I like this photo because it gives the illusion that my acne has cleared up even though it hasn't. But progress is good though, i am shedding skin like a summer snake.
I also like the atmosphere in which this photo was taken. No afternoon classes, just pecan granola bars, episodes of Glee courtesy of Clement and a good book.
I know i've been a little moody of late, but we shan't talk about that. We should treat this patient symptomatically.
I've been listening to a lot of Queen lately and this songs makes me so happy i can't describe it.
Well actually, i can. I was just telling Shan that Don't Stop Me Now makes me want to get up and tap-dance. Only i can't tap-dance. But Don't Stop Me Now makes me want to learn how to tap-dance just so i can tap-dance to it.
-______-
I'm not the most descriptive person.
At times i think modern day music is just really bad imitations of Queen.
I went home for the weekend because i'm just so wimpy that way. I was just home 2 weeks ago but some dramatic things have happened since then.
My dog, Kilo had a male-related problem that my Dad was too shy to describe. He had to undergo a major surgery and when he returned, he had to wear the Cone of Shame.
As visual evidence show, he wasn't too happy about it.
He also had a vasectomy to ensure that the problem doesn't arise anymore. Although i think the correct term is "neutering" or "castration", but vasectomy sounds less painful eh?
On Saturday, Mrs Aimee's Mom took me out for a shopping trip that would prove to be unsuitable for wimpy members of the society like me.
We went for the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale, and believe me when these people say "sale", they really meant SAAAAAAAAALE!
Sorry this was the best picture i could take of the day because
a) most of the time my hands were (literally) quivering with excitement
b) I was carrying books by which their accumulated weight is equivalent to that of seventeen baby whales. (You will see in a minute)
c) TOO MUCH GROUND TO COVER!
(This is like a quarter of the queue. It's astounding, really. I've never been to a book sale where i had to line up to get in. And i was there at 10.30 in the morning.)
I think the event organizers handled everything immaculately. Although there were enough people present for us to be constituted as a small country, navigating around the place was a breeze.
They provided lovely music (i remember hearing a song from Moulin Rouge! but then again i could've been having a happy hallucination.)
The books were categorized clearly and rummaging was such a thrill.
These are the stack of books i chose but ended up not buying.
They were priced at about rm8 each, terrific condition. My first instinct was to just grab EVERYTHING.
Then i realized my blood sugar and my pathetic arms wouldn't last, so i had to come up with a new strategy.
(What we ended up buying at the end of the day. One of the staff escorted us to our car, which i thought was a nice touch.)
I am not a big fan of non-fiction but curiousity got the better of me and i grabbed a couple of books. Needless to say they ended up in the "books i chose but ended up not buying" pile.
I also steered clear of the Romance section because
a) they generally make me want to throw up
b) if they don't make me want to throw up, they're normally only worth reading once
c) ho ho ho there were way too many oestrogen-packed people there for me to get a nose through.
(What i did buy.)
I was especially excited when i found Don DeLillo. I have yet to read any of his books because they are normally exorbitantly priced in major bookstores. I found at least 4 of his books in the sale, but only bought one.
You know, in case i didn't like him.
But quite wtf right, they were rm8, i should've just taken them all -____-
GAAAAAAH. The David Nicholls book which i saw for 79.90rm in Borders.
I AM NEVER BUYING BOOKS ANYWHERE ELSE!
The tall tower of books you see in the background are some of the stuff we picked out for my brother because he was too unwimpy to join us.
I hope you enjoyed this self-centered entry about my shopping trip that you so unfortunately missed.
(Burn.)
Well actually it's not over yet, you can still head on down to Amcorp mall, but on one condition.
You must tell me if you are because i think there are a couple more books that i regret leaving in the "book i chose but did not buy" stack.
Here's a random community message brought to you by me because wimpy kids feel the need to do things like that.
Eat loads of fruits. Read loads of books. And never ever get on a bus with a full bladder.
I've been doing a lot of movie reviews lately, haven't i?
I just saw this movie called Equilibrium. I loved it, and not because Christian Bale is in it. Okay, you got me there, partly because Christian Bale is in it.
Equilibrium and its concepts won me over because it debates the consequences of human emotions. The movie is set in the future, where all emotions have been eliminated.
I loved this scene where a Cleric was shot in between the pages of one of William Butler Yeats' book. I kept wondering which poem he died to. Or what book i'd like to die in between the pages of.
All of mankind's greatest mishaps arise from characteristics like rage, jealousy, sorrow, pride, fear, greed. And the common denominator of all these flaws are, emotions.
The theory is that by eradicating all forms of emotions, there would be no war, no murder, no destruction, distractions or dysfunction. The human race would be efficient, productive, harmonious.
Droids. But you know, perfect droids.
Of course sacrifices would have to be made. We give up happiness, love, I'm having trouble thinking of positive emotions. Help please. but that is the price we pay for perfection. For peace.
I'm not a great fan of violence. But the fight scenes in this movie is marvelous. They're almost poetic. Each kill is like a meticulously choreographed dance. Go watch the fight scenes here.
Which really got me thinking. Would you give up your emotions for control.? Hyper awareness of your actions, your thoughts?
Equilibrium has been compared to The Matrix, which i've never got around to watching.
But I would most likely weigh it against V for Vendetta, Watchmen, The Dark Knight (What do you know! Christian Bale again.) And perhaps Wanted as well, but that's probably because of the multiple "one vs. many" fight scenes.
Another series which i've enjoyed the first season of is Dexter.
There are some similarities between Equilibrium and Dexter. Dexter Morgan is a blood splatter analyst who has no emotions (due to severe childhood trauma).
Although technically there isn't a drug that can eliminate human emotions (yet), that's not really the argument is it?
I suppose the problem is not in the existence of emotions, but rather how people control them.
Random particulates of emotions just constitute to chaos.
This is my favourite character from Dexter, Rudy Cooper.
It is easy to see the perks of being completely devoid of emotions. Everything would be so orderly and symmetrical. People would do just what they were supposed to.
You'd argue that without chaos, there'd be no passion, no vitality. There'd be no life.
But by whose definition of "life" are we living by anyway?
I don't know why all these interesting characters are always male. Maybe females are just brimming with emotions and it'd be odd to give them the depth that comes with being completely emotionless.
(There. I'm done with these psychopathic evaluations on life.)
Back to my Dexter review. Overall it's enjoyable, its appeal lies in it being only 12 episodes long, so its constantly fast paced and exhilarating.
But it can be quite predictable. For example, i knew Rudy was the killer the first time he appeared, it was just too obvious. (I couldn't guess the motive though.)
And there were too many crazy flaws that i spotted. They'd make their characters do things to mislead the audience. But when you look at the bigger picture, they have nothing to do with the plot whatsoever!
And maybe because it is a new series. Some of the acting comes off as a little fake.
This is officially the bloodiest entry ever. I should be a little less morbid, seriously. But betaserver has gone missing and i'm dying (hahaha. pun) to watch season 2 of Dexter.
I won't lie, i have been disturbingly unhappy lately. But instead of driving somebody else completely insane about it, i decided to seek my own therapy. By administering doses of Scrubs.
Unlike my past reactions towards this delightful series, it actually made me feel worse! First of all, J.D. has become some sort of emotional wreck. Thanks a lot, John Dorian pffft. Elliot has become unbearable annoying i just want to wring her neck.
And then, they killed LaVerne! Which was totally unnecessary. It had no functional input whatsoever to the plot and made me cry so loud the neighbours thought i was turning into a werewolf.
COME ON! If i needed a cry-fest i would watch Grey's Anatomy instead.
So on Friday night when i couldn't sleep, i watched The Pianist.
I really hate these Based on True Story films, they are so painful to watch, but you just cannot peel your eyes away because it has perforated you. Letting your every incomprehensible emotion leak out in this slow, agonizing manner.
And you just have to nail your eyes to the screen and pray for it to have a happy ending, even though you know there may never be one.
At the end of the movie i had this shameful, crystallizing moment that i get everytime i watch a Holocaust movie. That i've gotten more out of it than i've ever did in school, or in the community.
It's kind of like Leslie getting his genius out of Wikipedia more than anywhere else.
As if all that torment, tragedy and torturous reminder of mortality wasn't enough, last night i stayed up watching Schindler's List.
Do you know how much world history we acquire from Malaysian schools in the whole 5 years that we are required to take it as a subject?
I don't either. Probably 5 chapters.
Or less.
It bothers me how we can be so perfectly comfortable knowing next to nothing. Doesn't it make you a little disturbed to realize that when you make conversations with people it doesn't deviate from the topics:
a) the weather
b) Gossip Girl
c) disgusting sex jokes
d) your colossal tank full of self-pity.
Although i approve of clever jokes with or without the sexual innuendo har har, it is not funny when there is just this plain lack of interest amongst so many people. Our minds are just so vacant to these things like the past or politics or global distortion of morality or seemingly pandemic stupidity!
Because we think these things are irrelevant. Oh so what if there was a Holocaust, it's not like that;s going to happen to me anytime soon lalaladila.
There was one very disturbing scene in the movie where the German guards played some folksy tune. And all the children sang along and happily got onto trucks to be led away to be gassed. As they passed their parents they waved and shouted happily. This little boy managed to get away and he hid in a pit of shit. There were already a bunch of children in there, they said to him "Go away, this is our hiding place."
But we don't get it. People don't change. Sure, technology advances. We evolutionarily lose our 3rd molars. But human nature will remain as brutal as it has always been. The Bosnian genocide ended in 1995, what not 20 years ago.
It was a long time ago since cavemen ate each other and raped their sisters. But WWII wasn't so far back now was it? Its survivors are still around today, aren't they?
Ralph Fiennes as the big bad wolf in Schindler's List. I KNOW RIGHT? HE'S VOLDEMORT! He was my favourite character in this movie. Not because i liked him, quite the contrary in fact, i hated him. His character at first made me want to gauge his eyes out and feed them to pigeons. But then made me miserable and sympathetic. And then disgusted. And bothered. And trembled with fear. It was quite extraordinary.
Man will always suffer from gluttony, greed, pride, lust, sloth, wrath and envy. We can never be completely immunised from humanity and its discontents. And the worst crime of all is to be ignorant.
