James' Art

Ferris Bueller's Day Off: Alternate Scene

RIP Uga VI...

ATHENS, Ga. -- Uga VI, the beloved University of Georgia mascot, has died from congestive heart failure at his home in Savannah.

The bulldog's owner, Frank Seiler, said he had the best winning record of any mascot in the school's history.

Seiler said he noticed the nine-year-old English Bulldog was breathing heavily Friday night. He passed away soon afterward.

Uga will be buried in a vault in the Southwest corner of Sanford Stadium with his predecessors. Private ceremonies are expected early next week.

Uga VI became UGA's mascot in 1999. He was the son of Uga V, the only college mascot to land on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

University of Georgia Athletic Director Damon Evans called it "a sad day for the entire Bulldog nation."

I Told Ya So...

The Only Little Boy In NY

Top Song Scenes in Movies...

So I was listening to "Layla" last night and it made me think of GoodFellas.  The part in the song where it cuts to this awesome piano solo, and how that is so perfectly timed with all the bodies showing up in the movie.  The piano is so calm, almost bringing the song down to a mello ending. And to have that contrasted to the grizzly sight of dead bodies being found in freezer truck and dumpsters... Amazing.  

So I got to thinking about the best movie scenes that were capped off by a perfect song.  But rather than have the song as the focus of the scene, it is there to give the scene power.  I racked my brain for some good examples.  And then I went a step further and tried to find some on You Tube.  The ones I could think of and find are below this post.  But my list so far is:

Goodfellas:  "Layla"

The Royal Tennenbaums:  "These Days"

Garden State:  "The Only Living Boy in New York"

Beautiful Girls:  "Suffering"

Forrest Gump:  "Running on Empty"

Ferris Bueller:  "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want"

Ferris Bueller Art Scene

Beautiful Girls - Sweet Caroline

by way of the green line bus

Ah, June...

So June is here.  My birth month.  It used to be such a good month.  As a kid, June meant no more school.  It meant a birthday with presents.  It meant the pool and the beach and the tennis court. It was freedom and carefree days that lasted forever.  Man, it was a good damn month.

Now June is just like the rest.  Lost every bit of sparkle it ever had.  A lot has to do with the fact that my birthdays have all been pretty close to miserable for too damn long now.  Each year there's the glimmer of hope that maybe I'm going to embark on a better path.  That hope has been destroyed rather quickly each and every year.

But again, I'm holding out a little hope that this might just be the year.  For one, I'm starting in a much better place.  I have my own place, which I keep clean and feeling like home.  It's my own little sanctuary.  No one knows where it is and when I'm here, I'm left alone, which I really like.  Also, I've got a good job.  And I'm not strung out, doing my typical self-destruction thing that I was so into for so many years.

And then there's paralegal school which starts tomorrow.  I'm hoping that this is a step in the right direction.  It gets me out of the restaurants and into a career that I can see myself settling nicely into.  Its going to be a tough month, with all the work they're cramming into one month. But I'm not worried about it.  And then the plan is to be employed at a law firm by the time college football gets underway.  But even if that's not the case, I've got the Bistro to pay my bills until the law job comes around.

So, after nearly a decade of fading hopes and shitty birthdays, maybe I'm finally going to catch a break.  I tell ya, it'd be nice for things to start working out.  I'm sure am tired of getting the short end of the stick all the time.

And on the domestic front, if you can call it that, my ex-wife made a bone-head play on Friday night which my precipitate an end to this drawn out "friendship" we've had for the 5 years since we split.  We happened to be in the same bar on Friday night.  For the record, I was there with my friends long before she got there Friday night.  And when she did arrive, it didn't change our behavior in the least.  We continued to have a good time, oblivious to her presence.  Also for the record, it is a bar that I've been going to (with my friends) for well over a decade.  And then after saying hello to her when she approached me, we went back to having fun with our friends. She then had one of her random friends come up and tell me that I was making her uncomfortable and that I should leave her bar.  What strikes me as odd is that nothing was happening.  There was no drama.  She and I had been to that same bar together a couple of times.  She and I still hung out once in awhile.  Why now all of the sudden does it make her uncomfortable?  What circumstances are different to make it bad?  What's the big fucking deal?I guess that since I was there with other people, she felt weird.  And that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.  So naturally I'm lead to believe that the end to this random, post-divorce friendship has run its sad little course and is finally over.  And so be it.  No lost sleep here...

So, there you have it friends and neighbors.  On Friday June 6th, I will be 35.  And maybe, just maybe this will be like the Junes of old.  Maybe, just maybe this will be a good year..........