When I sleep on my right side I bend my arm under my pillow, but when I sleep on my left I keep my arm straight.

I was a little disappointed by Kill Bill, and I didn’t even go into the theatre expecting too much. The main problem was the fact that the fighting was boring. Everything was shot too close up to tell what was going on and the angles changed too much (all to hide the fact that the actors and actresses don’t actually know how to fight — whereas Uma may have taken months of training, actors in true Hong Kong fighting movies have taken a lifetime). The camera was just way too close to the action so everyone just looked like they were swinging katanas around without seeing any actual technique. I felt like the fighting was too simple, unsatisfying and anticlimactic; the protagonist simply kills each person with one final blow. I would rather have her adjust to each characters’ fighting style and adapt her abilities in an intelligent manner. The classic “good guy loses at first then figures out a weakness and wins in the end” could have been taken from. A good example would be in Return of the Dragon where Bruce Lee switches up his fighting style against the big boss or the famous final mirror scene in Enter the Dragon where he puts the last boss at a disadvantage by smashing in all the mirrors. When the action, which is supposed to be the main part of the movie, isn’t very good the film falls flat.

The revenge scenes didn’t have too much of a lead-up either, causing them to be rather pointless. There were no training/practicing scenes, no test of abilities before fighting, and a rather shallow “get sword” preparation, causing there to be no real drive for the protagonist to kill, other than what we were told about her attempted murder. It all made the fighting not as satisfying as it could have been, which was supposed to be another big draw of the film.

I did enjoy the hommage to Game of Death (a very similar revenge movie) with the yellow jumpsuit and the tribute to Darren Aronofsky’s original camera work in the lead up to the lethal injection scene. There was one extremely challenging shot in the club that went on for about a minute, reminiscent of what P.T. Anderson does in the first five minutes of Boogie Nights, although Anderson is much better at it (a dozen characters, multiple floors and rooms without cheating in an open studio). I enjoyed the gory humour and Tarantino’s excessive wit, possibly the best thing of the movie. My favourite part is when O-Ren Ishii performs to-rei.

Kill Bill was supposed to draw from Hong Kong action cinema, but it ended up just being a movie with Tarantino style and some boring action thrown in. If I wanted to see a gritty Hong Kong action movie, I’d rather watch Hard Boiled. If I wanted to see authentic Chinese weapon fighting and martial arts, I’d rather watch Shaolin Temple. If I wanted to see a satisfying revenge movie, I’d rather watch Titus. If I wanted to watch some sick and gory anime, I’d rather watch Kite. If I wanted to see a movie with Tarantino styling, I’d rather watch Pulp Fiction. All the parts of the movie that are supposed to be good have been done better elsewhere. The film draws from lot of things, but doesn’t excel in any area. There’s no doubt in my mind that Tarantino is a born director, but he hasn’t developed a decent action style yet. The movie is worth watching once simply because he’s the director, but a second viewing is rather unnecessary.

You’re sitting inside the local Timmies, when you can see the drizzling rain coming down from the black sky through the window. The workers are in the back where you can’t see them, but you can hear them talk about mindless subjects, conversation to pass the graveyard shift. Soft, complacent music plays all around you, drowning out the silence but numbing you to sound. A group of four males in their late twenties sits at another table, there for a midnight snack, dressed in their dark rain clothes. A couple shares a table by the window, both barely talking, simply looking outside.

There are three other people at your square table, where the seats pivot on a pole and feel hard but comfortable. You feel at ease, as if you can say anything both in and out of character and not worry about what others think. You relax enough to cachinnate inclemently, to speak ribald matters, to not speak at all. You let down your guard, something that rarely happens even in close company, but you feel vulnerable but safe.

The conversation is balanced and the pace is just right. You’re filled with jocundity and wish the feeling wouldn’t stop as soon as you step back outside into the rain. This simple situation has put you in good spirits. You wonder if you’ll ever get to do this again and feel the same way. You hope that fate will place you here again in the future.

With your friends on a chilly fall night.

The weekend was fairly eventful. Friday night was drinking with Trolley, Wheaties, Iain, and Nick. Saturday night was even more drinking with the same people, except Aaron, Rob, Jacques, and Krista joined us too. It was good to have a nice relaxing night of hilarity again and just get to laugh for a few hours, something I haven’t had the chance to do in a while. Jacques and Rob brought a Bubba each and only one was finished, so Trolley and Wheaties are coming over tonight to get started on the other.

This weekend is another LAN party, and about fifteen people are invited and we have seven confirmed people so far. Some are just going to drop by with their laptops and play if they can’t stay the entire weekend. We’ll be squeezing as many people as we can into the apartment because up to ten people at a time may show up.

Patches has been hiding under my bed less and less. He’s more comfortable with his surroundings now, but not quite accustomed to Dolly’s aggressive play-fighting. He thinks that she’s attacking him, so he’ll just growl and run away. I’ve gotten him to be more relaxed by giving him catnip. He’ll start rubbing against me every time he smells it, and when he eats some he does a few kitty break dancing moves. Sometimes it looks like he’s trying to windmill into a stall, but I think those are his only moves.