Movies
Posted on May 9, 2004 by Ching under Movies.
Brian and I went to see Van Helsing yesterday with his friend Keith (he went with us to Exploration Place last year). I think I would’ve enjoyed the movie more if it weren’t for the crappy dialogue. They obviously spent a lot of money on the effects — hell, even their website isn’t the kind that you get on the cheap — and then, of course, you have to spend a pretty penny to develop a game.. I think after all the spending, it suddenly dawned on them that they didn’t have a script and there was no money left! Either that or the script writer was asleep or drunk most of the time because the quality of the dialogue just wasn’t up to par with the special effects and actually the rest of the movie.
I’m not sure if they were meaning for it to be a satire and the cheesiness was on purpose (think LXG, that would be a good example of “good” cheesy). But throughout out the movie I couldn’t decide if they were wanting us to take the movie seriously or if they’re intentionally trying to be cheesy. I just didn’t get it.
Thank God for Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsdale (two actors that I happen to like) even though they got screwed in the dialogue. They’re both good looking people who are pretty to look at (that’s not enough for most folks, though).. Carl, the friar, had the best lines (I thought) and that’s pretty sad considering he’s just the bumbling sidekick. Actually, what saved me from utter boredom was the good special effects and action sequences. Remember Hellboy was the opposite: more story, less action (not to say it was better because I was kind of bored during that movie and struggled to keep myself awake — could be because I was really tired that day, though, hard to say). I think if VH would’ve had the same depth as HB, it would’ve made for a much better movie overall. But then, with limited resources, certain compromises have to be made. It is obvious that the dialogue was not a high enough their list of priorities.
I felt bad because Brian had been eagerly anticipating the release of this movie and it turned out to be crap. He didn’t seem phased by it, though. He says he liked it. So all is well that ends well, I guess.
P.S. Great previews at the beginning of the movie! That’s something that I was truly excited about. Three interesting films that I want to see: The Village, The Bourne Supremacy (a sequel to one of my favorite movies, The Bourne Identity, if you’ve been living under a rock) and The Chronicles of Riddick (I think this was the theatrical trailer because it showed way more scenes than what they’ve been showing on TV; I actually found out that Thandie Newton is in the movie so I am even more eager to see it now).
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Poker Update
Posted on May 7, 2004 by Ching under Poker.
Brian made an interesting comment about my hair today. He saw me part it to one side and he said he liked it that way, with one side of my face covered. Why, I didn’t know he had a thing for cyclopses! I should’ve known, though. No wonder he is addicted to Futurama!
Well, the semester is almost over so my stress level is starting to decline. I just have to stick to my study schedule so I can guarantee good results for finals. Speaking of which, book buyback is just around the corner. And thank God, for it! I am super duper broke and could really use the money right now.
Despite my current broke-ass condition, I did manage to scramble $20 for our entry fee for the poker benefit tomorrow. It’s for charity so I don’t mind chippin’ in. Besides, if I do well I get to win prizes! And you know me, I’m all for prizes. I’m not that bad at poker either. The first time I played at Fingers, I ranked #8. Skipped the next two weeks because I was sick one week and the next week I had an exam to study for. The next week I participated, I got to #5. Both times I outlasted Brian. The next week (which was this Monday that just passed) I told Brian I’m going to try to get into one of the top three spots. His goal, rather modest compared to mine, was just to outlast me no matter what.
Anyway, Brian made it to the final table which was great considering that the previous week he didn’t even make it to any of the top sixteen spots. Unfortunately, I knocked him out of the game so he didn’t accomplish his goal of outlasting me. He didn’t feel too sore about it. He figured if he was going to lose his money to anyone, he’d much rather lose it to me. I feel the same way. His stash actually helped me last longer against the remaining competitors. And I’m proud to say, I finished in second place. So at least one of us accomplished our goal! Â
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Case Study – Done
Posted on April 25, 2004 by Ching under School.
I finally finished writing our case study (after much stress, many sleepless nights and grumpy days, and immeasurable agony) on Meadowbrook Garden Center for Management and Organizational Behavior. The strange thing is, I thought that my stress level would considerably decrease after this. While on one hand I feel a sense of relief, I feel just as stressed out as I ever was. Would this have anything to do with the six to eight-page research paper due on May 7th that I still have to write for Philosophy? Hmm.. I wonder?
At least, I have two seconds to blog. I gotta celebrate the completion of the writing portion of the case study somehow! By the way, mom and dad, Jen and Ray, and Brian and I are all having dinner at PF Chang’s today to do some post-birthday celebrating for dad. Mom and dad will finally meet Ray, for the very first time. The irony is that, many of mom and dad’s friends met Ray last Saturday as Jen and Ray were leaving PF Chang’s. I know this because I saw them too as we were leaving. Anyway, I think it’s about time that mom and dad meet Ray. I truly don’t understand why Jen has been hiding him. It seems that she is eager for them to meet her loser-type boyfriends and when she finally meets a winner, she’s ambivalent. Crazy girl, that one.
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Update
Posted on April 24, 2004 by Ching under Life.
I know it’s been eons but we have been really busy. School work has escalated to an all time high (but I think I’ll still get straight A’s this semester, thank God) and my stress level is through the roof. Anyway, I’m just touching base to make sure that April doesn’t fly by without a post. Here are some pictures that were taken over the last month..
As you can see, we’ve started getting into swordfighting with shinai bamboo swords. It’s kind of ghetto because we use mismatched equipment: shinai swords, fencing mask and hockey gloves.. But, hey, it works! Of course, Brian couldn’t leave things well enough alone so he personalized our stuff. His mask has The Punisher logo painted on the front and mine has a smiley face which everyone has agreed is quite appropriate.
Something funny about Brent, one of the guys pictured above, is that I’ve actually met him before (like three or four years ago). Brian kept insisting that I had but I couldn’t really recall meeting “Brent.” Well, he was hanging out at the house (drawing with Brian) one weekend and I was complaining how stinky (we do have three cats) and disgusting our house is and how embarrassing it is to have company over when the house is in such a state.
Brent tries to reassure me by saying that it’s quite alright because he has an olfactory problem so he can’t really smell anything. I go, “That’s interesting. I know someone with the EXACT same problem.” He goes, “Really? It’s not a very common condition. Who is it?” Brian gives me kind of a shocked look which I didn’t really understand at the time. He didn’t succeed at stopping me from my reply.. “I don’t really know him, know him. I only met him once. His name is BJ.” “I’M BJ!”
Creepy, huh?
Anyway, we all had a good laugh about it. The whole time we’d been hanging out I didn’t realize that Brent is the same person as BJ. Brian was right. I had met Brent before. But I met him as BJ. So it didn’t register. Thank God, I didn’t say anything bad!
Brian and Brent get along really well because they are both artist types. Brent is really into swordfighting which Brian is now addicted to. We’ve since bought our own equipment from Blue Gauntlet (for our fencing masks), Tigerstrike (for our shinai swords), and eBay.com (for our hockey gloves). Now that I’ve started looking at eBay, though, I’m beginning to look at all sorts of merchandise. For instance on a recent trip to Restoration Hardware, I found this vintage badminton set for $50 that I really wanted. Looked on eBay and found something similar for $10. I just bought it but I haven’t received it yet. I’m really looking forward to it. I just saved $40 — yay me!
I also bit the bullet and signed up for Netflix and Gmail. Anyway, I just found out that Netflix is about to raise their rates. Just when I signed up. Such sucky luck, I have!
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Stargazers
Posted on March 22, 2004 by Ching under Life.
So much can happen in the span of a few days.
Very few are privy to the goings on of our day to day lives.. Only those people actually know the roller coaster of emotions that I’ve been feeling. If you know what I we have actually done in the last couple of weeks, you’ll know why I’ve been so moody lately. I hope that in a few weeks things will return to normal and I won’t have to put Brian through hell anymore.
Valentines weekend came and went without any serious hitches (unless you count the puking episode on Friday night/Saturday morning or getting sick with the sniffles over the weekend as hitches). But on Tuesday night Brian and I had the biggest fight we’ve ever had. It was horrible. I will spare you the details because you will think that I am an evil, evil person.. I’m not going to argue with you there because I know that I can be. And, believe me, I am ten times more so when I am angry.
Anyway, when I came to work on Thursday, I found this huge floral arrangement consisting of stargazer lilies, pink-tipped white roses and carnations. It was beautiful! I was told numerous times how fragrant and beautiful the flowers were but, of course, I was sick with a cold so I couldn’t really smell them. I made sure that the flowers had plenty of water before I left work on Friday night so I hope that they make it through the weekend. I would hate to find them all wilted when I return to work on Monday.
Brian and I made up, not because of the flowers, but because I finally came to my senses. This morning we went to his grand parents to put their new computer together. It’s Brian’s old one, the PIII Dell Dimension 4200 we had from about three years ago. He decided to give it to them after their computer went kaput. Anyway, Brian now has a 3 GHz P4 Dell Dimension 8300 because he just feels to compelled to better me (mine is only a 2.52 GHz P4; I bought it almost two years ago because I got tired of us having to share one computer — his — which for some reason was always malfunctioning for one reason or another).
After that we went to Healing Waters for our couples massage. Brian had scheduled it several weeks ago as his Valentine’s gift to us. We had massages (I’ve only had them at Sveta’s but Brian has had some at Sveta’s and one at Individually Yours where I got him a warm stone massage as a Valentine’s gift last year; my friend Ashley at work recommended Individually Yours because that’s where she gets her waxing treatments) before but this was our first time at Healing Waters. It was so nice and relaxing! We got in our comfy robes and nubby slippers, and hung out in the tea/book room while we waited for our massage therapists. I’m not much of a tea drinker so I just drank water. Brian didn’t like the orange-cucumber water they had available so he opted not to and just waited for the bottled water at the end of the massage treatment. We had such a pleasant experience that Brian and I vowed we would just go to Healing Waters for all of our massage therapy in the future.
It was already 4:45 PM by the time we got out of there so we just headed to Thai Tradition for dinner. I love that place but Brian isn’t a big fan of the food so we hardly ever go. I love it because it’s the only fancy oriental restaurant in town. You get Thai food but with a fine-dining atmosphere — I love it! After dinner, we went to Best Cleaners to pick up Brian’s dry cleaning. Holy smokes! It was like $65! I told him that was the craziest idea he’s ever had and to never do it again. I mean, we could use the $65 towards another couples massage for crying out loud!
This one elderly lady who came in behind us at the dry cleaners was picking up a sweater that she had cleaned and when the cashier rang her up and told her to pay $5.99 she exclaimed, “$5.99?? It’s only a sweater!!” I couldn’t believe her reaction after she had just witnessed Brian paying $65 for a few shirts and pants without even flinching! But then, I think he should’ve flinched. I can’t remember the last time I paid that much for dry cleaning! My best guess would be about eight years ago when I used to wear a lot of vintage stuff.. I got these awesome coats from the DAV for like $5 each maybe (I know that they were less than $10 each for sure). I went straight to Dillon’s after buying them to get them cleaned because they had this DAV smell and you really don’t know how long they’ve been collecting dust at the store.. The craziest thing — I paid more for dry cleaning than for the actual garments!
Our next stop was Best Buy where I bought Brian a couple of PS2 games (Jak II and Thirteen) for an “I’m Sorry” gift. Ran into mom and dad who were buying a DVD player for Logan’s bedroom at their house (Logan doesn’t even live with them, mind you, they only watch him during the day and once in a while he will spend the night) among other things. While there Brian found a desk (he wants a new computer desk to accommodate his dual monitor setup) and an office chair that he fell in love with. I found a miniDV camcorder and this monster Maytag dryer with a drying closet for your flat-dry and and hang-dry clothes that I fell in love with. Needless to say, we both high-tailed it out of there with just the two PS2 games before any more damage could be done.
I guess that’s all the news I can share for now.. It’s bed time!
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