Perpetual Rants: February 2009

Friday, February 27, 2009

Interviews...

...with interviewers. xD

[Like, doh. I couldn't come up with something that cleverly makes references to Anne Rice's Interview with a Vampire, so I'll have to settle for that. Meh.]

So yesterday I went for two interviews, one in the morning, and one in the afternoon. The morning one went alright, I guess, but the afternoon one... oi.

I got a test sprung on me for the afternoon one.

Since it was rather technical, I was kinda out of my element with the crapping.

Hopefully I'll get the morning one. It pays higher.

Monday, February 23, 2009

The 81st Academy Awards!

[Thank goodness I did not see no Jo Bro there. But there was still Miley Cyrus, soo...]

Anyway, ceremony just finished, so I'ma start the blogging... now:

Hugh Jackman was better than I thought, although not as wild and, um, gay as he was in the Tonys. Woulda been pretty cool to see him in gold pants again. Plus, loved the "I'm WOLVERINE!!" bit at the end of his opening number.

The star power was TREMENDOUS this time around. They got a LOT of famous and established actors to come and present. Loved that whole '5 past-winners for acting awards' schtick.

[Shirley MacLaine! Ben Kingsley! Robert DeNiro! Chris Walken FTW! A gilded Sophia Loren!]

Jack Black is SO right. The only time Pixar got robbed was the year Monsters, Inc. was up against Shrek. And Monsters, Inc. deserved that one WAY more. I'm not really a fan of Dreamworks cartoons. Pixar rules! And is actually creative!

I've never really gone for Ben Stiller's brand of comedy (except Zoolander). Humor only sunk in till halfway, when I realised he was imitating Joaquin Phoenix. And I pride myself on recognising pop culture. Sigh.

The Pineapple Express bit for Comedy was good! "Slumdog Millionaire = The Love Guru." HAHAHAHAHA!!

[James Franco is soooooo cute...]

All clips with Wall-E made me "Awwwww...". I should really watch that movie.

Seriously, what the hell is Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens doing singing on stage? Did I miss out hearing High School Musical's nomination for something? At least Mamma Mia! wasn't teenaged crap.

The music's kinda messed up. When they were bringing out the host for the post-production awards, I thought it was gonna be someone from The Dark Knight, since the music is SO reminiscent of that movie. But no. It was Will Smith. At least use music from Hancock or something, man.

Beyoncé wasn't as annoying as she usually is. At least she didn't come out and present. But then, that left us with Alicia Keys. Ugh. Thank goodness P Diddy wasn't around. Dubble-UGH.

The In Memoriam part sucked. Zooming in and out of the screens does not help the rest of us TV viewers WHO CAN'T FUCKING READ TINY PRINT!! Helloooo, some of us actually WANT to know who had passed on!! Plus, why the hell is Queen Latifah singing? She doesn't suck at it, but still. And is it me, or did I miss seeing Heath Ledger in the montage?

UPSET: I thought Mickey Rourke was gonna win. BUT... Sean Penn's first lines for his speech was awesome.

And in the 'Movies of 2009' part, where the hell be my Watchmen? Just 'cuz it's coming out in two weeks doesn't mean that it is ALREADY OUT!! And oi, Transformers 2!!
G-Force looks friggin' adorable, though :)

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Hoo-ray for HOL-lywood!

Tomorrow is the Oscars!

I have NO idea how to do the 'live-blogging', but I definitely will blog my thoughts after the ceremony tomorrow morning.

[I am pretty sure the Jonai will get some screen time, even though they have jackshit to do with the Oscars.]

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Ugh.

The Internet connection is so sluggish right now that it takes 10 minutes to load a page on PerezHilton's.

On a lighter note, I've finally received my CPA membership letter! Now I'm officially an Associate Member! Whee~! :D

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks!

Apparently, Wizard Books took a hiatus last year, because no new books were released (based on the FFGamebooks website, anyway). To be frank, I'd only gone to the website today because I received an email from the Website Head-Person (forgive my ignorance on Web titles) stating that the site will be updated for 2009 stuffs. I'd totally forgotten about the books, because the bookstores here hardly stock them anymore (and the ones on the shelves are usually the older ones).

I do prefer the ones written by the originals, rather than the, um, other commissioned ones :P

[Bloodbones should've been written by either Steve Jackson, Ian Livingstone, or both.]

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

HammerStudy Time!

Just gotten my CPA study materials yesterday (the ONLY time I get anything via courier), and boy are they thick! Like, they give you a big-ass binder for each paper (I'm taking two this semester), six thick-ass modules for each paper, and each module has like, 30 pages.

NOT INCLUDING the case studies and whatnots at the end of each module. And exams are end of April.

Sigh. At least I'll have something to do while I'm still bloody unemployed.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Bob the Builder...

[CAN HE FIX IT!?]

Just downloaded Bob The Builder: Can-Do Zoo. It's only a one-hour trial, but provided my laptop doesn't lag on me, I'd like to think I'm pretty quick on the uptake :D

Oh, Chocolatier 3, ~~when will you be released by other Mac game publishers?~~ how I love you so muaksmuaksmuaks...

Monday, February 2, 2009

Avatar: The Last Airbender

This is an upcoming movie (slated 2010 release), which is based on the TV show. Being a very big fan, I wasn't too pleased to find out that M. Night Shyamalan was directing. But that's not the point here. Now, there's hue and cry in the fandom (not unwarranted), as white actors have been signed on to play the four main leads in the movie.

Avatar: The Legend of Aang (formerly : The Last Airbender) is an animated TV series set in an alternate universe where its characters, settings, philosophy, and architecture (among other things) are based on Inuit (for the Water-benders) and Asian (pretty much everything else; do correct me if I'm mistaken) cultures. Now, as much as I would prefer if East Asians were cast, I don't really have a problem with white actors being the leads (except for Jesse McCartney whom I see as mere marketing fodder 'cuz he has a huge fanbase), as long as they will look like their animated counterparts (I'm a purist; deal with it) and be able to fit into the Avatar universe appearance-wise, which is a bit difficult without them going yellow-/brownface (and be offensive), since everything else is borrowed heavily from Asian culture. For me, as long as the movie looks like the TV show it is adapted from (and not LOOSELY adapted), short of being 2D-animated ('cuz then it'll be pointless), I'll be very happy.

Recently, casting calls for extras have asked for "multi-ethnic actors". Now, logic would dictate that as the leads are white, naturally the secondary and minor characters should also be played by white actors, since they will be related to the leads by way of bloodline and/or culture (I'd like to call this consistency in the film). But that isn't so. The casting calls even go to the extent of asking those auditioning to wear traditional cultural ethnic garb, and in one instance, the casting director said to those clad in casual wear, "even if you came with a scarf today, put it over your head so you'll look like a Ukrainian villager or whatever." She even asked for Koreans to wear kimonos.

[I thought they were called 'hanboks'.]

Is it me, or does she sound insensitive and culturally ignorant? She is looking for ethnic actors to make the Avatar universe more diverse, and as the casting director (no less!), she should've realised that casting ethnic actors would create an even starker contrast between the mains and the extras. I mean, talk about being able to differentiate a character's importance to the story just by the color of their skin.

Aang Ain't White has a campaign called Saving The World With Postage, where it calls for fans to write polite and non-flaming letters to the producers to convey their displeasure at the casting. They have pretty useful guides on how to write the letters, and it's quite up-to-date about the dates of the casting calls (where they do peaceful protests; I'd love to participate but I don't live in the States). Do check them (and their awesome visual essay) out; that's pretty much where the latest information on the movie are pooled.

Just today, I found that Jesse McCartney has dropped out of negotiations due to tour dates, and was replaced by Dev Patel of Slumdog Millionaire fame.

To be frank, I'm shocked at this abrupt turn of events.

I wasn't really expecting McCartney to be in the movie (he was in negotiations for quite some time), but this was something else entirely. It seems to me that a rising Asian star was cast just to appease the fandom, and a not-so-good attempt at that, when they couldn't even be bothered to match the actor to a more suitable character in the Avatar universe.

A lot of people have mentioned that Patel is a welcome addition to the cast since it creates diversity. Yes, there is diversity among the leads now, but the way I see it, nothing's really changed. Dev Patel looks nothing like Zuko (farther from that than McCartney, I'm sorry to say), even though he may have the acting chops. And it brings a chain reaction of sorts: As Zuko is the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, this would mean that Patel's casting would lead to Indian/dark-skinned Asian actors playing the Royal Family, which would lead to the entire Fire Nation being played by ethnic actors, because in the TV show, all Fire Nation citizens (Royal Family included) are of similar skin tone.

[This supports the rumor that Shyamalan wants to play Uncle Iroh. Appa forbid. I shudder at the thought.]

It is decisions like these that are made at our (the fans') expense, at the expense of those of us who would like to see the show done right (and right by us, if I may add). It is good that they are beginning to acknowledge that Asian actors (so far, actor) could be an integral part of this production (it is a step in the right direction), but it doesn't really solve the problem, as I feel Zuko is still miscast, even though Patel is miles better than McCartney.

Don't get me wrong; I have nothing against these actors or the production crew. And although it seems an impossible task (at the moment), I just want to see my favourite TV show of all time be adapted into a movie franchise that remains true to its roots, one that all fans, may it be the utmost-devoted or the casual, could be proud of.