Rear view mirror #12
It's been yet another long time between posts, and even as I am writing this, I'm not sure that this blogging style is really for me. Part of it is the time it takes me to write, when I already write so much for my day job. And I say that work is really busy, which it is, but also part of it is that I'm yet to really find my writing voice, or at least find an easy and comfortable way to express my thoughts. In particular, I want to write long complex analyses of films, and have ideas galore but incomplete drafts. that never seem to make it through. It is partly that I don't have the time to do all the research and thinking, partly because of my inexperienced writing skills, and partly because I want the posts to be brilliantly written and therefore perfection is the enemy of production.
When your job is writing complex legal advice, it's hard not to have expectations that anything you write needs to be perfectly expressed, and spend a lot of time editing it. Time which I don't have. That's why I aimed to write these types of posts as well, to record my thoughts and feelings in an unrestricted, unedited way within a short timeframe. I aimed to write it in a short, defined, unedited state.
And when I do start writing, I feel like I need to record all the things that has happened since the last post, but obviously gets longer and harder as time between posts go by. It goes against the reason for this blog in the first place, for me to reflect on my experiences, the world around me, and my place in it. But of course, anything is a better reflection than nothing. But that perfection elephant is pretty hard to tame. I just have to remember the 80/20 rule for the purposes of this blog. So, to paraphrase a wise old wizard, we just have to do what we can with with time we have, so let's do just that ...
Since the last post, I watched a lot of films and also went overseas to USA, and there is so much to report but no time, so here are the highlights:
When your job is writing complex legal advice, it's hard not to have expectations that anything you write needs to be perfectly expressed, and spend a lot of time editing it. Time which I don't have. That's why I aimed to write these types of posts as well, to record my thoughts and feelings in an unrestricted, unedited way within a short timeframe. I aimed to write it in a short, defined, unedited state.
And when I do start writing, I feel like I need to record all the things that has happened since the last post, but obviously gets longer and harder as time between posts go by. It goes against the reason for this blog in the first place, for me to reflect on my experiences, the world around me, and my place in it. But of course, anything is a better reflection than nothing. But that perfection elephant is pretty hard to tame. I just have to remember the 80/20 rule for the purposes of this blog. So, to paraphrase a wise old wizard, we just have to do what we can with with time we have, so let's do just that ...
Since the last post, I watched a lot of films and also went overseas to USA, and there is so much to report but no time, so here are the highlights:
- Went to New Mexico for my partner's high school reunion. Interesting trip, great to meet his high school friends and see where he spent 2 years of his formative years, and get stories about his high school self (he was more of a troublemaker than I thought!). A weekend of reunion (of people I didn't know) was a bit much for introverted me, but I was very glad I did it.
- Went to Portland afterwards for some hipster urban fun and beautiful forest day trips. Forest bathing is a real thing, and Portland's parks and general urban atmosphere is a really joy. A really wonderful experience and I hope to write a series of posts on the 7 days I spent there, cinematically related of course!
- Read a bunch of books, including Lean on Pete, The Dry, The Happiness Curve, and now I'm slowly and alternately getting my way through Mala Noche, Catfish and Mandela and Little Big Lies.
- Saw a bunch of films, including Mother Boat, Mamma Mia 2, Gurrumul, A Fantastic Woman, The Wife, The Greatest Showman, and Crazy Rich Asians.
- Of those films, I should say:
- Glenn Close is amazing, and should win all the awards. The film itself was a bit too ambivalent for me.
- A Fantastic Woman was so so good and so richly deserving of its many awards, including Foreign Language Film Oscar. As a flaneur and transit lover, I especially loved how the streets, cars and public transportation played a symbolic role in reflecting Marina's agency. When she stood on the family car's roof and stomped her way to being heard, I cheered quite loudly (on the plane no less). I feel like I should do a comparative study with All About My Mother somehow.
- Mamma Mia 2 is such pure fun
- As is Crazy Rich Asians, which is a pretty great romcom (even if it loses a lot of the satirical edge of the book) and also has the additional burden of representation expectations, and it succeeds. It really is amazing to personally see parts of yourself and culture on screen, and part of an experience where somehow your whole family either wants to see it or has already seen it. The power of the film is as much about how well it is constructed as well as how alert it is to its contextual power. I really glad I watched it now for its historical value, and am curious as to how it is perceived years from now.
- Gurrumul, which is also an important historical and cultural artefact. It's an amazing documentary, which I want to see again before writing a longer post (which is part of a longer, year long series about Indigenous films that I want to write!)
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