Archive for the ‘tv, books, & films’ Category

Posted on July 29, 2010 - by sarahsamudre

Literary Rome

“The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.” – St. Augustine

I’m heading to Rome this fall and I don’t just want to visit or sightsee. I want to wander and let the experience change me. I’m looking for things to read, thinking about what lies ahead, what Rome is, how it works and who built it. And if you’re here, I either begged you to read this or you googled a “Rome reading list”.

Traveling, whether it’s thirty minutes away from your house or thirty hours away, can be a transformative experience if that’s what you’re looking to have. I think the secret is giving yourself time to wander and reflect. For me, writing, reading, wandering around getting lost and seeing things you haven’t read about yet is the key to transformative travel.

My first time in London was a whirlwind four day trip. I saw the city, but I didn’t get to know it. How could I? By the time I’d adjusted from jetlag, I was back at the airport, boarding my return flight. My second and third trips to London, however, were nice and long. My husband and I took time to get ourselves lost in the city and towns we visited. We wandered foggy streets, read the works of artists who’d created there, visited spots that are hallowed to writers and book geeks like me, contemplating the history and culture of the place. Sometimes, this was done all from leaning against a bridge rail, staring at the Thames, thinking about Joseph Conrad’s reflection in Heart of Darkness:

“We looked at that venerable stream not in the vivid flush of a short day that comes and departs forever but in the august light of abiding memories.”

Other times it was done by wandering into a pub not listed in any guidebook, or wandering through an ancient graveyard. Giving ourselves time to reflect, wander and get lost, London became as much a part of us as our backyard.

So this fall, my husband and I head to Rome for 5 weeks to film a documentary for our cinema studies major, as well as several scenes of our first film. I want to have as much of an experience, and really, much more so, as I had in London. I was struck by the title of an early travelogue by 14th century Moroccan Muslim scholar, Ibn Battuta, whose book is literally entitled, “A Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Traveling”. I thought, This is exactly what I want my trip in Rome to be. A gift to me for contemplating the wonder of cities and the marvels of traveling. I don’t just want to see Rome. I want to contemplate it and the act of traveling through it. I want to become a part of it and leave with a bit of it stuck in my soul. So, to that affect, I’ve been compiling a reading list before I head over, a Literary Journey before my actual one.

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Posted on February 26, 2010 - by sarahsamudre

Once Again, Through the Looking Glass

Alrighty, alrighty, alrighty. Lost’s episode “The Lighthouse” was just as good as I thought it would be. In that episode I guessed (in these comments on John Cabrera’s most excellent Lost post) that this episode would be about Jacob bringing people to the Island. I also commented, after my husband Vasant made this epic catch, that Jack’s number 23 on the cave wall corresponded to an often-referenced psalm: Psalm 23. “The Lord is my Shepherd.” This, I believe, is proof that Jack will be the new Jacob and last night’s episode confirmed that for me.

Not only was Jack lead to the lighthouse by the dynamic duo of Hurley and Jacob, he was meant to do what has pissed off thousands of fans worldwide. Now, I know that there are a lot of people who cared more about how the lighthouse would work, but I’m one of the few who seemed to care more about the fact that Jacob smirked at Hurley’s concern. Jacob seemed to not only have intended Jack to have a freak out, smash the mirrors and storm off, it seems he also got a big kick out of it.

Because in my opinion, Jack is the not only going to end up as the new Jacob, but he, Jack, is also one of the people whom Jack is going to help get to the Island.

(If I maybe just blew your mind, or if you think I’m absolutely nuts, or if you have nothing else to do, read on…)

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Posted on February 1, 2010 - by sarahsamudre

A “bloop” in time…

Alright, so now that I’ve broken the blog in for 2010, let’s get down to business.

LOST STARTS TOMORROW.

I’m not going to get into the intricate theories until after I see the season premiere. Honestly, since the producer’s said they won’t be focusing on DHARMA and a lot of other aspects, I want to wait to see the first two episodes to even get a feel for what Lost WILL tackle in their final season. There is so much for them to do plot-wise and character-wise, and a good fan will be accepting that not all areas of interest will be explored in the 18 episodes we have left.

But one piece of plot exposition I’m confident of seeing is, of course, the mysterious The Black Rock: how it came to the Island and WHY.

We’re all pretty sure this is the ship we saw on the horizon at the end of season five, as Jacob and the Man in Black discussed the nature of man and an age-old battle waged between them over who was right. But what we don’t know is, if it is the Black Rock, how did it get into the middle of a mountain-filled, densely forested island looking like this:

That ship was not blown there via tsunami or hurricane. It would’ve been ripped to shreds.

Well, I believe the answer came last week during a Lost recap on ABC. You know, those annoying pop-up episodes that say things like, “This is Kate. She is also a survivor. She likes to run away from things” or “This is Jack. He is also a survivor. He likes to fix things.” I know a lot of fans skip those episodes, but if you’re one of those people, you’re making a mistake. ABC throws a lot of redundant information in there, but every so often there is a gem.

Keep reading to find out what…

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Posted on March 6, 2009 - by sarahsamudre

Watchmen Review: Pick a Character, Any Character

I love midnight showings. I absolutely love them- specifically at the Seattle Cinerama, a movie theater that really shows off what an awesome city Seattle is. It gathers the cream of the cinephile crop and stuffs them together in a lavish 1960’s built theater, with 808 seats and a thirty by ninety foot screen. I am SUCH a movie fan, and as a Cinema Studies major, I recently learned how incredible our local theater is. It’s one of four surviving and thriving Cinerama’s left in the world, (see Wikipedia’s History of Cinerama for more information) and Cinerama is not just a great theater downtown, but an amazing monument to the history of cinema in general. In short, I feel so lucky to have this in my hometown.

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So Watchmen was an iconic film, firmly cementing the “graphic novel movie” as its own distinct genre, separate from the “comic book movie”. Following 300 and Sin City, Watchmen is a stylized movie that feels less like your typical movie, and more like a moving graphic novel, which is of course, what the fans wanted.

So here’s my review:

(Milhouse from The Simpsons episode “Husbands and Knives”)

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Posted on March 5, 2009 - by sarahsamudre

WATCHMEN: Opening Night at the Cinerama

So it’s 38 degrees out (wind chill feels a lot worse), and we’ve been in line for a couple hours for tonight’s sold-out 12:01 am Watchmen. Vasant and I, along with my sister Mary and her boyfriend Matt have been here ridiculously early, at the freaking front of the line. I’ve never been here at the front. Usually, I always show up too late for these Cinerama premieres and get lousy seats. Not tonight!!

Thought, while I wait for the next couple hours, I’d upload some of the pictures I’ve gotten.

Awesome people have shown up to keep us company, which is of course, WHY you go to the Cinerama! ​

See Matt as Rorshach and “Rorshach” as Rorshach after the jump…

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Posted on February 18, 2009 - by sarahsamudre

Lost Theories

Alright, so I need to write about the rest of my vacation and post my amazing photos, but it can wait, because LOST is on tonight!

If you haven’t seen last week’s episode “This Place is Death”, then do NOT read on because some huge things are discussed.

Below, a picture of Desmond and Mrs Hawking in Season 2, Episode 8 “Flashes Before Your Eyes”

Read my theories after the jump…

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Posted on February 16, 2009 - by sarahsamudre

Facebook and the Question of Ownership

This is not as frustrating as sitting through an English lit lecture on “authorship” but it still managed to cause a minor stir today:

Posted yesterday by Consumerist, Facebook’s New Terms Of Service: “We Can Do Anything We Want With Your Content. Forever.” – this article picked up on changes made last Wednesday by Facebook on their terms of service agreement with their users. Basically they are saying that they own all the stuff that we users upload: pictures, video, blog posts, comments and messages… etc. Websites like Mashable reposted the article and started surmising what this means for us end-users and why Facebook hasn’t been forthcoming with this change, Facebook: All Your Stuff Is Ours, Even If You Quit. And really, why were they opting instead to change the terms of service quietly, choosing to wait for the oncoming blog-storm to roll in?

So obviously, once the story broke yesterday, it started a flurry of indignant tweets and retweets on Twitter. I first picked up the story early in the day when just the Consumerist story was floating around, but as more and more people retweeted the news, bloggers began writing and by the end of the day, Facebook decided it needed to respond. Facebook: Relax, we won’t sell your photos | The Social – CNET News

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Posted on February 2, 2009 - by sarahsamudre

Visual Map of SuperBowl Twittering

Okay, so I not only had fun at our impromptu SuperBowl party, but I had fun twittering during the game- as I said in last night’s post.

Brought to my attention by Twitter user @mashable, The New York Times picks up the chatter and maps the game visually across the nation. Very cool!

Map of Popular Super Bowl Words Used on Twitter – Interactive Graphic – NYTimes.com.

Posted on February 1, 2009 - by sarahsamudre

True Love and Twittering During Superbowl

So I was sick all last week, so my efforts to try and blog more often totally crapped out. I had a three day migraine that lasted until midday Saturday. I’m still under the weather, but well enough to get out and about.

While I was sick, I missed a dinner reservation, a haircut, a gym trainer appointment, a paper deadline, and lost 10 followers on Twitter. But I also lost 3 pounds, sooooo…. win?

Sadly no. The loss of 3 pounds does not cancel out tons of mass guilt I feel for letting dozens of balls drop because of a stupid cold/flu. At least the migraines stopped and I can be sick without being unable to Twitter or read or write. Being sick is one thing, but migraines are the worst. (I’m not liking, by the way, that Twitter topped the list before read and write. What’s happening to me?)

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Anyway, I found this INCREDIBLE news story on a local news site this morning:

Couple die together after 62 years of marriage | KOMO News – Seattle, Washington | News

The story tells about a couple who recently died, after being married for 62 years, within six hours of each other. The wife had been diagnosed as terminally ill, and the husband basically ‘gave up the ghost’ when she passed away. Their relatives are quoted as saying that “their lives ebbed and flowed” together, and so, as sad as they are to lose both of them at the same time, they’re overjoyed that they died as they lived- completely in love and dependent on one another.

My husband Vasant and I were lying in bed the other night, and I couldn’t sleep- so I was distracting myself by trying to match my breaths to the duration and depth of his (he ALWAYS falls asleep right away). It took a while to slow my breath down to match his, but I kind of felt a “chi”-like energy in my gut breathing with him like that. I felt warm and drowsy and after ten or fifteen minutes fell asleep on his chest.

THAT is how I dream our last moments will be. In our nineties, on a house by the ocean, coming in from the garden and lunch, we’ll lay down together to nap, match breaths and just let go of this world. We’ve talked about that scenario so many times, and this story just kind of makes me feel reassured that it does happen. Vasant’s grandfather gave up the ghost six months after his wife went. Nothing was wrong with him- he just didn’t want to go on without her. The article details how it’s actually quite a regular phenomena, for couples who have been together for an incredibly long time to just “quit” life after one partner dies. Vasant and I read the article today and felt like that ideal afternoon 70 years from now… may be more than just our own sentimental wishes.

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In NON-SENTIMENTAL news, I twittered during the Super Bowl. It was fun. A small party actually happened at our place, last minute, which was wonderful, and while we’re all hanging out, I’m also twittering (I’m not anti-social, I’m WONDERFUL at multitasking twitter and live interaction). But man, watching the game was fun, but it was made even more enjoyable by watching it with all the people I follow on Twitter- especially when everyone in the room was yelling the same thing as all the people on Twitter. It was like being at TWO superbowl parties. I’m sure someone somewhere will right an article about that: Multi-tasking social events: Real Life and Twitter Superbowl parties and how they intertwine.

By the way, best movie trailer? Transformers 2. Best non-movie commerical? It was a tie between MacGruber and Alec Baldwin’s Hulu/Alien commercial. Great stuff.

Posted on January 20, 2009 - by sarahsamudre

We Have a NEW PRESIDENT!!!!

I am overwhelmed to the point of tears. It was a wonderful speech. It hit hard against the darkness of the last 8 years. It offered hope, and while drawing differences between the present and the past, offered continuity with our most enduring values. 

The White House’s website is up, with a new look and a new outlook on how to connect with the people of the United States and the world. 

White House Blog is featured prominently on the front page. 

Vasant and I are on the way to class, but go out the door with a sense of new hope and promise underneath each footstep.