February 2009

Yet another Scrapbook 2009 post! Its a little late, because while I was waiting for February to be over, March totally snuck up on me and conked me out.

Possible spoilers under the cut! You've been warned!

TV Shows

February was certainly an interesting month. Let's go series by series, shall we? I'm going to start with my current favourite: Leverage ♥. I started - not doubting but - not entirely trusting Nate during The 12 Step Job. I was really disappointed at him and him not realizing that he was an alcoholic (and that being a bad thing, not a good one). Although, that scene with Eliot and Hardison and the nurse? Priceless; probably my favourite scene EVER. On the other hand, The Juror #6 Job, and the two parter, The First and The Second David Job were all very awesome. I LOVED The First David Job. It was, possibly, my favourite episode in the season. I just loved that Nate and Sophie had to think of how Hardison and Parker would get out of hairy situations like theirs, and it worked. The team love that this show provides is enough to warm me for a week, but of course, I want the next episode right away. It was so torturous to wait a week for the conclusion of the season finale. I can't wait for TNT to show this during the summer.

Hm. Now let's chat about Burn Notice. This show is slowly climbing up to be one of my favourite shows. I found Seek and Destroy extremely ironic and hilarious. This was the one where Michael was hired by a guy to find a spy, and then he himself turns into the spy spying on his client. Hilarious. I loved it when he was like, "Time to have a talk with the spy. The spy being me." omg, he had be in bouts of laughter. Bad Breaks was the one where with the bank robbery, and I loved it so much. It really showed how Michael was constantly thinking ahead, and how everything he did, was not only executed perfectly, but was also done perfectly according to his plan. The episode with the client from Haiti, Truth and Reconciliation, was frankly kind of boring, and I was much more interesting in seeing when Michael Shanks came in at the end (since I saw his name in the credits at the beginning). I love Michael Shanks, so I am very excited to see Victor on Burn Notice again. I can't wait for the season finale. But before that, Sins of Omission was an extremely good episode. It was good seeing Michael and Fi play Michael and Fi. And the end! Oh my God, I love them together so much.

Psych and Monk also had their season finales this month, and I miss them both so much already. Psych's Tuesday the 17th was hilarious and I totally didn't expect the surprise to happen. Well, the first surprise, I guess? The fact that it was a murder camp? The second surprise was kind of expected - the fact that the killing was real the second time. Still, a great episode. An Evening with Mr. Wang was kind of awesome though. Gus was so hilarious during the show, and Shawn really surprised me! Truer Lies was also really good, since the parallels between Ryan and Shawn were obvious and it made Shawn look a little closer at himself. As for Monk, Mr. Monk and The Bully was so cute, because I totally understood that Monk was happy over the bully's wife cheating on him, and, happy that the bully was the murder suspect. I would've felt the exact same way, and I'm not afraid to say so. Mr. Monk and the Magician was an interesting case, though, and Mr. Monk Fights City Hall was really sad, but it was nice that the park is going to be named after Trudy.

I was really happy to see Medium back on the air! I love this show so much, it really doesn't get any credit at all. Supernatural is off taking a break, so I was sad at its absence. My crime drama shows were good, but nothing stood out too much. Except NCIS, where Tony was the boss again. It was a nice insight into what had happened during Gibbs' absence that one summer.

Oh, and of course, Dollhouse made it's premiere. For those that don't know, Dollhouse is basically about an agency who use humans as computers with re-wipe-able memories. For me, I'm intrigued, but the last episode, Stage Fright didn't hold too much of my attention. Maybe it was the premise, the whole singer/diva thing, but it really bored me. The crazy lunatic in The Target was much more interesting than that one. I hope to see more interesting plots in the future.

Movies

Each movie will have a small, spoilery review.

Yellow Earth

February 20th, 2009: Had to watch it for class, but it was interesting! I liked it. It was a really simple, but a really metaphorical movie.

If you're not familiar with the movie, here's a summary from IMDB: A Communist soldier is sent to a remote region of China in order to collect traditional folk songs. Staying with a peasant family (a widower with two small children), he discovers a community whose way of life is completely alien to him, but he gradually wins their trust.

Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder

February 21st, 2009: Hilarious! I loved this movie so much. I love Fry looking (and acting) crazy (as usual?) and Bender being evil (as usual!) hahaha.

Fearless

February 25th, 2009: This was a rewatch for me. As before, it was so good, and so sad at the end. On this rewatch, though, I noticed it was a tad slashier than I remembered. (Not that that's a bad thing! Not a bad thing at all.) This was another movie I had to watch for class, but this one excited me, because I actually knew what it was about before going in! Also, Jet Li is always a welcome gem on the screen. He is so amazing!

If you're not familiar with the movie, here's a summary from IMDB: Martial arts legend Huo Yuanjia became the most famous fighter in all of China at the turn of the 20th Century. Huo faced personal tragedy but ultimately fought his way out of darkness and into history, defining the true spirit of martial arts. His self-discovery, and the choices he made, inspired his nation.

The Chaser

February 25th, 2009: Amazing movie that hit all my movie kinks. It was funny in ways that were supposed to be funny, and in ways, that weren't (I guess). The protagonist hitting the guy with the chair? HILARIOUS. There was a ton of action, aka, a lot of the good guy beating the SHIT out of the bad guy. I've found that it's a huge adrenaline rush for me, and I get really involved, and want to punch something myself. Haha, oops? Plus the bad guy was a creepy ass serial killer, so I totally wanted to hit him too. It was very crime-drama-ish, which, of course I love. There was a lot of running around, and finding clues, and trying to find the lost woman. Plus, there were times where it pulled at the heartstrings (I totally almost cried at the end with the little girl), and it was a bittersweet ending. Also, I hate horror, thriller, and suspense movies, and this wasn't one at all. Really, really, really great movie and I would recommend it to everyone.

If you're not familiar with the movie, here's a summary from IMDB: Joong-ho is a dirty detective turned pimp in financial trouble as several of his girls have recently disappeared without clearing their debts. While trying to track them down, he finds a clue that the vanished girls were all called up by a same client whom one of his girls is meeting with right now.

Waitress

February 27st, 2009: Really funny, really real, really sad. However, I wasn't as blown away as I thought I would be by this movie, and I could've used more Nathan Fillion in it, too.

If you're not familiar with the movie, here's a summary from IMDB: Jenna is a small-town waitress at Joe's Diner, who has a great knack at making delicious pies there. However, Jenna is in an unhappy marriage to her controlling and immature husband, Earl, who always takes the money she works hard for, but Jenna keeps some of it hidden from him. Jenna suddenly finds her life has taken an unexpected turn when she discovers she's pregnant with Earl's baby. But the unhappy pregnancy changes Jenna's life as she becomes determined to win the $25,000 pie contest prize money and begins an affair with her handsome, married gynecologist that gives her confidence and an attempt at happiness.

As You Like It

February 27th, 2009: Haha, omg, I kind of only watched this because it was a Shakespeare play, and I was only expecting it to pass the time away. The first part was rather boring, but as soon as the girls decided to go to the forest, and Rosalind decided to disguise herself as a guy, that was when it got really good. And really gay. OMG, I loved this so much. If this was the first in the mistaken gender genre, then I applaud Shakespeare for introducing that to us. But even if it wasn't, it was great example of it, and a great example of how funny it could be.

If you're not familiar with the movie, here's a summary from IMDB: Rosalind, the daughter of Duke Senior (the banished duke), is raised at the court of Duke Frederick (who is younger brother to Duke Senior and took over his dukedom), with her cousin Celia (daughter to Duke Frederick). She falls in love with a young man named Orlando, but before she can even think twice about it, she is banished by Duke Frederick, who threatens death if she comes near the court again. Celia, being Rosalind's best friend, goes with Rosalind (who is disguised as a boy, Ganymede) and Touchstone, the court's fool, to the forest of Arden. Upon their arrival in the forest, they happen upon Orlando and his manservant, who are fleeing the wrath of Orlando's eldest brother. What follows is an elaborate scheme devised by the cross-dressing Rosalind to find out the verity of Orlando's supposed passion for her, and to further capture his heart, through the witty and mischievous façade of Ganymede.

The Breakfast Club

February 27th, 2009: It was my first time watching it, and I really liked it. I understand now why it's such a classic. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars, is that I think it was really obvious that the pairings were going to be Bender/Claire and Allison/Andrew, and that poor Brian is left all on his lonesome! Also, I was kind of annoyed that Andrew only really wanted to date Allison when she got her makeover from Claire. And for the record, I liked Allison before the makeup.

If you're not familiar with the movie, here's a summary from IMDB: When five students are thrown together by Saturday morning detention, each begins to see the others apart from their stereotypes. Andrew, the jock; Brian, the geek; John, the wastoid; Claire, the popular Prom Queen; and Allison, the psycho girl; each finds qualities about the others that make the Saturday morning change their lives.

Video Games

This month, I mostly played Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions on the weekends. Right as the month ended, though, the UMB started acting up and now it has glitches. I hope I can get another copy of it, or have the UMB cleaned or something, because I was just getting into it.

I also bought Gurumin and it is really fun. It's sort of like Kingdom Hearts in that you can see the bad guy and attack it instead of a normal RPG where you encounter them and enter battles. But it's really cute and strangely addicting for such a kiddie looking game.

Books

I didn't read any books this month, I'm afraid, but I am in a Chinese Lit and Film class where I am reading short stories. The first book on our list is A Small Town Called Hibiscus and we'll be reading that at the beginning of March.