Rainy Days and Academic Malaise
The weather here is so dismal. Just non-stop rain for days and days. And it's frustrating knowing that if it were just a few degrees colder, it would be piles of snow instead. My umbrella broke halfway through the day today, so now all I have is this ridiculously large golf umbrella that's sort of embarrassing to use by myself. But that's better than getting drenched, I suppose. And just when I was thinking, "Ah, it's Friday tomorrow, no classes, so I won't have to go out in this mess," I remembered that there's a mandatory lecture tomorrow afternoon... Sometimes you just can't win.
Also a total not-win was the 20-minute presentation in Italian I had to give today. After studying this language for five years you would think that I would be comfortable speaking in it for longer periods of time. But I was stumbling over words and speaking too quickly. I think I get too easily intimidated by the presence of native speakers. I feel like I'll be totally comfortable leading a classroom of Italian students--largely because I'll have an advantage over them. But when I'm trying to discuss advanced theoretical concepts in my non-native tongue and the native speaker sitting across from me is staring me down like I'm a stuck pig squealing as it waits to be roasted, is it so hard to see why I flub my words? Fortunately, everyone was really nice and said I did well, but I'm not sure whether I believe it or not. Oh well, the only thing that matters for the grade is the paper at the end, anyway. And the grades themselves don't really matter anymore, either. So I suppose, in the grand scheme of things, a flubbed vowel is just a flubbed vowel, and I should continue with my weekend and forget it ever happened.
Saturday is "Guys' Night Out II." We call it "guys' night" because of the content of the evening, but the girls are all invited too. Last semester it was wings and Tarantino. This semester it's wings and Scorsese. I've read Shutter Island, so I already know the super-HUGE-twist-of-the-century. And to be honest, it's fairly predictable, at least in the book (sorry Dennis Lehane, normally you're one of my favorite writers, but it was not your best). But I think it will still be high-octane, thrilling fun, like most Scorsese flicks ("flick" is really appropriate when describing a Scorsese movie; with certain films, An Education or The Hurt Locker for instance, "flick" would sound scornful, but with Scorsese, it sounds just right).
I'm discovering more and more that I have an actual passion for film, not just as an awards race to follow or enjoyable things to watch, but also as something to be studied and appreciated. And recently I've been really regretting not taking film courses as an undergrad. I'm considering doing a self-taught crash course in Italian cinema this summer so that it could potentially become a veritable research interest. We'll see what happens, I suppose. But don't be too shocked if you find out in a few years that I'm writing a dissertation on Pasolini or something. There's a part of me that wishes I could just write film reviews for Entertainment Weekly for the rest of my life.
Of course, academia aside, I still love me some Oscar buzz. But the race is kind of boring this year. There's no one really trying to slip in the back nine. Of course, there have been years like this before that ended in huge surprises (Shakespeare in Love over Saving Private Ryan, for instance, or Brokeback Mountain losing to Crash, though I firmly and forever maintain that Crash is the superior film). That said, the front-runner is still very much The Hurt Locker, and it will probably win. I'd say its only actual challenger is Inglorious Basterds, which I think is the more deserving film, now that I've actually seen Locker and found it solid and well-made but just that and nothing more. Avatar has a lot of love, but it also has a lot of naysayers trying to take it down, so I don't see it as a realistic challenger. Also, it has no writing or acting noms, which is a major demerit in the Oscar Best Picture race. As for the other races, it seems like Bigelow, Bridges, Bullock, Mo'nique, and Waltz are pretty much sewn up (though the BAFTA win for Carey Mulligan gives me the slimmest of hopes that she can pull off a last minute come-from-behind campaign; she so deserves to win). I don't know. I'm hoping that we're being lulled into a false sense of security only to have a shit-ton of shockers on March 7. I wouldn't even mind having a bad prediction total this year just to get some excitement going on.
Hockey's also winding down: Yale and BU are both on their way up at this point, but it looks like only the former is going to end up in the tournament this year unless BU wins the Hockey East tournament and gets the auto-bid (unlikely at best, considering the strength of both UNH and BC this year).
Let's see, that's pretty much my life at the moment. Spring Break is solidified, finally: going to Montreal March 6-10 and Boston March 12-17. Lots of reading to do, as always. I did find out that for one class, I get to do a translation project instead of a final paper, which was basically the best news ever, lol. The Winter Olympics are meh. Idol is very disappointing this season, but I've got a couple of people to root for (Andrew Garcia and Crystal Bowersox), so as long as they're still in the race, I'll keep watching. Lost is exciting and intriguing, and I'm enjoying it on a week-to-week basis, though some episodes are better than others, but I will be so, so crestfallen if the writers don't adequately resolve things. They only have so many more episodes to pull everything together, and they keep introducing new things, so I'm a little nervous. But I still have faith. I think it will ultimately amaze and astonish. I hope it does, anyway. Eh, that's enough rambling, my life's not all that interesting at the moment. Hopefully I'll come back from Canada and Beantown with more exciting stories than these, something worth actually writing about. You know, instead of rainy days and academic malaise. Keep it real and stay dry, kids. If there's anyone actually reading this anymore, stay dry.
Also a total not-win was the 20-minute presentation in Italian I had to give today. After studying this language for five years you would think that I would be comfortable speaking in it for longer periods of time. But I was stumbling over words and speaking too quickly. I think I get too easily intimidated by the presence of native speakers. I feel like I'll be totally comfortable leading a classroom of Italian students--largely because I'll have an advantage over them. But when I'm trying to discuss advanced theoretical concepts in my non-native tongue and the native speaker sitting across from me is staring me down like I'm a stuck pig squealing as it waits to be roasted, is it so hard to see why I flub my words? Fortunately, everyone was really nice and said I did well, but I'm not sure whether I believe it or not. Oh well, the only thing that matters for the grade is the paper at the end, anyway. And the grades themselves don't really matter anymore, either. So I suppose, in the grand scheme of things, a flubbed vowel is just a flubbed vowel, and I should continue with my weekend and forget it ever happened.
Saturday is "Guys' Night Out II." We call it "guys' night" because of the content of the evening, but the girls are all invited too. Last semester it was wings and Tarantino. This semester it's wings and Scorsese. I've read Shutter Island, so I already know the super-HUGE-twist-of-the-century. And to be honest, it's fairly predictable, at least in the book (sorry Dennis Lehane, normally you're one of my favorite writers, but it was not your best). But I think it will still be high-octane, thrilling fun, like most Scorsese flicks ("flick" is really appropriate when describing a Scorsese movie; with certain films, An Education or The Hurt Locker for instance, "flick" would sound scornful, but with Scorsese, it sounds just right).
I'm discovering more and more that I have an actual passion for film, not just as an awards race to follow or enjoyable things to watch, but also as something to be studied and appreciated. And recently I've been really regretting not taking film courses as an undergrad. I'm considering doing a self-taught crash course in Italian cinema this summer so that it could potentially become a veritable research interest. We'll see what happens, I suppose. But don't be too shocked if you find out in a few years that I'm writing a dissertation on Pasolini or something. There's a part of me that wishes I could just write film reviews for Entertainment Weekly for the rest of my life.
Of course, academia aside, I still love me some Oscar buzz. But the race is kind of boring this year. There's no one really trying to slip in the back nine. Of course, there have been years like this before that ended in huge surprises (Shakespeare in Love over Saving Private Ryan, for instance, or Brokeback Mountain losing to Crash, though I firmly and forever maintain that Crash is the superior film). That said, the front-runner is still very much The Hurt Locker, and it will probably win. I'd say its only actual challenger is Inglorious Basterds, which I think is the more deserving film, now that I've actually seen Locker and found it solid and well-made but just that and nothing more. Avatar has a lot of love, but it also has a lot of naysayers trying to take it down, so I don't see it as a realistic challenger. Also, it has no writing or acting noms, which is a major demerit in the Oscar Best Picture race. As for the other races, it seems like Bigelow, Bridges, Bullock, Mo'nique, and Waltz are pretty much sewn up (though the BAFTA win for Carey Mulligan gives me the slimmest of hopes that she can pull off a last minute come-from-behind campaign; she so deserves to win). I don't know. I'm hoping that we're being lulled into a false sense of security only to have a shit-ton of shockers on March 7. I wouldn't even mind having a bad prediction total this year just to get some excitement going on.
Hockey's also winding down: Yale and BU are both on their way up at this point, but it looks like only the former is going to end up in the tournament this year unless BU wins the Hockey East tournament and gets the auto-bid (unlikely at best, considering the strength of both UNH and BC this year).
Let's see, that's pretty much my life at the moment. Spring Break is solidified, finally: going to Montreal March 6-10 and Boston March 12-17. Lots of reading to do, as always. I did find out that for one class, I get to do a translation project instead of a final paper, which was basically the best news ever, lol. The Winter Olympics are meh. Idol is very disappointing this season, but I've got a couple of people to root for (Andrew Garcia and Crystal Bowersox), so as long as they're still in the race, I'll keep watching. Lost is exciting and intriguing, and I'm enjoying it on a week-to-week basis, though some episodes are better than others, but I will be so, so crestfallen if the writers don't adequately resolve things. They only have so many more episodes to pull everything together, and they keep introducing new things, so I'm a little nervous. But I still have faith. I think it will ultimately amaze and astonish. I hope it does, anyway. Eh, that's enough rambling, my life's not all that interesting at the moment. Hopefully I'll come back from Canada and Beantown with more exciting stories than these, something worth actually writing about. You know, instead of rainy days and academic malaise. Keep it real and stay dry, kids. If there's anyone actually reading this anymore, stay dry.