Arrival

I made it to London in one piece and in a reasonably good state of mind, given the time difference. My flights were more or less on time, and the in-flight movies were familiar and likable (Mission: Impossible and Ferris Bueller's Day Off). I slept a couple of hours between Minneapolis and Reykjavik, and I've limited myself to 45 minutes since, so I'm hoping to beat the jetlag in a single night. Heathrow wasn't too bad; finding the right line for immigration was the only trick. Getting to the Underground wasn't too bad either, although finding the right kind of machine to sell me a ticket was a little more frustrating than it should have been. In the end, I managed to get my own ticket and get on the right train while helping a young lawyer from Philadelphia do the same and assuring three Russians that they were in the right place to take a train to Earl's Square.

The train ride was long and hot, both in part because of the overly crammed cars, the latter also in part due to the rather warm weather. I am very glad I kept my summer attire for the trip. I arrived at the Generator ("Europe's Funkiest Hostels!") after some wandering, some map reading, and some navigation by sun position. I ended up with a four-person room instead of the six- I thought I was getting, so that was a welcome surprise. I also snagged a top bunk, so I'm happy about that. I'm a little disappointed that I didn't get the room mates that the website suggested I'd get ("hot blonde," "rather hungover 'hardman' winner," "hot blonde's mate"), but I've been pleased to make the acquaintances of Michael and John, recent college grads from Austen, Tejas, roaming the world before the settle into the nine-to-five routine. We think the forth sleeper, who has the bunk below mine is Czech, but we've yet to meet him.

I'm taking it easy this evening, forgoing travel on the Underground and probably even travel to anywhere but downstairs. I do plan on hitting the first floor bar soon though: I've got a free drink coming to me during my first happy hour, and I wouldn't want to miss that.

Summer 2007 recap

So, what was I doing all this time?

I kept to a reading list of only female authors:

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
Rebecca by Daphene Daphne du Maurier
The Blind Assassin by Margeret Atwood
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Ms. du Maurier's and Ms. Rowling's books are the most recommendable. Other than the awkwardly extraneous epilogue, Deathly Hallows is a truly remarkable conclusion to the Harry Potter series. While much has been said about the book's look at mortality, I am increasingly impressed by it's politics. I can think of no other book that better illustrates the mechanisms that install tyrannical regimes to power. Parallels between the Death Eaters and the Nazi party are frighteningly elegant.

I also picked up a few new albums:

Sky Blue Sky by Wilco
Era Vulgaris by Queens of the Stone Age
Zeitgeist by [The] Smashing Pumpkins
Live at Radio City with Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds

Era Vulgaris is the probably the most interesting of the lot, and chasing down all the lovely B-Sides is worth it as well.

I saw a few movies in theater as well:

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Oceans Thirteen
Spider-Man 3
Paris, je t'aime
Ratatouille
Transformers
Rescue Dawn
The Simpsons Movie
Stardust
The Bourne Supremacy

World's End was the best surprise. Not only did I like it more than Dead Man's Chest, it made me like that installment better than I had. Ratatouille was easily the best of the lot.

The site I'm building for Professor Anne Munly is complete for most practical purposes. You can visit it at http://soa.syr.edu/dwelling.

And I got a tattoo! Oh, I guess it was just marker. I think Claire did an excellent job on it though, and I think behind the sniggers, the other lifeguards were secretly envious.

Der mächtige Ozean!

Martin and I are screening Ocean films this spring! Here's the line-up:

14 Feb – Jaws
21 Feb – The Endurance
28 Feb – A Night to Remember
07 Mar – Riding Giants
21 Mar – The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
28 Mar – The Sea Hawk
04 Apr – Yellow Submarine
11 Apr – Das Boot

Just missing the boat (so to speak), were the Japanese short "Glassy Ocean" and the pilot of the short-lived television series Fishing With John.

At the movies

I'm just back from Curse of the Golden Flower a Chinese piece of palace intrigue and occasional martial arts. It's only the most recent of a long string of films I've seen lately. In theater I've attended: Apocalypto, The Fountain, The Prestige and Casino Royale. On video I've watched: Das Boot, The Bourne Supremacy, Miami Vice, Lucky Number Slevin, Thank You For Smoking, The Big Blue, The Perfect Storm, and Man of Aran. I'd recommend Wolfgang Petersen's Das Boot to just about anybody who can handle subtitles and Mel Gibson's Apocalypto to anyone who can stomach very graphic violence; both are well crafted and highly potent films.

Passing

I'm saddened to learn of Robert Altman's passing on Sunday, but I'm pleased to remember that his A Prairie Home Companion was the cinematic highlight of my summer and an appropriately poignant finale to his career.

Claire Left And I Reminisce Electronically

Michael was kind enough to drive Claire and myself to the airport this morning so that we could say our good-byes and she could fly back to MSP. As we approached the terminal I told him we were looking for Delta check-in. His response was "Don't expect luggage to arrive." Sure enough, Delta managed to make Claire's day a difficult one. Upon arriving in Cincinnati, she discovered that her connecting flight had been canceled, and she was being moved to a Northwest Airlines flight four hours later. Only after she specifically requested a meal voucher did they give her one. And, upon arriving in MSP, she had to wait an additional 45 minutes for her luggage to catch up with her since Delta hung on to that themselves, even though they gave Claire over to NWA.

Fortunately, the frustrations of her trip home were atypical of the weekend as a whole. We generally kept things simple and at home. We cooked most of our own meals (Claire made pad thai and pancakes, I baked cookies and chocolate martinis, and we teamed up to make spinach lasagna). We watched a film on DVD instead of going to the movies (Y tu mamá también was the Road Film of the week). We got plenty of sleep and did a bit of homework when we got ourselves sufficiently motivated. Our one dinner out was a disappointment (due to outrageously slow service), but the potluck we hosted for my classmates was a success. All in all, it was a lovely weekend, and I expect the six remaining weeks until the end of Claire's semester will seem all the longer for it.

Driving Force

I've agreed to help out Martin Houge, the professor who led the Landscape in Flim course I took last semester, on his semesterly film series. This semester will be centered on Road Films. We finalized the lineup over the past couple of days. Our schedule will be:

07 Oct - Easy Rider
14 Oct - Two-Lane Blacktop
21 Oct - O Brother, Where Art Thou?
25 Oct - Sans toit ni loi (Vagabond)
04 Nov - Y tu mamá también
08 Nov - Stranger Than Paradise
11 Nov - Badlands
18 Nov - Vanishing Point

I'll be hanging posters and running the projector, which shouldn't be too bad. The fun part will come as we plan next semester's theme and line-up...

Eye of the storm

A snow that is almost a rain is falling on Syracuse, quieting what might otherwise be a raucous Friday night. In fact I forwent the Devo dance party being thrown by my classmates and instead headed to the Inn Complete where I sat by the fire and imbibed two pints of Guinness, my favorite of beers, while reading Moby-Dick.

But what has happened in my long silence? Michael and I, partners from the start of the semester, had a successful midterm review. Our analysis of power dynamics in the Palazzo Barberini led to a number of interesting iterations and some snazzy graphical analysis. Alas, we had to part ways when we returned from spring break in order to better accommodate the class as a whole, as certain partnerships had to be avoided and other maintained. Spring break was quite pleasant. I met with members of the Minneapolis office of SmithGroup, and I am very much hoping that they will be able to offer a summer internship. I completed my taxes (and sent Uncle Sam a check for what I owed), did homework, and caught up on sleep. Claire started her break on the Friday of my own, and we enjoyed each other's company, both on our own and with my family. The first day back at school I, along with my teammates Kirby and Miep, led an hour long discussion of the film Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring, which seemed to go well.

Who knows what the rest of the semester will hold, but for now I can say that life—while hectic—is good.

E-Education

My Landscape in Film class is one of a handful of courses I've taken over the years that is dependent on online resources. At Madison I utilized web resources to read countless PDFs, flip through art history "flashcards," and even enjoy a semester of videotaped lectures on landscape architecture. This course, however, represents the first time that I've been required to submit my work online. The course website both provides course information and allows for discussion on message boards. You can check out my first post if you're just not getting enough new material here on the Life and Times (although I suspect you could find much more interesting material elsewhere).

Venitian hilarity

Claire and I ended our time together with a trip to the cinema to see Casanova. My previous prejudices against Heath Ledger were assuaged by his appearance in Brokeback Mountain, which I can respect even without having seen it, and I'm quite glad they were, for Casanova was one of the funniest movies I have ever seen and certainly the funniest I've seen since The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra. The film had the makings of a Shakespearean comedy: a tangled web of romance, an entertaining villain, sight gags, clever quips, and the right timing. Claire and I even got one laugh from the end credits. I also enjoyed the on-sight cinematography in Venice. Last weekend we watched Top Hat, a favorite film of mine, and we couldn't help but notice that the Hollywood mock-up of Venice looked more like the freshly painted sets of Munchkinland than the City of Canals. Casanova delivered the real thing and was better for it.

III

Claire and I just returned from Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. It seemed long and every scene with Natalie Portman was cringewothry, but I liked it on a whole. The actor playing Skywalker did a very good job (somewhat better than he did in Episode II and much better than the child actor did in Episode I).

Back in the Madtown / Out

Sarah and I had a smooth return trip to Madison, watching Friday Night Lights (which required more empathy for football fanatics than I could give) and the first two-thirds of the excellent film Collateral. Sarah informed be on the bus that my suite was one of many that had been illegally entered over the break. My losses seem to have been light at only three sodas and a can of Guinness. I'll look into reporting the theft of the sodas tomorrow, since the guilty parties are known. I also learned on the bus that one of my former professors was arrested for sending nude photos of himself to a 14-year old boy. Keith Cohen, who has admitted to having done this, was my comparative literature professor last spring. I liked him very much, and even paid him a visit this fall to tell him about the New York Clasical Theatre production I saw in Central Park on my last night in the City, since we had read a book by the playwrite, Aphra Behn. I had briefly considered him for letters of recommendation, which is somewhat ironic since one of my previous recommenders reportedly left for South America after a relationship with a student became public. It irks me to see nice, intelligent, creative people make stupid choices.

I arrived to find more bad news: Yale and Harvard both offered me their regrets. This saddens me some, but I increasingly like the looks of Syracuse as I read more about its master of architecture program, and it is certainly the most affordable of the lot. It might be a difficult choice if I do get into Columbia, which has been my favorite since attending classes there this past summer. Both schools are very good; Syracuse has the right price, and Columbia has the right location.

On the upside, I made my first ever visit to Qdoba this evening. I had a delicious chicken burrito. Perhaps I need to check out their competitors, Chipotle, and do a taste test.

[Please see also the 13 April update to this post.]

The Week In Review

It was a rather leisurely spring break. I didn't accomplish quite as much as I wanted, but probably as much as I expected. Unlike last year's Spring Break, I didn't make a single trip to the cinema, and watched only a few movies at home. I enjoyed Finding Neverland and the French film Bon Voyage greatly, and I found Fahrenheit 9/11 to be well made, but aimed at a significantly less-informed audience than myself. I enjoyed Garden State, but it didn't live up to the hype that it's generated among college students. I did attend the theatre, however: my family, Claire, and myself visited the Guthrie for a rather energetic performance of Shakespeare's As You Like It. The production had a strong flavor of the late 1960s. Jaques had a bandana 'round his head and Touchstone wore patchwork trousers with suede jacket. I enjoyed it, although I thought some of the songs (most notably "It was a lover and his lass...") were lost in the rock 'n' roll.

After the play we visited Solera, a tapas bar in Minneapolis that has been earning quite a bit of attention in the food world. It was, in fact, the finest meal of the week. As a group we tried roast rabbit, dates stuffed with sausage, kikos is Moorish spices, fried goat cheese, and numerous other dishes. And when I say that this was the finest meal of the week, I'm comparing it to several other very good meals from P.F. Chang's, California Pizza Kitchen, Green Mill, and, of course, the wonders my dad makes in our own kitchen.

East and west, north and south, and the far east

I found myself moving back and forth between campus and the Highlander with greater than average frequency today. I skipped math class to study for my James Joyce exam, which accounted for my first westward trip at 10:45 this morning. I stopped on my return trip for my weekly lunch at the Towers with Langdon Resident Director Ben Moss. I found myself westbound a couple hours later for my Post-Colonial Architecture lecture, then eastbound to call Ben to solidify our evening plans. Then I headed back west for a lecture of U.S./Cuba relations. The line for food after the lecture looked unpleasant and not at all worth the paltry offerings, so I popped across State Street to the Humanities building, where the Honors Student Organization was having pizza and a "movie," which turned out to be Seinfeld episodes. I ate quickly and bailed before the show could start, sped home, showered, met up with Ben at the Langdon, then headed west to Memorial Union where we saw Zatôichi, a Japanese flick that had almost as many non sequiturs as Shaolin Soccer. It was amazingly violent, utterly perplexing, and thoroughly entertaining. A final eastward trip brought me home to Highlander, where I've eaten more pizza. I will sleep well tonight.

Waiting For The Sandman

I've been sick for the past couple days; it's not the flu (I had my shot), but its one of the harder-hitting colds I've had since starting college. I haven't been able to sleep, and I'm starting to think that I might not be able to do so tonight. I might watch the movie Marathon Man since misery does love company. I already watched The Last Picture Show earlier in the evening (yesterday, I guess). It was well made, and I'm glad I saw it. I probably could have done with something more cheerful given my current state, but I always take some satisfaction in being able to check-off another entry to Roger Ebert's ever-expanding list of Great Movies.

White

Sarah and I just returned from the film Nói albínói (which translates to Nói the Albino), an Icelandic film about a delinquent but brilliant young man in a nowhere-town somewhere on the coast of the island. The plot was relatively uneventful but never dragged, in part because of the use of short, to-the-point scenes not unlike those utilized in Napoleon Dynamite. Nói albínói isn't a happy movie, but it is a comic one; I laughed aloud on more than one occasion. At only 93 minutes, the investment in time is small compared to the entertainment and food-for-thought that the film delivers.

The Classics

Professor Cahill teaches my course in ancient and medieval art. In the interest of getting us well versed in "the classics," he requested that we go see The General, a silent film starring Buster Keaton that was showing at the Overture Center this evening. A vague suggestion that there would be an extra credit question on the upcoming exam regarding the film was enough to convince me. Besides, a three dollars ticket for the film (accompanied by distinguished organist R. Jelani Eddington) plus a vaudeville-type show before hand was too good a deal to pass up. Apparently this evening was one in a series called Duck Soup Cinema (presumably named after the Marx Bros. film), but it's unfortunately the only one of the semester. I say unfortunately because I laughed 'til I cried during the film, and the variety hour before hand wasn't half bad. I took with me Highlander sixth-floor resident Sarah (with whom I attended the Badger football games) since I knew she liked the Marx Bros, and as I predicted, she enjoyed the evening as much as I did. Highlights included a woman going by name Olive with the (supposedly French) last name of d'Lique, a juggler named Truly Remarkable Loon, and just about everything Buster Keaton did.

Dark Side of the Rainbow

Last night I watched the first loop of Dark Side of the Rainbow, which is, of course, the MGM Studios film The Wizard of Oz with Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon replacing the normal soundtrack. It also happened to be my first time listening to the album, which I enjoyed in its own right as well as in conjunction with the picture.

Actually, I think I enjoyed that method of viewing the film more than the "straight-up" version. I know my opinion of the film isn't very popular (and for that reason I rarely voice it), but I just don't like the film version of The Wizard of Oz. I have long felt that the book is far superior. I feel the same way about One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which won the Oscar for best picture, but I don't think anyone gets as upset when they discover that I dislike that movie. And Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone...well yes, people do get upset when they discover my feeling about that movie, but...whatever.

The Best Movie I Ever Saw That Didn't Make Any Sense

I just watched what had to be one of the most perplexing movies I have ever seen, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. The movie was Shaolin Soccer. I watched the American cut of the film undubbed with subtitles, but quite honestly, I think the plot may have been a bit more cohernant had the subtitles been off. It's a fun flick though, and I'd recommend that you give it a try.

The New Film

I saw Kill Bill Vol. 2, which was very well done. I was especially amused to learn that the Bride's name is Beatrix Kiddo. I can't wait for Quentin Tarantino's next film; I suspect that he'll wisely move away from the movie-that-knows-its-a-movie concept, as he pretty well maxed out with this one. I finished Dune while I was waiting for the movie to start. I'm more strongly tempted to read the rest of the books that I thought I would be. It won't be for a while in any case.