What's it all about Alfie? Know what I mean?

Today I was graced with some cockney accent in a very nice first edition of Alfie. I say first edition but I actually mean the only version available: Michael Caine's version. It's perfect and I haven't a thing to say except: it's perfect. Watch it. And listen to Barbra Streisand singing the theme song. Yes, I like hers better than either the movie's versions (Cilla Black's or Cher's), deal with me.

Did you know that the theme song by Burt Bacharach was meant to be sung by Dionne Warwick but was replaced last minute by Cher? Ironically, Warwick's version was better received. Not a lot of people know that... (lol)

I am very sorry to say that Burt Bacharach is to my generation the Mr Elevator Song Guy. It's very sad but very true. Every single elevator I enter I find myself listening to this great composer being murdered. His legacy is being transformed in mind-controlling ambiance noise maker. We actually recognize and respond to his music in a fashion: it's like when you hear Fur Elise on the phone and you know you will be on hold for awhile.

By now you must be wondering, what's it all about Laura? Is this a blog on movie reviews? - because it seems it's all you write about. Are you ever going to write about your life? Med school subjects? Law school subjects? Books? And why do you write most of your posts in English? Alas, you've noticed, uh? English is the universal language of the internet and I want to lure more people into reading and responding to my posts. Besides, I have a couple of friends and family overseas that I hope will check this out from time to time. As for what I'll be writing here, my interests are pretty solid: literature, movies, music and oh so much more. Bottom line, I want to write and have people read me. Is it just a tad narcissistic of me?

So, don't be shy, leave a comment, recommend a good book/movie, bash my movie reviews and tell me I wasn't born under a rhyming planet. I'll leave you with a bit of Alfie now. ^^

Procrastination is like masturbation

To procrastinate, from latin procrastinatus: pro- (forward, before) and crastinus (of tomorrow). The only thing we don't leave for tomorrow is the habit to procrastinate. It refers to the deferment of tasks to a later time. Psychologists attribute this behavior to stress and anxiety. For a behavior to be classified as procrastination, it must be counterproductive, needless and delaying. I've been perfecting my procrastination skills throughout my whole academic life. I am queen of procrastination: here I am, 2am with an exam tomorrow morning, and I'm writing a post on procrastination.

Most people who write about procrastination either discuss the psychological roots of it or how to avoid it, deal with it. I will do neither. I want you to understand how this time-consuming habit isn't the big bad wolf after all.

Napoleon Hill said procrastination is the man's biggest enemy. I will respectfully disagree. Procrastination is the mother of ócio criativo. Really. My most creative self is my very overworked and overstressed self. I have all these incredible ideas for parallel projects and always get a lot done during my procrastination-breaks - just not what I was supposed to be doing.

Don't get me wrong: deadlines are friends of chronic procrastinators - we only get things on the move with the approaching of the due date. But the time we "waste" wasn't wasted at all. We may read silly things online, or watch a movie, or maybe write something interestingly out of context. It doesn't matter really what you do, but you should always channel your "idleness activity" into the creation of something new. Creativity is the key: Da Vinci is one famous procrastinator - and I guess nobody would mind being a little more like him. As long as you use your procrastination to do better and greater things, you are doing okay. When you stop fighting your nature and embrace it, work with it instead of against it, you will have better results in less time - if you know you will only do the studying on the last week before the exams, or write that paper on the very last day, you can schedule your life accordingly. I think it's high time we stop deluding and torturing ourselves and start working with what we have - we might be happily surprised.

Are you saying that there's no such thing as self-discipline? Of course I'm not. Self-discipline of the mind and body is the hardest and most rewarding path to get things done. I've had self-discipline and it was fabulous: I slept little and ate right and my grades were perfect. It lasted 6 months. Do I want it back? Merlin, yes. But for now, I'm scheduling procrastination-breaks before and during my last week of exams. To know oneself. And I know myself pretty darn well.

Further reading: 
Slate Magazine - Procrastination series
Não Posso Evitar - Rodolfo Araújo
Good and Bad Procrastination

The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Fight Club

We all know Fight Club. We've read the book, seen the movie. So I won't babble endlessly about this movie's plot or how much I adore H.B-C. This isn't our regular movie review: I want to babble on about its meaning.

Noticed this whole philosophical aspect of Fight Club? If you think it is just the context of the movie, or pure chaotic anarchy, think again (or for the first time). All that fighting is actually a metaphor for self-transforming radicalism. As I was watching the movie (for the second time on the same weekend) my mind went into overdrive with some real-life practical examples that could have used the simple voice over instructions and, voila, problems solved. Okay, maybe not quite like that. Let us take a step back:

“Nothing is static. Even the Mona Lisa is falling apart. Since fight club, I can wiggle half the teeth in my jaw. Maybe self-improvement isn’t the answer … Maybe self-destruction was the answer.”

Tyler's notion might be difficult to digest, especially if you take it literary. Don't panic (mom!), I am not suggesting ones implosion as the answer. I believe that obliteration of self is necessary to improvement. But not in a self-mutilating or any real damaging behavior - those I leave to the ever-growing teen cult of overgrown bats "I am Jack's inflamed sense of rejection" kind of people. I prefer a more oriental approach - very in nowadays. Deconstructing your world - around you and within you - through analysis can greatly improve your awareness of self and, consequently, your life. Meditation, self-examination, reflexive thinking. What distinguishes the Zen from the rest of the dogma is a stressing of sudden enlightenment, an emphasis on the here and now. At one point in life, every man is capable of reaching a sudden realization, an enlightenment, which will allow him to grow. We see Tyler's journey. What is it if not his search for himself? For growth? For enlightenment?

The solution lies in self-deconstruction. While Fight Club espouses self-destruction and adopt the promise of enlightenment through nihilism and emptiness, it’s the removing of layers that allows for growth. Self-improvement is, in fact, masturbation.

My generation, and frankly I am leading this herd, living in this media-saturated contemporary circus, has accepted base distraction with open arms. We want to be distracted from our miserable existences. We delude ourselves willingly to avoid having to deal with our own issues. And when we choose to finally face them, we too often half-ass it, preferring to not actually fix anything and just distract ourselves with trifling. End results are often chaos.

“Only after disaster can we be resurrected,” writes Palahniuk. To improve oneself, it doesn’t take a self-help book, psychological help, structure or distracting externalities. A dedicated, consistent approach to self-awareness and, accordingly, self-deconstruction are the answers. While not exactly the best basis for a life-changing philosophy, Fight Club still gets a few things right. It is a dialectic trip of two opposite takes on life in a rather Thus Spoke Zarathustra resemblance.

“It’s only after you’ve lost everything, that you’re free to do anything.” Ditto.

For additional reading: Fight Club and the Culture Industry: Alienation, liberation, and revolution fantasy

Footnote #1:  I could actually deconstruct this whole movie and find hidden meanings and symbolism in all scenes - not that they would be accurate. I drew my line when my mind began associating soap with cleansing one's soul. And brain tumors with diseased spirit. (House, anyone?). Yeah. Let's not get carried away now.


Footnote #2: I am a cynical. I did not think the movie was overly violent. I wasn't shocked by blood or language and can't really understand what all the fuss was all about back in 99. Alas, I've been corrupted by society...?

7 Samurai

This weekend wasn't very cinematographic rewarding till today - I saw Sellers in The Pink Panther and wasn't very impressed, which saddened me. Also, I went to Julie and Julia and although Meryl Streep is always greatly entertaining, I thought the movie was overall weak. But I finally reached Mr K and when my friend, the connoisseur, arrived after my second glass of champagne (pre-celebrating my soccer team's victory - go Botafogo!), I was very excited about the prospect of watching my first Kurosawa movie, but doubtful I would be awake for the whole ride. Surprisingly enough, I was very mistaken.

What's it about? Medieval Japan - a group of unemployed Samurai accept the job of protecting a helpless village from bandits and are payed with rice.

My impressions on the movie: It's long: 207 minutes of black-and-white can be something to the eye. The movie has fewer action scenes than I would have expected after all those Kill Bills - and Kurosawa takes his time building his plot. I'm told that this is one of the first movies to have the recruiting-of-heroes-into-team-to-accomplish-a-specific-goal plot. The first DVD was over before I even realized that almost 2 hours had transpired. The characters are very human and are portrayed in the gentlest way. Kurosawa tells you a samurai story, but it's really about their humanity, with great warmth and humor. Be prepared to fall in love with the 7 imperfect heroes and some of the amusing villagers. The action scenes are nice and I was told that it is actually a breakthrough in Hollywood and is considered a textbook on how to make violent scenes. My eyes aren't that experienced and the blood looked very gray and indistinguishable. Meaning: it wasn't that violent although it was extremely well-done (I wasn't bored for a minute, even when the villagers kept running back and forth, "attacking" very passively the bandits).

Best moments: The first samurai, shaving his head in the very beginning to save a child; the whole of Kikuchiyo character, a very amusing anti-hero; the great battle scene in the end it's the perfect climax. Also: pay close attention to Kyuzo, the skilled Samurai who declined the offer at first. His acting is top-notch - I just loved him!

I rented this movie purely as part of my cinematographic education but I would recommend it to anyone with a minimum of cinema-appreciation and 3 hours to spare. There are "shorter versions" available, but go with the long one - I wouldn't leave anything out.

http://squidparty.blogspot.com/2008/01/seven-samurai-movie-posters.html

Poemeu I

Despertador desesperado
Nada mais desesperador
que um despertador
atrasado.

Viddy Viddy

Simplesmente o que é essencial:

É necessário, de repente, se faz necessário. Então, descobrimos o que realmente o é.

Alice in Wonderland

You might have noticed that I have a special liking to Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, particularly The Mad Hatter. I took my alias from it - before you ask me, it's mEdhatter because I am a mEd student (and just slightly mad). I love the novel and the Disney movie. But I know I am in for a big surprise come March the 5th: Tim Burton's AiW release. He already announced that he has never made anything quite like it before. This coming from the guy that directed Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands.

My friend, the connoisseur, doesn't like Burton much. He says Burton has this aesthetics - very unique, undoubtedly - but very repetitious. I always feel like I am watching a bit of an echo. Meaning: his movies look a lot alike. It's not like leaving a distinctive digital impression on your work, like many brilliant directors do. It's more like an actor who gives solid performances but you can always see the same mannerisms behind the characters, like Johnny Depp, Burton's BFF. Don't get me wrong, I adore Burton's taste - after all, he is dating HBC. And I like many of his movies. But my friend has a very good point. It's always more of the same. My latest theory is that he has a thing for patterns. He always chooses a particular kind of story, always work with the same concept of art. Lately, he is even working with much of the same cast. Having your own "company" or cast is a very controversial topic: people like Ingmar Bergman did that throughout their whole careers and nobody said anything about it. Maybe just there weren't that many actors in Sweden. Then again, Bergman isn't exactly in the "people' category, is he?

Anyway, I await anxiously for the movie's release. And like everybody else, I wonder: Will Burton live up to Carroll's Wondrous Universe? Will it be just another Burton-Depp movie? Or will Burton keep his promise and deliver something as fresh and original as Bettlejuice was back then? The optimistic in me is confident that Burton won't let us down. More on the topic after March the 5th.

My inspirational guru. I have a feeling that the story has been slightly changed from it's original version to fit Burton's cast: the Hatter's role was enlarged. Might be just a feeling. Or not.
Randomness: You gotta love the costume and make-up artists.