mumbling and grumbling

I have some gripes. They're not particularly serious, but I'm feeling mildly frustrated. I'm going to blame the fact that it's October, and I'm away from home and, well, everyone goes home in October. And, you know, argh. Plus I think this might actually have been the first time I've missed Tiptoe's birthday? I'm not sure, and it's certainly not a big deal especially when you factor in that she's missed mine several times because mine was always in half term. I think it's just that the reality of the fact that I'm away has finally pervaded my fogged up brain. I'm still not homesick, but I'm perhaps a little disoriented? It's late October in the northern hemisphere, but it's still warm and the leaves are still green; and now I understand why Giles was complaining about the relentless sameness of Sunnydale weather. I never thought I'd miss British weather. You can take the girl out of London, right?

Ok, so. First off, Ruby left. That wasn't a surprise, since she'd been planning it for a while. She's gone to be with Bo (boyfriend of excessive lameness), and is probably heading back to Canadia soon to study. It just sucks that she left with more of a whimper than a bang, because she had a load of dental surgery just before leaving. It would have been nice to get to say goodbye properly, rather than wince at her attempts to talk through the pain. The thing is that while she's a really nice person who I got on with very well, and had a lot of fun with, I don't think that she would have ever become one of my very close friends. She wasn't a soulmate/non-person/race that knows Joseph kinda gal. And that's not meant to sound judge-y. Some people in your life are people who you just enjoy having fun with, and they're not supposed to be anything more. And yet it still sucks a little that she's gone. Ami has this theory that in a situation like ours all your friends become imbued with more importance than you might afford to them 'back home' because you're likely to feel more attached to them. There's something to that, without roots and without the language of your host country it makes sense- plus people are always coming and going so while they're here you just want to enjoy them.

I am really sad that Aryan's left though, and so's Ami. He wasn't supposed to go, his contract's not up and he stoically refused to explain what 'family emergency' dragged him back to the UK. He's seriously one of the most awesome people I've met, and I'm going to feel the lack of my necessary quotient of British bantering sorely. The fact that people can slip in and out of your life in a job/situation like this is both good and bad. It's nice to constantly be meeting new people, and there's generally a real sense of camaraderie- people are very friendly and helpful. If I ever want to go to the States, Canadia, Aus or Kiwi-land I've got a wealth of people I could hit up for a place to stay too. I've just never really adjusted to my favourite toys being snatched away, is all. Scotty's fucked off back to Chonto too now, it;s like other people read Keourac or something. Jeez.

And the worst of it? Elica got her stupid arse fired. We may have had a somewhat debauched night a couple of weeks ago, and she didn't turn up for work the next day. She didn't even call in. She texted me and told me to tell Daryl that she was ill, which isn't in line with company protocol or any version of common sense- especially since she knows that Daryl doesn't come in until later than her own start time. Head office apparently got mad and headed straight into action (although there's a slight possibility that Smartie may have been complicit in fucking her over, but I don't really believe it). It's maddening, because she could have prevented it. It's also stupid because she's probably the most popular Korean teacher, and things are slow enough at our branch. This also happened at Yeouido, Yo got fired because they wanted to get rid of one Korean teacher apparently- yet again she was the popular one. It's possible that it was because her secret relationship with Patagonia came out, just as he was leaving. Work just doesn't feel the same without Elica shrieking, and with Ruby gone. Ruby's been replaced by Newbie, who's nice enough but very staid and proper. Freemason doesn't even have a partner, and just knocks about doing nothing. And it means that Newbie and I are picking up the slack a little, instead of having two lessons I have around six- which isn't very much but I could be enjoying doing even less. This company is completely idiotic, I'm actually a little worried that they're going to go out of business.

Also, I have to move apartments again. It's kind of ridiculous. Basically the landlord doesn't want to re-sign the contract for my flat or Tanky's. I think it's a mix of his hatred for idiotic foreigners and his hatred for idiotic companies. Everyone at HQ who was capable of independent thought has now quit because they weren't getting paid, so the entirely unintelligent M is in charge of finding me a new place to live. Not only is he dimwitted in the extreme he's also incredibly untrustworthy. He's come up with this plan to oust Tanky from the organisation, which I broadly support because I can't stand him- but his method of doing it isn't exactly laudable. He's ordered Daryl to inform Tanky that a new apartment cannot be found for him or me, which seems premature and suspicious even if you ignore the fact that Daryl's privately assured me that I will be given an apartment but that I have to act like I won't so that Tanky doesn't cotton on. In part I think that M was doing this in a bid to get Tanky to move to a different branch, but I have it on good authority that a large part of it was because everyone hates Tanky. I did feel a little bad though, because Tanky's actually put some effort into trying to sort me out with alternative housing. Apparently L (awesome Scottish dude from HQ who "trained" me) would try to sort me out with a job at his new company too, which is pretty nice. I might need it, because not only do I suspect the company of floundering (especially now that they've fucked themselves up with immigration and have won a temporary ban on new foreign teachers), I really don't trust that they (or rather, M) will find me a new apartment as promised.

God, I really don't want to pack everything up again. On the other hand moving to a building which doesn't house Tanky and his wifey would be excellente. I don't really like living on the ground floor either, and it would be nice to have an apartment with decent air con, a large window, no dog hair, a bathroom light that doesn't short out every few weeks... etc. And it will still be in Hongdae, so it shouldn't be too much hassle. I just hope that it does all work out fine. Please.

This is what I get for feeling so deeply at one with the universe. It was so comical though. I complained about being cold and not having a book to read for all of about three seconds, and suddenly post arrived- containing jumpers and books. My karma was kicking, so of course everything did have to come crashing down. Bah.

Asides from that the main thing that I have to complain about is: me. I need to stop being an idiot. I know that I state this with worrying regularity, but really it's a serious concern. I need to stop running outside to throw out the trash half-naked for one, but I think my main problem is that I do stupid things when drunk. So from now on no drunken motorcycle shenanigans or money wasting poker. (Unless it's five card stud, because come on). I also really need to switch my brain off, or learn to be a bit more productive. I keep having all these brilliant ideas for things that I want to write, and my mind darts off down random paths like a hyperactive child, but I'm not actually putting pen to paper (or fingertips to keyboard as the case may be). I most definitely do not have time to keep up with my ambitious plan of writing up what I think of each new episode of all the shows I'm watching. Was I smoking crack when I came up with that plan? Even just doing it for one show (Supernatural) is proving to be a challenge, hell even watching everything I want to watch is complicated enough. I'm not feeling motivated to do it either, especially since the last Supernatural episode, Monster Movie, was incredibly awesome but was aired out of sequence so I can't exactly say anything meaningful about the brothers' interaction. Bah. Probably I need to read less fic too. Dammit, the J2 love has been strong lately though- especially after interviews like this. The thing is that fandom and the internet actually hold seriously important places in my heart- I love the celebrating of freedom of... something along the expression/stealing/porn nexus, but it's more than that. I'm deeply impressed by the intelligence and creativity in fandom in general, and specifically in the ones that I hold most dear (Buffy, Harry Potter, Supernatural, West Wing, Firefly...). Obviously there are mind numbing fourteen year old fangirls too, but the intelligent fanfiction and commentary that exists is actually breathtaking. That's why I get pissed off when I'm unwittingly exposed to something less than wonderful. I know that it's hypocritical because of course mistakes sneak into what I'm writing all the time and so I really ought to be more forgiving, but I just read something about a 'minuet of tension' and wanted to throw things. A lot.

Anyway, I'm getting love from every bloody angle right at this moment, which I suppose is the multiverse's way of telling me to shut the fuck up with my whinging. I'm going to read some almost-definitely-guaranteed-to-be-buff fic. Stupid world showering me with nice things and making me grin. Bah.

movies and shakers

I don't really like films. Normally when I say this someone (most likely Tiptoe or Ringo) interrupts me and starts arguing the point. I'm pretty sure that Tiptoe is safely back in the UK (somewhere in Cambridgeshire in fact) working at the bar of the Secret Garden Party after roaming around Europe, and that Ringo is sitting comfortably in London. Nonetheless I still wouldn't be that surprised if one of them came bursting in here to prise my fingers away from the keys so that I can't explain that I don't really like films. I've bolted the door though, so I think I might just get away with it.

Obviously I do like some films, love them even. My favourite films list isn't exactly empty. However, overall I just don't see myself as a filmic person- I think that it's partly because it wasn't really a huge part of my childhood. I haven't seen most 'classic' films, whether they're the ones you see in your childhood or just the ones "everyone" has seen like the original Star Wars films or Jaws. The ones that I have gotten around to seeing, such as Edward Scissorhands or Hallowe'en, I saw aeons later than everyone else in the world, and often involuntarily. Movies just haven't been a large part of my life, and it isn't that surprising when you consider how crappy so many of them are, and that when I was a child I had awful hearing a lot of the time, and there weren't a lot of subtitles floating about.

I'd also like to add that I prefer TV shows (and books). Obviously there are a hell of a lot of terrible shows, but since I don't own a TV I only end up picking and choosing the things that I really want to watch, and I get to enjoy watching real character development and intricate, evolving story arcs- in a way that you don't really get in a film.

As an older person I have given way a little. My hearing is better anyway, and there's a greater abundance of subtitles. I'm able to pick and chose what I want to watch a lot more thanks to the glory of the internet and the ease of access to international cinema (so there's a bit more choice between rubbish Hollywood blockbusters # 1, 2 and 3). Still, I'm not a film person- even if I do get watch-y a lot more than I used to. There's so many films that I do want to get around to watching (crap, I forgot to pack Cool Hand Luke after I went to all the trouble to copy it before I left, maybe someone can find it and post it to me?), but they're going to have to take a back seat to all the books and shows on my list.

Having said all that you might be almost as confused as me as to why I thought that watching Hancock would be a good plan.

Redeeming features of Hancock:

1) It had Will Smith in it. As a child of the 90s (the 1990s in point of fact) that's almost enough for me. I have an unabashed love of Will Smith (and of course I know every word to the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air rap). I've sat through some fairly craptastic films for him: the Men in Black sequel; the Bad Boys sequel; the unforgivably bad Wild Wild West (at least it did have Selma in it too). Hancock did at least have him being grouchy and drunk, which was fun.

2) It had Charlize Theron in it being pretty. I especially loved how she got all vamped up to go confront Hancock in his trailer.

3) Korean adverts are awesome, especially on the big screen! An advert for soju inexplicably involved a load of girls in silver dancing around to Baby Got Back. I think I laughed more at that than at the film...

Seriously, not a very good film. The transition between scenes was sloppy, the dialogue wasn't very good and Jason Bateman's character was incredibly annoying. It was a simplistic plot (a superhero who nobody likes) that could have been executed well but wasn't. On top of that, for some inexplicable reason, there was another, unnecessary, layer of plot- which could have worked if it had been properly explained. It transpired that Hancock and Mary were actually gods of some kind who had been 'made' for each other, but couldn't exist as superheroes together. You can't just throw a completely random mythology into a film about two thirds of the way through and fail to explain it properly! Mary also tells Hancock that "they" kept attacking her to get at him, but doesn't ever explain who "they" are! It was completely ludicrous.

The ending was completely unsatisfactory and stupid as well. Plus the basic plot of the film seemed to have a Grease tinged feel: if people don't like you, you should change yourself. I ask you, what kind of message is that to give to perfectly nice alcoholic superheroes? It's despicable!

Hancock did at least make me laugh, if only at how bad it was. It also made me re-evaluate my whinging about the last couple of films I watched back in London (before my filmic forays on the planes), Southland Tales and Innocence. Although I felt that both of these were flawed, in comparison to trashy Hollywood tripe they suddenly seemed brilliant!

Southland Tales was Richard Kelly's follow up to Donnie Darko, a film which I liked but wasn't raving over with the rest of the world (although I did like the physics geekery). Southland Tales had a lot of good ideas (including some more physics geekery in fact, and an absolutely fantastic sequence involving Justin Timberlake singing All These Things That I've Done), but it was a sprawling mess. I think it had a lot of production issues, but still I think that it's something that has to be watched to be believed, it's just so random. I also don't understand how Kelly thought his film would be taken seriously with The Rock in one of the lead roles. In fact having Sean William Scott, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Justin Timberlake, Mandy Moore and Bai Ling in other leading roles doesn't exactly help, even if I personally have nothing but love for SMG, JT and MM. What I really don't get though, is having Janeane Garofalo in your film for about half a second, without any dialogue. Why would you do that? I believe that her role had to be cut from the film for some reason or other, but I'm really not happy about it!

Innocence, on the other hand, was a tight, controlled film but it was also incredibly slow, slower than an episode of Days of Our Lives, something which I really can't stand in a film. It certainly was beautifully shot, but then again so was Brokeback Mountain, and that wasn't exactly all that and a packet of kettle chips. It was certainly an interesting film, but the slow pace coupled with the fact that there was no actual resolution irritated me. I don't think I would have minded the ambiguity so much if I hadn't had the sense throughout the film that there was an eventual conclusion to come to. However, I'd certainly be interested to read the novella that inspired it and I have a sort of grudging appreciation of the ambiguity (even if I didn't actually like it myself) because it neatly leaves several different interpretations open.

Here's something which suits my attention span better, and happily combines my love of Avenue Q, Supernatural, the internet and porn. Sadly there's no actual porn, but should you want to find some, the internet is for porn (especially in China and South Korea apparently).