Hello!

How is your Christmas? I hope you enjoy it and you spend time on reading books instead of studying, just like me. All of my family members are huge bibliophiles, so there are always lots of books among our Christmas gifts. This year I got a great compendium about one of my favourite Tarantino's movies: "Pulp Fiction. Wszystko o kultowym filmie Quentina Tarantino" by Jason Bailey. I've already read a half, so I can tell that it's a very detailed and quite well-written study. It includes not only research on Pulp fiction, but also many information about Tarantino's life, other movies of him and references to other directors and their work.

Those of you who are interested in movies surely know than even the best productions are full of little mistakes, and even Pulp fiction isn't free of them. I post here a translation of some examples given in Bailey's book:

1. Execution in the Brett's apartment. When Jules and Vincent are shooting to Brett, both of them empty their clips. Then Tarantino go back to this scene in the beginning of another sequence (The Bonnie situation). Jules and Vincent empty their clips, but when "the fourth guy" comes out from a bathroom, they shoot again.

2. In the same particular scene Jules and Martin are talking to Marvin (before the guy from the bathroom appears). The wall is full of holes from shooting which, actually, haven't been shot yet.

3. There's a mistake in a famous adrenaline injection scene. Mia wakes up rapidly with a syringe in her heart. But wait... Where's the red point that Vincent put in her chest before?

4. A scene at the end of the prologue, just before the "Misirlou" and the credits. Honey-Bunny says: "Any of you, fucking pricks, move, and I'll execute every motherfucking last one of you!". When Tarantino returns to this scene in The Bonnie situation, she says: "Any of you, fucking pricks, move, and I'll execute every one of you motherfuckers". According to Tarantino, it wasn't a mistake but a deliberated effect, which he used to show that everyone remembers the same situation in a different way.

Have you already written to Santa Claus?

Hello!

Today I'd like to evoke one of the most important and inspiring figure in my life - Susan Sontag. For those of you who haven't heard of her yet (I hope everybody has!), she was an American writer, essayist, filmmaker and political activist. She was considered one of the most influential critics of her generation, a statement which I totally agree with.

I decided to talk about her because, first of all, I can't believe that I haven't done it yet, and secondly, my second half and I couldn't wait for Christmas (again) and we've already exchanged gifts a week ago and I got the first part of Sontag's diaries, which has made me happier than Cervantes' 'Exemplary Novels' that I had been expecting (believe me, that already means something!).

If you haven't done it yet, read Sontag because she combined everything that I admire in an intellectual - erudition, intelligence, sensitivity, charisma and a colorful personality. And she really did care about the world, which is very rare these days.

Here is the trailer to a great documentary about Susan Sontag by Nancy Kates (2014):

Hi! 

I'm in a very difficult moment of my life, facing a decision about adopting a cat. There are many pros but also many (or even more) cons, which make me very confused. I cannot make up my mind, so I've come up with an idea to make a list of all possible advantages and disadvantages of introducing a new family member and see if it helps. 

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1. Cats can be sweet as... hell.

2. There are lots of cats in animal shelters which need a nice, warm house and a loving family to spoil them. You cannot change the whole world, but you can change life of one being and that's already something.

3. Cats don't need to go out to complete their digestive process, so you don't have to have a huge garden to make them feel fully comfortable (I think that dogs are better even in a tiny apartment in a skyscraper than in any animal shelter, but they are far better in a house).

4. Cats live longer than many other pets.

5. Cats are warm and many of them tend to turn into a nice living heating devices.

6. Cats are extremely clean.

7. And also clever. 

8. Cats don't speak so you can tell them everything and they won't repeat it in the kindergarten and make you feel embarrassed because of some uncomfortable details of your personal life. 

9. Cats don't bark (I love dogs, but they can bark as crazy little monsters). 

10. Cats don't need so much attention so they don't look at you and make you feel like the cruelest person in the world when you have to leave for 10 minutes. 

But on the other hand...

1. They do need some attention so you cannot leave them for a whole day because they would be bored and sad.

2. Cats don't need to run 10 miles to feel happy but a 30-square meter apartment may be not enough for them.

3. Cats are not vegans. They love meat. Especially when you serve it with meat. And season it with some meat.

4. Cats, just as any other pets, get sick sometimes and need to go to a vet. And sometimes they need to have someone to take care of them at home, but there's no sick leave for a cat care. (I hope one day it will change.) 

5. Most of the cats have fur. And they like to get rid of it. You know what I mean, right? 

6. Even if you love your other half more than you always thought you'd be able to, you have to be aware that one day you might get an emotional divorce and you'll have to divide everything you've accumulated by that moment and decide who takes what ("Was it your fork? What about this book? NO, it wasn't a gift. I don't want this lamp, it was from your aunt and it's disgusting."), including animals. Well, that's serious. 

Well, as you can see, it seems that there are more pros, but the truth is that it's not enough to compare numbers. We mustn't forget that animals are living, sensitive and consciouss beings, not objects, toys or ornament of our houses. Some of my friends think that I take it too serious, but that's what I call responsibility. What are your opinions? 

Well, I'm glad I wrote this post, although it didn't help at all. Eventually, I will have to make up my mind, but meanwhile you can enjoy a nice Ted-Ed video about cats.