Category: Pop Culture
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How a fictional character helped me cope with perfectionism and social anxiety
An android who couldn’t feel emotions taught me how to stop overthinking mine. It started at a university workshop on perfectionism several years ago, where I was taught to recognize the specific ways it’s been damaging me and that I needed to put a stop to certain mindsets and behaviors I had. Part of what…
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Thoughts on “A Quiet Place: Day One” as an earthquake survivor, relief volunteer, TCK… (Spoilers)
“A Quiet Place: Day One” is the type of restrained, slower cinema and drama that I find lovely to watch, even if I’m not into thrillers/horror films, because of all its layers and beautiful themes. It reminded me of when I was an earthquake relief volunteer in Nepal, and resonated with me as a poet…
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“Can You Hear the Music?”: How Contemporary Movies Use Film Music as a Narrative Tool
Music in contemporary motion pictures remains a highlight for casual filmgoers – with many people recognizing themes from popular franchises like Marvel and Lord of the Rings, and others creating playlists of their favorite film music on Spotify or Youtube. However, considered on a more scholarly approach, film music often acts as a driver for…
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On watching movies in the theatre
At film school last semester, I became attuned to the importance of the debate whether movie theatres will still exist or not in the future, and how it’s important to still watch movies in the theatre. (I guess the first time I heard about this debate was in 2021, through my Intro to Filmmaking class,…
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randomly remembering Robin Williams
I rewatched Good Will Hunting this week at our little cinema club between me, my sister and our Filipina neighbour, and I remembered I wrote something about Robin Williams on my journal some time ago. Here it is… I had a crush on him when I was a kid, seeing him in Hook, Jumanji, and…
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Nolan and the Villanelle (Cinema and Poetry)
So I realised that Nolan’s use of a villanelle for Interstellar is so fitting, considering the poetic form’s mechanics. It’s cyclical in nature, you could say you’re going back in time every stanza…
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What It Felt Like to Watch “Interstellar” In the Cinema
I got in just as the trailers ended. I shuffled through my row in the dark, said goodbye to my friend who got the only seat left near the back – I myself didn’t manage to snag a middle seat, but thought it was okay to be near the side in case I needed to…
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My notes on Tenet: a mind-boggling masterpiece (SPOILERS AHEAD)
I just finished this movie the over the weekend. Initially, it made me fall in love with the action and music, then it engaged my intellect in a way that made me feel really refreshed. It ended with an “emotional gut punch” like the best short sci-fi stories out there, the comparison with which makes…
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This week on film: Five Movie Reviews (Oblivion, Lara Croft, some Clint Eastwood for good measure, and so on)
small update and context: I finally finished my first semester’s classes last Thursday 😱 And that gave me time to rest – although the first days after left me with such low energy since I was doing six presentations back-to-back over the past two weeks. Like, ultimate nerd move just reading an academic anthology of…
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This week on film: Insomnia, pitching, and interview clippings about movies
I watched the 2002 clip of Chris Nolan interviewing Al Pacino and it was really fascinating getting a picture of (oof I am typing this accidentally in my Romanian keyboard and everything is red), okay, fixed it… anyway, a picture of a noob kid interviewing a master. (Oh and this time, early period, Nolan just…