It's been so long...

I haven't posted in a while... mainly because at first I didn't have what to write about... at first... then everything blew out of proportion and I didn't have time to say anything...

After all the semester ending madness subsided, with me being sick for a week at the end and running madly to catch up... by the way, it is very unpleasant to have a rather nasty fever while there's a party downstairs... then I had a week to prepare myself for a journey to Poland.

I am too lazy to check if I said anything about it already but I am not going to apologise for repeating myself (my blog, I'll do whatever I want with it!): My dad had car issues and I had to deal with an insurance company, the repairs garage and the lack of communication between them. Later on I had to deal with the rental company too... and it all lasted a month at the end of which dad got a cheque (that had problems going to its destination) and a broken car so he had to buy a new one.

We were supposed to go to Poland by car but it broke down and couldn't be repairs so I had to buy myself a plane ticket and repack everything in my possession for that trip since my landlord decided he will be painting the house. That was not a nice day to have. At least I managed to buy cool toys for my little Siths :D

and then we had one week with parents, which was okay and then a week without parents, at the end of which I went to a con in Warsaw... I'll have the report posted soon enough with some seminar reviews/reports/stuff... naturally, I spent some time with Vegael, watching films and hanging out... he can still be annoying but he got me a really cool external hard-drive full of anime so I won't stab him... for now... oh... and he was happier about getting Darkly Dreaming Dexter than I expected...

In the recent weeks I spent a lot of time with the Godmother of my oldest Sith Apprentice. She's a fun gal and we hanged out in town, the streets, the malls, the parks... we even saw Terminator Salvation together... and I cried, it was such a moving film... I'm a terrible wuss...

Last time we were out together some drunk guy wanted money from us... even though we refused, he kept following us until he grabbed her by the arm... and I had to be MANLY... apparently, my manliness causes people to give up... then we went to eat some kebab... and I had a chuckle when she ordered a kebab without kebab...

Other than that, I borrowed a book on Shamanism and Hungarians from Książnica Podlaska's director... my poetry book is starting to look like reality, finally... I will have a print run of 300 copies.

I regained the ability to use maps in my online games... which makes combat all the more enjoyable... I like it when players have to decide between a Move and a Dash, who to attack and where to place themselves from tick to tick...

I might be running yet another Exalted game though this time it will not be on RPoL and it will involve different things from player characters... seduction and torture will be a more viable part of it than in United We Stand...

First episode of mine and Daniel's podcast... where we topple how to make a campaign using one of mine as an example (Saint Christopher's Orphanage for Lost Children!)... has been recorded... four more to go and we'll be looking at releasing them to the public...

and I think that's all... I better go write some emails to people... oh... and I might put something on DeviantArt... some character fiction at least...

The Colour of Magic

The Colour of Magic is a very misleading title for this film. It is based not on the first Discworld book by Terry Pratchett but on the two first. The Light Fantastic is encompassed by the second part of the film which bares the same title. As such, the film varies from the book in that it meshes the two plots together... or rather, one plot, since as Pratchett says himself, the first book is just a series of funny stories.

Funny stories they are. Thieves, assassins, imaginary dragons, giant stone trolls, magic swords stuck in stones, treacherous and power hungry wizards, heroic barbarians. Epic plot to save the world included. We're getting ahead of ourselves, aren't we?

The Colour of Magic begins with the meeting of Rincewind and Twoflower. The first a failed wizard, expelled from Unseen University due to his inability to learn any spell. The latter is the first tourist, not knowing the value of his gold and a romantic optimist seeking adventure from his mundane insurance clerk job. The Luggage, a walking box with homicidal loyalty towards the tourist seems to be another character in this group, later joined by Cohen The Barbarian, the eighty year old retired Greatest Hero of the Discworld.

The film is very well made, much more interesting than the books it was based on. The characters are interesting and parodies of certain fantasy tropes. However, like with all parodies, it is hard to enjoy them if you don't know the references used. There are visual and audio jokes within and at least a few puns.

What else can I say? I'm too impressed to find much fault in it. I keep having flashes of the humorous parts and they were many of them, this is not to say that the film lacked cohesion. Far from it, using the plot of The Light Fantastic to create a plot throughout two parts proved a very good move, even though some scenes from the Colour of Magic couldn't be included in order to create new scenes with Trymon, the main villain of the film.

Lastly, I can say that to understand the film, you don't have to have read the book. I didn't read it before watching this and I still feel it's a film worth watching.

Black Water

As human beings, we like to think of ourselves as being at the top of the food chain. Maybe that's why stories about man-eaters are so scary. We're not raised with the fear of our existence ending as a means of survival for a stronger creature. Naturally, even though animals don't hunt us, they can still kill us. That's what this film is about.

It starts innocently. Two sisters say their good byes to their mother before going on a trip into the wilds. They are accompanied by the husband of the older one. Their first stop: a crocodile park. Going by the music you'll probably already know who the main villain of this story will be. However, we don't see him up until the trio takes a guide and go into the swamp. They find themselves stranded, climbing a tree to survive, far from civilisation.

Their attempts are futile, they slowly lose hope. What I found especially interesting is how the film uses not only music to build up a mood but also a lack thereof. A short action sequence has an appropriate music to it while when they wait to try and think of something, there's no music, just the buzzing of mosquitoes. This creates a feeling of hopelessness and loneliness, it reflects their boredom as they wait for rescue and that it's them who they should look up for rescue. The film seems plain made, but that makes it more real, like something that could have happened. Apparently, it did as proved by the Based on a True Story intro. That one sentence just seems to spoil it. Creative liberties aside, I don't understand why there wasn't any information on what happened to the characters after the film's events. A simple technique, that even with changed names could only make this film better than it is.

Gabriel

The film's premise is simple: Angles and Devils fight over the soul sent to Purgatory. The Darkness is winning and the only one who can bring back the Light is Gabriel, the last of Seven Angels tasked with this mission.

We see the Purgatory as a wretched place. It's horrible to live in for everyone. Dark and rainy; drugs, prostitution and violence rule the streets. No one cares, no one wants to care. The colours are dark, enhancing the feeling of lost hope and wickedness but beneath it all, there's a smile waiting to be released. In a way, this setting reminded me of Sin City but with a lot more people in the gutter.

Gabriel comes to this world with ideals. His heart is pure but as his journey goes on, he sees more hopelessness. His fellow angels lost the will to fight. He realises too soon that the ideals he holds lead only to more suffering and death. By the time he fights the last remaining demons, he no longer cares for honour or adheres to a code of conduct. In this way, he too falls down from grace.

The fight scenes themselves are not many. Combat isn't the focus of this film. That being said, the few fights that are there are enjoyable to watch. Gabriel and his opponents are fast, they dodge bullets in a way reminiscent of the Matrix and yet, the special effects remain original. There are burst of speeds with the character becoming blurry for a short while, at the same time, it seems as if they slowed down. I think this is what made their powers feel more spiritual than supernatural in nature. The music strengthens this feel. Tribal drumming and a choir of voices are the most prominent in this regard. And yet, with all the Christian undertones, the film remains detached to the faith as a whole. Religion is a background, not a focus. There's some talk about duty, forgiveness, second chance, free will and freedom, a few things that you might notice, like Gabriel's tattoos, and that's all there is.

As I mentioned, there are fight scenes and as in every film where the main character has to dispose of less powerful characters to get to the big bad boss I would expect a massive battle between divine entities. This wasn't the case and yet, it was probably my favourite part of the film. It might be a bit anti-climatic if one is expecting a battle of epic proportions but it's no less emotional nor surprising. It certainly drove the point of the film as a whole, the erosion of ideals when met with harsh realities of life. Still, this feeling of hopelessness the viewer gets is rekindled with the last scene before the credits roll. Which I interpret in a simple way, no matter how hopeless a situation gets, there's always light after the rain has fallen.

Reviews I guess...

I should write about something, just to get this blog kicking...

In short, the last two weeks were all about going out to see some old faces, talking about the publishing of my poetry book and fighting battles at home. Cleaning took place so although my room is far from organised, it's definitely less messy and I found some old writings that I thought were lost. I got my sister The Movies which I hope will help her make digital films that she could put on YouTube. For now she only uploaded a short flick of Luna.

I've seen three films thus far this month so since we're on the topic of films, let's talk about them.

Katyń
A Polish film by Andrzej Wajda. I don't expect anyone of you to be familiar with it since it probably hasn't yet been released outside the country. It tells the story of Katyń where Polish officers were shot in the back of their heads in the nearby forest. During the German occupation it was said the Russians did it while after the war propaganda, Russians said it was the Germans. It focuses on one officer in particular, his family and the family's acquaintances. I found it very moving and it really showed what it means to take pride in one's nation over a forced regime.

Stardust
This movie is pure awesome! It's funny, wonderful, magical and a lot of other things for which there are no words. Romance, bravado, fantasy, humour... Did I tell you how awesome it is?

Tales of Earthsea
Everyone knows I like animation. I loved Princess Mononoke and although I didn't like Spirited Away, I hoped that this film would be as good as Earthsea. Unfortunately I was quite bored watching it. The setting is great, the animation is lovely, the plot is nice but it's just so boring to watch. I just kept hoping that the next scene will show something cool and breathtaking and that's how I felt when it ended. It's not a bad film, but it's more of a picture than a film, it's nice to look at but not watch.

Black Sheep
This is one of those films that has an excellent trailer but the film itself pales in comparison. The plot is nothing new, an immoral experiment gone wrong by accident and now everyone is doomed! What seemed to be a very good point of the film would be the inclusion of monstrous sheep. That would have given the film a nice mixture of horror and comedy which I love. Unfortunately, the actors don't have enough character in them and the lack of any background music just hurts this film in enormous ways. The special effects aren't over the top so it would be good to build up the mood with some creepy or violent music depending on the given scene, but there is none. What I would expect to be a semi-serious parody of survival horrors ended up being a meh film...

Other than that I was reading the 52 series of DC Comics and watching some One Piece on my own while the evening was spent watching CSI:NY and House with mum.

Christmas cards have been sent to the lucky few because my wallet objected to the idea of sending wishes to everyone. I also noticed I lack a few addresses. I suspect my taking notes off my laptop before giving it in for repairs was too quick...