Well talk about a fail for the month of January. It’s been a good while since I’ve posted anything here. It’s been an awfully busy start to a very busy semester for me. But I’ll jump right in.
Avatar Movie Review
I’m going to say right off I really enjoyed this movie a lot. But I felt that the plot was a direct pull from Disney’s Pocahontas. White man meets native girl, natives teach him their ways, white man and “savage” fall in love and try to bring the fighting between their people to a stop, etc. But I felt that it was a different enough twist with aliens, new planet, outer space, futuristic time period that it was well worth the watch.
I also feel that it had very strong themes on community, nature, and protecting your environment. You get emotionally invested in the storyline and want things to workout. This movie in fact reminds me a lot of the Disney movies I watched growing up as a kid and made me think of the impact those still have on me now. For example, with The Lion King, every little girl (and some boys) between the ages or 4 and 8 became obsessed with lions around the time this movie came out. We all wanted to play with Simba and Nala and Zazu, the nice African animals. We grew a sympathy for lions, and now I think my generation is more conscious and sympathetic towards African wildlife because it subconsciously reminds us of our animal friends from The Lion King, that we watched and played with as kids.
There is similar effect that the Discovery Channel has created with Shark Week on television. People love Shark Week! I hear about it non-stop when it’s airing. People talk about sharks and how awesome they are instead of how many people they bite a year. The few people who do bring up how they bite people, someone pulls out a statistic (learned on Shark Week) about how more people die of bee stings a year than who get bitten by sharks. You have a better chance of dying from a lightning strike than a shark bite.
My point is, that I see this movie getting into people’s subconscious and making them more sympathetic to environmental issues and difference among people. Who cares if you’re tall, blue, and you have a tail; we can still get along! Media effects people, our opinions, what we think, our morals and so on. This movie will impact younger generations most specifically. And from what I see, it will be a good impact. I give Avatar two thumbs up, and I will probably be buying the DVD.
<Dork Alert> P.S. - One other relationship… you know how in Pocahontas when she’s singing “Colors of the Wind” and she touches the tree and the rock right before you see the bears and the ground glowed… I wonder if Avatar took that from Pocahontas? Hehe. I always wanted to be able to do that… </dork>
Paper Planes is a video I made for my Time Studio class. It was filmed in edited in one day. Just the way I like to get things done. So with out much more adieu, enjoy!
So Monday and Tuesday this week, I spent around 25 hours on set for the movie What’s Wrong with Virginia? I found a link online that said they were filming in my hometown, so I clicked on it and read about it, and it had a link at the bottom to go sign up to be an extra. So… I clicked it and signed up!
It ended up being two days of very little sleep and long days of waiting around on set just being fascinated by the film crew, and a little time where you’re actually doing something useful while filming. I was cast as a hot dog vendor with three other guys, so I spent most of my time inside a little glass box that blocked the cold, under 50ºF winds and got to warm my hands on the heat lamps for the french fries. The other extras played tourists on Virginia beach on a hot Labor Day afternoon. HAH! Some warm Labor Day. Everyone was shivering and got to wear coats in between sets.
There were, however a few celebrities on camera. Jennifer Connelly plays the crazy ex-wife of Ed Harris, who is a sheriff running for State Senate. Toby Jones has a part. He plays Dobby the House Elf’s voice in the Harry Potter movies. There was one guy who was cast from Michigan playing Dale, the friend of the sheriff’s son, Emmett who was played by a guy cast from Australia. Dale has a cool death scene that was right outside my hot dog stand, so I got to witness that being filmed about two dozen times from inside there.
I’m so glad that Michigan passed the film incentives and is bringing the film industry into Michigan. It’s a beautiful state that can use the economic boost of Hollywood films. And a big thanks to TicTock Studios as well for being one of the first film studios to cater to Michigan. I hope to see lots more film productions coming to Michigan. I greatly enjoyed my teensy acting experience, and would like to be an extra again in the future.
I missed most of the Chalk Flood because I was taking pictures on campus for a class project making a stop motion video of everything “mine” on Vimeo.
I did get to take pictures of the end result of the downtown Grand Rapids Sidewalk Chalk Flood, organized by a 20 year old community college student, Rob Bliss. I hear it was a wonderful experience. I did give my own little contribution. My very own little Twitter bird with my Twitter handle beneath it. Hehe. Not sure if anyone found it. They were literally picking up the chalk pieces around me as I was drawing it and it rained the next day. But check out all my cool photos of the event here. Yet another busy weekend of photography for me!
Most people like spring. It’s the end of all the cold snow and the beginning to a new, warm summer in temperate regions. But when I tell people I hate spring, and it’s my least favorite season, they are shocked and appalled. But it’s a simple and logical explanation having to do with where I grew up.
For one, I can never answer the question, “What’s your favorite season?” because it’s a tie between summer and winter. I always recall once when I was in preschool I was babysat by my best friend’s mom. So when we weren’t in school, I was with my best friend all day long! And I remember, standing at the big bay window at the front of the house, complaining about the heat of summer jumping up and down singing, “We want winter! We want winter!” in that generic child sing-song voice. But then after winter rolled around, we would get sick of being wet and cold from playing in the snow. We would go to the same bay window, where the snow drifted up to our chest level against the window, and sing, “We want summer! We want summer!”
That has basically stayed the same, and now I love both summer and winter equally. Now, why do I hate spring? It’s because of where I live. My house, which I’ve lived in all my life, is next to a steep, slightly wooded ravine with a stream at the bottom. It’s beautiful and we have huge windows in our kitchen that look out over it where we can watch all the little critters run around and birds eat at the feeders. But the thing with all the trees dropping their leaves in a temperate area, is they soon get covered in snow for a whole winter. That means, come spring, when the snow melts, all the dead leaves get soaked and start rotting under the sunlight. Rotting equals disgusting smell, not to mention the worms. Also, living next to a ravine with a stream means that there’s stagnant water around which is prime breeding ground for mosquitos. We literally get clouds of mosqitos by my house and as a kid I was always covered in mosquito bites in spring. I’m still shocked I’ve never gotten West Nile or Malaria or something. Haha! (I’m kidding about the Malaria, only half kidding about West Nile….)
It’s these events that have made me come to the point where I hate spring. I hope this is more understandable now and you can excuse my disgust for the season. I make up for it with enthusiasm for summer and winter, and even fall in the right conditions! :)
See videos of my ravine in late winter when the snow first melts and in late spring when its more bearable.
1. Don’t settle for anyone.
2. Get a design I’d want if I ever got a tattoo.
3. Watch a meteor shower.
4. Dress up for the historical society in 1800’s fashion.
5. Go on a real picnic with friends.
6. Go clubbing.
7. Plant some potted flowers and keep them alive.
8. Introduce a friend to the wonder that is Sherman’s ice cream.
9. Leave a 50 - 100% tip for great service.
10. Memorize a poem.
11. Read 50 books [3/50]
12. Cover a wall in pictures I’ve taken.
13. Get rid of one piece of furniture in my bedroom at home.
14. Photograph the Northern Lights.
15. Create my websites and maintain them.
16. Have a piece of writing published.
17. Start keeping index cards of what books I’ve read.
18. Take 100 Photographs I like enough to print out and store in a photo album. [0/100]
19. Make 100 Icons 100×100 size for fun. [0/100]
20. Get rid of 100 things I don’t need in one week.
21. Save $1000 in savings and don’t touch it.
22. Learn to French braid and get good at it.
23. Make mashed potatoes for my friends.
24. Send a postcard to Post Secret.
25. Take a picture of myself at least five days a week for a year. [20/52]
26. Do something fun for my 20th birthday.
27. Learn some ASL.
28. Make Christmas presents.
29. Learn to play “Zanarkand” on piano by memory.
30. Get a pair of nice shoes.
31. Finish writing any story.
32. Write a letter to myself to be opened in 10 years.
33. Be in bed by 10pm every night for a week.
34. Take a photo of something interesting everyday for a month.
35. Blog at least once a week. [25/143]
36. Have a “girls’ night” 5 times. [0/5]
37. Visit at least 2 new states. [0/2]
38. Blog and prove everything completed (if possible) on this list. [1/101]
39. Write a love letter (to someone else or myself).
40. See a Broadway play in NYC.
41. Write and draw a little comic/children’s book.
42. Create 10 new paintings from original photos. [0/10]
43. Go out just for fun at least once.
44. Learn basic CSS.
45. Complete an old dare of kissing a stranger.
46. Get someone else to do 101 in 1001.
47. Have a “family night” once a month in summer -movies/games/reading/etc.
48. Write my future husband a letter once a month for a year. [4/12]
49. Use one full box of teeth whitening strips in a month. [0/30]
50. Create post/greeting cards out of my photos and send to people.
51. Swim in a lake at least twice a month in the summer.
52. Ride the whole Kal-Haven Trail, at least one way.
53. Scan important family photos and make a CD of them for mom.
54. Find eye shadow colors that work for me and how to make it look good.
55. Keep taking ballroom dance at school and possibly over the summer.
56. Learn more about my family tree.
57. Find a layout for my room and keep it that way and clean.
58. Get a TV for my apartment next year.
59. Get a job.
60. Take a massage class to compare with my skills from personal experience.
61. Take a friend to the beach.
62. Hike Canyon Falls again.
63. Visit Brett.
64. Have a “romantic” Valentine’s dinner–in or out! (with single friends is okay.)
65. Don’t ever get a credit card.
66. Spend one whole day reading.
67. See three mainstream music concerts live. [1/3] (Hellogoodbye)
68. Go camping somehow.
69. Get a complete (min. 4 person) dinnerware set for myself.
70. Put $2 in an envelope for each task I complete and go on a shopping spree with what I saved. [$0/202]
71. Write and illustrate a fairy tale.
72. Read all the unread books on my shelf or get rid of them.
73. Look into doing a semester abroad in England.
74. Plan a plausible trip to Wales to the town my great-great-great grandfather came from.
75. Buy real bras that fit me.
76. Sleep under the stars with someone close to me.
77. Organize all my photographs, and print/back up the ones on this computer.
78. Send a message in a bottle.
79. Get a pair of awesome knitted wrist-warmers.
80. Blow bubbles in public with friends.
81. Take one photo a week for a year. [25/52]
82. Take a few photos and write an accompanying blog post. [15/52]
83. Make a book (on blurb?) of said photos and posts.
84. Write one blog post a week for a year. [25/52]
85. Sketch more.
86. Draw cartoons occasionally.
87. Be silent for an entire day.
88. Build a sand castle.
89. Build a snowman.
90. Write a future wedding guest list for fun.
91. Frame and display my own photography.
92. Find out how soon I could get my own cat.
93. Play RISK or some version of it more.
94. Play chess at least once a month for a year. [0/12]
95. Send five happy/uplifting postcards to random addresses.
96. Take pictures in a photo booth.
97. Meet at least one person from YWS.
98. Find happiness being single.
99. Give away 30 happy paintings.
100. Don’t be afraid to fall in love.
101. Love and be loved.
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