Flannery O’Connor’s religion and her regional ancestry had an impact on her work. I too am a southerner and a Catholic, so I can see where they both come in. There is a strong sense of right and wrong in the Catholic faith. Strict standards, sometimes high, are pressed upon those who follow faith and even on those who don’t. Rules like those who commit suicide are destined for hell. We consider it a sin, while other religions may not. It is the belief that to take even your own life is a decision you are not allowed to make. These are high standards of morality that our religion sometimes focuses on. Flannery O’Connor shows that especially in her work like “A Good Man is Hard to Find” when Judgement comes in the form of a serial killer who has these high standards of good people.
Born in Georgia, Flanner O’Connor’s environment has an effect on her work. She shows it in dialogue, in vocabulary, and also in character development. Religion is a strong influence in the south, and O’Connor shows that in her work with the mention of Jesus and the hypocrisy of believing in good and doing the right thing. She also shows it in her settings such as using Tennesee and Florida in “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” She also uses race in her stories which is constant issue in the south, and she uses racial slurs in dialogue to reveal the southern ancestry and racist ethics of the south. The south is also sometimes depicted as a contrasting blend of grotesque violence and ignorance with rich ancestry and history. Flannery O’Connor usually shows these characters that think themselves “old southern belles” being rude and repulsive.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
Curse you, Beatles! For Encouraging Obnoxious Hand-holding!
I don't really hate The Beatles for wanting to hold hands. I, too, enjoy holding hands. But because of all the hand-holding wheverever I go, I have become increasingly aware of my availability.
My knitting friend calls Valentine's Day, "Single Awareness" Day. She calls it that assumming that couples are aware they are not single and single people become aware that they suddenly are. It's a clever name. Why I bring it up is because I feel like it has spread to a whole week for me. I find myself watching couples walk hand in hand down the street and wondering if they're happy. Sometimes I count them, and sometimes I make up stories about them as you would of a rorsach. It's become partly amusing, partly annoying.
Working at the movie theater is tough. Nearly everyone coming in is on a date, and I have become a part of their lives, servicing them in a way to make their date more enjoyable. Sometimes they show me a little of their warped relationship, of their complex love, or of their budding affections. Other times I don't know what I'm seeing two people on a date or two people just going through the motions.
Most of my friends were hand-holders once. It made me uncomfortable to hand out with them since everyone was walking around like some kind of bridal aisle, hand in hand. Now most of them have lost or dumped their respective partners in exchange for empty hands. Mine are buried deep in my pockets, and if someone were to rip them out of their caskets, they'd probably find broken fingers.
I'm not lonely, but I am feeling quite singular. I thought I found someone willing to put up with my sweaty palms, but it turns out it was a false alarm. If the world is going to start a classic chain of hand holding then I should probably get started on my finger pushups. But until the chainstarts, I'll probably be watching Across the Universe for the ten thousandth time with my hands buried in my pockets, typing with these ridiculous elbows.
My knitting friend calls Valentine's Day, "Single Awareness" Day. She calls it that assumming that couples are aware they are not single and single people become aware that they suddenly are. It's a clever name. Why I bring it up is because I feel like it has spread to a whole week for me. I find myself watching couples walk hand in hand down the street and wondering if they're happy. Sometimes I count them, and sometimes I make up stories about them as you would of a rorsach. It's become partly amusing, partly annoying.
Working at the movie theater is tough. Nearly everyone coming in is on a date, and I have become a part of their lives, servicing them in a way to make their date more enjoyable. Sometimes they show me a little of their warped relationship, of their complex love, or of their budding affections. Other times I don't know what I'm seeing two people on a date or two people just going through the motions.
Most of my friends were hand-holders once. It made me uncomfortable to hand out with them since everyone was walking around like some kind of bridal aisle, hand in hand. Now most of them have lost or dumped their respective partners in exchange for empty hands. Mine are buried deep in my pockets, and if someone were to rip them out of their caskets, they'd probably find broken fingers.
I'm not lonely, but I am feeling quite singular. I thought I found someone willing to put up with my sweaty palms, but it turns out it was a false alarm. If the world is going to start a classic chain of hand holding then I should probably get started on my finger pushups. But until the chainstarts, I'll probably be watching Across the Universe for the ten thousandth time with my hands buried in my pockets, typing with these ridiculous elbows.
Cakes
Ever since I bought this cupcake book from a garage sale, I have been baking and cooking a ton. It made me get lots more cooking books, using recipes and eating things I never thought i would try. It also has helped me realize that maybe I don't need a lot to be happy. Maybe I could just cook and cook for the rest of my life and be content with people enjoying my cooking. In fact, I don't know when the idea was born, but I have a plan to one day open a bake shop in Austin, Tx. I have been heavily influenced by places like Muddy's and just general coffee shops to sell my creations and supply a venue for musicians and artists.My latest projects were pumpkin muffins with chocolate chips and bannana pudding cupcakes. It's mostly so I can research my own combination. Some ideas are maybe best left in the dark, but one them I can share which is The Cake Tumor. In my brain, it's a massive, chocolately cupcake, mishaped, and not aesthetically pleasing, but extremely delicious. I'm thinking maybe a ganache cupcake. With something horribly thick and delicious iced on top.
The pumpkin muffins failed due to a miscalculation between chocolate-chocolate chip muffin mix and just regular chocolate chip muffin mix. Too much chocolate, not enough pumpkin.
The bannana pudding cupcakes however were a complete success. :) I even made homemade whip cream to go on top. However, because I made so many, they're going away very slowly. I still have like five left or so, and I usually don't eat my creations. I have like one, but never really more than that.
I have thought about starting my own commission-bakery here in memphis, where people call me to comission a special kind of cake. :) I am not sure how that would work out. D:
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Please Take a step back
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hibyAJOSW8U
If you're familiar with Art and it's methods, you know that you're less likely to see the flaws of your work when you view it from a distance. Up close, you notice all the little mistakes you made during the artistic process. The same theory is applied to nearly everything, that things at a greater distance are more pleasing than things at a closer distance. Almost every study or practice wraps around the idea. That things look great to us because we are not paying attention, and that if we got closer, we would notice the flaws.
Little girls have this problem a lot. Because they can't view themselves from the outside(metaphorically), all they see are the flaws. They get too close to the mirror and see their clogged pores, their veiny celluloid, their splitting ends, their long toes(a girl actually once complained to me that her toes were too long). What little girls fail to see is that there is no designated standard for normalcy or beauty, and that's the beauty of it.
I like that there are no standards even though we think there are standards. Is life like a wikipedia where we put our brains together and build a standard(with refutable evidence)? I know we all say that the constant stream of images and media puts an image in front of us of what we are supposed to be, but isn't that just us putting the tv and the media to the task of doing it?
I was just thinking to myself today. I know everyone talks about the perception of normalcy and standard, but hardly anyone is making that change against a made-up image. I guess change comes slowly.
If you're familiar with Art and it's methods, you know that you're less likely to see the flaws of your work when you view it from a distance. Up close, you notice all the little mistakes you made during the artistic process. The same theory is applied to nearly everything, that things at a greater distance are more pleasing than things at a closer distance. Almost every study or practice wraps around the idea. That things look great to us because we are not paying attention, and that if we got closer, we would notice the flaws.
Little girls have this problem a lot. Because they can't view themselves from the outside(metaphorically), all they see are the flaws. They get too close to the mirror and see their clogged pores, their veiny celluloid, their splitting ends, their long toes(a girl actually once complained to me that her toes were too long). What little girls fail to see is that there is no designated standard for normalcy or beauty, and that's the beauty of it.
I like that there are no standards even though we think there are standards. Is life like a wikipedia where we put our brains together and build a standard(with refutable evidence)? I know we all say that the constant stream of images and media puts an image in front of us of what we are supposed to be, but isn't that just us putting the tv and the media to the task of doing it?
I was just thinking to myself today. I know everyone talks about the perception of normalcy and standard, but hardly anyone is making that change against a made-up image. I guess change comes slowly.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
I Love How Blogger Desregards My Links
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sc1zhHeyIY
The actual video Link.
The actual video Link.
Indie Memphis
Indie Memphis is never boring. This year proved it. So many different independent films, some good, some bad, but all definately unique.
I saw something called 45365. It was incredibly interesting, and although not gripping, it was not boring. Imagine you sat on a bench all day, listening in on conversations and looking closely at faces. It was basically that, but a constant stream of it. It was all about small town life, which automatically bores the crap out of me, but this movie didn't. It made me feel like I was actually there, sitting with these old biddies, watching this jock get pranked at his locker, listening to this cop tell an old man to call his cable company. Again, sounds boring, really wasn't.
I'm not sure what other meaning it could've had, made to look for the subtleties in happiness, stability, in hopefullness. It wasn't viewing the society of a small town from a political standpoint, but by, I suppose, a human standpoint, which is what I enjoyed the most.
I really desperately wanted to see. On The Edge Of Happiness directed by Mark Jones. He's the same director of Eli Parker is Getting Married, a movie I caught one late night when I was incredibly bored on WKNO(which is what I watch when I have a tv, when i get bored). The movie was hilarious, about a man who get's pranked on his bachelor night. He is cuffed to his bestfriend, naked in a canoe, in the middle of the lake in the middle of middle Tennessee. At that moment, his bestfriend comes out to him as being gay. Yeah, so it was hilarious, nonetheless, watching everything get more and more tangled as it became unraveled. I wanted to see his latest film because I knew he'd done good work. Because I was pelted with work, however, I could not attend the showing. I suppose I'll have to either purchase it or check it out of Black Lodge which tends to have these films.
In the end, I wish I had seen more movies but it's tough when you normall get free tickets, and now you have to pay. I wish Malco would give me free tickets to Indie Fest.
I saw something called 45365. It was incredibly interesting, and although not gripping, it was not boring. Imagine you sat on a bench all day, listening in on conversations and looking closely at faces. It was basically that, but a constant stream of it. It was all about small town life, which automatically bores the crap out of me, but this movie didn't. It made me feel like I was actually there, sitting with these old biddies, watching this jock get pranked at his locker, listening to this cop tell an old man to call his cable company. Again, sounds boring, really wasn't.
I'm not sure what other meaning it could've had, made to look for the subtleties in happiness, stability, in hopefullness. It wasn't viewing the society of a small town from a political standpoint, but by, I suppose, a human standpoint, which is what I enjoyed the most.
I really desperately wanted to see. On The Edge Of Happiness directed by Mark Jones. He's the same director of Eli Parker is Getting Married, a movie I caught one late night when I was incredibly bored on WKNO(which is what I watch when I have a tv, when i get bored). The movie was hilarious, about a man who get's pranked on his bachelor night. He is cuffed to his bestfriend, naked in a canoe, in the middle of the lake in the middle of middle Tennessee. At that moment, his bestfriend comes out to him as being gay. Yeah, so it was hilarious, nonetheless, watching everything get more and more tangled as it became unraveled. I wanted to see his latest film because I knew he'd done good work. Because I was pelted with work, however, I could not attend the showing. I suppose I'll have to either purchase it or check it out of Black Lodge which tends to have these films.
In the end, I wish I had seen more movies but it's tough when you normall get free tickets, and now you have to pay. I wish Malco would give me free tickets to Indie Fest.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Finally Finished Video
Thursday, October 15, 2009
My Video inspired by the Glass Menagerie
I wrote a story inspired by the Glass Menagerie. I am making watercolor illustrations to go along with the story, plus narration, then turn those ingrediants into a video product. Unfortunately, however, a good video takes a while to make, therefore i will not have it completed by 9:20 AM this morning. I hope viewers and my teacher wil forgive me for my lateness. I will be able to complete this project over the break, and have the URL ready by the next time we meet.
I have the story ready here.
The story of Mana.
Once upon a time, there was a marsh, and living in the marsh was a manatee called Mana. Mana grew up in the shallow waters of the marsh with his older brother, Ani. Together, they lived an ordinary life, a constant agenda of sleeping, eating, swimming, and eating. Occasionally, a roaring engine would come by, and the sound would scrape and injure his older brother who was always trying to protect Mana. Mana was tired of the marsh and was tired of being protected.
Sometimes Ani would tell stories. He would talk of where their parents came from and how they disappeared. Ani described they had gone to the ocean, and it was vast and beautiful, but Mana highly doubted Ani’s observations for as long as he had known his brother, he had never been to the ocean. Mana would always ask, “How do you know what the ocean looks like if you’ve never seen it?” and Ani stated that he would know it when he saw it. There was one story, Mana was always curious about, and it was how they came to be. Ani told Mana that a long, long time ago, they were once human. They were once a people who fell in love with water. They made love to the ocean, and the manatees became their children. Mana wondered what it’d like to be human, to see the ocean, to love it so much to be a part of it.
One day, when Ani was sleeping, Mana decided he wanted to see the ocean. He moved toward the shore, until it became shallower and shallower. At first he was scared, scared he would not be able to come back, but before he knew it he was wiggling along the sandy floor. His flippers became hands, his body became longer, and his tail became two long legs.
Mana had become a human. Ashamed of what he had done, he could not go home. He could not face his brother this way, and Mana abandoned the marsh and left for the ocean.
Mana traveled as far as his human legs could take him. He went to many places, New York where he made friends, Chicago, where he developed a taste for pizza, Memphis where he learned how to dance, and finally, New Orleans, where he picked up the trumpet. Now the trumpet was an unusual talent, especially for a manatee, but it’s long sounds, round and deep reminded him of his older brother. When Mana finally met the ocean where the levies broke, he was surprised by how his brother‘s words rang in his ears. It was vast and beautiful, and it spoke to Mana. The Ocean spoke one word and that was “Small.” With this tiny message, Mana realized he would have to go back for his brother.
When Mana returned to the marsh, his brother was gone. He searched and searched, but could not find him. He asked his brother’s friends who were now old and crinkly with wives and children, where he could have gone. They stated that a long time ago he was taken by a group of men. He went west, in search and came across a man from Africa in a place filled with books. His name was Seif, and he was man who had a knack for finding answers. Mana told Seif his story of how he was once a manatee and had become a man. Seif said he had heard stories from his tribe of men living in rivers, but had never thought it could happen. According to their tales, manatees were sacred and that to kill a manatee would bring about bad luck. Mana asked Seif to help him, and Seif agreed. Together, they went in search of Mana’s brother.
After many restless nights and days, Mana and Seif reached a place where the land was flat and golden. There, they met a Native American man named Enapay. Enapay was a healer and he could feel Mana’s pain. Enapay heard his story, fed them both, and let them stay with him in his humble cabin. That night, he awoke Mana and told him he knew where his brother was. By the light of the fire, he showed him a pot. Inside the pot were fish bones and spices. He asked him. “Why did you leave the marsh?” Mana replied. “I was bored. I was trapped by water, and wanted more than an ordinary life.” Enapay asked him. “But what did you lose?” Mana looked at him, and Enapay placed the thin bone in his hand. Instantly, Mana knew. His brother was dead. In the silence, Enapay spoke, “We are all trapped, whether by fishtails or by legs. We cannot free ourselves, and to free ourselves is to lose a part of who we are. Here is your brother. I did what you could not. I have freed him.”
Mana took his brother’s remains from the old man, and but could not return to sleep. In the morning, he revealed to Seif what had occurred that night. Seif lashed out at Enapay, but Mana stated he did not feel any ill will toward him. Mana asked Seif if he would take the bad luck from Enapay and give it to him. Seif reluctantly agreed. With Badluck in one hand, and his brother in the other, he departed from Seif with warm gratitude and heart, bid his farewell to the healer, and set out for the western shore.
At the Pacific coast, Mana released the bones into the ocean and burned the Badluck into his eyes. Now Mana’s eyes would always and forever be marked with sadness. Mana stood on the cold rock and kicked off his shoes. With his trumpet hanging over his shoulder, he swam and swam until his legs could not work anymore, until they became a tail, until his arms became flippers and he was once again a manatee.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
My Video inspired by the Glass Menagerie
1. Tentative project title
"Mana"
2. Type of artistic activity. Write a short paragraph that (1) describes your artistic creation, and (2) explains why or how you became interested in this particular type of artistic expression. Be specific (e.g., “I will write a one-act play about . . .(relative to the Williams plays). “My interest in doing this grew out of . . . ”).
My artistic creation will be watercolor illustrations with narrative background. Think Reading Rainbow. I may do the narration myself but to save face, I might actually get a friend with a talent for speaking. I became interested in watercolor after reading "The Little Vulcan" story that was based off the story "The Little Prince."
3. Artistic objectives. Briefly state the artistic objectives you hope to achieve, both for yourself and for your audience. Is there a message you want to convey? In addition, there may be underlying artistic questions you hope to explore; if so, identify them. Take the time to think this through clearly and deeply before articulating your artistic objectives.
I want to convey the message of being trapped, freeing yourself from the trap, and then losing a part of yourself while doing so. How both success and abandonment sometimes go hand in hand. I want to juxtapose a mature, lonely message with the child-like and visually pleasing medium of watercolor.
4. Significance. Briefly state why your artistic objectives are important. Why should others be interested?
My artistic objectives are important because it follows a similiar theme in Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie, juxtaposing the feeling of trapment with the idle, beautiful collection of glass figurines. Something beautiful and fragile but is not free.
5. Intellectual/artistic context. Briefly indicate the ideas, constructs, principles, style, or approach that you expect will guide the development and interpretation of your artistic creation.
I would like to use the story of a manatee to convey the message. Mana, a manatee, is compelled to follow the life of a manatee, living in the confines of the watery river it lives in. Its family compells is it stay, even though day after day they are in constant danger and pain from speedboats and poachers. They dream of a life in the ocean though, having heard it is vast and beautiful where no one hunts or skims over you with their speedboat. Mana tells them they'll never reach the ocean, but they could become men and join people on the land. They dream of the ocean until Mana brings humans to take them to the ocean. Instead they take them into captivity, and Mana's family is annoyed with him. Because Mana believes that although he has tricked them, he only tried to save them. Mana becomes a man, and leave his family in captivity to travel the world.
This is just a rough idea, i might change where the family goes, but it will always be about Mana.
6. Methodology. Briefly describe how you will proceed with your artistic project, including resources you expect to use. Provide a timeline for completion.
I expect to use watercolor artists such as Mangotrillis and others used to convey Neil Gaiman's story. I also expect to look up a lot of illustrators.
1. Write story
2. Complete Illustrations
3. Rehearsal with Narration; Complete Narration
4. Edit
5. Produce and present.
"Mana"
2. Type of artistic activity. Write a short paragraph that (1) describes your artistic creation, and (2) explains why or how you became interested in this particular type of artistic expression. Be specific (e.g., “I will write a one-act play about . . .(relative to the Williams plays). “My interest in doing this grew out of . . . ”).
My artistic creation will be watercolor illustrations with narrative background. Think Reading Rainbow. I may do the narration myself but to save face, I might actually get a friend with a talent for speaking. I became interested in watercolor after reading "The Little Vulcan" story that was based off the story "The Little Prince."
3. Artistic objectives. Briefly state the artistic objectives you hope to achieve, both for yourself and for your audience. Is there a message you want to convey? In addition, there may be underlying artistic questions you hope to explore; if so, identify them. Take the time to think this through clearly and deeply before articulating your artistic objectives.
I want to convey the message of being trapped, freeing yourself from the trap, and then losing a part of yourself while doing so. How both success and abandonment sometimes go hand in hand. I want to juxtapose a mature, lonely message with the child-like and visually pleasing medium of watercolor.
4. Significance. Briefly state why your artistic objectives are important. Why should others be interested?
My artistic objectives are important because it follows a similiar theme in Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie, juxtaposing the feeling of trapment with the idle, beautiful collection of glass figurines. Something beautiful and fragile but is not free.
5. Intellectual/artistic context. Briefly indicate the ideas, constructs, principles, style, or approach that you expect will guide the development and interpretation of your artistic creation.
I would like to use the story of a manatee to convey the message. Mana, a manatee, is compelled to follow the life of a manatee, living in the confines of the watery river it lives in. Its family compells is it stay, even though day after day they are in constant danger and pain from speedboats and poachers. They dream of a life in the ocean though, having heard it is vast and beautiful where no one hunts or skims over you with their speedboat. Mana tells them they'll never reach the ocean, but they could become men and join people on the land. They dream of the ocean until Mana brings humans to take them to the ocean. Instead they take them into captivity, and Mana's family is annoyed with him. Because Mana believes that although he has tricked them, he only tried to save them. Mana becomes a man, and leave his family in captivity to travel the world.
This is just a rough idea, i might change where the family goes, but it will always be about Mana.
6. Methodology. Briefly describe how you will proceed with your artistic project, including resources you expect to use. Provide a timeline for completion.
I expect to use watercolor artists such as Mangotrillis and others used to convey Neil Gaiman's story. I also expect to look up a lot of illustrators.
1. Write story
2. Complete Illustrations
3. Rehearsal with Narration; Complete Narration
4. Edit
5. Produce and present.
Monday, October 12, 2009
A Little Story Using Star Trek Characters
I found this story someone wrote using Star Trek Characters.
It's like reading a story book written by Neil Gaiman. It has watercolor pictures, beautiful words, and interesting symbolism.
I really appreciate this.
http://ayalesca.livejournal.com/83279.html?style=mine
It's like reading a story book written by Neil Gaiman. It has watercolor pictures, beautiful words, and interesting symbolism.
I really appreciate this.
http://ayalesca.livejournal.com/83279.html?style=mine
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Late Night Tea and Knitting
Okay so we're supposed to write about ideas, so I'm writing about my knitting progress so far.
My Knitting Ideas
My Knitting Ideas
- Spock hat: -the hair, the ears, the eyebrows.
- Klingon hat: the ridges and dreds.
- Racoon hat: brown/black
- Bob Ross hat: crazy hair and mustache
- Shark hat: a shark biting your head hat
- Mohawk hat: with faux mohawk yarn
- Lion hat: a lion eating your head
- Bear hat: a bear eating your head
- Cat hat: a cat sitting on your head
- Mexican wrestling masks
- Cool sweaters
Most of these are because I would like to knit people their totem pole animal. Cliff, a friend of mine stated his totem animal would be Bob Ross, from that painting tv-show. The man was known for his dedication to Alaskan wildlife preservation.
Yarp.
My friend, Lauren Teixiera is a huge stichin' bitch, and she has her own site to sell all of her stuff. She knitted me this awesome mohawk hat you might see me wearing around in the next couple of weeks, weather permitting.
http://www.etsy.com/profile.php?user_id=6692001
She is preparing for the winter.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Weird Dream
I had a weird dream. I was watching a video where Valerie, my friend/housemate's girlfriend, was trying to thank me for understanding that love is strange and difficult no matter how hard you try. She was choking back tears, and eventually they won, and she started crying, but soon the tape ended by way of interruption. It went to static.
The next thing I see is that I'm in a rainforest or the woods, but it's different. Like a nightmare, fantasy rainforest/woods type area, and Tom, my other housemate, and Christiaan, the one whos girlfriend is Valerie, are chained up together by the wrist. They're hiding from something and discussing a tactic. The Tree(yes, the tree) between them has a mouth and it warns them that if they don't move soon they're going to die but also warns them that they are doomed anyway just by being here(in the woods).
The next thing I see is Valerie, but she's not Valerie anymore. She is alive and walking around but there are bugs and sentipedes and various crazy insects are crawling all over her face and shoulders. She puts her hand tentatively to her mouth as if she's thinking of something.... then a cockroach crawls over her cheek into her mouth, and she eats it.
O_________O
So yeah, my weird dream. I'm sorry if it scares people. Oddly enough it didn't scare me it just made me extremely curious.
Valerie, btw, is a wonderful woman from Germany who Christiaan has been dating for quite some time. She is an art-history major at Chicago Art Institute.
The next thing I see is that I'm in a rainforest or the woods, but it's different. Like a nightmare, fantasy rainforest/woods type area, and Tom, my other housemate, and Christiaan, the one whos girlfriend is Valerie, are chained up together by the wrist. They're hiding from something and discussing a tactic. The Tree(yes, the tree) between them has a mouth and it warns them that if they don't move soon they're going to die but also warns them that they are doomed anyway just by being here(in the woods).
The next thing I see is Valerie, but she's not Valerie anymore. She is alive and walking around but there are bugs and sentipedes and various crazy insects are crawling all over her face and shoulders. She puts her hand tentatively to her mouth as if she's thinking of something.... then a cockroach crawls over her cheek into her mouth, and she eats it.
O_________O
So yeah, my weird dream. I'm sorry if it scares people. Oddly enough it didn't scare me it just made me extremely curious.
Valerie, btw, is a wonderful woman from Germany who Christiaan has been dating for quite some time. She is an art-history major at Chicago Art Institute.
Cigarette Girl Review
I wrote this review a long time ago on a different web page.
Cigarette girl leaved something to be desired. actually, let me rip it to shreds. First and foremost, let me remind all that it's easier to criticize something than it is to create.
The Acting. One helpful hint about acting, is you've got to pretend you're not acting. Peope often say wearing another character's skin and what not. That is true. People often say pretending is acting. That is not true. Anyone can pretend to be someone else, but you gotta pretend you're not pretending. it's complicated, but watching it was like watching people on stage. people on stage can preten because they're on stage. The audience knows they're actors and the actors know they're not really these characters. what actors have to do with movies and television though is lose that part where the audience knows. We don't know. We need to believe we're not watching a movie. We need to be shown what we are seeing is a peek into someone else's life. that's not what i got out of this.
Originiality - Probably the most important thing of an independent film. That's the beauty of it! It's not about money or who and who isn't staring in it. The formula or cliche does not have to apply. You risk losing the attention of the audience but you gain a beautiful artform and style. I didn't see that here. The plot was a good idea but what could've been amazing turned out being overcooked.
Writing/Dialogue: It could've been awesome. He was aiming for minimalistic, dystopian, but really it came off as emulating tarantino poorly. actually, the attempt was ridiculous. I felt like i was reading fanfiction where someone didn't know what kind of world they were in. Like a secretary dictating gun ammo. Saying the words as if she hadn't used them before in her life. I wanted to shoot someone because no one had a clue what they were talking about. research and a little life experience may have greatly improved this. actors may also be partly to blame here.
so in other words, dissappointed. there is a such thing as a good independent film. Makeout with violence was pretty good. One I saw over at Watkins Art School was pretty well put together.
Cigarette girl leaved something to be desired. actually, let me rip it to shreds. First and foremost, let me remind all that it's easier to criticize something than it is to create.
The Acting. One helpful hint about acting, is you've got to pretend you're not acting. Peope often say wearing another character's skin and what not. That is true. People often say pretending is acting. That is not true. Anyone can pretend to be someone else, but you gotta pretend you're not pretending. it's complicated, but watching it was like watching people on stage. people on stage can preten because they're on stage. The audience knows they're actors and the actors know they're not really these characters. what actors have to do with movies and television though is lose that part where the audience knows. We don't know. We need to believe we're not watching a movie. We need to be shown what we are seeing is a peek into someone else's life. that's not what i got out of this.
Originiality - Probably the most important thing of an independent film. That's the beauty of it! It's not about money or who and who isn't staring in it. The formula or cliche does not have to apply. You risk losing the attention of the audience but you gain a beautiful artform and style. I didn't see that here. The plot was a good idea but what could've been amazing turned out being overcooked.
Writing/Dialogue: It could've been awesome. He was aiming for minimalistic, dystopian, but really it came off as emulating tarantino poorly. actually, the attempt was ridiculous. I felt like i was reading fanfiction where someone didn't know what kind of world they were in. Like a secretary dictating gun ammo. Saying the words as if she hadn't used them before in her life. I wanted to shoot someone because no one had a clue what they were talking about. research and a little life experience may have greatly improved this. actors may also be partly to blame here.
so in other words, dissappointed. there is a such thing as a good independent film. Makeout with violence was pretty good. One I saw over at Watkins Art School was pretty well put together.
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