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2005-01-15 00:31:09
Yar, LJ be down and I feel like rambling. But I have no one to ramble to, so I will ramble to you, anonymous reader.
I'm in Kansas City and it's freezing like hell. I have to walk 8 blocks to use the internet. 8 blocks isn't bad... unless it's weather like this. Absolutely freezing. By the time I get here, my face is pretty much completely frozen. There isn't much snow or ice, so the walking isn't difficult, but the wind is like gaseous ice.
I'm listening to the most kick ass song that Kthulhu sent me, called Spaghetti Songs by The Sexbomb Girls. Talentless, cheesy, upbeat, and silly. Perfect combination.
I've been having small urges to write *something* but nothing ever comes to me. Nothing with the promise of a complete, cohesive story. Nothing bearing any promise of anything. Just tiny little fragments that sink into the obscurity of my negligence. This begs of me being reinstituted into some learning environment. I suppose it is inevitable, but there is at least one thing I need to work on first. I've given myself two months, starting when I get home, because I've already wasted enough time. I hate that I'm twenty already. I should be a sophomore in college by now. I see my oldest brother... and I'm so happy for him, but it is depressing sometimes. He's so smart and seemingly carefree, he knows where he's going, and he's got a girlfriend now. Seems to really like her, but she lives in Pennsylvania I think. She calls maybe once a week, but she unfailingly gets laughs and smiles out of him, regardless what his prior mood may have been. I'm sincerely happy for him, and a bit envious. It's just the type of thing that makes me reflective.
But before this entry gets too personal, I'm going to close it up.
Good luck to all you worthy editors in the VCAs. -
I am the Highway - Audioslave
2005-01-13 00:37:07
"I am not your rolling wheels; I am the highway.
I am not your carpet ride; I am the sky.
Friends and liars don't wait for me
I'll get on all by myself
I put millions of miles
Under my heels
And still too close to you
I feel
I am not your rolling wheels; I am the highway.
I am not your carpet ride; I am the sky.
I am not your blowing wind; I am the lightning.
I am not your autumn moon; I am the night."
This song feels damn good to sing right now. - 2005-01-11 01:40:31 When I get home, I'm going to tell my parents not to bug me about a job or school for the next two months while I get my life into order. Primarily there are three things I need to do: one, revive my self esteem; two, get healthy; three, develop *some* sort of sleep pattern. I need to take the opportunity while I think I still have it, because I'm betting it won't come up often. I need to make the best of these next two or three months, and worrying about school or trying to find a job will only increase stress and make it that much more difficult for me to remain sane and (slightly) balanced.
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Troy
2005-01-06 06:21:11
"I chose nothing. I was born, and this is what I am." - Achilles
***SPOLIERS***
Troy was amazing. I'd heard so many mixed things I didn't know what to anticipate. So in my usual manner, I had no expectations. Whatever my expectations might have been, this exceeded them. First, however, I will say it's not entirely true to the poem. I had different views on certain characters (namely Hector, Helen, Paris and Agamemnon), but I do think they worked well in the movie. This different view ties in with my major qualm: the complete non-inclusion of the gods in any tangible form. The gods were the primary factor in all the characters' decisions, and this puts the protagonists and antagonists in a completely different light. Two examples: one, Agamemnon (in the poem) was spurred to war by Zeus, in a dream, but in the movie it was Agamemnon's lust for power; two, Paris was spirited away by Aphrodite when he fought Menelaus (in the poem), but he ran away as a coward in the movie. The part that bugged me most was the relationship between Patrocles, Hector, and Achilles. In the poem: Achilles agrees to let Patrocles take his armor and use it as a disguise (knowing that the armor was crafted by Hephaestus, and thus indestructible), and it is Apollo who actually strikes down Patrocles and steals the armor, allowing him to be defeated by Hector; Hector is later killed in battle by Achilles with the help of Athena. In the movie: Patrocles takes the armor without consent, Hector kills him unknowingly, Achilles vows revenge and kills him in a duel.
While I understand the exclusion of the gods in order to make a cohesive tragedy, I'm reluctant to praise it due to the fact that it does indeed change many important details and politics of the story. The characters and their interaction with eachother was a huge focus in the poem, and Homer intended it to be that way. But it would have taken at least twice the play time to fully include the gods with all the elements that Homer included in the epic, and it would have been a very different movie. However, Odysseus was still pretty damn awesome. And Eric Bana did an amazing job with Hector, given how he was supposed to play him.
I give the movie 4/5 stars for being a kickass tragedy with lots of *good* action and interesting, deep characters.
***END SPOILERS***
This will probably be my last entry for a while (at least a few days), unless our flight is cancelled tomorrow. The snow is still pouring down, so I don't know what conditions will be like for the flight. If the weather's fine, I'll be in Kansas City by 9 pm. -
2005-01-03 01:31:20
I was going to keep it quiet to see if anyone remembered, but they won't, so...
I turned 20, legally, thirty minutes ago. Whee me.
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