Painting the Horizon

I am sorry, Robert Downey Jr. You will never be Sherlock Holmes to me. I was considering seeing the new movie for Stephen Fry as Mycroft, but I just saw the trailer and it killed my interest.

I get the feeling I might be able to enjoy these movies if they were just inspired by Holmes and the main character was called something else entirely. I know the whole point is that it's supposed to be a re-imagining for a 21th century audience, with lots of explosions and gunfire, but it just doesn't feel right to me.

Voiko tää nyt mitenkään olla oikein, että olen asunnosta pois 2,5 viikkoa, jona aikana ei ole edes jääkaappi seinässä, ja sähkölasku ei ole edellistä pienempi (saattaa jopa olla että on euron kalliimpi)? Etenkin kun tosiaan edellisessä asunnossa en onnistunut kuluttamaan kuin noin puolet tästä sähkömäärästä mitä tän asunnon lukemalaskut väittää.

Hookay, I'm back from the entrance exams.

Didn't go so well in Turku. I got eliminated halfway through. In my defense, though, the competition out there is really tough. I went with a friend, who got to stay till the end of the exam, so I can't have been too far from achieving the same, given that we are on about the same level. I will admit, though, that I was everything but on fire out there, and maybe I could've tried a little harder.

In any case, being eliminated at Turku meant I could make it to the Kajaani exam, and even had one day to spare, so I visited karhuntaival on the way. The Kajaani exam was super easy, but there was a bit in it that may have wrecked my chances, since it was not about my skills, but rather my personality and dreams, which have helped me in when it's been about art schools, but may not look as good in a technical field. They said if you didn't get a set minimum score from that part, you could not get in.

And, the thing is... I'm starting to have doubts about Kajaani again. Assuming I'm accepted, I can either accept or decline. Yeah, I could accept, but I'm thinking of applying to Turku again in two years (because I realized just how much I want to be an animator), and if I stay in my current school, I would graduate by then. If I go to Kajaani, apply to Turku and get accepted on the second try, I will have wasted four years without a degree to show for it. And I'm still only 21, I'd have time for Kajaani later.


Part of this is just me freaking out over the possibility of having to move to a completely new place, another part is that, well, I've spent these past 6 years with artistic types. The Turku exam was full of that type, amazing and pleasant people. The Kajaani applicants, though, mostly didn't look like the type I could connect with. But then again, a lot of them have got to be huge nerds, so there might be a connection to be found on that level. And there's the fact that I've heard some negative things of the Kajaani AMK, mainly that not everyone who is interested in game development gets to specialize in it, and I'm not sure if that risk is worth taking.

Of course, I've been thinking that it might not be that bad even if I didn't get to specialize in games, buuuut... then I run into the fact that I'm abandoning a perfectly decent place of study to chase after a dream. If that dream turns out to be unattainable, what would the point be in abandoning a pleasant, if pointless place for a place that "might not be that bad"?

Since I've been on a Sherlock Holmes kick lately, I decided to see the 2009 movie, which was good enough a movie, I guess, but just didn't feel like a Sherlock Holmes movie to me. :( Don't get me wrong, I didn't mind the plot or the action scenes, but the massive property damage felt out of place.

I've no issue with Watson's portrayal, and although I don't appreciate making Irene Adler into a career criminal, I have to admit that she kind of kicked ass too. Despite being made into a love interest. Again. The special effects were neat enough, too even though the animation of some CGI objects was a bit off to my eye, and even though lot of the showy explosions and whatnot felt gratuitous.

But the real problem for me was Holmes himself. Now, Downey acted well, but there's only so much he could do about a script that didn't do the character justice. And then there was his appearance. Holmes in the books has his eccentrities, but I just can't buy a Holmes who makes no effort to look presentable. Watson and Holmes in the film often seemed roughly equal in intellect, too, which just should not happen. Now, Watson's not the idiot he is commonly portrayed as, so his level of intellect in the film seemed appropriate enough; It was Holmes who seemed to have been dumbed down. Holmes is a kind of a Marty Stu. He's supposed to be so far above mere mortals in his mental capacity that anyone capable of outwitting him is quite extraordinary in their own right. It's the very core of his character. Not so here. He is outwitted entirely too frequently - granted, often by characters who are supposed to be his match, but even then with laughably simple methods.

Now, I admit, I've been watching the Granada series with Jeremy Brett recently, so it was virtually impossible for any other Holmes to meet my expectations with Brett's portrayal (and such portrayal!) so fresh in my mind, but given the limits placed upon him for this film, Downey could not have outdone the foggy recollection I have of Basil Rathbone's version.

So my classmates are having a get-together tonight. I don't know whether to go or not.

On one hand, these are nice people. I like them, we all get along and everything.

( On the other hand, I know that the vast majority of them are going to take this opportunity to get roaring drunk )

tl;dr: I'm a stuck up party-pooper

Sometimes living in the middle of nowhere kind of sucks.

Finding out that there isn't a theatre within a 50km radius of me that's showing Year One is one of those times.

The same thing happened with Watchmen.

And I never had any illusions of getting to see the Tekken movie (if it ever freaking gets released at all) in a theatre, either.

Argh, mikä helvetti mustakin muka tulee isona kun mikään ei kelpaa eikä koskaan oo kivaa. Paitsi silloin kun ei tarvii tehdä mitään oikeeta. Mielellään vaan piirtäisin ja lukisin ja pelaisin loppuikäni.

Missä on Peter Pan ja kyyti Mikä-mikä-maahan kun sitä tarvitaan?

I've finally gotten around to watching Avatar. I love it. I was already spoiled all to Hell before I even started, but that doesn't seem to be lessening my enjoyment.

Also, One Piece's new opening:



Yeah I'm probably the only person on Earth who even noticed. Or cares.

I don't much like the We Are! remix, though I don't exactly hate it, either. And really I don't like how they didn't acknowledge Brook as a crew member. And I would have liked some Bonney Rayleigh Shabondy action, but I guess they're planning on a filler arc or something. The animation was nice, though. When there was any. It's pretty meh, overall.

ETA: lol I keep checking the picture just in case he's like... hiding behind Kureha or something because I'm paranoid about being wrong.

I have found an apartment. I'll be taking this weekend to pack, clean the flat and move in. I'm not sure how long it'll be before I get Internet access, but I think it's a safe bet that I won't around as much for at least a week or two.

Oh, and did I mention that I'm fucking terrified of this? It's the first time I've moved anywhere, with or without my parents (not counting that time when we moved to the current house when I was less than a year old). I've felt really anxious for most of the day and when I got home, I burst to tears when everything decided to sink in at the same time.
I feel like such a wuss. I've got friends who've done this much earlier in their lives.


Also, I updated Firefox and now it looks stupid and my Winamp toolbar is gone. Is there a way to make it look like it used to?