Oscars 2014 Follow-Up

For posterity again!

Best Picture: 12 Years A Slave
Best Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Best Actor: Matthew McConaughey
Best Actress: Cate Blanchett
Best Supporting Actor: Jared Leto
Best Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong'o
Best Animated Picture: Frozen
Best Adapted Screenplay: 12 Years A Slave
Best Original Screenplay: Her
Best Cinematography: Gravity
Best Visual Effects: Gravity
Best Original Score: Gravity
Best Original Song: Frozen - Let It Go
Best Makeup/Hairstyling: Dallas Buyers Club
Best Foreign Film: The Great Beauty
Best Costume Design: American Hustle (wrong)
Best Production Design: The Great Gatsby
Best Film Editing: Gravity
Best Animated Short: Get A Horse! (wrong)
Best Sound Editing: Gravity
Best Sound Mixing: Gravity
Best Documentary: The Act of Killing (wrong)
Best Documentary Short: The Lady In Number 6: Music Saved My Life
Best Live Action Short:  Just Before Losing Everything (wrong)

I am quite shocked 'The Act of Killing' lost out for Best Documentary. I think that one the Academy snubbed, but ah well. Everyone is also up in arms about Leo not winning an Oscar, but having seen 'The Wolf of Wall Street', it was just okay, not fantastic. McConaughey in 'Dallas Buyers Club' was way better, I think. That's just Leo's bad luck, honestly.

Anyway, 20/24 correct, up from one last year. Hopefully next year is even better!

Oscars 2014

Today is actually the day of the Oscars, and we're throwing a small party. As such, I should at least post my picks for posterity, and see if I can't beat last year's record of 19/24.

Best Picture: 12 Years A Slave (American Hustle or Gravity could also totally win here...I hope Gravity doesn't win, it wasn't THAT good. But seriously, there's no one lock this year, as there has been in years past.)
Best Director: Alfonso Cuaron (Steve McQueen could also win here.)
Best Actor: Matthew McConaughey (so strange to type that. Still, Leo or Ejiofor could win too.)
Best Actress: Cate Blanchett
Best Supporting Actor: Jared Leto
Best Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong'o (also Jennifer Lawrence has a shot still.)
Best Animated Picture: Frozen
Best Adapted Screenplay: 12 Years A Slave (because it can't get shut out. Before Midnight can also win, which my girlfriend would love)
Best Original Screenplay: Her
Best Cinematography: Gravity
Best Visual Effects: Gravity
Best Original Score: Gravity
Best Original Song: Frozen - Let It Go
Best Makeup/Hairstyling: Dallas Buyers Club (it's funny that the Jackass movie is actually a possible winner here)
Best Foreign Film: The Great Beauty (it's won a zillion awards until now. Why stop here?)

After this point, for me, it's still a crapshoot. But the people who will win still deserve as much attention as anyone else, so I'm still going to make my predictions!

Best Costume Design: American Hustle (it kind of really did look like the 70s.)
Best Production Design: The Great Gatsby (and some of my more obsessive friends will finally be happy.)
Best Film Editing: Gravity
Best Animated Short: Get A Horse! (because Disney.)
Best Sound Editing: Gravity
Best Sound Mixing: Gravity
Best Documentary: The Act of Killing (won best documentary at the BAFTAs)
Best Documentary Short: The Lady In Number 6: Music Saved My Life
Best Live Action Short:  Just Before Losing Everything (except in French :P)

Yes, Gravity will win all the things, as it is a very impressive technical achievement. Except Best Picture. Kind of reminds me of Inception in that way.

summer 2013 movies update pt 4

Since the last update, I have seen:

Despicable Me 2
The Wolverine
Red 2

And they were all awesome! Time for some brief reviews:

Despicable Me 2

An animated movie, one of the few I've seen this summer, and it's awesome. It's not particularly deep or anything (the first one dealt with Gru, Steve Carell's character, adopting these three little girls against his better judgment, only to find that he truly loved them), with the plot centered on Gru finding someone to love (Kristen Wiig, who is just as annoying in her animated self as in real life). A pretty simple plot, but the real stars of this movie are the Minions. They are riotously funny; this is probably the movie I have laughed at the most this summer, and it's largely because of those little guys. They deserve their own movie, and they probably will be getting one (if it hasn't been greenlit already).

8.5/10

The Wolverine

Saw an advance screening of it; surprise, it's awesome too! It actually takes place after X-Men: The Last Stand, with Logan dealing with the haunting memories of having killed Jean Grey in that (awful) installment. Really, the movie is less of a super hero movie, and more of a drama/thriller. Indeed, for the majority of the movie, Logan does not have his fantastic powers of healing, which kind of lends more gravity to his situation. Anyway, to say any more would be to spoil it, but it's a great adventure where Logan truly becomes 'The Wolverine' again, healing his pain that he had experienced after Jean's death. Also, the after-credits scene is awesome.

8/10

Red 2

This movie wasn't spectacular, but it was simply a lot of fun. Everyone seemed to simply be having a good time filming it, and even the new additions were awesome. Bruce Willis lends his usual stoic hilarity to the role he plays as Frank Moses, retired CIA agent. John Malkovich is also the usual crazy guy here, and he's hilarious. The true scene-stealer, in my humble opinion, is Anthony Hopkins. We all know he's a terrific actor, but he plays the scientist here with delightful scenes of him being crazy one moment, and then sane the next. I don't think the ending is exactly the most surprising one ever, but it's still entertaining. I'd see a sequel to this movie.

8/10

I will say my list of summer movies, now that it's been shortened by three, I've actually added to it with some new trailers. I want to see 'Paranoia', '2 Guns', and 'The Counselor'. Those movies come out, respectively, August 16th, August 2nd, October 23rd. While 'The Counselor' won't be seen this summer, the other two will be! That leaves my list now at:

Monsters University (out, but not in theatres any more)
World War Z (out, but not in theatres any more)
2 Guns (August 2nd)
Elysium (August 9th)
Paranoia (August 16th)
The World's End (August 23rd)

I'm quite excited to see these films; they all look awesome. woo movies!

summer 2013 movies update pt 3 - G.I.JOE edition

In an update to my summer blogging of movies, I saw G.I.JOE Retaliation tonight. To begin with a brief backstory: I went to go see 'Rise of Cobra' in theatres, the day after it was released. I loved the G.I.JOE cartoon growing up, and I have the action figures. I may not have been raised in the 80s (missed out on being an 80s kid by 22 days, in fact), but thanks to my cousins who were, I have a massive love for all things Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Transformers, Diehard (and other action movies of its ilk), and, of course, G.I.JOE.

My favourite character, by far, is Cobra Commander. In the cartoons, he was kind of like Dr. Claw, and more or less every bumbling supervillain of cartoons; menacing, but no real threat that he would ever really succeed. I mean, come on, it's a kid's tv show. But, nonetheless, he was awesome, crazy bad guy though he was.

Fast forward to the 'Rise of Cobra' movie of a few years ago, and I was just so sad at how bad it was. Pretty much everything about it was bad. The casting wasn't terrible, but I mean, casting Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Cobra Commander, and then messing up his voice AND his iconic costume? That's a terrible offence. At least Zartan and Destro were entertaining, but that was a consolation. I think the only good part about that first movie was Ray Park as Snake Eyes, which was awesome because of his outfit and the fact that he HAS NO DIALOGUE. Park does have experience in that regard, seeing as how Darth Maul has so little of it, but whatever. He's awesome (I met him, shook his hand and everything. Such a nice dude).

'Retaliation' fixed all of those problems. Firstly, the Rock (Dwayne Johnson) was Roadblock, Adrianne Palicki as Lady Jaye, some dude as Flint, Ray Stevenson as Firefly, Ray Park back as Snake Eyes, and Bruce Willis as General Joe Colton (the original Joe). The cast was much better...and, let me say, it's not as if Channing Tatum was a bad Duke. He wasn't. It just was that he was surrounding by so much bad. Though Sienna Miller as the Baroness...um, yes please.

Anyway, the movie was great. As usual, it was a lot of explosions, gunfights, and action, and it was great. They even did up Cobra Commander right, which I loved. The plots of these things are always so crazy, and the bit about the Zeus satellites and having everyone blow up their nuclear armaments was a bit much, but at the end of the day, I chuckled and enjoyed myself. By the way, the scene where Snake Eyes and Jinx fight a legion of enemy ninjas while flying around on cables on the side of a mountain. Fantastic.

8/10

summer 2013 movies update pt 2

So, since my last post, I've knocked two movies off my list: 'This Is The End' and 'Pacific Rim'. The two movies were so wildly different, and they were just so much fun, in their own ways.

This Is The End

This movie was hilarious. I can instantly see why it wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea, but after an amusing intro where Jay Baruchel and Seth Rogen talk about gluten and what it is, the movie is quickly set up, and also quickly devolves into something crazy. The Apocalypse (with a capital A) of Biblical proportions strikes the Earth, and the protagonists quickly engage in the hilarity. It's not as inane as one might think, with all these guys who clearly know each other in real life, as it's pretty funny and clever at points. The dialogue is great, and the actors are well chosen. It has a fairly predictable ending, but, what are you gonna do, it's still funny, and I personally thought the last few minutes of the movie were AWESOME. If a 6 is a solidly average score, then a 7.5, to me, is above average. Not fantastic, but this movie was funny enough to keep me entertaining for an hour and forty five minutes, or thereabouts.

7.5/10

Pacific Rim

This is the movie I had been anticipating for quite some time. I went with my friend Matteo, and the two of us saw it in glorious IMAX 3D. Let me tell you, it was worth every penny. The plot was thin, yes. The acting wasn't particularly amazing, no. But, honestly? WHO CARES. I got to see building-sized creatures pick up building-sized robots and toss them around Hong Kong, through the upper atmosphere, in Alaska, and underwater. There were some absolutely amazing fights, and unlike the mess that is Transformers, I could actually tell what was going on during the fight scenes. Like I mentioned, the acting wasn't particularly noteworthy, no. Idris Elba was pretty awesome, though, and Burn Gorman along with Charlie Day were hilarious as the two scientists. Everyone else was kind of 'meh', though really, it doesn't matter. You don't go to see humans talk to each other. You go to see giant robots beat up giant monsters, and on that front, it delivered and then some. The IMAX 3D really is the only way to go; this is one of the few movies that I've wanted to see solely in 3D, and definitely was made for the format. Not all movies are, of course, and few actually justify using it, but this is a rare exception. I had a blast watching this movie, and I can definitely see myself going back again to watch it in theatres. This was easily the most entertaining movie of the summer thus far for me, and the score has to reflect that, on my end.

9/10

summer 2013 movies update

Several months ago, I blogged about a list of movies that I wanted to see this summer, and as usual, I like to keep track of how many I’ve actually gone to see. Now that we are in mid-July, I’ve seen a bunch of them. ‘Iron Man 3’, ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’, ‘Fast and Furious 6’, and ‘Man of Steel’ all have earned some revenue from me (actually, ‘Man of Steel’ earned it twice, since I saw it on opening weekend, and then took my mom and dad to see it a few weeks later). I’ve declined to see ‘Oblivion’, upon hearing awful reviews from pretty much everyone, and I figure I’ll see ‘The Great Gatsby’ right before it inevitably gets nominated for a bunch of costume Oscars. ‘After Earth’ also will probably be a home rental, after learning that good ol’ M. Night was its director. That leaves the following movies that are currently out in theatres:

This Is The End

Monsters University

World War Z

Despicable Me 2

The Lone Ranger

I definitely want to see the first four, and indeed, already have plans to see ‘Despicable Me 2’ with my girlfriend in a few weeks. ‘The Lone Ranger’, after its abysmal reviews, is probably never going to get seen by me, honestly. I just don’t truly care about it, and they seemed to have changed everything about the original TV show (which I’ve only seen once, but still).

Apart from that, I have my tickets to see ‘Pacific Rim’ in glorious IMAX, and it will be awesome, even if my friends are complaining that they don’t understand the hype behind it. At least *one* of my friends will man up enough to see it with me, and frankly, the two of us will thoroughly enjoy ourselves, I’m sure. I also have my tickets to see ‘The Wolverine’ (advance screening at 10pm the night before!) with my little brother, who is turning 15 this year. This is (part) of my birthday present to him, so I hope he enjoys it. We went to go see ‘Thor’ at midnight when it came out a few years ago, so I know he at least appreciates this kind of thing.

Iron Man 3

In terms of a small review, it would probably get an 8.5/10 from me. It was solidly entertaining, and moved the story forward. Some people didn’t like it, because there wasn’t enough ‘Iron Man’, and more ‘Tony Stark’, if that makes sense. What the story drove home, however, was the fact that Tony *is* Iron man, as his words at the end of the first movie say outright. There is no Iron Man without Tony Stark, but Tony Stark can exist without Iron Man. Truthfully, the two co-exist now, and IM is as much a part of Stark’s psyche as anything else, though that doesn’t mean he needs the armour. As a result, we saw far more of Robert Downey Jr. outside the suit than in any other movie, but I think it pushed his character in better ways. Not too much set up for ‘The Avengers 2’, though I expect ‘Thor: The Dark World’ and ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ to do that later this year/early next year.

Star Trek Into Darkness

It was fun too. I really enjoyed the action set pieces and everything that went along, though the scope of the movie was far less grand. The first one was all about literally saving Earth, whereas this one was more on the scope of a manhunt. We meet the Klingons, briefly, and Benedict Cumberbatch is fun as the chief villain. I dunno, there doesn’t seem to be much to say here. It was alright, and it was fun, and that was that. 7/10

Fast and Furious 6

Now this was a *ton* of fun, however. This movie just rocked and rolled all over the place, with things that blew up, and fast cars, and all that nonsense. And, truly, I loved it! Those kinds of movies appeal to me, where you can just turn your brain off and have fun. The Rock was great again, and there were some fun twists along the way. I don’t know that I’d rate it over ‘Fast 5’, but it comes close, that’s for sure. The after-credits scene definitely sets the movie up in a way for the future that I love, mainly because of the actor who appears. Hilariously awesome. I’d go with a 8.5/10.

Man of Steel

It was everything I had hoped a Superman movie would be, and finally, they made good ol’ Kal-El seem relatable. With a superhero who is basically a god, that’s kind of important, I think. We also got an extended look at Krypton, which was fantastic. Seriously, it could have been a scene right out of a Star Wars movie, and it would have been fine. Russell Crowe was great as Jor-El, Superman’s dad, and Kevin Costner/Diane Lane were great as Mr. and Mrs. Kent. Did you know Diane Lane and I share a birthday? The more you know. Anyway, Michael Shannon was a fantastic General Zod, appropriately scary, and even though the movie decision with him at the end happened, I can understand it, despite some people going ‘whaaat?!’. Oh, and of course, Amy Adams was a great Lois Lane. Yeah, I know, not much description of their roles and portrayals, but I’m doing abbreviated reviews. I did like that they showed the damage that Metropolis (modeled after Toronto, for those who did not know that) took in the battle, as a good amount of things were destroyed in the battle with Superman vs. Zod and co. Superhero movies tend to gloss over stuff like that, so I appreciated it, even if the destruction was absolutely massive. Regardless, ‘Man of Steel’ was a fun ride, so I’d say 8/10 as well.

I also have seen both Olympus Has Fallen and A Good Day to Die Hard; the former I saw in theatres when it was out, the latter I saw at home. ‘Olympus Has Fallen’ was awesome; it was action packed, Gerard Butler is awesome (and is a bonafide action movie star. Seriously, he needs more movies like that one again), and it just had gratuitous violence everywhere. I’d seriously give it a 8.5/10, putting it on the same level as IM3 and Fast 6. On the other hand, while I *love* the Diehard movies (first one is the best), this latest iteration sucked. It was terrible. Please don’t waste money seeing it. Not even the famous ‘Yippee Ki-yay’ line could save it. It was probably a 3/10, if not worse.

Anyway, next up in my movie docket were the ones listed above:

This Is The End (in theatres)

Monsters University (in theatres)

World War Z (in theatres)

Despicable Me 2 (in theatres)

Pacific Rim (out this weekend)

Red 2 (July 19th)

The Wolverine (July 26th)

Elysium (August)

The World’s End (August)

Movies! Wooo!

summer 2013 movies!

As everyone knows, I love movies. Here are the ones I'm looking forward to, as the summer movie season starts to take shape:

Oblivion (out already)
GI Joe: Retaliation (out already)
Iron Man 3 (May 3rd)
The Great Gatsby (May 10th)
Star Trek Into Darkness (May 17th)
Fast and Furious 6 (May 24th)
After Earth (May 31st)
This Is The End (June 12th)
Man of Steel (June 14th)
Monsters University (June 21st)
World War Z (June 21st)
Despicable Me 2 (July 3rd)
The Lone Ranger (July 3rd)
Pacific Rim (July 12th)
Red 2 (July 19th)
The Wolverine (July 26th)
Elysium (August 9th)
The World's End (August 23rd)

That is a ridiculous list of movies. I've already gotten my midnight tickets to Iron Man 3, and really, I think the only other movie I'm considering midnight release for is 'Man of Steel', and MAYBE 'The Wolverine'. Everything else can wait, but then again, the wonders of UltraAVX tickets (which essentially take away having to wait in line) lets me pretty much watch it when my schedule permits. Hopefully, come September, I'll be able to say I've seen all of these!

The movie industry really does get a lot of $$ from me :P

Thanks, U of T

Again, no one really reads this blog, and I have found the experience of writing to be cathartic in the past. I'm not 100% sure it'll help in this case, but why not, yeah?

Last night, I learned that the 2013 Gordon Cressy Leadership Awards had finally been announced, with the list of recipients put up online. I nominated some people, my girlfriend included, and I was asked to be nominated by one of my friends who has since graduated. In what must certainly be some sort of karma that is being exercised upon me, several of my close friends who were nominated won, and I did not.

I always find these kinds of things annoying, mainly because sure, I'm a little arrogant, and I believe that I deserve it. It just always makes me even more upset when I see people who win who, in my honest opinion, deserve them just as much as I do, or in some cases, far less than I do. Perhaps people think this about me, with my own awards, and perhaps I should "just be happy" with what I have, and maybe that's true. But when people win these things, and they have put in literally half the work I have put in, over my undergrad, I feel slighted and wronged. Are they saying that I am less of a "leader" (whatever that means) than these other people, because U of T did not see fit to grant me an award, but over a hundred people got one instead? Are they saying my work is less important than some of these other people (despite the fact that I have done the *exact* jobs that some of these other winners have done, and MORE on top, to boot)? Are they saying that my 40+ hour work weeks for the past year simply don't mean anything? Apparently, the answers to those questions are all "yes".

So, thanks, U of T, for making me feel insignificant, unimportant, and crappy one last time before my undergraduate is completed. It's not enough that at Convocation, you're treated like a second-class citizen if you don't have high distinction (or even distinction at all). It's not enough that the Departments here (such as the Department of English, which has perhaps the worst undergraduate counselor in the history of this university) are so unhelpful that they seem to actively ignore or block you from doing what is required to graduate. It's not enough that the Dean's Office only have administrative interests at heart. It's not enough that my own college engenders elitism and snobbery by creating a program for first years that deliberately provides them with more resources and activities than other people. Nope, all of those things were not enough, so you had to go and take an award away from me that I deserved. On top of that, you gave it to (some; the person *I* nominated, as uppity as that sounds, definitely deserved it) people who were less deserving, people who had done less than I.

Thanks, U of T. I have never been so ready to graduate, and to never come back here for education for the rest of my life.

P.S. If I ever become rich enough to donate money, U of T, this is the last place on Earth that money will ever go. Just so you know.

Oscars 2013 Follow-Up

Just for posterity, gotta post my correct predictions:


Best Picture: Argo
Best Director: Steven Spielberg, Lincoln (wrong)
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Best Supporting Actor: Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln (wrong)
Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Best Animated Picture: Brave
Best Adapted Screenplay: Argo
Best Original Screenplay: Moonrise Kingdom (wrong)
Best Cinematography: Life of Pi
Best Visual Effects: Life of Pi
Best Original Score: Life of Pi
Best Original Song: Adele, Skyfall
Best Makeup/Hairstyling: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (wrong)
Best Foreign Film: Amour
Best Costume Design: Anna Karenina
Best Production Design: Anna Karenina
Best Film Editing: Argo
Best Animated Short: Paperman
Best Sound Editing: Skyfall
Best Sound Mixing: Les Miserables
Best Documentary: Searching for Sugar Man
Best Documentary Short: Mondays at Racine (wrong)
Best Live Action Short:  Curfew

So, I got five wrong, for a total of 19/24 correct ones. I think that's a new personal best for me!

Oscars 2013

I actually can't believe I almost forgot to make my yearly Oscar predictions. Even though no one reads this blog, I like keeping track of it, for my own sake.

So, without further ado, my predictions (just in time before the show later tonight):

Best Picture: Argo (I really hope Zero Dark Thirty doesn't win. It's basically The Hurt Locker. Come on, Bigelow, make some new movies.)
Best Director: Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Best Supporting Actor: Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Best Animated Picture: Brave (though, as I mentioned in one of my previous tweets, I think Wreck-It Ralph deserves it far more)
Best Adapted Screenplay: Argo (Ben Affleck probably loves these awards)
Best Original Screenplay: Moonrise Kingdom
Best Cinematography: Life of Pi
Best Visual Effects: Life of Pi (though I'm sure people will be upset if the Hobbit or Avengers doesn't win....and while I would like Avengers to win, it probs won't)
Best Original Score: Life of Pi (I haven't actually seen Life of Pi, but I'm just going off of the other awards all these things have been nominated for)
Best Original Song: Adele, Skyfall (SKYFAAAAAAAALL)
Best Makeup/Hairstyling: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (though, if Les Mis wins, I also won't be surprised)
Best Foreign Film: Amour (come on. It was nominated for Best Picture, so it better at least win Best Foreign Film)

After this point, for me, it's a crapshoot. But, still, predictions!

Best Costume Design: Anna Karenina
Best Production Design: Anna Karenina
Best Film Editing: Argo
Best Animated Short: Paperman (it was so awesome!)
Best Sound Editing: Skyfall
Best Sound Mixing: Les Miserables
Best Documentary: Searching for Sugar Man
Best Documentary Short: Mondays at Racine
Best Live Action Short:  Curfew

the light at the end of the tunnel

After seeing 'The Hobbit' over the last few months (which I haven't reviewed! oh god my movie reviews have been lacking...guess I'll go queue up a post after this), and watching 'Return of the King' recently as well, I almost want to title my graduation post 'there and back again'...but something tells me that'll be reserved for 'The Hobbit'.

Anyway, graduating. Honestly, no one reads my blog, so it almost serves as a sort of journal of sorts, which is kind of cool, I guess, for me. I don't get to do a lot of creative writing, or more specifically, writing that has not been tied down to a certain subject. Indeed, over the past 4.5 (soon to be 5) years of university, I find that this blog (along with the various internet forums I post on, is one of my few solaces. I kind of wanted to chronicle my university career in this post, only because I always find myself remembering things that I did, or participated in, and I find myself astonished at the things I have done. I'm a talkative person, and I like doing new things, but even I couldn't have guessed that over the course of 5 years, I would have done all these things.

In first year (08-09), I was the VOCA first year rep...and that was it, really. After that, though, one thing led to another, and I found myself in an avalanche of things. In second year (09-10), I was the VUSAC Finance Chair, again part of VOCA, and in the summer of 2010, I was on the Orientation Executive 2010. In third year (10-11), I was a VUSAC Member-At-Large, the VCDS Finance Chair, on VOCA again, and I hosted (with a friend of mine) the Battle of the Bands as well as the Environmental Week Fashion Show. During the summer of 2011, I was on the Orientation Executive 2011, and also a part of UofT's Festival of Dance, something crazy and incredible, and performed a dance with three friends to the tunes of Michael Jackson's 'Smooth Criminal'. In fourth year (11-12), I was again on VUSAC as the Vice President External (something which I spoke about a LOT on this very blog back then), and was one of the Student Life Ambassadors for the Office of Student Life at UofT. In the summer of 2012, I was one of two Orientation Student Co-Chairs, and was also a co-host of 'Beyond the Classroom', a show about extracurricular involvement for UofT's radio station, CIUT.fm. In fifth year (12-13), which is now, I am the President of VUSAC (a long road here), I work for the Office of Student Life (the Leadership Development Office, to be more specific) as a work-study student, and I also work for the Division of Engineering Science as a Student Experience Assistant. Being the President also means being a part of the Victoria University Senate, the Victoria College Council, and the Board of Regents, all of which are pretty large responsibilities.

Again, because no one reads this blog, this isn't me preening to my imagined audience...no, it's more of a reflection over my undergraduate career. I also don't know why I'm writing it as if someone other than me is reading it, but there you go, neuroses for you.

I think the Festival of Dance was the thing I was most uncomfortable with, and even to this day, I have not rewatched that dance. I am incredibly proud of myself and of the other three people I did that with, all of whom I consider friends, but I just get super self-conscious when I see that video, and so I've never watched it ever. That's probably for the best.

In some weird way, I can't even believe that first year was way back in 2008. It's now 2013! That was five years ago. A lot has happened in five years, and not just the stuff I was going on about earlier in this post. I definitely branched out a lot, from just student government, to a whole host of things, including the drama society, dancing in front of huge audiences, hosting large events, becoming a radio host, and using Twitter for a job. Despite the fact that every single one of those things probably caused me a bit of stress at any given point, I would not change a single thing. All of those experiences have shaped me as I am right now, and have helped me figure about things about myself that I view as more important.

I don't have a 4.0 GPA, no, but then again, that was never a priority of mine. Grad school was something I worked towards in first and second year, and then it just became something far more abstract, once I realized that further academics were not something I particularly cared for. Maybe it was the level of pretentious-ness in my classes? Maybe it was the mere fact that a lot of the readings and case studies I did for English and Political Science were just too dense for me to care? Maybe I simply didn't care what Margaret Atwood was inferring when she wrote about the river in the book 'Surfacing' (personally, I don't think she was inferring anything, I think it was just over-zealous professors, scholars, and students reading too much into it), but dayum, school quickly became secondary to all these other wonderful things that I saw and did.

That's not to say I will never go to grad school. The London School of Economics has a method of getting a law degree that I find appealing at the moment, and I have always wanted to write the LSAT. Perhaps after further research into LSE as well as the LSAT then I will make my decision.

But, graduation. It's more or less the end of January now, I'm 23, and there is approximately two months of class left. Then, I am done my undergrad FOREVER. Can't say I'll miss the essays, exams, tests and endless hours of lectures...but I'll definitely miss all the other stuff. One good thing about graduating is that I made a whole ton of friends. I didn't touch on that now because it's a huge topic, and not one that can be given justice tacked on at the end of a post. But, thankfully, a lot of those people will be my friends forever (along with my Scarborough friends), and I'm excited to see what lies beyond, with them (and Savannah, who is awesome. She's another post, but again, not going to do her justice at the end, so that's for later).

summer movies update!

It's been a while since I've made a post, if only because I've been doing SO MUCH stuff since I last posted about going to Washington, back in June. We're now near the end of July, and quite a lot has transpired. I've been doing the radio show pretty steadily, Beyond the Classroom, and I've also gone to see quite a few movies off of my summer list. Orientation Week has been coming along pretty nicely, with the mailing booklet going to print (a month or so late, for various reasons) today. But, I like to take breaks every now and then, since my vacation plans keep on getting derailed by various other things, and so here we are. Movies! I adore movies. Perhaps it is because they allow viewers to escape for a few hours...or, at least, that's MY reason. Some people enjoy being presented with profound movies, pieces of art that make you think about life and why things exist. I find all that incredibly boring, to be quite honest. I mean, I can enjoy a good 'deep' film, but for the most part, life is too busy to watch depressing or boring movies in my spare time. Hence, the summer blockbusters! While there are some films that accomplish both being fun and thoughtful, I enjoy the summer season because they are far more the former than the latter.

Here is a list of movies that I wanted to see, back at the beginning of the summer:

"The Avengers (obviously) (May 4th)

Men in Black III (May 25th)

Prometheus (June 8th)

Brave (June 22nd)

G.I.Joe: Retaliation (June 29th)

The Amazing Spider-Man (July 3rd)

The Dark Knight Rises (July 20th)

The Bourne Legacy (August 3rd)

The Campaign (August 10th)

The Expendables 2 (August 17th)"

We are now at July 24th, and I have seen all of the ones on that list released to date, with the exception of G.I.Joe: Retaliation, which has since been pushed back to March 2013. A shame, but ah well, I crammed the rest of those movies in there. I already posted about The Avengers, which is still my favourite movie of the summer so far, as well as Men in Black III, but I have been remiss in posting about the other ones. Here goes with some quick reviews!

Prometheus

This movie was fun. I saw it with my best friend, and he had mostly the same thing to say about it that I did. It was very visually stunning, and Michael Fassbender had a great turn as the android David, but other than that, it kind of was just...there. It wasn't bad, and at the end there's a little bit that is almost as if Ridley Scott decided to say 'HEY, THIS MOVIE IS RELATED TO ALIEN! GET IT?!' It was somewhat unnecessary, but there you go. Honestly, though, it's really nitpicky of me to say those things; the movie was fun, I enjoyed it, and was entertained for the duration of it. The ending is one of those things where a sequel CAN be made, but if there isn't one, well, it's up to your imagination!

8/10

Brave

Pixar, as many people have said over the years, has made quite a few absolutely fantastic movies. Wall-E, Up, Finding Nemo, the Toy Story trilogy, and many others, they are all fantastic. Having said that, Brave continues the tradition of having excellent visuals; it is easily up there as one of the prettiest Pixar movies, ever. The animation is superb; there must have been a team of animators devoted to the main character's hair, it was so fluid all the time. But, apart from that, it was merely...okay. That is to say, I enjoyed it, and I laughed a LOT, but that seemed to really be all there was. The plot was predictable, and the villain wasn't very much of a villain. It was more about the relationship between the main character, a teenage girl, and her mother, the queen of the realm. Not being a girl myself, I feel as if females would probably get more out of this movie than I, which is probably why Savannah and Carrie (one of my very good friends), both girls, enjoyed it more than myself and Carrie's boyfriend. For me, this seemed to be a kids movie. There's no problem with that at all, not even one bit; I LOVE those kinds of movies, and I greatly enjoyed this one. It just seemed to me that the overarching message in Brave was not quite as complex as Pixar is used to conveying. Disney and Pixar are used to making family movies; there's a difference between that, and a kids movie, which (in my opinion) is what Brave is. Still, a super fun one!

8.5/10

The Amazing Spider-Man


The Spider-Man trilogy has been rebooted. The problem with this new reboot is that...well, we've seen it before. There's not much different about this movie when compared with the Tobey Maguire version of several years ago. I should say, though, the initial (and best) difference is the fact that Tobey Maguire is...well, not in it. Instead, the titular character is portrayed by Andrew Garfield, who is perhaps the most convincing Spider-Man I've seen in a while. He nails the character, and Emma Stone does the same for her own Gwen Stacy, though I had quite a bit of trouble suspending my disbelief when the movie tries to tell us these two adults are supposed to be 17-18 years old each. They're young, don't get me wrong (my age? Maybe a few years older?), but not grade 11-12 high school age. Apart from that minor complaint, the Lizard, played by Rhys Ifans, was awesome, but...even he felt recycled with his 'talking to himself as he goes crazy' scenes, which conjured images of Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin. The movie was just kind of recycled in general, and there's one scene involving construction workers in NYC near the end of the film where it was clearly supposed to be heartwarming, and ended up just being silly and funny. Again, it's not a BAD movie. I don't think I've seen any BAD movies this summer. It just wasn't 'blow you away' good. If I could change one thing, it would probably be the title: The Average Spider-Man.

7/10

Moonrise Kingdom


This wasn't on my list at all, but Savannah really really wanted to see it, and who am I to deny her? Any way, this is a movie by Wes Anderson of 'The Royal Tenenbaums' fame, along with 'The Darjeeling Limited' and 'Rushmore'. He makes quirky, well-written, almost indie movies, and Moonrise Kingdom was definitely all of the above. It was, actually, very very good. The dialogue was very intense, and the performances (from actors such as Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton and a host of young kids) were absolutely fantastic. It was, without a doubt, one of the best movies I've seen this summer by far. It caught me off-guard how much I enjoyed this movie, and I'm glad I saw it.

9/10

The Dark Knight Rises


Let me just preface this by saying this movie, after The Avengers, was my most anticipated movie of the summer (probably even the year). It did not disappoint. It wasn't, in my own opinion, as good as The Dark Knight, but I enjoyed it more as a conclusion to the story of Batman than I enjoyed Batman Begins as an origin story. They're all excellent films, as Christopher Nolan is an excellent director, but I greatly enjoyed this one. Bane, as the villain, had his problems, minor as they were. He was still a little garbled, via the mask, and apart from that, he was just...bland. Bane was never the most interesting character, even as far as the comic books went, but he did the trick. Catwoman/Selina Kyle was actually fantastic; I was a little worried about how they might portray or use her in the movie, and really, as far as I am concerned, they absolutely nailed the delivery of the character. Anne Hathaway = awesome. Christian Bale was, as usual, good as Batman (and he even had another one of those hilarious growly lines in this one! In the first, it was 'WHERE ARE THE OTHER DRUGS GOING?!'; in the 2nd, it was 'I'M COUNTING ON IT.' and in this one it's 'WHERE'S THE TRIGGER?!'...oh Batman), though the best actor in this movie, by FAR, was Michael Caine. He absolutely stole every scene he was in, as Alfred, and I loved every moment.

Joseph-Gordon Levitt was also pretty fun as the straight laced, idealistic cop working for Gary Oldman's Commissioner Gordon. Both of them were pretty awesome. Honestly, at this point, I was surprised Leonardo DiCaprio didn't make an appearance or something, given all the Inception actors in the movie (Marion Cotillard was here as well, and we all know Tom Hardy was playing Bane). Ah well. The movie itself also relied a little too much on exposition directly to the audience (i.e. a character would say something, and instead of letting the audience imagine it themselves, they would just SHOW you what the character was thinking in a little mini dream flashforward), though I think it was necessary in some parts, and not in others. It ended on a perfect note, however. The fate of Batman, of Gotham City, of Bruce Wayne, of Alfred, of Bane, it was all tied up pretty nicely, and left it open enough that you can understand easily what would happen next. There were some nice nods to fans of the comic book, and there were some fun cameos as well. All in all, a very satisfying conclusion to the trilogy. Will I see it again in theatres, as I did for The Avengers? Maybe. But, I'll be damned if this isn't one of the best movies of the year. With the ten Best Picture awards, Nolan better at least get nominated for an Oscar, haha.

9.5/10 (I wanted to give this movie a 10, and immediately after seeing it, I would have, but now that I've thought about it, it's not as good as The Avengers, which I DID give a 10. It's a different feel and tone than Marvel's movie, so it's unfair to compare them, but there were some glaring flaws with energy and pacing in this movie that IMO were not present in The Avengers, so I'm going with 9.5...not that's bad by any stretch of the imagination.)

There you have it. My reviews of the movies I've seen so far this summer. Recap of this post:

Prometheus: 8/10
Brave: 8.5/10
The Amazing Spider-Man: 7/10
Moonrise Kingdom: 9/10
The Dark Knight Rises: 9.5/10

Men in Black III, btw, got an 8/10 from me, whereas The Avengers got a well-deserved 10/10. Obviously, this is my opinion (as I've said many times in my blog, haha), but with these subjective things, I figured I would say it one more time. I hope you enjoyed at least a small part of my reviews!

summer roadtrip #1

Well, I finally took a vacation. I haven't done that by myself in several years, as usually I am accompanied by my family in some way. Not to say that I dislike my family, they are all wonderful (my mom and dad, and then my little bro and little sis), but sometimes it's fun to just go somewhere with my friends instead.

So, my girlfriend and I decided to pack some clothes and go stay with my friend Brandon in Washington, DC for a few nights. We've never been to Washington proper, and Brandon wanted people to come visit, so everyone wins! I was particularly excited because, while a trip to the capital of the United States was fun, I also have an extreme fondness for roadtrips. We drove the whole way, from Toronto to DC, which all-in-all was a 11-hr trip, thanks to the various routes we took + traffic. We stopped for dinner in Ridgway, Pennsylvania, where we had food at a Lumberjack restaurant. Savannah had steak and mashed potatoes, and I had fish and chips, and both of our meals together cost less than 30$, even with drinks (I had Coca-Cola, don't worry, no drinking and driving)! In any case, we arrived in DC (after getting lost once entering the city, thanks to the ridiculous way the city streets are laid out) late on the 22nd (indeed, early morning on the 23rd), and immediately went out for drinks with Brandon. We got back at 4am (after a night where we went to a college bar, and I was propositioned by a ridiculously drunk girl IMMEDIATELY after Savannah and Brandon went to go get some drinks, it was weird), and then got back to Brandon's place.

This next part was fun, because we decided that it would be awesome if we took a day trip somewhere nearby. 'Nearby' initially meant San Francisco (according to Google Maps, it's a 42 hour drive), so we kept on grinding it down until we settled on Corolla, North Carolina, a 5-6 hour drive from DC. Sidenote: I am eventually going to drive to San Francisco, I think that would be awesome. We still had decided that Sunday (the 24th) was going to be the day for the trip, so we went to bed to get up early for Saturday morning (read: in 5 hours). After getting up and taking a quick shower, the three of us headed out to downtown Washington - to the National Mall. Brandon works at the Canadian Embassy, so we stopped by there and he showed us around. We then hit up a multitude of tourist spots: outside the White House, the Library of Congress, the Washington Monument, the World War II memorial in the Mall, the Lincoln Memorial, the Pentagon and the Pentagon Memorial as well. We also went to the National Air and Space Museum, which was awesome, and learned that all 19 (!) of the Smithsonian Institutions are all free!

We had some awesome food in DC, too. Either the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence starts with 'We the People'...we went to Obama's favourite pizza place, called 'We the Pizza', and also stopped in at a place called 'Good Stuff Eatery'...I had a burger that was fried mushrooms stuffed with melted cheese, in place of a burger. SO GOOD.

When we crossed over to see the Pentagon, we were in Virginia, despite just being on the other side of the Potomac. We decided to explore for a bit, and found an awesome Irish tavern where we got some ridiculously cheap and delicious food.We soon headed back to Brandon's place, exhausted, and knowing that we had to get up super early the next day (even though we had just walked for 8 straight hours). In any case, we woke up fairly early, and headed out to Corolla, which is this tiny town on the tip of the Outer Banks, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean. We had picked Corolla because Savannah loves horses, and apparently Corolla is known for their 'feral horses', which are basically just wild horses that live and breed on their own. She loves them, and who am I to deny her one of her favourite things? So, we drove down, parked my car near the beach, and walked for a mile or two until we found them. It was pretty awesome, actually, we were on a completely deserted stretch of beach, with the Atlantic stretching out forever in front of us. The water was crystal clear, completely blue, and it was about 30-35 degree weather (Celsius, of course, who do you take me for...an American?!). After we saw the horses, we walked a little back, and after Brandon accidentally fell into the surf, getting completely soaked, we just decided to go swimming in our clothes. Completely impromptu, and that led to a nice damp ride back to DC, but it was totally worth it. Swimming in the surf, with two awesome people (one of which is my girlfriend, to boot), on a gorgeous day with no one around? Yes, please.

On the way back from Corolla, Brandon asked if we could stop in at the airport and pick up his friend Stacy. We did so, and headed back to his place, where Savannah and I plotted out our trip back to Toronto, and promptly passed out. Upon waking up in the morning, after making it through the obscene morning traffic of DC and dropping Brandon off at the Embassy, the two of us decided to hit up some last sights. We hit up the National Museum of the American Indian, since that is what Savannah studies and she quite enjoys it...seeing her be so happy and interested in the subject made me super happy =P We then went to the National Archives, where I saw the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution, which was pretty cool...not to mention it made me want to watch 'National Treasure' again, hehe. Nicolas Cage, I know, but ah well, it's still entertaining to watch. After that, we headed out of DC, and began the drive home. We didn't stop very often, since by the time we got out of DC, it was 4pm, and so we got back to Toronto at around 3am, though it was worth it.

Fun facts about the trip: we traveled 2759 kms, all in all (so from Scarborough to Savannah's place dt to St. Catherines to fill up on gas, to Ridgway, PA, to Washington, DC, to Corolla, NC, to the airport, to DC, to Toronto, to Scarborough again). We also saw 32 of the 50 states represented in license plates during our trip (I'll post them in a later blog post, Savannah has them written down in her day planner), not to mention two Quebec plates and one British Columbia plate.

Honestly, it was super fun. It was nice to get away from everything and everyone (not that all that is bad, just that I needed a break), and spend time with someone whose company I greatly enjoy. Also, seeing Brandon was awesome, because he himself is awesome, and is a wonderful person, so it was fun just...hanging out with him. I entitled this post #1, because there might be a few more for me in the future. Niagara Falls looms as a possibility, either with friends or with Savannah, and she also wants to go up to the Bruce Peninsula for a day or two. I have no idea what's up there, so it could be super fun (and, let's face it, if I'm going with my girlfriend, it probably will be =P). Bottom line: roadtrips = awesome, and I can't wait to do it again.

Men in Black 3

I honestly couldn't think of a witty title for this post...ah well. I saw MIB3 recently, as it was on my list of things to see. I went with the girl I'm seeing right now, who is an awesome person and suggested that we see it in the first place, and we both greatly enjoyed it. I want to do one of my customary reviews, because why not, right? It's not as if a lot of people read my blog, but it's fun to do nonetheless, even if to get my own thoughts cleared up so I can explain them verbally to people later.

In any case, Men in Black 3. They don't shy away from the fact that Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) recruited Agent J (Will Smith) 14 years ago. In fact, 14 years ago in 'real life', it was 1998, and 1997 (which is what they were obviously going for) was the first year we ever saw Will Smith run down an alien to have him utter the words "N-Y-P-D. It means I will (k)nock your punk-ass down!". I love Will Smith, by the way. Indeed, MIB3 is the newest movie by Mr. Smith since 2008, when he last released both 'Seven Pounds' and 'Hancock'.

I went into this movie with fairly low expectations, because lets face it, MIB2 was absolute garbage. It was shameful, as far as movies go, and I don't know a single person who would say it was actually 'good'. I LOVE this series, and I wouldn't ever say that was a good movie (just like the Star Wars prequels, but hey). Having said that, this movie blew me away with how much it exceeded my expectations. I was readying myself for a 5 or 5.5 out of 10, and this movie is a solid 7.5 or 8/10. Will Smith reverted back to the playful, funny character he became famous for, and Tommy Lee Jones was solid again as the stoic, no humour, Agent K. The delight of the movie, though, was definitely Josh Brolin. As many have said, he absolutely nails the younger version of Agent K (as this movie involves time travel, where Agent J goes back and meets Agent K in 1969), via his delivery of dialogue and facial expressions. Even Jemaine Clement of Flight of the Conchords fame is in this movie, as the bad guy (the aptly named Boris the Animal), and is near unrecognisable. There is also a character named Griffin, a being who can see all possible futures, all the time. It lends itself well to how the movie progresses, and provides some hilarious moments, too.

I don't really have much to say, I mean, the movie was simply solid. It had its funny moments, and after a slower-ish first half, the pacing picked up once the plot began to get underway. The events of the climax of the movie lead to a particularly poignant moment between Agent J and Agent K near the very end...it was a surprisingly soft touch for the kind of movie I expected it to be. Given how MIB1 ended, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, but it was still extremely nice to see.

All in all, a solid, fun movie, especially for people of my generation who were 6-7 years of age when the first installment was released. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it!

8/10

Earth's Mightiest Heroes

I haven't made a post (before that last one) in a while, but I forgot to mention the new way Blogspot lets you actually post things. It's quite streamlined, though call me old-fashioned, but I enjoyed the older way a little better. I was probably just used to that, though, so I'll probably get used to this one eventually too.

In any case, the REAL subject of this blog post...The Avengers! Before I actually type out my review of the film, let me just say that ever since Iron Man came out in 2008, and I waited (on opening night) for the post-credits scene, I have been excited for this movie. I never thought that Marvel would actually realize such an ambitious project, and yet four years later, here we are. The result is quite honestly nothing short of amazing; Joss Whedon definitely has the fanbase pegged, as the movie is rife with explosions, witty dialogue, amazing fight sequences, awesome CGI...pretty much everything a fanboy like me could want.

The movie itself is pretty formulaic, because after all, these are 'Earth's mightiest heroes'. They're not going to initially get along, and the movie spends a good chunk of time setting up how this dysfunctional group is actually going to, you know, save the world. One reviewer wrote that 'these super-powered people have super-sized egos to match', and it's definitely true. There's one scene in particular that has almost every single star in the movie, all participating in lightning fast dialogue, bantering back and forth...it's quite well written, for such a short scene. That is, in my opinion, where Joss Whedon (with Zak Penn) excel in this movie; they make the dialogue super entertaining. I mean, it's what Whedon is known for, with Firefly and Buffy the Vampire Slayer under his belt. But, yes, formulaic. The group gets together, they argue, an enemy arrives, they fight it, they win, the world is saved, everyone is happy. There was no other real way for this movie to pan out, in that order, simply because this is still (at its core) an origin story. Perhaps not an origin story for each individual hero (gotta see their individual movies, for that), but definitely for the team as a whole...and what a story it is.

But, while the dialogue is awesome, the explosions and fights are even better. Every character only has so much screen time, but in the climactic battle scene (the one so often referenced in the trailers), the camera seamlessly cuts from character to character, all fighting and walloping this mysterious threat to Earth's freedom. Maria Hill, Agent Coulson and Nick Fury, all SHIELD agents, they're all pretty awesome as well...oh, and Loki? Nothing short of phenomenal. I love Tom Hiddleston, really. Finally, the end-credits tag sets up an AWESOME sequel. I mean, it had been announced previously that the character they show was going to be in the movie, but I had quite honestly forgotten until I saw the scene, and realized a split second before...and the theatre (midnight screening) went absolutely insane. There is also ANOTHER post credits scene, so wait until everything is done, and you'll get to see that extra little tidbit. It's, quite honestly, hilarious.

All in all, I loved this movie. Prior to this film, this was my order of the Marvel films:

Iron Man >> Thor > Captain America >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Iron Man 2 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Hulk

With The Avengers (which I am definitely going to see again in theatres) in play now, my order definitely looks like this:

The Avengers >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Iron Man >> Thor > Captain America >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Iron Man 2 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Hulk

It's THAT good. That's coming from someone who has read Iron Man since he was a little kid, and who LOVED the first movie (my dad has the original Iron Man comics, I got hooked on good ol' Mr. Stark from an early age =P), and it was that much better. I mean, it had Iron Man IN it, so it was definitely going to be awesome anyway. Regardless, the movie was just fantastic. Perhaps that's the fanboy in me talking, but...well, the movie was MADE for fanboys like me, so I think I'm justified in giving it the rating you see below. Avengers, assemble!

10/10

Summer already?!

Well, it's been a whole semester since I last blogged; I dunno what happened. I used to blog so frequently, though, the year DID get a whole ton more crazy (cray?) as it progressed. Less video games, less internet-ing, less everything, really. On the plus side, I was elected VUSAC President, after an intense race against a worthy opponent. To be fair, however, I did win by a somewhat comfortable margin, so that was a little nice too. In any case, as a result of that, I am now mandated to hold office hours in the VUSAC office, so here I am. A minimum of 30 hrs a week spread out over a minimum of 4 days (wooo, Fridays and weekends off!), so not too bad. There are some other things to look forward to over the break, however, so that's fun too...time to look ahead!

McDonalds $1 drink thingy! Now that it's available again, I plan on measuring my consumption of these drinks. So far, I've only had one, but it IS the beginning of May. I have the entire rest of the summer to take advantage of this. The plan: rip the red square with the golden arches on it, and keep it in the first one, to avoid having hundreds of those cups at my place...that would just end up being kind of gross, I think, and would probably attract ants or something. In any case, that's the plan. Last year, when I worked at Jameson Bank, I probably had one a day for the entire summer. That was a matter of convenience, though, since it was in the same building, and I literally just had to take an elevator down to the food court in the basement. Now, I have to leave the Birge, lock up the office, and walk over to McDs. I dunno how much I'll end up drinking, but, I can still imagine it'll be a lot...fountain drinks are SO TASTY. It'll probably be an unhealthy amount, but still.

TCAF! Otherwise known as the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, it's being held this coming weekend at the Toronto Reference Library near Yonge and Bloor. I'm going to go see my favourite webcomic artists, namely, Christopher Hastings of Dr. McNinja, who I have literally missed every time he's come to Toronto. Along with Jeph Jacques of Questionable Content, it should be a fun time. Definitely buying some prints or something and hopefully will get them autographed!

The Avengers! It's literally TOMORROW NIGHT. Holy crap am I excited. I have literally been waiting to see this movie since Iron Man came out in 2008 and I saw the tag after the credits about the 'Avengers initative'. The crowd (which I was a part of) went nuts, and suddenly fast forward to 2012, and the movie is going to be a reality. I hear nothing but good things, AND I'm going to go see it with my awesome girlfriend, so...that's going to be pretty much nothing but awesome.

That was an appropriate segue into what I *really* wanted to talk about, i.e., the summer movies. The summer movie period is always my favourite part of the summer, because they have those high-octane movies that all the studios hope will be multi-million dollar blockbusters, and so they're all supposed to be crazy. I LOVE those movies, and so, I'm looking forward to them. Here are the ones I'm especially excited about:

The Avengers (obviously) (May 4th)

Men in Black III (May 25th)

Prometheus (June 8th)

Brave (June 22nd)

G.I.Joe: Retaliation (June 29th)

The Amazing Spider-Man (July 3rd)

The Dark Knight Rises (July 20th)

The Bourne Legacy (August 3rd)

The Campaign (August 10th)

The Expendables 2 (August 17th)

I have no doubt some of these movies will be down right terrible. In fact, I am hoping some of them will be...because that's part of the fun! Of course, I also expect that some of these movies will be awesome in every way. The Avengers, Prometheus, Brave, The Dark Knight Rises...I have so much hope that they will be amazing. For me at least, the jury is still out on the Amazing Spider-Man, though I'm definitely going to see it regardless. Really, I'm going to see all of these movies. I'm definitely going to see all the comic book ones at midnight, and maybe even Prometheus will be seen at midnight as well...that movie looks so cool, my god. As per usual, I'm going to post reviews of these movies when I see them, so...woo for that!

Anyway, time to go grab some food. Huzzah for more blogging this summer!

holiday movie roundup

A simple title, one that basically says what I'm going to talk about (for once). With my cousins and siblings, people who I love very very much, I got to see a fair amount of movies this winter break during my time off. It was pretty fun, I must say...and, before you judge me and tell me I'm a horrible person for letting my 13-year old brother see some of these movies, he only came to see two of them with us. ANYWAY, here we go!

The movies I saw this break were:

New Year's Eve
The Muppets
A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas in 3D
The Adventures of Tintin
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol

Yup, a fair amount. I will now proceed to rank them from the worst to the best (as if you reeeeally care. But still, let's do it up!):

6) A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas in 3D

Honestly, the only reason this movie is in the last place spot over the #5 spot is definitely the 3D. I have said many times before, but my god, 3D sucks. Even in this movie, the ONLY thing they used it for was blowing weed smoke in the audience's face when Harold and Kumar get super high. I mean, alright, like most guys, I enjoyed the gratuitous nudity (by only women, I might add), but....eh. It was just boring, although the crazy stuff Harold and Kumar get into are occasionally entertaining.

Final rating: 4/10

5) New Year's Eve

That shit does not happen in real life. I'm sorry, but, as someone who is perhaps jaded by the fact that I haven't met someone in FAR too long, meeting someone as magically as EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER did in that movie simply does not happen. It was a fun time at the theatre because I went with two of my favourite people, but still, the movie itself was awful.

Final rating: 4.5/10 (I can't bring myself to give this a 50% or more, I just can't, but at least it didn't have 3D)

4) Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol

Well, now that we have the CRAP movies out of the way, I really enjoyed all four of the remaining movies. Putting one over the other was actually somewhat hard, because they were THAT entertaining. MI4 was actually awesome, and perhaps the best in the entire series (yes, even over the first one). Some awesome shots, AND I got to see it in IMAX. They really had a good plot (even though the villain was a little dumb), and the action sequences were brilliant. Even the gadgets were sweet. It was directed by the dude who directed 'The Incredibles', and honestly, it showed. Things happened like they would in animated movies; there was a sweet chase through a sandstorm that Cruise partook in, and it was awesome. Honestly, a fantastic action movie, and they even set it up just in case Cruise doesn't want to return to the franchise in the future!

Final rating: 7/10

3) The Muppets

SO GOOD. I loved this movie, especially 'Life's a Happy Song'. I honestly am not one to enjoy such silly movies, but perhaps the nostalgia factor of the Muppets was too much for me to handle. Chris Cooper as the villain with his 'maniacal laugh', that was too awesome. Heck, all the guest stars in their cameo roles were awesome too; Jim Parsons was particularly well used, I think. It was a fun, light movie, and even the jokes that broke the 4th wall were great. Jack Black, who I'm not the BIGGEST fan of, even HE was awesome. I recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys silly things like that, and of course, it has some good music along the way too (also, Amy Adams is super hot).

Final rating: 8/10

2) Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Man, I really love Robert Downey Jr., and this movie made me love him even more. Jude Law was great as Watson again, and it was an amazing performance by Jared Harris. He really stole the scenes he was in, IMO. Anyway, I also found it hilarious that there was no real female character in this movie, as Irene Adler (played by the crazy attractive Rachel McAdams) was in the previous installment; it was literally a bro-fest between Holmes and Watson the whole time. I'm down with this, really, and apart from that, the movie was more super sleuthing/detecting from the first one. Stephen Fry also made a great turn as Holmes's older and smarter (but infinitely lazier) bro, Mycroft. Another good action movie, and a little sillier...but still entertaining.

Final rating: 8.5/10

1) The Adventures of Tintin

Yes, this is the best movie I saw over the break. Yes, this movie IS that good. The 3D (yes, it WAS in 3D, and yes, I DID go see it in 3D) was absolutely fantastic; it was animated, so it was a little less jarring, but the only movie I've ever seen with better 3D was Avatar. Everything was super cool, the voice acting was great, and the action sequences were absolutely ridiculous. There's one action sequence involving a motorcycle and a chase through a Middle Eastern-themed city, and it was probably one of the best action sequences I've ever seen. Granted, it was largely made possible by the fact that it was not real, because some unreal stuff happens during it, but...well, yeah, it was awesome. Go see it. Captain Haddock, one of the main characters, is played and motion captured by Andy Serkis, he of Gollum/Smeagol and Caesar (from 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes') fame, and again, he does not disappoint, in his body language and in his voice. Quite frankly, this is one of the best animated movies I've seen, ever (even when compared to some Pixar movies...SOME, though, not ALL), and definitely the best one I saw over the break.

Final rating: 9/10

Well, those are the movies I've seen this break. I didn't get to see 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo', or 'The Darkest Hour', but I will see them eventually. I hope they're good!

P.S. I saw the trailer for 'Prometheus', the prequel to 'Alien'. Um...what? This movie looks AWESOME. I can't wait...2012 promises to be a good year for movies, outside of the anticipated comic book ones. woo!

relationships

wooooo, blogging again! I've written three posts (counting this one right here) in the past few days...it's nice to write something like this that has NOTHING to do with school. I haven't done that in a really long time, and it's awesome. Of course, what better way than to delve back into things than with a heavy topic like relationships? I briefly touched upon it in a tumblr post, but like I have said previously...tumblr sucks for blogging. It excels at letting the user write mysterious little snippets of things that are intentionally ambiguous...but what the hell is the goddamned point of that?! There is none. ANYWAY, back to topics like this, which are CLEARLY better. /sarcasm

But seriously, relationships. Around this time of year, where everyone is cuddling all the time, holding hands, cooing at each other, using pet names, and all that other ridiculous crap that comes with relationships, it's almost unbearable. It's even MORE unbearable when all of your best friends are in on it too. As it stands, I think I am one of three people out of a group of seven or eight who does not have a significant other. It's...depressing, to say the least.

I feel as if I bring this issue up with my friends a lot, and they kind of just politely nod and me and shake their heads and make sympathetic noises in order to appease me, and then the moment I leave, they all shake their heads and go 'oh, Shoaib, he's so crazy. He'll get over it soon!'.

Honestly, I would never want my friends to break up with whomever it is they're seeing, because that's mean-spirited. It really is, and I wouldn't wish that on anyone. It's maddening, though, because there are so many annoying things that come with seeing your friends begin relationships or continue existing ones. For one thing, they're always on their phones. ALL the time. I, too, am guilty of this...but, for them, they're texting/BBM-ing their significant others. I look down at my own phone, because they're all busy talking in the virtual world, and what do *I* see? The score of the most recent New England Patriots game. That's not a bad thing, unless they lose (which happened twice in a row this year, ugh, the worst), but when all I have are scores which are ultimately meaningless (don't get me wrong, I love the Pats, but I have no bearing whatsoever on the outcomes of those games, obvs), and everyone else is having some sort of meaningful connection with their significant others...it's the worst. Ultimately, I just feel like I'm getting more and more isolated.

Hell, everyone is still continually saying how busy they are. Everyone's so ultra busy, too busy to make time to even give me the time of day, and yet they can make time to go to the movies with this 'other'. I mean, for heavens' sake, everyone is already making plans to hang out with their boyfriend/girlfriend/I-don't-know-what-this-relationship-is-yet-friend over the break...what am *I* doing over the break? Probably just playing Skyrim by myself some more, in all likelihood, because god knows everyone will be too busy to do anything, probably all hanging out with each other doing couple things, w/o inviting me >_>

Honestly, I'm excited for the break, because it means I will for SURE see all my non-university friends once again. I have my best friends who live in Montreal, and even my friends in Scarborough I see maybe once or twice a month, PROBABLY even less, thanks to living downtown. Anyway...it's 4:15am, so I should probably sleep. Full day of class ahead, not to mention a pretty big game for Vic's Co-ed Flag Football team. Laugh all you want, it's a fun time with some pretty fun people...Victoria College going up against the Faculty of Physical Education and Health. Here's to Vic!

looking back at O-Week 2011

I never really made a post (or any sort of comments, really) about Orientation Week 2011: To Victoria and Beyond, now that it's over and done with. In a few weeks, the new Orientation Co-Chairs will be picked, and that will be that; the 2011 Exec will officially be retired. I mean, we're basically done NOW, but technically the Exec aren't done as a team until the NEW team is in place, which starts with the new co-chair.

I guess a slight trip down a relatively fresh nostalgia lane is in order. As I just mentioned, O-Week starts and ends with the Co-Chair, in my opinion. I mean, yes, it's about the first years and always will be, but in terms of the planning, the Co-Chair is the person who starts the ball rolling. Evan, then, was the Co-Chair this year, and he was...well, great! Rachel, the Co-Chair before him in 2010 was also amazing, but Evan was awesome in a different way, I think, in the type of energy he brought to the table. Regardless, it was really great what he did for everyone. I do not agree with EVERYthing he did, of course, but I do think that he tried his best, and his best is pretty damn good, in my opinion.

I suppose that same kind of qualification can be extended towards the rest of the Exec team. I think they were all great, in their own ways, and everyone tried their best. I do not, of course, agree with everything that everyone did, as mistakes were made, as is want to happen in an operation as large as Orientation Week. Tempers sometimes flared, micromanaging occurred, and so did a host of other things. This did not make the week a bad one, not by any means. In any large group of opinionated individuals (myself being a part of this group), these things are bound to happen, and they did. What makes a group great is being able to deal with these changes on the fly, and being able to continue functioning happily and as a unit...and that's what everyone did. I truly believe that everyone tried as hard as they could, and that's what matters in the end. Of course, I have hindsight on my side, and I'm sure that less-than-charitable things were probably said about me (though, as the only person who had done Orientation Week as an Exec member before, other than Evan himself, I tried to be as helpful as possible) too, but the week was fun as an Exec.

The leaders were absolutely fantastic, and I've met people I will probably not soon forget, if ever. The week really does hinge on the enthusiasm and participation of the leaders, and they rose to that challenge beautifully. They were everything you could possibly ask for, and then they continued to excel as well, at literally anything you might have asked them to do. I honestly have nothing bad to say here, not even a little bit.

I'm not really looking for faults in this past Orientation experience, or at least, I'm not TRYING to. It's just that O-Week this past year was so awesome, I find it difficult to not just talk forever about all the awesome things that happened.

Now that I've done Exec twice, I suppose the only place to go from here is up - up to Co-Chair. I've wanted to do it for a while now, and within a few days, I'm hoping the applications for the upcoming year will be out. They've changed it, so that now there will be two student Co-Chairs, instead of just one. I've asked one of my best friends in the entire world to be my partner in this endeavour (really, there is only one other person I would ever ask to do this with me, who lives in North House [though...I guess she would rather move back home now, after we spoke a few days ago]. She wants to apply to be a residence don next year, and though she would be fantastic, I'm not sure if she's going to do that any more, haha), and I fully expect that we'll get it. I mean, not to sound arrogant, but I have two full years of Orientation Exec experience, almost three full years of VUSAC experience, not to mention the various clubs, associations and intramurals teams I've been a part of. My friend ALSO has Exec and VUSAC experience, has been a leader (a super leader, at that), and works for the Dean's Office. I don't REALLY think there's another pair that can beat us, but I suppose we'll see.

It's funny, I said back when I ran for VPE that I would not really care about anything else, if I won this position. It's true, I'm quite happy with my current position as VPE of VUSAC, it's pretty awesome. I still want this Orientation job, though...Evan said that I should only come back if I think I can change something or make something better than it was the previous year. I DO think there are minor things that can be changed in how the week functions, to make the experience more enjoyable for the leaders and for the first years, and that's why I want to do it. Oh, and it's a LOT of fun. w00t.

tumblr?!

I was somewhat convinced to use Tumblr, and, as far as posting videos and funny pictures goes, I feel as if it's a better medium than blogspot is. As far as posting actual blog posts goes, however, I think blogspot is a far better tool. I was told that blog posts on Tumblr are better because then you somehow don't feel obligated to post long things. I never have really felt obligated to post something long, it just kind of turns out that I ramble, so...I suppose a better medium for me WOULD be blogspot. Anyway, Tumblr is just another little fun tool to share songs and what not, so...w00t. My Tumblr is timeforthesho.tumblr.com, by the way, if you are interested.

It's been a while since my last blog post; initially it was because we had no internet at our new place, so I couldn't update as regularly as I would have liked, but afterwards it became simply because I was insanely busy. I'm pretty sure I've been to more hours of meetings and extracurricular things this semester, than I have for anything else, class included. That's kind of terrible, hehe. Ah well, though. It's also weird, the last time I posted, my summer had just ended. Now, the first semester is almost done! I think I'm going to try and post a little bit more often (though not perhaps as often as I once did, especially during the summer), so I guess we'll see how that goes.

Not much going on here. 2:15am, I just got finished watching The Breakfast Club. All in all, I did not enjoy it as much as I expected to, considering its talked about so much. It just oozed teen angst, and perhaps that was the point, I grant, but it just did not make me care, really. Okay, yeah, I get it, teenagers face problems, and boohoo for them. I was a teenager once too, and I went through those same problems, and yet I just don't care about that movie. I don't know what else to say, really...it was just boring. It's funny, my roommate/best friend tried to get me to watch the TV show 'Treme', a show made by the makers of 'The Wire', which is about the survivors of Hurricane Katrina in the city of New Orleans. Treme is the name of the neighbourhood that all the characters are in, and its about their lives as they come back into the city or try and rebuild what they had. Granted, I only watched about 3/4 of the first episode, and yet I was just as bored as I was watching 'The Breakfast Club'. Honestly, in both cases...it was because the show/movie was about the characters. I don't watch things like that to absorb a character study, or a commentary on real life. I watch these things to be entertained. If it's not entertaining, why am I watching it? In the cases of that TV show, as well as this movie, they just weren't entertaining. It was just simply boring.

I came home (I live downtown now, woooo) tonight; one of my other roommates was having a party at our place, and so I just decided to go home, rather than take part in a party in which I know only one person. My other roommate/best friend decided to go spend the night at our other best friend's place...I wasn't invited to join them, haha, so I just decided to make the trek back to Scarborough (which, to be fair, was made far easier by the generosity of my other friend who was still downtown). I have to say, it's one goddamned long trek back so late at night, I had almost forgotten. Had those two invited me, I probably would have stayed downtown with them, which would have been nice, as now Friday night seemed to have ended in a titanically boring way, haha. Although, I CAN now go play video games, such as Madden 12 or Skyrim. I'm afraid of doing it, and then losing track of time, and playing for hours. Maybe tomorrow morning, instead! As for now, probably best to sleep. woo!