I'll let Hitler speak for me...



Can't say I disagree with Hitler, considering Valve DID promise DLC and for them to release a sequel so soon (it comes out November 17 this year), it just seems like they're desperate for money. Screw Valve!

Current Location: Bedroom
Current Mood: angry
Current Music: Machine Head - Wolves

-The first reviews for Terminator Salvation have come in and they're not great. Can't say I'm surprised to be honest. I didn't think it was going to do great with the critics. I'm still excited for the movie, as I mentioned in my previous post, I'm a big fan of the first two Terminators, I grew up with those two movies. Arnold Schwarzeneggeer's character in the first two movies was an absolute bad-ass. He wasn't a great character, don't get me wrong. But he was cool and I don't think anybody who's seen the movies can deny that. Don't get me started on Terminator 3 though. The character was an absolute joke and so was the movie. Terminator 3 did well with the critics, perhaps that was all hype. I think I'm going to enjoy Terminator Salvation more than I enjoyed Terminator 3. It's sort of like Blair Witch 2, which I enjoyed more than the first one even though the BW2 was the worse movie (and the first Blair Witch SUCKED ASS). With TS...all bets are off, it's a clean slate for the series. Even though Arnold's likeness will be in the movie (CG will recreate Arny's Terminator) I don't think it's a movie that'll rely on that to bring in the audiences. I'd like to see Terminator Salvation do well, I really would. If it does well enough hopefully the sequel (Christian Bale has already signed for 2 more additional movies) will fix the faults of TS.

-Star Trek is doing very well at the box office, it only dropped about 43% in its second weekend at the box office. Which is practically unheard off for sci-fi movies. Usually sci-fi movies tap into their audience in that first weekend and that's it, usually the second weekend has a very steep drop of 50%-60%. Which is good for Star Trek, I'm glad the movie is doing very well. I've heard nothing but great things about the movie. But this does nothing but prove my point that I made in my previous Star Trek post. Everyone and their mothers who dismissed Star Trek for geeks have been jizzing their pants for this movie. You can really tell that this movie was made with a more casual audience in mind and there's nothing wrong with that, but sometimes having that audience can be detrimental to the movie. Look at The Dark Knight last year, that movie made more than a BILLION DOLLARS worldwide...a BILLION DOLLARS I repeat. That's a shitload of money for just ONE movie. Sometimes a trilogy of successful movies don't even come close to reaching a billion dollars worldwide. Everyone who saw The Dark Knight loved it, it wasn't a movie that was meant for casual audiences, yet casual audiences loved it.

I think it's a movie that was as successful as it was because of Heath Ledger's performance, I wholeheartedly believe that. I think we can all agree that his performance was excellent but Heath Ledger wasn't the ONLY person in the movie. I think the Academy Awards refused to take the movie seriously because of the fact that casual audiences seemed to love this movie and the fact that it made a billion dollars didn't help matters. In my opinion, The Dark Knight was the best movie of 2008 and some people might say that I say that because I'm a Batman fan and I can't disagree with that because I AM a Batman fan, but even I'll admit that before Chris Nolan took over the series that some of those Batman movies sucked and I DO mean that. The Dark Knight, for all the money that it made, still doesn't get the credit it deserves because it's a movie that got snubbed at the Academy Awards in almost every category except for supporting actor, which Heath Ledger ended up winning. I believe this movie could've been nominated for best movie, best screenplay, best cinematography, best director, best original music score (especially that last scene with Two Face, the music in that scene was chilling). Yet it got snubbed because of the fact that it was a "superhero movie" and they didn't realize that this movie was much more than a superhero movie, it transcended everything that superhero movies have done and probably will do from now on. Watchmen tried, but it failed to a degree, plus Watchmen wasn't really geared towards a casual audience, more of the hardcore fans of the graphic novel. The Dark Knight is pretty much the Michael Jordan of Superhero movies. That would probably be the best metaphor I can use for the movie. I love The Dark Knight so much that it's currently my second favorite movie of all time and for a couple of days there after I saw the movie it was my favorite movie of all time. I've come to my senses, but to be honest the way that movie was pulled off couldn't have been any better or any more masterful than it was.

But alas The Dark Knight got bit in the ass by the fact that it was deemed too "casual" (which couldn't be farther from the truth) by people very influential in the academy. Not that it bothers me none to be honest but The Dark Knight was never really given a fair shot. But I've digressed enough, the fact of the matter is Star Trek is suffering from the same problem of it having too many casual fans on board. I don't think it's as bad for Star Trek as it was for The Dark Knight cause I have not heard one single person say that Star Trek is one of the best movies of the year. I hear it's very entertaining and a lot of fun though, which is what it's purpose was. Hopefully the movie will succeed enough so that a sequel comes out since Hollywood is really lacking in big money franchises. Pirates of the Caribbean is done, I don't really think Transformers can be a franchise that will be dependable in the long run, I think Chris Nolan plans to direct one more final Batman movie to close out the trilogy and that'll probably mean the end of Batman for a couple of years, Spiderman is a franchise that's dead already in my opinion, so is X-Men, Rush Hour 3 sucked so that's a franchise that's also dead, don't even get me started on Shrek/Kung Fu Pandas (5 sequels are planned for Kung Fu Panda....FIVE!!!!), Star Wars has been done for about 4 years now. So hopefully Star Trek is the start of a successful franchise cause I believe if marketed correctly Star Trek can be about as successful as Star Wars, not necessarily in terms of money but in terms of importance to the history of american filmmaking as the first 3 Star Wars were. That might've been perhaps because at the time Star Wars was released, it was something that pushed technology to its limits and the fact that the story was so over the top (and corny at that) people just fell in love with it. So perhaps I'm exaggerating in saying that this new reboot of Star Trek can be as successful as Star Wars.

-I rarely watch any tv shows. My favorite show of all time is Arrested Development, it's a cult show. It got cancelled WAY before it should've been cancelled, so after the cancellation of the show I just gave up on tv shows in general. I usually just watched re-runs of older shows. A little over a year and a half ago another show came on the air called Pushing Daisies, and I fell in love with that show at first sight. Pushing Daisies ALSO got cancelled because ABC just gave up on the damn thing. These shows were different, they did something unique. But the most important similarities is that both shows (more Arrested Development than Pushing Daisies) had a grander scheme in the end of things. You know how shows like CSI usually feature a different story every week, a different villain every week, there's no grander scheme for those shows. Shows like that are for people with short attention spans, I'm sorry but that's the way it is. Nothing carries over from those shows unless you have the occasional two-part episode but that's it. No more than that. Arrested Development was a show that every episode had its own distinctive story and theme but it was also an episode that set up something that will happen in another episode. I love shit like that, it makes you PAY attention to every detail that's going on in the show. Why? Because you never know when a character might say something that you'll need to remember 5 episodes down the road. With shows like CSI/Law And Order the audience can just half-ass watching it because they know they won't miss anything important since by the next episode it's like the previous episode of the show never happened. Perhaps that's why Arrested Development was cancelled, because people found it too hard to get into since they were referencing things that happened in previous episodes. The story was also very complex and none of the characters were all that likeable, but the show was genius for all it did in its short 3 seasons.

I just want shows to do more shit like that. Where every episode in the series sets up something for the finale of the series. Lost is doing it...and very successfully I might add. I guess the problem is that most people who write these tv shows don't really want to think all that far ahead, because it might cause some plot holes and inconsistencies in the future. And that's understandable, but a little hard work pays off in the end.

I used to watch The Simpsons for YEARS, and those later years I watched The Simpsons as a chore. A show should never be a chore to watch and ever since I felt that The Simpsons were a chore to watch I just stopped watching them and I haven't seen an episode for about 3-4 years. The movie was awesome though. Same with Family Guy, that show has gone down the shitter faster than the Simpsons, at least The Simpsons had a pretty good first 10 years. Ever since Family Guy came back on the air, the episodes have sucked. It's always the same format..."Oh remember that time I did this"...and then they cut to a video of said thing. It's so goddamn stupid now it's not even funny. Don't get me wrong I loved Family Guy's first 3 seasons, they were hilarious and it was exactly the same formula they have now. I don't know, perhaps I've matured and now I probably wouldn't find earlier episodes of Family Guy that funny. Who knows?

All I want at this point in my life is a show that features a recurring storyline/story elements for the entire episode arc of the series. Not a one or two episode arc. That's not good enough for me I'm sorry.

That's all for now, just had to write some random thoughts down.

PS: Wolverine can suck a big fat one!!!

Current Location: Living Room
Current Mood: content
Current Music: No World For Tomorrow - Coheed And Cambria

May 1st, 2009. That's the official start of summer. And you know what summer means right? Hollywood releases their big movies (or big MONEYMAKERS if we're going to be honest) and it looks to be like it's going to be a HUGE summer. Sequels, as is usual, are going to be the big sellers this year and no doubt that I'm going to be spending a lot of money at the movies this summer. Not because I want to see all of the movies (because I don't), it's just a lot of fun to watch one of those movies when the theater is full. That's the reason I enjoyed Transformers when I saw it, the audience participation was there, even if the movie wasn't all that great. So now I'm going to do something that I don't usually do and that's count down my most anticipated movies of the year. I'll also provide a trailer for said movie.

5. (500) Days Of Summer
Usually I'm not a big fan of romantic comedies, they're probably my least favorite genre as far as movies go. I mean if they're done right romantic comedies can be REALLY good movies. Case in point Stardust and Penelope. Granted, both of those movies are much more fantasy romance than romantic comedy, but there's a hint of humor in both films that I enjoyed and the romance aspect of the movie really worked. I recommend both movies since they're both insanely underappreciated. 500 Days of Summer looks much more like a romantic comedy than those movies I just mentioned, but there's something about it. It has an indie film feel to it and that's perhaps why I really want to see that movie, it looks like it'll tell a very good story. I think it'll be a breathe of fresh air on the stagnant romantic comedy genre. I really do think that this movie will take a lot of people by surprise. Whether that is because the movie's good or bad remains to be seen but I'm very excited to see this movie. Plus it has Zooey Deschanel, who I think is absolutely adorable and Joseph Gordon Levitt who's very underrated as an actor, I think if he's given the chance he can really become a future star, but I don't think that's something that he wants so who knows. Joseph will also appear on the live action G.I Joe movie as the main villain, so I'm watching THAT movie just to see what he can do as a villain. But I'm definitely more excited for 500 Days Of Summer.



4. Up
My love of Pixar has never been any secret. I believe they are the best at what they do and no other company that has tried CGI movies has even come close. I think it's that way because, unlike most of their competitors, Pixar takes it one movie at a time. They take their time with one movie and they craft and make it into the best movie they can possibly make. Compare that to Dreamworks Animation Studios. They release multiple movies every year. That means that they have to divide their animation team between more than one movie and that means that in the end, Dreamworks' CGI movies don't have the same kind of detail and polish that Pixar movies tend to have. That's why Pixar's animation is STILL light years ahead of anything the competition ever releases. Look at a movie like Madagascar (whose animation is terrible in my opinion) and then take a look at some of Pixar's work. Wall-E and Ratatouille are still some of the most impressive use of CGI I've ever seen. Plus Pixar always has a STORY to go along with all the laughter. Those guys are storytellers. I've always said that Pixar is really like an american version of Studio Ghibli, at least as far as Hayao Miyazaki's work goes, since his movies always tend to have excellent story to go with the great animation. I'm still very excited UP but I'm a bit skeptical of Pixar's future work, they're making a sequel to Cars (which didn't really need a sequel, plus it's the "worst" of all of Pixar's movie, and it's still a very good movie) and there's another sequel to Toy Story. Pixar has never been big on sequels so I hope they have some good stuff lined up for Cars 2 and Toy Story 3



3. Terminator Salvation
The only sequel in the countdown, though it's much more of a reboot but it's still a sequel. The first 2 Terminators were among some of my favorite childhood movies. I even had an Arnold Terminator doll that spoke. I also have the first two movies on VHS, which I watched a shitload when I was a young lad. So obviously I was excited back in 2003 when Terminator 3 came out. To say that Terminator 3 was a mockery of everything that made the original Terminators great is an understatement. I said this before, but I believe that at the time that Terminator 3 was released that Arnold Schwarzenegger was bigger than the movie and that's something that's not acceptable in my opinion. People went to see the movie because it was Arnold as the Terminator and they wanted to see him say "I'll be back one more time". That's why the movie was a moderate hit. I don't think a lot of people went to see the movie because they were particularly excited for another Terminator, which is a movie that didn't really do anything new, in terms of story. It was just Terminator 2 + 1, if that makes sense. The story was the same, Arnold protects John Connor, same story as Terminator 2. So that's why I'm glad that Terminator Salvation is being made since it looks to have NO ties to the original movies, with the exception of John Connor. Plus no Schwarzenegger in this movie, so hopefully the only reason the movie will sell is because of it's an established franchise and people want to see a continuation in the story of John Connor and because of Christian Bale, because this is his first REAL shot to sell a movie by himself (with help from the fact that it's an established series). Let's be honest The Dark Knight sold because of Heath Ledger and there's nothing wrong with that because Heath was amazing in that movie. Neither Batman Begins nor The Dark Knight were about Christian Bale's box office pull, other stuff took center stage. So hopefully Terminator Salvation does well enough I hope and I'm insanely looking forward to it cause I do admit it looks cool as hell. Hopefully it's not Warner Bros. trying to cash in on the series.



2. Inglorious Basterds
World War 2 movie made by Quentin Tarantino. That's an easy sell if you ask me. I saw the trailer just a couple of days ago and it looks like it's going to be full of Tarantino-esque moments. One thing about Tarantino, is that he always wears his influences on his sleeves. His movies tend to be full of homages to movies that he loved while growing up. Kill Bill is a perfect example of this. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I think it's good to sort of pay tribute to movies you loved while throwing in your own ideas in there and he's made it work for almost 20 years. I think that's why some people don't like Tarantino's work, it seems too familiar to movies they've already seen and that's fine and acceptable but I believe he's made it work SO well that he's still a very unique and refreshing filmmaker and the Inglorious Basterds looks no different. It looks to be paying tribute to spaghetti-westerns with WW2 iconography (Tarantino's own words) and I'm sure it'll have Tarantino dialogue and he does write some excellent dialogue (Pulp Fiction FOR THE WIN!!!). I'm kind of skeptical on Brad Pitt's casting in this movie, but I believe Brad Pitt has improved to the point where now I can look forward to his movies and know that he'll give a solid performance, whereas before I thought he wasn't that great of an actor. But I'm still very excited for this movie and I look forward to another wild and crazy movie from Tarantino.



1. Thirst
South Korean Vampire romance drama from the director of Oldboy?? Sign me up and NOW. This movie will be released in South Korea April 30, which is just a couple of days away. Universal Pictures (who also owns the right to the Oldboy remake) owns the rights to this movie. An official North Ameridan release date has not been announced yet, but it has been rumored that it will be released in June or July, which is why this movie is on my list. I love Chan Wook Park's movies and I especially love the cinematography for his movies, they always have a very unique and distinct look and this film looks to be no different. Plus Song Kang Ho is an excellent actor (one of my favorite actors too). He's one of the few actors that can do both drama and comedy and be 100% convincing (for example watch Memories of Murder and The Host for a display of Kang's versatility as an actor). Not every actor can do that. I like how Chan Wook Park didn't choose to portray the vampires differently physically, he said he focused more on the emotional side of the character, which is a good approach to the movie and the character. Hopefully this movie shows Twilight (and subsequent sequels) how a vampire movie IS really down while balancing a romance storyline as well. I trust Chan Wook Park to tell me a great story and even though I can't understand what is being said in the trailer, this is the movie that I'm definitely most looking forward to this summer. I already KNOW it'll be a good movie, here's to hoping it'll be an AMAZING movie.



That about does it for this post, two posts in one day...haven't done one of those in a while, well as with my previous blog post, ideas on what to post about are most certainly welcome.

Current Mood: crazy
Current Music: Death Whispered A Lullaby - Porcupine Tree

I have all 3 major gaming consoles out right now. Wii, PS3, Xbox 360. I don't really know why I needed all 3 since exclusive titles are few and far between. And the ones that are there I hardly care for. For example, I couldn't care less for Halo, Gears of War. The only Xbox exclusive titles I care for are Left 4 Dead and Mass Effect (whose sequel might be release on the PS3 as well, so there goes the neighborhood I suppose). For PS3...I really couldn't care for Killzone 2 or Resistance. LittleBigPlanet (which is an amazing game, not gameplay-wise but just because of everything that can be done in that game) and Infamous (which comes out in a month and it looks FAN-FUCKIN'-TASTIC) are the only PS3 games that I'm really interested in (possibly Uncharted 2, but I'm still on the fence on that game). Don't get me started on the Wii. The Wii is destroying the game industry. Companies are releasing their big games on the Wii because the Wii is the leader in the gaming industry right now. I understand that companies want to make money, but really the Wii is such an underpowered console it's not even funny. Plus the Wii is absolutely marketed towards a more casual audience, which means the good games that hardcore gamers want to play are few and far in between. I have no problem admitting this, but before I got Madworld in march I hadn't played my Wii for about half a year. I literally had to dust off the console. And I played Madworld for about 2 days and now the Wii is collecting dust again. The only reason I have a Wii is because of Mario and Zelda. That IP owned by Nintendo so it's only going to be released on Nintendo's console.

This post isn't about the 3 major consoles. It's more about the PS3 and the 360, since those are the more powerful consoles out right now. I'm tired of people complaining about the PS3's cost and how it's so overpriced. Ok first things first, I agree that PS3 (when it first came out at least) was severely overpriced. But if you really look at things, in the long run you'll end up paying more for your 360 than you would for your PS3. First things first, when the 360 first came out there were two versions of the console. One with a hard drive, and one without a hard drive. The one with the hard drive had about 20 gigabytes of space which really amounts to 13 gb or some number like that. The one without the hard drive had like 512 mb of space which if you download a lot of stuff off the Xbox Live Marketplace, can be used up pretty quickly. So those people with the 512 mb of space just HAD to buy a hard drive if you wanted to play more than a couple of games. That's the first sign that Microsoft is out to rip you off. Same applies to the console with the 20 gb. I have that console and...personally I'm afraid to use up any of my space. I want to make it last as long as possible, but I know I'm bound to run out of space sooner or later. And I don't even play as many games as I used to before. So once your 20 gb hard drive runs out, you can buy an additional 20 gb, which costs around 60 dollars or you can get the 120 gb which costs around 200 dollars.

My PS3 has an 80 gb built-in hard drive. That's a perfectly acceptable amount, 20 gb is not and it's just ANOTHER sign of Microsoft being cheap motherfuckers. Secondly we have to pay to be able to play online games using Xbox Live. I see absolutely NO reason why we should pay 50 dollars a year just to be able to pay videogames online when with the PS3 you can play games online for free and you even have an internet browser so you can look for porno too. I guess paying 50 dollars for Xbox Live is "justified" now that they have netflix. But I believe that playing online and netflix should be two different things. One should not be charged with the other. Netflix is an optional thing, Xbox Live isn't (in my opinion at least). That's already $250+ (considering if you have Xbox live for more that a year) to a console that already costs about $400. The Xbox 360 does not come with a built-in wi-fi device. Either you have to run ethernet cables from your console to your modem OR you have to buy the wireless adapter which goes for another $100. The wireless adapter is a MUST if your console is not in the same room as your modem, I got the wireless adapter. And the thing is, all 360s came with the place to plug in the wireless adapter which makes me wonder why Microsoft didn't include it when the console first came out. Oh that's right I forgot, Microsoft are CHEAP motherfuckers. The PS3 has built-in wi-fi that's VERY easy to set up, in comparison with using the Wireless Adapter which was a bitch before I was able to get the internet set up. So that's already $350+ on top of the $400 that the console costs (when it originally came out at least. The we move to the headsets. If you buy the 20 gb 360 you get a wired headset that gives you about 2 feet of working room between you and your tv. I need to buy a headset nonetheless because mine is fucked and I don't want the wired headset cause I don't like to sit too close to my tv while I'm playing. But for the sake of argument let's include the wired headset. That costs around $30. OR you can get the super sleek wireless headset that costs around $70.

Are you starting to notice a pattern here? I hope you are. If you have a bluetooth headset that you use with your cellphone. Guess what? You can use it with your PS3 too, just set it up so that the PS3 recognizes the headset. No additional costs at all. So let's see looking at the costs (I'm using the costs when the consoles first came out) you have about $800 for the PS3 and about $820+ for the 360, and you're paying for shit that SHOULD have been included when the console first came out. The 360 SLIGHTLY edges out over the PS3 in costs, so people should really take that into consideration when they start complaining about the PS3's cost, even NOW in 2009 and both consoles have dropped in prices you'll still end up paying more for the 360.

And I forgot the most important aspect of this. The 360 has the red rings of death. If you want microsoft to fix the console for you, I believe you'll have to pay about $150 dollars for an error that's microsoft's fault, I got the red rings of death. I ended up buying a new console cause I don't want to have to go through Microsoft's bullshit. But don't get me wrong I'm not a PS3 fanboy. I hardly am, I prefer playing videogames on my 360 because games usually control a hell of a lot better than the PS3, whose control is very clunky, especially if you want to play an FPS...God FPS's are a bitch on the PS3. So I'm not a fanboy, if I was I wouldn't have all 3 consoles. Even though I don't play as much anymore I still love videogames and I do believe that if a game is developed right, it can be art (look at ICO and Shadow of the Colossus). I just believe people should really do their research before before complaining about the PS3's cost because the 360 just about edges the PS3 out. That's about it for this post, on an update of my planned Pink Floyd post, I don't think I'm going to do it just now. As I said it's a pretty ambitious project for a post but I'm thinking about it. Until then, anybody got any ideas on what I can post about. Help would be greatly appreciated =)

I haven't done this in a while but since I mentioned Infamous for the PS3 I've decided to embed the trailer that I saw yesterday and it has to be one of the best videogame trailers I've ever seen because I'm going to buy this game just because of the footage you're about to see.

Current Location: Room
Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: The Creator Has A Mastertape - Porcupine Tree

My favorite movie of all time is Oldboy, almost all of my friends know this and most of my friends in high school do too since I brought the movie over so we could watch it on the tv we had in our classroom, it's the second movie in the Trilogy Of Vengeance. Preceded by Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and succeeded by Lady Vengeance. Each movie is stand-alone, the only thing that each movie carries over is the main theme of vengeance, hence why it's called the Trilogy of Vengeance (DUH!!!). It's also my favorite trilogy of all time. But I digress, this post regards Oldboy. So yes Oldboy IS my favorite movie of all time, it's not the best movie I've ever seen mind you...hell it's not the best movie of the trilogy (Lady Vengeance is in my opinion).

The reason why it's my favorite is because Oldboy was probably the first foreign movie that I took seriously. I've always loved movies since I was a strapping young lad. But before I saw Oldboy I never actually took foreign movies seriously because I had to read a lot and that's why foreign movies can be such a turn-off to other people, the fact that you have to read so you can understand what's happening. I totally understand that, I have no problem with people who don't like foreign movies because of that, sometimes because of reading subtitles you might miss something important on screen. That's why I try to read as fast as I can so I don't miss a lot on-screen.

So I suppose Oldboy was sort of a gateway for me, because ever since then I usually try to buy as many good foreign movies as I can. The reason for that is because you get to see a different side to filmmaking than you normally get to see. It's just a breath of fresh air, which is something that american movies are sorely lacking. Plus it's always good to learn about other cultures. For example japanese culture, the people are usually very disciplined and culture so it's obviously no surprise when you see a fucked up japanese movie/anime/pornography. Bukkake was invented in japan. That's all I'm going to say on that subject. There's a lot of creativity out there and it would be a disservice to me as a film nerd to dismiss foreign movies just because I have to read. Sure some of these movies come with english dub, but it's usually a very horrible english dub, plus I like to watch things in their original language. It's hard to judge how good a foreign actor is if you hear his words coming from someone else in another language.

So Oldboy opened a lot of doors for me and it helped me widen my taste in movies, which is always a wonderful thing. Oldboy is also the main reason why I made my decision to study something that involved movies, I'm sure I would've eventually made that decision if I had not seen Oldboy. But I believe that the movie helped me reach my decision much faster. The movie has been very influential for me.

It's really hard to explain the plot of the movie without spoiling anything, but the overview is. This guy is kidnapped and imprisoned for 15 years and after that time he's released and he's given 5 days to find out what is it that he did. It's not the greatest of plots and I do agree that there are some plot holes here and there but it's still an excellent movie. Also one of the main reasons I love the movie so much is because deep down at the core of the movie, it's really a love story. For people who've seen the movie that might seem like a crazy thing to say. But I wholeheartedly believe that at the core it is a love story. If you really think about it and if you think about the main character's reason for doing what he did, it was because he loved someone and he didn't want to lose her. Plus in that scene also the main character breaks down so badly, that he really does turn into a pathetic person. It's something that's unique because usually the "hero" of the movie doesn't suffer a breakdown like the one the main character of Oldboy went through.

The main villain of the film is also pretty damn excellent. I believe he shows up, approximately, 1 hour into the movie and the movie is 2 hours long. You would think that his character wouldn't have been able to fully develop in an hour. But I believe the antagonist of this movie has to be one of the better villains I've ever seen. I think it's that way because of the actor who portrays him (whose name I cannot remember right now, unfortunately) and because he's one of the few villains who I somewhat sympathized with and I felt sorry at everything that happened to him and everything that led him to be the main villain. At some point of the film I somewhat felt like the roles were reversed and that the villain was the hero and he was just trying to do what he thought was right. I don't know if that was what Chan Wook Park (writer and director of the Trilogy Of Vengeance) meant to do, but it's an interesting way to look at the movie in my opinion.

I'm proud of my love of Oldboy. Because, as I mentioned in the first paragraph, it's a movie that I took to school for people to see and I think from what my friends saw they really liked it and I think it's a good thing that I helped spread the word a little bit because who knows, maybe that inspired them to widen THEIR movie tastes as the movie did for me. Even if it didn't, that's ok, I'd be happy to know that it inspired them to at least watch the film in its entirety. And even if THAT didn't happen, I'm just happy that they got to see something different from the usual crap that hollywood puts out. I also told a friend of mine in New Zealand (the last part of the film is filmed there and it's a beautiful scene) and I think she's also helped spread the word to some of her friends over there. So that makes me very proud. I think it's the kind of movie that has been as successful as it has been overseas because of word of mouth and because it did extremely well in the Cannes film festival.

There's rumors that there will be an american remake of all the movies in the Trilogy Of Vengeance. Steven Spielberg has expressed interest in directing all 3 movies. And Will Smith has expressed interest in being in Oldboy as quite possibly the main character. There's MANY things wrong with that. First of all Steven Spielberg is not the kind of filmmaker that I can see handling the remake(s) correctly. The only guy I would trust remaking these films is Chan Wook Park and that's because he directed and wrote the originals and it's HIS vision (even though Oldboy is somewhat based on japanese manga). The Trilogy of Vengeance has a very unique and distinct cinematography and art style and part of the enjoyment of those movies is the cinematography and I just don't think that Spielberg can replicate that, not even with the biggest budget in the world. If I had to choose someone to remake these films it would have to be Quentin Tarantino cause I do think that he would be faithful to the original films (which he's a fan of) and it would still have a very unique visual style to it. Secondly...Will Smith being the "hero" in Oldboy. That's just so wrong in so many ways. First of all, sure Will Smith is a box office god. But the fact of the matter is if you remake Oldboy, it just HAS to be an R-rated movie. Oldboy is a thematically strong movie. The themes that this movie has, if you really think about it, it's very disturbing. I don't think Will Smith has the strength to sell an R-rated movie that's not an established series already.

Bad Boys 2 sold because of Will Smith and because it was an established movie and people wanted a sequel. Oldboy's not, so wasting 20 million dollars (and probably more) of your budget on Will Smith is not a very smart decision. Also I don't think Will Smith would be good in this role, why? Because he has a clean cut image and well if he's cast in the remake, that image will go to shit, because again Oldboy explores some very disturbing themes. And finally I really don't think Will Smith is a good enough actor to pull off this role. Choi Min Sik's performance in the original Oldboy as the main character still is one of my favorite performances of all time. But personally, if I was given the choice to cast the main character in the remake I would choose Viggo Mortensen. I think he's the ONLY guy that I have enough faith in to pull that role off. As far as the villain goes I would probably cast Jude Law and for the girl (who I can't say a lot about without spoiling the movie) I'd cast Natalie Portman (or someone else who can pass off as someone in her late teens and early 20s). But that's if I was given the chance to cast the characters. Because to be honest I don't want a remake of the Trilogy of Vengeance at all. It only helps to show that Hollywood isn't that creative and they need to remake EVERYTHING and it also helps tarnish the legacy of the original movies in my opinion.

I digressed a little bit there but really the point of this post was Oldboy and its importance to me and how it influenced me. I don't think it's the best movie I've ever seen but I don't think it HAD to be for it to be my favorite movie of all time. I've been meaning to write about Pink Floyd for some time ever since I watched a documentary on the band on VH1 Classic (originally aired on BBC One I belive). What I wanted to do was listen to the band's albums starting from Meddle (which is regarded as their first great album without Syd Barrett so that's why I'll start there) until The Wall and my thoughts on each album and how the band's albums progressed from being a very collaborative effort to being a Roger Waters' dominated product. I might even do The Final Cut, which is a very controversial cd amongst Pink Floyd fans since it really is a Roger Waters solo album with the Pink Floyd name attached to it. I don't know if I might write about that though, since it is a very 'ambitious' project for a blog, but who knows.

Current Mood: creative
Current Music: Any Colour You Like - Pink Floyd

You know I wasn't even planning on writing about this, but the new Star Trek movie is coming out in less than a month. I'm interested in seeing it, not because I'm a fan of Star Trek, I hate sci-fi like that (same goes for Star Wars). The best sci-fi movie I've seen is Serenity and that movie is amazing, though I haven't seen The Man Who Fell To Earth (which I hear is pretty good and I also own it on dvd) or Soylent Green (which is higly regarded among Sci-fi fans). The point is early reviews for the new Star Trek movie have been pretty damn good and I can already see this movie becoming a victim of everybody jumping in the bandwagon, even hypocrites who've dismissed the Star Trek series as only being for geeks. I've not been one of those people, though I was I won't deny it, having seen the documentaries Trekkies 1 and 2 really gave me a new perspective on the entire Star Trek universe. I've never seen any of the Star Trek movies nor any of the countless Star Trek TV shows but I DO respect Star Trek and its longevity.

The new movie looks very technically impressive. The thing is having seen the trailers and the cast of the movie, it looks to be a movie that's full of attractive people. It's the same problem that tends to plague JJ Abrams related projects. Cloverfield was exactly the same way, everyone who was cast in that movie looked like they were runway models so I didn't even feel a connection to any of the characters because they were all terrible actors and their struggle didn't feel natural. I'm afraid that that's the same thing that's going to happen with the new Star Trek movie, I'm sure that Chris Pine's casting as James T. Kirk has to do with the fact that he's an attractive man. I'm 100% sure of that. The rest of the cast suffers from this same problem. Though Eric Bana is the main villain and I love Eric Bana as an actor. But really that's the kind of precedent we're setting. If you're not attractive enough you won't be able to headline a Hollywood production, the same problem has plagued movies for what seems to be an eternity. Look at Luis Guzman, he's a great actor, but you know he's never going to be able to sell and carry a movie on his own...why? Because's he an ugly man. I understand movies wanting actors that are pleasing to the eyes, I understand that perfectly. But sometimes some of these actors are terrible and they no have place being the lead in a movie. This applies to Twilight...Robert Pattinson is an attractive dude but he's a terrible actor and in the end the movie suffered a lot from having Robert trying to act. But the fact of the matter is that that's the way that Hollywood is and it's the way Hollywood will be for a long time.

I'm sure the new Star Trek movie will be fine but the fact of the matter is, as with Cloverfield, everyone of the main characters in the movie look like runway models as well and that's what's going to determine the long-term success of the movie. Because you know all the Trekkies and JJ Abrams nerds will watch that movie during the first weekend. I'm sure it'll make a lot of money that first weekend, but usually sci-fi movies have a really steep drop on their second weekend because the people that the movie is marketed to will have already seen the movie. That also makes me question 20th Century Fox releasing X-Men Origins: Wolverine the week before Star Trek comes out, because I'm sure 20th Century Fox knows that Star Trek will RAPE X-Men when it comes out, plus I don't think X-Men Origins will be that successful anyways so it's a lose-lose situation for 20th Century Fox. But yea I digress, as I said I believe the long-term success of the movie will mostly rely on the attractiveness of its stars, that's just how it's going to be.

As far as I go, I'm going to watch the movie. I'm going to go in with no expectations because with these kind of hollywood summer movies it's really easy to get disappointed because the trailers make everything look so epic and so action-packed that 95% it's misleading. But I'm going to keep my eye on this movie because I'm sure everyone will jump on the Star Trek bandwagon after having dismissed the series for geeks. I'm sure it'll all have to do with the fact that it's JJ Abrams who made the movie and the fact that everyone IN the movie is attractive. I'm much more looking forward to Terminator: Salvation, which looks COOL as hell, though not as technically impressive as Star Trek, but the new Terminator does look like it can revive a dead series...plus it has Christian Bale, who just so happens to be my favorite actor. That's about it for me, I wanted to write about something else but I'll just have to do it some other time.

Current Location: Living Room
Current Mood: calm
Current Music: Get All You Deserve - Steven Wilson

So I saw the movie Twilight this weekend. There's no real reason why I watched it other than I wanted to see if it was bad or not. And not surprisingly I thought the movie was terrible. Well I shouldn't say terrible, it was just a bad movie in my opinion. I know it's not a movie that's marketed towards a 21 year old male, but I was intrigued by the fact that it had vampires and some part of me hoped that this movie would have been good. I really did. But the fact of the matter is that this movie is just meant for fans of the book, that's it plain and simple...if you're not a fan you're not going to like it. That's probably also the main reason why the Watchmen movie wasn't as big a hit as Warner Bros. wanted as it only appealed to people who liked the graphic novel, even though I did think it had flaws it still ended up being a pretty good movie.

I think my problems lie with the fact that several of my friends who liked the books went on and on about Edward Cullen and about how he was perfect and whatever. Well after having seen the movie I can clearly say that that's not the case. I don't know if something was lost in translation from the book to the movie, but Edward just comes across as a creepy stalker. He often appears around the main female character and he begins barraging her with questions. It was just weird. Plus this Edward guy is immortal so he's probably around a thousand years old (probably older too) and Bella (the main female character) is about 17. I'm sorry I just see something wrong with that. I think most people excuse it with the fact that he's supposed to be this beautiful man. And it's even more excusable when it comes to the movie because apparently Robert Pattinson is THE guy every girl loves now. Again I'm sorry, and I MIGHT be reading too much into things, but I just think that's wrong and hardly romantic. I think girls love Edward so much because he represents everything they wish their boyfriends to be. I'm sure there must be some girl going why "I don't know why my boyfriend can't be more like Edward". I have the answer for you...because your boyfriend's a real person and Edward Cullen is a fake character from a book. I think that the young women who read this book are given the wrong idea and they somehow expect every guy to be like him. Don't get me wrong, guys do the EXACT same thing. Guys are as shallow (if not even MORE so) than these women who seem to think that Edward is perfect and expect every guy they meet to be like that. We all just live in fantasyland every once in a while.

Edward can't be around sunlight (the setting of the movie is very foggy and cloudy), I thought that makes sense since he's a vampire and all. So in the movie there comes the point where Bella discovers that he's a vampire...and then later in that scene Edward steps into the sunlight and I was telling myself in my mind "man don't do that you'll burn yourself", obviously thinking of previous vampire stories and how sunlight is potentially fatal for a vampire. But as it turns out Edward doesn't BURN when he's in sunlight...he GLOWS...or as I like to say (thanks to my aunt)...he TWINKLES in the sunlight. Yes you heard that right, he TWINKLES. I had totally forgotten about that because my friend told me the previous summer about the book and that he indeed DOES glow. Bella's reaction to this was totally priceless, for all the wrong reasons. She goes, after seeing Edward TWINKLE, and I quoute "You're beautiful". To say that that statement made me laugh out loud is an understatement. That line and the scene was hilariously bad. It was at that moment that the character of Bella became an absolute retard and it was also the point where I went "I give up with this movie". I gave up, why?, because apparently Bella hadn't noticed how HOT this guy is (well not that I think he is but that seems to be the common belief) until he TWINKLED and just up until that point Bella was actually a pretty good character, she was kind of emo, but a good character. After that point I really just gave up with the movie, because apparently Bella fell in love with this dude along the way. Literally the next scene after the one I just mentioned is Bella narrating how she was in love with Edward. And at home I was like "What?!?!? How the fuck did THAT happen?"

Seriously, that was about an hour into the movie and NOTHING in that hour ever led me to believe that she would've fallen in love with him...NOOOOOTHING. They did NOTHING...NOOOOOTHING. Sorry about the redundance but they literally gave you no clue that she was about to fall for him, for people who hadn't read the books (IE: me) she just fell in love with him because he TWINKLES in the sunlight. And that to me is a pathetic reason to fall in love with someone. I texted a friend of mine asking her to explain to me why they fell in love because that really CANNOT be the reason. I'm still awaiting her reply...And after that the movie doesn't get any better because the main actors really didn't have all that great of a chemistry anyways. So I never actually bought that they were in love, even IF I hadn't know how and why they fell in love. By the last 20 or so minutes of the movie everything was just so melodramatic. I hate melodrama mixed with romance, it's just makes for some GODAWFUL material.

I think what most upsets me the most about Twilight (the movie, I haven't read the book nor do I plan on reading it) is the fact that it's so overhyped and overrated when there's much better romance-fantasy movies out there that people haven't seen because it's not an established name. Two come to mind, Stardust and Penelope. Stardust is a GREAT movie (and I DO mean great) and Penelope is a very good movie yet people have overlooked these movies in favor of Twilight and that sucks when people overlook movies that do something unique and different for something that's not really unique in any way, shape, or form. Vampires falling in love isn't unique and different ladies, get over it. That's also the reason why I'm looking forward to Thirst, which is also a vampire drama-romance movie, it's directed by Chan Wook Park (he directed Oldboy, my favorite movie of all time) and the trailers already look exponentially better than Twilight...plus I actually trust Chan Wook to make a GREAT vampire movie so I'm very excited up for that later this year.

I rented other movies this weekend, such as: Vicky Cristina Barcelona (movie of the weekend and a great movie), Bolt (average at best), Bottom Feeder (bad low budget horror movie), The Visitor (excellent movie but I had already rented it, I rented it again so my aunt could see it), Role Models (really entertaining movie), Bedtime Stories (bad movie), Doubt (very good mostly due to acting, not because of the story), and Twilight. So while not the best movie I saw this weekend, Twilight is the movie that caused the most reaction from me as a film nerd so I just felt that I had to write about my sheer dissatisfaction with it.

Current Mood: calm
Current Music: The Leper Affinity - Opeth

Metallica went into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the other day. Whether that's relevant or not is besides the point. I personally believe they DID deserve to go in because there's two big heavy metal bands that almost everyone knows of even if they're not fans of heavy metal. And that's Black Sabbath and Metallica. That's just how it is, even if people don't agree with those being the most famous metal bands, that's just how it is. That's why both bands are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, even though it took Black Sabbath a decade to get in. I saw Metallica's induction and I thought it was a nice touch to bring Cliff Burton's father as part of the ceremony because if Cliff had not passed away I'm sure he would be considered one of the best bassists ever. He's still highly regarded but he would be even better if he was around today. It was also nice of them to bring in Jason Newsted, he really does seem like a nice, down to earth guy and he seemed to be having a blast with his old bandmates. Whether or not Mustaine deserved to be there was really the hot topic. Personally I think he DID deserve to go in with them, considering he had a part in some of Metallica's best songs, but Mustaine was busy with Megadeth commitments...either that or he wanted to avoid drama.

But I don't want to talk about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I just thought that since Metallica got inducted, it would be nice to write about them and how influential they were to me when I was a young lad. I remember the first time I EVER saw Metallica on tv. It was on MTV on Total Request Live (hey I was young and naive ok) and I remember that Lars Ulrich was there being interviewed by Carson Daly and he was also there to premiere the band's video for the song No Leaf Clover from their new live S & M album. I watched the video and I thought "Man this song sounds pretty fucking cool". So that's the first Metallica song I ever really liked. Which is kind of an odd song for one to get into Metallica because No Leaf Clover, while not a terrible song, isn't one of their best. If I went to a Metallica convention or something and people were talking about which songs got them into Metallica I'm sure you'd hear One, Fade to Black, Enter Sadman, Sad But True, Battery, Master of Puppets, Seek And Destroy, The Unforgiven, Creeping Death, The Call of Ktulu but never No Leaf Clover, that would be the song that's really out of place there. But yea I remember shortly afterwards I bought the S & M cd and it was one of the first cds I remember really listening to on a constant basis. I had a problem with the drums back then and now that I've been a fan of Metallica for 10 years I figured it out. Lars Ulrich's minimalist approach to drums back then was such that it really hurt some of Metallica's older and heavier songs.

I remember picking up some of their least regarded albums shortly after I got S & M. I got Load and Reload. And perhaps because I got both of those albums so shortly after I got into Metallica, I don't really think they're bad albums. Sure in the grander scheme of things those two cds of theirs are among their weakest (along with St. Anger). Then...and this is a very important then. I bought Master of Puppets, and this album is VERY important to me because it was my first listen to Metallica at their absolute peak, both creatively and musically. That cd still is one of the heaviest albums I've ever listened to. And I wholeheartedly believe that Master of Puppets was the cd that turned me into a lifelong metalhead as I was still looking for an identity, as it relates to music tastes. You don't want to know the shit I listened to back then. But Master of Puppets was like the gates of heaven (or hell depending on how you want to look at it) opening up for me. It was such an angry and heavy album that it really opened my eyes to the kind of anger that can be portrayed in music and it was just the thing I needed back then, not that I was an angry child or anything. But it was just what I needed, as it did provide something different for me at that point when Britney Spears, Nsync and The Backstreet Boys were still all the rage in pop music. Master of Puppets for me was my way to rebel against what I thought was HORRIBLE music. And again just the anger of that album led me to seek out angrier and angrier music. I remember that there was a point when I was real hardcore metalhead that I just HATED hearing somebody actually SING in a metal song. I hated clean singing and melodic vocals to such a degree...my god it was funny how close-minded I actually was back then. All I wanted was to hear somebody growl and shout and the more they shouted and the more they growled, the more I loved the band. But my love for Metallica still remained, even if James Hetfield wasn't a growler or a shouter.

If I had to pick my favorite Metallica album it would have to be ...And Justice for All. You would think it would be Master of Puppets because of how influential it was to me. But ...And Justice for All really was Metallica at their technical best. It's very technical album. It's also their most progressive. I'd say this is my favorite Metallica album because it has my favorite song of theirs which is, of course, One. There's just something about One that really surpasses everything else that Metallica wrote before and has written ever since. It's an absolute epic song and the solos in that song still are some of the best solos I've ever heard. I guess you could say that after ...And Justice for All everything went downhill from there and the belief amongst many fans is that Metallica sold out. I wouldn't agree or disagree with that. I mostly just see a band that tried to do different things and not make the same album over and over again like Slayer or something. I respect Metallica for that, I respect them for being able to take risks with their career and their music. I'll admit I liked the Black Album, it wasn't their best but it had some VERY good songs but it had some filler too which is what really hurt the album for me because some of those songs were excellent. And it was still a heavy cd, only it was much more groove metal and there's nothing wrong with that. Ask Pantera, they did groove metal very well. Then came Load and Reload, and as I mentioned I didn't hate those albums. Then after THAT came St. Anger, and I won't talk about St. Anger.

Now the band has come full circle with Death Magnetic, which is about as close as the band will EVER get back to Master of Puppets/...And Justice for All. And I really like that cd too, and you can really see that the band has been reenergized and that cd was proof of that (Kirk Hammett's solos in that cd = jizz in my pants). Metallica has been such an influence in my life that my mom and aunt still think that they're my favorite band. Which they're not my favorite bands are Porcupine Tree and Opeth, Metallica isn't even currently in my top 10 favorite bands. But I will say this Metallica has definitely been the most influential band as it relates to my music tastes and that will never change. They'll still have that spot in my heart and I'll always be a Metallica fan, a couple of weak albums aren't going to turn me off from them and they're still the band that I most want to see play live. I don't care if they're older or whatever, I'm sure they can still kick my ass live. So what I really want to say is Thank You Metallica, from the bottom of my heart...I thank you. If it weren't for you guys I don't know how crazy I would be right now. I know you guys will probably never read this but again I really must thank you. Hopefully you guys keep rocking for the next 20 years or at least until you guys decide that it's not fun anymore.

Current Mood: peaceful
Current Music: Vampira - The Devin Townsend Band

I'm scared. Not really scared of anything or anyone. I'm just scared. Let me start at the beginning. When I was a strapping young lad back in the day, I used to go out with my mom and a friend of hers from work and HER son a lot. I don't know how much time we spent together, but it was damn sure a lot. We literally spent days together, we went multiple times to hotels where we stayed for multiple days. I didn't really have a choice...I HAD to go. Believe me if it were up to me I'd have stayed about 90% of the times they wanted to go out. As a result I got to spend a lot of a time with my mom's friend's son. Basically I was forced to hang out with him. I didn't know any better, I was just a wee lad, I thought this was for the better. And you have to understand that my mom's friend is about as loud a person as you can get and I've always had a strong dislike of loud people. So she's loud, she's tall and she's fat. She is/was basically a stereotype. But yet, whenever me and my mom went out with her and her son, she was always nice to me and she always treated me much better than she'd treat her own son, which is both a good thing and a bad thing since you should never treat your child's friend better than your own child. But I understand that she was trying to be cordial.

So I really didn't have any problems with my mom's friend other than her being loud as hell. Now we get to her son. You have to figure out that he would get some of his mom's genes and he certainly did. He was loud and he was fat. He wasn't tall back then...and the last time I was forced to hang out with him was about 10 years ago, so I'm sure he's probably taller (and fatter too). I won't mention his name..but let's just say that it rhymes with Randy. Moving on...anyways this kid seriously had to be, and again I'm talking from my past experiences as I haven't talked to him in 10 years, the most annoying person you could ever meet. Seriously, he's the kind of guy that just his face annoys you. He doesn't even have to say a word and you already hate him. He's that kind of person. It might have to do with the fact that he looks like he's slightly retarded...and he probably is, and not that slightly retarded people annoy me...that's not what I mean at all...he's just got an annoying face. But when he opens his mouth it all goes downhill from there. He has to be one of the most inconsiderate and disrespectful people I know. For example, if he saw a fat person he would loudly go "hey look at that fat guy" and just laugh his annoying little laugh.

Sometimes I really wanted to punch his lights out. I really did. I hated the fact that he could be so incosiderate yet if someobody made fun of him he'd cry like a little bitch...and shit like that has happaned...I've been witness to it. I also really hated the fact that I was forced to be his friend just because our mothers were friends. I could've just as easily stayed home with my aunt and my grandmother. But everytime they went out they just had to bring us along. I don't know if he feels the same way, at least regarding being forced to hang out everytime our moms went out. I'm sure he doesn't because as luck would have it...he took a liking to me and I don't know why to be honest. But there'll be more regarding his liking of me in a later paragraph. Moving on with the story. I remember one time in high school (8th or 9th grade I believe) back when our classes were just starting, a friend of mine went to a camp for the summer and he took some photographs and among the photographs was one of Randy (as I'm referring to him...keep in mind..it rhymes with that name) and at first, I was shocked, I was about to say something but then my mind went "NO YOU IDIOT...DON'T SAY ANYTHING!!!" and my mind won out in the end because my mind was right...if I HAD mentioned that he was my "friend" I'd have probably been the laughingstock of my little group of friends. In fact I remember EXACTLY what my friend said in regards to the photo...he said that the dude looked retarded and that he was annoying as hell. I'll never forget that...why? because I knew I wasn't the only one who thought that the little fuck was annoying. It was just a moment that I'll probably never forget because it was one of the few times where I fit in, only if there was only one other person in the group.

I also remember a DISASTROUS birthday party at my great-grandmother's house. I think it was a birthday party for my cousin...and well yea...I don't know whose bright idea it was to bring him along. But yea there were a lot of kids and everybody hated him, I believe he also got into a fight with a couple of people. And keep in mind these are people that he does not know, so any normal person would be more cordial to other people they didn't know at a birthday party. Obviously his train of thought is much more different than ours.

Man the last time I hung out with him, I remember that SO vividly it's not even funny. He came over to sleep at my house, his mom was going away and he needed some place to stay. A bit later after his mom dropped him off...another one of my mom's friend's came over because my mom was helping her with her makeup and her hair for a party she was going to. As a sidenote, MAN was that woman hot...I'd have tapped that, that's all I'm going to say. But yea I think she tried her dress on for my mom and me and him happened to be sitting in the couch watching tv or whatever. He just straight up called her fat...just like that...I remember just being really embarassed for my gender. And you gotta keep in mind, I just turned 13 the week before this and I still had that mentality that girls had cooties and I still wanted nothing to do with them (how different shit is now huh?). I remember that later that night we played a lot of Frogger for the playstation 1. Then he fell asleep, I tried to sleep but his snoring wouldn't let me, so I went out to the living room where my aunt was speaking on the phone to one of her old ex boyfriends and I sat and watched ESPN's coverage of Dale Earnhardt SR's death (he passed away february 18, 2001...one week exactly after my birthday). I remember every little detail of that. That was the last time we ever truly hung out. I believe my mom and his mom had an argument and they just stopped talking to each other, so that was the last time I saw him. I got out of one of the darkest periods of my life and I thought that this was it, I was through with being his "friend" and that I won't ever have to worry about him again...

But that's not where the story ends my kiddies...oh no...this is not over yet. For the past probably 6-12 months...he's been telling his mom to tell MY mom to tell ME that we should hang out again. He even went to where my mom and his mom works and personally gave my mom his cell phone number and email address to give to me. She did give it to me, I convienently lost the paper his cell phone number and his email address were. A couple of weeks ago he went to my mom's work AGAIN and just gave my mom the email address and that I should email him so we could "go to the club" (those were his exact words). Hilarity ensued. I've added him on msn just to at least have him back off and stop annoying my mom. He's been blocked since the day I added him. And THAT'S why I'm afraid, I'm afraid of what the future holds for me if I DO decide to eventually unblock him and talk to him. I really don't want him to go "hey man...let's hang out" cause all I'm going to do is make up excuses to NOT go out with him, that's really ALL I'm going to do. I really want nothing to do with him, I really don't. I already mentioned all his flaws...and now he's a teenager (19) now so he can only be worse at this age. Though he's in the last year of his teenage years. I'm still not sure about what I'm going to do regarding unblocking him or not...but what I will NOT do is hang out with me. You can count on that.

Story time's over kiddies, just had to get write this up somewhere as this has been bothering me for a couple of days. I had originally wanted to write about japanese and south korean cinema and compare how both are, but I started writing it and I just COULDN'T come up with anything interesting, so if I come up with anything later then I'll write it down on here. Until then that's it for me, if anyone ever reads this, hopefully you have a nice day haha.

Current Location: living room
Current Mood: scared
Current Music: Dark Matter - Porcupine Tree

Bought Mastodon's new cd yesterday. Can't believe I ever doubted their abilities even for one second. They posted the entire new cd on their myspace a week before it came out. So being a fan of theirs I listened to it. I wouldn't say I was disappointed the first time I heard, maybe I was just a tiny bit, but after the first time I heard it I thought to myself...this is an album that requires multiple listens before you really get it. And that's really the case, because now listening to it, it's pure genius. Well I probably wouldn't say pure genius cause these guys aren't Pink Floyd. It's just an overall great cd and at best it's probably Mastodon's attempt to grow and mature as a rock band and not just have to rely on their heavy material anymore. Because this IS a hard rock record. Sure it has some heavy moments but deep down this is hard rock with a lot of prog thrown in there. And perhaps this is the cd that I needed to restore my faith in hard rock. Because I HATE modern hard rock...I fucking HATE it. It's so devoid of any creativity it's not even funny. So hopefully Mastodon's new cd, called Crack The Skye, will light a fire and we'll get some decent hard rock from it.

I also downloaded on itunes The Decemberists' new cd The Hazards of Love. And I do have to say it is a pretty damn cool cd. It's a concept album and I'm always a sucker for a good concept albums. I don't think it's their best cd, but there's something about it, perhaps it's just how the story is told and how the songs flow from one to the other. It's just a very well crafted cd. Plus The Decemberists have written some of the more dark/disturbing songs I've heard. The Mariner's Revenge Song is one of my favorite songs of theirs and it does tell an awesome story in just 9 minutes. M. Night Shyamalan could learn something from The Decemberists on how to tell a story. But on this new cd there are two songs that just creeped me the fuck out. There's one song...basically there's this dude...he's a shape shifting monster...he has three children with his wife. His wife then dies giving birth to a stillborn child. Basically the songs is how he kills his children so he could rid himself of the "pests". Then one of the last songs on the cd is from the children's perspective when they're being killed off, it's creepy as fuck...and the fact that it's a children's choir portraying the children makes it even worse.

I saw a movie the other day...it's called Survive Style 5+, it's currently not available on dvd here in north america...which pisses me the fuck off...it's only been released in the UK. I've wanted to see this movie for the longest time and unfortunately the only way I was able to see it was on google video. The quality is crap...I might post the links (the movie is divided into two parts). There's no really point/moral to the story but it's a really damn good movie and I just wanted to spread the word. I hope it's released on dvd over here soon cause I WOULD love to own it. That's about it for me, another blog post in the sack.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3704788925049715720&ei=gxnWScnBAovcqAKHsuAx&q=survive+style+52B

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5003463512328208868&q=source%3A010743072197307357947&hl=en

Current Location: living room
Current Mood: good
Current Music: The Queen's Rebuke - The Decemberists

I haven't liked posting in this blog for the longest time now, just out of pure disinterest with my own life and not the blog itself. Yet the time that I DID want to post...it takes me half an hour, almost makes a brother not want to post shit. There's no real reason for me to post, well to be honest has there ever been a blog post of mine that I REALLY needed to post.

Now that I think about it, there are a couple of posts that really needed to be posted, but most of the other posts were about me complaining about a girl...which gets old quickly if you ask me. You know sometimes I really question the existence of blogs at all. I guess there's something powerful about saying "I am here interwebs, hear me roar!!!!". I guess it's mostly people just wanting to leave their mark on the interwebs. It's the equivalent of somebody carving his/her name and that of their sweetheart on a tree. There's no real point to either, it's just something nice to do. I have no problems with blogs that are informative or blogs that entertain. Some people get their news from blogs...there's nothing wrong with that. But for example...MY blog really has no place on the interwebs, it's just a place for me to write down my thoughts which I could do in a diary. But I guess I just want to leave my mark on the interwebs too. Hey if Perez Hilton can have a piece of the pie why can't I? And judging by the looks of that freak, he sure as hell has had a giant piece of the pie. Long story short, I was thinking of cancelling this account and getting rid of the blog but I'll end up keeping it. It can be good if I want to work on my writing skills or whatever else may come to mind.

I'm angry, if the previous paragraph didn't give it away. I don't really know WHY I'm angry...and I'm not even angry at someone. I assume that it's just a multitude of things piled on top of each other that made me angry. Also, I keep disappointing myself. I keep making promises to myself and I never come through. Back when I graduated/finished high school I told myself that by the time I was 21 I'd probably be out of here and already settled in Canada or whichever country I ended up picking. I turned 21 almost two months ago (February 11 was my birthday) so that probably has to be the biggest disappointment of all. I realize I'm still young, but I'm not getting any younger, what sucks is that most of my high school friends have pretty much done something for themselves...for example one of my friends might get an apprenticeship with the gaming company Valve (they made Left 4 Dead) and while I'm incredibly happy and proud of him, it just seems to me that my life has been standing still for 3 years. Three years down the toilet. That's a lot of fucking time right there and in those 3 years I could have done a shitload, yet nothing...nothing came of it. I started studying back in January of 2007...at first things were fine...I was doing pretty damn good in the classes but every semester thereafter my grades started getting lower. The classes weren't getting harder...not at all. I just wasn't interested in them...they felt too class-y, but I was still passing the classes...barely scraping by withs C's. In november of 2008 I ended up dropping out for the rest of the semester because my interest was not there and ever since I have not studied. I might go back if all else fails, but to be quite honest I'm not interested at all in studying, never have been...never will be.

I'm not the kind of person that can just sit on a chair for 90 minutes to hear a teacher talk about shit that I can pretty much find myself on the internet. That's what sucks about it, if it wasn't so much like high school I wouldn't have a problem...but it's exactly like high school...sit down...listen to the teacher talk...countdown the minutes until you get out of said class. That's all I honestly did in college. At least high school was worth it cause I was around friends. But in college I HAD no friends, I guess I had one but I knew him from my high school and that's about it. I mean people knew who I was but no friends whatsoever. If I had friends then perhaps I would've been motivated to stay, but I didn't so I wasn't. I've always had trouble making friends, I'm usually a very quiet individual. It's funny cause if you don't talk people assume you're weird but if you talk TOO much they just get annoyed. My social skills have always been terrible. I guess I blame that on how I was raised cause I was raised in a way where I never brought attention to myself...I just did what I had to do then I left...sort of like a hitman or whatever. I can't talk to anyone without being nervous...and don't get me started on girls. There's always been something very intimidating about women that I can't bring myself to talk to one (yes I'm still a virgin..probably because of that reason too), unless they're my friends. I'm guessing that's why I'm the way I am when I'm online on msn or whatever...cause usually I can't shut the fuck up when I'm online. I also have the tendency to be that kind of person that tries to make everybody happy even if I am miserable myself, which is ok by me cause I do like making people happy, even if it is at my own expense. I have no problems cracking out a couple of self-deprecating jokes every once in a while. I don't mind doing that at all, especially if I'm doing it for friends and I'm trying to cheer them up. Apparently I have that ability according to some friends. But sometimes I just wish someone would be like "hey how are you doing?" and actually mean it and not use it as JUST a statement. It's kind of funny...cause if some people were to judge me on how I talk online, they'd assume I'm the happiest person ever. Which I'm not.

I've also been re-reading a lot of old emails/comments/text messages what have you and it really does sadden me a shitload, because there were a lot of missed opportunities there and I just wish certaing things didn't go the way they ended up going and how I wish that I kept in contact with some people that I rarely keep in contact with now, though some I'm still in contact with...just not enough.

Not all news is bad though, I'm going to see Coheed and Cambria on June 12...I'm going to be pretty close to the stage, so I'm definitely pumped up for that and I can't wait to rock out friday june 12. Exodus is playing the week after that concert...I might go, but I probably won't...I don't know which venue they're playing and plus Exodus is a thrash metal band so there's bound to be lots of ugly fat dudes at the show and we can't have that.

Also I'm going to poste a video from youtube...a tradition I started last year ago around this time. The video I'm posting, I didn't watch it too long ago, it's supposed to be an educational film and there's this girl, who looks slightly retarded, and well even though it's supposed to be educational it just disturbed the shit out of me...and I thought..."why should I suffer alone?" and now I share the video...by the way this video disturbed me because I'm a dude...I don't know if girls will have the same reaction that I did but fuck it.

Current Location: Bedroom
Current Mood: angry
Current Music: Silver Wings - Thrice

So this is my first real post in more than a year, since since the last post was just a video that I found amusing and hilarious, I might feature a "video of the day" section with my posts to spice things up a bit and to entertain my 'faithful' reader for the lack of entertainment in the written part of the blog.

I think I've finally come to terms with my multiple failures with women. I've gotten to the point where I don't want to have a relationship, at least while I'm here, cause I know what I want to do with my life and it doesn't involve spending the rest of my life in this island. Having a girlfriend at this point would only complicate things, especially if the relationship got serious. I'm not ruling out having a relationship with anyone here, that's not it, but I'm just not interested in a relationship anymore I'm just going to keep my mind on my studies and my future. That's not to say I'm not interested in any girls, cause it wouldn't be a blog of mine if it didn't involve the mention of a girl :P. I'll just leave at that, there's really no point in discussing this any further.

I've been thinking of maybe starting a youtube account (well erasing the account I have and creating a new one) and just make videos about random stuff. I'll just talk about random stuff..movies, music, wrestling, politics (what little I know), etc...just a little bit of everything. I might even make some short comedy videos. I have a couple of ideas. I have a black metal themed talk show (maybe a cooking show too). Basically the idea would be to have this black metal artist (corpse paint, wig, inverted crosses, satanic bible included) just interviewing random people and making them feel uncomfortable with his statements...sort of like Borat but to the NTH degree. That's just the basic idea so far, I still need to write a script, find out where I'm going to shoot it and the format of the show. Another of my ideas is of this angry and bitter filmmaker who makes these shitty films yet he thinks he's the only genius of filmmaking (in fact I already have the first episode, the main character is making a live action film based on the tetris video game), it's absolutely ripped off from Uwe Boll's career, if you don't kno who this fine german gentleman is I'll post a video of this jackass at the end of the post. And my final idea is this animated show that I originally wanted to base on birds but I'm going to include more animals to diversify things a bit. I have plenty of ideas but those are the ones that are more developed in terms of where I would like to go with them.

I hate when some women say that all men are dogs just because they commit adultery way more than women do...yea I love that logic it's very inspiring? Ok let's say there's Serial Killer A and Serial Killer B...Killer A has killed 57 people...Killer B has killed 30 people, does that mean that Killer B is a better person that Killer A because he killed less people. NO!!! If you ask me using that kind of logic is just plain retarded...Killer B still killed 30 people...just because he killed less than Killer A doesn't make him any less wrong. We're both to blame in this because women still commit adultery at a great rate, just because men cheat more doesn't make us any worse than women (in fact 55% of infidelity is commited by men whereas 45% is commited than women, so what does that tell you). I've been cheated on, I know how it feels, it fucking sucks, but you don't see me taking my anger out on women because I feel that they are all whores...because I know that's just not true. I know some lovely and amazing women that I absolutely love and I know not everyone is out to get me...like some women feel about men. So please just get a grip and grow the fuck up, we're (both male and female) not perfect so don't live life assuming that your gender is (again applies to both male and female).

That's pretty much it for me today, now let me go find a video of german jackass Uwe Boll (oh another thing he actually compared one of his movies to Monty Python...BLASPHEMY!!!!!! DIE YOU GERMAN BASTARD!!!!)

Current Mood: cynical
Current Music: Ratts Of the Capital - Mogwai

Current Mood: artistic
Current Music: The Race is on Again - Yo La Tengo

Haven't done one of these entries in a while. Nothing much to update on, classes have been unusually easy I already have 3 perfect scores ><. That's about 3 more than I had during my entire 15 years I was at school, excluding P.E, you couldn't fail P.E here even if you tried. But yea classes have been easy, only one class has really challenged me and that's nonlineal editing and oddly enough that's the class I like the most.

I already edited my first trailer (finished it today). It was a trailer of the film Run Lola Run and for my first time (I also worked with another guy) I think i did a damn good job at making a minute trailer, it was supposed to be a minute long (I ended up doing close to 90 seconds) but it was the longest 90 seconds of my life ><. Our class is 90 minutes and in the first class I put together 20 seconds, so it was hard but I enjoyed it quite a lot. Next week we choose the movie we get to work with. I've chosen Oldboy which should be no surprise to any of my friends who reeeeeeally know what movies I like. That movie, hell for that matter the Trilogy of Vengeance, are up in a high pedestal. Those 3 movies, being: Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy, and Lady Vengeance, are amazing. It's art to the nth power.

Mmmm not much I can update on other than all that, me and April made up so we're "back together" again in a sense. We had a big argument yesterday but in the end it all solved itself I guess. It still sucks to be indirectly rejected (even though I wasn't rejected, if that makes any sense). It sucks being rejected by everyone you want at some point or another, that's just how it is, just sometimes it gets to me really bad and it feels like no one even wants me. Like I'm a decent enough guy. But I'll just leave it at that I don't want to get into a rant only to bring myself down. That's it for now, if anything remotely interesting happens I shall post it here.

Current Mood: calm
Current Music: Akercocke - The Penance

Mmmm, this post will just be filled with random thoughts not a really concrete theme here

-I started college yesterday. I only had one class so that was pretty sweet, but it felt awkward seeing as I'm the new kid and almost nobody even noticed I was there. Today was a much better day, I actually talked to some people :O. Editing class looks to be righteously sweet. We get to make a trailer for a movie, a music video, and the last "project" is anything we want to edit....trailer, video, mini-documentary, etc. I'm really looking forward to it, cause it genuinely seemed interesting even though all we did was overview what we were going to do in the class. English class was funny today. I found it odd that there were 2 people in the entire class (about 15-20 students) that really know english and I was one of them. So I hope that this class is a walk in the park for me. Fundamentals of TV and Radio was boring, it was also an overview of what we're going to do in the semester. People also talked to me so that was sweet. So I felt today was a much better day for me, I felt more comfortable.

-I really like foreign and indie films. Once I told my friend that indie movies are always the best since they don't have a big 200 million dollar budget they can't have fancy special effects and other fancy stuff, so they just concentrate on the actors/characters in the movie. Plot driven movies is what I like. Sometimes I enjoy the big budget movies, there re great big budget movies that are still character driven, but indie and foreign movies just strive to be different, they challenge you and they make you look at all the possibilities. For example Children of Men (which I watched yesterday.....and is fantastic) which basically deals with the infertility of humans (18 years in the movie). The youngest people on earth are admired/given celebrity status since they represent the last the earth had of babies. So when I got done with the movie I wondered how it really WOULD be if humans were infertile. What would become of our world without children in it? How would we solve it? What if we CAN'T solve it? Would it mean the end of humanity? Or would we just evolve to the point were we reproduce by budding (which we probably couldn't do anyway)? Cause humans always find a way to adapt to their surroundings. I don't think it would be any different if the world was infertile for 18 years. See Children of Men is a movie that makes you ask those questions and look at every possibility possible. Like I said I like big budget movies but I prefer movies that test me as a person, I like movies that I won't forget just 2 hours after I've seen it, which is the probably with many big budget Hollywood movies. With its overpriced budget surely they could think of a way to use that money for good use like helping the plot move forward to create memorable moments. Instead all that money is used to get the big box office draw of the moment. And I mean hell I'd like to make money with my movies but it's not like I'll pay 20 million dollars to get Tom Cruise (for example) to appear in my movie just cause he's a solid box office draw. I'd rather have made a good movie that flopped than have a shitty movie with a bankable star.

-I've been wanting to write a short story for a long time now. I mean I have some ideas and everything but there's nothing concrete. Nothing that I feel will amount to anything, but then again I can just freewrite and see what comes out of my head. I could find a groove and write the next Pulitzer prize winner, then again I might not but yea I want to find something that I can stick on and just develop on that. I mean I know I'm not a fancy writer or everything, I don't use big words, hell I'd even say that my writing is amateurish. But it's something that I rather enjoy, most of the stories I've written have gotten lukewarm reviews from my classmates. I wrote a 3-6 page story in 3 hours on a Sunday (had to hand it in on monday for theater) with basically no revising, no second drafts so it was just all last resort but my friends and theater teacher thought it was good so I have SOME talent. I just wish that I could up with something good, I've had "writer's block" for the longest time.

-I noticed that usually I like to buy special edition of DVDs with 2+ DVDs. I guess I'm just a geek for special features and to see how the process comes along. I like to hear the commentary tracks on the DVDs cause it helps me with the process to see how the moviemaking process is.

-My mom wants me to win an Academy Award, maybe I will, maybe I won't. Just in case I'll start writing my "thank you" list right now.

-My legs and feet hurt. Probably cause of all the walking I've done these past few days and it's understandable really cause all the walking I did the past 7 months was from my room to the bathroom and to eat dinner, rinse, repeat.

That's it for my random thoughts right about now. I usually lots of stuff I want to write here, but in the writing of everything else I forget some of the stuff. Nobody will probably read this but oh well, I'm used to it already ;) :P

Current Mood: complacent
Current Music: Pink Floyd - Have a Cigar

Mmmm I don't know why lately when I spit like there's a lack of liquid.....It's been like that for a couple of weeks now and I'm worried cause I usually spat like a lot. And now that's gone. That was just a random comment I decided to make and I don't feel ashamed of it.

Lately I've been having arguments with 3 friends of mine...they go on the range from silly-catastrophic arguments. I got another death threat/wish what have you.....and another friend said he hated me.....thank goodness it's the holiday spirit *rolls eyes*. The one who said that he hated me I don't take seriously cause he wanted me to go to his beach house and I said no....then he told me I should go to the college he goes to and I said no cause it'll probably be easier for me to study in Florida...family connections and all. So I'm not really worrying much about him.

And the death wish....well that was just horrible. My friend, apparently (no offense Daisy), was tearing everyone, who talked to her, a new asshole. And I really don't know what I did that justified a death wish I was just a bit pissed off cause she didn't support me and started bitching at me and she just snapped at me. The next day she pretended everything was cool and was going on like nothing happened.....then she snapped at me again for being all like "yea, ok, true" and all that other shit. Then we argued and in the end she ended up wanting me dead.

Hell April had a reason when she said she hoped I die. I was being an ass to her and she responded without really thinking about what she had just said. She apologized and it took me some months to get over it but now we're "tight" again. But with Daisy....hell I don't know what the fuck I did to deserve a death wish and HER of all people.....someone I loved (yes L-O-V-E-D) so much and to know that she probably had no reason, other than what was mentioned, really hurt me a lot. At first I thought she was a bitch and rightfully so, you know. Hell two years I've known this girl and I thought friends were supposed to be friends and help each other with everything....no matter what (well except a few things). So it really hurt me when she just snapped at me when I just talked to her about some stuff and she just started bitching me out. AND I've constantly helped her with her problems, well at least I believe so if I'm mistaken please correct me, so I guess I just expected the same from her part knowing her and all.

To say I was surprised at her behavior is an understatement. I literally felt crushed, I felt anger, I felt everything I can feel. Here's a little history on me: usually people come to me with their problems and when I try to do the same they cut me off and start talking about themselves....Laura did it....April did it....Asaria did it.....hell even one of my best friends did it. So I expected a bit more from Daisy and I guess I didn't get it.

Daisy apologized to me and as much as I'd like to forgive her I don't think I can....hell April had no reason to say what she did and it took me like 2 (maybe more) months to truly forgive and we could go back to things being the way they were before. So it'll probably take more with Daisy before I can even begin to start thinking about forgiving her and maybe have things go back the way they were before. I know she snapped at a lot of people (according to what she's told me) and I don't know if she wished death on some other people. So about now I think I got to see the worst part of Daisy. And I can tell you it did not feel good at all.

Well I finally got THAT out of my system. I feel that the journal is the only one who listens to me....it doesn't help me with problems.....but it definitely listens to me where as other people don't. And I guess you can say that it's pretty sad that I count on a journal to "solve" my problems" but well you're entitled to your opinion it's not my right to tell you that you're wrong.....and if I managed to piss off someone *rolls eyes and whistles* then I'm sorry it wasn't my intention. I just had to rant and I didn't before cause I was busy.

That's pretty much all there is to say right about now. I'll be heading off to sleep now.

Current Mood: indifferent

My feelings are all over the place right now. I need to talk to someone and I don't know how.

Hehe this was supposed to be a serious post but I just realized I made a rhyme. But yea I do need to talk to someone due to some information I received today. It's nothing bad at all I just need to clear a few things up with that person. I think you know who you are :). I love you. I hope you come online soon.

Current Mood: confused
Current Music: Porcupine Tree - Don't Hate Me

So exactly one year at this time I was taking classes (as a senior in High School) in the library because the school had no room for us and wouldn't until 3 months later. How fast a year goes by.

Current Mood: Still Crappy
Current Music: VAST - The Nile's Edge

I hate being emotionally weak.

Oh and I almost forgot: Hi Daisy. Don't think I forgot about you.

Current Mood: morose
Current Music: Thrice - Atlantic

There's much debate about sites like Ogrish.com and Strangeland.com. If you don't know either of these sites, they portray murders, pictures of dead people, articles that normally won't be read on say, Msnbc.com. Now there are people who think watching videos of murder is wrong. I say it all depends on the person and whether they think they can handle something for example: a beheading video. I've seen many of the beheading videos that have made it into the internet and countless others of people being murdered. Does that make me sick????? No of course not. Death has, and always will be, a part of life. That's why we're born in the first place, to face death. It turns out that most of the people in those videos faced their death a bit sooner than was intended. I get the feeling that these videos are put on the internet and showcased for the world to see for a purpose. And that purpose is that life should be sacred cause you never know when you or someone close to you might meet the Grim Reaper. Another purpose is to showcase death and how it is. They don't sugarcoat anything, like in the news where you hear about a murder and they dare not show the murder pictures. They lull us into a sense of security and brainwash us with other news about celebrities. They brainwash us so much so, that we put death on the back of our minds as if death didn't exist. The world we live in is a fucked up place and murderers DO live in this world and we as people should be able to find an alternative news channel that doesn't shy away from showing actual murder photos and videos. Until then know that I stand behind ogrish.com cause it has taken a more journalistic style approach, it actually feels like news now and not just gore. The porn ads need to go though and in strangeland as well. Oh and if you don't like the fact that I look at videos of people being murdered then you (and your mom) can kiss my ass (This does not apply to Daisy though)

P.S: Daisy I haven't forgotten about you koibito, you're still in 100% of my posts. wOOt. I still love you more than I love ARRPL.

Current Mood: calm
Current Music: the agony scene - We bury our dead at dawn