“Weakness compels strength; betrayal begets blood”

Before I watched Ninja Assassin, all the reviews I read panned the movie mentioning flaws such as horrible plot, and meaningless gore. However, after watching it myself the other day, I’m pretty happy I didn’t follow through with those reviews, and watched it  myself.

From the opening scene of the movie to the last, the abundance of fight scenes will overwhelm you.  All of them were choreographed beautifully, and some of the shots were very reminiscent of the Matrix. If you’re watching the movie mostly for the guts and blood, then you definitely won’t be disappointed. Decapitations are very common, and even if some of them are very unrealistic, remind yourself that it’s just a movie afterall.

The only thing really bad about the movie was the plot. Although the storyline was “okay”, it could’ve been better. It was tacky at times, and some parts were left out leaving me a little bit confused. But then again, who really expects much of a story from a movie called Ninja Assassin? The title of the movie is already lame, so you wouldn’t.. LOL.

What stood out to me the most was the quality of acting by Rain. Before watching the movie I would’ve thought that he was just another Korean idol trying to make it big by acting. But boy, was I surprised. He pulled off the main character’s serious demeanor perfectly through the subtle expressions, and I thought that never once did he seem out of character.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. It was quite a jaw-dropping experience to witness. I mean the blood made me a little disgusted at times, and the story was mediocre at best, but that’s more or less the type of movie the Wachowski brothers were aiming for; a pure hack and slash. All the critics that gave this movie a poor rating were simply too busy overanalyzing  it instead of enjoying it for what it truly is.

8/10

Tags: Review
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On Tuesday night, I went to Tegan and Sara’s opening show of their North American tour at the Orpheum. Astronautalis and An Horse were the guests touring with them. It was a pretty fucking awesome concert.

Alyssa and I sat in the orchestra section in the middle of the venue near the back rows. Despite being quite far from the stage, it was good in the sense that we could see everything clearly. All the lights, all the members of the groups, the sound, everything was superb. The only thing that sucked was neither Alyssa nor I could take photos :(

Astronautalis (Andy Bothwell) opened first, and was a decent performance. It was very hard to hear to understand his upbeat style of presentation which varied from talking to screaming like the FOB lady in this San Francisco bus fight. However, I really liked how he could transition from electronic to an indie rock rhythm, to even a hip-hop beat without losing his focus.

An Horse then swaggered onstage, and was more interesting to listen to. In some ways, they sounded similar to Tegan and Sara with their somewhat mellow style of indie rock. Here’s one of their songs that you can listen to, Camp Out.

After a brief intermission, the main reason I went, Tegan and Sara, walked on the stage. The first song they played was Arrow, which was my favourite song on their latest album, Sainthood. And maybe because Arrow played first and set a precedence, I was just so pumped. From the opening riff of the song to the last line of lyrics, it was just a mind-fuck. I was plain outright in awe how amazing they sounded live. From that point on, I knew I was going to have a great night, and that’s what exactly happened.

The bulk of Tegan and Sara’s set during the night were songs from Sainthood (no surprise there) with some songs from their previous albums So Jealous and The Con. Although I never listened to So Jealous, Sainthood in my opinion was much better suited for my musical tastes than The Con, a much darker sounding album.

After playing what was suppose to be their last song, everyone got up clapping and shouting. But I highly doubt that anyone expected them to come back on stage for an encore that lasted another 30 minutes. I thought it was a very nice gesture by them, and it really showed just how much they loved performing for us, the fans.

What made the night even better was the signature Tegan and Sara concert storytelling. From Tegan doing an interview smelling damp and gross to Sara hoping two strangers would become emotionally dead, it really added personality to the performance. In some ways, it even showed you just what type of people they are.

Quite arguably, the best story was when Sara explained how she barely got any candygrams in junior high. It was one of those moments where you felt genuinely bad for someone. Then when she messed up on the next song Red Belt, she openly said “I really botched that shit up. It’s no wonder I never got a candygram.”

Tags: Concert
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It really didn’t feel like Christmas this year, and I’m sure there are a lot of people that agree with me. It felt like it just sort of came and left in a hurry. Some people are blaming it on the lack of snow, which I think is ta very feasible explanation.

People for the most part familiarize Christmas with winter, and winter with snow. Now when you don’t have the snow, then it doesn’t really feel like winter. And if it doesn’t feel like winter, does it really feel like Christmas? That’s what I’m wondering.

I know many people this year that wished for snow because they felt that Christmas was incomplete without it, and for people that are use to having a White Christmas, it’s no wonder this year felt lacking. To be honest, I can’t even remember the last time there was a White Christmas.

The weather has been really weird this year too. I mean it has only snowed less than a handful of times this season, and there has even been days this week where I went out to walk my dog in just jeans and a t-shirt, and I wasn’t even cold!

But personally, I don’t really have the Christmas spirit because I don’t even celebrate Christmas at all. I sort of see it as a holiday that has corporations luring consumers to spend excessive amounts of money on materialistic things. There are others that will argue saying that Christmas is a time to spend time with your family and friends, which is a valid reason as well. But when you think about it, do people really need a holiday to order to spend time with people they care?

Tags: Holiday
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