To be honest, I had an extremely hard time getting into this movie. It had a story that was lacking and the pure fact that it was a silent film put me right to sleep every time I watched it. This could be due to the fact that I am desensitized by modern movies, however it was lacking in a few things. The set up was drawn out and the conflict between father and son was a bit cliche. The special effects were superb for the time, but all-in-all many scenes could have been cut out to save some time and to make the story more concise.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Hunger Games
This book was had to fall into at first, which could have been completely fashioned to be that way by the author. The whole book, in a sense mimics the narrative created within it. Katniss was hard to fall in love with Peeta much like I was the book. However, once I got into it, it was like I had become love-sick. I couldn't put it down, my heart was racing, it was new and completely unique.
Every successful story has inherent human truths within it (Much like a great advertisement I might add) and this story captured a lot of the emotions within my first love story. At time in the story however, I found my self caught up more in the environment the author created than the characters themselves. The thoughts of force-fields, hovercrafts, and magical flying cameras. Juxtaposed with this Huckle-berry finn vibe that consumed District 12 was baffling. At times I felt myself forcing my mind to resort to the Cowboys V.S. Aliens setting just so I could wrap my mind around it.
However, one of the main questions I came across was, "If they have all of this sweet technology, how is it that their weapons hadn't advanced much past the stone-age?" It perplexed me, why couldn't they be given lazer cannons, tazers, and plasma swords? If the author wanted to keep them as savage as possible, then why give them some sort of advanced night vision moon-glasses?
Once I started to stomach certain variables throughout the book I began to read deeper into the societal segregation, cultural symbols, character archetypes, and over-arching story. I enjoyed the cleverness of placing this within N. America and keeping the world boundaries relatively small, It's almost I could picture it all happening within the size of one state in the Mid-Atlantic region. The hovercrafts reminded me of the jetsons for some reason, the interviews like American Idol stage set-ups in the streets, and the actual event to me was reminiscent of The Most Dangerous Game, or any of these.
I loved the book and look forward to the next one! (The costume descriptions were breath-taking)
Every successful story has inherent human truths within it (Much like a great advertisement I might add) and this story captured a lot of the emotions within my first love story. At time in the story however, I found my self caught up more in the environment the author created than the characters themselves. The thoughts of force-fields, hovercrafts, and magical flying cameras. Juxtaposed with this Huckle-berry finn vibe that consumed District 12 was baffling. At times I felt myself forcing my mind to resort to the Cowboys V.S. Aliens setting just so I could wrap my mind around it.
However, one of the main questions I came across was, "If they have all of this sweet technology, how is it that their weapons hadn't advanced much past the stone-age?" It perplexed me, why couldn't they be given lazer cannons, tazers, and plasma swords? If the author wanted to keep them as savage as possible, then why give them some sort of advanced night vision moon-glasses?
Once I started to stomach certain variables throughout the book I began to read deeper into the societal segregation, cultural symbols, character archetypes, and over-arching story. I enjoyed the cleverness of placing this within N. America and keeping the world boundaries relatively small, It's almost I could picture it all happening within the size of one state in the Mid-Atlantic region. The hovercrafts reminded me of the jetsons for some reason, the interviews like American Idol stage set-ups in the streets, and the actual event to me was reminiscent of The Most Dangerous Game, or any of these.
I loved the book and look forward to the next one! (The costume descriptions were breath-taking)
Oz
Throughout the wizard of Oz reading I kept feeling a surreal sensation. At one time, I had been read this book to me by my mother as a small child. At the other hand I was reading it again during the brink of my adult life. The varying view points have become very different as I have aged and things I once thought scary or whimsical about this book seem to have faded.
The main point to re-reading the book was to seek deeper meaning throughout the text. Looking for ideologies and seeking the main points in the story seemed sort of futile at the time I was reading it because I could not get over the fact that it was created for the entertainment and moral passing to children. Nonetheless, I was able to see that nearly everything in this book has some sort of symbolism behind it and a majority comes from the era it was written in.
Baum contradicts himself numerous times throughout the book but, in a sense, it makes the story that much more human. For some reason, if a book was written before my time and is heralded to be a major seller and an all around great books, I seem to put them on a pedestal. This could be partially molded by societies influences on my opinions but a lot of it has to due with the texts themselves. I tend to look at the books like "The Lord of The Rings" and "Moby Dick" as these types of illuminated manuscripts that have been blessed by those before me. From a much simpler, less consumeristic culture, that had decided these books were entertainment gold without Oprah's Book club or Amazon's Best Seller's list telling me they were.
It's almost as if the stories them selves drove them to fame rather than the consumer bandwagon. Wizard of Oz is a time-less classic in most homes and has deeply rooted itself in our culture. I can't even count the number of times I've heard someone quote the movies or books on one hand.
I foresee this class giving me a greater insight to the art of story telling and it is my goal to infuse that within my industry. Stories are very powerful tools that are not to be mistreated.
The main point to re-reading the book was to seek deeper meaning throughout the text. Looking for ideologies and seeking the main points in the story seemed sort of futile at the time I was reading it because I could not get over the fact that it was created for the entertainment and moral passing to children. Nonetheless, I was able to see that nearly everything in this book has some sort of symbolism behind it and a majority comes from the era it was written in.
Baum contradicts himself numerous times throughout the book but, in a sense, it makes the story that much more human. For some reason, if a book was written before my time and is heralded to be a major seller and an all around great books, I seem to put them on a pedestal. This could be partially molded by societies influences on my opinions but a lot of it has to due with the texts themselves. I tend to look at the books like "The Lord of The Rings" and "Moby Dick" as these types of illuminated manuscripts that have been blessed by those before me. From a much simpler, less consumeristic culture, that had decided these books were entertainment gold without Oprah's Book club or Amazon's Best Seller's list telling me they were.
It's almost as if the stories them selves drove them to fame rather than the consumer bandwagon. Wizard of Oz is a time-less classic in most homes and has deeply rooted itself in our culture. I can't even count the number of times I've heard someone quote the movies or books on one hand.
I foresee this class giving me a greater insight to the art of story telling and it is my goal to infuse that within my industry. Stories are very powerful tools that are not to be mistreated.
Monday, August 22, 2011
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