Favorite Directors

David Fincher and Guillermo del Toro do have a unique style, Fincher utilizing gritty and dramatic cinema, while del Toro uses fantasy, darkness and drama in his films. They're personal styles and means of film make them unique. Examples of each are "Fight Club" (Fincher) and "El Laberinto del Fauno" (del Toro). Like most directors of today, they probably do draw inspiration from past directors and ones that we've familiarized ourselves with in class.

Film Magazine

The review I looked at was for this year's " The Green Hornet". It started off talking about the series' from both the 30's and 60's, giving some background as to how it was filmed and how actors portrayed their roles. This interluded into talking about the recent film starring Seth Rogen as the eponymous character. It gave insight of the actors, how the mobile was filmed, notable aspects and a comparison to the old shows. This review was different because of how they did the aforementioned things and especially the comparison to the series', which I found really intriguing. All these things truly made me like the article, especially because of the original way of reviewing, which wasn't just a plain discussion of the film.

Letter to Roger Ebert

Mr. Ebert,

I recently read your article expressing your opinions on the 1963 Italian film "8 1/2" directed by Mr. Federico Fellini. I enjoyed reading your analysis of the film, how your opinion started off by saying as a film, it was less than great, but as a film about film-making, the best ever, a perspective I found interesting. One gripe I have with your review was your less than subtle criticisms of his other films which I felt to be unnecessary. As a whole, I liked your review, I thought it was okay, outstanding was your analysis of the film, which made me realize things that I hadn't realized about it.

Levi Bell

-He is a lawyer
-Did not buy that the Duke and King were who they said they were (The Wilks')
-Wants to find the rightful Wilks fortune heirs

Cinema in Countries Keynotes

Australia

- Known for its wide variety of animals. (Koalas, Kangaroos, Wallabies, Dingos, etc.)

- Peter Jackson is from here.

- Native peoples of the continent were the Aborigines.

Japan

- Samurais were around in Japan around 12th Century.

- Akira Kurosawa is a famous film director in the country.

- Had film era in 1960's called Pink Film Era.

China

- Films made in Mandarin, Cantonese in Hong Kong.

- First famous Cantonese language film was Song of the Fisherman.

- Crows & Sparrows was the last Chinese communist film.

Italy

- Much Italian creativity came from the Renaissance.

- Mussolini commissioned the making of propaganda films during WWII.

- Italian Neo-Realism became famous after the end of the war.

Spain

- Cinema known for creativity.

- Represents culture, history, society.

- Pedro Almodóvar is a famous Spanish director.

Brasil

- Films represent culture, have violence.

- Antônio Leal is a famous Brazilian director.

- The country had a film movement called the Novo Movement

France

- Birthplace of cinema.

- There were other places where actors performed in plays before movies.

- The country's cinema was more tolerant to weaponry on-screen.

Czechoslovakia

- A famous director was Vera Chytilova.

- Borrandum Studios opened here in 1933.

- A famous movie was Erotkin.

United States of America

- A lot of cinema revolved around the cinema hub of Hollywood.

- A famous director was D.W. Griffith

- A famous movie studio is Warner Brothers.

Mexico

- First Mexican animated film wasDon Juan Torino.

- Early 1900's films were political and propagandist by today's terms.

- Cinema experienced a lot censorship at one point.

Huck & Jim's Relationship

-When Huck and Jim have an argument and Jim calls Huck "trash".
-When Huck and Jim are on the raft on the Ohio River and they get into an accident.
-When Huck stays with the Grangerfords and Jim hides in the woods.
-When Jim fixes the raft and he and Huck continue their journey, only to meet the Duke & King.

Their relationship starts off as just two friends going on an adventure to escape from their town, but after moments throughout the story of getting along and getting in altercations, their friendship prevails and ends up turning into a kind of father/son relationship; Huck and Jim show strong mutual affection for one another and genuine concern.

Ch. 24-29 Plot Sequencing

1) 1
2) 8
3) 14
4) 2
5) 10
6) 17
7) 13
8) 11
9) 3
10) 19
11) 15
12) 4
13) 3
14) 5
15) 18
16) 21
17) 6
18) 22
19) 16
20) 7
21) 9
22) 12

Iran

1. A lot of women in Iran undergo plastic surgery.

2. Because of their Islamic faith, Iranians don't consume alcohol.

3. There are deposits in public places that you insert money into, which is used for giving to impoverished individuals.

The Lowest Animal

Human nature is very interesting, over the years, humans have advanced mentally and in temperament, but also some have fallen short of improvement and reverted to a nature that is that of an animal. One thing about human nature that I'd like changed is the inability to get along. I know that prejudice is a staple of humankind and unmitigated peace among people in the world is a seemingly unattainable concept, I still think it would be ideal if people were to avert from hostility.

Next Step on Year Long Project

Since my group's topic is addiction, we came up with the idea of having someone that currently or has previously attended AA or NA meetings to be our speaker, either in person or by some other means. As for a field trip, we're not definite on an idea as of yet, considering our topic limits our possibilities and will only allow us to be able to go on certain trips.

Italian Neorealism

Italian Neorealism is the film style focusing on the lifestyles of the impoverished class in post-WWII Italy, filming on location and using nonprofessional actors. One movie that we've seen that demonstrates these aspects is The Bicycle Thieves, which had actors with no prior experience, had a story focused on the poor class and was shot on location.

Amended Huck Finn

I agree with the article, since the updated censored version takes away from the validity a bit, but mainly the ingenuity of Mark Twain's original opus in an attempt at political correctness, though failing to realize why the inclusion of the N-Word was present in the first place.

"Born to Trouble" influenced me to take into account the perspectives of both sides regarding a topic, such as the one regarding the gratuitous N-Word use in Huck Finn.

Student Writing

I think that good organization, writing mechanisms, vocabulary, characters and premises are all key components that contribute to skillful writing.

During the semester, some writing assignments we had were of course the summer assignment, writing a story in class, write story entries based on one focused sense (see, hear, taste, etc.), a poem based on The Crucible and others that I don't presently recall. My favorite was probably the time travel story we recently did, it's the longest story I've ever written and probably one of my better opuses. Considering all the writing assignments I've done in class and in others, I do believe my writing is improving. I think to improve even further, I should remain faithful to my current writing mechanisms and refrain from making trivial mistakes or additions into my writing.