Is Christmas over yet?

Two years ago I stood in a not so brightly-lit parking lot. In the distance I could see that big yellow sign that read “Best Buy.” It was 11PM. I was cold and I am pretty sure I wasn’t the only one. I stood there with my friend as we waited for midnight. I had no intention of buying anything. In fact, I only went there because my friend wanted to get a laptop. I knew that day that it would be my last time participating on Black Friday. I didn’t want to go through it anymore.

In previous years, I actually had an intent to buy something. I would show up at Wal-Mart at midnight, wait for a bit and maybe, just maybe buy that video game at $20 cheaper than the MSRP. And the years before that, I would drive and roam around my neighborhood, looking to buy something at a great price that I am pretty sure I didn’t need.

Since then, I have given up on Black Friday. It’s not that I don’t like great deals. It’s just that I didn’t care anymore. I no longer wanted to become part of the machine that society has told me that I needed to be a part of. It’s tiring. It’s stressful. It’s not what Christmas is all about.

What am I thankful for?

Everything that God’s provided. Thankful all day, every day.

Turkey

Katy Perry’s dad needs to check himself before he wrecks himself

This was shared on my Facebook feed by a friend and when I read it, I was disgusted. And it had nothing to do with the 20,000 fans.

I agree that people are worshipping the wrong things, but what kind of father publicly shames his daughter like that? I know that false idols is wrong, but he’s essentially saying that he despises who Katy is as a person and everything she’s about. What she’s doing in life is leading 20,000 fans to idolatry and she is to blame for that. The fans are at fault too, but the root of the problem is Katy herself. That’s what he’s saying.

These fans wouldn’t exist if Katy doesn’t decide to sing songs about kissing other girls. They wouldn’t exist if she didn’t self-promote herself into a movie. These fans wouldn’t exist if she didn’t appear naked on an album cover. These fans wouldn’t exist if she didn’t have a music career. Blame the fans? No, blame the source. That’s what his message is telling me.

The new movie ‘Son of God’ could be another boring Jesus film

I do get critical of Jesus movies. In fact, I’ve written about it. I’ve also adamantly proclaimed that “The Passion of the Christ” is the worst Jesus film ever made.

Now 10 years after that, this movie is set to come out. I hope it’s not going to be a boring film but I feel that it’s going to be. Unless the trailer really doesn’t capture the film, I don’t know if this movie will excite me.

As much as the people today love having films about real events placed in a more novel, story-telling kind of narrative, the story of Jesus is more than that. However, to make it Hollywood, that’s the way it has to be.

There’s a certain passion about Jesus that comes from seeing his true pain. Instead, this film just looks like it’s going to go surface level of all He did but not go deep into what His true message is about. After all, doing a film of His entire life can be a huge task, so I get it. But maybe instead of trying to fit it all in, how about going deep into Jesus and His salvation?

It’s hard to be convinced by one trailer so I will wait. But so far, not impressed. It appears to be another movie of Jesus that I’ve seen before. But if someone is saved because of this, then I can’t really can’t complain, can I?

Miley Cyrus might have had the smartest trolling performance ever

So this happened tonight and it was genius! A song that actually is pretty good and doesn’t need crazy visuals was actually made better because of it.

Miley has got to be one of the smartest celebrities in terms of self-marketing. As a young person in her 20s, she knows her strength and power in the music business and knows what to do to get talked about.

When she nastified the foam finger with Robin Thicke, the Internet was buzzing about her. It was the perfect publicity. People talked, people wanted to check out her album and most importantly, she still has a solid head on her shoulder. She’s no dummy. She knows what the people want to see and she gives it to them. Shocking yes. But so intelligent.

This is why LA is so sadly so sad

This came a few days ago. It rained and apparently people in LA can’t handle it. It’s somehow a newsworthy story. It wasn’t even heavy rain. It was just a light drizzle at most. And people got all out of whack trying to figure out what to do with some moisture in the air.

This is why I long to go back to the Bay. In the Bay, we don’t get crazy about rain. In LA, it’s all fake and distance from reality. Storm watch? It wasn’t a storm!

Seriously. Really? Wow.

The story of my fascination with JFK’s assassination

My JFK story.

But at the end of the day...

Today marks the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination and even though I was born more than two decades after the incident, the event itself still resonates with me.

I know that even though I didn’t live through it, something about it still captures me about it. it isn’t just the incident itself, but the aftermath of it and how it still affects us today.

Am I a conspiracy theorists that thinks Lee Harvey Oswald did not act alone? Was it an inside job? Did the driver shoot JFK? I don’t know. And that adds on to the fascination with me.

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I don’t even Bank of America but this commercial makes me smile

I don’t even care what the commercial is about.

Listen to the song.

You hear that?

You recognize that?

A Q&A with Jake Gyllenhaal and Melissa Leo after watching ‘Prisoners’

Jake Gyllenhaal and Melissa Leo pic.twitter.com/XZmoAb3Gpw

— Sam (@phutmasterflex) November 20, 2013

I went to Sherman Oaks for a free screening of “Prisoners.” The movie came out earlier this fall but I had never seen it. In fact, I didn’t even know what it was about going into the theater. But it ended up being a really compelling movie.

Following the movie, they had a Q&A with Jake Gyllenhaal and Melissa Leo and writer Aaron Guzikowski.

I met Spike Lee last night at the ‘Oldboy’ movie screening

An evening with Spike Lee and writer Mark Protosevich at screening of the remake of Oldboy. That was fun! pic.twitter.com/G4l1TYtj4w

— Sam (@phutmasterflex) November 16, 2013

Being a fan of the original, I was curious about the direction of this remake when I heard about it. I snagged a free screening pass and decided to go check it out. The screenwriter Mark Protosevich was scheduled to be there as part of the Q&A but director Spike Lee was also there as a surprise guest!

I got there at around 5PM and they started letting people in about two hours. As I started to find my way to and from the restroom to the theater, Spike Lee casually just walked by. I had to go back to him as he stood along the wall just to shake his hand and congratulating him on a completed film.

We then watched the movie. I sat in the way front I wanted to have a good spot for the Q&A up front.

The movie in itself was better than I expected, and that’s me being a super big fan of the 2003 Korean version. But I will say that given how they had to change some of the twists and how they retold a story, it was done well. It still doesn’t compare to the original, but the ending was unique and I think it worked out well.

Afterward, they did the Q&A. They both talked about their old work before diving into the feature film. It was funny, insightful and really it was just an enjoyable evening.

So glad I went to this. This was cool!

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