Annie Kapur

As we hit "Dylan in a Day" part twenty, I would just like to take this milestone to cover twenty famous real-life figures in Bob Dylan songs. These people have to be referenced by name, mentioned at least once in the song and nothing else is needed of them. If they are overtly analysed then good for them, but if they are just used as a symbol then that's alright too.

Of course, you probably know me very well for invading Vocal with my film studies stuff and articles entitled ‘a filmmaker’s guide’. I have often explained that I love to bake as well. Since I was young, I have loved the idea, the creativity and the relaxation of baking different things. I love to make macarons, layer cakes and gingerbread in particular and the activity of it really gets me away from my laptop (where I’m sure you know that I spend most of my life). So, I hope you enjoy me talking about what I bake and why I bake it complete with pictures (if not very good) of me actually baking, my baked goods in the process of being created and when they’re finished. I’m really happy to share this with you. And if you like, you can show me your baking (yes, I spend a lot of time writing, but I also spend a lot of time reading other people’s articles!), I would love to see it. Since I was in school, I was always interested in creating things, whether that be pieces of writing, welding things to make small statues or baking foods and making sweets (candy, if you’re American). I hope you enjoy looking at some of the stuff that has honestly kept me sane, because I seem to be going slightly mad.

In this article, we will be looking at 2019’s book “1001 Movies to See Before You Die” and going through each film in a random order that I have chosen. We will be looking at what constitutes this film to be on the list and whether I think this film deserves to be here at all. I want to make perfectly clear that I won’t be revealing details from this book such as analyses by film reporters who have written about the film in question, so if you want the book itself you’ll have to buy it. But I will be covering the book’s suggestions on which films should be your top priority. I wouldn’t doubt for a second that everyone reading this article has probably watched many of these movies anyway. But we are just here to have a bit of fun. We’re going to not just look at whether it should be on this list but we’re also going to look at why the film has such a legacy at all. Remember, this is the 2019 version of the book and so, films like “Joker” will not be featured in this book and any film that came out in 2020 (and if we get there, in 2021). So strap in and if you have your own suggestions then don’t hesitate to email me using the address in my bio. Let’s get on with it then.

Eileen Chang's novels are somewhat always tinged with something of sadness and tragedy that is very real and this is rejection. The rejection of the love story between two people by other characters just feels so real and feels so intense that you do feel like you are partaking in this one, single moment. Throughout the rest of the book, these two people try to get back to each other almost "Romeo and Juliet" style. There is also something deeply intimate about the way in which the descriptions are written. When I say this, I mean the way the atmospheres are described to us, the way in which the characters seem to move almost either in real time, or much slower. When these two people are apart, time moves slower, when the rejection happens, time seems almost painfully slow and things happen in concordance to how the atmosphere depicts them. If they are most intense, the passage of time slows down to the point of it almost stopping at this absolutely terrifying, intimate and painful moment.

In this chapter of ‘the filmmaker’s guide’ we’re actually going to be learning about literature and film together. I understand that many of you are sitting in university during difficult times and finding it increasingly hard to study and I understand that many of you who are not at university or not planning on it are possibly stuck of what to do, need a break or even need to catch up on learning film before you get to the next level. This guide will be brief but will also contain: new vocabulary, concepts and theories, films to watch and we will be exploring something taboo until now in the ‘filmmaker’s guide’ - academia (abyss opens). Each article will explore a different concept of film, philosophy, literature or bibliography/filmography etc. in order to give you something new to learn each time we see each other. You can use some of the words amongst family and friends to sound clever or you can get back to me (email in bio) and tell me how you’re doing. So, strap in and prepare for the filmmaker’s guide to film studies because it is going to be one wild ride.

Sam Selvon's works is always pretty great and the first book I ever read by him was "The Lonely Londoners" when I was in my first year of my undergraduate degree. But truthfully, his books dropped off my radar until now when I discovered this number - "Moses Ascending". Here's the story without spoilers: a Black-British man is a landlord and goes to meet his tenants who are also Black and British. What he finds there is not just a normal tenancy, this is not "Tenants of Moonbloom" sh- instead, this is a microcosm for a revolution. Power politics, freedom speeches, gatherings, migrants and Black Panthers gather in the rooms that this landlord owns and each and every one of them has a plan to break the narrative against them.