Redefinition

As I sit here procrastinating instead of studying I'm looking through imdb.com for the next movies to look out for. Well well, it reminds me of the other night when BSA (Borneo students association - A students society that's great for social events) had organised a movie gathering to see Step up 2 the streets. Now I'm usually a fan of seeing anything with dance in it, but people that know me know that my movies have to have decent if not a good storyline and/or script. Upon seeing that the opening scene had bboying footage from "the freshest kids" (a documentary about breaking), I thought that it wouldn't be as bad as I thought it would. Important moral: NEVER, EVER judge a book from the first few pages, fuck the cover.

The acting itself wasn't that bad, but fucking shit, the script was probably the CHEESIEST thing I ever had to sit through. I was considering impaling myself after hearing the word "the streets" used like it was some holy beacon of all that is cool. I thought the dancing itself was pretty good, I saw some bboying and popping, which were all decent in terms of creativity and execution, but I didn't see much done to the music. The storyline itself I actually didn't mind too much, rather the script made me feel like covering my ears but it did have its moments such as "awwww he got da key!!!" and "I like you teeth! Thanks, I like your accent! What accent? I hevv no accent!".

Now, to those that tell me to watch these kind of movies (You got served, step up 1 + 2, stomp the yard etc.) just for its dancing, allow me to extrapolate the concept further for you. As Matt Damon once said on an interview for rove, he didn't want to be known as an "action star" but rather a star that could do action. His reasoning was because an "action star" will come on do a few takes of dialogue and proceed to do "action"... sounds very much like porn doesn't it? That's right people, he likened action to porn. As well as I can remember, this is how he worded it "you go up there, you talk for a few lines and then you do your "action" parts". So there you have it, action, dance and porn movies have a big thing in common: they're all designed to be aesthetically pleasing to their viewers, just their target viewers differ greatly.

Another thing I've noticed: 50 of the imdb bottom 100 (50%) were made in 2000 or after whereas 50 of the top 250 (20%) were made after 2000. So it's not just me, plenty of other people think that movies that have been made in the last few years are rather poor. Though, going to the cinemas isn't really just for the movie itself, but rather a social situation. Much like BSA movie night, the movie itself was average - mediocre at best and nothing extraordinary was shown but it was getting out and talking to people that was great.

Hip hop is dead

Sorry for quoting Nas's song, but he's fucking right. Even though it's been over a year since he released the song the message is showing more and more. As of late I've noticed that my home (replay) has more and more gangsters hanging out there. Now these aren't your typical gangsters, these people are so bad ass that the only time they're likely to show their face is when there's a public holiday, school holiday, last day of school OR a friday roughly around 3:30; scary stuff. These gang bangers are so hard they look EXACTLY like rap artists such as lil jon, 50 cent and Ja rule! They gotta be hard if they look/dress the same right? Right...???

Nah seriously people, any of you that know me will know that my hip hop has to be the right way and not be about rims, drug use, bitches, hoes and pimping. I respect that those artists have found fame and are doing what they love. Though, I HATE that kids these days (I don't want to be racist but there's really no other way I can put it) particularly those of dark skinned origin are always dressing like them for their image. Image ≠ personality, in fact I'm willing to bet that if you're just copying what you see on your favourite music videos that you probably have little if any personal substance at all.

Before people accuse me of bitching too much (I know I do anyway), think about the following points...

- How much money do you think the kids asked their parents for to pay for their clothes just so they could look like a wankster?
- How much stupid shit such as vandalism and fighting do you think kids get into because of the image they want to portray?
- How much of that stupid shit do you think leads to a whole load of taxpayers money getting wasted? Yes, this WILL apply to you.

I'm also aware that people get their fashion ideas and sense from external sources such as celebrities, other individuals and mediums like music videos, movies, TV etc. My main gripe is that kids spend FAR too much time trying to look like something they don't know about (hip hop). Other forms of fashion don't follow a culture and ideology as much as hip hop does.

Commercialisation is what has caused kids to get sucked into this stupid facade. Thank you Urban Incorporated.

Progressive society

Recently I've been hearing more and more about these "Go cards" that are to be used on public transport. For those that are blissfully unaware, Go cards work on micro chip technology and utilises magnets. The website claims that the technology is tamper proof and will cut boarding times, allowing the bus/ferry/train to get to its destination earlier. From experience, any card (mainly Tekken in my example) that requires the use of magnets can be tampered and have the data corrupted, rendering the system to become faulty.

That's not the only problem, another one is that this technology has only been released here recently. Other places such as Hong Kong have had this technology for YEARS and when I say YEARS I mean, I saw this technology after grade 9 YEARS. Of course, living in the great land that we call Australia there is MORE to the fine print. Not only is the technology new, it's not 100% finished either. There have been several instances where a person has had to swipe their card over 10 times just for it to register, this has happened to my friend and her first swipe didn't register whereas her 2nd swipe did. For those that don't know what happens to those that try to cheat the system by swiping only once, the system will deduct an additional fee (not sure what it is). Very effective considering the system itself isn't complete.

What really ticks me off is that this reflects the technological situation of Australia. Why does Australia SUCK when it comes to technology and get the short end of the stick? Aren't we a developed nation? Isn't our economy considered to be a lot better now? Even better news: Kevin Rudd is planning to advance our technology by filtering our internet; hooray for idiotic right wing-ism.

PS: To those that didn't understand my previous post, one of my relatives might have cancer. I just didn't feel very happy at the time and wanted to get a lot out. Thanks to those that comforted me =)

Taunts from life, most emotional post ever

What does a person do when life kicks you to the ground and starts to test you with a series of taunts? Say you've got to cross an unfamiliar road where everything was wrong, potholes, unbearable heat and when you get to the other side... it's a whole different kind of bad. Embarking for your return, things have died down, the potholes have sorta been covered, but not that well... the dents are obviously still there, the heat is bearable now but you wish it was gone for good. What would you say to a scenario where that happened but it's come back right at you? Having to possibly cross that road again?

For those that don't get it, my grandfather (RIP) passed away a few months ago, figure the rest out yourself.

Fear not of man

Yesterday I was at home for the entire day trying to do some work (procrastination like usual) and found myself cycling through my usual procrastination sites (AP, TZ, Facebook, Youtube etc.). It wasn't until around 5/6 when my parents got home that I got up out of my desk and helped them to grab a few things. Seeing a wrapped up item in butchers paper, I asked my Mum what it was. She told me it was a Mud Crab and that got me kind of excited as I usually enjoy messing around with the poor bastards before they're killed to eat.

I remember my Uncle telling me about Mud Crabs when my parents still used to own the restaurant at 8 Mile Plains. He told me that when you turn the Mud Crabs upside down there's almost literally nothing they can do unless you stick your finger into their pincers (bloody idiot you are then). Next he showed me that the poor bastards enjoy getting patted on their underside and seem as if they're in some form of euphoria when you do so... until you start patting them there, which is when they go berserk.

So what happened after my parents got back was that I was fixing myself a meal (Ma Po Tofu and rice) and my step dad asked me for the kitchen shearers. I found them on the kitchen bench, handed them to him and went back to fixing up my meal. 20 seconds later when I put the spatula into the basin, I looked at the crab and there was the poor thing... WITH A PAIR OF SCISSORS SHOVED UP ITS ARSE. I asked my stepdad why he put the scissors there as opposed to just cutting it open straight away and he said that if you kill them too suddenly, some of their appendages may detach. Whereas if you kill them slowly, all the appendages stay intact. Needless to say, this roused my hippie/greeny side as I felt it was an unnecessarily cruel method of preparing the crab. Why do humans find it necessary to do what it takes to make themselves happy? Why do things that are "lesser" than us suffer so poorly?