Sebastian Meise’s 2021 feature film, Große Freiheit (Great Freedom) is an exhilarating, though heartbreaking account of one man’s relentless refusal to adhere to the norms of a system without mercy, no matter the cost.
Continue reading ““Große Freiheit” Review: A Defence of Liberation for its own Sake”A Semester of HTML
Have you ever wanted to learn code? There are an abundance of languages to learn: Python, Javascript, C++, the list goes on. Two years ago as a semester project, I tried to learn Python on my own. Unsurprisingly, I was unsuccessful. Learning a coding language requires a lot of discipline, time, and intense focus. In a class taught by a professor, these factors are mostly taken care of by assignments, class time, and deadlines. It’s hard to pressure yourself to put the time in to properly learn a language.
Continue reading “A Semester of HTML”France’s Dua Lipa? C’est Vrai!
Angèle, a Belgian pop singer, and absolute sensation in France, has been releasing boppy Francophone music since 2016. After a number of hit singles, she’s become a frequent player on France’s top charts. A recent collab even featured Dua Lipa (famous worldwide). Angèle’s music has a distinct sound and clearly enunciated songs, making them great for students learning French.
Continue reading “France’s Dua Lipa? C’est Vrai!”El espíritu revolucionario a través de la música
Artist Reccomendation: Silvio Rodríguez
60s/70s Cuban singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez was a household name while I was growing up. My parents used to tell me stories about the one time they went to his concert, and one of their friends kept requesting “Ojalá!” (one of his most popular songs) by yelling the title constantly from the audience. It wasn’t until my junior year of high school that I actually listened to his music and fell in love with it.
Continue reading “El espíritu revolucionario a través de la música”Terrace House: Your Next Binge
Interested in improving your Japanese and watching reality tv at the same time? Terrace House has you covered. Beginning in 2012, the Terrace House series quickly gained international attention for its ‘calm and relaxed atmosphere’–uncommon on most reality tv show franchises. It’s even been described as a “reality show for people who hate reality shows”.
Continue reading “Terrace House: Your Next Binge”Throwback: Mandopop Song Recs
Growing up, my parents would always play music on long roadtrips. It’s been almost a decade, but we still have the many of the same CDs, and the CD player in the car works just the same. The CD I have the most vivid memories of was the one with a strange medley of miscellaneous songs and artists: Michael Jackson, Jay Chou, Spice Girls, some opera, unknown voices, and 99 piano pieces. One artist that especially caught my ear was a Taiwanese singer-songwriter named Qi Qin (齊秦). Apparently, my parents had listened to his songs in their youth in the 80s, and can still sing along to some of the lyrics.
Songs and music that can be enjoyed by different generations at a different point in time are always special— I was surprised by how much I enjoyed listening to Qi Qin’s songs. His songs have a timeless quality, and I think, are perfect for karaoke. Here are a few of my favorites from the CD:
Continue reading “Throwback: Mandopop Song Recs”Recommendation: Luis Miguel
Today’s blog post brings a music and television recommendation all in one.
Luis Miguel: La Serie is a Netflix drama series that follows the life of legendary Mexican singer Luis Miguel throughout his early life and rise to superstardom. This show intimately explores Luis Miguel’s private life, focusing on the challenges he went through to balance his public image with his relationships with friends and family. With beautiful camerawork, fun 80s aesthetics, and a heavy dose of LuisMi’s most popular songs, this series keeps you hooked from beginning to end. It’s no surprise that it has become a favorite in the Spanish-speaking world.
Luis Miguel is currently available on Netflix. Keep an eye out for the third season, coming out today (October 28th)!
Or, if you’re just looking for something to listen to, here are some of my favorite Luis Miguel songs:
Creating a Photo Archive Website Through Omeka
Last year, I embarked on a semester-long project to create a website using the Omeka software. Omeka, if you are unfamiliar, is a web-publishing platform designed to showcase large archives.
I set my focus on the Reed College Archives. Although already accessible to Reed students through a searchable website, the archives themselves were very large and not sorted into accessible categories for casual viewing. My first step was securing the rights to use photographs from the Reed Archives. Since my project was internal to Reed College, the archives had no problem with me using their photographs.
Continue reading “Creating a Photo Archive Website Through Omeka”Non-Russian Russian Music for Your Consideration
One thing I’ve learned in my year learning Russian is that the Russian-speaking world is very much massive. With speakers of the language spanning across the entirety of the Post-Soviet Union and its allies, it’s almost impossible to find Russian language books, shows, movies, and music without finding some that are decidedly not of Russian origin. So for your consideration, dear reader, I have compiled a list of some singers and bands from outside of Russia that you can add to your Russian language playlist. Keep in mind that while none of these songs are obscene by any means, you may want to find translated lyrics before playing them in public.
Continue reading “Non-Russian Russian Music for Your Consideration”A Translation Project
I admire translators. Fan translators, in particular, who are often well-respected in Internet spaces involving content from another country. They relay information quickly for English-speaking fans so everyone can take part in the joy. But having read countless “translator’s notes”, I’ve constantly started thinking about how often meaning and nuance might get lost in translation, and how huge misunderstandings can spring from a mistranslation. I wanted to try translating text myself to experience how difficult it could be.
The first task was finding a text to translate. Translation differs across mediums, but I chose to translate an excerpt from a novel. Novel translation differs from other types of translation, such as interpreting dialogue, which I understand to be more literal. For novel translations, factors such as preserving the author’s style and intent must be taken into account.
The book I translated from is《废墟曾经辉煌》 (Fei Xu Ceng Jing Hui Huang) by female fiction writer Zhang Ling (张翎). It’s a book of lighthearted travel anecdotes, and the section I attempted translating was 成都散记 (Chengdu San Ji), a three part collection of prose about the city of Chengdu.
Continue reading “A Translation Project”