So, I have a new life plan that is a nice synthesis of my previous life plans.
Previous Plans:
1. Be lawyer. Really that was all I had.
2. Get PhD in philosophy or Poli Sci and become a professor.
New Plan!
Go to law school. Get accepted into a program to get both a JD and a PhD (poli sci or philosophy still) then learn French, and concentrate in international law, and become a lawyer for a bank in France.
Perfect right?
I thought so.
And I, for one, actually like Christmas. It's an interesting time, but I can't go to the mall within the last week til Christmas or it kills it for me. People mobbing to get toys, electronics, clothes or other knick-knacks for their friends and family. It kind of makes me sick.
But what doesn't make me sick is Christmas movies and music. It's goodwill condensed into 90 minutes or 4 minutes, respectively, and isn't that what Christmas is all about? Condensing your goodwill, affection, and love for everybody else into a nice couple of weeks or even just a day?
List of Christmas favorites
Movies:
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
A Charlie Brown Christmas
and 2046 just as a bonus
Songs:
Silver Bells
Please Come Home For Christmas
This Christmas
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Food:
Candy Canes!
So, in a couple of weeks I'm going to be flying off to Florida for Thanksgiving. Since I don't see myself particularly enjoying the in-flight movie or the disturbing boredom that comes form having nothing to do for hours on end, I'm going to bring books with me to help pass the time.
But, I have a lot of books. A lot.
So, I need to start sifting through them to see what I want to bring.
Here are a couple titles I'm considering:
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
The Fall by Albert Camus
Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama
Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
On Language by Noam Chomsky
Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman
Being and Nothingness by Jean-Paul Sartre
So yeah, input would be nice. Haha.
So, happily, I am enjoying a fully working computer. You fixed your computer, you may ask? There was something wrong with your computer, you may also ask. Why should I care about your stupid computer is definitely another question you may ask. I have nothing for this latter question, but for the other two, the answer to both is "no."
There was actually nothing wrong with my computer. I just have no memory.
I thought my computer had a virus that was slowly eating up the memory on my main hard drive. What I actually had was a lot of podcast subscriptions, of which all the podcasts were being kept, which slowly but surely ate up my memory. To solve this "problem" I simply unsubscribed and deleted all the podcasts.
I have 16% of my hard drive's memory back. So I have a total of 36% free space.
Yay moi!
Oh, and one of my essays was pushed back to Thursday.
Life is alright.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2008/nov/07/spielberg-smith-oldboy-remake
I have come to the conclusion that either the Universe (capitalized to give it the anthropomorphic qualities of a deity) either hates me or just hates anything of excellent quality. And although there are numerous subjective reasons to believe that the Universe is out to make me miserable (which it isn't succeeding at), I think the actual target of the Universe is excellent art.
I say this because of the Link provided at the top. If you haven't seen Oldboy, it's amazing. Basically, one of my favorite movies. Anyways, apparently, Hollywood hates anything well-done and is now in the process of making a remake of it, directed/produced by Steven Spielberg and starring Will Smith. Let us just note that the last Will Smith remake/adaptation (I Am Legend, I'm looking at you) suck so badly, I actually walked out of the movie theater disgusted. And Steven Spielberg? I'll just leave that to your call.
Stan, why are you objecting so violently to the remake of a dang movie? You weren't that upset when they remade Kairo (Pulse), One Missed Call, or Dot Rec (Quarantine). Here is the reason. First, not only will the movie be a bad version of its original (which is almost inevitable for movies, although there are some exceptions), but it will also do a grave disservice to the original. What Oldboy achieved was an amazing amalgamation of style, philosophy, and storytelling. In being transfered to an American audience, it's going to lose all but the storytelling. But then again, the ending seems to me to be so disturbing to an American audience that it could not be allowed. Honestly, I don't think a big blockbuster director/actor team could get away with half the things in that movie, let alone keep the ending wholly intact.
Also, Park Chan-wook is such and amazing director and Choi Min-sik is such an amazing actor that I doubt that either Spielberg or Smith could do any justice to a remake after their work. Park Chan-wook honestly has an amazing eye for style and his screenplay was just beautiful that I don't think any attempt at a remake could even come close to the original. And Choi Min-sik's perfect portrayl of the miserable protagonist is just flawless. Will Smith, as good as he is, just doesn't have the chops that Choi does.
So, that is the reason I both don't want this remake to proceed (because it will tarnish the name of Oldboy), and why, if it should be made, I will watch it.
Although I can't stand the idea of a remake being done, if one is actually made, I need to see how far it missed its mark.
So I've seen this video before, about a year and a half ago, but I think it's worth a viewing.
For myself, I was pulled over but I think I performed pretty well. I didn't admit to speeding, feigned ignorance to why I was pulled over, and basically kept reasonably calm for someone who was getting pulled over for the first time. The officer actually had a couple other things to cite me on, such as my expired insurance and registration, but he overlooked that, which was very nice of him. I, of course, was not holding any drugs in my car or anything like that, but it's always good to protect yourself from unwanted searches even if you're not hiding anything illegal.
But, anyways, enjoy the video.
Next Week:
Wednesday - Tests in Spanish and History
Thursday - Test in Great Texts
Friday - Tests in Spanish and Logic
The Week After:
Wednesday - 5 page essay due for History and 3 essays due in Existentialism (minimum of 2 pages each)
Thursday - 5 page essay due for Great Texts
I am screwed.
