Whale Rider

For those of you who have never seen the movie Whale Rider, here is a reivew I wrote for my Introduction to Film class:
Whale Rider was a beautiful movie. You can feel the deep love between the characters, particularly Pai for her grandfather Koro. She was also confident of his love for her despite his gruff rejection of her at times. This is portrayed in her narration at the beginning of the film when it is revealed that he wanted nothing to do with her because she wasn’t a boy, and she confidently says, “But he changed his mind.” Later, she also defends his treatment of her by saying, “He doesn’t mean it.” It just gave me the feeling that she was wise beyond her years.
I was particularly moved by the conversation between Pai and her father when he first came back to visit. The scene takes place when she runs out of the house after her grandfather has rejected her, and he follows her. In the course of the conversation, her father tries to explain his own relationship with his father by saying, “I can’t be what he wants.” This speaks to the age-old struggle for acceptance when a person doesn’t conform to what is expected or what tradition demands. This particularly struck a chord with me because of my own cultural background which is steeped in tradition. This same theme is seen in Pai’s struggle to go against the traditional roles of girls when she had the inner strength to become the leader needed for her people. At the same time, she is totally respectful of her grandfather and doesn’t come across as a crusader.
At first I couldn’t figure out what this leader so sought by Koro was supposed to save his people from. There is a scene in the deleted scenes that really explains this and, in my opinion, should not have been deleted. It was to follow the scene when Pai woke her father before she went to school. Koro told him to come eat breakfast then went out to work on the sewer and the son followed to help him and talk to him. In the course of the conversation he speaks of the people no longer fishing, losing the old ways, and not being motivated to work. This connects with the end of the film when they launch the finished waka and row out to go fishing. It was the lack of unity among the people along with the loss of tradition that needed rescuing.
I thought the music used in the movie was absolutely beautiful. It made you feel like you were floating in underwater scenes of the whales swimming. The use of wind instruments just gave the tone of the sea.
Keisha Castle-Hughes does a fabulous job portraying her character. I just fell in love with her sweet innocence. The most amazing scene for me was the speech she gave when she started to cry because her grandfather was not there. She is very convincing in her role.
Overall, this is one of the best movies I’ve seen. I give it an A+.

Medical insanity

Sometimes it feels like nursing school is a distant memory. What if I forget everything I learned. I find myself thinking, "now what was that little tidbit I learned about..." My brain is failing me. I'm certainly not allowed to forget what profession I've chosen to pursue though. I get to diagnose everybody at work. I hear about so many ailments and sometimes the same ones over and over. "Do you think I should see the doctor about..." "Would this medicine cause me to..." "Is this an insect bite or poison oak..." "I have this pain..." "What do you know about diabetes? One of the employees was just diagnosed and she thinks her sugar may be out of control." "This employee is pregnant and she is bleeding....It's more than just spotting....what should she do?" "My mom has....what do you know about that?" "How much blood is in the body...[Sara interprets this as "How much can I lose before I must seek medical attention]"

And Sara's standard answers...."How interesting....I don't know, but let me google that for you...have you tried....no, I don't have my blood pressure cuff with me...you really need to see your doctor...I know you don't have the money for a doctor, but if you don't go, I'm going to take you myself and pay for it...if you had gone to the doctor like I told you days ago, you wouldn't have ended up costing yourself an arm and a leg at the ER....you may NOT drive if you are dizzy...[and Sara clutches her head over the insanity of her vast deficit of medical knowledge, wishing she knew more than she does or could at least remember what she was supposed to have learned.]

Company

I had a most relaxing weekend. 2 of my sisters and a friend came to visit. I did the overlap shift at work which is from 11 to 7:30 so I got off of work a lot earlier than usual. The company arrived around 8:30 and we went to my favorite restaurant--The Brick Oven Grill. We had quite a jolly time talking and reminiscing. Then we came back home and talked some more. I got to use my inflatable matress that I purchased with my birthday money. It was a smashing success since it is queen-sized and one of those matresses that is so high that you won't eventually sink to the ground as it slowly leaks air. Sunday morning we slept in and I made a breakfast casserole (I actually cooked!). We spent the whole day just lounging in our PJs and talking. It was such a stress reliever and good for the soul.

Things are going well this semester since I'm only taking one class. It's Introduction to Film so we watch a lot of film clips and movies. We only have 2 exams although we have multiple quizzes and film critiques to write. It should be a breeze.

non-gender-specific words

Why isn't there a non-gender-specific word for nieces and nephews or for aunts and uncles? After all, brothers and sisters are siblings, sons and daughters are children, mothers and fathers are parents, grandmothers and grandfathers are grandparents, grandsons and grandaughters are grandchildren. There really needs to be one word for nieces and nephews and one for aunts and uncles. It's discrimination. Maybe we need to invent one....any suggestions?

Art???

Since I haven't been very present here recently, I shall strive to put into words those thoughts foremost in my mind--I detest modern art! Now I know why I was so hesitant to take Art Appreciation. I was beginning to be quite immersed in it and couldn't think why I thought it would be such a dreadful class. In fact, I was ready to go tour Europe all over again. Then came impressionism, and I started getting that niggling feeling of dread. Now we're into full-blown modern art, and it just makes my system revolt.

I could just rant and rave at the utter waste of time and the assault of the senses. However, I shall confine it to the most outrageous of them all--the work of Marcel Duchamp. The first one we looked at made me just want to laugh hysterically, for he only took a urinal, placed it on its back, signed it as Mr. Mutt, and called it Fountain. Honestly! And how does he defend it as art? He says this, "Whether Mr. Mutt with his own hands made the fountain or not has no importance. He chose. He took an ordinary article of life, placed it so that its useful significance disappeared under a new title and point of view ...[creating] a new thought for that object." When the "morality" of such an object was questioned he responded, "It is a fixture that you see every day in plumbers' show windows... The only works of art America has given [us] are her plumbing and her bridges."

While he has many more ridiculous works including drawing a beard and mustache on a reproduction of the Mona Lisa, his Bride stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even also known as Large Glass leaves me totally bamboozled. It truly doesn't look like anything. However, what it represents is too crass for my puritanical sensibilities to discuss. So, if your curiosity must be satisfied, I shall leave it to you to research it yourself.

Our professor tells us that we don't have to like anything we see, we only need to understand the larger context of what the artist is saying. And what does all this modern art say to me? More the fool are they who actually convince themselves that such art is art just because somebody says it is. But there you go, that's just what it says to me. Maybe it says something different to you.

So now that I've poured out my most burning thoughts and feelings of the moment, on to the more mundane. I have one week of this semester left. I shall be greatly relieved not to have two classes next semester. It's just a bit much to prepare for 2 tests per week while working a 40 hour week. Since it's Friday, and I have Saturday and Sunday ahead of me to study, I have forgone my 2 hour study period in favor of procrastination.