What am I to think?

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I take a course at UQAM (Université du Québec à Montréal) from 5:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.. There's a guy there, who works at Collège de Montréal, and he's a pretty good looking guy. He's no doubt francophone, but what do you expect at UQAM, right?

Anyway, tonight, he started doing things that I was wondering about... For the first few lessons, he didn't really talk to me... And then last week Thursday, the prof assigned us to work in groups, and all of a sudden, he knew my name... Tonight, when I arrived in class (I got there late), he turned around to see who came late, saw me, and said hi. (Well, he mouthed hi). So, I said hi back quietly. I sat in the lecture, listened to a guest lecturer talk about the infinitely small. Then he allowed us a break. I felt like munchies, so I went to a Couche-Tard (for those of you in other parts of Canada - Mac's), and got a bag of potato chips. When I walked into class with the bag of chips, the guy, whom we shall fictionally name Dereck, looked at me again, and chuckled. He said good bye to me at the end of the night.

So, is Dereck trying to flirt with me, or he's just being friendly? It's some pretty weird reactions for just being friendly, I believe. But perhaps it's me and my wishful thinking.

Dereck has a few rings on his hands... He's got two rings on his middle finger and his pinky on his left hand, and a ring on his ring finger on the right. Maybe he's engaged and I should back off...

Waitress

On Tuesday, May 29, 2007 I went to see the film Waitress. This movie is about a waitress who finds out that she's pregnant, and the killer thing is, she didn't want to be pregnant. On top of that, she has to deal with a nasty boss, a controlling husband who treats her like shit, and southern small town mentality.

In this small town, there are lots of scandals, but they are all very hidden. You do not know about them until you walk into them. For example, one of Keri Russell (Jenna)'s co-waitresses was having an affair with the boss, because she was lonely - as she has an invalid husband, and the boss was unhappy with the wife. We also have a scandal between Jenna, and her doctor, Dr. Pomatter - played by Nathan Fillion.

This movie explores problems in relationships, and what people do to try and resolve them (perhaps not correct ways), and explores also why some people stay in the situations that they are in...

There was a lot of attention paid to affairs in this movie, but it was woven between lots of good laughs. I enjoyed this movie. It's light, and it's intelligent. Although, I was hoping for something in the movie, and it didn't happen, which I was kind of upset about. Oh well. (Of course, I'm not going to say what it was, it would give the film away!)

Who knew that an *NSYNC song would actually have substance...

When people think of *NSYNC, they think of boyband, and songs that appeal to teenage girls... Who would have thought that a song that they released would actually have substance?

Well, I stumbled across one of the first songs they released - Tearin' Up My Heart, and when I observed the lyrics closely, I cannot believe how this ressembles how I feel... Maybe I'm just a teeny bopper at heart, who knows.

Chorus:

It's tearin' up my heart when I'm with you
But when we are apart I feel it too
And no matter what I do I feel the pain
With or without you

(Hey)

Baby I don't understand
Just why we can't be lovers
Things are gettin' out of hand
Tryin' too much but baby we can win (Baby we can win)

Bridge:

Let it go (Go)
If you want me girl let me know (Let me know)
I am down on my knees
I can't take it anymore

Chorus

(Ohhh, all right)
Baby don't misunderstand (Don't misunderstand)
What I'm tryin' to tell ya
In the corner of my mind (Corner of my mind)
Baby it feels like we're running out of time

Bridge

Chorus

Tearin' up my heart and soul (All right)
We're apart I feel it too (I feel it too)
And no matter what I do
I feel the pain with or without you

It's tearin' up my heart when I'm with you (Tearin' up my heart and soul)
But when we are apart I feel it too (We're apart I feel it too)
And no matter what I do
I feel the pain With or without you

And no matter what I do
I feel the pain with or without you

So, in my particular case, it should be boy instead of girl, but other than that, the text is eerily similar to what I'm feeling.

300

On Tuesday, May 22, 2007, I went to see the film 300. I wanted to see this film a few weeks ago, but I had to put it off week after week, because something always got in the way. I was either sick, or I was seeing a movie with someone who needed to go home early, etc. So, this week, even though there was a transit strike (well, there technically still is, but for the day, the strike is over), I stuck to my guns and saw the movie.

This movie is about 300 Spartan soldiers, based on the movie about the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C.. Of course, this movie didn't have much plot, as most of the money was spent on special effects and costumes... But mostly special effects. There was blood, heads chopped off, etc., but what do you expect, it's a war movie!

Some people say that 300 isn't a realistic movie, as there is no way that 300 soldiers could take down that many Persian soldiers. People, you have to realize this is a movie and it's fiction. There is of course room for a bit of exaggeration. Just sit back, relax and enjoy!

This movie was fun to watch, and the cinematography and special effects were awesome. Don't go to this movie for plot, it is not the strong point, nor the main point of the film.

This movie also made the Persians look like they were the real bad guys... Although I don't believe that they were far from how the Persians looked, but I think they perhaps overexaggerated the wrath of Xerxes.

It was also nice to see Lena Headey in another role. I didn't recognize her in the movie as the Queen. And I didn't realize where I had seen her until I got home, and looked at my DVD for Imagine Me & You, where Lena Headey played Luce.

How can it be Gay Pride without a parade?

My friend recently sent me this link about gay pride in Montreal for 2007.

This article basically states that the parade for 2007 in Montreal for Divers/Cité has been cancelled.

What type of decision is this? What type of Gay pride is this going to be without a parade? The parade, even though it may not be supremely popular, is a symbol of Gay pride...

The only thing I enjoy during pride is the parade, and even though I found the parade last year a little cheesy, I liked it, and I was looking forward to the parade this year, even though I was recently demoted from boyfriend to just friend.

I'm very disappointed with the group of people who is responsible for this... I suppose the good thing about this is that we wouldn't have to watch Jeunesse Lambda as part of the parade though... That perhaps would be a plus...

Meet the Robinsons 3D

On Tuesday, May 15, 2007, I went to see the movie Meet the Robinsons 3D. I wanted to watch 300, but out of consideration for my date's need to catch the last bus to get home, I switched to The Invisible. However, upon finding out that the above movie was playing earlier, and was in 3D, I decided to watch this with my date, since we would still be able to spend some time together.

The movie is about a little kid, also an orphan, who is in the process of creating some sort of creation for his science fair. However, at the same time, there was a bad guy with a bowler hat who wanted his invention.

Of course, there are other elements in the story that unwound as the story continued, and you found out little elements that each character has.

The animation was good, and it was fun to watch the movie in 3-D. Something you cannot do at home, I guess.

On another note, my date (i.e. the one who told me that he wanted to "date other people") is going to hand in his application for the Canadian Armed Forces tomorrow. All may have been lost...

I don't understand why this is bugging me a lot... Since he is only dating me, and not even excluively dating me...

When one goes backwards...

Usually, I've heard of people who are dating (both gay and straight), go from dating to mutually exclusive dating (i.e. going steady). I would have never thought that it would be possible to go the other way. I mean, sure, it's theoretically possible to do so, but it doesn't really happen in real life right?

Today, my romantic interest was telling me how he feels that he needed more room, and that everything he's done in the past three month was more out of lust... And that he wanted to "get to know me more" before he wanted to take it further, etc. So, he told me that he wants us to be dating, instead of exclusively dating, which is what we were doing beforehand. He wants me and him to be dating, but also dating other people. This, in my opinion, is going backwards... Am I bummed? Sure... But what can I do? Do I think it's now continue going to work? I don't know. I'll continue to be optimistic. If I meet someone else, am I going to hinder myself? No, probably not.

I need to listen to some power music, and some Pussycat Dolls to make me feel sexy...

The Producers

On Sunday, May 6, 2007, I saw the movie The Producers. Now, I know that this is an old film, but I didn't get a chance to see this movie in the theatres, so I bought it at a used DVD sale. I didn't get a chance to see it until last night. I suppose I was in the mood after seeing Kirsten Dunst attempting to sing in Spider Man 3.

This movie was hilarious. I usually am not a fan of Will Farell, but I like him in two movies, and only two movies. Stranger Than Fiction, and The Producers. Don't get me wrong, I still don't like Will Farell, but he was okay in this. I thought that he was most hilarious in the former though.

This movie is about a failing Broadway producer (Nathan Lane) who has produced yet another flop. He has hired an accountant to look at his books (Matthew Broderick). Lane askes Broderick to hide an excess $2 000 that he earned in his last flop, so that he wouldn't have to pay the IRS more taxes. And Broderick hypothesized that it would be entirely possible to make more money with a flop than with a hit, since with a flop, which would have both an opening and closing night in the same night, the IRS wouldn't be bothered to audit those books. Thus, the movie was about them trying to pull off this scheme. Of course, during the storyline, they bump into Uma Thurman and Will Farell, who are a love interest/singer in their production and the writer of the Broadway flop.

Make no mistake, this movie is a musical, it has a lot of musical numbers. So, if you're going to see this movie thinking it's just a comedy, well, you'll be disappointed, because there will be lots of singing. Since I went into it thinking that it'll be a musical, with some bits of comedy thrown in, I enjoyed the film very much, since I found that the balance between singing and choreography and humour/dialogue was about equal.

If you get a chance to rent something, or buy something from the discount bin at a video store (by this point, I would imagine that the rental places would have this at a pretty cheap rate - and even at some CD/DVD stores), it would not be a bad idea to add this into your collection. Of course, go with the cheaper of the two options - buying it used or renting it. However, with the prices of rentals nowadays, sometimes, it's just about the same price to buy it used! Of course, we always have stores like Blockbuster, who say that they don't have late fees. And that's true, they do not have a late fee anymore. However, they charge you a re-stocking fee to re-stock the item once you've brought it back late. I suppose this is slightly better, since you only pay the re-stocking fee once (per item?), as opposed to have late fees accumulate on your account. Once the late fees got higher than the value of the DVD, then you just bought the DVD, as there is no point in returning it.

Spider Man 3

On Saturday, May 5, 2007, I went to see the movie Spider Man 3. I do own the first two on DVD, but I don't recall watching the second one in full. However, I don't think movies like this require you to see the first two, to fully understand what's going on. Not to mention, they showed clips of what happened in the first two Spider Man movies in the opening credits.

I had a friend who saw this movie at a preview screening, and he was not impressed with it. He gave me comments about the movie, and I didn't want to let the comments influence me, so I decided that I would go see the movie myself before making a judgement/comment.

The movie is about Peter Parker (Tobey McGuire), and him starting to realize that people like him for saving the city. It also is about Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst), who is attempting to start a career on Broadway, but was not having much luck. Elements from other Spider Man movies were also woven into the story... Harry Osburn (James Fransco) taking on the identity of The Green Goblin, and wanting to avenge his father's death. The two new elements were The Sand Man, and Venom, which was created when a parasite from space found a way onto Parker's suit.

This movie was entertaining, but that's about all I can say. If I consider it as an action flick, there was not enough action in the movie to constitute it... There were very few fights between Spider Man and the villains, and each of them lasted between 3 - 5 minutes, with the exception of the last scene, which lasted about 7 - 10 minutes. The grand total of action was about 15 - 20 minutes in the whole movie, which lasted 2 h 20 m. However, if I change the lens, and I look at this movie from a drama perspective, then it was also disappointing, because there was no story line, no plot, no acting (or weak acting), no development, and the story was very weakly strung together. Some people may tell me, if you want to find plot, go to a cemetery, but a drama is all about the storyline.

This could have been a children's movie, but I think some of the scenes were a little too violent for children. Also, the time span of 2 h 20 m is a little difficult for children to stand. I would imagine that some of them would not be able to sit still.

So, what my friend told me about the movie coincides with my own conclusions after watching it. Granted of course, Toper Grace (Eric, That 70's Show) - who was Venom, and James Fransco - who played Harry Osburn/Green Goblin were hotties in the movie. That helped, but only so slightly. Toper Grace was hot because he dyed his hair blond.

After that, I'm still alive!

Today, I had my first experience as a driver on the streets of Montreal. As a pedestrian, I normally whine and bitch about drivers, because they're freaking horrible, and don't know rules of the road, nor the fact that pedestrians have the right of way.

I helped a friend drive a car today... He needed to pick up a rental, because his other car (family car) was needed by others in his family. And thus, he asked me to drive the car back to his house for him, while he led the way in his rental.

First, I had to manoeuvre my friend's car (huge responsibility) around the airport, because it's no longer allowed to just stop your car. I had to bloody circle the airport about fifteen times... And then finally he was ready, and he led the way. I thought we were going to his house, but he was heading downtown... I kind of figured that by the signs that he was taking (on the autoroute - Highway!!!), and finally, he asked me to take the car to my place, park it, while he ran some errands on his rental. After, he's going call me and then arrange to drive his car back to his place... Which is relatively far from where I live, as he lives in West Island, and I'm more in central part of Montreal.

I was able to keep up with my friend, although there were idiot drivers who cut into the space between me and the car... I have discovered that if you leave even enough space just for a car to squeeze in, they will do it. Where is this defensive driving that I was taught? You're supposed to leave room between cars, especially on the highway...

The car is fine. And for me, I think a few sessions at the therapist will be fine.

Sharkwater

On Tuesday, May 1, 2007, I went to the see the movie Sharkwater. This movie is a documentary about Sharks, without the IMAX 3D, and is 1.5 hours long. It talks about sharks, the positive aspects of them, our misunderstandings of them, and the negative aspects of them. (I.e. illegal poachers who hunt them down, cut off their fins, and then dump them into the ocean for them to die - they usually get eaten alive by other fish).

Don't people who run these businesses realize that once there are no more sharks, then their business goes up in smoke, and then on top of that there are ecological consequences?

This was an enjoyable movie, but it was fairly depressing. I didn't especially like the part at the end, when we found out that while we were watching the film, about 15 000 were killed. That's not something we need to know at the end of the film. I know that shark finning is getting out of control, but it was unnecessary, in my opinion, to be hit with that fact at the end of the movie.

If you want to learn more about the movie, Sharkwater, click here.

If you want to learn more about saving sharks, click here.