I was thinking of ideas for a journal entry... but nothing came.

Here's a sort of funny video for you to watch, as to distract you from the fact that I have nothing interesting to say.
---> [link] <---

But yeah.. how about you guys write something interesting in the comments here instead.

Yay. It's my first journal entry here on deviantART for 2008. Wow. It's been a while. Like... 5.5 months a while. Holy tits, that's a long time. Well, for the three or four of you who actually watch me, this is me saying I'm still alive and doing well. ["Yay, Matt's still alive. That's awesome."]

There's so much to talk about from the last 5 months, yet so little I'm allowed to say. Funny how that works. Heh.

Basically, back in December I went to New York City with a few friends from school, and had an awesometastic time. That was fun. The highlight of the trip was the squirrels in Battery Park on the southern tip of Manhattan. They were pretty cool.

I saw 'The Golden Compass' in the theater with Jeff, Rachel, and Emily at some point in December. It sucked total balls. If you saw the movie and also agree with my sentiments towards it, you should read the book. It's actually good. Fuck. Read the Trilogy.

Then I had a wonderblastoreocookiesyay Christmas, and new years was ok. I watched Constantine with Jeff, and then we celebrated the new year with rampant anal sex. Okay, so maybe the last part never happened, but that doesn't mean i never dreamed it.

I'm sure some cool stuff happened in the next few months, but I gave it little thought.

Oh yeah. I had a birthday. That was cool. now I'm 20. Holy shit; it's scary - I know. I'm still getting over the whole shock of it. Every once in a while I'll forget I'm 20 and have a relapse. Who knows... I could be dead 5 years from now. Scary stuff.

By April 18th I was done school. yay. I got mostly 80s in my classes so I'm happy.

I had an out of school type party thing with some of my closest friends on April 25th, once everyone was back home. It was going pretty good until everybody decided to be douchebags, and then it just became a huge dramafest. I guess thats what alcohol does to you. Hey, at least I had a good time at my own party, if no one else did. I mean until I had to clean up afterwards... like.. literally and figuratively. My parents were entertained at least. Maybe I'll have another party before the summer is over solely for their entertainment. Yeah. that's a good idea.

hey, here's a cool song:

<sub>"Don't you dare speak for someone you don't know.
You'll feel it in the back of your throat.
You know I can't construct a poem,
'Cause words, like girls, get bored and run
C'est la vie, I say "I've got so many better things"
I've got nothing, you should see me,
I smoke myself to sleep.

And blame postmodern things I can't relate,
Like summer camp and coastal states.
Like alcohol and coffee beans.
Dance floors and magazines.
I think its safe to say I've only got myself to blame
But boys in swooping haircuts are bringing me down,
Taking pictures of themselves.

And so I walk the web in search of love,
But always seem to end up stuck.
I'm finding flaws in everyone.
I've reached the point where all I want,
Is to sleep around in hopes that I will catch back up.
We are parallel lines we’re running in circles,
We're never meant to cross.

I'm at a loss, you were my tangerine,
My pussycat, my trampoline.
Now alls I get are wincing cheeks,
And dog problems, I signed a lease.
Thinking my heart belonged at 93rd and park.
Instead I broke a girl’s heart,
And flew back to Phoenix to finish the year as it started.

Can you hear me?
Are you listening?
This is the sound of my heart breaking.
And I hope it's entertaining,
Cause for me it’s a bitch.
Was it worth it?
When you slept with him?
Did you get it all out of your system?

I am a man
Holding it all
I couldn’t breath
Coming across
I didn’t know
I couldn’t give up

B is for believing you'd always be here for me.
E is for everything, even when we'd see it though.
C, c is for seeing through you, you are a fake, which brings me to
A because, because, you always run away.

I never finish phrases, I misspell.
Open arms are prison cells.
When I said, "I hate what I've become"
I lied, I hated who I was.
So when you start to wonder 'bout the pain in my throat,
Then don't you ever, no never, ever, speak for someone you don't know.""</sub>

The song is "Dog Problems" by a band called The Format.
It's a pretty good song. Download it if you can find it.
If you can't: click here -> [link] The music video is kind of silly, but meh.

It's gonna be a good summer for movies from the looks of it. For me at least. The new X-Files movie comes out July 25th, so whether you're a fan or not, you're obligated to see this movie. Idunno. It doesn't look too exciting from the trailer, but I'm still looking forward to seeing it. June 13th, 'The Happening' comes out. It's the newest film by M. Night Shyamalan. For you guys who don't recognize that name, he's that crazy Indian guy who wrote and directed The Sixth Sense, Signs, The Village, etc. I'm kind of worried though, because all his other films are pretty small-scale, so he'll probably fuck it up somehow.

Anywho, I'll be sure to make further journal updates more often during the summer, speaking perhaps of more interesting matters.

But for now, consider yourself updated.

- Spanks

so, it's been about 4 months since i actually wrote a journal. I figured now was a good time to bust out the good 'ol journal feature. It's been a while since I submitted any photos on deviantART, let alone any good ones. So keep an eye out, in case I start submitting anything wonderful. .

I'm planning on starting another painting soon. I've done some rough sketches for it, and It's probably slightly in the style of my last painting, so if you liked it, then you may like the one to come. I bought a 24"x36" canvas to paint it on, so you can expect it to be fairly epic.

I went out with my family to The Keg Steakhouse and Bar last night to celebrate my mother's birthday, but there were no seats in the main restaurant so we said we'd take a booth in the bar. I love eating there because the food is so damn good, even though I order the same thing every time. Caesar salad, garlic cheese bread, chicken fingers. Now I know what you're thinking. "Wow, Matt, You're almost 20 years old, and you're ordering chicken fingers when you could be getting a fat juicy sirloin, drenched in marinated goodness?" well, yes.. thats more or less the case here. Regardless, I believe that one is never too old for chicken fingers, chicken strips, whatever you want to call them... even if you can only order them from the kids menu. Plus, I love chicken! so that's that. Also, last night was the first time I ordered a beer in a bar-type setting, so yay for firsts.

You may know, as I do, That today, on December the 7th, the movie, The Golden Compass, came out in theaters everywhere. I have been waiting for this moment since some time in 2003 since i saw rumors on rottentomatoes.com. However, over the past few months, after seeing the trailers, I have come to be more fearful of seeing the movie, than excited for seeing it. Back in grade 8, I read the book "The Golden Compass", originally called "Northern Lights" in Europe. It was at the time, and still is one of the greatest fantasy-type books I have ever read. I suppose that I'm afraid the movie will ruin the book for me, and just by what I've seen in the trailers, so many things are different from how I pictured them way back when, when i read the book. However, I plan on seeing the Movie with my dearest Emily, and most bestest friend, ~DaaBree-Jeff. Oh yeah, and Rachel's coming too. We've all read the book [with the exception of Rachel who is a few chapters in currently] so I'm hoping we will all take the movie in a similar way, and have a deep discussion about it's interpretation from the book, hopefully over tea and cookies, while sitting on big comfy couches somewhere. All I can ask is that anyone reading this considers reading The Golden Compass, and the other two books in the trilogy, perhaps even before seeing the movie. I'm not against the movie at all. I'm just afraid the depth and significance of the original story might be lost in the movie in an oversimplified plot.

On a different note, I'm going to New York soon! yay! . I'm going via school trip through Mohawk college with a few friends on the 13th so it should be one exciting adventure after another until I come home on the 18th.

As it is right now, I have one exam left in school. Just so happens it's the hard one. Study study study! Jeff is coming over this weekend, so I hope he's willing to help me study for my Packaging exam. 'cause that's what he's gonna be doing.

'til next time,



Spanks

OMG, Blank Journal Entry!

So, I woke up at like 8:30 this morning, when my dad went out to get the paper. However, the paper was not the only parcel of joy delivered to the doorstep this morning. Atop the Hamilton Spectator, was perched a wondrously green and plump European praying mantis. Now wait! I know what you're saying. "Whoah-ho-ho! all the way from Europe?! Nice one Matt. Fucktard." But you'll be relieved to hear that no, the mantid was not shipped to me from Europe, nor did it make the journey itself with its - let's be honest - incompetent wings. No, this species was actually brought to North America quite a while ago. Mhm, so that covers that.
So my dad woke me up, and told me there was a praying mantis waiting for me at the door, so of course I jumped out of bed with much the same vigor as a 12 year old child on Christmas day, and headed to the front door where said praying mantis was waiting for me. I collected it most effectively and brought it to my basement lair where it is now currently residing in a terrarium, devouring crickets. Ah, but why, you ask, would I have a terrarium full of crickets just sitting in my basement... well, my friends and avid watchers... you will soon understand.
Thus begins the tale of Yojimbo and the rowdy, mutinous crickets. It was a beautiful mid-July day, and ~DaaBree-Jeff was over. We were fashioning a small habitat-thing from a plastic container for our newfound mantis friend, later to be named Yojimbo. If you wish to know the significance of the name/word "yojimbo", you can easily find out via wikipedia.com.
Within a week, Yojimbo was upgraded to terrarium status, which I'm sure was much more enjoyable and scenic for the young insect. Yojimbo was young, tiny [only about 1.5'' long], and beige-brown coloured. She lived happily for many weeks, dining on the finest crickets money can by` for 9 cents. Twice she shed her skin [molted], growing significantly larger each time. For you see, praying mantises molt seven times in their lives, gaining their wings after the seventh molting.
Around mid-august, I went to Petsmart to buy crickets for Yojimbo, who was nearing her final molting, and swelling like a ridiculously ripe tomato. Upon my homeward arrival, I dumped the bag of thirty crickets into the cage of the beastly mantid-creature, and she began destroying and devouring them immediately. One night, several days later, I was watching T.V in my basement. At around 3AM I was about to go to bed, so i went to turn off the light above the terrarium, and to my dismay Yojimbo was not hanging on the lid where she had been the last few days. She had begun to molt, only she had fallen off the lid during this time, and as her soft, vulnerable, freshly molted abdomen had emerged from her shedding skin, the twenty some-odd crickets on the floor of the enclosure swarmed her as she struggled to pull herself from the rest of her skin, her legs were flailing, her front claws were pawing towards the top of the cage - her only means of escape from the carnage. It was too late for me to do anything once I saw what was happening - she was already half eaten. I decided to just let nature take its course. I turned off the light and went to bed, troubled. It was a very sad occasion indeed.
The next day, however, I received a call from ~BadDreamAquarius, saying she had found and successfully captured a stick bug which she wanted me to take and provide shelter for. I went over and soon enough we had found a second stick insect. They were to occupy Yojimbo's terrarium for the next few weeks. Now don't get me wrong... Stick bugs are a remarkable evolutionary phenomenon, but for the love of god, they are fucking boring as hell. This is why I was so delighted this morning when a new mantis came to my doorstep.
The new mantis is fully grown, deep green, and furthermore, resilient to cricket mutiny. I had a feeling I'd find another one... what else could avenge the death of Yojimbo against the evil crickets? It's kinda like karma, on an insect level. heh. Incidentally, I don't think the crickets even mind being eaten. I mean, they twitch a bit at first, and kick their legs until they realize they won't be set free from the spiny grasp of the mantis, and then they kind of just look around and clean their antennae as their insides are ripped out, appendages cut off, etc - A human equivalent of doing your nails and watching Lord of The Rings while your arms and legs are removed with a chainsaw. But yeah, Just thought I'd report...

- Spanks