Stuff I've been doing since the HSC

Loyal readers may have been growing concerned that I have begun to neglect and forget about this blog. Unfortunately, being on holidays for so long has made it difficult to get out of procrastinating and get something done, even something as easy as a blog post. Anyway, here is my return to blogging with a recount of everything I've done since the HSC.

Schoolies!

Spent with a lot of guys at Byron Bay. The (possible) highlight was the intense mafia games where everyone played very seriously, resulting in daytime votes that would last for up to twenty minutes before someone got lynched. Fun was also had on the beach and we played a lot of video games. I watched the first season of Suits. I also spent at least 5 hours trying to make a song using GarageBand on Alex's laptop. Pretty cool

Formal!

Pretty cool. I had a good time.

Medicine Interviews!

Nothing too interesting to note here. At the UWS interview while they gave us a briefing, me, Jinghang and either Falko or Clement were sitting on dodgy chairs in the lecture hall and we kept swinging on them and nearly broke them. It was pretty funny if you were there. Went to Newcastle as well and saw the stupid Clement there. He was very stupid. Also went to Monash interview and flew to Melbourne with mum and dad. My sister was in Melbourne too for some volleyball tournament and we saw her there. We ate at a restaurant there and I had something nasty that (literally) gave me the shits.

Cruise!

Went on a P&O cruise to New Caledonia and Vanuatu with some family and family friends. At first I was disappointed because it didn't seem as big and luxurious as I imagined. But then we had dinner and I changed my mind. There's a buffet and a restaurant and you can eat as much as you want! The food was quite good and there was a large variety. Spent time at sea playing board games, cards, table tennis and watching movies. I had to take care of my eight year old cousin the whole time because he was attached to me and followed me everywhere the whole eight days.

At each port of call we would get off the ship and the general routine was to sightsee and then spend the day at the beach. New Caledonia was interesting because it was weird to be in a French-speaking country. In Vanuatu there was a beach with sea cucumbers littered across the sea floor. What an array of sumptuous delicacies! There were also lots of crabs and large fish. The asian parents got quite excited.

Also something I remember is going above deck at night. The sky was cloudy so there was no light coming in from the sky nor reflecting off the ocean. It seemed like the ship was just surrounded by pitch black. It was quite terrifying to imagine falling overboard into the darkness.

Here are some nice photos.

 It cost us $2 to take a photo with this sign.

 My cool cousins.

Eating food.

HSC Results!

Pleasantly surprised by 4U maths state ranking. ATAR 99.80. Actually a little disappointed because my estimate was 99.90. Let down by Band 5 English like an asian stereotype.

Macbook Air!

My uncle bought me a Macbook Air which I am using to type this up. Hooray!

Wilson's Party!

The amazing race thing was pretty fun at first but for our group was really slow and so we gave up when we found out we were coming last. Roger and I stayed behind to watch a busker juggle some knives and an axe and then everyone had dinner at a Chinatown food court. Afterwards some of us went to karaoke. I had only been to karaoke once before and I didn't really like it. This time however, everyone was really into it and we started dancing on the chairs and coming up with really dumb moves and it was actually really really fun.

I stayed over at the penthouse with everyone else. Before the karaoke people got there, Raymond had been a pyromaniac chucking flaming tissues off the balcony. Later I suggested we shaved the powder off all the sparklers to make a sparkly bomb and that was pretty cool. When we ran out of sparklers, Raymond kept chucking more tissues. One time the wind blew back and the flaming tissue landed on someone's balcony and we may have scared the shit out of someone because I think NY said she heard someone scream.

The morning after I had breakfast at McDonalds and ate a NY Bagel, a Hash Brown and some orange juice.

Maplestory!

My sister started playing Maplestory and said the new Mercedes class was really cool and I should try it. So I did and now I have joined Vincent Tran, Jinghang, Edwin, Edward and Allan as a Mapler (the dumbass Arthur plays too but he's in America or something). I decided to make a female character called PastrySwirl to be ironic and funny but Vincent Tran keeps bagging me out for it. In fact, he decided to get Edward to broadcast across the server that I was looking for a BF and that I was hot IRL. I got hit on by some guys which was really weird and blowing them off gave me an enlightening insight on how it's like to be a girl. (I'm not serious.)

Christmas!

Spent it with family and family friends at Blaxland Riverside Park, the new playground/cycling track area in Olympic Park. The playground is cooler than the one in Bicentennial park though the park itself isn't as nice. Not much to say besides that we went bike riding a lot.

New Years Eve!

Went with a bunch of people to see the fireworks from the Opera House. Really good view though whether it is worth getting there at 10am to secure a seat is debatable. It was fun though, and Wilson cooked mountains of tasty of food so we had a nice picnic all day.

The Dentist

You know how people usually say, "Oh, going to the dentist doesn't actually hurt, you're just scared of the drill?". Well those people can just go screw themselves. Call me a pussy but going to the dentist really hurts. First of all the cleaning bit is just uncomfortable. Then when the drilling starts it just hurts a lot. And what's with the porno jazz music they play in the background? Apparently its supposed to be soothing, but seriously you can't even hear it when there's a drill boring into your teeth. Probably out of all the specialists, dentists are my least favourite because they involve the highest degree of pain no matter what procedure they're doing. One of the reasons I do not look forward to getting old is that the dentist visits will get progressively more complicated and painful.

That is all.

Midnight in Paris

I do not know who Gertrude Stein is. I've heard a lot about Ernest Hemingway but have never read one of his novels. Midnight in Paris requires for its full enjoyment a degree of cultural literacy which I unfortunately did not have. This is not really a failure of the film. The film is made for a cultured audience charming it with a playful parade of artistic legends and unfortunately in this process, alienates those who have no idea about the characters on the screen.

There is still much to like, however. The film tells the story of Gil (Owen Wilson), a Hollywood screenwriter who dreams of writing a serious novel. He visits Paris with his fiancee Inez (Rachel McAdams) and her wealthy parents and is enamoured with the city, walking its streets and fantasising about the great artists and writers who inhabited it in the 1920s. On his walks at midnight every night, he enters a carriage that actually transports him to the 1920s where he meets people like Ernest Hemingway, Scott Fitzgerald and Salvador Dali.

Even if you don't know these people, it's still easy to get caught up in Gil's enthusiasm. Owen Wilson creates a very likeable character whose adulation for his literary idols makes them look good on the screen. He has a charming relationship with Adriana (Marion Cotillard), mistress of Picasso and a student of fashion. However, though their relationship is enjoyable to watch, it is not enough to sustain the movie.

Which brings us back to the first point. There is a scene where Gil sits in a café with Dalí, Buñuel and Man Ray. He tries to explain to them that he is travelling in time between the 21st century and the 1920s. Dalí, without humour, explains that this is perfectly normal and he states that he often feels similarly himself. Exasperated, Gil replies 'Yes, but you're a surrealist!'. If you find that kind of thing funny, then this may be your kind of movie.

Drive

Drive makes you think you're getting one type of film and then gives you another completely different one. This is one of those films that at the end makes you realize that you just watched something great and by the end of the week you thought you watched the best movie in a long time.

I don't want to give too much away but I'll give a general outline. A man who is a stunt driver during the day and is a getaway driver at night helps his neighbour and her son when she gets involved in some deep shit. Thats really all you should know about the movie and not much else. I wouldnt reccommend you read up anything about it (apart from the Roger Ebert review which also doesnt give much away). This is however, one of the few movies I would recommend you watch the trailer for because it tells you nothing but sets up your expectations. In fact I encourage you to watch the trailer because it gives the movie much more impact.

One of the main highlights of this movie is the use of music, which perfectly matches the mood and meaning the director is trying to convey. Also effective is Ryan Gosling as the Driver. Even though he doesn't say much in the movie, he exudes cool and style and makes driving gloves seem fashionable. Whereas his character is subdued and silent, the other characters are a complete contrast. Nino, played by Ron Perlman from Hellboy, is particularly loud and rude.

I think this movie has the potential to gain a cult following in the years to come. The way it blends so many genres together and its use of retro definitely make it more timeless and I'd go so far as to say that this might be considered as a great film as time goes on. I watched this movie maybe a week ago and I can still remember how I felt watching the film and after I left the cinema. Its emotional impact stays with you.

That is all.

Top 6 Greatest Minecraft Creations

I'm not sure if there's not much point in making this post because I'm guessing that at most only about eight or so people I know would read this and find it interesting. So to those eight people, this post is made just for you. I hope you like it.

#6 Halnicholas' USS Enterprise

The reason I put this up first is because it was the first Minecraft creation that left my mouth hanging open because it was so huge (safe). This was made when Minecraft was still in Alpha (though the creation is made in Classic) so this was before people had crazy mods and stuff to design massive epic structures. I think this was the first project of its scale ever made. An early milestone of Minecraft creations.

#5 Minecraft Cathedral by 'Sunflower'

Original forum thread and more images here. (I think the server on which this is built is still open to public).

The guy who built this (I'm guessing it was a dude) writes that he is a 'field expert in historical architectural theory and design' and that this cathedral takes inspiration from 'from Chartres, Amiens, Rouen, and Notre Dame de' Paris, and my experience studying and designing churches in real life'. This is quite a believable claim, looking at how intricately detailed both the interior and exterior of this cathedral is. It's worthy of note that this is designed using the original Minecraft texture pack, which is quite impressive considering its limited colour palette and tones compared to say, Painterly.

#4 Kiershar's Sky Monster Trap



There are two ways to play Minecraft: Creative and Survival. While Creative creations are generally much more interesting and impressive, there's something to be said for Kiershar's survival creations. Doing everything legitly with no mods on single player, he makes all kinds of clever and amazing traps for mobs and other players. This sky monster trap is the most impressive creation he's made so far though his devious traps to ensnare unwitting players are also definitely worth a look.

#3 FVDisco's Temple of Notch



Of all the Minecraft creations I've seen, this guy's creations, without a doubt, have got the most style. What sets this guy apart is his quirky and unique sense of design. He uses his own texture pack named 'OCD' which is changes all the textures to solid colours, straight lines and 90 degree angles. All his creations are compulsively neat, smartly presented and for lack of a better word, very, very groovy. If Minecraft creations were computer products, this guy would be Apple.

The video above is a prime example of why he's so cool. On my first viewing when the Notch statue opened its eyes I shat myself.

#2



Because every list needs a troll entry.

#1 The Voxel Box


It's not really right that I'm putting everything made by the Voxel Box server as one listing because really, this could be a list of top 5 Voxel Box creations. This is a very dedicated community of creative builders who build pretty much everything from towns, theme parks and crazy redstone devices. Their stated goal is to 'push the limits of what Minecraft can deliver to builders and players'. They also recently released an adventure map which is really amazing. It uses a mod that adds in custom sounds for atmospheric music and voiceovers.









And I just realised that this post completely contradicts the first sentence of my previous post.

The Thin Red Line

I've managed to pick up movie watching again as a slightly more constructive study-reward habit than Minecraft. I'm really glad I did because the three movies I've watched in the past week or so are some of the best I've seen all year (which doesn't really mean anything because I don't see movies in the same year they're released). Those movies are Minority Report, Being John Malkovich and The Thin Red Line. I just finished watching The Thin Red Line ten minutes ago so I'll write a few things. I'm typing this on my iPod so I won't write a lot.

The Thin Red Line is a movie portraying the Pacific theatre of World War II. It came out around the same time as Saving Private Ryan did and it's quite tempting to make comparisons. I'd say that this movie is more ambitious than Spielberg's in that it tries to encapsulate more completely what war is about. Whereas Saving Private Ryan told a story about one particular group of men on a mission, this movie dwells on a larger ensemble of characters and often alternates between different perspectives.

Often you judge a war movie by how horrific and gritty it is. While this movie certainly does do this, more amazing is how much of a sense of loss you feel after each violent episode. Terrence Malick (director) has this trademark where he likes to break down the events into a montage while the protagonist voices philosophical questions like 'Where did our evil come from?' and 'Who is killing us?'. Sometimes the film gets very reflective and you're at a loss at what it's trying to say. There are times when the film lingers on images that are beautiful but kind of come out of nowhere. I think they are there to prolong the mood of a scene in order to signal to us that something profound lies underneath. There is one character, Private Whit (I think) who is the closest thing we get to a protagonist and his belief that there is goodness in humanity that is being carelessly discarded becomes an important theme in the film.

Well anyway this was a great movie and I'm glad I decided to see it. Its quite unlike any other war movie I've seen.

(500) Days of Summer

Right at the beginning of (500) Days of Summer, a deep-voiced narrator tells us what the movie will be about:

'This is a story of boy meets girl. But you should know upfront, this is not a love story.'

The movie is about a guy called Tom who falls in love with Summer, dates her, gets dumped by her and spends the rest of the movie trying to get over it.

The reason for the popularity of this movie, I believe, is how easy it is to relate to. A lot of guys could empathise with the idea of loving a girl so much but being mystified at how she can’t return it. The other reason is that it deals with this feeling gracefully in a very light-hearted and enjoyable way. I wish that if I was put in the same situation as Tom, I could be just as witty and likeable.

It's a great movie because it takes an approach to the feeling of heartbreak that is humorous but true to the feelings involved. Tom's anguish appears genuine but the film takes every chance to make light of his situation. The balance between drama and comedy is helped a lot by Joseph Gordon-Levitt's performance which is really great.

There is also a lot of exciting editing in this film. The director (Marc Webb, who previously directed music videos) stated that he wanted this film to be like a 'pop song in movie form' and we see this in the use of split-screens, the narrating voice-over and the non-chronological sequence held together by 'Day X'- type title cards. It's all designed to be choppy, exciting and highly palatable to a modern audience. In fact, I think Webb is a bit critical about the relevance of 'serious art' for being so esoteric and inaccessible to most of society. My evidence is a scene in a modern art gallery, and a short montage of scenes parodying some Ingmar Bergmann films.

The cinematography's great too. I can’t describe it technically but it has a nostalgic tone to it and alternates between very warm and very cool. On IMDb it says that the bluish tones are there to bring out Zooey Deschanel’s pretty pretty eyes, which is nice.

If I had a choice of the kinds of movies I'd like to see more of, it'd be movies like these. Not necessarily important or challenging movies, but clever enjoyable movies that tell important truths through lives not very different to our own.

(Normally I should be posting this on the other blog, though since both are inactive right now I'd thought I'd revive this one first. And also because people asked for this on this blog.)