The Renaissance Festival

On October 28, my school, Manor New Tech High, went on a field trip to the Renaissance Festival. We were there for about three hours. I didn't pay attention to the names of the shops and food vendors, so I don't remember what shops we visited. But I do remember the food vendor where I bought cheese cake on a stick. The shop is to the left when you first walk in, and you keep going until you see chocolate covered bananas and cheese cakes. While I was waiting in line for my cheese cake on a stick, the man got a thick slice of cheese cake, stuck it on a stick, dipped it completely in chocolate, and swirled some white chocolate around it. When I took a bite out of it I almost collapsed. It was delicious. I love cheese cake, so to others it might not be that appealing.

Anyways, I hung out with my friends Juan, Paul, Chris, and Jackson the whole time, and just chilled. Paul wanted to look for some whistle flute thing that he wanted last year, so we followed him around for a little bit. Eventually, I got hungry so went around looking for a turkey leg shop. I bought a Mountain Dew and a huge turkey leg. The turkey leg had a lot of fat on it, so I threw most of it away. The Mountain Dew was really refreshing though.

After that, we continued walking around to see what other cool things we could find. The coolest thing that we came across were the elephant rides. We also came across a rock wall. We stayed there for about ten minutes watching people trying to climb to the top of the wall but failing. Eventually we left and met up with the rest of the school to get ready to leave.

Even though half the field trip was spent on the buss and we were only given about three hours to attend the festival, I was glad to get out of school for a day and hang-out with my friends. Hopefully we can go again next year, and have more time to look around and experience everything.

Psycho

Slim here. Psycho was directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and released on August 25, 1960. This movie began the slasher/horror genre. The main influence for this movie was Edward Geins (a serial killer, around the 1950's, that mainly murdered older women reminding him of his mother). In Psycho, the killer, Norman Bates (played by Anthony Perkins), portrays a few of Ed Gein's characteristics very well. His most memorable scene in Psycho is the shower scene.

Psycho begins with Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) and Sam Loomis (John Gavin), a married man, together in a hotel room half naked. They want to get married, but can't because of money issues. Well, one day at work Marion is asked by her boss to bank $40,000 dollars as soon as possible. But instead of taking he money to the bank, she tries to leave town with it and meet up with Sam. Unfortunately, her boss sees her leaving town but he doesn't think anything of it.

While driving to meet up with Sam in California, Marion gets harassed by a cop that suspects she's doing something wrong. Trying to get the cop off her trail, she stops at The Bates Motel. The motel is ran by a man called Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), who lives with his mother in house next to the motel. She gets checked in and is given a room. Later, Norman makes her dinner. When she's done eating, she goes to her room for the night and takes a shower.

While Marion is taking a shower, Norman (who is dressed up to resemble his mother) murders her with a knife, and runs back to his house. Then, Norman (dressed as himself) runs back to the hotel to find Marion naked and murdered on the bathroom floor. He cleans up the mess, and drives Marion's car and body into swamp.

Later, a detective begins searching for Marion to recover the money she stole. He gets in over his head, and winds up dead. To find out what happens next, watch the movie.

After watching Psycho, I was bit disappointed. There was not as much killing as I thought there was going to be, and when there was it was a bit cheesy. I thought the shower scene was going to be unbearable to watch, but when I finally saw it, I forgot it was a slasher film and began laughing as if it were a comedy. The acting in the killing scenes was poor, and there was hardly any blood. If there was more blood and better killing graphics, Psycho would have been terrifying. Otherwise, I thought this movie was really creepy, and I would not watch it again unless I had to.


Beat Sheet:

1. Opening Image: A nice day in Phoenix where people have a controlled mind

2. Theme Stated: When the boyfriend Sam talks about his money problems

3. Set Up: Marion's Boss asks her to bank $40,000

4. Catalyst: Marion is seen leaving town

5. Debate: While driving Marion lets her imagination take over

6. Breaks into Two: Goes to the Bates Motel

7. B-Story: Marion meets Norman Bates

8. Fun and Games: Norman Kills Marion while she is enjoying a shower

9. Midpoint: Norman takes the body and her car and disposes of it in a swamp

10. Bad Guys Close In: Detective Dies

11. All is Lost: Marion's Sister can't reach the Detective

12. Dark Knight of Soul: When Sam and Marion's Sister go to talk to the Sheriff and find out that Norman's mom is dead

13. Break Into Three: Sam and Marion's Sister devise a plan to go and search the motel for any sign of Marion.

14. Finale: Norman is caught just before he kills Marion's sister

15. Final Image: Norman is sitting in jail as his mother

Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Halloween

Slim here. Buffy the Vampire Slayer was created, directed, and written by Joss Whedon in 1997. Though there are others who have directed and written episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Joss Whedon is the most talked about. To see all of his achievements, click here.

Halloween was directed by Bruce Seth Green, and written by Joss Whedon and Carl Ellsworth in 1997. The metaphor that Joss Whedon tries to get across in this episode is: Don't be someone you're not. Just be yourself. I really like this metaphor since it pertains to a lot of teenagers in today's society.

On Halloween, vampires decide to lay low, so Buffy planed on having a nice and quiet one this year. Unfortunately, Principal Synder forces her and her friends (Xander, and Willow) to chaperon kids while they go trick-or-treating. They have to drees up, so they go to a new costume shop where everyone is getting their costumes. Willow gets a ghost costume, Xander buys a toy gun to go with his army costume, and Buffy buys an 18th-century princess costume.

Spike (vampire enemy of Buffy) learns that on Halloween Buffy will become weak due to some new threat. After he hears this, he begins to plan his next attack.

On Halloween, the costume shop owner, Ethan Rayne, begins casting a spell with the aid of a statue of Janus, the god of doorways, beginnings, and transitions. In the middle of trick-or-treating, Ethan finishes his spell, and everyone that bought a costume from his shop changes into what they're dressed as. Willow becomes an actual ghost, Xander a soldier, and Buffy an 18th-century princess, scared stiff of vampires and demons.

With monsters running around Sunnydale and Buffy now a hopeless princess, Spike begins to make his attack.

To watch Halloween and find out what happens next, click here.

Halloween wasn't scary to me, but it did a good job at keeping me entertained. The fight scenes were cheesy, as well as some of the acting, but other than that, it was fun and entertaining.

Nosferatu

Nosferatu is directed by F.W. Murnau and was released March 4, 1922, in Germany. Nosferatu is based off the book Dracula by Bram Stoker. Murnau did not get permission to make this film. So when it was released, Bram Stoker's widow sued them for copyright infractions, and tried to have it destroyed. Obviously she failed.

Nosferatu begins with Jonathan Harker (Gustav von Wangenheim), Renfield's clerk, giving flowers to his wife, Nina Harker (Greta Schroeder). Life is good, so far, for the Hakers. Then one day, Renfield (Alexander Granach), a real estate agent, tells Harker that Count Dracula (Max Schreck), from Transylvania, wants to buy a house in their city. Renfield convinces Harker to visit Count Dracula and sell him a house across the street from where Harker lives.

While traveling to Count Dracula's castle, Harker stops at an inn. The locals warn him about the Land of the Phantoms, but he is not swayed by their warnings. After staying the night at the inn, he continues traveling to Count Dracula's castle.

Once Harker makes it to the castle, he is greeted by Count Dracula, and served dinner. While eating, Harker accidentally cuts himself with a knife causing Count Dracula to become drawn to the sight of his blood. The next morning, Harker awakes to find bite marks on his neck. Life begins to suck for the Harkers.

To watch the movie and find out what happens next, click here.

This movie was not as scary as we thought it would be. The night scenes were confusing, and the lack of dialect made it hard to follow. If Murnau were to add more scenes of Count Dracula killing and sucking peoples' blood, the movie would have been a heck of a lot more interesting and scary. For being made back in 1922, we can see why so many people would have been scared silly. Max Schreck was already a weird looking dude. When dressed up as Count Dracula, he's nightmarish.

For the most part, Nosferatu kept us intrigued, and entertained. We recommend this movie to anyone. If you like a good classic horror film, Nosferatu is the movie for you.

Night of The Living Dead

Night of the Living Dead is a creature film made by George A. Romero in 1968. We thought this film was going to be just another cheesy old horror movie in black in white. But we were mistaken. Even though the film has some cheesy acting, there are a few scenes that will have you squirming in your seat.

The plot: A satellite has fallen back to earth with radiation levels off the chart. The dead all around the world are coming back to life, attacking and eating people. A group of people get trapped in a house surrounded by zombies. They have to come up with a plan to escape from the house and make it to a town shelter, without getting eaten.

Night of the Living Dead begins in an old cemetery with Johnny (Russell Streiner) and Barbra (Judith O'Dea). "They're coming to get you Barbra" is what Johnny says just before the zombies start attacking. A zombie kills Johnny and chases Barbra to an old farm house. There, she meets up with Ben (Duane Jones).

Later, they meet up with Tom (Keith Wayne), Judy (Judith Ridley), Mr. and Mrs. Cooper (Karl Hardman and Marilyn Eastman), and their daughter Karen (Kyra Schon), who were hiding in the basement.

After searching the house for wood and other supplies, Ben and Tom find a t.v. They learn that the zombies use to be dead people that were brought back to life, possibly, due to the radiation from a spacecraft that just recently returned to earth. They also find out that there is a shelter a few miles from where they are. After considering their chances, they begin to come up with a plan to make a break for it.

If you want to find out what happens next, then watch the movie.

This movie revolutionized the way horror films are made today. Before this movie, horror films used to be watched by all ages. People would go see them to have a good laugh, but when they saw Night of the Living Dead they were left speechless with fright.

Living in the twenty first century, we didn't think this movie was all that scary. Some of the scenes were a bit unsettling, such as the scene where Mrs. Cooper gets killed by her daughter, but for the most part, the movie had us laughing. The scene where Ben and Barbra get into an argument over whether Johnny is still alive is our favorite. Although that scene had us laughing, it also left us a bit shocked. You don't see that in movies now a days.

Besides the cheesy acting, there's nothing that we didn't like about this movie. It keep us interested and entertained the entire time. If you're a true horror film fan, then you should definitely take the time to watch this classic movie.

Beat Sheet for Night of the Living Dead

1. Opening Image: Barbra and Johnny pull up to an old cemetery to pay their respects to their grandfather.

2. Theme Stated: "They're coming to get you Barbra."

3. Set-up: A ghoul (zombie) comes to life and attacks Barbra

4. Catalyst: Barbra gets traumatized from the ghoul attack and the murder of her brother

5. Debate: Barbra is so traumatized that she can’t do anything, so the main character switches to Ben.

6. Break into two: The ghouls start to surround the house.

7. B-story: after fighting a few ghouls out of the house, they meet up with some people that were hiding in the basement.

8. Fun and Games: Ben, Tom and Judy make a run for the gas pump. In the process, Tom and Judy die and Ben makes it back to the house.

9. Midpoint: They find out that if you die or get bitten by a ghoul, you turn into one.

10. Bad Guys Close In: The ghouls break into the house and Ben gets trapped in the basement with the ghoul parents.

11. All is Lost: Every one that was alive is dead (except for Ben) and the ghouls are blocking the way out.

12. Dark night of the Soul: When Barbra gets taken by her ghoulish brother, Ben is shocked, but only for a second or two.

Blake Snyder Beat Sheet for X-men Origins: Wolverine

1. Opening Image: A sick child having to be taken care of.
2. Theme Stated: When Victor tells Jimmy (Wolverine) that they’re brothers now and have to stick together and watch out for each other.
3. Set-Up: Mutants and humans both inhabit the world. They are mutants that can’t be killed because they heal really fast
4. Catalyst: Wolverine doesn’t want to kill innocent people, so he leaves the group and his brother to live on his own.
5. Debate: William Striker wants Wolverine to help find who’s responsible for killing off members of his old group, but he refuses. Then Victor kills his girl friend and forces him to get involved.
6. Break into Two: When wolverine gets animation put in him and begins to search for Victor.
7. B Story: When wolverine finds old friends and learns about the island.
8. Fun and Games: Wolverine fights Gambet and Victor.
9. Midpoint: When Wolverine is hurrying to the island to find Striker.
10. Bad Guys Close In: When they raise weapon 11.
11. All Is Lost: He learns that his girl friend is a mutant and not dead.
12. Dark Night of the Soul: He was going to leave the island but goes back to save his girl friend and other mutants.
13. Break into Three: He saves the other mutants, then fights and defeats victor.
14. Finale battle: Wolverine and Victor team up and defeat

weapon 11.
15. Final Image: He gets shot in the head and loses his memory and needs help to remember who he is and what happened.

Some Random Online Videos

Slim here. These are a couple of short films that I watched on Youtube.

Food Fight

Food Fight is a stop-motion animation, written, directed, and animated by Stefan Nadelman. The film is based on the story of America's war-mongered history told through the main foods of each country. Click here for the cheat-sheet of the foods and countries they represent.

The short film begins with WWII and ends in the present day war against terrorism. This film kept me interested and entertained, with all the sloppy food explosions and awesome animations. For example, when the Japanese bombed Perl Harbor, the film portrayed it as kamikaze sushi rolls (the Japanese) bombing hamburgers (Perl Harbor/ the United States). That was one of my favorite scenes from this short film.

This film also has a pretty liberal outlook on the wars that have happened throughout the years. If you watch the short film you'll see what I'm talking about. Other than that, I liked this film a lot, and thought the stop-motion animation was awesome.

Want to watch the Food Fight? Click here.


Great Tasting Americano

Great Tasting Americano is a short film made by WashMe Productions. It's basically about a guy who wakes up in the morning and wants to buy a cup of Massive Drink Station coffee. Along the way, he kills a guy and jacks his truck. The police chase him, killing a guy and a cat in the process. In the end, he loses the police and buys a cup of coffee.

I liked the stop-motion animation a lot, done by Peter Green and Regan Music. I thought it was pretty cool how they used paper to make their models, made by Thomas Hsien. I also liked the way they used the Grand Theft Auto theme in their film. Another thing that caught my attention was the set, made by Gaurav Mehra and Leng Khun.

However, I thought this film was a bit point less. All it's doing is advertising a coffee shop. If there was a meaningful story behind it all, this film would be awesome. Besides that, I thought Great Tasting Americano was pretty good and it kept me entertained the entire time.

Watch Great Tasting Americano here.


Zombies in Plain English

Zombies in Plain English is a short film, made by Commoncraft, that tells you step-by-step how to identify a zombie, kill it, and survive an attack.

I thought this instructional film was a bit lame. The commentators voice sounded nerdy, and the illustrations were childish. If they had realistic zombie pictures, and that awesome movie announcers voice giving the instructions, the film would be pretty entertaining. By itself, the film really didn't grab my attention, and I got bored faster than I expected.

To watch Zombies in Plain English click here.

Popcorn With The Movie "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" Review

Slim here. Popcorn With The Movie are two girls who go by the names of Butter and Salt. I am reviewing their review on Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.

The thing I like about their review is the way they set it up. They have a summary of the movie at the beginning and each of their comments at the end. It is very well organized in my opinion.

Another thing that I like about their review is that they explain a lot about the movie with accurate information, and give good opinions on why they did or didn't like the movie.

In the summary about the movie, there are a few grammar errors that should be corrected. Other than that, this review kept me interested and satisfied.

To view Popcorn With The Movie blog page click here.

Fresh Flick's Pick's "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" Review

SUP. Slim here. Fresh Flick's Pick's are two dudes that go by the names of B-Dub and D-Fly. I am reviewing their review of Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog.

Their review basically summarizes the whole movie, giving the reader a good idea of what the movie is about. Threw out the review, there are a lot of grammar errors making it hard to follow in some areas. If the were to go back and fix all the errors, their review would be pretty good.

Also, I would have liked to have herd their opinions on things that they may or may not have liked about the movie. Other than that, their review explained a lot about the movie, and kept me interested.

To view Fresh Flick's Pick's blog page click on the iamge above.

The Movie - Nators "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" Review

Slim here. The Movie - Nators are a guy and a girl that go by the names of Buddah and Funbob. I'm reviewing their review on Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.

Their review starts off good. Towards the end of the first paragraph and in the middle of the second paragraph there are sentences with a few grammar errors that make it difficult for the reader to understand what they're trying to say. Other than that, their review gave accurate information, and good opinions.

To view The Movie - Nators blog page click on the image above.

9

(Spoiler Alert!!!) Sup, this is Slim. I just saw the latest Shane Acker film, 9, released September 9, 2009. I thought 9 was going to be action packed, with tons of great fight scenes, but I was let down. Even though the graphics were spectacular, it lacked in action, and that awesome vibe that you got from the trailer.

The movie starts out with 9 (voiced by Elijah Wood) coming to life, in world that has been trashed, and, from what I could tell, terminated of human existence. As he goes exploring, a mechanical beast starts to track him down. He then runs into 2 (voiced by Martin Landau), who gives him a voice and saves him from the mechanical beast, getting himself captured. 5 (voiced by John C. Reilly) spots 9 from a church tower and brings him back to the church. There, 9 meets 1 (voiced by Christopher Plummer), 8 (voiced by Fred Tatasciore), and 6 (voiced by Crispin Glover). 9, after trying to convince 1 that they should go and save 2, talks 5 into sneaking out with him to go rescue their friend. While in the din of the mechanical beast, they run into 7 (voiced by Jennifer Connelly) who kills the beast just as they're about to be captured. As they're about to leave the din, 9 ,using a mechanical piece, reawakens a machine that kills 2. The three of them (5, 7, and 9) escape and meat up with 3 and 4 (twins who can't speak) to learn about the machine that had been reawaken. They learn that the machine was created by the scientist that had created them, but the machine was taken over by the military and was forced to make war machines. The war machines eventually turned on the human raise, wiping out everyone and almost destroying everything. 9 then realizes that he must turn off the machine and save his friends before they are all killed.

The graphics were awesome. The explosions, the fight scenes, and the characters were all amazingly realistic. Some things that I thought could have been changed or added where the personalities of the characters. They all seemed to be awesome kick-butt heroes in the trailer, but in the movie all of them, with the exception of 7, reverted to running and hiding. Another thing that I would have added would be more information. I can't recall if they ever explained what the sack people were and what they were supposed to do in the first place. But other than that, I really liked this movie and look forward to buying it on DVD.

Welcome to Macintosh

Slim here. Welcome to Macintosh is a documentary that was made by Rob Baca and Josh Rizzo. Although they weren't able to interview Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs, the people that they did interview helped explain the creation, development, and history of the Apple industry.

The documentary starts off by explaining how Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs basically revolutionized the technology world back in 1977, with the release of the Apple II. It then goes on to explaining how the Apple industry started developing and becoming more internationally recognized.

What caught my attention about this documentary was how they were able to interview big names in Apple's history and get their opinions on so many subjects. A few of the interviewees were Guy Kawasaki (originally responsible for marketing the Macintosh), Andy Herzfeld (a key member of the original Macintosh development team during the 1980s), and Jim Reekes (an expert in product strategy, competitive analysis, market driven requirements, and brand building).

The interviewees also talked about what might happen to Apple when Jobs leaves for good. They all agree that nobody can replace Steve Jobs and accomplish what he has accomplished, but eventually somebody will have to. Kawasaki says that if this new guy comes in thinking he's the new Jobs, then they're all done for. Hopefully he is wrong and the fall of Apple will never come.

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

Monster and Slim here. Knowing that "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" is a musical, we expected it to be boring. Surprisingly so, we were proven wrong.

"Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" was written and directed by Joss Whedon. Neil Patrick Harris (Dr. Horrible), Nathan Fillion (Captain Hammer), and Felicia Day (Penny, the girl that Dr. Horrible is so deeply in love with) play great lead roles keeping the movie interesting and funny.

The parts we liked most about the movie were the funny songs sung by Neil Patrick Harris, and the confrontations between Dr. Horrible and Captain Hammer. The scene where Penny introduces Dr. Horrible to Captain Hammer at the dry cleaners made us laugh the most. We don't want to spoil that seen for you, so here's a link to the movie.

Some things that we didn't like about "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" was that some of the songs were a bit depressing as well as the life of Dr. Horrible. All Dr. Horrible wants is to be respected and seen as a true villain, and to be able to talk with the girl he loves. But right as he's about to accomplish something or make a move on Penny, Captain Hammer steps in and ruins everything. We think Captain Hammer got what he deserved in the end, but what happened to Penny almost made us burst into tears.