An ancient Japanese legend promises that anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish by a crane. Some stories believe you are granted eternal good luck, instead of just one wish, such as long life or recovery from illness or injury.
I've got injured and so I'm not able to act out and decompress the way I usually do - by some physical activity, most preferably: dancing or running.
So I'm making origami cranes in order to, well, just do something that will take my mind off my life.
(Yeah, it's been a tough week... Fortunately, remote virtual hugs help to some degree).
My 6-year-old niece is great at the memo game and beats everybody at it. The Citizen is like that game. The director shows you a piece and requires you to remember every little detail of it; then, some time later, you are given another piece and required to recall that previous one. If you fail, you won't get your prize, which is the satisfaction of getting the story - the connections, the true motivations - right, and instead of a coherent plot, you may end up with a set of ill-fitted, though still funny, puzzle elements. Moreover, it takes some national and personal self-distance to appreciate the film, since - while staying witty and humorous - it is often exaggerated, reflected in a distorting mirror, and I guess not everybody may like what they see in that mirror.
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You have probably heard that U2 published a new album. What you might not have heard is that the deluxe edition of that album contains bonus tracks and alternative versions of the original songs. And - as is always the case with U2's B-sides - it's a treasure.
This one is not my favourite from the set of Songs of Innocence - but it's the one that, in my opinion, gains most when listened to in the acoustic version:
I have been babysitting my friends' cat for the last ten days.
You can get the flat, I can have my under-the-bed. For now.
(Or: day 1)
I'm allowed to lie and sleep all day (aren't you...?).
I'm a cat. A CAT. C-A-T. BTW, that's my spot.
That's MY bed (in case you haven't noticed yet).
I'm going to be generous and let you sleep here -
but only as long as you get up on time to feed me.
Did you sleep well? Oh, good. But that's enough.
Now get up! It's high time you gave me breakfast!
(And yes, I've been watching you while you were sleeping)
I'm going to be gracious and let you scratch me behind me ears. Mrrr.
Mrrrrr. You're a nice girl to have put that laptop away.
After all, I need your lap to lie down and let you scratch my back.
Yep, brushing my belly is also acceptable as a substitute for scratching. Mrau.
What are you looking at? My spot.
No, not your work chair - MY SPOT.
(Be a good girl and scratch me behind my ears, then maybe
- just maybe - we'll talk about who's eligible to sit here.)
Of course that's my spot. Every spot here is my spot.
Told you already. What's not to understand?
My spot...?
What's cooking? (Also my spot. Seriously:
my flat, my kitchen, my spot. Get used to it.)
Over the years a few [important] people vanished from my life. Usually the process was gradual - except for one case when I was directly told that I was not a welcome company any more.
Today a question arose whether it is better to be silently ignored or to be told to your face that somebody is tired of you. And the opinion was that it is easier to swallow that bitter pill if it is served delicately, just a hint, something given to understand between the lines.
I do not agree. When a friend let me know me that he did not want to continue the acquaintance I spent one evening crying, I drank a bottle of wine, and - eventually - I got over it. But when someone simply fades away you can never be sure whether it's because of lack of time, or because they do not care so much, or they really do not see that something is cracking here; or it's actually you. You do not know, you can never be certain - but you have hope... and that hope is killing you.
So - no, thank you for trying to spare my feelings. I prefer the clear cut.
From a favourite childhood cartoon - one of many.
And one of many I have never stopped watching.
I went to collect my race package and noticed plenty of people heading for the same direction. I started seriously wondering why on earth so many runners had figured out that they would pick up their packages from the race office first thing in the morning... I stopped wondering when I saw Batman and Robin among them and it dawned on me that most of them were gathering for the students carnival procession and not for any marathon-related purpose... Oh, so that was the reason why the faculty felt so deserted and calm, and peaceful, and a great place to procrastin..., eee..., to work!
Fast-paced, nested narrative + a set of vibrant characters played by a cast of movie stars (each and every one of them brilliant!) + black humour, full of absurdities + colourful, characteristic shots.
And a story. The story of a man and a world where
There are still faint glimmers of civilization left in this barbaric slaughterhouse that was once known as humanity... He was one of them. What more is there to say?
(...)
To be frank, I think his world had vanished long before he ever entered it - but, I will say: he certainly sustained the illusion with a marvelous grace!
The story of a world that had long been gone. Or had never existed. But agreed - the illusion was marvellous!
Music score - as usually with Wes Anderson's films - by Alexandre Desplat:
I have visited some interesting places in Europe, but I still have lots of catching up to do when it comes to my home country. The cities are what I want to experience particularly. Last time it was Poznań. This time - Toruń.
Toruń's Old Town consists mostly of timber framing constructions, red brick historical buildings and ruins. Oh, and bizarre doors. You can feel it has different style than the cities of Southern Poland. For me, it resembles some Northern Dutch towns.
Plus there is plenty of nice museums and a great science centre nearby.
Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.
John Lennon, Beautiful Boy
I'm still here. Not dead or anything. Just busy with life that has been happening to me recently.
And I have even found time to make it to the movies!
Mr. Peabody & Sherman
Fast-paced, sometimes extremely witty and stuffed with historical and cultural references (far beyond children's comprehension), sometimes a bit silly, but all in all - enjoyable.
Of Dancing.
9 hours of dance classes within 5 days.
And it looks like it's going to continue this way for the foreseeable future.
Two months ago, when I got an email informing that the Scottish highland classes I attended were to be cancelled, I literally cried.
Now... Well, seems like things are going in a totally opposite direction than what I had expected.
It has been a second time I learnt at the exam almost as much as during the whole course. One adequate question seemed to be enough to force me to rethink what I thought I knew.
An instructive experience.
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I've had a dream. I dreamed that for a single moment, for just one perfect moment, everything was all right.
And then I woke up.
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Btw, Melficent is coming and it's coming with a thud!
Rumor has it Angelina Jolie handpicked Lana Del Rey to perform Once Upon a Dream cover for the movie - and I cannot imagine a better choice!
In case you are not familiar with Disney's classics and do not know them by heart as I do - a frame of reference:
A recently discovered short film from Disney, newly restored and tweaked using modern animation techniques. As a result, we get a classic episode tuned-up and twisted in a clever way.
All in all, nice job (I just hate the present-day Mickey version, though).
Frozen
Unbalanced - the first half of the movie seems to be a musical: there is just like one never-ending song.
Daddy, there is only one jellybean left...*
The story lacks logic sometimes. However, it is engaging and really funny.
Slurp, slurp, slurp... (right behind my ear)*
Characters are strong and stand out one from another. The sisters are not at all alike (and, by the way, none of them reminds Rapuntzel from Tangled when you see them live i.e. animated and not just on a poster).
[While the scene fading out] Daddy, it is over!*
As for the animation: wonderful winter wonderland! And that holds for both close-ups and far-away landscapes; wherever the snow is involved in any form - which is pretty much everywhere - it looks amazing.
Main characters look very good, background characters not so much.
Daddy...*
Music score by Christophe Beck is fine, pleasant and fitting, not memorable, though.
All in all, the film is very good at some aspects, but not a masterpiece.
Oh, and I do like the idea that the Frozen teaser trailer contains the scene you actually won't find in the movie:
--- * The only two really small kids in the whole screening room had to sit right behind me, grrr.
Visiting a library I got books from almost all departments (good thing they all have separate limits):
adutls'
chldren's
comic books'
foreign languages'
youth's (despite the fact that I am not really allowed to borrow books from there, since I am neither youth nor any pedagogical sciences student)
And a new library card, even though my old one was still in a good shape.
Incidentally, I made at least one person's day better on that occasion - a librarian smiled looking on my 'book lover' pendant and said she should get one too.
The most successful book hunt in ages.
And the best part is I do have time to read all that - Summer is here!
(Btw, is it weird that my dream holidays do not include me laying in a sand fortress on a beach, but me surrounded by a book fortress anywhere...?)
Home alone for at least a couple months.
Not that big a change, though - sharing a flat with two other mates, we happened to miss each other like five days in a row.
Still, first time in my life, it is not my own decision, but someone else's.
Cheers to changes.
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Volume Three by She & Him immediately makes it to the top of this couple's albums.
The look of sheer joy on your friend's face - priceless.
I remember exactly the last time someone told me I had that look on my face. I just got out of a metro station and was heading for the beach at the Amager Island (just a few stops from the Copenhagen city centre).
I had been there already and knew what to expect: a beach - a real, sandy, windy-as-hell beach, with dunes - in a city!! And the sea... I remember thinking that the Baltic Sea was bluer on the other side. I'd never thought I would fall in love with a sea - I had always been into the mountains - but somehow it got me.
So I decided to take my friends there. And while we were walking from the station - already smelling, hearing and feeling the sea - they said I looked like a child who had just been told that all the presents at the Christmas tree are for them.
I don't know why I was so convinced that it was another film by Pixar. Which would be weird, since Brave came out not so long ago.
Whereas it is just a Disney movie - only it's not a hand-drawn but computer-generated animation. Which is not surprising, since we have already seen it in Tangled.
Ralph is trully funny. Sometimes sophisticated-funny and sometimes plain-funny - and somehow I enjoyed both; yes, even the simplest and close-to-bad-taste jokes, which were always on but never over the edge.
It's imaginative. The story is simple and predictable - but that doesn't spoil the film a bit, because it's more of an excuse to show you various worlds, their logic and dynamics.
Retro and modern at the same time. Funny when you realise the creators used sophisticated techniques in order to make an illusion of worse graphics. But only an illusion, not actual simulation - I mean the quality of the animation is very good.
Polish dubbing is quite decent - sometimes a bit worse, but sometimes better than the original.
Music by Henry Jackman (whom I love for X-Men: First Class, mostly). I have been listening to the score for quite some time now and I like it very much. It does capture varying game styles, moods, sets of characters.
However, little things are what really makes this film big: konami code (!!); angular splashes, which are supposed to imitate pixelised world; discrete movement mode of some arcade game characters; psychonaut-like Vanellope herself - for me she steals the whole show (now that I think of it, she does steal the movie: 90% of action takes place in her, not Ralph's game, and she seems to become more and more important throughout the film); her candy Wonderland-like world, which makes you look for the Cheshire Cat at every corner; Bad Guys Anonymous support group... So many tasty details!
Adorable, isn't she?
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I have already commented on Paperman, but having seen it on a big screen, I can now truly appreciate the genius behind the technique. More on the subject:
A new Disney Pixar short animated film. See for yourselves:
In my opinion: technically correct and pretty; its style (computer-generated and hand-drawn animation techniques merged) matches the story. But, all in all - bland.
At first, I was convinced I was watching a scene where camera goes through a doll-house or some diorama cross-section. But then the dolls started moving... Wes Anderson managed to mix a weather report narrative with a cartoon-like design. Moreover, the more artificial the setting becomes, the more real the story feels like.
There is not a single piece of this movie I wouldn't love: brilliant performance of some well-known actors - Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, and all the other big names; wonderfully edited shots of over-colourful, cartoon-styled settings; the simple story of two troubled children, which gradually turns into the story of the whole community and all its individuals; music by Alexandre Desplat (very similar to what he has created for another of Anderson's classics, Fantastic Mr. Fox).
A must-see!
