Blog Posts

Well, with three minutes left until the deadline, what better way to wrap up writing the blog posts by writing about the blog posts. I regret not being able to write as much to the required amount, but over the semester I either had trouble with coming up with ideas to write about or how to write about these ideas in general. Of course with this being the last day to write the blog posts I'm suddenly able to figure out what I want to write, but I did what I could do and now I'll just have to deal with the consequences. I have to say that it was fun reading everyone else's blog posts though, about what you all are interested in and what you've learned throughout the semester. Kudos to those that were actually able to write all twenty-five blog posts that were needed.

ReMoved

In this two part short film, a girl is taken away from her abusive parents and separated from her infant brother, who she cared for deeply, and was placed in the foster care system. The girl is moved from foster home to foster home and with being already damaged physically, emotionally, and mentally, it only causes it to become worse. She is eventually able to stay in a foster home with a woman who is able to reach out to the girl better than the previous homes had done. The girl begins to slowly heal and when the woman is able to foster her infant brother, she is able to heal even quicker. However, the brother was eventually adopted by another family and the girl relapses into the state she was in before. The goal of this short film was to bring awareness to the foster care system and also the issue of siblings being separated from each other to possibly never being able to see each other again.

"My Dad is a Liar"

"My Dad is a Liar" is a commercial for Metropolitan Life Insurance, but when you watch it, it feels more like a short film. A father and daughter are walking home after school and the daughter gives the father a paper that she wrote about him. It starts off light, with the daughter telling of how her dad is the sweetest, smartest, handsomest, and funniest daddy in the world. He's her superhero. However, it suddenly takes a dramatic turn when the daughter goes to calling him a liar. To what he lies about, is about how they are in a stable situation, but the truth is that he doesn't have a stable job and therefore is not making enough money to provide for the both of them. What makes this commercial so powerful though is that the reason why he had lied was for his daughters own happiness. The daughter understands this and thus it brings the father to tears. This commercial really sets it apart from your basic commercial, as when an average commercial comes on the TV you don't really pay much attention to it. However, when a commercial like this comes on, it captures your attention more and when it breaks it you that this was a commercial and not just a short film, it becomes quite surprising. It brings your attention to the life insurance though, which in turn makes you more likely to consider obtaining it. It's a very powerful and emotional marketing tactic that gets the viewer to feel obligated to purchase at what they are marketing at easier. 

Overwatch

Overwatch is a team-based multiplayer first-person shooter video game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The story is set sixty years into the future, thirty years after the Omnic Crisis. Overwatch was made to fight during the crisis, members were seen as heroes. However, when a rift began to form between Overwatch founders Gabriel Reyes and Jack Morrison, things began to go down hill. Allegations of wrongdoings were called, leading the public to go against the organization  which then prompted the UN to investigate the situation. There was an explosion at Overwatch headquarters in Switzerland and Reyes and Morrison were believed to be dead. Thus the UN passed the Petras Act, dismantling Overwatch and forbidding any type of Overwatch activity.

However, the world is in peril once again. Corporations are taking over, terrorism is breaking out in multiple parts of the globe, and there is a threat of a second Omnic Crisis occurring. Former members of Overwatch decide that it's time to stop hiding and to reform Overwatch despite the Petras Act saying that they couldn't, and so now it's up to Overwatch to start saving the world once again.

One of Overwatchs greatest features is its diversity in characters, you have your characters of different races, different body types, and different abilities in which they use to fight and protect their fellow team members. It's also a fun game to play with your friends as I have had many good times playing with my friend kicking an enemy teams butt and also the bad ones where we were the ones getting our butts kicked (totally not our fault though, it was definitely the rest of our team that made us loose trust me). There is also the little moments that you can enjoy with your friends, such as hearing the unanimous sounds of disgust as you pick Torbjorn or the moments when you're casually looking out into the scenery and your teammate walks up behind you to push you off the cliff to your death.

Overwatch may not be a perfect game, with it's repetitive gameplay and unbalanced characters, but it's nonetheless entertaining to play. Especially when you have others to play it with you.

Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas

Christmas is making its way over, so you know what that means? Christmas movies! One of my favorite parts about Christmas is the movies that start showing. One of the Christmas movies I used to watch as a kid was Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas. A classic Disney film that I am sure that possibly everyone has seen/heard of. The movie is about three different stories:

"Donald Duck Stuck On Christmas"
     Huey, Dewey, and Louie wish that everyday would be Christmas and you know what they say, "be careful what you wish for".

"A Very Goofy Christmas"
     Goofy is determined to prove to his son, Max, that Santa is real.

"Mickey and Minnie's The Gift of the Magi"
     Mickey and Minnie struggle to round up some money to buy a gift for each other.

One thing that all these stories have, is that all the families in each other story are brought closer together one way or another. That was one of my favorite parts when watching it as a kid, that it was really about the presents or Santa, but about how much the family is each story cared about each other. I haven't been able to watch the movie for about a good decade until now and when I decided to watch it on Netflix (still can't believe it's actually on there) I was expecting to cringe at the movie on how cheesy it would possibly be. However, once I started to watch it, I was instead hit with a wave of nostalgia and ended up enjoying it more now than I thought I would. The love for the movie is still real with me and when I go home for Christmas, I'm more than likely going to make my family watch it with me, much to their dismay.

YourMovieSucksDOTorg

Despite the name, this is a youtube channel that I'll be talking about (though this channel does have its own website). YourMovieSucksDOTorg is a youtube channel that basically does reviews on movies, usually being divided by Quickie's and YMS's. Quickies are basically what you would expect a movie review to be, a review on the movie on what the strong points and weak points were without giving any spoilers. YMS's (Your Movie Sucks) are more well known on the channel, the channel owner, Adum, spends roughly around twenty minutes going through almost the entire movie explaining why it...well...sucks.

The YMS's would have to be my favorite content made by the channel, not only because Adum's commentary can be hilarious at times, but also because he literally does not care whether people agree with him on his opinion or not. He'll tell you why a movie sucks bluntly, not sugar coating or beating around the bush. It doesn't matter if it's a popular movie or not, if he thinks it's sucks so much to worth mentioning then he's going to tell it like it is. Even though there may be times that I don't agree with him on his opinion, I still respect that he's able to explain why he feels a movie wasn't so hot and has to confidence (or not caring in general to do so). YourMovieSucksDOTorg in general, is one of the most entertaining channels I have ever seen and even though the channel is different from other movie reviewers, I believe that that also plays into some of its entertainment factors.

(The person behind YourMovieSucksDOTorg)

(Disclaimer: Channel does not censor swear words and may say things on subjects that others might find offensive)

Moana Review

I recently got the chance to see Moana in theaters. I went in with no expectations and went out quite pleased. The story goes is that the ocean chooses Moana, the daughter of the chief of Motunui, to give back the heart of Te Fiti, an island goddess. She must go along with the demigod Maui, who had stolen the heart in the first place, while also getting back his magic fish hook that allowed him to shape shift into different animals.

(Slight Spoiler Ahead so Beware)

The story was easy to follow along, there were diverse and enjoyable characters, the dynamic between Moana and Maui seemed natural and not forced, and the animation was beautiful. I mean, just look at that water with the scenery below the surface, I still can get over how breath taking this scene was.

One thing that I also appreciated about this movie was that there was no romance in it, I know one of the things Disney is known for is the romance in their movies, but it's refreshing to see that there aren't really signs of it. I sometimes feel like media include a side of romance because they feel as if their show/movie wouldn't be as entertaining without it, but Moana definitely didn't need it as it was entertaining just the way it was. I'd give it an 8/10 and would recommend it to go see.

"Shelter" by Porter Robinson & Madeon

A friend of mine randomly sent me this music video/short film called "Shelter" by Porter Robinson and Madeon (with A-1 Pictures and Crunchyroll). My friend didn't give me any context, so I pretty much went into it without knowing anything. The story follows a young girl (who we learn is named Rin in the description) that lives in a virtual simulation to which she can control by using a tablet. One day however, her tablet generates this world on its own and we then we learn of her origins and how she came to live in the simulation. I'd prefer not to give anything away, so you'll have to watch the video for yourself.

According to my friend, it's quite unusual for the creator of the song to have the music videos going along with their music in this fashion and for them to be more abstract. Nonetheless, both the song and the story within the video go well together. It was both enjoyable to watch and listen too, which I suspect will cause me to have at least the song on repeat for the next few days until I get sick of it. 

Halloween Children Media: "Scary Godmother Halloween Spooktacular"

As Halloween draws near, it becomes the time of horror movies to start playing on the television for all to see, but most of these are not at all appropriate for children to see. I only remember a handful of Halloween movies for kids playing when I was younger, but the one that stood out to me the most was Scary Godmother: Halloween Spooktacular.

The movie follows Hannah Marie, a girl who is afraid of monsters, that gets trapped in an abandoned house by her cousin and his friends who didn't want her to tag along with them trick-or-treating. They attempted to scare her away, but she instead sat on the floor crying out of fear. That was when she met her Scary Godmother, appearing out of nowhere, who cheered her up and took her back to her house to have a Halloween party. Once there, Hannah met all of Scary Godmother's monster friends and she was obviously terrified meeting each one of them. When she actually gets to know them all though, she learns that they're not as scary as they at first appeared to be and are actually quite friendly and kind to her. Hannah and her newfound friends enjoy the party and she conquers her fear of monsters for good.

Though a fun movie full of silly and enjoyable characters, this movie also shows the kids that believe in monsters that maybe if they were to exist, they wouldn't that bad after all. It especially helped me when I was a child and believed that when it was time for bed monsters would come out to get me. After watching the movie however, the fear began to die down until I realized that monsters didn't even exist. If the slasher films are getting tiresome and you just want to watch a fun Halloween movie, then this is one I would suggest to watch.

"Sientje"

Watching this film during class reminded me of how I was just like this little girl when I was a child. If things didn't go the way I wanted them to I would throw a huge tantrum, mess up anything I could get my hands on, etc. It was a real nightmare for my poor mother who had to deal with it for about ten years until I finally grew out of it.

Children let out their anger in this way because, as it was mentioned in class, they have not yet learned the many other ways in dealing with anger. A child's vocabulary and how they use it in the early stages of development, so when they can not figure out a way with how they are feeling they use their actions instead of their words. The film showed that it can get pretty hectic when a child is angry as the little girl messed up her bed, painted on her walls, and took her anger out on her teddy bear which we later see how much she really loved it. This can be applied to how we may deal with anger at our age. We get in fights with people whether they be our friends, family, or complete strangers; and possibly end up saying something nasty to them that you didn't really mean. It may have been in the heat of the moment, but the damage has already been done.

It's hard to be able to voice out at exactly what and why you're feeling the way you are. It gets frustrating which can only add fuel to the flames already made.  Use healthier ways in expressing how your feeling, don't bottle them up or else it'll blow up just like what the little girl had demonstrated.

"One Day a Man Bought a House"

The first half of the film starts off pretty "normal". A man buys a house, there's a rat in the house, and the man wants it dead. The film continues with the mans various attempts at getting rid of the rat but to no avail. Then the film does a plot twist where the rat is revealed to be a female and that she mistakes the mans attempts at murdering her for love. She confesses her feelings and then man for some reason see's it as a good idea to get married to her.

While the film was quite...unusual, there is definitely some fairy tale elements in there. One main example is where the rat, who believes she is unlovable, begins to think differently when she believes that she is loved and thus the film ends on a happy note. Though the film is quite a different fairy tale from what were are probably used to, it's still fun story to watch.

"The Lunch Date"

When first watching The Lunch Date, you at first merely see it as a frustrated white woman having a funny encounter with a black man to who she presumes had stolen her lunch. Instead of going to a worker of the diner to fix the situation after the man shows no signs of giving up the salad, she instead eats it with him. No words were exchanged, they just sat there and ate together, had a drink, and then parted ways. The woman then realizes that her salad hadn't been stolen at all and that she had just eaten a random guy's own salad, thus makes the situation more hilarious.

However, under the comedy of the situation is a deeper message. As we've discussed in class, the time frame of the film was during the time of segregation, which in turn makes the scenario even more bizarre. If there had been any other people in the diner, the woman would have more than likely have been harassed for sitting with a man of the opposite color, or maybe if there were other people around it would have influenced her to take different actions, possibly ending up making the situation less humorous. 

There were no other people though and thus we saw two not so different worlds intertwine with each other, the process giving us a few laughs along the way. 

"Pleasantville"

I have never seen Pleasantville, so at first I didn't really understand what the whole point the video clips we've seen were trying to get at. All I knew was that everything was mainly in black and white while a few things were in color. It was when I saw Bud's mother trying to hide that she was colored that I began to understand it better. Everything was black and white, and if you were colored and felt like you had to hide that then that must mean that being colored was looked down upon.

In a way, it all represents on how reality is. Our society had once made it out that being different from everyone else and that nobody would really like you if you weren't the same. In reality though, being the same as everyone else is not all that cracked up to be and that we all should embrace who we really are on the inside and not afraid to be different. Although I'm pretty sure that no one needs to be told that these days.

I hope Bud's mother ends up embraces her true colors, I'll have to watch the entire movie at some point so that I can get a better feel of the message it's trying to give.

"Kubo and the Two Strings"

I'd like to start of by saying that I have never been interested in stop-motion animated films, so when I saw the trailer for Kubo I had little interest in seeing it. The trailer was interesting enough, but the animation just didn't pull me towards it as much as other movies have. I put the movie in the back of my mind and forgot all about it. 

The next thing I knew I was in the theater watching the movie to simply waste time and yet my time ended up not being wasted at all. I was surprised to find myself actually loving the animation as the movie went on and fell in love with each and every one of the characters, Beetle being my favorite. I also enjoyed on how they interpreted Japanese culture into the film which I thought made it all the more intriguing. 

However, as the movie began to draw near its end (no spoilers) I found myself being able to assume what was to happen next and the ending itself was anti-climatic. The movie was good and all, but I felt like it didn't really live up to it's full potential.

Despite that, I still loved the movie and would definitely recommend it to all that are interested in seeing it. 

My Introduction

Hi! My name is Jessica Fazzalore, but you can call me Jess if you want, but I'll answer to either. I'm from Keyser, West Virginia and I've lived there all my life, so this is the first time I've ever moved away from home. Back at home I have a dog named Sam, a corgi mix that hates anybody that walks past our house, but when she's not barking at complete strangers she's a sweet dog that likes to lay on people whether they want her to or not.

Anyway, I'm a freshman majoring in Animation and I hope to either work with places like Disney and Pixar to make movies or to produce my own comic series.

As you've probably already guessed, my hobbies are drawing and creating stories, but I also enjoy playing video games, watching anime, movies, and TV shows, reading books and manga, drinking tea, and listening to, I guess you could say, not ordinary music.

For Example:

That's pretty much all there is to know about me. Thanks for reading and hope you all have a good day!