6am. Alarm… blaring. Body… struggling. I wrestled with the grasp of sleep for a good forty minutes or so before I came out a winner. If there is anything that I would hate to be at that time, it is to be awake; truly, I must say that I wholeheartedly disagree with having a 9am exam slot on a Saturday. It is cruel and unnecessary torture!

So Economics came and went in far less time than I would have thought, which meant that the little studying that I did was sufficient for the exam. One thing that I will say is that Distance Ed is pretty awesome like that 😉 My next exam isn’t until Tuesday so I elected to escape Waterloo for a bit and head to Toronto. There, I could study in almost complete silence, make preparations for family Christmas functions, do some Christmas shopping, and hang out.

This last activity took up the bulk of the day; I had made plans to watch the Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe in the evening. Andrea was in town from Waterloo as well, and we figured that it’d be swell to chill. So without further delay, here are my thoughts on the movie.

For a kid’s movie, it was really, really, really well done. The cinematography was amazing (in fact, it bore striking resemblance to the Oscar-winning look of the Lord of the Rings), and the acting was great (especially considering the ages of some of the actors). I was really impressed with how closely it stuck to the novel; while there were some creative liberties taken, it did not stray very far from what CS Lewis wrote.

One review that I read said that atheists would cry about the Christian undertones in the movie. After seeing the movie, I have to fully disagree with that sentiment. Yes, there are a lot of Christian themes that could be pulled from the movie, but only if one was looking for them. Otherwise, it’s a story about a bunch of kids in a house going on a crazy adventure. The comparisons are only there if you make yourself aware of them; there is no mention of religion in the movie at all. Besides, we all know that Lewis was a Christian and that his faith influenced his writing (although he claims that he didn’t mean to make this book so Christian-like).

The gripes that I do have are minor: some of the dialogue was really cheesy, some of the costumes were cheesy, and some of the voices were cheesy. But I had to expect as much for a movie aimed at a very broad audience. Overall, it was one of the best movies that I had seen in a while, and I recommend it to everyone. Too bad I knew how it would end 😉

Anyhow, I’m getting really pooped; I got home only a short while ago, and my legs are feeling very tired after a lot of walking. This has turned out to be quite an insanely long day for me… gotta end it now. Ciao!

Back in the day (1996, to be more precise), The Smashing Pumpkins recorded a Christmas song. I remember hearing for the first time; I nearly died.

It’s so un-Pumpkinsy. First off, it’s in C major, which I associate with children’s songs. That may or may not be because of me playing those songs in the easiest key when I was little but.. anyways. Secondly, Billy’s voice is so.. happy. In fact, the entire song is all happy and fluffy. Very strange, I know.

Despite all of this, I have grown to like the song a fair bit; every Christmas, without fail, I will listen to it. I’m actually not sure if I like it because I think it’s a good song, or if it’s just because it’s a Pumpkins song. Meh.

Anyhow, around these parts, things are getting more festive: we have lights going around the living room, garland twisting down the banister, advent calendars on the wall (with Kat’s fiendishly placed right near the ceiling >:D), and enough food to make anyone sick. Heck, I’ve been turning on the icicle lights in my room more often, too!

Along with the festivities will come the inevitable task of thinking up presents. I’m not going to give many away this year, so those who receive anything should consider themselves particularly special. And I’ll apologize in advance for those of you who don’t get anything; I blame three consecutive school terms for annihilating my bank account.

As of this moment, I think the recipients will be limited to my immediate family, my housemates, and maybe a small handful of friends. If I happen upon something really cool that I could get someone, I will. And if any of you readers think that you are especially deserving of a present, feel free to comment with some sort of justification 😉

Edit: It turns out that the Pumpkins one of many big artists on the album that benefitted the Special Olympics.. neat.

12/08: Management Information Systems
12/10: Advanced Microeconomics
12/13: Statistics
12/15: Calculus III
12/16: Theory of Interest

Less than 10 days and then I’m home free! 😀