Pit stop: Oscar night

It's that time of the year again - the night of the annual Academy Awards. For five years I had a straight record with watching the Awards gala each year, but for the last two years I've been slipping. Last year I missed watching the gala completely and the year before that I only saw parts of it live. Now I'm attempting to get back on track.

I'm not sure if I'll be able to concentrate perfectly throughout the whole broadcast, but I'll try my best and will hopefully stay alert enough to at least keep track on the winners. I might even try blogging about it on REEL Time... We'll see.

In any case, the gala starts in an hour and I'll try to stay awake until the end sometime around 5am GMT.

Back to the Present

Yeah, maybe the post title isn't as clever as I wanted it to be, but it does serve its purpose.

For the last week I've been slipping badly, both concerning this blog as well as in many other ways. Of course I have a reason for last weekend with me being in London and thus forced to be offline for a while. But from Monday onwards I've had Internet access and still I've been messing up my posting rhythm - i.e. skipping some days when it comes to posting. It's been unplanned each time and allways due to both physical and mental exhaustion.

Well, I knew I needed some time to just relax and let myself be for a while and that's what I've been doing for the past two days. Today has really helped and I'm starting to feel like myself again so maybe I'll even manage to be a bit productive tomorrow and even figure out a plan for Monday's long day on campus. Today productivity has been the last thing on my mind. However, I still managed to progress with the 250-project, and it also played a big part in my feeling a bit better as well.

After an anime-filled day I figured out a live action film would be nice for a change. It had to be something fun and inspiring so I ended up watching Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis, 1985) [currently 72 on the list]. I've seen the film a few times before and, even though it's been around ive years or so since I last saw it, I could remeber most of what was about to happen next. However, that didn't matter at all - I was still laughing, squirming around and biting my nails as if I had never seen the film before.

Even though the whole film is brilliant and at times makes your stomach hurt from laughing too much, the best part of it (and the reason for most of those agonising fits of laughter) is the nutty professor Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown. Christopher Lloyd creates the ultimate demented genius that is the epitome of a crazy professor. Since my first acquaintance with Doc Brown around 15 years ago, I have compared every loony genious to him - and rarely found them as satisfying or fit for their purpose. You just can't get the same effect without the rolling eyes, electrified hair, a pure and unyielding love of science and a fluffy dog called Einstein.

I think I'll have to watch the sequels soon as well, just to see more of this magnificent nutty doctor and finish the story. After all, it is a trilogy and the ending of the first film simply begs to be followed soon by the next installation. But that shall have to wait until another day.

Pit stop: Recuperating again

Yesterday was a long day and I spent most of it feeling like a zombie. I had been contemplating on resting by watching a 250-list film - which ever I'd end up feeling like - but in the end I couldn't focus long enough to decide...

Finally I had dozed of on my bed with my netbook beside me. Got a nice long sleep but even so I've been feling quite tired today. I suppose that should be expected after having exhausted myself for so long - it takes some time to bounce back to normality. Well, hopefully the rest of today will help my gather more strength so that I can get back to working after a week long pause.

Pit stop: Still exhausted

Yep, another busy day walking around the town with my mother. It has been nice, but I'm getting so exhausted it takes time to form coherent thoughts. That certainly is no delight.

Didn't manage to find the time or strength to type about London... I'll leave that until the weekend since tomorrow will be another long and tiring day - this time mostly spent on campus. Friday will be dedicated to recuperating and hopefully regaining some strength so I can get back to being productive.

No I need sleep so I'll be able to get up fairly early in the morning.

Tired and uncreative

Weekend in London was nice. However, I've been so preoccupied with content analyses for the IS that getting sufficient rest hasn't been the easiest thing to accomplish. That has of course resulted in me being constantly tired and unable to productively concentrate on anything.

It's wonderful to spend time with my mother, but being exhausted all the time is a bit of a hindrance to cheerful sociable behaviour. Apparently I'm also making her worry about me - which is unnerving, but I'm not currently able to really change that since I have no strength to step up my act.

Well, at least today was a good day, even for the 250-project. We went to see The King's Speech [currently 94 on the list] and both enjoyed it a lot. Sure, the seats were not good (2nd row since the screening was surprisingly already almost sold out when we got there), but fortunately I could forget where I was sitting until the end credits. The stiff neck afterwards is not that great, though...

I can see why Colin Firth has been snatching award after award this season for his performance. He is magnificent in the role and makes the varying levels of stammering all sound natural and believable. Firth's portrayal of the reserved and occasionally very insecure character of his character, King George VI, is touching.

The story, characters and acting in the films were all marvelous, but what I enjoyed the most was the cinematography. It was peaceful and at times nearly languid, with some quite artistic camera angles thrown into the mix. Nothing felt rushed and all seemedto be throughly considered. I also liked the bleak colour scheme that suits the era and the story very well. Bright colours would have been distracting and would probable have felt obtrusive.

That's it for tonight. And by the way, this is the entry for Tuesday. I'll try to have enough strength to type up my "report" from London tomorrow (that'll be the post for Sat, Sun & Mon).

Pit stop: London tomorrow

Tomorrow I'll finally have a good reason for taking a break from studying. Mum is coming to England and we'll be spending the weekend in London before coming back (well, I'm coming back and she's visiting) to Worc. Sure, I'll be working on the IS by still reading Emma on train and probably also at other times too depending on our schedule.

In any case, I'm actually really looking forward to the next few days. That has been a rare feeling lately, so this is good. I'm hoping to find a bit more motivation for studying as well after spending a couple days with mum. (I'm starting to sound like a real mamma's girl, huh..? Tch, doesn't matter. ^_^ )

Oh, since I'll be disconnected from the online world for a little while, the next post will be on Monday night - with scribbles from the weekedn of course. Until then, good night.

Pit stop: Project stalled

Today was a long day on campus and tomorrow will be another long day reading. With the IS taking so much of my "free" time at the moment I wonder when I'll be able to get back to the 250-project... For a change, I'd like to watch a film just for fun. (Sure, watching films on a lecture etc is nice too, but I miss watching a film being able to completely shut my brain down for a while if I want to.)

Well, maybe I'll get a bit of a break next week when my mother comes to visit me! Going to the cinema together would be a nice way to spend some of the time she's here - it's been a while since we did that... Plus with The King's Speech still playing at Vue, it would also give me a chance to get back to the project. At least for a little while.

Can't wait for the weekend and next week. ^_^

Pit stop: Full day

Felt a bit better today. Doing my best to follow the advice I got yesterday seems to work at least for now and I did get a few things done that I had been pushing forward. Unfortunately, reading Emma is still going way too much slow with me constantly thinking whether what I'm currently reading is something I should make a note about for the forthcoming analysis... It slows my already excruciatingly slow reading pace down even further.

Well, I'm going to be tied to the book for the whole time for the next couple day (except for the time I have to spend at lectures tomorrow...). Still hoping I can get through the whole thing before Monday...

Pit stop: Change upcoming

At least I hope so. I need to start feeling better which means I have to do something about my situation. I got some good advice from a couple friends today and will start trying their methods for coping from tomorrow onwards. I'm hoping things will start getting better slowly once I really do something about them.

Pit stop: Suffering

So yesterday was the first time I did not manage to write anything for the blog... The whole day was a bit of a rollercoaster. I was really tired in the morning, was somewhat productive around noon, almost fell asleep in the afternoon, felt great playing the piano at campus a couple hours later, got disgusted seeing the first sequence on Saw 3D in my evening lecture, had a brilliant time at a Valentine's Day party and finally pretty much broke down in the early hours of the morning and then had trouble falling asleep.

Waking up was agony since my eyes felt terrible and dry and I've had a headache that makes concentrating on anything almost impossible for the whole. I need to get further with reading Emma, but I'm going to do that while staying in bed for most of the day. Moving around too much sounds like a hazarduous idea for this unstable state of being.


Ps. This is considered as yesterday's entry, I'll write again tonight for today's post.

Pit stop: Some progress today

However, unfortunately not with the 250-project.

Instead I managed to get myself to concentrate on reading Emma and also watched one of the two films I'm analysing (the British film version made by ITV). Also, I just finished a new entry for REEL Time about the BAFTA Awards that were held tonight in London. More about the winners can be read here.

Now I need to get to sleep so I can once again wake up in six hours to go to the brilliantly early morning seminar. Such joy and a marvelous way to start this year's Valentine's Day...

In any case, for anyone reading this (since we are already living February 14th in England): Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you have a great day with dear friends and loved ones. Enjoy you individuals with dedicated "better halves"! :D

Pit stop: It's now a habit...

... me staying awake so late because of my blasted story addiction. Happened again and I didn't even really want to try and stop it.

Well, got to get some sleep now so I'll be able to actually get some work done tomorrow. I need to get myself addicted to reading Jane Austen's Emma, that would be productive for my IS. And should be enjoyable as well, once I really get into it.

Being unsocial with Social Network

My story addiction flipped my sleeping rhythm completely upside down for at least a day. Last night after lectures I felt that I needed to relax by watching something nice and fun. After finishing a short anime series I had been rewatching the day before (Hakushaku to Yousei aka Earl and Fairy, Artland 2008), I ended up rewatchig another series.

Itazura na Kiss (TMS Entertainment, 2008) is a romantic comedy about a clumbsy, intellectually dumb (at times emotionally surprisingly clever and sensitive) girl/young woman who has a crush on - and then really falls in love with - the smartest guy in school who is also abit of a snob and quit cold at the beginning. Things happen and they get closer, go through a multitude of silly mistakes and misunderstanding as well as some quite threatening jealousy and trust issues, and finally start a family (which of course brings with it a new set of joys and problems).

Anyhow, the series is 25 episodes long, each episode running for about 24 minutes. When I began watching the first episode at around 12.30am, I was planning on watching half of the series (12 episodes) at the most before getting to sleep. Obviously, things didn't go quite as planned and I, even though I had watched Itazura na Kiss before, I got hooked and couldn't stop watching even when my eyes kept trying to shut. I ended up getting to sleep at 10 in the morning, with the last episode (which is a filler and not that important to the storyline!!!) still unwatched...

Of course I ended up sleeping for most of the day and after I got up at 4pm I've been feeling a bit unfocused. Concerning Uni work, all I got done today was going through the contents and index pages of a new book I just got for the IS. There are three articles from different writers in there that I should be able to use as academic background material for my dissertation. Besides that all the progress I can report about anything is related to the 250-project. Like I said last night - before getting completely submerged within the world of Itazura na Kiss - I did watch a 250 film today.

I had seen The Social Network (David Fincher, 2010) [currently 173 on the list] in October when it was released in the cinemas. That time I thought it was a good film but nothing especially spectacular. It didn't manage to make me awed or draw me completely into the story. After the film got a vast multitude of really good reviews, grabbed most of the attention at most of the critics' awards and started generating intensive pre-Award season hype, I started to think that maybe I missed something. I figured there must be something in the film that I didn't see or pay enough attention to on the first time.

So I decided to watch it again before the Oscars and look at the film a bit more critically, in a way picking it apart in my mind while still enjoying the experience of watching it. The story is intriguing (based on the true story behind the scenes of facebook.com) but more importantly, the script really is good. Jumping back and forth in time between legal hearings and the "actual events" and also glueing separate scenes together might easily become confusing and disorienting, but Aaron Sorkin's script manages to keep things clear and connects the scenes together well with good dialogue.

Fincher has also done a great job directing the film. I read an Academy member's thoughts on voting for the Oscar winners this year on Deadline.com, and he mentioned that the rhythms that Fincher captured in The Social Network work brilliantly. I have to say I agree now that I've watched the film again after reading the Academy voter's thoughts. The combination of pictures, dialogue and music works really well throughout the film - especially in the beginning, during the jumping around with the legal hearings and with the short excursion to the Royal Henley Regatta and the rowing race. During the Regatta scene, I was also impressed by the sound editing which gave the sequence an uttely different feel from the rest of the film. It felt like a completely different world for a little while.

The Social Network still isn't my favourite from last year's films (or this year's Award nominees), but I have to admit that I do appreciate the film more now than I did when I first saw it. And considering how my opinion of it has somewhat changed with the second viewing, it is very well possible that it might change even more with time.

Pit stop: Another long day

Having two lectures in one daymakes any day long, even if i doesn't start early. But since I have to be on campus until quite late every Thursday this semester, it means I won't be able to get much else than course work done on those days - being productive in the morning is not one of my talents...

So, no progress with any project today. But I'm planning on watching a 250-film tomorrow. Don't know which one yet, but at least something.

Pit stop: Close call

Whew, almost forgot to write tonight... I've been so preoccupied today that the blog nearly slipped from my mind.

Anyhow, I'm a bit tired now so this'll be pretty much it for the night. Back on campus tomorrow, got two lectures to get through. Maybe I'll take some sheet music with me, so I can go blow off some steam by playing the piano in that little cupboard they call a room in the main building. I'll have to keep that option  in mind tomorrow.

Pit stop: Recuperating

Not a productive day, but a day of recuperation. I slept long - well into the afternoon to be honest - and spent the day taking it easy after yesterday's campus hour marathon.

Didn't get any further with the 250-project but I did spend some 2h 30min by watching an intriguing Japanese film called 20th Century Boys (Yukihiko Tsutsumi, 2008). The film is based on Naoki Urasawa's manga series of the same name [Niyuu Seiki (20-seiki) Shounen in Japanese]. I haven't read the manga myself but I think it might be worth it. At least I enjoyed the film adaptation, though it is very different from most films made in Western countries both in terms of style and story.

Tomorrow I need to get back to Uni work. A lot of reading to do, but after a day of rest it should not be impossible.

Pit stop: Sleep deprived

Been a long day... I spent 12 hours on campus today and am now utterly exhausted. At least it has been a relatively productive day and I now have a much clearer idea of where I'm going with my IS than I did before. That actually gave me quite a motivation boost - which I wasn't able to completely capitalise on since I was so tired the whole day.

Now I'm about to treat my sleep deprived state by getting to sleep and not putting the alarm on. We'll see how well that works once I finally wake up tomorrow. But after today, I give myself the right to take it easy tomorrow and work on the IS by reading Jane Austen. Lit review and academic texts can wait until Wednesday. Now I need rest.

Pit stop: Early night

It took me ages to wake up this morning and for the whole day I've felt slightly uneven. My mind has been operating as if I was slowly floating through an immensely thick fog - even reading a 10 page article took me just under two hours since I kept constantly zoning out. So the lack of concentration has been a severe problem today.

I did get some reading done for tomorrow morning's seminar, but that's about all I managed to be productive with today. No writing besides this, no reading through material for the IS - just sitting infront of the computer feeling like a zombie.

Well, I'm going to finish the day early tonight. Can't get anything done in this condition and I have to get to sleep early anyhow since I need to get up early as well. Way too early in my opinion, but I have never been fond of school/Uni/work starting before 10am. In any case, tomorrow's going to be a long day on campus and I'm hoping that I'll be alert enough to get some work done so I can end the day with a film or two once I get home in the evening.

Always good to have something to look forward to, ain't it?

Wrestling through the projects

This is an uncharacteristically early time for me to post the day's entry, but I will soon be off to a pub in town and do not want to leave today's bit of writing to wait until I get back home. Who knows, the text produced might be slightly different after my body has been nurtured with a bit of apple tasting liquid intoxicants, but I don't want to take the risk of forgetting to write at all and instead falling asleep right after I get back into my room.

As I said I would, last night I finished my evening by watching Darren Aronofsky's 2008 released drama The Wrestler [currently 158 on the list]. I can see how the film might be considered as a companion piece to the director's new thriller Black Swan - or maybe just the other way around since the latter is the newer film. Then again, one needs to take into consideration that Aronofsky was slowly developing the ballet film for the past ten years or so which probably makes Black Swan the older idea...

In any case, although the films differ greatly in most ways and the main characters' troubles are different, the stories of the Nina and Randy parallel each other. Both the cracking ballet dancer and the ageing professional wrestler are dedicated to their art and strive to doing the best they possibly can on their stages. They both have to sacrifice parts of their lives to excell which takes a toll on them and often makes their lives harder. However, considering the characters' psychological and emltional state, Randy seems much more stable than Nina. He has made mistakes but he realises them. His body does not work as well anymore as it did 20 years earlier and he is ready to accept that - if only he had something else he could rely on besides wrestling.

The feeling and the style of The Wrestler are completely different from Black Swan. While in the new ballet film it is clear that everything on screen has been thought through right down to the smallest detail and the whole film is very artistic, the style of The Wrestler makes the film in many ways seem more like a documentary than a dramatic feature film. The fairly long tracking shots filmed with steadycams following Mickey Rourke's character from place to place suit the story and the setting brilliantly. The film looks rough and that makes the story more believable.

It is a very good film and I especially like the ending which is left open enough for the audience to question what actually happens to Randy. I'm not yet sure what my conclusion will eventually end up being since my logical and emotional sides are still at odds with each other about that. I suppose my optimistic nature will in the end make me lean toward the conclusion my emotional side wants me to accept.

Yep, that's it for tonight. Now I need to dash so I wont be too late.

PS. Oh yeah, lit review not really progressing today. However, I got a bit further with the article research for REEL Time, so at least some progress with the weekend plan.

Lit review and Black Swan

After a slow start to the day it's been a fairly good Friday. I didn't yet really go through the material for my lit review, but I did go through all the suitable books that I currently have in my possesion. Out of four books I already found over ten articles by different authors that should be useful for my IS. Of course, I still have to find academic material about film adaptations and specifically about adaptation theory. It helps that I know there are several books about that at the library on campus, so I simply have to go there to find the info I need.

Unfortunately, quite soon after I got started with the search for academic sources, I lost most of my motivation and concentration. To be honest, it felt quite odd - suddenly getting frustrated with what I was doing and starting to look around my room for something else to do. I ended up cleaning up my desk.

Even though the lit review part of the plan for this weekend did not progress as much as it should have, the 250-project did get going again. In the evening my good friend and I watched Darren Aronofsky's brilliant psychological thriller Black Swan [currently 59 on the list].

This was already the second time I've seen the film. On the first time I was completely captivated by the story and was drawn so deeply into the film that the couple sudden scares in the film startled me. This time I was still mesmerised by the film but paid more specific attention to the main character's development from a timid and overly disciplined naive girl into a trecherous and obsessive seductress.

The character has been written brilliantly and Natalie Portman's portrayal of Nina is magnificent. The actress can convey both the insecure fragility of the young dancer when she is the White Swan as well as the lurking possessive behaviour and the engulfing sensuality of her slowly surfacing dark side as she becomes the Black Swan. In addition to her awe-inspiring acting, Portman is also a beautiful dancer.

I have read from several sources that Black Swan is somewhat like a companion film to Aronofsky's last film, The Wrestler (2008) [currently 158 on the list]. I have not yet watched the wrestling film myself but I am planning on ending the night by rectifying the situation. I certainly hope that I will enjoy that film as much as I enjoyed the dark ballet experience.

Planning a productive weekend

Sure, the weekend officially starts only after tomorrow, but since I'm done with my lectures for the first week of the semester my weekend has already started. Of course, it can not be completely used by just hanging about and taking it easy. Instead, I'm actually planning on being productive. Hopefully with a few things.

The most important goal is to get along with the IS. I've got a literary review and a methodology to conquer during the next couple of weeks. Fortunately, I already have the basis for my lit review, but I have to go through it and all the material I used for it and then write the whole thing again. But at least I have somewhere to start from. The methodology part is a completely different story, but I suppose I simply need to get started and build it through trial and error. Who knows, I might even strike gold at the first try - it's not impossible, and I like being optimistic.

The other things I'm hoping to get further along with are of course my personal projects. As a way to take a break from Uni work for a little while, I'm planning on finally watching The King's Speech. That should take my mind of work for a little while, let me relax and progress with the 250-project. It will also get me closer to writing the first review for REEL Time as well.

REEL Time should also be getting more material some time soon. I already know a couple of stories I simply need to do a bit more research on and then write them into coherent news pieces / articles. Today, one idea actually started as simply a topic for a short news story, but it has now developed into an idea for a longer article. Of course, it also means that it will take a lot more research and a couple of films to watch to accomplish what I currently have in mind. Still, I'm going to give it some time during the next few days.

If all goes well I'll be able to be productive by keeping my motivation going by doing each of these three things in turns. At least, this plan goves me a chance of actually doing something productive even while I'm taking a break from Uni work. I'm happy with the plan, now I need to make sure I can actually pull it off.

Pit stop: Nanagasmic night

Yeah, no review today after all. Had a slow start with Uni work but at least I did manage to read a bit for Monday's seminar. Plus, I took a look at the module guides and some of the materials for the modules I'm doing this semester, so it has not been a wasted day.

And especially the night was not wasted. A couple friends of mine and I watched a concert by an incredibly cute and amazing Japanese singer Nana Mizuki. Now my head is both slightly intoxicated as well as preoccupied by her songs and multiple short skirts and mini shorts in which she danced around the stage. Also, I'm told that I have to learn to play one of her songs on the piano. That's going to be quite a challenge, but I shall give it a try in time...

Here's the song - Nana Mizuki, "Next Arcadia":

Pit stop: Blocked

Even with the title of the post was difficult to come up with today - that's how blocked my mind is at the moment. I spent a few really nice hours in town with a friend in the afternoon. But after I got back home I suddenly felt completely exhausted and lost all ability to concentrate on anything. That in its turn led to me watching the latest five episodes of Greek and now I'm starting to be ready for sleep. Assuming my mind will allow that and not keep me awake for the next four hours.

Yep, that's it for today. No progress with the project, hoping to get some tomorrow by watching The King's Speech. At least that's the plan. We'll see how that goes after I wake up in the morning. Good night.

Getting back to study mode

Well yeah, it's an ongoing process and I'm clearly not there yet. But having been to my first lecture of the semester I'm getting there. I'm supposed to be back to actually working on background research for the IS during the week so I'll have something coherent done by next Monday. It should be doable once I really get started.

But today has been like a soft descent to that serious study mode and after coming back from campus quite late I've been a bit preoccupied by other things. One of them is an anime series I've been watching lately and especially its opening credits.

The anime is called Level E, produced by David Production and Studio Pierrot and created by Yoshihiro Togashi. It's a currently airing, weekly series that is now at its fourth episode. The setting is a small town in Japan and from the start we are told that there are countless different alien species living on Earth - some peacefully and others waging wars against each other - and the only ones who do not know about this are humans. Of course there have to be a few human characters among the lead roles who find out about the real state of the world, and getting introduced to one of these few is where the story starts.

Now the opening sequence that has been on my mind for a couple of weeks (only for a short while after each time I've watched the latest episode, though) is one of the best anime opening credits that I have seen. At least it suits my tastes. It gives a bit of a retro feeling with its use of colours, has some quite intriguing "camera" angles and gives an idea of the setting with aliens discreetly living among humans. Of course, containing a bit of fan service might not be all that relevant to the sequence but doesn't hurt it either...

The music the credits have been made to is a song called "Cold Finger Girl" by a Japanese singer Chiaki Kuriyama. Since I do not really understand Japanese, most of the lyrics would be completely uncomprehensible to me without the subtitles that have been added to the translated episodes. However, even without understanding all of the lyrics or reading the subtitles, there are points (sung in English) where it is clear that the combination of the music and pictures have really been thought through. They work well and make the combination of music, animation and use of colour and effects complete.

Here's the video of the opening credits (it does not have the subtitles and the video itself plays as a mirror image for some reason):

PS. The 250-project didn't move any further today, but I did write another entry to REEL Time. Check it out here.