Saturday, December 3, 2011

I heart Ewan McGregor

Yes it’s true. I heart Ewan McGregor. I discovered this love a few weeks ago, when I watched Moulin Rouge two nights in a row (this movie is one of my all-time favorites. If you haven’t seen it, go straight to your local video rental place, or Netflick/Qwikster whatever it’s called now, and rent it. That and My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Both of these movies I could watch night after night and never get sick of). My love was further re-enforced when I watched A Long Way Around and A Long Way Down. These are documentaries that aired on BBC w few years ago. They are about the time that Ewan and his friend Charley rode, on motorcycles, from London to New York and then from London to Cape Town a few years later. They are fascinating. In light of my new found love, I decided to re-watch all 6 Star Wars, to see which was my favorite and to see Ewan, of course. Below, after I report on my life in MAD, you will find an open letter to George Lucas, explaining all my likes and dislikes in regards to the Star Wars films (in short, the first 3 are terrible, with a few bright spots, The Empire Strikes Back is the best, and I totally agree with the Ewok line, as put forth by Barney Stinsen).

MAD is going well. School is wrapping up. I give my final 6eme exam next Thursday, and my final 2nde exams on Dec 13th and 14th. So close to the end of the first trimester. The first one is always short. I think this trimester, but the time we finally got started, was something like 8 weeks. Not to mention I had to miss a week for MSC (more on that in a second). It will be nice to have a break. For some reason, I have really needed a break at the end of first trimester, but 8 weeks into the other trimesters I’m fine. It’s weird.

MSC was a success. So much better than our IST. The sessions were actually useful and there was loads of new information. One bit of information was unfortunate. The next English stages training will be done in a way that they will become TEFL certified by the end. We can’t get TEFL certification, at least at the moment. Our APCD (head of the English sector) is looking to see if we can take the test at our COS conference in June, since we will have been teaching for 2 years by then. We are hoping that he can make that happen, but the TEFL people could say no, so right now I’m not holding my breath. Teaching isn’t in my future anyways, but it would be nice to have, just in case. I ate a lot of food during MSC. It was insane. At site, I do breakfast and linner, with a snack thrown in on occasion. At MSC, I was eating 3 meals a day, plus 2 snacks. It was crazy, but I had to eat. It was a week where I didn’t have to cook. I can’t turn down food I didn’t make. That would be silly.

Thanksgiving was not Thanksgiving, again. People need to stop posting all their yummy Turkey Day meals on Facebook cause it just makes me sad. My site mate and I made spaghetti with homemade sauce and chicken biscuits, just like the pilgrims did. I also tutored my friend, so I got to watch Mulan as a special Turkey Day treat. We had to change our tutoring session from Tuesdays to Thursdays because, when I came back from MSC, the CEG had changed my schedule AGAIN. We were what, like 6 weeks into school by this point? And 5 points for anyone that guessed they changed it to times I already worked at the high school. I was pissed. I couldn’t believe this was happening. Again. Ridiculous. I am definitely telling the next person to work only at the high school, since they have their shit together. I finally got everything sorted out, so for those interested, here’s my new, hopefully final, schedule: Monday, 10-12 HS, Tuesday, 7-12 (with a one hour break from 9-10) HS and 1:30-5:30 CEG, Wednesday , 7-12 HS, Thursday 8:30-10:30 CEG. Tuesday is a long day, but it gets easier after that. Yay!

My Christmas plans are pretty wide open at the moment. I am still trying to make plans. Im not sure what’s all happening. I’m letting other people plan my life and then I will just tag along. It’s easier that way. We will see what people come up with! And, of course, once I know what my plans are, I will let everyone who reads this know. I probably won’t right another blog post until after Christmas, so you will have to wait in suspense. I know, not knowing what I’m doing is cruel to you, but what can be done? ;)

I have found another Xmas movie to watch, speaking of Xmas. Die Hard. You might at first think, really? Die Hard? But if you remember, its set during a Christmas party on Christmas Eve, so it counts! Gots to get my Bruce Willis on. I have already watched Love Actually and 5 of the Harry Potters. I am making progress! And I am listening to Christmas music as I type this. I definitely have more Christmas spirit than last year, when Xmas was Day X (get it?). Last year was harder, since It was the first time away from my family and I hadn’t been in country that long. It’s still hard this year, but I have been here longer and I got to see my family a few months ago so that helps.

Ok so there’s my life. It hasn’t been really interesting lately. Sorry! I have just been going to school and hanging out. Below you will find my letter to George and my Book list. Toodles for now!

Dear George Lucas,

Hello. My name is Megan and I wanted to tell you I am a fan of your work, in particular Star Wars. I recently re-watched all 6 movies and I was truly blown away by the movies 4, 5 and 6. The way you brought all the worlds together and the characters you created will stand the test of time. The first 3 however, while they do have a few good moments, are overall not that great. The plot is shaky and unclear, Jar Jar Binks makes me want to jump through my screen and punch him, and the fade in and outs are overused, particularly in the 3rd movie. It was so distracting I could barely watch the movie. Every two minutes there would be a new fade-out. I feel like you were looking at PowerPoint and attempting to use all the different fade outs they provided (and I believe you may have succeeded).

Good moments did exist in the first three movies. Darth Mauls Theme has to be one of my favorite instrumental pieces of all time and the lightsaber battle between Darth Maul, Obi-wan, and Qui-gon (sorry if I misspelled that) was pretty good. The lightsaber battle at the end of Revenge of the Sith was great. I just really liked lava. I thought it added an element of danger that made the battle that much better. My favorite of the three would probably be Attack of the Clones, because Jar Jar wasn’t in it for more than a few minutes, Yoda got to kick butt, and anything with Christopher Lee makes me happy. I am tempted to say Revenge of the Sith but those fade outs really turned me off.

A New Hope, the Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi are excellent. Empire is by far the best. There is suspense, romance, witty lines, lightsaber battles and one of the best twists of any movie. I would never have seen it coming if I hadn’t already seen the movie. I like the Ewoks, even though I know a lot of people don’t (they must have been born before May 25th, 1973. Watch How I Met Your Mother, Season 7, episode 5 for further explanation).

Overall, you couldn’t have done better with movies 4, 5, and 6, yet, for some reason, you keep going back and tweaking them. Some of the cosmetic improvements are fine (better effects when it comes to things blowing up, etc), but some of them are ridiculous. The versions I watched have you first set of changes, but not the newest. For example, it has Geddo shooting first, but not Darth Vadars “No!”. Geddo shooting first makes no sense. If he is a bounty hunter, you have to anticipate that he knows how to use his weapon. He wouldn’t have become a bounty hunter, let alone lasted long, if he didn’t, yet he misses Han Solo from what, a foot, and by a foot. It’s insane. There’s no way that would have happened. Essentially all you did was make Geddo look stupid. You did not make Han look better, but in my opinion you didn’t need to do that. He’s a smuggler. He obviously is going to defend himself if he’s about to be taken to his death.

In terms of Darth Vadar shouting “No!” at the end of Return of the Jedi, I cannot believe you added that. Watching it without the “No”, just made my conviction that adding it was the wrong move. The moment is so powerful without Darth Vadar saying anything. You watch him realize the good within himself and stop the Emperor. Adding words to the moment takes away the poignancy of the scene.

I hope you will stop altering your movies. Unless you are trying to make images clearer, such as what you did with the explosions, then there is nothing to change. Your movies are a gift to cinema (well the last three) and they need to stay the way they are. Changing events in the movies just decreases the value of those moments. Thanks for listening George, and I hope your day goes well.

Sincerely,

Megan

Books I’ve Read

Looking for Lovedu

Expat: Women’s True Tales of Life Abroad

The God of Small Things

The Book Thief (might be my favorite book I’ve read in country. I cried. Enough said)

I’m A Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After Twenty Years Away

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban