05.16.11
Posted in Trivia at 11:51 am by Sakuya
A post a week, hey? Now, who did believe that? Besides me…..T_T
Anyway, what I though I would spam the net with today is 3D, this whole new craze in movies.
Now I remember a time when a film was in 3D in selected cinemas only. Remember that? That was like what? Not even two years ago. Nowadays, the trailers tell you that the movie is in 2D in selected cinemas only.
I’ll admit, I have not seen that many 3D movies. I believe the first I went to see was Shrek Forever After. Then came Avatar. Since then, Tangled, Tron Legacy, Thor and The Priest. I think that is about it really, so no, I may not have an overwhelming experience with 3D.
But I must say, I do have very mixed feelings with the whole thing.
As a general rule, I don’t particularly dislike 3D. Animation movies do well enough with them. And they would, because that medium is very well suited to 3D.
The problem I have with 3D is two-fold : first off, some movies are NOT adapted to 3D. The most blatant example of this that I can think of is Thor. The action scenes in Thor are not filmed to suit 3D at all. Simply put, it moves too fast for me to be able to follow everything that happens. Adding the third dimension, in no way, made up for the fact that the glasses are very uncomfortable to wear for people like me, who are already four-eyes. On the other hand, Avatar, Tron and The Priest are very much done with 3D in mind. The action is slowed so that the motion can be followed throughout. It is a fact though, that no matter which movie one talks about, the picture is always blurred somewhere. Though one cannot claim either that many 2D movies are showed with perfect sharpness, the lack thereof is consistent over the whole screen.
Second problem : it seems that because it is in 3D, it is going to be good. Que nenni! It seems that a perfectly well accepted backdrop for stunning visual effects is a poor story. Or is it that 3D is expected to “save” a bland story? It seems that as long as people are visually overwhelmed, it’s ok. The same could be said of the type of visual effects chosen for Sin City, 300 and Watchmen. I do hope there is only so long that people will be impressed by a technology that remains that, a mere gadget that brings nothing to the story that that some imagination and a good script can. At the end of the day, there is a reason people prefer a movie where props are used to one where everything is CGI. Besides, one must also consider this very simple fact : how does one watch a 3D movie at home? Without investing into a 3D flat screen and a blue-ray dvd player?
Again, I don’t particularly dislike 3D. That said, if it doesn’t really bother me all that much that I have to see a movie in 3D, I would like it better if I still had a choice, especially since most of the time, the trailers are still in 2D and most likely, you’ll be watching them in 2D at home.
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01.24.11
Posted in Trivia at 7:48 am by Sakuya
I had meant to write this post last week, but a car accident over the weekend distracted me. Don’t worry : my car door is busted but I’m perfectly fine. My biggest problem at the moment are bites from an unknown insect/arachnoid. Itchy and inflamed, in one word : lovely!
But anyway, what I had meant to bore you with was resolutions. Ah yes, resolutions! Those promises we make to ourselves every start of year that yes, this year is going to be different, that we’ll go to the gym, we’ll quit smoking, we’ll go traveling, we’ll learn a new language (or maybe a new skill), we’ll stop being a pushover at work, we’ll spend more time with the kids, we’ll keep better in touch with friends and email every week… Did I cover it? Now, I am not saying that resolutions are in any way hypocritical. I do believe that people start the year with good intentions. I know I do! As a matter of fact, I have resolutions almost on a weekly basis. Although, courtesy of maturity/acquired experience, I have learnt to keep them modest and they basically consist of :
- I will start cooking again at which I fail virtually systematically
- I will exercise every night and practice my kung fu every second-third night at which I was doing well until the accident
- I will finish my novel and write the others in the works
- I will revise that article *blush*
- I will read articles *runs and hides*
- I will write a blog post every week actually this was a new one so we’ll see how that goes
All this goes to illustrate that what some people have most trouble with is follow-through, finishing what they started. And maybe, the reason (or one of them) for that is as simple as not knowing what comes next and being afraid of finding ourselves with the consequences, for instance, the intense satisfaction and pride (or possibly relief) that comes after finishing something important to us, directly followed by a “now what?”.
A “now what?” that can only be answered by figuring out what’s truly, genuinely, “deep-to-the-core”-ly important to us. Is it that easy a question to answer? To find out what matters to us, from us ; not from what society dictates that it should be important, not from what matters to our parents, not from what our family expects of us, not from what our friends have found important to them, not from what psychologists may advise us to find important, not from what television and movies advertise, not from what we may find on the internet ; from us, from that thing which resides at the crossroad between me, myself and I.
How does one go about answering that question? Does one write down what is important and why? But this provides merely a snapshot of someone’s life. Does identifying what’s important help at all with figuring out what to do next? Maybe better is to find out why that thing that is just finished, was so very important that it overshadowed everything else so much, as to generate the void now yearning to be filled? Or does the one it inhabits forever walk with it at the back of his/her mind?
When I was asked what my new year’s resolution for 2011 was, I replied : “to take care of myself”, to which my friend replied : “but you already do that, don’t you?”. His reply was a bit of a slap in the face because it made me feel that I was being selfish, which I know myself to be, my suspicion confirmed by how hard I try not to be. But in fact, my resolution was a poorly worded one, possibly intended, if anything, to keep it short and of little enough consequence that discussing it was redundant.
The truth of the matter is that since I have submitted my thesis, which I lived for, something highlighted by how hard I found it to focus on anything else in the months that followed, I have been wondering “now what?”.
Of course, one logical outcome was the defense, since the thesis alone was not enough for me to obtain my doctorate. Next came my article, then corrections. Of course, I was looking for a job in the meantime. When I got the job, I had to move across a continent so packing, visas, vaccines etc… took precedence. All logical outcomes. The true highlights of 2010 were my trip to Japan and the time I spent during the summer with two particular friends of mine.
So by now, you’ve probably guessed what my punchline is, but I’m pedantic so I’ll write it anyway. I have not yet found out my “what next?”. And no further proof of that is needed that simply considering that I have been wondering if I wouldn’t just leave it all to start over somewhere and learn something new, even though I absolutely love what I’m doing now. Truth be told, this would probably not help much ; I would most likely be merely displacing the problem in time and letting another routine make all the decisions.
I am a single twenty-eight-year-old theoretical physicist who also writes and does kung fu.
Figuring out my “what next?” will be taking care of myself.
I wish you guys again, all the best in 2011.
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12.30.10
Posted in Trivia at 9:33 am by Sakuya
Just a little post to tell you guys that I am doing well and to wish you all the very best in 2011.
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09.03.10
Posted in Trivia at 12:00 pm by Sakuya
I got a job in Durban, South Africa, so I will be leaving Ireland soon. I’m still a little gob smacked at the news and trying to sort through the enormous amount I must get sorted out before I leave around the end of this month. More on this soon.
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05.05.10
Posted in Writings at 5:49 pm by Sakuya
Hello.
Now for the next six weeks, I am going to write and publish here my next novel, The Bearer’s Child. So every couple of days, I’ll upload a new chapter, but there won’t be more than two chapters on at the same time.
It is the first draft and unedited hence expect butchered grammar. Also, I will keep this up only as long as I have time for it. The aim is 50-70k words.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4, 5 and 6
Chapter 7
Chapter8
Chapter9
Chapter10
Chapter11
Enjoy!
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03.04.10
Posted in Trivia at 1:48 pm by Sakuya
Youpie! Phoenix Con is on at the week end. I got my room in Dublin for the week end and for once, I can meet the whole bunch without my thesis to worry about. Yeah! Can’t wait! ^-^
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02.12.10
Posted in Trivia at 2:34 pm by Sakuya
So I haven’t written anything here in a while. And I haven’t written anything worth reading for even longer so here is my attempt at correcting this utterly outrageous trend for somebody who fancies herself a writer.
Beethoven 6th symphony is playing and I’ve just read about 20 chapters of XXXHolic, so I should be just about ready to tell you about what’s been bugging me for a while.
First off, I submitted my thesis in December. Hurray for me! I am now looking for a postdoc. I am working on an article to be submitted for publication soon. I am also working for another article to be written in the next couple of weeks as well, or rather as soon as I kick myself hard enough to push myself to do something.
Also, since I now have more time to do anything, I have written a 15k words novel and I’m writing a theater play. Next I have a screen play and a novel to be finished by the time I come back from Japan. Oh yeah, I’m going to Japan for two weeks in April. Can’t wait! I’ve a little (admire the understatement!) obsession about Japan at the moment. I blame mangas and Hayao Miyasaki, or rather I would if I didn’t love them so very very very much. So yeah, I’m writing a little at the moment, which is good. I can’t believe I gave that up while I was writing up my thesis. It’s like lent for a year and a half!
I went back to training, kung fu and swimming, and that feels good. I can look down at my thesis acquired gut and smile, thinking it won’t be there for long, thanks to a weekly regime of over 3km of swimming, two hours + of kung fu and a proper diet.
Anything not going my way, you ask? Well, I guess as such, no. I do feel kinda old though. Or maybe not old, but my friends are in relationships, married, parents and the like and it makes me wonder whether there was a train I might have been meant to catch and that I let go. I know, I know. 27 is not the age to be worried about such things, I can do anything I want. I’ll have my doctorate in a few months, I’ll get a job soon afterwards (hopefully even maybe beforehand). I can go anywhere I want etc… But you know what they say : “The other Shaltanac’s joopleberry shrub is always a more mauvy shade of pinky-russet.” (thanks Douglas) I do wonder sometimes if my wanting to do so much etc… is symptomatic of a deep psychological problem. After all, no writer is truly sane, is he? Then I remember that I do have a tendency to take myself a little to seriously. 
I’ll get over it. Ain’t no reason I shouldn’t, right? 
Anyways, Phoenix Con is on in a couple of weeks, I give a talk in N.U.I. Maynooth mid-March, I keep on writing a good bit. So things are good and my ramble can end. Hopefully, it won’t be too long before I bore you again.
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11.17.09
Posted in Trivia at 5:20 pm by Sakuya
Haven’t been writing much around here in quite some time, have I?
Pretty much because very little has actually changed since the last time. I’m still fighting with my thesis. I’m still tutoring. If anything, I started writing again, which does me a world of good and I started making bentos, which also does me a world of good.
I’m hoping to submit my thesis in the coming weeks and guess what? That will do me a world of good.
:)
More will come later, mainly when I manage to organise my thoughts and insecurities in a somewhat vaguely coherent stream of words.
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05.29.09
Posted in Trivia at 9:12 pm by Sakuya
I reach up to the shelf above the bathroom sink to pick up my blouse when he comes in the bathroom, already bare chested. He wants to clean up a little before he takes me out. His hand catches my arm in mid motion and I shudder as my skin instantly desires his caress, yet seems to shy away under the touch. His hand brings my arm down as it slides along it, down my side and across my waist to rest on my belly and gently pull me closer while he moves behind me. His breath on my neck has brought another shiver and I turn my head just enough for my nose to rest under his, a hair’s width to his lips, as if two pieces from the same mould. His warmth soothes my heart while I reach up to play with his hair, at the top of the nape where his sigh tells me he likes it. I only have to lift up my chin to claim that kiss we are now both aching for…
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05.25.09
Posted in Science at 12:12 pm by Sakuya
Guess what I’ll be telling you about.
Go on, it’s not hard.
Yes, you’re absolutely right. I will yet again bore you with news of my thesis! Or rather, lack thereof.
It’s going. Slowly, but it’s going.
Today, I must write the background on entanglement and decoherence.
And with this, I end the news session and go back to work. Toodooloo!
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