I'm a cyborg but that's ok

"I'm a cyborg but that's ok" is about a young, mentally disturbed girl who believes that she is a nonhuman robotic entity designed for the sole purpose of avenging her grandmother's incarceration into the asylum. Early on, it's clear that mental illness runs in the family. Yet, it also clearly shows that the mental illness is exacerbated by traumatic occurrences in the characters' lives and it even suggests that if left to themselves, they would have been perfectly happy and content.

Instead, the traumatic separation of the young girl and her grandmother led to a sequence of events which culminated in her own incarceration. Soon, she enters a world of mentally deranged neighbors, each in their own way quite lovable and pathetic at the same time. The young girl, among other things, believes that she is to derive her energy from licking alkaline batteries and to connect with her world by talking to machines. She longs for the understanding of the purpose of her existence, for in the world of machines and robots, each is designed for a specific purpose. She aches for the simplicity of such an existence and bemoans the reason for her own construction. Existential angst, apparently, among other things, also greatly ails this frail, anorexic girl.

One of the sweetest and strongest selling points of this movie (besides the lush and brightly colored cinematography - it brings to mind the look and feel and certainly the lyricism of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) is the romance that develops between the girl and a fellow inmate, a smart, sweet young man who was terrified of his own shrinking physicality. Despite his own issues, he is led by compassion to draw the girl out of her world so that she could physically carry on in this world. At first tentatively, but soon wholeheartedly, the girl literally entrusts herself into him. The young man is played by Rain, apparently the hottest thing to descend in Korea for decades. I knew girls all over Asia were going crazy for him, but I never understood his appeal until this film. In this film, I am charmed by his natural sweetness, which shows through despite his own mental problems.

I've read other reviews of this film and it has been compared to Amelie, a comparison I wholeheartedly agree with. This is a film about a woman living in her own fantasy world, because that makes the world a little more manageable to her. Yes, there is overacting, because in a film that mixes fantasy sequences with whimsicality, it's almost necessary for the characters to be "out there." However, I believe that the overacting in this film serves as an enhancement, not a detractor. In the end, it has proven to be a film with surprising heart and that alone made the experience overall quite sweet and moving.

Photo frenzy

Lately I've been spending some time playing around with my new notebook. I am testing its limits so to speak. I try to run a lot of things on it all at once, to test its multi-tasking ability as well as its processing power. I'm also rediscovering an old joy that I've always had - poring over pictures and tweaking them and printing them out. I get a little kick out of organizing my photos, a very visual representation of my life as it unfolds neatly into 4"x6" rectangles, little snapshots of moments in time that proclaim that I exist, and ever so fabulously. =P Now if I only apply this zest to all the other more important areas of my life.

Oh yes, yesterday I watched a movie entitled Sabrina, starring Audrey Hepburn. A wonderful movie actually, the man opposite Hepburn is played by Humphrey Boghart, you may have vaguely heard of him. To be sure, I didn't really see anything too physically appealing about him, especially with his rather dour looking demeanor, but wasn't Boghart supposed to be THE man of the 40's silver screen? Anyhow, boy meets girl, boy brother meets girl, boy brother and boy fight over girl, boy win girl, that's the short gist of the movie. But I'm not trying to disparage the film, it was actually delightful mainly in the conversation and dialogue, quite witty and still relevant even to today. I'm sure it's better than the Harrison remake, if that was a remake.

I'm also researching possible activities to do in Atlanta, a short little excursion I've planned not too long after I get back from Mexico. My aunt is suggesting that we hit up Chattanooga, TN. Great name eh? For that reason alone, I say, Chattanooga it is!

The bliss, the agony, the blah blah

Last Friday I said goodbye to yet another job and hello to a month of bumming around. Today is my official fourth day of bummin' and it's been fun my friends. Monday for instance, I took blatant advantage of the fact that I no longer have to get up at the ungodly hour of 8 AM to go to work (my workaholic friends may gasp here at the unbelievable laziness and self-indulgence of author) and I slept in until 11 AM!! Admittedly, this is okay for a day or two, but even I really couldn't justify such waste of time on a daily basis. Today I got up at the more reasonable but still indulgent hour of 9.

And off I packed my booty to the gym for an hour of kickboxing with Seigfred. It was intense. I was drenched, and I mean, sopping wet with sweat just 30 minutes into the class. I had on this tight red jumpsuit of sorts which outlines my skinny silhouette to disturbing precision. I watched myself in the mirror, shaking my ineffectual fists, pumping the air, left hook, right hook, the image of Oliver in all its absurdity comes to mind. If I had a little more meat to my bones, my punches and kicks would look less ridiculous and a little more substantial.

In any case, it was a great workout and I left the class feeling glad to be alive.

Now however, I am stuck in computer troubleshooting hell and it's like an endless loop. All I had to do was install a simple driver for a new hp printer my aunt bought and it sounds simple enough. However a 10 minute routine job turns into a 2 hour ordeal and still counting. I suspect, after the umpteenth time of cursing at the computer screen to no great avail that the usb connection I'm using is a piece of crap and the root of all problems. Either that or HP just makes really crappy drivers.

Ugggh...anyway, this blog is a vain attempt on my end to maintain some semblance of sanity, which is currently being shredded to microscopic threads by good ol' nonfunctional technology.