The Amazing Race to Stevie

The Amazing Race to Stevie

Amanda King
Katie Pierschalla
Paige Oehlhof

Upon arriving at class today, we were notified that Stevie Pointer was missing and that we needed to find him. We were provided seven clues as to where Stevie might be so we began our journey. Up the stairs we went because we didn't feel like taking the elevator to the 5th floor. Then the challenge of finding animal biochemistry began but then there it was, a random study cage with the letter H as our first clue.



5th Floor Study Cage

Journal #7 Big Box Office Numbers

(http://pixabay.com/en/autumn-decoration-fall-food-fresh-2905/)

Journal #7 – Big Box Office Numbers

Over the holiday, it seems that many Americans spent time heading to the movie theatre rather than sitting at home chatting with the family, according to Sean O'Neal’s “Thanksgiving Weekend Box Office: America Gorges Itself on Patriotism, Vampires, and CGI Tigers” Article . To no surprise to many of us, Twilight was one of the top grossing movies over Thanksgiving, bringing in $64 million in just four days. Twilight was followed by Skyfall, Life of Pi, Rise of the Guardians, Red Dawn, Hitchcock, and finally Rust and Bone.

Journal #6 - Thanksgiving Haters

(http://pixabay.com/en/autumn-colorful-decoration-fall-20426/)

Journal #6: Thanksgiving Haters

While searching for my next blog post topic, I ran across an article titled “In Defense Of... Hating Thanksgiving” by Colin McGuire (http://www.popmatters.com/pm/column/165314-in-defense-of-hating-thanksgiving/), and with the holiday fast approaching I couldn’t refrain from reading what this piece entailed. I was startled to find out the article is basically a hate list of every negative aspect of Thanksgiving! Granted Thanksgiving, just like any other holiday has its downfalls such as those awkward conversations with family members you see maybe once a year, screaming children, travel, and numerous other not so fabulous aspects of the holidays, I think that many of us still seem to enjoy the chance to celebrate ad get together. The bashing of one of the most American holidays actually kind of offended me, probably due to the fact that even with Thanksgivings negative’s, I still find it to be one of the most enjoyable holidays.

Journal #5 Brief Screening Report

Camera Lens
(http://pixabay.com/en/video-icon-glass-lens-cartoon-36860/)

Journal #5 Brief Screening Report 

A particular scene I noticed to be incredibly insightful into the patterns of the rest of the movie was one involving the morals of Salim when he was faced with a difficult choice. The scene takes place 32 minutes into the movie after the two Mumbai native brothers, Salim and Jamal, have been separated from their mother. As the movie progresses it brings us to the scene mentioned above. The two children, along with many others, are in the hands of money hungry men that will do anything to increase profits from their child begging business, even forcing young Salim to bring his very own brother to them to have his eyes removed so that they will generate a bigger profit. In the eyes of the money hungry men, Salim is seen as a leader and they therefore trust him to complete such a request, even though he is fully aware of what is about to happen if he brings his brother to them as asked. We begin to think Salim is actually going to sell his brother out as he begins leading Jamal to come outside to the men. We are suddenly surprised by a quick change of scene as Salim, Jamal, and many of the other children begin escaping with the men chasing behind them. Fortunately they escape, leaving us with a new view of Salim as a character.

Journal #4 - Another Reality Show?

MTV
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/weeklydig/6872335442/)

Journal #4: Another Reality Show?

I was alarmed to find out from Josh Terry’s article “Vinny is the Next Jersey Shore Star to get a TV Show” (Newswire.com) that there will soon be yet another realty show based off of the completely ridiculous show Jersey Shore, which has lasted one too many seasons as it is in my opinion. MTV has continuously launched new shows featuring the stars of their hit show Jersey Shore with Snooki, JWOWW, and Pauly D, as if the drama of the original show wasn’t enough to satisfy viewers. The newest launch MTV is working towards is granting the seemingly most normal cast member, Vinny Guadagnino, his own talk show as well. It should be interesting to see if this show leads to success or disaster, as many of their other Jersey Shore spin offs have.

"Realism and Anti-Realism"

Movie Clapper Board (pixabay.com)

"Realism and Anti-Realism" from Richard Barsam's Looking at Movies

From my experience viewing films, movies have an unbelievable power to draw you in whether they are realistic or not. As the article discusses there are three main aspects to which movies can be categorized or at least have some correlation to. In my opinion realism relates to how factual an idea, scene, plot, or action of a movie is in correlation to our actual lives. An example that comes to mind when thinking about realism is the movie I was assigned for our evaluation essays, Slum dog Millionaire because it is so true to a real life situation. Another aspect movies or television shows can take on is anti-realism, which to me means the show is stretching the truth just so far that it makes the situation unlikely to ever occur in real life but still allows viewers to connect and without making us think it’s completely ridiculous, such as in many action movies or the movie Avatar. Lastly, verisimilitude seems to be at times kind of a mixture of realism and anti-realism that gives the overall effect of believability in the movie. The plot line may be somewhat realistic even if many scenes of the movie are virtually impossible, but as long as the movie continues its rhythm and draws you in, often times we will find it to be believable. Even in movies such as The Hunger Games where the overall plot is completely bizarre we are still able to find it plausible. Why? Because the story is consistent and shows us a possible new reality.