Silent Snow, Secret Snow...

So on Saturday, we went up to Mt. Buller, this ski resort thingy. It was LOADS OF FUN!! Got some pictures of the scenery below (I don't really dig putting pics of myself on the Net). Like the idiot I was, I didn't bring gloves (I didn't even bring it from back home) because the thought never really crossed my mind.

We were supposed to take the 5am tram down to the city, where we THEN take the 6.30am tour bus up to the mountains. Unlike my friends who slept during the entire 4-5 hour drive up, I, for the life of me, couldn't sleep, I don't think it was because I was too excited or something. Basically the entire bus ride was pretty much crap, as I get motion sickness really easily, and wearing all those extra layers didn't really make me feel more comfortable. I envy Sophia; on our ride up the windy roads, she dozed all the way. Sigh.

[Pics later, 'cuz my stupid connection's being an eff-tard at the moment.]

Anyway, we reached the top at about 11am, and there was SNOW!! IT WAS SO COOL!! (no pun intended). And there was ice everywhere, and I was trying not to slip and fall on my bum. So we took the chairlifts up, six of us meaning three on each lift, and our first ride up (Esther, Sophia and I) we didn't put on that bar-thingy in front of us because we didn't know (Sophia and I found out the second time we sat on the lift with Wei Lynn). It was quite intense. I wonder what would've happened if one of my sneakers dropped onto the heads of one of the people below. High-ho Sneaker, AWAY!!

After reaching one of the peaks, we started throwing snowballs at each other. I played for a while, before my hands hurt from the cold winds and I had to shove them back in my pockets. We went back down for lunch, and we came back up again to traverse the slopy, snowy terrain (yes, I think I can actually USE the word 'traverse', since we walked really, REALLY far to get to the snowtube area). It didn't help that I couldn't put my hands out to keep my balance, since the ice was really slippery, but I managed to trudge along till we reached the chairlifts on the other side.

The snowtubes, weren't really much. Basically, you just sit in this oversized round swimming-type float, and they spin you down this slightly slopy area. I got disoriented. My friends were still playing around with that, since it did cost $20, and since Sophia's feet started aching ('cuzza the cold), we went down to this café by the second set of lifts. Even when we were still in the warm, we could still see our breaths in vapors. It was so AWESOME!!

After they were done, we went on the second set, back to the bus area, because they leave at 4.10pm. The second one was quite scary; I was sitting on the right-hand side of the bench, and it felt like it slightly tipping over to my side. Halfway they stopped (I think to get some other people on or something), and we were hovering over this HUGE drop. It was kinda funny 'cuz Wei Lynn wouldn't stop screaming. But anyway, it didn't really help with the wind blowing snow in our direction, and in my eyes. The whole side of my bag was covered with snow.

Lucky for us, it didn't start raining till we got on the bus. With my pink wintercoat, I still looked like an oversized candy treat. Haha.

So it was another five hours till we finally got back to Box Hill. I slept for like a bloody half hour (not of my own accord, of course), and for the rest of the trip, I've to put up with this little Chinese girl talking to her seatmate about herself and High School Musical. (I think she went on for about an hour or so). Wei Lynn started to imitate her after a while; I didn't really notice till I noticed she wasn't talking normally. I know it's mean, but I couldn't help but laugh.

The little girl went on to talk about Sharpay and Gabrielle, which was a bit annoying, since she kept saying "Lava STRINGS. LAVA! LAVA!!" to her seatmate (I'm guessing it's Lava SPRINGS, since the girl mentioned that Sharpay's parents owned it or something, I'unno. I don't really watch teenage crap.). I couldn't help sniggering, and Sophia said, "If you listen to her long enough, you'll soon talk like her." Which is quite true, actually. Hahaha.

All in all, we spent about $110 each, including meals (I spent a bit more than that because I bought Recharge), and we were joking around saying that one of Aaron's could pay for ALL six of us (because Aaron and his housemates went for like, two-three days starting Friday, and it's costing them $600+ a pop.).

But jokes aside, we found out that Lih Yii fractured her pelvic bone while on the trip yesterday (they were supposed to return last evening). As of yesterday, she's still warded up in the mountains (apparently, it's like a mini-town with hospitals and universities. Yes. Universities.), and will be until they deem her well enough to be moved to a better hospital or something. Luckily she has Aaron and some of the others with her; company and moral support are good in a time like this. Hope she gets well soon ^^

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Friday Night Lights.

[For the heck of it, the one in my room, and the ones along the highway. And it's also a Friday night.]

Recovering from Monday's sudden spurt of productivity, I have been sitting around doing absolutely nothing but watching Yu-Gi-Oh! on YouTube, loading and re-loading The Big Bang Theory (thanks for recommendation Hui Ming!) on YouKu, and playing computer games.

I have not touched my assignment(s) since then.

Thanks to the lack of inactivity in terms of 'loading' on YouKu, I now have 100 episodes of YGO! left. I've been watching bits and partial episodes of TBBT, and even though I haven't amassed enough of the show's jokes and punchlines, I still say that the discussion on the science of Superman, where Lois Lane should've been cut into three pieces when she falls into (or through?) Superman's arms, takes the cake.

Speaking of Superman, I read on Perezzers that they might be bringing in Johnny Depp to be the Riddler in Rebooted-Batman 3. Having Jim Carrey's cheeky grinning mug forciblyfirmly etched (I'm not saying that this is a bad thing, though) in my mind, I can't really imagine Depp being the Riddler. The Penguin might also pay a visit as well, and although Philip Seymour Hoffman isn't a bad choice, he really isn't short enough.

[BRING BACK DANNY DEVITO!!]

(Although, his take on Penguin is Burton-ish, the style of which I feel that the new franchise is trying to erase. The Joker, anybody?)

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I am currently...

Being productive at the moment (being night, I tend to watch YouTube, or eat, or do both), but right now, I'm working on my first assignment! Which is due on the 14th, so just as well.

Feeling rather bored now, since the Internet is being crap, and YouTube isn't loading for me. I have like, 150+ or something episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh! left. I think it will take me all semester.

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These boots were made for walking...

Unfortunately, my only pair does not fall into the above category.

I decided to wear my heeled boots to campus earlier today for the heck of it, and right now, I'm sitting in front of my laptop, nursing my big fat toe. The left one. I didn't stub it or anything; I blame it on the way I walk in those boots. Grazed it, I guess, I don't really know how to describe it.

The only major accomplishment wearing those boots today (and no, GETTING my huge-ass feet and tree-trunk calves into aforementioned boots is not that) is that I ran across the road in them, and I did not fall flat on my face. With cars coming down on the other side, and I ran. Whee.

Never again, though.

Trouncing around campus in them (well, it FELT like trouncing), I took elevators, and avoided as many fixtures with steps (read: stairs) altogether. I almost tripped myself walking down the stairs because the elevator wasn't working, but I managed to redeem myself just a little by staring straight ahead, and pretending it never happened.

That guy next to me didn't have much luck with that. Could still feel his eyes in my direction as I made my way to the vending machine.

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A rant for the weekend.

In a nutshell, my first week pretty much sucked arse. Which probably isn't doing any good with my blood pressure. If I had any.

Tuesday:
Went to class wearing my mom's winter jacket. It being very thick and pink made me look like an oversized candy treat (that is PINK!), and did nothing to enhance my credibility and/or outward fashion sense, whatsoever. (But it probably told people that I have an affinity for pink, which I don't. Not by choice, anyway.).
Also, I had to trudge all the way up to the end of the campus, because the stupid Faculty of Business and Law building HAD to be isolated from the rest of the campus for some bloody inane reason (since the beginning of the year, actually), and the fact that I couldn't get the zip up for my bloody Marshmallow, and keep my hood on my head because of the bloody strong winds, meant that I got rather wet during the rain.
Afterwards, Sophia and I had to run across the huge, um, walkway, because I had gotten my classrooms mixed up, and thought that LT6 was where we were supposed to be. It was actually LT1.
Movie Night wasn't bad, though. I got to see how camp Jack Nicholson was as The Joker. Teehee.

Wednesday:
I had free blue candy floss while trudging up to the silly Business/Law building again, which meant that I had plenty of time to dirty the entire lower-half of my face, and color my teeth blue. I spent like, 15 minutes in the bathroom, trying to get the blue out (which is very difficult using just fingers and water), because I had to talk to people about the bloody work permit. Why don't those buggers ever accept cash? What d'you think we were capable of, counterfeiting the bloody damn things?

Thursday:
I was late for my Music class (which I did not mean to, but maybe the people started early. Just maybe.), and then I'd found out that I'm not exactly allowed to take keyboard, but instead, the GUITAR! Now, given the right prod and push, I wouldn't mind trying something new, but, as with every paper, I would be GRADED ON IT!! And since my results from the previous semester has basically high-kicked and launched my hopes for a bloody fucking 80 grade average out of the fucking window, well, at the moment I'm trying to strive for the highest grade possible, i.e. a high 70+ average.
I know JACK about the guitar, I've never held, or even so much as breathed on one before, and Performance Tests are 30%. Yes. 30. Bloody. Effing. Percent. I borrowed the elementary guitar textbook from the library, and although they do kinda spell things out, I'm not sure I can get my fingers to actually do the fricken' chords. I mean, memorizing is one thing, but getting your fingers to actually work with the strumming thingamajiggies and whatnot... For me, it's not a matter of practice, it's just the issue of wrapping my thick head around the mechanics of playing the damn thing, which is not easy. Right now, I'm stuck with either the guitar, or continuing with the keyboard. Both ways, I'm pretty much screwed. The lecturer knows I've done Grade 8, so I'm not entirely sure that she wouldn't set high standards when she's marking me for the Performance Tests.

Stupid electives. What a bloody tangled web I've woven, indeed.

[And that's just the ones with classes. Don't get me started on the rest.]

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The Dark Knight (2008)

[Meant to post this earlier, but the Internet was sucking ass, so I forgot. Till now.]

Bought tickets half an hour before showtime, WITH very good seats, by the way. (Actually, any seat that does not belong to the first five rows from the front is quite good for me. Although, I strive to get seats from the third row from the back up.).

*spoilers*

The mob's panicking like mad, since Batman came on the scene, like, in Batman Begins, so they reluctantly LET (I say 'let' because they didn't really have a choice anyway) The Joker use his own psychotic style in dealing with Batman. Throw in a scarred and seriously pissed off DA (his girlfriend died during the course of the film) and you have the movie.

The Joker didn't die; he was arrested. I think the people making the movie wanted to bring Heath Ledger back for the following movie (if any), but his sudden death early this year pretty much puts that in the dump. Maybe they'll get a replacement. I sure hope not; Ledger was surprisingly good as The Joker, more towards the demented and ruthless version in the comic books rather than Jack Nicholson's rather whimsical take on it. Not like Nicholson wasn't good, but between Jokers, Ledger's could seriously own Nicholson's ass.

As carried away as I was in the major, major hype for the movie (most of the hype being on Ledger), I was also interested in seeing Harvey Dent, pre-Two-Face. Unlike in The Phantom Of The Opera, where the guy was supposed to be seriously ugly (but in fact, looked minorly burnt) Dent's Second-Face looked like it did in the old animated series (really, really messed up), which was fantastic, excepting the fact that it wasn't blue. My only gripe is that Two-Face died in this one; it would've been more fun to see him in the next one as well. Then he could team up with the rumoured Riddler, just like in Batman Forever.

Comparing this movie with the first, this one was definitely better in terms of being a super-hero movie. I know a lot of people loved the first one (probably because of the character development, yaddayaddayadda etc.) but I found it boring. The only bit I didn't see coming was Liam Neeson being Ken Watanabe. I loved every minute of The Dark Knight; I kept my hands in front of my eyes for some of the scenes with/involving The Joker ('cuz I'm a wuss that way), but action-wise, WAAAAYYY more than the first movie. Love the bit near the end when he's fighting the SWAT team and trying to protect the hostages who've been dressed up as The Joker's men. That whole sonar(?) thingy was awesome. I didn't expect Rachel Dawes to kick it, though.

I went to watch it with my mom, and she was complaining about Christian Bale's voice being all gruff and stuff when he's being Batman. I kept telling her it's 'cuz he wants to hide his voice, and she said, "Michael Keaton and Val Kilmer didn't have to hide their voice."

-_-"

["How about a magic trick?"]

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The Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn (1987)

In this second instalment of the Evil Dead franchise, dear ol' Ash gets splashed on with EVEN more blood than in the previous movie, plus some in a few different colors.

The beginning is a recap of sorts, with Ash going to the cabin in the woods with his girlfriend, sans the three other people from the first movie. Girlfriend gets taken out, Ash leaves, and the thing bounds through the forest and attacks a screaming Ash...
From then on, the movie proper starts.

*spoilers*

Turns out, the demons are only effective at night. Ash gets possessed, but the breaking dawn kicks the demon out of Ash, and Ash is alright again. He tries to drive out to the bridge, but it's been destroyed, both opposite ends twisted inwards towards land.

Elsewhere, this girl, Annie and her boyfriend are also heading towards possessed cabin. Turns out that she's the daughter of the Professor who had lived in that cabin, the one that translated the Book and read out the incantations that brought the demons back. As of then, she doesn't know that her parents are already dead. Since the bridge is down, two hillbillies take them on an alternative trail to the cabin, which means, an extension down the buffet line for the demons.

Ash's hand gets possessed, so he chops it off with the chainsaw in the woodshed. (Later on we get to see how he fashions the thing so he can fit it over his stump of a hand.). After a misunderstanding between the new batch of people and Ash, Ash gets locked in the basement with Annie's (un–)dead mother, played by Raimi-movie staple, Ted Raimi.

After the usual demon-possession, chopping of limbs, and dying of peoples, the Professor's ghostly shade comes and tells of a few other passages that, when read together, will lead to a physical manifestation of the demonic thingies, and they'd get sucked into a time rift.

All things go as planned, with the exception of everyone BUT Ash dying, but the time rift also sucks Ash in as well, and he lands in the Middle Ages, circa 1300AD.

What happens then? That's the basis for the next movie: Army Of Darkness.

Unlike the first movie, which focused solely on horror, Evil Dead 2 has a few subtly-funny moments, one of which is the bit where Ash's possessed hand is running around (since Ash chopped it off), gets caught in a mousetrap nearby, and when Ash laughs at it, the hand flips him off.

As usual, the blood, may it be from person, demon, or orifice (teehee!), spews out from what is referred to as paip bocor (kudos to Wee Nee for coming up with that phrase ages ago).

Like that bit when the guy gets dragged into the trapdoor by Annie's zombie mom. You wouldn't have thought that a human body could hold that much blood.

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