WHAT?!

Man hypnotizes cashier and steals almost a 1000 dollars. holy crap!

Hamburgers and Today's Worst Person In The World

I cannot wait for Lent to be over. I gave up hamburgers and I am dying to eat one. Especially this week. Since the dinning commons at USC are closed for Spring Break and don't have anything in the fridge I am really tempted to go out and buy a quick burger. But I can't, at least not until after Easter Sunday. To make matters worse - one of my favorite burgers (Jack N Box's Ultimate Cheeseburger is only $1.99)! Oh the humanity.

As for today's worst person. Lefkos Hajji planned an elaborate wedding proposal for his sweetheart Leanne. Lefkos blew up a ballon which inside held an engagement ring. He planned on popping the question and having Leanne pop the ballon - thereby freeing the engagement ring. Here is the problem, Lefkos had the ballon stolen away by a gust of wind which snatched it from his hand. Lefkos got in his car and tried to find the ballon for over an hour to no avail. All that being said he told his girlfriend what happened. Her response? Leanne now refuses to speak to Lefkos until he finds the ring or buys a new one.

Ungrateful, heartless, gold-digger Leanne of Hackney, London: today's WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD!!!

Today's Worst Person In The World...

Rene Santoyo, 37. Ms. Santoyo was a special educator for a 13 year old autistic girl who cannot speak. The child's father kept noticing that everyday after school his daughter would head for the refrigerator in order to eat. This in spite of the fact that he gave his daughter snacks for breakfast and 5 dollars to buy lunch. Turns out the Ms. Santoyo was stealing money from the kid. Over three days hidden cameras caught Santoyo stealing from the girl twice. The courts have ruled that Santoyo took the 5 dollars from the autistic girl a whopping 57 times. Santoyo has been sentenced to 6 months in prison and restitution. She has to pay back the 285 dollars she stole. Oh but it gets worse!
Turns out that after the initial arrest Santoyo was found to be on methamphetamine and had a drug pipe in her purse. She was stealing from a mute autistic girl so she could support her drug habit. Plus she had a prior theft from a Mervyns in 2001.
Rene Santoyo today's WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD!!!

Gnomes are real... and we have the video to prove it

Funny Games

I am obsessed with the idea of watching a new movie. It's called FUNNY GAMES. when i first saw the trailer late last fall one thing came to mind - Alex from Clockwork Orange. If anyone has seen that little ditty you can imagine that FUNNY GAMES is not going to be a heartwarming redeeming movie with a happy ending. If I am right and the home invaders are little 'Alex clones' it will be the audience who is tortured. The great thing abut CLOCKWORK is that it's violence is so sadistic and so difficult to watch. Part of the reason it's difficult to watch is because it all seems so very plausible. You aren;t just watching the violence on screen you re experiencing it. You feel just a victimized and helpless as the victims. Nothing captures that more than the "singing in the rain" rape scene in CLOCKWORK. Thats what makes FUNNY GAMES so intriguing. We have all see then home invasion thriller before. But this looks different. It looks more sadistic, it looks and feels more real. and the twist - the invaders acknowledge the viewer throughout the film. Whether the director is trying to say something about how numb we are to cinematic violence or making a commentary on ignorance of rich people to the violence that occurs everyday doesn't matter. What matters is that the audience who goes into this film expecting a SAW like thrill will actually be the ones who feel violated once the film is done. They will experience violence and torture in a non-passive way and more than likely without the cathartic happy ending that makes it all OK.

Back to Fenway

Went back to Yawkey Way to re-visit Fenway park on Sunday afternoon. unlike Saturday the sun was out and it was a clear sunny 37 degree day.
I had to run to the Boston Red Sox's Souvenir Shop in order to make it in time for the 2 p.m. tour. It was a great tour. I was shocked at how expensive it is to see a game at Fewway. The cheapest tickets are 25 dollars and the seats are over 420 feet away. In contrast the farthest seats at Dodger stadium are about 390 feet away and cost 12 dollars. Still it was nice to visit the oldest operating ballpark in the country and a place with so much rich tradition and history.

check out the funny little thing I caught at the cash register while buying a t-shirt for my uncle. While the cashier turned his back I quickly turned off my camera's flash and snapped the shop.

Rain and The T

Saturday was spent trying to dodge the rain. There were flash flood warnings throughout Mass. Still that didn’t stop me from getting out. I used public transportation (it’s so cool to be in a city that actually uses public transportation) to get to Fenway Park. I couldn’t go on the tour because of the crappy weather… still seeing the outside was pretty cool.