Pretty sweet trailer for The Last Airbender is finally out! XD


I am so excited and at the same time so dreading this movie. Excited beyond all reason in the fact that they're bringing this wonderful series to the big screen; dread because they're already RUINING IT with all of the blatant whitewashing they've done to the cast. D:{ Instead of keeping with the original feeling of the show being richly multi-cultural, they've thrown Caucasian actors in all of the protagonist roles with the token stereotypical colored villain. The hell, Hollywood?

Don't get me wrong, I think it's unfair for people to say that twelve-year-old Noah Ringer is not deserving of the role of Aang. I'm sure he'll be great, but I'd just like to know what put Ringer's audition tape over and above someone like this kid who actually IS Asian and has some amazing skills (I swear, he copies some of the exact moves Aang does in the show.) Admittedly, the white cast all look better once you see them in costume, but they're still very obviously white -- most noticeably I find in Katara and Sokka. It's jarring. The guy they have playing Zuko (who I'm sure will still make a very good Zuko, all you need to play Zuko is BUCKETS OF ANGSTY LULZ) would have made an amazing Sokka appearance-wise, in my opinion. For different non-race themed reasons, I'm also disappointed at the change to Iroh's character who's gone from the jolly old fat man we loved so much to a slim, if not sinister-looking soldier (...with dreadlocks...?) I just can't imagine Uncle Iroh's obsession of tea and evening sing-a-longs coming out of this guy. It makes me sad. ;_;

I would promise that I'd boycott the film by not watching it... but that would be a horrible filthy lie, because just as with the horrific HP movie adaptations, despite how awful they are, I watch them each time anyway because I am an obsessive fangirl and my fandoms demand no less of me. I can't help it, the trailer looks so good! >_< (Damn you conniving Hollywood production studios and your sexy special effects!) I may, however, scowl furiously when I see Shyamalan and his casting director's names scroll across the screen.

The following sign hangs right near the south doors of Commerce Place downtown, and every time I walk by it irks me.

Being one who is engaged to a tradesperson, a professional electrician who goes in each day and does a good honest days work, I find this sign pretty offensive. Why do you feel the need to post a public apology for the work clothes/gear that these men and women you are contracting require to do their job? What type of person walks through a downtown building and is arrogant enough to feel insulted by the sight of worker in a hardhat and pair of coveralls? That's just as rude as putting up a sign that says "Please excuse the appearance of any teenage girl who wears skinny jeans that are two sizes too small and has handfuls of fat spilling out over their waistband, and camel-toe that could poke out an eye." Now that's offensive.

Overall, I think most people could do to have a little more respect for the tradespeople who make your lights turn on, give you indoor plumbing, and build your cities. They don't need you to make excuses for them. They preform some of the jobs that are more important to society than a lot of other people's are. Chances are, they're probably more important than yours.

I'm sorry, but WTF? Australia bans small breasts in an effort to safeguard children?
That's right, apparently if you're a woman with small breasts, you will induce pedophilia.

I honestly don't know whether to be outraged or just boggled. Don't get me wrong, I'm totally on board with pedophilia = BAD; however, when you take a fundamentally logical concept like that and then translate it into a ridiculous law like this, you lose all rationality points you once had. You can't ban certain adult publications simply because of breast size. It's incredibly offensive to declare that just because a woman sports an A cup she should automatically be suspected of being a minor, or that she's automatically spurning insidious new pedo lust in anyone watching. Child pornography should fall under the illegal category only if it ACTUALLY involves minors. I don't care if someone looks like they're under 18 -- if you can verify that they're an adult than it's not illegal. This whole things sounds a lot more like a government grasping at straws because they're all out of actual ideas.

Oh, and hey Austrialia, while we're at it -- what?
Female bodily fluids are apparently considered illegal and "obscene". (Possibly NSFW.)

Seriously? It seems the land down under *ba dum CHING!* has a lot of crazy sex laws. So Rule 1: no golden showers or similar urine fetishes at all; Rule 2: on the grounds that it may possibly have itty bitty traces of urine in it, so also is a no go for any depiction of the rare "female ejaculate". So let me get this straight -- watching a film where some dude lets go all over some woman's face is fine, very good, a-okay; if the woman has any incidental bodily fluids though then that's obscene. I'm sorry... what? We're now holding each genders' fluids to different standards? That is the stupidest example of blatant sexism I've ever heard. Basing a ban on the theory that there may be urine also does not count as justifiable reasoning in my opinion. (The whole idea that they're banning any sort of sexual fetish in the first place -- within non-violent limits obviously -- seems ludicrous to me to start with.)

So clearly I learned some new really dumb things about Australia today. Reading it back now it actually feels like a strange and slightly uncomfortable version of a "The More You Know" segment. To be honest I'm not one for usually baring my teeth at this sort of thing, but these are some of those really ridiculous types of laws that make me want to rip my hair out from both the standpoint of a woman and also just a general society viewpoint. I guess it was just one of those sorts of days.

Another one of our infamous Alberta winters officially arrived this weekend and has royally kicked our ass. My usual 45 minute transit ride home on Friday evening took an hour and a half, and there were some particularly tense moments each time our bus tried to pull away from a stop with its tires spinning frantically in the curbside snow drifts. I have to admit that one thing I really miss from condo living is waking up after a big snowfall and POOF! the walkway and parking lot had already been cleared by some unseen entity. Shoveling snow sucks. The fact that our driveway is freakishly long compounds on the suckage factor. *Pout pout pout* Where are all the tiny children who are supposed to ring our doorbell and offer to shovel our driveway? What a bunch of slackers.

On the upside from the past week, I finally got my (temporary) engagement ring! I still have to wait a few weeks for my custom-sized one so the one they gave me for now is like two sizes too large, but it has a little sizing bar bit that snugs it up to my finger enough that it doesn't fall off. Either way, it's pretty and sparkly and is something to show to people that says "Look look! I really am engaged, it's not a giant sham!" *Loves her new ring*

I finally sucked it up and ordered a pair of actual winter boots, as my kiss ass little dress boots that I somehow managed to wear all through last winter provide neither traction nor warmth of any kind to speak of. While it was a $100 I wasn't really inclined to spend right now, they're very cute and I'm excited for them to arrive (and I know my toes for one will be eternally grateful.)

Sigh. I can't believe how fast this month is going. December is so busy. It's dawning on me much slower this year that I really need to get a move on a buy some Christmas gifts. :x (0/6 gifts purchased... EEP.) It's going to have to be a very small Christmas gift-wise, what with mounting monthly bills, credit cards with some big purchases on them, and now we're saving for weddings and cruises; all the while with Mason back to school in his final year of school starting in March. *Must save save save save* :x

Ther33e was something else I'm sure I wanted to include in this post, butzzsssssaaaaaaa kitttttttasaaAAAATY HAS chosen thisppppppp mom ent to insist on trying to find a comfortable spot to lay directly upon my keyboarrrrrr55rrffvvvv-- /....... WTF kitty. I am giving up on any more of this,6ti

I swear, some of the people riding the ETS buses are the rudest, most inconsiderate individuals I've seen in a long time. Listen up, those two bunches of seats at the front of the bus? They're marked PRIORITY SEATING, fuckwit. That means that when seniors, handicapped people, or anyone with a baby stroller walks onto the bus you vacate those seats. Park your ass else where. Seriously, people.

On the way home, an old lady with a walker got on at a stop and not a single one of the people in that first row of seats made room for her. She was about to pull up one of side benches so she'd have somewhere to park her walker, and just as she touched the lever someone sat down right on it. The poor woman ended up struggling into the edge of the last remaining front seat with her cumbersome walker left to sit right in the middle of the isle because no one volunteered to move, thus inadvertently blocking every other passengers' way. The bus wasn't even crowded -- the uptight brunette in the front seat beside her could have gotten up and simply relocated two rows, but instead chose to ignore the senior citizen perched on the seat edge next to her. I wanted to smack the bitch upside the back of the head with my giant hardcover Philippa Gregory novel.

This was the third time in just a couple of weeks that I've witnessed this show of complete lack of courtesy on my bus commute; twice a complete disregard for a helpless mother with a baby stroller, and then today the incident with the elderly woman. I feel like I'm going to be sick, I get so angry. It's people like these inconsiderate jackasses on the city transit that make the world just a little worse. To anyone who doesn't give up the priority seating when needed: I hope you get run over by a bus.

(This is very belated blog entry that I meant to post last week but instead just left it piling up sadly in my drafts folder. In any event, onward ho and all that jazz.) Against my better judgment I went and saw Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince with Chelle. While I adore the books to a squeeing fangirly extent, the movies leave a lot to be desired and usually only succeed in destroying another little part of my soul with each new book-butchering film that gets released to theatres. Considering that HBP is by far my favorite out of the seven, I was obviously extra concerned about how they were going to ruin this one. Surprisingly enough, while they did inevitably take HBP and viciously chop it into thousands of tiny pieces, it also ended up being the most entertaining one out of the series yet.

Let's start off with the good, then ease our way slowly into the horrible, agonizing bad that made me want to hit my head against the wall over and over. Warning: probably spoiler ridden.

THE GOOD

• Daniel Radcliff is the epitome of geeky cute in a bottle and his acting has improved leaps and bounds when compared to his cringe-worthy performance in Philosopher's Stone.
• Gambon's Albus was a finally a bit more Albusy. Overall, I've always very strongly disliked his version of Dumbledore -- he always plays him too rough and cranky sounding. However, there were scenes in HBP where he brings the overdue and much needed twinkle back to the roll. Plus the part where he fights off the Inferi in the cave was fucking rad.
• I really enjoyed the addition of the scene with Snape and Harry seeing each other under the stairs prior to the tower. The way Severus offers that (arguably false) gesture of reassurance is an aspect I wish had actually been in the book.
• I also really liked the way they replaced the funeral with the simultaneous wand salute to Albus. The movie scene didn't make me cry like I thought it would (though neither did his death in the book), but it was very touching.
• Molly's face as she stares up at the burning Burrow... gut wrenching. My heart broke.
• Tom Felton looks smarmy in a suit~

THE HORRIBLE, AGONIZING BAD

• They destroyed the Burrow? WTF? Where is the wedding in book seven going to happen? *So confused*
• Seeing as once again they were forced to take a 600+ page book and hack it down to fit in under 3 hours, it's still inevitably pretty choppy (though not as bad in the past movies at times.)
• Ginny and Harry don't seem to have much chemistry together. The actress playing Ginny at times was really good, and at other times just floundered awkwardly. MOST AWKWARD KISS SCENE EVER.
• I understand why it was cut, but I was still a little disappointed to see they didn't include the opening bit with Dumbledore paying a visit to Privet Drive. I would have loved to see the wine glasses flying around and clinking against the Dursley's heads. :B
• What was up with Narcissa's hair? The Malfoy family are supposed to all be platinum blonds, but they gave Cissa this horrible black stripe that made it look like a tacky teen dye job. Someone's version of symbolism foreshadowing her role in DH to come I guess? o_O She was also way, way too old.
• The didn't do the Unbreakable Vow scene justice! My favorite scene! D: *Angst* Neither Snape or Narcissa's roles in this scene had enough time to be flushed out given the right amount of depth that you feel from the characters in the book. It's the first time Narcissa is given any serious attention and it failed for me to nail down who she really is and what drives her -- that she's a mother first, and everything else second.
  
  And what about Snape? We weren't introduced to anything new about Snape! I remember finishing the "Spinners End" chapter in the book and going wow. The way he responded in just tiny, simple, but genuine ways to Narcissa's grief and desperation; that's a side of this character that we'd never seen before -- where the impression that perhaps this guy isn't just doing this simply under his master's direction. It added a new element to Snape. But in the HBP film, we don't get any of that. He's so flat and boring -- even up until the end when Harry is chasing after him and calling him a coward. Where is the Snape Flipout? When do we get to ever see this guy unhinge like he's supposed to? He looses his cool at three different important parts in the series and in the film's he has yet to have a strand of hair fall out of place. *Irked*
  
  Okay and while I'm getting completely off-topic, does anyone else notice that Alan Rickman talks like Captain Kirk? Very... drawn out... and sort of -- choppy. Like. This. Ugh. *Facepalm* RickmanSnape kills me.
• All right and obviously my biggest grievance with this movie was the blatant way they, for reasons I can't even fathom, completely replaced the two main plots of the original story with Teenage Love Woe Angst filler? Seriously, the two main plots in HBP are: 1) Harry journey with Dumbledore examining Voldemort's past and the memory traveling, and 2) the Half Blood Prince and potion text book bits; and instead they chopped both of those story lines into such itty bitty tiny side plots that you hardly remember that they're there, and instead focused entirely on PUBERTY AND TEENAGE LOVE AND WOW!GIRLS AND WOW!BOYS. *Hits head repeatedly against wall over and over and over again* How can you take all of the actual story and just shove it under the rug like that? They cut more than half of the memory traveling! They barely even touched actual Half Blood Prince aspects, which I find exceedingly stupid SINCE THE MOVIE IS CALLED "HALF BLOOD PRINCE". They didn't even bother explaining why Snape is the Half Blood Prince, so I really hope every one who sees the movie has read the book beforehand or else they're going to leave feeling VERY CONFUSED. *Pulls at hair*

THE HUH?

• Hahahaha, oh god the Snape/Draco shippers are going to have a field day. The smoldering stares... the dark corridor exchanges... The slashers must be going to town.
• Why did Draco have Snakey? Now that his father has been carted off to Askaban, does he carry Lucius' snake staff around with him everywhere he goes like a security blanket? Oh Draco, you're such a sap.

That is all. I still have like 9 hours that I have to struggle to get through today before the keys to our new house are placed in my hands. I don't think I'm going to make it! D: *Torture*

Countdown until shiny exciting house possession: OMG TODAY TODAY TODAY!