Supply and demand

Have to take a stupid econ class now. Two grad school admissions committees have contacted me saying "You're great, would you be willing to take an intro econ course beforehand *if* you're accepted?" Arrrggh. I avoided this like the plague in the undergrad realm! So I had to write back, saying "Why yes, I've just enrolled in order to brush up on these skills."

So, to escape the coming statistics homework and market-theory analyses, I am taking solace in movies.

Saw The Lives of Others, the German film about an East German playwright under surveillance by the secret police. Great movie.

Good foreshadowing scenes, too (the only available unregistered typewriter in East Germany can only have red ink? And when it smears on one character's fingers, it looks like the blood later smeared on another's? Hmmmm....)

One thing's a little hazy, though, and that's the motive of the Stasi agent for not turning in the playwright. His reasons seem to waver between an awakening appreciation for art, and the fact that through his own loneliness he can live a little through his subjects. But this little uncertainty works well with the rest of the story, since so much of everyone else's behavior is also shrouded in silence and secrecy.

The overall tone is pretty dark, including the colors. Towards the end of the movie, after reunification, the story almost ceases taking place at night or on empty streets. The sky and daylight are shown, and there's even more color, most notably in the graffiti on building walls.

But there are a lot of humorous moments, too. The last 15 minutes are a wonderful combination of tragic, bittersweet, funny, and apropos.

While watching The Madness of King George, I kept thinking about Sir Humphrey from Yes, Minister, because the same actor plays George III. It was an okay film. I spent most of it simultaneously looking up the real-life histories of the female characters online. In more than a few scenes, I was also very grateful that modern medicine doesn't tend to torture patients as much.

Rupert Everett is great as the Prince of Wales and future Regent. I barely recognized him or Helen Mirren underneath the wigs.