Feminist Dinner and a Movie!

In support of the Women's and Gender Studies Department here at the University of Miami, I want to let you all know about their upcoming Dinner and a Movie series! This fabulous event will put together movies of interest to the study of women and gender together with some delicious food and fantastic professors who will be leading discussion about the films we watch! This upcoming Thursday, we'll be kicking off the series by watching the 2009 animated film Wonder Woman, eating some yummy spanakopita, and leading the discussion will be one of my favorite professors at UM, Dr. Pamela Geller. I'm totally psyched about this event, and it's open to anyone (UM and Non-UM people alike!) so feel free to RSVP and make it out!

For more info, check out the flyer which has details about the who, what, where, when, and how to RSVP!

Go 'Canes!

I'm not exactly what you would call the typical sports fan. I don't really follow them much and I don't even know much about the rule technicalities. As a child, I only watched football because my brother was obsessed. Back then it was the heyday of the San Francisco 49ers and Joe Montana. I remember names like Drew Bledsoe and Jerry Rice and Dan Marino was still the Dolphins' main man. As I got older, I lost my interest in the game and the only games I watched were the ones my brother played at the quarterback for the G. Holmes Braddock Senior High Bull Dogs. When my brother got injured and was no longer able to play, we both kind of lost much of any interest in football. I've basically only watched the Super Bowl most years for the last decade (and mostly for the commercials, half-time show, and booze.) My boyfriend has become more of a fan in the last year or so and i've been watching more games (although it takes a lot for me to actually leave the comfort of the internet to watch one.) While in the back of my head I think - god, these guys get paid ridiculous amounts for doing bullshit while the rest of us waste our times worshipping their teams, I can see how it can be fun to get caught up in this.

And so, it's with a bit of humility that I confess I am slightly newfound college football convert. I've never watched a college game (except maybe bits and pieces of Notre Dame games when I was younger.) Tonight, though, was different. I go to the University of Miami now and apparently being in to football is all the rage. While I don't exactly see myself becoming a face painter and tailgating every single game, it was actually fun to support my school's team. I was supposed to go to my cousins' place but was unable to so I had to settle for watching it on my TV's ESPN. The game was incredibly intense and I know I'm fooling myself in to thinking every game will be this good. I also think I watched because some of my friends were giving me shit about having the ever-dreaded "school spirit." And if there was ever a game to make a convert out of someone, it was this one! It was back and forth the entire game, and the last 2 minutes literally spread out in to a nail biting, heart-attack inducing about extra half hour or so. Even the final play was questions, trying to figure out if FSU had made a final touchdown (they hadn't.) It was... well... awesome! So does this mean that i'll be joining the news team at the radio station and take part in the homecoming parade? Ehhhh probably not. But at least for a few minutes, I was pretty damn proud of my over-priced university. Go UM! Go 'Canes!

Memento Mori

As part of UM's Korean New Wave Cinema festival, I went today to the Cosford Cinema and watched the 1999 film Memento Mori (Yeogo Goedam II). From the trailer, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. It looked like a horror film starring a young Korean lesbian couple in their high school years, possibly involving some kind of serial murder of young girls. What I got was completely different. The film begins with a girl (Min-ah, played by Min-sun Kim) finding a diary between the 2 other female leads (the lesbian couple - Hyo-shin, played by Yeh-jin Park and Shi-eun, played by Young-jin Lee), filled with the inner-workings of their relationship with each other. But as she continues to read, she also continues to unfurl the deeply complex relationship of the two girls. Hyo-Shin was an outcast amongst her peers, who desperately wanted to show the world the love she had for the only person who loved her back - Shi-eun. Shi-eun, however, was much more reluctant to display her rather controversial relationship with the rest of her school. The film's plot works on several levels, making it difficult to pinpoint it to any specific genre. While it seems to be advertised as a horror film, there is also drama, suspense, mystery, romance, and even a few comedic scenes thrown in to the mix (especially the scenes involving the annual school physicals the girls need to take.) The relationship between the two girls was particularly moving, as it depicted the difficulties of falling in love despite societal pressures, and how those pressures can completely destroy someone for something they have no control over. There are a few added bizarre twists, like the relationship between Hyo-jin and a teacher at her school. The second half of the film could almost run as a completely different film, adding a more supernatural aspect to the film (this is where the horror portion comes in.) I didn't really find any of it to be particularly frightening, but it still was enough to make me a little jumpy at parts. Overall, the movie delivers with excellent performances by all the major players, fantastic cinematography which set the mood perfectly at every scene, and a great love story gone wrong. Highly recommend it!

If you're interested, check out the trailer here or watch the first 10 minutes of the film to get you going!:

Korean New Wave Cinema Time!

The Bill Cosford Cinema is currently hosting a 3-week Korean film festival. Unfortunately I didn't realize this began last week. However, there are still movies left to see this and next weekend! I'm looking forward to checking one or both of this weekend's film (Memento Mori and Spider Forest). Check out the trailers as they both look pretty fantastic (not to mention both seem just a wee bit on the scary side and I'm a sucker for horror!):

Memento Mori

Spider Forest

And next weekend (July 25 -26), they'll have their final two films of the festival, , whose trailers you can see here (forgive the lack of subtitles but I couldn't find any, sadly):

Samaritan Girl

Bloody Tie

The University of Miami is located in Coral Gables and the theater is located on campus (check the website for directions, as it can be slightly confusing if you're not familiar with the area!)

Ticket prices are $8 general admission, $6 for UM alumni, faculty, staff, as well as seniors and students of other schools, and free for UM students!