New Music: True Blue

True Blues, a band that includes my cousin Kristen's boyfriend Brian, has released there debut album. Stream it at www.trueblues.bandcamp.com OR download it for FREE at www.thesearetheblues.com. 

 

I am not a dumb blond

I got a comment today from someone that said that I should write about things that matter not stupid fluff. I find this funny because the world relies strongest on escapism in times like these. However, I realize that it might at times seem like I am a flake who is a bit obsessive about American Idol Winners, celebrity gossip and other “fluffy” stuff. Unfortunately this isn’t true. I have accomplished many things in my life. These range from appearing in my first dance recital with my arm in a cast, to hitting the game winning triple in a softball championship, to getting first honor while suffering through a horrible spout with Lime Disease. However, as great as these things were, they are not the accomplishment I am MOST proud. My junior year of high school I scored a one hundred on my United States History regents. I was scared that I was going to fail one of my tests. It was stupid because I had been doing well in all of my classes but I just had a bad feeling. I studied like crazy for all of my tests and I figured I was doing okay on all of them, but nothing special. Then one day I was told my history teacher wanted to see me. I wondered what I had done and then he told me, “You got one hundred on your United States History regents”. I was ecstatic and a little in shock. All of my teachers soon followed with their congratulations. Apparently, this is a very rare accomplishment. It also proves, or can stand as evidence, that I am a rather smart individual who knows a little something about my country. So, to that guy, remember just because someone chooses not to write about hard news, doesn’t mean they aren’t politically minded and bright.

OMG yes!

Inauguration Day is an exiting time in America and it must be such a rush being sworn in as The President of the United States but the best picture from today has to be the Presidential Photobomb!!

I bow down to you President Clinton

Heath Ledger: Gone 5 years tomorrow

In honor of their brother/son/uncle Heath's family has created and endorsed a T-shirt with proceeds going to charity. Here is the information on the official Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/Heathledger.com.au/info

About

A high quality, limited edition t-shirt , designed by Elana Rosa in conjunction with New York Photographer, Ben Watts.

Company Overview

This is the first ever Heath Ledger product to be approved by the trustees of Heath’s Estate and have the endorsement of his family.

Description

Proceeds from the worldwide sales of this t-shirt will benefit the following charities:
- Channel 7 Australia Telethon Trust, specifically The Heath Ledger Scholarship for children’s brain cancer research through the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research
- The Australians In Film organisation
and
- The Heath Ledger Scholarship, based in Los Angeles

Products	The Heath Ledger commemorative t-shirt.

Website and Twitter:	http://www.heathledger.com.au  https://twitter.com/heathledgerV

It's Cold and Damp out- Let's talk Edgar Allen Poe

The “inner life” seems to be a recurring topic in the works of Edgar Allen Poe. Despite how different or similar his characters are there always seems to be something going on inside of them, below the surface. Some great examples of this are “The Tell-Tale Heart”, “The Fall of the House of Usher”, and “The Cask of Amontillado”. In the “Tell-Tale Heart”, the narrator is obviously suffering from some sort of psychological disorder or distress, though it isn’t clearly stated, nor can I say for sure what disorder or disorders it might be. Most of the action takes place in his head, or is caused by his own thoughts. To explain further, he watches the old man sleep for eight nights before deciding the time is right to kill him. The fact that he does this rather than kill the old man on the first night exhibits to me that there is something going on inside his mind, which the reader can’t understand. Once the murder takes place and he chops up and hides the old man’s remains, there is very little actual action, yes the police come but they appear, at least according to the narration, not to suspect him of any crime. By contrast the narrator slowly but surely begins to slip deeper and deeper into hysteria, hearing what he believes to be the beating of the dead man’s heart and then confessing the entire story of the murder to the police, begging them to rip up the floor boards because he believes that the beating is coming from under them. Another character that has an “inner life” is Montresor in “The Cask of Amontillado”, whom I believe has an internal need to control everything around him, perhaps because he also suffers from a psychological disorder. In the very beginning of the story he states that he seeks revenge-which ends up being murder- against Fortunato for insulting him, however he still considers Fortunato his friend. This is an odd conflict of the mind on Montresor’s part. After luring Fortunato to his home under the misconception that he has a bottle of light Spanish sherry that he’d like to share with him, the men descend into the home’s vaults and down into the crypts. There Montresor chains a very inebriated Fortunato to a stone and then walls him in as Fortunato pleads for his freedom. After being completely walled in Fortunato becomes silent which annoys Montressor. The degree to which Montresor got his revenge proves that he had strategically planned it out well in advance, mastering every detail and thus controlling the situation. He had to get rid of all potential witnesses to the crime, as well as plot a way to get his “friend” to come over and go into the cellar. Also, the annoyance he encounters when Fortunato no longer begs for his freedom, exhibits Montresor’s need to be in control and have everything go according to his plan. He had obviously envisioned Fortunato pleading until he no longer could speak and when this doesn’t happen his vision becomes wrong and he looses control to some degree. Lastly, there is some “inner life” taking place in the story “The Fall of the House of Usher” for both the narrator and Roderick Usher. There is some reason, which the reader is unable to understand, why the narrator stays at the house when there are such strange things going on, such as Usher’s sick sister and the house falling apart. I feel that it is some psychological reason causing this, not a disorder but something in his psyche. Also the narrator doesn’t see Usher’s sister on his own, it is only after convincing by Usher that he even sees her and even then it’s only brief. As for Roderick Usher, I believe that he is also experiencing some sort of psychological issues. These might be caused at least partially by the continued incest in his family tree, since for generations the family tree hasn’t branched out. Because of this, he is having difficulty dealing with the death and dying of his sister because the family line will either have to die with him or he will have to marry someone outside of the Usher family. There is also the possibility that his sister may indeed not exist at all, and that she is simply a figment of his askew mental state. I say this because of the fact that it takes his urging for the narrator to sense Madeline’s presents or see her. To sum up this paper, the characters of these stories indeed have some interior force or forces that make their lives and actions very different from other people and definitely different from the lives that we, the readers have.

Poppy

It seems impossibly recent but today marks the seventh anniversary of my Grandfather's passing. I figured I'd commemorate it by putting a very old photo that a family member recently shared on Facebook. Poppy is sitting right in the front holding my little baby father...

Images from my Disney Vacation

I spent the last seven days in glorious Orlando with Mickey Mouse and company.

Hannibal was on last night

As a freshman in High school I became enthralled in the tale of Hannibal Lecter- that's right high school so about 14 or 15 years old. Weirdness of this aside, I do not recall what led to me getting into the stories but I read all three novels that existed at the time: RED DRAGON, SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, and HANNIBAL and remember begging my parents to take me to see the movie or HANNIBAL in theaters. While channel surfing last night I saw that the film was on an decided to watch it and was reminded of something that really bothered me about the movie, the ending. I am not the person who sits in a movie and tends to nitpick every changed detail when a story goes from page to screen but to completely change the ending is ridiculous. In the book Clarice and Hannibal end up living "Happily Ever After" so to speak after Lecter saves her life and in the film she runs away from his house after he nurses her back to health. She never tells anyone where he is, allowing him to continue to live outside of jail but still not okay. One of the greatest kind of love stories, in my opinion is an odd love stories or loves that need to overcome obstacles. I guess it stems from loving Beauty and The Beast as a child. The movie Hannibal is all right but I was outraged when I learned the ending was changed from that of the book. Friends considered me crazy but the romantic in me felt the only logical ending was when Hannibal Lecter and Agent Clarice Starling end up living a life of love together. I didn’t care that he was a cannibal or one of the FBI’s 10 most wanted men, he loved her and she loved him, and hinting at it but having Clarice come to her senses wasn’t enough for me and it still isn't.

Buy a piece of Harry Gilliam art

For the most part I absolutely love New York.  It is an amazing City and has allotted me some of the greatest cultural experiences- museums, exhibits, plays, etc.  I am extremely grateful for living in such a great city except for the one tiny detail of it being so far away from England. 

Aside from all of the other reason that I want to visit England, the last few years I have been particularly dismayed that it is so far away because several years ago I found the art of Harry Gilliam and have since been dismayed that every showing of the art I enjoy so much online has been an ocean away.


To truly appreciate art, I feel you have to see it first hand and now I finally can get a piece (or several) of it for myself.  Sadly Gilliam still hasn't had a show in an American Gallery which is this country's loss but at least now there is a website where you can purchase Gilliam's work.
http://society6.com/Gilliambot/prints


So Go there and buy some stuff
then go to Harry's Twitter and harry's tumblr

to see even more of his art.

The Wholly Family II

A year ago I mentioned that Terry Gilliam's short The Wholly Family, which focuses on a bratty child who learns through dreams that his actions have ruined his once happy parents relationship, would be available to watch at home, rent-able from your own computer.  This meant seeing a short (normally only something you can do on the film festival circuit)  without leaving your room. You wouldn't even have to wear clothes if you didn't want to; that isn't something you could do at Sundance. 

And Guess what, a year later you can STILL rent it for less than the price of a latte:





It's the beauty of Naples, Italy mixed with the imagination of one of the most creative directors for just a few hundred pennies!!!   How many options do you have when it comes to Gilliam cinema?  Sadly and unfairly, the  answer to that is less than twenty; 18 to be exact. Eighteen! It's ludicrous especially when you consider  that his last full length movie, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus was in production when Heath Ledger died FIVE YEARS AGO.  Thank the lord somebody was smart enough to finance another movie for the 72 year old director, but number 18  The Zero Theorem, which filmed this past autumn in Romania isn't slated for release until the end of 2013 and that is only if t doesn't hit any roadblocks which, being a Gilliam project seems doubtful.


However there is good news. If renting the short was too pricy last year, if that $3 would've broken the bank the short is now available free.

Great Review of Les Mis

I saw Les Miserables with my mother on New Year's Eve and I was thinking about reviewing it but I can't do better than this so I am not even trying....