Latinos In Movies

I am a very big movie person and therefore the way Hispanics are viewed in movies does make a big deal for me. As stated in the documentary Hispanics were not always viewed as the good people in movies back when they first started being brought out in movies. Hispanics or latinos were usually viewed as the bad person in the movies. This documentary talked about how latinos usually played the roles of the thief or any other bad guy you could think of in a movie. I feel this did make a great impact on how latinos were viewed in the world because movies tend to be something that many people watch and if they keep viewing Latinos in this role they probably would think they are the same way in real life and are probably even frightened or threatened by them. Being portrayed as gangsters was not something that all latinos wanted to do. Of course many movies in which they were portrayed as gangsters did bring out a good message but again the way people outside viewed latinos started changing.

            It was mentioned that later on the role of latinos in movies did start changing. Of course they made it in big movies but they didn’t always play latino roles anymore. We now see Hispanics taking the roles of Europeans and or changing their hair colors or appearance to look Caucasian and play those roles. Of course in that comes them having to work on their accents because many latino actors do have a very strong accent and if so they are used in movies to portray illegal immigrants. Yes its very weird to immediately go into the topic of illegal immigration but in all honesty if you do watch many movies and find a latino playing a simple role they are usually and illegal worker or any character that falls close to that role. 

Change to GSU

If I could change anything about Georgia State University, it would probably have to be the way it is surrounded by so many homeless people. Of course that cannot be controlled because these people do not have jobs and we cannot just go out handing jobs to any homeless person. I feel maybe we can create homes for these people. Not exactly the ideal home but at least somewhere they could go where they won’t be out in the streets asking students for money or making students feel uncomfortable at a place where they are supposed to feel comfortable walking on the streets.

             I have been approached a couple of times by them and I won’t say they really bother a lot but at night it becomes very scary to be outside even if in a group. maybe not because of the homeless people at night but at this point it becomes more of being scared to get jumped or robbed or something of the sort. 

GOOD OR BAD 3-D EFFECTS?

Although many do think that the renewals of movies in a third dimensional view has made movie more realistic and interesting, many also believe that 3-D is a waste of a perfectly good dimension.

Digital 3-D, which has slowly been gaining steam over the past few years, is finally ready for its close-up. Just about every top director and major studio is doing it. These are not just animations but live-action films, comedies, dramas and documentaries. Disney and its Pixar studios have released five 3-D movies in the past year, including a 3-D-ified version of Toy Story. George Lucas hopes to rerelease his Star Wars movies in 3-D. And Steven Spielberg is currently shooting Tintin in it, with Peter Jackson doing the 3-D sequel next year. Live sports and rock concerts in 3-D have been showing up at digital theaters around the U.S. nearly every week.

Like I stated before many do believe it will make a great impact in the way viewers will react to such movies and the realness of them. For example, the new movie Tron, which was released December 17, was said to have astounded many viewers because of the great effects it carried out. Another good example would be, director James Cameron's Avatar, released December of 2009. Spielberg stated that it would be the biggest 3-D live-action film ever. More than a thousand people worked on it, at a cost in excess of $300 million, and it represents digital filmmaking's bleeding edge for some, it is an annoying distraction. Had digital 3-D been available a dozen or so years ago when Titanic was shot, he'd have used it, stated director James Cameron.

Although directors do feel making films three dimensional will make a better viewing if films others believe it just creates nausea and headaches. Some complaints regarding these films have been that it is driven largely to sell expensive projection equipment and add a $5 to $7.50 surcharge on already expensive movie tickets. Also that its image is noticeably darker than standard 2-D, it is unsuitable for grown-up films of any seriousness, it limits the freedom of directors to make films as they choose and that for moviegoers in the PG-13 and R ranges, it only rarely provides an experience worth paying a premium for.

Roger Ebert stated in his article that Cameron plans to rerelease Titanic in 3-D, and it's worth recalling his 3-D documentary, Ghosts of the Abyss, which he personally photographed from the grave of the Titanic. He feels Titanic 3-D will not be true 3-D, but Cameron is likely to do "fake 3-D" better than others have. Nevertheless Titanic is wonderful just as it stands, so why would anyone want to add a distraction? Some may say that it is merely to get money out of it. Although many movies do seem to come out worse once transferred to 3-D, one can never hold back the need to watch and see if it really did suck. So it is easy to say that Cameron doesn’t really just want to make the viewing better for everyone.

Bad Priests =(

I read an article on the New York Times, talking about 21 priests that were suspended in Philadelphia. It is said that these priestes were suspended because of sexual abuse accusations.37 priests remained active in the ministry after the accusations but of those 37 21 were suspended and three others already had been placed on administrative leave after the grand jury detailed accusations against them. Five others would have been suspended, the church said in a statement, but three are no longer active and two are no longer active in the Philadelphia Archdiocese. The church said that in eight cases, no further investigation was warranted.The statement said the accusations against the 21 ranged from “sexual abuse of a minor to boundary issues with minors,” but did not describe them further.Nor did it name the 21 whom it suspended, drawing the fury of groups representing abuse victims. Cardinal Rigali said he was truly sorry for the harm done to the victims of sexual abuse, as well as to the members of our community who suffer as a result of this great evil and crime.If charges against the priests are upheld, the church could face a payout of millions of dollars in legal settlements. The charges come at a stressful time for the church, with membership and parochial school enrollment declining. The archdiocese announced last week that it was closing seven schools in June; it has already closed more than 40

Tila and Anniston

The first video was satirizing how egoistic celebrities can be. Even though Tila Tequila is barely known, she bragged about how she starred in movies and reality shows to Jennifer Aniston, who is a much bigger celebrity. On the otherhand, Zach was somewhat inconsiderate when Jennifer came out for the interview. He kept talking to Tila, which her 15 minutes of fame is up. Even though Zach had called Jennifer Anniston to be interviewed he kept asking Tila questions about her show and the sexual things that they did on her show. He seemed more interested in Tila simply because of this fact, and seemed to only ask questions about the relations that went on in her show, and the drama. It showed that the more scandals and drama a persons’ show has, the more attention it grabs for interviewers. As soon as Jennifer got mad, however, all the attention went to her, and you sort of forgot Tila was there simply because she was making a scene. I believe they are just being weird for the mere fact that they can get away with doing just that. As for the Kanye video...I really don’t see how anything Zach was doing related to the song...so all I really took from that was just for the sake of displaying weird, random farm scenes. Maybe it was too intricate for me to understand.

My Spring Break

I expect many people enjoyed their spring break by going to a different state to visit family, or maybe they went just to have crazy fun times with their most beloved friends, but my spring break dealt with studying volunteering and studying. I can say that i actually did spend Spring Break with the people i wanted to but could've definitely been in a better manner. we enjoyed that Tuesday to the maximum because we volunteered at an IHOP on national pancake day. Although we didn't go for the eating we did of course get free meals. We helped out from around 11 in the morning to about 8 in the afternoon. We were asked to help wait tables and to help clean off tables as well. One of my friends chose to be Charlie The Pancake and enjoyed waving and taking pictures with customers. Although I did not want to they convinced me to get in that costume as well just to lighten up my shyness. the rest of the week I studied for many classes and worked on a presentation me and my friends created to present at a school to encourage kids to go to college. we worked from around 9 at night until 4 in the morning . although we still have not presented it we enjoyed working on it together and are in the process of finding a High School to visit.

Alabama Jail System

The Alabama jail systems is really positive in my opinion. I totally agree with these programs that are being presented to these inmates in Alabama. These programs promote nothing but peace and tranquility. Believe it or not they also promote teamwork and a sense of harmony. I think that most penitentiary systems should introduce programs like this to the jail cells, or jail systems and the rest will take its course. Inmates are most of the time willing to try new things due to the amounts of time they are given. These meditating practices though can be a downfall at times because this specific one requires a certain type of diet, that might require a little more money. At the same time what we want from inmates is to make them more peaceful corporative and more patient individuals. we want them in general to be better people and have more positives outlooks on life. In this case this is exactly what needs to be introduced to all penitentiaries or similar programs with similar goals.Not only will this give inmates time to reflect on what has been going on or what they have done wrong, but it will also give them time to relax which at some points is something many people need in order to recuperate.

EXIT Through The Gift Shop...The Actual Movie

Exit Through The Gift Shop was very interesting. It was a great movie overall and I would have to say that the part that caught my attention most was probably when he was going around just recoding artists' and the work they were posting up on walls.

I think that street art is about showing your feelings through art and earning street credit slowly.Thierry became an overnight sensation by using the real street artists’ styles who allowed him to film them.  He not only became a hit because of these artists’ promotional quotes and emails for his show, but by following their directions he ended up the star of his own documentary. Thierry owes everything to these artists because he in a way just stole their style. he took the specific art pieces of many others and just changes the color or the way they lookinor wat characters were in it but they still had the same theme. Mr. Brainwash sounded ridiculous to me,although like he said he kind of brainwashed people with his artwork he did not really creat it himself. The fact that he then started selling these paintings for thousands of dollars really ticked me off because if i had the time i would definately be able to take someone else's ideas and creat art from them and sell them as well.   

EXIT

I personally love the art world. I myself will admit to doing graffiti at times not on walls or out in public but I create such drawings.I think everyone has a right to express themselves in any shape or form and the fact that some people choose to do it in this manner may seem harmful to some but so beautiful to others. I highly enjoy visual art. I believe each piece of art expresses a feeling and/or emotion. I believe this documentary is a valid topic because not every one has the same talent. Banksy goes on through this film letting everyone know about the story behind many of these famous artists. he surrounds this whole documentary on Guetta though. Guetta was supposedly a french guy who followed many of the well known street artists and through his actual video tapes he chose to make a documentary which did not turn out as well as many expected. he soon starts making his own type of art trying to follow in the footsteps of some of the words most famous street artists.

Teacher Salaries and the Scottish Hooters

After watching this video I feel that school teachers maybe should not have a say in their salaries but they should have a better pay. I feel that teachers are the ones who educate us and lead us towards the actual “Professional” part of our lives. If not helping us get into to college they help us learn things in college that will lead us to finding a career we enjoy which later on is how our lives are ran.

"Mile after mile of unforgiving terrain devoid of any sign of humanity."

He's trying to say that Illinois or wherever he was going is kind of like a bad place to be at. That it’s a type battle place or war zone.

"The Rockford Province"

I think he was referring to all of the mountains and caves in the middle east where all of these senators are hiding just like Bin laden.

"So I could put it on my Facebook page..."

Everyone uses facebook so maybe he thought putting it on facebook would make it really noticeable because everyone now-a-days has a facebook page.

"It's kinda like Hooters...ah, a Scottish-type Hooters I suppose."

Maybe this was supposed to show how unproductive these senators are. Instead of being busy with their responsibilities they are going to Scottish hooters.

 "Rockford Province"

Someplace they use to hide from the teachers and or problems ..

"Your Wisconsin cheese will run red with blood."

I think he's saying something about killing people.

"That would be f-cking golden."

They were referring to the fact that if they find where the senators are hiding, it would be "f-cking golden”.

“The Infamous I-90 Pass"

Sounds like a passage that could be taken to escape anything coming after you.

"The Wisconsin 15"

Sounds like a group of criminals. Although they aren’t sounds as if

"If I order a chalupa can I just go?"                                                             

Basically this phrase is showing how sometimes we buy ourselves out of situations.

"Women here are forced to wear dehumanizing 17th Century clothing and deliver nachos for the men-folk."

Maybe this was trying to show how women were being treated badly back in the day and although they aren’t treated as bad they are being demeaned.

Real Women Have Curves Movi

           I chose to write about a movie once again because these movies really proved something to me. also I learned a lot of things that before I did not understand such as what acculturation and assimilation mean.A character named Ana plays the biggest role in this movie and I thats why throughout this you will see my opinion on these words towards her.Acculturation as I understand is when one adopts some of the culture surrounding you but still maintain in one’s own ethnic culture. I believe in this movie Ana doesn’t fall into this category because from my perspective it seems as if she has lost some if not most of her ethnic culture. She doesn’t speak Spanish clearly and when asked to work at the factory with her family she doesn’t enjoy the idea of having to go through it because in a way she makes it seem as if though she deserves better or as if she is embarrassed. With that being said I am not saying she doesn’t deserve better because she is given the opportunity to do better but her family will not permit it.

Assimilation is adopting the dominant culture as one’s own and losing most of one’s ethnic culture because there is more interest in the surrounding one. I feel Ana falls more into this category because she loses a lot of the culture her family holds. A lot of times I believe when one moves to the United States and one is raised there from childhood they tend to lose most of their ethnic culture. Also the fact that she didn’t find her virginity to be something important was something that really brought out the idea of her assimilation. Usually in one’s culture, well at least Hispanic culture, it is very important and respected that one save their virginity. With that being said I am not saying that every Hispanic is abstinent because that is not the case.

            

Entre Nos Movie

           Entre Nos is a movie that showed me new things that at one point I could imagine but never have I seen it this way. This movie, as I saw, deals with a Colombian family that comes to United States for ,what I believe is, a better life but the family is soon faced with the sad and ugly parts of the world due to the abandonment of  Mariana’s husband. Through this movie it is easy to see how hard it becomes to leave one’s own country to come to America for a “better life”. Although the actual process of getting to the United States and starting a new life here is difficult, as I have heard, as time and years go by one learns to accommodate ones’ self in this country.

            As I stated before for some people it is easy to say that once you come to this country life is all better, but it isn’t. Before even coming to this country yes, maybe life back in your own country was difficult because there weren’t many jobs or any economic help to keep your family going, but you were not in fear of all the things most immigrants fear now. Many of these include: the risk of getting caught driving without an official driver’s license, being deported and having to leave your family behind with nothing or maybe not being able to find a job, because it is clear that most jobs now a days require proof of being a citizen. When many families come to the United States they start off pretty bad as we see Mariana’s Family started. Most men have to work really hard either in construction, painting or even carpet installing. Most women have to rely on working as housekeepers or babysitters because there aren’t many jobs offered to immigrants. Yes, they are all jobs but most of the time they don’t pay well or you end up working all day and can’t even spend time with your family because by the time you get home it is time to rest because the next day brings another hard day of work. So when the question asking if it is hard for immigrants to adapt to the U.S., is asked I would say that it takes a long and difficult time to get adapted to it.

            Although, as stated, immigrants do go through a rough patch when they decide to come to this country, they also choose to stay here and not leave, but why is that? When it comes to big families with maybe small children I believe they choose to stay here because they feel their children are receiving a better education in this country. For example, my cousins in Guatemala have received or completed most if not all of their education, but they know for a fact that if they would have gotten their education in the U.S. they would probably have better jobs than the ones they have now. Even though some parents do have to work a lot, most of the time it is heard from them that they do it for their children in hopes that when their children grow up they will have a received a good education and have a good career.

Guilty Pleasure

To be honest I don’t necessarily have a “guilty pleasure” song because all I listen to is Christian music, but I do have one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icos33aQ_mw. This would most likely have to be one of my guilty pleasure songs. The reason I choose this song is because of the lyrics and singing of this artist. As you already know, or maybe don’t know, I sing at my church and I have a very high voice while singing. The voice of this artist known as Camila is also at a high pitch so therefore I enjoyed it. Along with the singing comes the actual lyric of the song as well. This song mostly speaks about a “hug” or hugging. Yes it does seem a little chessy but the song is very nice. I have never been in a true relationship so these types of songs have no sentimental effect on me whatsoever but I do enjoy it.

Nazi Comparison

I do not think Stewart was being particularly biased for either party. Maybe at first glance, it seemed like he was taking aim at the Democrats for thinking that Republicans were trying to undermine them and destroy the healthcare plan, but as the segment went on, it shifted from the Democrats point of view to how the Republicans were taking it entirely out of proportion, having each show they air criticize Steve Cohen’s statement.  FOX news tried to make Cohen seem as if he were directly calling the Republicans. I feel as though political representatives, both Democrats and Republicans, have nothing better to do than to make the other party seem worse than they themselves are. They are always trying to prove their point without even realizing that their point of view is now being blurred because they are trying to prove the other party wrong. That’s basically what this whole situation was about. I think that whatever Cohen said could’ve been shifted to mean either anything good or anything bad. It just depends who the audience was. Within the statement “I didn’t say she was a Nazi; I said there’s no difference between what the two do”, I think the commentator was alluding to the fact that she is trying to use Nazi-like tactics. He is simply trying to make a comparison but could’ve chosen better words to use.

Forever Lazy

 The clip shared with us was a good example of the American society finding new ways to make people become lazy while at the same time spending money. I realized that the commercial being shown was a commercial promoting a new way to be comfortable while doing anything. This outfit or Forever Lazy suit is an outfit in which you will not have troubles doing anything from going to work to going to the bathroom. Basically what the commercial is trying to do is compete with the Snuggies. A snuggie is just a plain blanket with a hole in the center and two sleeves, while the Forever Cozy suit is a whole outfit. Kind of reminds me of the little outfits babies wear. This brings me to the point that although they do seem convenient to have, because sometimes people get cold and it’s difficult to have a blanket around all the time, it also would make people very lazy. Yes the technology around us is improving but at the same time workers don’t even have to work as hard because there are all these machines doing the work for them. For example: the new iPhone 4 has improved from the 3G. Although the only difference about it is that it has a camera in the front part of it, a lot of people still prefer it from the 3G because it’s easier to take a picture that way and it also brings “face time”. So what I am trying to say is that although we are improving in many things, we are also not making the type of improvements we should be.

Me, Me and Me...and some Chik-fil-A

My name is Elvis Garcia as you may already know since you logged on or are checking my blogs. I was born in Baltimore, Maryland but am currently, as you may notice, living in Georgia. I didn’t always live in Maryland too long though. After living in Maryland for about 7 or 8 years my Mother decided we should try something new and we moved to Minnesota ,where we had a lot of family open handedly ready for us to arrive. After living in Minnesota for around 2 years we moved to Georgia with my step dad. So basically that’s sort of where I have lived at. Other than that my major is Journalism with a concentration in Telecommunications. I am also minoring in Music. With my major I plan to hopefully get an internship at CNN and or Cartoon Network at Turner Broadcasting. Some of my favorite books would consist of the famous Harry Potter Series and the Percy Jackson Series. Along with that all of the Harry Potter movies receive my respect and any Horror or suspense film.

            To be honest when I read this article I want really surprised by what I read. In my understanding Chik-fil-A has always been a Christian based restaurant. Yes to some it may seem wrong that they do not support same-sex marriage or any type of homosexual content but growing up in the religion I grew up in my understanding would be the same as CFA. I’m not saying that I’m totally against same-sex marriage or that I hate gay people, all I am trying to say is that in my belief I believe that it is wrong but not for those reasons will I discriminate against it. I have many friends whom have a gay or bi status. I treat them the same as I treat any other friends of mine but in Gods eyes I don’t believe it is the right thing.