Thursday 13

Dragons have been on my mind a lot lately (my living room is adorned with them).

So, quick list 13 types of dragons so that Darla doesn't feel so lonely this Thursday.

1. Ice Dragons
2. Fire Dragons
3. Winged Dragons
4. Non-winged dragons
5. Red Dragons
6. Green Dragons
7. Gold Dragons
8. Talking Dragons
9. Riding Dragons
10. Pernese Dragons
11. Water Dragons
12. Smaug
13. Dragons that sound like Sean Connery

Thursday 13: 13 Guns I'd like to have and/or shoot

1. HK Mark 23
A .45 caliber handgun designed specially for use by U.S. Special Forces. One of my favorites.


2. Colt 1911
Another .45. It used to be the the official sidearm of the U.S. army from at least WWII through Vietnam (don't quote me on that). I believe it was replaced by the Beretta M9 9mm.


3. HK USP
Appears to be created alongside the Mark 23 and for the same purpose. Can be chambered in .40 S&W, 9mm or .45.


4. M4
A carbine derived from the M16 assault rifles currently in use by the U.S. military.
It can be chambered in .223 or 5.56 ammo.


5. Desert Eagle
Not sure if there is a technical definition of a hand canon, but I'm guessing this would be one, if it is. It was developed by the Israel Military Industry (IMI) and can be chambered in .357, .44 Magnum or .50 Action Express. Fired one with .357 before, wouldn't checking out the .50 version sometime.


6. Jericho 941
Also developed by IMI, this is much smaller than the Desert eagle. It's chambered in 9mm, and sometimes called a Baby Eagle.


7. HK MP5
A submachine gun chambered in either 9mm, .40 S&W or 10 mm. I believe it was banned in the 1994 Federal Assault Rifles Ban, so it might be hard if not impossible to find. They are (recently, I believe) released a similar gun (at least aesthetically) chambered in .22 LR, but it just wouldn't be the same.


8. Colt Single Action Army
It is the classic Wild West gun. If you have ever seen a Western, somebody was probably using one of these. A friend of mine has it chambered in .22, I'd like to have one in .45 Long Colt.


9. Winchester Model 1894 Lever Action Rifle
Again, another rifle you would have seen if you watch the occasional Western.


10. Mauser C96 "Broomhandle"
The pistol used to create Han Solo's blaster in star Wars. Enough said.


11. Beretta 93R
I like Beretta's pistols, mainly the 92 series (I already have a 92 variant, so I didn't want to put it on the list). This is, essentially, a Beretta 92 9mm pistol but with 3-round burst fire capabilities (i.e. one trigger pull=three bullets fired) to help control the muzzle burst it comes with a muzzle brake, a forward grip, a detatchable stock and a 20-round magazine. I don't think it is produced anymore, I just like the idea of firing a machine pistol like this.


12. FN P90
A submachine gun chambered in 5.7 mm. Like the HK MP5 listed earlier, it was banned in '94 but has reappeared in .22 LR form. again, a .22 would just not be as much fun.


13. Hand-Held M134 Minigun
Just had to add one of these to the list, because it would be a whole lot fun to fire something like this. This is the kind of weapon you'd see mounted on a helicopter, but a hand-held version was seen in Terminator 2 and in Predator. In real life, something like this would have to be mounted, I doubt that anyone could control this thing firing from the hip like they did.

Thursday 13

13 Shows that I want to see put on DVD (repetitions are there to show emphasis and keeping in form with my past lists which always seemed to come up short, and then bolstered through a bunch of, essentially, B.S.)

1. Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers
2. Rocko's Modern Life
3. Doug
4. Aaahhh! Real Monsters
5. Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers
6. Are You Afraid of the Dark?
7. Rugrats
8. The Angry Beavers
9. Hey Dude
10. Salute Your Shorts
11. Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers
12. VR Troopers
13. Big Bad Beetle Borgs

Thursday 13

So, I figured I might as well keep up with my pattern of doing movie "reviews" for want of a better term, and list 13 things from the Director's Cut of Kingdom of Heaven that I either liked or disliked.

1. The beginning- I really liked all that they added here, made me realize how rushed the beginning of the theatrical cut felt.
2. Baldwin V- The child of Sibylla was totally cut from the original cut of the film. It adds to her character (but, ultimately, not the plot) but it was overall well done. I liked it.
3. Guy de Lusigna- extended his character out more, too. Also a nice addition.
4. A fitting conclusion- I never really felt that Saladin was the true villain or perhaps I should say the real antagonist of the film. He was there, was needed, and so forth, but the true conflict was really among the people of Jerusalem. Notably: King Baldwin IV and Balian against Guy de Lusigna. This conflict is finally settled satisfactorily in this extended cut.
5. Jeremy Irons- What can I say? I like the actor, and he's in this cut more.
6. You find out that Balian has been to war before, which makes sense as to why he's so good with a sword at the start of the film.
7. "I once fought for two days with an arrow in my testicle."
8. More is shown with Balian and his wife, making him seem far more in mourning for his recently deceased wife than he was in the original.
9. "God will understand, and if he doesn't then he isn't God and you need not worry."
10. When Guy kills a messenger with a knife he subsequently cuts off the man's head with his sword, explaining why, in the theatrical cut, he has his sword drawn and it has blood on it. That really kinda bothered me whenever I saw the theatrical cut.
11. "I shall confess to God when I see him."
12. It's much longer, which both works and does not work for it.
13. More Edward Norton, too. That's usually a plus.

Thursday 13

It's an old topic, but for this Thursday 13, I'm going to list 13 things about the recent remake Clash of the Titans. Most of them will be things that bothered me because I'm a nitpicker, know more than the average person about Greek Mythology and have loved the original since I was wee little lad.

1. Perseus' background. Did they really need to change this at all? What was the point? It really didn't add anything to it that they couldn't have had with the character's original background.

2. Acrisius. Again, same as above, except changing his background a bit actually detracted from the film because...

3. A siege on Olympus... a siege on Olympus!? what the Hell was he expecting to gain from laying siege to the fucking gods? This isn't Norse mythology, the gods can't die. At least, not from physical means, and trying to starve them out is pretty stupid, too. They don't need conventional means to move around.

4. Io. According to the movie, she was cursed with immortality after she refused the advances of a god. For one, I don't think a mortal could really refuse a god's advances, unless said mortal was hit with Eros' (aka Cupid) arrow, not the one that makes you fall in love, but the one that doesn't... Anyway, last I knew Zeus turned her into a cow to his his affair with her from his sister-wife Hera. That would've been an interesting conversation to hear: "No, honey, I wasn't being adulterous, I was just visiting this cow..."

5. No matter what issues I may have had with Io... she was pretty.

6. I got tired of Perseus complaining all the time about how he wasn't a god, he was a mortal and needed to do this as a mortal, etc.

7. Did they really need to have Perseus use a lightsaber?

8. The Craken wasn't created from a part of Hades... nor was it a creature from Greek Mythology to begin with.

9. I'm split on Medusa... the top half of her (the woman part) was kinda attractive... which doesn't fit with my idea of Medusa at all. However, her "turn you into stone" look would be similar to what I'd expect of her.

10. Since when was Pegasus black?

11. Since when was there an entire heard of Pegasuses (Pegasi?)?

12. They seemed like they were just name dropping at the beginning of the film, fitting as many references to mythology/the previous film as they could, which really bothered me at the time, but sort of tapered off.

13. Bubo's cameo was probably the best part of the film...

13 things I should be doing right now, but am not

I'm a procrastinator, so, because I really don't want to do any of them, I'm going to list the things that I need to do that I've been procrastinating on for at least a week, if not more (probably more).

1. Read a book for history class.
2. Research for my English paper.
3. Write said English paper.
4. Study kanji for tomorrow's Japanese quiz.
5. Study grammar for same quiz.
6. Prepare for oral interview in Japanese next week.
7. Sleep.
8. Eat that liver, fava beans, and nice chianti that are going bad in the fridge.
9. Write that history paper.
10. Read the article for that same paper.
11. Edit another story or two for my News Editing class.
12. Sleep
13. Get a summer job.

13 Lines from The Raven

So, about two years ago I decided to memorize Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven, for no particular reason other than the fact that I really like the poem. So, I decided to post my 13 favorite, or random, "lines" (might take more than one) from the poem.

1. "Prophet!" said I. "Thing of evil, prophet still if bird or devil!"

2. "Whether Tempter sent or whether Tempest tossed thee here ashore, desolate, yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted on this home by horror haunted tell me, truly, I implore!"

3. And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain thrilled me! Filled me with fantastic terror never felt before.

4. Deep into the darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.

5. But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only that one word as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.

6. This and more I sat divining with my head at ease reclining on the velvet's violet lining that the lamplight pouring over. But whose violet velvet lighting she shall press, ah, nevermore.

7. Much I marveled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly, though it's answer little meaning, little relevancy bore, for we cannot help agreeing that no living human being ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door.

8. Open here I flung the shutter when, with many a flirt and flutter, in there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore.

9. Then, methought, the air grew denser perfumed by an unseen censor swung by Seraphim whose footfalls tinkled on the tufted floor

10. "Wretch!" I cried. "Thy God hath lent thee by these angels he hath sent thee!"

11. "Doubtless" said I. "What it utters is its only stock and store, caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful disaster followed fast and followed faster 'til his song one burden bore. 'Til the dirges of his hope one melancholy burden bore of never, nevermore."

12. Not the least obeisance said he, not a minute stopped or stayed he. But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door. Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door. Perched and sat, and nothing more.

13. Darkness there, and nothing more.