My Ten Backfire-able New Year’s Resolutions (2011 Edition)

A quick look at the things that I should be doing for 2011.

1. No more McDonald’s.
2. Facebook only TWICE a day.
3. Daily breakfast in the morning.
4. Daily shower in the morning.
5. Sleeping before 1AM.
6. Waking up before 8AM.
7. Less procrastination.
8. Less outrageous purchases at Chapters/thrift shops.
9. Save money for that Macbook you’ve always wanted.
10. Say “No” to unnecessary hangouts.

My 2010 Year In Film

ATE LAST YEAR I told myself to keep track of the movies I watched in 2010 and. Let me tell you that tracking your film-watching activity is  far simpler than tracking your finances or eating habits. Anyway this is what I did; I created a dedicated page for the list (here) and updated it every time I watched a movie. I think what made the task very simple is that I’m really enjoy watching films.

The film industry and entire process of producing a film fascinates me. Some people say that because you pay attention to too much of the movie, you get less out of the experience because you aren’t suspending your belief as much, but I’d like to think otherwise. Knowing technical aspects (lighting, framing, color correction, effects, sound recording) as well as the acting side of things (character development, writing) intrigues me greatly and I can hardly begin to fathom how challenging it must be to make any feature-length movie on any scale.

I’ll say it now that it is a personal dream of mine to participate in the movie-making industry. Perhaps it’s a good idea to move to Vancouver.

Have You Seen This #05

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The Coolest Asian Kid Ever

Listening to “Vuvuzela Beat” over this… and words cannot express….

In fact, watching this guy bust out over anything you listen to will probably make you laugh.

[film] SALT: a simple review

Today I went to the cinema for the third Tuesday in a row primarily because of the cheap Tuesday ticket pricing ($5.99). Regular prices here in Canada are pre-pos-terous. It’s $10.99 for regular nights. And that’s not in 3D. Just add an additional three of my hard-earned dollars on top of that. I hate 3D, so that’s why whenever I see any movie trailer that is suffixed by “…in 3D” at the end, I throw furious faux-kung fu fists in the air.

While some women become cougars in their 40s, some adopt a moniker after a table-condiment and triple-cross major nations rivaling each other with a gun.

Anyway, Salt was fun.

No spoilers abound here.

There was little calm in the movie. Once the action started, that was it, you either followed it or got left behind. Watching Angelina exert herself in the chases while managing to remaining calm AND thinking 2 steps ahead of her predators was astounding. I did have a bit of problem trying to follow the plot because there was so much twisting involving Russia, parents, car crashes, and Lee Harvey Oswald. Lost looked like a straight-edge ruler in one corner compared to this. But in the end, I got it. Thankfully.

But here’s what I took from the movie:

Have You Seen This #04

[tv] An Office without Michael

Skip this if you aren’t a fan of The Office. This post is about Michael Scott, and about his departure after the 7th season of The Office.

Thanks for the memories, Michael Scott. They really were so great.

As much as I will miss seeing his management antics and dating faux pas unfold on weekly TV (or eight episodes a day through the Internet, shh), he’s already had so many memorable moments in seasons past that to try and outdo himself would seem very – how do I put this – ‘try-hardy’ (Sarah Palin will make this a word).

Have You Seen This #03

[film] 3 films that I enjoyed but made me sick

To this date, there have been a total of three films that I really enjoyed, but somehow made me sick during the experience. A major symptom of my film-sickness is dizziness, which leads to nausea and the urge to vomit. When this happens, I try to alleviate the discomfort by breathing deeply. But that rarely works.

Visual ipecac.

Here’s the films that unintentionally offended me:

1. Cloverfield [2007]
   The experience was horrible. I found myself nearly on the verge of vomiting just 30 minutes into the movie. I had to walk out to re-orient myself and grab some air before walking in again and repeating the process again. I stomached the whole movie through and through but losing the dizziness after the movie took about 2 hours.
2. District 9 [2009]
   Towards the end of this movie, I ended up moving about 10 seats behind away from my friends.
   
3. Paranormal Activity [2009]
   Now this movie didn’t offend my senses completely. I only felt sick whenever the main character ran around the house looking for his girlfriend in the middle of the night. And as I type this without the lights on, I am completely letting my imaginations run in the horror playground and scare myself.

The one string tying these movies together is the intentionally crappy camera-work. These movies rely on shaky, amateurish camera-work to achieve the effect of realism and authenticity. I’ve come to accept the fact that movies with excessive shaky-cam are not for me. The game Mirror’s Edge also has the same effect on me and guess what, I enjoy that game too.

Although I walked out of these movies ranging from slightly dizzy to vomit-ready, my sentiment remains that I enjoyed these movies, and that any shortcomings that I have as a human being shouldn’t get in the way of how I rate the movie.

But this doesn’t count: Pursuit of Happyness [2007]
My friend and I arrived 10 minutes into the movie on it’s opening night and we were relegated to the worst seats in the house; front right corner seats, 10 feet from the screen. There we were watching a large Will Smith cry in a bathroom. The awkward viewing angle increased for my nausea and I walked out midway the movie.

Come to think of it, I’m the only one I know with this problem. I’m just not built to handle these kinds of movies. In fact I was the only one from all these experiences in my group to experience motion-sickness. Guess it’s time to hit up the Goog and search for some cures, if any.

An nyoung.

[music] Ke$ha and Katy Perry share the exact same song structure, dominate the charts anyway

File this under: MUSIC.
Sub-category: Pop music at it’s lowest.

Before heading diving into the post I’d like to thank Rob Cauchi for showing this to me.

THE SET UP

Side A:

Ke$ha released her infectious (albeit wildly successful) trashiness upon the world many many months ago with her hit song ‘Tik Tok’. It’s a very simple song that’s well produced (produced, not sung). I’m truly amazed how quick this song embedded itself permanently into pop culture. It freakin’ made it into the opening sequence of The Simpsons.