There and Back Again

Our first of many entries from Taiwan! Recounting a whirlwind week of delicious food, a great date, a close encounter with two vicious dogs, a day trip to Shifen for the Lantern Festival, and launching a new YouTube channel for my video content: Bland Companion. Life in Taipei is good!

One last entry before leaving for Taiwan, the various strengths of cinema and video games as a creative medium, the storytelling of the recent Celine Song film "Past Lives", comparing the storytelling of Ruben Östlund's film "Force Majeure" and Jonathan Blow's "The Witness", a hiccup in my plans to travel to Shanghai, and a final summary of my excitement for traveling to Taiwan.

Technical troubles upon launch, the profundity of Jonathan Blow's "The Witness", the rarefied air of creative insight, and the gatekeepers who shape the narrative of who gets to be labeled a genius.

Operating under the weather, a survey of the Safdie Brothers' films including Benny Safdie's co-creation of the television show "The Curse", planning to vlog in Taiwan, and Tolkien's lasting creative accomplishment despite "The Lord of the Rings" not being great literature.

Thinking through how to continue this personal journal while in Taiwan, possibly starting a vlog, needing to find a sustainable creative outlet, recommendation letters, a survey of the late films of Quentin Tarantino, Christopher Nolan, and Paul Thomas Anderson, the potential miscasting therein, and needing to stand up for myself in therapy.

Gratitude for finding a place in the world like Taiwan to return to, a discussion of Tarantino's late films and how they benefit from repeat viewings, an enthusiastic recommendation of "The Woman King" with Viola Davis, and Tolkien as world creator rather than literary genius.

A roundabout conversation that circumambulates around the topics of my protracted career as a college student, gratitude after graduation, auditioning for "The Voice," and the recent Katt Williams interview that broke the internet. 

Losing weight since the end of the semester, the predictably mundane routine of adult life, the hassle of preparing for time abroad, the enlightened acceptance of bureaucratic nonsense, and the protracted infantilism of many adults.

Recounting the pulling of my wisdom teeth, prepping for Taiwan and grad school in China, getting things for free on account of my hot chick energy, tolerating silence as a benchmark of true confidence, and a brief survey of the classic films, "The Usual Suspects" and "Seven."

A short introduction extolling the virtues of Emerald Fennell's new film "Saltburn," before jumping into the second part and conclusion of my honors thesis: "Confusedly Formed: Xici zhuan 繫辭傳 as a Normative Account of World Genesis According to Baumann's First Principles of Science."