Oscar Thoughts, Part 4

Like some movie franchises, I can't stop at the nice, neat "trilogy". I'm greedy for box office.

I really didn't get the movie clip montages. Apparently they were saying something like "Movies are good, go see them in the theater", but none of those shown are recent enough to take advantage of modern day movie technology. Back in the 1940s, families were starting to be able to buy televisions. Using the television, they were able to watch the same movies at home that they could in a theater. Box office receipts went down. What happened? Hollywood innovated and started using a wide lens which gave a larger picture that had to be cropped to be shown on a tv. Going to the theater meant you were going to get an experience you couldn't get at home. Sound innovations added to this experience. But now I can get everything that you can get in a theater at my house. What hollywood needs to do is innovate again and come up with something that creates a unique and positive experience that I cannot get at home.

The whole "come see movies in theaters because you can't experience them at home" is bullshit, in my opinion. Do they realize that you can buy gigantic tvs now? Even projection onto a screen that is 128" (or larger) in size? That you can buy sound systems to give you surround sound? Do they realize how much money they make in dvd sales that has more than made up for the downturn in box office? Do they know I'm not going to the theater for a shitty movie anymore? That I don't want to go and see Cheaper by the Dozen 2? I can only think of a few reasons I would go see a movie in the theater anymore:

1) I have to see it by a certain date, and the movie won't be out on video before that date. Only really happens in this time of year, when I want to see a movie before the oscar ceremony
2) A comedy that is really popular. I do think seeing a comedy such as anchorman or 40 year old virgin with a large group of people in a theater does add something to the experience, and makes you laugh harder
3) A movie that I just can't wait to see. The only thing that really fits the bill that I see coming up is the da vinci code, and even that I wouldn't mind waiting for it on video.

There are just so many negative things about going to the movies anymore:

1) Cost - Especially at night, it will cost me and marcilla $20 to see the movie. $12 during the day. A drink and popcorn is another $10. If I wait and buy the dvd when it comes out, I can, in the end, save money. And what if the movie is terrible? I spend $30 to see a shitty movie? I'd rather rent it for $4 and see it in my living room.
2) People and the sounds they make - Maybe it's just my aversion to people, but I can't stand it sometimes. Back in the bachelor days when I'd see a movie every saturday, I was really good in picking out the people who were most likely to talk during the movie. It is so distracting to me to even hear people whispering, even if I can't make out the words that they say. Also, what's up with people shuffling their popcorn? It makes a ton of noise and is distracting as hell. And then there are kids - I like going to see some kid movies, but I can't stand when kids ask their parents "What's going on? Why is he doing that?". Again, I'd rather watch it at home where my biggest problem is a dog trying to hump me.
3) People and that they move - "Oops, sorry, I drank this 60 oz soda and now I have to go to the bathroom, so let me block your view and crawl over you to get out. And then block your view again when I come back." "Oops, sorry, I can't arrive early for a movie. I think that I can arrive 20 minutes late and not bother anyone. The first 20 minutes are previews anyway" "Oops, sorry, I needed to shift around and kicked the back of your seat"

Oscar Thoughts, Part 3

The awards themselves were kind of all over the place. Here's the film tally:

Brokeback Mountain - 3
Crash - 3
Memoirs of a Geisha - 3
King Kong - 3
Hustle and Flow - 1
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (who thought of this title?) - 1
Capote - 1
Walk the Line - 1
Syriana - 1
The constant gardner - 1

Personally, I think the awards themselves are exciting when a movie starts to sweep the awards. You find yourself rooting for a movie in a category because it has won before. But having such a disparity in the number of films winning awards seems to give me the feeling that there wasn't a really strong film that was so much better.

Oscar trivia: Name the other film, tied now with Crash, that won the least number of oscars (3) including best picture?
A: Rocky

Oscar Thoughts, Part 2

As a host, I thought Jon Stewart did a good job. There were a lot of funny bits, but part of me always wonders who writes those bits. Obviously there are writers for the show that write the opening and various jokes along the way. But how much leeway does Stewart have in making random jokes created by himself?

For the first time in a long time, I didn't cry during the in memoriam clips. Maybe it's that no one really died that was super important, maybe it's that none of those shown were given a speaking clip. Seeing both katherine hepburn and marlon brando last year made you really realize how talented they were and how much the contributed to the history of movies.

Oscar Thoughts, Part 1

I had always thought that the Oscars were like christmas - the only other event that seems like it is the super bowl. The acknowledgement that a year has passed and the buildup will take another year to get to this point. And that the buildup is so much more fun that the actual event. I thought I would give my thoughts on what happened last night, and also the oscars in general. I've divided this up into multiple posts since I don't want this to be one big rant.

The ceremony will never run on time. For the first time last night, I thought that all of the acceptance speeches were well within the time limit (although why they decided to play the "get off the stage because you're running long" music first, and then *stop* when you actually do exceed your minute, I have no idea). They ran thirty minutes long anyway, and I can't see anything that was planned that could have made them think that they would run on time.

To be honest, I don't think they should ever try to run on time. There was a ceremony quite awhile back (70s) where they did run under time, and then had ~15 minutes to fill with no content whatsoever. I think the better thing is to schedule ~5 hours, and treat the ceremony like a football game. When the game is over, time permitting, they show you highlights and interviews with players. Currently they do this anyway with the oscars, in having 2 hours worth of post coverage about parties and such which gets compressed when the ceremony runs long. As I told Marcilla last night, I think being able to say to people "yes, this will end by 11" gets them to stay up, but when the ceremony runs long the people watching say, "Well, I've stayed up and watched the whole thing but the best awards are yet to come, so I'll watch the rest". If they billed the ceremony as 5 hours, no one would plan to stay up that long.

eating bad stuff = lose weight

It's strange that I can eat pizza and beer last night, but then today weight in at my lowest weight yet (214.5). What? I can eat shit and lose a pound a week? Sign me up! It could just be weight fluctuation there too. Still, it's nice to know that a few bad nights here and there don't mean a total combobulation of the goal.

The other thing that has been going through my mind is that I need to have weeks that I'm bad, others that I'm ok, and others that I'm really really good. For now, I think I'll try being really really good on weeks that Marcilla cooks, since she's liable to not cook tacos or pizza.

And working out today was so hard, mostly because I was bored, although my lower calfs were killing me. I was just looking for reasons to stop...like "If I get back from pull up machine and a stair stepper isn't free, it's a sign from God". Eventually I got on a stair stepper, but quit after 10 minutes due to boredom. I was pretty sick of listening to the alito hearings, and that was all that was on that was good...besides soaps and world's strongest man. Maybe I need to read or something...sweat all over one of their magazines. The only day recently that I can work out and not be bored has been mondays since they have a lot of football stuff on espn. But lately there's nothing on, and so I get bored and say that it isn't worth it anymore. Stay tuned.

more diet woes

Wow, so this blog is really turning into a whinefest on my adventures in trying to lose weight. Oh well, at least it keeps me busy.

So the diet thing this weekend was really really bad. I was proud of myself at getting to 214.8 on Friday's weigh in. Per Marcilla's request, she wanted to go out, so we went out and ate at a nifty new restaurant. I had a glass of wine, breaking my streak of no alcohol nights at four. Food was good, but not that good for the body. Then we went to coldstone, and I, unlike my smart wife, chose the regular ice cream with cookie dough (yum). After saturday's early morning work out, I was back up to 215.2.

Then it got worse. I had written previously that saturday was going to be gorging night for me, and I kept true to my word. I made a good bruchetta with bread, a huge thing of hamburger helper, and garclic bread. Plus beer. Lots o beer. Ate all of that too.

The plan then on sunday was to get back to normal, which I was on target to do (minus a few bites of chow mein that marcilla had for lunch). But then the bomb hit - marcilla was going to book club night, something that I had totally forgotten. Originally the menu called for pork tenderloin and green beans, which I cooked, and ate a little bit. But through the cooking process, my mind was reeling with thoughts of "What do I want to have to eat after Marcilla leaves?". I knew it was hopeless at that point for me to try to resist it, so I gave in. I violated my "no pizza or tacos until my birthday" rule after eight days. Weight in today: 216.something. I saw it go up to 216 and then i got off pissed at myself.

So now comes a choice. One that I don't know which side I'll pick, if I'm being honest. One part of me says that I should say "Fuck it", eat what I want, keep exercising and screw the weight. Another part of me says I need to bite down and be good for nine more weeks, then just maintain.

The other approach that I'd like to take is to think more long term than day to day. I know a few facts about last year, mainly that I gained 20 pounds. Spread out evenly over the year, that equates to one pound gained about every three weeks. And I was eating like shit, not working out. Part of me things that if I took it a month at a time I'd be a lot better and less stressed about the whole thing. We'll see I guess.

The death of christmas 2005

It's always quite depressing putting away the christmas stuff. This year is a bit different since it's the first time in awhile that I've been around to put the decorations away. It's been nice that the tree collection service (fantastico, btw) didn't come until yesterday, since getting home and looking at the tree was something calming and relaxing. I'd almost like to keep it there all year, but it'd probably get ugly and end up looking like the stump outside that is last year's christmas tree.

So today is when marcilla and I will put things away, and close another christmas season. It'll be nice to get the house back to normal, but it also starts the lull period that always comes after christmas with no holidays in the near future. I guess I'll deal with it though and feel better once it's done.

Don't you hate it when you type a bunch of shit and then realize that most of it is bunk so you end up deleting it? I do.

Yet another boring as fuck weight loss post

So I've been good for a total of three fucking days. Eating well, going to the gym...and I hate it. I really just want to eat myself to death and die in five years...at least I'll be happy. I had two cups of cereal for lunch...why? One I was hungry for, the other, because I wanted to eat more than I should. I'm so fucked up. I say fuck too much.

I've been reading a lot on health and fitness sites on the "easy ways to lose weight". The latest ideas...

"Eat Three meals a day"...ok, done.
"Eat Protein at every meal"...milk has protein, so check
"Eat 'no white at night'"...No bread? Rice? Potatoes? Fuck this one.
"Exercise portion control"...Haha. I'll *never* be able to do this. Stuff your face until there's no more is my mantra. The only thing I've found that helps me is related to this is to cook less. If I cook 30 meatballs, I'll eat 30 meatballs. If I cook 4, I'll eat 4. Simple math.

Oh, and the stat that I love...you have to cut out (through not eating or exercising) 500 calories a day to lose one pound per week (or reduce your weight gain). I guess avoiding the beer will easily get me past this.

*** - Math problem break - ***

Assume that a pound of fat contains 3500 calories, which will form when there is excess calories in the body's system. Bill gained 20 pounds in the past year. His diet was mostly normal, but every week he would consume 5280 excess calories in alcohol and 2000 calories in food. If Bill cuts this out and does nothing more, how much weight will he gain or lose in 2006?

A: 85 lbs. lost. Yeah, my numbers must be messed up. And I'd look nasty as a hairy 130 lb skinny beast.

Alternate numbers:

Assume that a pound of fat contains 3500 calories, which will form when there is excess calories in the body's system. Bill gained 20 pounds in the past year. How many excess calories was he consuming per week?

A: 1346 - Again, my numbers must be off, since this equates to 200 calories a day, which then says that if I had tacos every day and gave one to the dog, I wouldn't have gained a pound.

I think I've had enough math for now.

*** - End of Math Problems - ***

The other interesting thing that I notice while doing research is how much all of this weight stuff is geared towards women, which makes the most sense. I just got off of a page where Denise Austin (who I think is 50) asks, "Slim my 1) Hips, 2) Waist, 3) Thighs". Last time I checked, my thighs were in order, Denise, but thanks anyway.

The reality of the whole thing is that I'm having a hard time identifying my food habits. So much of what I read asks "Are you an emotional eater?", which doesn't fit me at all. I don't eat because I'm sad, happy, or just took a nice shit. I eat because I like to, I like to feel full. There's nothing that I can find that says, "If you don't understand why you eat what you do, maybe here's a fucked up reason...". My only thought on this is that I'm exercising some sort of primitive switch that says, "Eat until you die". Other than that, I'm clueless.

In the face of all of this, I'm beginning to like going to the gym again. I like feeling sore and challenging myself while I'm working out to keep going. It's helped that I can go home and have a latte and read, so that need is taken away. Still, there are days like today when I have to stay late (and put up with fucking awful traffic that my tax dollars are fixing) that I really have trouble going not going to starbucks. Oh, and I think I'll break 215 by the time I weigh myself on saturday. Yay.

Personally, I really want to be able to say, "Go to the gym every day but sunday, drink nothing sunday night through friday night, and you can have whatever you want on saturday". I think this would work for me, but two problems: one, I don't know if I did this if I would lose weight. Two, there's marcilla to consider. If I was still a bachelor, sure, no problem, but I don't think that two diets in the same household will work. Especially since in order for her to lose weight, she has to do a good job of eating right, whereas I tend to work to death in the gym and eat what you want. I really want her to succeed in what she wants, so I don't want to be any distraction to her by eating what I want and what I think is best. This probably warrents a discussion between us later today.

Anyway, I've written enough for today.

Losing weight

Losing weight sucks.

I'm fat. I know it, as some of my clothes don't fit anymore. In the past year I've gained about 20 pounds, though I can't say that I'm all that surprised. I've eaten enough tacos to call the house Mexico, enough pizza that I should own my own Papa Johns, and drunk enough beer to kill a herd of elephants. They aren't really that good of a combination for maintaining weight. In addition, I stopped going to the gym, mainly because going to b&n, getting a triple grande vanilla nonfat double cup latte and reading is so much better and relaxing than going to the gym and sweating for an hour. Combining both of those = 20 lbs of weight.

So now I do what so many other americans do this time of year, and that's go on a diet. My diet isn't really that hard though - most would term it "normal eating". Basically - no pizza, no tacos, and reduce the alcohol until my birthday. I would eliminate the alcohol, but there are situations where I do want to drink. The scared part of me wonders if I could eliminate alcohol, but that's another topic.

Will I succeed? My guess - feeling the way I feel now - is no. We'll check back in 10 weeks to see how things went (starting weight on 1/3 - 215.6). But like tonight - final college football game of the season - what do I want? Beer and pizza, of course! To me, the eating thing will be harding to keep than the exercising thing. There wasn't much of a reason that I needed to go to b&n every day during lunch other than it's what I wanted. I spent more on gas and a latte getting there.

*** - Break for math problem - ***

The distance from Microsoft to B&N in downtown Bellevue is 12 miles round trip. Bill's car gets on average 24 miles per gallon (considering both highway and normal driving). A gallon of gas costs $2.50 (average). When at B&N, Bill will buy a latte for $4.15. Bill will perform this task every working day of the year, minus his vacation, so 49 weeks.

The distance from Microsoft to Pro Sports Club is 3.2 miles round trip. Bill's car gets 20 miles per gallon in the city. Bill will go to the gym every day he works - 49 weeks.

Q: How much does Bill save by going to the gym over a course of a year?
A: $1225

*** - End of math problem - ***

Personally, I think that having one gorging night a week, eating well every other day, no alcohol except on gorging night, going to gym - all of these add up to losing weight - and I think it's easier for some reason and something I could keep doing for weeks at a time. Sort of a weekly goal that says, "If you work out every day, eat right, you can have a reward saturday night". I don't think I can not eat tacos or pizza for 10 weeks. Having one night where you can eat whatever you want sets a goal and says that "It's ok for you to eat this food, just don't do it every night". It's scary to think that being healthy, looking good, and living a long life isn't motivation for me to eat well.

At any rate, I signed up to deprive myself for 10 weeks, so currently that's the goal. 70 days...I'm on day 2 and I want to quit.

The main overall goal I think for the year is to not gain a pound, which shouldn't be too hard. It'd be an improvement over last year.

So three months without an update, huh? Not that anyone really cares or reads this.

I keep pondering why I have this blog, as it used to be some sort of a way to entertain people or get my thoughts out on something. Part of me wonders if I knew that no one would read it, would I write more? Perhaps. There is a bit of me that hides away too many thoughts and feelings - but I also don't want this to become the place where I write things that I don't say to Marcilla's face.

I dunno. Maybe it will live...or die. Stay tuned...or not.

Eeesh...

Lookie here: fun link

And the weird thing is that the parents are 40 and 39. They had their first at age 21. That's 16 kids in 18 years (14 births, since there are two sets of twins). Which from what I can tell means that she has been pregnant 65% of her days since age 21. The story got me curious as to how fertile they are compared to average americans, since most people stop having kids (i.e. they discovered the "snip snip" procedure) after 4 or so. How many kids could a couple have if they kept pumping them out?