Hello, World!
Hello, World!
I was watching KTLA news this morning and I shook my head as
I watched a facialist apply a 24 Karat Gold Leaf facial to a woman. My first thought was,
“Why?”
Why would someone pay
to have gold rubbed into their face when they could spend the money elsewhere?
Tuition, loans, travel, the list goes on and on. As a frugal and arguably defined ‘cheap’
college student, when I hear that an individual is paying over $500 for a
facial, I scoff.
I don’t normally hear about these strange anti-aging methods
in my everyday KTLA morning news segment.
But, this beauty package was advertised as an example for preparation of
the entertainment industry’s big finale:
The Academy Awards.
When individuals think of the Academy Awards, I would like
to imagine that they think about Old Hollywood glamor, flashing lights and
shining Oscars etc.
But instead, film and television celebrities pay to have
gold rubbed into their skin as a method to “reduce wrinkles and fine lines” and
to “brighten and hydrate your skin.” There
always seems to be a new age-defying spa treatment that celebrities use in the
month leading up to the Oscars. Last
year I watched the Oscars and listened to how woman used diamonds to exfoliate
their skin.
I rolled my eyes and muttered to myself, “Are you kidding
me?”
But this is what our society has come down to. This is what people watch.
Hell, this is what I’m
watching. Regardless of my critiques, I
continue to sit and watch as the women go in depth as to why they use their own
blood in a facelift. Horrified, but
slightly fascinated, I turn to the internet because morbidly I want to learn
more about it.
“A tube full of blood is taken from the patient’s body and
mixed with dermal fillers and injected back into the skin of the face,” a
gossip site eagerly recounts.
Honestly, that’s where I have to stop.
I cringe because who in their right mind would do something
like this?
And yet, here I sit, typing away as I know full well that I
am already in this industry. I acknowledge
the fact that I have spent several years learning about a variety of elements
within film and television. The
entertainment industry is a beast that a majority of people tends to
underestimate. I underestimated its
influence when I first applied to the film school.
As I traversed through the mandatory courses for my major,
and worked in a variety of departments, I learned that I loved the
entertainment industry, but I dislike it as well. As a double-edged sword, it brings out the
childish wonder in us all, and it can simultaneously drag us down to the depths
of lunacy. This is my attempt to come to
terms with everything happening in this industry, both the good and the bad. Using my own personal experiences and what
I’ve been taught, I’m going to attempt to bring some semblance of understanding
within the ‘Industry.’
Feel free to come along for the ride. If you’re interested in the entertainment
industry take a look at these blogs:
http://themovieblog.com: A blog that is seasonally dedicated
to award season.
It also includes
webcasts and podcasts
Deadline.com: My absolute favorite entertainment news
website.
It doesn’t have the webpage
glamor of an Insider or Entertainment Tonight webpage, but it actually
possesses business news that inherently makes celebrities popular.
PROFILE
Unsure of what I would find, I typed in the words ‘Film
Blog’ into Google.
I thought that I would discover indie film blogs that turned
their noses up at films that make over 75million at the box office. Surprisingly (to me), the first few links
contained professional newspaper film blogs (a la the Hero Complex at LA Times)
and Deadline.com. I clicked the second
page and I scanned through the links. A
website labeled only as Blog – The Film Experience caught my attention.
Let me introduce you to a blog called: Blog – The Film
Experience
The name itself is melo-dramatic in nature.
Originally written by an individual named Nathaniel R., this
man is a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association. But, it seems like you wouldn’t know that if
you first glanced at his biography picture.
It was only after I scanned his Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr account
links did I realize that he was a certified ‘professional.’
I read his ‘About’ page, and I learned that he apparently
served on four international film festival juries and appeared as an on-air
Oscar pundit for Sky News London.
Needless to say, I was impressed. And in a nutshell, this blog discusses
entertainment news.
The posts are numerous and contain an eclectic amount of
information. The posts range from
interesting leading links for the day, film reviews, and celebrity news to
entertainment award coverage that seems to be designated towards anyone who is
interested in the entertainment industry.
Essentially, he is attempting to offer entertainment information to a
range of audience members (from the barely-informed to the well-knowledged film
buff).
I immediately liked the type of information that was
displayed in each post. It is
surprisingly difficult to find a blog run by a certified critic (this means
there is some legitimacy to what they write) who incorporates both tabloid and
entertainment business material.
Due to his widespread reach, there are seemingly always
individuals posting comments under each entry for the day. And unlike a majority of tabloid websites comments,
these commentators post thoughtful quips about each post. This blog’s audience is made up of the
passive moviegoer and the informed film critic.
The blog itself is not strictly scholarly or strictly a
critique of film or the entertainment industry.
Rather, it takes information from all corners of the entertainment
industry mixes them together into one large melting pot.
For example, in a post titled, “Rooney Mara Pans Out,” the
writer Tim Brayton discusses the fact that actress Rooney Mara was cast as
Tiger Lily. This is an issue because a
Caucasian individual was cast as a minority character in a Hollywood film (once
again).
“The internet, including the Film Experience, has been
busily discussing the issue of casting able-bodied persons as disabled
characters these past few days; it's a conversation that needs to happen, but
it's galling to step back and realise that we haven't even finished fighting
the easy representational battles yet” - Source
Brayton is right. The
fact that he placed emphasis on the easy representation battles (Is it so difficult
to cast a Native American actor? Is it so difficult to cast someone who is even
a minority?) brings to light one of
the many issues in Hollywood is facing at the moment.
Because the Oscar season recently ended, this blog is filled
with a majority of Academy Award-inspired posts. Past winners and speculation fill this January-February
time period in the blog. The writer enjoys
keeping tabs on recent winners. In
the article "Carol Now Filming" writer Nathaniel R explains his
reasoning for following this film:
"First pics of Cate Blanchett filming Carol based on
Patricia Highsmith's "The Price of Salt" (which is sometimes called
"Carol" or vice versa). I know everyone thinks I'm this huge Cate
Blanchett nerd now that I fell so hard for her in Blue Jasmine but truth: I'm
in this for director Todd Haynes." - Source
Writer Nathaniel R. has a clear set of honest opinions and I
feel that he has an unapologetic passion for entertainment. I want to read professional's opinions
without the overindulgence of harsh critiques and an irritating sense of
self-righteousness.
To me, this blog demonstrates that there is a way for individuals
to incorporate entertainment business, film critiques and tabloid gossip
without entirely focusing on one aspect or another. I personally don’t like to be pulled in one
way or another because pure tabloids are popular in Los Angeles and tend to
inundate the news, while pure film critique blogs take themselves too
seriously.
Blog - The Film Experience is a great starting point for a
blogger like myself who generally enjoys the entertainment industry and who endeavors
to bring some sort of opinion to a variety of its elements.
Over 700 sites that link to this blog (one of which includes
the infamous Internet Movie Database).
Clearly I'm not the only one who is enjoying pursuing this blog.
VOICE CRITIQUE
Hello everyone,
Two weeks have passed by since I’ve posted last and in the
meantime I am keeping up with discovering other blogs that I enjoy. Last week I stumbled across a blog called The
Silver Screening Room. I absolutely love
it for it fascinating and opinionated tone throughout the entire blog. Its blogger has a voice that is all his own,
and it’s fantastic.
Readers, please let me introduce Walter L. Hollmann
His post “Top 25 Most Anticipated of 2014” details
(self-explanatory) the films he was most excited for. I eagerly clicked the
link because I primarily wanted to recall the films were going to be released
this year. (This morning I saw the
trailer to the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film and laughed. Hard). I
wanted to take note if other interesting films were going to be released.
He begins the post with number 25, but The Fault in Our Stars caught my attention.
“From skeptical synopsis-reader to tear-stained trailer
viewer!”
His first sentence characterized himself as someone who was
excitedly transformed. (The exclamation
point emphasizes the pure enthusiasm).
The character transformation offers a comedic insight into his opinion
of the film. I rolled my eyes when I
first saw the trailer because it seemed like a typical young adult-adapted book
(very popular now). Its stand-out
quality is that the book offers serious insight into the devastating impact of
cancer. But, his own humorous outlook
has made me rethink the entire film.
Maybe the book is as good as everyone has been raving about – and
perhaps the film will translate that quality?
Who knows.
The Foxcatcher entry
also made me chuckle.
I love it. The
shortened synopsis offers a stark view into this particular opinion. The tone comes off as mock-excitement
covering the genuine eagerness for this film.
The comma pause about the release date demonstrates a sense of
exasperation (as I interpret it) because the release date has not yet been
announced. The repetition and
parallelization of his opinion represents exasperation yet anticipation for
this film.
I continued to peruse his blog until I saw a post called
"More Than Mere Noise: Score, 1993."
A picture of John Williams bowing in respect as he held an Oscar was
stationed in the post and therefore I was drawn into an Academy Awards-oriented
post once more. The blogger listed a
series of songs from each of the films nominated and of course Schindler's List was placed last as it
did win Best Original Score.
The brevity of his opinion represents the sense of respect
that he possesses. As a film that
depicts the atrocities of the Holocaust during World War II, the film's score
must portray a haunting sense of loss.
This blogger's tone similarly offers that references. It begins with the one word.
Beautiful.
There is so much that the word attempts to capture. When reading the post I can already feel
impact of the word. The singularity
conveys his opinion. His voice, while
normally light and often enthusiastic, transforms into emotion. The singularity also represents his trademark
ability to offer opinion with brevity.
For those of you who have not seen the film or heard the
music score, please take a listen if you get the chance.
