The Half Blood Prince and the Woe of the Earphones. And Bleach Too...

So yeah, I went to go see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince today. I went in not expecting much, due to the fact that all the movies since Prisoner of Azkaban have been off-the-wall lame and not as good. It's safe to say that I was slightly surprised and thoroughly impressed by the movie I saw today. They kept pretty close to the book, although I was a tad disappointed that they left out the scene between the Minister of Magic and the Prime Minister of Great Britain. The visual effects were stunning and the blue-grey filter over the entire film made it a great piece of eye-candy as far as attracting views for its cinematic thrills. The actors have also matured and possibly gotten even better. Tom Felton [Draco Malfoy] had his perfect chance to shine in this movie, and did wonderfully so. The legendary Alan Rickman [Severus Snape] also had his chance to rise up to the front of the cast. He does well with showing all of Snape's conflicting emotions throughout the movie. All I can say is that I cannot wait for Deathly Hallows and the role that Snape will have in that. [The Prince's Tale anyone? The absolute best chapter Rowling has ever forked out] Bonnie Wright [Ginny Weasley] was also impressive as well, plus she looked way more grown up. There wasn't too much romance thrown into the movie either, which was a bonus.

One thing that happened that arose a love-hate relationship with this movie was the Burrow scene. As most fans know, the Burrow is the title of the place where the Weasley's reside. In the movie, over Christmas holidays Bellatrix Lestrange and Ferinir Greyback attack the house and its residents, burning the Burrow to the ground. Harry had a nice epic fight scene against the two, plus Ginny was thrown in there as well.

In conclusion, I can safely say that the Half-Blood Prince is the best rendition of the Harry Potter movie franchise yet. Sure it was not perfect, but it was pretty darn good. I give it a 9/10. I really recommend seeing it, even if you are a rabid book fan. I adore the books and I still enjoyed the movie, finding minor faults with it.



I swear, I am about fed up with the earphones for my iPod. Seriously, are these things that damn fragile? I don't mistreat them, yet on ALL of them the left earpiece has gone out. I got some nice Koss ones like these, only to have them stop working three months later. All right, that's okay. Then I get some old Phillips out that I never used. Five weeks later the left ear goes out in them as well. Finally I have some that a friend lended to me, but I feel that I'm listening on borrowed time. How long will it be before one of the earpieces goes out? RAWR!!! These headphone companies need to stop making them so freakin' fragile. People are going to store their iPods in pockets and the earphones will be flopping everywhere, so shouldn't they be more durable?




And I think it's pretty much safe to say that Tite Kubo is going downhill with Bleach. I just finished reading Chapter 366 and found that it was kind of boring. Yes action is nice, but when it's just showing off Hollow forms of Viazards that I've already seen, I don't want to see it yet again. I want to see some other action. It seems like Ichigo and his strange fight with Ulquiorra has just been blown over and forgotten about, as well as Yammy's big revelation about being the Cero Espada. Come on, show me something good. This manga needs to finish, it's not Dragonball Z so it cannot keep going.

Meh, I'm sleepy.

Writing...it's Tough! And so is Transposing Music. A Review as Well

I have been working on my novel for about two months...and I've only completely finished four chapters. I have about 40 chapters outlined, so this is a pretty slow start. I guess I have been thinking about it too much, seeing as I think about my characters and plot in most of my spare time at the moment. Science fiction is a fun yet tough genre to write in. Imagination is the limit, yet within those certain limits are grounds that need to be followed. You cannot assume that your readers are stupid [at least I hope to God my readers aren't dumb], and therefore you have to do intensive research. I don't want to give away too much, but it is tough describing all the races.

Inspiration is a bonus though. I'd say that my story is inspired from [oh goodness so many to list...]: Titan A.E., Star Trek, Blade Runner, Ghost in the Shell, Full Metal Alchemist, Angels and Demons, The Seven Suns Saga, and probably many others. I think that inspirations are a good thing--I'm not directly pulling from these, I'm just using certain points and changing them around a lot. For some reason people think that you should disapprove of this, yet authors like Dean Koontz, Stephen King, and J.K. Rowling have writing inspirations throughout their lives.

And while I'm rambling about books, there is one that I just finished reading recently that I enjoyed greatly. The Warrior Heir is pretty good. I wouldn't say that it is a huge masterpiece, but the plot was entertaining, had surprises, and had great propulsion to the end. The characters were a tad flat for my tastes, but still three-dimensional. The syntax and vocab were simple, with short words and barely any compound-complex sentences. That's not a bad thing either, as long as it's not Ernest Hemmingway then I am pleased. The next book in this series is called The Wizard Heir, which I will pick up ASAP--

--oh crap....this isn't my book. I borrowed it from a friend in March or April....of 2008. Now she's at a completely different university...well. Um, oops. I guess she forgot about it, otherwise she would have told me last time I spoke with her. It's like my copy of Twilight I lent to my friend two years ago. I really don't want that back, so she can keep it as long as she wants. XD

Ah great, now I feel very guilty.

Anyway, I started transposing some OST sheet music from violin to alto saxophone. Transposing music to another key is such a pain in the butt. At least violin is in C, so it isn't too hard. E-flat is such an awkward key. I'd love to learn to play the violin, but it's way too late now. Plus, transitioning from woodwind instruments to string would be rather awkward. Going to a brass instrument is hard enough.

Anyway, speaking of instruments I just printed out my marching band's first show for the fall. [I'm in a university marching band]. It's hard...Gah, a Latin/Spanish show is always a big pain with the 170 tempos...It's going to be exhausting moving from spot to spot, feet moving at 100 mph...

The Dreaded Turnstile...and a Chapter Review

Ah the turnstile. If you don't know what one of these contraptions is, they are the spinning metal bars you go through at theme parks, subways, and bus stops...

...and Bass Pro Shop.

One of my many jobs is that of a substitute greeter/part time cashier at the local Bass Pro. Hey, you gotta do whatcha gotta do to make money, and if that means saying "Hi" to all the people that walk through the doors of an outdoor store, then by God I'm going to do it! Times are tough, and you have got to suck down your pride to get by.

Anyway, we have these to count the amount of people that come into Outdoor World every day, taking down the totals and adding them every hour. For some odd reason, people have an extreme aversion to entering the store through these things. A customer will walk up to the turnstile and hesitate, as if this is some huge obstacle they need to tackle. Some I've seen even take a deep breath, as if they are on the precipice of a cliff dive into the ocean. Often people will come up to my podium and ask, "Is there a fee?"

Being of a cynical nature, I am often tempted to say yes and charge $5 entry fee, but I withdraw from such sarcasm due to the hovering managers and the fact that I don't want a complaint on my record.

There is a gate waaay to the right for handicap people and those with strollers, and many customers would rather go out of their way and 15 extra feet plus through a gate to avoid these turnstiles. I have to dash over and catch these slippery customers so I don't get off of my precious count.

And the really strange thing is that people practically leap to EXIT through these things. They will come all the way from the registers--which have automatic sliding doors directly in front of them that have "Exit" plastered on them--to the turnstile gates and will try to exit through these.

A conversation will often follow this route: "Sir, you cannot exit through here."

"Why?"

"The exit is down there by the registers you just came from."

"Oh...well, those doors have "EXIT" written above them! That means I should be able to leave through here. You shouldn't trick people like that."

"I'm sorry sir, but due to federal fire safety codes we have to place exit signs above every door in the building."

There is a pause. "But why put 'Exit'?"

"Because of fire safety codes."

After some sort of conversation like this, the person will eventually wander to where they are supposed to go. But every now and then I will get an extremely tempermental customer that will rage at me.



"But I parked right there!"

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you through."

"Fuck you! I'm reporting this to Bass Pro headquarters."

"Do you want their phone number sir? I don't mind giving it to you, seeing as they will tell you the same exact thing."

After more explicatives and spittle, the customer eventually turns and leaves. I even had one report me to customer service, complaining that I gave her a hard time and lied to her about the exit. It was then that my dear manager pointed out the 2 signs on the gate that said "No Exit: Please use the doors by the front registers to leave."






And on to a completely different subject! I just finished reading the 97th chapter of the manga Full Metal Alchemist and was thoroughly satisfied. Many things wrapped up in this chapter, plus a few surprises.

All I can say is that Hohenheim is starting to surpass Roy Mustang and Alphonse Elric as far as being my favorite character. Everything about his personality and history has made him that much more awesome. All I can say is that if I heard 560,000+ voices in my head for 400 years, then I would definitely go insane. This showdown between Father and him is insane, now that Father has some sort of weird true form.

Also, King Bradley is back! And he's slicing up tanks like Raiden in Metal Gear Solid 4: Singlehandedly with swords and kicking ass. The chapter ended rather suspensefully with Greed stepping back into the picture. This fight is going to be wonderful to see.

On another random note, happy birthday Tesla!

Always a First

Since blogging has become quite popular and I am a writer, it became inevitable that I would make one of my own. I went and picked out a nice layout in the color I am obsessed with: green. While I
sat there, staring at the mesmerizing page before me, I was struck with something.

What do I call it?

All right, now that I've made one, the question came of "what do I write about?" And therefore, I took the approach of Sienfield and decided to make a blog about...

Nothing.

Uh-huh, you heard me. Life is ordinary, but for some odd reason people crave to read about the ordinary. Because of this I titled my blog "The Mundane Things of Life." My life is not extremely amazing or anything, and I'll expect that most people that stumble across a blog or two aren't superheros. [Curse me and my assuming nature, please don't take offense if you are--in fact--a superhero. Don't neglect to save me if I am in dire trouble.]

In this journal of sorts, you will find things that include the following: Frustrations, college, various jobs I've held, my current writing project, movie critiques, video game thoughts, novel reviews, and things that the general population loves to hear about.

So yeah, if you don't enjoy life then this is not the perfect read for you.