Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Yeah, I know Christmas has already passed but I haven't posted it yet! So yeah, lots has happened this past month from school finally ending, finals kicking my ass, grades offering a sign of relief, but then the realization that they weren't quite good enough gives me a kick in the ass again; break has been pretty nice so far except for a few blimps on the radar, and yeah life has been a pretty good ride so far.
I really wish I knew whether or not I would be getting credit for my first quarter of chinese, because honestly, it took up way too much of my time this quarter >_<. Yes I realize next quarter, when it does count, and it's twice as hard, that I'll have to work harder, but this quarter, how it hung over my head really bothered me. I kept thinking, it probably won't count toward your grade, and the material isn't that important, why invest so much time into it? But the asian language coordinator I had orignally spoken to about the situation of whether or not I would get credit for my chinese class would spend emails every now and then, offering signs of hope saying "Yeah, I've found the right person to talk to and we're making some progress. I hope to settle your situation soon." And he probably sent about 3 emails closer to the end of the quarter like this, so it made me spend, probably more time, into chinese than I should've. I did do well in the class, but I didn't receive credit for it... =/ The coordinator said that whatever happens later, can be retro-fitted and fixed. But I keep on thinking what if I had just spent more of that time on biochem instead... *sigh* Biochem should not have been as hard as it was. I just think I didn't partition my time appropriately this quarter. Phys was also alright, but I think I just missed the 4.0 >_<. Stupid question on the final that I had the right answer for, but just had to second guess myself cost me dearly. Anyway, I'm definately gonna have to figure out how to split my time correctly early in the quarter.
I've seen 2 movies in the past week... which is more in than I've seen in the past 3 months, lol. I will give brief reviews of both King Kong, and a chinese wu-shu film named Seven Swords, which was derived from a popular comic book. I hope to watch at least another two to get my fill before the next quarter starts again.
King Kong: A classic movie that has been revamped for the 21st century brings quite possibly the best computer graphics I've ever seen on the big screen. The shots in this movie were just amazing, from those of King Kong battling two T-rexes (best part of the movie IMO) to the offeratory ritual with the starlet of the movie. The director, who I'm too lazy to look up right now, has succeeded again in making a visually stunning movie. Alas, he didn't do anything to the hit-me-in-the-head corny script. I guess if you're going to do a remake, you should keep the same script right? Well, I would've argued otherwise in this one. Sure, some lines like the very last one are worth keeping to keep the movie's original message, but sometimes the dialogue between the characters just didn't flow at all. I'm pretty sure that when King Kong was popular back in the day was also because of the technological feat it pulled off by making the huge ape appear on the screen as opposed to it's gripping storyline... There are also a few times throughout the movie when it gets kinda boring. You just wish you could fast forward them and move on to the next cool computer graphic scene. Those you couldn't get enough of. From the first time you see the giant ape, you're instantly mesmerized by the realism given to him. I wish the entire movie had taken place on the island because after the ape gets moved to the city, it's kinda... not as cool... The animal just isn't as cool if you tak it out of it's natural habitat. Well, to close things out since this blog is already growing to absurd lengths compared to my other blogs, I thought King Kong was an amazing visual piece of art and worth watching... on DVD. If you're really into the computer graphics, then I would tell you to catch it in the theatre because they really did a number on this movie w/ the graphics. The dialogue kinda killed the movie for me, but it didn't hurt it that much. I would highly recommend this movie for leisure viewing. Naomi Watts is also very very pretty. =)
OK, this one is gonna be short. I'm getting tired of typing already u_U; Seven Swords is a motion picture lifted from the pages of a popular comic series in HK. It is about a few unknowning martial artists who were banded together by a higher calling, I'm still trying to figure out that, and 7 swords that were made by this dude in the mountains. (there are 7 of them) This was another movie that was shot very very well as it was directed by HK's master of wu-shu himself, Tsui Hark. You may remember his earlier works that included all of the "Once upon a time in China series" and pretty much every other GOOD wu-shu film from the late 80's and early 90's. The master took a break, and has come back to show that he still has some gas left in the tank. This movie isn't quite up to par compared to his old stuff, but still worth watching. The plot and storyline suffered from the popular disease of "trying to fit too much into a 2 hour movie." It is rumored that there was a 4-hour cut of this movie, but I probably wouldn't be caught watching that movie unless you tied me down and told me that there was going to be free snacks and drinks. Remember that this movie was derived from a comic book series and unlike the American directors, who did the exact opposite (splitting the comic into many movies) they tried to fit as much possible into this single movie. I feel disheartened thinking about HK cinema because it used to rival other movies and really took off during the 90's. Now it's just like every movie has become a trailer of commercials for new products. (Chances of you watching a modern asian movie w/o any blatant advertising of, for example, a cell phone are close to nil) Anyway, to continue with the movie, I think this was a pretty good wu-shu film considering everything else out there in the movie market. Sure you could go watch the older stuff and be content, but wouldn't you rather watch something different once in a while? This movie is probably more for the wu-shu fans out there and maybe the tiny fan base that belongs to Leon Lai, but that's it.
Now onto the most recent stuff! I JUST GOT A SNOWBOARD!!! It isn't anything special, just a simple board I can hopefully make it up and down the hill and maybe "and then some". I want to attempt my first jump this ski-trip at whistler =D. I got a pretty good deal on this too because Sports Authority had some extra stock of this board and they bundled it with boots and binding, all for only $200 bucks! The board was 170... originally $250 when it came out. Boots were pretty nice as were the bindings. I figure I'll go up at least another time this year, as well as next year hopefully.
Well that's about everything for now. *phew* even I am tired after writing that beast of a blog. Hope everyone's New Years is great!
