Rem Koolhaas

Dutch architect, Rem Koolhaas came to speak on campus today. He designed Milstein Hall, a new building for the College of Architecture, Art and Planning. His works include the Seattle Central Library, CCTV Headquarter in Beijing, and the interior of Prada store in SoHo.

The image on the screen shows his plan to fill the Charles River next to Harvard and build a canal to create more land for the Harvard campus. The plan was shot down.

Dirrrty New York Part II

Sunday brunch at Max Brenner.

Alice Cup!

Hug mug!

The Young Victoria

The Young Victoria won the Best Costume and Make Up awards at the Academy Awards 2010 so you can expect some very beautiful visuals during the movie. The costumes and palaces are equally stunning throughout the film. Emily Blunt plays the young Victoria who would become the Queen of England, and Rupert Friend is Prince Albert in the film.

The film depicts Princess Victoria before she became Queen, her struggle to rebel against her mother, and her love story with Prince Albert of Belgium. There are some great scenes that rise out of her rebellion against the control of her mother and her mother's lover who both try to manipulate Victoria into giving up her right to the reign.

I loved the camera work of the movie; it conveyed the authority and status of Queen Victoria. This camera work is used in two scenes that I really like: when Queen Victoria first meets with her Privy Chamber and when is she crowned Queen at Westminster Abbey. So watch out for these two scenes.

Pieces of NYC

Spring Break 2010

The Park

Comme des Garcons

Hearst Tower

Central Park

Tulips

Cafe Sabarsky at the Neue Gallerie

Basta Pasta

An Education

For some reason, An Education did not intrigue me. I first heard of it back in London. It was one of the movies shown at the British Film Institute's London Film Festival. The title, for starters, is kind of mundane, and I did not know much about the storyline. Nonetheless, I watched it in preparation for Oscar weekend.

It turned out to be quite a nice movie. In many ways, An Education is like a toned down version of Atonement. It's a British coming-of-an film about Jenny (Carey Mulligan), a high school student on the track to go Oxford. Jenny is intelligent, diligent, and independent but her desire to be adventurous and to be herself is often stifled by her strict father. After meeting David (Peter Sarsgaad), a random stranger who offered to take Jenny home on a rainy day, Jenny plunges head first into adult life.

Throughout the movie, I kept guessing what is coming for Jenny who is bewitched by David, a much older man, and all the material goods that come with money. I wanted Jenny to realize her mistake early on or fall really hard at the end. Regardless what I was hoping to see, the best part of the movie was when she discovers her mistake and the problem of her relationship with David.

As British as it gets, the emotions of the movie are restrained. Sadness is expressed through quite weeping; happiness expressed through a smile. The set and the quality of the film are surprisingly beautiful with a low budget of $7.5 million. When I finished watching the film, I thought it was nice . It was not specular. It is not a film that lingers with me. But it was a nice film to watch with some good lessons to take away.

Between the Bars

The best cover. So heartbreaking.

The Hurt Locker

The Hurt Locker is an attention gripping film from start to finish. Though at times predictable, the film keeps you attached to the screen and the story. Not a second of the film is wasted--the fast scenes give you an adrenalin rush and the slow scenes tell you a story beyond each character's facade. Jeremy Renner plays the daring and risk-seeking Sergeant William James who is a specialist at disposing explosives. James is a great character in that he is mysterious and slightly unlikeable but he is so good at what he does that he wins everyone over with his skills.

The cinematography is raw and journalistic which adds to reality to the film. At the end, I began to appreciate the work that real soldiers are doing for the safety of our country.

P.S. I was quite surprised by the fact that the film was directed by Kathryn Bigelow, a female director (who is the ex-wife of James Cameron). Throughout the movie, I did not get the sense that the film was directed by a female. In my film studies class, we had talk about the gaze of the camera which is usually presented in the male point of view aka the Male Gaze. I would expect the film to have a different feel if it had a female director. I thought this was just a topic worth mentioning and exploring.