Deathly Hallows Part 2 & Pottermore

Finally watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 the other day. I caught it in 3D, which was cool though I'm not sure how much I got out of the 3Dness asides from ooh, I'm floating past the Dementors and whoa, it's like I can reach out and taste Voldemort's drifting ashes. But all in all, the movie was great and I left the theater feeling pretty numbed after I spent part of the time clutching a wadded tissue. it wasn't even so much about all the deaths; I started tearing up when they started warding Hogwarts for battle. So epic.

General Impressions (Beware of spoilers ahead!):

• Voldemort's public announcements were creepy. Especially to those two girls in the movie who screamed their heads off. The girls were so shell-shocked, I actually thought something magically horrific was happening to them and he was melting their brains inside out and soon we were going to see blood trickle out of their ears, eyes, and noses during the close up. Oh, oh ... not so. Voldemort's voice amplification just inspired screams of the normal variety.
• I cringed and wanted to beat off Nagini with a bat when Snape finally met up with Voldemort. I liked how they showed the attack; even offscreen, the death sounded grisly. Poor Snape.
• They did not do Fred Weasley's death justice. Oh, Fred, we didn't even get to see you fall in combat or mourn properly over your dead face. Folks who haven't read the books probably wouldn't have even known which Weasley died, let alone which twin.
• Before, Lavender Brown was the annoying girl who got in between WonWon and Hermione and should have just disappeared for good already, gosh. After seeing a werewolf feast on her body ... Lavender Brown, forgive me, I didn't really mean it. No one deserves a werewolf mauling. :(
• I had not particularly enjoyed Narcissa Malfoy's portrayal in the previous movies because of the skunk on her head and the lack of any memorable scenes, but she was ... wow here. Leading her son away to safety without a backward glance while her husband stumbled after them ... she was so badass. Her main priority had always been to keep Draco safe. Mother's love ftw. Screw the dark side. Work that skunk.
• Dayum, Neville Longbottom, how to successfully get through puberty, indeed.
• Dayum, Hermione Weasley, how to successfully get knocked up early enough to look like one good looking 25 year old mother of a 11 year old daughter?
• I wished everything was longer. 

Good-bye for now, Harry Potter. End another chapter of childhood, take another step into real adulthood.

Speaking of Harry Potter, I recently heard of Pottermore and was discussing it with a friend yesterday. After doing 400 USMLEWorld review questions, my brain felt a bit mushy the whole day and to me, Pottermore sounded like darn good fun ... (keep in mind though that my idea of really fun games have been the Sims and Cranium).

Me: Apparently, it's supposed to be sort of interactive and you can get sorted into Houses and    stuff. I know this is pretty dorky of me but ...
Friend: I WANT A SPOT!
Me: ME TOO!

Real adulthood, indeed.

It's supposed to open up in October to the public, but starting July 31st, people can solve these Magical Quill clues based on the books to register for early access. They don't announce what time the clues go up though so around midnight yesterday, I was like yeah, this sounds pretty exciting (some of you might be scoffing at me now, but I have a sad life revolving around studying at the moment and even finding ice cream in the fridge turns into a momentous highlight of the day for me. Plus, come on, it's like freaking interactive Hogwarts world so I judge you more for not loving Hogwarts - alright, just judge me less harshly) ... but this is ridiculous, am I really going to stay up all night refreshing the Pottermore site in hopes the clue would appear? Sure, I guess I can technically use the time to continue studying and check back on the site hourly, but ... I like sleep too much. Dilemma of the night.

I went to bed. Dilemma over.

Around 4:20 am though, I got a text from friend: "Answer's 245!!"

And then a few minutes later: "You awake??"

Yeah, no, I was completely knocked out.

Around 5:30 am, I jerked awake and checked my phone groggily for the time when I saw her messages. Of course, by then, registration was over and I was like, "Nooo! Thwarted by an hour!"

And then I laughed because I couldn't believe friend had been so dedicated to still be up past 4am. Rolled over and went back to sleep.

At the rate these clues are getting posted up, I'm pretty sure I'm just going to wait for October and be one of those non-special early folks to check out the site. I don't quite have the stamina the hardcore Potter fans have, but it's still incredible to see such enthusiasm over something Harry Potter again especially with the last movie over. The fanbase is definitely still as passionate as back in the days of midnight book release parties, if not more.

Happy Birthday, J.K.Rowling and Harry Potter. Thanks for the good times.

Eating Starch

Been on attending rounds and bedsides for a while now which is a nice experience since I'm not responsible for patients yet but I can observe the rest of the team doing their thing, help hold a patient in fetal position for a lumbar procedure, and listen in on patient reports and presentations.

For bedsides, I got to do a write up on a patient who was admitted to the hospital for complaints of fatigue and an extremely low hemoglobin count. She was a lovely, cooperative lady and she readily agreed to letting me perform a basic physical exam on her, but when the attending came in at the end and told her she could be discharged, the patient sighed in relief. "I can't wait to go home and get some real food."

The attending gave her a look. "I know what you're thinking of and the answer is no."

The patient rubbed her hands sheepishly. "I wasn't going to - no - well, just a little for the road?"

"No!"

"No?"

The attending shook her head, shaking her pen at the patient for emphasis. "It's going to kill you. No more starch."

"Okay ..." the patient agreed, resigned.

Out in the hallway, the attending asked my partner and I, "Did she tell you about her diet?"

"No ..."

"Yeah, well, she eats ... like, starch."

We nodded slowly. "Okay." What's so weird about starch?

"... As in laundry detergent," she explained.

"What?" We gaped at her.

The attending chuckled. "Yeah, we said her GI seemed irritated and she just goes, 'Oh yeah, that might be the starch'. So she's actually been eating Argo Starch which is something I believe that the cleaners use to starch clothes."

My partner blinked. "When you said no starch to her, I thought you meant ... real food ..."

"Like carbs," I added.

So the patient has pica, which is a disorder in which the patient craves non-food substances. Sometimes you see this more often in pregnant women when some of them start having a hankering for dirt, clay, or starch, etc. In the case of this patient, she had a previous history of eating starch during her pregnancy and recently picked up the habit again, popping these Argo Starch like popcorn while watching TV.

Yep. Other than bedsides, I've been studying for practicals and exams. Been busy and it's probably going to be busy for a while. Writing will be on hold til late summer probably. As always, thanks for your patience!

Oh wait, on a totally random note, it really hit me the other day that the last Harry Potter movie will be coming out this summer and at that moment, it felt like my childhood - tis OVER! Haha, this generation who grew up with Harry Potter and the Hogwarts bunch and lived through the anticipation of waiting for each book to come out ... this is it. The last movie. Just seeing the cast of Harry Potter all grown up and how mature and stylish they are now and going off on their own separate successful ways after completing this series and comparing them to the first movie when they were such cuties with their little chubby cheeks and ... my childhood is finished. TAKE ME BACK.

So when I saw this epic fan video ... I'm a dork. I teared up a little:



The magic will never die! Battle cry of the day.

Oh, and congrats to Prince William and Kate Middleton for getting hitched. It was the day after my formal so my friend woke me up freakishly too early to watch it be broadcast live and I kept passing out on the air mattress next to her TV in the living room where I had crashed for the night only to be wakened up sporadically by her comments on the dress, the hats and stuff. I think every time I opened my eyes, I saw Kate walking down the aisle again. I felt a little like I was in Twilight Zone, but since it got replayed so many times throughout the day, I was happy to be able to catch it later when I was less groggy. It was really a very lovely wedding and everyone looked absolutely spiffy.

For Everything Else, There's Mastercard

Course director sent out a page of recommended tools we should purchase for our physical diagnosis course:

Littmann Cardio III Stethoscope: ~$150
Ophthalmoscope/Otoscope: ~$600
Sphygmomanometer: ~$150
Reflex Hammer: ~$10
Tuning Forks (128 and 512 Hz): ~ $14 each
Penlights: $5
Case Studies Workbook: $26
Textbook: $80

The Medical Diagnostic Experience: Priceless ... my ass.

If you are super close with any sad, poor medical students or you just really pity them sad, sad souls and/or want them to love you for life, gift them with a really good stethoscope. Adoration. For life.

Medical Bag: $ eff that, I'm wrapping this up in a plastic garbage bag and calling it a day. (Half joking.)

While waiting for our physical diagnosis preceptor to come for our session on vitals (it got so late, we joked that this really felt like a real medical office), we started chatting about movies.

One girl said she was going to see Black Swan which most of the group said was a really good movie. From there, we talked about Natalie Portman's pregnancy and from there, we talked about how she was going to be in this new movie with Ashton Kutcher.



We agreed it looked like a pretty bad movie.

One person laughed, "Friendship has its benefits. Yah, sure, right."

From there, we started talking about all the random movie trailers we've seen. Apparently, a lot of us enjoy watching trailers and not, you know, the actual movies themselves. Since classes had recently picked up, I'm assuming this is due to a decrease in free time to actually go sit through a two hour movie at the theaters when we can just squat at home with our textbooks and speculate happily over a two minute clip during procrastination breaks. Whatever the reason, yes, this still sounds pretty pathetic.

Anyway, one girl, half choking on a laugh, suddenly brought up: "Oh my gosh ... Gnomeo and Juliet."

The conversation tripped and we all gave her this quizzical look. I was pretty sure I must have misheard and was trying to decide if I should ask her to repeat or if I should just pretend to know what she was talking about and nod.

The girl seemed to realize we had no clue what she was talking about though and enlightened us: "Basically ... Romeo is a gnome."

Never in the world had I imagined I would ever hear that. So ridiculous, it was hilarious.

When we were done laughing:

"What? For real?"

Another girl: "I would think Juliet would rather die than be with a gnome though."

"They're all gnomes!"

"Oh man ... I'm sorry for Shakespeare."

Gnomeo & Juliet? Surely, this is one of those cases when someone (perhaps with the helpful aid of some mind-altering substance) comes up with the title first and then writes out a whole screenplay just for it. Because otherwise, the other scenario would mean that someone one day decided that a gnome story would be cute and since gnomes make people naturally think of Shakespeare and gnomefied witches for Macbeth would just be way too creepy, an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet would be ideal and even better, ooh, they can call it Gnomeo and Juliet ... yeah, I don't know, maybe if there were also some mind-altering substances in play here.

So I had to check out the trailer. And well ... it seems charming enough for kids and there's the Shrek 2 director and James McAvoy! (though sadly, he is gnomefied and I don't dig bearded gnomes even with the James McAvoy! voice), though I'm assuming this won't be a true adaptation of the classic what with the ... gnomes ... and probably no tragedy in the end because how exactly do you kill gnomes?

I'd like to know because garden gnomes kinda freak me out.

Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Part 1

I saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows with friends before Christmas after our last day of classes. I had a lot of time to kill before I met up with other friends for a late dinner so I thought a movie would be a good way to productively waste time. Productively waste? Hmm, oxymorons ftw.

Anyway, I like to judge movies into two categories:

           A. Worth the ticket price

           B. Gimme back my money, bitch!

*Spoilers Ahead!*
 
I deemed HP worth the money halfway through because it was just really good and the locations they went through were gorgeous. Plus, I love that feeling when large stakes finally come into play. The movie as a whole felt more emotional to me than the previous ones and I thought it suited well with seeing how our favorite protagonists mature and cope with hard decisions in a new, dangerous world. The beginning part of the movie when Hermione obliviates herself from her parents' memory already had me tearing up. I'd admit when I read the book, the beginning part dragged a bit for me, but hey, epic quests take time to solve and the "slow scenes" in the movie stayed true to the book and only emphasized how lost these teenagers were as they tried to figure out the Horcruxes without much to go on and how they didn't give up. It also helped that each new camping site they went to looked like some picturesque page out of National Geographic. Dreamy backgrounds ♥

And the part when Harry dances with Hermione to cheer her up after Ron left was easily one of my favorite scenes. Not because I'm one of those Harry/Hermione shippers (I adore Rupert Grint/Ron), but because it was cute and funny and poignant at the same time. In the theater, almost everyone started off with a laugh which then faded into this collective commiserating, nostalgic silence. Finding small comfort in little, silly acts like these should resonate deeply with anyone who's ever went through a tough time, evil dark killer wizard not necessary.

So I was like yep, this is a good movie, I'm so excited!, this is so worth the money and I'm going to recommend this to everyone  - and then the movie ended.

Which, okay, I knew this was part one and duh, it was never going to have a final final conclusion, but still, I wanted moooore. It was building and building up and then it ended. Only after the ending do you realize 'Oh yeah, that fight in the Malfoy home ... that was supposed to be the climax of the movie.'

Sighs. Still, I lurved!

But when I mentioned that I'd seen HP to a friend and how I really liked it, the first thing he asked was, "But did you feel that there were scenes that lingered too long on people's faces? Scenes that dragged?"

"Well ... I guess. But not any more than any other character-driven movie in a drama genre or something. The characters are growing up and they're no longer in school with classes and having fun so I think there's a more mature feel to - oh no, there are bad reviews for HP, aren't there? You've read bad reviews! Who are these people who have given bad reviews and where do they live??"

"I've heard some," he affirmed cautiously.

I guess some people who were expecting more action and magic in their HP films were disappointed, but for me, I think this latest movie will be my most memorable one yet out of the series so far. I don't know specifically why. Maybe it was the lonelier, darker atmosphere and how the little kiddies are all so grown up now and acting their butts off with their more subtle, nuanced expressions ... I just liked it, damn it. End.



Oh, also on movie day, we caught this trailer during the previews:



Man in front: Oh, no.
Man behind me: Oh, god. 
Me to friend: Is it me or does this kinda remind you of -
Screen: From the Director of Twilight ...
Me: Oh. Right.
Friend: I am not watching that.
Screen: Who's Afraid? March 2011.
Me: Is this a horror movie? What are we supposed to be afraid of?
Friend: I'm definitely not watching that.
Me: Will there be sparkling werewolves that will terrorize the village?
Friend: Not watching it.
Me: But Amanda Seyfried doesn't care. She still wants to be with him even though he tells her he's wrong for her. Wait, whoa, why does this seem so familiar?
Friend: Definitely 100% not watching this.

TM Chapter 28 Posted

Through Me Chapter 28 has finally been posted! Finally. Finally.

This chapter was especially hard to get out because I wanted something major to happen, but like always, Adel and Tristan's discussion got out of my hands and I realized that it wasn't going to happen until Adel gets back to China. But if I kept writing, I wasn't sure if I'd have a reasonable cut-off point and I doubt you'd want to read Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Encyclopedia.

Plus, I had a major case of writer's block. My Google Docs account now officially have about eight beginnings of various other stories because I was trying to write anything to get me out of the funk. However, it is now summer for me and I do hope to finish Through Me once and for all sooner than later. I start school late next month with a Neuropsych and Behavioral Sci exam the first day, but I am hoping to get out at least another chapter (maybe even finish the story?) before I start studying.

But yay, tis summer!

Cousin just graduated from law school and she's raking in the big bucks now! Even though an exam (curse those stupid things!) prevented me from attending her graduation, I'm so proud! My bro went, but the only thing he mentioned was that the cheese at the reception was good.

It was also recently my birthday so I celebrated with family, med school friends, and high school friends on separate occasions. Ate a lot of food, had a lot of cake, drank a wee bit (still gave me quite a buzz, but that's not saying much when half a glass of coke and rum can already send me reeling).

Okay, some people said it wasn't merely a buzz. Probably when I started jabbing at a friend's biceps and declaring, "You have such big guns!" And when they had to loop my arms through theirs while I insisted on walking my buzz off. And when I stated that I wanted to paint my nails orange and brown, which was something I really don't remember saying.

I also watched Toy Story 3 in 3D! It really wasn't necessary to catch it in 3D, but the movie was so good anyway. I have to admit that Toy Story 1 and 2 weren't my favorite Disney films - 1 was good, 2 was alright, but they didn't hold a place in my heart like Finding Nemo or Aladdin or The Little Mermaid or Mulan or yeah, most of the classic Disney flicks. However, Toy Story 3 ... it just really blew my mind.

I rewatched it later with my brother and at the end, he admitted that he maybe, might have, sorta teared up a little. When I laughed at him and said I didn't (I totally already did the whole tearing thing the first time), he said that's because I was a "soulless, heartless being".

Then brother's birthday rolled around and cousins took us to Olive Garden where we kept those breadsticks coming and coming.

Friend also made a two hour journey to my house twice, the first time to bring me pastries for my birthday and the second time to have a movie night. We gorged on sushi, popcorn, and ice cream while watching Did You Hear About the Morgans? on dvd. It was ... eh. I remember more chewing than laughing.

Relatives from Hong Kong also came to visit so there was a whole truckload of dinners to attend. 

Then my internet died. It revived, but it still dies sporadically sometimes now. I think it's because of the heat here. I'm praying - knock on wood - that my laptop doesn't just keel over. So far, I know three people whose laptops suddenly upped and died on them recently. I'd cry if my laptop crashes. Friend bought me a cooling pad, but so far, I've broken it twice. Good news though is that I had snapped off one of the fan's blades the first time and the second time I managed to snap off another blade the opposite side so now my fan is actually balanced again. It's a good thing. Really.

And yup, that's the basic gist of what's been going on lately.

Oh, and btw, for those who don't know already, if you're a student and have an .edu email address, you can sign up for a free year of Amazon Prime. Comes in handy for all those textbook purchases.

Nothing New

I finished up my board exams and I've been doing ... pretty much nothing the past week. Hung out with friends and family, watched 500 Days of Summer (loved!), played Guitar Hero, went to the casino, gorged myself at buffets, and bummed around at home. It's a good life.

Except I'm trying to write and I feel incredibly unproductive. I've been in a major funk. My cousin wants to throttle me. I have 9 pages for TM 28, but every time I pull up the document, my heart screams "WHAT NOW!" and then my brain shuts down when I try to figure out the details. So then I wind up sitting in front of the computer, staring blankly at the screen for an hour or so. Same goes for the other non-FP novel I've been working on. Seven pages here and there and then nada. I will finish TM sooner or later if it kills me. I only have three more chapters or so to go! Get a movin', brain!

Alas, days of freedom are dwindling down again. Classes start this Friday. I just bought my Physiology books and am looking into US Health Care Policy and Behavioral Med bks for later. I also need to prep for another med school interview. Five hour drive, dang. It's going to be an overnight trip and I'm heading off tomorrow so by the time everything wraps up, I'll have enough time to ... sleep before I get back to school. And cue sadness.

Random events: my brother recently sprained his ankle during a basketball game. The dude who tripped him was actually on his team so it was very "WTH?" So my brother's hobbling around the house from his room to the TV to my room these days, bored.

More randomness. I got attacked by a mosquito again and I have an inflamed lump the size of a golf ball on my ankle. So my brother and I are both limping pathetically now.

My friend recently went to be an extra in that new Queen Latifah movie, Just Wright. Haha, it's really out of nowhere, but she was bored and she showed up and got some cash for sitting and standing around. She was supposed to be part of the audience for a basketball game and she got to sit front row. She was also in several scenes where she had to walk around Queen Latifah and she totally tripped once. Fail. But I really want to see the movie now just to point her teeny face out and be like "SEE THAT DORK? I KNOW THAT DORK!" Especially if they actually on the rare chances keep in that tripping scene. I love my friends.

Also, tried to participate in that Cash for Clunkers deal to get a new car, but things didn't pan out. Bye bye, pretty Camry.

Another friend has been off to Tokyo for a week now, having the time of her life while I'm rotting here, and she promised me a lot of candy. Cool candy. See this, K? I have this down in writing and public now. No backsies.

Missed my cousin's wedding, but I got a lot of pictures and some videos of the events. They tried to dance down the aisle a la JK Wedding Style, but it was kinda funny since, in the words of my brother, "it was more like shy Asian shuffling". And my cousin is a party pooper. It looked like my cousin's bride was ecstatically waving her bouquet in the air while my cousin resolutely marched down the aisle as if he was trying not to associate himself with this shenanigan. My mom joked that the bride seemed thrilled that she finally managed to reel in my cousin.

The Wedding Cakes - Cuteness, it was made up of tiny vanilla and strawberry cupcakes.

Still Wishing for Summer Vacay ...

Had our first Neurosci lab back in our Gross Anatomy facilities today - we're studying the brain more in detail. Friends who hugged me today say I smell like lab so I might have to pull out my scrubs again.

I really wish I could be on vacation. Memorial Day weekend was like a false alarm thing - all nice weather, happy BBQs, and then ... back to school.

Last Friday seems so distant now. I had my board exam in the morning and then went out with some girlfriends. Unfortunately, they wanted to go see a movie. Not just any movie though. I could have settled for X-Men, Angels & Demons, or Star Trek. Anything.

No. They wanted to see Ghosts of Girlfriends Past.

Yes, that movie. Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner. About a womanizing photographer who gets a life altering experience a la A Christmas Carol and explores what true love really means in the form of a childhood crush that can't be denied because of she gifted him with his first camera and they were always meant to be together and - This is a chick flick. You know the deal.

My face twisted so much, one of the girls immediately got defensive.

"Matthew McConaughey! Matthew McConaughey! Hot!" she wheedled.

Yeah, he is, but I'm not paying $12 to ogle his face. I'll admit the movie was cute and better than what I expected based on the trailers (but yes, I also had very LOW expectations), but am I the only person in this world who would rather watch your regular average chick flick (and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past is most definitely a chick flick with a little "inspirational" pizazz at the most.) at home on DVD than in the theaters? I don't know but somehow, I automatically categorize certain chick flicks in a different category - i.e. the types that don't maximize the effects of a theater experience i.e. that will waste your ticket money.

Yup, I'm judgmental.

So what ended up happening was ...

I lost the battle. I know, I'm still ashamed.

Friend hooked three other girls in and loomed over me. "It's three for Ghosts and YOU'RE the only one who doesn't want to watch it so are YOU going to be a spoilsport, huh? HUH?!"

"But it's a - Fine," I muttered sulkily.

Other friend gave me a sympathetic look because she secretly agreed with me, but was too lazy to argue with me. Traitor.

Third friend suggested, "Well, how about 17 Again? Or ooh! Hannah Montana!"

I chuckled. "Good one."

She gave me a puzzled look. "What's wrong with -"

"OKAY, Ghosts it is!" I clapped my hands.

So ... the movie was okay. Sadly, I'll have to say that even for an cliched chick flick, it was still better than my all time hated movie: Mummy 3.

True, it had all the elements we'd seen before and the plot was predictable, but it had its funny moments, its cute moments. It was purely for entertainment and it carried its romantic comedy badge proudly.

I liked the trailers though. I kept pointing out various movies to the friends. "Now that's worthy of a theater ticket!"

They agreed, but eh, we were there and paid for anyway.

Amongst the various trailers that caught my attention:



This one made me want to cry and I can tell this will be a major tearjerker. Based on a novel by Jodi Picoult, My Sister's Keeper is coming out in June, I think.

And of course!



Harry Potter love. This trailer is epic.

Asides from Ghosts, I also watched Taken the other day. My cousin recommended this action thriller and it was truly pretty good. A father goes off to save his daughter after she gets kidnapped by sex traffickers during a seemingly innocent trip to Paris. The story freaked out my girl cousin and me and the one man Rambo routine captivated the guys' attention.

I also demolished several books I had stored up, including A Great and Terrible Beauty (The Gemma Doyle Trilogy)by Libba Bray. I had picked up these books for break times in between study sessions - like I'd finish a textbook chapter and then relax with a chapter or two from a novel for fifteen minutes. The books started out okay, as in I was still able to put it down, but as I got further in, I wasn't able to stop reading until ... they were finished. Study plan failed.

Excellent writing. The protagonist and her friends definitely had their unlikable traits in a way that made me admire Bray's writing even more. True, I did want to smack around some of the characters - and at times, the protagonist herself - during some bad moments, but everything, including those nasty personality quirks, felt real. Cattiness, peer pressure, insecurities - the girls were real, regular teenage girls with their petty rivalries and cliques and their selfish dreams and fears rang true.

Although the last book had certain scenes and revelations about certain characters (i.e. Felicity and Pippa's relationship) that I felt didn't exactly flow with what was previously depicted about the girls in the previous books and seemed more like it was thrown in for a sudden shock factor rather than feeling like it had always been planned by the author all along, I still adored the books. Some descriptions were so vivid, they creeped me out. (The scraping of the three ghostly girls' boots against the floor - wow.) And when it came to a certain tragic scene in the last novel, I couldn't help it. I teared up.

Few books have wrenched such physical reactions out of me and I'm so happy that I had the pleasure to read these books. Highly recommended!

I also hit several duds with other novels, but I'll leave this post at this for now.

Back to work! Need to finish several chapters tonight, get to bed earlier so that I don't pass out on my feet again, and be ready for lab work tomorrow.

More Anatomy and Some Slumdog

We're working on the genital regions now. Enough said.

Some of my group members got scolded yesterday for accidentally cutting through the pudendal nerve so after a while, most of them migrated elsewhere to deal with tagging skeleton parts, leaving me alone to dig through the butt area.

TA returned and was like "Where'd your friends go? They left you all alone!"

Then he peered closer at my work so far, patted me on the shoulder and said, "Good work! See? We can see the inferior rectal nerve now. Keep clearing that fascia! Good!"

Thanks. Truly, that's been a huge dream of mine, excelling in the art of buttock fat removal.

Once again, I need to catch up on readings - especially for abdomen. Exhausted! I'm so scared I'd fail the next exam. :(

On another note, I saw Slumdog Millionaire a while back. I can see why it's such a hit. The story had an interesting premise and was absolutely heartwarming, the child actors were excellent (especially in consideration of their backgrounds), the cinematography was awesome, and the soundtrack was gorgeous. I've always been fond of Bollywood music - the fast paced dance songs never fail to bring a smile to my face. I think it's the same reason why I'm a fan of old time musicals as well.

The music for this movie wasn't exactly the traditional Bollywood song and dance type, but A.R. Rahman's work for the soundtrack was stellar. I keep listening to O...Saya in particular. I think the drum beats really reflect the rhythm of a train chugging away across the land well - I keep remembering the scene during the two brothers' journey and how they locked hands as they nodded off on top of the train so that they wouldn't topple off while it was in motion. I really adore the little kids.



And of course, the sweet ending song when they finally found their way back to each other again in the deserted train station ...

Busy, Busy!

I've been getting to bed at 3 in the morning this past week for papers and exams. It's quite sad when the fox in my Gmail theme gets to bed earlier than I do. Three little foxy ghosties pop up instead to play Go outside the house so at least, I get animated animal spirits to keep me company.

Beyond sad.

It's cold and I have a heat dish on that just started blaring. That can't be good.

I have to work with describing and calculating confounding variables in the association of alcohol consumption with lung cancer right now and my group members are hiding from me. Heads will roll tomorrow if they show up without any work done. No joke. Friends say I'm a dictator during group projects.

Short post today because I'm really stressed out. It's crunch time for papers and finals and board exams so I'm having a hard time getting writing done. I got three pages for the next chapter of TM. :(

On a happier note, I got fanart! :) And a few more pictures to post up later on.

Until then, got chivalry?



Edit: Oh, btw, speaking of chivalry, did anyone go see the Twilight movie? Someone sent a short clip of the theater experience and all I heard was these animalistic moans and shrieks. From the audience.

Twilight Trailer

Speaking of Twilight, I just happened across the latest, final movie trailer. For those of you who still don't know (pfft, yeah right), Stephenie Meyer's Twilight has been adapted into a movie to be screened on November 21, 2008.

Twilight HD Exclusive Trailer


My friends and I will never be hardcore "Twilighters", but we've been curious enough about the spread of Meyer's Twilight franchise. Anything that is claimed to almost rival J.K. Rowling's success is naturally an attention grabber, isn't it?

So the news about a movie coming out for the book didn't exactly thrill us nor did it give us nausea. Just your general apathetic sideline viewer appreciation. Honestly, movies are a lot of fun, but most adaptions of novels generally turn out to be major disappointments anyway so I've never really held high expectations for book-turned-liveaction stuff.

From this trailer though, I've noticed that they've pretty much wrapped up the whole book in just this brief clip (again, no one has ever said Meyer packed a whole lot of plot points in her series) and while I didn't feel the urge to drool over any particular characters, my heart did skip a beat at the backdrop. I love the way it opens up with a view of clouds rolling across a peninsular view of "Forks". I don't know, but for some reason, I really like the colors. Stark pale white and then dreamy sequences of lush green and foggy skies. Nicely done, production team.

Some of my friends already have bad feelings about the movie since it's kinda reminiscent of that small movie that came out a while back, The Covenant, was it? Pretty much about a bunch of ... mysterious, magical teens and ... I think the premise was that they meet a new gorgeous girl and magical fights break out as they try to ... fight for powers. And not go over to the dark side. I think.

Like I said, it was pretty ... not well received. But the past Twilight clips (Emmett: "This is wrong, Edward! She's not one of us!" Cue snickering.) have given off the same dark powers vs. good love angsty vibes as that movie so my friends are pretty much eh.

That being said, from a more objective point of view, I don't think this new trailer's bad at all. It shows enough action to hook a viewer's interest and then ... the whole apple catching trick thing Edward did and his last growl, "You are my life now", probably seduced enough fangirls to start a riot at the theater doors.

Here's to Twilight and more pretty, ethereal colors.

Through Me Chapter 20 & The Namesake

Through Me Chapter 20 is finally up. It's not one of my most favorite chapters, but I'm looking forward to the events it's building up to.

I can't believe the Beijing Olympics are already over. Four years of hard preparations for them and in a blink of an eye, the Olympics came and went.

Similarly, summertime just has a way of breezing by. In two days, I'll be back at school. Wow. Joy.

I'm taking Chinese and French this semester though just to give me something to focus on other than biochemical pathways and epidemiology. I'd probably still cry throughout the term though.

Anyway, I went on a movies rampage the other day. I got a chance to finally watch The Namesake, which is something I'd always wanted to do ever since I read the book. I enjoyed it. Usually, I hate the way books get turned into movies, but this one stayed pretty much true to the story and I liked it. Maybe it worked because Jhumpa Lahiri's plot and style have always been inherently simplistic, focusing on character development through side stories and imagery, and the film didn't have trouble cramming in more than it could take, but I thought the way the movie developed the parents' relationship was nicely done. It was certainly visually appealing to see many of Lahiri's intricate details and scenes come to life and it was a bittersweet ending that left the viewer pondering long after the credits rolled.

Through Me Chapter 19 & The Horrific Mummy 3

Through Me Chapter Nineteen has finally been posted. I actually don't really know what to say which is why I didn't bother leaving an Author's Note ... maybe 'Oh boy' might cover it?

Anyway, the Beijing Olympics starts tomorrow! Time flies. Four years ago, when I was in Beijing and staring up at that countdown clock thing they had, I was like wow, it's going to take forever.

Forever rolls by pretty quickly, apparently.

Other news: I watched The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor over the weekend.



Don't go see it. Honestly, I knew it wasn't going to be completely stellar, but it was so disappointing, it made me angry - as in "gimme back my ticket money" angry.


WARNING: THERE MAY BE SOME SPOILERS FOLLOWING THIS.

But whatever, you probably have better things to do than to sit through this movie and scoff at it like I did so you probably won't even be watching it.

REASONS WHY MUMMY 3 DIDN'T LIVE UP TO THE HYPE

First: The cast is pretty ... not great. I don't even see the point in replacing Rachel Weisz with another actress. Her role wasn't necessary and it might have worked better if they'd simply killed off the character. Particularly if they were going to throw in a two second father-son reconciliation drama thing. The mom's death would have perhaps made it more poignant.

And don't even get me started about Mr. Older Alex, the darling son. That boy/man (played by Luke Ford) seemed more like Brendan Fraser's younger brother rather than his son. The character is written like he's an immature, arrogant frat boy who still somehow gets the girl in the end. I thought the kid Alex from Mummy 2 was actually portrayed in a more precocious, smarter way. It was like ... what messed up the cutie? Oh right, lack of "paternal support". Cue developmental issues.

Plus, he absolutely butchered the Mandarin pronunciation to pieces. I know, I know, it's not his primary language and what do people care when there are those nifty, little subtitles at the bottom of the screen. Still. There won't be one Chinese person in the audience who wouldn't grimace and cringe in embarrassment for this man when he tries to do his "threaten the Chinese Emperor with cool Chinese putdowns" spiel. Why did they feel the need to make the actor do this asides from the rule that all heroes must say something witty before they face down the villain? Unless his purpose was actually to make the Emperor hysterically confused.


"Kung Pao Chicken Ho Fun Fortune Cookie! Hao, Hao."


"WTF did he just call me?"

Props to the Chinese cast though for doing a pretty good job with their English dialogue and their cool action scenes though - except Jet Li's role could have probably been played by a random Joe with all the CG they did.

Second: They tried to be funny. Key word being tried. Punchlines were delivered horribly (Luke Ford, the actor who plays Alex O'Connell doesn't quite have Brendan Fraser's knack of presenting certain comedic lines. Poor man. Just don't try. Ditto for your Mandarin skills.) and there was not one huge moment of laughter from the audience throughout the movie, unless you count the chemistry with the barfing yak.

I believe the comedic highlight of the whole experience was during the previews when they showed the Madagascar 2 trailer.


"I'm furry and cute and I probably hold more charisma in one big googly eye of mine than Alex O'Connell's whole Emperor slaying self!"


Third: There's something sad when you start rooting for the bad guy to kill everyone and to take over the world. Because Team Good had that loser Alex (did I mention how I don't care for that Alex character?), Jet Li looked way too cool to be taken down. Except, naturally, of course he lost. Because the whole point of the Emperor getting the powers to shapeshift into horrific monsters like dragons was moot since of course, Emperor would only use his powers to fly and roar fire into the sky before choosing to listen to Brendan's taunting in the end to go hand-to-hand combat and allow himself to be stabbed in the back. Excellent.

Moving along now, I'm working on the next chapters. The next chapter to Through Me should churn out faster. Until then, hope you're all having a great summer!

Dark Knight and Various Movies

I watched The Dark Knight the other day. It was excellent and I thought the cast did an amazing job. I saw bits and pieces of the first one, Batman Returns, and the story was a tad too dark for me so I worried about my expectations for this sequel.

Simply put, I love Heath Ledger as the Joker. His scenes were definitely disturbing sometimes - I could barely watch the psychotic man, my fingers were plastered over my face - but he was so good. It just makes the viewer wonder what roles might he have gone onto had he not died so unexpectedly.

So who was the better Joker: Jack Nicholson or Heath Ledger?

I don't believe they could even be compared. Asides from the Joker identity, their portrayals were so different. Even the makeup indicated distinctions in their personalities: Jack was neat and crisp with his fitted suit and a wide, maniacal grin while Heath's paint was smeared all over his face combined with greasy hair and a nervous, awkward gait.

Jack's Joker was more intelligent and thought his plans through with a purpose. He walked with a swagger and punctuated actions with witty one-liners and jokes. His Joker was more light hearted.

Heath's depiction of Joker, on the other hand, was of a true lunatic. In that way, he's scarier than Jack's Joker since he's a killer so crazy, he doesn't even care about his own life, let alone yours. Everything is literally a game to him; pain doesn't seem to register on him at all and it makes the viewer wonder how he got to be such a twisted individual. He offers several stories about the origin of his lips ("Why so serious?") and you quickly realize that you can never be certain what the man is about. Suspense, tension, and a feeling that you're constantly playing Russian Roulette with the guy. Now that is creepy.

Did anyone else find Heath Ledger's Joker reminiscent of Hannibal Lecter and the Black Dahlia? That sibilant way he hisses words and the way his tongue flickers against his lips suggested Hannibal's quirks and the whole story about his lips carved into a smile reminded me of the story of the Black Dahlia.

For those who don't know about Black Dahlia, it's a real, unsolved murder and brutalization of this actress back around 1930s. She was tortured, slaughtered, and half of her corpse, butchered across the hip, was found. Her lips were split side-to-side with a knife into a wide smile and it was absolutely horrific. A movie regarding this came out a while back, I believe.

Back to less dismal topics, I've been loving this summer's selection of movies. There are so many superhero movies out and while I'm not usually a big fan of the genre, a lot of them have been really good (I adore Iron Man - who doesn't?).

On another happy note, I'm so excited about the next Mummy that's coming out (not so happy to see Rachel Weisz's character taken up by another actress though).

And! I can't wait for Tropic Thunder. Except, I don't want to jinx myself because usually when I get my expectations all high for a movie, it usually disappoints. And then I cry. Not really.

But the point is it's going to have Ben Stiller, Jack Black, AND Robert Downey Jr. Robert Downey Jr. is an amazing actor and I'm glad he's coming back after his rehab.

Here's the promo thing they did for the movie. I love how Downey made fun of himself for his scandal thing and the comparison to Dark Knight - and the poster with Panda and Iron Man ... genius. Plus, the Panda head! Oh, Jack haha. The ending of this clip is kinda weird though and more disturbing than funny, but I still love the three of them.

The movie has a good premise (poking fun at the movie industry and setting up with three different actor stereotypes, throwing them into a real life war situation without any of them realizing it - cue funny and gross debacles) and I just hope it'll turn out well. I mean, we all know what happened to Hancock. Such good ideas, but they tried to do way too many things at once - romance, identity crisis, angst, action, and humor. It was like a bipolar flick on Prozac. You didn't know if it was a drama that had too much action or a superhero movie with too little action.

But I suppose it would make for some good fanfiction because there were definitely some novel points to it that could be explored more.

You see how I love my movies.

Writings: Still working on Through Me 19. And Unfinished Business 9. I hope to have at least one of them out by Sunday or Monday. Hopefully. If I'm not distracted by anything again. The summer heat makes me positively lethargic.