El Cine Según a Kimmie: Das Leben der Anderen [The Lives of Others], 2006

Ciao, bellas! 

If you saw the title of this post, you might be wondering what on earth I'm talking about. Well, I've decided to start a new, occasional segment for "La Vida," appropriately titled "El Cine Según a Kimmie." ("The Cinema According to Kimmie")  I love writing reviews, whether they be for homeschool curriculum, hair products, music books, food, or movies. Now, I'm not a movie junkie, but I do enjoy the occasional film every now and then. I do tend to be slightly nit picky about what I watch, but I will note those movies which have left an impression on me. This first installment is a foreign film, originally released in Germany as Das Leben der Anderen, and shown in 2007 in the United States as The Lives of Others. Enjoy! (Side note: There is one spoiler in this review/final thoughts type thing, but only because it was needed to illustrate a point :-D)

Rating: R

Genre: Thriller, Drama

Cast: Martina Gedeck as Christa-Maria Sieland; Ulrich Mühe as Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler; Sebastian Koch as Georg Dreyman; Ulrich Tukur as Oberstleutnant Anton Grubitz; Thomas Thieme as Minister Bruno Hempf; Hans-Uwe Bauer as Paul Hauser; Volkmar Kleinert as Albert Jerska; Matthias Brenner as Karl Wallner; Herbert Knaup as Gregor Hessenstein

Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

Writer: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

Distributor: Sony Pictures

Release Date: 23 March 2006 (Germany); 9 February 2007 (United States)
(All of the aforementioned information was taken from IMDb.com.)

Plot Summary: East Berlin. 1984. The Stasi ("state security"/secret police) are keeping what appears to be perfect order in the state. Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe) has an illustrious career in the government as one of the top interrogators. Because of his sharp instincts and attention to detail, he's selected to begin surveillance on one of the G.D.R.'s (German Democratic Republic's) beloved writers - Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch), and his drama-loving girlfriend, Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck), a prominent actress. But it is far from a routine wire tapping. Spying on Dreyman proves to be a life changing event for everybody involved - and most especially for the Watcher himself.

My Thoughts: I was introduced to this film indirectly by my Core professors. It was on a list of suggested films to watch over the break. At first I was reluctant to view it; it seemed dull, and I was even more put off by the fact that it was in German (just a personal quibble; I don't particularly like the way German lands on my ears).

I couldn't have been more wrong. This is definitely one of the best movies I've ever seen. It grappled with some heavy ideas - the question of whether people are inherently good or bad, for instance. At the start of the movie, Wiesler is the perfect East German - he holds a position in the government, meticulously notes and reports any and all  suspicious activities and speech, lectures at the university, and regularly rubs elbows with top officials. A good man, by government standards. But he soon realizes that there is more to life. He starts to come to this turning point when he happens to hear Georg play a piece on the piano entitled "Sonata for a Good Man" ("Sonate vom Guten Menschen"), a birthday gift to him from his dear friend Albert Jerska. After playing, Georg turned to Christa and uttered somberly:

"Lenin said that if he continued to listen to Beethoven's 'Apassionata,' he would not be able to finish the revolution. Can any man who has heard this [sonata] - I mean truly heard it - really be a bad person?" Wiesler seems to take this to heart. Little by little, he morphs from a heartless mechanical interrogator into a real man. The transformation was incredible to witness (I won't spoil any more of the movie by giving any examples, though :-D)

[Image Copyright 2006 Sony Pictures, Inc.]

Another aspect of this movie that I enjoyed was in how it showed the imperfections of humanity. When the Stasi and government were first introduced in the beginning for instance, they seemed to run perfectly and without flaws, no matter what happened. The further the story went, though, the more flawed and weakened the Stasi appeared, and the more power Wiesler seemed to wield over it. I thought it was intriguing how he - one insignificant man, by G.D.R. standards - could impact the lives of so many others and affect the innermost workings of the government.

Just a note about the nudity in Das Leben; it is sexually graphic, and I was shocked (to put it mildly) to see those scenes the first time I watched it (I skipped over them the second go). But, in some odd way,  the stark bareness of some of the characters is utilised to help the audience grasp the full nature of the message of this movie. That being said, you know yourself best. If you tend to be a bit prudish when it comes to sexual scenes (like I tend to be), just be prepared.

Overall, I'd highly recommend this movie to college-age audiences and older. The discussions and themes that can be drawn from it seem innumerable; it'd be a great film to watch with a group of friends and discuss after the viewing. 

Side note: During my personal viewings of this film, I had a moment of realisation. At the beginning of last semester, my Core professors passed out a pre-course exam, and one of the questions was "What are the humanities?" My answer was the generic answer that dictionary.com might have provided. Watching this movie, however, made me realise that the humanities are the study of the lives of others - those who do and do not share our cultural and racial similarities, religion or life philosophy,  music, poetry, prose, etc. It felt like a light bulb had finally turned on in my brain. At last, I saw how and why my Core professors connected everything the way that they did, why we studied the topics we did, and why they were important. Hopefully, I'll continue to keep this in mind when we start the second semester in 8 days :-D

[Image Copyright 2006 Sony Pictures, Inc.]

What are some thought-provoking movies that you enjoy watching?

Time, Time, Tickety Time...+ Got Carrots? + Finals Rehash

If you haven't figured it out by now, I'm addicted to what my friends and I call "the magic YouTube (YT)." I'm subscribed to more than 50 channels, and I watch almost all of the updates - they vary from world events to the latest Twist 'n' Curl tutorial to homeschool curriculum reviews.

I haven't always had such varied interests on the magic YT. At first, I only came to this wonderland of media for footage of one of my favorite comedians (Tim Hawkins) and the occasional music video. Then, my sister introduced me to the brilliant minds behind BlimeyCow. Once I joined the CN forums, I was turned on to Naptural85, KimmayTube, SimplYounique, iknowlee, FusionofCultures, UsNaturalGirls, nappturality, Spiraled Halo, Waterlily716, Summyr1988, CurlyWavyDiane, BeautifulBrwnBabyDol, Katie Douglass, teaundra, MelsharyA, bishonenrancher, HairCrush, HomeSpaGoddess, MahoganyCurls, MahoganyKnots, peepla7, QuickEasyHairStyles, CuteGirlsHairStyles, TRESemme and more. I checked out Naptural85's second channel, DearNaptural85, and thus my vlogging obsession began, and I was soon subbed to BritPopPrincess, BritPopLife, gflowers02, brittser03, TheNiveNulls, BrittsBreakdown, Jamie Pmelb...

Then I remembered that YT had fitness gurus, as well! WellnessRocksGym, LiveStrongWoman, StudioEast, Blogilates and StudioPilates. I got into Kpop (#don'tjudgeme) and became a subbie of 2NE1, Tae Yang, Se7en, etc. Informal Korean lessons (TenchiJK2), political incorrectness (iamOTHER), homeschool curriculum (HomeSchlMomof3), being a Christian (Tenchijk), life overseas (AbatarTeacher), life advice (DhatAznJ), current events (AlJazeeraEnglish), and countless other channels fill up my subscription tab.

Outside of these genres stands one of my favorite groups of YTers: the life-ers. They do vlogs, album covers, do recipes, computer graphics, introduce you to their SOs and/or friends, create their own music, short films, poetry or art, do parodies, give advice, and do lots of tags. I'm just getting to know this niche among the millions of YTers, but I enjoy them just the same...and oftentimes even moreso because of the variety that they bring to the proverbial table. 

Of this group, StillNotDavid is probably my favorite. More often that not, his videos leave me on the floor gasping for air. I love his sense of humor. His latest update, though (from more than a week ago) was really thought-provoking. It's a short film that he wrote and directed, and I think it's worth watching. Peep the vid (and head over to YT to sub to his channel if you like this :-D )!

What think you?

In other news, I mentioned yesterday that I like to put regular conditioners and masques in my carrot DC. I know some of you were probably like "What the what? Carrots?" Yes, my dear curly friend, carrots. Occasionally, ideas for mixes just pop into my head, and I can't seem to restrain myself from trying them. A few weeks ago, I got the bright idea to try making a DC with carrots. I usually use avocados, but I thought that pureeing carrots would give the same results. So, I Googled it, and came across this recipe on BlackHairPlanet.com:

Ingredients:

•3 carrots

•1 overripe banana

•Honey

•Mayonnaise

•Peppermint

•Water

•Blender

•Container with lid

•Towel

Step

1)Steam or boil 3 washed and chopped carrots in 1 cup of water until tender. Fifteen minutes may be long enough to soften the carrots. If you have the green carrot leaves, we will use them in this recipe as well. You do not have to cook this part of the carrot for the hair conditioner.

Step

2 )

Pour the carrot and water into a blender, and blend until almost smooth. Add fresh or dried peppermint to the blender and blend.

Step

3 )

Add the banana and blend until smooth and creamy. The banana and carrot composition will give the hair conditioner a lot of body.

Step

4 )

Next, add 1 teaspoon of honey and 1/2 cup of mayonnaise to the blender. Blend all ingredients together, making a smooth and creamy hair conditioner.

Step

5)Spoon the mixture into a jar with a lid, and store in the refrigerator until your next shampoo.

Step

6)Add a generous amount after shampooing, making sure to massage the hair conditioner in well. Wrap with a towel and leave in for 15 minutes to 2 hours. Rinse and towel dry.

Now, y'all know me...I tweak everything pretty much. My scalp detests peppermint, so I left that out. And we didn't have real mayonnaise at the time, so I just used conditioner in place of the mayo. I also substituted molasses for honey since we were out of that, as well. I followed all of the other directions pretty much to a "T." It went on smoothly, as you can see:

Post rinsing...my hair felt uber soft, but oh, all the pieces of carrots in my twists!

And, my results after detangling. I do have to mention that removing pieces of carrot seems much easier than removing avocado chunks. My Denman just seems to pick up carrots much more easily.Now, I did have carrot pieces in my twists, but it wasn't too noticeable, methinks.

Ooh! I had some other random pictures and a video from studying for finals at Vicente's house. They're hecka (it sounds weird, I know) late, but better late than never, right? :-)

This was fuel for the weekend...I drank 4 cups of this magical coffee! Andrei taught me how to make cafe "the Southern way." It was frothy y muy delicioso :-D

The ingredients used. He added 1 heaping spoonful of instant coffee, and 2 spoonfuls (minimum 2, maximum 5, optimum 3.5) of sugar to mine. In the background is a pan of penne that Vicente cooked and Stephen's legs lol.

This video was one that I took during one of our study breaks on the second day. In it, you'll see (and hear) Julia, Vicente, Noelle, Andrei, Stephen, Matt, Lola, and moi. The obnoxious laughter close to the mic and female Kermit voice are also mine -______-

Amazon Haul!! (Updated) + My First Recital

Hola, chicas y chicos! I'm pumping out the posts today :-)

Anywho, many of you know that I'm in an honors program at my CC. Well, our professors decided to give us homework over the break *le sigh* C'est la vie. Here are the books and movies we have to have read and watched by the time classes restart on 28 January:

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
Printed scholarly work focusing on the 20th century history of the country chosen for biography*
Rabbit-Proof Fence
The Lives of Others
Apocalypse Now

*The last book I listed is part of a second semester project. We all have to write a 20th century biography of a single individual from a country and move them through the historical, economical, and cultural events of most of the 1900s. Everybody chose a country; I selected Korea because I've been intrigued by its culture for some time, and I'd like to know more of its history and background and whatnot. The book I chose as a source was A Concise History of Modern Korea: From the Late Nineteenth Century to the Present by Michael J. Seth, associate professor of East Asian and world history at James Madison University. Other than the book being scholarly, I had no clue as to what criteria to look for when searching for a book to read over the semester break, so here's hoping I chose a good one. Lol.

So, on Saturday, around 8 am, I ordered 9 books from Amazon: The Metamorphosis, All Quiet on the Western Front, A Concise History of Modern Korea, Waiting for Godot (another honors program requirement), Steppenwolf (honors), Night (honors), The Curly Girl Handbook, Eat to Live and Better Than Good Hair (more info on this particular purchase mas tarde :-D) I have an Amazon Prime account, so I get free 2 day shipping on most items. I expected to get my books on Monday. Imagine my surprise when a box was delivered to my front door on Sunday morning! I didn't even know that UPS delivered on Sundays. It was a very pleasant surprise. I even have a little video about it:

Obviously, not everything came, but to have nearly half of my order delivered by the next day is impressive, methinks.

Ooh! I forgot to mention that Sunday (30 December 2012) was the very first piano recital that I've ever held without my piano teacher. Only 3 of my students could come (one was sick), and the recital lasted a total of 13 minutes, but all the parents and grandparents loved it. There were sugary refreshments laid out decoratively on the counter, and everyone bonded over chocolate mint balls and apple juice. I was able to talk to a few new parents, neighbors and classmates of my students, etc. I was a nervous wreck at first, but I felt more comfortable afterwards.

While I was proud of all of my kiddos for performing so well (and having everything committed to memory!), my oldest student nearly brought tears to my eyes. He has two older sisters (one of which is one of my closest friends), and since he's heard them playing different pieces, he can pick things up pretty easily by ear. He goes through his sisters' old music books and finds songs to play and then rewrites them. One such piece was from a book that his sister and I used when we were 12: Alfred's Basic Piano Library Lesson Book Level 6. The first piece, "Variations on the Theme from the Celebrated Canon in D," was one that he knew well. It's a 4 page piece, and would have been relatively simple for him to learn. Him being the perfectionist that he is, however, he began to freak out about how he couldn't learn it in a month, it was impossible, etc. I calmed him down, and we set to work, practicing one line at a time. He picked up the first 1.5 pages easily, but we hit snags once the fingering and variations became too difficult for his small hands. So, instead of freaking out (yet again), he did what all great musicians do: he improvised.

From those 4 black and white pages and that brilliant little mind of his, came a 10 year old boy's interpretation of Pachelbel's "Canon in D." It was marvelous, and he added a new element every time he played it. It sounded better at each lesson, so my hopes were high at the recital. Imagine my surprise when he shortened his already condensed Canon into an even more potent piece! It went from 4:30 to 2:00 flat, but in those short 120 seconds, he played with more musicality than I've ever heard him perform with before.  He improvised and added Alberti bass, broke the chords in both treble and bass clefs...things I'd never dreamed he'd do with the Canon. He went to new places, and my, oh my, was it a joy to listen to.

Here's to improvisational music!

Oh! I forgot to ask: have any of y'all ever seen any of the movies I mentioned above? What did you think? Did you like them? Were they thought-provoking?