Wednesday, May 05, 2004
I want to see a brilliant white smile in the mirror!
I am trying to whiten my teeth by using Colgate's "Simply White" product. I first read about it in the Wall Street Journal. (Now that I think about it, a lot of new products I buy I first read about in some periodical or another. Hmm, is this a scam by advertisers? Oh well, I guess I am just witless prey for sneaky advertisers.) So you're supposed to paint this clear white fluid on your teeth two times a day for fourteen days. Its sort of like putting white-out on your teeth, only its a lot less thick. You're then supposed to wait thirty minutes before eating anything.
Anyhow, for the three days I've been using the product, I've only treated my teeth about four times. The second day of the treatment, I just had to have a cup of coffee in the morning, since I could hardly get up. Besides, I'm addicted to the stuff now that I have my trusty espresso maker. So, since I barely get up 30 minutes before work, there was no chance I was going to treat my teeth that day. (Which is sort of ridiculous since one of the reasons I decided to embark on this teeth whitening adventure is because I drinks too much coffee. And coffee makes your teeth turn yellow.) And then today, the bottle has rolled off the desk in my room onto the floor somewhere (btw, in case you did not know, I am a very messy person. Feel lucky you don't have to share a room with me!). Since I already took off my contacts and I am basically blind without them, I cannot find the bottle. Of course, the reason I can't find the bottle might be because the floor is covered with papers, but let's ignore that fact. I can barely even see the screen right now as I type. Its all sort of a blur. Sigh. I guess I am both going blind and causing my teeth to remain yellow at the same time. Where are my glasses?
In other toothworthy news (hardy-har-har), scientists have found a way to grow new teeth to replace lost ones. Apparently, they implant a stem cell in your mouth and soon out pops a new tooth. They have supposedly already successfully done the experiment on a lab animal. Sounds sort of gross to me! Beyond the morally questionable usage of a stem cell (does it depend on the source? Questions,questions, lots of them!), doesn't the idea of implanting some foreign tissue in your mouth to grow a tooth sound disgusting? Let's not start debating morality and stem cells, but... bleh. Its like a parasite is living in your mouth! (Well, I know there are millions of little itty bitty microscopic creatures living on us already, but... I can't tell that they're there, so I don't mind those ones.)
Will someone please help me find the tooth whitening liquid and my glasses? And get those little bugs off me! Thanks.
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Anyhow, for the three days I've been using the product, I've only treated my teeth about four times. The second day of the treatment, I just had to have a cup of coffee in the morning, since I could hardly get up. Besides, I'm addicted to the stuff now that I have my trusty espresso maker. So, since I barely get up 30 minutes before work, there was no chance I was going to treat my teeth that day. (Which is sort of ridiculous since one of the reasons I decided to embark on this teeth whitening adventure is because I drinks too much coffee. And coffee makes your teeth turn yellow.) And then today, the bottle has rolled off the desk in my room onto the floor somewhere (btw, in case you did not know, I am a very messy person. Feel lucky you don't have to share a room with me!). Since I already took off my contacts and I am basically blind without them, I cannot find the bottle. Of course, the reason I can't find the bottle might be because the floor is covered with papers, but let's ignore that fact. I can barely even see the screen right now as I type. Its all sort of a blur. Sigh. I guess I am both going blind and causing my teeth to remain yellow at the same time. Where are my glasses?
In other toothworthy news (hardy-har-har), scientists have found a way to grow new teeth to replace lost ones. Apparently, they implant a stem cell in your mouth and soon out pops a new tooth. They have supposedly already successfully done the experiment on a lab animal. Sounds sort of gross to me! Beyond the morally questionable usage of a stem cell (does it depend on the source? Questions,questions, lots of them!), doesn't the idea of implanting some foreign tissue in your mouth to grow a tooth sound disgusting? Let's not start debating morality and stem cells, but... bleh. Its like a parasite is living in your mouth! (Well, I know there are millions of little itty bitty microscopic creatures living on us already, but... I can't tell that they're there, so I don't mind those ones.)
Will someone please help me find the tooth whitening liquid and my glasses? And get those little bugs off me! Thanks.
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Tuesday, May 04, 2004
Monday, May 03, 2004
Battle Royale
Over the weekend I watched the movie Battle Royale. This Japanese flick is basically a formalized version of Lord of the Flies. In it, a bitter Japanese school teacher (he was knifed by one of his students near the start of the movie) maroons 42 of his former students on a deserted island. They are instructed they must play the game of "Battle Royale". In this horrible game, each student is given a duffle bag full of water, bread and a "weapon" (depending on who they are). They must kill each other one-by-one within the next three days, or they will all die (the students are electronically leashed through a metal collar around their necks. The collars can explode or somehow cause the children to splurt out blood and die horribly).
Its a pretty sick and violent movie. Of course, since I have been desensitized to violence, I didn't mind the blood as much as I should have.
Anyway, [watch out: spoiler coming up. Skip the next rest of this paragraph if you don't want to know the ending] I was sort of irritated with the movie, since I felt that two of the most passive characters ended up "winning" the game. Is that the message? Be passive, don't fight? And for some reason, I am more sympathetic to the boy winner than the girl. The girl, Noriko, just got on my nerves since she was just a cute little girl, who all the boys were in love with (well at least two boys anyway). Even the evil teacher wanted to protect her-- he appears out of nowhere in the rain gives her an umbrella to shield her friend with. I mean, hello! She didn't kill a single person, or even really defend herself (beyond screaming) and she gets to survive? While the "slutty" girl, Mitsuko, who all the girls in the class hate, since she gets all the boys (or rather, sleeps with them all), is very aggressive and kills multiple classmates, perishes in a fight with an returnee (he comes back since he likes to kill?) of the game. (I'll admit she did go out in style.) I guess it just sort of infuriates me that the winning girl has to be this passive, cute creature. I feel as though Mitsuko much more deserved to make it to the end. (BTW, the weapons of the two winners are a pot lid and a pair of binoculars. Compare this with the weapons for the other characters-- a machine gun, grenades, crossbows, axes.) Well, maybe Noriko was smart and used her best strength, the love that others had for her, to survive. You got to use what you got right? If she had turned bloodthirsty, maybe the others would not have been so eager to protect and save her.
Anyway, check out this movie if you feel like an evening of senseless violence. Also, one of the girls from Kill Bill is in this flick as well. She even wears a yellow outfit a la Uma Thurman.
Oh, I just found out there was a sequel. Anyone want to check it out?
Some reviews of the original:
- "Having gone all to the trouble of finding an import VCD of this flick, I'm glad I put in all the effort." [IMDB]
- "There lies the intriguing dilemma of this film: is the survival instinct stronger than loyalty to your friends?" [mandiapple]
- "The furor over Battle Royale reverberated across the globe, creating a buzz which, in the commercial sense, certainly hasn't done the film any harm, having been already released in a number of foreign territories." [midnight eye]
- The movie scored 85% on the tomatometer [Rotten Tomatoes]
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