Seven Samurai

     Seven Samurai is considered one of the most influential movies ever made, and now having seen it, I can see why. It is credited for being the first film to use the now classic story setup of gathering an elite team for the purpose of accomplishing a daring mission. It also makes use of the iconic anime-style samurai showdown, though I'm not sure if this film was the first to do that. 
     This has definitely been my favorite Kurosawa film thus far. There really isn't much of a plot, but a strong plot is not necessary to make this movie good because what it lacks in plot, it makes up for in character. I feel that in terms of characters, this film has the most interesting cast out of all the movies I've seen. Each of the seven samurai have their own unique personality and make a very valuable contribution to the color of group as a whole. We have our wise veteran in the form of Kambei Shimada, the cheerful character is Heihachi Hayashida the "wood chopper," the cold-blooded swordsman Kyūzō, the naive aspiring youth Katsushirō Okamoto, and the comical "blue-collar" samurai imposter Kikuchiyo. The other two samurai Gorōbei Katayama and Shichirōj are less memorable characters, but are still important because of their battle experience. The way these characters interact with each other in the film is what makes it makes it so great. There's not a whole lot of character development in this film, but Kikuchiyo has some decent development throughout along with Katsushirō, and one of the peasants, Rikichi.

     I also feel that so far, this film is one of Kurosawa's most technically polished films as well. In his previous films, he had a tendency to linger on certain scenes longer than necessary, but that is not an issue here. Despite the incredible length of the film, I feel that it is well paced; each part adequately contributing to the experience, there was not a moment in this film that bored me, which is more than I can say for his previous works. The battle scenes are also better implemented. In his previous works, the fight scenes seemed like they were unmitigated blurs of chaos; sometimes this aided his climax, sometimes not. This time around though, there is much more method to the madness in his fight scenes. By that though I do not mean they are intricately choreographed fights like in the Star Wars prequels; honestly I think those are worse than random flailing anyway, there's no heart in a machine like sequence of that nature if you ask me, but that's another story entirely. Anywho, Kurosawa cleans up his fights in this movie by breaking them up into short skirmishes, and having the samurai explain the methods of their attack in strategy meetings beforehand so that we can clearly see the big picture of what is going on amidst the chaos of battle.
     Considering this movie was 4 hours long, there are more things I could say about this movie, but I don't want to spoil anything, and if this blog is much longer, I'm not sure if anyone would even read it. You missed a good movie at signs and wonders if you didn't see this, and you should check it out if get the chance (and have 4 hours to kill).

Monsters University

A few weeks ago I finally went to see Monster’s University with my family. My family and I enjoyed the movie and I was happy to see that Pixar made a prequel to Monsters Inc. because I loved that movie. I can’t believe it’s been over ten years since the first movie came out! This movie is about Mike and Sulley and how they meet. They go to Monster’s University to try to get in the scare program, but are both kicked out, so they compete in the annual scare games with a group of ‘misfits’ to try and prove to Dean Hardscrabble that they are good enough to be admitted in the scare program.

            I thought this movie was great, I didn’t have many expectations going into the prequel, but it didn’t disappoint. I thought it was a good story leading up to Monsters Inc. The movie focuses on themes of friendship and teamwork. I thought it was funny how the story had Mike and Randall as friends in the beginning and Mike and Sulley as enemies. It was a good story of how Mike and Sulley became friends and worked their way up to being scarers at Monster’s Inc.

Literal Trailers

     Since a few seemed bitter about my last post about human animation, which was just an opinion and I actually enjoy all kinds of human animation, here are some giggly videos from Tobuscus!
     You know those video game trailers you sit through and they're all serious? Well Tobuscus makes them hilariously ridiculous to the point that it actually makes me want to buy a game more. I think it takes talent to make stupid songs like this. Of course, this has to be art related so I shall make a few comments in each.

     I'm sure you saw this one coming. Of course I have to post about the literal Skyrim trailer. Why not? Singing and video games are super art related. Combine them together and you have a masterpiece. Probably.
     Honestly though, I never saw this trailer leading up to the game's release. This would've been a nice one to see, all I remember is random screen shots and wonky camera angles.
     I think Bethesda did a pretty good job on this game.  Except for the ridiculous amount of glitches. Shame shame. But at least they had a large following of people to keep it going.

     This has a wee bit of gore in it, of course, if you've played Hitman Absolution then that should be obvious. This one is probably my favorite. So random and stupid.
     The graphics look so amazing, beautiful textures in this game. A+ to you Square. Sound game all in all, I'm not much into this genre myself but I'd watch someone else play it.

     His Assassin's Creed literal trailers are, again, stupidly funny. Just thought I'd post this one since it's the newest.
     There are so many games in this series, some may have flopped, but the main games are very well accepted into the gaming community. Again, these graphics are amazing. The cutscenes are so beautiful. *pets cutscenes* A+ to you too Ubisoft.

This is halloween, this is Halloween

   

what up guys, today is halloween. The time of costumes, candy, and also a great movie that is made by one of the best animation writers, Tim Burton. THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, it takes place in a holiday based world, where the main character is Jack Skellington, the pumpkin King and king of Halloween town, goes through a portal to another world called christmas town, he was inspired on what he has seen and decide to takeover christmas, and spread christmas cheer in his own ghoulish style to all the kids of the world. so to all of you have a great holiday.









P.S. just you wait Steve Leeper, I be back, probably in a year or two
        -Mr. Death

Emiline

So the other day in class, some of you may have noticed a group of us holding our arms straight up in the air, Taylor and I holding them up for the entire class. This was something that we agreed to make to Leeper as a reference to the first night of the Chicago International Childrens Film Festival. On the first night, a film titled Emiline was played.

Emiline is a story of a girl who, ever since she was little, has had her arms raised above her head. She litter ally can't put them down. That's just how she is. The story shows her daily life and how she had some problems but was able to deal with them because she had just accepted this way of life.

She ends up falling in love, but she's too afraid to come up to him because she is how she is and she's been made fun of her whole life for it. In the end, the man she liked helped her when one of the girls who used to ridicule her encountered her, and the two walk off together, he with his arms in the air to match her as  a way to show that he didn't care and that he loved her anyway.

Now our story behind why we raide our arms was that on the first night, after we finished watching the films of the night, walked out of the theatre with our arms in the air, trailing behind Leeper, even through the supermarket across the street.

If you get the chance, look up Emiline and watch it. It's very cute and very well done.

The Wonderful World of Memes

For those of you who don’t know what memes are, they are basically “cultural symbols” or “social ideas that spread virally”. Chances are that you have been exposed to a meme whether you know what they are or not. Memes often stem from jokes, human or animals oddities, or urban legends. They most commonly take the form of animation, photos, videos, and music. Most modern memes are also humor-centered and tend to be aimed towards and created by teens or young adults. Ideas such as rage faces, LOLcats, philosoraptor, or the double rainbow are frequently used all over the internet and continue to become more and more popular.

 

The word “meme” was first introduced in 1976 by the evolutionary biologist, Richard Dawkins. It comes from the Greek word “mimema”, which means “something imitated”. Dawkins portrayed memes as a method for people to spread cultural ideas and social memories with one another, which holds similarity to how DNA and life move from place to place. Now that we have the Internet, memes have the ability to travel faster through email, social networks, or YouTube. The community of the Internet has fully embraced this, and even marketing professionals have recognized this. Advertising has also begun to take on memes as means to look trendy and aware of the current generation.

I personally adore memes. They are so much fun to look at because each and every one is unique and hilarious. Memes always brighten up my day! My favorite type of meme is definitely the rage faces though. And if you love memes too, then you should check out this video I found below. It is a giant combination of the older and newer memes (over 40 memes in the video), and it is fantastic! Not only does it have really good editing, the music is high-quality. Enjoy, and go make memes, people!! :D

 

 

 

Gravity

I have to admit that when I first saw the trailer for Gravity, I thought it looked stupid. People just floating and spinning in space? I didn’t care to watch it at all. However, much to my surprise, people absolutely went crazy over it when it started playing in theaters. Curious, I finally decided to go see it, and wow, I was amazed by this film. The effects and editing were stunning. Even though the plotline and characters were basic and simply, the movie took my breath away. !!!!Warning, spoilers below!!!!

   
   Gravity is about a mission specialist named Dr. Ryan Stone (played by Sandra Bullock) who is on her very first space shuttle mission. During the mission led by the commander of the team, Matt Kowalski, Mission Control in Houston warns them that a Russian missile used on a defunct satellite has caused a chain reaction of space debris and that it was heading straight towards them. When the high-speed debris hits the Explorer (their shuttle), Dr. Stone is separated from the others, spinning through space. She eventually finds Kowalski, and they head back towards the shuttle only to find that it is damaged beyond repair and that all the crew is dead. They then begin to make their way to the International Space Station. When they finally arrive, they realize that the parachute had already been deployed, making it useless for returning to Earth. As they head off to the Chinese space station, Stone’s leg gets tangled in parachute cords, and despite her protests, Kowalski removes himself from the tether keeping them together to save her from drifting away. Many people say that his character was killed off too soon, but I honestly thought that it fit perfectly with the story and had Kowalski lived through the entire film, it wouldn’t have been as impactful.

From this point on, Dr. Stone goes through space on her own, trying to get home. She must face many different obstacles, and we see her spirit slowly breaking. As she is in the ISS, attempts to contact other space stations, but instead accidentally making contact with a random man on Earth. After listening to him cooing to a baby, she decides to shut down the oxygen in the cabin to create a painless suicide as she believed she would never return home. However, as she begins to lose consciousness, Kowalski visits her in a vision, and this gives her the strength to keep going, in which she eventually makes it back to Earth.

What really got me on this movie was the emotion. There wasn’t much dialogue or many characters in this film, and yet, it was able to connect with the viewer’s feelings. When our main character struggled and felt lonely or depressed, you couldn’t help but feel it too. And in the very end, when she takes her first on land again, you feel uplifted and powerful as Dr. Stone does. The whole movie was an emotional rollercoaster, and it was very easy to identify with the protagonist. The fact that the movie narrowed it down to one characters really helped it in the long run. The effects and high-quality images of space were also brilliant and beautiful. Gravity really is one of those films that you must see in theaters to really experience it to its greatest potential.

 

Blood Brother

I saw this film several weeks ago, and I have to say that I was quite touched by it. The movie actually gave some very unique perspectives and ideas that I have never previously thought about. So what’s it about?

 In the documentary Blood Brother, a graphic designer named Rocky Braat decides to visit India. After stopping by a home for children with H.I.V, he falls in love with the kids and chooses to stay. The relationship between Rocky and the children is very beautiful and inspiring. He is often playing games with them, cleaning their cuts, brushing their teeth, and drying their tears. Whenever he visits them, they are overwhelmed with joy, and you can’t help but smile when they all run to him. The children are like family to him.
 
“No child ever grows out of their need for family” (Rocky Braat). That statement seemed to be very true for him as well throughout the film. His complex relationship with his father and his mother’s abusive boyfriend caused him much pain as a child. His past allows him to truly understand the necessity for a family. However, as much as he wants to be close to the kids in India, the villagers were suspicious of his presence in their home. Rocky worried that the people would only see him as “the white-skinned king helping the darker-skinned needy”. Nevertheless, by the end, he gets married to an Indian woman and commits his life and future completely to the village, living in the same conditions as they do.

Seeing such a selfless person these days is such a breath of fresh air. The fact that he was so willing to give up a luxurious life in the United States to stay with the kids in a place that barely had indoor plumbing is truly inspirational. Rocky Braat discovered the true power of love while he was serving in India and used it to care for others. Though this documentary has some very sad moments, it also has uplifting ones. It is a very inspiring piece of artwork, and for those who haven’t seen this film yet, you should take the time to watch it.

Birthday Present

So, for my 18th birthday I was able to visit Pixar Studios in Emeryville, CA! ( I live in Sacramento CA so it was only an hour and a half drive) Pixar studios does not have public tours so as you can see I was very very very shocked when I found out (and teared up a bit). I didn't believe it until I saw my parents smiling at me and that look of "no really we are serious". I was utterly speechless. Apparently, my dad has connections so that is how my dad and I were able to get a tour of Pixar. I have no intention to make this blog post about me bragging about being able to visit Pixar but I thought that I should share this awesome experience with you guys!

This was a sketch I did right before we entered the gates and I was so excited that I drew my own left hand wrong! 

When we arrived and parked one of the first things that I saw was the Monsters University gate!

Next we entered the Steve Jobs building to meet up with our tour guide and we got name tags that had the alien from Toy Story and it said "Strangers from the outside!". As we were waiting I took some pictures of myself next to some famous cars!

Once we met up with our tour guide who was a part of the security officers in Pixar. She showed us around in the Steve Jobs building and on the second floor we saw some diagrams of Pixar's story process of Monsters University. The entire studio area was themed in Monsters University, (they theme the studios when their new movie is released so the next one will be The Good Dinosaur) they had concept art of characters that did not make it in to the movie, 3D sculptures of characters including the headmaster, and they had MU flyers everywhere.

Unfortunately,  I could not take pictures of any of the art on the second level because it was employee art and not Pixar art if you know what I mean. They had storyboards from Brave that were breath-taking and inspiring. I got to take a quick look at some of the interns there who were working and I totally want to do that over a summer! They also had these life size statue things of The Incredibles' family so I did what any person would do and posed up next to them with my dad! 

We could not look into certain parts of the building because spoilers. ;)

Next she took us to another building and there was this huge fireplace and while it didn't burn wood it looked stunning. There really wasn't much else to see in there because everywhere else the employees were working on future projects. 

At the end I went to the gift shop that was only open for a short time and I bought a Pixar Studios shirt, a MU poster, and a Pixar sketchbook! :) 

Overall, this was THE BEST BIRTHDAY GIFT EVER. I hope to one day (possibly) be able to get an internship and work at Pixar! :)

La Luna

A short that we did not get to watch in class (and is one of my favorites) is "La Luna"!

This short is breathtaking to watch and tells a cute story too! The concept behind Pixar's take on how the moon's face changes is unique and really creative - it is the reason why I love this short so much. "La Luna" may not be one of Pixar's funniest or most entertaining shorts like Knick Knack or Lifted but the story and its aesthetic appeal in short stands out from the rest. Storytelling. Storytelling. Storytelling. Pixar is a master in storytelling and I think that this film is proof of that. 

This short for me takes on so much meaning and I can relate to it on so many different levels. The boy is pressured by what appears to be his father and grandfather to be like them or "do what they do" kind of thing and while the boy goes along with it he begins to discover that he has his own way of doing things. He also sees the indescribable beauty in the stars that literally light up the moon. He sees the beauty of the world through his childish eyes and he begins to act on instinct and go against the flow. Then in the end he does something incredible. Through his actions, he makes his father and grandfather remember the beauty and splendor of the stars that they had seen when it was there first time on the moon. 

La Luna is a beautiful short story and is one of my favorite Pixar shorts of all time and I hope that one day I will be a part of their story making process. 

Up and away

I absolutely loved yesterdays class! Pixar's storytelling goes beyond the realm of the stereotypical love triangle between a prince and princess and the like. Now I am not bashing Disney! I love Disney with all my heart but Pixar rises to a whole new level with their stories. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the shorts (as did many of you) and while watching them it made me reflect on how they execute a story in mere minutes and it fascinates me!

One of my favorite Pixar movies is Up but The Incredibles and Toy Story hold special places in my heart. I was able to watch Up with my dad when it was out in theaters and fell in love with it! (Oh, and I cried while watching it and was wiping my tears away with napkins.) Not only is the art and animation incredible, but the characters were well rounded and dynamic. Also, the soundtrack to Up is beautiful! (Its definitely one of my all time favorites.) The adventures that Carl, Russell, Doug, and Kevin go on is so much like a fairytale in itself - "A house is whisked away by balloons in the clouds to a foreign land all the while an elderly man learns a valuable lesson with the help of a child and his pet dog". This is one of the many elements of this film that had captured my heart. Overall, this beautiful story taught me that life goes by fast and that their is not time to waste it but instead spend every waking moment with the people that you care about. I love this movie and I hope that all of you do too.

Final Fantasy: Human Animation Done Right

     Not saying that other animation is wrong but, the way Square Enix's animators create these humans is amazing. Simply amazing. There's no creepy-human-valley-animation-thing here. They stepped well past that and created beautiful characters. I love the life-like feel of them, even those individual strands of hair. How? *sobs violently* I would love to be at this level in my future. Even the non-cutscenes feature lovely human modeling. I want to work for a video game company so bad that I could cry. No Pixar for me, thank you. Pixar is great and all but that's not my dream. v uv

     Look at this! I don't even know what any of this means, it looks insanely difficult. I will accept this challenge. xD
     This is probably the reason it takes years and a huge team to create these games, but how rewarding would it be after it's finished? Just, aslkjflksdjflj.

     Oh look, an excuse to post Noctis' handsome face. Dat' clothing texture! Mmmm. I can't get over how amazingly these characters are animated.
     This is from Final Fantasy 15, not yet released which means maybe the animation will be even better. But honestly I can't see how they could do better. I just think it's so beautifully perfect. *pets animation*

     Final Fantasy 10 had great human animation too. It seems they've done some different hair techniques with the newer games but I mean, it was made over 10 years ago and it is still stunning.
     Even 7-9 had decent human animation, a little blocky, but they were on the PS1 and it was quite a long time ago.
     I envy these skills. It's my dream to work on video games. *grabby hands*

▲HALLOWEEN VIDEO▲

▲HALLOWEEN VIDEO▲

Tonight 9:00 PM in Becker 3rd's screening room we will be showing our Halloween video. Taylor Phillips and I have worked very hard on this video and it would be great if you could stop by and check it out!

Pixar I was happy to watch many of Pixar's animated shorts today and relive a part of my childhood. It fascinates me to see what they come up with next. Their stories and the way they tell them work greatly for them. (The only one I've not seen is Cars 2. I heard it was their least greatest.) The Blur Studio short I didn't care for. I wasn't very captivated and it took a while to develop their exposition. Pixar seems to get right to the point and deliver. The short "Knick Knack" dives right in and tells of a snowman trapped in a snow-globe wanting to hangout with the rest of the 'Hawaii' collection. I notice that each film's methods seem to get richer. Toy Story and A Bug's Life used solid shapes that had a shiny or rough texture to them. In Monster's Inc. They dove into fur. Like Prof. Leeper stated they didn't really deal with 'people' until "The Incredibles". In that film they also dealt with fabric and hair. I remember watching a behind the scenes clip showing how difficult it was to make Violet's hair collide with objects around and not go straight through them. I find it pretty cool how Pixar's implements 'Easter Eggs' in each of it's movies. A113: the room number John Lasseter studied animation in at CalArts Beach girl from "Knick Knack" has a cameo in "UP" The famous Pizza Planet Truck (One thing I have wondered during production is how different people, animating the same character for different shots, keep the character's 'style of motion' the same. I could see basic walk/run and other cycles being used, but overall throughout the film I'm not sure.)

Sid Meier's Civilization V is a fantastic game with insightful texts, historically accurate scenarios, and animated rulers from various cultures such as Attila the Huns and Oda Nabunaga. Your kingship is put to the test as you compete with other civilizations, militarily, culturally, scientifically, religiously, and economically. You Rule the ages turn by turn, progressing you people toward global power, achieved through many different means. I have played through a few rounds enjoying the intellectual nature of the game. My favorite thing is the historic quotes you get once you reach a certain point in history, or once you build one of the world wonders. They are large architectural accomplishments through out the ages. for example the Statue of Liberty, or the Pyramids. I mentioned that religion was a portion of the game. You gain faith from religious structures or resources that you can spend to create missionaries. these missionaries can travel to other cities to influence them with your nation's religion. Personally I think this is a very simplified view of religion. It disregards the influence of wars, and morale of the people, as well as the influence of natural disasters, or the values of a religion.
    I suppose this isn't a game entirely centered on religion. Given its shortcomings its still a very enjoyable game. Who doesn't wish to influence the stream of history? Weather you are a military general at heart or a diplomat, this game has got something in store for you. Currently I'm in a game as Queen Theodora of Spain in the industrial era, building my nation to be the cultural center of the world, fending off Ramkhamhaeng's armies allied with the Ottoman empire. Its fun to think of all the different ways history could have unraveled, as well as how we are so greatly influenced by the land we live on.

Blood Brother

(Rocky with Crew of 'Blood Brother')

It was interesting to see how an average person like Rocky could make such an impact to the lives of the children he helped. I was taken aback about the entire subject of the film. Documentaries I think are sometimes more powerful than regular fictional film because it is real. There is no hiding from what you see on screen. For the most part, documentaries are shot as the events are happening instead of staging them like in a regular film. This allows the story to be striped away from anything that can get away from raw emotion and gives the audience a sense that events are happening as they see it. 

The team is currently working on their second documentary 'Gennadiy' which follows the story of a man living in Ukraine who helps homeless drug addicted kids get back on their feet again. Sometimes forcefully. It seems to me that these young filmmakers are interested in human interest stories that deal with suffering children and someone who tries and helps them out of their situation. The film is scheduled to hit the film festival market in 2015. The crew had a kickstarter campaign that ended recently to help fund production. 

Cloudy 2

So while on Fall Break I was able to watch this sequel with my dad <3 and even though he fell asleep during the first 15-20 minutes of the film he said that he did enjoy watching the film - which is saying something. But anyways, I posted up a review of the first film Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs sometime last week and have finally found the time to blog about my review of the sequel. 

The animation/art/concept is beautiful!

For an animated sequel I thought that Cloudy 2 did very well! Animated sequels are not known for being well written with a decent storyline and are just meant to be because of the success of the original. Now one could argue about the Shrek sequels being decent as well (which I think that they are but that argument if for another day). Not only does Cloudy 2 keep its cuteness, humor (who doesn't like food puns?), and character but the art is just as incredible as the original Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs! Sony has done a magnificent job continuing the storyline right where the last movie left off (quite literally 2 seconds after where the first movie ended) and quickly develops the new problem that is arising from what is left of Swallow Falls aka Chew and Swallow. 

Now, I do not want to give anything away so you will just have to go see it! However I will give you my initial reaction after seeing this film. As I said before, Cloudy 2 is a successful sequel in my opinion because of its consistency with the original such as its humor and overall character. And while although, some plot is predictable (I mean it is meant to be watched by children) I lost myself in watching this film - it was entertaining and engaging in every sense. The colors are radiant and the foodimals are adorable! I utterly loved watching this film, I would go and see it again in a heart beat and maybe I can drag my roommate to see it but who knows. ;) So go and see it if you have not already! 

Jack Jack Attack... Sorry No Divergent

Okay so I know this is not the blog you were expecting or that I promised you, but I felt that since Professor Leeper showed us some stuff from Pixar but did not show this film to us that I would in a blog. If you do not know, this is what the babysitter, Torrie, experiences when she babysits Jack Jack throughout the movie.

 

If you did not already know, Jack Jack is the baby of the Incredibles family and is believed to have no powers because he has not shown any so far in his life. However, when the family goes to save the father Bob for getting himself into trouble, again, Torrie is asked to babysit for her first time. Throughout this film Jack Jack makes Torrie's live really miserable, and you can actually hear about it in the Incredibles movie when the mother checks the messages on her cell phone.

 

Overall I thought professor should have shown this film instead of the teaser because it is so much better showing everything that Pixar tried out before making the actual movie. I loved this film and hopefully it will provide you with enjoyment as well.

 

P.S.- I will be doing the Divergent blogs soon, I just really wanted to get this blog up ASAP so that a lot of you will see it as you go to post your blogs for this week. If you haven't read my blog on the upcoming movie Divergent make sure to scroll down, I posted it not too long ago=)

 

 

 

The Greatest Movie Never Made.... YET!

 

 

Okay, the title may be a little bit of a stretch, but this movie is seriously going to be a great film for 2014. Even more enjoyable is it takes place in the beautiful city of Chicago, a city which I have found a special place in my heart for. With being a beautiful city there are naturally going to be some beautiful sights, but here's the catch to the film- its dystopian Chicago.

 

For those of you who do not know, dystopian means the book is a rhetorical novel in which the author presents a worst-case scenario of society, with the implicit suggestion to prevent such an image from becoming reality. Yes! This 2014 movie is originally a book, better yet, a trilogy! Divergent, Insurgent, and Allegiant make up the trilogy by Veronica Roth.

 

I originally talked to Professor Leeper about this novel that I found a love for, and upon doing some research found not only did it take place in my favorite city: Chicago. This movie also happened to be set for theaters in 2014, which about killed me that I'm going to have to wait that long. I would highly recommend reading the book first, because I haven't seen the film myself to know how similar the two are. However, some of you out there will not read the book so I plan to blog some insider information that you should know before walking into this movie.

 

I will actually start here with a summary of the first book Divergent because I know none of you are going to read the book. Veronica Roth introduces you to Beatrice Prior of Abnegation, know by all the other factions as the "stiffs".  However, Beatrice does not feel she belongs in Abnegation because she is not selfless enough. Will she stay in Abnegation during the choosing ceremony, where every sixteen year old chooses which faction they will enter into for the rest of their lives. If they choose their original faction they become initiates, and if the succeed in joining the faction, acquire their own jobs and houses and can see their parents often. However, if they choose another faction, they will be outcast by their family and can never return again. On top of that, if an initiate fails initiation, they have to live the rest of their lives away from society in the crumbling outskirts of Chicago with the other factionless.

 

What will Beatrice Prior decide? Better yet, what will the results of her aptitude test bring her? Will she choose Abnegation, or some other faction? You'll have to read if you want to know immediately or check my next blog to find out more.

 

Below is a trailer for the movie of Divergent

 

 

So...triple blog cred? Yeah. I'm in.

I will admit it. Blood Brother made me cry. I kept willing myself to stay strong, but when the little boy opened his eyes... I lost it.
This documentary was successful in it's purpose- to open our eyes to the crap Rocky goes through practically every single day, and maybe show that anyone can make a difference (Rocky described himself as being "borderline retarded," if he can do these things, so can you).
A few days ago, I came across an article online about a three-year-old girl who was cured of HIV. She is the second person "who is believed to be functionally cured of HIV."
The child was given a larger dose of HIV medication (ART) within the first 30 hours after she was born, which is sooner than most babies with HIV. Anthony Fauci, from the National Institutes of Health, says, "You could call this about as close to a cure, if not a cure that we've seen."
Unfortunately, the conditions in the areas with the greatest problems with HIV and AIDS do not allow medical services like the article described above. These services are harder to come by, especially if you don't have any money. But it is good to know that there are some advances in finding a cure. If a cure is truly found for newborns with the virus, it will be easier to find a cure for older carriers.
A final note: Leeper- you wanted to know if Rocky Braat is a Christian. After minimal Facebook creeping, I found that he does indeed love Jesus.

Blood Brother

When I heard about the showing of Blood Brother, I'd envisioned something more along the lines of Red Dead Redemption in movie form, or something like that. I hadn't expected a documentary about orphaned AIDs children in India.

Blood Brother was a very good documentary. I loved it, and that's saying a lot, since I don't tend to like any documentaries besides those military related. Admittedly that's a very limited field of experience, but that doesn't say much since documentaries I've seen differ greatly from the kind of documentary Blood Brothers is.

But going away from the technicalities of the style of shooting, I really liked Blood Brothers. It's not often we get to see a first hand account of a man  as he ventures into the world of India, not for the first time, though the narrator was for the first time. Watching those kids interact with Rocky, and hear them call him their big brother really drives it home how much they love him, a foreigner who loved them back; they probably never expected it.

For me, a realist, it's hard for me to feel exceptionally emotional about this film since I have long ago accepted that these things happen and while they are tragic, they are also very common. Its really a flaw of mine; I can't feel emotion because I simply accept that things like this happen. And believe me, they happen a lot.

Blood Brother

Blood Brother is about a young man from the United States of America who gets a chance to travel to India. After visiting an orphanage in Chennai, India, where children with HIV/AIDS are kept, his heart is filled with love and compassion for them. He decides to stay back and care for the children in the orphanage.
One of the things that stood out for me was how beautifully Steve Hoover (Director) injected the roller coaster of emotions into the simple story. The story of Rocky "anna" and the children of the orphanage come in laughter, joy, sadness and tears. Also, the way in which the documentary transitioned from one emotion to another was great. 

Another thing that really stood out for me was the way that the Gospel made its way into the documentary without anyone mentioning it. The part where Rocky kept caring for Surya, the child who had to be hospitalized, was the moment the defined the documentary for me. Rocky kept caring for Surya and tried to be with him as much as he could because he did not want to lose him. He ignored the fact that he could be infected by Surya and kept working hard to help Surya recover. I believe that it was Rocky's love for Surya that brought him out of the pit of death because it was love that led Rocky to keep on caring for Surya, even when the doctors had given up on him. The miracle came through Rocky's love.
Rocky's desire to live in India and sacrifice the "good life" in the United States of America is a clear example of selflessness and a passion to serve. That is something that we are all called for in one way or another.

"Preach the Gospel at all times. When necessary, use words." - St. Francis of Assisi