Coming Soon to Infinite Possiblogities: Actual Content

First of all...I'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorry. I know I missed a post last week and that is simply unforgivable (I ordered my gimp to treat me horribly tonight as punishment, no safe words). It's a busy time of year for me with uni exams and and shit so I guess that's my running excuse. It means I have less time to write posts and less time to live the necessary amount of life to aquire post topics. Unfortunately today is kind of similar. Nothing much to report, BUT I do want you to know that there are many ideas in my brain ready for unleashing in the not too distant future. The second part in the TV miniseries adaptation of Emily Bronte's classic novel Wuthering Heights will conclude this Sunday and I'm quite certain I will have a fair hunk of opinions to express about that. I've also got a few creative works under developement which will hopefully be ready for posting soon. Plus when exams are over I'm going to indulge heavily in video games, books, movies, TV series and even zany, around town antics that may inspire an ingenious observation or two. So once again, sorry for being boring and I'll see you next week.

Over-Analysing the Harry Potter Series

Let me get one thing cleared up before I start todays post. I think the Harry Potter Series is pretty good. It was engaging and every book seemed to surpass the one before it in terms of quality. That said there have always been things that bugged me about the series that I found either hard to swallow or ill thought out. So today I decided to provide a convenient list of what mistakes and such I've spotted in the series. Here goes.

Powerful Wizards
It was never actually ever made clear to me what made a wizard powerful. There are many occasions in the series where characters would mention some person being a powerful wizard but it was never clear exactly what made them so. At times I was put in mind of a Dragon Ball Z-esqu scenario in which two characters would huff and pant at each other until the person who did the loudest, most vein popping squat thrust would emerge as the most powerful and wipe the other off the face of the earth. But did wizards actually have levels of power? Did they have a stock of magic akin to a fantasy RPG? Or was it just the fact that knowing a whole bunch of spells and being clever enough to use them on the fly that made them powerful? If that were the case you'd think there'd be many more powerful wizards in the world. Actually, come to think of it, most of the wizards in the book are retards; happy to stroll through life using nothing more than simple charms and shit so that their food serve itself and the like. There were also the occasions where Dumbledore would claim that things like love and friendship were what made a powerful wizard. That all sounds very nice and good but it kinda makes it seem like even non-magic folk could accidently become a powerful wizard just by being in a really friendly group of people and gettingso drunk that they're hanging off each other and sharing their "I love you man" sentiments. Actually this "love conquers all" theme brings me nicely to my next point.

Harry Surviving The Avada Kedavra
For the early parts of the series the circumstances in which Harry was able to survive the "death curse" Avada Kedavra was left a mystery. It again seemed to come down to Harry "being a powerful wizard by some arbitrary designation." At some point though, Dunmbledore reveals that Harry's mum was able to protect him by essentially loving him enough to sacrifice herself. Ok book, again with the love card, fair enough I suppose. BUT Harry is the only person known EVER to have survived that curse. So what? We're supposed to believe that Harry's mum is the only mother in the wizarding world EVER with strong maternal instincts? What, are you kidding me? The way peoples lives were being torn apart by Voldemort you'd think that there'd be a couple more than just the one wouldn't you? I personally preferred Harry's survival story when it was a mystery. Oh, and one other thing? Remember in the first book how Harry was able to defeat Voldemort by touching him because he was still being protected by that love-spell-thing and then Voldemort is able to overcome it in book four by using Harry's blood to grant himself a new body? How the fuck does that work? Voldemort says something along the line of "your protected blood is in my veins now, so I'm now immune to the spell" but really that makes no sense. Why doesn't Harry's blood burn through Voldemort's veins? Why was a rejuvination spell able to do what The Ultimate Death Spell wasn't? Speaking of which.

The Avada Kedavra Spell is Boring
Ok so there's not a whole lot to say to this one, but I never really liked the Avada Kedavra spell. It kinda ruined magic for me. There we were in a world of charms, potions and clever magical innovations and then they dropped a big fat obvious death spell on us. Actually on the topic of spells I never quite understood how one "made" a spell. Professor Snape made that really hectic, fuck off spell when he was but a young lad and it never really explained how. Up to that point magic seemed fixed, you just used whatever existed. But then how is a spell made? Do you just mash latin words together and see what happens?

Muggles
When book seven wrapped things up I was disappointed. No, not JUST because that horrible epilogue thing felt tacked on and shitty. It was because I always kinda thought the whole muggle/wizard relationship would improve or resolve itself in some way. But no, it was not to be. You see I never really liked how wizards thought they were the shit and that muggles were retarded. Pretty much everything wizards could do with magic muggles could do with technology. So why no unity between the two? Surely a megitech utopia ala Final Fantasy VI is just a simple diplomatic event away? Also, why is it wizards seem completely unable to comprehend anything muggle related? I recall the third book mentioning a gun and having to explain it as being "like a muggle wand that makes things dead." Surely having metal rip through your flesh isn't that hard to figure out? And why is it that wizards apparently shared technology with muggles up to about the 18th century and then decided to get all Amish and timelock themselves? I mean they use quils, the wear robes, they ride around in animal drawn carriages. Why is it that they understood muggle tech up to that point but then failed to grasp the concepts behind a steam engine or a computer?

Why Are Wizards Idiots?
Yeah, you heard me. Wizards are idiots. Whatcha gonna do about THAT, fight me? You see in the series you encounter hundreds of characters and really only about 5 or so come accross as intelligent people. All the students do is complain about homework and stuff. Which seems silly because the homework is extremely practical. I mean if you were a wizard, as if you wouldn't just devote all your time to being powerful? I mean I'm not saying I'd become a dark overlord here, but in the barbaric and relatively lawless wizarding world power is everything. Without being able to stand up for yourself you'll just end up being the supreme gimp to the next inevitable dark wizard who rolls along. It's not like wizard homework is "write an essay discussing the various readings present in Tim Winton's Cloudstreet." Wizard homework is "find out how to fuck up your enemies." Stupid wizards.

Or Should I?

What can I say? I'm in a crazy mood. So here for the very first time on Infinite Possiblogities I've decided to post something...duh, duh, DUUUUUH!...creative. That's right after a year or so of taking the piss and criticising I've decided that I will start putting personal, creative writing and the like on my blog. I wouldn't expect mountains of the stuff, but here's just one example of a song that I wrote a few years back. For the record, I do indeed have accompanying music for it but I don't have the means to record it right now...maybe later if you really want? Anyway, it's a song called "Or Should I?" and of all the songs I've written over the years I have always felt that this one is really the most self-reflective. It's about confusion, a desire to save people and features big fat obvious references to J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. I also like how the song title seems to reflect my reservations about posting such things on my blog and making myself vulnerable to criticism. Anyway, here it is.

Or Should I?
One day I wondered if I
Could be your saviour
But with these nails in my hands
How could I catch you?
Desire leads me to believe
It will be ok
I don't think I can save anyone
Anyway

I thought what I'd do was
I'd pretend I was one of those deaf mutes
Then I could save lives and dodge the truth
and then I'd never have to listen to your bullshit

What I wanted to be
I wanted to be your catcher in the rye
What I really wanted to be
I wanted to be your catcher in the rye
But I don't dare
and life's not fair
No I don't dare

Then I wrote them all some words
to remember me by
It seems I cannot fix it
I cannot put it right
These trends have led to deduce
that nothing matters
But then I became haunted
by your eternal sadness

I know you'll think it's crazy
what I did
I got myself a gun and a catcher's mit
I swear if I could I would
For you

What I really wanted to be
I wanted to be your catcher in the rye
What I thought I'd be
I'd be silent, or should I?
But I don't dare
and life's not fair
No I don't dare

If you believe that I can catch you
then you will be in my arms after the fall
If you believe that I can save you
then I will do my best lest your trust be misplaced
If you believe that I can catch you
Then you will be in my arms tonight
and if you believe that I am the catcher in the rye
Then I will wait for you here at the bottom in case you fall.

Moccona Iced Coffee

For those of you who remember into the distant, hazy past when I wrote my first post on Infinite Possiblogities you might recall that I had no idea where I'd go with it. A little over 100 posts later and many recurring themes and topics have immerged. I'm pretty happy with where it's at. But every now and then in between video game reviews and ranting about porn I get the urge to branch out and challenge myself by doing something new. Sometimes it works and becomes a new trend and sometimes it fails horribly but I always look back and think to myself "I'm glad I tried that." I like to challenge my writing skills and creativity, explore unknown places. So anyway, I thought I'd review/discuss a new food (or indeed drink) item that I sampled today. It was a Moccona Iced Coffee (Latte flavoured in case you actually care).

Anywho so I have this on and off relationship with iced coffee's. Sometimes they are so tastey and sexy that I wanna propose to it and sometimes they are a dregged out hooker who just makes you feel dirty and want your money back. But for me Moccona has "hot coffee" cred, plus I'd sampled a Moccona icecream sometime ago that was simply incredible, so I thought that the Moccona Iced Coffee was worth a shot. So what's the verdict? I dunno, it was a bit disappointing really. I mean it was ok but it was probably the most amature iced coffee I've ever had. Maybe I should've got the "double shot" flavour? I guess I'll have to wait until the strange urges for refridgurated, sweetened bottles of coffee return to find out. Speaking of bottles, Moccona is the only flavoured milk that I am aware of that is sold in glass bottles, which I kinda thought was worth mentioning. Does it change anything? Not really for me. I guess if you're genuinly concerned about the environmental implications of plastic bottles and cartons you might care? Or if you're a pretentious wanker, but I figure if you do fall into that particular category you won't be happy with an iced coffee unless it was prepared by a blind, Swedish barista who grows his own organic beans at a really specific altitude and charges $10 per glass.

*Aside: It's been a while since I added a picture to a post, so here's me with my new Street Fighter IV Fightpad. Can you feel the love tonight?

Why Golf is the Only Sport That Isn't Evil

I sometimes wonder if my posts ever alienate people. Here I am perched atop my ivory tower casting stones at things that I know some of my readers like and praising things that I don't think my readers would have heard of. I have, on occasion, chosen not to post on certain topics knowing full well that the topic would cause resentment amoungst certain readers. When I grew to dislike many aspects of the show Skins, a show I once thought very highly of and many of my friends still do, I chose not to blog about it for fear of direct confrontation. But that was when my blog was more popular, so now I say "fuck it" and type whatever I want about whatever I want. I say this because I had made a remark several weeks ago to a reader about how I thought sports were a very frivolous and pointless endeavor only to be reminded, to my embarrassment, that she plays hockey. Luckily she's not the kind of person who is easily offended by such bold and careless remarks and so I feel that I am quite safe in not alienating at least one reader of mine with todays post. Speaking of todays post, perhaps it's time I stopped mouthing off and got down to buisness.

Ok so as briefly mentioned just before, I think sport is silly. It occured to me one evening that sports have no artistic merits and don't educate us or make us better people in any way. Sure there's the entertainment value, but sport is so cyclic and endless it kinda depresses me. Your team wins some, it looses some, players are constantly replaced and then eventually you're dead, while your team and your sport are constantly being reborn. I do find myself getting into certain events like the Soccer World Cup or the Olympics, but that's about it and it's mostly for the bonding that goes along with it. So it is for this reason that I boldly implied that all sports are evil in the title.

But then there's the implied exception, golf. Golf is very often thought of as a boring sport, especially in terms of spectating. While I agree that golf is absolutely no fun to watch I have to say I see much more appeal in it. Golf is a sport you play at your own pace, in a variety of nicely landscapped outdoor environments and it's not the kind of heavy, endurance sport that you can only play well for a few decades before permanently fucking up some precious bodypart. I like it like that, I could see myself playing golf more often. Also, with other sports the places you play are very much the same. An olympic sized swimming pool for example is always mostly the same. A golf course on the other hand will display much variety between different courses. It keeps you on your toes and will mean you never get too bored with the scenery.

So anyway I dunno really how I should wrap this all up. I guess it would be inproper of me to slander sport like I just have without also acknowledging that I have always been crap at physical activities. I had shitty motorneurone skills that I needed to develope at a special school thing and I always felt left out because I was so fucking useless at everything. So now that I'm all jaded and emotionally dead with a nice blog I can enact revenge on all the things that turned me into the monster I am today. So golf, I like you, you never made me feel like an inadequate man. All other sport *starts crying* FUCK YOU! *Runs to phone his psychiatrist*

The Endless Eight

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is Fantastic. You may remember me praising it a little while back after purchasing the first season on DVD. I also said I would gladly pay for more. Well thanks to the wonders of subtitles and the internet I have been able to stream the episodes of the second season online so that I don’t have to wait forever for the fucking PAL DVD to come out. I honestly wasn’t thinking I needed to do another post on TMOHS; it’s still the same show, it’s still really good and it still stirs all sorts of dormant emotions in me. But then I saw the Endless Eight.

The Endless Eight is something of a miniseries within the series with the over-arcing story about the characters in the show being trapped in an endlessly repeating summer holidays, a predicament that only we, the viewer, are aware of most of the time. That’s really all you should know about the plot to understand my point, so I’ll leave it at that. But what I found really interesting and indeed conflicting about this concept was that it meant seeing what eight episodes that were virtually the same with the exception of some very subtle differences to the dialogue and the costumes as well as some big differences in presentation and tone at times. Essentially I felt these changes were too little. The reason I’m conflicted about this is because it was definitely a bold creative decision to present the plot in this way and it certainly makes an impact upon the viewer. There’s no denying it was used to immerse the watcher in the cyclic hopelessness of the situation and there were times I really felt it, screaming at the oblivious characters to act differently and break the horrible loop. I can’t deny that I got the same sense of being trapped that the characters felt but ultimately I also think it was too much. It was clever, it was bold and it had a tremendous impact on me. But at eight episodes in length I wondered on several occasions just why they felt it had to be so damn long. If it were four episodes long as opposed to eight I would’ve had no complaints and no conflicted thoughts, but I guess I’ll just have to live with the choices they made.

The Endless Eight

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is awesome. I said so myself a little while back after purchasing the first season on DVD. I also said I couldn’t wait for more. Well thanks to the wonders of subtitles and the internet I have been able to stream the episodes of the second season online way before they’re likely to make a western, PAL region appearance. To be honest I wasn’t thinking I would do another post on TMOHS; it’s still the same show, it’s still really good and it still stirs all sorts of dormant emotions in me. But then came the Endless Eight.

The Endless Eight is something of a miniseries within the series with the concept that the characters in the show have been unaware of the fact that the same three weeks or so have been replaying themselves over and over. I don’t want to give too much of the plot away, so I’ll leave it at that. But what I found really interesting and indeed conflicting about this concept was that it meant seeing what was essentially the same episode eight times. There were some very subtle differences to the dialogue and the costumes as well as some big differences in presentation and tone at times but essentially I felt this was too little. The reason I’m conflicted about this is because it was definitely a bold creative decision to present the plot in this way and it certainly affects the viewer. It was definitely used to immerse the watcher in the cyclic hopelessness of the situation and there were times I really felt it, screaming at the oblivious characters to act differently and break the hideous loop. You can’t deny that you get the same sense of being trapped that the characters feel but ultimately I also think it was too much. It was clever, it was bold and it had a tremendous impact on me. But I felt it all would’ve been much more effective if it had been half as long. If it were four episodes long I would’ve had no doubts in my mind that this was a brilliant idea that took a whole lot of balls to execute.