I was just looking though my recent posts...and i discovered its been awhile since i actually wrote anything other than movie reviews , stupid poems and football. i don't know. I guess there just isn't anything to write anymore. Life has been pretty boring with mundane and repetitious activities the past few weeks...(football, gym, bridge, movie...football gym, bridge, movie...football, gym..) There's just been nothing exceptionally interesting to write about nor have i been struck by the sudden inspiration to intellectualise the ironies of life. i have no idea why i am even typing this garbage other than for the sake of typing "something". A whole week has just been wasted. In other words,...nothing was achieved or attempted to catch up with my academic commitments..FUCKING HELL! It's the same old story every break week every semester,..and nothing much has changed in the last 3 years of tertiary education. Perhaps i will put in a little effort to do some studying tommorow...maybe..just maybe.

i have watched till epiosde 15 of Desperate Housewives (most of them downloaded)...and i declare that i have not enjoyed a TV series like this since The X-Files years ago. Well ofcourse Desperate housewives isn't as good as The X-Files,...but what is?!! Admittedly,it comes close, and is handsdown the best thing on tv now...other than watching manchester United live ofcourse..haw haw! Desperate Housewives may sound like some family oriented soap opera...but one can ever judge a tv show by its title! This series is quirky in every sense of the word,...ranging from the outrageous to the completely insane. Most significantly, it's laced with dark humour and wicked punchlines that elevates this above the usual garbage we get on tele. This is the sort of entertainment that television has been crying out for,..and now we've got it,... even if personally i don't actually watch it on tv! I don't have the patience to wait for it to be aired on local tv when i can get access to the most recent episodes on the school network..haw haw! Speaking of recent episodes,.i have yet to get around to downloading the most recent OC episode! Arrghh! Oh by the way, The OC has nothing on Desperate housewives....it's several notches below in terms of overall quality and entertainment.

i was watching Shutter this morning,...and it's a decent horror film(a Thai film by the way). Nothing astoundingly original,..but it's effective and has it's moments. The final twist at the end is seriously creepy. I am typing this portion seconds after telling a friend of mine how hollywood rarely dish out good horror fims these days. It's asian cinema that seems to have found the formula for truly terrifying horror cinema. No surprise then that Hollywodd has been remaking successful Asian horror films like The Ring, Ju-on and Dark Water. I have watched the hollywood version of The Ring and i think it's fair to say that though its alright, its hardly as good as the japanese orginal. Perhaps the explanation(other than the obvious reasons like directing and acting) is that the material presented works much better in an asian context than it does in a western setting. I was looking at the trailer for Dark Water and it looks disappointing. I have also read that there are plans to remake The Eye...i wonder how that turns out.

It was right in front of i
So tempting i could not resist
Without much hesitation i let fly
Succumbing with shameless ease

A glorious feeling of triumph
An immense sense of satisfaction
Then it dawned on me
An empty feeling of compunction

Cause then it occured to me
My personal act of folly
For what i'd shot at
Was yours truly

The Great Arsenal Conspiracy

Arsenal are supposed to be the English club that have lasted the longest in the top division, since the inception of it more than a hundred years ago. But this is an article i came across recently which suggests the cunts don't deserve to be amongst the elite to begin with...

Arsenal returned to the First Division in 1919 and have been in the top flight of english football ever since. However they never really earned the right to be there when football resumed after WW1.In 1919 the First Division was extended from twenty to twenty two clubs. During previous expansions the two relegated clubs were re-elected, with the top two sides from Division 2 being promoted as usual. In this case, Derby and Preston came up and Chelsea, who had finished nineteenth, were re-elected.For some reason though it was suggested that lowly Arsenal, who had finished 5th in the Second Division in 1915, should be rewarded for their long service to the League with a place in the new Division 1. Strangely, no mention was made of Wolves and Birmingham, who had finished higher than Arsenal that season and had both been league members for longer.The plot was hatched by Arsenal chairman Henry Norris and the League President (and also Liverpool chairman) John McKenna. The two men argued that the Gunners should replace the team that had finished bottom of the First Division in 1915. And that is exactly what happened. And the unfairly relegated club? Tottenham Hotspur.

-taken from Redissue.co.uk

Before i carry on commenting on 2 movies i've watched recently, i would like to take this opportunity to apologise to Dhino for watching Constantine without him.(which i have to add was not done deliberately or with forethought) I understand, he has had some rough experiences with people recently. So, my careless act of neglecting him, especially when i had given him my solemn word that we would not be watching the movie without him was admittedly damaging.

Constantine

This is one of the few movies i had been looking forward to, regardless of the unfortunate little detail that it's starring Keanu "wooden"Reeves. It's based on the accalimed DC/Vertigo comic book known as Hellblazer, about an exorcist named John Constantine who's caught in the middle of a battle between heaven and hell. Rules forbid demons and angels to take their pure form on earth or to directly cause any form of harm to mortals. Constantine takes it upon himself to be the enforcer of these rules and to protect mortals. Ok,..anyone who's had a conversation with me regarding this movie would have heard this a few million times before, but i have to make my opinion known on this post as well. Well, for one, i strongly believe that though it wasn't a complete casting disaster,...that Johnny Depp should have been given this role which fits him like a glove. These are the kind of roles that he's made for. But alas, they see it fit to give it to Reeves who i must admit was tolerable, surprisingly. But i would think, Depp would have raised this movie a couple of notches. Ultimately, Constantine, isn't the "best" comic book movie ever made, nor is it amongst the best ever made. it matters not that the Constantine character (another thing i mentioned a thousand times before) in this movie isn't British or that he isn't blonde like in the comics. I haven't read the Hellblazer comics( a surprise considering i'm an avid comic book reader), but having come across this character on several other comics like Books of Magic, it's fair to say the essence of Consatantine wasn't effectively translated onto the big screen. Try as he may, Keanu Reeves doesn't convincingly nail the role of a cynical anti hero with a razor sharp sense of humour. It also dioesn't help that large chunks of the mid section of the movie ware draggy and run of the mill. The movie lacks the spark, kinetic energy and the brilliance to be placed among movies like Spiderman, Batman or X-men. in fact, it doesn't even measure up to Guillermo Del Toro's Hellboy, which was a far more satisfying movie.

Napoleon Dynamite

This is something i downloaded and watched during Chinese New year period. This movie was out in the states last year and it got some decent reviews. i can't remember if i had seen the trailer before, but i guremember being fascinated by the title of the movie which sounded like some weird zany independant film. Anyway,...this film is probably the ultimate geekfest. It's far geekier than Rushmore, which itself isn't a geek film at heart though the main chracter is one. Napoleon Dynamie is a loser, and perhaps the best part about the movie is that it makes no obvious attempt to make him a likeable loser. The movie settles for the audience to come to terms with this character and to accept him as he is. The movie isn't really laugh out loud funny either. It's more subtle, kind of oddball and dry. But there are occasional scenes where the utter ridiculousness and silliness of it all is capable of inducing uncontrollable laughter. The movie never moves into dumb teen comedy territory,..and keeps it as real as possible. The events that take place never seem contrived and seem to be plausible within the social settings and the kind of eccentric chracters that populate it. This movie is anything but mainstream. It will not draw crowds in droves,..but is sure to achieve cult status.

Fancy Lies we speak
Concealing wicked sins we commit
Deviously manufactured
Mishmashed and manipulated

But alas you've forgotten
I'm the king of all my brethren
Fool me you cannot
"Clueless fuckwit" i'm not

Liars we are
Sinners we all are
Scumbags we are
Deceivers we all are

...Then I thought perhaps it was too soon
Now i'm not too sure
Cause now the moment is gone...

More Movies

The past week i managed to catch a few more movies,..all on dvd...

Finding Neverland

This is easily the best movie of the lot. I am not sure if i'm being biased cause it's a Jhonny Depp movie... I tend to think that his movies are average at worst except maybe for Nick Of Time which i have to admit is awful with or without Depp. Finding Neverland is an imaginative story of playwright JM Barrie 's inspiration which was the basis of perhaps his greatest and most well known work Peter Pan. As always,Jhonny Depp playing the lead charcter never fails to captivate. He's an actor of great versatility(Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow, Donnie Brasco, From Hell, Blow, Pirates Of the Carribean...) and its once again greatly evident in his role which he nails with comfortable ease. Once again, he's got a academy award nomination for acting, and i sure hope he wins it this time.The understated tone and relaxed pace of the movie doesn't drag nor is it boring. Instead,..it imbues the movie with the magic and charm that makes it a wonderful movie going experience.

Flight Of The Phoenix

This is easily the worst movie of the lot by a country mile. It isn't completey bad and does have some redeeming qualities....whch is..which is...err..nevermind. The movie is a remake of an older classic about a bunch of survivors from a plane crash who construct a new plane from the remnants of the crashed. Ok, so there is one redeeming factor,..and that is Giovani Ribisi who steals the show as the geeky engineer everyone loves to hate...haw haw! His character is one fuckin jerk,..but i find him strangely likable..just my personal opinion though. Oh,.anyway...please do not waste your precious money on this movie when it opens at the theatres. Just get a cheap pirated dvd version like the one was watching on. The quality is srewed but it isn't that bad and it's tolerable enough.

The Aviator

Finally i got to watch the movie we all skipped to watch Kinsey. The Lord had it downloaded on his computer a couple of weeks ago,..and i watched it in the wee hours of saturday morning with nothing else to do. The surprising thing about The Aviator is that it's better than i expected. But,no...it's not in the same class as Hotel Rwanda or Kinsey. But i guess i found it alright cause i was watching it with a much lowered expectation after the numerous criticisms i've read and heard about it. One thing though,..Leo Di caprio certainly deserved his Oscar nomination. But i feel the problem with Di Caprio is that his boyish looks will always be a curse. It doesn't matter how much make up he piles on,..or beard he grows,...he seems eternally youtful and that's not a good thing as far as getting into some of his characters is concerned...But once again,..that's just my opinon. Atleast, unlike the Keanu Reeves of this world,...he has sufficient talent to match his looks! The Aviator is a good movie...and perhaps if it wasn't directed by Scorsese might be even considered to be better than that.But because it is a Scorsese film,...the expectatioons will always be immense. And when the result falls short of these expectations,..it will be considered a minor failure of sorts even if the movie is good in it's own respect. It may seem unfair, but what else could anyone expect from a director who's given us classics like Taxi Driver, Good Fellas, Casino, Raging Bull..and such. Yeah, one thing all these movies have in common:Robert De Niro. Maybe, Scorsese's recent failures is simply crying out for the director to once gain work with the great actor. Anyway, that doesn't seem likely in the near future, as his next preject once again involves Leo Di Caprio in a remake of the Hk classic Infernal Affairs. Hopefully, that turns out to be much better than his recent efforts.

Wicked Game

The world was on fire
No one could save me but you.
Strange what desire will make foolish people do
I never dreamed that I'd meet somebody like you
And I never dreamed that I'd lose somebody like you

No, I don't want to fall in love
[This love is only gonna break your heart]
No, I don't want to fall in love
[This love is only gonna break your heart]
With you
With you

What a wicked game you play
To make me feel this way
What a wicked thing to do
To let me dream of you
What a wicked thing to say
You never felt this way
What a wicked thing to do
To make me dream of you
v And I don't wanna fall in love
[This love is only gonna break your heart]
And I don't want to fall in love
[This love is only gonna break your heart]

{World was on fire
No one could save me but you
Strange what desire will make foolish people do
I never dreamed that I'd love somebody like you
I never dreamed that I'd lose somebody like you

No I don't wanna fall in love
[This love is only gonna break your heart
No I don't wanna fall in love
[This love is only gonna break your heart]
With you
With you

Nobody loves no one

Artiste: Chris Isaak
Album: Heart Shaped World

Highbury Massacre

Haw Haw! What a game! Non-stop acion from start to finish. In the end United came out worthy winners in the clash of England's most bitter rivals. It was United's first win at Highbury since 1999 and it was one to savour. Down 2-1 at half time, the Red Devils came out firing at all cylinders to equalise and take a 3-2 lead in a 4 minute period of madness when Arsenal's defence lead by the "great bald hope" of Cygan conspired to bottle it and hand United 2 goals(scored emphatically by the wonderboy Ronaldo,assisted by the evergreen Ryan Giggs) on the platter....haw haw! Sheer ecstacy at the TV room, where masses of United, Arse and neutral supporters had gathered to witness a spectacle which ranks up there among the best EPL games ever played. Outfought, out played, and out manouevered tactically, it was man against boys as Arsene's wankers catipulated. There was a little ray of hope when Silvestre fell for 'gay boy' Ljunberg's bait, headbutted him and got himself sent off. But a resolute United defence managed by the magnificent Ferdinand stood firm and repelled everything Arsenal threw at them. Then in the dying minutes, a supreme throughball to O Shea put him clean through. Then, as if to lay down 'a big fuck you' to all his detractors(myself included), he executed a skilfull lob which flew over the hapless Alumina and nestled in the bottom right corner of goal. The expression on his face after he scored was priceless. It was a look of sheer disbelief. But i'm not certain if it disbelief that the goal was not disallowed for offside(which for the record wasn't offside) and or if he was completely taken aback by his own piece of skill neither he nor any football fan thought he was ever capable of...haw haw!As the final whistle blew, the look of defeat and a deflated ego on the face of proffessor pedophile was a marvellous sight to behold. It was a stark contrast to the knight from Manchester who celebrated is victory over his arch nemesis with great pomp!...sigh...This is what football is all about!

Highlight of the game: Rooney taunting Pires for his shaved chin...haw haw...classic!

Movies

In the past month, i have caught a few movies which i have yet to mention in my posts. i will thus dedicate this post entirely to commenting on some of these films...starting with..

Kinsey

Watched this a couple of weeks back with the Lord and Vikram at Great World. We weren't planning to watch this originally on that day. We were suppose to catch The Aviator. But after some last minute reconsideration, caused by some less than impressive reviews given by individuals who had already watched The Aviator, we decided watching Kinsey would be the better option. Anyway, we recently manged to download a dvd quality version of The Aviator online, so i'd say it was a good decison to give the movie a miss originally. That's 6 dollars and 50 cents saved. But regardless of that,..Kinsey is a great movie. I don't remember watching much of Liam Neeson in movies. 2 movies that come to my mind are Schindler's List and Dark man. He was great in both of them, though i thought he was overshadowed by my one time favourite Ralph Fiennes in Schindler's list, while Darkman owed much of its success to its comic book visuals and the direction of Sam Raimi. Anyway, Kinsey is unlike any movie i recall ever watchig. It's a biopic of Dr Alfred Kinsey, a biological scientist who becomes fascinated with human sexual behaviour, researching and writing on the subject. Alot of controvesial stuff that the normal viwer might object to or find difficult to stomach. A certain scene in which Liam Neeson engages in making out with his male research student is sure to cause homophobics to faint in their seats. But perhaps the highlight of the movie is a certain peodophile who has had sex with almost everyone and everything(family members, children to animals), who is able to masturbate and ejaculate in a record 10 seconds from a completely flaccid state!

Hotel Rwanda

This is arguably as good or better than Kinsey. We watched this just a few days apart from Kinsey. Though it isn't as provocative, it the movie moves along generating extreme moments of tension. Another of 2004's best movie,..this traces a true story set in 1994, during a civil war which erupted in Rwanda where members of the Tutsis were hunted down and massacred by the Hutu tribe. The story revolveses around a hotel manager, Paul Rusesabagina, played by Don Cheadle,in perhaps his most memorable and serious role yet, who goes through great lengths and means to keep Tutsi refugees including his wife and children safe from the blood thirsty hatred of the Hutus. Hotel Rwanda is no Schindler's list which it shares certain similarities with. Schindler's list is one of the best movie's ever made,..and Steven Spielberg's best. Hotel Rwanda is great in its own right. But it would be ridiculous to compare the merits of both movies. The acting in Hotel Rwanda by Don Cheadle especially raises the film. The movie doesn't depict violence as savagely and cold bloodedly as it is in Schindler's list, though the corpses than line and completely cover the street in one paticular scene is a gripping image whichs serves to remind us of the horrors of genocide.

Old Boy

I just caught this movie on dvd a couple days back. This Korean film was out in the theatres towards the end of the year during the examination period, and i was unable to catch it though i was very keen. It was a movie which was in direct competition with Fahrenheit 911 at the Cannes fim festival , where the judging panel was headed by none other than film maestro Quentin Tarantino. Though Fahrenheit 911 won, Tarantino was adamant Old boy should have taken the prestigous Palm D'or. I admit i was originally attracted to this movie due to its dark noirish looking poster at GV Grand plus the fact that it was being vouched by my favourite film maker. Fast foward to january, and i get my hand on the Old Boy DVD Vikram purchased. The movie's a roller coaster ride from beginning to end, and it would have been impossible to predict the numerous plot twists that take place, which don't seem to be contrived but to serve the purpose of the story. The story is about a man who is imprisoned by unknown captors for 15 years in a room, where all he has is a television that feeds him with information and keeping track of time. He is drugged by gas regularly to keep his senses weak and dormant. He is also framed for the murder of his wife. 15 years later, he is released under mysterious circumstances waking up in a suitcase. Determined to find the person responsible for taking away 15 years of his life and the murder of his wife, he goes on personal crusade to find the person and to discover the reason he was subjected to imprisonment. The story rarely unfolds in a manner the audience would expect when what seems like an ordinary tale of revenge turns out to be something more sinister and twisted. The no holds barred violence, black humour, and pounding soundtrack gives this stylish noir thriller a look and feel not very much unlike a Tarantino movie. This won't be a movie for everyone's liking,..but those who have a penchant for darkly violent movies in the vein of tarantino, laced with caustic wit and mind boggling plot twists will love this gem of a Korean movie, which for the record is the best Korean movie i've ever seen. And no, it isn't the only Korean movie i've seen.