Double words.

Recently, my flatmates and I have abandoned conventional communication...and instead just repeat the same words over and over until our intended meaning is conveyed.

Pour example...

Are you going out? Or out-out? Do i need to get changed... or are we not going out-out? ..."Out" refers to sitting in a pub, playing pool, or perhaps dinner. "Out-out" means wearing a dress and or heels and ending up in the Union. "Out-out-out" is a term reserved for special occasions like birthdays or end of exams where the following day is usually a write off.

Another frequent usage is in the library... Are you going upstairs? Or upstairs-upstairs? ...We could use the traditional "first floor/second floor"

terminology, but working this out would use up valuable revision brain power. The decision in the upstairs or upstairs-upstairs debate usually has something to do with how many of our collective ex-flames we can avoid. Gotta love living in a small town. (Y)

My current favourite is the word Gay. Now, being a group of liberal, intelligent and (for the most part) mature women - I know it is terrible that we use this word as a derogatory term. But hey, shit happens. When we use the word "gay" ...generally we aren't referring to a homosexual person. We are instead to referring to a man who has pissed us off. To qualify as "gay"... a man must have done at least one of the following things.....

1.) Sent stupid gay game playing text messages.

2.) Disagreed with anything we have ever said or done.

3.) Not liked us back.

4.) Been ridiculously hot, without having the courtesy to know we exist.

5.) Not understood our subtext.

6.) Passed up casual sex. (With us - Not in general.)

7.) Had a girlfriend who is under 9 stone.

8.) Lacked the testicles to make the first move.

9.) Not had an accent.

10.) Generally, not been a vampire.

We have theorized as to why it is so satisfying to label them in this way, and have come to the conclusion that it's probably because it's the last thing these type of men would want to be called.

Now because of our own special use of this word....we have a problem when trying to communicate that someone is actually homosexual. Again repetition is the answer. Mr Big is "gay" ....whereas Stanford is "gay-gay." Easy peasy.

It's the future. 

Avatar

As of Monday exams were well and truly over (wooooooooooooooop), so last night we could finally justify spending a good three hours watching James Cameron's epic "Avatar." After getting over the initial vomit inducing feeling of watching moving 3D images on a massive hangover...it really was a bewitching experience.

Avatar is one of the most - if not the most - visually stunning films of all time. The scenes in Pandora... the forest, the trees and the creatures are irresistibly seductive. Cameron's world is like an entirely purple, futuristic Rivendell (but where the elves are blue and sparkle like vampires.) You become effortlessly immersed in the story, and begin to care about the characters without much hesitation. In fact, Avatar has all the ingredients of an absolute masterpiece. Yet somehow...it just falls short of reaching the dizzy heights of Gladiator, Lord of the Rings or Cameron's own Titanic. It is certainly an incredible epic, and a modern great, but... (not from lack of trying)... it fails to become a member of that very exclusive club.

It's becasue the film simply tries to do too much. Cameron throws in key themes from just about every iconic fantasy epic that has ever been released. We have the dual world/consciousness motif from the Matrix triology, the role of nature conquering destruction from Tolkien, and I couldn't help being constantly reminded of Disney's Pocohontas throughout the whole thing. As if the whole native versus western invader plot wasn't enough to make that connection - they even start asking a tree for advice.

The scenes between Jake and Neytiri are simply lovely, and their love affair provides a nice relief from the action and explosions. But more than anything they are a very welcomed escape from the film's rather painfully obvious anti-Iraq War propaganda. I think most of the audience was already well aware what type of modern politics Colonel Quaritch was supposed to represent - long before he actually used the words "pre-emptive strike." I am all for subtle allegory, but Cameron goes way too far.

If you aren't a massive special-edition-owning film geek who can spot badly disguised recycled themes... and if you haven't been studying the arts long enough to detect the presence of tedious political commentary, then Avatar may be the best film you've ever seen. For the rest of us, film of the year....maybe?....