Rain, rain, go away
A few thoughts for today...
I am really really sick of rain. It is amazing how much continual downpours can restrict one's life... particularly when one lacks a car and has osmotic boots.
On the bright side, all this rain results in a downright beautiful spring time. The cherry blossoms and daffodils are already starting to emerge, and my urge to frolick is increasing substantially.
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I went to see my first apartment today. It was actually available a month earlier than planned, but sounded perfect on paper, so I decided to take a look anyways. While the apartment itself was almost a perfect replica of the apartment in my head that I want (hardwood floors, lots of windows, in a heritage home), there was mad construction going on right behind the house (they were just starting on a huge apartment building and probably 5 dumptrucks drove by in the 20 minutes we were there) and the landlady seemed like a bit too much of an uptight control freak for my taste. Plus the rent was exactly my maximum, and, as my lovely boyfriend reminded me, you should never pay your maximum except for something that is relatively close to perfect.
Ha! All this overanalyzing and I don't even know if they will offer me the place.
It is actually relatively hard for me to turn anything even semi-decent down, because I am tempted to just grab the first liveable place that pops up, in order to spare me all the apartment hunting drama.
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Went to go see 300 last night. The battle scenes were downright epic, and the cinematography was spectacular, but anything that wasn't fighting was a downright cheese fest.
Prime example, as said by King Leonidas: A new age has come, an age of freedom. And all will know that 300 Spartans gave their last breath to defend it.
It was funny, because all the talk in the film about justice, freedom and liberty sounded a lot like American propaganda, rather than a movie about the ancient Greeks.
Historical accuracy was also a little debatable. While I was surprised to hear that the battle did in fact occur, I love the fact that they forgot to mention the thousands of non-Spartan allies that helped.
Oh yeah, and Frank Miller films will bloody slaughterings and plenty of random breasts are guaranteed to attract some less desirable movie goers. Like the teenagers in front of us shotgunning beers... they then got up to go to the bathroom like 5 times during the movie! The people beside them were so pissed off. The running commentary probably didn't help their case.
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I thing they have a separate breeding centre or genetic lab to create the servers who work at restaurants like Earls. How many skinny porcelain skinned tall 21 year olds really do exist in this world? And how can they all be in one place?
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I really despise how my tendency to provide a listening ear gets me stuck in the middle of the most complicated interpersonal situations ever. I'm somehow found myself in the midst of something-- and I have no clue how any of it even relates to me!
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I am a fan of winter, but it's come time now for the nicer weather to come. It was about 7 degrees here in Toronto and it just made me excited to get my bike out of the garage. I can't wait to see 300 and despite the cheeze warnings, I think I'll still watch it. Hopefully the expulsion of your rants makes you feel a little better. :) Oh and good luck with the apartment search.
Had a good laugh at your post this morning...! Yes, I know what you mean about all the replica girls... they are everywhere! I am relieved to be almost 35, with lots of grey hair, and my worry about thinness relates only to my fitness concerns.
Oh, apartment hunting - I always end up paying the max, because I am fearful I will never find a good enough place, and I usually jump on the first good "feeling" I get. I have loved most of my feelngs, but they usually end up costing me way more than what I budgeted for. Current house included!
I have to prepare myself for reading about your beautiful weather, because yesterday it was still -10 with the windchill! My only saving grace is that when i sit up in bed in the morning, I am faced with the sea.
I went to see 300 last night too! I liked it a lot. I agree with the American-esque speeches, but I think they were fairly accurate according to the graphic novel depiction it was taken from.
The way it was filmed was apparently right on par with how the graphic novel was illustrated. Sweeeeeet!
"Almost a perfect replica..."
You know that if you're offered this apartment and reject it because you feel you should keep looking, you'll never find one as good.
That's just the way life goes.
Rain? Here the 8 million feet of snow is melting so fast it seems like it's raining outside.
Right off the bat when Leonidas made fun of the Athenians for their "boy love" I knew there would be historical inaccuracies because Spartans were most definitely familiar with this concept. It was part of their training!
Anyway, the cheese was defintely up there. Like my friend Alexis said, much of the dialogue came across like a romance novel.
One more thing: What the heck was up with the donkey playing the flute in the harem???
Having said that, I enjoyed watching it.
Indiana J- Yep, there certainly is something cathartic about formalized ranting like this! Despite cheezyness, 300 is still a movie you want to watch in theatres, as it is a bit of a glorious spectacle.
iFreud- I'm starting to realize that I can't use these girls as a comparison point anymore. It's funny how I wish myself this flawless physical attractiveness... yet I would never want to deal with the type of sexual harassment those servers have to put up with.
Ha! Another similarity! I have a tendency to do the exact same thing with houses. It was really hard not to jump on that apartment I looked at, though I am glad I didn't.
Lmizzle- I've heard that from a few people, actually. I guess that's the benefit of having the author so on board with the film. Oddly, it actually didn't have that big of a budget!
Beth- I know :(. But I am bad for grabbing the first thing that comes along to save the stress, and then wishing I'd looked further, so I'm trying to combat my typical tendencies this time around!
Dorky Dad- Ugh. Slush is horrendous.
Pie- Glad you felt the same! It actually seems like the glaringly obvious cheese was lost on a lot of people. I forgot about the random donkey! What about the random and unnecessary sex scene?
Osmotic boots. Your concepts are so delightfully clever.
Spartan facts:
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Spartans had the lowest birth rate in the ancient world. Why? Because of boy love. "Men who are lovers will fight with passion to save each other"--Spartan proverb.
And, when one would marry, they were ritually beaten by their boy love comrades. Ten to top it off, the night of the wedding, they were to ritually break into the home of their new wife, abduct her, and ritually rape her.
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If a baby was born and seemed week (how many babies seem strong at birth???), the baby was taken to the top of a nearby mountain, and thrown off, or left to die of exposure.
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Spartans were the only Greeks to have kings and make slaves of other Greeks. Freedom was the exception. The Helot slave class of the dominated city called Messinia (not to be confused with Mycenea) was ten times their number and kept in check by??... You guessed it...
Terror tactics.
Kinda like the US! Good eye, Princess.
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The Oracle at Delphi did say: "For a Greek victory, a Spartan King must die." That is true. But they also knew that Thermopylae pass was a defender's dream, at least on a strategic level.
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A combined Thebes/Corinth/Athens army finally realized (duh!) that if Messinia were set free, the Spartan bully machine would be shut down. It worked.
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The Romans, who stole the Greek's entire culture, based their military practices off of Spartan military structure.
And another thing...
The primadonna Spartan legion arrived on the field of battle almost a week late. Their allies had already been doing well.
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The Athenians knew an army marches on its stomach. In the middle of one night, they burnt most of the boats that the Persians used to cross the Bosporus, cutting the Persian supplies to ten percent of what was needed.
That forced Xerxes or Darius the 4th (whothefuckever) to act fast. And he, like W, and like Hitler, was not a great or even competent strategist. If the lowly corporal Hitler (who thought he was a god of Generals by that time) had let his generals follow their original plan, which was to roll like a bowling ball through to Moscow, then destroy the rest, we would be in a very different world. Our nation never acknowledges the vital role Russia had in defeating Germany. That's why the western Allies waited until '44. Germany was almost all used up by that time.
Are you familiar with Sun Tzu? Not that the Greeks were, but if you force your enemy to act, and you see what they are doing, it is way easier to counter. Defenders always have that as an advantage.
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