Since we had trouble with the machine that day, actually we didn’t see the movie bugs there. But I personally assume it will be a really great movie as a documentary on bugs and scientists:) Also I would like to write on the movie night events! This is really a great chance for us to relax and review brilliant movies after a weeks study!
Author Archives: hz449
Reality
I watched the famous movie “The Matrix” for the first time this Friday, which was filmed in 1999. However, I was obsessed by the idea that the “real world” that individuals used to was stimulated by the machine in order to grow human beings as biodynamic bacteria to collect power. It was really ridiculous at very first but reasonable and frightening in the end. What if human beings are all grown in purpose just as we raise the livestock. What is the death that each individuals will have to suffer is not the natural end of our live but is conducted by the machine who grow us when our energy reach a certain level. Actually, I have grown this idea for years that how can we tell the difference between true reality and stimulation in mind. Because just as the movie said, our sense of sight, smell, taste and touch are recognized by our brain via nerve system and impulse. Thus it is really desperate and hard to tell whether the world we live right now is true or not. Maybe we are just the extras in the world like matrix and wait for a Morpheus to wake us up. Unfortunately, if we are not the one that have the ability to spot the difference, maybe the destination is just being lost forever. However, the movie indeed gave us a lesson back in 1999 that we need to keep calm when facing the artificial intelligence and maintain keen insight. Being ignorant is not terrible, what really suffering is recognizing the reality and never lose hope.
Spirited away with Kami Sama
Tonight we saw the famous animation movie Spirited away which is also called “Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi” (千と千尋の神隠し). According to Jana Monji: “ Sen means a thousand, but the pronunciation of the character can change to “chi” as it does in the name Chihiro. The ‘hiro’ in Chihiro means to ask questions. Kamikakushi means spirited away with kami meaning spirit or god and kakushi meaning hidden. So perhaps we can translate the title as Sen and the Mysterious Disappearance of Chihiro. “
Even though I have seen it for at least three times, my expecting about the movie is and will always exist whenever I hear the theme song and see a bunch of flower that Chihiro holds at the very beginning of the film. The pink flower makes up my primary memory for this movie. It is delicate and precious for the traditional Japanese culture, architecture and aesthetic concept it conveys, which made me obsess at the first time I saw it. Also, I was fortunate to visit the exquisite city one summer vacation with my mother, where the film based on in TaiWan, China. Therefore, this film not only left me with the pure Oriental fairy tale world, the traditional attracting significance of Asian aesthetics but also brought me back to the summer with my mom as well.
Starry night
Me and my friend went to the Fuertes Observatory for the stargazing activity Friday night. It was a gorgeous night, with a clear sky spangled with numerous stars. However, we could observe nothing on the way to the Observatory either due to the dust or lights.
After arriving, we filled into a small dark room through a narrow staircase to have a view of the Saturn using the telescope with our own eyes. This was the first time for me to observe stars through a telescope and it was super clear cause I saw the ring of the Saturn and two moons nearby.
After that, my friend and I went to the balcony outside, which reminded me of the Arctic and the Aurora for no reason.The mysterious stars could always induce fantastic reveries and trigger people’s curiosity about the secrets of their ascent. The starry sky above us is a priceless heritage not only for astronomers but for all humans.
We enjoyed the dark sky, twinkling stars and everything seemed quiescent, healing and eternal, sunk in silken silence.
Feed starving kids
On the way back to dorm, my sour back and fingers kept reminding me the effort me paid to finish our goal for this wonderful activity. Also through the process I made some friends who was working just behind me:) It is really amazing that the food we packed with soy, rice, dry vegetables and vitamin powder can feed 99 kids for an entire year.
The activity began with a simple orientation in St. Catherine of Siena church illustrating the work that each position has. Viewing the video of how the food of FMSC packed, transported and saved children’s life, I was quite moved and could not wait to contribute to this program. Luckily, I got the opportunity to distribute food which tends to be quite interesting. However, after 30 minutes work, I regarded myself as a automatic robot weighing my scoops and cups. Pouring the rice and soy into the funnel follow the rhythm of the songs, everything seemed more interesting and everyone was energetic and vigorous regardless of their age and gender. Those sealing members coordinated quite well with the boxing members, and with everyone’s effort, our group made 63 boxes each containing 36 packages of food within 2 hours.
Self defense awareness
I went to the self defense workshop this Saturday morning and was astonished to find out that I was indeed lacking in awareness in self defense. Unarmed self defense requires practicing on how to defend against simple types of wrestling or attacking.
Kyaw Thein, who is an activist and feminist all the way from Myanmar, teaches us how to make our self defense more efficient. During the workshop, Kyaw taught us several martial skills and physical techniques, aiming at efficiently and quickly escaping from an attacker.
Through the workshop, I realized gender does not really matter in self defense, what matters most is the size, skills and positions you are in. Because different situations require different skills, and our goal is rather to escape and be safe than to beat the attackers.
In addition to destroying attackers, learning how to steer away from a threat seems to be more important to women. Especially when we are alone in a dark night, bear in mind that the primary and crucial thing to do is to quickly understand and comprehend the whole view of the position you are in with the help of your eyes and ears. Carefully search the surroundings and never put on your headphones when you’re alone. Therefore, awareness and prevention can cover most of the self defense needs. Try to avoid it before the attack goes physical, which will be much easier than trying to stop an aggressive opponent from hurting you.
For me, it is really a wonderful and useful workshop which alerted me to my bad habit when being alone in an unfamiliar place. Self-defense for women is crucial in giving us power to deter an assault that happened abruptly and also decreases the fear of being attacked when alone by setting the effective boundaries.
Writing a Blog Post based on movies
Focusing on tiny details, there is a reason for every trivial matter to be there. Light reflecting and color changing can imply the mood of the protagonist, while the repeated occurrence of the trivial symbols can be regarded as a hint or clue related to the plot. There is also such a clue in the Subaru commercial we saw tonight. Each scene of the narrator’s life contains a different car, emphasizing this commercial movie may have a strong relationship with cars. I have to say that this commercial movie is not what I used to think. Hiding advertisement carefully in each scene of the movie, it may not be easy for audiences to spot their intention unless the movie comes to the end. Trying to capture everything that is in the camera may deepen the understanding for not only the plots but the techniques using in movies, which may need to be practiced sedulously.
Actually when I entered the seminar for this event, I was just thinking about some specific skills or tricks to improve my writing. Talking about blogs mainly on how to analysis a movie is really more intriguing. During the seminar, we learned different perspectives for movies analyzing like trying to focus on the sound, cinematography, editing or Mise-en-scene, which means everything we can see in front of the camera. Usually when I watch a movie, I will mainly follow the camera and the screen without trying to figure out how the sound changes and what the role of the light will play. After analyzing in specific aspect, I may need to watch some of the classic movies again and apologize for what I missed. It is also quite interesting to snap on the cut which can help us pay more attention to the quick but coherent changes in the movie.