Have you ever been in a situation where you thought to yourself "this has got to be the strangest thing I have ever done"?  No, I'm not talking about some twisted sexual encounter...get your mind out of the gutter.  Well this past week I had one of those experiences, something that I could have never pictured myself doing.  What was it?  I ended up Thursday night walking through a crowd of people and introducing myself to them and saying "Hi, I'm running for U.S. Senate".  Last week I mentioned that anti-illegal immigration rally that this local radio guy Phil Valentine was doing.  Anyway, I go up there after work and wait a few for the crowd to grow, and then walked around, introduced myself, and handed out a bunch of flyers with my website www.boforsenate.com on it along with some key issues.  Honestly I expected people to go "yeah...great...no thanks" but they didn't.  People actually were interested in what I was doing and I ended up talking at length with more people then I thought I would.  I'll tell you this...most of the people I talked to were fed up with the way the government was handling the illegal immigration problem along with other things.  Yes, people are actually viewing the Republican party, the party they are supporting, as wimps.  Several people told me they would love to have another choice.  Overall it went better then I thought it would.  However, I did promise some comedy this week so allow me to tell you about one choice individual I spoke with.  This guy was probably around 60 or so, and I introduced myself and handed him a flyer.  Here's how the conversation went -

Him - "Thanks but I can't vote in this state"
Me - "How come?"
Him - "I'm not from here, I live in a state where people can actually read and write"
Me - "And where would that be?"
Him - "Texas"
Me - "Oh yeah?  I lived in Austin for about 3 years"
Him - "So you know what I mean then"
Me - "Well not really"
Him - "All these people out here happy they protested the state income tax...hope they're happy...you guys need that money for the schools here...there's a reason you rank 49th in education"
Me - "I don't know, I think there's better ways to raise the money besides more taxes.  They could always cut back on programs that aren't needed and use that money"
Him - "Huh!  I'll tell you something else, this ain't no illegal immigration rally...it's just an anti-Mexico rally.  What about the Serbs?  The Pakistanis?  The Iranians?"
Me - "Well they've talked about that some, that's what the one guy meant by OTM - other than Mexican"
Him - "These people don't care!  I guarantee you these people here all hire Mexicans for cheap labor...a bunch of hypocrites!"
Me - "I wouldn't say that, or I don't think they'd be here"
Him - "Mexicans have every right to be here!  Hell, they fought alongside Americans at the Alamo!"
Me - "Everyone has a right to be here as long as they do it legally"
Him - "Huh!  Well these people are hypocrites!  Hope you enjoy your bad schools!"

It was around this time I just kind of excused myself.  I don't mind talking with someone with a differing viewpoint, but jeez...please make a little sense, ok?  By his logic, there could be a big anti-drug rally somewhere and he would be saying that everyone there was a dealer.  I don't know about you, but if I wasn't against something I don't think I would waste my time to show up at a rally to say I was against it when I wasn't.  But what do I know, I went to Tennessee public schools, right?  Ize just wun uv them dum hilbilleez.  Anyway, it was my first outing campaigning, and hopefully there will be many more to come...it was definitely an experience.

Oh man, I watched a killer movie this week called "The Machinist".  It stars Christian Bale who is quickly becoming one of my favorite actors.  If you didn't know, this is the dude who is starring in the new Batman movie which looks quite awesome.  If you want to see just how good this guy is, check out "Equilibrium"...truly one of THE greatest movies ever with some of the best fight scenes I have ever seen.  You know what?  I'm going to go out on a limb here.  Remember weeks ago when I was talking about the lack of cool and macho actors?  Christian Bale may be the one of this generation...no lie.  The first movie I saw him in was "American Psycho".  Now while it wasn't anywhere near as good, or as twisted, as the book, he did one heckuva job in it.  Even in "Shaft" which was kinda just ok, his role was pretty cool.  In Equilibrium he was badass-ness personified, and now he's the new Batman.  Oh wait, "The Machinist".  Anyway, he stars in it and I swear if I didn't know it was him ahead of time I honestly don't know if I would have recognized him.  From what I read, he normally weighs around 180, and for this role he dropped his weight to 120.  I swear man, he looked like a concentration camp prisoner.  To drop the weight all he did was eat one can of tuna and like an apple every day.  Why did he drop all the weight?  The character was a dude who hadn't really slept in almost a year and was losing his mind...he couldn't really eat and was having a hard time distinguishing between what was real and what wasn't.  The movie was awesome.  I even watched it twice this week and it was better the second time.  It's one of those movies that has one of those endings where you're like "whoa...I never saw THAT coming" but it all makes perfect sense.  In fact, if ANYONE says "oh I knew how it was gonna end" they are LYING.  The whole movie is very Alfred Hitchcock in the way it's done...and it's an awesome story.  But Bale played the role to perfection.  I love those kinds of movies where the thing takes you on a journey and drops you off at the end with that moment of "wow...I never saw that coming".  Those are very rare.  When done right you feel like as you watch the movie, you honestly don't know anymore about what's going on then the main character...and if written and acted well...they can be truly classic films.  In fact, this now joins my other two movies in that "I never saw that coming" category - those would be "Fight Club" and "Memento".  "Fight Club" is brilliant from start to finish.  And you know what?  I know Brad Pitt is one of those pretty boy guys which means I should despise him, but I swear it's like every movie he's in just rocks.  Of course I'm saying this before I see this new one with Miss fake lips and fake who knows what else.  But "Fight Club", "Kalifornia", "True Romance", "Interview With A Vampire", "Spy Game", "Troy"...all those rock.  "Memento" is a head trip beyond belief.  It is soooo original and done so well.  It's a movie though that you still aren't really sure exactly how it wrapped up at the end but it all makes sense in some weird way.  I love that movie.  Now I will say "The Machinist" isn't for everyone...it's kinda dark and there's this underlying theme of paranoia and guilt all through it which can sometimes be a downer....but I would suggest it to anyone wanting a great drama.  I mean c'mon, Christian Bale dropped to 120 pounds for this thing...the least you can do is check it out.

Man, speaking of movies it's only two weeks away - "Land of the Dead".  To think the man that started it all with the great zombie movies, George Romero, has a new zombie movie to unleash on the world is a truly landmark event.  What scares me is I just really hope this one isn't too Hollywood with little one-liners and stuff.  I don't watch zombie movies to hear funny one-liners and wisecracks, I want to see guns, explosions, and people getting ripped apart by a pack of hungry zombies.  In fact, I haven't even really discussed this movie much with my fellow zombie-loving buddies for a very simple reason - I am downplaying it beyond belief. ; Honestly this movie is like a new Star Wars for me, but people I know would never know that.  I am so scared this thing won't be any good and I am soooo looking forward to it so I have done an unbelievable job of containing my excitement.  From what little I know about the plot, this does have the makings of an instant classic, so I really am keeping myself calm about it.  Oh if only people knew the internal struggle I go through with something this important...and the sad thing is I'm not exaggerating.  How old am I again?  I want this movie to be one of those types where after it's over me and my buddies are all like "oh man...what about when this happened???" and all that stuff...I want to be able to talk about it for weeks and saying how cool it was.  Someone hold me please...I'm scared.

Well the new and improved NoiseCult site is finally up....check it out at www.noisecult.com.  We actually have stuff to sell on there!  Yep, shirts, DVD's, CD's, everything.  We actually seem like a real band!  This past week we finally got those Misfits covers done for the upcoming West Memphis Three CD.  The songs?  Hatebreeders and Nike A Go-Go.  All we have left to do is mix them down and so far they sound pretty awesome...but it's me recording Misfits songs...what do you expect?  That is truly one band I will never get tired of.  But speaking of tired, I am tired right now so that's it for a few.  Plus, I am trying my best not to go on any rants about world affairs this week and there are TONS of things I could...so I won't...maybe next week...hahahahaha.