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bending_sickle...and ought to be provided with a handkerchief or, failing that, a cork.*
I've been sick as a dog all weekend, and still am. (Just ask the near-anhililated box of Kleenex over there, if you can get the poor thing to talk.) I stayed in bed most of the weekend, save fof a little foray into the 2nd-hand English-language bookstore, where I was shocked and delighted to see a single copy of The Orphan by Robert Stallman. I'd read the sequel, The Captive, when I was in, ooh, fifth grade? Thereabouts, anyway. Ever since then, I've been keeping an eye out for the first book, because I was peeved that the library only had the 2nd book of a trilogy. So imagine my glee when I spotted this long-lost strip of childhood. (Of course, I think The Captive was a better book, though I hardly recal it. Now I'm going to have to hunt it down.) I also bought George Mikes' How to be a Guru. I'd share some quotes with you, but I honestly don't feel like transcribing passages just yet.
Over the weekend, I watched The Killing Fields, which is about the killing fields (duh) in Cambodia, and the friendship between two reporters, one assigned over from New York, the other native to the region acting as his translator. Things get messy. (Gorgeous music during the credits.) To think that the Khmer Rouge only rang a bell because of Hal Manners' speech** in Angel. *sigh* Me and history, man, we just don't see each other all that much. (I also watched The Captive, but since it sucked, I won't write anything about it. Other thank OMG did it suck and if I have to watch that blue-tinted murder-creeping-up scene one more time - "Ooh, that means you're still wet," - I'll scream.)
I also went to the movies yesterday. I'd never thought going to the movies could be exhausting. (Nauseating? Yes. Depressing? Yup. Exhausting?) Yes, I was that sick. I watched Half Nelson (see also imdb's page), the experience of which would have been greatly improved had I actually known what a half nelson actually was prior to watching the film. The lovely Ryan Gosling was wonderful as he oscillated between the charismatic teacher and the disapointed junkie. (You know, to think that the first time I saw him was in Breaker High, all cute and blonde and silly... Yes, I fancied him.) Shareeka Epps had an increadible presence, and I absoutely loved the quiet moments between the two characters, when volume were being said with a mere gesture, the simple acknowledgement of where they were and what had led tem there separetly. The dialectics bits (see Dialectics4Kids, set up but he director's father) were interesting, as was the one scene were Gosling's character rambles on and on (and on, dear god can he ramble) to his date one night about his life, his adiction, and his profession. It had a wonderful score, mostly by Broken Social Scene, as well. It is also riddled with awards and noms.
Got accepted to Leiden's Masters in Biology, and got a room in Vrije. The problem is:
1 year highly specific Masters in Ecology Management thingy < or > to 2 years M in basic ol' Bio?
* Lords and Ladies, TPratchett
** We have no intention of doing anything so prosaic as 'winning'. For us, there is no fight. We go on, no matter what. Our firm has always been here in one form or another; the Inquisition, the Khmer Rouge - we were here the first time a caveman clubbed his neighbour and watched in fascination as his brains oozed out in the dirt. We're in the hearts and minds of every living human being and that, friend, is what's making things so difficult for you. The senior partners are evil and powerful beyond imagination, and you can try to fight them, but the source of their power... that's beyond all of us.
The world doesn't work in spite of evil, Angel. It works with us. It works because of us. When you locked those cellar doors and left me to die, you reached your Shanshu. In that moment, with that one act, you were as close to your own humanity as you'll ever be. If there wasn't evil in every single one of them out there, why, they wouldn't be people. They'd all be angels.***
*** from Quotes that define Villany, Page 4
I've been sick as a dog all weekend, and still am. (Just ask the near-anhililated box of Kleenex over there, if you can get the poor thing to talk.) I stayed in bed most of the weekend, save fof a little foray into the 2nd-hand English-language bookstore, where I was shocked and delighted to see a single copy of The Orphan by Robert Stallman. I'd read the sequel, The Captive, when I was in, ooh, fifth grade? Thereabouts, anyway. Ever since then, I've been keeping an eye out for the first book, because I was peeved that the library only had the 2nd book of a trilogy. So imagine my glee when I spotted this long-lost strip of childhood. (Of course, I think The Captive was a better book, though I hardly recal it. Now I'm going to have to hunt it down.) I also bought George Mikes' How to be a Guru. I'd share some quotes with you, but I honestly don't feel like transcribing passages just yet.
Over the weekend, I watched The Killing Fields, which is about the killing fields (duh) in Cambodia, and the friendship between two reporters, one assigned over from New York, the other native to the region acting as his translator. Things get messy. (Gorgeous music during the credits.) To think that the Khmer Rouge only rang a bell because of Hal Manners' speech** in Angel. *sigh* Me and history, man, we just don't see each other all that much. (I also watched The Captive, but since it sucked, I won't write anything about it. Other thank OMG did it suck and if I have to watch that blue-tinted murder-creeping-up scene one more time - "Ooh, that means you're still wet," - I'll scream.)
I also went to the movies yesterday. I'd never thought going to the movies could be exhausting. (Nauseating? Yes. Depressing? Yup. Exhausting?) Yes, I was that sick. I watched Half Nelson (see also imdb's page), the experience of which would have been greatly improved had I actually known what a half nelson actually was prior to watching the film. The lovely Ryan Gosling was wonderful as he oscillated between the charismatic teacher and the disapointed junkie. (You know, to think that the first time I saw him was in Breaker High, all cute and blonde and silly... Yes, I fancied him.) Shareeka Epps had an increadible presence, and I absoutely loved the quiet moments between the two characters, when volume were being said with a mere gesture, the simple acknowledgement of where they were and what had led tem there separetly. The dialectics bits (see Dialectics4Kids, set up but he director's father) were interesting, as was the one scene were Gosling's character rambles on and on (and on, dear god can he ramble) to his date one night about his life, his adiction, and his profession. It had a wonderful score, mostly by Broken Social Scene, as well. It is also riddled with awards and noms.
Got accepted to Leiden's Masters in Biology, and got a room in Vrije. The problem is:
1 year highly specific Masters in Ecology Management thingy < or > to 2 years M in basic ol' Bio?
* Lords and Ladies, TPratchett
** We have no intention of doing anything so prosaic as 'winning'. For us, there is no fight. We go on, no matter what. Our firm has always been here in one form or another; the Inquisition, the Khmer Rouge - we were here the first time a caveman clubbed his neighbour and watched in fascination as his brains oozed out in the dirt. We're in the hearts and minds of every living human being and that, friend, is what's making things so difficult for you. The senior partners are evil and powerful beyond imagination, and you can try to fight them, but the source of their power... that's beyond all of us.
The world doesn't work in spite of evil, Angel. It works with us. It works because of us. When you locked those cellar doors and left me to die, you reached your Shanshu. In that moment, with that one act, you were as close to your own humanity as you'll ever be. If there wasn't evil in every single one of them out there, why, they wouldn't be people. They'd all be angels.***
*** from Quotes that define Villany, Page 4
