End of hiatus
May. 20th, 2008 05:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tarigwaemirStanley Hall on the Feast of Ste. Bernardine of Siena
Back on LiveJournal and catching up on my friends list as of yesterday evening. A very quick update, for the curious:
1. Moved into the new apartment last Friday. The studio is really large, so once again I have more space than I know what to do with. I plan on doing some furniture-shopping in the weeks to come. What's nice about the new apartment: walk-in closet with full-length mirror, shower with high water pressure, more storage space than I know what to do with, free open wireless network. What's not so nice: all the kitchen cabinets are positioned above my head, necessitating climbing up on a footstool to reach them. Oh well, I need to get my exercise somehow.
2. Handed in my final yesterday, a minute before it was due. I have no great hopes for my score, but I did get the final grade for my other course, so barring actual failure in this one (which is unlikely) I should be fine. Anyway, I'm finished with classes at last. Hurrah! The seven of us in genetics are planning to go out and celebrate our survival later in the week.
3. Found out I'll be TA for introductory biology lab next year. Will it be fun or terrifying? >_>
Watched Perfume, the movie adaptation of Patrick Süskind's novel of the same title. I was surprised at the fabulistic tone of the story, since descriptions of the novel made it sound more, well, in line with the suspense/horror genre. Not that there weren't occasional moments of suspense or horror, but I felt strangely desensitized to the actual murders, perhaps because I felt considerable sympathy for the protagonist, Jean-Baptiste. Which was the intent of the movie, I suppose. M. Richis denounces him as a monster, but who can't relate with Jean-Baptiste's essential impulse to engage with the incomprehensible world in terms that he can understand? His method is particularly twisted--one may even say, perverted--but it is still his clumsy attempt at translating himself.
Perhaps that's the true disability of a sociopath: it's not that other human beings don't matter to them but that they are simply incapable of knowing how to connect to them in "normal" ways. Perhaps this disability exists in everyone to different degrees. (Perhaps I'm just self-projecting my own social anxiety issues onto the film as well as the rest of humanity.)
Anyway, a really beautiful film with a beautiful ending. I have a bad sense of smell, but I found the whole estoerica of perfume-making fascinating. Er, well, probably not esoteric to BPAL enthusiasts, but I didn't know about the heart chord or the head chord or the Egyptian legend about the thirteenth "note" until I watched this film. Actually, I like the whole musical terminology: it allows me to translate scent into a sense that I personally have a better understanding of. The whole theme of artistry--the desire to preserve a transient sense experience, the desire for personal immortality--also appealed to me, since I enjoy stories about people who are obsessively passionate about their craft or vocation.
Edit: Oh, and that moment where Jean-Baptiste smashes everything in frustration when he realizes he can't distill the scent of iron or glass...roughly analogous to experiencing something that one can't put into words.
All right, off to do my backup transformation. Expect some long linkblogging posts to come.
Yours &c.
Back on LiveJournal and catching up on my friends list as of yesterday evening. A very quick update, for the curious:
1. Moved into the new apartment last Friday. The studio is really large, so once again I have more space than I know what to do with. I plan on doing some furniture-shopping in the weeks to come. What's nice about the new apartment: walk-in closet with full-length mirror, shower with high water pressure, more storage space than I know what to do with, free open wireless network. What's not so nice: all the kitchen cabinets are positioned above my head, necessitating climbing up on a footstool to reach them. Oh well, I need to get my exercise somehow.
2. Handed in my final yesterday, a minute before it was due. I have no great hopes for my score, but I did get the final grade for my other course, so barring actual failure in this one (which is unlikely) I should be fine. Anyway, I'm finished with classes at last. Hurrah! The seven of us in genetics are planning to go out and celebrate our survival later in the week.
3. Found out I'll be TA for introductory biology lab next year. Will it be fun or terrifying? >_>
Watched Perfume, the movie adaptation of Patrick Süskind's novel of the same title. I was surprised at the fabulistic tone of the story, since descriptions of the novel made it sound more, well, in line with the suspense/horror genre. Not that there weren't occasional moments of suspense or horror, but I felt strangely desensitized to the actual murders, perhaps because I felt considerable sympathy for the protagonist, Jean-Baptiste. Which was the intent of the movie, I suppose. M. Richis denounces him as a monster, but who can't relate with Jean-Baptiste's essential impulse to engage with the incomprehensible world in terms that he can understand? His method is particularly twisted--one may even say, perverted--but it is still his clumsy attempt at translating himself.
Perhaps that's the true disability of a sociopath: it's not that other human beings don't matter to them but that they are simply incapable of knowing how to connect to them in "normal" ways. Perhaps this disability exists in everyone to different degrees. (Perhaps I'm just self-projecting my own social anxiety issues onto the film as well as the rest of humanity.)
Anyway, a really beautiful film with a beautiful ending. I have a bad sense of smell, but I found the whole estoerica of perfume-making fascinating. Er, well, probably not esoteric to BPAL enthusiasts, but I didn't know about the heart chord or the head chord or the Egyptian legend about the thirteenth "note" until I watched this film. Actually, I like the whole musical terminology: it allows me to translate scent into a sense that I personally have a better understanding of. The whole theme of artistry--the desire to preserve a transient sense experience, the desire for personal immortality--also appealed to me, since I enjoy stories about people who are obsessively passionate about their craft or vocation.
Edit: Oh, and that moment where Jean-Baptiste smashes everything in frustration when he realizes he can't distill the scent of iron or glass...roughly analogous to experiencing something that one can't put into words.
All right, off to do my backup transformation. Expect some long linkblogging posts to come.
Yours &c.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-21 01:28 am (UTC)exquisite movie. one of my favourites. it's awesome to see other people watching it/writing about it!
(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-21 02:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-21 02:50 am (UTC)And I'm sure you did well. Really.
On a stupid note. I realized I have been a member of an Arashi clubbox for the longest time. Wow. I didn't even know.
It has Korean subs!! Maybe my Korean will get better, too! Now all I need to do is set the unicode so I can actually read it...
(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-21 02:06 pm (UTC)And thanks for the reassurance. I shan't think of it any longer, in any case.
Haha, well, have fun with Korean-subbed Arashi. I bet the Korean subs will be better translated.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-21 08:27 am (UTC)Now I am going back to the translation grindstone, tata...
(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-21 02:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-21 08:36 am (UTC)That is IMHO in keeping with the book. It reads at points like a history or a dream.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-21 02:10 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-21 02:11 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-21 08:35 pm (UTC)