obliteratED.

 Just watched Milk, which I've been meaning and not have had time to do for a long while.

THIS is what a movie should be, and what a movie should do.

It moved me nearly to tears, and knowing that these are real people, who once did all these things, fought all these wars... that made it so much more poignant.

I can't describe it and I don't think I can do it justice anyway.

Just... Scott! and Harvey! and if they could only have had that one last moment...

Even though I'm not sure if Scott is actually a real person or someone added in for drama's sake. And even though RPS has never really appealed to me due to the slightly worrying thought that these are real people who strange stories are being made up about.

Nevertheless.

Damn, but that was a (good) blow to the heart. It was like watching V, or Dark Knight, but even better, and that's something I never thought I'd say of any movie.

 This is a really cute vid! XD


The song and the vid both make me happy! (: I LOVE THE SOCK-FISH.

Chin Ee here.. i just received a message from geof that Chorale has a performance for some "pap quality awards thing" where the prime minister will be in the audience. The performance will be in november. so the j2s cannot peform. Hence, mr toh wants to invite the alumni to join in! 
 
Date: 3rd Nov

UK terms start in September.

Incidents like this make me really reconsider going overseas to study. I've been wishing for some get-together thing where we can sing as a group again, and this comes along, and I CAN'T GO.

Sadness. ):

 I got rejected by LSE... ):

And stupid Kings STILL hasn't replied!

I feel really really blessed (in a non-religious way) to have the family I do. My aunts and uncles really treat all the cousins like their own children.

Why the sudden outpouring of love?

My uncle took over the HP laptop that we managed to get the NEC one exchanged for... and bought me the Macbook.

Even though he didn't really need a new laptop, he brushed my objections off by saying that my aunt's current laptop was too old and it was high time he should update it. That's clearly just an excuse to make me feel better, so I actually feel really bad. Especially since the economy's so bad now and his business has really suffered.

I just love my family. Gah.

Oh... and I also love the Macbook. XP though it's taking me a while to figure out all the differences and little tricks.

 WATCHMEN LOVE.

Especially Rorschach. Ah, Rorschach... ;______; You COMPLETELY did not deserve the ending you got, but in a paradoxical twist I wouldn't have loved you so much if you hadn't gotten the ending you got. Hmm.

The movie as a whole was a bit choppy, a bit disjointed, and there was too much going on and too many things/people to remember, which is not good for normal movie-goers not used to giving a movie their full attention (like my friends, who ended up not liking it because after a while they had no idea what was going on. They couldn't even remember the characters' names and roles, for heaven's sake!).

BUT, for a 12-book comic series condensed into a mere 3 hours, the director did a bloody good job. And since I could follow it, who cares about everyone else. XD

The blood and gore was a bit *_______* though. Especially the bit about the little girl, or the chainsawed-arms of the prison idiot, or the dangling bits from the ceiling when Dr Big Blue exploded those three guys pulling guns on him. And some parts were rather abrupt, like how Dr Big Blue had this sudden revelation going from 'I am entirely apathetic towards the Earth and its humans' to 'I love the Earth because you were created in it' in approximately 0.3 seconds flat. Silk Spectre is hot and has amazingly good legs, but she doesn't merit a full turn-around of one's entire philosophy just because she had a breakdown in tears.

There are a few other little things that didn't sit too well with me, but those are negligible in the face of the awesomeness of the movie as a whole. So... yeah.

WATCHMEN LOVE.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_Law

Or maybe it's just me. Who knows, someone else might believe that this is really valid, good law worth upholding and proliferating... but that's exactly my point, really.

And, you know, my own litle rant up there is a small example of getting too deep into your point and taking it too far. It's just one little quirky nerd concept, for goodness' sake, and here I am expounding on humanity's lack of a brain (or the existence of a sadly collective one, otherwise known as the Mob Brain).

Also, I wonder why I am doing this when I have a midterm exam in less than 12 hours that I haven't exactly studied for.

Here's wishing the best of luck to everyone out there collecting results today!

*crosses fingers for everyone I know*

 I'M SURE YOU TAKE 16 BLOODY PAGES TO TELL US WHICH SIDE OF THE COURT A CORD BALL IS GOING TO LAND. DO YOU WANT OUR HEARTS TO GIVE OUT KONOMI-SENSEI?

*pants*

ARGH THE SUSPENSE.

[edit] After all the suspense... all the missed heartbeats... all the cold sweat... you come up with THIS kind of ending? *has no strength to be furious anymore* This has got to be the most stupid, most unfulfilling, most bloody unsatisfying end to a match EVER. Ever ever ever.

DAMN YOU KONOMI-SENSEI.

[edit edit] ...I take that back. Sensei... with this final twist, you have, beyond all expectations, reached new heights of gleeful sadism and indulgent cruelty to your readers.

[edit edit edit] Okay, I take back my taking back. What a sneaky and ingenious way to insert emo nostalgia at the very end! And it works, because I'm feeling damn emo now lol.

 Been reading the PoT manga for the nationals arc, because I didn't know where to get the anime and anyway I thought that the anime was getting too ridiculous in how much it dramatised the manga. I thought the manga would be slightly less absurd.

It was not.

Really, Konomi-sensei doesn't even TRY to justify the things he comes up with anymore... he used to at least come up with some vaguely plausible explanation, like this spin added to that angle and so on, but now he doesn't even bother.

I know this because I have started reading the manga from the very first chapter. Yes, I have better things to do with my time. Yes, it's a completely pointless venture. Yes, I'm just going over old ground. Yes, I have midterms.

But it's just so addictive. ;___;

Aaaand I have a new love for the Golden Pair! I always didn't like it that much because I don't like Oishi that much, but now... and InuKai, they're just so cute! Plus a renewal of my support for Ryoma, who I was getting irritated with because he was overly perfect in the anime, but in the manga he's less Mary Sue-ish and more... mature, sort of. Don't know how else to put it. In fact, all the manga characters are more real and solid than their anime counterparts.

Yet another series that proves my firm belief that manga is always better. FMA, HnG, Kyo, Ouran, etc...  and now PoT.

 My life the next three days looks like this:

Tues! mugmugmugmug. scribble scribble.

Wed! OBSERVATION NOTEBOOK DUE. mugmugmug. TORT EXAM.

Thurs! writewriteresearchresearchwrite. 2 LEGAL RESEARCH ESSAY THINGS DUE.

And then my life the next week after that looks like this: MUGMUGMUGMUGMUGMUGMUG. CONTRACT EXAM. collapse. die.

......I hate midterms.

Am seriously going to get a new laptop soon. Am reaching an agreement with my mum.

Am very interested in the new aluminium Macbook, but Macbook = new OS that I have to figure out + $2000 bucks with student discount. So I'm looking at other models, but there are OODLEPLEXES out there.

Important requirements: LIGHT, since I have to carry it everywhere. Light means 2kg or less. Weight can be slightly compromised though if the design if gorgeous, which is the case of the Macbook (2.3kg or so). DESIGN is the next factor, I'm sorry if it's superficial, but I do not want a big chunky ugly looking laptop. As for everything else, since I'm not using it for gameplay or anything, it doens't need to pwn in graphics/speed/whatever crap it is that people complain of.

Any suggestions?

I blame ataraxistence for the following:

1. I have a new love/sense of awe/fascination with all things Miyavi, who is a god. Why did I not know of his existence sooner?

2. I have a new interest/sense of awe/bemused fascination with regards to Akinishi Jin and his slutty ways (you were so right about that, Zhi!) and his very malleable hips/general body. He's like an eel. Only not slimy. But so edible, oh yes. With teriyaki sauce.

3. I wish I lived in Japan in the Malice Mizer live concert days.

3a. I wish I knew how it is humanly possible to have a guy look as gorgeous and utterly feminine when cross-dressing as Mana does.

4. I have a craving for Moon Child again, as well as all things GakuHai. Yes, Moon Child may be considered a bad movie in some ways, but I've always thought it was really powerful too. And the acting is actually pretty good (after watching the Aquarian Age movie -- thanks for the link veggieincoma -- anything looks better).

5. My love for GakuHai is eroded at the edges by a new interest in Gackt and Mana. There is no logical basis in that except that they are both gorgeous and are the only two people who really left an impression from all the Malice Mizer vids. Did I mention gorgeous?

6. I have finally watched Mirotic and no, it is not as hot as everyone says it is, but yes, it is pretty hot. Yoochun's hair is still *___* but Changmin's metamorphosis is droolworthy LOVE. The problem is not Mirotic though. It's that watching Mirotic led me to spend my next hour watching other DBSG vids, which has led to 'hey, maybe it'd be worth my time to strain my degenerated Chinese and plough through Chinese BL in order to read some good fic about DBSG hotness' thoughts, which is Not Good.

7. Okay, maybe this one is not exactly Zhi's fault, but I have also a new interest in Arashi, whose couple of vids I watched while crawling through Youtube. Their songs are pretty nice, and a couple of them are pretty cute, or pretty, or cute.

...I am so screwed. I have NO TIME to be interested in all these things!

I can't believe he CUT OFF HER HEAD.

Random people being machine-gunned without cause, freaks cutting off PEOPLE'S HEADS in public cafes... if I was a student in West Virginia Tech, I'd be quitting school and booking a flight out of the state post haste.

I can't believe he CUT OFF HER HEAD. Does he have super-strength? Bones and ligaments and muscles are tough.

What a horrifying way to go. Poor girl.

Why is my 'shocked' icon so... happy-looking?

Bug: Buzz, buzz. Buzz.
Me: *waves hand absently at bug and continues to watch movie on laptop*
Bug: ...buzz. *lands on keyboard*
Me: ARGH. *grabs random book and hits bug. Hard.*
Bug: *squish*
Keyboard: Crack.
Me: ACK.
Laptop screen: *goes blank*
Me: No, wait --
Laptop (very happily): Beep. *shuts off*
Me: 0__________0

But it turned itself back on again after that, so no harm done. At least... no immediately obvious harm.

I just got the little info booklet from UCAS that tells me if my app's in by 15 Jan, I'll get a reply no later than 8 May. EIGHTH MAY. I think their use of the phrase 'no later' is very misleading, HOW MUCH LATER DO YOU WANT TO GET.

Ikan bilis, in its boiled state, is white with black eyes. So the black eyes are really, REALLY obvious in all the whiteness.

So here I was drinking soup during dinner. When I drained the soup, I looked down into my bowl and to my horror, I saw a whole pile of pitiful little fish with little black eyes staring up dolefully at me as if going, Why are we in this bowl of soup? Why are we dead? Are we going to be eaten? We are, aren't we? We're going to be eaten! Nooooo!

Me: Can I not finish this?
Mum: Don't waste food.
Me: But they're STARING AT ME. Look at those BIG WIDE EYES.
Dad: Stop being dramatic.
Me: *wails* but they're staring!
Dad: Cose your eyes. EAT IT.

So I closed my eyes and banished mental images of those tiny lives being chewed and digested, and swallowed the whole pile down in one gulp.

I swear I heard hundreds of little voices cry out.

NO MORE NASI LEMAK FOR ME.
 

Yes, because it is so very likely that SMU students will waste months of their lives camping out on a vigil on a hospital's front lawn going 'SAY YES TO LIFE, CYNTHIA'. Who the hell cares about Cynthia? GO AND DIE, Cynthia! Stop screwing around on my exam question and making life difficult for me! I have no idea what the whole paragraph dedicated to the SMU students rioting for your life is all about, because it seems so UTTERLY RANDOM, and if my grade drops because it turns out that the SMU students are a vital part of the question that I didn't address I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN, CYNTHIA. Why did you have to refuse treatment? Why did you not die for months and months even with a freaking STAB WOUND in the MIDDLE of your CHEST?

WHY CAN YOU SURVIVE FOR EIGHT MONTHS REFUSING FOOD AND WATER?

*stabs*

Be afraid, Cynthia. Be very afraid.

Until my contract law paper provides me with another stupid person who simply refuses to sign a contract in black and white and stop wanting to dispute it, that is.

Case of Shankaraya: the accused in all seriousness trying to kill the intended victim by witchcraft.

Case of Nock: the accused trying to make cocaine out of two substances from which cocaine or anything remotely similar can never be produced.

*_______*

Why are some criminals so stupid?

But to recognize that stupidity, there is a defence called 'Impossibility [of the offence] through ineptitude [of the criminal]'.

XD

It doesn't actually work, but I find its very existence hilarious.

Hello friends.

The Ig Nobel Prize for Improbable Research: awards for research that makes people laugh and then think. It's presented yearly at Harvard's Sanders Theatre, and attended by prize awardees from all over the world, some who fly over specially for the event. The awards are handed over by real Nobel laureates.


( READ THIS NOW. )

I could go on, but it stretches back to 1991. There are more from each year, but I listed what I think are the highlights.

I've lost count of how many times I've watched it. But still, every time I watch V for Vendetta yet again, I am reminded of why I write, be it story or song. Every time I finish the movie I have to take a moment to breathe and readjust to reality because it hits me that hard each time, and I don't think that its impact will lessen no matter how many times I watch it in the future. I am always left with the urge to create something that will steal someone else's reality away for the duration that they read or listen to what I wrote, and hopefully for far longer than that.

I am always left, too, with the urge to knife the damn scriptwriter for putting in what has to be the most superfluous romance in the entire history of movie-making. No, not only superfluous -- it actually detracts from the power of the movie. It cheapens the relationship between V and Evey; it ruins what would otherwise have been a perfectly, wonderfully twisted character. Some other parts were a bit overdone as well, like the blood spurting -- a little too much, even if it was pretty damn cool. But that is neither here nor there.

I want to create write something that will mean something. The most amazing introductory speech of any character in any story. The subtleties of the dialogue and the woven plot. The majesty of the 1812 Overture. Anything. V makes me despair at reaching that standard (particularly that last bit, because I am certainly nowhere in the same galaxy as Tchaikovsky) but it also makes me want to try.

And I damn well will do it, one day.

Well, maybe not the Tchaikovsky part. But everything else.

Yeah!