Top Ten of the Decade… Thoughts

Wow. It’s December 31st, 2009. One more year gone by, so many more to go.

I was going to do a series of countdown top ten things in the last decade, but then I realized… I’m only seventeen. Everything I KNOW has happened in the last ten years, and at that point I might as well make a top ten list of my life, which then just seems like a daunting task. Also, I’m about to go out soon, so I don’t really have too much time to write much. At this point I’ll never think up ten goals for 2009. Here’s one.

1. LEARN TO COOK

Yes, I can’t cook. I was suggested kindly to back away from the stove in Grade 8 Cooking by my teacher, since for some strange reason it went on fire when I was around. Also, I may or may not have broken my oven in my house… well, Asians don’t use the oven for much, anyway. But food is something that we need every single day of our lives, and if we’re going to be so dependent on something I would think that knowing how to prepare good healthy meals in a pinch would be a useful skill. New Year’s Resolution: learn to cook ONE THING A MONTH from:

This’ll probably be the first NYR to be broken. I really, really can’t cook…

Here’s my viral video of the year. It’s closely followed by Ninja cat for me. There’s some weird psychological addiction to funny things and cats, because Loldogs is really lame, and even before icanhascheezburger.com, in the early Internet days there was catsthatlooklikehitler.com and stuffonmycats.com. I even kind of hate cats, haha. But mostly because they don’t like me. (Horses and rabbits hate me too…)

And lastly, link of the year for me is

roosterteeth.com

This site has had its beginnings in 2003, featuring weekly episodes, cartoon shirts, merchandise, and the like. Wow, I started watching it when I was eight, I probably had no  idea what was going on yet I still found it hilarious. They primarily make a long-time running series of Halo comedic machinima (“Red vs. Blue”), which is voice-overs to animated Halo characters. I think they’re into their what, 8th season? That’s 240 episodes. Sometime in September, the thought of watching those beginning episodes oh-s0-long ago popped into my mind, and I figured, hey, it’s probably on Youtube, I can just stream everything. So I caught up (that’s a lot of freaking hours in front of the computer screen – guaranteed radioactive cancer in my later life now) and it’s absolutely brilliant comedy. Go watch it if you have 20 hours of nothing ahead of you. (Each episode is about 5 minutes long, lol.) Then watch their RT live shorts. Then watch their Achievement Hunter videos. That site has a lot of humour, and it’s a place where I go to relax and let intelligent nerdy stuff happen. I’m not even a gamer, I still watch all the Achievement games because it’s impressive.

Then when you’re done all that, subscribe to their podcasts. It’s the first and probably only podcast that I’ll ever listen to. It’s like having an intelligent conversation with 5 or 6 guys, but you don’t need to say anything. They talk about pop culture, events in the news, games, yet they turn this every day mundane kind of information into laugh out loud jokes, and if you ever walked up to any of them you’d feel comfortable. It’s just kind of nice because their voices are familiar from watching all the RvB episodes. Wow, I sound like a stalker,  but no, really lots of people listen in to this site. I think they have about 80,000 members on RT.com, or some phenomenal number.

Anyway, I was listening to their podcast and they mentioned another link:

thebeatlesneverbrokeup.com

Which follows closely as my second favorite site of 2009. Burnie mentioned how this guy who visited another universe found out the Beatles were all alive and well, and had another record release, and the guy managed to steal one of the cassette tapes (CDs were not popular in alternate universes apparently) and brought it back. I like the site because it’s so preposterous, but the songs are all new and really do sound like the Beatles. It’s just some digital editing though. Some cover band of the Beatles out there is probably scratching their heads wondering what the hell happened to their tape. Check out the site and its contents.

Happy New Year.

Top Ten of the Decade… Pt. II (Movies of 2009)

Link to Part I (Movies of 2009): http://thelamblog.wordpress.com/2009/12/30/top-ten-of-the-decade-pt-i-movies-of-2009/

3. AVATAR

Okay, I have a lot to say about this movie produced by James Cameron. If you haven’t seen it, you can guess the whole movie in about two seconds after watching the trailer. Avatar is good. I would even go so far as to say very good. If I were a teacher and I had to mark films, I would probably give it a 98%. But just like a teacher, I would mark it only out of effort and time, not on how much I enjoyed the film. Granted, I had a completely wild day and I fell asleep for about 5 minutes, but other than that  I was wide awake for everything else. Stop if you haven’t watched the film yet, because it should be a completely brand new experience and I’m going to touch on some subjects people might consider spoilers.

Good things: Everything about Pandora was fucking incredible. The best part was the nature created. It felt realistic, and the ideas of certain wildlife characteristics which really do exist (such as colourful tones, phosphoroic properties) which has never been incorporated into imaginary creatures was used in Cameron’s movie. The most exciting and inventive part of the animals was the ability to link your minds to the horse or bird you want to be unified with. Great concept.Although I do disagree with one of Cameron’s point – he questioned why do we imagine creatures we recreate today, such as dinosaurs, with dull colours when in the ocean today there’s a huge range of bright vibrant hues on animals? Which is why he made everything in Pandora some crazy rainbow. Well, because land animals aren’t wild colours today for a good reason. Camouflage. Underwater, aquatic warm water creatures are red and orange and yellow because they blend and fade into the blue water or hide in similarly coloured coral. And even then, the vast majority of underwater life isn’t colourful at all. I suppose one could argue with the fact Pandora is one crazy rainbow painted onto trees so they can blend in wherever, though. And from a filmmaker’s point of view, no one wants to see an action packed film with creatures that really do blend into the shadows. Otherwise, the fantastical creatures invented were great. The N’avi people were intriguing.

As for a favorite character of Avatar, I enjoyed the female pilot the most. She looked good with aviator sunglasses, and was blunt. I would have preferred if her mouth had stayed shut for most of her lines, but you can’t win it all. Another good thing about the movie was that not just one or two obvious characters died. As strange as it sounds, I like it when there’s a full cast and some people are killed. Goddamn if there’s some planetary war going on, there better be more than one or two of the good people shot. It gives a sense of realism and tragedy.

The problem that I had with this film has already been pointed out by every other critic. Problem: The big bad war greedy patriots hungry for blood fight against the tribal natives who are nature lovers and the guy originally a militant decides to switch sides after he lives with the N’avi as an undercover “avatar” and falls in love with the female blue thing, Neytiri. Problem: Sam Worthington is a really bad actor. Problem: Everyone other than the N’avi had terribly cheesy lines. Jake Sully as the main hero was such a flat, static character with  brief, tactum and uninspiring lines.

I had some issues even before I watched the movie. When I heard that Cameron had hired linguists to create a whole new language for the natives, I already had some misgivings. This was confirmed when I heard that he made this whole new dialect and planet to start a cult movement, kind of like Star Trek and Lord of the Rings. To me, that seems ridiculous. Tolkien didn’t start a language purely for the sake of pushing a cult for the masses, he created it to fill out his writing to the furthest he could. Also, starting the wave moment of Avatar is playing right into the mainstream media. If you honestly love something so much you fucking learn the language, there better be a lifelong series to continue expanding the world, because I didn’t learn enough in those 3 hours about a whole new planet. You look at LOTR and the book series, and there’s about 18 of them, with more Tolkien supplements to really enrich the history. You don’t go into media thinking, “I want to start a cult.” That follows naturally after a great fictional world is cultivated, and people want to emulate your (lengthy)work. That’s another thing that makes me wonder. Will Avatar have sequels? Because I truly believe that it shouldn’t. Humans against nature is one big story already – it will never pull off a better follow-up. It didn’t even leave room for a second Avatar in the plot ending. Let me guess. Since gun wielding humans versus tribal nature has been checked off the list, I’m thinking the sequel will be about tribe versus tribe, or some external terrible strike of nature versus society. Not saying that there probably will be one – I don’t think Cameron will do one either – it’s just then this future “cult” of Avatar isn’t going to do so well. Learn the language, grow ten feet, paint your face and squash your nose… then what?

Nothing bad I wanted to point out now, it’s just interesting how similar the release of Titanic was to Avatar. Initially, people were intrigued and excited about this great new movie that would revolutionalize filmmaking by this great director who spent the most money ever made on production (each time!). Then, when the trailer was released, people were really put off and complained about this and that. (I, for one, was pissed about the Avatar trailer after hearing so much about it. It looked trashy.) Then when the actual movie came out, it becomes one of the biggest box office movies of all time, earning Cameron the amazing credit of back-to-back highest grossing films of all time. It opened with a$232 million worldwide release in the first weekend, and did not decrease by much in the second weekend (usually films drop about around 35-50% in the following week). It’s the film that people have to see in theatres, in 3-D, and everyone can say that it’s “good’. Another common (kind of trivial) feature between this and Titanic is the music. Watch the movie when it’s released on DVD (or watch it a second time in theatres), and you’ll almost hear “My Heart Will Go On” at each crescendo. I swear.

I think my personal problem was that I went in with everyone telling me it was the film of the decade, it was the best film they’ve ever seen in their entire life, it was just as if “Star Wars” was released for the first time, it had that much of an impact on them. On Youtube, I probably watched 4 or 5 videos where Cameron discusses his movie, and read about 3 different news articles claiming it was the revolution. Just in that, I instantly mentally rebelled against the majority – it’s a reflex reaction. I had obnoxiously high expectations when I walked into the theatre. Let me tell you this. It was classic Freytag’s pyramid. Problem – problem getting solved – tables turn – truth comes out – war – everything looks bad – then by deux ex machina, happy ending. Dan Brown could have written the outline. I had also heard a lot about this new camera that Cameron had to get specially created for this film, which is some motion blur in 3D when panning out or in on screen. It wasn’t really impressive – he definitely could have gotten away with not using it at all and sticking to normal 3D. But I guess he wanted to set another record breaker and add some shock value to his movie release.

Take away the CGI, the beautiful world of Pandora, and you have another “Die Hard” release. Gag. But then, you have to honestly commemorate Cameron’s work. He spent a decade and something like $500 million (no one knows the real cost of production since they won’t announce it, but this is my guess), hired every scientist on this earth, dreamt up the N’avi people, and had a completely CGI world. Spoiler (highlight): I actually laughed out loud when Grace had her mask on and was dying on Pandora, just because her actual face looked so at odds with the CGI around. And computer generated expressions was basically perfected in this movie, a never before seen milestone. Cameron ALMOST made it his life’s work. I would feel more comforted if he hadn’t produced Titanic as well, or if some other guy produced Avatar. Kind of childish, but it would feel more as if the producer had put his whole life and soul into it. Not saying that he didn’t, but to me now, it just feels like he was gunning for the top film.

Was it my favorite film? No. (It’s number 3 for 2009, and probably a lot lower down on my list on all time favorites.) Would it be higher on my list if I had heard zero hype about Avatar? Probably, but it still would not be number one. I can’t stand bad lines nor flawless endings in major productions, which is basically a given in big theatrical releases. Ugh, I shivered just thinking about it. Also, the damn 3D glasses were too big. That’s kind of my fault, though. I need a bigger head, or wider set ears. About every 10 minutes I alternated between having them on or off. I guess it’s really high up on my list because I just really liked the wildlife of Pandora. And that hot pilot.

Wow, I got really worked up. If you’re still reading this, kudos to you. Here are my top two flick picks of 2009:

2: UP

Pixar NEVER fails to disappoint me. What really got me was the innocence, sweetness, and pure simple beauty of everything. Pixar originally had planned to make two movies: one about talking dogs and one about a balloon floating house. They decided to mash them together, and with this unlikely pairing they made a masterpiece. Animation of course, is flawless. The ending is cute, and I’m a sucker for dogs. The old man sealed the deal for me as a favorite.

1. STAR TREK

Loved this movie to death. It succicently summed up the best of the original series without pushin the envelope, plot was fast paced and full of action, and gave a good final release for fans who had packed away their Spock ears and just wanted to see something fresh being remade. The classic famous lines could have been completely messed up, but was perfect. Things like “Beam me up, Scotty” weren’t overdone, just with a small smirk and confidence. (I still remember an interview with Daniel Craig on how to say “The name’s Bond. James Bond.” without fucking it up for the fans. He had to take that shot like a hundred times to get it right.) Great theatrical release, and since I have a Blu-ray version on my computer, the quality is incredible. Live long and prosper.

//

//

//

Top Ten of the Decade…. PT.I (Movies of 2009)

Phew it’s cold! I’m wearing mittens as I type this. So I’m hearing everywhere top ten countdown lists of the decade, and I felt like making a few for myself. The “Noughties” was one hell of a decade, and you only mature once, I suppose.

LAMBLOG’S TOP TEN MOVIES OF 2009

Okay, FAIL for this list, because all the movies that I’ve ever seen that I can clearly remember are in the last ten years of my life. So I’m just choosing movies from 2009 that look a) potentially amazing but I haven’t seen, b) movies that I’ve watched and loved, c) movies that have been raved about and I know a little of, and I plan on watching it.2009 was a wonderful year for movie releases, unfortunately I’m not a big movie-watcher (Honsetly? 10 dollars for sitting in a theatre could have gotten me food) so I’m probably missing out on some things. But anyway, my blog, my lame lists.

10. INVICTUS

I haven’t seen this movie, but so far it’s competing and doing quite well in the box office for this winter season, considering it’s competing against some real box office breakers. The movie is about one of my personal heroes played by the most obvious actor – Morgan Freeman is Nelson Mandela in his first year of presidency in South Africa, who pushes a rugby team to win the World Cup while he struggles with everything else in his country. I’ve heard nothing but good, and I do plan on watching it – the trailer looks a bit unoriginal but the plotline is intriguing.

9. SHERLOCK HOLMES

This is purely on my list because it’s simply Sherlock Holmes, and Sir Conan Doyle is my favourite author. I love mysteries, I love Watson and his humble manner, and the style of writing really sticks for me. As for the movie, my friends all thoroughly enjoyed Jude Law’s performance and urged me to go watch as well, though I have to say the trailer has given me the impression that Holmes is some daredevil, thrill seeking reckless man, which was never my initial impression of such an intelligent, aloof detective. But again, this is Hollywood, and the director may have just taken things from a different angle. On my list for “To Be Watched” as well.

8. PARANORMAL ACTIVITY

Okay, I will have stones thrown at me for this one. I’m also being a kind of hypocrite because I thought it was a terrible movie at some point, I’ve only changed my mind recently. The first time I watched it on my computer, it was late at night, the lights were turned off, and I was by myself. It scared the shit out of me! Some people say nothing happened at all, which is kind of true, but after some reflection I’ve decided that was almost the point of the movie – we don’t need to be shown everything to be frightened of – it’s the unknown that is the fear factor. I’m given the impression that those who call the movie’s downfalls really don’t have an imagination and are trying to downplay it. It might have also been something to do with the way it was released which caused a lot of verbal backlash. (I’ll get on that subject later again.) Overall, it was extremely well done considering everything. It’s a true horror movie. *This is a bit of a cheat since it was released in 2007. Sorry!

7. FANTASTIC MR. FOX

My boyfriend has raved about this movie, and he’s going for the third time with me after New Year’s. Fantastic Mr. Fox is a Wes Anderson catroon film (The Ten Tenenbaums) about the growing of a poor fox who decides to steal from the three biggest farmers to take himself out of poverty, while the farmers plot against the fox family and all the creatures. It’s spontaneous, fun, and if it’s funny enough to make my boyfriend laugh a lot (he only chuckles under his breath most of the time), it’s a must see. Also seemingly running under the radar for 2009 films. *Also, credit goes to this film for being wildly popular while having almost zero advertising that I’ve seen. This is the first time I’ve even seen the movie poster -so far it’s only been passed around by word to my ears.

6. AWAY WE GO

This is, to me, a pure. light-hearted summer flick. The comedy is about a a couple who move around through the country, trying to find a place to live with their new baby, and they encounter some strange people and wonder what is wrong with the world. It’s nothing poignant or intellectually satisfying, but you’ll definitely laugh. Nothing fancy – there are no famous actors carrying this title, nor is the director part of some major corporations – it was perfect for me. I kind of despise blockbuster films unless they have an honest, truthful yet fun feel and there aren’t people screaming about how wonderful that film is. This was it for me.

5. EARTH

Another big hit for me. Anything involving the wildlife is an automatic “like”. Disney’s “Earth” is a full length documentary adapted from BBC’s Planet Earth, following the migration of several different families. You have to give credit to wildlife filmmakers – they have the most difficult job in the world. I remember watching one of the episodes of Planet Earth, where a man had to sit camoflauged in some giant nest for 140 hours straight, just to get a a two minute clip of some exotic rare bird doing a mating dance. The shot was fantastic, but what benefit does the filmer make from sitting curled up like a pretzel for a week straight? Nothing, other than the gratitude of the viewers at home snuggled on their couch. Amazing, dedicated hard work always goes into filming nature, and that’s why this movie could solely be on my list just for the amount of effort put into it.

4. 500 DAYS OF SUMMER

This is a long post! I’ll post the top three movies of 2009 in a separate one because I can already imagine an essay on one of them. The first time I watched it, I was in love with the indie feel. “This it not a love story; it is a story about love.” Such a true line. It’s about a man who believes he finds “The One” – a beautiful, commitment-phobic Summer, and they undergo a series of fights, laughs and deep talks. I’m always pleasantly surprised when the movie doesn’t run in a linear sequence – they jumped around between different periods in the 500 days. Fun things like a musical sequence after Tom had gotten laid really got me laughing, and the music track was fantastic – it ran flush with the emotions felt in every moment. I even have the soundtrack on a separate playlist that I listen to all the time. The best part of the movie was the ending, which I had disagreed with but brought up a lot of good discussion between people – something that all movies should do, which is to evoke a good heartfelt conversation (or argument, whichever is your fighting style.)

Part two will be up soon, and I plan on having a few more real “Top Tens” of the decades later on as well.

-thelamblog

trying to go to sleep but miserably failing

Hello, hello. Christmas is over and done. I went to my cousin’s place and she finally gave me a little disc of photographs, snapshots of Venice from the late summer. I flicked through them quickly and stopped. The photographs themselves were nice, but weren’t anything to look at. I suppose once you touch a DSLR, there isn’t any going back. The photos didn’t capture the moments the way I had envisaged, and I remember dearly how painful it was to realize we only had one point and shoot camera between the three of us and no charger for a five day trip. They didn’t seem to be bothered like I was, though. So I wrote down everything in a small notebook so I wouldn’t forget my trip.

***day one***

Arrival at airport. Old, not as pretty. Took airport transfer to Roma Station, missed our train while eating a sandwich and playing cards. Caught another train. Saw a lot of graffiti, very intriguing. Fell asleep, was basically passed out. Woke up in Bologna, and was startled because I didn’t know where I was.

Arrived in Venice, found our bed and breakfast. Went out exploring for a place to eat. Noticed a poster for a concert, plans to go. Found a small restaurant, ordered beer, water, gnocchi, pizza, ham. Bread was fresh and flaky. Ham was high quality. Cheese was savory. Great dinner. Saw many many dogs. Vaporettos were fun. Waterfront views! Went back to hotel, slept. Woke up in time to get to the concert. In a church with seven paintings lining the walls, concert was incredible. Vivaldi, Mozart, Hyden. Walked back, got gelatos on the way, ate raspberry. Delicious. Crossed the Rialto Bridge. Went back to bed and breakfast to sleep. First day of Venice – complete!

***end***

As I said in my notes, the graffiti was incredible. Trains are one of the major transportation links to the rest of Europe, of course, so there was endless expanses of blank canvasses for gangs to spraypaint their tags repeatedly for an infinite number. I noticed progression of sloppy, quick signatures near the busy stations, and as the walls moved further away from public areas the vandalism artwork grew to such a cresendo that it suddenly becomes an explosion of colours detailled in every stroke,vivid masterpieces which had no place in the high and mighty religious country of Italy, provocative and fresh.

Vandalism is an important part of society, even though many believe it’s a nuisance (Well, it’s both really.) The presence of something so deep and everlasting written on public buildings was an act perfected back in Ancient Greek, when teenagers scratched in philosophy, lewd comments, and political activism on the facades of huildings, today helping fuel our debates of modern knowledge. I may be totally ignorant of whatever Italian gangs do, but I would be heartbroken to see the miles and miles of graffiti taken down by the government if that were to ever happen.

Tourist pictures don't do Venice justice

I also wanted to mention the Rialto Bridge. My dad is an architect, and once he gave me a giant encyclopedia of famous buildings and structures in the world. I loved that book. It contained every place I ever wanted to visit when I grew up. And one of the articles featured the Rialto Bridge – one of only 3 (soon to be 4) bridges that traverse the Canal, the largest, longest major waterway of Venice. The white free standing arch with hundreds of people crowded on it perpetually fascinated me. Once it was thinner and made of wood, but in the 1400s it collapsed underneath a fire and had to be rebuilt. Now it’s a massive thing, with tourist shops built right along  the middle and a beautiful view of the hundreds of restaurants. I loved how my hotel was located not five minutes away from the Rialto (something I had not been expecting) and I got to see it every day and every night. It was my landmark, my comfort of the trip. (Gelato was side comfort as well.)

Oh, I’m starting up my “___ of the Day” stringaling again, just like the olden days. Only this time, it’ll only be quotes. And you really need sink into each word or else it’ll just sound morbid – that’s the last interpretation that I want to leave on someone.

Quote of the Day:

CHORUS: Why do you cry out thus, unless at some vision of horror?

CASSANDRA: The house reeks of death and dripping blood.

CHORUS: How so? ‘Tis but the odour of the altar sacrifice.

CASSANDRA: The stench is like a breath from the tomb.

Aeschylus Agamenmnom

No I'm not rotating the image. I like it this way.

Canon Vs. Nikon: FACEOFF, oh and Happy Holidays!

Firstly I just wanted to wish everyone a happy holiday and Merry Christmas to you and your family, I wish everyone the best.

I don’t normally do Christmas presents to myself, but this year is different. This year, I upgraded from a boring old Nikon D90 to:

Tada! A beautiful Canon EOS 40D DSLR! What a delicious name to say. Actually, I’ve had the camera for two weeks, but I’ve been preoccupied with school, Christmas shopping, and snowboarding, so now I can finally write down a little something something about how I feel from changing brand names. It’s the photographer that really counts, of course – no lens or body or camera equipment can do that magic of capturing the emotions in a photograph other than yourself. But it’s fun to shop big and it definitely doesn’t hurt.

Things for me to get for my new baby:

1)A CF CARD… OMGWTFBBQ
2) Lowepro Rezo 140 AW camera bag
2) Sigma 18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 DC OS for Canon
3) A tripod!

So let’s see. What were my initial thoughts to this Canon?

INITIAL THOUGHTS
1) It’s big. Bigger than expected. Not to play into the old adage, but bigger is better. It just feels much more solid in your hands. Granted I’ll probably develop carpal tunnel syndrome in my early 30s, but it’s worth the lifelong pain for a few years of photography fun.

2) WTF HOW DO I OPERATE THIS SHIT? *Google*

3) Okay. Everything makes sense, and everything is much more detailed than I expected. Nikon is in my humble and limited opinion, very straightfoward. Nikon has one dial in front, one dial in back for the two most important things: aperture and shutterspeed. With the Canon, you have to turn a wheely thing on the backside to change the aperture. What? White balance is also a huge pain in the arse, because you can’t change the temperature immediately, you literally have to go through the menu to find it and change it.

4) Haha, there’s a joystick. Wtf kind of fun but a little strange for me.

5) Changing the focus point are pretty shifty- that and the WB is the worst thing so far about Canon. They could not have made it any less convenient, I swear. You have to find a little button at the top, click it, and rotate the wheel to the point that you want it.

6) Nikon seems to be a bit basic now. There are a hundred other little buttons on Canon that I have yet to make use of, that were nonexistent on the D90.

COMPARE AND CONTRAST:

Well, all that talk is good and all, but it really boils down to what each camera can take. So here’s the same subject with the two different cameras and a little festivity added on:

Merry Christmas to All!

Taken with a D90, versus:

Happy Holidays!

What do you prefer? Neither are fantastic, which is why I need to keep going out to shoot something better, but it’s a quick and easy comparison. The bokeh looks much nicer with the Canon, but I had real problems getting the focus right. It took a lot of shots and that’s not completely in focus anyway.

Sorry for another abrupt ending but I’m getting exhausted! Signing out now,

thelamblog

//

EDIT: Just thought I’d mention that the Canon photo on my deviantart account is winning by miles in terms of popularity. Whuut?

//

Futureme.org

My usual morning routine consists of checking my email while brushing my teeth (very attractive, yes I do know that) and I was surprised to see an email from a grade ten student I vaguely remember.

******

dear future andrea,

hi. whats up. if you still use this same email, then you’ll get this christmas eve again, just like the last one. its funny getting this email because its like hearing from a long lost friend that you didnt remember until the moment you open the email, and then you miss that friend so badly it hurts. are you still going out with evan? … STILL watch csi? leave your circle of friends or did you stay loyal to the end? is oscar, birds, family alright? nothing traumatic happen yet, right?oh my goodness when you get this you’ll be in grade 12! decided what university to go to yet? picked up dance, just like we’ve always wanted to? have you crashed and burned yet? im just waiting for the moment i break down, so i can laugh at myself for pushing myself all the way. inherited tania’s new laptop yet? laughed at yourself for loving bleach so much? managed to complete one of those top 20 NOW things to do before i die list? thats a good thing to mention. i’ll send it to you, i mean me, for future reference.

1.    Go cage diving with sharks and hand-feed them
2.    Dive in the Great Barrier Reef
3.    Work in a tiger sanctuary in Thailand
4.    Work as a firefighter
5.    Go dog-sledding in Alaska
6.    Travel to every single big city that I can think of
7.    Move to New York for a year
8.    Travel to outer space
9.    Visit a third world country
10.    Bungee Jumping
11.    Ride a hot air balloon
12.    Go white-water rafting
13.    Go hang-gliding
14.    Learn to surf
15.    Ride a go-kart down a highway
16.    Make a chocolate sculpture
17.    Ride a snowmobile
18.    Fly a plane
19.    Run up a wall and do a back flip
20.    Practice at Ryokou extreme martial arts

man, i love how weird and stupid and unrealistic this’ll sound in grade 12. or maybe not! maybe i’ll never ever change. oh, are you editor of yearbook yet? i hope you are, but i dont think you can handle it the way i am now. i better change (for the better, mind). have you discovered your talent yet? because right now, i dont have any to pass onto you. oo if your still with evan, what idd you give him for xmas? i mean, this year sucked, i just painted him that picture of a tiger and framed it. I LOVE YOU! hope you have a job right now! …. alligatogodiymasu!

andrea (the little one), grade 10

****

Weird, hey? I’m going to write another one to myself for second year university. Just wait, I’ll be so incredibly surprised to see an email from my 17 year old self. It’s quick, fun, and kind of unpredictable. Don’t write unless you have something important to say – you don’t want to sound like an idiot to yourself. That’s never reassuring.

Merry Christmas to all,

Andrea

dear future andrea, (top dog)

hi. whats up. if you still use this same email, then you'll get this christmas eve again, just like the last one. its funny getting this email because its like hearing from a long lost friend that you didnt remember until the moment you open the email, and then you miss that friend so badly it hurts. are you still going out with evan? done it yet? gotten a kiss from someone else? STILL watch csi? leave your circle of friends or did you stay loyal to the end? is oscar, birds, family alright? nothing traumatic happen yet, right? lose your amazing streak of straight As? oh my goodness when you get this you'll be in grade 12! decided what university to go to yet? picked up dance, just like we've always wanted to? have you crashed and burned yet? im just waiting for the moment i break down, so i can laugh at myself for pushing myself all the way. inherited tania's new laptop yet? laughed at yourself for loving bleach so much? managed to complete one of those top 20 NOW things to do
before i die list? thats a good thing to mention. i'll send it to you, i mean me, for future reference.
1.	Go cage diving with sharks and hand-feed them
2.	Dive in the Great Barrier Reef
3.	Work in a tiger sanctuary in Thailand
4.	Work as a firefighter
5.	Go dog-sledding in Alaska
6.	Travel to every single big city that I can think of
7.	Move to New York for a year
8.	Travel to outer space
9.	Visit a third world country
10.	Bungee Jumping
11.	Ride a hot air balloon
12.	Go white-water rafting
13.	Go hang-gliding
14.	Learn to surf
15.	Ride a go-kart down a highway
16.	Make a chocolate sculpture
17.	Ride a snowmobile
18.	Fly a plane
19.	Run up a wall and do a back flip
20.	Practice at Ryokou extreme martial arts

man, i love how weird and stupid and unrealistic this'll sound in grade 12. or maybe not! maybe i'll never ever change. oh, are you editor of yearbook yet? i hope you are, but i dont think you can handle it the way i am now. i better change (for the better, mind). have you discovered your talent yet? because right now, i dont have any to pass onto you. oo if your still with evan, what idd you give him for xmas? i mean, this year sucked, i just painted him that picture of a tiger and framed it. I LOVE YOU! hope you have a job right now! hope you made a hundred million friends! if not, i'm always here for you. always fight until you drop. alligatogodiymasu!

andrea (the little one), grade 10

Being grateful for everything

This is for my cousin, Jeff Ma.

I went to VGH yesterday to visit Jeff in his room. He’s my older cousin, who’s a total computer whiz, fellow foodie, and incredibly easy going guy. He knows everything about everything, from the best TV shows recently released on DVD to the cheapest deals online. I call Jeff my uber Googler – he can find anything I ask him to search for, no matter how obscure. Jeff takes everything in stride and just makes life seem so simple. He took me to my first Indian food (Maurya’s… drool) and my first time to True Confections (major drool) and is one great conversationalist. He lent me some of the best books (because his collection of DVDs, music, and literature is massive) that I’ve ever read, including the Dresden Files and Ender’s Game. Whenever I’m in a conversation with Jeff, there’s always something new to learn. His expansive vocabulary and ability to describe and articulate words is something I hope to acquire through practice.

Jeff’s conversation skills weren’t even hampered by his long stay at VGH for a leukemia relapse, a cancer that has plagued him twice before in his younger years. No matter how much chemotherapy or his recent bone marrow transplant surgery has taken out of him, he’s still got the energy to smile, show me the latest books he’s reading (Stephen King “Under the Dome”) , and the new Amazon Kindle he got as a present.

Jeff’s nonchalant attitude of “been there, done that” and factual take on his cancer really blew my mind. We talked about how yesterday was the first time he had managed to swallow real food (a tiny tender burger) without it hurting his throat like hell for weeks. A bag of white liquidized subsistence hung from the IV hooks had been feeding him intravenously. And he was grateful for the fact that he could finally lie down on his back and sleep, because for a while he could only sit up since if he tilted back, a gag reflex would kick in. (Excess saliva was a side effect of his medication.) For almost 10 days straight he only got an hour of sleep a night in the armchair.

As our conversation winded down, I glanced out his window. He was on the 15th floor of the Jim Pattison wing, which meant he had a million dollar view of the city of Vancouver. But Jeff laughed when I mentioned this to him. “I’d much rather have no windows and be at home with my dog than have this view people would kill for,” he said. I could see that easily. Nurses were always walking in and out, needed to get samples of everything, and the sterile and monotone feel of the hospital could drive anyone crazy.

It really makes you wonder about what makes you happy. I could preach about how this made me grateful for life and how you should be grateful for the clothes on your back. But it seems like reading about an experience like this never really shows the true thankfulness of the moment. You kind of have to experience some kind of heart-breaking calamity to really see the flaws of everything today, and wonder how we even get by in our daily lives.

Much love for my Jeff goh, who always teaches me more than I would ever expect every time.

Brown paper packages all tied up with string

…And if you don’t know where the title comes from you’ve been deprived of your basic movie needs.

I just kind of felt like getting down a few of my favorite things onto somewhere concrete. Here’s a viral video that’s being watched by everyone it seems like:

Probably one of the cutest little fellas out there. He looks exactly like my cousin Jordan when he was younger. D’awww!

Also, I’m getting a Canon camera soon. A friend is upgrading his equipment and wants to get rid of his EOS 40D for a great price, so I took up the offer. And on top of that, I’m getting my favorite 50mm lens from another guy who doesn’t find it particularly useful. (Gasp!)

Ain’t that a beauty? I know, I used to rant about how Canons were the worst. I still don’t think they’re the best. They don’t look particularly attractive either. But a camera is a camera, and I can adjust. I know it. I have to. 40D is a great camera according to the specs I’ve read up. It’ll be fine.

One last thing that makes me smile. Does anyone know a store that sells these?

These are so incredibly dorky! And they’re so incredibly practical! They’re USB MITTENS! What you do is you stick them on your digits, and plug in the USB cable into your laptop. A heating pad inside warms up an extra 10 degrees to always keep your fingers toasty. Nowadays I drag my fatass greying laptop everywhere, so when I sit in Starbucks for any length of time, my hands eventually become so numb they might as well fall off. And I don’t like those itty bitty instant heat packs – they only last for a few hours and they’re not incredibly warm. I want this. I’d be the hit of any party with these gloves.

I’m going to now, it hurts to sit for too long because earlier today I had not one, not two, but THREE spectacular wipeouts on the icy sidewalk. It was gorgeous. I was proud of myself. I even went ahead and slipped in front of everyone coming out of the Oakridge Canada Line station and all the holiday shoppers. Win!

SOMEONE STOP MILEY’S EXISTENCE

Okay, I’ll admit it. There’s something weirdly intoxicating about the Family Channel and the new Disney. If you walk into the Disney store, the giant screen replaying ads for various shows will be shown somewhere. And unless you are a robot indifferent to things in general, you’ll be magically drawn and made to stare mindlessly at the bright colorful screen. At some point (usually past the 5 minute mark) you’ll realize you’re standing next to  a horde of little children, and remember that you have other things to do and back away from the hypnotic scene. I think my sister and I were watching the Jonas Brothers World Tour commercial for ages in Metrotown before I clued in to reality and dragged both of us away. I can’t even stand them – it was just oddly fascinating to watch.

Then.. you factor in Miley and “Party In the USA”.

Just the thought almost renders me speechless but nevertheless I’ll keep plugging away. I didn’t even know this song existed until someone mentioned how hot they thought she looked in the video. Me being the avid Googler, of course I had to search it up. I didn’t even find it particularly catchy – I was just frightened at how suggestive it was. I expected after that video release, the LG population would literally explode exponentially. But that’s the furthest my mind could comprehend. I brushed it off as another strange MV that would come and go.

Then my friends began singing it. Endlessly.

After enduring two months of this, I willingly punch anyone who dares to even mention the title. If a teacher mentioned it? WHAM. One of those electric toothbrushes that play Disney songs as you brush? POW. If Christmas was an inanimate object and started to sing “Party in the USA”? I would punch Christmas in the face and ruin the holidays for billions of children.

“So what?” you might ask. “She’s in booty shorts and not even doing that much!” Well, she’s supposed to be a ROLE model for tens of thousands of millions of little wee girls who are already disillusioned with models and Barbie dolls and whatnot. Granted, I had already thought Hannah Montana was a selfish, spoiled, inconsiderate, obsequious, self-absorbed, whiny brat who was the epitome of a rich American daughter – but at least there was some idea of learning morals in the show. In fact, I think Disney hit a gold mine when toying with the idea of a dual life.

But now, with her “hips moving like that” and swinging in a cage eerily similar to Lindsay Lohan’s video Rumors, she’s just brought a whole new level of what’s appropriate to every 10 year old out there. Can you imagine if you had a little daughter who parroted Miley’s dance moves? What about those backup dancers with torn shirts and mini skirts? It seems like the lyrics are all about being modest just to counteract how much smut there is. And ugh. A hot chick dancing in front of a huge United States flag. How patriotic. Does that flag representing good-all whole hearted America justify her sluttiness?

And what is up with the huge response to this video? Fifty million views on Youtube is not appropriate. That means fifty million pairs of eyes out there are either bleeding or are dilated with fascination. People are now singing it loudly in hallways “as a joke”. Well, I punch them in the face and laugh, so I guess it’s kind of funny. But someone, some saviour or the Chosen one, shall one day take Miley Cyrus down. Her song annihilates humanity and all conscienceness. Her presence destroys the mesh of reality of this world and if her work is continued, an apocalyptic end will be ensured. (2012 anyone?) The freaky addiction that runs through so many veins of human beings in this universe must be purged immediately or else it will spread like a virus. SOMEONE STOP MILEY CYRUS NOW!

I know for those of you who agree with me, I’m doing the issue a bad service. I should just close my eyes to it and ignore the horrors out there, and it’ll go away. But the last straw came when my friends started to sing the song online to me. There has to be a limit somewhere.

VANCOUVER AND SNOW

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOGMOMG It’s snowing. Sorry to turn all fangirl here, but I’m completely and irrevocably in love with snow. Its purity, the cleanliness, the fresh smell, the numbing taste, the gentleness, the way it blankets the whole world in as a unity…

I can’t understand why people don’t like snow. “Too cold,” they say. Wear more clothes. “Too wet,” they say. That’s what she said. “Too hard to drive in,” they say. Don’t fight nature; go with the flow of it. Enjoy the blessing that comes to you only in certain circumstances, and treat this as a holiday gift. After all, it seems like the winter holidays wouldn’t be complete with the fresh powder.

Unfortunately, the weather report claims that the lightest of light snows will stop soon. Why? *pouts* We’re even going to have a rainy Christmas, which is incredibly lame. To quote Calvin and Hobbes – “So close… and yet so far…” when he prays for snow and instead rain comes pelting down. Why oh why are we refused a white Christmas in Vancouver?

So I’m going to get back to cramming for my last exam on Wednesday and then I’ll write down some of the crazy shit that went down this week.

Lamblog