das schwerste Gewicht

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Logorama

So I know that the Oscars is pretty much old news by now, but I'm sick and couldn't think of much to write about so I will write a review on one of my favorite genres: Animated Short Films.

The Best Animated Short Film this year was Logorama, directed by François Alaux, Hervé de Crécy and Ludovic Houplain. The short film is entirely made up of recognizable company logos to invite the audience into a unique, Pulp Fiction inspired world.

One of the I love about short films, is that they compile the best of an idea and music into a short segment -- Logorama is only about 15 minutes long. In addition, animated movies can do so much more than regular short films because they have less restrictions.

Hopefully without giving too much away about Logorama, I'll give my review on the message and rating of the short film. The film begins with cheerful music singing "Good Morning Life" and the first couple of minutes allows the audience to acclimate themselves to the logo world. I found the beginning highly entertaining while I identified numerous logos such as the Bentley logo, MSN butterfly, AOL person and many more. After this introduction, we are introduced to a basic plotline with the Michelin Tire guys as the police. This scene follows a classic "Pulp Fiction" style of acting, indicated by the dialogue and the car chase scenes. The rest of the short film is devoted to the car chase scene to catch a criminal (won't reveal the name but it's pretty hilarious). Ultimately the audience is kept on their toes with thrilling action and intricate use of logos. The short ends with two characters who survive and the camera paneling over Logorama as it is left in ruins. The credit scene starts with the camera paneling out and more clever uses of logos are introduced like the Mastercard symbol to be indicative of the Sun.

While I don't want to give away anymore than is necessary, I highly recommend this film after seeing it. If you have nothing better to do for 15 minutes, you should watch this highly entertaining and clever film. Logorama

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Rant #2

So I'm writing here, pondering all these questions and realizing that either the entire class has forgotten my blog URL or no one is bothering to post anything. Not that I am particularly excited (anymore) to post blogs up simply because I have limited time but I understand that it's necessary for a grade.

Anyhoo, I've already explained most of the things I've found interesting only to have no body post on them. Meaning I wonder if I should blog about things I care about if no one will read them? Sort of like the epic question "If a tree falls and no one is around to hear it does it still make a noise?" Speaking of which the answer is no for everyone who did not know. The fact is that noise is simply our ear drum picking up vibrations in the air due to changes in pressure -- so if no one is around to hear the tree it technically does not make a noise.

Maybe I should make this blog just a random answering site like ChaCha or whatever. Here's a little list of logical fallacies:
1. Opposites cancel each other out
- Jimmy ate something toxic. Therefore, if he wants to live he should ate something non-toxic.
2. Two wrongs make a right
- At the mall, Sally was given an extra $5 on her purchase by accident. She decided to keep it because if the store had overcharged they would have kept the money.
3. Gambler's Fallacy
- Since the changes of flipping heads on a coin are 50%, and we have flipped 5 tails, the next flip will be a head.

Those are the most interesting, the rest are kind of boring and slightly common.

Things I love:
1. Christopher Walken movies -- has anyone ever seen a sexier strip dance than his "Pennies From Heaven" tapdance/strip.
2. Late night photo shots -- because everyone looks their best at 2:00 am
3. People who walk on the stone wall instead of the brick walkway
4. Motown -- because truly everyone wishes they could dance and sing like they did back in the day
5. Sushi -- does this really need an explication?
6. Girls who can hit back
7. Speaking in obscure, made-up languages with my twin brother
8. Re-enacting LOTR -- if you know what the abbreviation means you love it too

Sorry for the random topics but it was all my brain could produce. And hey it's not like anyone reads this anyway!

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Narcissism Aphorisms?

Well I'm kind of running out of time here to post blogs on things, partly because I did applications the entire spring break. So here is something I wrote a long time ago just based on my thoughts about Narcissism in my musings.

~ Narcissism does exist within all people as Freud says, or at least they wish some aspect of themself were “better” in their sense in order to be narcissist. What many people misunderstand about a narcissist though, is what they see in a mirror. They do not see themselves, because in reality extreme narcissists are delusional and see another image they project into the mirror. Of course, this in a figurative sense, because the literal sense they do see themselves.

Side note: all mirrors actually show a reversed image – they are all false images to begin with. This whole thing about mirrors reminds me about the quote “Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the most beautiful of them all? Also, Narcissist see a dream, and want everyone else to see what they see – much like Alice’s trip through the looking glass (The N wants to take you into their mirror world) This reminds me, we must talk about how amazing Disney movies are or perhaps I’ll write a journal entry about them in here.

~ The ironic part is mirrors are in fact empty and hold nothing. If you will, narcissists walk around in their fantasy world with their mirror image of themselves held firmly in their mind. Essentially, it is impossible for narcissists to concentrate on the beauty of the world around them, for they love themselves so much that they ignore others in addition to the fact they constantly try to “prove” the existence and reality of their mirror image to others and hope others see what they see. Interestingly enough, I think that deep down for narcissists who are not mentally ill, that they lack severe self-confidence and overcompensate to make up for it. In a sorts, every rational being cannot delude himself for so long like a narcissist, so my opinion of rational narcissists is that they recognize the falseness of their world yet refuse to acknowledge it and/or reject it.

~ Extreme narcissists are indeed magnificent in themselves, however. They can become magnetic, dynamic, overpowering. In their attempt to trap you in their mirror world, if they succeed you will do what they want, you will act the way they want you to. They want to be your god, your master or mistress. They need you.

~ The Narcissistic Supply – displayed in malignant narcissism is essentially the supply narcissist need to fuel their ego and ideal. The narcissist receives psychological gratification from feelings of power that come from the outside world – you. These come in the form of attention, power -- any positive social cue. Similar to a drug addict, the narcissist needs to feed off other people’s emotions to keep their narcissistic supply or they undergo withdrawal symptoms.

~ The malignant narcissist is inherently weak because they derive their ego functioning ability by constantly feeding off the emotions of other people (to build up their sense of self-worth to higher levels). They proceed to harvest reactions to this projected image of themselves from family, friends, anyone. If the reactions – adulation, admiration, attention, fear, respect – are not forthcoming then the narcissist beings to demand them.

~ Lastly, the narcissist in relationships. If they can find a person to essentially ensnare in their belief of themselves, then the person will fall victim to their whims. If you fall for them, romantically, you feel like you are drowning with no end in sight. Others tell you how wrong your love is, how you are being abused; but you are underwater and it all seems so distant and meaningless. You are captured in the narcissist’s mirror world.

~ I tried to mix in prose to add something more beautiful and interesting to my writing. I hope you enjoyed it and I’m sorry I wrote so extensively on narcissism, I just find the topic so fascinating. Oh well, it's not like anyone reads these anyway.

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Sunday, March 7, 2010

Shutter Island Review

Considering that I am in PSYC 245: Abnormal Psychology and I already loved movies like Shutter Island, I simply had to see it. But before I begin my review, note that this will be a spoiler.

Given the director creativity and acting, I would definitely recommend this movie but I do not believe it will stand the test of time. While Leonardo DiCaprio fans consider all of his movies excellent (ironically so do I, he truly has talent), he has other monumental films which will outlive this one. Basically, this was a well done version of (but still inferior to) Ron Howard’s A Beautiful Mind.

So the premise of the plot begins in 1954 with U.S. Marshall Ted Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his partner, Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) arriving on Shutter Island -- a mental asylum for the criminally insane -- to figure out the mystery of an escaped patient. Throughout the film, they have brief moments such as an actor’s voice without the actor’s mouth moving, which give mini-clues to suggest that reality is not what it seemed. Although I never noticed this, my mother thought that the beginning looked more like an old-time style movie with the car standing still and the background flying by, which implies that this is all in Ted’s head. Throughout the movie multiple plot twists leads to the audience to believe in a huge government conspiracy to experiment on the patients in the hope of creating the perfect solider. In a well timed scene, the audience begins to question the sanity of Ted Daniels as the psychiatrists attempt to show how Ted Daniels was already a patient in Shutter Island and created an alter ego as a defense mechanism. The audience is not sure which reality to believe: the conspiracy of Ted Daniels or the reality of the psychiatrist. In the end the movie follows the same plotline as A Beautiful Mind and we realize that Ted Daniels the U.S. Marshall never existed.

While the movie is excellent if you have nothing else to watch, on an originality criterion the movie does not impress. For starters the overuse of flashbacks, the similarity of Ted Daniels and the escaped patient, and the melodramatic cinematography gives away the ironic twist -- by the time it finally arrives. While Leonardo plays his part with all of his incredible talent and the film is directed by the credible Martin Scorsese, the movie just loses too many points through its grotesque attempt to create an original psychological thriller. Yet I must give credit to the psychological aspects of the film, the film follows the DSM criterion for Paranoid Schizophrenia to the fine line. Hallucinations, delusions, paranoia, and other parts are excellent displays of Paranoid Schizophrenia. For an psychology student, I appreciated this a lot. Final judgement: 7 out of 10.

If you are bored and this Russell Crowe is an amazing actor (who doesn’t) then I would recommend A Beautiful Mind because that movie is a truly amazing film of this genre.

Blog #(X+1) completed for ENGL 102.

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