Sunday, April 30, 2006
eBay. I am now officially a member of The World's Online Marketplace. Is it good?
Product range: Awesome.
So I bought three Korean TV Shows off eBay yesterday. Now we wait. I also need to watch more Korean movies. And Japanese movies. And they have a lot of DVD's on there. It's like Trade Me but international. So if there's anything you can't find on Trade Me, you just may be able to find it on eBay. The funny thing about a lot of products on eBay is that they like to reverse the shipping and product prices. They charge you like 99c for a product then charge you $10 for shipping, so it ends up being the right price anyway. Most of the time, things are still cheaper on eBay than they are in stores. Anyway, I hope I didn't get scammed.
;_;
Finished watching Winter Sonata. The last episode was good. But like many shows, it went for a dive at around the mid-season mark, then 'semi-redeemed' itself with the last three episodes. Another difference I noticed is that the entire show was helmed by one director vs. American shows where the 'auteur' is usually the Executive Producer/Creator, and they different directors helming each episode.
Things I am thinking about TV shows: (may or may not make sense depending on whether or not you watch this show)
Lost - Bernard and Rose get their own flashback. It's alright but not spectacular. Michael finally returns.
Prison Break - Abruzzi is back! T-Bag's mannerisms are freaky cool too. The plot thickens. Episodes occasionally slip into subpar-ness. But they've got some exciting stuff going on.
Everwood - the last season ever huh? They are doing a damn good job with the writing.
The OC - two episodes left in the season huh? Let's hope no one else dies. Last episode Ryan beat the shit out of another person again. I know, this show sounds like it's really violent or something. But really, it's not. He only beats people up every once in a while.
Food time. Uni starts in a few hours! Who's excited huh? *does double backflip*
Product range: Awesome.
So I bought three Korean TV Shows off eBay yesterday. Now we wait. I also need to watch more Korean movies. And Japanese movies. And they have a lot of DVD's on there. It's like Trade Me but international. So if there's anything you can't find on Trade Me, you just may be able to find it on eBay. The funny thing about a lot of products on eBay is that they like to reverse the shipping and product prices. They charge you like 99c for a product then charge you $10 for shipping, so it ends up being the right price anyway. Most of the time, things are still cheaper on eBay than they are in stores. Anyway, I hope I didn't get scammed.
;_;
Finished watching Winter Sonata. The last episode was good. But like many shows, it went for a dive at around the mid-season mark, then 'semi-redeemed' itself with the last three episodes. Another difference I noticed is that the entire show was helmed by one director vs. American shows where the 'auteur' is usually the Executive Producer/Creator, and they different directors helming each episode.
Things I am thinking about TV shows: (may or may not make sense depending on whether or not you watch this show)
Lost - Bernard and Rose get their own flashback. It's alright but not spectacular. Michael finally returns.
Prison Break - Abruzzi is back! T-Bag's mannerisms are freaky cool too. The plot thickens. Episodes occasionally slip into subpar-ness. But they've got some exciting stuff going on.
Everwood - the last season ever huh? They are doing a damn good job with the writing.
The OC - two episodes left in the season huh? Let's hope no one else dies. Last episode Ryan beat the shit out of another person again. I know, this show sounds like it's really violent or something. But really, it's not. He only beats people up every once in a while.
Food time. Uni starts in a few hours! Who's excited huh? *does double backflip*
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Let Love In
Goo Goo Dolls
Readers may or may not know that I do like the Goo Goo Dolls' music very much. Not only do I like their early post-punk sound, I also like their more polished and compressed studio sound from their later albums, most notably the two mainstream hits Dizzy Up the Girl and Gutterflower, both of which I think represent them at their peak.
Let Love In is their tenth studio album or something. Comprehensive review below.
First Impressions after first listen, unfiltered: (second-by-second comments)
1. Stay With You *single*
Melody does not have a lot of variation, emotional Resonance diminished because of lack of innovation and variety in rhythm, anthem-like feel, lyrics are alright, mushy and vague (in a bad way), bridge is unremarkable, in the vein of Better Days, BUT chorus is nice and it packs a punch, ending is very trademark Goo.
2. Let Love In
Beginning feel is very Un-Goo like arrrr, not much 'conflict' in the lyrics, aesthetics is very 'raw' in second verse, reminds one of punk, however Rzeznik seems overly calm and the chorus is very laxed out, chorus is wussy - bad, pretty shit songwriting overall in the whole song, the post-bridge bass-drum build up thing used in Stay With You and Better Days is also used here, Outro is really Un-Goo, modern man.
3. Feel the Silence
Better! Bridge is pretty nice, too poppy Dad.
4. Better Days *single*
Ok Johnny, the first four songs all sound the same, this song is 'nice', but why is every song so far 'nice'? =_=, bridge/interlude bit Johnny sings like two notes and it sounds boring.
5. Without You Here
Mellow, this is Adult Easy Listening, urgh, melody is really crap.
6. Listen
Intro is very early Goo style!!! Woohoo excited AHAHAH is this gonna be a good song? Oh ok Robbie is singing, at least this guy hasn't lost HIS mojo,although his voice is not as endearing as Johnny's, progressions are very Robbie-ish, this guy is authentic, but again, his songs are always happy ones, the solo sounds Goo ish! Not bad, this song reminds me of the Gutterflower album.
7. Give A Little Bit *cover* *single*
In retrospect this cover is actually one of the better songs on thealbum so far, but very un-Goo style, pre-chorus is actually pretty, and the melody is not bad, some Goo-ish guitar sounds mixed in the 'weird' bits, gets a bit boring though.
8. Can't Let it Go
What is this? World Vision Central? Melody is boring.
9. We'll Be Here (When You're Gone)
Ok this doesn't sound all happy. Finally.More like old Goo. Better, not a bad song eh. Melody reminds me of old Goo. Ok, this is the best song on the record, because it actually sounds like a Goo Goo Dolls song.
10. Strange Love
Upbeat! Hey this is different, however sounds like a Robbie song... Oh ok it's a robbie song. Lol. This is pretty cool.
11. Become
Another slow song. I think the tempo in this song is the slowest everrrr.
The Review
Right, so objectively, what's wrong with this album? Firstly, I am not against bands changing their sound. But this album is really bland. Rzeznik sounds really laxed out and laid back. So my first gripe is the aesthetics of this song.
1. Melodies are boring and do not vouch for the maximum emotional resonance possible.
2. Chords are predictable. Yes, Goo has great pop sensibilities, but there is no variation throughout the songs.
3. The sound in this album is very consistent. For example, the first four tracks sound like they were composed in the same sitting.
4. The drum part isn't very exciting.
5. There aren't a lot of Goo guitar-leads during the interludes.
6. There is no trademark raw acoustic track on this album!
However, all this isn't too bad. In Stay With You, there are actually quite a few trademark Goo moments that make you go, 'yup, this is definitely them'. For example, the guitar riff in the second chorus. Also, the epic build-ups in the choruses is very Here is Gone. So in retrospect this is a good song and I can definitely understand why they've chosen this as a single. It's a good leading track.
The main thing that lets this album down is the lyrical content. I'm not going to paste everything here, but I'll give you some excerpts:
Better Days (second verse)
And it's someplace simple where we could live
And something only you can give
And thats faith and trust and peace while we're alive
And the one poor child that saved this world
And there's 10 million more who probably could
If we all just stopped and said a prayer for them
Let Love In (first verse)
You wait, wanting this world
To let you in
And you stand there
A frozen light
In dark and empty streets
You smile hiding behind
A God-given face
But I know you're so much more
Everything they ignore
Is all that I need to see
Can't Let it Go (first verse)
You said you'd light a candle
And you'd say a prayer for me
I feel the light has dimmed and gone
Half the world is begging
While the other half steals
Why is everything so wrong?
Some days I can't believe
Others I'm on my knees
Trying to be heard
And so on. I am not against songs that express the songwriter's concern over these certain issues. But after hearing this album, I want to ask the Goo Goo Dolls: Which charity do you want me to donate to? Because the whole album feels like a World Vision advertisement. Fuck. When you have one or two songs about that (e.g. Better Days) it's effective and people feel moved. But when you keep drilling in the same thing in every song, they lose character and the songs become boring. Goo was never only one type of band. They had the ability to churn out pop ballads and they had a lot of range. You only have to look at their previous hits:
Name - separation that comes with growing up
Iris - forbidden love
Slide - getting pregnant
Black Balloon - role models and idols
Here is Gone - divorce
That's pretty diverse. Instead this album has a very narrow theme focus.
Final Verdict: This album is good if you're into 'Adult Contemporary Top 40' stuff. Goo were not always only restricted to this category, but this album certainly is. It is a good album to put on if you're in the car or if you're doing pilates (or both). But this is not a particularly good piece of music. They can, and have done much better in the past.
If you haven't heard of the Goo Goo Dolls: Don't listen to this album.
If you've heard a bit of the Goo Goo Dolls: Listen to Dizzy Up the Girl instead.
If you've heard Dizzy Up the Girl and liked what you heard: Get Gutterflower.
If you've heard Dizzy Up the Girl and didn't like what you heard: Get Boy Named Goo.
The three tracks you can listen to and then be content throwing the CD away knowing that you haven't missed a thing:
Stay With You - for a pretty good song
Listen - for the classic Robbie song and the good Goo band sound
We'll Be Here (When You're Gone) - for the best song on this album
Let Love In Emulator tracks:
Stay With You tries to be Here is Gone.
Can't Let it Go tries to be Black Balloon.
Let Love In tries to be Avril Lavigne.
6.5/10
Goo Goo Dolls
Readers may or may not know that I do like the Goo Goo Dolls' music very much. Not only do I like their early post-punk sound, I also like their more polished and compressed studio sound from their later albums, most notably the two mainstream hits Dizzy Up the Girl and Gutterflower, both of which I think represent them at their peak.
Let Love In is their tenth studio album or something. Comprehensive review below.
First Impressions after first listen, unfiltered: (second-by-second comments)
1. Stay With You *single*
Melody does not have a lot of variation, emotional Resonance diminished because of lack of innovation and variety in rhythm, anthem-like feel, lyrics are alright, mushy and vague (in a bad way), bridge is unremarkable, in the vein of Better Days, BUT chorus is nice and it packs a punch, ending is very trademark Goo.
2. Let Love In
Beginning feel is very Un-Goo like arrrr, not much 'conflict' in the lyrics, aesthetics is very 'raw' in second verse, reminds one of punk, however Rzeznik seems overly calm and the chorus is very laxed out, chorus is wussy - bad, pretty shit songwriting overall in the whole song, the post-bridge bass-drum build up thing used in Stay With You and Better Days is also used here, Outro is really Un-Goo, modern man.
3. Feel the Silence
Better! Bridge is pretty nice, too poppy Dad.
4. Better Days *single*
Ok Johnny, the first four songs all sound the same, this song is 'nice', but why is every song so far 'nice'? =_=, bridge/interlude bit Johnny sings like two notes and it sounds boring.
5. Without You Here
Mellow, this is Adult Easy Listening, urgh, melody is really crap.
6. Listen
Intro is very early Goo style!!! Woohoo excited AHAHAH is this gonna be a good song? Oh ok Robbie is singing, at least this guy hasn't lost HIS mojo,although his voice is not as endearing as Johnny's, progressions are very Robbie-ish, this guy is authentic, but again, his songs are always happy ones, the solo sounds Goo ish! Not bad, this song reminds me of the Gutterflower album.
7. Give A Little Bit *cover* *single*
In retrospect this cover is actually one of the better songs on thealbum so far, but very un-Goo style, pre-chorus is actually pretty, and the melody is not bad, some Goo-ish guitar sounds mixed in the 'weird' bits, gets a bit boring though.
8. Can't Let it Go
What is this? World Vision Central? Melody is boring.
9. We'll Be Here (When You're Gone)
Ok this doesn't sound all happy. Finally.More like old Goo. Better, not a bad song eh. Melody reminds me of old Goo. Ok, this is the best song on the record, because it actually sounds like a Goo Goo Dolls song.
10. Strange Love
Upbeat! Hey this is different, however sounds like a Robbie song... Oh ok it's a robbie song. Lol. This is pretty cool.
11. Become
Another slow song. I think the tempo in this song is the slowest everrrr.
The Review
Right, so objectively, what's wrong with this album? Firstly, I am not against bands changing their sound. But this album is really bland. Rzeznik sounds really laxed out and laid back. So my first gripe is the aesthetics of this song.
1. Melodies are boring and do not vouch for the maximum emotional resonance possible.
2. Chords are predictable. Yes, Goo has great pop sensibilities, but there is no variation throughout the songs.
3. The sound in this album is very consistent. For example, the first four tracks sound like they were composed in the same sitting.
4. The drum part isn't very exciting.
5. There aren't a lot of Goo guitar-leads during the interludes.
6. There is no trademark raw acoustic track on this album!
However, all this isn't too bad. In Stay With You, there are actually quite a few trademark Goo moments that make you go, 'yup, this is definitely them'. For example, the guitar riff in the second chorus. Also, the epic build-ups in the choruses is very Here is Gone. So in retrospect this is a good song and I can definitely understand why they've chosen this as a single. It's a good leading track.
The main thing that lets this album down is the lyrical content. I'm not going to paste everything here, but I'll give you some excerpts:
Better Days (second verse)
And it's someplace simple where we could live
And something only you can give
And thats faith and trust and peace while we're alive
And the one poor child that saved this world
And there's 10 million more who probably could
If we all just stopped and said a prayer for them
Let Love In (first verse)
You wait, wanting this world
To let you in
And you stand there
A frozen light
In dark and empty streets
You smile hiding behind
A God-given face
But I know you're so much more
Everything they ignore
Is all that I need to see
Can't Let it Go (first verse)
You said you'd light a candle
And you'd say a prayer for me
I feel the light has dimmed and gone
Half the world is begging
While the other half steals
Why is everything so wrong?
Some days I can't believe
Others I'm on my knees
Trying to be heard
And so on. I am not against songs that express the songwriter's concern over these certain issues. But after hearing this album, I want to ask the Goo Goo Dolls: Which charity do you want me to donate to? Because the whole album feels like a World Vision advertisement. Fuck. When you have one or two songs about that (e.g. Better Days) it's effective and people feel moved. But when you keep drilling in the same thing in every song, they lose character and the songs become boring. Goo was never only one type of band. They had the ability to churn out pop ballads and they had a lot of range. You only have to look at their previous hits:
Name - separation that comes with growing up
Iris - forbidden love
Slide - getting pregnant
Black Balloon - role models and idols
Here is Gone - divorce
That's pretty diverse. Instead this album has a very narrow theme focus.
Final Verdict: This album is good if you're into 'Adult Contemporary Top 40' stuff. Goo were not always only restricted to this category, but this album certainly is. It is a good album to put on if you're in the car or if you're doing pilates (or both). But this is not a particularly good piece of music. They can, and have done much better in the past.
If you haven't heard of the Goo Goo Dolls: Don't listen to this album.
If you've heard a bit of the Goo Goo Dolls: Listen to Dizzy Up the Girl instead.
If you've heard Dizzy Up the Girl and liked what you heard: Get Gutterflower.
If you've heard Dizzy Up the Girl and didn't like what you heard: Get Boy Named Goo.
The three tracks you can listen to and then be content throwing the CD away knowing that you haven't missed a thing:
Stay With You - for a pretty good song
Listen - for the classic Robbie song and the good Goo band sound
We'll Be Here (When You're Gone) - for the best song on this album
Let Love In Emulator tracks:
Stay With You tries to be Here is Gone.
Can't Let it Go tries to be Black Balloon.
Let Love In tries to be Avril Lavigne.
6.5/10
Friday, April 28, 2006
Winter Sonata Update - Arrr this show is too depressing. Bad things happen in every frickin' episode and the main character has been hit by a car twice and is going blind. The first five episodes gave me the impression that this would be a uh... a 'happy' show. Guess I was wrong.
Boo! Chocolate pancakes! Maple syrup! Also the main female character is sorry for everything?!?! She apologises for pretty much everything that goes wrong even when it has nothing to do with her.
Let me paraphrase what she says at one point:
'I'm sorry you are a fuckin' retard and tried to rape me.'
Also, the secondary male character is a wuss (the guy who tries to rape her). This guy should grab a pair of sneakers and throw them at people to vent his anger. Instead he does nothing for like ten episodes, then decides to do that. Bad bad bad. Die evil monkey, die.
-------
Yesterday I went into Uni and did my ENGLISH 101 assignment. That went alright. I missed my bus in so I took the one an hour later and rushed my assignment. But I finished.
Film shooting! Met up with my assigned film production group and we filmed this short 10-shot exercise. I acted. The main thing about this exercise is that it's supposed to be edited 'in camera'. Nowadays when people edit films, they do non-linear editing, which means that you can move blocks of video forwards and backwards in time in any way you prefer. The more tedious method is called linear editing, which is basically when you dub from one VCR to another VCR by playing one and recording what is played into the other VCR then pressing stop when you want that shot to be stopped, then fast-forwarding or rewinding the first VCR to another shot and pressing play and then recording that and so on. That meant you had to edit chronologically, and that if you missed out a shot or a scene beforehand, you'd have to go back and do everything from that point onwards all over again. This was what Rodriguez did as a kid when he first started making little movies with his dad's VCR's.
Well, 'in camera editing' is sort of even more primitive than that. With in-camera editing, you also have to shoot in chronological order. Also, because you do not get to edit it off camera later, you have to decide after every take whether or not you want it. If you don't like it, you rewind to the end of the previous shot and do it again until it's right, then you move on. It also means you have to pause at exactly the right point (which was a total mongoose with the frickin' touch screen we had on the tiny camera).
Took us three hours. But we learnt a lot. This is awesome. Also, I just realised that it means you don't have edit the film after you shoot it because it's done! How cool is that? No editing. *high five*
Awesome awesome valuable learning experience. They should tell everyone to make their first ten short films like this or something. Or at least make one or two of these. Because you're forced to really prepare, rehearse and practise properly since you can't fix it in post.
Because there IS no post.
-------
Went to Turners auctions again today with my parents. Didn't buy anything. We went in to test drive all the BMW's, Mercedes' and Audi's because we were bored. This was fun! It's actually really cool cheque-ing out stuff when you know that you're not going to spend a dime. (pun-of-the-post)
-------
New Goo Goo Dolls album out. Shall talk about that in a separate post. But first impressions:
Thumbs down. Way down. Way way down.
Boo! Chocolate pancakes! Maple syrup! Also the main female character is sorry for everything?!?! She apologises for pretty much everything that goes wrong even when it has nothing to do with her.
Let me paraphrase what she says at one point:
'I'm sorry you are a fuckin' retard and tried to rape me.'
Also, the secondary male character is a wuss (the guy who tries to rape her). This guy should grab a pair of sneakers and throw them at people to vent his anger. Instead he does nothing for like ten episodes, then decides to do that. Bad bad bad. Die evil monkey, die.
-------
Yesterday I went into Uni and did my ENGLISH 101 assignment. That went alright. I missed my bus in so I took the one an hour later and rushed my assignment. But I finished.
Film shooting! Met up with my assigned film production group and we filmed this short 10-shot exercise. I acted. The main thing about this exercise is that it's supposed to be edited 'in camera'. Nowadays when people edit films, they do non-linear editing, which means that you can move blocks of video forwards and backwards in time in any way you prefer. The more tedious method is called linear editing, which is basically when you dub from one VCR to another VCR by playing one and recording what is played into the other VCR then pressing stop when you want that shot to be stopped, then fast-forwarding or rewinding the first VCR to another shot and pressing play and then recording that and so on. That meant you had to edit chronologically, and that if you missed out a shot or a scene beforehand, you'd have to go back and do everything from that point onwards all over again. This was what Rodriguez did as a kid when he first started making little movies with his dad's VCR's.
Well, 'in camera editing' is sort of even more primitive than that. With in-camera editing, you also have to shoot in chronological order. Also, because you do not get to edit it off camera later, you have to decide after every take whether or not you want it. If you don't like it, you rewind to the end of the previous shot and do it again until it's right, then you move on. It also means you have to pause at exactly the right point (which was a total mongoose with the frickin' touch screen we had on the tiny camera).
Took us three hours. But we learnt a lot. This is awesome. Also, I just realised that it means you don't have edit the film after you shoot it because it's done! How cool is that? No editing. *high five*
Awesome awesome valuable learning experience. They should tell everyone to make their first ten short films like this or something. Or at least make one or two of these. Because you're forced to really prepare, rehearse and practise properly since you can't fix it in post.
Because there IS no post.
-------
Went to Turners auctions again today with my parents. Didn't buy anything. We went in to test drive all the BMW's, Mercedes' and Audi's because we were bored. This was fun! It's actually really cool cheque-ing out stuff when you know that you're not going to spend a dime. (pun-of-the-post)
-------
New Goo Goo Dolls album out. Shall talk about that in a separate post. But first impressions:
Thumbs down. Way down. Way way down.
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Winter Love Song/Sonata! I've been watching this 'old' series (2002) for the last few days and it made me think about sumting. I'm not sure about other Asian countries, but it seems that in South Korea many of their TV series are 20-25 episodes long (i.e. one season) and completely self-contained. In American shows the format seems to be 'get a pilot', and if its good you get granted 'a few more episodes', and if those get viewers, you get 'a full season', and then if that does well, you get your 'season renewal'. It's certainly very different, with both formats having its advantages.
I understand that a show's content is definitely affected by the audience response, but sometimes I wonder just how cool it'd be to have an entire series planned out to work well narratively and just make it. And by this I mean not stretching a series out just because the ratings are good. Because, although a familiar show name will draw in a solid amount of viewers (as opposed to 'starting from zero' with a new show), if these show creators are skilled, wouldn't they be able to create a second show that stars some of the same hit actors and actresses, with a new idea and a new arc, and 'brand' it as, 'From the Creators of ___'? Sure, it costs them $$ to market the new show and get it off the ground (and it is no doubt easier to market 'Season 5 of ____' instead), but if a creative team were to consistently put out very high quality short-season (i.e. 3 seasons or less) shows, wouldn't the DVD packs shoot through the roof? Of course, the DVD's sell anyway, but I'm just saying. Also, making them shorter would bring perhaps bring connotations of quality, which is sort of diluted in long long long shows anyway. This may be a stupid point, but more people can afford a one-to-three-season DVD than people who can afford the entire 10 seasons of Friends. Ok, people may buy the individual seasons, but it still costs less to 'own' the entire series (which is special).
Surely they'd still make a lot of money. Maybe not 'as much', but once you got a solid foundation and a reputation, I'm sure you could do that and it'd be great fun. Also, people like new things anyway. So starting new shows with new ideas would actually be refreshing for the audience too.
-------
Shooting for the Production Group exercise today. I'm acting. Yikes.
Holidays almost over huh. Ok, do research question time loh. Bobobobo bozo. Have a nice day.
:o)
I understand that a show's content is definitely affected by the audience response, but sometimes I wonder just how cool it'd be to have an entire series planned out to work well narratively and just make it. And by this I mean not stretching a series out just because the ratings are good. Because, although a familiar show name will draw in a solid amount of viewers (as opposed to 'starting from zero' with a new show), if these show creators are skilled, wouldn't they be able to create a second show that stars some of the same hit actors and actresses, with a new idea and a new arc, and 'brand' it as, 'From the Creators of ___'? Sure, it costs them $$ to market the new show and get it off the ground (and it is no doubt easier to market 'Season 5 of ____' instead), but if a creative team were to consistently put out very high quality short-season (i.e. 3 seasons or less) shows, wouldn't the DVD packs shoot through the roof? Of course, the DVD's sell anyway, but I'm just saying. Also, making them shorter would bring perhaps bring connotations of quality, which is sort of diluted in long long long shows anyway. This may be a stupid point, but more people can afford a one-to-three-season DVD than people who can afford the entire 10 seasons of Friends. Ok, people may buy the individual seasons, but it still costs less to 'own' the entire series (which is special).
Surely they'd still make a lot of money. Maybe not 'as much', but once you got a solid foundation and a reputation, I'm sure you could do that and it'd be great fun. Also, people like new things anyway. So starting new shows with new ideas would actually be refreshing for the audience too.
-------
Shooting for the Production Group exercise today. I'm acting. Yikes.
Holidays almost over huh. Ok, do research question time loh. Bobobobo bozo. Have a nice day.
:o)
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Hi. Today I studied poems for ENGLISH 210. I don't really like them [yet] but I know they're good for me. So I suppose I'll keep going.
-------
Anyway I was clicking on the yellow stars on my MSN contact list just then and found this post on my friend Terry's blog. Here's a quote:
I just wanted to say that this is the best blog entry I have seen in a long time. Honestly, this post captures everything anyone has ever felt about anything.
"For sum reason I just feel.......surreal... like... i dunno, it just feels dream like, therefore surreal." - Totally.
"Its like a time in ur life wen u realise ur in between ur life rite!?" - Uh huh.
"Its like ur in a space, of just being there and u just wanna get stuck there, even tho everything else around u is moving, it just feels you...yourself isnt really...." - I know exactly how that feels.
You'd think that a post written with awesome vocabulary and a mastery of language would be 'good'. But sometimes the best blogs are the vague ones that capture a mood. This is what I'm talking about. Being vague is actually... mindblowing.
Yeah, mindblowing.
-------
I just realised today that everyone should take it easy. Nothing's easy, but everyone should just take it easy. I woke up and suddenly realised there isn't much point in getting worried or stressed over anything (uh huh), so why not just let things happen? Like, everything works out in the end anyway and no one really cares about anything anyway, since everything just happens, you know? Yeah, yeah. Cos like, people who get all uptight about this and about that and then get a tumor, it's like there's no point? Like you could enjoy every day and stuff and but take it easy and it's all good and then things work out and nothing too bad happens.
;o)
-------
Anyway I was clicking on the yellow stars on my MSN contact list just then and found this post on my friend Terry's blog. Here's a quote:
Im sittin here listenin to the rain tap on ma window.
For sum reason i just feel.......surreal... like... i dunno, it just feels dream like, therefore surreal.
Wanted to jot down this moment coz, i never had one of these moments b4.
Its like a time in ur life wen u realise ur in between ur life rite!?
The crossover stage of when ur about to leave child hood and when ur about to start sumtin older.....
Its like ur in a space, of just being there and u just wanna get stuck there, even tho everything else around u is moving, it just feels you...yourself isnt really....
I dunno, weirdest feeling and moment ever....
I just wanted to say that this is the best blog entry I have seen in a long time. Honestly, this post captures everything anyone has ever felt about anything.
"For sum reason I just feel.......surreal... like... i dunno, it just feels dream like, therefore surreal." - Totally.
"Its like a time in ur life wen u realise ur in between ur life rite!?" - Uh huh.
"Its like ur in a space, of just being there and u just wanna get stuck there, even tho everything else around u is moving, it just feels you...yourself isnt really...." - I know exactly how that feels.
You'd think that a post written with awesome vocabulary and a mastery of language would be 'good'. But sometimes the best blogs are the vague ones that capture a mood. This is what I'm talking about. Being vague is actually... mindblowing.
Yeah, mindblowing.
-------
I just realised today that everyone should take it easy. Nothing's easy, but everyone should just take it easy. I woke up and suddenly realised there isn't much point in getting worried or stressed over anything (uh huh), so why not just let things happen? Like, everything works out in the end anyway and no one really cares about anything anyway, since everything just happens, you know? Yeah, yeah. Cos like, people who get all uptight about this and about that and then get a tumor, it's like there's no point? Like you could enjoy every day and stuff and but take it easy and it's all good and then things work out and nothing too bad happens.
;o)
So I was watching this movie called The Godfather yesterday. Now, about half an hour in I stopped watching this movie because:
My mum was watching this hit Korean soap series called Winter Sonata (2002) which she rented. Well, uh, I thought I'd sit down to see what all the fuss was about. Anyway, that ended up being seven episodes in a row. And this thing is actually pretty good. It's about this girl who was in love with this guy who supposedly died in a car crash but then years later she sees someone who looks just like him but then she's engaged to this other guy but then there's complications and so on. Oooo who will end up with who.
A TV show can't be too bad if it can draw one away from The Godfather, apparently the greatest film of all time.
Well, I eventually did come back and finish watching that Mafia movie.
Was it everything everyone promised me that it'd be?
No. One guy said it has the best car chase in the history of cinema. Well, this movie does not have one good car chase in it. Also, there are no Japanese characters. And, unlike my barber said, the movie is not about polar bears.
But it's a great movie. I can't compare this to Apocalypse Now [Redux] because I see this as more of a conventional Hollywood movie (whenever I refer to Hollywood in this context I do not mean all the connotations associated with the place. Rather, I'm talking about the time-honoured storytelling form) whereas ANR is certainly more 'out there'. The Godfather is the template for how to make a balanced movie. Note I said balanced. Everything in moderation. It might sound mild, but this is one of the biggest compliments I would give any film. If you ever catch me saying, 'This movie is complete,' or 'This movie is balanced,' it means it is awesome. If you do everything right, this is what you get. A movie in which no individual part (at least for me) pokes out as being 'awesome' but every part contributes to making it work. I think this is important. No elements want to steal the show. Like, 'Oh look at me this frame is so pretty,' or 'Look at me I am giving you a powerful performance.' I'm sure some could try and argue about how good Brando's performance was or how nice the music was, but my point is, none of these elements seemed (to me) to be drawing attention to themselves to the detriment of the film. This is what beginning filmmakers should aim to make (or, any filmmaker for that matter), not some pretentious chocolate Flake-Snickers bar thing that no one can digest. A complete film, not a 'look at me' film. The Don had nothin' to prove to anyone. I feel the same way about how Coppola approached the directon of this film. When things were done, they were done. He told the story then got the hell out of there. And it took almost three hours.
But fucking great time management.
A (duh)
Anyway, I also took the time to see two new episodes of The O.C. and---
Uh huh, that still frame capture says it all. Samaire Armstrong has a three episode stint on The O.C. and that, that, that - is blogworthy.
Have a nice day.
My mum was watching this hit Korean soap series called Winter Sonata (2002) which she rented. Well, uh, I thought I'd sit down to see what all the fuss was about. Anyway, that ended up being seven episodes in a row. And this thing is actually pretty good. It's about this girl who was in love with this guy who supposedly died in a car crash but then years later she sees someone who looks just like him but then she's engaged to this other guy but then there's complications and so on. Oooo who will end up with who.
A TV show can't be too bad if it can draw one away from The Godfather, apparently the greatest film of all time.
Well, I eventually did come back and finish watching that Mafia movie.
Was it everything everyone promised me that it'd be?
No. One guy said it has the best car chase in the history of cinema. Well, this movie does not have one good car chase in it. Also, there are no Japanese characters. And, unlike my barber said, the movie is not about polar bears.
But it's a great movie. I can't compare this to Apocalypse Now [Redux] because I see this as more of a conventional Hollywood movie (whenever I refer to Hollywood in this context I do not mean all the connotations associated with the place. Rather, I'm talking about the time-honoured storytelling form) whereas ANR is certainly more 'out there'. The Godfather is the template for how to make a balanced movie. Note I said balanced. Everything in moderation. It might sound mild, but this is one of the biggest compliments I would give any film. If you ever catch me saying, 'This movie is complete,' or 'This movie is balanced,' it means it is awesome. If you do everything right, this is what you get. A movie in which no individual part (at least for me) pokes out as being 'awesome' but every part contributes to making it work. I think this is important. No elements want to steal the show. Like, 'Oh look at me this frame is so pretty,' or 'Look at me I am giving you a powerful performance.' I'm sure some could try and argue about how good Brando's performance was or how nice the music was, but my point is, none of these elements seemed (to me) to be drawing attention to themselves to the detriment of the film. This is what beginning filmmakers should aim to make (or, any filmmaker for that matter), not some pretentious chocolate Flake-Snickers bar thing that no one can digest. A complete film, not a 'look at me' film. The Don had nothin' to prove to anyone. I feel the same way about how Coppola approached the directon of this film. When things were done, they were done. He told the story then got the hell out of there. And it took almost three hours.
But fucking great time management.
A (duh)
Anyway, I also took the time to see two new episodes of The O.C. and---
Uh huh, that still frame capture says it all. Samaire Armstrong has a three episode stint on The O.C. and that, that, that - is blogworthy.
Have a nice day.
Sunday, April 23, 2006
Hello. Wanna know what I spent three hours doing this morning?
Cleaning blinds.
I advise anyone and everyone against having horizontal blinds in their house.
a) They are a bitch to clean. You have to vacuum each row before you wipe them (otherwise you'd have to wash your cloth every 2-3 rows, which is not effective). So, you vacuum row by row, however, each row is divided into four segments (because of the hanger dividers that hold the blinds up). So for a 'normal' window, you have four segments times fifty-one rows, which is over four-hundred individual 'rows'. However, you can't run the vacuum head over each row once. To be thorough, you'd probably have to run it over about 3-4 times. So that's 200x3 which is around six-hundred horizontal 'wipes'. Now, vacuuming is not enough, because usually you have your windows open or half open, so there's moisture, which means that you get bits of dust stuck to the blinds here and there. So, repeat the 600 wipes with a cloth (in which case you must do them slower because you must keep the cloth in contact with the blinds at all times). So anyway, we have three blinds, so that's an hour per window.
b) Even when they are clean, they don't look much nicer than when they are dirty.
They are things which have a very, very low value-to-maintenance ratio, which makes them totally not worth the trouble in my view (yup, that's another pun). Plus, when you talk about it, (e.g. cleaning blinds), it makes for a very short sentence (like above) and does not sound impressive at all. Whereas other chores, such as 'vacuuming the floor' or 'cooking a meal' are only one or two syllables longer, yet carry so much more weight.
By the way, this is an awesome post by William on meta-conversing. His article explains common behaviours in conversations so well. Here. It's really really good.
Off to an ADR session for Steve's short film. See you.
:o)
Cleaning blinds.
I advise anyone and everyone against having horizontal blinds in their house.
a) They are a bitch to clean. You have to vacuum each row before you wipe them (otherwise you'd have to wash your cloth every 2-3 rows, which is not effective). So, you vacuum row by row, however, each row is divided into four segments (because of the hanger dividers that hold the blinds up). So for a 'normal' window, you have four segments times fifty-one rows, which is over four-hundred individual 'rows'. However, you can't run the vacuum head over each row once. To be thorough, you'd probably have to run it over about 3-4 times. So that's 200x3 which is around six-hundred horizontal 'wipes'. Now, vacuuming is not enough, because usually you have your windows open or half open, so there's moisture, which means that you get bits of dust stuck to the blinds here and there. So, repeat the 600 wipes with a cloth (in which case you must do them slower because you must keep the cloth in contact with the blinds at all times). So anyway, we have three blinds, so that's an hour per window.
b) Even when they are clean, they don't look much nicer than when they are dirty.
They are things which have a very, very low value-to-maintenance ratio, which makes them totally not worth the trouble in my view (yup, that's another pun). Plus, when you talk about it, (e.g. cleaning blinds), it makes for a very short sentence (like above) and does not sound impressive at all. Whereas other chores, such as 'vacuuming the floor' or 'cooking a meal' are only one or two syllables longer, yet carry so much more weight.
By the way, this is an awesome post by William on meta-conversing. His article explains common behaviours in conversations so well. Here. It's really really good.
Off to an ADR session for Steve's short film. See you.
:o)
Saturday, April 22, 2006
The last two days have been fairly productive. I finally finished reading the Film Scoring book I started reading during summer then stopped reading for 5 months.
Verdict: The title of the book makes it sound like it's actually about 'film scoring'. It is more of a primer than a book that actually teaches you to score movies. Rather, it answers any filmmakers' questions on what the music department of a film crew actually does. What the music workflow is like, how long each stage of the process takes, the things one needs to be aware of when planning a film, how the visuals are synced up with the music, the order in which things are usually done, the roles of the different people in the music department, the usual scoring methods for animation/television/feature films/commercials, how to acquire songs, exactly how royalties are paid and how the financial side of music scoring works, the history of film scores and how they've changed over time as a result of socio-economic and technological influences and so on. Blah, long sentence. Anyway, since this book did come from Berklee, it also contains interviews with quite a few full-time working composers who specialise in different areas, such as Alf Clausen (The Simpsons, goes over animation scoring), Danny Elfman (almost every Tim Burton film) and Alan Silvestri (Forrest Gump, Back to the Future series).
Am I just advertising for this book? Maybe. But if anyone wants to borrow this and have a flick through they are welcome to ask. As long as they don't use it as a weapon or a paperweight.
-------
I started reading that Shares book and that Moviemakers' Masterclass book. Anyway, they are quite interesting. I also went back after a few days break to Wednesday and moved some of the cuts. I don't think I planned it out very well, so the film's littered with numerous jarring cuts. I'm not sure about whether or not I want to leave it as a completely silent film or to do a bit of music for it.
-------
Went with my parents to a Turners Auction this morning. This was a very educational experience. Firstly:
There is no reason to get a car at a dealership. Why? Turners is so cheap. Everything either went for their auction estimate or in many cases (about 50% of the time) they went for a grand or two below the auction estimate. Now, yes the dealer can provide you with insurance or whatever. But at Turners, the auction estimates are themselves at least two-three grand less than the dealer asking prices. Of course, you can bargain with the dealer, so you could probably end up with a similar price. But at Turners, you get 3-4 auctions per week, each with maybe 100+ cars (today's one had 162 vehicles), so I don't know how you could run low on selection.
We didn't buy anything today as we wanted to know exactly what was out there first. We did spot a couple of cars we were interested in, but in both cases they didn't quite fit our current situation or our budget (either too new and... new, or too... new). Now, originally we were looking at 2001 Jap-Hatchbacks, but when we got there my Mum sort of freaked out.
"OFMGR are you kidding me these cars are so frickin' new. They are like... newer than our car!"
Well... technically no, they are older than our car. But condition-wise, yes, they were pretty amazing. So now uh... we're getting an older car. Good good: cheaper, less Hulk-glass-smash-wanna-break-into-car-worthy and more affordable. Wait, more affordable = cheaper. Yes? I dunno. But it was good. The best part:
Listening to the auctioneers lose their voices. These people are funny. You know that episode of Family Guy that shows Cleveland when he was an auctioneer? Yeah, these guys are faster. Must be a pretty exciting job, shouting at the top of your lungs for 3 hours straight without drinking water (yup, non-stop) four-five times a week. And when I say non-stop I mean, a maximum of 2-3 seconds pause for the entire three hours. Go auctioneers.
-------
I have made it a habit to write a two-page 'script' every morning when I wake up, regardless of quality. They call this mud (wait, I've already mentioned this). But anyway, this is what I'm trying to do to hone my screenwriting skills, even if I don't have very good ideas right now. Because when I do get good ideas, I'll be able to convey them better.
-------
Hey, I like the V For Vendetta score. It's by this guy called Dario Marianelli. The first cue is this mix of very Batman-esque cellos with an 'Imperial' sounding trumpet part (and snare) so that for a bar or two you feel 'majestic' then you suddenly feel like it's night time and it's scary, then it goes back to the majestic atmosphere and it flips back and forwards. But I really like the other 'Evey Reborn' cue. This is basically the mysterious upward progression one that you hear whenever there is a montage in the movie - for example when the rebellion is growing in mass or when Evey is breaking down and is out in the rain or when the civilians in Guy Fawkes masks are marching - I really like that. The reason is, the music really gives V that 'historical icon' weight, yet he's not exactly a superhero, but we get glimpses of all the other ones we're familiar with.
I've also been listening to the Spiderman/Spiderman 2 scores again, and, I really like the themes in that too. What I like about the score for Spiderman is that Danny Elfman has taken those very grand Batman-esque things (read:title credits and when Spiderman is swinging from building to building at night), yet made it messy. By messy I mean, those electronic elements and 'clouding' the melodies - he keeps coming up with the brass section honking like cars every time there's a 'cool theme'. So you never get to hear it in all its glory except maybe once or twice. Also, the quiet theme is really good. I think it's a major major reason why the new Spiderman franchise is getting all this street cred (haha! note to self a minimum of one-pun-per-post). Not only because they are solid films, but because the music gives it a weight that is absent in say um, Fantastic Four or The Punisher. So now you have the 'crap new comic book films' and the 'oh we are so substantially good films'. Batman, Spiderman, X-Men (only X-2 maybe, I'm not too sure on this one) and maybe Superman (we'll see) belong to this group. Crap-fish-fish fish? Daredevil and what the fuck Elektra. Yikes Daredevil was bad. Ben Affleck man, you need to stick to writing. Maybe. I don't know, how much of that script did Matt Damon write? Cos he seems pretty sharp. Esp. in those Bourne films.
Ok bye.
Verdict: The title of the book makes it sound like it's actually about 'film scoring'. It is more of a primer than a book that actually teaches you to score movies. Rather, it answers any filmmakers' questions on what the music department of a film crew actually does. What the music workflow is like, how long each stage of the process takes, the things one needs to be aware of when planning a film, how the visuals are synced up with the music, the order in which things are usually done, the roles of the different people in the music department, the usual scoring methods for animation/television/feature films/commercials, how to acquire songs, exactly how royalties are paid and how the financial side of music scoring works, the history of film scores and how they've changed over time as a result of socio-economic and technological influences and so on. Blah, long sentence. Anyway, since this book did come from Berklee, it also contains interviews with quite a few full-time working composers who specialise in different areas, such as Alf Clausen (The Simpsons, goes over animation scoring), Danny Elfman (almost every Tim Burton film) and Alan Silvestri (Forrest Gump, Back to the Future series).
Am I just advertising for this book? Maybe. But if anyone wants to borrow this and have a flick through they are welcome to ask. As long as they don't use it as a weapon or a paperweight.
-------
I started reading that Shares book and that Moviemakers' Masterclass book. Anyway, they are quite interesting. I also went back after a few days break to Wednesday and moved some of the cuts. I don't think I planned it out very well, so the film's littered with numerous jarring cuts. I'm not sure about whether or not I want to leave it as a completely silent film or to do a bit of music for it.
-------
Went with my parents to a Turners Auction this morning. This was a very educational experience. Firstly:
There is no reason to get a car at a dealership. Why? Turners is so cheap. Everything either went for their auction estimate or in many cases (about 50% of the time) they went for a grand or two below the auction estimate. Now, yes the dealer can provide you with insurance or whatever. But at Turners, the auction estimates are themselves at least two-three grand less than the dealer asking prices. Of course, you can bargain with the dealer, so you could probably end up with a similar price. But at Turners, you get 3-4 auctions per week, each with maybe 100+ cars (today's one had 162 vehicles), so I don't know how you could run low on selection.
We didn't buy anything today as we wanted to know exactly what was out there first. We did spot a couple of cars we were interested in, but in both cases they didn't quite fit our current situation or our budget (either too new and... new, or too... new). Now, originally we were looking at 2001 Jap-Hatchbacks, but when we got there my Mum sort of freaked out.
"OFMGR are you kidding me these cars are so frickin' new. They are like... newer than our car!"
Well... technically no, they are older than our car. But condition-wise, yes, they were pretty amazing. So now uh... we're getting an older car. Good good: cheaper, less Hulk-glass-smash-wanna-break-into-car-worthy and more affordable. Wait, more affordable = cheaper. Yes? I dunno. But it was good. The best part:
Listening to the auctioneers lose their voices. These people are funny. You know that episode of Family Guy that shows Cleveland when he was an auctioneer? Yeah, these guys are faster. Must be a pretty exciting job, shouting at the top of your lungs for 3 hours straight without drinking water (yup, non-stop) four-five times a week. And when I say non-stop I mean, a maximum of 2-3 seconds pause for the entire three hours. Go auctioneers.
-------
I have made it a habit to write a two-page 'script' every morning when I wake up, regardless of quality. They call this mud (wait, I've already mentioned this). But anyway, this is what I'm trying to do to hone my screenwriting skills, even if I don't have very good ideas right now. Because when I do get good ideas, I'll be able to convey them better.
-------
Hey, I like the V For Vendetta score. It's by this guy called Dario Marianelli. The first cue is this mix of very Batman-esque cellos with an 'Imperial' sounding trumpet part (and snare) so that for a bar or two you feel 'majestic' then you suddenly feel like it's night time and it's scary, then it goes back to the majestic atmosphere and it flips back and forwards. But I really like the other 'Evey Reborn' cue. This is basically the mysterious upward progression one that you hear whenever there is a montage in the movie - for example when the rebellion is growing in mass or when Evey is breaking down and is out in the rain or when the civilians in Guy Fawkes masks are marching - I really like that. The reason is, the music really gives V that 'historical icon' weight, yet he's not exactly a superhero, but we get glimpses of all the other ones we're familiar with.
I've also been listening to the Spiderman/Spiderman 2 scores again, and, I really like the themes in that too. What I like about the score for Spiderman is that Danny Elfman has taken those very grand Batman-esque things (read:title credits and when Spiderman is swinging from building to building at night), yet made it messy. By messy I mean, those electronic elements and 'clouding' the melodies - he keeps coming up with the brass section honking like cars every time there's a 'cool theme'. So you never get to hear it in all its glory except maybe once or twice. Also, the quiet theme is really good. I think it's a major major reason why the new Spiderman franchise is getting all this street cred (haha! note to self a minimum of one-pun-per-post). Not only because they are solid films, but because the music gives it a weight that is absent in say um, Fantastic Four or The Punisher. So now you have the 'crap new comic book films' and the 'oh we are so substantially good films'. Batman, Spiderman, X-Men (only X-2 maybe, I'm not too sure on this one) and maybe Superman (we'll see) belong to this group. Crap-fish-fish fish? Daredevil and what the fuck Elektra. Yikes Daredevil was bad. Ben Affleck man, you need to stick to writing. Maybe. I don't know, how much of that script did Matt Damon write? Cos he seems pretty sharp. Esp. in those Bourne films.
Ok bye.
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Mafia eh? Princeton has a Graduate Mafia Brotherhood (the card game). Awesome!
Looking at the Wikipedia page for Mafia, I discovered a few 'character variants' that could be added to the game for more fun:
The Godfather: A member of the Mafia who appears Innocent when investigated.
The Vigilante: A person who is on the side of the civilians but can kill one person at night when everyone's eyes are closed. Lol! They should call this the Batman.
And I love this one:
The Village Idiot: This person opens their eyes on the first night so they know who the Mafia are, and are on the Mafia's side. He/she cannot kill, but the role is to spread confusion during the voting. Roffle!
And what the HUH!HH??!?! is this character?!??!!
Sexy-sexy: This character is a civilian who has sex with a villager every night. They have no effect on the game, but this supposedly 'adds fun' to the role-playing aspect of the game.
And one more that I laughed at:
The Ninja: This person is able to dodge one bullet (i.e. has immunity to Mafia once), and then at any point in the voting part they may say, 'I flip out and kill ____' and then that person and the Ninja both instantly die.
XD
You know, I think the funniest character variant is this one:
Evil Narrator: The narrator hands out civilian cards to everyone (so there is no Mafia and no special characters), but continues to narrate the game as if the special characters existed (including killing people and making up a story). Hahah!
They also have The Bomb, The Sensei, The Serial Killer and a lot of other character variants. Apparently you can also play with 'multiple families' who try to wipe each other out (i.e. gang vs. gang). You can also have a Cupid who chooses two people to be 'lovers'. Then the Lovers' objective is to stay alive together till the end of the game, and if one of them is voted off or dies, the other dies of a broken heart too. Hahaha! Weird huh.
-------
Hey, it's Miro's birthday! Now, I know nothing about that fine art shiznit. But when I was seven my Mum gave me this book about Miro, that had lots of his wacky pictures. I think it's cool that his stuff is funny and colourful for kids to look at, unlike that Vermeer light-reflection-oooo-I'm-so-good-with-shadows. Nah, I don't really care, I just like this new 'haha-look at-that-round-circular-thing' stuff.
-------
Didn't watch any films today. My mum did watch Goodfellas however (which she thought as a good movie, uh huh), and I watched more of Grey's Anatomy. Can I just say:
The bomb episodes are brilliant. TV2 is currently up to Episode 12 of season two. The bomb episodes are 16-17. If you are not currently watching this show, I recommend it, to anyone and everyone. Like any medical show, there are sentimental 'life-death-oh-no-please-don't-die' moments. But this is about as solid as shows get, with the Music Supervision, Direction, Characterisation just spot on. This show gets the balance of humour, drama, soap (hahaha pun intended) and antibiotics just right. The format is great, the character dynamics work. This is what good TV is made of.
And also, there's this other show that I don't think *quite* as many people watch. Veronica Mars. I'm not sure if the second season has started screening in NZ, but this show is exemplary narrative writing. Maybe going out and renting the first season of it is a good idea before watching season two, but this show's plot mysteries are linked up very well. As in, stuff from the beginning of the season is actually tied up to stuff later in the season. And character histories and motivations are well tracked. Unlike that other show about neurotic people who keep hearing aeroplane landing sounds whenever they remember stuff from their past. Also, the dialogue is youthful.
Then there's Everwood. The family show that's better than 7th Heaven, Home and Away and Neighbours. Yeah, it's in its final season. And it is probably one of the most consistently high quality family shows I know of. By that I mean, every episode is heart warming and put together with care and it's not always about sex and punching people and teenagers in miniskirts or bikinis (*cough*The OC*cough*).
The O.C. - one of 'those' shows. Uh huh. It's not like the show is trying to hide the fact that it's an exaggeration. No, the nerdy super-hero dress sense is not subtle. Neither is the fact that they've decided to give Marissa massive eye-shadows as soon as she starts dating a 'bad-boy'. Then when she's back on the 'good side' (and not doing drugs anymore) she immediately starst wearing pink. That's the great thing about this show. This is called German-Jewish-Californian Expressionism. First off, Josh Schwartz (show creator) has confirmed that they will be back for a season four. Second, season three is awesome. Anna Stern will be back in the next episode and... Ryan hasn't punched anyone in a couple of episodes. If you look up you will notice that the quote at the top of the page (at least currently) is a Seth Cohen quote. This is the kind of stuff you have to watch the show on a regular basis to 'like'. I rarely watch an episode of this show without a massive smile on my face. The wacky-adlibs and the this cannot be real, like, ever element make me want to sneeze and then jump into a go-cart and drive into a lamp post. People either love (or love to hate) the fantasy world of this show and how incredibly fast everything happens. Like this much stuff really happens in a year. Wait, I take that back.
This year is sort of proof that the stuff we see on TV really does happen in real life.
-------
Hey check this out, did you know Kim Jong Il (yes, that character from Team America) kidnapped a successful South Korean director and his wife and took them back to North Korea just so he could boost the North Korean Film Industry? The filmmaker is Shin Sang-ok. Lol, after he was kidnapped in 1978, he tried to escape and was caught and put in prison for four years. After he was released from prison he made seven films for Kim Jong Il in eight years. The couple escaped to the US in 1986, and returned to South Korea in 1994. Anyways, he passed away about a week ago, I just found this story pretty interesting.
-------
Ok good night. Take care.
Looking at the Wikipedia page for Mafia, I discovered a few 'character variants' that could be added to the game for more fun:
The Godfather: A member of the Mafia who appears Innocent when investigated.
The Vigilante: A person who is on the side of the civilians but can kill one person at night when everyone's eyes are closed. Lol! They should call this the Batman.
And I love this one:
The Village Idiot: This person opens their eyes on the first night so they know who the Mafia are, and are on the Mafia's side. He/she cannot kill, but the role is to spread confusion during the voting. Roffle!
And what the HUH!HH??!?! is this character?!??!!
Sexy-sexy: This character is a civilian who has sex with a villager every night. They have no effect on the game, but this supposedly 'adds fun' to the role-playing aspect of the game.
And one more that I laughed at:
The Ninja: This person is able to dodge one bullet (i.e. has immunity to Mafia once), and then at any point in the voting part they may say, 'I flip out and kill ____' and then that person and the Ninja both instantly die.
XD
You know, I think the funniest character variant is this one:
Evil Narrator: The narrator hands out civilian cards to everyone (so there is no Mafia and no special characters), but continues to narrate the game as if the special characters existed (including killing people and making up a story). Hahah!
They also have The Bomb, The Sensei, The Serial Killer and a lot of other character variants. Apparently you can also play with 'multiple families' who try to wipe each other out (i.e. gang vs. gang). You can also have a Cupid who chooses two people to be 'lovers'. Then the Lovers' objective is to stay alive together till the end of the game, and if one of them is voted off or dies, the other dies of a broken heart too. Hahaha! Weird huh.
-------
Hey, it's Miro's birthday! Now, I know nothing about that fine art shiznit. But when I was seven my Mum gave me this book about Miro, that had lots of his wacky pictures. I think it's cool that his stuff is funny and colourful for kids to look at, unlike that Vermeer light-reflection-oooo-I'm-so-good-with-shadows. Nah, I don't really care, I just like this new 'haha-look at-that-round-circular-thing' stuff.
-------
Didn't watch any films today. My mum did watch Goodfellas however (which she thought as a good movie, uh huh), and I watched more of Grey's Anatomy. Can I just say:
The bomb episodes are brilliant. TV2 is currently up to Episode 12 of season two. The bomb episodes are 16-17. If you are not currently watching this show, I recommend it, to anyone and everyone. Like any medical show, there are sentimental 'life-death-oh-no-please-don't-die' moments. But this is about as solid as shows get, with the Music Supervision, Direction, Characterisation just spot on. This show gets the balance of humour, drama, soap (hahaha pun intended) and antibiotics just right. The format is great, the character dynamics work. This is what good TV is made of.
And also, there's this other show that I don't think *quite* as many people watch. Veronica Mars. I'm not sure if the second season has started screening in NZ, but this show is exemplary narrative writing. Maybe going out and renting the first season of it is a good idea before watching season two, but this show's plot mysteries are linked up very well. As in, stuff from the beginning of the season is actually tied up to stuff later in the season. And character histories and motivations are well tracked. Unlike that other show about neurotic people who keep hearing aeroplane landing sounds whenever they remember stuff from their past. Also, the dialogue is youthful.
Then there's Everwood. The family show that's better than 7th Heaven, Home and Away and Neighbours. Yeah, it's in its final season. And it is probably one of the most consistently high quality family shows I know of. By that I mean, every episode is heart warming and put together with care and it's not always about sex and punching people and teenagers in miniskirts or bikinis (*cough*The OC*cough*).
The O.C. - one of 'those' shows. Uh huh. It's not like the show is trying to hide the fact that it's an exaggeration. No, the nerdy super-hero dress sense is not subtle. Neither is the fact that they've decided to give Marissa massive eye-shadows as soon as she starts dating a 'bad-boy'. Then when she's back on the 'good side' (and not doing drugs anymore) she immediately starst wearing pink. That's the great thing about this show. This is called German-Jewish-Californian Expressionism. First off, Josh Schwartz (show creator) has confirmed that they will be back for a season four. Second, season three is awesome. Anna Stern will be back in the next episode and... Ryan hasn't punched anyone in a couple of episodes. If you look up you will notice that the quote at the top of the page (at least currently) is a Seth Cohen quote. This is the kind of stuff you have to watch the show on a regular basis to 'like'. I rarely watch an episode of this show without a massive smile on my face. The wacky-adlibs and the this cannot be real, like, ever element make me want to sneeze and then jump into a go-cart and drive into a lamp post. People either love (or love to hate) the fantasy world of this show and how incredibly fast everything happens. Like this much stuff really happens in a year. Wait, I take that back.
This year is sort of proof that the stuff we see on TV really does happen in real life.
-------
Hey check this out, did you know Kim Jong Il (yes, that character from Team America) kidnapped a successful South Korean director and his wife and took them back to North Korea just so he could boost the North Korean Film Industry? The filmmaker is Shin Sang-ok. Lol, after he was kidnapped in 1978, he tried to escape and was caught and put in prison for four years. After he was released from prison he made seven films for Kim Jong Il in eight years. The couple escaped to the US in 1986, and returned to South Korea in 1994. Anyways, he passed away about a week ago, I just found this story pretty interesting.
-------
Ok good night. Take care.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
This morning I woke up to find this waiting for me:
Inside:
1 x Cinematic Motion. The sequel to Film Directing Shot by Shot.
1 x Wabi Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers. I wonder which one of these Sonny is. Answer: All of them. Sorry I took a sneak peak (hey this rhymes!), and this book is awesome.
1x Moviemakers' Master Class. Ok ok, I know you're skeptical about the title. This book will not turn you into a Godard. Or a Lynch. Or a Scorsese. Or the Coens' lost brother. But it has chapters written by each of these groundbreaking filmmakers on their own creative process and their approach to the film medium.
1 x Perspective for Interior Designers. I have nothing to say about this book. It is Sonny's. *Uncomfortable silence in the room.*
*Dennis gets defensive*
"Look, I know nothing about Interior Design ok!??!?!?! What are you looking at?!?!!? You want me to make something up just for the blog? Ok, um, this book seems nicely printed. And it's almost square. But it's 3D as well. And yeah, it's 3D, that's got something to do with Interior Design. Cos Interior Design is to do with stuff that's like, like, um, like 3D. "
1 x The Art of Miyazaki's Spirited Away. Oooooooooooooooooooo. Twenty O's. Count 'em. You could throw this thing from twenty feet at Sylvester Stallone. And it just might knock him out. Spirited Away books don't kill people. People kill people.
And...
2 x Pairs of Fill-Air bags. We're gonna need these some day when we're on Mars. 'Ok guys, open up your bags of air. Breathe in. What? You lost your air? Well, tough luck. You're supposed to suck it in through a straw. Fellow astronauts, please do not ingest your air with forks.'
Side notes:
1.
Mafia is a game that is only fun if:
You don't die early on.
You don't get the same frickin' card in every game.
Maybe I should join Mafia Club. Then I could kill people without actually killing people. Wait, did I say that out loud? Ahem.
2.
Helen's tagboard has disappeared. ><
3.
There are a lot of people doing grocery shopping at 11PM eh?
4.
You want a Number Four? Ok, I'll give you a number four. Number four. *scary music*
5.
My mum was watching Austin Powers 2 the other day. She spent the first five minutes talking about how crude the jokes were and how these movies had no social value. She then proceeded to burst into tears of laughter, only to stop in between gags to say, 'Urgh, I can't believe someone actually made this movie. It's ridiculous!'
For the next half hour:
'This movie is terrible. How did they even get this made?
*laugh laugh laugh laugh*
I'm not going to watch any more of this junk.
*laugh laugh laugh laugh*
These jokes aren't even funny.
*laugh laugh laugh laugh*'
At the end of the laughfest she turned off the TV. Those 90 minutes did not exist.
Conclusion: 'Bad' movies are still awfully good. Ahaha, pun intended. Get it? 'Awfully.' Teehee.
Inside:
1 x Cinematic Motion. The sequel to Film Directing Shot by Shot.
1 x Wabi Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers. I wonder which one of these Sonny is. Answer: All of them. Sorry I took a sneak peak (hey this rhymes!), and this book is awesome.
1x Moviemakers' Master Class. Ok ok, I know you're skeptical about the title. This book will not turn you into a Godard. Or a Lynch. Or a Scorsese. Or the Coens' lost brother. But it has chapters written by each of these groundbreaking filmmakers on their own creative process and their approach to the film medium.
1 x Perspective for Interior Designers. I have nothing to say about this book. It is Sonny's. *Uncomfortable silence in the room.*
*Dennis gets defensive*
"Look, I know nothing about Interior Design ok!??!?!?! What are you looking at?!?!!? You want me to make something up just for the blog? Ok, um, this book seems nicely printed. And it's almost square. But it's 3D as well. And yeah, it's 3D, that's got something to do with Interior Design. Cos Interior Design is to do with stuff that's like, like, um, like 3D. "
1 x The Art of Miyazaki's Spirited Away. Oooooooooooooooooooo. Twenty O's. Count 'em. You could throw this thing from twenty feet at Sylvester Stallone. And it just might knock him out. Spirited Away books don't kill people. People kill people.
And...
2 x Pairs of Fill-Air bags. We're gonna need these some day when we're on Mars. 'Ok guys, open up your bags of air. Breathe in. What? You lost your air? Well, tough luck. You're supposed to suck it in through a straw. Fellow astronauts, please do not ingest your air with forks.'
Side notes:
1.
Mafia is a game that is only fun if:
You don't die early on.
You don't get the same frickin' card in every game.
Maybe I should join Mafia Club. Then I could kill people without actually killing people. Wait, did I say that out loud? Ahem.
2.
Helen's tagboard has disappeared. ><
3.
There are a lot of people doing grocery shopping at 11PM eh?
4.
You want a Number Four? Ok, I'll give you a number four. Number four. *scary music*
5.
My mum was watching Austin Powers 2 the other day. She spent the first five minutes talking about how crude the jokes were and how these movies had no social value. She then proceeded to burst into tears of laughter, only to stop in between gags to say, 'Urgh, I can't believe someone actually made this movie. It's ridiculous!'
For the next half hour:
'This movie is terrible. How did they even get this made?
*laugh laugh laugh laugh*
I'm not going to watch any more of this junk.
*laugh laugh laugh laugh*
These jokes aren't even funny.
*laugh laugh laugh laugh*'
At the end of the laughfest she turned off the TV. Those 90 minutes did not exist.
Conclusion: 'Bad' movies are still awfully good. Ahaha, pun intended. Get it? 'Awfully.' Teehee.
Monday, April 17, 2006
[Film Rating Key: A+ is a work I cannot find flaws in, F is one of the worst films I have seen and C is a dead centre average film. Anything A-ish is likely to be in my Top 100, anything B-ish is worth watching, anything C-ish is passable and anything D-ish is not worth seeing.]
Saw: Yo yo yo. Saw this last night on Ray's birthday. Oh I should probably talk about it before I get started on the movie. Ray is twenty/twenteen years old. Anyway we got a cake and that was nice. And Momo's donburi is better than Renkon's. Perhaps Mentatz's. They're all quite similar, but I prefer Momo's rice. Quite a few birthdays this month huh.
So Saw is not a bad movie. This was actually a very well executed film - the criteria being - a film that has no bullshit and just gets on with the gruesome stuff. It does what it's supposed to do well. It's not much more than that, but it does what it does just fine. I enjoyed it. So, don't be alarmed that I've given it a B-. B- means --> a good but not great movie. The story was tied together cleverly, but a similar theme was explored with more depth in Seven, a movie which is also similar in its tone and 'punishment'/'judgement' bad guy. There were some stupid things in the movie, most notably cartoonish fast-forwards, but overall it succeeds as a complete film.
Taxi Driver: This is basically a superhero film. Like Batman Begins. Except it deals more with societal injustice in general and does not focus so much on personal injustice like Batman does. This is a good movie, and I can see why it's a classic. B+. The film didn't move me like some other films did. I thoroughly enjoyed the first half the film. I also think the main character was very well drawn for most of the movie - the kind of connection the writing and De Niro's performance created between the audience and the film was what made it good. This movie is well executed. It is the work of a filmmaker who knows what he wants to say and stays focussed on the target throughout the entire length of the film. See this movie if you are in the mood for something serious.
-------
The Chong's have this awesome pot-pan thing. Look at the shape. It's so cute!
Hey look at this big vegetable my Dad grew in the garden that I don't know the name of.
Remember how Bucklands Beach Primary's jungle gym was torn to the ground? Well they're building a new one. Woohoo!
Slides that curve outwards. They designed these so that kids wouldn't crash into each other when they landed. Imagine the reverse design. XD.
Cone-hangers. They look like little yarmulkes (yarmulklauses? yarmulklaus'?).
Spider-web. Wonder what you can do on those.
I.
Cannot.
Wait.
Saw: Yo yo yo. Saw this last night on Ray's birthday. Oh I should probably talk about it before I get started on the movie. Ray is twenty/twenteen years old. Anyway we got a cake and that was nice. And Momo's donburi is better than Renkon's. Perhaps Mentatz's. They're all quite similar, but I prefer Momo's rice. Quite a few birthdays this month huh.
So Saw is not a bad movie. This was actually a very well executed film - the criteria being - a film that has no bullshit and just gets on with the gruesome stuff. It does what it's supposed to do well. It's not much more than that, but it does what it does just fine. I enjoyed it. So, don't be alarmed that I've given it a B-. B- means --> a good but not great movie. The story was tied together cleverly, but a similar theme was explored with more depth in Seven, a movie which is also similar in its tone and 'punishment'/'judgement' bad guy. There were some stupid things in the movie, most notably cartoonish fast-forwards, but overall it succeeds as a complete film.
Taxi Driver: This is basically a superhero film. Like Batman Begins. Except it deals more with societal injustice in general and does not focus so much on personal injustice like Batman does. This is a good movie, and I can see why it's a classic. B+. The film didn't move me like some other films did. I thoroughly enjoyed the first half the film. I also think the main character was very well drawn for most of the movie - the kind of connection the writing and De Niro's performance created between the audience and the film was what made it good. This movie is well executed. It is the work of a filmmaker who knows what he wants to say and stays focussed on the target throughout the entire length of the film. See this movie if you are in the mood for something serious.
-------
The Chong's have this awesome pot-pan thing. Look at the shape. It's so cute!
Hey look at this big vegetable my Dad grew in the garden that I don't know the name of.
Remember how Bucklands Beach Primary's jungle gym was torn to the ground? Well they're building a new one. Woohoo!
Slides that curve outwards. They designed these so that kids wouldn't crash into each other when they landed. Imagine the reverse design. XD.
Cone-hangers. They look like little yarmulkes (yarmulklauses? yarmulklaus'?).
Spider-web. Wonder what you can do on those.
I.
Cannot.
Wait.
Sunday, April 16, 2006
New cover.
Vindicated - Dashboard Confessional.
Lyrics.
Enjoy the fake drums and have a great evening.
-------
The answer to the murder mystery: (don't scroll over until you've read the previous post)
The guy saw the opening credits of Home and Away.
Who is responsible? Show creator Alan Bateman.
Vindicated - Dashboard Confessional.
Lyrics.
Enjoy the fake drums and have a great evening.
-------
The answer to the murder mystery: (don't scroll over until you've read the previous post)
The guy saw the opening credits of Home and Away.
Who is responsible? Show creator Alan Bateman.
Easter! Chocolate. Mmm...
Brands I like: (in order of preference)
Lindt
Cadbury
Godiva
Toblerone
Everything else is pretty good. I think the best mix is - when it melts but does not have the evil-zombie effect. If you eat it and feel like when you speak you make, 'Rarrrrr...' noises, then it's probably bad chocolate.
Now now now, let's not get too carried away. We all know the true meaning of Easter is not eating chocolate eggs. A lot of people take this holiday with great importance.
So, on a more serious note, we shall observe the Scandinavian tradition of
solving murder mysteries
at Easter.
So here's a murder mystery for you:
A guy is found dead in his house on a Thursday morning at 8:37 when his girlfriend came over to his place. He is sitting in his couch in the lounge. On the table beside him is a can of orange juice. The TV is on. The room has three windows, two of them on the wall left of him. The one closest to him is open. Other than the usual furniture, there is an electric guitar in the far corner of the room which is unplugged.
The coroner says the man died at exactly 5:00 pm of a heart attack. However, the man did not have coronary artery disease, was 25 years old, his occupation was a postie, and regularly golfed at the Howick Golf Course with a handicap of 4. He did not smoke and was known to be a mild mannered fellow. His girlfriend is also quite attractive and owns a house in Meadowlands. Her dad is a dentist. Ahem... anyway.
What happened? Who is responsible for his death?
Read the next post to find out what really happened.
Hint: David should be able to solve this one.
Brands I like: (in order of preference)
Lindt
Cadbury
Godiva
Toblerone
Everything else is pretty good. I think the best mix is - when it melts but does not have the evil-zombie effect. If you eat it and feel like when you speak you make, 'Rarrrrr...' noises, then it's probably bad chocolate.
Now now now, let's not get too carried away. We all know the true meaning of Easter is not eating chocolate eggs. A lot of people take this holiday with great importance.
So, on a more serious note, we shall observe the Scandinavian tradition of
solving murder mysteries
at Easter.
So here's a murder mystery for you:
A guy is found dead in his house on a Thursday morning at 8:37 when his girlfriend came over to his place. He is sitting in his couch in the lounge. On the table beside him is a can of orange juice. The TV is on. The room has three windows, two of them on the wall left of him. The one closest to him is open. Other than the usual furniture, there is an electric guitar in the far corner of the room which is unplugged.
The coroner says the man died at exactly 5:00 pm of a heart attack. However, the man did not have coronary artery disease, was 25 years old, his occupation was a postie, and regularly golfed at the Howick Golf Course with a handicap of 4. He did not smoke and was known to be a mild mannered fellow. His girlfriend is also quite attractive and owns a house in Meadowlands. Her dad is a dentist. Ahem... anyway.
What happened? Who is responsible for his death?
Read the next post to find out what really happened.
Hint: David should be able to solve this one.
Saturday, April 15, 2006
What Sonny Found Funny
Hi. It's the holidays. So here's something for the weekend.
So I finished editing Avocado yesterday. But there's been something that's been bugging me for the last three days. While looking through the rushes, I found this segment of footage that seemed to intrigue and confuse me. Anyway, I'm hoping you could help me solve this mystery:
What Sonny Found Funny
Link
or if that doesn't work
Link 2
or if that doesn't work
Link 3 (right click and Save As)
(may not work in Firefox, which causes some downloads to just jump to 100% without actually being so try Internet Explorer)
Hope you're enjoying your weekend.
Quote [Tony Robbins]: Live with passion.
:o)
So I finished editing Avocado yesterday. But there's been something that's been bugging me for the last three days. While looking through the rushes, I found this segment of footage that seemed to intrigue and confuse me. Anyway, I'm hoping you could help me solve this mystery:
What Sonny Found Funny
Link
or if that doesn't work
Link 2
or if that doesn't work
Link 3 (right click and Save As)
(may not work in Firefox, which causes some downloads to just jump to 100% without actually being so try Internet Explorer)
Hope you're enjoying your weekend.
Quote [Tony Robbins]: Live with passion.
:o)
Friday, April 14, 2006
1. Happy Birthday Janko!
2. [RETRACTED BECAUSE OF STUPIDITY OF COMMENT, APOLOGIES TO ALL THOSE WHO MAY HAVE BEEN OFFENDED]
3. Ok, anyway in the garage I found a tape with these animation things we did in primary school for this 'extension class'. We had to draw these short loops, but I was stupid so I didn't draw something that was loop-able.
You are about to witness the first piece of moving image I have ever created: The Rock.
4. Like I said to Sonny, I would finish editing Avocado today. And I have. I still have to do the music for it, but it is completely edited.
5. Chin-ups - I am now altering between left-hand-supinated/right-hand-pronated and vice versa to develop each side individually. I can consistently do four in one set, occasionally five. From now on I may change to doing:
a) Two sets of three, then increasing one in each set gradually.
b) Three sets of two, then increasing one in each set gradually.
6. Played touch today with some people on the Macleans field.
a) Weather was nice.
b) I didn't do much except touch people.
c) I prefer basketball.
7. My parents re-did the garden to have these little tile paths. They are going to re-grow the vegetable section. Feijoa tree!
Take care.
2. [RETRACTED BECAUSE OF STUPIDITY OF COMMENT, APOLOGIES TO ALL THOSE WHO MAY HAVE BEEN OFFENDED]
3. Ok, anyway in the garage I found a tape with these animation things we did in primary school for this 'extension class'. We had to draw these short loops, but I was stupid so I didn't draw something that was loop-able.
You are about to witness the first piece of moving image I have ever created: The Rock.
4. Like I said to Sonny, I would finish editing Avocado today. And I have. I still have to do the music for it, but it is completely edited.
5. Chin-ups - I am now altering between left-hand-supinated/right-hand-pronated and vice versa to develop each side individually. I can consistently do four in one set, occasionally five. From now on I may change to doing:
a) Two sets of three, then increasing one in each set gradually.
b) Three sets of two, then increasing one in each set gradually.
6. Played touch today with some people on the Macleans field.
a) Weather was nice.
b) I didn't do much except touch people.
c) I prefer basketball.
7. My parents re-did the garden to have these little tile paths. They are going to re-grow the vegetable section. Feijoa tree!
Take care.
Thursday, April 13, 2006
So, you wanna know exactly what was on the video tape I found in the garage? I'll let you know tomorrow.
:oP
-------
These lollipops are so cool.
-------
Holidays! Happiness! Harmony! Horlicks! Hobos! Harps! Ham! Hahahaaha!
Alliteration sucks.
Good evening. Enjoy your break. Happy Birthday Ray for Sunday.
:oP
-------
These lollipops are so cool.
-------
Holidays! Happiness! Harmony! Horlicks! Hobos! Harps! Ham! Hahahaaha!
Alliteration sucks.
Good evening. Enjoy your break. Happy Birthday Ray for Sunday.
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Online quizzes... Whaaat guess shall do it. Dark humour? Really. Um.
the Wit
(61% dark, 26% spontaneous, 26% vulgar)
your humor style:
CLEAN | COMPLEX | DARK
You like things edgy, subtle, and smart. I guess that means you're probably an intellectual, but don't take that to mean pretentious. You realize 'dumb' can be witty--after all isn't that the Simpsons' philosophy?--but rudeness for its own sake, 'gross-out' humor and most other things found in a fraternity leave you totally flat.
I guess you just have a more cerebral approach than most. You have the perfect mindset for a joke writer or staff writer.
Your sense of humor takes the most thought to appreciate, but it's also the best, in my opinion.
You probably loved the Office. If you don't know what I'm
talking about, check it out here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/theoffice/.
PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Jon Stewart - Woody Allen - Ricky Gervais
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Didn't post a cover this week because my internet is screwed up. It can't connect for extended periods of time, so whenever I try to upload something it just stops halfway.
Hello! I sold my bass. Arr... now, car hunting is still on. Isn't Trade Me great?
Cold! Brrrrrrr. I just realised today that I don't really like pork.
What's up? Hey Steve, if you type in blogpot instead of blogspot you'll get a bible study page I think. Yeah I think David mentioned it on his blog a while ago.
Nada Surf. Hyperspace. Awesome song. And almost every other song from this great, great band.
-------
I was following this auction on Trade Me for a digital video camera today, and it went crazily high. The reasonable price to pay for it was around $1600, yet people went all the way up to almost $2000, even when there were many better options available for $2000. I think it was the hype, the adrenaline, that convinced the bidders that there was just something awfully special about that one camera. That can happen eh.
Mentatz lunch. Was good. But I like chicken more than pork.
Hey! I found a pack of cards in the garage. OFMGR I found an old videotape. I hope we didn't tape over what was on it...
Find out in the next post just exactly what is on that tape...
-------
Kinder Surprise: For everyone who did not go to the Academy of Strings concert (especially Ray), here are the nice blue cups.
Yeah Ray, you missed out on seeing these things live. And the music wasn't too bad either.
Hello! I sold my bass. Arr... now, car hunting is still on. Isn't Trade Me great?
Cold! Brrrrrrr. I just realised today that I don't really like pork.
What's up? Hey Steve, if you type in blogpot instead of blogspot you'll get a bible study page I think. Yeah I think David mentioned it on his blog a while ago.
Nada Surf. Hyperspace. Awesome song. And almost every other song from this great, great band.
-------
I was following this auction on Trade Me for a digital video camera today, and it went crazily high. The reasonable price to pay for it was around $1600, yet people went all the way up to almost $2000, even when there were many better options available for $2000. I think it was the hype, the adrenaline, that convinced the bidders that there was just something awfully special about that one camera. That can happen eh.
Mentatz lunch. Was good. But I like chicken more than pork.
Hey! I found a pack of cards in the garage. OFMGR I found an old videotape. I hope we didn't tape over what was on it...
Find out in the next post just exactly what is on that tape...
-------
Kinder Surprise: For everyone who did not go to the Academy of Strings concert (especially Ray), here are the nice blue cups.
Yeah Ray, you missed out on seeing these things live. And the music wasn't too bad either.
Monday, April 10, 2006
Hi, I didn't have time to blog about the Academy concert, but it went really well! Congrats to William (for taking out the massive cup, rofl) and Ajita, Jared and Alex. I wish we could have more time to polish the compositions.
Authentic Vietnamese Cafe - yay! We finally went there. I love the variety of little things they have on the plates.
-------
Bonded Merit Scholarship - negative.
'We regret to inform you that due to the high achievement level set for this scholarship we are unable to offer you a scholarship.'
That's nice. But here are some nicer ways of saying the same thing:
1. 'We regret to inform you that due to the high number of applicants for this scholarship we are unable to offer you a scholarship.'
OR
'We regret to inform you that due to the highly selective nature of this scholarship we are unable to offer you a scholarship.'
OR EVEN
'We regret to inform you that we are unable to offer you a scholarship.'
They are implying that:
a) You obviously did not perform to a high achievement level.
b) There are other scholarships given out for people who do not perform to a high achievement level. Well it'd be nice if they pointed out which ones I could apply for.
c) They are assholes. I think it's fairly obvious to me that when I do get rejected I am not good enough. Since I am not good enough I will also not be able to read subtext. Therefore I will require you to explain to me exactly why I am not good enough. Well now I know.
I'm only being picky because the lady at Studylink said, "OMG You're soooo gonna get it," when she saw my GPA from last year. Lol nice. I wonder how many people she said that to.
-------
Film meeting. Good. 48HOURS - sounds good. FTVMS 204 research topic - decided! Ordered books from Amazon! Hey look there's a squirrel outside!
*steals your dinner* See you!
:o)
Authentic Vietnamese Cafe - yay! We finally went there. I love the variety of little things they have on the plates.
-------
Bonded Merit Scholarship - negative.
'We regret to inform you that due to the high achievement level set for this scholarship we are unable to offer you a scholarship.'
That's nice. But here are some nicer ways of saying the same thing:
1. 'We regret to inform you that due to the high number of applicants for this scholarship we are unable to offer you a scholarship.'
OR
'We regret to inform you that due to the highly selective nature of this scholarship we are unable to offer you a scholarship.'
OR EVEN
'We regret to inform you that we are unable to offer you a scholarship.'
They are implying that:
a) You obviously did not perform to a high achievement level.
b) There are other scholarships given out for people who do not perform to a high achievement level. Well it'd be nice if they pointed out which ones I could apply for.
c) They are assholes. I think it's fairly obvious to me that when I do get rejected I am not good enough. Since I am not good enough I will also not be able to read subtext. Therefore I will require you to explain to me exactly why I am not good enough. Well now I know.
I'm only being picky because the lady at Studylink said, "OMG You're soooo gonna get it," when she saw my GPA from last year. Lol nice. I wonder how many people she said that to.
-------
Film meeting. Good. 48HOURS - sounds good. FTVMS 204 research topic - decided! Ordered books from Amazon! Hey look there's a squirrel outside!
*steals your dinner* See you!
:o)
[Film Rating Key: A+ is a work I cannot find flaws in, F is one of the worst films I have seen and C is a dead centre average film. Anything A-ish is likely to be in my Top 100, anything B-ish is worth watching, anything C-ish is passable and anything D-ish is not worth seeing.]
Hi guys. Let's talk about V For Vendetta. Why? Because it sucks.
Here's all the things wrong with the movie (spoilers, but you don't care, you've probably seen the movie anyway)... drumroll...
Why this movie sucks:
1. Because the V guy is a crazy person. Also, he wouldn't shut up. I mean, he talked for the entire movie non-stop, even when that Evie character was crying and having a mental breakdown. Sometimes you wanted to shove a watermelon in his mouth just to see if it'd fit. Or a durian. Mmm... yeah, definitely a durian.
2. Because you couldn't see V's face. I was under the impression we'd get to see some of Hugo Weaving's cool expressions at least ONCE in the film. But NO, all we see is this stupid Guy mask with a stupid smile. There's even this bit when Evie kisses him but then she just kisses the plastic K-Mart piece of shit. And people in the audience were expecting a sex scene.
3. Because I can't think of another reason why this movie would suck. Let me just get this right,
V For Vendetta was awesome. Oh yeah! This movie was like... really good ay?
*holds up a Kentucky fried chicken*
"Sup bro, d'you see dat V moovay? Dat was bad-ass bro! Dose knives r so phat yeah."
B+, through and through. Actually, there's are a lot of A-grade awesomeness in this movie, it just had a couple of small things here and there. But really, a B+ means one of the best movies you're going to see in quite a while. Uh huh. I need to see it again, maybe it'll move up to an A-something. But whatever the grade this is a really good movie.
Why this is a good movie:
1. Because the V guy is a crazy person. Also, he wouldn't shut up. I mean, he talked for the entire movie non-stop, even when that Evie character was crying and having a mental breakdown. Hugo Weaving's voice was everything. Sure, he had heaps of 'look-at-me-I'm-so-smart-I'm-using-hard-out-vocab' lines. But that was part of his personality, so, yeah. Uh huh, that's my reason, 'so yeah'. Next time I rob a bank and I get caught, my alibi would be, "I didn't rob the bank... so yeah."
2. Because you couldn't see V's face. I was under the impression we'd get to see some of Hugo Weaving's cool expressions at least ONCE in the film. This was really good. One of the strongest features of the film. I can't really explain why this was good, 'so yeah'.
3. Also a lot more reasons, like the fact that this is a mind-blowingly good directorial debut from James McTeigue (regardless of how much experience he had in film). The execution was awesome. Some bits may have pushed it a bit, e.g. 'let's show them to be bad', 'let's show the citizens beign inspired', 'let's make references to current events and stuff so it's controversial', 'let's use big words so little kids can't understand what we're saying'. But those are pretty insignificant details. Why? Because the movie works as a whole. The pacing was right on, the structure was superb, the central themes were tightly nit and the editing was excellent. Let me just repeat - the editing was excellent. Continuity editing in all its glory. This is how you cut a movie. Hey, maybe I should give it an A- just on execution. Ok then, here's an A- for you.
Now everyone can plaster A-'s over their faces and say, "Yeah, we watched V For Vendetta and we're giving it an A-. So screw you, Spiderman. Your spandex suit is... nothing! And you have yucky spider-web wrist things. Ew. Go home and study for your Physics test, Peter. Yeah. Yeah."
Go watch V For Vendetta. If you want to. If you don't want to, don't. But just uh... don't cry when the 5th of November comes and you're the Village Reject cos you're wearing a Bob the Builder mask.
I leave you with something really, really intelligent: Let's blow things up! Ahawhawhawhawhaw.
Hi guys. Let's talk about V For Vendetta. Why? Because it sucks.
Here's all the things wrong with the movie (spoilers, but you don't care, you've probably seen the movie anyway)... drumroll...
Why this movie sucks:
1. Because the V guy is a crazy person. Also, he wouldn't shut up. I mean, he talked for the entire movie non-stop, even when that Evie character was crying and having a mental breakdown. Sometimes you wanted to shove a watermelon in his mouth just to see if it'd fit. Or a durian. Mmm... yeah, definitely a durian.
2. Because you couldn't see V's face. I was under the impression we'd get to see some of Hugo Weaving's cool expressions at least ONCE in the film. But NO, all we see is this stupid Guy mask with a stupid smile. There's even this bit when Evie kisses him but then she just kisses the plastic K-Mart piece of shit. And people in the audience were expecting a sex scene.
3. Because I can't think of another reason why this movie would suck. Let me just get this right,
V For Vendetta was awesome. Oh yeah! This movie was like... really good ay?
*holds up a Kentucky fried chicken*
"Sup bro, d'you see dat V moovay? Dat was bad-ass bro! Dose knives r so phat yeah."
B+, through and through. Actually, there's are a lot of A-grade awesomeness in this movie, it just had a couple of small things here and there. But really, a B+ means one of the best movies you're going to see in quite a while. Uh huh. I need to see it again, maybe it'll move up to an A-something. But whatever the grade this is a really good movie.
Why this is a good movie:
1. Because the V guy is a crazy person. Also, he wouldn't shut up. I mean, he talked for the entire movie non-stop, even when that Evie character was crying and having a mental breakdown. Hugo Weaving's voice was everything. Sure, he had heaps of 'look-at-me-I'm-so-smart-I'm-using-hard-out-vocab' lines. But that was part of his personality, so, yeah. Uh huh, that's my reason, 'so yeah'. Next time I rob a bank and I get caught, my alibi would be, "I didn't rob the bank... so yeah."
2. Because you couldn't see V's face. I was under the impression we'd get to see some of Hugo Weaving's cool expressions at least ONCE in the film. This was really good. One of the strongest features of the film. I can't really explain why this was good, 'so yeah'.
3. Also a lot more reasons, like the fact that this is a mind-blowingly good directorial debut from James McTeigue (regardless of how much experience he had in film). The execution was awesome. Some bits may have pushed it a bit, e.g. 'let's show them to be bad', 'let's show the citizens beign inspired', 'let's make references to current events and stuff so it's controversial', 'let's use big words so little kids can't understand what we're saying'. But those are pretty insignificant details. Why? Because the movie works as a whole. The pacing was right on, the structure was superb, the central themes were tightly nit and the editing was excellent. Let me just repeat - the editing was excellent. Continuity editing in all its glory. This is how you cut a movie. Hey, maybe I should give it an A- just on execution. Ok then, here's an A- for you.
Now everyone can plaster A-'s over their faces and say, "Yeah, we watched V For Vendetta and we're giving it an A-. So screw you, Spiderman. Your spandex suit is... nothing! And you have yucky spider-web wrist things. Ew. Go home and study for your Physics test, Peter. Yeah. Yeah."
Go watch V For Vendetta. If you want to. If you don't want to, don't. But just uh... don't cry when the 5th of November comes and you're the Village Reject cos you're wearing a Bob the Builder mask.
I leave you with something really, really intelligent: Let's blow things up! Ahawhawhawhawhaw.
Saturday, April 08, 2006
Hi. Weather was good. Academy concert tomorrow. Gin Rummy rematch, I didn't lose this time.
Does anyone else find Studylink kind of funny? They find ways of getting you excited about their letters then letting you down again and again with ones that don't really say much. Then they go on for weeks without sending you anything when they say they would. Well, this is what it says on their site today:
All applications for the Bonded Merit Scholarships for 2006 have now been considered and applicants will be formally advised of the results shortly.
That sounds pretty freaky eh? Well, I'm not gonna get my hopes up, a lot of people who applied had a better GPA than me. But it'd be nice.
Still haven't decided on my research topic for Media Analysis. It's really interesting though. Especially listening to what everyone else is researching. You can do anything. I mean anything. Which is why it's so hard. It's like a dream come true. You research something you're really into, then you get awarded like 40% of your grade for it.
We're playing compositions by local composers at Academy of Strings, and they're so good! It was so hard choosing between them, because they all sound awesome. Actually, they don't sound awesome, because I don't think we really got enough time to bring out everything in the pieces. But they sounded pretty good today. In particular there were two which were really emotionally resonant and 'ohh...' at certain bits. But all four of them were fun to play, even the one I thought was going to be boring a few weeks ago was pretty cool.
No photos eh? This is getting a bit boring, so - cover tomorrow, of a song I really really like.
:o)
Night. Wait I forgot to do that RPM public commitment thing. Well, I haven't improved quantatively on my pull-ups thing. I can still do four pronated pull-ups and four negatives. But my posture has improved slightly and I'm doing them slower.
HAY FREE TEXT WEEKEND almost over huh? Ahaw haw haw I wonder what Vodafone will come up with next. I had honey soy chicken for lunch and it wasn't raining when I was walking around today!
What, my favourite pair of shoes is wearing out nothing lasts forever I suppose.
Hey we had dinner as a family that doesn't happen that often anymore but it was nice noodles.
It's bizarre how many people search for specific names of people who are not celebrities. I was clicking through my blog traffic info report today, and, like usual, there seemed to be a lot of people typing names into Google, e.g. bands etc. But people who are not famous (i.e. people I know) are searched on Google so often! I'm not going to name whom, but a lot of people. Even I was searched once, with my full name (Chinese and all). Now that's freaky, especially since I don't know many people who know my full name. But a lot of people get searched like, at least once a week on Google.
Actually, it would be pretty funny if it were just people typing their own name in. Roffle. That's probably what it is, people curious about their online presence.
Does anyone else find Studylink kind of funny? They find ways of getting you excited about their letters then letting you down again and again with ones that don't really say much. Then they go on for weeks without sending you anything when they say they would. Well, this is what it says on their site today:
All applications for the Bonded Merit Scholarships for 2006 have now been considered and applicants will be formally advised of the results shortly.
That sounds pretty freaky eh? Well, I'm not gonna get my hopes up, a lot of people who applied had a better GPA than me. But it'd be nice.
Still haven't decided on my research topic for Media Analysis. It's really interesting though. Especially listening to what everyone else is researching. You can do anything. I mean anything. Which is why it's so hard. It's like a dream come true. You research something you're really into, then you get awarded like 40% of your grade for it.
We're playing compositions by local composers at Academy of Strings, and they're so good! It was so hard choosing between them, because they all sound awesome. Actually, they don't sound awesome, because I don't think we really got enough time to bring out everything in the pieces. But they sounded pretty good today. In particular there were two which were really emotionally resonant and 'ohh...' at certain bits. But all four of them were fun to play, even the one I thought was going to be boring a few weeks ago was pretty cool.
No photos eh? This is getting a bit boring, so - cover tomorrow, of a song I really really like.
:o)
Night. Wait I forgot to do that RPM public commitment thing. Well, I haven't improved quantatively on my pull-ups thing. I can still do four pronated pull-ups and four negatives. But my posture has improved slightly and I'm doing them slower.
HAY FREE TEXT WEEKEND almost over huh? Ahaw haw haw I wonder what Vodafone will come up with next. I had honey soy chicken for lunch and it wasn't raining when I was walking around today!
What, my favourite pair of shoes is wearing out nothing lasts forever I suppose.
Hey we had dinner as a family that doesn't happen that often anymore but it was nice noodles.
It's bizarre how many people search for specific names of people who are not celebrities. I was clicking through my blog traffic info report today, and, like usual, there seemed to be a lot of people typing names into Google, e.g. bands etc. But people who are not famous (i.e. people I know) are searched on Google so often! I'm not going to name whom, but a lot of people. Even I was searched once, with my full name (Chinese and all). Now that's freaky, especially since I don't know many people who know my full name. But a lot of people get searched like, at least once a week on Google.
Actually, it would be pretty funny if it were just people typing their own name in. Roffle. That's probably what it is, people curious about their online presence.
Friday, April 07, 2006
A couple of things:
1) I no longer own a Canon XL1 video camera.
2) I know a guy who's really quite an ass. I'm sure you all know at least one person who's like this, but basically, I'm talking about those people who make unsubtle stabs at you during conversation through certain assumptions and questions. And I'm not talking about the thing friends do to each other, cos that's kind of witty and fun. But I'm talking about:
'Hello, have you given up on making movies yet?'
'So, can u actually get a job after your degree?'
Stupid, stupid, stupid. I wonder if these people actually feel good about themselves, like ever.
3) I feel sort of sad about selling my gear. Not because I have any emotional attachment to the stuff. More because the guy I sold my 3x Wide Lens to had a girlfriend, a car, and a better camera than what I had previously owned. And he was slightly older than me and looked like he was well on his way to becoming a cool filmmaker. Ahem.
4) I had a Picnic bar yesterday.
5) I went to Renkon today for lunch. That was good! But sort of small.
6) Exercise is really good! It's this weird thing, that, the more you do it the better you feel! For some reason so many forces in our lives have made it seem like exercise is painful, but the truth is, once you reverse your mindset, exercise becomes a really fulfilling and enjoyable activity.
7) I am having a pretty good day. I feel like that is so. Um. Ok.
Have a great weekend!
1) I no longer own a Canon XL1 video camera.
2) I know a guy who's really quite an ass. I'm sure you all know at least one person who's like this, but basically, I'm talking about those people who make unsubtle stabs at you during conversation through certain assumptions and questions. And I'm not talking about the thing friends do to each other, cos that's kind of witty and fun. But I'm talking about:
'Hello, have you given up on making movies yet?'
'So, can u actually get a job after your degree?'
Stupid, stupid, stupid. I wonder if these people actually feel good about themselves, like ever.
3) I feel sort of sad about selling my gear. Not because I have any emotional attachment to the stuff. More because the guy I sold my 3x Wide Lens to had a girlfriend, a car, and a better camera than what I had previously owned. And he was slightly older than me and looked like he was well on his way to becoming a cool filmmaker. Ahem.
4) I had a Picnic bar yesterday.
5) I went to Renkon today for lunch. That was good! But sort of small.
6) Exercise is really good! It's this weird thing, that, the more you do it the better you feel! For some reason so many forces in our lives have made it seem like exercise is painful, but the truth is, once you reverse your mindset, exercise becomes a really fulfilling and enjoyable activity.
7) I am having a pretty good day. I feel like that is so. Um. Ok.
Have a great weekend!
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Hi! The new Lost episode was pretty good! It was Locke centred, I wonder if there's coincidence in that.
-------
Mars - 1
Snickers - 4
Twix - 2
-------
Finished assignment! Started watching 2046 and Taxi Driver and Kikujiro! Exclamation marks! Question? Hahaha get it punctuation matching content!?
Paragraphs! Used car searching complicated! Lots of research! Learning heaps!
Reading books on laughter and comedy! Lots of psychology babble! Prison Break cool! Everwood cool! Cool TV shows are back! Sad, seasons coming to an end!
I wonder if that was tiring to read.
!
Did that scare you? Or ! or ! or ! Every time I see one of those lines with the dots at the bottom I freak out. Like, 'Woah I have to read it with some excitement in my head, like totally!'
Brain explodes.
Good evening.
-------
Mars - 1
Snickers - 4
Twix - 2
-------
Finished assignment! Started watching 2046 and Taxi Driver and Kikujiro! Exclamation marks! Question? Hahaha get it punctuation matching content!?
Paragraphs! Used car searching complicated! Lots of research! Learning heaps!
Reading books on laughter and comedy! Lots of psychology babble! Prison Break cool! Everwood cool! Cool TV shows are back! Sad, seasons coming to an end!
I wonder if that was tiring to read.
!
Did that scare you? Or ! or ! or ! Every time I see one of those lines with the dots at the bottom I freak out. Like, 'Woah I have to read it with some excitement in my head, like totally!'
Brain explodes.
Good evening.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Poll: Mars or Snickers?
Mars is more feminine chocolate, while Snickers is more masculine (it has nuts). I just had a Moro, yikes. I used to like them. Not anymore. Too gooey. Mars from now on.
So far:
Mars - 2
Snickers - 0
The question is, are you bar-gay or bar-straight?
-------
I just saw First Stop again. I just realised how far I am from being a good filmmaker. Is it that the more movies you make the less clouded your vision becomes? I have so far to go, First Stop is clearly my best movie so far, but there are so many things wrong with it. I don't mean wrong subjectively, I mean, objectively, there are really bad things in it. What am I going to do now?
Finish editing Avocado.
Read read read, write write write, draw draw draw.
Build a dolly in the holidays (main project).
Film lots of short short exercises.
Yup, no big short film until Inter-Semester Break. I need to hone my skills.
-------
Finished my 2000 word Shakespeare sonnet essay today! I arrived in Uni at 10am, started analysing at 10:30, finished at 4! Happiness! Goodness
-------
Enjoy your evening.
Mars is more feminine chocolate, while Snickers is more masculine (it has nuts). I just had a Moro, yikes. I used to like them. Not anymore. Too gooey. Mars from now on.
So far:
Mars - 2
Snickers - 0
The question is, are you bar-gay or bar-straight?
-------
I just saw First Stop again. I just realised how far I am from being a good filmmaker. Is it that the more movies you make the less clouded your vision becomes? I have so far to go, First Stop is clearly my best movie so far, but there are so many things wrong with it. I don't mean wrong subjectively, I mean, objectively, there are really bad things in it. What am I going to do now?
Finish editing Avocado.
Read read read, write write write, draw draw draw.
Build a dolly in the holidays (main project).
Film lots of short short exercises.
Yup, no big short film until Inter-Semester Break. I need to hone my skills.
-------
Finished my 2000 word Shakespeare sonnet essay today! I arrived in Uni at 10am, started analysing at 10:30, finished at 4! Happiness! Goodness
-------
Enjoy your evening.
Saw a chick with a T-shirt that said:
"Baby, I wish I had my library card cause I'm checking you out!"
AHAHAHHA. Honestly, how do people come up with stuff like this?
XD
I'm in the IC Commons and I just did something really stupid. I had my cell phone sitting on the table on the left, and it started ringing cos I got a text. So basically I had my hand on the mouse, and what I did was I moved my mouse to the left and double clicked. That was soooo stupid. Wtf. Basically I thought that my phone was part of the screen and to answer it I needed to select it on the desktop. Well nothing happened, my cursor just sat on the edge of the screen cos it wouldn't go any further.
;_;
I think I don't proof read my blog posts enough. Wait, I don't proof read them at all. No wonder there are so many mistakes in every post.
Must see Taxi Driver tonight.
There. Public commitment = must do.
Have a nice rest of your day.
"Baby, I wish I had my library card cause I'm checking you out!"
AHAHAHHA. Honestly, how do people come up with stuff like this?
XD
I'm in the IC Commons and I just did something really stupid. I had my cell phone sitting on the table on the left, and it started ringing cos I got a text. So basically I had my hand on the mouse, and what I did was I moved my mouse to the left and double clicked. That was soooo stupid. Wtf. Basically I thought that my phone was part of the screen and to answer it I needed to select it on the desktop. Well nothing happened, my cursor just sat on the edge of the screen cos it wouldn't go any further.
;_;
I think I don't proof read my blog posts enough. Wait, I don't proof read them at all. No wonder there are so many mistakes in every post.
Must see Taxi Driver tonight.
There. Public commitment = must do.
Have a nice rest of your day.
Monday, April 03, 2006
Sitting here in the IC Commons at Uni. Movies that I must see in the next two weeks:
V For Vendetta
Taxi Driver
Kikujiro
What makes a good movie? If it were between two films, one which shows a very good command of film language but fairly average content, and one that has really amazing ideas but is badly executed, which would be the better 'movie'? I think it's really hard to talk about. But right now I'm going to go with the first one.
1) Someone would certainly argue that the second movie is not badly executed, but that it chooses to be experimental/different or that its aesthetics and form are appropriate for the subject matter or that it was what the director intended. Well, here we go with this:
Just because a director achieves what he or she sets out to do does not make a movie that much better than it would be if it achieves something he or she did not intend.
If a director set out to make a popcorn comedy, and we find that the resulting film is 'deep', 'emotionally resonant' and 'an artistic masterpiece' (and anything else awesome that the director did not intend) it does not make the film any worse than it is. In fact, it shows that the director may have unconscious competence.
Yes, intention matters. In that if you intend to make something crap, you suck.
2) Movie one's content is unexceptional. Surely there are a lot of people who are competent at their craft, or even very good at their craft, but less people with original ideas. I agree with that. But I think when people say this they are missing the point. We are talking about the better movie, not which director is more original or which one has more provocative ideas. Any film can have any set of strong elements. But for a complete film to be good, form is a pre-requisite. Therefore it is certainly possible to have a really bad movie that has awesome ideas. Which is the case with a lot of films we see these days. So many people want to start new movements, or rebel against traditional Hollywood narrative that they don't want to (and, they won't admit this, but can't) make normal movies. I'm not saying everyone should make films of the same style. I'm saying, form serves substance. Not the other way round. Traditional Hollywood narrative is used again and again because its form is a great platform for expressing your ideas and telling stories in a coherent way.
I say, learn to tell at least one story in traditional 3-act structure first.
Oops I have class. Bye.
V For Vendetta
Taxi Driver
Kikujiro
What makes a good movie? If it were between two films, one which shows a very good command of film language but fairly average content, and one that has really amazing ideas but is badly executed, which would be the better 'movie'? I think it's really hard to talk about. But right now I'm going to go with the first one.
1) Someone would certainly argue that the second movie is not badly executed, but that it chooses to be experimental/different or that its aesthetics and form are appropriate for the subject matter or that it was what the director intended. Well, here we go with this:
Just because a director achieves what he or she sets out to do does not make a movie that much better than it would be if it achieves something he or she did not intend.
If a director set out to make a popcorn comedy, and we find that the resulting film is 'deep', 'emotionally resonant' and 'an artistic masterpiece' (and anything else awesome that the director did not intend) it does not make the film any worse than it is. In fact, it shows that the director may have unconscious competence.
Yes, intention matters. In that if you intend to make something crap, you suck.
2) Movie one's content is unexceptional. Surely there are a lot of people who are competent at their craft, or even very good at their craft, but less people with original ideas. I agree with that. But I think when people say this they are missing the point. We are talking about the better movie, not which director is more original or which one has more provocative ideas. Any film can have any set of strong elements. But for a complete film to be good, form is a pre-requisite. Therefore it is certainly possible to have a really bad movie that has awesome ideas. Which is the case with a lot of films we see these days. So many people want to start new movements, or rebel against traditional Hollywood narrative that they don't want to (and, they won't admit this, but can't) make normal movies. I'm not saying everyone should make films of the same style. I'm saying, form serves substance. Not the other way round. Traditional Hollywood narrative is used again and again because its form is a great platform for expressing your ideas and telling stories in a coherent way.
I say, learn to tell at least one story in traditional 3-act structure first.
Oops I have class. Bye.
Sunday, April 02, 2006
Hi, again, NO COVER this week. I AM keeping to my RPM, I have just switched activities. This weekend I READ ABOUT FILMMAKING. That was good fun. The Clean Linen shoot must be over now. Wonder how it went.
Did not see any films this weekend. Hold on, I did see two, The Long Kiss Goodnight and Chungking Express. Ok fine, I'll talk about them. These two complete this week's 'trio' then I suppose.
The Long Kiss Goodnight: Um, this was alright eh? Shane Black. Witty dialogue in places. Samuel L. Jackson was good as usual. Scary transformation scenes. Good control of film language. But I didn't really feel like it was exceptional or anything. Maybe this is because I just saw A History of Violence and they have this similar thing about people being 'ex-scary'. Not a bad effort though - C.
Chungking Express: Can't say I really like Wong Kar Wai's films so far. I mean, this is like Lost In Translation, except that it isn't very funny or convincing, whereas that film was at least humourous and made you smile at certain bits. This looks like how a student film would look. If it was a student film, it wouldn't be a very bad one. But it isn't. So many of the heavy messages of the film are conveyed through narration and not through action. Show me something. In one scene, a cop watches a high-heeled woman sleep after they have just made love (implied). Through this character's interior monologue, Wong states, 'My mum told me not to sleep with women who wear high heels, cos when you wake up in the morning they'll be gone.' (paraphrase) No matter how deep or spiritually fulfilling that newly-created proverb may sound, what the guy does next sort of boggles my mind. He takes the heels off the woman's feet, takes them to the bathroom and starts wiping them clean with his tie, which he is wearing. What, did they run out of toilet paper?
"Look, I know you want to have sex with me, but I don't want money. I just wanna clean your shoes."
Would someone please tell me, is this footwear-cleaning business the standard protocol for one-night stands? I mean, I'm ok with plumbing or gardening, but the thought that I've been doing the wrong post-coital chores all these years scares the shits out of me.
In no way do I hate this movie, I just didn't feel a lot for it (which I suppose is not a very good thing) - C-.
Did not see any films this weekend. Hold on, I did see two, The Long Kiss Goodnight and Chungking Express. Ok fine, I'll talk about them. These two complete this week's 'trio' then I suppose.
The Long Kiss Goodnight: Um, this was alright eh? Shane Black. Witty dialogue in places. Samuel L. Jackson was good as usual. Scary transformation scenes. Good control of film language. But I didn't really feel like it was exceptional or anything. Maybe this is because I just saw A History of Violence and they have this similar thing about people being 'ex-scary'. Not a bad effort though - C.
Chungking Express: Can't say I really like Wong Kar Wai's films so far. I mean, this is like Lost In Translation, except that it isn't very funny or convincing, whereas that film was at least humourous and made you smile at certain bits. This looks like how a student film would look. If it was a student film, it wouldn't be a very bad one. But it isn't. So many of the heavy messages of the film are conveyed through narration and not through action. Show me something. In one scene, a cop watches a high-heeled woman sleep after they have just made love (implied). Through this character's interior monologue, Wong states, 'My mum told me not to sleep with women who wear high heels, cos when you wake up in the morning they'll be gone.' (paraphrase) No matter how deep or spiritually fulfilling that newly-created proverb may sound, what the guy does next sort of boggles my mind. He takes the heels off the woman's feet, takes them to the bathroom and starts wiping them clean with his tie, which he is wearing. What, did they run out of toilet paper?
"Look, I know you want to have sex with me, but I don't want money. I just wanna clean your shoes."
Would someone please tell me, is this footwear-cleaning business the standard protocol for one-night stands? I mean, I'm ok with plumbing or gardening, but the thought that I've been doing the wrong post-coital chores all these years scares the shits out of me.
In no way do I hate this movie, I just didn't feel a lot for it (which I suppose is not a very good thing) - C-.
I need to clear something up.
My mum did not win the Big Wednesday. Yesterday was the 1st of April.
More like wishful thinking.
;_;
I feel kind of terrible. I am so NOT pulling any April Fool's pranks in the future. In case people actually believe me.
MCSO concert! A rock band called Kick! Drummer conductor! Funny building! Bad service at Rio! Birthday guessing! 'Twas good.
Night.
My mum did not win the Big Wednesday. Yesterday was the 1st of April.
More like wishful thinking.
;_;
I feel kind of terrible. I am so NOT pulling any April Fool's pranks in the future. In case people actually believe me.
MCSO concert! A rock band called Kick! Drummer conductor! Funny building! Bad service at Rio! Birthday guessing! 'Twas good.
Night.
Saturday, April 01, 2006
This is totally surreal. I came home tonight and my mum was screaming. I would explain to you the details of exactly what happened but instead I'm going to skip to the end:
My mum won the Big Wednesday Lottery.
I don't know if I'm dreaming, this is insane. Esp when you're this middle-class family and you are suddenly ready to claim $2 million, a Range Rover, a Porsche, and $50,000 worth of travel expenses per year for five years.
What happens now? I don't know.
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Today, I give you photos.
The chocolate bunny that you missed out on the other day:
Today I had a class and before that I went into the toilets and I was totally 'wtf?'. Look at this picture.
What is wrong?
The toilet roll thing is frickin' far from the toilet seat. Like more than a metre.
To illustrate the point, here is a photo of my hand reaching out (not very clear).
a) I am sure my arm length is not particularly short for an adult male.
b) My fingertips barely reached the toilet roll when I was test-using the toilet.
c) I am sure most disabled people do not have abnormally long arms.
d) This toilet was in the Architecture building.
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Henry came back today! We went to visit the Chongs, it was good. Souvenirs from Malaysia: (yes, they are all orange)
a) Pilates floral pants/togs,
b) Kickapoo Joy Orange drink,
and
c) Orange Gummi lollies.
Permitted Food Conditioners. That's good to know.
Lunch: Taiwanese street food - Salty Chicken and Steamed eggs. Yay!
XD
I am going to go back to my RPM (Results-Focused, Purpose-Driven, Massive-Action) plan. Tony Robbins says making a public commitment is better than just doing it yourself because you cannot back out. So here goes:
Current bicep strength: Four pull-ups in one set and four negatives.
Strength target for end of June: Seven pull-ups in one set.
Strength target for end of Dec: Ten pull-ups in one set.
From now on I must make weekly reports on progress on the blog, every Friday.
Night!
My mum won the Big Wednesday Lottery.
I don't know if I'm dreaming, this is insane. Esp when you're this middle-class family and you are suddenly ready to claim $2 million, a Range Rover, a Porsche, and $50,000 worth of travel expenses per year for five years.
What happens now? I don't know.
-------
Today, I give you photos.
The chocolate bunny that you missed out on the other day:
Today I had a class and before that I went into the toilets and I was totally 'wtf?'. Look at this picture.
What is wrong?
The toilet roll thing is frickin' far from the toilet seat. Like more than a metre.
To illustrate the point, here is a photo of my hand reaching out (not very clear).
a) I am sure my arm length is not particularly short for an adult male.
b) My fingertips barely reached the toilet roll when I was test-using the toilet.
c) I am sure most disabled people do not have abnormally long arms.
d) This toilet was in the Architecture building.
-------
Henry came back today! We went to visit the Chongs, it was good. Souvenirs from Malaysia: (yes, they are all orange)
a) Pilates floral pants/togs,
b) Kickapoo Joy Orange drink,
and
c) Orange Gummi lollies.
Permitted Food Conditioners. That's good to know.
Lunch: Taiwanese street food - Salty Chicken and Steamed eggs. Yay!
XD
I am going to go back to my RPM (Results-Focused, Purpose-Driven, Massive-Action) plan. Tony Robbins says making a public commitment is better than just doing it yourself because you cannot back out. So here goes:
Current bicep strength: Four pull-ups in one set and four negatives.
Strength target for end of June: Seven pull-ups in one set.
Strength target for end of Dec: Ten pull-ups in one set.
From now on I must make weekly reports on progress on the blog, every Friday.
Night!