Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Sunday, February 20, 2011

IMHO: Science & Technology

Mac or PC?: Mac, but I've used PC's at work.
Favorite scientific law: The Law of Conservation of Matter and Energy
What existed before the big bang?: Pure void.
What happens inside a black hole?: Matter becomes a singularity.
Are there parallel universes?: Probably, if you believe the math.
Where is humanity evolving?: In the future, if humanity is able to merge consciousness onto a machine, we'll be able to preserve each of our minds in digital form. We will then become machines ourselves, or exist as bits of information within machines. Perhaps this is what reality is now and we just don't know it.
Favorite number: Pi
Technology I'd like to see developed in the next 200 years: Visual Dream Recorders, teleportation, food replicators, wetware implants that enable people to instantly know math and be able to speak and understand any language, ways to communicate with the dead.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

IMHO: Politics

National health care?: Yes please.
Abortion?: Pro choice
Guns?: I like guns and think people should learn to shoot them.
Budget: Teachers should be paid more. Defense department contracts should go to struggling industries in our own country. All cars should run on alternate fuel asap.
Drugs: Marijuana should be legal and taxed.
Gay marriage: Everyone has the right to get married if they're in love and its of their own free will.
Immigration, the middle east, and policing the internet: No idea how to deal with any of this. Glad I'm not in charge of doing so.

Friday, February 18, 2011

IMHO: Humor

Favorite joke: The Brick Joke.
Favorite comedians: Chris Rock, Sarah Silverman, Bill Hicks, Sacha Baron Cohen
The only TV news programs I watch: The Daily Show & The Colbert Report
Funniest movies of all time: The Jerk, Anchorman

Thursday, February 17, 2011

IMHO: Art

Art teachers I had at UCLA: Chris Burden, Nancy Rubens, Charlie Ray, Paul McCarthy, Richard Jackson, Peter Sellars
Favorite art movement: Surrealism
Favorite artists: Erro´, Andre Breton, Ernst Fuchs, Dali, Magritte, Van Gogh, Todd Schorr, Mark Ryden, Robert Williams, Kandinsky, Warhol, Lichtenstein, Da Vinci, Bosch
Mediums I work with: Painting, Drawing, Computer Art, Lenticulars
Favorite museum: Geppi's Entertainment Museum (Baltimore, MD), Van Gogh Museum (Amsterdam)
Favorite painting of all time: "The Garden of Earthly Delights" by Hieronymous Bosch

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

IMHO: Sports

Teams: Oakland Raiders, Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Lakers
Favorite Sport: Calvinball
Favorite Forms of Exercise: Hiking, Bowling, Bike Riding
Favorite Boxing Match: Holyfield/Tyson II
Favorite Wrestler: Koko B. Ware

Monday, February 14, 2011

IMHO: Religion

Believe in God?: I believe that the entire universe is interconnected, all-encompassing, and never-ending.
Is there an afterlife?: If you, as an individual form of consciousness, exist as a type of energy, and energy is neither created or destroyed, then perhaps consciousness moves on to another form when the body dies. Like everyone else on the planet, the only honest answer to this question is "Maybe."
Favorite Torah quote: What is wealth? Being happy with what you have.
Favorite Bible quotes: Deuteronomy 4:39 and Romans 8:14-17
Favorite Muhammad quote: “He is not strong and powerful who throweth people down; but he is strong who witholdeth himself from anger”
Favorite L. Ron Hubbard quote: "The one man in the world who never believes he's mad is the madman."
Favorite Buddah quote: "In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true."
Favorite Bhagavad Gita quote: “Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is.” 
Favorite Albert Einstein quote: "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."
 

Sunday, February 13, 2011

IMHO: Video Games

Favorite Video Game of all time: Super Mario Bros 2
Favorite Phone Video Games: Angry Birds, Need For Speed 2: Undercover
Favorite Classic Arcade Games: Lethal Enforcers, Pepper II, Zaxxon, Ms Pac Man
Favorite Modern Video Game: Marvel Ultimate Alliance
Favorite Pokemon: Octillery (#224)

Saturday, February 12, 2011

IMHO: Food & Drink

Favorite Hamburger: Apple Pan Hickory Burger (West Los Angeles)
Favorite Restaurant: Club 33 (Disneyland)
Favorite Italian Restaurant: Da Vinci's (Beverly Hills)
Favorite Thai Restaurant: Jitlata (Hollywood)
Favorite Mexican Restaurant: Gardens of Taxco (West Hollywood)
Favorite Steakhouse: Peter Luger's (NYC)
Favorite Sushi: Nobu (LA & NYC)
Favorite Tiki Bars (open now): Don The Beachcomber (Seal Beach, CA), Bahooka (Rosemead, CA), Mai Kai (Ft. Lauderdale, FLA), Kon Tiki (Tucson, AZ)
Favorite Tiki Bars (closed down): Kelbos (Los Angeles, CA), Trader Vic's (Beverly Hills, CA)
Favorite Coffee: Dunkin' Donuts
Favorite Soda: Dr. Brown's Cream Soda

Friday, February 11, 2011

IMHO: Books

Favorite books: "The Illuminatus! Trilogy" by Robert Shea & Robert Anton Wilson and "Ulysses" by James Joyce
Favorite writers: Kurt Vonnegut Jr. • Hunter S. Thompson • Aldous Huxley • Robert Anton Wilson • JK Rowling • HP Lovecraft • Rick Riordan • L Frank Baum
Favorite childhood book: "The Shrinking of Treehorn" by Florence Parry Heide and Edward Gorey
Favorite book series: "The Sandman" by Neil Gaiman (maybe this should have been in the comics entry!)
Fictional literary heroes: Hagbard Celine • Holden Caulfield • Jubal Harshaw • Luna Lovegood
Favorite philosophy books: "The Secret Teachings Of All Ages" by Manly P. Hall and "Prometheus Rising" by Robert Anton Wilson

Thursday, February 10, 2011

IMHO: Comic Books

Favorite superhero: Doctor Strange (Duh!)
Favorite comic book artists: Kirby, Ditko, Romita Sr., Crumb, Wood, Alex Ross
Most valuable comic book I own:  Amazing Fantasy #15 CGC 1.0 Signature Series (Stan Lee)
Favorite Doctor Strange story: "Dr. Doom & Dr. Strange: Triumph and Torment" by Roger Stern & Mike Mignola
Favorite comic book writers: Neil Gaiman, Stan Lee, Dan Clowes, Grant Morrison, Brian K. Vaughan, Alan Moore
Favorite DC character: Dream Girl from The Legion of Superheroes
If I could have one super power, what would it be?: Infinite wishes.
If I had to theoretically choose between an Action Comics #1 CGC 10.0 Blue Label or a collection of every single EC Comic ever published, graded 9.0 or higher, which one would it be?: My head would choose the Action #1, since it would be virtually priceless, but my heart would want the EC's...

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

IMHO: Television

FAVORITE TV SHOWS OF ALL TIME
1. The Prisoner (1960's version)
2. South Park
3. Six Feet Under
4. Venture Bros

Picard or Kirk?: Picard
Twilight Saga, True Blood, or Vampire Diaries?: 3 way tie. I find each one amusing in its own way.
Favorite SNL sketch: Paul McCartney and Chris Farley.
TV celebrity you resemble the most: Fred Flintstone
Favorite Reality Show: Surreal Life (I miss that show...)
Favorite cartoon: Tex Avery's "Crazy Mixed Up Pup"

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

IMHO: Movies

Some of my favorite movies (alphabetical, in no particular order)

A Better Tomorrow 2 (John Woo) • A Clockwork Orange • Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai • Airplane! • After Life (Japanese) • A Hard Day's Night • Alice In Wonderland (Disney) • Amelie • Anchorman • Animal House • Annie Hall • Apocalypse Now • Bachelor Party • Beneath The Valley Of The Ultravixens • Better Off Dead • Beyond The Valley of The Dolls • Big Lebowski • Big Red One • Big Sleep • Billy Madison • Black Dynamite • Black Swan • Blade Runner • Blazing Saddles • Blues Brothers • Blue Velvet Borat • Breakfast Club • Bruno • Caddyshack • Casablanca • Casino • Cheech and Chong's Up In Smoke • Citizen Kane • Clerks 1 and 2 • Danger: Diabolik • Dirty Dozen • Down By Law • Ed Wood • Edward Scissorhands • El Topo • Empire Strikes Back • Eraserhead • Exorcist •  Fantasia • Fantasia 2000 • Faster Pussycat: Kill! Kill! • Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas • Ferris Bueller's Day Off • Fight Club • Freaks (Todd Browning) • Ghostbusters • Ghost World • Godfather • Godfather II • Goldfinger • Goodfellas • Good, The Bad & The Ugly • Gran Torino • Grease • Happy Gilmore • Hard Boiled • Harry Potter (Entire series) • Heathers • Hellboy • Hell In The Pacific • Idiocracy • Illusionist (Ed Norton) • Inception • Holy Mountain • Hunger (Bowie) • Idiocracy • Incredibles • Iron Man • Key Largo • Killer (John Woo) • La Dolce Vita • Last Temptation Of Christ • Last Year at Meriambad • Liquid Sky • Machete • Man Who Fell To Earth • Man Who Shot Liberty Valance • Matrix • Meet The Feebles • Metropolis • Monty Python's The Meaning of Life • Moonraker • Muppet Movie • Nightmare Before Christmas • North By Northwest • Not Another Teen Movie • Office Space • Pirates of The Caribbean 1 & 2 • Point Blank (Lee Marvin) • Prestige • Pulp Fiction • Raging Bull • Raiders of The Lost Ark • Repo Man (Alex Cox) • Reservoir Dogs • Return Of The Jedi • Rocky Horror Picture Show • The Room • Rumble Fish • Santa Sangre • Scarface Scott Pilgrim • Seven Samurai • Shining • Sixteen Candles • South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut • Spaceballs • Spider-Man 2 • Spirited Away • Spy Who Loved Me • Stagecoach • Stripes • Superbad • Swingers • Taxi Driver • Throne of Blood • Thunderball • Trading Places • Tron • Tron: Legacy • True Romance • Truman Show • 2001: A Space Odyssey • UHF • Un Chien Andalou • Up (Pixar) • Up (Russ Meyer) • V For Vendetta • Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story • Wall-E • Weird Science • Wings of Desire • X-Men • Yellow Submarine • Zombieland

Monday, February 7, 2011

IMHO: Music

MY TOP 5 BEATLES SONGS
1. Tomorrow Never Knows
2. It's All Too Much
3. Blue Jay Way
4. Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except For Me and My Monkey
5. Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End/Her Majesty medley

10 MUSIC BOX SETS I WOULD WANT ON A DESERT ISLAND
1. Dead Can Dance - 1981-1998
2. Joy Division - Heart and Soul
3. Syd Barrett - Crazy Diamond
4. John Coltrane - The Major Works of John Coltrane
5. Beatles - The Beatles Stereo Box Set
6. Tom Waits - Orphans
7. Cocteau Twins - CD single box set
8. Radiohead - Radiohead box set
9. Bauhaus - 1979-1983
10. Pink Floyd - A Nice Pair

Favorite rap artist: Outkast
Favorite country artist: Johnny Cash
Favorite Rolling Stones song: "2000 Light Years From Home"
Favorite Stevie Wonder song: "As"
Bands I dislike: Dave Matthews Band, Counting Crows
Favorite electronica band: Ladytron
Favorite classical composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Favorite metal band: Black Sabbath
Favorite punk band(s): Operation Ivy, The Cramps
Favorite singers (female): Lisa Gerrard, Elizabeth Frasier, Billie Holiday
Favorite singers (male): David Bowie, Nick Cave

Sunday, February 6, 2011

My new teaching website

I just put together a website to help me find work as a Special Education Teacher. I'm currently getting my credential at Cal State Los Angeles and figured a simple little website for school administrators to see some of the things I can do would be a good idea. CLICK HERE or on the image below to have a look!