since it was the end of semester, i thought i go on some really fun stuff. it so happened that pamela also finished her exams, so we agreed to go on a movie marathon. the only difference, we buy one ticket, watch three movies.
the screenings are held differently here as compared to singapore. in singapore, you show the ticket right before walking into the respective theatre. here, you show your tickets, and then there's this open section where people buy their food, sit down, go to the toilet, or kids playing some video games. and each theatre is designated a single movie, so you know what is being shown in each theatre.
so we took full advantage of that opportunity, and did some research on each screenings for that day the night before. pamela wanted to catch 'ocean's 12' and i wanted to catch 'sideways.' a week earlier, we agreed to catch 'finding neverland' but neither of us were really keen to catch that, so we decided to watch 'spanglish' instead. i looked up each timing and came up wit the most suitable order, the final decision was in the order of 'ocean's 12' at 1330, 'sideways' at 1610 and 'spanglish' at 1900. all set.
and it was quite fun too. the only downside was waking up rather early on a saturday, and since whoever left in my section was happily drinking, it was rather noisy. but it didnt really matter much. the dining hall closed for the winter, so i had to get food on my own somehow. i did the easy way out by just ordering chinese, while joe t. and i started watching 'amelie.' i can watch that movie anytime and be continually amused. and this time, i realized i never saw certain scenes, which needless to say, was censored by singapore censor board. the cut scenes kinda enhanced that point in the movie, but gotta do whats gotta be done, right?
so the next morning, i woke up a little earlier, took a shower, went to withdraw some money and left. since i didnt have $5 notes and all, i had to use $10 to exchange for train tokens.
i guess i reached a little early, so i headed to the bookstore to kill some time, and while doing so, i came across really interesting books. ive been reading nothing but academic texts all semester, and since i have the whole winter in chicago, i thought i might as well get something interesting to read while in chicago. i'll do some more research and will buy in the next couple of days or so.
so we got the tickets for 'ocean's 12,' got our lunch, and went into the theatre. 'ocean's 12' was alright, but i must saw it fell below my expectation. its not bad at all, but i expected a greater entertainment than that of 11, but that was not to be. there's more comedy involved, and when you find out what actually took place, i felt kinda cheated, of the plot. a sequel to a remake of an older movie, can't exactly go right with that setting, but i guess its good enough.
next was one of my kind of movies, if many will consider boring. 'sideways' was a simple tale of two ex-college room mates going on a wine tasting trip a week before one of them got married. while tasting different types of wine and coming across numerious people, well, things happen, i dont wanna spoil the movie. i really enjoyed the simpleness but casual style of the movie. i kinda understand why it was listed among the top 5 movies to catch as suggested by the film institute.
i didnt really expect 'spanglish' to be that good, since it was another one of those adam sandler comedies, but it turned out to be really really good. it was very funny at most scenes and i guess they showed how flore struggled with the cultural difference very well. and she was pretty hot too, not to forget the hispanic accent while she tried to speak english. so i guess it was good exchange for 'finding neverland.'
pamela had to catch her shuttle to emory after that, so after meeting leisha and greg, we rushed back to lenox to get her shuttle.
back in tech, the PLs were going to the infamous Varsity for dinner, and since i didnt have dinner yet, i tagged along with them and also joe cole. i remember my delta sig brothers telling me to go to varsity only once a year, and i guess they're right in saying that. they're the world's largest drive through restaurant, but my, the food was rather measely. but their fries were good, i give them that.
we headed back and watched 'dodgeball' which was really lame, but something i needed after a tiring semester.
somewhere along the way, i started feeling some irritation in my right shoulder. i knew what it was, that particular irritating that grows into pain if i stayed still. so obviously, i couldnt go to sleep, coz i had to keep moving to keep the pain away and if i didnt, it was a torture. i figured out later that if i slept vertically, meaning, by sitting, the pain wasnt as bad. so i got down to my desk area, got the movie chair, and tried to sleep. that was already 8 something. i got about 2 hours of interrupted sleep, but felt so much better after that.
tech is closing brittain rec for maintenance tomorrow, so here i am, doing laundry on a sunday afternoon. how interesting. but i have no choice. my flight's on tuesday, so gotta clean them up and start packing.
if i still have time after settling with the clothes, then i might rearrange my room, like james and i planned. but i doubt that might happen, as i gotta get ready to visit my grand-aunt's place in lilburn. luckily, james is giving me a ride there. but i guess that will be fun.
ive never had breakfast since last monday at all. i've either been on a one meal or two meal per day since then, and i dont feel that hungry for some reason. i settle it with a late brunch, and an even late dinner. sometimes none at all. and it doesnt help now that the dining hall is closed. i dont feel like spending money on food, coz it can get very costly.
the dorm's practically empty except for me and my PLs, who will leave tomorrow. i'll probably head to sell my books for this semester, close my band of america account, exchange remaining singapore dollars i have in my possession and pack tomorrow. and yeah, rearrange our room setttings.
im gonna go grab something to eat. its about time.
Sunday, December 12, 2004
Friday, December 10, 2004
end of semester!
wheeey... my exam's are done!
and i think i nailed the calculus exam. i studied the 6 exams i took so far so much that just by glancing at the questions in the final, i knew what to do. i didnt answer one question, coz i really had no idea what to do, it was one of the three new questions, but if i had done everything right for the ones i did, i should get 140 out of 150.
i received three final grades so far, GT1000, History and Health, in the order of A, B and C respectively. i'm pretty sure i'll get an A for math, probable B for English and Intro to Engineering, so my GPA should sit at 3.28 or something. i guess that's alright for first semester.
but next semester's gonna be real tough. 19 hours, totally new subjects. im kinda scared already.
and its also next semester that i have to make a decision on a lot of many things, among them, my major, and how fast i wanna finish. if i am to go ballistic and take every single semester from now, i could be graduating this time only 2 years from now. but im not sure if i have the mental endurance to do that. i might squeeze in an internship just to boost my chances of employment, but i guess i gotta talk to some people in the school for that.
im gonna schedule for some diagnostic test to see what kind of major and career im most suited for, just as a measure. ive been taking online IQ tests recently, as well as those personality tests, to pass time in between studying, and the results are somewhat surprising. i know better than to trust one score, so i took like 3 or 4 of them, and my average was 127, which borders on the 'genius' category. i know it isnt true, some free, 15 minute online test is not gonna reflect accurately, these are just gimmicks to make people feel happy, so i got kinda fed up, coz it was a waste of time in the end. but some of the other tests reflected pretty well, i need some work that will allow me to manage my own way and such. sounds like my perception of ISyE so far. i guess i will find out next semester.
been watching tons of movies too, during late night, when its almost impossible to study coz of all the guys making noise. i cant even recall how many ive been so far, but 'saw', 'city of god' and '28 days later' and number of others i cant recall. 'city of god' was pretty awesome, and i couldnt believe that it was based on a true story.
yeah well, im just gonna take the next couple of days to go around, watch more movies and not have to worry about anything until january.
probably the only thing i need to worry about it getting my ass frozen in chicago.
and i think i nailed the calculus exam. i studied the 6 exams i took so far so much that just by glancing at the questions in the final, i knew what to do. i didnt answer one question, coz i really had no idea what to do, it was one of the three new questions, but if i had done everything right for the ones i did, i should get 140 out of 150.
i received three final grades so far, GT1000, History and Health, in the order of A, B and C respectively. i'm pretty sure i'll get an A for math, probable B for English and Intro to Engineering, so my GPA should sit at 3.28 or something. i guess that's alright for first semester.
but next semester's gonna be real tough. 19 hours, totally new subjects. im kinda scared already.
and its also next semester that i have to make a decision on a lot of many things, among them, my major, and how fast i wanna finish. if i am to go ballistic and take every single semester from now, i could be graduating this time only 2 years from now. but im not sure if i have the mental endurance to do that. i might squeeze in an internship just to boost my chances of employment, but i guess i gotta talk to some people in the school for that.
im gonna schedule for some diagnostic test to see what kind of major and career im most suited for, just as a measure. ive been taking online IQ tests recently, as well as those personality tests, to pass time in between studying, and the results are somewhat surprising. i know better than to trust one score, so i took like 3 or 4 of them, and my average was 127, which borders on the 'genius' category. i know it isnt true, some free, 15 minute online test is not gonna reflect accurately, these are just gimmicks to make people feel happy, so i got kinda fed up, coz it was a waste of time in the end. but some of the other tests reflected pretty well, i need some work that will allow me to manage my own way and such. sounds like my perception of ISyE so far. i guess i will find out next semester.
been watching tons of movies too, during late night, when its almost impossible to study coz of all the guys making noise. i cant even recall how many ive been so far, but 'saw', 'city of god' and '28 days later' and number of others i cant recall. 'city of god' was pretty awesome, and i couldnt believe that it was based on a true story.
yeah well, im just gonna take the next couple of days to go around, watch more movies and not have to worry about anything until january.
probably the only thing i need to worry about it getting my ass frozen in chicago.
Thursday, December 09, 2004
in preparation for calculus
i have two and a half days to nick the calculus paper, ive done quite a bit in the last couple of days, so its been good.
what im surprised is that the finals consist mainly questions from the 6 exams we had through this semester and the questions that are taken from these exams are carbon copy of the ones we took.
i ask, what's the point of having exams then? at least change the figures or the style of question? but then again, it works for me, i can just review the 6 exams and make sure i dont make the same stupid mistake i've made in them.
so that leaves me with just one test and chapter 8 to review. presented with this kind of opportunity, i have to nick it.
my TA was saying there might be a curve of 5 or 6 marks. in that case, i might just need to score anywhere above 70 to get A, but im not going to bank on that. im going for the A, which means a 90.
and since the questions are carbon copy, i dont see how that's difficult at all...
what im surprised is that the finals consist mainly questions from the 6 exams we had through this semester and the questions that are taken from these exams are carbon copy of the ones we took.
i ask, what's the point of having exams then? at least change the figures or the style of question? but then again, it works for me, i can just review the 6 exams and make sure i dont make the same stupid mistake i've made in them.
so that leaves me with just one test and chapter 8 to review. presented with this kind of opportunity, i have to nick it.
my TA was saying there might be a curve of 5 or 6 marks. in that case, i might just need to score anywhere above 70 to get A, but im not going to bank on that. im going for the A, which means a 90.
and since the questions are carbon copy, i dont see how that's difficult at all...
Tuesday, December 07, 2004
out of words
when things screw up on me, especially for something that is out of my hands, the last thing i need is the very people whom i consider to be my 'friends' making it tougher for me. it should be the other way round.
Sunday, December 05, 2004
quote
Alice's (Natalie Portman) response to Dan (Jude Law) in 'Closer.'
"Where is this love? I can't see it, I can't touch it, I can't feel it. I can hear some words, but I can't do anything with your easy words."
"Where is this love? I can't see it, I can't touch it, I can't feel it. I can hear some words, but I can't do anything with your easy words."
i can't take my mind off of you...
The past couple of days has been filled with late night movie watching, and some really great ones, I could perhaps say that one of the best collections of movies I’ve ever seen. It all started with ‘dirty pretty things’ and ‘lost in translation.’ Soon enough, I was browsing through the best movie database website, imDB, and looking through recommended films that are similar to my favorite ones, or looking and making a list of whatever I have not seen in the all time top 250 listed by users, and boy, how beneficial that turned out to be. I downloaded a bunch of them and started watching them.
One of them was ‘memento,’ a movie that was very interesting, coz one story moved from the end backward every now and then, and in between each segment, the same story was moving forward from the beginning. I thought it was a very clever way to break the story down, and I was very impressed.
I watched traffic purely because I’ve always seen the DVD in serene centre and never got to watch it. Some fine acting, but I thought the story was kinda left messy, as three independent stories didn’t come together in the end. But it was alright.
I watched those on Friday, and on that day, the school had this all night games event named ‘one night stand’ and we were to play dodgeball, starting at 2am in the morning. How weird. But the reason why we even considered playing was because one half of the section signed up without even informing us, and soon enough, we came up with the anti-team of whatever that remained in the other half. Our sole intent was to beat that other team, and after some talking to to the officials, we made that happen, we were to play that. Regardless of whether we won or not, we would leave the tournament. We played around 3:30-ish. Until then, we watched the other matches, and since the place where we played was an indoor soccer court, we kept banging on glasses like mad south American soccer fans, chanting ‘you suck’ and just cheering, shouting at anything that happened. We were having so much fun. We finally played, I was the second last to get out, primarily because I dodged all the balls, but never got the ball coz my team mates kept taking the ball when I wanted it. Not like I would have gotten anyone out anyway. But in the end, it was a sole battle between james in my team and hunter from the other team. Since both hit eachother at the same time, it was left as a sudden death match, which james narrowly lost. We created so much entertainment, there could not have been anything better. But the officials changed the rules after that to cut on time, so the rest ended up being real messy and just a crazed meelee.
So we went back to our dorms, adrenaline pumping through our body, all excited and laughing like lunatics. While on the way back, james and I kind of straightened certain things out, which I guess worked well for the both of us, as the next day would prove. We couldn’t get to sleep, so james and I decided to watch a movie that was good and one that neither of us watched. Since I was looking through the top 250 list, I thought we watched ‘american beauty.’
The movie was very interesting, how they portrayed each characters and a very simple storyline. But these didn’t compare to what was coming in the next day.
But if there’s anything to be learnt from the movie, then it was mena suvari’s character mentioning she’s afraid to be just normal. I kinda realized there was a grave reverse psychology in our lives. We are all born technically born different. But everyone seems to think we’re all the same. And as a result, some people do different things, in order to be different, like being really popular, doing something unusual, and such, but by doing that, we actually are conforming to some style, that can be categorized, which means that that very thing that we’re doing to be different is actually making us the same as anyone else. I don’t think I expressed this right, but instead of being different, we’re all homogenizing. Like some people drink and do drugs to be different, but in the end, so are other people, which renders their actions useless… and such. I’m not sure how I’m trying to convey my point, but I thought that was extremely ironic.
Since the new Natalie Portman movie ‘closer’ had opened on Friday, I got couple of people to watch. Dan was definitely one that wanted to watch it, since he appreciates Natalie as much as I do. We were all excited when we read the review on CNN, that it was going to be one of the 5 movies to catch this season as recommended by the film institute (the rest consisting of ‘Finding Neverland, which I’ll watch with Pamela next week, and the much anticipated ‘Aviator’, and Clint Eastwood’s ‘Million Dollar Baby’ and ‘Sideways.’) but there was this segment that mentioned a scene where Natalie Portman is in a strip joint wearing only a bra and a G-string. We wondered how that would be like, since she never does roles like that.
So James and I went to sleep around 6:30am, after watching ‘American Beauty’ and I woke up around 11-ish, reeling from lack of sleep, but fine nonetheless. Tom and Dan decided to come with us, James preferring to stay in bed to catch up on sleep. Pam, Leisha and Adina joined us for the movie, and wow, how that turned out to be.
I was left speechless at the end, because it was so explicit, yet speaks so true of how we handle relationships. Most people would probably walk out of the theatre thinking it was fucked up or ‘perverted’ as tom described, I think it was a very accurate portrayal of how human handle relationships and sexuality in modern times. I should probably admit that none of us were qualified to truly appreciate the depth of the movie since we were all young and haven’t exactly gotten to that stage in our lifetime, but we could tell the seriousness and the honestly expressed in the movie.
I felt really weird after that, and I guess that kind of explained for the reason why I was feeling so out of place. The movie made me think about so many things, that I should be aware of as I grow older. Basically, to never take anyone for granted and all. Well, in the end, both Dan and I agreed that if you ever have Natalie Portman, you don’t fuck around. Simple as that.
The movie was probably the most provocative as well as R-rated movie I’ve ever seen, I guess. But I’m not really bothered about that. It made me feel real uneasy to watch parts of it, where couples were questioning eachother so furiously and explicitly. But clive owen was such a terrific actor in that movie. I don’t understand how the people behind this movie is going to push for Julia Roberts and jude law as the main actor/actress if ever nominated for awards (which it probably will be) and put clive owen and Natalie Portman as supporting actor/actress category as the ‘supporting’ characters totally overshadowed the more well known casts.
While getting dinner and walking around later on to look for tom and dan, I felt like Scarlet Johansson (I found out she’s only few months younger than I am) in ‘lost in translation’ I felt really out of place, like I described in my earlier entries. It felt like a slow motion walk, while things around me seemed to move faster and continuing, as if I wasn’t there at all. It was a weird moment. It kind of tied into the feeling I got after the movie, a sad realization of how life actually is.
It got worse after I came back. James and I decided to watch ‘road to perdition’ which we didn’t really enjoy for some reason. Slow, with not much substance to boot. We were really disappointed. And james suggested we watch ‘requiem for a dream.’ We got dan to come over and watch it, and boy, was that really intense too. It was all about drugs and what it does, but it was enough to make one stay off drugs for a lifetime. Education should not spend any money on posters and programs about anti drug whatever and just make students watch this, it’ll do a much better job of making people aware of what it can do and how it fucks people up than those informational flyers and workshops ever will.
So technically I had watched two very intense movies that day and I really felt awkward. We went to sleep at 4 am and woke up around 3pm, only to wake up feeling worse. Dan shared the same opinion. To complete this messed up feeling, I guess I might as well download ‘saw’ and make myself feel worse. I guess the two grave human errors from ‘closer’ and ‘requiem for a dream’ are ‘lust’ and ‘temptation.’ I wonder what saw will add. I feel like watching that in theatres, but I guess I can’t wait for it.
I have two new songs to add to my list. These were two songs that were played during ‘closer’ which deserves so much more attention. I looked around and found the song last night, and I cant believe I didn’t come across this beautifully crafted song before. I guess with it being featured in ‘closer’ Damien Rice will get more exposure. His song ‘The Blower’s Daughter’ is somewhat the main song for the movie and is featured prominently in the beginning and the end, and also couple of times in between, but it totally absorbs the intensity of the movie so well. And one of the lighter jazz songs by Suzanne Vega ‘Caramel’ is also very nice, I have to give credit to James for taking note of that one.
We both have been playing that on repeat, but its so nice, we just want to hear it again. Damien’s style reminds me a lot of Tracy Chapman’s simple folk guitar song, but its very different at the same time.
I should probably head back to studying for my finals, just thought I take a break, and write a summary of what’s been going on in the past few days. I feel terrible with these movies, but at the same time, im really glad that I saw them. I rather face reality than fictionalized content.
Just one more week, and im done.
Oh, there was another weird encounter on Friday night, or should I say Saturday morning. Its not the first time that happened, but the stare each of us gave…. I can’t find the words to describe… as if its like.. never mind. Sometimes time moves slow enough it feels like there’s something to it. I’m probably wrong.
God dammit, I might end up watching ‘saw’ tonight. Just to satisfy myself.
I can't stop playing this song... it's too beautiful...
'The Blower's Daughter' by Damien Rice
"And so it is
Just like you said it would be
Life goes easy on me
Most of the time
And so it is
The shorter story
No love, no glory
No hero in her sky
I can't take my eyes off of you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes off of you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes...
And so it is
Just like you said it should be
We'll both forget the breeze
Most of the time
And so it is
The colder water
The blower's daughter
The pupil in denial
I can't take my eyes off of you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes off of you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes...
Did I say that I loathe you?
Did I say that I want to
Leave it all behind?
I can't take my mind off of you
I can't take my mind off you
I can't take my mind off of you
I can't take my mind off you
I can't take my mind off you
I can't take my mind...
My mind...my mind...
'Til I find somebody new"
One of them was ‘memento,’ a movie that was very interesting, coz one story moved from the end backward every now and then, and in between each segment, the same story was moving forward from the beginning. I thought it was a very clever way to break the story down, and I was very impressed.
I watched traffic purely because I’ve always seen the DVD in serene centre and never got to watch it. Some fine acting, but I thought the story was kinda left messy, as three independent stories didn’t come together in the end. But it was alright.
I watched those on Friday, and on that day, the school had this all night games event named ‘one night stand’ and we were to play dodgeball, starting at 2am in the morning. How weird. But the reason why we even considered playing was because one half of the section signed up without even informing us, and soon enough, we came up with the anti-team of whatever that remained in the other half. Our sole intent was to beat that other team, and after some talking to to the officials, we made that happen, we were to play that. Regardless of whether we won or not, we would leave the tournament. We played around 3:30-ish. Until then, we watched the other matches, and since the place where we played was an indoor soccer court, we kept banging on glasses like mad south American soccer fans, chanting ‘you suck’ and just cheering, shouting at anything that happened. We were having so much fun. We finally played, I was the second last to get out, primarily because I dodged all the balls, but never got the ball coz my team mates kept taking the ball when I wanted it. Not like I would have gotten anyone out anyway. But in the end, it was a sole battle between james in my team and hunter from the other team. Since both hit eachother at the same time, it was left as a sudden death match, which james narrowly lost. We created so much entertainment, there could not have been anything better. But the officials changed the rules after that to cut on time, so the rest ended up being real messy and just a crazed meelee.
So we went back to our dorms, adrenaline pumping through our body, all excited and laughing like lunatics. While on the way back, james and I kind of straightened certain things out, which I guess worked well for the both of us, as the next day would prove. We couldn’t get to sleep, so james and I decided to watch a movie that was good and one that neither of us watched. Since I was looking through the top 250 list, I thought we watched ‘american beauty.’
The movie was very interesting, how they portrayed each characters and a very simple storyline. But these didn’t compare to what was coming in the next day.
But if there’s anything to be learnt from the movie, then it was mena suvari’s character mentioning she’s afraid to be just normal. I kinda realized there was a grave reverse psychology in our lives. We are all born technically born different. But everyone seems to think we’re all the same. And as a result, some people do different things, in order to be different, like being really popular, doing something unusual, and such, but by doing that, we actually are conforming to some style, that can be categorized, which means that that very thing that we’re doing to be different is actually making us the same as anyone else. I don’t think I expressed this right, but instead of being different, we’re all homogenizing. Like some people drink and do drugs to be different, but in the end, so are other people, which renders their actions useless… and such. I’m not sure how I’m trying to convey my point, but I thought that was extremely ironic.
Since the new Natalie Portman movie ‘closer’ had opened on Friday, I got couple of people to watch. Dan was definitely one that wanted to watch it, since he appreciates Natalie as much as I do. We were all excited when we read the review on CNN, that it was going to be one of the 5 movies to catch this season as recommended by the film institute (the rest consisting of ‘Finding Neverland, which I’ll watch with Pamela next week, and the much anticipated ‘Aviator’, and Clint Eastwood’s ‘Million Dollar Baby’ and ‘Sideways.’) but there was this segment that mentioned a scene where Natalie Portman is in a strip joint wearing only a bra and a G-string. We wondered how that would be like, since she never does roles like that.
So James and I went to sleep around 6:30am, after watching ‘American Beauty’ and I woke up around 11-ish, reeling from lack of sleep, but fine nonetheless. Tom and Dan decided to come with us, James preferring to stay in bed to catch up on sleep. Pam, Leisha and Adina joined us for the movie, and wow, how that turned out to be.
I was left speechless at the end, because it was so explicit, yet speaks so true of how we handle relationships. Most people would probably walk out of the theatre thinking it was fucked up or ‘perverted’ as tom described, I think it was a very accurate portrayal of how human handle relationships and sexuality in modern times. I should probably admit that none of us were qualified to truly appreciate the depth of the movie since we were all young and haven’t exactly gotten to that stage in our lifetime, but we could tell the seriousness and the honestly expressed in the movie.
I felt really weird after that, and I guess that kind of explained for the reason why I was feeling so out of place. The movie made me think about so many things, that I should be aware of as I grow older. Basically, to never take anyone for granted and all. Well, in the end, both Dan and I agreed that if you ever have Natalie Portman, you don’t fuck around. Simple as that.
The movie was probably the most provocative as well as R-rated movie I’ve ever seen, I guess. But I’m not really bothered about that. It made me feel real uneasy to watch parts of it, where couples were questioning eachother so furiously and explicitly. But clive owen was such a terrific actor in that movie. I don’t understand how the people behind this movie is going to push for Julia Roberts and jude law as the main actor/actress if ever nominated for awards (which it probably will be) and put clive owen and Natalie Portman as supporting actor/actress category as the ‘supporting’ characters totally overshadowed the more well known casts.
While getting dinner and walking around later on to look for tom and dan, I felt like Scarlet Johansson (I found out she’s only few months younger than I am) in ‘lost in translation’ I felt really out of place, like I described in my earlier entries. It felt like a slow motion walk, while things around me seemed to move faster and continuing, as if I wasn’t there at all. It was a weird moment. It kind of tied into the feeling I got after the movie, a sad realization of how life actually is.
It got worse after I came back. James and I decided to watch ‘road to perdition’ which we didn’t really enjoy for some reason. Slow, with not much substance to boot. We were really disappointed. And james suggested we watch ‘requiem for a dream.’ We got dan to come over and watch it, and boy, was that really intense too. It was all about drugs and what it does, but it was enough to make one stay off drugs for a lifetime. Education should not spend any money on posters and programs about anti drug whatever and just make students watch this, it’ll do a much better job of making people aware of what it can do and how it fucks people up than those informational flyers and workshops ever will.
So technically I had watched two very intense movies that day and I really felt awkward. We went to sleep at 4 am and woke up around 3pm, only to wake up feeling worse. Dan shared the same opinion. To complete this messed up feeling, I guess I might as well download ‘saw’ and make myself feel worse. I guess the two grave human errors from ‘closer’ and ‘requiem for a dream’ are ‘lust’ and ‘temptation.’ I wonder what saw will add. I feel like watching that in theatres, but I guess I can’t wait for it.
I have two new songs to add to my list. These were two songs that were played during ‘closer’ which deserves so much more attention. I looked around and found the song last night, and I cant believe I didn’t come across this beautifully crafted song before. I guess with it being featured in ‘closer’ Damien Rice will get more exposure. His song ‘The Blower’s Daughter’ is somewhat the main song for the movie and is featured prominently in the beginning and the end, and also couple of times in between, but it totally absorbs the intensity of the movie so well. And one of the lighter jazz songs by Suzanne Vega ‘Caramel’ is also very nice, I have to give credit to James for taking note of that one.
We both have been playing that on repeat, but its so nice, we just want to hear it again. Damien’s style reminds me a lot of Tracy Chapman’s simple folk guitar song, but its very different at the same time.
I should probably head back to studying for my finals, just thought I take a break, and write a summary of what’s been going on in the past few days. I feel terrible with these movies, but at the same time, im really glad that I saw them. I rather face reality than fictionalized content.
Just one more week, and im done.
Oh, there was another weird encounter on Friday night, or should I say Saturday morning. Its not the first time that happened, but the stare each of us gave…. I can’t find the words to describe… as if its like.. never mind. Sometimes time moves slow enough it feels like there’s something to it. I’m probably wrong.
God dammit, I might end up watching ‘saw’ tonight. Just to satisfy myself.
I can't stop playing this song... it's too beautiful...
'The Blower's Daughter' by Damien Rice
"And so it is
Just like you said it would be
Life goes easy on me
Most of the time
And so it is
The shorter story
No love, no glory
No hero in her sky
I can't take my eyes off of you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes off of you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes...
And so it is
Just like you said it should be
We'll both forget the breeze
Most of the time
And so it is
The colder water
The blower's daughter
The pupil in denial
I can't take my eyes off of you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes off of you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes...
Did I say that I loathe you?
Did I say that I want to
Leave it all behind?
I can't take my mind off of you
I can't take my mind off you
I can't take my mind off of you
I can't take my mind off you
I can't take my mind off you
I can't take my mind...
My mind...my mind...
'Til I find somebody new"
Friday, December 03, 2004
'Dirty Pretty Things' and 'Lost In Translation'
for the whole of yesterday, be it during class, or while walking to class, or even when i was in my room, i couldnt stop thinking about the events that took place in the movie 'Dirty Pretty Things.'
it was marvelously crafted, if you ask me. and at the end of the movie, it kinda leaves you feeling empty, somewhat guilty and vowing to yourself that you really want to be a better person than you are now. it was somewhat similar to my all-time favourite movie 'The Professional' in a sense that the guy, who's doing a dirty job, but ultimately has a real good heart, goes through so much to save the innocent girl, but they dont even up together.
yeah, it has the same effect on me whenever i watch 'the professional.' and its pretty sad at the last part, coz the two have to separate, never meeting eachother again. its a sad truth about how things end up.
'lost in translation' was something like that, but the stereotypes of the modern japanese society was a little far fetched. the japanese knows that foreigners arent likely to understand japanese by just talking to them in japanese, but other things that were portrayed in the movie was somewhat true, and fond memories of my time in japan began to resurface.
watching that movie reignited my desire that i might want to move to japan sometime early in my working career. i wouldnt wanna be dating someone or married by then, coz i wouldnt want her to be going through what scarlett johansson went through, alone, out of place and confused. but its certainly something i can imagine myself doing.
and that translator in the movie was horrible. i can definately do a much better job than that. i should really just become a translator. i can tell him exactly what the director was trying to convey to bill murray, but i guess that's the exaclt point sofia coppola was trying to convey in the movie.
those two movies are pretty good, i enjoyed it, both ending with similar endings, and it kinda came at the right time when i've been thinking about such things since thanksgiving.
somehow i feel like scarlett johansson in atlanta. i have friends, i know the place, and i am not at all confused about how people do things here, but i feel out of place somehow, alone, and just trying to put the pieces together myself... i begin to think about the good moments i had, not too long ago, and agonise over what it could have been, but didnt exactly ignite. but that's the same with everything. somethings just dont happen, we move on to different things, and the cycle repeats.
i'm just one class away from ending for the semester. it wont be that long if we dont have questions. then, its study mode. the first two wont be much, and i just need to make sure i dont make dumb mistakes for calculus. i need to score 90 to secure an A automatically, without curve, and considering majority of the questions will be taken out of the 6 exams we took, i dont think that will be much of a problem.
i was surfing through the imDB website and i was glad to come across various ranking of movies, of which, i made a shortlist and will start downloading them before i head back to naperville. i wish they had a list of the really good foreign language films. amelie ranks like 27th in the all time best list, which i think is really deserved. screening for andrey tautou's latest film 'a very long engagement' is only in selected theatres, so it kinda sucks, but natalie portman's anticipated 'closer' opens today. i wonder if i should catch it tonight or even tomorrow.
i still am thinking about 'dirty pretty things.' and it doesnt help that audrey tautou always seems to play that innocent girl role so well in all 4 films i've seen her in.
its a sad realization, as portrayed in the film, that good hearted people have to go through so much just to make a simple living. just because they're not from a modern developed country doesnt neccesarily have to make them go through such ordeal, when others are getting away with grave mistakes. that's the thing that evokes so much emotion out of me from that movie.
this warrants for more dido and zero 7...
it was marvelously crafted, if you ask me. and at the end of the movie, it kinda leaves you feeling empty, somewhat guilty and vowing to yourself that you really want to be a better person than you are now. it was somewhat similar to my all-time favourite movie 'The Professional' in a sense that the guy, who's doing a dirty job, but ultimately has a real good heart, goes through so much to save the innocent girl, but they dont even up together.
yeah, it has the same effect on me whenever i watch 'the professional.' and its pretty sad at the last part, coz the two have to separate, never meeting eachother again. its a sad truth about how things end up.
'lost in translation' was something like that, but the stereotypes of the modern japanese society was a little far fetched. the japanese knows that foreigners arent likely to understand japanese by just talking to them in japanese, but other things that were portrayed in the movie was somewhat true, and fond memories of my time in japan began to resurface.
watching that movie reignited my desire that i might want to move to japan sometime early in my working career. i wouldnt wanna be dating someone or married by then, coz i wouldnt want her to be going through what scarlett johansson went through, alone, out of place and confused. but its certainly something i can imagine myself doing.
and that translator in the movie was horrible. i can definately do a much better job than that. i should really just become a translator. i can tell him exactly what the director was trying to convey to bill murray, but i guess that's the exaclt point sofia coppola was trying to convey in the movie.
those two movies are pretty good, i enjoyed it, both ending with similar endings, and it kinda came at the right time when i've been thinking about such things since thanksgiving.
somehow i feel like scarlett johansson in atlanta. i have friends, i know the place, and i am not at all confused about how people do things here, but i feel out of place somehow, alone, and just trying to put the pieces together myself... i begin to think about the good moments i had, not too long ago, and agonise over what it could have been, but didnt exactly ignite. but that's the same with everything. somethings just dont happen, we move on to different things, and the cycle repeats.
i'm just one class away from ending for the semester. it wont be that long if we dont have questions. then, its study mode. the first two wont be much, and i just need to make sure i dont make dumb mistakes for calculus. i need to score 90 to secure an A automatically, without curve, and considering majority of the questions will be taken out of the 6 exams we took, i dont think that will be much of a problem.
i was surfing through the imDB website and i was glad to come across various ranking of movies, of which, i made a shortlist and will start downloading them before i head back to naperville. i wish they had a list of the really good foreign language films. amelie ranks like 27th in the all time best list, which i think is really deserved. screening for andrey tautou's latest film 'a very long engagement' is only in selected theatres, so it kinda sucks, but natalie portman's anticipated 'closer' opens today. i wonder if i should catch it tonight or even tomorrow.
i still am thinking about 'dirty pretty things.' and it doesnt help that audrey tautou always seems to play that innocent girl role so well in all 4 films i've seen her in.
its a sad realization, as portrayed in the film, that good hearted people have to go through so much just to make a simple living. just because they're not from a modern developed country doesnt neccesarily have to make them go through such ordeal, when others are getting away with grave mistakes. that's the thing that evokes so much emotion out of me from that movie.
this warrants for more dido and zero 7...
Thursday, December 02, 2004
Honestly OK
"I just want to feel,
Safe in my own skin
I just want to be,
Happy again
I just want to feel,
Deep in my own world
But I'm so lonely
I don't even want to be with myself anymore
On a different day,
If I was safe in my own skin
Then I wouldn't feel lost
and so frightened
But this is today
and I'm lost in my own skin
And I'm so lonely
I don't even want to be with myself anymore
I just want to feel,
Safe in my own skin
I just want to be,
Happy again."
Safe in my own skin
I just want to be,
Happy again
I just want to feel,
Deep in my own world
But I'm so lonely
I don't even want to be with myself anymore
On a different day,
If I was safe in my own skin
Then I wouldn't feel lost
and so frightened
But this is today
and I'm lost in my own skin
And I'm so lonely
I don't even want to be with myself anymore
I just want to feel,
Safe in my own skin
I just want to be,
Happy again."
Wednesday, December 01, 2004
i'm done biatch!
phewww...
im finally done with the english blogging assignment... 16 entries in 3 days... was tough... really tough...
i couldnt really get down to doing it today, since i was so tired, so i took a much needed nap in the afternoon, and got down to doing it. and i just finished. god it feels so good.
as i was talking to Junwen the other day, after i'm done with finals, i'm probably going to gather all the writing work i've done this semester and compile it into a separate blog, something i've been thinking of doing, and will continue to do for the rest of my academic life in georgia tech, as some sort of a record. it'll be interesting how that sums up.
im done, and i can either cool down for the rest of the week, or start right ahead in preparation for history finals. guess it'll be the latter.
oh, and i got a C for health. bleah. never mind. at least i didnt get a D. the best is a 3.43 for GPA now. isnt too bad i guess.
for now, im gonna take a real good shower, and ogle at audrey tautou in 'dirty little things' before going to sleep.
im finally done with the english blogging assignment... 16 entries in 3 days... was tough... really tough...
i couldnt really get down to doing it today, since i was so tired, so i took a much needed nap in the afternoon, and got down to doing it. and i just finished. god it feels so good.
as i was talking to Junwen the other day, after i'm done with finals, i'm probably going to gather all the writing work i've done this semester and compile it into a separate blog, something i've been thinking of doing, and will continue to do for the rest of my academic life in georgia tech, as some sort of a record. it'll be interesting how that sums up.
im done, and i can either cool down for the rest of the week, or start right ahead in preparation for history finals. guess it'll be the latter.
oh, and i got a C for health. bleah. never mind. at least i didnt get a D. the best is a 3.43 for GPA now. isnt too bad i guess.
for now, im gonna take a real good shower, and ogle at audrey tautou in 'dirty little things' before going to sleep.
dead week
they call the last academic week 'dead week' for a reason. i so dead tired. ive been trying to finish off whatever that's required for the semester. and i guess i've been doing it a little too much, but its something that has to be done, if you ask me.
for english, im supposed to have 15 blog entries, reviewing editorials from newspapers or commenting on issues, and 6 more for a group entry. techincally, we should have been doing 2, at least 1 every week. each entry is a minimum of 250 words. i remember early in this semester, i was thinking, well, that isnt much, i should be doing consistently, and when the professor said that he expected people to rush in the last week, i thought i wouldnt be doing that.
since i got so involved on campus, the latter happened to be true. thankfully i had done couple over the semester, but im rushing so many entries now. i did 5 entries on monday, and 7 yesterday. and i spent practically the whole day doing that, so much that my eyes are sore from looking at the powerbook screen. i only have 5 more to go for today, which i will hopefully complete. 250 words isnt much, true, but when its added up, its something. i must have written 3500 words of analysis in the past 2 days. plus, on monday, i was finishing off my history text, and i managed to read 100 pages of that, play a soccer match (which we lost) and do 5 entries.
couple of the guys in my section of the dorm was drinking... on monday night! so i couldnt really sleep in peace coz there was so much noise outside. i wonder if the noise issue is better in west campus at all. last night was another case, i was doing work til 12 plus, unable to take it anymore, went to sleep, tried hard to sleep, but couldnt sleep.
this sucks. but i know, by end of today, i will have a relaxing thursday and friday. its worth being tired for. and i can even start my history revision early.
i found out last night that i have another final: intro to engineering. i was shocked, coz there isnt anything to test at all. but its basically an one hour paper with really straightforward questions. i just need to look through the topics covered briefly. i thought the grade would have been decided by our group project paper.
im going to find out my health grade today. its nerve wrecking, coz the last exam was alright, but i need to do well to get a B, since my first two fucked up.
if everything goes better than expected, i could end up with a GPA of 3.6, which is excellent, ill get a 2.8 in the worst case scenario, which i really hope wont take place.
gosh im so tired... but somehow, im able to pay attention in lectures.
we watched 'super size me' for health class on monday, since we're done with the syllabus. its a pretty shocking revelation of the fast food industry, directed specially to macdonalds, and i thought it was a pretty entertaining documentary.
i managed to get hold on two movies ive been wanting to watch 'dirty pretty things' and 'lost in translation.' when im finally done with my english assignment tonight, im gonna treat myself to the lovely audrey tautou in 'dirty pretty things.' thankfully, its not in french, so i wont need subtitles. i read yesterday on CNN that the director of amelie and andrey tautou collaborated on another film which will be similar to the theme of amelie, but it'll be set in the world war 2 era, so i'll be pretty excited to catch that, whenever it may be.
been listening to way too much dido recently... but her voice and background music blends well, so im not complaning. its pretty good music...
alright, time to leave for history...
for english, im supposed to have 15 blog entries, reviewing editorials from newspapers or commenting on issues, and 6 more for a group entry. techincally, we should have been doing 2, at least 1 every week. each entry is a minimum of 250 words. i remember early in this semester, i was thinking, well, that isnt much, i should be doing consistently, and when the professor said that he expected people to rush in the last week, i thought i wouldnt be doing that.
since i got so involved on campus, the latter happened to be true. thankfully i had done couple over the semester, but im rushing so many entries now. i did 5 entries on monday, and 7 yesterday. and i spent practically the whole day doing that, so much that my eyes are sore from looking at the powerbook screen. i only have 5 more to go for today, which i will hopefully complete. 250 words isnt much, true, but when its added up, its something. i must have written 3500 words of analysis in the past 2 days. plus, on monday, i was finishing off my history text, and i managed to read 100 pages of that, play a soccer match (which we lost) and do 5 entries.
couple of the guys in my section of the dorm was drinking... on monday night! so i couldnt really sleep in peace coz there was so much noise outside. i wonder if the noise issue is better in west campus at all. last night was another case, i was doing work til 12 plus, unable to take it anymore, went to sleep, tried hard to sleep, but couldnt sleep.
this sucks. but i know, by end of today, i will have a relaxing thursday and friday. its worth being tired for. and i can even start my history revision early.
i found out last night that i have another final: intro to engineering. i was shocked, coz there isnt anything to test at all. but its basically an one hour paper with really straightforward questions. i just need to look through the topics covered briefly. i thought the grade would have been decided by our group project paper.
im going to find out my health grade today. its nerve wrecking, coz the last exam was alright, but i need to do well to get a B, since my first two fucked up.
if everything goes better than expected, i could end up with a GPA of 3.6, which is excellent, ill get a 2.8 in the worst case scenario, which i really hope wont take place.
gosh im so tired... but somehow, im able to pay attention in lectures.
we watched 'super size me' for health class on monday, since we're done with the syllabus. its a pretty shocking revelation of the fast food industry, directed specially to macdonalds, and i thought it was a pretty entertaining documentary.
i managed to get hold on two movies ive been wanting to watch 'dirty pretty things' and 'lost in translation.' when im finally done with my english assignment tonight, im gonna treat myself to the lovely audrey tautou in 'dirty pretty things.' thankfully, its not in french, so i wont need subtitles. i read yesterday on CNN that the director of amelie and andrey tautou collaborated on another film which will be similar to the theme of amelie, but it'll be set in the world war 2 era, so i'll be pretty excited to catch that, whenever it may be.
been listening to way too much dido recently... but her voice and background music blends well, so im not complaning. its pretty good music...
alright, time to leave for history...
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