Star Wars - Anakin's Transition to the Dark Side

I really don't consider myself to be a Star Wars nerd, but I'm realizing that I've been raised on it more and more now and that it was one of the most enjoyable parts of my childhood.

I remember that I was in the first or second grade when Revenge of the Sith came out. At the time, I had a friend who asked me if I had seen it yet. I asked my parents if I could, but they told me it was too dark and that I couldn't watch it yet.

Despite what the critics say, I think the tradition from light to dark and the seeming destruction of a prophecy was done exceptionally well.

Think of this; by the end of the prequels, we needed to have a story told about the beginnings of Darth Vader, we needed to see the referenced "Clone Wars" that Luke's father so valiantly fought in, and we had to better understand how the Empire became what it was.

Look me in the eye and tell me the prequels didn't do those things well.

Anyways, Anakin begins as an innocent boy with a single mother and no father. He leads a simple life, much like his son will eventually, and doesn't know much of the Jedi.

All of that changes when Jedi arrive at his house and tell him that they need some help.

After losing his mother and being told that he should not fear her and needs to let go of her, he becomes angry, but has to hide his love and mourning deep down inside.

When he falls in love with Padme (not too creepily), they can't make their love known because it is against everything that Anakin is being trained in.

When he returns from the Clone Wars and finds out that she is pregnant, they now have twins when he shouldn't even have feelings for her in the first place. Then, Darth Sidious tempts Anakin with power and he is corrupted out of his insecurities and love of Padme, already having lost his mother, and having the ability to have power.

The Jedi order had always hid information about the dark side of the force, and it is their fault that Anakin lacks the mental ability to be able to spy on the Chancellor effectively and is ultimately a traitor to the Jedi Order.

Star Wars: Attack of the Clones - Part 2

Back again to talk about Attack of the Clones. I liked this one a lot. Three separate plot lines all converge in the same place at the same time with no warning. "I love it when a plan comes together!"

People talked about not having enough action in The Phantom Menace, and Lucas took that to heart and gave us a film about war! Of course there are politics at the heart of the entire thing that is going on, but that is how it always is. I don't understand people being upset about having the first movie be about politics and use too much CGI, but boy does Attack of the Clones do CGI and war right. To be clear, I've never been a huge fan of bad CG, like anyone else,.... (Veggie Tales). However, the Clone War and the Geonosians meeting up with Jedi knights in a coliseum with our protagonists is amazing! On top of that, the battlefield scene between the droid army and the clone army is fantastic. I love it. Red light and blue light bouncing back and forth across a sandy battlefield... It makes me happy everytime. One side represented by men in white with blue and the other side represented by droids with red is an easy way to distinguish protagonist from antagonist.

And we can never forget the final battle scene...

One of the best fish scenes of all time, two men fighting one, green and blue against red, trainer and apprentice against corrupt master, under skilled against master,... it gets me every time. On top of that, the choice to have the battle start in light but move into darkness as Anakin starts to try to avenge his hurt brother and trainer Obi-Wan is symbolic of his beginning transition to the dark side. the fluidity of the fight as we see Anakin move quickly and show his skill and fluidity with two lightsabers is amazing. All the while, there is a massive battle raging on outside.

And in the end, even with the help of Yoda, Count Dooku gets away! George Lucas listened to all the reviews! He didn't kill the bad guy with the amazing lightsaber. He let him win!

And we see, as another callback to the original trilogy, Anakin lose his hand in a lightsaber fight, having to have it replaced with a robotic one.

Anakin is one step closer to becoming Darth Vader, and we see it more than just in the way that he loses his mother and strikes out against all of the Tusken Raiders.

Star Wars: Attack of the Clones - Part 1

The next installment in the Star Wars universe had a hard reputation to try to correct, whether rightly or wrongly so.

Listening to reviews and critics and fans alike, Lucas changed the style of the movie to be a more action-focused one. There is no debate. Also, Lucas gave Jar Jar way less screen time, something that critics never seem to point out. Anakin has grown up and matured, but Padme looks as though she's only aged a few years. From here their romantic relationship blossoms as Anakin is sent with her to Naboo.

While all of this is going on, Obi-Wan is hunting for an assassin that killed a lead that he and Anakin had. Obi-Wan uses some of the same evasive techniques used in the original series as a nice little callback, and that earns brownie points for me. In The Force Awakens, there is ANOTHER DEATH STAR. When I was watching it in theaters I groaned out loud in the theater. There are callbacks, and then there are overly sized planetary bodies that are pretty much the exact same thing as the original trilogy. For me, that's trying too hard to play off of past movies success. Small evasion tactics that can largely go unnoticed aren't too much for me.

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace - Part 2

Again, I don't hate the prequels. Not at all. Rather, I think that they were very entertaining. Perhaps part of the problem is that I grew up watching them as a kid where I assumed everything was well done, but I honestly don't think that as a production they were poorly done.

Again, I will acknowledge that the dialogue can seem very unnatural, but I like the honesty that George Lucas brings to the table in The Phantom Menace.

Anakin and Padme fall in love. Is it inappropriate that she goes from a mother figure to Anakin's lover? I don't necessarily think so. To be fair, it isn't entirely unheard of. Boys can grow up to find older women attractive, especially if they are close to them. To Anakin's credit, he was taken by Jedi and raised without much other contact from his mother, so his dealings with women aren't exactly normal. Also, he clearly doesn't have much contact with women on a regular basis, so it makes sense in Attack of the Clones that he tells her he has thought about her every day. Weird? Sure. Wrong or inappropriate in a movie? I don't think so. Who says things have to always be ideal in movies. President Roosevelt had to deal with paralysis. A great president rolled around in a wheelchair and also had polio. Things are not always perfect in the real world, so why should they be in movies all the time?

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace - Part 1

I have to be honest, I don't see what the big deal is.

Yes, I'm talking about Jar Jar Binks. I understand moviegoers outrage slightly when they had the first trilogy to gawk at and imagine what it would be like to live in the world of Star Wars. But really, I don't see the problem with the prequels.

I understand a few points of conflict that I will talk about in some of the coming blogs, but honestly, what is the problem with a character like Jar Jar?

My deal is this: George Lucas created Star Wars. It was his. I can understand people getting frustrated with some of the angst that young Anakin brings to the table in the first two movies, along with some of the possibly inappropriate romances because of age, but still, I don't see too much of a problem with the plots of any of the prequels.

Sure, the first movie is very dialogue driven, and much of the dialogue isn't very good even at that, but much of the action is still very good. Setting up Chancelor Palpatine as the overarching villain for the entire story? Genius. Having it take place at the galactic scale? Awesome. Having a droid army seen for the first time through mass computer generation? I always loved it as a child.

Pandora vs. Spotify vs. Apple Music

I'm a music guy through and through. So Pandora annoys the crap out of me. Spotify, on the other hand, is terrible in my opinion if you don't know what music to listen to. Oh joy.

For me, Pandora is the reason I listen to as many different kinds of music that I do. I had a Pandora station a while ago and found a band called Phoenix. From there, everything changed.

I think that I could track, from my 8th grade year, everything that I listened to in each season of my life up until this point. Yeah, everything is that specific. For example, winter of 8th grade? Moonlit Sailor and Sigur Ros. Summer of my sophomore year? Twenty One Pilots, specifically Holding On to You. To me, music is an extension of my emotions. No, I'm not overly sappy, but at the same time I listen to music almost all the time regardless of what I'm doing.

Pandora was one of the coolest things that ever happened to me recently in that the Music Genome Project has done such a good job of mapping out the qualities of certain bands and songs that it really does do a great job of giving you a variety of music to listen to. The frustrating thing? What if I want a specific song?

Cue Spotify. Everyone already knows everything about Spotify, but still, why so many adds. And the majority of my listening comes from not being connected to the internet. So no offline music for me. So usually no music through Spotify.

Cue Apple Music. Yes there are way too many mixed reviews about this, but for me it's like the prequels of Star Wars. Everyone hates on them, but I don't see why too much. The same goes for Apple Music. Especially since it works cross platform so well (and the small fact that I don't have to pay for it since my dad does on a family plan).

Phineas and Ferb

Disney Channel. Ah, Disney Channel.

Few stations have done what Disney Channel has done for kids entertainment. From live action staged shows to animation and full-length movies, Disney Channel strives to produce content for children and young teens constantly.

One of the few shows I will still watch today is Phineas and Ferb. From the creator Jeff "Swampy" Marsh, this show has been an original animation since it started. There are the few main characters that draw distinctive plots every episode. There are two step-brother with their 3 main friends, one sister who constantly tries to "bust" her brothers, a mom and dad, their pet Perry the Platypus, and Dr. Doofenshmirtz, the evil scientist who is constantly thwarted by Perry the Platypus.

Each episode has the same basic flow. Phineas and Ferb come up with a great idea of something to build, Candace tries to stop them, Perry the Platypus has to go find Dr. Doofenshmirtz and stop his new crazy invention from doing anything, and in the end, Candace, the sister, almost shows her mom that the boy have built something crazy and ridiculous, but in the end some crazy force takes it and makes it vanish.

Switchfoot: Nothing Is Sound

One of the most basic albums that I grew up with as a child was Nothing Is Sound by Switchfoot.

Growing up in the era just before iTunes, music was either whatever was on the radio, whatever CDs you had, or whatever people were actually physically playing. My dad was and is a musician so he has always had music be an integral part of our lives. For me, music has always been one of the best parts of my life as I grew up with my dad always playing guitar or piano at home and always shuttling me back and forth to and from our church band rehearsals.

One of the funniest stories that I've heard about myself growing up was my mom and dad taking me to a park when I was a little kid and swinging with me. The swing was making a squeaking sound, and I wasn't about 2 years old and matched pitch with it right away. It was then that my dad assumed that I had a gift of music. Of course, growing up with a dad like mine helps.

Growing up I taught myself piano with a little help from my dad at a young age. Guitar was something that I never really picked up, but was something that I was always familiar with. I now can play piano, ukulele, violin, viola, cello, bass guitar, mandolin, mandola, and a few others.

But this album was one that was influential to me between the ages of 4-7, and then again when I grew up and began listening to music on an iPod. It is a more alternative rock than I remembered, because growing up you just assume that whatever you're listening to is normal. However, the bassist and the lead singer/guitarist are exceptionally skilled. The lead singer, Jon Foreman, has also been influential to me as he writes tons of softer music that is designed to be more worshipful and meditative. I one day aspire to be able to write like him and my dad.

The Office: Pilot

The intro episode to The Office, one of the most comical shows of all time in my opinion, was at first not a signal of what was to come with the series.

The pilot episode is simply an intro into the lives at Dunder Mifflin, a small-sized paper-sales company in Scranton, PA. From the get-go we meet all of our important characters right away, as well as being faced with the main plot of the first season: downsizing.

We are immediately introduced to the hilarity of Michael Scott, the branch manager of Dunder Mifflin Scranton. He is outlandish and irresponsible, but he somehow entertains his employees and boss enough to where he stays in charge.

One of the other more interesting parts of the pilot is the use of the camera. Like I've mentioned in my first blog about The Office, it sort of pioneered the way that camerawork could be used intentionally sloppily to create an atmosphere of intimacy with the characters.

The season itself is kicked of nicely by a great opening that familiarizes everyone with the cast.

Rocket League

The mobile gaming industry has taken off in the past 5 years. Before the Apple iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad, mobile games were almost exclusively for adolescents, namely Nintendo GameBoy and DS systems. With the mobile gaming industry, anyone anywhere can play games 24 hours a day, regardless of location.

Yet still the computer gaming industry is going strong.

Rocket League is a single and multiplayer local and online game available on platforms like Xbox Live and Steam, two of the major computer gaming platforms. In it, you are a car in an enclosed arena with a large ball and two goals. You can either play by yourself or with teammates that you've chosen (such as local split-screen or linked wirelessly) in one of several game modes. You can play 1-on-1, 2-on-2, 3-on-3, and some other modified game modes.

The goal of the game is always to outscore your opponent(s) in 5 minutes of game time. There is "boost" spread out around the arena floor, and, like Pac-Man, there is partial boost and full boost. Boost is simply that: boost. You have a limited supply of it, and running over partial boost gives a partial refill of boost while running over full boost tops you off completely. Boost allows you to speed up fast enough to drive up onto the walls of the arena or fly through the air and perform aerial maneuvers.

Rocket League is one of the most awarded computer games in a while, garnering "Winner or Nominee of more than 150 'Best of 2015' Awards, including Game of the Year, Best Sports Game, and Best Multiplayer Game... Rocket League® combines soccer with driving in an unbelievable physics-based multiplayer-focused sequel to Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars! Choose from a variety of high-flying vehicles equipped with huge rocket boosters to score amazing aerial goals and pull off incredible, game-changing saves!" (www.RocketLeagueGame.com/game-info/).

The Office: Breaking the 4th Wall

There is no 4th wall.

Well, at least not in NBC's critically-acclaimed The Office.

One of the most genius things about video is empathy. Through the visual medium, a producer can cause a viewer to put him or herself in the shoes of an actor, or at least feel what is going on the production. Part of the feeling of emotion arises through video mixed with themed music to stir up emotions in viewers. Producers of productions such as Saving Private Ryan use editing and audio techniques designed to transport the viewer into the action through shaky cam, jump cuts, and explosions and the sounds of war.

But nothing is more powerful than what The Office does.

Now, the original The Office aired in in Britain and starred the likes of Ricky Gervais (who eventually made a cameo in the US version) but this post will discuss the US version, despite being made after the British version.

The Office, from episode 1, offers no fourth wall. It's not until the later seasons that the viewers learn that this entire production has been a documentary, but from the beginning it is clear that there is a camera and audio crew working to record (with permission) the happenings of the employees of the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin.

The genius continues through the course of the series as we see the actors explicitly talking to the cameramen, at times telling them to "get down" and be quiet (S:4 Ep:10).

As the end of the series rolls around, the audience most likely feels extreme nostalgia (as I did, somehow,...). As the final season continues moving forward, more and more episodes begin calling flashbacks to early seasons and episodes. By the end of the series, the "documentary" has aired and all of the cast members, including the original office manager Michael Scott (played by Steve Carell) come back for a final farewell. 

We even see one of the main characters, Pam, confronted with marriage problems which leads to one of the "grips" becoming a character for a few episodes as he gets involved in her marriage and is eventually fired.

All in all, The Office was a television series that jumped into the comedy sector of television, and did so incredibly well with it's dry humor, but also has pioneered a new style of television. It would be unfair to say that it has revolutionized the TV industry, but certainly there will be shows that, to some degree, try to imitate The Office for years to come. It certainly marked an era in television.

Little Jesuses in the US

As a Christian, or "little Christ," or "little Jesus," I have something that has been impressed upon me that I feel should be impressed upon others who call themselves followers of Jesus Christ as well.

Christianity has become a major social group in the Western world. There is a good case to be made  that we as a nation were even founded upon Judeo-Christian values, though it is just as evident that we are not a Christian nation. Nonetheless, Christians enjoy and have enjoyed a privileged place in society since the founding of this nation. One is hardly discriminated against daily for being a follower of Jesus. The church has a semi-foundational position in our nation, and believers can usually gather together once a week on Sunday to praise God through song and learn more about him as a gathering of believers. We have "Christian" radio stations, media outlets, record labels, production companies, and the list goes on and on.

Frankly, this is not how it was in Jesus' day.

In Jesus' day, persecution was not having a gay couple come to your bakery asking for a wedding cake. Persecution was not having a potential national leader be in favor of killing of unborn children. Persecution was not even being told that legally you were not allowed to talk to your students about your faith.

Persecution was the leader of your nation telling you to disown Jesus or be impaled through the butt up into the skull, dipped in oil, and set on fire to line the streets to and from his palaces. Persecution was having government officials track you down and put you in jail for proclaiming that the national leader wasn't God, but that the real Son of God came to die for all of our sins so that we could be no longer slaves to death but slaves to Jesus Christ. Persecution was telling your family that you might not come back home for dinner because you might be taken captive or killed for proclaiming the Good News.

So today as Christians, in what I would argue is a culture of Christian complacency, what should we do as this election season is coming to a close? Who do we vote for? Do we even vote? Do we campaign for female reproductive rights or for constraint of LGBTQ+ social change?

WWJD?

But seriously, what would Jesus do?

Better, what did Jesus do?

I have to be honest, I don't think Jesus' goal or desire for us is to "go vote," or campaign for conservative rights. I think it's much simpler than that.

Jesus said, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and give to God what is God's."

Jesus did not say, "I am here to abolish Roman rule and you are to be my warriors."

Jesus was crucified by those Romans, then stayed dead 3 days, the came back. Then he overthrew the Roman government.

Wait, no, that last statement is obviously completely false. He hung around for a little bit to prove that he was alive, then he left.

What is God's desire for us as we are 24 hours away from having a new leader of one of the most powerful and influential nations of all time? To pray for our leaders (including Clinton and Trump), to pay our taxes (however much you make and have to pay), to tithe and give (not as a last thought), and to love others. Jesus ate with tax collectors and prostitutes. I can be okay with liberals, homosexuals, atheists, conservatives, heterosexuals, Christians, and even people who go to Texas (I'm a die-hard Oklahoma Sooner), because this election season doesn't affect my faith, nor should it affect yours. It might change my nation, but God raised up and tore down nations all through history, and I have a feeling that he still is powerful enough to do it now. I'm not concerned with nations, though I try to be concerned with souls.

Since I know that Dr. Leeper might be the only one to read this, I know that I might be slightly over my word limit... But I feel that especially at a Christian university this has to be said, and maybe I should have said it sooner.

T - 24 hours...

Holocene by Bon Iver

      I'm going to try to do something harder than blogging about the visual; I'm going to blog about the auditory.

       From here on out I'm going to take different songs that are either very well done from a production standpoint or stand out to me for other reasons, such as their lyrics or some other reason that I like them. 

       The first song I'm going to be talking about is Holocene by Bon Iver. It struck me when I first heard it while watching the film We Bought a Zoo. That soundtrack itself is absolutely magical to the point that I took songs and played them thematically for our school production of Anne of Green Gables. It was absolutely amazing. But in the middle of this soundtrack was a song that was definitely not by the mastermind of Jónsi. It stuck out like a diamond in the middle of a patch of rubies. Not only did it come at a crucial time in the plot, but it has an extremely ethereal yet grounded sound. It's as if Jon Vernon wants you to feel disoriented and then let him take control of the song. It's not disorienting in a bad way, but rather it's as though Vernon wants you to forget what you're accustomed to when it comes to what certain instruments should do.

       The opening of the song has two acoustic guitars weaving their ways in and out of each other with a similar slow 16th note run back and forth. The heavy reverb gives it that soft padding that is the base for the entire song (not bass). 

       There are added instruments that come in, such as brass, that swell up from the quiet rather than coming in and making a statement. The layout of the song itself is simple enough. It goes Intro, Verse 1 Chorus 1, Verse 2 Chorus 2, Verse 3 Chorus 3. Simple enough, right? But it picks up as the song goes along, continuing its "soothing" vibe. You almost have to focus on the lyrics to understand them as the whole production blends together into one mood. 

Adagio for Tron by Daft Punk

       If you've watched Tron: Legacy, you know what the best part of the movie is: the music, hands down. Daft Punk knocks your socks off right from the opening scene, and the arpeggiators and synths through the entire intro scream reminiscence of the early Tron movie while adding a full range of sound that swells up from the bottom. Again, heavy arpeggiators and racing synth leads contrast beautifully with Adagio for Tron, the music for the backstory of Rinzler, or Tron.

       I've actually had my musically inspirational father score this out and play it with my full symphony orchestra in high school. And it's freaking awesome. It starts off with a simple cello, making a slow ascending/descending run that moves up the E-minor scale. It has a gripping tone of sorrow and slight anger, but not one with punch. The music gradually adds violin, viola, and bass over the course of the song with different harmonies and bass lines coming in, but the theme remains; sorrow and grief. Near the end of the score, the orchestra builds into what can only be described as extreme anger, but still only anger gripped by sorrow. At the end of the grand finale, one does not sense a resolution.

       The grandiose orchestra has died off, continued only by the sound of one lone cello, just as the beginning, but this time ascending on the whole as each individual run descends down a scale. It only continues for a few measures, then ends with a pp E-minor chord dying of misery.

       So much gripping emotion in only 3 and a half minutes. Give it a listen. You'll hear what I'm talking about.

Bray Snyder - Audio and Video and Small Hands

"And I
I hope for your life
You forget about mine
Forget about mine"

I'm just going to say it: this video is rough. It's hard to watch it without any emotion. I'm a man of music, and music more than video stirs up emotion. However, the amazing puppetry mixed with the sad and simple music is very effective. From the 3 different sets that Henson shows us (the rabbits, frogs, and owls) we get the sense of anthropomorphic love and connection. We're not just looking at six animals in nature. The video and music makes (at least some of) us care about all of the animals in a more sincere way. Then we have this dramatic irony where we see a snake, fox, and hunter coming up on the six animals.

The snake eats a frog, the fox eats a rabbit, and the hunter shoots an owl.

The story behind the song isn't actually about a frog, rabbit, or owl. It's a story about a breakup that he had with a girlfriend, but it still conveys a powerful message mixed with the puppetry. This shows me right off the bat of class that audio and visual separated can be impactful in their own regards, but together they can be incredibly stirring under the right circumstances.

Striving to be in Christ,
Bray

Bray Snyder: Intro

Hey everyone,

My name is Bray Snyder and I'm majoring in Broadcasting, soon to be double majoring in Broadcasting and Film Production with a minor in Spanish. I was born in Louisville, moved to Norman, Oklahoma where Oklahoma University is for 4 years, and then moved to Bloomington where Indiana University is. I've lived there for 11 years now, and it's safe to say it's my home. I went to a small Christian school in high school where I played soccer, basketball, track, and cross country, was on student council, played in the band and orchestra, started the tech team, and went overseas to Costa Rica for a week. To be fair though it's easier to do all of that in a smaller school. I've played basketball since I was 5 and plan on walking on the basketball team here at HU. I play about 10 instruments, I've recorded a full-length studio album with my dad, I'm an audio buff, and I've grown up around Apple 24/7. I can play on stage, lead worship, record, and live or studio mix just about anything. And not to be cocky, but I'm good.

I'm relatively new to video at a big production, but I'm a quick learner and already have experience behind sports broadcasting equipment. I also have experience in lighting, and I expect that to help out with video production. I have to admit I'm not super into video production yet but I'm ready to jump in.And one of the bigger things about me is that I'm a die-hard Oklahoma Sooners fan, so CFB Saturdays are going to get intense. The biggest thing about my, however, and the thing that defines me is my relationship with Jesus Christ. It's all that I need in life, and I hope the same is true for all of you. Looking forward to a great year with all of you.

Striving to be in Christ,
Bray