Asterios Polyp

Asterios Polyp

     I recently finished Astros Polyp. I was immediately hooked after the first page and continued to read nonstop through it. I enjoyed everything about it. It’s very different from the comic book’s I’m used to reading.

     First off, I was captured by the visuals. The simple straights against curves created a dynamic graphical impact that made the characters memorable. I liked how Aesterios had a lot of straights in him symbolizing his stubbornness in beliefs and personality. Hana, his counterpart had a lot of curves accenting her complimentary feminine side. I felt that these designs really were suited well for each other and complimented what each of the main character’s lacked.

     The story wasn’t anything typical I’d read in normal graphic novels. There weren’t any supernatural beings or crazy adventures. The adventure and antagonists are stem from the main character as he reflects on his situation and his life.  I find that Asterios’s situation of falling from a relationship could happen to anyone and that makes it easy to emphasize with. I thought the ending at the end was appropriate leaving it resolved but also allowing the audience to guess what will happen next. The ending was very honest of how the characters the author set up would behave. Hana is a loyal loving woman. She has a fondness in her heart for Asterios and him for her. The flash back seen when Hana leaves Asterios and Asterios remembers the little qualities of Hana that he adores so much was very impactful to me.

     It made me realize that the things that look seemingly mundane all adds up to create an emotional effect in a relationship.  Not every special moment means going on an elaborate trip or doing something risky and exciting.  I think the novel tries to communicate that simply enjoying the state of being and not taking anything for grated is vital in the longevity of a relationship.  I also think that the novel tries to communicate the true foundations of a relationship. It isn’t about mere attraction. Its about  sharing love, having trust in your partner and respect.

     All in all, I think this novel communicates a message worth hearing and provides a valuable insight on life.

Games with Literary elements.

       Unlike previous generations of video games, many modern games strive to bring a narrative element in addition to great gameplay. I remember at the arcades, Pac-man and Tetris were very popular games. Adults revered them as childish recreational activities. They saw very little value in playing these simplistic games.

     In current times however, even adults are playing games alongside of their children. Games like Final Fantasy and Mass Effect yield story to support their Role Playing Element.  Some games have even pushed the borders of Interactive Narrative like Heavy Rain. Heavy rain plays out like an interactive movie rather than a traditional game focused on action. Games Like these are pushing the borders between pure gaming and a cinematic experience.

     The most recent games I’ve played with powerful interactive narrative elements include Final Fantasy 13, Skyrim, and Bioshock 2. While having played these games about a half year to years ago, they still had a lasting impact for me.

      Skyrim and Bioshock 2 contained elements which involve awards and consequences based on the player’s choices. One can unlock different endings or powers based on how they morally behave. Everything one does can affect them later on in the game. I think that element in current games is an extraordinary addition. Before when games were treated as mindless fun, it now engages the audience even more and challenges them to think about the consequences of their actions.

     I’m also excited about the Final Fantasy Series. Out of many games I’ve played, the cinematic in Final Fantasy are outstanding. I remember that when I ran out of time and couldn’t play Final Fantasy 13 any more due to its length, I watched the play through scenes online. Watching those cinematics made me feel a sense of duality. Not only were they aesthetically pleasing, but I could recall being in those character’s shoes and aiding them forward In their quest. It allowed me to have a deeper sense of empathy than a movie.

Analyzing Auteurship on Akira Kurasawa's Films

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     For the auteurship assignment I decided to reflect upon Akira Kurasawa’s work. I watched some shorts from Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams. They included “Sunshine in the Rain”, the Peach Orchard, and Van Gogh. His style and subject matter is evidently consistent in his work.  His work isn’t mainstream and doesn’t follow a Hollywood narrative.

     Many of his works contains messages portrayed in a symbolic manner.  Initially upon viewing, I thought his works made very little sense in a literal manner.  As my mind started to look for clues on what Kurasawa’s message was, things started to become clearer. Kurasawa seems to enjoy inviting his audience to read deeper into the figurative meaning in the films.

     His main characters in the shorts I watched were characters who had traits of youthfulness and innocence. His works usually involves, but doesn’t  limit itself  to, Asian mythologies or myths. The three shorts I watched contained the concepts of right of passage, death, and personal discovery. They characters often seem to learn a lesson from their incidents they find them selves in.

      He gives the story focus in the film ( whether it be a peach orchard, fox wedding, or a painting) a higher form of supernatural existence. They are treated as Spirits in the movie awing the audience and the characters that interact with them.  I find this similar to the Japanese religious Idea of Shinto. I learned in my Japanese class last semester that It regarded the inanimate objects in nature  each with a revered spiritual force of their own.

     Akira Kurasawa also pays interesting attention to colors palletes and how they compliment the mood. For example In “The rain” The boy’s home is shown as a gray boring place. Everything looks bland and unwelcoming. It launches the boy on an adventure, which ultimately gets him in trouble. In Van Gogh, the colors are hazy and surreal, then blending into a naturalistic world. It’s meaning seems to be describing as how Van Gogh took the real world and translated it into his personal vision. Finally in the “ Peach Orchard”, there are lots of pink peach blossoms flowing in the wind as the Peach tree spirits bloom once again from the dead to please a little boy. The gentle colors seem to portray the love the boy had for the Peach tree orchard when the orchard trees came into full bloom. I admire the strong use of color and how they heighten the mood.

     Out of the three films I watched, I thought “Van Gogh" had had the most solid concept. It was about an aspiring artist who looks at a painting called “The Crow” .He is immersed in the world in which Vangoh has painted. As the character runs through the cornfield world, it seamlessly merges him into live action footage. Towards the end of the film, there are a flock of crows dispersing from the cornfield. At first I was unaware that it blended between a 2d world and live action. I really enjoyed this one the most.

Political Ad

Dominant Reading

 In the political ad, Mitt Romney is depicted as a corrupt millionaire. He is immediately presented as a threat to tear up the family. Each individual in the family is elaborated as an example to solidify Samuel L Jackson’s opinion against Romney. The way this ad is presented is that it begins in a comfortable world with the looming idea that Mitt Romney will destroy it.

Oppositional Reading.

 The Ad is a very biased one like most political ads presenting a one sided argument. There isn’t any defense on Romney and It presents Obama in a positive light. It doesn’t account for any of Obama’s faults. It talks about Obama sending seals to take care of Bin Laden. It regards that in sending troops, it doesn’t talk about all the lives and money Obama had lost. The ad presents the casual average middleclass American family benefiting from obama’s election. It doesn’t show the other side that might be at a disadvantage from obama’s plans.

All in all, it was a creative interesting ad. But it was very typical political ad.

The Medium is the Massage

For this week, I did an illuminated manuscript using a negative commentary that I observed in modern society. The attempt was to emulate a page from " The Medium is the Massage".

Chinatown Screenplay

China Town Production Notes

     For an assignment in class, I chose to read the screenplay Chinatown. It was interesting reading a movie instead of seeing it. Instead of usually relaxing and mindlessly watching a movie, I got to enjoy the literary prose this time around.

     Chinatown immediately drew me in with its interesting premise. The main character Gittes’s job involves revealing scandalous situations. Not long after the beginning of the screenplay, Gittes soon gets caught up in a scandal himself.

     I think I was very drawn into the story because of the great plot as well as reading it from a screenplay. From reading from a screenplay, the audience is able to recreate and inteptret a scene in his own imagination. The experiencing of stitiching together an image from imagination rather than being shown was a great sensation.

     As for Production Notes,  for my take of the film, I'd like to see how lighting will accent the drama and suspense.  I'd use water as a motif through out the film, since the story is so focused on betrayals pertaining to a scandal involving water. Bodies are found in water, murders in water, etc.

      I think it would be interesting to incorporate certain mannerisms for the characters.  For example I'd like to see moments of Evelyn Mulray ache in fear while she tries to hide her memories of being abused by her father. I'd like to see how the anxiety of that character's play out as they lie to each other.

Lolita

     The novel, Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov is a very unique novel. The premise of the story is about pedophilia and an incestuous relationship. Though the topic is so taboo to American audiences, yet, why do critics regard this as a great piece of literature?

     The way the novel is written is very unique one. The author writes that another ficticous author is transcribing the work of an author belonging in that fictional world. The presentation of the text softens the severity of the situation. The audience is receiving a bias side of the story from the pedophile whom is also the author.  Perhaps this is the genius in the novel. By being able to read a sincerely written novel by a mad man, it challenges the audience to pondeer deeply about the morality of the situations presented in the book.

     Morality , by definition, is conformity to the rules of right conduct. The pedophilic main character performs many acts that are unmoral. Through out the novel, he creates excuses like “ she seduced me to have sex” or “sex for children is like play” to justify his actions.  The novel was a very long one but for an effective purpose. The character of Humbert is presented as a complex one, whom isn’t immediately described as a villain. The audience is shown his progression in his psychology, which leads him to reveal that he is commiting  villainous actions. The novel presents a fair playing field for the audience to have not only the facts, but also, the psychology of the pedophile.

     With understanding both sides, I can state that the choices Humbert made were gravely morally wrong. Perhaps Humbert’s choices were rooted in his personal life issues stemming from childhood, but he caused the physical and spiritual death of many people. His obsession is also a selfishness that he succumbed to. That obsession  resulted in his downfall.

     Humbert’s relationships seemed to all have been without true emotion and he was merely using people as tools. His relationship with his first wife was ruined with his lust for his so called “ nymphets”. His mind and passion was else where, leaving his wife with a husk of a man.  

     His next wife was a mere pawn so that he could have a chance at becoming closer in attempt to be sexually intimate of her daughter. When Ms. Haze found and read his diary, she was blinded by sadness, ultimately accidentally killing herself.  And Lolita herself was the tool in which Humbert could satisfy his cravings rooted in his early childhood.

     The trips that Humbert made with Lolita in an attempt to explore and see America “did not do America justice.” They were just escapades to satisfy his sexual tool and appetite. There is no morality in this man's heinous acts. He fondels a child and then claims and wishes that she doesnt mind. His motives are driven from his selfishness. His acts are blind and ruthless. Humbert has a distorted view of himself throughout the novel often times placing him as the innocent victim.  Though I pity the man, I cannot forgives his terrible deeds.

      I thought as a work of literature itself, the novel Lolita was a very interesting one. It moves out of the norm allowing the audience to peer into the mind of a psycho path. Content wise, I was left feeling disgusted and angry. Thank goodness this is a work of creative fiction.

The Magician's Screenplay

From attempting to transcribe a part of a novel into a screen play, i find many difficulties in explaining the thoughts of the characters. Their thoughts have to be given through their body language and the way they are described delivering their speech. There is less of a psychological read on a character through words but the audience can piece together the meanings through the character's actions and personality in delivery of their dialogue. This was an interesting assignment.

FADE IN:

EDGE OF THE  GREAT LAWN- NIGHT

The edge of the great lawn depicted as a sea of snow before the outskirts of the woods in the middle of the night lit by the moon.

                                                                                                            DISSOLVE TO:

QUENTIN, a 17 year old lanky boy who recently discovered of his knack for magical powers currently cramming for exams for acceptance into the second year at Brakebill’s college.

ALICE, an 18 year old girl whom appears younger than she looks is a natural at casting magic. She is also cramming for exams for acceptance into the second year of her studies at  Brakebills College

QUENTIN 

(Standing before the woods with Alice, Quentin speaking)

QUENTIN 

So where did you come through?

ALICE 

(Standing before the woods with Quentin, Alice speaking and gesturing towards a stretch in the woods)

ALICE 

Over there.When I came, I walked here? I wasn’t Invited?

(voice becomes wobbly)

I had a brother who went here. I always wanted to come, too, but they never Invited me. After a while I was getting too old, so I ran away. I’d been waiting and waiting for an Invitation and it never came. I knew I’d already missed the first year. I’m a year older than you, you know.

QUENTIN
(baffled)
“You slept in the woods? Like on the ground?”

ALICE
“I know, I should have brought a tent. Or something. I don’t know what I was thinking, I was just hysterical.”

QUENTIN 

(with concern in his voice)
“What about your brother? He couldn’t let you in?”

ALICE
(Cold empty voice)
“He died.”

QUENTIN
Alice,this doesn’t make any sense. You do realize you’re the smartest person in our class?”

ALICE 

(Alice shruggs off the compliment with one shoulder, staring fiercely up at the House.)

So you just walked in? What did they do?

ALICE 

They couldn’t believe it. Nobody’s supposed to be able to find the House by themselves. They thought it was just an accident, but it’s so obvious there’s old magic here, tons of it. This whole place is wild with it—if you look at it through the right spells, it lights up like a forest fire.

They must have thought I was a homeless person. I had twigs in my hair. I’d been crying all night. Professor Van der Weghe felt sorry for me. She gave me coffee and let me take the entrance Exam all by myself. Fogg didn’t want to let me, but she made him.

QUENTIN 

And you passed. I still don’t get it, Why didn’t you get Invited like the rest of us?

(Alice doesn’t respond. There are tears building up in her eyes. Quentin catches a glimpse of it twinkling as it catches the moonlight rolling down her eyes.)

QUENTIN
(With warmth)

Hey what does it matter? You’re here now.

(He reaches towards Alice’s face and proceeds to wipe the tears off her face with his woolen gloved finger.

Alice  turns around, her back facing Quentin.

She shudders and hugs herself in the cold standing before the shadow of a large tree.

Quentin comes up from behind and awkwardly puts an arm around her.

Alice turns around and hugs Quentin.)

Startled, Quentin hugs back.

QUENTIN
(Caringly)

“Well, I’m glad you’re here now, however you got here,”

Alice leans into Quentin.

Come on, let’s get back before Fogg really does get pissed. And we’ve got an exam tomorrow. You don’t want to be too tired to enjoy it.”

The quickly walk back to the building under the harsh light of the moon.

FADE OUT 

Wizard of Oz

     Wizard of Oz is an American classic which tells of a magical adventure. The novel has managed to move and influence modern society through its memorable story and characters. Regardless of when it was written, the themes and meanings  are universal, in which, the audiences of any generation can easily empathasize with.

     The structure of the novel depicts a the classic heroes’ journey is retold through the experiences of a brave young heroine named Dorothy who is whisked away into the fantasy world of Oz. The protagonists and antagonists are clearly described.  We know who to root for and who to scorn. Key "good" characters like the beautiful witch, the brainless scare crow, the heartless tin man, and the coward lion assist in guiding her as well as becomes catalysts for Dorothy's character growth throughout the story. Upon reaching the end, Dorothy comes to realize that her destination, rather than her goal has taught her valuable lessons. Moments of doubt, courage, and triumph are embedded in her journey keeping the audience on thier toes.  The story of Wizard of Oz 's structure has kept it a timeless classic. Its success paved the way for many films in the post generations.

     The film had assisted in exploring new boundaries in filmmaking. The mass gathering of "munchkins" no doubt inspired, films like willow and charlie and the chocolate factory. The idea of gathering large groups of midgets to perform was such a robust idea.

     There has been a movie adaptation as well as consecutive spin off novels. Even some of the songs from the movie like the famous ballad “Over the rainbow” have been even rereleased by other artists. The song is rated number one of the “Song of the Century list compiled by the Recording Industry Association of America.

     In current media, Sony Image works is currently working on “Oz the great and powerful” expanding on the origins of the wizard Oz. When the movie is released, no doubt spin off games and possibly merchandise will continue to  inspire the young and old generation with its characters and charm.