My Love/Hate Relationship With The Internet

So tonight I was attempting to hook up the wireless internet to my vile sister's Wii, and I encountered a problematic situation. By "problematic" I mean that it was one that seemed simple enough but turned into one that made me want to peel the skin off my palms with a butter knife.

Now I never claimed to be a computer or technology whiz, and I certainly never will, but I never considered myself a particular dunce when it came to that stuff either. However, this task might just do me in...

I just spent the entire night searching online, troubleshooting, for ways to find out why it wasn't connecting. It told me a whole array of procedures and strategies, none of which worked, that included refreshing the IP address, finding the WEP or WPA keys, and doing strange things with firewalls. I tell you, I'm close to setting a real wall on fire.

Now, you must be thinking about the title of this here blog post and it also contains the word "love" in reference to the internet and you might be confused because I have only been ranting about the "hate" part.
Here's the kicker. The reason I love the internet is because of the fact that I actually could look up the specific problems I was having and find very specific answers to the exact problem! The great thing about the internet is that if you are having a problem, there is always someone else out there with the EXACT SAME problem who will post it on the internet along with some solutions. It truly is great. Anything from Wii internet connections to the amount of chocolate your dog can eat without kicking the bucket to how to gain mob family members in the iPod game-app iMob.

So, thanks to the internet, I now know that all I have to do tomorrow is restore the default settings on my wireless internet router and then I should be able to find the WEP key and all should be well! If I could only be so lucky...

All of this just so my sister can download songs for Rock Band II. Sheesh.

Moving on. I did go camping this past weekend. It was an interestingly strange, yet all-around pretty fun, experience. I've never played Rock Band that was projected on to the side of a trailer in the middle of the wilderness before.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm actually looking forward to this up-coming school year. Gasp! I know, I know. I think I'm looking forward to it because it's not like high school. I am only taking the classes that I want and I have so much more freedom to do what I want with my time. I'm getting the feeling that with summer and everything, the family is just getting sick of being around each other, so school should definitely help with that.

Actually, as summer is sort of wrapping itself up (in the sense of no-school, not in the sense of the season because it's certainly still hot enough to be summer), I am kind of disappointed that I didn't do more of what I had planned to do. I wanted to do lots of writing and art and movie-stuff in the summer, but I just either didn't have the time, or didn't have the energy. I really do enjoy my days of doing absolutely nothing and as I get older (*boo hoo*) I know I won't have anything like that in the future, so I'd like to embrace my doing-nothing time while I'm still young (*boo hoo*). However, I must say that various events throughout the summer and the past year have certainly given me many (and I mean tons) of ideas for writing. The best inspiration is life-experience.

Well, I'm pretty tired so I think I'll turn in.
Before I go, I'd like to leave you with three things:

1. A lovely picture of Edward Norton:

2. A lovely video of Neil Young singing "Old Man":



3. A lovely quote from the Anglo-Irish painter Francis Bacon:

"Champagne for my real friends and real pain for my sham friends."

Bleep.

I Love American History

"American History X" that is.

Just watched that movie last night. It is the best movie that I have seen in a really long time. Holy crap, it was freaking amazing! I was bawling like a baby at the end, and I darn near cried thrice while watching it! I've always liked Edward Norton, but now I think I'm in love. He is just so freaking talented, and severely good-looking to boot! Heck, I'm STILL in shock at how hard-hitting and incredible that movie was! Good Lord, I'm glad I bought it!

In case you don't know what it's about, it's about neo-nazi skinheads. Derek Vinyard (Eddie Norton) goes to jail for killing two guys and when he comes out, he no longer believes in the whole white-supremacy thing and he tries to save his younger brother from his same fate. So very good!

Edward Norton is the buff one with hair.

I also watched "Atonement" a few days ago. It's not really my kind of movie. It was OK, not one of my faves. I do love James McAvoy though!

Doesn't it seem like a pattern that I am willing to watch terrible movies just because I like a particular actor that may be in it? Haha, oh well. Not that "Atonement" was terrible, it wasn't, just not my cup of tea.

Here's James. He's Scottish!

Well, I gotta get back to doing nothing. I can't fall behind on that, or I'll just be cramming my doing-nothing time into a smaller time-slot later. That can't happen. I do have to work tonight, so I have even less time to do nothing. I better get on it!

Alrighty, I'll post later, and in the mean time; go watch "American History X". You won't regret it. Just make sure you are 18, because I'm pretty sure it's rated R.

X.

My Hand Really Hurts For Some Reason

I have no idea why though... I don't remember banging it against anything.

Ya, so if you haven't guessed, nothing is really new with me.

Oh, I did get a hair cut. Well more than one hair, all of the hairs on my head were cut; and coloured. It's OK.

The trailer for "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" just came out!
Check it out:



Heath Ledger and Johnny Depp in one movie!! Lovin' it!!

This weekend, I'm going to totally chillax and do nothing but watch movies on TV (meaning ones that I don't own). I love seeing movies that I've never seen before, but I also love watching movies that I have seen before but love. I just love movies, but not bad ones apparently.

OK, I gotta go ice my hand.

Ouch.

How Will I Survive Work Now?!

This just in: Tim Horton's is leaving the Crowfoot RONA at the end of August.
This can only be described as the ultimate tragedy.

It's not like I went there every shift or anything, but when I did... it was heavenly, and it made working there all the more tolerable. Oh... so sad.

Whilst wollowing in self-pity at the loss of my beloved Tim Horton's, I realized something completely random. I can probably give you a top 100 list of my favourite actors, but I haven't really considered who my favourite actresses are. Here are a few in no particular order:
Kate Winslet, Helena Bonham Carter, Judi Dench, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Charlize Theron, Franka Potente, Audrey Tautou, Emily Watson, Marion Cotillard, Kerry Washington, and many more.

I've decided that this Friday will be the day that I get my iPod Touch. So excited!

There was a crazy thunderstorm last night. The hail was so loud, the rain so heavy, and the wind so strong! I felt like my house was going to lift up and get whisked away to somewhere horrible! Like Quebec...

Anyways, I'm going to sleep, but I'll post again fairly soon.

Snooze.

Home, Home on the Range!

Where the deer and the dirty clothes play.

And yes, there is certainly an abundance of them. Dirty clothes, not deer. Well, there are a lot of deer in Alberta, but nowhere near me. Whatever. Anyways, the clothes are so foul that I think they could possibly get up and play just to tease me with their grossness.

The reason there are so many nasty clothes is because we just got back from vacation today. Had a really fun time. Not really a fan of the stinking heat that exists in California, but we dealt with it. I won't go into details about the trip on my blog, but if you want to know every little part, then just talk to me. Communication is a beautiful thing, but it gets tarnished via the internet. It is actually like taking Cinderella (and she was supposed to be beautiful, right?) and taping her mouth up so she has to talk (and sing, because she does that) through writing on a chalkboard around her neck. Oh, and putting a silly hat on her.

I sure did miss a lot (entertainment-wise) while I was gone! My goodness gracious! The Tim Burton "Alice in Wonderland" movie trailer came out, and here it is. I'm lovin' it so far.



I also missed the debut of the brand new music video for Coldplay's song Strawberry Swing. It has got to be one of my favourite music videos. Not just out of Coldplay's videos, but of all of the videos I've ever seen! Here it is.



I really want to get my iPod Touch asap, but I just had to pay my cell phone bill, so I'm a little short on the moola at the moment. I guess it'll have to wait a "touch" longer (pun absolutely intended).

While I was away, Tif looked after the house (plants and cat) and did a mighty fine job of the task if I do say so myself. My tomato plants look A-wait for it-MAZING! I even see a couple of buds on there, which means I'll actually get tomatoes off of those plants (it was touch-and-go there for a bit).

Wow, this particular blog post uses the word "touch" a lot. OK, only four times. Let's see what I can do about that.

"Once upon a time there was a little girl who liked to make cards. She made touching cards for her mother and her mother was always so touched. When she made the cards she touched the paper, and she touched the crayons, and she touched the glue and the glitter, and she touched the scissors. Her mother found her creativity touching, but then she found the little girl cruelly touching the family dog and now the little girl isn't allowed to touch her scissors and the dog at the same time. Now it's a touchy subject. Not so touching."

Nice, in that strangely terrible little paragraph, I have increased the total to eleven.

OK, I'm done.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand... cut.

Takin' A Much Needed Vacation

Tomorrow morning, very early, me and the family will be catching a plane to California and travelling around that area for 16ish days! I desperately need this vacation. For the last few weeks I have been going non-stop, and I'm always tired. I can't wait. I really want to go swimming.

Finished my course, hopefully in time to reverse the zombification that it caused. I got a B. Not too bad. I'm happy I just don't have to take it again, thank goodness.

I've decided that, when I get back from vacation, that I'm going to buy an iPod Touch. Not an iPhone because I already have a good phone. I'm really excited about it. The iPod I have right now is fairly old and worn out.

Went to the Stampede twice this year. I love the Stampede, it's always awesome. However, it did rain for most of the second day that I went, which sucked, but was still fun. I don't go on rides or play games or anything; it's just an excuse to eat deep-fried everything for the entire day, see horses, and watch foreigners try to don western-wear without looking ridiculous (which isn't possible, by-the-way).

Alrighty, I gotta go finish packing.

P.S. Sorry about the new poll. I couldn't figure out whether Batman, Spiderman, or Superman were one word or two. Does anyone really know? I don't. I guess that's part of what makes them so mysterious...

Adios.

The World Was Shaking So Much I Couldn't See The Pretty-ness

I just saw "Public Enemies" in theatres.

It' s a really good movie, but there are also things that if I could meet Michael Mann, I would smack him upside the head for:

- Johnny Depp was incredible as always. I think this is one of his best performances because he pushed himself emotionally farther than I've seen him go in a while (since his earlier, more "indie" movies). He is simply brilliant! Wonderfully pretty too, as per usual.

- Christian Bale was good, he did his job, but wasn't nearly as dynamic as Johnny. Of course, his character was only a supporting role to Johnny's, but he still could have done more with it. Still pretty though.

- The supporting cast was also really good (especially Marion Cotillard).

- The one thing that I really dislike about this movie though, is that the camera wouldn't stop moving!! It was handheld the entire time! It was bouncing and twisting and whipping around so much I couldn't see what was going on during half of the action scenes. There were also too many really-really-really-close-up close-ups. This movie was shot in digital (as opposed to film) so it was HD and very realistic, which exposes every little detail (and really told me who the truely great actors were among them).

- Oh and for some reason, Christian Bale looked a lot older than Johnny Depp in this movie, when in real life Christian is about 11 years younger than Johnny. Go figure.

Take a look at this resemblance:

In case you didn't know; Dillinger is on the left, Depp on the right. You should know, unless you live in a cave or a hut in Malaysia (no offense to any Malaysians who may be reading this).

This is the eighth time that Johnny has played a real life character. He manages to transform himself into each role every time in a ridiculously uncanny way. Here are a few more pictures from his past movies when he plays a real person. Remember: real person on left, Johnny on right:

Ed Wood (from the movie "Ed Wood")

Hunter S. Thompson aka Raoul Duke (from the movie "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas")

George Jung (from the movie "Blow")

Cool, ya?

Turns out I didn't need the help of the brainless monkeys over at Abobe PhotoDeluxe who are busy scratching their own cabooses. I figured it out all by myself. *Pats self on the back*

I'll leave you with a strange music video for a song I like. Here you go:



P.S. Please feed my fish. His name is Walter, and he is in the top left-hand corner of my blog. Click in his little area to feed him. He will follow your mouse around. Cute. I also added a poll (which will change weekly), so please vote.

Bounce.