Thursday, November 18, 2010
Acting Pet Peeve
Saw the trailer for Love and Other Drugs the other night. Anne Hathaway did the thing that just drives me crazy - bring her voice down to a husky whisper when she's issuing a monologue with a VERY IMPORTANT POINT. Call it the "Sarah Chalke dramatic acting" style, if you may. Can't pinpoint exactly what's so irritating about the delivery but seems to be the go to style for overly expressive loud actresses to inhibit when they're being serious. TALK IN YOUR NORMAL VOICE, DAMMIT. Being mopey and making your voice really small does not induce me to take you seriously.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Philosophical 24 hours
First: Discussion on morality - innate or religious?
Morals Without God?
Next: The Free Will vs. Determinism debate
Yay Netflix. I've watched two movies that addressed the hypothetical situation where knowledge of the future was known (and identified as 100% full-proof) and the corresponding reaction of what society would be like.
So, the two movies: TiMER and Minority Report.
I was really intrigued that despite the two genres having extremely different stylistic takes and feels: 1)Indie Romantic Comedy; and 2)Blockbuster Action Conspiracy Thriller, there was quite the striking similarity at the beginning on how they presented the deterministic technology and the benefits.
A) Utilizing an advertising campaign to hawk the benefits of the deterministic technology:
1. TiMER: A implanted timer watch that countdowns to the day you will meet your true love based on the release and detection of some "love hormone". Knowledge of when you'll meet your true soulmate means a society of no more divorce or heartbreak.
2. Minority Report: Precognitive beings are able to pinpoint the exact time (with corresponding images to deduce the place) a murder will occur, including victim and perpetrator based on the detection of a "metaphysical tear" in the world. The difference from TiMER is that the murder is preventable while the soulmate-meeting is not. So now, we have a society where no one has been murdered for six years.
So you would think - dark futuristic sci-fi thriller directed by world renowned director OR fluffy romantic movie about finding true love: which would have a more realistic approach to the philosophical debate on the pros and cons of having to face the reality of a world without free will? Surprisingly, the latter.
It stinks when you discover your destiny and it is not aligned with what you want. In Minority Report, it's Tom Cruise having to find out he's a killer. In TiMER, it's Emma Caulfield finding out 15 minutes before the movie's conclusion that the guy she's been seeing the entire duration of the film (and adorably so) is not her soul mate, and instead, it's the guy that her stepsister has shown interest in (also adorably so).
So, moving forward, what did the screenwriters do for the above dilemmas (*spoiler alert*)?
Minority Report: Fill the entire story with convenient gaping plot holes (minority reports! They exist! But in his case it doesn't! But that doesn't matter!), flawed conspiracy theories, and an emotional (also plot hole-filled) back story for our hero as a stimulus that he DOES have free will and despite THERE BEING NO MURDERS FOR SIX YEARS the deterministic system must be immediately dismantled and it's a happy ending for all (try telling that to all the murdered people in the future)! Way to circumvent the philosophical debate and Philip K. Dick, screenwriters.
TiMER: Realize that the TiMERs are 100% infallible (as the precogs were before Tom Cruise conveniently had to get away with murder) and having Emma Caulfield break up with her cute boyfriend and start small-talking to her true soulmate at the end. Unsatisfying for the lack of squee-inducing conclusion expected from a romantic film? Yes. But realistic and thought-provoking (are the TiMERs really just self-fulfilling prophecies? Should she have broken up with Mikey?)? Also yes. I guess it's the big difference when you're independent and don't have to pander to a large audience wanting a pat happy ending despite agreeing to see a movie that devotes the first hour explaining how you have no control over your pretty sucky future.
Thematic take: it kind of sucks balls if you no longer have free will, though a lot of it is attributed to the response people have to knowing their destiny and acting accordingly, which in term brings up the debate on whether or not determinism is just an act of free will satisfying a self-fulfilling prophecy.
So while I completely entertained with Minority Report with it's awesome CG, neat futuristic tech, and well directed action sequences, for wanting to take on such a heavy though-provoking theme - it sucked, story wise. Which wouldn't be too bad if the dialogue didn't try SO HARD to convince you that it was thought out and smart. Cause it wasn't.
TiMER was totally fluffy and the "soul mate" premise a bit silly but I give kudos for not taking the easy way out.
Morals Without God?
Next: The Free Will vs. Determinism debate
Yay Netflix. I've watched two movies that addressed the hypothetical situation where knowledge of the future was known (and identified as 100% full-proof) and the corresponding reaction of what society would be like.
So, the two movies: TiMER and Minority Report.
I was really intrigued that despite the two genres having extremely different stylistic takes and feels: 1)Indie Romantic Comedy; and 2)Blockbuster Action Conspiracy Thriller, there was quite the striking similarity at the beginning on how they presented the deterministic technology and the benefits.
A) Utilizing an advertising campaign to hawk the benefits of the deterministic technology:
1. TiMER: A implanted timer watch that countdowns to the day you will meet your true love based on the release and detection of some "love hormone". Knowledge of when you'll meet your true soulmate means a society of no more divorce or heartbreak.
2. Minority Report: Precognitive beings are able to pinpoint the exact time (with corresponding images to deduce the place) a murder will occur, including victim and perpetrator based on the detection of a "metaphysical tear" in the world. The difference from TiMER is that the murder is preventable while the soulmate-meeting is not. So now, we have a society where no one has been murdered for six years.
So you would think - dark futuristic sci-fi thriller directed by world renowned director OR fluffy romantic movie about finding true love: which would have a more realistic approach to the philosophical debate on the pros and cons of having to face the reality of a world without free will? Surprisingly, the latter.
It stinks when you discover your destiny and it is not aligned with what you want. In Minority Report, it's Tom Cruise having to find out he's a killer. In TiMER, it's Emma Caulfield finding out 15 minutes before the movie's conclusion that the guy she's been seeing the entire duration of the film (and adorably so) is not her soul mate, and instead, it's the guy that her stepsister has shown interest in (also adorably so).
So, moving forward, what did the screenwriters do for the above dilemmas (*spoiler alert*)?
Minority Report: Fill the entire story with convenient gaping plot holes (minority reports! They exist! But in his case it doesn't! But that doesn't matter!), flawed conspiracy theories, and an emotional (also plot hole-filled) back story for our hero as a stimulus that he DOES have free will and despite THERE BEING NO MURDERS FOR SIX YEARS the deterministic system must be immediately dismantled and it's a happy ending for all (try telling that to all the murdered people in the future)! Way to circumvent the philosophical debate and Philip K. Dick, screenwriters.
TiMER: Realize that the TiMERs are 100% infallible (as the precogs were before Tom Cruise conveniently had to get away with murder) and having Emma Caulfield break up with her cute boyfriend and start small-talking to her true soulmate at the end. Unsatisfying for the lack of squee-inducing conclusion expected from a romantic film? Yes. But realistic and thought-provoking (are the TiMERs really just self-fulfilling prophecies? Should she have broken up with Mikey?)? Also yes. I guess it's the big difference when you're independent and don't have to pander to a large audience wanting a pat happy ending despite agreeing to see a movie that devotes the first hour explaining how you have no control over your pretty sucky future.
Thematic take: it kind of sucks balls if you no longer have free will, though a lot of it is attributed to the response people have to knowing their destiny and acting accordingly, which in term brings up the debate on whether or not determinism is just an act of free will satisfying a self-fulfilling prophecy.
So while I completely entertained with Minority Report with it's awesome CG, neat futuristic tech, and well directed action sequences, for wanting to take on such a heavy though-provoking theme - it sucked, story wise. Which wouldn't be too bad if the dialogue didn't try SO HARD to convince you that it was thought out and smart. Cause it wasn't.
TiMER was totally fluffy and the "soul mate" premise a bit silly but I give kudos for not taking the easy way out.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Waxing Poetic
Day before yesterday:
I come home to Nick watching an episode of VM because he felt like seeing something that he knew was good for sure as opposed to trying something new on the netflix stream.
Yesterday:
This time, I come home to him watching a documentary on how Steinways are made.
Not much, but it's the small stuff that I like to document and remember. Completely induces the best case of the warm and fuzzies.
I come home to Nick watching an episode of VM because he felt like seeing something that he knew was good for sure as opposed to trying something new on the netflix stream.
Yesterday:
This time, I come home to him watching a documentary on how Steinways are made.
Not much, but it's the small stuff that I like to document and remember. Completely induces the best case of the warm and fuzzies.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Capsules
We got Netflix last week. Unlimited streaming = movie marathons. A rundown:
1. Penelope: 3.5/5
Strangely, I found Christian Ricci more attractive with a pig nose. I think it proportions the rest of her abnormally large features and forehead. The movie was pretty cute but got a bit uneven once her character decided to venture out into the real world.
2. Ponyo: 4/5
Imaginative, gorgeous, and severely weird - expected Miyazaki. I thought the minimal storyline didn't really warrant the overload of imagery and fantastical events. It reminded me a bit of a Howl's Moving Castle and Totoro hybrid...but the sum wasn't as satisfying as the individual components.
3. The Pickup Artist: Incomplete
Couldn't get through it. 80s Robert Downey Jr. just doesn't compare with 90s/00s Downey. For one thing, the guy has obviously gotten his teeth fixed since his 20s.
4. Only You: 3.5/5
To make up for the disappointment of #3, I opted for RDJ 7 years later. Pretty charming adult romantic comedy. Marisa Tomei's ditziness got a bit overwhelming at points but...swooon over RDJ bending over backwards in love. Yep.
5. Dumb and Dumber: 5/5
Hilarity increased 100x upon realizing that Jeff Daniel is a doppleganger for my father-in-law. Especially when presented with the fact that Steve had the exact same hairstyle in the 70s.
6. Priceless: 5/5
Audrey Tatou delivers again. Fantastic French romantic comedy.
1. Penelope: 3.5/5
Strangely, I found Christian Ricci more attractive with a pig nose. I think it proportions the rest of her abnormally large features and forehead. The movie was pretty cute but got a bit uneven once her character decided to venture out into the real world.
2. Ponyo: 4/5
Imaginative, gorgeous, and severely weird - expected Miyazaki. I thought the minimal storyline didn't really warrant the overload of imagery and fantastical events. It reminded me a bit of a Howl's Moving Castle and Totoro hybrid...but the sum wasn't as satisfying as the individual components.
3. The Pickup Artist: Incomplete
Couldn't get through it. 80s Robert Downey Jr. just doesn't compare with 90s/00s Downey. For one thing, the guy has obviously gotten his teeth fixed since his 20s.
4. Only You: 3.5/5
To make up for the disappointment of #3, I opted for RDJ 7 years later. Pretty charming adult romantic comedy. Marisa Tomei's ditziness got a bit overwhelming at points but...swooon over RDJ bending over backwards in love. Yep.
5. Dumb and Dumber: 5/5
Hilarity increased 100x upon realizing that Jeff Daniel is a doppleganger for my father-in-law. Especially when presented with the fact that Steve had the exact same hairstyle in the 70s.
6. Priceless: 5/5
Audrey Tatou delivers again. Fantastic French romantic comedy.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Another Taiwan Trip
Out of everything I experienced, what probably amazed me the most were how advanced the techniques have gotten to make Asian eyes gigantic.
Holy Geez.
Holy Geez.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Abundance of crazy Asian parents somewhat explained?
News Today:
Man stabs 28 kids at a kindergarten in China
To quote from the article:
"A survey of mental health in four Chinese provinces jointly done by Chinese and U.S. doctors that was published in the Lancet in June concluded that China likely had about 173 million adults nationwide with mental health disorders and that most, 158 million, had never gotten any professional help for their problems."
[Warning: Grossly simplified calculations/estimations]
Okay, so if the current average in China is 1.7 kids per adult Chinese woman in their life time, and the total Chinese population is 1.3 billion, I'm estimating China's non-adult population is ~0.6 billion. How so? Cue the following:
X = China's kid population
1.3 - X = China's adult population
(1.3-X)/2 = China's female adult population (generous estimate)
So [(1.3-X)/2]*1.7 + (1.3-X) = 1.3 (total) -- > ~0.6 billion kids/0.7 billion Chinese adults.
So, out of 700 million Chinese adults, 158 million (or 22.5%) have untreated mental problems. So, that's approximately a 1 in 5 chance that any Chinese person you meet is unwell but won't admit to it. Also..refer to title of this entry.
Not to strictly infer China is the only country full of crazies (honor killings, anyone?), or that my math inference is actually accurate (I'm pretty positive that the adult population is much larger). I do feel like there is something to be said about the negative effects of the cultural stigmatizing of admitting you need help for issues that aren't physically apparent. On the flip side though, you could get a situation like over here where anxious mothers over-diagnose and medicate their kids into submission whenever they exhibit any form of normal behavior that's deemed too overwhelming to handle. Oh, and a lot of emos. Ugh.
Anyway, a lot of generalizing and negative implications can be made, so I'll just take the cop-out route and say I'm just glad I ended up with the family I have :).
Man stabs 28 kids at a kindergarten in China
To quote from the article:
"A survey of mental health in four Chinese provinces jointly done by Chinese and U.S. doctors that was published in the Lancet in June concluded that China likely had about 173 million adults nationwide with mental health disorders and that most, 158 million, had never gotten any professional help for their problems."
[Warning: Grossly simplified calculations/estimations]
Okay, so if the current average in China is 1.7 kids per adult Chinese woman in their life time, and the total Chinese population is 1.3 billion, I'm estimating China's non-adult population is ~0.6 billion. How so? Cue the following:
X = China's kid population
1.3 - X = China's adult population
(1.3-X)/2 = China's female adult population (generous estimate)
So [(1.3-X)/2]*1.7 + (1.3-X) = 1.3 (total) -- > ~0.6 billion kids/0.7 billion Chinese adults.
So, out of 700 million Chinese adults, 158 million (or 22.5%) have untreated mental problems. So, that's approximately a 1 in 5 chance that any Chinese person you meet is unwell but won't admit to it. Also..refer to title of this entry.
Not to strictly infer China is the only country full of crazies (honor killings, anyone?), or that my math inference is actually accurate (I'm pretty positive that the adult population is much larger). I do feel like there is something to be said about the negative effects of the cultural stigmatizing of admitting you need help for issues that aren't physically apparent. On the flip side though, you could get a situation like over here where anxious mothers over-diagnose and medicate their kids into submission whenever they exhibit any form of normal behavior that's deemed too overwhelming to handle. Oh, and a lot of emos. Ugh.
Anyway, a lot of generalizing and negative implications can be made, so I'll just take the cop-out route and say I'm just glad I ended up with the family I have :).
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Last Avatar hater post (I swear)
Quoted from Cracked:
Out of the millions upon millions of species that exist on Earth, there was only ever one intelligent bipedal primate: humanity. Finding a race of whatevers who look almost exactly like us plus a few extra eyes, some body paint and smoking hot bodies isn't just wishful thinking, it's plain stupid. And especially if you're an amazingly popular and powerful director with access to billions of dollars worth of cutting-edge CGI so there's literally no limit to the creatures you can come up with.
They could look like anything. Monkey-faced bar stools. Spleens with Care Bear icons for mouths. Anything! But why bother with all that originality business when you can come up with something that looks exactly like goddamn humans, albeit ones who have been dropped in a vat of blue dye and then undergone horrific plastic surgery to look more like cats.
Not content with this bit of biological plagiarism, James Cameron also applied the same "take two Earth animals and combine them" principle to every other creature on Pandora with equally absurd results.
Out of the millions upon millions of species that exist on Earth, there was only ever one intelligent bipedal primate: humanity. Finding a race of whatevers who look almost exactly like us plus a few extra eyes, some body paint and smoking hot bodies isn't just wishful thinking, it's plain stupid. And especially if you're an amazingly popular and powerful director with access to billions of dollars worth of cutting-edge CGI so there's literally no limit to the creatures you can come up with.
They could look like anything. Monkey-faced bar stools. Spleens with Care Bear icons for mouths. Anything! But why bother with all that originality business when you can come up with something that looks exactly like goddamn humans, albeit ones who have been dropped in a vat of blue dye and then undergone horrific plastic surgery to look more like cats.
Not content with this bit of biological plagiarism, James Cameron also applied the same "take two Earth animals and combine them" principle to every other creature on Pandora with equally absurd results.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Olympics (with links)!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Zing
Nick: I see enough of your globbyness daily.
Me: If I were any other girl, you'd be in the doghouse.
Nick: If you were any other girl, I'd call you pretty.
(To be fair, I did instigate the conversation by lifting up my shirt and jiggling my belly to demonstrate my fullness.)
Me: If I were any other girl, you'd be in the doghouse.
Nick: If you were any other girl, I'd call you pretty.
(To be fair, I did instigate the conversation by lifting up my shirt and jiggling my belly to demonstrate my fullness.)
Friday, February 5, 2010
Musical Tourettes
Lyrics permanently stuck in my head from two songs that pop up here and there (i.e: when I wake up, in the car, etc.) for as long as I can remember:
"I'm a loser, baby. So why don't you kill me." - Beck
"Stop right now. Thank you very much." -Spice Girls
I've never owned a Beck or Spice Girls album in my life, so WHY these particular lines stick out of the multitude of catchy music I've heard is a bit of a mystery. Though, I'm pretty sure the Beck song is there because I have yet to find anything else that paraphrases/expresses my awkwardness so well. Spice Girls - I'm at a loss.
"I'm a loser, baby. So why don't you kill me." - Beck
"Stop right now. Thank you very much." -Spice Girls
I've never owned a Beck or Spice Girls album in my life, so WHY these particular lines stick out of the multitude of catchy music I've heard is a bit of a mystery. Though, I'm pretty sure the Beck song is there because I have yet to find anything else that paraphrases/expresses my awkwardness so well. Spice Girls - I'm at a loss.
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