Date: 25 August 2008 12:18:47
My, how hard it is to get going. So many things can capture my attention to draw me away from various uni assessments.
Persepolis was one such distraction: but what a fine distraction it was. To me, proof that the "latest and greatest" animation is not needed for a moving, challenging and downright side-splitting story. Had anyone suggested an animated film on Iranian fundamentalism could be as moving and heart-felt as this one was, I would not have believed them. But it truly was -- and so much more. A great character, and voicing, by Chiara Mastroianni as Marji, and a superb supporting cast including the wonderful Catherine Deneuve as her mother, Danielle Darrieux as her grandmother, and Simon Abkarian as her father.
I also postponed any assessment work last night by watching the DVD of Girl with a Pearl Earring. Slow and ponderous, but I think that made it the enjoyable film I found it to be -- the slow unfolding of the story seemed to mirror the slow progress of a great painting. I thought the cast performances, Scarlett Johansson in particular, were superb, as were the sets, cinematography and music. I have not read the book so I cannot compare, bit I enjoyed this film far more than I had expected -- I had rented it merely as something to watch.
Back to the assessments, and one assessment which calls louder than the rest is my 25 minute presentation tomorrow night on my research for the second assessment for the subject Advanced Project Management. We were able to choose from a number of topic areas, and even choose our own research statement -- which is far more difficult than what you may imagine. The research paper is not particularly long [3,500 to 4,000 words]: I have no fear I can get that out -- it's keeping it to that limit which will be the problem. The topic I chose was "Project management and culture" and, after several false starts, my research statement is "Culturally-diverse teams do not of themselves guarantee success in multi-country projects."
Culture, particularly ethnic rather than corporate, appealed to me as it is an area I am generally interested in in life anyway. And I believe it will be interesting to consider how the difficulties, as well as the benefits, that arise in multi-country projects. I am also hoping to discover a bit about how, in general, different cultures approach project work. The question was a bit harder to narrow-down, but some preliminary research indicated to me that cultural differences are significant factors in projects spread over more than one country, and it seemed like a statement I could argue. Of course, as I research [this paper is not due for another two months] I may find this changes; thankfully we can change our statement as needed.
I decided to throw my hat into the ring for the first night of presentations -- get it out of the way is my motto when it comes to presentations. I can hope for a bit of first-night leniency perhaps, as well as knowing that as we are early into the semester, the amount of research I need to demonstrate is not as large as it would be should I do my presentation in, say, four or five weeks. We shall see how it goes. My PowerPoint presentation is almost done, and I pretty much know what I will say -- 20 minutes, plus 5 for questions, shouldn't be too much drama for my chatty self.
I have the first assessment for Advanced Project Management due next Tuesday evening and the first assessment for my other subject, Systems Quality Assurance due the following Wednesday evening. Would it surprise you to hear that, though I've thought of and know a bit of what I will write, I actually haven't as yet started writing?