puszysty

I'm in a foreign film mood for whatever reason. I've rented The Lives of Others and will probably watch it tonight. In the meantime, you get my recommendations. :D

What constitutes a good foreign movie for me is a story and method of story telling that translate well across cultures. Also, when the entire movie is in subtitles, but it never really hits you that you're reading them.

My picks for movies you should see:

Antonia's Line (Dutch). Unlike most Academy Award winners in pretty much any category, this movie is, as I recall, funny. And for those of you on a feminist kick, I'd recommend this one. Follows the story of a woman, her daughter, and granddaughter and their drive to live as independent women.

Dil Chahta Hai (Indian). I know a number of people run screaming from Bollywood movies, but this isn't quite your typical Bollywood film. Yes there are musical numbers, and yes it's a romance (or multiple romances, rather), but it doesn't fall quite so hard into cliche territory, and the songs are pretty good. The one downside is that it's really long- like 3 hours- and does drag a bit in the middle.

Joint Security Area (Korean). If you're into war movies or drama-thrillers, most definitely check this one out. This movie is about the relations between North Korea and South Korea at the border, and also particularly about the soldiers on both sides of the border. It's not a war movie in the sense that there is no out-and-out war going on (a cold war, yes), but it has that same sort of feel to it. It's been a while since I've seen it, and I think I may have to find it and watch it again.

City of God (Brazilian). If you're going to watch any foreign film at all, make it this one. It's a story of Rio De Janeiro's marginalized youth, in particular drug gangs. The cinematography is excellent, as is the story itself. It's amazing, seriously, go see it.


And if you have any recommendations yourself, please, send them my way!

As it's oscar night, I thought I would bring this one back

Best picture noms, 1980-2010. Bold the ones you've seen

1980 Ordinary People, Coal Miner's Daughter, The Elephant Man, Raging Bull, Tess

1981 Chariots of Fire, Reds, Atlantic City, On Golden Pond, Raiders of the Lost Ark

1982 Gandhi, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Missing, Tootsie, The Verdict

1983 Terms of Endearment, The Big Chill, The Dresser, The Right Stuff, Tender Mercies

1984 Amadeus, The Killing Fields, A Passage to India, Places in the Heart, A Soldier's Story

1985 Out of Africa, The Color Purple, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Prizzi's Honor, Witness

1986 Platoon, Children of a Lesser God, Hannah and Her Sisters, The Mission, A Room with a View

1987 The Last Emperor, Broadcast News, Fatal Attraction, Hope and Glory, Moonstruck

1988 Rain Man, The Accidental Tourist, Dangerous Liaisons, Mississippi Burning, Working Girl

1989 Driving Miss Daisy, Born on the Fourth of July, Dead Poets Society, Field of Dreams, My Left Foot

1990 Dances with Wolves, Awakenings, Ghost, The Godfather Part III, Goodfellas

1991 The Silence of the Lambs, Beauty and the Beast, Bugsy, JFK, The Prince of Tides

1992 Unforgiven, The Crying Game, A Few Good Men, Howards End, Scent of a Woman

1993 Schindler's List, The Fugitive, In the Name of the Father, The Piano, The Remains of the Day

1994 Forrest Gump, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Pulp Fiction, Quiz Show, The Shawshank Redemption

1995 Braveheart, Apollo 13, Babe, Il Postino (The Postman), Sense and Sensibility

1996 The English Patient, Fargo, Jerry Maguire, Secrets & Lies, Shine

1997 Titanic, As Good as It Gets, The Full Monty, Good Will Hunting, L.A. Confidential

1998 Shakespeare in Love, Elizabeth, Life Is Beautiful (La vita è bella), Saving Private Ryan, The Thin Red Line

1999 American Beauty, The Cider House Rules, The Green Mile, The Insider, The Sixth Sense

2000 Gladiator, Chocolat, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Erin Brockovich, Traffic

2001 A Beautiful Mind, Gosford Park, In the Bedroom, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Moulin Rouge!

2002 Chicago, Gangs of New York, The Hours, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Pianist

2003 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Lost in Translation, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Mystic River, Seabiscuit

2004 Million Dollar Baby, The Aviator, Finding Neverland, Ray, Sideways

2005 Crash, Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Good Night and Good Luck, Munich

2006 The Departed, Babel, Letters from Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine, The Queen

2007 No Country for Old Men, Atonement, Juno, Michael Clayton, There Will Be Blood

2008 Slumdog Millionaire, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader

2009 Avatar, The Blind Side, District 9, An Education, The Hurt Locker,
Inglourious Basterds, Precious, A Serious Man, Up, Up in the Air

Ah, it's glad to see ABDC back to normal- lots of JC booing in the last couple episodes.

I'm all caught up on ABDC now. As I had expected, two of the south crews were the first to go. It was just obvious from the regionals that the south crews were not as good as everyone else (like the East, where I wanted to keep everyone). Royal Flush- the fact that you failed to make the show 4 times should be some indication. They're not terrible, but they try too hard and it shows.

I really want to like Heavy Impact, but I feel like they're never that crisp(y?). They're not completely syncronized through the whole performance, and they've fallen short of wowing me.

Wow, massive fail on the part of Saltare during music video week. I want to say they won't go far, but judging by the likes of groups like Break Skate, I think they'll end up top 5 at least.

I thought Jungle Boogie was a one trick pony too, but I've been pleasantly surprised by them.

And hate on them as much as you will, but I will be waving my little Canadian flag off in the corner. IMO, Blueprint Cru is the best crew this season by far.


I have this strange desire to rewatch Season 1 now.

Curling is harder than it looks.

I couldn't believe how many people were there! 300+! For curling!

Just got back from seeing Valentine's Day. It was a really cute movie. It's really similar to Love Actually as far as the format goes, so if you enjoyed that movie, I'd recommend this one.

When are people officially thinking about Bard again?

My problem with trying to plan any sort of thing right now is that I don't know when I'll be moving. My lease is up at the end of June, and it may be my easiest option to quit my job then and move. I'll probably have to sublet for July wherever I go, unless I find other law students who are moving early. Or a cheap studio. But more likely I'll go back to having roommates. I've contacted my complex to see if they do month to month rentals (without jacking the rent), and if that's reasonable, I could stay until the end of July. Subletting in Austin is an option as well I suppose.

This makes June (or even May) the most ideal vacationing time. I mean, if I end up going to Washington, I could very easily do Bard and another vacation, but Virginia, not so much.

Who knows. Since the sheer amount of time UCLA is taking doesn't appear to be a good sign, I will probably not be going out there for a visit. I'll triple check my finances come April, and maybe I'll still have enough that I can go back to my original plans for New Zealand. One can hope.

Just heard back from Penn. Waitlisted.

I think my general perceptions of Philly are that I am not a Northesterner. It's an okay city, but not really anyplace I see myself living.

As far as Villanova goes, I thought the school was alright (they were a B list to begin with), but I don't know how I could ever afford to live near campus- one block away it's mansion after mansion after gated mansion. We got a student led tour there, which was nice, especially as the school was on spring break and pretty much devoid of people otherwise. I had a bit of vindicative joy when the other 2 people on the tour were a current student at Penn and a recent grad of NYU and both of them were on the waitlist at Villanova. It's not often I get to one up the people at big name schools!

My first impression at Penn was not a good one: I was barked at by a rude security guard who was not about to let me in, even though the admissions website basically invited you in if you wanted to look. That was another point I didn't really like either: that you need to go through a security guard to get into the building (and all other buildings it seems: another one on campus had a subway style security point). Just gives off bad vibes, like maybe that campus isn't that safe (at least the security guards could have been nice!).
I found the rest of Penn's law building a bit noisier than I expected (classes were in session there), and I was able to talk briefly to the career services office, where the receptionist told me the school is basically considered a New York law school. NYC, so not for me. The receptionist at the clinic office didn't know squat, but she was able to pass my question along to someone who emailed me fairly quickly.

And despite what the 2 people at Villanova told me, driving in Philly is not bad at all, as long as you stay off the skinny side streets. I didn't get cut off once, and I get cut off at least 5 times a day driving in Austin! And people don't drive below the speed limit on the highway! I think having a New York license plate on my rental car may have helped. ;)

The one traffic problem I *did* have was on my way to the airport. I gave myself 45 minutes, which should have been more than enough time. However, I got caught in a bad traffic jam on a bridge of all places, which I found out from the radio was caused by an accident involving a school bus. Traffic was down to one lane on the other side of the bridge. It took me an hour to get to the airport, I wasn't able to get gas for the rental car because I didn't see a gas station at any of the 3 exits prior to the airport, and I just barely made my flight. It involved a lot of running and asking people if I could cut in front of them. I was all prepared to ask for that rental car back and spend another night there. Thankfully I got back to Austin as planned.


As some of you may already know, I stayed with the incredibly gracious and lovely lls_mutant (and Howard. though I can't squee about Gaeta/Hoshi with Howard :).) They were even willing to put up with the incredibly hokey closing ceremonies for me. (I mean, seriously. Shatner? That was the best the entire country of Canada could come up with?)
On a side note there, I love that Michael J. Fox got basically a standing ovation from the crowd, but he really did not look good. I think the best part of that whole ceremony was watching Jacque Rogge's reaction when that Canadian guy butchered the French language. Lol.

I did manage to survive 2 and 4 year old boys for 3 days, certainly not an easy task for me. :) Oh and in case you didn't know, sea slugs are cool and deep sea fish are ugly. Just sayin.

Overall I had a lovely time with lls_mutant, and though I don't think I'd like to live there, it was nice to visit Philly.

Rather than doing stories (since I could not manage to pick only 3, frankly), I will twist things up and do art! All of which are from the bittybang challenge.

Art for Park Guy by pensnest. It's intermingled with the story, so you may just have to read it too. ;) I like Pen's use of...filters? is that the word? Forgive my terrible knowledge of photoshop...that create a sort of glaze over the photos and fit the mood of the story very well.

Trailer for Show You the Shape of My What? by bubbleforest. Any time Mette makes a faux movie trailer, it's pretty much made of win. This, of course, is no exception.

And what may be my favorite hand drawing in all of popslashdom thusfar Art for You've Got That Pornstar Flava by samibee. It's incredible how accurate her depictions of the guys are (and I'm positive I can pinpoint the exact picture of Chris his headshot came from). The art i just as fun as the fic.

Lousy day at work today. In short, something became a huge issue that A) should not have been an issue, at least not as large as it turned out to be and B) probably wouldn't have been an issue had I been there. It's also related to a practice that was started before I got there, so I wasn't able to answer any of the "why does it happen this way?" questions that came my way. Not terribly time consuming, but stressful.

Here's a bit for you. If I were to tell you that the following passage appeared in an academic publication, when do you guess it would have been written? No googling, I want to know what your speculation is:

[...]In bisexuality, as in other domains, one finds intermediate cases ranging from a mere trace of homosexual love to the most pronounced[...]

I shall post about my adventures in Philly and with lls_mutant later, when I am in a better mood. I almost missed my flight yesterday, and suffice to say I kinda wish I had.