I've been studying for a test for the past two years and I passed it this morning. It's not an exaggeration; I really did start studying for the thing shortly after we moved here. Trying to condense my studying into a the 1.5 hours plus that I spent on the bus each day was not working. I took a new job closer to home, and started getting up at 4AM to study.
I expected to fail. I didn't complete even half of the suggested study hours (300) and I consistently struggled with base-level concepts, and the ensuing lack of motivation.
Anyway, the first of many hurdles is cleared. I didn't expect to have a very strong reaction, whether I passed or failed, and so far I haven't been overly pleased with myself. Like a Lake Wobegone Lutheran, I worry that self-congratulation and positive feelings in general are mere stormcrows. I want more defeat, and more frustration, and lots of them. Then maybe I can pass the next one.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Saturday, November 7, 2009
District 9
(started 11/7/2009)
We watched District 9 a few weeks ago. I enjoyed it much more at the time than I did afterward, largely because of Virgie's unfavorable reaction. I kept trying to put my finger on what exactly I liked about it but found that the enjoyment did not rest on the films artistic merits. I tried and tried to find something deeper than "mankind is intolerant and abusive of minorities," but nothing materialized. It's just an action film; I enjoyed it as such.
That said, there is one thing truly detestable about the film. I don't think I will ever watch it again for this reason: while attempting to get across its message about South Africa's atrocious Apartheid-era relocations, it perpetuates the stereotypes that fuel South Africa's ongoing racial problems. Currently, South Africa has problems with large numbers of immigrants from elsewhere in Africa, namely, some of the worst goddamn places on Earth (the DRC, Rwanda, Nigeria, etc.) These immigrants have much darker skin than the native South Africans. In the film, they are represented by a group of Nigerian gangsters who live in the ghetto with the aliens. They are gun & sex crazy cannibals, and their leader's name is "Obesandjo". Olusegun Obasanjo is the most important politician in Nigeria's history. Though he is an African leader, and thus almost by definition a butcher of human beings, he has done great things for his people. To use a practically identical name for a mindless thus is reprehensible and outrageously racist. I can't imagine an American filmmaker getting away with it.
Imagine a film in which the lost city of Atlantis is discovered, and it's 10,000 desheveled, green-faced inhabitants are moved to Mobile, Alabama. It's not long before they are treated as second-class citizens and semi-forcibly moved into ghettos. "The horror!" say the viewers. "It's un-*American* to treat any human(?) being with such indignity! This is just like the Nazis!" Then a bunch of dirty, crack-smuggling Mexicans come along and try to take away the Atlantians' jobs! Not to worry: the US Army is there to mow the Mexicans down with machine guns. The Atlantians are reconciled to the US government, given rights, and an exhibit at the Museum of Tolerance. Intolerance is a terrible thing, when it's in the past.
We watched District 9 a few weeks ago. I enjoyed it much more at the time than I did afterward, largely because of Virgie's unfavorable reaction. I kept trying to put my finger on what exactly I liked about it but found that the enjoyment did not rest on the films artistic merits. I tried and tried to find something deeper than "mankind is intolerant and abusive of minorities," but nothing materialized. It's just an action film; I enjoyed it as such.
That said, there is one thing truly detestable about the film. I don't think I will ever watch it again for this reason: while attempting to get across its message about South Africa's atrocious Apartheid-era relocations, it perpetuates the stereotypes that fuel South Africa's ongoing racial problems. Currently, South Africa has problems with large numbers of immigrants from elsewhere in Africa, namely, some of the worst goddamn places on Earth (the DRC, Rwanda, Nigeria, etc.) These immigrants have much darker skin than the native South Africans. In the film, they are represented by a group of Nigerian gangsters who live in the ghetto with the aliens. They are gun & sex crazy cannibals, and their leader's name is "Obesandjo". Olusegun Obasanjo is the most important politician in Nigeria's history. Though he is an African leader, and thus almost by definition a butcher of human beings, he has done great things for his people. To use a practically identical name for a mindless thus is reprehensible and outrageously racist. I can't imagine an American filmmaker getting away with it.
Imagine a film in which the lost city of Atlantis is discovered, and it's 10,000 desheveled, green-faced inhabitants are moved to Mobile, Alabama. It's not long before they are treated as second-class citizens and semi-forcibly moved into ghettos. "The horror!" say the viewers. "It's un-*American* to treat any human(?) being with such indignity! This is just like the Nazis!" Then a bunch of dirty, crack-smuggling Mexicans come along and try to take away the Atlantians' jobs! Not to worry: the US Army is there to mow the Mexicans down with machine guns. The Atlantians are reconciled to the US government, given rights, and an exhibit at the Museum of Tolerance. Intolerance is a terrible thing, when it's in the past.
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