Break and recent endeavors: art history, card games, & more

Here’s a recap of how I spent my time over winter break, and some recent interests and undertakings: 

• Religiously completing the New York Times mini crossword

A newfound passion. Since November, I’ve been diligently doing the daily NYT mini (including in slightly inopportune settings, pictured left). It’s pure, bite-sized fun: the clues are simple and few enough to either know off the top of your head or puzzle out on the spot. My friends and I have each other added on the app, so a little leaderboard shows up with everyone’s times; as someone who enjoys a little friendly competition, I’ve been having a great time. My personal record is 13 seconds. 

 

• So many games of cards

When my parents were in college, they spent hours and hours playing cards in a cramped dorm room shared between half a dozen students, often staying up through the night. My dad claims he was the reigning champion. Decades later, I’ve become hooked on a card game Kathryn introduced me to: Sheng ji, tractor, eighty points, whatever you want to call it. It’s entertaining, strategic without being mind-numbing, and a good time all around. 

• Copious amounts of art history

I took an art history course online, but a busy first semester meant I pushed it off until December. Consequently, I spent a good chunk of my winter break watching art history videos, and although I cut it a little closer than I would have liked, everything got done and I had a pretty good time! I’m not usually a huge history fan, but I found that I really enjoyed learning about how art movements interacted with history and delving into significant works and interesting styles. Here are a few I especially liked:

The Stone Breakers, Gustave Courbet. I’m not sure why I like this piece — I think it’s something about the thoughtful composition, how the two subjects are placed in the foreground with little open sky shown, so they feel almost trapped. 

 

The Saint-Lazare Station, Claude Monet. I’m fascinated by the ideas behind Monet’s Impressionist works: that a scene might transform as time passes and the seasons change, and his goal to capture a single, fleeting, transient instant. 

 

The Scream, Edvard Munch. Iconic for a reason. The dreamlike intensity of the work, from the discordant color to the abstract, screaming figure, lends itself to a visceral, evocative piece, one whose overwhelming sense of dread feels both grounded in a certain time and universal. 

 

 

The Kiss, Constantin Brancusi: I just think this one is cute. 

 

 

 

 

• Went to the art institute!

Grace has long been my art, music, culture etc. buddy, and we finally made time to go to the Art Institute together! Highlights include: 

 

 

 

 

 

This cutie I think was part of a sketch collection from the Bridget Riley exhibition,

 

 

 

 

 

 

pure joy at finding a bust of Marcus Aurelius,

 

 

 

 

 

my longtime favorite painting,

 

 

 

 

and actually recognizing works for once, thanks to the art history class — like this Kandinsky.

• Started a lot of books, didn’t finish a ton of them — something to work on

I’m a serial book-starter who isn’t the best at immediately following through, sue me. So many interesting titles, so little time, a slightly fried brain, what’s a girl to do? Here are a few recent undertakings, with varying levels of progress. I will finish these sometime in the next month, I swear. 

• Stoner by John Williams, the existential, quietly moving account of the life of a 20th-century literature professor in Missouri hailed as an underappreciated masterpiece
• Intimacies by Katie Kitamura, a book centered on an interpreter for the International Court in the Hague, featuring one of my favorite types of characters: an unnamed, ennui-afflicted female narrator
• Stay True by Hua Hsu, an immersive and cerebral memoir that delves into how music, culture, friendship, and grief interact with the self through the lens of a Berkeley student in the 90s. Might become my new favorite nonfiction. 
• Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky: “started” in the barest sense of the word. I’m maybe three pages in. 

 

• Watched a lot of movies? Maybe too many movies?

I’m an indecisive person. So are most of my friends. So, when we’re hanging out and have exhausted what little capacity for studying we have left, the question becomes: what should we do now? The easiest answer tends to be a movie, so I made a good amount of trips to Regal. Here’s my lightning-round recap of the movies I watched over break (I’m also including the week after). 

• Zootopia: Watched at Grace’s house. Some of my friends were horrified to find out I’d never seen Zootopia before, and I have to admit this was a great time — fun characters, all-around good story. 
• Puss in Boots: The Last Wish: Did not expect this one to be as good as it was, a great animated film with a lot of heart. 
• The Breakfast Club: Mixed feelings on this, weirdly, but I get why it’s a classic. Killer soundtrack.
• M3GAN: I hate horror movies and dolls, but M3GAN was weirdly funny at times. 
• 3 Idiots: No movie has ever felt longer, but it’s because so much is crammed in to every moment; huge in scope and a really great story.
• 10 Things I Hate About You: New favorite rom-com!! I love Kat Stratford.
• The Nice Guys: Despite getting the two lead characters confused for half of the movie, I thought this was pretty good.
• The Half Of It: Poignant and moving, with a really magical Pacific Northwest setting. 

 

• Rang in the new year

Happy 2023!