March 4, 2010
Alice in Wonderland came out yesterday. Of course, as soon as Michelle called me, I started shrieking about it to her and it ended in us going to watch it last night. Just because Johnny Depp is in the film (my reason for watching) and because its awesome (our reason for watching). And it was. It was utterly, wonderfully awesome. Mich had wanted to watch it in 3D and honestly, I wish I could too but there wasn’t a 3D show at 10 pm last night and also, 3D movies make me feel sick.
But never mind. Because the damned thing was still awesome anyway and it was the first night. What could be better?
I remembered having a copy of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass as a child. It was a fascinating read for an 8 year old, I loved reading long books then even though I never really understood what I read, I had the most fantastic dreams of Wonderland after reading it and the adaptations of that book for children would pale in comparison to the volume my dad had bought me.
Alice in Wonderland does not disappoint. Well, ok, the story line in Alice’s world? Disappointing as heck. Its far too fairytale, far too glazed over version of a young woman’s reality in Victorian society. Everyone knows that in that era, even if a woman wanted to, there was no way to avoid getting sucked into a marriage instead of being able to work in her father’s company and earn her own living because a woman in that society without a man, is utterly without protection or rights. BUT, we shall not go there.
Instead, we shall focus on what happens in Wonderland. Or Underland, as we see in the movie. The first thing about Underland, you’ll notice is Tim Burton’s, by now, extremely familiar style of animation. The colors jump out at you, the costumes and objects are delightfully surreal and colorful and everything is just gorgeously fantastic. Its a proper fantasy world in there, with a slightly demented twist that just makes it all the more wonderful. The characters are an extension of the visual effects in there, they are loud, larger than life, twistedly demented and utterly lovable.
And of course, there’s Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter. I have the world’s biggest crush on Johnny Depp, its no secret, I love anyone who looks like he’s nothing more than a pretty face but has the depth and brains to carry off the insane roles that he plays all the time. Looks and insanity – those are very important traits for a man to have. Along with Johnny Depp is Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen, the utterly bonkers and rather sadistic tyrant of Underland. You’d probably remember this pair from Sweeny Todd and honestly, I think the two of them do have an energy that seems to rub off on each other in these sort of roles. Joining the party of pretty people who are terrific at playing twisted and demented characters, is Anne Hathaway who actually does a pretty freaking awesome job of playing the White Queen. In fact, my favorite character of all might be the White Queen in that movie. The White Queen is this floaty, dreamy, tree hugging hippie fairy princess sort who floats around in a dreamy daze of sorts. But she’s got this slightly nutty side to her, that comes across pretty well in the one scene where she mixes up the shrinking potion for Alice. In short, the White Queen is my kind of girl.
I’d say watch Alice in Wonderland for the visual effects and the well played character but don’t expect Alice’s storyline to be much good if you can’t stand the standard ‘and they all lived happily ever after’ romantic comedy type endings. I’d say that everything else about the movie more than makes up for the shitty, overly positive and unrealistic ending, and I do intend to watch it a second time. Also, Johnny Depp reciting ‘Jabberywocky’? Makes me very, very weak at the knees.
Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll
‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought—
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! and through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
He chortled in his joy.
‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
(Source: www.wikipedia.org)
Posted in Geekette, Things I like | 
Tags: Alice in Wonderland, Movies | 
1 Comment »
March 3, 2010
There’s a mutant cyst on my ankle. I’d take a photo of it for you but right now, I’m too grossed out by the thing. It started out as just a pain when I sat cross legged and that area was pressing on the ground and then I noticed a bump, which after hours and hours or freaking myself out about possible ankle injuries, I ended up at the doctor’s. Who told me it was a cyst, most likely caused by an ankle injury. And the only way for the thing to go away? Surgery.
But anyhows, I thought I’d tell the mutant cyst “Fuck you, I’ve got a duathlon next week and I’m running whether you like it or not.” this morning. Turns out, aside from causing major discomfort, mutant cysts never take well to being told to fuck off. Because this morning’s run was crap. After the first 500 meters, my flipping ankle started to hurt everytime I landed on it. When the damned thing hurts, it just reminds me of getting my ankle cut open and know what happens when you tell me the word ’surgery’? Despite all my better senses, I Google. Obsessively. And find images of body parts cut open exposing a glowing white orb that is presumably the cyst. Images that just come floating up into my brain when my ankle hurts while running. Which is pretty damned nauseating.
Anyway, a map of this morning’s run. I had meant to do two loops of the route but the ankle wasn’t agreeable. I’ll try again tomorrow morning. Fuck you, cyst.
Posted in Sports | Tags: Running, Sports | 2 Comments »
February 28, 2010
This week, I decided to snap a self portrait of Chloe and I in my mirror.
As a person, I’m extremely fluid. The world knows me by many names, many roles. If I’m not careful, I can fade into the wall and become a non-entity. Some days, I forget that I exist. Seeing myself in photos always gives me a certain shock because its affirmation that I do, indeed, exist and occupy this space in the universe, this human body and I breathe and eat and feel. It never ceases to amaze me. It was only in the past few months when I’ve begin to accept that I am in fact, not part of the wall but a person. And as a person, I need a personality, a reason for my existence, a set of beliefs and values I’ve formed for myself. It’s been a very strange few months, but I look forward to keep moving with everything and traveling the way of the universe.
Check out what my fellow Project 52-ers are up to in the links on the side bar!!
Posted in Project 52 | Tags: Photography, Project 52 Peeps! | No Comments »
February 23, 2010
Ran again the other night, managed to get in about 5 km before I reached home. Here’s the route. On a note, its rather terrifying to run past a graveyard in the dark of the night. Alone. *shudder*
Posted in Geekette, Sports | Tags: Running, Sports | 3 Comments »
February 20, 2010
How was your Chinese New Year? Mine was uneventful. We’re into week 7 of Project 52. Which means we’re in the 7th week of 2010. Man, time flies when you’re having fun. This week on Project 52, my subject is yet another pet. A canine, this time. This is Buddy, an absolutely adorable Scottish terrier we spent Chinese New Year dog sitting. Chloe has the world’s biggest crush on Buddy, I swear. Once I got her settings right, she shot some pretty awesome photos of him. This was taken on manual mode and eventually retouched to correct the smidge of overexposure and deepen the colors in the photo.
This photo brings me back to the kind of hot, golden afternoons when all sounds are muted and barely any life stirs around the house. Overall, this might have been the best Chinese New Year I’ve had. Hopefully, plenty more pleasant Chinese New Years to come.
Posted in Project 52, Things I like | Tags: Dogs, Photography, Project 52 Peeps! | No Comments »
February 18, 2010
Ever since I decided it would be a good idea to actually start running and actually train to do my first marathon before I turn 25, I’ve realized just the tiniest problem. I have no bloody way of tracking how far or fast I’m running. As low tech as I am, I STILL need to know how much progress I’m making if I’m training for something like a marathon.
Annoyingly enough, pretty much all the run tracking thingies are linked to Apple devices. As you all know, I’m just NOT a fan of Apple, the only thing I’ve ever felt they did right was the second generation iPod shuffle, everything else is meh to me. I do have Amelie, my Blackberry and I went online to search my butt off for a running application for Blackberrys, but guess what? There are maybe, less than five of them, two of which I’ve downloaded and turned out to be an utter waste of time and space. And then, there’s MapMyRun.com. They have a Blackberry app. The catch, you gotta subscribe to their gold memebership to the tune of 50 odd USD a year to get it. Even more bloody infuriating is that they have an iPhone app which does not require a membership subscription and can be bought one off at the app shop. EVEN MORE annoying, they have iMapMyRun AND iMapMyRide for the iPhone. Blackberry’s app is for running only.
Oh jeez, why not just say the world hates Blackberrys and be done with?
But, all bitching aside, I signed up for a free membership on MapMyRun.com and tried using it to track my run this morning. Which proved to be kinda helpful in that it gave me a general idea of how far I ran. It also has a calender that will show my training logs and stuff. They have a lovely feature that allows you to search for run routes in your country by other runners, which is pretty rad, all things considered. The other features are a moot for me but they do have a section under training with things like calculating your heart rate zones and a gear tracker to keep track of how many miles your hear are put through. Supposedly, its to ensure you don’t use stuff past the point where they’re good but its not like I give a flying heck, for me, gear gets replaced when it falls apart. Which might explain all the injuries I’m riddled with. -_-
Anyhows, I’ll try using MapMyRun.com for a couple of weeks of training and give it a proper review soon. In the mean time, I’ll just blog my run routes when I remember to. Here’s my route for this morning:
Posted in Geekette, Sports | Tags: Running, Sports, Technology | No Comments »
February 16, 2010
Let me preface this by saying, yes I know my entry for this week is late but it was Chinese New Year eve weekend and I’d been working all week long. Life gets in the way. *shrug*
Anyway, I love shooting photos of animals. This week’s subject is Greg, the family cat. Otherwise know as Cat, Greggy, Gregory, Greggers, Greg-hiss Khan or the Supreme Ruler of all the Universe, this cat knows that its a cat’s world and the humans only live in it. Greg came to our family as a 8 week old kitten whose first week at home resulted in a fall from the second floor landing into my mom’s plant (afterwhich, he attacked the poor plant every chance he got for the next two years that we spent in Beijing) and terrorising Cookie, the sweet little doggy belonging to our neighbors on the estate.
This photo was shot on Chloe, my Nikon D100 on aperture priority mode. I’m trying to improve on my technical knowledge of photography but am not always successful so please bear with me.
Go to the sidebar and check out what my fellow Project 52-ers have been up to! I’m sure they’re all religiously posting every week. =)
Posted in Project 52, Things I like | Tags: Cats, Photography, Project 52 Peeps! | 3 Comments »
February 12, 2010
Seems like someone hates Valentine’s Day as much as I do.
A school has banned its pupils from sending cards on Valentine’s Day, saying the youngsters are not mature enough for romance, a newspaper reported on Thursday.
Ashcombe Primary School — which teaches students aged four to 11 — has threatened to confiscate any cards found on the premises in Somerset, said the Times.
- By Agence France-Presse
Posted in Things I like | Tags: Crazies, News | No Comments »
February 11, 2010
Posting on my blog has been sparodic lately. I think that it stems mainly from the last few months being a time when I’m in a bit of a flux and don’t really know what to write about. In the larger scope of things, its partly because I’m working on getting my life to move in a new direction and suddenly, things I once wrote about and cared about just don’t seem appropriate or relevant any more. So I’m working on resetting my blog’s direction. For now, this blog will be focusing mainly on Project 52 and on my goal for training up to do the Bike Asia race solo this year and the next. Until June, I will be trying to hold off on writing about certain issues in my life because I’m not comfortable enough to do it yet and also because they might affect certain areas of my life negatively. These issues are definitely things I want to write about and advocate for but only when I am ready. Until then, I’ll just try not to bore everyone into a coma and take better photos.
On a side note, Happy Chinese New Year to all the people who do celebrate it. If you don’t celebrate this holiday, enjoy the looooong weekend and say a prayer to the universe or your deity of choice for the poor souls who are currently being tortured by “When are you getting married/having kids/getting a significant other” questions from nosy relatives. =)
Love,
alexisthetiny
Posted in Randomness | Tags: Random Ramblings | No Comments »
February 8, 2010
The perfect end to the whole week. After a ride in the morning, lying by the pool, watching the sky get dim, talking about everything and just being together. The calm before the storm.
Taken with my Lumix point and shoot on its regular mode.
Posted in Project 52 | Tags: Photography, Project 52 Peeps! | No Comments »
content rss