Icha-Icha Paradise

Can You Imagine If You Had To Fit 2 Dæmons As Well As Two People In A Dorm Room?

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 09:24:47 GMT

So I saw "The Golden Compass".

Short story, the movie wavered between a 2.5 and a 3 out of 5, if we're going by my standard star rating system of old (well, TECHNICALLY I used Gai's, but that was for reviewing Naruto-based media. Which "The Golden Compass" is decidedly not). That's basically exceedingly mediocre to competent, which kinda translates to "Well, it could've been worse".

Long story? Well, let's just start off by saying that, if you're a fan of the books, you're gonna be pretty disappointed. That's not to say that the film is entirely a piece of ass; in fact, there are quite a few good things to say about it. But there are also more than quite a few bad things to say about it, and those have the funny tendency to overwhelm the former. I'm just going to go on a tangent about the movie instead of separating the two, though, so bear with me here.

Hoo boy, where to begin? Well, ok, I'll start off by saying that the casting and acting were probably the film's strongest areas. Everybody seemed to have a decent, if not excellent, grasp of their character, and performed them with gusto. Especially Nicole Kidman as Mrs. Coulter. She played a very chilling and convincing villain, and I applaud her for that. Daniel Craig as Lord Asriel is also noteworthy, although his most defining moment in the entire book was cut from the movie (more on that particular can of worms below), so the Asriel we got was mostly in short spurts. Ian McKellen was a wonderful Iorek, although I do wish the original voice actor hadn't been pushed aside for the purposes of familiarity. And, in what seems to be the continuation of a certifiable cinematic tradition these days, we had none other than Christopher Lee pop up as well (although he never interacted with McKellen)! Boy, does he play a villain well, especially with his mere minutes of screentime that he actually got. My favorite part, though, was definitely that of Lee Scoresby. Whoever played him absolutely nailed the whole cowboy thing; hell, even his Dæmon was well-acted! I've always been a fan of Mr. Scoresby, and it did a fan proud to see him represented so faithfully, it really did. The rest of the cast deserve honorable mentions, although no others really stood out to me all that much.

As far as the disappointments go, I guess the most general one was how rushed the movie was. I mean, yeah, condensing's gonna happen when a book is made into a movie, but The Golden Compass (hereafter referred to as TGC) fell quite a bit short of being a movie that one could consider "too long" (ie, 3 hours or more). In fact, it barely passes the 100-minute mark! Look, I understand that shorter movies often equate to being more palatable to the general public, but 2.5 hours is more than reasonable for a movie adapted from a fairly lengthy and detail-rich book. The beginning was what felt the most rushed, as far as I'm concerned. So much seemed like it was glossed over - which, to be completely honest, surprises me. After all, the movie's official website was incredibly rich with details concerning the parallel world that the series takes place in. Clearly, though, it was foolish of me to believe this meant that such information would be presented in the final film. An issue parallel to this one is the integration of information: the movie actually makes use of a short blurb at its outset to (very) briefly explain the world in which the movie takes place. Why it was felt this was necessary is beyond me; it sorta goes back to the whole "show, don't tell" mantra of high school writing classes. Use the story to tell me what a Dæmon is; let the story reveal the mysterious substance of Dust. The use of an introductory blurb in this case is done in a very jarring, inelegant fashion that basically summarizes a backstory that could be (and, in many cases, actually IS) revealed in the story proper. The reason why this blurb is a full-blown issue and not just some mere inconvenience is largely because it seems to have put the writer and director in the mindset of "if it's in the blurb, they know it". Dæmons are never adequately explained in the movie, and the Gyptians (as a people) get practically no introduction - after all, they're briefly mentioned in the little blurb! But that wasn't the only method of condensing. Several key scenes aren't so much cut as they are trimmed down to the bare essentials necessary to keep the plot rolling forward. The two key examples here are Mrs. Coulter's party (which actually IS cut, but the key events of it - Mrs. Coulter being otherwise occupied so Lyra can explore her room and slip out - still occur) and the Gyptian gathering (which was far less grand, and seemed to be simply a meeting of people in a small room rather than a massive congregation of the many tribes of a nomadic water people). And then, of course, there's the aforementioned glossing: the Gobblers and everything around them are barely explained and have far less emphasis put on them, at least until later. This includes Roger's kidnapping; Lyra seems to only casually notice his absence right before she departs Oxford with Mrs. Coulter, as opposed to freaking right out about THE SUDDEN DISAPPEARANCE OF HER BEST FRIEND IN THE MIDST OF A SERIES OF SIMILAR CHILD KIDNAPPINGS like she does in the book.

Unfortunately, condensing of the plot was far from the movie's biggest flaw. This dubious honor belongs solely to the fact that two very sizeable chunks of the story were actually switched in terms of their order of occurance.

Specifically, Lyra goes to Svalbard before she goes to Bolvanger.

Now, this will mean little to nothing to those of you who haven't read the book, so let me explain here: in the novel, Lyra is captured in a surprise attack on her traveling party and brought to Bolvanger. After a series of very important events, including a particularly revealing conversation with Mrs. Coulter, she eventually stages an escape plan for all other children being held there (which include her friend Roger). After the arrival of her former traveling party and a battle sequence, Lyra escapes in Lee Scoresby's balloon and heads off to liberate Lord Asriel, who is being held prison at the Armored Bear stronghold in Svalbard after being arrested. On their way, the balloon is attacked, and Lyra is separated from the others...only to be found by bears and brought to Svalbard. Once there, she charms Iofur Raknisson the king (whom she knows to be an usurper of Iorek, her bear companion), and leads him into combat against the oncoming Iorek. Iofur is killed in probably my favorite scene in the entire book (seriously, there is nothing more badass than armored polar bears beating the absolute SHIT out of one another), Iorek claims his throne, and Lyra is lead to Asriel, who has used his influence to obtain the effects necessary to continue his research despite being under arrest and imprisoned. Long story short, he kills Roger and uses the death to open a rift that will allow him to travel through parallel universes.

Whew.

Now, like I said, the movie has the events at Bolvanger switched with those at Svalbard. Lyra is captured during an attack on her party, but is brought forth as a gift to the Bear King (who is inexplicably renamed Ragnar Sturlussen in the movie). Similar events go down: the Party comes to her rescue, Iorek fights and kills Iof- er, "Ragnar" in a scene that does the book's fight PERFECT justice, and Lyra sets out for Bolvangar. She loses Iorek on the way, and is taken in at Bolvangar, where the same events occur (albeit condensed. In addition, Lyra somehow figures out that Lord Asriel is her father completely on her own, despite having no reasonable means to make such a connection). After the Battle Royale, Lyra leaves on Scoresby's balloon with Roger and Iorek to go find Asriel, who managed to bribe his captors and has set up shop at some undertermined place in the Arctic.

And then the movie ends.

Seriously. Right there.

This is precisely the reason why the rearranging of events is so heinous: it gives the director/writer a way out of the book's conclusive events, and ends the movie in the most sickeningly happiest way possible. There is no excuse for this, although Weitz certainly tries. What I think happened was that Weitz felt Lyra shouldn't achieve her goal of rescuing Roger until the movie's conclusion, that going on any longer would just seem pointless to the audiences. So, he compromised: he simply made it so that the movie ends shortly after she achieves this goal without sacrificing the whole THIRD of the novel that occurs afterwards. Thing is, the switch is sort of awkward, and makes the entire Svalbard excursion seem remarkably pointless. Since Asriel couldn't be imprisoned there, as that would complicate things beyond repair, it simply seems like Svalbard is little more than an excuse for an awesome bear fight, and therefore a shallow pandering to the action-oriented crowd. As for why the rightful ending was cut, Weitz suggests that it was because he did not want viewers to get the idea that Lyra's walk through the Aurora and into the alternate dimension as her ascending into Heaven. That, of course, is a complete crock of SHIT. Nobody with any reasonable level of intelligence could possibly infer such a thing, especially since not a single piece of dialog would even remotely suggest it. In fact, Asriel makes his goal of traveling alternate dimensions quite clear in the film, and Lyra following him through would leave one to assume that she did precisely that: wander into another dimension! No, this was probably done as a way of giving the movie a happy ending, as the somewhat twisted ending of the novel could ostensibly have resulted in even more backlash against the film, adding fuel to a suddenly roaring fire.

Speaking of backlash, the controversy that this film has stirred up is immense, and damn well near legendary. It's so weird, because I don't remember getting a whole lot of religious stuff out of the novels when I read them as a kid, especially from the first book. But the movie's very existence is causing a stir nevertheless, and while I'm not going to get into that extensively, I figure I should at least mention the religious aspects of the movie. First off, it's all handled rather neatly. The Magisterium, the villainous Church of the novels' world, is only ever referred to as "The Magisterium", and while the veil may be thin for some (Mrs. Coulter explains to Lyra why Dust is bad at one point in such a way that makes her story's connection to the idea of the Original Sin exceedingly obvious), I figure it's handled with decent tact. Except when the Magisterium is actively villified beyond what the book does: in the film, it is a very obviously villainous member of the Magisterium that poisons Asriel's Tokay drink, and not the Master of Jordan College.

Anyways, for the sake of thoroughness, I feel I should make mention of the effects in the film. For the most part, these are incredible. The Dæmons are animated beautifully, although sometimes there's a bit TOO much of an emphasis put on them, and it feels like they're there just for the sake of having flashy effects (although those scenes are probably more a result of the scripting than anything else). The artistic design of the film is top-notch, and translates well onto the screen. It really isn't much these days to say that a movie has convincing CGI, so I'll skip that whole bit...but I do want to reiterate that the bear fight kicked major ass. Seriously, I can't stress that enough. As mentioned earlier, this battle was definitely among my favorite points in the novel, and its film counterpart more than lived up to that stigma. There is really nothing quite like watching two badass polar bears in full armor laying an absolute smackdown against one another. Even the fight's climax was left intact, complete with jaw-swatting goodness. I once said that I wouldn't care what else was done to the movie, so long as I got my bear fight, and while it didn't entirely remove the bitter taste in my mouth after I left the theatre, it did prevent me from feeling entirely ripped off. That being said, there was a certain effect used whenever Lyra consulted the Alethiometer that bothered me a lot. Basically, after asking a question, the scene would break into what I can only describe as a "Dust vision" - that is, it seemed like Lyra mentally saw the answer to her question. I hated this. Just showing Lyra interpret the symbols after much thought would have been far more preferable. But hey, at least the sequences were flashy and pretty.

So would I recommend the film? Y'know, if you feel like you absolutely need to see it, either as a fan of the book or just because you have your heart set on it, I'm not going to talk you out of it. Fans of the book should probably see it at least once, although I do caution those not familiar with the novels, as the movie tends to be something of a muddled mess for those coming new into the series. As always, I recommend the book over the movie; it truly is a very enjoyable read.

And even after all of that, I still want me a high-quality prop replica of the Alethiometer. I think that would be damn skippy.

Harry Potter and Dumbledore's Army

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 19:07:11 GMT

So I saw the recent motion picture adaptation of the fifth book in that popular septology (is that the right word? Septology? Is there even a word for a 7-part series?) of novels. And...well, I didn't actually hate it. Keep in mind that saying that I "didn't actually hate it" is practically showering it with praise compared to what I've said about past movies in the series, especially since I was expecting to loathe this one on a completely different level than any of the others. Why? Well, the fifth Harry Potter book is a) my favorite in the series, and b) is also the LONGEST in the series (if rumors about Deathly Hallows' are to be believed, at any rate), and it's not like these movies have a good track record with adapting Rowling's lengthier novels (see: the fourth movie. LET'S JUST CUT OUT EVERY SINGLE SUBPLOT IN THE ENTIRE BOOK! THAT'S THE WAY TO DO IT! YAY! Fucking Hollywood). With those things in mind, I was expecting to want to tear this movie to shreds by the end. But, I don't. I actually enjoyed myself, although the movie itself is only ever really mediocre to decent. Details behind the cut!

The biggest issues the movie had were issues of cutting. It did a much better job at this than the last movie, which opted to have SUPER AWESOME DRAGON CHASE SCENES!!!!!11 (/sarcasm) in place of far more important character scenes, such as Hagrid's parentage (among many others)...but that isn't exactly saying much. Obviously, a lot was cut, and I don't have the patience to possibly go through every last detail, but among the more disappointing bits were the exclusion of Percy Weasly's bit (as well as the continued absence of Bill and Charlie), the hospital scene, every room aside from the Prophecy and Veil rooms in the Department of Mysteries, and Harry's various hissy fits. Seriously. I wanted to see him stomp angrily around Dumbledore's room breaking the Headmaster's shit like a petulant child, to freak the hell out at his friends, etc. But nope. He barely even screams; just kinda complains a bit. Mind you, the fact that he was isolated over the summer from any magical world contact whatsoever wasn't really emphasized; he just kinda mentions it briefly when he sees Ron and Hermione again, so I guess he didn't really HAVE a reason to freak out then. Percy's exclusion was also kind of annoying, because he was actually THERE, alongside Fudge...he just never said anything, or did anything, and was never mentioned by name. It took me a long while to actually realize that he WAS Percy. Hell, not even the WEASLY'S mention him. His absence isn't even explained or questioned in the slightest. They COULD have had that whole Percy conflict subplot in there, but instead opted to exclude it, which kinda sucks a lot.

Naturally, the movie felt a bit rushed, but it did have plenty of good points. The action scenes were all fairly well done, although I liked the book version of Dumbledore VS Voldy better. It was still pretty awesome in the movie, though; fire and water and glass and sand and all sorts of magic being flashily blasted about. Sirius also come off as being really cool in the movie, although it's such a shame that this is the first one where he's portrayed with the proper level of cool. The big new characters---Bellatrix, Umbridge, and Luna---are all portrayed excellently, although Bellatrix has such little screentime and such little backstory explained that it's hard to really appreciate her. Luna definitely kicked ass, though. if anything, there was too little of her in the movie; her sort of awkwardly weird personality was portrayed PERFECTLY. And she was hot. I never pictured Luna as being physically attractive in any way when I read the books, but she pulls it off fine. She's still Luna. It's such a shame that the whole bit with her father's Wizard Tabloid and Rita Skeeter is cut (without the article, Seamus just kinda decides that he believes Harry somewhat randomly). Umbridge was good, too; whatever actress it is that plays her pulls off the whole "diabetic-coma-sweet totalitarian bitch" thing perfectly. I found her much less notable than Luna, though. Tonks also deserves a special mention here; her image was pulled off pretty well, although she had maybe two lines in the whole film. Kinda cool as well was the Gryffindor common room; it had music playing and stuff, which I thought was a neat touch. Made it seem more like a hangout place.

Another thing that was surprisingly well done was the humor. Gone was the really weird, forced, bad British humor of the 4th movie; instead, there are a good number of genuinely funny moments. Especially from Snape, courtesy of Alan Rickman. His attitude when Umbridge is questioning him is priceless. They also left the line about the Nargles in the Mistletoe in there, which I thought was amusing if a little lacking in context (the bit where Luna actually talks about Nargles living in Mistletoe is left out, although she mentions them a few other times in the movie, so the line still works fine).

Probably the biggest disappointment about the movie is of how little importance the actual Order of the Phoenix is. The importance of the Order is never really emphasized, and I thought that the members of the order were represented remarkably poorly, often being reduced to simple cameos. This is a massive shame, and makes me think that the movie may as well have been called "Harry Potter and Dumbledore's Army" (also, the bit where Ginny comes up with the name for their little rebellious group is completely left out, so there goes the significance of THAT). Also of note is how the Army is discovered in the movie: instead of Cho's friend ratting them all out, Cho HERSELF ends up telling Umbridge and the Inquisitorial Squad, after (it is later revealed) being forced to down Veritaserum during one of Umbridge's crazed interrogation sessions. While a decent way to condense the story, this bit is never fully resolved; Harry just starts ignoring Cho (because he thought she betrayed him), whom we never see for the rest of the movie. No vicious/pained glances at the end, even though Harry now knows the truth of the matter. Nothing. Which is a shame. We do get to see Ginny pine over Harry, though (her boyfriend was cut), sending little, slightly pained looks in his direction whenever he's with Cho/when Hermione mentions that Cho couldn't keep her eyes off Harry.

Finally, the matter of Sirius' death. This was even more disappointing than its book rendition; instead of merely getting knocked back into the mysterious veil, never to emerge, he is actually killed by an Avada Kedavra curse of Belltrix's after defeating Lucius Malfoy, and then knocked backwards into the Veil. Kinda makes you wonder why they bothered to include the Veil at all.

A little side-ramble here: What this movie really reminds me of is the various compilation movies produced for the Gundam series out there. These films are designed to take the bare bones of a many-episode series, and present them in an easy-to-digest (if inferior) movie format. That's what the Harry Potter movies seem like: they're just an overview of a series, not meant to be experienced solely on their own, but with the enhancement of the source material itself. Also, it occurs to me that the fact that each movie, aside from the first two, have been done by a different director doesn't exactly help things; the movies don't flow nearly as well as they should, due to each director's different use of characters, settings, and events.

Anyways, that's all the ramblings I have for now. The movie was at worst mediocre, and at best decent. It mostly suffered from rushed explanation (much like the last movie's Crouch plot).I recommend seeing it once, as it won't make you want to end a life, possibly your own, after watching it. Which is more than can be said for the last couple movies. Now, I need to start re-reading the books, in anticipation for the final novel in the series. Adios!

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 21:56:56 GMT

[mood| It's a thumbs-up kinda day]

So, yeah, I'm updating. Good times.

A large portion of the time, I feel like the life I lead serves little to no purpose whatsoever, and I'm perfectly cool with that. These feelings have been increased since I learned that I (for all intents and purposes) failed my first year of university. What bothers me is the apathy that comes with them.

I'll admit it: I'm perfectly happy with my life right now. As any of my friends in New Brunswick would tell you (if, perchance, any of you ever spoke to them, which is quite unlikely), I love BC. I like being here, despite the fact that I have to put up with my family on a daily basis. My friends across the country are great and everything, but the friends I relate to best live over here. I'm sure it helps that I've gotten to know my friends here over a span of four years, as opposed to one. There are little things, like the altogether sunnier weather that we have here than was had in Ontario or New Brunswick. There are the things that come along with said weather, such as beaches and a natural body of water that can actually be swum in without contracting some form of horrific, unnatural disease. I have a decent job now (more on that below) that pays alright. And, y'know, maybe it's because of all this that I'm so apathetic about my current scholarly situation.

For those who don't know: I found out a couple weeks back that it is very likely that STU will ask me to take a year off of my studies, as is generally asked of students with an annual GPA below 1.0. My parents do not know this yet; they think my grades were decent. You would not BELIEVE the incredible song n' dance number I've had to do to keep them (especially my dad, who wants to see physical evidence of my grades) from finding out what my grades actually were, but things are holding out. So far. If I find a way to be allowed back, then they need never find out. If not...well, let's just say that I'm waiting until I've done everything I can to resolve the situation before I tell them. They worry too much as it is; my dad is the kind of guy who practically gives himself an ulcer over lawns not being mowed properly.

But, see, the thing is...I care less than I should. Mind you, I've never been a big fan of grades. I hate them, mostly because they're used by people to gauge our intelligence, when really they aren't indicative of that at all. Case in point: I like to think that I'm a reasonably smart person, and yet my GPA was 0.8. D-, at best. Also, I seem to be stuck in the mindset that post-secondary isn't NECESSARY for one to lead a good adult life. Which may or may not be true. And I'm still working as best I can to change my situation, but honestly, part of me wants to stay here. There may or may not be a girl involved with that mindset, but we're not gonna get into that, because that in itself is a WHOLE 'nother situation altogether. I guess I just don't feel as much like a failure as I should. I worried more that I let others down than me, even though I fell grossly short of my potential. Maybe that's because I went to university primarily for the experience. Maybe that was a mistake, but I got that experience, so I feel more fulfilled than I should. Right now, it's mostly seeing my Maritime friends again that is driving me to go back at all. So what, should I just screw education altogether?

So what else is new with me? Well, I started working at the Langley location of Best Buy, after my very short stint as a Griller of Chicken at the local Nando's. Best Buy, as mentioned above, is a pretty alright job. I mean, I get payed to sell video games. If I had to get payed to sell ANYTHING...well, maybe I could sell manga/anime better, but there is unfortunately no Sakura Media located outside of Vancouver. The pay is decent: $9/hour, non-commission. People are okay, although I have yet to really get to know any of them. The only downside is, obviously, that Best Buy is a good half-hour drive away. So far, I've been lucky in regards to transport...but the day may come that I need to use transit. I shudder at the thought of such a thing. Travel time would be upped from half and hour to a whopping 2 hours, which is ridiculous. Things might get a bit more hectic as I move from having minimal trainee hours to having more frequent hours, and then we'll see. But at least this is a job that will ostensibly still be waiting for me come Christmas time/next summer (provided I go back out East, naturally).

Aside from work, nothing is new. My days are spent playing video games and reading, generally lazing about in my bathrobe (I love that bathrobe. It makes me feel like a samurai). I have about a billion games that I need to get through: I need to finish Okami and FFXII, and I need to play Dirge of Cerberus, Tales of the Abyss, Pokemon Diamond, and Xenogears. Add to that my recently-acquired FFVI for the GBA (apparently the best Final Fantasy, and it has turned out to be great so far, but I'm not sure whether it has surpassed X as my favorite yet), and you have quite the hefty list. At some point, I'll probably get a 360, and there will be games for that I'll want (Blue Dragon and Gears of War jump readily to mind). Plus, there's the summer release of Metroid Prime 3 that I'm looking forward to with bated breath, as well as the possibility for Smash Bros. Brawl.

Anyways, that's it for this update, because I have to go mow the lawn and do a couple other small chores before I start the trek up to work. Plus, I want to stop by HMV and see if I can't find the first season of the original Star Trek series. Because if I need to watch any cheesy, overdone sci-fi show, it may as well be the one that started them all.

Fri, 04 May 2007 01:39:00 GMT

Just thought this may be fun. Think this is an accurate summary of my personality, people? Select to take the test to let me know if I got my own personality right.

Wed, 21 Feb 2007 20:13:13 GMT

I have shaved my head.

Photographic evidence forthcoming.

For Victory, We Ride!

Sun, 04 Feb 2007 17:53:56 GMT

[mood| Rocking Out]
[music|DragonForce--Black Fire ]

Ok guys, so I just went out and bought all of the albums of the Power Metal band Dragonforce. And oh my god, I love them. They can rock pretty damn hard, which is always something I respect, but the best part is how delightfully lame their lyrics are. Seriously. Half the songs remind me of anime opening themes, only with english lyrics (yes, the lyrics are THAT unflinchingly lame). Here's a good example:
"On the black wind forever we ride on together
Destroying your Evil with Freedom our guide.
When the Master will call us,
He'll stand high before us,
Our hearts filled with splendour.
Our swords will shine over the light!"

Or, even better:
"Across the highest mountains,
And through the endless seas,
Our journey ever onwards
Fight until we all be free.
Through the darkness shining the neverending light,
On through the days of glory,
Rise towards the fight"

And the songs only get better from there. Just...oh man. I haven't stopped listening to this band since I bought these albums.

On another note, I have decided that Black Sabbath isn't my kind of metal. Too slow for tastes. But whatever, the CD was free.

Hedley Sucks

Sat, 27 Jan 2007 22:24:33 GMT

I really have to stop letting my friends convince me into doing lame things. Like, for example, going to see a Hedley concert.

Even before I went, I was amply forewarned. As a good friend of mine put it: "Take Power Metal, and multiply its manliness by 5. Now, completely invert the result. That's Hedley". However, I went anyways. And it sucked.

The first band wasn't terrible, I guess. Starewell. They could play the guitar pretty damn well, and had some rockin' solos, so I didn't hate them (and, in fact, bought a CD, which turned out to almost completely lack the rocking out I remember. Oh, well). The second band, whose name I don't completely recall but which contained the word "Daze" (possibly as a pun on the word "days"), sucked pretty hard. They played the most generic grunge rock imaginable, and bored me to death. My friend Ryan felt the need to yell "GET THE FUCK OFF THE STAGE!" at the top of his lungs during the brief silence between songs usually reserved for applause, which was literally the only thing remotely enjoyable about the band's time on stage.

After that, any enjoyment that was previously being given to my by this concert was gone by this point, so me and a few friends sat the third band out. I don't remember even the remotest detail about their name, but that doesn't matter, because they kinda sucked too. Mind you, the crowd (which consisted largely of 12-year-old girls) seemed to enjoy them, so I guess if wannabe emo-punk is your thing, then they weren't bad. They had decent stage presence, too, and were mildly amusing to watch from my new vantage point in the stands of the concert hall (I was previously standing down in the area in front of the stage, but abandoned that position once I realized that these bands weren't worth standing for). The lead singer seemed like a pretentious jackhole, though; he was really sucking in the praise and adoration of his tween audience, and you could tell he was absolutely THRIVING off of it.

Then, Hedley came. By this point, by which I actually mean by halfway through the second band's performance, we were about ready to go. Problem was, a good half of our little group was in the "mosh pit" (and I use that term in the loosest way possible) up front, so we were stuck. As it turns out, my friend's description of Hedley was largely accurate. The lead singer must have been the most irritatingly flamboyant person I have ever seen. I'm almost positive he was wearing girl's clothing (jeans and shirt), and seemed to enjoy alternating between wild gyrating and stiff marching to no particular beat. His hair also sucked. Of course, the audience loved it. I hate tweens.

Overall, it was a waste of $28. Not MY $28, perhaps (a friend bought me the ticket), but $28 nonetheless.

This is actually an awesome conversation

Tue, 29 Aug 2006 19:03:01 GMT

Bob: I can SO take the sky from you if i damn well please!
Eric: nope
Eric: not EVEN
Bob: YUH HUH!
Eric: Prove it.
Eric: Take it from me.
Eric: Right now.
Bob: okay! FINE THEN i will!
Eric: oh, what's that?
Eric: you can't?
Eric: BIG SURPRISE
Bob: :-O
Bob: Jerk.
Bob: ;_;
Eric: Hey, you're the one trying to take away my sky
Eric: I'd say it's YOU who's the jerk
Bob: You have a point!
Bob: but you're Eric
Bob: so you automatically become the jerk.
Eric: aha, but that's where you're wrong
Eric: I'm not Eric
Bob: :-O
Eric: I'm...
Eric: Batman.
Bob: :-O LIAR!
Eric: is it really so hard to believe?
Bob: yes, yes it is
Eric: all those secret passages throughout my house that lead to nowhere? All those unexplained midnight absenses of mine?
Eric: the Batman costume sitting in the chest in my game's room?
Bob: the secret passages are just areas to hide the hookers eric :P
Bob: i take that back, you're just odd. ^_^ hehe
Eric: odd enough...to prowl the rooftops at ungodly hours dressed as a giant bat?
Bob: no...nono...just odd :P
Bob: so odd that perhaps we should be putting you in a nice white jacket
Eric: White jackets are no match for the black cape and cowl of justice!
Eric: what say you to that?
Bob: I say!
Bob: -Jumps from knowhere summersalting in the air,jumps behind Eric and puts him into a white jacket-
Bob: BOOYA GRANDMA! (H)
Bob: okiee batman! off the land land of sugar plums and faires for you!
Eric: *shoots Bat-grappling hook and flies away*
Eric: you can restrain me, but you can never capture me!
Bob: ;_; BLAST YOU BATMAN WANNABE!!!!
Bob: -chucks a pineapple-
Eric: *catches pineapple and takes a bit bite* you may damn me now, you may throw delicious tropicle fruits at me now, but once the putrid, crime-filled streets of White Rock have been cleansed of their infidelities by the Dark Knight, you shall come around
Bob: haha u just made my msn name
Bob: feel proud ^_^
Eric: I am honored
Bob: You ate my pineapple :|
Bob: -does michel jackson move- PREPAIR TO DIE!
Eric: I AM THE NIGHT! *disappears*
Bob: hmmm!!
Bob: -spraypaints the air until Eric reapears-
Bob: Fooouuund yoooou!! ^_^
Eric: apprehending me will accomplish nothing. I fight only for Justice
Bob: Damnit Eric stop sounding so cool!
Eric: very well. Then I shall take my leave of this place, for the moment. Farewell!
Bob: Toodles~ ^_^

The Great Eastern Adventure (Part One)

Tue, 29 Aug 2006 17:08:11 GMT

[mood| Hyper-Chlorenated]
[music|The Serenade of Connor ]

Just to reassure you all that yes, Eric does live, I have decided to update my Livejournal.

So yes. A few weeks back, I left good ol' BC to start my eastern migration towards the beginning of a new, post-secondary life. Before hitting the East Coast, however, I stopped off in Hometownland, Ontario (actually called Burlington) for some time with friends both new and old. As it turns out, however, 4 days is hardly enough time to do this, especially when you're staying with one friend and going off to see others. And so, a summary of the past few weeks for you all!

Day 1 through 4 (August 16th through 20th): Burlington-Time
--Flew in to Toronto at fucking 6 AM. Arrived 1 PM local time. Lack of free snacks on plane pissed me off. Airlines now super cheap. Watched Kill Bill on plane.
--Experienced over and over the wonderful summer weather of Ontario, and lamented lack of swim-worthy bodies of water. Lake Ontario doesn't count. It's pretty much radioactive.
--Saw micadjems pretty much right away.
--Stayed with my buddy Martin, saw limejam and my friend Ivan, and spent $120 on swag (Genshiken vol. 4/5/6, Buso Renkin vol. 1, two FFX Play Arts figures, Dirge of Cerberus + guide, Red Hot Chili Peppers Greatest Hits album) in the first 24 hours. micadjems and friend stopped by on way to gay bar; wished them luck.
--Went to a party where I knew one person, but got to know this totally awesome girl anyways. Stayed out till midnight with micadjems and Sam (aforementioned awesome girl). Martin annoyed due to promise that I'd hang with him that evening after the party. Much appologizing, although very little regret.
--Met up with parents, then went to grandma's. Much boredom ensues. Amused self by watching cousins randomly jump each other and by throwing aluminum balls at cat.

Day 5 through 11: Cottage and Cousins
--Drove 6 hours to cottage on Rib Lake in Northern Ontario (Temagami, by North Bay) with Fitzpatricks (family friends). Slept through much of Tenacious D's album. Very disappointed.
--Met up with Uncle Don (awesome biker-stoner uncle) at a restaurant on the way. Connor threatened to kill my mom after she introduced him to my Uncle.
--Spent a glorious 4 days without electricity or internet, and with a steadily decreasing supply of electronic devices. Was still pretty damn good; got a new book and everything. His Majesty's Dragon. Very interesting take on Napoleonic wars. Dragons are cool.
--Visited all childhood sites at cottage. Cliffs much smaller than before.
--Taught Connor (little 7-year-old, freckly, redheaded kid) lines from Taladega Nights. Very amusing to watch the kid tell people he was going to come at them like a spider-monkey.
--Swam in lake a lot. Brother and I designated Tom and Huck (for some reason) by one of the adults. Decided that I was Huck and my brother was Tom, because Huck is way the hell more awesome than Tom.
--Banished from the dock by Connor after the kid made it his pirate ship.
--Told my sister that a giant turtle named Archelon lived in the lake. Meaghan frightened of Archelon for remainder of trip. Most amusing.
--Discovered how to light matches on jean zipper.
--Was refused alcohol. Very annoyed.
--Left a day after the Fitz's. Drove 3 hours to Bracebridge. Headphones randomly stopped working; had to use crappy WestJet headphones entire way. Not fun.
--Saw certain cousins again for the first time in 4 years. Quite jarring. Watched Kill Bill vol. 1 and Wedding Crashers. Recharged stuff, but no internet.
--Got eaten alive by a cloud of mosquitoes. Had been no mosquitoes at cottage, so my defenses were down. Legs were very itchy.
--Visited novelty toy store where cousin was employed. She had a hot co-worker, which was pretty cool. Left after Collin had a Subway craving.
--Drove back to Burlington. Had party. Pretty much just chilled with micadjems and left brother with his ho's. Was signed up for MySpace, for some reason. It's exactly the same as Nexopia, but nobody here seems to know what Nexopia is. Spent far too much time in the pool (not by choice). Was super-chlorenated the next day. Hair was gross. My hair should never be gross.

To be continued!

Anyways, yeah, sorry for the quick recap there. I really have to staret updating more often so posts aren't such a chore...in any case, it's been a while since my last update. Like, almost a month. I promise that I'll try to write here more often now that I'm away for ever and ever. No promises, though.

Thu, 10 Aug 2006 04:43:06 GMT

[mood| Frightened]
[music|Chrono Cross OST--Another Termina ]

The backyard spiders are getting obnoxious again. Time to break out the big guns.

Death Note Movie Trailer (English Subtitles)

Mon, 24 Jul 2006 02:09:51 GMT

Just done to test this out, and so that I can show this trailer to people who don't have a Youtube account.

Sun, 16 Jul 2006 00:37:54 GMT

Stolen from Malcolm. Enjoy!

Set your mp3 player on shuffle. Use each title that comes up to fill in the answers.
No cheating (this means you).

The song that plays when you enter a room:
"Sea of Chaos~Creator's Ulterior Motive", by Yasushi Ishii (Hellsing soundtrack)
(The thing about the songs on this soundtrack is that, despite their names, they're all really cool and mellow. So yeah. I'm down with that)

The first thing you think when you wake up:
"Rebellion (Lies)", by The Arcade Fire

Thought going through your head right now:
"Lee", by Tenacious D
("Lee, Lee, Lee, Lee, Lee, Lee, Lee, Lee, Lee, Lee, Lee...We're talkin' fuckin' Leeeeee!" XD)

Your philosophy on life:
"Karate", by Tenacious D
(Just...seriously, look up the lyrics. Oh man, I love Tenacious D).

Your philosophy on love:
"Catch-22", by Shiro Sagisu (Bleach soundtrack)
(That it is, my friends. That it is.)

Your philosophy on sex:
"One-Winged Angel", by Nobuo Uematsu
(The amusing thing here is that the first lines of the song translate, from Latin, to "Burning inside with violent anger". So apparently, I like fiery, violent, angry sex)

Your best asset:
"Meta Ridley", from the Metroid Prime soundtrack
(Yes. That giant, semi-robotic dragon really brings in the ladies for me.)

Your worst vice:
"Dark Water", from the Advent Children soundtrack

Your biggest fear:
"The Night Santa Went Crazy", by Weird Al Yankovic
(...anything I say will only detract from the hilarity here)

Your superpower:
"Inward Singing", by Tenacious D

Your dream job:
"Skeleton Liar", by The Pillows

Your preference in a mate:
"Omega Pirate", from the Metroid Prime soundtrack
(So I like me some of that giant-alien-mutated-by-highly-radioactive-substances ass now, do I?)

Your outlook on marriage:
"Ode to a Superhero", by Weird Al Yankovic
(Apparently, I see marriage as the first Spider-man movie)

Your political stance:
"Go Go Cactus Man", by The Seatbelts
(I would totally vote for Cowboy Andy)

Your favorite topic of conversation:
"Ousiders", by Franz Ferdinand

Keeps you awake at night:
"Confusion", from the Tales of Symphonia soundtrack

The name of your first solo album:
"I.B.C.J. Siege Rope", by Yasushi Ishii (Hellsing soundtrack)

Where you'll be in 10 years:
"Dance in the Sunshine", from the Tales of Symphonia soundtrack

How you want to die:
"Heat of the Battle", by Shiro Sagisu (Bleach soundtrack)

Your last words:
"The Promised Land", from the Advent Children soundtrack

Your epitaph:
"Not Alone", from the FF9 soundtrack

I realize now that having the artists there detracts from my answers, but whatever. Just read the titles for maximum impact/hilarity.

Thu, 06 Jul 2006 17:35:29 GMT

[mood| hungry]
[music|The Seatbelts--Rain ]

"Spider-man, Spider-man!
Does whatever a spider can.
Spins a web any size;
Catches thieves just like flies.
Look out! Here comes the Spider-man!

Is he strong? Listen, bud:
He's got radioactive blood.
Can he swing from a thread?
Take a look overhead!
Hey there! There goes the Spider-man!

In the chill of the night, at the scene of the crime,
Like a stream of light, he arrives just in time!

Spider-man, Spiderman!
Friendly neighbourhood Spider-man.
Wealth and fame is ignored;
Action is his reward.
To him, life is a great big bang-up.
Wherever there's a hang-up
You'll find the Spider-maaaan!"

Swear to God, I was singing that all day. Nobody could hear me, though, because the milk cooler? Yeah, it's a lonely, lonely place.

That's all for today. Except! I learned a very valuable lesson at work: Chickens need to get their acts together, and need to start laying eggs that are just a BIT more durable. That way, when I drop them, they WON'T shatter all over the place, and I won't have to take precious time out of my day to clean up the collective goo of their unborn children when the service clerk doesn't respond to my request for a wet cleanup down Aisle 4.

Mon, 03 Jul 2006 06:08:01 GMT

[mood| content]
[music| The Seatbelts--The Egg and I]

So I saw Superman Returns.

It was actually pretty freakin' sweet. Now, I've always said it, I am not particularly a fan of Superman (or DC stuff in general, with the exception of Batman). However, I had always wanted to see Returns, ever since I saw the short teaser at the beginning of X-3. Bryan Singer is an amazing director (as he proved with the first two X-Men movies; incidentally, Returns was the reason Singer didn't direct X-3). He knows how to handle superhero movies: how to keep them true to their source material without making them exclusive to the fanbase, how to develop characters effectively without a reasonable timeframe, how to give action right out of the panels of a comic book without making it impossible/cheesy/obviously CG. Superman Returns easily ranks up with X-Men (and X-2) and Batman Begins as superhero movie gold.

Now, that's not to say that I didn't have my issues with the movie; if this is indeed a sequel to the second Superman film, then why doesn't Lois know that Clark is Superman? I could have SWORN that she found out in Superman II. I mean, it's been about 7 or 8 years since I've seen it, but I'm pretty sure that she learned the identity of Superman's alter-ego in that. Also, I'm not quite sure how I feel about the kid being Superman's kid. But I will say this: the opening credits were so reminiscent of the Superman movies of yore, right down to the extending text and the zoom through the solar system. That was awesome.

Honestly, though, I like Superman way better as a Communist (that's a link, by the way. Click it to see how awesome he looks with a hammer and a sickle adorning his chest, instead of an S).

On a final note, I feel obligated to inform you all of the teaser for another superhero movie known as "Spiderman 3". I honestly think that this too looks like an awesome movie. Check it out!

Sun, 25 Jun 2006 04:12:57 GMT

[mood| exanimate]
[music|Hellsing--The World Without Logos ]

Bloody Kineu, throwing a party when he knows I'm too drugged up on painkillers with giant swollen cheeks to go. I told him yesterday, I did. I said, "Kineu, I can't hang out with you, because I am on drugs."

Amd he throws a party.

Remind me to give him a very swift punch in the nuts when I am actually capable of doing so for this.

Oh, balls, I'm craving pizza but all I can eat are liquids. Bloody hell.

Sat, 10 Jun 2006 22:47:58 GMT

[mood| Tired/Annoyed]
[music|Iron Maiden--Aces High ]

Woah! Eric's updating! Holy shit!

Right. So anyways, grad was pretty sweet; I honestly didn't mind the dinner-dance, although I did think that a few more slow songs were needed. The Dry Grad was also good, especially the hypnotist. I got hypnotized, of course, and was apparently one of the most amusing up there. Kinda makes me wanna see a tape of it (especially of the whole Jack Sparrow thing). For the record, I'm almost positive that it WAS real, mostly because I can distinctly remember not remembering anything afterwards until I got outside. It was like I closed my eyes, then was told to reopen them, and there was applause. It was pretty weird, especially when I was informed that two hours had passed.

Got some pretty nice grad gifts, too; money, mostly, but it's too bad I'll hardly see any of it. Yeah, ok, I realize that investing is smart. I realize that $1500 (American) wasn't given to me to "blow off" on "gaming crap". But I don't want all $1500. I want $500, at the VERY most, to see me through the summer so that all of the money earned through work can go towards university. Of course, my parents are whining about even giving me $250 of it, so there you go. And now, they're even talking of controlling what I spend the little money that I get on; I mentioned that I wanted to get a DS Lite, and now they're more reluctant than ever to give me what is rightfully MY money. Y'know what? This doesn't even stem from wanting MONEY. I want INDEPENDANCE. For most of my life, my parents have controlled what I do. If I express any sort of interest in doing anything that they deem inappropriate or that they don't like, they put their foot(s) down and don't let me do it. This is the whole reason that I'm moving about as far East as possible without having to leave Canada: I need to live. I need to be allowed to make mistakes without my parents babysitting me. UGH!

On the other hand, I did get a very nice portable speaker system for my iPod, which will be quite useful when I lack a stereo after moving moving out, so that's good.

So what else? Well, Ultimate Spider-man vol. 15 was finally released, and it was pretty good. Mostly because of the Annual that was included, which chronicles the beginning of the Peter Parker/Kitty Pryde relationship. Shame that it won't last; the plot is already being developed towards a breakup. Due to an incident in a later story arc, Spider-man was seen with Kitty (meaning that Peter can't go out with Kitty, meaning that the relationship will have to be kept totally secret from even Aunt May---who, as it turns out, hates Spider-man), and Mary Jane, in a move that has officially made her into the Jealous Bitch Ex-Girlfriend, now claims that Peter is no longer her friend, and that won't fly very well with Peter. This is a bit of shame; I always liked Ultimate MJ, as well as the whole Kitty-Peter thing. It was unique, and seemed logical enough. Hardly like a crossover gimmick, at any rate. Oh, well. The next big story arc is the Clone Saga, and I can't wait to see how Bendis handles it with the USM universe. Will it see a return of Carnage? Maybe even Venom? One can only hope. And an arc called "Death of the Goblin" has been announced; is it talking about Harry, Norman, or both? Only time will tell, my friends. Only time will tell.

In other news, I gained a vague idea on how Christ will play into that whole story thing that I'm planning, while facing the cheese section at Safeway the other night. I've pretty much decided to demonize him. That's right: Christ himself will be the Antichrist. More on that later, though.

And happy belated 17th to shydos! You wouldn't happen to know how to get through that dungeon under the well in Ocarina of Time, would you? It's deceptive floors are being a pain in my ass. This is what I get for only just playing the game now, I suppose.

Random: A Play In Three Acts

Wed, 17 May 2006 14:57:47 GMT

[mood| sleepy]
[music| Mom Telling Me My Porrage is Done]

So this morning, I wake up and I'm all, "Meaghan. What the shit?" because she had The Sims on, and I was still sleeping. It was 6:30. So I got up, reset the computer (because she woke me up, see), had my vengeance, and felt my chin in pride. It was then that I realized that a smooth, velvety carpet had formed across my lower facial features, and the thought that I may need to shave occured to me. You see, I like to have a bit of stubble; it makes me look rough, and dangerous, but not when it gets too long,
so I still gotta shave every few days. So I go into the bathroom, and try to find my razor...and discovered that my entire inner turmoil concerning the shaving of the hair was all for naught, for my brother had removed my razor from the premises.

I'm not even kidding here. The kid took my razor, claiming that I need to grow out my "sweet goatée", and that he wouldn't let me ruin my chances of looking "badass and awesome" (those are all his words, too). You see, the hair on my chin grows about 5 times faster than that on the rest of my face, so I can go for a while without getting a hideous mustache (I guess that's where the idea first occurred to Collin), but a goatée? Nah, not really for me. But now not only was I woken at a VERY ungodly hour by the unintelligible gibberish and weird, fade-in-for-two-second music of what may be among the lamest games in existence, but I also couldn't even shave because my brother thinks I need a "sweet goatée". My siblings are weird.

So I saw The Duke last night. It was pretty sweet. There were a lot of people in it this year, which was cool because I knew them all (or knew OF them, anyways; I only actually knew a few). There were some pretty awesome skits, like the Math Battle (in which Hunter summoned Pythagoras and Siebert summoned....some guy and they fought an epic battle with a right triangle and an e), the ubiquitous teacher imitations (three words: Ms. Petersen rap), and a bunch of others. But I don't think Hutchinson should have won. He was funny, sure, but Steve is only funny in a sorta-kinda really pathetic way, and I was laughing more at him--although I do concede that his singing of Enrique's "Hero" to Ms. Hahney was funny stuff. The finalists were, I believe:
--Beau Wuthrich in 3rd
--Gabe Konyves (I think; it was one of the guys that I only vaguely knew of, anyways) in second
--Steve Hutchinson as the Duke

That's not how I would've done things. Two people didn't place that should have. Here's how it SHOULD have looked:
--Geoff Manton for 3rd
--Beau Wuthrich for 2nd
--Manjeet Vinning for Duke

Now, I don't really like Manjeet; he's a nice enough guy, but he's always come off as a bit arrogant. But he was funny. I liked his stuff. Gabe? Not so funny. I didn't find his Johnny Cash impression all that great (although that could stem from having only the foggiest clue of who Johnny Cash is), and I think that might've been what got him second place, because he didn't do much else. Anyways, Steve shouldn't have won, that's pretty much all I'm trying to say here.

Intermission Show <---That's a link, by the way.

So yesterday, I get a call from Bishop's, asking if I need any help with course selection. Now, I didn't, mostly because I wasn't planning on going to Bishop's...but I mistook them for St. Thomas somehow, and started talking to him about THEIR course selection, because that's what I was doing at the time. After a while, the guy got confused about what I was talking about, and I discovered my error. I was kinda embarassed, but I think I managed to come off as sounding like I was still in the midst of deciding between universities. And I did learn that Bishop's has a very cool-sounding course in Classic Mythology, but one class isn't enough to change my mind.

Anyways, after much hecticness, I decided on my courses for my first year: English, Psych, Religion Studies (these run during both semesters), Latin for first semester, Archeology for second semester, and anoth two-semester cfourse in archeology. I was gonna take Japanese, but it conflicted with English. Oh well.

I also learned that I may HAVE to take a science course of some kind. What the hell? I thought high school was for taking classes that you don't care about, and uni is for honing your skills in a particular area. Fuck being well-rounded, I suck at science and math. Urgh. I'd rant more, but I've really gotta go eat my porrage.

As a closing note...Megatokyo is teh lame. I'm sorry, I tried reading it, and it sucked. The art is crappy, the story is meh. If I want a humour-based webcomic with sprinklings of a story, I'll go read Machall or CAD, thank you. Plus, the l33t references piss me off. "It's ok, we understand j00" my ass. Whoever thought l33t was cool should go and die, or something.

My Dad's A Dick

Tue, 16 May 2006 05:54:32 GMT

So apparently, because I stay up late, spend time playing video games, and generally try to enjoy myself each day, I "have no focus in life and will never amount to anything". And the opinion of my grandfather on my sleeping and work habits somehow matters, too.

I really hope that my dad isn't this weird and pissy when my grandparents are here, because like hell I'm changing my day-to-day routine just so that my dad can give off the impression to his father that we are super-studious, hyper-scholarly-focused kids. I'm not gonna sit in my room, pretending to study. That's bullshit.

And just because my priorities are mildly different from his, I have no sense of priority. What a dick.

E-fucking-3

Thu, 11 May 2006 07:10:38 GMT

[mood| silly]
[music|Akeboshi--Yellow Moon ]

I love this time of year. Why? Because it's E3, baby! That's right. The magical time of year when geeks both young and old are united in waiting on bated breath for the major announcements coming from what can only be described as "the greatest thing ever": a massive video game conference spanning several days, showcasing all of the new games, consoles, and other goodies.

This year is especially good, because we're on the cusp of next-generation gaming. The PS3 and Nintendo Wii (yeah...I'll get to that in a minute) are being released in the very near future, and so this was the big chance for Nintendo and Sony to show off. And Microsoft, I guess, but fuck that, nobody cares about the 360. That's old news.

Anyways.

Honestly, Sony's press conference wasn't terribly interesting. Mostly, it just involved them going on about how they're being all innovative with motion-sensor technology in their controllers, despite the fact that Nintendo had announced it for the controllers of what was then known as the Revolution months and months ago. That, and Ridge Racer. RIIIIIDGE RACER!

But then, just as it was in danger of going through an E3 with nothing interesting whatsoever to announce, Sony pulled it's ace-in-the-hole: Metal. Gear. Solid. 4.

That's right: the official 15-minute preview trailer for one of the most anticipated next-gen games was shown...and my LORD, did it kick ass. Naturally, MGS fans will appreciate it most...but I think that everybody can enjoy a trailer involving an awesome pretty-boy cyborg ninja kicking the absolute shit out of several mechs with a katana (it's at the end of trailer, for those who want to know). That was the best part, I think, but I leave it up to each of you to judge for yourselves. Just go here. You won't regret it.

Of course, Nintendo had some things to say too. Now, about their new name for the Revolution: what the hell kind of a name is "Wii"? Like, first of all, calling a console something that children use as a euphemism for both penis AND urine is more than just a little questionable, but it doesn't even MEAN anything. And it sounds stupid. "Hey, I'm here to pick up my Wii. Let's go to my house and play Wii. Let's connect our Wii's!"...well, you get the picture. Mind you, the Wii is getting press coverage that most companies can only DREAM of, and as they say, no publicity is bad publicity...and I'll probably get used to the name eventually. But still. It's a dumb name. Just wanted to put it out there.

As for the games, well, Nintendo had some good shit. Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Zelda: Twilight Princess (now for the Wii AND Gamecube), Red Steel...among others. I think I'm most excited about SSBB; Armorless Samus (with Lighstaber-Gun!), Metaknight, SOLID SNAKE(!!). Man, that game's gonna be sweet.

Bit late in doing this, really...but! It matters not! Meme time! Got this from sexytwist. Enjoy.

01) Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
02) I will respond by asking you five questions of a very intimate and creepily personal nature. (Or just whatever I feel like asking...probably based on your interests)
03) You WILL update your LJ with the answers to the questions.
04) You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the post.
05) When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

(1) What do you wanna be when you grow up?
Hmmm...tough one. Right now, my current plans are to stage a revival campaign surrounding 16th-century style pirating on the warm seas of the Caribbean; I even plan to attend University in New Brunswick (which, being a Maritime province, would provide me with ample training as a seafarer). However, there is the problem with the whole pirate thing. Apparently, it's heavily frowned upon by the vast majority of authority figures, so that's an obstacle that I must overcome before I can realize my dream of sailing the Seven Seas with my very own pirate crew on a classic wooden galleon laden with stolen treasure.

(2) Favorite Buffy Moment ever?
Oh lord...well, I really enjoyed the ending of Season 5, as well as various little moments throughout the last two seasons. But overall...I'm gonna have to go with Spike's classic line:
"What’s this? Sitting around watching the telly while there’s evil still a foot? That’s not very industrious of you. I say we go out there...and kick a little demon ass! [...] Come on! Vampires! Grrr! Nasty! Let’s annihilate them. For justice...and for...the safety of puppies...and Christmas!Let’s *fight* that evil! Let’s *kill* something!"

That's from Season 4, episode 11 ("Doomed"). Man, I love Spike.

(3) If you had a completely prepaid 7 day vacation to anywhere in the world (can be more than one place but try to account for transportation time) where would you go?
Hmmm....y'know, it would probably be New Zealand, Japan, or Australia. NZ's supposed to be beautiful, Japan is a destination that, as a horrible geek, I feel obligated to visit at least once in my life, and Australia...well. Let's just say I've heard things about Australian chicks. Plus, y'know, it's nice and sunny and stuff, with its kangaroos and koalas and kukaburras. Plus, I could go diving in a steel cage with sharks. Great White sharks.

Ok. It's definitely Australia.

(4) What is the most evil thing you've ever done?
I am not an evil person. I'm a nice guy. It's a curse. Hmmm....what have I done that was evil...well, I suppose asking out that girl at the last minute RIGHT before one of my best friends was going to counts as evil. In a kind of really, REALLY lame way.

(5) And now for the question i'm asking everyone cuz i'm a douche, what is your besssstest memory of me!
They're all LJ memories, sadly. Have you ever posted while drunk? Because I bet that'd make for a good memory. Or, when you sent me that Bleach postcard. That was pretty rad.

In other news, I was recently accepted into a couple of universities (pending final GPA, naturally): St. Thomas and Bishops. Both are a billion miles away, on the other side of Canada, in New Brunswick and Quebec respectively. I have accepted St. Thomas' offer, so...I guess I'll be gone, come September. More on this later.

Anyways. It is late, and I must retire. So long, and good night.

Up Now and Get 'em, Boy

Sun, 26 Mar 2006 20:47:54 GMT

[mood| aggravated]

I hate parking.

That is all.

Tue, 21 Mar 2006 00:27:07 GMT

I totally owned the English provincial. Fucking right, 93%!

History kicked my ass, though. 68%.

What the shit?

Mon, 06 Mar 2006 06:55:56 GMT

[mood| pissed off]

I am so incredibly tired of King Kong getting the proverbial shaft by these stupid awards-people. Y'know, I thought maybe --just MAYBE--this revered "Academy" would bestow upon Peter Jackson's latest foray into filmmaking what it was denied by the Golden Globes, but no such luck; King Kong wasn't even NOMINATED for an award that wasn't technical in nature.

I know, eh? "What the hell is up with that?" Well, apparently movies about crashes and different lifestyle-practicing cowboys are more worthy of these prestigious awards than one director's epic revisioning of a true Hollywood tale of love, tragedy, and bravery. Now, it's not that I don't respect what the afore-mentioned films did; quite the contrary, really. I just don't understand why they were so much more worthy in the Academy's eyes than Kong was. You want Acting? Just looks at fucking Naomi Watts in Kong, if you aren't willing to consider the very human and lifelike portrayal of the title character under that award; she played her character beautifully and with seemingly real emotion throughout. You want Writing? Kong's script is one of the most solid that I have ever seen in a film, successfully interweaving excellently choreographed action sequences alongside wonderfully scripted scenes of character development. It made me care about every single character, from the ship's cabin boy to the Big Guy himself. Yes, it was a bit lengthy, but I never noticed that. Not once. How 'bout Directing? Peter Jackson proved yet again that he is pretty much the next George Lucas...only better (not saying much now, I know, but Lucas was a damn fine director in his day). Hell, I thought Kong was BETTER than RotK (and, indeed, the entire LotR trilogy) in many aspects, and we all know how that movie utterly raped the awards show of two years past.

So why, then? Several of you may not have seen Kong, and so you may be wondering, "Well, if it was so great, then why didn't it win?" Well, after discussing this with many of my esteemed colleagues, I have come to the following conclusion:

Simply put, Kong was a remake of a monster movie.

Nobody takes monster movies seriously, because people are morons. Critical reviews rarely laude over the latest Godzilla film (for example), no matter how deserving it may be; while Kong's reviews were decent, giving it awards in areas traditionally reserved for the more "serious" of films was clearly a step too far. In addition, remakes are almost never considered for awards, because they aren't "original". This, however, doesn't hold up. Remakes aren't any less original than movies based off books, or movies based off plays, or anything of that nature...and those types of movies get awards all the time. So what's your excuse here, eh? You're not gonna get away with saying that Kong wasn't nominated due its status as a remake; that's not good enough. Nice try, dipshits.

Now, it may also be considered that there are some darker politics happening behind the scenes here. The highest scholars at this so-called Academy may have a rigged system in place, or at least partially rigged. What do I mean? I mean simply that Jackson's past victories may have denied him a spot this time. Maybe these guys don't like directors winning too many times in a row. Maybe they felt that they had fellatioed Jackson enough for RotK, and felt that two films in a row was too much. That's bullshit, if it was indeed what went down. Should Jackson be punished for making a movie worthy of 11 Awards? Does the Academy regret having given him those, and were thus eager not to make the same "mistake" this time around? I can't imagine why they would, but it's always a possibility.

Regardless, King Kong deserved to be nominated for, if not win, some of these awards. And next time you're talking to your friends about the outcome of 2005's many film award shows, just remember this: King Kong deserved a piece of that too. It's just as good as Brokeback Mountain, or Crash, or whatever the hell else won instead.

And remember that the people at the Academy are dicks for denying it that. Amen.

TEXANS RULEZ0R5!!!!!!111!!

Thu, 02 Mar 2006 04:07:36 GMT

[mood| Like Something Should Die]
[music| Iron Maiden-- Two Minutes to Midnight]

Man, this must be a milestone in the history of television. Seriously. Two of the best shows ever created are on right now, and it's all thanks to my lovely little sister that I get to watch them at all. I mean, c'mon, you can't beat the hip 'n happenin' grooves of Raven, or the hilarious Texan antics of Reba.

Now, I could go on all night about the wonderfully stereotype-free given to us by [i]That's So Raven[/i] concerning our African-American brethren, but I've already sung its praises in this lovely little gem of an entry, so I'm gonna tell you about Reba.

Man, what's NOT to love? Fuck Friends, fuck Seinfeld, and fuck all of those other sitcoms that aren't even worth mentioning here, because nothing is more amusing than a mid-life-crisis-experiencing anorexic single mother with a deep Southern drawl and hair very obviously dyed a very fake red going through the wacky everyday trials and tribulations faced by her and her family. Plus, Reba is a comedic genius. Check out this; it's pure gold. Not even Kelly could come up with this stuff:

"Your hair came outta the bahttle, and mahne is all-natural!"
"Hey lovebirds! Get a cage!"
"It's mah hair! The only thing different is that you're undaneath it!"

See? I know! It's hilarious! And just to make sure that we know what quality funnies those are, the show even gives a laughtrack! I love laughtracks, because they aren't obnoxious at all and are only played at the funniest parts. This show is so side-splitting that I wouldn't have been able to choose those quotes if the laughtrack hadn't told me that they were the funniest.

...Ok. I have to stop. I'm sorry, I can't keep complimenting this show, even in blatant sarcasm. Is it crap hour on TV or something? Old single women raising kids thorugh all the extra trials and tribulations brought on by their "unique" standing in life wasn't hip or original the first time, mucb less all the other times after that. Plus, the title character has this forced Southern drawl. Is this Reba's gimmick? Is Reba being Texan supposed to be what's unique about this show? Because if it is, then we REALLY need a new President of TV, or whoever's in charge of accepting this crap. It's like they smeared the camera lens with...well, crap (TEXAN crap), and then presented it as a pilot. And then that's how they filmed every episode.

Man, I can't even RANT properly tonight. I blame whatever network is showing Reba. They're now at a Family Channel-level in my mind, a feat that is truly incredible. No network before this has reached that particular low until now, and all it took was ONE show.

Now my sister's watching Full House. Is it justifiable homicide if you kill somebody after being submitted to this tripe for two hours straight? Some of you must be law students, so please, tell me. Right now, I could really use that information.

Some Artwork

Thu, 23 Feb 2006 07:34:23 GMT

[mood| thirsty]
[music|Blue Oyster Cult-- Godzilla ]

I finally got around to scanning a bunch of pictures that I drew. Most are of Angels, but there's one of Hayate (Ninpocho Chronicles character), too. I'll probably eventually upload some more. Keep in mind that these, for some reason, look MUCH better if you see them in person; many scanned pictures seem to be that way, seemingly purely to spite me.

Michael-- Possibly the best drawing of Michael that I have ever done, this picture reflects the pose of a (completely different) Michael done by Devianart's Wen-M. The sword design is also hers (his? I dunno). It was a bitch drawing Michael in side view; for some reason, his facial proportions are very difficult to get right (just like Lucifers'. There exists only one good picture of my Lucifer). And, for the record, that is fire at the base there.

Gabriel-- Ah yes, good ol' Gabriel. You have no idea how long it took me to get his character design down. The overall proportions of Gabriel may be a bit out of whack in this picture (specifically, his arm length), and that stems from the fact that I drew the sword first and went from there. Once again, the sword is a Wen-M design, from her Uriel picture. Neat little sidenote: the NERV mantra "God's in his Heaven, all's right with the world" is written repeatedly along the edges of Gabriel's sash-hangy-downy-thingy. It sounded cool, so I used it. It's creative homage, not plagiarism. Shut up.

Raphael-- Another Angel that proved to be a design issue, this particular Raphael is distinctly different from others that I have drawn, even though his basic character design has never changed. I really like how his wings turned out (if my retarded scanner managed to have them show up at all; I drew them pretty light). And yeah, the sword's handle design is totally impractical. I sorta bullshat my way through that one. Apparently, there are a lot of lead smudges on this drawing...

Uriel-- No matter how good I think this drawing looks in reality, it always ends up looking like ass when scanned. Always. Anyways, this is a picture that I'm particularly proud of, with the possible exception of the wings, but especially of the boobs. I'm serious, here; they turned out really well, considering that I never draw females ever. Uriel is meant to look a bit tomboy-ish; that was the point of her design, although I'm still not sure why. It just seemed to fit (like the cigarette. I still haven't worked out what I'll have her doing during scenes that take place before smoking was invented). Interestingly, my good chum Kelly recently pointed out that Uriel and Raphael's clothing looks "stupid", and that this sensation is only enhanced by the giant wings protruding from their very humanly-clothed backs. I told him to fuck off, as I recall. Out of love.

Handy in the Kitchen (Beelzebub)-- The only drawing in this collection that I am perfectly and 100% proud of (well, maybe not of the Scanned Edition). This whole thing is based off a scene from a drabble that I wrote in Writing class last semester, in which Beelzebub is baking. In the drabble, it was Angel's Food Cake, but I didn't know how to draw him doing that, so I gave him a frying pan with bacon (or something) in it and a large book entitled "1001 Delic' Recipes". The apron is pink, by the way, and says "Hell's Chef" on the front there.

Hayate Being All Emo-Like--The most recent picture here, this is a doodle that I hadworked on over a period of two days of Lit. class. It's Hayate, my character from the AU-Naruto forum-based roleplay Ninpocho Chronicles. Actually, this is his design from an on-hiatus NC doujinshi. I need to learn how to properly draw the upper male body. The right side of his kimono was a *bitch* to draw properly; on the other hand, his face turned out perfectly right away, which in my experience happens once every never.

I recently discovered that Blue Oyster Cult has a song dedicated totally to Godzilla. It's a rockin' song with some pretty sweet guitar riffs.

Woah! Update! Yeah! Whoo! Metallica!

Tue, 21 Feb 2006 07:24:09 GMT

[mood| bored]
[music|Berlin Philharmonica Orchestra/The Scorpions-- Rock You Like A Hurricane (Orchestrated ver.) ]

Man, it's been about a billion years since I last updated. I do this a lot, don't I? Anyways, no point in beating around the bush; follow the cuts to read the stuff that I talk about!

So I'm now just over a full week in the second semester of 12th grade, and...well, "hate" is such a strong word. Let's just say that I am severely disliking it thus far. Want an overview? Too bad, you're all getting one:

E Block: Spare-- Best part of the semester. I have it with such cool people as Jon, Jess, Mr. Hazzard, and...other people. I usually spend it in the library (because I'm that cool) not doing homework (because that would be using it for what it's meant for). Unfortunately, I can't sleep in on Mondays simply because I hate taking the bus to school, and thus require an 8 AM ride from my parents. Whatever. It's free. And I'm now no longer lying to the librarian when I tell him that my spare is in this block (I actually went through all last semester with him convinced that B Block was my spare, when really I had cooking class then. Ironically, because of Benley's methods of home phone calls, I couldn't ever skip that class). I usually hang out with Jess and Jon; Jess doesn't say much, because she's usually doing biology, and we've all sorta learned not to bug her when she's doing biology. I usually just talk about superheros with Jon.

F Block: Comparative Civilizations-- I'm still undecided about this class. Clauson is...interesting. I like him, but I'm not sure I like the whole notes deal, especially when it comes to movies. I could see movie notes as being a potential problem as the semester moves on. This class has Kelly and Kineu in it, which is always a good combination.

G Block: Math (11, Principles)-- No, I didn't fail. If I had known that Principles is required for University, and that taking it would technically free me from any sort of mathematics-related course this year, then I wouldn't have taken Apps. But I did, so I'm stuck in this class. See, I just don't get math, and it makes me angry, and I really need to start doing the homework assigned by Siebert, but I can do that later.

Math 11 makes me feel stupid, because the stupidity level of a stupid question is multiplied by something between 5 and 2 million when you're in a lower-grade class. Best part is, Siebert announced today that the progress of the 12th-graders in the course will be monitered by the whole class. Why? God only knows, but it's still lame.

H Block: Lit AP-- This course WILL be the death of me. I saw the content. I saw what the exam requires. I can NOT write 3 essays in 2 hours; it takes me that long to write just ONE. And memorizing lines and stuff from literature? Yeah, not my forté.

But, I digress. It seems interesting enough; Beowulf is pretty cool. I like the names. Good ol' Grendel, and his E! True Hollywood Story segment. Plus, I can't wait to get to Paradise Lost, so I can paraphrase it (I want to do that desperately, for some reason, and for some other reason I feel the need to cover it in class before doing so). This class has by far the best people: Geoff, Beau, Kelly, Jon, and many others. Rock on.

So yeah. Randomly, our school library acquired a copy of Ultimate Spiderman vol. 1, which I took out approx. 0.00005673421 seconds after seeing. It's really good (by which I mean that it kicks at least 5 different kinds of ass), and does an excellent job of revamping and retelling the classic origin tale. Plus, the artwork is really good, which is always nice, and Mary Jane is actually a character in this. I mean, it's not like she could have possibly gotten any worse, but now I actually like her. She's geeky, has been Parker's best friend since childhood, doesn't date lame jocks, and is (in summary) not a vapid blonde that just happens to have been born with red hair. And Uncle Ben? Yeah, he's cool. He has a ponytail and everything.

Vol. 1 is essentially a massive retelling of the whole origin tale, in a pretty cool way (except the randomly changed the identity of Ben's killer from his movie version to some random guy that was robbing a convenience store when Peter was in too bad a mood to help out...it seemed unnecessary, really). The best part is, I got my brother to buy the some massive hardcover anthology that includes volumes 1 through 6 (AND VOLUME 6 IS ALL ABOUT VENOM!), so that's cool too.

Recently, I've been drooling over a bunch of display figures made by Megahouse Japan. They're very, VERY nice (just look at the gallery here), and there's even a Bleach line, but the trouble is that they're a) very expensive and b) very hard to find. I managed to grab the Ichigo figure off Ebay from a very highly-recommended US seller; I'm pretty sure it's not bootlegged, because...I dunno, just because. I hope it isn't, anyways. The bootlegs are of noticeably lower quality, which I learned when I got ahold of the Renji figure and Orihime figure. I got Tyson to grab them for me when him and Jess were up at Crystal on Sunday (I was at work. Fucking Safeway). They were $60 for the set, which is pretty good, all things considered. I soon learned that they were bootlegged, a fact evidenced by several things, including:
--Sharper mold lines
--Renji's chest depression that makes it look like either half his (nonexistant spiritual) ribcage collapsed or he got one implant (It's actually not THAT bad, to be honest, but it's noticeable)
--VERY poorly aligned foot holes and stand pegs. I had to totally rearrange Renji's to get him to stand up, and the pegs for 'Hime won't go all the way into her feet. I cracked her stand trying to get them in. Apparently, little Chinese children forced to work for wages that make it practically slave labour don't know how to drill holes in feet. Morons.
--The all of 2 minutes that Zabimaru (Renji's sword) spent in one piece. The blade snapped off the hilt when I tried to put it in Renji's hand, and now I have to find some way to glue VERY small pieces together.

I'd ask Tyson about the sword thing, as he's Mr. Model Man, but I'm afraid that he'd kill me in some horrible way (he's been using the term crucifixion with alarming frequency as of late) for breaking my figures so soon after opening them. All I gotta say is that Ichigo had better the hell be official, for the price that I payed.

But anyways. They're really nice figures, and I kick ass just for owning them. Now I only need to get Rukia, and I'll have the full set (until the Matsumoto and Yoruichi ones come out next month). Man, I'm really resenting having to save all this money for Europe. England and France had better be worth $2500 of my hard-earned dollars.

Speaking of hard-earned dollars, what about work, that thing that literally eats away at my weekend and soul until only a pathetic, weeping husk of a man is left standing? Well, it's going good, or as good as work can be. My managers occasionally annoy me; Bill has the tendency to ask anyone who hasn't worked 8 hours to stay later, Eric (big black Eric) was a moron a few weeks ago (he forgot that I requested a shift off for exam studying, and I was called in during a study session. I told them that I requested the shift off, Eric was called, and told the guy in that day that he hadn't heard any such thing and that if I didn't come, I might as well not come back at all. Ouch.), and I hate whoever was in the dairy on Sunday morning with a bloody, BLOODY passion. Seriously. The place was a mess. I mean, I eventually got over it due to the fact that working dairy all evening was infinitely more desirable to working pop or anything else, but still. People suck. Add to that the fact that ALL THE PRODUCT TAGS that identify where exactly each dairy product goes were removed on the cooler side (resulting in me having to refill everything from the store side), and it was pretty shit-tastic. Plus, my nametag broke. And my boxcutter is dull. And I'm hungry, and tired, and my head hurts, and I hate my life (I actually don't, for the record). OH! And I spilled a full thing of shit-smelling tropical juice all over the left side of my body, because some moron didn't chuck it after it had cracked open. It got in my hair and everything.

I do love my job. Seriously. It just needs to die.

As many of you may or may not know, I have been watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. If I had updated at all in the past almost-2-months since my last entry, you probably would have heard me raving about it; it's pretty much the greatest thing that I've seen on TV. Too bad I missed its 7-year run by, like, 3 years.

I'm on Season 7 now, 3 episodes from the end. I have never seen a show so consistantly good. I'm not even kidding, here; it didn't even START to degrade in quality until Season 7, and I expected it to start around Season 3 or 4 at latest (maybe I'm just too used to more recent TV shows, like ~~The OC~~ the last show that I watched on DVD that shall remain nameless that got crappy after 1 season). Maybe it's just Whedon, but Buffy is quite literally the perfect blend of horror/occult, action, soap opera-esque antics, and humour. Plus, the characters rock. Especially Spike. He's pretty much the greatest character ever, from anything; he even gives KENPACHI a run for his money. He needs his own movie, for serious.

Aside from Spike, I also like Giles, Xander, Anya, and Clem. Buffy is ok, I guess, but she can be a bitch, and is kinda bland. Dawn is just plain whiny, Willow is cool but loses my vote because Willow/Xander is STILL my OTP, and Tara is...blah. Giles is awesome because he's British and does hot black chicks, Xander is a fellow geek ALL THE WAY TO SEASON 7, Anya is just funny, and Clem gambles with kittens. And totally throws up the horns:

Like that.

I was told that I would love The Trio...and yeah, they were cool, but only when they were being geeky (y'know what's awesome? I totally knew the whole story behind that Boba Fett figure that Spike threatened to decapitate. I rule). Then they tried to be evil, and were lame. But then Andrew joined the main cast, and that was cool, because all he did was make stupid comments, which is ALWAYS the staple of a good character. The geek comments peak in this celebrated conversation:

Lame Potential: I don't care if it's Godzilla. I want to get this thing.
Andrew: Godzilla's mostly Tokyo-based, so he's probably a no-show.
Lame Potential: Besides, if Matthew Broderick can kill Godzilla, how tough is he?
Andrew: (whines) Xandeeeeerrrrr! (crosses his arms petulantly)
Xander: (sighs) Matthew Broderick did not kill Godzilla. He killed a big, dumb lizard. That was not the real Godzilla.

Andrew also thought that a Volcanologist was a man who studies Vulcans. And envisioned Faith fighting Spock to the death. That's just...oh man, it's beyond awesome. But yeah, watch Buffy, all of you who haven't. It kicks ass (and it has a MUSICAL, too. A MUSICAL episode. You just can't beat that).

I think that's it for the cuts. Make sure you read them all, people, because God only knows when I'll update next, and I know you all want to be as up-to-date as physically possible on my life.

So, is there anything else? A few things:
--Got a lovely new case for my kickass video iPod
--Had some author lady read over Good Hunting (short story I wrote). She didn't find anything wrong at all with the first page, and even praised it. I see that as a good thing. I'd totally enter it in the EMS writing contest, if it weren't 4400 words long.
--Got ahold of the first Star Wars Expanded Universe novel ever written (Splinter of the Mind's Eye)
--Pretty much beat Dragon Quest VIII
--Harsh-owned some 10th grade girl while marking some literary terms glossary that she wrote (this is what we did in writing during the dying days of the semester). I may have been a bit TOO harsh, but man was it funny (such classic comments as, "NO. WRONG." and "Nice bloody spelling. It's 'Deus Ex Machina'--it's Latin. Learn it."). Only problem was, the person took everything out of context, and it made her cry instead of laugh, so I had to write an apology letter. I should have scanned the actual thing, it was totally awesome.

I think that's it. As a final sidenote...y'know what's funny? I had everything in this entry written as notes on my hand, in really short point-form. Even when it wasn't faded by showers and hand-washing, it was pretty much decipherable by me alone. Pretty rockin', eh?