Home
default

October 2009

S M T W T F S
    123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031

Advertisement

otherselves

Syndicate

RSS Atom
Powered by LiveJournal.com

Dec. 25th, 2008

yuffie

BAH to you, dan didio

I HATE YOU DC



bye wally. i'll never get over you (or bart). now you can hang out with kyle and connor in the "used superhero" recycle bins while the 'old' heroes reclaim their spotlight.
Tags: , ,

Sep. 23rd, 2008

default

Revelation

Yesterday I woke up
and felt the weight of the world
the weight of my future,
my present and past
on my shoulders
A glance in the mirror--
--the girl staring back at me
looks just like me
but with something else
like a slumbering dragon
stirring
a shadow
behind the chocolate pools

"Oh gosh!"
it was this revelation
I bore with the heaviest heart:
I slept as a wee girl
and woke up
a woman!

----------------------------
what the hell possessed me to write such a...

...monstrosity?
--------------------------

behold, people! this is zakumi, the official South Africa World Cup 2010 Mascot. i thought it's pretty cute (especially its back story: apparently it dyed it hair green in order to blend with the football pitch, just like its "rosette spots". hah! i haven't had my crack serving--i.can't.read.comics.on.weekdays--for the day, so this will do XD) at least it's got shorts on, unlike goleo of the Germany World Cup 2006, which was banned from some schools because apparently it embodied perversion.


 
(the football puppet at the background is goleo's partner, pille, a talking football. man, i just love mascots!)

i just have to stop falling asleep after school. what a seriously waste of time. and those legs of mine better heal soon before my parents get back home and freak out at the size of the bruises or something.

(some insane corner of my mind actually thinks the bruises are really pretty. mhmmm i thought it kinda looks like a photoshopped texture :D)

--------------------------


Promos/covers/teasers for X Men Noir (note lack of hyphen) by Fred Van Lente and Denis Calero, part of Marvel Noir limited series for 2009 (the other two Noir series would be Daredevil and Spiderman). No cookies for those who can guess the guys in the covers!--pretty obvious, I think?

(Cheet sheet: Cyclops, Rogue, Gambit and Magneto)

In the words of Fred Van Lente himself from an interview with Newsrama:

X Men Noir is a complete re-imagining of the X-Men franchise from the ground-up, not as a superhero series but as a gritty urban crime series--set, very loosely, in the golden era of film noir, the period directly following World War II through the early 1950's... we're deconstructing all the things that make the X-Men tick by looking at them through the conventions of this completely different genre. There are no super powers here, no mutants. Instead we're in a world of cops, private investigators and gangsters...the heart of X Men Noir is a murder mystery, which plunges our detective-hero into a dark world of corruption, vice and greed...

Well, Denis Calero kept on emphasizing that he'd worked with the best script he'd ever worked with while drawing for the books, and anticipation's pretty high. For one, I'm not big on AU-stuff (it's hard enough keepin' track of the 616 universe), but if the reviews remain rave on December, then I'd get it on trades (like I have any other choice).

Sep. 19th, 2008

default

Accidents Happen

Considering that I perhaps was supposed to be dead or dying, or somehow incapable of typing this and the hundreds of SMSes today, I am seriously thankful for surviving a car accident without looking like I've even collided with a car. The nurses couldn't believe it when I replied to them inquiring about what roughed me up, since I have only abrasions on my left elbow, on the left lower part of my torso (where the car hit me), and thighs and knees. No broken bones or internal injury--I was subjected to X-raying (cool) and ultrasound (wicked cool!). I looked like as if I had a fall--and not even a very bad one at that.

Anyway, I don't think it's everday when an accident like this happens ("It certainly is a unique experience!"), so I'd chronicle it for myself to read some other time and laugh (don't we always laugh when we look back at all the bad things that'd happened in the past?)

Currently, I feel surreal--woah, dude--a car kissed me!--and I have weird craving for Pizza Hut. Uhm, I guess the crash must have knocked something loose after all.

So what have I learnt today?
1. Cross the road at only zebra crossings and pedestrian bridges
2. Strangers can be really nice to you and hug you when you're in pain and wish your mom's here to hug it away
3. I need to wake up even earlier so as to reach school early, and do not need to dash across roads to race against the bell.

(And that bell--it's really like Aaron's school bus driver isn't it; coming earlier and earlier. I remember that it used to ring at 0745 in year 1, and the second bell at 0750. Apparently, it's somehow caught a hold of a principle I never manage to learn: the earlier, the better.)

Things are a little bit hazy, but thankfully my memories stayed with me. I remember panicking about being late for school (again) and looking left, right and dashed across the first lane, following a guy in front of me (logic was, if I stick close to him and he doesn't get hit, it means that I wouldn't either). Then somehow, when I started on the second lane (here's the hazy part--can't remember what I did before getting hit), I felt something on my torso/hip and it felt like getting hit by a paintball. A flash of silver--oohhh! A car! And then somehow the world was turned upside down, left right, all around, like I'm watching Cloverfield where the camera would be swinging around wildly and I heard the screeching of tires (later on, I'd found out that I've been flung two meters away). Then I realised that I got hit by a car, and I wondered if I was about to meet my maker. Then I told myself how stupid can a girl be to get hit by a car (even little kids know how to cross the road properly). Then I saw the ground--I couldn't remember the impact my body made against it; suddenly I just found mysef on the wet asphalt, spread-eagled--face down on the road, shirt riding up my back (oh, that was embarassing). 

There were a lot of thoughts racing through my mind. I cursed myself 'cause I know that I just landed myself in a huge heap of trouble (my parents would kill me--and they did scream at me after they found out)--and the first thing I did was to apologise to the driver. Then I wondered how ridiculous I look lying on the middle of the road like that and whether anyone had taken any picture for Stomp or Newpaper or whatever to complete my embarassment. Then I realised that I'm not bleeding ('cept from the abrasions on my knees), I'm still in one piece--woah; this isn't how it's like in the TV. Then I saw the people who'd formed a ring around me, and I cursed myself again for causing trouble for other people.

Then I saw the primary school kids somewhere behind watching in silence. That's right, kids: stay in school, don't do drugs, and look before you cross. Glad I can be of a service.

The ambulance took thirty-ish minutes to come. By that time, the pedestrians had helped me to sit at the side of the road. Two women were taking care of me; a doctor dressed up my wounds; and Irsyad's mom, who'd pulled over after seeing a kid in NUS High uniform at the side of the road, tried to reach the school, and then finally called up Kevin from my contact list.

Anyway, being stretchered into the ambulance is like this weird unique experience--wonder if that's what footballers experience whenever they get a baadd tackle or when they mysteriously sprain themselves (Uh oh; reminded of my favorite injured footballer. Klose--you'd better be well enough to play tomorrow!). It's like riding an elephant while lying flat on your back and wearing that neck-prop thing (it was a precaution just in case I injured my neck--naw, it was fine). The strapping in in the ambulance to make sure my neck and my spine doesn't move and bounce with the ambulance was quite uncomfortable. Felt like there's a pair of two massive balloons inflating against my cheeks.

And then: the ICU! Granted, it ain't as exciting as how House and Grey's Anatomy made it out to be, but there were sick people coming in, and nurses and doctors running around everywhere--well, this is where I wanna work when I grow up later, so I absorbed all of it in. The nurses undressed me and put me into that hospital gown just like the on in medical TV shows, and then I was wheeled off to wait for my turn to be X-Rayed.

I told Camille the only thing I'm in danger of dying from is boredom--after all, the excitement of imagining oneself working together with the doctors and nurses who rush past time and again would ebb away after a while. But there was a funny moment when the nurses tried to talk to the patient next to me--at that time, I was probably the youngest patient in the room; senior citizens abound!--and instead she tried to grope one of the nurse's nose, who was freaked out after she did that to her again and again ("She hates my face! Look at her staring at me!"). When a young doctor read out from the charts her name to confirm, she didn't reply--she groaned again as she'd always done when people talk to her and expect a response, and grabbed the chart--I stiffled a giggle then.

Then I got not only one, but two injections--a tetanus shot, and painkillers ("Butbutbut, I had my tetanus shot when I was a baby, and I'm not in pain anymore!") The tetanus shot on my arm was okay, but the painkillers one was painful--in fact, the only thing that's preventing me from walking, bouncing and perhaps dancing right now is the painkiller shot, which still leaves my thigh so numb and painful.

A Traffic Police came to talk to me--I was quite scared out of my mind since I was convinced that I did something illegal and I so do not want to go to jail or have something on my permanent record. Anyway, Divya and Kevin said that jaywalking's an offence when done within 50m of the traffic light--and I wasn't. But I'd need to make a police record and have my statement taken down. Apparently, I don't need a lawyer for that--hopefully I won't be in trouble.

I got my torso, my pelvis, my thigh and my knee X-rayed quickly. Before the X-raying, the nurses asked me some standard questions like how old are you, and what happened to you, but the one that I took sometime to answer was when they asked me: "Are you pregnant?" Well, I now know that the problem of teen pregnancy is sadly so rampant that it's a standard safety question they ask teenagers nowadays, and I wanted to tell her that no, I'm still a proud virgin who doesn't believe in sex before marriage (so don't worry, because such kind of people still exist), but that came out as a simple "No". Oh well. Then I waited, and waited for the results. It was more comfortable waiting then 'cause someone had finally given me a pillow and I could lie on my soaked bed trolley more comfortably. Spent the time SMSing, playing Icy Tower (bless you, Free Lunch Design for creating that game) and trying to think of an excuse to tell to my family since I hadn't told them yet.

("Hey, Dad? Guess what? I got hit by a car--now, don't worry, don't raise your voice. I'm fine, see? I thought it was quite a unique experience! No, don't catch the next flight back to Singapore--I'm fine really. Yeah, okay, I've learnt my lesson, okay? I'd always wear my glasses before crossing the road.")

("I tripped and fell and injured my elbow, my stomach and my knees. Uh, I rolled down a hill?")

The jury was then out with the verdict: I'm curiously very very fine ("You're very lucky for someone who just got into a car accident", the doctor said.) But before giving me a clean bill of health, he'd need to do an ultrasound on my organs, just to make sure they haven't been turned into Jell-O or something. And they were functioning as perfectly well as they should, and as a bonus, I get to see my two kidneys, my full bladder and my stomach in real time action. Enchanting.

And so I was discharged--after I could walk properly. My first attempt was horrible, but after warming up my thighs for an hour or so, I was ready, and I could go to the toilet, and sit on the toilet bowl (sitting's still kinda painful. oof) and empty that bladder which I saw just over an hour ago. My uniform was too wet to change back into, and so I'm a proud owner of yellow scrubs and a pair of hospital slippers. to remember the nice nurses by. Couldn't wait to be discharged, since I thought if I was warded, I would be in bed an entire day (I'd just explode from the boredom) and they would need to call my parents to arrange the payment and stuff.

And so, I proudly limped out of the ICU and towards the pharmacy, where I proudly paid $3.95 for my own medicine (I paid for my own medicine! Oh gosh, I'm a mature big kid now!) Dr Wong, Mr Samuel Lee, Mr Kevin and Ms Eunice Chan then came (I'm still a bit shocked at the number of teachers who turned up--first thing that came to my mind was that I'd troubled so many people and even teachers), marking the end of my little adventure in the ICU. Mr Lim Joon Ling was waiting outside, and all teachers except for Dr Wong and Mr Lee went back to school for their classes.

As soon as the three of us reached my front door, I knew an entirely new adventure awaits, and that is: tell your family that you were just involved in a car accident! They got mad, as I expected, and my ears did ring. That adventure's nowhere complete yet, since I haven't told my sister (I've forbidden anyone from telling her--my gramma told my parents even though I told her I'd call them myself, which resulted in probably a high interlocal phone bill and lots and lots of screaming) yet. My brother freaked out enough when he went home to discover his beloved older sister as an accident survivor. But having an even smaller attention span than mine, he let up soon enough, and was going on and on about the letter he'd written to New Paper and got published.

(Check out today's New Paper, page 67! He wrote about how Manchester United is too dependant on that twerp Ronaldo.)

I did wonder how I managed to survive a car accident just like that. The impact between a car--especially one that is in motion--and a human body would result in more damage than this. For one, I was hit on the lower torso, when most people involved in a car accident would be hit on their chest, their legs or worse, head. I was flung 2 frikkin meters, but the only damage from that was the abrasions on my knees and elbow--my head, my neck and my spine are all fine. The doctor said it's as if I had some kind of protection--like a shield. I could joke about my thick layer of fat saving my life (so all of you out there: go gain weight!), but I know that it just has to be divine intervention. You can laugh at me when I say that my guardian angel who'd helped me out on Monday (it involved me, walking in the rain in clementi avenue 1, and a total stranger giving me his umbrella for free, and without hesitation. I still have that umbrella--it protected me against the rain today as I lay on the road) was there again for me today. The fact that the driver didn't run away, and stayed there till the ambulance come, and he didn't scold me as far as I knew, and a doctor from a nearbly clinic was passing by, and Irsyad's mom and the two women who'd comforted me--too much of a coincidence?

The one main thing that I've learnt today, I guess, is that God hasn't left me as I thought he has this week, and that He wants me to know that there are people--even strangers--who can still care for me (I'm not emo, kay thanks, but honestly I used to think that I'm frikkin' alone in the world--no really, I'm not emo). Thanks to all of you who'd sent me SMSes (they also helped me deal with boredom!), and to all the teachers who were there for me. I'd stop being cynical over people's help and concern, and I'd be thankful for everything (even the depressing mark I got for English test), everyone in my life since I could have lost all of those this morning.

And oh yeah, I'd never, ever jaywalk again.

(Boyzone is really good to listen to when you're recuperating, btw). :D

-------------------------

OH LOL WEAPON X: FIRST CLASS NOW INCOPORATES GAMBIT INTO HIS LIFE STORY.

Thoughts:

1) since when is Remy that old to deserve a place in Wolverine' past?

2) it's going to be screwed up, and they'd try so hard to squeeze this into Remy's and Logan's crowded past it's going to be painful.

3) I want to see Cindy Crawford, Tom Cruise and Jay Leno in Wolverine's origin, since they link everyone to his frikkin' origin nowadays.

4) the things they'd do to make a movie cannon...

...  I need to get my hands on this comic. I need to subscribe to Marvel's Digital Comics--this can only mean that I need a frikkin' job to sponsor my geekdom.

Tags: ,

Aug. 30th, 2008

default

Coming May 1 2009....








Well, holiday's here and I think I'd indulge myself for half a day before getting down to work, so I thought I'd post something about probably one of the biggest projects in comicgeek-dom this year apart from the death and retconning of so many characters in both DC and Marvel I stopped caring (trying to follow it would hurt the brain more than doing Calculus)--especially in that Dan Didio's brainchild (read: not a c ompliment) Final Crisis

240

After the insane success of the X-Men movies in the box office since the beginning of this new millenium (and inspired many comic book movie adaptations to take flight), the people in Hollywood had decided to do a Wolverine movie, seeing that the guy hogs more and more spotlight with every consecutive movie even more than Jean Grey herself. The great news is that Hugh Jackman--guy's been described as the thinking woman's sex symbol--signed up to play everyone's favorite grumpy Canadian. The bad news is that a million other mutants seemed to be signed up as well and so far, a lot of people in forums are thinking how those million mutants can fit into three movies (the actors apparently got signed up for a three-movie-deal) with Wolverine's back story as the backbone of the story.

Now, Wolverine's a really interesting guy: he can't remember his past, and he's been around since forever. (He's near immortal, you see). Guy was an experiment subject that gave him those trademark claws and adamantium skeletal structure--but he already had a mutation in the first place, which was his astonishing healing ability. I'm sure that would be really good in the screen--for around half an hour.

IMDB's summary for the movie is Wolverine lives a mutant life, seeks revenge against Victor Creed (who will later become Sabertooth) for the death of his girlfriend, and ultimately ends up going through the mutant Weapon X program
. So we'd have like an hour of James Howlett (I don't even know if they're using the James persona or just straight away with 'Logan') coming out as a mutant, emo probably about whether his girlfriend would accept him or not, and once she does, she gets killed by Victor Creed and he'll spend the rest of the movie chasing him, getting owned by Creed and then turning to Weapon X experiments to try and level the playing ground, but instead was turned into the amnisiac furry Wolverine we all know and love.

(Or if all else fails, they can always concentrate on Wolverine's many past lives)

Uhh yeah. So where do the rest of the cast come in?

240       is      240

We all know where Sabertooh factors in--he's Logan's archnemesis after all. Still not sure who James/Logan's girlfriend would be--in the past, he used to be sweet on this Japanese gangster daughter of some sort named Mariko. There would be a William Styrker, and a Deadpool and a Silver Fox. And there are so many rumors no one's sure who's gonna be in or not, but to many fans' chagrin, there seems to be no Jubilee or Shadowcat that can hang around as a smart-ass (in a good way) sidekick to lighten up Wolverine's angst.

And then there's Gambit.

240

Everyone's favorite card charging, wise crackin' thief Cajun who got left out of the first three X-men movies and left fans fuming, which only makes me suspect that Remy's involvement in this Wolverine movie is fanservice. Remy's gonna be played by Taylor Kitsch (that picture at the top of the entry has a purpose!), who speaks French, is hot, and is an excellent actor. Here's a benefit of the doubt for the Cajun accent and Gambit's appearance (although he needs to wear his fringe down, and make his eyes red-on-black somehow). I'm not particularly concerned if the card throwing's gonna be CG or not (not everyone can throw cards like magicians) as well. But rather, what the hell is Gambit doing in a Wolverine back story?

I hope the movie producers and Taylor Kitsch know what they are getting into. Remy's probably one of the most famous X-men (or non X-men) in the current and any alternate universe, and if they screw him up, the movie would have to contend with the label the movie that screws up Gambit, and Taylor Kitsch won't be popular with the many many Gambit fans. Now, Remy's got a complex backstory worthy of a movie itself (lol, we may see a spin off of a spin off if his character turns out to be a hit), but none of this has any connection with Wolverine's. Remy's been associated with Sabretooth during the Morlocks Massacre (yet another dreadful piece of his past) when he was in the Marauders and... and... that's it. The movie's being shot in New Orleans, so maybe Logan brushed past Remy or something and a fight or a friendship (or even a hot make out scene--who'd knew?) arose.

240
 

So OK, there was an entertaining series of comics on Gambit and Wolverine, but that occurred during their time together as an X-Men (I remembered reading scans about Logan posing as Nightcrawler and Remy as Cyclops. ROFL!). One thing we can look forward to if we put these two together is a lot of funny banters since they're both deliciously sarcastic. 

240

But nothing would ever beat Remy and Rogue on screen. TOGETHER. The fact that Rogue's not gonna be in this movie, and in the course of three movies, Remy may be paired off with some other chick totally stinks. Well, I won't be surprised if Belladona--his wife for a day in the comics--would be introduced, especially if Gambit turns out to be a popular character: fans would want to see him having a romantic side story.

Another character I'd like to see is Mystique. Recently,there was a Wolverine comic on Getting Mystique--after her betrayal during the Messiah Complex storyline. It was a beautiful story that consisted of Wolverine and Mystique's past as well as the savage fight that ended in something like this: Mystique. Wolverine. Bleeding. Fight to the death. Naked. Gun. And we'd get to see that hot model naked except for the blue body paint again ;)

I guess I'd watch the movie regardless of the review since uhm GAMBIT IS IN IT LOL. 

....

HOLD THAT THOUGHT. I JUST SAW THE BOOTLEG WOLVERINE TRAILER FROM COMIC-CONS (ppssstt, don't tell Marvel), and...

WOAH.

Apart from Hugh Jackman being outrageously sexy, everything else shocks me xD One. Sabertooh is not blond. He's actually hot. Two. Is that Emma Frost turning into a diamond after being shot? Three. GAMBIT fadjkfxakjdxfkxfkjjdsxfkmsdx like two fucking seconds of fucking hotness. Trenchcoat. Bo staff. Cards! (But his eyes aren't RED on BLACK!--but that's what makes Le Diable Blanc--his eyes!).

Ah screw everything I've said before. Last time I thought Ironman would suck. Look how it turned out. Wolverine may or may not suck, but d'oh, I'ma fork out money to watch it in the end.

(To watch trailer click here).

Aug. 21st, 2008

default

World Cup qualifying is on!

... and marko marin is officially my new crush--it was either him, jack wilshere or toni kroos. since jack's of my age and most peoples still don't trust him with coping with the pressure in the premier league, i don't think i'll see him anywhere near the arsenal senior team this season unless injuries get that bad (well, that's kinda ironic since the 'senior' team is made up of mostly youngsters 21-23 of age. but with new signing ex-united silvestre, the average age might be raised up a little--like by 0.5). toni kroos was toni snooze during the bayern game against hamburg despite his promising pre-seasons.

and that leaves marko marin, who's the star of newly promoted club borussia monchengladbach, is 19, and the apple of germany youth football...



... who was cut from euro 2008 because jogi has a crush on out of form but experienced players...



... and who scored for the belgium game this morning--a very beautiful goal he set up with phillip lahm.


yes, i think from now on, everyone would know him. jogi would not call him markus anymore or just 'little one' anymore, and maybe little marko marin had just booked his permanent seat on the senior squad.

and that's not the only thing to celebrate about. miroslav klose (permanent crush) took the armband in the absence of michael ballack and the still-injured bernd schneider. he didn't score like he did the first time he captained the team, and he was substituted out for kevin kuranyi (uuurrgggghhhh!) in the second half.

and that means...



if anyone first tells me bastian schweinsteiger would captain the mannschaft, i would tell him to get his head checked. i love schweini and all, and i know he's good, but he's 23, and he's a little bit hot-headed at times. but bastian, just like miro, did not embarass that armband he wore and scored the first goal--a free kick.


there is something really sexy about anyone that wears that armband. (thanks kuranyi, you ruined the picture).

elsewhere, but not very far away (european countries are pretty near to each other after all), my other-favorite-team-that-is-still-being-managed-by-my-least-favorite-manager won their game against sweden 3-2. apparently, les bleus fans everywhere seemed to be surprised that domenech had actually made changes to the team--but being a perpetual pessimistic cynic, i have to agree with Laurie in the offside that the changes are all because of injuries. other than that, domenech is still his old self, making funny substitutions and questionable player choices. i also think that ol' rayray is trying to save himself by actually listening to the FFF and the press and pretty much every les bleus fan.

i'm still peeved that nasri was not in the team. yoann gourcuff making the cut was pleasant enough, but domenech just had to do the 'nasri' thing--subtituting gourcuff in for like fifteen seconds. that's like as if saying: "here, people, your pretty playmaker coming on board! seen him? okay, now back to my own ingenious plan to own this field."



no, henry didn't score. he was still captain though. and he must be very happy with the new jersey. yeah, it looks good. but i'm not very happy since this means that the relatively new euro 08 jersey i bought two months ago is no longer the 'in' jersey.



surprisingly, sidney govou played well today. he didn't only just play well, he actually scored. not once, but twice. WOAH. his lyon teammate, karim benzema (another crush!) scored the first goal for france not long after used-to-be-legend henrik larsson celebrated his 99th national cap by scoring for sweden.

elsewhere, but again, not very far away, spain continued their good form by winning 3-0 over denmark, with xavi alonso scoring twice. england and italy (HA-HA!) disappointed fans, both drawing 2-2 in a not very inspiring performance. ex-fergie's second right hand man, carlos queiroz oversaw the portugal national team demolishing the faeroe islands 5-0 (don't get too happy; poor faeroe islands always get demolished. in fact, i should ask: ONLY 5-0?!) russia and argentina also could only manage a 1-1 and a goalless draw respectively. it was understandable for russia since their opponent was netherlands--and argentina has its key players vying for gold medal in the olympics.

anyway, i'm just glad germany and france got a good start to their world cup campaign. honestly, there are a lot of things to be fixed since they didn't win this game without much effort and labor, but i'm sure the pieces would fall into the right place as the players get more in-form as the season progresses (i'm looking at you miro; seriously, make me stop worrying about your form!)

i'll just end this post with a non-football related photo. this is taylor kitsch, star of soon-defunct popular drama friday night lights (which is a shame since i'm about to pick up on this drama--i heard it's an excellent series). he also happens to be one of the many, many (uh-oh) stars for next year's anticipated superhero flick wolverine.



guess who he's gonna play?



 
LOST fans are not gonna be happy about this, but kitsch is going on to play remy lebeau, a.k.a gambit, a.k.a that super hot cajun superhero who walk right in the middle of the angels and the villains, a.k.a he wishes he can get horny with rogue. he happens to be one of my favorite marvel superheroes as well (very few of those). i heard josh holloway who plays sawyer in LOST was the shoo-in for the role--not a big fan of the series, but i heard that he looks and sounds like him--but holloway doesn't wanna play remy cause he thinks the character is just like sawyer.

i'm okay with anyone as long as 1. they're hot, 2. they've got that cajun accent and 3. they get that gambit character right. personally, i think that new wolverine movie would suck since there are way too many characters in it so far and how deep can the story be? i'm just gonna be concerned with gambit. and gambit. (and hugh jackman!)

so taylor kitsch should wear his fringe down and wear those red contact lenses. he should be fine.

May. 5th, 2008

default

it's a genuine magnet

exams! over! let's just cut straight to the post exam activities, shall we?

1. dinner
delifrance. movin finished an entire flask of parmessan cheese.

2. still dinner
what's a destressing dinner without the small talks? conversations were centered on miley cyrus (or dislike of her), hannah montana (and dislike of her), that's so raven, suite life of zack and cody (universal favorites!) and school stuff (of course).

3. arcade
found out that me and movin really suck at time crisis (oh god it's so embarassing. we didn't even get past the prologue stage -.- i just have no luck with first person shooting games from counter strike to half life to dirge of cerberus to time crisis 2,3 and 4.) aaron of course was owning his red-blue-green game thingy.

4. movie
ironman. duh. ohmygod ohmygodohmygod. my brain's still blown away from it. anyway, without being too much of a fangirl (zomgilovelovelovetonythatlittleassholeandrobertdowneyjristhenewsexgargh) here's a really quick review:

<spoiler!>

what a superhero movie should have:

cool costume design: checked
let's face it: ironman aint have the spiffiest design around, but the movie actually didn't make the costume as ugly as some (not mentioning names here) comic book artists make it look like. really like the fact that they've included jack kirby's original grey "tinman" design as mark I as well as including a mark II before tony finalises his design. it makes it more ... realistic. after all, rome isn't built in a day (but apparently spiderman's costume is?)

love interest: double checked
hey, guess what? tony and pepper didn't do anything dirty on screen. not even a peck on the lips. but that doesn't mean the romance part of the story's as dead as the ironman costume; in fact it's as sizzling as its turbo engine (god, i have to stop with this lame similes). the "there but not there" nature of the relationship and the chemistry between the two actors only add to the appeal to the movie

revised backstory: checked
as mentioned before: instead of tony being captured by vietnamese and made to create a weapon by communists, he was captured by militants in afganishtan with a very appropriate name: ten rings (more on that later). but other than this update, tony's origin as a genius millionaire playboy is beautifully played by robert downey and the fact that the story focuses on his character more than anything else is a nice change to the normal beat-em-up-for-the-screen direction action movies take. which brings me to my next point:

cgi and action scenes: checked and a half check
no superhero movie is complete without the mind blowing cgi scenes and adrenaline pumping action scenes. cgi is flawless. plain wow. action scenes? well, after watching countless of trailers, the most exciting scenes are already given away there. there are some cool moments there (personal favorite is the airchase) when tony either does the ass kicking or at the receiving end of the ass kicking and with a suit like that, of course there are some classic moments (for example, when a militant shoots at the mark 1 costume at short range; it bounces off and kills him instead XDDDDDD). but i guess compared to the rest of the superhero movies, yeah, there's something a little bit lacking. having just read a scan of an ironman comic in [info]scans_daily yesterday, i got to see how brutal tony--heck, superheroes can be (it was a fight against the mandarin; owch: i pity the mandarin after the end of the fight). if there's anything to iron out in this movie, then a more elaborate longer fighting scenes can be shown. like darren's put it: it doesn't feel like it's reached the climax yet.

possibility for a sequel: super checked
next time, baby.
in the words of james rhodes himself. future (BIG SPOILER) war machine, a sidekick of sort to ironman. the ten ring thing? please. here's the laydown: ironman's got a communist archrival known as the mandarin... because he's chinese. he's got ten rings that give him superhuman powers. in the movie: the leader of the ten ring militant group is a man with a grudge against tony. duh. he's the movie-verse's version of the mandarin. only because he's not chinese, i don't know what they'd call him. the afghanistan?
the S.H.I.E.L.D introduction is just too funny; have you ever thought of changing your name? heh. and its inclusion means that there's something deeper going on--S.H.I.E.L.D involvement would most likely or not involve avengers involvement. and avengers... well. rumors about a thor movie. rumors about an ironman movie. rumors about an avengers movie. fill in the blanks.
this isn't relevant, but the stan lee cameo was hilarious. old man surrounded by pretty girls. guys, if you want your golden years to be surrounded by hot babes a third of your age, be a comic legend.
anyway, the ending itself is enough to ensure you that: yes, this movie is just a prequel. a trailer. an appetizer for the real thing.
(and with ironman grossing $101 at first weekend in america only supports the fact that yes: ironman II is coming to a theater near you soon)

what a superhero movie should have but lack all the time:

a plot. a script. a story. a... something that's worth watching for, dammit.
usually, people watch movie for its story. unfortunately, superhero movies tend to get carried away by focusing on the sexy ladies and the fighting scenes and the cgi and whatnot. see: elektra, hulk (the first one, not the one's that coming), spiderman 3, xmen3. fortunately enough, the strong point of ironman is actually its script. like i've said before, the movie's all about tony's growth from immature cassanova to a hero with a heart. there are many witty lines in the movie and camerawork, pacing and everything is damn near perfect. this is the brainchild of an indie director and an indie actor geniuses. with the perfect cast, this movie is one with an indie sparkle and appeal, but also with the bigbudget blockbuster draw.

a character we'd care about
oh come on. you have to admit peter parker is actually kinda boring. so is superman--that ol' boy scout. batman? yeah, okay. a bit emo at times, but at least a unique character on its own. ironman?
tony stark isn't supposed to be a character we care about; morality states that we should despise such a selfish, arrogant, sarcastic playboy asshole. but somewhere between the cheeky grin and the tongue in cheek replies, tony stark suddenly appeals to us. especially after his brush with death and tony's become a "changed" man, a man searching for a heroic heart and a way to fight something that he's created himself--a man trying to be a hero, and a man, who even though hides in the super armor, still has a bleeding heart and a dark dark secret he's fighting to hide (well, that's sequel material).
many comic writers have lost track of this essence of who anthony stark really is (probably in the attempt to make him the dick of marvel universe; it's working), but this movie hasn't. it's tony stark--the best of tony stark with wit, charm and intelligence--brought into life by the brilliant robert downey jr which would engage not only comic fans but also the rest of the audience who's never heard of slade wilson before.

conclusion
this is not a quick review after all, is it? sigh. me and my tendency to digress and blabber on and on and on and on...
anyway, this movie is indeed a masterpiece that has set a new standard in superhero movies. it has some kinks in its armor (for one: it needs more score to accompany the movie, needs more action and come to think of it, the last part of the movie was a bit rushed... from tony the clumsy hero who's trying to use the suit properly to suddenly tony the afghanistan villlage savior and tony, the guy who almost died crushed by ironmonger), but it is still a shiny one at that. if the sequel is done properly (hint: don't focus too much on the alcholism or the movie would just turn out like some sappy crappy drama), it may even do a spiderman2 and beat its prequel and the golden standard it's set.

on a really random sidenote: a pile of 50 cent coins can really hinder the functions of your ezlink card (thanks darren for giving me the chance to try that out). darren calls it ironcoins. haha. ya lah, it's common sense especially to students trained in physics like us, but it's just fun to ... experiment that out.

----
as promised, last post where i gush about ironman.

Apr. 30th, 2008

default

the following rant is the product of exam stress

i cant believe i just went through 8 exams in the past few days. shan't discuss it (psst... everything went hell...) because i believe in letting bygones be bygones... after all, what you don't know can't hurt you. yes, i'm a coward, but as ron in harry potter said: "it's bad enough going through it once, why go through it again?"

i think we all have the right to be tired. after the english paper on tuesday, i thought i got a brainfreeze despite not drinking any caffeine. could. not. think. when i went home, i hardly touched physics and geog, deciding to continue studying at 2 am like how i always do nowadays. set up 3 alarm clocks. woke up at five. i slept like a log, consumed by fatigue. then i woke up, panicked and everything went downhill from there.

anyway, i'm keeping my outlook positive and am counting down to the post exam period happily. still would be busy after that with IRs and apparently SIMC (like everyone out there) and oh shit i haven't finished the bully free script thing-- but at least it's a good kind of busy, as in, one that doesn't involve killing too much braincells and burning the midnight oil to drown in revisions. and there are preparations for the World Youth Day Sydney--haven't come to  a single bonding session or prayer meeting because of pastoral attachment. kinda weird, cause i'd be on my own for ten days in Australia with 20 people all older than me--except for jeanette. yay she hasn't come for the meetings either so she's in the same boat as me. (: but since psalm 91 attachment would end by this week ( :(! ) it would mean that i've no other excuse to not come for wyd meetings.



kinda exciting, travelling to australia again all on my own--only country out of asia i've travelled so far, twice no less, without parents. last time i went in summer with the spider girls and dr seah, and now it's gonna be winter when i go there--and this time no nice living arrangement. we all gonna live in a school hall or something sleeping in subzero sleeping bags with commonal toilets. no tv. so much for catching reruns of season 4 house md there, unless i hang around in some restaurant with channel 7 playing for hours.

and i'll get to see the pope.

and like hundreds of thousands or even millions of catholic youth from all around the world. that means there's gonna be germans too. (!!!) gonna ask yang xuan to brush up my germans so that my vocab would contain more than just guten tag and ich liebe dich and fick dich (that's a vulgarity by the way XD). and for those who still don't know my life principles, here goes:

1. don't discuss papers
2. don't follow the crowd
3. germans are cute

wow, what a superb way of summarising my life.

iron man opens today!


(i didn't leech off bandwiths for this one, heh!)

reviews have so far been awesome (except for the straits times life! which will be discussed shortly) calling it the "golden, correct way of making a superhero movie". rottentomatoes score the movie an 83% (a really high figure, believe me, if you follow the site) although since it's just the opening, it may change, but probably not much. the movie is hailed for making tony stark a very very sexily flawed superhero and very human, despite being super--with a script that doesn't focus greatly on the actions but instead more on the making of iron man and the transformation of tony stark: cassanova to tony stark: really-trying-his-best-to-be-a-superhero (or in the comics: really-trying-his-best-to-not-be-a-dick-and-fail-and-we-love-him-for-that). tony stark's much like bruce wayne in that they're both millionaries and ordinary humans (and really superdicks, but that side isn't really shown in the movies) but tony ain't like the broody dark knight. batman grieves over parents, lost partners, lost friends and pretty much everything in his life, making him an emo dude. tony's more... optimistic and really has principles he sticks to. and of course, tony isn't a goody two shoes like peter parker being an alcoholist and no boy scout like superman and captain america or a weirdo like thor (i can't believe he's my dad's favorite superhero. "i shalt vanquish thou with my awesome hammer...!"). and i shan't bore people with my nerdy superhero geek-ism. it can be scary. i know.

well, ong sor fern in life calls the movie all action but no story, but that isn't what other reviews suggest. called one of the highest quality big budget movie in a long time, the cgi's there, believable but toned down to bring out the story and the characters. i won't know for sure until i see the movie (5 more days 5 more days dammit) but hey currently it's their word against hers. the strong points of the movie is the "indie" twist to it, the cast (i've said it and i'll say it again: robert downey jr, you are tony stark without the armor!) and the writers.

and for those who want to see nick fury played by samuel lee jackson (as in famous actor who looks like nick fury in the comics), just go get the dvd next time. lol. this movie really knows how to bring the geeks in fanboys and girls.

but i'm not sure how they're going to make an avengers movie to follow up captain america and hulk and ironman. it works in animated movies and cartoons, but real life movie? come on. what can the script be like that won't repulse the mainstream audience (unless we're talking about the target audience being comic geeks; we'll watch any superhero movie they throw at us)? hulk goes wild, going hulk smash hulk smash through out new york city and fantastic four makes a cameo with the thing engaging hulk in a beauty contest a fistfight and then avengers form to stop the rampaging monster? OHOH i got it! don't tell me, don't tell me!

skrulls.



but as we all have been taught by our parents: don't judge a book by its cover, or a movie by its prospects. robert downey jr would be there; he won't allow a lousy script to surface for the movie--if there is, he'd just throw it down and stomp off and set up office next to the director's to make sure that no lousy grade stuff like that would ever go through that door anymore. man, i love that guy.

so if an avengers movie is being made, why not a justice league one? we'll have brandon routh and cristian bale as two out of the Big Three--wonder woman can be played by uhm pamela anderson with black wig. really: DC needs to follow in marvel footsteps and produce superhero movies too. starting with green lantern and flash.

(random fact: you know, in marvel vs dc, iron man goes against kyle rayner, then green lantern, and well... you know it's like a fangirl feast for me).

talk about being carried away. now i've possibly bored what few readers this LJ have by ranting on about comics and hollywood.

(no yangxuan, i'm not crazy anymore. this morning was just an... exception to my regularly sane life).

woah this is turning out to be a damn long post. (and why do i always end long posts with this kind of sentences? how cliche...) gonna have to study chemistry and vectors now. two other weak subjects (and you wonder: how many weak subjects do you have, intan?). already wasted time napping, watching drama series and eating hot corn so it's time for me to turn back to my busy student alter ego and jump back into the world of exams, stress and depression.

Apr. 29th, 2008

default

dark knight special?

i don't know why, but seeing him in this one final movie of his just has me stopping my revisions to blog a while (and let off steam).


special dark knight poster! courtesy of yahoo!movies.

heath ledger's last laugh: the jocker

it's a pity that he won't reprise his role as the clown prince anymore in other batman sequels. a great actor, he was.

ironman premieres tomorrow!
Tags:

Apr. 19th, 2008

default

yeah, i can fly



i'm not a big marvel fan, but iron man has to be my most favorite marvel super hero ever! 

why?

because he's a dick, silly. he's like bruce wayne of batman, but more of an asshole no matter in or out of the costume. he's a millionaire playboy jerk in a suit he constructed himself to give him superpowers--and he's no superman, because he's got his own demons, like his alcohol addiction and his own ego (and don't get me started on his super jerkself in civil wars). 

i've been waiting for the movie since last year and boy, i'm so glad it's finally coming out. all the trailers are just drop dead gorgeous (robert downey jr is tony stark straight from the comics!) anddddddd there's gonna be a sequel.  it's gonna be a trilogy and i think it has the potential to be the next spiderman, despite being relatively unknown compared to other icons like captain america, superman and spiderman. 

if the movie turns out to be good; no one wants another hulk (thank god they're remaking that movie). but judging from the trailer, i think it'll be pretty amazing. it looks exciting and heroic and serious, balanced with robert downey's sense of humor that only convinces me he's the perfect actor to portray tony stark (maybe being a hardcore fan of the character helps).

and next year: look out for yet another incredible hulk movie (this one is hyped to be good) and hugh jackman's wolverine.