Friday, January 21, 2005

Vanity Fair

There hasn't been much hype about this movie at all. Not surprising though. Period movies like these, eg. Emma, Sense and Sensibility, only appeals to a select group of people; usually of the feminine persuasion. No blood and gore or super fancy action stunt in the trailer (which usually shows all the good bits for those movies) to pull in the macho men. Instead, it's a movie with a lot of talking. It's a 'talkie'.

Hmmm ... did I like the movie?

Well, it is not very memorable. Unlike what I felt after watching Patricia Rozema's version of Mansfield's Park, like I had to run out and get another ticket to re-watch it, this one left me with nothing.

It was a nice movie. A tad draggy and yet I felt that some scenes or rather some period of Becky Sharp's life was somehow too compressed and not fully explored. Especially her encounter with the collector of her father's works, The Marquess of Steyne. It seems quite out of character that she was so easily outplayed by the Marquess after she had so skillfully manipulated everyone else up to that point. How is it that the Marquess have the power to intimidate her? Sure, he bailed her out of debt but that somehow, doesn't seem a strong enough reason, at least to me, for somebody who has relied on her strength and cunning to get as far as she has, to suddenly feel so inferior/weak next to him.

Also, the main plot of the movie, her need to better her lot in life, to be up there with the best of the aristos. What is her driving force? I do not see it. What has given her such determination? I have read enough drivel to understand that there is always someone from the lower class who has the determination to better themselves but usually, there is always a reason or an event which have promted them to action. I could not see this in Becky and I think this weakens the whole plot and the appeal of the movie for me. The 'but why'? But why is she doing this? But why does she want that? Why? Why? Why?

So ...

I did not like the pacing.
There are too many holes in the story.
Too many things unexplained.
The series of events and emotions did not flow smoothly enough.

... It was nice. Not good.

Would I go out and look for a copy of it? Probably ... I'm a sucker for period movies. Love the costumes and the protocols and such. When women were women and men were men ... at least, it is; for the upper class and the weathy merchants.

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

baldilocks

Hmmm ... quite an oxymoronic title don't you think? I mean, how can you be bald and still have locks? Am I interpreting the word oxymoron correctly? I never use it. Only sorta know what it means but am not 100% sure.

Anyway, the past week, I've noticed that my hair seems to be falling at an alarming rate. Not the usual amount that you find on your hairbrush after a brushing. Not the few you find hanging between the holes on the drain of the shower floor after a wash. This is a lot! My brush is covered with hair. The drain's almost clogged. I can feel my head feeling lighter and I see hair on my bedroom floor all the time!

I'm beginning to get a little worried and when I mentioned it to my mom, she said she had wanted to mention it to me; which means that even she noticed there were excessive hair loss. Excessive, more that usual, NOT excessive I'm-having-chemo excessivelah.

Thinking about what I had been doing differently the past week, the only addition to my usual routine is the coffee. My brother just bought 4 bottles of Nescafe and my sis and I are having cuppas everday. Three teaspoons of coffee, one and a little bit of sugar and a generous amout of coffeemate. So, could my hairloss actually be attributed to caffein intake? It is not as if I'm not a regular coffee drinker. Back when I was at the office, I almost always had coffee during teabreak. Of course, I haven't had the daily dose since I've begun working at home but I did not encountered any hairloss during that time, so why now? I don't think I'm feeling any additional stress recently (of course, I can't speak for my subconscious so I don't know if I'm subconsciously stressed out) nor have I started any new routine, although I should be starting a regular walking routine at least! This fat arse is getting fatter and fatter as I type. So in conclusion, it's the coffee.

Started my first day of staying off coffee to see if anything changes. I'll give it a fortnight to see if there's any change. Hopefully by then I'll still have hair on my head else it would be too late to take my friends' advice to check it with the doc.

Pray for me.

Wednesday, January 12, 2005

Personality test

If there had been personality tests at school, do you think you would have chosen what you've chosen to major or your line of work? Do you think it would have made a difference?

Here's my result:





Your Dominant Intelligence is Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence



You are naturally athletic and coordinated, good at making your mind and body work together.
Sports are fun and easy for you, especially those requiring good hand - eye coordination.
There's also a good chance you're a great dancer, or good at expressing yourself through body language.
You learn best by doing, and you feel like you've always got to be moving (even if it's just your hands).

You would make a good athlete, physical education teaches, dancer, actor, firefighter, or artisan.




Brilliant! Wouldn't mind being anyone of those things suggested ... except maybe 'actor'. I can't act. I can see how a scene should be done or at least how I think it should be done but I, personally, can't do it.

I don't think it would have made a difference for me. All the suggested career path doesn't seem to be in the 'financially sound' job category. Perhaps the 'teacher' bit might interest my mom though. She's always telling me learn your English and learn your piano so you can teach them. Regardless to the fact that a) I'm not a patient person and don't think I can handle screaming kids, b) piano doesn't come naturally to me. During the years and years of lessons, I need to be forced to practise and there's not touch to my playing. ie. no bloody good! c) my grammar sucks. I kept getting vt mistakes in my essays from Ms. Stucken during Grade 12 English and I never knew how to correct it. It would help if I had asked what the mistake meant and how I was to correct them but ... I didn't.

So yeah! That's out! The only teaching I ever considered was to teach ballet but she made me quit. You were never really good anyway. Have I repeated that many times? Well, if I did, it's because it's a sour point for me. I'm not Margot Fonteyn but I was good. :P

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