"I could show you a good time, but your cousins wouldn't like it, your parents wouldn't like it, and God wouldn't like it." That is what my cousin's boyfriend said to me last Sunday night in Nashville. It was only 9:30 and they were starting to call it a night. I was like, "Hey, the night is young. I thought you were going to show this Iowan boy a good time." And then Chris uttered that wonderful sentence. I enjoyed it.

Boy, I was planning on using this blog more. Especially during my Nashville adventure. I was planning on posting more stuff more often, but ah, well, didn't do that. And I don't really care. Blah blah blah. Read it and weep.

A week ago from right now, I was on my way home. The rest of my Nashville that I haven't written about was fine and fun. Sunday night was really the highlight of the trip, I've got to say. We all went out to eat at The Cooker, a great resturant. Had good food, had fun with the waiter, showed off my Charlton Heston impression, just cruised around for awhile. Well, now that I think of it, the fun times started earlier on Sunday than the resturant, but that doesn't matter. After a while, we went back to Mandie's apartment, after dropping Chris, her boyfriend, off at his apartment and then just goofed around and watched horrible music videos. I don't know if this is making any sense, but it was fun and crazy times. Yeah, then Monday, drove home. That's that. I'm sure there's more, but whatever.

I created another blog. One just for me to talk about movies. You can find it at: http://aintitcoolcorey.blogspot.com.
I'll probably end up updating that one more than this one, simply because I like talking about movies than whatever I end up talking about here, but don't worry, I'll still put stuff up here too. Actually, I don't know how anything is going to turn out.

Hmm....Footloose is going. Having more fun with it than I was for a while, but still, I don't know why, but I enjoyed being in The Odyssey more. Yeah, yeah, Footloose is going to be a much better play than The Odyssey, but I was just having more fun during Odyssey. I think it was the fact that being one of the Gilligan castaways, we just were off by ourselves doing our own thing and having fun, learning dances, writing our stuff. And I really wish Rachel was teaching more of the Footloose dancing. She was just better. Heh, whatever, it'll be fine.

Um....this weekend. Huh, what did I do? Friday, went to Individual Night of Speakers thing. That was pretty good. Rachel Gevock's speech was really terrific. It moved me deeply. Then, what? Oh, yeah, went to Xander's basement and hung out there for awhile til like everyone showed up and eh, it's just not as fun when it's a big happening. But it was fun while it lasted. Jed and me left and I ended up just hanging at Jed's til like around midnight. Sunday, did family related stuff in Ottumwa for most of the afternoon. That evening, I had some videos that needed to be returned and Jed was going to rent a game or movie or something, so we were gonna ride together. Jed needed to give Andrew some money, so we ended up in Xander's basement. We stayed for awhile, longer than expected, but still, it was fun. Well, except for the,uh, porn. But still that was kinda fun, in a way, in a really twisted way. Once we left Xander alone in his lonliness with his sisters, Gregory, Jed, and me went to Family video, so Jed could get something and we just walked around for awhile talking about movies, joking, fun stuff. Really that's one of my favorite things to do with people, well, at least people who have a decent appreciation for movies. We took Greg home and I dropped Jed off and then I went home and watched stuff(some Buster Keaton, some extras for THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, and CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND). Yup, that was my weekend.

Heh, I just watched the trailer for Saved! and it looks like it could be surprisingly good actually. I've kinda been wanting to see someone do a teen movie from a more Christian perspective. And I mean that in a completely twisted way. Because growing up in a Christian home, going to church all my life, being a Christian, having a twisted sense of humor and being a horrible person(as Jed has said), and knowing that God has to have a freakin' great sense of humor about everything because life is pretty fucked up sometimes....er....most times. But I blame people, not God. I don't know, all I know is that Jed will want to see this because it's got Mandy Moore. I want to see it more because it's got Patrick Fugit from ALMOST FAMOUS in it and that movie rocked and Patrick Fugit rocked in it.

Well, I don't know what else to say. I think I'll pop over to my movie blog and post some movie thoughts.

Maybe.

Everyone's telling me I need to watch ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, so I'm downloading the first ep from Collin. I'll see what I think.  ¶ 15.3.04

  Cool Corey Does Nashville Wowie!!! What a day! Good times, I guess. I mean, I would have had funner times like bowling or something at home, but I mean, this is more of an experience. Something to cherish forever. Something for your brain cells to cuddle with. That's what memories are, Brain Cuddlers. They cuddle with the brain and makes the knowledge happy and useful.

Before I go on with the post, I have to show this


YES!!!!! First thing I've seen for the new Wes Anderson movie!!! Oh, God, YES!!!! I'm sure this is gonna rock. From what I've heard, this is gonna rock my socks off. Its kinduva sea adventure. So like MASTER & COMMANDER ala Wes Anderson's version. I don't know, but those orange caps have got me excited. As well as Bill Murray, but that just goes without saying.

Oh and to all of you sad sad souls who don't know who Wes Anderson is, just watch BOTTLE ROCKET, RUSHMORE, and THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS and then try to tell me that you're not excited to see what he does next.

Anyway, back to me. I spent the morning, I don't know, getting around, just hanging out in Mandie's apartment. We took off for the shoot around 10 or 10:30. It was like a 45 minute drive to get out to this barn where we were gonna film. We had various set-backs and mini-adventures and then we finally got there. There is no electricity in this barn so we set up these generaters that we brought with us to run the lights. Through various circumstances, the band didn't show up til like 4:30 instead of the original 2:30 call-time. A lot of the people around there were kinda pissed, but it didn't bother me. I was just along for the ride. Like I am with all of life. So, I guess, we were just there setting stuff up and moving stuff around for like over 5 hours. I told Micheala that today was like the opposite of yesterday. Yesterday we were sitting all day, today we were standing.

There were 3 other people besides us 3 Hickenbottoms and the boyfriend of the 1 of the Hickenbottoms. 2 of the other guys were really cool and nice guys. The other guy, Benton, I think his name is, was kind of a prick. BLEAH!!! Didn't care for that pessimistic perverted bastard. He slightly ruined the day for me. The day would have been much better if he had beeen left out of it.

The band was cool. Seemed like a bunch of guys I wouldn't mind hanging out with. And the lead singer bears an uncanny resemblance to Eric from THAT 70's SHOW. Cool guys. And good songs. I hope they get signed to a label. And not just so I could say I worked on their first music video.

The actual shoot was pretty cool. I mean, I pretty much stood around and watched. I was given a few minial tasks every once in a while, but I'm sorry guys, no "Quinn is Emo" in this video. The shoot would have been more fun if I was taking part in it. If someone had handed me a camera and told me to film stuff, that would've been great, but unfourtunately they were all having fun doing it themselves. Another reason I don't think I got to do much was that stupid Benton guy was a prick and didn't admit to the fact that I totally ROCK. I mean, most of the other people gave a little respect when I whipped out the funk. And even some of the band gave respect to the ROCKIN' within me. But stupid Benton paid no notice to my complete awesomeness.

None the less, it was pretty cool. The band performed in this old rundown barn. It looked really cool. Tomorrow, we're going back to shoot the rest of the barn stuff and then we're gonna make it rain on the band. So it'll be a cool shower scene thing going on.

We wrapped up for the day around 6:30. The Three Hickenbottoms went back to the apartment and cleaned up. I watched some more Michel Gondry stuff and then, we went to eat at a resturant called Boscoes with Mandie's boyfriend, Chris, and Benton. I've got to admit Benton wasn't so bad tonight. I didn't really mind him. I think it's because he got some alcohol in his system. He's one of those guys who's just a pain in the ass if he doesn't have any alcohol content flowing through his bloodstream. The food was really good. Pricey, but good. Actually, I didn't mind the price because I didn't have to pay the check. Thumbs up from me.

Yeah, well, I think that's about my day. Pretty exciting, huh?

Oh, by the way, it was over 60 degrees out here. T-shirt weather. I even got a little sun burned. What's it like in Iowa? Hee hee. That's what I thought.  ¶ 7.3.04

  Why did I invest so much in love? Well, here I am in Nashville. After a long 8+ hour drive, me and my cousin, Micheala arrived at my other cousin, Mandie's, apartment around 10:30. In da P.M.

The drive was fine. Just took turns driving. Listened to stuff. Talked. I guess your regular roadtrip stuff.

When we got to Mandie's and unpacked, while Mandie and Micheala had girly sister talk, me and Mandie's boyfriend sat around and watched music videos by Spike Jonnze, Michael Gondry, and Chris Cunningham. Fun stuff. I don't really watch good music videos very often, so this was cool to be guided through it by a connesiuer. And the Gondry videos really got me excited about ETERNAL SUNSHINE.

We're supposed to start the video shoot tomorrow around 11:00. Well, that's when we start to set up. I heard the song that Mandie's doing the video for and its really quite a good song and she has some cool ideas for it, so I hope it turns out a-rockin'!!!

Well, I better get some sleep. Tomorrow looks to be a fun day packed with some wild experiences.  ¶ 6.3.04

  Life is Always Better When You're ROCKING! WoooooHOOOOO!!!!! Haven't done anything much with this ol' blog for a while. I've been too busy ROCKING!!!! YEEEAAAAHHHH, baby!!! I dig my life. I wish everyone could just learn how to rock with their life. I don't exactly know what that means, but thats what I wish everyone could do.

I've been reeeally feelin' good lately. Well, okay, I admit, the other day, coming home from town, after Footloose practice and taking Davey home, I did feel a little down. Not really down per se, just not up to par. But then, the cd I was listening to in my car(that I haven't listened to in a long time) starting playing R.E.M's End of the World and I just cranked it and started rocking to it, man. Singing along to all of it at full volume, beating on the steering wheel, I was rocking it!!!! And ya know what? I felt GREAT!!! I don't even know why I was "not up to par." It was great. Like I said, life is always better when you're rocking!!!



By the way, EVERYONE has to see this movie. It's a very important movie for our times. It expresses so many things that I feel very deeply about(like ROCKING!!!!). It's an infectious movie that needs to infect everyone with its power of rock. It teaches the world to stand up and not be lame. To go out and kick-ass, no matter what anyone is gonna think of you. It shows that ROCKING!!! is more important than math and other lame school subjects. It's one of the most important films of the year(and maybe ever). A movie everyone needs to see and adjust their lifestyles accordingly.

Oh and why didn't the song School of Rock get nominated for Best Song oscar?? That would've totally ruled to have seen Jack Black and the kids rocking it on stage. They could've gotten rid of one of those COLD MOUNTAIN songs(or as I refer to them, sleep-inducers). Anyway, thats just another thought. I've got a million of 'em!!!

huh, I don't know if I want to write anything about my life. I don't know if there's anything particularly interesting that I've done lately. Well, I MCed the Open Mic happening at the Library. That was fun. Good times there, man. I thought I could've probably been better at times, but I'd never MCed anything before or anything like that, you know, so considering that that was my first time, you've gotta admit I rocked it pretty hard. You know, not bad for a first time. But if I ever do it again, I'm totally gonna rock it even harder. Just keep fine tuning the cool and rocking the socks off of my life. Did you know that life had socks that you could rock off? Well, life does, so but life sucks when its got its socks on, so you need to rock them off and make your life better. The way to a better life is through the removal of the socks of life. And letting life run barefoot through the fields of funk. Maybe I should write a book about all this, man.

Oh and it looks like I'm going to be leaving this weekend to go down to Nashville to help my cousin make a music video for this up and coming group named Popular Genius. I'll be leaving tomorrow and be back Monday sometime. I'll be riding down with my cousin Micheala and staying with my cousin Mandie. Looks to be some wild and crazy fun times. It's almost totally confirmed, so if you were planning on rocking it with me this weekend, sorry, baby, but I'm gonna be rockin' it in Nashville. Yeah, I'll probably be able to get around a computer so I'll probably throw stuff up and here and keep you up on my rockin' weekend. Emphasis on the probably.

Another kinda interesting thing that I'm gonna be doing is to go see THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST tonight with my parents and grandparents. Not usually my movie going companions of choice, but they're gonna pay for my ticket and that's fine with me considering there's a whole heckuva lot of movies I really want to see that are going to coming out soon. Including STARTSKY AND HUTCH which comes out Friday. Maybe I'll go see it when I'm down in Nashville and get to a real theatre and not some cheap small-town thing. Anyway, I'll see what I think of this new Jesus flick. Might post my thoughts on it when I get back. Might not. You just never know about me.

And as a unrelated side note, Charlton Heston is an under-appreciated bad-ass. Yeah, I do my fun Heston impression, but really when you go back to the man in his prime, he was completely a total bad-ass. He just doesn't get the respect he deserves, sadly. I may have more on that later.

Well, I've got some stuff I need to do, but I wanted to throw something up here to tell everyone how kickin' my life is going and how you should be rockin' it out too. Hopefully, I'll post more soon. But you never know about me. That's what makes me so cool.


  ¶ 4.3.04

  FUCK YOU SEAN PENN!!!!!! For taking away what should have been Bill Murray's Oscar. I'm gonna kill that asshole!!!!!

Bah, Fat Hobbit Jackson won Best Director when Sofia"I directed the best movie of the year"Coppola should have. And that dang rings flick won over that fantastic piece of sublime beauty that was LOST IN TRANSLATION for Best Picture. That dang rings flick won way too many Oscars. Billy Crystal didn't do anything terribly interesting as host. He was too pompous and was like "I'M BILLY CRYSTAL!!! I'M FUNNY!!!!!" The MIGHTY WIND song didn't win Best Song. Did I mention that that dang rings flick won 11 FREAKIN' OSCARS!?!?!?!?!!!! Yeah, it deserved a lot of those, but not all of them. At least not the ones LOST IN TRANSLATION was up for.

But anyways, the Oscars are fun, but as Jed said, this year just seemed routine. But it had a few classic moments, Jack Black and Will Ferrell's presentation thing was like the best thing, Mitch and Mickey performing "A Kiss at the end of the Rainbow," Robin William's presentation thing, the TRIPLETS OF BELLVILLE performance, Blake Edwards honorary Oscar, Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller's little thing, and Adrien Brody making sure his breath was fresh and hoping that the Best Actress would do to him what he did to Halle Barry last year. Adrien Brody rocks! Jed and Davey make good Oscar watching buddies.

Anyway, remember what Charlize Theron said in MONSTER:
"I better win a fuckin' Oscar for this, cuz I look like shit."


  ¶ 1.3.04