Some happy news

Morgan Stanley Assessment Centre on Saturday morning.. at half 8! Chose the earlier time so I could get some free hotel action on Friday night.. wooo! I hope it's a posh one! However, the AC consists of a group exercise and two ONE HOUR interviews, my god that's torture but hopefully I will have enough to say :/ I want this more than anything right now and I just hate waiting. Fingers crossed that things go okay :D

Bath is still really snowy, my road is all slushy with black shiz so I don't really want to go outside and get splashed. Thus I have not gone food shopping yet, will probably survive on pasta, cereal and olives for a while. Or take out. Nomnomnom. No, not take out, Healthy eating remember?!

It's amazing to be back though, great seeing friends and chatting and catching up. I need to go out take more photos.. kept saying I needed to take photos of Bath in snow when I was at home and now I'm here there is no action! Lots of stuff on the mind though, creativity is not one of them! A little update. :)

I don't know what's gotten into me.

But it's like lately all I do is just stress out about so much shit. I really cannot wait for all these exams are over and I can just chill out for a week. Ughh, why can't things every be more straightforward? GUYS SUCK.

No Country for Old Men (2009).

Hey look, it's Javier Bardem, from Vicky Christina Barcelona. But instead of a charming charismatic Spanish-artiste-lover, he is now a greasy haired psychopathic killer-hitman in 1980s Texas. This Cohen brothers adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel, hitman Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) has been hired to recover $2m left in a satchel at a drug deal that has gone wrong. Whilst out hunting, Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) stumbles across the aftermath of the drug deal - dead bodies of humans and dogs, blood, and guns. Later on, he finds a man in the shade of a tree out in the desert, dead from blood loss, and with a satchel containing $2m. Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) is soon to retire, but comes across this case. After finding the money, Llewelyn tells his wife to leave their trailer park and to move back in with her mother whilst he goes and takes care of whoever is trying to hunt him down. Little does he know that the satchel has a tracking device, to which Chigurh has the receiver, which he took off some Mexicans who returned to the crime scene. Thus begins a cat and mouse chase towards the Mexican border, lots of guns, lots of blood, lots of cleverness.

To be honest, the role of Sheriff Bell isn't hugely significant as I would have liked. He is mainly used to represent the lack of law and order and has some great lines which Jones' delivers in a real gritty yet wise way. The development of Moss's character after he finds the money is magnificent. Before: a cowboy in a trailer park; After: a determined man-on-the-run who is intent on his and his wife's survival. It's like he's been possessed. Suddenly he is sharp-thinking, knowing how to deal with the situation given. However, I think Anton Chigurh's character steals the show. And Bardem plays this role amazingly - forcefully creating a chilling, deadly assassin with a weirdly dark sense of humour; and armed with a silenced shot gun and a cattle gun. The scene at the old Texaco gas station I liked especially, telling the man to call a heads or tails flip of a coin. The audience knows he is calling for his life, though he is oblivious. There's a huge sigh of relief and sudden pleasantness from Chigurh after the old man calls correctly that makes you think whether or not Chigurh has any conscience.. that the coin was the only reason to justify not killing the innocent man. Bardem's character is left quite mysterious too, no mention of where he is from or his history, just that he leaves no trace, like a ghost. All you really learn is that he likes to keep clean from the blood of people he kills - he'll ask his victim to step out of the car; and will be careful not to tread on any blood spill on the floor. The attention to the latter point actually reveals the fate of Moss's wife at the end of the movie. The way he carefully and precisely makes every move emphasises his deadly nature and just how practised he is.

Cinematography is great in some of the earlier scenes in the desert. The barren landscaping and heat is wonderfully emphasised when Llewelyn is out hunting and whatnot. The action scenes are great at building up tension. Notice that the camera follows each of the three main characters one by one, and they rarely appear in the same shot together. I think this really builds upon each character separately so that you can link it all together yourself. The score is at times empty, which I find rather fitting to build tension. Sometimes silence is the best music. All in all, an excellent crime-murder chase film.

Perfect Blue (1997).

So I stumbled across this on my laptop and thought I'd give it a whirl, actually forgetting why I acquired it in the first place. It's actually often labelled as the best anime movie ever made. Directed by Satoshi Kon, Perfect Blue is about a pop idol named Mima Kirigoe, who leaves her girl group CHAM to pursue an acting career. Initially, she plays a small part in a TV series called Double Bind, but later her character is written a more prominent role, involving a rape scene which she voluntarily agrees to do, to the dislike of her manager, Rumi. Mima also has a stalker, Me-Mania, who, apart from being the most scarily drawn anime character ever, appears to be the one behind "Mima's Room" - an online blog supposedly written by Mima for her fans. The persona behind Mima's room maintains Mima's more innocent pop idol image. Upon reading this website, Mima realises that she has a stalker, and a very good one at that. As the story develops, Mima starts to doubt herself, as the difference between pop idol Mima and actress Mima becomes more prominent. As Mima gets more attention as an actress, the people around her start getting murdered. Thus she becomes entangled in race to find out who the killer is before she is harmed herself.

As Mima starts to break down, she experiences hallucinations of her former self and has recurring dreams, so much so that she doesn't know what is reality and what isn't. The audience shares this as many of the scenes are repeated but with different outcomes, so you are just as confused as to what is reality. The plot of Double Bind kind of intertwines with the plot of the film, creating more interlinking scenes and characters, continually stressing the juxtaposition of reality and fantasy. The film climaxess to a scene where Me-Mania finally gets his hands on Mima, though she manages to escape. A clever plot twist is then slotted in, kind of turning the whole film around. I shall not reveal. There are strong themes in this film, one being multiple personality disorder, and knowing who you really are, and what you really want. I found the detailing of Mima's room especially satisfying as it really captured busy city life well. The animation and drawing style is more realistic than I am used to seeing but nonetheless did not deter from the attraction of this film. High contrast colours and heavy lighting is used to give a more dramatic effect which works really well in this genre.

This film has often been compared to Alfred Hitchcock's works. It certainly is very thought provoking and left me still not sure what really happened in the middle of the film. Another viewing is probably necessary to sort that out, but I really don't want to see Me-Mania again. Something very different from the artistic, cheerful anime that I usually watch but still intriguing.

Okuribito (Departures) (2008).

The first Japanese non-Anime filme I've seen, Departures tells the story of Daigo in his mid-twenties, leaving his careers as a cellist and moving from Tokyo back to Yamagata in the countryside. He accidentally stumbles upon the position of an encoffiner, a profession in a very niche market. The job involves cleansing, clothing and making-up corpses to prepare them for entry into the coffin. Upon discovering his new profession, his wife asks him to quit. His refusal of this request creates tension between their marriage. As the story unfolds, the audience is drawn to have the same feelings about the job as his wife does.. at first shocked and disgusted.. but then after seeing the graceful and precise nature of the process, an understanding is realised in the regard that Daigo has an important role in the community to help those passed away onto the "next journey". What's nice about this film is the detail in the characters. Though there are very few main characters, the secondary characters have strong sub-plots, which leave lasting impressions. During the film, Daigo takes on numerous jobs, all of which are shown in their entirety. Yet despite this, it doesn't bore as you're still captivated by the role that the encoffiner plays, especially for the family as they are watching the whole thing. It's almost as if the calming and gentle motions of handling the corpse helps the families come to terms with what has happened, each showing it in a different way. Thus giving you an idea of what the dead person was actually like when alive. One that sticks in my mind is when the females of the family all kiss the deceased grandfather, leaving red lipstick stains on his face.

Despite being based on a heavy subject, humour does exist in this film and it provides some more uplifting topics than death and bereavement. However, I wouldn't say that the film is about death, but about reconciliation and forgiveness amongst other themes. One thing the film does lack is a climax, though the artistic way in which the story is told makes this such a simple yet enlightening film. Joe Hisaishi composed the soundtrack for this film, which accompanies the more scenic shots beautifully. The cinematography in some parts of the film was a bit too random.. like Daigo playing the cello on a hill in the countryside.. or the numerous shots of birds flying or otherwise. Though I guess it links to the idea of journeys and looking forward in life. This film won the 2009 Oscar Award for Best Foreign Film, and I can see why. The views of the Japanese countryside, shots of the train station and the houses really reminded me of past Animes that I've seen which was refreshing, knowing that the cartoons are based on the reality :) Thoroughly enjoyable.

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Yeah, I got one today. Again, it's like another twitter type thing except it's a lot more interactive.. Kind of like weheartit and twitter squished together to get this website. One thing I really like is the simple user interface and the ease to post things. A lot of "reblogging", much like retweeting others' posts. It's also really quick to set up.. you sign up, choose a theme, and start posting! It's not hard to make the page look like something that's taken a while to create - mostly from the large selection of pretty themes you can choose and customise yourself. It's really good for non-wordy posts and just posting pictures, and random things you come across on the internet. Anyway, here is mine.
Not sure if it will be a lasting thing for me but so far it has been for a lot of other people.. A very bad thing for revision as it makes me procrastinate like crazzyyyyy. Eeeh.

(500) Days of Summer (2009).

"This is a story of boy meets girl." Boy: Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). Girl: Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel). Last time I saw Levitt was when he was all fresh-faced and looking about 15 in "Ten Things I Hate About You". It was a surprise seeing him suddenly pop up in the trailers for this, still looking about 15 but acting slightly older.. Deschanel is perfectly cast as a quirky indietastic girl that pays "on average 9.2% less than the market price for every apartment she's rented". I was actually reluctant to watch this Rom Com, as I am with all others of the same genre (starting lately). Probably because it's a genre that's been done to death and I dislike being led to think that life will be like they are in the movies. It's all lies! Regardless.

Regina Spektor - Us playing in opening credits. LOVE. The film starts off with the end of the story: Day 488. They're sitting on a bench, Summer's engagement-ringed-hand is holding Tom's, they're smiling. Happiness. The story continues to skip between days.. almost randomly as it starts to piece parts of their relationship together. Each "day" is separated by a wonderful vector graphic, acting as page turning time in what seems like a photo album you are flicking back and forth through. The story telling is done so well in this film. Despite the non-chronological order of things, it's easy to piece everything together, and along with that the realisation that there's more to the ending than was first revealed. In this story, the boy is the girl, and the girl is the boy. Tom is a hopeless romantic, believing in fate and true love, and living to meet "the one". After studying architecture, he ended up at a firm writing greeting cards. Where he meets Summer. He falls in love. And when she breaks his heart out of the blue, he suffers like a girl. It was nice watching a guy go through all that for a change. Summer, on the other hand, is never looking for something serious, much to the frustration of Tom; as she is behaving as if they are a couple but never wanting to put a label on what they have. Thus begins the gruelling task of getting past that barrier. Probably something that everyone can relate to. There's so many lovely moments between them though.. my favourite is when they are on the train, just having a coffee, with the sunset behind them. Other great scenes included the musical-esque performance from Tom after sleeping with Summer for the first time; the great karaoke that occured; and of course the final time he sees Summer, on day 488. There was so much bitter-sweetness flying around that it's sad but so real that you don't wish there was a different ending.

One of my favourite characters is Tom's younger sister.. who gives him the best advice he gets. Just the simple mind of a ten year old or something stating the obvious. Just shows how rose-tinted glasses screws with the mind and makes it so stupid. In the end, the irony in the film is that the non-believer goes through all the fate and true love.. leaving the romantic cynical about it all. I can't really explain what this film left me feeling.. Except that I can agree that nothing really happens.. just life.

Featuring Regina Spektor, The Temper Trap, The Smiths, Doves and Mumm-ra to name a few, this brilliant soundtrack couples so well with the characters and the bitter-sweet feel to the film. Nothing I like better than awesome sounds to accompany delightful sights. I think that the reality of this film is what sets it apart, though the ending kind of ruined the lack of Hollywood feel slightly.. I loved this film though. Something nice to ease into my film writing again.

With Regard to Resolution #5...

Morgan Stanley Operations department has called me up to go to a session tomorrow at their London offices to do some aptitude testing.. However, it has started to snow like there is no tomorrow, and I will probably be snowed in again. Thankfully they said it may be postponed due to the weather so here's to changing to online testing..! With the snow this time round I'm definitely going to take advantage of it more and take more pretty pictures, a la one on the left..

Some of my friends are already back at Bath, it makes me want to go back earlier.. yet the convenience of home cooked food and not having to clean and cook is too much of a temptation for this lazy ass. Though I do miss the beautiful city somewhat, if not for my friends being there then for the nicer place it generally is.

I used Morgan Stanley's "smart casual" dress code to buy a nice blazer today.. wo0o0. More shopping :) Oh, and some KILLER KILLER heels from Office yesterday when I went to Westfield.. which is an amazing shopping centre! I think I might actually die walking/running drunkenly in them.. ahaha.

I haven't written about films in a long time.. yet I have seen so many. I need to start writing about some again, and make it some kind of habit. Will do one now in fact :) Yessum.

Oh, revision is wank.

2010 Resolutions

It's 2010.. a new decade..woo!

Let's set some ground rules.

1. Stop worrying about everything so much. Stress leads to illness. Illness is bad.

2. Exercise.. or something similar.. eat less crap.. be more healthy.

3. Reduce friend turnover.

4. Take up the piano again.. again..

5. Get a placement.

Fewer resolutions = fewer resolutions to break.