Its 10.24 PM. I'm bored, and well, people just seem so fascinated with D&D these days. All sorts of weird tests, with prestige classes, even.

For those who want a few jollies, I encourage giving this test a try. At the very least, it'd do something about those extra minutes between now and the bus. :P

It's 10.26 PM, and I wonder if this is a sign. Maybe I should get back to posting in those games on www.realmsofevil.net.

What time is it over there?

The RPG Class Test

Take it at your own risk. :P

Arcane Trickster 48% Combativeness, 73% Sneakiness, 88% Intellect, 5% Spirituality

Brilliant and sneaky: You are an Arcane Trickster! Score! You have a prestige class. A prestige class can only be taken after you've fulfilled certain requirements. This may mean that you're an exceptionally talented person, but it probably doesn't. Arcane Tricksters combine arcane magic with rogue skills and sensibilities. They use their magic to confuse their opponents or to augment their more mundane, roguish skills. If you thought it was annoying keeping an eye that that rogue, the Arcane Trickster is probably picking your pocket from the other side of the room. Both smart and sneaky, you're probably the type of person that loves planning practical jokes... either that or knocking over banks.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 34% on Combativeness You scored higher than 93% on Sneakiness You scored higher than 91% on Intellect You scored higher than 0% on Spirituality

It's 2.45 PM. I've decided to close this blog down, and make a shift to Deviant Art. It's a lot more happening there.

The 107 page archive is up, and it's lying in state in my computer. Drop me a note if you want a peek at it.

It's 2.46 PM. Time to close this chapter of my life.

What time is it over there?

It's 9.18 PM, on a warm, muggy Wednesday night. New Year's just round the corner, the Daniel Teo project's pretty much done, and I've just caught Underworld Evolution. So, without further ado, let me spoil it for you.

Yes, it's out in the States, and well, there's nothing media influence can't buy. Now, for all those in the know, Underworld Evolution's the sequel to Underworld, that oh-so-I-don't-know famous 2003 (or thereabouts) vampire-werewolf-world-of-darkness rip-off. Now, THAT movie was crap, and its soundtrack was its one saving grace. I mean come on, which part of Vampire: The Masquerade, didn't we understand?

Guess what? Underworld: Evolution is CRAPPIER. Yes, it's a total piece of cheap, B-grade trash, all 90 or so minutes of it.

And yes, I'm listening to the original Underworld OST.

Underworld Evolution takes place, I don't know, just shortly after Underworld? So we learn a little more about the immortal Alexander Corvinus, his two sons, and then, well, let's cut to scene of vampires dressed in scalemail torching a village and hunting for William. Yes, William, son of aforementioned Alexander, the world's first ever werewolf. And yes, Marcus, the other son of Alexander, the world's first ever vampire is a part of it too.

And then we cut to our intrepid heroes Selene and Michael. Yes, Kate whatshername is back in black leather as Celerity gun-bunny Selene, a death dealer, or, for those in the know, cheap Brujah slut. Only thing good about her is that tight assed skin suit.

The guy, I can never remember his name, well, he's still wandering around half naked, doing the half vampire, half werewolf thing. He's also deadpan and snivelling, and the fact that he's a hybrid irks me for some reason. Well, I don't know. Did anybody on the Underworld writing crew happen to pull the idea from somewhere, hrmm?

Was said writer maybe a regular at Realms of Evil [link] , that wonderfully lovely place where I'd been tossing around hybrid concepts in 2001/2002?

It's just like a friend of mine [link] bitching about how a logo design he did was carbon copied by Konami, and became an intimate part of Bloody Roar. Wow. We must be really good huh? Like they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I wonder where plagiarism comes in.

Or maybe they just decided to rip off White Wolf. I heard they settled out of court. Maybe that's why White Wolf went from sinking ship to Vampire: The Requiem. Film profits gotta be worth something.

But I digress, since I'm sure it's all about parallel development.

Now, back to Underworld Evolution. Yes. Time's turned to toffee, apparently. You can't really tell how many hours, days, months, years have passed since the end of the first movie. Selene's just there, on screen, doing the gun-bunny thing most of the time, and Michael's this angsty prick who goes, rather poorly, through the vague pangs of guilt/I don't want to suck you phase. Well, only thing was, he sucked at it.

So, Marcus wakes up, he's all bat wings and spiky tendrils and gnarled skin and all. Very reminiscent of the Tzimisce with their Vicissitude discipline from the old Vampire, down to the, what, bat wings and spiky tendrils? Jolly good. At least they're faithful to the genre. Somehow, the minute Marcus appears, you know he's gonna be the BBEG. Big Bad Evil Guy. Kinda obvious from the way he randomly butchers people, and those eyes. They kinda remind me of a hentai old man in heat.

Anyhow, we also see a bit of the Influence thing at play here. Yes. Media Status in play. Suddenly, Michael Corvin's a wanted criminal. His face shows up in a newscast at a diner. Pretty much everything goes downhill from there.

Marcus wants the amulet that Michael snatched from Lucian in the first movie, so he can free William from his prison, bite him, and spawn a whole new monster race. More hybrids. Wow. Yes, that amulet's a part of a key that unlocks a sarcophagus that was created in the 1600s, that ALSO looks strangely reminiscent of something out of anime. Sarcophagi with rotating metal bands, gears and mechanisms six hundred years ahead of their time? Hello? Will the plagiarism never end?

Chop chop. More choppy scenes, a sex scene in which Michael and Selene turn up the heat. No, there's no full frontal. Just lots of bad sex, and Michael doesn't look like he's got a penis in the right place, and Selene looks like she doesn't have nipples. (Did they Adobe it away?) Not that it served any real purpose. I mean who has sex in an abandoned garage when there's a monster after you anyway?

Blah blah, more plot is revealed. There's this fellow called Tanis, who HAS pointy ears and looks ratty, and more than a little Half-Elven, but let's not go there. He's a librarian of some sort, and then we find out MORE of what really happened. Oh wow. More sarcophagi tales, more Selene backstory. Her family was murdered because they were commissioned to make the coffin, and the vampires didn't want word to leak out! Yay!

And then MORE plot still! The heroes are led to Alexander! Yes! He's immortal, he's the first of the lot! And no! He didn't die! He attained Golconda! Marcus attacks, Michael supposedly dies, and Selene drinks Alexander's blood. Her Generation increases, and she picks up a handy new Dot in a Potence, I think. (Oh, and she's apparently able to walk about in the day now, but that's for later).

There's the whole customary, and possibly staple show down in crypt thing after that. Selene enters William's prison, there's a fight, Michael is conveniently resurrected in the last couple minutes, and the final fight ensues. Michael and William square off, and Michael does the whole bouncing kungfu thing, before ripping William's head off. As for Marcus, suffice to say, he went the way of the baby in the blender. Sometimes, you shouldn't pull helicopters out of the sky, nevermind if you have Potence. It's never a good thing to introduce a convenient, if deadly, plot device.

And yes, that's it. Wannabe gorefest, a bit too old school and stuck in VTM for me to really care about it. Several times, I was wondering if they were talking about Covens or Covenants, but Covenants are a VTR thing, isn't it? Maybe Underworld 3 will be a little more up to speed, and we'll see vampire priests wielding blood magic running around, some with katanas and others with axes, hunting down werewolves.

But seriously, who gives a damn?

It's 10 PM. I've got some photos to scan, and then I've got to actually get down to making that application for the 2nd Ngee Ann Photographic Exhibition.

What time is it over there?

Does it feel like Christmas?

Its 9.51 PM. Christmas Eve, and its one of those days again.

Call me sentimental, but well, I don't know, it just doesn't feel like Christmas. Well, not anymore. I don't think I can look at Christmas Eves quite the same way I used to after that little Christmas Eve debacle in my not so recent history.

There's some sappy Christmas song playing on the radio right now. George Michael I think, or whatever his name is. Last Christmas. Fitting, really, even if it were two Christmases ago.

It's been a pretty slow two weeks. I caught The Promise awhile ago, one of those big budget year end Chen Kaige movies. It was everything I'd expected of something from one of Hong Kong's greatest auteuers - swashbuckling, deeds of derring do, dazzling choreography, plot twists up the wazoo, paper cut out heroes, age old existential questions, and whatnot. Mind you, the movie was entertaining, but well, the theory of relativity, the speed of light, and time travel don't have much to do with kungfu movies, I don't think.

The Promise is about, quite simply, choices and regrets, love and pretension, and bearing the consequences of what you choose. It's really one of those big, existentialist, if soppy and overdone melodramas, couched in really nice costumes, big names, and pseudo-mysticism, and strangely enough, everything ties itself up neatly like one inverse time loop. I won't go into details about the plot, but its a love triangle (as usual), between the General, a royal Concubine, and a Slave. No surprises here. Its all foreshadowed from the beginning to the end, and really, its all about destiny throwing people curve balls. So one self fulfilling prophecy and fuck up leads to another, and eventually, everybody dies.

Very Monkey's Paw, if you know what I mean. So some stupid girl decided to make a Wish, which took a Miracle to undo.

And then there was Narnia. Caught it the other day too. Didn't like it. Obvious reasons being that its a LOTR rip-off (and I hate LOTR), and well, while the story was quite true to the original, and the White Witch WAS cool (possibly the coolest character in the movie), it didn't have the feel good element or the same kinda appeal as the BBC original I saw like 15 years ago. The special effects were also rather campy, which isn't a good thing.

Well, the next up I guess would be A Chinese Tall Story. Journey to the West meets Star Wars meets Gensomaden Saiyuki. I can't wait to see what happens. Probably Masked Rider mayhem.

Well, radio's playing something else now. And it's 10.20 PM. Half an hour's passed in the blink of an eye. Then again, time flies when you're high on vodka.

Well, let's fly a little higher, eh?

I remember, about a week and a half ago, I was at Alexandra Food Centre having Ah Balling (a Chinese dessert) and conspiring with a friend when I noticed this foot long rat scuttling around in the stall right in front of us. It was a stall called Ming Ji Su Shi (Ming Ji Cooked Food) that sold Char Siew (marinated pork roast) noodles. The scary thing was, the stall owner didn't even know! And well, somebody at the next table ordered a plate of Char Siew noodles, and was served something that looked decidedly ratty. It even twitched!

Said stall's on my boycott list. #01-47 is a no go. It's even got a B for its hygiene grading!

Yes, food now. What's the world coming to when you're served Char Siew rat? I mean this isn't a third world country, hey?

But that wasn't the end of my hawker troubles. There's this porridge stall at Maxwell Road Food Centre called Ho Kee. Pretty famous. Well, they're so famous they apparently don't need customer service. There's this really effeminate and cranky old man there (I reckon he's quite possibly a eunuch) who just oozes B-I-T-C-H.

No, I don't mean Babe In Total Control of Herself. The guy couldn't even take an order properly, had no end to sarcastic comments, and well, the way he spoons dollops of porridge and dishes it out just irks me. Frankly, I would have tossed that bowl of porridge in his face if I weren't with the D&D crew and was rushing for DOTA.

One more for the boycott list.

Tsk. Look at me go. I'm reduced to bitching about people and places for Christmas.

Then again, it doesn't really feel like Christmas, still. Lots of glitzy lights, false glitter, fake smiles, hypocrisy, or just plain ignorance. I think the spirit of Christmas was probably killed a few years back, and turned into a fluffy red hat with a tuft at the end or something.

Well, I don't know, but this is the end of Christmas 2005, at least in my books.

Merry Christmas, everyone. Have fun, kill stuff, pwn people, live life to the fullest, and get drunk on vodka like me!

It's 10.33 PM. What time is it over there?

It's 7.21 PM, Tuesday.

I caught Perhaps Love yesterday, and well, Peter Chan's outdone himself.

Think of this movie as Moulin Rouge meets 2046, and you get the idea. It was a really wild ride, cutting back and forth between real life, reel life, and poignant still life. It's not often that I cry at the movies (the last time being when I was watching 2046), but this flick actually brought a tear to my eyes.

Yes, even us antiheroes have chinks in our armor.

Perhaps Love was engaging on a cerebral level, touching on an emotional level, and it made for a visually stunning feast with its colors and stylistics. I could sing its praises all day, but where should I begin, even?

The opening was simple enough. It was philosophical rhetoric about memories, likening life to a stage, about how people played bit parts and roles of their own imagining. This, of course, sets the mood for the rest of the movie.

Yes, Perhaps Love is a love story, and no, us antiheroes don't usually watch love stories. Perhaps there's a reason for it.

The movie charts a love triangle between three people - a Director Nie, an Actress Sun, and an Actor Dong, who have banded together to produce a musical a la Moulin Rouge. The irony is, the script of the musical reflects real life. Sun, who plays a circus performer who'd lost her memory, has wiped Dong, her lover from ten years ago from her own. Dong, who plays the circus performer's fiance, agonizes over Sun, who left him for Nie. Nie, like the circus master in his own musical, is the jealous lover, who knows that he doesn't have a chance in hell, but does not want to give Sun up.

During the course of the film, each of them grapples with their own fears, insecurities, and feelings, and struggle to reconcile their pasts and find catharsis. The ending, of course, is bittersweet. There's love lost, love found, lost again.

Well, enough about love.

It's a good movie. Catch it if you can.

It's 7.39 PM. What time is it over there?

P.S. Am I a star in my own movie, and a bit player in the stage of others, or does it even matter? Do I want to fall between the cracks, count as nothing more than an extra, or a cameo, and get axed in editing? Who knows? Maybe I'll find out ten years later.