Speaking is a good thing.

So I'm doing some serious college-level procrastination here on a Sunday night because I feel like I'm still stuffed from the last three Thanksgiving meals I've eaten (three days in a row, not three years in a row). I should probably look over this political science presentation, but you know what? We all already know that China and North Korea have authoritarian governments. Hopefully. If you didn't know that, please refer to a New York Times near you. Or the internet. The internet is a wonderful creation.

While at college, I've learned a few things. First, that the college experience is like one big culture shock. Living with someone completely new and expecting to get along, making new friends quicker and becoming besties in months... It's expected of us but challenging nonetheless. The other thing I've learned is how some people live thinking that speaking up for yourself and for others is something that requires perfect timing and circumstance. I had never really experienced this kind of thing outside of cheesy American comedies and dramas, where I found it peculiar that a character would struggle so much over telling someone the truth, no matter how large or small the consequences. They'd always wait for the "right moment" or just make excuses until the truth came out in a horrible way that they hadn't anticipated, snowballing into the climax of the movie.

Don't get me wrong, I get when it's hard to say something when there's a lot at stake, but if you're just avoiding the subject for the sake of avoiding the subject, that's cowardice. I just read an article in the New York Times about my aunt and uncle who married five years ago, and they described their relationship as one that works because of communication. Everything is talked about. Some things may be argued over but at least they're out there.

In my own family, bluntness is a requirement. My dad grew up thinking debates were relaxed everyday discussions, while my mother thought the opposite, but regardless, debates are a regular thing. For some, this might make it seem like my household life is stressful or annoying, but I honestly miss it so much here at college where passive aggressiveness is the norm (I unfortunately do not exclude myself from such behavior) and there's no such thing as putting an issue out in the open to talk about. I've been in multiple situations where people have wanted to bring up an issue, but they don't because they're afraid of what comes next. There are times when things can end badly, but honestly, it's better to end something than to drag a horrible situation out. I have heard too many stories of how relationships (between friends, boyfriends, and girlfriends) ended because he said that she said that their neighbor's dog said that something happened when it didn't and then miscommunication after miscommunication ruins everything when it would have been so much easier to cut the crap and talk.

So people - most books and movies may create expectations about the awful shit that goes down when you actually talk directly at a person, but there are so many other books and movies that are about what happens when you don't speak. Like the book/movie Speak.

Got a problem with your friend? Talk with them about it. But more importantly, talk about solutions to that problem so it doesn't end terribly like in the movies. Got a problem with your enemy? Same thing. I'm going to cringe as I impart this little tip... Sometimes it's good to speak before you think. Too much, that is. Speak about your stress, don't stress about speaking, and all of a sudden your speaking will be stress-free.

I'll see if I come up with anything less ranty soon.

Just the Tip of the Apple

Here is how you know you are actually a country girl -- you're the first one to notice among your friends that in the city, you can't see stars at night. Spending a lot of time out on the family farm and at lake houses definitely made me more aware of how bright the stars can be, and it was certainly a shock to the system to look up into a clear sky and see one star... wait, just kidding, it was a plane. I literally relived that moment in Madagascar when Marty and Alex are looking at the sky, trying to find stars, and when they find one it's actually a helicopter.

So now that I've started out on a somber note, it's time to liven things up a little. Yes, I consider myself to be part country girl (I don't listen to country music), but living in the Big Apple is GREAT. People keep mentioning to me that college will pass by so quickly, but so far it feels like I've lived here for months. It's been almost three weeks. As completely cliche as it is, I have to say that there is no place I'd rather be right now. I've stopped chuckling to myself when I tell people I'm heading home when I mean my dorm because it's no longer a strange concept. Taking a step back and thinking about it in this context is a bit scary, but for the most part, I know I feel like I belong. Now cue the emotional collegiate orchestral music and montage of over-smiley faces...

I have been surprised by one thing, other than the fact that I really haven't been able to find time to blog (this doesn't count either since I really need to go back to doing homework): my Theology class. It's not Bible Studies, thank goodness. Yes, I'm going to a Jesuit university; no, not everyone here is religious. Literally all we do is talk, discussing how each person's life is changed by other people and their beliefs and ways of life. Being in that class reminds me of what my dad told me about his family when he was growing up -- all of the siblings would get into these arguments that would go on and get pretty intense, but at the end of the day, no one was upset, and everyone learned something new. I suppose I can't speak for fifty people, but I can personally say that that's how Theology class is for me.

I will probably be posting about that class a lot, because otherwise all I have to talk about is doing homework and eating way too much Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Oh, and getting Korean food in Koreatown. And wandering around in Manhattan. And passing by Fashion Week (not even interested in fashion?..). And planning on going to Hell's Kitchen Flea Market. Are you jealous yet?

College!

Hey guys, sorry I haven't posted anything in a lifetime, but it seems I've entered the world college. Whaaaaaat?

So what do I talk about? I feel like I'm not qualified to say anything because I'm a wee freshman still wondering where everything is. I found the bookstore and coffee so I should be set, right?

Orientation was crazy. Being a very independent, somewhat sheltered person, I like structure, but my first two days were just insane. No rest for the weary. At least I could actually tell who the freshmen were by our little lanyards and wide-eyed expressions. The best part by far though was the fact that every single person here that I've met is incredibly friendly. My fellow freshmen, the professors, the staff, and everyone else here is patient, helpful, and knowledgeable. Look at all this cheesy collegiate talk. At least I won't go into detail about the cockroaches...

First day of classes was today. I can't even wrap my brain around most of this stuff (i.e. literally everyone's name), so ironically classes gave me an opportunity to wrap my brain around something. German is not a teacher babbling in German for an hour, and Theology is not Bible Study. What is this, some kind of liberal school? Psh.

I can't think. It's definitely a good idea to blog when one can think. I'm going to sleep and I'll try again later.

Inspirational People

I think we all like to think that there are truly inspirational people out there; people who wholeheartedly care for others, who show unfailing kindness through both their words and their deeds. I was blessed to have known my grandmother, who was that inspirational figure for so many family members and friends. For all intents and purposes, she is a saint in my mind.

To give you some context, my grandmother was the mother of thirteen children, whom she raised and home schooled on a dairy farm. As if this doesn't already sound like an impossible task, she also managed to stay happy and healthy as she welcomed friends, husbands, wives, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren to her home throughout the rest of her life. I suppose I can even thank her for my very existence; it's because of her that my parents met. When I was little, my dad would tell me "Farm Stories," and my favorite was always when my dad and a few of his brothers would sneak off in the middle of reading something since their mother had nodded off, probably to go sit in the cherry tree and eat until they felt sick. It's simply so classic and American and I love it.

I don't know whether or not it makes me a terrible person to get my ideas about heaven from a TV show, but it does give the place a nice impression. In Buffy, there's an episode when she comes back from the dead and discusses what heaven was like. She recalls it being a place where she was completely content and at peace, and she knew that all of her friends and family were safe and loved. There are a lot of ideas about what heaven is like, but this is by far my favorite.

Rest in peace, Granny. You will always be my inspiration.

Much Ado About Joss Whedon

After hearing a few very good comments about it, I decided there was just no escaping it: I had to see Much Ado About Nothing. I had mixed feelings about it going in, since I'm a huge Joss Whedon fan, but I never really learned to appreciate Shakespeare... *ducks and covers as assorted rotten fruits and veggies fly in close proximity to my face*

Maybe I just have a thing for black and white modern films. I still love The Artist in all of its wonderful and lightly humorous beauty. Much Ado was similar to this, with its roller coaster of emotions and unexpected moments of hilarity.

Basically, the play is about two couples who go about admitting their love in two very different ways; while one couple is set to marry in a few days' time with only a few... minor... setbacks, the other pair profusely denies their love for one another, bickering and providing most of the comedic relief while avoiding the topic of love when they're clearly falling head over heels for each other (sometimes literally).

Being a Joss Whedon film, I have to comment on the actors first. If you've watched any of the other TV shows Joss Whedon has produced/directed/written (seriously, any), you'll notice right away that he basically took a couple actors from each of his shows and dumped them into this one. Once I got over the fact that Wes was finally going for Fred (Angel) and Topher actually grasped the concept of love (Dollhouse), it was easier, but it's still a little disorienting. Truth be told, I completely support Joss's casting since he really knows these actors. The characters did remind me of previous roles they've played, but only because they played those roles so damn well. Reaching out for new actors would've been tricky, especially on a budget of... well, so low I can't find it, since Joss Whedon apparently said, "Whatever you're thinking, it's less." Respect.

Many aspects of the film took a while adjusting to, but it's mostly because of the nature of the film itself. It's in black and white, it's in Shakespearean, it's freaking WES and FRED... But I assure you, I was able to eventually slip into a more relaxed viewing state, not trying to rearrange every sentence to make sense of it. It's like travelling to a foreign country and learning the language by just immersing yourself in the culture, only in about ten minutes. Or five if you actually read Shakespeare and don't cling to your Sparknotes. *somersaults into bomb shelter to avoid the fury of the gods of English literature*

The overall setting was very well done, especially considering it was apparently filmed at someone's house... This may sound easy, but for those professional-looking shots, it takes more than a camera and a house to film. They worked with this aspect very well. As for the setting in terms of story, Joss Whedon does a very nice job mingling time periods and cultural differences. Don't believe me? Watch five minutes of Firefly.

I actually have a gazillion other things to do right now. I swear I planned on a relaxing, stress-free summer, but I've finally proven that it's impossible for me. Point is, I'll talk about one more thing before going back to procrastinating. Which is probably why I'm stressed. No matter.

Unlike this blog, that movie had comedic timing and stunt work that was incredible, especially considering the time spent (twelve days to be exact). It goes to show how mind-blowingly awesome a group of actors is when they spit Shakespeare's lines like they came out of the womb talking like that (albeit there were a few monotone lines toward the beginning), and how the timing was perfect. I literally have nothing to equate it to. I always find some awkward spot in comedic timing in a movie, where someone stands with a blank stare on his face for a millisecond too long, but Much Ado had no time for that (terrible pun intended). There was such a familiarity in those awkward fumblings of Dogberry and Verges, as well as the over-the-top comedy of Beatrice and Benedick that gave me a newfound appreciation for Elizabethan comedy and a renewed appreciation for all things Joss Whedon. I even made the terrible decision last night of going back and watching one of the only Angel episodes where Fred and Wes are together... I won't name names, but I will say that if I watch this particular episode we'll call "A Schmole in the Schworld', my tear ducts will shrivel up and fall out of my eye sockets.

Wait, what? It was a terrible decision because I watched it at 3:00 in the morning, not because of the episode itself! Shame on you... It's never a terrible decision to watch anything by Joss Whedon.

Perks of Being a Wallflower

Before watching this movie, all I knew was that it was a coming-of-age story, and that Emma Watson and Nina Dobrev are in it. That's enough to make me a bit biased when it comes to reviewing it. Then I watched it and decided there's no way I can criticize this movie. So I apologize for all you Negative Nancys out there who really like criticism, but I just have so much good stuff to say about Perks.

Perks of Being a Wallflower is about a boy named Charlie, and how he enters high school a quiet and sad kid with virtually no friends, writing to an imaginary friend. Soon, though, he makes a handful of senior friends who help him adjust to high school. It's the typical coming-of-age tale with overtones of psychological twists and turns, and the little group of friends all go through turning points in their lives as they go off to college or into the next stage of their lives.

Actors, actors, actors. Logan Lerman as Charlie was flawless; that awkward but cute guy thing is hard to pull off! Besides that, though, Lerman does a great job showing those rare moments of emotion that can only appear so many times in a wallflower. Just recently, I watched a video of some Harry Potter actors trying to say things in American accents; Emma Watson was actually pretty bad at it, so considering that video was made only a few years ago, she did an impressive job with it in this movie. There were definitely moments when I suddenly started looking for Hermione, but her acting made up for it. Nina Dobrev, even though she played a relatively small role, did a great job as well. I actually prefer her style of acting with moments of heightened emotion; if you watch this movie, you'll see what I mean when I say that woman can put a hell of a lot of emotion in one very short word. She's definitely had her experience in acting out the more negative side of the emotional spectrum because of The Vampire Diaries, so it was quite a surprise to find out she wants to do comedy sometime in the future.

Within the plot itself, there are two main reasons why I am probably way too biased when I say I loved this movie: I love writing and psychology, and there was plenty of both. I actually just felt the sudden need to buy a nice old typewriter... Just kidding, I just realized how often I use the backspace button. God bless modern technology.

Fun fact: Perks was directed by the same guy who wrote the book. I found this immensely interesting, because the job of a director is to really understand the themes and message of a story, and so you can now rest assured the artistic vision of Perks is consistent throughout the book and the movie. What Stephen Chbosky did was add little snippets throughout the movie that became more important as time went on, which can only really be done by someone with a real understanding of what's going on in the plot and the characters' heads. Visually, some of the camerawork and effects matched perfectly with the mood and atmosphere.

Lastly, going back to the little snippets, this movie took advantage of something that isn't really seen in movies nowadays: implication. Today's films are all about getting raw video and seeing everything, stripping away any visual boundaries and forgetting about emotion in a whirlwind of an overload of images and sound. This is probably because of the availability of more and more technology that can produce more exotic images and sounds. While this can be done artfully and manage not to completely ignore the importance of emotion, sometimes it can lead to the audience not feeling any connection to characters, which defeats the purpose of a good story. In Perks, many things are implied, albeit conveniently because of Charlie's blackouts, but it was nice how they didn't actually film the most explicit parts of the movie. There's a theme of innocence and going back to childhood, and just filming things that are unspeakable to the characters would take away from the themes and the emotion. I'm sure there are people out there who disagree with me, but regardless, I appreciated the power of implication in this film.

Leave comments, suggestions, questions, criticisms, etc.

Dead Poets Society (and other things)

Sorry I haven't been writing lately folks, I've been a little busy... you know, just little things like graduating high school. No biggie.

I've decided not to spend too much time talking about graduation since I really have nothing to say about it other than I feel totally and utterly relieved. I know college will be a lot of work, but for once I'm not thinking about next year's high school activities and classes. Clean slate. Don't get me wrong; I did enjoy high school, but the idea of a clean slate is exciting for me, mostly because I've never had one before. During graduation, I sat next to people I had known since Kindergarten and possibly before, and though I will miss all of the people smiling next to me in the countless photos, it'll be interesting next year.

Wow, look at this. Nostalgia's already made me its bitch.

Anyway, Dead Poets Society, since Joon did request it. I suppose I've been meaning to watch this, especially after I watched a clip of it during Film Studies last year. (Can I call senior year "last year?" This is weird.) Do you ever see something that you don't realize has meaning until later on? I suppose the clip that I watched in Film Studies should've ruined the whole movie for me; if you've watched it before, you'll know it's the one that makes you cry like a baby. I did not cry that day in Film Studies, though, because although it was a very sad scene, there was no background behind it, no context. I didn't understand what was going on, and I didn't think much of it until I watched it again within the movie.

Dead Poets Society is about a snooty American all-boys prep school that teaches boys to conform to societal rules and that they are basically not fit for individual thought until they "become men." Then all of a sudden, along comes Mr. John Keating, the English teacher who shows the boys in his class a different way of looking at the world and at themselves, demanding that they treat their passions with respect and that they "seize the day." It's a back and forth battle between this crushing and ever-pursuing society and the rebellious and ambitious boys, and whether or not society wins is entirely up to you.

As I watched, my Film Studies teacher's slow snarl popped in my head like an informative little commentator, and I remembered what he had said about this movie. The theme is pretty blatantly stated as conformity, or rather the effort of some to destroy it in order to encourage young people to think for themselves. I could see a lot of ways in which this movie could've been aggravatingly cheesy (I almost said "very cheesy" but Mr. Keating would've been quite ashamed), but they somehow avoided these cliches and made a story that will work those tear ducts.

If you've read any of the other blog posts I've written, you'll know that I have some issues with overactive authority figures. This may effect my biased opinion as I tell you to watch this movie nownownow, but I assure you it is a good film. Some of the camerawork was confusing. It was just a little jarring to me, but considering the scenes in which it were jarring, I'd say it fit. The acting, of course, was excellent... for a movie made in 1989. I will warn you that there are cheesy spots, but only the kind to make you smile, not cringe. Unless you don't smile at adorable 1980s romance. Cynic.

Comment on this post or any other if you have a movie or book you want me to review... Otherwise I will consider reviewing Fight Club, Perks of Being a Wallflower, and The Casual Vacancy, which is basically how I spent this weekend. Summer is such a glorious thing.

P.S. Just one more thing. The word "nice" used to mean "stupid." Here's a snippet from www.dictionary.com:

"Nice, it turns out, began as a negative term derived from the Latin nescius meaning “ignorant.” This sense of ignorant was carried over into English, and for almost a century, nice was used to refer to a stupid, ignorant, or foolish person... By the late 1500s, nice was used to describe refined, polite society."

The rest of the article can be found here: http://hotword.dictionary.com/nice-guys/#o1RTQtmw3u3s1XfO.99 

Oh, how did you know I'm an English nerd? What gave it away? The coffee stains? It's always the coffee stains...