A Movie Analysis

I just finished watching "Chocolate," a Tia movie about a girl with autism (does she have autism? I didn't think it was entirely clear in the movie) who is an idiot savant with mad marshal arts skills. Apparently it came out in 2008. Lovely English subtitles. As a child she starts watching the guys doing Tia kickboxing in the courtyard and it just sort of expands from there. It's also about children trying to save a loving parent (in this case her mother) who gave up everything to take care of her unique daughter. There's a bit of a Romeo and Juliet feel to the parents' relationship. That of course ends when the evil crime boss kills the mom.
Frankly I was expecting everyone to die. It seems to be a theme in "feel good" Asian movies. Of course, they also have honor suicide, so I don't know why I'm surprised. Surprisingly, that isn't the case in this movie. Turns out that the little savant got her mad skills (hehe, I love that expression) from her Japanese daddy (her mom was Tia) and he comes to the rescue in the end. Of course, that's how long it takes the mom to ask for help. I couldn't figure out why she didn't just go with him in the beginning, but I guess if she had there wouldn't be a movie would there? Anyway, despite being stabbed and gargling blood at one point the father recovers. I think he should be featured on Heroes, obviously he has Woverine-like healing ablity, plus super agility. Anyway, after chasing down and killing her mother's killer (hey, the dad was recovering, it takes a few minutes to heal from a six inch stab wound), she comes back to the body and is comforted by her father. Her father, who apparently loved both her mother and her takes her to the much more beautiful and comfortable Japan. It ends with them walking along a shore and a short monologue about childhood and love making everything worthwhile.
I think they definately could have done a worse job. I was sad that the cousin didn't go with them though, and I would have liked the mother to be able to say goodbye.
There were minut-e that I know I missed. Things that were supposed to have signifigance but because of the cultural differences I only saw them cinimatically highlighted but have no clue of the supposed signifigance. Like the beads, or why the mother never left, or the problem with her sending a letter, like, once every four years. I couldn't figure out why the mob boss shot himself in the toe at the beginning either. I wasn't quite sure what the father giving his pin to the elders meant (that he was quitting the mob?). Oh, and I don't understand the title. Having been in Korea and knowing that mixed kids are often called 'monkey' I wonder if it's a reference to the girl's mixed parentage. Otherwise to the candies she ate (but considering that it wasn't a particularly coherent theme in the movie I don't know why they'd title because of that). I did get that the mom put herself in front of the father when he was about to be stabbed and that they were always bound by blood. Any other symbolism or pop references were completely lost on me.
Interesting movie though, and I'd definately recomend it. It's action packed and has some funny and touching scenes, and an ending that's not half bad.

32

So, I fixed up my parents' lawn yesterday, front and back. Pruned the trees and hedges, mowed, clipped the stuff that was in too awkward a place to be mowed. And, between where the basketball shorts stopped at my knees and the socks started at my ankles I got roughly 32 bites (I may have missed one or two in counting). Yep, you read that right, 32.
I think you can see about 10 or 12 in the picture, there's a lot more on the back and sides that you can't see (lol, and I almost didn't put this up at all because I'm not a big fan of my legs. How is it that guy's legs look great at any angle but most womens', and certainly mine, almost always look bad from anything but the side?). I have one word; itchy.

But, I'm being a trooper and not scratching.

Now, without futher ado; one of the many reasons I love my town is the beautiful parks















And, I now have undenyable proof that both the cats in my parents' home are odd:
















Otherwise, I have the contents of my tool box to write up and then I'll be totally done with all the inventorying of my stuff. Which is pretty much bizarre. Maybe I'll also write up a list of things that I have but I haven't packed away. I don't know why I'm making the list. It's not like I wouldn't give the stuff away if I needed to, or like I'd be broken up if most of it were burned or stolen. I guess I've always wanted to do it, just to feel adult and to keep record. People and possessions are so strange and I just can help but be struck by how temporary all this is. How temporary we are. Can't you feel time rushing by you like a roaring wind? And we're so *small*. The universe blinks and we're dust. It's a miracle that we matter at all.

People all over the world

I thought I'd put up some pictures of people in the places I've been. It's all different, but at the same time they're all people. Just people. Everywhere. We're from different cultures and different backgrounds and speak different languages but in the end we're all still people. I like that.
The countries are Spain, France, Wales, Korea, Japan, Germany, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, and Australia.

A Lucky day

Do you ever have a day where you just go "today is a lucky day"? Well, I'm having one of those days. Now I don't have a lot of days like those, but then, I don't suppose I need them. Perhaps I simply don't have a lot of 'unlucky' days. Anyway, I was at the grocery and they had organic milk. At Meijers! Then I was in the check-out line and the woman in front of me let me go in front of her.

Then I got pulled over for running a red. I really did think the yellow would last longer and I'm not prone to running reds. It was kind of ironic because I was thinking "wow, I'm becoming a real kentuckian...crap, those lights are for me aren't they?" I was, like, 100 yards from my parents' house, too.
Aaaand, he let me off with a warning.
O_o !!!!
Did I mention the cop was kind of cute?

And he let me off with a warning.

"ma'am, do you have any guns or weapons in the vehicle."
"...I don't...know. See, my father's an ARMY chaplain so he may have left one in here."
"...it's ok ma'am."
...
"Ma'am, have you ever had a ticket before?"
"*gulp and squeaky voice* no..."
"well, make sure not to get one."
O_o
"Where were you going by the way?"
"erm...McDonalds?"
"Don't run the red next time, a BigMac isn't worth $150."
"ok. Thank you. *drives off, parks, and bawls in relief*"

I bet I could run in front of traffic today and not get hit. It would have been a good day to invest in the stock market.

I needed a day where things went unexpectedly well. Living has taken on an air of dieing recently.

Cards

Well, it is what it says, pictures of some cards that I've made. I actually made several more but I only remember to take pictures of them, before sending, about half the time.

Not quite a feet fetish

So, I like to take pictures of people's feet. Generally when they're not watching. There are many benefits to this.
For example; I don't have to get their permission, feet tell a lot about people, it's fun and makes me feel like Harriot the Spy, I get some truly interesting shots.
I thought I'd put them up here.
Again, please, no stealing.

Ok, this one needs some editing so there's more cement, less rear ends.
Lol, and now, my own feet:

A Few Flower Pictures I've Edited in PS

I'm still trying to adjust to the program after almost two years of not using it. That and I was using CS before and now I'm using CS4. I think my dodging and burning is still a little iffy, and I'm still getting used to the sharpening and softening. I think they looked edited, rather than as natural as I'd like them to be, but I'm working on that.
*These pictures are mine btw, so, if you like them, please compliment rather than 'borrow'.

The dog always wants me to scratch his butt

It's true. The dog is probably sitting in the back yard thinking about how great it would be if someone would scratch his butt. He has allergies. Yes, butt allergies. We give him this medicine that keeps him from chewing off the fur and skin around his tail but he still wants it scratched, which is gross, cuz it's all bald and stuff.

I'm trying to train the dog some more. He has words and hand motions for sit, lay, and up. And, he knows come and stay though whether or not he follows them is still iffy. If I have something he really wants he'll obey, if I have something he's dying for he's not so cooperative. I'm trying to teach him to shake hands and trying to reinforce some other words that I know he knows. It doesn't help that I'm the only one who trains him but my family seems to be under the impression that dogs understand synonims. Which probably just leads to the poor dog being yelled at and then my family giving up and then I have to practically retrain him every time I come home. *sigh*

They can't grow a garden either.

Presently my sister's devil-cat is staring at my computer and wondering if he walked across it, getting fur all in the gears and...obviously he saw me glaring at him because he's decided to go glare out the front door.

When I say devil-cat what I really mean is hell-spawned-minny-fluffball-devil, aka. The Fluffy Thing. His habbits include shedding on everything, sleeping on people's clothing (see exhibit A) being ugly, rubbing his cold wet nose on my elbow, waking me up with his cold wet nose on my face, howling at my door in the middle of the night, howling next to our heads should we be so unlucky as to leave the door open, and jumping on the stomachs/feet of sleeping humans.

My mother's cat (formerly my sister's cat and once-upon-a-time actually named "baby cat") is 14 and so he's probably sleeping somwhere, probably my parents' bed, or the bed I sleep in. He sleeps a lot.

In the back ground I can hear Buffy crying on the last episode of Btvs S3. My sister, who got her tonsils and adenoids out yesterday is playing it in her room while she types on the computer in the den. Isn't she supposed to be asleep or something? And, I thought she wasn't going to be able to talk. Boy was I wrong! She can even talk loudly on her cell phone at 3 am - apparently the pain meds have acted like caffine. Whyyyyy? Really? She is also starting to look like she has a fever, which is bothering me. She may annoy me, but she's still my sister. She's also got a psycho tempter (just a side note).

The Fluffy Thing is back, and licking my elbow...