Entries by Dalif

Yeah I know there is a LOT of stuff out there about the US elections. Most of it is sound and safe, but a lot of it is confusing and so entangled, you'd have to be a dedicated follower of the elections to really keep up. Once in a while, however, a truly inspiring light shines through, from the deep corners of the internet, and clears things right up. Sure, you don't get long lists of the candidates respective viewpoints or debates or what have we. What you DO get is a ray of hope, that there will indeed be a brighter future. This video was brought to my attention through Digg, and I can't deny, after having watched it quite a few times, it brings a very powerful message through in a very clear and easily understandable way, without sacrificing integrity. And that's not something you see a lot these days.

Without further ado:

Enjoy

Over the last 12 months give or take, posting in here hasn't really been
a major priority of mine. Ironically, the lack of posts haven't been
due to an event less life. At least, not more eventless than usual.
It's due to the fact that so much weird shit has happened over the
last year, that I've been in a material overload.

Sometimes one's luck just isn't up to par. An old school friend of mine, Marie, has a new found love for the eBaying phenomena. She's all over buying and selling. So some time back, she dropped a link, as a joke, for a donutmaker. I loved it straight away, much to her surprise. Had plans to buy one, but didn't get around to it. I told another of my friends about the donutmaker, and my wish for owning one. She thought it was a splendid idea.

It sort of went into the back of my mind, until monday - my birthday. Marie actually got me that very donutmaker. One problem though; she hadn't actually received it yet. Which was sort of a bummer. But what the hell, at least it was in the mail. I was well chuffed. The thought of donuts in all sizes and variants ran through my mind. Frosting, toppings, fillings, jam, creme etc. etc. Yum. So the day after, I told my other friend, that I had gotten the donutmaker. She was silent for a bit. Turns out, she had also bought me a donutmaker. Not the same one, I don't think. Thanks Lady Fortuna. Thank you so very much. Quite a predicament.

Day after, Marie and I met up, and she had fetched my donutmaker from the post office. She did warn me, the box was quite battered, as the people she bought it from, had just wrapped the box in a plasticbag, and put the address on there. Not really that smart. We went to have a cup of coffee, while I opened the box, and as we had both, by this point, suspected, the machine itself was fairly ruined. First of all, the plastic covering on the donutmaker itself was broken a few places, with cracks running up the unbroken places. Second of all, the manual with it was torn and battered. In addition to that, it is only capable of making minidonuts. Now don't get me wrong. Minidonuts are better than no donuts, but in all honesty, the large 'normal' donuts would've been preferred.

I took some pics of the donutmaker, and we mailed the senders of it, who mailed back, that they'd send a new. I dunno. I considered just asking for the money back, but then I'd be without a donutmaker seing as my other friend was so annoyed with the fact that I had already gotten a donutmaker, that she refused to mail it to me. So, bottomline, I'll get another one from the morons who broke the first one, and settle for minidonuts. It's just rotten luck, all in all. But I do love donuts.

I rule, and you know it. 29 big ones, eh? Who'd have thunk it. 

Ok, it wasn't a subtle title for this post, but hell.. it's a nice and fitting title nonethesame. As you will have guessed, I've seen The Dark Knight at the movie theater. Actually, as of today, I've seen it twice. And I'm not sure I can say I've seen it for the last time during it's theater run. You see, I find that the movie pretty much rules everything I can think of. And there are numerous reasons for this. But it wasn't until I emerged from the theater today, that I realized just how to explain what made the movie so good to me. In short, it's the paradox of the tagline (why so serious) vs. how serious the movie actually is. Because it deals with issues that I can relate very closely to. Not great personal issues, for once, but issues I have with views of the world. I saw someplace, somebody wrote: there is a little joker in all of us. And rarely are truer words spoken. You see, that's exactly the point I've been trying to formulate in my head for years. And finally, Heath Ledger and Chris Nolan visualises it so supremely for me. Because that was exactly what made the movie so good for me. 

The Joker represents the insanity in all of us. The wish for anarchy and the wish to see just how far you can push people before they snap. The movie is a sociological study in my eyes. I've always thought that every living person on this earth was a psychopath in the clinical sense of the word, and the degree of manifestation was relative to how far they were pushed by society or other people. The movie does explore into this, and concludes that people are, when push comes to shove, inherently good. I'm not sure if I agree or not. I don't fully disagree, let me say that much at least. But that's besides the point. I enjoyed this movie, if for nothing else, then the fact that the joker was so spot on the purified version of every human being. Besides this, of course, the movie just simply kicks ass. Heath Ledger. Well, he shouldn't get sole credit, but he does an amazing job with the Joker. I've always been a big fan of the original Batman movie, with Jack Nicholson as the Joker. But whereas Jack did a spiffing job, his Joker was goofy. Not a negative Disney kind of goofy, but he was light hearted, and while he was a murderer and so on and so forth, he had a controlled madness about him. Heath Ledger on the other hand, takes that, and adds a whole new layer. The layer of uncontrolled chaos. He takes the wish for chaos to another level, by really inciting anarchy at every chance he gets. Pitting people against people, and turning honest men against their peers is his sport, and the character study is interesting, and cool. He's cool as the Joker, plain and simply. His uncontrolled chaos and mannerisms makes for smiles and breathtaking excitement at the same time. He has you wanting more. Wanting him to come up with new schemes and plans, so you can spend more time in his company. He appeals to the person in us who'd like to shout at people who annoy us in our day to day lives.

Ok, I won't go deeper into it all for now, since some of you might not have seen the movie, and don't want too much ruined. I will say briefly, that another really interesting character study is Harvey Dent. He's played very well in my opinion, and the turn in his persona is excellent. Very impressed by Aaron. I didn't like Maggie Gyllenhaal too much, but then again, I didn't like Katie Holmes too much either. Rachel Dawes wasn't an appealing character to me, so who plays her doesn't upset me too much. And finally, of course, Christian Bale returns as Bruce Wayne, and he's doing with the role what you could expect of him. Solid performance, that doesn't disappoint. Mostly though, the overall feeling of the movie is that while the Joker makes you smile, and Batman inspires awe in you, you can't help but feel the movie creep up under your skin. And I felt that was extremely different from what you'd expect from a superhero movie. It had a message other than Good vs. Evil. Other than evil scientist vs. human race or similar plots. It was very down to earth in a sense. That made a huge impact on me. And it made me take it very seriously. You should too.