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July 31, 2000

I promised you pictures and chatter, and you shall have them. Please proceed to the Trip Overview to go on the guided tour (incomplete at present, but getting there) of what the hell I did while I was out of the country for three weeks.

July 30, 2000

Jet lag sucks.

Just like Thursday/Friday, I was up all night again Saturday/Sunday, due to my inability to get to sleep (though as I write this at 11 am I'm starting to feel tired - but going to sleep now would mess me up only further). Staying up all day Friday didn't seem to help, as I slept until three on Saturday and haven't since.
Well, at least this all-nighter wasn't wasted: I wrote a Simpsons fanscript. For those of you who don't know what that means, you can visit simpworks.frinky.com and go to the part that says "Scripts."

Anyway, here is the fanscript I wrote. I'm calling it "Lisa the Prophet," which sounds mundane but is actually much like many of the titles on the show (such as "Lisa the Iconoclast," "Lisa the Simpson," "Lisa the Beauty Queen," etc.), and besides, I can do that if I want to.
P.S. If you attempt to claim you wrote it I will hunt you down like the dog that you are. Enjoy!

July 29, 2000

BigFlax.com wishes to make the following correction.

    You know how when you first go see a movie and it's really good, you get so impressed by it that you make it even better in your mind that you thought it was? I did that with The Phantom Menace - when I first saw it I rated it as my number two movie of all-time (it currently occupies the #11 spot after I decided that I did not, in fact, like it more than the other movies in my top ten).
    When I first saw X-Men I was so taken by it that I decided to make it number one on my top 30 list. I love Field of Dreams, but as in college basketball I'm all about the upset, and had been looking for a movie that could be good enough to take its place for some time.
    Here's what impressed me about X-Men: the acting (especially considering the genre), the direction, the cinematography, the effects, the story, the faithfulness to the comics, and the ability to get even people who didn't know the comics into the story quickly. That's quite a lot to be impressed about.
    But I went back and saw the movie a second time eight hours after I first watched it. I liked it just about as much, but I was thinking about Field of Dreams as I watched it and a couple of things occurred to me.
    1) The two movies are really incomparable. Think about it. Field of Dreams is basically a drama, with baseball as a centerpiece but with strong family relationship undertones. X-Men is an action sci-fi movie. It has relationship undertones, but they aren't developed in the same way because it's a totally different genre and therefore has a different audience.
    2) Field of Dreams has a better ending. When I saw Frequency I was impressed with the ending, and its genre is far more similar to Field of Dreams', but in the end I decided that Field of Dreams was in fact a better movie overall. X-Men is a different genre, but in general I could just make a decision by how much I liked its ending. There's nothing wrong with the ending per se. It's just a little too sequel-ready. Now I'm not complaining exactly, because I'll be first in line to see X-Men 2, but because it sets up a successor it lacks the power and the emotional impact of Field of Dreams' ending.

So, Field of Dreams is back in the #1 spot, where it will be until another movie more of its ilk, that I like exactly as much even after repeated viewings, comes along. As for X-Men, it is now #2.

July 28, 2000

Oh my God.
We all thought it was impossible. I did, anyway, after deciding that Frequency fell just short. But finally a movie has come along to knock Field of Dreams off of the lofty number one pedestal that it has stood on for so long atop my Top Thirty Movies list. To read the review of the movie that knocked it off, click here.

July 28, 2000

All the dumb people I had to put up with on the trip made me think of a great idea for a new shirt in the BigFlax.com online store. So if you'd like a shirt that says "Forgive my sarcasm. I have a low tolerance for stupidity." (and who wouldn't?), just click on the link button at the top of the page.

    Speaking of the trip before the glut of info that will be up soon enough... while I was in Australia I found out about the NRL - the National Rugby League. The NRL is comprised of 14 teams with some great names, including the Sydney Roosters, North Queensland Cowboys, and Parramatta Eels. But my personal favorite was one I saw on a football in a shop - the Western Suburbs Magpies. Magpies isn't quite as cool as Eels, but Western Suburbs is the single most amusing location I've ever heard. Regretfully, I couldn't find any clothes merchandise for them in that store, and when I got home and checked www.nrl.com.au, there was no evidence that they existed.
    Then I found out why at the home page of one of the 14 NRL teams, the Wests Tigers: "On 20^th April 1908 the Western Suburbs Magpies and Balmain Tigers created rugby league history when both teams took the field for the first official game in the Sydney Premiership.
    The Western Suburbs Magpies and Balmain Tigers have been soul mates of rugby league and wonderful contributors to the game’s success for nearly a century.
    There is enormous pride and passion in being a Magpie and a Tiger, and the players associated with both these great clubs capture the essence and spirit of rugby league.
    In 1999 the heartbreak, triumph, tears, and joy of being two of NSWRL’s foundation clubs was combined to forge the historical joint venture of the Wests Tigers.
    The new millennium of rugby league offers twice the power and double the excitement for both clubs with the Wests Tigers launching their attack in their inaugural season in 2000."
    So the Western Suburbs Magpies don't exist anymore because they've combined with the Balmain Tigers. So now the Wests Tigers exist, but Tigers isn't nearly as interesting as Magpies, and nothing is as interesting as Western Suburbs.
    But what's even more interesting is that two franchises merged. What? Has that ever happened in an American sport? (If anyone knows the answer, please feel free to e-mail me.)

The answer (sort of): My dad informs me that during WWII, the Eagles and Steelers (Pennsylvania football teams, for you... stupid people) merged to form the Steagles. But they unmerged later, whereas the Wests Tigers certainly don't seem to have any intention of doing so.

July 27, 2000

Well, I'm finally back. Just to give you an idea of how confused I currently am time-wise, I left Sydney at 2 pm Wednesday Australia time. Then I landed in LA at 10:30 am... Wednesday (LA time). Then, after a five-hour layover, I landed in New York at 12:00 am Thursday. I didn't fall asleep until three in the morning here, and then I slept until five pm this evening. So even as I write this at 7:42, I've been up for fewer than three hours.
To give you another idea of how long the flight back to LA was, they showed four movies. FOUR! They showed Erin Brockovich (didn't watch), The Next Best Thing (which they'd already showed on some other flight I'd been on and which sucked anyway), Drowning Mona (which wasn't particularly good), and Return to Me, which was okay if fairly sappy but which I didn't watch because they'd already showed it on another flight.

But now I'm back, so expect that soon you'll get a whole lot of information regarding my trip and possibly some pictures.

July 4, 2000

In two days I will be on a plane to New Zealand, where I will be for three weeks. Just a reminder that this page will not be updated until at least the day I get back (July 26) and possibly later - but with the number of pictures I'm planning to take, there should be enough when I get back to compensate for having missed 75% of the month.

July 1, 2000

    As promised, Midnight Madness pictures are here.
    First let's talk about the Velcro Obstacle Course, since that's where most of these pictures come from. I believe I already talked about this in my update of June 27, but I'm going to talk about it again, mostly because I can do that.
    The Velcro Obstacle Course is exactly what it sounds like, if when you hear "obstacle course" you think "modified moonwalk with a tube, some upright thingies, and a wall". It's surprisingly fun, and at least as stupid. It sounds rather easy, except you're wearing a suit with velcro hooks all over it, and the wall is covered in velcro loops. The ironic part is that the wall is about the only place on the course where there's any velcro at all, and yet it's very difficult (at least it was for us) to make it over without getting something stuck.


That's me on the right, getting stuck on the wall and smoked by Redd in the process. I just couldn't beat those little guys!	Here's me getting destroyed again (this time by Qawi) - I'm pretty sure I got stuck on the wall here, too. (Little guys again!)

Here's me coming through the wheel - there's no one near me, so this is either me winning big or losing big. You'll never know which (neither will I, of course). You have either Gabby or Redd to blame for the finger in the shot.	Here's Redd getting stuck on the wall but still beating Gabby pretty badly. I think this was the one where she got stuck to the wall so badly that she really couldn't get herself off (picture below). Her red eyes in this picture also make her look evil.

Here is the aforementioned "Gabby gets stuck to the wall" picture. It looks like she's stuck in a fairly uncomfortable position. So, as any true friend would have done in this situation, I laughed at her and took a picture.	Here's Owen coming over the wall. I think he was racing Gabby here, and like me before he's either way ahead or getting killed. I forget which it was - I think maybe he was a little ahead. But then, I don't particularly care, either.

Owen breaks the ironclad rule of the course - you go through the wheels, not over them! But Gabby had just done the same thing and had beaten him, so I guess he just wanted to prove that he, too, could make a complete ass of himself. Not that doing this course in the first place didn't make everyone hit that goal.	Here's Eavan and Mr. Morrill, the AP Physics teacher. This was the only student/teacher matchup we saw all night, but it was worth it. I forget who won this - it was close, in any event - but look at how well they handle the wall! Wow. I also like how the red eye effect in this picture makes them both look like demons from hell.

Now let's go back to the casino, albeit briefly.
I didn't understand craps, so I didn't take any pictures of it. I did take pictures of blackjack and roulette, and really only because I wanted to make some wise-ass remarks later. Thus, here come the pictures, and the wise-ass remarks.


Bryan Mills losing at blackjack. I guess I don't actually have anything smart to say about this.	Here's Owen deciding whether or not you should hit when you get a two and an eight as your first two cards. (Doesn't that dealer kind of look like Rob Schneider?)
To our right we see compulsive gamblers Stefan Tannenbaum, Gabby Fredman, and Owen Baker eyeing the roulette wheel with giddy interest. After losing his shirt on this bet, Stefan was seen near the bungee run, grabbing coins that fell out of people's pockets when they were pulled back.


Now for some less associated pictures. Here's Gabby and Owen after their match on the bungee run. Owen was so afraid about breaking his neck that he just walked instead of running like you're supposed to. Wuss.	Here's a picture I took of the exit (so I guess that's my hand in the shot, absorbing much of the flash) at 5:30 am or so. As you can see, Midnight Madness was a well-oiled machine, with people easily... wait, what the hell am I talking about?

Here's Gabby, looking fatigued at five a.m. What an incredible surprise.	If you don't look too closely, it kind of looks like Owen is in an airport. At five in the morning.

Redd looks pretty tired. And who wouldn't be after a long night of signing yearbooks?	Would you trust this man to drive you home at six in the morning?

There's more! View last month's updates.

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This page last updated: Wednesday, February 20, 2002 08:12:44 PM