Foreign

I just got word from the head of the Foreign Language department at Wayne State that I passed the Spanish translation exam I completed a few weeks ago. Yay for me. That's one less thing to have to worry about. Now I can focus solely on my prospectus and dissertation this summer and worry about just English.




On another subject, I watched Michel Gondry's The Green Hornet the other day and it only had one major problem: it was written by and starred Seth Rogan. Admittedly, I haven't seen Knocked Up or Zach and Miri or any of the other super-R rated movies that have made him a star, but frankly, I don't get it. His emotionally-retarded stoner man-boy act seems so one-note, I don't understand the appeal. Gondry is a clever director and did some nifty things with the action sequences and Jay Chou's Kato was charming, but overall, it wasn't worth much. Even Christoph Walz who was so brilliant and terrifying in Inglorious Basterds failed to make any kind of real impression. Sigh. I guess it goes to show that the script is king. You can have a brilliant director, an impressive supporting cast, and plenty of money for a budget, but if the characters are underwritten and shallow, if the dialogue is only so-so, the movie will most likely fail to fly.

On the heels of watching the movie, one of the student tutors at the Writing Center, a kid I've had almost no interaction with at all, randomly walked up to me and said, "Has anyone ever told you that you sound and look a lot like Seth Rogan?" I kneecapped him, but I guess it's better than being mistaken for Drew Carey.