Today, I went the a few friends to see a movie. After a long time arguing we settled on "Knowing" with Nicolas Cage.
I thought the movie started out good, but jumped off the deep end of Si-Fi in the last 45min. I won't ruin the movie if you planned to see it, with details, so I'll give a brief overview.
The end of the world is predicted, but this time no one can stop it.
That's all you need to know.
The movie took on a thriller feel with a real life, or at least plausible, story. Then the producers let their imaginations run wild and got carried away with the special effects.
I didn't care for it, but talking to others who have seen it, the responses varied (like with any other movie).
I know the post is late, but I didn't realize we had to complete an entry over the week we had off. I was busy that week with the project for this class, and my history class. I won't go into this classes project as that will be shown later. However, the topic for history could be related back to this class. I am looking into how history is taught; basically one-sided. An example would be, how students are taught about WWII from the American side, and rarely the German side. Apparently the unwritten rule was, the winner got to tell the story. It wasn't until very recently, historians have gone back and started look at history differently. This could relate to this class (or at least my project for this class) in how historians are starting to develop their own literacy; understand fully what is going on underneath the big picture. Kind of like media literacy.
It has been a busy week for me, so I haven't had time to watch much television or be on the Internet. However I took time off to read, which is something I haven't done in a while. The book is called Shantahram. The man who wrote it lived these events but wrote the book as a novel. He escaped from prison to live in Bombay, India where the book takes place. Here, he learns to let go of his dark past and live in the present. The first line of the book is "It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while i was chained to a wall and being tortured." Surprisingly the book has a lot of subtle spiritual aspects to it. Something many people could benefit from. Check it out. I'm only half way through it, but I love it so far. It's written by Gregory David Roberts and published in 2003 in Australia and New Zealand.
The company "Mattel" is the toy company that has had the recalls in children's toys in the recent past years.
The toys were made in China and said to have magnets that the kids could choke on, as well as lead based paint. The skull and cross bones is the universal 'Toxic waste' sign. Barbie, PollyPocket, and many other toys or products for infants were among those things that were recalled.
Last semester, I worked back stage for the play 'Raised in Captivity'. For the most part we had nothing to do, so we were on Youtube all the time. One of the girls is really into the Hiphop style of dance, and had a whole list of videos. I couldn't remember any of the names, so while searching I came across this one. I tried to find a better one, but could not.
The quality it not good, but the show had to be amazing (if the people in the audience didn't have the flashes on their cameras on!). These dancers used black lights to make their show unique. They look to be good dancers but their use of lighting made it even more interesting to watch. (The reason I chose to do a dance video this week is because Dance CoMotion is has their semester performance April 9-11.) Instead of using just white gloves, they also use masks and poles to add to it. Hope you enjoy!
Well, since I mentioned Rent in the reaction essay, I thought it would a good idea to elaborate on it (and throw in a clip). Later, the actors mentioned are pointed out as they appear in the clip. The clip is from the movie, but has at least five of the original cast members (from the Broadway version) playing the same characters. "Seasons of Love" is the opening song, and the tune can be heard throughout the movie.
Rent was written in the 90's by Jonathan Larson. Larson tragically died during the final dress rehearsals and never saw it on stage. It opened off Broadway but gained popularity and became the seventh longest running show.
The story is set in New York during the AIDS epidemic in the 80's. With eight main characters, their stories intertwine. Mark (on far end) is a film producer, Rodger (between Tom and Joanne) is a musician and is HIV+, Tom (sings second solo) is a computer teacher looking for work also HIV+, Benjamin (on Mimi's right) is a landlord and the only one to leave the group. Joanne (curly haired soloist) is a lawyer and Maureen's love, Angel (on left of Mark) is a HIV+ transvestite and Tom's love, Mimi (first close up) is a exotic dancer with AIDS. She falls for Rodger and is a drug addict. Finally there is Maureen (the redhead) who is a performer.
The movie takes place in the course of a year. During that time, Mark and Tom find work, Rodger writes his final song, Maureen and Joanne get married, Angel dies and Mimi nearly loses the battle to drugs. It is a musical, so be warned, but the singing and dancing is great (one of my favorites).
I found this documentary to be interesting. I did not know a lot about homosexuality in Hollywood and didn’t really pick up on its lack thereof. The only movie (that I can think of or have seen) is Rent that has both a gay and a lesbian couple. However; going along with the theme of being portrayed in a negative light, the gay couple are both HIV+. To counter act that or make it easier for the audience to deal with, the straight couples in the film are HIV+ as well; one even has the AIDS virus. Of course this play/movie was written in the 90’s and set in the 80’s during the AIDS epidemic in New York City.
Being in and around the Theatre since the sixth grade, a large population is either homosexual or a transvestite; in fact a few of my friends are. It has never bothered me, but the documentary pointed out how hard it is for them to find acceptance both in society and within themselves (which I found sad). I guess if you’re comfortable with who you are, the rest of the world should not matter.
It also made me laugh that Hollywood made a Production Code and censored themselves. I have a friend who is big on fighting censorship, but I always point out who does the censoring; the Catholic Church (not something I’m proud of as a Catholic) along with other religious groups (mostly Catholics though…) and the actual producers/writers themselves.
Born and raised in Brighton, Colorado.
Graduated in 2008, from Holy Family High School.
Plan on getting degrees in english and history for secondary education.
