School Update

I have been working fairly steadily over the past few weeks, ever since coming back from Ohio, and I am pleased to say that my working is progressing even faster than I had hoped. At this time, I am looking to defend my proposal (essentially a formality) before the end of February and defend my actual thesis either in late April or early May. This would be just in time to come home around May 10th and start looking for an apartment so that Jess and I can finally start our lives together. I can't wait, and I thank everyone who has helped me get through this time.

I plan on starting to look for a job beginning in March. I feel that this is more than enough time for me to find a good job before I come back in May. Even if that doesn't turn out to be the case, at least I'll be starting earlier and the chances will increase as time goes by. After all, I have a master's degree in Archaeology with a minor in a computer-related field. I feel very confident.

Review of "Perfume"

"Perfume: The Story of a Murderer", based off of a best-seller written by Patrick Suskind, was a very strange movie. I'm not sure that I could really say that it was bad as far as movies go. I could definitely tell the care that went into the acting and the cinematography, and there are a couple of well-known actors who are in this movie: Dustin Hoffman and Alan Rickman. However, there were many times where the aberrant behavior (as the ratings disclaimer claimed) was just a little too much for me.

Part psychotic killer, part soft-core pornography, and part strange. As such, "Perfume" is just too difficult to really nail down and put into one specific genre. The story, as far as it goes, revolves around a young man born into squalid surroundings in eighteenth century Paris who just so happens to have the best nose in the world (or at least in London). This is claimed by the protagonist himself at one point in the movie. The psychotic, and rather innocently naive, tendencies soon begin to manifest as he is determined to duplicate every single smell in the entire world and he begins to take scents of young women, which unfortunately for them resolves in their deaths. I can't give much more away without spoiling parts of the movie that might not be immediately obvious from the title or the description on the back of the dvd.

Suffice it to say, this movie is neither horrible or great. It is an experience in and of itself, and for that I cannot say that I regret watching the movie. Indeed, I do seem to keep going back to the movie trying to make sense of it. It is not traditional storytelling at all and as such may be difficult for most to stomach. Additionally, I can imagine that many people would become uncomfortable with the blatant sexuality in evidence throughout the movie. If you are looking for a deeper movie than most at your local video store, then I would recommend this. If anything, you should be talking about it with anyone you watch it with.