What the fuck am I paying for?

As with most people I imagine that we don't want to be reminded of our mortality or in another subtle way, our lack of connection with youth. I've always considered myself youthful at heart, even though a lot of if is due to a certain innocence and naivity on how the world works. And yet approaching the mid-point of my 20's there are small signs that dawn upon you that you are no longer "with it" anymore.

I'm never really one to completly whore myself to trends, but when shopping at American Outbackers, I saw all these "pre-made" jeans for the selection. Pre-washed. Pre-faded. Clay tainted. I looked at them and my older jeans that look like complete shit and wonder why the hell would I want to buy jeans that I essentially am wearing right now? It didn't exactly hit me that hard that I wasn't with it anymore, especialy considering that I had more of a revelation in Winners earlier where all the Hilfiger (or was it Ck?) jeans were exactly the same sort of anorexic model jeans of wonder that I've seen in jean rack. It's pretty bizarre to me anyways. But two pairs of levis later, good old fashioned well worned red tab levis, I'm a bit happier in my status quo.

Goblet of Fire Movie review

The first thing that really hits you with this film is how different it is from the previous films, even PoA. There's something very pedistrian and "natural" about Newall's cinematography. It really hits you when they approach the sunrise on the hill where the portkey is, the camera is right there walking along with them, you actually feel you're trudging along with Harry + Co. on the hill. To put it plainly, Newall has taken the cinematic feel out of Harry Potter.

This isn't necessarlily a bad thing, because it really makes for great and fabulous moments. But it also does make simple moments duller than they should be. But I love this cinematic decision because ultimately we *want* to be part of the three tasks. We don't want the grandiose wideshot that says "You're the audience...here's the film". Everything we see, even the reveals of the stadiums are done in a very real way, as if seeing through a helicopter, or just...being there. You actually feel you're in the mosh pit with the students at the yule ball. It really *really* does help out with the tense moments of the tasks in general which I'll rate:


1. The Dragons: I love dragons. They are my favorite mythical being, and easily my favorite task in the book. When I saw the commercials that involved Harry having to fly around the tower of Hogwarts, it leaved me a bit dismayed that the careful dancing protrayed in the book will made into a "replacement for Quidditch ack-shun," however the subtlties of Harry's thoughts would be hard to portray in general.

But like I said, the cinematic choice was excellent, especially the part where Harry is hanging on for dear life, and the Dragon is slowly progressing roof to roof. It really gives a sense that you're a student in a tower, just in awe at looking at the events unfold before your eyes.


2. The Lake: Swimming through the weeds were excellent, seeing the Merpeople city was amazing and subtle, much like how you enter a park. It slowly appears to you and then you begin to realize the scope of what lays before you. Surprisingly they made what could have been a really boring task into something interesting.


3. The Maze: Slightly disappointed by the absence of creatures in the maze, but it is for a good reason. They made the hedges alive instead, giving it a more sense of dread. This time however, the actors brought the dangers of the maze alive to us. In the book, I've always felt the maze was quite simple and pedestrian. There was no inherent danger compared to the other tasks. However Dumbledore had a great set-up, how people lose themselves while in the maze. Their fear, their actions, their ambition made the maze dangerous, more dangerous than it had to be...and personally it was a great set up for the graveyard scene.

But this film is far from perfect really. What really disrupted the film is the editing, the drastic cuts to another scene. It sadly reminded me of Star Wars: ROTS and how terrible it's editing was. It's really quite sad because this seems to be the first film really devoid of great transitional scenes into the next one, especially when referencing the change of seasons. Even just having the camera going from one scence to another...it's very jagged, which I suppose is the problem with the cinematography that I praised so much. Even the music doesn't flow well enough to bring the film together. If I were to say, this film was almost a bit TOO TIGHT.

Actors/Actresses Performances

Dan: Hate to say this about our main character, but he was the weakest actor of the trio. It's not to say he's bad, but he's inconsistent. Quite often he's wooden, talking his lines instead of acting them out. It's quite sad because a lot of his emotions seemed to be conveyed in stares, or at least the direction of the stare, which isn't necessarily bad, but compared to the ability of the other actors around him, he should pick up.

However his comedy is great, I'm quite surprised. The small moments with Ron is where he really shines, and he has his moments. His crying moment this time around is going to be under a lot of scrunity since a lot of people no doubt will compare it to his PoA performance...or even call it a repeat performance, but he did hit it on the head.


Rupert: Best of the trio easily. It's just not his ablility to make subtle facial gestures, but just his acting ability in general is really great. I wouldn't say pitch perfect considering that his looks is too fitting for the role they stuck him with, we'll have to see him in some other films, but he really shines in this film. Every moment he makes the best of it, and it shows. The anger at Harry was played perfectly.


Emma: Still the same from last time, very good, but it's very nice to see her have a bit more range of emotion given to her this time especially fear and distress. I really did feel sad for her after the Yule ball as Rupert was a total **** but it really shows the tension between those two.


The Twins: Love them PoA, and love them even more now. Seriously stole the SHOW. They are so in tune with their characters in the book, more than anyone really.


Dumbledore: I have to say, it's very fitting of DD to be like this for GoF, especially considering how GoF is the turning of the tide of the HP series from fun loving Nancy Drew-esque solve a mystery romp, to actual dangerous adventures. Gambon Critics/Harris supporters are going to have a field day ripping into the performance, but I think the end dialogue between Harry and DD really did make up for all the qualms about him being too "scary/mean". I didn't quite like the little homage to Harris with DD yelling out SILENCE, especially considering ATTENTION sounded better in the intro for the 3rd task.


Barty Crouch/Mad Eye Moody/et al: Mad Eye was a great glory to behold. Very good acting, top notch really. There is nothing I really can't say negatively about it. Barty Crouch was confusing because it seemed a bit bizarre on what his accent was. It never really "stayed" in one place, almost sounding French at times. What's even worst was how he kept that jittery" feeling throughout the film, where in the Tri Wizard tournament it really should have been enough to voice his nervousness of knowing who done it. Maxine and Karkaroff were throwaways really. But they were good enough. Snape was pitch perfect as in PoA.


Peter Pettigrew: In what I would label the worst of the adult acting bunch. The thing is the book portrayed him sniveling through the entire ressurection process. In the film, he's quite devoted, even fanatical about helping out his master. It's appropriate for the personality they wanted to portray, especially when he barely winces in pain while holding his hand in a bloody stump. But I would have much preferred Pettigrew to be his sniveling way, motivated by fear, as opposed to his dedicated to his master route.


Voldemort: Oh yeah...the head honcho himself. I expected him to be paler, but now that I think about it...it freaking rocks. Really, it realy humanizes Voldemort to show how much of twisted monster he had become. Not because he doesn't look at all human anymore, but because how much remenants of humanity are left that disgust you.

I have to say, whenever I read about Voldemort, I never found him to be all that scary. A bit meloramatic, but never that frightening. Even when JKR made the comment that Voldemort was a psychopath, I've never EVER really saw that attribute in him. I pitied him, I saw that he was evil, but never a psychopath.

But Fiennes did a MAGNIFICANT job of bringing the inner psychopath out from him. I'm used to the Jim Dale interpretation of Voldemort, but this one...is SO suited to what he's intended to be at least by the author. Just the way he moves, he acts...it so calculating, so spine tingly evil and graceful. It truly was his "Red Dragon" all over again. The best part of it all....him dueling with Harry. Seriously even they were at a standstill, it just goes to show the power of Voldemort, even making me forget the lameness of the Star Wars fights from Episode 3.

So how does it match up? I'd still say that PoA is better, just as a more complete film. But the acting has progressed much better in GoF. So in order of favorite to least favorite:

PoA
GoF = PS
CoS

I'd give it 4.5/5.0 stars really.

My grandma the old skool racist

My grandma isn't a hateful person by nature, unless you managed to piss her off in some shape or form. However I don't really blame her for the comments she made to my brother while in Edmonton. Basically she asked him to hurry the hell up and get a girlfriend so he could marry her. And to never be like our dad where he waited until the ripe age of 40 to marry. My brother asked my grandma if she knew how old he was, and she guessed wrong. Basically he said he was old enough to make his own decision on who and when to date.

I can't quite remember how it was brought up, but either my brother or my grandmother mentioned something about dating black people. Regardless, it eventually ended up with my grandmother saying "Ching kay mo toong huq qwai paq taw" which meant "Don't every date black people". When we asked why, she said that it was "weird" how black they are. The actual phonetic spelling of the term she used was "Huq mung mung" meaning very very black.

Me and my brother smiled at this wonderfully refreshing side of grandma. I've always known about this side regarding her grandson's choices in dating women but I don't think my brother knew the depths of her convictions. We then embarked on a glorious journey of mentioning the other browns of the ethnic rainbow, getting much protest against trying to date an East Indian person who was as equally "Huq Mung Mung" in my grandmother's eyes. We asked if a half-black half-asian would suffice and for some reason she casually agreed that it acceptable as if were were negotiation terms of a contract.

Apparently the same slight racism that Michelle mentioned in Mexico regarding light skinned Mexicans compared to darker skin Mexicans are also somewhat prevalent in Asia from my understanding. At least to the degree that clear bright skin is a symbol of health and beauty in asian culture I would imagine, if not at least Chinese culture.

We ended the night with a phone call home, where my dad (who has lung problems) answered. I wanted to discuss the results of my grandmother's check-up by my mother was late coming home. At that time when I had dad on the phone, my brother told me to tell dad that he was going to marry a black girl. I laughed and hung up, when at the exact same time my grandma told me in chinese to tell dad that my brother was dating a black girl. My brother laughed at the coincidence of their thinking, and jokingly protested "No grandma, I'm afraid if I do tell him that, he'd have a breathing fit!" which would probably happen.

Food Entry # 4, 5 and 6

Well really I did a poor job of keeping track these few days. Laziness and a bit of fear of the FUCKING FUCK UP I did with my template that I tried this week. I tried to add the post title and link from on of the default templates, but instead I royally fucked up, thus ending up using the gaudy piece of shit I have now. I guess it's time for a change anyways.

#4: was a pretty damn shitty day. I ate a double cheeseburger and half a quizno's regular sub. That was pretty much for the rest of the day considering how bloated I felt. The day consisted of nothing great.

#5: Was a better day. Started with oatmeal in the morning, and an apple. I did eat a subway sub, but I don't think anything to gratuitously horrible. But I ended the night with grapes and an apple pear. This is a pretty huge ass feat considering I hate fruit and yet I ate it. The grapes were more motivated in getting rid of them, I had to throw out a good hanful that were brown and mushy, but the rest were pretty good. One thing I always detested about grapes..in fact fruit in general is seeds. Grapes are more diabolical because if you gotten one where it's in between it's growth into a fully seeded grape, you eventually pop the damn things into your mouth, however end up with a bitter tasting grape.

I've actually started part excercise with some tai-chi taught by the white woman on a video tape. At the same time I listened to some music because I felt that music on the tape is a bit too mellow and irritating to really do tai chi to. Then again I think aside from lack of use of my legs for well over a month, the music I was listening to cause my stablizer muscles to basically shake like a dog out in the cold.

Surprisingly or not surprisingly I worked up quite the sweat. I ended up doing 60 crunches with little to minimal pain. That either means my abs are still in shape, or I was doing the crunches completely wrong and half assedly. I would imagine the latter to be more true.

#6: Alright really. I started out with a BT sandwich since we were sorely lacking the "L" part in the house. It was with cherry tomatoes and only 4 slives of bacon on rye bread which was nearing the end of the loaf. So it was barely half a handful to eat this almost taller than wide sandwich in my hand. The 4th piece of bacon had to perform solo away from it's sandwiched brethren. I came home for lunch to eat a fish with some siu choi and mushrooms. Really healthy. I ended the night eating some reheated lasagna I made earlier in the week, and then hot wings, and chicken enchiladas with a friend at Fogg and Suds. Wonderful diet eh? The food was alright but it was a fun night out with friends.

Edmonton, the city of fashion?

I don't know if it was because of just not having a vacation for over two years, that my fashion senses were heightened. The first two days were really just perusing the U of A campus, but even the lowly students walking off to their next classes looked well put together fashion wise. I mean seriously, when I looked at them, they had clothes that fit...clothes that looked good. They looked like freaking Milan models compared to the FSJ people I usually see.

Of course it doesn't help that my microcosm of the convenience store has narrowed my fashion view to flannel, dated rock t-shirts or t-shirts in general, faded jeans, clothes that are either too tight or too loose on the teenagers and hoodies. But still, it is quite true on how behind FSJ is in terms of fashion, at least 3-5 years behind. I don't know if Edmontonians (or at least U of A students) are just more fashion concious, or if it is the big city culture that makes them dress better in general. It's funny on how natural it seems to come.

Food Jounal Entry #3

A rather simple day. Breakfast sausage. A movie theatre hot dog with half a medium cup of pepsi. For some reason I had my heart race a bit, and considering my mother's condition I might have inherited it as well. Either that or I'm just out of shape. The night ended with home baked lasagna. It was pretty bad the lasagna really, a bit wet and noodly for my liking. But perhaps it will pick up later in reheating. Live and learn.

Food journal entry #2

I'm not impressed by my intake for food this day all things considered how much I fucking pigged out the day before on my flight home. For reference I ate at two seperate occasions (breakfast and lunch), a slice of pizza and a hamburger (so making that 2 slices of pizza and hamburger each). The next day consisted of eating some Chinese pastries and steak with some celery.

But this day was pretty simple. Just some bread for breakfast, drank a bit o slush and ended the night with some servings of mashed potatoes and half a t-bone steak. I wasn't in a particularly steak mood considering how much meat I consumed this entire week. I had buffalo steak earlier this week in Edmonton, hence the mashed potatoes.

Excercise was non-existent due to my sleeping patterns being slightly fucked up. I wake up nigh or on 10:00am now, instead of my usual 9:00am. But at least it's a start to trying to eat healthy, or at least trying to starve myself to death.

Does altitude affect your sex drive?

When I touched down in the YVR (Vancouver International Airport) I had a craving to fuck someone. I don't know why, my sex drive was high, well as high as it could possibly be. I'd fuck a hole in the wall if it wasn't for the fear of public stigma and the splinters.

I think the main reason why this might be the case is that FSJ isn't exactly the place for Canada's most beautiful crop of women. And considering that I work at the convenience store, seeing jailbait every weekday lunch hour does not exactly encourage me at all. What's worst they are poorly dress jailbait. But even hitting YVR the quality of women skyrocketed...and this is just YVR. It just goes to show how shitty FSJ is at times.

I had this feeling before, but it wasn't so much concentrated on my sex drive as it was on my enthusiasm for having fun in Vancouver with friends, drink and merriment. The feeling of having a vacation might have just made me excited in general, I mean it's been at least 2 years since I've had a real one. Pat told me that perhaps the reason why I wanted to hump everything in sight like some dog in heat, is because perhaps the altitude change from FSJ going to Vancouver just opened up more blood flow in general. Well that's a theory to entertain.