Posted in Movies

Why Citizen Kane is Not the Best Movie Ever Made

On pretty much any organized list of the greatest movies of all time, Citizen Kane is up there as number one. For those of you who haven’t heard of it, its a 1940s movie about a man the comes up through poverty to be rich but when he dies, his last word is “Rosebud”. A news reporter then tries to piece together his life to find out why he said that. I’m not saying that it’s a bad movie, just that there have been much better movies out there.

So why do I think this? First, the pacing was pretty bad. The 2 hours seemed to add another 1/2 hour because of the way it was told. If a movie is to be considered the greatest, it should at least have a reason to drag out. It also didn’t have AS deep of a meaning as some other movies. Sure, the whole point is good, but it didn’t make you think about the movie to get it, they pretty much explained everything in the dialogue. “Show, don’t tell” is the motto for filmmakers, and Kane didn’t follow it. Finally, none of the movie is the best I’ve ever seen. There’s been better writing in Pulp Fiction, better cinematography (the way a shot looks) in Assassination of Jesse James, better acting in There Will Be Blood, better story in Schindler’s List, and a better meaning in No Country For Old Men.

Still, as a 60 year old movie, Citizen Kane is a good one. But with so many better films today, it doesn’t stand out. Next week I’ll post a blog on my top 5 movies that should be in front of Citizen Kane on any “Best Movies Ever” list.

Posted in Politics

And they’re calling Obama inexperienced?

In case you haven’t been following the news, Senator McCain has picked a running mate: Sarah Palin, the Governer of Alaska since 2006. She was also mayor of Wasilla, Alaska for six years previous. She is pro-life, a gun rights advocate, and opposes gay marriage.
I can’t think of anyone worse as a running mate for John McCain. She even said herself that there are many more qualified than her to be picked for vice president. She is as inexperienced as Obama, yet she does nothing to balance McCain except in youth and a few body parts that McCain is lacking. Personally, I think this is great. Really, is there any way this country will elect a McCain/Palin ticket over Obama/Biden? I honestly can’t wait for the VP debate: Biden is going to walk all over her!

Posted in Books

On Writing

not only is Stephen King twisted, crude, and terrifying, but he’s also brilliant.
This book is a refreshing nonfiction addition to his works, and it’s very good for all aspiring writers. Not only do you learn what not to do when you write, you learn about Stephen King and he’s even kind enough to give you blurbs about how he got his book ideas, which taught me, at least, that I don’t want to read them.

So, if you’re going to be a well-read person, you have to know Stephen King, and this book is pretty much everything you need to know. It’s funny, creative, smart, and interesting. He had a wildly cool life, for the most part.

most of all, however, this book reminds us that anyone can be an author. All they have to do is write.

Posted in Music

Life fills in my veins

 

     I’m reviewing Panic’s second album, Pretty. Odd. And I have to say, I’m disappointed. Their debut album, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, was incredible. Each song had it’s own personality, a good beat, interesting lyrics, and an upbeat and electric sound. Pretty. Odd., however, is much more mellow.

    I’ll give them credit for trying new things, and some of the songs were pretty decent, like Nine In The Afternoon, When The Day Met The Night, and That Green Gentleman. But overall, I was looking for their previous, punk/techno/orchestra/alternative sound, and I didn’t get it.

    One thing I found interesting was how the band traded instruments for some of the songs, and one or two Ryan, a guitarist, sand instead of Brendan, the regular lead singer. It was interesting, and brave, but next time I’ll be a little more wary of their music. Who knows what they’ll do next?

    Sounds like: Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, The Academy Is

    Best Track: When The Day Met The Night

 

Sorry for the late post tonight.

Posted in Sports

The Americans Win!!!

The Olympic events in Beijing have come to a close, and what an amazing celebration of athletic ability it was. I watch the Olympics for two reasons:

1) To watch my favorite athletes compete in sports that I like to watch

2) To watch athletes support their country and see what amazing pressure they are put under and succeed under

Many Americans have HUGE expectations for our country, probably because they either think we’re superior, or because we have a pretty huge population of people to compete, not to mention how good our training facilities are in the US. But it really doesn’t matter to me who wins, honestly. Sure I’ll root for people, but I just love to watch athletes compete. What’s amazing to me is even though we have huge expectations, a LOT of other countries have bigger expectations on certain people. Many country’s people, maybe even China, absolutely are devastated after their athletes lose. They almost hate them just because they got the silver… talk about pressure. It is a little hard for me to watch sometimes because that thought pops up into my head, but if they succeed it’s sweet to see the look on someone’s face when they win the gold.

Besides that I like to see the shapes of people this world has. As an example I watched some gymnastics because they were on a lot. And as I watched, it was amazing to see how the athlete’s bodies have actually become somewhat deformed from their event, their bodies are shaping themselves from the shapes the events put them in. It’s funny to watch some of the gymnasts walk, they walk with a style that they developed from gymnastics.

However there are some problems that arise in the Olympics, namely bad situations between people from different countries. As you may have heard, a chinese man actually stabbed and killed an American coach and seriously injured his wife. These sort of things happen sometimes, maybe the worst time being the Munich games when a group of Arabs killed an entire team of Jews, which actually brings tears to my eyes.

It absolutely kills me to see these kinds of things happen!!! I don’t see why people feel the need to crash one of the few times the world’s countries come together for a time of should be peaceful competition. All athletes are trying to do is represent their countries, and all most fans want to do is support them, so why do people have to ruin it for everyone?! They’re so selfish!!!

On a happier note I did get to watch a bunch of the events, including a few of Michael Phelps’ historic races. And let me tell you one thing, they lived up to their hype. Even I, a person who could give a crud about swimming, could feel the energy and couldn’t resist cheering for the man as well as his team if that was the case. A few of the races were so close I was on the very -edge- of my seat, it was INSANE! He even won a race by the smallest margin possible to measure, now that’s close. I also watched a few of the great basketball games that the American team compete in and triumphed. Also, I even found myself enjoying watching some of the track races. One man, Usain Bolt, a man that competes for Jamaica set world records in the 100M dash AND 200M dash, that doesn’t happen very often. And to top it off, he won both by the biggest margin since the Olympics began keeping time in races, how amazing is that?!?!?!

So my point is you don’t have to be a fan of the event, or even sports. Just watch it and see, you might find yourself loving it!!!

Posted in Movies

Are Films an Art?

 

The definition of art is that it’s “the products of human creativity”, so would you consider (some) movies to be as much of an art as the Mona Lisa? They have as much, or more thought put into them than regular paintings/drawings and require a large group of people to come together to make a masterpiece. Like I said earlier though, I wouldn’t consider ALL movies to be an art since most are just made to entertain, but every year at the Oscars, the academy honors the films that went above and beyond what an entertaining movie does. So what makes the film an art? Well, to me, it’s the combination of not being cliche, having deeper meanings, and bringing every element together perfectly (directing, acting, editing, cinematography, etc.). Some though, don’t have all three. For example, Pulp Fiction doesn’t have a deep meaning, but the rest is done so perfectly that it doesn’t need one. So what do you think? Should all films be considered art, only a few, or none at all?

Posted in Politics

I don’t need to fall at your feet

So I know that everyone will be talking about this, but we didn’t have a politics blog this week so I’m doing one now.

OMG OBAMA HAS A RUNNING MATE WHEEEEE. My local newspaper dedicated the entire front page to this news, and to “top ten facts about the candidates”. From this article I learned that McCain has a stuffed dancing hamster and Obama’s high school basketball nickname was “O’bomber”. Yeah, I really needed to know that. And haven’t we been a little sensitive about Obama and his religious beliefs for the past couple months? I don’t think learning that he used to be called “O’Bomber” is the best way to get past that… Some people are a bit less open minded than we like to think about.

And the fact that McCain has a dancing hamster is just creepy. And it was NUMBER ONE on the list. Sheesh.

 I’m getting pretty sick of this race. My prediction is that it will lean to McCain. I also predict that Voltaire’s reanimated corpse will make an appearance half way through. Dancing with McCain’s stuffed hamster.

 

 

 

…I’m afraid to go to sleep now that I have that vision in my head.

 

In other news, this is what happens when it’s one in the morning and one of your best friends only lives one house over…

Adventure Captain Pants and Bri. Thaaaat’s right.

Posted in Music

Stop this train!


Cartel

    My favorite new band. Well, New to me. It irks me how I haven’t heard about this band until now. I have yet to buy their first album (*edit* I bought their first album and it’s just as amazing!!), so this review is on their second, self titled one.

    This is probably my favorite CD ever, because it’s so diverse and I love each song differently. Again, it’s half because of the lyrics. From Wasted, “It’s two forty five the baby takes his first breath/ the mother never knew he only had a few left”. Lose It “She’s coming back around, there she sees me, oh my God, this is who I’ve been”. If I Were To Write A Song “If I were to write a song/ that could penetrate your ears”.

    That last track, If I Were To Write A Song, is nine minutes long. It made me laugh when I noticed that. The funny thing is that it’s almost like two separate songs, because half way through,  it completely rearranges the beat and background sound. I like it.

Sounds Like: All American Rejects, Boys Like Girls, Run Kid Run

Best Track: Wasted (Original mix)

Posted in Sports

$Cash Money$

As you may have noticed I have had a poll up for a while asking whether you think pro athletes are over-paid, and the results don’t surprise me. So first off I’ll give you my opinion: I think that it is controvercial to say that they are over-paid, however they do deserve the money they make and there are reasons their pay checks are so high. And it is my job to explain to all y’all why I believe this, so please stay with me.

Pro athletes are paid a TON, they make bank. My first point will show you why they deserve to be paid a lot of money, even though they may be overpaid, I believe they should make a lot. What people don’t realize is that athletes risk their well being and potentially their lives on a daily basis playing professional sports. Many of you may not believe this but it’s probably because you may not watch sports as often as I do.

Let’s start with football as an example, it’s dangerous as heck!!! Athletes who participate in football are everyday in harms way. Injuries are anything but uncommon, broken legs or arms are literally an every month thing. Just this year I watched a football game live on television and saw a man get PARALYZED from the neck down. Now think about it, what other regular jobs do you go to that this is something that happens on a relatively regular basis? Next let’s take baseball for example, pitchers. Mounds in the majors are 60’6″ from the plate, this may sound short yet it’s anything but. When a pitcher pitches the ball to a batter, the reaction time to the plate is well under a second. If a batter hits the ball directly at the pitcher, who at this point can be defenseless in many cases, the reaction time is even less. From different research I found that once the ball is coming straight for your head at a fast enough speed and that close, your body actually freezes, it can’t keep track of the ball. I’ve seen pitchers lose half their faces this way, sitting at a desk is this a major possibility?

Next I’d like to talk about retirement. Many athletes, by the time they are ready for retirement and out of their prime, have bodies that are so beat up that they actually begin to breakdown quicker than the average person. After years and years of working out aimlessly and taking beatings, obviously one’s body will suffer the consequences. Already, at age 16, both of my ankles don’t have barely any movement compared to what they used to, I’ve lost 2 teeth, I had an entire side of my face plastically reconstructed, my left arm is slightly deformed, my right shoulder hurts every day from baseball, and my wrists are so worn down that they pop when I move them (Bri can vouch for that if she recalls it). Now I’m not trying to sound whiny, but I’m only 16 and I’ve already had all this happen to me in sports. By age 40 I can’t imagine what it’d be like. So listen to this, when athletes get older they suffer for what they’ve done, which affect the rest of their lives in a negative way that other people don’t have to deal with on the same level.

Third I’d like to address lifestyle. I won’t spend long on this because you probably already know, but who wants to be followed everywhere they go? Another thing people don’t think about as frequently is family, pro athletes have to live away from home for a full 6 months atleast. Sure they get to spend time with their family a little, but it is difficult to maintain a family when you’re out of town all the time. Also, finding the right person is difficult because of “gold diggers,” I’m sure you’ve heard of relationship problems for athletes.

Now that I’ve made my first few arguments I need to address the main argument I’ve got against athletes getting paid so much. Why shouldn’t firemen, police officers and teachers, who can go through some serious problems, not be paid as much? Now my dad is a teacher so I understand and I agree, they should get paid more. But the reason they don’t is quite simple, their professions don’t bring in enough money to get them paid more, whereas athletes have a profession where money is brought in at an astronomical scale. Athletes are in the entertainment industry, which especially in America is insanely popular and still growing. Athletes EARN that money because the money in their profession is there. So the money they are paid has no where to go but to them, that’s the main reason they get paid that much.

Now I’m all for you protesting and saying that a certain amount of money that athletes get donated to other people or something, but it’s honestly doubtful.

So just let me say this, athletes may well be overpaid, but they make money because they are in a profession where money is brought in like mad, that’s just the way it is. They risk their lives daily and have very little job security.

I’d love to hear a discussion because I haven’t heard many arguments on this subject and I know there are some out there, so comment!!!

This is Scarface signing off.

Posted in Movies

My Top Ten Beginnings

The beginning of a movie, when good, will really suck you into it. To me, a perfect beginning catches you with great dialogue/narration, and goes into the opening credits leaving you either wondering whats going on, or excited to see what’s happening. These are some of the best, even if the rest of the movie doesn’t live up to the hype.

 

1. Casino

 

Yes, for my second list Casino is again number one. This is really the reason that made me think about this list. Sam Rothstein, a Casino manager, walks out of a building going to his car. He narrates this line “When you love someone, you’ve gotta trust them. There’s no other way. You’ve got to give them the key to everything that’s yours. Otherwise, what’s the point? And, for a while, I believed that’s the kind of love I had.”, and then gets into the car. It blows up and goes into the opening credits with a great opera song. After I saw this, I knew that it would be amazing.

 

2. Mission Impossible 3

 

Ethan Hunt is captured by an unknown man who is questioning him about the “Rabbit’s Foot”. The man threatens to kill a woman who is apparently important to Ethan. He counts to ten, a shot is fired off screen, and it goes into the Mission Impossible theme song. It’s flawless in these first few minutes, building suspense even though you have no idea who this man, this woman, or the “Rabbit’s Foot” is. Who ever said the sequel couldn’t be better than the original?

 

3. Rambo

 

Instead of going into opening credits like the first two, Rambo starts with news coverage of Burma (now known as Myanmar). Even if this is an action movie, the beginning is disturbingly graphic showing real videos of the violence over there, making it more emotional than what can be done with actors. After that, some Burma soldiers throw mines in a field and force some prisoners to run through it. It’s bloody, true to whats really going on, and amazingly well done.

 

4. Pulp Fiction

 

A man and woman are sitting in a small cafe drinking their coffee. They talk about past robbing experiences in liquor stores, then wonder why no one robs a cafe like the one they’re in. As they say, it cuts down on the “hero” factor and it would be a complete surprise to everyone. They kiss, take their guns out, then stand on the table threatening to kill every last person in the room. It goes into the credits with what I think is the best guitar riff of all time, “Misirlou”. I had no idea what was going on, but I loved it anyway.

 

5. No Country for Old Men

 

Yes, a lot of people hate the ending of it, but even they can’t deny how well No Country starts out. An old sheriff narrates about how the violence is worse than ever. The camera shows amazing shots of the Texas countryside while he does this. The sheriff finishes, and it shows another police officer arresting a man. When they get back to the station, the man slips out of his handcuffs when the officer isn’t looking, and strangles him brutally to death. Almost as bloody as Rambo, the beginning really sets the tense feeling you get when watching this movie.

 

6. Casino Royale

 

Shot in black and white, a man walks into a building. He goes into his office to find James Bond sitting in the dark corner. James explains that he already killed an underworld contact of the man, and that after killing him he’ll be “double o” status. Bond shoots him and it goes into the opening credits. All of the James Bond movies start off with a short scene then go into the credits with an original song, but this one really stands out to me. It shows a new kind of brutal violence for this series.

 

7. Raging Bull

 

A classical music piece starts with the opening credits, while a boxer is jumping in slow motion around the ring. Thats really all that the beginning of Raging Bull is. But what makes it so good is that the music is amazing, it really makes me emotional whenever I hear that song. The whole thing is hard to explain, but once you see it you’ll know why it made my list.

 

8. Reservoir Dogs

 

By the same director/writer of Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs is my least favorite movie on the list, but the beginning is still great. 8 men are sitting in a diner eating their breakfast. First, “Mr. Brown” talks about Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” song. But when they are getting ready to pay the tip, “Mr. Pink” refuses. He goes into a monologue of why he doesn’t do it, but he finally pays up when the boss Joe forces him to. Its a lot like Pulp since it also goes into the credits with a great old song. After this, the movie goes downhill a little to me, but it still has one of the best beginnings of all time.

 

9. Iron Man

 

AC-DC’s “Back in Black” plays in the background as a convoy of military cars are driving down an Afghanistan road. Inside one of these cars Tony Stark is with three soldiers. He breaks the silence and they start talking with him. One of them wants a picture with him so they start to pose when missiles are fired. The soldiers go out and try to fight back but all of them are killed. He gets out of the car but his hit by the shrapnel of one of his own bombs. He goes unconscious and is kidnapped. Good music, humor, action, what else does this beginning need?

 

10. Thank You For Smoking

 

Nick Naylor, a tobacco spokesperson, works for the Academy of Tobacco Studies and is on a woman’s T.V. show much like Oprah to speak for cigarettes. While the crowd claps for the other guests who are against smoking, they stay silent for Nick. But once he gets talking, he turns the conversation against the others saying that they want people to get cancer so that they can get their way. The only comedy on this list, it really does deliver some of it’s best lines in the beginning to bring you in. Right from the start, you just know Thank You For Smoking is gonna be hilarious.