Category: entertainment

Contagion

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This afternoon I went to go see the new movie Contagion.  It is a thriller about a world-wide epidemic that in the end wipes out 26 million people across the globe.

The movie is extremely realistic with the virus being a strain between pig and bat DNA.  The film tracks the spread of the virus through the airports, busses, and casinos.  The virus spreads by about any form of exposure to a contagious victim.

After watching the film it really makes me think about how many times I touch my face, and the amount of times I touch things that thousands of people have touched.  It is truly amazing though how strong the human immune system is that it can combat the multitudes of bacteria that enters the body every day.

In Contagion, even with a ‘novel’ virus it still only takes about 3 months for the world  to contain the virus.  Even though it is a fictional film, it still makes for quite a thriller and a real mind bender.

Bright Star

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Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art–
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature’s patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth’s human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors–
No–yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow’d upon my fair love’s ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever–or else swoon to death.

John Keats

I love poetry. There’s nothing more in this world that could make me feel as much emotion and imagine so much as it. It’s simply magical. It’s creation and writing at it’s finest. And there’s one poet who inspires me more than any other.

John Keats.

Every single one of his poems is written so articulately and beautifully that I could re-read it a thousand times over and still find it fascinating. It’s a true gift to be able to create works such magnitude as he did. It’s no wonder why the created a movie about him.

Bright Star is a film based loosely on the romance between Keats and Fanny Brawne. Even though story line is probably far from accurate, it’s an insanely beautiful movie. (Not to mention the casting is fitting and absolutely stunning.)

From start to finish your world becomes there’s and you find yourself immersed in 19th century England and into the lives and two young, ill-fated lovers. It’s captivating, and it my face, I couldn’t take a break while watching it. Every single detail is so accurate and the characters are so lovable that you wish that the movie would never end. Even the actor who plays John Keats, Ben Whishaw, has won numerous British acting awards, and in my opinion, irresistible in this movie.

It’s available on Netflix on demand. I would definitely recommend watching it.

Finding Joe

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Today, I saw the documentary “Finding Joe” at the Ojai Playhouse. The film was all about the teachings of the mythologist and philosopher Joseph Campbell.

Basically, Campbell’s ideas about life come from his ideas about mythology. He says that there is only really one story in all stories of all time. That story is that there is a character that faces a problem, and then changes as a result of that problem. He put this idea into his philosophy.

He said that people will face problems, but eventually overcome them if they are strong enough, or try hard enough. Success, in his words, is obtainable by all.

In my opinion, success is not obtainable by all. Sadly, some people, no matter how hard they try, will never become what they really want to be. Some people are either luckier or just happen to do things at the right time.

Anyway, I got a free ticket to the screening of the movie and to the reception afterwards with the director since I’m part of the Ojai youth film society board.    The director was actually pretty cool, and I got a high five from him after I brought up that I was not allowed to show my most recent movie at my school.

“That’s how you know how you know that you are making better films.” He said, “If more people dislike it, then they are probably better. Until a certain point.”

I get the feeling that I’m going to remember those words for a while. I want to become a director and screenwriter when I’m older. Let’s hope I’m as lucky as Mr. Campbell.

The Wombats.

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The wombats
We all need some good songs to sing and dance along to, on occasion, and The Wombats provide just this.

Formed in Liverpool, England in 2003 the Indie Pop band provides music that is quirky and brilliant. With lyrics that are strong and fun the band really can do no wrong. Each song is easy to relate to as they use everyday things to describe their feelings and emotions.

With lyrics such as, “Carrots help us see much better in the dark. Don’t talk to girls; they’ll break your heart,” there is no way a band like this can go wrong.

Releasing the first album “The Wombats Proudly Present: A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation,” globally in 2007 the album was a great success coming 11th in the UK album charts. The album was full of great songs that individually did very well in the charts.

In 2010 the band were back releasing new singles such as “Tokyo (Vampires & Wolves).” Then in 2011 the group followed on with the album “The Wombats Proudly Present…This Modern Glitch.” The new album has a more grown up sounds in comparison to the first album, involving different sounds. In no way does this make it worse, in fact many argue that it was better coming 3rd in the UK album chart.

So if you feel like you have energy to burn and want to listen to some fun, individual music you should definitely listen to The Wombats.

Again, Again, Again

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The crowd is buzzing quietly while two students stand on the stage, finishing up their introduction.

I’m on the left of the stage, hunching over my guitar, Wulfric, and making sure that the capo is firmly on the 9th fret.

The blood is rushing through my ears and I can’t hear anything that they’re saying; I just watch them until they motion in my direction.

Smiling softly, I walk over and plug in Wulfric before sitting myself on the uncomfortable high stool.

The photography teacher, Mr. Boyd, helps position the microphone in front of my face. He fiddles with the microphone’s stand and I grip my green star-cut pick in my right hand.

“Can I go?” I ask quietly to him, wondering if the sound people were ready for me.

The crowd laughs and I realize that they could hear me perfectly. Heat rushes to my face and I smile uncomfortably at the audience.

Mr. Boyd nods and my and I hunch over my guitar to begin my harsh, palm-muted intro. It seemed to go far to fast and before I knew it I was singing into the microphone, all of my worries completely gone.

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All of a sudden, the song is over and my worries are back.
Every single insecurity and trouble weigh come rushing into my body and I sigh in disappointment.
It always ends too soon.

But the crowd still cheers.

I smile awkwardly and look up at the sound board, making sure I can unplug my guitar without messing with the amplifiers.

The song is over, and all I can think to myself is:

When can I play again?

Ashton Kutcher To Replace Charlie Sheen on Hit Comedy “Two and a Half Men”

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“Two and a Half Men,” in my opinion, is an absolutely hilarious, enjoyable television show.

If you have never watched it, it is about an arrogant bachelor/song writer and his nerdy, uncharismatic brother, and his brother’s unintelligent, lazy son.

My father watches an episode every night, and thus, I have grown very fond of it as well.

And although it might not exactly be suitable for a young audience, it can always make me laugh, and that is all I need when watching television.

However, recent controversy between Charlie Sheen, the actor who plays the bachelor brother, and the shows producer Chuck Lorre has led to the firing of Sheen from the show.

For the past few months, the search for Sheen’s replacement has taken place, and it has just recently been announced that none other than Ashton Kutcher will take on this role.

Although Ashton Kutcher seems a little bit too “pretty boy” for the show’s main role, he is a great actor, and I am looking forward to new episodes (finally!) of “Two and a Half Men.”

In the meantime, you should all check out the latest episodes, though maybe only watch them with people 16 or older: ).

Jon Stewart Slams O’Reilly

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Common: known by most as a rapper. However, when it comes to his fans, he is best known as a poet. Apparently, he is also a known affiliate of a “cop-killer.” That is why when he was invited to a recent White House Poetry Slam, Fox News literally couldn’t contain their excitement.

Bill O’Reilly almost immediately challenged Jon Stewart to a debate. Here’s Part One of the video and here is Part Two of the video.

As Stewart points out, Common is not the first artist to write a song about a convicted “cop-killer.” The key word being convicted, but not yet found innocent or guilty.

Stewart then goes on to point out that A: “It’s a poetry slam, who gives a crap?” and that B: “Songs are not literal. When The Weather Girls sing, ‘It’s raining men,’ it’s not really about precipitation of males.”

The debate has many entertaining moments, as well as many seriously good arguments about the unimportance of the issue.

Anyway, give the two parts a watch, its well worth the ten or so minutes.

Not So E-Z Up

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Half the field had fallen asleep after 2:30 am. Only a select few were still walking, but luckily there was a free coffee stand open for the whole 24 hours. Even the 6 of us kids were still up and about trying to stay up until at least 4:30. We walked a bit more, but soon we got super tired and decided it was time to take a break. We had all set up camp underneath a green E-Z Up. It was cold and windy, but the warmth of our sleeping bags took care of that. Ryan was posted in a fold out lounge chair, Kai, Lucy, and I were sprawled out on the lime green tarp, Mrs. Davis curled up under the booth table, and Mr. Alvarez was laying just outside of the shelter of the tent.

It was late. Around 3-ish maybe. We had already walked at least a trillion or so laps. 18 hours and 12 cups of coffee later I was disappointingly unable to fall asleep and what I saw would make the night a zillion times more interesting. It started to sprinkle and the sprinkling got heavier. The corners of the E-Z Up began to sink and leak. Nobody thought anything of it at first (mostly because we were either half or fully asleep). When the rain got heavier I started moving all the bags underneath the tent so they wouldn’t get anymore wet. That’s when Mr. Alvarez woke up. The tent kept dripping and eventually it got so bad that it just couldn’t be ignored… maybe it was just the coffee.

We scraped the water off the tent with lacrosse sticks. Frustratingly enough the water just kept building up. At this point everyone was awake trying to fix the problem. The tent frame wouldn’t rise or spread or move pretty much at all. The only thing we could do was get rid of it. Kai was pushing the water. I was holding the covering taught and pulled it down. Kai pushed the fabric up towards the edge and before I could move out of the way a waterfall of rain dumped on my head. I was completely soaked. My shoes were in puddles. My pants were drenched and my hair was dripping. It was awesome.

We all curled up in the middle of the tarp; unorganized and uncomfortable. About two hours later I woke up to a bright and shining sun, took a few walks around the track and when Mr. Alvarez’s run around the track ended we wondered how and why everyone else’s tent kept them dry and ours drooled all over us. The hunt was on. We looked under every tent. The Fire Department’s tent was exactly like ours, but we noticed something different about the frame. We ran to our booth, took off the cover and lowered the frame legs. It turns out the top of the tent extends high, so high that it was supposed to let water roll off the sides. I guess ours wasn’t fully raised.

Oh boy, what a night. But hey, it was so worth it.

The XX.

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The XX

The XX are a musical group from London specializing in indie pop/rock. Formed in 2005, the group came together to create simple, but effective, music. Living up to the indie genre, the music they create is definitely individual, standing out in the music industry.

Releasing their first album “XX” in 2009 the group received much praise for their individuality and great music. In the same year they won the Mercury Music Prize and were ranked as “one of the best of year” in the Rolling Stone.

The XX’s sound works well because of the dual voices used. The males soothing deep tones compliment that of the females and accompanied by simple acoustics the music molds together perfectly.

The band’s music is simple but catchy with their warming tones creating the perfect ambience for a night by an open fire or a time of relaxation. Due to release an album this year, fans are excited see if the new material can triumph over that of the legendary “XX.” Lets just hope they don’t disappoint.

Ochocinco: This time its bull-riding

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So I posted a while ago about ochocinco trying out for a soccer team, and in my opinion, it was pretty funny to see him try to entertain himself and his ADHD-like enthusiasm during the NFL lockout.

Now he’s done it again, recently posting on his twitter, “Can everyone please follow @teampbr and @fordtrucks,after I ride this bull for 8 seconds I’m giving the away the F-150 I win.” and a few hours later posting “#EPIC RT @pbrcoo: @ochocinco that’s the deal. Show up and get on the bull u get 10K, ride him for 8 secs and its a brand new F150″

In other words, Ochocinco is trying to be a bull-rider, and hes getting $10K to ride it and a brand new truck if he stays on for 8 seconds.

Well he rode the bull a couple days ago, and he lasted 1.5 seconds.

Yes, there is a video.

So no truck, but he managed to make ten thousand dollars for less than two seconds of his time.

Pretty legit.