Makin UV Better Has Moved!

Hey everyone,

I appreciate all the support I have gotten for this blog and now I am moving it to an actual website. You guessed it, it's www.makinuvbetter.com. My movie blog will also be combined into this website. I hope to see all of you there. Thanks for everything!

Sincerely,

Jordan Makin
Makin UV Better

Tweeted to by a Semi-Famous Band

With the announcement of the lineup for the upcoming Twilight Concert Series, my mind turned to bands I need to see before I die. A couple of them will be coming to the series, as I've always wanted to see Explosions in the Sky and Bright Eyes.

My all time favorite band is Everclear. I was raised on 90's Rock and they were the epitome of everything I loved about it. They are far past the glory days they had back then, but they still tour around (mostly in California & Oregon). The lead singer, Art Alexakis, is getting old and has a new band with him, so I feel I'm running out of time to be able see them live.

In my nostalgic despair, I sought them out on twitter and said this:

Later today, I received a tweet back. It's not even a big deal. If you remember, just a couple weeks ago Judd Apatow tweeted to me. I guess celebrities just love me ***ARROGANCE***

A smiley face at the end would have made you sound less annoyed, but I'll take it :)

Now, Everclear doesn't have a whole lot of followers, and not even a verified check next to their account.. but I'm pretty sure it's them..

If not, I still have Judd Apatow as my claim to fame!

I'm beginning to realize how anti-climactic and self-serving this post is... TELL YOUR FRIENDS!

If the World Ends Today (Will you be saved?)

Apparently the Rapture is happening today.

Not this Rapture..

For those of you who don't know what the Rapture is, a couple of things happen.

1. The righteous will ascend into the air to meet the Lord / be captured in Abraham's bosom (yes, that's a good thing)

2. The wicked will be left to Earth to deal with the apocalypse, in which they will burn.

Now of course, don't stress too much. There's way too much grey area to decide whether or not people are wicked or righteous. So I've made some very general guidelines to help you figure out whether you will be chilling in a bosom or burning in the dirt. If you fall anywhere in this great area, I think you're okay.

If you have this bumper sticker,  I think you're overconfident

You're Righteous If:

1. You're generally nice

2. You have generally good intentions

3. You say "Thank You" when appropriate

Don't worry about all the other mumbo-jumbo going around, I think just about everyone I've met meets those requirements.

See You in the Bosom!

Retweeted by a Famous Person

Today will go down in history, my friends.

I am supremely stoked about what just happened.

On May 6, I tweeted this:

Yes, there's a typo - I meant to say "come on"

I was about 45% sure there was a chance it could happen.

just not so soon..

Well, Last night I saw Bridesmaids, which literally was one of the funniest movies I've ever seen.

So naturally, as a Twitter enthusiast does, I tweeted to Judd Apatow (the producer - also director of Knocked Up, Funny People, 40 Year Old Virgin) to tell him what I thought:

This morning, as my niece woke me up at 9:30 (2 hours earlier than I was planning to wake up), I checked my Twitter, and was surprised to find this:

My goal of the summer has been reached! sheesh, what am I going to do with the rest of my summer...

but yeah, I responded with this:

 

I don't know if he'll notice this tweet, but even if he doesn't, I still feel like we're really good friends now. Hey Judd, if you're reading my blog now, I'll star in any future bro-mance project you have coming up.

Anyway, this blog post is to let you know that dreams can come true. Who knows? Maybe by the end of this summer, I will have retweets from Justin Bieber, Jonah Hill, & Charlie Sheen.

Summer Fun

OMG, guyz - sarri I havnt bin blogg'n az much. 

I hav bin havin so much fun wif summr

dont beleev me?

chek it:

PIX

I'fe bin chillun wit frenz!!

sweengun teh klubz!!

and goin to the pool wif my GURLFREN!!!

OMG TOTEZ LUV SUMMR SO MUCH!!!

Erin Spencer's Top 10 Worst Movies of All Time

Erin Spencer recently did a guest review on the Makin Movie Blog for the movie, Red Riding Hood. Surprisingly enough, this movie ended up in her "Top 10 Worst Movies of All Time", which she texted to me after viewing the movie. This is her list, I don't agree with all of them, but all of them made me laugh.

Let's count them down.

#10: The Land Before Time XII: The Great Day of the Flyers 

I've actually seen the first 7 of these. I loved them all as a kid. I haven't seen this one but it's sad to see it on this list. After some research, I noticed this series ends with a 13th installment.. isn't that unlucky?

#9: Fragile

The thing that surprised me most about this movie is the fact that Erin would watch something that has a cover like this. Then again.. she has committed to go see Scream 4 with me..

#8: Lady in the Water

I love this movie! C'mon Erin, don't hate something just because it is different.

#7: The "Friday" Music Video

She's only 13!! GIVE HER A BREAK!!! IT HAS 119 MILLION VIEWS! (and over 2 million "dislikes"). Ouch. (I'll let it slide that this isn't even a movie)

#6: He's Just Not That Into You

Did I read this right? A PG-13 chick flick that Erin Spencer doesn't like? What's this world coming to!?

#5: The Box

There goes Erin hating creative ideas again.. I actually haven't seen this one either, so I can't hate it too much.

#4: Twilight

What?! A girl that hates  Twilight is like a Laker fan that hates Kobe.

#3: Jonah - A VeggieTales Movie

What kid doesn't love vegetables and scripture reading...?

#2: Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure

This one was also pretty surprising to me. A Disney movie? Erin is the biggest disney fan in the world. Walt would be so upset...

#1: Red Riding Hood

Here it is! It actually made the list at number one - you can read Erin's complete take on it here.

NBA Playoffs: Good Vs. Evil

It's the fourth day of the NBA Playoffs. Probably one of my favorite times of the year. It can be frustrating to my non-basketball friends as about every night of my life can be occupied by basketball for a couple months. To them, I say sorry.

I thought I'd make it easier for people to start watching the playoffs by telling them who they should be cheer for and who they should be cheering against.

I present to you the good guys and the bad guys of the NBA playoffs.

GOOD GUYS:

Chicago Bulls

 Why they're good: Derrick Rose has become the most dominant player in the NBA without picking up the ego. It's fun to watch a team that is still run by the coach and not by the stars.  Tom Thibodeau has created a marvelous defensive system where they work together. Teamwork and a humble star, what more can you ask for?

Denver Nuggets

 Why they're good: Now this is a surprising one, a team I thought I'd never be cheering for. After they traded away Billups and Anthony, Denver has turned into the best actual "team" in the sense of the word.  No superstar, just great teamwork - and they're playing great right now.

Oklahoma City Thunder

Why they're good: Kevin Durant is what you have to love most about this team. As with Derrick Rose, he is a superstar without the ego. I don't care much for some of the other players on the team, but he sure is fun to watch and cheer for.

Why they're good:  I've loved all of Coach D'Antoni's teams, he has such a fluid offense with great ball movement. I haven't really liked Carmello in the past but I enjoy his renewed enthusiasm for this team. Chauncey Billups and Amare Stoudemire are two of my favorite players in the league right now.

New York Knicks                      

Now it's time for some  EVIL. Here are the Bad Guys. (We're sick of seeing you win)

Miami Heat

Why they're evil: Lebron James forsaking his home town to team up with two other all-stars who arrogantly promised 9 championships to their city of Miami.. I hope they get none.

Los Angeles Lakers

Why they're evil: Two words; Kobe Bryant. Kobe has set a new benchmark for arrogance during his stint in the league. I don't think I need to go more in depth than that.

Boston Celtics

Why they're evil: Boston may have been my Laker killer in the past, but I'm really sick of seeing KG be a jerk, Pierce be a flopper, and the entire Celtics squad's sense of entitlement this year.

Why they're evil: Floppers! They're all floppers. Manu, Tony, Tim - I'm sick of your flopping and I hope you lose.

             San Antonio Spurs              .

With that being said, this is a great year for NBA playoffs. 

Plenty of people to love and plenty to love to hate. Should be lots of fun. Enjoy!

The Pet Peeve of Loud People in Theaters

If you know me, very few things get my blood boiling. You may not have even ever seen me upset.. unless you've been to one of my basketball games or watched a Utah Jazz game with me (I'm sincerely sorry if you have).  Bad referees make me really upset, but I have another pet peeve I would like to speak about today that boils my blood nearly as bad.


(If you don't know what a pet peeve is, here's the wikipedia link)

This Pet named Peeve is the one of  Loud People in Theaters. I recently saw the movie Insidious (read my review here) and the audience was super annoying. Of course, I'm not saying theaters should be completely silent - it's ok to laugh and scream and even whisper something to your friend. I do that, everyone does that. But you know what I'm talking about, those people who are intentionally loud because they think people want to listen to them. To those people, I have a few things to say:

1. I did not pay $8.50 to listen to you.
2. Your jokes are not funny.
3. You cannot foresee the plot better than the people who made it, and no one wants to hear your assumptions.
4. Unless there are blind people in the theater, you have no reason to point out things you see on screen.
5. I'm not quite sure why you paid money to sit in a dark room and just talk to your friend.

To explain how much you bother me, here are a few situations.

1. If life was Grand Theft Auto IV, I would cap you, take your money, and steal your car. Then use that money to buy another movie ticket to that same movie, where hopefully, word has gotten around that I don't mess around.
2. If life was Live Free or Die Hard, I would chase you out of the theater where you would jump into your hover aircraft. I would jump onto your hover aircraft, smash through your window, throw you out, fly your hovercraft to the moon, and watch the movie in silence. (I'll find a way to get the movie there)
3. If life were Westside Story, I may sing a song to you about my displeasure and then challenge you to a highly stylized knife fight. In which, I would win.

Are you catching my drift?

Since life is not any of those situations, I will most likely just sit angrily in my seat and grumble "..shut up..." under my breath.

My point still stands. Comment if you agree!

Last Post of Makin UV Better

Dear Friends, Fans, and Loyal Readers,

Due to the demanding needs of The Makin Movie Blog, I will be discontinuing the Makin UV Better blog indefinitely. I'm not really sure if anyone reads this anymore, but for those of you who do read, thanks for all of the support. Over the past 5 months and 33 posts, I have grown to love each of your anonymous faces. I will continue to try and Make UV better with my movie reviews.

Sincerely,
Jordan Makin
Makin UV Better

Dolphions

I recently saw the movie, Paul (you can read my review of it here)

The movie is about an alien, and it reminded me of a text I received from Trevor Smith in May of 2008. I woke up to this text and it was so funny that I actually wrote it down in my journal.

The following is an exact transcription of that journal entry:

5-07-08

Text I got from Trevz yesterday.

"I had the funniest dream where you were talking about alien existence and you were saying they can hear us and we can hear them but we choose not to hear them so we never acknowledge their existence and they never acknowledge ours and then you ended your speech. paused. then FREAKED out and yelled "OR ARE WE THE ALIENS?!?!" and I woke up laughing so hard. Funniest part was the fact your dream went on for like 5 minutes and my subconscious couldn't think of the word aliens, so you kept saying Dolphions. a cross between the word Dolphin and Alien I guess. It was hilarious."

I think this picture explains it.

This was and is the funniest text I have ever received. Try your best to beat it.

March

March is great. By now, you've probably already read my post about Mustache March, but that's not the only reason why this month rules.

1. St. Patrick's Day

There's nothing more hilarious than a holiday where you wear green, pinch people who aren't, and look around for hobbits with pots of gold. I'm pretty sure JRR Tolkein came up with this holiday.

2. March Madness

The past couple days have been the first 2 rounds of the NCAA tournament. That's 32 games in 2 days... I honestly haven't left my basement. Even if you don't like sports, it's still fun to fill out a bracket and and see how many you can get right. I have a tradition of getting most of them wrong.

3. Spring Break

You get school off, that's cool. From watching The OC, I've learned that there are many other things that go on during spring break, but not a whole lof of that in Utah.

[I searched "Spring Break" on google images.

All of the pictures that showed up would

not be appropriate for my younger readers.]

BUT, if you search "Spring Break in Utah" - this little wonder comes up.

no, that's not me

Okay, that's 3 reasons why March is cool. Not enough reasons for you?

well, the first of March also marks this classy lady's birthday:

Enjoy your last 12 days of March!

Where Do Babies Come From?

Today in my Human Sexuality class, we were given a lot of different scenarios that we had to answer - one of these scenarios was this:

What if your young child approaches you and asks, "Where do babies come from?"

The popular answer was to tell them a little bit about their bodies, but not to go into detail... blah blah blah. Boring.

I've come up with some surefire ways to get the job done while still having fun.

Makin UV Better's Top 7 Ways to Tell Your Kids About Sex

1. Watch the end of Knocked Up with them.

2. Have them play "The Sims 3" continuously until they have started a family. (Only bathroom breaks)

3. Have a really trendy teenager explain it to them using only acronyms or abbreviations. " lol."

4. Have Christopher Walken explain it to them. He seems to have a touch with children.

5. Watch the entirety of Juno

6. Play them 1 on 1 in basketball. Tell them you will explain a little bit for every shot they make against you.

7. Say, "I'll tell you in a year." [Repeat until they are 18]

Comment any better ideas you have.

Mustache March

The beginning of March marks the beginning of 31 days of facial hair. Be prepared to grow your mustache, if you can - or, if you can't - just sit back and bask in the glory of the stache.

The month in honor of the mustache started hundreds of years ago.

Pictured above is King Juan De Bigote. On March 1, 1637, he announced to his country (Spain) that the weather was now warm enough that beards were forbidden and only the "beard of the upper lip" (as it was called back then) was allowed.

He made this ruling in the hope that it would make his workers more efficient as they plowed in the corn fields. In reality, this is true - lack of wind resistance on the face helped their primary export go up 3%.

The tragedy in this story is that a late spring in Spain that year caused March to be the coldest in history. The King watched as many of his countrymen fell and died with hypothermia. In honor of the deceased, King Bigote vowed to never shave his "upper lip beard" and gave it a new name - the mustache - which directly translates to: the deceased beardless countrymen.

Everyday is Mustache March for Hulk Hogan (a descendant of King Bigote)

Today, many people honor the dead countrymen with their own mustaches. You, too, can show your respect by having some "deceased beardless countrymen" on your upper lip. It's not that much of a sacrifice but it goes a long way.

The website moustachemarch.com recognizes those who show their respect.

see if you can find me by clicking here

Will you pay your respects by growing a mustache?

Have a great Mustache March

Makin the Oscar Picks

It's been a great year for movies.

There was a movie for everyone this year.

(Even people in Utah.. as 4 of the nominees for best picture were not rated R.)

From Facebook to the Wild West.

From Ballet to Stammering Kings.

From Toys that made us cry to another Boxing movie.. that was actually still good.

These are my picks.

Best Picture: The Social Network

Best Actor: Colin Firth for The King's Speech

Best Actress: Natalie Portman for Black Swan

Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale for The Fighter

Best Supporting Actress: Hailee Steinfeld for True Grit

Best Achievement in Directing: Joel & Ethan Coen for True Grit

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen: Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson, Keith Dorrington for The Fighter

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Published or Produced: Aaron Sorkin for the Social Network

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year: Toy Story 3

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year: Biutiful

Best Achievement in Cinematography: Matthew Libatique for Black Swan

Best Achievement in Editing: Kirk Baxter, Angus Wall for The Social Network

Best Achievement in Art Direction: Guy Hendrix Dyas, Larry Dias, Douglas A. Mowat for Inception

Best Achievement for Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score: Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross for The Social Network

Best Achievement in Visual Effects: Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley, Pete Bebb, Paul J. Franklin for Inception

Waiting for Radiohead [Thoughts]

My download for Radiohead's new album "The King of Limbs", is taking quite a while.

Here are some thoughts I am having whilst I wait.

1. I probably should go to bed, I have to coach a game in 8 hours.

2. Out of the past 20 organized basketball games I've played, I think I've only one once (rec & ward).

3. Wow, #2 sounds like the Utah Jazz.

4. Yeah, I get why girls like Channing Tatum so much.

5. I think I enjoyed "The Eagle" more than I should have.

6. I've had Bright Eyes album for about 3 days. I've listened to it completely through 10+ times.

7. Does #6 make me emo, or does it make me indie? probably both.

8. I don't think I fit either of those stereotypes.

9. One stereotype I wish I could fit is that of a "bro" - I just want to wear "lidz" with a hoodie over it.

10. My room is really orange. The walls really match the "Arrested Development" DVDs sitting on my shelf.

11. Is the Arrested Development movie ever going to happen?

12. I'm wearing orange pajamas right now. I honestly don't even like orange that much.

13. That's right, I didn't purchase these PJz - I also didn't choose the color of my room.

14. I'm not really sure if anyone will enjoy this post. I think that maybe in the morning I will regret that I posted it.

15. Not really.

16. Bryan Mortensen will just be happy to know that I got the Radiohead album.

17. My presentation on "Sexual Arousal" I gave on thursday was hilarious.

18. That sounds a little prideful, but really it was funny.

19. I honestly think most of the things I say are funny.

20. I giggled while typing that last one.

21. Some say that my jokes are only funny because I laugh after I say them, and my laugh is funny.

22. In that case, just picture me giggling after each of these thoughts.

23. I think the creativeness of these thoughts took a plunge at about #15..

24. me giggling.

25. You're right, #24 wasn't a thought, it was just me announcing what I'm doing. As the next one will be.

26. Done downloading. Going to bed.

Post Valentine's Day

Well Valentine's Day is over. Lots of people got engaged. Lots of people got each other nice presents full of hearts and flowers and red and pink. Some may have mustered up the courage to express their feelings to a crush...

and lots were just happy for 50% candy the next day.

Candy reminds me of a song I wrote a long time ago, while I was doing some time abroad in Clovis, New Mexico (shout out to the Whitmores and other clovis friends). It is a song about love found and lost. A song that truly captured the essence of one yearning to be loved, and the only way he could satisfy this yearning was to eat candy. Lots of candy. This song is about a dear friend of mine, Josh Curtis, and I would love to share it with you right now.

Hope you had a great Valentine's Day!

Vowelentine's Day

We know all the vowels. We love them. We even have a day to celebrate them.

They make all of our words possible. I probably couldn't speak with them

I love to remember them every February 14th.

A - Applicable

E - Ethnic

I - Indigenous

O - Ostrich-esque

U - Uber

But I feel like this Vowelentine's Day, we need to remember the half - vowel.

She does a lot too.

You know who I'm talking about.

Don't worry Ms. Y, I will be your Vowelentine this year.

definitely.

Vlogging from the UVU Library

Makin UV Better Everywhere I Go

Super Bowl 2011

This is my pick for the most super bowl of 2011.

Looks like you could fit at least 10 more Asian kids in there.

Amazing.

And no, the title of this blog post is not misleading.

but if you must know,

The score will be 27-24, Packers.

Eat, drink, and be merry.

Happy Super Bowl Sunday.

Vlog #1

Sometimes I have so much on my mind that it's hard to express it in writing. There's a lot going on in my head right now so I decided to try a new form of blogging.

It's called VLOGGING (Video Blogging).

Here's my first attempt. Tell me what you think.

Go Jazz.

Insulting the Oscars

Who's excited for the Academy Awards??

Not me.

Here's some reasons why all the best picture nominees SUCK.

Movie #1 - TRUE GRIT

True Grit? More like True Sh**. If I wanted to watch a boring western with cheesy humor I would have watched Shanghai Noon.

Movie #2 - BLACK SWAN

Hey Black Swan, thanks for ruining Natalie Portman for me, forever. I found her more attractive when she had her head shaved on that V movie. And did you even entertain me? No, this was a big Black Yawn.

Movie #3 - 127 Hours

Hey, wanna watch James Franco stuck in a canyon for 127 hours?....

Me neither.

Movie #4 - The Fighter

*In Boston Accent* - "Who wants to watch another boxing movie in here??"

"Not you. Not you. Not you... Not you... Not you.. Not you..... and not me."

Movie #5 - Inception

Here's to a mormon appropriate and less interesting version of "Shutter Island".

Movie # 6 - Toy Story 3

I would have cried more if the kid gave away his iPod.

Movie #7 - The Kids Are Alright

...and me and friends are alright with never watching a movie with Julianne Moore ever again.

Movie #8 - The King's Speech

This movie is called The King's...................................................

Sorry, I just fell asleep while reading the title.

Movie #9 - Winter's Bone

I honestly just found out that this movie existed. No comment.

Movie #10 - The Social Network

A movie with the kid from Zombieland (nerd), A former member of N'Sync (nerd), and the next Peter Parker (super nerd)... Being seen at a screening of The Social Network = SOCIAL SUICIDE. srsly.

With all that said and done, who's up for an Oscar Party?