We Bought a Zoo

On Saturday night, I went to go see the movie We Bought a Zoo at Tinseltown, and I have to say that it was one of the greatest movies that I've every seen. I forgot what it was like to go to a movie and walk out completely uplifted. The movie had a great story line. It was funny, entertaining, and heartbreaking. It stars Matt Damon as Benjamin Mee, Scarlett Johansson as Kelly Foster, Colin Ford as Dylan Mee, and Maggie Elizabeth Jones as Rosie Mee.

The story starts out with Benjamin Mee, trying to raise his kids Dylan and Rosie after his wife's untimely death. In the beginning, you can see that Benjamin and his family are struggling. Dylan gets expelled from school for stealing and drawing dark and depressing pictures. Rosie has to act more much more mature than a normal seven year old would have to because of the loss of their mother. Benjamin decides that his family needs a new start, so they go house shopping. After Rosie declines most of the houses they look at, her and Benjamin fall in love with one house. They tell the real estate agent they want to buy it, and he tells them about a small detail about the property. It's a zoo. Rosemoor Wildlife Park has been closed for years, but it is still home to many animals, cared for by Kelly Foster and her small staff. Benjamin sees how happy Rosie is with the animals, and he buys the zoo. He became the owner of a wildlife park, and he had no idea how to take care of animals. This movie is about Benjamin, his family, and the staff (who Benjamin becomes very close to), trying to save this zoo. Benjamin encounters money issues, father-son problems, and trying to overcome the loss of his wife. In the end they end up passing inspection to reopen the zoo. The ends up opening, and hundreds of people come. Benjamin ends up overcoming the problems that halted his life before, and his family have a very bright future ahead of them.

This based-on-a-true-story was extraordinary. One of the quotes in this movie that could almost sum this film up is, "Sometimes, you just need twenty seconds of insane courage." I really like that quote because of how true it is. Sometimes you just have to do something, even though it may not seem rational. Like buying a zoo, for example. Sometimes its all you need to turn your life around.

To wrap things up a bit, I highly reccomend this movie to anyone. I don't care if you're 5 years old to 80. I guarentee you will walk out of this movie completly uplifted and smiling ear to ear. It's movies like this that help you have a better and more positive outlook on life. I strongly reccomend that you go to this movie, because it's movies like this one that can chage your life.

Cold Weather

Well, it finally snowed. Great. Most people look out the window after a big snow storm and are excited about it. Not me. I hate cold weather. I’d be fine living on an island it the tropics somewhere and never having snow. I mean, what is so great about it anyway? You walk outside, freeze, and slip on the ice. Cool...not.

Also, I hate cold weather clothes. I don’t like wearing coats. They make me claustrophobic. I used to get in trouble when I was in elementary school for not wearing a coat during recess. I was rebellious back then. I’d always tell the duty that I lost it. I’m sure I looked like some homeless kid whose parents couldn’t get him warm clothes to wear, but really, I just hated wearing it. I’d get in trouble with my mom too. She’d ask me all the time wear my coat. I’d wear it just long enough for her to drive away and then take it off. What your mom doesn’t know won’t kill her.

The only relationship I have with snow is snowboarding. I like to snowboard, especially on a nice day when you don’t really have to wear your coat. I like to stick my earphones in and just ride down the mountain. It’s great. But if someone said I could snowboard every day, but I’d have to spend every day with winter, I’d have to say no thanks. It’s fun, but not that fun.

I was watching some show on TV the other day that talked about people having some seasonal disorder where they get grumpy and depressed in the winter. I think I have that. I’m not myself in the cold weather. I’m more myself with a tan drinking a pina colada. Actually, I can’t really get tan. I’m the whitest guy you know. But sun and a pina colada I can do. Everyday.

Someday I’m going to move to someplace like Hawaii. I’ll learn to surf, which will be like snowboarding so I wont’ miss that. I’ll go to the beach and just hang out in the sun. I’ll play basketball outside and swim in the ocean. I like being warm.

Some people love Spring and Fall. I hate spring and fall. Why, because they pretend to be warm but they aren’t. It looks sunny outside, but it’s still too cold. It needs to be 80 degrees at least to be worth anything. Don’t be sunny and 60 degrees. That’s not warm. That’s a lie. False advertising. Bring on summer. Spring just tricks you. The flowers bloom. It looks like summer is just around the corner, then bam. A foot of snow.

Fall is just the same. It’s nice to look outside for a minute to see the colors change on the trees, but then everything falls to the ground and it just looks like everything is dead. I hate dead. Just let it be nice all the time.

If I was king, I’d make it summer everyday. Look me up in 20 years. You’ll find me on the beach.

Pets

So right now I am looking at my two very obnoxious dogs sleeping on my bed, so I decided to write a blog about pets. Right now, I’ve got more animals living at my house that I would care to admit. Keep in mind, I only like one of them, so it’s not really my fault this place is looking more like a zoo then a home. Here is an inventory of the different species of animals that I share living quarters with; two pugs, three chickens, 5 fish, and a frog. To be fair, I don’t share a house with the chickens, but the backyard is a still two close for comfort to me.

First, let me tell you about the dogs. The one I like is named Daisy. She is a littermate to my all time favorite dog that died last year. His name was Gus. Anyway, Daisy is great. She is old. She really stinks. She sleeps all day. She’s awesome. The other one is Roxy. Somehow my mom brought her home last summer, and since then, my house is a wreck. She barks at all my friends and tries to bite them. She fights with Daisy. She tries to eat all my food. Just today, I put a slice of pizza on the table and went to get a glass and bam! Pizza gone. My life was a lot better before Roxy. Although it is hilarious to squirt her with water when she starts barking. It’s the highlight of my day. Sometimes I ring the doorbell just so I can squirt her.

Don’t get me started on the chickens. I hate them. Seriously. What family has chickens as pets? Their names are Nugget, Alfredo, and Spicy. I’d really like to get rid of them, but I do like omelets and I’ve had a lot more of those since they started hanging around here, so maybe I’ll just tough it out.

The fish and frog hang out in my brothers room. He also had a turtle, but it creeped my mom out, so now it lives at my cousins house. I don’t really care about them but just the idea of them bugs me. My mom never let me have a turtle, or fish, or a frog. Why when the little brother comes around does it suddenly become OK to get more pets. I wanted a lizard when I was 5. Guess what! No lizard.

Someday I’m going to have my own place, and guess what, it’s only going to have one pet living there. I think it will be a bulldog. I like them because they are funny and they are super fat. I’m going to name my bulldog “Meat”. I like that name because it’s cute. I’m not going to dress him up in clothes. What is the point. I watch movies with dogs dressed up in clothes and it doesn’t make any sense to me.

To sum it up, this place has too many pets. I think there should be a law that limits two pets per household. But if my mom suddenly buys me a bulldog, I guess I won’t send him back.

New Year

New year, new resolutions, new goals. Always the same thing every year right? Everyone posting on Facebook about how much 2012 is gonna rock, people making goals that seem pretty unreasonable, and there is always those people who think the world is going to end. Don't get me wrong, I will enjoy new years the same as the next guy, but I don't get the people who think that much is going to change. A new year is just a rotation of the calender. You've lived through the same thing multiple times. Reason to celebrate? Why not. Reason to go into a frenzy? Not so much.
I would first like to talk about all the hype and pep of the new year. I don't really get why everyone is going to think that this year is going to be any better than the last because of the monumental change in the last digit of the calender. I can people setting goals to make this year better, but when it comes down to it, you count down with a bunch of your friends to just wake up the next day feeling normal. There is not exact star and moon alignment that shines down on you to make this year be the best year ever.
Now, the goals. I make goals too, but there are always the people who take it a little bit too far, and then they get disappointed. I heard a quote the other day, which I do not agree with, but it made me laugh pretty hard. It was, "I've found that if you don't make goals, then you're never disappointed." Again, I don't agree with that, but it's pretty funny. Some examples of goals I've heard are" "This year, Justin Beiber is going to follow me on twitter.", "This year will be the best year I've ever had.", and other things along that nature. Goals are Good, but be careful not to make one that cannot be accomplished.
Finally, the main topic that comes with the year 2012. Is the world going to end? No. But I think its cute when people do. I mean, what's going to happen? A huge earthquake is going to destroy the whole world? We'll be hit by a giant meteor? The world is not going to end. People think that because people need to believe in things. That's how we work. But just in case, I'm not going to do my homework December 26th, 2012.
To conclude, I think that New Years is fun and entertaining, but people shouldn't make more of a deal about it then every other holiday. It's another year you've survived, which is good. But it is also just another rotation in the calender. You have the same knowledge as the night before, and life goes on, which also goes for the topic; the world is not going to end.