Sunday, November 20, 2005

Whee!

.:Paging Sacha and Clair!!! Heck, Paging EVERYONE!!!:.

You have to watch the trailer. You absolutely must.

Click here.

Actually, everyone, check it out. :P

.:Lunch Call:.

Lunch Call goes out to Clair, Chris, and Pomelo...

Any of you free for lunch this coming week or next? It'd be great to have lunch with you people. :)

.:Serenades:.

I guess I'm fairly glad that Pomelo and I have been finding time for each other as of late, and it's definitely been great, to say the least.

Well, considering the stuff I've been up to lately, it's amazing we still get to see each other. Just so we could make things a bit extra special, I just played a couple of songs from my PSP and sang along with them. You might say that she definitely enjoyed the mini-serenading that went on, and as far as I'm concerned, it's all good.

So maybe things aren't going perfectly for us with all the obstacles in our way. It doesn't matter. These trials would do little more than make the both of us stronger for each other.

.:Overexhaustion:.

I really need to find a way to make up for my lack of sleep, because I inadvertently missed going to WAVE this morning again because I woke up at five in the morning. We had an all-day taping yesterday for GMA, and after the free facial I got from Let's Face It, I promptly went home instead of going with the rest of the team to Intramuros for the dinner and all.

I slept around 7, woke up around 5. Close to 10 hours of sleep, and while I appreciate the added rest, it won't help my cause for when I push for a raise with WAVE starting next year. I've been losing a lot of money as of late, from the fact that I got around 800 bucks lopped off my last WAVE paycheck to not being able to find my GBA cartridges anywhere, which is just immensely frustrating, as I'm supposed to sell those to Elbert...

Oh, well. At least I'm not that horribly short on cash nowadays. Still, I don't quite know what to do about my teaching career, if it's still what I'd want to pursue or if I'd rather put that on hold until further notice.

.:More Annoyances:.

My stepdad has officially lost it, in my humble opinion.

A few months ago, I wrote a post, essentially praising my younger brother, Francis, for the clear-cut changes he's made in his life. Ever since he went to Victory Center, the kid has changed himself immensely, and become a much better human being, to say the least.

For some odd reason, my stepdad has been picking on Francis lately. Oh, I dunno... maybe it's because I'm not around to pick on? And it's odd that it has to be Francis, because there are three other kids he can pick on in that house... oh, right. Francis is not his flesh and blood.

Am I the only one seeing a pattern here?

I hope my mom stops putting up with this crap, because her kids deserve better. And I take a personal slight against my stepdad for berating Francis, and telling him that he's acting just like me. You mean the guy who's making a moderate success of himself right now? You mean your mind is still too warped to recognize he's doing well now?

And the irony of it all is that no matter how good I'd do in life, he'll claim credit for it, because he'd claim that he lit a fire under me by being a prick. Well, some random killer shot Bruce Wayne's parents. I don't think that guy deserves praise for creating Batman, either. Funny how he'd recognize how well I'm doing when it benefits me and conveniently neglect that when comparing me to my brother to insult him and put him down.

One of these days, he'll get what's coming to him. I can feel it.

.:Film Review: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire:.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire:.
It just gets better and better...

While Goblet of Fire isn't necessarily my favorite book in the series, I have to say that the film definitely pushed the envelope and is arguably the best film in the series right now, despite of what was going against it.

Instead of drowning you in a story I'm sure you've read about or will watch in the near future, let me just talk about random points of divergence between the book and the film, and what I think about the film as a whole.

For one, the original book clocked in at close to 800 pages. I consider it a testament to good editing that the film didn't have to incorporate every single subplot of the book onto the big screen, most notably the absence of two very high-profile characters: Ludo Bagman, and Pinky, the house-elf. The absence of the former was not missed much if at all, while the absence of the whole House-Elf Liberation Movement essentially removed the need for appearances from the likes of Dobby and any other house-elf. Good move, in my humble opinion, and it underscored how superfluous Rowling's writing was in both book 4 and 5 (I'd love to see how book 5 could get cut up...).

Furthermore, they didn't mind showcasing Barty Crouch Jr., from the get-go of the film. While his dad looked a lot like J. Jonah Jameson, his escape from Azkaban was never explained at all. Neither was he dead in the movie's storyline. Instead, he simply escaped from Azkaban.

Voldemort's look was pretty much how I imagined it to be. It was all good, and Ralph Fiennes played a very good Voldee. My only gripe with the film would have to be the lack of showcasing the Quidditch World Cup, as well as not showing how the other champions dealt with the dragon in the first challenge. Dropping the whole half-Veela subplot from Fleur Delacour wasn't so bad, really. Dropping the Rita Skeeter subplot, however, is questionable, depending how they intend to play out things for the next installment, where she'd make another appearance. Dropping the whole face-to-face meeting between Black and Harry, as well as the explanation of the link between Harry's and Voldee's wands, would mean that again, there is an assumption that you have been reading the books. Not a very safe assumption to make, sadly.

A bit of commentary on Cho Chang... given how she looks, and the fact that she has a British accent, she's hot! And I also found Moaning Myrtle remotely attractive all the same when she was sidling up to Harry in the bathtub scene... Fleur wasn't too bad in her swimwear, either, but Hermione definitely looked good during the Yule Ball scene. Cuaron's being v-ery naughty in this installment... and it's all good.

The casting choices were okay for this film. There were no questionable choices for the new cast members, although I was hoping the Beauxbatons headmistress would be wider than she was taller. Still, it wasn't a problem at all.

All in all, you have to watch it if you're a Potter fan. The special effects are pretty good as well, and I can't blame them for dumbing down the plot all the same. It would seem to me that they made it obvious that Mad-Eye Moody wasn't who he really was... regardless, it was a very well-made film, although I can't help but feel that they'd have to do another casting call for the fifth installment now.

Fun Evaluation: A+
Critical Evaluation: B+

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