Merry Christmas, Just what you wanted: another blog post

Well I think I should step away from YouTube and music videos for a little bit. This time I am going to talk about Christmas movies. Okay I don't know about you guys but This is my favorite time of the year, (except for the finals of course) we get all the great Christmas movies like Elf or White Christmas. Some of my greatest memories have been made sitting around the TV in my parents living room watching Rudolph and other Christmas classics. Every year we break out the collection of Christmas movies and five or six the week coming up to Christmas, but then on the day after Christmas we put them back on the shelf to watch them next year. I'm sure my family isn't the only one to do that, we keep our holiday movies put up and we don't watch them until the holiday rolls around again, why do we do that? Well film provokes a certain feeling and we don't feel the same watching it during the rest of the year, this may not apply to every one but it does to me, when I watch a Christmas movie in just about any month other than December I just feel like it is just a movie but when I watch one in December I feel excited and couldn't care less that I just watch The Peanuts Christmas movie for the third time in a row. Why is it that with this time of the year we begin to watch Christmas movies? Why don't we do it year round?

Just a thought.

contemporary Christian Music

Hey guys more music from me. Well anyway this time I am going to focus on the christian music genre, and some of my favorites from it. When you think christian music you probably either think of bands like casting crowns or tobymac, or you could be think of old hymns like As the deer or in the garden, well this time I am going to focus on the contemporary groups. Most would agree that the band U2 really helped define Christian music as it is today. They were one of the biggest names in christian music and still have fans out there today. Most of the music I listen to is Christian rap like Lecrae and rapture ruckus, but I also enjoy listening to bands like Casting Crowns and Matthew West. Contemporary Christian music has many sub-genres making it a very diverse category to find music in. We can have Rap (Lecrae-Anomaly), we could do Rock (TFK - Welcome to the Masquerade) or there's always worship music (Strong tower - Kutless).

The boy who lived

Stories have a way of affecting us that is complicated to explain. For example one story that has changed me is the story of the boy who lived, Harry Potter. Harry Potter is the story about a young boy whose parents were killed and he was orphaned and left with his Aunt and Uncle who didn't care for him. When the boy made it to the age of eleven he received a letter that changed his life forever. This boy grew up learning magic from some of the most skilled witches and wizards in existence. The boy made friends with others like himself and was finally accepted someplace. As the years passed we begin to see the boy become a man who is forced to fight in a war he wanted no part of. The boy emerges triumphant from the war but has lost many friends along the way. This story has been translated to 64 languages and has reached people all over the world, this story has also brought those people together. Harry Potter has changed the way I see things and how I approach obstacles, The power of a fairy tale.

Just because a story is fictitious what makes it not real? 

More Music videos

Hey it's me again... Music videos come in all shapes and sizes, here are some of my favorite music videos. This list is kind long and I don't expect you to watch all the videos. The videos may or may not have anything to do with the song. So now lets begin with some of the best
John Williams is the man this is a fan made a Capella tribute to John Williams
Radioactive by Lindsey Stirling and Pentatonix this version of the song is very different of the original.
OK go The Writings on the wall this one is just kind of weird and messes with your senses.
Forever and ever by David Crowder band this music video is very interesting... that's all I can say on this one...
Lindsey Stirling Hallelujah  this is very powerful... you all need to watch it.
Any way have fun with these and please comment with some of your favorites

an example of the Mythic cycles

Here is something for those of you who watch Doctor Who and for those of you who do not, well you can read this but there might be some spoilers from the rebooted series if you want to avoid them. Yes I could have used another example but I know Doctor Who well  enough to do this without any research. The pain that the Doctor feels follows the mythic cycle beginning with the Ninth Doctor who is a slightly darker incarnation but this is a result of having to just blow up his planet. The Tenth incarnation has given up hope in saving his planet and has decided to defend those who can not defend themselves. Next is the Eleventh Doctor who has let go of his past and has embraced the reality that he can not make up for what he did but can try to protect his friends. The latest incarnation of the Doctor has been given hope because was able to save his planet from total destruction, he has been released from his guilt and his pain. We just went from pain where he was dark and calloused to him realizing he had to defend the people he cared for, then he gave up on redemption and has excepted his fate, then he found hope when all seemed hopeless. 

Fairy tale v reality

Fairy tales are transforming, they bring what was once boring or simple and turn it into the impossible or the extraordinary. Reality is very simple and what we are forced to live in everyday, reality is not as nice or happy as fairy tale but if I could choose between living in the world of Harry Potter I would be. Reality is different for every person, my reality is how I see the world which is how I was raised to view and react to the world around us, for some of us reality may not reach much beyond our homes, while others may have gone on a missions trip to someplace like Haiti and had your reality changed because of the experience.

Fairy tales and art may not be reality but they still play a major role in how we see thing. Every time you engage in a story or piece of art your reality begins to change and you begin to see the world in a different light than before. Fairy tales are transforming and that does not just apply to the characters that are in it, it applies to those of you who engage in it.

Video Game violence

Video games are something most people in America have at least heard of. They are also a topic of much controversy because some people believe video games make children violent while others say the opposite, that video games allow for a way to release some of the anger in a less destructive way. There are many sources for each side of the argument, most people will find one source that proves their side of the story and they will milk it dry.

My view on the topic is that children need to have a violent tendencies for video games to make them violent but if they already have violent tendencies then video games can't make them violent. There are also benefits to playing video games like faster reaction time and better problem solving skills.

Different kinds of music videos

Hey again yes more on music videos but this time I am going to look at the different kinds of music videos that you can find on places like Vimeo or YouTube. First lets look at the obvious differences in how they are made, animation and live action. These two forms of music videos can be used for he same song by he same artist and yield very different results, one example of a song with two videos one using live action and the other used animation is the song Not gonna die by the Christian ock band Skillet.

Live-action

Animated

Then once you get past that we can begin to look at the different kinds of music videos like 

Unofficial; Demons

then you can get official 

Low-budget; Million ways 

or

Larger-Budget; Oxygen

then there are Lyric videos for just about every song out there right now, whether they are official or unofficial.

There are music videos that are relevant to the song but there are also ones that are just kind of fun but have very little to do with the song itself. 

Appeal of Music videos for me

Hey guys I am going to talk about, you guessed it, music videos. Music videos tend catch my attention better than just the music because when I can visualize something along with the song I tend to enjoy it more. Since I like to see things better than just hear them I tend to prefer songs with music videos over just listening to the song by itself.

Some of my favorite videos are by OK go like getting/needing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MejbOFk7H6c

and the writings on the wall

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m86ae_e_ptU

Mostly because their music videos are so interesting and can mess with your senses, but some others that I enjoy are not quite as interesting like the song Mary did you know? by Pentatonix which is very simple but helps with the over all message of the song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifCWN5pJGIE

These music videos are just some of my favorites, but I only have so much room to type on these blogs. 

Live-action v. animation

      Tuesday we began our discussion on documentaries with some very well done animated ones. Before I go into much detail I would like to say I am a film production major. Documentaries can be made very well using either animation or live-action, there are things that we cannot do with live-action that you animation people can but there are things you cannot animate to create the same kind of feelings that live-action people can. Animation is very good at showing what live-action cannot, for example in the film "when life departs" animators were able to show what the kids were thinking and feeling, live-action never could have made it to that level. Live-action is very good at allowing a connection to be made with the subject while animation can create more separation.

        I believe that both animation and live-action have their place and neither is better than the other. When documentaries are being made you are looking for the truth about your subject and sometimes animation is the better option for the documentary, if that is the case then go ahead and use animation, but sometimes live-action can create more of a connection between the viewer making it the better option.

plus these kids can draw better than I can....

What I thought of UN Jour

Yes I am a guy...

Yes I believe that women deserve equal rights...


The other day in class Professor Leeper asked the guys what they thought about the film UN Jour, a friend asked me the same question just after class when it was showed, she wanted to hear what a guy thought of it. 

When I was watching the film I could not help but think the artist was giving more power to the woman than even guys deserve, the way I saw it was the woman had more power over the man and what he did, than the man did. This film was masterfully done especially if you only give the man the role of emotional or spiritual representation, but there are too many physical traits for me to think that was the case, it may have been. During the film there were two main scenes that stood out to me making the man seem more physical than anything else the first was when they were eating, an emotional or spiritual representation would have no need for food or drink, the second was the bathtub scene where even my friend said that that did make the man seem more physical when he still needed air. I could accept that the scene of her setting the bags down and him picking them up was more like moral support than him actually physically helping her, but my point still remains that he seems pretty physical.

The ending was powerful for me, seeing the kind of damage that men can cause to women when they leave, but remember ladies, the same happens to men as well. I understand that when someone leaves there is a hole left that cannot be filled by another person, and the pain of them leaving. 

Over all the film was very powerful for almost every person in that room as far as I can tell. 
I know most will disagree with what I said but I am just giving you my opinion. I am hesitant to post this because I know most of you feel very strongly about this.

 

Called to duty

Today in class we spoke about how there is evil in the world and how we have a tendency to hide and build up walls to protect us. Well I'm going to come out and say it, some of you may not like this but it is true, we were not made to hide from the evil but face it. We are not called to hide, we are called to stand for what we believe. Jesus said "go and make disciples of all nations", He did not say to go and hide from the evil but to go out bring people away from it. My challenge to YOU reading this is: Fight for what you believe, do not under any circumstances hide from the evil that is in the world, the evil that is in you, you can run from it for a while but it's always catches up with you. We are called to duty, how will you respond?

Christ didn't come to hide, He came to fight.

He didn't hide from the evil in the world, so why are we?

We all know the outcome of the war but we still hide, why?

We are victorious already, we have no reason to hide.

And to all you who don't want to fight

I promise you I'm not perfect, I have my own demons, but I won't stop fighting until I stop breathing.

Phillip Price

Hello this is Phillip, the one who was trying to help with my computer last Tuesday. I was homeschooled all the way through highschool which was good because when I was younger I had trouble focusing on tasks. I am a transfer from ivy tech in fort Wayne, I still have four years here for my degree though. Over the summer I worked at McDonalds as a closer, meaning I would  be working till 3am some days, I advise against doing that unless you are a night person like myself. I am majoring in film production, I want to edit film and/or record sound. I went to church my entire life and quite a bit of that time was behind a sound board, started running the audio and video for my church when I was about 13 or 14. I enjoy watching Doctor Who and Supernatural, I more than likely will reference them in these blog posts. That is all I got for you guys, really I don't have anything cool to talk about. I mean I would but I just don't like to talk about myself. Well I have nothing left that I can think of so here's a picture, no not of me just because I don't have any of me.

My favorite Doctor Who quote. I did warn you.