Capturing the Community

This week, I'm going to share a little video that I put together as part of a video challenge for media class. The theme of this video challenge was our communities. Now, I love my community and living here is really exciting and everything, but sadly, at this time of the year, nothing really happens. It's freezing, so nobody's at the park. Nobody's really walking around either. There are no events since the holidays are over, and, I mean, there aren't any fun events until it gets a little warmer. I was kind of bummed out. I feel like if we had this video challange during the spring, I could have done so much more with it. I would have been able to display the more vibrant and colorful side of my community in this challenge.

Well, on to my video. I worked with Kelsey Gross on this, since we live not too far from each other and go to the same school and everything. The footage includes footage of the metro station near my house, the houses around my neighborhood, the road on the way to school, the Panther Cheer Competition in which our school competed, and the beautiful, barren scenery of Norbeck Road. So basically, they're just tidbits of this area, and things I see everyday.

Creating this video was quite a challenge for me. I kind of had an idea of what I wanted it to be like at first, but it didn't turn out so great because of the weather. I didn't get footage of as many things as I would have liked. I also wish that it could have been more artistic and prettier, but I guess this is what it's like around here during the winter. I also had quite a lot of technical problems. Overall, I wish I had more to work with. This project was uber stressful for me. I could have used a little bit more nice weather, a little bit more interesting footage, a little bit more flair...But nonetheless, here is my video. Enjoy.

The Princess Bride



So, our exams are finally over. We are finally done and are now enjoying the five day weekend which has been totally relaxing. This weekend, for the first time ever, I watched The Princess Bride. Well, actually, I haven't finished the entire movie yet (although I did google the ending), but so far, it's been amazing. My friends have always told me that I had to see The Princess Bride, and after putting it off for a really long time, after exams, Thursday, some friends and I crashed in my friends basement for lunch and a movie marathon when I finally watched it.

The Princess Bride is about a girl named Buttercup who falls in love with her farmhand, Westley.  Westley must go out and seek his fortune before he and Buttercup can marry. However, his ship is attacked and he is pronounced dead. Buttercup is heartbroken and after five years, reluctantly agrees to marry Prince Humperdinck. Before the wedding, she is kidnapped by outlaws who are hoping to start a war. A masked man comes to rescue Buttercup and the masked man turns out to be Westley. The two face many obstacles as they try to escape the kidnappers, break up the engagement between Buttercup and the Prince, and pursue a future together.

The overall message of the film? As cheesy as it sounds, true love prevails. The Princess Bride, overall, is a cute fairytale-like story of a damsel in distress who waits for her knight in shining armor to come save her.

If you're currently saying to yourself, "eww, another rom-com" well, it's not only a cheesy romance story. There's also a ton of fencing, sword fighting, daring adventure, R.O.U.S's (rodents of unusual size), quicksand, poisoned drinks, and juicy revenge. If you're a sucker for cutesy little romance films like I am, or if you're into a unique kind of adventure, you should totally see The Princess Bride. Here's a clip of the beginning of the film. Oh, it's so cute.



The Breakfast Club

It feels like it's been a uber long time. I hope you had a nice break! I certainly did. Over the break, I was able to see many movies that I haven't seen in a while. One of these movies was The Breakfast Club, which many of you have probably heard of, starring Emilio Estevez, Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, Anthony Michael Hall, and Ally Sheedy, who are all well-known members of the "Brat Pack" the name of the group of young actors that became famous in the 1980s. It was directed by John Hughes, released in 1985, and one of the most well-known movies of the 1980s. The Breakfast Club is one of my favorite movies ever and the movie is super relateable, memorable, and just teriffic.

The Breakfast Club is the story of five high school students who are from different cliques, but have one thing in common: they all have chips on their shoulders. It's kind of hard to describe the plot because lots of things happen, but here's the general gist. The five meet in detention one day for various reasons and are under the watch of the Mr. Vernon, the sly assistant principal. The characters, Andy, John, Claire, Brian and Allison, are stereotyped as, "the jock," "the criminal," "the princess," "the brain" and "the basket-case," respectively. They start out not getting along but by the end of the day, they all become extremely close friends. It is revealed that each of them have problems with their parents. Andy's father puts pressure on him to be the number one jock or he will "blow his ride" to college. John's parents are abusive. Claire's parents' relationship is dysfunctional and they are always on the verge of divorce. Brian's parents over-pressure him to get good grades and do well in school. Allison's parents ignore her. Throughout the course of the film, they bond over sharing their personal stories and problems.

The Breakfast Club is amazing because pretty much everyone can relate to it in one way or another. I think that everyone can identify with one or more of these characters, their problems, and what they go through. I'm sure a lot of people know what it's like to be pressured by their parents, or even by themselves to do well. That is why this film is genius -- everyone can relate! I really love this movie, and I think that it is one of those movies that you have to see at least once. When I first saw it, I thought it was really bizzare, but in a good way. The second time around, I was able to grasp the hidden concepts: the angst of adolecence and the need to "fit in" and be loved. It's a great movie, you should definitely see it. You can find the original 1985 trailer here. I would normally embed it, but the person who uploaded the trailer disabled embeding. So, until next time!