BEDA: Look At This Fool, All Blogging Again

• If you have to eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Although I love lasagna, a lot, I would have to go with pizza. There's so much variety in it! It is also very tasty. Would be harder to get sick of it and you could also make healthier versions of it if need be.

• Would you rather be deaf or blind? 

I think I would rather be deaf. I rely on my vision a lot, despite the fact that it's nowhere near perfect. It's also rather essential for visual art, which is something I've always done. Since I can remember. I might take breaks from it that last for several months, I may often even despise my art and art capabilities, but I always go back to it. It's like a compulsion. Becoming blind would probably cause me more trauma, a la depression and frustration. And if we're talking from birth then...hmm, probably still gonna go with deaf.

• How are you? 

Meh.

I guess I'll also respond to my own questions. Barring the one I already answered:

• How many pillows do you sleep with and do you have a specific order you pile them in? What is your system?

I have 4 pillows, one of them is technically 3 pillows but they've gone all flat so I combine them and shove them into one pillow case. Honestly, I would like more pillows. Even if I probably wouldn't use them that much. I just really like them, and they tend to go too flat as the time goes on so I feel like I'm always in need for some new ones. I could actually use one more pillow right now. I already do have one tiny extra one, a decorative pillow, but it's waiting to be washed. So what I really need is to get that 5th pillow clean.

I always pile my pillows in a specific way. The larger softer ones are at the bottom, two next to each other, then the medium pillow that works as a bridge between them, and then there's one thin pillow on top that I can really mold into a good form for my face (or alternatively I can use it to cover my eyes or ears if need be). I usually want my face slightly propped up from any pillows and such, since I don't wanna feel the warmth of my breathing, so a floppy pillow that's easy to mold is good for that.

• Do you dream in first person view or in third person view or do your dreams not involve you at all most of the time? Does your dream self look like you?

I always seem to dream in third person view and I never look like me. Once I looked like Tom Selleck! I had a fabulous stache! I was also a cop. 

I've been curious about the statistics on the "viewing modes" people have in their dreams. I've also been pondering on whether how you see yourself in your dreams could be in some cases connected to the body image issues a person may have, or perhaps a reflection on how accustomed to consuming TV shows, movies, games and other media a person is, since in those media you are often the outside viewer, relating to a character (though first person view is pretty common in games. But there are many other factors to consider here, from game time to the immersivity of the game). Maybe both. Maybe neither! I'd totally check out a research article on this. Even seeing mere statistics on how many see themselves in first person view vs third person view vs not at all would be neat.

• If all the chocolate Easter animals came to life, craving human flesh, how would you handle that? (I know you just thought about eating them all. I know. But would you eat a chocolate bunny that's been eating people? WOULD YOU? Or would you maybe figure out something else. Would that something else work? I have provided only poorly defined monsters! You must go on without me!)

I am with Millie on this one: Melting. I would melt them. ( I would not eat them though. I can't imagine chocolate mixed with human flesh and blood tastes that great. And I just don't love chocolate enough. xD ) 

A friend of mine theorized that what if these creatures become more like actual living creatures as they feast and that's why they crave human flesh in the first place. Like a messed up Pinocchio scenario. Therefore after a certain point you wouldn't be able to melt them. But that doesn't make sense, you know, like chocolate animals coming to life obviously does, so I'm just gonna side with the melting option here. (Also, even if they became more fleshy as they eat we could just set up some serious heaters near the place they spawn from, if we knew the location. You know, get them while they're weak!)

And even more questions for bloggers!

- What are your plans for the summer?

- What do you have on your walls? Any plans for switching it up?

- What would you love to buy online right now?

- Tell us about a neighbor/roommate you dislike(d), what did they do?

BEDA...something?: An attempt at procrastination

I completely forgot about my turn to blog. And then I decided I wanted to procrastinate from my ever increasing mound of work, so I figured I would do it now. Even though it's not my day, but then again, we've mostly failed quite spectacularly at the whole blog "everyday" business. 

Nonetheless, here goes. 

• Where are you right now?

Nowhere. Everywhere. Somewhere. 

• What are you doing? Are you working? Are you studying?

I am a corporate slave. 

• How is work?

It's fun and challenging. It's tiring. It's also a lot of bullshit. 

• WHAT IS WORK?

It is what I do to fill my weekdays because it is socially unacceptable for me to survive off my parent's money and use my time to scroll through the internet. But to be more specific, I do talent assessments for selection and development purposes in corporations. I.e. I play with personality testing, observe people and judge them. 

• ARE WE ADULTS YET?

I've come to terms that adults are simply people who have figured out how to pretend very well. Adulthood is a lie. But I will continue to believe that when I become an adult, I will have infinite wisdom. My wisdom remains very much finite. So.. no, not yet. 

• And tell me what you're obsessed with at the moment.

Getting as much sleep as remotely possible. 

• Any big plans for the next few months?

Continue to survive. Apply for post-grad. Try not to get fired. 

• What makes you feel nostalgic?

90s music. 

• What are you reading?

The Honest Truth About Dishonesty: How we lie to everyone -- Especially Ourselves by Dan Ariely. It's pretty good. We're all liars, and that's pretty much it. 

• Apples or Oranges?

Apples. always. Except when it comes to phones. 

• What appliance purchases have you been considering?

I've been needing to buy a new microwave since mine died a while ago. They're quite magical. 

• How many pillows do you sleep with and do you have a specific order you pile them in? What is your system?

Too many. Like.. 5. As long as they take up more than 50% of the space on my bed, they're good. I enjoy feeling cocooned by pillows. 

• If all the chocolate Easter animals came to life, craving human flesh, how would you handle that? (I know you just thought about eating them all. I know. But would you eat a chocolate bunny that's been eating people? WOULD YOU? Or would you maybe figure out something else. Would that something else work? I have provided only poorly defined monsters! You must go on without me!)

I would probably still eat them. Chocolate is chocolate. But my questions would be if this be worse than the zombie apocalypse? Does this count as a zombie apocalypse?  Oh I might carry a blow-drier around. Melt them as they come. Would that work? 

• Do you dream in first person view or in third person view or do your dreams not involve you at all most of the time? Does your dream self look like you? 

This is too difficult a question and requires too much thinking. I sleep. That's the most important part. 

And that was a wall of answers to questions I just wanted to answer so I wouldn't have to look at emails. Who will read this? Who knows? Should there be more questions? Of course there should be. 

• If you have to eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?
• Would you rather be deaf or blind? 
• How are you? 

Cheerio. 

BEDA #14 Toronto

Yesterday was my writing day. Instead of writing a thing I thought I'd let you guys tag along on an adventure through Toronto with myself and two of my friends. Of course I failed to take into account the editing time of said video production... So I'm coming to you all a day late.

But here it is:

In this video we wander around Kenzington Market, China Town, the St Lawerence Market and the Toronto Aquarium. 

Enjoy!

Beda #?: Mia is Out of Ideas, Thanks Universe for People's Questions

• Where are you right now?

Back at home, under my blanket, pretending the world isn't a thing and my butt isn't feeling oddly cold.

• What are you doing? Are you working? Are you studying?

I'm pretending I am but a blanket roll, a creature of the bed. I live in bed, all I know is bed. What is study? What is job?

• How is work?

I don't have one of those things. Also, blanket roll.

• WHAT IS WORK?

LEAVE ME ALONE I AM BUT A SIMPLE BLANKET ROLL

• ARE WE ADULTS YET?

CRIES

• And tell me what you're obsessed with at the moment.

- CSI: Cyber and how bad it is. I swear, if we do a podcast episode, that is what I will talk about. I am determined.

- Dragon Age. No, I am still not over Inquisition feelings, I am going through it for a second time, and I am almost through Dragon Age 2 now as well. I have my characters and by gum I have my headcanons!

- Characters by my friend and I and the related dumb art we make.

• Any big plans for the next few months?

Absolutely none unless you count constant anxiety, then I have so many plans you guys!

• What makes you feel nostalgic?

Horses, dinosaurs, cartoons, the smell of sculpey, 80s-90s music...many things! 

But let's talk about 90s music because I've been going through these humongous Spotify playlists for what songs were popular in Finland in the 90s. This because I was making an ultimate playlist for a character of mine and I more or less arbitrarily decided that, though there would be 80s music on it, her playlist would be predominantly gross 90s music. 

The thing is, though I remember the melodies of many 90s songs upon hearing them, I can't actually remember their names, rather lone who performed them...or how the lyrics go. So that is why I had to go through those humongous playlists to find any songs I recognized by actually listening to them. It took me a really long time to pick through them, even when ignoring a fair share of them.  I think I spent most of the day on this stupid thing! And let me tell you, there were songs that were so 90s that they made me want to physically gag a little. 

Also, surprisingly many songs about penises. You're welcome.

• What are you reading?

I haven't actually been reading much at all for the past month. I guess I've been taking a break. Before that I was mostly trying to read through Fortune's Pawn by Rachel Bach. Well, until I went through the Song of Ice and Fire series in audiobook form. Now that I think about it, that may have been the thing that got me to take a break. Eh hheh heh. 

I've been thinking about listening to The Disaster Artist by Tom Bissell and Greg Sestero , in which Sestero, who played Johnny, tells about the creation process of everyone's favorite horrible movie, The Room. A while back I was linked to an excerpt of it on youtube (you're welcome, again). Honestly, it sounds pretty amazing. The narrator (Sestero himself) imitates Wiseau so well it's like he's actually there.

After I listened to that excerpt, I had to tell my friend about this book - he loves how awful the movie is and by letting him know of this book's existence, it was like I'd handed him the holy grail of The Room trash talk. I didn't originally end up listening to the book, but today my friend recounted some of the things he found out about the movie-making process through it and, yeah, I think I need to listen to it. It sounds like one heck of a fun book for people who enjoy following a train wreck with amusing narration.

• Apples or Oranges?

Apples. Although I do like OJ. 

Speaking of juice! I want to tell you that I am considering purchasing a blender. We've never owned a blender because we simply haven't needed one, but for a year or so now both mom and I have been wanting one and the other day we were wistfully sighing about how during the summer we could make smoothies. Oh imagine! A hot summer day and putting in some berries, watermelon, juice and, most importantly, ice, and making a refreshing slushy goodness.

My questions for the next blogger:

- What appliance purchases have you been considering?

- How many pillows do you sleep with and do you have a specific order you pile them in? What is your system?

- Do you dream in first person view or in third person view or do your dreams not involve you at all most of the time? Does your dream self look like you?

- If all the chocolate Easter animals came to life, craving human flesh, how would you handle that? (I know you just thought about eating them all. I know. But would you eat a chocolate bunny that's been eating people? WOULD YOU? Or would you maybe figure out something else. Would that something else work? I have provided only poorly defined monsters! You must go on without me!)

BEDA #8 Sarah's Questions.

So my BEDA post comes to you guys TWO DAYS LATE!

On Wednesday I had the fleeting thought that today was my day and then promptly got distracted by doing absolutely nothing at all.

I feel like an imposter posting here now. I'm no longer a student, but what does that make me? An adult? A writer? An editor? I don't know. But the more I think about it the more I want to crawl back into the uncomfortable cocoon that were the essays and exams of my BA.

I say this now, but if I had to go back and do it again... THEY'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE!

Seeing as I've come into this post with no topic planned, I figure I'll just answer the questions Sarah posted.... Here goes nothing

• Where are you right now?

I'm currently at work. I'm currently staring out into the production room. It's quiet so I can get away with writing this. 

• What are you doing? Are you working? Are you studying?

I'm doing a lot of things actually! I'm still working on the book review website/youtube channel, I'm attempting to do NaNoWriMo this month but am failing spectacularly. I'm working on another pick your path youtube thing and I'm editing a bi-weekly podcast. So lots of things.

• How is work?

I work at a print company and it's pretty cool. I mainly do the reception stuff but I've been starting to do AV editing. It's lots of fun. I went downtown last weekend to stare at the one movie poster I helped work on. It was a scary moment to realize that I'm actually somewhat legitimate now (see the opening pre-amble about my miniature identity crisis).

• WHAT IS WORK?

SEE PREVIOUS ANSWER

• ARE WE ADULTS YET?

NEVER.

• And tell me what you're obsessed with at the moment.

Obsessions are and aren't limited too:

- Reading Memoirs. Don't ask me, I've just been devouring them. 

- Tolkien. I've been a resurgence. I'm drowning in the Tolkien Tag on tumblr.

- Organizing my tumblr, I need to start tagging my stuff. I'm super bad at that.

So that's my life in a nutshell right now. I hope everyone is is doing well. 

MY QUESTIONS for the next victim poster:

• Any big plans for the next few months?
• What makes you feel nostalgic?
• What are you reading?
• Apples or Oranges?

BEDA #4

Oh hello!

So in addition to doing BEDA with you lovely folks, I was going to attempt VEDA and revive my dead youtube channel.  However, the first day I had a total of 2 hours to practice, record, edit, and upload a video, so much like this blog post it was late.  But if you would like to see the final product I'll put it at the bottom.  It's a cover of the Velvet Underground and Nico's "These Days," which I already love but am especially fond of because of its use in Wes Anderson's film "The Royal Tenenbaums."

I am currently sitting in my last quarter of Music History and listening to a glorious Ravel orchestral arrangement of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.  The speakers are really pumped up today, so every time there's a bass drum roll or blast of brass my ears revel in glee at the low frequencies.  There's so much dramatic cymbal that every two measures seems like an important event in the music, but really it's all important and beautiful.  Then the piece ends and I remember what we discussed in class last week about the composer's life.  Mussorgsky came from a pretty wealthy family in Russia, but by the time he was 22 lost basically everything and became a civil servant to support himself.  He joined a group of rebellious artists who opposed the tsarist regime, and fell into a lot of bad habits, including copious amounts of drinking.  Penniless and an alcoholic, he died in a military hospital a week before his 42nd birthday. For a visual representation:

               Young Mussorgsky                                         A week before death Mussorgsky

                 

However this, he wrote tons of really epic works such as Pictures at an Exhibition, which is an important work in the pianist repertoire, as well as Night of Bald Mountain, which inspired a super creepy animation in Disney's Fantasia.  Also, apparently Michael Jackson dug him: Michael Jackson does Mussorgsky

Yay learning!

Anyway looking forward to what Sarah already mentioned as well as interesting tidbits about your fields :)

Le video:

BEDA #1: BEDA #3

Hello my dear friends, I suck. It's already April 2nd. BUT I have a somewhat good excuse because I'm currently working the night shift in the emergency department which means that I go there at 22:00 and come back sometime between 03:00 and 06:00 which means that I'm sleeping most of the day and so on and so forth and what have you. I didn't manage to blog during the day and now it's already too late and it actually really doesn't matter. Please note that I'm in a post shift delirious stage, so what I'm writing might not make sense.

Me right now.

Last time we blogged was BEDA 2014 and we didn't even manage to finish that. I have to admit that I had to google our blog address because I kicked it out of my bookmarks! Shame!

So for this BEDA - may it be more successful than last BEDA - I hope to find out:

• Where are you right now?
• What are you doing? Are you working? Are you studying?
• How is work?
• WHAT IS WORK?
• ARE WE ADULTS YET?
• And tell me what you're obsessed with at the moment.

Alrighty then. Sarah > bed.

BEDA #21: Happy birthday, Game Boy!

Wow does this make me nostalgic. It's the 25th anniversary of the day the first Game Boy came out! I didn't have the original, but I did get the Game Boy Pocket around when it came out in 1996. I was around 6 or 7 when I got it. I remember I had two Batman games, Tetris, and Pokemon Red. Those were the days. Funnily enough, I still have my Pokemon Red with my Game Boy Advanced. I think it's the only Game Boy game that survived all of the moves and the years in between. It was always my favorite. I might have to break it out now and start a new game.

I never really got into hand held consoles after the Game Boy Advanced. I got into console gaming with my friends and that took the place of my need to get the newest Game Boy or DS. I would have only gotten those for the new Pokemon games probably anyway. I had the Game Boy Advanced SP, but I never really used it and I don't have it anymore.

Speaking of Pokemon, I have a question for all of you guys.

Bulbasaur, Squirtle, or Charmander?

BEDA 20: A Substitute

For Gigi.

(The polar bear cubs are twins in the zoo of Munich and I've actually seen them a couple of weeks ago - they're super cute and super fluffy ^___^)

BEDA 19: If I Could Be Doing Anything Else

So I was going to talk about Pan's Labyrinth today. But I realized that I left all my pictures on my desktop at home... Soooo that's going to have to wait.

Seeing as I had no idea what to write about, I combed through the internet and came across a .pdf with 365 writing prompts. So without further ado I give you the question for today: April 19th 2014.

If you could be someone else for a day, who would you be,
and why? If that seems too easy, try this one: who would you
like to have spend a day as you and what do you hope they’d
learn from the experience?

I think if I could have been anyone else for the day I would have been one of those crazy wild life photographers/videographers who work for Discovery. I've always had a strange fascination with sharks. Maybe I could have been one of those crazy people who go down in the cages to film the marine biologists and television personalities hosting those specials.

As for the second part of the question. If someone else could have been me for the day, I would hope that they were a really driven and productive person. Maybe a really awesome writer who would have sat down and pumped out 7,000 words on my Camp Nanowrimo story. I'm just not sure who I would want to be my writer replacement. Do you guys have any ideas?

A Brief History of Tuning Forks

Tuning forks are a novel item in the music sphere, and are one of the most popular symbols used to represent music and related subjects.  But beyond seeing the hundreds of crappy clip art images of these fun objects, how many of you have actually used one?  The tuning fork has an interesting story, so I would like to share it with you now.

In 1711, a trumpeter/instrument maker by the name of John Snore (he was homies with Handel).  At the time, musicians would use wooden pipes to tune up.  However, this method was unreliable because the wood was easy affected by changes in humidity and temperature.  The pitch fork on the other hand, is able to maintain the same pitch and also produces a pure tone, or sine wave (fun fact you too can produce a sine wave, just whistle).

Anyway so the reason I decided to write about this is because of the following fact: tuning forks were used for medical purposes in the late 19th century.  The way tuning forks work, is that when you hit it on something, it vibrates to make a pitch, which can be amplified when you place it on a solid surface like wood or metal (or bone).  Doctors would use these vibrations to locate broken bones!  What they would do was strike the fork to make it vibrate, move it along the area of the body that was supposed to be broken, then when the patient started feeling pain from the vibration they'd be all "Found the spot guys!"

Just thought I'd share that, be thankful for x-rays.


 

BEDA 16: Literally.

There's currently a post around on Tumblr, where somebody literally translated German idioms/phrases and I find that really funny, so I thought I'd compile a list for you as well. Those are all phrases that we actually use often in conversations (I feel like I never really hear any English idioms I learned in school. "Oh man, there's really no room to swing a cat!")

Your English is under all pig.
Dein Englisch ist unter aller Sau.
What it means: "Your English is bad."

I believe I spider.
Ich glaube ich spinne.
What it means: "I think I'm going crazy."

I believe me kicks a horse.
Ich glaub mich tritt ein Pferd.
What it means: it's something you exclaim when you can't believe something

Nobody can reach me the water.
Niemand kann mir das Wasser reichen.
What it means: "Nobody is as good as me."

I see black for you.
Ich sehe schwarz für dich.
What it means: "I think it doesn't look good for you."

I get foxdevilswild.
Ich werde fuchsteufelswild.
What it means: "I get really really angry."

I understand only train station.
Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof.
What it means: "I don't understand anything."

Now we have the salad.
Da haben wir den Salat.
What it means: "Now we have a mess."

That's spanish villages to me.
Das sind spanische Dörfer für mich.
What it means: "That something I don't know anything about."

At the ass of the world.
am Arsch der Welt
What it means: "The middle of nowhere."

To be over the mountain.
über den Berg sein
What it means: "To be out of the woods."

To have a roof damage.
einen Dachschaden haben
What it means: to be crazy

To step into the fat pot.
ins Fettnäpfchen treten
What it means: to embarrass yourself

He has bumblebees in the butt.
Er hat Hummeln im Hintern.
What it means: when somebody can't sit still

That comes me not in the bag.
Das kommt mir nicht in die Tüte.
What it means: "I don't accept that."

Sponge over.
Schwamm drüber.
What it means: "It's water under the bridge."

He made us a line through the bill.
Er machte uns einen Strich durch die Rechnung.
What it means: when somebody spoils something for you

That's sausage to me.
Das ist mir wurst.
What it means: "I don't care."

I have now really the nose full.
Ich habe jetzt wirklich die Nase voll.
What it means: to have enough

Everything for the cat.
Alles für die Katz.
What it means: "All for nothing."

To sell somebody for stupid.
Jemand für dumm verkaufen.
What it means: to take somebody for a fool

BEDA 15: It's the last day.

This is a little overdue, but let's ignore that.

As I write this, it's the night before my last ever day of class in university. I almost didn't realise this until like ten minutes ago, and now that it has dawned on me, I haven't decide how I should feel about it. I've been grappling with the idea of finally being done with my undergraduate degree and leaving university for the past semester, often with a rollercoaster of emotions alongside it. But right now - it's just blank. It feels like it should be another day, but the fact is - it's not. In fact, it's pretty momentous. With the exception of sitting for two exams, I never have to set foot in a lecture hall as an undergrad ever again.

I think the main question that I need answered right now is: Where the hell did the last 3 years and 3 months go to? And how the hell did I find myself about to embark into the working world as a... *gasp* adult?

It's weird. It feels like I've outgrown the place, but at the same time, I want so much to cling onto the comfort and familiarity of this place where I've spent so much time in. Where I've learnt, and grown. Made mistakes and friends. Cried and complained. It's been the ups and downs. And in the end, it's the last day and I'll have to bid goodbye to "the best years" of my life.

In the end, the memories have been made and it's time to go. Tomorrow changes nothing.

Some of you have graduated already. Did you feel like your last day was momentous?

BEDA 14: Neville and Luna: an excuse to talk about The Lord of the Rings

So I was in a conversation recently about the semi-canon ship that is Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood. I need not go into details: we all know them. But something new occurred to me about this pairing, namely that they are incredibly similar to the Lord of the Rings coupling of Eowyn and Faramir.

So my thinking goes like this:
Faramir is the younger brother. He is least favoured, and loves his elder brother dearly, not begrudging him the limelight. Through story he grows into himself, earns the love of everyone through great deeds, and in the aftermath finds himself in the company of Eowyn.

Eowyn is an oddity. Cast in a female role in a male dominated world, she wants to fight. Determined to do her own thing against social wisdom, she succeeds with the help of a few friends. Having fought and proven herself against the most fell of opponents, she finds herself in the company of Faramir.

Now whether or not a pairing of these two underdogs is suitable or not is up for debate. I personally like the pairing, but can't say why. Certainly when I first read the chapter in The Return of the King devoted to them I was slightly bored, and then decided that it was a neat tying of loose ends. But then, I was probably about 9 and mostly wanted to get back to some action.

But are they Neville and Luna?
Neville is certainly in a younger brother position in the story. Despite being an only child, he is almost explicitly cast as an alternative to Harry. Despite being, early on, something of a 'loser', he is always loyal to Harry, never begrudging him the limelight. Through the story he grows into himself, earns the love of everyone through great deeds, and in the aftermath, of the films at least, finds himself in the company of Luna.

Luna is an oddity. She is always determined to do her own thing against social wisdom, and although Eowyn's general unhappiness in life is more clearly shown, we see in Luna's bedroom a glimpse of just how much she needed the friends she made in Dumbledore's Army. She succeeds, and proves herself to everyone, and in the aftermath, of the films at least, finds herself in the company of Neville.

So if you want some inspiration for.... Luville? Nena? Read that chapter of The Return of the King about Faramir and Eowyn. I can't remember which chapter it is, and the books are upstairs, and I really need to do some studying...

BEDA #13: Superhero Movies and DC

So I saw Captain America: The Winter Soldier last night, and it got me thinking about superhero movies and stuff about DC and Marvel, so I thought I'd talk a little bit about them..

Big disclaimer here: These are my opinions. I am going to be blunt about them because I get pretty passionate about these movies. It's perfectly fine if you like a movie that I didn't or if you disagree with me on certain points. Also, keep in mind that my knowledge of comics comes mostly from the movies and a little bit of research for fun. I haven't really read DC or Marvel comics. I am a fan of both DC and Marvel by the way, so this isn't a partisan attack for either side.

Also, there will probably be spoilers here, besides Captain America: The Winter Soldier probably because that just came out, but I'm just warning you that if you care about spoilers for past superhero movies, then DO NOT READ FURTHER!


Now then...

I loved the new Captain America movie. It's better than the original, which I liked as well. If you like superhero movies, I recommend it because the events that occur during it will shape the landscape of Marvel movies for years to come.

But something is really bothering me. Almost all the good superhero movies that have come out recently have been Marvel. Where is DC?

Marvel is a movie making machine. They are like rabbits multiplying. Not only that, but most of their recent superhero movies have been great. Sure there have been some hiccups. *cough* Iron Man 3 *cough* But for the most part, Marvel has been solid, and more than that, they have a well orchestrated plan of attack and they have delivered. They have movies planned into the next decade at least!

So I ask again, where is DC? What in the world are they doing that's so important that they've let Marvel had the field all to themselves?

Another Batman movie. Another Superman movie.

Marvel may have had its screw ups, but they at least are zooming around the track and have their head in the game. DC hasn't even put its foot on the gas pedal.

Why do I say this? Do I hate Batman or Superman? No! But look at what Marvel is doing with it's movies and now its TV show Agents of Shield, they are creating a universe with stories that are intimately linked to one another and broadening their scope to give even their lesser known heroes and villains a place in their shared universe. Ten years, no one seriously thought that Marvel could make an Avengers movie work. There are just two many pieces you have to movie together, and if it falls flat then you've ruined your chance at making it for at least a generation.

Then Iron Man happened. It was a great film in its own right and established the character well. Then after the credits, out of nowhere, Samuel Jackson appeared to tell Tony Stark about the Avengers Initiative. All bets were off and it was going to happen. Marvel was going to try to do the impossible, and you know what? They did it. The Avengers was awesome and they continue to impress with their boldness, especially after the second Captain America movie.

On the other hand, DC hasn't made a non-Batman or Superman movie in decades besides Green Lantern (and that movie sucked). Why? Because they're scared. They know that if they keep remaking Batman every few years, they will rake in millions because of the Batman brand. Same with Superman, even if the movies are terrible. They have been totally unwilling to branch out to other equally popular DC heroes because they might not make quite as much money as if they just stuck with their two cash cows. They aren't taking risks and Marvel knows it. They're rubbing it in their faces.

Here's an example: Wonder Woman. How great would it be if DC came out with a Wonder Woman movie that rocked? They would blow everything out of the water. The one thing Marvel has yet to do it make a movie with a strong female lead. Black Widow may be a kickass female character, but she has never been the center of the action. If done well, a Wonder Woman movie would make huge amounts of money for DC because you'd get all the regulars to these kinds of movies, but Wonder Woman could potentially draw in a huge female audience that Black Widow just doesn't because Wonder Woman is a much better role model for little girls and teens. Besides, Wonder Woman has a rich backstory that could be used in so many cool ways. How has DC responded to this in the past? They've said they can't do it right now because they "want to get it right".

Meanwhile, Marvel's next movie, The Guardians of the Galaxy, stars a talking raccoon and a living tree. And it's going to be awesome. DC you really can't make a movie about a hero with lady parts? Really? Come on.

I understand their desire to get the movie right, but that doesn't give them a blanket excuse to never make a movie that doesn't star Batman or Superman. At some point DC, you have to get off your ass take the leap of faith. Your fans will reward you.

I have some hope that they will be taking this advice, given that they have a Wonder Woman cast for Man of Steel 2, but it's really not enough. Step out of the box you've placed yourself in. The water's fine. I know you can do better. I want you to do better. You have a vast array of superheroes and villains to work with and there's plenty of story to tell that doesn't include Batman or Superman.

I wanted to talk about DC's most recent flub titled, That One Time They Tried to Make Superman an Emo Teenager (a.k.a. Man of Steel), but I've already typed a bunch and I am hungry. Maybe next time.

Some incoherent thoughts (from places?)

This morning I took a walk, as I do almost every morning, but this particular time I was on the hunt for something pretty rare: silence. I did this week’s art assignment, and the task was to go out and find the quietest place in your neighborhood. This was pretty easy for me, due to the fact that I live in the middle of nowhere, as they call it. But it got me to think about all the places, I’ve been, and their sounds.

Maybe it’s because I just got back from Greece, where I travelled around the Peleponnesos by bus with a gang of twenty twenty-something nerds. The last time I’d been on a study trip had been when I was seventeen, and as it turns out, teenage people constantly produce noise, so when I woke up when we were driving last week, I was startled that I didn’t hear anything. I looked around, and most of my classmates were sleeping, or silently reading a book, or having whispered conversations about their stance on the Homer debate. It made me really happy. I guess that’s one of the perks of travelling with nerds.

But then again, I spend most of my time in Amsterdam, a city filled with so many different sounds that it’s hard to determine what’s what: Passing cars, bikes, scooters, footsteps, voices, ringing noises, sighs, music, air. And then the other cities I’ve been: Rome, London, Berlin, Antwerp, Liverpool. They’re all pretty much the same, noise-wise, except perhaps the languages you hear. (I can only think of one exception to this rule: I once sat in the Kop stands of Anfield stadium at a Liverpool football match, and the sounds I heard there were simply majestic. Thousands and thousands of people, mostly grown-up men were singing so loud that the entire space was booming. It was beautiful. Even though they also yelled a lot of curse words.)

I’d say there’s at least as much art in loud cities as there was in the field I ended up in this morning, which was very pretty. If you want to see it, I videotaped it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jC981DW16x0&feature=youtu.be

Anxiety Presentations

Today I shall tell you about my most recent presentation experience.

On Tuesday we had a Science Day at our university. That sounds like a big deal but it isn't. In fact, I am fairly sure that despite publicizing, no one else knows about it besides the people attending the Popularizing Science course. Which is a course that I am indeed attending. The goal was to talk about a sciencey thing, like your own thesis, in a way that would be interesting and understandable to a layman audience – Science Day being open for all. Popularized science, sort of like Sci-Show – though I think they occasionally use more jargon than would be encouraged in a presentation like this.

Anyways, I was to speak about crystal skulls for about 20 minutes. I was pretty nervous. I hadn't practiced much and I wasn't even sure whether my presentation was any good, though I had written a word for word script of what I would say, even trying to add humorous tone in places. I tested it on my mother who started questioning the way I spoke (”Do you always speak in such a mixture of literal and dialect?” * ”Do you do this intentionally or...?”) and the fact that I had to repeat a guy's name several times during the presentation. Since his name is a hyphenated combo my mother thought I was repeating both the first and last names of the person. And I felt the little touch of humorous tone I had written also sounded like crap. So this really did not boost my confidence all that much the evening before the presentation.

Before the presentations, a woman sitting near me started having a chat with me (this course is odd, with these people who seem to just start chatting up with people they don't know, saying friendly good mornings and all. I am not used to this!). She was nervous about her presentation as well. Though her worries were about shaking and fainting while mine were related to forgetting things, making slip-ups and staring at my paper too much. But, during our chat, I started to fixate on another worry: what if I sound like the driest speaker ever. No humor, just monotonic reading off my notes. I thought back to all the most horrendous presentations I'd seen before. Then I realized that I hadn't actually held a presentation all alone during the whole time I've spent at the university. Which is actually pretty amazing – just, how? But really, not the best thing to realize right before a presentation.

I was not actually as scared of performing as I thought I would be, especially as a person who has become more shy over the years and likely suffers from social anxiety. I think I was numbing myself in some sort of self defense. No idea really. I just know I felt weird and my mind was trying to assure itself that no outsiders would bother showing up, and that no one in there cared. Of course my mind also nagged back about trying to lull itself into a false sense of security. But really, a presentation just happens one time, something horrendous happening didn't even cross my mind, surprisingly enough.

The thing that really made me nervous was the fact that the teacher was going to record us and we will have to watch the videos of ourselves performing and write an analysis about it. Presentations happen once. I can forget about them. I can't see myself and I seem to forget what I'm saying as I'm saying it because of the off numbness. See I generally have a problem where I over analyze just about every social interaction I have, I find that one flaw and it will bother me till the day I die. I might stay up nights thinking about it. And when I feel particularly down, while trying to sleep, suddenly I remember all of these little things whether I want to or not. This is what social anxiety does to me. On top of this, I have body image issues.

So what I am saying is that I am scared to death of watching a recording of myself do the presentation. I'm worried that I will find all the flaws I hadn't before, and that I will roll them in my head over and over again. I will be thoroughly embarrassed by them and then I'm going to actually be terrified of holding a presentation ever again. Rational or not. The ironic thing will be that this is the exact opposite of what the recording is supposed to do. A part of the point of us watching the recording is that we will see that our nervousness doesn't show. This is supposed to make us feel better about performing. I am just hoping that I will go numb again and just push through it, which is probably what I am going to do since I do have to do this in order to pass the course.

I think the actual presentation went well, though! I got a positive experience out of it (which is also a part of the reason I don't want to ruin it by watching the recording). Turns out I barely looked at my notes and I didn't end up being dry and monotonic. Something about the situation made me able to have the humorous tone in a natural way, even throwing in some added comments. I got chuckles out of the audience, which felt great. It was just easier to play off of a real audience, well, at least this particular audience. What was even better was that when it was time for questions, I got asked the questions I had hoped would be asked, because I couldn't fit the information in the actual presentation in a way that would make sense, and it bugged me. I also actually remembered things and sounded like I knew what I was talking about, unlike I had feared. The written feedback I got was also positive. The main critique was that I had too much text on some slides, which was something I was already fully aware of and didn't mind.

The thing that I would like to solve though, is that my mouth gets really dry during presentations or when I'm nervous. It makes it harder to speak when the inside of your lip wants to cling to your teeth like a desperate koala bear and your tongue feels like it's passed that cow skull every desert seems to have for the fifth time. I think I might actually have to start using a water bottle, though I'm not sure even that will help.

So. If you ever want to know something about crystal skulls... don't ask me. I've written two articles about them, I have talked about them with my friends, and I have held two presentations about them, as well as watched two shitty documentaries about them more often than I would have liked to, making me pretty sick of talking about them. My written feedback mistook this for me being passionate about the subject. I am not. It just happens to be an easy subject for me.

Okay, fine, you can ask me. Mitchell-Hedges was an amusing character and I will talk about him.

Do you have any worst/best presentation experiences to share? Do you get extremely anxious about presentations?

*Spoken Finnish is, in most regions, different from written. Speaking completely grammatically correct Finnish sounds weird to most, including me. Also, we do not have accents, we have dialects.

Student Government

So I don't know how things work at all of your schools, but here we have a student government called ASUC (Associated Students of the University of California). They are comprised of a President, Vice President, a few other positions I can't remember, and a 20-member senate.

We've been having elections this week; they actually end at midnight tonight. So everyone running and their supporters have been pestering all their friends to vote for them, to care about their platforms, etc. And I'm honestly very disenchanted by it all.

Here at UC Berkeley we pay completely ridiculous amounts of money for a less-than-useful degree...

We have a UC President whose work experience involved Homeland Security, aka deporting thousands of immigrants, separating them from their families, sometimes killing them at the border and leaving them unidentified...

http://www.dailycal.org/2013/07/16/against-the-napolitano-nomination/

And I hear most of the candidates go up there and say "Our school is great! Let's have school spirit! Let's improve the room reservation system! Let's hold people accountable! Let's be transparent! Let's make positive change!"

It feels like the students here who have power don't want to use it to really change the shitty stuff going on. Which is making me pretty upset, if you can't tell. And the same people are going to keep getting elected, because they have the time to run for office, because they don't have to work, because their parents make enough to send them here. And because they're the popular cool kids.

Hahahaha I am very frustrated about all this

Do you guys have student governments and are they similarly artificial?

BEDA #9: Favourite Directors and Filmography

I've spent a lot of time thinking about this post in the last few days and I've come to a conclusion. I do not have one favourite director... I have multiple.

So here goes nothing:

Honourable Mention: The German Expressionist Movement.

Not a director... but a movement in film history.

I love this stuff. While the US was busily trying to make movie magic make sense and be as close to real life as possible, the crazy German filmmakers decided, you know what. Let's take our crazy fever dreams and put them up on the big silver screen.

German Expressionist film is obsessed with light versus dark and good versus evil.It's characterized by it's wacky sets and overacting. These guys were so dedicated to creating their dark and twisted worlds they went as far as painting objects shadows on the ground because they couldn't manipulate the light to do what they wanted.

German Expressionism went on to influence Hollywood popping up in things like detective movies and influencing current directors like Tim Burton.
 
I RECOMMEND: Nosferatu, The Cabinet of Dr Calligari & Metropolis

Christopher Nolan

I really like Nolan's obsession with gritty city scapes. The first movie I ever saw by Christopher Nolan was Memento. It had been recommended to me by a few people when I first started making noise that I wanted to go into film. It wasn't until my first year at university did I finally sit down and watch it.

Stop and think about movies for a moment. There is a certain language to cinema that we're all fairly accustomed to. As a viewer you know that if the screen is showing a man looking at something and then it cuts to an object that it is telling you: hey, that man is looking at that object. As we've grown up with movies and tv we've been taught this language.

In Memento Nolan throws all of that out the window. The story is told backwards, trust me it makes a lot of sense when you watch it. At the same time it always reminds me of this xkcd comic:

http://xkcd.com/270/

Since the Batman movies, Nolan hasn't really done anything too experimental. The closest he's come to that being Inception, but that was more story than playing with the actual medium of film. I'm interested to see what he comes up with now that he's able to go off and do his own stuff again. Only time will tell.

I RECOMMEND: Inception, Memento

Guillermo del Toro

I love del Toro's style. I don't even know how to put it into words. Pan's Labyrinth got me through my Lord of the Rings withdrawal in high school. I love how he uses symbolism throughout the film. I'm not going to go too much into Pan's Labyrinth now and save that for my next post, look at that all of my posts are starting to connect! 

del Toro is passionate about what he does and his passion shines through in his movies. Look at Pacific Rim. That film new exactly what it was, it was giant robots fighting giant monsters. It was big, it was dumb and it was lots of fun. If you haven't seen it yet, I recommend you watch this one on a large screen to get the full experience.

I RECOMMEND: Pan's Labyrinth, Hellboy 2 & Pacific Rim

Stanley Kubrick

Kubrick directed my favourite film in the whole wide world: Full Metal Jacket. I don't generally like war movies but my fourth year seminar was in war in fiction and film and because of that I've developed a grudging respect for the genre. I was assigned to give a presentation on combat film with a list of movies I needed to look at. I had watched FMJ before, but it had been years. Over the course of my research I watched the film at least four times. On my final watch through, the night before the presentation I was sitting on my couch almost in a trance from exhaustion and that's when I saw it. I saw the pattern of the shots in the film, the poetry of scene length, and how everything blended together into one perfect whole.

Stanley Kubrick was a perfectionist when it came to his films.There are many stories about how he harassed his actors (read anything about the Shining) and how they would spend days only focuses on specific scenes.

It's really cool to spot the influences that 2001 still has on science fiction movies.

2001 A Space Odyssey on the left and Elysium on the right

I RECOMMEND: Full Metal Jacket, 2001 A Space Odyssey & Dr. Stangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb