What Was Scary? What Is Scary?

Trolls 2

Very recently, I had the "opportunity" to watch Trolls 2 with some friends. Since I had just seen Cabin in the Woods  a few weeks before, it was easier to say which was scarier (even though Cabin in the Woods is a "spoof" horror film).

Take a look to the right, which is scarier? Which is newer?

If you answered Cabin in the Woods for either question, you are correct!

Cabin in the Woods

I must confess, the whole time I was watching Trolls 2, I was laughing pretty hysterically. However, when it first came out, it was, even if just barely, considered scary. It's fascinating to see how much horror has changed over the years. Honestly, I do not think it is a good thing either. We are becoming SO numb to violence and gore that it is not abnormal for a six year old to see an R rated film. Basically I think that we need to be more aware of what we are filling our heads with. It has been proven that violence in movies has helped lead to serial killers, shootings, and other cruel acts. Now, I am not saying "get rid of all violence!"; my favorite movie is Gladiator, and think that tasteful violence is good (keyword being "tasteful"). I would just like to petition that we choose wisely what we feed our brains and memories, because once an image is in your head, once you see something, it will never fully go away.

NaNoWriMo

For the last month, I have been rabidly participating in an even called NaNoWriMo. Its taking away my sanity bit by bit. The goal - write a novel of 50,000 words within the month of November. When I tell people that I'm doing this they feel bad for me, thinking this was some sort of assignment for class. Nope. I'm doing it for fun. I'm a little behind, but I think I'll actually reach the 50,000 word mark this year (its my third year participating and the highest I got before was 31,000. Currently I'm at 42,873). What's great about it is that its forcing you to write, sort of like what Stanton says about animation - get it out and get it out fast so you can make your mistakes quickly. The novel of NaNoWriMo is not supposed to be a finished project - just a very rough draft. But it forces  you to write and think through things, and sometimes the things you write in the spur of the moment is better than what you had been planning all along.
My story this year is about a post-appocalyptic future set in the desert (semi-inspired by a Book Of Eli/Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind/Fullmetal Alchemist/Legend of Zelda/Avatar: The Last Airbender environment. Yeah. Lots of different influences), following a naive and goodnatured boy and his owl Chillo (on my head in the picture above) as they get caught up in...stuff. Its complicated.
But its super fun :3

George Lucas In Love Film

So, the George Lucas In Love film was obviously a hit with the class, everyone got a laugh out of it! But, even though it was kind of a silly film, I got something of meaning out of the film. When the professor/yoda was talking to George Lucas, he says "search not for inspiration, inspiration will find you". I find that statement to be so true, and it reminded me of a time that I did some research on Charles M. Schulz, and I found out that all of his characters from the Peanuts cartoons had actually been inspired by people he knew. In the film, all of the people that were with George Lucas on campus seemed to inspire him to create a character that was like them, and it ended up creating a great story. I just thought that the idea of letting inspiration find you rather than looking for it, was a good point in the story, and a great idea when creating stories.

I Haven't Seen Star Wars in a While...

But I thought the George Lucas in Love piece was brilliant. I'm not an overly dedicated fan of Star Wars, but I have seen them and I enjoyed them. I think the film was brilliant because it's the perfect fan video. The most iconic characters and moments of Star Wars were briefly mentioned in the film, and the director took a chance and even made fun of George Lucas in a very I'm-just-kidding-I-think-you're-great kind of way.

I read on IMDb that George Lucas has seen the film and thought it was absolutely fantastic. I can see why; This would be like the ultimate form of flattery to me.

On a different note, I really loved the creative thinking that went into portraying the characters of Star Wars as modern (or, 1999 modern) people. Easily, the Jabba the Hutt reference was my favorite, followed by the Yoda characterization. I think my favorite line was when young George Lucas said to Yoda/Professor, "Can you, um, talk forward?"

This is the type comedy that I find to be my favorite: simple, yet wonderfully clever. The deliveries were spot on, and the jokes were quick but packed a punch. I wish it had been longer, as I eagerly would have kept watching.

- R.

George Lucas in Love

I had never seen this film until today, and I must say I loved it. The comedy was so clever. Almost all the star wars references I understood right of the bat, and I haven't even seen star wars for a while. I also really liked the actor that played Lucas, I thought he resembled Lucas pretty well. I will have to start looking up more fan comedies like this, because I really enjoyed this one. This will be a film I could see myself looking up and watching again multiple times.

Neo/Messiah/Jesus

I agree with what Emily said; Jesus IS bad ass. Jesus may not have fought with his fists, but he fought with his words and his actions. Who else stumps the Pharisees every time they try to trick him? Who else tells demons to shut up and leave people alone? "even the wind and the sea obey him". Jesus certainly was not a limp, lifeless ragdoll, even though that's probably a common misconception among unbelievers. I understand what the reading was saying about how Jesus seems cocky and stuck-up, but you read Peter Pan and then tell me who's stuck up. When I read the New Testament, I often get pumped up over what Jesus does, and I think that even an unbeliever, if they would take the time to read some of the stories of Jesus, would gain some admiration for the hero of the Gospel.

Christian Symbols in other non christian films to say

Just the past weekend I did not go home for the thanksgiving. I went to my roommates house. While we were there. We went to a comic book shop. And I got two movies. One was District 9 and the other was underworld rise of the lycan.

When I got back to HU. I decided to watch Underworld rise of the lycan because of the director. The director is Patrick Tatopoulos. If you have seen the show face off you know who i am talking about.

here is his IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0851281/

And he directed Underworld Rise of the Lycan. While watching the movie. The main vampire get tortured and got whipped/ flogged 30 times in public, then after brought back to his jail cell and a prisoner gave him a sponge of water. I know this might not mean alot. But i think the director had a small christian background and chose to kinda portray the main character as a "Christ" kind of person.

Also this movie has a kinda romeo and juliet kind of theme in it as well. I dont want to spoil the whole movie cause i have not finished because i had to go to bed. :)  planning on finishing it today or this week.