My speech

I was really proud of my first speech. I was nervous as all get out but I knew for myself I had to give it my best shot. I felt at times I rambled a bit and I have a lot to work on, especially talking a little slower. I also felt videos so far have been a hit! Everyone’s has been amazing, but I really wish I did a video clip of Woodstock instead of a poster. It would’ve given me more to discuss, and would’ve shown my audiences more about the event I was doing my best to describe through my stuttering ad shaking. I hope my speech was ok, next time I hope to improve much more, that’s what I’m looking forward most to this class, is seeing how much of my obstacles I can overcome to once again be able to talk normally. It’s possible, I did I before, I guess this was step one! Onto speech 2!

Remakes: A good or bad idea?

RobThe human race all depend on stories. Those campfire tales, scary tales, life events, all retold. Those stories are turned into movies basically. We all love the original, the sequels are often good too: Harry Potter or Hunger games anyone? But remakes, some of them I just shake my head at.

Friday the 13th and The 2010 Remake of A nightmare on Elm Street are two that resonate with me. Not much you can remake with Jason, he kills you, period. The graphics were just better on the effects. Now Freddy, that’s messing with a character I hold close to my heart persay, messing with him leaves a bad taste in many fans mouths. I’ll start by saying I love Jackie Earle Haley, Rorshach on Watchmen, classic, as Freddy, eh. I’m biased, no one can play Freddy as good as Robert Englund! He has the charisma, timing, classical acting training, and impeccable improve lines.

The Remake as I shall refer to it was good in parts. Darker, and updated technology made some of the scenes awesome, and I can quote some of Jackie’s lines because of their creativity to them. But by God, they simply reused the exact same death scenes, over did the CGI effects, Freddy was my height, and the make up job, resembling an “actual” burn victim looked more like a Gerbil to me! I own the movie, I’d recommend trying it out, but what I do say to most remakes, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it! Valiant effort, it introduces younger fans to Freddy, good, but guys, start with Robert’s Freddy then move down the line. Same with Jason or Michael Myers. The remake I do recommend though is the recently released Godzilla!!! It was AMAZING!!!! However, my rant on remakes is over for now, till they mess with another of my favorite films I suppose. Thanks for listening, and I recommend when you want to watch a movie, even though it may be older, I’d totally recommend the original first!

Also below is my finished Robert Englund Drawing, hope he looks ok!?

Till next time! And whatever you do “don’t fall asleep!” -Nancy Thompson from ANOES

Something I forgot to mention

Well today is the day of my first speech, after what has been literally 2 weeks of Hell, and nothing seems to be calming down just yet. Such is college right? I’m kind of glad I’m going first and volunteered to switch, I always prefer getting it over with but there’s always one obstacle that always stands in front of me each time I talk. I always try to mention it on the first day, but in all the hecticness, I forgot.

I have a minor case of Cerebral Palsy, and with it a noticeable limp in my right leg and the biggest factor to me, a stuttering problem. It has haunted me since my surgery and seems to get worse as anxiety increases, which as of late has been college. It is often hard to say only certain words or to read aloud or to my embarrassment, saying my name. So today in my speech, despite my preparation and thinking it will all be ok, which it usually is, I am still literally terrified. Terrified because of my past experiences with a few speeches in high school in dual credit speech, so I am hoping this on will be different. I have a good feeling it will be different. I took this class as a Paterno Fellow in hopes of learning to overcome my speech problem once again, I guess today is the day where I start facing my fears. Thanks for understanding and hearing out my story. I greatly appreciate the opportunity to be in this class with you guys, and greatly appreciate your support and feedback!

Artifact speech outline

woodstock posterIntro-

-Imagine you are at a concert surrounded by hundreds, thousands

all there for the same group, interests, and purpose.

-Now imagine that event is actually a concert created to argue for peace, happiness, and appreciation.

I’m presenting that event to you today- Woodstock 3 days of peace.

I-

Poster is certainly a brightly colored call to action

Govt calls us to war in Vietnam

We do not agree, we avoid the call by organizing this event and standing our ground, all sharing a common stance.

II-

1000s upon 1000s spend 3 days outside focusing on peace, love, and art appreciation during these hectic times.

They are expressing some commonplaces we all still use today:

Freedom of speech, expression, and choice

Poster/event:

Pathos-

need for peace not war, no more violence

Logos-

Don’t like war?

Protest it, stand together, have fun, but still prove a point.

Kairos-

Perfect timing of when army opens draft call, Woodstock was planned so most of the people in attendance, watching or performing could avoid the call.

III-

Garners national attention and support, still does to this day.

-TV Coverage, papers, concert recordings

All the famous artists, like Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin support it and many more that are not on this poster.

War entered their lives and people believed it was their civic duty to try to stop it, or at least show it was not an agreed upon idea by the populous.

Conclusion:

So remember standing together in nonviolent protest or support of a cause can prove a huge point

This poster presented an event that had exactly that impact, and it was noticed by many. The field, that’s still marked today, was full each day for the day long concerts, rain or shine. People sung along, one voice, protesting something wrong.

his was not just “hippies” stressing love and the usual, the was a real reason behind one of the most famous music events

If we stand together, anything is possible:

Look at what we do every football Saturday 100,000 strong.

Horror in a Civil War Satire

2001 Maniacs rob progressThis week again I am going off a Robert Englund horror kick. This time I will present one of his lesser known, but awesome dark humor horror films! The sequel per say to 2000 Maniacs, I give you 2001 Maniacs!

Welcome to the realm of B-horror movies. This brash, often odd and uncomfortable film puts a bit of Civil War history up with a twist. Robert portrays the maniacal leader of a band of southerners who inhabit the town of Pleasant Valley. This town was ransacked 100s of years ago by northerners in the war and the innocent people were wrongly and brutally murdered. So now on the anniversary the town reappears and the people return for a BBQ, luring unsuspecting travelers, and in this case a band of spring breakers. I also would like to add that these folks in this town are vengeful cannibals……yeah, this is where the odd starts.

Robert attempts to teach these partiers respect, honor, and glory as each person is picked off one by one, creatively, crudely, and bloodily. Robert gives an amazing performance with perfect improv lines and humor, and he does his own sword fight and fire stunts, which I would be terrified to do a bit. Robert always puts forth a great and loveable performance even when he’s the bad guy, the fx makeup and art styles on the kills are kinda cheesy, but the story is purely an art itself. Warning though, it takes the unrated rating to the top. but it is an enjoyable film if you want a good story and a laugh or scream here or there. Robert Englund at his darkest, well besides the Freddy role, which has set him up as the next “King of Horror”, taking the crown from the legend Vincent Price. Thanks for reading, and “Whatever you do, don’t fall asleep!” -Nancy Thompson from a Nightmare on Elm Street.

Robert in character is the first picture. The second is a progress pic of a Robert Drawing I’m attempting, to make a photo realistic color drawing, definitely learning patience with this one.

Penn State Reads Essay Prompt 1: Identity.

2013 040 2013 041Fitting in seems like a broad term and idea. As we go through life and experiences we shape who we are and what we learn and love shapes us as well. In High school the cliques seemed to rule the terrain. Athletes, goths, preppy kids, art kids, and numerous other categories. We find friends within those groups. How we are taught at home and in school shapes who we are. The best part is, we decide who we are.

If you have to literally change who you are to succeed then will you truly be happy with that success? I feel being who I choose to be at the end of the day and doing what I love with people I care about is success to me. Sure fitting in is great. It gives us a sense of civic duty and belonging. However, are you really fitting in if you are changing just to meet the standards of a group, country, or person? Especially being at Penn State, in my second year I have discovered that who I am is important. Here I make choices that will affect my present and future. Here I represent my university, family, role models, and myself. They all believe in who I am, so if I change where would that leave everything? I live by the “We Are” chant. Just by thinking we can all stand together, shoulder to shoulder despite all our differences is amazing. That is identity to me, not having to change a thing and still be able to proudly stand side by side with ‘family’.

I understand their desire to change to fit in. Considering the judgmental society we live in, it is a “concrete jungle” after all. A fight to survive, no matter what the costs. Even if that means changing everything about you. I get it. Honestly, however much you change, you still cannot forget your past. It is who you are, even if you despise it.  Changing seems like a lot more effort that she could simply put forth into succeeding and then she still will succeed. I suppose identity is a double edged sword. However, I shall stand by “We are” and define who I am that way. Success with honor and success to me is being happy with who I am, I never fit in much, always stuck in several groups, and that is quite alright. Keeps life interesting and genuine.

Woodstock: Timing of Peace

I really love music and would love to explore the Woodstock event and poster as my civic artifact. This poster is advertising an event that included art, music, and peace. In 1969, people were deeply angered with the Vietnam war and used peace demonstrations such as this to “draft dodge”. Woodstock had impeccable timing. A 3 day peace event where 1,000’s of people gathered in a huge field to listen to some of music’s greats. Definitely full of wild times, but the people categorized as “hippies” took this chance to push for peace and prove a point that they won’t simply jump to grab a gun because the country wants to fight a war. Being that many people felt the war was unnecessary, this event attracted many that felt their civic duty was to stand together and fight for peace and freedom of expression and choice. Massive crowds peacefully gathering for a common cause, definitely a sight to see. And the music itself, an everlasting legend on it’s own!woodstock poster

Cultural Character concept: Freddy Krueger

One of the iconic horror slashers, Freddy Krueger has certainly become a cultural icon in many different ways. He is the dream stalker, nightmare master, and knows people’s deepest darkest fears and secrets. In the United States and United Kingdom horror is always censored and carefully displayed due to rating laws and cinema showing limits. Now, 80s horror such as Elm Street is not as graphic as most of the horror films we have today, but it was still edited majorly throughout the franchise 7 films, and people of different cultures focused on different aspects to the Freddy character.

Like most European countries, we focus on the psychological aspect to the film: Dreams. Surrealist art and the horror of the unknown stands out to us. In Asia, most notably Japan horror is hardly censored, is more graphic, bloody, brash, and is not afraid to completely terrify audiences. Most Japanese horror cover art has to be censored if it does make it to the US, and many horror films from Japan are not even allowed to be released here. This leads to a very interesting horror film black market, that’s for sure. Japan focuses deeply upon the gore aspect to Freddy and focuses on his attack on beauty and his kills. In China and Korea, Freddy was turned into an anime “chibi” that looks rather cute and adorable as opposed to one of the horror icons. He looks more like a sprite or even a little smurflike when I look at their depiction of him. Seeing how iconic movies, not just horror, differ vastly through countries and cultures. So movie interpretations and character views differ widely, but it’s truly amazing seeing how people handle one of my all time favorite movie characters. For now, I’ll leave you with some of my Freddy art, let me know what you think!

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My passion blog about Art and Film as an art itself

Terminator Drawingaugust download and trip pics 010Robert!

Lion Drawing Lion Painting Robert charactersAs an art and English Major I constantly look for new inspirations from artists of all kinds. Whether it is Filmogrophers, Writers, FX movie make up artists, actors, or master artists in fine arts; they all inspire something about my work or changes I make to my work. Drawing became my love at age 8, and seeing film as an art started a mere few years ago. I love all kinds of film but horror is definitely on the top of my list. Movies often tell stories that cannot happen in real life and can only be our dreams.

In film you can change an actor into whatever you want them to be. Whether its Robert Englund into Freddy Krueger or Boris Karloff into Frankenstein, art plays a major role. Designing and creating the character gives us all the opportunity to express characters we want to create or even the people or heroes we dream of in hopes of seeing them in real life today. Art is often a story in itself, how and why it was created, what it stands for, and what other people take away from it. I just hope someday my art can inspire someone as much as my role models have inspired me.

Americanah CH 1 response

Adichie seems to observe people as an outsider. The funny thing is, everyone is virtually an “outsider” to everyone else until we get to know them. However, she seems to make her observations based off of comparing habits, actions, and customs of the people she is surrounded by in the United States and from the people in her homeland in Africa. She notices the hussle and bussle of the subway and how people go about their daily lives and carry opinions about the world issues.

In a way she tries to hold onto her customs by going far out of town to get her hair braided, but she seems extremely quick to hide her habits and customs of her homeland under the burning gazes of other people. She notices how the hair stylists talk, and can easily pinpoint where they are from, and she judges the place in all of its messy spots, knowing where these people are coming from. She knows the air conditioner was broken for awhile and knows they struggle in this country because of where they came from. However, she seems quite judgmental of those ladies even though she was an immigrant herself, who had to fight to change and make her new life here in the United States. In talking about how she wants her hair done, she insists it not be done the “usual” way, but simply how she wants it. And she attempts to avoid the conversation of marriage that her people back at home follow. I am unsure if she embraces her heritage like she insists she does, or if her stay in the United States has allowed her to assimilate into society. It seems like she is a bit ashamed of where she came from and how they act. I guess that happens when people want to be civic and join in amongst the causes society supports?