Beasts of the Southern Wild

My mom bought Beasts of the Southern Wild because she ‘heard it was good.’ Translation: it was nominated for an Oscar. What my mother fails to take into account, is that the majority of Oscar nominated films are dull, sentimental and tedious. *Ahem* Lincoln, The King’s Speech, The Artist… I could go on. She also didn’t think too much about the fact that Beasts of the Southern Wild is an independent film. Ergo, not a big budget and some crazy, usually hippy, undertones.

So the movie was really doomed from the start. At least to the average shallow movie goer.

I quite enjoyed the film. It was at times slow moving and the plot is unremarkable, but artfully done. The story centres on Hushpuppy, a 7 or 8 year old girl living with her Daddy on the bayou, in a fictional area called The Bathtub, reminiscent of Louisiana.  The Bathtub has been cut off from the rest of the area, an island in the middle of water no one else wants. The others have built a levee to keep the water- and the citizens of the Bathtub- out. They figure the citizens of Bathtub will drown eventually.

Hushpuppy lives in her own “house”, really just a shack on stilts. Her Dad lives in his house. Hushpuppy dons rubber boots, underwear and a dirty tank top. She cooks her own food, consisting of gravy and cat food heated in a pan on a stove started with a blowtorch. Nobody said her Daddy was a good father. Daddy disappeared for days. He came back in a hospital gown. Hushpuppy wants to know where he was. He tells her to shut up. When she insists he slaps her. She punches him over his heart. He falls to the ground. And in the eyes of the seven year old, the universe is now out of balance.

Between a massive storm, collapsing ice shelves, her Dad’s failing health and aurochs closing in, Hushpuppy’s world is crumbling.

It’s hard to tell what’s real and what’s not in this film. The story is told through Hushpuppy’s eyes and narration. In her mind, the thunder is caused by the collapse of ice shelves into the ocean, something she had heard at school. Her teacher also told her about aurochs, ancestors of cows that used to be the biggest baddest beasts around. When her dad falls and the storm starts, Hushpuppy makes the connection that hitting her dad has plunged the universe into chaos. She says, “The whole universe depends on everything fitting together just right. If one piece busts, even the smallest piece… the entire universe will get busted.”

The film is quite symbolic and metaphorical. It requires attention and your brain needs to be engaged. Which is not what my family is looking for in a movie.

The acting on the part of Quvenzhané Wallis is incredible.  How a 9 year old can act that effortlessly is beyond me. It really was monumental for her to be nominated for Best Actress, the youngest actress ever, by four years. But I digress. If you’re looking for a fun and engaging movie, don’t pick this one. If you’re looking  for a though provoking and startlingly honest look at an impoverished seven year old’s life through her eyes, this is the movie for you.

This last line from the movie sums up the message of the film, as told by Hushpuppy, “When it all goes quiet behind my eyes, I see everything that made me lying around in invisible pieces. When I look too hard, it goes away. And when it all goes quiet, I see they are right here. I see that I’m a little piece in a big, big universe. And that makes things right. When I die, the scientists of the future, they’re gonna find it all. They gonna know, once there was a Hushpuppy, and she live with her daddy in the Bathtub.”

Indecision

As many of you know, I’m a university student at Wilfred Laurier University. I’m studying Journalism. I decided I would do this in grade 9. I never really questioned it. I never really looked into anything else. And now I am second-guessing my decision.

I feel like I don’t know what I’m doing. I feel like I’m never giving 100% in school. I feel like I’m half-assing things and I don’t know why. I feel like I’m trying to get away with doing the bare minimum amount of work. I feel like I don’t enjoy school .

And I’m wondering: should I stay in Journalism? Is this what I want? Is this what God wants for me? I don’t know. I don’t know if I’m making a big mistake. I don’t know if I should switch programs. I don’t want to quit Journalism school because it’s too hard. My greatest fear is that fear itself will hold me back. I’m not afraid of hard work, or at least I think I’m not. So why am I so reluctant to commit to Journalism? I don’t really like interviewing people. It makes me nervous. I don’t like being pushed outside my comfort zone. But this is a necessity of life. I don’t like to be challenged, but I should. I’m trying to embrace it.

I know that I need to be pushed out of my comfort zone but if I hate interviewing and digging for a story, does that mean I’m in the wrong program? I don’t want to commit 4 years and so much work and thousands of dollars into the Journalism program if I’m not going to be a journalist when I graduate.

But the fact still remains, that I don’t really like what I’m doing. Is that a good enough reason to quit? Do I dislike it because it’s school and just hard work? Or is this career not for me? I feel like I can switch programs in first year, but not in second. I feel like I need to make a decision. One that I’m utterly unprepared to make.

Stay or go? I don’t want to make a huge mistake by switching into another program and then wishing I could go back. I don’t want to enter second year hating Journalism. But I don’t want to quit just because it’s hard. But am I making a huge mistake devoting 4 years of my life to something I don’t love?

There aren’t a ton of jobs in Journalism and it’s hugely competitive. Am I prepared to commit everything to Journalism? I don’t know if I can.

Am I just being discontent? Or is journalism just not for me?

I’m so afraid of making a huge mistake. I don’t know what to do. “In all you ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths.” I need some direction. And I don’t know where I’m supposed to get it from. Am I just being difficult?

“One of the hardest decisions you’ll ever face in life is whether to walk away or try harder.”

Am I at that point? Do I just need to commit more to school? Or is God telling me that this isn’t His path for me?

I don’t know. I feel like I’ve never known.

I feel like I don’t know who I am. I don’t know what I’m doing in relationships, I don’t know what I’m doing with my horse. How can I make decisions about my future when I’m so unsure about the present?

Now what?

The never ending pages

I’m very sorry to everyone at my lack of activity as of late. I’m struggling through Hugh Cook’s Heron River currently. Unfortunately, the book is not an easy read and it’s going to take me significantly more time to read it than I had hoped. I know Hugh Cook personally and I studied some of his short stories in high school, so naturally I picked his book up at my library to read. The book is wordy and the lack of quotation marks around dialogue confuses and angers me. It’s going to take some time.

Besides the fact that Heron River is a difficult read is the fact that university requires an inordinate amount of reading. I’m reading at least 100 pages of dry textbook text each week for my classes, so I really don’t feel like reading too much fiction right now. I read Elie Wiesel’s Night for one of my classes, but I didn’t really want to review it. It’s a work of unspeakable horror. It’s non-fiction. How can I critique the writing style? He’s writing from memory about his experience in concentration camps. It’s translated from the French but it’s still an easy read. It’s really not a work of great literature and leaves very little to be said about it.

I’m also reading Life of Pi for my reading fiction class. This book has been reviewed to death and I really don’t feel like I have anything new or relevant to add to the book. I’ve found it slow so far and I’m unimpressed with Martel’s character development. That’s about it.

Hopefully I can get back on my A-game and be able to juggle class readings with fiction readings. I’m just so busy with school, and when I’m not busy, I just want to ride, watch TV or sleep. Good, brainless fun. Well riding isn’t brainless, but it’s second nature to me and doesn’t require too much effort. For now, my life sucks. I can’t wait for summer.

Misérable means Miserable

Reblogged from Pensees:

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A lot of discussion about Les Misérables has been had.

I'll join with some scattered thoughts under the following categories:

1. Musicality
2. Vulgarity
3. Spirituality

Musicality

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and everyone has a reason for why their opinion is credible (whether it makes sense or not). I'm no different. I think I know a thing or two about music having had some formal training in music.

Read more… 2,307 more words

I couldn't have said it better myself. This guy hits all the important parts of a fabulous film

The Hobbit: good, but not best

I’ve seen The Hobbit twice in theatres now. And while I like it, there are quite a few things that bothered me about it. The first is that the movie makers are releasing three movies on The Hobbit. It seems like such a money grab. They squeezed six books into three movies, and cut out major characters like Tom Bombadil. And in The Hobbit, they added characters. I made The Hobbit as a child into a movie with my siblings and young uncle. It was half an hour long. 45 minutes tops. So the idea that they are going to make this book into 9 hours of film makes me confused.

The film itself was a bit scattered, and kind of ADD. Much of the film is not content from the book. I think this movie covers maybe three chapters of the book. Much of the content and characters are either made up, or are stories from the Lost Tales or the Silmarillion. Ergo, NOT The Hobbit.

Another thing was the special effects. They were okay, but not nearly as detailed or well executed as LOTR. Which is embarrassing, considering LOTR is ten years old. The movie as a whole was a bit confused, not sure if it should follow in LOTR’s footsteps. It’s trying too hard to be Lord of the Rings, when it is not. It is The Hobbit. And it should have its own themes, nuances, storyline and visual scenery.

To me, the only thing that made the film good was Martin Freedman. He is absolutely brilliant as Bilbo. I loved him in the film. He’s sincere, and delivers his lines with perfect timing and expression. His character is quite different from the Bilbo in Lord of the Rings. And I appreciate him more. Richard Armitage plays Thorin. Armitage has a tendency to over act, being too angry, too loud and trying too hard. His unidentified accent is only present half the time and no one knows what it’s supposed to be. He is trying too hard to be Aragorn instead of developing characteristics of his own. Although, that is probably the script writer and/or the directors fault as well. Similarities and comparisons to LOTR is inevitable obviously. But for me it was trying too hard to be something that it’s not.

The highlight of the movie for me was the riddle telling between Bilbo and Smeagol. Andy Serkis is excellent as always and I felt a pity for his sad state. Bilbo’s decision to spare his life has huge consequences for the fate of Middle Earth, which was felt profoundly in the film.

I enjoyed the movie, enough to see it twice. Which has only happened one other time, for Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (which happens to be one of my all-time favourite movies ever). The Hobbit is worth watching, but the following two movies will only tell if the trilogy is a success. And the sequel has been pushed back until 2014. Sensing a pattern? The timeline on these movies has been pushed back too many times to count. The Hobbit is cool. But one thing’s for sure: It’s no Lord of the Rings.

Olympic domination of the news, the TV, conversation, T-shirts…

All anyone ever talks about is the Olympics right now. Have you seen Yahoo!’s website recently? Apparently a bunch of athletes who don’t really contribute to society other than being physical fit is newsworthy all day every day. Its so sad for someone like me, who thinks world events are more important than swimmers. It is just more proof of the developed world’s obsession with entertainment. But that is a different topic for a different day. I get the whole the-world-is-coming-together-in-peace-and-love thing, but it really isn’t that monumental. Syria is still in crisis and most of Africa still doesn’t have clean water.

The Olympics are getting old very quickly. They are all that is on television. I want to watch Masterchef, Rookie Blue, Modern Family and… well that’s about it, but still. No T.V shows are airing new episodes because of the Olympics. And I’m tired of watching sport after sport after sport- many of which shouldn’t be Olympic sports anyways. Badminton and table tennis? Really? The Olympics have been reduced to that? It’s just sad and pathetic. I want to watch fake people’s lives, not crazy athletes whose whole lives revolve around these seventeen days of competition. Fictional people are more interesting and have more variety in their lives than Olympians. I haven’t even been able to catch any equestrian events, so my life sucks. And I’m just sick of seeing Michael Phelp’s over-rated face.

Random Summer musings

I have no coherent thoughts currently. Everything is disconnected and my brain cells are not firing on all cylinders. I blame 10 hour work days in 35+ degree heat. So, here are observations that don’t relate but I thought should be relayed anyways.

First of all, it is blisteringly hot in Ontario. Ridiculously so. I start work at 6 or 6:30 am to try to avoid the heat. It does not work. I am disgusted at how much I sweat and stink. I didn’t think it was possible. It is.

Secondly, every single radio station claims that it is the #1 hit music station. This is not possible. Someone should sue them.

America needs to change their gun laws and take “the right to bear arms” out of their constitution. . Gun control is a must. Enough is enough.

We have a new cat at the barn named Churchill. He is the most neurotically cute kitten in the world. This is a proven fact.

Hay is spiking in price because of the lack of rain. I do not want to pay more for my hay. I am poor already. Either my horse needs to eat less or it needs to rain. And my horse will never eat less.

And finally, the only good thing about 6 am start times at work is that when I pick the front field of wild flowers at work, the world is completely still and quiet. There’s no traffic noise, no kids screaming, no dogs barking. There is only the rustle of wings, the sigh of clouds and hushed murmur of dancing leaves. It is beautifully and perfectly motionless. Then it gets loud and hot and humid and sticky and horrible. But for that first hour when I am awake and the world is asleep, earth seems, for lack of a better word, earthy instead of industrial. And the silence almost makes working at 6:00 worth it. Almost.

Bad books and impatience

I slack. I swear my brain goes into another state of lower consciousness once summer starts and school stops. I am currently suffering through a book a friend of mine told me to read and it is quite frankly, awful. It’s a Randy Alcorn novel, so I suppose it’s my own fault. I doubt I’ll ever finish it or review it. It’s just that bad. The first person narrative is forcibly candid, and the author thinks he’s being clever, but is just untalented. The dialogue is painfully unrealistic and his characters are stereotypical with a few one-dimensional quirks that don’t add to the storyline. His message comes out so overtly through character dialogue that it’s ridiculous and comes off as preachy. I just don’t like it at all. His style or lack thereof drives me nuts. I can’t handle it anymore. I’m waiting for a book to come in at my library however, so I don’t have much choice. I am always reading a book. To not have a book on the go is contrary to my nature. So I have a dilemma. Keep reading the book, or find another. Another that I won’t finish before my new library book comes in. Seriously, every time I read a portion of the book I hear Gru’s voice from Despicable Me saying “You like this garbage?” Insert overly stressed Russian accent. “ You call this literature?” It’s the only thing funny about the sad excuse for a book. Sorry Alcorn. Three strikes and your out. This is strike two. (I tried to unsuccessfully read one other of his books) And you’re out anyways. I’m just that sick of it. I am excited for Blood Red Road to come in at the library. I’ve been in line for close to three months. Hurry up people! Patience is not one of my talents. However, cynicism is. And I’m getting fed up with bad books. Anybody have any good ones for me to read?

The Danger of Valentine’s

This morning I found this rather bitter piece of writing that I wrote on Valentine’s Day. So it is out of date, but hey, better late than never right?

Alone on Valentine’s Day: the dreaded admission of myself, and many other people I’m sure. Christina Perri’s Jar of Hearts and Adele’s Set Fire to the Rain played on the radio. Needless to say, after they ended, I wasn’t feeling particularly lovey-dovey. They’re not really conducive to appreciating Valentine’s Day. Rather, it made me feel better about my lack-of-a-relationship. See, Valentine’s Day is a scam to me. It’s a day invented to make people feel like they have to spend money on their significant other, while the prices on flowers and chocolate proportionately increase; how terribly convenient for the Hallmark store. 

I didn’t feel lonely yesterday. I felt a little bit smug that I had only myself to worry about. Wow, you must be thinking, this girl is bitter about some relationship gone sour.  Everybody’s had bad relationships; I am no exception. But I really feel that Valentine’s Day is a waste of money and time- I’ve always felt that way. It gives us an excuse to be less affectionate and romantic the rest of the year. See, we created a day to be romantic, which only tempts us to be not romantic every other day. It’s like creating a ‘Kindness Day’. Would people be kinder that one day? Probably. But it also permits us not to be kind other days.  By making something that should be commonplace special, you devalue it the rest of the time.  I’m not saying don’t buy chocolates for your significant other on Valentine’s Day. I’m just challenging you to be affectionate and show your love the other 365 days. Telling your partner you cherish them and treating them special on a Tuesday will go a lot further than roses and Lindor chocolates on Valentine’s Day. I guarantee it. Because honestly, giving flowers on Valentine’s Day isn’t special—it’s merely expected. Which, if you ask me, is a pretty pathetic reason to do it in the first place.

Puppy-dog Eyes

I’m too busy to write but I figured everybody could use some puppy-dog eyes to brighten their day. Samson was all-too happy to oblige.