Archive for January, 2007

Chakushin Ari 3

The other day I was contemplating on if I should watch it or not. I’ve had the movie for some time but never had the urge to watch it. The day – or night I should say – came as I decided to go for it and watch the third and final installment of Chakushin Ari – or One Missed Call, as it is known outside of Japan.

I’ve heard a few things about the first two and it gave me some interest in actually watching the third one, albeit I’m not much of a horror movie watcher myself. I just thought it would be something different from what I normally watch these days.

The story, for those of you who don’t know, revolves around a bunch of rowdy students going on their annual school trip. Students, one by one, get a phone call on their cell phone, coming from themselves. They listen to the message and they hear their own voice saying something. We later find out that what they were saying in the phone call was something that they were going to say in the future. The call is accompanied by a photo of themself and how they die. Further, they receive a text message saying that, “you will die unless you forward this message.”

What begins as a half-decent start to a well known Japanese horror franchise, ends up being none other than a free-for-all B-movie that does little in scaring people out of their skins. Some parts seemed so rediculous that it just didn’t seem scary anymore afterwards. Take for example the time when the students scramble over the dead professor who had his heart taken out from him and placed in his hand. They literally scramble on top of him in the elevator, trying to grab their respective cell phones so that they could forward the message once it comes to them. That scene seemed like they were having more fun scrambling over each other than they were supposed to be genuinely acting scared. This movie somewhat reminded me of Hollywood’s Final Destination franchise. The actors in those movies seemed like they were having fun more than being scared out of their wits.

All in all after watching the movie, I felt a little disappointed as I wasn’t scared as I thought I would have been. Aren’t these movies supposed to freak you out? Ringu did a better job than this. While I heard some scary things about the first two installments, maybe the third one was just the outcast, the one that didn’t live up to its predessesors. I must have watched the wrong one first. That was apparant when I didn’t quite understand the relevance of the red ball coming out of people mouths after their death. I still don’t even now. Do I care? Not really.

Meh. So much for these great Japanese horror franchises!

From coffee to coral reefs to Norah Jones

Ok, so that last post wasn’t really today. I had written that a couple weeks ago but for some reason or another it wasn’t posted.

So we’ve recently been hit with a pile of snow. It’s about time I say. Already at the end of January – which is another story altogether – and so far I suppose one can say we’ve been blessed with abnormally warm temperatures thus far. It looks like the snow is here to stay this time though.

All this snow, wind, and frigid temperature makes me want to stay home. Yesterday was the start of the Wintercity Festival here in Toronto. Seeing as it was the day after the coldest day of the year (Jan. 25th is on average the coldest day of the year here in Toronto), it was quite cold. Bring in the snow and you have yourself some chaotic driving conditions that I wouldn’t want to play in. There were a couple things I could have done but alas I simply went home after work. There’s another plus about living in Toronto. If I were already down there, I would have gladly gone and seen what the Philosopher Kings sounded like out in the snow.

Later that night I tried watching Coral Reef, an IMAX film. Needless to say it wasn’t in IMAX at my home. But still, I was captivated by the visually splendid scenes that it took me to through the South Pacific, showing us the deep wonders of the corals beneath the clear blue waters near Fiji and Australia. That is of course, within the first 15 minutes or so. I found myself quickly dozing off as Liam Neeson’s voice intermittently faded in and out of my head. I guess I was more tired than I thought. I’m sure the story was just as wonderful as the visuals, but I just couldn’t keep awake from my tiredness. I will have to try again another day when I know I can keep awake for that 45 minutes of visual splendor.

I’ve been drinking coffee lately. And a lot of it. Well, more than usual for me I suppose. I was never much of a coffee drinker, although I did enjoy the occasional sip here and there when the time called for it. But ever since HN dropped by, I’ve been having it practically everyday now. It wasn’t a bad custom to get used to as I have always loved the aroma of freshly brewed coffee. I sit here now, at 7pm in front of my computer, drinking a cup of Blue Mountain coffee, which someone from Jamaica sent to me. It’s a nice thing, this thing called coffee.

Norah Jones. I’ve always liked her even before her Grammy days. I just got an email from her mailing list saying that she will be on tour this 2007. With the release of her new album, Not Too Late, on January 30th (only $12.99 at Future Shop on the 30th only!), she will be coming to Toronto this summer for the first time in many years! It’s been a while since I last saw her as she skipped Toronto on her most recent tour. Friday May 11, 2007 she’ll be at Massey Hall. The date just happens to be my brother’s birthday. I will most likely go since I haven’t seen her in years now, and I’ve always liked her sultry voice, although the venue I’m not too impressed by. The last time I saw her was at Massey Hall and while it wasn’t the best of venues, it was still a nice concert to attend. There’s a far cry I’ll be able to meet her again though. But nonetheless I’ll give it a go because… well, as some of you well know, I like doing that sort of thing. If anyone is interested in attending this concert with me, feel free to let me know. I’ll most likely purchase tickets this coming Tuesday when the pre-sale tickets go on sale for mailing list members only. Yippee!

Now I have something to look forward to.

A Mars bar a day…

I had a Mars bar today. It was the first time I had this chocolate bar in years. I stopped eating chocolate bars long time ago and to this day I don’t even know why. I suppose it was just a natural progression to growing up. haha… It was very sweet. As I was eating it, I realized how sweet this thing really is. All you’re eating is pure sugary sweetness. Checking the Nutritional Facts on the package of this 58g bar indicates the following percentages of my recommended daily intake:
Fats: 14%, Saturated and Trans fats 31%, Cholesterol 5mg, and Sodium 4% (85mg). Calories are listed at 260.

How do I feel after eating it? Not bad. As a matter of fact, I enjoyed this Mars bar for some reason. It’s been a while so I suppose eating it once in a while is more like a treat than anything else. Reminds me of the olden days when that was done through the authority of my parents rather than by my voluntary choice.

I’ve been reading some chapters in the 75th Edition of the Joy of Cooking book that I got for Christmas. There are so many reference materials there from everything from table setting to cooking techniques. It’s such a great book that I hope to use over and over again.

A goal to work towards

So it’s been a while.
Maybe not a great way to start off the new year if one of my resolutions was to maintain a steady posting schedule for my blog. Luckily for me it wasn’t. A lot has happened these past few weeks, for which I am grateful for. As I sit here at work at 7 in the morning, enjoying the peace and quiet that I seldom hear here, I can think of all the things that have made me quite happy these last few weeks. However, as we all know, all good things must come to an end. And so it has. Today. For the second time in two days. But that’s another story altogether.

I can predict that 2007 will be a year of many changes for me. While I don’t know exactly what changes these will be, drastic or not, I am sure they will all lead to something more positive in my life. 2006 went by fairly quickly in my opinion. I really don’t know what I had accomplished last year. Not a whole lot I gather.

I hope I will accomplish a lot more this year. I hope to do things that will make me grow more as a person, and more in life. With the first month of the year already passing by at lightning speed, I almost wondered what happened to the month of January.

From here on in, I’ll be working towards a common goal. That goal I am sure, will be achieved sometime by the end of this year. I am quite excited.

What’s your goal for this year?

From Iceland to fighting knights

From an Icelandic adventure with my family to fighting knights in a medieval maze, that’s where I went to last night.It was truly a unique dream, and surely one that I have no idea what it may mean to me – if anything.

I remember how it started. My mother, brother and I went to Iceland for a trip. Only this wasn’t your normal family trip. I remember we were playing board games out in the coldness of Iceland. A board game that we were so concentrated on playing that we never realized the sheer beauty that Iceland had to offer us. It wasn’t until I lost the game that I looked up and saw a gorgious pinkish-blue hue in the sky as the sun was setting down. I called upon my brother and mother to look at what Mother Nature was showing us. But it was at that very moment that we all realized what was happening. We were all so concentrated on our board game that we never really realized where we were playing.

The large chunk of ice that we were playing on had split apart from the main icecap. In fact, the entire icecap was splitting apart in several small pieces in front of our very eyes. Before we could say “who won the game?” we found ourselves swimming in the waters surrounded by chunks of ice. I didn’t know what we were going to do… but alas, this was a dream so as dreams would have it, it really didn’t matter. The next thing I knew, I found myself in a small maze type area furiously searching for something. No water, no ice, no icebergs in site. I was on a mission this time to fight all enemies coming my way.

I was walking around corners and such until I found myself knocking on a door. I entered to find some people eating away at the kitchen table. Just as I was passing by the table, someone greets me and says, “hi! remember me?” It was a friend of a friend whom I had met for dinner long ago… or so he explains. So we chat for a little while until the next thing I know I find myself outside in the maze again.

What’s the problem this time? I had no weapons. I searched around every aisle, corridor, and alleyway until I came to a square where people were eating lunch outside, enjoying the hot, sunny day. There I found another knight in armour fighting away. I quietly walked back to avoid any confrontation with anybody since I was weaponless. But then I saw it. There was a shield, sword, and glove sitting quietly on a stone. Nobody seemed to care for it so that was my chance to grab a weapon. Right at that very moment I felt as if I was in a video game where I was in search of weapons to use and had just found one. I took the sword, shield and glove and tried to put them on. Slight problem. The glove seemed tight and wouldn’t fit on my hand easily.

I ran with them, trying to put on the glove and that’s where it all ended. I woke up to see what time it was. 8:15am. 8:15? What? Why? My alarm was supposed to be set for 7:25am. I don’t know what happened this morning. All I know is that I was lifted up and put in a surreal dream filled with gorgious scenery and exciting action.

Now, it’s back to reality.

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