Movie Review - Carrie (1976)

What is an effective way to emote the feelings of an outcast girl in high school?  An exaggerated and over the top horror film of course!  Carrie (Sissy Spacek) is an extremely sheltered high school senior.  Her mother has abused and punished her in the name of religion to prevent any sexual indiscretions.  As a result of growing up in this environment, Carrie is extremely insecure, socially awkward, and an easy target to be picked on by her peers.  Little do these cruel high school kids know that Carrie has superhuman powers.

Everyone who has lived through their teenage years knows those are emotionally tumultuous times.  What if your mother was batshit crazy?  What if everyone picked on you for not knowing what a period was when you had it?  A 17 year old girl can only take so much before losing it.  

This movie has many over the top performances.  Piper Laurie, who plays Carrie's mother, couldn't believe that she acted in a horror film because she couldn't stop laughing after shooting her scenes.  The soundtrack has the Psycho sound byte played frequently in moments of high tension (they named the high school in this film Bates as a reference to Norman Bates).  Brian De Palma's direction of the movie walks the thin line between eerie and comedic.  His use of long camera shots are effective in building anticipation for the inevitable.

This was the first film that was adapted from a Stephen King novel.  Not only was it a success, but it was a launching point for Stephen King's career.

Carrie is currently available for stream on Netflix.

Rated R for some violent content, some graphic nudity, language, and sexual content

What are you??

Are you tired of people asking what ethnicity you are?

The Little People Project

"Abandoning little people on the streets since 2006" - Slinkachu

See more little people adventures here.

Goldroom

If you like indie bands with and 80's sound, you will enjoy Goldroom.

Give "Fifteen" a listen


You can download the song for free here.

Happy Memorial Day!!

 

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Movie Review - Tomboy (2011)

A simple case of mistaken sexual identity turns into a girl's exploration of being a boy.  Laure is a 10 year old girl who just moved to a new neighborhood outside of Paris.  She wears loose fitted shirts with athletic shorts and sports a boy's haircut.  When a neighborhood girl named Lisa mistakes Laure for a boy, Laure tells Lisa that her name is Mickäel.

Even though the majority of us haven't attempted to pass ourselves off as the opposite sex as children, there is a deep connection experienced with Laure.  When she becomes Mickäel, there is a sense of belonging and acceptance among the others.  Everyone on some subconscious level has a need to belong, and Laure became a part of what she always wanted.

Every scene in Tomboy feels real.  The performances by every character on screen seem to exist as if a camera and crew were nonexistent.  The story unfolds naturally and elegantly without any exposition or plot twists.  Tomboy is an understated film that speaks volumes about identity, compassion, and understanding.  

Tomboy can currently be streamed on Netflix.

Unrated.

Zach Sobiech Leaves Behind Legacy

I wrote about Zach's amazing song "Clouds" a couple weeks ago. He has been battling a rare form of cancer for four years. He wrote the song as a way to say goodbye. His song went viral and even became number 1 on itunes. Because of his music, a lot of support has been given for further research in osteosarcoma and other forms of cancer. On May 19, the inspiration past on leaving behind a great legacy of inspiration and hope.

"My closure is being able to get my feelings into these songs so they can have something to remember me by or lean on when I'm gone," Zach explains in the SoulPancake video. "I want to be remembered as a kid who went down fighting, and didn't really lose."[source]

Richard Turere

Nairobi National Park is known for having the largest population of lions, which are becoming more rare and are a valuable tourist attraction. For this reason, not much has been done to prevent them from from attacking local livestock.

Leave it to 13 year old, Richard Turere, to come up with a plan. 

Before he was 11, he already had a strong desire to protect his livestock from the lions. He tried fire, but that just gave the lions better lighting to see the cows. Then he tried scarecrows. They worked the first day, but by the second the lions realized they weren't real people and went about attacking as usual. Then finally at the mature age of 11 he made an important connection.

“I discovered that the lions were scared of the moving light.”

Then BAM! With no technical training, he wired some bulbs to a box of switches, and an old car battery charged with solar panel that operates the family television set. The lights are faced outward and blink in a way that appeared similar to how humans walk around with flash lights.  Since his discovery, a lion has not attacked his livestock. 

 Because of his invention he has been invited to talk for TED and was a scholarship to go to Brookhouse internation school. 

“A year ago I was a boy in a savannah grassland. I saw planes fly over and I said I’d be inside one day. I had a chance to come by plane for the first time for TED. My dream is to become an aircraft engineer and pilot when I grow up.” [source]

You don't need a lot of money, resources, or even experience to be inventive. Just keep trying :)

Pascal Pinon

Pascal Pinon
Icelandic twins, Jófríður and Ásthildur, have fairy, dream-like voices that makes you want to travel to a far off mystic land :)
Genre: Indie/Acoustic/Pop.

Little Rascals Then and Now

 

Ever wonder what the Little Rascals look like now???

Alfalfa Then                 vs                Alfalfa Now

Buckwheat Then

Buckwheat Now

Uh Huh Then

Uh huh Now

Darla Then

Darla Now

Butch Then

Butch Now

Froggy Then

Froggy Now

Spanky Then

Spanky Now

Stymie Then

Stymie Now

  

Porky Then

Porky Now

Waldo Then

Waldo Now

Movie Review - The Game (1997)

What is the greatest fear to an old wealthy man?  Nicholas van Orton (Michael Douglas) may have more wealth than the common person can dream of, but his life is based around safe routine and isolation.  His father committed suicide at the age of 48, and memories of Dad are re-emerging in Nicholas's mind as his 48th birthday nears.  Conrad (Sean Penn), Nicholas's brother, presents him with an unconventional gift.  It is only described as a real life game that will change his life.

This picture is structurally built like a typical thriller.  It reveals and misleads at the same time.  The innovative aspect is that on screen there is a man losing control of his life as the audience loses ground on what happens next.  The film hints that there is always something behind or beyond the frame, as Nicholas uncovers the truth behind what this game is all about.  Simultaneously, The Game displays its own self awareness as a movie in scenes where we can vicariously look behind the set, peek at the actors, and catch them out of character.  The movie is mirroring the audience's emotions and thoughts with the events on screen.

The Game concludes with some plausibility issues.  Despite some of the logistics that have been bent or even thrown out the window, the thematic undertones are more interesting.  What is a man with all the money he will ever need, yet is too cautious to truly live?  He goes to work at the big bank alone, exercises in the mahogany finished sports club alone, and watches the news alone with his expensive brandy.  He appears comfortably bored in his natural habitat.  Maybe all the control and money he contributed to his isolation was actually preventing true wealth: meaningful relationships.

Interesting trivia:  in The Game, director Spike Jonze does a cameo as an EMT.  In Being John Malkovich,  David Fincher (the director of The Game) and Sean Penn do a cameo for Spike Jonze's film.

The Game is currently available for stream on Netflix.

Rated R for language, and some violence and sexuality

Coupled

Safwat Saleem created these amusing prints based on the theme "Coupled".

"Coupled is a series of prints depicting a somewhat complicated relationship between two (or more) objects."