My Own Little World

Today, I’m ashamed that someone was proud of me. Felicia and I had just seen Black Panther (which I’ll talk about in another post) and were walking out of the theater toward my car. During the movie, it began to snow a lot, so afterwards I had to brush the snow off of my car. Next to me, a woman who had just came from the same showing as us was doing the same thing I was doing. We struck up a conversation about how some kids in her family had never seen snow because they were from Florida and when they visited here it had never snowed for them, how she had a friend from Africa who marveled at snow when she saw it for the first time, and how one of the first presents my dad ever got my mom was a brush for her car. I also offered to help her brush her car off, but she said she was fine and didn’t need the help – which I knew would be her answer because she seemed like she had a good handle on what she was doing. Felicia (my girlfriend, for those of you who don’t know) said she ...

Warning: I will minorly spoil this movie in this post.  I have this thing with romance movies, that thing being that most of them are really, really not good. There is a definite formula to the genre that I think is becoming so overused that any film eschewing it for something different (*cough* Silver Linings Playbook *cough*) becomes one of the best of the genre in my mind. I kind of wish this wasn't the case, especially now that I am in a very committed relationship with someone who happens to love these movies. However, a couple of weeks ago, my girlfriend somehow got me to actually sit down and watch The Notebook  with her, and I realized something about this formula: there's a reason it's there, and I'd like to bet that that reason is The Notebook . It was successful among audiences, bringing in over five times its budget at the box office, as well as garnering a bit of a cult following in the years since its release. People love the unabashed sentimentality...

There's something to be said for the art of the twist ending. A really good plot twist towards the end of a film, no matter the genre, can make repeat viewings incredibly insightful and very rewarding which in my mind makes a film more valuable. I personally love plot twists in the course of watching a film for the first time and how they often make me look for the trail of breadcrumbs filmmakers leave throughout their work. One of the films most renowned for its twist in modern times is M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense . When this came out in 1999, everybody ate it up (at least from what the box office numbers show). It catapulted Shyamalan to the front page of filmmaking, and for good reason. This is a really well-constructed supernaturally-driven drama with some horror elements. Here's the secret to this film, though, and why the twist works so well: The Sixth Sense  has a really keen understanding of what it is as a film. It realizes that its content does ...

A little over a week ago, I finished my sophomore year at Olivet Nazarene University. To be honest, that statement really doesn't mean much (and those of you at Olivet who aren't in a science major can back me up there). A lot of my time so far has been focused on adjusting to life away from home, finding new friends, and figuring out what to actually pursue in my four-year program there. Difficult schoolwork? Not so much. The toughest part of classes this semester has been waking up for my 8 AM class three days a week. So, what's happened? Did I hit a sophomore slump in any areas? Not really. This has actually been one of the best years of my life. Between a lot of excellent classes, making some new friends, and finding romance, it's been really incredible. I have no complaints and very few regrets going into the summer. Here's some notes about stuff going on: My grades ended up pretty good, even in the classes I hated. The best thing about this semester...

I was practically raised on Disney animated films. I watched ones like Aladdin , The Lion King , and Beauty and the Beast growing up, and recently I've rediscovered how magical they can actually be thanks to my girlfriend and I watching them all the time. Their (mostly) timeless scores get stuck in my head so easily, and the stories, despite their target audience of children, seem to have a transcendent nature and punch way above their age bracket. However, as of late Disney has had a little trouble finding its animated musical mojo.  Yes, recent films like Tangled and Frozen have begun to turn this trend around, but forgettable films like Brother Bear and Home on the Range  still are a large blemish in the Disney catalog. To some extent, the name "Disney" in front of a film lost some of its magnitude and power. Meanwhile, studios like Pixar and DreamWorks have come alongside (and in some cases, jumped ahead of) Disney in the race for kids' attention spans....

Hey all. I'm back to update you on my college life, and it's been going quite swimmingly. Just a few things to catch you up on if you don't look at my Facebook profile: Broadway Revue was at the end of September, and it was fantastic. I got to work with some great people in the theater department and was featured in a number from Finding Neverland  that I had a blast with. It wore me out so much, but in the end it was a very fulfilling and enjoyable experience.  So, there's this girl named Felicia, and she's incredible. That is all I'll say about that for now.  I was in the room where it happened on October 23 and saw Hamilton  in Chicago with Felicia and a few of her friends. Big thanks to my parents for a great birthday present in that ticket, possibly the best I've ever gotten.  So, with that lengthier-than-I-thought-it-would-be update, let's talk about my personal least favorite part of any college semester: that time when you realize you'...