Yes, I made $3

I didn't think that I would have to write this post so soon. It's only been 5 months, and I'm so grateful for every view that I get, but all good things must come to an end. If at this point you're still wondering what's going on, this will be the last post of Joey's Raucous, Rude, and Really Funny Blog About Nothing In Particular. I'm retiring from this blog, with hopes of soon starting a new, possibly even better one.

I never really gave much thought to how I wanted this post to sound, as it never really occurred to me that I'd be doing this right now. But if I had to pick one word to possibly describe this, it's hopeful. I feel like at this point, after 66 posts, I'm just writing to write. Whereas through posts 1-50, I had messages and meanings behind everything I said, the last 15 have been almost painful for me to publish. I mean, how many times can I tell a First Friday story without it being boring and redundant. I wanted to end out on a high note, and I think this is what it is. I love this blog with all of my heart because I put 110% of me into it, and I never regret that first post, Blogging Is For Whiners. It opened up a new door for me. A door where I could connect with as many people as I wanted, and hopefully meet some new ones on the way. The people I've gotten the chance to interview have all been fascinating individuals with a story to tell, and that's the only message I've ever really tried to convey the whole time I've been writing. Everyone has a story to tell, so tell it. This blog is just one big memoir. That's all it ever was, and I hope that that's all it will ever be.

I'm thankful and loving of every reader I've ever had, regardless of a possibly negative relationship that we have in the real world. You guys, (yes, you!) are the reason I'm here right now, 66 posts later. There are so many people I'd like to thank at this point. But I'll keep the list concise for time sake. I apologize if your name isn't mentioned here. I'd like to thank:

Simon Gutkin, Alana Arcaro, Ned Vizzini, Henry Rodriguez, Melissa Rodriguez, Lola Valdez, Mark Zuckerberg, Justin Eugene Evans, Nicole Von Wiczur, Samantha Boscarino, Aubreya Barnwell, Willow Kanowsky, Piera Fries, Coreen Smith, Lucina Chavez, Tom Kukoly, Marcella Vitulli, Kevin Smith, Hunter Rand, Stephanie Fiello, Meghan Johnson, Melissa Lain, Coco Taylor, Andrew Hosley, Aryan Rojas, Matthew Huffman, Doni Smith, Larry Smith, Nikki Wedemeyer, Lizz Marshall, Max Beckman, Jason Noe, Ryan Leach, Ross Marquand, Sean Bonnette, Aya Wertheimer, Daniela Wertheimer, Rachel Rigali, Lucille Berk, Alicia Robles, Alex Watts, Quetzalli Enrique, Hannah Melchert, Krysta Jimenez, Marc Contreras, Dago Payan, Ben Goldman and many, many, many more. Now, I know that I'm not necessarily on the best terms with all of these people, but believe it or not, all of the people on this list have helped me improve in one way or another. It's weird how things like this happen.

Now, when one door closes another opens. I'm still working on many different projects that could surface soon. I'm open to a lot of new ideas. Collaborative works, guest writing, reviewing, anything you guys want me to do. I have only one condition; it doesn't touch this blog. I want to leave this as it is. I'm also looking into publishing the blog into a book if possible. That would be very cool. Regardless of publications, I'm going to print out every post I've ever done and save it somewhere, same goes for all of my Blog For Teens, which I will continue to write for if anyone's wondering. Maybe not as frequently as before, but I'll still be there.

That's all I've got to say for now. Look out for future projects, and more music from Gentlemanly Anonymous. Thanks for everything you guys have done, I'm forever grateful for everything and every view!

Thanks for reading (:

Lightrail Stories

The Phoenix Metro lightrail is a very interesting place to be at the right time. I ride the lightrail almost everyday to meet my mom at her job, so I encounter some very interesting people on a daily basis. I'm just going to tell a couple of my favorite lightrail stories, because I definitely have a lot. Some are sweet, some are scary, and some are just kind of funny. Enjoy?

Don't Start With Me!-I was riding eastbound with a friend of mine, and we were talking. Loudly. There was an old (or presumably old) American-Indian bum taking up two seats, sleeping. She was snoring loudly, and was nothing short of a little crazy. Suddenly, she woke up, and yelled at my friend and I saying, "Hey! Don't start any sh!t with me I'll kill you both!" Immediately after saying that, she closed her eyes again, and we continued talking. The lady woke up again, sitting up this time, visibly angry. She said to us, "What did I say?! Huh?! I said don't start anything with me!!" The people around us looked at my friend and I, giving us somewhat reassuring looks, saying things like, "It's okay guys, you can keep talking, you're not bothering anyone here." Not wanting to be yelled at anymore by her, we got off the train a stop or two earlier and walked the rest of the way back.

No, No, That's Your Dollar-This one happened to me just yesterday, and I think it's a pretty sweet story to be honest. I was rushing for the lightrail to make it on time to meet my mom (in the end she was late, but that's completely beside the point.) The dollar that I was feeding into the machine kept getting spit back out, probably because it was too wrinkled or crumpled up. A homeless man walked up to me, and said, "Hold on a second, I've got a dollar you can have." We traded dollars, his worked, I thanked him very graciously, and I got on the train and left. The reason that I even decided to tell this story was because things like that, the kindness of the human heart, are hard to come by sometimes. I can name 20 people off the top of my head that would never even think of doing something like that, then there's this man that I've never seen before in my life, and out of the goodness in his heart, decides to help me. I'm probably making a huge deal out of nearly nothing here, but whatever, I'm a softy at heart believe it or not.

Hey Man! I Didn't Do Nothing!-This one isn't really a lightrail story, but I want to tell it anyway. I was in the park side of the library with Lola shooting a Gentlemanly Anonymous video (that we never finished because of this story), when all of a sudden, we see a really angry black guy in a red shirt and loose jeans. All of a sudden, he grabs a homeless man, and starts beating the hell out of him. The man starts to run, yelling, "I didn't do anything! I swear I didn't do anything," but he didn't believe the man and kept beating on him. Finally, he stopped, as the homeless man ran away. The black guy yelled at him, "That's right you better run old man! That's right!" Other homeless people in the vicinity of the beating (this little park is where a lot of them live), were yelling at the black guy, "You best get outta here! Cops are coming! I can hear the sirens already!" After hearing that, he slowly but surely got out of there, disappearing behind the bridge. A couple of security guards ran out and questioned two girls sitting near us, but that was it. No cops, no nothing. It's probably just a daily occurrence around there.

Mexican Vs. Puerto Rican-My final, and favorite, story of the day. I was riding the lightrail with Piera and I had my iPod on shuffle. We were sharing earphones and a Puerto Rican salsa song came on. To my surprise, she actually liked it (Piera's pretty white), and asked what kind of Mexican music it was. That's when it all went downhill. I looked at her and said, "No! This is Puerto Rican music. God you are so white. You should know the difference between a Mexican and a Puerto Rican by now!" The lady in front of us started laughing, turned around, and started agreeing with me. Piera's face got all flustered, and I have to admit it was pretty funny.

Thanks for reading today. Sorry I haven't posted in the past week or so, it's been more than hectic, and a lot of stuff (bad stuff) has happened this week so far, so I'm just waiting for First Friday and my garage sale on Saturday. I promise now that I'm on Spring Break I'll be posting a lot more!

The speech heard round the world..

Tonight was Oscar night, which can be either my favorite or least favorite night of the year. Tonight, I'd have to say it was my favorite. Almost everything that won (excluding Best Director and Best Documentary) were exactly as I had anticipated and hoped. Compared to the stink that was 2009 Oscars, almost anything could be better. The night started off with me thinking, "ughh, please end this now!" But, I found myself really getting into it  as the time went on. James Franco and Anne Hathaway weren't necessarily exemplary hosts, and I felt that they got it because a.) James wasn't going to win and b.) Hathaway should've been nominated, so this was somewhat of a consolation prize. Their lines felt unrehearsed and sloppy, and to be honest, James Franco seemed a little drunk. Hathaway was trying very hard to do well, but she somehow fell flat. Almost all of the presenters were veterans, and it was really nothing new as far as the jokes went. Whatever though, I definitely don't watch the Oscars for the writing.

This year was very interesting for me because it's the first year I've had the opportunity to do a live tweet during it. And trust me, I took advantage of that. I did almost 100 tweets tonight, which is close to clinical insanity I think. I felt like such a nerd IM'ing on Facebook, tweeting constantly, and watching the show. I'm glad I wasn't the only one though. I felt like I was having a tweet-off with Patton Oswalt. The guy was seriously posting something new every 30 seconds. Also, James Franco kept posting little live tweets from backstage that were borderline annoying.

I'll just come out and say that The King's Speech won best picture. The reason I say this is because TKS is the reason I watched the Oscars this year. I posted by Speech story a while ago from when I first reviewed the film, but here's a little recapitulation for you. When I went and saw TKS, I wasn't quite sure what to expect out of it because I had seen Rocket Science, another movie about stuttering, and although I loved it, I felt like it didn't truly capture the essence and angst of being a stutterer. It was just a character trait of the lead protagonist. But, for TKS, it was the character, which is the case for most stutterers. The stutter becomes a part of who you are, it's no longer just something you do. When I walked into this film, that's exactly how I felt. I felt like the stuttering was being done to me, not something I was doing. I felt helpless, like there was nothing I could do to stop it. I also felt very alone in my pursuit, because very few people, if any at all, that I knew had a stutter as severe as mine. In short, I was feeling like there was nothing left I could do. 121 minutes later, I walked out of that theater crying my eyes out. Not because I was sad, no, that was the last thing I was at that point. I was saved, from myself if anything. There aren't words to explain the feeling I had, but I can try.

For the next 45 minutes, I was letting it all out. The built up anger, the regret, the tension, the hatred I had toward myself. It was all gone. I, at that very moment, felt like a completely different person. A person that can do things, a person that could change the world. I felt understood, and empathized with. Now, all the people who go and see that movie will understand the struggle that I go through everyday just to withstand a conversation with somebody. Why do you think I started this blog? So I could honestly express what I was feeling without being held back by my own speech. After seeing that film, I walked out a new man. I'd never felt so good, and yet so vulnerable in my life before. Colin Firth's unflinchingly true performance forever changed the way I look at not only him, but at acting itself. Performances like that come maybe once in a generation. Mr. Firth, you are a Godsend in all meanings of the word. You've brought hope to millions of people around the world who are held back by stuttering. And that is where I'll end this little story.

If you're interested in reading my admittedly raucous, rude, and really funny tweets about the Oscars, go to www.twitter.com/joey123mo, and don't forget to follow me! I want to wish everyone a happy March, and I hope you had a wonderful February.

This week's Tweet of the Week is:

An eye for an eye makes the whole world broke from all those lasik eye surgery bills.


Thanks for reading everyone! If you go on my twitter and read the rest of my tweets, you can send your opinions on your pick of Tweet of the Week to rudeandraucous@hotmail.com! 

Forget Red Bull, fruit gives you wiiings..

Today in science class we were talking about our presentations and how we can effectively convey our message during the presentation. In groups we were each supposed to create a board representing what we thought could be classified as a "good presentation". Then, we were supposed to pick one person to go up and present our boards. Don't worry, I wasn't that guy, that's not where this story is going. Whenever a person went up, they explained what would be acceptable and unacceptable, etc. The odd thing was, whenever they got to the part where they explained how to present ourselves, most of them mentioned to not stutter. I don't necessarily have a problem with it, but it was definitely an awkward moment for me. Every time someone said the word stutter, no matter what context, I felt like someone had just punched me in the stomach, and I don't know why. In speech therapy, Mirla, my speech therapist, tells me that the word stutter is a very weighted word for me. I always agreed, but never truly noticed how much that word actually means to me, but with a negative connotation. Thinking about things like this over and over again, it makes me wonder if I can actually successfully do this presentation, because to be honest, I really don't think I can at this point. I've worked hard at it, but I really don't think I've got a 10 minute presentation and 10 minute Q&A session in me. I mean, I can anticipate all I want, but on March 11th at 8 AM, I'll know if all this work was actually worth it.

I've been more than thrilled with the positive reaction to "Keep You Alive". I just want to thank everyone who took the time out and spent 2 minutes and 8 seconds listening to a crappy recording of a Phoenix band. Lizz and I really appreciate it more than you know. We're working towards getting a drumset right now, so be on the lookout for that as well. If you're one of the unlucky souls who hasn't had the opportunity to hear the song, the link is everywhere. You can find it on my profile page, the previous blog post before this, my twitter page (www.twitter.com/joey123mo), as well as on my good friend Lola Valdez's page. She's Gentlemanly Anonymous' number one fan right now, and the video honestly wouldn't be possible without her. As for future releases from GA, look out for some new songs to be posted next week. I'm thinking that there's going to be about two covers as well as two originals. The two covers will be "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley and "Creep" by Radiohead. The two originals are called "You're Killing Me" and "Silent Shout". This number may increase between now and the next time we record, but I honestly don't know. As far as Lizz's music goes, she might be posting some stuff as well.

At ASA, we have a class called Life Skills. This quarter in Life Skills, we're doing a nutrition unit. For our quarter project, we're supposed to make a PSA (Public Service Announcement) on nutritious food. There wasn't much of a guideline as to what the PSA should entail, but my group decided on the topic of, "Fruit in correlation with strength". To illustrate this, we shot a one minute commercial. I honestly wrote, directed, and edited this thing, collectively, in less than 30 minutes, with no budget whatsoever. Please, don't be a judgmental snob. The reason I'm even bringing this up, is because for some reason, due to the positive reaction I got from it in my class, I decided to post it on YouTube. So, here is the link for our fruit commercial. Enjoy?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mG9L-P6Eljw

If you love it, great. If you hate, well then just go watch another Fellini movie and dump yourself into that Italian Neo-Realism that everyone just adores. Save the uneducated comedy for the rest of us.

Last night was my old school ACAA's Battle of the Bands. I really wanted to go, but I hadn't told my mom about it until we were passing Bell Road (where the school is). Through the grace of her heart, she let me go. I'm still in shock. Anyway, she let me go to the show, I get in, and I see a bunch of old friends from school. I suddenly feel at home. Also, I have to admit, as a stand-alone show, BOTB was great. All the bands were surprisingly good, and I admit I had a great time. Getting to see all my old friends, teachers, even enemies, it really did take me back. There's a band that emerged from ACAA called Saving Shea. Saving Shea has been around since I was in the 6th grade, where I first saw them play. Now, two years later, seeing them again, it really brought back the memories of my days there.

On a final note, the archive. I've been working on finding a place to put it where it's easy to reach, and you don't have to click a million and one links just to get there, so bear with me on that. Other than that, I've got nothing! Don't forget to follow me on twitter (link is above somewhere). Also, send all comments, questions, concerns, fan mail, and hate mail to rudeandraucous@hotmail.com! If you get a chance, don't forget to check out www.blogforteens.com!

Thanks for reading!

Lizz says hi..

I haven't written a new post in four days, and I didn't even realize that until last night at ten. This quarter at my school is the most hectic of them all, because it's known by all ASA'ers as presentation quarter. I've vaguely mentioned it before, but since it seems to be taking up 90% of my time, I might as well write about it. Presentation quarter consists of yes, a presentation, but also a lot of experiments, a lot of writing, and a lot of stress. I've never had to do anything quite this hard at any other school before, and I'm so glad it's basically over. But, in the last four days, a lot has happened, and I've got a lot to write about. Although February has been the month with the least amount of posts, I'm determined to make March better because I have almost half the month off from school, which will make for a lot of time and some good stories (hopefully).

Last weekend, I saw the movie Cedar Rapids with my family, and I wasn't expecting it to be as hilarious as it was. I can say with full confidence that it's possibly one of the funniest movies I've ever seen, if not the funniest. John C. Reilly and Ed Helms are a perfect pair, and Anne Heche is also hilarious. Read my full review of it at www.blogforteens.com!

Speaking of Blog For Teens, I've decided to make an archive of all my posts on said website. If the site were to ever shut down, or I were to ever leave/lose my position there, I still want to have proof that I wrote there, and the things that I did write. So, I'm going to keep an online archive of all the posts, as well as print them all out in case of a sudden shut-down of the internet (you never know when that could happen). When I get that done, I will definitely post a link for you guys to go see that, and read any of the older posts that you've never read, or even the new ones that you may have missed.

Yesterday morning, I went for my first 5 AM run. I made the decision, I don't even know why any more, but it seemed like it might be a good time. Basically, I get up at 4:30 to get ready, got dressed, and went outside. It was freezing. I almost had the sense to go back inside but I thought, "hey, I already got up and I'm outside, I'll just do it." I start running around the block, hoping that I don't catch pneumonia. I was really surprised about how many people were running at the same time. Then, of course, me being the lucky guy that I am, had a second encounter with a javelina in less than 5 months. The thing looked at me, and I thought, "my luck is up. I'm done. This thing is going to kill me." Thankfully, it kept walking, but at that point, I knew it was time to go home. I got back about 40 minutes later, hopped in the shower, got ready, and went to school. For it only being 6 AM, I was pretty much ready to go back to sleep.

That same day, at around 9:30, I was walking back to Science class from the bathroom, and I saw my friend Stefan. He was jumping on this ledge that connected to a roof that covers a space where there are 6 water fountains. I said hi to him and decided to try to jump on the ledge too. I jumped up, grabbed onto it, swung, let go by accident, and fell flat on my ass. I don't think I've ever been in that much pain before, and for the next day, moving became a BME Pain Olympic Sport.

In English, we read The Crucible by Arthur Miller, and now we're watching the movie, which I have to say, is absolutely horrible. It stars Daniel Day-Lewis, so I thought that there was no way it could be bad. I was very wrong. But I think it's very interesting, that Arthur Miller wrote both the play and the screenplay, which is almost awkward because the film takes too much advantage of the fact that it's a movie, and switches all the scenes around, making the whole thing almost useless. The Crucible, in my opinion, while a very good and interesting play, is ultimately just a self-serving piece of literature. Miller was angry at McCarthy and the Red Scare, so he vented by writing what is hailed as the best play ever written, go figure. While I respect Miller as an author on many levels, I've always felt that The Crucible was too personal for it to have its own opinion. While this may be true for many novels, I feel like if the writer really wants to get recognition, they must put aside their own opinions, and really try to have a new voice. The characters, as a whole, are boring, and some, if not most of the dialogue, is far-fetched, even considering the time period. I do respect the play for what it did, and I really did enjoy it, but I have my opinions I guess.

To end this post, I want to share a link of mine and Lizz's new band Gentlemanly Anonymous. The song is more than a demo version, and it's in a loud place, so some of the quality isn't great. Thank you Piera for accidentally coming up with the awesome name. Here it is, enjoy?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Dk11mCW-jY

Thanks for reading guys. Oh and by the way, Willow won't let me publish this unless I say tits..sorry. So, yeah, tits. I'll probably just delete this later :)

There are certain things in life that you just don't do..

Yesterday, I was getting Korean food with my family, and on the mandatory TV's that every restaurant has now, they were playing this type of Slam Dunk competition on TNT. Now usually, I would have no idea what was going on, and not even pay attention to it, but something about this particular competition that really struck me as odd. Maybe it's just the fact that I haven't actually sat down and watched a basketball game in almost 7 years, but everything seemed off. For one, they had this competition where the player would have to dunk the ball, and retrieve a teddy bear off the rim at the same time. He succeeded the first time, and they picked a small Asian boy from the stands to come get it as a prize. Now, that's pretty standard, but then, things got a little weird. The security for the game grabbed the boy by his arms for some reason, and dragged him away from the player as the player just walked back to his bench. At this point, I was just waiting for the product of what ever commercial this was to appear, but nothing happened. Did I really just see what I thought I saw? A small Asian boy being dragged away by 7 foot tall, 350 pound monsters enlisted to protect the life of another 7 foot tall, 350 pound monster (the basketball player)? Maybe I'm a little behind the times on what's considered good entertainment these days.

The next time I looked up at the TV to see what was going on, another player walked in with his wife (I think). The player was getting ready to do his dunks, but then the wife goes and starts kissing each of the judges on the cheeks. This isn't even the weird part. On the subtitles below (there isn't any sound emitting from the TV), it says something like, "Oh isn't that just nice, oh yeah. Oh yeah." Now, maybe I took it out of context, but...no, never mind, even if I did take it in or out of context, it's still creepy. Right? I mean, am I just so behind the times that I'm being weirded out by what Americans as a whole call good entertainment? Did I miss the "Sexual Exploitation of Women and Abuse of Children on TV" course or something? Maybe my standards are too high on what I consider to be "good" TV.

On Friday, I hung out with Coco, and we decided to see that Niam Leeson, I mean, Liam Neeson movie, Unknown. I'm going to skip writing a review on that one only because, well, it really sucked. Like, a lot. To the point where I may never look at Mr. Neeson the same way again. Or Diane Kruger for that matter. The basic and preposterous plot of this movie is this. Dude from Taken, not literally, just making a joke here people, don't get your panties in a rut, this movie is not a sequel to Taken, but it really feels like it. At 113 minutes, Unknown drags on exponentially, with almost no action. The characters are horribly developed, and the whole thing is plot hole after plot hole. Please, do us all a favor, and don't go see it. We need to send Mr. Neeson a message. Stop making bad movies!

I was talking to my old friend Alicia Robles, and we got on the subject of odd profile pictures that we've had in the past. She does what any logical person would do. She pulls out the profile picture I had a long time ago of some guy's bare ass. I meant it as a joke to everyone, and it worked. I'm not sure if anyone even remembers that at this point, but it did happen. Anyway, she pulled it up, and she says, "Well, you did have this." For me, that's a total cheap shot, but then she adds in, "But hey, you're the only person in the world who could have this as their profile picture and not have their motives questioned."

Another story about quirky friends. Last night, or morning depending on how look at it, at about 2 AM, I decided to IM my friend Lola Valdez. We got on the topic of movies, and we started talking about the movie Boogie Nights. She had never heard of it before, and says, "I bet it's about porn," just as I write, "It's about the porn industry." She had a total ZING! moment, and freaked out. Everything is funnier at 2 AM, I guess.

Thanks for reading guys! Don't forget to follow me on twitter at www.twitter.com/joey123mo! This week's "Tweet of the Week" is:

"The world is a desolate place at 2:45 AM. Wish I could like, prevent a rape or something.."

Blame Game

Today there isn't any school, which is definitely a blessing. Presentations, for lack of a better word, have been kicking my ass. I guess they started to feel bad for us. Rightfully so, too. I have this friend named Zola, who's a senior at ASA. She also plays trombone and she's in the top band, Wind Ensemble. I'm in the lowest band, Foundations 1. To give us a sneak preview of the band we'll probably be a part of in a few years, we're having this thing called a side-by-side concert on Tuesday, where we play with them on a few songs. It's been a really fun and cool experience and I've really enjoyed it. But yesterday, when I sat down next to Zola, she seemed really hysterical and hyper. I asked her what was wrong, and she just started laughing almost eerily, and says to me, "It's presentations! I'm losing my f%$*ing mind!" Part of me wanted to laugh, a large part of me actually, and the other part just wanted to put down the trombone and run as far away as I could from ASA. As much as I know that ASA will help me get into what ever college I want, I'm not totally sure I can handle that much stress. I mean, I don't necessarily want to be a senior losing my mind in front of an 8th grader, scaring them away from high school. I'm not sure I can handle that responsibility.

As I sit in the library, I could've sworn that a homeless Spike Lee just walked in with his kid. This dude had the eyes, the look, the walk, except he wasn't 4' 11" and 76 pounds. Not that I don't love every Spike Lee Joint ever, but I mean come on, does the dude only eat arugula and bean sprouts? Then again, after Bamboozled and She Hate Me, you can't really come back from that, even with Inside Man under your belt. And since when did he stop calling them Spike Lee Joints, and start calling them Spike Lee Films. Come on Spike, don't go too mainstream to the point where you can't go back.

Today is John Hughes' birthday, for those of you who didn't know that. The reason I bring that up, is because John Hughes is like, my other father. I love everything that that man has done. Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Breakfast Club, Pretty In Pink, Home Alone, Beethoven, Sixteen Candles, and many more. Hughes tragically died 2 years ago in Manhattan of a heart attack. I think everyone should make some time to watch a John Hughes film this week.

I'm thinking of trying to get a new band together, and I'm wondering if there's anyone interested in contacting me about that. So if you are, shoot me an email at rudeandraucous@hotmail.com! Thanks! I'm interested in doing a lot of different genres, so let me know if you've got any ideas.

Recently, I've been utilizing my Twitter account more and more. I basically just post a bunch of one-liners that aren't on my facebook or anything, so if you want to see those, follow me on twitter at www.twitter.com/joey123mo. I'm thinking of having a little segment called "Tweet Of The Week". Basically, I would just look back on my tweets from that week and post my favorite one on here. It might pan out, it might not, depending on how much I like my tweets. I have a disorder called Rudeness where I just speak my mind without really thinking about it. I think that makes for some good tweets once in a while.

That's all for now! Thanks for reading this somewhat lame post! I promise the next one will be better, I just had the urge to write, with nothing to write about. Go figure.

Rotten Tomatoes

So, if anyone is wondering, or even cares at this point, my valentine's day plans went really well, and everything panned out how I wanted it to. So for that, I'm very happy. I was sort of scared at first because my "Cupid" wasn't at school on time so as a last ditch effort, I kind of just handed it to someone else in her class, but thankfully he showed up and did everything right. So thank you Diego Hoyos, for making Valentine's Day great. I owe you one.

Since it already happened, I can reveal my little plan. Basically, what I did was make four folders, each one with a different gift for her every class period. I kind of stole the idea from my friend Tammy (it's what she did for her boyfriend), but honestly, it was so amazing that I had to take it. Anyway, I had Diego give her one folder every class all morning. My mom happened to tell a few of her friends and they were all like, "How romantic!" and all that stuff. I was honestly a little embarrassed, but hey, it's Valentine's Day.

I have a music review for you to gobble up today. It's by my favorite folk-punk band, Andrew Jackson Jihad. If you've read any of my recent posts (which I hope you have, or else a lot of stuff I say doesn't fully make sense), you'll know that they're this amazing band from right here in good ol' Phoenix. The name of the album is Candy Cigarettes, Capguns, Issue Problems and Such. It's amazing. That's all I'm going to say, because I'm just a little pageview whore, and what I really want you to do is go to www.blogforteens.com and read the whole review, because it's pretty interesting I have to admit. But hey, here's a little link to buy or download it off of Amazon, which I recommend you do because it's totally worth it.

I'm not really supposed to do this yet, because it's still a work in progress, but I have a friend named Marcella Vitulli. She writes a blog as well. She used to be a huge writer, but kind of stopped after a while. I somehow convinced her to get back into it, and now she's started a new blog. Marcella is one of the smartest people I know, and she's only 22 (I think). Anyway, point is, check out her blog. There's only one post, it's very short, and I think that she's going to soon do great things with it. www.cellasaurus.blogspot.com! And to Marcella, I know you're going to read this, but don't hate me! Even if I totally just put excess pressure on you to write stuff.

Another blog I wanted to talk about today was my aunt Diana Diaz's photography blog. I posted a link a while back, but she's added many more photos. She's an amazing photographer, and you really need to check out her blog again. http://dianadiazphoto.blogspot.com/!

While we're on the topic of art, there's a certain documentary I want to talk about today. It's called Exit Through The Gift Shop. I think a lot more people have heard of it due to it's recent and necessary Academy Award nomination for best documentary. Directed by renowned street artist Banksy, ETTGS chronicles the birth, and inevitable death, of street art, through the eyes of a French man named Thierry. Thierry is a very, interesting man to say the least. He films everything (everything). He decides to film his cousin, the popular street artist Space Invader. From there, he meets Shepard Fairey, and eventually Banksy. Together, they film most of Banksy's life as an artist, but as he notes in the introduction, Thierry seemed to be a much more interesting man, so the movie just ended up being about him. The reason I love ETTGS, is that, it's got the pacing of an action film, enough jokes to classify it as a comedy, but enough fascinating story to keep your eyes glued. ETTGS is nothing short of a masterpiece, and an ode and insult to artists everywhere. Please see this film, you won't regret it.

That's all I've got for now. Don't forget to follow me on twitter at www.twitter.com/joey123mo, and send any comments, questions, concerns, just wanna say hey to rudeandraucous@hotmail.com! Do it!

I hate seeing movies with other people in the theater..

It somehow seems that in two days, I've been to the movie theater two more times and seen two more movies. Barney's Version, and True Grit. They were both fantastic films, and as much as I'd like to recreate both of my reviews for both of them, you can just read them all at www.blogforteens.com! But, I do have a story about my experience seeing True Grit today.

I go to the movies, too much if possible. My favorite theater is Camelview 5 in Scottsdale because it plays all the independent films that I like. But also because the audiences are usually very considerate of everyone else in the theater, which I totally dig. With an audience of 200 in there, it feels like you're the only one. I love that! But when you start going up north on the I-17, this isn't the case. I went to the Norterra 14 theater off of Happy Valley. I walk in, and it's relatively empty, score for me. Then this lady and her husband decided to sit right next to me. Like, out of all the open seats, they have to sit next to me. Then this guy starts eating peanuts loudly next to me. To make matters worse, he burped in my face once every like, twenty minutes, and I got a nice whiff of cigarette smoke, peanuts, and anus all in one. I'm surprised I didn't throwup on this guy.

Then, behind me, there was these really old, fat people who wouldn't stop complaining. Anytime something loud in the movie happened, one of them said "That's too loud," and the other said, "It's unbearable!" I'm not one to lose my cool in a movie theater, but I was pretty damn close. Thankfully it wasn't to the point where it was so distracting that I couldn't pay attention to the movie, because I really loved it.

I'm watching the Grammy's right now, and it really is just a horrible list of nominations. I loved the performances, but the nominations are just absolutely horrible. And the winner's are even worse. How did Kanye West not even get a nomination at all?! What kind of world do we live in!? You can read all the nominees and winners here http://www.grammy.com/nominees. Send all comments to rudeandraucous@hotmail.com, or just post them here!

Filming for If Found: Do Not Return, starts Wednesday! I'm pretty excited to be playing the lead role of Kemper Sorerbac and I'm interested in how it's all going to pan out. Don't forget to please, please, please, check out www.notforpublicuse.tumblr.com and follow! We're thankful for all of the fans that we get, so please! Tell your friends, tell your teachers, tell your family (well, maybe not), tell a hobo! Tell a foreigner! Tell them to tell another foreigner! Just do it!

As most people know, tomorrow is Valentine's Day. It's surprisingly one of my favorite holidays of the year. Now, that's not really the case with my valentine. She's probably reading this right now, and just banging her head into a wall, begging for forgiveness. Sorry, Coco, it's the holiday season! I have to squeeze every little bit of life out of this as I can. Now, because she's reading this, I'm not going to say anything more about tomorrow. Oh, and if you play sick and don't come to school, I'll probably never talk to you again :) Just saying.

In spirit of the holiday, I've decided to post a video. Yes, a video, for the first time. It's my favorite love song of all time, and it's actually by Andrew Jackson Jihad. Coincidentally enough, it's called "I Love You". It's the most honest, realistic, and heartwarming love song ever written. Check it out!

That's all for now guys, I hope you have a great Valentine's Day! Be safe! And remember, it's all over once the socks come off! Thanks for reading guys!

Damn viruses..

I haven't posted in five days, and it's basically killing me, not to be melodramatic or anything. My reason behind it is, my computer got a virus from me downloading too many mixtapes on datpiff. At least, I think that's what happened. With computers now, it's almost impossible to tell. So now, I've been unflinchingly reduced to praying that I get a little time on the computer somewhere, whether it be on the library computers, or my mom's office.

Today, I've got two film reviews and nothing in particular planned, but we'll see where it goes from there. The first review is for a Greek film called Dogtooth. I actually saw Dogtooth when it was first released in 2010 (well 2009 for Greece but whatever). I really wasn't sure how I felt about it at the time, and I decided not to review it because I wasn't sure if I liked it or not. Almost a year passed by, and I decided to watch it again, mainly because it was the only interesting film on Netflix at the time. I watched it again from Midnight to 2 AM on a Saturday night, and paid more attention to the technical aspects of it, as well as the already intriguing story. On my second viewing, all the missing puzzle pieces that were there the first time all fell into place. Dogtooth is definitely not a film for everyone. In fact, it's not for most people. Imagine a Greek David Lynch film with a theme more reminiscent of a dystopian novel. The film switches from increasingly dry, to explicitly sexual, to insanely bizarre in a matter of minutes, but I think that's why I like it. None of the characters have names, and I think this is done to make the viewer refrain from making an emotional connection to any of the characters, whether they be good. That right there is the most interesting aspect of the film; it has no emotion. Until the third act, of course. That's all I'm going to say for now. Dogtooth is a fantastic Greek film that definitely earned its Oscar nomination.

The second review of the day is for a much less sophisticating and intellectually stimulating movie, not even film, movie, called The Roommate. Now, anyone who knows me knows that never in my right mind would I see The Roommate on my own. No, I had to miss True Grit because Piera doesn't know how to run to catch a lightrail. Because of this, we had to catch The Roommate as a last resort, because nothing else was starting at 5:15. We walk in, and there's literally no one else in the theater, a sure sign that this movie was going to suck...royally. After the previews for other films that are going to suck, The Roommate starts, with a horrible pop song that feels totally out of place. This trend continued for the rest of the movie. Everything felt random and out of place. The characters were drastically undeveloped. In fact, the only sympathy we feel is for the cat. You'll see why if you watch the movie. The only other character who we can possibly feel any sympathy for in my opinion is Cam Gigandent's character Stephen. The rest are absolutely throwaway, cliche, and underwritten characters that I didn't care whether or not if they died. Another thing that bothered me significantly was the PG-13 rating of this movie. It probably would've been better if it were Rated-R, for so many reasons. With that being said, I walked in the theater with my expectations being probably as low as they could possibly be, so part of me ended up slightly enjoying the stupidity of it. That's one thing about the horror genre that never gets old; even if the film is horrible, it's still enjoyable to a sense for the cheap thrills and bad script. I don't necessarily discourage you from seeing this, but I'm most definitely not encouraging you either.

Principal photography for Not For Public Use productions is Wednesday. Since Wednesday is a half day, we get like five hours of pretty much uninterrupted shooting, which will be fun. I really don't have much to say about that, but I'll see if I can post a few pictures on my facebook afterwards.

That's about it for now. Check out my twitter. www.twitter.com/joey123mo, not that I really post on it. Also, you can add me on Facebook (if I know you) at www.facebook.com/joey123mo. Thanks for reading!

Packers=$50 for Joey!

Today was one of the biggest days of the years. The superbowl. I went to Matt's house to watch it because my Mom and Tom didn't want to watch it, but I had to because I had $50 on it. Anyway, the Packers won, and I got the $50 so I'm pretty happy about that. I had a feeling they would win. I haven't watched a game all season, and yet I win a superbowl bet. How do I do it?

Matt is one of my best and oldest friends; I've known him for almost three years. I posted a facebook status saying how I wanted to go to someone's house for the game, and not 20 minutes later, I get a call from him saying, "Hey dude, wanna come over?!" It's like he's stalking me. Fast forward three hours, I get to his place and he's playing a Pink Floyd song in the garage. Please note that he had spent the past 3 hours sending me a text every five minutes asking me where I was.

We go up to his room, or his man-cave. He's got four guitars, and a drum set in his closet. On the TV is 1,000 Ways To Die, and he's got a huge window view of the rest of his block, where he probably flashes his testicles to the neighbors. I was looking around, trying to telepathically burn his DVD of Smokey and the Bandit, when all of a sudden, he starts playing Andrew Jackson Jihad off of his iPod! All I could think was, YES! The word has spread! I kind of realized that people who read my blog really take what I say about music and listen. Kind of makes me feel like a musical advocate for the rest of the world.

My condensed film review of the day is Biutiful. It stars Javier Bardem, one of the best actors of this generation. He's a medium who's got a terminal illness. With two months left to live, he contemplates how he is going to leave his children. His ex-wife is borderline psychotic, and he really has no friends. This is one of those films that really can't be described with a simple plot description. It's such a complex, symbolic, inter-connected, and interesting, that you have to see it to believe it. Biutiful, as beautiful as it is, is also one of the most disturbing movies I've ever seen. Not because it has gruesome violence or rape, it's because it's such a hauntingly realistic, and unsettling film, that it makes you realize, this is actualy happening all over the world. Overall, Biutiful is a must-see for those with a long attention span (it's 147 minutes long), and a lot of will power. I give this film an A-, it really deserved it. You can read my full review of it on http://www.blogforteens.com/!

So, an acting opportunity has "come to light" for me. It's being in If Found: Do Not Return. I've been repeatedly offered the lead role, the main killer if you will, and I've denied and denied it until now. I finally accepted, among other reasons, because I think it might be a fun experience for me. I'm not sure why exactly, but I think it will. I mean, how many people get to star in a movie where they're killers at 14? Not a lot. I still have to do a couple readings and make sure that I really want the part, but I think I'm going to do it.

Thanks for reading today's post guys! Send all questions, ideas, comments, concerns, etc. to rudeandraucous@hotmail.com! Also follow me on twitter at www.twitter.com/joey123mo! Thanks! Oh, and Tumblr! www.tumblr.com/joey123mo!

Andrew Jackson Jihad

I just realized now that I haven't done a post in four days, and I just wonder where all the time went. I guess I've just been so busy at school that I haven't really had the time to do anything else at this point. Yesterday, which was first Friday, was one of my only times to relax this week. On top of that, mono has been going around our school, and I've been feeling pretty crappy. But on the other hand, this week I did an interview, and I'm also setting a couple more of them up.

I want to start off today by talking about a band. They're an amazing local band called Andrew Jackson Jihad. They're a two man band made up of Sean Bonnette, who is the lead singer and guitarist, and Ben Gallaty, who plays the upright bass. It was actually Rachel who got me interested in them, so much so that I decided to Facebook Mr. Bonnette himself. To my surprise he replied almost instantly, and I sent him a message about an interview. He agreed, and I sent my questions in. Since there are a lot of them (18 to be exact), I don't expect him to reply for a couple of days, maybe even a week at this point. I'm just excited to have had the opportunity to interview this guy. His music is very unique, incorporating Anti-Folk and Punk. I can talk about it all I want, but if you want to listen to, I can post a couple of links as well as an Amazon thing. They have a few albums out, but my absolute favorite one is People Who Can Eat People Are The Luckiest People In The World, followed by, Can't Maintain. Trust me, they're worth the money.

Another thing I wanted to talk about today was this episode of True Life that I saw on MTV. Ironically enough, it was about stuttering. I had no idea that they had even produced an episode about stuttering, but my mom sent me the link after she had heard about it and watched it on the MTV website. Basically, the episode follows three people who have a stutter. Tim from West Virginia who can't afford to pay his rent because his stutter prevents him from getting  a good job. Caryn, a 20 year old college student who has hidden her stutter from her family and friends for her whole life, but is tired of keeping it a secret, and finally, Jessica, a 20 year old beauty pageant connoisseur from Buffalo, NY. The episode was really intriguing and truthful about stuttering, and I felt like I could really relate to it, seeing what the three of them went through. So, what I'm going to do is, I'm going to post a link for it. It's 37 minutes long, so be sure to make some time for it. I'm also definitely not saying you have to watch it, but I suggest you do.

http://www.mtv.com/videos/true-life-i-stutter/1574617/playlist.jhtml

I want to end the night with my first Friday story. When our little group was walking around on the outskirts of the first Friday zone, we saw this meth house, or drop house. We must have gotten there at the exact right time, because we saw these two meth heads walk in with crutches and a paper bag. I was pretty freaked out by it, I must admit. On the side of the house, by the gate, was spray painted "Keep out keep your life!" The ironic thing is that my friend Nikki also saw something similar, and posted it on her site, http://www.notforpublicuse.tumblr.com/, so you can check that out too if you want. Fast forward to about 10:00 PM, and my mom and I had just dropped off Lizz at the lightrail station. My mom decided to have a Good Samaritan change of heart and wanted to take Lizz to where she was staying, Piera's house. Piera lives in Tempe. That's about a 20 minute drive from where we were. We proceeded to pick her up, while I jumped out of the car, and Lizz and I chased after her around the block, getting stares from everyone around us. When we finally were able to catch up with the car, we hopped in and started driving. The drive itself wasn't very exciting, but when we got to Piera's house, Piera ran out, and we helped Lizz bring her stuff in. To my surprise, Willow was also sleeping over, and she was knocked out on Piera's bed. Piera woke her up, she jumped, and looked around, almost like she was trying to remember where she was. She saw me, and her eyes got all wide. She said "Jjjooooooeeeyyyyy" and got up from the bed and gave me a hug. While Lizz was getting all her stuff out and getting ready with Piera, Willow just looked around the room not quite sure what to do with herself. She was sick with mono I think it was, so she had just taken a few painkillers. After about a minute, all she could say was, "Hey guys, look, Joey's here!"

I felt like I was there for the longest time...

Today was the day that I had my voice concert, where I had to sing in a quartet with four other people (get it?) We sang "The Longest Time" by Billy Joel being backed up by about 60 singers behind us. It really wasn't outnumbered at all. We got up there, sang our song about two notches too flat, got the applause we really didn't earn that much, and went back and sat down. Now, contrary to popular belief, our choir singing wasn't the funny part, it was things that I thought about while the other choirs were up.

The first one that caught my eye as a little odd was the 7th hour Foundations 1. They sang "Lollipop" (You know, Lollipop, lollipop, oh lolli-lolli-lolli lollipop!). At first I thought, hey, this could be kind of cool. Then they started doing these dance moves that I thought were a little, well, provocative for a 7th and 8th grade choir. I felt like the entire point of that song was to sexually exploit twelve year olds, especially with the combination of the lyrics and dance moves. I'm by no means a conservative, but the rate at which teen girls are "maturing" is pretty astonishing. I mean, we've got pole dancing dolls now for little kids. Yes, pole dancing dolls. For kids ages 5 and up. I'm not even going to start on that one.

My next issue was with a song sung by 7th hour Women's Choir. It was a religious song, all about Jesus telling Moses to go to Egypt. I have no issues with the song, because, I admittedly thought that it was really catchy, and the three soloists who participated were fantastic. My problem with the song was, they were singing about fleeing to Egypt, when right now, there's a violent freedom fighting revolution happening in Egypt, and people are literally murdering one another to get out. Ironic? I think so.

My final problem with the concert, was that we had to clap like every two minutes. I honestly felt like I was at the State of The Union. All I wanted to do was nod off and have a nice nap before I went home. But no, we have to actually watch the show. And since every supervising teacher was surrounding us, like we were fresh jail-bait, texting or listening to music wasn't an option either.

When we finally got out, Melissa admitted that she and Jia started to doze off towards the end. I told them that they were lucky and that I sort of did too. I have to confess, I played rock, paper, scissors with Coleson for the last 20 minutes of the show.

I know that this blog isn't very long, I'm just feeling kind of sick, and to top it off, I missed Tosh.O today which makes me very mad. I'll be back with some new stuff for you guys soon. Don't forget to check out my writing on http://www.blogforteens.com/!

Thanks for reading!

Christown is where it's at!

I was on Facebook, and I was scrolling through a page of things that I can "Like." Among the many options, I saw Amusement Parks. Now usually, I'm a Like whore, and I just Like things that would go under the category of "Slightly Enjoy", so I had no reason to not press Amusement Parks, right? Wrong. The more and more that I contemplated pressing that little Like button, the less and less I actually wanted to, because the less and less the idea of amusement parks actually appealed to me. Now, most of you are thinking, "wait, Joey, amusement parks are so much fun." But are they really? Think of it in a retrospective point of view. Unless you're there at 6 AM sharp, you usually end up spending almost an hour in line for some mediocre thrill that lasts no more than five minutes. Also, be sure to wear running shoes, because that's what you'll be doing 75% of the time, trying to squeeze in a few rides before the park closes. It's also what you'll be doing when you make the forgivable mistake of eating first, and then going on rides.

Another "perk" of amusement parks, no matter where you go, there are at least fifty children under the age of seven have a complete tantrum in the middle of the street. It's a safety hazard parents, get your brats out of the way. The last thing we need is a dead five year old from Milwaukee on our hands; that involves way too much paper work, folks. My final complaint of the institution known as a theme park, are the prices of food. What goes through the mind of executives during board meetings? "Yes, let's exploit the need of food and water, charge $7 for a bottle of water, $3.50 for a churro, $7.50 for a piece of pizza, and $3.00 for a cookie, take their money, and call it a day. Oh, and no free refills folks." I'm pretty sure that that's exactly what goes through their minds. Same goes for gifts. I refuse to pay $25.00 for a "Collectible Souvenir Cup" that will probably spend most of its life shoved in the back of a cup cabinet, collecting dust and looking pretty. So in the end, is it really worth pressing the Like button? After all that goes through your head? I think not.

Phoenix, especially near where I live, has an array of interesting people of all walks of life. Yesterday and today especially, I observed these people in their "natural habitat". I started off my day Saturday at Arizona Mills, a mall in Tempe that is definitely normal. I got a couple shirts and pants, messed around, and that was all fine. We ate at this "Japanese" restaurant, which served Chinese noodles, Chinese sauces, and had a Mexican and a Korean working behind the counter. I can't complain, at least I didn't have to pay for it. From there, we went to Christown mall on 19th avenue, AKA, the hood. Christown has always been one of my favorite people-watching spots in Phoenix, because what you see there, you see nowhere else. I feel like the rule for shopping there is, "The more morbidly obese you are, the tighter your clothes need to be." That may sound funny reading it, but please, believe me when I say, watching it wasn't. Another thing I couldn't help but look at was the Ghetto-Fab that was walking around there. The 3 inch fake nails, with the fake looking extensions in the hair. To top it off, sweatpants that accompanied the 4 inch also fake stiletto heels.

I can describe a lot more, but there was one incident in particular that was extremely funny to me. I was in Wal-Mart (of course), and there was this man with a cart full of completely unrelated items, with bulgy eyes, like he was looking for someone. In some of the new and improved Wal-Marts, there are screens that advertise some of the more relevant and prominent products. This Wal-Mart, instead of having usable bathrooms (trust me I found out the hard way), they installed these screens into almost every aisle. This guy, with his watchdog eyes, stopped at every single screen and stared at each one for almost a minute straight, surveying the product, asking himself "Do I really need this, or can it wait?" I looked on at this man with fascination, actually hoping that he would pick one of the things that he so intently studied. It was like watching this amazing action movies with great effects and plot twists, except it was a guy staring at an Old Spice commercial play four times before finally deciding that maybe he didn't need it.

Today, a similar incident occured, except that it was inside a Filiberto's on 30th street and Indian School. My dad was really hungry, and we were on our way to the movies. We both love the food at Filiberto's, so we decided to stop in quickly for some tacos. He got two chicken tacos, and I got a cheese quesadilla. We get our food, and sit down. We were two of three people in the place, the other being a fat, probably homeless, probably crack-addicted, black woman wearing no shoes. Her hair was "styled" so that there were these 3 inch torpedoes sticking out of her scalp everywhere, uneven. She had a buffet of food in front of her, just shoving it down her throat loudly, with no consideration for the other people in the restaurant. Those people being my dad and I. He ate his food while i cut up my grease quesadilla, sorry cheese, and dug in. I ate quickly, hoping to get us out of there as quickly as humanely possible.

From there, we went and saw The Dilemma, it being my second viewing. Not that I actually paid attention to it the first time, but actually "watching" it for real, I liked it. It's definitely not a comedy by normal definition, but it's pretty good, and has a great performance by Vince Vaughn. I loved it's honest take on relationships, and how truthful most of it was. I would recommend couples going to see this movie.

I'm going to end this post with a little shout out to my friend Chloe Grace Rutledge, AKA Pippa January, who wrote about me in her fashion blog this week. I really enjoyed the article, even if some of the information on me wasn't totally correct. I honestly don't care about that, I just felt honored to be selected for a fashion anything, seeing as I spend a lot of time on what I wear. You can check out the full article at, http://thelifeofpippa.blogspot.com/.

Thanks for reading guys, hope I gave you a good laugh.

Vince Vaughn needs to get funny again...

Seriously. I saw The Dilemma, and it was pretty funny, but after Couples Retreat, there isn't much you can do that can shadow that dung of a movie. Not joking, Couples Retreat was the equivalent of Lily Tomlin fighting with David O. Russell (I Heart Huckabees' special features anyone?) Anyway, Vince Vaughn, you're on the right track, we need another Swingers. This is for the best.

I was hanging out with my friend Milan in front of ASA, blasting disgustingly vulgar Tenacious D songs, waiting for a child to repeat the lyrics to "Tribute." That'll be the day. The day that I know the world is heading in a positive direction.

The Oscar nominations were finally released! I'm so excited that The King's Speech was awarded 12 nominations, the most out of any other film on the ballot. True Grit is the runner up with 10. To see the full list of nominations, which I recommend you do, go to www.oscars.go.com!

I'm watching Eddie Murphy: Raw right now, one of the funniest stand-up specials known to man, but I just got done watching one of my favorite movies, The Virgin Suicides. It's a film about 5 teenage girls, all part of the Lisbon family. The film chronicles their short lived lives until their inevitable demise as indicated by the film's title. The film, directed by my favorite filmmaker Sofia Coppola, is a masterpiece. It stars James Woods, one of the best actors of his time. It also stars Kirsten Dunst and Josh Hartnett. I'm not going to spend too much time on what the movie is about, more about why I love it so much.

The Virgin Suicides is a very interestingly written film. Its first act is surprisingly dark, but slightly humorous in some ways. The second act is the best, and really lets you get to know the characters for who they re

ally are, but its the third act that really hits home. After an hour and 10 minutes of very interesting, comically dark, but still intriguing story, suddenly, there's a mass suicide of four girls. The scene in which the girls are discovered will forever remain in my mind, not because its graphic, but because the way its presented makes you imagine the horrible images that go with suicide, not because you want to, or even have to, but you need to.

All I can say is, watch The Virgin Suicides. You will not regret it. Unless you have 5 teenage girls to handle, then maybe it's not such a good idea.

On a lighter note, you should really check out Not For Public Use Productions and their new website. The company is run mostly by Nikki Wedemeyer and Lizz Marshall, but I'm also a co-founder of sorts. As you can tell from the name, it's mostly a horror production company, and you should check it out! http://notforpublicuse.tumblr.com/

Coincidentally, the site is part of tumblr. I've been very interested in creating a tumblr recently, since it seems like a lot of people I know are using it. I mostly advertise on facebook and twitter, but a tumblr wouldn't hurt. We'll see.

Once again, don't forget to send your emails to rudeandraucous@hotmail.com!

Thanks for reading!

I've been thinking...

I've been thinking a lot lately, about the way that my life is panning out for me. Less than a year ago, my parents were on good enough terms that everything went smoothly and without issues. This past month, all of that has gone to Hell, to be completely frank. I've been suppressing a lot of things that I wanted to say on here, but I didn't want to feel like I was complaining. Then, I remembered, hey, this is my blog, not yours. I can write whatever I want, and hope that you enjoy it, or take something away from it, so I'm just going to go at it.

Basically, my situation is this. As most people know, I live in two houses, spending half the week with my mom, and half the week with my dad. Recently my dad has been talking about moving to California, and very recently, it was just about set in stone. He told me that I had the choice to choose who I wanted to live with. After a lot of thought, a lot of decision making, a lot of advice, and a lot of planning, I decided to stay with my mom. This, as my dad should know, isn't a personal attack on him, and I'm not in any way trying to undermine, hurt, betray, or leave him. My dad is still my dad and I love him to death, no matter what he thinks. So dad, I know I'm not too great at this apologizing stuff, but I just want you to know that I'm sorry if I made you feel bad, hurt you in any way, or made you feel neglected. I know I haven't exactly been the best son recently, but I just want you to know, that I'm trying to keep everything straight here.

So, I decided to stay with my mom in Phoenix. I decided to stay because, I've moved in 10 years more than some people move in their entire life. My entire life, I've only dreamed of living in one house, and now that opportunity has displayed itself, and it's one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. The last thing on my mind is hurting one, if not both of my parents with the decisions I make in life, because honestly, they're really the only people I have to make proud besides myself. I mean that with the most sincerity that I can muster out of that statement.

Overall, I really just had to get that off my chest. It's been something that's been bothering me for such a long time. My parents might not totally appreciate the fact that I'm publishing our personal life, but they need to understand, this is my only way to vent and tell them how I feel for real. I just hope when they read this they understand my position, and where I'm trying to come from. My intentions are anything but malicious, and I wish to hurt neither of them in any way.

If there's anyone to thank here, it's two people. Rachel Rigali and Melissa Rodriguez. Rachel really cheered me up when I was feeling down, making me laugh all the pain away. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Mel, you really put everything in perspective for me, and helped me see the whole situation the way I should be seeing it, through my eyes. Because in the end, it's a decision that I'm going to have to live with. I know that both Mel and Rachel read this blog, so when you do, know this. Without you two, I would've never had the confidence to A. make a decision on my own and B. write this post. I love you both, and thank you!

I have to admit, I do feel a lot better after writing this post. It's great getting a weight off of your shoulders. For those of you who don't already know this, or have gathered this by now, writing is very therapeutic for me, and really lightens my mood a lot.

I've started a new campaign called "Get Me To Coachella!" I think the name speaks for itself. If you go on http://www.blogforteens.com/, and if you read my posts, I get paid. Also, click the ads, even if you don't want to, or don't need them. I need to go to Coachella!!

Thanks for reading guys, and don't forget to follow me on twitter at www.twitter.com/joey123mo! Also, any comments, questions, concerns, and suggestions should all go to rudeandraucous@hotmail.com OR joey@blogforteens.com!

Thanks for reading!

Coachella!

Thanks to everyone who responded to my January 22nd post, it seemed like a lot of people liked it. I appreciate every comment you guys make, I hope you know that.

I want to start off with a review for a film I watched last night. It's called Catfish. It follows a man named Nev Schulman, and his relationship with a family that lives in Michigan. This documentary is gripping, and it honestly does give me chills. You can read my full review at http://www.blogforteens.com/ but just know, that this movie is amazing. There's a little amazon linky thing if you're interested in buying it.
Speaking of which, the ads. Yes I know, they're mostly irrelevant to what you like, but just click them. I really want to go to this concert, or festival called Coachella that has none other than Kanye West there, and the only way I can do that is I have $600. One for me, and one to pay for my mom for her birthday. This show has more bands than any show rightfully should, and I'm really excited. So just click them. You don't even have to buy anything. As far as the amazon thing goes, consider buying some of the stuff I post on here, because if you do, I get up to 15% of the order's payment, which is pretty cool. I'm seriously not going to spend a cent between now and the concert. Some people are like, oh yeah, that sounds fun and all. No, I need to go! It has to happen. I'm probably going to have some kind of garage sale soon too. Some kind of sale, of some sort. I don't even know yet.

Also, check out my friend Jared's blog if you get a chance. http://www.thelifeofjared-bell.blogspot.com/! His stuff is a little shorter and more to the point than mine, but it's still pretty funny.

Another thing I wanted to talk about today was an underground hip-hop/techno/trance group called Mansions On the Moon. They're produced by N*E*R*D, one of my favorite groups ever. You can download their free mixtape which is actually pretty good. Just google Mansions On the Moon and click the first link.

I've been sending out a lot of requests for interviews lately, so hopefully they'll accept and get back to me soon. People like Nev Schulman, Shepard Fairey, Alex Turner from Arctic Monkeys, and Daniel Tosh, among many others. I'm crossing my fingers hoping to get the opportunity to do so.

That's about it for now. I'll be writing again soon. Thanks for reading!

It's 1:23 AM and all I can think about is writing..

It's true, I have an unhealthy addiction at this point. It's all I can think about, all I can do. All I can breathe, or release from my fingertips. The click-click-click of the keyboard. Behind the screen, telling a story, or forming an opinion, that's one of the few places that I feel safe. I feel like I would still write even if people didn't read, but who knows at this point. I want to be able to look back on my life and know what I did with it. I want to know that I made an impact. Sometimes, or actually, more than sometimes, I feel like I'm beating a dead horse with what I say. This post marks post #50, and I feel like sometimes I'm saying the same thing over and over again. Although I know that what I'm writing is relatively new, I feel as if I've said it all before.

If someone were to come across this blog completely by chance, then they would think that a schizophrenic is writing this thing. Not four hours ago, I wrote a post in a completely different mood, manner, style, and length. I said that next time it would be a little longer, and I kept my word. The letters are flying out now, and there's nothing I can do to stop it. It sucks, trying to find the words to say, and then, the sun hasn't even risen yet, and I'm writing long diatribes again. Scary in a way, how my mind works. I don't even completely understand what's going on up there.

Please forgive me for droning on like this, I really have no control over it at this point. I hope you understand that this blog isn't just for the readers, it's for me as well. Like I said before, I want to be able to look back in 10 years and see what I was thinking. It's interesting to me, looking at scenarios and situations in retrospect. It's almost as if you're looking at it with completely new eyes. For example, there are times when I say things that, at the time seem like hilarious and inconsequential things to be uttering, but not five seconds later, I realize the mistake I've made. I've come to realize only one thing from moments like these. That feeling you get, the regret and guilt that comes with the words you've spoken, that's called maturing. It's realizing for the first time that what you just said was most definitely not the best choice of words. I know for a fact that I constantly do this, and it seems like every time I do, even though I feel horrible about saying it, I know that somehow I've learned from that experience.

I guess I can blame, or thank, this post on none other than my inspiration, Mark Zuckerberg. The man behind the genius that is Facebook. I literally just watched The Social Network again, and on my second viewing, I realized how eerily similar I am to Mark Zuckerberg. Once again I'm almost positive I've said this before, but dammit, I'm going to say it again. Many people will disagree with this statement of course, labeling me as nothing more than loud and obnoxious, and in some instances they're right. But in other cases, the resemblance to the thought process of Zuckerberg and my own is almost identical. I've always felt like if Zuckerberg never invented Facebook, I would've never started this blog, and I wouldn't be here right now writing this. I now know that that statement is nothing less than fact.

I look back on my life and see all the people, events, and places that have made me the adolescent that I am today. I'm nowhere near perfect, in fact, I'm closer to bad than good. With that being said, I owe where I am today, and who I am today, to those people, places, and events. I've had nothing short of an interesting childhood, and I swear to you, I wouldn't have it any other way. I sometimes see other children who bear no resemblance to me, and I think to myself, "What if my parents were more like that kid? Who would I be right now?" and I realize how insanely content I am with the way things went in life. I'm so blessed to have two parents who care about me, and want the best for me. As well as a family that's always supported me. My friendships throughout my life have never been as strong as I would've hoped they could be. Growing up, I always wished that I could have friends like the kids in Stand By Me, almost a brotherhood. I never had friendships like that, and looking back, I was probably better off. I spent a lot of my time, not alone, but not exactly surrounded either. I had a lot of time to think. If I had a quarter for every notebook I bought, trying to write something genius, I'd be a billionaire by now.

Writing always seemed to be something that I loved not only because I was good at it, but because it was the only way I could express my feelings the way that I wanted to. Being impaired with a paralyzing stutter, writing was my voice, and still is to this day. I've formed my writing style not only on the way I would like to speak, but on the way I think I should speak. If someone printed this out, put a gun to my head, and said read this, I'd be dead. In other words, all the "misfortune" that I was brought up with, all the manifestation of the complete misery that is childhood, it all brought me here, putting words on a page for you guys to read, and hopefully enjoy. If my stories bore you, if my jokes don't seem funny, and even if you hate to read, then this blog isn't for you. I might've touched base on this earlier, but I don't use pictures for a reason. I want you to form a visual through my words, not through someone else's art or photography.

I've made a lot of mistakes, and I've hurt a lot of people in the process, but at the same time, I know I'm helping someone too. In the words of Aaron Sorkin's screenplay I guess you could say, "You're not an asshole. You're just trying way too hard to be one." Depending on who you are, and who reads this, it's going to mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. To those who have it set in their hearts to never give me a second chance, well, maybe I deserve it. To those who are in the mood to forgive, then you're in the right place, because you probably have something to forgive me for.

Am I the only one who likes Ashton Kutcher?

Today I saw the movie No Strings Attached, starring Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman, and I actually really enjoyed it. You can read my full review at www.blogforteens.com, but overall, I thought it was a very pleasing movie.

The main reason that I'm here today, is to talk about a friend of mine. His name is Jared and I used to know him back when I lived in Cresskill, NJ, and he decided to make a facebook. He found me, and it's pretty exciting. Just know, that if he adds anyone, it's safe to confirm because I know him. He's read my blog and he knows a few of my friends' names. Here's the thing, he also started writing a blog recently, and he wants me to help "publicize" his writing. He's really good, I promise. You can also send him an email at jaredbell1234@hotmail.com. He's also under my facebook friends as Jared Bell, and you can find him there.

I want to send a little birthday shout out to my uncle Mo. He's 679 today, just kidding he's 41, and I wanted to wish him a good one. Happy Birthday man! Love you!

My other big news is that I will officially be starting two new projects in March. One will be a vlog that I will post on youtube, and the other will be the ongoing story blog. I got a lot of positive feedback for both of those ideas so I think that those will be my best bet at this point.

Also, a good friend of mine by the name of Chloe Rutledge and pseudonym of Pippa January, writes a fashion blog called The Life Of Pippa January. She picked one of my outfits and decided to show it on her blog, to which I am honored. I'll let you know more about when she posts it, but for now, you should just check out the blog. She's got a lot of good tips on there. www.thelifeofpippa.blogspot.com!

I want to make a public goodbye to my friend Michelle Redondo who is now leaving ASA, sadly. We're all going to miss you a lot kid, and I hope we can hang out even after you go! I hope you're happy wherever you decide to go.

Don't forget to follow my twitter at www.twitter.com/joey123mo.

That's all I have for today. I know I really didn't write a lot, I just had a bunch of news that I had to share, dedications to make, and reviews to write. Amazing how little space it actually takes up. I promise it'll get longer for those of you who like to read my mini-novels. Thanks for reading :)

I can actually talk!

I'm just going to say up front, that this day has been one of the best I've had in a long time. I felt like I just got so much done, even though I didn't even go to school today. Maybe that's why I got so much done. The fight continues.

I just want to tell a couple funny and interesting stories today, nothing too major I don't think. Piera and I went to this costume shop called Easley's on 5th ave. and McDowell. It's a year-round costume shop, and it's really cool. We tried on a bunch of hats and glasses and took some pictures, so that was pretty cool. Then we went over to Metro Arts and I met up with my good friend Rachel, and we just hung out for an hour, talking. She's been dying for me to mention her at least once. I know she has. Don't deny it, Rachel. I said DON'T DENY IT! But I think the funniest part of the whole story is what happened beforehand, which was, Piera and I met up with Nikki, Lizz, and Max at Jack In The Box. We were sitting right by the bathroom, and whenever someone went in, Max knocked on the door really loudly and yelled "Hurry up!" Of course, people started to get angry at us relatively quickly, so we left. I think that that particular Jack In The Box wins the award for most ghetto in Phoenix.

The next day, which is today coincidentally, I stayed home from school. I had to get my cast off, thank Christ, and go to my first official speech therapy session, which I'll explain in excruciating detail in a bit. We get to the doctor's office, and I'm basically bouncing in my chair, waiting to get my new exo-skeleton off. They call my name, I jump up, and in I go. Half an hour, 2 x-rays, and a couple Michael Jackson jokes later, I find out that the cast was almost useless because in addition to the fracture, I hurt my tendon so I need to get physical therapy for my hand. I was not thrilled at all. The pain is still in my hand, not as severe, but still most definitely there. I leave, disappointed and aching, but still excited to have my cast off. I swear, my arm right now looks like Michael Jackson's corpse if it could text and type. It's like a prop from a Tim Burton movie. I'm also shedding like a snake, which is never fun when you're in Starbucks and suddenly a piece of your hand comes off.

Fast forward to about 2:30. It's time for my first official speech therapy. I had an assessment last Thursday that went relatively well so I had no idea what to expect this week. I'm not going to bore you with the mundane details of my speech impediment, but I can proudly say that I was reading and speaking mostly fluently for the time I was in there. I tried to apply some of the things I did in there on the "outside" and it did help. I definitely still need a lot of work, but I'm confident now that I can do it. I'm pretty excited to go back next week.

From there, Tom picked me up and dropped me off at the movies where I had the opportunity to see Blue Valentine. I just wrote a damn review for this thing on www.blogforteens.com, so I'm kind of burnt out on the whole review writing, but basically, it follows Dean and Cindy, and their crumbling marriage. The film really is excellent, but if you want to know more you should read my full review at Blog For Teens.

I also bought The Social Network on DVD today which is exciting for a nerd like me. And any DVD fanatics will totally wet themselves when they hear this. The case. Is. Phenomenal. Seriously, I know I'm reaching the nerd level of Tron Guy here, but seriously guys, this case is like, worth the 20 bucks, not even the movie itself.

Before I go, I'd like to provide you guys with an interesting example of irony I ran into today while talking to my friend Aubreya.

Joey: Hey dude, do you wanna go with me to a Buddhist meeting on Sunday?

Aubreya: I wish I could but I can't.

Joey: Why?

Aubreya: I got church dude.

Thanks for reading guys :)

Hand covers bruise..

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, and I think this blog post is going to revolve around a lot of new ideas that I want to present to you guys, and see what you think, because, to be honest, your opinion is the most important one. I've been thinking a lot about where I want to take not only this blog, but other projects I might want to start. I've learned that the more you write, the more writing you actually want to do, and I feel like I can't express everything. My ideas at this point are so varied, that I could start 7 blogs right now. My dilemma is, can I keep them entertaining and keep people reading. Anyone can start a blog, but very few people can finish them on a high note, with a large fan-base, and people wanting more. Look at Seinfeld for instance. Jerry ended it with an 80 million viewer turnout. It was nothing short of genius. But that's not the point is. The point is, I need help on what the hell I'm going to do. Here are some of my possible ideas.

A Vlog-A vlog is basically a video blog, and it could serve as a more visual way for me to reach out to people. In other words, those of us who aren't exactly, well, readers. The reason I like the idea of a vlog is that I could do more visual jokes and have somewhat of a Tosh.O style. I've always thought that this would be really cool, but it would also be terribly time consuming, and I would only be able to do it once a week at the most.

An Ongoing Story Blog-Basically what this means is, start a story, and publish it in parts. 3 or 4 at the most. This would be interesting because it would most definitely want to make people come back if the stories are good. On the other hand, if they suck horrendously, people won't read them. Another downside is that I'd have to construct new stories to publish.

Up and Coming Band Blog-I've always really enjoyed finding out about new and unknown bands. It makes me really happy when I find a local band that no one has heard of, that's actually good. As one could gather from those two sentences, there are in fact a lot of upsides to this ones. There are also a lot of downsides as well. Coming across a good unknown band is one in a million, and I'd have to scan through pages and pages of people, and demo after demo of music, I'd probably end up hating music. This is my strongest possibility though, as new bands are always trying to find a way to break out. As well as discovering new bands, I can also introduce more obscure and lesser known bands to people as well.

An Ongoing Documentary-This one is somewhat similar to the video blog, and it definitely could work, but I'd have to purchase a video camera, and get something worth filming. Living in Phoenix, that shouldn't be too hard. Then again, I'd have to take time out to follow this person around, and make sure that I'll have the time and opportunity to do so. This is my riskiest possibility, and I would definitely need some help.

These are just a couple of almost hundreds of dangerous, hilarious, risky, offensive, and difficult ideas I've been thinking about. If you guys also have any ideas, I really would love to hear them. Send all your ideas if you have any to joey123mo@hotmail.com!

That's another thing, I'm going to make an email designed specifically for the blog. That should be up and running in no more than an hour. Thanks for reading!

My twisted perception..

It's what makes the world go round. Don't deny it. The reason I say this, is because I saw a big box of Macaroni & Cheese in the pantry today. On the side of said big box were four awful reasons why you absolutely need to buy this second-rate brand of macaroni. They were, as follows:

1. Makes for a great, quick lunch.

2. Great afternoon snack.

3. Good for meals away from home.

4. Perfect meal for one.

Now, knowing me, I didn't read those reasons. I saw them differently. Here's how I saw them:

1. I'm too hungover to make you a real lunch, just take this.

2. Come here you brat, lemme make you some lunch before I hit the corner for the night.

3. I'm kicking you out of the house, but here, have a snack for when you're being raped by large Samoan man whores.

4. My wife just died, might as well have a little comfort food.

Yes I know, there's a special spot in Dante's circle for me. But today isn't about my inevitable rotting in Hell, it's about a movie. Yes, I'm going to honor another movie with the fluidity of my beautifully constructed words. ZING! Today's movie, is none other than the modern classic, Napoleon Dynamite. It's definitely a "cult hit" by almost all standards. The thing I love about this movie more than anything, is it's brutally honest view on middle America. For those of you who have happened to be or have lived in a town like Napoleon's, you know how true everything is in that movie. Everyone's got that foreign exchange student, so to speak. They all have the popular girl who's biggest accomplishment and rise to fame is the fact that she's drank a beer before. The most cultured thing there is the kid who's crossed the county line. The scumbag uncle who sells hand me down crap to make an extra buck. The horribly stale dollar store that sells some of the most random items of all time.

The list goes on and on forever, but the fact of the matter is, this movie seems to flawlessly incorporate all of those things, with a fairly thin plot, and non-stop hilarity. Many people say that the movie is stupid and childish, when in fact, it's the complete opposite. Napoleon Dynamite, the movie not the character, is genius in the sense that, the satire will appeal to those who know what that is like, but will also appeal to children looking at the surface jokes of it. The pair of writer/director brothers, Jared and Jerusha Hess, went on to make two more underrated films, Nacho Libre, and Gentlemen Broncos, but both failed to capture what made Dynamite so great. Make no mistake, all three are good films, but Dynamite has more of what made all 3 good. Wit.

For those of you who don't already, you really should watch season 3 of Tosh.O. It's my favorite show on the planet, and if you read this and don't watch that, please, do us all a favor, and start. I don't think I've mentioned Daniel Tosh too much, if at all on here, but the man is a genius.

That's about it for now. Don't forget to check out www.blogforteens.com! Especially my posts! Thanks for reading!

It's the happiest place on Earth...

But also one of the most tiring. Oh yes, I'm talking about Disneyland. Or, Jizzneyland as some of us call it (we're teenagers, we think of these things). I'm definitely not about to write every little thing that happened, because there was so much. I will say this though, I went home on 1 hour of sleep in two days, My feet and legs hurt so bad I couldn't even walk. I looked at myself in the mirror and my eyes were almost completely red save for my pupils. I fell asleep on the bus sitting straight up. It was quite the weekend.

We got back at around 6:45 AM. I went to my Grandmother's apartment and fell on the bed. No, literally, fell on the bed, and passed out. After the bus ride I had just had, it was the only thing I knew how to do. My seat partner, mate, buddy, whatever you want to call it, he took up almost a seat and a half, and he's about five foot, three inches. Whenever I even touched him, he said, "Get off me dude!" So basically, I had to sleep in a ball trying to not further the contusions in my already damaged spine. If you read this, you know who you are, and I forgive you.

I got back, and I was a little bored, so I started messing around on Twitter. I was there to witness the hacking of Lil Wayne's account, and the guy who did it was posting a bunch of stupid little things, but among all that was a link to download an album. It was one of those underground hip-hop albums with the free downloads. Weary of all the terrible rapping on the Internet, I pressed it. I listened to a couple tracks of it, and realized how good it actually was. The album is called Welcome To The Robot Army by, not sure how to pronounce this, [^_-]. The name of the artist made me even more scared to listen to it, but it ended up being a very good rap album. If you want to hear it for yourself, google it. Type in "Welcome To The Robot Army" and click the first link. Voila!

For all you rap fans out there, in my opinion, the best place for underground hip-hop is www.datpiff.com. Seriously, it has all the mixtapes that I wanted. Many people don't know this, but artists, in addition to putting out albums, put out mixtapes as well. Mixtapes are basically self-produced albums from the artist, almost always free (except Wiz Khalifa, he put his on iTunes). They usually just get the word out about an artist, and many of the songs are only about 2 or 3 minutes long. Some of the best rappers of the 21st century have out more mixtapes than albums. Some don't even have an album out yet, but have almost 200 songs on mixtapes (Cory Gunz, Drake, etc.). Mixtapes are a really cool way to discover new hip-hop. Don't forget that a lot of rock bands put out mixtapes too, so be on the lookout for those as well.

This morning, at around 11 AM, I was woken up by the sound of people (my stepdad and his friend specifically) moving out my Grandmother. She's moving from the building she's in now, to a place called the Westward Ho. Rude awakening of the year award goes to me. My mom arrived later with bread and a potato pie breakfast thing that I thought was cheescake. The fatigue was truly setting in. I ate up, and about 20 or so minutes later, got the hell out of there.

I arrived at my Dad's house a little later, and went straight upstairs, but sleeping was a total fail. I then proceeded to pick weeds in my backyard for three hours. It's times like these that I feel like a real Mexican.

My new obsession is the Angry Birds app on the iTouch. It's only 99 cents, but I'll be damned if it isn't the most addicting game I've ever owned! You should definitely get it, it's worth the dollar.

Don't forget to read www.blogforteens.com as well as this site. We need all the support we can get from you guys right now! Thanks for reading!