by Laura Lai/Uncategorized
Dear all,
it’s been two weeks since I finished the course on Academic and Business Writing. The first thing I did was to print my certificate. And the second was to frame it next to the one from Oxford and the one from Harvard. I’ve always loved writing. I’ve always used all opportunities to write. But I’ve never thought that I would actually have the opportunity to do something only for my writing skill. Even if it had occurred to me – which it never did – it would have never ever crossed my mind that I would take classes from specialists in drama writing from Oxford University, in rhetoric from Harvard, and in academic/business writing from Berkeley. To be honest, I’ve never even dreamed of it. What I used to think was that I would finish my doctoral thesis and that I would start teaching something somewhere. That’s all. As simple as that! I’m surprised that my writing skill had the honor and the privilege to be perfection by great specialists from the traditionally best world’s universities. J
Then I
entered the household’s Easter preparations: a general cleaning and sorting-out
process. It’s traditionally said that people should welcome this holiday – which
is my favorite of all – with the houses, the yards and the souls clean (not
necessarily in this order!). I consider it a good advice, it also makes sense
because Easter is always in spring, and because spring usually comes after …
usually long winters when it’s hard to work the yards, for example. And once
every corner of the house is in order, we can concentrate on some Easter dishes
– a creative and relaxing activity, which doesn’t mean that I’m a great chef
that successfully and regularly cooks snake stake garnished with grasshopper
antennas. J
It’s
regular dishes that I can handle. I even tried a dish rehearsal, which usually
needs baking, and on this occasion I’ve discovered that the oven broke. It was
an old one, anyway. The positive side is that it happened on a Black Friday
discounts period. I also tried new tastes: used with the sun flower halva, I’ve
said to taste the sesame one… which tastes good… of sesame seeds! J I know that it’s sweet, I know that
it’s a bit oily, I know that it might have some calories, and I do care about
my line, but I don’t live my life on a scale neither do I weight every piece of
food I want to swallow; first, because when you’re 174 centimetres tall the one
or two kilos in plus or in minus are less evident… Second, when working more
with the head instead of the body, nobody beheads you for the one or two kilos
in plus or in minus. J
But I had time for movies! You bet I did!!!
And one of them is ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ (1977) directed by Franco Zeffirelli.
This is also one of those movies that I’ve seen several times. And this year
again, because this is a masterpiece in every sense. I don’t have words to
describe the every sense in which this movie is a masterpiece. The cast plays
its roles outstandingly, the setting is perfect, the music is marvelous, and
the recreation of the époque (outfit, habits, etc.) is wonderfully conveyed!
Even some small roles were difficult to play, but played magnificently such as the
role of the young man possessed by the devil. I’m impressed by the way each of
the actors played and by Robert Powell (Jesus) who I’ve recently watched in a
documentary movie in which he was visiting the places where they filmed the
movie. It’s remarkable to have gathered such crowds, to dress and make them up
to fit the times, to bring in many animals: lambs, sheep, donkeys, etc. Amazing!
From an artistic point of view, the scene of Lazarus’ resurrection is subtle and mystical: Jesus stays in front of the tomb, the stone was removed, behind him a large crowd, but the camera is behind this crowd at some point so that the viewer sees lots of shadows… and Jesus in front of the tomb. Furthermore, the scene when Mary is announced that she will conceive a son is the scene of the divine message that is differently depicted by film directors, but the way Zeffirelli chose to do it, it’s most probably the way I would do it, too. Mary ‘hears’ with her spirit the divine message of her child conception, and that of her relative who would conceive a son, too, before her, although much older than her. Her mysterious divine message was confirmed by reality and the way the director chose to arrange the sequences is absolutely terrific.
Now,
that things have been sorted-out, house is prepared to celebrate Easter and the
few dishes to prepare are settled, I started to review the course. A revision
after some time is a positive thing because while I study I don’t know what
comes next. But when I get to the last course, I prefer to review it once more
to have it all in my mind – the whole structure of it. And this way, the
organized information settles better and longer in my mind.
I loved participating at this course. And
I’m thankful to the educational platform, edx, for the financial support to get
my certificate and always be able to prove that I did participate to the
course. But only I know how much heart I put into it! A certificate never
tells, the result sometimes does, though. I’m thrilled that from all types of the
academic and business writing genre, I could deepen one: the film review. And I
loved to read and to challenge my opinions on different matters reading and
replying on our virtual discussion forum.
I had in mind to enroll to another course offered by Berkeley and taught by Dr. Maggie Sokolik. It’s about the AP English Literature & Composition – Part 3: Plays, but it’s going to be archived at the beginning of May. I checked the outline and I was hoping to be able to cover just the drama part, the first two weeks before the course gets archived… Indeed, I was considering audit enrolling, rather than the verified one.
To sum
up, two weeks after the course I was mainly caught in household arrangements
mainly to welcome the Easter holidays, and celebrations. I enjoyed the
beautiful weather and took long walks to the park. Shall I remind you that I
still love drinking a cup of coffee while sitting on the bench and thinking
about what to write or the way to improve what I’ve already written? I also had
time to watch movies, to write shortly, and to think more about writing. And
when the time comes, I will sit and write… Now, it was time to celebrate that I
accomplished this course with a precious 97 percent – a wonderful birthday
present that I celebrated also during these last two weeks.
Peace
be with all of you!
P.S.
Also during these two weeks it was my name day, and not in the same day with my
birthday – another reason to celebrate! J
OTHER LINKS:
‘Ben-Hur’:
From Silent Movie to Animation & to Sound Movie (I)
https://writingbreaklauralai.blogspot.com/2019/05/ben-hur-from-silent-movie-to-animation_31.html
‘Ben-Hur’:
From Silent Movie to Animation & to Sound Movie (II)
https://writingbreaklauralai.blogspot.com/2019/05/ben-hur-from-silent-movie-to-animation_1.html
‘Ben-Hur’:
From Silent Movie to Animation & to Sound Movie (III)
https://writingbreaklauralai.blogspot.com/2019/05/ben-hur-from-silent-movie-to-animation.html
#cwp2x #Easter
#filmreview #Zeffirelli #BenHur
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