| --- C o u p D...'s profile--- Coup De Grâce ---PhotosBlogLists |  Tools  Help |
|
31 December 137 - 2008: The year in movies There was only one distinct new year's resolution I had last year; watch a 100 movies at the cinemas. I have failed miserably. You know what though, I think I can live with myself. Every half-decent movie that has been released in Australia this year, I have seen, and equally, I have chosen not to watch quite a few movies, having heard horrendous things about them. My only regret is that I was hardly a film festival goer, and that is something I will rectify next year. Even if I have to go alone, damnit! Anyways, you know the drill, ranked top to bottom, no justifications.
20 December 136 - The Christmas Party How did I think it was going to end? Cradling that 700ml bottle of Bacardi throughout the boat ride, it pretty much HAD to end as it did. I open my eyes for a second, then clutch my neck [it kills] and close them again. I open them again, and I see towels. Lots and lots of towels. Marvellous. I stumble out of the room, make it to some kind of service elevator, press 'G', walk through a kitchen with some surprised looking chefs, see an emergency exit with a warning that the door is alarmed, proceed to open it, and walk out into The Rocks, with the sound of the alarm adding some ring to the already large amount of ring in my head. Then I turn around, look up, and see that I was in the Park Hyatt. I then, ONLY then [stupid stupid] check to see whether I have my wallet, etc, and to my surprise, I find an additional credit card slotted in; Jen's [as in, our Partner]. *PSY HARD*. I think I tried calling Rita to see what the hell had happened, but the useless woman didn't pick up, so I wandered into Level 2, 225 George Street, got my bag, and got in a cab. Why did I just switch tenses in the middle of that? Hmmm. Oh, by the way, it's around 5am when I get into the cab. Even as we stood on the dock/platform, everyone noticed the suitably rocky nature of the seas, especially Cerry [yay, she made it back], and then we were off and away, boating around Sydney Harbour. It took a little while to get used to, and I do remember Apurva's magical moment; soy sauce + rocky boat + 3 people wearing white = phail. And then, drink drink drink is all I remember, until a moment when there were lots of shocked faces with the very low level that the Bacardi bottle was at. I think it was confiscated, but the damage had well and truly been done, and I probably managed to sneak that last bit of it into me anyway. One other highlight was the impromptu karaoke on the boat. There was a mic that the captain of the boat was using to deliver instructions, information, etc, and it was just lying there for a while, so during the time we docked halfway through the ride, I took it and started testing the volume, and possibly belted out a note or two, before I was rudely interrupted by said captain [I think will call him Captain Haddock], saying I can't sing when it's docked close to houses. I completely forgot about it after this point, but someone, maybe Alex, got it up and running when we did get moving again, and I reckon my voice sounded even better than usual, with the acoustics of the sea. The boat ride ended, and so did my recollection of the night. For some reason, I went with Jen and Vishy to the Park Hyatt for drinks, instead of going to Cruise Bar with everyone else. We had a few drinks, even a shot found its way in I think, and then, yep, blank. I still feel like I'm on that god damned boat, with this whole room rocking back and forth. Whoa, that rhymed! 11 November 135 - Japan. Part 9.My final night in Japan, so this will be more general thoughts on the trip and the country than anything else, but first, a brief recap of today.
The day was spent at Joypolis, a high-tech amusement park, which was disappointing for the most part. Can't really think of anything else to say about it really Q_Q We headed back to the hotel and thought we'd spend our final night here, going it solo.
Hmm, I think i've witnessed the best hour of Japanese television yet, a really interesting interview with a supermodel. Japanese t.v. in general has been really disappointing, as I came here expecting a channel dedicated to anime, another to game shows, and another to..ah, something else; it hasn't been anything like
this.
Anyways, my credit card hadn't been maxed out yet, and I had jacket cravings, so I went back to Harajuku to witness some more of the crazy and max out the card, and I think i'm nearly there. Had my third crepe of the day [even with the RIDICULOUS amount of walking we've done, i'm sure i've gained some weight [or at least fat], with all this eating] and then explored Shinjuku for a while, where none of us had been yet, and it wasn't anything special really.
Thoughts, thoughts, thoughts...I'm just going to start ranting. I like Aoyama-Itchome a lot more than Juso or Karasuma-Oike [god I hope i've spelled those correctly]. It feels like a suburb I could live in.
If Hugo and co. thought station-to-station search was difficult, they should try their hand at the Japanese rail network. There are networks within networks, and then to further complicate things, a lot of the stations have rail lines as well as underground subway lines, and I think it's quite commendable that we haven't once got on the wrong train, or should I say, not taken a completely round-about way, as there's no real wrong train, with the multitude of options at each station. Still on the trains, they're complicated, but they run like clockwork. I've experienced one "delay" in my time, while on the train today, and that was a delay of about a minute, max. There's also a lot of little things on the trains themselves, like little LED indicators, that make it easy for travellers like us to get around [and have some idea of where we're going] easily. And who can forget the ticket machines, from that fateful first night, where we had no idea that you just choose an amount that works in a certain radius from your current station [it is a great system]. Ah, i'll give the tickets a mention too, they're "cute" for lack of a better word. We bought the JR RailPass assuming that it would get us everywhere, but we've still spent a good chunk of money getting to most places, as the pass doesn't cover any transport within the subway system, which we had to use a lot.
The fast head nods. I'm a big fan, and I think i've slowly adopted it, and notice myself using it more and more. I hope it'll stay with me, and it's probably kept me involved in a few conversations with the locals when I have no idea what they're saying. Speaking of the language, i've learnt a few key words, that i've bastardised at times, but still used correctly. Let me just list them for the heck of it [minus the accents, and probably spelt badly/wrong]:
Hai ~ Yes
So ~ I see [use in rapid succession - "so-so-so, so"
Naandé ~ What's going on/what the ["Naaaaande?!" The more incredulous your tone, the better]
Gomeno sai ~ Sorry
Samé masé ~ Excuse me
Aregato/Domo Aregato ~ Thank you
Choto/Choto-maté ~ One moment/Hang on
Honto ~ Really/Seriously [can be a question/statement depending on tone]
Ikuzo ~ Let's go ["Ikkkuuuuzzooo!"]
Sugé/Sugoy ~ Cool
Damé ~ Stop/Don't
Niku ~ Meat
Sakana ~ Fish
Yasai ~ Vegetables
Surprisingly, and stupidly, I don't know the word for "No", so the hands forming a cross has carried that point across.
I love the way the Japanese dress; men and women equally. The coats, good lord, I love the coats everyone wears here. I'm glad we came during Winter just for that reason. Such a stylish bunch, from the minimalist to the extreme, it just works. If it wasn't such a pain lugging aroung this suitcase, I would have spent a crapload more money here on all things fashion related. I'd like to think i'm there to some extent anyway.
The women, *psy*, awesome.
The food, I haven't had that difficult a time really, probably because dessert has always been an easy backup, but to be honest, Kyoto was the best place for food for moi. I also have a new found addiction to crepes that I need to kick ASAP. My other food highlight were the various sweet-bean desserty things.
Sha, Ronald and Jack; I could have done worse for three peeps to go on my first overseas-with-friends trip with. Sha's been a good room mate, given the locals of Japan an eyeful of his hairy legs, and bearings guy, Ronald's been an exaggerated, Japanese version of himself, and Jack, well, most of the quotes in these blogs have been in relation to Jack, so his strange outlook on life has given us many a reason to laugh throughout the trip. They've also been very accommodating to my vegetarianism, and it's probably held them back from going to a few restaurants they otherwise would have gone to, so thanks for putting up with that, dudes.
There's probably a LOT more i've forgotten, but I still need to shower, and then sleep, to prepare for the ~24 hours of travel that await us; *psy HARD*.
This will also be the last blog I write in god knows how long, as WoW and t.v. will take over when I get back, so thanks for reading and commenting, it's been great to get back into it.
Sayonara,
Coup-san 10 November 134 - Japan. Part 8."Stop using excuses. If you want to see it, just say it, Ron" - Chris
This will be a drunken blog, so be reasonable..
Ronald-chan's and Chris-chan's new favourite drink is the Amaretto Ginger Ale. Holy moly, Ronald's back is covered in weird rashes, from the alcohol I think O_O VERY disturbing. There's also a guy on t.v. that looks a lot like Mark Nam.
Today we discovered the gloriousness of Harajuku, and it has just made me love Tokyo even more. It was such an overload on the senses, and it's still very clearly [and will be for a while yet] ingrained into my mind. A crapload more shopping was done, and I was so close to buying numerous jackets, but pulled out, and am kind of regretting it, so I might have to find some time to ninja myself there.
The streets were just saturated, and it seems like the place to be on a Sunday, even for the locals, and the crazy outfits [cat-women, emo-women and just crazy women] I saw will keep me desensitised to normal women for quite a while. After some crepe [real chunks of cheesecake in a crepe; WOW] action, we walked it to Shibuya, and did some more window shopping before heading to our new double rooms in the same hotel [4 of us in that gigantic room was too much for me really].
Dinner, then drinks [Jack decided on some solo action in the hotel room while the three of us went out], where we all got quite drunk, and are hence in this state. We also saw the Seibu Lions winning the 7th game in the Japanese Baseball world series type thing, and might have even cheered once or twice, although the American tourists sitting near us were a real drag.
Ronald's still got a crapload of weird rashes on his back. Hmm, can't think of much more, so ciaO. 09 November 133 - Japan. Part 7."Moé! Moé! Chooo!". Or something like that, is how the little chant at the maid cafe we went to goes. It has been the highlight of Tokyo by far, and I doubt it can be topped.
Today was all Akihabara, the otaku [geeky] district of Tokyo. Actually, I don't think I can go any further without mentioning Jack's use of the blanket while sleeping, whereby his extremities [head, hands, feet] are outside of the blanket, because otherwise he feels trapped or something. "I've been doing it for the past 20 years. Try it...It's all about getting comfortable before sleeping." he says. He looks like he's wearing a ghost costume, but whatever works for the weirdo *shrugs*
Jack also got owned by Ronald in the following exchange:
"That was uncalled for. You could have stacked it." - Jack, as Ronald tried some acrobatic jump over a small stone pillar.
"You're uncalled for. Your mum stacked it." - Ronald
Ok, back on track now, after that long detour, and yeh, Akihabara is just lots of electronics, comics and games stores, so we all got a decent amount of shopping done, especially Ronald, who bought a bunch of books and what not. We then found our way to a maid cafe, one which was over a few levels, and it was packed. From the moment we entered, there were lots of high pitched voices and bright strobe lights. That shock of sights and sounds that I was expecting finally kicked in, and I loved it. There would be little performances on the stage every hour, and when food was delivered, there'd be the "moé! moé! chooo", with the accompanying gestures/dance routine, that Chris and I have now perfected. There's probably a page or two I could write about the thing, but suffice it to say, it was awesome, and I want to go again! We got photos with various maids, so stay tuned for that.
Dinner was at the posh posh posh Roppongi Hills mall, although the mall is just one part of a little city within Roppongi, with millions of restaurants, fancy boutique-like clothing stores, a cinema complex, and a Bentley dealer for god sakes! I had some nifty tempura, and then dessert was at an ice-cream place, where they plop a scoop of ice-cream on this cold stone, and then add in other toppings and then dump it in a waffle cone; YUM. I apparently have a doppelganger in San Francisco. Oh, and I was wearing my newly purchased coat, which i'm lovin'.
Clearly I haven't gone out on an all night bender, but at least it's been a satisfying day, and a damn cold night.
08 November 132 - Japan. Part 6.Well, I was hoping to be shocked by the sights and sounds of Tokyo, but all I can muster now is a look of three parts bemusement and one part disappointment. It's around 11pm now, on a Friday night in Tokyo, and we've already been in the room for over an hour, watching a dubbed version of 'Hollow Man'; what a frakn DRAG. I have more than half a mind to separate the key from the RFID card that powers the room, and just wander out into this awesome nightlife by myself, because no one else wants to. And now Ronald wants to go -_- What are we going to do? Hire a room for the two of us and sing Kumbaya? Maybe if we were still out, drunk, we could have bumped into a bunch of randoms and gone, but it's quite the pointless now.
We left Kyoto pretty much as soon as we got up, and it was a pretty long train ride to Tokyo. The bullet train was a bit underwhelming in the end, as the Kyoto-Osaka train yesterday had the fancy wooden seats and plane like fold out trays, etc. Getting to the hotel was supposed to be a nightmare, but it all went way too smoothly, and the hotel staff are really good here [Asia Center of Japan].
The hunt for food led to an Indian restaurant of all places, and even good ol' meat loving, anti-girl, asian Jack said something along the lines of, "Ah, finally a satisfying meal in Japan". I'm kind of inclined to agree, although i've had a decent amount of good food here [was impressed, with the gigantic, fallic like naan]. It was then off to Roppongi, the touristy, ex-pat area, which is a 15 minute walk or so from our hotel, and the place was buzzing, even at that twilight hour.
We walked into a random bar, ""the biggest in Tokyo", but we concluded that this was probably only space wise, as we were the only ones in there at the time. The alcohol was poured at more than a generous amount, and we were told to pay when we left [so random]. Chris got a bit paranoid that they were being too nice, what with the free popcorn [popcorn at a bar, it's a nice touch] and the free pool, so we left after a drink. Wandered into another ex-pat English bar, and spent a decent amount of time there, chugging down cheap cocktails, during the 3 hour or so window that was happy hour. The drink menu had a alcoholicity ranking of their five highest cocktails, and of course, I had to try the highest one, 'Stairway to Heaven', an Absinthe based one.
Dessert was consumed, and then in the space of about ten minutes, we were approached by about five different black people, all wanting to guide us to their own special clubs. This was of course on the way back to our hotel, because no one wanted to have a big night. I think tomorrow night, I might just go it alone if need be, because this is just meh.
I am still liking Tokyo a lot more than Osaka as of now. 07 November 131 - Japan. Part 5.A pretty tiring day today, and not as productive as the last few. As an early sidenote, i'm sitting here with ronald, reciting "hai" in different manly and womanly japanese voices; that has probably been what most of the day has been about, with sha also getting in on it quite a bit, the little knee bends and everything.
Started the day going through my acquisition of red/black bean wrapped in soft pastry type stuff from yesterday [should have really mentioned it yesterday, they were damn good, and have rejuvinated my love for beans]. More sugary goodness at 7/11 and then off to the Kyoto Internation Manga Museum. It was started just a few years ago, and it was a bit underwhelming, but i'm sure if we'd come in on a weekend, where students from some artsy university do manga portraits, we would have been a lot more impressed. Nijo Castle was next [apparently quite the famous landmark out here], where Jack took lots of photos of trees and water, and we took in some old school Japanese architecture. The wooden floors felt SO good to walk on. It might seem like a weird point, but it's what I remember most from the place, most likely because I haven't recovered from the constant barrage of pain my legs/feet have been undertaking, and neither have the others really, and we were wanting the touring of the castle grounds in that hot sun to end ASAP.
Ate some food at Kyoto Central [one hymm-pressive looking train station], and some green tea ice cream to boot, and then headed to Nippombashi/Den-Den Town. Again, there was all this literature about robots, and well, there weren't too many. Plenty of electronics stores, and we all bought some crap, but no robots >.< The ones we did see were quite expensive, but I don't want to leave here without a robot, so I might just pull the trigger the next time I see something I like. More walking, then a six level video game arcade [arcades are about the only thing that are cheaper here than in Australia at the moment], and then dinner at a ramen place [tempura veges, soba noodles, etc]. I felt we needed to keep the post-dinner dessert streak going, but we had a hard time finding something, and ended up resorting to Starbucks -_-
Tomorrow, it's off to Tokyo, so I hope to be shocked by some crazy sights and sounds.
06 November 130 - Japan. Part 4.I love Kyoto. What a great city. Great food the whole day and all cultured up.
The day started as every day has, with many varieties of japanese sweet bread from the convenience store for breakfast. We decided to walk the 4km or so to the...god damnit, i've forgotten the name of the temple [i'll add it in later]. On the way there, we made many a detour into the smorgasbord of shops and alleys that lined the main street, the highlight probably being the 100 yen store.
The temple itself was brilliant, and so many of the customs are similar [minus the dragon] to that at a hindu temple, from the washing of your hands from that grand old dragon's mouth to the incense and the giant bell ringing. And since it was a buddhist temple, the lunch we had [noodles and sake] was all vegetarian!
Did I mention that the streets in Kyoto are a lot more spacious? Well, yeh, they are, and it's just a lot more laid back and old school in general. It was a pleasant change and buffer to everyone from the hustle and bustle of Osaka, to the madness that will be Tokyo. Feeling good about ourselves after delving into some culture, we did some more shopping, and were completely tired, so we went back to the hotel for a breather, before heading out to dinner, which was again kind to me [chop suey like], along with that awesome cocktail I had; the...NOOOO, forgotten the name of that too >.< *psy HARD* Stupid alcohol, i'm blaming that for me forgetting these things. It was the something fizz [ok, editors note, i'm going with the Ishikawa Fizz], and it was lychee based. Dessert followed, and it was some damn impressive Japanese cheesecake [Leon, you would have enjoyed it].
And with that, another day has come to an end. We've been lounging around in our room, channel surfing, and 'Prison Break' seems a lot better when it's dubbed. Also caught the second half of 'Wicker Park', which I actually enjoyed.
Ah, I forgot to mention our second visit to the 100 Yen store, where Sha became scarf guy, just because it was a 100 Yen [I ended up buying one too, it's not too shabby really!]. The price won him over, and now he can't stop fondling the thing and talking about how good value it is.
05 November 129 - Japan. Part 3.It's heading up to midnight in Japan, and I find myself yet again in a hotel using the internet, this time in Kyoto. The computer seems pretty darn outdated, but the net is speed racer like.
The whole of today day was spent at Universal Studios, and it was thoroughly enjoyable, even with the ridiculous waiting times for EVERY ride. I don't know if Japan is just crowded in general [ok, stupid, it is], but there just seemed to be an unusually large number of locals at Universal Studios on a normal [unless there's some other holiday i'm missing, or it's schools-take-students-to-Universal-Studios-for-excursion day] Tuesday.
My top 5 Universal Studios rides [the book is getting to me] in descending order are:
The E.T. ride sucked majorly. One hour+ waits for nearly all rides, but they were so damn good that it was more than worth it; that's that. The evening was spent eating in Umeda in Namco City! [Japanese cakes were my dinner] I beat a Japanese person in Tekken. Twice! I was so excited after I won the first round that I wanted to take a photo, and ended up nearly losing the match, getting the crap beaten out of me, while I was fiddling around with my camera. It was a woman, but hey, she'd played a ridiculous amount of games on her data card, so that'll do me. We then said goodbye to the Plaza Osaka and hello to the Hearton in Kyoto; the move/commute was damn tiring, and coupled with the pain my legs endured at Universal Studios, tomorrow morning should be fun. Sayonara. 04 November 128 - Japan. Part 2.It was quite a productive, touristy day today. We decided early on to cut back our trip by a couple of days, as Kyoto will take a lot less time than expected [due to Chris' reconnaissance mission with 4 random women yesterday], so after a painful [due to that damn travel agent yet again >.< DIE], hour long conversation with Jetstar in Japan to change the flight to the night of the 11th, we headed off to the gigantic aquarium in Osaka [one of the world's largest, over multiple levels and what not]. The place was packed as it was a public holiday, and the atmosphere that came with that crowd [there were a multitude of audible gasps throughout] added to the overall experience, which was a good'n. Otters seem to be revered here or something o_O There was quite a lot of focus put on them, as well as the usual aquarium headliners like seals, dolphins, manta rays and sharks. As an aside, Ron's reaction after seeing a bunch of schoolgirls "wow. Wow. WOW." After that, we knocked about at the shopping centre near the aquarium, and found this cool shop dedicated to ninjas; I managed to score an impressive photo with a ninja, and will try and put that up on here soon. More wandering around and then we headed to Shinsaibashi for some late night shopping/dinner. Shinsaibashi is like a gigantor Pitt Street Mall. It is now the home to my first pricey purchase in Japan, an AWESOME looking coat, made in Morocco of all places [i'm utterly disappointed that it's so damn warm here [yeh, I thought it was going to be pretty darn cold and packed accordingly] that I might not even get to wear it >.<] We had dinner at some Japanese place, with the food being decent enough, although I had a pizza anyway -_- It was potato and mayonnaise though, so it has been japanised, Then a crepe hunt ensued, as we'd seen this place before dinner which seemed impressive, so we went back after dinner to join a long line, and then the staff suddenly started giving out these weird laminated cards, and there were a bunch of tourists in front of us that got the last of these cards. We finally ended up getting some at the other end of the giant street, and i'd say it was worth it. We've made huge strides in understanding the crazy train/subway system today, which is a huge relief, but there is still a huge feeling of helplessness when you walk into a supermarket with pretty much nothing in English. Another day of Osaka awaits us tomorrow, and then off to Kyoto. 03 November 127 - Japan. Part 1.So, here I am, sitting in the lobby of the Plaza Osaka, killing an hour before we wander out yet again into the madness of Japan; this place is quite the crazy and confusing.
I doubt i'll have time for my usual rants, so i've started jotting down a few things in a little notepad, and will just try and transcribe that, so here I go...[let me say now that these keyboards aren't easy to use >.<]
Sydney airport:
Delays because of Jack Chen's evil travel agent, who managed to book something 12 times more than needed. They didn't even let us on initially, and i'm going to be dramatic and say that we nearly didn't get on the flight.
Ah, even before the airport, the cab driver and I had a great chat about the high school education system here, and he ended up asking for my number to talk further about selective schools o_o
Jack travels light and wants a sequel already - not too sure what that means He also came up with some memorable quotes, one being...
"Just remember the one word. Flight mode." - JC
"That's two words, Jack" - me "Not if join them together" - JC Gold Coast airport:
Delays AGAIN because of that damn travel agent, and Ronald has now already been to the bathroom 4 times.
Started reading 'High Fidelity' - it's given me a headache
Jack underwent the random explosives test and laughed like a schoolgirl [a manly, Japanese schoolgirl] when being prodded
Another memorable quote from Jack [you can figure out the context]...
"Six inches? I can fit twelve inches in my mouth easily"
The flight:
Impressive food and entertainment by Jetstar - especially the selection of white music
Watched 'Casino Royale' and 'The Dark Knight'..AGAIN
Ronald's bathroom count is now 7 - and I slept a lot on the flight, so who knows many I missed
In Osaka:
The lifts smell good!
Seats on some trains rotate automatically O_O
The train system is frakn complicated
We thought Chris was dead, and finally found him after an hour or two
In the Plaza Osaka [hotel]:
I used the automatic toilet thingi today morning; WOW
Anyways, that's all for now. Comments welcome. Sayonara. 30 December #126 - 2007: The year in movies [75 of them]As some of you may know, I collect my movie tickets. Not too sure why, probably the memories *bites fist*, but I thought I may as well put 'em to use in my recollection of the year that was in movies.
The list that follows is purely a list of movies that I've seen in the cinemas in Australia this year, and Australia, being the backward country that it is, may have got some of these a little late (Half Nelson, Pan's Labyrinth for example). They're ranked, although how I've ranked them I can't really explain clearly, apart from the fact that it's the level of WHATEVER (humour, emotion, action) I got out of them, and the preconceptions I had for quite a few of them, and of course, the copious amounts of alcohol that have flown through me this year are not really helping my memory a great deal right about now.
Anyways, without any further adieu, here goes:
06 October #125 - Farewell, Boss ManSaturday, 6th October, 5:36 a.m., 'If You Were There, Beware' starts playing and I look at my phone; "Home" calling. In hindsight, I didn't know it was 5:36 a.m. till I checked the phone log, but it looks good to have a mastery of time. As you may have already noticed, I am frakn drunk out of my mind still. I digress. So, 5:36 a.m., I pick up the phone and my mum sounds concerned; "Where are you? Are you ok? You normally come home by this time". I take a moment to take in my surroundings and realise that I am in fact not home. The surroundings consist of green grass [at my eye level], the clearish blue sky, a laundry machine, old clothes and rags, a rusty sink, and a broken down toilet; I'm in some sort of external outhouse/laundry in god knows whose backyard. I mumble something on the phone and hang up. Did I mention I was frakn shivering? This is probably due to the fact that I have no shirt on, and I take a while to find my glasses [slightly bent now -_-] and then another little while to find my shirt. It's scrunched up on the ground, covered in dirt and what not, and I spend a while going through the old clothes that are there and finding something to put on; I'm well on my way to hoboism. I'm still so out of it that I can't be bothered doing any more than sleeping for a further two hours, at which time I use that sink to wash the shirt. While I'm doing that, some asian dude comes out to the backyard and is probably a little startled to see wearing some of possibly his old clothes, washing a stained shirt in that sink of his. He's pretty dressed up for 7:30 in the morning, and we go through the whole "Who are you? Why are you here? Get out, etc" routine. I've never seen the dude before so I finish up washing the shirt, and then realise that I can't walk the streets in those old clothes so I put on the frakn wet shirt, to add to my already freezing state [good lord]. I stumble around for a while and notice that I'm somewhere near Croydon/Ashfield, and proceed to walk for around an hour in the general direction of home. I try to ninja my way in as well as I can, and even though my mum hears me come in, she doesn't bother physically getting up [phew].
Fast forward four or so hours and here I am, typing this out, with a throbbing headache. Rewind 18 or so hours and you'll see how I got from A to B.
It's around 6 p.m. on another Friday night, but also not just another Friday night; it's Boss Man's farewell. Most of us Eclipsians are at Cruise Bar and the night ahead promises a smorgasbord of shots in addition to the standard rum. Fast forward another several hours, and it's all going fine and dandy, and there are still a few Eclipsians left [PT, Boss Man...[that's all I can remember, but there were more I think]] and I walk up to the bar for the umpteenth time and put my credit card to use for the umpteenth time. I'm buying shots, weird looking cocktails and rum. These two women come up to the bar beside me [leb or greek]. One asks what the weird looking cocktails are to which I shrug, and then asks what shots am I getting, to which I respond a Quick F*ck [I think i was planning on getting 151's but I smoothly changed it]. I believe I end up buying her one. By this time, PT has a huge grin on his face and is playing wingman. It's an hour or two later, and I'm still talking to this woman; all over her may be a better description, and that's probably as descriptive as I'd like to get on this blog. On these matters. Did I mention she's hot? PT should back me up on this. This is when things get blurry...Talking to PT now, he says that I came up to him and said "uh, I'm going now" and walked out hand in hand with that woman [apologies for ditching you, PT]. And, well, the next thing I remember is the beginning of this blog. *psy*.
And so comes to end another drunken outing, but this is one of those rare occasions where I actually WOULD like to recollect those missing hours. Once again, farewell to Boss Man; you will be sorely missed, but good luck to you in your new venture. 22 September #124 - The Kingdom: A Greater Union free Advanced ScreeningI read about The Kingdom sometime late last year and with Jennifer Garner being cast in it, it obviously piqued my interest. The trailer looked good and it got some pretty good reviews on AICN, and when I saw a banner ad on Greater Union for free tickets, I thought I may as well enter as it just required accepting some T&Cs, and not the usual "in 25 words or less..." rubbish. Lo and behold, I get an email from them on Tuesday saying I've got two tickets to a screening the next night at George St, and I thought I may as well invite ze chrus for a good ol' mandate since he was probably going to be in China when the movie actually got released [turns out now he's not even going [fag]]. The hack also got tickets, so it turned into a double mandate with him and ron-e coming along.
A few people saw the voucher you had to print out to get your two tickets, and it had no unique code or Cinebuzz [Greater Union membership thingi] member number, etc on it, and they rightly pointed out that you could just print several copies of the voucher and they'd have no way of knowing if they were fake or not. Fast forward to 6:40pm—after wasting more money at Myer—and we get to the front of the line at Greater Union and hand over the vouchers and they tell us that the tickets to The Kingdom have sold out...mother frakkers. Obviously some fags have printed away and got there early and walked off with handfuls of tickets; not very suss at all is it? After being hyped for a while, I did NOT want to leave empty handed, and there were quite a few people behind us with vouchers in hand also starting to get angry, although who knows how many of them just had copies. The checkout chicks went to talk to senior management and came back ten or so minutes later and said there's around ten more seats, so we finally got our tickets. We walk in and see that the only seats free are in the FRONT row; joy.
To be honest, it wasn't *that* bad, and I tried to keep moving my neck so I wouldn't end up getting taken the next day. The movie itself I really enjoyed, with everyone in the theatre sitting in complete silence throughout that opening scene, and even with the amount of violence I'm exposed to on a daily basis, I was slightly disturbed and thinking, "holy shit". Jen Garner performed some kickassery that Sydney Bristow would have been proud of, and I really liked the end [hack thought it was cheesy] with both sides' minds being put at ease with "we're going to kill them all".
And just for the heck of it, we watched Superbad on Thursday night and Stardust last night. Superbad was cringeworthy, but damn funny, and Stardust was, well, it was alright at best, nothing new, and needed more screentime from Gervais.
Also, congratulations to Varun on graduating ~_~ Sick of him complaining that I forgot it was on Tuesday >.< 29 August #123 - Microphone HogI have fond memories of karaoke circa 2002; the old SBHS/MLC crew, especially Marcus Yong [god bless him], all those R&B songs and what not, but there was one thing missing; alcohol.
Fast forward to present day, more specifically, last night, and good ol’ alcohol put a new spin on things. It all started with some of the developers going to karaoke last week and a great night was had by all, so they decided to do it again this week, prefixed with some Korean cuisine. We went to some alley off Liverpool St, and apparently the alley was Pitt St o_O or so some sign said. Said alley seemed to consist solely of Korean restaurants, and after getting rejected from one, we walked into one a few metres away [that was an absolute waste of words, although i've now commented on it, so it's not as useless]. Anyway, we all sat down, I looked at the menu and saw pork this and octopus that, and what do you know, number SEVENTEEN was the only vege dish they had. This however turned out like Chili's, where the one dish that I could eat was awesome, and I was absolutely stuffed by the time we left [I had this kimchi tofu thing, and it was very indian like in terms of the flavours and spiciness].
The restaurant also initiated the alcohol, and in quite a big way. We had shots of Soju [korean vodka like thingi] every 5-10 minutes, and I could tell that I was going to be wasted very soon. We left the restaurant at around 8:30, and thus missed that red moon eclipse thing. PT had very kindly called during the dinner to remind me about it, but I think I cut him off coz it was time for another round of shots [apologies, PT]. Speaking of PT though, the geezer is going to Tasmania for the next few days with Pon and a couple of others, doing god knows what. Apparently something about scenery and mountains, but, meh. First thing people seem to associate Tasmania with nowadays is incest anyway, so I've asked him to document that in some way [I lie; I haven't, but maybe I should have]. Ah, I should also mention things I was toasting to during these shots; Arvind not having a hernia, North Korea and Kim Jong-il. Don't think many others were with me on the last two ~_~
So, we're drunk by this point, and go into some karaoke place, and it looks pretty cool, but then we go to order some alcomohol and all they have is $150 bottles of whiskey. Needless to say, we were walking into a new karaoke place five minutes later, and this one had relatively cheap alcohol, so we stuck with it. The drink of choice during karaoke was red label mixed with iced green tea; yum [it actually wasn't bad at all, and this iced green tea could be an ingenius mixer, as it will seemingly go well with anything]. And this is where the title of this entry comes into play...apparently I became a microphone hog, and refused to let go of the mic, and sang along to nearly all the songs that were played over the next two to three hours. I remember singing along to about six or seven songs, with a chinese one in the mix that I was singing a great melody to, but the rest was kind of blurry, but I was reminded throughout the day today about my efforts/heroics. My personal highlight was Take That's 'Back for Good', which there were no words to on the damn screen actually, but I had them safely stored away in my head, just for an occasion like this.
There were plenty of photos taken, so I will put a few up sometime soon, and my vocal chords have taken a beating, as anyone who heard me speak today can identify with. All in all, a LOT of fun, and I can't wait for round two, although I've been semi-blacklisted by the devs for hogging the mic, so I'll have to reassure them that next time I will try and restrain myself. 26 August #122 - Faux Facebook accountsSo, lately, due to my growing hatred of the scum that is facebook, stooges have been making faux accounts in my name; GG people, you officially have no lives. I must say that the quality has improved from the first that had my last name spelt incorrectly, and then, well, there's this second one that was created last week that had it spelt right Q_Q but yes, you get the point.
In any case, the stooge that went to the trouble to create the second account went and made a gmail account in my name (to add to the legitimacy), and then proceeded to start adding work people >.< It all started with Pon coming up to me one afternoon and asking "Did you just add me on facebook?!" and it's gone on from there for about a week, with constant denial from my end about not conforming to that rubbish.
Anyway, i'm sitting here on this wonderfully sunny, Sunday afternoon, coughing and sneezing due to my diseased state, and I thought I might as well try and log in to my faux gmail account, and after two minutes of 1337 hacking (two guesses later), i'm in; VICTORY! Now, surely, you'd at least put up a decent password after going to the trouble of making a facebook account in my name; apparently not. Next time anyone does go to the trouble though, at least try and do it from my actual hotmail account, won't you.
The reaction would be priceless when said stooged identity thief tries to log in and do whatever you do on that god forsaken site, so I hope i'm there to witness it, but if not, this will have to do. If only I had the time to get facebookpolice.com and waronfacebook.com up and running *psy* 30 June #121 - WindfallIt's probably about 9am, and I am STILL extremely out of it. There is some retart in the apartment above hammering nails into something, and he has frakn woken me up when I most need sleep, and now MY head feels like nails are being hammered into it, so let me take you back to see how I got to my current state [although I'm sure anyone could guess that it was my good friend Mr. Alcohol].
Work has been extremely hectic all week, and add to this that damn uni exam I had on Monday, and I was relishing the opportunity to get drunk off my face. We were all supposed to go out for Arvind's birthday (at the Argyle), but the stooge was still at work at 6pm, and I think everyone just pulled out. Ze chrus, hack and I went to the Argyle anyway, but as soon as we turned left into that street where the Argyle is, we saw a line that stretched back a good 50m or so, and decided to go to Jacksons instead. This would probably be a good time to mention my windfall *changes former stooged title of blog to "Windfall"*.
I ordered a book on eBay a couple of weeks ago (early in the week), and it still hadn't arrived by the end of last week, so I complained through eBay/PayPal since expected time of delivery was 1-6 days and the seller said that not only would they refund the cost of the book, but they would let me keep the book if it ever did arrive; I get to work on Tuesday and see a package on my desk. I read the blurb again and looked at the front and back covers and leave the book on top of a few drawers until late yesterday, when ze chrus and hack were around my desk and we were figuring out what to do, and I told ze chrus to read the blurb to see what it's about, and said the same thing to the hack. During this, I was at boss man's desk talking to him about some work, and I see ze chrus and hack giving me a weird look and asking "Have you opened this book before?". At this point, I was thinking, damn, it must be in bad condition or something, and respond with a "No". They asked me the same question a few more times before I walked over hesitantly towards the book and they tell me there are four, hundred dollar notes in there O_O. Wo, wo, wo! I think some spiel about moral dilemmas was raised by ze chrus, but I had no hesitation in pocketing it, so, meh, sue me.
Needless to say, I shouted drinks at Jacksons, and then we left there at about 7, as ze chrus had to meet up with someone [date I assume [man date I assume even more Q_Q]], and during this Arvind had called and said he was at the Argyle, and I was way too sober to be going home, so I parted ways with the hack and went over to the Argyle. The line wasn't that long at all by this time, so I found Arvind and Thushanee and a couple of Arvind's mates. We were there for a few drinks, and then some of his other mates who hadn't arrived yet were complainng about how the line was too long, so we decided to go to Jackson's again. A smorgasbord of rounds of shots was had, and I think I paid for a round of 151's.
Fast forward about four hours, and I wake up on the train, with NO idea whatsoever of where I am and NO recollection of the past four hours; Why does this always happen?! I rush out of the train hurriedly, and walk over to some sort of cab rank at this unknown station, where there are about eight others in the line; *psy*. I wait for god knows how long, shivering the whole time, and there's some lass and I left eventually, and I started having some random conversation with her, and she mentions that she's going to the city, and me being in the drunk state that I am, blurt out my windfall story and I offer to pay her x amount of money—for whatever the cost is from Ashfield to wherever she's going, as well as solely paying for the trip to Ashfield [god damn, I waste money]—to share the next cab that comes along as I have already waited way too long. She of course agrees [one part my romantic nature, one thousand parts my offering to pay], and I finally end up in Ashfield, with the driver saying it was $90 [>.<], so I have no idea where the frak I ended up getting off that train at, but I know it was far—I stupidly paid for the cab via EFTPOS, so who knows how much the frakker actually charged [I guess my transaction history on NetBank in a few days will]—. I think I paid her like $70 to get to city [great estimation there, considering I paid about $22 a couple of days ago to get home from work -_-], so maybe the cab ride was worth it, if you know what I mean.
And so comes to end another exciting [sort of] tale, with more than half [and then some] my windfall blown, but as they say, "easy come, easy go". 28 June #120 - Transformers: A REAL summer blockbusterHoly frakn moly! Sam Raimi, Gore Verbinski, whoever the frak made the third 'Shrek' movie, and Tim Story to a lesser extent, take note you dropkicks; THAT is how a summer blockbuster should be made. Massive respect to Michael Bay, who had to put up with a million complaints from fans starting from late last year when those early models of the Transformers were leaked and basically everyone was whinging about how much of a disaster the movie would be. Spoilers follow...
First of all, ILM, take a bow! The transformations were so frakn cool! There must have been at least 10 moments in the movie when Naiman and I were like, hmm, don't know how to really describe it apart from *insert various orgasmic sounds here* [or to borrow a term I read on AICN recently, geekgasm]. My favourite transformation had to be a running Barricade turning into the cop car while chasing Bumblebee; pure awesomeness. Starscream kicked some serious ass against those f-22's, and EVERY scene he was in [no way near enough], but I'm sure he'll be in full force in the sequel, and all the fuss about Optimus' lips and flames, didn't even notice it for a second. Ok, maybe a second, and then *poof*.
Shia LaBeouf just seems to be getting better and better, from 'Disturbia' to this. He had all the work to do in this movie, since he had to basically carry it from a human standpoint, and he did a great job of that. There was tons of humour, and probably 90% of it was genuinely hilarious, as opposed to the crap that was 'Spider-Man 3' and 'Pirates'. Megan Fox, well, she definitely wasn't in the movie to act, but hey, being hot is just as important, and even more so in a movie like this, and as for the random aussie signals genius [rei], meh. Then of course, there were Anthony Anderson and Bernie Mac, playing what seems to be the stereotypical black role these days, with rude grandma et al. But it all just workeD.
Complaints...Hmm, well, I wanted more autobots to die, and Jazz wasn't a worthy enough sacrifice for me. THE scene in every Michael Bay film, where he tries to build that emotion to a climax, it was here, and it was cringeworthy, but luckily it didn't get taken as far as it could have. Frenzy was probably a bit TOO frenetic, and I found some of the humour involving him, not so funny.
In a year of complete rubbish in terms of big name movies to date, 'Transformers' definitely blows the competiton away, and who knows how long it'll be 'til we see the sequel, but bring on the Dinobots, Constructicons, Galvatron, Unicron and whoever else, because I cannot wait! Oh yeh, honourable GG's to Spielberg, Don Murphy, Tom DeSanto, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. 28 May #119 - Finales...of the television varietySo, most t.v. shows [respectable ones [on the U.S. schedule]] have come to an end for the next 4-9 months, and I thought i'd comment/rant about a few of them; SPOILERS follow, for those of you who aren't up to date, although you deserve to be spoiled for not being up to date in the first place anyway.
Heroes: The most successful new drama of the year, it had its moments throughout the season, and 'Company Man' was definitely the best episode, and the next one or two that followed it weren't too bad either, but the finale, 2nd rate television at best. Riddle me this...
Why didn't Claire or anyone else shoot him, since he can frakn regenerate?
Why did Sylar—after being such a devious villain all season—look at Hiro, say "you", stand there for 3 seconds, and then let himself get stabbed? I think Hiro also released some sort of scream in the process of moving to stab him.
Is anyone going to bother investigating the LARGE trail of blood leading into an open man hole? Because, you know, you'd think they'd do that.
Why couldn't Peter Petrelli just stop using the damn nuclear power? Oh, wait, there's an answer for this, from Kring [creator] himself at tvguide.com:
radioactive Peter's other powers were "incapacitated" at that pivotal moment, and "somewhere in there is the explanation" for having Nathan grab his bro and do the "flying man!" thing. "But the real explanation is that we wanted Nathan to show up and [save the day]!"
"Yes, I will admit that there's a very tiny window of logic there," Kring continues with a laugh. "But what can I say? It's requires the proverbial suspension of disbelief."
Ummm, I'm pretty sure that anyone who's watching knows that suspension of disbelief is required when there are people flying and stopping time on the show you fool, but that doesn't mean you have to have a lame ass ending.
For the next season of Heroes, I'd like a less retarted Hiro Nakamura [his childish antics are getting way too old] and more Sylar vs. Peter fights [Writers had said that the mini fight in the 'Five Years Gone' was just a teaser for the finale; yeah right...all we got in the finale was punches being thrown [as you do, when you've got a lot of super powers]]. Also, hopefully this thing that sees Molly when she looks for it will be a worthy villain.
24: After an AWESOME season last year, with great ratings and all the critical acclaim it could ask for, season 6 once again started well, and the end of the fourth episode was something that I've been waiting to happen in 24 for ages; a bomb actually going off, and a nuke at that! From then onwards, it kept chugging along, and then it abruptly took a turn towards BORING.
I think it was after the episode in which the Fayed saga finished, and it ended with the Audrey is alive reveal [of course, anyone that thought she was dead after they said her body was burnt too badly from a car crash or whatever is even more naive than Hiro]. I don't know why, but I lost all interest in the show after that episode, and watching the next 8 or so became a chore, with memorable moments few and far between. Riddle me this...
What happened to Wayne Palmer? Think he last appeared like 8 episodes ago, and there was some statement that he was recovering..That's it?
What happened to Charles and Martha Logan?! Why bring those two in [who were so great last season] for ONE episode? Absolutely ridiculous.
What the hell happened in Denver?
What's with Milo's brother ninjaing his way in and out of CTU, collecting his brother's belongings at what..5am?
Where'd the guy from Division go, who didn't assume the role of the person from Division who's a bitch, as happens in every other season?
How exactly did the U.S. get Jack back in the first place?
Who's Josh's real father? That seemed a bit up in the air.
How does CTU get breached so many times?!
One that I read on another site was why is every government official always wrong and Jack Bauer always right? The obvious answer is that, he's Jack Bauer, but still, I am getting tired of it myself.
For the next season of 24, I'd like the location to be changed [I hear this is something they're considering], as they've got rid off most of the cast anyway, and Jack isn't affiliated with CTU [although they'll just ask him and give him all the power he wants for 24 hours], a permanent split screen of Chloe's labour progress throughout the day [I would be thoroughly shocked if she didn't give birth "real-time" -_-], more Jack Bauer [he was in some episodes for about 10 minutes; seriously, what the frak] and more Peter MacNicol; he saved many an episode.
Hmmm, so I've only got through two shows, and sleep approaches, so I will hold off on my gushing praise for the greatest finale ever [Lost, well the Alias season 2 finale was right up there, if not better [2nd greatest definitely]] until a latter time, when I possibly compile together some of the theories/mysteries that the finale left behind for us, and possibly talk about Grey's and Housewives. I should probably give an honourable mention right now to the Smallville finale actually; Bizzaro is in town! That last shot of him with the face cracking was GOLD. 05 May #118 - Spider-Man 3: A musical comedyRight, before I get onto Spidey and crap, it is 2 am now, and I have another drunken blog to tell, and I actually wrote some of this down in the spare HOUR or two that I had while attempting to make it home tonight, so with no further adieu, allow me to quote verbatim...
Midnight. Get up seeing a "burn" flying past and feeling very cold. I think, frak, Auburn, better get off next; Next stop I see is Minto...FRAK. I just passed frakn Ingleburn, which is about an hour and then some from my place. I see a train approaching a train [sic] on the other platform and it is going the other direction so I get on. Three stops later, I ask the guard [was smart enough to get on near the guard's compartment] where the train is going, and a fat while bloke responds "via East Hills". I sit down, assured, and 10 minutes later, realise, no, that is NOT how I get to Ashfield; damn you, alcohol! Having already wasted enough $ on the alcomohol, and having no early start tomorrow, I decide then and there [at Holsworthy] to get a night rider from Central [If I get to Central]..see you in the future, while I sleep.
Hmmm, so that was it, basically word for word, and as you can see, it is the future, and I am alive [go me]. I ended up getting off at Redfern at 1 am or so, and waited 30 minutes [successfully] for the last train that goes past Ashfield, so I even avoided a night rider. Before all this, Friday night was looking disasterous, with everyone pulling out, but luckily, at around 6 or so, Arvind asked what the go is, and notified me that him, Jeff and José were going to the Brooklyn, and varule and naiman also came along. We were there for an hour or so, and then went back to the office for some reason, and still see about 5 people there, crowding around PT's comp. It turns out that Pon is showing his around the world photos [all 68 of them] -_-. After he is done, we manage to get PT and lauren to come along to Lenin. Good conversation and alcohol was had, and then everyone left, and I think ack, arvind and I walked all the way to Town Hall, because they wanted kebabs. I believe I ended up eating fries, and combining that with the couple of croissants I had a few hours earlier made for a brilliant dinner. And that's probably that. I shall move on to spidey.
***SPOILERS FOLLOW***
So, ‘Spider-Man 3’, where to begin? How about, it was a frakn joke. There was TOO much singing by Kirsten Dunst, a ridiculously long ‘Saturday Night Fever’ homage [done for god knows what reason], and a lot more “comedy” than action. Nearly all the “emotional” scenes were greeted by laughter from the packed theatre, and by the end of it, I thought the Sandman would disperse into a damn love heart and fly off; it would have been a fitting end to the farce.
Also, it’s fine to make the film 2 hours and 19 minutes [or however long it was], but if it involves everyone seemingly dying and then coming back 20 minutes later when the current subplot gets boring, it is NOT needed. We all know Sandman is one of Sam Raimi’s favourites, but he was not a worthy villain, and to make it so Sandman-centric was ridiculous, and is what contributed to Venom being made to look like a retard. He was just put in there because Avi Arad or Stan Lee told Raimi that the fans want Venom, and it seemed like that with the raw deal we got in terms of Venom.
Getting back to the ‘Saturday Night Fever’ homage [refer to the pic at the bottom of the blog [from this AICN spidey article]]; why, honestly? Who the hell needed to see that? Since when does Spider-Man EVER act like that, and when did he ever have an ego when he was sans symbiote? I have no idea what those stooges were thinking when they wrote half this crap, because crap is what it is.
Hmm, unfortunately the brain cells seem to be dying at a rapid rate [I am also very sleepy], and I can't remember any more about it, so mnyes, comment away if you want. Ah, I remember PT wanting some sort of darkness rating, and I will give it at 1/10 [for the scenes that were at night, because they were pretty dark [as in colour wise *psy*]]. Basically, if you like the comics, you won't like the movie; you suck, Sam & Ivan. |
|
|
