Mockumentary

I woke up only to see a sea of bodies surrounding me, haggard and sickly. More people came in each day. It has been many days and nights. I have lost count. We had not eaten or drunk anything in a couple of days. My parched throat, begged for hydration. My stomach groaned louder.

My days were filled with interrogations, work and torture. At the crack of dawn, we were woken by spritz of water which all of us gladly open our  mouths to, in hopes to satisfy our parched throats. We lined up to get morsels of food which were handed out sometimes, before we were forced to do labour. This is where everyone rushed to be in front. In fact, the only time.

The fear made us rush in a hushed manner. The morsels of food were limited. Once the food on the truck was all handed out, there was no more until the next time. Maybe in two days or if we were lucky, one.

In the evenings when everyone was allowed to have some rest. In actual fact, it was a long waiting line, to pain, torture and unspeakable horrors. I was always careful where to pick a spot. In the evenings, I would pick a spot which was 3/4 closer to the front, the time where the prisoners would all huddle as far away as they could. I found that by being slightly closer to the front, I could worm my way through in the morning to get food.

Everyone was terrified of the horrors that happened in the buildings. The whole camp was split into two, by a huge black wall. The people who entered the left, usually dwarfs, twins and children hardly ever came back out. Those who did were sickly and in pain. I was glad my twin was not caught along with me.

Those who entered the right, suffered pain beyond belief. The gas chambers. Outside these walls, none of these horrors seemed remotely possible. The moment you entered, screams of pain and insanity could be heard.

I had only entered the room thrice since I the day I was caught, when I stood too near to the front. All I could remember when I was behind those walls, was willing for someone or even something to take my life right there and then. The moment you inhaled the gas, it was as if, someone had set fire to your lungs. I usually dropped to the ashen floor, pretending to feel faint. It was below that there was the least gas. Regardless, it still hurt.

Some of the weaker prisoners, dropped dead and their bodies never left the building.

I often looked over to the black wall. Other prisoners often whispered of it as a haven. The black wall was supposed to free us from all this torture and suffering. Sixty people were released there each day. Everyone hoped they would be chosen.

During the day, we did labour under the hot sun. None of us, stopping to rest no matter how exhausted we were. The fear kept us working. Anyone who stopped for a moment and was caught, was beaten to death instantly.

All I hoped for, was an escape.

This evening, I was one of those sixty people. My heart started pounding. Could it be that I had earned my freedom? I was shoved onto the truck to be transported over to the wall. The other prisoners on board were praising the lord. We arrived at the black wall and were ordered to line up along it. My legs trembled as I took each step. It was too good to be true, they were going to let us free.

I was one of the last in line but I could see beyond the gate. It was open. It was the first I've seen a fenceless horizon in many weeks.

Then, we were ordered to face the wall. My heart sank to my stomach. Something was wrong. I turned to faced the wall. It was stained brown over the words Auschwitz written in huge block letters across the wall. One of the higher ranked Nazi's gave an order to open fire. The sound of gunshot could be heard. It was approaching me. My knees buckled and i fell to the ground, lifeless. I could not move. Fear had taken over me. So this was it, sixty people killed each day only to have more people brought in.

I felt the warm splash of liquid over my tattered clothes. It smelt of rust, blood. Then, the soldiers began heaving the bodies onto a truck. I was certain they were going to discover that I was still alive and send me back, or worse, put a bullet through my head. Still, I lost all bodily functions. I could not move.

A soldier dragged my motionless body by my feet. I could feel my head bump against the rocky gravel. Suddenly, I was flung in the air. I landed on something prickly. It took me a while to realise, they were bodies, dead bodies.

The truck drove of with me in it. My eyes fluttered open. The truck had left the wall. It was heading away, presumably to dispose of the dead bodies. The moment the truck stopped, I shut my eyes, praying not to be discovered. I was chucked along with the other fifty-nine dead bodies into a small trench. Or you could say, a trench that was nearly overflowing with rotting bodies.

I laid there, waiting for the soldiers to leave. When the sound of the truck faded. Slowly opening my eyes, I saw it was turning to dusk. I crawl out of the trench over the bodies, feeling sick in the stomach.
I started running for my life, in fear the soldiers would return.

I fled through the bushes instead of the open road. I rather have a slow journey then risk being exposed and caught. I ran as far as I could, and walked when I was tired. When I felt that I was far enough, I found shelter under a bush. It started raining. I open my mouth to drink. I felt the drops hit my face, almost painful.

It was nothing compared to the pain I had been through. The dirt washed off my body. It was cold but eventually I fell asleep.

I woke at dawn and started on my journey. I did not know where I was headed to, or what my plan was, but I was determined to survive. I looked less like a prisoner, now that the rain had washed the dirt away but I was still scrawny sickly, in tattered clothes. I survived off wild berries and kept heading in one direction.

In a few days, I reached a small town. I broke into a small house right by the edge of town and stole some clothes and food. I had to look more like a villager than a prisoner. I knew how to speak German, so I was safe.

My new life was about to unfold in front of me. I made myself believe I was German born, that was the only way I was going to survive, by being one of them.

The Magic Box

"Turn on the magic box, please" my grandmother used to say to me in mandarin. I found it funny when I was a child. Today,  I am a mass communication student, learning about the media and its escalated development over the years. It is hard to believe that television was not a part of my grandparents childhood. What did they do to entertain themselves?

Now, come to think of it, it is fascinating how humans have discovered an invisible transmission medium that could transmit pictures and sound. How amazing is it that someone could discover something that was invisible.

I think people in the past were much more curious about technology compared to people now. The children born in the 20th century grew up with developing technology surrounding them.

Today, if one were to ignore all the developing technologies around them, they would definitely lose out. Just like how my grandmother calls the television a magic box.

The older generation does not see the relevance in technology. Personally, they are ignorant towards it. They do not believe that something so amazing could be real. They think it's expensive and a waste of money.

To the younger generations, we are active gadget users who depend a lot on them to let us know things and help us achieve certain things.

The television for example. It could be used for entertainment or to get info through the news. Nowadays, the television feature is being incorporated into our computers. We are able stream movies or some TV shows live.

It is a wonder, what technology will be like in the next few decades.

Dream Cloud

We watched half of the Czech dream documentary for our Friday lecture. It was about two film study students who scammed thousands of Czechs into believing that there was a new supermarket named "Czech Dream". It portrayed the influence of advertising on society. The two Czech students had a crazy idea but yet they managed to pull it off.

Well, enough said about that.

Today, it is going to be about my dream. It is not impossible to achieve, just difficult. I would love everything I own to be customized. I like things that are different and I settle for uniqueness. I dislike how clothes, bags etc. are all made in mass production. There are billions of items that look the same way, boring.

I love everything about customization. Regardless of all the customizing options we have today, the choices offered are still limited. I would love to own a place that customizes whatever you want. It would be so cool. Imagine having something that only you, out of seven billion people, own. It would be so special and unique, one of a kind.

Stnading out of the crowd.

After the movie, our lecturer shared his very own crazy idea. He wanted to build a women-friendly hardware store. That got my attention because although I love building my own things, I would not be attracted to a hardware store. I remember walking into a hardware store some weeks back to get some tools to fix the doorknob of my room, I received some weird stares from the employees as well as customers in the shop. I guess it was usual seeing a girl in heels, browsing for tools. Although I love building things, it took me a while before I could find the tools I needed.

Personally, from a woman's point of view. Hardware shops to women(the majority of them) are like boutiques to most men. We don't understand the things in there. A women won't be able to tell the difference between a flat-head screw from a pan-head one, just like men won't be able to tell the difference between a halter neck top from a tank top.

Women would need a lot of assistance in a hardware store. A women-friendly hardware store would definitely need workers who are able to give advice on hardware tools and tips. Guys, imagine being in a jewellery shop and not having a single clue about what to get for your girlfriend for your anniversary. That is how clueless women are in hardware shops. After all, jewellery and tools share something in-common, they are both kept by owners for a very long time. You would want to get something of quality.

 Quirky ideas could make the shop more women-friendly too. Such as naming wood putty (girls: used for filing up holes in wood) wood concealer(guys: a form of make-up used to cover blemishes). That way, women would be able to make some sense of hardware items.

Concealer

Wood Putty

Books

In conjunction to my lecture, this post is going to be all about books.

Children today are so absorbed in the developing technologies (iPads, iPhones, Tabs etc.) that they forget the simple, traditional fun. Books.

Although books can now be found in electronic form, nothing beats the old, paper-based books. Personally, I think the feeling of each page as you flip them, makes you feel connected to the story. It is much easier to read from a print book because you can see the whole page while reading it, unlike the e-book where you are required to scroll up and down. More often than not, one would lose track of the story  whilst doing so.

A research study found that children that read print books recalled more narrative details of the story compared to those who read the story from  an e-book reader. The print books were proven better for 'literacy-building co-reading' whereas e-books effectively engaged children and prompted physical reaction.

Books give us a gist of the generations of the past. They preserve the culture of generations within its pages. From the way the author writes the book, you are able to know more about the culture during that period of time. 

A good book could get you so absorbed with its story that you forget the world around you. Your mind is imagining what the author is describing vividly. It is amazing how we can imagine what we read.

For example:
I walked through the cold, dark woods looking for shelter. The sound of dried leaves crunching beneath my sore feet with each step I took. A branch snapped just four feet north. My stomach clenched up, my heart started pacing, what creature of the forest was I going to face now?

I'm sure someone could picture in their mind, the mystery and suspense.

However, the the amount of people reading has proven to be less compared to the past. This is due to the amount of leisure activities made available over the decades. It is feared that in the future, books might not be read anymore.

Just a little video clip for a laugh, imagine the future when no one reads print books anymore...

Cheers.
xx

Magazines

You can tell a lot from a person just by the type of magazine they read. Magazines have this unique feature where it is made for specialised audience. For example, a person on the tube reading a trade magazine on the way home. You could probably tell that he (assuming it's a he) is a person from the business trade. Or maybe a person reading a Home and Garden magazine. You could tell that he (assuming again) likes to know about home decor or has just moved into a new house and is looking for ideas to vamp up his house. A person reading a car magazine would definitely be someone who is interested to know about cars and the latest cars that are out.

The magazine I read on the other hand is really a typical, girl magazine.

Seventeen.

The thing that has me gushing about this magazine is the fact that it's only RM6 and you get so much information from it. Every issue has four sections fashion, beauty, celebrity gossip and a special section which varies every month.

The fashion section has all the fashion products of course. Most of the products featured are affordable for students. Everyone knows students are on tight budgets and what makes a girl happier than to buy something affordable that she absolutely loves?

It also teaches me how to make one piece of clothing work with different looks. It inspires me to think out of the box and be creative with the clothes I have. If I had to rush somewhere after my classes, I would not have to go home to change into a new outfit but instead just do a little bit of changes to my outfit or do my hair up in a different style just to make me look less like a Uni student and more like I'm on a day out. Little changes like that bring a huge difference to your outfit. The upside is you get to save so much time (from the traffic we get in KL) and there's less laundry to wash.

The next section is the beauty section which has self care tips. Again in this section there are beauty products that are advertised which are affordable and do the job. There are a few pages which teach you how to do your make up or hairstyles. I guess this section kind of helps me boost my confidence around people because I feel presentable when I'm dressed up. Also, it helps me take care of myself.

Then comes the celebrity section where they interview a few celebrities each month. I do not really pay much attention to this section unless it features a celebrity that I'm a fan of. Also at the end of the celebrity section they have the latest recommended movie that's screening in the cinema, a list of good books and latest music hits. It keeps me up to date with the entertainment world and provides a conversational currency when I'm talking to my friends because most of them are concert goers and are up to date with the music industry.

Also, in every issue of the Seventeen magazine there is a DIY section which I am a huge fan of. I love making my own things and doing arts and craft. I like having my own customised things so most of the time I would take the idea and put some innovation into it to make my very own customised shirt,bag etc.

The special varies within every issue. This month's issue had a college survival guide which I found very useful. It had on the go food to stock up on if you are in a rush, tips on what to to bring to your new place and it's
more. Information like this helps
save a lot of time for me and it makes sure I am well prepared.

Just like any other girl magazine, it has quizzes and advise for your social life. Personally, I think quizzes are put in magazines because most girls are very indecisive and confused. Taking some of this quizzes could set their mind on the right track and help them find out more about themselves.

That's what I get beyond the magazine itself.

Video recording

This week we were assigned a group video presentation assignment. We are required to make a 10 minute comedy drama.

We were shown videos made by our seniors. Personally, I think some of them have done a very good job considering that they were amateurs.
My favourite was the video entitled 'You left me'. It was about a boy who left his girlfriends because of things he did wrong and his girlfriends are haunting him.

I think the video was very well and cleverly filmed. Instead of using an external microphone to film the whole talking process of the video, they had used a voice over method. It was filmed in a way that it was the main character's flashback on his life. That added a sad, sort of empty feeling to the video. It was as if the character was full of regret and remorse.

The camera angles used were appropriate as well. I loved how the camera was focused on the faces of his ex- girlfriends when they told their story. Their expressions were vacant as they told their story, which made the scene so haunting and eerie.

Also, the scene where the main character was having dinner with his girlfriend. The ghost of his girlfriends past starts haunting him. The ex girlfriend was shown to be beside his girlfriend but only he could see her spirit. This scene was acted very well, you could see his face turn pale and scared.

Another good video was the one about cyber bullying. The story revolves around a girl named Ariel. She is new to the school and has a best friend who is bullied a lot. There are three antagonists in this video. They are three mean girls. Ariel starts to get nasty comments on her pictures. She's upset and thinks that the mean girls were behind all of it. The video ends with a girl typing all those nasty comments but her face was not shown, leaving just a tattoo of the infinity sign on the back of her neck as a clue for the audience. It creates suspense and mystery at the end of the video to keep the audience waiting for the next episode or sequel to find out what happens.

Newspaper

My newspaper lecture taught me a lot of things about the newspaper that I didn't know. Who knew that it would be so difficult to produce a paper. I think only a minority of us would actually appreciate how the paper is made.

The journalists goes out to get information for their stories, writes them, hands it in to be edited by the editor. When all the stories are in, it is arranged in the layout before it is sent to the press to be printed and then only distributed to the news vendors. All this, just for a days paper and it gets read once by a person or numerous people before it is chucked away to be forgotten. All that for a one time use. Is it worth it?

Newspapers are not very popular among youths today. I personally do not read the paper anymore. It seems like an old thing to do. With all the new technology and flashy gadgets we are able to get news just a click away. It's free, easy, time saving and eco-friendly (no wasted papers) provided that you have internet access.

 Gone are the days where someone's elbow is in your face while you are on the bus or LRT home just because he/she is reading the newspaper or waking up in the morning to find that your paper was ruined by the rain while it was laying on the floor of your porch. Newspapers are now on the go, or shall i say e-news. Whip out your smartphones and download apps or surf the internet for an online news update.

Be it citizen journalists speaking or professional journalist speaking in cyberspace, you get your news from all types of sources. It allows you to make your own perceptions of situations instead of sugar coated news from just one source.

Don't say the Taboo!

In our replacement lecture today we played the game called called Taboo. It is basically like charades but instead of actions we use words. It seemed like most of us were having fun guessing what our classmate was trying to explain to us without saying the word. Each of us had a turn at being the teller while the rest guessed.

Which brought me to think more about the board game. It makes you think on the spot. You have only one minute to help your friends guess as many words as possible. Some of us were so nervous we were lost for words, some accidentally said the taboo words but it was a challenge for our minds.

I find that the trick is to be calm. Imagine that there isn't a timer ticking, that there wasn't a room of yelling people trying to guess the answer, just you giving people ideas and gists of the word. I guess to play this game as a teller, you have to think quickly and explain yourself clearly.

Being a guesser is much simpler, it requires fast thinking and trying to interpret what the teller tells you. Your mind immediately thinks of anything that's related to the explanation you just heard. Could it be this or that or something else? But then, you're just yelling out all the answers just to see if it's right.

Overall, I think this board game stimulates your mind to think faster and at the same time improves your creativity as you have to think of different ways to describe a word without saying the taboo words.

Delicatessen- a movie review

During our 4pm - 7pm class on a Friday, our lecturer showed us a french film named Delicatessen. It directed by Marc Caro, cartoonist and Jean-Pierre Jeunet filmed in 1991. Delicatessen was their first feature film. This film is a black comedy, meaning humour which arises from something cynical and skepticism. 

The film was recorded in a run down apartment building with a butcher's shop on the ground floor owned by the landlord, Clapet (Jean- Clayde Deyfrus). He pays the postman to advertise a vacancy for a handyman, also a way to lure victims to be murdered and sold as meat to overcome the food shortage France was facing. Louison (Dominique Pinon), an ex-clown took the job as the handy man. He proved to be a efficient handyman as fixed up the  Julie (Marie-Laure Dougnac), Clapet's daughter soon develops feelings for Louison which makes Clapet more than willing to make Louison his next victim. Julie, descends into the sewers to the Trologistes, a group of vegetarian French rebels, to seek help to rescue Louison. The way Clapet acts shows that he loves his daughter and this is proven more when he talks to his wife about Julie refusing to talk to him because the was going to murder Louison.

The film features different families living in one apartment building with Clapet as their leader. Clapet is portrayed as a very stern man who is actually very loving towards his daughter. He buys sweets for her which are very expensive due to the post apocalyptic situation they are in. He is terrified of the idea that Louison is going to take his daughter away from him, leading him to try to murder Louison as the next victim for meat. His tenants fear that they maybe next in line if there was no other victim to feed the other tenants with meat.

Louison who is the main character is a quirky fellow. He was an entertaining character to watch. He was a vegetarian and was disgusted that people could practice cannibalism. He was a good maintanence man who was liked by all the tenants.

The film portrays cannibalism to be acceptable in the group of people living in the apartment. My opinion is, why practice cannibalism? They could just be vegetarians like Louison. It is shown that Clapet has many bags of corn in his cellar. That would be enough to feed everyone for a long time. Could humans be so desperate for meat that they are willing to kill other humans for it? And if they could, how will they live with themselves knowing that they had murdered and eaten the meat of their own species?

Marcel, the middle aged lady who always hears voices in her head convincing her that the after world was a better place compared to the world she was living in. Maybe she felt so guilty for practicing cannibalism that she started to believe she should leave the world. Her attempts in suicide usually end in a comical manner.

Genre

We all know genre means a kind of music. The very word itself means 'kind' in French. There are many genres such as country, jazz, pop, hip hop and so on.

A genre of music that I am a huge fan of which is written by Coldplay is alternative rock. I have never listened to Coldplay music in my life but one day, I walked into my apartment after getting home for the university to the song "Gravity". Instantly, a sense of calmness washed over me. I felt so relaxed. I think it is great music to play when you are just laying down after a long day of work or when you are on a road trip. It's slow pace makes you feel, floaty and dreamy. This type of music is the best for when you're at home alone and need something to fill up the silence in the house.

The main stream music now, is mostly club songs and dubstep music, which in my opinion should only be played in clubs. There is a time and place for each type of music. Music influences how you do things. For example, when you're working out in the gym it would be easier when you listen to upbeat music. The fast beat influence the way you do things. It is proven in research that people who listen to upbeat music tend to drive faster while listening to it. We tend to keep up with the pace of the music. If we are working out, it increases the intensity and speed of your work out.

Burlesque

Hello blogosphere.

Today I'll be giving a review about the film, Burlesque.

Burlesque is a film filled with drama, musicals and romance. It features Christina Aguilera as Ali, a small town girl from Iowa who who sets off for LA to follow her dreams. She stumbles upon a dying club along sunset strip and was instantly taken in by the performance on stage. She manages to land herself a job as a cocktail waitress in the club. She amazes the club owner, Tess (Cher) with her talent during the auditions for a new dancer. With Ali's career setting off she starts getting some 'man attention' from a member of the club. It surfaces her housemates unknown feelings about her.

What really got me into this film was at first, the outrageous costumes it had. As I am a person who is into the dance art, I love watching dance films. Usually a dance film is all about hip hop, break dance and street dancing, but this film wasn't like the norm. It's about a dance art named Burlesque. Burlesque shows incorporated elaborate sets, gorgeous costumes, mood music and dramatic lighting. Novelty acts were often included, such as fire eaters, contortonists and other circus performers. Pastiche, parody and wit, accompanied with dancing girls, chason singers, comedians mime artists made up the typical American Burlesque show.The popular burlesque show of the early 20th century eventually evovled into striptease which became the primary focus by the 1930s, heralding the end of Burlesque and teh birth of striptease.

The dances was a mix of Burlesque with a modern twist to it. It was funny and entertaining.  The music played in the film was jazzy and had a broadway musical feel. It's jazzy music makes the dances feel nothing like a striptease but more of a beautiful art.

Christina Aguilera in 'I'm a good girl'

Baraka.

This blog is dedicated to my Media Appreciation class. We are required to blog about our classes every week. This week, we have watched a non-narrative film called Baraka. It was amazing how you could understand what they were trying to imply without any narration. That is if, you paid close enough attention. 

Picture taken from  http://www.dvdloc8.com/images/dvdcover/14048.jpg

You had to pay really close attention to the film, to understand what they were trying to show you. If your eyes left the screen for a slight moment, you wouldn't have the slightest hint of what they were showing you. The first part of the film was about the world when it was pure and untouched by men. Then, gradually it shows all the destruction done by mankind to nature. Finally, the film shows what is left of our world and it's beliefs.

The one scene which will stay etched in my mind, is the scene where they filmed the concentration camp. The sound effect was so eerie and spooky, it made the scene so real. It sent chills down my spine. It's as if you could still hear their screams as they were being tortured. It was disturbing for me to watch it, but some how i got so absorbed into the film.

That's all for now.
Cheers xx

Media Literacy

I was out the other day with my housemates. We couldn't help but over hear a conversation between two children not more than ten years of age talking about how their hand phones work and how much it costed. When I was their age, I used to be young and innocent. I was running around playing catch or hide and seek.

After further thought about this, I have come to think that the media plays a big role in forming the personalities of people. As children, we have watched cartoons and we imitate their behavior. Even now, we use catchy phrases we hear from films. Those children talking about hand phones, have watch so many Disney films showing young teenagers with hand phones talking to their friends. My guess is that they want hand phones because they want to be like the teenagers they watch on tv.

Media has such a big influence on society today. All the advertisements we see, actually influences our decisions even in the slightest way. Maybe one day you are and you see a huge McDonald's billboard while driving and immediately, you start craving the McSpicy Deluxe meal. Or, when you're watch the famous series How I Met Your Mother. A lot of people use phrases and try to reflect a character from the series.

To understand the media is a simple thing, but to actually perceive the messages the media is trying to convey is another whole perspective. What the media shows us is like an onion, it has many layers. It could bring so many different meanings, all depending on what someone has been through. Think about it, maybe the media isn't just trying to show you what it's literally showing you. Maybe it's trying to show you something more.