Online Presence

My parents have always threatened that colleges would see all of my text messages, Facebook posts, and little comments on twitter, but I never took them seriously until recently. I questioned my mom's credibility and thought she was just trying to scare me into keeping my act perfect on the internet. Not only is it important to stay professional on various blogs and social medias for the sake of the future and adulthood, but also for the effect comments could have on peers today. Cyberbullying has become an extreme problem with our society today since the web allows us to hide behind a screen. Anything you say on the internet can come back to haunt you, and it could seriously harm others too if you aren't careful. Deleting may seem like a solution, but the rate that teens nowadays check their medias and take picture evidence of things that are said and done is incredibly high. Gossip spreads like wildfire, and it really got me thinking. Whenever I try to be careful what I say on the internet I usually think that it won't matter, maybe a little curse word isn't so bad, there are other people posting things ten times worse. However, the little devil on my shoulder telling me something isn't right is usually an indicator to just leave it be. In the future I hope to hold myself from posting anything that my mind has second thoughts about, and maybe even deleting social media as a whole. All it seems to do with my life is waste time I could use for other things and start drama. The online footprints we leave show who we are, but we cannot let them overtake and define us. Self control people, self control.

The Importance in Costuming

Unfortunately, the human mind can be quite shallow. We are drawn to colorful images and beautiful things, which is what makes costuming and makeup so important in filmmaking. It makes a movie so much more enticing for the images on screen to be beautiful. For instance, in the production of Roar, all the makeup and vibrant clothing worn was completely what the video was meant to encompass. The abstract idea could not have been fulfilled without the crew behind the scenes. The video would have ultimately failed without this display of bright colors. In MASH as well, the movie wouldn't have flowed without the costuming set back in the 60's and army attire. It sets the tone of the film and also the time/ place. Another point that the article makes is making Audrey Hepburn as attractive as she can be. To pull in the audience, a key element is to make her as gorgeous as possible, so the viewers are thirsting for more, and wanting to watch. When setting up a film and different scenes, costuming is crucial.

Fear

What is it that scares you the most? For some it may be simple interactions with people, or maybe the irrational fear of a tiny cockroach that couldn't harm a fly. Fear is so much deeper than the scary movies and insanity of a ghost story that isn't probable. Fear is of the unknown. What ifs' are the only true fright. Why is it that the dark is associated with horror? It's all psychological, and it has been broken down and investigated by many scientists over the years who have tried to decode our mind and why it gives us these sensations of panic and looming threat. Secretly, I believe fear is an addiction. People may not admit to it, but the thrill of fear is like a drug that we as humans can't seem to give up, as much as we love to hate it. The heart pounding, terrifying, slowed seconds of shooting adrenaline are truly addicting. The psychology of it all shows that when given uncertainty, we become scared. Uncertainty is intriguing to us, the fear of not knowing what is to come is the most paralyzing of all spooks, not some man-eating monster living under your bed. There is beauty in the terror the human mind creates.

Love Creates Horror

"Love creates Horror," possibly one of the most accurate oxymorons I've ever heard. When you love someone or something, you are completely vulnerable. When you give your heart away, it is no longer in your hands. This isn't always easy for a control freak like myself. It's scary, when you put all your faith into a person, and they have the opportunity to let you down. With love, comes horror, the horror of losing something dear to you. I will never forget the moment that I thought my brother was hit by a car. For a split second, I was paralyzed in fear. I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe. All I could do was think about losing someone who meant so much to me. I couldn't live without my sibling who I had fought with, laughed with, and spent countless hours arguing with. If he would've been gone, I would've been empty. I think that's what King wanted to capture in his characters. If you can learn to love them and sympathize with them, then you can be scared for them. Not only that, but you can be scared to lose them, just like anything else you love.

Translations

When creating a film based off of a book, translation sometimes gets lost. To bookworms worldwide, perfect portrayal is key to a quality film, plus people can get pretty offended when Hollywood downgrades their paper fantasy. Some crucial translations to follow when creating a movie off a novel are below:
1. -Character development: physical and emotional characteristics alike.
    -Climax: the point of highest tension is essential to keep similar to the original story.
    -Relationships: how characters interact with each other could completely alter a story.
    -Antagonist vs. Protagonist: the conflict usually has to remain the same to keep the same storyline.
    -Resolution: if anything, the resolution is usually changed, which completely misses the point of the whole novel.
2. In my opinion, I think the ending is the most important part of a novel, and to change that in a movie translation is to change the plot completely. Upon watching My Sister's Keeper, when the ending was completely altered, me myself as a reader and observer of the film, I was very upset to say the least. Next, I see great importance in the background of a character. Even the minute details I find myself looking for in movies and other works of film. I was disappointed in the first Percy Jackson and the Olympians movie, solely due to the fact that Anabeth's stormy gray eyes, and striking blonde hair (which was highlighted with emphasis in the book) actually turned out to be brown and blue eyes. The entire plot and climax is the most flexible part of a plot line, mainly because a whole novel would take hours to interpret into film. To make things more interesting, relationships between the antagonists and protagonists is adjustable as well.
3. In Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, one scene that sticks out in my mind is the scene in which Oskar receives the last message from his father, who is trapped in the World Trade Center, shortly after the plane struck on September 11th, 2001. The passage reads, " There were four more messages from him: one at 9:12, one at 9:31, one at 9:46, and one at 10:04. I listened to them, and listened to them again, and then before I had time to figure  out what to do, or even what to think or feel, the phone started ringing. It was 10:22:27. I looked at the caller ID and saw that is was him." In the novel, this section I almost overlooked. It seemed irrelevant the first time I read the book, because the main character, Oskar, stated his last experience from his father so calmly. In the film, this time is very traumatic for the boy, and he flips out on scene, and hides under his bed sobbing. I think the author wanted Oskar to seem as if he was in shock, which I now understand after re-evaluating the situation. Upon realizing Oskar's character, I believe he became numb when he registered that he would never again see his father who his world revolved around.

are books always better than the movies?

When an author puts their words into a sentence, then a sentence into a paragraph, and paragraphs into a chapter: they've done all they can do. Upon reading a story, everything is open to interpretation. The author can establish a tone, but from there on out, the mood is all to you (the reader). Every little detail is all to your imagination. One series that sticks out in my mind is the Maximum Ride series by James Patterson. The minute details of each character and the thoroughness of the imagery used allowed my brain to come up with scenarios that I was transformed into. Patterson does a wonderful job of capturing you into a story that you almost believe you are living yourself. Hollywood does plan on creating a film off of the book series, but I already have in mind what I think every single setting and character should look like. As a control freak, seeing the film turn out differently is quite bothersome, especially when directors and producers miss details that I found to be crucial to the story. In my opinion, the images you see in your head when decoding a book are much more beautiful than anything a movie depicts. The creativity in deciphering a story yourself is priceless compared to the millions that actors make per second while filming a strict, "straight to the book" movie. The Host, by Stephenie Meyer is another one of my favorites that I could see perfectly in my head. I saw a preview for the movie, and decided to pick up the novel. In this case, I saw the characters depicted in the trailer as the faces to names in the story, which was pretty cool. I had no idea where the plot would go, but I already had the profiles of the characters imprinted into my brain. The background and plot just painted itself around them, which was interesting to me. Once my brain registered a certain character with certain face; there was no going back. No matter what I thought, I always went back to seeing Melanie Stryder's face synced up with Saoirse Ronan's. I still wonder how I would've interpretted Meyer's characters without a preconceived face in my head. Books also provide much more information as to what each individual character is thinking because you can be inside of their mind, while movies often skip key factors to the storyline.  Call me old school, but books are always better.