just a moment

[announcement]

i'm typing on my new iBook!

woohoo!

updates!

i've added a few links and some info on the sidebar.. check them out :)
 
and note new version number..
 
happy sunday! i'm still dreaming of "my" ibook....

Fahrenheit 9/11

[review]

Rating: * * * 1/2
Stripey Stars: George W. Bush, Michael Moore
Directed by: Michael Moore

Ad Hominem Synopsis:
George W. is a sheep. He follows what's his daddy's men say. He needs a shepherd to guide him. He's baaaaaaaaaaaadddddd.

A delightful, fairly insightful look on George W. Bush and all things Iraq, Bin Laden and 9/11, coloured by a very funny and satirical, but ultimately insufficient, attack on Georgey W. Poo.

oh michael moore. how much we love you and how much we hate you. since watching Roger and Me, i've always been a fan of michael moore's "documentaries". he broke down that wall that divides the audience and the camera and the documentarist (is that a word?)  and became as much of a subject of his film as the target. for those who adhere to the artificial impartiality of the documentary form, michael moore single-handedly smashed the camera over their heads. or you can say he's so post-modern!
 
he's at his best when he confronts the subject matter head on by being on camera, by sticking the camera in the target's faces. the whole bit on trying to sign up senators' children for war was priceless, and vintage michael moore. it's not enough to simply demonstrate his argument through numbers and rather manipulative images and news footage, but he is most persuasive when he puts his point into a simple question and then watch the targets flee in terror.
 
but his strength can also be his weakness. as much as i found 9/11 funny, entertaining and informative, it was also trying on patience and really made me question his motives and his point of view. it made you ask, where is the balance? where is the otherside?
 
so, i snap out of it, and realize this is what i love about him. the opposite spin. the other propaganda. except michael moore's intention is a lot less self-serving than his targets. well, until he makes $100 million on this movie. go michael! beat passion of christ!

what's up?

[update]

well, after spending time reading up on notebook computers, i realize how nice and big they've all become. i want a small one. anyone have any ideas?

this week, i hope to finish two movie reviews, a restaurant review on Tempo and some stuff :)

okay.. and now i want to add that i'm looking into an ibook 12" for the size. i was something really portable. and i'm not a size queen.

stay tuned.

surfing on the wave

[reflection]

though you can't tell, i've become addicted to blogging. i walk down yonge street on my way to work composing possible entries in my head. i don't think about the big tiny tom donut man passing out flyers (coupons?), i don't notice the sounds of the chirping traffic lights, and i only stop to check if the guy across the street is cute or was that just a speck of dust in the light?

i have this thought and thought maybe someone would to want to hear it. the wind blows the construction debris, and i think of WTF rubbing her eyes as always, trying to wipe out the dirt. maybe it's this memory that someone would like to see. the date i had last week, with someone who said he wasn't a freak, perhaps it's a cautionary tale worth telling?

i've been thinking that this blog is a little like a window of my life, but i find myself as the one stepping back and peering through the glass. what i choose to share and fear to show: it's difficult to pick one or the other to post. it's push and pull for me. i want to say so much more and yet there's a part of me that doesn't want to know. who really wants to know?

i was reading Mark's Blog (who should blog more) on the nature of blogging and realize, yeah, we are what we construct for the world to see. i got a note from a friend who could have left a comment, but didn't, so that the world wouldn't know. it's pushing forward and pulling away.

and then i got a comment from a visitor (whose blog btw is amusingingly prolific, check it out: i can never get out of my box...) and off i go to see his world... and then an entry there pulls me back. in life, outside of this blog, we try our best to make what we can within the circumstances we find ourselves -- but in the end, it's simply the truth we want the people we love to see.

the horror, the horror

[observation]

the other day in the lunchroom, CNN announced that marlon brando had died. i turned to my colleague and expressed my amazement. another girl next to me asked, "who's that?"

"an actor," i replied. and then mentioned The Godfather.

"oh, him..." she says. "i thought it was someone important." she points dismissively to CNN with her chin. i was not entirely convinced she knew what she was pointing at.

however, i felt like she punched me in the stomach. was she too young? was i that old? or was she just plain ignorant? horror of horrors!

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring

[review]

Rating: * * *
Korean Stars: Oh Young-soo, Kim Ki-duk
Directed by: Kim Ki-duk

Seasonal Synopsis:
Monk grows in spring, feels the heat in the summer, falls down flat in the fall and in winter my brain goes icy... and Monk springs up again.

A quiet, steady, and simple movie that explores some very deep spiritual issues. I was moved and touched... until Winter hit me with pretentious kung-fu fighting. Why must buddhist monks in movies have to be shaolin temple warrior wannabes?

i thought at first, this movie was going to be boring. the title doesn't exactly capture the imagination and the whole idea of a movie about a monk growing up... without any HK kung-fu thrown in... well, that just didn't make me want to see it.

but by mid-spring, i was slowly captivated, drawn into the simple story. in its fable-like tone and with its mythological scenery, you are pulled into the meditative world of a young boy-monk growing up. you see the simplicity of youth and the ignorance of his actions. and just as one season slowly melts into another, you begin to see a little of humanity in the boy.

by summer, you can feel the carnal heat of knowledge. and by fall, you can guess how it all ends. you can feel how disappointing death tastes in your mouth when you know you haven't attained the wisdom your life could have given you... and then winter hits you like a brick. or like a storm. or some other cliche. where i thought i wanted kung-fu monks, now i just thought how terribly boring the last two months were. a little pretentious, silly editing, and the simple spiritual-ness became this cliched deep and heavy meditative french-style artsy fartsy staring into space scenery. okay, not that bad, but disappointing nonetheless. you ask yourself, what's up with that secret looking kung-fu text? is that hole in the ice really as obvious as the hole in the story? who shovels the snow off the ice, anyway? i mean the snow off the entire frozen lake? does everybody loves kung-fu fighting?

all in all, i highly recommend seeing the movie. just don't expect an epiphany at the end. just like the seasons in the title, you're still stuck in the cycle of life. you just may have to come back to see the movie again. though i wouldn't recommend specifically that. afterall, you may have to come back as a fish, a fish or a snake. with a string wrapped around you...

happy fourth of july!

[salutations]

to all my american fans... happy independence day!
leave me some fan mail, so i know you care.

hmmm... that includes all you Canadians stuck in the US.

fumbling for my keys

since being single, i've got asked out on some dates. not just the romantic kind of dates, but the kind of dates where you wouldn't want to share the details with your mom. or post on a blog for that matter. not to say that i've been on these dates or that i wouldn't go on these kinds of dates or that i'm saying anything self-incriminating. i'm not saying anything, although saying nothing says a lot.

anyway, these dates. they may start a little romantic, since we're all (or want to be) friends, right? and then there's that bit of flirtation, that bit of half-smile as you pull yourself in closer to him. you say a few double-entendres and try to be coy and yet, expressive. you want to communicate to him as much as you can with as few words as possible... cos you're not trying to be woody allen here, and scare him off with a neurotic barrage of funny self-doubting observations. but then here's the problem.

i don't always know what i'm trying to say to him. i don't know if there's really a point to progressing from flirtation to the back of his car. okay, so no one does it in the back of the car anymore... unless you're in a park... and so, a part of you want to say yes and a whole other part says no. a part says i'm ready to move on to something serious and the other part says i've got my needs. but what do i need?

i realize now that my needs include being with someone i really like, and being someone that i like. i can't be that someone, if i don't think i want you for more than just that night. i want a second date. whatever kind of date that may be.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Rating: * * *
Shiny Stars: Gary Oldman, Emma Thompson, David Thewlis
Directed by: Alfonso Cuaron

Haiku Synopsis:
Hermione hold hands with Ron
while Harry looks on
there are dark circles under his eyes

With the director of Y Tu Mama Tabien, you'd think that there would be some hot teenage love scenes. But alas, what we have is a mildly entertaining hodge podge of horror movie cliches, minus the traditional teenage victims caught in the throes of sex. After all, they are all virgins.

For purists, the movie departs from the previous 2 installments by not adhering as closely to the text. Now I will say that The Prisoner of Azkaban was the first Harry Potter book I read so many years ago, and I cannot recall any specific details. I will rely upon WTF who says some plot points and details were changed for the movie.

This could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on whether you're a text fundamentalist or a film enthusiast. Certainly, a very difficult question to answer, because basically, you have two types of media. A reader will always have grander movie in their mind than the viewer of a film. And perhaps this is what will ulitmately kill the franchise, as J.K. Rowling novel installments are getting more and more convoluted.

Filming the novels exposes the flaws of the original text and really reminds us that these novels are really children's novels. The cliches appear bigger than life when we see the werewolf attack in the moonlight or the dog run tear through the moor (um i think it's a moor). Though the novels themselves are rather unoriginal, this fact doesn't diminish the pleasure one gets from reading them. They are written nicely and really appeals to the nostalgia of childhood. But for a good movie in its own rights, this doesn't do.

The novelty has worn off, the charm of the principal leads have aged. What's left is a pleasant trip through the same castle, a few exciting bits of magic, a darker ride through the various plotlines and a less funny script. Ron looks especially old, Harry's voice has changed and Herminone.. well.. her hair is a lot neater. Perhaps she switched to Vidal Sassoon from baby shampoo.

Or you can say this is a very deep movie, with the werewolf and animagus themes symbolizing the changes in the kids from mere pre-teens to teenagers. The drop in Harry's voice is mirrored by the darkness of the movie. The manipulation of time representing one of the worse things about being a teen: that time goes by far too slowly and you can't wait to grow up... but step over that 18 years and you realize your childhood slipped you by.

Or not. It's just a kid's movie. And they're still virgins... and harry will be a hot boy when he grows up.

happy canada day!

just a quick one... happy canada day to all! and to all canadians stuck in other places.

to celebrate canada day, we went to see Fahrenheit 9/11. funny. scary.