Random.
written: 3:21 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2008

First, a reply to TR: The reason I didn't get Roger's autograph was because I couldn't! Sat too far, too lazy to stalk him, parents waiting...yeah. Sad right?

***

In the end I was too lazy to go to the post office and send in a request for the Wimbledon application form, so I guess I'll be following it on TV. I also can't wait for the freaking StarHub TV guide to arrive so that I can find out if they're showing the Abu Dhabi exhibition tournament. Roger's first match of the year is likely to be played against Andy Murray which means I must watch, so I hope SuperSports will be broadcasting it. PLEASE! I need my Roger fix. This off-season? It really sucks for me.

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Speaking of 'sucks', Grey's Anatomy blows so hard I can't even begin to describe it. I actually like Mark/Lexie which means there's something wrong with me, but oh my god, can Izzie PLEASE stop having sex with a ghost? I am highly disturbed. Alex tells her "I love you" and Dead Denny's all, "I'm beginning to dislike that guy." What the fuck? I hate this dumb show. I hate it.

Still, Cristina and Owen are hot and now that Izzie is fucking a ghost, I love Cristina. LOVE! Meredith was annoyingly whiny this episode so I'm glad Cristina gave the solo to Alex. Speaking of Alex, I strangely didn't feel anything during his "I love you" speech, mostly because of the stupid clunky writing that thrives on repetition, like, "I love you. I'm a better man. With you. I'm a better man with you, and I love you." I mean, that's great, but I got it the first time round; you don't have to bludgeon me over the head with it. For fuck's sake, seriously, who talks like this in real life?

Also, the latest Gossip Girl is, um...well, if that's the best episode in a while, then it's clear why Gossip Girl is mere fluff. It feels like there was an episode missing, but more importantly, the Chuck/Blair, while sweet and kind of touching, wasn't even mildly comparable to the Chuck/Blair that had me swooning a few episodes back. I think it was Ed Westwick's weird acting. It wasn't horrific, but it bordered on melodramatic, skirting the thin line between pathos and bathos. I mean, for one, did he really have to look so vampiric? I get that Twilight is the hottest thing since Harry Potter or whatever now, but still, the vampire overtones to his appearance were quite ridiculous. I don't understand why people are raving about his performance as if it's the second coming. I think Jason Dohring did much better work on Veronica Mars than Westwick did in this latest Gossip Girl episode. Dohring brought the subtlety; Westwick forced on us the melodrama. Dohring is the Federer to Westwick's Nadal, let's put it this way.

So yeah, damn disappointed oh my god, and Ed, WTF WERE YOU THINKING.

Still, I'd pay good money to watch him play a British character in his natural British accent. Because I love the British accent - duh. Like that's news at all.

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Still on the subject of TV shows: Tris dissed my beloved Veronica Mars last night, as did Nadia, which only led me to conclude that...well, nothing, really.

Veronica Mars is my favourite TV show of all-time. ALL-TIME. My emotional investment in the show when it was still on bordered on ridiculous, but it's been like, a year or two since it was cancelled, and the show still gets to me. Of course, now that I'm older and more mature, I realise that no one talks like the characters do in real life too, but unlike Grey's, the writing is actually consistent and realistic in the context of the world in which it is set. It's a mixture of reality and neo-reality, so to speak; what intrigues me now about the show, now that I'm watching Season 3 again, is how it has the undertones of an alternate universe without actually overtly being set in one. It's not science fiction or fantasy but it feels like one. I'm not familiar with the noir genre but the show has been heavily described as noir, especially in the first season, and maybe that is it.

Having said that, I think the show peaked in Season 1 and after that, there was nowhere for it to go but down. The mess that was Season 3 is pretty much evidence of that. The drama between Logan/Veronica felt manufactured most of the time, precisely because there was nothing to do with them but to give them some stupid, made-up, out-of-character reason to break up, just so the couple didn't completely derail the show. But then, after they ditched the season-long mystery arc, the rest of the show became rather uncompelling. I still watched obsessively and bought the DVD because I loved - and still love - the show, but to a casual viewer I guess it'd be rather boring. Season 2 was pretty okay, though the titular character's emotional investment in the bus crash mystery definitely wasn't anywhere close to her emotional investment in the Lilly Kane murder of Season 1. But still, it had its moments, though I really hated the Big Reveal in the finale about poor Beaver being the bringer of all things evil - especially him being the guy that raped Veronica. I loved how that "mystery" was nicely resolved in the penultimate episode of Season 1 ("A Trip to the Dentist") so the "Not Pictured" retcon was just unnecessary and a cold slap in the face to the hardcore fans of Season 1 who cared about Veronica Mars, a fictional character, as if she were their own friend.

I still love Veronica Mars. Nothing has come anywhere close to my deep love for the show since it ended - not Chuck, definitely not Gossip Girl or Grey's Anatomy or whatever. Chuck is perhaps a distant second favourite, but that's about it.

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Anyway, I'm off to Taiwan tomorrow which is totally awesome and I've kind of finished packing already. YAY! I was bored one night and my room was way too messy so I decided to pack.

I don't really have much to say. Well, I'm highly amused that my dad's seemingly obsessed with Dynasty Chess (Chinese Chess, basically) on Viwawa and has an account there and everything. I masochistically decided to play Dynasty Chess one night for the hell of it but completely freaked out when I had no clue what to do, so I yelled for my dad, who's the resident expert, to bail me out. He did, and after dinner he stole my laptop and played four more matches using my account - hence the 5 wins and 0 losses under Chinese chess.

I cannot play chess for shit - Chinese or Western. I just cannot. Whichever part of the brain chess is supposed to stimulate, I just don't have it. Maybe it shows that I'm not much of a strategist, which isn't too far from the truth. I hate playing games, I don't like manipulating people, I don't like mind games. I think the world would be a better place if everyone just told it like it was instead of masking their true intentions and feelings behind carefully selected words that are supposed to act as some sort of a buffer between them and what they're really thinking or feeling. I've never liked the social game, and if I've nothing to say to you, I just won't talk to you. I hate small talk and pretending to be interested in a random person's life when I really don't care. I guess I appreciate that it's a good skill, but I just feel awfully phony, and I hate that.

This is kind of why, I suppose, I tend to lay all my cards on the table way before I should. I bristle when I'm saying something that's only half-honest. When push comes to shove, I can lie convincingly, but I'm not a natural liar. Anything that deviates from the truth feels like a lie to me which perhaps isn't smart, but...that's just the way it is.

Too bad, right? Whatever. I'm sick of this entry.

before sunrise // before sunset


Previously:
- - Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017
I'm moving. - Sunday, Jul. 11, 2010
In all honesty - Tuesday, Jul. 06, 2010
What I want for my birthday... - Sunday, Jul. 04, 2010
On Roger's behalf. - Friday, Jul. 02, 2010