The Past Few Days
Things have been rather unproductive on the whole. College has been very quiet and not many people have been about, meaning that my 12 hour shifts have been spent idly perusing the newspapers (The Times, Guardian and Independent), reading (mostly non-academic stuff) and watching television.
I did catch the movie the Constant Gardener one evening, and it was certainly quite enthralling stuff about a pharmaceutical company's abuses in Africa and the complicity of the British diplomatic service in the dirty dealings. There was good acting throughout from Ralph Fiennes and an irrepressable Rachel Weisz who is certainly one of the more talented young British actresses of today, even if she gets much less in the way of publicity. The director, Fernando Meirelles, who was responsible for the highly successful City of God, does capture the look and the feel of the African slums tremendously well. Only downsides: an over restless camera which zooms in and out more frequently than is necessary and comfortable, and a rather strident moral tone and sentiment which some might find mildly off-putting, but given the subject matter may actually be quite necessary. In any event, something I am quite willing to accept (I refrain from using the word forgive).
I went through a bit of a musical phase, watching bits of Bedknobs and Broomsticks and Singin' in the Rain (which I have both seen many times). I also got to catch the movie version of South Pacific, that memorable Rodgers and Hammerstein musical featuring the song "One Enchanted Evening". It was pretty good fun with quite a few catchy numbers. I guess there is something about the musical that I love - the spring that it can put in your step, the catchy tunes and lyrics. Watching some of the older classics makes me want to try and watch them all. My apetite was definitely whetted even more when I caught a programme on the 100 best musicals of all time on Channel 4.
As to what I have read, I completed the first of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels Casino Royale, after also recently finishing Live and Let Die which was the second in the series. Bond comes across quite differently in the novels - far more at risk of being outsmarted by and being in danger from his enemies, and thus more human in a way. The debonair charm and weakness for women and the high life remain constant elements though. I also completed Alain De Botton's books The Consolations of Philosophy, which is one of the more admirable of the glut of popular philosophy books that have turned up in recent times (I must admit to be rather disturbed when I saw Winnie the Pooh and philosophy among other things). In 6 excellent chapters he looks at Socrates, Seneca, Epicurus, Montaigne, Schopenhauer and Nietschze as providing consolation for 6 seperate everyday ills. It was entertaining, and extremely readable in De Botton's unique style, and is definitely to be recommended.
In the meantime, I am working my way through John Lewis Gaddis' new general history of the Cold War which I bought recently. It is aimed at the general public and is perhaps too popularist for my purposes, but it does provide quite a bit of food for thought and some useful academic points. I have also picked up a book on Morality and Contemporary Warfare dealing with Just War theory, something that I have found surprisingly interesting once I got started on it in a midnight raid to the library. I hope to finish both shortly.
I did catch the movie the Constant Gardener one evening, and it was certainly quite enthralling stuff about a pharmaceutical company's abuses in Africa and the complicity of the British diplomatic service in the dirty dealings. There was good acting throughout from Ralph Fiennes and an irrepressable Rachel Weisz who is certainly one of the more talented young British actresses of today, even if she gets much less in the way of publicity. The director, Fernando Meirelles, who was responsible for the highly successful City of God, does capture the look and the feel of the African slums tremendously well. Only downsides: an over restless camera which zooms in and out more frequently than is necessary and comfortable, and a rather strident moral tone and sentiment which some might find mildly off-putting, but given the subject matter may actually be quite necessary. In any event, something I am quite willing to accept (I refrain from using the word forgive).
I went through a bit of a musical phase, watching bits of Bedknobs and Broomsticks and Singin' in the Rain (which I have both seen many times). I also got to catch the movie version of South Pacific, that memorable Rodgers and Hammerstein musical featuring the song "One Enchanted Evening". It was pretty good fun with quite a few catchy numbers. I guess there is something about the musical that I love - the spring that it can put in your step, the catchy tunes and lyrics. Watching some of the older classics makes me want to try and watch them all. My apetite was definitely whetted even more when I caught a programme on the 100 best musicals of all time on Channel 4.
As to what I have read, I completed the first of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels Casino Royale, after also recently finishing Live and Let Die which was the second in the series. Bond comes across quite differently in the novels - far more at risk of being outsmarted by and being in danger from his enemies, and thus more human in a way. The debonair charm and weakness for women and the high life remain constant elements though. I also completed Alain De Botton's books The Consolations of Philosophy, which is one of the more admirable of the glut of popular philosophy books that have turned up in recent times (I must admit to be rather disturbed when I saw Winnie the Pooh and philosophy among other things). In 6 excellent chapters he looks at Socrates, Seneca, Epicurus, Montaigne, Schopenhauer and Nietschze as providing consolation for 6 seperate everyday ills. It was entertaining, and extremely readable in De Botton's unique style, and is definitely to be recommended.
In the meantime, I am working my way through John Lewis Gaddis' new general history of the Cold War which I bought recently. It is aimed at the general public and is perhaps too popularist for my purposes, but it does provide quite a bit of food for thought and some useful academic points. I have also picked up a book on Morality and Contemporary Warfare dealing with Just War theory, something that I have found surprisingly interesting once I got started on it in a midnight raid to the library. I hope to finish both shortly.
posted by Caleb Liu | 1:51 PM
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