I didn't realize how badly I needed a vacation until I was on one

My trip down memomry lane has come and gone and the very fun and relaxing weekend in Lincoln I had been looking forward to has now come and gone (Tear). Baseball, boos and a shit load of matching titty and general trivia games at the bars. And of course Iggy Juice at Iguansa, Fishbowls at Duffys and Wings at the Watering Hole, mmmmm good stuff.

And now pictures, if the campus looks familiar, well you might have seen it in the NBC hit show, Tommy Lee Goes To College. Well okay, maybe it wasn't a hit, but it was cool to watch for UNL alums because it became the "Where's Tommy game?", "dude he's in Burnett Hall".


Kick ass seats for Friday nights game.

Andrews Hall, where I spent most of my film class time.


Lots of sun at Sunday's game. Huskers lost twice and won once this weekend. Suck.

My annual return to my old stomping grounds

It's time for that annual tradition that I so love since I graduated, returning to the city that I spent five adventureous years of my life in. Yes, that's right downtown Lincoln treated me well during my college years and it will forever have a fond place in my heart.

This month is quickly becoming very sentimental and meaningful. WW went off the air this past Sunday and the finale was just as hard as I expected it to be, of course my mom was drunk and crying next to me the last ten minutes so that made it worst. My cousin Benno graduated high school the same day, which I attended not just because it was my last shoot for the District video I was hired to do, but because he's my dawg. And now it's a trip down memory lane, one I have been looking forward to all spring, especially since it will also be my first vacation since Vegas (SXSW in Austin was sadly skipped this year). It will be a fun and relaxing weekend, attending Husker baseball games, eating great food, walking around campus and tearing it up on "O" street like I used to when I was a fresh 21 year old. I've said it before, but that although I thoroughly love my life right now, I really do miss the college days. In the spirit of "The Girl Next Door" which is one of my favorites, my list of UNL's "I will always remember..." days and moments.

I will always remember...

-Thirsty Thursdays. At first it was B and Adam's place, then when I turned of age, Dave and I hit the bars like clockwork. Then there was that Thursday when Scotty and I ran away from Dave after the bars closed for the night because he was puking in the street in front of the cops. "Happy Birthday dude", "It's not his birthday, it's just a thursday."

-Carrying a couch across O Street traffic to throw in the alley dumpster so that these two dumbasses who I didn't know wouldn't get arrested by the cops who told me that was the only way they wouldn't be going to jail.

-Sprinting across campus that night with Maslonka for a test we were way late for because we wrote down the wrong time. Maslonka has asthma and almost collapsed halfway there, I had to almost drag him to the hall where when we finally got there the doors were locked and I pounded on them and yelled thinking my college life was over. Oh how naive.

-Late night edit sessions in the closet turned film class editing suite on last minute film project deadlines. (The film program has a brand new building now with about a dozen editing computers in a nice big suite. Suck.)

-Film class and watching old movie classics with the man, Prof. WD. I had lots of classes with the legend of film critique and even one with Scotty and we chat about him frequently still today.

-The surreal week that was 9/11. The day itself, the Friday night at the bars that were eerily quiet, still packed, but very quiet, you'll never see them like that again. The postponed Rice game at Memorial Stadium. All of it was very strange. The world has really changed since that day, and most of it for the worst.

-My spot.

-Husker football student section, watching Dave go under when I pushed him in the fountain that is much deeper than I had anticipated, grabbing BK lunch at the union, living in the doorms, the shithole house on R St, meadow wood, the duplex, picking up boos at Osco Drug on 14th where the cashier ladies knew me by name, writing hundreds of pages of term papers, skipping 50 minute classes to get an extra game of NCAA Football in on PS2, getting stuck on the other side of the damn train when you're very late for class, fishbowls at Duffy's, and wings at the Watering Hole. Good Times.


In closing, "the juice was worth the squeeze".

The end of an era

This Sunday evening, I will sit down to watch a new episode of the West Wing for the last time. I tend to overdramatize "end of eras" but I am a lover of history and addicted to reminiscing about the "good old days". Last year I said goodbye to one of three of my greatest sports heroes, Uncle Reggie, it was a sad night for me after the Pacers lost game six to those damn Pistons in the playoffs. Watching what I knew the whole game would probably be his last, a player I had watched since elementary school when I became a Pacer fan, mostly because I had to pick a team and everybody was already jumping on the Bulls bandwagon, which I disliked, yes I'm a rebel. Mostly I think it was because of Reggie, you see my late grandma's name was Regina Miller, huh, see the simple connection. I will more than likely being saying goodbye to sports hero #3, Brett Favre sometime this January (#1 of course already retired, Dave Winfield of the hated Yankees) which will be equally hard. I think I attribute this to these players connecting back to my childhood. Since I'm an adult now (yikes), will I ever have connections to great athletes like I do now? I think I probably will not.

It's the same way with television shows over the years that have had the rare fortune to stay on the air for an extended amount of years. It's so strange to watch the FINAL episode of any series that you watched for years, it's nostalgic and strange to watch the characters that have entertained you doing so one last time in those familiar surroundings that will no longer be a part of your life. I'm too young but Cheers and MASH finales were probably devasting and strange. I know the Seinfeld finale was very weird to watch and though I stopped tuning in regularly to the later seasons of Friends, the finale of that was pretty sad to watch as well. I started tuning into the West Wing my Senior year of high school which would have been the last half of the 2nd season. My mom had been constantly nagging me to watch the show, but we didn't get along at all back in those days and so I think I didn't initially watch just out of spite. But I eventually did and was immediately hooked. I was really only mildly interested in politics in those days, I mean come on, my generation came to know politics as this constant battle about whether blow jobs in the oval office were or were not appropriate. Not exactly the kind of inspiring debate that would get us passionate.

I believe I was immediately drawn to the genious that is an Aaron Sorkin script. I went on to dutifully tune in every Wednesday night and eventually Sunday night (where along with Friday night are where shows go to die). And with the priceless invention of season DVD collections was able to enjoy the first and second seasons in their entirety. Only for a brief point during the fifth season after Sorkin left the show (which I still find troubling and will hold against him) did West Wing get a little weak, but through seven seasons the show has been solid to the end. This past episode on Sunday was one of my favorites from this season, very solid writing and acting, just great stuff which makes me wish the show would continue. I intially thought it was a good ending point to finalize as Bartlett left office, and it still might be, but it's really starting to get good again and I could really see the unique storylines they could continue with Santos as President. But alas it will not and the show will pass away to television heaven. It is one of three shows I watch regularly and out of those the only drama. I'm trying to get into Conviction, but it's just not happening. They just don't make good shows anymore. Reality TV can kiss my ass, eff you for ruining it for everyone. The only ray of sunshine is that Sorkin has a new show this fall, which I am awaiting with anticipation though not trying to set my expectations too high. Though Sports Night and West Wing are worthy of the highest standards. So I will tune in one last time on Sunday night and say goodbye to the characters I have followed for the past seven years.

Good night and good luck.

Stephen Colbert: Biggest Balls EVER!

Holy shit. When I first heard months back that Colbert was asked to MC the White House correspondents dinner I thought two things: what a great opportunity for him and that will probably be very awkward. And I was right on both. He went up there in character and gave the ballsiest, most blistering roast that any President has had done to their FACE in the history of this country probably, unless Charlie Chaplin zinged Presdient Hoover pretty good or something back in the day that I don't know about. I mean it was brutal and Dubya looked pissed when it was done and had to shake hands with his assailant. The best part was that the crowd really never laughed once. The press yesterday never said anything about it and Matthews said it was "inappropriate". Instead they covered how funny-funny Bush was with the impersonator guy. And one reporter said Colbert is usually hilarious, but not that night. It reminds me exactly of the Crossfire incident with Jon Stewart where they had him on to laugh it up and Stewart tore them a new one, finally giving them a dose of reality about how bad their show was, that was brutal too and they kept asking when he was going to be funny.

I mean how big of pussies do we really have in the press when again it takes a comedian to be the only one to stand up to the President and tell it like it is. And that's exactly what he did. If Colbert wanted to pander to the crowd and have them rolling with laughter he could have, he's a brilliant performer. But he chose not to, he stood up there and looked right in the President's face and basically gave him a "fuck you" through the roast. It was a big moment for the young liberal generation out there who have sought refuge from this Repbulican theocracy and the press core who refuse to fight for the 48% of the people who didn't vote for Dubya by tuning into Stewart and Colbert every night.

What exactly should Colbert had done differently, they invited him to MC the dinner. Should he have light heartedly jabbed about the 2,400+ soldiers who couldn't be there that night because they are buried in the ground, or how about the thousands of homeless New Orleans people courtesy of the Prez's great job during Katrina, don't worry Mr. President who needs education, health care and affordable fuel to get to work when their are millionaires who need tax breaks. Haha, illegal wire tapping and torture are hilarious, civil rights are a hoot, and widespread corruption on the highest level is funny as hell. I read a news story last night that when the President signs laws, he can then use a signing veto document to take out any part of the bill he wants. Well Presidents in the past never used this until Reagan, go figure and Clinton only used it 154 times. Guess how many times our jokester Dubya has used it already, 762 times. And not just on little things, like the torture ban bill, he signed it then signed the document saying he didn't have to follow the law. And this is with a Republican congress, so guess which parts he takes out, I'm guessing every time, it's the amendments that the Democrats put in. Because of course we need to take away the 5% of power that those liberals have left. Where are the jokes there, where is the press there, where is our democracy when it's "inappropriate" for someone to make a political statement and use their 1st Amendment rights to the President's face. God forbid.

In closing, I guarantee every day that passes, what Colbert did will grow and grow in historic value. I'm being very serious here, it will be the day a comedian stood up to the President when nobody else had the balls to step up to the plate themselves.