Ask Madden

yo yo....so in my tech. writing class today we started talking about horror movies...apparently my teacher(who is very old school, disciplinarian) loves gratuitous violence and gore....she started talking about Saw IV and i was like "spoiler alet!" and she said "cover ur ears" but then talked louder as i did, and someone brought up the departed and she barked "thats not horror!"....and then we talked about hostel and other stupid scary movies...she said she likes it cuz its imaginary for her

yo yo...i read an article about how facebook is worth estiamted 15 billion, and mark zuckerburg owns 20% of that(3 billion). This is the first post of the "what would i do if i was mark zuckerburg" series


I would buy a large house, hire the worlds finest architects and have each room an exact replica of the sets of my favorite television shows.

what silly things would YOU do?

what up blog fans.

live from Edinburgh comes a postfi. this city is INCREDIBLE. the sights are simply unbeleivable, from the castles and monuments, to the gardens, to just the simple streets and walkabouts. i was absolutely floored by the beauty of this place. now i need to find a bargain kilt shop...

i am so much cooler than karen.

yo yo....a couple of thoughts

i wonder how much work goes into doing a 1 hr comedy special....it must be hard to figure out the order of ur jokes and flow...i wonder how much they practice too, since getting lost can totally ruin ur entire flow, its like essentially a play that has a 1 hr monologue


also, i wonder what like is like in the beginning for an illegal immigrant that doesnt know anyone here when the they cross the border...or hell, even if they know people, its not like they can just call their cell phone

as im writing this i just heard the phrase (from jim norton's comedy special) "....that snotty twat of a human being"

what up.

new revelation: karen, stop being such a hypocrite and always writing "post" when you havn't posted shit since january.

bam.

what up.

attention blog fans: i am preparing to depart for the UK at the end of the week. i will be in dublin, as well as glasgow, and edinborough. any and all recomendations of activities are welcome.

especially from mark.

yo yo...so as some of you may or may no, there has been a lot of racial tension in the south lately, mainly because of two cases. The Jena 6 case(where a boy was in big people jail while awaiting trial of beating of a white boy even tho he a minor) and the recent pepper spraying of a 15 year old black girl on camera. Black leaders in Jena staged protests and demonstrations, and are planning to do so in Florida and want the cop who was on camera to be suspended. what annoys me about these cases is the black leaders always want to put the blame somewhere else, and at the press conferences where they bash the white people there is no one to give a conflicting POV. for instance, in the Jena 6 case, are they forgetting that the kid in question beat a white boy almost to death??fuck him. and in the latter, the black girl was told 15+ times to put her hands behind her back, was fighting the police officer, and bit him in the hand. when there was a press conference where a local black leader was speaking out against the Florida police, i wish someone would have had the courage to ask why she was acting like such a bitch. here is a video of the girl

yo yo...i am looking to acquire a playlist of pump up songs...any and all suggestions are welcome

what up.

so i was searching the internet for more rumors of some sort of arrested development comeback, or perhaps a made for tv movie christmas special, when i stumbled upon a michael cera pet project from the summer, dubbed "clark and michael." vaguely similar to the style of arrested, as well as curb and flight of the conchords, its mostly improv with lots of cameos from arrested and other comedians who michael has worked with. its clearly somewhat of an immature effort, its raw and sometimes flat, but it had some seriously funny moments (i only watched one episode). however it led me to think about a new trend which could be the prevailing medium for the next few years: not only do we have music as a genre trying to graft itself to the internet and destroy all tangibility, but now television and soon i'd imagine movies will be doing the same. the term "indie," which i somewhat despise, has come to mean a lot of different shit, like "weird music that hipsters like," "unknown," and "cool." it was reserved mostly for music; at least in my mind. now i am stumbling across more and more "indie" video projects by big names. this is after large advertising campaigns tried to make little movie ads popular, which failed i believe. it's also not some schmuck college kid who thinks he can write a screenplay with some witty dialogue and youtube it, but fresh faces (mostly in the comedy world) who have decided to do something fun and original on their own time; and with enough of a buzz around them, they can develop a decent following. its impressive i think, for someone of cera's age to have such success as a comedian, both in giant cult projects like arrested, and little pets of his own like clark and michael. i hope more of these free shows pop up with lots of new comedians, because i think it will start a new revolution for television. like someone on the site says, i'd much prefer larry david humor over jim bellucci. plus i can't even spell his name.

this also led me to see another trend, the glorification of the nerd. now many can argue this came about with movies like revenge of the nerds, but even back then comedians were older and cooler. snl was key, or even standup, to do something with your life. now, our comedians are younger, fresher, and lets face it, way nerdier. michael cera is by no means a robin williams or an eddie murphy. he is not even a norm mcdonald. he is definietly not a jimmy fallon (thank god). no, he is a new breed, a nerd of all trades if you will. and i'm very glad to see his success, where many have failed to simultaneously make the jump from tv, to movie, and to internet miniseries, he is still "cool" in the eyes of many, as far as nerds go. and funny.

maybe i am just talking out my ass, but this is my preoccupation on this fine tuesday morning. check it out if you're bored:

clark and michael.

enjoy.

yo yo...so i had a really good day today.... a little more than a month i switched gyms from world gym to premiere fitness....although its a little further away(nanuet) i joined for the powerlifting equipment and knowledge they have there....sometimes just being in a nuturing environment with experienced people can help a lot....earlier in the year a could only box squat a max of 275....today i box squatted 400 and it felt great....i always wind up working out the same time as the owner of the gym, we seem to have similar schedules....as i was deadlifting one day he told me about a powerlifting competition they were having there and encouraged me to do it...also i got into a conversation one day with this champion powerlifter there and he offered help if i needed it and was very nice.....in conclusion, being in good environments can can be just beneficial as the resources you're alotted

also, i hope the crew that produced Mean Girls makes another movie, not a sequel, just another movie....that or another Judd Apatow joint

what up.

so I just got back from Oktoberfest and i really just wanted to share one tidbit: i camped out at a campground in munich and there was a bonfire every night, and last night i had a tenacious d singalong with some guys from denmark who brought a guitar and it really made me miss all of you lots.

and then they got drunk and smashed the guitar in the bonfire. the sentiment was still there though.

yo yo....commercials where little kids use vocabulary that is obviouly way above them are not funny (like the verizon fios commercial)....i think the first time it was prolly funny, cuz its like "hey, that kid doesn't know those words!" but now its just dumb and lazy./end rant

yo yo...so yesterday i saw my worst nightmare, luckily i didn't experience it. I had just gone over the GW bridge on my way to queens...going through an underpass there was a car in front of me , and a tractor trailer next to it, with the car about next to the middle of it. Then the truck signaled and started switching into his lane, apparently didn't see him, and totally ran him off the lane and he was forced to take evasive action. normally i am pretty impressed by truck drivers(there are always a million on the GW) with their ability to maneuver the trucks so well.,...but this time was different