Sept. 28 Straw Dogs: I was watching MTV, and there's this little bit about the movie Straw Dogs. On imdb.com, the rating was 5.7/10 from 1500 viewers. I saw like 2min of the director/ writer Rod Lurie and I was very disturbed by it. It's been a couple of hrs since I saw that bit, and I'm still thinking about.
RL says (paraphrase): "The title Straw Dogs is based on this Chinese ceremony. The Chinese make these things for a ceremony, and afterwards, they throw it away. The antagonist Charlie is a straw dog. He was popular and on the football team, and now that he's out of high school, he's only a contractor. He has been used for his purpose, and now he has to find another purpose."
It stars James Marsden and Kate Bosworth who is a married couple David and Amy who moves back to her old small hometown. A's old boyfriend Charlie is there and there's a love triangle. I really felt the fear and tension when I was watching the clips because it leads to the climatic finale where David and Amy have to protect themselves from Charlie and his friends who will attack them. It's a remake of the 1971 movie.
Sept. 29 Reality- based: I realized I'm disturbed by it because it could happen to me. As in a group of bad guys could come and attack my house and family. As for other movies like The Bourne Identity, bad guys are chasing after a spy. I'm not a spy, so it won't happen to me. Or the movie Hard Candy where a sociopathic 14 yr old girl tortures a pedophile she met online. I'm not a pedophile so I know this won't happen to me.
In Bourne, there's lots of tension. Hard Candy is disturbing. I guess with Straw Dogs, I personally felt threatened like the characters did.
Comparisons:
A group of people attack a house: Straw Dogs have that as the ending. In the Dark Angel season 1 ep "Haven" (2001), they did that. I remember where Logan who's in a wheelchair is with a 10 yr old boy. The local bad guys were going to attack their cabin.
Logan: If you attack us, we are armed and we will defend ourselves!
Bad guy (sarcastic): Yeah, whatever, I'm just going to back off now!
It was also done in the 1996 movie Fear starring Mark Wahlberg and Reese Witherspoon. It was on TV back in 2003 and I saw the last half. However, in Dark Angel and Fear, I personally didn't feel threatened. I did feel the fear and tension.
Sept. 30: In all 3 cases, it's a group of grown men with weapons going to attack sympathetic characters in a house.
Feelings: I've been feeling angry and depressed. I get in these moods sometimes. Today I did take a Paxil. However, I can never hit as low of a point as I did back in gr. 11.
Lessons: Here are the life lessons I learned while I suffered from depression and struggled with my classes back in gr.11. At first I was stupid and lazy. In gr. 10, I didn't have to work hard or study and I was able to pass my classes because they were the low ones. I thought I could do that in gr.11, but I couldn't. I thought: "What's the point in trying when you are going to barely pass or even fail anyway? You're wasting your time working on something when you know you're not going to achieve it."
1. Hard work does pay off: I learned that by working hard and having my sister pretty much tutor me for hours on my math just so I could barely pass. I started paying attention in class, cutting down on TV, caring about school, and taking Ritalin. When I passed my math and science with my hard work, I was so proud of myself. It didn't seem achievable for me to pass, but I did. I immediately thought: "Hard work does pay off."
2. Trying and failing is better than not trying at all: If I didn't try, then how will I know what I can achieve? I will always be wondering: "If only I tried..."
3. Ignoring a problem is not going to make it go away: I thought ignoring my school work will make it go away and/or everything will work out on it's own and I'll pass. It was stupid of me to think that. But in gr. 10, I didn't have to study and I passed. In gr.11, it's harder.
You can take a break from your problem sometimes, like after dealing with it. In this case, work and study. After you're done, you may go and watch TV.
4. If you need help, ask: It's simple enough, but I really needed help with my math. I read in the Edmonton Journal Arts and Life section asking for help. There's this article about a woman who had a baby in stroller and a bag of groceries. She was going to the subway and was juggling her baby and bag. A "thuggish- looking teenager" came and took the stroller and helped her down two flights of stairs.
She thanks him and he looks her in the eyes and says: "I was raised by a single mom, ma'am." Aww...
5. The truth will set you free: When I finally told my parents about how I was depressed and was struggling with school, the weight was lifted off my shoulders.
6. You must have stress to achieve: I read an article in the Globe and Mail that stress can push you to get things done and achieve more. It's really about the right amount of stress. In gr. 11, I had 3 months to pick up my grades to passable. It was at a 10/10 stress level for 3 months.
Then in gr. 12, I had 5 months to keep my grades passable for the semester, and it was at a 7/10 stress level for 5 months. I prefer the latter.
Oct. 1 Working: I read in the Edmonton Journal Working section, there's an article about a woman who worked in the energy industry for 8 yrs. She quit so she could get her chemical engineering degree. She already did 2 yrs so she finished it. She did say (paraphrase): "It's really hard to leave a stable career to go back to school."
If I were hired at an office job, I would leave a part-time restaurant job. I still want to work at the restaurant on the weekends.
Oct. 2 Pizza 73: I talked to my new co-worker yesterday, and he said he worked there. It turns out the main call centre is in Hamilton, and Edmonton is the call centre that gets the spillover calls. It's hard to get commission because there aren't a lot of calls to be able to achieve that. He said he got sent home early a lot because there wasn't a lot of work. He worked there for 5 months.
Resume tip: He also says it's good to put a job on your resume if it's longer than 3 months because you passed the probationary period. Good tip.
Oct. 3 Amanda Knox: She has finally been freed after being in prison for 4 yrs. She has been acquitted of murdering her roommate. I have seen interviews with her parents and sister on 20/20. The parents said that they have spent so much money traveling to see her in Italy that they could have bought a really nice house.
From the diary entries that was read to the audience, it seems like AK was innocent. I personally think she's innocent too from the 2 in-depth episodes of 20/20. However, there are people who think she did it so she may get harassed.
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