Final Presentation!

Hey everyone... for my final presentation I have tried my hand at video blogging! It's basically some of my reviews all wrapped into one (waaay longer than I anticipated) video! I hope you enjoy it =)

My Favorite Blogs

Well, I know you're all dying to know my opinion on the blogs of this class, so here we go =)


Blog Award Categories
Best Personal Blog- For best personal blog, I nominated my friend Jack for his blog Some Trans Lady. I nominated him because I believe this blog really was the most intensely personal, and he risked and shared the most of all the personal blogs I've read this quarter. It also manages to be entertaining and informative.

Best Design/Visuals- For best visuals, I had to choose Charity's Six and a Writer. I think she's the only one who put any effort into pictures and visuals, really. She's a great photographer and it shows on her blog, and she did a great job of mixing text and images.

Best Hobby/Specific Interest Blog- Will's Mariner's Blog was my favorite special interest blog, mostly because he didn't solely talk about the Mariners. It kept me interested even though I don't care about baseball.

Most Improved Blog- For most improved I also nominate Jack and Some Trans Lady, because Jack started out writing about Skyrim (I subject I do not find interesting) in a fairly abstract way I didn't quite understand, and then moved to a more intensely personal documentation of life as a trans woman.

Most Interactive Blog- The most interactive blog I'd have to say is definitely My Cat Thinks I'm Funny by Natalie. All of her posts inspired people to tell their own stories related to the topic and we discussed her blog posts so often in class, they definitely inspired the class to interact with each other and with her blog.

Blog “Most Likely to Succeed” (in whatever way you define it)- I also chose Natalie as the blog most likely to succeed, because it is so hilarious. It's like Jenna Marbles in blog form. I hope she keeps up the blog after this class ends, because I enjoy it so much.

Final Project

Well I know my three loyal readers have been anxiously awaiting this- the details of my final project!

Essentially what I plan to do is a Jenna Marbles style video of reviews, where I essentially stare at a camera and spout of my meaningless opinions on the art of cinema. I don't believe in scripts for these kinds of things, as it always comes off as very unnatual and well, scripted in my mind. I'm into candid. Yep. I've already decided to expand on my reviews of How I Met Your Mother, Rabbit Hole and all it's suckitude, and Tangled. I also plan on writing a Grey's Anatomy review (more like rant and in depth analysis) laster this week, at the urging of my classmates and professor.

As for suggestions, I'm curious as to what other shows/movies you would like to see me rant or rave about? Preferably available on Netflix.

TV Review: Pretty Little Liars

I'm actually a little ashamed to admit I like this show, and have avoided posting a review of it. But I'm addicted. I can't stop watching. I have long been a fan of the ridiculous teen drama genre, from Degrassi to One Tree Hill (before that show got too ridiculous, even for me). I decided to start watching Pretty Little Liars based off nothing but hearing the title. I mean something called "Pretty Little Liars" is something I was bound to enjoy.

The plot is actually somewhat unique and complex. The pilot takes place a year after Alison, the four main character's (Aria, Spencer, Hanna, and Emily) friend and Rosewood High School's most popular girl went missing from a sleepover. They discover her body in the first episode. Flashbacks show us Alison was an insufferable psychotic sociopath, and the list of those with a grudge against her is long. But what high school drama really lead someone to premeditated murder?

The four main girls (commonly referred to as "the Liars") start receiving weird text messages from someone who identifies themselves only as "A". This A person is blackmailing them with all of their secrets (a lot that only Alison knew) and generally making their life hell. The Liars try to dodge this crazy stalker, solve Alison's murder, and live as normal teens all at once.

This show is so addicting I can't even describe it. I am only on episode 2X04 and I'm dying to find out who A is. All of the characters are fairly likeable with a few exceptions, which is rare for a teen drama. Some of their reactions are unrealistic, like, at what point do you say fuck it and call the police about "A"? Sure, some of the secrets A is holding over them they could go to jail for, but I'd honestly be willing to go to prison to make this shit stop at this point. It's ridiculous. Oh, and the show's main couple is horrible and creepy, over-the-top sappy and it's a teacher fucking a high school student. They're horrible, I fast forward through their scenes. The show also suffers from "Dawson casting" (25 year old teenagers, and 35 year old parents) but that's become standard television faire.

Despite it's problems, I'd recommend this show to any girl. I can't imagine most men liking it though, unless you want an excuse to look at some ridiculously hot chicks. I swear every person on this show is gorgeous. Like I said above, it is very unique for it's genre (I was surprised) and incredibly intriguing.

Entertainment Value: 5.
Artistic Value: Ehh... 2? It's from ABC Family...

A break: Duckface. It's not beautiful. It's fucking horrible.

Truer words have never been spoken.

An Off Topic Post

I have been instructed to write on the topic of "online writing as literature." When I was first posed the question of whether or not online writing could be literature, the very inquiry seemed ludicrous to me. Why the hell wouldn't work published online be considered literature? Does the meaning of the words change depending on whether they are posted on a piece of paper or on a screen? If the chapters of the Great Gatsby were posted in a blog form in 2012 instead of printed in 1925, would the work not be as great?

I'm not entirely sure if blogging has created a new genre, or expanded ones that already existed. We have always had special interest magazines and newspaper editorials and such, only now we have the ability to post them online and be far more prolific with them. "Miss James" of Bluebird Vintage might have to publish her style advice and ideas in a magazine only once a month without the internet, instead of being able to share her ideas with the world whenever she wants on her blog.

I suppose I should touch on the meaning of the word "literature." I take the word literature in a more literal sense, and basically any writing is literature to me. The quality is subjective and irrelevant to whether or not it is "literature." The word literature does not have any connotations regarding quality to me. My classmate Jack's old blog about Skyrim might not be considered literature by snobs because it has to do with video games and is a very special interest, abstract concept, but I would consider it literature. Just because it is posted online and is about a subject a lot of people look down upon (because people seem to think all new technology is inherently harmful) does not necessarily mean the quality of the writing is subpar. It is literature. Literature about Skyrim.

If I knew exactly what made a blog popular, well, I'd be famous right now. Alas, I don't entirely know. I suppose it would be the same way any creation be it a film or book or piece of art gets popular, you have to create something people are interested in and can relate to, and preferably something that is entertaining. Humor goes a long way on the Internet, and the type of people who frequent the Internet seem to very much enjoy sarcasm, wit, and general snarkiness. And cats saying funny things. Cats go a long way on the internet. I tend to be a bit snarky on the internet as well, maybe not so much on this blog as I am on the websites I frequent for non-class purposes, but I am a little bit. I don't entirely think it's an internet persona however, as people tell me I am a bit like that in real life. Perhaps it's exaggerated on the internet, though, because I do not have to deal with people's immediate reactions to the things that come out of my mouth.

I don't necessarily think popularity is a defining characteristic of a quality blog. My classmate Natalie's blog "My Cat Thinks I'm Funny" is certainly hilarious and something I would consider quality, but she probably does not have many readers outside of our classmates and her personal friends. Almost no blogs are popular from day one (unless they're started by someone otherwise famous), and an audience grows over time. That doesn't mean those blogs are crappy and magically because better once more people start reading them. There are lots of fantastic blogs out there with a small following because they are written on very specific subjects of interest to only a certain group of people.

I've learned that the nature of blog writing is more difficult than I expected it to be. I honestly feel as though my blog would develop better if I did not have specific assignments, and I could write when I was passionate about something and really had something to say about a film or show rather than just saying words to meet a deadline. I've learned that making things interesting is difficult. It's much easier for me to become "popular" on the internet by responding to other people's posts with a witty reaction than to create posts of my own. It's also easier when I don't have to censor myself for the semi-professional atmosphere of school.

Film Review: Tangled (2010)

I've just realized that all of the movies I have reviewed so far have been from 2010. I don't know why this is. Perhaps that's about as recent as Netflix movies come, I don't know. I promise to try and spice it up a bit later.

But anyway, the other day my roommate and I were ecstatic to see that the newest animated Disney film was now on Netflix, Tangled! Nobody who had a childhood can resist the allure of an animated Disney film, no mater how old they get. Don't act like you can. If you don't like Disney movies you have no soul and are clearly a psychopath.

Tangled is a retelling of Rapunzel, in which Rapunzel is kidnapped as a baby by an evil witch who wants her for her hair which contains the fountain of youth or something. This movie is my new favorite. The entire thing is a fairly obvious virginity metaphor (the song "Mother Knows Best" will confirm this for you if you are in denial) and for some reason the whole falling-in-love-in-a-day trope was surprisingly easy to swallow in this movie, the characters were pretty well developed.

The songs in this movie are pretty mediocre in all honesty, except for the song in the bar and Mother Knows Best. But the plot and animation in this movie is amazing. I would recommend it for anyone.

Entertainment Value: 5
Artistic Value: 5

TV Review: How I Met Your Mother

First off, I really couldn't find any sort of decent promo or commercial for this show. They all advertise specific seasons, or are specific scenes, but I chose the season seven promo because that's the season currently airing.

I started watching this show on Netflix pretty much because it showed up in my suggestions, and I have now seen all six seasons available on Netflix. I also "acquired" all season seven episodes up to the current one to air last Thursday. The show mixes up the traditional sitcom structure, and begins with informing us it is now the year 2030, and Ted (the series main character) is going to narrate to his children how he met their mother, starting back in 2005 (the year of the shows start).

He starts off not by simply telling the damn story, but narrating how he met his children's Aunt Robin, Ted's ex-girlfriend. This is one problem me and many other people have with the show, it's basically like "Hey kids, you know your Aunt Robin, I totally hit that!"  And he essentially goes on in the series to describe in detail to his children every chick he banged in his twenties. Okay. Whatever. Suspension of disbelief.

The other main characters are Lily and Marshall, one of those super annoying couples everyone hates who met their first week of college and stayed together forever. There's Robin, who becomes part of the gang after they meet her in a bar and is a somewhat cynical television news reporter, and Barney, everyone's favorite, a sex addict with some sketchy corporate job who wears suits 100% of the time and hates monogamy.

This show hardly ever makes me laugh. I've just got to say. The jokes are fairly predictable, and even though Niel Patrick Harris (Barney) is fantastic, the writers keep giving him essentially the same material over and over for seven years. But despite this, for some reason I can't stop watching it. Maybe it's its spot on observations of real life phenomena (like The Mermaid Effect, or Crazy Eyes) or I've invested so much finding out who the damn mother is I can't give up now. I don't even know if I can recommend it or not. I guess you should watch it because it's basically our generation's Friends, but it's not really my type of comedy. Maybe the soap opera aspect is more what grabs me.

Entertainment Value: 3
Artistic Value: I really have no idea how to rate the artistic value of a sitcom. 1, I guess, but not in a bad way?

Film Review: Trust (2010)

I first heard about this movie when the rating it was given by the MPAA was appealed, with director David Schwimmer (Ross from Friends, if any of you didn't know) claiming the movie needed a PG-13 rating instead of an R so that young people could see this movie and be made aware of the danger of online sexual predators. Because it's not like old people who no understanding of the internet whatsoever have been hyping up this danger to us since we were old enough to reach a keyboard, or anything...

I have a thing for Lifetime-esque social issues dramas, and had seen that my sister had watched this on my Netflix account and decided to watch it myself. I was actually pleasantly surprised. The movie revolves around a fourteen year old girl who falls prey to an online predator, and does a great job of showing the grooming process and how he's able to manipulate her into believing his progressively sketchier lies, and how and why she falls for it. I will admit though, the five times he lies about his age (getting progressively older each time) becomes somewhat comical. The aftermath of the attack encompasses the majority of this films running time, and focuses on the emotional fallout for the entire family, not just Annie's.

Catherine Keener and Clive Owen are fantastic, as they always are. This movie seems to compress it's preachiness into specific scenes (which might make you roll your eyes a couple of times) but most of the movie is truly about the family and the emotions they feel regarding the assault. Artistically David Schwimmer did a pretty good job, the directing is superb and saves this movie from being associated with typical after-school-special-fare. I would definitely recommend it.

Artistic Value- 4.
Entertainment Value- 4 (if you like this sort of more novel-like structure story. If you're into sci-fi or big Hollywood blockbusters, this movie will be torture for you).

TV Review: Portlandia

So I had heard a lot about Portlandia from various friends telling me how great it was, and because the first season (only six episodes) was available on Netflix (my only source of entertainment, now that Megaupload is gone...) I decided to finally watch it. And I'm glad I did.

The show centers around Portland, but the entire thing could pretty easily be Bellingham. Even the houses look like they belong in Bellingham. Portlandia is a sketch comedy show that pretty much exclusively revolves around making fun of hipsters, everyone's favorite past time. If you've ever rolled your eyes at someone's obsession with free range chicken, Portland's desperation not to be Seattle, or the fact that every other person you know works part-time at the Co-Op you will love this show.

The show is surprisingly well-shot and the opening credits are beautiful in my opinion, and my favorite segment is the "feminist book store" recurring storyline. I honestly feel like this is a show we'll all remember twenty years from now, because it speaks to our current cultural environment so well. I feel like to even understand this show, you'd pretty much have to be under the age of thirty and living in the Pacific Northwest and that leaves you with a sense of local camaraderie after watching.

Artistic Value: 4- Pretty surprising for a comedy show.
Entertainment Value: 5

First Film Review: Rabbit Hole (2010)

The title and poster of this movie make it sound way more exciting than it actually is.

For the sake of full discretion, maybe I should be honest and say I am really turned off by films that are obvious Oscar bait. You know them, the films that just scream "we all want Oscars so we manufactured this film specifically for the Academy." It's blatantly obvious that's what Nicole Kidman did with this film, and she did get her nomination, although she predictably lost to Natalie Portman for "Black Swan."

In Rabbit Hole, filthy rich Nicole Kidman and her husband Aaron Eckhart are grieving the death of their four year old son. That's essentially the beginning, the middle, and the end too. No, seriously. I'm not even going to use spoiler tags in this entire post, because there's nothing to spoil. In the midst of devising ways to win the Oscar I think they forgot to write a plot. It's basically ninety minutes of grief porn.

Nicole Kidman's character is not particularly likeable, either. She comes off as judgmental, snobby, and randomly assaults people. I understand how much she was going through, but still. She was a difficult character to relate to.

The cinematography, sets, and shots of this movie were beautiful. The acting from everyone involved was superb. Artistically, this movie gets a very high score, but as entertainment, skip it.

Artistic Value: 5
Entertainment Value: 1