Saw X-Men: the Last Stand and the Da Vinci Code yesterday. Don't really have much to say, I mean I agree with all the critics, they could have been done differently and much better, but not that they were bad... X-Men 3 makes me sad though, because once it's messed up, it's messed up. You can't really bring those ppl back to life for real, or give them back their powers for real (that would be a waste of everyone's time now, wouldn't it), so what's done is done... I guess we can enjoy the parts that were good or just watch X-2 obsessively and pretend 3 never happened.
Movie pass (cancelled yesterday):
1) Firefly disc 3 and 4: DA BOMB, the Firefly series is probably the best thing we've rented in the past 30 days.
2) Narnia: what, for kids. I don't even know if kids would find this enthralling.
3) Thumbsucker: entertaining, a neater version of "the Squid and the Whale" I guess, reminds me of other slick movies about a troubled teenage boy, such as Igby Goes Down. But I dislike Walter Kirn (author of the book it's based upon) enough to automatically find the story to be shallow-trying-to-be-deep.
4) Jarhead: haven't watched it yet
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Tomorrow night, audition for a cappella group Treblemakers, which is an NU group that consists of all Taiwanese undergrads. I know, weird, see as how I am neither, but I have to sing, and I have a friend in it and she said I can audition. I actually had the thought of auditioning for all the on-campus a cappella groups this fall, and I won't tell them I'm not a student, and see if I get any callbacks hahahaha....
Anyway, being the big dork I am, it took me over a week to come up with an audition song. I was thinking of a j-pop song, but decided against it as it's really an alto song and too popish to show off any skill. Then was set on O Holy Night, but really prefer not to sing a Christmas song when it's not Christmas or a Christian group, and too safe. Thought about On My Own (Les Mis), but again, an alto song, not much range, too long. Cosette doesn't really have solos (don't worry, I like Eponine more). Somewhere Out There, the high part is so unelegant. Think of Me (Phantom), very good for soprano, but is choppy in the musical, not a complete solo, and that crazy ending is a killer, and if you don't do the crazy ending people will wonder if you can't do it. Thought about something classical, but no. The national anthem would work, but cheesey! Thought about America (My Country Tis of Thee), as that was the required audition song for Jax Symphony Chorus, so I already know the lyrics, but nah. Settled on Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again (Phantom), it's a soprano solo, high as heck, and I'm not gonna change my mind!
ALTHOUGH, my favorite songs from Phantom are Angel of Music, All I Ask of You, Point of No Return, Prima Donna. And Les Mis, I cannot sing or listen to the part where Val Jean dies without crying buckets, but it's my favorite part. And I like any part that has Eponine singing.
For the record, I thought Emmy Rossum was terrible as Christine in Phantom the movie. The singing, the acting, I know like 10 people who could've played her better. There were so many scenes where she had to be in the scene but not singing, and she'd just stand there with no expression, instead of being amazed or scared. Even when she was singing, she looked like a deer caught in headlights. I have nothing against Rossum as a regular actress, but just in that movie, ugh bad.
Anyway, being the big dork I am, it took me over a week to come up with an audition song. I was thinking of a j-pop song, but decided against it as it's really an alto song and too popish to show off any skill. Then was set on O Holy Night, but really prefer not to sing a Christmas song when it's not Christmas or a Christian group, and too safe. Thought about On My Own (Les Mis), but again, an alto song, not much range, too long. Cosette doesn't really have solos (don't worry, I like Eponine more). Somewhere Out There, the high part is so unelegant. Think of Me (Phantom), very good for soprano, but is choppy in the musical, not a complete solo, and that crazy ending is a killer, and if you don't do the crazy ending people will wonder if you can't do it. Thought about something classical, but no. The national anthem would work, but cheesey! Thought about America (My Country Tis of Thee), as that was the required audition song for Jax Symphony Chorus, so I already know the lyrics, but nah. Settled on Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again (Phantom), it's a soprano solo, high as heck, and I'm not gonna change my mind!
ALTHOUGH, my favorite songs from Phantom are Angel of Music, All I Ask of You, Point of No Return, Prima Donna. And Les Mis, I cannot sing or listen to the part where Val Jean dies without crying buckets, but it's my favorite part. And I like any part that has Eponine singing.
For the record, I thought Emmy Rossum was terrible as Christine in Phantom the movie. The singing, the acting, I know like 10 people who could've played her better. There were so many scenes where she had to be in the scene but not singing, and she'd just stand there with no expression, instead of being amazed or scared. Even when she was singing, she looked like a deer caught in headlights. I have nothing against Rossum as a regular actress, but just in that movie, ugh bad.
Friday, May 26, 2006
Don't you just hate it when...
-It's past your bedtime but you can't stop clicking the mouse and doing a search on anything that pops into your head or re-reading the God of Small Things?
-You cannot for the life of you drag yourself out of bed early enough to not be late for work even though you get 7 hours of sleep per night?
-The only place in the whole country where you get bad cell phone reception is your home and your office, and you have to call all your customers while parked at a meter because you get reception there?
-There's always enough cat hair and girl hair in your apartment to stuff a cushion?
-Your vacuum filters are so expensive, you've been using the same one for 3 years?
-You and your husband's stuff doesn't fit in your closets? We are planning on getting a 2 bedroom + den someday for bedroom, office, and closet.
-You cannot for the life of you drag yourself out of bed early enough to not be late for work even though you get 7 hours of sleep per night?
-You have to play the longest waiting game EVER with potentially huge customers?
-You do origami for a living but have a very painful wrist due to tennis playing?-The only place in the whole country where you get bad cell phone reception is your home and your office, and you have to call all your customers while parked at a meter because you get reception there?
-There's always enough cat hair and girl hair in your apartment to stuff a cushion?
-Your vacuum filters are so expensive, you've been using the same one for 3 years?
-You and your husband's stuff doesn't fit in your closets? We are planning on getting a 2 bedroom + den someday for bedroom, office, and closet.
Sorry to bore you
LOST FINALE:
OK, we sorta found out why the plane crashed! Ahh I thought this day would never come... but it almost makes me think "Why didn't I think of that?" It's so simple. We've always known the hatch on the island has some weird magnetic field, so it makes sense that it would screw up an airplane's route if strong enough. Well now Jack, Kate, and Sawyer got caught by the Others, and those Others are still a mystery that needs to be hashed out. The final scene opened up a whole new mystery to be pondered. It seems like some people (namely Demond's girlfriend) have been looking for the island (or something on the island) and seem to have found it (through the magnetism changes). How did she know about it? Why was she looking? What does Desmond crashing on the island have to do with his boat race? Why did Desmond crash? Ponderances...
OK, we sorta found out why the plane crashed! Ahh I thought this day would never come... but it almost makes me think "Why didn't I think of that?" It's so simple. We've always known the hatch on the island has some weird magnetic field, so it makes sense that it would screw up an airplane's route if strong enough. Well now Jack, Kate, and Sawyer got caught by the Others, and those Others are still a mystery that needs to be hashed out. The final scene opened up a whole new mystery to be pondered. It seems like some people (namely Demond's girlfriend) have been looking for the island (or something on the island) and seem to have found it (through the magnetism changes). How did she know about it? Why was she looking? What does Desmond crashing on the island have to do with his boat race? Why did Desmond crash? Ponderances...
Monday, May 22, 2006
Bugs
Movie Pass:
Junebug: arrr Amy Adams is so awesome in this movie! I love it because of her. During Oscar time, Ebert made all accurate predictions except he put down Amy Adams to win best supporting actress, even though he knew Rachel Wietz would win, because he just loved her too much in this movie. And she is beyond perfect. I find myself loving all the actresses who are in "Catch Me If You Can." Amy Adams... Jennifer Garner (well I used to like her)... Ellen Pompeo (of Meredith-Grey fame)... Elizabeth Banks (of 40 Year Old Virgin)... Anyway, you have to see Junebug for Amy Adams!!
Firefly, disc 1 and 2: the TV show that came before "Serenity." I can't get enough of those guys. They are so funny. The western theme is really prominent, much more than in the movie. The stories are kinda of Stargate-ish though.
OH OH, ALIAS SERIES FINALE TONIGHT!!!
Ar, I dunno why my blog has become a media blog. That's all I blog about now. But it's really because I don't want to think about my more serious issues.
Junebug: arrr Amy Adams is so awesome in this movie! I love it because of her. During Oscar time, Ebert made all accurate predictions except he put down Amy Adams to win best supporting actress, even though he knew Rachel Wietz would win, because he just loved her too much in this movie. And she is beyond perfect. I find myself loving all the actresses who are in "Catch Me If You Can." Amy Adams... Jennifer Garner (well I used to like her)... Ellen Pompeo (of Meredith-Grey fame)... Elizabeth Banks (of 40 Year Old Virgin)... Anyway, you have to see Junebug for Amy Adams!!
Firefly, disc 1 and 2: the TV show that came before "Serenity." I can't get enough of those guys. They are so funny. The western theme is really prominent, much more than in the movie. The stories are kinda of Stargate-ish though.
OH OH, ALIAS SERIES FINALE TONIGHT!!!
Ar, I dunno why my blog has become a media blog. That's all I blog about now. But it's really because I don't want to think about my more serious issues.
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Grey's Anatomy Finale
I loved the finale. For those of you who watched it... I liked:
1) the parts where the all the interns were working on Denny
2) "where are my suck-ups?"
3) all the parts with Meredith and Derick
4) the last scene with Meredith, Derick, and Finn looking at each other
5) when all the interns talked to the chief individually
I was pretty affected by the episode, I couldn't really sleep.
I've noticed (from blogs) an overwhelming number of viewers dislike Meredith. Why? WHY? She's the saddest character ever to grace the television screen! Aren't you sad for her? Is she really that bad of a person? Actually, she's not bad at all. The whole mess is Derick's fault, how can you blame her? And what happened with George, it's not like she had malicious intent. And with Finn, it's not really her FAULT she likes both. Some people are just more messed up than others and they can't do much about it. And she's a good doctor. On the other hand, don't you find her lovable? How she speaks the truth?
1) the parts where the all the interns were working on Denny
2) "where are my suck-ups?"
3) all the parts with Meredith and Derick
4) the last scene with Meredith, Derick, and Finn looking at each other
5) when all the interns talked to the chief individually
I was pretty affected by the episode, I couldn't really sleep.
I've noticed (from blogs) an overwhelming number of viewers dislike Meredith. Why? WHY? She's the saddest character ever to grace the television screen! Aren't you sad for her? Is she really that bad of a person? Actually, she's not bad at all. The whole mess is Derick's fault, how can you blame her? And what happened with George, it's not like she had malicious intent. And with Finn, it's not really her FAULT she likes both. Some people are just more messed up than others and they can't do much about it. And she's a good doctor. On the other hand, don't you find her lovable? How she speaks the truth?
Monday, May 15, 2006
He can't die because...
GREY'S ANATOMY: *SPOLER ALERT* Burke! He can't die, he's my favorite character. Well, maybe tie with Meredith. Anyway, major drama, setting up for the 2-hour finale. They're all idiots. Izzy, Burke, Bailey (for letting Izzy oversee Denny), Cally, they all act stupidly and humanly. And Meredith... arr... SO SAD...
SURVIVOR: my favorite event of the TV season... 3-hour Survivor finale. It was a really nice reunion show because everyone was so positive for once. Not the usual hostility. I love Cerie and actually grew to like Aras and most other contestants, except for one--I don't want to be mean, but I just thought Tina was such a sore loser and trying to attack Cerie?? Jeff completely downplayed it too. And you know how people always look worse at the reunion show because they're all fat and wearing too much makeup? This season people looked pretty "normal" for a change. And what was up with Sally at the last tribal council? Her makeup was so bad, UGH... but it kind of looked like she was really sunburned on her face. But she was back to her cute self at reunion. Good save, Sally.
Movie pass:
March of the Penguins: gives you a whole new perspective on nature and life. Humans are so different from other animals in that they don't need to be taught a single thing, while we have to be shown everything.
Howl's Moving Castle: great and everything, but nothing tops Princess Mononoke in my book. (Although I'm gonna watch Spirited Away again soon to make sure.) The characters weren't particularly poignant. The first scene was totally channeling V for Vendetta??!! An identical scene... makes me suspect it was stolen from the comic book, it was so similar. But then again both films are based on books. Care to comment? Oh and I didn't fully understand the story. I should look it up.
Zathura: I found this nerve-wracking. If you don't like your nerves wracked, don't watch it. But otherwise... Dax (from Punk'd) as the hero? Didn't work for me. *SPOILER* And he's supposed to play Walter grown up? Couldn't they find someone with a tiny bit of resemblance? Actually, the story totally didn't make sense to me. It was so forced. So Walter grows up and goes back in time to change the past, yet the new young Walter doesn't make the same decisions as the old young Walter (without being influenced)? That doesn't make any sense.
And books...
Finally finished The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. I think it took me about 4 months. HAHAHA. Well, I think it's my all-time favorite book.
SURVIVOR: my favorite event of the TV season... 3-hour Survivor finale. It was a really nice reunion show because everyone was so positive for once. Not the usual hostility. I love Cerie and actually grew to like Aras and most other contestants, except for one--I don't want to be mean, but I just thought Tina was such a sore loser and trying to attack Cerie?? Jeff completely downplayed it too. And you know how people always look worse at the reunion show because they're all fat and wearing too much makeup? This season people looked pretty "normal" for a change. And what was up with Sally at the last tribal council? Her makeup was so bad, UGH... but it kind of looked like she was really sunburned on her face. But she was back to her cute self at reunion. Good save, Sally.
Movie pass:
March of the Penguins: gives you a whole new perspective on nature and life. Humans are so different from other animals in that they don't need to be taught a single thing, while we have to be shown everything.
Howl's Moving Castle: great and everything, but nothing tops Princess Mononoke in my book. (Although I'm gonna watch Spirited Away again soon to make sure.) The characters weren't particularly poignant. The first scene was totally channeling V for Vendetta??!! An identical scene... makes me suspect it was stolen from the comic book, it was so similar. But then again both films are based on books. Care to comment? Oh and I didn't fully understand the story. I should look it up.
Zathura: I found this nerve-wracking. If you don't like your nerves wracked, don't watch it. But otherwise... Dax (from Punk'd) as the hero? Didn't work for me. *SPOILER* And he's supposed to play Walter grown up? Couldn't they find someone with a tiny bit of resemblance? Actually, the story totally didn't make sense to me. It was so forced. So Walter grows up and goes back in time to change the past, yet the new young Walter doesn't make the same decisions as the old young Walter (without being influenced)? That doesn't make any sense.
And books...
Finally finished The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. I think it took me about 4 months. HAHAHA. Well, I think it's my all-time favorite book.
Friday, May 12, 2006
Conan O'Brien in Chicago
Went to see Conan today. He is in town for 4 shows at the Chicago Theatre. Today turned out to be pretty much the worst day possible for this. Here's the deal: even if you have tickets, you still have to go stand in a line (of over 3000 people) to guarantee seats or get in line real early to get good seats. I'd already been dreading standing in line for 3 - 4 hours, which is what many people do, so we'd decided to get there around 1:30 pm (you are supposed to be there before 3:15), so we'll definitely get seats and not too bad ones. 2 hours of waiting still seemed excruciatingly long to me but thought if all these bums can do it so can I. WELL, turns out today was supposed to rain non-stop, and I even asked my husband if he wanted to not go at all. But he insisted, so we went, and yes, it rained non-stop, and the wind was about as bad as it gets. Everyone was soaked and freezing, for hours in line, literally, just a mass of umbrellas spanning several blocks. Got in there finally, FREEZING, because my jeans were wet up to my knees, and I was a little underdressed for the weather (it was about 50 degrees F, and I was in a long-sleeve t-shirt and wool sweater). The whole time I was cold and uncomfortable, but it was worth it.
After sitting for a looong time, "PreparationH Raymond" came out (not as a character) and very graciously thanked us for waiting in the rain, and how in NYC that would've never happened (kissing up), and funnily asked us not to yell out our town names in the middle of the show ("Schaumburg!"), and told us to spend ten seconds to support Cubs or White Sox to get it out of our system so we won't disrupt the show with it. I liked this part of the show.
Then Max Weinberg and the 7 played a few songs, and it was so cool, they were amazing. The bald guy sang craaaazy good, and did some circular breathing with his trumpet, that went on way too long (literally like 3 minutes on one note), but they were so good man...
Then Joel introduces Conan and he comes out. I was really excited. Jokes were funny. He said "shitty of Chicago" by accident once (instead of "city) and everyone "oooh"ed and cheered, and he said "we're on Cinemax" or something, and said if this were PBS, they wouldn't even edit it.
Then there was this pre-taped part that was hilarious, and then John C. Reilly was the guest and then he and Conan suddenly burst into song (pre-planned), really really good... and then John Mayer, dude that guy was GOOD... one woman a few rows ahead was really excited and stood up and starting shaking her butt with the songs, and she was the ONLY one in the whole place, which blocked some people's view, and was totally embarrassing. When they were setting up the stage for John Mayer, it took so long, like 20 minutes maybe, and the audience was so patient and quiet, it was weird. I'd never seen 3,500 people just sitting there with nothing to do.
OH these 3 girls right in front of us, every time they stood up (like to clap and cheer), their pants came off!!! One girl was in sweat pants, and her whole thong would show. 2nd girl was in jeans that were too big or something, but nothing showed. 3rd girl was in jeans and they were too low-rise or something, major "coin slot," as SNL put it. Disturbing.
After sitting for a looong time, "PreparationH Raymond" came out (not as a character) and very graciously thanked us for waiting in the rain, and how in NYC that would've never happened (kissing up), and funnily asked us not to yell out our town names in the middle of the show ("Schaumburg!"), and told us to spend ten seconds to support Cubs or White Sox to get it out of our system so we won't disrupt the show with it. I liked this part of the show.
Then Max Weinberg and the 7 played a few songs, and it was so cool, they were amazing. The bald guy sang craaaazy good, and did some circular breathing with his trumpet, that went on way too long (literally like 3 minutes on one note), but they were so good man...
Then Joel introduces Conan and he comes out. I was really excited. Jokes were funny. He said "shitty of Chicago" by accident once (instead of "city) and everyone "oooh"ed and cheered, and he said "we're on Cinemax" or something, and said if this were PBS, they wouldn't even edit it.
Then there was this pre-taped part that was hilarious, and then John C. Reilly was the guest and then he and Conan suddenly burst into song (pre-planned), really really good... and then John Mayer, dude that guy was GOOD... one woman a few rows ahead was really excited and stood up and starting shaking her butt with the songs, and she was the ONLY one in the whole place, which blocked some people's view, and was totally embarrassing. When they were setting up the stage for John Mayer, it took so long, like 20 minutes maybe, and the audience was so patient and quiet, it was weird. I'd never seen 3,500 people just sitting there with nothing to do.
OH these 3 girls right in front of us, every time they stood up (like to clap and cheer), their pants came off!!! One girl was in sweat pants, and her whole thong would show. 2nd girl was in jeans that were too big or something, but nothing showed. 3rd girl was in jeans and they were too low-rise or something, major "coin slot," as SNL put it. Disturbing.
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
I love Logan (again)
No, not THAT Logan. I still can't stand Gilmore Girls' Logan. I love Veronica Mars' Logan.
SO TONIGHT (well, last night technically), two season finales!!
Gilmore Girls: totally predictable! They showed it all in the preview! Not a single interesting thing! **SPOILER ALERT** Okay, the very last 30 seconds was kinda an OMG moment, but I mean, we saw it coming! And I'm kinda GLAD Lorelai slept with Christopher. Dude, Luke has been so annoying and arrr WRONG... how can the writers so thoroughly kill a character, my dream 40-year-old disgruntled stubbled backwards-cap flannel-shirt man. So there you have it. Lorelai and Christopher. Christopher has been a totally stand-up guy this season, so there's really nothing to be unhappy about here. Luke needs to work through his lame crap before he should be allowed to marry Lorelai anyway! Geez... And Rory and Logan, their whole storyline was not worth a mention. Bring back Jess!
AND... OK, Gilmore Girls is only gonna have one more season. The bad news is the writers/creators are leaving. This is so not good, because the whole show is based on the dialog. I don't want to be too pessimistic beforehand, so I'm just hoping they're able to maintain the same Gilmore Girls.
Veronica Mars: OMG. Never disappointing, always riveting, Veronica Mars outdoes itself. I LOVE THIS SHOW, and everyone NOT watching it is sooo missing out on this smart entertaining funny realistic-high-school suspenseful thrilling show!! (Steve: it's more riveting than 24.) WELL, the season finale of course reveals the mystery starting from the first episode. This season's first episode was DA BOMB (school bus goes down a cliff and everyone dies--except the rich kids who were riding a limo). And every episode after basically examines people as suspects for the murder(s), and in the finale (tonight), Veronica figures out who the killer is, while escaping the killer's murderous rampage. I didn't guess the killer would be Beaver, but then again I didn't really line up every character and analyze. Then the plane exploding right above them, that was really cool/unexpected, but I was 100% sure Keith wasn't on the plane, was anyone actually fooled? If that was gonna be Keith's death, they would've made it much more dramatic, like showing him on the plane having a conversation with Veronica. But Veronica's reaction was Emmy-winning! And Logan saves the Veronica again... and with his little drunken speech from last week's episode... he rocks.
The absolute best thing about this show is Kristen Bell, who plays Veronica. Her acting, amazing, out of this world. And Logan, he, again, was great tonight, and I love him again. And this is exactly why he's a good actor! One moment I hate him, the next moment I love him again. For example, I never liked or disliked Duncan, who was also one of Veronica's fidgety boyfriends. And Leo, I couldn't even recognize him out of all the guys in cop uniforms (not to mention how sketchy it was that Veronica as a junior in high school was dating a cop). But with Logan, he does that thing where you make small movements with your facial muscles to show emotions--oh right, ACTING. This isn't a character issue, it's the actors, Logan is just better. I'm happy they are back together.
SO TONIGHT (well, last night technically), two season finales!!
Gilmore Girls: totally predictable! They showed it all in the preview! Not a single interesting thing! **SPOILER ALERT** Okay, the very last 30 seconds was kinda an OMG moment, but I mean, we saw it coming! And I'm kinda GLAD Lorelai slept with Christopher. Dude, Luke has been so annoying and arrr WRONG... how can the writers so thoroughly kill a character, my dream 40-year-old disgruntled stubbled backwards-cap flannel-shirt man. So there you have it. Lorelai and Christopher. Christopher has been a totally stand-up guy this season, so there's really nothing to be unhappy about here. Luke needs to work through his lame crap before he should be allowed to marry Lorelai anyway! Geez... And Rory and Logan, their whole storyline was not worth a mention. Bring back Jess!
AND... OK, Gilmore Girls is only gonna have one more season. The bad news is the writers/creators are leaving. This is so not good, because the whole show is based on the dialog. I don't want to be too pessimistic beforehand, so I'm just hoping they're able to maintain the same Gilmore Girls.
Veronica Mars: OMG. Never disappointing, always riveting, Veronica Mars outdoes itself. I LOVE THIS SHOW, and everyone NOT watching it is sooo missing out on this smart entertaining funny realistic-high-school suspenseful thrilling show!! (Steve: it's more riveting than 24.) WELL, the season finale of course reveals the mystery starting from the first episode. This season's first episode was DA BOMB (school bus goes down a cliff and everyone dies--except the rich kids who were riding a limo). And every episode after basically examines people as suspects for the murder(s), and in the finale (tonight), Veronica figures out who the killer is, while escaping the killer's murderous rampage. I didn't guess the killer would be Beaver, but then again I didn't really line up every character and analyze. Then the plane exploding right above them, that was really cool/unexpected, but I was 100% sure Keith wasn't on the plane, was anyone actually fooled? If that was gonna be Keith's death, they would've made it much more dramatic, like showing him on the plane having a conversation with Veronica. But Veronica's reaction was Emmy-winning! And Logan saves the Veronica again... and with his little drunken speech from last week's episode... he rocks.
The absolute best thing about this show is Kristen Bell, who plays Veronica. Her acting, amazing, out of this world. And Logan, he, again, was great tonight, and I love him again. And this is exactly why he's a good actor! One moment I hate him, the next moment I love him again. For example, I never liked or disliked Duncan, who was also one of Veronica's fidgety boyfriends. And Leo, I couldn't even recognize him out of all the guys in cop uniforms (not to mention how sketchy it was that Veronica as a junior in high school was dating a cop). But with Logan, he does that thing where you make small movements with your facial muscles to show emotions--oh right, ACTING. This isn't a character issue, it's the actors, Logan is just better. I'm happy they are back together.
It's a Mystery! Search engine rankings...
Search engine rankings for my online origami store, using fairly general keywords such as "origami cranes":
Yahoo!: 3 - 30
MSN: 3 - 11
Google: 500 < UNKNOWN
The ever-elusive Google rankings...
How can one improve their site's Google ranking? Of course this would be directly related to how Google decides. And how Google decides is a secret. There is speculation, but no one knows for sure. Look at this site, and you'll get an idea of the nuances that go into Google rankings. Google even has ways of determining if you are doing something to cheat the system, in which case they would kick you down to the bottom.
Google hates me. I'm pretty sure my site is grossly violating their rules and they're penalizing, because there's no other way the search term "buy origami" wouldn't show my site in the first 350 results (2nd in both Yahoo and MSN). I know various things I am doing that make my ranking good in Yahoo and MSN are making my ranking bad in Google. Which is why I use ads in Google only (visible only in USA). Arrr. I'd rather keep things the way they are, instead of lose my Yahoo and MSN rankings while I get to be on the tenth page in Google.
I never use Google to search anymore, only Yahoo, which has worked out really well for me :P
Yahoo!: 3 - 30
MSN: 3 - 11
Google: 500 < UNKNOWN
The ever-elusive Google rankings...
How can one improve their site's Google ranking? Of course this would be directly related to how Google decides. And how Google decides is a secret. There is speculation, but no one knows for sure. Look at this site, and you'll get an idea of the nuances that go into Google rankings. Google even has ways of determining if you are doing something to cheat the system, in which case they would kick you down to the bottom.
Google hates me. I'm pretty sure my site is grossly violating their rules and they're penalizing, because there's no other way the search term "buy origami" wouldn't show my site in the first 350 results (2nd in both Yahoo and MSN). I know various things I am doing that make my ranking good in Yahoo and MSN are making my ranking bad in Google. Which is why I use ads in Google only (visible only in USA). Arrr. I'd rather keep things the way they are, instead of lose my Yahoo and MSN rankings while I get to be on the tenth page in Google.
I never use Google to search anymore, only Yahoo, which has worked out really well for me :P
Monday, May 08, 2006
JJ Abrams, MI3
Saw "Mission: Impossible 3" this weekend. It was good. Not my type of movie, but I am a fan of JJ Abrams (creator of Lost and Alias), and this movie was SO Alias. The first scene is straight out of the first scene of the first ever Alias episode. OK, in Alias the hostage was a molar, but still.... Then the tech guy, better than Marshall, a little like a comedic version of 24's Chloe. Keri Russell (of Abrams's "Felicity") makes a really cool agent, and she looks so much better with straight blond hair. I think everyone wanted more of her. And Maggie Q has a much bigger part than I imagined. Ai... but the plot twists were pretty easy to predict... much easier than Alias and Lost HAHAHA. BTW, Abrams's "What About Brian" got cancelled and will show its "finale" this week. Hope he doesn't turn into David E. Kelly.
The best part about M:I3 is coming home and reading Harry Knowles's review. I love that he loves movies so much.
Movie pass movies...
Shopgirl: funny, depressing, great clothes, Jason Schwartzman, many aspects just like "Amelie"--the colors, Claire Danes's character, the narration, some cinematography. I recommend this movie to V.Li.
Being John Malkovich: hadn't seen this so had to. Wacky. Can't help comparing it to Kaufman's other movies and liking the other ones better.
Capote: good and didn't seem long at all. No way Hoffman could've lost the Oscar.
The best part about M:I3 is coming home and reading Harry Knowles's review. I love that he loves movies so much.
Movie pass movies...
Shopgirl: funny, depressing, great clothes, Jason Schwartzman, many aspects just like "Amelie"--the colors, Claire Danes's character, the narration, some cinematography. I recommend this movie to V.Li.
Being John Malkovich: hadn't seen this so had to. Wacky. Can't help comparing it to Kaufman's other movies and liking the other ones better.
Capote: good and didn't seem long at all. No way Hoffman could've lost the Oscar.
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Lost and Alias (spoilers) and my fave girls
Huge shockers tonight. If you haven't been following, you'll have no idea what I'm talking about. So in the end of the last episode of Lost, Jack and Kate (love her) find Michael in the jungle. In the end of tonight's episode, Michael shoots and kills Anna-Lucia! He shoots Libby who surprises him, though I'm guessing she didn't die. Then he opens the door to Henry's holding cell, and Michael shoots himself in the heart area. The end. Well, we know Michael doesn't die because he's in the preview for the next episode. That means he shot himself in the shoulder. So what's this all about??? Prediction: Michael wants to motivate everyone to go get those bad "others" and save his son, so he makes it look like Henry shot the three of them. Of course Libby knows the truth, so that might be a problem for him if she didn't die. OR, the "others" told him he would get his son back if he freed Henry, and he thought this was the only way he could do it, to make it look like Henry shot them and got away.
Alias shockers. I really loved this show during the first 3 seasons or so, and now they are in the final episodes of the series as the storylines have gotten too outlandish and people think the show is too complicated and confusing. One thing is the characters keep switching back and forth between good and evil, dead and alive, which is frustrating, because you're never sure about them. And apparently, the writers' solution to explaining what happens to all the characters before the series ends is to kill them off! Tonight they killed Nadia (AFTER curing her of her season-long zombie disease) and Renee, the super cool French woman, by far my favorite Alias character. Renee MUST have been based on La Femme Nikita.
Monday, May 01, 2006
Movies and someone I used to work with
Got one of those Blockbuster passes yesterday to see an unlimited number of movies in a month. You can only rent one at a time, which is why it's only $14.99. There are so many we want to see! We've watched these three so far:
1) Constant Gardener:
Interesting, complex, sometimes exciting, overall good, but the spurts of action in this serious drama just stuck out to me. The conspiracy/detective/adventure aspects were okay, but I liked the characters' relationship development stuff.
2) The Squid and the Whale:
A little disturbing, about a super dysfunctional family. The older son's character is SO UNLIKEABLE. He's this wannabe intellectual who reminds me of someone I used to work with who was an English major and he kept asking other literarily-inclined ppl the STUPIDEST questions like "Have you read [insert famous book here]? That was good" over and over again. Such as, "Have you read the Great Gatsby? That was good. How about Catch-22? How about Hemingway? Old Man and the Sea? A Farewell to Arms? Catcher in the Rye? Lord of the Flies? Tom Sawyer? Melville? King Lear? Invisible Man? Pride and Prejudice?" ETC, ETC. OMG, I get it, you've read every high-school required reading, shut up, please, I wanted to kick his butt. OK, off track now.
3) King Kong:
Not my type of movie at all, but would've been better in the theater.
My most-watched movie ever is The Little Mermaid. A quote:
"I'm ready to know what the people know
Asking my questions and get some answers
What's a fire and why does it, what's the word, BURN?"
1) Constant Gardener:
Interesting, complex, sometimes exciting, overall good, but the spurts of action in this serious drama just stuck out to me. The conspiracy/detective/adventure aspects were okay, but I liked the characters' relationship development stuff.
2) The Squid and the Whale:
A little disturbing, about a super dysfunctional family. The older son's character is SO UNLIKEABLE. He's this wannabe intellectual who reminds me of someone I used to work with who was an English major and he kept asking other literarily-inclined ppl the STUPIDEST questions like "Have you read [insert famous book here]? That was good" over and over again. Such as, "Have you read the Great Gatsby? That was good. How about Catch-22? How about Hemingway? Old Man and the Sea? A Farewell to Arms? Catcher in the Rye? Lord of the Flies? Tom Sawyer? Melville? King Lear? Invisible Man? Pride and Prejudice?" ETC, ETC. OMG, I get it, you've read every high-school required reading, shut up, please, I wanted to kick his butt. OK, off track now.
3) King Kong:
Not my type of movie at all, but would've been better in the theater.
My most-watched movie ever is The Little Mermaid. A quote:
"I'm ready to know what the people know
Asking my questions and get some answers
What's a fire and why does it, what's the word, BURN?"