Ever HAd?

I often wonder about people’s perception. Of me, of the current state of the world, of life in general.. I really don’t like it. This has been something that’s more than just a splinter in my brain, it’s more like a friggin huge menhir-sized, sharp wooden spike in my head.

I never really cared much for what people thought of me. My philosophy was that the less people knew about me, the better.. plus it added to the enigma and from what I was told.. chicks dig that :p.

But on a serious note, I figured that my close friends knew me best and they never judged me because of that… they give me the benefit of the doubt and they confront me about things that they’ve heard… not to judge but to confirm and to hear the whole truth and if needs be, guide me back on the right path. That’s what I like to believe.

Alas, it is at times but a wishful belief. A friend(s) that I once held dear to me has chosen to listen to hearsay and not confront me. Instead of giving me the benefit of the doubt, you have chosen to part ways from me and become a stranger to me. You look at me now with eyes of disappointment and self-righteousness while I let out a sigh of equal disappointment and betrayal all the while holding back the tears I refuse to shed for a crumbling friendship that once meant the world to me. It does break my heart each time I think of it, but what am I to do? I learned a long time ago that the world doesn’t stop to grieve with you, so I continue on albeit one loved one short.

Where Lady Fate decides to place us in the coming future is uncertain but I detest the games that she feeds me along the way. I don’t know if you’ll ever read this…but I want you to know this.

People change, sometimes for the better, most of the times for the worst. Sometimes, it is merely a detour from their chosen path in life and other times it becomes their new path in life. As presumptuous as it is, I know that I’ll be fine as long as I have my friends being there for me. Just the mere thought of it already brightens the gloomiest of my darker days. I once held you in that respect, why has that, of all things changed?

As much as I want things to be the way it was before, I can’t live in that past. This is where I take my leave from you. This is the coup de grace of our friendship or what’s left of it. We are merely acquaintainces now. Maybe one day, things will change yet again. Maybe one day, we’ll find a place in each others world again.

But until that day, I plea ignorance and shall, ironically, remain perseveringly vigilant.

But Hopeful.

Why did you friggin step on that guy’s crotch Rooney??

Why did you lose Brazil??

WHy does Metros always play ‘Run it’ everytime when I’m about to leave the club?

Why did I fall sick?

Why am I asking so many ‘why’ questions?

Must be the lack of sleep… and being doped up on Panamax..

It’s either that.. or I’m still cranky over England losing a few days ago..

What am I looking forward to? Hm… oh yeah.. come this Thursday..

CAPTAIN JACK’S BACK!!

wicked!

It’s 1am and I can’t sleep. I have to be up in less than 6 hours. Am resisting the temptation to pop a diazepam due to past experience of having very little concentration throughout the entire day.

Stomach has recovered slightly from night before. Have a weird urge to wrestle a bear. Must invest in punching bag with picture of ex-workmate (long story…). Usually prefer a peaceful solution but have no patience for taichi to ‘vent’ frustrations.

Was watching ‘Over the Hedge’ this arvo. Crap pacing of film. Kids will love it, others won’t mind it, some will tolerate it. Excellent animation though.

Have to work a 6-day week this week, money will be good but would rather spend Saturday playing soccer or doing HIT exercises. But still, the money will be good. Am thinking of taking up Sudoku to stimulate brain since work beginning to become more mundane and alcohol seems to be killing off them ‘grey cells’.

Listening to Frank Sinatra’s ‘One for my Baby’ now. One of favourite Sinatra songs ever. Love the simplicity of the song. Second to ‘Tears in Heaven’ on my all-favourite song list.

Looking forward to Superman Returns this weekend. Hopefully a better movie than X-men 3.

Missing Someone a lot at the moment. Wondering whether have kept promise to person in question.

I’m going to bed now. Morpheus seems to have finally paid me a visit.

Goodnight.

OK.. Last night at Metros was weird, hazzy, ego-tripping and vague.. but it was fun..

Vague memories include:-

1.) Me and Justin carrying a very inebriated Tim to the car and driving him home

2.) The guys ’shikai’-ing to the level of studhood

3.) Watching soccer at the club (Yup, they actually were showing the matches on the projector screen)

4.) Me imparting words of encouragement (at least I hope so!) to the broken hearted

5.) About to leave the club only to run back to the dance floor when they started playing Chris Brown’s ‘Run It’

6.) Walking back to Vince’s house from Tim’s while humming ‘I’ll Never Fall in Love Again’

7.) Making a bet with Ben regarding the past 4 Superman movie’s plotlines (MUahahahah!)

All in all.. I hope that last night is a warm-up compared to the BIG one this coming Sat.

Yeah Baby!

If you were a 80s baby like me, then you’ve probably been exposed to the pop culture that pretty much shaped and inspired the generation that came after that. While our parents had the WB cartoons with Bugs and Daffy and that coyote who keeps getting jipped at the ACME  store just to chase down that one-syallable, one-word Road Runner (you’d think with all that money he has to purchase those stuff… he’ll at least have enough cash to order take out or something.. ;P) we had an assortment of cartoons that appealed to both boys and girls and pretty much spawned a new generation of geeks worthy of rivaling Star Trek fanatics at Comic Cons.. (although I’m just as guilty in the Transformers department.. )

Thundercats, Smurfs, Transformers, Ducktales, G.I Joe, Jem and the Holograms, Carebears.. the list gets longer, and there are a few of us who were exposed to the earlier Japanese anime (which still stands alongside with todays animation sans the CGI) with American dubbing. Being the Saturday morning cartoon fan that I was, I’ve pretty much watched most of them if not all of them. HOwever, Bryan pointed out to me one cartoon that eluded my childhood.

The Samurai Pizza Cats.

My first response was ‘Whhaatt?’

Bryan explained the gist of the cartoon and my research(yes.. i know.. I was THAT bored) into the subject matter revealed this…

THat cartoon is based on 3 cats running a pizza shop in a feudal-looking but futuristic Japan. As is the case with most cartoons, when bad guys decide to commit some really bad things to boost their egos to Herculaen proportions, the PIzza cats would then access their secret hideout thru their ovens (yes.. you heard me right.. their ovens are their secret hideout’s entrance..) and then like most 80s cartoons with cybernetic or robotic enhancement themes, parts would fly out of nowhere and attached themselves to those cats. Then they get shot out through this cannon that their shop converts itself into (lost yet?) and land in front of the bad guys. Then, they proceed to whoop some ass with their ninja skills and weapons..

The basis of my research? I gave up trying to find a download of Rihanna’s alternate vid clip of ‘SOS’ and downloaded the first episode of Samurai Pizza Cats.

Maybe it’s due to my advancing age coupled with an easily bored brain that made me fail to find the appeal in this cartoon. I mean for one.. the female cat shoots out Love Hearts as shurikens… Love Hearts?!?!?!?!?! Probably the only slight form of entertainment i got from that cartoon was their frequent attempts at breaking the Fourth Wall. (At one point, the narator actually says ‘Behold a fightening sight ever been conceived thru animation’.).

I’m sorry Bryan, but this cartoon doesn’t do it for me… hopefully it’s a sign of growing maturity rather than an easily annoyed brain.

And.. was watching the JAp vs. Aus game the other day.. what a friggin dissapointment.. Nami, you’ve got a point on that whole ‘hunger to win‘ thing. Didn’t even see a single fire in any of the player eyes sans Nakata. Even Korea had more passion for the game than they did.. (That was a friggin awesome game though.. KOrea vs. TOgo!!) .. I mean.. it’s a good thing that Aus won after 32 years of absence.. the first goal scored by Japan was pretty dodgy anyway.. and England’s first match was an ultimate letdown… you’d actually expect them to cream Paraguay.. butttt nooooo…. ONe goal in the first 4 minutes.. and the remaining time of the game was dead boring..

*sigh*… hopefully better matches are waiting on the horizon..

Ok.. first off… This is my half-rant, half review of X-men 3. This WILL contain minor and major SPOILERS… You HAVE been warned… proceed with caution.. and either agree or disagree with me later… they don’t call it Freedom of Speech for nothing…

I’m pretty sure more than half of Generation Y grew up with those Saturday Morning X-men cartoons in the 90s.. then the comics and action figures followed for the more initiated… then..the first movie hit and it smashed expectations.. not only for not making it look silly (like say.. Batman & Robin… *shudder*..) but making it fit into the real world as well as being highly entertaining, paving the way for many other comic book movies to come .. (although it is debatable that Blade deserves that praise..)…  then X2 followed and took it to a whole new level…in other words.. it rocked..

Now… on to X-men 3… As any other movie buff who followed the progress of the movie.. I was shocked when I heard that the principal director Bryan Singer(the dude who also did the last 2 movies..). had left X3 to direct some other dinky comic book movie.. (i.e. Superman Returns..) .. he was replaced by Matthew Vaughn who directed Layer Cake (which was a good movie btw..).. and I thought there was some hope.. then he was replaced by Brett Ratner.. now.. he’s the guy who directed those Rush Hour movies and saved the Hannibal Lector movies by directing Red Dragon and was once attached to direct Superman Returns… so there was probably more so a glimmer of hope than Matthew Vaughn.. so .. did he succeed?

Did he carry on Bryan Singer’s vision and stayed true to the theme of the last 2 movies? Did he craft a movie with equal thought and entertainment? Or a better question.. .Did he F**k it up?

Well.. yes and no..  X-men: The Last Stand.. is an entertaining movie.. but a crappy X-men Movie..

Now.. b4 u chastise me all you want.. hear me out here… I walked out of that cinema with the same feeling I had after I watched Star Wars Ep1: The Phantom Menace and Matrix Reloaded.. slightly entertained.. but mixed with a feeling of letdown-ess…

This is where the spoilers start.. tread with caution here..

They brought up one of the most controversial X-men storyline.. the cure for mutation.. coupled with the Dark Phoenix Saga..  When you couple 2 great storylines into 1 movie that only clocks in at less than 2 hours.. convolution’s gonna happen.. at the attempt to make it an epic.. it ran the risk of capsizing on its own weight… But hey, it’s an X-men movie.. it shouldn’t just focus on one mutant.. it needs to focus on all  the mutants.. generating the ultimate question in the x-men-verse… if you could give up your mutant condition, would you? I mean.. if you’re a bad ass like Wolverine or Gambit.. why should you.? But if you have a sucky power like Rogue’s (pun not intended..).. that’s the kicker.. ultimately, it all comes down to whether you wanna feel special about yourself or blend in with the rest of the ‘normal’ crowd..

I think, most dissapointingly.. is the Dark Phoenix arc, which has been reduced from an all out comic book epic of Earth and Space proportions to a mutant who has a split personality issues..

Then the characters.. not much development going on in this one.. what you guys got in the last 2…it’s what you’re gonna get in X3.. one of my major gripes with the x-men movies is the level of involvement of Cyclops.. I mean… he didn’t really have much to do in the last one.. now.. he’s given jack all in the new one.. Wolverine might be the poster boy for the X-men.. but Cyclop’s the residential and token boy scout leader of the team.. he’s given much more complexity in the comics.. he makes harsh and hard decisions and always pulls through for the team.. while not making him the most popular character.. it doesn’t make him obsolete either.. otherwise, they would’ve killed him off in the comics a looooong time ago..

Kelsey Grammer did a good job with Beast, Halle Berry gets to do more here than ever and Famke Jansen’s gets to schizo as the Dark Phoenix and Jean Grey… Hugh Jackman is his usually feroscious self as Wolverine but he gets a plain treatment here with zip development at all.. most likely saved up for the Wolverine prequel being planned (although I still stand by the fact that he’s a bit of a woman basher.. Mystique in the first.. Lady Deathstrike in the second..and the third..you’ll have to find out..)…Mystique gets to fulfill every fanboy’s dream by showing more skin than usual..   Ian Mckallen is his usual charismatic self alongside with Patrick Stewart.. and the other junior X-men do fine in their small roles.. with kudos going to Ben Foster for his portrayal of Angel.. Vinnie Jones is pretty much the pseudo comic relief..although his portrayal of Juggernaut leaves much to be desired..(can that guy play any other character other than an angry man with a Brit accent?!?!?!).. the fact that some principal characters are killed off in this one, doesn’t open a whole drawer of options with anymore pending sequels.. (although in usual Hollywood fashion, they’re probably gonna slice and dice some classic stories together anyway…)..

The fight scenes are well done with the 6 X-men taking on the army of Brotherhood.. and we get to see Iceman doing the full icebody in this one while going on a one on one with Pyro… (although, I would have like to have seen Colossus fully duking it out with the Juggernaut..).. Beast doing his fighting while quoting poems.. and Storm really gets to do some major lightning damage here.. Wolverine’s fighting is pretty much the same as the last one.. slicing and dicing while screaming…

And you get the usual.. Human/Mutant Rights Movements thrown in.. this time, protesting about the cure.. (although it is unclear as to who’s doing the protesting.. the mutants or the humans..).. and the government as to whether they should start an all out war with Magneto…

All in all though.. like I said.. it’s a pretty decent entertaining movie.. but a real crappy X-men movie.. it’s gonna depend on how much you loved the last 2 movies and the whole X-men mythos that’s gonna decide whether you like this one or not..

I hope now that they’re not gonna f**k up Spider-man 3.. cos I would reeeeaaalllly be pissed off!

Forgive me, for I have sinned…

I knew the consequences of my actions but I gave into temptation..

But how could I resist?? Given my history with the subject at hand..

Despite telling myself that the satisfaction will only last momentarily

And yet…

Here I am with my confession..

I promise to punish myself for this…

I will find redemption eventually…

And I will resist with an iron will the next unfortunate time when I’m presented with the temptation..

I will resist… its lure…

Its addictiveness…

I will resist…

…..

….

…

..

.

Buying another packet of Smith’s Thinly Cut Original Potato Chips that could mess up my whole gym routine with it’s evil carbs and 25% less saturated fat….

In the name of Ronnie Coleman.. I will add one extra set to my workout for a whole week as my punishment…

Ever Had a fake name you give out to complete strangers…? I do.. I mean.. if random people come up to you and you have no idea who they are or what they want… giving out fake names are justified…

This is what happened 2 weeks ago after Metros closed for the night..

Two random white guys (RWG) came up to us… they sat down and chatted with us.. could tell they were both drunk.. and they asked our names…

RWG1: So what’s your name, mate?

Me: Name’s Arthur

RWG2 (turning to Ben): What’s yours?

Ben: Julian…

-_-

So much for the element of secrecy…

The Jackass Paradox…an assumption that when 2 highly annoying individuals come into direct conversation, what would seem like a normal, healthy conversation whilst it is in actual fact the opposite truth.

Of course, this paradox is total BS… I got it from a television sitcom a few years back.. however, I had the unfortunate chance of seeing it in action. The background to this is… my Job. I don’t HATE my job… but I don’t actually Love it either.. I do it to learn about the business and to get the experience.. and make my career moves from there… it’s been a looong year… but I’m still standing…  I’ve learnt that in a job… one of the important factors that makes you either stay or leave is the people you work with. Unfortunately, I’m reaching my breaking point with some of them.

Never in my life, have I ever met 2 such individuals who nonstop complain and irritate the hell out of each other as well as the people around them. And these are like people who are like friggin late 20s getting close to 30 and still act so friggin immature… Grow Up! The world doesn’t bloody revolve around you.. if you don’t like the way your life is going.. then DO something about it… don’t put your blame on other people and blame this on your ‘medical’ condition… BooHoo! There’re other people with far worse medical conditions and they’ve learnt to make the best out of their situation… And don’t go around stabbing and bitching about your workmates behind their backs! If you’ve got a problem with the way I work… then confront me about it.. I don’t shy away from confrontation like you.. because unlike you 2.. I know that I’m not perfect.. and seriously of all the things you could have complained about me… you’re bitching that I drink too much water??!?!?!? That is by FAR, THE MOST LAUGHABLE complaint ever… !

Well… I suppose I should thank you for this… because I’m making it a VITAL point in my life to NEVER turn out as bitter, self-centered and loser-ish as the both of you…

I will NEVER EVER understand women… just when I thought that I’ve figured a train of behaviour out… I’m immediately proven wrong… I tried being a gentleman about it… but apparently that’s a stone-age trait…

YOU left me in a state of confusion that nite… out of the blue you stormed away from me without telling me what’s wrong and leaving me with the idea that I did something wrong… I pieced the whole nite together as best as I could… and as far as I know… I did NOTHING wrong…

Maybe you were under the impression that I did something wrong.. or maybe you wanted something to happen but left it up to me to figure it out… hey.. I’m a straight-forward type of guy… I don’t like being lead on nor do I like taking subtle hints and stressing about whether I made the right choice… If you wanna make a BIG deal that I was intoxicated… hey.. we BOTH were… concerning the fact that you left a ‘mark’ on me the last time… I think I was being a good sport bout the whole thing…

And just to clarify this to all my Boys out there who weren’t there that nite …

Nothing happened…

I meant it when I said that I was gonna control myself and not go into ‘overdrive’…

Tennis anyone?