Roger Ebert Review

Ebert's recurring motif throughout the review is Bobby Fischer, comparing his preeminence in chess to Mark Zuckerberg's phenomenal creation of Facebook. He gives a lot of background on Mark Zuckerburg, the movie's plot, the actors and applies it to things relating to the film, like technology. Ebert doesn't really discuss film techniques, he mainly discusses the film, actors and background story that the film is based on, which is Mark Zuckerberg's creation of Facebook.

Calvin & Hobbes/Music

Nas - "I Can":

I know I can (I know I can)
Be what I wanna be (be what I wanna be)
If I work hard at it (If I work hard at it)
I'll be where I wanna be (I'll be where I wanna be)

Be, B-Boys and girls, listen up
You can be anything in the world, in God we trust
An architect, doctor, maybe an actress
But nothing comes easy it takes much practice
Like, I met a woman who's becoming a star
She was very beautiful, leaving people in awe
Singing songs, Lina Horn, but the younger version
Hung with the wrong person
Got her strung on that
Heroin, cocaine, sniffin up drugs all in her nose...
Coulda died, so young, now looks ugly and old
No fun cause now when she reaches for hugs people hold they breath
Cause she smells of corrosion and death
Watch the company you keep and the crowd you bring
Cause they came to do drugs and you came to sing
So if you gonna be the best, I'ma tell you how,
Put your hands in the air, and take a vow

I know I can (I know I can)
Be what I wanna be (be what I wanna be)
If I work hard at it (If I work hard at it)
I'll be where I wanna be (I'll be where I wanna be)

Be, B-Boys and girls, listen again
This is for grown looking girls who's only ten
The ones who watch videos and do what they see
As cute as can be, up in the club with fake ID
Careful, 'fore you meet a man with HIV
You can host the TV like Oprah Winfrey
Whatever you decide, be careful, some men be
Rapists, so act your age, don't pretend to be
Older than you are, give yourself time to grow
You thinking he can give you wealth, but so
Young boys, you can use a lot of help, you know
You thinkin life's all about smokin weed and ice
You don't wanna be my age and can't read and write
Begging different women for a place to sleep at night
Smart boys turn to men and do whatever they wish
If you believe you can achieve, then say it like this:

I know I can (I know I can)
Be what I wanna be (be what I wanna be)
If I work hard at it (If I work hard at it)
I'll be where I wanna be (I'll be where I wanna be)

Be, be, 'fore we came to this country
We were kings and queens, never porch monkeys
There was empires in Africa called Kush
Timbuktu, where every race came to get books
To learn from black teachers who taught Greeks and Romans
Asian Arabs and gave them gold when
Gold was converted to money it all changed
Money then became empowerment for Europeans
The Persian military invaded
They heard about the gold, the teachings, and everything sacred
Africa was almost robbed naked
Slavery was money, so they began making slave ships
Egypt was the place that Alexander the Great went
He was so shocked at the mountains with black faces
Shot up they nose to impose what basically
Still goes on today, you see?
If the truth is told, the youth can grow
Then learn to survive until they gain control
Nobody says you have to be gangstas, hoes
Read more learn more, change the globe
Ghetto children, do your thing
Hold your head up, little man, you're a king
Young Princess when you get your wedding ring
Your man is saying "She's my queen"

I know I can (I know I can)
Be what I wanna be (be what I wanna be)
If I work hard at it (If I work hard at it)
I'll be where I wanna be (I'll be where I wanna be)

Save the music y'all, save the music y'all
Save the music y'all, save the music y'all
Save the music

Screwball Comedy

Screwball is a variation of comedy that's unorthodox and spontaneous. Characteristics of the genre are comical situations, fast-spoken dialogue mixed with slapstick and plots involving serious circumstances like love and marriage.

American Literary Periods

The style of the Colonial period consisted of sermons, diaries, personal writings and religious poetry, focusing on daily life and ethics, while the Romantic period consisted of character sketches, slave narratives, general poetry and short stories, focusing on the individual and emotions. Aspects of transcendentalism are optimism, intuition, a simple lifestyle, individualism, oversoul and civil disobedience. Historical context affecting these periods dealt with political and social issues happening at those times, such as Romanticism's invocation of strong feeling due to the Civil War.

Casablanca Questions

1. For me, a film should have a good story and good characters, and the character's already present measure up, like Rick, but especially the characters of different ethnicities, the French, Italians, and Germans. The many lines paraphrased and quoted from the characters in the film account for its lasting popularity.

2. World War II had begun the year prior, and the U.S. would enter the year after the set year of the film. A main issue during that time was Nazi Germany, Hitler, and Fascism in Europe. In the film, there's mention of WWI and the Axis Power countries of WWII, Italy and Germany, mentions of the Third Reich and references to some Germans as "gestapos".

3. The different nationalities are portrayed uniquely, the way they act, speak and what they speak about, even how they dress. Some absent groups that I noticed are the Japanese, the third country of the Axis Powers, and also the Jews, who I'd expect to be present in Morocco. The Japanese may not be there because they were being interned and didn't want to promote them on film, and Jews were in Europe, suffering in the Holocaust or fleeing to other countries because of it.

4. I see Rick as just a laid back American man enjoying his time in Casablanca, but can seem to come off as sarcastic, yet maintains diplomacy when talking to the men of the other countries. My opinion didn't change much of him, only a little at the end of the movie when he had Strasser at gunpoint.

5. The past she brings is that she's married and her husband was in a concentration camp and thought he was deceased when she and Rick met and fell in love in Paris. When Ilsa's husband Laszlo does come back, she's left with a hard choice over the man she wants to be with.

6. In Ilsa's marriage, it's good and has benefits as she and Laszlo look good next to each other and others think so as well.

7. In the 40's, when people smoked and drank in film, they did so in a way that made them look lavish and went about doing it in a very non-chaulant manner. In present films, people smoke and drink either in that same way, casually and not necessarily fancy or overdo it and end up looking like drunken idiots.

8. I think he means that they'll soon have a close alliance, both personally and diplomatically. In a sequel, I'd expect to see Rick and Renault in a partnership, owning a business place in Casablanca.

For/Against MPAA

Even though the MPAA exists to help the public by letting them know of a movie's content, the way it's executed and the whole process prior to the final rating of a film makes me have to disagree with it. Some of the reasons why I feel this way towards the board is because I find it unfair how they'll favor directors making big budget movies as opposed to the independent director making films that are still good, but because they won't bring in the biggest revenue they are basically put on the side. Also, probably the biggest reason for my opposition to the MPAA is that their rating process is really shady since the board of raters themselves are a secret group that conduct business on a low key basis.

Civil Disobedience Ideas

The Prison System- http://core.ecu.edu/soci/juskaa/SOCI2110/Prison_Industrial_Complex.htm

The Global Food Crisis- http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/origins/article.cfm?articleid=38

Youth Violence in Schools- http://youthviolence.edschool.virginia.edu/violence-in-schools/home.html

Hollywood Censorship

Hays code, or the Motion Picture Production Code is the set of guidelines for censorship in movies in the United States. Some of the included situations for censoring were nudity, satirizing of religion and depiction of drugs. I think Hollywood followed these rules to maintain moral values and avoid loss of profit because of the risk of people not watching films because of material the depicted. Movies have changed because nowadays, things censored in Hays code are now uncensored in some films because more toleration has developed for those things.

Common Themes

Common themes shared among all three are the people, man, unity, the world, the government, rights and justice. To me this says that their writing consists of beliefs in equality, justice and righteousness not only in the country, but for all people in the world. All their writings are interconnected by their shared beliefs in these themes.

Teen Suicide

So many teens nowadays commit suicide because of pressures placed upon them by peers, school and even themselves. It comes to a point where they can no longer take the pressure or accept the way their lives are and the inability to cope make them feel as if the only way to escape from it is to take their own lives.

http://medicalcenter.osu.edu/patientcare/healthcare_services/mental_health/mental_health_about/children/suicide/Pages/index.aspx

Silent Film Review Part II

1. The Great Train Robbery: Directed by Edwin S. Porter

-Color

-Close-up

2. Birth of a Nation: Directed by D.W. Griffith

-Iris shot

-Long shot

3. Arrival at a Train Station: Directed by the Lumiere Brothers

-Stationary

-Eye-level shot