I attended the Friday Film viewing of Sun Come Up which I found added to last week’s film on climate change nicely. One aspect that I thought was well portrayed in the documentary was the disproportionate effects climate change has on varying parts of the world. The movie followed the Carteret island community attempting to seek refuge on larger nearby islands as their home island was being taken over by the ocean. For this community, the effects of climate change were not something to worry about in the future, they were current and even past events. I found the overall generosity of neighboring island communities inspiring as these communities offered assistance and land to the Carteret community. I thought this generosity was well juxtaposed with the actions of the government who merely supplied emergency rations of rice rather than providing long-lasting assistance to the people of the Carteret Islands.
Author Archives: ejm372
Humans and Climate change
I attended the viewing of The Human Element and was very pleased with the experience. I am currently in a class focused on climate change in the arctic and in alpine environments so this movie compounded on that course well. I thought that the film did an excellent job focusing on the effects being experienced by humans in addition to nature, particularly when focusing on the firefighters in the American West. Unfortuanly, I feel sometimes when nature documentaries focus solely on the effects of climate change on the natural world it has less impact than when focusing on humans so potentially this film will inspire more action to mitigate future effects of climate change.
Inspiration from dogs
I attended the viewing of the documentary Pick of the Litter. I was astounded by the amount of work that went into training the future guide dogs, especially by the intelligent disobedience displayed. The idea that a dog could learn when to disobey the human in a potentially dangerous situation was beyond any level of learning I believed could be attained by a canine. Furthermore, I was surprised by the number of dogs that failed the process. With only 3/8s of the puppies fulfilling the role of a guide dog there is a lot of effort expended that never pays off. The amount of volunteer work put into the program was inspiring and to see that sometimes dogs that are “career changed” can go back to the volunteers that trained them was very heartwarming. I know it would be very difficult to part with one of my dogs so to go into the process knowing that I would have to give the dog up would be very difficult.
Happiness in less than ideal circumstances
I attended the viewing of The Pruitt-Igoe Myth documentary and found the interviews with the format tenets very inspiring. The living conditions at the housing project were less than ideal, but the former residents all were seemingly cheerful when recounting their experiences. I found this inspiring considering the hardships associated with living there at the time. It was a reminder time times like this pandemic to focus on the positives rather than the negatives.
Relationships in The Queen’s Gambit
The fifth installment of The Queen’s Gambit continues to be enticing. Adding on Beth’s character development, this episode focuses on Beth developing her chess career now in the absence of her mother, who although not being an ideal figure for support, was there for Beth nonetheless. In this episode, I enjoyed watching Beth embark on new friendships with Harry and Benny. It was interesting to see how she transitioned from being very reserved at the beginning of each friendship to opening up down the line. This relationship dynamic is the opposite of her and the janitor at the orphanage which I find interesting; it seems as if she could have learned from his stoic nature not to be that sort of person. I was disappointed to see Harry leave because I thought that the two made a good team, but I understand that Beth had exceeded his chess capabilities to a point where it no longer was lucrative for him to be involved in her training and would perhaps poise as a hindrance if he stayed around. I am interested to see how Beth and Benny work together in New York in future episodes.
Confidence in Kiki’s Delivery Service
I attended the viewing of Kiki’s Delivery Service and greatly enjoyed the film. I liked the quintessential coming of age story as Kiki tried to grow up far quicker than she was prepared for. Her adventure into the world outside her hometown of witches left her feeling isolated and she beings to realize that her role in the world would not be so easy to determine nor live out. I enjoyed how to show Kiki’s loss of self-confidence, the writers coupled this with the loss of her witch powers. This emphasized the struggle that Kiki was experiencing and made the climax of the story, her regaining her confidence and ability to ride a broom more impactful.
Chess Meet
Today I attended the chess meet and had a great time. I have been watching The Queen’s Gambit on Fridays with others in Rose House and I play chess a lot on my own so the meet was right up my alley. I have been playing people on my floor mostly so it was a lot of fun to play with other people. I particularly liked how if my game finished earlier than others I could spectate other matches. I normally play untimed games or ten-minute matches so the five-minute format was a pretty big change but it definitely was an equalizer across the board (pun intended).
Substance Dependence
Episode 4 of The Queen’s Gambit was eventful to say the least (spoilers ahead). I felt that Beth and her mom were settling into the chess world in a way that had not been depicted earlier. Beth seemed comfortable at the meets rather than nervous as she had been in prior tournaments. However more interestingly, it was interesting to see how Beth’s mother acted very sporadic through the episode. She was far more lively than we have seen before and, although she was not vested in watching Beth play chess much before, was really not interested in this episode. Near the end, Beth’s mother dies and Beth asks a doctor for the pills from her childhood. The doctor informs her that she can purchase them over the counter at any pharmacy in Mexico and Beth does not hesitate. This is a recurring theme in the series as Beth chooses to cope with death through substance abuse. Well I do not support her choice here, I think it could lead to an increase in her chess ability because in previous episodes the pills have helped her visualize the boards and play well.
Creating Public Lands
I attended the discussion with Todd Bittner and Andrew Zepp discussing public lands and Cornell lands. I found the discussion about including the public in the decision-making regarding land planning very interesting. The process was very community-oriented and the input of the Ithaca area was definitely the focus so that the parks would benefit the people the most. This is very different from where I am from. I have a park near my house and often the parks department asks for suggestions on new implementations, but they never add anything. It was nice to see that is not the case everywhere and that the Ithaca community was receiving new recreation areas that they helped design.
Trivia Saturdays
On Saturday I participated in the trivia contest. I love Kahoot and had not played in a while so it was a fun and relaxing blast to the past to take away some of the stress surrounding my prelims. I enjoyed the questions about Cornell because I definitely learned some new facts.
Building Suspense in The Queen’s Gambit
I attended the viewing of the first episode of The Queen’s Gambit last Friday. I had watched the series last semester and really enjoyed it so I thought it would be fun to watch the show again and discuss it with peers. During my second viewing, I definitely caught on to more aspects than my first time maybe due to my foreknowledge of the plot allowing me to focus on things that were not the main ideas. Notably, I found the sound effect and music in the episode very interesting. When Beth was playing chess the echo added in every time a piece hit the board was fascinating as it added a sense of urgency to the scene that was out of the ordinary considering she was only learning the game in the basement of the orphanage. The suspense made the viewer feel as if something would happen to Beth soon, but nothing related to chess affected her for the rest of the episode.
Hope in Skating
For the first week back in Rose Scholars, I attended the Friday Movie Night and watched United Skates. I was initially intrigued by the film reading the description because in my hometown both roller rinks had closed. As I watched the film I was amazed at the devotion the people in the film had for their hobby and the sense of community the roller rinks provided. I had no idea of the magnitude of the activity. Despite the unfortunate reality that is facing the people in that community as the rinks are being shut down around the country, it was inspirational to see people coming together from across the country to attend National Skate Parties to keep the traditions alive. I think my favorite part of the film was the section where they were showing all of the customized roller skates. As a kid, I had very basic department store skates, and I would never have guessed that people customized skates like the ones shown in the film.