I'm in my last month of my last semester at the University of North Texas. At the beginning of December, I will not only celebrate my XX birthday, but also my technical graduation from UNT with a Master's in Library Science.
In short, I will be a Librarian.
Yes, the show IS based on me. Why'd you ask?
As a result of this, I am determined to push on furiously to get as much schoolwork out of the way as possible. I want to close out all my assignments before Thanksgiving, or as many as I can.
This means that as of right now, I'm going to pull back from blogging, at least for a while. With any luck, I'll be able to get back to my reviews with a vengeance, and soon I hope. I have quite a few backed up already, both here and at my Doctor Who review site, Gallifrey Exile.
I finished my major assignment (three essays, 1500 to 2500 words, with at least six or ten references within the decade, to be done in a week). I have a slightly smaller assignment, one Storytelling program to conclude, and at least two modules to read lots of text on. I want to devote myself to really doing that without worrying about this.
The good news is that once school FINALLY ends, I will be able to write more and more often.
So, until then, I'll hopefully see you very soon, with any luck, next week.
That's it. One more time, the last time, and I'm done.
Yes, it's time for school once again to roar its ugly head and take away from more important things like these reviews.
As if I haven't fallen behind already.
A lot of goals in the summer were not met. I didn't clear out my DVR as I'd hoped, though I did do a good number of them. That I blame partially on the baseball games too.
In any case, as of this moment I might not be able to publish as much as I want, depending on how heavy the coursework is. Some semesters flowed by to where I hardly noticed them. Others I was almost in tears (and for the record, I'm still mad about getting a 79.5 in one course rather than have it rounded up to an even 80). There will be one week where I definitely won't be posting.
That will be during the EOP (End of Project) essay writing, where I have to come up with three essays of 1,500 to 2,500 words in one week on three various topics of their choosing. It's on a Pass/Fail basis, and if two professors vote Fail, then it's all over.
Pray for me!
I have one or two pre-scheduled posts, but I cannot guarantee how updated we'll get. I'll try to work some in whenever possible.
I think it's fair to let everyone know. God Willing come early December, around the time of my birthday, I'll be at long last free of this burden, and this WILL be my last school experience. Mom would like me to try for a Doctorate now, and I will...provided SHE does ALL the work.
I hope to finish this horror quickly, and have the best birthday/Christmas I've had in years.
I remember Beauty and the Beast when it first came out. It was at a critical time in animation, and in the fortunes of the Walt Disney Studios. The vaunted Disney Renaissance was a hit-and-miss affair at this point. The Little Mermaid was an unqualified success artistically and commercially, but the follow-up, The Rescuers Down Under, wasn't. Beauty and the Beast would be make-or-break: would Disney really have a rebirth in its fortunes or was The Little Mermaid just a lucky break?
The tales of the death of Disney as an animation force to be reckoned with were greatly exaggerated. Beauty and the Beast is one of the highlights of animation, a beautiful and tender story that still has the power to move the viewer emotionally, with a brilliant score and songs that not only hold up after over two decades but still have extraordinary elegance, charm, humor, wit, and grace.
A long time ago, a vain and selfish Prince was cursed by an enchantress who asked for shelter at his castle disguised as an old woman, offering a rose for payment. Her curse extended throughout the castle affecting both the Prince and the servants. The enchantress gives the now-Beast two items: a magic mirror which allows him to see anything in the world, and the rose, which is enchanted. He has ten years to find someone to love and who will love him before the last petal falls, otherwise everyone will be cursed forever. The Beast, convinced no one will love him due to his hideous form, locks himself away within his castle, shutting himself off from the world.
Many years later, a father and daughter take root in a village. Belle (Page O'Hara), daughter to inventor Maurice (Rex Everhart), loves her father, but she is different from all the other girls. Bookish and intellectual, she longs for adventure and knowledge. She wants to find her own Prince Charming, but she is content to be with her father and her beloved books.
Belle certainly has no interest in the village hunk, the vain and brutish Gaston (Richard White), a master huntsman whom all the women love. Gaston, for his part, has decided Belle will be his bride (her opinion on the matter being irrelevant). Belle does her best to put Gaston off, but Gaston is determined to get at her. Maurice goes off to another village to present his latest invention, a woodchopping machine, but gets lost in the forest. He takes refuge at the Beast's castle, unaware of its history. He is attended by the castle's staff: Lumiere (Jerry Orbach), a candelabra who has a bon vivant personality, Cogsworth (David Odgen Stiers), a stuffy clock, and Miss Potts (Angela Lansbury), a cheerful teapot. However, an enraged Beast (Robbie Benson) locks Maurice.
When Philippe, Maurice's horse, returns in a panic to their home, Belle is alarmed. Belle goes to the castle, and offers herself in exchange for her father. The Beast's one condition: she must stay there forever, and Belle reluctantly agrees. Maurice attempts to get the village to help mount a rescue, but no one believes. However, Maurice's ramblings give Gaston something he rarely has: an idea. If he gets Maurice locked up in an asylum, he will use his influence to release him...if Belle agrees to marry him.
Belle is heartbroken at this turn of events, but the servants know she could be the one to break the spell. However, things are difficult given how Beast behaves: brutish, uncouth, and unpleasant. However, with some coaxing and coaching from the servants, Beast's more gentle side emerges. The real change occurs when Belle flees in terror after going to the West Wing, the one area of the castle forbidden to her. An enraged Beast terrorizes her when she sees the mirror and dying rose, but he then rescues her from wolves.
In time, they soon start seeing the other as good, even friends. Beast shows himself to be a kind being, but after an enchanted night together Belle confesses she misses her father. In an act of self-sacrifice, Beast allows her leave to go, giving her the magic mirror. While he is sad to see her go, her happiness comes first in his mind. She is happy to see her father again, explaining that Beast is different than how he and everyone might see him. Belle is also surprised to see Chip (Bradley Michael Pierce), Mrs. Potts' son who is a teacup, who snuck into her bag. However, something wicked this way comes in the form of Gaston and the head of the insane asylum. She still refuses Gaston's marriage offer and presents the mirror to show Beast as a good being. Gaston, enraged that Belle would prefer Beast over him, gets a mob to storm the castle. The castle staff mounts a furious defense and defeat the mob, but Beast, too heartbroken to care, offers no defense when Gaston the hunter comes to hunt him down. Beast rallies though, when he sees Belle has come back of her own free will to help him. Gaston fatally injures Beast, but Gaston in turn falls into a deep abyss (presumably dying). A heartbroken Belle tells Beast she loves him just as the final petal falls. In a stunning turn of events, Beast is transformed to a human again, as are all the servants.
Both of them, seeing that true beauty lies within, marry and live happily ever after.
I freely admit that at the end of Beauty and the Beast, I shed a couple of tears. I was intensely moved by the story (which itself moved rather quickly without being rushed).
A gigantic part of Beauty and the Beast's success comes in Alan Menken's music and Howard Ashman's lyrics. The musical score is brilliant: dark or light when necessary. Almost all the songs are excellent and do what good musicals should do: either move the plot or explore character. We have the big opening number, Belle, which describes how Belle is so unusual in her world because unlike the other villagers (particularly women), she loves books and the world of knowledge. Another number, Gaston, sung in a joint first and third-person, shows the arrogant, narcissistic side to our figure, a vain, prideful man for whom intellect is an aberration rather than an accomplishment.
The big three numbers most remembered though are the ones nominated for Best Original Song. There's the aforementioned Belle, and there the big showstopping number Be Our Guest, where Lumiere gives Belle a grand banquet. Be Our Guest (which Disney still uses to promote its theme parks, particularly its hotels and restaurants), is as lavish a musical number as Disney has had in an animated feature, freely, openly, and nakedly drawing from the big Busby Berkeley musicals of the 1930s. It builds and builds until it becomes this massive visual spectacle, one so grand even the stuffy Cogsworth gets caught up in its extravagance.
As a side note, I'm nut sure Belle actually ate much if anything at this feast, but I can't argue with Be Our Guest's grand spectacle. It's Disney by way of Ziegfeld.
As big and splashy as Be Our Guest is (and it certainly is unapologetically that), it is the third Oscar-nominated song (and eventual winner) that is the deepest and most beautiful of Beauty and the Beast's songs. The title song is pure in its simplicity.
If you listen to Beauty and the Beast, you'll notice that it is a five-note melody, with the lyrics always fitting that five-note theme. Even in the bridge, you have five notes, with the lyrics having five syllables. Only in the beginning and end of the song do you have a sixth note, which is a downward note from the others. However, the song's melody, soft and lush, evokes a tenderness, that of Belle and the Beast falling in love.
The fact that lyricist Howard Ashman was dying of AIDS as he wrote this beautiful love songs lends Beauty and the Beast an added poignancy and longing. Ashman died before the film was released, and Beauty and the Beast is dedicated to his memory. While Ashman was able to write songs for Aladdin, released later, Beauty and the Beast to my mind really is one of the most beautiful songs in the Disney songbook.
The only song that I think fell flat was Human Again, a song I did not remember, and with good reason. It was not in the original film, but added in the Special Edition. It was an OK song, but not one I thought was necessary or on the level of all the others. I can see why it was cut from the original release and frankly it didn't add anything to the Special Edition.
In terms of performances Disney was wise to not cast 'big names' as either Belle or the Beast, as it allowed Page O'Hara and Robbie Benson to create characters that were believable and relatable. There are names in the film, though Jerry Orbach is probably best known for Law & Order. Still, his Maurice Chevalier-like Lumiere was delightful (especially when paired with the stuffy Stiers' Cogsworth). Lansbury was wonderful as Mrs. Potts, a most understanding teapot of kindness.
Visually, the film is beautiful, a lush artwork to be appreciated time and time again.
Beauty and the Beast did something no other animated film had done: gotten even the stuffy Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences' attention. It was the first animated film to be nominated for Best Picture and remains the only traditional animated film to be so honored (both Up and Toy Story 3 being computer-animated). Instead of giving it a special prize, the Academy recognized this to be a very special film. Oh, the Oscars have made mistakes (Eddie Redmayne comes quickly to mind), but here, they were spot-on.
In short, Beauty and the Beast is a film that is a landmark achievement. It is a 'tale as old as time', with songs 'as old as rhyme', which in this case mean they will live on forever.
I remember my first experience with The Piano. My Communist cousin (seriously, she had a picture of Stalin in her home) raved about The Piano. She thought it a simply brilliant film, quoting from it and not shutting up about it. She was so adamant about The Piano that she convinced my mother to see it after intense lobbying. Now, my mother is not someone who will see an art house film, let alone one that is still in first-run theaters. Nonetheless, in order to please her favorite...niece, she went to see The Piano. I was a young teen then, and figure I wasn't the target audience. Despite that, the most logical thing to my mother was to drag me along.
At the end of the film, my mother left in near-shaking fury. She was enraged at my cousin for recommending what she considered trash. She was also upset at me for not warning her about the film, despite me not knowing much if anything about it. Her anger towards The Piano has not lessened in the ensuing years, a loathed subject that she still brings up to trash my cousin's tastes. Bring up The Piano, and you'll see a scowl wrap around my mother's face, something to be reviled and never mentioned in good company.
I mention all this because I would not revisit The Piano unless I had to. My own views weren't as harsh as Mom's when I saw it, but I didn't like it. Now, due to a college course, I am required to rewatch The Piano. Has time softened my view of The Piano? Do I see it with new eyes and ears? The symbolism in The Piano is pretty overt and clear, and I can say I 'get it'. It doesn't mean I will ever be as enthusiastic for it as my Cousin Laura the Red Menace, but I can appreciate what there is in it.
Ada (Holly Hunter) has not spoken since she was six, the reasons for this lost even to her. Her father marries her off to a man she's never met, and off to exotic New Zealand she goes, accompanied by the two objects she loves the most: her daughter Flora (Anna Paquin) and her piano, both of which serve as her 'voice'. Her new husband, Alisdair (Sam Neill) arrives one day late, which forced Ada and Flora to camp out upon the wild shore. Alisdair will not bring the piano with him, insisting it is too heavy to carry to their new home. Ada is furious at this, but there is nothing she can do about it, and she looks sadly upon the beach where her beloved piano is left.
Ada does her best to adjust, but cannot forget her piano. She and Flora go to the hut of Baines (Harvey Keitel), a white man who has adopted Maori ways (down to face tattoos), asking to have him rescue the piano for them when Alisdair is away. Baines at first refuses, but eventually goes, and seeing how Ada expresses herself through the piano he later negotiates with Alisdair to keep the piano for himself in exchange for some property. Ada is enraged when she hears her piano has been given to that savage, but again she can do nothing about it.
Baines then asks for Ada to come play the piano, under the excuse of taking lessons. To her surprise, Baines has lovingly taken care of her piano, having it tuned to perfection. He also declines actual lessons, instead asking Ada to play anything she likes with him as her only audience.
Baines then offers an indecent proposal: in exchange for the return of the piano, he can do more than listen: a 'lesson' for each key. Ada isn't keen on this idea, but agrees to this but the 'lessons' are to match the number of black keys rather than all keys. The various lessons don't have the intended effect for Baines, who now thinks the arrangement is not one of love but of interest. As a result, he insists on her taking the piano with their deal incomplete.
By this time though, Ada has developed feelings for Baines, less erotic and more passionate. She goes to Baines, and they do consummate their attraction by her own free will. Pity that Alisdair happens upon the scene (Flora having already witnessed it through a hole in the wall when Ada was pimping herself out). Alisdair is enraged, and literally boards Ada and Flora in the house, holding them prisoner. Shortly afterwards, he takes the boards down, but insists Ada not go to Baines ever again.
To get around this, Ada removes one key from the piano and writes a message on it: Dear George, you have my heart, Ada McGrath. She tells Flora to give it to Baines, but Flora, who disapproves of Baines and appears to favor the cold Alisdair, gives it to Alisdair instead. An enraged Alisdair goes and chops Ada's index finger (thus making piano-playing impossible) and orders Flora to give that to Baines, along with the message that if they contact each other again he'll cut off another finger. An understandably freaked-out Flora does as told, but appears really horrified by it all.
One night though, Alisdair 'hears' Ada's voice in his head, and she asks to be free to join Baines. Alisdair, moved by her 'plea', sends her, Flora, and the piano away to Baines. Baines decides to go to civilization and takes the piano with them, despite the protests of the Maori who think it is too heavy (like a coffin). Ada then asks Baines to throw it overboard, which he reluctantly agrees. Ada deliberately entangles her foot on the rope dragging the piano to its watery grave, which pulls her down too. However, at the last minute she makes a desperate bid for life and rises to the surface. We see them together, her attempting to speak and giving lessons (for real), with a metal finger to play.
Writer/director Jane Campion doesn't spare any attempt to hide the symbolism in The Piano. The piano is Ada's true voice and heart, how she communicates her deepest innermost feelings. It is a thing of eroticism. Baines at one point dusts the piano gently while completely nude, and the symbolism of his 'making love' to the piano (a substitute to the heart of this woman) is rather openly exposed (pun somewhat intended). The piano key upon which Ada inscribes her love note to Baines is also symbolic. This (piano) key to her heart is the most intimate thing she can give. She doesn't just give 'her heart' in words or even music, she gives her total soul and intimacy physical, emotional, and spiritual to Baines. When the Maori attempt to play the lone key, removed from the piano, when an enraged Alisdair rushes off to punish his unfaithful wife, they comment that the key is now silent. It makes no noise. We see again the symbolism: removed from its source, the sound of love is gone.
The fact that Alisdair is about to cut Ada off is foreshadowed here.
It is also foreshadowed by the presentation of the Tale of Bluebeard in the community, where a man is about to cut the hand off of an unfaithful wife who has entered the secret chamber where the heads of his past wives are in.
As a side note, this sequence did bother me a bit in that it presented the Maori as almost stupid people, incapable of differentiating between fact and fantasy. The Maori in attendance see the performance and think a man really is about to chop up a woman. As a result they storm the stage and begin attacking the players. It takes their leader (dressed in mostly Western clothes) a lot of interference to get them to calm down. I cannot shake the idea that Campion, product of the West, has some holdover ideas about how Maori (the savage) are not intelligent enough to understand 'culture'. This of course may be wildly wrong, but still I wonder what the point of this action by the Maori was.
The Piano has many positives, starting with the performances. Hunter has to act only with her face and body (in more ways than one), expressing so much emotion without benefit of her speaking voice (though in fairness, Hunter's distinct Southern accent would have made her playing a Scottish woman problematic at best). Still, she gives an excellent performance of a woman who speaks only through her piano. She makes the idea of a woman who speaks without words.
Paquin became the second-youngest Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner at age eleven for her performance as Flora (interestingly beating out Hunter for The Firm, Hunter being nominated in both Lead and Supporting Actress the same year), and I think it was well-deserved. In turns precocious and monstrous, Paquin was wild and uncontrolled as this figure of innocence lost. Keitel served excellently as Baines, a man caught between the civilized world and the 'native instinct'. Neill's weak Alisdair was not without some sympathy, even in his most shocking act. Unjustified, but understandable in a way.
The Piano has some beautiful cinematography by Stuart Dryburgh, with the dominance of grays to evoke the bleak twilight world of the silent Ada, and also bringing out bright light on the beach when she plays her beloved 'voice'.
Perhaps the greatest contribution to the success of the film technically has to be Michael Nyman's score. It's luxurious and beautiful, haunting and memorable, evocative of Ada's emotions and the wildness of the world she finds herself in. The failure of the Academy to not nominate Nyman for Best Original Score is perhaps one of the greatest scandals in Oscar history (up there with Eddie Redmayne's idiot win for Best Actor...any chance to bash Redmayne). While it might not have won (Schindler's List proving a juggernaut that year), The Piano still has one of the most extraordinary scores written for film. Truth be told, I think Nyman's score for The Piano is better than John William's score for Schindler's List. The main theme of The Piano, (The Heart Asks Pleasure First), is for me, one of the most beautiful pieces of music written for film.
Now we get to the negatives, and for me there are a few. I've already mentioned my uncomfortableness with the portrayal of the Maori as virtually dimwitted. The other one is the extent of the nudity. At some points, The Piano does veer close to pornography in its nudity and sexual content. The sight of Harvey Keitel going full frontal nude is shocking, as is when they get into bed naked. I think this is what troubled my mother the most, and after seeing it again it does trouble me a bit. Having been so subtle with her storytelling (despite the symbolism that is clear if you want to see it), I question why she felt we needed to see all and didn't opt for a more nuanced take on the intercourse. Could The Piano have worked if we had seen Ada's reaction to Baines' penis rather than seeing Baines' penis flopping about before us?
As much as I, not a prudish man, tried, the extent of the nudity and sexual explicitness of The Piano was a detriment. Yes, it had a purpose, but in this case, I think Campion could have pulled back a bit rather than indulge herself in showing us all about the pleasures of the flesh.
One last thing involves the symbolism. Again, for my tastes at times it was laid on a touch too thick. It wasn't overblown (Campion is too skilled a writer/director to not make it work) but for me, a little too much.
Still, The Piano is intelligent in its use of symbolism, along with some strong acting, beautiful cinematography and its simply haunting (and shamefully ignored) score makes it a much better film than the one I remember from all those years ago. My mother will never see it again that's for sure. For my part, I appreciated its craftsmanship, and I own the soundtrack. However, it is still something I won't rush to anytime soon.
It's the first day of Spring 2015 at UNT, and thus, it will cut back considerably in terms of postings, hence my mad rush to publish as much as I could before now.
Like last year, I will be posting, but it will not be as frenetic as it has been in the past few weeks. Some semesters have been relatively easy. Some have been extremely tough. I have no idea which one I will have.
TECHNICALLY, my semester does not end until May 7, when the Final Group Project Paper is due. However, for all intents and purposes I think the term has ended for me today.
I have one Assignment due today, which I should either have turned in or will turn in before the time has expired. I have done the work for the other class (the May 7th one), and while there may be some odds and ends to pick up, I think this semester is over.
As I am not attending Summer school, I have at least three months of rest.
HALLELUJAH!
I hope to now have time to finish up the backlog of reviews I have waiting for me patiently, and also finding something called 'sleep'.
To celebrate the end of my most recent semester, I present another song by my favorite EDM artist, DJ Andy Hunter.
Well, here we are again. School is starting to creep up on me. Please, it's overtaken me.
Last semester was perhaps, no, it WAS the most traumatic one in my lifetime. There were times when I cried and when I thought I was having a heart attack, panic attack, stroke...you know, the average results from the Organization of Information course I survived (and passed, with a 79.5. That was my actual grade, and it still burns me up to think he couldn't have put 80, but 79.5).
I'll reserve my views on said class and professor for another time, but because of school I will have to curtail my online activities. Like always this does not mean I will be quitting my reviews. Far from it. I'm sure there will always be a time to squeeze them in. However, school has to come first.
My plan is simple. I hope to write reviews, more than likely on Sundays, then schedule them for publication during the week. That may mean only two to three per week, depending on how fast I write.
However, I like to look at this in a positive light. It might make me focus less on the most recent releases and more on the retrospectives I keep pushing aside (Best Picture, X-Men, The Essentials). Also, it might help remove the backlog of DVR films/programs I have by having me watch them instead of what came out that week. I will, hopefully, be able to write about a 2014 film, but between now and May there won't be many.
There is one real positive in all this. It allows me to talk up a new series that I'm looking forward to which may end up being the only thing I work on if school becomes too heavy. It is my reviews of the Academy Awards for every year from 1928 to 2014.
It's a new series I call Tuesdays With Oscar.
As the name implies, every Tuesday after this year's Academy Awards I will post my views on a particular year's Oscar nominees and winners, concluding with what would have been MY choices if I had had the power to make the selections based on the nominees. I probably will also throw in a "Shadow Winner", a film or person whom I think should have at least been nominated, but I can't make them the actual winner. Those I will draw only from the actual nominees.
Tuesdays With Oscar should start, God willing, March 11, the second Tuesday after this year's Oscars. I figure I will be writing about the winners that week, so the following week I hope to have my intro to Tuesdays With Oscar, then proceed from 1928 on downward.
With any luck, Spring 2014 will not be as burdensome or traumatic as Fall 2013. Only three more semesters to go...
This may be the last post I make at least until late November/early December.
School has just overwhelmed me. I could complain about it all (the professor, the course) but it won't do me any good except to get my frustrations out. All I can do is do the work to the best of my abilities and ask for all your prayers.
I won't be retiring from posting. No matter how school goes I shall return once it is over. If there is free time I may come and put up a few reviews or thoughts. However, I have to turn my attention to this particular course. One of the two is very easy: I'm racing through it and enjoying it tremendously. It's the other that is such a nightmare.
I figure I will already bomb the first part of it. I can only hope to crawl out of it with a B, because anything lower and I have to retake it. I've never heard of having to retake a course if you pass it with a C.
Well, to my readers, I wish you well. I know I'll live past all this. I also know I have to turn my full attention to school. I can't believe I was able to pass in the summer with a heavier workload but am struggling here. Who knows: the Lord may yet surprise me by letting me pass.
Anyway, that's all I have for now. I will be back, that is certain. I may even post between now and Thanksgiving. However, I'll be very quiet for a few months.
Hope to see you all very soon, and God Bless to All.
Well boys and girls, after three glorious weeks of vacation, just when I thought I was out...
Back to the old salt mines for me. The Fall 2013 semester of my graduate school has begun. The first official day was Wednesday, August 28, and ALREADY I had an assignment due Thursday, August 29, one of those awful 'icebreaker' things where I have to examine myself. I'm not much for introspection, at least the kind that I enjoy sharing openly.
Ah, professors...they really do think we have nothing in life besides their work. I'd be more sympathetic, but I am the one staying up to two or three in the morning working on assignments, just to get up at 6:30 to get ready for a full-time job.
This little venture is already costing my thousands upon thousands. Contrary to popular belief, I don't happen to have two thousand dollars lying around the house.
I work for the government (read, poor...very, very POOR).
I'm given six days to get my hands on school books, which raises the cost considerably; well, actually six days to get my hands on school books, read three chapters, AND perform a timed quiz. Of course, I won't get the books until Saturday, giving me exactly two days to read the chapters before said quiz.
It should also be pointed out that I get out from work at 8 p.m. their time, giving me exactly four hours to work on said quiz...IF I made my half-hour drive home in a minute and skipped dinner. A more realistic time table is to start at 10 p.m. their time...with the quiz due at 11:59 their time.
Such is life...
That explains why I threw in so many reviews in such a short period of time. Truth be told, I enjoy writing my reviews much more than learning The Management of Information Agencies or Information Organization.
Well, maybe I'd rather read those than watch After Earth or The Host again...
However, as it stands my reviews might be more sporadic, though I hope that the longer semester (September to December) will allow for more time than the Summer (June-July...technically August but that was really the first week, where I bombed my final paper, an embarrassing 35, but I got a B in that class, and I never have to take that particular class ever again, so that's a plus).
I will continue writing reviews, and I have a few already written and already pre-set to publish. However, I will probably not be as proficient as I have been, so I ask for your indulgence as I work towards my Master's.
And try to stay sane...
One piece of advise that I offer to all college students. Take at least one day where you do absolutely no schoolwork. No readings, no tests, no papers. One day of total relaxation. My regular day off was Sunday. Sometimes I had to sacrifice a Sunday but if that happened, I switched it to another day. If one worked every single day sans rest, one WILL go crazy. This is why God instituted a day of rest. I trust His wisdom more than mine...even though I often lapse to my own understanding (to my detriment).
In any case, I will work to keep reviewing films and television programs.
Today I will be starting a summer semester for a Master's Degree in Library Science.
As a result I fear I will have to cut back on my blogs, so from now until August I may not be able to post as much as I would like.
However, knowing me the opposite could happen and I may be posting more. Sometimes when I have a lot of work I do more of other things.
In any case I'm writing this to let you, the reader, know why I may appear to be inactive and silent for the next couple of months. I will take one or two breaks to complete the Superman Retrospective, but on the whole I think I will have to put my pen down for a while.
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