Arts and Lectures Series

Film Festival Day 3:

The first film was "Persepolis".
"An Oscar nominee for Best Animated Feature, this is the poignant story of a young girl in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. The precocious Marjane is clever and fearless, yet as the fear permeates daily life in Tehran becomes palpable, she must make difficult decisions about leaving her homeland."

I had been wanting to see this film for awhile as well and I was definitely not disappointed. "Persepolis" was awesome! The story was very well told. Marjane Satrapi does a great job meshing the transformation of Iran with the transformation of Marjane in the film. She does a great job of touching on the serious issues of Iran and also mixes in effortlessly bits of humor. This film was beautifully done and tells a great story very well.

The second movie of the night was "War/Dance".
"Set in Northern Uganda, a country ravaged by civil war, this Oscar nominated documentary is about three children who reside in a displaced persons camp in Patango. An invitation to compete in an annual music festival becomes a historic journey and an opportunity to regain a part of their childhood."

David and I actually did not stay for this one. We both would have liked to but my stomach was crying out for food, so we ended up grabbing some McDonald's and watching the season finale of "Lost" instead. Five out of Six films is a pretty good ratio.

And with that the UCSB Arts and Lectures Series ends for another school year.

Arts and Lectures Series

Film Festival Day 2:

The first movie of the second day was "Taxi to the Dark Side".
"The Oscar-nominated documentary from Alex Gibney is a stunning inquiry into the suspicious death of an Afgani taxi driver at Bagram Air Base in 2002. Incident records and candid eyewitness testimony uncover an unmistakeable link between the tragic occurrence and U.S. policy."

I had been wanting to see this movie ever since I saw the preview for it at apple.com, and it did not disappoint. This documentary was a little misleading in that I thought it was only going to talk about the incident at Bagram. What ensued was an in depth look at the Bush White house and the steps they took to enable what happened at Bagram. If you didn't like George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, or Alberto Gonzales before you definitely will not be big fans of them after screening this film. One of the most intriguing parts of the film was the end right before the credits were rolling. In this small span of time Alex Gibney; the director, was videotaping a conversation with his father. His father used to be a military interrogator. His fathers message was basically this: the Bush Administration had broken his trust in the government. I felt that this was an appropriate ending to the film because his sentiments mirrored my own after watching this film. In a nutshell this film delves into the issue of getting intelligence from prisoners in U.S. custody and how the Bush Administration enabled the military and CIA to resort to torture.


The second film of the night was "Hot House".
"Winner of the Special Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival, this rare look inside Israel's highest security prisons features interviews with incarcerated Palestinians, from political candidates to suicide bombers. The film exposes how the prisons have become incubators for political education and influence Palestinian society at large."

This film was pretty intense. Some of the interviews revolved around detail accounts of suicide bombings that the prisoners had planned and executed. It was amazing to hear that they had no remorse for what they did. That was a point that I continue to struggle with. I think that the main reason for this is because I have no frame of reference for what the Palestinian people are fighting for. This film was a good insight into the conflict and was very interesting because it seems that inside the prison the Palestinians and the Israeli guards are able to co-exist in way that seems impossible in the outside world. With that said however, it is important to note that the Israeli's are the ones in control, but there is at least an open dialogue between the Israeli's and the Palestinians.

Arts and Lectures Series

The term is winding down and unfortunately so is the UCSB Arts and Lectures Series programming. This past week David and I expanded our horizons by going to the Santa Barbara Human Rights Film Festival. The Film festival lasted three nights showed two movies each night.

Day 1:

The first movie of the night was "4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days".
"Two college roommates in Romania arrange for an illegal abortion during the final days of communism and find themselves burrowing down a rabbit hole of unexpected revelations. The top prize winner at the Cannes Film Festival, Cristian Mungiu's thrilling film transpires over the course of a single day."

At first I didn't know what to think about this movie. After letting everything set in though this movie was very insightful, intriguing, and thought provoking. I felt bad worse for the friend who helped procure the abortion than I did for the woman who actually had the abortion. I was awed at her loyalty to her friend through everything that happened to her.



The second movie was "The Violin".
"A humble Mexican farmer executes a plan to recover weapons hidden on behalf of the peasant guerilla movement that he secretly supports. Culminating in a tenuous game of cat-and-mouse, this 'exquisitely suspenseful' (Variety) film was a Cannes Official Selection."

The directors choice to shoot this film in black and white paid off big time. The use of black and white mirrored the contrast/conflict at the focus of the film, added to the dramatic affect and made the movie relatable to many South American regions where these types of conflicts existed and or still exist today. This was a very powerful film. I was amazed at the courage and perseverance it took for the old man to do what he did.

I Did It!

That's right you heard me people. I did it! I bought myself a bed! Woohoo! I feel awesome!

I'm sorry Heather I was unable to document the purchasing process, but believe me it would have been a doozie! I must have laid on and rolled around on at least six different beds going from firm to plush to ultra plush mattresses. I finally decided on one today. I found my future bed at Sears.

It's a Queen Size Serta Perfect Sleeper Cupertino II Plush

I know I went big! I figured I may as well get as big of a bed as I could afford that would fit into my apartment because I'm going to have it for awhile. You never know I could always find someone to share it with some day. When that day comes I think we'll both enjoy the added space.

My bed gets delivered a week from today.

The process was pretty fun and fairly easy. The only bad part was some absolutely horrible customer service on Sears' part. At first I waited for about 20 minutes waiting for a sales associate to come to the area to help. Then I waited another 10 minutes waiting for the sales associate after she was paged to come to the area. So, after about 30 minutes of waiting I ended up wandering into the Appliances section looking for a sales person to help me. Once I found a sales person then came the process of purchasing and this older gentleman was giving me all sorts of headaches. I'm sure my attitude didn't help matters. I was already a little peeved at the situation.

What ever happened to the days of good customer service?

Wii Fit

I went with David on the hunt for a Wii Fit game and balance board on Saturday.

We finally found it at Software etc. Wii Fit is a game/workout program for the Nintendo Wii game consul. The program begins by calculating your Body Mass Index (BMI) and analyzing your balance. It then gives you what it has calculated as your Wii Fit age.

we eagerly got it set-up and gave it a good trial run. My BMI was a 29 which puts me in the "Overweight" category. Granted BMI is not a great measuring stick of healthiness I do agree I need to loss some poundage. This program is not afraid to hurt your feelings by not holding any punches in telling you how it is. I must admit though that things really hit home when all of a sudden my Mii character became pudgy right after I got my BMI results. It was a little disheartening.

I believe that seeing my Mii character reflect what I look like in real life was very powerful. Often times, people feel free to become and portray themselves differently in video games and online. These false realities are great for the fact that we can essentially become whatever we want, we don't have to repress aspects of ourselves. It is for that reason that I think the Wii Fit re-calibrating of each persons Mii character to reflect their BMI analysis is a way to bring reality into that false reality.

Well I've told you my BMI was way higher than it should have been, but I have not yet revealed my Wii Fit age. My Wii Fit age was that of a 46 year old! That's right 46! How depressing is that? I just turned 26 and my body is apparently like that of someone 20 years older than me.

Okay, enough of the sad stuff! This game encompasses yoga, strength training, aerobic exercise, and balance exercises. The game initially gives you so many exercises, poses, and games. As, you work out more you unlock more exercises, poses, and games. I enjoyed the balance games the most. The one balance game that I loved more than the rest was the Ski Jump! I've always been fascinated with this sport ever since I first saw it during the Winter Olympics.

Once again the Nintendo people have delivered another way to workout. This game is the perfect way to have fun and exercise. I loved it. Now I just need to get myself one!

Listen Up:

I listened to both the Cascada and Rascal Flatts versions, but I definitely like this version better. I think it evokes stronger emotions to the words of the song.

New Photographer

I was pretty bored at work today. It is the Friday of Memorial day weekend, so the majority of campus either headed out last night or were in the process of leaving this morning. Needless to say, things at work were slow. In my hours of boredom I was browsing through MSNBC when I read an article about a photographer named Nick Veasey. Veasey is a photographer who uses x-rays to capture the inner beauty of everyday objects, animals, clothing, and organic subjects. I found it very interesting that the x-ray equipment he uses is so powerful that emits enough radiation to be extremely harmful to humans, so when he shoots a picture he has to leave his studio.

Here are some samples of his work:




Here's the link to his website:
Nick Veasey