"There are too many ideas and things and people. Too many directions to go. I was starting to think that the reason it matters to care so passionately about something is that it whittles the world down to a more manageable size." (The Movie - Adaptation)
"Fuck this, Dude. Let's go bowling." - (the great) Walter Sobchak
Been playing a whole lot of Sims 2 lately. Say hello to The Dude. ("that or uh, His Dudeness, or uh Duder, or El Duderino if you're not into the whole brevity thing") He's quite a lazy slob, shy and playful, but easily the coolest and nicest fella in the neighbourhood, umm in Pleasantville. The Dude had held several slacker jobs from a golf caddy to general store's clerk, radio DJ and projectionist. He is currently a video editor and works 4-days-week. Recently gained a windfall for suggesting to a group of producers to add some Raging Rabbits into a film, which made it a hit. One of the producers transferred his estate of $80k to The Dude. The Dude currently has no idea what to do with all that money. His best friend, Walter, may have some suggestions.
Here, the Duder's trying to paint a portrait of a lady. Had one of those inspired moments, I guess.
The Dude chilling out on the front porch of The Dude's Palace.
Just another day for the Dude. Ever popular with the ladies.
Dude taking a snooze on the couch.
Samurai X
Just watched two excellent episodes of the anime, Samurai X. They were the episodes featuring a confrontation between Kenshee and Saito, and where Suijiro (the boy villian) made his first appearance. So what makes Samurai X so great an anime? It is everything- a brilliant narrative, the composition of shots, excellent haunting background music, and even the opening themes by the jap band, Judy and Mary. We followed faithfully- Kenshee's struggle to leave behind his past, to redeem himself from this past, his stand against the authority and ultimately, his search for his true self. Although Samurai X boasts plenty of sword fights and violence, it does not glorify violence. Kenshee fights because he has to. As his friend, Sanosuke, firmly puts it, "He (Kenshee) will not kill for any authority." Also in this episode, Kenshee pondered while he stood on a bridge over a river, whether he should become involved in an uprising, where he will have his hands stained with blood again. A narrative (of his thoughts) ran in the background, "In order to understand my true self, I will have to recognize the presence of my Battousai's (Slasher/violent) past and give it a chance." This seemed like the echo of the voices of many Japanese. In order to move on, there has to be recognization of this past and a reconciliation of the past and the present. These enduring characters and everything else fit together nicely to make Samurai X one of the better animes around. /plug
BBC Comedy, The Office. Watched some random episodes previously. Now I'm thinking of getting the dvd. Pretty awesome and hilarious ('ruthless' is the word). Tremendous acting. Enduring characters. Never seen anything like this- Actors were conscious of the presence of the camera and looking into the camera. Similar to the 'Dogme' style, instigated by such filmmakers as Lars von Trier, there's natural lighting/environment and a docu feel to it. Yeah, catch it on dvd if you can.
Watched this jap movie on tv earlier- Go (2001). Directed by Isao Yugisada. Main protaganist was this 'zainichi' (a jap-born korean), Sugihama. The story revolved mildly round the jap-korean tensions. A pretty spunky film. Starred Kou Shibasaki too. Most will remember her role as Mitsuko in Battle Royale. Her real name is Yukie Yamamura. (Shibasaki Kou's the name of a main character in her favourite manga) Check out those piercing, mesmerizing, yet somewhat melancholic eyes.
Other movies watched over the past weeks include:
Hana And Alice (Directed by Shunji Iwai)- It was shown for awhile at Orchard Cineleisure. Most charming and vibrant. At once dreamy (through use of soft-focus), humorous and thoughtful. The final ballet sequence showed us a large part of what Alice was really about, more than any words could express. It lent a fine closure to the film. Here's also the part where Ryoko Hirosue (Guan-Mo-Liang-Zi) came in for a cameo performance. Honestly, the youthful theme almost made me feel old after watching the show. Heh. Hmm... duct-tapes and paper-cups make ballet shoes. We most definitely cannot live without the infallible Duct-Tapes.
Man On Fire (Directed by Tony Scott)- Despite the silly title, the actors put on a pretty good performance. Tad 'mtv-ish' for my taste. Many unnecessary gimmicks such as freeze frames, colour/hue saturation, quick cuts and flashy subtitles. Perhaps due to the overall actors' performance, you will still care for the characters in the story. I didn't think Denzel Washington was that great in this film. Watch out for Dakota Fanning (the little girl of "Taken" fame). She's a natural, so mature for her age. Also, you cannot miss out on the mostly cheesy but at times, pretty great one-liners like this one:
Old Man: God said you must forgive.
Creasy (Denzel Washington): Forgiveness is between them and God. It is my job to arrange the meeting.
Played a buncha Warcraft3 too these days. Kinda hooked on the game again. I play the Orc race exclusively and hate human opponents in particular. (Hrmm... I should clarify: I hate meeting opponents that play the Human race) The game is one of the reasons I had not blogged the last couple weeks. Mainly, when I had time to activate my comp, the first thing I would do is jump right into Warcraft.
Like my obsession with films, books and music, I am pretty addicted to gaming, especially mmorpgs and strategy games. Imagine sitting in a large, dark theatre with few people around you to watch a good film- this feeling is consistent with that which I got from experiences in my other interests such as reading and gaming. Sometimes, there can be found in movies, games or books- familiar themes that I like too, such as the fantastical or science-fiction.
It is most definitely a form of Escape. For those who enjoy anything to do with Faerie or fantasy novels, you may want to read this article JRRT wrote "On Fairy Stories". The essay contains a paragraph whereby Tolkien tried to defend fairy stories against critics who tend to 'label' them, negatively, as 'escapist literature':
I have claimed that Escape is one of the main functions of fairy-stories, and since I do not disapprove of them, it is plain that I do not accept the tone of scorn or pity with which “Escape” is now so often used: a tone for which the uses of the word outside literary criticism give no warrant at all. In what the misusers are fond of calling Real Life, Escape is evidently as a rule very practical, and may even be heroic. In real life it is difficult to blame it, unless it fails; in criticism it would seem to be the worse the better it succeeds. Evidently we are faced by a misuse of words, and also by a confusion of thought. Why should a man be scorned if, finding himself in prison, he tries to get out and go home? Or if, when he cannot do so, he thinks and talks about other topics than jailers and prison-walls? The world outside has not become less real because the prisoner cannot see it. In using escape in this way the critics have chosen the wrong word, and, what is more, they are confusing, not always by sincere error, the Escape of the Prisoner with the Flight of the Deserter. Just so a Party-spokesman might have labelled departure from the misery of the Führer's or any other Reich and even criticism of it as treachery. In the same way these critics, to make confusion worse, and so to bring into contempt their opponents, stick their label of scorn not only on to Desertion, but on to real Escape, and what are often its companions, Disgust, Anger, Condemnation, and Revolt. Not only do they confound the escape of the prisoner with the flight of the deserter; but they would seem to prefer the acquiescence of the “quisling” to the resistance of the patriot. To such thinking you have only to say “the land you loved is doomed” to excuse any treachery, indeed to glorify it. - JRRT "On Fairy Stories"
In essence, critics often confused the "Escape of the Prisoner with the Flight of a Deserter". It should not be deemed as a soldier who cowardly deserted the battlefield/engagement of Real Life. Instead, it should be thought of as a war-prisoner, lying in the clutches of the Third Reich, who dreamt of escape from his cell, but always with full awareness of the existence of an outside world (Real Life), when he looked through the bars of the window in his cell.
The 'alternate worlds' that exist in books and games (esp. in D&D, traditional rpgs, sci-fis and mmorpgs) can be wonderful places. I am unable to accurately express with words how stepping on the planet Terminus feels like, that which I felt when I read Asimov's Foundation series. As helpless I am in describing the feelings associated with sitting alone in the desert, watching a sunset (of the twin suns) on Tatooine, in the universe of the mmorpg Star Wars Galaxies; or the same indescribable feelings while listening to the Instrument cd by Fugazi or watching Wim Wender's early film Alice in the Cities for the first time.
Here is something that tries to depict the grandeur and epic beauty of the world of Norrath in the game, Everquest. I had only stayed briefly on Norrath. It would not mean anything to most of us but I am sure it provided memories for these Japanese players and others who had stayed at Norrath for 5 years:
Serving as good distraction, I had watched a replay of a previous WC3 game of mine while writing this. Similar to trying to talk about a film/book you like, you can't easily define the thrill in playing RTS games such as Starcraft or WC3. To end this, I thought it would be kinda stupid and fun to write down every 'shit' that went on in my head while playing the game. Mainly there's so much shit going on, it takes your mind off everything else for those brief 20 or so minutes in a game. Good workout/relaxation, I must say. This should appear to be 'gibberish' to everyone but Warcraft players. LOL Here goes:
Game commences.Human opponent.Lost Temple map.Hate Humans Grrrr.Humans on LT map ARGGH!Game plan=Constant Harassment, Zero Creeping.Finger on 'P' key ready to spawn lovely cute Peons.Start Building Order:5 Peons to gold.Queue 3 Peons in Townhall.Get 1 Peon away from gold,Build Altar(hotkeys:B,A),Rally to trees.Spam E on Gold Peons.Drag another Peon from gold, Build Burrow(B,O),Rally to trees.Rally TownHall Peon to area for building Barracks.Type,"hi gl(good luck) hf(have fun)".Opponent responded,"gl hf u2".He responded fast,so should be decent player.:)Check buildings arrangement.Peon out from Townhall,Build Barracks(B,B),Rally to trees.Keep spamming E!Type,"where r u from?".No response.Possibly korean hehe.:)ohoh.Rally next 3 Townhall Peon to trees.Group my buildings(CTRL 4,5 etc).Group some Burrow-Peons.First Altar and Burrow ready,Queue Farseer(F).Send a Peon to scout.40wood reached,Build next burrow,Rally to trees.Check scout Peon. Barracks ready,Queue Grunt(G).Check scout Peon.130gold 30wood,Build Voodoo Lounge(B, V).Farseer(FS) out,rally buildings to Farseer.Choose Spirit Wolves spell(O, T).Move FS near green creeps outside temple.Check scout Peon.Scout Peon found Humans on opposite end of the map urrgghh.Bring Peon back to chop trees.Second Burrow ready,Queue 2nd Grunt.Creep the small stuff.First Night.Harass or further creep?Head on to Human base to harass.315gold 190wood,Upgrade Townhall(U).Keep queueing Grunts.3rd grunt out.Make 3rd burrow.Near Human base,check Human fast-expansion (expo).Humans not fast-expoing.At Human main base, look for wood Peasants.Check Human buildings.Human buildings arrangement tight.Hit Wolves to get wood peasants.FS avoid arcane tower.ARGGH Archmage at my base blizzarding Gold Peons.Hide Peons in Burrows.Queue Grunt.Send subsequent Grunts out after him.5footies getting FS, FS Run!Damn senile old fool (Archmage) back again at my base.Burrow-Peons into nearest Burrow.Mage gone.Remove peons from burrows.Repair burrow.Move Gold Peons to wood,5 Wood Full-health Peons to gold.Why are Peons so stupid?They wouldn't think anything is wrong if the sky came crashing on em.Build 4th burrow.Queue Grunt.Back to FS.Hit (Spiri)T(Wolves) to harass wood peasant.Footies sent after FS again, Run!Focus fire footie.Old Fool is Back zzzZZZ.He thinks he's Gandalf or something?Burrow-Peons into nearest Burrow.Peons back to work (D).Build War Mill(Catapults may be needed to counter Human Casters)(B,M).2 Gold Peons gone.Queue 2 Peons at Townhall.1 Peon to Repair Burrow.Got 1 footie.Footies retreat.Get Wood Peasants.Queue Grunt.Here comes footies and militias, Retreat.Try creep in temple.Didn't work coz Senile old Fool back to harass my base.Move FS to base.Townhall upgraded to Stronghold.Queue Tauren Chieftain(T).Research Berserk(B).Build Beastiary(B,E).(Archmage not getting Water Elemental-No shamans needed to purge-Spirit Lodge unnecessary-Therefore Beastiary!-Brilliant Analysis!).Haha This is so stupid.Buy Healing Salve,Speed Scroll,Clarity (H,S,C).Hit Clarity Pot on FS (low mana).Creep Expo.Attempt to expand.Send 1 wood Peon to build Townhall at expo.Stupid me had written about half a page of this crap.Timecheck:Only 5mins into the game.:ODone little to disrupt Opponent's resources.Expect Mountain King(MK),Riflemen,Priests,Sorcs next...All is not good... ... ... :O
