Mid day Tuesday was hot and sunny. Walking down a busy road, going door to door just invited sweat all over the body. The breeze from the passing traffic did little to subdue the heat's affects. Stops for water, few and far between, were amazingly delicious for what seemed to be the best tap water ever. People in general were in an uninterested mood, but they were generally nice about it. They probably sensed the desperation as much as the perspiration rolling off our buttoned-up long sleeves and dress slacks. I question why I'm doing this with a guy I just met, but I have no choice. He's my ride, and I'm an hour's drive away from home. Why did I let myself get stranded just across state lines selling golf passes?

Being the unemployed recent graduate that I am, I've been applying left and right for jobs. One of the random places that got thrown my resume was Global Acquisitions, Inc. for a random marketing job. The first red flag would be that the Portfolio and Testimonials pages are "under construction." Sure they are.

I found the job on Career Builder, described as for people interested in sports and entertainment and promoting such. Don't care for sports, but entertainment is fine, and I can do promoting. Still, it had the air of one of those multi-level marketing plans. You know the ones. The managers tell you that this is new and trendy, that this is a cutting-edge form of marketing that bypasses the lack of connection through traditional channels of print, broadcast and internet. All you're doing is selling products with hopes of eventually managing people below you who sell products, who also hope to manage people below them who sell products. Hence the multi-level name. Until you get high enough in the organization, the pay is 100% commission. No steady pay check, not even minimum wage. Working yourself to death does not guarantee getting paid without a sale under your belt.

Of course, this was all confirmed in the first interview. Why then did I go back for the second interview? Morbid curiosity. Can't fully knock it until I tried it. Plus, I needed something to blog about.

The so-called "second interview" consists of the interviewee (yours truly) following around a leader (someone who's been selling for basically a month) to observe and see what the job consists of. The leader, meanwhile, observes you, imparts knowledge of the job to you and quizzes you at the end (real pen and paper quiz) for the manager to assess and decide on. Luck has it, I and another hapless interviewee were stuck following two of these leaders right outside the Fort Campbell Army Base, outside Clarksville, TN on the Tennessee/Kentucky line. The product? Passes to a golf course in a Kentucky town not too far away.

My leader's name is Joe. All four of us left in Joe's own car around 9:30 a.m. and took an hour to get to Fort Campbell. We then parted ways with the other two in my group on two different sides of about a four-mile stretch of Fort Campbell Blvd. Joe was dressed to impress, with his charcoal slacks, pink button-up shirt and blue tie littered with pink sea horses.

In fact, of our group of four, I alone did not have a tie, opting for simple dark blue slacks and a shite button-up with blue strips. Thanks to my recent hair cut and my wearing glasses, the other leader, Jamie, said I reminded him of Bill Gates. I don't know if he meant anything by that. I certainly avoided most of the sports discussion on the ride up. Mostly unfamiliar territory. Sports, not the ride.

After parking in a Pizza Hut parking lot around 10:30, Joe and I began our trek from business to business to get people to golf for $40 a piece. Wal-Marts and department stores of its like are awful places to pitch, according to Joe. Eventually a supervisor will kick you out. Sonics are bad because it's hard to get to employees. Guess Joe doesn't press the little red button. Car lots, however, are great places because, as Joe tells it, “they're salesmen too,” so it seems to be a camaraderie. However, not many car salesmen here golf.

Golf passes seem to be one of the worst products this sales firm deals with. The pitch originally given to me is that Global Acquisitions is contracted by organizations to sell discounted tickets and passes to sporting events or entertainment attractions. All this in an effort to fill otherwise empty seats. Organizations included the Nashville Predators, Nashville Shores and even Atlanta Braves. People don't mind sitting and watching a game, and even swimming isn't beyond most people. Playing golf, on the other hand, requires slightly more initial interest. And a set of clubs. As I'm told, that makes pitching trips to a gold course slightly harder.

The pro to selling around Fort Campbell is that there are a ton of soldiers to talk to, and a lot of them seemed to be out that day. They didn't seem to be avid golfers either. Most of the stores seem to be geared towards soldiers, with a wide variety of army surplus stores. Not many avid golfers there either. Plenty of clothing places, restaurants, banks and so on. Even the adult toy shops didn't have anyone who really golfed. Most people didn't play, and the few who did couldn't or wouldn't pay. It was turning into a long day.

Joe does have some own personal restrictions as to where he won't try and sell. He doesn't petition government buildings, schools or churches. Post offices are avoided less because of conviction and more because they just always have a long line. Places with “no solicitation” signs, however, are oddly fair game for him to solicit. I noticed at least three such signs in places we went into, and none of them said anything about it. We only had one person mention it, and that was outside a store we didn't even get a chance to see a sign to ignore.

Joe and I were to meet with Jamie and the other interviewee halfway on the strip as we approached from opposite ends. However, those two managed to “sneak” onto base, and by that, I mean catch a ride. Joe without any I.D. would be prevented from getting into the base. We were now left on the strip of stores all four of us had already hit in either direction. Approaching 2 p.m., over three hours in the sun, Joe and I sought sanctuary in a nearby Wendy's, where Joe regaled me with stories of making over a hundred dollars a day some days his first few weeks. This week, though, sales aren't going so well and money is getting tight. Maybe it's just because it's just a Tuesday. Probably not.

Joe started working with Global Acquisitions three and a half weeks ago and recently became a leader. The next rank up is assistant manager, where one finally gets a salary. While the move from entry to leader is just a few weeks, Joe says leader to assistant manager is six to eight months. That's six to eight months with no guaranteed pay. That has to take some dedication to door-to-door sales.

Joe and I eventually drove around, stopping and walking up to more businesses. Joe remembered a car lot he visited a couple weeks back with golf passes to a different course. They told him to come back if he had some to, just as luck would have it, the very same gold course we were peddling that day. Unfortunately, everyone who was previously interested were either not there or busy. We then head back to check on a couple of leads of interested parties we heard about along the journey.

Our one and only sale happened at the end of our journey, and was oddly enough at one of the first places we visited. One interested-yet-broke fellow said he would get money if we'd come back later. We did and he did, so we made our one and only sale for the day after walking around for four and a half miles in sweltering heat.

After the long day, we eventually reconnected with Jamie and the other interviewee for the trip back to the Global Acquisitions office in Nashville. Once there, we interviewees got quizzes on points of salesmanship and rules to follow and so on and so forth. Then the final interview with the manager. As tired as I was, I couldn't hide my lack of enthusiasm. She asked me to call her if I ever want to try again. She could tell I wasn't interested in the job, and she was right. I was only interested in going home and trying for a real job the next day.

Joe got $14 for that whole day of work, for that one sale after the six hours of wandering outside Fort Campbell and the twice hour-long trip between Nashville and Clarksville, not to mention his own gas fees or even his Frosty from Wendy's. Me? I got some exercise and a story to tell.

I actually had a job interview today. It was a company called Pancho, Inc. Particularly, it was for their web services site called mypancho.com, which provides domain names, hosting and website services. I was interviewed for a sales job, where I would be trying to get new customers to buy web services. It would start out on 20% commission (which was good from what I heard but feel free to correct me). I could also work out of home or out of the office, and it's flexable so I could still go on con trips. It's a small company that's only two and a half years old. They also seem to have started recording some audio CDs and record commercials for their products.

My interview went well, and from how it went, I basically have the job when I say so and sign forms. I'm kind of hesitant though, and I'm not sure why. It might be because I'm uncertain about how steady a paycheck from commissions will be. Really though, it may just be me being anxious at taking that next step in life in getting a real job. I told them that I would talk to them next week to sign any forms and nail it down. I don't think anything better for me will pop up in that time, so I guess I'll go for it.

Thoughts?

Also, one of the places I applied to, South Central Media, said they didn't have any positions for me but that they may keep me in mind for some freelance copywriting for the web, so that's cool too.

Yesterday, I got my first speeding ticket. I was going up I-24 from Murfreesboro to Nashville, and somewhere around 840, I was pulled over. The officer, a Tennessee State Trooper, said I was going 88mph in a 70 and gave me a ticket of $264.85. I don't think I can dispute the speed as I can't remember what my speedometer said at the time. I was in the left-hand lane, which was pretty open at the time. Needless to say though, it put a damper on an otherwise good day.

So now I'm looking for tips on what to do. I called the general sessions court in Murfreesboro to reaffirm what the trooper said. I can take a driving course to have the ticket wiped off my record, but I would still have to pay the ticket and this is only if a judge decides to allow this (both things the trooper neglected to mention when offering the alternative).

I have a court date of August 28. Why it's over two months away, I don't know. Busy ticketing season? I really don't know what to do in court aside from dressing nice and acting polite, as it would be my first time as an actual defendant, so I don't know anything that may cause the judge to have leniency. I'm open to any tips about that.

Since I'm moving out of Murfreesboro by the end of July, going back home to Madison, I'm thinking of seeing if my court date could be pushed up. This apparently flies in the face of the speeding ticket googling I've been doing that says to delay, delay, delay the court date. If anyone wants to weigh in on that, feel free to comment.

On another note, being the responsible son that I am, I called my dad to tell him I got a speeding ticket later that afternoon (actually called about an hour after but he didn't pick up then). There was the expected disappointed but somewhat understanding tone, aside from some BS he said about him never going that fast. My stepmom, however, got the phone and in a very condescending tone said that she's taking the car away by mid July. Her main point was that I'm going to be off her insurance now that I've graduated and that I need to get my own. This is something I've known. I just didn't need to hear it in such a disdainful, unhelpful-sounding mood. I can understand it though, with the car being in her name and me getting a ticket from a camera catching the car running a red light just two months prior. Still, it sounded like such a bad attitude that I had my initial reaction to whenever I hear her in that tone: to become frustrated, talk as little to her as possible in order to mitigate further frustration and anger and then spend time complaining about it (like I am here I guess.

That last part was just venting. If anyone has any suggestions on how to proceed with my ticket and my day in court, or if anyone has any good suggestions for a cheap car insurance carrier, feel free to post those in the comments.

Terminator Salvation is out in theaters today. Following up on a poor third movie and from what I hear a decent enough series that was relegated to probably the least prime time of prime time slots out there, Salvation serves to show us what has been talked about and shown in brief glimpses: the battle between humanity and Skynet. How does that fair? well enought but not outstanding.

Let's start off with the basics. This is not your typical Terminator plot as seen in Terminator 1-3 or even The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Gone is the unstoppable robot from the future and the outclassed protector sent to stop it from killing its target. Instead, this is your standard war tale of small resistance versus evil and unrelenting tyranny. This is what I like most about Salvation. Terminator was a good movie. T2 was a more polished and tweaked ite. T3 was a failed iteration. They're all the same movie. Here, the good guy forces can actually put up a fight, albeit not much, against the Terminators. There are similarities, sure, such as making sure Skynet doesn't kill someone, and a warrior misplaced from his time coming to the rescue (opposite direction this time though), but it's different enough to not feel like a simple rehash.

With that said, it really is a standard war tale. The plot is fairly basic and kind of clichéd. Most of the plot is predictible, and you can pretty much guess correctly how each scene will play out well enough in advance. In the end, there is no real huge change in the battle between humanity and Skynet.

The most average movie goer with basic knowledge of the previous films could likely find as many holes in the continuity as in swiss cheese. That tends to happen when time travel is thrown into the mix. I tend to glaze them over. Until we actually discover time travel, we won't know how it actually affects time, so let's not worry about those too much. Salvation does throw us some nods to the previous movies though. We get some short lines you may have heard before and a familiar face or two.

If you're looking for deep characterization, this movie isn't for you. The film's two main characters are John Connor (Christian Bale) and Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington). For Connor, we finally get to see him in the role prophisized about for 20 years, except not quite. He's not the all-out leader of the resistance, but instead is a commanding officer with superiors to begrudgingly answer to. We do see the inspiration Connor is supposed to bring to humanity in his own little fireside chats around the radios. Bale's performance accomplishes the task of making Connor be a rugged yet brooding leader-type, and that's about it. It's basically a toned-down Batman without the gravely voice. Not particularly deep or groundbreaking, so if you expected more out of the long-promised John Connor, sorry.

Marcus Wright instead receives more of the character focus. He is the human-Terminator hybrid given the second chance he's not sure he deserves or even wants. Wright gives Connor a run for his money in the brooding catagory with the sins of his past, the loss of everything he knows and the whole not fully human thing. Worthington does this brooding well enough to fill the plot, with maybe one or two too many "NOOOOOOOO"s.

We also see Kyle Reese, John Connor's eventual father, as a young man in the resistance. He's played by Anton Yelchin, and if you recognize him, that's because he's Chekov in Star Trek. He also probably seems the most human, with some actual signs of fear at the beginning but still able to keep his cool. No Russian accent though. Maybe that would have fooled Skynet.

The score for the movie is fairly forgettable, aside from the standard Terminator theme and a couple of boom box scenes serving nothing more than to rile up Terminators to tell humans to keep the music down, with a little force of course. Seems like Danny Elfman took it easy with this paycheck. Personally though, I don't mind as I like to occasionally hear what is actually happening in high-action scenes, of which there are plenty, but to each his own.

Speaking of high-action scenes, they are here in force. After all, where would a Terminator movie be without a big car chase or trying to fight off a constantly-advancing Terminator? Added to the mix are gun fights, fist fights and even jet and helicopter fights. Some of the scenes are repetitive (two helicopter crash scenes?) or long, which mostly seem to fill 2-hour running time that summer blockbusters these days seem to set as a minimum.

To wrap this up, Terminator Salvation is a fair summer blockbuster. It's got action and explosions and franchise references to warrant a viewing or two and please some fans. However, it has a clichéd and predictible plot and lacks strong characterization. Plus a re-edit could help, and maybe a better scoring. It works as a popcorn flick and for washing out the bad taste T3 left in our mouths. However, it does nothing to dethrone Star Trek as this summer's reigning champion thus far.

The ceremony was Saturday. I sat as hundreds and hundreds of my colleagues walked on the stage in front of me, receiving their empty diploma holders. The diplomas themselves get mailed out later, lessening some of the event's importance if you ask me. Knowing this, I still sat in my hot gown and cap as my family and friends watched from the bleachers. Finally, as the College of Mass Communication was the last group to go, I got my chance to walk on the stage. I was a bit more choked up than I thought, but I managed to walk across, shake hand and tell everyone thanks. Then back to my seat until we're done and I could go eat.

The funny thing is, I just found out I really graduated over this past weekend, thanks to my final grades finally coming in the other day.

So now I'm done. My bachelor of science in mass communication degree should be in the mail soon. My résumé is updated with my final GPA and cum laude status.

So now what? This particular week has been more lax and lazy that it should have been. Spent time hanging out with friends, doing some minor work, reading comics and eating way too much Steak and Shake. Aside from some résumé editing, I haven't gotten around to doing much trying to get a new job. I really need to get onto campus and talk to the career services people for some help on finding jobs.

In case any of my graphic designer friends are interested, I'm trying to work on banners for two WordPress accounrs, one for my geeky self and one for my more presentable, professional self. Given my lack of artistic talent though, I'm looking for help. If anyone is interested in hearing more, check out my request thread over at the MTSU Anime Club forums and feel free to leave a comment here.

Now off to try to be somewhat productive. We'll see how that goes.

"Parallel universe or alternative reality is a self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own." - Wikipedia

Rebooting a franchise is difficult, especially one with such a history and fandom as the Star Trek fandom. One needs a thick skin and a love for the franchise and the fandom. J. J. Abrams has definitely proven that love and care over the course of two hours that is the new Star Trek, which manages to start a completely new thread of story telling that old fans know nothing about without screwing up what they already know (already no small feat) while still paying a faithful homage to the original (perhaps an even larger feat). All the while, Abrams creates a fun and entertaining movie that is easily accessible and doesn't require intense experience of the franchise to understand or enjoy (probably the largest feat overall).

Besides, it's not the first time the franchise has played with alternate realities. Mirror universe, anyone?

Abrams and his writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman manage to create fun-filled and entertaining ride while simultaneously remaining unshackled by and utilizing the original Star Trek canon. The story is eventful and action-packed, but it has meaning aside from being a simple summer blockbuster. Indeed, the Federation and the galazy are in danger again, and it's up to Kirk and crew to save it both once more and for the first time.

Is this confusing anyone? Time travel tends to do that. Don't think about it too hard and enjoy the movie.

Back to Kirk and crew, you'll find many of the actors doing their roles incredible justice. The three that particularly come to mind are Karl Urban (Bones), Simon Pegg (Scotty) and Anton Yelchin (Chekov). You'll almost have a hard time believing they aren't the incarnations of the late Deforest Kelly and James Doohan and the thankfully still-with-us Walter Koening while they are also able to stand independent of their seniors in their roles. Zachary Quinto of Heroes fame does a great job of Spock as well, made all the more intriguing with Leonard Nemoy actually Spock as well, giving two different takes on the same character that both fit incredible well. Chris Pine does a good job capturing the essence of Kirk, as does Zoe Saldana with Uhura, but they don't seem to adapt their senior actor's performances as much as they make the parts their own. It does not detract from the movie or their roles, however, as they perform just as well as everyone and make their parts believable (some heavy-handed romance not withstanding).

With the villain of the movie, Nero (played by Eric Bana), his actions and mannerisms seem befitting someone with his situation and experience. He is not a great military tacticion, instead acting out of emotion. This brings a slightly-more unbridled fury not typically seen in major Star Trek villains that tend to be more cold and calculating. This does not seem out of sync with the franchise though as his origin and methodology fits in quite well. It is a turn to the more action orientation this film has over some previous films. However, Nero's rage and the subsequent battles that stem from it are very fitting.

And of course, one cannot forget the most important member of the franchise: the NCC-1701 USS Enterprise. She's pretty. Very pretty. There's a lot of nice shots of the ship in space, in combat and generally in any sort of action or just being stationed. She seems a faithful redesign of the original. The sets of the interior (and the technology overall) do a good job maintaining something that would look futuristic to us but not too futuristic in the Trek time line. Be warned though for those with intimate Trek ship design knowledge, I can't speak to the sets staying to scale inside the ship there they would actually fit, although talking with friends tell me that might be just as on par with the original series as most everything else.

Now in full disclosure, I consider myself a Star Trek fan. I'm not to the caliber of many people I know, especially not with an encyclopedic knowledge of the franchise or the technical data of every ship. Aside from Enterprise though, I have seen either a good majority, if not all, of every series and movie ever since I was watching The Next Generation as it aired on television. I used to run around as a little kid with a little TNG Starfleet emblem stuck on my shirt and even made my own cardboard Enterprise-D set for my action figures.

Speaking as a fan of the franchise, I enjoyed this movie and its faithfulness to the characters and the overall story. Speaking as someone who typically enjoys summer blockbusters, this won't disappoint and does not require heavy Trek experience to understand or enjoy. This summer will be packed with blockbusters from pre-existing franchises, such as Transformers: Rise of the Fallen and G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra. With any luck, they'll be just as accessible and entertaining while full of fan service as Star Trek is. I recommend seeing this movie.

Free Comic Book Day is the first Saturday in May when Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. actually does something good for the world of comics and works with the big and small publishers alike to produce and distribute free comics to be obtained at participating comic book shops around the nation.

But don't take my word for it. Listen to famous celebrity Hugh Jackman!



About 40 different comics were made for the day. I could only get my hands on three of them before my guilt of taking too many would kick in. Here's the rundown on what I got.

Blackest Night #0

Hal Jordan and Barry Allen (He's back if you missed a step) discuss the loss of friends and colleagues, as well as their own respective funerals, over Batman's grave. Hal makes note of how vulnerable the JLA has become since Barry's death and despite he and Bruce not getting along much, Hal still considers Bruce a friend. Then Black Hand of the Black Lantern Corps. comes to raid dead heroes' graves for fresh recruits

(Side note: Sue Dibney has a slightly bigger, more imressive tombstone than her husband Ralph, a.k.a. Elongated Man. Poor Ralph.)

The rest of the book is a mini enclypedia covering the different colored lantern corps. It's a good catch up for people who didn't know green and yello weren't the only colors anymore.

The Avengers

This book pits the New Avengers and the Dark Avengers (What, no Mighty?) begrudgingly working together to defeat a frost giant and save the world. Oh, and Thor's there for a little bit. The story is told from Spider-Man's view, which is obviously a great vantage point to see how screwed up it is to have Norman Osborn lead the Avengers, and even moreso when he actually makes sense (Those must be some powerful meds).

Also, just have to say, I love Venom back to the old spider symbol on his suit. Is anyone else waiting to see the Iron Patriot be painted green and purple though?

Shonen Jump Special: Karakuridoji Ultimo

Stan Lee's manga drawn by Shamen King creator Hiroyuki Takei makes its stateside debut. This crazy, old scientist (who bears an uncanny, amazing, incredible, fantastic resemblance to a certain comic creator) creates two mechanical boys that embody perfect good and perfect evil, names Ultimo and Vice respectively. Then time jump 1,000 years and Ultimo shows up to fight a giant monster.

Not much to the story in these few pages. However, this free comic has some neat extras, namely an interview of Lee by Takei, as well as a two-page wide centerfold with the Lee-esque scientist on the front. Finally, the book contains liner notes of other Shonen Jump series in the back.

So there you go. Three of the many books available for free from comic shops around the nation. If you want to know what the others are like, head to your local shop and see if they have any left. They are free after all.

I'm looking for a movie to compare with the film Medium Cool in a paper. I'm learning in a jaded journalism/media direction. It just can't be from the 1960s. Any suggestions?

I graduate two weeks from yesterday. On May 9th, I walk out of MTSU's Murphy Center with my B.S. in mass communication with a concentration in journalism. Haven't decided what I want to do with it though.

I really need to crack down on the job search. I need to find somewhere I can apply this "mass communications" training I've apparently received. If anyone knows a place, feel free to pass that along. I've also had going to graduate school suggested to me, possibly pursue further my computer information systems minor. Maybe not next year, as I should start making and saving some sort of income first.

On another note, another form of  commencement started last Wednesday. An MTSU Anime Club without behind one of its several wheels for the first time in over three years. I've been privileged for these few years to work along side my friends in running an awesome club.

That's not to say it was all fun. There's been plenty of conflict and head bumping over the years, but that's all part of game. It's been a trip. I am anxious to see how the club goes next year. I wonder how often I'll get the feeling to butt into the operations of things and say my thoughts. Probably more than I hope, just due to my nosiness. All will be fine.

All will be fine.

I still find myself hesitant and unwilling to speak up at times, yet the times I should do continue to increase. This is going to be some year.

Unrelated, why does every organization under the sun schedule events on a day I've had one planned on since January?