Well I'm not too sure how accurate this is - but it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. :)











Love and Huggles

Conan

Currently Reading: Nothing
Currently Playing: Exalted: Nexus of the Sun
Mood Warm and fuzzy like

Transformation and Change

I don't really have a heck of a lot to talk about today. I'm still working on my thoughts and thinking about the various little issues that have been arising recently.

Firstly there is my business. ESG is slowly gaining momentum - but it is a difficult juggling act most of the time. Trying to keep stock coming in fast enough to then deliver it to customers is tricky. Worst, though, is when some customers think they can haggle. I had one guy e-mail me and try to convince me to send him two boardgames at a price that was lower than the retail before adding freight - and he wanted me to pay the freight as well.

I may need new business - but not that kind of new business. I was shocked at the balls of this guy to ask for a price that was clearly robbery - the cost of buying the two products plus the freight at the price I normally charge would have still been lower than going into his local store and buying them off the shelf.

I've been enjoying the gym, but wish I could get fitter faster. :D I just feel a bit fugly with my belly. Sure, it isn't as big as most people, and my body fat rating is okay - but I want to be back to where I was a year ago - slim and getting toned. :) Still, it isn't that far away - I should be well on my way by late Jan - early Feb. :)

That's all for now, folks! :) Catch you later!

Love and Huggles

Conan

Currently Reading: The Mandate of Heaven
Currently Playing: Exalted: Nexus of the Sun
Mood: Feeling upbeat and excited...

Review Time: Children of Men

Wow.

Just wow.

Children of Men is most likely the best film of 2006. Harrowing, Challenging, Satirical, Touching, Brutal - this film was just absolutely stunning to watch.

Most of all, this is a movie that doesn't fail to elicit some emotional response.

Set in Britain in the year 2027, we find the world on the brink of collapse. Something has made all the women in the world infertile. No children have been born for 18 years, and humanity is caught in the grip of despair. Paranoia and violence is rife, and Britain - one of the few surviving points of civilisation in the world (and this is a very loose use of civilisation at times...) has become an island fortress - immigrants being shipped off to refugee camps that are like a cross between Abu Graib and New York from Escape from New York.

Theo Furon, played beautifully understated by Clive Owen, is an everyman Briton who finds himself caught up in the politics of a anti-government organisation called The Fishers, thanks to his ex-wife Julian. (Played by Julianne Moore.)

He soon discovers that the Fishers have in their care a young refugee who happens to miraculously be the first pregnant woman in 18 years. He agrees to help them get her into the care of a mysterious faction known as The Human Project - a group who is somehow trying to save humanity.

The events that follow are filmed in an almost documentary manner, with many long takes that just keep running for the length of the action - giving the film a truly unrelenting feeling.

However where many other such movies like 28 Days Later and 1984 just hammered the bleakness home, Alfonso Curon manages to inject a real sense of humanity into the movie. The characters are human and try to make the best of their situation. They joke, they cry - we see these people as real, injecting subtle humour into even the most desperate moments.

This is, to me, the movie's greatest strength. That the idea of hope is not explicitly spoken about all the time, but rather shown to us through the character's and how they react to the events around them. Despite the despair and horror, there is hope that maybe things can work out. Ironically this also leaves the movie open to interpretation. Some people will see the hopeful and just assume that things will lead to a soppy ending. Others will see only bleakness.

To me the film was painfully realistic. It has almost surreal moments that then get crushed by the reality of the situation.

Some have criticised how much is left unexplained in the movie - but I felt that this ambiguity is what makes the movie so realistic. In real life we don't have all the answers. It is implausible that a working class guy would happen to know the exact reasons why all the women in the world went infertile; or if the government is truly working against the people or not.

None of that is really the point of this movie. What it is about is the people in the story. What they decide and where it leads them.

I could just rave on and on about this film. But rather than do that - and inadvertantly spoil it - I will simply say you must see this movie. It is the best film of the year. No doubt about it.

Love and Huggles

Conan

Currently Reading: Iron Kingdoms: Liber Mechanika; Ptolus
Currently Playing: Exalted: The Seventh Legion
Mood: Impressed by this film!

New and Improved ranting for the masses!

So a lot has been going on recently. My birthday - which was a complete blast - the business slowly taking off the ground (seems to be a perpetual thing), work and dramas in general.

As you will note, I've decided to update the site - because Blogger has changed format I thought it was time to make a few other changes to keep in line with it all.

Yay for Blogger! (So totally kicks LJ's ass. :P)

Anyhoop - you will notice that currently there is no poll. As I get to grips with the new features, some things will change. But it is all for the best.

In other news, I went and saw The Departed last night. Wow. What a brutal movie. It got me thinking about violence and how so many people mistakenly believe that it is a solution. The Departed, ironically, showed how it does nothing but beget even more violence. (Which may have been the point. :) )

I say this because I have heard a number of people talk about bringing violence to people who have upset them, and meaning it. I really do wish there was a way to explain why it doesn't work. But a lot of people seem to be incapable of looking at the long-view of things.

Anyhoop - I have a lot to get done today before I go to the gym for my training session. Woot! Woot! Conan is going to get fit! :)

Love and Huggles

Conan

Currently Reading: Ptolus
Currently Playing: Exalted: The Seventh Legion; The Secret of Zir'An
Mood: Feeling pretty upbeat today!

Countdown

Wow.

Tomorrow I'm a year older. I've been living in Wellington for over a year now, and I looked at myself in the mirror the other day and realised how things have been since I moved here.

I've put on weight. Wow. Something that happens every blue moon for me. :)

So I've signed up for the gym with the intention of getting back into shape soon.

But my birthday,

Wow.

I had hoped that things would have been different in my life by this point. When I was younger I just had this idea that by this age I'd be in a job I loved, had a home... Not that I'm intending to go all emo, but I certainly didn't expect to find myself in the position that I'm in at the moment.

So what do I want for my birthday?

In no particular order:

- Humanity to get a clue.
- World Peace
- A Playstation 2
- A Wii
- A television for the PS2 & Wii.
- What the heck, an Xbox 360 too...
- Love
- Understanding of the meaning of the universe, without going crazy in the process
- New running shoes
- MORE SERIES 3 DUNNIES!
- George Bush realising that he isn't the chosen of God.
- Brian Tamaki realising he works for Satan
- $10,000 towards upgrading my business
- My own house

Yeah, the list could go on. :D

Still, I'm going to be having a birthday dinner with some of my closest friends in Welly present. I expect it is going to be a blast! :)

See y'all there!

Love and Huggles

Conan

Currently Reading: The Newspaper
Currently Playing: Exalted: The Seventh Legion, The Secret of Zir'An
Mood: Fairly content