy in person. The people who complain the loudest about political posts, wouldn't be able to have a conversation about it. The people who post motivational posts the most are usually single. The people who quote famous people constantly, very rarely have anything interesting to say. The people who throw up pictures of their materialistic items are single or unhappily married The women who post humorous original posts are almost all happily married with kids. The men who post humorous original posts are almost all single and live alone. The women who "check-in" are almost all married in a healthy relationship. The men who "check-in" are almost all single or cheating...

Things I Thought About While Walking Through The Woods The two people I talked to the most a year ago, I haven't talked to in over six weeks.  I haven't had moussaka, sauerbraten, brisket or stuffed cabbage since my mother died.  I drank wine every night with dinner at my father's house and haven't had a glass since.  I haven't bought new sneakers in over two years...although I did buy two pairs at once that time.  I haven't worn socks in so long it would be weird.  The thrill I get from working with kids, is almost an adrenaline rush.  I forget how depressed I get in the summer. People don't understand how painful it was for me to walk those 3-4 miles today.  I haven't watched a TV show in a long time.  I'm better for it.  I can't think of things to write lately that are happy and that sometimes pisses me off.  Perfect weather for me is 60 degrees during the day and 30 at night. I meant to treat myself to a sweet today and then I b...

Everyone knows I'm passionate about this race and have been very vocal about who I am not supporting.  What people don't know is I'm not the biggest Obama fan.  When he was running, I warned many that this man literally promised everything under the sun and anyone who knows anything about politics knows that getting stuff done in four years is difficult.  What he then went on to do was attack all these promises.  Some were things he knew he had to compromise on to have bigger issues go a little easier.  Some he dropped the ball on.  Now here is what's astonishing.  Most he's actually accomplished or is in the process of accomplishing.  The one thing he did not accomplish was lowering the deficit.  This should have been of no surprise.  The day he announced the extension of the Bush Tax cuts, he had sealed this fate. In the past few weeks we've seen a tape of Romney praising the inhuman of Chinese factory workers, belittling nearly hal...

I don't really think anyone can be taken seriously when they say they have life figured out, because it's too vast to comprehend. That being said, I'm gonna give it a shot.  Let the eye rolling commence. Life is basically about us wanting stuff.  When we are born we want nourishment and affection.  It's an innate desire that we crave things and babies are proof.  As we get a little older, we desire to have all the things everyone else has.  We learn greed through not having this or that and it upsets us to see others with the things we want.  As we enter our teen years, we want to be adults so badly, most of us never take time to cherish this time.  It's a time of many firsts.  Most of us experiences our first kisses and sexual experiences. Our first time getting drunk and/or high.  Our first time staying out late.  Our first time driving.  And almost all of us experience the ups and downs of love, or that which we think is love. ...

Searching for a random topic is tough.  Maybe anyone who reads this could suggest one.  I decided to go to twitter and had decided to take the seventh letter of the seventh tweet and make it my topic.  The word was fucking, so I'll pass for now with that method.  I then glanced down and saw the word fear.  I'm going to stick to five minutes on this one. FEAR Fears are silly unless of course they could be a reality.  I do not fear death. I honestly do not. I know in my heart it is the end, but I don't have fear. I fear wind.  Not your average, blow a paper bag wind, but the wind that makes stop signs shake feverishly.  I fear my imminent doom in these situations.  It's silly, I know this, but this is how I will die. A freak decapitation from a stop sign or even worse, a parking sign.  I used to fear the dark. A nightlight illuminated my room, just enough. Then again I had a closet with no door. Were my parents fuckers or making me ...

Someone suggested I try this approach to writing, so I'm gonna give it a wing.  Always thought it was a bit silly back in school and nothing wonderful or profound came of it, but then again, maybe I was not taking it seriously.  I needed a topic so I took the title of the movie I just watched as a topic.  I'm going to type for five minutes and see what happens. A Cabin In The Woods The movie was awful, but the idea is great.  Not the idea for the silly movie, but the actual cabin.  I've been thinking a lot about the cabin my parents had when I was a child.  How I'd love to go back there now.  A stove to warm the house. Limited electric if any.  A full wall made of nothing but glass to look out over the meadow and down on the pond.  I want a place like that.  I don't know if it's the Unambomber in me or the fact that I need to distance myself from the daily nuisance that is humanity.  Free writing or is this my manifesto in ...

Back in April I predicted the division winners would be Yankees, Tigers and Rangers in the AL.  I was one game away from nailing all three teams.  Oakland beat out Texas by one game.  I did not have Oakland or Baltimore as my wild card teams however.  In the National League, my division winners were Philly, St. Louis and Arizona.  Philly and Arizona were bums this year and St. Louis backed into the final playoff spot thanks to the Dodgers implosion.  The Wild card teams are The Giants and Braves and I correctly predicted both of them.  So out of 10 possible playoff teams, I not only had half of them correct, but four in the positions they came in.  I'll take that every time. In my original playoff predictions, I had Detroit beating Tampa Bay to make the World Series. I still believe the Tigers are the team to beat, but obviously, their path will be different.  Here's my outlook for the AL Playoffs. WC - Texas over Baltimore in one game pl...

Why do people threaten to unfriend people for making political posts? It's humorous, because the people that posts these idle threats are the ones who always want you to donate to their save the whales foundation or want you to feel for them when they are sick.  Why are their lives so important to discuss, but the other 311 million people aren't?  Oh and yes, your post about the Jersey Shore premiere really struck a chord in me and had me wanting for more information as to lives of these neanderthals. If you want people to sympathize with your problems, why are you so cryptic? I love when I see a post, saying something along the lines of "So many worries...waiting to find out."  This is usually followed by tons of messages that pour in from best friends telling them they will call when they can.  Does any of this need to be played out on Facebook.  The other day, there was one, followed by about sixty messages with the a message about someone's pet.  ...

Well, the long anticipated debates went off with more hitches than could have been imagined.  The moderator, Jim Lehrer was completely out of control from the get go and the debate suffered as a result.  The first topic, went approximately 13 minutes over the allotted time and the debate became a scramble for the last word, which oddly, Barack Obama was more than happy to concede. Winners and losers in debates can be defined many ways and thus they become a subjective practice.  There have been debates which have been clear cut in the past, but there were major flaws or events in those and this debate, despite the right's desire, missed all of that.  Let's be clear. This was Obama's to lose and many people believe he did.  Style points were awarded heavily to Mitt Romney and his enthusiasm seemed to impress many viewers. In the first 45 minutes Obama seemed almost disinterested.  He didn't have any pizazz and Romney showed a little flair.  But if y...

Well, it's 6:30 in the AM and I'm still awake.  Another bought of insomnia which seemed like a passing fad while breathing the crisp Ithaca air.  So here's my second blog in the last six hours.  Just a few thoughts on this foggy Wednesday morning. Two and a half years have passed since "Obamacare" was passed.  I'm amazed that about 90% of all democrats and independents don't know what's in it and 100% of Republicans don't care what is in it. You know why Twitter is cool.  Since I've been on it, I've received responses from tweets from Rutger Hauer, Adam Richman and Gael Greene.  I've had a few of my tweets favorited by various comedians and some TV personalities.  I'm also followed by my favorite chef from Master Chef, Monti Carlo.  The best was having a news person ask me to call into her show.  On Facebook, I just have friends tell me to shut up. I have watched two prime time television shows in the last three weeks.  Other ...