I was at work on Sunday and my friend was nice enough to leave his laptop behind for us to watch movies. When I showed up they were watching David Fincher’s The Game, starring Michael Douglas. I watched the last bit of it and thought it was a very interesting film, maybe one day I’ll watch the whole thing, but I more or less figured out the whole film from the ending.
Once the movie was finished and my friend left, my other friend from work asked me what movie I wanted to watch next. Looking through the list, there were quite a few things I had my eye on (particularly Dead Presidents which I’ve always wanted to watch but never got around to), but she suggested that we watch He’s Just Not That Into You instead. Needless to say, I was reluctant, but I watched it anyway, or at least, attempted to.
From what I could gather, it’s about the situations that people get into because their friends sugarcoat the truth for them. The thing the character kept repeating was “we’re not the exception, we’re the rule,” which basically meant that for every situation that has a predictable ending, people tend to write themselves in as the exception because they’re in denial. I don’t want to get all uber-Liberal, but there are moments in the film where it seemed that the women were just screwing things up by making it more complex than it is, while the guys rub their temples in vain wondering just why the hell is this all happening. Men are extremely simple people, they have no clue how to communicate with women because women apparently don’t understand simplicity.
Which is what I understood the film to be saying.
The Jennifer Aniston segment is about her and her longtime boyfriend that won’t marry her. He insists marriage is just a show and that he really loves her anyway. She talks to her friends and they put this idea in his head that this guy should really get married with her because he’s not serious until he does. She breaks up with him, goes to live with her family for a bit, realizes that all the married men are slobs and not as great as her boyfriend and finally gets back with him.
I love how she completely wastes all this time and at the end of it the boyfriend is completely ok with it.
Then there’s this other scene, where a girl is talking to Justin Long about a guy that she went on a date with. She asks him what’s up with the guy, how come he didn’t call, is something wrong? Maybe something happened, you know, all that denial bullshit because clearly, there is nothing wrong with this girl. Anyway, Justin just rolls his eyes and gives the simple answer:
“You know, if a guy wanted to go out with you, he’d just call.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“What if-”
“-He’ll call if he wants to. If not then he doesn’t.”
And that’s that! Men call, women wait. That’s the drill, and this girl willingly accepts this. She seems fairly accepting of the fact that she has no say in the matter, and it’s not until she has a talk with another girl at work that she realizes that hey, she can call back too! Like, wow, what else are the numbers on the phone for? Do they make two phones? One for men with numbers and one for women with just the receiver? No! Fuck, she’s retarded. How does something so simple get so complicated?
Then we have Scarlett Johansson and Bradley Cooper’s storyline. Cooper’s character is married. That’s it! That’s how it ends, right? Nope! Of course Scarlett’s character believes that she’s a better fit, and of course she pursues him, and of course he cheats on his wife. Why not? Scarlett freakin’ Johansson is coming onto you! Her friend told her that she knew someone who was married for over 10 years before meeting a woman who turned out to be his soul mate and he divorced his first wife and married his second for the next 20. Scarlett’s character believes this is an ok situation and proceeds to wreck the new marriage in hopes of finding love. Yes, love is when you strip naked in front of a married man and swim in front of him, right? No, that is how you become a whore, not a wife. But of course, she stupidly believes her friend and complicates a situation for no reason, but the movie absolves Scarlett of any wrong doing by showing that the marriage was already shaky before she got there.
Anyway, this movie I endured for as much as I could before I just walked out of the room and called my friend up. When I got back, the movie was still playing. Apparently it’s more than two hours long! Who does that? How do you stretch material so thin for so long? Now that, takes talent. Unfortunately, it is the only talent found and applied in this film.
Side Note: The movie also takes place in Baltimore, which, after The Wire, just looks completely different in this movie. It’s much to clean cut and Hollywoodized, but then again, I can’t picture these actors/actresses anywhere near a corner.
These posts come in bunches eh? In the words, but not in the likeness, of John Lennon: “Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup…”
It’s starting to sink in. I’ve…graduated. I’m finished U of T. Maybe one day I’ll reflect on my university years in greater detail, but for now:
- Four years have passed, but I’ve aged 10.
- This school was ruthless.
- “The tree that doesn’t bend, breaks.” And with that, U of T has broken me.
- If I’ve learned anything about myself it’s this: no matter how long the essay is, how much research must be done, I can still finish it in one night. My record is 4000 words.
- Inspired writing is about lighting a fire and keeping it lit. Starting it up is the hardest bit but once it gets going, you have to keep at it before it burns out. Don’t let anything throw you out of your rhythm. I once spent the day without eating because I was so into what I was writing.
- Commuting sucks and so does the TTC. I’ve been downtown every day since 2004 and can honestly say that it’s not all it’s hyped up to be.
- I hate English majors. I really do. I know we’re supposed to bridge the gap between the text and our interpretation of it, but that bridge is paved in bullshit. Sentences that start with “I get the feeling that the author,” should result in the perp getting smacked with a newspaper. Really? You have a feeling? Well, I have evidence. Bitch. I don’t care about what you feel the author was trying to do, you can’t possible know this, nor should you try. Go with what you have! God I hate English majors.
The Hierarchy, as far as I am concerned runs a little something like this:
1.) Best friend(s) (in my situation, would be the Big 4).
2.) Friends.
3.) Acquaintances.
4.) Social Networking Friends.
It used to be just the 3, but now, with the way technology is, a fourth category has emerged. It’s the group of people that you only talk to on Twitter, Facebook, or MSN and even then it’s on a semi-annual basis. What’s the difference between them and acquaintances? Well, they’re very similar, but SNFs are a lower form of acquaintances in that their existence in your life is almost entirely virtual. If your Internet went down, they wouldn’t exist in your life. Acquaintances can be people you see at work or run into somewhat regularly but aren’t really that close with.
Anyway, the other day I pressed ctrl + alt + delete to close a program but didn’t time it right and ended up pressing delete on its own first. A box popped up and I, out of instinct, pressed enter. I had accidentally deleted a friend off my MSN list and I have no clue who it is. Only, it doesn’t really matter that much. If it was anyone from the top 2 of the hierarchy, I’d have figured it out pretty quick. Turns out though, they’re probably in the lower 2 rungs, perhaps the lowest rung which means I have officially deleted them off my life. I may never speak to this person again, ever and…my life hasn’t really changed. I feel bad because I didn’t intend to do it and I wouldn’t start deleting people off my life anyway (not that I collect people or anything, just, I feel guilt when I do it), but, honestly, it’s made little to no impact on my life. My bad.
I finished it today and it was, without a doubt, the greatest show I’ve ever watched. Perhaps, will ever watch. It had drama, humour, and great character development as well. The story was so layered, so intricately weaved that you could watch it several times and catch something new each time. Characters who get killed off in the show tend to “haunt” the show after. By that I mean other characters are greatly affected by the death and you can see the toll it takes on them in their eyes.
It’s a strong testament to how good a show is when their weakest season (their last season) is probably better than most great seasons of any other show. It neatly tied together pretty much everything in the show and left me completely satisfied. Completely. I strongly urge those of you who haven’t watched it to give it a shot. It’s a little slow, and the lingo might turn you off, but stick with it and not only will you be rewarded with a great show, but a new way of looking at things in life as well. And how often can you say that about a show?
Socks for Softball
Normally, I wear ankle socks when I wear shorts. It’s just something I got used to because I hate having people look at my socks when I’m in shorts, but for softball, it’s a different story. Certain situations call for sliding and if I’m in shorts I’m probably going to need a skin graft every time I make one of those plays. Phil suggested that we get ourselves some baseball socks which are longer and will cover your calves to prevent this. I put them on today and I look like a Japanese schoolgirl. They are pretty ridiculous but I will endure it if it saves my legs in the long run.
I also got my Jersey today and I’m fairly disappointed at the number that I got. 13. I wanted number 6, but that was given to a girl on the team (the same one that lectured me on cursing) so I wasn’t too happy that I lost out on it. I would have really, really, wanted it, but, what happens happens. Instead I was given my old number, and I hope that it brings me the same luck that it once did when I first wore it.
Driving
I have until August 26th to get my G so I started taking driving lessons again. I’m not really in need of them, just some small habits that I have to change, but apparently, aside from driving with one hand, I have still maintained most of the good habits that I was taught a few years ago. My teacher took me to the highway and he kept telling me to “reach 100,” when I was on the ramp, which, somehow for an odd reason, reminded me of Marty trying to reach 88mph in the DeLorean to travel back in time. Unfortunately, this wasn’t Back to the Future, and my acceleration didn’t result in me going back to the 1950s and trying to persuade my mother to go out with my father.
This is a great scene from The Godfather Part II. Perhaps my favourite scene. Ever. John Cazale and Al Pacino are perfect and it’s pretty shitty that neither of them won Oscars for this film.