i have been lazy. or perhaps more appropriately said, unmotivated, which annoys me lots. but the looming departure date is kicking me into a state of slight panic which is good.... i must finish my silly programming and a few reading and some writing before i leave for my 2-weeks or so vacation. c'mon may!!!
anyways... so much for my determination.... i took out 2 dvds over the weekend (actually 3 --- the nice sympathetic guy at the Alphabet video store said that it was 3 for the price of 2 so i ought to look for another ... i did but i didn't manage to watch it ... so much for "3 for 2") and apart from trying to do some shopping for the things i set myself to find (of which i only succeeded in getting 1) i didn't do very much. i wonder if this is bad?!
anyways, i watched Dune (a David Flynch production based on the sci-fi novel by Frank Herbert -- for a link to the genesis of Dune click here) after some 20 years of catching a glimpse of it ( the tv broadcast which my uncle had taped) behind the sofa at grandparents' place trying to hide from all the scary-looking sandworms, not able to comprehend the strange evil Harkonnians with their odd vampire-like habits, not fully appreciating how remarkable this piece of work is... while my brothers were totally enjoying the film and trying to convince me that the monstrous-sized sandworms aren't evil.... today, i can say they are right... and i am glad i have been introduced to it. many themes injected into Herbert's epic tale still remain relevant today... i see many parallels to the recent and prolonged war on Iraq etc., the politics of 'empires' and the idea of a messiah... moreover, the cast was rather amazing... i was quite taken by Kyle MacLachlan's portrayal of Paul Atreides... (partly because he looks like someone i know!) and the little girl who acted Alia's role. i won't attempt a film review today... because i feel inept. this story is remarkable in ways and i should perhaps read the book first before sharing my view on it. suffice to say, i found the movie spectacular... and would recommend it to anyone who is interested in sci-fi sort-of movies.
i also watched Good Bye Lenin! (the german site is here) which i should have seen when it first appeared on the big screens but i didn't manage to....it is really beautiful and touching... and gosh... yes i did understand a whole lot more Deutsch than i believe i could! wahnsinn! go grab a dvd/video of it if you haven't seen it... it's just wunderbar.....
apart from that, i went shopping... (horrors!).... i have a knack to leave too little time for shopping and end up inquiring every other shop's sales assistant if they were about to close for the day.... quite obviously, i didn't quite managed to find all i wanted to ... (hey Vanny and Joan -- will get the Whiskies soon, i hope!) and got distracted by other things i probably don't need or deserve... i very naughtily purchased a pair of stripy linen trousers from Jackport, a Scandinavian clothes store... whose vibrant and flowery themes caught my attention years ago... the sales are usually great but i am not always fortunate to find something small enough... and at times it's probably not worth waiting till the sales appear... *hee* .... think i should keep finding 'happy' clothes... like my happee-shoes! (which has gone out of production apparently.... i wrote to Dr. Martens to inquire if they might have a pair of identical ones.... but the reply was heartwrenching. sob.)... i also bought more books than i really should... Waterstones was doing a "3 for 2"... i ended up getting Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" for free... hmm. although i probably only really wanted one: Soul Mountain by Nobel Laureate Gao Xingjian... and it wasn't one of the "3 for 2" books.... such is the power of sales tactics to which i inevitably succumb. yikes. (horrors!)
i also went down to Portobello to say hello to Ruth and Anna.... i must make more of an effort to go down more frequently... especially now that the weather is actually quite warm.....
such is a rather lazy weekend... and i shall endeavour to work lots this week... a cycle-trip to Roslin (near the Roslin institute where Dolly the sheep was cloned) this weekend is in sight..... meanwhile... a sunny, enjoyable week to all!
posted by ~overacuppa~ on Monday, 7 June, 2004 at 13:02 hrsI'm inspired to go watch Dune now! Lin Kiat has seen it and so has my brother, I think. the closest I've come was watching my brother play the computer game, Dune, years ago. i was helping him spot the sandworms while he was busy setting up his buildings!
Don't worry about the whiskies. Don't go out of your way to get them. Joan and I will live if you can't get them. =)
Posted by: V Heng on Wednesday, 9 June, 2004 at 11:41 hrsyeah Vanny! it's worth the watch! although i should perhaps warn you that it is quite quirky too. :C)
will try my best with the Whiskies! :C]
good luck with preparing your classes... 14x2 is quite a lot of them! is it mandatory?!
Posted by: hrm on Wednesday, 9 June, 2004 at 16:54 hrsSeveral years ago I played Dune the first-person game, a second (Dune 2000) game, read Dune the book, then watched Dune the movie, then played Emperor: Battle for Dune which was a graphically tweaked-up version of the previous game.
The book's still the best. Followed by the games, which were terribly addictive :)
The only thing that excited me in the movie as a youth, was catching Sting in the nude :)
Posted by: Van Tan on Thursday, 10 June, 2004 at 11:12 hrshahaha Van... didn't know u are a Sting-fan! i still like Kyle MacLachlan! :O)
Posted by: hrm on Thursday, 10 June, 2004 at 11:41 hrs*Note: in case you were thinking of leaving a comment and the option isn't here anymore... it is because the comment section of each entry is closed after sometime to prevent malicious comments... if you are looking for the actual entry, type in the keyword(s) in the little box on the main page http://overacuppa.com where it says "fossicking pebbles & seashells" and press *search*... thank you for popping by and happy browsing!