Pic 'n' Mix

When you're finally doing the thing you dreamed about doing, when you can concentrate on what you enjoy 'full time' you inevitably start to ask the question , so what can I fit in when and how much?

Once an adult you can never truly feel like a child let loose in a sweet shop again because as adults we're always aware of the sweet shop's closing time and of the finite amount of money in our pockets.

So I've been trying to pick discerningly over the last few weeks what I should do with my precious, ever decreasing few months as a masters student and not give in to the temptation to gorge myself silly so that I end up ill or asleep for the whole of Christmas.

Naturally the course itself has taken up most of my time, more than I thought it would in fact. I think at this level of study you can almost put in as much work as you want, there's always more research to do, more books to read and I'm sure I could find enough to keep me busy for seven days a week if I wanted and probably ensure myself a distinction but ultimately feel I'd wasted my year.

I'm trying to immerse myself in the wider world of my MA subject and I've found that the library has a handy selection of those films that you're supposed to watch before you die, turn 30 or whatever and that I've still not seen. (The Graduate turned out to be a lot more surreal than I expected). I've also been making use of my double discount at the Film House (nearest independent cinema) through virtue of being a member and a student. (And because I was a student they only charged me £5 to become a member!)

Building relationships is something I've been trying to prioritise and not just in terms of networking, although I did have my first script editing session with one of the writers on the course this week which might have sown the seeds for a production next year. Watch this space... My course is actually run in conjunction with the screenwriting masters so there are many more interesting people to get to know than I'd anticipated. For a lot of them their way of socialising seems to involve staying up until the not so early hours of the morning and deciding to join them is a tricky decision as there's always so much I'm hoping to do the following day.

It would be easy enough just to try to have as much fun as possible and potential friends become just people to try out yet another cafe/bar/gallery/cinema with and there are so many places to go in this city I'm sure I won't even have been to 1% of the cafes here by the end of the year. (There's also somewhat of an obsession with sandwich shops here - 3 in a row on Lothian Road!) And they seem to like giving their pubs movie themed names. There's a 'Lebowski's' not far away which I took to be a coincidence at first until I saw the invitation on the sandwich board to "Come in and have a drink with the Dude". The pub nearest to my flat is called 'Carter's' and has a large sketch of Michael Cain above the bar. I feel, as a 'film student' it's my duty to visit there regularly.

There are five cinemas all within walking distance. As well as the Film House there's the shiny plastic Cineworld at Fountain "Park" where the smallest box of popcorn you can buy has now hit £4 but it's close by and my flatmate likes it. There's also the Cameo not much further away set into a parade of shops with a traditional letter by letter billings board out front which I haven't had the pleasure of yet. I don't think I'll ever need to visit the Odeon and as for the Dominion...
I haven't really begun to explore the culture that Edinburgh's actually known for, the castle, the Royal Mile and so on.

I haven't settled on a church yet and I'm still working out how to keep fit (I've just been given a bike - that should help!) During this next week I need to finish my documentary proposal, decide what to do for my market analysis and buy tickets for the rugby at Murrayfield with my Basque friend. (Apparently while the Spanish think it's too hot to play rugby the Basque mainly support the French teams).

The reality is that I can't sleep through Christmas. I need to work and earn some money or my time in the sweet shop is going to be over before Easter. The reality is that I can't take more than one late night in a week without feeling miserable. It's also true that all good things come to an end sooner or later. In the meantime I plan to make the most of my time in the sweet shop.

The Social Network

I can't say I thought this was "the best film I've seen all year" or whatever gushing thing it is the critics are saying about The Social Network but I was impressed.

The story follows what happened when Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg invented the social networking site Facebook in early 2004 while still at college. Anyone who watches the news will at least have heard of Zuckerberg at some point and what fascinated me most about this film was just how they got away with making it. Zuckerberg is still young, he still has a reputation but he also has several billion dollars and he doesn't need the money, so what prompted him to let them expose his law suits, his ex girlfriends and his shocking lack of social skills to the world? But maybe that interests me because I'm a 'film student' and I have to write case studies about such things. As for the rest of the population...

Jesse Eisenberg gives an extremely convincing performance as Zuckerberg right from the brilliantly written opening scene - no establishing shots no landscape just a conversation between Zukerberg and his girlfriend that tells everything we need to know about this guy, including just why so many people wanted to sue him. But the actor manages to make us care about the character too, he lets us see behind the tech-speak, high IQ and perfectionism into Zuckerberg's vulnerability and obsession with cool and ultimately shows that he was just a boy who wanted to be popular - but he still became the worlds youngest billionaire and there we have the hook.

Look out for Justin Timberlake in a surprisngly good performance. I've been told he's already proven himself as a good actor but if you're sceptical like I was watch this film and enjoy being persuaded.

Zuckerberg's irritating geek is played off against his best friend and apparent co-founder of Facebook Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield). Eduardo is so kind, so patient with Zuckerberg, so good looking and so damn nice you wonder if this part of history more than any other has been re-scripted for Hollywood and yet it's this relationship that gives the story it's depth and makes it ultimately a buddy movie of sorts. The film lacks high drama moments, is darly comic but only in places and you feel it could have been more so but ultimately its believable and if the film makers have taken us for a ride and Zuckerberg's real life was so far removed from the film that he just doesn't care then its a damn good ride.

If I spoilt the end by revealing that Zuckerberg makes his billions I'm sorry but if that came as a surprise to you then I'm guessing you're not on Facebook and this film wouldn't make a lot of sense to you anyway. Try 'Vampires Suck' or 'Wall Street', I've heared the're good too. Right, I'm off to post this link on Facebook...