Ending remarks and class assignment

Okay, as I said there was nothing required for this week but I am posting the exercise we did in class on envisioning what our life will be like in x amount of years, after watching part of the movie - Idiotic.

In 10 years I have a job, maybe not the one of my dreams, but that is understandable since I don’t get out of undergrad till 2015 and I’m thinking about grad school as well. I hope that by then I live in a house, not apartment or condo but a real house, am married  with at least one child already with at least two more planned and a German Shepard as a pet, maybe a cat too. The economy is slowly recovering after all the problems Europe pulled us into and China has taken a much larger roll in world leadership and Japan hopefully has started to straiten out it’s population problem.

In 50 years I’ll be 70. By then I’ld like to have been a grandparent at least 4 times. (My grandpa turned 75 least year so my expectation comes from that.) If I’m not retired by then I’m planning on it soon most likely. I worked at Disney for a number of years and retired from that earlier to teach at a local school since my husband’s job has gone so well that I didn’t need to work as much and could instead spend more time at home with my family. We have been married since the beginning. Chinese is now taught in the public schools at an early age since it is the number two most important and common language in the world.

And that’s it. 

So I wont be posting anything here again since the class is over. I most likely will start another blog about everyday life so if you’re interested look for it in the new year. Other than that wish me luck for a good grade in the class.

TiMER (dir. Jac Schaeffer [2009])

* May contain spoilers *

Okay, so I’ve seen this movie before - my mom rented it once when it first came out. I didn’t recognize it by the title but in the first few seconds I remembered.

So for those who don’t know, the movie is about a small device implanted into your wrist that counts down to the moment you meet you soul mate. The story revolves around a family, one has her timer blank (her mate does’t have one yet), one has a count-down but it’s not for several years, the last gets it for his 14th birthday an is to meet his match in 3 days. There are other things that go on, you know, the whole plot thing, but I’m not going to get into that.

So, a question that arrises is who would you rather be? The one who doesn’t know, or the one that does and has to wait?

Regardless of who you choose to be, that movie does have some interesting life lessons.

Anyway, some observations. 

The mom, completely crazy. So totally different from anyone in my family that it makes me almost sick. I mean, yeah, my parents got together when they were 16 and my mom will ask me often if there is any guy I like at school, but she is not nearly as bad as the mom in the movie.

Also, while our conversations aren’t about the same things, my sister and I have about the same type of relationship as the two in the movie. It’s a very awesome relationship to have. She is most defiantly my best friend. 

And so that concludes the semester. Well, in a week anyway. But like I said, no assignment for next week. Though, I might post something in response to the film from last week since I got a title to watch to replace the once that we were suppose to see but had gotten taken off Netflix instant play.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

So this was the last book we had to read for the class, though it wasn’t even a reading assignment. We were tole to listen to the original radio broadcast of the book that was available online at our class’s web resource page.

Anyway, I listened to the recordings. 

I can’t really compare the audio to the actual book (my sister would be able to though) since I’ve never really read it. I have also only seen the movie once so am limited in that comparison as well. I can, however, compare it to other audiobooks.

Now this was a radio cast. At the time there was no book, it was made from the weekly specials. And being that it is for radio you realize as you listen that there isn’t that much description or directional diogule. Of course, being that this is the only radio broadcast I’ve heard I can not say for certain if it is a radio thing or just something done for the story in specific.

Regardless I did enjoy the recordings. Being not from a book there were no ‘he said,’ ‘she said’(s) making you have to really pay attention to the readers, or actors. Though I did get Arthur and Ford mixed up often.

In the end it was very good and entertaining, making me want to see that movie again as well. I also think that it was educational to hear an old fashioned radio show, especially since I love audiobooks so much and they are basically that same idea.

Well, that concludes the books for this week as well as the reading assignments for this class since next week is the final meeting and he isn’t making us have anything for it. Later tonight there will be an entry for this weeks movie but after that it’s all over.

Literary Speculation

So this week I read 2 short stories. First Seventh Voyage by Stanislaw Lem then The Distance of the Moon by Italo Calvino.

The first one was bizzar. It was all about this man on a space voyage but gets caught in this time loop vortex so sees past and/or future selfs. The first thing that I thought of when reading this had actually nothing to do with the story or its contents at all. Instead it was the question, is he on a space ship or in a house that happens to be in space? I know a silly question, but when you saw that the character in on a space mission I think a space ship, either the ones that NASA uses or something like from Star Treck or Lost in Space. Yet, things were being described like the sofa seat and the kitchen - not things on your average shuttle.

Anyway, back to the story. 

Like I said, it’s about this guy seeing his future and/or past self. And I’m not talking about simply seeing them and they look ghost-like, but that they are physical and they can interact with each other. For the first encounter his reaction, though very know-it-all-like, was possible. However, when he continued to act the same way for the second, third, and forth encounter I started to get annoyed. I also began to get confused since more and more “selfs” were starting to appear at once. Towards the end I just wanted a chart or something in order to keep them straight.

Moving on.

So the second story was also strange. I mean, they talked about the moon as if it was more like an actual animal than just the moon. Like how they described the “moon’s milk,” what is it, a cow? In the end I didn’t really get it.

I took a look at some of the second authors other stories, and found that he is found of writing in first person. (Just saying that as a side note.)

So that is the last reading story. For next week we’re listening to the original radio casting of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It should be interesting.

Now usually the next thing I put up is a review on the required movie for the week. We’re suppose to watch existent a 1999 film, but while it is on Netfilx like all the others, it’s only available on DVD, not instant play, so I don’t really know what to watch. Clockwork Orange was on the alternate reading list for the week, but I’ve never really had a care to see it, especially after seeing a part of it in someone’s presentation. Well, I’ll figure out something.

Cyberpunk and Diverse Position

Alright. First last talk about last weeks story Johnny Mnemonic by William Gibson. I read it in time for class last week but just kept getting delayed in writing. Well, that’s college for you. 

Anyway, the story was defiantly Cyberpunk in my opinion. I found it a bit confusing at first but hey, that’s Sci-fi for you. I thought that the beginning part about the relation between being technical and crude was very interesting and true. I was also told that it’s a movie as well and am planning on looking at it eventually.

Alright, moving on.

This week was Diverse Position.

For this I read two short stories since I had no time to even listen to a book on tape.

The first story I read was Bloodchild by Octavia Butler. I really enjoyed it eventhough it was kind of creepy. I mean who doesn’t see larva/youth being cut out from a male host a bit creepy and disturbing? Either way though I really enjoyed it.

The other one I read was I Live with You by Carol Emchwiller. Right, okay, I take it back. The last story wasn’t creepy, only this one. Really, really creepy. A person who lives with you, uses your clothes, your food, changes things around in your house and you never notice their presence? How is that not a bit creepy? While I did enjoy it I didn’t really understand the ending part with the guy. What happened? Oh, well I’ll re-read it later.

So there you have it. Diverse Position. 

The Brother from Another Planet (dir.John Saylers [1984])

Okay, that was an odd movie. The nice thing about though was that you didn’t really understand, or at least I didn’t, until the last few minutes.

First thing, I have to say, the alien main character guy is Henry from Eureka. I find that very interesting. Also the fashion, this movie was made in the 80s a time when my parents were teens, and my goodness what were they thinking?!

The movie was very quiet, I get that he couldn’t talk and that they might have wanted to play that up, but even understanding that it was quiet. There was basically no soundtrack. Other than the music that played as you passed there was no real music. The soundtracks of a movie can make or break it, for many it helps, even pushes them over the edge, but for this it really needed something more.

I thought that the sequence when he fell in love was neat, even funny, but the part when he discovered drugs was disappointing. The idea that he would go there is sad, but in the end I understood, though it was a bit confusing to get there.

What was with that part near the end in the bar? Was it a fight scene or a dance? If it was a dance, then I’m glad the scripted fights in movies has improved since then.

In the end, I did enjoy the film. Not something I would see multiple times I think but nice to see once.

Blade Runner (dir. Ridley Scott [1982])

*May contain spoilers.*

So we’re doing thins backwards tonight. First will be the movie review, then the story will be posted later.

Okay, so this movie reminded me a lot of other Sci-Fi things. The opening words made me think Battlestar Galactica, the design of the important buildings and computer systems in the car reminded me of Tron, and the city’s design - with the multi-levels and flying cars - made me remember the city in the ‘new’ Star Wars 2 movie. So the whole movie was like a mash up between several others.

My sister said that it’s a great book, maybe I’ll read it one day.

The topic is cyberpunk. The word to me means the type of characters who are good guys but look bad. It has a look of dirt and grind, and that is how the movie was.

A good choice.

(As a side note: the last ‘Next 6’ that was alive and trying to kill the main character kind of reminded me of the main vampire teen from Lost Boys. And the one for the very beginning reminded me for the Ministry of Magic guy that Ron impersonates in the seventh movie of Harry Potter.)

The last few minutes were. . . odd. They seemed to be fighting forever. I remember thinking three things while watching this part. 1)This fight is really long. 2) If his fingers were really broken then he wouldn’t be moving them like that no matter how much tolerance and adrenalin he has. 3) The ‘bad guy’ is actually going to win?

I admit I kind of wanted to see that happen. I mean, it not like he was really a bad person, just confused. And he wasn’t going to live long past the fight anyway so it did no harm. But alas, he went good and saved that man he was so willingly ready to kill thirty seconds ago. I would like to see the bad guys win for once. I mean, if not, then you should never sigh up to be a villein since you always lose.

Well, there is my impression of the movie. The section is okay. I like some of the movies that at least I would consider cyberpunk so I think it’s good.