Random.
First week at the university went fine except that I realized how much I have to work on these courses as opposed to the generally easy time I had in autumn (but then again, spring courses are always harder for some reason). We're going to have group discussions, and although I don't mind those, I don't like how much work those require when you need to analyze, re-analyze etc. all kinds of stuff (causal analysis and crazy stuff like that), which takes quite a while, especially when you need to do some of the stuff outside class. Not only that, but we need to read a bunch of books (both novels and theoretical works) for various courses and do some independent studies, which isn't that nice. And once choir practice kicks in, I'll be a busy Koss once more (or THE busy Koss, as the case may be). Oh well, I suppose I'll manage. I also went to get some of my exams and essays back, and I was happy to notice that I'd fared quite well on those, so that cheered me up a bit. Apparently the lecturer had liked me analysis of violence, antagonism and pain in Spenser and Marlowe's works. =)
The various chats I was in went crazy, and I had some nice MSN and AIM conversations as well. At #Ultimate_Disney everyone kept saying that the Disney character I resembled the most is Prince Phillip from Sleeping Beauty, and that amused me a great deal. At #eoff people were talking about all kinds of crazy stuff as usual, but at least occasionally the conversations turned "intelligent" enough so that I could comment on stuff. We talked about relationship, sex and stuff like that in chat, and people had a great time. We also had discussions about books, films, music, games and TV series, and only a few people were kicked out because of comments that seemed to offend some of the admins. xD I also got invitations to join two channels, and I spent some time there as well, although the discussions were out of my league and thus I simply idled most of the time. Nevertheless, I appreciated the invitations, and it was interesting to see other kinds of discussions than just the #eoff formula.
Thanks to some funny conversations, I managed to add a few people to MSN, AIM and LJ contact lists. I also had a funny video chat with smittenkitten on MSN, and we talked about a bunch of stuff, most notably Disney. She even sang a couple of Disney songs, and amazingly enough I managed to get two out of three right (those being "Part of Your World" and "Reflection") even though I had to read the lips because I couldn't hear the audio. It was a nice chat in any case, and it was the first video chat I've ever been to, actually, so it's always interesting to have new experiences. Oddly enough the video feed wasn't that bad on my end even though I have an old computer, because the video didn't lag at all, or maybe the compression was good enough so that my computer could analyze it without any problems.
I was in for a pleasant surprise when I found the leaked radio clips of the coming The Little Mermaid Broadway album. It was great to hear the final versions of the songs as well as hear Menken and the cast's reactions to the recording in general, and it was nice to hear great songs like "The World Above", "Her Voice", "One Step Closer" and "If Only (Quartet)" in greater clarity. It was rather unfortunate that some of the songs had been altered, but nevertheless most of the alterations were alright, and the album flows well. It's rather unfortunate if it's true that two shorter songs have been cut, because I would've wanted to hear them, particularly Eric's big song. Maybe there just isn't enough space on the CD to justify putting them on, but in any case it's sad if it's true, although I won't know for sure until I hear the actual CD. Now that I've listened to all the clips, I can't wait to get my hands on the actual cast recording. =)
Speaking of Disney, check this one out!
Yes, the link is one big spoiler as it shows the first actual pic of what Tiana looks like in the coming Disney film The Princess and the Frog. I have to say that Tiana looks quite sweet, and the art in that pic looks stunning with the detailed backgrounds etc. As long as Randy Newman doesn't sing in the film, I'll be happy.
Collateral Damage was a rather odd film. It tells the story of a man (Arnold Schwarzenegger) who loses his wife and child in a terrorist attack, and the victims are deemed "collateral damage". This makes him angry, and he goes to hunt down the terrorists responsible for the act. In some ways it tries to play as an intelligent drama about the nature of terrorism and how people feel about innocent civilians dying in the process, and on the other level it plays like any Big A film. The problem comes when it can't choose which approach it wants to embrace.
You see some kickass action, but there are also moments where Arnold is beaten down and tortured. Not only that, but he's also gullible enough to not realize who the real terrorist mastermind is until it's almost too late. There are some nice twists in the story, and amazingly enough some of the villains are portrayed in a surprisingly touching matter, particularly one of the leading terrorists in the explosive finale, so that's a plus. Cinematography is decent and the plot is so-so, but I like the funny scenes with Arnold going crazy in the office (to give one outstanding example xD "I'll show YOU collateral damage!" lulz). Music isn't memorable, but the actors do what they can with the script. All in all the film is rather mediocre but worth a watch once, because it does have enough cohesive qualities to make it work. I'll give it 3- stars out of 5.
Natural Born Killers is one big mess. It tells the story of a couple who decide to become the talk of the nation as far as killing etc. goes. To tell you anything else of the plot would rob the film of its meaning and shock value, as it tries to be a satirical, over-the-top violent political commentary on the nature of serial killers and the state the US is in. At times it feels as if the actors and the director etc. are on high, because some of the stuff feels like an extended acid trip or something. Whatever message the film tries to have is drowned in its quirky script, but at least the actors try to do what they can. Cinematography is commendable with some crazy camera moves, but on the whole the experience is rather draining as far as the audience is concerned. I'll give this film 3 stars out of 5.
Yours,
Mikko
The various chats I was in went crazy, and I had some nice MSN and AIM conversations as well. At #Ultimate_Disney everyone kept saying that the Disney character I resembled the most is Prince Phillip from Sleeping Beauty, and that amused me a great deal. At #eoff people were talking about all kinds of crazy stuff as usual, but at least occasionally the conversations turned "intelligent" enough so that I could comment on stuff. We talked about relationship, sex and stuff like that in chat, and people had a great time. We also had discussions about books, films, music, games and TV series, and only a few people were kicked out because of comments that seemed to offend some of the admins. xD I also got invitations to join two channels, and I spent some time there as well, although the discussions were out of my league and thus I simply idled most of the time. Nevertheless, I appreciated the invitations, and it was interesting to see other kinds of discussions than just the #eoff formula.
Thanks to some funny conversations, I managed to add a few people to MSN, AIM and LJ contact lists. I also had a funny video chat with smittenkitten on MSN, and we talked about a bunch of stuff, most notably Disney. She even sang a couple of Disney songs, and amazingly enough I managed to get two out of three right (those being "Part of Your World" and "Reflection") even though I had to read the lips because I couldn't hear the audio. It was a nice chat in any case, and it was the first video chat I've ever been to, actually, so it's always interesting to have new experiences. Oddly enough the video feed wasn't that bad on my end even though I have an old computer, because the video didn't lag at all, or maybe the compression was good enough so that my computer could analyze it without any problems.
I was in for a pleasant surprise when I found the leaked radio clips of the coming The Little Mermaid Broadway album. It was great to hear the final versions of the songs as well as hear Menken and the cast's reactions to the recording in general, and it was nice to hear great songs like "The World Above", "Her Voice", "One Step Closer" and "If Only (Quartet)" in greater clarity. It was rather unfortunate that some of the songs had been altered, but nevertheless most of the alterations were alright, and the album flows well. It's rather unfortunate if it's true that two shorter songs have been cut, because I would've wanted to hear them, particularly Eric's big song. Maybe there just isn't enough space on the CD to justify putting them on, but in any case it's sad if it's true, although I won't know for sure until I hear the actual CD. Now that I've listened to all the clips, I can't wait to get my hands on the actual cast recording. =)
Speaking of Disney, check this one out!
Yes, the link is one big spoiler as it shows the first actual pic of what Tiana looks like in the coming Disney film The Princess and the Frog. I have to say that Tiana looks quite sweet, and the art in that pic looks stunning with the detailed backgrounds etc. As long as Randy Newman doesn't sing in the film, I'll be happy.
Collateral Damage was a rather odd film. It tells the story of a man (Arnold Schwarzenegger) who loses his wife and child in a terrorist attack, and the victims are deemed "collateral damage". This makes him angry, and he goes to hunt down the terrorists responsible for the act. In some ways it tries to play as an intelligent drama about the nature of terrorism and how people feel about innocent civilians dying in the process, and on the other level it plays like any Big A film. The problem comes when it can't choose which approach it wants to embrace.
You see some kickass action, but there are also moments where Arnold is beaten down and tortured. Not only that, but he's also gullible enough to not realize who the real terrorist mastermind is until it's almost too late. There are some nice twists in the story, and amazingly enough some of the villains are portrayed in a surprisingly touching matter, particularly one of the leading terrorists in the explosive finale, so that's a plus. Cinematography is decent and the plot is so-so, but I like the funny scenes with Arnold going crazy in the office (to give one outstanding example xD "I'll show YOU collateral damage!" lulz). Music isn't memorable, but the actors do what they can with the script. All in all the film is rather mediocre but worth a watch once, because it does have enough cohesive qualities to make it work. I'll give it 3- stars out of 5.
Natural Born Killers is one big mess. It tells the story of a couple who decide to become the talk of the nation as far as killing etc. goes. To tell you anything else of the plot would rob the film of its meaning and shock value, as it tries to be a satirical, over-the-top violent political commentary on the nature of serial killers and the state the US is in. At times it feels as if the actors and the director etc. are on high, because some of the stuff feels like an extended acid trip or something. Whatever message the film tries to have is drowned in its quirky script, but at least the actors try to do what they can. Cinematography is commendable with some crazy camera moves, but on the whole the experience is rather draining as far as the audience is concerned. I'll give this film 3 stars out of 5.
Yours,
Mikko