WHATS EATING GILBERT GRAPE

WARNING: DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO HEAR ABOUT JOHNNY DEPP OR HIS INVOLVEMENT IN A NORMAL ROLE!!

YES I JUST SAID IT!! JOHNNY DEPP PLAYS A NORMAL CHARACTER IN THIS MOVIE. He plays Gilbert, a young adult who is taking care of his overly obese mother, who let herself waste away after Gilbert's father hung himself in their basement. What makes this even harder is he has a mentally retarded brother to take care of also in Leonardo DeCaprio. Yes, two big names, one small movie, just like how most actors get their first acting jobs so don't be surprised Johnny Depp was once at that level.

Anyways, Gilbert meets this woman and her mother who broke down I an RV outside of town who challenge his thinking as to whether he wants to stay and be the caretaker for his mess of a family all of his life. Gilbert ends up hitting his brother in the climax of this conflict and eventually chooses to stick with his family.

The surprising part is when his mother starts to get her life together after meeting this woman that Gilbert has fallen for.

It is on Netflix so EVERYONE should be able to watch it, ITS GREAT!!

             

SILENCE!!

Okay so don't be quiet, SCREAM!! Because the second book of the Hush Hush series is just about to ente my list of blogs and I can assure you it is just as good as the last.

Nora and Patch are now together, or are they? Patch was made a Guardian Angel in the last book's ending for saving Nora. He was made her guardian angel to be more exact, and the funny thing is that while he is protecting her, he is very distant. Patch is pushing her farther and farther away and spending all his time with her archenemy, Darci Miller. Patch wont even explain why, and Nora fears she is losing her boyfriend who she fell for just months ago.

She later finds out it is because the other angels are looking at Patch for any reason to rip out his wings again because of the enemies that he made, the only thing he can do is distance himself from Nora for now for her own good... Or risk being sent to hell by the Archangels. Yes, it seems the Archangels are not as good as they seem to be, and this is just the tip of the iceberg in this sequel to Hush Hush so go buy it tonight!!

DUN DAH DUN DUN DUNNNN!!!

Sorry to bother you with another blog series but this time it is something unique that none of you have probably read to this day, and may never read. But you definitely should take my word for it and go get this series.

First of this series is Hush Hush, which is about a girl who falls in love with a fallen angel. Later she comes to find out that there are a lot more than just Patch, who is strange and mysterious, yet alluring to Nora. She discovers that there are many fallen angels at an amusement park in the Delphi, and she discovers something else... the Nephilim.

Nephilim are the offspring of humans and fallen angels who have taken posession of a human during the month of Cheshvan, the possession holiday for fallen angels. However, with Nephilim existing the fallen angels can maximize their possession within the body without killing the host. Because the Nephilim are immortal, but the prey will eventually fight back. Two Nephilim are out to destroy Patch and his newfound girlfriend Nora, who is their only way of getting to Patch because of his fallen angel immortality and powers that he con use on the Nephilim to get them to swear to obey him.

How will this end?? Go get the book!!

Mockingjay... Another Blog Series Comes to An End

Yes I know these blogs just seem to keep coming so please bear with me. I will now talk about Mockingjay and my expectation for the movie that is now being made.

First off, I will just say that this is my least favorite book and I do not care who knows it, I was apart of team Gale if you want to call it that so the ending of this book was ruined that way. Also, the fact they made Katniss come off like someone who has gone insane and leave them in district 12 is complete crap. However, I am no Suzanne Collins and I guess she knows better than I do how to end a trilogy.

I hope the movie will have more than just some montage of Katniss and the special battalion of soldiers running through the capital. I also hope they keep it in one part and don't do what they did with the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows movies. I do agree they had a lot of details needed in the movies, but if I go to watch a movie, I don't want to leave the theater feeling like I saw half a movie.

Well that is my thoughts on the Mockingjay book and movie that is now being made, please comment with your thoughts on this topic. Thanks!

Yes I am back already with the Catching Fire blog and I know it hasn't been very long since the movie came out but I cant really say much on the movie because I have not seen it... yet, I am going to see it this weekend so hopefully I dont look at the comments on this till after I watch it.

First off, I would like to say that this was probably my favorite book of the series after I had read them all. Funny enough, Mockingjay was my least, but back to Catching Fire. The whole point of me blogging about this is to record my “before” thoughts on what I expect from the movie.

I feel like this movie could be very boring, considering how slowly time moves in this book. However, everyone I have talked to thought it was better than the first movie. This has given me the expectation of some very powerful scenes that were in the book, and some very well thought out time jumps. I tend to favor books more, just because it's the complete story, but I hope to be pleasantly surprised by how good Catching Fire is. Please comment and thank you for those who do!!

The Hunger Game... Yet Another Blog Series...Sorry if You dislike that...

Okay so I have been recently watching this movie that I really like again, and again, and again, and again, you get my point, a lot of times. Well I cant help it I just had to blog about it tonight even though everyone has already probably watched it. It's the Hunger Games!!!

So I'll save you the boring descriptions and talk about my favorite parts. Obviously I loved the chariot scene where Cinna turns Katniss Everdeen into the “Girl Who Was On Fire” and making the odds be ever in her favor!! I also happened think that the beginning scenes where they actually enter the games and the bloodbath starts is really good as well with lots of camera angles available to be used.

One thing I did notice was the very very small amount of blood in this movie despite how bloody the Hunger Games book is. I guess that would make the movie rated R though, which would mean the main audience the story was written for would not be able to see it. However, I did not just watch the movie for the violence, the story written behind the event of the Hunger Games is what sold me on the trilogy. What made the story even better is the conflict that is within Katniss about Peeta and Gale, while this seemed very Twilight-ish I for some reason enjoyed it in this story.

So now this is where I ask you about your favorite parts, and yes I am going to blog about Catching Fire and Mockingjay very very soon so stay posted. I hope that you guys find this a conversation that you can weigh in on and again thanks for reading!!

Divergent No More... Thanks IF YOU READ ANY of the Blogs

Okay so I have actually held back a few blogs that I wrote forever ago, the intention was to spam the blogs before class so that Leeper would have to talk about this book that is being turned into a movie. This movie/book is in fact the first of the Divergent series which I blogged about awhile back. This story takes place in dystopian Chicago and has been compared to The Hunger Games as well as The Maze Runner series. If you are reading this blog it is about one of the factions/groups from the book written by Veronica Roth.

Time to wrap up the Divergent series of blogs that I have been writing and sum up a few extra things about the storyline that the movie and book runs off of.

First, you have to understand that each faction has kids that they begin teaching the way to live life as that faction, be it Abnegation, Erudite, etc. Then, when each child turns sixteen they participate in a aptitude test that tells them the factions they are best suited for, and can then choose a faction at the choosing ceremony. However, rarely, there is one person who gets inconclusive results on their aptitude test, these are the Divergent. Being Divergent simply means that you think differently than the others, that you don't necessarily have a set faction and that you are able to behave like any or all of the factions. These people have been ruled as dangerous to the dystopian way of society in the story and are executed immediately.

Tris is one of these Divergent, but the instructor for her test protected her and manually reported a false test, that way she would not be discovered. All she told Tris was that she should never speak of her results to anyone, ever. Tris, born in Abnegation, did not feel she fit in, and in so she chose Dauntless as her new faction.

Lastly, the factionless are those who either quit initiation for their faction they choose, or do not pass their initiation. They are the homeless who scrounge around for scraps, and accepting food from the Abnegation who care for them, in the end this series shows why you can't count the poor and weak out. Read it and find out what I am talking about and be mesmerized by the world that they live in.

Deadly Smart Are the Erudite

Okay so I have actually held back a few blogs that I wrote forever ago, the intention was to spam the blogs before class so that Leeper would have to talk about this book that is being turned into a movie. This movie/book is in fact the first of the Divergent series which I blogged about awhile back. This story takes place in dystopian Chicago and has been compared to The Hunger Games as well as The Maze Runner series. If you are reading this blog it is about one of the factions/groups from the book written by Veronica Roth.

Lastly, we have come to the Erudite. The faction who values knowledge above all else in life. They attempt to understand how everything in the world works, and act on logic rather than instinct or emotion. For this reason the Erudite work on research and development on new medicine, technology, and much, much more. Sometimes the Erudite can be viewed as condescending with their knowledge, but are always valued as a very insightful opinion.

In the story, the Erudite are in a very big, long lasting quarrel with the Abnegation. They question why only the Abnegation get a say in government, as well as whether or not the Abnegation are corrupted by the power they have, and even challenged that the Abnegation keep the best of everything to themselves and only claim to be helping the factionless and evenly distributing everything properly. Erudite also are arguing about the Abnegation not allowing them to use enough of the materials supply to make luxury items for their faction such as cars, because the materials are used to help the factionless or are distributed evenly to ensure that everyone is taken care of.

The Erudite are the real masterminds behind the war that has ensued between them and the Dauntless versus the other three factions. The Erudite only need the Dauntless for their military training and muscle power to make the other factions submit to their will. With the help of the Dauntless leaders every Dauntless member was embedded secretly with a controlling device that the Erudite then used to control the Dauntless into attacking the other factions. Only problem for the Dauntless is what will the Erudite do about the controlling devices after the war is over??

Erudite Manifesto:

Dauntless... the Faction that has gone Downhill...

Okay so I have actually held back a few blogs that I wrote forever ago, the intention was to spam the blogs before class so that Leeper would have to talk about this book that is being turned into a movie. This movie/book is in fact the first of the Divergent series which I blogged about awhile back. This story takes place in dystopian Chicago and has been compared to The Hunger Games as well as The Maze Runner series. If you are reading this blog it is about one of the factions/groups from the book written by Veronica Roth.

The Dauntless are the faction of fearless, adrenaline junkies that seek the thrill of conquering fear all the time, every day. They also do not let anyone else dictate their behavior and believe that the world would be better off if people weren't afraid to do what was necessary to make things right in the world. They are abrasive, strong, and bold. However, part of this faction's beliefs also believes in defending the weak and fearful... Can you guess which faction that this view is shared??

Tris and Christina have chosen Dauntless in the story, and have learned they must go through initiation and may not become a member and have to live their lives factionless if they do not pass the initiation. One of the members of Dauntless overseeing their training is called Four, later we find out that he has only four fears, and his rival as well as Dauntless leader-Eric. Eric is an example of what Dauntless is now, abrasive adrenaline junkies who have lost some of the older, more cavalier views Dauntless had in the past, at least according to Four.

Dauntless used to want to unify themselves to stand up against any obstacle, but now they only seek personal gain at all costs. At least, that is how they make the initiation, which is what Four says the proud faction of Dauntless has fallen to. However, Tris soon finds out that a lot of the members of Dauntless who were there since they were born are not like this. They are friendly, at least a handful of them, and just seek a good time testing their action in the face of fear.

The Dauntless Manifesto:

Can You Candor the Truth??

Okay so I have actually held back a few blogs that I wrote forever ago, the intention was to spam the blogs before class so that Leeper would have to talk about this book that is being turned into a movie. This movie/book is in fact the first of the Divergent series which I blogged about awhile back. This story takes place in dystopian Chicago and has been compared to The Hunger Games as well as The Maze Runner series. If you are reading this blog it is about one of the factions/groups from the book written by Veronica Roth.

Candor is the faction that values honesty and discourages their people from lying, in fact, anyone in their faction can tell when someone is lying because they have been taught to do so to help better the people around them about telling the truth. They view any type of deceptive action, even one done to spare another's feelings is a bad thing and that you should be truly honest all the time. They also teach you not to take offense to what people tell you because you are supposed to value the truth so much that you would rather hear the truth than a lie, even if it hurts.

In the story Tris' first friend when she becomes a Dauntless initiate is Christina, who lived her life as a daughter of two people who chose Candor as their faction. She then chose to try and become a member of the Dauntless faction when it came time for her to choose a faction. Christina is always brutally honest with Tris, which is one of the likeable things Tris finds in her new friend. However, Christina can also tell when Tris is lying, or at least not telling the full truth, which is a problem several times in the story. Overall, that is about as much as you hear about the Candor in the first book and movie.

In the second of the trilogy the refugees travel to Candor to gain assistance and are forced to take a truth serum and be questioned in front of every member of Candor. They do this so, ideally, you no longer have anything to hide from them while you are living among them. In the end, Tris convinces the Candor to side with them in the war that is rapidly approaching with the Erudite and Dauntless.

The Candor's Manifesto:

Amity, the Indecisive Faction

Okay so I have actually held back a few blogs that I wrote forever ago, the intention was to spam the blogs before class so that Leeper would have to talk about this book that is being turned into a movie. This movie/book is in fact the first of the Divergent series which I blogged about awhile back. This story takes place in dystopian Chicago and has been compared to The Hunger Games as well as The Maze Runner series. If you are reading this blog it is about one of the factions/groups from the book written by Veronica Roth.

Amity is the faction that appreciates music and art and is very much so anti anger and hostility. They believe those two things are to blame for the worlds problems and thus avoid conflict with other factions as well as one another. They are not really hated or loved by any of the factions, mostly just tolerated, because they can indeed be indecisive at times.

Amity is not really introduced until the second book of the series in which the Dauntless and Erudite have tried to eliminate the Abnegation faction and rule the rest of the factions with an iron fist. Mainly, they have left Amity alone because they would put up the least struggle because of their beliefs and wanting to avoid aggression in all forms. They do take in the main character, Tris, and her friends and all the refugees that are now homeless and basically factionless because of this skirmish. They forbid the refugees to take their weapons into their section of the city and only give them back when they decide to leave.

The reason for the refugees leaving is that they have been refused help in any countering of the Dauntless and Erudite, as well as assisting helping them defend themselves from the two factions. In the end, Tris decides it is better for them to leave the Amity people who are indecisive and will only hinder them in the long run.

 

The Amity Manfesto:

 

 

....Abnegation of Divergent... Past Due For My Blog Series...

Okay so I have actually held back a few blogs that I wrote forever ago, the intention was to spam the blogs before class so that Leeper would have to talk about this book that is being turned into a movie. This movie/book is in fact the first of the Divergent series which I blogged about awhile back. This story takes place in dystopian Chicago and has been compared to The Hunger Games as well as The Maze Runner series. If you are reading this blog it is about one of the factions/groups from the book written by Veronica Roth.

Abnegation is the least popular faction of five groups and are called “stiffs” by the rest of the factions, this is mainly because Abnegation is the faction who favors selflessness. Each faction favors one way of thinking because after the fall of the “old world” each faction sought to eradicate the evil in the human race with a specific way of thinking.

It so happens Abnegation chose selflessness, so the people of this faction always think outward, about others before themselves, and forbid behaviors like self indulgence and vanity. None of the houses in Abnegation have any reflective surfaces, except for the one mirror they are allowed to use when giving haircuts. They also all wear the same gray clothing, again, to keep their mind on being selfless and not hurting someone's feelings. For this reason, the Abnegation are in control of the government and community projects for the entire city.

This is also a reason for the many different factions to hate the Abnegation, because the Abnegation government decides where to allocate resources and do so with everyone's best interest. Because of this, some factions have to go without finer luxuries that their factions allow, such as vehicles, extra food, etc. The main group of who opposes the Abnegation is the Erudite, who favor knowledge and intelligence. However, many claim that the Erudite are corrupted by their thirst for knowledge as well as power.

This is the Abnegation Manifesto, which is basically their statement of what their faction is all about

SATAN'S LITTLE HELPER!!

WARNING!! THIS MOVIE WAS WATCHED OFF CAMPUS BECAUSE IT IS A RATED R FILM!!

In a world where fantasy and reality collide, one ten year old boy will bridge the gap between having fun, and assisting murder. Yes this film is one of those films, where one boy is having fun, and winds up assisting with murder. This time the ten year old boy, whose father gave him a game called Satan's Little Helper is the character you follow. He wishes to find Satan on Halloween night to assist him in taking people to hell, no I'm not kidding, this boy's dream is to help Satan drag people to hell.

Well unfortunately for the town, and fortunately for Satan the boy indeed finds him and starts his night of murderous activity by luring his older sister's boyfriend to a costume shop to dress up as Satan from the game, seeing as his costume is the helper. Instead he cooperates with Satan to kill the boyfriend, and as they are walking back from the costume shop, Satan attacks the boyfriend by pulling him into a dark alley. However, he does not manage to kill him, unknown to the boy and Satan.

The boy then proceeds to take Satan home with him where he is taken for the boyfriend in costume and has some very interesting scenes interacting with the sister while fooling both of them. All the while the boy and Satan leave sporadically to commit more murders and even go to the store and get a bunch of different things that Satan has planned to use to kill people and take them to hell this Halloween night. Eventually the sister realizes that this is simply not her boyfriend and I will leave it there because it will spoil the ending if I continue further.

What I took from this movie was that there are a lot of people who wear different "masks" in life, and who try to hide who they really are and that we not only need to be open to those people and try and get to know the real person that they are. However, that we should also be careful of some of these people because beneath their "mask" could be someone more sinister than we could ever have imagined that person to be...

Pleasantville.... Just an Elaborate Version of the World

Okay guys so if you missed it my first post for today was The Selfish Giant a Part of Genesis? So check that out if you want. This post is going to focus around the video clip that Professor Leeper showed us of Pleasantville where the characters are shown some in black and white and others in color as well as the scenery.

This movie shows very much so that some people today have no idea who they are and others know exactly who they are. While nobody is actually black and white, the people who don't know themselves in this video are just that while the people who do know who they are have been represented in color. Aside from all the famous actors in this movie I was spellbound by the “black-and-white” meaning that was within the movie about knowing ones self. The mother in the movie is in transition of discovering herself, and she tries to hide it because she is scared of what she will discover about herself. I find that a lot of times in my life that people I know as well as myself want everything to be so simple that we try to make ourselves that way, or that some of the people I know have no idea who they are. That sometimes we wish ourselves to be simple even though we know deep down who we are as a person, or are slowly discovering who we are and we choose to ignore it. They say that all art has a meaning, and for me in this movie the meaning is stay true to yourself, don't be afraid of what other people will see or what you will learn about yourself. Sometimes I think that we as humans forget that we were all made different, and that even though a majority of people want us to conform to being the same as them that we must not fear being ourselves even if that makes us unpopular.

As one of the “popular” kids from my high school, there was once a time where I was made fun of because I sought to be myself, not who everyone else wanted me to be. Eventually people began to appreciate me for who I was and actually began to admire how different I was from everyone else. I myself fit into pretty much every clique in school because I simply was myself and not just the jock that everyone wanted me to be. I guess what I'm trying to say is don't be afraid to be yourself for fear of being rejected by your peers, because those who are true to themselves won't wish for you to be exactly as they are. I apologize for running so far over 200 words but it was just something I had to get out.

This is a link to the full-length movie of Pleasantville: http://megaboxvideos.com/playmovie.php?authid=1751&id=16288&type=older_v2&movie=Pleasantville

The Shelfish Giant a Part of Genesis?

Okay so I found a lot to blog about in this class, mainly because of the strong connections to Genesis, so for those of you reading my blogs this one compares the Oscar Wilde story that Professor Leeper read to us in class.

When Professor read the story to us aloud it sounded a lot like the Book of Genesis to me in a way, so feel free to disagree with my analysis but this is what I thought.

The Giant had a garden, much like God created the Garden of Eden in Genesis for Adam and Eve. While the Giant may not have created the garden for the children or created the world itself, I thought of the Giant as God casting the children out of his garden the way Adam and Eve were cast out of Eden. Maybe it was the fact that we were talking about Genesis before the story, but I just had a feeling that the story, while being slightly different, was part of the Monomyth that Professor was talking about to us today. Where a story can be slightly different, but it's really just one part of the Monomyth.

The similarities did not end there however, they only continue to go stronger as the story continues. Towards the end of the story the Giant finds the children have gotten back into his garden, and in the very corner where there is still winter he finds the small boy who can't climb into the tree no matter how much the tree bends to try and allow him to climb it. I feel that this was how God felt about the human race after he cast Adam and Eve out of Eden. At this the Giant repents and helps the lifts the boy up into the tree, kind of like how God lifted mankind up and allowed those who truly believed in Him to have the gift of the afterlife. Finally, when all the other children flee the Giant as he enters the garden and helps the boy I thought of the nonbelievers and how they grow farther away from God as he takes believers into the afterlife.

Below is a link to an animated video, but warning! It's 26 minutes long so make sure you have plenty of time to watch it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jtLTS7T8cc

Hey Guys This Semester Is Gonna Be Great

Hey guys! For those of you who don't know who I am, my name is Jordan Retherford and feel free to just come up and talk to me because I'm really outgoing and it doesn't throw me off at all. I am a local boy from Bluffton Indiana, which is thirty minutes away from here. I went to Norwell High School where I was a four-time varsity football player and bowler and I'm excited to start a new chapter here at Huntington University. I'm a triple major for Huntington University- Sports Management, Marketing, and Broadcasting(Fusion Media). Warning for some of you out there: I am the biggest CHICAGO BEARS fan ever and I am a big football fan so I can launch into specifics if you try arguing with me.
 
I am very excited for this class because I like the setup for it, meaning that I like the way our thinking is challenged and am definitely going to say that this is my favorite class so far. I am new to the whole blogging thing so it's definitely going to be something that will expand my technological experiences.
 
In addition to having this class together I think it would be great if we did things out of class also so just let me know if you would like to do something like that. My thoughts are is that we could do something that would help us do our blogs; just see a movie, play, etc. Hopefully this year will be as amazing as I want it to be!
 
Oh one more thing, I forgot to tell you that I am an athlete here at Huntington University. I am on the bowling team, I was recruited by the coach to come here to bowl instead of go somewhere else to play football. While I love football I simply realized that it wasn't my everything, and to be a professional athlete your sport has to be your everything. That's why I gave up on my dream of playing football, sometimes I think I made the wrong choice but I trust that God has brought me here for a reason. Anyways, I love bowling too! I'm hoping to go pro in it but I do understand that it's incredibly hard to do. Thanks for commenting/reading my blog if you did, I hope to talk to you really soon!