Though I don't celebrate Valentine's day at all (I think that if I love someone, I don't only love them on this one day so what's the big deal with it?), it's a pretty good excuse for posting this really great new song from HIM :)
Their new album, Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice just came out, and I really really like it, you should definitely check it out. ;)
Like Saint Valentine
I'm blue.
No worries, I'm not sad or anything, I've only been 'Avatarized' :)
Yes, ok, I know that everyone seems to be writing about this right now, but still, I couldn't resist (to the extent that I started writing this on a piece of paper while travelling home on the train - sometimes I forget how good actual writing feels, I'm so used to typing everything these days). I saw the movie a couple of weeks ago in IMAX 3D and it was pure magic. The fact that this was the first film I saw in 3D only added to the experience. The visual experience was incredible, gorgeous, beautiful, and more. This is not the kind of 3D movie where you'll bend your head because of objects seemingly flying right into your direction - in Avatar the extra dimension makes the viewer feel like they're part of the reality of the film. The attention to detail is simply amazing when it comes to visuals, I could go on talking for hours about the nonexistent-yet-still-so-real plants, creatures, etc. but I wouldn't like to bore anyone to death :) The only thing to say here is go see it for yourself, there are no words fit to describe it...
About the plot. I can see why some people are bashing the plot saying it's too simple, not satisfying enough, and so on. It really isn't too difficult and everything in it is kind of black and white (the good ones are really good, the bad ones really bad, nothing in between) but as for me, I watched Avatar as a fairy tale, not as some 'hardcore' sci-fi movie and this way I didn't feel the need to have an intricately detailed, sophisticated plotline, I really loved the one it had and I think the message it tries to convey is a really simple yet crucial one: care for what you have because once you have destroyed it and it's gone you can never ever get it back. In this case for Mother Earth.
To some extent I can relate to people who said that after seeing Avatar they experienced some kind of 'post-Avatar depression' and became disillusioned, and dissatisfied with their lives. After coming out of the screening room I also felt a bit sad that it's impossible for us to have a Na'vi-like connection with Nature. Who wouldn't want that?
All in all I have to say I'm totally sold and at the end of the exam period (quite soon actually :)) I'm going to see Avatar again, this time with original audio, in English... can't wait! :)
Edit: I have no idea where this picture came from, but it's a wallpaper so full view is highly recommended ;)
Yes, ok, I know that everyone seems to be writing about this right now, but still, I couldn't resist (to the extent that I started writing this on a piece of paper while travelling home on the train - sometimes I forget how good actual writing feels, I'm so used to typing everything these days). I saw the movie a couple of weeks ago in IMAX 3D and it was pure magic. The fact that this was the first film I saw in 3D only added to the experience. The visual experience was incredible, gorgeous, beautiful, and more. This is not the kind of 3D movie where you'll bend your head because of objects seemingly flying right into your direction - in Avatar the extra dimension makes the viewer feel like they're part of the reality of the film. The attention to detail is simply amazing when it comes to visuals, I could go on talking for hours about the nonexistent-yet-still-so-real plants, creatures, etc. but I wouldn't like to bore anyone to death :) The only thing to say here is go see it for yourself, there are no words fit to describe it...
About the plot. I can see why some people are bashing the plot saying it's too simple, not satisfying enough, and so on. It really isn't too difficult and everything in it is kind of black and white (the good ones are really good, the bad ones really bad, nothing in between) but as for me, I watched Avatar as a fairy tale, not as some 'hardcore' sci-fi movie and this way I didn't feel the need to have an intricately detailed, sophisticated plotline, I really loved the one it had and I think the message it tries to convey is a really simple yet crucial one: care for what you have because once you have destroyed it and it's gone you can never ever get it back. In this case for Mother Earth.
To some extent I can relate to people who said that after seeing Avatar they experienced some kind of 'post-Avatar depression' and became disillusioned, and dissatisfied with their lives. After coming out of the screening room I also felt a bit sad that it's impossible for us to have a Na'vi-like connection with Nature. Who wouldn't want that?
All in all I have to say I'm totally sold and at the end of the exam period (quite soon actually :)) I'm going to see Avatar again, this time with original audio, in English... can't wait! :)
Edit: I have no idea where this picture came from, but it's a wallpaper so full view is highly recommended ;)
Merry Christmas, world :)
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas, I hope everyone gets to spend this holiday surrounded by the people they love and care for :)
Even milk teef get to celebrate this time of the year... click to see how ;)
(beware, here comes the cutest thing EVER) :)
p.s. don't eat as many sweets as I just did, you'll regret it...
oh, the guilty pleasures of Christmas time... :)
A Hungarian favourite - Dezső Kosztolányi
Kosztolányi was part of “the first generation of Nyugat”, a group of poets and writers that gathered around the Hungarian literary journal Nyugat (Hungarian for “West”) in the first decades of the 20th century. He wrote critiques, poems and prosaic works as well as translations (also from English). My favourite works of his are mostly poems.
There are several things that I like about his writings. Firstly, he wrote with extreme ease and his lines are pleasant to read as they effortlessly flow into one another without even the slightest disruption. His language is full of playfulness and wit, making reading his works an experience.
Something else about Kosztolányi that makes me like him even more is that he did not attribute social role to poetry or art itself. He wrote because he enjoyed doing so (see his ‘doodles’ and funny rhymes) and I think this can be felt when reading his works. In his poetry he considered aesthetics crucial but this does not mean that his poems would be shallow or they lack meaning and are only to be enjoyed because of their great aesthetic qualities. I think that in his art Kosztolányi found the right proportions and did not sacrifice aesthetics in favour of meaning or vice versa.
In his poetry he captured little peculiar moments of life that make it what it is. In my opinion his love of life is clearly perceptible in his poems and this is part of the reason why I can sit down and read from him again and again.
There are several things that I like about his writings. Firstly, he wrote with extreme ease and his lines are pleasant to read as they effortlessly flow into one another without even the slightest disruption. His language is full of playfulness and wit, making reading his works an experience.
Something else about Kosztolányi that makes me like him even more is that he did not attribute social role to poetry or art itself. He wrote because he enjoyed doing so (see his ‘doodles’ and funny rhymes) and I think this can be felt when reading his works. In his poetry he considered aesthetics crucial but this does not mean that his poems would be shallow or they lack meaning and are only to be enjoyed because of their great aesthetic qualities. I think that in his art Kosztolányi found the right proportions and did not sacrifice aesthetics in favour of meaning or vice versa.
In his poetry he captured little peculiar moments of life that make it what it is. In my opinion his love of life is clearly perceptible in his poems and this is part of the reason why I can sit down and read from him again and again.
Pornography. Or is it?
A week ago we went to see Simon Stephen’s play entitled ‘Pornography’. I didn’t quite know what to expect from a title like this and I have to admit that even after having seen it, I cannot seem to make a connection. Maybe it won’t keep me from understanding bits of the play itself.
On the theatre’s website it reads that the play centres on three main events, the Live 8 concert, London winning the rights to organize the Olympic Games in 2012 and the July 7 bombings in the underground. These events are mentioned constantly by the characters in the play; however, I think that none of these things have anything to do with what it really is about: monotonic everyday life of common people, and the way they experience it. We learn about the characters’ hidden aggressions, fears, sometimes filthy desires, and inner selves. All of them seem to be deeply disappointed in life as such, dwelling in their own problems and never care about anything else. Even one of the terrorists himself appears, and being a terrorist apparently doesn’t make him less human than the others in the play. He is just like anyone else, struggling with himself and the world.
To create a disturbing feeling (at least in me) the play uses visual and sound effects and also an enormous amount of repetition and cursing in the text itself. The glass dividers hung from above at certain points of the stage also emphasize the phenomenon of being estranged from everything and everyone. Most of the characters don’t interact with each other directly, if they talk to each other they are standing on the opposite sides of the glass wall. If they do meet however, it always ends up badly, abusing each other.
In this respect ‘Pornography’ reminded me of a movie, ‘Crash’ I saw a couple of years ago. As the title already suggests, it’s about how people don’t interact with each other properly any more, they merely crash when their ways meet but then they go on and that’s it.
Maybe pornography refers to the repressed aggression that lives in all of us and is unleashed when we ‘crash’. Maybe it’s just a catching title to bring us viewers into the theatre. My verdict is that it’s worth giving this play a try though you’ll most probably leave the theatre with mixed feelings.
On the theatre’s website it reads that the play centres on three main events, the Live 8 concert, London winning the rights to organize the Olympic Games in 2012 and the July 7 bombings in the underground. These events are mentioned constantly by the characters in the play; however, I think that none of these things have anything to do with what it really is about: monotonic everyday life of common people, and the way they experience it. We learn about the characters’ hidden aggressions, fears, sometimes filthy desires, and inner selves. All of them seem to be deeply disappointed in life as such, dwelling in their own problems and never care about anything else. Even one of the terrorists himself appears, and being a terrorist apparently doesn’t make him less human than the others in the play. He is just like anyone else, struggling with himself and the world.
To create a disturbing feeling (at least in me) the play uses visual and sound effects and also an enormous amount of repetition and cursing in the text itself. The glass dividers hung from above at certain points of the stage also emphasize the phenomenon of being estranged from everything and everyone. Most of the characters don’t interact with each other directly, if they talk to each other they are standing on the opposite sides of the glass wall. If they do meet however, it always ends up badly, abusing each other.
In this respect ‘Pornography’ reminded me of a movie, ‘Crash’ I saw a couple of years ago. As the title already suggests, it’s about how people don’t interact with each other properly any more, they merely crash when their ways meet but then they go on and that’s it.
Maybe pornography refers to the repressed aggression that lives in all of us and is unleashed when we ‘crash’. Maybe it’s just a catching title to bring us viewers into the theatre. My verdict is that it’s worth giving this play a try though you’ll most probably leave the theatre with mixed feelings.
The one about collaboration
The ability to cooperate, collaborate, and to be able to work in a team is crucial when it comes to work or business but probably even more crucial when it comes to relationships between people.
Even if we sometimes aren’t willing to admit it, we are sociable creatures by our nature, we crave each others’ company, but to be able to successfully coexist we need to cooperate. With the development of new technologies like the Internet, and within that, web 2.0 applications, whole new ways and possibilities of collaboration have started to appear, by which I am truly amazed. Let me bring some random examples that I’ve come across lately.
Let’s take for example 30 Seconds to Mars’ upcoming album, which anyone from all over the world had the opportunity to contribute to. The band was using the audience as sort of a ‘musical instrument.’ Simply by recording their voice, scream, whisper, clap, etc. and hitting the ‘send’ button fans could become part of the ‘choir’ on their next album. Also, by submitting a picture of themselves they had the opportunity to get on the album’s cover – it will appear with 2000 different covers this December.
Or there’s the English writer Neil Gaiman’s attempt at getting people to collaborate on something online: a twitter novel. He tweeted the first sentence and twitter users continued the story. The final storyline is still being put together and the story will be published as an audio book (that can be downloaded for free) later. This is also something I call an interesting experiment. I was always wondering where the limits of online collaboration might be, but after hearing about all these, I’m starting to doubt whether it has any limits as such.
Encouraging people to collaborate in order to create something enjoyable and creative is an effort that I greatly admire. Now the only thing to keep in mind is to have an ‘offline’ life as well. Visiting others’ pets on Pet society doesn’t count as social life and a comment on facebook/ myspace/ whatever cannot replace a friendly smile or a hug. Or at least I hope so.
The cursing hedgehog :)
Yes, it's a hedgehog, and yes, it does curse all the time. In Finnish (of course it has English translation too). I think it's hilarious.
How did I come across this comic? I happen to have a class on Finnish youth literature this semester and this is something we'll talk about next week :)
You can see the rest here: http://www.thecursinghedgehog.com/
Warning, it contains some harsh language (it's called cursing so what else would you expect...)
