Everyone, meet my new friend
Tuesday, October 7th, 20082 episodes in, and I’m hooked. I think it was the accents that did it.
2 episodes in, and I’m hooked. I think it was the accents that did it.
I recently started watching Gilmore Girls again, because I need to always have a TV show on DVD handy for those times when I want to just sit around and do nothing and probably eat something, because I eat all. the. time. if I have nothing else to do. And often if I have something to do as well. I’m telling you, it’s a miracle that I am not at least twice the size and weight that I am.
Anyway. Gilmore Girls. I started right on season 5, because I’ve seen the first four seasons so many times already. I am SO into it, once more. Hearing the intro song feels like coming home, and the show never fails to make me think of home, and my mom especially, because when I first saw the very first episode of Gilmore Girls, I just KNEW that this was the kind of show that me and my mom would have watched together, had it not been for the 900 or so kilometers separating us.
It also never fails to make me think about the choices I’ve made in life, especially regarding my education, and these are not all happy thoughts. I regret so many things in life, but perhaps my biggest regret is going to university just for the sake of having something to do. When I was done with high school, my plan was to take 6 months off because I was so fed up with school, I couldn’t even bear the thought of having to apply to something that would only cause me to spend 3-5 MORE years in school. When I first started high school, I was 100% sure that I wanted to be a computer engineer, and so my choice of classes reflected that — I took computer science, advanced mathematics, and physics. Then I had to drop physics in my last year of high school because of a timetable conflict. Then, about three weeks before the final exams would set in, I realised that I would 99% sure be drawn out to sit an exam in maths, and I would 100% sure fail it. So I withdrew from the class. And then I decided to take 6 months off, and apply to something later.
But then I moved back home, and after three weeks of living at home, I decided that it was not something I could do, so I called the university in Trondheim up and said something like “hey, can I come study with you?” and the university said “sure thing, if you want to study math, physics, chemistry or computer science” and I said “computer science, sign me up!”. And then I called one of the student dorms and asked for a room, and they said “sure thing, since you’re a girl!”. And then a month later, I moved here and started studying computer science.
After nearly a year, I knew I didn’t want to study computer science. So instead I applied for a sort of vocational college, and started studying towards becoming a network engineer. It gave me quite a bit of knowledge of Microsoft Windows and Cisco routers, and a diploma that apparently enables me to call myself “network engineer”. Oh, and two more diplomas naming me a Microsoft certified professional.
Then came a couple of years where I worked. I worked in a book store, at an IT company and at various other locations as a temp in the archiving field. And then I got my (now permanent) job with the university, and I started studying again. Because, you know, when in Rome.
And now. Now I know that I made the WRONG choice way back when, when I decided to study computer science. I didn’t belong in that field of studies. I belong with the humanities and the social studies. I loved studying English, and now I love studying history. I also have my mind set on political science when I’m done with history. I’d also like to try out some sociology, social anthropology and maybe even statistics. I know, I know. Sooner or later I will have to just finish the Bachelor’s degree (class of 2010, hollah!) and start working towards a Master’s, but there are just too many options! I hate knowing that I will never have the time to study everything, because I want to know at least a little bit about everything. Yes, even math and physics. Even that. But those are not priorities.
Did you really read of all that? I congratulate you. Or pity you, whichever, really. Now I am going to go play at being a housewife, and clear the dinner table from yesterday. Yes, housewife failboat docking at port three. All aboard.
Several newspapers report that St. Petersburg communists are in an uproar about the new Indiana Jones movie, which revolves around Soviet communists as the bad guys. They feel that Russian soldiers are being portrayed in a very unattractive way and that the movie glorifies the idolization of the USA. The group has e-mailed both Harrison Ford and Cate Blanchett about the issue, and are looking for an address for director Steven Spielberg. They are also planning on making their disdain known by making noise during the screenings of the movie in Russia. So far, the group has received very little support from the “real” Russian communist party.
Spielberg defends his movie by saying that the bad guys simply HAD to be Soviets in this movie, because it is set at the beginning of the Cold War - the USA didn’t have any other enemies at the time!
To me, this all seems blown out of proportion by the communist group - it’s just a movie, people! I went and saw the movie, and it was all done for entertainment, not to make a political statement. You can read my summary and review of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull over at my movie review blog, Reels of Time.
What do you think? Would you react similar to this if a group (ethnical, political or otherwise) that you belong to were being unfairly (to you) portrayed in a movie?
If you’re a manga fan, you might have already heard about the bestselling manga called DeathNote, a supernatural action-mystery manga. You might not know, however, that DeathNote has been made into a live action movie, set to show in only a select few theaters across the US on May 20th (that’s tomorrow!) and May 21st at 7:30 PM. Click here to learn how to get tickets. Included is also exclusive footage and a behind-the-scenes look at how the manga was translated into a live action movie. The movie will also be dubbed into English - good to know for those of you who cringe at the thought of foreign-language movies, and also good to know for those of you who cringe at the though of dubbed features (I know I do!).
Death Note follows Light Yagami, a student who finds a book known as the Death Book. When a person’s name is written in the Death Book, the person will die. Light starts using the book as a means to rid the world of evil, something that does not go by unnoticed - don’t you think your local police might at least notice if the city’s criminals started dropping dead? The police sends a detective named L to investigate, and he soon picks up Light’s trail. Now the two must find out which one of them is “good”, and which one is “evil” - they both believe themselves to be good, fighting for justice and to rid the world of evil.

If you could have one supernatural characteristic, what do you think it would be, and would you use it for the good of the world? Me, I don’t think I’d go for something like Light’s Death Book (a supernatural object) - I’d rather have a more personal supernatural characteristic, like, say, mind control. Then I could easily have convinced the realtor to release us from the house purchase contract. Or the bank to just pay the loan for us. Mmmyes, I can feel myself slipping over to the dark side.
I am a big fan of horror movies, and it just came to my attention that a new one is about to hit (select) theatres on May 9th and DVD on May 13th. The movie, Frontier(s), is French and is said to be the French answer to Hostel and Saw - that should give you a good idea of what kind of horror movie this is. No, it won’t be dealing with ghosts and other supernatural beings and happenings. We’re talking blood and gore, and lots of it. The unrated version of the movie will run in theatres, which is quite rare - usually unrated versions are released strictly on DVD. It should be interesting to see what rating they will give it here in Norway - 18 (years) is the highest, but is hardly ever used.
That’s us! Right now, we have no less than four gaming consoles in regular use, and we haven’t even bought the Playstation 3 yet (and too bad that is, as the one that is sold now isn’t backwards compatible, meaning we’d have to have both the PS3 and the PS2 out still. Why, Sony? WHY?).
As you can imagine, this causes some trouble for us - our TV just doesn’t have enough inputs to serve all consoles at once. For now we’ve got a switcher box thingie (does it show that I’m not all that tech savvy?), and I guess when we move over to HDTV we’ll have to make use of HDMI splitters. Right now the poor Gamecube has been banished to the other room (fondly known as the library) with the smaller, technologically inferior TV. Sometimes, at night, I can hear it crying.
However, the Gamecube will see its renaissance soon, as Grand Theft Auto IV is out next week, meaning Tor will be glued to the main TV where the Xbox 360 is hooked up. For some reason, I always want to play when he’s using the TV, but no amount of fluttering eyelashes and/or sexy dancing will drag him away from the violence galore that is GTA.
Who knows, maybe I’ll end up finishing The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass on the DS while the main TV is busy?
I am, once again, hooked on Battlestar Galactica. While awaiting the release of the third season on DVD, I’ve begun re-watching the first season. I know I say this about a lot of things, but BSG is the best. show. ever. I usually don’t enjoy scifi shows too much, but this one, this one had me from the first cylon attack.
So - instead of studying, like I should, I’ve spent almost 2 hours watching the first episode again. I’m not impressed with myself.