Swag

How's it going?!?

Ya, me too. Well I just thought I would let everyone know I am going to be blogging a little more. I've got a couple of ideas that I'm going to be implementing in the next couple weeks here. Just trying to make a little extra money here and there.

First, I know that no one wants to hear this, but I'm going to be doing some reviews and things on the blog here. Try to make some extra money. You know, just doing the college kid thing and trying to make it all work.

Second, I've got some things that I will probably be putting on eBay. I'll make sure that those get up on here too, it won't be much, but that will all be up.

I've also started up a CafePress store, SunSchrein's Shop. I've got some really simple designs that I wouldn't mind having in shirts. Some things that I can't believe that I haven't seen yet.

So I guess this is just kind of a little update, and I will be doing this a little bit more regularly.

Wondering What To Do: We'll Just Have To Wait And See

I am starting to wonder, how many times will it take before I actually start using and writing in the blog on a regular basis. That and when will I use my website for something regular and productive. I should really do something with it because I'm paying for it. Hmmmm... If anyone has any good ideas I am definitely open. Right now it's here: DevonSchreiner.com.

I actually have kind of a good story though. Yesterday Kevin and I took a nice trip to Sioux Falls with two lovely Russian foreign exchange students. It was really fun and interesting even though half the time we couldn't understand each other. We went to the mall, Guitar Center, Last Stop CD Shop and even to the Falls Park. Fun day.

So other than that I'm not sure what to do. I'll probably (or hopefully) just start posting a bunch of random stuff like this because I don't really know what else to do. I'll try to keep it a little interesting though, unlike this post...

News: The Next Fad

I'd like to start with a question today. (I've probably done that before but this time I'm stating it so you're ready.) Why do you pay attention to the news today?

Just like everything else in this world, news has become a thing of fads and trends that really doesn't provide anything of content. All there is on TV, Newspapers, Magazines, News Websites, and Social Network Sites is fad news stories that spike people's interest for a couple days, then we completely forget about them.

Take Michael Jackson's death. Here is the Google Trend's for Michael Jackson over the last 12 months.

All of a sudden, Michael dies and everyone buys and listens to his music. Why? His music isn't any better now that he is dead. It's always been there and it's not going to go for a while. But guess what. All 12 million people that downloaded Thriller on iTunes the Thursday he died because they 'Love Michael Jackson and love his music and want to remember him forever!' have already forgotten about him. Everybody left Billie Jean, Thriller, and Smooth Criminal on repeat all day long Friday, then let the songs get lost in their immense library to not be listened to again.

This is only one example of many. All of the celebrity deaths lately, (Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Billy Mays, Steve McNair) The protests in Iran, Air France, any of these ring a bell?

Why are these news fads becoming more prevalent? Why do people have to get so passionate about breaking news and then just forget about it the next day? If anyone has any insight on this, it would be great if you could share it.

The Devon Schreiner Concert Calendar

Tonight marks the start of the tour of concerts and festivals that I have planned for this year. I think there is a pretty good line-up already.

Tonight, at Nutty's North in Sioux Falls, Saving Abel is playing. Opening for them tonight is Pop Evil, Monty Are 1, and Taddy Porter. This should be a pretty good concert. If anyone wants to go, the tickets are very reasonably priced too.

Also, at the end of July, Dave Matthews Band is headlining The 10K Lakes Festival. They play on Saturday night along with the hundreds of other bands playing that couple of days. Now, I am not sure if this is going to work or not, but I'm hoping it will. DMB is playing on Saturday night and there is a concert in Brookings on Sunday night. Staind, Shinedown, Halestorm, and Chevelle. I would like to go to this one too, but that may be a lot for one weekend, we'll see.

Other Concerts that are on the radar but not confirmed yet would include Journey in Sioux Falls on July 19th, and you can't forget about Alice Cooper and Big and Rich at the Sioux Empire Fair. Then you can't forget Aerosmith, Saving Abel, Hinder, The Guess Who, Buckcherry, Tesla and a few other good ones out at Sturgis this year.

All-in-all, that looks like a good summer to me. Let's see how many I actually get to.

Washing Trailers Is Not Fun

I really hate washing out trailers. It's not a fun thing to do. Climb back 53 feet into the back of the trailer with the pressure washer and start spraying until everything starts flying. You get completely soaked and covered in everything that was in the trailer.

Today was not a fun day. We had to spray out a trailer that kept leaking crap out of the walls as soon as we would spray it out. I sprayed and squeegeed the trailer out for almost 2 hours before the guy from Tennessee was happy.

Which leads me into another great story. This guy from Tennessee pulls his truck into to get the trailer washed. I don't know what made him harder to understand, the fact that he had such a heavy accent or that he didn't have any teeth. So not only can I not understand this guy, I can't understand him for the 2 hours that I'm spraying out his trailer and he's trying to talk to me and tell me what to do.... Awesome.

But I guess this is what I'm getting paid to do, so I better do it with a smile. I tried, but it was hard... Oh well. Better luck next time.

Transformers 2: Almost Perfect in the Eyes of Devon

I went to see the fabled "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" the other day. I was ready for this movie to absolutely suck no matter what anyone says about it. The first one was pretty good and I figured there was no way for these guys to make another one that was anywhere near being called good.

First thing I noticed, it got a little bit long for me. It could have ended about a half hour sooner and I would have been fine with it. I don't need hours and hours of a movie to make me happy.

The next thing that I didn't really like about the movie was the amount of swearing it had. I do not remember the first movie having this much swearing in it. I thought that was a really stupid move on their part. You don't need swearing in a movie to make it good or cool. I felt like I was being vocally assaulted by a group of middle school boys that just heard a new swear word from a video on the internet and think they are cool for using it. It was a little bit much for me.

Another thing that I really didn't care for was I thought they were trying to be way to funny in parts that didn't need it. Like who were those two mentally retarded Autobots that they decided to put in the movie? Those two were definitely not necessary and I could have done without them. And how about when the giant, construction bot is climbing the pyramid and we get a nice gander at his 'wrecking balls'? That was also a quick little shot I didn't need to see.

One of the other things that kind of bugged me was Sam's roommate Leo....There's not much else to say than the fact that he bugged me. Sorry.

How about those action packed battles though. They were awesome right? Except for the fact that they were so cluttered, everything was moving so fast and the camera was shaking so bad that you couldn't tell what was going on. I think that's why everyone is so in awe about how awesome the battle scenes are, because obviously if you can't tell what's going on, it must be amazing. Just take my advice, watch the movie again and see if you can actually tell what is going on in during the battle scenes. Is that his leg or his head?

All-in-all, I thought it was a lot better than it was going to be. Good second try Michael. Maybe the third time will be the charm and it will be perfect. But until it is, I'm going to keep pointing out the flaws.

Two Thumbs 'Up'?

I think when there is so much hype for a movie that everyone has seen it and everyone knows what its about, I start to form an opinion already. For some reason, it seems like no matter if people really like it or people really hate it, if its a big movie, I tend to pick the opposite opinion than everyone else.

So right off the bat, I didn't like 'Up' because everyone else did like it. It's also a Disney movie which makes me less likely to like the movie because I'm not a seven years old anymore. So 'Up' already had a couple of strikes against it before I walked into the theater.

I just want to say up front, I thought the movie was very illogical, irrational and highly improbable. Let's start with the easy one, Carl floated his house away with baloons....really? If that was anywhere near possible, somebody probably would have done it by now. But sadly, it isn't possible, don't try it. And especially don't try to steer it with the curtains....

Then there's the dogs with the talking collars and the crazy bird that is similar to the Road Runner but is faster and can teleport.... I'm not going to go on though, you've seen the movie, you know how out there it is.

But alas, I am onto my second year of college and probably just can't appreciate the masterpiece of a children's movie that this is. I guess when you look at Disney's greatest classics, there isn't much more sense. The Jungle Book, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Shrek, the list goes on. So all in all, it's another great, off the wall, crazy Disney movie.

Make sure you check out my website, DevonSchreiner.com, and Kevin Loker and I's new podcast, HeyTalkTo.Me.