I saw Harry Potter

Here are some thoughts about it. (spoilers, probably, but just a little)

1. Best part = short animated story sequence. You probably knew I was going to say that, because of how I am such a nerd for clever animation. But seriously:


2. I don't know how they let that suspenseful waiting-for-a-snake-to-leap-at-you scene go on for SO LONG and still somehow managed to scare everybody when it happened. I actually started to get really frustrated, like, come on, guys, I know that snake is going to jump out, this is starting to get ridiculous, any more and it's going to ruin the suspAAAUGHHH! I think I looked like I was having some kind of a seizure when that happened.

3. Sometime since the last movie Dobby went right into the uncanny valley. And this is me saying this, me with my robot fascination and tendency to stare blankly into space. My uncanny valley is very small, but apparently there is room for Dobby. I think they must have subtly adjusted his proportions. Compare:



It's always the mouth that turns it unsettling for me. Like those robotic heads that move around, but as soon as they start talking they just look like they're gnawing on something. The person who finally figures out how to do a CGI character whose mouth seals properly when they close it will either be my hero or take things to a whole new level of subtle creepiness.

slightly morbid thoughts that I have on a regular basis:

"If a car hit me right now and they had to go through my stuff to figure out who I am, what would they find and what kind of mental image would they get of me while I was unconscious?"

Well, let's see.

Carrying: one painting, rolled, in acrylic on brown craft paper, depicting a person being splashed by a large wave.

In pockets: two brass buttons (fell off the coat unexpectedly today), keys with flash drive, receipt for bottle of turpentine, bank card, metro map, napkin, 3.71 euros, Schoko-Bons candy wrapper, folded paper reminding me to check to see if I'm dreaming (unsuccessful, I consistently forget about it and so I never have it while actually dreaming).

In purse: cell phone, hand sanitizer, two pink rubber bands, 20 centimes, green pen, Navigo metro pass, photocopy of passport and visa (at least I know I'd be identified quickly), half-written letter (english) in envelope addressed to my cousin, wallet.

In wallet: receipt for various paints, 1.79 euros, Sorbonne student ID, Reid Hall ID, Louvre card, coupon for 10% off at the Galeries Lafayette.

In backpack: inhaler, ipod (no headphones), candy (same as the wrapper), red pen, nail file, paper palette, large empty plastic bag, recycled paper cahier containing art history notes, plastic bag containing jelly jar containing turpentine, plastic bag containing paints brushes palette knife linseed oil pencil and eraser, plastic bag containing six clementines, black pen, black fine-point drawing pen, hairtie (oh hey I've been looking for that), bunny-shaped pencil case containing three pencils and an eraser, digital recorder containing lectures from various classes.

Okay, for this I think you could reasonably conclude that:

1. I have too many pens and need to stop carrying them all around; it's unnecessary
2. I am a huge art nerd (particularly on wednesdays)
3. I really like clementines (true, but I do have a good reason to be carrying those)
4. I am highly flammable and it's a wonder I didn't spontaneously combust when that hypothetical car hit me

Is this a reasonable impression of me? I have no idea.

a summary of my recent life...

...in the form of a list of

Things I Like:

1. clementines
2. kiwis
3. oil paints
4. seeing mice run around on the metro tracks sometimes
5. the picture of the pink bunny telling you not to shut your fingers in the metro doors
6. speculoos cookies
7. knitting mittens
8. walking around in the rain
9. this plaid shirt
10. fencing with the dude who has done it before and so just spends the whole time being clever and beating me terribly
11. my wool coat, which is pleasantly waterproof to a surprising degree
12. cooking
13. the end of World War II, which, among other positive aspects, gives me a day off this week
14. remembering that tests have been postponed for a week because the professor forgot about vacations

a cumulative list...

...of instruments I have seen people playing in Paris.

1. Accordion

2. Didgeridoo

3. Acoustic guitar

4. Electric guitar (on the metro, somehow)

5. Saxophone

6. Various wooden flutes, followed immediately by...

7. Bagpipe! Also on the metro.

8. Some kind of... steel drum... thing...

9. Hammered dulcimer (this guy was so awesome I was compelled to give him at least some money, even though I am poor and thus felt kind of stupid giving him the thirty cents that I had at the time)

10. Really epic set of panpipes.

mysteries

oday on the way back from class I came across a mouse flattened on the sidewalk. It wasn't a dramatic, unpleasant flattening, not like a mouse was just sitting and got a piano dropped on it. It had remained mouselike, but been shrunk down heightwise to a few millimeters, like somebody was projecting the image of a mouse onto the sidewalk. It looked vaguely mummified. And this was baffling for several reasons.

1. How does a mouse get flattened on a sidewalk? By an extremely wide bicycle? By the cumulative force of hundreds of pedestrians? Readers: have you ever stepped on a mouse? I haven't. I wouldn't expect a lot of people to step on a mouse. How many people have to step on a mouse before it is reduced to paper? I lot, I bet.

2. What happened to the other 90% of its mass? I will accept that it was probably about 70% water, which is gone now, hence the mummification. But what about the rest of it? I mean, if you mummify a human it's still pretty big, even (I assume) if you flatten it out after the fact.

Anyway, long story short, I saw a flat mouse. It was pretty interesting.

various things

Today:

- slept extremely late.

- bought my fencing glove.

- sent my resume to a dude teaching English at a private high school. I'm hoping he'll maybe give me a job as a tutor so I can be a functional member of this society I'm only vaguely part of.

- ate cheese bread in the park, watched ducks/geese/pigeons/one swan/one strange little white bird. Was caught off-guard by the progression of fall, which is indistinguishable outside of contained Nature Zones.

- was unable to remember my dreams except for frequent and vague flashes. If these are to be trusted, the dream took place partly in my quartier and partly in a metro station, involved a large crowd of people (some of whom were smiling creepily) and an avocado, and was generally unsettling.

- went through my huge unsorted bookmark file trying to decide what I actually needed in there. If you know me on facebook, you may notice me posting a lot of unrelated links in the next few days, this is because I want to get these out of my bookmarks but don't want it to go away entirely/feel I need to show it to people.

Related: here are some things.

This is something I found last year in my digital media class, and which I like a lot. You can put in places you want to go, and it will show them with a satellite image and cycle through all the places that have ever been submitted. Two of these are mine.

Also, I kind of want to do this. What do you think?