Villains

Where would our favourite shows or movies be without their villains? When you think about it, a lot is actually riding on how the audience feels towards the villain. A straight-cut bad person never makes for a good villain as they are too one-dimensional for the audience to connect with. A villain can be bad but they need to have one redeeming factor about them so that people can see the good that was once in them. This can make the job hard for some writers as they need to make a villain so that some people empathise with them while others are against them and still others are in the middle. Sometimes we do not even know who the real villain is until the final moments and that also makes for a great villain. Taking this into account I have made a list of some of my favourite Villains of all time. Oh yeah, it really has been a list weekend over the last three posts has it not?

1. Regina Mills/The Evil Queen from Once Upon a Time

Source: http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/villains/images/31394368/title/regina-mills-evil-queen-photo

Regina has been through a lot in her life. Before she was the evil queen she was just your ordinary girl in love with an overbearing mother who had different plans for her daughter. Through Once Upon a Time we see how and why Regina became the Evil Queen and her hatred for Snow White. We also see that there is still good in her and this is why the writers of Once Upon a Time should be commended for their work on creating such an in-depth and confusing villain.

2. The Tet from Oblivion (*SPOILER ALERT*)

Source: http://jaysanalysis.com/2013/04/26/oblivion-2013-esoteric-analysis/

*SPOILER ALERT* The following paragraph will contain spoilers regarding the ending of Oblivion so if you intend to watch the movie and have not yet then you might want to skip this bit and move on to number three. *SPOILER ALERT* Anyway, so the Tet is basically this big machine in the sky that, throughout the majority of the movie, we believe as Earth's final military base before everyone leaves Earth after a devastating war that destroyed the planet and its moon. It is not until the final minutes that we actually find out that the Tet is actually an alien space ship that goes from planet to planet taking all energy. It really is a great shock and the creators of Oblivion created such a hidden and unexpected villain that it is just marvelous. The Tet may be evil but it is still pretty awesome (and I do not use that word nearly enough).

3. "Big" Jim Rennie from Under the Dome

Source: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/box-seat/recap-no-place-like-dome-20130626-2owtq.html

Big Jim is a character that has his fans in a yo-yo. At one point we see a great person and feel some sympathy for him but then a second later he just morphs into a horrible human being. It really comes down to the writing of Stephen King and the other writers from the series. The actor himself, Dean Norris, is fantastic at portraying this character. As much as the character comes down to the writers the actor themselves also plays a big role in how the audience feels towards them. A single twitch in the face can reveal a lot about a character and it takes a skilled actor to pull something like this off.

I am sorry for all the lists this weekend if that has annoyed you, blame it all on Random Thought Friday which sort of spread throughout the whole weekend. Anyway, see you tomorrow!

Fridays

Before I go on I am going to type something and I am only going to type this once (although you could read it as many times as you want, and this of course), thank god it is Friday. Of course, I could have also typed "TGIF" but that would have taken far less space, time and reasoning. In short, it would have been smarter but these extra sentences make the introduction just a little bit longer. I am just saying, being smart is sometimes over-rated and out-dated so just waffling on, as some put it, can be the better option at times. At least it means you guys actually have something to read. So, we all love Friday and here are some reasons why:

Source: http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/garfield/images/9223014/title/happy-friday-screencap

The first, and most obvious, reason is the weekend. At the end of a long week of staying up late and waking up early it is nice to know that you do not have to get up as early for two days at the end of five long days. That's part of the reason why I love Fridays. On Monday I am slightly tired in the mornings but by Friday afternoon I just want to fall asleep and then I go home and that night I can just sleep until 9am when I need to get up for music. Then Sunday is basically sleep-in until I want (well, until Dad or Mum comes in and interrupts my dreams). That is why I love it because I know that once school is finished and I have returned from Jujitsu I have the rest of the weekend for myself as well as anything else I need to do or catch up on. It is just really nice. Another reason I love Friday is I get to just relax for a night without having to worry about homework. In terms of homework the weekend is also a great time to catch up on anything and if I do not have much homework then I am set to have a pretty good weekend. I suppose it is the relaxation that Friday represents after a week full of five long days that makes it so appealing. For me this is true anyway.

You do not have to be religious to say TGIF, see you tomorrow!

Wet

Today was yet another one of those rainy days and I have no idea where I thought I was going with this sentence. Basically, if you are new or did not notice the hyperlink on the text above or (like me) could not be bothered reading another post then you will not know (but now will) that I like rainy days. The reasons for which I will not go into as I already did in the post I linked above (I think). However, today was one of those exceptions where I wished that it had not rained. I suppose that is why I titled today's post "wet" instead of something more descriptive or just something 'more' like "wetter" or "wet days". Anyway, back to the topic, there was a fair bit of stuff that was done today but I am sure more could have been done if it had not rained.

Image Source: http://www.hereiamloulou.com/2011/07/rainy-day/

Is it just me or are we using more and more excuses everyday? For example, if it is raining that is just another excuse not to do something you knew you were most likely not going to do anyway. So, when I say rain can be annoying I mean it. Lucky for me I had one of those rare weekends where I had no homework. Before I go on, I have something to admit. Between the last sentence and the one before it I may have gotten a little distracted. Somehow, while typing this I started thinking about the RMIT open day next Sunday and from there I began wondering when the Melbourne University one was. Long-story-short I was halfway through signing up for something online when I realised I was still writing this. Sorry guys, I will not blame the rain for this one though. I will blame my epic procrastination skills though. Wow, I have gone off topic so much during this post. It is starting to become a problem. So, because I had no homework (casually proceeding as if nothing ever happened) I learnt how it felt to be my middle brother for a change. If you read my post the other day on frustration you will know what I mean. It was relaxing but I also did manage to help Dad stack up the wood he cut as well as go on a driving lesson and visit my grandmother. So you see it was not entirely a waste of a weekend but rather one of those relaxing ones you need every so often to just refresh yourself. I am sorry about this post as it has been all over the place and only the introduction really had anything to do with wet days.

If I ever go off on a tangent just continue reading as if nothing is happening, see you tomorrow!

Sacrifice

Sacrifice, it happens all the time and is a vital part of life. No, I do not mean a religious sacrifice (put the goat back), I mean a sacrifice that people make either for those around them or for themselves. A sacrifice is not something that can be done easily, it takes a toll, but is well worth it in the long run. We all make sacrifices at some point in our lives, they may be done willingly or we may have no say in the matter. However, they are necessary and we can do very little to avoid them.

We sacrifice a lot for those we love. Many sacrifices are made in family situations. Sometimes, an individuals ideals need to be put aside for the better of others. Everyday we make sacrifices for our family. There may be a show you really wanted to watch but since the majority want to watch something else you have to sacrifice that and maybe watch it online another time. So you would make this sacrifice of missing out on your favourite show because you are the only one who wants to watch it and you don't want to make everyone else in the family miss out because you believe what you want is more important (somebody please tell my brother this). Other sacrifices you might make is the movie you go see (you wouldn't take your younger siblings (under 12) to see The Exorcist or Saw [I haven't seen them, don't worry]) or maybe its your sibling's birthday and you decide to let them choose what to do instead of doing what you want to do and ruin their special day (again, somebody tell my Brother this). We make a lot of sacrifices for our families and for those we care about.

Our friends are also very important to us and we want to keep them. We make certain sacrifices along the way to ensure we still have friends and that our 'friends' don't secretly hate us behind our backs. We might sacrifice some of our time to spend with them and catch up. We might even sacrifice our break times to help them with their homework or something they are stuck on. We may even find that these sacrifices lead up to us enjoying ourselves more than if we had of done what we were planning to do. We may sacrifice our weekends to celebrate someone's birthday (a lot more fun than staying at home) and in the end we have such a great time that we don't realise what we are missing back home (in most cases, this is nothing). In fact, most of the time we don't actually realise the sacrifices we make because we have much more fun than if we had of done what we were planning.

There are many other sacrifices we make, many of which lead to better things. Some of these sacrifices are moral, some of them are unconscious. Most of them have a positive endings and you only get out what you put in.

May the odds be ever in your favour, see you tomorrow!