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'