winter break so far...
New Movies:
Sweeney Todd
While I could appreciate much of the singing, I've never been one to appreciate too much horror/gore. Therefore, unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this movie nearly as much as a lot of my friends. It kind of felt like the Gothic lovechild of Burton and Tarantino to me. And though I do appreciate Depp's aesthetics, there were definitely odd moments of Jack Sparrow that seemed to rear its head in his attempted 'lower-class' English accent. That and when he sang, I kind of wanted to turn off my ears. While some critics said they preferred actors that could sort of sing over singers that could sort of act. I'm kind of vise versa because of the music training I've had. But don't get me wrong, it wasn't a bad movie at all, in fact, it was better than a lot of movies I've seen this year. And yay! Alan Rickman was in it in all his pervy evil goodness...err... badness? It provided suitable entertainment for the time I was there and if I appreciated horror/gore more, I'd definitely go back again.
btw: Did any one think Jamie Campbell Bower looked kind of like male teenage version of Katherine Hegel?
Juno
Now, I probably wasn't very nice in the Sweeney Todd review because I had watched that movie and Juno in the same day. And Juno was not only the better film out of the two, it was the best movie I've seen all year. Yes, ALL YEAR. Even days later after it's over, I'd be up for watching it several more times and I find myself sub-consciously humming the tune to this movie over and over again. A review really can't do it justice, you just have to watch it. I mean, this movie has been out for probably 3 weeks or so, but even the audience (at the 10:20pm showing) applauded at the end of this movie. The way the characters talk really appeals to me on a lot of levels. Not to mention the sort of outcast quirkiness that's almost nostalgic in a way. The main character is sort of like the kind of person I would be friends with with her tomboy dry humor and random references that only close friends understand. And really, if you're part of my group of friends, you'll get it. So yeah if there's going to be a movie you should watch to begin the new year, this is it.
Charlie Wilson's War
This is for those of you who like watching West Wing or Law and Order. You definitely can't watch this movie with half a brain or on the verge of sleep because one moment of inattention and you'll lose the political thread they're referring to. But it's well written, well acted by all the A-list actors in this movie, and it's informative. If you really don't understand why we're at war right now and you're too embarrassed to admit it, this movie is like... a 2 hour tutorial of... history.
And it's not all boring political stuff, Aaron Sorkin does a pretty good job of balancing humor and information like he did on West Wing. I definitely appreciate that 'assuming the watchers are not idiots' way they present it, which is better than a lot of movies -with idiotic screenplays- that have been coming out.
I Am Legend
First of all, if you think that Will Smith is just a happy go lucky guy, like how he portrays in his films, you're dead wrong. The truth is, if you've ever read how Will Smith planned out his career, you'll realize that every step in his career, every movie choice he makes is planned out perfectly and formulaically. He rounds up all the year's well rated reviews, inspects the male leading role that everyone enjoys and does his best to create a movie or find a movie that reflects these traits. I mean, even I think it's very mercurial. However, knowing this, it is perhaps understandable why the 'I Am Legend' book was raped so badly by the movie. (highlight to read why it's different from the book book:" Basically in the book, the main character is killed by the vampires and the story is called 'I am Legend' because, in the end the whole world became vampires and he was the only human left. He hunted them down and killed them. Poetically, he became the boogie-man because he was the only being that murdered the majority species. In the movie, he finds the cure and sacrifices himself a la Hollywood-style . ")
In brief: If you've seen I, Robot. It's like watching Will Smith vs. vampires instead of Will Smith vs. robots.
Old Movies:
Blade Runner
I was quite amazed by how it looked, seeing as how this movie came out in 1982. I mean, their movie affects for the cyber-noir setting were pretty impressive considering that Harrison Ford looked really young in this movie. The story was well written (note: I watched the director's cut version, not the producer ass-fucked version) for a sci-fi and it had a level of complexity and subtext that a lot of movies don't possess these days. I mean, I know I like nerd stuff, but I think if you really just sit down and try to watch this movie, anyone can appreciate it. Not to mention, the cinematography is very interesting. Lot of playing with shadows and interesting lack of lighting in this film. Not to mention, when you watch it and then you think about all the sci-fi films you've seen, you can pretty much see where all of them derived inspiration from - especially Battlestar.
Die Hard
This is a re-watch. I've actually seen this movie like... 20458490502485028 times or something, but it is still the best out of the Die Hard franchise. And what I find funny is that I don't think the producers realized why the first was the best and will always be the best. It wasn't because of Bruce Willis or all the 'cool' stuff they put into it or Alan Rickman (even though he's SO awesome). It's because the first Die Hard defined a contained location and showed you how the main character exploited his knowledge of his contained area to bring down his enemies. Not to mention, the whole 'accidental confrontation between McClane and Gruber before McClane realized who Gruber was' is classic because of how much tension it creates in the movie. Each time I watch that scene, it's just as exciting as the first time I watched it.
Video Games:
Super Mario Galaxy
My brother got this game over Thanksgiving. It's really quite fun and if I wasn't so engrossed in Myst, I would probably be glued to the TV playing this. Not to mention, the whole second friend/helper mode is awesome, you get to participate in 'holding' enemies down, collect stars, shoot stars, and even harass the main player by making them incapable of moving without spinning every few steps. You can tell which one makes me grin with maniacal glee. The physics for this game is completely insane and I like how if there isn't a black hole, you can basically jump off the world and 'fall' back onto it on the other side because of gravity.
Uru - with extensions
I finally got to play this game because I couldn't play it the first time I got it. My poor old IBM couldn't handle the graphics required for the game even back then, but now my new VAIO can, so YAY! The soundtrack is awesome, the puzzles aren't nearly as difficult as usual, and sometimes the whole 'showing off the real-time aspects of it' can be a little obnoxious, you never know how far down you can jump before your character decides it's too far down and you need to grab your Relto book. Nevertheless, the worlds are amazingly pretty, as usual. I'm still very much saddened that Uru Live no longer exists. Although I suppose I should be glad that I didn't get too much into it or else I'd be even more sad that it was shut down in about a year because no one participated in it.
Myst-Revelations IV
Even though this came out after Uru, it technically takes place before Uru. Because in Uru, Yeesha is a crazy old woman, whereas in Revelations, she's just a little kid and you get to experience how she became a crazy old woman. Since I'm pretty sure no one else is going to play this game, I'll just say why she became crazy: she watched both of her brothers die in front of her... well, it was sort of caused by one of the brothers because he was trying to take over her body, while the other one tried to save her, it ended in... the death of both brothers. While it still possesses lush graphics and great art work, there are a few puzzles in it that will just drive you up the wall. One of them was guessing the whistle sounds that will make the monkeys do what you want them to do (throw nuts, move to a new hut), they only follow the order if you make the whistles at the right speed and interval (which is not set), so it can be any combination of 1/4, 1/3, 1/2, 5/8, etc... for each whistle. I spent 3 hours of my life on this puzzle (half of which, I had the walkthrough open and I still couldn't do the whistle at the right speed).
Portal
Insanely fun game, I watched Penguin play through the whole thing, the end was awesome and extremely original, which is probably why it won all sorts of ridiculous awards this year, even though totally hyped up games like Mario Galaxy, Bioshock, and Rock Band were all out at the same time. Considering that you can technically finish this game in 20 minutes (speedrun style) you'd think that they'd try to hold it back because the other nominations were actually much longer games. Despite it's simplicity of concept, it is still the far more creative game and I have a feeling as it catches on with more people, we'll start to see more companion cubes and people making turret noises.
Life Stuff...
Dad home for xmas, I sometimes get annoyed that he thinks he knows more about computers than I do and that he gets confused over why I have a better computer than him even though he doesn't know how to copy and paste text... yeah....
Mom is finally ending her programming job and taking a break... or retiring, that's still up in the air. I don't say this to her but, it kind of makes me nervous that she's retiring because well, most of my dad's earning are overseas and he's kind of REALLY stingy with money and over here, my mom has been basically supporting all 3 of us with the money she makes from her programming job... yeah... this sort of makes the GET A JOB thing way more urgent. Urg... I really can't tell the difference between getting interviewed and getting raped. Interviews are so unholy.
I'm also having the sort of 'how close do I stay to home' dilemma where I feel bad when I come home and things are in disrepair because my mom and brother just stay cooped up at home, starved for ... activity and my mom is starved for adult conversation. But staying at home means I still get treated like a kid. This is both good and bad. Good because my mom makes great Chinese food and I live a healthier life. Bad, because I'm much more eloquent than my mom and sometimes when I get irritated with some of the usual Asian 'well their daughter went to Stanford'/Child comparison/success comparison crap that she has the occasional lapse on, I get snippy/sarcastic/verbally vicious and she gets naggy/yelling/REALLY PISSED OFF. While I do understand that it's difficult to shake off a tradition where children are vessels of living vicariously, I really hate it when my mom has to make mandatory contact with the 'mother-ship' (aka her Asian friends that still make that 'ohh... she's doing 5 years of college? What's wrong with her? Is she dumb?' kind of noises. No wonder their kids decide to live in other states). But I can tell my mom really tries to not do this a lot of the times, but peer pressure is difficult and makes everyone kind of high strung at the end of the day. I'm not saying she shouldn't have friends, I just wish they could live their own lives and stop playing the kid comparison game, because really that's their kids' life, not theirs. And the thing is, this is America, and in America, there is no mandatory spend a lot of money taking care of your parents rule. If your kids fucking hate you, they're going live on the other side of the world pretending you've died already. I'm really trying to be a good offspring -because most of the time my mom is pretty cool and fun to hang out with-, I just wish she could remember that I'm 22, but I guess that light-bulb won't turn on until I get a job. huh? *sigh*
Penguin wants a shiny image transmitter. Unfortunately, the more he researches the more expensive the shiny image transmitter seems to be. Penguin has also been interviewing with Google, I hope he gets the job. He's way more qualified for it than a lot of other people I've seen working at Google, like Amit, and he's been trying for a while. Hopefully 3rd time's the charm.
Lunch with high school friends sans Yily, who is working now, so I think she's on a kind of tight schedule. :/ I really hope I'm not in the same situation when I begin working, I mean, when you leave school you go from nearly 4 months of vacation a year to 2 weeks a year. Mocked pictures of Megan and Maddie's guy friend who was scrawny in high school. I suggested she use his junior HS picture for blackmail material, but she's too nice... you know how it goes. Cindy is done with most of her schooling stuff and coming home, lucky. Maria is working in Berkeley doing psychologist type things... Maddie is coming home to continue working at internship for a while. And I have no idea what I'm going to do. With market being so craptastically bad in the bay area, I might have to stay in SD for a while longer since job fair recruiters tend to be more forgiving and god knows I'm no where near Penguin's level of geekery.
Going to SHDH 22 on Saturday, it'll be at Tom's house and lots of fun! Ya'll geek bitches foregoing this 1337 hackathon don't know what you're missing!