Finals.

It seems that the end of the semester always rapidly approaches. And it also seems that professors enjoy watching you squirm as they pile on the papers and assignments. This entire semester seems to have gone by in a flash. One minute I'm celebrating Christmas, then the semester began. As quickly as it began, I found myself taking off on quite possibly the best (and scariest) vacation of my life. I went to Hawaii for a week in February and was there throughout the tsunami scare. After I returned from that vacation, well... the rest of the semester was a blur. Not much sleep, and a lot of late nights studying and writing papers seemed to never end. Now, I'm sitting here taking a break before my last real class of the semester. Looking back, I definitely enjoyed this semester. But I will also enjoy summer break!

Renting Movies.

When I was younger, renting a movie was something I looked forward to. Nowadays, it seems that every Blockbuster around me is closing with the blink of an eye. There once was five around me, now that has dwindled down to one. Today all you have to do is go to your local grocery store to find a Red Box, where you can rent a movie for as low as $1. Not to mention Netflix (which I love) and ON Demand movies. The ease of renting a movie has greatly increased, so much that you don't even have to stand up to do so. I am someone who subscribes to Netflix, so I suppose I can't be too surprised that its hard to find a place to rent a movie these days. I'm sure the one lonely Blockbuster that is open local to me will be gone in no time as well. It will be a sad day when they disappear completely, but I cant complain about paying $9 per month for unlimited movies either.

Dear Zachary...

Here I am, posting about yet another documentary. This one in particular is one that I have wanted to watch for quite some time but didn't get around to it until this past weekend. The name of it is Dear Zachary. It follows a guy going around the United States and Canada talking to friends and family. The reason why he is talking to them is because his best friend was recently murdered. He wanted their opinion on his best friend to then show to Andrew Bagby's son. Coincidentally, the mother of his son happened to be the one that murdered Andrew. The twists and turns in this documentary keep you glued to the screen throughout the 95 minutes. I can highly recommend this documentary to anyone looking for a good story. The message being sent to the public through it is amazing, and my heart goes out to Andrew Bagby's family.
Check out the documentary here:
http://www.dearzachary.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtyY0CXdiNo

Reality TV.

I will be the first to say that I enjoy the occasional reality t.v show. 10 years ago you could watch a night of television without it being flooded with a reality show. Now, good luck! My #1 show is probably The Real World. I've been watching it since the mid-90's and it just never gets old to me. Now, I can't say that I enjoy Americas next top dog groomer or whatever Bravo happens to be airing. I think reality television is something that is here to stay and we all need to get used to it. American Idol isn't going to stop any time soon and neither will The Real World. I have a feeling I'll be watching reality television for a long time to come and I'm alright with that!

Final Cut Pro

Okay, so this will be a completely biased post and I am content with that. When I was a junior in high school I signed up for a class that had something to do with television. Upon entering the class on its first day, I fell in love. Our first assignment was to create a PSA and from there I didn't stop. It was there in that little studio that I fell in love with final cut pro. Back then, the class was seen as a DIY course. Meaning, they gave you assignments... but never taught you the proper techniques. I quickly began messing with the program and loved how easy it was. I used final cut pro for two years in high school, and for an additional two years at my previous college. When I signed up for an editing course last semester that was based solely on avid, I was disappointed. I found avid to be confusing and not user friendly at all. In fact, Gregg allowed me to use final cut for my projects (thanks!) which I appreciated. I know the edit lab on campus now has final cut available for students use and I hope that in time the school will realize it is much more user friendly than its PC enemy!

3D TV

Theres something about watching television in the comforts of your home that is hard to beat. But, it is a 2D world that we are watching. With 3D televisions rolling out left and right it is hard to ignore the fact that the television you watch today may no longer be useful in a few years. A recent trip to Best Buy opened my eyes to the fact that yes, you can buy a 3D TV. It is said there is a current lack of demand, which could be due to the lack of programming. In my opinion, a 3D TV does sound cool. I think wearing the silly glasses while watching television is what would annoy me. I tend to wear my glasses while relaxing in front of the tube, so piling on another pair isn't exactly comfortable! Some people say if 2D TV isn't broken, why fix it!? I believe this is just another phase in the entertainment industry. And lets face it, with all of the recent 3D movie releases... how else would we watch them!? In 2D? Thats absurd, lets all go spend $2,000 on a new television!

On Demand

It seems that whenever there is "nothing on TV" I can always count on one thing, On Demand! Sure, my parents subscribe to nearly 400 channels but it seems there is nothing I can ever settle on watching. So, I turn to the always successful on demand feature. I can watch anything from a corny horror movie to the newest music videos that I enjoy. No waiting for a movie to come on, or watching an episode of "The Office" that I missed. I never thought that I would have this luxury and it sure is a cure for boredom. It definitely shows that cable companies are focusing on what the viewers want. I like the convenience of having hundreds of options at my fingertips and the best part - no commercials. So here I sit on a Monday night, watching Intervention on demand. Why you ask? Because I can!

Tsunami? Or not.

This past week I visited Oahu, Hawaii with my boyfriend and four other friends. The week was going great. Spending time at the beach in Waikiki, visiting the North Shore of Oahu (surfing!) and just soaking in the culture. Its strange to think that your still on American soil yet learning a different language at the same time. By the second day hello was replaced by aloha and mahalo had taken the place of thank you. It was great to be disconnected from the world, aside from occasionally posting a picture I had taken with my iPhone. On our last day, Saturday, we were supposed to attend a car show in the morning and head to the airport shortly after. My boyfriend and I were abruptly awoken by our friend Troy who yelled "Theres a tsunami coming! This is real!! Get out of bed!" Not exactly the most pleasant thing to wake up to.
So, we woke up. Packed our bags and were ready to move if necessary. We woke up at 4:30AM Hawaii time and didn't sleep a wink after that. Instead, we found ourself doing the one thing none of us expected to be doing on vacation... watching television. KHNL was great about covering what was going on. To think that without television we all would have been pretty clueless about what was going on. The tsunami warning lasted until about 3PM Hawaii time when Hawaii officials notified the media it was safe to resume normal activities. Now, without the media nobody in Hawaii or on the mainland would know what was going on. And the fact that the officials of Hawaii trusted the media to pass on the message really says something about their impact and ability to reach out to many people at once. I am thankful that we had a television in our hotel room, without it we probably would of been a lot more worried than we were. The media let us know what to expect, what time, and when it was safe.

Inappropriate? Your call.

The Olympics are on this week and I'm not sure if any of you have seen coverage of the event but I have been enjoying watching some events. One event that I find very interesting is luging. Flying down a twisting ice track at high speeds on a small sled is crazy to me. If any of you have watched the news lately you would of seen footage (or still photographs) of Nodar Kumaritashvili crashing while doing a practice run. Olympic officials say it was his fault, while other lugers agree that the track is unsafe and they need to revamp it. Thats not what I'm here to blog about though. Every news channel that you passed through was showing him crash, or his body mangled in between two concrete poles. I find that to be rather tasteless. Some channels were even playing it a several times. This is someones life we are talking about. Although he was not pronounced dead at the scene I still don't think the video should of been shown on every major news channel though. This guys family is now subject to watching his deathly race over and over. Maybe the news should be a bit sensitive about things like this, but then again that isn't how Fox gains all their viewers!

Dont You Forget About Me

Ah, snow days. I love them. Especially when the snow doesn't start until mid-afternoon. I see snow days as an excuse to sit in the house, catch up on homework, and watch movies. All three of those were achieved today. Tonight I decided to check out the selection for Netflix on X-Box. I found myself searching through the documentary section (as usual)a, and found one called "Don't You Forget About Me". Its a film showcasing many of John Hughes' films and how they still affect people although they are nearly 25 years old in some cases. It begins showing how many different generations can relate to him, and how he just vanished from Hollywood. Young or old, all people agreed that teen movies are not the same as they were in the late 80's. Hughes was able to relate to people of all ages. The reason I decided to blog about this documentary is because it relates to this weeks chapter on genres. The teen film genre was essentially created by John Hughes, and many filmmakers of today try to base their films on what he so easily perfected in films like "The Breakfast Club".
Now back to the film. The four independent filmmakers are on a journey from Canada in an attempt to find John Hughes. They film people along the way and try to figure out what made his films so perfect and timeless. Most people say that they simply miss having something they can relate to. Characters today aren't like anyone in their lives. Being someone who watched his films (and still enjoy them), I thought this was a good documentary. The ending isn't what I was hoping for, but I guess real life never works out that way.
Here is the trailer for the film, hopefully some of you get the chance to watch it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0fPLN459_I

THE CARTER.

Lil' Wayne. The public seems to either love or hate you. I happen to love you. Well, figuratively speaking of course. After watching a documentary about him title "The Carter", I couldn't help but enjoy him even more.

Most people have never even heard of this documentary, but those who have love it just as much if not more than me. It lets you inside of his world of marijuana and cough syrup (although I'm not a fan of either!) and shows you how he is on a daily basis. This is the trailer for it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDo92CxqxlU In 77 minutes you get a look into where he came from, and how he goes about recording his songs. He didn't let the director of the film formally interview him, only allowed him to film interviews that he was participating in. Lil' Wayne either loves or hates the interviewers, and has no problem sharing his feelings. He also doesn't write any lyrics, just types them out onto his laptop, and never hits the save button. Regardless of whether or not you like the guy, he must be doing something right. This documentary was filmed when Tha Carter III was released and you can clearly see from the concert footage that people from all walks of life enjoy him. Give it a shot if you haven't already seen it, maybe you'll change your mind about him.
I leave you with him performing on the Grammy's last night.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=friANd51psU

blogs.

I must say, I read a lot of blogs. Most live in my favorites and I'll visit them once or twice a week. But I've never had one of my own. I read cooking, fashion, tattoo, car, and well... blogs of any kind.

Some of my favorites are fashion ones. I like to keep up with fashion although I can't always afford what I see. Although sometimes they will post something affordable, thanks for that blogs!

One blog that I internet stalk is http://www.foodpeoplewant.com/ Clearly, its a food blog. And she literally makes food people WANT to eat. No fancy BS like the food network, just good food that you feel you need to make after browsing through her blog. Another one I find myself visiting every Sunday night is http://www.bakerella.com/ She bakes desserts, I happen to love desserts. Works out perfect, though I tend to give away most of the goods I bake (any takers!?).

I find that the blogs that catch my attention have a lot of pictures to go with their content. So, I leave you with a picture that has nothing to do with blogging. But hey, its my blog!

Avatar

I know, I know. This movie. But honestly, if you haven't experienced this amazing movie I suggest you do so. I recently went to see it in IMAX 3D and thought it was put together very well. The movie was visually pleasing, had a good (but slightly predictable) story, and I personally didn't think it was too long. I find myself constantly asking people if they have seen the film, and greatly encourage those who haven't to go see it! Some people have just written it off as just a "movie about blue people". But it is so much more than that. I'm not sure if this movie would be given justice in a normal movie theater so I must encourage you to see it in IMAX 3D. Plus the $6 price tag on Tuesdays is always good for a college student!