You know what I love?
Stories.
Stories are why I am an English major, why I love to read, why I love to write. They are the reason I see the world for what it is, to love this place and these people and this chance we have been given to explore and discover and feel and know. The reason I have battled the biggest and the smallest monsters, traveled through time, died and been born again and again, defeated Voldemort, survived the zombie apocalypse, met the Doctor, learned what love means at the end of it all. The reason I know that the human imagination is probably the most important part of our collective existence, the reason we have survived, and will continue to do so.
This week, with finals approaching and the number of square meals I get in a day reduced to one-ish, I have been lucky enough to have time to experience some pretty amazing stories. Stories that have absolutely nothing to do with school, or academia, or studying, or learning, but have magic and meaning in them just the same.
The first was
Firefly, the early-2000s TV show about space cowboys. My brother has been pestering me to get on the hipster bandwagon for years, and only now that I have succumbed and watched the tragically short fourteen episodes plus one movie do I realize how effing awesome it is. Everything you would ever want in a series -- danger! a gang of rebellious outlaws! romance! intrigue! humor! -- all wrapped up in a story of smugglers aboard an outdated spaceship travelling throughout the galaxy evading capture. When you add in Nathan Fillion and a bunch of other likable/badass characters, the story is irresistible to the lover of post-apocalyptic space epics known as Myself.
The second was
Life of Pi. I had the pleasure of reading this book in Ms. Kremer's class freshman year of high school, and while I loved and appreciated the book and its general genius, which was very new to me at the time, I promptly forgot about it until the announcement for the movie. Last night, several friends and I went to see it at last, and I was totally blown away. This was by far the best book-to-movie adaptation I have ever seen, effectively capturing, not only the detailed plot and its complicated twists, but also the essence of the book itself, all its subtleties and nuances and themes and the
feel of the story. For this, I respect Ang Lee (the director) and Suraj Shurma (young Pi, who had never acted before) immensely.
Lastly, I spontaneously decided to reread
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows earlier this week, which, despite being time-consuming, has been completely worth it. It's been well over a year since I've read a Harry Potter book, and every time I return to them I am astounded by their sheer genius. These are books that will last generations--and rightly so. This story is so epic and perfect and human, and it holds a special place in my heart as the one that, so many years ago, got me hooked on this beautiful art form.
Sorry this post is long, but if you've made it all the way to the end, I'm going to give you some advice: stop studying, stop stressing, stop whatever you're doing for just a couple of hours and go watch a great movie, read an excellent book, and revel in your favorite stories. Get away, if only briefly, from your own life and problems and worries and experience someone else's for a while.
:)
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