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10 Dec 2000, 06:34PM: Final and paper and presentation: Maybe there is no one best way to Learn Russian. Certainly immersion, though perhaps statistically more effective, leaves some of us dogpaddling and flailing about for lifeboats and buoys.

I'm glad I'm learning Russian, but it's frustrating to have to conform to a pace that seems just a bit too fast for me. And I get angry and depressed when I feel as though I'm letting my teacher down when I can't remember a word, or I use the wrong case ending, or whatever. *I* know I'm just learning, and I know a teacher does too, in theory, but what about in practice? Wouldn't you resent the little brats who forgot a bit of grammar the moment they left the classroom?

Anyway.

I have a final at 9 am and a review session (to which I will be an hour late, thanks to the 2-hour 9am final) at 10 am, and an essay due -- In Russian! -- at noon, and right after that an oral presentation, also In Russian. Sigh.

But at least -- brightside here -- when I saw "Thirteen Days" at a screening on Tuesday, and you should see it too if you're not hard-core boycotting the MPAA, I heard and understood Russian dialogue. Woo-hoo! What a contrast to the D&D flick, where near the end Jeremy Irons grew incomprehensible, spitting and flailing, indecipherable, though I'm pretty sure he was speaking in English.

I will try to translate this Russian now, and look up some important words, and go to sleep and get enough sleep so that I have satisfyingly disturbing dreams. G'night from here in Berkeley.

Poll:

What is the ghettoest blue book?

Originally published by Sumana Harihareswara at http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2000/12/11/13427/159

12 Dec 2000, 06:26PM: His Fraudulency George the Second: I recently saw (at a preview screening) "13 Days," a new movie about the Cuban Missile Crisis. And it certainly reminded us (at the best point to remind us) that sometimes the most important thing about a president is the advisers he chooses. And ye gods, it looks like (barring any Electoral College hanky-panky) His Fraudulency George the Second will be a puppet of some wacky-ass advisors, so let's hope China doesn't decide to play "Cuban Missiles II" in the next few years.

So this is the end of the beginning for our long national nightmare. Yes, I fear that it's just starting. I won't move for the next few years, I think, since I still have some work to do here in Berkeley. "Is Canada hiring?" But I've lived my whole life in the US, it's my home, my country, it makes me sick at heart to think it might go down the drain. My only hope is that some political scientists are right, and the actual man in the White House doesn't matter all that much.

And yes, I'm borrowing the phrase 'His Fraudulency' from the 1876 Hayes-Tilden election. Quite suitable now, don't you think? I sense its use might become a trend...

Originally published by Sumana Harihareswara at http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2000/12/13/12644/101

15 Dec 2000, 12:34PM: Happy, happy, happy: If any of you go to Cal, and pass regularly through Sproul Plaza, you'll recognize why I used that title. Every so often, a Chinese man stands up on a crate and holds up some sort of homemade sign and rants in an inimitable accent, about politics, always containing the refrain "Happy, happy, happy."

I remember one time when some other fellow stood near him, also on a crate, with a large blank piece of cardboard over HIS head. Every time "Happy^3 Man" said "Happy happy happy," the other fellow said, "Angry angry angry!"

A bit further I went onto campus -- "Angry^3 Man" and his opponent were at the edge of campus, at Bancroft and Telegraph. Near the fountain, Seth Schoen and other members of CalLUG (this was at least two years ago, then!) were reading out loud from the GPL, proselytizing.

I love Berkeley.

That rather roundabout introduction is meant to convey that, today, right now, I indeed feel "happy happy happy." I did better than I expected on a Russian final (first try -- I get two more), and I got an A on a paper that I got back today. Woo-hoo! Yee-ha!

Soon I will go to a colloquium on race in two sci-fi novels -- "Snow Crash" by Neal Stephenson and some other book, "Barber-71" or something, by "Zelany" or someone. It's at 5 pm in Dwinelle 7514, in case you're interested.

But first, I'll get some food. Spud Brothers, here I come!

Poll:

What are you?

Originally published by Sumana Harihareswara at http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2000/12/15/193434/11

21 Dec 2000, 12:04PM: Finals are over, and I recognize Polish carols: Yippee, I'm done with the semester. Wednesday was my International Relations final (Steve Weber is a great prof and a terrific lecturer, take his class if you can). Today I'll continue seeing "The Decalogue" at UC Theater. Life is good.

The Polish filmmaker Kryzstof Krieslowski (sp?) made ten one-hour films, each loosely based on a Commandment. Today we're seeing Part 5 and Part 6, on murder and adultery, respectively.

When I say "we," I mean that I've been seeing them with Anirvan, a dot-commer but otherwise a cool guy. Actually, it's part of his coolness. He's post-post-dot-com. Two negatives make a positive.

Anyway, Part 3 took place on Christmas Eve, and though I don't know Polish, the Christmas carols in the movie were sung to a recognizable tune. "Silent Night" or something. And they had a Santa Claus. I would think that Santa Claus would be illegal in Communist Poland, but perhaps not.

Poll:

Thou shalt not...

Originally published by Sumana Harihareswara at http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2000/12/21/15442/164

28 Dec 2000, 10:51AM: Ten films. Five nights. The last diary entry.: I finished The Decalogue! Whee! I had felt as though I'd never finished anything in my life -- "The Civil War," "Pride and Prejudice," "Beloved," lots of Important artistic works. But now, I've watched TEN HOURS of Kieslowski's films re: the Ten Commandments, and I'm so glad.

Thank you, Anirvan, for accompanying me to ALL TEN of the movies. Thank you, UC Theater, for showing them. I'm so glad I live in Berkeley, with TWO art-film houses, instead of Stockton, where there are, oh, none.

The UC Theater flyer claimed that the last two films were on the topic of, respectively, "Thou shalt not covet they neighbor's wife" and "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods." But Anirvan and I went to Au Coquelet for a post-Decalogue snack, and the films aren't so easily categorized. I think the theater messed up, and should have switched its categorization of the adultery one and the coveting one, perhaps. Still, many films are Multi-Commandment. There's stealing and coveting and mother-and-father-dishonoring and sexual immoralities all over. And abortion is easy and common. Oi!

There were just enough crossover elements from film to film to give a dedicated viewer a special kick. The most noticeable element was a silent man with short blond hair who appeared (as a cameo, simply walking or bike-riding by) in several films. Anirvan opined that he shows up at the crucial decision-moment of those films. We dubbed him "The Watcher." Isn't that the title of a character in "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer"?

Anyhow, it was rich and good and expanded my understanding of what filmmaking and storytelling could be. Subtle and provocative and not necessarily closed-ended. So THIS is what I've been missing, seeing "What Women Want" and similar dreck.

A week and a half from now or so, UC Theater will show Kieslowski's Colors Trilogy. Every day, you can come and see, in sequence, White, Blue, and Red. The shebang starts and 5:30 every day between Monday, 8 January, and Thursday, 11 January. See you there?

Poll:

Which is more Berkeley?

Originally published by Sumana Harihareswara at http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2000/12/28/135124/23

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