Today, I joined other rose members to discuss Romantic Comedies. Romantic Comedies are my favorite movies so I was really excited to discuss this topic with other enthusiasts. We started the event by watching a comedy video of a couple friends arguing about the topic and then led into our own discussion. During our discussion, we talked about how romantic comedies may not fully represent real relationships. We also discussed the label “chick flicks” and how it can become problematic as it seems to close off the genre from people who are not “chicks” themself. Throughout our conversation, we mentioned many of our favorite (and least favorite) movies and tv shows which was fun to reminisce on. Overall, this conversation was a lot of fun and made me excited to rewatch some of my favorites when I have time.
Author Archives: mg996
The Queen’s Gambit Finale
Watching the last two episodes of the Queen’s Gambit this Sunday was very fun! Although I had binge watched the series myself over break, I was excited to rewatch the conclusion of the series. Watching this mini-series, I was drawn in foremost by the characters. The main character Beth Harmon is complex and dynamic. I really enjoyed watching each of her relationships with the other characters develop throughout the series as well as see her change and grow as a person. As a mini-series, the ending of the show was satisfying but also left me a little sad that we would not see more of what happens next. Despite this, I like that the series was only 6 episodes as it was not drawn out or overly long. All in all, it was a great watch.
Should celebrities speak up?
Today, I joined a couple members of Rose to discuss the role celebrities play in political activism. We started by listening to the song “Give Peace a Chance” sung by John Legend. I had not heard this song before, but really enjoyed listening to it. We then delved into a conversation about whether celebrities should weigh into politics. We talked a lot about how today, celebrities are almost expected to speak out with regard to activism. Because of this, sometimes their words don’t always seem sincere and they seem to be doing it just to be accepted and not loose their fanbase. We also talked about whether artists should be “an escape from reality” or do they have the right to share their personal opinions? This question is a really interesting to think about. It was really nice talking in a small group and thinking about such an interesting topic!
What makes a joke?
This April Fool’s day I joined other Rose residents for a presentation by Professor Michael Fontaine. Professor Fontaine recently published a book called “How to tell a Joke” and discussed many of the major aspects of his book during our talk. Professor Fontaine started by introducing Cicero, an ancient Roman, who was the author of a treatise that is widely considered the longest discussion of humor in the ancient world. Professor Fontaine shared a lot of the major parts of Cicero’s treatise and some examples of ancient jokes. What surprised me was that many of the ancient jokes used the same elements we use today such as deprecating humor, irony, puns, playing dumb. As Professor Fontaine explained that humor is based on human relations and as such relationships exist throughout history, today’s jokes will work thousands of years from now. Overall, this presentation was highly engaging and interesting. I believe I learned a lot about humor and the history of the joke and am excited to try out some of these jokes myself!
Calligraphy
This Sunday, I joined other members of Rose for a calligraphy workshop. Though I have never done calligraphy before, I was excited to try it out. We started with basic lettering where we followed the basic principle of light on the up strokes and thick on the down strokes. I found that it was really difficult doing the up strokes as everything I wrote came out quite thick. After a lot of practice, I definitely found that I was getting better though. Additionally, it was actually quite relaxing to do different letterings and take a break from my homework. Overall, it was a lot of fun trying out calligraphy. Though I know that I still need a lot of practice, I am excited to continue trying it out!
Saturday Scribbles
It was fun to take a break from work and play pictionary with other residents of rose. I have played on scribbl.io before and it is always a fun website. Especially with the event being online, I was not sure how well pictionary would function, but it ended up working great. I had a lot of fun drawing pictures and guessing what others drew. Also the points aspect made it very competitive as I wanted to be the first to guess. It was fun that the website hid the correct answer so even when one person got it, the game kept going. All in all it was a very fun event!
Trivia Break
Amidst my lazy Saturday when I definitely should have started some of my school work, I joined other rose members in a mid-afternoon break of trivia. It was really nice to take my mind off the many stresses that were bothering me and direct my attention towards trying to get on the Kahoot podium. The questions varied from Cornell related (what was the first building built?) to random knowledge (what country’s national animal is the unicorn?). Although a lot of the questions were complete guesses on my end, it was really fun to learn new facts. Overall, it was a nice break and helped expand my knowledge.
Love <3
This discussion and panel was a lot of fun! We started of with a Valentine’s Day themed Kahoot that taught me a lot of new interesting facts (including how parks and recreation popularized Galentine’s day). After that, we delved into a discussion about navigating relationships in the time of covid-19. Although we all agreed that the pandemic has made relationships quite difficult, through discussion we came up with a lot of interesting and unique safe date ideas. We also discussed the available campus resources in place to address relationships and sexual harassment. Overall, it was an interesting, applicable, and informative panel that was quite enjoyable to attend!
Bridgerton Discussion
Over break, I along with many others around the world binge-watched the Netflix original Bridgerton. This show was produced by Shonda Rhimes and is set in the Regency Era following members of the high society or “Ton” during the Debutante season. Watching the show, I found it to be very entertaining and enjoyed the short 8 episode arc which kept it from becoming boring as often happens in other shows. I was excited to break down my thoughts of the show with other Bridgerton fans. Our discussion ranged from its portrayal of purity culture to the show’s decision to portray an alternative history with a racially inclusive regency era. Overall, it was a lot of fun to rehash our favorite parts of the show and hear what others thoughts were on the show. Personally, I am looking froward to season 2!