State of the Union:

TV:

- Gossip Girl is back on, and is still a nice source of escapism, but now that the spark is gone between Leighton Meester and Ed Westwick, there's not much else appealing about the show.

- When is 30 Rock coming back on? "Best of Liz Lemon" is officially one of my favorite videos on YouTube.

Movies I Saw Recently and Loved:

- The Wind That Shakes the Barley (history teacher's already recommended me a book on the Irish Revolution. Just powerful, powerful stuff. Cillian Murphy's brilliant in it)

- Memento (what surprised me was how funny it was. "I must be chasing this guy" *gets shot at* "wait, no, he's chasing me." I never suspected Nolan of having a sense of humor.)

- The Piano (the kind that changes your perception of movies forever. I have never seen a bolder depiction of female longing, but it's also a contemplation on female selfishness - Ada teases her husband mercilessly, Flora ends up as her mother's betrayer. It's definitely more of a woman's movie - all the men on IMDB seem to hate it, and it has a lower rating in guys' demographics)

Books:

Read "Picture of Dorian Gray" and "Mansfield Park". Latter's surprisingly racy for Jane Austen, but not gonna lie, it's pretty refreshing. I lament that I prefer old novels over contemporary ones, but they're so well written. It feels like every current novel I've picked up lately has been a contemplation on adultery. Snooze. Will be starting teacher's book of Irish-Revolution tales soon. I also read a picture book written by Jackie Kennedy's sister Lee, about the summer after their graduations (high school for Lee, college for Jackie) they spent in Europe, traveling and looking at art. Good lord, am I jealous. I started reading up about the Kennedys and got melancholy about Bobby Kennedy. I think that had he become president, he would have totally outshone his brother's reign (which is completely overrated, anyway). 

Other Pop Culture Bits:

- Tsunamis are shitty but I can't see anyone willing to donate at a time of such fiscal uncertainty. 

- Roman Polanski case got me reading up on murder of his wife Sharon Tate, and it was one of these moments where I hoped Hell existed just so the people who stabbed Tate, who was two weeks away from giving birth, SIXTEEN TIMES, in addition to hanging her body and using her blood to scrawl "Pig" on the front door, could burn there for eternity. Then I discovered that one of her murderers just died less than a week ago, isn't that odd? I then Youtubed a recent video and was disconcerted on how composed, soft-spoken and well, remorseful her killer was. There was a great sadness that emanated from her, and then I started feeling bad again because she probably came from a cracked-up background. I was right - it turned out that her father was an alcoholic, her mother was crazy, she had faced abuse, foster homes, alienation, etc. as a kid, and was consequently fucked since the day she was born. 

- BTW, I have to admit I don't care very much if Polanski gets away with it, though I prefer conviction. I mean, pay your dues. C'mon.

Is Conviction a Good Thing?

"Think critically and flexibly. Never defend your scrap of reality to the death, because no one knows the whole picture."

This is what a wonderful teacher from my summer course said. I took these literature courses this summer, taught by two teachers: one professor nearly bored me to tears with his droning and desire to explicate on the "symbolism of the Brooklyn Bridge". I yearned to throw my books right in his "intellectually deep", stupid face. 

(Btw, anyone who describes themselves as "deep" is surely not)

The other teacher was MY kind of teacher. Smart, introspective, yet deeply practical. I loved hearing her rants because afterwards I would write down these little snippets of wisdom that burst spontaneously from her brain. The one above is the most important, I think. 

Personally, I think it's frustrating that for most people, 12+ years of edjamacation will not teach them the importance of said quotation. They will learn a little piece of observation or opinion. They will agree with it. Then they will use it to define their ideology, and by proxy, every single issue in the world. Fuck other viewpoints or ideas, I'm clearly right because that's the only thing I can see in my very limited scope! 

I think back to when I was a child, and saw everything through a strict Disneyfied glass: everything was categorized as "evil" or "good". But the point is, part of growing up is to recognize the gray areas of life. Ambiguity becomes frustrating and awful, but it's a responsibility. It seems to me that some of the most learned, eloquent people I've met are also some of the most childish and narrow people I have ever met.  

The reason why I bring this up is because the other day in Economics, someone treaded upon the topic of health care. A girl spoke up. "I don't understand why we don't have govt. health care. I mean, I have RELATIVES who don't have health care." I despised her, but I'll also admit that she's truly one of the smartest and quick-thinking people I've ever met.  The discussion quickly turned into "why are people against health care so dumb?", self-aggrandizing roast. Meanwhile, I was steaming under the table. 

I don't consider myself affiliated with any party, but I do have aunts and uncles in the medical community, who have completely contrasting views on health care. I like to listen to them, and learn more because I KNOW I don't know enough about the issue to establish a legit opinion. And here were these sixteen/seventeen year old girls throwing hissy fits about health care because it didn't feel logical in their narrow little viewpoints. Hey darlings! How about you read up some articles, do a little research, and try and understand why the other side feels that way? 

Learning isn't about what you know. It's about recognizing that you don't know every little thing.

 I see classmates and friends on the ivory tower, complaining about how intolerant their parents are of race/sexuality, unaware that they're heading to the same deadlocked wall. At a certain age, I think people start to cancel out the possibility that they can be wrong. About themselves, about issues, everything. 

So now I remain in doubt. 

But back to the title of my post - is even DOUBT a good thing? See, now I'm doubting the ideology of doubt. It's driving me crazy. (I hate these little quasi philosophical circles - I feel safer when I'm rooted in practical ground) But after all, convictions is what gets things done. How often was something accomplished just because of ONE person's cocksure, absolute assurance that he/she was right? To what extremes should we stop doubting ourselves and just dive nose-first, at the risk of diving into a pool of shit?

Going to sleep now. Getting up in four hours to study......sigh. 

Trailer Love #1

Two things on my mind....two absolutely mesmerizing trailers. 

One day I'd like to see a history on movie trailers; starting with the utterly campy narrated ones in the 30's to the bombastic ones of the present. 

That said, the latest trend in trailers is a music video-like montage of images played to a single soundtrack. A variation on this is to stick an occasional bit of dialogue in it. 

I'm not sure where this trend came from. The first noticeable one Sofia Coppola's "Marie Antoinette" teaser. Pretty, but also incoherent (like an actual music video) and not incredibly well executed. 

Then came Watchmen. Mindblowing stuff set to the nihilistic feel of the Smashing Pumpkins' "The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning". It may have been the one to have popularized this music-video trailer thing, because then we got "Where the Wild Things Are" trailer and more. 

Anyways, who has a problem with it? Not me. I've seen probably a dozen music videos or so in my life, and excuse me for saying so, but most of them are so boring (I'm talking to you, yes you, Lady Gaga, Pink, Taylor Swift, etc), and its indie music relatives just vaguely disturbing. I've never understood the appeal of pop stars in candy-colored stripper clothing showing off their bedtime capabilities. These videos usually feel like strictly male fantasies, and the ones who cater to girl-empowerment are incredibly cliched and forced (Taylor Swift, you can don the dorkiest glasses in the world; I do not believe for one moment you had a hard time getting guys in high school). 

I digress. Anyways, I'm a montage freak. Half the videos on my Youtube favorites will be these little montages the Oscars show each year. And the latest to my little collection are these two incredibly sensual, ravishing trailers that one user aptly described as "win".

A Single Man (Tom Ford's film debut. It's hard to go through the trailer without how noticing how some images play off like a fashion spread in Vogue. From the trailer, I was afraid that the movie itself would favor style over substance, but I've read some reviews and apparently it's not so. Plus there's buzz about a future Oscar nod for Colin Firth, finally abandoning his awkward-but-endearing romantic lead (if you think about it, he's like the English adult Michael Cera, or rather, Michael Cera is the American teen version if him). 

Bright Star (again, am dying to see Jane Campion's latest) 

The only problem, I think, is the possibility of the films not living up to their trailers (speaking of which do they give out awards for trailers? I think they should. These are mini-gems). Did you like the contrast and similarities between the trailers (ugh, English teacher osmosis alert!)? Of course, A Single Man is more edgy and surreal, befitting the director's style, while Bright Star has a more organic feel to it, with most shots taken in natural sunlight or by fire. And that one shot of Ginnifer Goodwin in A Single Man nearly ruined it for me. Anyone else hate her cute-ditzy-girl shtick? Darling, Audrey Hepburn/Marilyn Monroe/Anna Faris you are not. She's that girl you know in everyday life who you want to smack just for being too artificially upbeat. Okay, I'm being mean now. Anyways, enjoy the trailers....