Its that time of year here at Fordham-Midterm season. So, unfortunately, I will be posting even more slowly than I have been for the past few days. Everything will be back up and running next week though with new posts,..

Snowy Hustle and Bustle around Bryant Park

Happy Belated Mardi Gras y'all.

Last night, I went with a few friends to Fordham's bootleg screening of Oscar nominee, "Babel." I came into it thinking that I had too much work to be sitting there, but that maybe its current events-y aura and Brad Pitt would make it a worthwhile two hours. I came out thinking that the movie had definitely surpassed my expectations. It transports you from desert and rocky landscapes in Morocco to the visually stunning city of Tokyo, and a rambunctious wedding in Mexico. These locations provide the stage for the struggles of an American tourist couple, a poor shepherding family, a caring nanny, and a deaf teenage girl. These vignettes are delicately woven together, showing the interconnectedness of a globalizing world, yet each "life situation" is so radically estranged from the other. These differences set up one of the major ideas of the film, that of miscommunication (referencing the biblical story of the Tower of Babel) and willful misunderstanding due to cultural, ethnic, and language barriers as well as those posed by personal disabilities. The continuity in the music also struck me. The guitar strings slowly plucked became the film's constant, melancholy symphony, giving voice to the characters' desperation. Babel contains unexpectedly poignant moments and examples of cooperation based on a shared sense of humanity, rather than nationality. It also confronts prevalent issues of immigration policy, adolescent sexual pressures, and Western mistrust of Islamic countries. This description may sound uncannily similar to last year's best picture, "Crash," with its themes of racial tensions and multiple storylines. However, Crash pales in comparison in my opinion. Babel more subtly presents the challenges each character faces and how he or she copes, without personal rants about their problems like those acted by Ludacris in Crash. It also puts its story within a wider, global framework. Anyways, there's my two thumbs up and wordy two cents worth. Babel gets my vote for an Oscar.

Friday Rush Hour

Music in Motion

With these new beginnings and all, I decided to get an account on YouTube.com. So, this post is devoted to select moments I've caught on tape from this past semester. These first short clips were taken at the Roseland Ballroom for my first Jamie Cullum concert. I went on my birthday with my brother, Mike, and needless to say, I had a blast. Others include Switchfoot and Hadag Nachash, an Israeli hip-hop group. The picture above was from another great concert, Carbon Leaf at Irving Plaza. http://youtube.com/watch?v=Qud0PZ0VUfY : "Next Year" http://youtube.com/watch?v=fvsUQDPv97Y : his "Frontin" cover

http://youtube.com/watch?v=yDvjBncjzdE : Stars

http://youtube.com/watch?v=XG-M1FI8gx8 : Learning to Breathe

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ntyM4eYCclc : To Move

Hi! My name is...

Greetings! I'm Elizabeth, currently a freshman at Fordham University in the Bronx, NY. As the title of this blog suggests, my move from suburban Maryland to New York has placed me into an entirely new world, with a fresh set of challenges and surprises. The city is slowly educating me on its style, its pace, language, subway trains, secrets, and endless opportunities for exploration. I want to share the highlights of my experience and education here primarily through my photographs. I am supplementing my flickr account with this blog to try to up the presentation of my pictures. Regretably, I cannot guarantee stable and frequent updates, but I'm gonna try my hardest. Any further comments would be appreciated. My email is bdausch55@yahoo.com. Thanks for visiting and enjoy!