Music Videos

So.... music videos. It used to be a creative process that the director looked into the lyrics and took some meaning from it and orchestrated an art form to direct his and the artists collective insight. Now, a good number of videos have half naked women covering the landscape or a simple plot leading up to a concert scene. Well it can be said that is the depth of today's music, but does it necessarily have to be that way? I would hope not. If nothing else, it seems the director could avoid the cliche concert situation and take longer than two seconds to digest what the musician is attempting to relate and shame on the musicians for simply going along with a minimal art form. It seems rather elementary with all the advances in technology that someone could easily manipulate into a vivid picture for both the eyes and ears. Maybe it's just me... but, I hope that's not it :(

Cartoons these days...

With the ever abundance of technological advances, there are several pros and cons to each facet of the structure. Cartoons in specific were at one point shoddy creations that seemed to be valued more for their message than their design, but today, the message is lost in translation thanks to technology. Years ago, it took a good amount of time for each episode of a cartoon to come out, so the writers had to make sure that their stories were top notch and they weren't specifically set in one time and could be viewed continuously and appreciated the same, if not more. Today, EVERYTHING is done on computers, so it takes absolutely no time at all for an episode to see the light of day, so the common practice for shows, especially cartoons, is to respond to societal ills of the moment, which will be seen months, if not weeks later, with disgust and a lack of interest. This is extremely common for cartoons such as South Park and The Simpsons. By doing this, the characters lose what the audience first loved about them and they lose their timeless quality and get shuffled into the mix of sentiments of the moment. I hope this is only a phase and cartoons will go back to what their genius lies in, even though I know such a dream is pointless...

Twilight Zone

I've been in a reminiscent mood lately, so I've been watching a lot of programming that I grew up on, including several episodes of The Twilight Zone. For its time, this show was a groundbreaking series, with its science fiction themes sewn throughout each of its premises. Still, for some reason, The Twilight Zone never received high accolades amongst the television viewers, but instead fell among the group of cult classics.
Some of the noticeable aspects that I liked about the show was the specific detail to lighting the crew took. Though I'm sure to some degree that lighting was especially important to black and white pictures, so as to be sure the image is correctly seen, but I'm sure there is more to it than that. Rod Serling was very particular to details and I'm sure lighting was so exception. The illumination was cast at several different angles, some to cause several shadows behind the subject, some to cause shadows on parts of the face to create definition and even some shadow across the face to allow the viewer to imagine the situation of the scene is real. To further that final point, shadowing is a common theme in film noir with shadows such as light streaming through shades onto the subjects face.
On the other hand, the show was not without its imperfections, including a few stale storylines that lacked creativity, but more importantly, in a couple of scenes, even if only for a split second, a microphone could be seen dipping into the scene from up above. Even the most interesting story or adventure could be dashed by an unintentional breaking of the "fourth wall", even if it comes from a different direction.

Sorry it took so long...

I bought a big-screen a couple months back, so my latest venture had me perusing the DVD section at Record Archive to pick movies with the best graphics. I bought 300 of course because of the sheer brilliance of the piece. I really love the dominance of computer animation fused with a slow motion touch that built up the tension of the film. Of course, the movie hailed based on real life events, but as the common person knows, to build up a legend, one needs to exaggerate here and there. After all, if true life was always told without a build-up, then it would never be as exciting as fantasy can offer.

Next, I purchased Transformers which is a movie that may have amazing graphics, but the storyline is mediocre at best. That Disney channel kid, Shia LaBeouf, seems to be making his escape from his status of middle-class child actor with each progressive coming of age film, and this is no exception. The graphics on the machines is amazing and the plot could be even duller, but I would remain excited to see what else a computer can make a car do... :)

oh em gee...

I have seen far too many movies in the past few weeks and none have I written about or openly critiqued, so shame on me.


Starting with the most recent picture I have viewed was the VERY low budget horror film, Carver. The movie is relatively new, stating a 2008 release on every movie site, but the title leads the viewer into a completely wrong direction. Not one of the victims in the movie was 'carved' at all, but it simply was the last name of the hillbilly murderer. Even for the low budget of the movie, it did manage to get some gut-wrenching reactions, including the worst torture (to me, at least) involving the testicles of one male victim to be popped with a pair of pliers... ugh... ouch... no fun. the entire thing was so predictable and unrealistic, but it was supposedly based on a true story of some town that was completely made up, unless you watch the other horror films from the director, Franklin Guerrero, Jr. I still like cheap thrills, so it was worth the watch. If you hate predictability, cheap nudity, gruesome violence or campy themes, you won't like this at all...

For the BIBLE Tells Me So was an eye-opening look into how real-life religious families have dealt with their children 'coming out' as homosexuals. Though every single one of the people involved in the documentary grew up in an environment that severely chastised the idea of homosexuality, they battled the idea or buried it deep into their subconscious until they could not hold it in any longer and had to live their life in the way that felt right. Though the families were against a lifestyle the Church has labeled 'immoral' and 'wrong' the parents supported their children because they love them, no matter what way they are. This was true for every instance except one, where a woman told her daughter she would never accept such a lifestyle for her child and as time passed, the daughter committed suicide. In reaction to this, though, the mother stepped out and became an avid supporter for those in similar circumstances of fear and rejection because of their lifestyle. The film even follows the beginnings of Gene Robinson, who recently became the first openly gay administer ordained in the Episcopal Church. This documentary was a very moving piece and should be viewed by anyone, even those who are against homosexuality.


Early in the week I had happened to view a movie entitled, The Girl Next Door. Though this shares the same title as the teen sex romp from 2oo4, this movie holds such a completely different entity and context and it is even based on real life events. The film is seen through the flashback of the main character to when he was a boy in the 1950s. A new girl just moved into town with her younger sister after their parents were killed and soon their abusive, alcoholic aunt turns her anger towards them. Eventually, it comes across that their aunt was inappropriately touching the younger girl when the older one fought back against it. To combat this, the aunt tortured the elder girl in the basement and held her captive there. She would even allow her three sons to sexually abuse their cousin or beat her, too. The main character was a neighborhood boy who tried to stop the abuse and eventually got a police officer to help, although it was too late and the girl died from the awful treatment. In real life, the victim was Sylvia Likens, who lived in Indiana and received similar, but not exact torture, as was featured in the film. This film is not for the easily disturbed or overly emotional, but is nonetheless and amazingly moving piece of film.

The Dully Lama

The painfully drawn out 10 Questions for the Dalai Lama had certain points which I found informational when it described the trials and tribulations of the Tibetan religious leader, but the overall shot choices and storyline had me losing interest very quickly.

The repetitive nature of the question asking seemed to be nothing more than a time filler and when the camera would zoom into the Dalai Lama's face as he answered each inquiry had me feeling entrapped in the face of the subject. Moreover, the Dalai Lama left me feeling with a bad Hollywood marriage of Yoda from Star Wars and James Earl Jones.

Finally, the point in the film which I found most distracting was during the interview, Rick Ray wore drab clothing in comparison to the Dalai Lama's. Not to say he should be wearing attire to compete with the vivacity of the red on the Lama, but Ray was sitting in front of a window that allowed the light to enter almost completely wiping him out of the scene.

Overall, the questions were not necessary to the plotline in my opinion and if an educational piece on the Dalai Lama needed to be recreated, it could have been done in a 10-15 minute spot.