Bored? Yeah, me too.

I was gonna post something last week. 2 things actually they were quite funny in my head but after typing half of them out they weren't very funny anymore. They were just sad. So no posts, I thought that no one would actually care that there's no update whatsoever on this blog, I thought I should stop blogging altogether. I also thought that I should get a tattoo or a piercing. Apparently I've been thinking a lot lately and it's not always about serious things. That's what you do when you get an abundance of time and very little money. And by "you" I meant "me".

So naturally, with all the "thinking" I've been doing lately, I got bored of pretty much everything. So bored that I read my Pharmacology textbook to have a break from boredom. The "official version" of this action in my diary is "stop insulting my own intelligence by doing dumb things". Which version is better? I personally like the blog version, the diary version is too honest it hurts. Don't look at me like I'm a nerd (which I am), that book just happened to be there when I was bored and the chapter on antibiotics got me hooked. Really interesting stuff.

When I wasn't busy being bored I did other things too which I will tell all of you about since you're here and you're bored and you'd probably read rubbish that I churn out. So here goes

8 THINGS I'VE DONE THIS PAST MONTH

1. I decided to stop watching the news. My newspaper subscription ran out at the beginning of December and I was too cheap to pay for summer subscription and too uninterested to read the newspaper everyday. I watched the news on TV when I happened to be having dinner or breakfast at the same time as the news. I just decided to stop watching it yesterday because I genuinely believe that they should change the program name to the "Bad News" instead. Let me see, day after Boxing day and what have we got on the news? First thing in the morning, breaking news is a whole family in the US got massacre by 2 people. Awesome. What's in the afternoon news? A newly-arrived-in-Australia woman got killed when a car ran into the rubbish bin that she was doing the right thing and throwing rubbish into said bin. The kicker? She was out celebrating her birthday. And there's more, a man died when he was deadlocked in his own house and the house burnt down. All those commercial channels only want viewers and what better way to attract viewers by shocking them with this kind of news on a day right after Christmas right? From now on I'm gonna watch SBS world news, at least they don't put this kind of news as breaking news, plus they're not usually on when I have dinner.

UPDATE:
I forgot to mention a teenager got mauled (and later died) by a tiger, a baby got mauled (and later died) by the family's dog and the greatest tragedy of this month, as claimed by tabloids, Britney Spears' sixteen-year-old sister got knocked up. Great journalism is displayed by all these "breaking news" stories.

2. I went to a concert, my first concert ever. Yeah, me the person who hates crowded places. I seriously despise crowded places especially Melbourne Central and Myer on Boxing day, more on that later. I loved that concert probably because of:
It was one of my favourite bands if not the favourite at the moment: Tegan and Sara.
The audience was very polite.
The opening act (Kaki King) was freaking great. She was hailed as a guitar goddess by some magazine so you know that she must be awesome (which I reckon that she is, but this is only the opinion of someone who doesn't play any instruments) or at least good.
T&S has quite a large gay following and mostly women so the audience was probably 80% female. It's not that I'm saying men are impolite, I'm just saying that women are generally more considerate and generally less likely to do crazy shit. I said "generally" because some slightly crazy shit did happen but it was fine in the end, no one got hurt. One thing I have to say about this concert besides T&S was awesome is that I have never seen so many lesbians in one place ever. It felt strange but they were polite and I like polite people.

3. I changed my first name. It's not that I don't like my first name (I actually don't now but I used to like it quite a lot before the move to Australia rendered my name too freaking confusing), I just got tired of having this kind of conversation on the phone all the time.
Me: Hello.
The other end: Hello, I'm looking for "blah blah blah".
Me: I'm sorry?
The other end (in a slightly raised voice): I'm looking for "blah blah blah"
Me: I'm sorry, who are you looking for?
The other end (in a very raised voice and extremely slowly): BLAH BLAH BLAH
Me: I don't know who you're looking for, can you spell the name?
The other end: (spells out "blah blah blah")
Me: Oh, that's me.
And no, the people on the other ends aren't my friends, at least my friends know how to pronounce my name, they're usually some Indian operators calling about signing me up to some life insurance policy or getting me a home loan.
So I changed it to some thing else entirely different and it's kinda weird now that people actually call me by the new name. I went to the bank to change the account name last week (which took a whole hour because I, unfortunately enough, got an operator that's still in training and didn't know what to do, and the supervisors for that trainee were bitches who wouldn't come help out at first and when they did come they had this really annoyed look on their faces and didn't really help with anything at all) and they were talking my account and it took a while for me to register that they were talking about my account. Anyway, if this name doesn't work out, I can always change it to something else. It better works out because changing name is one mofo.

4. I signed up for a Facebook account. I wasn't gonna give into the hype about Facebook just like I haven't given into the whole Myspace thing. But then I got curious and The Alarmist wouldn't stop talking about Facebook and wouldn't stop being on Facebook almost all the time (I think she's addicted to Facebook, very alarming). One of these days my curiosity would be my undoing. The last time I got curious, I watched the 2 Chicks 1 cup thing and it was hilariously disgusting. Like you would never imagine anyone would do that. But they did do it and it was caught all on camera and now it's all over the internet. OK, I'm just trying to spur up your curiosity so that you would go watch the thing. Maybe I should put a link up hey?
Anyway, I signed up, had a look around, went to some pages from people that I know, and got terribly bored. Maybe it's because I'm not really into instant messaging and I don't add a lot of friends to my page. I just don't like Facebook. The other day I got a friend request from someone I have never in real life come into contact with let alone speaking. She was in the Alarmist's year 10 class one year and then they just randomly ran into each other one day and randomly the topic of Facebook popped up in their 2 minute conversation and then she added the Alarmist to her friends list and then requested to add me. I think Facebook is kinda well designed, there's an option for this kind of "friends" something like "I don't even know this person". Facebook is the new Myspace now, I'm pretty sure there's this competition for who's got more friends going on. Count me out on Facebook, I've already wasted enough time without getting addicted to Facebook, imagine what I would be if I am.

5. I went to Geelong with a few friends (wow, real friends, they are a lot better than their Facebook pages) on a 30-degree-Celsius day and it was hot. Like extremely hot and all I can say about Geelong is that it was hot and full of flies. I think they have a fly infestation in Geelong. Insect repellent didn't help so if you're planning to go to Geelong don't try to use it.

6. I watched a bunch of movies. Actually I downloaded a bunch of movies and went to see one. I saw Enchanted and it was alright. I think I would have loved it if I saw this when I was 13. Now that I'm my current age the movie just felt like a fairy tale, everything is too perfect.
The some of the movies I downloaded were excellent. The rest was slightly better than average. Here's a rundown.
Once. For me, the title of this movie says it all. Once is how many times I need to watch this movie. It's not that it's a bad movie. It's just not the type of movie that I enjoy watching. The Alarmist got some high praises for this movie after she saw it earlier this year so I thought I might like it. I didn't.
Death Proof. Now this is my type of movie. This is hilarious. The first half of the movie was really boring but the second half makes up for it. Download it, rent it, do whatever you want just as long as you watch it. It's good
Planet Terror. This movie is not as good as Death Proof but it's a fun horror movie. Plus you get to see Quentin Tarantino working as an actor.
Half Nelson. I like Ryan Gosling in Fracture so I watched this. He's great in the movie. The thing with indie flicks for me is that I usually don't get the movie as a whole. I don't get this movie, I think I need to rewatch it.
Point Break. I actually didn't download this movie. Someone lent it to me. Anyway, all I can say about this movie is that Keanu Reeves couldn't act to save his life.
I watched a few more movies which I can't remember the titles now. That probably means that they're not good enough to be remembered and not bad enough to burn a hole in my brain which means that I shouldn't try to find out and/or write about them.

7. I read a bunch of books. The best being Choke by Chuck Pahlaniuk. That book has quite a lot to say on modern life in bizarre fashion. If you enjoy Fight Club the novel or the movie, then read it. Hilarious is not the right word but it's the first word that comes to mind.

8. I found a bunch of new artists to listen to. I would have written about them here but this post is probably long enough and you would have been bored of this enough by now so I'm gonna stop. Truthfully, I got bored of writing this so you're gonna have to wait for another post.

1 THING I'M GONNA DO IN THE NEXT WEEK

I'm gonna go to the New Years Eve celebration in the city. I'm pretty sure I will not like it. I don't like crowded places. I despise Boxing Day shopping because everywhere you turn there are people. People who don't necessarily observe the escalator unspoken protocol and stand on the right side of the escalator and block my way. People who do annoying things like physically pushing you aside so that they can get their hands on some marked-down overpriced clothing items that even though are marked down are still freaking overpriced. I did enjoy the very crowded concert because it was a band I like and I was only there for 2-3 hours and then I would be on a deserted train home. New Years' Eve is gonna be packed. Apparently it's gonna be a very warm night. That's just great. Just the right icing on the cake I guess. Here's hoping for an old train without aircon on the night. Just some extra icing. Wouldn't it be nice if there's a storm on the night?

That's it folks, hope that you're a little less bored. I'm still bored but that would be remedied soon, I'm gonna read some interesting stuff on Beta-lactam antibiotics, the information antibiotics that work on the synthesis and action of folate was very informative.

To make this post even longer, here's a playlist of songs that I uploaded a while ago but haven't found a post to put them on and a music video. Happy New Year you all if I don't update before then.

The end-of-holiday movies/DVDs reviews

What does one do when one is on a three-week holiday and one gets to watch movies and DVDs for free? This is a review of most of the movies/DVDs I've seen this holiday. The number of DVDs outnumbers the number of movies because I'm such a tight-ass with spending money on movie tickets and all my friends wanted to do when I got together was sit around and talk or go shoe-shopping.

Let's get the romantic comedies out of the way first
Music & Lyrics. Cute romantic comedy with a plot as flimsy as the flimsiest piece of clothing Paris has ever worn. No chemistry whatsoever between the leads. Add a few bad songs and Hugh Grant shaking his moneymaker(??) on stage and you get this. All the cuteness factor comes from Drew Barrymore and one cute actress cannot save a bad romantic comedy. My verdict: don't see it if you really don't have to.

The Holiday. The best time I've had this year with any romantic comedy. That is the case because of the above movie and another romantic comedy I saw earlier this year that made me cry the whole way through. You're not supposed to cry while watching romantic comedies, they're comedies for macaroni's sake. Anyway, I digress, back to The Holiday. It's got a very simple plot but it works and it's got a great cast which have some semblance of chemistry together. My verdict: one thumb up.

That's all for the rom-coms. Next is the one and only movie that belongs to the semi-horror genre: The Messengers. I call it semi-horror because it's not good enough to be horror and it's not good enough to be anything else either. The ghosts in this movie look like something out of The Ring and they move around like spiderman suffering from Parkinson's disease. The plot is so ridiculous and blatantly cliche that it shouldn't be called a plot at all. The only intelligent beings in this movie are the crows, the whole family is stupid even the baby that can see ghosts is stupid. You would expect someone who has the ability to see ghosts to be at least extraordinary in some way right? But no, the stupid baby just sat around and stared at the ghosts. Verdict: worst horror movie ever.

Happily N'Ever After. This seemed like the longest animation I've ever seen in my life when I was watching it. I just wanted it to finish, I didn't even care for a happy ending. I didn't like the good guys, the bad guys, the sidekicks, the prince or even the main characters. First off, I have always hated Cinderella. Ok, I'll cut her some slacks for being an orphan whose meager fortune got stolen by heartless stepmother and hideously ugly stepsisters and upgrade that to I have always disliked Cinderella. That chick is the type that should really grow a spine and stand up for herself instead of waiting for a prince to come and rescue her. Since this movie is supposed to be an updated Cinderella story I expected to see some spine. But no. Half of the movie was spent to knock some sense into still-spineless Cinderella. At least there is no handsome Prince coming to the rescue this time. Instead a much more handsome kitchen-hand. Cinderella did grow a little bit of spine at the very end but still that's not good enough. Verdict: I want more spine! N'ever again will I watch this.

Blood & Chocolate. I only watched this because I read the book a few years ago. Frankly, I can't remember much about the book or the movie for that matter. This probably says something about the quality of the movie. It has a good setting, probably would have much better themes and underlining message if it had stuck to the plot of the book. As I said I don't remember much about the book, I could have been remembering a completely different book but the book's plot is much better than the movie's. I expected werewolves to be different from normal wolves so I was disappointed. Maybe I should leave logic behind when I watch movies these days, I spent most of this movie berating about how a 70-kilogram human can change into a 40-kilogram-looking wolf, what happens to the 30 kilograms difference? That's quite weird really, I have no problem with a human morphing into a wolf but I have problem with unaccounted for weight loss. Verdict: so-so, see it if you have nothing else better to do.

Shooter. I'm just glad I didn't pay to see this movie. Horrible action movie where one guy goes around and just blows up everything and kills everyone he thinks is bad. There's nothing wrong with a movie with a lot of killing and bloodshed, I like Kill Bill and Smokin' Aces because they're fun to watch. Not this overtly sentimental crap. And this has the worst villain ever. Also, it's never good to be involved with your bestfriend's fiance even if he is dead. Verdict: not good.

Smokin' Aces. I like it. I don't know why I like this but I hate Shooter. Maybe because of the believability scale. I always like action movies that are completely over the top like Kill Bill and this because they're just completely fictional. I think if you spend money making an action movie (which is always going to be fictional) you have 2 options: either be completely over the top with lots of things blowing up an lots of killing. Or make it as low key as possible which is bad for action movies I guess. They're called action movies for a reason. Shooter is somewhere in the middle of the 2 extremes that I like that's why I hate it. Back to Smokin' Aces, sort of simple, completely unbelievable plot which involves the mafia and the FBI and a whole lot of contract killers. Plus one awesome score at the end of the movie from Clint Mansell. Verdict: best movie I've seen this holiday.

Ocean's 13. This should be a quick one. I like it better than Ocean's 12 possibly because of the absence of Julia Roberts. Ocean's 11 is the only good one out of the whole franchise. Verdict: If you've seen only Ocean's 11, don't think about seeing both the sequels.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I think everyone on the face of the Earth has seen this or is planning to see this and has probably read the book already. Who ever adapted the book into this movie did a good job. Phoenix is my least favourite book of the series so far because of the shear length and lack of action. I wasn't pumped about the last book being released on Saturday but now I am. All because of this movie. I just don't remember much about what happened in Half-blood Prince though. It's probably time to re-read the book before the new one comes.

That's it. No more movies to talk about. Oh wait, I really really wanna see the Simpsons movie now. I saw one trailer yesterday with the Arnold Schwazernegger quote: "I was elected to leead, not to reead". Oh man, that was one funny trailer. Plus I never thought I would agree with Homer on anything but really the Bible doesn't have any answers.

The coolest of the cool: Sunshine

My thoughts on the coolest movie I've seen this year. And no, it's not 300.

I went to see Sunshine the first chance I got, which was on Friday. I've been waiting for this movie ever since I saw the trailer last month. Am I alone in thinking that the trailer makes you want to see the movie immediately?



Ok, maybe it's me and me alone. What can I say? I'm a sucker for Scifi movies ever since I saw Alien. Unlike Alien, this movie has way more drama, less homicidal alien organism but there is a homicidal m... oops, almost give the plot away.

I'm a bit surprised that I like this movie this much, usually I have a thing against movies in which ok, how do I put this without spoiling the whole movie? I have a thing against movies that end like Sunshine but this time I love it. This movie is on my to-buy-DVD-as-soon-as-it-comes-out list.

This is not the usual scifi movies, the movie makes me question whether it' ok to kill people or allowing people to kill themselves in order to achieve some greater good. This is also a movie about the imperfections of human and it also convinces me that whoever hears "god" in their head is a maniac. Having seen this movie, I want to see "28 days later" now. It looks like a great movie.

That's it for the review, I know, not a very good review but that's the best I can do when I'm still a little pissed about the library loans and the stolen newspaper. Note to self: you can't do much when you're pissed off.

While waiting for Sunshine to be shown, I saw a few trailers, I can't believe how many awesome movies that are coming soon. There's Pirates 3 and Spiderman 3. And there's this: The Reaping.


Looks like a movie that preaches about the Bible. Somehow I know the main character will become a bible thumping, god fearing "scientist" at the end of the movie. Definitely on my don't-see list.

WTF moment of the week

I usually don't reveal plots of movies that I've seen on my blog but I'll make an exception for this one: The Wicker Man. This movie makes me mad. So mad that it makes the my WTF moment of the week. Even over 300. Even over the incidence in which my jacket got blessed.

Since I've got a week of holiday for Easter, I went on a rented-movie marathon, a video games marathon, and a whole day of reading fictions. Anyhow, The Wicker Man was in the marathon and it was one horrible movie.

First, it's a thriller that has no thrills. It's completely transparent that you can see the plot from the moment Nicholas Cage's character stepped on the damn island. An island?? Any horror/thriller that involves an island, there's got to be some psycho involved.

However, what pissed me off about this movie were not the above. They were:

• The island people have this whole matriarchal society thing going on and it's quite refreshing to see a reversal of what usually goes on in normal society. Men on the island were breeding stocks and second-class citizens. That was fun to watch but they had to go and turn all those women into homicidal, sacrifice-killing, man-burning pagans. Why why why?!
• Nicholas Cage's character died in the end. It would be ok with me, if he managed to stop all those crazy pagans and died in the effort. But he died and didn't make any difference. His death was completely gratuitous. The homicidal pagans go on luring men to their island to kill and I wasted 100 minutes of watching this and nothing is resolved. I hate it when movies end like this.

The fantasy movie of the year!

If you know me, I like fantasy. Books, movies, TV shows. I like them all. Well not actually all of them. I hate Eragon both the movie and the book. The book is full of fantasy clichés and a movie made out of a book full of clichés has got to be bad. Add wooden acting and horrible castings you'll get something like Eragon. The main character is supposed to be a young boy, not a guy who looks like he's at least 25 years old. I've gone to the conclusion that Eragon is the movie I will definitely miss the first time I saw the trailer. John Malkovich or not there's no way I'll see it and judging from the reviews the movie got so far, I decided right.

Ok, let's get on with the best fantasy movie of the year rather than lose ourselves in, possibly, the worst fantasy movie of the year.


So you're probably dying to know what it is? Well it's this little movie called "Pan's Labyrinth" from writer/director Guillermo del Toro. The movie is set in fascist Spain in 1944. Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) has to moved into the house of her tyrannical stepfather who is trying to snuff out the rebel forces in the region. Ofelia hates her new life and becomes immersed in the magical world of the surrounding forest where she encounters fairies and a faun who tells her that she is the long-lost princess they have been waiting for.

I know the synopsis doesn't sound that good but the movie is so much more than what I've written above. It's a mix of history, fantasy, horror, suspense and drama. It is as original as "Spirited Away" was in 2002. Forget those boring movie based on popular fantasy books. This movie is so stunningly made and so imaginative that it hurts.

The cinematography is great, the special effects are topnotch (not so surprising since it comes from the director of Hell Boy). The score? It's so simple, in the form of a lullaby, both sweet and sinister at the same time. The acting leaves the wooden actor from Eragon eating the dirt. I'm not kidding here. All of the actors in the movie are so good. I think I've found the worst villain ever. Forget Sauron or Voldemort, the villain of the year is Captain Vidal.

One thing though, this movie is definitely not for kids. It's more like a fairy tale for adult. There's blood and gore and terrifying characters, which are what you should expect from a movie with a civil war backdrop.

"Pan's Labyrinth" has been nominated for quite a few awards and I wouldn't be surprised if it's nominated for one or two Oscars. In fact, I'm gonna be very disappointed if it doesn't make it to the nominations list. We'll have to wait and see then. In the mean time, here's the trailer. Enjoy!

Pirates of the Caribbean: dead man's chest - a review

Ok, I'll try to not give away anything for those who haven't seen this movie yet. If you like the first movie, you'll love this one. I had so much fun and it's not because of how handsome Depp and Bloom are. Only one thing I don't like about this movie, there's no complete closure at the end. That undoubtedly has a lot to do with the 3rd movie coming out next year. Next year! These people are really trying to kill me here. Why can't they release it at the end of this year instead??

Anyhow, the special effects of this movie are just awesome. Especially with the huge octopus and the crews of the Flying Dutchman. This movie kicks Xmen 3's ass. Bring on the next instalment!

What I don't get is the review on the Herald Sun. They gave this movie only 1 star when The Age's reviewer gave 3 stars. I thought The Age usually gives stricter ratings. My ratings: 4.5/5. I deducted 0.5 for not having complete closure. At least for Lord of the Rings you can read the books. Here you can only wait!

Verdict: if you only see one movie this year, this has to be it.