Blather, rinse, repeat

It was nifty! I liked it in the same way I liked The Matrix when that first came out. I really love these mind / belief / reality themes. Of course I was totally into the idea that reality is timeless in dreams, because you believe it to be so.

In some aspects it reminded me also of Waking Life, especially the way both movies went into the universals of "how to know you're dreaming." I must admit that it was creepier in Waking Life. (Try turning the light on or off in your dream; you never can.)

Of course, I really dig the cool-looking reality-bending scenes, like the weightless fight in the dream-hotel. Yeah, that was pretty cool. (However, I do remember one reviewer saying of Inception, "WOW! I mean this movie has a ZERO GRAVITY FIGHT, where and when have you ever seen anything like that?!" Well, I saw it in The Matrix. It was pretty awesome in Inception too, though. Maybe even my favorite part.)

You know what I noticed about this, what was unexpected? The fact that it wasn't cynical. I went into it knowing that it was going to be one of those reality-challengers, and those often turn out to have some sort of irony which, while turning expectations of plot upside-down also have a tendency to turn expectations of character on their heads, too. You expect someone to really be a bitch, or a character that the story has asked you to sympathize with or enjoy, to flip a switch. I guess I expected some sort of surprising poisonous characterization. But really it was just sort of a romp through dreams, and the romantic aspects of the film were presented sincerely.

I really liked the cast. I don't think there was anyone in there I didn't enjoy. I know it's in vogue to hate on Cillian Murphy (I think?) but he appeals to me, and not just 'cause he went full frontal in 28 Days Later (that film scared the christ out of me.) I think he's cute and sympathetic. I kinda felt sorry for him, getting mindscrewed like that.

I really enjoyed Joseph Gordon-Levitt, with his little sly smile that never seemed to waver through the whole film. Tom Hardy was lots of fun and he looked like he had lots of fun, and I love that. (ALSO HOT) (Plus, were they gay? I kept thinking that.) I liked Dileep Rao too, and through the film I kept wondering where I'd seen him before. (Drag Me To Hell.) Ellen Page (as audience surrogate, pretty much) is just awesome in pretty much everything she does, so. I really just liked everyone; they all did a great job.

Now for the questions.

( SPOILERS. )

However, when the screen went black, I totally went "OH COME ON."

( And ) Lord of Light is like that, too.


Another question: What did Mal bury (keep in the vault) that she didn't want anyone to know? If I knew it last night during or after the movie, I've already forgotten it. Or, was it ( spoiler ) that she buried? I can't remember.

Here's one irritating thing having nothing to do with the film. This dillhole was sitting behind us, with his girlfriend or whatever, and he obviously wasn't getting even the simplest aspects of the film. I know this because whenever something did occur to him, he would turn to her under the pretense of whispering, and in a stage voice tell everyone else what he thought was going on. "AHA! THAT'S THE SAME GUY AS IN THE BEGINNING. I KNEW THAT." "YOU KNOW WHY HE KEEPS COUGHING, RIGHT?" "OH! DON'T YOU GET IT? THE REASON THE VAN IS FALLING REALLY SLOW IS BECAUSE IT'S THE FIRST DREAM."

I turned back a few times and shot him a look that I hope said, "THE REASON YOU ARE STILL TALKING IS BECAUSE IT'S ILLEGAL FOR ME TO PUNCH YOU IN THE FACE."

This guy honestly thought he was one step ahead of the rest of the audience, and was so proud of himself whenever he figured out the most obvious thing.

I do like movies that flip a switch in the viewer and leave you wondering, and I love movies that can outwit me. (The Usual Suspects, Shallow Grave, Fight Club, The Prestige. I'm not going to mention Sixth Sense because M Night Shyamalan has become irredeemable since then, and that takes away from any of his former glory. Seriously, I loathe a writer who thinks that they're outclassing their audience with their cleverness and originality, when really they're just being a chump.)

I'm not sure if Inception really outwitted anyone (aside from the guy behind me) but it was a really fun ride with lots of cool ideas and good effects which weren't overdone or anything like that. I'd probably see it again because a second viewing would be like a second layer. It was nifty. I'd sure recommend it.

Tonight I watched Wolfman which I probably would have skipped if Benicio hadn't been in it. Honestly it was like a two hour version of Ozzy's video for Bark At The Moon. I don't necessarily say that in a bad way, because that's one of my alltime favorite videos.

It was basically atmosphere/scenery porn. If you like the whole "foggy London, moonlit pines, ominous manors, eerie taverns and horse-drawn carriages" thing then it's an easy sell. I happen to always have been into that particular brand of goth lore so I'm not ashamed to say that that aspect worked for me.

I could not, a single time, resist the urge to tack the word "Clarice" onto the end of Anthony Hopkins's lines, and "MissssterrrrrAnnnnnderson" to the end of Hugo Weaving's. (By the way, Anthony Hopkins, Hugo Weaving and Benicio Del Toro? Estrogen Brigade WIN.) Two lines of dialogue went something like, "Silver bullets, do you hunt monsters?" "Sometimes the monster hunts you," and all I could think (and admittedly say aloud, to my own amusement,) was, "In Soviet Russia, MONSTER HUNTS YOU." And of course any scene with a German-accented authority figure giving a presentation on local legend makes me say, "Vee had better make DAMN SURE zet he is not vollowing in his grandfazzer's FOOTSCHTOPPS."

It was typical Wolfman fare and seemed very loyal to the original IIRC, but was actually quite mediocre when you consider the talent that was on board. It was a fun B-Movie complete with angry, torch-and-pitchfork wielding mobs but I think it could have been something actually spectacular with better direction.

Also, it had magic pants. Unless, you know, not everything transformed.

"He vould haff an enormous Schwanzstucker WOOF."









P.S. I used this particular icon 'cause Link is a wolfman in Twilight Princess. If you think about it. Umm.

SPOILERS

Okay, first I have to say that I might in part have enjoyed this movie because I saw it with my Mom, my best friend, and another good friend, on a really fun night out. Delicious pizza, smuggling ice cream and snacks in huge bags into the movie theater, getting excited over the trailers, and generally having a fun time. Those things all really kind of add onto the movie experience for me.

Onward to this actual pretentious "review" of mine.

I loved Iron Man with the kind of fannish ridiculousness I reserve only for superfly, fun movies with a main character so engaging as to be blazingly hot and push all my fangirl buttons. Iron Man 1 was such damn good fun, hot and snarky, and Tony Stark definitely hit nearly every single fangirl button I own: snarky, tragic, vulnerable, flawed, but essentially brave with a huge character arc. Like some of my most beloved characters, he went from being one thing, to an entirely another while keeping his/her core characterization (see: Cloud Strife, Jack Sparrow, Han Solo, Spike, and countless literary examples – I'd be here all night.)

For me, usually the second installment in a series of three ruins something for me. See, where they messed up with Jack Sparrow in the second POTC was that by the end of the first one, Jack had become A Good Man. He was someone who did the right thing, the brave thing, even at personal cost. And then in two, he was back to being a selfish jerk, almost a villain. I love a good villain, but damn it, don't undo what you already established!

And at first, I felt like that's what they were doing to Tony Stark in this one. There were a great many scenes in the first movie which specified that Stark had found his path: He knew in his heart that he had to help people in need. He found his calling. He could still be a total snark-bitch, and he'd be this hero who hadn't lost his teeth.

My favorite scene in the whole movie was when Obadiah Stane steals the arc reactor straight on up out of him. The lit major in me was hyper-aware of every single scene that featured the arc reactor, because of the oooobbbbvious symbolism. (My second favorite scene was always when Stane asks if he can see the arc reactor and Tony Stark shows it to him:


It's little things that make a story for me.)

Anyway, so in the first one, Stane finally steals it by taking it from him (ripping his heart out) and then tells him, "It's beautiful. It's your legacy."

So that was what the English major in me took away from Iron Man: That the hero had a good heart, one which he made himself IN A CAVE! WITH SCRAPS! during a crisis, under great duress, which duh, is when most hearts are made.

So then we come to Iron Man 2, and immediately Tony Stark is douching it up, acting like a total jerkass and glorying in his "hero" role and being all "OH THE WONDER OF ME!" And for the first few minutes, I felt like, Oh man, they just undid all the symbolism they worked so hard to build in the first! Another Jack Sparrow. Sigh.

BUT. I also love it when a story tempts me to dislike the hero, but something redeems him and I just can't. Tony Stark is easy to redeem because even when he's lost his way, he's not technically a bad person, doing evil things. He's just a little prick (which, I was so satisfied when another character said the exact same thing.) And he's so lost, you kind of have to still love him anyway.

No one could pull this off like RDJ. I felt like so much of of this mirrored his own life, and he's always been so talented, and everyone always wanted him to succeed, so that even at his lowest when people were shaking their heads and going, "Tch! Loser!" you still just felt so bad for him.

Then I started reading even deeper into the story, and here's where the MASSIVE SPOILERS come in, seriously, please don't read it if you haven't seen the movie!

( SPOILERS )
Once I thought of it like that, I got it. Oh wow, his character didn't regress – it makes perfect sense.

What did NOT make perfect sense? Tony Stark building a GODDAMN ( SPOILER ) Yes, that's right! What took ( SPOILER ) over twenty years, Tony Stark did in a few hours IN A CAVE! WITH SCRAPS! in his basement. And even more WTF, what ( SPOILER ) could not accomplish, Tony Stark did, just by the sheer force of his hotness. ( SPOILER ) Screw the periodic table right in the facehole! What law of conservation of mass and energy? HOTMANIUM.

But then, yeah, I know. Superhero movie. It's cool. I can get on with it. But the physics geek in me was like, SERIOUSLY?

What I missed from the first one? The sense of danger. See, in all of these you know that Tony Stark can't die, because he's got to be in all three movies. But in part one, I felt the tension, and I felt like a terrible thing could happen to the hero at any time. For some reason, in this one, I wasn't getting the feeling of danger as much. Even when Tony Stark is going out of control, even when he's obviously ( SPOILER ) only once, briefly, did I get the sense of "OH NO, THE HERO!" And it was when ( SPOILER )

Oh, wait, I tell a lie: Also when Vanko first attacks him; that scene they show in all the trailers with the arc whip thingies. God those were cool. That fight was awesome and, not gonna lie, I flipped my crap when the Iron Man suit transformed out of that little box, OMG. I wasn't the only one in the theater going, "yeah, YEAH, YEAH!" in that scene, either. That whole fight was mad hot. And the whole car scene with Pepper, Jon Favreau etc. in the car just before that got some laughs.

Stuff I loved: Tony Stark's one-liners. RDJ delivers them with such bastard timing, you just have to love him for it.

Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer. What an unrepentant weasel! From smug, to violent, to unctuous, thoroughly unlikable in every way. What a fantastic job he did being hateful and repugnant, and I have to give props.

Mickey Rourke was also pretty fabulous, looking totally vile and acting really creepy.

I also kind of loved Pepper Potts in this one, until the very end, when it seems that she ( SPOILER ) Effing seriously? But I thought Gweneth Paltrow was pretty awesome; her timing was great, and in every bickering scene, they have such great chemistry and it seems very natural, and funny. I enjoyed her.

I guess I also liked Don Cheadle. I liked Terrence Howard better by a mile (he's gorgeous with his soulful eyes,) but I mean, it's Don Cheadle.

I loved the exploding stuff. I liked the fights between the mobile dolls and the gundams Vanko's robot suits and Iron Man + War Machine.

I also loved that the sense of fun was still there.

All in all, it wasn't bad for a part two. I was afraid I was going to be wildly disappointed, but I wasn't. I guess it kind of sucks that for most part-twos, you have to say, "Well I expect this to suck quite badly, and really actually mess up the first one. It didn't, so much, so it was good!" If you lower your expectations and never expect the second movie to be as good as the first, then the second movie can be quite good if you let it. I guess you could say it was satisfying in a way. First installments are always the best. They are fresh, new, and there's something about how they're made IN A CAVE! WITH SCRAPS! with a smaller budget and following, that makes them somehow pure.

Still, I think I might re-watch Iron Man 1 when I have the time. :D

I also might go and see this one again, to catch the things that I missed and to re-live the cool scenes.

I wonder if the third one is going to full-on rock? I hope so.

I decided to email the resident editor who chose my chapter for this month's workshop, and thank her. She's got a few books out and one of them looks really awesome, like something I'd just love, so I ordered it. Anyway, I told her how much she had helped me, and inspired me to get better. She wrote back and said that she had no doubt that if I kept plugging away, I'd get this baby published. She said she was pleased to have found such a good story.

INSERT MADLY HAPPY EXCLAMATION HERE.

Today I spent the day—yes, most of the day—trying to edit one lousy chapter to upload to the workshop. It took me a few hours. The rest of my time get 'et up by effing stupidass Tripod and their lame goddamn useless page editor. Three hours to make measly line edits using their stupid uploader.

And then I did my homework, too.

Last week I realized that I had never seen The Pillow Book in its entirety. I'd only ever seen bits and pieces of it back when I had movie channels, years ago. But never had I seen the whole thing. I mean, wtf, my two favorite things? The Pillow Book and Ewan McGregor naked? So I ordered it, and last night I finally sat down and watched it from beginning to end.

W.

T.

F.

No seriously, I mean, Ewan McGregor's penis aside, WTF even was this movie? Vivian Wu was awful, her voice sounded so stilted and forced. The sound blew, I had to ride the volume. And the translations were, I don't even know, like a bad fansub sometimes.

And then, ( spoiler ) But, it was just trippy and some parts of it were pointless and filmed in a really odd way. I hated the "this is also happening" insets, especially when the insets were depicting, like, the same exact goddamn thing that was on the regular screen except from a different view, or whatever.

At least 1/3 of the movie was comprised of Ewan McGregor's penis. I feel like I know it from every single angle. I seriously know what it looks like upside down, from behind, everything. Which is awesome, I'm glad I know what it looks like from every conceivable viewpoint, I won't deny that. I just feel like the movie had less to do with Sei Shonagon and the original Pillow Book than it had to do with Ewan McGregor's penis, Vivian Wu narrating in a dead voice, and some french chick wailing about banging an angel or something. (My French is a little rusty.)

Well. Speaking of hot guys in movies:



Just, YES, DO WANT and all of that. I'm sure bummed that T-Ho got ousted as Rhodes because I thought he was perfect for it. And I really, really, really don't want this movie to suck. I want to love it at least a little bit. At least a fraction of the amount I loved the first one. I know that's so rare with sequels, but I'm going to try really hard to love it.

By the way, I hate when people say "Sequelitis." Inflammation of the sequel? Really, your sequel is swollen? I also hate when people tag "-itis" onto the end of any word when they don't really mean -itis. Huge pet peeve of mine.

Do-dee-doo.

Last night I showed up at Kung Fu only to find the doors of the kwon locked. THANKS FOR TELLING ME, PEOPLE. I called the Dragon and left a message saying, "Don't know if you're aware—probably not—but school is closed." Then, Military Man showed up, and he's got a set of keys. (I keep neglecting to get mine. :/ ) I called the Dragon back and left another message saying, "Well, school is officially closed but we are opening the kwon. So, hope to see you."

We started warming up, and Dragon showed up all dressed up and looking fly, totally not having planned on coming to work out. He explained that he was at his brother's house, bringing a chocolate bunny to his beloved nephew. Then he proceeded to give Military Man and me an awesome private lesson in staff form. (I know staff pretty well, but every Spring I need to tweak it and fix the little problems that creep in over the winter.)

It didn't occur to me till later that he totally did not have to come down and help us. He knew school was closed (Sifu had called him – Dragon thought Sifu had called all of us,) and he was doing something else, but he totally came by anyway to teach us. That was pretty swell.

So, we had a great lesson outside in the parking lot.

And now I am done babbling about staffs of the Kung Fu nature and of the Ewan McGregor nature. I have tons of emails to answer, and still more homework, and some critiques to do. But instead, I'm going to: Do my homework in school tomorrow, answer emails tomorrow after school, and do critiques on my next day off, which is Friday. And I'm going to eat a Skinny Cow ice cream (which I shouldn't, because I've packed on a few pounds and a half,) and play a video game. Then watch an anime, have a glass of wine and, I don't know, go to bed or something.

Early day tomorrow.

Oh, also: Ewan McGregor's penis.

I know I titled another movie review with that header before, but it makes me giggle so I'm using it again. Otherwise I would have titled this “Sherlock Holmes, Steampunk, Random Kung Fu and That Character Who's Not Bad For A Girl.”

So that's actually the first thing I want to get out of the way, this thing I'm going to call the “For A Girl” element. It's that unspoken quantification that seems to follow around these spunky female characters that are tacked on to the plot of Guy Movies. Now by the way, I happen to love Guy Movies. I love these Bromance stories, Dude-bonding, and plots that involve two men going on adventures together. I like that kind of stuff! I fail to understand why society deems it necessary to tack on a romantic female character where one is not necessary to the plot, and then give her all of these supposedly admirable qualities so that she fits in with the Dudes. She's always different from the other female characters, if there are any. The rest of the women in the movie are “typical” - wives, fiances, moms, or extras. Then you get the Tacked On Female and she can fire a gun, take care of herself, figure stuff out. All in all she's pretty smart and tough. For A Girl. And they always seem to show her outwitting and besting some Bad Guy – not the MAIN bad guy of course, but some lesser bad guy. You know, the kind that girls can handle. And I always feel like the writers and director are going, “Look, we put a girl in here for you! And check this out, she can even do things! Don't you gals just love that? Aren't you, like, so appeased? We're throwing you a bone, here!”

Okay maybe I'm just really sensitive to this, being a girl myself who fights with boys (and I'm evenly matched with some, better than one or two, and would get killed by the rest, none of which has anything to do with the fact that I have a vagina.) But I sense this in a lot of damn movies! Like the POTC movies, for instance, of which, by the way, I am a huge fan. But Elizabeth really rubbed me the wrong way because she was written in that For A Girl way, too.

I'm trying to think of some female characters who weren't tacked on and who weren't given that quantification just in order for the movie to seem hip and forward thinking. I'm coming up with Agent Scully and Clarice Starling. Hermione Granger never seemed tacked on, either. Hmm. And Tifa Lockhart, believe it or not. (Even in the movie, she's a better fighter than Cloud, even though at the end it is his battle with the cells inside him that he has to face – it is his battle to win and not hers, but she still overall kicks much more ass than he does.)

ANYway, Sherlock Holmes. I mean, it was tons of fun, I loved the setting, what-with the whole foggy London, cobbled street, gaslight, copper tubs, dawn of industry and, whoop whoop, steam-power feel. I love RDJ and his quirky face, thick wavy hair and ridiculously hot build. The Kung Fu scene was completely unnecessary to: the plot, his character, or the overall setting, and I went into the movie thinking that they would have found a way to make it logically essential, but they did NOT. There was no logic to it at all, it was entirely gratuitous. Now hey, I mean this is me, and gratuitous, sweaty, bare-chested Kung Fu for no other reason than “just 'cause we could” doesn't give me any problems, but gosh, it was just so damn obvious. I'm glad RDJ knows Kung Fu. I'm glad he's in such great shape and can kick so much ass after all that he's been through. I'm always happy to see him get half-nakie. But this is Sherlock Holmes and I think they forgot about that for a while.

I used to find Jude Law wildly appealing, and he's still got that attractive face and all, but he kinda doesn't do it for me anymore. I liked his Watson though, and I thought he was right for it. One thing that kept bugging me was how they used him to explain all of the jokes. For instance, there's this part where he shoots his gun and Holmes tells him, “Save your bullets, Watson.” Then Holmes gets startled and empties his gun at a wall. I thought that was pretty funny and I totally laughed at the goofiness. And then they had Watson say, “What was that about saving bullets?” Yes, WE GOT IT, THANKS. We don't need that nudge to the ribs with the writer going, “GEDDIT? Cute, huh?” He did that in a few instances and I just think that's part of dumbing down movies so that “regular folk” can get it. Well guess what, Hollywood, we're not all goddamn imbeciles.

Moving on, I was also tempted to say, “I liked this movie back when it was called 'Young Sherlock Holmes.'” If you've seen that old 80's flick, you've seen quite a bit of this one, too. Except that in that one, the romance was part of the actual plot as opposed to tacked on, was dripping with syrup, and ended in tragedy. In this one, they just updated the relationship to “snarky” and updated the female to “Tough For A Girl.” But it had the same feel and the same theme, which was science and technology vs. superstition and arcane power, and I'm sorry if this is any kind of spoiler—you're kind of silly if it is—but in both movies, the “arcane power” actually is veiled science and technology and so science wins the day. This is a theme that is close to my frontal lobe and therefore treasured so I'm not complaining about it. It's just that I felt as if I'd seen this movie already, except this was minus the “Young” part.

And of course there can really be no spoilers in Sherlock Holmes, right? I mean, even if you haven't read the series (which I haven't; I think I read one as a child,) even if you've just been, you know, alive in the last hundred or so years, you already know who the bad guy is and how he does it. And that is also not a complaint, I mean if they'd all of a sudden busted out some random, unheard of Big Bad I would be like, “What the hell!”

Oh, the explosion in the slaughterhouse was a really cool scene. Actually the whole thing was filmed really beautifully. When did visuals become a main character? I guess back in the 90's. But I'm a sucker for a well-filmed scene, so.

Don't get me wrong, I actually did enjoy the film and I would totally see it again and even buy it on DVD. I do enjoy movies, you know? I can get irked by things and still appreciate the better points, and this movie's better point was fun, and it was actually lots of fun.

That's what I thought of Sherlock Holmes but honestly my mind kept going back to this trailer I saw before it came on, for a movie called “Inception” where, apparently some dude has the power to change reality, including time and space, with his mind. SERIOUSLY, DOUCHEBAGS? Come on, not now, please! Not when I'm trying to sell that same story! PLEASE! Man, now I have to go and look it up and see if it's the exact same goddamn thing I just spent years writing. Dicks.

Goddamn, Haku had three seizures today, 28 days from when he had the last one. The first was at 7:30 this morning. The second was at 7:30 this evening and the third was at 10:30. That's a damn lot. Usually he'll have three but over three days, not all in one night. I really need something around the house to stop these from kindling because they're really clusters, I think.

Strangely, my wonderful friend Kim bought me a Kindle and gave it to me last night. It's like a big iPod for books. I already downloaded The Brain That Changes Itself which was recommended by my neurology teacher. I wonder if there will be something in there that would give me some tips about Haku.

Also we went out last night and saw The Men Who Stare At Goats. It was brilliant and hilarious. Ewan McGregor was of course fantastic, and this was really one of his better movies. I felt like Kim and I were the only ones in the audience cracking up every time he had to talk about the Jedi way. But he delivered every line to perfection and totally dead-pan. George Clooney just gets more and more appealing to me. Weirdly enough, he could have been John Cleese in this film; he reminded me so much of him.

I definitely want to see it again and I hope I can take my Mom to see it. I told her about that today, suggesting that maybe we could go this week. It's like Haku heard us talking about leaving him alone for the first time since his first seizure and decided to have three of them. O_o (Obviously the poor thing can't decide; I mean they are so exhausting for him. And admittedly for me because once that wakes you up in the morning, there's no getting back to sleep.)

Yesterday work sucked and I didn't sell a lot. Today however, for some reason I was on fire. Hmm, I wonder.

Welp, I'm pretty much todmude so I'm going to STFU because I'll bet you anything I'm not making a great deal of sense right now. I'm gonna chill out in bed reading Pet Shop and pretending that there's some bishonen animal demi-god who can actually help.

Let me preface this by saying that I wouldn't have gone out to watch this movie if Ewan McGregor hadn't been in it, and therefore my entire review will be colored by the fact that Ewan McGregor was in it. If I may expand on that idea a little so you know what you're getting into: I love Ewan McGregor. I would pay to watch him clean the toilet. I wish science would clone him. I would go through his garbage. I would lick his used cutlery. I SAT THROUGH "THE ISLAND."

I should also say, I read both Dan Brown novels and I know it's trendy to be like "Oh, he sucks as a novelist" but I'm not so sure. Yeah, he's not writing great literature or anything like that, but he can pace a novel like nobody's bidness and that's just something I can't do. I mean, it's not like it's Twilight or anything for godsakes. So, even if the novels were silly, plot-holey, far-fetched etc. I have to give him props because each time I read his books I found myself whipping through them. Sometimes I don't want to be challenged. Sometimes I just want to be entertained.

The movie The Da Vinci Code wasn't really inspiring. I thought it was kinda dull, but I did like how incendiary both the novel and the movie were. Anything that pisses off the church kinda gets my vote. ;D But I'm a bitch like that. One thing that bugged me about The Da Vinci Code was that here you have this code-breaker (the chick, Sophie I think her name was) who was basically raised by this secret society and who was supposed to be all smart and whatnot, but it takes the heroic Robert Langdon to tell her that the Grail was Mary Magdelaine. Hello, if even I knew that by the time I got out of high school, don't you think that this chick who was mad-genius and the granddaughter of the head of the society for the protection of the grail might have had a clue?

But! I digress. Angels and Demons, right. Well, after I had finished the book I made a huge deal out of writing about it and I had mentally cast Joaquin Phoenix as Carlo Ventresca, the Camerlengo. (THERE ARE SPOILERS IN THAT ENTRY.) And it seemed to me that even Dan Brown had cast Joaquin Phoenix as the camerlengo, because a few of the lines were eerily close to lines int he original script for "Quills." So I loved loved loved the camerlengo and I had always hoped for Joaquin to do a fake Italian accent and play him.

But instead, Ewan McGregor not bothering with a fake accent (thank god!) and the camerlengo was no longer Carlo Ventresca but rather, umm, Patrick McKenna. YES, YOU READ THAT RIGHT.

Actually that wasn't the only thing that didn't match up with the book. TONS of stuff was different, (especially two very important familial relations, wtf!) but I don't feel like listing them all out. I was keen to see how they were going to make the fifth ambigram, but they didn't bother. That bugged me a little. I realize that they can't fit every little detail into the movie, but they left out a lot of things from the book that I felt were kind of redeeming to the overall plot. Oh well.

EWAN MCGREGOR.

I can't even tell you how perfect he was for this role. He plays eveyr single role with that glint in his eye. A Jedi, a snarky reporter bastard, a junkie, a clone, a hapless kidnapper, a bisexual rock star, a bisexual writer, a priest... it doesn't matter which role he takes; he has mischief in his veins and his eyes sparkle and he is really really really shiny. I would watch a whole movie about Carlo Ventresca's Patrick McKenna's entire story arc because Ewan could carry that entire character, seriously. He would make it worth it.

Here's a weird thing, and I need to cut this because it is a spoiler and even though I wasn't going to get into spoilers, this is so "me" that I'm going to do it anyway. ( Cut for spoilers. )

GOD I have issues, and they really do come out in the movies.

Well, that's how I felt about Angels and Demons, which tells you nothing of the story (fairly simplistic and predictable even if you haven't read the book,) the dialog (sort of flat, but to the point,) the acting in general (Tom Hanks playing Tom Hanks,) the cinematography (pretty,) and the soundtrack (FRIGGING COOL.) Really all it says is "I really like Ewan McGregor" but hey, that's pretty much why I went to see the damned thing.

Don't I just love that "type?" The Trickster?

Right now I'm making some tea and I'm going to put some liver-cleaning stuff, because I sat there and ate a pint of Unconditional Chocolate during the movie (EWAN MCGREGOR WAS BETTER THAN MY ICE CREAM) and now I have a pint of frigging Pomegranate Chocolate Chip and I had just better eat them both in one day this way my body can just deal with it and flush it all out. Umm, yes, that is my logic. It's not so bad to eat two pints of ice cream in one day as long as I don't do it all the time. I'm young and healthy, I can deal with it. I won't get fat or feel sick. I take really good care of myself. And I'm going to marry a Ewan clone.

We tell ourselves such monstrous lies! ^_^


ETA for TRIVIA which means nothing to anyone but me: My character Leander from my silly novels has always been based on Ewan McGregor. ^_^ In fact Shallow Grave + this photoshoot:



pretty much invented Leander.

I care, okay! ^_^

WTF?! Same to you, space! Geez, some nebulae. :/ Actually, that just demanded to be an icon, didn't it? Hmm, I thought so!

Welp, I spent a few hours today studying for tomorrow's quiz. It's my first quiz this trimester. I think it's going to be pretty hard; I was confused in class as to what was doing what to whom and why, and even studying from the book didn't necessarily clear up my confusion.

Oh my gosh, I owe a huge review of Wolverine, don't I? And I don't really have time to write a whole big thing up! I went to see it Thursday with my bestie Kim. We smuggled in ice cream and candy and got ready to watch scenes of nakie Huge JackedMan. We weren't disappointed! There definitely was a lack of clothes in some scenes. However we both agreed that he is a little too huge and maybe too veiny. I like guys who are kinda ropey with nice forearms and I kinda like prominent veins for some reason, but not when they're all bulging like they're about to explode etc. and he was definitely a little too bumpy, but yeah, the movie itself! That, too!

I mean, it was pretty good; and holy crap, why did no one tell me that David Henney's fine-ass self was in that movie? I was so happy; I love to look at him.

GAMBIT! Gambit had some of the best scenes and he actually sorta beat out Wolverine for sheer coolness, which was kind of weird.

The whole thing with the chick was just tacked on. It seemed like filler; time-filler as well as character-filler. "We need to give him depth; I know, put a tragic chick in his past." You know, that just doesn't work for me.

But the fight scenes were terrific and overall it was a fairly enjoyable ride. I'd see it again sometime for sure.

Oh! In fangirl news, NEW TAKING BACK SUNDAY SONG / VIDEO:




Okay, I just love this, and if it wasn't for me using my nice new "eff you space" icon I'd for sure be using my TBS one. OMG I have an icon conflict, I think that's a first. Anyway, this song is kind of a departure from their usual style which I loved very well--you know, dueling vocals building up to a huge climactic chorus--and which I miss. This is a new sound for them and it gets away from a formula which I admittedly adored. Yet, this is a fantastic song and I really dig it on an entirely new level. As far as the video, well I like this on many levels as well. First of all, it reminds me of the X Files aliens, or "oiliens" if anyone remembers those. Secondly and less important though admittedly a factor, Adam Lazzara? So damn weird and quirky that he's still incredibly hot. I mean I know that he's all married and has a kid and whatnot, but I'm still a girl and my eyes and sensibilities still work, so just deal with it.

I met these guys and I've seen them live a bunch of times. They are awesome. ^_^ ♥

So this all makes me happy.

Well, I'm cooking my dinner and getting ready for Kung Fu tonight. Ummm also I joined this free dating site, why I don't know, I tend to do that every three years or so, right? I hate when I do that, although it's gratifying because guys write to me, and on this site (which is totally free, WTF,) these gentlemen are for some reason ridiculously dreamy, and the dreamy guys are writing to me, wth is that about, seriously? WTH? It's just that, attractive men talking to me when they don't have to (or they're not already my good friends) is blog-worthy. ^_^

And now for the weather: IT'S DAMN CHILLY.

Okay, eggplant parm, gotta run. Later!

Welp! My little hibernation time is at an end it seems! I'm just popping in to tell you guys that I am getting ready for school tomorrow. I promised myself that I would call it "uni" because I like the way my British friends call it that, but I can't seem to bring myself to. :D I just can't British it up. ;D

Anyway, I've got my backpack and all my huge-ass medical books and some pens, and shoot, I even have an assignment book that my wonderful friend Kim gave to me. It's black with red dragons. ^_^ (She also gave me a gift certificate to the school book store. O_o )

My first class is chemistry and I'm really freaking out.

What if I get lost? What if I go into the wrong room? What if I'm the only one in the class? What if everyone stares at me, or what if I make a bunch of mistakes? What if I forget to put my clothes on and show up naked?

All that stuff.

In the meantime, I owe myself a huge update.

New years was pretty nice. Jo-chan was over, and we were at my parents', where we watched Kung Fu Panda (it was kinda cute,) and some X Files episodes. I showed everyone Bad Blood which they all thought was pretty cool. The next day, SB and his girlfriend came by for dinner. Then we all went over to Chris and Tim's and SB played with Boychild (who just about worships him,) for about an hour or so.

Before new years, Jo-chan and I had a marathon FFVII game. We are up to the end of the game where you go into the crater but we keep putting it off. We also played tons of RE4, and taped the gruesome deaths off the TV so we could make this video: ( under the cut! )

EWWW!

Also, the night before NYE we watched Resident Evil Degeneration. The story wasn't bad and the zombie action is pretty good. The animation was not stellar though. In fact, the cut scenes of the game were better. They were animated better, written better, were scarier, had more depth and more characterization and everything. Leon was a weird, quirky, dorky hero in the game, with facial expressions and douchey one-liners, and he got scared and spazzy and he also laughed at himself and was really kind to Ashley, and he was just tons of fun. In the movie, however, they used a different face model and they took away all of his quirks. He didn't have the douchey one-liners or the humor. What I like in games is that sly, self-referential jokiness, and the movie only had a bit of that and none of it came from my favorite character. They drew him pretty, but not as pretty as he was, and he didn't have a facial expression through the whole thing.

The animation was weird. The hair constantly looked like it was underwater, and they drew the shoulders in a really, really odd way. The shoulders kept distracting me throughout the movie.

I am not one of those people who think that building on something I loved, or adding to it, "ruins" the original. You can't ruin the original because it still exists in its first form. I'm so glad they made the movie and we had so much fun watching it and MSTing it throughout the whole thing. There were so many moments where you could throw in your own lines such as "That's my gun, I promise; Unless you don't want it to be. Then we're cool." Or, "that's not your gaydar going off, I assure you." Or, "Leon S. Kennedy. The 'S' is for (endless combination of things to say.)" Or as Jo-chan told me my uncle said, "He shot him in the Curtis!"

As much as the movie bugged me out and was nowhere near being as awesome as the game, I would watch it again. Advent Children it was not, but hey. What is? :)

Let's see, let's see, what else. Oh, of course! And then Saturday we had a little Kung Fu holiday party at the restaurant next to where we train. It was me, the Lady Chrysanthemum, Snarklit, the Gold Dragon, Matt Damon, Sifu, and a young woman who used to train with us but hasn't since she left for school, we'll call her Saucy Tart. It was so weird at first. Saucy Tart, Chrysanthemum and Gold Dragon and I were the first ones to show up, while Sifu went to show MD our new school. Then they came back and Snarklit showed up and we all put some tables together and for the first half hour it was really quiet. I don't know why, but we kind of sat there like we didn't know who each other was for a few minutes; as if we hadn't spent years choking each other or throwing each other to the ground or something. I couldn't figure it out. Then as soon as dinner came everyone loosened up and started gabbing. Eventually Sifu's wife--let's be traditional and call her Simu--showed up with their really cute baby and had dinner with us, before she had to take the baby home to feed her.

I love it when we're all out together. ^_^

Chrysanthemum had to leave first, but the rest of us stayed on until well aftef closing time, much to the consternation of the poor workers who wanted to go home. I felt bad about that. Saucy Tart and Snarklit left, and then Sifu, MD and Gold Dragon and I walked over to the school to look at our new excersize pullup equipment thingie that Sifu bought for the school. I tried it out and it is lots of fun. Then we all bailed--most of us for home, Gold Dragon for another party--and I got home around midnight.

With few exceptions, it was a really fun night. Also my hair was crazy and I wore a really cool blouse from that Chinese clothing store. ^_^

That's my week in review!

I am currently trying not to think about tomorrow while also thinking about it constantly and hoping that it's going to rock my entire world in the best possible way. :)

Mild spoilers, nothing you can't figure out for yourself.


Hmmm.

I just think that Klaatu should realize that there is a HUGE difference between "seeing the good side" to a person (or the entire human race) and actually believing that they will change. Everyone says they can change when it's about to end, and maybe they change for a little while until they think the threat is over, but you can't change what is fundamentally there, you just can't.

And seriously, if all Helen had to do was prove to Klaatu that humans had a good side and weren't merely destructive, let's forget about the whole "Oh I miss my dead husband and love my stepkid, watch us mourn together" thing, and instead just have sex with him. I mean if he was moved simply by witnessing something as trite as a cemetery scene, why not just skip over all the syrupy stuff and just bang? He was like, "There is another side to you. I see that now." No, all you saw was that humans are afraid of death, and you obviously already knew that what with the "please don't kill us" thing.

If anyone did the "another side to humans" convincing it was that Chinese dude and John Cleese, and they didn't have sex with him, so.

Helen should have hit that with the fist of an angry god. I mean, first, before doing anything else. Before even trying to reason with him or beg. "That's another side to us humans. Now have some Gatorade and call off your little silver bugs."

That's what I would do. If an alien came down saying he had to destroy humans to save the planet, but maybe not if only he could find something decent about the human experience, and he was all Keanu Reeves looking, I would do that.

I would so do that to save the human race.

The acting was okay, I love John Cleese. The kid was hella frigging annoying, I wanted to slap him out of the script the entire time. jennifer Connelly's always pretty decent and Keanu is, you know, Keanu. He's hit or miss for me and he didn't really have a hell of a lot to do in this film.

One of the best things was that I saw a commercial for The new Resident Evil movie with Leon in it! I nearly screamed! Now on Amazon it says the release date is 12/27, but everywhere else it says the 30th. WTF?! Goddamnit, I want my beautifully rendered, badly scripted fanservice NOW thank you!

Oh, and also this which has nothing to do with the movie:



Well, we've already lost lots of human rights over the last eight years; I hope to gain some back instead! And I'm not sure about connecting with a broadsword of any kind. I really will try to drink more fanfiction, I'm sure I won't be givine Native American's to charity (what an American way of thinking! >_<) I wouldn't mind starting a Pele fund, and skitty_kitty already knows my true feelings: That we are some sort of cosmic twins!


:D