Cosa faresti alle persone che più ti stanno sul pube???

Non si può sempre "porgere l'altra guancia", a volte occorre prendersi una rivincita nei confronti del vile oppressore! Il neofita incappa spesso in errori di reiterazione o addirittura in azioni violente, mentre il "vendicatore professionista" persegue sempre l'originalità nel confezionare le proprie rivalse, evitando a priori l'uso della forza!! La categoria che maggiormente brilla per banalità è sicuramente quella dei camerieri... chissà quante volte avranno scatarrato con gusto nel tuo panino preferito... (ehehehehe)!! La vendetta, se condotta con dedizione e cura per i particolari, è capace di assurgere il committente al rango di artista vero e proprio! Occorre infatti fantasia, talento, astuzia, capacità di analisi e ideazione, freddezza e un pizzico di pazzia per portare a compimento una rivincita.

La vendetta è in grado di gratificare e di regalare un'immenso piacere a chi la compie! 

Cos'hanno in comune Berlusconi, la De Filippi e la vecchia odiosa del piano di sotto???

Semplice, la capacità di opprimere arrogantemente il prossimo proprio come fanno tutti i dittatori!! Se fossi vendicativo (io...nooooo di certo) avrei già in mente qualche "scherzetto erboristico" (da inserire in un piano di rivalsa ben più articolato) per avere la meglio sui tiranni prevaricatori!

Per gli amanti del genere propongo :

Aloe Succo e Olio di Ricino usati come lassativi drastici. L' Olio di R. può anche essere usato per ammorbidire la chioma baldanzosa del "povero Silvio" impedendo così la comparsa delle antiestetiche doppie punte;

Peperoncino o Senape nel sapone intimo della De Filippi (aaaaiutoooo bruuuuciaaaaa);

.. e per concludere ecco qui una piccola ricetta da riservare alla "simpaticissima e accomodante" vicina di casa:

1) Melissa, Valeriana, Biancospino ed Escoltzia per sedare le continue lamentele della vecchia.

2) Yohimbè "decotto-afrodisiaco" da somministrare all'anziano marito (John Holmes rivivrà nei mutandoni del nonno!!).

3) Un mazzetto di Ortiche selvatiche fresche fresche da nascondere fra le lenzuola del vetusto giaciglio matrimoniale...

4) Attendere circa 15 minuti e la vendetta sarà servita!!!!

Sondaggio: Il lettore di N.S.S. è un tipo vendicativo?? Si accettano suggerimenti...

Se posso trovare una pecca, non mi è piaciuta per niente la scelta del doppiatore di V, tale Gabriele Lavia; insomma, dietro la maschera c'è Hugo Weaving, e che diamine! Ci sarebbe voluta una voce più giovanile, tipo Ennio Coltorti o Luca Ward. Pazienza.

Sotto questa maschera non c'è solo carne, sotto questa maschera c'è una idea, e le idee sono a prova di proiettile.

It was the late nineteen seventies and I was three-years-old and living in suburban London with my Nan and Granddad. My mother was trying to put herself back on her feet in the wake of my father’s messy exit, and in doing so build something solid for my brother and I to return home to. Every morning I would get up, have my face and neck scrubbed by my grandmother, put on my clothes, head down to a breakfast of warmed milk and cornflakes (I tried this again recently, it's seriously disgusting), and finally sit down in front of the seventies' answer to childrens' television: Play School, Sesame Street (if it was a Saturday), and Rainbow.

I always had a strange relationship with Rainbow, I don't remember ever enjoying it - camp puppets and folk music sessions appeal considerably more now that I'm an adult - and yet I felt compelled to stick with it until the bitter end. As if watching it were some necessary ritual, a last ditch attempt to cling onto those few fleeting minutes of entertainment aimed squarely at children before we slipped off into the black abyss of daytime TV. The Thames Television ident, the herald of this change from child friendly space to the adult sphere, top and tailed the programme, and as such was the focal point for my discomfort at the coming shift in the universal alignment. The ident declared that my day was about to begin, and that it would be controlled - utterly - by concerns far more powerful, and far larger than my own. The shift contained within the ident also meant that I would have to pay attention to the passage of time as it marked a significant and unwanted change. But it wasn't dread that I felt when I watched the Thames' logo rise out of the river, its quality was more melancholic, captured by that mournful session trumpet. It was the feeling that something was passing, perhaps ending, and that this was going on around me all the time, and that I had no say in the matter.

Years later I read V for Vendetta

I've always felt that it's difficult for people who weren't brought up in England in the sixties, seventies or eighties to appreciate the powerful and precise ways in which V for Vendetta resonates with those of us who were. With its careful stylisations and glossy sheen, the Wachowski Brother's movie, good as it was, was never going to be my film. My V for Vendetta stank of old flannels bathed in hot water and boredom, of days spent waiting to return to my mother, of orange streetlights, and the faded dreams of suburbia. A landscape that mirrored that year in my childhood - constructed from pure Sartrean facticity, and the realisation that the world could be banal, unyielding, and restrictive. Moore and Lloyd were riffing on the haunting iconography, plot and energy of 1984, but as English creators working in the eighties they instinctively painted a world that marries with my memories of late seventies / early eighties England, both on a literal and figurative level. When I look at the image above I'm taken back to grey journeys on the Undergound. Like the Fingerman (an agent of the totalitarian regime that controls the fictional British Isles of VfV) who catches this fleeting glimpse of the fantastic, I found myself somewhere between bored and hypnotised on those never ending journeys spent with my face glued to the window, watching as we dipped in and out of dirty brick tunnels, before plunging into the dark on reaching the centre of the city. My memories of the Tube share much (beyond their contemporaity) in common with my memories of that ident, they're bound up with a deep yielding of control - the imposition of the adult order. The sounds of the train were the same rattles and clatterings that I heard in the distance as I tried to sleep at night – the sounds of a prison cage.

It’s these associations that initially strike me when I consider the panel in question, this is in a part the product of its context – the scene in which it’s embedded, and, pulling out further, the story in which the scene is contained – and in part tied to the content of image itself. The former I have alluded to, the latter I have yet to discuss. Remove V from the frame and you are left with a picture of nothing, the blank façade of the tunnel entrance set against the blue-white of the sky. It is, however, the kind of view that my childhood eyes, hungry for entertainment as travel transformed into tedium, might have deliberately sought out. The roof of a tunnel, the arch of a bridge, the depths of a wood, these were all spaces that demanded my attention as we flew past, principally because they repelled the casual gaze. They would go unnoticed if they weren't actively pursued, and as a consequence needed to be carefully probed, afterall hidden spaces might well contain secrets. Sadly the hoped for ghosts and monsters always failed to materialise: the banality of the city was profoundly hostile to the lonely figments that haunted my imagination. And it’s here where the landscape of my memory meshes with Moore’s fictional future. This is one of those views, those hiding places for the uncanny, those spaces that never failed to betray me by ultimately reinforcing the concrete and determinsitic reality I wanted so very much to escape. Even the at first unnoticed hints of a nascent sunset do little to imbue the image with any romance. Instead of a feeling of warm melancholy, the sun blushed clouds gesture towards a lost or repressed beauty: in this Britain dirty brick walls attempt to obscure the majesty of the heavens.

Bring V back into play, however, and the panel's impact is transformed. The image of a figure in silhouette framed by the sky is one common to heroic fiction, with it more often than not being used to announce the arrival of a story's champion at some crucial moment. Certainly when seen within the context of the first chapter this reading gains a great deal of strength - we know that V is attempting to save Britain from its unpleasant rulers, and we suspect that he's something approaching a good guy. But there's ambiguity at work here, and there's nothing simplistically heroic about this shadowy figure. To begin with we have the black cape, black gloves and wide brimmed hat, not the traditional garb of the uncomplicated hero, quite the opposite: they're clothes one would expect to find on Shelley's Frankenstein, or perhaps a vampire. Then there's the camera angle that holds the composition: while ostensibly the fingerman's point of view, on closer inspection it doesn't quite match up with any possible view from a train window. This almost invisible dislocation produces a disconcerting effect, further reinforced by the diagonal surface on which V perches, and its attendant expressionistic overtones. That the figure looms over us, seemingly ready to pounce, is also not a little troubling. There is, of course, another strata of iconography in this mix, but one that might not be so readily available to those unfamiliar with the genre that concerns us most here in the Dark Dimension: the superhero. This is the iconic territory inhabited by the edgier brand of caped crusader, the character's that some unfortunate writers can't help describing as vigilantes. Looking up to that figure we might mistake him for the Shadow or, if we were a little more ignorant, maybe even Batman.

The final element that I wish to discuss is the subtle suggestion of a rapidly passing moment. Taken within the context of the page it's impossible to misunderstand that the panel represents a fleeting glimpse, but it's a testimony to Lloyd's attention to detail and his raw artistic instinct that there are clues within the panel itself. Most obviously there is the diagonal sweep of the train carriage's chassis that occupies the bottom right hand corner of the page, which, if one looks very closely indeed, can be seen to be moving towards the semi-circular brickwork that heralds the entrance to the tunnel. Secondly there is V's pose and his billowing cape, both of which are pregnant with motion and dynamism - time straining to move on, something about to happen. An effect further reinforced by the juxtaposition of these components with the static background imagery.

But considering each of these factors in isolation is only a means to an end. It's how they work together and how they map across my psyche which interests me here. Certainly, I wouldn't expect anyone else's experience of the panel's background detail to chime with my own. The way in which it somehow distills what I consider to be the book's ambient qualities is a feat of magic that is almost certainly unintentional, and not something I would expect others to relate to or even understand. As I said at the beginning of this essay, we are talking about why this image is so important to me. But I also recognise that I'm not alone in my appreciation - an updated and expanded version has been used as an introductory image in at least one print run - and that there will likely be some crossover between my reading and the readings of other fans. I think the way in which the shadowy figure vacillates between saviour and threat has something to do with the panel's broad appeal - the compelling mystery contained there-in, and let's face it, V is nothing if not mysterious. But to refocus on the superheroic component for a moment, it seems to me that the panel's greatest strength (at least as far as the comic book reading audience is concerned) is the powerful way in which it feeds into the iconography of the superhero dancing on a ledge at twilight. This is imagery that transcends its content, that speaks of the superhero genre in its entirety. In blogging we talk about pillar posts - posts that exemplify a blog's USP - this is pillar imagery, fundamentally bound to the genre. Imagery that we, as superhero fans, are all on intimate terms with. And I believe that this panel, thanks to its paired down simplicity and the quality of the craftsmanship on display, is one of the best of the bunch. If only Batman were this frightening and mysterious, if only Daredevil moved with V's grace.

Like the image in question, that dull landscape of memory infected by the Thames ident wasn’t entirely without beauty and hope. On those pebble-dashed streets my imagination was put to solid, gruelling work, but it needed food, something, anything to burn as fuel: monster lollies, Starwars, the gatefold image of the dragon Maleficent that struggled to escape my Disney compendium (which I now read to my two and a half year old son). Comic books. Oh God, comic books. When I think of my childhood lust for them I can’t help bringing to mind that line from Knocked Up, about adults not being able to enjoy anything as much as children enjoy bubbles. To the three-year-old me the experience of reading a comic was completely and utterly transformative. The dayglo ideas and concepts on display bent and contorted my mind and supercharged my imagination. As an adult the walk down to the newsagents on the roundabout that nestled at the end of the Leafhill Crescent takes two or three minutes, but to the child in me that short journey will always be an eternity of anticipation soundtracked by my grandmother’s snapping mantra “One comic each!”. Two comics was always enough, besides, it wasn’t as if we had much choice - we’re talking about a British newsagents in the seventies here, a shop which seldom stocked more than four or five random American titles (at that time in my life I was only interested in reading books published by Marvel or DC), none of which were likely to be duplicated next month. We seldom saw the end of story arcs, and we seldom saw them begin, and while I can’t say that fact didn’t bother me at all, it was of limited importance: the aesthetic hit alone made me giddy, and for a while the world would be illuminated by four colours and blaze with possibility.

And it’s that experience that is in some way captured by this small panel. Like the ghosts I hoped to glimpse from train windows, V haunts the image, infecting the space with counter meaning. There's something fantastic, almost beyond acceptability about the possibility of the superhero - a superhero so perfectly rendered, so, as I said above, quintessential - invading Moore and Lloyd's dead-end universe. And yet thanks to the way the panel's imagery, and V for Vendetta as a whole, is interwoven with my own experiences of a world of cold facts and concrete truths, and of flooding that world with, well... what amounts to magic, V's presence feels in some way not only permissible but necessary. If the Thames ident speaks to me of the beginnings of existential anxieties, this panel illustrates the cracks in the hard slabs of facticity that make up life, where the rainbows stream through. By confirming the hard limits of my reality by gesturing back to that sad formative year, whilst simultaneously admitting the impossible, it steers clear of sentimentality - instead it brings to mind the numinousness of things. Everyday, transient, limited things like train tunnels, and suburban streets, and orange streetlights. The panel offers me another way of seeing that period of my childhood: as a time when I got to know my imagination, just as I started to engage with my finitude.

It's strange writing something this personal and throwing it up on the Internet for all to see. I doubt Tucker Stone would approve, but when we're talking about the things that really mean something to us, when we're prepared to look really hard at them, we can't fail to see ourselves reflected back.

"Nessuno dimenticherà più quella notte e il significato che ha avuto per questo paese. Io non dimenticherò mai l'uomo e il significato che ha avuto per me."
Evey Hammond

Stasera alle 23 e 40 su Italia Uuuuno! c'è V per Vendetta, un film per la cui mancata visione dovreste autocondannarvi al patibolo. Ecco. Rimediate, che dicono ci sia sempre tempo. Non so a che ora finisca, dato che il secondo tempo sul palinsesto è segnato a mezzanotte e quarantadue (secondo più secondo meno), ma se fosse a fine spettacolo cambiate canale e vi vedete pure Unomattina, così, per rifletterci un po' sopra, aiutati dalle perle di saggezza e congiuntivi di Luca Giurato. Guardatelo, cazzo.

E' un film stupendo, in my opinion, una sequenza di battute e frasi inimitabili interrotta solo dall'intenso ed inatteso finale, dove tutto si completa nella sua drammatica perfezione. Ah, V per Vendetta. L'apologia della libertà (nel senso più ampio e completo del termine, quello a cui spesso non si pensa parlandone).

Questo più di ogni altra cosa dovrebbe insegnare a tutti voi stronzi cos'è veramente importante in questo talvolta incomprensibile casotto chiamato "vita": un'idea, una convinzione (magari sbagliata, certo), il motore del nostro agire ed il fine del nostro pensare. "Combatti per ciò in cui credi, qualunque cosa sia, e ti sentirai veramente realizzato, saprai di essere veramente vivo", ecco il senso profondo di una pellicola capace di coniugare al meglio motivi politici, temi esistenziali ed un'inedita storia d'amore, insolita ma non per questo meno struggente.

E' indimenticabile perché riesce (o almeno con me c'è riuscito) a far capire che non c'è mai un motivo per cui abbattersi, anche quando si è convinti che sia venuto il momento di alzare bandiera bianca e dichiararsi sconfitti. E invece no. Invece anche non avendo nient'altro "tu sei tuo", direbbero i Pearl Jam, ed hai sempre qualcosa, lì in fondo, per tirare avanti meglio di prima e risorgere da quelle che credevi essere le tue ceneri. Hai ed avrai la tua libertà di uomo, il tuo spirito d'iniziativa, la tua innata tendenza a non smettere di sognare un mondo migliore e provare, nel tuo piccolo, a renderlo realtà. Davanti a noi ci sono infinite possibili sfide, infiniti amori ed infiniti dolori, infinite ed impensabili storie da vivere nella loro complessità. Tutte le volte che non abbiamo saputo credere nella nostra "grandezza" di piccoli uomini, nel nostro poter realmente cambiare qualcosa col nostro Amore e la nostra passione, abbiamo commesso lo stesso errore di Evey, la protagonista; è lei a stupirsi di essere riuscita a superare i suoi stessi limiti affrontando la sfida più difficile in cui si è mai imbattuta, quella che mette in gioco la sua vita in cambio di ciò in cui crede, ciò per cui lotta, ciò che ha imparato ad amare.

C'è sempre un'idea per cui val la pena combattere, dice V per Vendetta, sia essa un sogno, un progetto, uno sguardo, un sentimento, un'amicizia. E le idee, quelle sì, sono a prova di qualunque proiettile. Qualunque.

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-- William Butler Yeats, "The Second Coming", 1921

The above poem has been referred to several times in my hearing this summer and fall, and I make it my business to pay attention when the Spirit brings such divine coincidence through the ether and into my life. I'm not sure what the recurrence of this poem means for me (or for you). I don't really know if things actually are falling apart permanently, or if the second coming is at hand. If we look at the financial markets (see below), the world sure seems to all be falling apart. But maybe not. Maybe these are birth pangs. So perhaps just passing the poem along here may be what is called for on my part.

The Second Coming is an amazing poem, and very influential. Like William Blake, another fave of mine whom William Butler Yeats studied closely, Yeats put Jesus in a context of worldwide mythology and mysticism, and great global change, and did so at a time when his audience was feeling most vulnerable (Europe, in the years just after WWI). In future periods of great change, at least two award-winning books also directly referenced the grace vs. chaos themes of the poem and expanded upon them greatly (Things Fall Apart, by Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe in 1959, and Slouching Towards Bethlehem, a 1968 collection of essays by voice-of-the-hippie writer Joan Didion).

I believe the first time I heard the poem referenced (at least in my recent experience) was at the Men's Rites of Passage in August, where the most famous line "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold" was referenced in a morning ritual, early in the week. And as periods of change go, few weeks have ever been more influential for me personally than that August week at Pilgrim Park in central Illinois. I think when the soil of the soul is ready, the right words can make a huge difference.

After that, I believe I heard the anarchist hero of the graphic-novel-turned-movie V for Vendetta quote the first three lines, when I re-watched this interesting Wachowski Brothers film. (With or without W.B. Yeats, or a cheeky anarchist, any chance to watch Natalie Portman in action is always a real treat. Yum!) I think the third time was on the radio, but I don't recall now. In fact, the phrase "the center cannot hold" is so descriptive and useful, while still sounding poetic, that it may be passing gradually from being a vague literary allusion toward becoming a plain old slogan or idiom, used in everyday conversation, like Shakespeare's "neither a borrower nor a lender be".

Also, unbeknownst to me until today, Joni Mitchell (one of the finest songwriters of the twentieth century) wrote a faithful adaptation of the poem and set it to music on her 1988 album Night Ride Home. The song is called Slouching Toward Bethlehem (after the last line of the poem). It's a dirty rotten shame when musicians and writers like Yeats and Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan often become celebrated for their early work, before they've even gained the maturity and vision displayed in their later work (by which time the adoring but fickle public has typically moved on to some trendy up-and-coming youngster).

The "falling apart" metaphor seems most apt when applied to the present economic instability, and it seems it has recently been used that way. Here I will quote Wikipedia directly:

In the September 20th, 2008 edition of The Economist, the lead article, entitled "What next?", alludes to the poem. The article is about the financial crisis and seems to use the poem as a theme. The second line begins with the phrase "In the widening gyre." The two section headings in the body of the article are also taken from the poem. One is "The blood-dimmed tide." The other is "The centre cannot hold." Also, the cover depicts a whirlpool pulling down the corporate logos of Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Washington Mutual, HBOS, AIG, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Bear Stearns, Northern Rock, Indymac, as well as the Lehman Brothers building and the Charging Bull sculpture.

So as I have watched the presidential debates ("The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.") , and still more hurricanes and floods ravaging the world ( "The blood-dimmed tide is loosed" ), and the dropping Dow ("The darkness drops again"...  ),  I have continued to think of Yeats and his version of the Second Coming.

God does not abandon His people. But He does, I believe, chasten those whom He loves.

Vertigo este una dintre editurile specializate pe comics & graphic novels care îmbină într-un mod excepţional caliatea scenariului, grafica şi subiectele alese. Chiar dacă face parte din gigantul american DC Comics, ea reuşeşte să-şi păstreze o anumită independenţă dat fiind (şi) faptul că se adresează unei categorii de cititori caracterizate ca şi "adult audience". Tocmai din acest motiv subiectele acoperă câmpuri de interes controversate (niciodată nu am reuşit să înţeleg de ce controversate): de la sexualitate (de multe ori alternativă) şi până la religie (prezentată într-un mod care nu prea face plăcere societăţilor puritane), de la horror până la fantasy (cu un puternic mesaj politic contemporan). Din acest motiv, pe multe din coperţile diverselor colecţii suntem întâmpinaţi de politic-osul mesaj: "Suggested for mature readers".

Fondată în anul 1993, Vertigo şi-a câştigat extrem de repede popularitate între iubitorii genurilor propuse de aceasta, devenind în scurt timp cea mai cunoscută şi apreciată din categoria editurilor aflate la marginea mainstream-ului. Multe dintre numele (istorice) care semnează în interiorul diverselor serii găzduite de Vertigo (Hellblazer, Sandman sau Death: The High Cost of Living) provin din Europa, mai exact din Anglia, printre acestea numărându-se Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore sau Grant Morrison.

Printre seriile de succes se pot aminti titluri ca:

The Sandman - 75 de numere

Transmetropolitan - 60 de numere

Lucifer - 75 de numere

pe lângă acestea existând o sumedenie de alte colecţii, subcolecţii, ediţii limitate, anuale sau experimentale, putându-se întâlni cazuri în care acelaşi număr este publicat de două ori - diverse fiind ilustraţia copertei sau formatul revistei.

Nu este un secret că multe dintre ultimele producţii de film (nu doar Hollywood) din categoria super-heroes sau fantasy s-au inspirat din comics-urile publicate aici. Printre acestea se pot cita:

Constantine (2005)

V for Vendetta (2006)

The Fountain (2006)

Stardust (2007)

De asemenea, mai jos puteţi admira câteva dintre cele mai reuşite cover-uri ale diverselor colecţii:

Vertigo este una dintre puţinele edituri care, în ciuda popularităţii destul de mari, nu este tradusă în foarte multe limbi de circulaţie (cum este, spre exemplu, Marvel) - poate şi datorită subiectelor nu tocmai cuminţi -  multe din filmele citate mai sus fiind o variantă "periată" a subiectului original. Unele dintre ele merită însă a fi vizionate: Stardust-ul lui Aronofsky, de exemplu.

Nu ştiu să existe vreun proiect de traducere în româneşte a (măcar) câteva din colecţiile oferite de această editură. Dar dacă există, procuraţi-vi-le, chiar dacă vor fi vândute în pungi negre!

Închei această preascurtă prezentare lăsându-vă în compania Vertogo Team:

If you'd like to view it or take a moment to see my works, you can do so by clicking here.

Part 1: Marvel Heroes | Part 2: Marvel Teams | Part 3: Marvel Villains | Part 4: DC Heroes | Part 5: DC Teams | Part 6: DC Villains | Part 7: Miscellaneous

HANCOCK

Portrayed by: Will Smith [Hancock (2008)]

THE CROW

Portrayed by: Brandon Lee [The Crow (1994)]; Vincent Perez [The Crow: City Of Angels (1996)]; Mark Dacascos [The Crow: Stairway To Heaven (1998)]; Eric Mabius [The Crow: Salvation (2000)]; Edward Furlong [The Crow: Wicked Prayer (2005)]

SPAWN

Portrayed by: Michael Jae White [Spawn (1997)]

CLOWN

Portrayed by: John Leguizamo [Spawn (1997)]

HELLBOY

Portrayed by: Ron Perlman [Hellboy (2004), Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)]

ABE SAPIEN

Portrayed by: Doug Jones [Hellboy (2004), Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)]

LIZ SHERMAN

Portrayed by: Selma Blair [Hellboy (2004), Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)]

FLASH GORDON

Portrayed by: Buster Crabbe [Flash Gordon Movie Serials (1936)]; Steve Holland [Flash Gordon TV Series (1954)]; Sam Jones [Flash Gordon (1980)]; Eric Johnson [Flash Gordon TV Series (2007)]

MING THE MERCILESS

Portrayed by: Charles Middleton [Flash Gordon Movie Serials (1936)]; Max Von Sydow [Flash Gordon (1980)]; John Ralston [Flash Gordon TV Series (2007)]

BARB WIRE

Portrayed by: Pamela Anderson [Barb Wire (1996)]

THE SHADOW

Portrayed by: Alec Baldwin [The Shadow (1994)]

TANK GIRL

Portrayed by: Lori Petty [Tank Girl (1995)]

V FOR VENDETTA

Portrayed by: Hugo Weaving [V For Vendetta (2005)]

JUDGE DREDD

Portrayed by: Sylvester Stallone [Judge Dredd (1995)]

RED SONJA

Portrayed by: Brigitte Nielsen [Red Sonja (1985)]

As an added bonus here's a preview of the upcoming G.I. Joe Movie characters *cringe*

AND I'M SPENT!

Now if this is just a somehow a coencidence or not, I don't really mind either way but it does bring up huge things that today we see happening. Us as a people getting pushed into things because we were scared giving the government and the president more power than they had before, in exchange for our freedom. And well of course telling us to just pretty much shut up and deal with it if you want safety, and you know what we did, even though from time to time there was very little outrage. And if your asking when this happened i'm just not talking about right now recently when the president and the secretery of the treasury asked for a 700 Billion dollar "clean" bill, clean meaning unchanged, through the use of fear of a complete and utter financial depression. They wanted us the people of the US to just shut up and give them the money. But on to what I was saying.

If your wonder when this happened, i'm talking about the patriot act, you know the one that says that the government can just tap our phones, look into out e-mails, and find out everything book we've checked out of a library just cause they feel we might be suspicious. We have been put into this spot over and over again where fear and terror have been used not by "terrorists" but by our oven government. Making us feel like its "unamerican" to speak out against the government, when its the most American thing that we can do, when we feel that saying anything slightly against what has been put into effect or said in the wrong way will have us tracked by the government, well maybe not you exactly but people in general.

On top of that, i've seen once again just how the media can be used for good, to give not just me but the masses the ideas and sense to think about these things.

I'm going to write a little tonight, one, because I am sick, and two, it is pretty late.  I know this is on the side of being personal, but at this point, I'm just letting my fingers do the work.  There are these great posters that can be found on http://homepage.mac.com/leperous/PhotoAlbum1.html.  This is called the propaganda remix project.  I like these pieces of art for a number of reasons. United States propaganda posters from the World War 2 period are updated with messages that apply to our present time.  Aside from the excellent humor contained in these posters, I look at this as an act of civil resistance, as it spreads important statements of truth.  Anyone can use their talents and invest them in acts of rebellion, and in this case, it is through the forum of art.

One poster in particular stands out to me.  It depicts a grinning soldier carrying stacks of books, while the message in bold proclaims " Books cause dangerous thoughts" and "for your protection give all books to your local fireman for safe disposal."  This declaration is funny but true.  Books are powerful and many have sparked the greatest movements, created history, shook foundations, led to life changing discoveries, turned over governments and moved mountains.  The very words of books are alive. Books are the enemies of those who try to control freedom of thought.  Books make totalitarians fear.  I read something onetime, I think it was in a religious book, about this man who would spend all the money he earned on books.  This man said something to the effect of, and I'm paraphrasing, that there is nothing more worthy that you can spend your income on than books. 

 Earlier I purchased two books to add to my collection: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and V for Vendetta.  I am interested in reading "One Day" because it explores the conditions of prisoners in the Soviet Gulag during the days of communist fascism under Stalin.  And I bought V for Vendetta because I recently saw the movie and I felt that it had vital political messages relevant to our society today and the graphic novel has much more storyline that could not possibly be put in the movie for reasons of time.  Also, the novel has much more overt elements and proclamations of anarchy that were taken out of the movie.  But the movie, in its own, is still very impressive.  I've already started reading V for Vendetta and I don't want to stop reading.  It is that good.  The government and media apparatuses presented in the story eerily remind me of the government and media in the United States.  If you get anything from this, turn off the television, the computer, and go pick up a book and read.  Knowledge is not only power, it is freedom.

It (God’s will) is mysterious and terrifying, like the unfathomable depths of the ocean, full of wonders and dangers.

Jerry Sittser – The Will of God as a Way of Life

I love listening to fighter pilots tell stories, especially Navy pilots.  Years ago a former pilot and friend described a phenomenon common to almost every naval aviator at least once in his career.  He called it being “in the barrel.”  It goes something like this – it’s a stormy night, fifteen foot seas, visibility zero, and the pilot is trying land his craft on a bobbing postage stamp on a black ocean in the black of night.  Conditions worsen; fuel drops below the red line.  The plane quickly descends and the pilot becomes convinced he will not make it.  In his mind and heart he’s dead or soon will be.  In that moment something terribly wonderful happens – the pilot faces his own death.  A few seconds later several tons of steel drops on the carrier deck, the cable catches and the engines shut down.  He’s safe…. safe….but never again the same man.

Joseph had a similar experience.  He’s locked up in prison, away from friends, good food, and civilization.  Two years have passed since the cup bearer promised to put in a good word with Pharaoh; now he’s alone (except for his fellow prisoners and the guard) and probably thinking “This is it.  This is where God wants me to be the rest of my life.  So be it.”  One day he wakes up, gets a bath, new clothes and an audience with the Grand Puba.  Later that day he’s promoted to second in command of the most powerful country on the planet. 

Watch this clip from the movie “V for Vendetta”.  Evey, played by Natalie Portman, has just experienced imprisonment by what she believes is the dictatorial regime who is looking for the masked freedom fighter “V”.  Every day she is tortured, and then asked where V is located.  She doesn’t’ reveal his hideout, even when threatened with certain death.  Listen carefully to the dialogue.

Why are pain and agony such intimate bedfellows when it comes to facing our fears?  Why does God allow such trials?  In those times He seems as much a ferocious flirt as He is fascinating.  Remember the verse from Habakkuk from my last post:

Look at the nations and watch – and be utterly amazed.  For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.

I didn’t mention that was neslted in God's description of the tribulation Israel would soon experience for the next 400 years.

As Jerry Sittser states, He is both mysterious and terrifying.  But above all, He is good.  What happens to the pilots who survive their trip through the barrel?  Many become innovative entrepreneurs with no fear of failure.  What happened to Joseph?  He led Egypt with full confidence (in God) through the greatest famine in history.  In the movie clip V tells Evey that she has faced her own death, to commit to it, and remember it. He reminds her that when faced with fate she found something more important than her own life, a reason beyond her own existence. Jesus said the same thing: 

Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (Matthew 10:39)

When we’re in the barrel, we want to be anywhere else.  Unfortunately, when God ferociously flirts with us – it’s where we need to be to learn what we need to learn.  And after we end up on the deck, engines off, our hands clutching the stick, and teeth clenched – we too will have an opportunity to realize that we have no need to fear.  From that moment on we become very dangerous to the Illusionist, and he knows it.

Read the story of Joseph with your son and discuss the barrel.  The more he understands that his Father in heaven also flirts ferociously, the more prepared he will be for the storm.  For as Evey says, "God is in the rain."

One thing I should say right away is that this novel is not for the light readers.  This is a complex book that just happens to have pictures in every page.  To call it just a comic, somehow it takes away some of its genius.  This story, which was published in 12 issues from September 1986 to October 1987, now gets compiled with additional dossiers in a book-like format.  It's as thick as a small yellow pages book.  Inside, the writer tries to take us thru a trip where we must use our brains to process some of the data that he provides us.  You can get the cliff notes on wikipedia but you would be cheating yourself quite an adventure.

Now, many people will have different points of views on this story, but to understand how complex the man that writes the story, is to understand that not all of his intents can be easily deciphered.  This novel, which Time magazine has catalogued as one of the top 100 of all times, takes us to a world ruled by fear of nuclear war.  It travels thru the characters life spans and manages to provide us with a human version of gods.  I emphasis in the human part since that makes them imperfect and makes things uncertain throughout the story.

In a nutshell, this is the story of five individuals, which were superheroes until a congress act was passed that banned them from dressing and fighting crime.  For some reason, somebody is getting to them, killing some and conspiring against others.  The characters, most of them retired now and living private lives, decide to track down what's happening and solve a mystery that risks taking a little more than their retirement, but their lives.  During this search, their personal lives receive a background search via the different directions they take to solve this crime.  I say crime because the novel starts with the death of one of them.  A man called the Comedian.  One of the main characters and one of the more complex is Rorschach, the only one that did not retire and continued working in the underground and takes it upon himself to alert the others and investigate.  Nite Owl was a partner of him, the second one to take that name after the first one retired.  He is a rich man, with lots of toys and tired of being retired.  Then we have Ozymandias who is a rich, powerful and the smartest man alive.  He retired two years before the act and decided to play the markets.  Lastly there's Jon, aka Dr. Manhattan and Silk Spectre.  They live together in a government facility.  She, like Nite Owl, is the second person to use the name Spectre, after her mother retired.  Dr. Manhattan is a blue man, who during an accident in a lab back in the fifties, was disintegrated into thin air and later, he put himself together, molecule by molecule.  In the series he is the only one with real super powers.  He's persona has great importance in the development of the story and its subsequent ending.

There are many themes and morals in this story.  We can start by the apocalyptic fear of a mass nuclear war and how that would affect the world's population and its behavior.  This is an interesting point and the way this people behave on their own and as a collective, tells us a lot about how we work in real life.  Another perspective on a similar note, since the book is based in the 1980's in the United States, the fear of the results of the Cold War cannot be ignored.  Just like in the sixties with the Cuba incident, in the eighties, when Russia invaded Afghanistan, all hell was breaking loose and speculators warned of the consequences.  The power of conspiracies is another theme that is played quite a lot in this book.  Conspiracies inside conspiracies and a bigger purpose behind them that would make people with certain degree of moral feel trapped.  It's a demonstration of the abuse of truth and false premises used to keep people in check.   There are plenty more themes in the book but this I'm not dissecting it, just giving a simple review. 

To briefly talk about the author, Alan Moore is a well established and respected figure in the comic/graphic novel industry.  As creator of some of the biggest books out there, such as V For Vendetta, From Hell, The League of Distinguished Gentleman, Top 10, he knows how to write a good story.  Proof of that is that most of his books turnout as movies, much to his dislike.  He has been known to say that the art of comics is that they can't be properly represented in three dimensions sometimes, and that's why the stories work on paper.  But when they are turned into movies, things have to change, and the stories must change, taking away part of their magic.  Since his big days on DC, he has now dedicated to work on more independent work, and sometimes in a more risqué exotic kind of comics such as Promethea and Lost Girls.  He's dislike of what the owners of his work (DC) is such, that he asked to be removed from the credits of the movie as creator or writer, and if you check on imdb or any other place, you will not find his name nearby the movie watchmen.

David Gibbons also started his career in comics very young in the early seventies.  Participated a lot on the ever long series 2000AD.  Also in stories for Doctor Who, Green Lantern and recently work on a new graphic novel titled The Originals. 

In the end, after just one read, I'm not going to pretend I know what the whole theme is, and I will not go around looking for other reviews to catch them until I read it at least one more time.  I will say one thing though; there are a lot of people expecting the movie version (which should come out in March 2009) that might feel like entertaining the idea of reading the novel.  I'm not a person to discourage reading, but it is not an easy read.  In more than one occasion I started it and felt the need to stop.  Of course, once you get thru the beginning, you get into the story and it becomes easier, but don't expect to read it fast.  There are times when the author tries to combine two dialogues at the same time, which although interrelated, are speaking two different stories.  That happens in the newsstand with the pirate comics and most of the time it's comparison with war.  So if you are a comic movies fan and not necessarily a comics/graphic novel fan, then just sit tight and wait for the movie.  Otherwise, indulge in this maze of lives before you see the movie so we can be disappointed together in how they managed to reduce such a thick and elaborated book into a two hour movie.  But don't despair, not all is lost.  I'm sure the effects will be superb.

Here's the trailer for the upcoming movie.

Additional Links:

Allan Moore Fan Site

Interview to Dave Gibbons about the movie at ComicCon

It seems strange that my life should end in such a terrible place, but for three years I had roses and apologized to no one. I shall die here. Every inch of me shall perish. Every inch, but one. An inch. It is small and it is fragile and it is the only thing in the world worth having. We must never lose it or give it away. We must NEVER let them take it from us. I hope that whoever you are, you escape this place. I hope that the worlds turns, and that things get better. But what I hope most of all is that you understand what I mean when I tell you that, even though I do not know you, and even though I may never meet you, laugh with you, cry with you, or kiss you, I love you. With all my heart, I love you.

A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having.

V in V for Vendetta

V: [Evey pulls out her mace] I can assure you I mean you no harm.
Evey Hammond: Who are you?
V: Who? Who is but the form following the function of what and what I am is a man in a mask.
Evey Hammond: Well I can see that.
V: Of course you can. I'm not questioning your powers of observation I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is.
Evey Hammond: Oh. Right.
V: But on this most auspicious of nights, permit me then, in lieu of the more commonplace sobriquet, to suggest the character of this dramatis persona.
V: Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin van-guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition.
[carves V into poster on wall]
V: The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous.
[giggles]
V: Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V.
Evey Hammond: Are you like a crazy person?
V: I am quite sure they will say so. But to whom, might I ask, am I speaking with?
Evey Hammond: I'm Evey.
V: Evey? E-V. Of course you are.
Evey Hammond: What does that mean?
V: It means that I, like God, do not play with dice and I don't believe in coincidences.

Recently, as I was working in the music and DVD section of my local neighborhood mega-bookstore, a young gentleman came up to me and placed a copy of V For Vendetta on the counter.

"Wow, great choice," I said.

"Yeah, it's a classic," he replied.

I finished ringing him up and sent him on his way only to later start to think about what it was that he said.  Once I did, I came to realize that he had just made a claim that was--- in every possible way--- dead wrong.  I know that it was, in all likelihood, simply a throwaway line, something to say to the guy at the checkout counter to be friendly, as opposed to staring at me blankly and ignoring me altogether.  But consider that statement:

"It's a classic."

First of all, V For Vendetta only came out in 2005.  That's entirely too soon for something to be called classic.  But that wasn't even the main problem I had with his statement.  The main problem was that V For Vendetta will never be a classic--- ever.  I could be having the same insignificant conversation with him forty years from now, and people could still like V For Vendetta just as much as they do now, and he'd still be just as wrong as he was just a few days ago.

Don't get me wrong.  V For Vendetta is a completely acceptable movie.  A good movie, in fact.  I'm not downplaying its quality, rather I'm defending the definition of the term 'classic'.  If you ask me, as far as pop culture is concerned, nothing that we've seen since Star Wars can be considered classic, and not just because it isn't old enough yet.  What I'm saying is that nothing that we've seen since Star Wars will ever be classic at all (although even Star Wars may not last if George Lucas can't quit trying to mess it up with more prequels, cartoons and all that other ridiculous and tarnishing garbage).  This doesn't mean Star Wars is the only classic cultural icon, it just means it's the last one, for reasons I'll soon get to.

Despite how definitive a statement I'm making, it's important to know that I wholeheartedly accept that it may prove false.  It's slightly possible that The Simpsons may one day be a classic.  American Idol may have a shot, too.  But we won't know unless they are able to stand the test of time, and since they haven't left the pop cultural landscape yet, there's no way to tell if they will remain in the general public consciousness for the coming decades.  But aside from those two things, there's nothing else we're currently witnessing that I believe will last much longer than the time it takes to exit the pop cultural stage.  That means Britney Spears, Harry Potter, the Lord of the Rings movies--- none of these will ever become classic cultural icons.

The main reason this will prove true can be summed up in one word: choice.  As long as our culture continues to produce the same general thing over and over and over, there will never be anything that's truly as universally accepted by all of society as iconic in the same way that something like Star Wars was.

Britney Spears?  "Yeah, well Christina Aguilera was more talented..." Harry Potter?  "You probably never read the Narnia books..."

These will be the conversations people will have twenty years from now.  But Star Wars?  It's universally accepted as being without peer, and much of that had to do with it being the only one of its kind.  Even people who don't like Star Wars will accept that the movies played an important role in our culture in the way no other film had ever done before.  So how does this all work?  How is it that Star Wars just might become the last true classic that American pop culture ever sees?  To understand that, you have to unpack the definition of what it really means to be a classic.

But before we get to that, a clarifying point.  Before you get yourself all in a huff and start whining about how your favorite movie or band or show should be considered a classic, consider this: in all likelihood, whatever it is you're thinking of could very well be seen as classic within your particular circle.  By that I mean that certain things (Fight Club, Saved By The Bell, Nirvana, etc.) might very well be classic, but they will never be universally classic for the reasons I'm about to point out.  They will be classic to those people who experienced them firsthand, but to someone who knows nothing about it, they have no significance whatsoever.  That is not the case with Star Wars, Elvis, or Catcher in the Rye.  Your grandma likely doesn't have a clue who Tyler Durden is, but she probably recognizes the name Luke Skywalker.

I touched on one of the features of a true classic earlier.  True classics stand the test of time.  But this isn't an honest-to-goodness characteristic of a classic, rather, this is one of the things that happens to something once it already is a classic.  It is a result of being a classic, it doesn't make a classic.  In the same vein, some may argue that having a large following of dedicated supporters (like Star Wars) may make something a classic.  Again, this is a result, not a cause.  Same thing goes for accessibility--- something does not become classic simply because it is widespread.  If you have basic cable, chances are on one of your channels right now is a re-run of Friends.  This doesn't mean that Friends is a classic, it just means it's everywhere.

So what are the causes?  I've come up with four of them, and you must possess all four to truly become a classic.  First, for something to become a classic, it must have a certain level of universal relatability--- that is, people need to be able to understand it on at least one level, preferably more than one.  There's only a select few people who know what it's like to fly through outer space, and there ain't nobody who knows what it's like to be friends with a wookie, but people can relate to a strained relationship with their father (Steven Spielberg knows this, and that's why it's a central plot point in 90% of his movies).  People also can relate to the struggle between making the right choice and falling into temptation, and even some people (creepy as they may be) know what it's like to have a crush on your sister.

Secondly, there must be a level of depth or a history that goes along with something for it to be classic.  This is where people can get confused and say that classics must stand the test of time, but there's a distinct difference between standing the test of time and having what it takes to deserve to stand the test of time.  Things like Star Wars or the Lord of the Rings books fulfill this requirement by being stories of tremendous depth--- going so far as to invent layers upon layers of detail that aren't at all necessary to appreciate the story, but add to its overall weight as a cultural event.  Elvis or the Beatles accomplished this by changing and transitioning into different characterizations of themselves over time, all the while still retaining the original quality that made them recognizable in the first place.  That is, we watched the concept of 'The Beatles' go through many different stages, ('The Ed Sullivan Show' vs. 'Revolver' vs. 'The White Album' vs. everything in between) and even though they showed many sides of themselves, the whole time they were essentially the same thing, that being the most important rock band ever.

Thirdly, and perhaps this is obvious, but there must be a level of creativity that goes into something before it can become a classic.  It must be the kind of idea or concept you couldn't have thought up sitting on the floor of your basement, throwing back a couple beers with some friends.  Only that which is truly creative can fulfill our need for original stories as a culture and reach that same part of our brain that's forever been triggered by fairy tales, ghost stories, or Mark Twain.  It is that inventiveness, or rather the basic creative idea behind a concept or person or story that has the ability to grab our attention and let us know that what we are witnessing is something truly special.

The last characteristic is where everything that comes after Star Wars falls out of the race.  A classic must be one of a kind--- the only one of its kind.  Because of the current state of greed in our culture, nothing that's successful will ever remain uncopied, and I would also argue that because of that greed no one who is capable of creating something truly original is willing to let it stand alone (see: The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride).  And even though those copies or sequels rarely match up to the original, they still take away from the original's overall impact.  American Idol is a hit, so why not America's Got Talent or Last Comic Standing?  The Simpsons is successful, so bring on South Park and Family Guy (and The Simpsons Movie, to a lesser extent).  With so much capitalization on every single successful concept that comes along these days, it's far too easy for that original idea to get bogged down and scarred by all the other things that try to fit in its same niche and steal its impact.

There is hope, however.  Occasionally being one of a kind can be supplanted by being the first of its kind, and that's why there's hope for The Simpsons or American Idol.  The Simpsons isn't the only adult-oriented animated sitcom about a dysfunctional family, but it was the first, and it certainly has lasted the longest, thanks to its quality.  American Idol isn't the only show to pluck regular people out of obscurity and give them a forum to express their talents, but it certainly is the most successful (it wasn't the first, however, which is why it has less of a chance than The Simpsons does.  And by the way, I'm certainly not saying Star Search is anywhere near becoming a classic).

So what does this all mean?  Nothing, really.  It's simply another way in which our culture is broadening and our world is changing.  You would think with improved communication and the advances of the internet, more and more people would be able to connect themselves through common forms of entertainment, but I would submit it's exactly the opposite.  The more effective ways we have to communicate, the more highways there are for numerous new forms of entertainment.  The world may be smaller, but the forum for entertainment won't ever stop growing, and that means finding quality among all the muck becomes that much more difficult.

anyway here they are (followed by ranking on the list);

1. School of Rock (188)

2. Transformers (309)

3. Cloverfield (394)

4. V For Vendetta (418)

5. Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (475)

6. Hot Fuzz (374)

7. Iron Man (406)

8. Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull (453)

9. Layer Cake (276)

10. The Lost Boys (438)

Later, if I so desire, I might show my animation from that class, but for now, to satisfy your need for motion graphics, I'm gonna post some kinetic type assignments that I found on another blog a while back.

Again, late, but pretty awesome. It just goes to show animation isn't necessarily all about drawing.

Sam Jackson at his Sam Jackson-iest:

As a freshman, I posted this quote on my facebook once … lame … but cool kinetic type:

And, one more for good measure:

Why? The answer is simple... Imagine an injured dog - The dog will used almost anything to keep his power and fear among us, cats...

In Abdullah case... You go and judge by your self!

There's one sentence I'd like to quoted from the movie 'V For Vendetta'... And I assume that by this time you guys already noticed on why I have 'Guy Fawkes' faces all over my crappy blog... The quote goes like this:

"People shouldn't be afraid of the government, but the government should be afraid of the people!"

This sentence has a very good resemblance with the Indian word 'Makkal Sakhti' which means people power and we have truly showed the power of the people on the Malaysia 12th General Election by denying BN 2/3 majority in parliament. So, in this very 'unpredictable moment', are we still afraid of the government? My personal answer is NO...

Thank to God that bro Sheih and Teressa has been released... Now there's Raja Petra, Nik Adli (Son of Nik Aziz) and a lot more are still being hold under ISA. I pray for them and hope they'll be release soon... Now who will be next victim of the Malaysian corrupted government?

Domestic Disturbance is available at Amazon for $9.98. To Order click here
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Other Products of Interest

• Don't Say a Word
• Basic
• The General's Daughter
• Changing Lanes
• Twisted (Special Collector's Edition)

Yes. This is a kotatsu. It is also the only actual item on my wish list. ("Clothes", "CDs", "DVDs", and "Books" doesn't count. Too vague.) I really really need it. Its actually necessary to my life. And grades. You see, its starting to get dark really quickly. Wayyyy too quickly. In the winter, there is a LOT of homework. In the winter, it's cold and dark when you are suppossed to be doing homework. Rather than staring at endless pages of worthless assignments, you would rather be huddled next to a warm and dancing flame clutching at your last hope of survival, a smore, before you are forced to actually leave your house and go to the convenience store. I think a kotatsu would help. I found a couple on ebay... but I'm a little worried about the shipping costs. Well anyway thats what I want. Also, my "Wish List" is different from my "Expensive Items" List. That includes, 1. A laptop 2. An iPod with good memory 3. A baby grand piano 4. One of those super cool apartments downtown 5. A little piece of paper that says "First Class Ticket to Japan" and when you wave it in front of the airlines people they quickly escort you to the best seat on the plane.

NOT happening.

Other things I've been doing: Reading the V For Vendetta comic. I have to say I actually liked the movie better, but thats probably because I saw it first. And because it was awesome. They were pretty different. But both good.

Watching Nodame Cantabile. I'm actually enjoying it a lot. All my craving for real drama will hopefully be cured by reading some stupid teen romance novels... and then I can get back to Kurosagi. Its really sad because I love it so much (Kurosagi) but its all episodic... Bad decision, TV producers!!! I like all the songs they play in Nodame! Like Rhapsody in Blue, with the bear-looking mongoose costume! It was so cute! I've had the sheet music laying around for awhile, but when I saw it in Nodame I was inspired to actually play it! (Its the simple version). I think they play Rondo Alla Turca also, which I have. I like the Mozart for 2 pianos! I did figure out that its the Sonata in D Major K 448. But I cant play it... only one piano ><

Is that WAY too much about piano? I feel really inspired... haha. Practice, practice! I kinda wish I live in Iron Man's house. Hah, I know thats really random, but I cant play the piano at night because of my neighbor... and I always feel like playing at night. If I live in Iron Man's house, I could play whenever I want.

I watched episodes 4-5, I'm about to go watch episode 6. (Nodame)

I also bought some more green tea... the Stash Green Tea sampler. Last time I got it, I fell in love with the Chai Green Tea. I know its sounds really really weird, but it tastes like green tea ice cream! You can put milk in and its tastes super good! I like the Sushi Bar Green Tea too. Yum.

Oh and I got a haircut. It was too long. The lady put too much goop in my hair though. Too many weird hair products! At least they smell good =D Want my kotatsu! Also my asian gangster jacket! You know, like the one Eiji wears in Antique Bakery. I dont care if its tacky! I've really wanted one for sooo long. I cant find it anywhere, though. Sad... I must away to ebay!