The Usual April Fool's
The fire alarm got pulled 3 minutes into the biology lecture this morning. I had to stand outside in the cold and drizzly weather for a good 10 minutes before we were let back in. It was productive though. Between three people, we solved the entire Jumble in the newspaper.

Classes will be over tomorrow. That's a relief. Too bad the studying isn't. I have a week to understand everything that I supposedly learned the last 6 weeks. And enrol in that stupid Subject Post and declare my major. I feel like going across the border and I have to "declare" something. Like I have a purpose in my undergraduate degree that I need to tell everyone about.

School sucks. But I'm thinking of taking a summmer course or two. See, there's this philosophy course called "The Art of Thinking". I guess it's like a critical thinking course. I don't think it's being offered next year at all, so this might be the last chance I have. It feels strange to know that there are people out there who consider thinking to be an art form. Are we really at that stage where the mere act of forming an opinion of something and expressing it coherently is so abstract that only a small percentage of the population are able to do it? Anyway, the course description has me hooked. And next year, I might take this course called "Greek and Latin for Scientists" so I have actually have a chance at all the nomenclature. Sometimes, I'm glad I go to a school with the power of W&H.

It hit me the other day that I don't have the common sense that most people have. I never think of the most obvious answers to questions. Like on a test, I'll screw up the easiest parts and actually do decent on the harder ones. I hope this is a gift rather than a curse.

I hate everyone I go to school with. They find some way of pissing me off every single day. I think I'm turning into a teeth-grinder like Stannis.

Bemoaning the State of Television
No Angel for weeks. SMG should be finished her stupid movie shoot in Japan by now and should make it back home. She better. After 'Shells', making us wait around for 5 weeks for Angel to go out in a 'big bang' is horrendously painful. It's like pulling off a Band-Aid. Do it quickly and do it now. You can't just peel it halfway, diddle around and shave some of the surrounding hair while the wound festers before peeling the other half off. It's unsanitary.

Wonderfalls fills the gap nicely, but it's still not Angel. Besides, it's too optimistic to assume that it won't mysteriously get cancelled a la Angel. Or vanish off the dial altogether. That Friday night death slot is the worst possible way to debut a smartly written series. The only people who watch TV on Friday nights are people who have no lives. So obviously, the ratings won't be as spectacular because smart people comprise only a small percentage of the common masses. It's like FOX has already dusted off its electric chair.

Even Alias has me worried. They've been spewing out some less-than-decent episodes in the past few weeks. At this rate, the only thing I'll be watching next year is The Simpsons.

Does anyone else feel like graduating right about now?

Angel 5.16 - Shells
This was very much the Angel version of "The Body". The way that Illyria refers to her body as "The Shell" and how Buffy refers to her dead mom as "The Body" is catastrophic because the living can suddenly become things that sound like they belong in a natural history museum. In both cases, someone that was not supposed to die, dies. Then you get to watch how those left living deal with it. On Buffy, the Scoobies stand in a circle and cry and stare at each other. On Angel, all the males blame themselves, then finger-point, then beat each other up.

It has to be tough getting on the stage after Joss Whedon. Expectations are high. But the script didn't implode under its own weight as much as I thought it would. Even Harmony was sort of useful. Best lines: when Angel asks Spike what he got from the doctor and Spike replies: "Screaming. Various bodily fluids.." and when Illyria says her last Qua-hai San was taller than Knox. Best parts: Spike sitting in front of all those tiny Jack Daniels bottles on the plane and doing the 'play on perspective'; the skeleton key that Knox brings to the gate is actually a part of a skeleton; and the fight scene where Illyria takes both Spike's and Angel's sword and swings them around in a circle.

How cool is Wes with a gun? How come he's the only one that uses one? And how good is Alexis Denisof's acting? The spotlight was completely on him this episode and he manages to outshine the spotlight. The scene where Wes is packing up Fred's stuff was heartbreaking. Especially when he got to Fred's stuffed bunny. Poor Wes...he's willing to help Illyria just because it looks like Fred. Everyone knows that Fred is gone because her soul was destroyed, but none of them truly accepts that fact yet. The montage was bad. Or maybe it was just the horrible, horrible choice of song. Any Sarah McLachlan song would've fit the bill much better.

Gunn cried. That was major character development, seeing as how he started on Angel as the 'muscle guy'. It looks like he'll be discharged from the Fang Gang like Wes was last season. Gunn deserved to be stabbed. He got off easy considering the state of devastation that Wesley was in.

That last scene where Fred says goodbye to her parents and drives off in a huge station wagon was so sad. It's the most painful reminder that Fred is truly gone.

Angel 5.15 - A Hole In the World
No one remind me why this show is getting cancelled. It'll be like watching Fred sob and die in the arms of a helpless Wesley. Complete devastation. Amy Acker did a fair job, considering she's not the greatest actress to walk this earth. Whatever Amy Acker didn't do, Alexis Denisof made up for it. Did you see the guy's face when she died? Joss does love torturing us with doomed love. Nonetheless, Joss should clone himself two or three times so he can write and direct each of the remaining episodes. The other Angel writers can pack it in and get the hell out.

Best moments: Lorne punching Eve and telling her to go die; Wes shooting the guy in the leg without batting an eyelash; Gunn finally getting some conflict and character; more Spike vs. Angel; Angel walking around with a sword stuck in his chest while a bug hangs out the back; Spike admitting he'd never flown before; the look on Wes' face when Spike asks him whether astronauts or cavemen would win in a fight; Spike asking Drogyn questions then saying it was a statement; and St. Petersburg.

Joss always knew what to do with Spike (i.e. not let him sink into the background like the other writers did). He even tells us why Spike is still hanging around W&H even though it's has nothing to do with this episode. Also having Spike say the most important line on a show titled 'Angel' is a testament to Joss' love for Spike. That manigificent line..."There's a hole in the world.." is heavy. That whole bridge scene pokes at the brain cells much more than Buffy has in recent memory. Thumbs up to James Marsters too, who likely that line while staring at a blinding green screen.

Best shots: the "revolving-door" shot where the guys congregate in the lobby of W&H. (Very reminiscent of "Chosen" just before Buffy went to open the Hellmouth. But it makes you dizzy) and the one in Fred's bedroom where you watch a reflection in the mirror of Fred and Wes hugging or something (I want to know how they did that without the camera showing up on the mirror too). Too cool.

Wes will probably kill Knox. That conversation in the beginning where Wes asks Gunn if he's okay with him being together with Fred--Gunn ironically replies if Wes hurts her, he'll kill Wes like a chicken. Looks like Wes will be the one killing people like chickens.

The apparently insignificant detail that Angel didn't know Fred & Wes were together while the rest of the world knew will likely become significant later. You know Joss. Subtle and deadly.

The Entry That's Not Supposed to Exist
Angel is cancelled. Fest is cancelled. But exams remain conspicuously un-cancelled. So that's why I'm sitting here typing this bloody entry. Aren't Supervillains supposed to have super-immunity to viral infections and other contagious diseases? Not even super-rehabilitative abilities? *ahem. Looks pointedly at Cat*

Anyway, the Mini-Fest (Without the Sickly Cat) at Ryerson was interesting. Highlights:
>KW-2 leaving.

>watching KW-2 drop her lettuce after finding out James Marsters is like 40.

>going to that tiny bookstore that lives in the shadow of the World's Biggest Bookstore and getting two decent books for just over $10.

>visiting the Ryerson gym that looks nothing like an athletic facility on the outside. It looks like a museum. Or the only part of an otherwise burnt-down mansion from 100 years ago. But not something that would contain dumbells or treadmills.

>the complete lack of specimens make me feel so much better about my own sorry campus.

>BtVS could've been shot here and we won't know because the hallways look exactly like the old Sunnydale High. They're complete with wine-red lockers, half-brick, half-paint layout of the walls, and wide enough to do a couple of cartwheels.(More room with which to kick demon ass, my dear).

>walking past a classroom filled with old people. That was hilarious. It was like stepping through a time-warp where all the youth of today suddenly aged 60 years.

>the classrooms that are sunken deep into odd corners and crevices while outside there are two or three lockers that suddenly stick out at a 90 degree angle from the normal orientation of lockers. And don't forget those classrooms that have a door opening into an impossibly oval-shaped space. The only conclusion that can be drawn from these rooms: architects must've been on acid.

>the RCC building is really nice. Plenty of psudo-fresh air and sunshine. It's good for claustrophobic people.

>the Registrar's Office needs a huge sign to let people know that it's an office since it looks nothing like one. They seem more like those booths at skating rinks where they offer to sharpen your skates.

That's all I can think of right now. I think that's enough for an entry that wasn't supposed to be written because we're supposed to be Festing. *looks pointedly at Cat*

Angel 5.14 - Smile Time
This episode would've been much more enjoyable had there not been the cloud of cancellation hanging over the TV set. It's hilarious episodes like this that make Angel's cancellation so much more painful to swallow. Apparently, around the same time that the WB announced it was pulling the plug on Angel, it renewed Charmed. It was an early renewal too and networks rarely do that in reality TV-land nowadays. Charmed's totally undeserved renewal makes the cancellation even more bitter because it's the worst show on the WB's pitiful roster. Longest-running show on the WB. But by far the worst. If you want ratings, WB, clone Dawson's Creek and pit it against The O.C. Hormone-ravaged teens would be besides themselves.

Anyway, Smile Time. Puppet-Angel needs more screen time. He was so cool. Vamped-Puppet-Angel was even better. You know who else needs more screen time? Spike. His role has been reduced to beating up Puppet-Angel and then disappearing again. Pretty soon, he's going to get fewer lines than Harmony. Spike needs fast cars all the time because he keeps crashing them, but what's keeping him from taking the Viper leaving W&H altogether? Joss better be thinking of something to make both Angel and Spike Shanshu properly.

Fred and Wes' was long-awaited kiss was nice. It was satisfying. Until the next episode. It better be good since Joss wrote and directed it. Do science nerds wear mini-skirts underneath a lab coat? Or was she trying to attract Wes?

Angel has been such a goof on romance that he can't even believe that Nina likes him. Which is strange because for the first 3 seasons of Buffy, Angel was supposed to be the smoldering hunk. So Angel is a goof around girls other than Buffy?!

There were some funny lines too. The puppets saying that they steal childern's souls while upholding a quality standard of edutainment. Lorne saying Smile Time is the highest rated show in its timeslot and telling Angel that he can't just jihad the place. Fred trying to touch Puppet-Angel and calling him cute. Some Bush-bashing when Gunn and Wes talk to the puppeteer guy.

This was a solid episode. If only the damn show wasn't cancelled. *sticks middle finger up at WB execs*

Operation Occupation
I've decided to take a break from brooding and blog instead. I've been trying to keep my mind off Angel for the past 72 hours. Anything that doesn't trigger thoughts of Angel. Studying. Cleaning my room. Going on downloading frenzies. Studying. Checking the library site for the 50th time to see if my copy of ASoS has come yet. Figuring out those physics problems. Looking for a job. Watching the Coldplay DVD over and over again. Studying. Rearranging my sock drawer.

No words or thoughts exist to describe the utter devastation and void left by the death of Angel. Imagine, only 8 episodes left to properly conclude the show before the remnants of Jossverse get sucked into WB's black hole faster than you can say 'WB is a shitty network run by anal-retentive, hairline-retreating bastards.' I wasn't this sad when Buffy ended because you felt like the show its full course. And it was half-expected because Sarah Michelle Gellar was at the end of her contract and her growing disloyalty to her fans was becoming more and more apparent. But Angel. New energy. New set. New writers. New stories. New characters. But none of that matters anymore. Good television doesn't matter anymore.

I saw Britney Spears' new video, "Toxic". That song is so annoying it gives me earwax just listening to it. The scene at the end where she steals a bottle of green goo is shamelessly stolen from the pilot of Alias. In the pilot, Jennifer Garner breaks into this vault thing while sporting a fire-red wig and a skin-tight black (but not leather) suit. Britney is smart enough to watch Alias? Because that show's plot may not be as philosophically deep as Buffy or Angel but is so complex that it makes your head spin even if you're just being a couch potato.

Okay, that was counter-productive. I was on a roll, then I had to go mention Buffy and Angel.

The Sarillorn quoted me on her blog. No one has ever done that before. And I wasn't aware that I have an eloquent streak. Thanks, dude.

The Kiss of Death from the WB
It's Valentine's Day. It doesn't apply to me so I couldn't care less. Rather, I feel like skinning some people alive. I woke up this morning to check my e-mail. I was minding my own damn business when I come across the press release from the WB saying that Angel won't have a season six. WTF?!

Damn those WB execs. I'll be happy to kill them all. Apparently, the announcement came on Friday the 13th. Great timing. Two weeks ago, Angel aired its 100th and they had a huge party in December when they were filming the episode. The pricks who make all the decisions must've been like "Oh let's go to that party! Hot chick reporters! We can tell them we're cancelling the show later." Or maybe the WB assholes finally figured out that Angel running W&H was one huge corporate rant by Joss Whedon in revenge of the whole Buffy moving to UPN fiasco. Angel should move to UPN or something. Or HBO. Or whatever station. I just want the show to live. Please don't make me watch The O.C.

Back to the ranting. Cancelling Angel is outrageous. Obviously, it wasn't Joss' idea or anybody else's except for those WB dipshits who don't have much upstairs. Even all the TV critics have been saying Angel has been resusitated this season and hasn't been alienating to new viewers. So the ratings aren't fabulous but they were much better than last year's So why the hell are you cancelling it? WHY??????

If you dicks at the WB are pulling the plug on Angel to put your money into Dark Shadows, the stupid vampire soap by John Wells, you're even more lacking in brain cells than I thought. You think Ats and BtVS fans will just love it because it's about vampires. It really is a shame that we're not stupid like you think we are. We know John Wells is the guy that produced ER. Granted, he has a good track record. It's blatant that the WB wants to create a show that was just like Buffy during its 2nd and 3rd seasons so it can get more teenyboppers watching your soddin' network again. But John Wells just can't do that because in case you haven't noticed, his name isn't Joss Whedon. Same initials, but spelled differently. Just because you WB psychos aren't smart enough to understand Angel doesn't mean you have to make everyone else stoop to your level.

Enough ranting. I have no more words. I think I'll go brood for awhile. Then maybe I'll shift to withdrawal.

Angel 5.13 - Why We Fight
Was it just me, or was that one of the most incoherent and inconsistent hours of television ever aired? I'm so disappointed because Drew Goddard and Stephen S.DeKnight wrote this one. Damage was infinitely better.

There are too many problems with this episode.

1) The most memorable lines were: Angel (to Spike) "You're a Nazi?" Spike: "No, I just ate one." The second most memorable line was Spike calling Lawson 'Popeye' for a reason I can't even remember. Grrr..Did Goddard and DeKnight write this thing two hours before the deadline?

2) Spike looked really wrong with the slick black hair. It was such a relief to see him blonde again at the end.

3) Um, why exactly did Lawson show up at W&H in the first place? At the end, Angel branded it as 'no reason'. Huh? I thought Lawson was all about avenging the stereotypical all-American life that Angel took away from him.

4) The scenes in the submarine where Angel teaches the ways of the world to Lawson were interesting. There was some deep and thoughtful dialogue going on there. But the writers either ran out of ideas or had university midterms and Lawson transformed into a bigger wimp than Andrew. Lawson obviously didn't believe in what he was saying nor did he seem so hell-bent on revenge as one would have presumed.

5) Why did Lawson wait so damn long to attempt his revenge? This detail was blatantly ignored. Angel was more vulnerable at Angel Investigations than running the W&H gig from behind a corporate fortress. I thought W&H had massive security that only Lindsey's runes could make anyone pass through undetected.

6) The fight scene between Lawson and Angel was way too short. Rule #1 in Hollywood: If the dialogue isn't great, cover it up with blood spilling and heads rolling. But nooo.. the fight scene stopped so mid-fight it was as if the producers decided that they didn't have enough money to break and build another door or coffee table.

7)The last scene of the show also ended embryotically. Spike and Angel have pretty decent one-on-one conversations when the writers let it. I want to know who the hell cut this scene off. The last shot of Spike and Angel staring off into the LA skyline could've used some of the serious dialogue that the Ultimate Drew is known for.

I'm trying to think of good things about this episode. But I can't. So I'll stop. The 100th episode last week raised the bar by about ten thousand metres. This one doesn't even get off the filthy ground.

Trappage
I don't care if trappage doesn't appear in the Oxford Dictionary. Anyway, this isn't some uber-depressing entry about how much my life sucks or how I feel socially claustrophobic.

It just so happens that yesterday, my dad locked his keys in the car with the engine running and had to wait for an hour before someone could come and rescue him. I couldn't stop laughing because all this happened in the driveway after he came home from work.Trapped keys.

Three hours before at school, I saw someone being trapped in the elevator for almost an hour. That was funny too because I was studying in those cubicles when this alarm keeps going off. So I thought, "What the hell? This is so annoying." Some time later, some maintenance guys come up and try to pry the door open to no avail. They talk to the guy in the elevator, saying things like "It's okay. We called the elevator company. They should be here in a few minutes. There's plenty of fresh air in there!! And you're trapped between floors so we can't get you out just yet. Sit tight!!" Trapped people.

It was a hilarious day.