Mini Review: Shakespeare in Love

***

I don't really have a whole lot to say about it, or at least don't feel like thinking about it. Anyways this is certainly a good movie. I liked the acting, especially Judi Dench who won her best supporting oscar for a performance lasting a total of 6 minutes in only a few scenes. Normally I would scoff at such a brief role even being considered - but I think she was deserving.

Gwyneth was better than she usually is. The script was a little hit and miss. Sometimes it felt like it was trying to be more tragic or poignant than it was designed for (it was a melodrama, through and through). It all felt a little choppy and there was altogether too much Romeo & Juliet. What I loved was the ending - it pretty well redeemed the entire movie for me. The final scene of Viola walking across the beach was perfect. And unexpected given the genre and where it seemed the film was heading.

But really, how on earth did this win a Best Picture oscar? Well I looked up the year (1999) and it turns out there wasn't a whole lot of competition: Elizabeth, Saving Private Ryan, The Thin Red Line, and Life is Beautiful. Personally I probably would have given it to the last one, but Shakespeare fits the hollywood bill better.

Volver at Hyland

Starting next Friday (26th). I highly encourage everyone to see it! :)

Control Page Up

A certain little excel command had plagued me for as long as I can remember - how in the heck do you rotate through worksheets without using your mouse? (Similar to Alt-Tabbing your way through open windows). Ivey taught me many cool excel tricks, but I never figured this one out ... until last night! When I stumbled across it completely by chance. I was trying to Ctrl+C something and for some reason was hitting Page Up instead of C (even though they not exactly keyboard neighbours). And low (lo?) and behold, I found myself on a different worksheet.
Anyways this pretty much made my life, so I thought I'd share.

Remaining Films and How I Plan on Seeing Them

this is really more for my benefit than for your's, but anyways.

Pan's Labyrinth ~ Peter J. has just informed me that it will be playing at Silver City starting this weekend. Now that I have means and opportunity, I just need someone who wants to see it with me! Anyone? Hello?

Children of Men ~ at Rainbow with Lucas next Tuesday.

Letters from Iwo Jima ~ ??? it's playing in Toronto but no planned showings in London yet. I'm optimistically hoping for the weekend after next.

Half Nelson ~ ziplisted, DVD is released Feb 13th.

Those are the only ones that I think could actually be list contenders, but I'll probably see a few others to round it out (Science of Sleep, Notes on a Scandal, Keeping Mum, etc.). And I think I'll be passing on Dreamgirls. Can we say barf?

100th Post: Top 10 Movies of 2000-2005

Well, there you have it, this is my 100th post on this blog. In the tradition of the great jedi blogger, Kimota94, I am choosing to celebrate this occasion with a special post that is fun for me (and hopefully you too!) and appropriate given the history of this blog. Thus, a movie list, and this time in '10 words or less'

#10 - Monster's Ball ~ screw halle berry, this has the complexity of great literature
# 9 - Talk to Her ~ creepy foreign film at its finest ... comas and bull riders
# 8 - Sideways ~ "I am not drinking any fucking merlot!" ... enough said
# 7 - Million Dollar Baby ~ as I said before, un-editable (flawless)
# 6 - Amores Perros ~ I greatly underrated the first time, now see it's brilliance
# 5 - Wonderboys ~ what more movies should be -- plot optional, character development key
# 4 - Spirited Away ~ one of a kind, to say the least
# 3 - Lord of the Rings: Return of the King ~ best part of an epic for the film history vaults
# 2 - Before Sunset ~ sunsets really need to last longer
# 1 - Lost in Translation ~ Watching again tonight ... for the 8th time in 2 years

And that is that! Happy 100th to me.

Update on the purse

- Still missing. Tried calling my cell phone number, no one answered. Sent it a text message with my mom's work number just in case some non-thief wants to return it.
- Met mom at the train station and got into my apartment. Luckily I have spare keys already, so she just had to let me in. As Matt mentioned in an email to me, I totally spaced on remembering that the landlady could let me in - she's hardly ever in her office, and I have bad memories of my old landlord (whenever I called her for anything, she'd swear at me... long story).
- Big thanks to Matt for phoning the LTC and reporting it stolen. I only have 10 min breaks in between classes in which to relocate, plug in computer, check/send emails, get food/go to the bathroom, etc. By the time I realized it was missing I only had one of those breaks left. I was able to borrow a friend's cell phone and attempted calling the LTC and my mom at work but no answer on either counts - so I resorted to a last minute email to Matt before my internet access was cut off. So thankfully he phoned and left them his number in case it turns up.

Anyways, fingers crossed that it turns up tomorrow. And in the meantime I am only reachable via email and msn.

Oh silly purse, stop wandering away

I seem to have left my purse on the bus this morning. I'm really hoping I can recover it because if not it means having to purchase/deal with getting: a new cell phone, key copies, garage remote, and actual purse. My phone is pretty old, and it was free to me, so I didn't actually lose something valuable but replacing it is bound to be expensive.

Fortunately, as you can see, this could be a lot worse but I had removed my iPod this morning because the battery had died (otherwise it would still be in there) and a few other items worth about $30 had been tangled on the iPod headphones and in my morning rush been removed as well.

I also keep all my wallet-type things (money, credit card, ID) in with my bus pass which, thank god, I had put into my coat pocket.

So all in all, hassley, but not as hassley as it could have been. I've appealed to my mommy to call the LTC and stay at work a bit later today so I can pick up her spare keys.

Paula Abdul makes a fool of herself

I couldn't sit through more than a few seconds of this, but it's worth checking out for a bit because it is just SO over the top.

The HFPA was stupid this year

Sometimes they're good, other times not so much. My biggest gripes:

- Babel was 1/10th as good as the Departed.
- Leo didn't win anything cause he split his votes with himself! Poor pretty man.
- Ugly Betty is not funny.
- Nothing was funnier than Borat.
- Cars was terrible.
- Everything was as most pop culture-ites / critics predicted - no surprises, how boring.
- Volver or Pan's should have won Best Foreign Film ... stop allowing Hollywood-produced movies to be included in this category just because they have subtitles. You're the foreign press association for god sake!

Ugh.

Itchy

Apparently, tanning dries out your skin so much that unless you moisturize 5 times a day you're incredibly itchy all over. Now I wish it were just my foot that itched!

One thing I will NOT miss about London...

the crappy movie selection! Granted, things have been much better for the past few years with the Hyland and Rainbow art series. I have memberships/packs for both, and definitely get my money's worth every year.

But I happened across the listings for the theater near my dad in Toronto (ok I check the TO listings every week just to see what I'm missing):

BLOOD DIAMOND (14A) 12:20 3:40 6:55 10:25

CASNO ROYALE (PG) 11:55 AM 3:05 6:50 10:20

DREIAMGIRLS (PG) 12:35 3:30 6:40 9:50

THE GOOD SHEPHERD (14A) 1:00 4:30 8:15

LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA (14A) 12:00 3:10 6:30 10:05

NOTES ON A SCANDAL (14A) 12:10 2:30 5:00 7:30 10:00

PAN'S LABYRINTH (14A) 12:40 4:00 7:10 10:10

PERFUME: THE STORY OF A MURDERER (14A) 12:30 3:50 7:20 10:30


Not a bad film in the bunch! Honestly, this wider range of film selection is probably the BIGGEST thing I am looking forward to with regards to moving to Toronto full time.

Another question for my comptuer savvy readers

But first, just a sidenote: it's quite beneficial to have a lot of techy people to ask these questions of - thank you!

So, I'm using Outlook for Windows XP ... one of the newer versions (2003, maybe?) and I often use the task list as my personal "To do". However since I switched over to a more recent version (I had been using 2000 for the longest time), I can't seem to figure out how to clear the checked off tasks. Now I have a ridiculously long list of completed tasks dating way back to 2005! It's pretty annoying. I sorted the tasks so that the incomplete ones are listed first, but it's still kind of hard to tell which is which.

Oh and 5 points if you can help me. 10 if you can recommend some kind of better, free, downloadable software that keeps track of tasks.

Forcing myself to eat sushi

is my latest life effort. My first (and only) experience with the questionable food was 3 years ago at a work function (for my last day, I think) at the Harmony Buffet. I don't think it was very high quality food. Anyways, one of my exchange buddies eats nothing but sushi, largely because she claims it is very healthy. Let's consider the facts:

California Sushi Roll:
- rice: check
- seaweed: unknown amount of calories, but really
- avocade: suppose to be good for you?
- cucumber: check
- crab meat: can't be that bad, right
- a little bit of mayonnaise, salt, or sugar: bad

So I tried some on campus the other day, instead of getting my usual pizza or Harveys. I only ate half of it, which was nice because it filled me up quite well. I took the remains home and am eating the leftovers now. Rice doesn't keep well apparently (it's just kind of hard) and I'm not entirely sure that it's safe to eat leftover sushi? I put it in the fridge! Anyways, I don't totally LIKE it yet, but it's not all that bad!

Have I Ever Told You About My Veins

Because they're fairly unusual. It just so happens that they are ridiculously tiny and all located conspicuously over arteries. When I went to give blood with Matt, Mom, Vish, Chris, and maybe some others that I'm forgetting about now (it was a few years ago) they tried in vain for 20 minutes or so to find a suitable vein but ended up rejecting me. Last year I went for a physical at my doctor's office, and told the previous story to the nurse. She laughed, implying that the nurses at the blood clinic don't know what they're doing and that she would have no trouble drawing a blood sample. 10 minutes later, she had given up, too. They decided I was young so they didn't really need to test my blood.

I seem to have less trouble with IVs, though they usually need to be inserted into the back of my hand (when I got my wisdom teeth out) or in my wrist (at my most recent hospital visit).

The girl at the blood clinic rather rudely implied that maybe if I worked out my arms more my veins would be more accessible. I took offense.

Blogger Question

My good friend Daniel Kricke, a 20-something journalism student from Chicago, has started up a blog called Extravadanza . You should check it out, especially if you like sports and pop culture. But, he's having a problem with the blogger system and I thought I'd put it out here to all those techy types and see if someone knows the solution:

"I posted a new entry. But see how I have that blockquote at the bottom? I want to get a block quote like that on the other side of that too...like a closing quote. But it won't do it."

Anyone know? I couldn't help him, I obviously don't even know how to get ONE blockquote! (see above). 5 Albert Halls (my version of the trend sweeping the blogosphere) for the first person to figure it out.

A note on the 49 Up series

Just to let you know, I've been wanting to see this complete set for years ever since I caught bits and pieces of it with Matt and Mom as a wee one. I sure hope those super kind and thoughtful parents of mine will wait for me!

... or I might have to finish off those Babylon 5 dvds by myself... and then never be lent anything again! :)

Kicked the Crap Out of Those Old Ladies

Well I opted out of drinking for a change, as I was suppose to and really probably should have gone to the Palasad and then Barking Frog on a semi-official exchange student outing. But I shluffed off my buddy duties (it was really a mandatory event, like tomorrow morning where I have to get up at - shudder - 7:30!!). Note that this is teasing because I know most of you have to get up before then every day.

Anyways what I decided to do instead was go play cards at my Grandma's with some of her old lady friends. It started off with Canasta (which I lost, but it's all based on luck anyways), then moved into Euchre (I came in 2nd, and I had terrible cards every hand), and finally my forte because it actually requires a significant amount of skill and luck barely factors into it at all: Old Hell. Also known as Scratch and Bugger Your Neighbour. This is the game where you have to bid on how many tricks you are going to take, given a certain trump suit. See, there isn't much luck involved because if you get bad cards but bid correctly then you do just as well as if you had good cards.

So I didn't really "kick the crap" out of anyone, considering I only won 1 game out of 3, but I thought it made for a suggestive title.

Pan's in London?

Take a look at this (if you would be so kind), and tell me if you think it means that Pan's Labyrinth is coming to the Hyland in February. Note that the other two movies with little pictures down there are either currently playing, or on the "coming soon" list. The only mention of Pan's Labyrinth on the entire site is that little suggestive picture. I don't want to get my hopes up.

Caption: the thing about changing the world ...


... once you do it, the world's all different.

Release Date: Mar 7, 2007.

Lost Returns Promo

Less than a month to go!

Listen here

Kids of 90210, you don't go to "West Beverly" you go to Sunnydale High!!

How well do you know that little thing they call Earth

Play the game (takes 2 minutes) right here.

I scored a fairly hilarious 12. I successfully found Morroco, Portugal, and Austria. Don't ask me where anything in Africa is.

Foreign People are Nice

I don't know if it's their broken English (which in this case is actually pretty good) or their innocence of not knowing where anything is, but they all seem really nice.

I had 6 of them over last night. You see, I'm an exchange buddy who agreed to show two of these little foreigners around for the semester, answer any of their dumb questions, etc. One of my buddies, from Poland, just moved in on the 4th and lives with a couple of kids from Denmark. There were a few others who got to London early (and none of the other Canadian Ivey students are in town yet) so I agreed to take them all out. Asides from the aforementioned, there was one from Germany, one from Brazil, and one from Spain. An interesting bunch. It was neat to compare social customs. Rather unfortunately (or not, depending on your viewpoint), there is no such thing as a 2am last call in any of their countries. So I was pretty tired and ready to go home by 1:30 but they were still ridiculously energetic as apparently they're used to staying out till 6am. And they still seemed to get up earlier than me this morning because I had a message waiting asking me to meet them to see Rocky Balboa. Ummm just how far do you think my duties extend?

What ... the heck

I just thought it was worth mentioning that I've now blogged 5 times (not including this one) on January 5th and it's only 2:30 in the morning.

What have I become?

Ebert on Amores Perros

Here's a little bit of what he had to say about it:

"Amores Perros at 154 minutes is heavy on story--too heavy, some will say--and rich with character and atmosphere. It is the work of a born filmmaker, and you can sense Gonzalez Inarritu's passion as he plunges into melodrama, coincidence, sensation and violence. His characters are not the bland, amoral totems of so much modern Hollywood violence, but people with feelings and motives. They want love, money and revenge. They not only love their dogs but desperately depend on them. And it is clear that the lower classes are better at survival than the wealthy, whose confidence comes from their possessions, not their mettle.

Amores Perros will be too much for some filmgoers, just as Pulp Fiction was, but it contains the spark of inspiration."

He gave it *** 1/2.

A Note on my love of EW

If you hadn't noticed (even after my explicit mention of it), I seem to have a bit of crush on Entertainment Weekly. Such is not the case, folks! In fact, I find their magazine kind of skims the bottom of the "not quite tabloid" bowl of journalism, along with People and Time. And don't get me started on their idiot of a movie critic, Liz Schwarzbaum. Seriously, don't believe a word she says, she's the devil people!!! Deep breath. Exhale.

Ok, so their magazine is crap, but a lot of their writers are good people (and journalists). I enjoy Dalton Ross and Michael Slezak in particular. I frequent their website so often because it is updated so consistently and with so much content that is relavent to ME. Every weekday morning all significant shows that were on the night before have been "TV Watched". A columnist writes up about 1000 words on what they liked or didn't about the episode, and any other random thoughts. Insta water cooler!

They also have this daily blog called "Popwatch" that brings to light recent happenings (deaths, nominations released) and also a scad of other useful and hilarious things. Many a youtube video has been introduced to me this way (including perhaps the best video of the year, national phenomenon Dick In a Box!!!). I also appreciate their intense love of both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Veronica Mars.

Anyways, just wanted to clarify...

Reviews in 5 words or less

I think it's pretty funny that this post will get far fewer comments than my previous "note to self" entry. It's also ironic that it instructed people to "please ignore" and received more comments than any other in over a month!! Oh you people. You know, continuing on my ramble, I used to be able to consider a post with only 4 comments a complete failure in blogging. Oh the good old days of 20+ comments... which I abandoned for you people. You people!!! (Just kidding, I love and appreciate all of your readership). Anywho:

An Unfinished Life: simple, graceful
Happy Feet: cute... I guess...
Ice Age 2: decent plot, some funny parts

And Manhattan Murder Mystery hasn't arrived in the mail yet, so I'll save it for another day.

Review: Amores Perros

****

Dogs, of all things, are the interlinking motif that ties together the three stories in Amores Perros. They are not entirely separate (though each has its day in the sun), but rather filmed ala Pulp Fiction.

So basically, Gael Garcia Bernal plays a young man in love with his brother's wife. His brother is a bit of an asshole: he robs pharmacies, yells a lot, beats his wife, and threatens to kill his brother multiple times. So we're rooting for Gael, even if he decides his way out of this is to enter his poor puppy into intensely violent dogfights. Warning: animal lovers take heed when watching this film. Although, I am nothing if not an animal lover, and I made it through okay, largely by reminding myself that all the dead dogs were courtesy of the Prop Department. There is an explicit announcement at the beginning of the film that no animals were harmed.

Moving along, Gael gets into a bit of a car crash where he injures a famous model who happens to be having a bit of an affair. She is recovering in her apartment when her precious dog chases falls into a hole in the floorboards and mysteriously disappears. This is definitely the weakest of the three arcs, but it's not nearly as silly as it sounds, and it fits well with the general theme (more on that later).

Finally, an old homeless man collects stray dogs and goes about his business as a ... well, this part I don't want to spoil for you. Needless to say, he has a colorful past and is up to trouble now. He's on a quest to reconcile with his estranged daughter, and ends up getting involved in Gael's life along the way.

Essentially the theme of the whole thing, as I see it, is that striving for something more than you have earned (greed) will be your downfall. This is seen in"one last dogfight", the extra-marital affair, and the loss of a family. The script is nearly flawless, with a whole chunk of poignant lines and scenes. One in particular that comes to mind is the confrontation between the homeless man, his "boss", and his "job".

But the most magnificent thing about the film is the direction. The stories are mixed together with such elegance that it would have taken years for any par-level director to achieve. The film is also visually stunning. The sets are rich in detail and there are dozens of awe-inspiring shots.

The tagline for Amores Perros is "Love. Betrayal. Death." These are seen in each of the arcs, and all are executed superbly. This is one of the best films of the decade.

A few notes on "Spanish Directors"

1) It took nearly 3 hours straight and uninterrupted to prepare, so please do read it if you can!
2) Interestingly, the always wonderful Gael Garcia Bernal has worked with 3 of the 4 directors (Amores Perros, Babel, Bad Education, Y Tu Mama Tambien).
3) I am now very tired, but I feel compelled to do my write up of Amores Perros (which I just watched for the second time tonight) before bed seeing as I already spoiled the punchline: how wonderful I think it is!

A Guide to Your Spanish Directors

These are three of my favorite directors in the world and one newcomer. Most people give me a very blank stare when I mention any of their names - even those that claim to be rabid movie fans - so I thought I'd try and straighten it out for everyone. Quiz next week, 6am sharp, be there.

Almodovar, Pedro.

YOB: 1949
POB: Castilla-La Mancha, Spain

Notable Works: All About My Mother (2000) - lost mother takes care of pregnant nun and transvestite friend, seeks father of dead son. Talk to Her (2002) - two men take care of two women in comas. Bad Education (2004) - look at how very repressive schooling changed the lives of two gay men. Volver (2006) - woman's mother returns from the dead to impart some wisdom and fix some situations (not as "magical" as you think, don't worry).

Academy Awards: Best Foreign Film (All About My Mother), Best Original Screenplay (Talk to Her), and a nomination for Best Directing (Talk To Her). Hopefully Volver will follow suit this year!
Tammy's Awards: Talk To Her placed #2 on my 2002 movie list. Bad Education placed #5 in 2004.

Comments: Definitely my favorite of the bunch. I've never seen a movie of his that I didn't find incredibly interesting, unique, and having of a point. He writes and directs all of his own features. Some are better than others, mostly in terms of the plot. The 3 mentioned are all masterpieces, with Volver being the best in my opinion. One last mention: he is incredibly gay, and most of his films feature homosexuals, transvestites, strange sexual acts, etc. Not for the conservative movie-goer!


Cuaron, Alfonso.

YOB: 1961
POB: Mexico City, Mexico (ok so technically not a Spanish director, but whatever)

Notable Works: Great Expectations (1998) - Gwenyth Paltrow in the Dickens classic. Y Tu Mama Tambien (2002) - 2 guys, 1 girl, 1 road trip, 1,000,000 sexcapades. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) - third in the series. Children of Men (2006) - the world's population has inexplicably become infertile for the last 15 odd years, some girl is found pregnant, hilarity ensues.


Academy Awards: Y Tu Mama Tambien was nominated for Best Original Screenplay. No wins yet.
Tammy's Awards: Y Tu Mama Tambien placed #3 on my 2002 movie list.

Comments: After a couple of fairly un-noteworthy American films (and some Mexican tv writing), he made it onto Hollywood's foreign radar with his indie sex pic, "And Your Mother Too". He took the Harry Potter franchise into the dark direction it needed to go in with the third film. J.K. Rowling requested him specifically. He was asked to direct the rest, but declined in favor of making his own films. Children of Men has certainly received much critical acclaim so far this year; I have yet to see it.

del Toro, Guillermo.

YOB: 1964.
POB: Jalisco, Mexico (ok so apparently he's Mexican too)

Notable Works: Blade II (2002) - I have no idea. Hellboy (2004) - comic adaptation about a devil wannabe-good-guy. Pan's Labyrinth (2006) - girl contemplates post-war Fascist repression in some sort of fantasyland. It looks kind of like an adult version of Mirrormask.

Academy Awards: none yet.
Tammy's Awards: none yet.

Comments: certainly the least acclaimed director on the list, but I feel like he's going places with Pan's Labyrinth. It's being hailed as one of the best films of the year / all time by critics and fans alike. I can't even remember the last time I saw a 96 on metacritic; that's practically unheard of. Even The Queen and The Departed (both universally loved by critics this year) can't touch that kind of score. Unfortunately, I left Toronto 1 day before it premiered there (a fact which I am very distraught about), but it is definitely at the top of my "must see" list.


Inarritu, Alejandro Gonzalez.

YOB: 1963
POB: Mexico City, Mexico (ok so obviously this list should have been named differently!)

Notable Works: Amores Perros (2001) - 3 interweaving stories with dogs being the common thread. 21 Grams (2003) - a freak accident brings together 3 very different people. Babel (2006) - 3 separate stories all relating to language barriers.

Academy Awards: Amores Perros was nominated for best foreign film but lost to the unbeatable Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
Tammy's Awards: Amores Perros was #8 on my 2001 movie list. In retrospect, it should have been higher.

Comments: Did you notice a theme among his movies? Similar, but also very different. I think Amores Perros would have to be the best of the three, it just reaches another level. Of course Babel has received far more attention that it ever will, because it has Brad Pitt!

A Deeper Insight into WHO I AM

Matt recently posted a comment on From Hell's Eddie Campbell's blog (that was a confusing phrase) mentioning that he had refrained from posting one of Eddie's pages that had a vagina on it. This is in his livingroom, where small children and annoy-able parents could see. A perfectly logical and considerate choice. And also, there were many pages contending for a coveted spot on the wall, so something had to be cut! But, if it were me, this definitely would have been one of the first ones up! Any parents that complained would have been promptly laughed at and dismissed from my residence (kidding on the last part, but they might want to leave after being laughed at).

This Post Brought to You by the University of Phoenix Online!

In response to Matt's comment on the "Soundbites" post:

Well, in my defense, I usually do post links rather than full articles. But in this case, the source material definitely warranted its own post (rather than one featuring a jumble of links) in terms of length, interestingness, and scope of appeal. I did actually think twice about it, but more in terms of giving them credit rather than the ad revenue shtuff. I figured a byline was good enough for the following reasons:

a) I voted in 75% of these polls - implying that I am certainly an avid (daily) reader and active participant on their site, and have given them lots of free publicity (regardless of actual size of my often non-existent readership) and "clicks" on this site alone.
b) Sure they compiled these quotes and created the polls, but the real people responsible for any chuckles you may have had were Conan O'Brien, Jon Stewat, David Letterman, etc.
c) By far the majority of Entertainment Weekly's revenues come from their magazine; the website is more of a supplement. That's why you'll find lots of articles free of charge and with really very little ads blocking your view.
d) As James mentioned in his post, there are lots of ways to get around advertising these days. Personally I think the amount of it out there is morally reprehensible and a good reflection of our society.

But in case you are still a little wound-up over this business of paying (in some way, shape, or form) for anything you received benefit from, here's what you missed:

CLICK ME!

CLICK ME!

Much Music is Stupid

Not that this is a new epiphany, but it came to my attention in particular today as watching their rendition of the "Top 100 Videos EVER". This isn't a VH1 or even MTV list, so I wasn't expecting to see the usual list-toppers like Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer, Michael Jackson's Thriller, Madonna's Like a Prayer, A-Ha's Take On Me, etc. This is a fair allowance, seeing as the majority of Much Music's viewers (aged 13-18) wouldn't have ever seen these videos before.

BUT, I didn't even recognize half of the videos! And it's only been a couple years since I gave up on following current music closely. Approximately 70% of the videos were from the last 2 years. COME ON, this is pathetic. I would have hoped for a better range of videos from maybe 1990 onwards? Or even just the last 10 years! You know, a little Freedom, Virtual Insanity, 1979, Ironic, Sabotage, Waterfalls, Loser, Smells Like Teen Spirit, etc. To give you a taste of just how bad this list was, the top 5:

5. Work it, Missy Elliott
4. Dirrty, Christina Aguilera
3. Cry Me a River, Justin Timberlake (this one is actually pretty great, regardless of your opinion of the song or artist ... IMO)
2. Baby One More Time, Britney Spears (also deserving of a spot, for a much music list anyways)
1. Stan, Eminem (stupid)

I'm thinking I should start a new label for my posts called "Grievances". That foot post got me thinking about it.

Noisy Neighbours

At least 2 boys live next door to me in my apartment building. One works across the street at the Radisson (?) hotel as a bellhop. I know because one time in the elevator he was talking about how he had lent his tie to a hotel patron. Earlier this year (Sept onwards) they'd been fairly noisy, often playing loud music and yelling. The walls are pretty thin here and even though the elevators are between us it seems my bedroom is right next to their living room. I could sometimes even make out the actual words they were saying, if that's any indication.

So around October I ran into the bellhop in the elevator again, and when he saw we were getting off on the same floor, he asked which unit I lived in. He was quite dismayed when I told him, as apparently his group had thought they were neighbourless. He promised they would keep it down in the future, and to just pop over if they were being too loud. And, surprisingly, this has been very true - generally quite quiet over there for the last few months.

Then a few days ago there was some sort of raucous fight between multiple boys around 8am. Lots of swearing, yelling, door slamming, etc. Then one screamed that he had to go to work and it ended. Well, they seem to be having a lot of trouble over there lately, as last night around 3am they got into it again, this time with a girl doing most of the screaming. Luckily I'm a fairly sound sleeper, not easily annoyed, and don't have to get up at any certain time these days.

The Year in Sound Bites

from EW.com, which runs weekly polls asking readers to vote on the funniest line of the week. Some are great, some are stupid, most will at least make you chuckle.

JANUARY

''Uh, Jason...when you're filling out a female patient's exam report, her breasts can be 'Healthy' or 'Unhealthy.' Never 'Bangin' Double Ds.'''
J.D. (ZACH BRAFF), ADDRESSING ONE OF HIS INTERNS, ON SCRUBS

''I'm not smart enough to debate you point to point, but I have the feeling about 60 percent of what you say is crap.''
DAVID LETTERMAN TO GUEST BILL O'REILLY, ON THE LATE SHOW

''I want everybody to relax. You only have to be nice to black people for two more hours.''
PRESENTER CHRIS ROCK, AFTER POINTING OUT THAT THE 63RD ANNUAL GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS COINCIDED WITH MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DAY

''This week, a 100-year-old Tennessee man got married for the third time, this time to a 68-year-old woman. When asked why he was marrying a woman 32 years his junior, the man said, 'Yes, I would love a sandwich.'''
'WEEKEND UPDATE''S AMY POEHLER, ON SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE

''In an interview about his upcoming album, Kevin Federline said, 'My music will speak for itself.' He may be right, because the album is called This Really Sucks.''
CONAN O'BRIEN, ON LATE NIGHT

FEBRUARY

''Oh, he's totally fine having his personal freedom slowly stripped away, as long as he's completely unaware that it's happening. Just like a true American.''
LORELAI (LAUREN GRAHAM), ABOUT LEASHING HER SKITTISH DOG, PAUL ANKA, ON GILMORE GIRLS

''You even made Locke take a swing at you. Hell, that's like getting Gandhi to beat his kids.''
SAWYER (JOSH HOLLOWAY) TO CHARLIE (DOMINIC MONAGHAN), ON LOST

''Hold on a second.... Jon, I'm being told Whittington's condition has now been upgraded from 'stable' to 'stable, but still shot in the face by the Vice President.'''
ED HELMS, FAKE REPORTING ON THE HEALTH OF HARRY WHITTINGTON FROM ''OUTSIDE A HOSPITAL IN CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS,'' ON THE DAILY SHOW

''Hoping to appeal to teenagers who say they are too busy to peel oranges, Sunkist is introducing a new pre-cut, pre-peeled snack version. Not to be outdone, Baskin Robbins has created a new coneless ice cream that your mother pre-chews and spits down your throat.''
BILL MAHER, ON REAL TIME

MARCH

''And none of those issues were ever a problem again.''
JON STEWART, AFTER THE MONTAGE OF CLIPS FROM ISSUE-ORIENTED MOVIES AT THE OSCARS

''There's civil war, totally, and it's a great sign. Look how fast Iraq is growing up. It took America almost a century to turn on itself. These guys? Three years. At this rate, in a couple of months, they'll let black people vote.''
CORRESPONDENT ROB CORDDRY, ON THE DAILY SHOW

''I swear to God, Cristina, I like you, I really do. But I grew up in a trailer park, and I am not above kicking your pampered little Beverly Hills ass. And I do mean physically kicking your ass.''
IZZIE (KATHERINE HEIGL) TO CRISTINA (SANDRA OH), ON GREY'S ANATOMY

''The National Enquirer has reported that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes were married eight months ago by a chaplain in the Church of Scientology. The groom wore a casual linen suit, while the bride wore an expression of slowly awakening terror.''
DAVID SPADE, ON THE SHOWBIZ SHOW

APRIL

''Should I go and get a ruler?''
KATE (EVANGELINE LILLY), WITNESSING A MACHO-MAN STANDOFF BETWEEN JACK (MATTHEW FOX) AND SAWYER (JOSH HOLLOWAY), ON LOST

''The New York Post is reporting that on a recent airplane flight, Sharon Stone sat in a different section than her nine-month-old baby. When asked why they were seated separately, the baby said three words: 'Basic Instinct 2.'''
CONAN O'BRIEN, ON LATE NIGHT

''American Idol judge Paula Abdul filed a police report accusing a man of assaulting her at a weekend party. Out of habit, she then added, 'But I loved his spirit — he put everything into it.'''
DAVID SPADE, ON THE SHOWBIZ SHOW

MAY

''I never smile if I can help it. Showing one's teeth is a submission signal in primates. When someone smiles at me, all I see is a chimpanzee begging for its life.''
DWIGHT (RAINN WILSON), ON THE OFFICE

''It was announced this week that Rosie O'Donnell will replace Meredith Vieira on The View in September. The show will now be called The Obstructed View.''
TINA FEY, ON SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE

''I swear to God, she's ruining vaginas for me.''
ALEX (JUSTIN CHAMBERS), ON HIS FORCED OB/GYN INTERNSHIP WITH ADDISON (KATE WALSH), ON GREY'S ANATOMY

''We've gone through more hardships than the Jews and Charlie Brown put together.''
HOMER TO MARGE, AFTER SOMEONE ASKS THE DUO FOR MARRIAGE COUNSELING, ON THE SIMPSONS

''The latest Hollywood rumor is that Britney Spears has been writing poetry about her marriage. The rumor got started when Britney was overheard asking someone, 'What rhymes with deadbeat?'''
CONAN O'BRIEN, ON LATE NIGHT

JUNE

''Ice Cube has joined Ludacris and 50 Cent in criticizing Oprah for not having rappers on her show. I mean, if there's three things my mother-in-law won't shut up about, it's pimps, ho's, and shooting a bitch in the face with a deuce-deuce.''
JOEL McHALE, ON THE SOUP

''The FBI says it wants Zarqawi's DNA so they can pair it with samples found in other terrorist safe houses in order to establish the extent of his influence, and, if need be, clone him so he can be killed again closer to the midterm elections.''
JON STEWART, ON THE DAILY SHOW

''You were in Baghdad for six hours! And you weren't even in the real Baghdad — you were in the Green Zone. That's like going to the Olive Garden and saying you've been to Italy.''
JON STEWART, REACTING TO PRESIDENT BUSH'S TOUTING HIS TRIP TO IRAQ, ON THE DAILY SHOW

''Angelina Jolie says she is going to adopt another baby, but she hasn't decided if the baby will be black, Asian, or white. Jolie said, 'I'm gonna spend the weekend looking at swatches.'''
CONAN O'BRIEN, ON LATE NIGHT

JULY

''Britney Spears announced she's thinking of moving from Beverly Hills to Louisiana. Meanwhile, Kevin Federline announced he's thinking of moving from the couch in the living room to the couch in the den.''
CONAN O'BRIEN, ON LATE NIGHT

''I told the producers I'd give my left nut to host this thing.''
LANCE ARMSTRONG, IN HIS OPENING MONOLOGUE, ON THE 2006 ESPY AWARDS

''President Bush has been very clear that through his leadership, he has made the world safer.... my question to you is simply this: How much safer can the world afford to have him make us?''
JON STEWART, INTERVIEWING SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, ON THE DAILY SHOW

''Lance Bass — formerly of 'N Sync — announced on the cover of People magazine he is, in fact, gay. Lance, are you sure this isn't like the time you wanted to be an astronaut?''
JOEL MCHALE, ON THE SOUP

AUGUST

''You'd love jail. You could work out, wear ugly clothes, kiss boys...''
WILL, COMMENTING ON THE UNFULFILLED CRIMINAL POTENTIAL OF HIS IN-HOUSE HARASSER HOWIE, ON BIG BROTHER: ALL-STARS

''In a recent interview, Jessica Simpson is quoted as saying, 'I have amazing boobs.' Unfortunately, Jessica was responding to a question, 'What do you think about the conflict in the Middle East?'''
CONAN O'BRIEN, ON LATE NIGHT

''K-Fed is starting his own record label, Federation Records, and his upcoming album will be its first release. It will be interesting to see how he manages to get dropped from his own label.''
JOEL McHALE, ON THE SOUP

''I don't go hunting for celebrity babies. I have 116 other things to do, thank you, Billy. You need another job. I mean, you have potential as a human being. This may not be right for you. Seriously, can you focus on other things?''
JEREMY PIVEN, TO PRESHOW HOST BILLY BUSH, WHO ASKED IF PIVEN HAD MET VIOLET AFFLECK OR SURI CRUISE, ON THE 2006 EMMY RED CARPET SPECIAL

SEPTEMBER

''Donald Trump has fired his trusty left-hand girl, Carolyn Kepcher....When George Ross was asked to comment on the situation, he said, 'I like peas when they're crushed up.'''
JOEL McHALE, ON THE SOUP

''Last night, Katie Couric debuted as the anchor of the CBS Evening News, and at the end of the broadcast she asked viewers to recommend a signature sign-off. So far the front-runner is 'Stay tuned for some kind of CSI.'''
CONAN O'BRIEN, ON LATE NIGHT

''In the West Bank, a group calling itself the Lions of Monotheism firebombed four churches, telling the Associated Press, 'The attacks...were carried out to protest the Pope's remarks linking Islam and violence.' The irony — and this is often the case, we find — was completely lost on them.''
JON STEWART, ON THE DAILY SHOW

OCTOBER

''On this week's Dancing with the Stars, one of the contestants snagged her dress on something and accidentally exposed her rear end. Fortunately, no one noticed, because everyone on that show looks like an ass.''
CONAN O'BRIEN, ON LATE NIGHT

''Earlier today, Bob Woodward's new book came out, and it claims the Bush administration has bungled the war in Iraq. When reached for comment, President Bush said, 'Just one more reason to hate books.'''
CONAN O'BRIEN, ON LATE NIGHT

''Earlier this week, a man named his newborn son ESPN because one of the man's favorite things to watch is ESPN. The baby is happy, healthy, and already home with his brother Porn.''
CONAN O'BRIEN, ON LATE NIGHT

''Young man, I don't know where that's been, but I can say with absolute certainty it won't be going anywhere near my mouth.''
EMILY (KELLY BISHOP), WHEN ASKED TO BLOW INTO A BREATHALYZER BY A POLICE OFFICER, ON GILMORE GIRLS

''You'd like it. Puppies get killed.''
SAWYER (JOSH HOLLOWAY), DESCRIBING OF MICE AND MEN TO BUNNY-KILLING HENRY GALE (MICHAEL EMERSON), ON LOST

NOVEMBER

''McDreamy is doing the McNasty with McHottie? That McBastard!''
GEORGE (T.R. KNIGHT), TRYING TO TALK LIKE CRISTINA (SANDRA OH), ON GREY'S ANATOMY

''I always knew the branch would shut down some day; I just figured it would be because Michael sold the building for some magic beans.''
JIM (JOHN KRASINSKI), AFTER HEARING THAT THE SCRANTON BUREAU WAS CLOSING, ON THE OFFICE

''Lawyers in Germany are trying to have Donald Rumsfeld arrested and tried for war crimes. You know things are bad when Germany is accusing you of war crimes.''
CONAN O'BRIEN, ON LATE NIGHT

''So how have you been, Preston? Last time I saw you, you stole my patient's heart. Then you got shot. Karma rocks.''
RIVAL HEART SURGEON DR. HAHN (BROOKE SMITH), TO DR. BURKE (ISAIAH WASHINGTON), ON GREY'S ANATOMY

DECEMBER

''No, I don't have a gambling problem. I'm winning, and winning is not a problem. That's like saying Michael Jordan has a basketball problem, or Def Leppard has an awesomeness problem.''
EARL (JASON LEE), ON MY NAME IS EARL

''Trust me, Bart — it's better to walk in on both your parents than on just one of them.''
MILHOUSE, TO BART, AFTER BART SAW HIS PARENTS GETTING BUSY, ON THE SIMPSONS

My foot

really, really itches. It's quite a bother.

note to self (please ignore)

for the next set of reviews in 5 words of less:
- aul
- hf
- ap
- ia2
- mmm

Apparently I'm the oldest person alive

Clocking in at a ripe 250 years of age, I was born in the year of the rat.

In other news, I may have to do some salsa dancing tonight if I can't persuade the others to go to a normal kind of establishment.

Oh my god she's blogging about comics

I just wanted to mention how much I really love this page that I found referenced on Neil Gaiman's blog.

Quite the insightful bit of work for 9 little frames.

Review: Lost in La Mancha

**

Lost in La Mancha feels like (probably because it was originally intended to be) a super long DVD 'making of' featurette. Sidenote: I think I've referred to these features in some shape or form in all my last three reviews: how odd.

Unfortunately, it doesn't have much more substance than that, and thus certainly doesn't enter the league of real documentaries. If you aren't familiar with the concept, I will once again be oh so gracious and provide some background. Essentially, eccentric director Terry Gilliam has dreamed of making a film version of Don Quixote for the last decade. Having no luck in Hollywood, he turned to Europe for the money. Johnny Depp, Vanessa Paradis (Johnny's real life partner), and renowned French actor Jean Rochefort signed on.

Moreover, not all that much really does go wrong! There's an initial lack of budget ($32 million, about half of what would normally be required for a picture of this scope). There are some pre-production problems with scheduling, and later a storm screws up a scene and damages some equipment. The coup de grace is Rochefort's illness that causes him to exit production for at least a month. Yes, some bad luck, but it doesn't seem quite so extraordinary that a whole movie was warranted.

More likely, they were just trying to salvage some of the $32 million squandered. It appears the box office total was less than $1 million, so hopefully the DVD sales pulled in a bit more than that. It seems that Gilliam has a bit of a track record for screwing things up.

Actually, I think this would have been a much better little documentary if it had starred a more appealing director than the insufferable bugger that I had no idea Gilliam was. He is constantly swearing, yelling at his cast and crew, and blaming others for his own failures. His one shining moment is standing beside his first assistant director, who inevitably gets blamed for everything (apparently this is just how it works in Hollywood). But besides Brazil (which I never particularly liked), 12 Monkeys and The Fisher King seem to be the only things he's done right. His resume is full of half-completed, abandonded films and flops. His latest, Tideland, appears to be continuing in this tradition, already receiving unanimous 'boos'. Hey, at least he finished it!

So, I wouldn't recommend Lost in La Mancha unless you happen to be a big Gilliam / Don Quixote fan, or an aspiring little film-maker yourself - where this may serve as a useful "how not to make a movie" manual.

Review: The Big Chill

***

I don't often bother to summarize the plot in my reviews; I'm not that kind to my poor readers. And I usually manage to spoil it in some ways for those who haven't seen it. (Although normally not as much as in my History of Violence review below). Anyways, today I am being kind.

The Big Chill is about a group of close friends who attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor some 10-15 years ago. One of their members has committed suicide for reasons that remain unclear at the end of the film (corpse admirably played by Kevin Costner). The ensemble cast works exceedingly well as a sort of family, due largely to the many weeks the cast spent in close quarters before shooting began. On a DVD featurette this was referred to as a "brilliant decision" on the part of director Lawrence Kasdan - to me it seems rather obvious.

Moving past this small disagreement, the movie is quite well done. Detailed directing; a skillful script full of emotional, thought-provoking, real moments; competent actors, none of whom stands out (in this case a good thing); and some interesting inter-connected drama among the group. I especially liked the decision to not reveal the motive behind Alex's suicide. The 1960s inspired soundtrack works at some times better than others (notably good: You Can't Always Get What You Want, The Weight. Notably bad: When a Man Loves a Woman, Natural Woman). But overall the music adds to the picture, not distracts from it.

But let's get to the bottom line, shall we. The ending. I can't imagine a more cliched way to wrap everything up: Nick continues to follow Alex's path, Meg gets a baby from the only appropriate source, Karen & Sam hook up with unseen ramifications. All of these events could have been predicted within the first 5 minutes. Moreover, there isn't a whole lot of resolution. In a movie about losing your way as you enter the real world, you expect there to be some kind of ... finding of the way at the end. I think this could have been done swiftly without being too suffocating. To not walk a certain path is much more realistic for most of these characters, but they seemed to have left just to meet again at the next funeral (most likely Nick's).

I guess it's a bit of a conundrum really. Lives aren't often never fixed, and certainly not in a weekend. The film is ultimately interesting and quite feel-good but has a cliched feel and lacks that extra mile of real substance.

My adventure on Dundas street

I think I might see Happy Feet tomorrow as a matinee. Not that I think it'll make my list for 2006, but it might be fun and it's only $4 and I'm not quite bored yet but almost.

Today was an exciting day, from being woken up at 9am (early for those of us who had been getting up at 1pm), to running around dealing with rent cheques (Dad got his wallet stolen about a month ago, whole kerfuffle with the pre-authorized debit things), lunch with Mom, Dr.'s appointment at 6pm. Speaking of that, apparently all doctors in Ontario have to "night hours" one day a week. I think these run until about 8pm. My guess is that it's for single moms (for instance) who can't get off work during the daylight hours. I felt kind of bad for my old man doctor. At least he's still robust, not feeble.

He convinced me to go in for a phyiscal some time in late January.

So anyways, there was kind of a story here I swear. The combination of these new night hours and the fact that it's about 2 blocks away from my apartment lead to me walking the streets of almost EOA (not quite) after dark. I am not afraid of such things at all, but on the way back there was a slightly sketchy looking young man walking in front of me. I crossed the street (not to get away from him, it was just street crossing time), but shortly after I did I believe he was tackled to the ground by some other men? Being as it was dark, it was hard to tell exactly what had happened. But there was definitely one man on the ground, behind held down by two other men. No one was yelling, and the two standing men seemed to have flashlights which I thought might be a sign of "good guys" ? It didn't really seem like much of a struggle, so I briefly considered phoning the police (while funnily trying to stay out of sight in case I was witnessing some kind of criminal activity) but opted to just walk home instead. Hope my inaction didn't cause any harm.

I'm try and be the type who opts for acting, even though I'm just a girl and not a very big one at that. I just never want to be one of those people who hears someone screaming and does nothing just because they assume someone else will. But in this case, I think inaction was the right choice.

Approval Matrix: Week of Jan 8

Review: A History of Violence (2005)

In one of the DVD's special features it mentions how Cronenberg often does movies about change - people becoming different (often physically, but in this case mentally). By the time Fogarty and his crew arrive in town, it's as if Tom has actually forgotten them. He, to spoil the movie entirely ... so stop reading now if you don't want that to happen ... has indeed become Tom. The first 1/3 of the movie is undoubtedly the best, and so utterly convincing that the viewer nearly forgets this is a Cronenberg film (except for the auspicious opening scene lingering in the back of one's mind).

The slaying of Fogarty and his crew is a bit I have problems with. Sure this is ultimately a movie about violence (Cronenberg has also commented that he intended it to be rather Darwinian in nature), but it still seemed rather out of place. The blood continues into Philadelphia where Tom goes to confront an old acquaintance (William Hurt). I've never seen Hurt play anything like this, and thus am continually impressed with his acting chops - some of the best in the business, in my opinion.

But moving on to more pressing matters, what is this film really about? What does it have to say? Cronenberg seems to think it's got something to do with the duality of lives and realities, and some kind of survival of the fittest. One of the most crucial scenes for me would be the initial diner scene where Tom is pushed aside, 20 years of hard work shattered to preserve his physical safety (subconciously). I guess this matter of 'who is Tom?' is what the movie is about from Tom's perspective, but to Edie (the always wonderful Maria Bello), it's about something quite different, and the same holds true for Jack, their son. I enjoyed these mutliple layers quite a bit. I also appreciated the film's tight 96 minute run time. If you actually read any of those reviews I posted a while back, you'll know that being too long gets you a big X in my book.

So anyways, this is a solid addition to the quirky Cronenberg collection, but could have benefited from a bit less violence.

Rating: *** 1/2

Celebrities Don't Need More Money

I believe Matt (?) mentioned how the gift bags at the Oscars are no more. This is a little ray of hope.

After we watched Ice Age 2 the other night (Mom's decision), I got to thinking about an article I had read a while back. It consisted of interviews with various cartoon voice actors complaining about the recent wave of celebrity voices. Up until the Shrek era, it was quite uncommon for a Hollywood star to voice a character in an animated film. After all, the skills needed for each type of work are quite different.

Lately all of these 'original' voice talents have been getting no work due to Raymond, Eddie Murphy, Queen Latifah, etc. stealing it all. It seems these Hollywood types really get a kick out of not having to get all made up, and perhaps starring in something that their children can appreciate. It seems nowadays that even the minor characters are being voiced by celebrities. Watched the Ice Age 2 credits, it seemed only characters with 1 line were given to a 'pedestrian'. Personally, I'm not a big fan of this. Sometimes it's useful and appropriate to have a Mike Meyers as a Shrek character, but most of the time (re: Queen Latifah...) it just distracts. And now I feel bad for all these out-of-work voice actors who were probably not making much to begin with.

Happy New Year!

I don't have any resolutions that I plan to stick by, but here are some random thoughts on general goals / improvements I would like to have in the grand old era of 2007:

1) Stick to my budget
- I made one for the summer of 2006, and then adapted it for the school year 2006/2007. So far it has been going quite well. I am about $1000 under budget for the first semester of school, and that's a nice feeling. So I guess you could say my goal for next semester would be the same level of saving. Most of my money in 2007 will be going towards (in no particular order): books/school fees, cost of living from Jan-May (food, cable, etc.), cancun trip, europe trip, buying car from parents, extra accounting course fees (for the CA requirements), moving fees to Toronto, first/last month's rent in Toronto (not excited for this).

2) Excel at work
- Hopefully I'll have work to do! If they start me off not doing anything, that's not a good thing for me. I need to be motivated and busy from the beginning or I'll get used to doing nothing! Of course I would overcome this onset laziness, because I don't want to be unemployed!

3) Find a good balance between serious and care-free
- I used to be all the former, now I'm almost all the later. Balance is needed.

4) Continue being social
- As a sidebar to #3, it's worth noting that I've become ridiculously social in the last year. Sometimes I'm still shy, usually when tired, but most of the time I put myself out there, meet lots of new people, organize social gatherings, etc. This has been a great change in my life because I've made so many new friends, and I enjoy being a "go to" kind of person who always knows everyone, and what the plans are.

5) Health stuff
- This is a pretty typical resolution. Eat less, exercise more darn it!

6) Life-long learning
- Read at least X number of books. Suggestions on how high this number should be?
- Read The Economist at least once a month, or keep up on current events in some other fashion.
- Take up some kind of enriching hobby (gardening? cooking? 2nd language?)

7) Fashion
- stayed tanned (still not vacuous, I promise) and fashionable

What I plan to do with the rest of my time off

1) Sleep
2) Tan (not to be too vacuous, it's just that I'm awfully pale and I don't want to spend my entire spring break and then the summer nurturing sun burns.)
3) Go to the gym
4) Accounting course #1
5) Accounting course #2
6) Watch movies
7) Play Caesar IV
8) Annoy my grandparents and parents a bit more

Superhero / Villain Quiz

Your results:
You are Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman 80% Green Lantern 75% The Flash 75% Supergirl 70% Spider-Man 60% Robin 55% Catwoman 55% Superman 55% Hulk 50% Batman 50% Iron Man 35%

You are a beautiful princess with great strength of character.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz


Your results:
You are Poison Ivy

Poison Ivy 86% Mystique 75% Catwoman 75% Dark Phoenix 70% Apocalypse 66% Dr. Doom 65% Magneto 56% Two-Face 55% Mr. Freeze 54% Lex Luthor 52% Venom 48% Riddler 47% The Joker 45% Juggernaut 43% Green Goblin 39% Kingpin 36%

You would go to almost any length for the protection of the environment including manipulation and elimination.

Click here to take the Supervillain Personality Quiz

Do you like me?

Don't worry I'm not that in need of approval! It's just that my new favorite thing is this: New York Magazine's Approval Matrix. Basically, they rate a handful of recent pop-culture events (everything from scientific discoveries to celebrity happenings) on two measures: lowbrow/highbrow, and despicable/brilliant. For instance, country music or the surge of NASCAR would be in the bottom left quadrant, whereas a fantastic stage play may go in the top right. If you follow the link above right now, you'll see something different than normal because they are doing their year-end summary. Normally, there would be more like 10-20 happenings on the grayscale landscape.

*Even more fun* is playing the game for yourself!

Europe Trip Planning, Stage 2

Current (oversized) plan for my 6-8 week trip with the planned length of stay in days:
- Austria: Vienna (2), Salzburg (1)
- Germany: Cologne (1), Munich (1), Rhine/Bavaria country (2)
- Switzerland: Interlaken (2), possibly Geneva (1)
- Belgium: Bruges (1), Brussels (2)
- Italy: Rome (3), Florence (3), Venice (2), Pisa (1), Milan (2), Cinque Terre (2)
- Greece: Athens (2), some islands (4)
- France: Paris (3), Bordeaux / wine valley region (2), Cannes (1), Marseille (2)
- Spain: Barcelona (3)
- Czech Republic: Prague (3)
- Great Britain: London (4), Bath (1), Brighton (1), Lake District (2), York (2), Edinburgh (2), Inverness / Loch Ness (2), Cardiff (1)

= 61 days ... it'd be nice to cut this down a bit. Perhaps I'll speed through my trip faster than I expected?
Looks like I might have to miss grad. School lets out in mid May, and grad is mid June. I don't want to travel in the peak, hot, crowded, expensive summer months of July & August, so I'm keen on going from around May 15 - July 15. This does not agree with grad at all! Guess I'll go to the one in September. Hmm.

Anyways where have you been and what do you recommend?

I Have a Library

After reading about LibraryThing on Neil Gaiman's blog, I was intrigued enough to make my own. This is a rather difficult chore when you're not sitting in front of your collection, so I just chose a few selections that I remember having. I spent most of the last 2 hours trying to remember what Agatha Christie titles I have and what their corresponding covers look like. You can see the fruits of my labor on the right side under the 'About Me' section: a random mish mash (ever changing) of covers in my library. I'd say 50% of them will be Agatha Christie until I can get home and update this. I want a cuecat scanner for Christmas ...

PS. Merry Christmas

Hope everyone is having a good time with their family and such. Though we missed the actual day, we had Christmas the next morning. Some things I got...

From Dad in Toronto (movies, all picked out by me - with a distinctly foreign theme):
- Amores Perros (2000, Inarritu)
- All About My Mother (1999, Almodovar)
- Amarcord (1973, Fellini)
- Pulp Fiction
- Sin City
- Short Cuts (1993, Altman)
- Scoop (2006, Allen)

From parents:
- Very nice hair straightener
- Joss Whedon T-shirt
- And then there were none (aka 10 little indians)

Lots of good movie watching for us, especially including all those ones the parents got. Really all I want to see is Kill Bill Vol 2.... even though I've seen it before. Vol 1 whet my appetite. A sidebar on it, perhaps: I like violence. I mean I really, really like violence. Maybe you wouldn't guess it from my seemingly sweet demeanor but I enjoy nothing better than a good, highly conceptualized bloodbath. This is what Tarantino provides better than any other recent director because he's kind enough to include some kind of plot. I don't think KB is quite in the leagues of Pulp Fiction - it's just a bit too out there. But it's meant to be, of course. The wacky 70s music, campy dialogue (that Matt pointed out), etc. is all part of a certain style of Hung Fu that he was aiming to "Tarantino-ize". I don't even find the violence in these to be all that much, because it's all very cartoony. Lots of blood waterfalls and swordfights, but no close-ups of severed limbs or bulging eyes (although one unfortuante victim did have his eye removed...). Altogether not much realistic violence. {end sidebar}

Speaking of movies, I've recently compiled a rough draft of both my worst and best movies of 2006 lists. I still have a few more I want to see to fill out the latter (Letters from Iwo Jima, The Good Shepherd, Pan's Labyrinth, Children of Men). Expect the first entry somewhere between February and March.

Avoided the plague ... sort of

I'm mostly all better now after an untimely illness struck me down at 4am on the 22nd and kept me in bed until the 26th. I still feel awfully weak; noticeable when I went to wash my sheets this morning and it took a good 5 minutes to get one pillow case off. And then I had to lie down for a bit. Is this what it's like for really old people to keep house? Because that would be really frusterating.

I hate being sick, as do most people I imagine. But it was nice to not have to worry about missing school, and being easily taken care of by people who had already taken those days off.

General Update

Well I suppose it's time for another blog entry from me, since I've had not one but two nudges already. I just haven't been in the blogging mood, jeez! So anyways here's a general recap of what I've been up to:

Birthday!!
- I turned 20 six days ago. It was super. My wonderful parents took me out for a delicious meal. We decided to postpone the movie that usually follows because I had to get home to finish preparations for my party. I don't think I've ever had more than 5 people in my apartment at once, and certainly no real parties. I don't know if this quite qualifies either since 90% of the people that would normally have come were out of town. So it was probably more of a large gathering.
- There were probably around ... 15-20 people there, I guess? Most of my high school friends, a few from Ivey (including one professor!), and a handful of randoms. I'll tell you that story now. Around about 9:30pm, some of my guests sitting by the window announced that there were some people on a balcony across the way starring at us! So, having my new social personality attained in the summer, I proceeded to skip out onto the balcony and shout greetings and invitations to my party. They disappeared.
- 5 minutes later, I get a call from one of my invited guests buzzing me from downstairs. When he arrives at the door, he's joined by 5 people I've never met! It turned out the randoms from across the way were trying to buzz me by dialing my apt # (which I had shouted across), my friend found them and brought them up.
- Anyways, everyone was really impressed with the level of preparation: I had decorations, cookies, cupcakes, a lasagna, and tons of free alcohol. It was a good little party.
- Around 11 we left for the bar, where there was no line and most of us were able to bypass the cover. Inside, it was the perfect amount of busy: not too crowded, but not dead.
- Had a fabulous time.

Went to Toronto the next day.
- Visiting dad for a week.
- Seeing lots of movies.

Deloitte Christmas Party on the 16th. It was INSANE. I have never been to or heard of a party like this. This year's theme was Cruise Ship.
- 200+ tables set up for dinner, a full stage and band on either end of the long room (entire Toronto Convention Center)
- Open bar and buffet all night
- Midway games (huge) set up one side
- Entire casino area, with blackjack, roulette, craps, etc. Tokens, instead of money, were given for the draws.
- "Walk the plank" to get on, with the head partners dressed up as the captains of the ship.
- Mini golf
- Shuffleboard
- Ping Pong
- Pool tables
- People who would draw your caricature
- Massage tables
- Oxygen bar (?!)
- Karaoke
- At 8pm, all these balloons dropped for the ceiling as a "sail away" thing. Redeemed for prizes.
- Balloon maker
- Mariachi and jamaican bands wandering around

Anyways that gives you some idea of the scale of this event. I would estimate that if you consider the cost of the space, decorations, hundreds of staff needed, food and alcohol consumed, that it was probably a $5-$10 million party. I really hope I get to experience some more of these! (re: earlier entry).

Reviews in 5 words or less:
The History Boys: didn't go cliched route
Volver: best almodovar yet; perfect
Stranger Than Fiction: a long version of trailer
Scoop: more hilarious than people say
All About My Mother: classic almodovar; tight story
The Pursuit of Happyness: hope goes a long way
Blood Diamond: accent not so bad
Casino Royale: best bond, but not amazing
Match Point: i liked scoop better

Ghostwriter!!

Facebook is great for utilizing the often superior memories of your peers. Although, I'd actually thought at Ghostwriter at least a couple times a year since it ended in 1995. Anyways through a friend's profile I found a group devoted to this television masterpiece. Through this group, I found that you can watch episodes on Youtube! Technology is fabulous.

The only downside is that the episodes come in series of 4. So far only 2 parts from separate episodes are posted, so I have no idea who was the culprit! It was great to relive this piece of nostalgia from my childhood, and now I really want to see all of the episodes! They aren't available on DVD (petition online), and only a couple episodes are available for sale on VHS on amazon. Alas. eBay has a DVD set (created by a fan) of all episodes from the first two seasons (which is 90% of all episodes aired) but it's already at $50 US and it's not even close to closing. Ah well. Maybe in a few years when every other show possible has been converted to DVD, so will this.

Marijuana is Fun, Part 2

I am now 6 episodes into Weeds Season 2 and let me tell you, it is fan-tastic. "Turning it up a notch" is an understatement. We're talking the same great dialogue, acting, and good storytelling, now complete with plot twists that will blow your mind!

So far I'd give the second season a 9.3 out of 10 (or 93 out of 100, if you'd prefer!). Not too shabby. For reference / comparability:

Lost Season 1: 9.4
Lost Season 2: 9.0

Veronica Mars Season 1: 9.5
Veronica Mars Season 2: 9.7

Annoyed

That with my new blog layout, it's so difficult to see the things that I've bolded! Basically the bolded text looks just like the regular stuff. See the Lost post below for example. Suggestions?

I also don't like how narrow the posts appear on the screen with inches upon inches of empty space at the sides. Talk about inefficient.

Furthermore, where is the left pane? I want a left pane jeez! All my lists take up far too much room on the right side and it would be great to spread them out a little.

Added Labels, Blogged 4 Times in 1 Day

Enough said.

Lost fun!

Top 10 signs you're obsessed with Lost (courtesy of Letterman, of course)

10. After each episode you do an all kitty re-enactment in your basement
9. You refer to your in-laws as “the others”
8. While visiting New York, you stood over every manhole and screamed, “Good God, a secret hatch!”
7. You are halfway to your goal of licking every cast member
6. Your friend phoned during Lost. The next day you beat him to death with a hot poker
5. You pitched NBC a show about 12 people stranded backstage at Saturday Night Live
4. Co-workers affectionately refer to you as “that loser who’s obsessed with Lost”
3. Renamed dental practice “flost”
2. Your wife is getting sick of playing the bedroom game “find the castaway”
1. You sat through all 10 of these lame jokes


Why have the ratings been so bad lately? (from EW's resident Lostaholic, Doc Jensen)

So if Lost's lost viewers haven't been sucked into the mindhole that is Criminal Minds... where have they gone?

Here's my theory: I don't think they're watching anything at all. Not really. I don't doubt there are some former Lost fans who've become Lost haters — who believe the show has ''lost it,'' who seriously doubt the producers know what they're doing. But what I do hear from those who've given up watching Lost on a weekly basis — and I know more than a few — is that Lost has let its urgency slip away, most likely as a result of what TV writers call ''The Stall.'' The Stall is what happens to ongoing TV shows that are trying to tell a story that has an ending when the storytellers don't know when or if they'll be allowed to actually ever end it. Lost has definitely moved into Stall mode, atomizing storylines into tiny bits and strewing them across manymanymany episodes (like Jack/Kate/Sawyer's stay in Othersville) in order to fill the time. Kinda like a football team that's jumped out to a big lead, then adopts a prevent defense that allows an opponent to gain yards and maybe put up a few points, just to burn off the clock, which can be risky, because you also allow your opponent to gain momentum or wrest control of the game. Or something like that.

Tortured sports analogies aside, for people irritated by The Stall, Lost has surrendered its must-see status. For them, the watercooler conversation has lost its boil. At the same time, what I've noticed is that these people are still invested in the unfolding story of Lost. Yet they also know that there are other options available to them that would allow them to experience the show without having to put up with its glacial pacing and its ''answer a question with new questions'' tactics. They can bank a bunch of episodes on TiVo, then watch 'em all at once, to get the kind of full-meal deal they wish every episode could deliver. Or they can just wait until the entire season comes out on DVD and binge. In fact, I know of two people who just recently became fans of the show via the DVDs. They loved what they saw and decided to become weekly watchers when the show began its third season. By the third episode, they were burned out. One of them popped into my office and said, ''How can you stand to watch the show this way? It's so... slow.'' He decided he was going to jump off the riverboat and catch up with it downstream, when it docks at his local Best Buy. (Again with the tortured analogies!)

What Lindelof thinks about the new time slot

''I personally am thrilled. Now I can watch American Idol without feeling guilty.

''Oh. Wait. I still feel guilty.''

Depraved enough to watch some clips?

If you were paying good attention at the end of the fall finale, you'll remember ABC's promise to show some new Lost scenes in a desperate (and unsuccessful) attempt to make you watch Daybreak. Here they are:

Lost Moments 1-3

Marijuana is Fun

Did I scare you with my title? :) Don't worry I haven't, and never will, become any sort of crackhead.

I've just started watching the critically acclaimed Showcase series Weeds. In fact, I'm all the way through season 1 and will be starting season 2 shortly, seeing as I have little to do today with all the snow.

And let me tell you, it's pretty great! If you don't mind the premise (suburban housewife is widowed, turns to selling weed to support her family and standard of living), there are a lot of things to appreciate about this show.

1) The acting is pretty phenomenal. Mary Louise Parker at her best. After seeing the results of some bad parenting, she breaks down in front of her source; a great scene.
2) Tight dialogue. Couple of examples:

Nancy Botwin: You listen, you stay away from my customer base, you don't deal to kids.
Josh Wilson: They're too young to bleed, they're too young for weed, no grass on the field no grass will they yield.
Nancy Botwin: You're a poet.
Josh Wilson: You know it.

Heylia James: Serious shit calls for serious cash and your cash got a sense of humor.

3) It's kind of vulgar, like what you would expect from Showcase or HBO. But it does a pretty good job of walking the line between funny/interesting and just plain gross. Kind of like Six Feet Under, but less depressing.

4) Perhaps what I love most about it is the business aspect. Ivey has trained me to think this way, and really it's just a profit venture, regardless of what is being sold. Nancy (MLP) figures this out too and expands geographically, implements somse product diversity, experiments with target markets, wrestles with the competition, and gets political with the DEA.

Anywho, that's my little synopsis of a pretty good show. A solid 8.4 out of 10, methinks. I'm excited to see what the second season brings, because it reportedly "turns it up a notch."

SNOW DAY

This is particularly exciting for me as I was scheduled to have an exam at 8am this morning. Actually, funny story.Last night around 8pm we get an email from our accounting prof saying we may have to cancel the exam because the heating system is broken at Western. Hopes up, I became quite apathetic about studying. But alas, not half an hour later they got the heat up and running again.I wake up at 6:30 this morning (after an unfortunate 3 hours of sleep for the second night in a row) to the radio saying all schools, UWO, and the bus system is closed today. The first snow day in 4 years! My theory is that someone at Western was praying really hard to not have to write their exam today. 7,000 of the 32,000 UWO students were schedule to write something today - that's a lot of happy campers.

My exam has been rescheduled for January 19th ... talk about some extra study time! Good thing too, cause I definitely started studying for it yesterday.

Um, Do I Still Have a Job?

I shouldn't be blogging, I shouldn't be blogging, I shouldn't be blogging .... sigh. Ok now that that's off my chest (exam at 8am tomorrow btw), on to more pressing matters.

Today it was officially announced that Deloitte lost it's biggest client, Nortel. This represents over $80 million in annual revenues for the Toronto office, and over 2000 jobs. One of which, because I am specifically employed by the Technology, Media, and Telecommunications group, may be mine.

Deloitte had been Nortel's auditors since 1914. The file will be going to KPMG, which reportedly drastically under bid the Deloitte audit fee rate.

To make matters worse, Nortel shareholders are suing both the company and it's auditors (Deloitte) for all the accounting trouble (endless restatements) that have occurred in the last 5 or 10 years. Fortunately, I know enough about the audit to know that the trouble is with their control systems, not suspected maliciousness. In other words, they are ridiculously disorganized, not trying to hide something. Nevertheless, depending on the findings of the court case and outcome, Deloitte could potentially go under like Arthur Andersen (Enron's auditors). Now isn't that something to look forward to with your first full-time employment?

Some clarifications on last night's episode of Heroes

I was confused, so I did some research on the internet and I'm here to present my findings.

1) Sylar didn't kill Eden, Eden killed Eden. Sylar revealed his intention to take her power, so she made one last heroic move and took her own life, making little pieces of her brain. So Sylar will thankfully not have the power of persuasion.

2) Sylar could use his powers because either Haitan or HRG can deflect others' powers, and both were MIA during the Eden visit.

3) Peter was sick because Matt's powers are making Matt, and hence Peter when he's in the vicinity, sick.

Other thoughts:

- Overall a fairly decent episode.
- Still LOVE Peter + Claire, despite the fact that this has been laughed at by Milo in the press because of the age difference (12 years in real life). I think he just personally finds it incestuous, plus Hayden is quite the annoying little brat.
- Other heroes who should bite the dust soon: Matt, Nikki/Jessica and family.
- Peter is so not dying, I am not worried. Consider this: if he was really the bomb and did he exploding thing, wouldn't all the other heroes around him immediately perish and then there would be no more show!

My Future Roomie

I'd say it's 90% settled. I mean, it's still 10 months away so who knows what could happen in that amount of time, but we've agreed to room together. Who is this you ask? One of my lovely co-workers at Deloitte, Azadeh Alemi. She sounds foreign, and she is, but in an "I've lived in Canada my whole life" way. She's the one on the far right in the 2nd picture. The first picture is kind of strange because of the effect of the camera on her eyes (very cat-like).

She's really nice, and quite social, and not very particular about anything. She'll still be in school (co-opping at DT in September for 8 months, than an extra semester of school at York), so probably won't be able to afford as much of the rent as I will. This actually works out well, because then we can get a 1 bedroom+den or a master bedroom+ small 2nd bedroom, and she can have the smaller room.

We're looking to live in the Yonge & Eglinton area because it's located on the subway line between my work (North York --- Yonge & Sheppard) and downtown. In fact, I made a whole list of what I'm looking for in an apartment:

Requirements:
- 2 bedrooms or 1+ livable den
- $1600 budget (including utilities)
- 700 square feet +
- cats allowed (?)
- washer/dryer en suite
- on the Yonge subway line
- safe neighborhood
- close to grocery store, shopping

2^nd tier requirements:
- hardwood flooring
- indoor pool
- exercise room
- 24 hr security
- close to the highway, but not too close
- fairly new building / recently renovated
- balcony

Would be nice:
- 2 bathroooms
- walk-in closet
- fanciness