I finally went to see the movie with a friend. As a fan of the Silent Hill games, I couldn’t not go watch the movie, so here is my review, there are a few spoilers here and there so you’re warned:

The Good:

– the atmosphere of the movie was good and with the music and the graininess
– the effects were good as well
– the places that we see ingame were well done as well, really felt Silent Hillish
– the blood and gore were nice, but I do agree Cybil being showed being burned was too much, just showing her dead body would have done the same
– Pyramid head!!! Damn he is impressive. I guess I was too scared and too busy to run away from him to notice how tall and impressive he can be. And that long knife was helping a lot
– the credit and the music from SH 3 were good, we actually stayed to watch and listen, now she told me she (my friend) liked the music very much
– the mobs were well done and freaky, the part where the nurses start slashing each other, I wasn’t expecting that, I jumped

The Bad:

– too many mobs at once and then nothing for a while, kind of killed the scary element
– the parallel story at the other town with the father, trying to explain Silent Hill and as well to show that his wife and him aren’t in the same world
– I have always loved to think that it was snow in SH that was falling but here telling exactly what it is kind of killed the mystery
– it felt a bit rushed, so much time was spent at the beginning to set the story and then the rest was a bit quick for me

The Ugly

– everything is rather fine up until they reach the church, that is so not in the story, and while they were all alone before now they’re surrounded by people which kills the scare
– while the effects were rather good, the actors’ makeup were really bad, the worse being Daliah, it was so bad it was scary in a bad way.
– the explanations at the end, rather silly and unnecessary
– what happened to Lisa? Alessa cared and loved her so much, I doubt she would have done this, and it would have been great showing the scene when Lisa comes back from the dead to drag Dr. Kauffman to Hell
– the story, what is up with this? By the way, they do show a painting with God written on it but representing a woman, isn’t that in the first game? Here is an element that could have been used if they would have made the real story
– they show the town to be abandoned and inhabited when we know in Silent Hill 2, 3 and 4 that the town is still there and there are still people living there. Sure the town went through a lot but it’s not abandoned like in the movie.

Scare factor:

While my friend told me she was really scared and that she liked the movie, she even plans to buy the DVD, I was disappointed in the scare part in the sense that I didn’t get scared as much as I wished during the movie, there were too many elements breaking the rhythm.

Overall, I think the look of the movie was great while the content was lacking.

This is a past blog entry from MySpace.

I got myself a cell phone lately. I’m stuck with some undesirables who keep calling me and plenty of wrong numbers which I still get 5 years later after moving in here. The worse with the wrong phone number category is that they actually call the right number but not the right person, so sometimes they harass me persuaded the person they want to talk to simply doesn’t want to talk to them, and they keep calling anyway. I remember when I got this phone number I was happy to see how easy it is to remember, how simple, something like 1234. Now I regret it because there are people out there who give my phone number as fake in order to get rid of some people, and guess who ends up dealing with them? If at least people were confusing my number with some restaurant I would take it better, after all who doesn’t get confused on a new number, plus now if you don’t punch your number in the coming 2 seconds you have to restart everything all over again, worse soon we will have to punch around 10-11 numbers just to call local… in 2 seconds. I got so many calls for one person in particular, I got to tell you, I hate this woman, I’m tempted to search her just to yell at her. Let’s not forget the telemarketers in the lot.

My problem is that I hate phones, hearing one ringing is to me an act of aggression and intrusion of my quiet home. So having people not leaving me any message on my answer machine and keep calling again and again, or leaving gibberish that doesn’t concern me is highly annoying. I was raised that phones were not to be answered, same with the door. Frankly I don’t understand people’s obsession with answering the phone and the door, babies died in their bath that way because mommy just couldn’t not answer the door or phone (I’m not kidding, this is a fact, tragedy like this happens everyday). This is oh so silly. Worse are the people with cell phones who end up with no private life anymore now that they’re accessible everywhere, and believe me, when a boss gives you a cell phone, it’s not a gift, it’s to ensure you’ll come to work at any time with no excuse at your disposal. I’ve always promised myself not to get one of those cell phones, but as they say: "Never say never".

I learned recently that cell phones numbers are not in the white papers. This is my main prerogative for getting a cell phone. Not only I get a new number but this one is unreachable, only people I know will use this one. Getting an answer machine is an extra I can’t afford so I’m not getting one but the knowledge only people I know will call will push me more to answer the phone compared to average time before when I was never doing it. I’ll get rid soon of my main line so there will only be my cell phone. I rarely speak on the phone so I won’t get conned on this matter since I have a quota and I have to pay extra for each extra minute, but since I never speak on the phone that won’t happen. Skype, MSN Messenger and emails fit my needs perfectly since everyone I know have the internet.

So I went to get the cell phone last week on friday. Even though I’m not fond of phones, I love technology, computers and gadgets so I was looking forward to play with it and see how it works. Now that I have it I’m not giving it back. It fulfills many of my needs strangely…

I’m a messy person. I’m a well organised, well planned, messy forgetful person. On one side my books and CDs are organized in an alphabetical and chorological way while everything else is a jungle. Or I should say was since I’ve changed a lot since, been working hard these last months. I followed on iVillage mini-courses on how to be more organised, while I was zealous during the courses my enthusiasm fell flat once it was over. Plus I’m a packrat, can’t throw anything in the garbage. It’s true at some point your possessions possess you. I had so much stuff it was driving me crazy, plus the mess… I even got a depression over my mess because it’s all I could see in my place, I was imprisoned by my possessions. And when I’m too overwhelmed I end up giving up and not doing anything. The website Get Organized Now! has helped me a lot in this matter, in particular her weekly newsletter with new tips and ways to boost you, including her blog and forums. I’ve done so much in the last year, I’ve thrown so much stuff in the garbage and recycle bin, gave many items away. I still have a lot of stuff but everything is neat and well arranged, I breath better now, everything is lighter. Now my challenge is to keep up with cleaning and well organizing my place and keeping it well arranged, which is easier said than done. Still, this winter I made another cleaning through my books and I have a bit more space on my bookshelves now, since I got new books I had to make space for them. I discovered the reasons that don’t help me in being well organised are that 1 – I’m a procrastinator, 2 – I’m lazy and 3 – my emotions sometimes make me not do anything whether because I’m a bit depressed or too happy because I don’t want to spoil my happiness with chores, 4 – I’m forgetful, so forgetful that I almost forgot to put it on the list. Of course, maybe you think here I’m being a little too obsessed, the problem here is that I’ve noticed that I’m very sensitive to my environment, my apartment has to be pretty and well arranged, open sunny and spacy, otherwise I get depressed. Last time it happened, I had the courage to get up and make the biggest clean up of my life, will I have this courage again? Now I just want to keep up so that I don’t get overwhelmed and controlled by my possessions again. In other words, I gained back the control of my life and I want to keep it. I’ve checked for agendas and calendars to put everything there in order to remember everything, all the things I have to do. The problem is I never check them. I’ve tried using my computer with alarms but my computer has to be open for this and it doesn’t work when I’m playing a game. The author on Get Organized Now! said to use something that we love as agendas and keep it close, since I love technology and gadgets, I thought about getting one of those pocketPC but they are way to expensive for me so I let it go.

Up until I got my cell phone, which comes with an agenda, calculator, alarm, memo, tasks manager, chrono, address book, etc. I downloaded some apps like lists manager, budget manager, tips calculator, etc. In other words, I have within my phone all the applications necessary to be well organised and all this for free since I didn’t buy my phone but got it for free with a 2-years contract. I’m rather very well impressed by the phone and as I said, I don’t plan to bring it back. Actually I use more the apps on it than the phone itself. I downloaded a few games as well so I know what to do when I’m stuck to wait in line. I had to do my shopping and to go to the grocery store and I had my lists on me in the phone and it was easier to deal with than the usual piece of paper I usually bring. Yeah, I’m starting to love those cell phones…

In case you wonder which phone I got, here it is: Sony Ericsson K300a

Of course, I have to use Silent Hill midi tunes as ringtones.

This is a past blog entry from MySpace.