magnesium
It has been some time since my last entry (as though you couldn’t tell from the dates).
After last semester’s UWA Pantomime Society production, Kira and I were one of several people to suggest an idea for this semester’s. Well, it was the most popular idea and so we set about writing the script for it (the title becoming Macbeth in Space: A Romantic Comedy). We accidentally finished the script 3 weeks earlier than necessary, and, seemingly not satisfied, we have recently come up with a new idea… for the semester 2, 2011 production. I wonder how many other such ideas we will have by then if we aren’t careful…
We are also discussing novel ideas. It is quite exciting.
sodium
It was too hot to move today, and the heat meant my computer’s fan was overworking (i.e., really loud), so, unable to move or hear anything, I read 10 scientific articles. I think it took about 8 hours.
In other news, we have a new house, yay! The lease started today but there are three weeks of leasular overlap, so we’ll move slowly over the next couple of weeks. The other house has air conditioning but all of my stuff is here 😦
Need to buy a washing machine. Front loaders are supposed to be more energy- and water-efficient, but they cost so much more! So will probably get a top loader. If Heshan stops leaving his washing in the machine for days (and then necessarily rewashing it) then we will use about a third of the amount of water for laundry that we do now anyway.
(500) days of summer
I really enjoyed this movie! The style was nice, the palette was nice (though I played with the hue so maybe that was me), there were some really clever ideas, and I kept trying to guess the ending the whole time (and that didn’t interfere with the film). Very well made.
extra neon
I forgot about this, but I also saw the 2009 Star Trek movie the other day. I really enjoyed it. From the point of view of one largely unfamiliar with the franchise, it was a well written movie – the whole thing made sense as a standalone product without any reliance on previous material. My other favourite thing about this movie is that it felt like one of a series – that is, it did not go out of it’s way to do anything epic like THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE IS ENDING, which almost always ends really disappointingly. The entire movie was really only about those characters in it (which is a very good thing). One thing I don’t get is how people describe Leonard Nimoy’s role as a cameo – I would probably list his character as at least equally as major as Karl Urban’s, and probably moreso. Weird.
neon
It’s been a while!
I saw Avatar in 3D (and IMAX) the other day, and quite enjoyed it. I had been considering seeing it in 2D (which can be considerably cheaper), but then was invited to go to the 3D IMAX one, and so I did; however, in retrospect, I feel that while the movie contributed to 3D (i.e., the culture of using it in films), 3D did not really contribute to the movie. They used it well, but in the huge landscape shots there was no noticeable difference (I removed my glasses every so often to compare), and sometimes in close quarters I felt as though the effect was too strong, like objects were being made out to be further away than they actually were. And if you try to look at something that the camera isn’t focussed on your eyes try to refocus, which just ends up hurting your face because of course the object is actually blurry and impossible to get into focus. I enjoyed the movie for it’s creativity – for the “exploring a new planet” side of the movie. Yes, there was a lot of bioluminescence, yes the plot was predictable (but I think in a romantic comedy “everything you want to happen happens” way), yes the aliens weren’t especially alien, but when it came down to it I don’t think it particularly bothered me. Also I like that there was a military dialogue adviser in the credits – along with so many other consultants and an ethnomusicologist.
I have also recently seen Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, which I enjoyed – again, not especially unpredictable but I don’t think that’s why you would want to watch such a movie anyway. Some of the jokes (especially those related to London) were pretty funny – I love that during the giant food storm it is still only raining there.
Right now I am halfway through season 4 of Dexter – very exciting! But I am concerned because Trinity is killing mothers… and Rita is a mother…
fluorine
Last night a bunch of us roadtripped to York to see a friend’s band’s first gig. A lot of fun was had by all. There was a surprising amount of room in the car given that 8/9 seats were filled. The event itself went for about four hours (four sets plus breaks between each), then we drove back and watched some episodes of 30 Rock and The Class. After that (when almost everyone was mostly asleep) we realised the situation and everyone went home (around 4am).
In other news, I finally have ethics approval, woo!
oxygen
I recently watched RahXephon – admittedly almost three years after it was given to me – and I must say it was quite enjoyable. Apparently it was largely similar to Neon Genesis Evangelion, but I haven’t yet seen that so it made no difference to me! It was mostly well written and I think very well executed, though it had one of those (seemingly) typical Japanese metaphysical “wait, so what actually happened?” endings. But it was still satisfying because the guy got the girl and the world was a better place. Or, more accurately, the girl got the guy. Well, both. Anyway.
I also watched the movie, which was admittedly something of a waste of time as it was practically a condensed version of the same story (even some of the scenes seemed identical, though there were several major changes), but it went some way to explaining things better. Perhaps it was necessary to explain things better with less time to tell the story.
Other movies I recently watched include Confessions of a Shopaholic, which I thought fulfilled its purpose well, and The Proposal, which was perhaps equally satisfying. They were very predictable because everything I hoped would happen did happen, but, really, that’s what those sorts of movies are designed for, so it’s not really a criticism so much as an observation.
Better Off Ted started two weeks ago and I didn’t realise! So that was an exciting 40 minute catch up.
well I guess she was a witch…
If you go to the Wikipedia page of Margaret Hamilton (the actress who portrayed the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz), you will see that she was born in 1902… aged 107. (She then proceeded to die in 1985, aged 82.)
See it for yourself: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Hamilton
the prestige
I finished reading the book version of The Prestige yesterday, and then today I watched the movie. They were so different! The film was a lot more lethal and active, and the book was rather sadder and (I felt) had a better ending. Overall I preferred the book, but (for once) it was not simply because the movie was a poor adaptation of a decent book – this was more like preferring the book version of The Hobbit to the film version of The Fellowship of the Ring. They were similar, but, unlike a normal book-to-film translation, this was not really the same story told through a different medium. Both were good; I just so happened to prefer the book’s version of the story. I think if the film had slavishly emulated the book it would probably have failed, in the same way that any movie trying to tell the story of War of the Worlds is doomed to fail – it just wouldn’t make a good movie! (A documentary, on the other hand…)
One thing I didn’t get… what was the point of changing “Lord Colderdale” to “Lord Caldlow”?
A Thousand Ongoing Projects 