30.8.09
Like a Bullet through a Burning Sky
This trip, which was devised over half a year ago, I realize, had been in the works for years, many things had been leading up to it. My restless nature, my dissatisfaction for parts of my life, like where I lived, like what I do, and the direction that I felt I'd been going. I'd been close to this trip, dipping my toe into the idea of it while going through Asia, but I hadn't gotten my footing under me, I didn't have clear through line then, I was wondering, unfocused, not ready. This time, I was setting the intention before I got going, and I would follow it to the end of the line, and maybe it will change, evolve as the trip goes on, but it would be there from the start.
And so I waited, I waited at work, I waited at home, I waited at the beach, although more pleasantly at the beach then at work. I half heartedly packed, shopped for goods I might want to take, but I knew that it didn't really matter what I brought, because as long as I head my head about me, I could get through any scrape. I took long walks, tried not think about anything, I played video games, because they are an excellent time killer. I started to read at least three books, anything I could do to kill the time before the trip finally began. I was like a bullet in a gun, just waiting to go off.
Excitement was an issue, excitement has always been an issue for me. I can be either manically enthused or completely unemotional, before settling into my normal go-getter state. So before Friday, when people asked me about it, I was un-enthused, I would say all the rights words, like, "oh yes, I am really excited about the trip. Can't wait." But I wouldn't give the appropriate emotion to back it up. And that wasn't necessarily the truth of it. I was excited about the trip, but it was just that I knew once it had started it would be akin to starting a new life and I didn't want to tamper, color it with possible false, unreasonable expectations, and I also didn't want to set myself for any kinds of disappointment. I felt like it would be better just to go in without expectations and be open to anything.
Of course, Friday came, and feeling it coming the next day and feeding off the excitement others had for the trip, I bounced and bounded upon the city, the streets, and stairwells with extreme glee, you know, like Tigger might. I celebrated the night of leaving with some of my closest friends and said goodbye to many others
And like the the gun that had been sitting in the cabinet, loaded and ready to go off, Saturday morning arrived and the metal crashed together, the flame was ignited, and I was shot out of city of Angels; past the fires and smoke that burned the skylines and mountain tops of the valleys; past the desert plains and signs screaming "Congress caused the Dust Bowl;" past the gas stations, Starbucks, mini-malls, and Outlets that line our better known freeways; and out of my mind and body, just a clear voice singing my freedom out to the whole world.
And that's how the trip begins.
28.8.09
With a Sigh of Relief
For those long time readers of the Will Gong Journal, I can say that you understand that I take this news with a sigh of relief, because I will never have to spend 10 more dollars on a subpar Oasis CD, again. I hope.
Oh and in other news, Rachel is indeed recovering from her dislocated knee cap. We have confirmed that she did not hurt the knee cap after class, it was after the harder section of the class, so her status as a pansy has now been dropped. Good day!
23.8.09
The Immortal Words of Marsellus Wallace
22.8.09
Summer Movie Report 09
I swore that I didn't see that many movies this summer, until I started looking at the list of films that came out and was reminded. I've seen SO MANY MOVIES THIS SUMMER. Anyway, lets do the rundown.
Awesomeness
1. Star Trek - Do I need to say anything else other then, I've seen it 4 times. Ugh. Science Fiction, if it's too scifi, I get turned off, but if it gets more whipcracking action pop culturally savvy, I'm all in. I just can't help it. This movie rocked! I watched all the old Star Trek films leading to this one, and there was not one I could stay awake in, not one, until I saw the new one.
District 9 - Whoa. If you haven't seen this yet, DO NOT WATCH THE TRAILER. Just go to the theatre and be prepared to be blown away. Not for the faint hearted. This movie just rocks.
Up - It's pixar! But alas, the magical spell did not work on me quite as much as others. Awesome. Structurally Sound. Well made. Beautiful. But something in it left me a little cool. It's the whole father son complex thing (yeah, like my, not loving nemo thing. I'm an outkast I tell you.)
Great to Enjoyable with some Reservations
The Hurt Locker - Some might say that the measure of a good film is it's escapist aspect, the fantasy element, leaving the theater feeling good. And then there's The Hurt Locker. For those who want to get a little deeper, but not too deep than your typical action movie. It's looks like a character study that doesn't really want to give you too much details about the character. It wants to let you fill in the blanks. But what it really is is an exploration of the very realistic idea of the ultimate adrenaline junkie in the ultimate job. But if you want to dump all that psychological crap, it will also thrill and shock and leave you on the edge of your seats.
GI Joe - Hehe. This is what Transformers 1 shoulda coulda been like, oh without Steven Spielberg to want it to have a little substance, and without Michael Bay to want it to be Bay-Riffic. Stupid, but fun as hell. Great scenes. Bad Scenes that make you laugh without taking you out of the film. Yeah, there were some missed opportunities and it's derivative as hell, but you smile the whole time.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - Oh, How could such a terrible movie make so much damn money. Hmmm... let me count the ways.
Terminator Salvation - There is a good 30 minutes in here. And they come before the mid-point. That left a lot of time for bad movie. There were some good ideas in here, then again there were some real stinkers. Did I miss Arnold? HELL YEAH!!! No one can set the Terminator tone better then he can, and this movie was bleak. It looked good, but that ain't enough. Although, it did have Sam Worthington, future star of tomorrow today in it, so i guess it wasn't that abysmal. Speaking of Abysmal ---
Time Traveler's Wife - I was bamboozled by a really good trailer. There was more emotion in the trailer, because of that damn Lifehouse Song "Broken"(99centsItunesplug) then there was in the damn short 90 minute movie. Don't see the movie. Buy the song.
Land of the Lost - What a bad idea for a movie? A 70's tv show no one remembers and Will Farrell comedy. Really? Universal? Someone needs to get punished for this film. When you advertise a movie to be the biggest, biggest, biggest thing ever, you have a recipe for Big Flop!
Public Enemies - I fell asleep 10 times. That's all I'm gonna say.
20.8.09
Will Gong Journal - A New Look: A New Mindset
And what I've decided is that, like, we really do have control over our lives and if we can find focus we can change some of the patterns that we may start to feel like we've outgrown, or are holding us back from going towards what we need and what want. I think I've waffled on the issue depending on my mood, but I've definitely decided that we can change our patterns. Life isn't hopeless, no matter what we think. We can go after what we want, and we can let go off what isn't serving us. We just have to focus, and really, really want it, because the path of the new can be potentially painful, especially during setbacks.
I figure, I just know so many people who have broken free of painful patterns and strived for what they really needed recently. It's awesome and it's inspiring, to be reminded of the fact.
19.8.09
Beatles Mania 09
UPDATE: Okay it's too big to embed. :(
So here is the link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSLLxRmR3nY
18.8.09
A Possible Retraction:
AMERITREK 2009: Pre-Production Blog 2
10 Days Left! 10. 10 IN BOLD. I’m that serious.
I feel like in TV show land, Season 4 of the “Will Show”, and the “Herzog Show” have ended, and now I’m just waiting for Summer Hiatus to begin. But I STILL HAVE TO WORK!!!
Oh, and I know some of you already know this, but I’ve called the “AND” Credit on the Herzog show. (You know the Herzog Show stars, “Mark Herzog, Chris Cowen, Matt Goldberg, Jack Kney, Lindsey Bogard, Aaron Skotland, Joy Lissandrello, Jeremy Cook, Corey Reeser, Hutson Hayward, Brett Jacobson, Josh Rosenfield, Morgan Hanner, Leanne Crowley, Lauren Woods, AND WILL GONG, with Barbara & Jerry, introducing Leya Oakley. Also an incredible slew of SPECIAL GUEST STARS – YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!)
Anyway, this whole trip thing is starting to really get close. And I’ve officially booked my first Hostel. In Portland Oregon, WOO HOOO!!! And I’ve gotten AAA membership. And also I’ve emailed a few friends about when I’m going to meet up with them.
Sadly, I’ve had to cut a week from the trip. SO OFFICIALLY I COME BACK NOW on the Oct. 20. Of course, this could change if there is no work for me, and then I’ll just continue my trip, because that’s the UTAH parks section, so that ain’t going to cost too much.
This stupid Economy! I’ve also been struggling to figuring out when to stay in Hostels and when not to. And if I do stay in one, will do one of those Dorm Rooms with like 6 to 8 people in it. The last time I stayed in a Hostel was in NYC and I swore I would never do it again, and now I’m doing it in Portland, Seattle, Chicago, for sure. But you know you do what you have to do. DUDE, to stay in Chicago is EXPENSIVE!!! Expensive. And it’s not like I can camp there.
Ugh, after doing a little more research today, I can that I haven’t a clue where to stay in Denver or New Orleans. The two things that are really messing with me are, Location & Reviews.
Let’s take a closer look.
- Location – How close to you want to be to the action? Do you want to be driving all day to just get somewhere? But if you get too close it’s too expensive. And then that really sucks. But then you know you have to consider if the neighborhood is good. AND THEN YOU HAVE TO CONSIDER THE REVIEWS.
- Reviews – They totally suck. How the hell can you tell what place is good if like everyplace has like 3 good reviews to 1 terrible review. And most are like this!!! It’s too much for someone’s brain to try to process. And of course somebody is going to mention the dreaded BED BUGS!!!!
So I’m going to just have to use the force on this one. With so many places and so many hotels/hostels/prices/deals, choosing where to stay will be the real adventure.
16.8.09
August Music Update!
A Rachel Update
14.8.09
Daily Horoscope 8.14.09
Dear Taurus,
If things start to get rough, remember that you have the ability to keep your cool. Not only is this an extremely important tool, but also it is essentially vital to maintaining any sort of stability in the situation. Keep your footing at all costs. Your Sanity Depends on it.
12.8.09
Daily Horoscope 8.12.09
Today will be filled with many mixed blessings, keep your head above water and don't let your hard luck press on your sunny disposition.
Dear Horoscope,
I don't know what to do, I'm so confused, and I just need something, something else.
Dear Taurus,
I'm not your psychologist.
Dear Horoscope,
I hate you.
11.8.09
Herzog Featurette Online
Here below is a little Featurette that I helped out on. What did I do? Well, I did some research, found some good soundbites, and helped find ONE of the interview subjects, my man Professor Kazerooni. And I finished, like made it look pretty, but not super pretty, someone else did that.
ANYWAY, may I present to you "The Surrogates" - The Futurist.
http://www.joblo.com/index.php?id=27966
Uh, click on the link or copy and paste into browser. I would love to embed, but it's not anywhere I can embed it yet. And yeah, I know you have to sit through the stupid commercial, but still.
Daily Horoscope
Do not be afraid, for today you will be emotionally volatile, combative, and struggle with taking orders. Stay Humble. Also, your daily routine will be thrown out of whack. Embrace it!
Dear Horoscope,
You know where you can stick you and your wisdom...
Dear Taurus,
Suck it.
10.8.09
Celebrity + Young Women = Naked Pictures on the Internet
So as I sit in my bay watching the day fly by, I was again presented with the TOTALLY THRUTHFALL FACT that so many young Actresses' Singers' who are about to break out tend to take naked pictures of themselves, and then AFTER they make it big, said pictures are revealed, usually on that sleazeball Perez Hilton's website. Today it was one of the Vampire Girls from Twilight the one who plays "Alice" (no I will ot post a link to these, because that would be raw) But this seems to happen, and now the girl Ashley Greene is threatening a lawsuit, and will probably make a big deal of this, because well, she may have lost her movie career, because the BRAND of Twilight is being so carefully watched and controlled. BUT, BUT on the other hand, they could have actually leaked these pics in attempt to get more Male Viewers into Twilight. So I guess the morale is, anyone, actress or not, should probably not take Naked Pictures of themselves if they do not want it to end up on the internet. EVER.
7.8.09
Schemas
–noun, plural sche⋅ma⋅ta [skee-muh-tuh or, sometimes, skee-mah-tuh, ski-] Show IPA , sche⋅mas.
1. a diagram, plan, or scheme.
2. an underlying organizational pattern or structure; conceptual framework.
3. (in Kantian epistemology) a concept, similar to a universal but limited to phenomenal knowledge, by which an object of knowledge or an idea of pure reason may be apprehended.
Recently the conversation of schemas has been brought up and discusses along with how scary and painful it is to have them challenged and all, and I couldn't really remember a time when I was seriously on the fence about changing them in a way that was scary, but I could totally remember a few times when Rachel has called out my schemas, and you know like shattered them. For an example, see below:
One day, a long time ago.
Will says "Something incredibly stupid."
Rachel says, "Will, do you know how incredible stupid and moronic, one sided, unthoughtout, ridiculous, and in some deep down way, utterly frightening, what you have just said was."
Will says, "Uhhhhh....."
Rachel says, "Let me, uh, break it down for you, see the problem is you didn't think of this this this and this, and because you probably think this and that, and that's stupid and etc, please see above."
Will says "Schema shattered."
Will cries a little.
Rachel laughs a lot.
So, I have no choice but to wonder if it would be more painful to question my own schemas then to have Rachel or someone like her shatter them for me. I guess I'll never know.
6.8.09
The New Phone
5.8.09
Ameritrek 2009: Pre-Production Blog 1
- Getting a good pair of sunglasses.
- Getting my Car's AC working, and getting a pretty good check up.
- Seeing GI Joe, Inglourious Bastards, District 9, and probably (500) days of Summer (again.)
- Getting a new backpacking pack (Damn Straps!)
- Figuring out my budget (this is not a feature film where you can go WAY OVER BUDGET and just not tell anybody, alternatively, I'd hate to fire myself and never beable to work again, and yeah, I know I combined be and able, but I'm just way too lazy to go back and fix it.)
- Getting a new laptop battery. (I'm getting about 20 minutes of battery power at this point.)
But, on the bright side I have a schedule now. Here's some of the highlights.
- 20 Locations in 2 months, including 12 days in the East Coast.
- Seeing many friends I have not seen in YEARS!!! (And some friends I saw last month.)
- Blog updates about the different kinds of yoga that I plan on hitting up.
- Scheduling in a good 2 or 3 hours of writing every day, and sometimes in extremely beautiful locations.
- Singing in the car at the top of my lunges, in the most beautiful locations (See the pattern.)
- Being with my Brother when he has his second child (he would probably say, showing off his new jet ski.)
Next up, I need to mail out my Calender to a few friends that might be interested in hitting up a leg or two of the trip, (if I were you I'd do the Nashville, New Orleans leg, (seriously. For Real.) )
I also have to tell my roommate that I just don't have the energy to sublet the place so he's going to have the whole apartment to himself for 2 months (there is something criminal about it, I almost want to saddle him with a 45 year old divorced male actor moving here from Wisconsin, but you know that would be spiteful, and I'm just too tired for spiteful right now.)
2.8.09
It's a Crazy Crazy World
All I'm saying is that, if there is a secret WORLD of the Vampires, a Vampire Nation, don't you think that they are probably having internal high-level conversations about if they should reveal themselves to the world. I mean, can they stay hidden forever (well, okay they probably could.) But they should at least consider it, because now is probably their only real chance of finding some kind of acceptance. (Which would probably change, once massive amounts of Teenage Girls lined up to stay Teenage Girls forever along with their older, but equally romantic loved starved cousins and mothers, and then there would be a witch hunt to kill the vampires and the Girls/Women, and that would totally suck, because then there would be a worldwide sausage party, which nobody wants. NO BODY WANTS THAT.)
But you know, in this over-saturated Vampire world that we live in, I kind of long for the days when liking Vampires was something you did secretly, a time when it was dark and lived in the darkness, because it made you feel special, it made you feel like you weren't with the popular ones, and you weren't a loser like those people who worshipped Marilyn Manson.
But now everybody's into it. And it acceptable to everyone to dig the vampires, kind of like, but worse then the Capt Jack Sparrow, making Pirates cool, but on a whole different level, because you know, Pirates are still kind of not cool. Anyway, Thanks "Twilight."
I wonder what those loner high school students are into now? Where do they go when they want to be alone, when they want to identify with other iconic loners? Do you think they can join in with their popular, cheerleader cliques, and scream when the "New Moon" trailer plays. Do they all get in be at the party and get along, holding hands and stuff? I don't know, but I think that I don't see this ending well. We shall see.
1.8.09
Back from the Depths
Cue the Dramatic Music with Japanese Taiko Drums.
Voice Over Guy, "Deep within the jungles of Los Angeles..."
Random people's voices ---
"Will, are you ever going to blog again?"
"Hey Will, why aren't you blogging? WTF?"
"Dude, whatever happened to your blog?"
"You know what, Fuck you, and your blog."
Voice Over Guy "Stood one man. Alone."
In a bar, after 5 whiskeys, Will looks out, bloodshot eyes, "I can't do it. I can't keep blogging. I've got nothing to blog about. All I think are negative things, things that would make people sad." He breaks a glass in his fist.
Cut to: Will stares at his bleeding hand in the shower, "Dammit, I keep starting a blog and it gets all negative and then I stop and erase, I CAN'T DO IT!!!" A tear is shed, but no one can see it because of the shower.
Voice Over Guy, "And day's passed, and months passed, but one day..."
Will looked out through his eyes, through his car window, and into the sky and he said, "I can blog again. I can do this."
Voice Over Guy, "Faster. Stronger. And still Crazy. Will Gong is back!"
Yup, it's true. I'm back and here to get ya'll prepped for the Crazy Trip I am planning, but more on that tomorrow.
Cough, I hope.