I AIM TO MISBEHAVE

tomorrow will be the first class i've had since october last year.

i look back at the holidays and wonder whether or not i had a decent one by making the most of the time i had. of course it started off with vito's wedding, which was in late decemeber. then new years came round, a trip to lake's entrance, along with maher's 22nd. congratulations to both pete and glenn for moving out of their family homes and making north clayton a little more noisier!

during february i started re-editing "filan", a novel i'd been working on since first year university. i had finished it a while ago, and never really though seriously about getting it published. but i think now it might actually be worth publishing, meaning i've gone back and looked over it and changed things. i've also looked into copy editors and its gonna cost me a bit to get it officially edited before i can even approach publishers. but we'll see how that goes.

things with chalkbaord are going well, with vito producing kick-ass quality work and our printer ready to go. we're still aiming (realistically) for a march release and considering the progress we're making, it looks to be doable.

i painted my room the other day, which was a long time coming but i finally got off my ass and did it.

this year at uni i need to try a little (ok, i'll be honest: a lot) harder if i want to graduate with a bit of dignity. there's still so much i want to do that's non-school related but that'll have to take a back-seat for the next eight or nine months.

so the holidays were pretty good to me, even with work. i can always appreciate that sometimes doing nothing is good enough. everyone deserves a break every now and then. i can't say that it had been clear sailing the whole way through, but the sun will come over the horizon soon enough.

it's back to school for a lot of us, i hope everyone's ready.

-LOki

GOAL! + JUST FRIENDS

GOAL!
stars kuno becker, stephen dellane, david beckham
3.5/5
nutshell: story of a boy overcoming adversity and his family to travel from mexico, to los angeles and finally to england to play the sport he loves - soccer, err, i mean, football.

JUST FRIENDS
stars ryan reynolds, amy smart, anna faris
3/5
nutshell: genuinely funny comedy about a guy who, after ten years, returns to his hometown to see whether or not he can break from the 'friend zone' he's been in with the love of his life.

full reviews coming in a few days.

-LOki

JARHEAD

4/5
stars jake gyllenhaal, peter sarsgaard, jamie foxx

one of the best movies i've seen in a while. as troy (sarsagaard) says, this is a story about war without the political bullshit. it follows the life of the marines from the eyes of swafford (gyllenhaal), a 20 year-old guy who has nowhere to go back home and got lost on the way to college, sir.

the film has been criticised for not 'taking sides' on the iraqi occupation. but who gives a shit? instead, the film focusses on what its like to be one person in a mass of soldiers. it shows them just being guys and having a good time, or even having bad ones. it highlights the things that the marines have to go through to prepare them for the war, but these guys get no where near the battlefront, and only fire their rifles in one last cathartic move when they are told they're allowed to go home.

the film is heartbreaking just as it is uplifting. superb, AWARD-WORTHY performances by leading characters gyllenhaal and sarsgaard that takes us on a journey of brotherhood, heart-ache, and the realising the value of the simple things in life.

-LOki

MUNICH

3/5
stars eric bana, geoffery rush

this film just scrapes through to the '3' line for me. the film details the events that followed the 1972 abduction and subsequent murder of 11 israeli athletes by palestinian terrorists. avner (bana) is called on by the government to lead a team of people to assasinate those responsible for the killings, and so the film begins.

while i am in no way a spielberg (or, "the 'Berg" as he is sometimes referred to nowadays), but this films looks amazing. the locations, sets, even random sweeping shots of the landscape make this film really easy to watch. that is, if you're prepared to sit still for almost three hours. performances by bana, hans zischler (the toy-maker turn bomb-maker) are authentic and believable.

the ideologies being pushed in this film are at either ends of the spectrum, the classic "terrorist" versus "freedom" fighter debate going on. both have their merits, but both also have their flaws although i am more inclined to agree with (though not completely) with avner's view - that instead of focussing on the past, work to make a better future. but the real debate here is the concept of "home". without one, there is no place to return to.

i wouldn't see this film again; it gets repetetive and goes on a number of tangents before abruptly going back to the main story. stylistically this film is immaculate, but narration and editing could have been more succinct and helpful. there is one awesome seige scene which happens at around the 2-hour mark, so stay awake - if you can.

-LOki

MUNICH + JARHEAD

reviews coming soon, but for now:

MUNICH
stars eric bana, james woods
3/5

JARHEAD
stars jake gyllenhaal, peter sasgaard, jamie foxx
3.9/5

-LOki

SAME TIME EVERY YEAR

february second... things always seem better from then onwards.

-LOki

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

stars jake gyllenhaal, heath ledger, michelle williams, anne hathaway
3.9/5

after hearing rave reviews and unprecendented "5/5's" i thought i should go and see it. if you've been living under a rock for the past couple of weeks, the film focusses on two cowboys who end up falling in love one summer while shephearding sheep on brokeback mountain.

they realise their relationship can't go beyond their time on the mountain, and over the next four years go on to marry their wives and have kids. upon their reunion however, things start to get complicated.

while this film is being simplistically described as the "movie about the gay cowboys", it is much more than that. sure the lead characters are gay, or at least, in love with members of the same sex, but the film looks at what its like to want something to happen you know will never happen, or simply realising that putting your head before your heart can really fuck things up.

i don't know if the performances by both ledger or gyllenhaal deserved the best actor award at any ceremony, but regarless they execute their respective roles superbly. i huge kudos goes to williams for her performance as ennis' wife, living with the knowledge that her husband and jack "don't go up there to fish". plus, she looks a hell of a lot better than she did in dawson's creek.

based on a short story, i didn't know the ending and i was genuinely suprised/shocked when it came around. i left the cinema thinking that the film was overrated but still good, but i found that the lingering sadness of the closing scenes stuck with me. and as ang lee says, "sadness lasts longer than happiness. it lingers, and that's what makes it profound."

and he sure is right.

-LOki