Post Release Preview: In Time

Over the week someone told me about the new Justin Timberlake film In Time.

The premise is fascinating. Instead of currency, individuals are allotted certain amounts of time which they can exchange for goods or transfer to others as payment. To earn more time you work a job or do other tasks. When your time runs out, you die. Effectively, the film directly commodifies time and these must ask interesting questions of capitalist society and the trade-off between time and money.

It seems unlikely, however, that I will actually watch the film. Rotten Tomatoes is panning the film and once again we have an example of a fascinating metaphysical premise destroyed by inept Hollywood production. It is hard to forgive such a ridiculous result when films like Inception set the bar for smart thinking and smart film making.

We do seem to be more forgiving when literature undermines a good plot-line however. Look at the dystopian fiction of Huxley (an arguably similar genre to In Time) or others: poor writing is forgotten while the fear created by the premise remains.

I am at least satisfied that poor film-making is not easily forgiven, I just wish they had spent more time crafting the piece than crafting the idea.

-The English Student

Racking up the Air Miles

In my life I have flown very little.

However, this year I have probably travelled more than at any other point in my life. I take two flights again this week and have begun to realise that my carbon footprint is sneaking up. I enjoy this travelling, even if it means that I spend more time eating airport food and experiencing airport customer service than I would like.

However, I have also begun to wonder if getting used to spending time in transit is a good thing. It is hard, when travelling to escape the expectations upon arriving at a place. Focusing on the actual travel is boring and mundane and when you move around a lot, this looking ahead becomes a normal perspective.

Perhaps that truly is what colours my current existence: a relentless hope for the future and a wilful ignorance of the boring present. The travelling paradigm is a dangerous one when no clear destination is in sight and no clear markers to highlight when one has been reached.

All things to be aware of as I rack up more air miles.

-The English Student

Story Toppers

I am now in regular contact with a bona-fide story topper.

Several people have independently identified this person as a story topper. He is apparently incapable of simply listening to a story or claim without telling one of his own inevitably grander tales. This is especially through if alcohol is involved.

This is annoying. It shows that this person is far more interested in hearing their own voice than what someone else has to say. They clearly believe that their own life is far more exciting and extreme than others and also believe that they need to make this obvious at every possible moment.

I do worry for them. Of course insecurity is at the base of this but how far do they have to take these stories? I mostly assume that they are lying about these stories but if they are true, then they are surely living in such a way as to actually be dangerous. But why lie about living such an awful lifestyle?

Perhaps I best just nod along to the stories and keep a wary eye out.

-The English Student

Quick Review: Life in a Day

The BBC recently aired a feature-length documentary entitled Life in a Day.

It intersperses various videos shot by people across the planet on the 24th July 2010. As the website states, 4500 hours of content was submitted from 192 countries. The result is an astonishing cross-section of life on this planet.

I missed the beginning of the documentary so I have no idea how it is initially framed. However, what most appealed to me was the lack of narrative. There are a few framing devices placed within the piece yet these are light and hardly give the film any real sense of progression. As such, it sits as a nice insight into life around the world without any real political statement.

Unfortunately, the documentary does not live up to this throughout. Most notably are the scenes shot in Afghanistan by a soldier, resident and the girlfriend of a soldier in the U.S.. These scenes are placed after each other and obviously speak about the ongoing war. That said, this only highlights a common connection rather than taking a specific stance on the common connection. It really is a film wrought by the individuals that filmed it: the editor has quite successfully hidden himself.

It's a remarkable piece and well worth watching.

-The English Student

Creative Grafiti

Recently I saw Morgan Spurlock's new documentary on advertisement in film.

One point made in the film is that cities like San Paolo have removed all forms of advertisement on city façades and that this resulted in a closer connection between citizen and city. The dilapidation of certain parts of the city was more obvious without massive Coca Cola advertisements blocking them up, while its natural beauty shone forth without illuminating neon signs.

Closer to home, this weekend I visited a city in my country that seems to encourage creative graffiti. Ugly scaffolding has been covered in colourful art work and buildings along the docks have murals painted with a running theme throughout. I am unsure as to the origin of this art and how 'authentic' it is as graffiti but it is certainly a pleasant change from what I would be used to in our capital.

This situations are different yet related. San Paolo ditched advertisement and adornment in order to highlight the true nature of the city. My recent visit was to a city that encouraged adornment in order to connect the citizens more closely with their city. In both cases, the people of the city have taken control of their environment and in different ways fostered a unique identity.

Our capital in particular could learn from these projects.

-The English Student

Sport Saves

New Zealand won the rugby world cup today.

When you consider that rugby is, for all intents and purposes, the only thing that New Zealanders passionately, nationally care about this achievement is a big deal. It is even bigger since their last win of the cup was in 1987 and since then, they have been known as the best team in the world in all except title.

But surely the most heart-warming aspect of this result is the transformative power that sport has for a nation that has had a harrowing year. The earthquake in Christchurch devastated lives while the recent oil spill has done untold environmental damage. A win like this, watched by most of the world will give them back some national pride and allow them to truly celebrate.

The stakes for this match were clearly high. All sports fans experience the massive highs and lows of following a team and understand that we place a lot of importance on events that are out of our control. But the events of the earthquake and oil spill were out of the control of the average New Zealander.

Clearly, they were owed this.

-The English Student

Occupy Earth

The "Occupy Wall Street" movement spread this weekend.

Throughout the world various groups of people flocked to the main streets of capital cities and occupied them in protest against corrupt capitalist agendas. Most of them branded slogans like "We are the 99%", implying that the rich few that benefit from neo-capitalism are by far the minority and therefore should be powerless in the face of activism.

The rhetoric of 'occupation' rather than 'protest' is what particularly interests me. This rhetoric implies a somewhat passive position for these groups. An occupier will primarily take up space. While many have clearly lead to violence and protest, their primary occupation simple is occupation.

Perhaps this is a stance that should strike more fear into the political masters that the vitriol is directed towards. These people are not threatening to smash down the doors of government or businesses and instead will simply take up space. Violence against such a group is unacceptable and a policy of ignoring the occupations is emerging.

These occupations therefore invade the infrastructure of their cities and activate a discontent built into its very foundations.

-The English Student