The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

It's the little things in life, they say.  
Little things like catching your sibling bosses catching up over breakfast before a very long shift. 

I'm a mentor this year, a few upperclassmen get to pair up with the first years and pretty much take them under their wing. I chose section 3, of course. Being a tripod alumni, myself. This guys seem like some really cool cats. 

I don't get a lot of free time, but when I do I like to make jewelry. I recently found an exciting piece to make. 

http://www.etsy.com/people/christenehurley?ref=si_pr

Week one is done, so that means I'm cooped up in my apartment doing next week's assignments. Starting with more writing. Ever wonder why things you hate doing have great outcomes and things you love doing have crappy outcomes? Like exercising or studying. Or eating an entire cake. 

Last week was my first World Cinema class. I can honestly say I've never felt more prepared for a class. I took the advice many 2nd years (last year) gave me about Renata's class. "Do the readings" "Pay attention" and "don't text in class." 

Our first stop in the enormous world of World Cinema: The German Expression Movement. (1920-1926) Sparked mainly by World War 1 (1914-1918). It was like attending FSU all over again. I've learned more history in the last week than the last few years. It's exciting!

The night before World Cinema I decided to watch Nosferatu (1922), Directed by F.W. Murnau. Is it fair to call this film the first Vampire film ever? I think so! :) Bram Stoker's novel Dracula was released in 1897 and introduced the characters of Dracula and Van Helsing. The two are not to be confused (Nosferatu & Dracula), however Nosferatu suffered a few lawsuits by Stoker's wife, for copyright issues, who had most of the original copies destroyed. 

Nosferatu is a perfect example of German Expressionism. 

Our first screening in class was The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920). What a treat, a horror film as our first screening. The composition was added later but I think it did the film justice. Eery when it needed to be and skewed when it needed to be. 

"When I try to explain a complex thought process to my friends at the dinner table, I usually stammer, stumble, contradict myself, lose my way, and follow numerous inefficient paths back to my main point. When I write an essay, I have the luxury of editing, and rethinking, and rearranging, so that-on a good day- a reader thinks, "My, that Moore fellow sure thinks clearly." This is me in a peanut shell. I'm always pausing in a statement or story to "find the right words." 

The main theme of this course is writing biographically. But I struggle with the thought that everyone just might not want to read about me. If you think that your story isn't interesting enough to tell, remember this: "It is not what happens to us in our lives that makes us into writers, it is what we make out of what happens to us." This is a great piece of advice from my Creative Writing Book.