Saturday, May 8, 2004

Busy Busy Busy!
For the last 4 days I've been attending the Drama Festival over at the University of Calgary. Well, 3 days and 1 evening. But still, hanging out there for a good ten hours for 3 days is pretty tiring.

Not to say it wasn't fun though. Oh, it was a lot of fun.

The first night we saw Macbeth. For those of you who don't know, it's badluck to say the name of that play in a theatre, or anytime before a performance (So, we all walked around calling it "The Scottish Play"). When you do accidentily say it (Like I did) you gotta head outside, spin around in circles while singing I'm a little Tea Cup. Needless to say, I felt quite embarrassed after that ordeal.

I guess it wasn't bad. I've read the play (It's by Shakespear, if you don't know), and it is really a wonderful wonderful play, but the version presented there (I can't remember which school did it unfortunately) was really really cut. What we saw was the bare minimum, just enough to make sense.

The acting was ok. I think that the actors jsut didn't put enough research into their lines, so they didn't sound like they really understood what was coming out of their mouths.

There were a lot of other plays, some good some bad. Our own "Tibetan Book of the Dead" did very well, we even got a standing ovation from about half of the crowd.

The ones that really stick out in my mind are "The Shape of a Girl", which was a look of how a girl was bullied since childhood and was destroyed in the end, narrated by one of the girls from the group which was doing the bullying. Girls can be vicious. What's really amazing is that the cast was like 16 people and the original screen play was a solo performance. The adaptation was amazing.

The best one though, in my opinion, was "Why Do We Laugh?". An old man remiscing about him and his wife growing up. We see them in their 60s, 40s, Teens, and as Kids. The actors were amazing at playing the same person, but making him or her each their own.

It took a comedic approach at first, and was pretty consitant with that (Especially with the kids and the teens), but also was very serious as well. Not serious as in it's all very heavy, very, well, serious. It was... Nice. That may not be a very extravagant word, but it's the best word.

It wasn't laugh out loud on the floor laughing, but it wasn't a tear jerker, with the lines said specifically just to get sympathy from the crowd, but it was just Nice. Very Nice. :D
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Wednesday, April 7, 2004

   W00T! Vancouver!
I love Vancouver. My and my bro over here now, staying with my cousin's. Weather seems pretty good (Though, we only arrived last night and I haven't really stepped out of the house yet).
I'm soooo tired though. Anywho, I'm here until friday night, and it looks like it's gonna be a blast!
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Monday, March 22, 2004

Top 5
My brothers gone crazy about underground rap (Well, he's been crazy about it for a while, but he's gotten to the point were even I can give you a huge list of underground songs and artists)

So, I present, to anyone actually coming to this site, Flashlights top 5 favorite rap artists (In no particular order)! Let's get started:


# Outkast --
Andre and Big Boi have really captivated me. My only problem is that it took so long for them to be recognised. Their two latest singles (Well, their latest single will be 'Roses', but right before that), 'Hey Yeah' and 'The Way You Move' were good and all, but it seems the only other song people know of theirs is Miss Jackson. They aren't really underground (Some on this list won't be), but they've never blow up. It's a shame. Their first CD, Southern Playalistic Catalac Music (Great title) was a classic. And then there's my personal favorite, Stankonia, which features Bombs Over Bhagdad, my favorite song of theirs. They're rhymes are good, and they deserve recognition.


# Tongue Twista --
Fastest Rapper Ever. Look it up, he set the world record. His new CD Kamakaze is out now, and doing quite successfully (Unfortunatlely, he's not releasing my favorite song on that CD, 'Hope', as his single). Twista, unlike Outkast, has always been trying to blow up. Too bad it never quite happened. But, he's a great rapper, and his lyrics are amazing. I'm saddened that some people think Bonethugs, who slur their words (But are still good in their own right) are the fastest, when Twista is way faster, and he anunciates every single syllable crystal clear, all the while keeping up and amazing flow (Oh, and if you do pick up Kamakaze, you should now he has slowed down considerably since the beginning). Twista has some great lyrics too, and his flow can go with any beat.


# Notorious B.I.G. (Biggie Smalls) --
Biggie has a great flow. It's hypnotising. Biggie and Pac are huge, so i'm not gonna say much about them. If you know rap, you should know them. If you don't know them, then you don't know rap.


# 2Pac --
See above. Pac was flexible, he had a nice flow and could do so much in his rhymes, not just rapping about the same old **** about hoes and bling-bling. Seriously, it's ok if it has a nice beat, but everything played on the radio these days just plain sucks. Wish Biggie and Pac were still around...


# Marshal Mather a.k.a. Eminem --
Next to 2Pac, Eminem is the most felxible rapper. He comes off as a goofball, then he whips around and gives us a song that makes us really think. He can do everything. And he's gotten big. Wicked free styler too. Only trouble is, because he comes off as a goof in his videos, everyone automatically assumes he's a goof. But, look at his interviews, his awards acceptances, the preludes in his songs. He is a pretty serious guy. Slim Shady/Eminem is an alter-ego, created for him to have fun, but, if you notice, he doesn't really act like a goofball in reallife.
On to his rhymes though. Amazing. Really, he can write. He knows what sound good and what doesn't, he can have songs that are fun and songs that have a real depth to them. That's one thing in common about everyone on my list, they all have good lyrics, about real stuff, other than what the usual offers.

In a final note, their are a lot more great rappers out there (Scarface, Big L, etc), but these are my personal favorites. And P Diddy sucks. I really have to wonder how he retained his popularity after Biggie was lost. He can't rap, and all of his beats are jacked (Especially from 80s songs). Only thing keeping him in is that he's smart; He knows how to make money off of other people.
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Wednesday, January 28, 2004

Sorry :(
To all who have signed my guest book:
I'm sorry I haven't signed your guestbooks (I only briefly visited your My Otaku sites), but I did visit them. I don't check here very often, and when I do it's only briefly, usually a couple of weeks have gone by since my guestbook was signed, so I don't really realize it. Again, I apoligize and I'll try and better myself in this aspect.
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Wednesday, January 21, 2004

   ...
Does anybody even come to my page? I don't even come here very often.

Anywho, I'm bored, so I'm thinking "Hey! Why not try out this Otaku Life thing!"
So, in case anyone actaully does care about what's going on in my life, here is my first ever entry:

I had my Social 10 Final today. 125 questions and an hour and a half to complete them. A lot of students I talked to missed 4 or 5, due to time constraints. I think I did ok.

Tommarow is my Math final. :(
I hate math :(
At least after it's over I'll get a week off! :D
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