Literature and the Arts, Day Blend

I've been a fan of Fall Out Boy for less than two years--one of the curses of avoiding the radio, I suppose--but I’ve quickly become a diehard. Why? Well, there's the music, which I love. Wentz' lyrics are biting, funny, and contain the occasional pun, while Stump's voice is amazing and their music is insanely catchy. But it's more than that. Fall Out Boy goes farther out of their way to connect with their fans than any band I've been a fan of, and it works.

Here is my final video on its own. Since the original, I made it into more of a video essay, adding my own voice and clips arranged in a way that tells the story of each tragic villain. It took forever but I think it was worth it! Make sure to check it out in the video page.

The Softer Side of Villainy from Taylor Bunch on Vimeo.

The Softer Side of Villainy

The Softer Side of Villainy from Taylor Bunch on Vimeo.

Villains have been around since the inception of the movie industry, finding their roots in literature or life. Some of them could even be considered tragic. But it was not until recently, with the advent of popular series, that tragic villains became the norm.

Tragic villains are always equipped with a sympathetic backstory to win the audience's hearts as well as their minds. Since these villains have suffered some great loss in their pasts, their actions have a psychological basis. An audience can better understand and accept evil acts when they seem to have justification.

Everything is on Weebly, I hope you enjoy!

http://corbinunc.weebly.com/

There are many different sub-genres of horror movies. Each has defining characteristics yet still shares similarities with the others. The following are some of the main sub-genres that come to mind when discussing horror movies:




Psychological

In 1878 Eadweard Muybridge forever changed the entertainment industry as we know it. In what started as a bet with a friend, Muybridge created the first ever motion picture. Soon after this creation the film industry began. This industry quickly became one of the highest grossing entertainment businesses in the country. From the beginning of this film era, a few main concepts have withstood the test of the toughest critics and pickiest audiences. A few of these themes include space travel and artificial intelligence, but the one I find most interesting is the “end of the world” feature.


Most people believe that the beginning of the apocalyptic films started with the release of film based on the H.G. Wells novel “war of the worlds” in 1953. Yet others argue that it actually began two years earlier in 1951 with the hit movie “when worlds collide.” Either way, both of these films ignited a plot line that immediately grabbed and held the attention of audiences for many years to come. Some of the best of these films include “The Birds” (1963), “Night of the living dead” (1968), “Planet of the apes” (1970), “Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior” (1981), “Reign of Fire (2002), “Children of Men” (2006), and many, many others.

2001: A Space Odyssey is one seriously confusing film. It is undeniably “good” by technical definitions of film making; however, I have heard from many individuals something along the lines of, “I saw it once in high school, but I don’t remember what it was about other that it was really long.” It is a relatively long film, but 140 minutes is by no means the longest movie ever made. In fact, I believe both of the Transformers films to be this length, if not longer.

I believe the perceived length of this movie to be directly associated with one of its deeper and more confusing themes, the meaning and construction of time. As the film transcends through time, mocking all the technological advances of mankind, and pairing them to this indefinable big black monolith object that is the end all be all of everything, it uses many different techniques to remove the viewer from their place in time. One of these techniques is a very limited sound track. The first portion of the film, entitled “Dawn of Man,” is comprised wholly of grunting and banging cave-monkey sounds eventually paired with the eerie supernatural sounds of the monolith. Here is a good example of the first 30 minutes of the film.

so here is what I have so far. I'm still working on it, but I figure my only hope of getting any comments would be to post it in the making. Let me know what you think.

http://hallumdickens.weebly.com/imagination-animation.html

Most movies seem to be populated by a host of stereotypes—the princess/damsel in distress, the jerk with a heart of gold, the nerdy girl who magically becomes pretty post-makeover, the harsh but inspiring coach—who drive the movie towards a safe and predictable conclusion. “Chick flicks” are generally given the worst rap for this, specifically for their portrayal of female characters. The women tend to be portrayed either as shrewish, inhibited, cold characters (see Katherine Heigl in Knocked Up or The Ugly Truth) or needy, sad, inhibited characters. No matter what the problem, there is only one cure: a man.