Reboot!

I’ve decided that I am going to reboot the blog. Basically I’m going to simplify things a little. The main focus of this blog from now on will simply be about whats on my mind. If it happens to be a movie I saw so be it, a song i heard so be it, and etc.

I want to start blogging on a more consistent basis, and because I’ve been wanting to do all these different segments (I.E. Music Monday’s, Random Reviews, etc.) I feel that I’ve been putting to much unnecessary pressure on myself.

More or less the content will remain the same, but it will be much more sporadic.

Sit tight…because I have a lot I need to get off my chest…

CHHASAJOB!!!: A Week Of No Complaining

For some reason last week, I decided to go a whole week without complaining about my job.

If you follow my twitter (@charmingawkward) you will see me say some pretty mean things about my job. I guess I figured people were sick of hearing it (So was I), so I decided to stop. Man was my timing off.

Another shift shortage is in effect, and the new supervisor continues their streak of not knowing what the fuck they are doing.

With a shift shortage, and supposedly not enough projects coming in….why in the blue hell did they hire two new folks?!!!!!!

Don’t get me wrong they are great folks, and I have absolutely nothing against them. In fact one of the new guys and I have been the shooting shit all day. But I am just floored that the higher-ups would just flat-out lie to us.

Then again it’s just business, right? Well…I would be more understanding of that, if the higher-ups weren’t trying so hard to be the “honest bosses, who are straight forward with everyone”. Yet they consistently lie, and blame our department for not meeting quota, for the company’s financial problems, for pissing off folks doing business with us, etc. Contrary to their perception of our department, we actually do our job to the best of our ability. With the little resources we have, and while juggling data entry; quota tracking; recruiting; sending emails around; and other mundane office task that would get done faster if they hired one guy to do strictly that.

Instead they’re answer is to hire someone who does not know what they are doing…brilliant, pure brilliance.

I wish I could go into more detail, but I need to be as vague as possible in case they find this, but the solutions are always in front of them, and they take the cheap; illogical route.

But maybe it’s just a business strategy that I don’t understand. Though I would like to believe that of all the business strategies that they would use, they would’ve used the most basic one “if you want to make money, you have to spend money”

Music Monday: Walking With A Ghost

I’ve had this song stuck in my head for damn near two weeks.

I’m not a HUGE Tegan & Sara fan, though I do respect all they’ve done, and a few of their songs have managed to sneak into my iPhone. It’s funny that I actually have not heard their most popular song until recently. “Walking With A Ghost” was released in 2004 on the groups album “So Jealous”.

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The song gained the the group a huge amount of notoriety. So much so that the following year The White Stripes covered the song.

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CHHASAJOB!!!: No New Job? Time To Make A New Job.

I’ve been on the hunt for a new job for a while now. The result always being the same disappointing frustration.

One would think that someone with at least 4 years of office experience would have some qualifications, but I guess in this “recession” it’s not the case.

At the end of the day I’m still at the indie company which is consistently fluctuating between going under, and barely  above water.

The big boss came the other day, and too his credit was pretty honest about the state of the company, but at the same time was very staunch about the way our department should run.

It’s kind of frustrating when everyone knows that things should be run a certain way, but concerns are heard then not taken into consideration.

At this point I’m over it. I know exactly what to expect from this company, and know that things will not change under any circumstances.  Not only that but considering that all places that are hiring seem to have a problem with a relatively qualified individuals like myself, I better just tough it out here.

I was talking with my girlfriend over the weekend about my employment frustrations. Now she’s had her own problems with some jobs, which ultimately led her to take her own personal business more seriously (which by the way you should all check out by clicking madameme.com). She pretty much advised that I do the same.

I’ve been on the fence about executing this plan because of a few reasons. But the most glaring issue is this…I am not 100% confident in my skills. I know I’m not terrible, but at the same time I have a hard time convincing myself that I make things that people will want to pay for. Though I have made logo’s that people really liked (see US VS Media’s Logo in my portfolio page).

Self-Confidence has always been a really huge problem for me. Though I’ve gotten better in certain aspects, it has gotten worse in other aspects.

I’m going to take her advice, and build a portfolio over the summer, and offer my services for absolutely free. I’m going to put together a real website as well.

I’m hoping this leads to something even remotely successful as my girlfriends business.

It’s all hopes, but at the same time…I’m aiming to make it so much more than just that.

 

CHHASAJOB!: The Neverending Search For A New Job

I walk into the office, and I get sick of looking at it. I’m sick of the pale walls, the dying plants, the burnt lightbulbs, the old computers, etc.

When it comes to the work itself, I’m just REALLY over it.

It baffles me sometimes how this otherwise easy job, can be complicated by one person. An entire mood can be changed by any one of the higher-ups deciding that they want a caucasian who plays xbox at 3am with the lights off  with mildly cooked hot pockets who is married and has exactly three kids that go to a school aproximatly five miles away from their home in east jesus nowhere.

The worst is that all of our resources to look for these folks are flawed. We have a choice between our out of date, and un-managed database, or outdated emails from craigslist that were already looked through by the jerk-off who works on the other side of the fucking planet.

What sucks is that you can’t complain about any of these methods without getting fired, no joke.

Around spring/early summer of last year I began shooting my resume in various directions in hopes of landing a new job. Granted I love the flexiblity of hours that this place offers…when there are shifts. But if have to sacrafice that to get my sanity, and a fatter wallet, then so be it.

We are coming up (or past) the year mark, and guess who is still here…

I’m sick of dealing with this place, and its bullshit. Yet I still can’t land a new job, which pisses me off even more.

School is the next option at this point, but thats not untill fall. Untill then I need to work, even though I overheard one of the higherups saying that there will be a work slow down this summer…great.

Random Reviews: Rapid Fire Edition!

Yeah, I know, its been a while since I’ve posted. But let’s change that. Over my extended blog vacation I saw a few of the latest movies. So what I’m gonna do is a rapid fire round of Random Reviews. Here we go:

Thor:

Thor was a movie that I was extremely iffy about. Mainly because of all of the Marvel superheroes, Thor would be the hardest to make believable, and not look silly.  Thankfully that wasn’t the case…but that’s not saying a whole lot. The movie can come off as a mixture of cheesy, and epic (sort of like a bowl of epic mac & cheese). This isn’t a bad thing because the movie is well aware of this and has its moments where it uses this to its advantages, mainly during Thor’s interactions with earth. One of the biggest problems I’ve had with this movie was the main villain Loki, he just doesn’t present himself as a very threatening force to Thor. Hopefully they can convince me otherwise by the time “The Avengers” hits theaters. One last thing to mention is that compared to Iron Man 1 & 2, & The Incredible Hulk; Thor is definitely the most “chick-flick” of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I mean my God, they really make use of Chris Helmsworth (the guy who plays Thor) charm, and physic in this movie that will make the ladies  melt in their seats. I went to go see this with my girlfriend, and all I heard for days after we saw it was “He needed more scenes with his shirt off” . All in all, Thor isn’t that bad, all things considered. Considering that Thor would be the most difficult to translate to film, the execution wasn’t that bad. It was entertaining, had lots of action, progressed the Avengers story line, had humor, and a fair balance of cheese; and epic.

Final Score: 7/10

Bridesmaids:

When it comes to movies surrounding weddings (with the exception of The Wood, & The Hangover) I usually tend to stay away. Thus was my intention with “Bridesmaids”. But the hype my girlfriend, and my friends were making about this movie got me curious. So I decided to go check it out, and I must say that it was one of the most funniest movies I’ve seen all year. Many will call this the “all-girl version of the hangover”, I guess that one way of putting it but I feel that this movie does offer a little more, and in some cases is WAY more raunchier than The Hangover. The cast is hilarious, Kristen Whig is hilarious, but I have to say that the one that steals the entire movie is Melissa McCarthy, not even Chris O’dowd (from one of my favorite comedies “The IT Crowd”) could hold a candle to her. Though it should be said that this movie does have it’s chick flick moments…quite a few actually. But thankfully it doesn’t distract too much from the humor. Overall, GO SEE THIS MOVIE!!!!!

Final Score: 9/10

Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

I have a confession to make, and that is that I’ve only seen one “Pirates” movie, and it so happened to be the one that is universally disliked, “At World’s End”. I’ll be honest one of the reasons this series never interested me was because apart from Jack Sparrow, none of the other main characters were interesting. Do we really care about Orlando Bloom? I don’t. I wondered “why don’t they make an all Sparrow movie?”. Well someone at Disney must have heard me (now if I can get them to hear me about Tron 3) because when “Pirates 4” was announced, I genuinely got excited. I thought “finally, a Pirates that is about the only character that matters!”. I saw this over rapture weekend, and I must say that this movie, did not disappoint. It was exactly what I wanted out of a “Pirates” movie. Johnny Depp as always is amazing, and Penelope Cruz didn’t do to bad either. The overall acting was actually really good, and believable.  The story was just your standard rat race to the fountain of youth, but midway through the movie you find out that everyone’s motives for getting there is different which makes an otherwise typical story much more exciting. The ending was a bit predictable, which would be one of two small gripes I had with this movie. The other being the Mermaid love story sub-plot that I think they could have done without. Overall, if you loved the first few “Pirates” you’ll like this one, if you like good popcorn-action, give this movie a shot.

Final Score: 8/10

Testing a new format

So I’m going to try a new format. From now on I will blog every Monday, Wednesday, & Friday.

There will be sporadic blogging in between but M,W,F will be guaranteed.

Stay Tuned.

-CH

Music Monday: Fitz And The Tantrums: Moneygrabber

Growing up in my household, you heard many types of music. My brother who would normally listen to a lot of the popular hip-hop/rap songs, had a very interesting Soul, Motown, & R&B phase in between, I remember being mesmerized by the sound…that is before my brother ran this into the ground by playing it over and over again. Which brings me to today’s Music Monday.

I’ve been hearing this song a lot lately, but have not been quick enough to pull out my Shazam app to find out who it is. Finally today, I had the chance to at the expense of nearly crashing into a parked car. All I can say is that it was worth it!

Fitz And The Tantrums is a throwback to the classic sounds of Motown, and Soul. Fused together with elements of hip-hop and funk. The track that got my attention is “Moneygrabber”. Upon first listen, You would swear that you heard this on a Time Life Motown collection. I’m truly in love with this song, and not only recommend it but demand that you get it! Still not convinced? Take A listen

Fitz and the Tantrums – MoneyGrabber:

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CHHASAJOB!: The Great Shift Shortage Of 2011 (Pt.1)

I don’t know if it’s something that all Market Research companies go through, or if it’s just this company that goes through this.

But at many different points in the year, there will be a shortage of projects, and what follows is a plethora of shift cuts for the grunts.

These shortages come at the most random times, and there is no real way to calculate when it happens (unless you are a higher up). I’ve been working here for two years, and I thought it only happens during the summer, and the month of December.

Yet last year there was plenty of work during the summer, as well as December.

I always thought that April was a safe bet for work, but this year April has been hit hard with little to no projects.

Which leaves me with time on my hands, but with no money to show for it.

It’s rather annoying.

Random Reviews: Arthur (2011 Version)

Many things can be said about Russell Brand. Personally I don’t think he’s that bad. For what he’s worth he is a very funny actor, despite me being able to take in doses, Which sucks for me because he is in about 20 movies this month. There’s one where he is a rabbit, one where he is a millionaire, one where he is a toaster, and so on. Out of all the movies he is in, the one that looked the most tolerable was “Arthur” a re-make of the original 1981 movie.

Now before I begin this review, I should mention that I have yet to see the original 1981 movie, so if you were expecting a “compare & contrast” review between the original and the re-make, you are going to have to look elsewhere. But chances are that you hate this movie already because anytime there is a re-make of ANYTHING it’s instantly hated.  So I’m going to review this as a stand alone movie.

This movie was not what I was expecting, I expected something along the lines of “Get Him To The Greek” with that usual Brand-like humor we all know and love. While you do get that with this movie it’s mostly downplayed in favor of the story.

The story goes as such. Brand plays Arthur Bach, an heir to the fortune of his mothers company. Arthur is pretty much what you would expect from a modern-day heir he drinks, parties, sleeps with tons of women, and spends money freely. His behavior is so out of control that he has a nanny named Hobson (Played by Helen Mirren) who has to put up with Arthur’s behavior. After a night another night of his antics, Arthur’s mother delivers an ultimatum. Either marry Susan (played by Jennifer Garner) or get cut-off from the family fortune. Arthur reluctantly agrees. But it is around this time that he meets Naomi (Played by Greta Gerwig) and falls for her. The rest of the movie is just Arthur lost between choosing love, or money.

Brand actually delivers a few dramatic, and heartwarming performances…well as much as Russell Brand can at least. I did have a little bit of a hard time really accepting Brand’s performance because of what we are used to from this Katy Perry marrying, Noel Gallagher best friending, popular British guy (AKA the life I wish I had).  But nevertheless it was believable enough, and actually took me be surprise.

The rest of the cast was pretty solid, with the exception of Nick Nolte who gives a very, very awkward performance as Susan’s father. Helen Mirren’s performance was amazing, and the chemistry between her and Brand was believable and made for some of the movie’s most funniest moments.

One thing that did kind of annoyed me was the at time’s frantic pacing of the movie, it jumped from a nice pace, to an awkward pace, to a hurried pace. Another thing is the story did seem a little cheesy, and predictable. It follows a pretty standard “romantic-comedy” pattern which could make the movie a little less enjoyable.

The bottom line is that this is a good date movie. The antics between Russell Brand, and Helen Mirren are what really stand out in this movie, but it is a little cheesy. Nevertheless I enjoyed this movie, and you might get a kick out of it.

Final Score:
7 out of 10