Things That Make Me Go Hurm...

I apologize if some of these are a little old, but if they seem to be, good for you for reading the news!

• Apparently scientists are on their way to creating a robot with a thinking brain. What good can come of this? I don't want to exhibit paranoia based solely on science-fiction, but come on!
• This seems to have received a little more press than when I first found it, but a city in California shut down a little girl's lemonade stand because she didn't have the proper permits. I'm not sure if this is just an isolated incident, but even so, really? Let the kids sell lemonade. Everything will be fine.
• There's a huge plastic patch in the ocean. It seems to be made up of little pieces of plastic from trash and debris, but it's hundreds of miles long. I'd really like for the planet to get to be saved, but sometimes it seems like we've already done too much damage.
• Two things about youth and sex: 1. The magazine Christian Today, has published an article about how since its tough to be abstinent until marriage, they should just marry younger. Cause that won't cause anymore problems. 2. Candie's has been doing this since I was in high school, but the whole "I'm sexy and don't need to have sex" thing, seems a little contradictory. Let's all think back to 'virgin' Britney and what a great influence she was. Just let girls be girls and stop telling them they need to be sexy. Geez.
• Palin won't shut up about the Death Panels. What really worries me is she may be gaining somewhat of a following. People seem to like her. Not a lot, not yet, but if this country's relationship with our president doesn't improve over the next few years, maybe she has a shot. That's scary.
• Surprise, surprise. Texting may be making kids stupid.
• Also in tech news, there was recently a Twitter blackout. And if you didn't notice, everyone freaked out. Here's the thing, I'm on Twitter (@Samicorn), I get it. I'm not super into it, but I understand the appeal and often usefulness of it. But the thing is, it's really new, and it frightens me how reliant we've become on this and other technologies that are also really really new. We jump on anything that's new and cool whether or not we figure out if it's good or resilient or whatever. It's all so new, we don't know all the pitfalls. What if the Internet were to just go down for a day? Wouldn't it be epic?
• The number of Americans on antidepressants has doubled in 10 years. This isn't so worrisome on its own, because I know there are people who really need these types of medications and they can really do a world of help. I worry that it's not the people who need help who are causing the rise. In all likelihood, it would seem that people either just don't want to deal or function so they take the easy way out. And ultimately this boils down to me comparing us to Orwell's 1984.
• Hey guess what!? We're running out of oil! Huzzah!
• There's a study that basically says if we really want to save the planet, we need to have less children. That's kind of a 'duh' statement in my opinion, but it bothers me because people aren't going to do that on their own. They'll keep living and doing without thinking, so the only way to change that would be to put a law or regulation in place, and I know in this country, that would not go over well at all.
  

I know I'm a bit of a pessimist. However I keep myself sane by surrounding myself with shiny things and cute creatures. So if I've depressed you at all, watch this! It fixes everything!

Preacher Casting

Garth Ennis' Preacher is a fantastic series for those of you who don't know, and it's going to be made into a movie or series or something, so I recommend checking it out before that happens. But in the meantime, I'm throwing out my ideas for who should be cast. Agree? Disagree? Who would you pick?

Lucas Black as Jesse Custer

I have a feeling that the role of Jesse will be filled by a big manly movie star like Gerard Butler or someone like that. However, being from Texas and all, I know a 'good ol boy' when I see one, and ultimately that's what Jesse is (he just happens to obtain this crazy mega-power). So I pick Lucas Black. He's been acting since he was a kid, and though as an adult his roles haven't been the most impressive, he's done some pretty dark stuff over the years. He's handsome and charming and southern, so, why not?

Blake Lively as Tulip O'Hare

This was a little tough. There are a lot of grown-up actresses who would've been perfect for Tulip when they were younger, and trying to pick someone out of the new crop of actresses was difficult. I went through a few different people in mind, but then I saw a Gossip Girl promo, and though I don't watch the show, Black Lively seems to be a pretty capable actress. She also has an interesting look that Tulip needs; she's very beautiful all done up, but her facial structure is very strong and I think in the right situations, she could be fairly intimidating.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Cassidy

Originally my ideas for Cassidy were much older (i.e. Steve Buscemi), mainly because of the way he's drawn and his vicious nature. But then I remembered that he's supposed to at least look about the same age as Jesse and Tulip, so I started thinking about pointy faced talented actors from that age group. I've seen (500) Days of Summer and G.I. Joe in the course of a couple of weeks, and I love me some Joseph Gordon-Levitt. He's cute, very talented, and a little off-the-mark. I think as Cassidy, he could really pull off the charm and instant likability, but he's got the acting chops to go there with that character. You know what I mean.

Clint Eastwood as the Saint of Killers

Okay, so I normally try to think outside the box when I play my little casting game, and this is kind of stereotypical casting, but fuck it. He's the perfect person for this role, hands down, and I'm not even a fan of westerns (well, Deadwood is starting to change that, but whatevs).

Josh Peck as Arseface

With the obvious facial configurations of Arseface, really anybody could play him, provided they were in the approximate age range. I was really struck by Josh Peck's performance in the Wackness (I highly recommend checking that movie out) so I thought he might be a great actor for this part. He's cute, but not super-handsome to begin with, so that makes him relatable pre-Cobain incident. And assuming his role int eh Wackness wasn't a fluke, he's a pretty good actor, so maybe he could pull off acting via gibberish and slurps.

Michael Keaton as Herr Starr

Right? I love Micahel Keaton and I wish he was doing more stuff cause for me he will always be both Beetlejuice and Batman, and that's just awesome. But he's got that great face that's somehow so normal but so evil at the same time. It just really sucks that he's doing stuff like Post Grad.

Wendie Malick as Marie L'Angelle

This character in the book really freaked me out. There's just something about a scary old southern lady who's balding and totally evil. But I kept picturing Nina from Just Shoot Me (what? it's kind of funny) as this lady. I'm not sure what her acting capabilities are, but she's the person who I very distinctly visualized as this woman so I'm going with it.

Jeffrey Tambor as God

Though God really doesn't show up all that much, he does some crazy stuff, and he has to be both superior (and probably CGI'ed) and a regular man. I'm a huge Arrested Development fan and I think Jeffrey Tambor has one of the greatest voices of all time. I think for this story, which sort of turns everything on its side, he would make for a really interesting God figure.

I would totally watch this movie.

Sam and Rickey's Imminent Sway Twist

So for Rickey's birthday, I bought him Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist cause it's a totally rad movie (and the version I found came with buttons!). We already had the soundtrack and it is equally rad. So I had a thought to make him a playlist of our own and I named it Sam and Rickey's Imminent Sway Twist (what? it rhymes...). Anyways, I'm pretty proud of the selection so check it out below! (I have a zip file of all the tracks, but I don't know how well it translates...)

1. I Wanna Hold Your Hand-T.V. Carpio

2. Lost Coastlines-Okkerville River

3.These Days-Nico

4. Don’t Wake Me Up-The Hush Sound

5. Coz I Love You-Slade

6. King of the Bongo-Manu Chao

7. Anyone Else But You-Moldy Peaches

8. Across the Universe-Fiona Apple

9. Don’t Falter-Mint Royale

10. Twilight Showdown-Starlight Mints

11. Blind Mary-Gnarls Barkley

12. Got You Where I Want You-The Flys

13. I am a Pirate, You are a Princess-Texas

14. Yoshimi Battles the Robots-Flaming Lips

15. Another Day-Jamie Lidell

16. Somewhere Over the Rainbow-Israel Kamakawiwo’ole

17. God Only Knows-The Beach Boys

18. The District Sleeps Alone-The Postal Service

19. Ocean Avenue-Yellowcard

Old School Hotness.

Alright. For those of you who don't know, the lady pictured is Raquel Welch and she was one of the hottest ladies from back in the day (the day being the 60's and 70's). She's still totally gorgeous as a grown-up, but she was once an uber sex symbol (you know that movie One Million Years B.C.? It was the one with the girl in the fur bikini and it was totally unrealistic--well she was the girl).

Well the other day I found the picture below from a posting on Tumblr (check me out) and I've seen it before and it's really fun and sassy, but this time I noticed something...
If you look in the photo below, I've highlighted what appears to be stretch marks and maybe cellulite. (*Please note that I am in no way trying to detract from Raquel Welch's hotness, just pointing out some awesomeness that no longer happens*).
The thing is, and I doubt anyone will disagree, that she is super hot in this picture, and the presence of a couple marks of imperfection doesn't really change that. When I came across this again, it was just really refreshing to think of images of celebrities that were untouched by Photoshop.

Probably about a year ago, my Rickey and I were in a music store and there was a postcard of Marilyn Monroe on a rack and he pointed out that she had a little bit of cellulite on the back of her thighs. I said 'Yeah, so?' getting ready to defend her awesomeness, and he remarked that he just didn't realize she wasn't this totally imperfect person, like celebrities are made to look like these days.

I recently read an article that Britain is looking to create a law that would ban photoshopping on ads aimed towards kids under 16, and also require disclaimers about other ads that might have been greatly altered. I, for one, am for this. I'm a big Photoshop fan and user, so I know it has some really cool benefits, but I know that it can be used to distort the truth, which can really mess with people's heads.

I'm for stripping away the bullshit. I want to see what people look like, and not in the weird tabloid-caught-off-guard way. Let's get back to old way of doing things--lots of make-up and crazy lighting. Make it happen.