Merry Christmas!

What better way to spend Christmas than with a movie?

Best movies of the year.

Ratatouille
I can't remember seeing this much acting in an animated film before. The whole "marionette" thing going on between Remy and Linguini is a perfect example. I remember watching a making-of documentary about Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. No one ever talked about the rotoscoped Snow White or Prince. The only characters the animators really cared about were the elfs. They wanted each elf to have his own personality. This meant making each elf act. It also reminds me of Pinocchio when he is released from the strings as well as that drunk mouse from Dumbo. Those are perfect examples of acting in animation. The moments in Ratataouille where Linguini and Remy become puppet and puppeteer are fantastic examples of acting. This movie had long moments of acting without any dialogue. Now that's animation!

Transformers
It was a tough decision between this and Ratatouille for the #1 spot. It has no plot, no character development, and no point. But let's not focus on what it doesn't have and talk about what it does have: giant #$*%ing robots beating the @^%# out of each other. How could it not be good? Maybe it would be better if it had ninjas. But not giant robot ninjas because that would just make my head explode. Yes, it has ground-breaking visual effects, but what I actually liked was the human touch. No, not the "love story," but the way most shots of the Transformers are from people's points of view: over their shoulder, through their windshield, or through the window on the 42nd floor. This little touch made the robots even more menacing.

The Simpsons Movie
I had high hopes for this going in and I wasn't disappointed. What makes the first several seasons of The Simpsons so special is that they are not only funny, but sweet as well. Anytime characters goofed up, you felt sorry for them. They realized their mistake and tried to fix it. The early episodes had empathy. These days the show is just apathetic and numb. Each episode is a random series of events with each character throwing out one-liners. This movie goes back to the early days. Homer goofed up and tries to fix it. HIs family supports him (up to a point) and by the end the family grows closer. Also, the movie didn't ignore the fact that the television show isn't about the Simpson family. It's about the city of Springfield. My only complaint is that there wasn't enough Comic Book Guy in the movie.

300
Perfect in every little detail, even down to the Frank Miller-esque blood spatters. This film is gracefully beautiful in is grotesqueness, if that makes sense. The fight scenes are quite elegant and perfectly choreographed. And it uses slow motion at just the right times. The film as a whole looks wonderful. CGI blood is the future of cinema.

Zodiac
I loved the movie when I saw it, but I didn't realize just how much of it used bluescreens, layers, and other post-production CGI tricks. Even the victims' blood was CGI. I guess my prediction from 300 was on the nose.

The Bourne Ultimatum
I didn't get confused until after seeing the movie when I found out that this one doesn't pick up where the second one left off until halfway in. Now I have to watch all three of them again.

Spider-man 3
What they should have done is taken out Sandman completely. We didn't need to revisit Ben's murder. But keep Gwen Stacey and the love triangle. They also should have taken out Eddie Brock. Just let Peter put on the black costume, enjoy it a little too much, and this way Peter's dark side becomes the villain. Then when he separates himself from it, Venom is born. Venom is still just the black suit with a new life of its own thanks to Peter. But no, they had to have Eddie Brock because there would be an outcry from fans if the movie strayed from the comic. I hate when fanboys think they know the best way to make a movie.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
At least it made me not regret watching the previous movie, which had absolutely no plot or point. It did, however, look very pretty.

Shoot 'em Up
Fun. Pure, senseless, pointless fun. I think there's a story in there somewhere and a message about guns and how accessible they are...dangers...blah, blah, blah, whatever. This movie rocks. It's full of action, bullets, blood, and explosions. It has one of the greatest soundtracks ever, and the robot baby was freakin' hilarious. So grab a carrot and enjoy.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters
Similar to Rocky and Bullwinkle, if you don't like it then you just don't get it.

Blades of Glory
Pretty funny, but it's no Anchorman or Talladega Nights.

Pan's Labrynth
Spooky, creepy, and sad. I thought it was a great film to look at. There were a few holes in the plot, but that usually never keeps me from enjoying a movie.

Rush Hour 3
Don't even ask why I saw this one. All I'll say is that it needed less "comedy" and more "Jackie-Chan-edy." Except the scene with the nun. That was pretty damn funny.

Michael Clayton
Okay, I didn't see this one, but I did hear it was pretty good.

Fine. So they aren't the greatest movies of the year, but they are the ones I saw.

Jason

When spell check doesn't work

I saw an ad for a "prove reader" job. I think the fact that I replied to the job post is enough proof that I can read. The ad could also be a test, but I doubt it.

Jason

Spooky

Another pic of 101. Compare this with the picture from November 13. No camera tricks or Photoshop magic. Just a spooky day.

Jason

Thai-Huh?

Every time I tell someone I'm in Taiwan, they always hear Thailand. I just tried updating my contact info at my bank (again) and when the rep repeated the address, she kept saying Thailand.

I understand Thailand is more popular and probably gets a lot more tourism. However, the next time I mention Taiwan, please don't tell me how much you love Thai food and that you saw a documentary about it on TV and was fascinated by how the people get everywhere by riding elephants.

Jason

Generation Gap

On my way from one job to the next, I think I saw one of my high school students at the MRT station. He looked familiar, and I immediately thought that he was in one of the cram schools I work at. He saw me, too, but didn't say anything. He just... stared. I smiled in case he did turn out to be a student.

That's pretty much how it is with the high school students. I ask a question, they stare at me. I say hello, they giggle and run away. The elementary students are, thankfully, a different story.

I ask a question, each one tries to raise their hand higher and scream louder than the others for my attention. (Almost) every one of them wants to be heard. When I see them outside of class, they say "hello" or ask me a question. I talk to them and ask them questions, too, and even though I don't always get the right answer, I still give them credit for having more guts than the high school kids.

This evening one of the elementary students was walking on the sidewalk in front of me. He turned around, saw me, and walked over to talk to me. He asked, "Where do you want to go?"

"I'm going home, how about you? Where are you going?" I replied.

"I'm going... to my... little sister's... school," he said, followed by a punch in the air that said success!

"Oh. Where is your little sister's school?" I asked.

"It's.. umm," was all he could get out before scratching his head and just pointing forward.

"That way?" I pointed in the same direction.

"Yeah, that way."

"How will you get there? Will you take the bus or train?" I asked.

"Umm... My little sister's school." he said. "Umm... My mother, father, little sister, and me are in my family."

Okay, so that wasn't exactly what I was asking, but it's still a hell of a lot better than just staring at me. He gets extra credit for that.

I thought that this was just a case of curious little kids always asking questions or wanting to be the center of attention. I thought all of these elementary students would just grow up to be like the shy high school kids. From what I understand, this isn't true. This really is the difference between two generations of English learners. They encourage these kids to talk to the foreign teachers as much as they can, which is great. Well, it would be great, but...

Last week a student came up to me while I was going through some papers and asked, "What time is it?"

There was a clock on the wall behind me and he was looking at it as he asked, but I knew he just wanted to say something. So I looked at my cell phone and told him, "It's 6:30." I wanted to keep the conversation going, "Do you have class later?"

"Umm... no class," he said.

"Did you have class today?"

"Yes I have class at..." He was looking at the clock, trying to get the time out when suddenly the Queen of Subtlety screamed, silencing the entire room. The student talking to me spun around in his seat. The Queen of Subtlety screamed again and the student ran back to his seat. He buried his nose in his textbook as the Queen of Subtlety screamed a third time.

I looked at her with a WTF expression on my face. "Was he bothering you?" she asked.

"No, we were talking in English," I said.

"Oh."

Crimany! Let them learn! Stop screaming!

And close your damn mouth when you eat!

Jason

Taipei Technology Information Month

Thursday and Friday we went to this technology and information convention in Taipei. We walked around to see what it's like and to see if we could walk away with any good deals. One deal was a little too good.

We went into a booth for a place that is an Authorized Reseller of Apple products to check out the MacBook Pro. We were asking questions about one and seeing how much we could lower the price. You can't buy anything in Taiwan without negotiating the price or insisting on getting free stuff. Since they wouldn't lower the price, the "Apple" guy said he would give us Microsoft Office. Already installed. Okay, I thought this was a little odd. Then we asked if they sold Adobe CS3 Master Collection. He said that he would install that as well. However, we can only use it for our personal use, not professionally.

Please see Wednesday's post to see what I thought about this.

Look, pictures!

Big, busy, and loud.


Consider yourself lucky I didn't include sound files with these pics. My ears were bleeding by the time we left.


Probably the most interesting part of the show were the shiny, plastic leather-clad girls dancing to techno music on stage and posing for pics off stage.


I guess this one is so famous that people actually asked for her autograph.


An Epson girl.


Another Epson girl. Actually, I don't think she realized that I wasn't interested in her. I was actually trying to take a picture of that guy in the foreground. Damn, he is HOT.


The ViewSonic parrots.


Yes, there's a poor shmuck inside that thing.


This one falls into the "I could have told you that" category.


I would have taken more pictures of the shiny, plastic leather-clad girls, but Wei revoked my camera privileges.

We did get a pretty sweet deal on a camera. It's so cool, it stands on its side. Landscape is dead.


And in case you're wondering, yes, I did use our new Canon IXUS 860 IS to take a picture of our new Canon IXUS 860 IS. It's that good.

Jason

I Sowemnwy Swear. . .

This article made my week.

It immediately reminded me of a news report I saw about a theme park in Beijing that shamelessly uses popular American and Japanese cartoon characters in its "theme park." I know most people will say that there are more important things in the world than who's using Mickey Mouse to make a buck, but its time these counterfeiters learned a lesson.

My favorite part is the mother who wonders why Disney is the only one who should be allowed to use Mickey Mouse in its theme park. It's not that these are just shady, unscrupulous people, but they really have no appreciation for what intellectual property is. The counterfeiters should be taught a lesson and future generations should be better educated.

Jason