miðvikudagur, júlí 28, 2004
Well, here I am, 11 hours before Freyja comes to pick me up to go to the airport, and I can't sleep. I guess I still have some childlike anticipation left in me. I'm all packed and ready to go. I washed my clothes, emptied the fridge, and even did the dishes (my dishes, not my roomates'). Oh yeah, and I played some video games for about 4 hours.
I guess I'll just try to force myself to sleep now, so I'll be fresh and ready for the flight tomorrow. The long, grueling, hateful, flight. Not that I'm afraid of flying or anything. Far from it. Flying is just...so...boring. And uncomfortable. Why they have rows of seats is beyond me. They should have stacks of beds. Like in the overnight trains in Europe. They could easily put 2 levels in each aisle, possibly even 3 like they have on the trains. If we assume that a person lying down takes about two rows, then we need only 2 levels to have the same amount of passengers. Man I'd love to fly that way. You could split the plane in half, have seats in priority for the elderly and handicapped and beds for the rest of us.
Anyway, I'll be walking up the steps to my front door in Iceland in about 24 hours. YAY!
So blogging may be a bit sporadic the next few weeks, not that it hasn't been sporadic already, ah well. To you dedicated readers, don't give up on me, I will begin to blog more regularly again one school starts.
I guess I'll just try to force myself to sleep now, so I'll be fresh and ready for the flight tomorrow. The long, grueling, hateful, flight. Not that I'm afraid of flying or anything. Far from it. Flying is just...so...boring. And uncomfortable. Why they have rows of seats is beyond me. They should have stacks of beds. Like in the overnight trains in Europe. They could easily put 2 levels in each aisle, possibly even 3 like they have on the trains. If we assume that a person lying down takes about two rows, then we need only 2 levels to have the same amount of passengers. Man I'd love to fly that way. You could split the plane in half, have seats in priority for the elderly and handicapped and beds for the rest of us.
Anyway, I'll be walking up the steps to my front door in Iceland in about 24 hours. YAY!
So blogging may be a bit sporadic the next few weeks, not that it hasn't been sporadic already, ah well. To you dedicated readers, don't give up on me, I will begin to blog more regularly again one school starts.
þriðjudagur, júlí 27, 2004
Okok, so I'm stuck in lazy-blog land. It's summer, and my job is boring the hell outa me, so I haven't really had any reason to blog until now.
Coupla interesting things happened last few days.
First, some guy I have no idea who is commented on my analysis on The Passion. Yay! Some part of me knew that other people read my blog on occasion but I never really thought about it. For some reason I find this very interesting. Hey there might be people out there who have passively read everything I've written and know me pretty well by now! If any of you guys are cute girls around my age, let me know!
Muhahaha.
The other thing was an email I got yesterday. A woman from Georgia happened upon my site while looking for something on Icelandic translation. She has a friend living in Iceland who sent her a sentence in Icelandic and she wanted me to translate. Naturally I did so, since I'm such a nice guy. There's something flattering about knowing that strangers are looking at your website.
However.
The real reason for this blog was a revelation I had about myself and my current situation and fram of mind. It's brillinat I say, brilliant!
First some background. Let me try to describe the related aspects of my personality so I can make this revelation as interesting to you as it was to me. I am and have always been the type to jump into anything and everything fearlessly, even though I might get scared after actually jumping in. In the process of said jumping I have been hurt many times, but I have never let that faze me and always rebound eventually, ready for some more action. This is not so much a concious philosophy as it is an integral part of my personality. It's not something I can switch of, so to speak. And as such, it affects all parts of my life, both physical and emotional. I am the type who will meet someone and fall in love immediately. In fact, I have done so. And I have been hurt quite badly also.
So now for my current situation.
I have spent most of my time here in the US alone, reading, working, playing games, watching movies. I always assumed it was just because I was in another country, far away from most of my loved ones. But now I think that I would have felt EXACTLY the same anywhere in the world, it just would have been dulled by being at home with m&p's support, and all my friends.
So now for the revelation.
I realized that I am in self-exile. I have effectively removed myself from "the game" by just staying mostly alone. Instead of trying to go out, meet people, meet girls, possibly start a relationship, jump into it, and get hurt again, I have subconsciously "saved" myself by removing myself from the venue of said game. I could have tried to force myself to:
A. Not jump into things like I always do
B. Not allow failed relationships to have such an effect on me
C. Not open up as much as I do, as quickly as I do
However, this would mean trying to change what is me. I figure that my subconcsious, or whatever you wanna call it, kept me from compromising myself, while also keeping me from getting hurt again, by just keeping me away from the game. Brilliant I say!
I realized this while speaking to my good friend Úlfur. We are so very similar in this matter, go all out, and then wonder at why this girl walks all over us and then leaves. I sortof realized that this is all like gambling. You can play safely and maybe end up with a slight profit in the long run, or you can be the high-roller.
I am a high-roller. I find something that looks promising, and instead of betting low and hoping that it will stick around so I can bet low for a long time and profit in the long run, I bet everything on it. When I lose, I need time to regroup, find another promising prospect, and gather enough funds to make the next bet.
Right now, I'm gathering funds. And the only reason it's taking longer this time is because most of the people donating to my funds are far away.
Once I've regrouped, I will make another bet, and most likely lose again. This will continue ad nauseum, or until I win.
Here's hoping I win ;)
Coupla interesting things happened last few days.
First, some guy I have no idea who is commented on my analysis on The Passion. Yay! Some part of me knew that other people read my blog on occasion but I never really thought about it. For some reason I find this very interesting. Hey there might be people out there who have passively read everything I've written and know me pretty well by now! If any of you guys are cute girls around my age, let me know!
Muhahaha.
The other thing was an email I got yesterday. A woman from Georgia happened upon my site while looking for something on Icelandic translation. She has a friend living in Iceland who sent her a sentence in Icelandic and she wanted me to translate. Naturally I did so, since I'm such a nice guy. There's something flattering about knowing that strangers are looking at your website.
However.
The real reason for this blog was a revelation I had about myself and my current situation and fram of mind. It's brillinat I say, brilliant!
First some background. Let me try to describe the related aspects of my personality so I can make this revelation as interesting to you as it was to me. I am and have always been the type to jump into anything and everything fearlessly, even though I might get scared after actually jumping in. In the process of said jumping I have been hurt many times, but I have never let that faze me and always rebound eventually, ready for some more action. This is not so much a concious philosophy as it is an integral part of my personality. It's not something I can switch of, so to speak. And as such, it affects all parts of my life, both physical and emotional. I am the type who will meet someone and fall in love immediately. In fact, I have done so. And I have been hurt quite badly also.
So now for my current situation.
I have spent most of my time here in the US alone, reading, working, playing games, watching movies. I always assumed it was just because I was in another country, far away from most of my loved ones. But now I think that I would have felt EXACTLY the same anywhere in the world, it just would have been dulled by being at home with m&p's support, and all my friends.
So now for the revelation.
I realized that I am in self-exile. I have effectively removed myself from "the game" by just staying mostly alone. Instead of trying to go out, meet people, meet girls, possibly start a relationship, jump into it, and get hurt again, I have subconsciously "saved" myself by removing myself from the venue of said game. I could have tried to force myself to:
A. Not jump into things like I always do
B. Not allow failed relationships to have such an effect on me
C. Not open up as much as I do, as quickly as I do
However, this would mean trying to change what is me. I figure that my subconcsious, or whatever you wanna call it, kept me from compromising myself, while also keeping me from getting hurt again, by just keeping me away from the game. Brilliant I say!
I realized this while speaking to my good friend Úlfur. We are so very similar in this matter, go all out, and then wonder at why this girl walks all over us and then leaves. I sortof realized that this is all like gambling. You can play safely and maybe end up with a slight profit in the long run, or you can be the high-roller.
I am a high-roller. I find something that looks promising, and instead of betting low and hoping that it will stick around so I can bet low for a long time and profit in the long run, I bet everything on it. When I lose, I need time to regroup, find another promising prospect, and gather enough funds to make the next bet.
Right now, I'm gathering funds. And the only reason it's taking longer this time is because most of the people donating to my funds are far away.
Once I've regrouped, I will make another bet, and most likely lose again. This will continue ad nauseum, or until I win.
Here's hoping I win ;)
miðvikudagur, júlí 14, 2004
mánudagur, júlí 12, 2004
Okok, it's been way too long.
Nothing much happening lately, been working and playing hard. (mostly playing) I am still stuck in this place called limbo, where I haven't decided anything. However, I am managing to not think about it as much as I did before, resulting in an overall increase in my good spirits. Might also be due to the fact that I'll be home for almost a month in 2 weeks time. Anyway...
So I watched The Passion of Christ.
DISCLAIMER: I am not a religious person. I am not agnostic nor am I an atheist. I choose not to make a decision. I do, however, have strong negative feelings towards organized religious groups, such as the Catholic Church. Note, these feelings are not directed towards the catholic religion, nor towards catholics. People can believe whatever the hell they want, I don't give a flying rat's ass. But I digress...
This movie is completely and absolutely worthless.
This is a disgusting movie. It really has nothing to do with Christianity or Christ for that matter. It has no morales, no message, no nothing. What it does have is blood. This is a movie about torture. Plain and simple. Sure it tells the story of Christ after he gets caught, adds in a couple of flashbacks to some staple scenes where he says something straight from the bible.
Christ in this movie could have been replaced by any other character and this movie wouldn't have changed at all. It could have been called "The Passion of McDoodlefuck" and been about the torture of poor McDoodlefuck. Granted, there are scenes which everybody connects to Christ, the crown of thorns, the crucifixion. But this stuff is all just thrown in just to make sure you really know this is a movie about Christ.
Every single roman in this movie is a bloodthirsty pig who is controlled by some weird looking bald guy in a black dress who carries an ugly baby around with him. I think that is supposed to be the devil. The women do nothing but moan.
Cavaziel does a great job at being pathetic and blood-covered. Apart from that, there is no acting in this movie. Mary is just stone faced, and she gets a trademark-hollywood-single-tear scene. In another scene, she shows how sad she is by grasping two handfuls of sand.
Ok, so that's the movie part of what's wrong. Now for the religious part.
Is this actually what Catholic people like to see? Is this actually what their religion is based upon? Let's take a scene, where a person is tortured in the most gruesome way, and base our entire religion, code of morales, and lives, on it. Am I the only one who sees how sick this is? I mean, fine, when it is only in print you can sort of not imagine the disgusting aspects of it and focus on the good "died for our sins, yadayada". But when it is portrayed so bluntly in front of you, how can one even accept this? There were a couple of scenes in the movie which I found quite disturbing (apart from the torture). The first was after he is scourged and Mary and Magdelene come and wipe up his blood on a couple of white towels or something, and save them, sort of touching the blood, of course because the blood is "holy". The same thing happens later. Some woman, who is not introduced (but I'm sure devout Catholics know who she is supposed to be) goes up to Jesus as he is carrying his cross and hands him a white towel which he presses his face into. She then takes it and cuddles it to her own face. The third scene was after Christ is dead, and Longinus sticks him with a spear to make sure he's dead. The wind kicks up and sprays the blood across his face and LO AND BEHOLD! for some reason Longinus drops to his knees as if he just had an aneurysm. I'm sure he was supposed to have had some sort of epiphany, but I'll be damned if I know what about. By the way, the whole scene with the storm after Jesus dies is super-hokey.
I'm sure a lot of you think I'm just prejudiced agains Christianity, but no, that's not it. There have been many good movies about Christianity, for example Life of Brian and Jesus Christ Superstar....
Okok I'm kidding.
But still, I don't think I'm prejudiced, in fact I think I can see past the fact that this is basically just a hyped up movie for fans of Christianity (aka Christians). In fact, I would liken this movie to Hellboy. Both have a cast of characters not really introduced but very familiar to fans. Both have a story not built up in any way, but very familiar to fans. The difference is, Hellboy actually has a plot, while The Passion does not. The Passion uses one chapter in the story of Jesus Christ as an excuse to make the most disgusting movie ever made.
Seriously people, this movie is bloodier and more abhorrent then Reservoir Dogs or Natural Born Killers.
Alright, rant over.
So I'm going home for Úlla's wedding. For those of you who don't know, she's marrying her Spaniard, Manuel :) The whole family is coming from spain, sounds like funfunfun! I lengthened my stay one week so I could play at Menningarnótt at Kaffi Vín, like the last couple of years, and in a lucky turn of events, received an invitation from a friend to his wedding during that extended time.
Everybody's getting married and having kids! What's wrong with these people? :s
ANYway...going to sleep.
Nothing much happening lately, been working and playing hard. (mostly playing) I am still stuck in this place called limbo, where I haven't decided anything. However, I am managing to not think about it as much as I did before, resulting in an overall increase in my good spirits. Might also be due to the fact that I'll be home for almost a month in 2 weeks time. Anyway...
So I watched The Passion of Christ.
DISCLAIMER: I am not a religious person. I am not agnostic nor am I an atheist. I choose not to make a decision. I do, however, have strong negative feelings towards organized religious groups, such as the Catholic Church. Note, these feelings are not directed towards the catholic religion, nor towards catholics. People can believe whatever the hell they want, I don't give a flying rat's ass. But I digress...
This movie is completely and absolutely worthless.
This is a disgusting movie. It really has nothing to do with Christianity or Christ for that matter. It has no morales, no message, no nothing. What it does have is blood. This is a movie about torture. Plain and simple. Sure it tells the story of Christ after he gets caught, adds in a couple of flashbacks to some staple scenes where he says something straight from the bible.
Christ in this movie could have been replaced by any other character and this movie wouldn't have changed at all. It could have been called "The Passion of McDoodlefuck" and been about the torture of poor McDoodlefuck. Granted, there are scenes which everybody connects to Christ, the crown of thorns, the crucifixion. But this stuff is all just thrown in just to make sure you really know this is a movie about Christ.
Every single roman in this movie is a bloodthirsty pig who is controlled by some weird looking bald guy in a black dress who carries an ugly baby around with him. I think that is supposed to be the devil. The women do nothing but moan.
Cavaziel does a great job at being pathetic and blood-covered. Apart from that, there is no acting in this movie. Mary is just stone faced, and she gets a trademark-hollywood-single-tear scene. In another scene, she shows how sad she is by grasping two handfuls of sand.
Ok, so that's the movie part of what's wrong. Now for the religious part.
Is this actually what Catholic people like to see? Is this actually what their religion is based upon? Let's take a scene, where a person is tortured in the most gruesome way, and base our entire religion, code of morales, and lives, on it. Am I the only one who sees how sick this is? I mean, fine, when it is only in print you can sort of not imagine the disgusting aspects of it and focus on the good "died for our sins, yadayada". But when it is portrayed so bluntly in front of you, how can one even accept this? There were a couple of scenes in the movie which I found quite disturbing (apart from the torture). The first was after he is scourged and Mary and Magdelene come and wipe up his blood on a couple of white towels or something, and save them, sort of touching the blood, of course because the blood is "holy". The same thing happens later. Some woman, who is not introduced (but I'm sure devout Catholics know who she is supposed to be) goes up to Jesus as he is carrying his cross and hands him a white towel which he presses his face into. She then takes it and cuddles it to her own face. The third scene was after Christ is dead, and Longinus sticks him with a spear to make sure he's dead. The wind kicks up and sprays the blood across his face and LO AND BEHOLD! for some reason Longinus drops to his knees as if he just had an aneurysm. I'm sure he was supposed to have had some sort of epiphany, but I'll be damned if I know what about. By the way, the whole scene with the storm after Jesus dies is super-hokey.
I'm sure a lot of you think I'm just prejudiced agains Christianity, but no, that's not it. There have been many good movies about Christianity, for example Life of Brian and Jesus Christ Superstar....
Okok I'm kidding.
But still, I don't think I'm prejudiced, in fact I think I can see past the fact that this is basically just a hyped up movie for fans of Christianity (aka Christians). In fact, I would liken this movie to Hellboy. Both have a cast of characters not really introduced but very familiar to fans. Both have a story not built up in any way, but very familiar to fans. The difference is, Hellboy actually has a plot, while The Passion does not. The Passion uses one chapter in the story of Jesus Christ as an excuse to make the most disgusting movie ever made.
Seriously people, this movie is bloodier and more abhorrent then Reservoir Dogs or Natural Born Killers.
Alright, rant over.
So I'm going home for Úlla's wedding. For those of you who don't know, she's marrying her Spaniard, Manuel :) The whole family is coming from spain, sounds like funfunfun! I lengthened my stay one week so I could play at Menningarnótt at Kaffi Vín, like the last couple of years, and in a lucky turn of events, received an invitation from a friend to his wedding during that extended time.
Everybody's getting married and having kids! What's wrong with these people? :s
ANYway...going to sleep.
laugardagur, júlí 03, 2004
