sergey | says:
hai
Andrew says:
yo yo yo
sergey | says:
what is in da house?
Andrew says:
umm.. nothing. pretty bored.
I think I’ll write a blog post
sergey | says:
Write a blog post about boobies
DOOOO IT
Classical Russian songs should never be attempted as English subtitles
Andrew says:
I don’t think I’m going to write about boobies
sergey | says:
Give me two good reasons!
Andrew says:
-sigh-
self respect
and dignity
hahaha

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It amazes me to no end what extremes the human body is capable of. This is just mesmerizing to look at.

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Maybe this is some daft attempt to introduce the flash video player. Or maybe I’ve just watched this about 6 times in a row. You tell me?!

I figured everyone was probably getting slightly bored of looking at the exact same theme for a while now. So here’s something new. I guess I have a bunch of things I could talk about, but I think I’ll pass on that for now.

I’m going to post something for you, it has a video, but the words are what’s important.

He says the problem with teachers is, “What’s a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?”

He reminds the other dinner guests that it’s true what they say about teachers: That those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.

I decide to bite my tongue instead of his and resist the urge to remind the other dinner guests that it’s also true what they say about lawyers.

Because we’re eating, after all, and this is polite conversation.

“I mean, you’re a teacher, Taylor”
“Be honest. What do you make?”

And I wish he hadn’t done that
(asked me to be honest)
because, you see, I have a policy
about honesty and ass-kicking:
which is, if you ask for it, then I have to let you have it.

You want to know what I make?

I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.
I can make a C+ feel like a Congressional Medal of Honour
and I can make an A- feel like a slap in the face.
How dare you waste my time with anything less than your very best.

You wanna know what I make?

I make kids sit through 40 minutes of study hall in absolute silence.
No, you can not work in groups.
No, you can not ask a question, so put your hand down.
Why won’t I let you go to the bathroom?
Because you’re bored and you don’t really have to go, do you?

You wanna know what I make?

I make parents tremble in fear when I call home at around dinner time:
“Hi, This is Mr. Mali, I hope I haven’t called at a bad time, I just wanted to talk to you about something your son did today.
He said, “Leave the kid alone. I still cry sometimes, don’t you?”
And it was the noblest act of courage I have ever seen.

I make parents see their children for who they are and who they can be.

You want to know what I make?

I make kids question.
I make them criticize.
I make them apologize and mean it.
I make them write, write, write.
And then I make them read.
I make them spell definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful, definitely, beautiful over and over again until they will never misspell either one of those words again.
I make them show all their work in math.
And then hide it on their final drafts in English.
I make them realize that if you got this (brains).
Then you follow this (heart) and if someone ever tries to judge you by what you make, you give them this (the finger).

Let me break it down for you, so you know what I say is true:
I make a difference! What about you?

And now, if you have a minute, here’s the source video with all the things it adds to the presentation: Taylor Mali on What Do Teachers Really Make?

Watched 28 Weeks Later recently. I meant to see it in theatres because I thought it would be a better experience, but as often goes ended up just watching it at home. I have to say right away that I’m a fan of the first movie in the series, 28 Days Later, it was definitely enjoyable and managed to be dramatic, entertaining and action packed all in it’s own right. It was also smart, so I had high hopes for the second one in the franchise, despite the fact that I knew Weeks had a different director.

The opening scene that introduced us once again to the world we found ourselves immersed in was instantly amazing. It relayed nearly all of the information we’d need to know as a viewer, to the point where I felt if the average person had not seen the first movie, they’d be missing details and explanations, but would certainly quickly know the setting they found themselves in. It was dramatic, intense and thrilling.

Then we were once again thrown through a time lapse which brought us to the point where England was being repopulated (if you don’t know the premise of the movies, it’s rather simple, in the first one a man wakes up in a hospital all alone, a virus had spread through England which once infected with causes the person to resort to the most basic of instincts or the desire to feed and kill). We as a viewer, of course, know that something must go terribly wrong, that the repopulation is a mistake, but hey, that doesn’t stop us from enjoying the movie. And sure enough something, everything does go wrong and instantly my complaints begin to pile up faster then I can write them down on paper. I think the majority of them can fall under the serious plot hole issues category, so if you don’t mind that too much, and can pretend to be totally oblivious to them (and you’ll have to be) then it’s not so bad… but anyway, here are just some:

( SPOILERS ABOUND, YOU SHOULD PROBABLY STOP READING HERE IF THIS IS OF SOME CONCERN )

- How does just a random caretaker of buildings have access to all the key military areas?
- Why does the only person with a disease that wiped out an entire country have 0 guards and no supervision?
- After using his keycard to get in to a bunch of locked doors, how does one get out after being infected, since the infected are totally dumb?
- A lockdown area should probably not just have an entire door in the back that’s not even closed or locked?
- The door that’s actually locked to the lockdown area should probably not break if just some people push on it.
- If the code red order, which is kill everyone is given, shouldn’t it make accommodations for those who are totally not infected?
- A helicopter does not do that, it shouldn’t do that just to get you a gore scene.
- Characters should not die just for your convenience because it’s just their time.
- Characters should not just suddenly do stupid things.
- People don’t just vanish and not respond only to suddenly reappear.
- There’s one really, really smart zombie in this movie, that and he has like the greatest tracking device ever.
- Ok, seriously now, how does 1 helicopter not get shot down just flying around, or you know, leaving the island, given that everything else alive gets killed within minutes?

…and there’s more!

( SPOILERS END HERE FOR THE MOST PART )

But if I had to summarize my complaints in point form, it’s simple. Gore scenes for the sake of gores scenes. Plot holes everywhere! Characters that die not for a real purpose, but mostly because a really convenient coincidence caused them to do so. By the way, the first movie at least didn’t kill off the most interesting and most developed characters, and didn’t leave some really annoying ones behind.

But, stop you say, you liked the beginning. Well, yes I did! It also turned out that the director of Days was entirely responsible for the filming of the first scene of the movie and then it was done by the new director from there, I think I see where the problem might be coming from here.

I’ve been meaning to have a quick personal go at the Heroes finale that aired this last Monday. For the sake of everyone who hasn’t seen it, mass spoilers ahead. You’ve been warned!

The Good!

- It actually wrapped up! I know this seems to be an odd comment for a season finale of a show. However a lot of shows leave so many loose ends at the end in addition to presenting the hooks for the next season that you are left in a huge turmoil of frustration. Heroes wrapped up a lot of points nicely and settled the main storyline of the first season. And did it ever introduce a bunch more spoilers to get me pumped for next season.

- Hiro is bad-ass. Ando is likewise totally bad-ass, but kinda silly.

The Bad

- Ok, Sylar vs Peter vs Heroes. The fight in the future setting was already about a bijillion times cooler. First of all, Sylar, for being so smart in previous battles just totally sucked. The best he can do is watch Hiro run like 10 meters towards him with a sword and stab him? Please! This fight had epic potential written all over it and could have been amazing, yet it was mostly irrelevant. No one died, nothing really cool happened, there wasn’t an oh my god my jaw just dropped moment.

- Only one hero dies, period, it might be the right one in terms of a redemption plotline, but he hasn’t really done anything bad yet either. So not sure. Speaking of, why did he have to do that anyway. Peter can certainly use any of his other powers on his own, why not flight also, why not Hiro’s teleportation while we’re at it.

- There were also about a million and one ways that they could have stopped Peter from exploding, and yet they went with perhaps the most cliche one. Knock him out, shoot him, have him teleport somewhere, have him fly on his own, etc.

The Interesting Comments

- So Sylar is not dead, again.

- That samurai in the past, is it the one Hiro admires? Is it his father? Is it his grandfather? Why does the samurai army use the yet unexplained symbol that appears as a tattoo on Nicki’s shoulder? What is that symbol?

- Who was the guy in the past that saw Peter? Why does he know so much? Who is the previous group of Heroes that’s discussed as starting with a good goal, but then shattering?

- Where do we go from here, I can’t foresee a storyline in the past, it would just seem to odd, especially considering how many characters are left in the present.

- Do all those plot twists in the future not matter at all? Why were they so elaborate then if the future is completely changed?

I almost think I want to sit down and have a conversation with someone who watches the show and discuss so many more points! But maybe soon, we shall see

Ok, maybe I’m making a derivative work of what felt like on of the best episodes of Heroes I’ve watched to date. But it seems to me that it applied: 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0