Neil Blomkamp on Aliens

Those of you who know me, know I love the movie District 9. Well, Neil Blomkamp, the director of this wonderful movie, recently gave a TED talk. He spoke on Alien life in the real world, and I found it fascinating.

Check it out



An for those of you who haven't heard of TED, or seen District 9, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU. WHY ARE YOU NOT WATCHING IT RIGHT NOW?

Twilight Rant #1

It is a wonderment to me how the literary community honors and respects those that do not deserve it. Particularly one genre really angers me, the shitty vampire romance. I am speaking, of course, about the Twilight craze that has swept the nation. I honestly don’t understand why so many love it. Let’s put aside the obviously bad writing style and complete lack or grammar for a minute (did she even have an editor?). Instead, let’s focus on the subject matter.

For some reason, we have gotten it into our head that vampires are a sexy “other” that humans aspire to be. Yes, they reach out to the need for immortality in our present powers, and preserving the body in young and healthy ways. It is a pleasing concept, to think of the knowledge you could possess, all for giving up solid food and sunlight. But it is a lie. Vampires, for all their appeal, are monsters. As inhuman as the zombies or sea-monsters that terrify our nightmares.

Vampires are terrible beings that feed on life force. The monster that has risen above all the rest to become the king. The most brutal and destructive creatures; the most powerful force for corruption that exists in our myths. But I see the market flooded with passionate romance between vampires and humans, when they should be looking at their next meal. There’s nothing sexy about it.

Beyond that, there is the like of the romance itself. Set up as a romance, it is nothing short of an abusive relationship. Don’t believe me? Check the figures: Twilight

With the onset of people like Anne Rice and Stephanie Myer, vampires are becoming a joke. If you want my opinion, there are a few books a tales out there that correctly portray how vampires should be considered. As monsters of terror. They are few a far between in this saturated market of sap, but I believe I have found the most relevant. Let me tell you what you should be reading if you value horror as I do.

1) Dracula- Bram Stoker (obviously)
2) The Historian – Elizabeth Kostova
3) 30 days of Night (comic) – Steve Niles/ Ben Templesmith
4) I am Legend – Richard Matheson
5) The Strain – Chuck Hogan, Guillermo del Toro
6) Salem’s Lot – Stephen King
7) Hellsing (manga) – Kihoto Hirano

I’m sure there are others out there, but I have yet to find them.

Manga Lecture #1

I suppose that I should examine a little of the basics of manga, as a lot of people don’t have a proper understanding of what It means and what it represents. I give a lecture on this all the time, for both conventions and for classrooms, so I’ll be expanding on this. This will be the first of a series of posts on this subject, since the entire lecture can cover an hour and a half.

A word of warning though. Many of the manga I will be mentioning and recommending are mature in nature. These will be marked with an *.

But let’s jump right into it.

So what is manga, exactly? Manga, for all of you who don’t know, is a form of comics originating from Japan. The characters, 漫画, are literally translated as “whimsical pictures.” But though they originated from Japan, this style has spread around the world, and now comics produced in the manga style are found worldwide, with concentrations in Eastern Asia, and more and more frequently, the United States.

The origin of this form is the Second World War. While the origin of the style has roots in ancient Japan, it first blossomed after the end of Japan’s surrender. After the war, the country had been thrown into a depression. With the lack of money, Japan had to sacrifice a great deal so that life could go on. Entertainment was sacrificed in order to feed families.

But entertainment is necessary in a depression, to allow the population an escape for a while from the hardships of life. For this reason, a four panel comic, read right to left, and top to bottom, was created. It was dubbed manga, and it was a comic centered around the four panel joke. Panel #1: Introduction, Panel #2 : Set Up, Panel #3: Set Up, and Panel #4: Punchline. This continued for a while, but soon stagnated, (much like how the print comics in the Sunday newspapers stagnated).

It was not until a certain Artist came along that this model was challenged. Osamu Tezuka, nicknamed the Father of Manga, did not create manga, but changed the model that manga used. Tezuka realized that comics were not just a small spot to tell jokes, but could be used in a wider context, to tell a larger story. Many of the techniques still seen today were first thought of by this man.

He created what is known as dynamic storytelling, a style where the panels are not just flat squares, but slashed and angled to give meaning to the movement in the panel. In other words, if someone was falling, the panel might be angled downward, or if someone was driving, the panel might be stretched horizontally.

There are many other authors that contributed to this style, but that’s a post for another time.

To Be Continued...

New Blog, Same Blog

I've created a new blog for class, called OverstuffedBookshelves. Most of the posts from there will also be put here, because I don't know how long the blog will be active after the class ends.

Just a word of warning if some things seem off in some of the upcoming blogs.

Neurosis

I believe I am slowly losing my mind. Must...Keep...Going...Two...Weeks...Left...Nine...Papers...Due...

Will be back before long, but for now. My life is slowly dissolving around my ears.

Whilwind of EVERYTHING

I’m taking time out of my incredibly busy day to write this, because if I don’t take a break from academic writing I believe I just might lose my mind, and then I’d have to go catch it, and stuff it in my head again….well, it’d just take too much time. So here we are.

Been an awesome time for me. Unfortunately, awesome in this case means my head nearly exploded a few times in there trying to juggle everything.

Step 1) GRE
Step 2) PAPERS PAPERS PAPERS PAPERS PAPERS
Step 3) GROUPS
Step 4) HEAD EXPLODY
Step 5) ????????????
Step 6) Profit!

I swear, every time I think I’m done, someone manages to hit me with another 15 things while I wasn’t paying attention. But enough of my whining, right?
So not much is actually happening, though my schedule wouldn’t suggest it. Things are busier than ever, but I don’t mind. Well, except for the not being able to write creatively, but still…

Sugoi-con was a blast as always, had a lot of fun with everybody. I’m sure you can find pictures online somewhere (I forgot my camera). Nerdded it up with everyone, and went a little crazy. But it was crazy awesome.

::WARNING: POLITICAL OPINION AHEAD::

The house passed a bill for Healthcare reform, but it probably won’t get through the senate because of filibuster. Nice try though. I wish we’d just get to reforming the system already. I’m all for a public option, but that’s going to be an uphill battle, and we need pre-existing conditions to disappear, as well as the tort reform.

But the opposition is rather…vocal…about their objection, and some silly people actually began believing that they represent the whole of America….

::END POLITICAL OPINION::

OH. Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson came out with a book. The first part of A Memory of Light, The Gathering Storm came out a couple of weeks ago, and I finally got around to reading it. This is it, the last story in one of the absolute best series in fantasy. This series is close to my heart, and when I heard of Jordan’s death in 2007, I thought he took a little part of me with him. I never thought I’d see the day when Jordan’s legacy would be done right, but here we are. Sanderson did a wonderful job, and I couldn’t be happier with it. It was glorious in its scope, and it covered a veritable ton of side stories and tied loose ends. That it was the first third in the last story is even more exciting and makes me yearn for the rest of it (for the uninformed out there, this was supposed to be the last book in the series, but it was so big that Sanderson split it into 3 parts). Glorious.

This post is a little disjointed right now, since stress seems to be setting back in. Back to the grindstone I go. More update later.

-Pat out

I'm Still Here

I know I haven't updated in a while, but life is kicking my ass right now. Updates will resume shortly.

A New Semester

Ah, Two weeks off.

It's been a quiet two weeks, with only minor events happening. It was good just being able to sleep and not worry about assignments or meetings or class or work. Just sitting in my chair, in a minor coma, quietly reading or watching hulu.

But now it's back to work.

Back to school, to assignments, to meetings, to work. It's not all bad, it is just the end to relaxation. Back to being swamped by papers, or worrying about the future. It is a return for writing both for class and on my own. It is a return to life.

The campus is overwhelmed by students and cars, not a parking spot to be found. People bustle about, running to class and trying to get back to their normal schedules after summer break. The bands in the square try to entertain when no one wants to listen, they run to class, annoyed at the wailing speakers and campus guides. "Do you want a credit card?" "How about signing up to help our athletic program?" " Free Food!"...well, the last one isn't so bad, but still. I've never been a fan of the first few weeks of school, as everyone is trying to normalize their lives, and the constant attempts by the school to be hip does not work. If they did these events throughout the year, maybe it would be different, but these things only appear twice a year, at the beginning of each semester. Eventually life will return to normal, but for now, the falsely overburdened campus will continue its dance through the weeks ahead.

Nighttime Musings Pt. 01

Over the past few days, when I was alone, I started observing different places and people. These were mostly musings about random events. There’s a lot more where this comes from, but it needs to be edited because of personal matters mixed among the writing. But here’s a bit of it. Enjoy.

What is it about the night that calls to our souls so? The darkness? It hides our true nature in the silence. It is in the darkness that we are truly free, escaping from our desks and cubicles to strip away the masks of our lives, to dance under the moon. Like a shroud, the night mist masks us, and we can escape the frail existence allotted to us. We become true to our souls, when no one is the wiser, forgetting our mundane lives to become something more. Something true. Suddenly, we are all musicians, players, poets. We create, and thrive within the world that most will never know. For the city is most alive when you are asleep, safe in your bed. While you dream of sheep, we create your nightmares. We play with our demons, our monsters, our Faye. They understand the darkness that lurks in your soul, for that is their playground. And while the darkness allows, our true souls come out to play, and dance under the electric streetlamps and moon shadows.

For in the night, a spell is cast. One that can only be broken with the coming dawn. But while the sun stays down, we still celebrate. The night with its buzzing streetlamps and roaring engines. Its calls of people intoxicated, stumbling back to their homes while notes from musicians unseen float through the air. And in-between the pools of light, lurk our demons, our angels, our monsters, our saints. What they are to us is in our perception.

Late, past two. It is morning now; soon the sun will appear, to break the spell of the night. Black dispelled by pink and red. An orb that brings with it the mundane world. But before then let us dance to the music of the stars, the light of the moon, the groans of the city.

Silence falls. The streetlamps buzz. A train moans in the distance, trudging its way through the sleeping city. The air is thick with dew and anticipation that the dawn will soon break. What will it be? With the new day, new beginnings, new possibilities. All is forgiven? Not likely. But it is a step. The dawn brings many things. But it dispels the one thing I love. The night. The night with its beauty so rarely seen, and its ugliness uncovered. The nighttime is our time, when our mind thrives, and is alive. Under the cover of darkness we are all who we want to be. But with the dawn comes a certain reluctance. A longing that the sun will never appear and we can play forever in the moonlight. We can free ourselves to dance with the monsters, the demons, the Faye. We join them in delighting the stars with our dances. And just like the darkness, it vanishes with the rising sun, only to be seen under the light of the moon once more, when the stars dance and look on in expectation.

The dusty gray of morning brightens. They sky is turning blue. Already the stars are fading into the sky, their serenade done for the night. The sky is a rosy-peach, as the false world wakes. They stir from their beds, falling into their routines of coffee and cell phones. The bustle of day life has begun again, a spell is broken with the rising red orb. And with the cool wind rising, the night is gone, hidden for another day. Only to be discovered anew when the mother star sleeps. The breeze ruffles the trees. Stand. See it rise.

Full Days

I think we need a day in between Sunday and Monday.

Call it whatever you want, but I think we need it. At least it’d give me time to complete everything. Sitting here, I have a few projects to finish, and a bunch of meet-ups planned. A Big problem will be solved, but then it’s back to trying to fit 35 hours of work into 24.

The problem isn’t that I don’t want to do as much as I do, but rather time constraints. I barely have time to myself anymore, or for social interaction. Most of my free time is eaten up by the various groups I work with, and if I ever have any time alone anymore, it’s spent writing down thoughts from the last two weeks or so (I keep a journal on me at all times so I can write down ideas).



And yes, I did steal it from Dr. Jones.

I just need more time, because even with planning, too much is chaos in my life.

The Universe Never Gives Me a Break

My home was flooded recently.

Last night in fact. Water seeped in through the floor, through my concrete, and flooded the basement. Lovely. I’m glad I stay up late, otherwise I wouldn’t have caught it in time, and the whole basement probably would have been flooded before we could clean it up. About 12.30 in the morning I came across a puddle, and I recognized the signs that have been presented in the past. My family and I then spent the better part of four hours trying to contain the damage so we would not have as extensive of damage as last time.

At least it wasn’t as bad as the first time it flooded. That time it destroyed my carpet, and ruined many mementoes of my grandparents. This time I caught it in time, but it still flooded the basement in places. 3-4 inches of standing water throughout the basement is never a good thing. But, with a combination of the wet vac, and the extractor (not to mention towels) we managed to get most of the water up. Currently, I can hear the soft hum of the dehumidifier slowly extracting water from the air in the basement, and drying off the rest of the floor. Hopefully that takes care of the carpeting too, because I really don’t care for a repeat of last time, where we had to move everything out the room and tear up and replace the carpeting in the main bedroom and the closet.

I’m currently switching all the cardboard boxes out for plastic containers so I don’t have to repeat what I was forced to do last night. I spent the better part of two hours running up and down the stairs trying to get the damageable goods out of the path of the water. Now, a day later, I’m stiff as a board, and attempting to carry everything around again is not pleasant. I believe my parents feel about the same, as they spent most of last night doing the same thing I was, vacuuming up water and moving shit out of the way of the flooding.

I’m sleeping in the spare room that my sister used to live in (sorry Emily) and trying to dodge the piles of crap I carried up from my closet. Fun times when suddenly you can’t see the floor for all the boxes and papers in the way. I suppose that in the meantime I will continue to try and deal with a sopping wet house.

Frakken Rain.

Frustration Like Banging Your Head Against a Wall

Things have gone well recently.

Personally, I mean. I’m busy, but happy. But only on a personal level. But no one wants to hear about the happy. Hate and rage make for much more interesting developments, don’t you think? Let the rage begin…

On the state of the world today, I am rather upset. Entertainment, politics, and the general state of humanity have all gone to hell recently. Human decency has gone out the window to be replaced by a frothing maelstrom of selfish endeavors.

Politically, well, it’s all gone to shit. Washington can’t decide what’s going on, with the democrats abandoning plans they themselves put in place(“Health Reform? What health reform?”), the republicans treating every bill like it was drugs, and they’re all D.A.R.E. officers (“Just say no!”), and then you add in the combination of the birthers and the media on every side (I’m looking at you talking heads) attacking the most frivolous things I’ve ever seen. It’s like after Cronkite died the media went looking for a new low point in journalism. I wouldn’t even call it that anymore. It’s not journalism, its political pandering. FOX NEWS has the conservatives (both crazy and sane), MSNBC has the liberals, and CNN doesn’t know what’s going on or where they are. I mean, really? You use Twitter and Youtube as a legitimate source of news? I’d be better off getting my news from Wikipedia.

Entertainment is even worse, with shows becoming spectacles. I’ve never been a fan of reality TV, nor of cop dramas, but it seems that T.V. has increasingly become stupefied. I see a good show every once in a while, in among the shit being aired. Reality T.V. exploits others, and I’d rather not see it. T.V. (or rather, good quality T.V.) should be about stories, jokes, people interacting with one another in a manner that benefits, instead of flailing around on camera yelling at each other for prize money. I want to see more shows like The Wire, BSG, Kings, Deadwood, Rome, Firefly and The Tudors. (And yes, I know some of those shows were HBO, but still, good quality is good quality.) Instead, we get yet another CSI, or Dancing With the Stars, and now we have a show that nearly broke my mind when I heard about it. Please give us better thought out pitches guys. Please?

And now they’re making remakes of all the old favorites of Hollywood, in a move that I like to call raping my childhood. The newest offender? Rats of Nimh remake. Dear god, you’re also moving on Goonies, Gremlins, Nightmare on Elm Street, GI JOE, and countless others. Night of the Thousand and One Remakes. Where’s the original ideas? There are a couple coming out with original thoughts behind them, but besides these, I just don’t really care that much. Give me a new, juicy series or movie I can sink my teeth into. Something with actual character development, or a well thought out plot. Mindless Escapism is fun every once in a while, but not all the time.

Lot’s of other things on my mind today, but we’ll leave that for another time. But in the meantime, I ask you, please, entertainment and news industry, please drag yourself out of the gutter you’ve gotten yourself into. I want be proud of what my country can accomplish, not ashamed of the loads of crap we export.

Pat Out.

Distractions

As I sit here brooding (yet again), it strikes me that by being so busy recently, either I am unconsciously trying to distract myself from decisions, or consciously trying to see the limit of my stamina. The combination of Work, Summer School, Photo Projects, Running Meetings and Working on the Set of a Movie (not to mention keeping up with my social life, though that’s starting to suffer) is starting to wear me down. I need a break it seems. But the break I so desperately need won’t come for a while yet, and papers and presentations plague my every waking moment.

It’s a good thing too, as the decision I am waiting on still (see previous post) makes me nervous even if I glimpse it out of the corner of my eye. Distraction is a wonderful thing when a situation like this arises. To keep one’s mind and body busy is to keep from brooding too long on decisions that one has no control over. Even job interviews, meetings with editors and uncertain bureaucratic meetings don’t compare to the shaky ground I find myself currently (It’s personal, so I’m not sharing).
Currently, as I write this, the sucking-black-hole-where-your-stomach-should-be feeling won’t leave. And trying to distract myself with Stargate and Kings on Hulu still doesn’t help. A small dose of whiskey takes the edge off, as does listening to Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s cover of “Somewhere of the Rainbow.” (one of the best ever, in my humble opinion, or not so humble, depending on who you talk to).

I’m sorry I’m so moody recently. I really don’t know why I’m like this. Well, I suppose I do, but still, that’s no reason for me to share. I guess you’ll just have to trust me.

All for now.

Pat Out.

Limbo

Limbo sucks.

Right now my brain is screaming at me trying to decide what to do. I won’t go into details, but suffice to say I am in turmoil right now, and it sucks. It’s that weird limbo you find yourself in when awaiting a finalized decision that affects the path you take in the future. And no matter how the decision comes out, my life will not be the same (holy crap clichés). And I have to say, I am terrified to what the answer may be. I know what I want it to be, but I may have moved to late. It’s such a wonderful feeling, this friggen Limbo.

That's all for now, as waiting for this decision is making it hard to consider anything else.

Why the Michael Bay Hate?

In which I muse about a few things

I have to say, I spend too much time online. My work requires me to sit at a computer, and at home if I’m not nose-deep in a book, I’m usually browsing blogs, social sites (Twitter anyone?) and streaming news or video of some kind. I have no idea what the sky even looks like most of the time. I come up from the abyss that I reside in and step blinking slowly into the sunlight.

You get the idea, right? Of course you do.

But given that I spend so much time crammed into my office chair, staring at a number of flashing screens, I tend to form opinions of things. I see thousands of opinions, all barking about being different, and online it’s even worse than arguments in the so-called “real world” (I have my doubt as to the authenticity of the reality of this “real world” they speak of).

But sometimes, consciousness converges into a coherent structure, and everyone agrees on something. Sometimes the internet can be vicious in its judgment, and while I understand most of the time, I don’t understand this conviction of the horribleness of Michal Bay.

Alright, I know what you’re saying. Michael Bay ruined Transformers 2 for everyone. Blah Blah Blah.

What, exactly, did he ruin? I see everyone saying “Oh, he screwed up the plot, Transformers don’t mate, they’re built.” But really, what did you expect? It’s Michael Bay, the man known for explosions.

Did you all really go in expecting another Dark Knight? I went in without expectations, because I was there to see Giant Robots beat the ever-loving crap out of each other. I went to see massive explosions flip stuntmen though the air. I wanted to relive the magic of the show in a massive, epic movie. And that’s what I got.

And you should see the original show now. If you go back and watch it, you’ll understand how cheesy the old show was. And for that cheese, I loved it. TF2 had that.

You know, I remember a time not long ago when the same people attacking TF2 were complaining about the first Transformers movie. The most common gripe was “It wasn’t about the robots. I wanted to see more of the robots, not see the humans.”

Bay gave you what you wanted. Sure there was a million storylines that didn’t make sense. Sure the humans took a backseat to the explosions. Sure there were a thousand plotholes. Did you care? (Oh, wait, you did) He gave you 10+ times the amount of action with the Autobots and Decepticons. The storylines function along the same line of the show. Or porn. The storyline is there to set up the action. After the fight starts, the storyline takes a backseat because when Optimus Prime is ripping the heart out of the fallen, who gives a shit about symbols that make no sense?

To all the critics that hate this movie, and to all the idiots trying to defend them, you’re proving Bay’s point. It’s a popcorn movie. You don’t go for the critical acclaim. You go for the sheer fun you want to have. TF2 delivered that in spades. I’m a film snob, I love the critic’s favorites, but this is not a movie trying to be deep. It’s sheer fun, and I had a great time.

OK /rant

In other news, Michael Jackson died, as well as Billy Mays. RIP Guys.

One a freak who could sing and dance like no other, the other a shiller of crap you would never use for money you would never pay. You both will be missed. Pop music, and Oxyclean, will never be quite the same.

That’s all for now. I’ll be back later to properly rant about some other things on my mind. We’ll see what turns up.

Out for now.

Lazy Days

Lazy days are so much fun.

I rarely get to take any time away for myself these days, being the busy little scholar I'm supposed to be, but every once in a while I get some time to myself.  And what do I do, you ask?  Nothing of any importance.  I write, read, watch movies.  Ahhh...

And that's just what I've been doing these past couple of days.  Lazing about, reading Phoenix and Earthsea books, watching movies and British comedy shows.  I recently discovered Green Wings on Hulu, and I love it.  It feels like Scrubs (well, the first couple of seasons of Scrubs. It's gone downhill since then.).  British medical show with Snarky comments and HBO level wit?  Sign me up please.

Other than that, not much to report.  I've a load of books to dive into, which seems only to grow, and never diminish.  But that would be a good thing, so I never run low on reading material.  

Gonna go catch up on my reading now.  Awesome way to spend a rainy day.

To Boldly Go

Went to go see Star Trek tonight, incredibly fun and entertaining show.  Now I don't consider myself a Trekkie, but I did grow up watching each series, and am passingly familiar with most of the worlds.  That being said, I completely nerded out on this movie.  Performances were almost always spot on, with the actors playing Bones, Scotty and Spock creating near perfect representations of the characters they inherited.  Kirk (Pine) was a little off, being more of a "bad-boy" character, and not a leader.  They did try to spin this a little, as old Spock told him how his father was an inspiration (he's dead at this point in the movie.  I'd say spoiler, but it was shouted in the preview, so too bad).  

The movie overall was well paced and interactive, with the plot flowing smoothly most of the time from action to personal scenes. I do take exception to this though with the interaction between Kirk and Spock, as they went from beating the crap out of each other to instant best buds, but these points are minor, and can be overlooked in the larger picture.  

And the fan service.  Dear lord, the fan service in this movie.  Granted, it is Star Trek, so some is to be expected, but it is constant in this movie.  Though I won't say it was bad, I cheered the same as everyone else (well, the everyone else that was a nerd in the theater) when certain lines were said.  The great thing about it was the little nods to the fans weren't forced.  They fit right into the script, and the movie never slowed down to point out that they were paying homage to the old series.  It is a problem in most adaptations when they are particularly well loved, the movie will sometimes stop the action for a moment after the line or action, as if to say "here you go, love us now."  Not so with Star Trek, it never pauses, only throws the line at you and then moves on.

This adaptation of Star Trek was both exciting and fun, an experience I have missed in the past few years (don't get me started on Enterprise.  Blech.).  I highly recommend this movie to anyone interested in space battles, military sci-fi, or just pure fun.  Highly intellectual and brilliantly executed, this Star Trek took us where we have never been in the universe, the heart and minds of the young members of the U.S.S. Enterprise.

9/10

Wow, definitely forgot I had this. Crazy. Alright, I'm re-restarting this thing. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it, but I'll get to that eventually, right?

The Superbowl failed this year.

There, I said it.

Now, I'm not a Patriots fan, but neither am I a fan of the Giants. Thus you can probably guess that I didn't care about the game itself one bit (well, maybe 1 bit, but that's it). But the game failed, even to my low expectations. You know it's true. A stalemate may be exciting at first, but when it goes on for 3/4ths of the game, it gets bothersome. Granted it got exciting near the end, but I'm betting that a lot of people watching had turned it off by that time. And just like everyone else, I was disappointed with the commercials. Come on, $2.7 million dollars for a 30-second slot, and all you can think of is racial stereotypes? The failure was indeed epic.

In other news...oh, wait, there isn't any other news, since all my focus for the weekend was on the [un]Superbowl.

That's all for now.

Yeah, yeah, I know, I don't blog as much as I should. Shut up.

First, a movie review:

Cloverfield: An excellent film, that was far more fun than I expected it to be. I've read a lot of posts stating that the movie made them sick, and that the movie was horrible because of it. Not true. If this film had been shot any other way, it would have felt fake and silly. The movie, shot with a handy-cam style, gives a great first hand account of the terror and insanity that would be experienced in that situation. Visuals were stunning, and the monster was fantastic. Also, I liked the fact that less was more, it was what you didn't see that gave you the chills. It was a great movie and I highly recommend it to everybody.

Now that that is done with, I have some other stuff to talk about.

First, Happy Winter-een-mas!

If you don't know what Winter-een-mas is, I direct you here:

http://www.wintereenmas.com/

I've spent all week playing on my Wii (insert obligatory snickering here). Played some GUILTY GEAR AC, which rocks. Not because of the new system, but because it allows the old systems to be used. And I have been addicted to GG since it was first imported here to the states.

Actually went out and bought GUITAR HERO III, which, for any of you who know me, are quite probably gripping your chest while you have a mild heart attack at that statement. For years I have decried Guitar Hero, because I couldn't play it worth a damn. I'm a bassist, and my brain can't seem to process that even though the pitch goes up, you have to keep pressing the same button, often out of sync with the rhythm of the music playing. My fingers are conditioned to PLAY THE MUSIC, not press buttons in a seemingly random sequence. None-the-less, even though the game yells at me half the time for sucking so badly, I was having a lot of fun.

Also played some TWILIGHT PRINCESS. Yes, I know, I still haven't beaten the thing. I just got my Wii a few months ago, didn't own a GameCube, and haven't been able to play that much, due to my studies. I'm right outside the Lakebed Temple, since I'm obsessive with Zelda games and feel the need to collect everything, and complete ever minigame, so large portions of the time I'm running around in circles looking for bugs or rupees or bombs or arrows or...you get the idea.

Also got NO MORE HEROES, which is a fabulous game. Each character is pretty well developed and I can't stop laughing at the main character, who's a rabid otaku. Anime references all over the place. Now granted, it is a Mature title, since this game seems like it has OCD to cover everything and everyone in blood. Sometimes you can't even see what's going on, because the blood has covered the entire screen and all you hear is the slashing sounds of the beam saber, with the comments from the NPCs. But it is far too much fun, even though the side missions and the free roam aspects of the game are repetitive and boring most of the time. But the missions offer craziness, and the wii remote controls don't feel like a gimmick. They are both well integrated and fun to use. Highly recommend this game to everybody.

Classes are going alright, and I think I'm going to have a great semester. Hopfully I'll also use this blog a lot more. See you soon.