Flicks

Comedy... Drama... Thriller... Horror... Art Nouveau... Indie...

Just several genres of films that exist. Within each of those exist even more sub-genres. Within those thousands, probably even millions, of films exist.

But I am here to tell you only about a few special ones. Special to me anyway...

When I was younger and I was asked the question of type of movies I liked I would instinctively answer comedies. If I have to think back on which ones in particular, I would not be able to give you a single one, rather I would have to name the actor who starred in those comedies. Jim Carrey. From "The Mask" to "Ace Ventura" to "Dumb and Dumber". As I have grown up however I have come to appreciate Adam Sandler and some of his comedies. However if you were to ask me now what my favourite comedy is I would have to say "Kung Pow: Enter the Fist" it is by far the most silliest film ever made! I have come to realise that placing that film at the top of my comedy list, that I have the sense of humour of a 12 year old boy. I accept that.

I was never a fan of action films. There are 2 (or 5) that I do have to mention. First is the "Bourne trilogy". There is just something about a good spy movie that I like. The intrigue. The chase. The doomed romance. (I also like the "Mission Impossible" series but I refuse to put it on this list because one is not a fan of tom cruise, hence the brackets.) The best action film however is, and always will be, "Kill Bill". There is nothing about this movie that I do not like. The story. The direction. The way the story is so disjointed. But most of all I like the killing scenes. The whole movie is basically just one big killing scene. My favourite scene from both movies is where The Bride kills O'Ren. It is exquisitely done. Very artistic yet very brutal. One of the best scenes in film history!

I am not one for science-fiction but one cannot deny the brilliance of "The Matrix". It is a film that greatly affected pop culture. Today one can still find references to that infamous shot of Trinity suspended in mid-air. Another famous scene is the one where Neo bends backwards to avoid an Agent's bullets. I am pretty sure all of us have imitated that move one time or another. I like The Matrix for a lot of reasons but there is one reason in particular. The premise of the film is that we all are plugged into computers and living this virtual life. Although it is meant to be fiction it is not that far from the truth. Consider this... All of us these days have a mobile phone and we all have facebook pages, twitter accounts, BBM, whatsapp... We are all in fact plugged into technology and we socialise and live our lives through these technological mediums. So if you have think about it we actually are living in the matrix. Life imitating art? I would think so...

I have also come to appreciate a good drama. Horrors are also a favourite of mine. But I felt like have said enough for now.

I would urge all of you to watch all of these before you die.

Peace. Love. Happiness.

Friendships

So I'm sitting on toilet, as one does, pondering about random stuff and my brain locks on to the word relationships. That got me started on friendships.

Friendships have always been a tricky thing for me. I don't easily make them, because I don't easily trust, but when I do I give my everything. Like most things in my life if I do something I do it all out. "Go big or go home".

I started thinking about the really profound friendships I have had in my life. Those which are now lost and those who still remain.

The longest one is with one of my closest friends. One of the roots in the tree of my life. We have been friends for over 15 years. There have been ups and downs. Major ones, but still loyalty remains. I suppose it stems from us both being outcasts. One of the peculiarities of our friendship is that we can go weeks without speaking with or seeing each other and yet when we do it is like no time has passed at all. We recently went through a period of 6 months without speaking and yet when we spoke after that it was like we were the two nerds again back in high school talking a whole bunch of rubbish and laughing our heads off at out silly stupid jokes only we understand. That is a true friendship.

I have a sneaky way of measuring the depth of my friendships. I believe that if you can sit in silence with someone without being uncomfortable at all then you have a true friend at your side. I have made a lot of people uncomfortable by doing this and was fun seeing them squirm in the silence but try as I might they never turned out to be good friends at all.

Another is one I consider to be one of my best friends. We shall call her "Grace Adler". We knew each other for a while before we became friends. Funnily enough I can't really recall how our friendship started but one thing I know for sure is that I do not think that it is gonna end soon. She is one of the most real people I have ever met and one of the strongest too (although she does not always realise it). We have a lot of laughs but we also have sobering moments, and that is what it is all about.

It is not all about laughing and having good times. You can have those with anyone, even strangers. What matters is if you can take the good with the bad. Can you be there for your friend when they are not at their best? Can you tell your friend what's on your mind without fear of judgement? Can you handle harsh advice from your friend? Are you able to give hard advice to your friend? If you can be all of you and they are still by your side, hold onto them for a very long time.

Several of my longest running friendships, I realised, have been with people who are considered outcasts, hurt souls, those who have been marginalised.

There is one person in my life whom I can count to always put a smile on my face. Let's call him "Jack Mcfarland" lol

Then there is "Karin Walker". The rich socialite queen who irritates us all sometimes but we cannot live without her.

These are some of my real friends, my roots. Those that I wish I will have for the rest of my life.
Friends come and friends go. Longevity should never be the yardstick of a friendship. There have been people in my life whom I have known since birth yet our relationship never progressed more than a tenth of some of the ones I have now. Some people are just meant to be in your life for a season. They are meant to teach you one thing and then move on. If you can learn to accept that fact then you will learn to appreciate the ones that matter.

I suppose this is dedicated to those who have experienced the best and the worst of me and through it all chose to stick by me.

Relationships are fragile. They can take a lifetime to build and they can be ruined in a second. Treasure your friends.

They are your chosen family.

Peace. Love. Happiness.

Back and Forth

Bleh!

What a day!

This morning I didn't hear my alarm which means I did not make it to class. It is not that big of a deal anyway. I despise that lecturer. It is obvious that he only qualified with his Masters recently but that still does not give him the right to come and try to lecture us while he himself learnt the same things only yesterday! I am of the opinion that a lecturer should at least have extensive experience before being asked to teach others. It's just common sense. He's the "lecturer" that "taught" me constitutional law last semester. Horrid man!

Although I did not attend class today I did have go to the campus because I needed to sort out some stuff for another module. There has been a trend recently where the lecturers feel that we students will enjoy working in groups with our fellow students. WRONG!!! Group works sucks! Big time! This is how it normally goes. We are sorted into groups of 10 or so then there are those few (about 4 or 5) which are keen to do the work and learn. Then there are those who just don't care about pulling their weight. They never attend group meetings and some hardly attend the classes but yet want throw a fit if they do not receive the same marks as those who made the time to help the group. Last year (and even last semester) I tried to cover for them and I was my normal helpful self. This time around however I have taken a different stance. I will not do anything for those type of people again. Now I could be all noble and say that I will not do it because I feel that me helping them is just enabling their laziness and by refusing to help them that I am teaching them a valuable lesson in discipline, but truth be told I am just sick of it. In fact I feel violated and taken advantage of. They should realise that they are studying law and when they are out in the real world there's not going to be a Garth Skye to help them along. They are gonna be crushed by more ambitious people.

One has to walk a fine line when one is a leader, especially in respect of friends. I am 100% sure that in taking this stance I will lose some "friends". But this is something I have to do for my own sanity. I have to take this stand. There's a saying that goes...

"If you can't stand for anything then you will fall for everything"

Moving swiftly along...

Today has been a very productive day as well. I returned to studying again. When I say studying I mean I actually read through my coursework without any need to. I just hope I can keep it up.

I also started exercising again today. I did Taebo and Hip-Hop Abs. I figured doing aerobic exercises should be much more beneficial than just riding my exercise bike (Mandy). Taebo is a killer! Iyoh! And I only did the basic workout. Could you imagine if I did the normal workout... Death by sweat!

Hip-Hop Abs on the other was very fun... and so sexual! All that thrusting your hips back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and back and forth... I prefer doing Hip-Hop abs to Taebo.

So let's just hope one can stick to the exercise plan because one MUST look sexy for Cape Town.

Well one has to go now.

P.S. Shaun T is SO gay!

Until next time...

Peace. Love. Happiness.