Thoughts on the film from 4/23

I thought the film we saw on monday about watching the girls team from japan practice was interesting. The first thing that caught my mind was how organized the girls are when the run around the court. Everyone is in a straight line and nobody is all over the place. You dont see people run in an orderly fashion at a practice in the United States. Plus, the amount of running they did was unbelievable. I would have quit if my high school coach made me do that much running. The number one thing that really caught my attention was that there was no basketball hoops. I have never seen a practice in my life where no shooting was involved. That kind of made the film a little bit boring towards the end because i wanted to see how good of shooters and defenders they are when playing the game of basketball. I think this film was an example of how there culture is a lot different than ours. They do things in an orderly fashion and everybody seems to follow rules better there then they do here. In all i thought it was a good film and enjoyed seeing how they practice compared to the style we have here in the United States. Plus good camera work and it was good to keep the camera stationary it really kept the focus of me and made the film easy to follow

Thoughts on Hamilton by Porterfield

This film seemed to keep my interest more than the D Est film mainly because there was dialogue in the movie, but i do believe in both you could tell what the story was about. Watching this film it seemed to me that Joe was a man who had a child, but acted like he is still a child. Joe doesn't spend much time with the child and Elena. He keeps coming up with excuses like I am working. The problem is most of the time he is just sitting on the porch of the house he is staying at and doing nothing. Another thing is he argues with his mom and doesnt listen to her which are childish acts. Then at the end of the field the scene with him riding on a bike with another boy near by seems to show that he is still a child and is not ready to grow up and still likes to act like a kid. There just seemed like lots of tension by Joe in that he hasnt broken out of being a kid yet and is not ready to be the parent that he is suppose to be now that he has a child with Elena. The shoots are somewhat similar to D Est in that you see alot of different things throughout the movie and the camera doesnt sit on an image for a long time. I think this film and D Est are easy to stand focused on because they have more of a movie type feel to them and thats what are society is more used to these days. It was a good interesting film that to me represented a man who is not ready to grow up and in a way is a man in a boy's body.

Thoughts on 4/11 Discussion section

I thought that the discussion we had on wednesday was the best one of the semester. Many of the students opened up and gave there opinions about the first film we watched by Jennifer Montgomery. It is really a tough subject to talk about because of the fact that it is a very feminist and sexual film. That film made me very uncomfortable mainly because I am an only child and my mom was the only women in the house hold so i dont feel that comfortable with the femine issues that we saw in the film. I kind of fell asleep of and on in the film because when i saw some of the images like talking about her own organisms i just wanted to tune it out. I do believe that after hearing everyone's comments in discussion it should help me in the future to share my thoughts about difficult films like that one shown by Jennifer Montgomery. The film i enjoyed the most was her going to some of her old friends homes to get a hold of the cameras she had borrowed to them. It gave the film a conversational film and made it easy to follow and stay interested in the film. In conclusion, I enjoyed the discussion because it was good hearing about all the different emotions that first film we saw had on people.

Response to Moments of Intentional Vulnerability

I think a good example of awkwardness is having to meet your friends family for the first time at a party or some big event. Your standing there and feeling vulnerable because you don't know how they will react to you when the see how you look and how you talk to them. That can be how it is for a film maker when the present a film to a large audience at an event or in schedule class at school. The film maker doesn't know how you receive the movie and feel very vulnerable looking and hearing for body movements that can help indicate if the people are appealing to things you are presenting. The reason for times of awkwardness making us feel vulnerable is that the we aren't use to our surroundings, or even the people that you have to interact with at times. I do believe that moments of awkwardness are good in filming and in every day life because it would help you adjust to those vulnerable you have and help you in the future to cope better when you know a moment of awkwardness is approaching. Vulnerablity is important because like in anything in life it is important to improve at each aspect of life. There is also room for improvement is what i am saying.

Thoughts on readings from thislife.org

The first reading was titled Golden Apple. It talked about how Nancy Updike who worked at the grocery store talked to two guys that played the accordion. Also to an ex couple would come into the store and tell her who was at fault for the two of them breaking up and that it had happened over 3 years ago. In Act two girls and guys go to the Golden Apple to look for someone to be with. Also that cops were in there talking about their daily life and what they watch on tv. I thought this reading was kind of like everyday life in a way for most people. I can imagine older people coming to my job and telling me about there problems in life and about the people that get on there nerves. I thought the part about two girls go to the club being a pretty normal thing today to look for someone to be with. I also can imagine cops taking it easy on there jobs and talking about what they do in there free time instead of the few things they may do in a day while at work.

Then i read My Pen Pal that Andrea had wrote. I thought it was interesting that a man named Ted Widmer talked about two pen pals in The New World. I thought it was very odd that after John Winthrop sent Roger Williams to jail for saying church and state should be seperate that the two of them would be friends and continuely write back to each other. Not every day do you see someone become a friend with them if they have sent that person to jail. Then act one seemed to be strange to me because not every day does a 1o year old girl have a pen pal who is a drug trafficker, and a murderer. If i was her i would definately not stay in contact with that person. The last act i read on the reading was about Janice Powell's husband who was sent to prison for being an abusive husband. It seemed very odd to me that the two communicated through letters for eight years. You would think if you were her you wouldnt want to continue to associate with a man that was abusive to you. What i thought was funny is that she thought they had a better relationship for having this happen.

I thought both readings were interesting and seemed like everyday issues some people have that you don't hear about in the news at all. Very interesting and unique stories in all.