The Long Road
Archives: August 2003
Thursday, August 28, 2003
Four years after the amazing Soul Calibur was released on Dreamcast, we finally get Soul Calibur 2 and it’s every bit as good as its predecessor!
Soul Calibur has been accused of being a button masher, but that’s just not true - not entirely. Because almost every direction-button combination does something different, it’s very easy for the uninitiated to pick up a controller and pull off some pretty flashy moves. Other fighters tend to have more complex controls to do anything remotely cool looking so they’re less likely to be labeled a button masher. However, if you look for it Soul Calibur 2 has plenty of depth; try memorizing the hundred or so different moves each character has. The characters all have multiple stances, weapons, unblockable moves, and soul charges.
Aside from the depth of the fighting engine and 2 player games, there’s lots of replay value to be had in Soul Calibur 2. There are lots of extra characters, playing modes, costumes, stages and weapons to unlock by playing the quest-like Weapon Master Mode. These can take up to a week of solid playing to fully unlock. The survival modes are fun for trying to get the highest score and team battles are insanely cool with more than 2 people around.
The music in Soul Calibur 2 is one of the best parts of this game. Most fighting game background music can pretty much just be ignored and will never stick in your head, not so here. The game’s soundtrack is composed of epic orchestral music that gives each fight a feeling of grandeur. The music is infinitely better than the generic techno-pop that Capcom’s fighters are saddled with. Some of the tunes stand our more than others but the whole soundtrack has been in my playlist for most of this week, “Eternal Struggle” and “Under the Stars of Destiny” being my two current favorites.
The only real problem with SC2 is that it isn’t all that different from SC1 on the Dreamcast. The game engine is essentially the same as is the Weapon Master Mode and while the graphics are great they’re nowhere near as jaw-droppingly-better-than-anything-else. The major differences are the new characters (Necrid and Raphael are AWESOME) and the multiple weapons for each character which add a lot of fun to Versus games. The “joke” weapons, particularly Nightmare’s fan, are a blast. Another difference that I appreciate is that some levels now have walls on some sides so that ring-outs aren’t possible all the time, there is even a cage-match stage where ring-outs aren’t possible at all.
Wish list for Soul Calibur 3: I want the special battles of Weapon Master Mode in multiplayer, it would be awesome to be able to play one-on-one where the only way to win was by throws or unblockables or ring-outs. I want pre-rendered endings ala Tekken, a real storyline and I want it all in less than 4 years.
For being the best fighter I’ve played since Soul Calibur 1, I give Soul Calibur 2 a 9/10
Posted by Rayne @ 11:35 PM EST [Link] [55 comments]
Wednesday, August 27, 2003
Lets talk about porn!
Why is making porn legal but procuring a prostitute not? In both situations someone is hired to have sex with someone else, the only difference being that porn is taped and probably distributed. If a man, lets call him John, puts up signs around town that he needs girls for a porn shoot and gets some (pun intended) it's perfectly legal but if this same John were to walk up to a woman who was explicitly offering her services then it wouldn't be legal? Could John get away with going up to a prostitute and asking her to make a "film" with him? Someone mentioned that it may be because for porn both the "actor" and "actress" are hired by some producer but what if the producer was also the "actor"?
Anyways, someone please explain to me the legal differences here.
Posted by Rayne @ 11:06 PM EST [Link] [6 comments]
Tuesday, August 26, 2003
This is just to remind all you UW'ers that tuition was due yesterday. hehehe. I’d like to re-iterate how much it bloody sucks to pay 3931.91$ for four months worth of tuition. This is pretty much double what others in the same program at Carleton pay. It's actually pretty much double every other program anywhere. Totally unfair. I’ve heard all the “excuses” and “justifications” before but the point of the matter is that it is very harsh to see a huge portion of my bank account being drained in one shot. After working for four months I'd like to have a nice sum saved up but it pretty much all goes to waterloo. Imagine all the nice spending money us CS'ers could have if we paid the same as everyone else. At least I’m not in engineering.
Oh yeah, did you guys know there was a Blackout last week? Crazy eh? Read Shawn's account of what happened to me during the Thursday and Friday of the Blackout here.
Posted by Rayne @ 07:06 PM EST [Link] [5 comments]
Monday, August 25, 2003
Most people are pretty polite. They’ll thank you for something, excuse themselves, say ‘you’re welcome’, whatever. Some people on the other hand, take this whole politeness to extremes. Being thanked four times within 20 minutes for having done a very insignificant favour is very strange.
It’s a very business-formal behaviour that makes things very awkward, for me, in a social atmosphere. It’s really not something you should be doing with friends, there’s no need to be that polite. When I’m thanked in 4 different ways in a short period of time for the same thing by the same person I feel utterly stupid because after “You’re Welcome”, “erm…no problem”, all I’m left with is “uh-huh”, “no, thank YOU”, or “uh..mvemjsnup”. It just really feels dumb to say “you’re welcome” four times so I try to come up with something new but always end up mumbling by the end.
Anyways, say thanks once, it’ll be appreciated and let’s move on with our lives.
Posted by Rayne @ 07:53 PM EST [Link] [4 comments]
Friday, August 22, 2003
There’s nothing quite like the feeling one gets after a thorough shower after a long day of sweat, grime and dirt. It’s oddly satisfying in leaving the bathtub dirtier than how you found it.
Saying “I don’t know, I’m only a medical doctor” does not excuse you from knowing what a 2x4 is. Nor does it get you any respect or sympathy.
Soul Calibur 2 is the best fighting game I have ever played. It saddens me to extremes that my copy of Soul Calibur 1 doesn’t work anymore. Go team R.O.!!!
Go here to waste all your time looking at funny pictures.
I’m apparently bad with first impressions. Both with making a good one and with judging someone correctly based on one.
Red VS. Blue funny funny funny stuff.
It SEEMS like I’ve been getting lots of traffic due to Batman: Dead End.
Planes have been flying really low all afternoon; I keep looking out the window to make sure all buildings are still standing.
Posted by Rayne @ 07:59 PM EST [Link] [3 comments]
Thursday, August 21, 2003
As I’ve mentioned before, my knowledge of music is pretty shallow. As I hear more and more songs, my appreciation for the songs in the Simpsons diminishes. At one point I believed that all the music on that show was original material and I thought it was really great, now I realize that most of the music I’ve enjoyed from that show is a parody of an older song or just the characters singing a known song. What huge disappointment! The Simpsons is pretty much a cultural commentary so I guess it makes sense that their songs are based on popular music but still it shattered my illusion that it was all original.
Some of the real songs that I’ve recently discovered riffed by the show are Jazzman by Carole King, Mandy by Barry Manilow, Sound of Silence by Simon and Garfunkle, the Cheers theme song, and Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves by Cher.
Posted by Rayne @ 04:16 PM EST [Link] [1 Comment]
Wednesday, August 20, 2003
...From ‘World of Wonders’: “I knew enough about the very rich to understand that I should not be let off with a penny less than my full third of whatever was spent.”
As far as my experiences with ‘the very rich’ go, that statement seems to be generally true; the rich are more inclined to make others pay their fair share of whatever expense. Not that us lesser mortals are looking for a free ride, it just seems like we’re more likely to let a few dollars slide. Maybe that’s how the rich get rich; they keep their money to themselves. I know that I’m always forgetting and forgiving owed moneys, this probably means that I’ll never become “very rich”. Or maybe the less rich want to seem rich so they forget about a dollar here and there like it doesn’t bother them and the truly rich have nothing to prove so they’re all about exact numbers.
One of the richest people I know is extremely parsimonious when it comes to others. Again, not looking for a free ride, but when he makes over 250 000$ and doesn’t let a couple of dollars slide when someone making one tenth of what he does will generally let it go – that tends to rub me the wrong way.
Posted by Rayne @ 09:46 PM EST [Link] [1 Comment]
Tuesday, August 19, 2003
Is it not obvious? How can it not be? How can you not see something that's plainly right in front of you? I mean, do flags have to be waved and trumpets sounded? How it can possibly made any more obvious without using the direct method, I do not know. I swear, people are just incredibly blind when it comes to things that affect them. Like those two who are now engaged but never saw it coming when everyone else did.
Why must people be so dense? Or maybe the density is all a subtle ploy and we're all too dense to see the ploy? The mind boggles.
The fun thing is the amazingly elaborate explanation I had constructed for some of what had happened. The actual explanation was much better, sensical and less me-centric but certainly not as "Conspiracy Theory". Truth is never stranger than MY fiction, though it does offer a funny kind of glimmer.
And what was said to K.T. must honestly be one of the most ironic things I have ever heard!! Best laugh of the day.
Posted by Rayne @ 02:01 AM EST [Link] [6 comments]
Sunday, August 17, 2003
Some forms of pain are fun. Like bruises. Whenever I have a bruise it’s always super-tempting to press on it. Like trying to tickle ourselves, pressing on our own bruises doesn’t really hurt; I rather like the dull, warm pain of it. Same thing with sore muscles from a good work-out. But I guess that’s a little different, sore muscles feel good because they’re a sign that I really exerted myself, that I went the extra mile (literally). Using sore muscles the next day is wonderful!
I think I have the same attitude when it comes to emotional pain. Like digging up an old wound to see if it can still hurt (it always does), or making sure that whatever pain being inflicted is being served at its fullest ("do your worst!") or even going out of my way to get a knife plunged and then twisted. I seem to very apt at putting myself in these situations. Do I get any satisfaction from this? I really don't think so - not in any longterm sense. I’m sure these are not the healthiest things to do but for some reason I do them. Maybe I should stop it.
And now back to your regularly scheduled, detached, non-personal commentaries.
Posted by Rayne @ 05:42 AM EST [Link] [7 comments]
Saturday, August 16, 2003
I was having this conversation not long ago and I thought I should write it down.
In the series finale of Voyager, not only do they end their 7 year voyage through some crap deus ex machina, thus negating all the hard work many of the characters had done; but they also happily commit mass murder on their way to achieving their goal!
Let me explain. Voyager was lost in space and, in the end, got home by using a Borg wormhole-type-thing. After they get through the hole, they release some kind of biological virus that kills the Borg Queen, destroys the entire array of Borg ships and probably billions of Borg with it. Now, I’d be okay with them killing billions of Borg if they were repelling some kind of attack, but that’s not how it happened. They sought out the Borg, invaded their space, used them and then killed them for good measure.
Remember “I, Borg” from ST:TNG? Picard was given the chance to utterly destroy all Borg but decided not to because he realized that under the cybernetic, collective consciousness lay individuals that were very much alive and undeserving of genocide. And Picard had been assimilated; he had every reason to have vindictive and homicidal urges, Janeway did not. Janeway was just as bad as the Borg had ever been and the show made her out to be some kind of hero in the end. Mark my words; Gene Roddenberry is still turning over in his grave this many years later.
I know I complain a lot about Trek always showing humans as being right (or doing the right thing) and here I’m complaining about the Voyager crew doing something absolutely wrong, my problem is that the show didn’t present it as wrong. To them, it was the right thing to do and they didn’t even need to think twice about it.
For Trek to show that as a happy ending, a viable solution to their dilemma just makes me sick. Ugh.
Anyways, this all makes a nice segue into my thoughts about Enterprise 2x26: The Expanse
Posted by Rayne @ 07:15 PM EST [Link] [No Comments]
Wednesday, August 13, 2003
As you may have heard, Arnold Schwarzenegger is running in the California recall election. One of the most important things about running for an elected position is to be known. Schwarzenheimer, being a major movie star, is already known to most of the public in Cali. Being who he is, he'll also get more face time than any other candidate. CNN and the local stations in Cali will report on Schwarts-inator's actions and speeches not only because he is running for governor but because he's a movie star-turned politician (not unheard of, but newsworthy nonetheless).
How are any of the other 200 (!!) candidates ever going to win? They have to go up against someone who's already incredibly popular and will be getting more press coverage than they could ever hope for. If Schnitzelhammer has some good speeches and is taken seriously there's no way he could lose this; I know I'd vote for him just for the novelty of it.
The real downer though is that if he wins his movie career will be put on hold for a pretty long time. Damn it, I want to see Conan: Crown of Iron and Terminator 4!!!
Oddly, the only candidates who's names I remember are the real "characters" like Ahnuld, Larry Flynt and Garry Coleman. I swear, only in the states...
Posted by Rayne @ 10:59 PM EST [Link] [7 comments]
Tuesday, August 12, 2003
Here is a list of terms people use interchangeably but are wrong when they do so! Well, at least I figure they’re wrong because I wouldn’t use these words in the same way.
Graphics/Art/(special) Effects/Animation
Graphics should be used almost exclusively for when we’re talking about video games. Graphics would refer to the overall visual look of a game, which include effects and animation. Effects in a game refer to dynamic events upon the environment like the way a lamp casts its light on a wall or the “particle effect” of a door shattering when shot by a rocket launcher. Animation refers to the fluidity of movement of people/objects within the game.
Effects (or Special Effects) is what we should use when talking about movies. The Hulk IS a special effect and an achievement in computer animation but he shouldn’t be called a graphic. If we’re discussing how cool bullet time we’re talking special effects, if we’re talking about how life-like Gollum’s movements are then it’s animation.
When looking at comics or anything else drawn/painted the word is art. If you want you can separate the art in a comic into pencils and colours and if you really know your stuff you can separate the line work into pencils and inks; but that gets incredibly complicated. Do NOT look at a still image and tell me that the animation is good, I’ll kill you.
Lastly, we have cartoons. Whether computer generated (like Finding Nemo) or traditional hand-drawn (Spirited Away) the general term here is Animation. If you’re talking about the distinct look/design of a character or object in a cartoon you can call it art.
Alright, confused? Good. *gets off his soapbox*
Posted by Rayne @ 04:50 PM EST [Link] [9 comments]
Monday, August 11, 2003
There are three people I hear talking constantly during the day. The first two are extremely annoying. I dislike hearing anything they say. They have horrible inflections and intonations of words as well as a horrible habit of terse meaningless laughter at things that they say themselves. Of course, these two people have to constantly be talking all day! Maybe it's their constant chatter that makes me pick up their vocal idiosyncrasies and dislike their voices. On the other hand, the third person has a voice that is fun to hear. I try to listen in to those conversations just for the soothing voice.
Someone’s voice can make a huge difference in how we perceive them. An average looking girl with a sultry and playful voice can get a man to do anything while a HOT girl with a hoarse and boring voice can …still get a man to do anything. Damnit! why must we be such weak-willed fools around good looking women?
I mention this often and I’ll do it again, Alice Krige has the best voice I’ve ever heard and after watching Phonebooth I’m adding Keifr Sutherland's cooly menacing tones to that list.
Posted by Rayne @ 06:40 PM EST [Link] [7 comments]
Friday, August 8, 2003
Here's a conversation I recently had on the message boards of Newsarama. The names of those involved have been modified to protect their identities =D
me"Some might say both. I'm kinda glad Morrison is leaving NXM though. A run of #114-#154 is pretty damn good these days and also I felt the book lost a lot with the art changes. The Silvestri story, the final arc, looks great from what I saw in Wizard Zero though. Marvel has more to lose though because it's gonna be hard to find a top name to put on NXM and I might just drop it if it's a no name writer starting on #155. We shall see on Friday. If NXM sells more without Morrison then it's a win win situation, right?"
I'd like to take this oppurtunity to say that Rich said it could be relaunched as just "x-men" again. AND I'd like to point out that I predicted this around new x-men 114.Guy 1
Sorry dude, you're wrong. If you read on, Rich also says:"The relaunch of "Daredevil" was confirmed by Marvel's publishing plans and schedules - leaked by their own website. "
As I stated earlier, I hope he is wrong.
Me
I really don't see your point.Guy 2
"I really don't see your point. "
For what it's worth, I didn't understand that response either. You were talking strictly about New X-Men, right?Me
Yes I was. and Thank You.Guy 1
"I really don't see your point. "
What's not to see?! You said he didn't mention a possible Daredevil relaunch. I'm showing you he clearly stated that. It's not rocket science is it?!?Me
I said no such thing.Guy 2
"What's not to see?! You said he didn't mention a possible Daredevil relaunch. I'm showing you he clearly stated that. It's not rocket science is it?!? "Please believe me when I say that I usually try to stay out of other people's business. But unless you are joking, this is one of the stupidest and pointlessly confrontational posts I've read.I don't know Rayne from a hole in the ground, but I do know that his post said NOTHING about Daredevil. Whatever you've imagined him saying about Daredevil just didn't happen.
In fact, if you had taken the time to read the rest of the board, you would have seen that I replied to him and said
"For what it's worth, I didn't understand that response either. You were talking strictly about New X-Men, right?"To which he replied"Yes I was. and Thank You"In fact, this was the very last post prior to yours. If you had simply scrolled to the end of the page before posting, you could've read that.I dunno. Maybe you two are friends and this is a longstanding joke, a tongue-in-cheek jab that is over my head. If so, I'm sorry.
But if you're serious, then you need to start paying attention more closely.
And people wonder why Texans think comics are for kids.
Me
"I dunno. Maybe you two are friends and this is a longstanding joke, a tongue-in-cheek jab that is over my head. If so, I'm sorry."This is most definately not the case.
And you're not out of line by any means.I just love it when people tell me point blank that I'm wrong when they don't have a clue what I just said.
Guy 1
Just want to apologise to Rayne, reread all the posts, and I finally see what you meant.I was being a bit of a prick. Sorry!
Posted by Rayne @ 03:41 PM EST [Link] [6 comments]
Thursday, August 7, 2003
After going a really long time without buying any, I finally gave in a bought some comics yesterday. Not that I’ve been trying to hold back, just that I haven’t found any cheap books lately. But it had been so long that I caved yesterday and bought some…at full price! I spent something like 95$ on comics and got many less than I would have liked. Oh for the days of Bay Used Books!!
For the longest time I’ve not had to pay full price for comics. The bloody things are so expensive that a couple hundred dollars can’t even get me foot high pile. Anyways, I’ve been lucky enough to know some good stores that have given me pretty steep discounts; every time I find one, I raid ‘em for anything that seems even remotely interesting. Lately though I’ve been running out of sources for this kind of binge shopping. I’ve been slowly waiting for Mile High Comics (the largest comics retailer in North America) to have their 40% sale again. Mile High offers free Shipping and Handling so it’s completely worth it to order from them, but alas free S&H is coming to an end in a couple of weeks so I doubt that I’ll be buying from them anytime soon even with a 40% sale (comics are incredibly heavy). Woe is me!!!
Speaking of addictions, go here for an interesting article on Internet addiction. I answered "yes" to 4 out of the 5 questions and that's because one of the questions was n/a.
Posted by Rayne @ 07:52 PM EST [Link] [2 comments]
Wednesday, August 6, 2003
Something hit me while watching Bad Boys 2 last night, no cops died in the movie. At all. In a supremely destructive 22 car accident, we’re told that no cops died, some were injured and in the hospital. In the climactic gunfight one cop is shot in the leg and dozens of Cubans shot dead. What’s my point? Cops and soldiers are the new sacred cows.
You can’t make a movie anymore showing cops and soldiers acting less than heroic without having the media come down upon you like you just make the most horribly anti-american movie ever. Witness the shit-storm circling Buffalo Soldiers. The movie is coming under a lot of criticism because it depicts soldiers doing unsavory things. Back when X-Men 2 came out, a few interviewers had asked director Bryan Singer about how anti-authority the movie was and if he didn’t like soldiers because so many were killed by Wolverine and the X-Men. He had to defend himself by explaining that Stryker’s soldiers weren’t necessarily U.S. soldiers and that they were working for a rogue agency. I think it’s ridiculous that he’s had to answer such a question. This line of thinking (bad depiction of military = criticism of government) had not been this insanely prevalent before the Bush Regime planted it into public consciousness. I’ve heard a lot of people comment about how the Hulk never killed anyone, even when he threw a tank across the desert or dropped a helicopter; I can guarantee that those little scenes with soldiers walking out of wreckage or saying that they were alright were inserted explicitly to avoid having this kind of banal criticism leveled at it. Imagine the movie “The Rock” was released today with its Navy Seals gone homicidal and a room full of soldiers getting gunned down. The media controversy around a movie like that being released today would be intense. The filmmakers would be called everything from un-american to terrorist sympathizers.
When this kind of thing happens I always wonder if there is an actual public outcry against a movie or is it just the media trying to stir some shit up by seeing a potential story, writing up an article about how said movie has a negative depiction of authority and hoping that a bunch of idiots somewhere will see the story and descent upon the film as if it worshipped Hitler.
Posted by Rayne @ 01:54 PM EST [Link] [9 comments]
Tuesday, August 5, 2003
Ca m’a pris a peut près un an mais j’ai finalement finis de lire « Les Trois Mousquetaires ». Non seulement est ce livre long (900 pages) mais c’est aussi écrit en vieux Français qui fait que j’ai compris moins de 9 sur 10 mots et j’ai pu seulement lire a un rythme d’une page chaque deux minute. Même si je n’avais pas prix de grand séjour du livre ça m’aurais pris probablement 2 mois entier pour le lire. Fait accompli, je pense qu’on doit me donner de grand félicitation.
L’histoire de d’Artagnan est adapté en plusieurs films et même une séries anime. Pour moi, la version réelle de cette histoire a toujours été la série « Sous le Signe des Mousquetaires », c’était a ma grande surprise de trouve que le roman est complètement différent de tous les films que j’ai vu et aussi de « Sous le Signe des Mousquetaires ». Les personnages sont les mêmes mais les évènement et les aventures des mousquetaires m’était presque tous inconnue. Dans le roman Constance Bonacieux est la femme du vieux Mr. Bonacieux, je l’avait toujours pris pour sa petite fille et je m’attendais que Aramis soit présente comme femme, mais ça ce n’est pas passe. C’était aussi intéressant a voir que le méchant principal de l’histoire n’est pas le Cardinal de Richelieu mais Milady de Winter. Je pensais que le livre finirait avec la mort du Cardinal mais ce n’était pas ainsi du tout.
Ce que j’ai trouve étonnant est le fait que le livres est écrit autour des évènement et personnages historique. La siège de La Rochelle et l’affaire des ferrets de diamants entre Anne d’Autriche et le Duc de Buckingham avait eu lieux en réalité. On sait tous que Louis XIV, Anne d’Autriche, le Duc de Buckingham, et le Cardinal de Richelieu étaient des vrais personnes mais ça m’as éblouie d’apprendre que d’Artagnan, Athos, Porthos et Aramis sont aussi des personnages historique!
Quelque choses d’autre que je ne savait pas est que l’histoire des trois mousquetaires est, en effet, une trilogie. Je connaissais l’existence de « Vingt Ans Apres » mais je ne savait pas qu’il avait la troisième partie, « Le Vicomte de Bragelonne » a lire aussi.
Posted by Rayne @ 03:08 PM EST [Link] [3 comments]
Monday, August 4, 2003
I hate Wal-Mart. Not only is it The Big American Corporation trying to muscle in on every possible retail market there is, but the atmosphere in the store is horrible! The low prices seem to attract all kinds of unsavory people to shop there. I feel like total white trash shopping next to 10 year old girls wearing almost nothing, large tattoo’d men, and mothers yelling at one of their 6 kids. I’m much more of a The Bay kinda guy but when shopping at Wal-Mart, it helps to dress the part; I was there today in my 9 year old tank top and 8$ Wal-Mart shorts. The worst is that the Wal-Mart is always so crowded - it’s a zoo.
Funny thing too, a couple of really young girls were running around buying candy in Wal-Mart when I was there. We left and went to Chapters and when we came out, those same girls were in front of Future Shop peddling what they had just bought from Wal-Mart AND they had removed a layer of clothing from their already underdressed selves.
Yes, Wal-Mart is owned by people who are richer than I will ever be, has the biggest consumer database on the planet as well as one of the best inventory systems in existance, the stores still feel like white trash.
Richard says that it all depends on which Wal-Mart you go to. And yes, the South Keys one is particularly bad but I’ve never been inside a Wal-Mart and thought that the place was nice.
Anyways, to recap: Wal-Mart – I don’t like it.
Posted by Rayne @ 11:57 PM EST [Link] [11 comments]
Saturday, August 2, 2003
Some of the last few entries have been pretty tough to write, I thought I’d have something interesting to say on some those topics but when I sat down to write I started just losing sight of what I was going for. Grr!! I’m having difficulty focusing my words lately, I think.
In other news, I ate a “coffee crisp triple mocha” the other day. BEST. CHOCOLATE. BAR. EVER.
I’m reading “The Bogie Man” and think that it would be really cool to be a detective! How do I start on such a venture? Does anyone reading this need any detecting done?
Movies I’ve seen recently.
Catch Me If You Can: really fun film! Kinda long but I was really amazed that someone actually did all that was depicted before the age of 21.
Spirited Away: amazingly heartwarming and creative blend of “wizard of oz” and “alice in wonderland”. Definitely a 10 on the ol’ 10 scale.
Man In The Iron Mask: great actors playing the four musketeers but DiCaprio stood out way too much against them. Also includes one of the cheesiest scenes I’ve ever seen: “such valour”.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Keira Knightley IS the sexiest tomboy beanpole on the planet. That and the movie’s really good too. AWESOME skeletal-pirate effects. Johnny Depp totally owned this movie. He deserves an Oscar!
American Wedding: funny, obnoxious, gross and surprisingly heartwarming. Stifler absolutely ruled here.
Posted by Rayne @ 04:38 PM EST [Link] [3 comments]
Friday, August 1, 2003
We live in a new neighbourhood; our backyard is connected to those of all the houses on our block so that it forms a large field. No fences have been put up to separate the yards, until now. I personally thought that it was really cool to have a giant field as a backyard.
The thing that I’ve noticed is that all the houses putting up fences seem to be of some ethnic minority. (generalizations ahead!) Most of the Caucasian families seem to have gotten to know each other and frequently hang out in each other’s backyards. This is perhaps because they hang out a lot in their backyards or because they all have little kids running around in the grass and have gotten to know each other through their children. We don’t really hang out back there (perhaps because it’s intimidating that they all know each other or because we don’t have any little kids?) and neither, does it seem, do the other ethnic families. So maybe it’s this “exclusion” or maybe they just want some privacy but for whatever reason fences are going up.
Interesting thing about fences, if you want a fence around your yard but your neighbour doesn’t then you have to pay for all of it (obviously) and the fence has to be built explicitly on your own property instead of straight down the middle. In this case, this means that the fence is built three inches inside the border of your yard. Of course this means that if you decide that you never want a fence but all those around you build one then not only will you have a fence around your yard for free but you also get an extra 3 inches of space on each side! Maybe this is what all the Caucasian families are holding out for? Suckers that we are, we decided to split with our neighbours.
"Fences make good neighbours."
Posted by Rayne @ 11:28 AM EST [Link] [7 comments]
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