22.09.09

In my English tutorial today I helped to perform A Midsummer Night's Dream in ten minutes and it went really well. I am not usually great shakes at acting because I am very self conscious in front of people; the more people watching me the more awkward and uncoordinated I become. I shake. But today was awesome because our play was supposed to be awkward and uncoordinated and I let adrenaline drive. I was Demetrius, Puck and Bottom, and sometimes those characters had to be on the stage at the same time so I was running around a lot, and then I had a gorilla mask pulled over me, and then I was Pyramus. I say that I did all these things, but really it was a group effort; Rebecca, Jess and Robert all pulled multiple roles as well and we worked well as a team with our numerous props. I felt real good afterwards.

It was also funny seeing what some of the other groups did. Kirsty's group did a hilarious adaptation of Twelfth Night, a short play about making that play. And Katie and Mila's group also did A Midsummer Night's Dream, although theirs was very very different and quite awesome. I think Katie was a little bit ashamed of it because she kept going on about how short it was and how it didn't cover the whole play yadda yadda yadda. And she hasn't even mentioned it on her blog! But it was hilarious to see Katie and Mila play Lysander and Demetrius and wooing that South African guy in the skirt. Katie doesn't need to be ashamed anymore because the moustache actually suited her.

And then tonight I went and saw UP which was fantastic. Really really feel good, I like it temporarily. Mark bought me some Pineapple Lumps to thank me for rushing to pick up the other Mark but we ended up swapping them for Malteezers... which it turns out neither of us really like. I wanted to share the treat Mark had bought me with Mark to thank him for buying it for me. When he gave them to me Mark said I could change them to Malteezers or something if I wanted, so I took that to mean that he would prefer Malteezers so I said: "sure, let's change them for Malteezers". He ended up paying several more dollars for them (they cost $6.80 at the cinema!) and it wasn't until we got into the cinema that we realised that we would have both preferred Pineapple Lumps. Haha. The moral of this story is that you should ALWAYS choose what you want and NEVER compromise or choose something else for the sake of someone else who you think wants something different, because you will both end up HATING it.

21.09.09

Those of you who haven't watched The Departed should make it your mission to do so. It is a classic film with some classic actors in it.

It has so much going for it:
1. Guns. There are lots of guns in The Departed and people use them to shoot each other. A lot. This may not be everybody's cup of tea but I enjoyed it. The film is very... tense. Because people are frequently in danger of dying in horribly blood ways the audience pays attention. Spoiler: lots of people die.
2. Mobster. It is a mobster-copster thriller by Martin Scorcese and is therefore excellent. It is set in the present day but for some reason it felt to me like it was set in the past, like a classic gangster film. It has a sort of out-of-time quality I guess. Released in 2006, and based upon the 2002 Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs, The Departed is a classic modern mobster flick.
3. Jack Nicholson. I really like this guy, particularly after watching him perform as Private Investigator Jake Gittes in Chinatown (great film), and in The Departed Jack is Jake's antithesis. The head of the Irish Mob, Frank Costello is the reason that nothing makes sense in Chinatown, he is the cancer, the source of pure evil which destroys reason. And he is excellent. I really enjoyed comparing and contrasting Jack's portrayal of Frank with his portrayal of Jake. Both are distinctly Nicholson performances and yet they are at opposite ends of the morality spectrum. Nicholson captures the vitality of the gangster period perfectly, probably because he was one when he was younger, or moved in those circles. He also has one of those voices that I could listen to all day. Like Morgan Freeman. Which is why I liked The Bucket List.
4. Other actors. The Departed has some other actors, some of which are not too bad. Here's a list: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matthew Damon, Alec Baldwin, Mark Wahlberg. Pretty good aye? Might sound a little bit homo because I've only listed male actors, but to be honest there are only like one or two female characters anyway. Vera Farmiga, who plays a police psychologist, is the only female actress of note and even if you recognise her, you probably won't know where from (she was in The Manchuraian Candidate and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas). In any event, she sleeps with both DiCaprio AND Damon in the course of the film, so was clearly only included as eye candy, which is a little bit sad. That's why my list of good actors was all male. Upon second consideration, the film might be a little bit sexist, but then so are mobsters; you should still watch it.

I haven't included much of a plot synopsis because that would spoil things. But you should watch this trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klT94Krv2M0&feature=related

I'm sorry I don't know how to embed video yet so you're going to have to follow the link. Can someone help me out?

You should watch this following clip if you want proof of point 1.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lak0__k8icw&feature=related

20.09.09

I had lunch with my friend Cameron today after church and it was cool to just hang out and eat butter chicken. I seldom eat "indian food" because it can be quite expensive, but I generally enjoy it when I do and today was no exception. There's just something about naan bread... Oh and I also bought a cool singlet today and did some weights with Josh. An awesome afternoon.

19.09.09

Today was a particularly productive Saturday in which I did a whole lot of things I don't normally do.

Firstly: make a salad. I do not usually make salads because I do not usually eat salads. But Josh and I made a honey soy chicken one which was pretty awesome today. I think the cashew nuts tipped the scale and made it amazing.

Secondly: have a picnic. Having made a salad we went to the Domain and had a picnic with some of his friends. We shared one of the rotundas with a homeless couple who seemed to want to keep to themselves. As we had some extra food we made up a plate to give to them but they didn't get it in the end because they left when we were playing with the frisbee. I felt like maybe we should have tried harder, it is something I have never had to deal with before. Jesus would have stuffed them full of food until they begged for no more. It was good times until I broke the frisbee.

Thirdly: help a charitable organisation/work with my hands. Emma had organised for a group of us to help assemble the furniture and fittings of a SIFS home thorugh an organisation called Homes of Hope. I helped put together a desk and several beds and hang curtains, and Josh's mum taught me how to fold towels in a most aesthetically pleasing way. It felt good to be part of something helpful, and to use my hands for something other than eating, writing or carrying things.

Fourthly: babysit for my pastor. I have babysat before, but not for money, and not for my pastor, so it was a refreshing experience. Normally guys aren't asked to babysit are they? It's a little bit weird. But anyway, we played monopoly, and they went to bed like little champions when I told them to.

Finally: watch a great game of rugby. Sometimes I watch alright games but I seldom watch great games. I am not usually an avid rugby watcher but tonight's game was fantastic. The All Blacks have so much going on; I can see why people get into them.

18.09.09

Beauty and the Beast has always been my favourite Disney animated film and here's why: it has the best original score and music of any film in the last 1000 years and the best rooftop fightscene ever. Tonight I went and saw the St Kentigern College production of the musical of that film and it was great.

Grace was both a dancing winebottle and silly girl #2, one of three such girls who swoon over Gaston and fall over a lot. She was very convincing in both capacities and I was very very proud of her. The rest of the acting was pretty mint too. Lumiere and Gaston in particular were fantastic! They sounded so much like their filmic counterparts that I was half convinced that they were the movie come alive. Belle and Beast were both great too; they used their own voices but I don't hold that against them, because they would probably have been harder to imitate. "Kill the Beast" is the best song.

I had one small qualm with the musical, and that was that its choreography degenerated towards the end. When the evil peasants were attacked by the cutlery in the castle things became very confusing. There were these mental girls (who were apparently supposed to be napkins) jumping into some boys arms and I fail to see why. The fact that they did it several times made me think that they probably just liked being held and that grossed me out. Not that it was their fault the choreography was confusing... but one of the napkins walked off stage holding hands with one of the villagers. It is little details like that that shake you from your immersement in the drama. Plus the fight between Beast and Gaston was lame. The fact that they didn't stage it on a roof was a bad start. They just pushed each other over for a while and then after Beast was stabbed he mauled Gaston to death... which isn't how it happened in the movie. I understand that it is a school production, and have it on Grace's authority that Gaston kicked Beast in the face and drew copious amounts of blood last night, but I think they could have choreographed a better fake fight.

I really liked it overall though. For real.

17.09.09

Tomorrow my essay on the French Revolution is due, and I am FREAKING OUT. I have never had so much left to do on the final day. I have to write two body paragraphs and a conclusion, do all my referencing, proof read and make amendments. For somebody like me that is a bad thing. I know people who leave their assignments until the night before their due, then write them in just a few hours that evening and do well. Those people make me furious. I estimate that it will take me approximately twelve hours; if I start about about quarter to four... I will get to bed at approximately quarter to four AM, and consequentially be very tired tomorrow. I would imagine I'll be the most tired that I have ever been before and have a deep deep tired feeling deep inside of me, inside of my chest, and also inside of stomach. Deep.

16.09.09

At some point during the last two weeks I have become incredibly lazy; I'm not quite sure when. I went swimming this morning but I only managed to do 22 lengths of the 25 metre pool. Last week I did 50. My desire to rest exceeded my inclination to exercise, and my selfish-seeking shade talked me into stopping, made excuses for my weakness.

I think I am becoming less of a man as I become less and less inclined to exercise vigorously. Chalk it up to a bad day if you want, but I think there is something seriously wrong with me and know that I can and should do better.

This isn't just about swimming. This is about not following through in general. I have an essay due on Friday and tonight I tried very hard to work on it. I told myself I would write two well crafted paragraphs (800+ words). But instead I only wrote one because I got distracted on the internet looking at some of the hilarious images people have made of Kanye West since his faux pas at the VMAs.

Sorry Kanye, but it is I that am the biggest clown of all time.