interesting endings

i really enjoyed the other 2 videos Steve showed us and how interesting the endings are on films how things can make an interesting twist in the like in the first one was about a prince and the pricess they kiss another and turn into a whole bunch of animals that you wouldn't expect and just the whole film was entertaining and in the end the prince was the princess and the princess was the prince it was just very interesting how the ending takes you and makes you think and the last video he showed titled "Bunny" was very good and unexpected imean like Steve said the scene was in an old trailer home and just everything and by the end of it your blown away i just think its just amazing!

To Be Love able is to be LOVED

I thought today was especially fun because like Steve i love my fairy tales.  We went over allot of them i love the concept he told us about to be love able you must be loved. Its that way with all most anything there are some people and animals that can be loved but never believe there actually loved or they just don't want to accept it. But even  the most cold hearted people love will make them think. I believe love can work in mysterious ways but i have a question our parents love us yet we can become a very crude person in our later years maybe its a useless question to be asking but theres so many people who have had all there parents love yet there not love able so to be love able do you need love from another guy or girl? once again i don't know if its an important question but if you have an opinion it would be awesome to hear from you thanks!

A far country

Gospel as fairy tale I think seems to make the most sense out of all of the parallels that have been attributed to the Gospel. Life coming where you least expect it, like the phoenix out of the fairy tale story, we rise from the ashes into sparkling new life. That is the story of the Gospel. The end of the tale, where we go home to our happy ending, as it were.
     In the mean time, there is always a dark forest, a unexpected challenge. It is in our reaction of it, that we find ourselves. You can tell the strength of someone by what knocks them down, by how they react to the dark forest in front of them. In this life we have challenge for the reason of bettering ourselves, amongst other reasons, I suppose, it is in these challenges that we grow. A crucible, a fiery trial for our faith.
Fairy tales transform us, and in that sense the gospel could not be anymore of a fairy tale.
This great story that came along, this great person that showed up, changed everything. We belong in such a far country, so far away from here. Until we are able to return there, let us say, as Horatio Spafford did,  "My Jesus, come soon! But if it not be soon, then give me the courage to stand."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARlVc_Dtzmo

faith in art

Faith can be found in art. If you look in art of Catholics there is most often a glow of a crown of light. And mostly with Jesus there is a omni light shining from Jesus when he is a baby. Last week I took it to my heart and I understood where he was coming from. most of us go to a modern church with no paintings and pictures. But in a catholic church there is usually a statue and paintings of Mary mother of God. We look at Catholics just thinking they have a chain of prayer not a chain of command to prayer. They have cardinals and popes and saints. But we should look deeper and appreciate there art and story telling. From a wonderful life when the guy said "I will lasso the moon". Then Bruce Almighty he literally lassoed the moon.

Wonderful Life

I really did enjoy the video clips of Its A Wonderful Life last Thursday. It usually only comes on at Christmas time but i never tune in to watch it (Maybe because I'm too busy watching back to back reruns of A Christmas Story?) It was very interesting to see all of the religious symbolic meanings and people in this film such as the character Mary who represents the mother of Christ. I never realized that there were so many different meanings in that movie. Maybe this Christmas i'll skip A Christmas Story and check this movie out!

Monolouges: Beautiful Storytelling

 

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So! I must say, I have been officially dipped into the world of monolouges and cannot even state how much I love the imagery that can be created by the beautiful words from ones lips. Then, I am often just as surprised by the lack of real depth that can come from those same words.  The Bible says in  Then James 3:2-10 ² For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. ³ If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. ⁴ Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. ⁵ So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! ⁶ And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life,^[a] and set on fire by hell.^{[b] 7} For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, ⁸ but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. ⁹ With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. ¹⁰ From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers,^[c] these things ought not to be so."

Wow. Talk about imagery!  Set on fire by Hell. Yes, it said Hell. You know, that place where the "Christians" of this world say the "Heathens" and "pagans" and "not-real-Christians" or someone from another religion goes.  Even those of us who claim to have faith have tongues that have been put on fire by Hell and can take us down a path of unrighteousness and NO MAN can tame it.  Ouch! That is such a hard pill for anyone to swallow! Reading that makes me think of all of the times that I have had to catch my own tongue and I have regretted what I said.  That awful moment when the words pass your lips and as soon as your tongue has finished saying them you are left grabbing and struggling in thin air to stop them from reaching their intended destination.  But, then I am left wondering, what about the good things in it.  In Proverbs it says that a gentle tongue can be the tree of life.  The tongue dictates you are and what your heart really says.  It is one of the greatest tools we also have as film makers.  As I watched "And Everything is Going Fine" last Thursday, one of the thoughts that really sticks out in my head that I thought during the movie is, "I want my voice in my movies to sound like that. A story that rings so true and hits that basic emotional well that we all have within us.  We are all so different and we try and communicate so often through symbolism and special effects and great characters. NOT to say these aspects of film aren't important! But, we shouldn't be so distracted by these cool "Hollywood Tricks" that we forget how to reach our audience.  Our story. THE Story.  I was moved by a man sitting in a chair, with a microphone and a glass of water.  I laughed, I hurt, I was touched, and I was changed. Not by special effects, awesome violence, or even a fantastic character building scheme.  A man, a microphone, and a glass of water.  

Now that I have gone and been officially Leeperized and went on a tangent on the importance of story telling, Here is one of my favorite monologues that just is a silly tale of one of his adventures! Too be honest, it isn't moving, or deep by any sense of the word. But, it is a beautiful act of story telling that I constantly come back to when I want a laugh and that I love to show people! I consistently quote this and fall off of my chair laughing every time!

In the Beginning....

 

Halooooooo fellow DMA-ers!!

Well! Story time! I had originally posted this when it was due and then realized that I had instead saved it as a draft for a personal blog rather than in the DMA class blog... woops. So! Here is what I put up at the beginning of the year as my intro to me!

You know, as I was searching through my pictures to post on this blog, I found it really hard to pick one.  I sat motionless except for the occasional touch of a cold unfeeling mouse when I suddenly had an epiphany on what I was trying to do! Before beginning my own blog, I had looked at all of the other peoples blogs with pictures and I felt like they had done such a great job of saying where their heart was and focused on.  I felt like I was trying to find a picture to put a label on something that really didn't seem to fit.  In all of my pictures, either I was posing in the picture whether it was smiling or a goofy face for the camera, or sometimes I wasn't paying attention at all to the camera or the camera angle just didn't seem to fit.  In every picture, something just didn't seem to fit the context of this blog that was assigned to us. I then realized that part of me felt like I was trying to label myself and find a picture that was trying to catch all or even most of the different aspects of my personality.  I must point out that I am not one of those weird hipsters that says, "Oh, you can't define me I am a free and individualistic personality and I do my own thing by sitting in my fav coffee shop on my mac blogging about the world and it's injustices blah, blah, blah...."  But there is a tone that does ring true with in that saying. We are ALL free and different.  There are so many aspects of each person that composes the beautiful symphony of personality, memories, love and dislikes, friends and people that makes someone who they are.  As for me, I am a tennis player/ sports junkie, film lover and analyst, friend, confidant, shy, dorky, literally love every genre of music, Star Wars lover, Christian, human rights activist, short film/youtube video watcher enthusiast, late night worker, a fantastic listener, advice giver, band geek, and that only begins the list! I couldn't seem to condense my personality and heart into a picture that could have said a million different words! How can one take their personality and who they are fit into a single blob in a pixilated world with so many other little and big blobs?!

Through this continuous cycle of thought, I did realize one thing that happened to put everything together in one group that made me. The one thing that I did realize about myself while staring at the blinding white page of digital particles that compose my computer screen is that I love to love.  Everything about the word love I love! Agape is my personal favorite variation of the word meaning: divine, unconditional, self-sacrificing, active, volitional, and thoughtful love. I love to laugh and be happy and help others feel the same. It makes me happy to see others smiling and excited. I am a person who does what they do with all they have.  My policy is either you do it 150% or why do it at all? Though the picture at the top I may not look the prettiest, or have the best expression on my face, nor does it have my favorite quote.  But, I believe that it is one of the most honest pictures I have of me.  I am completely engrossed with the people around me and loving on them with all I have and it shows in every feature of that photo.  I love to smile and I love to be around those who help that smile come out!

I believe that God put us on this gorgeous earth to enjoy ourselves while doing our best to follow what God's plans are for us.  Though because of sin there is pain in the world, we cannot always be happy.  Even I, the ever optimistic, understand that.  But, beyond that, I find that the happiest people are not the ones with money, nor the ones with the most talent, nor even the ones with the most potential.  They are the ones that have found complete and utter joy in their lives.  The ones that are the happiest are the ones that find a little joy and amazement in the little things that are around them.  Finding beauty in the simple complexity of a single flower or in the look of love between an elderly couple walking in a park.  Fyodor Dostoyevski once said, "We talked of the beauty of the world of God and the great mystery of it. Every blade of grass, every insect, ant, and golden bee, all so amazingly know their path, though they have not intelligence, they bear witness to the mystery of God and continually accomplish it themselves." To me that sounds like a challenge! How can I find joy and bring Glory to God today such as the grass and every insect and ant have found a simple joy in doing what they each do best? So I guess, the more I think about it, I realize that we are in fact all "hipsters." Embrace it!

 My name is Cassie Kasicki, I am a film production and History Education double major from Rockford Illinois and I am so excited to be here with you all! And if you want to learn more about who I am, I have an open door policy in my dorm room lounge and I happen to love coffee :P Catch me after class and let's meet up and grab some sometime! :)