Process Folder

Here is my process folder for the end of the course:

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Final Portfolio

This is my final portfolio for ENG 1000C. I have included revised essays from unit 1 and unit 3.

 

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Across the Universe Movie Review

 

 

 

  Opening on a vast beach, the sky dull and gray, seagulls fly around cawing aimlessly into the wind. This scene brings nothing but a faint melancholy feeling to its viewers. You see a man in black sitting on this beach, saying nothing, just staring out into the horizon. What could he be thinking while staring out into this nothingness? He is almost waiting, sitting and waiting for something to appear before him. Then he turns around and stares at all who watch him on the opposite side of the screen. He begins to sing, his voice fills the void with a sad yet captivating sound. He wants to share his story, a love story about a “Girl”. He begins to sing “Is their anybody going to listen to my story, all about the girl who came to stay, she’s the kind of girl you want so much it makes you sorry, still you don’t regret a single day, a girl…” while the camera then turns toward crashing waves and this girl he is talking about. His song ends and “Helter Skelter” begins to play as the girl is being pulled back and forth through the waves. Then everything stops and her face just stares at all who watch, haunting our minds…Who is this girl?

   A film derived from the spirit of the 60’s and the influence of Beatle’s music comes to life in 2007. What we see is an assortment of acid based takes on society when people try to escape the horrible grasps of Vietnam War and make sense of revolution. The word “trip” had more than one meaning back then. Music was something that “set you free.” For those who didn’t live to see it all, they get a taste of what it was like in the movie Across the Universe, directed by Julie Taymor. You may know of her other projects such as Titus (1999) and Frida (2002).

  Across the Universe is a musical consisting of various Beatle’s songs that just happen to fit perfectly with the experiences of the many main characters in the movie. Everyone knows that the number of Beatle’s songs available is practically never-ending. The task at finding the right song for each part in the movie was a strenuous experience for the director and crew. They had so much to choose from, but the hardest thing was transforming each song into something old combined with something new. The lyrics, of course, didn’t change but the instruments and new voices challenged the old sound. When I first heard about this movie I was hesitant about seeing it. You don’t mess around with music of another era. However, this movie pulled through and gave new and old fans a fresh sound of the classic favorites which include hits like “Hey Jude, Let it Be, Helter Skelter, I am the Walrus, and so much more. According to Stephen Holden, a film critic for the New York Times, “Across the Universe feels emotionally true both to the Beatles, whose music today seems to exist outside of time, and to the decade it remembers.” This quote is one of the many good things Stephen Holden had to say about this movie.

    Even with music, this movie could not withstand the “musical reputation” without the actors. All of the actors in this movie are unknown except Evan Rachel Wood. You may know her from movies such as Thirteen and The Upside of Anger. In this movie, she could be as unknown as the rest because this is the first time she brings a new art to film, singing. No one knew she could sing or sing as well as she did.

   Evan plays Lucy, a rich upper-class girl who has lived a “sheltered from the world” lifestyle until she leaves for the first time and experiences the ups and downs of society. Visiting her brother Max leads to all new experiences for her; She falls in love, learns about the different sides of the Vietnam War up-close and personally, and in the end she finds herself. Evan’s take on this role is incredible, and it doesn’t stop with just her.

   Jim Sturgess, who plays Jude a local dock worker in Liverpool who comes to America and grows into his own as an artist and Lucy’s love interest, brings his own fresh hypnotic sound with a little bit of Paul McCartney  in him as well. His best friend Max, played by Joe Anderson who is sort of the John Lennon of the movie, gets drafted into the Vietnam War which kills his “everything is coming my way” outlook on life. The harsh realities cave in on him, which he makes evident when he comes back from the War and sings “Happiness is a Warm Gun”.

  There are a few other main characters’s who come to life due to the extreme talent of Dana Fuchs, Martin Luther, and T.V. Carpio. Stax, a movie critic at IGN entertainment describes them as  “…Max and Jude move to New York City, where they live a bohemian lifestyle along with their landlord — a Janis Joplin-like singer named Sadie (Dana Fuchs) — Jimi Hendrix-esque guitarist Jo-Jo (Martin Luther McCoy), and Prudence (T.V. Carpio), an Asian-American lesbian.” To make it even greater, there are also cameo appearances of Bono who plays a LCD tripped up doctor, Salma Hayek who plays one nurse duplicating into five, helping the soldiers who came home from the war, and Joe Cocker, who sings “Come Together” while playing an array of characters such as a homeless person and a pimp.

  The main characters sing about the obstacles they face when these extreme psychedelic times heighten their emotions and either separate them or bring them together. For instance, While Lucy is caught up rallying to end the War, she abandons Jude. You can see his anger at that when he sings “Strawberry Fields Forever”. In this scene, while working on a project, his emotions change through out the song while he lines up strawberries against a wall. The symbolism in this is how they begin to bleed when cut into. Soon, his rage takes over and he begins to smash his work, and the strawberries turn into bombs falling over Vietnam.

  Another example is when Max gets drafted into the war. Overcome with fear of the unknown, “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” begins to play and his hallucinations get the best of him. We see this when many Uncle Sam poster’s come to life and try to grab at him. We also see this fear when he gets his physical and the soldier’s he sees are robot like with expression-less faces.

  My favorite scene in this movie is the “funeral scene”. Julie Taymor recreates the song “Let it be” which we hear during the Detroit Riot which then turns into two funerals; one dedicated to a heroic soldier and one for a child who was killed during the Detroit Riot. “Let it be” turns into a gospel choir frenzy as emotions break through. The heartache in this scene is overwhelming with each lyric, even with the contrast of the two funerals.

  This film brings you on a journey of psychedelics, war, music, and love. It’s magical and surreal. With many dream-like hallucinations, it almost seems as if it never happened, then Julie Taymor cuts to a reality crashing scene that brings you back. It did happen and she gives it to us in this gift of dedication. Forget Hair, Across the Universe is the real deal. It will take burnt out hippies on a trip back in time. It will give the new generation an insight to the “era of love”. It is truly a time stopping masterpiece. 

 Trailer:

Favorite Scene:

 

Work Cited Page

Holden, Stephen. “Lovers in the ’60s Take a Magical Mystery Tour.” Across the Universe (2007) 9 14 2007 4 22 2008 <http://movies.nytimes.com/2007/09/14/movies/14univ.html>.

 

Stax. “Julie Taymor’s magical mystery tour is worth the trip..” Across The Universe Review 9 11 2007 4 22 2008 http://movies.ign.com/articles/818/818908p1.html.

“Across the Universe images”  FanPop.com. 07 05 2008. < http://www.fanpop.com/spots/across-the-universe/images>.

“Across the Universe Trailer” youtube 07 05 2008 http://youtube.com/watch?v=7VTPSL9TcJc

“Across the Universe Let It Be” youtube 07 05 2008 <http://youtube.com/watch?v=Z4bib4PBqGA>

What you are talking about is desire – just brutal Desire!

Original Screenplay by Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire is one of the greatest classics of all time. Of course there are different versions with different actors but my favorite will always stay the same. Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh play the parts of Stanley and Blanche like no other.

Set in the French Quarter of New Orleans during the restless years following World War Two, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE is the story of Blanche DuBois, a fragile and neurotic woman on a desperate prowl for someplace in the world to call her own. After being exiled from her hometown of Laurel, Mississippi, for seducing a seventeen-year-old boy at the school where she taught English, Blanche explains her unexpected appearance on Stanley and Stella’s (Blanche’s sister) doorstep as nervous exhaustion. This, she claims, is the result of a series of financial calamities which have recently claimed the family plantation, Belle Reve. Suspicious, Stanley points out that “under Louisiana’s Napoleonic code what belongs to the wife belongs to the husband.” Stanley, a sinewy and brutish man, is as territorial as a panther. He tells Blanche he doesn’t like to be swindled and demands to see the bill of sale. This encounter defines Stanley and Blanche’s relationship. They are opposing camps and Stella is caught in no-man’s-land. But Stanley and Stella are deeply in love. Blanche’s efforts to impose herself between them only enrage the animal inside Stanley. When Mitch — a card-playing buddy of Stanley’s — arrives on the scene, Blanche begins to see a way out of her predicament. Mitch, himself alone in the world, reveres Blanche as a beautiful and refined woman. Yet, as rumors of Blanche’s past in Auriol begin to catch up to her, her circumstances become unbearable.

I’ve only seen the film in black and white, but that doesn’t make it unbearable to watch. The acting takes you to another plane, you get lost in the stories behind the characters as well as what is in your face. Marlon Brando gets a million applauds from me. As if anyone else could act out the infamous “Stella!” scene. It is worth seeing by all. Not everyone likes classic movies, but I always say classics are apart of our culture. It is a different kind of acting, but not worse than today’s movies.

Once More With Feeling!

This is my dedication post to the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode: Once More with Feeling. Once More with Feeling is a musical episode. Before I start, for those of you who have never watched this show, here is a summary:

 

“In every generation there is a chosen one… she alone will stand against the vampires, the demons and the forces of darkness. She is the slayer.” Buffy Summers knows this tale by heart, and no matter how hard she tries to be just a “normal girl”, she can not escape from her destiny… Thankfully, she is not alone in her quest to save the world, as she has the help of her friends, the hilarious (and surprisingly quite effective) evil-fighting team called “The Scooby Gang”. Together, Buffy & co. will slay their demons, survive one apocalypse after another, attend high school and college… and above all, understand that growing up can truly be Hell sometimes… literally.

 

 

It starts off with the song “Going through the Motions” as Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar), who just came back from the dead, is basically just going through the motions. She feels numb to the world and blames her friends from ripping her out of what she thinks was Heaven. Then we soon find out that people are bursting into song all over Sunnydale and that this leads to spontaneous combusting, people bursting into flames from the inside out. As we find this all out, the Scooby gang goes through the day singing their own tunes such as I’ve Got a Theory, Walk through the Fire, I’m Under Your Spell, Rest in Peace, and many more! It isn’t just any normal singing, people in Sunnydale sing their secrets. You can blame this on the devil, who was summoned to Sunnydale. Now that he arrived, he has a goal of his own: Make the girl who summoned him his queen (who he thinks is Buffy’s sister Dawn).

Just like in any Buffy episode, Buffy saves the world and they party! Not exactly…. They didn’t beat the devil the way everyone would think. The devil finds out that it wasn’t Dawn who summoned him, but Xander (Buffy’s best friend next to Willow). He then leaves and the Scooby gang are left trying to cope with the truth that the songs brought out of them.

I did not do this episode justice at all. I probably butchered the entire plot, but it such an amazing episode and I just felt like I should dedicate a post.  

 

I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together

Okay, two points…I don’t know why I titled this blog post that insanely long title that just happens to be lyrics from the Beatle’s song “I am the Walrus”, and instead of studying for my psych test for tomorrow, here I am updating.

I’ve always loved learning about signs…the astrology kind. However I’ve always questioned what Sign I am exactly. I was born on November 21. That’s like a borderline scorpio/saggitarius. So what does that make me? When I read my updates on my sign, do I apply my life to both or just one? This question plagues my life consistently.

When I do read about my sign, I usually read Scorpio. I was looking at this website now and I was amazed at how some things, not all, apply to me. Another question: Do they not all apply to me because I am on the cusp of saggitarius? Or is it because some things are true and some aren’t?

Anyway, here are some interesting things they had to say, I am only adding things that apply to me:

 

• The curiosity of Scorpios is immeasurable, which may be why they are such adept investigators. These folks love to probe and know how to get to the bottom of things. The fact that they have a keen sense of intuition certainly helps.
• Much like the Scorpion would rather kill itself than be killed, those born under this Sign are the ones who are in ultimate control of their destiny.
• These folks are intense, passionate and filled with desire. They’re also complex and secretive, so don’t expect to get much out of them, lest they become suspicious and exit stage left. It’s best not to bet against Scorpios, either, since these folks are surprisingly resourceful.
• Scorpios are fiercely independent. They are able to accomplish anything they put their mind to and they won’t give up. They are perfectly suited to being on their own. They are not social butterflies like some other zodiac signs and some actually prefer to live on their own that way there is never any issue of who controls what at home, they like to be in control.
• Scorpio is the most misunderstood of all astrology signs. They are all about intensity and contradictions. They like to be aware of a situation and always know what’s going on, figuring this out with their probing mind, on the other hand, they are interested in the occult, the paranormal, conspiracy theories and other types of similar unknown mysteries.
• Scorpios are very intuitive, but not as in a psychic sense, more as intuitive into the human mind, they have a great understanding of the mystery and the power of the human mind.
• They present a cool, detached and unemotional air to the world yet lying underneath is tremendous power, extreme strength, intense passion and a strong will and a persistent drive. Scorpios have a very penetrative mind, do not be surprised if they ask questions, they are trying to delve deeper and figure things out and survey the situation. They always want to know why, where and any other possible detail they can possibly know.

 

Peer Review Draft – Unit 3

Here is my Peer Review Draft of my Across the Universe movie review paper.

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Discovery Draft for Unit 3

OK so this is just the discovery draft about Across the Universe, a movie review I am writing for english class. This means its not the final and its the beginning of a soon to be final paper. This paper kind of just cuts off because everytime I would write more, Id go back and fix other sentences. I have so much I still want to write about, different ways I want to describe events in the movie, and the characters…so therefore it is nowhere near to being finished. Take it or leave it.

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Growing Up Baby

Today in Psychology class, I learned a lot of interesting things about children and the different phases they go through while growing. According to Sigmund Freud, children go through four different sexual stages.
The first stage, which they experience during the ages of newborn until two, is called the Oral Stage. Freud said that when children put things into their mouth, or suck their thumb, etc. they are getting some sort of pleasure from that. I always thought that a child sucking their thumb was a need for comfort or nourishment. I guess I was mistaken.
The second stage, which children experience between the ages of two to four, is called the Anal Stage. Children at that age begin potty training. When they go on the toilet instead of having accidents, parent’s treat them. Therefore, every time they go on the toilet, they get pleasure out of it.
The third stage is called the Phallic stage which is in two different categories for girls and boys. There is the Oedipus category for boys and the Electra category for girls. Boys and girls go through a sexual fascination with their parents. Boys are attracted to the mother and try to separate the father from the mother. Girls are attracted to the father and also go through something called Penis Envy. They blame their mother for birthing them with out the right genital part, little do they know.
The last stage is the latent stage, where they push all of their sexual feelings away until they begin to go through puberty.
So yes it was extremely interesting and very enlightening. I don’t know how much of it is true because there are those out there who might disagree with Freud’s theory. However, I didn’t go into much detail, but if you think about it…it does make sense.

There Will Be Blood

When watching this movie in class, at first I had mixed feelings. The beginning was very slow because they were just showing how the main character Daniel Plainview, was a struggling oil miner. The film didn’t grab me until he buys land in California for the oil. That is when things begin to get interesting. One character, Eli who is the reverend of the local church, helps his father sell the land to Daniel, and therefore becomes like a gnat in Daniels face, continually flying around, scrounging for his money. I was really amazed at how someone so religious was worried about material wealth. I thought religious individuals back then thought wealth was living, breathing, being on earth until you descend to heaven.
Anyway, through out the movie you gradually see Daniel turning into this psychotic man whose competitive personality takes over the life he has created. He loses his son, who at first had a good relationship with, he ends up alone as an old man, and even turns to murder to those who stood in his way.
I ended up liking Daniel, He was a great main character, even with all of those layers. I liked his relationship with his “son” even though using that relationship as being a family man was not on my good father list. Neither was the whole taking your son to work every day in a life threatening atmosphere. However, back then men had a much stronger out look on people and work. People and work went together like peanut butter and jelly back then. If you were a boy and had no hard work ethic, then you were not a man. Even though it seemed much simpler back then, I think it was harder.
I didn’t like Eli, although he played an important part, there was something about him that gave me the creeps. He reminded me too much of Children of the Corn. Even though he was a religious man, greed took over and in the end he ended up worthless and more.
I think this movie was a like it, love it, or hate it movie. I rested in the middle of liking it and loving it. It wasn’t much for my taste; however I give everything a try once. It was a good movie and I didn’t regret the hours watching it.