Happy Holidays to you and yours!

I didn't think I could get a hangover from drinking too much Tecate. Ah well. I am fortunate enough to have a job that gave me Christmas Eve (today), Christmas, New Years Eve, AND New Years off...with pay! Our manager gave us her bonus for the year so we could have that. You have to be thankful for life. I'm appreciating everything more and more everyday. Houston for New Years seems to be the plan. Have a great holiday season everyone!

- RJ

The Hoods

The Hoods by Harry Grey was the basis for the movie "Once Upon A Time in America," a film directed by Sergio Leone starring Robert Deniro and James Woods. I saw the movie first and HAD TO pick up the book as soon as I found out that the film was based on the book.
I purchased it off amazon.com back in June or so. I was busy reading other books at the time and didn't get around to reading this for a while. I finished it in four days flat! Once I picked it up and began reading, I couldn't put it down. I've developed a liking towards fiction novels. When I first began reading books, through the power of my own free will, I was reading factual books. Non-fiction. Books about philosophy. Pyschology books. That was all I was reading for a while. That was back in high school. And I didn't pick up reading again til the past summer of 2007. I started off with reading books that movies were based on. I believe the books are always better.
A friend of mine brought up an interesting point about comparing books and the movies that they were based on: They are two different pieces of literature and should not be compared. They're two different pieces of art. A movie is the screenwriter or the director's interpretation of the book. What he wanted the actors to portray and where he wanted the movie to be set was taken from his imagination. When you read the book, you're using your own imagination to create your own world from what the author has written for you to read. For example, I am now reading "The Zahir" by Paulo Coelho and the narrator of the book is living in Paris. I'm interpreting Paris as a city of lights and cafes. Some people might be imagining that Paris as the one depicted in the film "Saving Private Ryan." And if a director or a screenplay writer ever creates a movie about this book, he'll give you his interpretation of the Paris that the narrator is living in.
So you should pick up the book and give it a read. THEN watch the movie that it was based on. ;)

- RJ

The Gun Seller

I just finished reading The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie. Very witty. I was laughing to myself about every other paragraph. Although, sometime I wish I was older so I could understand some of the allusions being made for joke setups. Then again, they may be just English references. Very well done and Laurie has written a screenplay for United Artists. I hope that it does get made into a movie and Guy Ritchie directs it. Guy Ritchie would definitely end it differently. I could foresee everything else being kept the same. It's that British sarcasm. Lines like "you have Liberia's deficit in your back pocket and you're worrying over 200 quid." Or "Goldman came next, tall and thin and enjoying the fact that he didn't enjoy his work." Hahah. I was really laughing out loud at certain points of this novel. Definitely a recommendation for your future book reading.

"I'm a part of a team now. A cast. And a caste. We are drawn from six nations, three continents, four religions, and two genders. We are a happy band of brothers with, one sister, who's also happy and gets her own bathroom.
We work hard, play hard, drink hard, even sleep hard. In fact, we are hard. We handle weapons in a way that says we know how to handle weapons, and we discuss polictics in a way that says we have taken the bigger view.
We are The Sword of Justice."

- RJ

All I want for Christmas is...

Well Thanksgiving wasn't all that great this year and I doubt Christmas will be. But I've already got what I want/need: a job! Making some good money as well. Monday thru Friday. 8am-5pm with an hour for lunch. An opportunity to work saturdays when you'd like. Now that's what I'm talking about! Although it is 8-5, which means I'm not going to be frequenting as many events during the week as I'd like. =/ But it's definitely worth it, because right now I'm on the grind. I'm going to be stacking most of my paper. I don't think I've had weekends off with any job I've ever worked. This gives me more opportunities to visit Houston. Houston it is for New Years! Chicago...maybe in january or february. Cali for spring break seems to be a projected outlook for now. Oh and a new flyer for every thursday at Revolution Room...
Also BBOY HODOWN coming up this weekend in Houston, TX. I'll be posting up more info as it comes in. Have a good week everyone.

- RJ