Six Days....

Well its been a while since I posted and I'd like to say its because I've had an eventful week but that would be lying. It's because my #1 computer is having a crisis, it got sick and instead of getting better it decided to bar me from the internet. But while this was going on I did do some things (nothing terribly interesting)

Sunday (27/8): Worked. Relatively easy day. Arsenal played against Machester City (Away) and lost 1-0 to a penalty.

Monday (...): Worked (again). Went and saw a film afterwards though - Fearless with Jet Li. It's in chinese (Mandarin?). Review later. Hired some DVDs from the video store. And bought myself an Arsenal Shirt (not the official team shirt, it was blue with 'Arsenal' printed on the front and an Arsenal badge, the sleeves are white, the left sleeve has a cannon on it and the right sleeve has a nike tick, the back has 'Est. 1886' and another nike tick).

Tuesday (Day off): Went shopping with K-Man, which is funny because we didn't actually get anything. Had Oporto for lunch then went and saw Fearless. Also saw one of my high school friends (AW) Blur knows him as we were all friends - we played cards throughout year 12.

Wednesday (Day off: part 2): Relaxed for most of the day - watched the rest of the DVDs that I hired out on Monday. Then went and saw Snakes on a Plane - Its as bad as it sounds.

Thursday (Today): Not much yet, only got up about an hour ago..... might go and see 'Silent Hill'...

Lets see if i can do some reviews:

United 93:

I got to admit, there is not much to say about this film that hasn't already been said. It is very intense. As you probably know it is based on the flight on September 11 that didn't reach its target (the only hijacked plane not to). We already know how this is going to end but the passengers don't which is what makes it so effective. They find out that the other planes have crashed and then they know they aren't making it out alive and this is painful to watch. 4.5/5


Thank You For Smoking:

Lighthearted fun. Aaron Eckhart plays tobacco lobbyist Nick Naylor and it is his job to promote smoking. This film is fun, nothing else. It could raise some serious issues (wait a second I think it might have) about the effects of smoking, as well as alcohol and firearms - the other merchants of death that Nick has drinks with on a regular basis. We are meant to empathise with Nick as he is a divorced father who does his job only to 'pay the mortgage.' It is a thouroughly entertaining film and I can't think of anything else to say that won't spoil the film. 4/5.


Fearless:

Touted as Jet Li's final martial arts epic. To start the film they have the 'final' fight - they finish it at the end of the film - where Huo Yuanjia (Jet Li's character) has to face four men in a row. After the first three they cut to his childhood and him watching his father train. His father competes in fights in the centre of Tianjin (I think its the city they live in) and of course Yuanjia watches. Though his father will not teach him martial arts (Wushu) Yuanjia gets himself into fights and tries to teach himself making himself the promise that he'll never lose again. The film fast forwards to when he's an adult and now he's the fighter his father never wanted him to be. Circumstances lead him to flee the city and he ends up in the country for some really bad time wasting. When he does return China has been westernised by all the Americans who have come in. This starts the path to the finish and you can understand how he gets to the final four fight (I'm being obtuse here - if you see the movie you will understand how you can follow his path to the finish). My only problem is how they end the film after the final four fight - it is an unnecessary addition. 3.5/5

I will review snakes in another post.

The magi speaks

Well hasn't it been an eventful week. I will now write up the past three (or is it four?) days worth of stuff, no point in wasting any more time.

Wednesday (23/8): Went and saw United 93 with Blur. Review in next post (maybe), I'm trying to put down all my goings on.

Thursday (?): Arsenal vs Dinamo Zagreb..... Arsenal win the game 2-1 (0-1 halftime) - Theo Walcott is going to be an awesome player - This means that Arsenal win 5-1 on aggregate and go through to the Champions League group stages.

Friday (!): Worked this morning, Almost blew chunks. Champions League draw finalised - Arsenal are in Group G along with FC Porto, CSKA Moscow and Hamburg. Went and saw Thank You For Smoking. Review later.

Saturday (Today): Worked - Its been four weeks since I started - had my four week review, apparently I'm top of the class. :)

Catch you on the flipside......

1:49...

There are some things that I failed to mention in my last post that I'll mention now. first off I WILL review the films I see, not right away because I still feel entertained but after a day or two so that I actually know if it was good or just entertaining. And another thing, yesterday before the film I went to Borders and got myself a Manga, don't know why I failed to mention it but I'm saying it now (It was Fullmetal Alchemist 6).

Onto the review (they are not going to be long and I'll try not to spoil the movie):

2:37

The film was entertaining. The premise is that something shocking and unexpecte happens at 2:37 one day, and the rest of the film is the lead up to it. the story focusses on six or seven characters showing that they're all flawed and full of problems trying to imply that they are somehow involved with the shocking moment (the start of the film shows blood flowing under a door - that leads to the janitors closet - at 2:37). We are meant to feel for these characters and hope that it isn't them at the end of the film, unfortunately they are all narcissists and have few redeemable features (you may feel sorry for one or two of them but by the end they reveal that they have no empathy for the victim - the bleeding person). The cuts to trees (in order to let us think and soak in the story so far) are pointless, the film is easy to follow and some parts you can even guess. The jumping to one-on-one camera interviews disrupts the story line and confuses the viewer - probably why they cut to trees to let us think. There are also jumps in time backwards (I think it might be once that was rather confusing) but most of these pass a point in the story we have seen and orients us into the time frame (eg passing a group talking when we've already seen the conversation they've had). And by the end of the film when we find out what this shocking thing is that has happened (though you can tell earlier what its going to be even if you don't know who) we still feel nothing because of who the victim is - I could say why but that may ruin it for you. All in all probably the best Australian film I've seen all year. 3/5.

Tonight I'm going to go and see United 93 and tomorrow I'm getting up early to watch Arsenal vs Dinamo Zagreb (and I might write up United 93 at the same time).......

*Edit changed my 'Post name' (from Mephistopheles to Baltasar) so that, like all the other people referenced on this site, it starts with the same letter as my real name.

Time Gentlemen...

Big news day today (or at least it is to me) so i won't bore you with prelude.

Tuesday (Today): Decided to go and see a film. went to '2:37' and enjoyed it thouroughly. On the way there got a message from Blur about seeing a movie tomorrow (Wednesday) and responded. when I was in the theatre I got another message (fortunately at the time my phone was on silent). There was only one other person in the theatre - it was an 11:40am screening though. On the way back home I ran into an old school 'chum', we had a short chat, apparently he's working at priceline on chapel street. Neither of us keep in contact with many of our schoolmates (Blur is one, and SM - the guy I ran into - keeps in touch with only two others (AK and BA)).

Saturday (Before Tuesday): I know this isn't in order but this was not as interesting or important. I realise that mocking my brother - K-man - about carrying 10kg of weights was maybe a bit premature. After work I bought a 'Pepsi Cube' (24 cans of Pepsi) and had to carry it for 40-50mins on the way home. now this might sound like a simple task but the Pepsi Cube contains 9 litres of Pepsi - I didn't realise this until after I had bought it. And if you don't understand how HEAVY 9 litres is then I will tell you, 9 litres of water at standard temperature and pressure (1atmosphere pressure, 25C) weighs exactly 9kg. So now I need to apologise to K-man, he at least had an idea of what he was getting into. (I also payed five dollars more for the box than I should have)

no story today........

Ermine of the Idea

What a difference a week makes. Last week I worked flat chat for four days and only just got everything done. This week I worked those same four days but did everything in half the time giveing me more time to increase my workload and secure future employment. Anyway, due to the results of the English Premier League games over the weekend Manchester United is in first place on the table and Arsenal are in ninth. And as I said yesterday I will write up some fiction on this site today, it won't be long and it won't be good, but it will be a start.

On to 'My World' News:

Sunday (20/8): no change from yesterdays post.

Monday (21/8) spent all day (so far) working. Finally finished training for work - only took me three weeks (its supposed to be done before any on site activity occurs).

Story: Part One (this is going to be very simple and if it ever gets properly published it will be heavily edited)

They say that when Lord Ormand created the witchhunter fellowship it consisted solely of himself and his three sons. Other sources doubt this, they say that they weren't his sons and they just took his name, that there were four sons of Ormand, or even that they were all his daughters. From then on, to gain entry into the 'Cult of Ormand' one must either be a direct descendent of one of these primogenitors or marry one of the descendents. From its origin of four men in France it has now become a worldwide underempire. The only people who know of the cult are either in it or are conspiracy theorists. The cult now is less involved with stopping witches and fighting off demons, there are specially trained members for that and the cult is just too big for everyone to be doing that. Now there is research into the occult, in order to increase the power of those directly facing the enemies of the cult and to help those not involved with fighting to defend themselves if attacked magically, there is a small publishing group who, using the occult research, sends out copies of beneficial magics to all cult members and printed the defensive spellbook that every member gets when they turn eighteen and officially enter the cult. I happened to have lost my copy and now require a new one which is why I am returning to the 'head office' in France.


I think thats enough for today. Keep coming back and in a decade maybe you'll see a full book written on here.... (maybe)......

Need Title....I Forgot

Nothing much has happened since Thursday.


Friday (18/8): Worked at 7am. Nothing else.

Saturday (19/8): See Friday

Sunday (20/8): 0:00am Arsenal vs Aston Villa at Emirates Stadium (Arsenal's home ground). Watched live coverage on Foxtel (Fox Sports 2). Final Result was 1-1 (go to soccernet.com for more info). I think Portsmouth is on top of the table now. For the rest of the days activities see Friday.

I need more sleep..... (I know I said I'd write if I didn't have much to say but at the moment I am so run down, I might write something tomorrow, but no promises)

Stoat of the Notion

Let me set the scene for you. I have two alarms on my mobile set to 5am and 5.30am so I can get up for work in the morning. When I'm not working but still want to get up in the morning I change one of the alarms and put it on. This I will come back too.

Lets get to 'my world' news first:

Tuesday/Wednesday (overnight): After my last post I played 'Deus Ex: Invisible War' for around 5 hours. This does not equate to 5hrs of game time as I suck at first person shooters (the ONLY one I've played was Deus Ex (the original - no subtitles) and I finished that about two or three years ago).

Wednesday (16/8): Went out to Chadstone with my Dad (I wanted to get out of the house and it was a good excuse). When we got there we went our seperate ways and planned to meet a half hour later (there is no funny bit to this story). I went and got myself a Orson Scott Card book (Enders Shadow) and a DVD (High Fidelity). We met up for lunch and went home.

Thursday (): This is when the alarm happens. Thursday is the day I go and get comic books. In order to do this as early as possible I changed my 5am alarm to 7am the night before. Unfortunately I put the wrong alarm on and was woken at 5:30am. Realising this was way too early I turned the alarm off and went back to sleep. I then woke up at around 9am and rushed off to the comic shop (it is about an hours journey) when I got there I found that they had not received the shipment yet (it has to go over an ocean) and so I noted down the comics I needed and headed off to the second comic shop (Its significantly closer, and generally gets comics in on Wednesday evening, unfortunately there is no board saying what comics have come in and they open later). When I got there I found no comics either. Now this might not sound like a bad day to you but let me put it simply - I got woken at 5.30am, then got up 2hrs later than I intended, went out and wasted two hours of my life in a wild goose chase that I could have spent furthering my DX2 progress, I still haven't had a shower, and it's 11.30am here - there is a hell of a lot of bad day to go.

Friday-Monday (): Work, work, work, work (and maybe go and see a movie - I still have that free ticket.......)

*Edit: The K-man was offended when I called him my 'little' brother, this is not an apology its just pointing out how childish he really is (appropriate justification for the use of the word 'little' in reference to him), though he is taller than me he is younger and I have always called him little brother.

Take two....

This is obviously my second post and it is going to be more serious than last time (sorry can't be crazy all the time). I'm going to try and lay out what I intend for this blog. Every two or three days I will try and update this. Most of what will be written will be day to day happenings and when nothing much happens it will be a place to try and write some fiction (you will be notified I will not lie about what has - or hasn't - happened), as I am thinking about writing a novel, I never get very far but I do want to write.

Lets get down to brass tacks.

Saturday (mostly covered in my last post): I have now found out that my cousin was in the city whilst I was sleeping (after I went and saw a movie with my friend who will now be known as 'Blur'). My brother went out to meet her and was told about my drunken escapades the last time I saw my cousin (there's a story there, but I'm not talking).

Monday (13/8): worked, as I said I would. Nothing interesting.

Tuesday (Weekend): My first day off for the week (and today as it happens). I went to Chapel Street with my brother - The K-man - when we got there the first thing he did was go and buy ten kilo of weights (he needed to get them anyway), I told him it was not the best idea to get them first but he would not be disuaded. We then went to the Jam Factory to go and get some more money (me) and some DVDs (K-man), he got Kill Bill 2 and Hero. After this we walked back towards Prahran Station to catch a train and funnily enough he was complaining about the weights. This entertained me muchly so I made him stand around whilst I got something (a Deus Ex 2 videogame). After this we hopped on a train with the intention of going home...... fat chance.... for about the fourth time today we ran into a couple of his friends (both girls, I know their names but you don't need to), this caused us a delay (not a bad one, I wasn't carrying around a shoebox of weights). K-man then went on to wander around getting a flower and a stuffed lion for a girl he works with (in a shop next to the train station), while on its own this isn't terribly important it was rather entertaining to see him trying to carry the weights, a flower and a lion. from there we went home and I started writing this. K-man carried those weights for about an hour and I got my weeks worth of entertainment out of it because it just looked like he was carrying heavy shoes (as people commented).

Now onto Deus Ex....

To all things a begining....

I was convinced to start a blog by my unhinged mind.

Everyone else was doing it so I didn't want to be left out, its happened before. This will be my main connection to the world so please bear with me. Keep listening to me if you dare to read the sick imaginings of my mind - or just want updates in whats going on to me.

I have a friend, Klueless Kamel, who started a blog not long ago, kinda why I started this. (he's at Kluelesskamel.blogspot.com) This will get confusing and such, but thats your problem.

Well let's get to my 'world news' :

Friday (11/7): I went to Klueless' Going away party (I won't talk about it, he already has). *Edit: I was wearing a shirt (not a T-shirt) as i usually do and two people who I hadn't seen for 6 months commented that it was nice to see me wearing a shirt for a change (NB I hadn't seen Klueless for six months either and the last time I saw this group was at his 21st)

Saturday (after Friday): I went and saw 'Brick' with a friend, He works there and so he gets free tickets (which we used), anyway more important than the movie (which was good and you shouild see it) there were technical difficulties and the screening missed its official start by about 20 minutes, demanding money back on a free film is kinda pointless and we came to see a movie, we were a little late anyway but thats not important. They fixed the problem and the film was going as it should until the scene with Brad in the carpark where there were further difficulties, at this point some poeple left and others treated it as an intermission. My friend went to report to the staff that yet again the film wasn't working. After that there were no more problems with the film and I still enjoyed it - would have preferred it without the intermission as it kind of broke the mood. At the end when the audience was leaving the staff handed us all freebie tickets, which is very nice as I payed nothing to see this film (I've done that about seven or eight times so far this year - all legally) and get to do the same again to some other film.

Sunday (): Worked - nothing of interest - well i did get blood on my uniform and a series of cuts on my hands but that I'm not going to explain. I worked Friday and Saturday too, but they were much the same as today.

Monday (tomorrow): I work again, 7am ... maybe i should get some sleep, ....maybe I'll go see 'Brick' again afterwards........