You know those rare but incredibly satisfying moments you get when you think you’ve figured something out that most people haven’t? They’re great. Last I had was in the cinema whilst watching 500 Days. It struck me as odd that there was more desire from the male contingent of our group to watch this movie instead of the female (admittedly she was outnumbered three to one), and that wasn’t just because we wanted to lust after Zooey\xA0Deschanel for an hour and a half. \xA0The film itself isn’t your standard rom-com affair; its tagline is “Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love. Girl doesn’t.” It’s quirky, sharply written, brutally honest, told from the perspective of a romantically intense young man\xA0and it’s\xA0a thoughtful, sometimes moving experience. It’ll make you think, it’ll make you\xA0laugh, it’s definitely romantic\xA0and it looks cool. Wait a minute……it’s a romantic comedy for dudes! Awesome.
In all honesty, 500 Days does seem like it’s billed slightly more towards males perhaps a little too in tune with their feelings who fall head over heels with\xA0girls who just doesn’t feel the same. Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) works for a greeting card company and falls instantly in love with the new secretary Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel). They seem to share similar interests and clearly have a spark. Tom cannot\xA0get Summer from his mind,\xA0obsessing over\xA0her every action and word before the inevitable eventually happens and they get it together in the copy room.\xA0Summer doesn’t believe in true love, and as they spend more time together and their relationship develops, she\xA0hesitates to ‘label’ what they have, which\xA0as we all know is another way of\xA0saying she\xA0isn’t sure about being with Tom. They remain happy up to a point, but as ever, it really starts getting interesting when things start going wrong.
The\xA0plot actually develops brilliantly, going back and forth to different points in the 500 days that Tom and Summer know each other. We see scenes from the beginning of their relationship, the good parts, the bad, the\xA0upsetting conclusion and Tom’s reaction to it, but in a random order. It’s not exactly a new cinematic idea, but it’s used to great effect here as we get to see the unflinchingly bad parts of a relationship early on, followed by how Tom and Summer got like that.
As mentioned, 500 Days follows Tom around absolutely, and we never see Summer on her own. As good as Gordon-Levitt is as Tom, presenting his lovelorn state and his huge love for Summer without going too far overboard, it’d be great to see Summer’s reactions to the really bad times instead of just Tom’s. Then again, the relationship between the two of them will hit extremely close to home for a lot of people watching the film, so a chance to view the really difficult parts of a relationship from the perspective of the\xA0person\xA0more into the other, or the \xA0’victim’,\xA0if you will, will strike a chord with many people.
500 Days is a damn good movie, extremely honest in its portayal of an exciting relationship hitting the skids and the fallout from it. Deschanel is an evil,\xA0beautiful\xA0genius of a woman, Gordon-Levitt is a naive, loving man and his reactions to everything that happens to him with Summer are spot on to the point of being stupidly accurate. There are laughs in this film thanks to a small but great supporting cast,\xA0and there are as many sad moments to go along with the happy ones, including a stunningly moving scene where Tom’s expectations and contrasting\xA0reality are shown side by side in a later meeting with Summer.
It’s not perfect;\xA0an annoying, deep\xA0voice-over adds nothing to proceedings as almost everything it tells us could be figured out because of how good Tom and Summer portray their feelings.\xA0A docummentary style scene and\xA0song-and-dance routine after Tom finally gets lucky\xA0certainly take away\xA0from the rest of the movie.\xA0Still, in the same vein of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Science Of Sleep and this year’s Away We Go,\xA0500 Days is\xA0another imaginative, honest and jilted take on love with indie quirkiness that you don’t have to feel ashamed to watch. You’ll probably like it more if you’re a hopeless romantic, male or (heaven forbid) both, but anyone with an old\xA0story of unrequited love will\xA0find something to call their own in 500 Days. Just be prepared to be thinking of your own love story for a good few hours after you’ve watched it.
8/10
Listen to President Rogge announce the vote.
Chicago has not been awarded the 2016 Olympics. No Games Chicago thinks is a very good decision for the people of Chicago. But what happens now? The mayor has been quoted as saying he has “nothing up his sleeve” with regards to economic development for the future of the city. Representatives of the 2016 Committee said on many occasions at public meetings that this was THE plan for jobs and prosperity for our future. There appears to be no Plan B.
What now?
No Games Chicago helped turn back a bad plan for our future. Should we stay around to help build a better plan?
Please answer the questions on our brief survey to tell us what role, if any, a group like our might play in helping to create a city where all prosper in health and security.
What ideas do YOU have for our city’s future economic development?
Lastly, we ask you to share your contact information with us so we might work together to make that vision become a reality.
PLEASE FOLLOW THIS LINK TO ANSWER OUR BRIEF THREE-QUESTION SURVEY.
The core mechanic of the field of\xA0FFIX\xA0is centered upon exploring areas and interacting with as many of the objects and\xA0NPCs\xA0in said areas in order to advance in the game. The core mechanic of the battle system of\xA0FFIX\xA0is a pseudo-standard\xA0ATB\xA0system, where one must wait for\xA0ATB\xA0bars to fill completely before one can even consider executing a command.
There’s a lot of land to explore in\xA0FFIX, with something like three (or four?) continents, many cities, villages, and kingdoms, and some sort of\xA0Mooglecity in the sky open to exploration. Of course, with this large amount of explorable-area comes a veritable hoard of treasure chests and [horde of] monsters and bosses with extremely rare items obtainable solely through stealing (or through that arduous path that is looking for\xA0chocographs), upon which some people will insist upon gathering in their entirety.
It is the storyline of the game that is brought to its forefront, however (which is not at all unusual for a Final Fantasy game). It’s a pretty good story, with few cliches and some nice twists and plot points that change depending upon the player’s choices throughout the game. Supplementing the story is a collection of puzzles ranging in difficulty from the barely-considered-a-puzzle to the fiendishly difficult. There are also several skill-basedminigames, all of which are difficult to truly master but fulfilling to try.
There’s also enough mass destruction and chaos to sate the most bloodthirsty of players – you’re just not allowed to actively participate in the mass destruction (or chaos). It’s nearly impossible to achieve full immersion in the game, as interesting as it is, simply because it’s not that interactive – the choices you make in the game have little noticeable bearing upon the outcome of the game.
There is, as well, very little to no social interaction in the game, as it is mostly single-player. It is possible to have two people playing, but the second player would be allowed to participate only during battles, which can be counter-productive.
The graphics in\xA0FFIX\xA0are much better than Square’s previous attempts at 3-D modeling in animation and gaming (FFVII,\xA0FVIII). However, the game isn’t really fun enough to back up those graphics. There are only so many times one can hunt ceaselessly in (yet another) futile attempt to master certain abilities. There are only so many times one can forgive Garnet’s borderline-emo\xA0mentality (slit your wrists and be done with it,\xA0kthxbai). There is, however, a near-infinite number of sentences I can write aboutFFIX\xA0that start with ‘There are only so many times…’ Two major detractors from the game are the sheer length of it – which is considerably longer than the combined attention spans of me and most of my friends – and the fact that it is yet another Final Fantasy game (fanboys\xA0and\xA0fangirls,\xA0plz\xA0to not bekillingz\xA0me), which, though all are interesting, become more and more similar to each other by the day (with the exceptions of X and X-II, which are odd, and\xA0FFVII, which is awesome). There are only so many times, after all, that you can go through the same attack-attack-heal-magic-attack-attack-heal-magic-occasional-trance-or-summon routine before forgetting to save (or missing the save points, there’s so few of them), falling asleep, and dying.
Ever since I got into liking photography that much, I’ve always wanted to try taking shots with a Fish Eye camera. But I don’t have a D-SLR camera, and if I did, I still don’t have the budget to buy one.
I guess I share this with many that’s why Demekin invented this Pocket Fisheye Camera. And guess what, it costs $38 only. Something I might be able to buy.
By the way, with 2″w, 2″d, approx 2″h, it is indeed the smallest functional camera around, and the first 110 camera with a fisheye lens.
Don’ worry, this also ges with a hole at the bottom for your tripod and has a\xA0 1/100 shutter speed; f/8.9 wide angle aperture; and 1:13.5 lens. And just to remind yo guys, “110″ means it’s a film camera and not digital.
3 Critical:
- Better Photos – it’s almost always that\xA0 photos look better when taken with fisheye lenses.\xA0 This is a fact.
- How Small? – let’s just say it’s just a bot bigger than\xA0 the film it carries. That small.
- Digital Please – one day, someones gonna make a digital fisheye camera as small as this. But since it’s not yet here, we all just have to say please I guess.
Just noticed on Stephenie Meyer’s website that the fourth book in the Twilight series, Breaking Dawn, is tentatively scheduled for the fall of 2008. The third book, Eclipse, is supposed to come out in August or September of this year. Can’t hardly wait. There is still no release date for Midnight Sun, which is Twilight told from Edward’s perpective, but if you want a little tease, click here for the first chapter.
Also, she has found a publisher for her adult science fiction book, The Host, which she describes as science fiction for people who don’t like science fiction. Here is the tentative cover:
spooky…for a synopsis of The Host, go here.
And, for all you really obsessive types, you an wear your appreciation for all things Twilight by visiting Twilight Teez. I love the Edward fan-club t-shirt. It says”Bite Me” , I like it.
One more thing, if you have read New Moon, and are not that crazy about Jacob Black, Stephenie Meyers wants to change that. She wants us to like him, so much so that she wrote a little piece told from his perspective and you can read it here – Being Jacob Black.
Finally, since so many readers seem to come here looking for news about the Twilight series, I am adding a new “Twilight” catagory to my blog so information will be easy to find.
That is all. Never thought I’d be this into the undead.
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I get so many hits, and comments from Twilight fans, that I felt compelled to start a discussion thread about it in the books section of a message board I frequent.\xA0 Click here to start the discussion.\xA0 You will have to register to post, but its painless so go for it.
If enough people start posting I’m sure we could put in a request for a seperate Twilight Forum at some point.
I’m waiting!
Here’s Sara’s take on the Slow Food banquet, and your invitation to our next event.
It will be Tuesday evening, Feb 5, at Cheesetopia in Camp Hill — 2201 Market Street.
Beginning at 5.m., master artisan chocolatier Frederic Loraschi will offer bonbons, chocolate truffles and hot chocolate, and talk about creating incredible edible art. A native of France, he is known for his chocolate and sugar sculpure, and most recently was executive pastry chef at the Circular Dining Room of The Hotel Hershey.
Loraschi started his pastry …
career at age 14 as apprentice to Philippe Uracca, recipient of France’s most prestigious
craftsmanship award. His first restaurant job came in Luxembourg at Lea Linster, a 1989 Bocuse D’Or winner. He returned to France to work with Chef Bernard Loiseau at La Cote D’Or, and later went to L’Escale in the south of France. Moving to the U.S., he spent two years with Tapenade Restaurant in La Jolla, California, and then went to The Ritz-Carlton, working at Laguna Niguel, California, and Boston, Massachusetts.
“Love is like a violin. The music may stop now and then, but the strings remain forever.” ~June Masters Bacher
This couple got in touch for some portraits to celebrate the early years of married life. Their love of music is what brought them together a few years ago, meeting each other in college while they both studied the violin. G. still plays and even offers lessons around the city. Plus, there are some great baking skills in this family! G. & R. brought in a plate of cookies to their session using a recipe passed down through the family. I had to eat one (or two…) in the car ride home to make sure they’d be safe for Ryan, and we’ve both had another one (or two…orthree!) at home. Mmm, are they good!
Thanks so much G. & R.!!!
Shout to Matt From DOPE
