Cameraman, Director, Actor, and Editor

Going into 11th grade one of my best friends had just received a new video recorder for his birthday. He just so happened to bring it up to our church camp just to mess around and put funny things on tape but nothng serious. As the week went on he was getting bored with it cause he thought there was nothing left that could possibly be more funny than taping your gentials and seeing how many peopl you could get to watch it and see it unexpectedly and see there reaction to it. So I ended up using it and became kind of interested in it. So interested in it that i asked my parents for one for christmas and hey we're in Edina so of course they abided. kidding that's all i got from my parents so I got one present instead of 5-7. I ended up making some videoes that are rather amateurish but I don't car I have fun doing them. It's a good way to pass time with friends and editing is a hassle but time cannot pass faster at least for me. I participated in a talent show at my church not a competition or anything but friends and youth staff liked what they saw. Apparently it was rather funny. So, now a few people at my church have asked me to make videoes for them for big volunteer groups I prticipate in. It's a good way to make a little extra cash while for me having lots of fun. This is a video I made very late at night after some plans fell through with friends and because of this YES I made it by myself like a loser with no friends. It's on YouTube. Search "jfkera" if you want to see more. Don't watch the hummer one. I'm warning you now it's a waste of your life 8 mins approximately. TRUST ME!

Critique The Critic

Chris Vogner from the Dallas Morning News critiques the recently released to DVD movie 300 in this review. Vogner's views about the move very much relate to my own feelings about the movie. He talks about the "wristwatch rule"

The earlier you look at your watch (or cellphone), the less engaged you are by what you're seeing on the screen.

This is actually a really good point. I guess I never realized how much you check your watch when you're bored with a movie. However I had no feelings like these during the movie. This movie is one of my new favorites. I heard many good things about it before I saw it. So without even previously seeing it, I bought it and I was not disappointed. Chris also relates the cinematography to the very similar Sin City. I ,however, have never seen the entire movie. You know how it goes, bits and pieces. But the similarities are unmistakable. Chris Vogner also talks about the grotesque fight scenes that are VERY entertaining. Who does not enjoy a good blood splatter scene? The action is non stop. The way it is filmed is shot not only intensifies the fight scenes, it makes them more gory and more entertaining.

A digitized cornucopia of craggy mountains, dark clouds, soaring arrows, decapitations and hand-to-hand combat that would make an Ultimate Fighting Champion quiver in fear, 300 is enough to mobilize the pulse of adult teenagers everywhere.

This movie is not only amazing to watch. It is based on a true story, which Vogner comments on, that is also a remake of a previous movie, The 300 Spartans, but it is nothing like it; Vogner says welcome to the 21st century. Vogner comments on how the backgrounds are extremely fake looking if you actually look at them. I didn't realize this while I was watching but can understand how it would look like that since the whole thing was digitized but it in no way did it detract from the movie. Vogner describes the stylized fighting scenes that take up the majority of the movie.

But the bulk of the movie is devoted to highly stylized combat. Spears and swords tear into flesh. Persian elephants go flying off cliffs. Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro), a hairless, effeminate chap who makes Leonidas look even more manly by comparison, sends wave after wave of fighters against the Spartans, only to see them punctured and hacked to bits.

This was what made this movie so great in my opinion. It shows very intense scenes that could very much be realistic, in my opinion, for that time period. Unlike current war movies about recent wars, it shows true bravery and intense combat. Recent war movies are just straight up gory and sad. This film creates the feeling of true bravery. After seeing the movie I didn't feel like crying or an overall feeling of sadness. Honestly I felt like I could kill someone and wanted to just own a guy in a fight. That's a feeling you don't normally get from a movie. Anyway, I think Chris Vogner did a decent job of critiquing this film and creating the feeling and attitudes from this film.

D-son

oh hey there was this time when i couldn't figure out my blog so i consulted an african hippie albino that deals drugs in the parking lot that is video recrded duh.