Life of Pi

Finally, finally I got to see this movie. I promised myself that I would after I finished writing the introduction to my thesis, but then there was the apartment hunting trip and shitting myself over getting my novella written and whoops Christmas, so it didn't happen until now.

Worth the wait. And despite the fact that it was released back in November, the theater was still pretty crowded for a noon show.

(Some spoilers.)

Life of Pi is one of the most beautiful movies I've ever seen. Every shot of it was its own paradise, gorgeous and full of color. And the tiger. Holy shit the tiger. CGI has come a long, long way.

Beyond how visually arresting I found the film, there is a lot to love. Suraj Sharma is just fantastic as Pi. And have I mentioned the tiger? Beyond how believable the Richard Parker was, what I loved was that he never stopped being an animal, and a wild animal at that. Pi and Richard Parker achieve an understanding of sorts, but there's always that gap of understanding between animal and man. The tiger never stops being a wild animal, even at the end when it walks away from Pi and into the jungle without a backward glance.

That was the part of the movie that made me tear up, when the tiger simply walks away and Pi still desperately asserts that he saw the animal's soul and it wasn't just his own feelings reflected back at him. So much of the movie is about the gap of understanding between humans, animals, and nature in general.

And then there is the alternate story that Pi offers as to what happened, opening the possibility that the tiger is an aspect of Pi himself. I like unreliable narrator stories when they're done well, and this one definitely was. In the end, you get to decide for yourself, which story is true. For my part, I think that both are.

In the movie, they say the story will make you believe in God. I knew about that going in and was a bit curious about it, since... well, not a believer, myself. I wondered if it would be preachy, perhaps. It wasn't; you'd hardly expect a Catholic Hindu Muslim to be grinding an ax for one religion anyway. But beyond that, to me it wasn't a story about religion or even belief; it was about trying to understand the unknowable, like the tiger, looking into its eyes and never being quite certain if it's just a reflection or a reality you can't quite touch.

Some might call that religion. I would just call it life.

Django Unchained

I can't think of the last time I saw a move with this much controversy around it, which ranges from Spike Lee's criticism of the movie making light of the horrors of slavery to conservatives predictably freaking the fuck out about the bit in the movie (and Jamie Foxx later joking about it) where Django points out that getting paid to kill white people sounds like an awesome way to make a living because ow my precious persecution complex. Oh, and people complaining about the use of the N-word in a movie set shortly before the civil war and involving slavery, when obviously no one ever talked like that back then. Though I find Amanda Marcotte's take on how damn meta the film is very interesting indeed, which goes right along with a lot of what Inglorious Basterds had to say.

But anyway. At this point, the discussion about Django and its meaning beyond a movie is fascinating and way, way beyond me. I don't feel like I have anything useful I could contribute as an average white female nerd who loves action-y movies, but I sure want to keep reading what other people who have different viewpoints from me have to say.

Now, beyond the socio-political tangle of Django, how is it as a movie?

Well, I loved Inglorious Basterds to an almost ridiculous degree. It was the first Blu-ray I ever bought, before I even grabbed a copy of Thor to replace my regular DVD. I think it's safe to say that if you loved Inglorious Basterds, you will love Django as well. It's got a lot of the same things going for it - underdog revenge fantasy where a shitload of people get messily killed and you feel pretty good about cheering for each and every bit of cartoonish blood spatter because damn, those are some awful people getting shot and shot and shot.

Jamie Foxx turns in an incredible performance as the title character. He just radiates indescribable amounts of badass in every second he's on the screen. Christoph Waltz does an excellent job of being just bent enough that you can almost forget at times that Dr. King Schultz is marvelously insane until he really starts talking. And Leonardo DiCaprio, my god. I don't even know where to begin. He was so utterly disturbing. Though of course, he couldn't have managed the depths of gross he reached without Samuel L. Jackson as the head house slave. Their relationship was one of the most messed-up things in an entire movie full of utterly messed-up things. But any time a film hits the really awful relationship between the oppressor and the oppressed when it's more subtle than a man being torn apart by dogs, it should make you just squirm.

The movie is beautifully shot - some of the locations up in Wyoming are just stunning - but I wouldn't expect any less from Quentin Tarantino. It's got that same mixture of discomfort and mayhem and humor that you'd expect as well. And unlike other movies of his (Kill Bill springs instantly to mind) this one doesn't ever drag or feel as long as its nearly three hour time, in my opinion. Your mileage may vary.

But I'll say this - it's worth the price of admission alone for the scene with the proto-Klan bickering about their newly-made masks.

Start Guide: Weightlifting

I talked about weightlifting generally before, but I want to get into a little more detail about how to get started, since it might be a little intimidating if you've, say, never taken a class.

Workouts

You really don't want to over train a particular muscle group. That can cause a lot of problems in the future. If you don't have access to a trainer, I would suggest looking up a workout online (you will be able to find them for free). I've been using this full-body dumbbell only 3-day workout, for example. Once you've picked one, stick with it. Don't add exercises to it, and substitute with caution. (Though for example I substitute bent row for wide-grip pull-up because I... can't actually do pull-ups.)

And as always - there is good pain, and there is bad pain. You will have sore muscles at first when you start lifting. That's a good pain. If your joints start hurting, or you start getting sharp pains instead of aches, that's bad pain. Stop and consult your doctor.

Technique

So you know how I mentioned technique before? That's the place where you start. Without proper technique you risk hurting yourself, or at the very least you won't get as much as you should out of exercising. Proper technique means, for example, not cheating by swinging the weights.

Technique first, then worry about the weight. Every repetition should be slow, controlled, and with good form. Watch a video for each exercise you want (Muscle & Strength has a good archive) and pay careful attention to body positioning and how the exercise is executed. If you have access to a mirror, it helps to watch yourself that way. (Though I can totally understand if you'd rather not; I find mirrors painful and distracting.)

This means aiming pretty low for weight to begin with; it's much harder to maintain good technique when you're struggling with heavy weight, and if you're a little shaky on technique to begin with it won't do you any good. For the first few weeks, until you're comfortable with technique, don't worry about lifting to failure or trying to max out or even about feeling a real burn. Just concentrate on doing it right.

Once you're okay with technique, then start ramping up your weights. It sometimes takes a little time to figure out just how much you should be lifting for a given exercise, how much you can do your sets with that will be challenging but do-able. Give it some time and test out different weights. Once you figure out where you should be, then it's a pretty simple matter of just bumping up another level of weight once you can do all your sets without struggling.

Quick vocab:
Reps = repetitions. The number of times you do a given exercise in a set. My preference is 6-10 reps in a set, since I'm in the high weight/low reps camp.

Sets = the number of times you do your target number of reps. My preference is 3 or 4 sets per exercise in a given workout.

A note on the high weight/low reps versus low weight/high reps debate. Both technically have their place; it just depends on what you're trying to do. High weight/low reps is primarily aiming for building muscle strength. Low weight/high reps seems to be where a lot of women gravitate, and often gets sold as "toning." Rather, it builds muscle endurance. Women are apparently supposed to like that better because they don't want to "bulk up" with muscle mass. It doesn't tend to work that way, though. I lifted for strength for two years straight and was on the weightlifting team for my high school, and I never turned into a bulked-out monster (and this even though I tend to put on muscle mass unusually well for a woman); achieving that kind of look requires a hell of a lot more work than any of us is going to be able or likely even willing to put in.

But I would also like to say - what the hell is wrong with a woman having some big muscles anyway? We get sold on low weight/high reps for weight loss, I guess, but it's better to build up muscle mass for that because it means you burn more calories resting. Muscular is sold as a manly thing, but it's really a human thing. We all have muscles, even if some of us (like me) cunningly hide ours under layers of fat. Lift in a way that you think is fun, lift because it is fun, and let it be what it'll be.

Strong is sexy. So is determination.

A Return to Weightlifting

I used to lift a lot in high school, which is (funny story) how I ended up destroying my right hip and knee. And then later gave myself rotator cuff tendonitis, because I actually really love weightlifting and have a tendency to overtrain if I'm not careful.

That's kind of why I've stayed away from it until now, but I've come to the conclusion that weight training is what's missing from my fitness routine, so I'm going back to it. (And hey, I've missed doing it.)

I decided rather than trying to come up with my own routine (since I don't trust myself for a lot of reasons) I'd look for one online. I found this three-day program for dumbbell-only lifting so I'm going to try that out. I've always preferred free weights (dumbbells and bars with plates) versus machines, plus I've got dumbbells at home and just needed a flat bench, so then I could work out at home. I have much better success with home workouts than going to a gym.

(Cat not included.)

The above setup cost me about $300. I ended up getting the stacked weights instead of individual dumbbells because they save space. This brand had reasonable reviews (I've heard a lot of bad stuff about the Bowflex variety) so we'll see how they work out. I'd say if you don't want to spend the money to buy things new, just scope Craigslist in a couple of months once the New Year's resolutions start dropping like flies. (Also, if you're in Colorado and come get them, I'm getting rid of my old dumbbell set, which goes from 5-12 lbs. Just light weights, sorry.)

So in honor of getting started for the new year, here are some basics for weightlifting:

Good technique is everything. The site I linked to has videos for each exercise, which is excellent. Proper technique in execution will (a) help build muscle better and (b) keep you from hurting yourself while you're doing it. I cannot emphasize this enough.

Don't overtrain. Don't just randomly add extra exercises to your routine. Find a good one that works everything over a week and don't hammer on one muscle group more than that. Are you listening, self?

Rest. Resting your muscles is as important as lifting. You need to give them time to heal before working them again or you'll just hurt yourself. That's why, for example, I'm only doing three days a week, with a day off between.

Go to the brink of failure. This means picking a high enough weight that you'll have to work, and aim to feel like you can't possibly lift it one more time at the end of your set. You don't want to actually get to the point where you drop the weights, though, since you can really hurt yourself doing that.

By the way, cats apparently love weight benches. Trying to get the little bastards off of it so I can do bench press is a feat of strength all its own.

Blogger vs. Wordpress

I've become increasingly frustrated with Blogger as a tool, particularly since it's pretty crap for cross-platform posting to anything by Google+. So I'm thinking about switching over to a Wordpress blog. I've used Wordpress a couple of times for the Clarion Blog and my Clarion Write-a-thon group blog, and I found the interface a bit confusing... but I think it's something I'd figure out pretty easily if I just sat down and played with it for five minutes.

Thoughts? Do you use Wordpress and if so, is it worth the switch? Is it really as useful as it appears to be? If you're one of the three people who reads my blog, would that just permanently stop you or would you follow along?

The end of the Violence Against Women Act

Okay, so it's been over a day and I'm still trying to think of some kind of coherent response to the House killing the Violence Against Women Act. Because all I can really manage is a keysmash of rage. I mean, the Senate, the place where good legislation goes to die, managed to get its shit together on this one. Back in April, for fuck's sake. You'd think this would be easy, right? Violence against women. No one's for that, right? Right? Just like no one's against puppies.

Apparently Eric Cantor didn't like that the bill would make it easier for Native American women to pursue their rapists with the tribal legal system. And others didn't like that there were expanded protections for immigrants and LGBT people. I'd say Cantor and his friends should be ashamed, but it's pretty goddamn clear they have none.

The Violence Against Women Act is supposed to get brought back this year. I'm not laying any money on if the House will be a bunch of shameful shitcocks again. My mom (a woman) taught me not to make sucker bets. Disgusted. I am just disgusted. And argh. Goddamnit. ARGH.

#@$(U#J)FGWEKOP@(!UI#jk.

2012 Stories

We're now into 2013 which means it's time to start thinking about awards for stuff from 2012! Woo!

I have three short stories that are eligible:

The Jade Tiger - Penumbra, March 2012
Comes the Huntsman - Strange Horizons, July 2, 2012
Entangled - Specutopia, July 13, 2012

Regarding Entangled, I'll be posting it on this blog in February since Specutopia seems to have gone defunct.

Please think of me kindly!

(Completely coincidentally, nominations are now open for the Hugo Awards, she types while ducking her head with shame.)

Moving Sale: Anime/Manga/Jpop Stuff

I've now moved, so it's all gone!

Here's a list of all my Japanese-ish stuff I'm currently getting rid of, which my friend Sin talked me in to posting. So - buy my crap! Reasonable rates! This will all go away in a couple of weeks.

This is how it will work:
1) Tell me what you want off of the list via comment or e-mail (katsuhiro at gmail). Prices are listed per item for each category so you should know how much it'll be. Shipping costs will be for flat-rate priority boxes, so you can eyeball rates at the US Postal service site. I would rather not ship internationally.
2) Send me money for items and shipping (paypal is best).
3) I mail you your stuff, probably the same day I receive the money.

English Language Manga ($3/volume)
Hikaru no Go 1-2
Trigun Maximum 1-5
Trigun 1-2
Saikano 1-4
Samurai Deeper Kyo 1-10
X/1999 1-6
Deathnote 1
Battle Angel Alita 4, 8, 9
Firefighter Daigo of Company M 1-5, 7-10, 17
Skyscrapers of Oz [18+ only]
Fake 1-7 [18+ only]
Finder Series 1: Target the Finder [18+ only]
I Can't Stop Loving You! [18+ only]
Black Knight 1-2 [18+ only]
Hayate the Combat Butler 1-2
Godchild 1
Zombie Powder 1-2, 4
Ouran High School Host Club 1, 9, 14
Vampire Hunter D Pilgrimage of the Sacred and the Profane (novel)
Vampire Hunter D the Stuff of Dreams (novel)
Vampire Hunter D Raiser of Gales (novel)
Vampire Hunter D (novel)
Descendants of Darkness 1-6
Hana Kimi 1-2 (slight damage to back cover of #2)
Rurouni Kenshin 1-20
Kekkaishi 1-4
Appleseed 3-4
Appleseed Data Book
Black Magic
Vampire Hunter D Manga 1
Versus [Keiko Yamada] 1
Blood Sucker 1-3

English/Japanese Bilingual Manga ($3/volume)
GTO 1-3

Japanese Manga/Novels ($3/volume)
Clamp Duklyon 1-2
Megumi no Daigo 1, 2, 6
Erementer Gerad (blue) 1-3
Erementer Gerad (red) 1-3
Koucha Ouji 1
Akitsuki 1
Kamikaze Kaitou Jean 1-5
Imadoki (Watase Yuu) 1-5
Nanako (Watase Yuu) 1-5
D. Gray-man 1
Artonelico 1
Clamp Campus Detectives 1-3
Gun Blaze West 1-3
Watashi no Suki na Hito (Clamp)
Wild Rock [18+ only] (hilariously weepy uke alert)
Level E 1-2
Ayashi no Ceres 1-14 (Also have the three novels)
Yu Yu Hakusho 2-19
Koko ha Greenwood 1-6
Bleach 2-19
Reisei no Moribito (novel)
IQ84 (novel)
Yakumo Tatsu 1-10

Doujinshi ($3 each)
Full Metal Alchemist - Hellhound (Roy x Ed)
Hikaru no Go - Kisikaga no Hon (Kishimoto x Kaga) [18+]
KareKano - Kanojo ha... (het) [18+]
Digimon - Hot Apple Cider
X/1999 - X Motion
Harry Potter - Kaeru Choko (Harry and Ron)

Yu Yu Hakusho
Adamasu
Yume Bakari, Miteita (Hiei x Kurama)
A! (Hiei x Kurama)
Sekai de Ichiban Kimi ga Suki (Hiei x Kurama)
1993 Winter Special (private label) (Kurama x Hiei)
Swordsman
Crystal Silence

Senkaiden Houshin Engi
Mebiusu (Youzen x Taikoubou)
Treaumerei (Youzen x Taikoubou)

Megumi no Daigo
Rescue Guys Team A
Dogfight

Bleach
2006 Pekora Bleach Fan Book #6 (Ichigo x Orihime) [18+]
Unbalance
Cynicism
Mixture
Byakutou

Final Fantasy VII
Kachou Fugetsu (Cloud and Aerith, Tifa) [18+]
Peccato (Reno x Cloud) [18+]
The End of Childhood (Sephiroth x Cloud) [18+]

Gundam Wing
System H Second (Duo x Heero)
Snow Garden (Duo x Heero)
Dangun-Hero One (this involves Trowa stabbing someone with his bangs. No really.)
Tristan (DJ is bent)
4 x DJ that I am too lazy to translate the titles but they're all humor ones

Rurouni Kenshin
Tenku (focuses on Aoshi)
Rokinshia
Saikyou Combi (Saitou x Aoshi)
Crimson Revenge

Trigun
Trouble Gift (Wolfwood x Vash) [18+]
Bite the Bullet
Calling You (Wolfwood x Vash) [18+]

Region 1 DVDs ($8 each)
Samurai Champloo 1-4 (with box)
Ceres Celestial Legend 1-8
Wolf's Rain Complete Collection 1-2
Excel Saga 1-6
Petshop of Horrors Special Edition
Onmyoji

Region 2 DVDs (no subtitles) ($8 each)
Two-Mix Vision Formula 2000
Move Super Tune DVD
The Hakkenden OVA 2 DVD box set
Studio 4C Collection

CD ($3 each for singles, $6 each for CDs)
Ring/One, Two Step single
Dame! single
Houkiboshi - Yunna (single)
Asterix - Orange Range (single)
Fushigi Yuugi special CD single box
Try This Shoot (single) - Globe
Shima Uta (single) - the Boom
Super Eurobeat Initial D Millenium Box (5 CDs)
Violation of the Rules - Hal
I am... - Hamasaki Ayumi
Ayu Trance - Hamasaki Ayumi
Elegant Fish - Hayashibara Megumi
Move Super Tune - Move
Gold - Ijima Mari
B'z the "Mixture" - B'z
Eleven - B'z
Rurouni Kenshin OST1
Princess Mononoke OST (American release)
4 Pieces of Memories
Please Save My Earth OST1
Maho Tsukai Tai! OST
Lights 1&2 box set - Globe
Excel Saga OST1
Bubblegum Crisis As Sekira
Love Will Grow Final Fantasy vocal collection
Pray Final Fantasy vocal collection
Para Para Max 1-3
Boom Boom Satellites 8-track CD sampler
Grapefruit - Sakamoto Maya
Vampire Hunter D movie soundtrack
Animage 1-2
Fushigi Yuugi Eikoden OST
Wolf's Rain OST
Fushigi Yuugi Best Vocal Collection
Restoration Level 3 - TM Revolution
Ghost in the Shell movie OST
La. La. La. - Ohguro Maki
The Vision of Escaflowne OST

Art Books ($10 each)
Devil May Cry Graphic Edition
Neon Genesis Evangelion Photo File 02 Adam
Serial Experiments Lain Ultimate Fan Guide
CG coloring technique vol. 7 illustrations/explanations by Yoshitoshi Abe (2007, painter and photoshop)
Marmalade Boy
Hana Yori Dango Yoko Kamio Illustrations
Intron Depo 1
Soul Driver 2000 (this is a two art book set which will be sold together for $24; the first art book is all Weiss Kreuz)

Other
Weiss Kreuz Gluhen Tour 1998 VHS ($5)
Fushigi Yuugi trading card sets 1&2 (all commons) ($20)
Yu Yu Hakusho trading card sets 1&2 (all commons) ($20)

Achievement unlocked: haggis

So this happened:

It may not be immediately evident, but that's haggis, which exploded (with flavor?) from its sheep stomach container whilst cooking. My verdict? Tastes a lot like Bremer knipp, which tastes a lot like scrapple, which is a thing I grew up eating and still like when I'm not thinking too hard about my daily fat intake.

I feel like there was some expectation I'd be appalled by the entire haggis thing when it was given to Mike and I for Christmas. Look, one of the few soups I like is menudo and I grew up eating chicken hearts and gizzards and thinking they were a special treat. (Spoiler: I still do think that, actually. Mmm, hearts and gizzards and dumplings.) I'll basically try anything once unless it (a) still has the head attached because I have this thing about my food looking at me or (b) is something I'm ethically opposed to such as whale meat. I may think the jelly on top of a pork pie is utterly disgusting, but it's an informed sort of utterly disgusting since I actually did eat it in order to draw that conclusion. (The only exception I've made to this rule is for natto, because I literally can't get past the smell in order to even get it close to my food hole.)

Haggis is something a lot of American pop culture likes to freak out about since it involves sheep tripe that's cooked in a sheep stomach. Because I don't know, it's un-American to use the less glamorous bits of the animal. Personally, I think a culture that consumes that many hot dogs per capita and invented the Twinkie should probably just shut the hell up and quietly slink away.

So anyway, haggis: solid thumbs up, a good addition to the ground up tripe with beef fat repertoire of scrapple-lovers everywhere.

Les Miserables

Goddamnit, Anne Hathaway. Must you punch me in the heart and make me cry in every one of your scenes?

This movie has some amazing things going for it. Namely, Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman. They really make the movie with beautiful singing and intense emotion. I've seen Les Mis on stage before, and Fantine never made me cry like Anne Hathaway did. Her rendition of I Dreamed a Dream was the angriest I've ever heard, and she convinced me. (And honestly, it makes sense for Fantine to be angry as well as despairing, because this wasn't how her life was supposed to be.) And I know a lot of people were side-eyeing the Hugh Jackman thing, apparently unaware of the fact that the man was in musicals on stage for years and even won a Tony. But it shows in this movie, it really does. Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen do a pretty good turn as the scumbag Thenardiers as well, though HBC really just kind of felt like Mrs. Lovett revisited with a bit less cannibalism.

The rest of the movie, I had more reservations about. Russell Crowe does a technically competent job of singing, but he doesn't seem to emote very well when he does it. Which is too bad, since Javert is a character that takes a lot of conviction in song. There was only one instance in the movie (near the beginning when he fights with Jean Valjean in the hospital) that I really felt anything out of him, and the rest was... pretty flat.

I also honestly did not like the way the movie was shot. I know one of the great things about movies versus stage is that it lets us get right up there with the characters and see into their eyes. Which is great. But it would have been nice if the director had given the characters some goddamn space once in a while. I felt like 90% of the movie was closeups, and it started getting both claustrophobic and annoying after a while. Half the time I completely lost sense of place with the characters because you couldn't see anything but their face and a colorful blur for the background. I'm sure there were some nice sets and costumes in the movie, but I feel like I didn't see a hell of a lot of them. The face is important for expression, yes, but how about some arms? Some legs? For all I know, Hugh Jackman was wearing running shorts in half his scenes because we never see him below the shoulders.

Honestly, I prefer the stage production.

Is the movie worth seeing? I'd say yes. Anne Hathaway will ruin Les Mis for every other Fontine. Hugh Jackman is excellent. (You get well acquainted with the inside of his mouth considering the amount of time the camera spends staring down it, but hey, he's got nice teeth.) Is it worth showing to someone that's musical phobic that you'd never be able to drag to a stage production? Definitely.

But will the movie make you like Les Mis if you didn't before? Unless your problem was that Fontine didn't reach out from the stage and punch you directly in the emotions and you wanted a more intimate relationship with Jean Valjean's tonsils, probably not. Story and music-wise, it's just like the stage version. To quote my best friend's dad: "They sang and they died and they died and they sang and they sang and they sang and they died and they sang."

Basically that. But it does make a lovely bit of Oscar bait. If Anne Hathaway doesn't get a nomination out of this, I am going down to the award ceremony and flipping the entire goddamn stage.