More cinematic lit.

One of my favorite films we have watched in class so far is Say Anything. It's a film with melodramatic elements. But it was also the first one we watched in color. Also I love the realistic plot line. An average boy, Lloyd, likes the popular, smart girl and he does whatever he can to get a date with her, which includes calling her house until she agrees to a date. However, the Diane, the girl, is leaving to go to college far away and Lloyd only has the summer to be with her. They spend all of their time together and Lloyd falls in love with her. But Diane pushes him away so she doesn't have to leave him later on. Also there is a problem with Diane's father's money and she ends up finding out something that gets her father in trouble. It's a really good movie and kind of a modern take on a love story because not everything turns out perfect. Also this is the film with the iconic image of the boy standing outside the girls house holding the stereo. Say Anything has melodramatic elements that sometimes make you laugh when you shouldn't. In some scenes the music is so dramatic that it is a little funny. But overall I really liked this film.



The Big Sleep is a different kind of genre, it is a Film Noir. In this film the flawed hero (Philip Marlowe) and detective attempts to solve the murder of Sean Regan and falls in love with the sister of the murderer. All of the elements that are in a Film Noir is what made this movie great. There is the specific use of lighting that sets the mood for certain scenes, the dialogue is short and funny with wise jokes that make you stop and think, and the dark side of nature is displayed well. The only problem with this film is that to me all of the characters looked very similar. It was a little hard to keep up with who had been killed or who was talking at the time. But this film has a great end, the mystery gets solved and Marlowe gets rid of the bad guy with out having to kill him himself.



L.A. Confidential was another great film, but this only contained the elements of a Film Noir. In this movie the character who really stood out was Bud White (Russell Crowe). He is a police officer against domestic violence, because of how he was raised, and sometimes does impulsive things to stop the violence. White and Ed Exley, the cop turned detective who plays by the rules, wind up working together to solve the Nite Owl murders and the movie star looking prostitute scam. This film had a lot of action and a kind of happy ending. The Veronica Lake look alike ends up helping White even though it gets her in trouble at the same time. Once again the only thing wrong with this film was that there were so many characters. It was hard to keep track about who had been murdered and by who. Bud White and Ed Exley were the main characters who stuck out to me because they are introduced closer to the beginning and have really distinct personalities. I would definitely watch this movie again if I had the chance.

The last movie we just watched was Casablanca. When I first saw this movie I hated it. I was bored and it didn't make any sense. But the second time I watched it in class I actually kind of liked it. Humphrey Bogart plays Rick Blaine, the owner of a night club for higher class people in Casablanca. Everyone is escaping the Germans and are getting stuck in Casablanca. In the film, Ingrid Bergman plays the character Ilsa Lund, a woman who had a short romance with Rick. Rick and Ilsa were supposed to board a train together to get away from German rule, but she never showed up and just left a note saying they couldn't be together. The next time she and Rick meet is when she walks into Rick's club. This film is a bit of a love story and also a melodrama. In a lot of the scenes the music plays a big part to make you feel a certain way and is sometimes over dramatic. It's a classic and is referenced in a lot of other shows and many quotes are famous. Everyone should see this film at least once in their life.

Cinematic Lit.

So this year I'm taking a class called cinematic literacy and it's great! The teacher is a lot of fun and I just like the class in general. It helps me to broaden my genres of movies and to see older films that I might not have seen otherwise. So far we've watched a lot of films and I'm going to talk about them and share my opinions. Maybe some of you will decide to see some of these films as well.


The first film we watched was Modern Times. It's a silent film and it was my first time seeing a silent film. However, there was some dialogue in the film but it only came out of machines. I loved it! This film was really entertaining and it kept my interest and not just because it was silent and I had to pay attention to understand. In general it was just comical and fun. A "tramp" who works at a factory is always in the wrong place at the wrong time. He ends up losing his job and being sent to a mental hospital for being crazy. When he gets out of the hospital he finds himself in constant unlucky situations that land him in jail and running from the police. Throughout the film he meets and falls in love with a girl and does everything he can to protect her. And even when the times are bad, the tramp is still optimistic and in the end he is still hopeful. I liked this film a lot and the music plays a big role. It takes the place of dialogue and so it has emotion to the music. Also the comedy is childish and obvious. There aren't any jokes that you have to sit and think about.

Another film we watched was Mr. Smith Goes to Washington which is considered a melodrama. A boy ranger leader is elected to be part of the congress and so he goes to Washington. Mr. Smith, being an average guy, is blown away with all the sights in Washington DC and in the film he stands up for himself and the other boy rangers. He wants to build a camp for the boys and goes on a filibusterous rant to prove his point and eventually wins. It was a decent film. It wasn't anything special to me though. There were a few funny parts, such as when the boy rangers were being chased after for their papers near the end. But really there's not much to say about this film. It was okay but I don't think I would want to watch it again on my own time. The music in the film is used to create a certain feeling in the viewer and the camera angles do the same, causing the film to be a melodrama.

The Philadelphia Story is a film about a high class woman who had divorced her husband is now about to remarry. Everything is fine until the ex-husband returns and brings reporters to write a bad story about Tracy Lord (the woman). Lord ends up in a love with three men: her ex-husband, the reporter, and her fiancee George Kittedge. It's a film with a strong woman who is torn between three men and trying to keep everything a secret. However, she doesn't do to well when she has too much to drink and ends up taking a late night swim with the reporter and her fiancee catches her. This film has a lot of twists and turns and an unexpected ending. You will never guess who she ends up marrying at the end, and I didn't even know until the last minute. This is not one of my favorite movies, Tracy Lord was a bit annoying to me. The strength she has at the beginning completely disappears by the end and she becomes a mess. At the end she just seems so over dramatic and the once strong woman is now desperate and trying to hard to have her wedding not be cancelled.

Salad Fingers

When I'm hanging out with my friends and bored, usually we turn to You Tube. There are always random crazy videos to find on there that will give you a good laugh and can be used as inside jokes. Recently me and my friends were introduced to Salad Fingers. The name is weird enough, but it sound some what bright and happy. I mean whats better then salad, you can't really turn it into anything bad, or so I thought. But the video series is the complete opposite. It's a funny series but also beyond creepy.

Watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuCw5k-Lph0

First of all, every episode has a random story line that makes no sense. In this video Salad Fingers started off having his "friends" over. This soon led to Salad Fingers tasting his friends. It's really creepy. Then he tricks a kid to get in his over and dreams about raw meat. Let me just say this is the most bizarre episode in the series and the others aren't as eerie. But who came up with this plot? The creators website thing says he's 27 years old. Why is a 27 year old sitting at home making creepy videos about salad?

The funny thing about Salad Fingers is that his dialect is so proper it makes the videos even more creepy. On top of that throughout all the videos there is crackly eerie music playing in the background. It's the kind of music that can make anything seem scary. Plus the sound effects just add to it. The sound you here when Salad Fingers moves is like sand paper or something. The whole thing is just crazy and random.


I always feel bad for those people who put videos on You Tube that aren't really funny at all, they just don't have anything better to do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qYY06KD_Zg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYW6C44zo24

All I have to say is WHY? I would definitely not want a video of myself sitting on the toilet all over You Tube. That's just a little weird. I mean are you really so bored you have to put videos of your personal life for the whole world to see?
Chapstick girl is pushing it to. That's just like forcing yourself to be funny and it just comes off as annoying. Her other video called Invasion is just her trying to hard to. She is trying to be funny but you only end up laughing because it's so stupid and sad that she really has nothing to do but run around her yard hitting things. I feel bad for people because now those videos will always be around.

The final thing I'd like to rant about the stupid things people do online is Chat Roulette. The idea is great: get a bunch of friends around a web cam and just meet new people and have fun. But honestly a lot of it is kind of sketchy and creepy. People go on there by themselves which I think is kind of weird because it doesn't seem like much fun. THEN, you get the creepy middle aged men on by themselves trying to make "friends". It's really sketchy and I don't recommend doing it by yourself because people might get the wrong idea. Most the people who go on there alone are doing gross dirty things that no one wants to see.

Another reason why the internet shouldn't be for young kids.

Vat19.com

So the other day I was just sitting at home watching TV and I kept seeing the same commercial over and over again. It was for Vat19.com. I thought it looked pretty cool and so recently I went online and checked it out. In the commercial it said it was the website for curiously awesome gifts, and it's kind of a true statement.
First let me just say, they have some pretty cool and weird things, but what would you do with them?!

Giant Gummy Bear... On a Stick

What is the reason for this giant gummy bear... on a stick. Yeah it's pretty fun and would be funny to give as a gift, but why? It's like 88 times the size of a normal gummy bear, which means it's like buying 88 small gummy bears for like ten dollars. It would be cheaper to buy the little gummy bears. But of course not as cool! Who wouldn't want a giant gummy bear on a stick! It tastes even better then the little ones! Also available: World's Largest Gummy Bear!

Mini Shopping Cart Office Caddy

This Barbie doll sized shopping cart is perfect for your pens and pencils! In the commercial for it, it says you can even put candy in it! Plus they stack like real shopping carts! Honestly, this seems more like a gift for a little girl to use with dolls. The wheels actually roll, what if all the sudden your office supplies start to roll away. Then what are you going to do?

Beer Pouch Sweatshirt with Hood

Finally! A sweatshirt that can hold my beer and keep me warm! Surprisingly, it's very useful! You can fix your car without ever putting down your drink. Not old enough for beer? Don't worry! The pocket is perfect size for water bottles and soda cans! Now you can do anything you want and never go thirsty!

Insta Snow Powder

To cold to play in the snow outside? It's okay because now that there's Insta Snow Powder, you can have the fun of winter without the cold. What a great idea! Plus, it doesn't melt and will last for weeks! Make sure your moms okay with the blizzard in the living room... and be careful sledding down the stairs.

Now don't get me wrong, these are really fun ideas. But I just don't know what you would do with most of them. I don't think that a drink holding sweatshirt is really practical. Like you can't really run around and play a sport with that, it would spill every where. But this would be a good funny gift to a friend, but only as a joke.

I like gummy bears, but I don't think I would want a giant one. It's just so much gummy bear! I wouldn't want to eat it either. It would stay wrapped up and on display in my house. I know it says it's on a stick so you can eat it easier, but it would be better not on a stick.

I don't know anyone who would want snow in their backyard in the summer, and you probably shouldn't use insta snow in your house. It would be better used for a prank. Like if you wanted to play a joke on your friend, while they're sleeping just fill their bedroom with insta snow. They will definitely wake up confused, and a little worried.

The shopping cart caddy is cute, but it's just another thing to distract you from work! I would be to busy racing shopping carts or rolling it around on my desk that i probably wouldn't get any work done. It's more of a toy then a supply caddy.

Snow Days and Movies

So this week we had a snow day, which would have been fun if I was allowed to go somewhere. But according to my parents, the roads were to bad for me to leave the house. So I had plenty of time to watch some movies. I know they've been out for a while but i finally watched The Other Boleyn Girl and 500 Days of Summer.

The Other Boleyn Girl started off a good movie, but it got worse and worse. I like the kind of movies set in the renaissance with the old fashion clothing. Also the drama is kind of old fashion in a way. The way the girls compete with each other is cruel and not something you see in a movie today. Also the language that is used is not like curse words but they still have the same effect. Anne Boleyn pretty much banishes her sister so that she can take her spot and marry the king. Her sister had a baby with the king but is viewed as a whore because they were not married and the king was still married to his previous wife. But after all Anne gets, she still wants more power and ends up just causing trouble for herself. The king who is no her husband hates her and now only wants her so she can produce a male heir. He abuses her and rapes her, and the relationship they have is very cold and just getting more violent. When Anne miss carries she does something horrible to try and keep it a secret, because if the king knows he will send her away or find another girl. Anne ends up getting caught for the horrible thing she does and is convicted of treason and is beheaded along with her brother. Not the kind of movie I really expected. I wasn't aware that it was going to end horribly and there wasn't really any happy ending at all. The first half of the film was great but the end was pretty bad. I don't really recommend seeing this movie. But now it makes me want to read the book to see if it was better. According to Aloma, it's an R rated book, which i guess kind of reflects the movie.

I also watched 500 Days Of Summer (Recommended by Aloma). I loved this movie! The girl who plays Summer (Zooey Deschanel) was the same girl who played in Yes Man, also a really good movie. Anyways... I love how she acts, she seems like she tries to be serious but it just comes off as hilarious! The plot is not a love story, and it is even said by the narrator at the beginning. In the movie, Tom meets a girl named Summer at the greeting card office he works at. They start to be friends and Tom falls in love with Summer, even though she warned him that she didn't want a relationship. SPOILER ALERT! Eventually, Summer "breaks up" with Tom and they go their separate ways. Later on, Tom meets back up with Summer and goes to a party she's hosting, only to realize that she's getting married and still isn't interested in him. In the end Tom realizes that there is not one person he will love and that his soul mate might still be out there. By the way, this all happens within 500 days of Tom's life. It seems like a lot happens in these 500 days and it's not really realistic. Tom meets a girl, dates a girl, they break up, she gets married, Tom quits his job, starts sketching to be an architect, interviews for a job, and meets a new girl. Every thing happens kind of fast but it's still a really good movie.

This was a really good movie and shows a different kind of love story where the boy doesn't get his girl in the end, but still has a good lesson to the movie.