I just finished watching Ceremony, a small indie film on Netlflix. It stars Uma Thurman (Zoe) as a woman preparing to marry her documentary making finance and Michael Angarano (Sam) as a Holden Caulfield-esque younger man who goes to try and thwart Zoe's wedding. Sam disguises his plans by bringing along his friend Marshall, played by Reece Thompson, in an attempt to rekindle their friendship. The weekend turns into a lesson on love and friendship for Sam as things fall apart and he realizes that while his love for Zoe was pure and true, he was only a phase in Zoe's life that she eventually tired of. This film was beautifully done with great lines and wonderful acting. I read an article about how Jesse Eisenberg was originally cast as Sam with Michael Angarano as Marshall. As much as I adore Jesse Eisenberg I don't think he could have done the part justice. Angarao played the part with complete recklessness, delusion, and a beautiful purity of someone who just wants to love and do anything to be loved like that in return and is yet completely selfish and unaware to those closest to him. Think Catcher in the Rye if Holden was in his mid twenties. Sam's relationship with Marshall was also endearing and amusing as two best friends who have lost touch with each other and are beginning to reconnect despite their own problems and the wedding weekend. The supporting cast was also brilliant and well played. Taking place on the ocean in fall, with an amazing and subtle soundtrack, Ceremony was well worth the time.
"I am not going to be a pathetic supporting character in your unoriginal story. You are not Holden Crawford!"
Today I also completed my fist week of classes. I am so excited about the courses that I can barely contain myself. We haven't begun much work yet, but the professors, the course material, the books, and my classmates are wonderful. I have all new professors from last semester, a testament to how much larger the English department is at Saint Joe's than the Physics department. Of course I do have one twice and the classes happen to be back to back. He's great though, very enthusiastic about the material and eager to educate and share his knowledge. He is even having us write a blog in one of my classes instead of just writing a weekly journal. I prefer this because even though I love contributing to my log book, I am more comfortable writing longer pieces on a keyboard and being able to incorporate pictures, links, and movie clips will be the cherry on top of it all. Right now we are reading Beowulf, my second time, and even though my professor is not jumping around the desks reciting the poem, he is educating us on the language and the history of the poem. Today I learned what a kenning was. Example: "whale-road" is the ocean. Awesome literary technique, way to go Anglo-Saxons, way to go.
My senior English class in high school had a private screening of this. We spent the entire movie yelling out the inaccuracies at the screen and making comments about how riduculous Angelina Jolie's character was as Grendel's mother. It was a jolly time, if a bit uneducational.
On a more serious note, I have to take the time this weekend to clean out my closet and pack up all of my gentle worn and no longer needed clothing to send home with my mother back to Vermont. My parent's how was almost untouched and because our town is high enough in the mountains it escaped what could have been a lot of devastating damage. Unfortunately a lot of people were not as lucky including the town of Waterbury, which is right before Stowe. You have to drive through the small town when you get off the interstate to get to Stowe. Waterbury is situated in a small valley where several rivers come together and join the Winooski. Because of the low laying land many homes and business where damaged beyond repair. People are now gathering what they can to donate to the people in need until the can get back on their feet. Fortunately it is still warm in Vermont, if this had happened a month or two later, it could have been much more serious.
"I am not going to be a pathetic supporting character in your unoriginal story. You are not Holden Crawford!"
Today I also completed my fist week of classes. I am so excited about the courses that I can barely contain myself. We haven't begun much work yet, but the professors, the course material, the books, and my classmates are wonderful. I have all new professors from last semester, a testament to how much larger the English department is at Saint Joe's than the Physics department. Of course I do have one twice and the classes happen to be back to back. He's great though, very enthusiastic about the material and eager to educate and share his knowledge. He is even having us write a blog in one of my classes instead of just writing a weekly journal. I prefer this because even though I love contributing to my log book, I am more comfortable writing longer pieces on a keyboard and being able to incorporate pictures, links, and movie clips will be the cherry on top of it all. Right now we are reading Beowulf, my second time, and even though my professor is not jumping around the desks reciting the poem, he is educating us on the language and the history of the poem. Today I learned what a kenning was. Example: "whale-road" is the ocean. Awesome literary technique, way to go Anglo-Saxons, way to go.
My senior English class in high school had a private screening of this. We spent the entire movie yelling out the inaccuracies at the screen and making comments about how riduculous Angelina Jolie's character was as Grendel's mother. It was a jolly time, if a bit uneducational.
On a more serious note, I have to take the time this weekend to clean out my closet and pack up all of my gentle worn and no longer needed clothing to send home with my mother back to Vermont. My parent's how was almost untouched and because our town is high enough in the mountains it escaped what could have been a lot of devastating damage. Unfortunately a lot of people were not as lucky including the town of Waterbury, which is right before Stowe. You have to drive through the small town when you get off the interstate to get to Stowe. Waterbury is situated in a small valley where several rivers come together and join the Winooski. Because of the low laying land many homes and business where damaged beyond repair. People are now gathering what they can to donate to the people in need until the can get back on their feet. Fortunately it is still warm in Vermont, if this had happened a month or two later, it could have been much more serious.
Waterbury. There is a road under all that water.
Stowe.
Downtown Waterbury.
Homes underneath the water.
The river has crested the bank and washed away the roads and almost the bridge in the background.
Downtown Waterbury. The restaurant in the right corner was called the Alchemist. It was completely devastated and will mostly likely remain closed.
More information about the damage in Vermont and how it will affect the fall:
