Socialism maybe? or something like that or maybe just a hybrid, who knows at this point.
Now I’m sure you have heard something about this radical socialist opinion before and yes it is ridiculous to some extent. Now just to clear this up, I don’t think we our going to end up like Communist Russia with people standing in lines for their equal ration of food. But lets face it, you can’t listen to everything that’s going on with our country and not wander where is this all going to take us. No matter what, this stimulus package will be a catalyst for something and we are soon to find out what.

Damn this is a lot of debt

What have we’ve seen so far:
A movement toward big government has been taking place right at our feet. With the bailouts, house committees questioning big industries, and the new bailouts goals to create new industries in clean energy, the government has taken a lot of ownership and stake in private industry. We are now seeing nearly whole industries, i.e. the auto industry, with taxpayer ownership. We the taxpayer now have a rather large piece of the banking industry as well. To top it all off theres a large movement for centralized healthcare, great idea until 50% of your paycheck is paying for it whether you use it or not, and the quality of care is 50% less to boot. More government involvement and common ownership in industry is one the most well known ideas of socialism.

“with a fair or egalitarian method of compensation.” this quote was in the opening line of a definition on socialism i read on wikipedia. I couldn’t help but think of those wall street executives who are definitely overpaid idiots and how people are calling for a more level compensation for them. As dumb as their pay may be that is the genius of private industry and capitalism, your opportunities to make money are endless and you can reap all the benefits you want, no matter how greedy and bad for the company it is, especially if your the one in charge! We shouldn’t steer away from the American Dream.

And what about the basic ideals of Capitalism, “with every failure comes new opportunity”. Let these companies fail, because new opportunity will surely be gained from that. If one of the big three auto manufacturers shits the bed, that creates a piece of market share that could possibly be grabbed up by competition or lessen the barriers to entry for a cleaner technology car company to get in the market.

And lastly, lets talk about the government throwing money toward the mortgage crisis, another big bill signed into effect today. Like we all didn’t see a problem coming here, people were making 10′s of thousands by buying a house and holding it for a year and then re-selling it. Notice how all those house flipper shows have slowly faded off TV. Blame what you will on the lenders for predatory lending, but everyone was getting rich off the industry and no one was complaining. For each of these bad banks, theres a 100 others who are legit, but now are paying the price in new FDIC insurance premiums to help fund the bailout. People forget to put the other half of blame on the homebuyers. Bank: Hey I have an adjustable rate loan, which means that your rate will start as this, your monthly payments will be this, but at anytime your rate could change meaning your monthly payment will change. HomeBuyer: That sounds great!…….. These are the problem loans and what all the foreclosures are about, them and interest only loans where people only pay interest on the loan, nothing towards paying back the actual principle amount, yea that sounds like a responsible move! Do Your Homework! Once we get a home we use it like credit cards to accrue huge debt based on their equity. The positive is that in 10 years you may once again be able to buy a house in cash if your save hard enough.

Take all this with a shot of whiskey, cause you can argue everything thats going on a hundred different ways, these are just a few things I wanted to mentioned. The biggest problem with our country of late is that we always want to have our cake and eat it to. We can do that, we just have to pay for it with a ton of taxes. People forget that sometimes priority needs to be put on maintaining survival. Example: Props to NJ governor John Corzine, he is a proposing that state workers work two days less a week to save the state money to help keep us out of enormous debt like Cali is in. People are up in arms. The flipside, NY governor Patterson, is proposing state healthcare cuts to save money. Which way would you decide? One thing’s for sure, it ain’t easy. But maybe just maybe when all is said and done, American’s will learn to live up to their means and put the priority back on the things that really matter.

So I seriously can’t remember the last time I went to the movies to see a horror flick.  It’s been that long.  I know why I haven’t. It’s because with the exception of a  gore filled Rob Zombie film, The Ring, and The Sixth Sense there hasn’t been anything I would seriously pay to watch.  Don’t get me wrong I can sit through even the cheesiest slasher flick, because no matter how cheesy,  the filmakers usually stick to that age old slasher formula that always keeps your attention.   In thinking about these flicks even more (it took about 2 secs of thinking) i broke it down to 2 essential parts that will create a great slasher flick. This aint rocket science, most us know this already.   Lets a take a look at the 2 key parts to this slasher flick formula.

PART 1) The tits and asses of D level actresses who moved to LA because they knew showing their TnA would get them something.  Well thanks for a following a dream babes because slasher flicks leading ladies and their bodies never disapoint.  

PART 2) Giving viewers the chance to watch the deuchiest of doosh abercrombie american eagle rich frat boy faget getting slaughtered by some psycho who has the same instant dislike we all get just from looking at those kind of dudes. This helps emotionally connect us to the film.  We all can relate.

The new Friday the 13th used both these parts perfectly.  For me and I’m sure most who have seen it, this meant that i walked out thinking that the movie kinda sucked but upon further pondering realized it was actually kind of entertaining.  

Though not a true remake of the original this new version of Jason Voorhees and his victims does a decent job of referencing the first two films, especially the ending.  We are back at crystal lake and the machete slashing gets off to a quick start.  The  plot is of course weak, but like i said, as long as you realize thats not what your watching it for, you will be entertained.  Don’t expect it to be as a good as the Texas Chainsaw remake either b/c of the director, its not even close.   I must say that Jason’s killing techniques are better than ever, i mean a naked girl in a sleeping bag hanging over an open fire is definitley creative.  Conversely this film had a lot of good jokes too, more so than any slasher movie i have ever seen, and they were actually good for the most part.  Plus Willa Ford has some excellent scenes you will surely want to see, D level actress type shit us dudes are captivated by.  All in all i wouldn’t recommend paying to see this movie like i did, but def worth a viewing.   Check out the trailer and figure it out for yourself.

Buy the original, filmed in Blairstown, Jersey botches!  Friday the 13th Uncut [Blu-ray]

I first heard about The Felice Brothers a few months back in a review that I read in Transworld Snowboarding. They bring a very folksy sound to the table, and no I’m not talking about country. The story telling music thats mellow to listen to. If you ever were into Dylan or Neil Young you will like these guys. The song below, Frankies Gun is actually kind of a rip of Knocking on Heaven’s Door but good none the less. If you dig it check out “Love Her Tenderly” another goodtime jam by them. Also, I’m not sure who this ballbag in the video is I was just trying to find the music and this is all that was out there, no need to pay attention to him.

Possibly the best non comical commercial from the superbowl. Once you realized what is it was you know you nutted your pants just a little.

They should make Joe Dirt 2 starring this dude. Could be staged but funny either way.

There’s clearly something about a snowday that brings out the best feelings in all of us. Maybe it’s because it reminds of us of being kids and that anticipated excitement of a day off of school. Maybe if your like me it’s because snowboarding is your favorite thing to do and any amount of fresh snow always has the potential to be a great time. I think what everyone can relate to is the feeling of freedom we get with any snow or ice storm. We feel free because we are suddenly released from the grind of our daily lives. The job, the demands, the schedule are all washed away when mother nature takes a shot at man made infrastructure.

If your a snowboarder the 2nd thing that crosses your mind on a day like this after being stoked about not having to head into work, is where can I shred today? After a midnight call from a friend as the snow was starting, the executive decision was made to call out of work and ride a small mountain in Northern NJ called Hidden Valley. Our crew of 3 shredders met up around 8am the next morning and arrived to dumping snow and empty resort parking lot, a riders dream really. Hidden Valley is the type of mt that has stayed true to it’s roots, still using the same chair lifts it started with 25 years ago and not bowing down the commercialization of snowboarding and big brands like it’s neighboring spot, Mountain Creek. The place still has jersey ski scene all over it though, lots of man made snow, monster ice mounds from snow blowers, and you can hit every trail on the mt in less than 30 minutes. So naturally, this makes us Jersey born shredders super creative on the hill, put simply you can’t be scared to take on a mound of ice.

The day started off fun as hell, 5 inches of fresh and we were 3 of maybe 15 people on the whole mountain., pretty much had the place to ourselves. We thought our huge powder slashes were so kool, we decided to film them, after reviewing the film they weren’t nearly as kool as we thought. But thats the fun of shredding; the littlest thing or smallest creativity can seem so awsome to you as your riding. The leftover ice mounds from snow machines were especially fun to screw around on, one in particular was a perfect natural wall ride (pic below), sketchy as hell though because the whole inside was hollowed out. In typical Jersey fashion our day was cut short as the snow turned to ice then rain, but being true soldiers we rode til we were soked. After the rain/ice passed we are made are way back out the great powder from hours before was crusted over with a sheet of ice. The park there was shitty to say the least, but they did have a buried short bus with endless possibilities. Razor was ripping pop 180’s off the corner and after a couple attempts i was finally successful in gapping the whole thing. Our spirits were lifted from the bus session so we decided on one last run, never a good idea, and we paid for it by getting stuck on a broken lift for 30 minutes. We were so frozen and stiff by the time we got off we could barely make it down the mountain and thats how our day ended. Powder slashes to rain soaked gear, ice runs and ice walls, a sweet park session and getting stuck on a lift. Just another day as a Jersey shredder.

New Jersey Wall Ride.