what the hell?

Mike Chen, Kenny, Kirk and I went to go see One Hour Photo starring Robin Williams. It's about this obsessive Photo Developer who keeps pictures of this one family and eventually begin to stalk them hardcore. It was pretty freaky some of the shit Robin Williams' (Sy) character did. Nothing much to write about. One of those movies you go to watch for the sheer scary factor. Once you watch this, you'll be a little scared to develop your film next time you have to do it :)

Afterwards we went over to the Tea Zone in Fullerton. They don't have the Lollicup cups anymore but the boba tasted about the same. The four of us kinda of just chatted away for two hours talking about various things from college life, professors, crap TAs, bits of Troy and Kenny's fetish with really violent and bloody videos.

I've also been playing some Sim City 2000. That game runs like crap on my computer for some reason and I can't really explain why it is lagging so much. I have to turn off music and sound because everytime there is a sound or some MIDI music starts my computer pauses briefly. I have a 1.6 GHz machine to have it slowed down by MIDI music. I'm assuming its because the program is old and not very optimized but thats pretty lame.

So when you actually turn off sound/music and are able to actually play, it is pretty interesting to see what some of your actions turn up.

For instance, I built so many Police stations around everything that crime was basically zilch. Then they start whining about random things like education. It's pretty dumb because I have like 5 museums in a row, and the schools are only 1/5 full yet 8% of the population complain about the education that they are getting. So I add more libraries and museums and colleges and still it is the same amount of complaints about education. This leads me to believe that the "SimParents" in my city are a bunch of dumbass losers who can't teach their children anything so they complain about the education.

Then there's the problem with the water. You have to put in pumps and connect them to pipes to supply the buildings with water. So apparently my Sims have no need for going to the bathroom and leave the shower on even while they have no need for it. Unless I install like ten pumps near a lake they are always emptying the water supply.

My final quirk was that my population had peaked at around 5 million people and I was basically out of room to do anything so I decided to cause a fire and see how well my fire stations would do. And it turns out that from the years and years of idleness has caused them to forget how to put out a fire. So the fire basically scorched half of my city!!! But the funny part is when I put in my acropolises (which can hold 60000 sims) and that allowed me to skyrocket my population to about 9 million + which is pretty cool except those acropolises basically turned my city into crime central (the ones I built increases crime and pollution). But by that time I really didn't care. I didn't save that portion so when I go back my city can become its 5 million happy sims again!

Today was my last day.

Which means I have the rest of September to do... nothing! :)

Hooray!

1) Car got washed
2) Hair got cut
3) Actually talked to someone from ASB after explaining to Sam Au the previous night that I had no contact with them since graduation.

Now it is early Tuesday, nothing happened much on Monday... Lots of me playing CS.

That is all...

I feel tired of writing down everything I do everyday but I'm afraid that if I don't I won't remember what I did(?)

That's why I want a digital camera, that would probably make things easier. Rather than explaining what I did I could just post up some pictures.

With that said, one of the few remaining things I had in my checklist was checked off on Saturday.

My cousin and I went to go see a couple of local bands tonight... well more like last night 'cause it's past 12 right now. Yeah so we only heard two songs by them because by the time they started playing at like 10:10 or so we had already been there for like 2 hours (we got there a little past 8) and were pretty tired from just standing and listening to the previous band while everyone was smoking. Trying to not breathe in all that smoke takes a lot out of you ://

Yeah so the band we listened to was called Nutwood. They were decent but kinda generic. They always start off the song slow and then pick up the tempo really fast and then start to scream and stuff. Lots of screaming and singing and whining from the feedback of the mics.

I don't get it with bands that want to shout all the time. I really don't see the point of doing it all the time. Originally I suppose it was to show that you were in anguish or pain or something like that but once every other band uses that as a method to convey "emotion" it gets lame. Sorry, I thought you were suppose to convey music through actual music which includes the voice. So I hope that they use less of that. Less screaming, good times for all.

Anyways, TwoYearsLater eventually did come on, yeah so we waited two hours for them only to hear two of their songs but that's okay...

Yesterday I went to Jiner's house and we hung out at her place for a while. She was attempting to do her resume but it just ended up with her goofing off or talking to people on AIM. Random things happened while we were hanging out. We started talking about LOTR or something and I mention Liv Tyler and she hands me a magazine with Natalie Portman on it. Go fig.

And then she shows me some manga called GTO. Lots of perverted stuff, you know stuff you'd expect from the Japanese... hehe just kidding.

Oh and McDonalds fries apparently come in buckets now instead of their trademarked fry boxes. No wonder this nation gets so fat.

I was going to write my review of it, but then it got too long! This game is really fun to play mainly because you can find so many different ways to do it. A lot of funny shit can happen because of that. For example, I strangled a postman who was delivering flowers to the main gate of the house. They main gate was guarded by two goons who frisked you (EEK!) if you tried to go to the front. So I took his uniform and dropped off my guns at a side door where I could pick them up later. So the guard frisks me and lets me it. And I have to walk up to the main door of the mansion because if I try to go anywhere else the guards will stop me. I enter the main door and there is a maid and a guard there.

At this point the maid is stepping up to me to take the flowers that I had in my hands. And me, watching a lot of lame kung-fu movies decided that now was the best time for action.

We've all seen those movies where the dude hides a gun behinds the flowers and shoots the bullets through the flowers and killing the unsuspecting people... Well thats what I was planning to do. I would shoot through the flowers and hit the maid and then before the guard could react I'd whip my gun towards him and fire off a couple of rounds.

Okay so here I go.... wait a minute... where are my guns? OH NO! CRAP! I left them outside by the side entrance of the wall :(

So the maid takes the flowers and I try to follow her but the guard won't let me so I make a bolt for my guns that are sitting outside the side entrance of the wall but by then all these guards are on alert for some reason so basically when I picked up my guns that I had left on the ground I had to fight off 4 guards who were rushing the side door where my guns were!

Teh Funnay!!!!

I'm reading the LOTR Official Movie Guide which explains the process they went through to make the films. Most of the book (well not really; big text and lots of pictures) is pretty good although a lot of the text is repetitive (how many times do we need to know Orlando Bloom played Legolas?). It's really amazing the amount of effort they put into making the movies. First off, they have filmed all three movies already which in itself is a big task. But what they did first was to script out which parts of the books they were going to do in the movie, then draw all those scenes on a storyboard. So basically someone drew the storyboards for all three books. And then all the costumes and scenery had to be designed plus they had to travel all around New Zealand to film these sequences. They also had to pick out all the actors for the film (about twenty main characters were cast for just the first film) and then those actors had to 1) read the book 2) learn the script 3) if they did not play a human role, they had to learn to speak a different language with an English accent 4) had to learn how to ride a horse, sword fight and paddle canoes.

They also had to make 48,000 pieces of armor (one initially made of metal which allowed them to make silicon copies of the armor), numerous swords and other weapons and make costumes for 20 main cast members, dozens of supporting roles and thousands of extras for the three movies. In fact since the Fellowship is over a long timespan, they created several versions of some costumes to show wear and tear. For instance, Frodo (played by Elijah Wood) has about 10 costumes they use over the course of the journey. But they also had to make one for Frodo's body/stunt and horse doubles! That is a lot of costumes just for one character!

Just thinking about the complexity is enough to drive anyone mad. I don't think I would have been able to be patient enough to do all that brainstorming before they even shot a single set onto film. AHHHH.... I've got a headache.

But then you turn to the other end of the spectrum, Jimmy Neutron. While I understand that it's a cartoon, I think there should be some degree of realism to it.

The fact that he is a genius?
The fact that he propelled a toaster a few hundred feet using only some soda in a can?
The fact that he snuck out at night to goto a new theme park yet had no real means of transportation of getting there?
The fact that he has a robotic dog that understands his commands and can project holographic images from his mouth and yet not be a billionaire?
The fact that, with some help from his friends, he was able to build numerous spaceships that could propel them through the recesses of space?

All those are questionable, but still wouldn't bother me since it was a cartoon.

However there is one thing that annoyed the heck out of me. THESE KIDS DON'T NEED TO BREATHE! The opening scenes you see these jets (with a canopy on them mind you) chasing down a "bogey"which turns out to be Jimmy Neutron in a rocket (or perhaps... a jet?!). Only for some reason Jimmy Neutron does not need to breathe. The rocket that he's sitting in has no top so his face is sticking out into the atmosphere.

So you have these jets chasing a kid who needs no oxygen. Doesn't that seem a bit freaky? Why do the jets even bother having canopies? It does not make sense!

And later on when all the kids are blasting off into space, they all have their heads unprotected from the dangers of space. Sure they might need their mommy and daddy but who the hell needs oxygen? Definitely not them.

Yeah so I was going to write this one bit about Troy 2001's Yearbook but I decided it would be better not to.

*Sigh*, just like most people, I wish that I could go back and start it all over again. Because I would, if I could.

I'm going to pull a Trainer and goto my bed and listen to Jimmy Eat World and cry.

Sunday: Went to Jiner's to watch some movies
Monday: Went to James' to celebrate Pranav's birthday party. Sang Karaoke on James' machine. Got a 98 for Beach Boys' California Girls :)
Wednesday: Went to CyberWorld with James, Amy, Maily, Jimmy, Malcolm and his friend.

On Friday, Josh, Erik, Two of our friends from UCI (Kenny/Kevin) and I went to the Weezer concert at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater (aka Irvine Meadows). It was totally packed with people (15,000+, most ever for any single Weezer concert!). The show had a second stage with more bands and one of them was a band called Third Grade Teacher. Kenny and I were watching as they were preparing and the singer (female) looked pretty calm and pleasant but when she opened her mouth... DAMN! She was like a freaking banshee straight outta hell! With lyrics like "I'm a raging alcoholic" to "I'm going to fucking smash you against the wall" you know that she's fucking nuts! :P

Sparta was the opening act on the main stage and they played an "interesting" set, lots of guitar effects and spaced out sounds. They shoulda played One Armed Scissor as their finale though, that really disappointed me :( (joke only funny if you know who Sparta were)

Next came Dashboard Confessional. They had a really great set playing songs like Saints and Sailors, Screaming Infidelities and Hands Down. I recognized all the songs but couldn't match it to their names so I just sang along.

Then Weezer came on and boy did the whole place ROCK! Rivers was really talkative starting out with (Hey all you Irvine Punks) and said some pretty funny things throughout the show (Now even all the emo people can relax). The setlist was incredible! Everything song they played was either a single from one of their albums or really popular with the fans. The setlist was: Intro, Photograph, Jonas, Keep Fishin', Why Bother, Island In The Sun, Undone, Tired Of Sex, Burndt Jamb, Buddy Holly, Knock Down Drag Out,El Scorcho, Dope Nose, Say It Ain't So, The Good Life, Hash Pipe, Only In Dreams, and Surf Wax. I sang to every song as best as I could but by the time they got to Buddy Holly I was literally losing my voice so I had to cut back on the screaming and singing. Erik and I were trying to guess what song they would play next and I was able to call out each song from El Scorcho to Hash Pipe! The only song I would have changed would have been Knock-Down Drag-Out. I wish they would have played some Across The Sea or perhaps The World Has Turned And Left Me Here because they hadn't played that throughout the tour. But all in all every song was great!

After waiting se7en lifetimes to get out of the parking lot, we all headed to Denny's to get some food into our stomach, or what I'd like to call, an orgasm of food. I mean not eating for a long time takes a lot out of you :)

By the time I got home it was 2:30... So I plunked my badass self to bed

The next day Don and I went to South Coast to meet up with Jiner and her friend, Anna (1n or 2 ns?) to goto the beach and stuff. We talked to Pranav for a bit while he was working and by the time Jiner gets there its already too late to goto the beach so we decide instead to goto the Irvine Spectrum to go eat at Cheesecake Factory. While we were waiting for Malcolm to arrive. The four of us went around looking at the stores. Don bought a pillow for his dad but other than that we didn't do much. The waiting line for Cheesecake factory was really long (almost an hour wait for us in total). The food was pretty good but we had a little bit of trouble figuring out how much each person owes ("Wait, so how did we lose money after someone put in their share? :)") but after that it was all good.

After we ate, most of us went over to Nammy's place and hung out there for a while. He was having a sort of Mini-LAN and we all played for a bit before deciding to go back home...

Don dropped me off at my house at 2:30 (Again!) so I go and plunk my bad-ass self onto bed again.

Whew! So on Wed and Thur. I went to Cyberworld and Gamers-X, Friday I went to go see the =W= and Saturday we ate at the Spectrum! WHEW! Lots and lots of stuff...

So yeah anything I missed will be added later on when I remember it.

We ate at BCD Tofu, watched Signs, got Boba, saw My Sassy Girl.

So what did we learn from all of that? Aliens vulnerable to stupidest things, it is possible to eat a bowl full of tofu, boba costs $2.70 for 2 and never ever help anyone, especially if they are drunk.

Signs turned out to be better than I expected. Funny and scary at many times :) Cheapest scares evar!

On another note, Chick Hearn, legendary Lakers announcer, died today from head injuries he suffered while at home. We'll miss you Chick ;(

(He's) So slow, I saw him on an escalator yesterday and a step passed him. - Chick Hearn

When asked by a local why the Battle of Stirling Bridge was filmed on an open plain, Gibson answered that "the bridge got in the way".

Now before I get to the punch line, I will attempt to explain what the Battle of Stirling Bridge is. Now if you know what it is and just want to continue to the quote, thats fine. If you just want to read the rest of the quote, and then come back up here and read what the Battle of Stirling Bridge is, that too is fine.

So basically in 1297, William Wallace is leading the Scots against the English. The King of England, King Edward, is in France negotiating with the King of France over disputed territories so he sends 4 of his men, Earl of Surrey and Sussex, John de Warrenne and High Justicar de Cressingham to handle the rebellion.

So the English army and Scottish army meet up at Stirling on the river Forth. There was a small bridge that allowed two people to cross at a time; the English had about 50,000 men at the time. Although their was suggestion that they cross the river at a better place where more men could cross at a time, they sought to end the battle quickly because they outnumbered the Scottish army 5 to 1. So at daybreak the English army began crossing the bridge 2 by 2 assuming that the Scots would wait for the whole army to cross before attacking (the chivalrous thing to do).

But the Scots would have none of that! Once half of England’s army had crossed, Wallace’s men attacked with full force. Sir Andrew de Moray, one of Wallace’s close friends, circled behind the English army that had already passed the bridge and cut off their retreat, creating mass confusion. Wallace, seeing that the English army’s retreat had been cut off, pressed on the attack and was able to kill (or drown) the heavy cavalry that had crossed the bridge.

In an effort to still win the battle The Earl of Surrey sends more men to reinforce those already in battle. He chooses to do this by crossing the small little bridge. But because the bridge was weak, it collapsed while the reinforcements were on the bridge, causing the rest of the English army to drown in the river.

Okay, so now I will reprint the quote again
When asked by a local why the Battle of Stirling Bridge was filmed on an open plain, Gibson answered that "the bridge got in the way". "Aye," the local answered. "That's what the English found."

HAHAHA! GET IT??!!!!

Info gleaned from the History Channel and this website