Summer Plans and recent events

Summer is finally here. Contrary to popular belief, this does not mean that PhD students like myself get to relax and take it easy for three months. As I have spent a large portion of the year so far teaching undergraduates (which I love doing, but takes a considerable amount of time), my own research has been largely neglected. Summer, as a result, is work time.

I have decided that I want to write 500 words relating to my thesis every day, from now until September. If I manage that, I should be in a really strong position for finishing my thesis on time. As I actually want to do it, I have written it here, so that if I don’t, other people will know, and I will be extremely embarrassed!

This is not where my summer plans begin and end, however, and I’d like to mention a few other plans and recent things in my life here.

One omission that has been notable in recent weeks from my blog is any note of the election results. Those who know me will realise that I was – to put it minimally – quite unhappy about them. I was in quite a funk for a few weeks. The day after I shaved my head (hair still growing back now, as seen below), and pretty much stayed in my room for a long time. I do think the results have condemned a lot of people to much more hardship than needs to be the case, and I find that quite regretful.

Hair still considerably shorter than usual

However, moping won’t change anything. As has been echoed by relevant parties consistently recently, elections are only a small part of politics. There are many other ways that people can make their voices heard. Electoral reform groups have been particularly active recently, noting that the results were the most disproportionate in UK history and calling for changes to be made.

Though the situation may look a bit bleak, we have to keep trying to make the world a better place. We must try to dissuade the government from its harsh austerity measures. For that reason, I have decided to march at the anti-austerity protest in London on the 20th of June. I expect a really large crowd, and hopefully this will demonstrate just how opposed many of us our to many of the changes threatened.

In other recent events, I’ve recently moved house back to McIntosh Hall. I will be an assistant warden here for the foreseeable future. It’s a much more central place in St Andrews than my previous residence (Albany Park), and I get a double bed, which is clearly a big win.  🙂

The last week has been particularly eventful for me. I went to a conference in St Andrews earlier this week, which was great fun. I also had an abstract accepted for a conference in Sheffield in July, and more recently I was interviewed by The Independent about my kidney donation. The article now features on their i100 site.

I do have other plans for the summer as well, which hopefully will lead to exciting updates soon, so I think that’ll do for now!

Peace.

More film watchings

Here’s an overdue summary of some of the films I’ve recently watched, as per my 2015 film challenge.

Lagaan: Once upon a time in India (2001)

When I think of a film about cricket, the first thing that comes to my mind is the Mitchell and Webb sketch. Lagaan (imdb rank. 235) is slightly different to that. This is the first time I’ve watched a full Bollywood film, so I didn’t really know what to expect, but I enjoyed it. The singing and dancing scenes do strike me as quite weird though, and generally I just wanted them to end.

British leader It is very much like many sports films. We have a rag tag bunch of underdogs fighting against astounding odds for a good cause.

The British army occupy India, and charge high levels of taxes (lagaan) that threaten the ability of the locals to survive, particularly after a dry summer the previous year. The British leader, Captain Andrew Russell, is practically a cartoon British villain. He hunts, has a penchant for ostentatious wagers, plays cricket, and has a cruel disposition. He takes a dislike to a local named Bhuvan, who later mocks the game of cricket. When the locals ask that he not increase the lagaan that year, Russell agrees to cancel the lagaan for that year and the two years following, on the condition that Bhuvan field a cricket team that can defeat Russell’s group of Brits. If Bhuvan’s team loses, however, they must pay triple lagaan.

Despite being very typical of the genre in many ways, this is a top sports film. It even has the romantic sub-plot that we would expect, with its own twists and turns. We become familiar with several characters and by the end are very moved by their individual situations.

Blade Runner (1982)

So, I had some issues with Blade Runner, which I will discuss with reference to the general plot. Spoilers abound.

Plot summary:

We are presented with a dystopian future. There’s pollution and social deprivation everywhere. Also, there is a group of people – no less physically, emotionally or intellectually able – who are discriminated against in a whole variety of ways. All of their kind seem to be essentially slaves and there are draconian laws in place restricting their freedom of movement. If they break these rules, they will be killed (“retired”).

A group of this socially discriminated-against group rebels, and attempts to get fair treatment for themselves, resorting to violent means in the process. This rebellion causes the authorities to call in a former ‘Blade Runner’ (the name of the occupation of killing this group) to ‘retire’ them all. He had quit, but because he’s the best, and the group is dangerous, the authorities convince him to return. While doing a little research to catch up on the state of affairs, he meets a person who is of this disadvantaged group, but who doesn’t know it. He finds out and tells her, causing her all manner of distress. The rest of the film involves the Blade Runner killing the ‘baddies’, with the girl saving his life. he goes on to rape her, after which they’re somehow a couple(?), then they live happily ever after.

It’s a dark, dark film. They science-fiction is good. A lot of sophisticated questions are asked. That said, Harrison Ford’s character is not pleasant. We could have done with a lot more dialogue to make the sex scene okay. As it is, it’s hugely creepy and rapey.

The villain – Roy Batty – is a very good villain though. Charismatic, exciting, and steals the stage in all of his scenes (though the scene where he literally meets his maker is thoroughly unpleasant). He’s much more personable than Rick Deckard, who doesn’t seem to have a good relationship with any character in the film. He’s simply going round killing ‘bad guys’ following orders, seemingly without question.

Obviously this film is as highly-regarded as it is with good reason.

My Neighbour Totoro (1988)

There couldn’t really be much of a contrast between Blade Runner and this film. My Neighbour Totoro (imdb rank 128) is a Japanese anime film detailing the lives of two sisters after they move house. It is a heartfelt, earnest film, which portrays the relationship between siblings extremely convincingly, honestly and authentically. There are also magical creatures that only children can see, one of which is Totoro, a huge, cuddly bear-like creature, who befriends the girls.

It is an extremely heart-warming film, graphically quite beautiful, without being ostentatious. It’s a good old kids film in many respects. I think because of its subject matter, the simplicity and the accessibility to all of the relationships between the characters, this is a timeless classic.

In the Name of the Father (1993)

In the Name of the Father (currently ranked 189 on imdb) is an extremely moving film depicting the true story of the wrongful conviction of the Guildford Four. I often don’t think a film’s being based on a true story adds much to the film, but here it certainly does. Knowing that these events actually happened, and that the convictions were only overturned in the late 80s/early 90s really hit home for me. The way the police brutality was portrayed had such a terrifying verisimilitude that it’s hard to watch.

As well as the fight for justice, the film focuses on the difficult and complicated relationship that Gerry Conlon had with his father. This too was extremely convincing and very moving.

One notable moment in light of terrorism developments today is the way several characters seem shocked by the ability for police to detain terror suspects for up to seven days without evidence. Now that’s 14 days, and with Teresa May as home secretary again and the Human Rights Act seemingly destined to be abolished, it looks very likely that this will be increased to 28 days, as May has attempted to do in the past.

Daniel Day Lewis is absolutely fantastic in this film. Definitely recommended, but not an easy watch by any stretch.

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Last week I went to the cinema for the first time in ages. People had been telling me for a while how great this film is, and as it was so highly ranked on imdb (currently sitting at 31) I knew I’d have to see it.

It did not disappoint. It’s an action film and of the 120 minutes of film, it’s probably on-the-edge-of-your-seat level action for about 110 minutes of it.

If you like action films at all, it’s a must-see. One thing that people have commented on in this film is how the main character is clearly not the title character. Tom Hardy’s Max is obviously less interesting, less cool and does less things than Charlize Theron’s Furiosa. Actually, on the basis of this and The Dark Knight Rises, I’m beginning to think that Tom Hardy shouldn’t be allowed to speak in films.