Thanksgiving Traditions

For Thanksgiving, I don't really do anything you would consider traditional. We usually go to my aunt's or vice versa. We eat while we watch the Lions lose. And then we play board games the rest of the day, usually Trivial Pursuit. And that's about it.

I am thankful that I only have one other blog member in my group for this assignment, so thats one less response I have to make. (kidding) Seriously, I am thankful for my family and friends because life would be much harder without them.

Atkins method of acting

In this article, Caryn James seems to make a connection between actors undergoing weight changes and the national problem of dieting and obesity. It appears to James that the idea of gaining or losing weight is not a necessity for making a movie and has more to do with generating publicity. Such frivolous glamorization of weight loss, she argues, is unhealthy for society. What I think James fails to appreciate, however, is how becoming their character(mentally, emotionally, AND physically) is essential to accurately portraying the character. James argues that such weight transformations can be achieved with special effects and body suits. While this is true, I think the cinematic experience is significantly altered. Wearing a body suit allows an actor to play a character, while gaining fifty pounds allows the actor to become the character.

My Halloweekend

My weekend started out great and got progressively worse. I saw Zombieland Friday. Awesome movie! If you like satirical horror films, this is the movie for you. For some reason, people don't trick-or-treat in my neighborhood, which is weird because there are a ton of kids in the neighborhood. I don't mind, though, because it keeps me from pigging out on a leftover candy. And finally, it wasn't a good weekend football-wise. Lions, Wolverines, and my fantasy football team all lost.

Did you know?

I really enjoyed the "Did You Know?" video we watched in class on Monday. Most of the factoids I didn't know, but pretty much all of them made me think, "Wow, that's interesting." What surprised me we were some of the statistics regarding India and China. In particular, that China will soon be the #1 English-speaking country in the world or that the 25% of India's population with the highest IQ exceeds the total population of the United States.

What amazed me was the sheer amount of information we generate in this "technological age" we're living in. Things I found most interesting: 1) There are 5 times as many words in the English language today than in Shakespeare's time. 2) A week's worth of the NYT contains more information than a person would come across in an entire lifetime in the 18th century. 3) By 2013, a supercomputer will exceed the computational abilities of the human brain.

Buddy's Will Leave You Stuffed-In a Good Way

I have been eating at Buddy’s Pizzeria ever since I was a kid. Located on Plymouth Road in Livonia, going to Buddy’s became somewhat of a ritual for our family. After attending 5 o’clock mass on Saturdays, more often than not we found ourselves heading on over to Buddy’s for dinner. Like most kids, I dreaded the boredom that was church, but the lure of going to Buddy’s after mass was just the incentive I needed to behave.
Now an adult, I don’t go as often as I did in my youth. My most recent experience was this past Friday night with a friend of mine. The evening did not start out well as it was cold and rainy, added to the fact that all of the handicapped parking spaces were taken up. As it was a Friday night, I thought the twenty minute wait to be seated was reasonable. The waiting area was cramped, not a place for a claustrophobe. I liked that instead of announcing your name on a speaker, they handed out an electronic device that beeped when your table was ready.
After getting seated at our booth, we were attended to promptly by the waitress. A middle-aged woman, she was pleasant and professional; we never had to ask for anything twice. They only had Coke products, which was a minor disappointment since I normally have Mountain Dew when I eat out. Our drinks were brought to us quickly and we ordered our food. We only had to wait about ten minutes for our food, although there was a false alarm as the table next to us had almost the identical order served to them just a few minutes before ours. Buddy’s is well-known for being Detroit’s #1 deep dish pizza, so I ordered the four-piece pepperoni. I could see why they have that reputation, although for my taste I could’ve used a bit more tomato sauce. It was very filling as I managed to finish only half of it. A recent addition to the menu, Buddy’s is now offering a thin-crust gluten-free pizza, which was good since my friend has a gluten intolerance. It tasted great, evidenced by the time it took for her to devour it. She also had a Greek salad to go with her pizza. The salad was brought out in a silver bowl, which I thought could’ve been easily mistaken for a dog bowl. As for the salad itself, she described it as not being very “Greeky”, which I hope makes sense because I’m not much of a salad eater myself. Although I was too full for dessert, I helped myself to the bowl of free suckers at the front entrance as we left.
I refuse to grade a restaurant on the typical star rating system. Most 5 star restaurants involve wearing a tie and speaking a different language and I wouldn’t be caught dead at those types of restaurants. I prefer to use the Siskel and Ebert method. Buddy’s presents a very family-friendly eating experience with sports related décor throughout the restaurant. They have a gigantic gumball machine in the front, although I’d hate to be the one to eat the last gumball as it is probably years old by that time. You should have no trouble finding a dish you like. Buddy’s offers a wide variety of appetizers, salads, burgers, and pizza; and the prices are affordable, especially in this economy, so you can expect to pay less than $10 for a meal. Overall, I give Buddy’s a thumbs up.

First 3 photos provided by:

Data Sieve. Buddy's Pizza-Detroit's #1 deep dish pizza. Buddy's Pizza. n.d. Web. October 18 2009. www.buddyspizza.com

Music I Like

The type of music I like can most simply be described as punk although there are many different types of punk. Rather than bore you with defnitions of punk, my basic philosophy about music is that I like it loud and fast. Some of my favorite bands are: The Misfits, The Descendents, The Sex Pistols, Rancid, and Black Flag.

2009 UM-D Writing Awards

On Wednesday, September 30th, the University of Michigan-Dearborn held its 2009 Writing Awards. The ceremony began at 5 pm in room 1030 of the CASL building. There was a small reception where food such as cheese and cider was provided. Not being very hungry, I ate only a small, chocolate mint. The auditorium seemed to be an appropriate size for a writing awards ceremony where honored pieces were to be read. The main seating section was located in the middle of the auditorium with 2 smaller sections on each side separated by 2 aisles. The setting was intimate with each seating section having 7 or 8 rows containing distinctive, blue chairs. The ceremony was attended by the award winners, their family and friends, and my COMP 227 class among others. The award winners were nicely dressed, no doubt a very proud moment for each of them.
Starting a few minutes late, a brief introduction was given by the Chair of the Writing Awards, PF Potvin. Awards were given for each of the following writing categories: Fiction, Poetry, Research Writing, Creative Non-Fiction, Honors Writing, and First-Year Writing. Something I found interesting was that most of the winners were female. I wonder if this trend was reflected in the submissions received or if it was just a coincidence. Unfortunately, it seemed like a considerable amount of the winners were unable to attend. Of those in attendance, most of the winners read excerpts from their pieces. The readings were enjoyable, although I was puzzled by the winning selection of the Poetry category. The ceremony proceeded along at a brisk pace, clocking in at 30 minutes which was much appreciated by this observer.