Schedules Jan 3?

We once more seem to be running into some conflicting schedules for a gathering on January 3rd, so I'm wondering what the day looks like for everyone. Personally, I am available anytime. I would have to check on apartment availability, but I imagine afternoon to early evening is what I can offer in that respect. Rubin seems to be free only before 3:30 while Desudesu is free after that time.

What's up with everyone else?

Would an afternoon-to-dinner event work, to try and accomodate everyone? Say, 1-7ish with the first bit being visiting and fun and the last bit being going out for food? We could make it earlier if people are interested, and heck I'll volunteer to come up with some activities so we don't expire of boredom. We can exchange school stories, be drag queens, mould clay, answer trivia, comment on a movie (or many Justice League episodes) and have a gay ol' time. Although this certainly doesn't have to be at my house. Certainly doesn't have to be this at all, but getting a rough game plan and some times out there would be helpful. I think that this ought to get everyone in, though. Even crazy Kris and his hours.

Thoughts?

Edit: So Starwing is free all day. Apparently Kris may also be as well.

I'm all for getting everyone involved as much as possible. Rubin, you'd still be able to come for a bit and visit and talk with everyone, only the dining option would get cut out. That is, if we go with my suggestion above, which is only one option.

At the moment, I would suggest we figure out what time of day/what type of gathering we're going to do. The restaurant (if we end up going out) can always be decided on day of or after such a time as we make a decision. If you're available all the time, great. What's your preference for events? Do you want to do lunch, dinner, long day of socializing and food, what? Some decisive input would be totally le awesome.

Jan 3!!!!

Darn... Desudesu can't make it before 3:30 and I can't make it after that (working...).

But I was just talking to Twill and she hasn't ever had Dim Sum before! And for me, the idea of going for decent dim sum one last time before heading back up to Edmonton is very pleasing.

For those of you who do not know what Dim Sum is, it is one of the most famous types of food that is native to Cantonese cuisine. It's not just one kind of food, but a term that incompasses a whole variety of dishes using ingredients that are farmiliar to all of us, but presented and prepared in a way that maybe be different or foreign from what some of us are used to. Also, dim sum is a very "lunch-y" kind of outing and the loud and boisterous atmosphere would be perfect for a group like us (we can be as loud as we want and no one would care!)

I know of two awesome restaurants for Dim Sum, one at the corner of Centre Street and 16th Ave (New Asia) and one over the Pacific Place in the North East (English name escapes me for the moment...).

If we're going to the Centre Street one, my plan is to have people who can drive/are going to have cars for the day (ie. Me, for one), go and pick up people who do not have cars (ie. I could pick up Obsidian and/or Nyx) and meet at one central location at 11:00AM (ie. Twill's place, since it would be on the way to downtown) and then go in a giant conoy to the restaurant.

If we're going to the NE one, those of use close to the Dalhousie station would ride the train down to meet those close to the Brentwood station and then we could all train it to Franklin LRT station, which is right next to the mall OR we could repeat the plan that I made up above.

So comment and tell me what you think, but hurry! Jan. 3 is coming soon!

~Rubin

PS. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!

Get-together dealy

I can't come to anything that happens before 3:30. I just can't so if you guys want to see me again before school starts, make it late-afternoon/evening/night because I work, and I have to drive into town. I still live out in the middle of nowhere.

So I'm all for doing something on the 3rd, but makeit after 3:30 if at all possible. My thoughts for dinner: Tony Romas, Boston Pizza, The New Dynasty.

January 3rd Lunch + Snow Angels

Well, I'd have to admit that I'm not interested in seeing the zoo in its winter state of deadness. Here's a few restaurants that fit a budget, granted they are all Vietnamese/Chinese so no selection available;

Y2K(across from McMahon)
Some place that's good near the Signal Hill Mall
There is a Gingerbeef in Brentwood

then there are lots of other places that are super easy picks;
Crowfoot: Boston Pizza, Swiss Chalet
Dalhousie: Has a family restaurant
16th Ave(right by the banff Trail Stn): Phils family restaurant
I don't know many others that are open for lunch so feel free to fill in the blanks

owscorpio

About the zoo....(Jan 3 thing)

I *suppose* I could go to the zoo, again, tho I must admit I wouldn't prefer it. If that's what's decided, sure.

But I just remembered something you guys should know. During the time I was there in November, one whole exhibit area was closed for construction. I wanted to see the elephants. :( Unfortunately, it was that block of buildings...

Very very late post

Hey guys,

If you haven't gotten the email, the Bday party is tomorrow (dec 29).

2 o'clock, my house, and if you have games and stuff you want to do, bring them. The address is in the email, or you can phone me.

It'll go to sometime after dinner, probably eight or nine.

Hope to see you all there,
Starwing.

Gathering of the Group on Jan. 3, 1 ATC

Hey Y'all,

As with Obsidian, I hope that all your Christmases (?) were good and dandy and fine and filled sightings of hot guys! (I know mine was! haha....)

Anywho, I can't make it to Starwing's partay on the 29th.... schedule sucks that day... but I'm hoping to get my idea of a Jan. 3 gathering off the ground!

I was thinking of meeting around 11-ish somewhere for lunch and then we could GO TO STARBUCKS!!! GASP!!! Or something else for that matter. But lunch for sure, eh? I know that Sakana Grill (Japanese restaurant) has opened up another restaurant in Crowfoot and I've been wanting to try, but I'm up for ideas. Also, I know of several fields around the area that we can go and frolick in and make snow angels! (granted, I don't have snow pants....)

Anywho! Comment and provide ideas!

~Rubin

Machine gun Legs

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a bad dash of a Boxing Day. It's finally a White Holiday something, so maybe I can make snow angels. You guys told me to watch the blog for any news of getting together, but nothing's come up yet. I know we're going to E's Bday party, but do you guys want to do anything afterwards? We still have a week and a half...

Saw the Fantastic Four sequel trailer, and it was good, if only because they didn't madly cut a bunch of action scenes together so you can't understand what the heck is going on.

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/grindhouse_hd.html

But this looks disturbing. Tarantino and Rodriguez's Grindhouse... But who doesn't want a Machine Gun for a leg?

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/grindhouse_hd.html

Sexy Argonauts!!!

Ok.... so after going through the channels of the beloved TV, I have four new additions to my "Sexy Argonauts" list:

Sexy argonaut #28: Micheal Vartan from "Alias" (HE'S FRENCH!!!!)
Sexy argonaut #29: Mark Kelley, reporter/journalist on CBC
Sexy argonaut #30: Max Foster, reporter/journalist on CNN International
Sexy argonaut #31: Kevin Cheng, actor on TVB in Hong Kong
Sexy argonaut #32: Joe Ma, actor on TVB in Hong Kong
Sexy argonaut #33: Aaron Kwok, Cantopop singer
Sexy argonaut #34: James Franco from the "Spider Man" movies and other films
Sexy argonaut #35: A.J. Hammer, reporter on CNN
Sexy argonaut #36: Archie Kao from "CSI"
Sexy argonaut #37: James Marsden from "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer"
Sexy argonaut #38: Andy Lau, cantopop singer/actor

On another note, we've surpassed the 100 mark in messages posted! HURRAY!!! Celebration!!!

And lastly, Pseudo-Christmas 2006 (0 ATC) is tommorrow at Twill's! Be there or be square!

Laterz!

~Rubin

EDIT: Merry Christmas! Joyeux Noël! 聖誕快樂! Frohe Weihnachten! ¡Feliz Navidad! Vrolijke Kerstmis! Buon Natale! Feliz Natal!

JT

Avert your eyes Starwing! Or actually, you can avert your ears as well!
For the rest of us who can stand the funniness, I reveal Justin Timberlake in all his Bee Gee glory. FOr those of you who don't know who the Bee Gees were, they sang the soundtrack for Saturday Night Fever, and they were really big when afros were really big.

Clickey Clicky!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=1dmVU08zVpA

... Question

Hm... seeing the difficulty of arranging PC... ><

Anyways, I have a question, I know between Xmas and new years is pretty busy for everyone, but...

If I invite people over for B-day this year between 25th and new year, how many people CAN'T make it? And if you can, what's your schedule like?

PS: first BLEACH movie came out in Japanese theatres yesterday!!! *sobs* why am I not in Japan?? It looks so pretty... so pretty... and the movie theme is so sad...

Pseudo-Christmas Confirmed

All right, here it is. The official PC announcement for date, time and place.

Pseudo-Christmas shall occur on December 22 at my mom's new apartment from 1-4 in the afternoon. An email will be sent out with the address and directions/landmarks/etc as soon as I'm done with this post. Anyone unable to make it will definitely be caught up with at another gathering, because I for one want to see everyone as much as possible, factoring family time and sleep and everything.

Thanks, everyone, for posting and commenting and getting all the info up so the scheduling could take place. Wibom is great for coordinating, ne? Good luck with any exams that may be left and I'll see you soon. Joyeux Noel.

Edit: Could someone pass the address email along to owscorpio? I don't seem able to send her email anymore for some reason. It always gets bounced back as 'unable to deliver.' Thanks.

Also - if the time looks a little iffy to you and you want to suggest something else, by all means leave a comment. It's pretty flexible :)

My schedule

All righty, so on the day of PC (Dec. 22) my work schedule is 3-(7:30/8). If you guys can, did you want to go earlier? Then I could meet up with you guys for a few hours then you guys could continue the fun when I left for work.

Anywhoo, hopefully that works itself out. Yay for Xmas fun!!!!!!!!!

ATTN: CHANGE IN DETAILS

Ok... so I've about had it up to here *metaphorical line at forhead level* with you guys and your last minute schedule changes.

So ya... with Natrix's sudden complications, the majority has been lost and once again, we're at an impasse... stay tuned to this blog for details... there will be definite details by tommorrow (Saturday) night.

But for now, our plan is to move the time earlier in the day, around 1:00 in the afternoon to around 3:30PM. But like I said: NOTHING IS CONFIRMED YET. But there will be definite details by tommorrow night.

Rubin

PS.
I know I'm going to sound like an ass for saying this, but I really don't care: If it's going to take us this long to set a definitive date (nevermind a place or a time) next year, I won't be participating in PC and I will start returning gifts... It's bad enough that one or two people in this group have to coordinate events around the schedules of eight other people. It's even worse when seemingly, something like this isn't at the top of people's priorities. If that's how you all feel, I'll be more than happy to agree to cease PC.

Hmmmmm....

Maybe the date won't work out for me, after all.

Just was told that my sister is coming back the 22nd, and we're going out to dinner with grandma. I suppose it depends when it's held...

This also makes it unlikely that I can offer my place to host. The family's always fussy and preoccupied when someone's back, more so for someone like my sis.

Rubin: btw, you can still edit posts! Just hit "New Post" at top, and you're brought into the typey place, and up top are some flags (Posting, Settings, Template, etc). Under it is "Edit Posts." :)

Beowulf and Shrek 3

I almost forgot about this film. I guess it just hasn't been as heavily hyped. I also wish it was live action, instead of roto-scoping like they did in The Polar Express. But, it's still directed by Robert Zemeckis who brought us Back to the Future and Forrest Gump. And it has scary Crispin Glover, and Angelina Jolie, and who cares about the rest. Clickey Clickey for concept art. You should be able to recognize Jolie.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/30985

p.s Here's Shrek the Third

http://movies.aol.com/movie-trailer-clip/shrek-the-third-quicktime

It shall be a bloodbath in May with Spiderman, Pirates, and this monstrosity. But I bet Harry Potter can still win a month later.

Pseudo Christmas 2006 (0 ATC): The Final Decision

To the Group:

It is my pleasyre to announce that the impasse is over!. The votes are in and tabulated by yours truly: Pseudo-Christmas 2006 (0 ATC) will be held on Friday, December 22, 2006.

It was a slim majority, but a majority nonetheless. Here's the vote break down:

-5 votes For
-3 votes Against
-2 Abstentions

I've notified Twill of the results and she and Natrix are hammering out a deal relating to the place and time frame of this event and they shall post soon in regards to the event.

Also, I would like to propose another gathering (such as the one that Twill, Kris and Obsidian proposed) for Wednesday, January 3, 2007 (but we'll discuss those details later).

So there we go, the Group as spoken. Back to chem for me!

~Rubin

PS.
Sexy argonaut #15: John Krasinski from "The Office" (for being so uberly-cute)
Sexy argonaut #16: Josh Duhamel from "Las Vegas"
Sexy argonaut #17: Eric Szmanda from "CSI"
Sexy arognaut #18: Jonathan Togo from "CSI: Miami"
Sexy argonaut #19: Jake Gyllenhaal from "Brokeback Mountain" (among others)
Sexy argonaut #20: Adam Brody from "The O.C."
Sexy argonaut #21: Jude Law from many various films
Sexy argonaut #22: Matthew McConaughey from "The Wedding Planner" and other films
Sexy argonaut #23: Phil Keoghan, host of "The Amazing Race"
Sexy argonaut #24: Tyler Denk, winner of the tenth season of "The Amazing Race"
Sexy argonaut #25: Jeff Probst, host of "Survior"
Sexy argonaut #26: Jamie Bamber from "Battlestar Galactica"
Sexy argonaut #27: Ian Thorpe, retired world champion swimmer

Haha... ya... I got distracted by People Magazine's "Sexiest Men Alive Website".... (Btw, to Obsidian: I hope you appreciate the new variety of my Sexy Argonaut List)

Nire here (finally).

My thing on PC- I work until the 22nd. The 27th is fine by me, and anything after New Years'. Or maybe we can combine New Years' into PC? Or was that already decided to be out of the question?

But yeah... the 27th or the other day. I think the other day, just to give some extra time for present shopping (for me).

One more option to vote on...

Seeing how Kris has to work and how his schedule does not mesh well with any of the options... here's another one that I'm going to throw out: (Note that option 3, January 4, is being SCRAPED and eliminated off the ballot, since I was the only person pushing for it.)

3a.) Wednesday, December 27, 2006 OR Wednesday January 3, 2007 ~1:30PM(?) at ???
- Kris, if you really want to have Monday-Wednesday date, these are the only two of three possible dates. The last option is Tuesday, January 2. Monday and Tuesday the 18th and 19th are out of the question: not everyone is back yet. Monday and Tuesday the following week is totally a no-go: Christmas and Boxing Day. The Monday after that is also a no-go: New Year's Day.
- Vote tabulations so far indicate a tie between option 1 and 2. I'm not sure about Obsidian' vote because she voted twice for different options.

OK.... Please do a ranking of in descending order of preference for dates (As Nyx has done and I'm about to do.)

My preference:
3a, 2, 1

~Rubin

PS. I hate the new blogger... I can't edit my posts!!!!

Switched To Blogger Beta

Alright, I switched this blog to Blogger Beta today, (Blogger is going to make this mandatory anyway, so might as well get it done now), so if you can't post, that's probably why.

Under the new system, you will need a Google Account in order to login/post/do stuff. Gmail accounts come with a built-in Google account, so you can just use that if you want.

So here's what you do:
- Login to Blogger as you would normally do
- Click on the "switch now" link and follow the instructions
- When you come to the page where it asks you to sign in to your Google account, just use your Gmail username/password, or create a new account

Your profile, blog name, display picture, etc. stay the same.

You login now through http://beta.blogger.com, but you use your Google account username/password. Sound simple?

Also, more comments added to the post below about Pseudo Christmas.

Pseudo Christmas 2006 (0 ATC)

Ok people...
In an attempt to end this annoying impasse, here are my three proposals for Pseudo-Christmas:

1.) Friday, December 22. 2006 at 9:00PM at Twill's mom's apartment.
Reasons:
- Kris is off work by by 8:00PM on that night, giving him an hour to wrap up affairs and show up.
- Scorpio has her first day of Winter Break.
- Twill and Obsidian will have been in town for roughly two days, allowing time to relax, hang out with family etc.
- Later than the 19th, so hopefully it will work with Natrix's schedule.
- It's at 9:00PM, so I should off work by then, but it's a Friday night so it's hard to say.... (I may have to show up later, say around 9:30).

Disadvantages:
- A little too late for my taste.
- Cut-off time is going to be 10:30; there's no way that I'm going to keep Jamie's mom (or anyone else, for that matter) up past 10:30.
- Leaves only about an hour or so for all us to talk and catch up (that's not enough time!!!).

2.) Friday, December 29, 2006 at ~1:30PM at ???
Reasons:
- Kris will have been back for a day from Victoria.
- Farther away from the 19th, hopefully meshing in with Natrix's schedule.
- It's in the afternoon, which seems to be a better time for most people (judging from comments made on the post).
- Fits in with Starwing's and Obsidian's schedules.
- If we schedule the time earlier or later, we could even gather a particular house, go out and have some fun and then return to PC. Oh what a wonderful affair it will be!!! :-D

Disadvantages:
- Post-Acutal Christmas
- Quite close to New Year's, maybe hard to fit into people's schedules

3.) Thursday, January 4, 2007!!!! (1 ATC!!!) at ~1:30PM at ???
Reasons:
- Post New Year's... people should start to be getting back into the groove in preparation for a new semester (*DIES*)
- Most people should have recovered from any wild drinking on New Year's Eve.
- Again, if we schedule a time earlier or later, we could do a get-together aussi!
- For Natrix, it's FAR away from Dec. 19. (Would there be ample time for you to get your assignments done?)

Disadvantages:
- Post-Actual Christmas
- Haven't heard about January schedule details from most people.

So... to try to resolve this impasse, those are my three proposals. I vote the 3rd option. Now, let us please do this in a democratic fashion and I sincerely hope that admist work schedules, spending time with family, doing assignments and hanging out with other friends that each of us will be able to take a few hours from our lives to do this thing TOGETHER. It's been forever since I've seen so many of you, and damn it, I miss you all. So help me out here and respond to this post ASAP and lets get this !#$#@^@#%$# show ON THE ROAD!!!.

~Rubin

PS.
Has anyone extended a formal invitation to Erin? I've just noticed that her invite to join WIBOM is still unanswered.... I mean.... I know that Twill, Nyx and myself bought her presents, but does she acutally know that this is going on?

PPS.
Just so that you guys know, I'm going to be buying the parent(s) of our hosting home a small gift as a sign of appreciation and gratitude for allowing our festivities to occur at their house; We're young, slowly maturing adults now, and this simple gesture is something that etiquette demands. I'm not asking you guys to chip in or anything (although that would be much appreciated), but just letting you know ahead of time that I'm going to be doing this on behalf of all of us. I hope this will not be an issue with any of you?

Peanuts Meets Marvel

This is mainly for the Duke, because I know how much he loves Charlie Brown, or at least I think he does.

http://www.statueforum.com/showthread.php?t=10151

scroll down and behold!

ATC

That's right people, After Tom Cruise.
I've retired him to my Hall of Fame, where he shall forever reside, in his pre-Katie Holmes state. There's a lot of bad stuff being said about him these days, and I can only take so much before I get violent. No more talking about him in my presence please, he's beyond our speech patterns now.

That is why, I should look for younger people. But there are no worthy successors to the Cruister. Someone only slightly younger than him and a lot more saner, is the already taken Ben Browder.

Brunettes are the best now. Who cares about blondes? Number 1 is now Ben Browder
Then it's Ewan McGregor
Hugh Jackman
Christian Bale
Christopher Reeve/Brandon Routh *yes, I'm in love with Superman*
the only blond person to make the list is Hayden Christensen, before his hair got all greasy.

I've also moved on to tragic literary figures like Heathcliff and Yuri Zhivago. Swoon everybody!

Pseudo-Christmas

Hey howdy.

I hope everyone's studying, exams and other assorted papers and projects are going well. Keep on truckin'!

I thought I'd make a post to discuss when and where is best for everyone to gather for our annual fun and gift exchange that comes during this wonderful season of snow and wind. So far as I'm aware, everyone should be done and in town by afternoon on Dec 20th. Would the 21st or 22nd work well for a day? Perhaps early afternoon? As for a place, I can at least offer the option of my Mom's new awesome apartment for a gathering. Of course, everything is up for discussion! I just figure things might as well get going before we're all too bogged down with exams and unable to think about anything other than what John Stoltenberg wrote about in his article "How Men Have (A) Sex."

Yeah.

EDIT: So far, 21st and 22nd would work, although Kris will be working until 8 on both days which means something would have to turn into 'evening' and I'm getting the idea that afternoons work better. What about the 20th? I know Obsidian's back that morning and personally I'm back only the night before but something might be swingable. The 23rd also marks the disappearance of Kris for several days. There may be the option of doing things after the official day of Christmas, but I'm not sure what's happening with everyone. Thoughts?

EDIT2: So I recently spoke to my mom, and it seems that an evening thing might be workable on the 21st or 22nd if that works for everyone. I would just want to keep it a little tame, so the cutoff might have to be 10 which could pose some problems if Rubin's only off work at 9. Oh Kris, why can't you contract some sort of illness that lets you come in the afternoon? :P

Actually, 10:30 is about as late as it can swing. Is that going to be enough time for those who are working? Anyone else have a free home? Should we gather after official Christmas? How DO they get the caramel in the Caramilk bars?

A Note on Starbucks Stuff

As promised before, here is the update on the status of Starbucks stuff for Christmas.

In short, almost everything is open! I surprisingly didn't get any Starbucks stuff from my Edmonton friends this year! So... the thing I want most this year from Starbucks are:

- The Starbucks cocoa three pack! THREE DIFFERENT FLAVOURS!!!
- Starbucks cards!!!

GASP! I know your thoughts: "Is that all Rubin wants from Starbucks this year????!!". In a word, yes. In the words of Kris, "the world IS about to implode"... Why don't I want that much stuff from Starbucks this year? 1.) You can only have so many mugs before your cabinet is bursting full of them. 2.) You can only have so much tea before you discover that there are quite a few flavours that are just plain gross. 3.) You can only have so much coffee that you know that you're set for the next five years. 4.) It's nice to know what are presents AREN'T going to be for a change.

So, to all you have gotten me Starbucks stuff, don't worry about it, I'll love it (the present) and you nonetheless. To all you who haven't gotten me a present yet, take a look at my list, which has been updated many, many times.

So ya! Sorry to make this post so selfishly about me.... But before I go, good luck on all your finals y'all!!!

~Rubin

Good Luck on Exams

I was harshly reminded today by bitter biochem friend that we're taking "EXAMS" not tests... Geez, people are so stressed...

Good luck everybody, may the force be with you all. I miss hot Anakin. Wherever did you go?

p.s. I'll be free the 22nd, I'm now unavailable for the 23rd.
p.p.s if you really want to find me, I'll be camping out at the library for extended periods of time.
p.p.p.s http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/300.html --> What are you doing March 9th? See this freaking fantastic film, with the abs! And with colour, unlike sin city and the yellowness. Oh the abs, who cares about his scraggly beard? This is the shiniest film of next year. But I'm still thinking spiderman 3 will be my number 1 fave. Down with Pirates 3, I saw the pics of them in Chinese garb, not impressed. Not impressed at all.

XMAS LIST (Starwing)

Er...this is Natrix posting for Starwing, because it wasn't done so it could be seen by everyone and so on and such. :P For future reference, Starwing, you want to hit "Publish Post" rather than "Save as Draft." :)

Xmas list thingy

O.o is this my first time posting? If I get it wrong, erm... bah.

Hm... Vague... very vague... haven't been out much this year, so I can't say anything specific.

-any books on perspectives in drawing
-how-to-draw manga books
-all those little anime thingies that some of you know about
-books/cds/thingies on learning Japanese
-any good fantasy or sci fi books out lately? (have not been reading)
-surprise me

DON'T GET
-that game I talked about at Oshi's place, Fire Emblem - I don't have nintendo T.T (Unless like eight of you get together and buy the game console too, but that's just silly)

Skating and Hot Chocolate

Besides a gathering of minds at Pseudo Christmas at a location TBD, let's do other stuff together!

I want to go ice skating and frolic around in the snow. Get out your old snow pants, and let's make snow angels. I know we probably won't fit into our old snow pants except for Oshi and Emily, but whatever.

I'm free for most nights except for the 22nd, 24th, 25th, 26th, 28th, 31st, 1st.

p.s. to Nyx's Post. We should go see a movie in the theatres. There's really only one worth seeing, The Fountain.
I mean Casino Royale is great and all, but I've seen it already, and I don't need to see the brutality once more on screen.

XMAS List (OB)

I didn't really want to make a list. And it's probably too late anyway, but peer pressure...
Wax on, wax off everybody!

Books

• complete collections by any British or Russian author of notable worth. i.e. Dickens, Austen, and you know, those great russians who write deep things...like that dude who wrote Dr. Zhivago. Or better yet, just get me Dr. Zhivago, the one with Obi-wan, aka Alec Guinness, not with Keira Knightley, because I have that already, and I've had enough looking at her skinny naked body. I've looked it up, and they're wonderfully thick but not expensive at all. Oh Mr Darcy!
• good books in general, preferably classic books from the 1800s, or collections of someone's work.
• of if you really love me, the Norton Anthology of Literature that you guys read in English.
• a book of poetry. by somebody famous and good. or if you want to go exotic, get me something by the Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda.
• or the complete collection from Roald Dahl or Shel Silverstein's twisted poems or you know the fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm.
• any books that have been made into movies, like Out of Africa
• Son of the Shadows by Juliet Marillier,
• a library. that's right.

Movies

• Superman Returns (2 disc) Widescreen
• Batman Begins (2 disc) Widescreen
• If you really love me, you can get me the Ultimate Superman Collection which has like everything...

Miscellaneous

• I actually wouldn't mind a wall calendar, as long as it fits my style. I really liked the Spongebob one that merry gave me 2 years ago. And I once had a Star Wars one too. Oh the shinyness. Pretty art themes are good too, but no puppies or animals. I wouldn't be able to get any work done. No firemen calendars either. But that doesn't mean I should be bombarded with calendars. I'd prefer huge boxes to write in. Maybe a 16 month calendar?

TV

• Any season of Angel, you know the hunky dude from Buffy, before his neck expanded to epic proportions
• Any season of 24.
• Fairie Tale Theatre.

If you really really can't think of anything, last resort is Giftcards to Chapters or Futureshop, but I'd prefer something that I can look at with glee and think fondly of you. I doubt that I'll be looking at the giftcard with glee.

I don't really have any forbidden stuff, except for Food and Candles, because I'm afraid I might set myself on fire, yes, even in the bathtub. I don't even mind girly stuff, as long as it smells nice, and I'm not overwhelmed with bath products.

XMAS LIST (Nyx)

No-No's (as in, don't get me the following):

1. Calendars. I have four 2007 ones already.


2. Plushies/toys/trinkets/curios/very random stuff. I have no room in my dorm. :(


3. CDs. My tastes vary too much, anyway.

Yes-Yes's

1. The Da Vinci Code DVD (Widescreen, and preferrably the 2-Disc Edition)


2. Due South (any season) DVD


3. Best-Loved Folktales of the World (The Anchor Folktale Library) by Joanna Cole


4. Any books about learning French except the Lonely Planet phrasebook and Chez Nous.


5. Safeway or Roger's Video giftcard (no other types of gift cards, please!).


6. THE TRAVELOCITY GNOME! No other gnome will do. The small one is fine. They sell it online (ebay or here at travelocity).


7. The Office: "Branch Closing" Producer's Cut. This will pretty much have to be bootlegged, unless you can somehow buy it from iTunes.


8. Take me out to see a movie! I haven't seen any of the new releases. *sad*


9. Blank DVD +/- RWs (readable and writable--you know, the ones that are erasable).
   
10. Cash. Seriously.

If you need me to post more things, just holla.

Location Location

Where is this going to be held? And when? Hopefully before Christmas? All that yummy Christmas food. And I miss the library. Oh the library.

p.s. Marx is killing me. Killing me.
p.p.s. I'm glad Kris is still alive posting random comments of Noooooooooo!!!!!

...

Yes....hello.....there
....this year I won't be joining all of you insignificant specks for the Christmas Gathering. Just kidding you're not insignificant, you are merely specks. Just Kidding.
I am too too busy with, obviously not school stuff, but I'm getting a job over the holidays to save for travels for next year and what not, and will simply not have the time to buy stuff etc. etc.
But I will see you sometimes I think...probably...maybe...."hopefully".
THAT IS ALL
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

Warm Thoughts

I'm sending warm thoughts to you people back in Alberta, don't freeze to death, and remember to wear long sleeves. Happy Early Birthday to Anna and Emily. Can't wait to see everybody when I get back. I'll definetly be free in the daytimes, but not the night times most of the time if it makes any sense. I have a craving for making snowmen and ice skating. I'm not even thinking about Xmas presents right now...

http://www.torontoist.com/archives/2006/11/the_torontoist_2.php

music covers that are supposedly even better than the originals. the only creepy thing I saw was crispin glover, aka creepy skinny guy from charlie's angels singing to his rat.

p.s. Sylar in Heroes looks just like Clark Kent. Scary! Clark Kent is not a crazy brain sucking super villain, no matter how thick his eyebrows are or how dorky his glasses are either.
p.p.s. i concur with Natrix on the Fountain, the visuals would only be fitting on the big screen, but bad reviews kinda turned me off from it. My love for the New James Bond is still there.

XMAS LIST (owscorpio)

It seems you're all having fun making up your christmas lists, and I can't wait to see everyone again. This year I won't be sending any list out, and ask that you don't still go ahead and buy something for me. I can't buy everybody fancy gifts, although I was hoping to get a token ('cept judging from all your posts, there are lists of things to not buy, which leaves me in a muddier rut! XD). Well, see y'all soon! Good luck with exams...3 more weeks!

OWscorpio

XMAS LIST (For Kris)

I'm so happy that everyone's getting on this, and surprisingly so am I. Gasp! The world's about the implode. I can feel it.

Anywhoo, here's my list (we'll definitely do e-mails this year once the buying begins). Also, when everyone's list is up, I'll e-mail out a massive super-list with everyone's stuff on it.

MY XMAS LIST:

Since others have mentioned it, I should say that I too have too many calendars that I don't know what to do with all of them. I've taken to burning them for heat, but there was this nasty incident with the police, but I won't get into that.

Also, please no knicknacks, unless they absolutely scream "Kris". I'll leave that up to your judgement.

BOOKS:

- Norwegian Wood, Kafka On The Shore, The Elephant Vanishes, After The Quake, Underground, OR Sputnik Sweetheart by HARUKI MURAKAMI.

- Anything from that new Agatha Christie set of hardcovers published by Black Dog And Leventhal (they're cheap, don't worry) which have grey pictures on the covers mixed with one really bright colour. [JUST NOT "MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS"]

- Anything by Arthur Nersesian EXCEPT "The Fuck-Up"

- Anything by Laurie Notaro

- Others up to your judgement. Hopefully good things.

WIDESCREEN (preferably) DVD:

- The Devil Wears Prada (Doesn't come out until Dec. 12, but it's so amazing. SO AMAZING!)

- The Rules of Attraction

- Cruel Intentions (The one with Sarah Michelle Gellar)

- Closer

- Some TV seasons (might have to combine if anyone wants to get me these) of either Supernatural, Desperate Housewives 2, Lost 2, Futurama, or Family Guy

- Others up to your judgement. I think I trust too much. XD

RANDOM:

- A really good water bottle that's narrow and carries a lot of water. And it can't leak. God help you if it leaks.

- A travelling coffee mug from Starbucks. One of the ones that can be closed without leaking.

- Messenger bags. Pretty ones. I love messenger bags. (none of the ones that look like those old school backpacks. Things like canvas and other cool looking materials are awesome)

GIFT CARDS:

- Starbucks, Chapters, Best Buy (NO FUTURESHOP!), Gap/Banana Republic/American Eagle

That's about it for my list. Although I love everything on this list, if you find something that has an extra-special air of me feel free to get it for me. I totally trust your judgement. ^__^v

XMAS LIST (Natrix)

Good gosh, what am I doing here? >_> I hate how when you have so much work, you take silly breaks and get easily distracted, only to stay up longer later. ARGH.

So here's a list, if people are already starting to make purchases:

First off, please no:

-Toys (plushies; models; etc--it'll likely end up eventually for Toy Mountain or something, because there are more deserving and appreciative kids!)
-Calendars (the family uses a common calendar; silly to have a second to make people check that one too for *my* life)
-Thingers (meaning stuff I can just use to decorate desks and stuff that don't really have a use--my desk is buried with junk, my parents scream I have too much stuff, and I work in the kitchen)

LISTY:

Books

-That book only Kris knows of, the experimental novelist; interested most in the book that reads simultaneously from the front and back as two storylines in different times XD
-Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (Patrick Suskind)
-Sandman graphic novels (only the following):
>>>Worlds' End
>>>The Kindly Ones
>>>The Wake
-Everything Learning German Book (Edward Swick)
-Essential German Grammar (Guy Stern, E. F. Bleiler)
-501 German Verbs (Henry Strutz)
-Ultimate German Advanced - not the version with a CD!! (Living Language series)

CDs

-Any album by Mogwai
>>>this also includes soundtrack for The Fountain;
>>>this also includes soundtrack for Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait
-A Posteriori (by Enigma)
-An Ancient Muse (Loreena McKennitt)
-Embody (Synaesthesia)
-Desideratum (Synaesthesia)

Widescreen DVDs

-Clone High (First Complete Season)
-Hard Candy
-Shrek
-Shrek 2
-Requiem for a Dream
-Lola Rennt / Run Lola Run

Gift Cards

-Chapters
-Futureshop

That's all. :) Happy shopping, hope it didn't come too late. And yes, we should do that e-mail thing again where you inform everyone what you bought for others, so as to avoid doubles.

XMAS LIST (Twill)

EDIT: (We'll see if anyone sees this...) If it's not too much trouble, would it be possible for everyone to include a gift receipt (or keep the original) just in case? I have some overlap with this list and some stuff from my relatives, and since you guys live closer than they do, it would be much easier. That said, don't worry too much about it. I don't want to make anyone stress out. I myself keep receipts until, like, January something-something, just in case, so feel free to ask me for copies as well.

=D

DVDs (fullscreen where applicable, please)
- X3: The Last Stand
- Pretear Vols. 3 + 4 (anime)
- Justice League Seasons (animated series, and the recent one – not the old stuff)

BOOKS (by author/type)

Scott Adams
- Try Rebooting Yourself

Piers Anthony
- Pet Peeve
- Stork Naked

Tad Williams
- Shadowmarch 01

Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson
- Hunters of Dune (I know… it’s STILL not finished yet… must have…)

Misc. Classics Books
- Theogany by Hesiod (Oxford World Classics)
- Works and Days by Hesiod (Oxford World Classics version would be super)
- The Library of Greek Mythology by Apollodorus (again, Oxford World Classics)

PC
- Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (kinda expensive but I’m throwin’ it out there)

OTHER
- gift card to Safeway
- gift card to Chapters
- etc.

:) And there we are. I agree with Rubin - no caldendars please. I have a feeling I'll get one from my family. Also, it would be super if everyone stuck to this list or to related stuff. Go wild with creativity on Kris' vague demands XD

Also: Will we be doing the usual sending of emails to say what we've gotten/planning to get everyone?

XMAS LIST!!!!! (For Rubin!!!)

EDIT Since Twill brought it up, it would also be absolutley amazing if y'all could attach gift receipts as well; I always try to get a gift receipt, if possible, for any gifts that I get from people, but like Twill, do not stress out about it. And also, just like Twill, I keep my receipts for a very, very long time, so just ask if you need it. AND please read my PS about Starbucks stuff at the end of the post. Thanks!

Ok... seeing as how NO ONE has posted their lists yet (lots of talk! but no action!) I decided to pull time out of writing my very "interesting" essay (NOT) and be the first one to make the list! (hurrah!) I'm thinking that maybe some weird Le Chatlier's principle thing will kick in once I make the first list (It's all about equilibrium, people, only equilibrium.... STUPID CHEMISTRY!!)

But I digress. The list, as of now (and can change without notice at any time):

Books and Literature:
- A handy general purpose or Chinese cuisine cookbook (ie. "Basic Asian: Everything you need to create yin and yang in the kitchen" by Cornelia Schinhart. OR "The Joy of Cooking" by Irma S. Rombauer et al)
- "Near a Thousand Tables: A History of Food" by Felipe Fernández-Armesto
- "Cantonese Phrasebook: 4th Edition" published by Lonely Planet
- "Mandarin Phrasebook: 6th Edition" published by Lonely Planet
- "French Phrasebook" published by Lonely Planet
- "The Story Of French" by Jean Benoit Nadeau
- "Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong: Why We Love France but not the French" by Jean Benoit Nadeau

Games/electronics and the like:
- The Sims II Stuff Packs (not to be confused with expansion packs; they're cheaper and just provide more funky objects): either "Family Fun Stuff Pack" or "Glamour Life Stuff Pack".

Gift Cards/Certificates:
- Chapters
- Banana Republic
- Safeway
- Best Buy (BITE ME FUTURESHOP!!!!)
- Starbucks

Other:
- A U of A T-shirt/sweater (Medium size)
-BOOKENDS!!!! (Something I desperately need!!!!!!!!) In white, since all my shelves are white

Starbucks Stuff:
- Please see my PS at the end of the post

Avoid:
- calendars... (I receieved so many from the my friends last year that I just have no where to put them all up!)
- "Thingers" (as Natrix pointed out, I, too, am running out of space on my desk
- Mugs, cups, glasses and other drinking vessels.... I already have WAY too many

Hmmm... and that's all I can think of right now. I hope that the rest of you can post your lists soon because I really want to get the last bits of my shopping out of the way; I've acutally done all the shopping I need to do this year! (For my other friends and my family).... I just have you guys left! So if y'all can get your lists posted by early December, that will be an enormous help! (or else I'll just be getting people who do not submit their lists Starbucks giftcards!!!!)

Cheers!

~Rubin

PS. On Starbucks stuff, view my post entitled "A Note on Starbucks Stuff".

The Fountain: A Gorgeous, Moving, and Meaningful Film That Will Suck at the Box Office

And that's really too bad. :(

But go see it. :) In theatres, preferably--any bootlegged copy, I *guarantee* will not be such an awesome experience. The visuals won't translate on some cam filming the film, and besides, the movie will barely register income-wise (at least I think not, given some observations of audience reaction).

All of you are intelligent here, and should quite understand the movie. It's not confusing if you just absorb it all, collecting info as you wait for the answer / message (though "wait" is the wrong word, implying, "When will this end?" where I was thoroughly intrigued).

And sorry to Calgary-based people here that I really could have seen the movie with, but didn't--I went with my family, because a) I really wanted to see it now now now and my mum suggested we go today; and b) I worked it around my tight homework schedule, which would probably have been a time sink and hassle to coordinate friendlings. :P

Anyhow, The Fountain was candy for the eyes, and perhaps for the soul as well.

The New Seven Wonders of the World: Which Ones Will You Choose?

Hey Hey!

I just came across this site online and it sounds so awesome! Essentially, out of the list compiled by the N7W board, we, the people, choose the Seven New Wonders of the World! (And about time too! The old 7 wonders are all gone except for the Great Pyramids of Giza)

I haven't really thought much about the list, but here's my list (for now) of my picks for the 7 New Wonders:

- The Acropolis (I'd probably be smitten by Twill if I didn't include this on my list... But also, I've always considerd the Acropolis one of the most stunning examples of Ancient Greek architecture and a very fitting monument to the achievments of ancient Athenians.

- The Colosseum (A testment to the power and might of the Ancient Romans... I don't think I need to dwell on this topic anymore)

- The Great Wall of China (It's so bloody long!!!! That, and it took enourmous amounts of time, effort, labour and material over a period of several dynasties to accomplish this feat.)

- The Eiffel Tower (For being the world's tallest building for many decades and I believe, the first building to be made from iron, as opposed to masonry AND for becoming one of the world's most recognizable symbols of a city and a nation)

- The Taj Mahal (For the most stunning example of Hindu-Islamic architecture and for being one of the most romantic buildings in the world.)

- The other two I shall have to dwell on a little longer...

But ya! Please go have a look and register to vote! But be careful with your choices though! You only one chance to vote!

Go to: http://www.new7wonders.com/

~Rubin

Xmas Stuff

[THIS GOES OFF TWILL'S POST BELOW]

As always, Xmas is a really exciting season and I love buying gifts, so this'll be awesome.

I'm also going to actually be in town this year too! (except for like 5 days) We should have a party and get-together etc. It'll be awesome.

Anywhoo, Xmas lists. I was thinking of a more efficient format by doing this:

For the lists themselves, put "XMAS LIST" as the only thing in the subject (so it can be easily filtered).

For everything else regarding Xmas, use "XMAS" as the first word in the subject.

Anywhoo, we should have a list date soon because I want to do shopping ASAP. I'm all excited now. So, what does everyone feel is a good due date for a list?

I think it's a bit funny I'm talking about lists since every year I'm the worst at them.

Just some random notes...

Hey all!

Here's just some random notes I learned of surfing the web:

- Rupert Murdoch cancels Fox TV special and book. (thank the Heavens!)
Murdoch: ""I and senior management agree with the American public that this was an ill-considered project" (no duh!)
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2006/11/20/oj-cancel.html

-The Thorpedo retires...
(sigh.... such a handsome figure....) I don't think I need to say more.... but hey! at least the idea of a comeback later on is still open! (Side note: I can't believe he's only 24!)
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/amateur/story/2006/11/20/fina-swimming-thorpe.html

-Wii sold out in Canada
Need I say more? http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2006/11/20/tech-nintendowiisellsout-.html

-Cruise and Holmes get married
I know... old news.... especially for Obsidian... hope I didn't cause you more pain and suffering by reminding you!
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/film/story/2006/11/18/wedding-cruise-holmes.html

and that's it for now!

~Rubin

PS.
Thank you Nyx for making the blog private.

PPS.
Twill, the lists are coming soon, and Natrix's idea of posting them here is a good idea, in my opinion. I hope your list comes soon! And mine will too!

PPPS.
I LOVE DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dragon Dragonball

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAGudA85-nU&mode=related&search=
Best movie ever! Best dub ever! If you ever ever watched dragonball, you must see this. Goku is the prettiest tranny I've seen in a while.

p.s. Learned the viennese waltz today, so dizzy. I could dance all night. Counting down until I see you guys again. Almost a month.

James Freaking Bloody Bond

He's amazing. He is bond. Who cares about Brosnan? He was getting old. New blood! All the bloody way!

Poker was never so interesting as it is in this bloody movie. The writing, my goodness, a well-written action film, it's like an oxymoron nowadays. It's the best Bond since Goldeneye. And there's actual chemistry between the two leads, and an evil french villain to satisfy the Duke. And he has a scar. I won't go as far as saying it's a sexy scar, but it's a scar nonetheless.

Ignoring the lame-ass theme song, the opening credits were good too. Who doesn't want to be pierced by a spade?

Only one more thing to say, his eyes! His gloriously pale blue eyes! Thank goodness he's signed on for the next Bond. Best action film I've seen this year, and in a bloody long while. THat doesn't include Superman Returns because Superman isn't action, it's girlish glee and whatever.

You can next see Daniel Craig aka Mr. Bond in The Golden Compass as that dude, you know, the uncle of the little girlee, with Nicole Kidman playing the evil Mrs. Coulter or whatever her name is. I must get around to reading it now. Oh the eyes!

Four freaking thumbs up, and lots of squeals too.

Christmas Wishes

I'm putting this out here as a way to start poking, and as a reminder to myself to write an email about it later just in case people don't check the blog often. So. The question is: What would everyone like for Christmas? Wishlists are needed for shopping. Shopping is needed for presents. Everyone loves presents.

Oh, and also, when is everyone going to be finished exams? There is the whole matter of pseudo-Christmas or other get-togethers that should start mulling over in peoples' brains. Food for thought.

Christmas Goodies

http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/
Someone go look at the microbes! Who doesn't want sleeping disease or the black plague in plushie form? The star wars stuff wasn't that interesting except for Darth Tater. The miracle of the internet. I also recommend the cylon-snowbot.

Thanks to all

Thanks for a great evening...and morning...on my birthday. You really shouldn't have brought so many gift, but it is much appreciated since the sweater will need to be washed soon and mermaids do plague my dreams. Thanks for the ecards from the out of towners too.
love owscorpio

Musings

JUDITH REGAN’S EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH O.J. SIMPSON
“O.J. SIMPSON: IF I DID IT, HERE’S HOW IT HAPPENED”
TO AIR AS A TWO-PART SPECIAL ON FOX
Special to Air Over Two Nights:
Monday, November 27, and Wednesday, November 29

It's sad, but it's true. Thanks to the lovely people at Fox.
On a side note, I suppose I should post something of actual substance that says something besides pop culture references.

I'm still alive over at Kingston. The rain hasn't buried me yet. Ballroom dancing is going along merrily, althouhg my partner can't seem to dance in a straight direction. Oh well. I've also discovered the miracle of swing dancing with a more experienced partner. It's a bloody blast. All that twirling. Twirling truly is what makes the world go round, and I didn't even knock into anything. I highly recommend it to anyone. Bust a move people.

P.s. Happy Belated Birthday small one. I forgot if you had a code name. Let's call you Michael Douglas-adoptee wannabee. May you stay young and spritely forever.

p.p.s. recently learned in abnormal psych that drinking is bad. so is drugs. it does things to your pleasure centers. which is good. but doesn't last. and then your pleasure centers are gone. down with bacardi and those sexist sexist commercials.
that is all.

p.p.p.s. to blue bear, isn't the Offie, the bloody bomb! I sense love triangle, or menage a trois!

spiderman spiderman

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/30649?its_the_ultra_webtacular_spiderman_3_trailer
no words
definetly must-see movie of next year
and it comes out on star wars day
may the fourth be with us all

Whose side are you on?

I know probably one of you guys followed the American elections yesterday. And another one of you knows something about superheros.

http://daveslongbox.blogspot.com/2006/11/election-day-2006-whose-side-is-your.html

Superheroes unite.

p.s. essays have killed me.

Zut Alors!

Why isn't "couch potato" a valid career? Stupid society.

VIDEO!SPAM again!

The Artistic/Creative Ones:

The Softlightes - "Heart Made of Sound"

Field Music - "In Context"

OK Go - "Here It Goes Again"

"Little Big Love" - A tiny robot falls in love with a kettle. SO CUTE & SAD.

Emilie Simon - "Fleur de Saison" - The CG is so good.

"Flower Mashine"

Lemon Demon - "Word Disassociation"

Genki Rockets - "Heavenly Star"

The Funny Ones:

Panda Sneeze!

And The Rest:

"The History of Anime"

Incubus - "Anna Molly"

The Sounds - "Painted By Numbers"

Apples Peaches Naked in the Rain or semi-naked

This was weird, but I think the Duke will appreciate his abs, and the mood, and the weird weird voiceover. Apples peaches pumpkin pie indeed.

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/video/2006/12/bradpitt_video200612

Happy Halloween everyone.

Rocky Horror 2006

As promised, here are pictures of me cross dressing for the Rocky Horror Picture Show. It was SOOO MUCH FUN!!! Although with people shouting things at the scream every other line, it was hard to hear what the movie was saying. I'm glad that I finally got to see the whole thing to the end, because Twill, do you recall whether or not we acutally finished the movie when you had the Halloween party that one year?

Anywho! I was supposed to be Magenta, the maid, but as you can see, I'm not that close... I look like a really creepy Mona Lisa, or a very slutty secretary. It was kinda funny because they have a costume competition, and when it came to Mangeta, there were like eight other GIRLS (NO GUYS EXCEPT FOR ME!!!) who looked a lot more like Magenta... they actually had French maid oufits on! Agh! Oh well, at least I know what to buy for next year!!!

Oh! btw... for that night, I was known as "Margaret", which was the girl name the guys gave me.

To the pictures!!!

Haha... Anyone for a kiss?

Glamour pose!!! Notice the orange/pink/peach nails... done by me earlier that night

Desperate Housewives Pose!!!!! GASP!!!!

Reitmans' commerical pose!!!! CUE MUSIC!!!

Haha... and there are the pictures of me cross dressing!!! Hope you all enjoyed! Btw... no one better blackmail me with these pictures!!!! Or else.... cross dressing Rubin may just have to come and KILL!!!!

In Theatres Now: Rubin: the Musical Life Story

Haha… I must say that my list will probably be like Natrix’s too: total randomness! And I kinda cheated… I used my MP3 player instead of media player :P.And now… to the music!

Soundtrack of Jason’s Life

Opening Credits: Twelve Girls Band – Miracle (lyricless)

A very elegant and energetic song mixing traditional Chinese instrumental music with Western pop.

Waking Up: Twelve Girls Band – Ruten (lyricless)

Same as above, although it provides an extra touch of musical zest and energy, a nice symbol of young hopes and youthful energy.

Falling in Love: Sergio Mendes featuring Jill Scott and Will.I.Am. of the Black Eyed Peas – Let Me

A song about sitting by the stream, laughing and sharing dreams, being true friends until the end and holding hands… I know, I know, I’m a hopeless romantic.

Fight Scene: Madonna – Sorry AND Black Eyed Peas – Shut Up

Hey sweetcakes, you know it takes a lot for me to get angry… but when we’re both pushing each other’s buttons… watch out! And don’t even think of saying sorry because “I’ve heard it all before”! (Sorry… I couldn’t pick between these two songs)

Breaking Up: Gwen Stefani – Cool AND Boston – More than a feeling

You know that I don’t hold grudges easily… go and be off… I’ll be happy to see you with someone else that makes you happy, but I’ll miss you nonetheless and I’ll always remember the good times we’ve had together. (Again, I couldn’t pick between these two songs)

Getting Back Together: Shania Twain feat. Mark McGrath – Party for Two [Pop remix]

Hey! Glad to have you back with me! Let’s have some kinky fun in the privacy of our own home!

Secret Love: Nelly Furtado feat. Timbaland – Promiscuous Girl

Hehe… how dirty I feel, my dear, with your teasing…

Life’s Okay: Madonna – Ray of Light

Ah… life’s hectic but good… Like a ray of light, I’m FLYING!!!! :D

Mental Breakdown: Dust Brothers – What is Fight Club?

Oooo… creepy song that sends chills up my back!

Driving Flashback: The Carpenters – Yesterday Once More

*Sigh*… How I miss those years gone by… the people and the places…

Partying: Black Eyed Peas – Pump It and Sergio Mendes feat. The Black Eyed Peas – Mas Que Nada

WOOO! Go crazy dancing!!! Hips thrusting, heads bouncing, bodies moving!

Happy Dance: Black Eyed Peas – My Humps

Hehe… I don’t think I need to explain…

Regretting: Sarah McLachlan – Fallen

Oh… all those bad things that I’ve done… they’re finally catching up to me…

Long Night Alone: Mary Hopkins – Those were the Days my Friend

*Sigh*… How lonely I’ve become… Where have all those friends gone?

Final Battle: Chemical Brothers – Psycho Boy Jack (From Fight Club)

If I’m going to go down, I’m going to go down fighting!!!

Death Scene: Nightwish – Nemo (Orchestral version)

*Gasp* Not now…. So many things left to do, so many things left to do, indeed…

Close Credits: Bolero – Closing Credits of Moulin Rouge

It’s been a great life, let’s go out with a bang, but in a classy manor!

Indeed... pretty random, much like Natrix's. Thanks for the original idea, Twill! It was fun to browse through my music collection! Lots of songs that I didn't even know I still had on my MP3 player!

Sex Bomb

Who isn't turned on by this at the end?

http://www.youtube.com./watch?v=c1T61vX4wm4

although his predecessor was my absolute favorite, with the face of an angel.

I predict total randomness....

First off: Twill, I love that Running One came up for you to begin the tale! XD

Anyway, I'm just gonna load up my media player and zip through my playlist and answer Twill's questions. :) However, thinking about what kind of music I listen to, even before I begin, I predict this: total randomness that will make very little sense!

Soundtrack of Natrix's Life

Opening Credits: Chris Spheeris - The Arrow (lyricless)

A promising beginning. Hope my life is as interesting.

Waking Up: Enigma - Dreaming of Andromeda (lyricless)

Guess I don't want to wake up yet...

Falling In Love: Front Line Assembly - Existance

Wow. A song all about inevitable destruction, and how we can never prevail. Not a good sign here!

Fight Scene: Paul Romero, Rob King, Steve Baca - Dirt (lyricless)

What a slow fight this is going to be, amidst green rolling hills and such. >_>

Breaking Up: Metric - Handshakes

For reasons of money, then, maybe?

Getting Back Together: Mogwai - Waltz for Aidian (lyricless)

Sounds depressing and gloomy. Prospects bad at rekindling a flame. Then again, it sounds tender, too.

Secret Love: Mogwai - Hunted by a Freak (lyricless)

Yes, I secretly loved being stalked... o_O

Life's Okay: Pale 3 - Running Two

This is rather life-affirming--"never never never never letting go, never giving up, never saying no, just go, go, never looking, never thinking, just do, do, do the right thing!" I like this. :)

Mental Breakdown: Mogwai (again? Of 602 tracks?) - How the Dogs Stac (lyricless)

It does sound a little...degrading towards insanity in a monotonous sort of way. I'll probably be driven mad by deadlines here, and the constant grind I'm under.

Driving Flashback: Front Line Assembly - Intelligence Dream (lyricless)

An odd flashback. Sounds paranoid and artificial, and I'm not either, hopefully.

Partying: Smile.DK - Dragonfly

All of Smile's songs are dancey / party-like! Good to know my idea of a party song is, uh, well, a Europop dance song.

Happy Dance: Mogwai - Team Handed (lyricless)

Nothing happy about this--it's plodding and contemplative. :( If this is really my happy dance, I'm a sad, sad man.

Regretting: Delerium - Twilight (lyricless)

I suppose I'll be mulling over something late into the night. But from the sounds of it, I'm having these regrets out in an African or Amazonian jungle somewhere, in the middle of the night. XD What the hell am I doing?? Run, seek shelter, survive!

Long Night Alone: Jeremy Soule - Temple of the Forgotten God Entrance (lyricless)

It's lonely indeed, but a mystical sort of loneliness? No idea.

Final Battle: Front Line Assembly (due to them having a billion albums, yah, I'm not surprised they're showing up so much) - Vanished

Not a fighting song at all, unless my enemy is some guy I really understand and sympathesize with, but hey, there's not enough room in town for one of us...

Death Scene: Mythos - Sirens (lyricless)

Sweet, sirens are mourning me, and their wailing is rather epic! XD Haha, but what I was hoping for here was Delerium's "Resurrection." ;)

Closing Credits: Paul Romero, Rob King, Steve Baca - Academy, Order (lyricless)

I don't get it.

I was right about the randomness. :( A lot of my lyricless / soundtrack items decided to rear their ugly heads for this questionnaire.

Soundtrack of my life

A friend gave me this neat exercise/fun thing for blogs and journals. Simply set up your prefered computer media player with all your music in the playlist and set it to 'random' or 'shuffled.' Then, as the songs play, write them down along side the heading for whatever part of your life's movie is in the list. The results can be rather fitting.

Soundtrack of Twill's Life

Opening Credits: Run Lola Run - Running One

Neat. The mood is set as something kind of urgent, potentially action-oriented. The credits are running.

Waking Up: The Used - Cut Up Angels

So, I wake up depressed. Or perhaps this is foreshadowing as to what my movie will be like. It's catchy, though.

Falling In Love: Fall Out Boy - Sugar, We're Going Down

LOL. This is good. Oh the innuendo...

Fight Scene: Bad Religion - Epiphany

A fight over 'right' and 'wrong.' Awesome.

Breaking Up: Garbage - You Look So Fine

So I get dumped. Dang.

Getting Back Together: The Rubettes - Sugar Baby Love

XD Breakfast on Pluto happy song... Well, I think it definitely sets the mood.

Secret Love: Gravitation - Super Drive

Japanese song. Hmm. Certainly happy enough, and about bumping into someone and falling in love. It bodes well, I think.

Life's Okay: Flogging Molly - Devil's Dance Floor

Normal life for me obviously entails either a busy schedule or crazy dancing.

Mental Breakdown: Good Charlotte - We Believe

Rather sad. I guess it's a depressed breakdown.

Driving Flashback: Panic! At the Disco - Build God, Then We'll Talk

I'm thinking about crappy love and life. Greeat.

Partying: They Might Be Giants - Man It's So Loud In Here

This is a rather good song for partying. Techno-y, rock-y and with a good beat. Also about a party, which is a bonus.

Happy Dance: Hedley - Johnny Falls

I guess by 'happy dance' it means 'dance expressing anger over lost love.'

Regretting: Darude - Bittersweet

The title is fitting and the song itself suggests that I have a sleepless night or some other lonely moment of thinking.

Long Night Alone: Smile.DK - Future Girls

I'm going to take this as my thoughts go 'round and round in circles' as I think of the future (nevermind that it's fairly upbeat). Or maybe I'm working at making myself feel better. *shrug*

Final Battle: Mad At Gravity - In Vain

Trying to find meaning, feeling everything is pointless, numb... I'd say it makes for a good battle scene.

Death Scene: The Land Before Time - If We Hold On Together

Sad. If one of my love's and I had just stuck together, I probably wouldn't be dead.

Closing Credits: Gackt - Illness Illusion

Another Japanese song. Fittingly, it's about lost love and the end of the world.

See how fun that was? Why not give it a try!

Look! It's a bird! No, it's a plane! NO! It's RUBIN CROSS DRESSING!!!!

Haha

I can see that activity on WIBOM has died.... I guess everyone else is busy being hounded my midterms. I too have my share of midterms.... I got back my History midterms and I did awesome! 90% YAY!!!! Poli Sci was today... and I think I did fairly well... although next week is CHEMICAL HELL!!! MY TWO CHEMS!!!! AGH!!!!! BENZENE! CONJUGATION! TITRATION! KETO-ENOL TETORMERITZATION! AGH!!! DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE (haha... I'm so bitter....)

But I have some things due tommorrow as well... so... I'm just gonna make this quick... As you can tell from my title, I'm going to cross dress.... why? four words.... Rocky Horror Picture Show.

My friends and I are going to see it in the theatres and particpate in this cult classic! All my friends are dressing up with my guy friends being the female characters and my gal pals being the male characters! A whole bunch of us went shopping at the Salvation Army Thrift Store today and at Army and Navy, a random discount department store. IT WAS HILARIOUS!!!! Total reversal of roles.... the guys picking out pantyhose and the gals picking out boxer shorts. It was awkward too... all the dirty looks being thrown at us from random shoppers. It was kinda hilarious too because when one of my guy friends and I went to pay for our pantyhouse, they had the do a PRICE CHECK.... my friend and I were like "Uhhh... GET US OUT OF HERE!!!!"

By the way! I'm happy to report to you all that I'm a size 10 (all that dieting over the summer sure paid off!) and that my clothes are very slimming.

Not to worry everyone, photos to come!

~Rubin

PS
For those of you who are loathing midterms, join a new inter-university student group, called FIGHT MIDTERMS! Our motto is: "REVOLT! REPEL! RELAX!" It now has three universities! UBC, U of A and U of Western Ontario!

101 most influential people who never existed

the title is kinda self-explanatory, but i don't agree with the list obviously, it doesn't even have luke skywalker or darth vader. and batman is ranked ahead of superman! But it does have Buffy, so i am contented. But I fail to see how influential Oedipus is, except as a cautionary tale I guess. One of you guys should be happy that Odysseus is on the list.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2006-10-16-influential-people-list_x.htm

Alas, there is still air in my lungs

Alas, the world has not yet come to an end, and the midterms are flying by. I have always wondered when we will come to the point where there are flying cars and "giant wasp"seasons (just like in the episode of the Weekenders where that try out careers)....perhaps few of you find satisfaction in such creations as Fillmore, Lloyd in Space and on the odd occassion, Recess.

I just slept through about the 5th genetics class...and I have no idea what a virus is never mind how they work. The exam's next week.

obsidian butterfly:The dancing stuff sounds interesting. My ballroom experience ended tragically when i came to the ultimate conclusion that all men are perverted....save for the few, and you knowwho you are.

Starwing: No that I've come back to my senses....DON'T ever ask what I want for x-mas when there's still decent weather out....we must be thankful for not having to worry about the x-mas drones too soon.

And to the others, i apologize for not reading the blog for...months....but post something soon so that i know how things are going....esp duke's school updates. On another note, I haven't seen a movie since god-knows-when, so i have nothing exciting to add to the never ending comments posted by obsidian butt..fly. There's no amusement in my life as I have taken up the sport of emailing my brother insults and dirty jokes...(mom's out of town....doubt I'll eat properly for the next 10 days)
g2g

I feel like Dancing!

Just in case you didn't know, I've taken up ballroom dancing.
Highly useful and whatnot. My partner is such a wonderful guy. We just learned the Tango tonight, and it was spectacular. All those turns. And the teacher said we were bloody good, okay, without the bloody.

I too have midterms, so I understand everyone's pain. Good luck everybody, just remember that it'll be over soon and then there's finals. Ha. I kinda wished it was Daylight savings today.

To the Duke, I saw the unaired Aquaman pilot the other day. Scrumptious. All the naked flesh swimming around in the ocean. Then he appeared on Smallville, doing somekinda handstand half naked and sweaty. Too bad you missed it. You can't miss this week's episode where he shows up in leather and on a motorcycle. LEATHER! Too bad he's married Jason and has a kid. You can't seduce him away from his soap opera wife Theresa. She'll drown you in her tears.

A while ago, saw the Eragon trailer, looks like a Lord of the Rings wannabe but with an ugly lead. I'd rather stick it out for the Golden Compass which I didn't even read, but has Nicole Kidman and James Bond. Which I saw the new trailer for, and he does look kickass, and all sensitive and unrefined and in love. I don't even care that he's blond.

http://movies.aol.com/casino-royale-james-bond/exclusive-video-features?ncid=AOLMOV00050000000010

Friday the 13th

It's Friday the 13th. And I have a midterm today.

Makes me want to watch Hitchcock movies. But no, must...study...and find shamrocks to pin on myself.

David Hasselhoff - "Jump In My Car" (Uh...no thanks)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgX-hiQdfFw

Weird Al - "White And Nerdy" (Hilarious; wth Donny Osmond?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcUAcji4iCw

Weird Al - "Canadian Idiot" (Not the real vid, since that hasn't been released yet)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYecaFLYWLg

/random

Shiny Pretty Things

Apparently, good movie are coming out that aren't called The Fountain and The Prestige.
Just say no to evil nazis.
So pretty, I highly recommend it to my tiny friend, I forget what I'm supposed to call you, Starwing girl. But since she's never on, I recommend this to Noodle Gilgamesh because of the images and all you others too if you like freaky things. I mean, even Ebert's good comments, the way they presented it, was kinda freaky.

http://media.filmforce.ign.com/media/840/840477/vids_1.html

STOP THE INSANITY

No, I don't mean all the terrible things in the world going on right now, oh may Tom Cruise save us from the bad e.coli and spinach gone wrong, and the nuclear bombs from North Korea, although it would be good if we were saved from that.

I mean the bloody pipes in my bloody wall in my bloody room. I want to physically smash my head into the wall, and rip out the pipes. At first it was just every once in a while, that I could deal with. But right after Thanksgiving, it's been non-stop, rattling, banging, creaking, sounds like cockroaches times a bajillion. I'm going insane, just when mideterms start. Somebody give me a sledgehammer.

The nordic gods I think have retired, so I've just taken to admiring cheekbones and lumberjacks.

Because No One's Said It Yet...

Happy Thanksgiving!

(okay, it was alluded to with talk of turkey, but it wasn't actually said in so many words)

I hope the holiday weekend finds everyone well and basking in the joy of an extra day to the weekend :)

Tonight we dine in hell...

Still homesick, but what can you do?
I was cheered up after watching this glorious glorious trailer
http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/300/trailer1/

Who doesn't want to reenact the battle of 300 between Sparta and that other people?
Much more interesting than Sin City. And it has mist...


p.s. to the Duke, just saw Justin Hartley in Smallville, and he is scrumptious, he actually kinda looks like Lex with hair, but a bajillion times hotter.

Turkey Cravings

I'm so homesick, it makes me even want to eat turkey, even though I don't even like turkey. I hope you guys fully appreciate how close to home you guys are. Have fun to those who are going home for the weekend. Stuff yourself with as much as you can. Make it stop raining. Let us all pray to the big Turkey fairy for it to stop raining. Stop the insanity.

Happy Birthday, Twoonie. Sorry Your Name's Gonna Suck.

Please, for the love of everything that is cute, vote for Wilbert under "Name Our Polar Bear":

http://www.mint.ca/toonie

Having a bear named "Churchill" is just wrong.

All hail Stephen Colbert!!!!

Haha... now I know I've said previously the I'm not a particular big fan of Stephen Colbert. But when a couple of friends and I were engulfed in political discussion last night, I saw a video of him and I have a very deep new found respect for him.

Bascially, Colbert was invited to a White House Press dinner, with all the politcial and media big-wigs there, INCLUDING President Bush himself. And what Colbert basically did was, for TWENTY FOUR MINUTES STRAIGHT, was to power-slam and basically, throw s**t into Bush's face IN PERSON. If you especially know all the current events that Colbert is reffering to, it's even more funny (which is why I found it laugh out loud HILARIOUS!).

Even more so, Colbert intended his speech to be funny. But because of the atomosphere of the whole place, there were mere chuckles and giggles here and there (while my friends and I were rolling on the ground in laughter) and some parts where the audience just dosen't laugh. But Colbert keeps going!!!!!! Two things I know about acting: 1.) It takes BALLS (pardon the expression) to stand up infront of a crowd of powerful politicians and slam them into the ground in person on live national TV and 2.) It takes even more balls to keep going when the audience isn't laughing.

So ya! To continue with the huge slew of videos from YouTube, here are the three links to watch the whole thing. Bear in mind, it's about 25 minutes long.

Part I: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_r1Rp3C6so
Part II: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8zWYMGedwk
Part III: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1k4-Hb4sY4

So afterwards, my friends and I kept on watching snipets of Colbert and Stewart and I must say that I LOVE THEM BOTH!!!!!!!!!!!! ALL HAIL COLBERT AND STEWART!!!!

Oh! Btw, I also saw Jon Stewart's interview on CNN's Crossfire, where he also slammed the show and the whole dynamic of the show. For those of you who don't know, Crossfire, was a show on CNN where the idea was to have two people representing the left (Democrats) and two people representing the right (Republicans). It was supposed to be a show of thoughtful political discussion, but it always (and quite quickly) degenerated into a slug-fest where the four were just throwing personal insults at each other.

Jon Stewart appeared on the show and slammed them into the ground for "political hackery". It's not as entertaining or funny as Colbert's press conference, but Stewart makes a very succint and clear argument. And in the process of debating with the hosts, he really exposes all the things that makes the show utterly stupid. Here's the link to his video, and this video is divided into two parts.

Part I: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0vYQDFAiy0
Part II: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3WJGrqvqPM

Enjoy!

Cyril

Because other ppl have been posting random links to cool things, I'll do the same. :)

Go look at Cyril Takayama's brand of street magic...it blows away David Blaine, I'm sorry. :P I'm providing a Wiki link, just because it has 4 links to external YouTube videos (which lead to plenty of other of his performances anyway), so start there.

Cyril Takayama

"Restaurant" is particularly mind-blowing. Seriously, I closely resembled this lil face: o_O But here's something similar:

There is No Spoon! Glass!

Enjoy having your own o_O moment!

Horror Hunt

Just in time for Halloween, well not really.
M&M's has this game where you try to guess famous horror movies, but the clues are subtly or not so subtly disguised in the form of a very large medieval painting.

Behold, since I'm not a horror movie buff, i sucked at it. Let'see if you beat my score of 6 out of 50.

http://www.mms.com/us/dark/index.jsp

Heroes!

I don't care what Butterfly says... Heroes is awesome! Go Yatta-guy! (punnily named Hiro - ahahaha!!)

Finally, television has decided to create a super hero series that doesn't suck. Mutant X started off okay, but now... it's just sad. Who cares if flying guy isn't exactly Clark Kent? He's got a scruffy charm about him - he's a nurse! - that more than makes up for it. Although, flying by itself is a pretty crappy super power. Hopefully something else will crop up.

They intertwined the stories of the various heroes quite well (even if Hiro's 'entrance' was last second and hopelessly obvious, it was still good). I'm also happy to see that the psychic person is going to be a guy. Finally, is about all I can say.

*does a happy dance* Yatta!

New Passion

While I'm going blind reading all my bloody textbooks, I've discovered something oh so wonderful. Korean soaps! I swore I wouldn't get sucked in, but I swear, North American stuff is just so boring, and waiting for Battlestar Galactica is just killing me. Korean soaps are readily available on YouTube, and oh the romance. Just what I need. I don't even need to understand the language, because yay the miracle of subtitles. Swoon. And the men are even mildly attractive. Yay for them. It's all about the romance, and not even the sex, apparently in some parts of the world, they can live without expressing it all the bloody time.

p.s everyone should go check out the new harry potter stills from the new movie. Harry looks better with more hair. And Umbridge makes pink look scary.
http://comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=16645

I've got a cell # now! :)

Just a short note...it's 467-3003. It's there to use, but that's not to say you should call me all the time because of long distance and such. :P But it's certainly here, now. :)

Premiere

I think I got screwed over. Not literally, but textbook wise. I hate my stupid books. Stupid course reader that's 700 pages and worth 100 dollars. Robbing me blind. And then stupid tiny books that are expensive and we're only going to use twice. Also robbing me blind. And then I bought textbooks from some shady girl today, who didn't look shady initially, and she also robbed me blind. The only highlight of the day was meeting cute shiny people, who have a strange connection to Calgary. I met two guys today, who visited Calgary in the summer, and stayed in the same area as where Natrix lives. Freaky, bloody coincidence. We were all breathing the same air!

Mother Nature is getting hormonal with it's bloody heat, and it's freaky freaky rain. Someone send me beef. I must have meat. I think I would rather be a werewolf than a vampire because they eat meat, and those poor suckers (pardon the extremely bad pun) only drink blood.

Grey's Anatomy, the Office, and CSI premiere tonight. Down with CSI, I don't care if it's the number one show, even though I think all of you guys on the blog love it, and are obsessed with it. I'm not watching any new shows, not even Heroes, because I hate Jess, and I don't care that he flies. I want an unwrinkled Superman, and no Lana. Sadly, I was so bored the other night, that I watched Bring it on: All or Nothing. aka, the direct to video sequel number 3 to the first one. Starring, Beyonce's little sis, and that girl from that horse movie. Oh the wittiness. Bring it on white girl. Bring it. Yuk. I did get sucked into watching High School Musical. So infectious, so adorable. And the lead guy is like younger than me, but I don't care. His hair do is from the 70s but I don't care.

DEATH TO FUTURE SHOP!!!!

So... as some of you may already know.... I now hate Future Shop with the same passion as I hate Organic Chem, Physics, Calgary Transit and the Conservative Party. Why? Let me tell ya....

I wanted to buy an external hard drive and I found this decent one on futureshop.com (320 GB, $120!!!!). So I placed the order online and Future Shop has this option for me to place the order online and pick up at the store. So I decide to do that and avoid paying the shipping.

But for some reason, they cancelled my first order. I assumed that the problem was because I placed the order late after store hours... now... fast forward to today.... after placing SEVEN ORDERS in THREE DAYS, because they cancelled EVERYTHING, they now tell me that the only store that had stock in the entire city was now sold out.

I mean, give me a break! If a customer places the same order seven times for three days in a row, GET A HINT! I mean, wouldn't the purpose of me placing my phone number on the order form be for you to contact me if there's a problem? I'm starting to think that the reason why Future Shop was doing this was because they were too lazy to check for the product and decided to cancel my order for no reason (they never gave a reason in the emails, anyway).

So ya... after that, my friend and I found a better external hard drive at another store (Memory Express) and I'm going to go there on Friday and take my business some where else from here on in. Stupid Future Shop, may you BURN IN HELL!!!!!!

UPDATE: Guess what I discoverd today when I went online to check my credit card account? Futureshop charged my card $1.00 for EVERY ORDER I PLACED. In other words, I've been charged $6.00 for placing an order that they ended up cancelling... so now... they have VERY pissed customer about to unleash some wrath upon them!

The silence! It's killing me!!

I have figured out how I can be more productive, and its simplicity boggles me.

As I work in class and everyone's all intense and concentrating, the silence is deafening. After a time of working away, it gets to me to such an extent that I get up, go visit one of the neighbours to see where they are and how they're doing, make some small chat, and return to work. It's like it's so quiet, you have to break it, or you just begin to think everyone is weird and scary.

I thought, why isn't anyone else bothered?

A quick survey of the room revealed most were plugged in--into a laptop, or some kind of musical device. Not to be anti-social, but it dawned on me how much more I might be able to focus and accomplish if I didn't take these random breaks. My soul is a parched, toneless wasteland that needs some noise. :(

But blast, I don't have a laptop yet. I could bring a CD player, but that's so yesterday (actually, I just don't want to bring a bunch of CDs that all amount to ~1 hour of tunes at best, it's just clunky and silly). Part of the problem is that this noiselessness makes me drowsy, particularly if I haven't had much sleep, which is of course pretty common. >_<

Sigh. It's not like I need the ipod that everyone seems to have--don't think I could fill up half of 1 GB, frankly. >_> But man, what'd I do for just...I dunno, 50 songs to get me through the day?

It really is the little things that count, I suppose.

On a unrelated note, I'm glad to see this blog so busy! :)

Thumbs Up Tom Cruise!

Oh Tom Cruise!
I don't think you're crazy, much. Joyce and her roomies donated a Tom Cruise poster to me, that was hanging in their new digs from the previous owners. Of course, I was happy to receive and all that. It's of him in his glory days, aka The Top Gun era. I can't help but smile at him whenever I walk by, Thumbs Up Tom Cruise. He puts a bloody smile on my face. So when in doubt people, come up with your own version of Tom Cruise.

MEDIA!SPAM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6K-WzcuNTE
From: "House M.D." season 3 episode 3. Oh Chase, you really must try to be cool more often, because it's hilarious watching you fail miserably. XD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0E3hL9hzoA
From: "Project Runway" season 2 reunion episode. What do you get when you combine personality traits from Kris and Duke Rubin? ANDRAE! I looove "Project Runway"! <3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsOSiF86MJ8
Moby & Mylène Farmer - "Slipping Away (Crier La Vie)" The vid is not groundbreaking, but it's still pretty spiffy. And the song is growing on me. I LOVE THIS SONG! OMG French! And techno!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd3LwxCzuGY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Km0-TStvuy8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZvEFyCivzU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3vS3LGH5gs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAvPRbh0jmE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCGvbZdCVFE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ine1etqrBMo
The Animusic series. It's friggin' awesome. And yes, Natrix, I fav'd all of them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma9546tUwHA
From: "The Office" episode ??? Okay, I don't watch "The Office" because I think you need a special sense of humour, (business humour?), to fully appreciate it, but this clip was still amusing nonetheless...kinda...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOHHQMQBd5s
This is freaky. I always thought they had machines to do this...omg she's amazing--TEACH ME EVERYTHING YOU KNOW, SENSEI!

Okay, if you know the following stuff, you're either Obsidian Butterfly or you've been told this by Obsidian Butterfly. :P


That is one over-Photoshopped baby...


Who is that? Why, Ashlee Simpson, of course! I know it's probably a combination of makeup, lighting, and Photoshop, but still, that is freaky! She'll be playing Roxie Hart in the new Chicago musical. I know, I'm scared, too.

http://britneyspears.com
No really, this was intentionally posted...I'm torn between wanting to laugh and wanting to wrinkle my nose in horror. Only BS can make me feel this way. Okay, I'll laugh for a bit: hahaha.

Messed up relationships:
- Jessica Simpson & John Mayer
- Paris Hilton & Travis Barker
- Ryan Cabrera & Riley Keough (Lisa Marie Presley's daughter)
- Hayden Christensen & Sienna Miller

Just to follow suit...

Here are my classes! :D Believe me, lol, the descriptions are quite different.

Anatomy for Illustrators

Looks like a brilliant course...I've always meant to do the anatomy thing on my own, but you know how well those "on your own" goals go! With this forced on me and in a professional manner with an instructor that knows just a tad too much about the human body (although, I think he's too serious and should lighten up a little), I think I'm going to learn a lot, and it'll likely improve my work concerning figures greatly. :)

Not the hardest of my courses, and by that, I mean the course is hard. >_> First day, he asked us all to draw a skeleton "from memory," with absolutely no reference. Oh, the hilarity...then we promptly got started on our first project (due Monday), a perfect, large, inked image of the human skeleton, with an interesting pose that does not hide essential parts, labelled of course. All I can say is, I'm behind.

Beautiful "textbook" though--full of every conceivable part of the human body (yes, Starwing, EVERYTHING :P), with gorgeous overlays of bone and muscle structure. Great photography, great poses...actually, the only flaw as pointed out by an instructor I had last year, was that it lacked old or plus sized people. But, the course deals with the ideal figure, so I suppose it helps here with pages and pages of the slim and / or ripped.

Visualization Processess

Love the instructor--really comes off as sympathetic to his students, and he has a wealth of worldly knowledge, wisdom, and experience that he just loves to share. And he gave an inspirational pep talk, the only instructor to directly deal with our insecurities...I admit I needed that! ^^; Everything he said was just true..."you're all wondering what you got yourself into, that maybe you're not good enough, and everyone around you is way ahead and you think you suck," etc. Of course, he took the previous and turned it around to our capabilities, and how it certainly means something we've been let into the program. It was nice. :)

But I still sort of dread this class...it's a course entirely dealing with perspective drawing. x_x How I abhor perspective. But it may be for the best that I have to take it--I'll no doubt improve here, as I never do much perspective on my own, so it's sorta not the greatest.

Typography

So far, my favourite class! :) Yes, it's everything to do with fonts, and I must admit, I have a huge interest here. They're more than just letters, and I've always known of the importance in finding the perfect type for something, and had an intuitive sense with just what is totally evil (COMIC SANS!! I curse your existence!).

It's actually pretty tough though, because we have to draft everything by hand--so either cutting the letters out perfectly from paper, or using various tools to ink and fill in the forms. We'll be learning about type history, stroke, kerning, italics, bold, etc., and judging by the astounding proficiency of Design students ahead of me when I talk to them, we'll get to know type very intimately, to the point of identifying them on sight. It may sound like a whole bunch of silliness, but I honestly can't wait!

Communication Design I

Already, we're attempting to do what the ppl beyond 2nd year call "the most frustrating Comm Design 1 project." x_x And boy are they right.

But first, the course...it's all about derivative design, making things based on something else, retaining the essence while perhaps abstracting the form. Having been introduced to all the projects, I can't wait to do some of them--for example, designing a Jack, Queen, and King cards, their dress being based on any culture. There must visually exist the heirarchy that King > Queen > Jack, and accurately reflect cultural dress and patterning. Something I'm not looking forward to is the 3-D paper animal, where we literally construct an animal with paper and glue only. No origami allowed, of course...

Anyhow, my project this week...ARGH! Worked over 6 bloody hours, mostly in class, on my composition for my mechanical form, and it was STILL not ok'ed!!! 6+ hours (and going) of thumbnails and Sharpie (dizziness!), and everything by everyone is getting shot down. Without my composition finalized, I can't start the final project, which will probably take at least 20 hours to do!!! >_<

Art History 210

Standard stuff...it's at last moving into modernism from the age of early photography and impressionists, where 120 left off. The lecture theater is always deathly cold, and it's boring, so I nodded off now and again while freezing my extremities off.

But my teacher is interesting enough (it's not her fault the course material is not), she's enthusiastic, and she's apparently very, very easy. All good in my book! :) Mark based on mid-term, essay, and final.

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That's it. It may sound like little, but recall one day at school = one course only for the whole day, and believe me, I'm working my ass off and already staying up far too late than is healthy on a regular basis. T_T

Oh, and what's depressing is that I swear, time working on roughs is more than the final projects themselves. >_> We see examples of student work, and their roughs consist of 7 pages each (18 x 24 inches pad of paper), and are described as "okay" by the teachers (friggin' detailed to me). THEN they execute the project. Ugh.

People tell us 2nd year is hardest, and one girl I met told me we'll all think of dying as the ultimate release some time along the way. I'm not kidding.

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One final thing, way unrelated to school. Just for you general amusement / knowledge for those who don't know, I'm (trying) to learn a 2nd language (when I have any time to myself, that is). My sister is intending for a big trip for the family to Europe in a year or two (something like Kris did this summer).

In her last year towards her Masters, she has no classes, but is mainly working as part of a research group that studies brain related things in mice. Having so much free time, she does a lot to keep herself occupied in boring ol' Saskatoon--she attends bellydance class (as some of you may have known), is working toward a rare fluency certificate in ASL (American Sign Language; rare, because she's not mute / deaf), and is also studying Spanish ("for the trip"). Having looked some stuff up for her, Spanish is one of easiest languages to learn (1 of 5 star difficulty; French, if you're curious, is 3/5, English 2/5). She figures each sibling should try to learn a language--what great travelling buds we'd be, eh? ;)

So what am I learning? I'm attempting German! XD It would make more sense if I did French, as I have such a firm basis in it through much of public school, but forgive me, Nyx, Twill, and ESPECIALLY Rubin--I'm bloody sick of the language! I think it's because it was partly forced on us in elementary (though very simplistically), and became the "only choice" later on in Junior High and Senior (though Churchill later on brought in German, and Spanish).

That, and I shake my head at the inefficiency of the language. Do you ever notice how much thicker the French side of the manual is in electronic manuals??

German pros:

-if you can read it (and know how Germans pronounce their letters), you can say it. As in, no damned silent letters. Reading and pronouncing German is, I think, very easy, and so far, the language is coming to me fairly well.

-I know far more people that speak German than French (as in, friends that speak German--and, I'm not friends with these French speakers, but know of them from high school days, and only from French class, so they're not entirely fluent, though immersion people were impressive). When I get much better, I'm sure I can kidnap one of them friends to mangle the language with. :D

-by all accounts, rules make more sense here than in French, and some knowledge of French helps in learning German (for example, cup in German is "tasse," and to research is "recherchieren").

-Germans have a rich design history, and houses an internationally reknown school for it, the Bauhaus.

-I've picked up a bunch from my movies! XD

-I rather like how w's are pronounced as v, s as z, and v as f, and I'm particularly fond of the ß letter, the double s. XD

-it sounds interesting, in an angry, "I-only-want-tea-but-it-sounds-like-I-want-to-kill-you"
sort of way. (Ich möchte eine Tasse Tee, bitte)

German cons:

-Kris tells me Germans speaks pretty decent English. So is there truly a point? Not really.

-There are THREE genders for nouns. Yes, that's right, masculine, feminine, and NEUTER. >_>

-I haven't encountered much yet, but while I mentioned the grammar is supposedly easier than French, it's supposed to be pretty strange as well.

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But my break has gone on long enough....back to work! Or maybe it's time to call it a day...Ich sehr müde, also ich wolle schlafen jetzt.