Event 5

On Sunday, November 21st, I went to Disneyland and California Adventure. My boyfriend and I arrived early enough to receive fast passes so that we could witness Disney's World of Color. After a very long day, we were finally able to go see what all of the hype was about, and I must say that it was very much worth waiting for! It was amazing how they incorporated water, lights, fire, fog, lasers, and projectors, as well as the Ferris wheel, for the show. The 30 minute show included scenes of Tinker Bell, Little Mermaid, Fantasia 2000, Finding Nemo, WALL-E, Aladdin, A Bug's Life, Pirates of the Caribbean, UP, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Fantasia, Beauty and the Beast, and many, many other Disney movies. There were also songs the Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Pocahontas, the "Little April Showers" song from Bambi, Beauty and the Beast, and a couple songs that had been composed specifically for World of Color. I thought the entirety of the World of Color performance was put together very nicely, and it had a very nice flow from one song or scene to the next, and it was interesting seeing how they had altered some of the movie scenes to fit in with the performance. I was in awe throughout the entire performance because watching clips from a lot of the movies I grew up with brought back a lot of memories, and I was on the verge of happy tears because I had not seen many of the classic Disney cartoons since I was younger. My favorite part of the entire World of Color performance was the Tron: Legacy encore, which they included song’s from Daft Punk’s new soundtrack to the Tron: Legacy movie, which come out in two weeks! It was so cool how the light bikes were projected onto the mist screen, and it included clips from the movie trailer. The lights on the California Screamin’ rollercoaster displayed an interesting flow of blue and green lights, as well as the Ferris wheel in the back ground. My favorite part of the Tron: Legacy encore portion was when it finished because it seemed that all of the colors glitched out and flickered back to the rainbow colors from World of Color. After World of Color, we wandered over to the Hollywood backstage area of California Adventure, where they were promoting Tron: Legacy with ElecTRONica, where there was a live dj spinning electronica dance music, as well as dancers on stages all around the area. There was also a Laser Man performance, which was pretty much one of the coolest things ever! There was a man on a platform wearing a suit one would expect to be seen worn in the world of Tron, and he was interacting with lasers by bending, splitting, spreading out, spinning, and twirling beams of light! It was very interesting and mind-boggling to watch. I thought this was an interesting and unique way to promote a Disney movie, and now I definitely cannot wait until the Official Sound Track and the movie Tron: Legacy come out!

Whale Rider

I really enjoyed this movie and I regret not having watched it sooner. This movie was very emotionally touching and had a great story line. I think that it's horrible that Koro resented his granddaughter, Pai, so much because she was female, the first-born, she had the name of their ancestor, and she was basically the "end" of their family-line of chiefs. It was especially saddening when Koro would not treat Pai respectfully while training the boys in the town to be future leaders because she was a female, and he felt that she had caused enough damage. I think it's great that Pai's grandmother Flowers believed in her and loved her so much. Also, it's great that Pai was able to learn all of the different characteristics of a leader, even if it was done behind her grandfather's back, but it proved to be useful becase she really was the next chief. One could see that she loved her grandfather so much, and it was awful that he believed her birth to be the reason why the Whangara people were suffering so much. Her speech about her ancestors that was dedicated to Koro was very moving, and even had me in tears! I felt so bad that Koro was prepared to go to her concert, but never showed up once he saw all of the breached whales near their house. After much hardship, I'm glad Koro was finally able to accept Pai as the new cheif. This movie emphasized the importance of change, especially when it comes to culture, because change is necessary in the modern world, and in order to continue one's traditional ways, one must be willing to accept changes.

Event 3/4

On Friday, November 19, 2010, I went to It’s a Grind coffee shop in Carlsbad to see MandoBasso perform. I had gone to the coffee shop on Saturday, November 13th, only to find out when I had gotten there that it had been rescheduled. On Friday, when I arrived around 8pm, Bill Bradbury and Gunnar Biggs were socializing with a lot of the people in the coffee shop, and I recognized several people from class. At around 8:30, MandoBasso began performing for the next 30 minutes. I think MandoBasso is a good twist on words of mandolin and bass. I knew what a mandolin is, which Bill was playing, but I had never heard one before, so this was an interesting experience for me. The three or four songs that they played together during these 30 minutes included an arrangement of jazz, Irish, blues, and classical music. At some points during their performance, I felt like I was in medieval times, or somewhere in the Irish countryside because of the music that was being played. I heard one of the titles of their songs, but I failed to make note of it, and I could not hear the others because, surprisingly, it was pretty noisy inside the coffee shop. The baristas were nice, and it was neat that one of them happens to be friends with my boyfriend, so we talked with him when he wasn’t busy serving all of the people coming in. This was a nice mix-up for me, compared to the past couple events I’ve gone to, because this setting was much more laid back, and it was nice lounging in comfy chairs, sipping a warm chai latte, and sitting cozy next to a fire place. It was relaxing to listen to this type of music too while I was talking to my boyfriend, his friend, and one of my classmates. Usually, I can’t stand any music that comes anywhere close to the “jazz” genre, but because MandoBasso’s music did not have the incessant saxophone, flute, or trumpet, it was nice listening to their music. I hope the next time they are playing in the area, I’ll be able to catch more of their set.

Manufactured Landscapes

I thought this was an interesting documentary about Edward Burtynsky, a photographer I had never heard of, but I'm glad I was able to see this. His photographs seemed so surreal, it was hard to believe that his pictures were actual scenes of globalization and idustrialization. One of my favorites was the one from the nickel and copper mines, where the water was a turquoise color and the color of the mineral walls were different shades of orange, yellow, and red. It's interesting to see all of the colors and beauty in industrialized sites - areas that one would not expect to find such beauty. Also, the ship breaking sights in Bangladesh were interesting to see, especially the one where it looks like a statue with the other ships shown in the background of the photograph. The scene with all of the coal piles was also interesting because the Chinese mining company didn't want it getting out how much coal they used, but were willing to let Edward photograph the scene in order to demonstrate the beauty he saw. It's unbelievable how much of the United States' wastes goes to China, such as the piles of computer parts and all of the wires. Also, the comparison of the old Shanghai and new Shanghai was interesting to see how the wealthy and those living in poverty can live in such close quarters those who live in such nice homes while other live in shacks. It is saddening to know that with while there can be such progress that comes with industrialization, there also comes destruction, and many people are unknowing of this fact. While I, myself, am very comfortable with my lifestyle living with such advancements, and I do not know if I could change, but I am glad that I am aware of others' hardships, and will do what is possible to alleviate the problem.

War Photographer

I find war very intriguing: I am always fascinated with the photographs, the footage, the stories, the history that comes out of war. I do feel that war is horrible, and it's great that photographers are able to show what war and poverty is really like to those on the other side of the globe, or those who are unaware of what is going on in the world. Like myself and part of the population, I do not know what is happening in other countries other than my own, and I rarely find myself watching the news because I do not want to be exposed to the horrors of what is going on in the world. On the other hand, photographers like Jim are able to provide an insight as to what needs to be seen. If I were to ever be put in the extremes of war, violence, famine, death, and poverty, I do not think I would be able to handle the situation. Unlike Jim, I think I would crumble under all of the fear that would come hand-in-hand with photographing war, let alone being where the wars are taking place. Like when the photographer next to Jim was shot dead, I do not think I would have been able to remain as calm as Jim had during that predicament. I liked the idea of the mini video cameras on Jim's camera while he was taking photographs because it allowed the audience to see what Jim was seeing and the scene as a whole for when he was not taking photographs, so the portions which were not photographed. The photographs of the man being beaten to death only because he was of a different race/nationality than the others was terrible to hear about, as well as the house in Kosovo that filled with bodies that were unidentifable. I thought it was really sweet of the little boys to be throwing flowers on the bodies while the photographers and news crews were there. Overall, I thought this was a really good documentary, and it provided some excellent insight to the world of those who deal with war, death, and poverty on a regular basis. Major kudos to war photographers!

Shall We Dance?

I remember watching the 2004 version of "Shall We Dance?" on a whim, and while I didn't watch to watch it in the beginning, I ended up thoroughly enjoying the movie. Both movies were very similar, but there were some differences. Personally, I liked the American version more, which I think is due to the fact that I cannot relate to the Japanese culture, and I think it's interesting that the main reason why dancing is so frowned upon in Japan is because of their culture and dancing is considered a suspcious and shameful thing, especially when dancing with a woman who is not one's wife. Also, the Japanese culture is very different from American culture because the wife in the 1996 version was a softspoken, stay-at-home wife, while the 2004 version was a working mom. I still do not understand why in the 2004 version, John did not want to tell his wife because he didn't want to hurt her - I feel that he was doing more harm by keeping secrets from his wife, especially over dancing. However, just now I realized that he didn't want to let her know that he was missing something in his life and felt like dancing (and not her) could fill that void. I kind of did not like Mai's reason for not dancing anymore, which was because her partner did not protect her when they had fallen, but it made sense for her to come to the conclusion that she felt that she had always danced alone. The part that especially made me mad was when the daughter would yell out to her father during the dance competition, distracting him and virtually ruining the whole dance routine for him - I could not stand that scene, whether it's in the 1996 version or the 2004 version. I think it's great that the dad character continued to dance, even after Mai/Paulina's character coldly told him that she hopes he was dancing for reasons other than just to get a date with her, because it shows his dedication and love for something new. This meant a lot to me because, even though I do not know how to dance professionally, I really enjoy dancing at events and I do not know what I would do if I had not discovered dancing or if I weren't able to dance. Before dancing, I attended punk/rock shows which all one would do is mosh, tap their foot, or bob their head. Now, I attend electronic dance music (EDM) events, as well as Dubstep, Reggae, and occasionally a Hip-Hop event. I really enjoyed watching both versions of "Shall We Dance?"