the friedorange years

Everwood! Haha! Let's start this post with the title of that cool show. Here we go again:

Everwood!

Ok, composition is going ok now. It's probably going to be boring to play for a lot of people but I've done a lot of it already so I'm not gonna just throw it away now.

Ok, new cool folk artist discovery of the day: Deb Talan

One of her songs was at the end of an Everwood episode (Forgiven, which you can download from the above site). Her voice is a pretty raw and rough in this song and could do with some polishing up but it's really quite a nice song with some simple lyrics. I'm the kind of music listener who attaches significant visuals to each song/piece I hear. So I generally like television show soundtracks. If there are dramatic beats I can attach to songs or verses/choruses, that aural-visual connection performs the function of a 'hook'. The same applies for songs as time capsules to particular memories, but I guess that's an experience that's quite universal.

Ok, let's say ok at the beginning of almost every sentence.

Ok, bye. Night, take care.

NOTE: I do not watch Dawson's Creek. Or 7th Heaven. Those are two 'family' shows I don't really like. And for the love of great television, I also do not watch One Tree Hill. *chokes*

Hey, funny movie. It has some very subtle and original humour and was mostly very enjoyable, but it happens to be my least favourite Wes Anderson film. I still like it, even though there wasn't a lot of focus and a lot of things were random. Like Zissou taking down the over fifteen Japanese Pirates with a handgun when they had machine guns and he was wearing speedos and a bathrobe.

Everwood season four episode two - what! It is good. Ok, very tired, should probably sleep. Ephram was a hard out jazz pianist in season two (in the one I saw on Sunday) but now he's like screwed up his 'gift' by going backpacking in Europe. Apparently he could've gotten into Julliard or something. Screwed up relationship with his dad. Hmm. Really universal and sad but quite beautiful at the same time. New beginnings, grow. Nice music too.

It would be lovely to create and executive produce a television show. It's one of those things that I'd want to do some day. But first I want to build a Rubik's cube house.

Arrr crap this is lame. It sounds terrible and it's not even 1/3 done. Whaaat.

Everwood is so cool. I'm simultaneously watching Season 2 and 4. I mean I don't actually watch them at the same time, I'm following the two parallel time universes at the same time. Right.

$0.77 left on phone. How did Keisha Castle-Hughes get a nomination for Whale Rider and Evan Rachel Wood not get one for Thirteen?

Ok, back to work. I better try connect these dots. My composition is like really short with too many themes. Like Bob's Bean Pod? Maybe.

:o/

It's not that I try to have too many themes, it's that they just... link like little chains and it goes on and on. Ok. Bye.

Met up with Ronnie today at a Korean BBQ for a good lunch. It was supposed to be an old fashioned group get together with the gang (Sam, Fung, Nixon, Ronnie and Me) but a few of them were overseas.

Saw I Heart Huckabees and Thirteen today. Both good movies in very different ways. I Heart Huckabees is beautifully directed and the dialogue is very well written. The ending fell very neatly into place in an almost 'connect the dots' way, but it's definitely worth a look.

Thirteen is coming of age film, and I typically like movies which deal with the coming of age theme because a) It's my auteur theme and b) they're usually pretty good. I can't say this film is very original, however it is sharply directed and exceptionally well acted. However, I do have a few nitpicks though. One is that the characters were sort of constructed so that their dynamics made them incapable of making anything better. By that I mean they kept going down a spiral and they couldn't stop because none of them had that strength as characters to take a stand. Now, I'm fine with downward spirals, and I think that's what happens in this film - it's a Disillusionment Plot, but the development is really quite sad. The only point is in the end when the mother character (played by Holly Hunter) decides not to leave her daughter Tracy (Evan Rachel Wood) alone while she is having a breakdown, which is a good decision and sort of 'seals the deal'. But the film doesn't really show the mother's transition from someone who can't deal with problems to someone who can. Her character is still passive - she picks up the pieces in the aftermath of some bad deed some other person has done, she didn't actively create this situation to help her daughter - it fell upon her and she is now dealing with it in the right way. So I was still waiting for that active female character to really change dramatically through the course of the film, and it didn't happen. But the ending is very nice though, especially the last surreal sequence. Nicely shot and lighted.

Desperate Housewives eh? Mmm, it was ok, I expected more craziness. And less evilness on the part of the characters. Also I sort of hoped Zach wouldn't be moulded into this 'brooding bad kid who has big problems', but they've made him into that so, that's a downer for me. Maybe I should stick to Everwood.

EDIT: Breaking news there is going to be a KNIGHT RIDER movie. I know, wtf. WTF.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0384254/

I was never a fan of the show when it was on but this is amazing. Making a movie of this thing? Wow.

:o/

What the. I was sifting (yeah I was peeling layers from the TV screen and throwing them around) channels this afternoon and stumbled upon this show, and I couldn't stop watching it. I wanted to turn the TV off but I just ended up seeing the entire episode. This show's actually pretty good. I mean, I don't really know if it's good but maybe I just have a soft spot for family shows, like The O.C. (technically not a family show), Gilmore Girls, and... Everwood? Really? I don't know. Now I'm slightly peeved that I saw only one episode from season two today, meaning I missed the entire first season and there is no way to see the first season. On top of that, this is one of those 'not so popular shows' that airs on a Sunday. Which means once a week. Which means I will have to wait ages until I know what happens next time. On top of that they are up to season four in the US. Gar. Yes, I did actually type "Everwood" into Google and check the official site for episode summaries. What is happening I don't understand anything anymore.

Wait... didn't Henry see this show some time? Listen to how weird this is. Cos when I was watching it there was this guy called Ephram (yes I said 'wtf?' too). And I knew I'd seen that name somewhere before but I couldn't remember where. For some reason I kept getting this weird image of Henry saying 'Ephram' over and over in a robotic voice. LIke in horror movies when a person's possessed and they just keep repeating the word, so I was like, "Huh?" so I checked his blog archives and sure enough in September of this year:

" ...I kept watching TV and stumbled upon this show called Everwood. I dunno. I couldn't stop watching dunno why -_- (probably cause I'm really lazy) but.."

!

Right. Maybe this is the Everwood effect. Spooked. Maybe Everwood subliminally spiked my brain two months ago and now the effects are kicking in. I guess the show isn't actually good, I'm just led to believe that it is. But regardless, I shall watch next week's episode.

:o|

Ok, first movie that I've seen in maybe an entire week. Have been trying to start my first chamber composition, finding it hard and challenging and difficult. But enjoying it to some degree. I've actually started it now, so that's good.

Best In Show is pretty good. It's not so much 'mock' as it is 'doc', but it's still got some good characters. Waiting For Guffman is better though.

I am quite scared because about 70% of my composition right now is pizzacato for all the parts. I hope people in Academy like pizz-ing. Cos it sounds cool in Sibelius.

That's it. Night.

Yeeha! I was having so much trouble finding Asian melodies I liked. Then I remembered those old songbooks my Mum has. She'd play the piano and we'd sing the songs. Yeeeha! All the memories are rushing back. Now I have three kick ass themes I like.

But seriously, I was just listening to Ajita's one, and what the hell, composing is hard. Right, stupid statement. But. Composing is hard. People majoring in composition, I respect you guys so much, cos, dude this is hard. Henry, William, etc. *nods*

Composing is like... writing a script... or like... directing a movie (not really). But it really flexes your creative muscles. Which is why at the end of today I still have a blank manuscript in Sibelius. What the. Six days left and nothin'. Ahhh who cares, I'm learning heaps about this software anyway. And as for instrumentation and arrangement, I think this piece will be crappily arranged. I just hope I don't give the violas too many rests. And what do I do with the double bass? Ehh, hmm. I can't write something essential cos YJ might not be a member. But if I write nothing he'll just play the cello part. Hmm.

-------

It's been exactly one month of Home Alone. So from now on I won't be putting 'Home Alone Day Whatever' in my post titles, because it makes the titles quite long. Basically, until further notice, I'm home alone. Roffle.

Time to go to bed. I have $4.33 in my account right now, if I'm not mistaken. But I do have a Shubb capo and I have some leftover KFC in the fridge. Plus I have tangelos, lemons, celery, onions, noodles, frozen postickers and dumplings in the freezer, paninis and and and... yoghurt. So I should survive for a little while.

Good night, take care.

So Steve told me Film Studies results were out.

Class Number

Subject

Catalog Number

Section

Grade Official

Grade Basis

Pre-2006 Points

Points Taken

31502

FTVMS

101

0001

A-

Graded

2

17.14

Film Studies

Lecture

Regular Academic Session

So my results for my seven papers this year (yes I only did seven): B+, B+, A-, A-, A, A, A.

Which I suppose makes my GPA for the year 7.143. From mark percentage I'd be on 80.7 (GPA fractions 79.3, but I prefer to look at the former). All these numbers are making me dizzy. No wonder I do not take MATHS 108. Or STATS 108. Or whatever 108. *brain explodes*

How funny that the two B+'s are both in Philosophy. Which means I shall not do it as my minor. Ever. Ever. Damn philosophers, I shall leave this faculty. But maybe I'll do one more paper, like that cool 'History of Aesthetics' one. Um.

A-'s are for both of my Film/Media core papers. Hmm.

A's are for all the electives papers I've taken, such as that English one and that pop music one I did last semester. I guess that proves the age old geezer talk (triple pun?) that you do better in what you're interested in.

'Outies'. 'Bo'. 'Homie'. Right.

Went onto nDeva this morning and I find two new results:

Class Number

Subject

Catalog Number

Section

Grade Official

Grade Basis

Pre-2006 Points

Points Taken

31198

ENGLISH

109

0001

A

Graded

2

17.14

Drama on Stage and Screen

Lecture

Regular Academic Session

37260

PHIL

212

0001

B+

Graded

2

17.14

Philosophy of the Arts

Lecture

Regular Academic Session

OFMGR what the hell how did I get a B+ for PHIL 212? I remember totally bombing the coursework with a borderline B-/C+ and leaving the exam 40 mins early cos I had nothing left to write. WHAT THE this is great. I love plussage. But how. It was so hard. This was like, the ultra freaky stage II paper, I remember how my coursework essay got totally shredded by the tutor. Ok, yay.

A for Drama. Ok I am happy with that.

And... Film Studies isn't out yet.

:o)

Yes, I shall now list all my favourite moments/things from the film. Now, if you have not seen it yet, HERE IS A SPOILER WARNING IN CAPITALS. There. But actually, nothing beats seeing these moments on screen, so even if you read this the film's still going to be very enjoyable.

- Hermione breaks the 4th wall. So I bet Newell reads Brecht. Harry Potter and the Dialectical Theatre. Very funny moment.
- Fred and George in every scene they are in, but in particular the goblet scene.
- McGonagall-Ron dancing scene.
- Beauxbaton + other whatshisface school entires into the great hall. Everyone's clapping and cheering except Hermione and Ginny who are both mighty pissed off. The red fire school Durm-something had a cool Haka thing. Not a Haka but a challenge thing with fire-breathers and stuff.
- The Yule Ball, the male Weird Sisters (what kind of music is that?), the mosh pit and the very John Hughes-ian drama that ensues between Ron and Hermione.
- The Snape classroom scene, with Fred asking out Angelina, Ron doing a model 'crap ask-out' and Snape being charismatic and evil as usual.
- The dodgy teen jokes here and there. They felt very out of place and inappropriate, but that's the kind of stuff fourteen year olds are into, and they are fourteen years old in the movie so it makes perfect sense.
- Rita Skeeter's small scene in the film. Not much screen time but great presence.
- Ralph Fiennes having no nose. That is a world first, a man who is known for his beautifully prominent nose and three dimensional face has no nose thanks to the wonders of make up and visual effects. This is the anti-Virginia-Woolf-Kidman.
- Extra cool moment Number 1: When Harry walks into the tent and says, "I love magic!" Actually, the next scene in the tent is also quite good. Ron says, "He [Viktor Krum] is an artist... *drools*" Right.

I haven't listed everything in the film, but I could, really. The fact of the matter is every scene is enjoyable and a pleasure to watch. The only thing I'll say again is that the music doesn't stand out, it's really the most 'average' part of the film. There are no new recognisable themes that are there as 'trademarks' for pivotal moments in the film. However they do their job well and support the drama in a solid fashion so I'll just stop talking about the music now.

-------

Now I've been listening to Chinese folk songs all night and trying to find one I like when I stumbled upon this 'Asian' arrangement of that popular nursery rhyme from somewhere (is it Clementine? I forgot the name):

http://www2.ups.edu/faculty/perry/chinesesongs/audio/new_year.mp3

Listen AT YOUR OWN CAUTION. Is this not the most disgusting piece of shit you have heard? Because I don't think it qualifies as fit for ears. But I just thought you guys would've liked to hear this. *shivers* Freaky voices. The woman (could it be a man? omg) speaking at the beginning is a witch. It's like her and all the kids singing in the song were brainwashed and on some freakish morphine or something. I am going to have nightmares.

And this pitiful and lame attempt at trying to arrange an Asian version of 'Old MacDonald'.

http://www2.ups.edu/faculty/perry/chinesesongs/audio/old_mr_wang.mp3

Truly beautiful lyrics. I'll translate them for you. Somehow they missed cows:

*quacky intro*

PART ONE:

Old Mr Wang Has A Piece of Land, i-a-i-a-o.
He breeds small chicken by the plains, i-a-i-a-o.

Chicken chicken chicken.
Chicken chicken chicken.
Chicken chicken chicken chicken chicken chicken chicken chicken chicken chicken.

Old Mr Wang Has A Piece of Land, i-a-i-a-o.

PART TWO:

Old Mr Wang Has A Piece of Land, i-a-i-a-o.
He breeds small ducks by the plains, i-a-i-a-o.

Quack quack quack.
Quack quack quack.
Quack quack quack quack quack quack quack quack quack quack.

Old Mr Wang Has A Piece of Land, i-a-i-a-o.

PART THREE:

Old Mr Wang Has A Piece of Land, i-a-i-a-o.
He breeds small sheep by the plains, i-a-i-a-o.

Mei mei mei.
Mei mei mei.
Mei mei mei mei mei mei mei mei mei mei.

Old Mr Wang Has A Piece of Land, i-a-i-a-o.

PART FOUR:

Old Mr Wang Has A Piece of Land, i-a-i-a-o.
He breeds small piglets by the plains, i-a-i-a-o.

Ong ong ong.
Ong ong ong.
Ong ong ong ong ong ong ong ong ong ong.

Old Mr Wang Has A Piece of Land, i-a-i-a-o.

-------

:o/

What a nice way to start the day. Goblet of Fire. One of the most enjoyable movies I have seen at the theatres in a long while.

If anyone is seeing this soon do give me a call because I am willing to see it again, now.

Ok, review time.

A lot of things cut from the book, but it had to be done. This was very well written in terms of the structure and the pacing was spot on. The first Harry Potter movie that did not feel tiring to watch (the third one was also quite good, but the first two were very episodic).

What is really courageous about this movie is the fact that they've chosen some very clear 'crowd pleaser' scenes to cut out. For example, they didn't show the actual match for the Quidditch world cup finals. They also didn't show the other three champions competing, which they could have. So that's really cool.

Now with Steve Kloves, I applaud him for most of the writing in this film. A small thing would be to edit the dialogue a bit, especially in the scenes involving teenagers. This film shows that these kids (I can't really call them kids now can I? Since Rupert Grint is almost the same age as me) can act. Now, there were some bits that felt a bit screwed up and almost-cringe-worthy, but seriously I don't think anyone should complain because they are making such great progress as actors/actresses. With the dialogue a bit tighter and perhaps some improv work they will be great. But one thing:

Emma Watson uses her eyebrows a lot. I swear every time her face is on the screen I'm staring at her eyebrows as they react to every word she says. Nothing to top Peter Gallagher's.

Side characters such as Fred, George and Neville are given space as characters and there is a more naturalistic sense of humour in this film. The way it is shot is also far more organic. There are less sweeping shots and more shots that complete their function in the most natural way and far less gimmicks. I love the sunrise shot at the beginning of the film, how it's handheld and wobbly and there's lens flare, but at the same time the light is beautiful. Harry Potter and Co. are no longer on the screen, they're your friends.

Music-wise, I must say this film was unspectacular. The arrangement of the famous Harry Potter theme at the opening titles didn't do it for me - it felt very sleezy. But after that the music performed its function really well.

The great thing about this film is that non of its parts got carried away. Everything contributed to making it a more complete and balanced film. It's like, there's no I in team. While there is an I in editing, cinematography, directing, acting and music, Goblet of Fire shows these elements can really work well together.

Mike Newell, I salute you. I loved that bit in Four Weddings and a Funeral when Hugh Grant gets punched (or was it slapped?). I remember rewinding that bit again and again just to see his expression. Now that's good directing.

There's this article in the Times or the Courier that talks about how police are talking to local shops about not selling their spray paint cans to people who look like they may be taggers. I am totally against this. Firstly, who is the PERSON AT THE COUNTER to judge? Some people might think I'm just being difficult, but I don't think I am. I'm being realistic. There are going to be teens who major in art who want to do murals on totaly legitimate walls who will walk in and ask for spray paint and be denied. So what they're saying is, deny the STEREOTYPICAL-TAGGER from buying spray paint at the counter, even if someone who looks like a STEREOTYPICAL-TAGGER is not actually a tagger.

Also, doing this stops nothing. All one has to do is ask a friend to buy the paint for them. If I was a tagger I could just ask a buddy who looked quote unquote 'sensible' to go in and buy the paint for me. I could ask my mum to get me a bottle, if she trust me. Also, there are always going to be underground sources for buying spray paint. Also, there are paint shops online that let you order and they ship to your address. So having this idiot judgemental blocking at the shops is not approaching the root of the problem.

Now I bet someone reading this is gonna say, "Ok stop complaining, shut up if you can't think of a better solution." Well I can. Dicks.

The solution is to get behind the psychology of tagging and the motivation for tagging. In this case, what the police really should do is study hip hop culture and especially some of the great interviews on graffitti art and the philosophy behind it, plus many interviews with active taggers and artists. Then, introduce a program on TV and in brochure form for more cultural understanding of this artform. Then, create legitimate locations and opportunities for people to do tagging. Hold graffitti art contests. Have life 'spray painting demonstrations', for example at galas and at fairs. Have a public wall that has removable wooden 'plates', that can be rotated and removed, so taggers get exposure for their logo/name/sign and also get to keep their work on a wooden plate to take home. Commission people to do walls.

Because, if there are enough legitimate opportunities to tag, then the activity will cease to become a rebellious action, and rebels will turn to something that is socially conceived to be more rebellious. For example, shouting your name while standing on the footpath is not illegal. But if it was illegal and someone was shouting their name while standing on the footpath, it would perform a similar function to tagging. But since it's not illegal, doing it isn't exactly rebellious.

Obviously there are other reasons other than rebellion for these actions. But basically, rebellion is about acceptance. So if you accept what rebelling is, the source of rebellion becomes something that is welcomed. And when someone is welcomed and accepted, there isn't much reason to rebel.

-------

I officially started working on that 'composition' today. You have to include one recognisable Maori melody and one recognisable Asian melody. I had no problems choosing the Maori folk songs I wanted, but with the Asian ones I had some trouble. So I looked in my parents' CD collection of mostly Western classical music, and found... a whole stack of arrangements of Chinese and Taiwanese folk songs. The photo shows only one fifth of the stack.



I have started this project way too late and could only listen to some songs selectively. But I must say nearly all of them make me feel tired and drowsy. There aren't many memorable melodies. So I shall go to bed now. Good night and take care.

And I'm back to eating coleslaw. Well, herbslaw today.



And Harry Potter. Tomorrow. Yes.

Sonny, this post is for you.

So today we played basketball and I put new strings on a steel string acoustic, only to find the bottom end's gauges were too light.

Now, I remember something happened tonight. I think we went to Denny's but I'm not sure.

If I hypothetically had a near death experience, and I had a 'Family Guy style flashback' of all the big moments of my life, I think it would consist of all the times when Sonny talked about Family Guy. And when it comes to what happened this evening, I would probably not remember going to Denny's. I'd just remember Sonny's Stewie impersonations. Seriously Sonny you should be a rebel and drop out of Architecture and become a Professional Family Guy Reminiscence-er.

"Remember the time when Sonny was talking about the time in Family Guy when..."

And I think if Sonny had a near death experience, he would get flashbacks of himself talking about Family Guy moments. "Remember the time when I was talking about the time in Family Guy when..." Maybe he'd get flashbacks of Family Guy moments. So like the events of the show become events of his actual history.

I am so confused, I don't really know if Sonny's memories of Family Guy are my own memories. "Seriously, I know a baby called Stewie, I'm not kidding, I remember this clearly, season four, episode..."

"Yes, I DO live my life in episodes. My life advances half an hour every week. Until then I just live in re-runs."

-------

I'm scared of driving. I passed my restricted over a year ago but I'm really one of those borderline people. I'm one of the people who fail the first time, then the second time I do a so-so round and the examiner kind of feels pity and says, "Unfortunately... you've passed!" And he really meant what he said, cos tonight I drove without my headlights on, and I am so lucky to not have caused any accidents, truly terrible driving. I'm sure no one will ever ask me for a ride again. Just, bad. I guess it's a good experience in a way, now I'm overly-headlights conscious.

Time for bed, morning. Still no results on nDeva for me, congrats Henry on hacking MATHS 108. Truly phe-Num.-me-No. Sorry I couldn't resist.

Bye, take care.

Not really. Just thought he'd juice some fruits. So we have this awesome tangelo (or something) tree in our garden. And there's only one person home right now and there is no way I can eat this much so I thought I'd juice them.



Step one: Pick the most rotten looking tangelos.



Step two: Cut them in half through the vertical axis (so horizontally).



Step three: Juice 'em.



Step four: Add one lemon.

Now, with around thirty tangelos and one lemon you get around 500 ml of juice. It's pure though. Concentrated juice. No sugar, no water.



If anyone wants tangelos feel free to ask me because our tree has heaps and I can't finish them myself anyway.

:o)

-------

This was from two days ago. Inside the DVD for The Royal Tenenbaums.



Why a warning? I really don't know. Maybe the disk is dangerous.

You know, the Harry Potter movies really are cool. It's quite interesting, every time it gets close to a release of a new Harry Potter film I actually feel a bit older, in this weird mix of depression, hope and happiness. It's not even 'about' the movies, just the general mood that the passing of these movies brings I feel like the films/books are catching up with me. Because when I had just started reading 'em before, I read the first four in a row (I only discovered the books after the fourth one came out), so it was like I was growing up 'accelerated'. Then they started coming out really slowly, one every year or so, with the movies every one and a half years or so. But after the seventh film comes out I"ll be screwed. On the timeline that'll be the point when there won't be any more Harry Potter movies, there will just be movies.

2010 - The end of the Harry Potter movie era. From this point onwards, there were movies.

Ok, bye. Take care. I think I want to get coleslaw and guitar strings tomorrow. Saw This Is Spinal Tap today. Also have Best in Show. Too bad I couldn't find Waiting for Guffman at Video Ezy, because it is so hilarious, I really want to see it again.

Hey, so I watched The Mask today. This is a cool movie, I remember seeing the tv spots and trailers for this film over and over and over again while waiting at the airport for the flight to New Zealand. It was the first time I was going to board a plane and we were waiting at Burger King. I remember how they put the cola in these 'football' shaped cup things. I remember the ice melting and drinking the diluted cola. That was one of the first times I had had fast food.

In the past year I have had more fast food servings than I have had in the first 17 years of my life. I have had more kilograms of fried food this year than I have ran the equivalent distance in metres. So I think. I'm not actually sure about the last one, but it's something like that.



I had Asian takeaways for dinner tonight, the first time since I've been home alone. I ordered two things, and for the beef flat bean noodle thing, they forgot to give me flat bean noodle. Or maybe they misunderstood my order and gave me a whole plate of beef or something. Meh, I was hungry so, what the capos, I didn't really mind.

Charlie's Angels. McG, I love you for executive producing The O.C., but this movie was just beautiful. Not even Cameron Diaz could save it from being a piece of trash.

Phone call with Mum and Dad. Looks like I won't be going back to Taiwan this year. Perhaps a bit later. Some time in my life. They have decided when they are coming back.

"January." *clang*



So I accidentally banged the cup against the glass jug. Oops. That wasn't because of rage or anger or anything. I wasn't like, "OFMGR another month argh I will kill you best cup in the world." No it was more like a disappointed 'Huh?'. *cup slips from hand and knocks jug*

Yes.

Two months. One month left. It's ok, there's the phone and there's the Restaurant Brands of NZ. KFC, Pizza Hut, Starbucks, you have my back. And there's always the phone. Why are people having not so nice days?



Raymond I hope today was better for you. All the best everyone. Take care.

Saw Rushmore. Beautiful movie with beautiful music and beautiful direction. Shall see The Royal Tenanbaums in a bit. Also saw the new Lost episode. The one called 'The Other 48 Days', which chronicles what has happened to the Tailies since the plane crash. This was a beautiful episode. There were no flashbacks and almost each scene was a new day. Really a redeeming episode for the series. It also made the new characters more fascinating. It is going to be explosive when the two camps meet.

Jesse McCartney. I just saw another song of his on Juice TV today. What the. Is he the 6th Backstreet Boy or what? He is such a Backstreet Boy. I mean, stylistically, vocally and aesthetically. Wow, seriously, he's not just boy band material, he is strictly BackStreet Boys material. What is up with his music? It's like Backstreet Boys, but with only one person. Ok I'll stop now. Basically I think he arrived on the pop scene about 10 years too late. If he'd arrived while the Backstreet Boys were hot I think they would've let him join the band. Then they could call it 'Backstreet Boys and the Kid'. Cos he'd probably be like, eight or something.

Ok, outies. New Lost episode. Quick! The next one will be so good. So cool. The clash of the survivors. Will they get on well or will there be conflict? Haha, what am I saying, there WILL be conflict. Good thing Abrams has already said that no one else will die for a little while now, cos it'd suck if main cast members just kept disappearing.

EDIT: The Royal Tenandaums. Structurally screwed but very nice movie. Wes Anderson is a really organic filmmaker. Kudos. I can't decide whether I like TRT or Rushmore more. I guess I'll have to watch Bottle Rocket too.

EDIT 2: New episode of The OC s3ep7: The Anger Management OFMGR this was the best episode in the history of the show what the googleplex I did not expect the story to turn out so good WTH. Ok bye.

EDIT: I give you the TAoSt web page. Yeah, page. I think I did mention that from now on short film websites would be really nutshelled. Well, here it is, nutshelled. Link is on the right under 'Short Films'. Enjoy.

:o)

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Heheheh... Rat Race is a funny movie, thanks for the recommendation, Rikky.



Now, I had that McDonald's Deli thing for dinner. The packaging looks like a success...

But it tastes unremarkable.

6.5/10

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Got this email from my Film Studies tutor today:

"Hi Dennis, This is not urgent - but I'd like to see you briefly sometime between now and the first week or so of Semester One next year, to discuss something that could help improve your grades even further. Email me when you can visit, and we can set a time. And I hope you have a most enjoyable summer break. Best wishes ____"

I seriously don't know what to expect. Either I've totally bombed the paper or I did okay but 'not good enough'. At least I know I didn't do very well.

What would not be funny would be if I was asked to attend EAL tutorials from now on. What would also not be funny would be if I was asked to attend handwriting classes at the Student Learning Centre. Or asked to switch majors. Or perhaps abandon my degree and get out of the country for a while.

-------

Collision of the day: Banging heads with Simon while he was going for an inside drive while playing basketball.

Almost collision of the day: Not seeing the car coming out of KFC while turning left into McDonalds. The clash of the titans. Ronald versus Sanders. Who will take the prize?

Correction of the day: There are in fact TWO typos in Bob's Bean Pod and not one. There could actually be more, but so far that's all people have spotted. I'll call the next movie Spot the Typo. Henry, Ajita, Steve, I am terribly sorry for sending you the film in this state. If you want a new one feel free to ask and I will burn another copy. Otherwise, if you do show this movie to anyone, just say, "This is the uber cool imperfect limited crap edition of the film. There are only four in the world, and I happen to have one of them. Now watch and ignore the typos."

Have a good evening and take care.

Not from doing anything, but just from a screwed body clock.

Firstly, there is a typo in Bob's Bean Pod. What the. Really, really bad mistake on my part. Anyway, one shall move on from that.

I have confirmed screening times for Epilogue on Rialto Channel. Here they are:

Wednesday 4th January 2006 at 8.30 pm
Sunday 29th January 2006 at 7.15 pm

It will be screened in a collection of fifteen short films from such varied places as Wellington, Rangiora and Sweden. Yes Sweden.

-------

Thanks Steve for the movie discount thing for Village. It was the last day before it expired, so I went and saw Wallace and Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit by myself. This is the movie that [almost, Henry] everyone I know has seen that I had not seen. I caught the last session. It is officially the first time I have seen a film in the cinemas alone. It is a scary experience. Firstly because the film print was all scratched (not that that has anything to do with me being alone). Secondly because I could not share my enthusiasm about the pun-popping with anyone else.

How many puns were there in this movie? I really lost count, but wow, these guys just don't run out.

What is up with dog superheroes? They are so cool. Adorable dog characters are eternal. Snoopy. Gromit. Brian. Characters all built from the same archetype. Brilliant. Wallace you idiot. But very funny though. Rabbit-Wallace is adorable. Just like Gromit. Great voice work from Helena Bonhem Carter in particular.

:o)

-------

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Movie out next week! Who wants to go see it now? Who? NOW. Ok, anyway, I've been watching behind the scenes footage, trailers, tv spots and interviews with the cast and crew for this film (like I have for every other Harry Potter film), and there is something really wrong with this movie. Everything looks awesome. But.

They are trying to pair up Harry and Hermione. I am not kidding. Almost every single film clip I have seen of this movie has been bonding time between Harry and Hermione. Very screwed indeed. And where the hell is Luna? Oh right, she's not in this book. But in summary, what is happening is, there has not been a single 'solo' Rupert Grint interview (the guy who plays Ron Weasley) but millions for the other two leads. What the studios are doing is, they are pushing Harry as the male lead and Hermione as the female lead. Which is a very hazardous thing to do, especially for the book series. Ron becomes nothing but comic relief and an incompetent wizard who has a bad temper (not that he is very different in the books) while the other two develop more fully as characters (in the films). Bad bad bad. Not that Ron is my favourite character, he is not. In fact I think he is rather mean in the latest book, but you get my point.

Listening to Weezer now. Hehehehe, I'm in a good mood. Who does not like Buddy Holly? Me. A lot of people like this song, but I don't. Every other song on the Weezer album is better than Buddy Holly. Maybe. Well, I just like the other songs more. Right.

The Dashboard Confessional Jamie cover of Weezer is very well done. Props to River Cuomo (I think) for the great twist lyrics.

Bye. Take care.

I can't believe it's been three weeks. I watched the finale of Hell's Kitchen tonight. I haven't really followed the show, but I found tonight's episode really cool. I was rooting for Michael the entire time, and... he won! Haha! The restuarant designing and the dishes looked like fun, but it was also pretty inspiring to see how hard these chefs worked.

Saw Doom this morning with Sonny, Ray and Henry. This was quite funny for a few reasons:

a) The first time I have seen a video game movie in the theatres.
b) The first time I have seen a horror/monster movie in the theatres.
c) The first time in a long time I have seen a movie in the morning.

I didn't really have high expectations for the film, although I had played Doom II quite a few years ago. All in all it was better than I thought and I quite enjoyed the movie. Now, Henry may not have been scared, but I sure was, at least for the first half of the movie. Also, I like the idea of Karl Urban's character rising to become this superhuman hero. Too bad they didn't show more of his powers. Also, there were a few funny moments in the film that may not have been intended:

That bit when the pervert guy wanted to strip search women. It was so random and uncharacteristic of the film.
The bit when the monster spots you (yes you, the audience) and decides to run away.
The bit when all you could see was a blurry screen because Karl Urban is using a chainsaw.
The bit when one of the soldiers shoots at the monkey.
The bit when the guy started spinning the computer monitor around like a lasso over his head.

Ok, and there's more. The DNA thing made it 'totally' similar to the Resident Evil movie. Both are underground, both are about contamination and both end with the hero and heroine going up an elevator thing to the surface. The difference is in Doom the infected people turn into monsters and move really fast, while in Resident Evil the infected people turn into zombies and move really slow.

Alllright, enough about the movie.



Ocean Spray juice. This brand encapsulates some of my best memories of Taiwan. I remember drinking this in our apartment when we were kids. There was smog outside, but we had Ocean Spray grapefruit juice. We were happy.

Today was also pretty happy too, I finished Bob's Bean Pod (Lychee), mailed it out to Ajita and dropped it off for Henry and Steve. Woohoo! Some things about the film that make it special for me:

It is the second most incoherent film I have made, after Stream.

It makes use of an idea I originally had exactly one year ago, when I first wanted to start making films. It was called Rubik's Escape, and I remember being completely inadequately prepared for it and doing over a hundred storyboards and completely tiring out and abandoning the script. Now, after a year of growth I've integrated the core idea of that film into this one and finished what I once thought was impossible. I think it just goes to show that all will be well as long as you take things one step at a time. Last year I couldn't even imagine shooting outdoors primarily, or ADR-ing the conversations, or trying to act. I don't think I've done any of those above things excellently in this film, and I'm really excited to shoot outdoors again and improve on the way I do ADR. In terms of acting, there wasn't too much of it for me, most of the hard work was done by Henry, who is an excellent narrator who I will no doubt ask to narrate some future projects and who has great voice control. As for camera work, this was entirely done by Steve save a few shots here and there. Storyboarding for the first part of the film was done in collaboration and Steve made substantial contributions to coverage decisions on the day. It also gave the film a very different aesthetic compared to my previous shorts, and I also gained a lot of experience directing both on and off camera. Music wise, it was the first time we'd used a keyboard to record. It was the also the first that we've chosen to have extended passages with no music, something that I was afraid to do with my earlier shorts. Now I enjoy the ambient sound and really love the silences.

Thanks Henry, Steve and Ajita for your work, I hope you guys had fun, because I certainly did. Looking forward to collaborating with you guys again in the future.

:o)



What happens when you forget to sweep the back garden area for one day. The photo doesn't really capture the covered-ness of the ground but I was pretty freaked. Perhaps not freaked, just, "Ok I shall do a lot of sweeping now. Sweep sweep."

Now to finish off we shall take a look at the cap of this amazing bottle of Ocean Spray juice.



What am I doing here? Viral advertising eh? Well, I like this juice, so you don't have to buy it. Actually, don't buy it if you don't want to. There, it's not advertising. Well, it already is because I'm mentioning the brand. But I can counter that by saying it sucks. So it tastes bad, yes the juice tastes like a mixture of rubber and guitar picks. Perhaps I am lying but you'll have to make up your own mind about this juice.

While we wait for that, good night and take care. All the best.

Having been posting as much the last few days, mainly due to the intensive editing of Lychee I've been doing. I'm taking a break now so I thought I might as well do an entry for today. How was today? Funny question really, it was good, it was bad, it was good.

As the day began I did a bit more editing on Lychee. Then I burned a CD and hopped onto the bus to head into Auckland City to record the music for the film. Well, this time round, Ajita and I both had exams so the music for Lychee was put on hold for about two weeks, and Ajita's going back to Singapore this Saturday, meaning that we had to get everything composed and recorded today. The end result? In short, the recording went hastily, we hit a few hiccups, but now it is fairly good and fits quite nicely with some of the moments in the film. However, my strategy for next year and onwards is a way longer music composing time span, say of a month or so of frequent revisioning and actual proper spotting with software. So I guess you could say this marks the last of our 'watch-the-film-and-play-the-music' films. All in all I'm pretty happy with the music, hence the good.

Got home and checked my email. I use TradeMe to sell and buy second hand items, and basically today a seller for something I bought posted me an angry email. Hence the bad.

1) I was the one who made the hiccup, not him.
2) So I feel bad both a) for screwing up a transaction (badly, at that) and b) causing someone else to be frustrated and immensely annoyed.

So I guess it was a mixture of guilt and guilt, putting me in a really bad and depressive mood. Now, it might not seem like a big deal, as this guy's a stranger and it's not like the mistake can't be fixed. But there was just something about the words that the guy used that made the email so potent. If any of you guys have ever let someone down, and that person has expressed how disappointed they were in you, well this is the feeling. Weird huh, for that feeling to be transferred to a purely business exchange. So I just felt terrible and stupid.

Then I fired up the new OC Mix. Now, there were some songs I had already heard and loved, e.g. Imogen Heap's 'Hide and Seek' and Youth Group's cover of 'Forever Young', both of which I've mentioned in previous posts. But there was the new Phantom Planet California 2005. Anyways, it was used at the end of a pivotal episode early in season three, and it is absolutely incredible. It's sort of an acoustified and relaxed version of the famously overplayed original used for the opening credits of every episode. Well, listening to that song and playing some Death Cab on guitar really cheered me up. Just all the great people making music and really connecting with listeners made me feel inspired. So hence the good.

This was the retro keyboard (kindly donated by Yuen) that we used to record the majority of the music for Lychee today.



We still used the piano for some parts. But it was fun, playing with the sound effects. We're making a step towards poly-instrumental scores. Haha, I know how basic that sounds, but prior to this movie we've had strictly piano scores. Now it's still played on a 'keyboard' but at least there's the 'glass celestra', the 'harpsichord' and some other interesting instruments.

Time to get back to work. Good night and take care.

Let's have a TV recap of returning shows:

The O.C. - Is this the best episode of the season, or is this the best episode of the season? Exciting new plot twists, THREE love triangles are in full swing, Ryan punches someone, Seth and Sandy share a bizarre food in-joke and there is a flashback sequence at the beginning.

The Office - Ok, this isn't a returning show, but it's making a comeback. The last episode featured the actor who played the Principal from Mean Girls, truly hilarious. There's actually a lot of character development in the US series, more so than in the UK series. Steve Carell, you are incredible. Rainn Wilson, you must do more movies, you would be awesome as a break out comedy star, really.

Reunion - Wow, we finally find out who was killed. Perilous situations and deeper lies, this is Melrose Place cinematography meets the whodunnit. It has a real daytime soap look, the saturated colours of the melodrama, but then it totally goes in the other direction with the mysteries. Ooooo who's gonna get arrested? Oooo I don't know.

Lost - Let's just call this the worst episode of Lost I have ever seen. A regular cast member dies. And the way this person dies is kind of not cool too. Nothing much is revealed in this one, but the flashbacks are quite good. All in all, the Tailies have been disappointing. With the except of Mr Echo and Ana-Lucia, they're boring characters. However, the next episode is entirely dedicated to the 'other 48', as it's called. No regular cast members from the first season will appear in that episode, so it shall be interesting.

You see, I made noodles tonight for dinner. But noodles don't really look cool. They're like, mascots for Intelligent Design mockery. So I decided that I'd take a photo of the empty plates instead. But then I went ahead and washed the plates and put them back in the kitchen drawers because my phone was upstairs. So it'd really be stupid to just take a photo of a pile of plates right. So I had a better idea. I should take a photo of something really meaningful, like this:

What we have here is the number 7 keypad of my landline phone. On it are the letters PRS, which is a really cool brand of guitar. Here you go. PRS. These guys are smart, free advertising for their brand on almost every single cell phone and landline phone in the world. Anyways, that's a seven. And we'd use it a lot, but not as much as the fives or the threes.

Good night, take care. May the numbers be with you. Ooo, take that pun, you Lost-ers. Oh and I edited more of Lychee.

:o)

Truly in a holiday frame of mind now. Tonight's recap: Bowling, Countdown, chill session at Janko's.

There we go, now I saw Dogville this afternoon. Nice movie, really. Very much a cautionary tale, a very good one at that. The documentary was also very insightful and reveals some truly universal experiences and feelings directors and actors have on tough shoots.

Lined up all the ADR stuff for the third part of Lychee, will proceed to sync and fine cut that part tomorrow. Will be recording music for it on Tuesday. Crabby patty.

Arr arr arr, no phototoes today, and I also think I did technically break my fast-food curfew, if you count pizza as fast food. I think it's ok, as long as I have many servings of healthy foods and exercise. So I had an orange today and I drank juice. B'gah, I suppose bowling counts as exercise. Life on the edge.

Night, take care.

Argh argh argh crabby patty. So I think I'm going to enter a period of fast food detox. I'll see how long I can keep it up.

Run Lola Run - cool movie! Lots of funky camera angles and nice uses of cinematic language. I also like how it's really short. I like short movies that are complete and wrap up well within their own structures.

Zoolander - cult classic. Very impressive indeed. But it wasn't just the movie though, it was the special DVD features. Outstanding set of promos and supplementary material. This could be study-able for theses on the Star System just because they've really put a lot of time into Zoolander as a persona.

So tired, I fell asleep on the sofa. It's really bad sleeping at around 2 then waking at around 11. As I move into the holiday schedule I hope to sleep and wake early on routine.

-------


Tonight for dinner I didn't make potstickers, so I made potsticking dumplings for a change. Umm, they taste pretty much the same, so the meal was fairly uneventful.

One thing I forgot to mention was, you know the whole Flying Fives thing with Epilogue? Well, we didn't win anything, but all of the fifteen finalists will be played on Rialto Channel some time in the [near] future. They have also been playing the short films this week and also will be next week at Nelson's State 6 Platinum Theatre. So I guess Epilogue is officially out there and really getting some 'airplay'. Well not airplay, but that kind of thing.

Ehh, new Lost episode. I'm too tired to watch it now. Night, take care.

You know in those crap ads or movie trailers they always talk about beginnings and ends? Like they go, "This is the end of the beginning." Or, "This is the beginning of the end." Or something like that.

Anyway, had my last exam today. Feeling both happy and sad. Anyway, some deep, deep, 300m thoughts here as I stand beside Joy's pastel of persimmons.


As I stare into the distance, I realise...
Exams are over, and it's awesome to take a break from Uni. But just walking around campus (some wouldn't call it a campus, but I seriously like this place) was really cool. I figure I'd want to do a 'year in review' blog post some time, but since it's only November, I'll leave that entry for New Year's Eve or sometime closer the End of the End.

But as for the Uni year though, it's been awesome. Best year ever. Actually going to class every day and studying what you're interested in and passionate about in every lecture and tutorial. It really doesn't get much better than this, just the feeling of working towards something and having fun at the same time.

As for the holiday movie watching, it has commenced. I figure I will go all out for a 'Modern Comedy Series'. I haven't seen a lot of the Frat Pack films (or many Rat Pack or Brat Pack films, for that matter). But anyways, I saw There's Something About Mary today, and the Farrelly brothers are awesome. I liked Shallow Hal too. Hahaha. Go comedies. They are funny. Bwahahaha.

Also got Zoolander. Hmm, should really work through the Ben Stiller films first.


Yes I had KFC. You see when people follow up what they do by saying something to justify what they're doing, it means it's wrong. So I'm not going to justify the act of me eating KFC. I'm just going to not ever buy it again. No wait, that's justification right there. Nope, this isn't wrong. It's not. Really.

I got my new fan, installed it, and now my computer is uber quiet. Happy yeah?

Right. Except then I tried to start my computer in 'safe mode'. And it wouldn't restart. For two hours I was on Simon's computer, trying to find the cure. Well, I finally fixed it, so here I am, blogging. Thanks a lot Simon.

The computer, man, I was freaking out.


Seriously, computers are like cell phones. Or electricity. Or water. I would have lost all my compositions, my music, my documents, notes, work, videos. Well, not really, since I'd still have my hard drives. But yeah, anyway, it was scary.

Sleep walking yesterday night. I found the fridge.



Coleslaw.



And more coleslaw.



Peanut butter.



And ketchup.



Not that one would eat these things together. But they are in the fridge. And I don't think I'm a bad sleepwalker. Seriously, who can do sleep photography. And control the autofocus. Wow. These photos kind of look like screenshots from a first-person shooter. Except it's called, 'Sleepwalker: Kitchen', and the graphics are awesome. So you know the weapons I have are peanut butter and ketchup. It's even got the realistic hand. Wap wap wap.

Studying today went ok eh. I sort of watched the movies and got tired, slept in the Info Commons for an hour or so, then got up and watched some creepy science students walk up and down the steps. Not stereotyping here, just saw some students, who were science students, who were creepy.

Time for bed, good morning. Arr arr arr, crabby patty. Again.

Why oh why did I wake up so late? By the time I finished all the chores I remembered to do it was 4 pm. And I forgot to do the laundry. Argh will do that tomorrow.

Desperate Housewives eh. Carlo's mum got kicked off the show by the screenwriters. Hmm mmm. Susan didn't read the letter. Doh.

Listening to Death Cab now eh. The new album is seriously good. Go get it. There is at least one good song. Haha. It is called Plans.


I installed the fan into my computer after three hours of crapness. I'm totally not one of those awesome computer people (reduction to types eh? Ahh, just as long as we're conscious of the application) who can just snap on all the parts, I have a lot of trouble working things out. Computer insides look hideous. Now my computer is so loud, I could get permanent hearing loss from the low frequency hum. Well the good thing is I ordered another fan which is slightly less aggressive. So all is well.


The new King Kong trailer truly has some spectacular footage. However, it is totally shit. This just shows how [possibly good] movies can have really bad trailers. Similarly, very bad movies can have very good trailers.

Two rules for me: (I don't usually have rules, actually I hate rules, but these two really are important)

Never judge a TV show unless you have watched 5 or more consecutive episodes.
Never judge a Film by it's trailer or word of mouth. If you must, always give it the benefit of the doubt.


You see, this is a video conversation on MSN, William and I testing out superbly happy broadband connections. I tried to capture the self-reflexive nature of the exercise by taking a photo of the screen. It seemed really intelligent at the time, I don't know why. William seems skeptical of the idea, and I agree, it's kind of dumb.

:o/

Anyway, good night.

Hi, internet didn't work yesterday, couldn't blog this. Went into Uni and watched around 5 hours of documentaries about Hitchcock and Psycho. It's really cool.

The O.C. and Reunion are back. I now know that the ratings are inversely proportional to the frequency Ryan punches people. No one punched anyone this episode, but it has some of the best lines in the history of the show. Don't think I've laughed this much in a long time.

As for Reunion, the surprises and turns are really good. You never know what to expect with this show. Massive pay-offs and killer conflicts.

This is a stress ball. I found it on the ground next to my computer.

Good day. I bought the Citizen Kane DVD. It has a two-hour long documentary. I missed Desperate Housewives last week. It is Monday, but I'm talking about Sunday. I shall now have breakfast. Haha. The damn heatsink still hasn't arrived, and my computer is really overheating. Good morning.

The last three days can be summed up by three things:


Pizza (spread over four meals)


Vacuum Cleaner (used for a period of two hours)


Grey's Anatomy (six hours split into 40 minute episodes over a period of two days)

It's good. No study at all, will start tomorrow. No cooking either. Will also start that tomorrow. Or the day after. Cool neighbours gave me chicken drumsticks again. Three this time. Mum and Dad called. Am happy.

:o)

-------

As we head into the holiday season, many friends are leaving for their homeland or for their holiday destination (aka their homeland). Have a safe journey and have fun! Taking care is important, but not as important as taking Grain Waves.

Looks like I might be heading into Uni tomorrow. Long time no bus, but it should be fun. Haven't been around campus for a few days. Good night. May the potato be with you.

Nope, no photos today. But my dad's operation went really well!

:o)

It's weird, I didn't know what was going on until 3 days ago, then it happened and now it's all done. So that's a relief.

Had pasta again. Saw the Bourne Identity, 100 Girls (would you believe it this movie is wacko), the pilot for Grey's Anatomy, and a new episode of Smallville.

The Bourne Identity: Does almost everything right. Bourne is just powerful enough to be a compelling protagonist. The invincible underdog. Technically he has no weakness throughout the entire film. There was no one bit when he lost control. But it works. And Franka Potente is cool. I should watch Run Lola Run some time.

100 Girls: This movie was a pleasant surprise. A teen comedy that was not. If you get what I mean. It possesses everything that is cheap, crap, stereotypical and lame about teen comedies. Then it throws in light-hearted references to feminism and one freshman's thesis on sexual politics. Enjoyable except for the bad ending. I wouldn't say characterisation is its strong point, but boy does it have some wacky narration and dialogue.

Grey's Anatomy: Good pilot. A great premise, great characters to start off with and great narrative structure. It allows the episodic and serialised television formats to combine successfully and there is a lot there to run on. Promising series indeed.

Smallville: Let's just say, we all know this show has gone to the dumps already. Except James Marsters is absolutely brilliant in his role as Braniac. A league above the overall quality of this show now. The central romance has been driven into the corn field. And guess what kryptonite did this week? It infected the wildlife (in this case, bats), which bit humans and transformed them into mutated people. In this case, vampires. You heard me right. In what screwed world of Superman does kryptonite's radioactivity transform people into vampires? They had fangs, were afraid of light, needed blood and were immortal. Now, the fangs, fear of the light, needing blood, that's all scientifically explainable. But immortality? Heheh, that sounds like Buffy to me. What a laugh that James Marsters is guest starring in this show too. Although he has nothing to do with the vampire storyline. Although get this: The leader of the vampires is a girl named Buffy. Yeah, crazy. Of all the great ideas they could have had, such as exploring more of Superman's origins, the Kryptonian mythology and cross-overs such as a Bruce Wayne and Lex Luthor business enterprise (or having Clark Kent visit Gotham city for some reason), they decide to focus on meteor freaks. If a city has this many people exposed to radiation (there's been over 100 now, all with unique powers), shouldn't the people have been evacuated already? Why are there nice big chunks of kryptonite just lying around all over the fields and in people's houses as decoration? Kryptonite is supposed to be highly valuable and rare. That's why it's scary when the bad guy pulls it out and Superman has his token 'birthday-surprise' expression, falls to the ground and squirms like a baby. But no, instead he squirms like a baby in every episode.

Unfortunately I've stopped watching Gilmore Girls, which is a shame. Mainly because there are too many shows to keep track off and I had to drop one. Oh and I am dropping Smallville as well, of course. One thing though, while the dialogue and overall writing of Gilmore Girls has just improved with every season, the lighting and photography of the first season is truly beautiful. If you catch any of the season one re-runs on TV now you'll know what I mean. It's just shot a lot nicer, the colour tones are richer. But hey, the writing's still there.

C'mon, The O.C. and Reunion should be back on soon. In fact, tomorrow!

Heheh alright, I'm off to bed. I shall eat out tomorrow. Or get some pizza. Ahh it's nice integrating out-food and in-food. Goodo! Good night and take care.

Anyways I had an insanely long post, and my computer crashed because the post was way too long. So I lost it all. Ahahah. So I'm re-writing this.

The Blockhead's Guide to Bad Hair Days. Bad Hair Day is every day.



Note to self: dirty mirro, must wipe soon. Now that we've got the Blockhead section out of the way, let's move onto recapping the rest of the day.

Decided to wash the car.



It went well.



If you look at this photo carefully you'll realise the car isn't actually that clean. It's 80% clean. I'm like those people who only trim their hair when they get haircuts. Except I do it with car washing. Those people have to cut their hair more often because it gets long easily. The primary reason? It's stylish. In my case, I don't semi-wash cars because it's stylish. I semi-wash cars because I'm incapable of washing them to their full cleanpacity.

Grocery shopping alone is immensely enjoyable. I have a cool Foodtown card. I bought Grain Waves and while I was standing in front of the mushrooms I had a brain wave and decided to make past for dinner.

I made four days' worth of coleslaw. I didn't intend to at first, but I was feeling emotionally imblalanced and decided to chop up the whole half-cabbage.



Pasta. Two days' worth.



And the food on the table. When my mum was teaching me how to make this I got lazy and didn't take notes. So this thing looks and tastes like pasta, but it's probably not pasta. It's a freaky evil twin of pasta.



Why are we here? Why did I lose my big awesome article on Gladdis? I typed around two paragraphs about Gladdis just then, and it's disappeared. Damn overheating CPU. I bought a massive heatsink though, so once that gets here my computer should be back to normal. Problem is I am a total computer-newb when it comes to construction. I've never really installed an after-market heatsink before, and this is our only computer. Let's hope I'm careful enough.

Ok Duncan, quick recap. We find ourselves at the Leavers' Concert. Gladdis. Journey to the Underground. This time Warwick didn't have his 'virtual whisper' section but he did have a dog collar. No I didn't spot a dog tag. Duncan was relaxed and chilled through the entire performance, but he did not have a hat on. Sam has a classic rock voice, but he did not have a pillow case. Josh can do things on the snare with drumsticks but he did not have an ice cream. Damn I had all these other ideas but now I can't remember what they were. But people do not have wings.

Anyways, I shall now retire and enter my bedroom and eat some Grain Waves. And perhaps get some shuteye. Take care.