RnB's BoolSHet

Osama Bin Laden is dead

2011-05-02T10:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, May 1st, 2011 will be a date that will go down in World History as a turning point.
Osama Bin Laden, the terrorist leader of Al qaeda was killed in a suburb of Islamabad named Abbotobad in Pakistan. The craziest thing is that it was a sizable compound near a military base. Well, the war on terror is far from over. I got more in depth with my thoughts on my Tumblr. Check it out.

http://iamrnb.tumblr.com/

Canucks finally win vs Chicago

2011-04-27T07:42:00.000-07:00

The Vancouver Canucks finally avenged being eliminated by the Chicago Blackhawks (reigning Stanley Cup champs) for the last 2 years in the playoffs yesterday. Alexander Burrows got both of Vancouver's goals. One was in the first and the other was in OT. Johnathan Toews got a tie up goal for Chicago to send the game into OT. This rivalry got extremely ugly this year. I'm so glad that they wrapped up this series. It did go all the way to game 7; the Canucks also went into a slump in the the 3 games before game 7 after having won games 1-3 of the series. Nontheless, they got it done. I believe the Nashville Predators are next. They've had a fairly evenly matched season series vs. the Canucks. The Predators play a very defensive game that has frustrated the Canucks' highly offensive playing style. I'm sure we'll adapt. We're on our way. Can't wait until next round, then the Western Conference finals, then the Stanley Cup finals :-)

Blogger and Tumblr

2011-04-16T18:08:00.001-07:00

I started a Tumblr

I'm slowly warming up to the A.D.H.D. nature of Tumblr in comparison to the more thought out approach on Blogger. I have put some longer posts on Tumblr but it seems so much more suited to throwing out a quick image, thought, or quote rather than something heavily thought out.

I know they're all just different blogging platforms but it's clear that they both advocate different methods of blogging in my mind.

I'm not sold on the term microblogging. Blogging is blogging is blogging

later

Exam's week

2011-04-08T23:31:00.000-07:00

It's that time of the semester again.

Finals

I'm generally relieved after final paper writing is over

Got 2 finals this semester

One is on Thursday next week

The other is on the Monday of the week after

Either way, I'm gonna get the new Blu-rays of The Incredibles (a debut) and Cars (a reissue)

SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm a FILM enthusiast. Can you blame me. I do think that music is important but not as much as the written word and film. I'm totally biased. That being said, I generally love most movie musicals. It doesn't make
sense. Does anybody really have to?

Japanese Tsunami & Earthquake

2011-03-14T09:25:00.000-07:00

The Japanese Earthquake & Tsunami has been on everyone's mind lately. Including mine. It was a record setting 8.9 earthquake for Japan, with aftershocks in the 7.0+ range. A 7.0 is already a major earthquake itself. The news coverage of it was surreal. It looked like Dean Devlin & Roland Emmerich disaster movies (they did Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, 2012) do. People, vehicles, and buildings were swept up in waves like they were toys. The region of Japan affected looked like the imagery of Japan at the end of World War II. The unstable nuclear plants are the worst part. The government has people in areas with the unstable plants taking Potassium Iodide or something and warn people to stay at home as much as possible. It's understandable why people are suddenly trying to flee towards the southern regions of the country. Aside from the government of Japan denying the actions of Japan in World War II in textbooks (politics), Japan is a country with wonderfully kind people. They don't deserve to suffer like they are right now. Luckily, all of my friends that are from Japan live in areas that were either unaffected or minimally affected. However, the third largest economy in the world is suffering right now and everyone will eventually feel the effects if not enough is done to help them.

The upheaval in the Middle East has also been an important story in the world recently. It's unfortunate that many of the dictators in the region used media attention shifting to Japan to punish their people violently for their desire to have freedoms that they should have had anyways.

We need to "Heal the World", like Michael Jackson said, in so many ways. I'm at least glad to know that people are finally starting to wake up and realize the responsibilities of having a deeply interconnected world.

YO!!! It's a mostly movie watching rant

2011-03-02T20:28:00.000-08:00

I haven't written anything here since January. A lot and/or not much has happened since then.
I've become a Blu-ray & PS3 game consuming fiend. I've been trying to get as many Blu-ray versions of favorite films as fast as I can. I've also been picking up copies of catalogue titles that I really wanted to have that I hadn't seen yet. I've sadly also been unable to find a Blu-ray copy of David Fincher's Zodiac. The Fincher fiend in me is dying. I've been able to get a lot of film series sets that I wanted. I've got the X-men films & the Alien films as well. Amassing Disney & Pixar films has been a preoccupation as well. I did get one Dreamworks animation film. It was How To Train Your Dragon. It's spectacularly exciting and the character building sections are really done well also. All around, their best film since Kung-Fu Panda. I'm glad to have quickly got copies of Disney's Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Bambi, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, and The Princess and the Frog. All great films. I've only got one Pixar. That being Ratatouille. I actually really love Ratatouille. It's about living your passion & inspiration through cooking. I love that message. It heavily reminds me of the painting metaphor in Kiki's Delivery Service that inspires the protagonist of the movie to become a better broom flyer. I got Forrest Gump. I've actually loved this movie since it came out. I watch it every time it's on TV yet the Blu-ray is the very first time I've owned a copy of it. It's also the first time I've owned a copy of David Fincher's Se7en. Oddly, I haven't seen it & I love Fincher's films. It didn't disappoint. I knew what the ending of the movie was because it has been discussed countless times over in media, amongst friends & family, classmates, etc. Nonetheless, the ending is entirely appropriate. The whole cast is incredible in it as well. There's other movies that I've got since then but I haven't been able to watch them. I'm fine with that. When I'm not so busy, I'll watch those films & delve into their special features like I usually do.

There are a few of the Academy Award winning movies this year that I want to see. However, I want to see The King's Speech even less now than before. I didn't really wanna see it at all before. I just really enjoyed movies like The Social Network, Inception, Toy Story 3. Every other nominee that was up for best picture look intriguing as well. The King's Speech looks like formulaic British history based costume drama. Nothing more, nothing less. A whole film about somebody being treated for a speech impediment sounds overly dull to me. I've seen clips. Still not interested. However, Geoffrey Rush is great in everything he's in. I'm torn.

later

HAPPY NEW YEAR and the Catcher in the Rye

2011-01-04T12:45:00.000-08:00

This past New Year's Eve I was in Victoria, B.C.
It's the capital of the province of Canada I live in.
I was going to help my Dad move some stuff out
of his place there because he finally got a job in the
Vancouver area again.

I started reading the Catcher in the Rye during
the ferry ride over to Vancouver Island. I g0t it
because it's one of those "classic" written works that
I'd not been able to read yet. When I bought my copy
I was surprised by its relative brevity of 214 pages.
I probably could of finished it within a day if left alone
without any interruptions. Nonetheless, I read it in bits
& pieces in a fairly quick span of 2-3 days.

It really made me think of the nature of human social
interactions. Holden Caulfield, the protagonist, spends so
much time being disinterested in the intricacies of human
socialization yet he can't be the way he is without those
social protocols existing. In a way, his constant references
to various people as "phonys" is an excuse to not become
too invested in anything or anyone. He's intelligent but
generally unmotivated. He's always trying to look for
the "phony" in everyone. It becomes an obsession.
I think one of the reasons that this book was so interesting
to me is that Holden seemingly strives for disconnection from
people, society, and the world at large. However, he's always
remembering good and bad times that he's had in New York
City and the New England area. He also wants to dispense
with the formalities of social introductions as soon as
possible. I can appreciate that. There's nothing more awkward
than initial meetings. I can appreciate that. Finding common
ground is difficult. Arbitrariness is in everything. Holden really
takes this to heart. He wants to escape his personal version of
the mundane. He is always thinking for better or worse. He
generally sees the worst in people before the positives. He doesn't
want to admit that he needs personal attachments. This is made
even more interesting by showing his increased sensitivity to
many norms and social interactions. One of my favorite aspects
about the narrative is how Holden deviates from telling the 'present day'
storyline by recounting anecdotes of the 'past'. It really enriches the whole
novel. Another aspect I really liked is simple. Holden's narrative voice sometimes
acknowledges the reader in 'breaking the wall' fashion. The novel
is written in a manner that makes the reader feel the way that
NYC & the New England area feels to the character Holden Caulfield.
This was kind of a revelation for me while reading it. I love when
books really describe the hell out of their locations with a lot of personality.
We're left to experience those locations through Holden. Holden is also
delightfully biased. I love characters written with their biases on their sleeves.
They're more interesting that way. He's highly intelligent but he's also highly
suspect because of his inability or indifference to personally connecting with people.
The one relationship in the novel that was most interesting to me was between
Holden and his little sister. His kid sister sees right through his protective
facade of calling nearly everyone a phony yet she loves him. She calls him
out regularly on his faults yet Holden doesn't dislike her for it. In my opinion,
It's the heart of the novel. It's a bit of a shame that J.D. Salinger didn't publish
more works post-Catcher in the Rye.

Finally, If only to acknowledge it. I was reading this novel in basically the same
time of year that the novel takes place in. Christmas & New Year's in New York
City can be beautiful but the New York City of Catcher in the Rye is like a wonder
and a monstrosity of the past rolled into one package. Holden Caulfield greatly
dislikes other Upper Class people like himself yet he can't get away from them
if he tried. He's a rich kid that doesn't want anything to do with riches, wealth, status
and the means to achieve those things. He's an oddity yet I found myself identifying
with him quite a bit. Apparently, Ronald Reagan's would be assassin John Hinckley Jr.
quite identified with this book too. Should I be worried for myself? hah hah

later. Here's to reading even more good reads, old and newly published works, throughout 2011.
Yeah, I'm continuing on with the resolution I made in the middle of last year to read much more than I had in the past. It's a good practice. I've noticed that people who read less aren't necessarily dumber but their vocabularies suffer. I wouldn't want that to happen. Reading makes
you knowledgeable about things. I like being knowledgeable.

Have a great 2011

MISFITS

2010-12-20T01:09:00.000-08:00

I was just talking about this show in the last post but I wanna talk about the series in more detail. The image above is the moment when these unlikely people receive their superpowers. This show is about a group of 5 young delinquents who are sentenced to having to do court ordered community service for various offences they'd each done in the recent past. The main cast is

Iwan Rheon as Simon
Robert Sheehan as Nathan
Lauryn Socha as Kelly
Nathan Stewart Jarett as Curtis
Antonia Davis as Alisha

There was a 6th member to their crew but he was killed by their original probation officer. The 5 go on to kill their original probation officer because he also gained abilities during a freak thunderstorm (eventually revealed to have given several people special abilities or powers) that caused him to be seek violent justice against troublemakers that he ends up basically babysitting for his job. Simon gains the ability to turn invisible. Kelly, a young woman with a bit of an aggressive streak gains the ability to read minds. Curtis is a young but disgraced track & field star that's in court ordered community service because he's being made an example of by the authorities after being busted for participating in a drug deal. Alisha is a young party girl that gains the dangerous ability of causing anyone that touches her to immediately want to have sex with her. The person touched doesn't remember what happened after Alisha moves away from him or her. Finally, there is Nathan. He seems to be unchanged by the storm but eventually it's revealed that he is immortal. He soon learns that he can also communicate with and see the recently dead.

The writing and acting of the main cast is pitch perfect. They are 5 people that would never have come into contact with each other if it wasn't for their forced community service. Each of them has a distinct personality. Curtis, a disgraced pro athlete is nonetheless still very goal oriented and interested in working hard (despite also being a bit of a womanizer) Nathan is also a womanizer except he's much more arrogant. It's ironic that the one guy that is most likely to get on everyone's nerves with his smarmy humor will possibly outlive the rest of the group. Simon is initially a textbook introvert. He also murders their second probation officer after she manipulates him into thinking that she wanted to be in a relationship with him. She was only looking to find out what happened to the original probation officer (revealed to be her fiance). After he does this second murder, the audience might think that Simon will have a villainous future. Instead, he's revealed to eventually become something like a superhero. Alisha is a party girl that was potentially already sexually destructive with her body. Kelly is someone that regularly got in physical fights with other women. This creates humor with her character because she'd get angry when hearing people's thoughts about her. She'd react the same way as if she'd heard someone actually say something negative against her. Alisha and Kelly both learn to be more caring through the friendship (and further criminal activity) shared between the 5 of them. Alisha also learns that she's fated to have a loving relationship with Simon (because she meets a future version of him). All of these story progressions and details could be thought of as ridiculous. Smartly the writers acknowledge this. Thus the characters come across as more believable because of this fact. Acknowledging the tropes of sci-fi & fantasy shows & movies before it provide a welcome wink to the audience regarding any similarities or influences MISFITS might have with or taken from other shows or movies.

The show is also incredibly efficient in utilizing guest characters for maximum effect. It's apparent from the first episode. The quick murder of the 6th member of their forced community service crew and their shared act of committing the murder of their first probation officer (who tried to kill them) are good examples of guest characters used for very few episodes. The first probation officer isn't seen again until the episode detailing the implications of Curtis' power of rewinding time. He can change the past, albeit with the possible limitation of having to be personally invested in a situation to reverse time. However, I think that Curtis can go back in time regardless of personal investment or not. He just doesn't think that it's ethical to travel back in time without a personal stake. He alters the past to spare his ex-girlfriend from having to serve jail time. This first series episode focused on Curtis also reveals his series 2 love interest for the first time as well. Curtis knew that he had to pursue a relationship with this woman named Nikki once he finally met her in present day. This relationship also mirrors the relationship between Alisha and the future version of Simon. She & Simon later pursue a relationship in the present day time as well. Nathan's secondary ability to have conversations with the recently dead is revealed in an episode where he meets his half brother for the first time. Naturally, Nathan's brother is eventually killed in the course of the episode where he was also introduced. The half brother introduces himself to Nathan by revealing their father tied up in his car trunk/boot. The brothers then proceed to bond over all the ways that their father is a disappointment and how they've both done many things that would disappoint any parent. Both brothers are really funny and entertaining in their own respective ways. I became so invested in Nathan's brother through the course of the episode that by the time he was killed at the end of the episode it was heartbreaking. Curtis' series 2 girlfriend also gains her abilities through a heart transplant from someone caught in the storm that day. This revelation is interesting because it gives a plausible secondary way to gain powers without introducing a character that can transfer powers. This makes the recent second series ending Christmas special even better because in it they finally do introduce a character that can drain and reinsert powers into anyone. The introduction of this character also has given the writers a way to expand the amount of powers available to members of the small main cast. It also provides a plausible source for explaining a rise of superpowered villains if they choose to go down that route. I've only scratched the surface with the storylines introduced thus far.

Did I mention that there have been only 13 episodes produced and aired in total so far. The amount of story and character detail put into the two 6-7 episode series/seasons of MISFITS so far put story and character progression in most North American TV Dramas, Comedies, or Dramedies to shame. Check it out. You won't regret it. The only thing that might put off some people from the show is the sometimes excessive sexuality. Just a warning. Even the sexual encounters help in maintaining the believability of the situation in the show overall.

now for some recommendations

2010-12-19T11:09:00.000-08:00

That last post was a bit of a downer. Venting is really useful. It works much better than thinking that bad moods are strictly negative. Unfortunately particular aspects about the reality of most situations are more clear to me when I'm in a bad mood. What makes me happy. Sharing movie, TV & book recommendations

Movie recommendations - I think my last few posts have taken care of what I've been watching lately film wise

TV recommendations - I've been watching a lot of British TV shows lately. Check out Sherlock, Misfits and Merlin. Sherlock is a brilliant version of Sherlock Holmes that places him into contemporary London, using technology and tools that are common today. The characterizations of Sherlock & Watson are perfect. Misfits is an excellent dramedy about what would happen if average people got superpowers. It focuses on 5 characters that gain superpowers while doing court ordered community service. Just watch it and discover its magic. Merlin is a fun origin and retelling of the whole Camelot & the Knights of the round table myth told from the point of view of Merlin. He is depicted as the apprentice of the court physician to King Uther, Arthur's father. Magic is outlawed. This court physician has a past of using magic. The physician gives Merlin a book of magic so that the young Warlock/Wizard can develop his powers and fulfill his destiny of protecting the future King Arthur and bringing about the return of magic to Avalon (nation Camelot is in). The Walking Dead is my top new North American show. It's just a fun old time. Zombies are fun again because of this & a few predecessors on the big screen. Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother are always good comedy choices. This week's Big Bang Theory involving competing for a New Year's Eve comic book shop costume party prize is great. One of the most continuously funny shows on television. Probably the best comedic cast on mainstream television today. How I Met Your Mother is a rare comedy show with an overall story arc. It's about a guy named Ted Moseby and his friends Barney, Marshall, Lily and Robin. The whole show is also about Ted telling is kids the story of his 20s-30s culminating in the reveal of the circumstances leading to him meeting their mother. The show is still going strong. I'd honestly be ok with them continuing on even after they've introduced the character that's the mother. This is a show that does the journey of a life in a comedic way exceptionally well. Supernatural is always a good watch. Another excellent drama that straddles the dramedy line quite well. It's just balls to the wall fun with some really outstanding storytelling at its core.

Book Recommendations - The Scott Pilgrim series and Lost At Sea by Bryan Lee O'Malley. I don't think that there's another author that writes convincing young characters that live in contemporary North America as well as O'Malley. The fact that he's also a Canadian that laces his books with a distinctly Canadian feel is just extra special sauce on top of the pizza. The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan does a great job of continuing the world established in his wonderful Percy Jackson & the Olympians books. Everything he writes is great & perfectly suitable for everyone, not just his "teen/young adult" genre designation. Reading the entire Percy Jackson series, The Red Pyramid (book 1 of his new Kane Chronicles series) and The Lost Hero have been amongst the most fun things I've done all year. I can't recommend his works enough. Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden is another excellent book that I read earlier this year. Perfect depiction of 2 Native Canadian Soldiers living the past & present of their culture through the experience of fighting in World War II. Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden as well does an admirable job of writing about descendants of the 2 native soldiers in Three Day Road living in Canada & the U.S. today. When Fox is a Thousand by Larissa Lai was a book that captivated me but also made me really annoyed when it would seemingly change its characters sexual orientations out of nowhere. The dual narratives of one character living in Vancouver in the late 80s-early 90s and of the mythical fox of Chinese folklore was undeniably fun to read. Still haven't got around to reading the one book that I was most excited to read this year, Miguel Syjucco's Illustrado but I'll get to it soon. I hope to read more literary classics in 2011 and catch up on other books I've wanted to read. I'm sure there will also be tons of new interesting books coming out in 2011 as well.

Hope you all liked some of these recommendations. I've talked about them before. I've likely forgotten some of the stuff I've read this year but that's fine. Later

A Terrible Gift

2010-12-18T22:54:00.000-08:00

Just bare with me on this. I'm feeling terrible and I need to get this out. again.

I am of the disabled persuasion.
I've gone through more medical procedures than most people will ever experience in their life.
I'm not sure if I have any fight left in me.
My perseverance has been tested time and time again.
I've commuted through endless tunnels.
Witnessed their bleak darkness
Chased by blinding lightness
and the variable degrees of dimness in between.

I am a seasoned warrior.
I fight in a stalemated battle.
The struggle has become routine.
My prayers for peaceful resolution have fallen on deaf ears.
The end of the battle is my decision alone.

I've witnessed the lingering pain of being around me.
I'm usually alright with solitude
But loneliness rears its head on occasion.
My lingering pain is viral.
It would be negligent to infect a beautiful, kindhearted, caring
and generous woman with myself.
Yet I've longed for her. To have, to hold, til the deathly interruption arrives.

Thus I am a melancholy loner.
Immersed in attempts to understand regular people through fiction and oral tradition.
Uninterested in experiencing the drama of a real life first hand.
Afraid of knowing that she cares.
She would have to agree to a life of all too occasional strife.
Agree to listen to me rant about the horrific indifference of humanity
towards struggle, disadvantage and physical limitations
Agree to feeling relief once I'm gone.
Despite how I'd argue against anyone being justified feeling that.

I am truly a terrible gift to give. I am a heavy piece of luggage in need of constant mending.

Stieg Larsson's Millenium Trilogy - Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

2010-12-13T01:44:00.001-08:00

It's not often that I do this anymore but I'm doing it right now. I've just watched a film version of the book The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo before even thinking of picking up & reading the series it's from in their original novelized form. This is even more odd because I've lately been resolved to read much more often than I'd done in the recent past. Nonetheless I felt like seeing what all the hype was about so I got copies of all three movies. I've watched the first film so far. I plan on watching the second and third films perhaps tomorrow night and the night after that. Then I'll write up my thoughts on each film right here in this post with note taken to mention when I'd watched the movie & wrote the thoughts down.

Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Movie watched night of December 12th, 2010 thoughts written on the day of December 13th. 2010.

This movie was definitely intriguing right from the start. If I had to describe it according to other movies that I've seen already I'd say that it's an odd combination of David Fincher's Zodiac, Johnathan Demme's Silence of the Lambs, and Gore Verbinski's American remake of The Ring. Each of these movies kind of focus on deconstructing serial killers, victims of violent crime, and people investigating and reporting on serious crimes involving life and death. Deconstruction of what creates a serial killer and what creates a victim of violent crime is heavily analyzed through the storyline of Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Mikael Blomkvist is a disgraced journalist that is hired by a man named Henrik Vanger to uncover the identity of the suspected killer of his beloved niece Harriet, who's been missing for 40 years. Henrik suspects that someone within the family is responsible for her death. Mikael begins to investigate Harriet while Mikael himself is being investigated by a young female computer hacker named Lisbeth Salander. She is slowly revealed to have had a history of being violently assaulted and taken advantage of by men for nearly all of her 24 years of age. She continues to be taken advantage of because she's alleged to be legally mentally unstable, thus she's under conservatorship by the state. She uses her hacker skills to obtain "research" for a security firm specializing in retrieving evidence for criminal cases and journalist exposes. Lisbeth begins to figure out clues to the disappearance of Harriet Vanger via hacking into Mikael's laptop computer. She brazenly e-mails Mikael answers to numeric clues left by Harriet possibly regarding the identity of her killer. Mikael tracks Lisbeth's e-mail and offers for them to team up to solve the mystery of the disappearance of Harriet. Mikael and Lisbeth slowly uncover the identity of the murderer or murderers through reconstructing the day before Harriet disappears and the identities and causes of death of other victims of the suspected murderer or murderers within the Vanger family.

Deconstruction is created through mirroring the clues regarding the violent deaths of these various women with the life of Lisbeth Salander. Salander's violent past as a victim that's willing to exact revenge upon others that have harmed her makes her a true anti-hero. Lisbeth is justified with being very angry and even violent against people that have harmed her. However, the violent acts that have been committed against her are extremely violent. She is suggested to have come from a family of domestic abuse. She is revealed to have harmed her father to protect her mother. This puts her into mental health facilities well into her adult years. When we meet her she's being blackmailed into performing sexual acts and being raped by the man administering her conservatorship so that she can gain access to her money. She commits a violent sexual act against him in revenge of his previous deeds against her. It's possible that she might have committed violent acts towards her previous conservator who's revealed to have recently passed away at the beginning of the film. These 2-3 violent acts committed by Lisbeth are recalled once the identity of the serial killer within the Vanger family is revealed. She chooses his fate according to her conflict ridden personal history. She also takes into account everything that she's learned about this killer through assisting Mikael in uncovering his/her identity. Lisbeth's tendency to exact violent revenge on people who commit violence against women is admirable and reprehensible at the same time. Mikael's journey through uncovering the identity of the killer within the Vanger family is one of personal and professional redemption. He's lost everything because of accusing some very powerful people of serious crimes in his news magazine Millenium. Uncovering the identity of the Vanger killer is a case that redeems him as a man and a journalist. The relationship that he develops with Lisbeth happens because they are both maligned outsiders of society. Their partnership can be characterized as similar to that of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. The difference is that I'd say that Mikael, the initial character we're introduced to is the Watson of this pairing. The assistant Lisbeth is a more accomplished sleuth thus the Sherlock of the pairing. Nonetheless, Mikael, the Watson of the pairing, is definitely in charge. They don't attempt to reign each others excesses in. They revel in their odd pairing and develop a genuine friendship and love for each other through the movie. It's not a relationship of open affection. They strive to maintain their rationality rather than to give in to irrational, overly emotional behavior. It's questionable whether they succeed in creating a partnership based on rationality because they are heavily invested in each other by the end of the film regardless of whether they want to admit it to each other. The investigation causes both of them to reevaluate their actions and judgments hopefully for the better. I can't recommend this film enough. Especially if you're interested in horror or crime procedural films. I'm sure go on further with analyzing this film but I'll leave it at this

The Girl Who Played With Fire - Movie watched on December 13, 2010. Thoughts written also on the night of December 13, 2010 and December 15, 2010

My gut reaction to this second installment is that it's much more simplistic compared to the layers and depth involved in the conflicts of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. This makes the second film a bit of a letdown especially when watched shortly after seeing the stellar first film. The comparisons to Zodiac and The Ring still stand in regards to the investigative aspects of the film involving Mikael, Lisabeth, and their associates. A key difference between Dragon Tattoo and Played With Fire is that Mikael and Lisabeth are physically separated for nearly the entire running time of the film. Yes, that's likely how the original sequel novel played out. However, it's a shame that the chemistry established between the 2 leads in Dragon Tattoo is non existent in this film because the storyline dictates that they're not in the same place for this installment of the Millennium Trilogy. If I'd have to generalize the storyline of this second film I'd say that it's like KILL BILL except with investigative aspects and a bluntly serious storytelling sensibility rather than the over the top action and satirical tone characteristic of Quentin Tarantino. In this film, Mikael has hired a new staff writer for Millennium news magazine that is writing about people involved in International Human Trafficking in the Sex Trade of teenaged girls and young women. His fiance is also about to complete a PhD on the subject of Human Trafficking as well. There are several men involved that are in positions of power and influence, under legal and illegal pretense, in Sweden. It has been a year since the events of Dragon Tattoo and Mikael hasn't had much if any contact with Lisbeth. Mikael's new hire asks him to come to his apartment to receive some new evidence further supporting the claims that he (the new hire) is writing about for Millennium. Mikael arrives and the new hire and his fiance have been murdered and Lisbeth's the main suspect. Mikael continues to pursue leads on the figures involved in the piece on human trafficking that the new hire was working on before his demise. Mikael hopes that Lisbeth is still tapped into his work laptop because he knows that she'd be definitely interested in anything serious concerning the welfare of women. Lisbeth uses the leads found by Mikael, as well as those found on her own to determine the identities of the people responsible for her becoming a woman wanted on a murder charge. It is slowly revealed that it isn't random that the people involved in the human trafficking ring that caused Lisbeth to become a fugitive targeted her to take the blame for the murder of the millennium writer and his fiance.

Much of this second film is focused on revealing the origin of Lisbeth Salander. We meet her previous conservator in this film. He is someone that the audience was led to believe to have suffered a fatal heart attack or stroke in the first film. He is interviewed by Mikael, who reveals that all he wants to do is help clear Lisbeth's name. The original conservator reveals the details of Lisbeth's parentage and thus how she's involved with the central point of conflict in this second film. Lisbeth, the antihero, does commit some reprehensible acts once again in the name of finding the people responsible for framing her for murder. However, there are interrogations throughout the film that made me feel like Lisbeth is much more outright villainous in this film compared to the first film. In the first film every act of violence she commits could be explained by vengeance or punishing someone that's done acts similar to the acts of violence that had been done to her in the past. There's a bloodthirstiness to Lisbeth in this film that makes her come across as just as evil as the criminals and murderers she's already suffered at the hands of. She basically goes on a cold blooded killing spree in the name of defending the women that had been exploited by this human trafficking ring like a female version of Marvel comics' The Punisher. She only regains a slight bit of possible audience sympathy when the exact nature of her familial connection to some of these criminals is made clear. I'd like to assume that it's intentional that the director and screenwriter(s) and the original author of the novels likely wanted viewers & readers to become less sympathetic to Lisbeth. It's an interesting contrast in the depiction of the character of Lisbeth compared to the first installment. Mikael's faith in the innocence of Lisbeth for not having committed the murders of the Millennium writer and fiance is justified. However, Mikael seems like he believes that Lisbeth is a fully innocent woman that's had a history of being victimized. Other supporting characters continually question why Mikael has such faith in Lisbeth's innocence and it's irrational. The writing seems to dictate that this is intentional as well. The juxtaposition of scenes of Mikael investigating and defending Lisbeth with scenes of her torturing or murdering men involved in the Human Trafficking ring without concern or thought over how deeply each man is involved makes her come across more as a serial killer rather than the antihero that she is. Mikael is also less sympathetic because the further details he learns about Lisbeth merely reinforce his existing belief that she's simply a misunderstood outsider that's had lots of violence committed against her. Mikael can't fathom the possibility of Lisbeth being just as bad as the people that have hurt her. This is a serious lapse of judgment by a supposedly quite accomplished, albeit controversial journalist. Mikael is more or less the main protagonist of this film. The first film was fairly evenly split between focus on him and Lisabeth. I admire the fact that the script tries really hard to defamiliarize the audience with Lisbeth. It adds a tinge of further depth to Lisbeth in this sequel but overall she's written as much more villainous in this sequel compared to the original. I think the defamiliarization of Lisbeth in characterization in her scenes is supposed to act as contrast to the increased familiarization with Lisbeth that Mikael is experiencing. However, Mikael's increased familiarization with Lisbeth is deeply flawed. It's mainly because he overly trusts the materials that he receives through investigating her whereabouts. He trusts too much. Overall, I'm left with the impression that the main point of this installment is to bring to light the character flaws of the 2 main characters rather than create a compelling self contained mystery like the original film. The film very much so feels like it's supposed to be a bridge to something more dramatically eventful in the final installment. The increased disclosure of the events of Lisbeth's past is appreciated but the over reliance on character development scenes causes this film to drag slowly for much of the 2 hour running time. I enjoyed seeing the characters of Mikael and Lisbeth again but the second film is clearly inferior to the first film in the series.

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest - Movie watched on the night of December 14,2010 - December 15, 2010. Thoughts written on December 15, 2010.

This film is a direct continuation of The Girl Who Played With Fire. At the end of Fire, Lisbeth is in dire medical condition following a violent conflict with some dangerous, estranged relatives. Her main target at the end of Fire survives this violent reunion as well. He is a dangerous former Soviet that fled to Sweden. However, he's involved in a large conspiracy with a discrete faction of men that have been negatively influencing the events of Lisbeth's life. They have been doing this because she is related to this dangerous Soviet in a very specific way that I'd rather not spoil for any potential viewers of these films. This Soviet had a fellow family member act as his bodyguard throughout Fire. He pursues Lisabeth to exact revenge against her for actions she's done against the Soviet. However, Lisabeth is under police supervision at the hospital because she attempted to kill the Soviet (who is believed to be a legitimate Swede by the authorities). Lisbeth goes on trial for her violent actions against the Soviet. Mikael puts together a defense team for Lisbeth. He also supplies evidence from Lisbeth's files and additional research done by himself and the Millennium staff. Everything about the conspiracy to protect the Soviet, Lisbeth's specific relationship to him, and everything about her years of abuse by people in the public safety and justice system associated with the conspiracy involving this mysterious faction of men is brought to light.

This third and final film in the series is steeped in the sub-genres of political thriller and courtroom procedural. That's not to say that there aren't events that happen outside of private rooms, jails, and courtrooms. It's that everything builds towards Lisbeth's trial because the main narrative of this film is to prove her innocence through the exposure of the clandestine group dubbed "The Section" that has been manipulating the nature of Lisbeth's life since her conception. I still take issue with the fact that Mikael defends Lisbeth's intentions without fully knowing in detail all of the incredibly cruel acts she has perpetrated against various people who have harmed her or other women. The fact that many of these men have been working against her through "The Section" alleviates this fault of Mikael's a bit. However, Mikael is absolutely driven to assemble Lisbeth's defense that he becomes willing to put the lives of the rest of the staff of Millennium at risk. It shows that he is reckless when pursuing a story exposing the excesses of law and the government. There is even a conversation where he claims that he despises law and the government. Mikael while pursuing a story is like an addict pursuing another fix. He is absolutely irrational in that he believes that what he is doing is absolutely the right course of action. An act of true justice. Mikael enlists his sister, a defense lawyer to take on Lisbeth as a client. He also takes lightly threatening e-mails sent to his publisher/sometimes mistress. He does nothing so she's forced to hire a personal security detail. The other staffers at Millennium become outraged that Mikael would put the story ahead of the lives of his colleagues. Obviously, Mikael sticking to his guns works out in the end but the structure of the storytelling is was strong enough to make me consider what if he ends up wrong in the end. Mikael being wrong could potentially mean the early deaths of his colleagues. Mikael is drunk with self righteousness. The character is captivating and appalling at the same time in this film.

Lisbeth is thankfully closer to her characterization in Dragon Tattoo albeit neutered from influencing events in the film more directly because of being hospitalized, then imprisoned while waiting to stand trial for the attempted murder of the Soviet. She is abrasive yet oddly charming once again. The only problem that I have with Lisbeth has more to do with other characters that come to her aid. Lisbeth easily charms Mikael in Dragon Tattoo therefore making him more amenable to her in Played With Fire thus somewhat rationalizing his drive to defend her here in Kicked The Hornet's Nest. The fact that it's such clear manipulation makes Mikael an incredibly blinded journalist at certain points of the films. Obviously this opinion could change in different viewers depending on how they choose to interpret the interactions and communications between Lisbeth and Mikael. A more clear example of how Lisbeth manipulates men is the Doctor that treats her in the hospital in Kicked The Hornet's Nest. This doctor almost instantly comes to the conclusion that Lisbeth is a lot less harmful than the "Section" compromised authorities investigating her believe. Regularly throughout the trilogy opponents of Lisbeth make note that while she's small in stature, she's an adept fighter with knowledge of how to use several objects as weapons. She is also said to be mentally unstable by those conspiring against her. Surely a medical doctor would be aware that someone who is mentally unstable could pretend to appear mellow, harmless, or benign. He even assists Mikael by giving Lisbeth a smart phone to type out her version of the various events shown throughout the movies. This memoir is presented as evidence at her trial. The doctor is depicted as a fairly likable guy too. It bothers me that he never critically thinks out the situation involving Lisbeth. I like that he doesn't allow himself to be bullied by any of the psychiatric professionals that are secretly in "The Section" but it seems like he helps Lisbeth out because she's slight in frame (therefore physically harmless) and that she seems nice. He never even thinks that he barely knows this woman brought in by the police. A WOMAN BROUGHT IN BY THE POLICE. You would think that a Doctor tending to someone who's a potential murderer would be somewhat professionally withdrawn from her. Lisbeth basically is given the Hannibal Lecter treatment in this film. She's physically incapacitated or jailed but she helps Mikael's pursuit of exposing "The Section" through using the smart phone slipped to her by Mikael via the Doctor. I like that they really focus on Lisbeth's extreme reluctance to verbally recount her version of events during interrogations and courtroom cross examinations. She puts on the show of being an introvert when convenient. It's truthful to her character from the very first installment. Lisbeth argues that the majority of the violent acts that she has committed were in self defense. I enjoy how the audience knows better than the other characters in regards to the nature of Lisbeth's violence. Lisbeth violently interrogates people when it is to her advantage. If she ends up being held accountable for these violent interrogations she simply argues self defense. In this film she can be understood to be somewhat a vigilante/anti-hero and as a possible serial killer. She is kind of morally ambiguous with the only exception being that she is absolutely against any kind of physical harm being done to a woman. There is a whole section in the film where Lisbeth doesn't seem to care about whether she lives or dies while incarcerated. Even after she is cleared of wrongdoing, she is incapable of expressing open gratitude to Mikael and his Lawyer sister that defended her in court. It's almost like she wants to be a blank slate whenever possible. She accepts that she is absolutely opposed to violence against women yet she is willing to be ambiguous in regards to other sociopolitical issues and the emotional connection called love. I think that this constant striving for moral ambiguity is what's at the core of the character Lisbeth Salander. Noomi Rapace did an incredible job portraying this incredibly conflicted female character. I think I can only call her an anti-hero at best. She's not a heroine. She's not willing to openly express a belief in basic human goodness despite it being expressed towards her several times in the films. Michael Nyqvist also does an incredible job at portraying Mikael Blomqvist, a journalist all too willing to succumb to professional and personal excess if it's in the name of obtaining true justice against the powerful entities of private business, law, and government.

The first film in the series is my clear personal favorite. It has a compelling self contained mystery that wraps up entirely within the running time of the film. The 2 sequels are compelling because they're willing to go even deeper into what makes the characters tick. I may have been too forgiving in writing about the faults of the second and third films regarding character motivations and plot points. I firmly believe that many of the possible character inconsistencies were because they wanted to establish that Lisbeth has a strong, light-touched ability to create connections with other people despite the fact that she's an anti-social person that's probably best described as a broken person because of all the strife and anguish she's experienced. Part of me wishes that the possibility of Sherlock & Watson type mystery stories featuring Lisbeth & Mikael could still happen. The second and third movies are heavily weighted towards uncovering governmental and legal conspiracy. That kind of makes the mystery a bit impersonal despite the conspirators all having influence on Lisbeth's life. The conspiracy in the second and third films felt like it could exist without Lisbeth and Mikael. The mystery/family conspiracy in the first film was much smaller in scope. Therefore it was more plausible in my mind. Mikael and Lisbeth ended up learning about different aspects of their own personalities and personal histories because of the nature of the Harriet case. There is a lot of forced over complication of Lisbeth's life and history in the second and third films. Mikael thankfully is an assured person in the second and third films. Albeit, he does let personal connection taint the objectiveness of his journalistic investigations. It's more compelling with Mikael because it's a character flaw that shadows the mystery unfolding. Lisbeth is given much more back story and moral ambiguity yet I'm not sure she learned anything from her ordeal in the second and third movies. She becomes an expressionless female version of Marvel's The Punisher or a version of The Bride from Kill Bill that's emotionless and devoid of humor. She appears to be coldly angry because of all the abuse she had experienced in her life. However I understand her. However anyone else understands her, Lisbeth Salander is a brilliant creation. Mikael ensures that there is humanity in a series that's compellingly dark and twisted because it strives to present violence tinged with ambiguity. I ultimately did enjoy much of all three films. Dragon Tattoo is merely my favorite because it feels the most well realized.

Harry Potter for the last time Pt.1

2010-12-11T23:51:00.000-08:00

I just came back from watching Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Part 1. I like many others have devoured the books, watched each movie as it came out & argued the merits of each film in comparison to the original book version. Yes, the movies aren't able to put in every sub-plot in their full details. Yes, the movies have reconfigured, rearranged, and omitted things in some of the books that are important to understanding the resolutions of each installment. Nonetheless, It's amazing that movies have been made of ALL SEVEN BOOKS. It's amazing that Warner Bros, a Hollywood Studio, invested in filming every installment of this book series, starting at a time when it wasn't certain how many Harry Potter books the author Jo (J.K.) Rowling was planning on writing. It's amazing that all of the main characters & most of the supporting characters came back for nearly every single film required of them. It's amazing that people got to watch every child actor in the series come of age through the stories progressing through a year in each film. It's amazing that the quality of the storytelling in the series mostly improved with each subsequent film. Altogether, It's amazing that there is a film for each book in the series. When does that happen. Usually with a film series based on a series of books the studio makes 2-4 films & calls it a day even if there's still storytelling potential for more films. Harry Potter is different.

That all being said, I'll now get onto my opinion of the 1st half of a 2 film extravaganza that depicts the events of Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows. The first thing that I have to say is that the film is honestly scary in quite a few parts and it should be. The most absolutely evil Wizard of all time has shown his cards and seized control of the Wizard government known as The Ministry of Magic. All hell should be breaking loose. Death Eaters (Voldemort's followers) are everywhere and they're rounding up mudbloods (biologically mixed wizards or wizards born to non-magical parents aka muggles) to be tortured like sacrificial lambs up for slaughter. The initial scene with the Death Eaters meeting around a long dining table while torturing a mudblood via magic is very uncomfortable to watch. As it should be. I love how the Ministry of Magic scene had guards that were dressed up like Nazi Secret Policemen. The conflict has come to a head and Harry has to kill Voldemort for the sake of the lives of magic folk & muggles. You really see how deeply affected Harry's friends are because he's in their lives. The recurring theme of enduring through trust in your friendships is really driven down in this film. Harry's friends are there for him despite how much genuine danger they've put themselves in merely by associating with him. The Locket that is one of Voldemort's horcruxes (items holding fragments of Voldemort's soul through strong enchantments) is a brilliant McGuffin to bring about conflict amongst Harry, Ron & Hermione. It's basically like the One Ring in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy in that it brings out a person's paranoia, jealousies, insecurities & everything potentially evil about that person. It causes Ron to temporarily leave his 2 best friends in the middle of this 1st half of HP7. The original Dance Scene, not found in the book, added by Director David Yates is one of the highlights of the film. Is the dancing in the brief sequence good? No & it's not supposed to be. It's merely Harry trying to comfort his good friend Hermione while their mutual resolve to find solutions to destroying the Horcruxes & the world around them is steadily crumbling under the tyranny of a Wizard War. The movie always leaves a bit of hope & humor inter-weaved with the scariness of mass conflict. It also remembers to personalize the present and past conflicts of the Wizarding world with personal stories. An excellent example is the Godric's Hollow scene set during Christmas. Harry & Hermione encounter the ruins of the home that Harry lived in briefly as an infant & visit the graves of his parents. The audience grieves with Harry because we're deeply invested in him. It's that expert blend of tragedy & triumph at the heart of the Harry Potter narrative at work again. A solemn moment is given room to breathe while still swiftly shifting to the grotesque scariness of the Bathilda Bagshot transforming into Voldemort's snake Nagini. Harry & his friends are fugitives. Time for careful deliberation and planning is no longer their reality. The safe confines of childhood symbolized by Hogwarts are cast aside and Harry, Ron and Hermione aren't ready for it. Through the whole film they struggle with their mission, each other, and who within the wizarding world they're still able to trust. Friends and Foes are dropping like flies all around Harry, Ron and Hermione. They're put through a mental, emotional and physical ringer all the way through this installment and I love it for it.

The shadow puppet animation sequence describing the 3 brothers tale from Beetle & the Bard alone deserves it's own analysis. I loved every moment of the beginning of the end of Harry Potter. I can't wait for the 2nd half & FINAL film of the Harry Potter saga this summer. After that, I can't wait until I can have an 8 film Harry Potter Film Marathon in the comfort of my home. I hope that Warner Bros puts out a 4 and a half hour version of Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows for home viewing because it's already obvious that these 2 final films will be even better if viewed as a single film much like the Lord of the Rings Extended Editions.

December 4, 2010 - My 28th B'day

2010-12-04T00:27:00.001-08:00

Today's my birthday. My birthday is December 4th. It's pretty much a full calendar year yet it always seems to unexpectedly creep up on me. This year's probably been the most difficult year of my life because of the wound issues that I'd had since shortly before my birthday last year. All that's resolved now but it took a lot of perseverance, stress, tears, anger, personal strength, & support from my family. I was in the hospital twice this year. Once in May & again for the whole month of September. There were medications that made me feel awful as well. I'm grateful for the supportive nursing staffs in the community health unit & in the hospital that did dressings for me throughout the whole prolonged affair. They didn't always tell me the best news but they were always able to help me put it into perspective despite my baggage of various health concerns throughout my life as a person with the disability Spina Bifida. I certainly wasn't always the most pleasant person to be around when it felt like things weren't progressing quickly in healing amongst other things. It added a whole other layer of stress during times of the year when I was going to classes regularly. The hospital stay in the month of September meant a loss of a semester. I felt like I was going to miss the semester anyways because I was determined to get everything healed up completely. I'm glad that I've developed a bit better knowledge of current books that are available. I've always enjoyed reading but had usually been mainly reading required works for English or History classes. I did read some other works by authors that I'd discovered while studying but I also read other things that I didn't expect to be drawn to. I started reading the works of Rick Riordan. Mainly the entire Percy Jackson series, The Red Pyramid: Book one of Kane Chronicles & The Lost Hero: first book of The Heroes of Olympus series, sequels to Percy Jackson & Camp Half Blood. He's technically an author for younger teens but like Jo Rowling's Harry Potter books there's something universally appealing about the worlds he's created through his writing. I read Through Black Spruce, Joseph Boyden's loose sequel to Three Day Road. It was interesting because it reiterated themes from Three Day Road, a book about soldiers at war & re-envisioned the dilemmas of these guys through their descendants in Contemporary Canada & USA. To be more in depth is to deprive people from discovering these books. I got into Bryan Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim comic books aka graphic novels through a cousin of mine giving me the first book to read while in the hospital. It's a comic book but I'd lump it in with several other books I've read that have completely impacted my life.
It's the only thing I've read that accurately conveys growing up in North America in the last 20 - 30 years and all of the cultural influences that have been mashed up to create the supposed prolonged adolescence & young adulthood of today. This year was the first time that I'd really analyzed Shakespeare's work through a course devoted to his works. It was wonderful. If I didn't take that course, I just might have avoided reading several of the Shakespeare's works that I now consider amongst my favorites of his output. I read several more books about the Asian experience in North America. I'm glad to read books like this because it speaks to who I am as a person. I still haven't got around to getting a copy of Illustrado by Miguel Syjuco but I will hopefully in the future. I've started reading Wayson Choy's All That Matters. It's a book I've looked forward to since reading his debut novel The Jade Peony. So far it isn't as good as Peony but it does cover a much longer period of time. I've picked up copies of George Orwell's 1984 & J.D. Sallinger's Catcher in the Rye because they're 2 "classics" that I've heard so many good things about but I've yet to read. I haven't started them yet but I'll get to them in 2011 definitely. It's the year that NBA Jam has triumphantly returned to the video game scene. It's the year that there was finally a really well done Batman video game named Arkham Asylum (& I demolished it in incredibly efficient fashion)

Most of all, it's the year that my Brother moved away to California. It's only been a few months since he left but it was the end of an era. The era of living together as a 3-4 person "nuclear" family unit. I still talk to him on the phone, text, & communicate with him on the internet but it's just different.

This year has been stress, change, & a rekindling of my love of reading. I forgot to mention in detail discovering that I love the sitcom Big Bang Theory & rediscovering that I love the sitcom How I Met Your Mother. Not to mention, my favorite TV show LOST ended with fans heavily divided on the way the final season played out. I loved it all the way through because I like having my intellect stroked. It's a lot better to keep the mind sharp through constant speculation & making your own story connections than to have a show tell you how to watch it.

This is a birthday post but it's more like a year end wrap up. That's OK. I hope that 2011 treats me more kindly. 2009 & 2010 have been physically taxing & I'd really like to have less stress.

Later everyone

Scott Pilgrim & The Infinite Awesomeness

2010-11-20T01:22:00.000-08:00

Above you are all the book covers for all 6 volumes of the Scott Pilgrim series of comic books aka graphic novels. There was a movie adaptation that was out during the summer. In fact, it's now out on DVD/Blu-ray combo pack for easy consumption @ home. Why am I talking about these books. It's because they're AWESOME!!!!

Before delving into these books, keep in mind that they have a very particular audience in mind. It's basically aimed towards video game generations. By that I mean, people that were born in the 1980s, grew up in the 1990s, and are relatively young adults in present day 2010. The characters in the books share these characteristics with its audience. They also break the fourth wall every once in a while in the book's dialogue. The point is that it's a lot of fun, especially if you've grown up in the last 2-3 decades.

The author Bryan Lee O'Malley is also a biracial Canadian of Quebequois & Korean descent. I was already sold on the books while reading the snappy dialogue & pop culture referencing visuals. Learning that he's a biracial person made me rethink the way that he's scripted his character Knives Chau. She's a sweet, intelligent, 17 year old girl that unfortunately begins dating the title character as he first encounters Ramona Flowers, an American AMAZON.CA delivery girl that he first glimpses literally "in his dreams". Scott is absolutely in love with Ramona after this encounter that technically might not have actually happened. Knives becomes obsessed with Scott & everything in his life while she dates him. She's sheltered and lives with her Chinese parents. Meeting Scott is like a gateway to the exciting new world of young adulthood. Scott however is pretty much A.D.D. & regularly blocks out memories of the past & the true nature of his handling of friendships & relationships in the past. Knives is the one character in the books that undergoes the most profound change. She starts off as a shy teenager, that becomes obsessed with a guy, fights for Scott; a guy that never treated her well in any stage of knowing her, begins dating another guy to get Scott jealous, realizes the error of her ways, worries about the girl Scott is presently dating (Ramona) and seeks her out in order to tell her the truth, yet ultimately is still able to forgive and accept Scott's faults, allowing her to build an actual friendship with him. Not to mention, she has some incredible fights with Ramona & others throughout the books. Knives takes in all of the cultural & social influences around her, makes several attempts to reconcile conflicting ideas in her head and comes out the other side a much better person than she was before. Knives Chau as a character is a fictional character that all Asians & other peoples of color should read. She's inspiring.

Scott is emblematic of many young people today. He's actually got a lot of intelligence but he can't keep his attention on much. He loves playing video games of all sorts and plays the Bass in a band with two friends called "Sex Bob-omb" (Super Mario reference). He's fairly cavalier towards the feelings of others. Nonetheless, he has a certain charisma that draws friends & women towards him. His fatal flaw is that he's so A.D.D. that he doesn't take into account the consequences of his behavior & decisions on others around him. He's stuck in a kind of prolonged adolescence that's often been said of the various generations of people from 1980-onward. He meets Ramona & it's love at first sight. Ramona explains to him that he has to fight her evil ex's before they can date peacefully. Scott & Ramona both share the flaw that they live for the present day, not dwelling much on the past despite how their pasts constantly return, causing the predicaments illustrated by the battles with the evil ex's. Ramona has to deal with several of Scott's ex's still being present in his life & how Scott doesn't really want to deal with any emotions or things left unsaid between him & his ex's. His ex's ultimately end up helping Scott articulate the depth of his love for Ramona. Ramona's Ex's are the focus of many over the top action sequences in the books. They're all given just enough characterization to bring the laughs amidst insane amounts of action. One of the most interesting things that O'Malley does in regards to showing Scott & Ramona's past relationships is the issue of reliability & believability of the narrator. Scott & Ramona have heavily embellished recollections of their pasts. Scott seems to mix up his memories of playing through video games with memories of personal conflicts in relationships. It's almost like they both crave to articulate their recollections in terms of Black & White when the reality of their pasts is incredibly gray. It's also funny how their friends are almost always much more reliable at recalling the past then either of them are. Scott & Ramona are both people that push away relationships. They mature through trying their hardest to change their ways. Even when they're apart, they're slowly maturing. I love how the books are paced as if they're happening in a believable time frame. Months & months go by in each volume. They meet in Winter and the events of the books are their first year as a couple, along with several asides to explain their pasts. It's convincing that it takes a whole year of being together before either Scott or Ramona is deeply changed in their personalities because of their relationship. The passage of time is every bit as important to the story as the various supporting characters.

O'Malley's emphasis on illustrating the passage of time in the city of Toronto alongside the progression of Scott & Ramona's relationship helps to show the reader that the characters have earned their newly found maturity rather than cheapening their new ways of thinking by making it seem like a few hours or weeks. Every event that happens in the books is a necessary vignette in order to infuse the final battle with power. Each volume is interesting enough but when read in succession, each volume is better than the last. The power of the final battle occurs because you've been there for every step with Scott & Ramona, invested in the fate of their relationship.

Check out the movie version but make sure that you read the books. There's more action, more characterization, more humor, stories of maturation for nearly every character, and a whole lot of fun.

The first volume helped keep me in good spirits through my month in the hospital in September, 2010. I have my cousin Ehren to thank for getting me the 1st volume as a gift while I was in the hospital. I got all the other volumes throughout October & early November 2010. I've barely talked about any of the supporting characters. Never mind, find the books & thank me later. I'm sure you'll all find your own favorite characters while reading it.

September 2010 - my month in the hospital

2010-10-05T09:20:00.000-07:00

I haven't put up a blog post in quite a while. The main reason for that would be my hospitalization for much of the month of September. I've been having issues with a wound on my rear end for much of late last year and all of this year. I suddenly became feverish while watching the movie "Home Fries" on television on a random Saturday morning somewhere around August 20. I'd got myself checked out by a locum for my GP on August 23. I'd developed an abscess that had become infected. I was hospitalized the following day while seeing the locum for the Plastic surgeon that had been looking after a preexisting wound on my rear as well. I was rushed into emergency by the locum plastic surgeon. I was given an I.V. and given several antibiotics. I went into surgery by the Friday of that same week that I was admitted. Afterward I had to lay down on either side but never on my rear end directly. The worst part was that during the middle of September they had the brilliant idea of putting me on a rectal tube to siphon out my bowels rather than letting me do my usual of disempacting my bowels. After several days of giving me excessive amounts of laxatives and having the rectal tube repeatedly fall out it was decided to let my system get back into its usual constipated self. Around this time a VAC dressing was put onto this newly operated on area. The previous area that had been annoying me for the last who knows how long was closed. Luckily everything healed fairly quickly. The whole rectal tube section was really annoying because just prior to them starting me on it, along with excessive amounts of laxatives, my bowels had started to get back to normal. The rectal tube business slightly protracted my stay into a month in the hospital. The other thing that was really frustrating is that I barely saw my main doctor, a plastic surgeon, during the whole time I was in. We had to file a complaint before he started to give proper attention & spent some time answering my parents' questions regarding what I'd need to facilitate a return home. The nursing staff during my stay was generally awesome. I ended up getting pretty friendly with quite a few of them because of the length of my stay. Were some of them attractive. I'd be lying if I said no. OK, enough of that side track. Basically once I was off the rectal tube and my bowels started to go back to constipated I was able to start walking around the hospital. I increased distances pretty much every time I got up. There were a few episodes of vertigo during the month but I'm not going to discuss those near fainting spells.

What did I do mostly while in the hospital. Read magazines, daily newspapers, watch DVDs on a portable player, play DS games, eat and drink hospital food and assorted goodies that friends & family brought for me.

All I have to say about the hospital food is that I was there long enough to notice their food rotations. It broke down into three categories: Something creamy, Something with Brown Gravy, and Something with Red Sauce. Soups of Vegetable, Beef, Chicken, or Turkey broth that all got less appealing as my stay in the hospital extended. Oh, and deserts that were generally much too thick for proper nutrition. Anything else, one fight with a hospitalist (hospital general practitioner) about him making assumptions about my eating habits because he saw some Tim Horton's doughnuts on my hospital table.

There was also an infectious disease doctor that was pretty good that was put on my case, for some reason taken off, and put back on my case. This whole episode was also part of why we lodged a complaint. They took him off my case before I had finished all the IV antibiotics he wanted me on. After he was put back on my case I had a few short rounds on the IV along with several scans of the area that was operated on to make sure the infection is fully cleared.

That's about it. I'm still annoyed that being in the hospital made me miss a show by my favorite singer on youtube Kina Grannis in Vancouver on September 19. I guess my health is more important. *shrug*

I think I'll put up another post at some point about things I watched, read, played, ate, and drank to fill up my time in the hospital.

VAC-on VAC-off

2010-08-11T01:05:00.001-07:00

It's nearly September and I still have this VAC machine on. Yes, I've still had massively bad days because of the VAC and the indwelling catheter to supposedly manage my urine to keep the area around the wound on my behind clean. It's still massively frustrating at times. It was supposed to be wrapped up by now. It will be a year in October since this issue with wounds on my behind started. It's discouraging to think that I'm still dealing with it nearly a year later. I'm thankful that the doctors and nurses think it should be wrapped up sooner rather than later. I'm currently taking a medication called Cloxacillin to help fight possible infection around the wound area. It tastes like crap and I have to take it four times a day. I was in a massively bad mood when I started taking it. Since then I've worked on my hastening of getting it down with liquids. What must be done, must be done. I've never been totally convinced of the healing abilities provided by the healthcare system. They offer services that help but ultimately healing is solely a matter of time and the right assistance from health providers. I've been through enough situations that most people would call a health crisis to know that a higher being has absolutely nothing to do with the healing process for me. It's simply a matter of patience and letting myself be angry sometimes. Even if it's for long periods of time. I need to express the anger. The problem is that when I'm angry it sounds a lot more like I'm looking for pity. I've never craved pity from others. In fact, I greatly dislike it. It's a sick sense of pity that causes people to inconvenience themselves by staring at me rather than carefully walking around me while I'm on a stairwell. It's that same pity that makes most people weak when they do face their own healthcare woes. Sometimes when I'm angry, I think that most people would have given up their will to persevere with a small fraction of the health care procedures I've gone through in my life.
I guess that's something to be personally proud of. I just don't really like the fact that I occasionally have a whole medical team. I really just want to get on with getting whatever the problem might be with as little inconvenience as possible. Medical teams really suck at minimizing inconvenience. That's just a fact. Hah Hah!!!!

FIFA WORLD CUP 2010- I was going for Germany

2010-07-11T20:51:00.001-07:00

The FIFA World Cup has wrapped again. What an exciting month of Football and/or Soccer. I was personally pulling for Germany to take it all. I got a bit concerned when I heard that Michael Ballack was hurt but I was reassured with Thomas Mueller's awesome play. He got the Golden Foot award at the end of the tournament and he's only gonna get better in the future.

not to mention Miroslav Klose, who also added heavily to the excellent offense of Germany

and certainly not least Lukas Podolski who added even further depth to Germany's offensive abilities

Hell, man... the whole freaking team was awesome. Third place isn't all that bad of a finish but it kind of sucks for Germany cuz they also got 3rd in the last World Cup which was on home soil for them. I wasn't crushed when they lost their semifinal game against Spain cuz I also like that nation. It's just that Germany is my preferred winner. Germany's overall got a quite young team. They've also got an amazing training system for their Under - 21's so I think that Germany should be able to taste World Cup victory in the next 8 years yet again.

I think I'll keep this post strictly on my favored team of Germany. My overall World Cup Tournament thoughts can wait for another post

This year/summer's painting(s)

2010-07-09T00:55:00.000-07:00

I've got a dilemma. I really wanna do a few paintings this summer. This is usually the case with me. I've even decided that I wanna do a few portraits this year because it requires a skill set that I haven't revisited in a while. My only problem is who? I've usually done family and friends but I think I might wanna do a painting of someone outside my everyday life. I don't necessarily wanna do an image of a celebrity. I suppose I could look up news photos and other sources like that. I was also considering doing painted portraits of particular people on YouTube that I enjoy. Maybe I will just do an image of a cousin or something too. who knows.

Any thoughts on the subject?

KINA GRANNIS

2010-06-30T00:05:00.001-07:00

hmm...what do I have to say about Kina Grannis? Lets just get the obligatory links to her official website and youtube out of the way first.

www.kinagrannis.com

and

www.youtube.com/user/kinagrannis

She's quickly become one of my favorite musicians right now regardless of online or major label status. She's also excessive amounts of beautiful...did I say that out loud. Moving on. I don't even remember how I ended up finding her music videos on youtube featuring a mix of originals and covers. Her originals are incredibly strong. Off the top of my head, my favorite is probably 'Cambridge' for its heartbreaking narrative. Other favorites include the following. 'Together' makes me think of Ferdinand, Perdita, and Prospero in William Shakespeare's The Tempest for some reason. 'Stars Falling Down' is undeniably uplifting too. Make sure to listen to both versions she's put up videos for on YouTube. There's the first single off her 4th CD (1st full length disc) Stairwells named 'Valentine' as well. It's such a simple little love song. I'm one of those people that says that Valentine's Day is arbitrary but there's nothing arbitrary about her sincerity on this song.

That's the one word I'd use to explain the appeal that she has across age, gender, ethnic & cultural divisions. Her music is undeniable because of her inherent sincerity. She's irresistible because of her inherent sincerity...did I say that out loud. moving on, lol. Not to mention that when she plays concerts, she pretty much always has a meet and greet after the show because she recognizes that all her success is because of people discovering her through various internet sources. She won a contest a few years back named the Dorritos Crash The Super Bowl that gave her a major label recording contract. She left a major label because of her conviction that she had an entire album of her own self-penned songs that was ready to be recorded. What a gutsy move. She's amazingly brave as well. I'm in complete awe of her personality and musical talent.

I strongly urge anyone that might be reading my blog to check out her music. That's all for now. I feel like picture splurging her above. Ya Ready Kids!!!!!!!!!!

To any male readers that might be reading this: if you don't find anything about Kina absolutely irresistible, you just might be a homosexual, just saying

that last bit was hurtful. I DON'T CARE :-P

If I were to meet her I'd probably think in my head "Oh Fuck! I'm SCREWED!!! My brain can't process that much beautiful at one time :-D

Violent G8 & G20 protests in Toronto

2010-06-26T22:59:00.000-07:00

Seeing these violent protests in Toronto makes me feel ashamed of some of my fellow Canadians. You have the right to protest PEACEFULLY not VIOLENTLY. Burning Cop cars and trashing shopping malls and storefronts is entirely uncalled for. There have apparently been 700 arrests to date since the conference ended over the weekend. A lot of the people arrested were also University students. You've gotta be absolutely stupid to think that you could dress up in black clothing, ditch the clothes en masse in wooded areas throughout the city, and still be thick enough to think that you wouldn't get caught. The other thing that really annoys me about the whole situation is that a lot of these anarchist, "political activists" come from Vancouver, the city I've lived most of my life in (and still live in). These "activists" are really just trouble makers that inconvenience the rest of us who know better. It's not even that all these various groups have bad ideas. It's just that the second you decide to dress completely in black and trash, spout violent rhetoric and then commit acts of violence and vandalism, you give up the right to have your opinion taken seriously. You are worse than anything that you oppose because you're not willing to fight your opponent through appropriate rules, venues, and institutions. This violent protest in Canada might look like a freak occurrence to international observers but it actually isn't. These violent protesters that are supposedly against Capitalism and Globalization are part and parcel of, at the least, Urban Canada. This is somewhat true regardless of whether the city is in the West or the East. What's the point in actively opposing Capitalism and Globalization. The supposed damage has already been done. These forces inform every single area humans live or get resources from worldwide. If you're going to oppose the major forces that structure human civilization as it exists today, at least have an efficient system that could be implemented quickly to replace the one that you vehemently oppose. However, they don't have a plan or even any legitimate recommendations. That's what really angers me. These "activists/protesters" raise such a fuss but they have no clue what they would do to fix things. They're basically politicians that either haven't had the opportunity to infringe their opinions through appropriate political institutions or they just don't want to work within recognized political channels. The latter is absolutely unacceptable. If you wanna influence how things are done, politics is pretty much the main vessel.

If you want social or political change, basically: "Put up or Shut Up"

That's all for now folks

I LOVE Mario Galaxy 2

2010-06-14T23:23:00.000-07:00

What do I have to say about this. It's the other thing that has been occupying my time lately. The latest adventure of arguably the most iconic character and supporting cast of all time in video games. Is it even necessary to explain the appeal of the brothers Mario? The original Mario Galaxy made players rethink how they play so-called "platforming" games. The sequel takes everything great about the original and builds on it substantially. Also, it finds appropriate sections to go into gameplay that's more or less side-scrolling and 2D. This is handled perfectly because neither 3D or 2D gameplay is allowed to fully dominate the experience. Having both major styles of Mario Bros gameplay in one game is amazing. Adding Yoshi really adds quite a bit to the already established 3D gameplay of Mario Galaxy. The best thing about Yoshi is that most sections you use the dinosaur in MUST be completed using his special abilities through items. That was one thing that I didn't really like about Yoshi's use in Super Mario Sunshine on the Gamecube. Yoshi's juice based abilities could have easily been made abilities for Mario's water backpack that was already central to the gameplay in this game. In Galaxy 2, Yoshi's special abilities are the most unique they've ever been. Further, it wouldn't make sense for Mario (or *spoiler alert* Luigi) to hold those abilities. The gameplay reinforces the fact that the player must figure out how to use Mario & Yoshi's abilities TOGETHER. Mostly, I appreciate Mario Galaxy 2 for having levels that are substantially more difficult than the previous game. My only qualm with this game is that the main storyline and levels of the game are too short. I'm glad that each galaxy and planet has several stars to obtain. A major problem with the first game was that some galaxies had single stars while others seemed to have too many, thus making those levels repetitive. Each galaxy or planet has 2-4 stars minimum. I appreciate that. There are also these coinss called Comet medals that cause additional stars to become available that are sometimes even more difficult to obtain than the previous ones.

If you have a Nintendo Wii, you owe yourself the opportunity to play the original Super Mario Galaxy and its sequel that ups the ante heavily and melds 2D and 3D style Mario gameplay into one amazing monster of a Mario game

VAC Machine, World Cup, Through Black Spruce

2010-06-14T19:27:00.000-07:00

That last post was a bit of a downer. I wasn't in the best mood while writing it. Getting angst & anger out is necessary. I've always thought that. I've got this machine called a VAC that's over the wound on my butt now. It's a machine that essentially siphons or vacuums out all the bloody drainage that's coming out of that single, relatively newer wound that I was complaining about before. Hopefully it makes everything heal quicker. At least it's portable. There's lots of tubing but it came with an umm, satchel to carry it around in. Don't make fun of it, Indiana Jones wears a satchel, hah hah...sorry about the cousinly inside joke. moving on.

I finally got to the movies this summer a few days ago too. I went to see Get Him to the Greek. It's that movie with Russell Brand and Jonah Hill that's a continuation showing the subsequent events in the life of Brand's rockstar character in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. One of the best things about it is actually Diddy as a maniacal record exec. It's great self parody on his behalf. I've also been watching pretty much all of the World Cup action thus far. I thought of supporting Germany at the beginning of the tournament and I think I'll stick with them for now. There's lots of known good teams and teams on the rise this year. It should be great. I've also been reading a book called Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden. It's a continuation focusing on the descendents of the protagonist Xavier Bird/Nephew from Boyden's debut novel Three Day Road. There certainly are echoes of things, events, and relationships in Three Day Road in Through Black Spruce but it takes place basically in present day Ontario and Quebec. I'm not done reading it but there's one protagonist that's the granddaughter of Xavier, who has a lost sister that is somewhat impulsive, action oriented, and lost, like Elijah in the previous book. This female protagonist also has the "gift" of foresight into the future via seizures like the Grandmother Niska in the previous book. It deals with a lot of First Nations issues like Three Day Road however the issues discussed are much more today. Some impact and power is lost because of setting the narrative in regular society & reservations of today compared to the battlefields of World War I but I'm enjoying it nonetheless. I'll probably write a whole post about it after I'm done. There's actually a lot of books that I've been interested in reading that have come out in the last while. I just got Through Black Spruce first because I found it for $12 before tax. It was $19 after tax. Not too shabby a discounted price compared to the original list price of $34 or so. It's great that it's a new copy as well.

Last thoughts. Go on YouTube and look up Kina Grannis. If you don't at least like her personality, we can't get along. She's definitely replaced Babyporridge as my absolutely necessary woman from YouTube. Just saying, hah hah.

LATER EVERYONE

post surgery frustration

2010-06-04T00:40:00.000-07:00

2-3 weeks back I had surgery on my butt to take care of some open wound issues. Recently, certain things might be flaring up again in regards to wounds there. It's incredibly frustrating to know that I can't necessarily trust that my body will heal up without some serious inconvenience and discomfort due to having to lay down excessively, limit how long I walk, and be aware of how long I've been sitting. This combination basically has amounted to feeling incredibly sluggish and somewhat annoyed at times. I find it hard to believe that with all that's possible due to advances in various fields that surgical procedures and the times necessary to heal them remain so unchanged. I wanna be able to get back to being active at levels that I'm used to but doing that can be potentially hazardous to my healing. It frustrates me that medical professionals use all this positive language that means well and is somewhat sincere yet they are ultimately helpless in regards to healing people in some cases. Being a person that has Spina Bifida, I've been dealing with medical professionals my whole life. After having more surgeries than most people have in their whole lives, no surgery exists alone. It's just the latest in a long line of personal inconveniences.

In general, I've learned that it's generally helpful to ask for all treatment options. Doctors, more often than not, generally recommend what's easiest for them to do as a first option regardless of any thoughts or sentiments previously expressed by the patient. Insist on blunt honesty about what's happening with you. Getting your anger out can be the best thing possible. I'm writing this because I got incredibly irritated when a dressing nurse mentioned these flare ups. I was furious for a little while around lunch yesterday.

Is it not understandable that someone would get incredibly angry and emotional when it's suggested that even post surgery, the problem area is still not fully healing properly.

The question could be asked, if the work of all these medical professionals isn't working, why have I been inconvenienced so heavily?

Thinking of all the time I've lost because of consultations and appointments with medical professionals unfortunately puts me into a head space that I don't like going to.

This was all a bit of a downer. I just needed to get it out. I'm sure I'll need to get it out again at some point in the future :-D

"The End" of LOST - Desmond

2010-05-26T20:41:00.000-07:00

What do I have to say about Desmond Hume of LOST. He's played by Henry Ian Cusick and he's probably one of the most beloved characters from the entirety of the series. He's certainly one of my favorite characters. He was introduced at the outset of the oft unfairly maligned 2nd season of LOST. 4 major things were introduced in the second season, Desmond, The Others, and the Dharma Initiative, and the Taillies. The Tailies aka the passengers from the tail end of Oceanic 815 were also introduced but only one of the characters from the tail remained alive until the end of the series, Bernard. Desmond is the man that is in the Swan Station aka the Hatch. He apparently met Jack Shephard, the main hero of LOST, before the island. Desmond is also responsible for bringing the Oceanic 815 flight to the Island through not pushing the button in the Hatch. Desmond's introduction also introduces the concept of the Dharma Initiative. The Dharma Initiative is a mysterious group that seems to have been conducting research on the island in the 1970s. Some of the main protagonists of LOST even join this group in Season 5 through the device of uncontrollable time travel. The mythology of the Island was always heavily associated with Desmond. Desmond's eventual Father-in-law Charles Widmore is even eventually revealed to have been a former leader of the Others. The love of Desmond's life is Penelope "Penny" Widmore. She is estranged from her father because he doesn't approve of her relationship with Desmond.

Desmond and Penny's love story is probably the most effectively executed love story amongst several in LOST. Penny's disapproving Father, Charles Widmore regularly blocks their happiness throughout much of the series. He's a wealthy businessman that is revealed to have past ties the Others, a group that is seemingly native to the island. Desmond enters a sailing race around the world to prove his worthiness of Penny to her father. It's during this race that he crashes onto the island. He is duped into replacing a man named Kelvin, who lives in the Hatch, inputting the infamous numbers " 4 8 15 16 23 42" into an old school computer. Pressing the button limits a destructive amount of electromagnetism from being released out. This electromagnetism is likely one and the same as the electromagnetic "heart of the island" revealed in the just concluded season 6. Desmond develops the ability of premonition in Season 3 of the show and attempts throughout this season to stop the death of Charlie Pace. However, Charlie's death at the end of Season 3 allows Desmond to reconnect with Penny despite their distance in physical space and time. The boat that arrives in Season 4 contains a few characters that interact heavily with Desmond. Perhaps the definitive Desmond episode of the entire series is called "The Constant". This episode explains the odd difference in space and time between the outside world and the island. In season 4, Desmond also develops the ability to interact with his past and present simultaneously albeit with some consequences. The concept of time travel is introduced in this episode quite effectively. More importantly, it really develops the relationship between Desmond and Penny. This episode really showcases the fact that Desmond and Penny must be together. The past that Desmond interacts with in this episode is 1994. It's a point where Desmond and Penny's relationship is seemingly beyond repair. However, Desmond can't let her go. He tracks her down, they fight a little, then he asks for her phone number. Penny doesn't want to give him her number. She eventually relents because Desmond says that he'll leave if she gives him the number. He argues that she can't change her number. He dramatically says that he won't call for 8 years. She's convinced. They finally have that phone call towards the end of "The Constant" and it's probably the most touching, romantic moment of any TV series or film that I've ever seen. The scene is filled with tears of unbelievable joy from Desmond and Penny. Desmond's main ambition is to be with Penny despite everything working against them. The fact that he does reconnect with her is just icing on the cake. Desmond's abilities make him central to the mythology of the island on LOST but the reason he's such a beloved character is because of his ambition to do whatever it takes to reconnect with the love of his life Penny.

Basically Desmond's storylines helped expand the mythology surrounding the island while also expanding the details of his own personal life.

I've spewed out a lot of text but I'm not doing this great character justice. Go watch LOST everyone and love the incredible storyline of Desmond Hume. That's Desmond & Penny reconnecting in "The Constant" up top in the pic :-D

"The End" of LOST

2010-05-23T22:49:00.000-07:00

LOST is over. This show has entertained and infuriated countless people throughout its six year run but it has always done it with immense intelligence. It was never a just a show about castaways surviving on a tropical island. I love that this show has a truly international cast. This aspect of it was part of why I initially got interested in it. Seeing dynamic characters of different ethnicities and nationalities all in one great TV cast is revelatory in my opinion. This show treated the various cultural backgrounds in its cast quite respectfully. They also didn't make their ethnic characters saints. I greatly appreciated that.

I remember watching the first season on and off because my class schedule in the year it debuted didn't always allow me to watch it on TV. I'd seen enough episodes on TV of the first season to motivate me enough to buy the first season DVD set. By the start of the second season I was undeniably hooked. I never had a problem with all the mysteries and ambiguity of LOST. It became the main reason that I kept on watching. It satisfied my own inherent aptitude for attention to details. In this aspect, LOST rewarded me heavily.

The island itself is a character in the show. It has served as a vessel to discuss so many big issues, arguments, and themes that happen throughout life. One of the themes that's easy to point out are the different types of families in the show. They're all laden with dysfunction. However, reconciliation and acceptance of family members' faults and individual personal faults are a major theme of the show. Siblings on LOST are often opposing reflections of each other. Boone and Shannon seemed to not really get along but share a secret history between the two of them that's somewhat inappropriate despite the fact that they're step-siblings. Charlie & Liam Pace trade off positions in drug dependency. Mr. Eko & his brother Yemi are another example. Eko becomes a drug lord. His brother becomes a priest. Jack & Claire don't find out that they're siblings because of a shared father until mid way in the series. It becomes something that's mostly positive for both of them despite Claire's potential mental instability when they can finally become like brother & sister. Juliet has a sister with cancer. This information is used to manipulate her onto the island. Benjamin Linus and Ethan Rom are even revealed to have shared something like an older brother, younger brother relationship. The end game reveal of Jacob & the Man in Black being brothers highlights all the odd relationships between siblings throughout the series. One is supposedly good while the other is supposedly bad. They are both manipulated into taking on these roles by "mother". Their demi-god like status is secondary to the fact that they both have some very real faults. They've also betrayed their brotherhood repeatedly throughout the show. This is because they both believe each other to be unfairly limiting the other. The Jacob & the Man in Black are awfully similar to the earlier conflict of Benjamin Linus vs. Charles Widmore. These men both have strong connections to the island however disagree fundamentally with how things should have been done there. In my opinion, a lot of the conflicts on LOST result from great misunderstandings. It humanizes the conflicts despite all the crazy manipulations and fantastic sci-fi tendencies of the show.

I've gone into rambling. I'll leave that bit about conflicts between sibling like characters for now. I'll go into other aspects that I love about the show in another entry, another time. I've been rewatching the show on DVD lately. What should I talk about next time? I think I'll talk about Desmond, one of my favorite characters. Until next time

Surgery time yet again

2010-05-09T13:33:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday May 12, I'm gonna have surgery again.
This time, it's for open wounds on my butt.
I just want these issues resolved as quickly as possible.
The surgery won't fully resolve the wounds.
However, it will greatly help the healing process aided by dressing changes.
How do I feel about it?
I'm mostly indifferent. I know that I need to have it done to heal up properly.
Surgery isn't a major event for me.
I've already had more surgeries than most people have for their whole lifetime.
I'm mostly indifferent to it.
I feel more inconvenienced than anything.
I've got a GP appointment tomorrow morning (Monday)
Anesthesiologist consult on Tuesday
Surgery on Wednesday and overnight observation
Likely return home on Thursday.
In short, I've got a medical week ahead of me.

A Shakespearean examination is not an act of evil.

2010-04-21T23:57:00.000-07:00

Had an Exam today.

T'was on the works of the man affectionately called The Bard aka William Shakespeare.

Methinks stressing over the passage identification questions that made up the first section of the exam I'was all for nought.

I ended up being able to write up something substantial for 10 out of the 11 passages.

My brain froze on #6. That passage might have been from Twelfth Night.

What did I learn. I actually quite like some of Shakespeare's comedies that we covered.

In particular, Midsummer's Night's Dream, As You Like It.

Aren't the comedic duo of Oberon & Puck just the best thing EVER!!!!

I hated Twelfth Night the first time I read it.

just one semester prior to this one just finished.

I somewhat like it now. Funny how that happens. Viola is endearing to me now

I've added Richard III onto my list of Shakespeare plays that I love.

He had so much justification for being so horrendously evil to his family

Should I be concerned for myself that I somewhat agree with Richard

I really understood why he's such an excellent example from English Literature to apply to Disability Theory discussion and criticism.

It now stands proudly alongside Othello and A Midsummer Night's Dream in my top 3

A Midsummer Night's Dream is a new favorite too.

When I was supposed to have read it in high school, we started with a Sub on short contract

Our regular teacher came back after getting laser eye surgery and decided to drop it from our curriculum.

The Tempest is pretty damn cool too. Sir John Falstaff in Henry 4 plays is quite an interesting character too. So is Prince Henry/Hal in the same plays.

I think that I'd actually put Antony and Cleopatra as my #4 favorite Shakespeare play.

That's a new one for me too.

This class has made me have a collected Shakespeare tome known as the Riverside Shakespeare Second Edition.

I love that I have the entire known works of Shakespeare in one FREAKIN LARGE RED & BEIGE BRICK

General question time.

What are some of your favorite Shakespeare works? No saying that you dislike Shakespeare. In all likelihood, you just didn't give yourself enough time to get used to the old english style language.

If you want some really hard to read older English in comparison to modern day variants, I'd suggest reading some Geoffrey Chaucer. Chaucer aka author of the Canterbury Tales. That stuff is hard to read. I'm sure that you could desensitize yourself to it. I don't really want to learn to love Chaucer. I'm ok somewhat hating his writing. Beowulf was an easier read and that's even older than Canterbury tales. The suggestion of Chaucer sounds like an evil punishment to me.

I'm throwin up a pic below of the collected Shakespeare tome I was working from.

No matter how much fun you had doing it, try to avoid getting "Deform'd" everybody. You don't want your presence to suggest that evil is present. hah hah

What I've been reading - post 2

2010-03-27T00:04:00.001-07:00

Larissa Lai's When Fox is a Thousand

There's something peculiar and knowing that comes over me when I'm reading something set in the city I live in, Vancouver, British Columbia. Knowing the neighborhoods, streets, and landmarks in a novel really can leave a lasting impact while reading. I got a bit of that while reading this great book over...was it already January when I started reading this? I finished it in late February. That's besides the point. Where was I?

Oh yeah. Knowing the area and the mix of people in the population of an area because I live in it has been a blessing for me while reading a few books set in Vancouver. Interestingly, this book and The Jade Peony by Wayson Choy, set in Vancouver during the 1920s-mid 40s, have both left a lasting impression on me. I think this is because they both deal with Asians of some variety while living in Vancouver. Choy's book was very much so about the connection between the culture of the country of the older generation co-existing and blending with the culture of the Canadian born children who feel part of Canada but live in a Canadian society isn't quite ready to accept them because of their ethnicity. Lai's When Fox is a Thousand takes place in Vancouver between 1989 to probably 1995, or the present day according to the year of publication. The main characters are mostly young Asian Canadians that are living in the world of today. That means that mass immigration, globalization, and mass media, are amongst several factors that influence the characters in addition to whatever culture they've been brought up in. Their culture is a pastiche of everything they come into contact with. There's a clear sense of humor, self depreciating at times, towards "tradtional" Asian culture. Losing cultural heritage and the meaning of cultural heritage are recurring themes in the contemporary sections of the narrative. I love the whimsy of the sections about the "eternal fox" who is a trickster figure of sorts. The Fox gains the ability to reanimate corpses and inhabit the bodies of women as it ages. These sections are filled with mischief and sporadically real menace. There is also another thread to the novel discussing a female poet from the T'ang Dynasty of China that dovetails into the narrative of the "Eternal Fox". The chapters focused on this "Eternal Fox" connect the T'ang Dynasty narrative to the narrative happening in Vancouver in contemporary times.

This entry feels like a whole lot of word vomit thus far. I'll move onto my pros and cons.

pros: Great variety in the storytelling through the 3 narratives that eventually connect in an interesting manner. It depicts Vancouver with great detail that's quite vivid. The way that Lai infuses her characters with the unique mindset of grown children of Asian families is very well done. It doesn't even matter that most of the characters are gay or lesbian. Depicting a variety of attitudes and psychological demeanors with humanity and integrity. I love the playful and sometimes menacing whimsy of the mythological ageless fox that is immortal after a certain age.

cons: the manner in which the characters change in demeanor during the course of the narrative feels clumsy at times. For example, the main character in the contemporary Vancouver sections is a young woman named Artemis. Early on she is quite attracted to a male friend of hers. Later, she becomes a lesbian at the mere suggestion of if she ever considered being with a woman. After that comment, every intimate relationship is with a woman arbitrarily. The level of social connection between all the characters in the contemporary Vancouver sections, revealed over the course of the novel makes them all seem incestuous after a while. The T'ang Dynasty sections were a bit unclear in some sections. Particularly, in regards to whether we're still following the same female poet or someone else entirely different that happens to be around her.

In other words, some of writing seems rushed and clumsy. This is detrimental to the logic or suspension of belief necessary for parts of the novel. Overall, I quite enjoyed the book overall. The ageless Fox sections were fascinatingly humorous and mysterious simultaneously. Artemis and her friends are generally believable in characterization but developments in their lives are written a bit clumsy. T'ang Dynasty sections are also a mixed bag but are generally closer in tone to the ageless Fox sections. I think this is a good thing. Check it out if you happen to come across it.

What I've been reading - post 1

2010-03-24T08:58:00.001-07:00

This has all been mostly from the last little while

Is it the Sun Philibert by Roch Carrier - Excellent comedic novel. Darkly funny in quite a few places. It's part of a loose trilogy. I've read the previous book in the series, La Guerre Yes Sir, and that one is more straight up hilarious with an offbeat twist that's what really happened in regards to a key death in that book. These books are about small town people in Quebec and how they react in the face of a drastically changing Quebec in the first several decades of the 20th century. Philibert focuses on the title character as he escapes small town life to Montreal but finds that it's actually worse than his previous situation. Cautions: Carrier's writing doesn't sanitize actual or verbal discrimination against any ethnic group. Also, the women are depicted in extremes of older, bitter, matronly types or as being highly sexualized. The male characters are equally stereotypical too. It's satire so I was able to get past all that. It might not be everyone's cup of tea. It's also very specific to Quebec & Canada because of certain mentions of political events. Nonetheless, it is very accessible overall.

Here's a link to a Wikipedia page about Roch Carrier

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roch_Carrier

CANADA MENS HOCKEY GOLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-02-28T23:38:00.000-08:00

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here's some highlight clip action of the HUGEST HOCKEY GAME EVER

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jr9j-MRTxz8

That is all, enjoy the fall of the Americans. This American team is full of young up and coming NHL players. They'll be back to attempt revenge, just not in the near future, hah hah

Olympic Madness

2010-02-15T23:22:00.000-08:00

The city of Vancouver is going to be absolutely crazy all this week and next.
I started going to the different pavilions starting on Saturday, Feb. 13.
I've got a 2 week break because of the Olympics. I am going to catch up
on readings and finish up a second draft of an essay for Shakespeare class
but It would be foolish to ignore all the festivities going on around the city
I live in at the moment. I've been going out every afternoon and coming
back around 9pm basically everyday since the games started.

I've been collecting collectible pins from different pavilions lately. Wasn't able to
get any today despite going to a pavilion that had some ultra exclusive
pins for answering some questions during an audience participation
show. What can I say. I don't care enough to show that much enthusiasm
amid festive madness, hah hah.

I'm sure that I've just bored all of you by talking about collectible commemorative pins. How much geekier can I get? Actually a whole lot. I'm just somewhat disgusted by people geekier than myself. Does that make me hypocritical? Yeah. Do I care? Not really.

that being said. Big Congrats to Alexandre Bilodeau for being the first Canadian to win Olympic Gold in Canada, Jennifer Heil - you were robbed at the last second in the female version of Alexandre's discipline, and today, Mike Robertson, You should of had gold. That American Seth Wescott only nudged in front of you at the absolute last second. It was a photo finish in my opinion for the snowboard-cross

later

It's February 2010 already?

2010-02-08T21:32:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that it's February of 2010 already. It feels like yesterday that I was hearing about Vancouver winning the bid for the Winter Olympics. The games start on Friday. That's exactly four days from today. I'm excited that it's nearly here. This being British Columbia, and more specifically Vancouver, there are also obnoxiously high amounts of anti-games protesters that support causes that are issues above and beyond the Olympics. Yet they some how feel justified in placing all of their anger on the fact that the Olympics are happening. They'll happily be protesting even as the games are happening. Did anti-games protesting happen in any of the other relatively recent Olympics host cities? They might have just been extremely vigilant at hiding them. Well, I'm excited that the games are happening. I'm actually going to attend an early round Olympic Hockey game on February 17 between Finland and Belarus. I got free tickets from the Spina Bifida Association of B.C., I guess there are perks to having this supposed disability, hah hah.

What else have I been doing lately? I saw the movie "Dear John" twice this past weekend. The second viewing was because of a failed attempt by me and my cousins to see "Avatar" for a second time. It has an incredible performance by Channing Tatum and a very good performance by Henry Thomas, the actor best known as Elliot in Steven Spielberg's E.T. :Extra-Terrestrial.
It's another one of those love stories based on a novel by Nicholas Sparks. I've always been interested in these movies because they're love stories told from a male point of view. There's usually also extremely well developed undercurrents about the nature of relationships between males. By this I mean, friendships and Father/Son relationships. I almost don't wanna think of "Dear John" as a love story. The female character is the "heart" of the movie but it feels more like she helps the different male characters to articulate their emotions towards each other. Interesting movie.

What else is going on. I've written a first draft of an essay for Shakespeare and am currently in the process of writing an essay for Canadian Literature on the novel "Swamp Angel" by Ethel Wilson. It was an interesting read despite all the stereotypical depictions of men and people of non-white ancestry. For 1954, it's actually pretty fair to it's few Chinese characters. The men however are of the chauvinistic pig and gentle harmless disabled dumb guy variety. I enjoyed it nonetheless. The female characters have so much depth.

Oh, and in a few days I might be getting some minor surgery to help the healing along for some health related issues that I don't care to elaborate on. This is one bit of info that I'm gonna hold onto. I get incredibly somber when I start articulating my history with medical professionals and health care.

And this concludes the online creeper report, hah hah. Just kidding. Later. Oh, the Aussies were allowed to fly their Boxing Kangaroo flag during the Winter Olympics, if that matters to anybody.

Later

4 8 15 16 23 42

2010-01-31T00:31:00.000-08:00

If you have any idea what those numbers mean. It means that you are just as excited as me for the start of the FINAL season of my favorite TV show.

Le mois de janvier...at least lately.

2010-01-19T18:30:00.000-08:00

a point form update on my distractions of late.

1. Commuting via public transit aka trains and buses, often in heavy rain
2. the various assorted works of William Shakespeare for a course.
3. A Canadian Literature course - 2 novels, and 4 short stories down so far in the 1st 2 weeks of Classes.
4.Watched The Bucket List and really enjoyed it. It's that movie with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman as two men, both suffering from Cancer, and both given 6 months to a year to live. It's actually very funny and heartwarming.
5. CHUCK SEASON 3 - I LOVE THIS SHOW from Josh Shwartz, the Creator of The O.C. and perhaps unfortunately Gossip Girl. Actually both Chuck and Gossip Girl debuted the same season after the end of the O.C., imo this comedy-action quasi spy show spoof is much better than Gossip. It has that Seth Cohen, geeky sense of humor.
6. American Idol and the Pants on the Ground MANIA, I LOVE IT. don't judge me :-P
7. Season DVD watching of CHUCK Season 2 and Smallville Season 7 and 8. Smallville is a show that I remember enjoying quite a bit but I dropped off on because some episodes were getting a bit stupid. I caught some of the recent new episodes and was surprised how much better they were now. Not to mention how steeped in DC comics lore the show is now. These seasons are what the fans that dropped off on the show got impatient with in the earlier seasons.
8. Twitter - If U don't use it. It might be a bit late to ask. I"m somewhat addicted to it.
9. FRESH SLICE PIZZA. If anybody ever finds themselves in Vancouver. Please go and get yourself a box of an assortment of their delectably tasty Pizzas.

Nine seems like an odd number to end on. oh well. later.

Goodbye Auntie Flora/SuP 2010

2010-01-02T22:27:00.000-08:00

So I ended off 2009 by saying goodbye to my Auntie Flora who passed just before Christmas Eve. Went to attend her funeral on December 30. She was the wife of one of my mom's Cousins. While I was growing up, my family would make the 7-8 hour drive down to Corvalis, Oregon to go and visit my Uncle, Aunt, and all my numerous cousins, nieces, nephews, etc. that lived down there and in Washington State. Auntie Flora was the embodiment of kindness and hard work. She never complained about anything and always made sure everyone was comfortable and having a good time. After the drive down, we went straight to the funeral home. Afterward, we all went to their house at the Farm for dinner. From there we all had a really fun night out Bowling and or cheering on those that were bowling. That's exactly what Auntie would have wanted us all to be doing. Having a great time together. The Funeral was tough. I cried less than when my Auntie Ella died in September. I don't know why. Most of us felt that it was sad that Auntie Flora passed but she was incapacitated because of the effects of 2 strokes over the last few years.

This entry feels perhaps a bit too candid and forthcoming. I needed to get this out. I'm tired of saying goodbye to close family members. I seriously hope that nobody passes this year. I don't know if I can take much more loss.

Here's to 2010. It's a Winter Olympics year. It's happening in my city of Vancouver. Gonna get a few weeks off in February because of it. Can't complain. Wait, I can. I'll probably be writing a paper over that "break" period. I watched the Robert Downey Jr./Jude Law, Guy Ritchie directed Sherlock Holmes the other night. It was pretty entertaining. Great characterizations and humour. It did begin a bit slow after the opening set piece. Overall, I would not mind seeing more adventures of this version of Sherlock at all.

That's about it for now. Later. Hope you all had a great New Year's Eve and start of 2010

MURRY CHRISTMAS

2009-12-24T13:16:00.000-08:00

I was gonna put up a video of my favorite quote from The Cleveland Show's Christmas episode but I can't find a youtube video that actually covers that part of the episode...Awww well.

Hope everyone has a merry christmas and a happy new year

Christmas shopping

2009-12-18T19:11:00.000-08:00

I've started my Christmas shopping in earnest. Still need to get a few more things for a few more family members. Kind of feel like adding onto the single pieces of things I've bought so far. I like giving Christmas gifts but I strongly dislike the demeanor of people around the holidays in the malls. It's full of intentional and unintentional rudeness. Not to mention, stores are usually set up for maximum discomfort in the cashier/checkout area. I was in a Forever 21 today getting some clothes for various female cousins today. The line ups were really long even though I was in the mall on a Friday before 3pm. I bet the malls are even crazier now that people are off work and the school kids are off for Christmas break.

I've only got one non-clothing gift this year. It's for my older brother. The extended versions of Harry Potter 1 + 2 on Blu-ray. I can't wait to watch the multi part massive documentary that's gonna be spread over each extended version. I didn't really ask for anything specific from any family member. I've been too busy writing essays and prepping for finals to actually give many ideas to anybody. Hope I get Season 5 of LOST. It's my favorite show. The last season is always out on DVD around my birthday + the Holidays. I'd honestly be good with just getting LOST and nothing else. Have myself a merry little marathon.

what else is new. I've also recently bought my books for next semester. I'm taking a higher level Canadian Literature course. Got a stack of about 9 books for that course. I'm also taking a Shakespeare course which means that I now own THE COMPLETE WORKS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE as it appears in the massive tome THE RIVERSIDE SHAKESPEARE Second Edition. I've probably mentioned that. I'm just flabbergasted with delight and dread that I will soon be likely studying nearly every work that this legendary literary talent created.

EXAMS start tomorrow

2009-12-15T20:54:00.001-08:00

Exams start tomorrow for me.
I've got one tomorrow (Wednesday)
a second on the day after (Thursday)
my third and last one after the weekend (Monday)

I'm mostly stressed about Thursday.
It's a history course.
The other 2 are English courses.
You live or die on personal ability to comprehend
and make an argument about texts in those courses
Rereading texts studied specified for the exam and
an outline with some pulled quotes are all I can prep

I need 2 out of 3 out of the way before I can get to
Christmas Shopping. Amazingly late, I know. It was
absolutely impossible to be early this ear for anything.
I've been on a steady commute of to a campus, to an
appointment (daily), back home.
I'd rather not get into what the daily appointments are.
They're of a somewhat personal nature that shall remain
nameless and unarticulated (no, it has absolutely nothing
to do with the one sometimes called Babyporridge)

I'm sure I'll throw up the customary MERRY CHRISTMAS
post closer to the date.

Just one question. My family has the main celebration w/ gift opening and dinner
generally on Christmas Eve. We get together on the days after too for food finishing
but yeah.

Who celebrates on Christmas Eve? Who celebrates on Christmas Day? Who celebrates another holiday? Who doesn't celebrate anything at all?

I DON"T GIVE A FUCK CUZ IT"S MY BIRFDAY

2009-12-04T23:08:00.000-08:00

what is sez. What day is better than today to paraphrase Fiddy Cent (as Air Marshall FIFTY CENT)

It's ok if none of you remember that joke from Boondocks. It hasn't had new episodes in a while and is a bit of an acquired taste in writing and personality.

Day before Yesterday + Yesterday + Today

2009-11-22T21:38:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I finished up writing a Journal response to an excerpt from a work called The Madwoman in the Attic by Sandra Gilbert & Susan Gubar. It's a feminist essay that argues that women in the literary canon are usually depicted alternately as "angels of the house" or "monsters". I'm not a big fan of the strand of feminism that blames men and patriarchy absolutely for the condition of women. Radical Feminism. Not a fan of works written in that tradition. I like the other main line of feminism because they make actual arguments that are clearly well thought out. The other line is just protest gloom and doom.

What else? It was the birthday of one of my little cousins. He's just started elementary school recently. That's all I'll say for age reference about him. We were back at his house today to help finish up the party leftovers. His 2 older sisters are in High School. Going back to Friday, I checked out New Moon aka Twilight 2. I went in thinking that if it's bad or only decent, I'll get some great laughs like I did with the first. I can't take the first film seriously at all. It felt like there were no stakes or risk until the end. The second film thankfully oozes with risks and dangers for the main characters for most of the running time. I even found myself getting interested in the motivations of the male leads. Bella's an alright central character but she's much too clingy and dependent on her men. What kind of message is that for girls? Kristen Stewart is actually one of my favorite up and coming actresses. I've seen most of her flicks before Twilight. I'll continue to see most of her flicks outside of Twilight. The Trailer for Remember Me, Robert Pattinson's flick with Emilie de Ravin (Claire from LOST, one of my favorite TV shows, Claire + Charlie, one of my favorite parts of past few seasons of LOST) played right before it started. It looks like a really interesting love story that might be a bit offbeat. Emilie de Ravin is such a great actress. She's an Aussie that I hope ends up doing big things in Film internationally. She's got so much charisma and charm.

OK that might sound creepy later.

Terminology

2009-11-12T14:03:00.001-08:00

It's not questioned openly on a regular basis however, it would be wrong to not articulate this somewhere. It's wrong to assume that you are always fully understood when you speak. It's even more wrong to assume that terminology and vocabulary for what's a single language is universally understood by all speakers of one language. Dialects and regional variations have always been the reality for all languages around the world. That's not even addressing the complications and implications of slang. Slang can also transform into proper words with enough exposure, usage, and time.

Why did this come into my mind? a response to the last post before this one. Why did I choose to say eyeglasses rather than something less formal like glasses, frames, specs, lenses, or any other number of terms. It was an attempt to avoid confusion. I can think of a language based conflict with any of the terms I've just used to describe eye glasses. The words I'm thinking of are solely based on general North American English. The English used in North America isn't even fully standardized. There are dialects and variants with different pronunciations and word meanings. Take the version of the English language found in Rap music. I love Rap but, I understand how it could be incomprehensible to be understood after a single listen by somebody newly learning English. I haven't even mentioned that there are differences between, British English, Australian English, and English spoken in other countries where English is but one of several languages spoken in a nation.

I've recently been reading a novel by the Author Evelyn Waugh named A Handful of Dust (1934). It's written in whatever was contemporary British English of the period. I wouldn't be surprised at all if even British readers would need to use the chapter footnotes of places and word definitions while reading. It's an enjoyable satire that comments on the rise of divorce in 20th century relationships and is a fictionalized account of the life of its author around this period. It is an entertaining read but I continually find myself checking off words that are no longer in common use or are footnoted in the back. The footnotes are great for terms that seem straightforward but are actually entirely different in meaning. An example of a common word that could cause confusion in understanding this book without definition is Tight.

Tight could be understood as the state of being drunk like in the novel. It could be understood as slang for something that's cool in the context of some dialects of North American English. It could be understood purely as something being more constrained in. The context in the novel leaves no doubt that it's a euphemism for being drunk but, how can you assume that it will be understood that way.

You can't. Be aware of your language. If you understand the differences, by all means have fun joking with friends speaking different dialects or variants of your language. Differences just need to be understood by everyone talking.

That was a fascinating articulation for me. I'd guess that it was dreadful for the rest of you though. I'm not sorry about it, hah hah. Sorry about the horrible resolution of the cover image for the novel. It's the cover of the version I'm reading from. Apparently, tiny and unreadable is good enough for book retailers and libraries listing this book. It's a simple cover. Would higher resolution really be that hard to incorporate on the web. I think not. I promised a random tangent in the tags. I'd like to think that I've partially delivered on that promise. lol

On the REAL. LATER Y'ALL BLOGGA HOMIES. Word (to ya Mother?) !

Dr. Sexy M.D.

2009-11-11T20:05:00.000-08:00

Any of you watch Supernatural. The episode last week lampooned several TV shows, show types, and a commercials requiring a certain amount of discretion. This episode opened with what was essentially a parody of the opening of Full House minus the young daughters. It went on to Dr. Sexy M.D., a full on parody of Grey's Anatomy. This section had me rolling in laughter. It was especially funny because the more macho of the two protagonists was admitting to being a fan of this show. The joke about the Ghost boyfriend of a character was great because of a common actor shared between the shows (unfortunately not in this episode, for reasons that make sense in context of this show). The Japanese Game show section had me knocked out in laughter. A good kick to the nuts is comedic gold.

Check out clips of the parodies in this episode of this show even if you're not a regular fan of this Sci-fi/Fantasy/Horror/ show. The sense of humor usually found on this show was dialed to 20 out of 10 on this episode.

I got NEW EYEGLASSES!

2009-11-06T19:34:00.000-08:00

I GOT NEW EYEGLASSES!!!!!!!!

If you care to notice. They're Navy Blue/near Black on the sides. They're actually semi-rimless. The top has a slight rim. They're a hell of a lot sturdier than my last pair. I'm gonna keep my old pair for when I'm just lounging around my room or lying down a lot. These are my official new glasses that shall be identify me in public.

Anyone that might read this

A) Do you approve of my selection of eyeglasses?
B) Are you offended by how I'm smiling in the second pic highlighting the dark sides?

I know that the answer to B is likely yes, and I'm not offended. The offending smile was to create offense. One last thing about my eyeglasses. They're a Ralph Lauren-Polo frame.

Can I share a slight irrationality regarding dark, thick rimmed glasses that I hold. Through interaction and observation, I've noticed that more often than not, a person, male or female, that wears dark, thick rimmed glasses, is a Jerk.

This does not hold universal though. I've talked to people with dark, thick rimmed glasses that have been really nice. I have cousins that wear glasses like that. They just tease when they might come across as unkind. Hell, my Brother does too. Umm...but he's a jerk to strangers sometimes. Uhh...forget about that last bit people. Not to mention, If I didn't have exceptions; I'd have to give up a certain fixation on a certain someone who's, lets say, absolutely charming to me. She must not be named....what?

I think I'll watch Aliens aka Alien 2 after the Nucks game is finished. Hope this goes to OT. We're hustling against Dallas cuz we're down by 1, score 2-1 at the moment.

Remember the 5th of November

2009-11-05T20:13:00.001-08:00

Started the morning off by paying my registration deposit.
Going to the Richmond Campus is always better for me. It's
closer by. I've been going to a wound clinic. I have a recurring
open wound on my butt. Might of mentioned that last post.
They've recommended using some sort of device that would
suck up the excessive blood in my wound, along with only 3X
per week dressing changes. Still thinkin about it. They've also
recommended I stay off my butt as much as possible . This
seems impractical to me. What does a student do. Go to lectures +
Type papers for the most part. The nurse also suggested perhaps
taking a semester off. I can't do that. I've already paid my registration
deposit. Unfortunately, I'm gonna only take 2 courses next semester.
A plus is that I'll have lots of lead time to read even if both courses
are twice a week. Negative, I know that I can handle more, and am
disappointed at this turn of events. What can I do?

Sometimes it seems like life needs me to get pissed off on a recurring
basis via health related inconveniences. I wouldn't even call most of
the recurring health issues as health problems. They're just inconveniences
that keep on popping up that piss me off and seem to keep me from living the
kind of life I want. I try not to sound pessimistic but these recurring health inconveniences
really do get me down.

It's irrational but in the back of my mind, I sometimes think health professionals sit there, planning, how are we gonna fuck up Neil's life today? That's horrific of me. Honestly though, if you've had as many surgeries and health related interactions with Doctors and Nurses as I have, could you blame me?

WTF, People running for/from the bus or train

2009-11-04T09:17:00.000-08:00

Today I noticed a young woman. Yes, for the usual reasons of her catching my eye whilst I was otherwise reading the introduction to Evelyn Waugh's A Handful of Dust. It makes me snicker inside to know he was a man named Evelyn, married to a woman named Evelyn. His wife eventually cheated on him. I'm getting off topic.

This young woman sprinted to run down to the bus stop area. I thought to myself, why the hell would you sprint down for the bus. There's no point in running until you're near the exit of the train station. I'd excuse and rationalize behaviour like that on rainy days. Today has chilly, crisp, cold air but otherwise it's absolutely beautiful. She sat on the seat in front of me on the bus. Another woman that seemed to be a friend or work colleague of hers sat beside her. I'd overheard the woman that ran from the train saying that she saw the bus therefore she ran down. The odd thing is that the bus was at the stop where it DROPS people off at that train station. The driver usually takes a short break of 2-3 minutes prior to pulling up ahead to the stop where the driver would PICK UP people that have just got off the train.

I recognize that this is a rant but I think that it's really irrational to run from your train station stop above (Vancouver has a monorail system called Skytrain) in order to get down to the bus stop below when the drivers of aforementioned buses are likely to wait for their buses to fill up anyways before leaving the station.

This communitychannel video came into mind when thinking about today. Pretty sure I've talked about using transit before but there was a slight difference today. Oh well, having material derivative of myself was bound to happen eventually

a Minor UPdate aka FML

2009-11-02T23:14:00.000-08:00

I was in writing Fury from Saturday all the way up to Monday morning before my class.
Yeah, the writing was for monday morning. I've got something else to write for Thursday but I'm not sweating it. I'll start and likely finish that tomorrow.

I have an open wound on my ummm...ASS. I'll be spending part of my afternoons, at least into December, going in for dressing changes. That's my FML 4 U all

I should start generating a Birthday/Christmas list too.
Not to mention. November = Term paper month. I don't even know the deets for some of the upcoming ones yet.

I had a Critical Theory midterm today. It's an English course where we read works criticizing and articulating ideologies that have become prominent in Literature. It's pretty interesting. It's my Monday + Wednesday class. I might have misquoted Nietzsche this morning. I get another FML 4 that 1

Oh, and my DVD copy of The Lion King is now randomly damaged. I really like that movie. FML again.

I can't wait for UP to be on DVD + Blu-ray. I say that cuz my bro is gonna get the Blu-ray version that also has a copy of the DVD version. Best of both worlds indeed. UP is probably my favorite movie of the year thus far. U don't know about the beginning of this movie. All I'll say is that it's sweet and heartbreaking at the same time. The whole movie is alternately sweet, funny, and heartbreaking. See it if you haven't. PIXAR does not disappoint.

later

(p.s. It's the morning after I wrote this post. There are these awesome new Art Deco style posters about UP that just came out to promote the DVD + Blu-ray release next week. check out the link)

http://www.collider.com/2009/11/02/eight-amazing-retro-posters-for-pixars-up/

irrelevant random information

2009-10-23T02:53:00.000-07:00

For no particular reason, I remain awake at @ 2:54 am
Just played an ungodly amount of Fifa '10 and witnessed an insane amount of Rock Band 2 played on Expert by my brother and a few of my cousins.
Read a new post by the one sometimes called babyfreakingporridge
Was much amused by it per usual. Wish I could go for coffee with her.
Never mind that I'm not a coffee person.
Did I mention that I dominated my bro + 15 year old cousin for 4 matches of Fifa.
Well, irrelevant information. It made my night.
Parents came back from India last weekend.
They've been recovering from their jet lag all week.

I feel like I've got jet lag. Why am I still awake?
Goodnight and Good Luck,

Later

9:47 am...my to do list for today

2009-10-20T09:46:00.001-07:00

writing to do is building up again. Need to write up something at least 3 pages for tomorrow morning and I haven't started yet.
Found a movie to watch and write about for an assignment that's slightly late. Should check it out of the library right about now. I gotta get to class in about 10 minutes. I'll make it.
Need to write 2-3 journal responses for this English class I'm taking.
Midterms coming up fast.
Been distracted by Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 and Beatles Rock Band
Possibly going to pick up Transformers 2 on Blu-ray for my brother today unless he's able to get to a Future Shop for the steelbook case today.
Potentially need more cough syrup.
At least my cousin was able to drop me this morning so I didn't have to hustle out.

and that's everything that's been on my mind lately. I know, tres banal et stupide

WHY with the textual copying?

2009-10-09T11:23:00.000-07:00

Why is it that every movie that comes out now that's about regular human relationships and friendships that comes out has artwork the looks like JUNO. so above is I think the soundtrack art for Juno. The visual style was carried throughout the movie etc.. Ok so here's the art for 500 Days of Summer, kind of this year's JUNO so to speak

I've heard this is an entirely charming movie in its own right and that it has its own odd idiosyncrasies but there it goes again with similar lettering.

Of course the original offender of the Juno-esque text is Nick & Norah. I even remember my older brother upon seeing the trailers and commercials saying Looks like Juno. This movie is wonderful in its own right and it really celebrates regular, everyday New York City as opposed to 5th Avenue, Times Square and the fashion and business districts.

Now I'm going to show the absolutely most clearly JUNO inspired piece of Film art since JUNO came out.

I'm interested in seeing this movie too. It's about a couple whose extended families are largely away from them attempting to find a place to raise their child through road trippin across the U.S. Those leads are pretty well known and funny so I won't mention them.

Anyways. This art is just like the opening sequence from Juno when Ellen Page is partially real, and partially illustrated as she slugs back a jug of SunnyD so that she has enough pee for all the pregnancy tests she's taking.

My problem is that the visual and filmed precedent of Juno, one of my favorite films has created a visual shorthand for those creating marketing for films with "that sort of feeling" of lets say
"truthful human relationships" that has just become a lazy way to promote a similar group of films to the masses.

The worst Junoish writing is for the MTV show 16 and pregnant about Teenagers who bring their kids to term to either raise them or who knows what. It's a decently watchable show. The question is how much can you stomach of the reality of people you'd assume might be future guests of the Maury Povich show. I actually watched a season ending update show for this and it was quite interesting to see how these young people actually have come into their own as parents

my weekend - October 2-4 2009

2009-10-03T11:09:00.001-07:00

recovering from seasonal sickness (ongoing)
Canadian History Essay Proposal (will kick off after showering) check
Essay for "The Comedic Voice" an English Course (Will start today Sunday Morning) check
Essay on Mencius (Traditional East Asia History) (ended up being unable to even start for due date of Thursday, Will turn in on Tuesday, this week (Oct 9-12 is a long weekend for Canadian Thanksgiving)

I've got twelve pages or so to type.

P.S. October 4. Writing has crossed my mind and fingers but this on and off fever plus the hotness and coldness has really put a dent on my usual progress.

P.S. I also need to get a short write up about a few historical account documents in one of my Canadian History texts. I hate that Canadian History is the whipping boy of my awful pace in writing because of sickness.

What I use this blog for?

2009-09-30T19:59:00.001-07:00

I just glanced at an artist's blog. He had up a new text entry mentioning that he hadn't updated in a month and has been blogging for 5 years. He elaborated on his story about why he started blogging and so forth. It was a quick interesting read. A small bit of what he said spurred me to write this. He mentioned that no new entries means a potential loss of readers. That stood out to me because having readers is the last thing on my mind when I blog. That's not to say that I don't appreciate regular readers. On the contrary, when somebody regularly reads and also gives interesting responses back, my day is brightened a little. Even more so if it has been going well already. I love having little sub conversations across different blogs and social networking sites. I also LOVE learning new things from other people that I have these sub conversations with as well...Well, back to my main point. This blog is a confessional. I use it to get whatever extensively detailed or understated thoughts might be on my mind. I used to even do entries that were one liners. Twitter has taken over that impulse.

In short. This blog is my confessional. I might share anything from what I've been doing, watching, reading, learning, smelling, who knows what. This is for a bit of honesty with myself. How Emo is this? 21st century dear Diary. WTF?

This reads almost like a mission statement. I never particularly cared for those if suggested to be done as a task. A person needs to make a fairly precise assessment of themselves and their tendencies. With that said, don't expect me to be accurate about my shortcomings. It'll happen. I'll need to reconcile those different things as they say online "In Real Life".

What could possibly be coming your way on this blog if you do read my ramblings on a regular basis. Probably a post on the Musical TV series "GLEE" and probably the long overdue images of the process layers of the 2 paintings I did this past summer. The delay now on that one is that the digital camera I used to take those pics might have been brought to India with my parents. Hope that they don't erase them. Hopefully nothing happens to them and I can have those up after October 20 or into November.

Later All, I gotta finish the home stretch of the book "Mencius", about the teachings of the 2nd most important man in Confucianism. The book cover might look like this below. for some reason all the images of different book covers are tiny hence the blurriness

I am Crap personified

2009-09-29T08:50:00.000-07:00

I've felt a bit off since part way through the flight back from Regina.
It has shown itself more prominently now.
I'm stricken with a yearly case of rainy, Fall sickness.
I've been poppin Halls for the last few days.
Hope I don't have to resort to cough syrup.
The only one that I have at home is this really sweet and sticky Chinese honey syrup.
I'm still not convinced of its ability to work.
I can deal with the coughing.
My problem is the near constant ache in my head.
At least it isn't pulsating like yesterday when I was at the Surrey Campus.

Diatribe over. I think that I should of been more bitter. Oh well.

later

R.I.P. Auntie Elha

2009-09-27T15:32:00.000-07:00

I went to Regina for the funeral services for my Aunt that passed away from Lung Cancer. It was a tough 3 days but it was also a really great weekend as well. The dichotomy btween grieving and celebrating her life was undeniably with me over the last 3 days. I like to think of each and every one of my Aunts and Uncles as surrogate Mothers and Fathers to me and every one of my cousins. I might not get along with each of them sometimes but I know that they'd be there for me. Losing anyone in my family is incomprehensible but it's a fact of reality. I think that I got most of my grief out at the viewing on Friday. I did cry during the service and burial on Saturday too but I was mostly spent by the end of Friday. My feelings towards my Aunt weren`t deeply articulated during the good times but they really solidified as she slowly suffered from Cancer. I always admired and loved her sense of humor. She started to become more somber and downbeat as the cancer came and spread. She always was the same quietly caring woman we all knew right until the very end. The hardest parts of the weekend were seeing my Grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, and my Aunts immediate family get very emotional. Each and every one of us, from the oldest individual to the youngest niece, nephew, grandchild, great grandchild, friend and acquaintance were broken down during the weekend. On a positive note, I was able to see and spend time with family that I hadn`t seen in a really long time. I caught up with a few cousins from Chicago that I`ve really missed. It solidified how funny and entertaining it is when all the Canada family gets together with the family in the U.S. Also caught up with Canadian family from Calgary that I don`t see often enough. Hell, I even bonded deeper with my Cousins`Casey and Cailee`s dog. A stressful but wonderful celebration of one life indeed.

My Aunt passed away

2009-09-22T00:20:00.000-07:00

3 and a half hours ago, just past 9pm PST/10pm CST my Aunt Tarcela Marron passed away. I saw her last in June of this year (2009) and she was in great spirits then. At least my mom, my other Aunt, all my Uncles and cousins were with her in the end. I'll always remember her love of Hot Peppers, wry and sarcastic sense of humour and genuine care for all of us.

Her passing makes her the second of the children of my Grandparents to pass before they have. She will be remembered by all of us FOREVER

I need to remember this night. I LOVE YOU Auntie Ehla!

"and a Jay-Z song was on"

2009-09-19T23:46:00.000-07:00

That's right. I quoted "Party in the U.S.A." by Miley Cyrus

What's your favorite Jay-Z song? I think that my favorite is "Encore" because it was the perfect song to call it a career when he was saying that he was retiring. I appreciate it even more now because it was the start of his heavy use of live instruments in his songs.

This song would be at the top of my list for his songs. The other 2 would be "I just wanna love you (Give it to me)" and "99 problems". "I just wanna love you" because it's one of the best party songs I've ever heard and it's actually quite sarcastically hilarious.

"99 problems" is brilliant to me because in it he mentions so many issues and problems with North America and he does it in grand style with his trademark witty, funny rhymes. It has an unflinching aggressiveness in its beats. Jay-Z is both deadly serious about what he's talking about in it but he still consciously decide to make it intelligently humorous and thought provoking.

I'm going to have to put his new single "Empire State of Mind" featuring Alicia Keys onto my list of my top Jay-Z tracks too. What did I forget. Oh, the pure hilariousness of "Girls, Girls, Girls". If you don't see the humour of that track, you have no business being my friend, hah hah.

I feel an affinity with Jay-Z cuz we're both born on December 4. I used to feel an affinity with Tyra Banks but she's been getting increasingly bizarre and crazy lately

I might not be kidding about the "Girls, Girls, Girls" thing :-P

my week in a whole lot of words

2009-09-17T23:17:00.000-07:00

I started off this week by thinking that I absolutely had to have finished up this response journal entry of at least 2 pages for one of the courses I'm taking this semester. It's the class that had the Aristotle POETICS lecture and discussion that's been swimming around in my head that inspired one of my recent posts. Was it the last one?

Doesn't matter. Anyways, I'd been thinking that I've screwed up entirely by not completing it. It turned out alright because there are only a few actual dates when my class has to turn in the response journal. The journal isn't required to be submitted after every entry. After 3 or 4 entries and about the mid point of the semester it has to be submitted once. The only other time after that when it has to be submitted is in the end of the semester.

My other English course for the semester is focused on comedy. Aristophanes' The Clouds was the initial major piece that I was required to read. I really enjoyed it. It's a good mix of verbal, high comedy, farce, and slapstick physical comedy. No wonder that those who have done translations of it have such a fun time making the jokes work for different languages.

My Traditional East Asia History course has been really interesting. I've been learning about Neolithic China. Our class has had a bit of an ongoing annoyance because one of our texts that we're required to read hasn't come in yet. I'm really curious about the philosophy of Mencius seeing how he was somewhat similar to Confucius. I think that I really just want to find the faults in his philosophy. Always been a quirk of mine. Finding the inconsistencies and parts of philosophies that could be quite harmful if taken to the extreme.

My early Canadian History course has been much more interesting than I thought it would be. We decided on essay topics this week through this instructor's usual method of a random number raffle. I got number 8, so I pretty much had my choice of topic. I picked the Metis. The Metis are interesting in that they are a First Nations (North American Indian or hmmmm...aboriginals. Does that term work for everyone?) group that wasn't recognized as such for a long time. That's because they are actually of mixed race. They're different First Nations peoples mixed with mainly French and other European immigrant countries as Fathers. They were able to set up their own individual culture in an area called The Red River Valley. Their struggles and conflicts with the earliest Canadian Government led to the creation of the Canadian Province of Manitoba. I just need to focus on whether their culture was truly unique or if they were just mixed up biracials acting rebellious towards what was called at the time British North America. This course is technically everything before Confederation on July 1, 1867. This is the date that is generally accepted as the day that Canada became a Country. Technically we became a Dominion of the Commonwealth which means that we're an independent ally nation of Britain however you can guess how much that counts anymore. I think any Aussies that might be reading this know what I'm talkin about when I say that.

My cousin Amanda turns 20 in about 15 minutes. Knowing that I have 20 year old cousins. Lets call them the primary reason I'm concerned for my odd fixation for a 20 year old female residing in Australia that I like to call my Youtube + Twitter crush, hah hah

Oh, one last thing. I nearly finished a whole crossword in the hour before my first class today. I try to get on campus prior to my class starting since I commute to school in a mixture of trains and buses on 4 out of 5 weekdays.

Are blogs literature?

2009-09-14T16:52:00.000-07:00

I was in class today and we were continuing our discussion about the types of things that have been said to be literature and how right now, the definition is so loose that all previous definitions don't really work anymore. He also brought up the fact that people watch so much more film now. The part that I wanted to share though is that he brought up blogs. He said that while there's a lot of bad writing on many of them, some are very evocative and that the interesting ways that people describe their lives is very interesting. I brought up that for myself, blogs have been an excellent source for finding some really well written short stories. Blogs can be used to spread any sort of message that a user may want to spread. With that in mind, I think that there is a certain responsibility to uphold what each of us might feel is the most representative and truthful version of ourselves and what we want to say or show to potential readers.

That being said, I still maintain that I'm just gonna talk about whatever the hell I want. I've just never considered that my ramblings could eventually or not have a lasting impact. I know that some of the thoughts and images presented in blogs that I regularly follow change and enhance how I think, read, and see the world. I think that what I heard today more firmly cemented in my mind that anybody should be keenly aware of what they do, say, or act out.

I'll probably contradict myself later today so feel free to spew wonderful and enlightening love, hate, and criticism my way. I eat my words just like everybody else. This post actually makes 150. Who knew? I'll leave you with these words.

The only thing that anybody can count on is that his or her "Truth" is just that but also entirely false if taken out of context.

A second answer and Aristotle

2009-09-13T00:47:00.000-07:00

I think that this year I've rediscovered my love for drawing + painting. There have been so many times in the past when I've felt like drawing, randomly while just chillin with family or friends somewhere. I like having something going on with my hands. You might know of the saying that "Idle hands are the devil's playground". That's sort of how I feel when I'm not able to draw whenever I want to while outside or sometimes inside places. Now I try to bring pencils and pens everywhere I go. It's also convenient for when I get one of the free daily newspapers and I want to complete the Sudoku puzzle or take a stab at the crossword. More importantly, when I'm drawing a place or a person, I know that nobody else will ever create that image or recreate the likeness or appearance of that person or place exactly how I did. It feels more personal to me than to take a photo. That's not to say that taking a good photograph isn't a skill anymore. The skills needed to take a good photo are similar to those needed to create a drawing or painting. It's just more immediate since the advancement that is digital photography. Doing a drawing of somebody is very personal to me. Especially if it's somebody that I think is interesting, inspiring, or a close family member or friend. It's so personal because I'll want to put all my efforts, insight into drawing and painting methods, and creativity into it. Make of that whatever you will.

Over analyze my compulsion to repeatedly draw a certain person on youtube who shall be unmentioned stating.....NOW!!!

I've been reading Aristotle's Poetics for the last few days. I like his assessment of what makes good writing, a good poet, and how he likens it all to the painter and painting. There's so much that's quotable from it but for some reason specific examples are eluding me right now. I gotta write up a response to it over the next few days. I think that I'll focus on what Aristotle thinks are well constructed stories and his references to painting and the creative process.

I hope that wasn't too painful to read. I feel a bit refreshed after getting that out of my system.

LATER

2nd Spina Bifida painting update

2009-09-11T00:24:00.000-07:00

The Spina Bifida Association have spoken during a meeting about the painting. They contacted my Dad (who is on the board but hasn't been able to attend many meetings lately) about some sort of presentation to the clinic. They wanted to do it on a Thursday however that's one of my days where I'm in classes through the middle of the day. a Friday should be good for them but there would be fewer of the Doctors around.

Speaking of paintings. I realize that I haven't put up any of the progression pics of my paintings this year. I really should do that soon seeing how my parents are likely going to take the camera I'd taken the pictures with overseas soon on a vacation.

just fixed the date for the Vancouver sketch crawl post so that it's when the post was finished, not originally drafted (August 26 '09)

Vancity tourist spots sketch crawl

2009-09-10T23:57:00.000-07:00

I did these while me, my mom, and dad were showing around somebody who was visiting from out of town. We generally don't hit the tourist spots much. Who ever does when they live in that city. I was actually really surprised by how much some of the tourist spots had changed. These sketches are from observation but I'm not slavish to the placement of how things are in reality. They are all essentially realistic in arrangement but I was liberal with which parts of areas I'm showing in the drawings. Each of these tourist spots are parts of Vancouver that I really enjoy. It has just been a while since I've been to some of them.

These were from roughly the 2nd or 3rd week of August so I've taken a lot of time. More than is needed to just get these scanned in. what I said at the end of the big paragraph guys. I've written the names of the Vancouver sites that I was at while doing each drawing. Take note. The Lion's Gate Bridge drawing was from one of several sites at Stanley Park. It was drawn from the restaurant at Prospect Point in the park. I wrote date and time stamps for when I completed each drawing. Hope you guys like them.

Back to School Fall '09

2009-09-10T17:45:00.000-07:00

I'm back in session this week. I've got all my books save for one that was not in stock at the campus I'm taking that course in. I'll get it on Tuesday when I go in for that class again. My major task for this first week is reading and writing up my thoughts and analysis for a running course journal, starting with Aristotle's Poetics

Do you envy me? I have alternating English and History days Monday to Thursday. I'm gonna sleep in a bit tomorrow and then marathon my way through Poetics. It has some really interesting ideas. I'm already intrigued by Aristotle's views towards visual and written arts. I think that I'll likely end up focusing on that aspect along with quotes etc.

I'm finally gonna scan in the sketches from tourist spots in Vancouver I hit up in the 3rd or 4th week of August. Dammit, I won't procrastinate scanning them again.

There's a new Skytrain line named the Canada line that just opened in August too that's made my commute to one of my University's Campuses much, much easier. Goodbye HandiDart and your Driver is always in the right policy....for now at least. Never say never

one last thing. The Spina Bifida Association now knows I want to donate a painting. The process for them officially accepting it has begun. They're going to get back to me after they discuss it in a meeting that's happening either tonight or tomorrow.

LATER HOMIES!!!!!!!!!!

Been a long time since I've painted TWICE in a year

2009-08-27T13:20:00.001-07:00

I haven't done more than one painting a year in a long time. I just started a new painting showing the 3 forms of Spina Bifida. A long while back I did a painting showing my back and the type of spina bifida that I have. I showed it at a Spina Bifida conference that happened in Vancouver one year. Everybody seemed to enjoy that series highlighting my disability. The Spina Bifida Association of B.C. asked me if I'd like to donate that painting to them and that it would be put into the Spina Bifida clinic in B.C. Children's Hospital. I said no to them at that time. I'd still say no today because that painting is really personal to me. I actually just put it up in my room. I'm doing this new painting solely for the purpose of donating it to the Spina Bifida Association. I didn't tell them that I was doing it. I'm just going to donate it once it's done. I guess that I'll sign the corner or somewhere on the canvas once I'm finished since it's likely going to be displayed at the Spina Bifida clinic and used to show kids with Spina Bifida the type that they have.

I had a more unique arrangement rather than purely side by side in mind but my mom suggested to keep it simple. I slowly came around. I think I'll use my original arrangement in a potential 3rd Spina Bifida painting in the future. Never know what will come next though. Started a drawing the other night of a recurring subject. It's larger than the others I've done. I'll finish it and keep it til it's time to send her another assortment of imagery. I'm not gonna say it. She's my youtube and twitter crush, hah hah

I got plenty Penis and GAY-torade for you all

2009-08-23T00:08:00.000-07:00

most of the more juvenile drawings, stick men, penises...actually drawn by my cousin Ehren, who's only 3 months younger than me, hah hah. OK, I technically drew ummm penis Island. He was guiding my hand. I serious drew in the urine drops since I was joking. I drew the top of the bottle in the bottom drawing too. My cousin drew in the "Gay-torade" section of the bottle. Yeah, those parts weren't me. I just had paper. You know, nothing against gayness or penises (I do have one :-P) they're just not my typical subject matter.

I quite like the small bit that I was able to draw in pen of my other cousin Melissa. Wish I was able to get all of it. It was shaping up to be a very nice quick sketch of her. There's always another chance to get in some sketching of cousins. The struggle to be able to draw hands, even my own, like in the image above, continues indefinitely. I never know precisely how to balance the level of detail, stylization, and giving visual weight when I'm drawing hands or feet. I do them either too detailed/too cartoony, or too heavy/weightless....This is my eternal artistic frustration. What's yours my readers?

Tomorrow morning, I just need to clean up some of the colors with white patches and smears of other colors plus darken up some black pupils in my mass of eyeballs. Oh, if it's not clear. I'm talking about my latest painting that I'm nearly finished. I thought I was finished already but instead I just let it sit for a few days. Tonight, I happened to notice some imperfections that I can't forgive, seeing how I am the artist. I don't expect anybody else to get it.

I don't like explaining my artistic intentions or art in person. I also really get peeved when other people say that their interpretation of what I've done is what I said was the subject matter. I think I've mentioned this before but I'll say it again even with the risk of repeating myself. Once you pair an unrelated piece of imagery with your own or somebody elses words, it changes the meaning of the imagery and vice versa. If a piece of writing has imagery created for it, it should be specifically made as an illustration solely for that purpose of showing something in that novel, story, movie, music, etc...

I'm stuffed right now. My Dad had a potluck tonight for his poetry friends at our house tonight and I've eaten much too much.

l8r cake homies

P.S. been meaning to experiment with a few different visual styles while drawing. Does anybody have any interesting images that they don't mind me using as a start point for some drawing experimentation? It's cool if the images are on photobooth, flikr, myspace, facebook etc. I can get to the ones you're talking about provided they're viewable by all. If it's cool, tell me an e-mail address too so that I could send you the visual results.

mo' money, mo' sketches

2009-08-17T19:18:00.000-07:00

The first one was a sketch I did while watchin "Just Friends" starring Ryan Reynolds and Amy Adams. I hadn't seen it until that day and it's hella funny. I was just drawing for the hell of it

The second one is a Curious George stuffed toy at my cousins' house. I did it during one of the days when all our cousins from Regina were all eating dinner together there. I actually did another drawing that same day of my 16 year old cousin Kristina (who came up with the Shia Labeouff clap clap song with me) Of course, she has that drawing. That one was just her sitting on the ground from behind. I didn't want her to know I was drawing because she would become self conscious and move around more. I quite like this Curious George stuffed toy drawing. It was done pretty quickly but it has personality.

Third one here is just one of my bouts of drawing random objects around the house with whatever is around to draw with. That usually means a pen and whatever paper is sitting around. The paper usually ends up being printer paper. Nothing wrong with printer paper. I use it all the time. As you can see from the objects drawn on this page that I was sitting near the computer while drawing.

And these are the stories of how these came to be.
I think that I'm in the final few stages of my painting for this summer. Pics will be up when they're up. I didn't do any work today because I needed to go in for some repairs on my AFOs/Splints/Braces....whatever you call them. Large, hard plastic covering to keep my feet straight while walking. Not that my feet aren't generally straight while walking now anyways. When I was a kid my feet went all over the place. That's a story of past days so I won't go into detail about that.

LATER

Birds @ Trout Lake Park

2009-08-17T00:18:00.000-07:00

I did this one and the 2 from the previous spot at the same lakeside beach. I really enjoyed trying to catch these really quick sketches of birds standing, flying, eating by the water. Of course, these birds were also Gulls and Crows (aka the collective rats of the skies). There were a few ducks but not really. I like how I tried a few slightly different techniques for capturing the shape of a bird in each of these.

more sketches to come of other things in later posts. I got them scanned in. I just don't wanna write up another post right now.

good night all you blogheads :-D

Sketches from Trout Lake Park Aug 8. 2009

2009-08-17T00:08:00.000-07:00

Here's some sketches from Trout Lake Park. I was there because it was my cousin's son's birthday. Cousin's son, so of course for Asians that's your nephew. That's right. Your cousins are as good as siblings if you're tight. There's another page of sketches of birds that didn't show up in this post for some reason. Next one I guess

scanning procrastination

2009-08-16T00:28:00.000-07:00

I said several entries ago that I'll put up some sketches I've done in the past several weeks. They're in my room, on the floor in a nice pile. All I have to do is bring them down and scan them in. I'll get to it. I just won't get to it right now.

P.S. anything that seems dirty in the sketches is c/o a cousin of mine who is actually only 3 months younger than me. yeah, his additions are potentially hilarious to those beyond me and the family, heh heh

I don't even know why I'm typing this out. Tomorrow, I'll get up and resume work on my new painting and likely not even think about scanning in those drawings. I keep on thinking eventually with small things. I probably should try changing that habit.

disregard the tags, she's been discussed and is possibly the bittersweet that will be the death of me. How's that Kanye West feat. John Mayer paraphrasing for you?

Summer painting '09

2009-08-15T17:09:00.000-07:00

My cousins from Regina, Saskatchewan went home today. Apparently their plane was delayed until about 1pm today or about 4 hours ago. The flight from Vancouver to Regina's only 3 hours but they have a stop over for a few hours that was apparently delayed as well (I didn't do this post in one go)

Anyways, I started a new painting today. I actually sketched out my subject matter several days ago but I just started painting again this morning. It's really comforting for me to be creating a new visual. It's always been a great way for me to relax and focus. I decide the subject matter, the colors, everything about it. I sketched out the subject matter from various items around the house. I made them all a bit more fantastic by putting eyes onto a large amount of these found objects around the house. I did think about some of the colors a few days ago though. It's shaping up really nicely.

I'll post up the different stages of me working through the painting once I'm finished.

I'd actually really like to do a painting from direct observation but it's hard because I can't really move a lot of my art stuff easily. Hell, I'd even really enjoy doing a portrait of somebody sitting right there rather than working from a picture (again, something I actually really enjoy doing, just saying it would be nice for a change of pace) Yeah, can't really rope any family or friends to sit for me. I wouldn't even ask anybody to do any poses. I'd say to just be as they are, but in a pose that's really comfortable for them.

Well, I need to continue digesting the burger and fries (accidentally spilled seasoning salt all over them, not a good thing :-P) that I had from Fatburger about 2 hours ago. If a place is called Fatburger, you're gonna be extremely full afterwards.

yesterday, last night, and days yet to come

2009-08-12T09:38:00.001-07:00

Went to Best Buy, got a new computer mouse and Seventeen Again on Blu-ray for my brother

Installed the mouse + watched 17 Again. We (me, bro, cousins etc) played a bit of Little Big Planet too.

Failed at seeing Jeremy "Passion" Manongdo perform. Gonna try again at the last venue he's performing at tomorrow called The Anza Club.

Went to Walmart + get some ice cream with the cousins instead.

Now I got an upset stomach from the ice cream plus the other snacks had after coming back.

Weather in Vancouver has turned back around for the better again

Should start painting that painting I did sketch on the canvas of already. Don't know if I'll get to it until the weekend.

later

drawing of a shwety follower

2009-08-08T11:05:00.000-07:00

I generally like to keep drawings I give to people between me and that person but something tells me she probably won't mind. I'll delete the scan of this drawing after it uploads....

Now that I'm finally finishing this post (a day later), I should look for the original drawing. Seems I've misplaced it. I almost never misplace drawings. I'm sure it will turn up. If not, I'll just consider this my official back up copy. I know, I sound horrible right now. It'll pass. Enjoy, whomever looks at this. I think that I'll scan and put up some sketches I did yesterday at Trout Lake Park while @ my nephew's b-day party as my next post.

It's a little imbalanced around the eyes and the teeth and china are a bit Michael Jacksonesque. It kind of strangely looks a bit like Sarah Palin. I'm gonna stop over analyzing now. I'd started this a long time ago and only finished it a few weeks ago.

On a totally unrelated note, I'm excited that the possibility of a HALO movie is still very real. I should do a drawing of one of my cousins currently visiting that I wasn't able to do when I was visiting in Regina. I'll do that if I see her later today. I probably will

uhhh, now I'm gonna do like the famous comic book creator Stan Lee likes to say by saying "Nuff Said"

later all

P.S. just watched your video. What's the story with the first drawing of you.

current Dilemma?

2009-08-08T01:02:00.000-07:00

It's not really a dilemma at all.

1. I'm just pondering in my head whether to draw or plan a painting tomorrow
2. Watch a movie or a few movies, something I love doing but haven't had any chance to do
3. Chill with cousins (Most likely to happen but probably in the evening)
4. Sleep in (This will happen mostly because I haven't been able to do this in a long time)

I'm disappointed in myself because I totally tanked in the math I was taking. I'll have to take it again at a later point. I know that I can understand the material. Crunched time and my lack of proficiency in math test taking must be overcome next go around. I really need to pore over my notes from this instructor and know the principles in the examples he gave really well before even attempting to have another go. Sometimes I feel like I'll never get anywhere and that the achievement of qualifications for various higher studies are designed to dissuade people from wanting to go further in their learning. I'm sure there might be something to that argument. Maybe I'm getting cynical about the whole student experience. I love learning though. The inability to learn at the pace that's expected of you is amazingly frustrating to me. I like doing things for myself too. It's not that I'm against help. It's just that scheduling is an obstacle to learning with help that easily annoys me.

There's lots of movies that I wanna see in a variety of genres. hmmm....500 days of Summer, Ponyo, District 9 (the director Neil Bloomkamp was supposed to direct the movie version of HALO but when that fell apart directed this instead with producer Peter Jackson. I could totally see some of the effects in District 9 as very HALOesque), The Ugly Truth, G.I. JOE (oh, I thinkcartoon nostalgia will hit me again) Funny People, Julie and Julia, The Time Traveler's Wife (Rachel McAdams is built for epic love stories), The Goods (a comedy that looks absolutely awesome), Bandslam, FAME (sue me, it looks good and I'm sometimes a sucker for a dance movie or musical), Oh and Paper Heart starring was it Charlene Yi and Michael Cera looks very promising. Every time Michael Cera's in a movie somebody around me says it's JUNOesque but I don't see any similarities in most of his movies beyond the fact that most of them are supposed to be in a "real" world as opposed to something very movie like in setting and the way characters speak.

I suppose that I've been babbling for too long. Time for me to SHUT THE FUCK UP and quote Jim Carrey in the Truman Show as I like to do and say "Good Morning, and in case I don't see you Good Afternoon, Good Evening, and Good Night"

random today list

2009-08-06T19:49:00.000-07:00

I'm really full. Ate some Baboy soup for lunch and dinner. Dinner was accompanied with Roast Beef. Add rice into the mix and I'm one damn full mofo

Jeanine, the one out of the final 4 on this Season of So You Think You Can Dance that I really enjoyed the dancing of won. I can't help to constantly remember that Ade, the contestant I wanted to take it all this year ended up just short of the finale.

My brother and other cousins came back from camping. As a result, my younger cousins that were chillin here are now chillin with other younger cousins that did go camping. It's cool. Been a good few days with them anyways. Did I mention the Deep Fried Sushi. It was damn good and likely not good for me. All the tastiest things are bad for you, aren't they? I should study for one more hour. Maybe I'll do that right before bed rather than right now. I can't see myself concentrating between 8pm-10pm. I'll have a final look over the stuff I need to study @ 10pm.

yeah, I"m way mundane right now. Nothing exciting beyond some random Wiinsanity with Wii Sports Resort

maybe I'll make this a de facto art blog for a few weeks? who knows. later

I just went for Sushi

2009-08-05T13:29:00.000-07:00

at a different place than usual. Nearby to the place I usually go to though. I love any sort of spicy role so don't be surprised if you see me order something of the spicy variety. What I wanted to talk about though is the deep fried California Roll. It was really delicious and amazingly filling. Deep Fried Sushi is something I should look out for more

Aug. 3, 2009 - showed my Dad how to use Blogger

2009-08-03T15:48:00.000-07:00

I hope he remembers it well. The site is pretty easy. I think he was going to use it as a quick way to put up poems and other written works. He'll probably tell friends about it too if he remembers the url. I can always show him again how to find the url for his blog in the settings though. I played some Wii Sports Resort today and it's pretty damn fun. Especially Archery, Swordfighting, and some of the water sports like water skiing and sea-doo....whatever they're called. hah hah

My cousin and his family left today too. I think they'll have whatever is left of today in Seattle after they reach there but have a very early flight tomorrow morning out of Sea-Tac. We went out to eat some Dosas for lunch before they left. It was delicious. Certainly not my first time eating them. We went to this small restaurant named Noor Mahal that's really good. I'm still stuffed from lunch. A whole bunch of my other cousins, my brother, and his girlfriend left for camping this afternoon too. I would of gone too but I have some things that I still have to do this week. Some of my other visiting cousins didn't want to go but they're not at my house right now. I did tell them it would be ok if they wanted to stay over here though.

And that's what's going through my head this Monday afternoon. Oh, it's a Holiday today in British Columbia. It's also August 3rd. My older Brother's birthday. He's 28 now. Damn we're older now, hah hah. Whatever, like Aaliyah said "Age ain't nothin but a number"

My cousin's that stayed back from camping are coming over now. later Blogger world

having a birthday party

2009-08-02T17:11:00.001-07:00

for my older brother. His birthday is actually tomorrow but it's just a better idea to have a family party/dinner on a Sunday night. Besides, him and a whole bunch of my cousins are going camping. I would go but I have other commitments that are keeping me from going this week. I just ate some fish that my mom made for tonight on an outdoor stove we have. It was really good. I shouldn't let myself fill up before the rest of the food or any of the extended family arrive.

until later. LATER

my Saturday evening - Aug. 1, 2009

2009-08-02T00:16:00.000-07:00

1. Went to a buffet for the christening party of a baby cousin
2. Got some Pina Colada Slush Bubble tea except no bubbles but Aloe chunks
3. Watched the last night of the fireworks with my brother, our cousin who just moved to Vancouver and My brother's girlfriend.
4. Wore my new Green American Apparel sweater

I can't complain

I'll complain that I feel a bit guilty for not going to the wedding reception of the friend who's Indian Wedding I went to on Friday because some other friends who I haven't seen for a long time were there.

later

A Biro is

2009-08-01T12:01:00.000-07:00

A Ball point pen and is named for the inventor of the ballpoint pen and according to Wikipedia Brits, Aussies, and people using derivatives of their English dialects use it. I think I wanna start using it too. The word caught my eye on the blog of an artist with really amazing drawings.

check out this artist's blog

http://adebanjialade.blogspot.com

Adebanji is a very gifted sketch artist. Yes, I have admiring envy for his mad skillz. This post is inspired by me getting curious after he mentioned he used a biro on a self portrait he just posted a pic of.

later, gotta spend more time with visiting family

bruhhhhhhhhhhhhpppppppdate

2009-07-31T14:57:00.000-07:00

Spent the afternoon and evening with some younger cousins from out of town around Richmond Center (appropriately in the city of Richmond), hung out at the house of some of my local cousins of course with the out of town cousins.

This afternoon made an appearance at the wedding of an old friend. Not old as in she's old. Old as in I've known her since we were younger teens. A family friend too actually. She was beautiful as usual. I love that in Indian weddings, brides wear Red and gold. The color combo is so vibrant and eye catching.

hope I haven't offended babyporridge in some way. The only twitter acknowledgment I've ever got from her was wiped from the record. I really shouldn't worry about such things. I guess I'm very distractable. whatever, another thing to learn to let go of.

It seems my upset stomach from this morning has settled but who knows what miracle can happen after consuming any type of Indian food. I joke. I love Indian food.

and My cousin Amanda just arrived. She's trying out life in Vancouver as opposed to Regina. I know she can do it :-D

that's it for now....paaaaaaaaaayyyyyyce...E....Witter? Oh yeah, not that. Joey Potter.

I'm alone tonight

2009-07-28T14:20:00.000-07:00

Tonight at least, I"m all alone. My parents and Brother have both separately gone to Seattle for different reasons and will be back tomorrow at some point. I should get to more of the math I need to understand for Friday. I think I'll finally throw Blade Runner on and watch it whilst I do the math I need to have done for my own understanding. It's just so freakin hot. What am I complaining about. I'm talking about things that require minimal physical effort. I should turn a fan back on. I put the fan I had on off thinking that I was going to step away from the computer. I ended up having a short conversation with a cousin of mine who's coming into town tomorrow with a whole bunch of other cousins coming from Regina, Saskatchewan aka city of my birth.

Hope I have it in me to balance family times, math work, and some other events coming up this weekend like a family christening and a wedding of an old friend (also a family friend), damn she's beautiful. uhhh...yeah, recalling back in the day sentiment. Remind me not to bring that up again, hoo hah hee haa hoo et sum udder junks.

I actually prefer being alone a lot of the time. Nobody around to stress me about not immediately doing things that I was going to get to shortly. I'll likely top off tonight with a partial drawing of something or the other. Maybe I should finish that partial drawing of Shweta?.....Nawwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!! Actually, maybe I will.

Blade Runner calls to me.

later ebribawdy

P.S. Watched Blade Runner. Was very visually impressive and storyline was very interesting. It's a detective story with a Sci-fi overlay. Philip K. Dick's works are always great source material. I really should rewatch it though and pay attention for every single moment because many important details are kind of quiet in it. It's easy to see how, even just from a production design standpoint, Blade Runner has become such a revered film. Rutger Hauer is such a badass in it too. I didn't fully pay attention so I might have missed Edward James Olmos' character. I'm sure I'll watch the Final Cut and all the other cuts a whole bunch of times.

scrambled eggs

2009-07-27T21:01:00.000-07:00

I had a math test this morning. I actually feel very confident about it. Watch my world shatter tomorrow morning. Had Fresh Slice Pizza for dinner. It's a great place because they have a price for assembling boxes of pizza from what they have. I'm like a grilled stuft burrito right now. My parents went out to buy some ice cream. My cousin in Alabama (in some small city near New Orleans, Louisiana) is coming tomorrow night via Seattle. My parents are going to pick him up. Tomorrow my brother + his Girlfriend are traveling separately to Seattle so that she can write a nursing licensing test I believe. Tomorrow P.M. I"m all alone for a while. Cousins + my bro + his gf are playing Rock Band downstairs. I can hear everything since every window & door is wide open because of the heat. 30+ degrees for several days is a freakin heatwave for Vancouver. Plz, don't mock me people in Asia + Ah Su To Ra Ri Ah who are used to burning in 40 degrees plus. Played Animal Crossing briefly today. Caught some bugs + Fish. Game changes with season so you gotta pick it up every few months at least. I ended a drought that was last touched on around Christmas or January from what I remember. I think that I'll finally get around to watching Blade Runner while everybody's gone tomorrow night.

so that's the crap on my mind right now.
until the next time I wanna spew out what's on my mind.
Hope some of you guys check out the artist blogs I've started following. There's some amazing work in all of them.

Just followed a whole lot of Art Blogs

2009-07-26T15:27:00.000-07:00

Safe to say that I envy and admire the skill each of them has with pen. pencil, paintbrush, and in making prints. I wanna be prolific and give away and sell art to people I know. Add it up as the foundational area of my indecision with the direction of my life.

P.S. I've decided Marc Taro is a drawing GOD and I wanna be able to execute drawings like him.

check out his blogs

http://tarosan.wordpress.com

and his blog about city sketching + sketching while traveling + being in the city of Sand Francisco, Citizen Sketcher

http://citizensketcher.wordpress.com

Mark Oberndoff does Amazing paintings of signs and buildings, a lot old fashioned and regional in style as opposed to your generic buildings

http://www.bendixdiner.blogspot.com

one last one. Edward B. Gordon. I really like his brushwork and bold use of color. I kind of paint like him a bit. His style is just much more developed. His use of very high key lighting enthralls my eyes.

http://edwardbgordon.blogspot.com

like I said, check them all out but these just stuck out to me as particularly appealing to myself at least

there's no delay for BP uhhh....not Boston Pizza

2009-07-25T12:57:00.000-07:00

I just decided to send babyporridge the 13-15 that I did already and like. 13 that are definite finished pieces. Threw in some of the early undesired versions or half completed sketches too. Wonder if she got them fine?

P.S. Boston Pizza is a Canadian chain of sit down, family friendly, Pizza + Italian food places that operate some locations in the U.S. as Boston's. Think they might even be Vancouver based. Here's what most of the locations look like. Apparently this is in New Brunswick, way, way out East. An Atlantic province. hah hah

So it's Daa B'Day ub my berry youchoob payboritz

2009-07-22T20:25:00.000-07:00

and I'm late with sending what I've tasked myself with sending to babyporridge. I'm thinking that I'll make the ones I'm not as happy with as an open ended project. Well, she's 20 now. Does that mean I can feel less creepy now. uhhhh.....what. I should get to e-mailing what I've got. After So You Think You Can Dance. The Sequel is slightly delayed. Dammit, I thought I was doing so well with the pace. Oh, should get to sending what I can soon.

maybe I'll do more pieces and be even a bit more late. This bit is an update confirming my delays. OK, BYE

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

2009-07-17T13:55:00.000-07:00

WHOA! It was an amazing film. While there obviously were some notable deviations from what happened in the book none of the changes negatively impacted the film. It was hilarious seeing the 3 leads bumble there way through young love. Fred and George's joke shop was realized wonderfully. David Yates was much more visually adventurous this time around. I loved how it was tonally completely different from the last film and appropriately so. Tom Felton was absolutely perfect with the greatly expanded role of Draco Malfoy in this installment. He's absolutely the anti-Harry in this but still sympathetic. Dumbledore showing his physical frailties and risky choices in judgment were very appropriate. It really showed what's best about the character. He's a heavily studied mentor but he's also the risk taking adventurer. The conclusion of this movie is absolutely heartbreaking. I would be more explicit but I don't wanna spoil anything for anybody that hasn't read the books. Rupert Grint shows in this that he's a quite gifted comedian. Emma Watson's portrayal of Hermione is finally where she should have been for the last few films. She's emotional but constantly tries to control it. The sarcasm of her humor is pitch perfect. Fenrir Greyback is finally featured in the films and he's freakin intimidating. Helena Bonham Carter's Bellatrix Lestrange is a bit more restrained in this one and it's for the better. Jim Broadbent as Horace Slughorn is definitely a highlight of the film. Slughorn is a bit underplayed in prominence in the film but every minute he's on screen is perfect. Alan Rickman's Snape just gets better every time out.

If I were to sum up my thoughts towards the movie in a few words.
Incredibly efficient film making. All the story is told wonderfully but not at the expense of any action or excitement. The pace is unrelenting with action and pitch perfect emotional moments.
I've said too much. Just drop what you're doing and go watch Half Blood Prince right now.

my comments are horrible

2009-07-14T19:12:00.000-07:00

I think I'm being funny but I'm probably just trying too hard. Oh well, there are only a few unsuspecting victims of my running commentary on his or her running commentary

I was just watching one of my favorite TV shows "Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations"
I'm very sympathetic to his dislike of Karaoke. I'm envious of his job to travel all over the world sampling the local cuisine while enjoying the culture. It's exactly the kind of thing that I want to do while traveling in the time when I'm not checking out the local landmarks. The Osaka, Japan episode as played today. I always wanted to go there but now I might want to go there for the food alone. A U.S. Southwest episode was on today too. It was alternately funny, thought provoking, and Ted Nugent is one scary Mutha Fuckin Rockstar with his penchant for hunting down what he eats and using the carcasses for decoration. Reminded me of the time my family got stuck in Kellogg, Idaho because our GM Safari Van's air conditioning and electronic dashboard broke down because it was so frakkin HOT. The car dealership our car was fixed at was much like Mr. Nugent's home. It was weird and a bit frightening to say the least

I found this care of the actor Kevin Pollak on Twitter

2009-07-11T13:16:00.000-07:00

This is just about the greatest thing ever. It's all the familial relations of Donald Duck likely according to Carl Barks. More info about him could be found here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Barks

Oh Wikipedia. You help me out yet again. What did we all do before you.

new floors - stairs edition

2009-07-11T12:21:00.000-07:00

The last bit of the new flooring is being put in today. It's the stairs that go upstairs. I hope they finish with it today. I'm not in the mood for any more room based inconvenience. I just wanna kick it today.

When I think of Babyporridge

2009-07-11T01:26:00.001-07:00

Here I am going back to an old theme. Well anyways to complete this sentence.

I think to myself "Oh Fuck, I'm Screwed", life as I know it is over and it's replaced with an enduring fixation on her that I cant' give up if I tried.

been a long week.

2009-07-11T01:12:00.000-07:00

Math makes my head hurt. It doesn't help that most of my family isn't particularly gifted with it either. Spent a few hours this afternoon doing Math equations. It's about as thrilling as it sounds. Make up your own minds about it.

I did go to Best Buy and Dairy Queen. Dairy Queen as payback to my brother and his girlfriend for disassembling my bed when we needed to clear everything out of my room. When we came back I got the other 2 luggages of my stuff from the garage. I'll admit that they're mostly stuffed animals. I like stuffed animals ok. A few of them are just originals but most of them are licensed merch from Disney, Looney Tunes, and a few others. Oh, a Times Square Toys R Us Geoffrey. I got a bunch of Goofy stuff. He's a favorite character of mine. I love my Goofy and Genie bobbleheads. They're both playing Basketball. I love them. Oh, my Star Wars Emperor Palpatine done M&M's style. that's a funny one. I got a ball shaped goofy that bounces around and giggles.....

yeah, this is where you use the voting comment option down below to slowly move away and run like hell. I just really wanna sleep in tomorrow. It would be great to do that since I've been waking up at 6am every weekday lately.

that reminds me. I need to pay my tuition for regular University classes soon. I'd rather get it done now than rush frantically later

the new topic

2009-07-08T12:27:00.000-07:00

so I totally tanked on the math test yesterday. At least I understand the concepts now. Started the 1st bit of Exponents and logarithms and it was freakin simple. I can't believe that there were people in the room that found this topic harder than the last. It makes absolute sense and then you do simple equations in the exponents. Yeah, there is a formula I'll have to memorize but I think that I'll be alright this week. I guess it just shows me that not every topic is going to be the hardest thing ever for me. I'll see what additional details to remember are going to be added tomorrow. It might change my mind about this chapter.

Had a Test

2009-07-07T17:46:00.000-07:00

Had a math test

Used the whole time but I'm not even sure I did it properly
I came back home, got some tutoring from my brother.
Now I think I know what I"m doing at least in the first chapter.
I've gotta get off my deal with not asking for help. It's fine most
of the time but math is a weak point. Chapter 2 starts tomorrow.
I'm thinking that worrying heavily and potentially bombing on the
test for the first chapter might be exactly what I needed to start
learning math properly and successfully.

Out of all things that could be used to make me understand the
graphs of equations, an analogy about the cost needed to buy DVDs
is what worked.

HOOOOOODAAAATHUHHHHHHHHHHNK?

It has come to my attention (NEWLY WALDOFIED POST)

2009-07-06T23:23:00.000-07:00

His name is Waldo in Canada + U.S. and Wally elsewhere. Knowing this I still like Waldo as a name cuz it sticks out. That's ironic cuz he's always so well hidden

I've been told

2009-07-05T22:35:00.001-07:00

I've been told by some of my family members that I'm quite abrasive and blunt. It's not that I mean to be at all. In fact, most of the time when they claim that I'm being like that, I'm usually just saying that it's not a good time, or I think that I'm showing that I'm indifferent or tired at the moment. I'm just mentioning this because through conversations like this I realize how incredibly horrible people can be when using their intuition or they insinuate in their own minds how they think a person is simply by a few encounters. The worst part is that they never ask to clarify exactly how I reacted. My brother also brought up that some of my younger cousins even going way back might have felt that I was angry or bitter often while they were growing up. I'm actually fairly content with just living day to day most of the time. Most of the time, my cousins might have caught me at a moment where it was something that I have strong feelings towards such as people rearranging my stuff. He went on about how I don't offer to pay. I told him that it wasn't that at all. I thought it was fine for anybody to just ask. Then he went on about how sometimes he shouldn't have to ask. I think that's fair enough with family. It's not fine as a general rule though for me. Asking should occur and It's something that you shouldn't be ashamed to do. That's why I don't like asking for anything if I can from anybody. It's about what's expected afterwards or not. I'm just going to stop here. I can't think of anything else to say and I really should be sleeping.

Quizzy post to push the calculator down

2009-07-05T00:33:00.000-07:00

This series of posts is just to get that freakin calculator a bit lower down the page. It's too much for the layout of the blog. Answer these questions people reading at home. It should be informative

1.Favorite Movie?
2.Favorite Movie Character?
3.Favorite Novel, or Short Story?
4.Favorite Poem?
5.Favorite Play?
6.Favorite Actor or Actress at the moment?
7.Favorite Singer or Band at the moment?
8.Favorite Teen movie regardless of decade?
9.Favorite Animal?
10.Favorite meal?
11.Favorite Fruit?
12.Favorite Place that you've traveled to?
13.Favorite anything with 13 in the title?
14.Favorite Video Game?
15.Favorite Video Game Character?
16.Favorite Animated Feature Film, no saying that I no longer watch them because I'm an adult because that reasoning is actually really childish?
17.Favorite Animated Short, featurette, or TV special?
18.What's the craziest thing you've done while drunk?
19.Name a celebrity that you share a general birth date with?
20.Where is Waldo?
21.I say communitychannel you say that her real name is?
22.What's your favorite play by William Shakespeare?
23.Favorite Batman Villain?
24.Favorite Spider-Man Villain?
25.This one is just to check if you've been paying attention to some of my relatively recent posts. Who on youtube do I claim has a smile that makes my brain melt?
26.What's your favorite game show?
27.What's your favorite TV show of all time?
28.What do you think of when you think of Canada?
29.Have you ever drawn or painted something seriously and if so, do you mind if I have a look just online of course?
30. To finish things off. What month of the year were you born?

DUDE

2009-07-05T00:32:00.000-07:00

That Calculator pic is obnoxiously large and in charge

Graphing Calculators

2009-07-05T00:22:00.000-07:00

I get that they have specialized functions but why the fuck do they have to be so damn expensive. I ended up going with one that ended up being about $164 after tax. I hope to get some extended use out of them when I end up taking the eventual university level mathematics. Me and Math don't get along very well. I'm very hopefully pessimistic about my current reacquaintance with the apparent logic of the world of math. Math isn't very rational in my opinion. More often than not the only reason for approaching an equation in a particular manner is simply "because that's how it's done". I don't really like the possible impossibility of alternate approaches. I got the one above. I don't care to figure out why the pic is gargantuan in dimensions. Enjoy

4th of July - but I'm Canadian

2009-07-04T10:44:00.001-07:00

So it's the 4th of July 2009, a Saturday. Can't complain about the sun.

1. I need to get a Graphic Calculator.
2. I need to grudgingly ask for help from my brother to cope with Math. I've never been good with mathematical concepts on my own.
3. Hope to watch a movie even if just at home. Feel like I haven't done that for a while and I love films of a great number of varieties. I was just reading another person's blog and he was elaborating on how he likes musicals. While I differ with him about any desire to see Chicago directed by Rob Marshall, I"m very intrigued by his upcoming film "Nine" too.
4. Floor work is not done in the house but we can actually start moving back into our rooms. My problem is that moving my clothes up is highly dependent on my bed being reassembled. This is because most of my clothes are stored in the shelves built in beneath my bed.
5. Shweta-I wanna have a spot in your Disney Tag image but most of my favorite characters are already occupied by people like yourself - P.S. Nobody loves Goofy like I love Goofy. He's not just a funny guy, he's also a tragic, romantic lead that's lost the love of his life but raises his son Max happily but alone. (Yeah, Goof Troop/The Goofy Movie has some seriously tragic undertones that feel really sincere and continually affecting rather than just a part of the back story like most Disney flicks, comparable point Marlin losing his wife in the Barracuda attack in the opening of "Finding Nemo")

Disregard that over analysis as usual. I really want to have some BBQ and strangely summer has been mostly BBQ free in my house. What the Fuck is going on here

an admission

2009-07-03T13:35:00.001-07:00

I've recently started taking senior year of high school Math after a long absence of math in my life. I need it plus a few university levels of math to achieve my eventual goal of becoming a teacher. It made me realize that there are very few teachers that are great at teaching math. I've had one in my whole life. His name was Mr. Verrigan. He was my High School math teacher in most of early high school (grade 8-10) The first thing that stands out in my about him is his term of "Mickey Mousey". It was always really funny. His French Canadian accent made it even better. Secondly, but more importantly, he used analogies, and stories to show how math can be casually applied to everyday life. Most Math instructors purely give you cold, hard, instruction. Spewing out the facts and formulas with little regard to different learning styles. The worst thing about these instructors is that they find it incomprehensible that somebody would be unable to figure out the equations simply through written regurgitation of the same thing repeatedly. This might just be my opinion but, it seemed then and remains true now that some math teachers have some underlying power trip over other people. Most of my math teachers throughout life have been like this. Having this superiority in authority over the students is highly coveted by them. Mostly, it seems like they don't give a damn if a student is unable to learn with their preferred method, or if they need extra help or instruction. Admittedly, personal responsibility by the student should occur but nobody should feel like they're incapable because he or she feels like they've been made an example of what not to do by their own teacher. This just comes up in my mind because the instructor in this Grade 12 for adults class readily admitted that he's not interested in helping students learn if they're struggling with some concepts. He said that he's actually quite happy with the fact that he scares away 50 percent of the students that come into classes he teaches. I just don't understand how somebody like that ever was an effective teacher. He is an older guy too. I need to get through this successfully. I just have problems with asking for help from family. They're generally sincere but if I truly need help, the favor in return usually feels more severe than the level of assistance I ask for. But those are my own issues. July already feels like it's going to feel like a LONG month.

the admission in summary. Math is a weak spot for me. I'm not sure if I'll ever feel confident with it. That being said, I don't think that it's impossible to learn it if it doesn't come naturally to you. Hope I survive

July 1st, 2009

2009-07-01T00:56:00.000-07:00

July 1st aka Canada Day. What is occuring in my neck of the woods to mark the occasion. Not much in my family. We're getting new flooring installed. Most of our carpet is gonna be taken out and replaced with laminate aka Shiny + hardwood looking flooring. It's likely gonna take a few days.

what else do I have to remember. Oh yeah, dig out my Nike Canada shirt from the massive piles of clothing I've got going in my temporary bedroom on the main floor of the house. Lets see, when I think of Canada these things come into my mind

1. Maple Leafs
2. Hockey
3. Tim Horton's Doughnuts, coffee, and Hot Chocolate (a personal favorite of mine)
4. Sovereignty Referendums (mostly in French speaking Quebec but not unheard of in the rest of the country, hell even my province of British Columbia)
5. Peacekeeping missions for our Military - Long history going back to Lester B. Pearson + the Suez Canal Crisis

yeah, that's bout it

later

cleaning Relief.

2009-06-28T16:51:00.000-07:00

I've just spent the past 2 days + a bit more, cleaning out my room because my family is getting new flooring put in. I finished cleaning up at 2 pm today. I'm glad to got it done. My room looked like a twister just blew through it for a few days now. living out of a spare room on the main floor for the next several days. Still have to disassemble my bed and the massive wall unit in my room but that's assisted cake compared to removing stuff that I actually use and display in my room