hiverious

I'm not sure how many of you know, or even care, but I seem to see my possessions as something more akin to a member of the family. So it is with great sadness that I sit here with my MBP in a bag, set to go in for repairs due to the fact it refuses to power on, and when I reset the SMU, it powers on, beeps once (indicating that there is no RAM) and then powers down, and that playing around with the RAM doesn't change this at all. I do hope it really does turn into some sort of RAM problem that is easily fixed and cheap and not a problem with the harddrive or the logic board.

In other news, all hail the internet.

Pew pew, cutting several people out of my life has thus far yielded mixed results on the I am happier with less people in my life to bog me down in all sorts of nonsense scale of measuring happiness. Of course the idea that culling people, some of which are the closest friends I've ever had, could ever hope to make me happy was stupid. What wasn't stupid is that it seems to have worked in a way. Not so much happiness, but general peace of mind has increased. Although every now and then I do feel like a monster for some reason or other.

Man vs Ex Wife, I'm hoping she wins. /oscar-ness

New Fear Factory kicks ass.

Might be starting anxiety meds soonish.

Rar, end

shaun says:
*taking bets?
PatBot says:
*hahaha eh, if i had to bet, i'd say morning will have more trouble than me
*the eager but stupid kids will ring
shaun says:
*yay
*kids
*their flesh is healthier and younger, potentially tastes better too.
PatBot says:
*you have cannibalistic thoughts?
shaun says:
*should the need arise, the young are our future

Well well, I got my sense of humour back.


shaun says:
*:P
*so
*now do you understand why you need a cat?
PatBot says:
*so girls can have something else to look at other than me?
*pushing me further down the queue than i was before?
shaun says:
*gives me a chance
PatBot says:
*ahahaha
*not a phrase i'd expect of you.
*how human.

And it seems I'm human now too.

I don't know how I feel though. I think I have a psychiatrist's appointment next week sometime, a funeral to go to this Saturday, and a tight ball of self-loathing, envy, jealousy, guilt, sadness, anger, and a slowly growing unwillingness to continue living somewhere within my chest that seems to be localized somewhere around where my heart should be.

Well I am continuing my illegal readings for my honours thesis (which I shouldn't have started until the 1st of February, which I am calling bullshit on, on account of mitigating circumstances involving my ability to do anything productive).

My recently acquired PSP is in good working order. I am grateful for all that I have, but all that I have is trivial in the wake of all that I do not have, which is trivial in the wake of all that most other people do not have, et cetera.

non-sequitur:

this: Kids Spend Every Waking Minute in Front of a Screen [STUDY]

makes this: http://au.gamespot.com/wii/sports/walkitout/index.html

almost seem not like an incredibly STUPID idea for a game

But I seem to be on the mend, hopefully *nods*

o noes, slipknot, there goes my metal cred D:

Well, to put it lightly, that was fucked up.

I don't know whether to rage or lol at this.

shaun says:
*no idea
*I can't write reviews for movies I like anymore =/
PatBot *red+u says:
*heh
*just write "i liked it."
shaun says:
*that's not a review, that is an opinion
PatBot *red+u says:
*damn you.

I'll give it a shot anyway:

Fantastic Mr Fox was, in short, Fantastic. I know that probably makes you facepalm to read and is on par with me calling Pan's Labyrinth Amazing, but I did really enjoy the movie.

I went into the movie to find myself surrounded by parents and their talkative, young children. My previous experience with watching Iron Man on opening weekend sent alarm bells ringing (I was flanked by squirming, commentating children). Thankfully, there was nothing too cringe inducing for the little ones and they were actually enthralled by the play of colours and sounds presented to them.

The first thing that struck me about Fantastic Mr Fox was the animation. It is stop motion animation, which would seem to restrict it to the realm of Wallace and Gromit or Harvey Krumpet, but unlike those features, Fantastic Mr Fox has a unique flavour of its own. The animation was odd, but in a very interesting way. Explosions and smoke made of cotton and movement that is stylised helped give the movie an identity of its own. It also helped that many of the shots were staged as cross sections of the world, having the appearance of a side scrolling adventure game (Cave Story, Metroid, et al.).

There were lots of browns and yellows in the pallet. The fur looked realistic, which was kind of important given how many of the main characters were indeed furry animals. The human characters had amazing facial detail and were incredibly emotive. The three farmers looked particularly menacing. It is particularly amusing, and somewhat cute, the way the animals eat. They keep up the pretense of civility, and yet wolf down their food in an incredibly animal and uncivil way that is played for laughs, and serves to strengthen some of the subtext in the movie.

Further, the soundtrack is brilliant. I know I practically flew into fanboyish flailing when I heard Street Fighting Man =D. Also to do with the sound, the voice work was brilliant as well, lending life to the characters. Though the strong script could probably also be thanked for that. The dialogue was punchy, witty, and not necessarily what you would expect from a Children's Movie, or even a Family movie (my personal favourite line from the movie being "It's gonna be a huge clustercuss for everyone."), one particularly amusing scene has Mr Fox rattling off a list of Latin names for his animal compatriots to help them find a deeper understanding of their natural gifts.

So yes, what more can I say? It was a gorgeous, well paced, well acted, well animated, well scored movie that entertained the adults in the audience and shut their kids up. It's a movie with genuine emotion, that manages to be touching and heartfelt without overly manipulative music or slow motion shots and hammy, overdone dialogue/performances that you could find in some other recent films *subtle jab*. There were some moments (and admittedly some adult situations) that were genuinely moving. It's also quirky, and does't suffer for being quirky, which is also a rarity these days.

I enjoyed the movie myself, but admittedly I have not read the book so I cannot advise you whether or not to see it based on your undying love for Dahl's work. I can, however, recommend it as a highly entertaining, and well made family film that very much appeals to everyone without at any point watering itself down to do so.

I don't really think I can give numbers to movies, but if you insist...

Pick a number between 1 and 10, inclusive, and then adjust your scale so that the movie scores as awesome.

[00:31:01] маттѕтея says:
Sup
[00:31:10] маттѕтея says:
I am perusing my fshs yearbook
[00:31:11] shaun says:
my birthday
[00:31:12] shaun says:
lol
[00:31:31] маттѕтея says:
And cannot help but notice thar mm
[00:31:35] маттѕтея says:
Fuck

"The idiots who support this film should be flushed out of existence. The film is going to be a poor travesty and only appeal to the freaks who believe Avatar is the greatest movie ever made.

Sad times we live in."

The A Nightmare on Elm Street remake looks particularly awful. Fun times.

[02:52:10] Ellis says:
oh come on
it's not like we all have the same knowledge and such
it was expected that people were going to hail it as the greatest ever because of the effects and such
[02:52:25] Ellis says:
and so on
[02:52:47] Ellis says:
but i'm also expecting poeple to say that too
[02:53:01] Ellis says:
people*
[02:53:35] shaun says:
Jurassic Park > Avatar

In terms of effects films, Jurassic Park > Avatar by virtue of the fact that Jurassic Park was made 16 years ago back when CG was incredibly hard to do and managed to have visuals that stand up even today while having at least one interesting character, good dialogue, good performances, good music, good pacing, and a better story than Avatar (even though admittedly both stories are lacking).


[02:55:11] Ellis says:
there are always going to be movies like this

Avatar wasn't a good movie. I was fine with leaving it at that, but when people who call themselves "film buffs" attack me for thinking it was a bad movie and then tell me it has "good cinematography" (which is bullshit) I get a bit worked up. How does the fact that Avatar has good CG make it have good Cinematography? Seen a Wong Kar Wai film recently? Those films have good cinematography.

Avatar is stupid and shallow and it doesn't matter for the first 2 hours because the movie isn't the focus, but the last 40 minutes expects you to care about the movie and what’s happening… And the movie is pretty bad.


"What's Next for Avatar and James Cameron: Sequels & More!"


Avatar was a fucking tech demo. Take the technology and make a movie now.

[03:05:33] Ellis says:
give it some time
[03:05:35] shaun says:
he can make good movies
[03:05:38] shaun says:
some time?
[03:05:54] shaun says:
for others to run with the technology?

This is like Transformers all over again.

[03:13:46] Ellis says:
just hope for a good movie to come out
[03:13:48] Ellis says:
lol
[03:14:33] shaun says:
not likely
[03:14:45] shaun says:
James Cameron is the one with the power to make a good movie
[03:14:57] shaun says:
Avatar's made over 1 billion
[03:15:04] shaun says:
titanic made well over 1 billion
[03:15:11] shaun says:
he's a safe person to bet on
[03:15:16] shaun says:
others, not so much
[03:15:18] Ellis says:
keep it
[03:15:23] Ellis says:
wrong convo
[03:15:26] Ellis says:
but yes
[03:15:31] shaun says:
they'll be strongarmed into making safe bullshit by the studios
[03:15:39] Ellis says:
and you think he's just gonna work on avatar 2, 3 and so on
[03:15:51] shaun says:
we'll see
[03:15:56] Ellis says:
well that's also expected
[03:16:04] Ellis says:
whatever will please the massesssss
[03:16:18] Ellis says:
but there is hope
[03:16:50] Ellis says:
in the meantime
[03:17:04] shaun says:
there's next to nil hope fo that technology being used to make good movies
[03:17:06] Ellis says:
if you feel strongly about it
[03:17:20] Ellis says:
then try to influence future movies
[03:17:25] Ellis says:
dunno how you can
[03:17:34] Ellis says:
but that'll be something to keep you busy

How the hell can I influence future movies when there are millions of dumbfucks in America who go watch utter shit, and then don't believe they have a say in what movies get made? It boggles the mind.

there were almost vampire monkeys in 30 days of night because some fucking retard of an executive wanted to put them in to drag in more viewers. They fired David Hayter because his screenplay was too faithful to Watchmen and not like a generic comic book movie like the studio wanted. The only way they could make the movie was if they got Zack Snyder to direct it and he FUCKED IT UP. Every part with action, he had to cock it up with his overly stylised bullshit.

[03:24:21] Ellis says:
it's what viewers want to see
[03:24:49] shaun says:
you know what, fuck viewers

"suberunker

It's the year we make contact! #filmnerdery"

hahaha... I haven't seen that movie in years =/


Matt: We all live in a yellow submarine, coca cola, sometimes war

( 2009 meme )

Mum contemplated putting me on antidepressants. Decided the side effects may not be worth it.

Edit:

fuck the Wii and everything it stands for.

playing games with everyone possible necessitates having incredibly accessible games that usually end up being fucking awful, but people will eat that shit up because people are afraid of being challenged.

Games these days are bad enough as it is. Do you know how rare it is to find a game where the main character feels like a human being instead of some whiny fuck or some variant of hardass marine? The only game I've played that's come anywhere remotely close to that has been Uncharted 2.

Do you know how hard it is to find games with decent stories when the aim of the game is to be light entertainment? Why the fuck would you have a campaign mode if all it ends up being is a bunch of macho men swearing at each other while shooting everything that moves? There are enough dicks online to satisfy that.


But having to put up with people locally while playing some anaemic excuse for a game with gameplay that is fucking horrible is even worse than all of that, and that is what the Wii is. Seriously, Nintendo aren't even bothering to put online multiplayer in their games anymore.

people who like books don't accept Twilight as a good book so why the FUCK DO THEY EXPECT ME TO BE AT PEACE WITH THE WII?

If the revolution was to drag gaming down to the lows that hollywood has sunk to, fuck that.

fuck you nintendo.

and fuck you anyone who supports it.

It's the new year and I'll be fucked if it's anything worth celebrating.

So I finished Uncharted 2, and it was so good. Yeah. The end.

Having said that, if you can't predict anything that happens in this movie, you are either not paying attention to the 'story' or are in some way challenged.

You may probably have guessed I am talking about Avatar. It is a horrible movie with amazing special effects (so it's kind of like every final fantasy game after FFVI in that respect. early reports from Japan say that, unsurprisingly, FFXIII is another shit game in a long line of shit games that everyone seems to go out and buy).

So paraplegic marine Jake Sully (aka Jakesully) takes up his brother's position in a company as part of the research team conducting anthropological studies on the native 12 foot tall blue cat people called the Na'vi. His brother was killed, and he has an identical genome, being identical twins, so he and only he can pilot his brother's avatar (which is a remote controlled body created out of native and human DNA and grown in tanks. This is understandably very expensive, which is why the company dragged Jake to Pandora. I actually kind of enjoyed this part of the movie. Characters were being introduced, Jake had an understandable motivation to go - the job pays very well and he will be able to pay to get his legs back - and there's a touching moment when he looks at his avatar in the tank and says it looks like his brother, and is then corrected and told that it looks like him and is now his Avatar. Well, it's about as touching as the movie gets.

The rest of the movie can be described by paralleling it to Princess Mononoke.

( spoilers for both this and Princess Mononoke... )

So I have an excuse to come out of hiding. By hiding I mean not knowing what to write but being too lazy to try to answer a writer's block.

Memes, they are like writers block, yet some sense of YOU COMMENTED ON MY JOURNAL WITH THE MAGICAL PHRASE SO YOU MUST DO IT sense of accountability always seems more compelling to me than: here is some stupid question for you to stupidly answer because your stupid life isn't compelling enough to write about. BTW, you're stupid.

If you must know what has been going on in my life, you'll be left wanting. I will not type up such stuff in this entry as it is past 4am and I should really sleep.

maggiebloome has tasked me with this!!!!!!


Leave me a comment saying "Resistance is Futile."

• I'll respond by asking you five questions so I can satisfy my curiosity
• Update your journal with the answers to the questions
• Include this explanation in the post and offer to ask other people questions

( It's dangerous to go alone, take this )

Rules:
- Bold all of the following TV shows which you've ever seen 3 or more episodes of in your lifetime.
- Italicize a show if you're positive you've seen every episode of it.


( Cheez )

Hey Hong, how's your team in D/P looking?

Thinking of getting back into it if you're still up for a game when I get up to scratch.

Watching subbed anime on TV feels so good.

I fucking hate my family and can't want to be away from them again. This is going to be a long 2 weeks.

So, Halloweeen

It has come and gone, yes.

I spent it on a Plane. Watching movies. Failing to sleep. Eating surprisingly good economy class food.

Went to the airport by train. It was an experience. Travelling light really helped with that. Yay for carrying a combined total of 17 Kg =) On the way to my platform, I was stopped by a girl who asked me to open her bottle for her, which I did and then felt really weirded out for a while.

Made it to the airport. Ate 2 double quarter pounders and regretted it. Waited for my plane to leave and started reading Heart of Darkness just as we were called to board.

On both flights I had no one sitting next to me. It was awesome =D

Watched 500 Days of Summer and enjoyed it very much. It was my favourite movie of the year. Then I watched The Hurt Locker, and I very much enjoyed it. It is now my favourite movie of the year and I highly recommend it.

So this is my second day in India.
First day was uneventful except for Facebook doing what it does best, pissing me off.

Today, I did nothing much. Started some writing and then was interrupted by a 45 minute long nose bleed. By the 7th blood soaked tissue I was hoping I'd just bleed out and die so I'd be done with it all, but that didn't happen and so 5 tissues and 2 ice packs later, I was whisked off to an ENT who told me that there was nothing wrong. That's comforting. On the way back, I had another nose bleed. I did, however, also get some interesting dress pants and shirts. All that's left to get are formal shoes and I'm set to go to events I'd rather stay away from.

Speaking of which, I found myself at one later that night.

I am finding two things particularly weird:
1) meeting people that haven't seen me since I was 3
2) The sky is blue.


Yeah, that was kinda weird.

( yaaaay )

And now off to get my neuropsych assessment

[00:10:33] shaun says:
toby
[00:10:36] shaun says:
your turn
[00:10:45] Toby says:
i like cheese
[00:11:03] shaun says:
and hate brain freeze
[00:11:19] LCF / might thesis tonight? says:
the wind is blowing in the muthafukin trees yo
[00:11:55] shaun says:
this line needs to rhyme with trees


I think I finally understand how frustrating "I wish I had a boyfriend like you" is