Jul. 13th, 2010

bearshorty: (Default)
As I was talking to Medusa today, we ended up wondering about the cultural construction of a week (neither of us can keep the days straight when there is no formal structure) so I looked up “week” on Wikipedia. It is fun to discover that Romans had eight day week until they adopted seven day week. And seven day week is directly out Babylonian exile of the Jews. It is fun sometimes to think of concepts that we take for granted. I also realize that I know what day it is by reference to the TV schedule.

There is a writer test that is going around (I even saw an article about it on Entertainment Weekly website) - based on blog entries I write either like James Joyce or Stephen King. That is rather an odd combination.

“A Single Man” I finally saw this movie. I absolutely love the cinematography. I usually don’t pay much attention to this but the use of color, fadeouts of color and enhancements of color really work here. And so does the music and the narrative non-linear structure. And the acting. Colin Firth is magnificent in this. It is certainly not like any character he played before. He looked like an ordinary person, which I would think might be hard for a man as pretty as he. But as he prepares the whole day for his suicide, his emotion and grief is just so touching. This move makes me a bit sad. I kind of knew where the movie was headed and what the ending would be but it was still affective. Out of all award hyped movies, this was my favorite.

Before “The Single Man” there was a trailer for “The Pillars of the Earth,” a new upcoming miniseries on Starz, based on a book by Ken Follett about 12th century England. Apparently it will premiere on Friday, July 23. It looks movie-medieval and a bit weird but I might just check it out. When I first started teaching, I think when I was a TA still of a “Development of Europe I” class, one of my students gave me “Pillars of Earth” book at the end of the semester. He said that in his house they read books but didn’t keep them, which I found weird. Anyway, I never read the book but I did lend it to my Advisor for a few years. It is still sitting somewhere and I do mean to check it out sometimes. It is a historical fiction set in England but it is a really fat book and I need to be in the mood for it.

Leverage S3E5 )

Gorilla in the room . A fun test of observation.

One of our distant relatives died this past weekend. He was the one who prompted Mama to make a family tree website – which was certainly a fun endeavor. He also chatted with us on Skype often. He was 79 and he will be missed.

Profile

bearshorty: (Default)
bearshorty

January 2025

S M T W T F S
   123 4
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031 

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios