:: 2003 3 October :: 11.52 pm

I was sitting in Business class today, and I had a semi-epiphany. I think I like this stuff. I mean, it's dry, and complicated, and a pain to write all these financial statements, especially the projected ones when they don't give you a lot of information to go on, but I'd like to learn how to do it, and be able to spew off information like my teacher can. I'm interested in what happens when companies dissolve, or when the partners want to expand, file for Chapter 11 (heh), get rid of their inventory, etc. Huh. I wasn't sure I'd like it, before coming here.

Thank goodness, I guess, or I'd be screwed at Western, no?

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:: 2003 3 October :: 12.28 am
:: Mood: crushed

It's nothing major in reality land, but...

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Tragically, Lena Olin is not coming back this season.

Producers tried to get her to sign on, but reportedly, her asking price was too high. Lena, say it isn't so! This show got you an Emmy nomination and regenerated buzz for your career! You've got excellent material to work with, critical acclaim, and a great working environment with talented actors! Please...I want to see SpyMommy looking hot kicking ass, modelling fabulous clothes, makeup and hair. I want to see emotionally charged scenes with her family, with Sloane, Sark, and Vaughn. What are Irina's true motivations? Where was she all with time? Where was she when she disappeared for over 20 years? Why did she leave?

This is one of the most intriguing enigmatic characters with two of the most intriguing relationships (Jack and Sydney) on TV! Boooo. No flashbacks of Jack and Irina working together, maybe shacking up together during the two years. How are the writers going to go come up with an explanation that's the least bit plausible to explain her absence? Shit.

So we have a wife, a crappy Vaughn, no Will, a Francie/Allision who isn't dead, an angelic Sloane, amnesiac Syd, and no Lena. This blows.

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:: 2003 3 October :: 12.09 am

For Chau: you've probably seen this

Toronto Star Photo Contest Gallery

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Render&c=Gallery&cid=1064224908945

I love most of them, especially The Eye, Newborn, and the one with the chairs. All of the places ones, many of the pets ones. Oh, heck, everything. I thought the actual winners weren't that great, but some of the 2nd and 3rd, and many of the honourable mentions were amazing. How do you judge? What do you look for?

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:: 2003 2 October :: 10.11 pm

Went to my first lab. Oh my goodness, it was SO easy. It was just microscope stuff, and they TOLD us half the answers to the hand-in section of the lab. I had a pretty nice lab partner, but I can't tell if she's smart, yet. The material was too simple, and bullshitty. It'll get harder, I think. Don't worry, I'll have tons of question for DA eventually. Heh. I do HATE the 6-9 pm scheduling, though. It's kind of freaky walking back so late at night.

The world froze over last night. What's happened to the nice warm weather? It's only October 2nd and it's snowed!

I have 4 midterms the week of October 20th. Fuckkity fuck fuck fuck. AND a layout for 79.9, the AEO news magazine, due that Friday, the 24th. That's the day of my Comp Sci exam, and the day before my bio. French is the 20th, MIT 026 is 21st. Business isn't until November 6th I believe. That's good, at least. I'm worried...

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:: 2003 1 October :: 11.45 pm
:: Mood: cheerful

I taped Karen Sisco. Anyone watch it? I also taped Lyon's Den. It sucks to have a tiny tv and have other people watching. I am SO used to being an only child. :)

Went to the AEO newsletter meeting. Turns out Layout Assistant is an executive position. One of only 5. Whoo! Turns out there's only one layout assistant to the head. The head's name is also Jenny, and she was a Claude Watson arts major at Earl Haig. Interesting...seems nice enough. Met some cool people. I need to find more AEO people, dammit. Went to there floor today, 4West, for the first time. I kind of wished I lived there, but no matter. I love my roomies.

First bio lab tomorrow, and I'm scared! LOL. I think I'll need to chat with DA before every bio lab, or something. I have all the lab notes with me, so dude, I'll just type it up and ask you! What do you want for Christmas, buddy? ;)

I need to find an Alias fanatic. And a figure skating fanatic. Then my circle of friends will be complete. :)

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:: 2003 30 September :: 6.00 pm

Go to the official Lord of the Rings site now and download the real trailer: 26 megs in Quicktime. Just do it. It is glorious. Wow. I can't wait. I can't. This is going to be the most life altering movie I'll ever see in my life. What's there to forward to after this? Life will no longer be worth living...

My boyfriend Legolas looks kind of bald with that hood on. Hee! I LOVE the music. I think the soundtrack is on my wishlist, right below the Alias Season 2 DVD. I also love Husband Aragorn's speech in the trailer, just beautiful. Oh my god, I can't wait....

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:: 2003 29 September :: 9.34 pm

Hi. I have an MIT essay due tomorrow, and I'm just procrastinating. I have to compare the way information is presented in an Amazon.com description vs a library catalogue. Kill me, kill me, kill me. I'm done the outline quite thoroughly, just have to put things into nice sentences and organize the shit. I HATE MIT.

In happier news, the features on the Season 2 Alias DVD set:
The Making of The Telling (45:00 mins)
A two-part, in-depth documentary on the making of the season finale.

The Look of Alias (12:00 min)
A look at the costume design, make-up, and disguises of Sydney Bristow.

Deleted Scenes (with JJ intro)
The one constant
Growing old together
Jack's warning
The kiss
A new indentity
Sloane's advice
Irina is gone

KROQ's Kevin & Bean Radio Show Interviews
J.J. Abrams
Victor Garber
Kevin Weisman
Jennifer Garner (from season one)

Season Two Blooper Reel (04:39 mins)

Alias TV Spots
The Passage, Part Two
A Higher Echelon
The Getaway
Phase One
Looks Can Kill
Truth Takes Time
Countdown

The Making of the Alias Video Game

Alias ScriptScanner (DVD-Rom)
Phase One
The Telling

4 Audio Commentaries (with cast & crew)
A Dark Turn
Second Double
The Telling (with Easter Egg)
Phase One (with intro & Easter Egg)

Um, can you guess my favourite item from that list? That's right! FOUR AND A HALF MINUTES OF BLOOPERS!!!! Yaaaaaay! I want Marshall flubs! Lena Olin slip ups. Jen and Michael Vartan cracking up! SpyDaddy doing anything wrong! Dropping things, swearing, messing up lines! The commentaries look great as well. Great choices, especially A Dark Turn, an episode that ranks in my top three, with the pilot and season 1 finale. That was extremely well directed, beautifully shot and tightly written. Wheeee! I hope Lena Olin gets to comment on it. BUT, I have a feeling that'll be the writers' episode. Phase One will probably be the cast commentary, and hopefully David Anders will be a part of that, as well as Lena Olin.

French labs here are retarded.

I didn't get the promotions rep thing at my rez, but got a tutoring gig and a layout assistant position at the AEO publication. *shrug* I should have applied for layout head, actually. Oh well.

We only have our Tednet accounts till Sep 30. This SUCKS.

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:: 2003 28 September :: 11.59 pm

And a couple more things:
Syd's makeup and hair rocked. I LOVE the red flippy 'do she had in the unnecessary sportscar-fancy scene.

Plot hole: WHY would the CIA EVER trust her after so short a period? She's just come back to life, missing for two years, and you just send her on a mission? Without debrief? Hypnosis? WTF?

Syd's French improved during her two years hiatus. Much less cringe-worthy. Good job, Jen. Please, just give her the Emmy already.

I was waiting to see Sloane on People's Top 10 Sexiest Bachelors or something. Hee! The magazine stuff cracked my shit up.

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:: 2003 28 September :: 10.23 pm

Alias Premiere -
Hmmmmm. That was a rather weak episode. I knew some spoilers going in, but that's not the reason I didn't enjoy it. This episode had some huge pacing problems, and too much exposition. It looked like a pilot episode (series opener) with all the introductions and updates - lots of information and not much time to develop emotion. Still, I expected as much with the two year gap, and I'm willing to cut the premiere some slack. I will, however, be expecting better stuff in the upcoming weeks. You hear me, JJ? :)

Where do we start?

Syd. Good job, Jennifer Garner. This ep can definitely be submitted for the Emmys. She had great juicy stuff to play, and Jen pulled it off extremely well. I like that Syd was angry and harsh with Vaughn - very kneejerk and believable. To her, it's the next morning, but to everyone else, it's been two years. She hit all the emotions very well in her scenes with Jack (SpyDaddy) and Vaughn. She does the almost crying thing really well. However, and I'll blame the writing for this, I felt that she went from crying to normal rather frequently (Marshall, Dixon, Weiss), and maybe Syd's good at compartmentalizing, but not THAT good. She went into her kickass spy mode pretty automatically, as well. There was NO reason for Syd to dress up in the hot little red number with excellent hair and makeup, though. She could have blown up that car in pjs.

SpyDaddy. Hee. Love TWOP and its nicknames. I'm sorry, Victor Garber is a handsome man, but the first time he came out? I was LMAO - he looked like a chimp! LOL. Great conversation and acting in that glass jail cell. Bad contrived 90 sec. "oops, we're out of time!" writing just as the disturbing thing was revealed. The hug at the end mirrored the ep when Syd saved Vaughn from the virus: both had the relieve hug and "thank you" whispered to Syd, standing in the middle of the CIA headquarters. Nice touch. Yes, I watch this show too much. Shut up.

Vaughn. Pussywhipped bitch. I'm being harsh, sorry. I don't like where the writers and maybe the actor has taken this character. Season 1 Ep 2 had Vaughn yelling at Syd when she was out of line, and calling her on her mistakes: "Reflected on both our records, FYI." Where's that Vaughn? He's been mopey, weak, pathetic and all about Syd since then, for 2 seasons. Michael Vartan has a total of 2 expressions (Happy!Smiling!Vaughn and FurrowedBrow!Confused/Surprised/Worried!Unhappy!Vaughn) and slight variations. I loved the shot of Vaughn crying in the ashes. That was quite heartbreaking. Well done, Vartan. Finally, a new expression, a grand total of 3! Vartan did very little with the material given, and that was glaring during Jen's expressive acting. He should have been more happy and relieved, more anguished, more pained, had more of a presence. Pretty face, but not yet an actor. HOWEVER, one development I did love was that they made Vaughn a teacher. Syd had always wanted to be a teacher (like her mother, Laura/Irina) if she ever left the spy world. This was Vaughn's way of keeping a part of Syd with him forever. Awww, he tried to realize her dream in her "death." He really did love her, and that's why this whole marriage thing stinks.

Sloane. OMG, he's going to save the children of this world! Heal them! Cure cancer! And feed them lollipops! While gracing the cover of Time! And winning the Nobel Peace Prize! President of the World Health Organization! "I had an epiphany. Rambaldi said 'Let there be peace!' and suddenly, the angels sang, and a light came from the heavens above. My heart soared, and I cried 'Yes! Peace! There shall be peace and harmony among all creatures of this world, and I shall be the one to bring it!" Well, fuck me, Miss America. I don't buy it for a second. But it gave me a huge laugh. Thanks.

Weiss. Well look at him being all sexy and spylike. I like his larger role, and I hope he'll get more stuff to do as the season rolls along.

Dixon. Does this mean he'll not get to go on missions anymore? That would suck. I like this role; I've always taken him to be the noble, purehearted lion type of character, and he has the dignity and morality to be a firm, but kind leader.

NSC guy. Sucks ass. Where's Kendall? They just supplanted him with an assier white old guy. At least Kendall was funny. Dixon and NSC guy standing there in the Ops center mirrored Jack and Kendall, bitching over the next course of action. Kill NSC, now.

The Good:
- I liked the mirrors to the pilot: Sydney, fueled by her anger and sense of justice, goes on a solo mission with crazy hair and clothes to retrieve some important artifact, brings it to her organization demanding re-instatement. Syd in a chem lab shotting, and causing a huge explosion to escape.
- Vaughn crying
- Syd's smackdown at the end. Great, great acting and writing. Not Vartan, though.
- Marshall. "I've lost my keys, where are they?....Um, that's a metaphor, by the way." Hee! He's gonna be a daddy! I hope Carrie sticks around.
- I'm intrigued by Jack and Irina working together. I want some huge flashbacks, now.
- The footage Jack showed Syd at the end implied that she may have been evil, or darker. I hope that's the case. It would be fascinating for the writers to explore a darker Syd. She's had so much tragedy in her life - isn't she angry? Doesn't she sometimes want to rip the world apart? I want to see her being bloodthirsty and evil, and then having to deal with that now. Fat chance that's going to happen, though. Almost like Buffy season 5/6.
- "that boy was never good enough for you" Sing it Daddy! "I love you" I love you, too, Victor Garber!

The Bad:
- the wife. I hate the whole marriage plot.
- Vaughn. He needs to grow a pair of balls, stat. And some acting skills.
- Plot holes. Why didn't SpyDaddy tell Vaughn about the footage? Why didn't Vaughn investigate even a little? C'mon! "Because I believe in you, Syd." Season 2 Ep, 18. (Shut up, yes I can reference things from off the top of my head) "You've got my number." Season 1, Ep 4. He waited for her through SD-6 takedown, he could have at least made the effort. He investigated Irina, for god's sake, but not his one true love?
- No Sark, or Irina. I love them. Please give them back to me.
- too little SpyDaddy, Vaughn. More stuff with them, please
- I HATE the amesiac thing. It's SO soapy. Now Syd can selectively remember whenever the plot calls for it. Stupid, contrived, cheap writing. Please don't go there.
- Pacing sucked. The missions didn't feel fully developed, and the emotional highs didn't feel appropriate given the sequencing. The time and care weren't put in to lead up to the moments, and so the big moments didn't resonate; the writers hadn't earned them yet. Yes, I understand there was a lot to go through this ep, many openings had to be established for the rest of the season, but it still felt rushed and sloppy. The acting really saved the ep, and Jen picked up the slack.

That was long. Whew. Till next Sunday!

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:: 2003 28 September :: 6.36 pm

HAPPY ALIAS DAY!

CTV at 7, ABC at 9. Check back later tonight for full analysis of tonight's ep.

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:: 2003 27 September :: 12.43 am

Get your ass over to theonering.net and watch the ROTK trailer!!!!!

NOW! What the fuck are you waiting for??

Oh my goodness, I can't breathe.

It's orgasmic.

IS IT DECEMBER 17TH YET??

FUCK!

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:: 2003 25 September :: 5.24 pm

I'm sitting in the library right now with two roomies, and we'll all tryingto do research for our respective essays, MIT for me, Poli Sci for them. I HATE MIT. So I'm procrasinating right now and updating this journal. Yes, tmx, Jennifer and Michael have been macking each other since June or July. It's always a bit weird when life imitates art. Lucky bitch. She's hot and buff and dating a very fine looking man. I still can't hate her, though.

Whoohoo! I'm going home tomorrow! Alias' premiere is this Sunday! I'll have to tape everything from home. No matter. Alias is back! Alias is back! Y'all can check here every Monday for unsolicited episode reviews and rants. Hee!

Can we see each on Friday, perhaps? I'll be back in Toronto at union at around 6:30. I can go uptown and meet people around the U of T area. I think I'll be going shopping withmy mom on Saturday for some boots, so I might not be able to see you guys that day.

I'm off to eat and go to a Bio tutorial now. Premiere of Tru Calling tonight with Eliza Dushku. I like the actress, but the premise pretty dooms the show. Eliza hears corpses talking to her in the morgue and she has to go solving their mystery by transporting to the day before. Kind of like Crossing Jordan, but with stupid supernatural shit.

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:: 2003 23 September :: 9.02 pm
:: Mood: cheerful
:: Music: The Corrs

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:: 2003 20 September :: 9.37 pm
:: Mood: happy

Shopping!
I bought 8 tops today. LOL. Really. Went to Masonville Mall by bus with roommate and friend from Deli and shopped for 4 hours. Then went to Loblaws for groceries, came home dead tired. Spent 180 bucks on the 8 shirts - not bad, people. I haven't gone shopping in a year, so it's justified. The credit card is too easy to whip out and swipe. I shouldn't bring it next time. Hee! Got back to the suite, made chili pepper flavoured Udon for all three of us for dinner. SO much fun. I think I've finally found 2 really great friends. This makes life so much better.
The non-roommate slept over last night, too, and we had a movie marathon: Fight Club (yes, I've seen it before; it still rocks. Brad Pitt has niiiice abs, but that's not why the movie rocks. Heh) and American Pie (awful, awful, awful, but sort of funny, I'll admit).

Received cals from Jer and gbk, so that made me really happy. Yay! I'll call you guys next week, as soon as I finally register my friend's brother's number on labatt blueline. The Elgin no. doesn't work. Heard that Andrea stopped by Western on Tuesday, but didn't see her, too bad.

Met 2 more guys on the floor today; Justin, and Neil. They had a bunch of drunk girls in their room. That was the first time I have ever hung around drunk people in my life. Sheltered, I know, unlike our newly alcoholic friend Chau, here. Those girls were saying THE dumbest things ever; stumbling around and swearing every other word. WHY do people choose to be this way? How much fun can that really be? And they're going out tonight to get even more drunk, probably smoke some weed, and party till morning. My version of a fun party is a sleepover where Vinca, Aleha and I pulled an all-nighter watching a 6 hour adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and a 2 hour movie of Little Women! I love my friends. We should do that again, girls.

I'll be going out tonight with Toes' suite to Demetrie's for dessert. I am SO going to spend all of tomorrow working!! :) Ciao. I'll see you guys in a week.

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:: 2003 17 September :: 11.12 pm

I'm 18! Wheeee!
Sorry, I'm not good at the updating thing. You see?

Went back home this weekend, which was nice. Felt like a year had passed since I had been back home. It was awesome to see all the familiar faces again, and sleep in a queensized bed, and roam around a house instead of an apartment. Had a nice birthday dinner with my parents, and saw everyone on Saturday at the Eaton Centre. Yay! Huge thank you to tmx, da, and gbk for a kickass gift; I went straight home, popped it in and watched a bunch of special features. Thank you also to sweet Vinca, who got me the cutest, most perfect little purse. Impeccable taste, my dear. I propose all weeks be extended to 8 days, with three day weekends as the norm. Seriously, I had to leave for !@#$%-ing Western as soon as I got back. Dammit.

My suitemates are lovely. One gave one a carebear teddy, and my neighbour and a friend gave me a UWO purple bear, a colouring book (!) and Buckley's cough medecine. LOL. Very nice of them to celebrate with me. Was fed homemade lasagna and bread from an Italian girl who lives down the hall. Excellent day. Again, I must say that I have the coolest suitemates ever. Thank goodness. gbk's sister got me a card, very thoughtful.

Phoned Miss Williams College yesterday, had a very nice chat. She is, of course, two days older than I am, and received a phone call from some idiot named chau. Um, dude? Where's MY phone call, you twit? I hereby terminate our ICQ relationship until I receive a personal apology.

Joined CASAI, some Chinese organization that gbk's sister Toes is in. Should be pretty fun. I'll probably join some committees with the students council, and the res council. I hate not knowing anything or anybody, and just having to dive in blind. There are too many people at university.

Bumped my fourth toe of my left foot against the wall two nights ago, when I was sleeping. It hurts like hell; every time I walk on the foot severe pain shoots up from the damn toe. I'm hobbling and limping everywhere. I've NEVER done that before. Stupid Western and their damn walls!

The OC is going on 6 week hiatus. I want Marissa to die, but I know she won't. The actress sucks. Can we please replace her now?

Emmys are this Sunday, no hopes of Alias acting wins, but I'll be watching nevertheless. I'm pulling for Lena Olin, but she's not going to get it. I want to see her dress; she's going to be so gorgeous. Now watch her not show up. Jen Garner's dress was beautiful, too, last year.

I'll likely be coming home next weekend, too. Hope to see you guys soon.

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