cosmic_celery

Today was alright. I got done most of what I wanted to do. I drew up a comic, I cleaned the house a bit, and I went to see a movie. I didn't finish up with my room, so that'll have to wait till tomorrow.

I woke up late and talked to my Dad and his wife Nancy on the phone for a while. He asked again me how long it'll be before I transfer over to a real university, which always bothers me. I've explained the plan to him and he still brings it up all the time. Which he then immediately follows with "oh, and let me know if there's any way I could help with that". What would be nice is help with the school I'm going to now. Eh, but besides that, talking with him went fine.

Cleaned up around the house a bit, did some sit ups and push ups (I did some the day before yesterday too. I thought I should introduce at least some sort of exercise into my routine), and got ready for the movie. The plan was to go see Scott Pilgrim, but when we got there the show was sold out. Which was disappointing. So we saw The Other Guys instead. It was alright, but definitely not a movie I would have normally chosen to see. The comedy was good in some parts, but in others I was bored or slightly offended while the rest of the theatre was laughing.

Hopefully I'll be able to go see Scott Pilgrim soon. Tomorrow we might go down to visit my grandma. I want to go to the school to pick up the books for my music theory class, write at least a couple hundred words, and run by Joann's Fabric for some more black dye. I dyed a couple of things the other day and the cycle ended before it could dye all the way through.

( 'What mom thinks of my new hair' comic )

So...today was more or less an average day. I was a bit bummed out about missing the movie I wanted to see, but I can catch it another time.

It seems like I've not made a proper journal entry in forever.

Christmas went nicely and I managed not to make my mother angry about something or other, which is nice. It didn't seem to become the big deal that it could have...though at times it nearly got there. We did Christmas dinner at Grandmas and my Dad was there. Dad pushing himself last minute into holidays always pisses Mom off to no end, but things moved peaceably along.

I didn't really have much money at all this year, so she got a book and journal with the first page filled with nice things I think about her. ...I also wrapped up some tangerines and a banana, which made for fun unwrapping, and hopefully she thought it was as amusing as I thought it was.

For my dad the hit gift seems to be a book on beautiful experiments done in the history of science. He called me up and told me how much he likes it (no word of the other two books). When I was in the bookstore so much in the science section looked interesting, so maybe I'll head back later when I have more money and buy up a whole shelf's worth for myself.

I knitted my grandma a nice, warm scarf. I think that she liked it, and even if she doesn't she can still wear it while she's watching TV or something.

As for myself, I received some lovely things, including some awesome gloves from mertondingle a couple Past Doctor Adventures from shinnyjenni, as well as a bunch of wonderful cards.

Thanks, everyone!
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On New Years I watched Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas with mom. She hadn't seen it before. I drank a rum and Coke because mom bought rum....but I don't really like rum. Or at least that rum. Ah well. I'd like to figure out more what sort of drinks I like. How's that for a New Year's resolution? Drink more.

Maybe I'm missing the self-improvement angle.

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Oh, and now I'm sick.

Stayed up all night writing an essay that was due yesterday. Drank copious and probably unsafe amounts of tea. Still need to muss up some sort of conclusion out of this piece of crap, take it into the writing center at school (required. aagh.) and turn it into the teacher's box.

Also: watched Withnail and I last night. It is good stuff.

Had a piano test this morning, which is nice because we got out of class early, and I got 5 out of 5, so hooray!

Took the bus home...I think this bus driver was having issues of some kind, or wasn't used to driving that bus or something, because he kept using the brake all the time, jostling everyone (all three of us) forward each time. Maybe they give the new drivers the less crowded buses as a sort of primer? Or maybe he was just a crap driver.

Mum's working this morning, so when she gets back we're heading to Hillcrest for my birthday. Yay. In the meantime I'm watching Stranger Than Fiction.

So, I love this movie (The Legend of 1900), but there seems to be no organized fan-stuff for it...so I made a community. I'll be amazed if people join.

Nevertheless:

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Okay, so, the original 1972 version of Sleuth is one of my favorite movies. With a young Michael Caine and and an older Laurence Olivier.

A bit of a non-spoilery summary I found at imbd:
"Milo Tindle (Caine) and Andrew Wyke (Olivier) have something in common, Andrew's wife. In an attempt to find a way out of this without costing Andrew a fortune in alimony, he suggests Milo pretend to rob his house and let him claim the insurance on the stolen jewelry. The problem is that they don't really like each other and each cannot avoid the zinger on the other. The plot has many shifts in which the advantage shifts between Milo and Andrew."

So, the reason that this movie is so awesome is that Wyke's house reflects who he is and helps the plot along amazingly well. Throughout the house, (more of a castle, actually, representing how stuck he is in the "old ways") he has all of these toys and games....some things that go off when a button is pressed or somesuch. Even the first scene, set in a shrub maze, sets up the viewer for the twisted game that's to come. The house itself becomes a reflection of Wyke's messed up personality.

The tension gradually builds between Tindle and Wyke as they begin to make a game of murder. Both Oliver and Caine act amazingly throughout.

And plus, one of the lines from the movie was referenced in a Smiths song:

Seriously, how much more awesome can you get?

So, I was very excited when I heard that there was a remake of the movie coming out with Michael Caine switching roles to play Wyke and Jude Law playing Tindle. I thought, this will be awesome. Recently I found the remake on the video store shelf and rented it right away.

I was disappointed. First off, the house was recreated in a super-modern flair, and in the script was designed by Wyke's wife...which does nothing to represent that Wyke is the one with the flair for the odd. And then there was a whole part about Tindle outright seducing Wyke as one of the "games", which, besides giving me some very nice fantasies involving Jude Law and Michael Caine, did absolutely nothing for the story. I'm afraid even the direction by Kenneth Branagh couldn't save this version of the script.