Leeper, I have a few questions, does our introductory blog count as one of our blogs? If you don't like movies that are all about the message, how did you end up working for Big Ideas? And, When you said that there was "not a christian in the bunch" at that children's film thing, was it because the christian's didn't want to be there, or that they didn't want the christians to be there?

Leeper also talked about children's media, and how it wasn't just for kids, or something like that. I think that if it is truly 'good' children's media adults will like it too. This includes books, films, games, and such. If it captures the mind and heart of an adult, while being appropriate for children, then it is good. I think that most people think that animation is for kids because a lot if it is not interesting enough for adults, but the kids will watch it, so we sell it to the kids.

Hedgehog in the Fog
This was a very cute film. It had an interesting and very realistic storyline. It sounded exactly like a little child's thoughts. One thing that I didn't really like was that I felt that there was a message in it, but I didn't get it. Leeper even mentioned something about a message. I really felt like there was one, or should be one. But I was frusterated because I could not find a message. I felt like I was being left out. I was also left with thwe question of who was the someone in the water. I am not sure why but I also felt that this was an important point and I could not figure it out. This is why I do not like analyzing movies. I do not usually dig deep into movies. I tried to with this movie, but since I couldn't figure it out, I was left with several questions and no answers.So now I am dissatisfied, even though I originally thought that it was a very cute film. One quote I really liked from the film was when he was in the water and he said "I am completely soaked, I will drown soon." This one made me laugh.

These are two picture that came up when I typed childre'n media into Google. They are also two examples of children's media that I would not watch, but that they push off on kids.

I am going to jump ahead quite a bit to last week. But if I get to the point where I need more stuff to blog on I will probably go back and cover some of the stuff that I missed.

Money as Measuringstick
I am going to add more to the discussion that Leeper and I had because I do not think that he fully understood my point of view. The first thing that we must clarify is our definitions of a 'good movie'. For the purpose of this argument I am defining a 'good movie' as a movie that sombody would want to watch. Why would you make a movie that no one wants to watch? Now how do you know that people would want to watch a movie? You could ask them, but it is impossible to go around and poll everybody on whether they liked or wanted to watch a movie. But if they are willing to spend money to go watch a movie then you know that they want to watch that movie. This applies especially to the people who go and see the movie again, and spend more money on it. The more money you spend on a film the more you must have liked it. Now I am not saying that I like or agree with every movie that people are willing to spend money on, or that I would make a movie specifically for the money, but if I spent a lot of time making a movie I would want people to like it and want to watch it. And the best way for me to know for sure that they liked it is to see if they would spend money on it.
Leeper, do you have a different definition of a 'good movie'? And by the way, while I have discovered that I am not shy, I still do not like speaking in front of the whole class (unless I am prepared and playing a part) so I will most likely not answer you in class if you bring it up, but I will probably blog you about it.


This picture is one that came up when I typed good movie into Google

Now lets get into some controversy: Star Wars.
But first I must talk about the film that we watched in class. Caitlynn said that it is called Loose ends. I liked this film. It was cute. It didn't have much of a story line except two guys arguing about whether they liked the new star wars movie or not. One guy was totally for anything that George Lucas puts up on the screen. The other guy Didn't like the new one as much as he liked the old one. The end ofup fighting physically (so typically guys) and a hitchhiker steals their car. Then they get picked up by simeone who starts the discussion again. Although the movie is rather pointless it does have some good friendship scenes. I liked the part near the end where the gung-ho George Lucas guy offered the other guy a pez and the other guy accepted it. This was a small touching point.

Now on to the actual Star Wars. I am probably opposite to just about everyone in the class. I liked the new Star Wars, and I did not like the old Star Wars. I'm sure they were entertaining for their time, but now they are a little out of date. I don't really like old movies. I am more of a now-a-days girl. It seems like most old movies have less interesting plot and dialogue than we have now. Maybe it is just because I am not from that time, and I do not understand their concerns. Or maybe it is because they did not have the equipment that we have now and I like our special effects. I do not know. I just know that I don't like old movies, including the old star wars, and I do like new movies, including the new Star Wars.

Oh and completely unrelated but fun. I found out today that I am not shy. If you want to know more about it read my facebook notes.

I do not understand Leeper. I do not know why he (you) has such a problem with mainstream movies. I like today's movies. I like a lot of them. That is the type of movies I want to make. I think that it would be totally awesome to work for Disney, or Disney Channel. That is what I would really like to do. I do not have a problem with this stuff and I do not know why he bashes it all the time. He also seems to have a fixation with low budget films. Yes, some of the stuff is really good, but there is a lot of weird stuff in it too. Most of it I would not pay to go see. And what is wrong with money as a measuring stick? The ammount of money people spend on a movie shows how much they liked it. Shouldn't we make movies that people like? Isn't that the nature of the entertainment business? Why does entertainment have to have a message? Some of it can, but it doesn't have to. We go to movies to be entertained not to be preached to. By the way Leeper I love this class and our discussions, I don't want to change it, just understand it.
Well done with ranting, I suppose I should talk about a movie now.

A ninja paid half my rent.
I kinda liked this movie. I thought it was entertaining. It was ainteresting idea. I don't actually have much to say about this movie. I just need to get some more words in here so that this blog is long enough. (I Hate the word count!) But I really did enjoy the movie, although it was kinda pointless too.

In case you can't tell I am not talking about film in any particular order. I am simply going through other people's blogs and seeing which films they write about to help me remember what we have seen. Therefore they are in the order that I see and/or remember them. Also I try not to read what other people wrote about them before I write about them because I want you to have my opinion unhindered by what other people say about the movie.

Bad Animals
I did not like the movie. I can see how it would take a lot of work and be impresive and all, but I didn't really get it.So the story is this guy is at the bus stop and a guy in a chicken suit is across the road looking at him. The guy is uncomfortable with this (although we do not know why). The chicken guy slowly makes his way across the street toward the guy. The bus comes just in time and the guy escapes from the chicken. While the guy is on the bus a guy in a dog suit gets on. Again the guy is uncomfortable. The dog guy ends up sitting next to and sleeping on the guy. The guy gets off the bus. I think that there is another scene with another animal but I don't remember the specifics. Eventually the guy ends up in an alley with the animals surrounding him. The animals tie him up and throw him in the trunk, then they drive away laughing. Again it has been a while since we watched the movie and I don't remember the specific, but I do remember that I didn't particularily like the film. It seemed rather pointless. I think that I did get a few laughs in but overall the movie did not strike me as particularily interesting.
Its kinda like the second Pirates of the Caribean. I'm sure I am going to open a can of worms with this, but I didn't really like it. I laughed almost the whole way through, but I left with a sense of dissatisfaction, that is not a good thing. I loved the first PoC, but the second one kinda fell short of the mark. I understand that they are setting the stage for the third movie, so don't comment me that there will be a third movie because I know. I think that a movie should still have an ending. And I am going to say right now that if Will and Elizabeth do not get married I am sure that I will end up hating the whole series and never spend money on it again. Well that is my opinion, Im sure some of you disagree, feel free to comment me as long as you are not trying to explain that there is a third movie coming out (can you tell that I have heard that a lot? :)

The Climatic Death of Dark Ninja was an interesting film. I thought that it was very cute. I can see how first moviemaking can happen like this. Mine didn't but that was because my first movie was just a family film type thing, but maybe that doesn't count because I didn't really have actors or anything. In that case then my first "official" movie was the one that we made for class. The movie that we made for class wasn't very much like The Climatic Death of Dark Ninja either though. Sure we had to work around people's schedules, and pull random people off the sidewalk to act, and the people we needed were'nt there when we needed them, and we had to reshoot scenes because they no longer fit in the movie. But, hey, that's the movie business. This stuff is what The Climatic Death of Dark Ninja was commenting on. I think that most of that stuff happens in professional films too. The only difference is in professional films they know how to deal with these things. This wasn't really about the film but suddenly I find that I have said all that I needed to say so I will quit on this subject.
On to the next subject, Garbage Man. I thought Garbage man was interesting. The plot was interesting, and basically understandable. The movie was impressive for amature artists. I think he said it was haigh schoolers, so that is impressive. I can see how some people would say that it was a spiritual "rebirth", or someone coming to christ, but to be honest I did not see it that way. So far none of the film's so far have given me that as a first impression. When we talk about it in class like that I can see it that way, but that is never my first instinct. Maybe my spiritual radar is not as in tune as others might be, or maybe I just take things at face value, I don't know, it probably doesn't matter. So anyways I did like the movie, Idid think that it was funny (especially the flower covering up), and I didn't see it as a specifically christian film except for the verse at the end.

Ok now that I've fully expounded on my reasons of why I don't post I suppose that I should post somemore just to confuse people. (If this doesn't make sense to you read my previous post).

On the topic of Gisele Kerozene. I didn't like it. I thought that the flying part wwas kind of cool, and if I had a chance I would probably try that myself, but the rest of it I did not like. Maybe I am taking it too seriously, but this is my opinion space so bear with me. Although if you have a differing opinion you can obviously post it on my comments. *On an unrelated sidenote my views of opinions. I am not threatened by other peoples opinions because I know what mine are and why I believe them. This is not to say that I won't change them if I find a better view, but that I do not mind hearing others opinions because I know what mine are. Of course if someone personally attacks me with their opinion that is another story, but this is a long enough sidenote as it is.* Back to the film. The reason that I did not like Gisele Kerozene is because it was violent, I can hear you guys howling now but it's true. I am offended by that type of violence. This is somewhat odd because I watched the first Matrix movie and I was fine with that but I had a problem with Gisele Kerozene. In case anyone is wondering I did have a problem with the second and third Matrix movies. In the second one though it was the ghost thing that bothered me. In Gisele Kerozene it was mostly the blood that bothered me. It was presented in a way that turned my stomach.
I also did not like the story. It did not seem to really have much of a plot. A bunch of weird guys dressed up as witches and worshiped something, another weird witch guy stole the worshiped article. The first wierd witch guys go after him and a bloody chase ensues with weird witch guys getting beat up a lot along the way. Finally the later weird witch guy simply gives the worshiped object back to the former weird witch guys and rides away laughing. Did I get it right? It has been a while since we watched that, but I think that I got the basic outline. So my point is that it did not have a point. The film was pointless and not truly funny, so I'm not entirely sure why we watched it except maybe to see weird (yes I like that word a lot), amatuer filmaking that some of us will not want to emulate.

I'm sitting here doing nothing (well facebooking) so I thought that I might as well post something and get some homework in. Who else thinks that next time Leeper should have this project on facebook? I am so obsessed with facebook now :)

Well anyways back to the class, a while ago Leeper said something about people who have not posted a lot and I just wanted to respond to that a little. As you can see from looking at my blog that I only have 3 posts before this one so obviously I am one of those people who has not posted a lot. Leepeer said that those of us who have not posted a lot are Lazy and I wish to refute that statement. Although I can only defend myself so much because some of it is not laziness,but I wish to state the non-lazy reasons that I have for not posting.

One is that I am busy, I have more pressing homework. This only goes so far because I do have free time, but I also believe that we need free time so that we don't go crazy. But I do have time that I could spend blogging without going crazy and I do not, for this I am sorry.
The second reason is that my mind does not include blogging as homework. I simply do not think about blogging when I think about homework. I even have it written down with my assignments and still I do not think about it, I do not know why.
The third reason is that I do not have a lot to say. Sure I could talk about each individual film, but usually I do not say 300-500 words about each. The word constraint thing really brings me down. I actually have to count to make sure that I have enough to submit, so that I will not be counted off. Now I don't go through and count every word I just get the basic idea. Did you know that each line of text has aproximately 15 words?
The forth reason is that it is so time consuming, this applies to writing a little but more to reading other people's blogs. I have not actually gotten through reading the firsts of everyone's blogs. I tried the other day but I had to stop smoewhere around the M's. On a side note I do not think that I have everyone's links on my page. Will you please look at my list and if you see that I am missing anyone please email me the address.
The fifth reason is that it is so adictive. This also applies more to reading other people's blogs. If I get started I do not want to stop. This is bad when I have other homework that I need to be doing and I put it off to read people's blogs.

Well that is all of my "good " reasons that I can think of for now. This post was actually fun to write. Most of it, while true, was written in jest, so I hope I get some good laughs. And I'm sure that some of you can identify with my "plight". By the way the picture has nothing to do with this except that when I typed laziness into Google it came up and I thought it looked cool.