RyanHarne.com

Today is significant. It is my grand finale, my final showdown. 3.2.1.Draw.

I leave for my last Fine Arts performance tonight. Art meets superficial "ministry" (my opinion, you can have your own). The trip will be the good part; I am looking forward to some hopeful relaxing and bonding, even more hoping to escape the drama of a normal ‘youth group outing.’ There’s always enough crap to go around and so little nutrition.

Road To Perdition was my last movie, last night. Again I ended with emotion up to my eye balls; so many feelings and new experiences. Revelations and brilliant glares of ‘hope.’ Innocence is natural, however evil is the tendency of life.

Well I’m off and I won’t be back.

Art. In all of the forms I have been exposed to in my years of life everything seems to hit me in a different and genuine way.

T.V. - Mr. Rogers, Fred Rogers, died this morning after a fight against cancer. His show ran for more than 30 years and affected generations of people. Even if cartoons showed up praising animated violence and a new form of early morning humor, Mr. Rogers stuck to his format for every show that was ever made. Sadly now television will inevtiably become just more of the irradic mess it has become. At least his message lives on, ‘Love yourself and others.’

Music - I’ve always been intrigued by the music of Steven Curtis Chapman. And not just because of the incredibly catchy lyrics and tunes. Almost every song has an underlying motive, a reason for being written. His talent just continually shows its muscle as he releases another, simply phenominal piece of art. "All About Love" released several weeks ago, but I just purchased it last weekend. This happens to be even more so of a pointed album as it is simply a collection of love songs he’s written, many for his wife. I can’t tell you how good this album is. I’ve tried before to herald the grandiose of "Declaration" (his last album) and it didn’t work. I am going to go out on a limb here and say something I feel is appropriate: Steven Curtis Chapman is the most talented artist in the world. He writes all of his songs, lyrically and musically; his concert performances are powerful (Jeremiah and I can vouch for that one); his personality is so pure and genuine, nothing is hidden behind a vague sense of "expression" or "originality." I can not cease to be impressed by SCC.

Movies - This could just be me, but I can’t think of a Tom Hanks film that I left wanting more. From Apollo 13 and Forrest Gump to Road To Perdition I am still in awe. I saw CastAway last weekend as I had mentioned and left with such a profound and definite impact in my mind. I can remember leaving the theaters after seeing Road To Perdition and just having no words to describe what I had inside. Some actors make the big screens, but only the good ones leave the theaters with us.

I’ve decided to totally redesign this blogging idea. I no longer want to give a datebook response to the world but would rather comment on things that I am thinking about, even if I leave out a few life stories. But I will always mention what movies I’ve seen

First off; Congrats to Adam who got accepted to VT!! Super-hopefully we’ll be roommates.

Friday night I saw A Guy Thing with Adam and Dan. I wasn’t impressed. Just superfluous, cheap comedy, and much wasn’t very funny actually. But with the knowledge that Julia Stiles is hot (thanks to Dan) the movie was ok to sit through. Then again, I’ve always been so impressed with Stiles’ acting that it’s almost as if have to see her films. At least I made it through this one. 2.9 out of 10.

Saturday was the day from hell. It was so full of things to do and places to go that I started getting physically sick and ended up needing some pain killers. But not that it stopped me from seeing

Just Married, which wasn’t bad at all by the way. Not only was I feeling better by the end of the film, but actually thought it was an ok flick. I didn’t want to see it however because I had heard so many bad reviews of it. The storyline was actually decent and the humor was good. Not bad for post-8Mile Brittany Murphy. 3.9 out of 10. And thanks to Allison for "taking me" to see it, even though I wanted to see Antwone Fisher before it leaves the theaters. Oh well.

Then I went to Mark’s where we hung out for a while and watched Cast Away. Wow, that was incredible. I had heard mixed reviews of this one and didn’t know what to expect. Ton Hanks scores again. Such an extraordinary use of music and sound. Realism and dramatic effectiveness out the hiz-zouse. It is definitely a eye-opener regarding our human tendency to forget the little things in life. I felt so lame after watching it; what a retard I am. Great, great, great movie. And The Road To Perdition (another Hanks film) comes out this week!! For CastAway I say yay with a 8.1 out of 10.

I’m starting to become jealous also of Adam’s and Jeremiah’s ability to find very funny links to flash whatevers. How do they do it…

I’ve been getting lots of feelings about the whole church thing. Like where’s the direction in my life regarding that and why am I there? I need some guidance obviously as far as where I should be attending and how to get involved in something even if there are specific time restraints on my visiting due to my future L-burg goodbye. Oh well, it’ll work out and if it doesn’t then I’ll still do my best to grow further within the college realm.

UPS came through with flying colors this week after they successfully delivered my two packages (different days). The first is something I can talk about because it’s a secret for everyone. The second was my new guitar. Wow, it rules!! The polished maple fretboard is the smoothest thing ever, lead parts will be adaquately covered, no doubt. I am happy.

Who’s in a Jetta mood? I am.

I’m going to be very busy in the next couple weeks and can almost promise the world that I will be able to make little updates. But don’t worry, better things are on the way.

I want to applaud Rianna on her recent blogging. I wish I was that attuned to ranting about the foolishness of America and everything else. I seem to have more talent for being shallow and cynical about media than I am about this nation.

But since I’m on the topic of ranting I’d like to make a point about Americans. I’m not just trying to spinoff of what Rianna had said but I can definitely agree with her and very much be a witness to her point about how superficial this nation has become. Each spoiled snob gets whatever they want simply because their father has connections or a wad of cash in the right place (maybe stuck up something…). I’m going to instantly notice this too at VT when people are being totally stupid and doing their "Beach Week every week" thing. Ugh, I’m just not good at making my philosophical opinions known. I admire Rianna for that talent

Saturday I had a b-ball game where we won again. Then I went to work (hell) where I found out they had stepped up their firewalls *yay* so now I’m basically stuck in my hole in the wall without even as much as a wink to the outside world.

I stayed home Saturday night due to the ice. I watched The Count Of Monte Cristo again. That’s such a powerful movie. Somehow it reminds me of The Four Feathers (which is out this week on DVD) but TCOMC actually has somewhat of a good ending. What’s with movies these days that they can excite the crap out of you and give you such profound feelings about life but no one seems to be able to finish a movie precisely enough that you walk away just in awe. Opening scenes are way important, but the conclusion has to be just as amazing. The Road To Perdition, Forrest Gump, Monster’s Inc., and About A Boy come to mind as having some of the greatest ending scenes; something to finally take with you. ::sigh:: If only every movie ended with such the effect that chick-flicks do…

So it iced all Saturday night and Sunday and Sunday night and ended Monday morning. Of course cancelling school. All total we have about 4-5 inches of solid ice. Not the greatest thing to drive in or walk in for that matter.
Sunday night I watched the 300th episode of The Simpson’s. I’ve been watching since I was just a kid (2nd season I believe) and have loved it from the beginning. Matt Groening is such a tv genius. His show ranks up there with the other greats like Seinfeld, Frasier, and [admittedly] I Love Lucy.

I spent today doing homework and wishing I had the talent to effectively speak my opinion without sounding rude or self-righteous. ::more Rianna’s talent coveting::

Happy Valentine’s Day!!! Much love goes out to all.

I’ve been very, very, very busy lately and have had zero desire to update, so I simply haven’t. And I’m still really not liking the long process of using Homestead…so yeah. And please forgive me if I forget to mention something important; I’m trying to cram a week’s worth of stuff in this update.

Well last Saturday was good. I went over to Raj’s place again with the group and this time we watched About A Boy. Just the greatest movie, and they loved it too. Great conversation and commentary.

Sunday was good. Went just fine.

Monday I woke to a 2 hour delay for school but had already gotten ready so I just got online and talked to Rachel who was also watching the closings and delays on tv. We fervently continued to wait for BedCo to announce it’s closing but no luck. Again and again we raced to the teles only to find out that it was stil on a 2 hour delay. Then at the last second, 9:00, they closed BedCo. So that was good.

Tuesday night was the Chili Olympiad at FMS. The jazz band played along with Savory and New Age Vikings. All went well and was worth it. Immediately following I had a basketball game. We won 50-42. Good game for me.

Wednesday was the Gov trip to Richmond. The ride was pretty good. We ‘watched’ some totally very bad politically related movies on the rides but they were so not even worth paying attention to. The trip itself was fantastic. I simply loved the House of Delegates and watching them vote which completely fascinated me. The bustle of that arena is just incredible. The Supreme Court was ok. I did find one appeal interesting; it was about a plaintaff who argued that his client should have been the awarded party in a case over the liability of untended property, specifically when a neighbor slipped and seriously hurt himself on his neighbor’s sidewalk due to ice that the neighbor had not cleaned off. One judge said he didn’t really have anything to fight against because he said it’s like "cleaning my property for the safety of my trespassers." Even better was Danny’s synopsis of the court: "the first judge questions everything, the second judge questions the important stuff, and the third judge makes fun of you as you leave." Good trip.

Thursday was another great basketball game. Very tense game and good competition. Went into overtime where we suddenly came out of the closet and dominated. We won 64-59.

Now it’s Friday night, late night, and I’m getting back home from a good evening. I had no other plans and so didn’t Allison so we went to see Drumline and then went to the Sundae Grill. I was hoping the movie would be good since it was sold out several times. But it beyond sucked. Like I seriously can’t tell you how much that movie is suck-worthy. It’s supposed to be a marching band movie but it’s soooo far from being like a marching band. And the big event that supposed to be all suspenseful at the end is the BET Big Southern Classic. That’s right, and all the bands play hip-hop and rap music. It was so stupid. When marching band goes wrong. 1.0 out of 10. But besides that attrocity of film, I think Allison and I had some good conversations about life whatever not.

Oh and I am now going to prom. I had deliberated myself not to on the basis of not having almost any fun last year and I just didn’t want to have to deal with the pleasantries this year. But I had thought about it (and I’m sure someone else thought about it too) and now I have a prom date. Her name is Kim

The week ended with another spontaneous snowfall providing 5 more inches of snow (equally about 1.5 inches of actual rain water) to our droughted supply. So schools were closed again and our fourth Friday off commenced.

But first Wednesday was a basketball game. We won, again, 54-42. This was the team that we actually lost to since one of our main forwards was out of town. But we definitely killed them on our second time around.

With so much homework staring at me I decided to completely give it a shivering cold shoulder and just basically slack off all Friday. I ended up getting some of it done Saturday and will leave the rest for Sunday (if I even get to it).

On my day off I watched one of my all-time favorite films, Back To The Future. The first one is just so good. Acting has always impressed me (although I was always curious about such an old high school student being played by Michael J. Fox). With the profound talent of Lloyd and Fox this movie shines. The plot has always intrigued me even if it is ultra unrefined and downtuned. Great movie.

Later that night I had an interesting conversation with my parents after I called Rianna to see if she wanted to see a movie that night. My father instantly labelling it ‘dating’ with his reasoning being that going alone with someone else of the opposite sex is the supreme way of defining dating (although he doesn’t have to prove his point). My mother refuted saying my sister had done that many times with a close guy friend in her high school days and never had intentions of dating him. So my father then asked, ‘What’s the difference between going out on a date and going somewhere with someone?’ I replied, ‘The difference between my opinion and your opinion.’ I have to admit, my reply wasn’t very tactful, but it shut everyone up.

So I had a Fine Arts practice that night. Went very well. Good sounds.

Then I went to the movies to meet Rianna to find out that she ended up getting hold of Sherrie, Raj, and Es (which was the plan in the first place but I wasn’t able to contact them all day). So we rented a movie and went to Raj’s apartment where the good times commenced. I will never forget the skis on The Price Is Right after that night. This is a totally inside joke thing, but it’s…soooooooo funny. Let’s just say that Mr. Barker’s ladies had the most interesting motions to display the ski/snowboard package.