Have you ever been alone in a crowded room when I'm here with you?

Have you ever been alone in a crowded room; well I'm here with you...

Ok, I swear to all that is holy I wasn't creeping around trying to find this picture, but I came across this while reading a forum topic on yoyonation.com and it might be the most impressive thing I have ever seen in my life.

That's a "double or nothing"... a freaking double or nothing! Most kids that age can't even learn how to throw a straight yoyo! Trust me, I learned the skill at a camp; most kids don't have finely developed enough motor skills to do it.

You know what phrase I'm becoming more and more aware of in my English classes? Whenever anyone raises their hand and is called upon to speak, they almost inevitably precursor everything they say with "I was (just) gonna say that..." as if we didn't know that whatever comes out of their mouths afterwards is something that they were going to say. That barely even makes any sense. Is that phrase supposed to serve some functional purpose? That my peers in my English class can't say anything without letting us all know that what they're about to say is something that they were going to say? Oration skills people!

Oh yeah, on the topic of Grindhouse Presents: Planet Terror, it also marks a record 4 films seen in 1 day for me. Started with American Pie followed by 27 Dresses, Pan's Labyrinth, and lastly, Planet Terror. Roughly speaking, the films got progressively better.

Holy. Mother. Fucking. Shit. Planet Terror: a girl with a machine gun for a prosthetic leg just took out half an army precinct. As rarely as I use these terms, that might be the most badass thing I have ever seen in my life.

And please, don't turn nouns into verbs by adding "ing" at the end; it sounds disgusting. Homeworking, tennising, facebooking... etc. Facebooking I guess not so much but you get the point. Booking face never really caught on (regrettably).

Over 1 week without a blog post! Shocking! Shocking I say! In truth, I point at the lack of going-ons in my life as the main culprit of this mini-hiatus. That and the fact that I find myself to be thinking less these days. I mean, I'm all in favor of thinking but most people would agree with me when I say that I think far too much. The amount of stuff that pops into and gets sloshed around in this head of mine sometimes astounds me. But I've been doing less of it these days. I sleep better when I'm not thinking of things while I roll around in bed.

See, the problem that I've been encountering lately has more to do with what happens when I wake up than what happens when I go to bed. Complete reversal with what used to be the case but get this. Ever since I got back to school, Courtney's been making random cameos in basically every dream I have every night. What problem do I have with that? Well, you see, in these dreams of mine, things are always ok between us. Then I have to wake up and be like "damn... things are not actually ok between us". Coming to that realization literally every single morning doesn't start my day off very well.

I don't buy into the mantra "I don't care about what people think of me". I think it misrepresents the actual message that the statement might be trying to get across.

For the most part, we shouldn't care about what people think of us... or perhaps I should say we shouldn't care about what *most* people think of us because most people don't really matter in our lives. But what about our friends (real ones... not our "facebook friends", aka "acquaintences"), and our family? I for one think it's important to care about what these people think of us. Now, we're going on the assumption that people who care about us like us for who we are and wouldn't choose to think badly of us if they can help it. So we should keep in mind that when these people criticize us or find fault in what we do, it's not because they're being malicious or want to watch us crumble. Usually, all they want is to help us realize our flaws.

That's how you know when someone's important to you: when you care about their opinion of you. Vice versa, it's also how know when you're important to someone else: when they care about your opinion of them.

After seeing Pirate's 3, I have to agree with Andrew Kott's assessment of the outrageous scene that involved a marriage, on a ship, on heaving seas, amidst a battle scene, in the middle of a massive whirlpool.

Oh man, I was looking SO forward to watching Grease and expected it to be the best film ever! I know, I know, it's bad to look forward to films with a mindset such as this but seriously, it sounded so good; it's like the ancestor of the modern day High School Musical and you all know how much I love High School Musical. It was still pretty good and the songs were undeniably top notch. There was a good amount of choreographed dancing as well. So what drew a dagger through it for me? Plot, plot, more plot, and a lack of "charming dialogue" to use my favorite catchphrase. It's now become important for me to know whether or not a film should be critiqued for the time it was made (Grease was made in the 1970s) or the time it was set (Grease is supposed to be SET in the 1950s). If I am to look at it from a 1950s viewpoint, then I think I will have to accept some of the shortcomings I will shortly ranting about. If I am to look at it from a 1970s viewpoint... eh... not so much.

I am not a feminist. Most of you know that I can't stand them. I also don't really like the idea of equality between genders because of reasons I have previously ranted about. On the other hand, I have, in some ways, very old fashion views about male chauvinism and chivalry. It's interesting because I can't stand male chauvinism but I don't like feminism (which is in some ways a reaction against it). So here's the way I see Grease and also the way I am trying ardently to make myself see it.

John Travolta does not get his balls busted hard enough in Grease. In some ways, it bothered me that Olivia Newton-John ended up changing her image to attract him. In my very fashioned opinion, I nice girl should not have to change her image for the sake of some insensitive greaseball. And Travolta is, in almost every way possible, a huge douchebag of a greaseball who recognizes his shortcomings but doesn't have the balls to change. So what does she do? Change herself so he doesn't have to. And she doesn't even look hotter after the change! My aesthetic tastes were horrified when I saw her at the end. But he is wildly attracted to it. So is it justified? Wellllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

You can see where I'm going with this. Any film made TODAY would definitely, without question, get called out for this kind of male chauvinism. But this is the 1970s (or 50s). Does that change anything? Well... that depends. I don't really know whether to call it out for being made in the 70s or set in the 50s. I think it's still out of line from a 70s point of view. But here's the thing! I'm not living during the times (either one) so I can't possibly know for sure. And a part of me (the very very PC, open-minded part of me) keeps poking at my conscience and saying "Maybe you're being too harsh on Sandy". And maybe I am? What if I am? John Travolta, I offer no excuses for. I don't care what decade you're in, douchebagotry is douchebagotry. It's funny. Without being a feminist, I have a very low opinion about most of my fellow men. But back to Sandy (Newton-John's character). Part of my conscience keeps asking me "Don't you think it's in some ways admirable that she's willing to go through all that for him because she sees the good in him? That she recognizes that he's been putting up a facade for so long that in order to help him drop it, she has to first conform to these imagined ideals? Isn't that a display of moral fiber? And isn't that the same thing you said about being a part of the world as it is before attempting to change it?"

So I don't know. I don't freaking know. I can't make up my mind about this film. I guess I won't be sleeping tonight. I never do when a film sits on my mind.

Shameless creeping on facebook (it's the holiday season post-Christmas; what do you want from me?) brought me to this end of the year survey type thingy. You know, the one that begins with "NOW THAT 2007 ALMOST OVER" followed by a bunch of questions you're supposed to answer on December 31st that sum up your life over the 2007? Well, there's this question that asks "Have you had your birthday yet?"

Correct me if I'm wrong but I somehow don't see anyone could NOT have had their birthday in 2007 by December 31st, 2007.

The problem with French lyrics and/or French songs is that unless you are fluent in the language, they're never ever going to make sense to you. Right? Cause I mean, when someone speaks to you in French, you can ask them to translate what they're saying to you and for the most part, you can convey exactly what you're saying if you're a good enough interpreter. But French lyrics, like English lyrics, are written in verse! The poetic nature of lyrics means that translation is virtually impossible. You can interpret the words literally, but that's obviously not going to make much sense. You can try to interpret the words figuratively but that's damn near impossible to do without assigning your own meaning to what the words mean when you translate. It's just... not possible. It's possible to get the general idea in the same way that we can get a general idea that Nena was talking about 99 balloons and how they started a war when she sings that famous tune. One could argue that we should just leave foreign lyrics to be and not try to understand them but I can't really bring myself to do that. If I really like a song, I kinda want to know what the lyrics are. Take this "L-Email a des Ailes" tune that I've been listening to a lot lately. Something about emails and flying and love... I think. But unless the artist herself translates her songs into English (which Alizee hasn't done due to what I imagine to be her own linguistic inabilities), or unless I learn French (even less likely), this song will forever remain a mystery. That makes me kinda sad.