*whistles Hedwig's Theme*

Let's talk about movie score here for a second.

Think about any movie you've seen. Any movie at all. Now take the music out of it. How awkward would that be? When you're watching a movie you don't think much about the subtle background music. But you would notice if it was missing. You would also notice if the wrong music was playing. Like if someone replaced all of the score in Harry Potter with the score from Star Wars, you'd notice that something was off.

Movie score sets a tone to a scene. It brings you one step closer to that universe. I think a lot of the time movie scores are overlooked. That people don't really see how important it is. If all those action scenes in movies were backed with silence they wouldn't be as fun to watch.

Although there are times where music is deliberately cut out. I specifically remember in Frozen (do not judge me) where Anna sacrifices herself for Elsa and she is completely frozen, they cut out the music and all you hear is Elsa sobbing over her dead sister. I like that they took out the music for that moment. It makes it so much more raw and real. You feel the moment rather than music bogging it down.

Anyway. The use of music in films is important. That's all I really have to say about it.

Hello Internet.

One of the phenomenas that's come along with the internet is vloggers.

Vloggers are even bloggers are this weird thing that has shown up because of the internet. We sit around and watch or read about people's lives. A few of my favorite vloggers are Dan Howell (danisnotonfire), Tim and Jen Tracker (thetimtracker), and Tyler Oakley (tyleroakley). While all of these people are entertaining, why do I care about their lives?

Why have vloggers become this huge thing on the internet? They make money by sharing their lives on the internet.  How did this even become a thing?

I did some research and the earliest "vlog" was posted by Adam Kontras on January 2, 2000. He attached it to a blog post about his move to L.A. But the first official vlog was created by Steve Garfield in 2004 creating the first of the vlogs that we see to this day. The amount of vlogs went up in 2005 probably due to the creation of YouTube in February 2005.

But this doesn't explain why vloggers get so popular. Perhaps we are just obsessed with peeking into the lives of others. Or maybe we just like thinking we're really connecting with the person we are watching. Maybe we see ourselves in them. There could be a number of reasons they're popular. At any rate I don't see vloggers disappearing any time soon.

I have to kill a goat? I don't know if I can do that morally.

One of my favorite theatre companies is Starkid Productions. They're responsible for parody musicals such as A Very Potter Musical, Holy Musical B@man, ANI, Twisted, and Trail To Oregon.

I discovered them through my obsession with Harry Potter. They put together such a genius musical parody of the beloved series and even did it with Aladdin, Batman and Star Wars. I think I like these so much because I can tell how much they care about the original content. That they parody it because they love it so much. They also sparked my love for musicals again.

They don't always do parodies of other things. They write all of the shows themselves, but sometimes they do completely original content. Their musical Starship is one example. They also had a sketch comedy show going for awhile called Airport for Birds.

Everyone in the company is extremely talented and some of them have even branched off into different things. Take Darren Criss for example. He plays Harry Potter in all three Harry Potter musicals. And then he went on to be on Glee, playing Kurt's boyfriend on the show.

The best part about Starkid is that you can watch all of their musicals completely for free on YouTube.

I cannot wait to see what else they put out.

YouTube Rewind

Every year since 2012 YouTube has been making a "rewind" video highlighting the years most viewed/ top trending videos. And every year they've been getting better. They've become more inclusive or international YouTuber's. They've even included other types of YoutTubers, not just vloggers or the most subscribed to people on YouTube.

I perosnally love this years the best. I'll link to it below. It's my favorite because there was so much collaboration and so many amazing creators were featured. I like watching the Rewind's because it makes me happy to see everyone I watch come together to celebrate this great platform they all use. They're all still a family no matter how big they get and to me that's awesome. The roots aren't completely lost.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KK9bwTlAvgo

Jo Jo Jo Goseph!

Having worked for four years in theatre, I know quite a lot about musicals. I know that they are mostly a lot of work.

Musicals have been around for quite awhile. Telling story through song isn't something new. It's actually kind of a rusty idea. But they never seem to stop coming. From Sound of Music to Chicago to Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; musicals have a wide range of subjects. And because Jacob wonderfully covered just about everything there was to say about musicals, I'll talk about the musicals I've worked on and how they've exposed me to a different type of media.

Also. Side note. I worked on the crew for these films. Specifically I was lighting director. So I have seen these musicals be put together start to finish. I might be a bit biased.

My freshman year of high school our theatre company put on Meet Me in St. Louis. It follows a young girl and hr family and their journey to the World's Fair which was to be held in St. Louis that year. It's a show about family and romance and what life is really about. I found this musical to be extremely boring. While it is a great production watching this specific one over and over again wasn't enjoyable. The songs are slower and the language is hard to follow. The humor is older as well so perhaps this is why it wasn't as fun for me.

My sophomore year we put on Good News. Which was about a college football team and the stories of a few of the players on the team. This was my all time favorite production to work on. It was set in the 1920's and it was high energy. All of the numbers were fun especially Varsity Drag and Sunnyside Up. I don't recall a time that that production gave me any sort of trouble.

My junior year we did Oliver! Now Oliver! isn't exactly the cheeriest of musicals. It follows a young Oliver Twist and his escape from the orphanage. This musical gave us a lot of trouble. The actors weren't as prepared as they should've been and the orchestra hadn't gotten enough practice. And the lighting well. It was a bit of a mess. But the production, despite having annoying music, went well.

And finally, my senior year we did Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. This musical follows the  story of Joseph and his rise to power in Egypt. When I had first heard we were doing Joseph I had groaned, knowing the credibility of the musical. But the director had just told me to trust him and so I did. The production turned out amazing. We used seven narrators instead of the regular one. The casting was excellent. And our set was phenomenal. I ended up liking it a lot more than I thought I would.

Being on tech crew for musical has really prepared me for a life of production. We got the job done while still having a good time. We played little pranks and even sang alternative lyrics to the songs over the headset (see the title of this blog). Overall musicals aren't that horrible. At least on the crew side of things.

7in7

My absolute favorite band is Walk The Moon. And when they were on tour they did this thing called 7in7. They made seven music videos with no budget or crew in seven days. This led up to the release of their new album. The seven songs they did were Shiver Shiver, Iscariot, I Can Lift a Car, Quesadilla, Next in Line, Tightrope, and Jenny.

I like these music videos because you can tell how proud the band was of making them. They put a lot of thought into each music video even if it was only them dancing to the song. They sometimes even choreographed little dances. I think I like these videos so much because they are so simplistic. They were probably shot on an iPhone or some other smart phone and probably thrown into some simple editing software to lay over the music and make cuts if there were any cuts to even be made. Usually the videos were one shot. These videos just seem so personal and its like a little look into their lives.

Everyone should go check them out on YouTube because they rock.

The Truth of Tragedy.

I really want to focus on a quote from Telling the Truth here for a second.

"...if the truth is worth telling, it is worth making a fool of yourself to tell." (p. 5)

Now I am not 100% sure if this is the author quoting Shakespeare or if it is an observation of Shakespeare himself, but I do know that I totally agree with it.

The truth really can be a slippery thing. We act like it's simple. That the truth is this rock hard, set in stone, sort of construct. And in a sense that is true. But if all of us went around telling the truth about ourselves all the time eventually we'd say something we're not all that proud of. Which isn't a bad thing, but it's not all that good either. Some of us resort to "half-truths", which is when we say something that is in fact true, but we don't tell the whole truth. These aren't exactly ideal either.

So why don't we all just go around blabbing the truth all the time? Why do we even lie? What is the point of lying in the first place? And how do we determine when to lie?

Perhaps lying is a way to deal with tragedy. As each one of us knows tragedy isn't normally a pleasant experience. So lying about it softens the blow. Telling your child that their grandparent had a peaceful death rather than saying how painful it was, for example. You lie because if you told them the truth it may seem insensitive or they may not be able to process that sort of information. Perhaps later you will tell them the truth, but for now you lie.

We see so much of this in Harry Potter (I love Harry Potter so I'll probably be talking about it a lot. Fair warning). So much crucial information is kept from Harry in the beginning books/movies and isn't revealed to him until the very last few. Why? Maybe Dumbledore and the others thought he was too young to know so much. An ignorance is bliss type of ideology. Or perhaps they thought the less he knows the less desirable it'll be to harm him. Maybe they wanted to lighten the load of his already very burdensome life. Which if that was the case, was a poor choice. Despite their efforts, eventually Harry had to learn the truth. Does this mean the truth always comes out? Even if it's years later?

Let's talk about the TV show Pretty Little Liars. These girls have spent much of their life lying. Why? To keep up appearances. To stay out of trouble. To put their parents at ease. To keep A off their backs. So many reasons to lie. But perhaps if they had started with the truth, their lives would be much, much different. Their lives would have less tragedy. So perhaps lying is a way to try and clean up a mess you've made. To end the tragedy you've started.

So in the end which is better? Always telling the truth no matter what? Or letting lies slip?

Best Song Ever

I am about to talk about One Direction. Which is probably one of the most mainstream things ever, but they are my guilty pleasure. Do not judge me

When we were talking about music videos and how they have evolved I couldn't stop thinking about the music video for Best Song Ever by One Direction. How it is basically it's own mini movie. It has different characters and sets. The budget was high for this music video as most One Direction music videos are, but this one seemed to have so much heart put into it. The time that it probably took really paid off in the end.

Each of the boys played a character and they really put their all into it. And they genuinely seemed to enjoy the process of making a music video. It probably isn't the most amazing video of all time but it's the first video my mind jumps to when thinking about forward thinking music videos.

Maybe I Just Really Like David Attenborough.

So this might be a little mainstream but I'm gonna write about it anyway.

My favorite documentary is Planet Earth. Which I know is cheesy. But I can't help it. That documentary is stunning. And really the whole concept of it is simple. Capture the animal world. Get raw pure images of animal behavior and environments untouched by man. And I don't know if it really changed anything in the larger sense. Perhaps more awareness of the environments and worlds within our own world. But it changed me in the way that I came to really appreciate cinematography. The images that they captured stunned me when I first saw them. And they still stun me.

Planet Earth is a glimpse at some of world that I will never personally get to see. It's also educational. I learned about places and animals and sometimes people that I never would've known about otherwise. Also it helped me see the true struggle of filming a documentary like this with the Planet Earth Diaries at the end of each chapter. Which is my favorite because they just complain about shooting the film. But in the end they got what they came for without disturbing the environment of having a huge bias.

On a completely unrelated note the first animated documentary we watched reminded me of this short film and got me thinking about using children as narrators and sources for stories. Here's a link to the short film I thought of. 

          https://vimeo.com/58659769

And I Will See YOU In The Next Video!

So I knew that indie games existed but I didn't know to what degree until I started watching Markiplier on YouTube. I first discovered him by somehow stumbling upon his Drunk Minecraft videos (in which him and his friends get drunk and then play Minecraft). I don't know why but I was completely hooked after that. Markiplier has about 10 million subscribers now and he is famous for his Let's Plays, particularly Five Nights At Freddy's, an indie game.

Mark is actually known for playing indie games as opposed to AAA games. He does both but mostly does indie games. Either ones that he personally likes or more likely ones that are suggested to him in the comments of his videos. Most of the indie games are horror or completely ridiculous. But he genuinely likes playing the games and I genuinely enjoy watching him. He's funny but also takes the game he's playing seriously, no matter how poorly made. He understands how much work is put into each game and encourages people to continue making games. There have also been games made based off of him, he calls them fan-made games. He has helped me reach the gaming community in a different way. I haven't been exposed to a lot of different types of gaming besides what I grew up with (a NES with all the original Super Mario games) so seeing what's out there now makes me want to game more. 

I don't know why but only Mark's Let's Play's entertain me. I have tried watching other gamers and I'm just not as into it. It's something about Mark that I like. Perhaps it's his constant need to give back and his insistence that he doesn't deserve his "fame."  He raises a lot of money for charity and doesn't change the style of his videos or his personality. He is genuine and he cares. Therefore I feel a genuine connection to him and I actually care about what he is playing. Video games are beautiful works of art and take a lot of time and effort to complete. I'm glad that I'm still able to appreciate and experience them without playing them. 

I don't know. I feel like I'm rambling now. 

And I think that's beautiful.

Can I talk about Shane Koyczan and the Short Story Long for a second?

When I think about the importance of story telling over the importance of technology I immediately think of Shane Koyczan and the Short Story Long. This band if I were to call them that is all about the content of their music if I could even call it that. The first "song" I ever heard by them was "To This Day" and it was honestly its all just spoken word. It was almost like slam poetry. And maybe that's what it's supposed to be. But when I listened to this song for the very first time I was confused as to why he wasn't singing. But then I started listening. And the point of song meant more than whether or not he was a good singer. He wasn't even actually singing. It wasn't sung for a reason. It would've lost some of it's power if he had done it any other way. And I think that making music like that can tear the industry apart. It was about the content as opposed to how it sounded.

So how come we have a harder time thinking this way about films?

A lot of people today (and maybe it's because it's all that we're being offered) complain about how there's not plot in anything. But oh hey at least it was visually stunning. Why do we keep accepting this kind of entertainment? And I know I say this in literally every blog but why aren't we demanding films that challenge us? Why are people so okay with swimming in lukewarm waters? Don't people want to think abstractly and actually develop ideas? We should demand more. Because they need us more than we need them. We fund their projects. So we should want some sort of substance out of them.

With film its easy to get caught up in how it looks. Because yes that is important. But honestly I'd rather have a good story with characters that are real and dynamic than something that looks pretty. Sure its easy on the eyes but it's also easy on the brain. And that hasn't been getting anybody anywhere.

In the reading there was a section about making the technology invisible. And it's basically saying that your story is the most important thing about your art. It's not about what camera you used or how well it's edited or lit or whatever the heck else. It's about the content. And I think that is Shane Koyczan and the Short Story Long were filmmakers they'd know how to make it about the content. They'd make the technology disappear. They'd blow us all away. They'd tear the industry apart.

The Power.

A few nights ago I noticed that the Walt Disney Short Films Collection was put on Netflix. I didn't have any plans so I decided to watch it expecting to see the short films that they had already released. And about halfway through the shorts I was greeted by The Little Matchgirl. Now there had been shorts before this one that I had never seen but this one especially stuck with me.

WARNING: I am going to spoil it.

The Little Matchgirl follows a little girl trying to sell matches on the street in (I assumed) Russia. Soon night comes and she is bundled up in an alleyway trying to warm up from the snow and protect her matches of course. Eventually she becomes so cold that she gives in and lights one of her matches. As she revels in the temporary warmth she starts to daydream. She imagines a fireplace warming the whole alley that she's in. But then the match goes out and her daydream dissolves. She lights another and imagines a giant feast full of wonderfully cooked food. The match goes out again. She lights a third match and sees a house. The door to the house opens and an old woman greets her and she takes the young girl in her arms, warming her. But then the match goes out. And in desperation the little girl lights her last three matches all at once just to get a glimpse of the sweet "grandmother" again. She gets what she wishes. But when the matches go out we see her curled up in the snow. The old woman we saw walks up and we think that the little girl will get that happy ending. But when the old woman picks her up and we still she a body left behind it hits you that the little girl had died.

I don't know why but I didn't expect something so powerful out of Disney. It left me stunned and all the shorts that followed it seemed sort of arbitrary. The Little Matchgirl left me thinking about poverty in its rawest form. Children are the most likely to be poor out of any other group of people. Now granted this is only a short but if this is the kind of filmmaking Disney is hiding why aren't they utilizing it? These are the stories that will grab people's attention. Not all endings are happy and not all concepts are easy to swallow. And if big companies like Disney start cranking out films that are about something and challenge people then who knows what would happen. Because like we talked about in class today this art form is powerful. Much more powerful than we realize. 

I'll put a link to the short here: https://vimeo.com/58193245 

Knope 2012

Whenever I think of a good depiction of feminism I think of Leslie Knope from the TV show Parks and Recreation. On the show she constantly preaches about how important it is for females to feel like they are worth the time of day. She is probably the biggest supporter ever of female friendship and support. She proves this with her creation of Galentine's Day. She constantly tells her female coworkers how wonderful and powerful they are, saying that they have potential to do so much and encourages them to use all their talents. She especially encourages April who is much younger than she is.

                         

She wants equality in all aspects of her workplace, even in the departments that she doesn't work in. She spends a whole day of her life proving that females can be garbage men too. Which leads to more women being hired in the Department of Sanitation. She even created a group called the Pawnee Goddesses to rival the boys Pawnee Rangers because they wouldn't let girls join, which then led to the creation of The Swanson's an outdoor club for both boys and girls. She even won the seat on her city council which was notorious for being extremely sexist. She destroys a group of Men's Rights activists saying that "You're ridiculous and Men's Rights is nothing."

She talks about positive and powerful female role models such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Nancy Pelosi, Jeanette Pickering Rankin, Madeleine Albright, Margret Thatcher, Hermione Granger, Sally Ride, various others, and admittedly, herself. 

She encourages other women to follow their dreams, whatever they may be. She doesn't discredit anyone who wants to be a stay-at-home mother. She doesn't make things like that seem lesser or arbitrary. Just because she wants to be president doesn't mean every other woman should want to be that too. Women should be allowed to be whatever they want. 

Overall Leslie Knope fights for equality. And she doesn't trample all over the men in her life to do that. Although sometimes that's what it takes. Some people need a slap in the face to notice what's happening around them. Sometimes she does lose her head and gets a little overbearing and crazy. But she backtracks when she does that and fixes everything she messed up or at least she tries her hardest to. She wants to see everyone reach their full potential. And she doesn't sacrifice womanhood to do that. 

Onions, Cakes, and Parfaits.

One of my favorite Disney movies of all time is The Hunchback of Notre Dame. And I remember watching it as a child and enjoying it for what it is: a good movie. But it wasn't until I watched it again as an older person that I fully realized what was going on.

Hunchback of ND is definitely one of Disney's darker and more complex films, which is probably why I like it so much. But when you look at it as a child it doesn't seem to be about much of anything. There's a nice romance and a lovable main character. Not to mention all that wonderful comic relief that the gargoyles provide. It's the surface layer that appeals most to children. When you go back as an adult (although I don't consider myself an adult) and watch it again you start to peel back the layers of the film. You start to deal with things like oppression, prejudice, mental abuse, lust, and using religion as an excuse to be a tyrant. You feel the creepiness and realness of Judge Frollo and you start to really understand what drives him throughout the film. When I watched it again I personally found Frollo to be the embodiment of rape culture, which as a child went right over my head. I also found myself to be a lot like Esmerelda. Someone who wants equality and justice and will do anything to get it, even die. And perhaps I am like her because I watched the movie so much as a kid. Maybe because she's strong, intelligent, and confident I wanted to be those things too.

Just this year Pixar came out with the film Inside Out. I remember sitting in the theatre with my friend Alex and Sadness says "Crying helps me slow down and obsess over the weight of life's problems" and I just thought to myself This is a children's movie. And then I thought, Good. It should be a children's film. And it reminds me of Hunchback of ND because of the deeper and a little bit darker themes behind it. This movie is easily about mental illness and depression. It shows how depression isn't about just being sad it's about not feeling anything. It's about a numbness which is beautifully illustrated. But because I've only seen it as an adult I can't speak for how a child views it. But I do think that the movie teaches children (if it were to teach something) that it's okay to be sad. But adults (or at least me) view it as anyone can get depression. And that it's not something to be taken lightly. That it should be talked about and addressed in children's media. I think that it shows kids that their feelings are valid and sometimes to be strong you must be weak first. You can't have happiness without sadness. 

  

Overall I think that children should be exposed to things that adults deal with every day. Because they too will eventually have to deal with the very same things. I'm not saying bombard them with crazy amounts of reality when they start to walk and talk but don't be afraid to answer their questions honestly. Cure their curiosity with the truth. Otherwise they'll just be walking blind with confidence, which can be dangerous. There is darkness in the world, so constantly keeping children in the light won't help them grow. 

Jesus Had A Face.

Growing up Catholic and going through Catholic school I was basically surrounded by religious images. Paintings of Mary and Jesus and the Apostles. Renderings of the Holy Spirit. Icons of saints. Pictures of the pope (mostly JP2). Crucifixes in every classroom. So when I first heard that other denominations of Christianity were told that painting and drawing Jesus was frowned upon, I was a little confused.

I was taught (and maybe I just got lucky with this) that making art in the name of God was a good thing. That it is perhaps another form of prayer or praise. Using the gifts he has given you to bring about new creations and beauty. To think that we wouldn't be allowed to do this seems a little silly to me. Why wouldn't God want us to represent him artistically?

I realize that some of the reasoning from not wanting to create images of Jesus make a lot of sense. It'll become about the physical instead of the spiritual. It might break the second commandment. We might get his image wrong and offend him. But to me art is one of the best things about the world. And not just fine arts. All art. Movies, architecture, music, plays, dance, doodles even. So why wouldn't we give God our best? It's not focusing on the beautification of God its about giving God the best we can, even if our best isn't all that great.

Why?

About five or six years ago my older sister got me a set of four books for Christmas. Now I'm one of those people who doesn't buy a book unless I like it. Why would I own a book I hate? I stared down at the beautifully illustrated covers of the paperback books with a bit of skepticism. I looked up at my sister to say thank you and she simply replied "Trust me, you'll love them."

And my lord was she right.

The series that she had introduced to me was Fablehaven, a tale of two siblings, Kendra and Seth, going to spend some time on their grandparents estate. This "estate" turns out to be a sanctuary for mythical creatures of all shapes and sizes. But there's a catch. These creatures are not visible to normal human eye. There are a select few who see them but most people have to drink a certain type of milk to see the world that lies just beneath our own.

This plays into the fact that fairy tales, or just tales in general, look for the extraordinary in the ordinary. And to find the other worldly we must actively seek it out. When Kendra and Seth first arrive at the estate their grandfather gives Kendra a set of keys. These keys would eventually lead Kendra to find the message "Drink the milk." After she (and Seth) taste the milk and see for themselves the magic that was all around them they find out that their grandfather and wanted them to find out the true meaning of the estate. This shocks the children as since they arrived their grandfather had been very strict and closed off. After vaguely informing the children about the purposes and need for these "preserves" he tells them that a special night is coming up where the creatures of the preserve are allowed to roam free instead of being trapped in their designated areas.  So this night rolls around and a mistake caused by Kendra and Seth allows dark creatures into the house. They hide out in their attic bedroom until the night passes and when they venture downstairs in the morning they find the house destroyed and that their grandfather and the others who live on the preserve are missing. To try and make up for their qualms Kendra and Seth venture out into the unknown of the forest.

Kendra and Seth go on an adventure of sorts and know absolutely nothing of the place they are going or even what they are supposed to do. This plays into the post-modernistic ideal.  I am a big fan of diving into the unknown. I firmly believe that there is always something I don't know. Which Kendra and Seth quickly learn when they are shown this new world.

Kendra and Seth also show two very different approaches to life. Kendra is someone who lives by rules constantly. She believes that being passive is the option you should always take. That life will eventually reveal itself to you. This is her biggest strength and biggest weakness. Her being passive saves her from being attacked in the final of the first book (sorry spoilers). But her being passive is also what allowed Seth to open the window to let in the dark creatures. She does develop throughout the series to become more active. She becomes fed up with waiting to be spoon fed information and starts to actively seek out what will save her family, friends, herself, and eventually the world. But you can still see her passive nature. She hesitates before she does anything. She waits to learn as much as she can before taking any action unless she's forced to do otherwise.

Seth on the other hand is a natural rule breaker. This may seem like a bad thing at first but it actually ends up helping him a lot in the end. He is very active in his approach to life. Always doing first and asking questions later. If he wasn't active then he and Kendra would've just waited at the house to see if their grandfather would ever return. It's because Seth took charge that they made any progress at all. Seth is also naturally adventurous; going places he probably shouldn't. This leads to him becoming a shadow charmer (the opposite of his sister who becomes fairystruck at the end of book one, sorry I'm spoiling the whole thing).

Now before I spoil the whole series let me make my point. This series to me is a perfect example of post-modern ideas. The main characters go through all of these events knowing basically nothing about the world they are running around in. And most of the time they're okay with that. They of course want to learn all they can but they also know they will never know everything. Kendra and Seth (and sometimes even the other characters) are totally aware that they know next to nothing about what they are dealing with and that they're kind of going in blind. But they must tread on anyway. They find that sitting around acting very secure that you know all there is to know doesn't really turn out well in the end (see the Sphinx in the series as an example). They know that they don't know. And thats awesome.

Let me end with my favorite quote from the series (and of all time): "The questions that start with why are the hardest to answer. We end up guessing more than knowing."

Sorry for rambling. Carry on.

Why do we laugh?

I distinctly remember this one time my sister and I were driving home from a film festival. It was late and it was storming. We were almost home. We were slowly rolling into a four way stop and all of a sudden I heard my sister repeating my name frantically. I saw headlights coming towards us. I swerved out of the way before the drunk driver hit us head on. I slowly went through the stop and checked to make sure that it wasn't my fault we almost died. Then I just started laughing. And I was laughing hard. My sister was having a panic attack in the passenger seat and I was laughing my head off at what had just happened.

I couldn't tell you why I started laughing. I just did. I've always been one to just laugh in the middle of chaos. My boyfriend dumps me? I laugh. I fail a test? I laugh. My wallet gets stolen? I laugh. The whole world could be crumbling around me and I would be cracking up.

Perhaps this goes back to the point that comedy is unexpected. We have always perceived God as this great, powerful, and stoic being. Which is true in a sense but he's also a fun being. He likes to have a good time. My favorite rendition of God is in Bruce Almighty. I love the way that they wrote God. They made him powerful and mysterious, but they also gave him that lighter and fun side that we often forget that God has. That movie (whether it be on purpose or unintentionally) shows us that God can be funny. That he finds us funny and we in turn should laugh with him.

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God has to have a sense of humor. Theres no way he doesn't. If he didn't have a sense of humor comedy wouldn't be a thing in our world. We as people need to laugh. Because otherwise we're just being tragic all the time. And what kind of a life is that?

And if my sister ever sees this, I'm sorry that I was literally no help while you were basically self destructing in the front seat of my Ion. But you gotta admit, almost dying was freaking hilarious.

Valerie Dalton

Hey everyone! I'm Val. I like Captain America, Ron Weasley, and mangoes. And I'm here to make films.

My immediate family is pretty simple. Mom, Dad, and two sisters. But outside of that is gets pretty huge and crazy. I've got almost 70 cousins on my mother's side and it's always a blast to see them. I'm a pretty big introvert so it's more than likely I won't come up and talk to you. But if you come up to me and ask me questions I'll be more than happy to chat. I'm usually pretty nice and I like deep thoughtful questions. I used to have long hair. It looked like this:

But then one day I was sick of it so I told my mother (who happens to be a cosmologist) to cut it all off. So now I look more like this: 

And I absolutely love it.  As far as filmmaking goes. I love telling a story. I love grabbing people's attention. I love getting that perfect shot that makes you feel like you're there. I love seeing things come to life. You get to create something that lives on almost forever. You get to make an impact. And as a strong believer in soft power, this means a lot to me. I've made a few short films in high school that I keep on a flash drive that I guard with my life. If you ever want to see anything I've done just ask and I'll be happy to show you. I don't think I have an all time favorite film, but I have a handful of favorites. 

In high school I was head lighting director for all our theatre productions for all of my four years. It was a blast and that helped me find my love of production. It also helped me up my finding skill. 

I'm not sure what else to say really. There's not a lot to me. I suppose I'm a good listener. Oh! And if you ever wanna get smoothies, I'm your girl.