What Current Kickstarter Movie is Worthy of Success?

What Current Kickstarter Movie is Worthy of Success?

While browsing the current film projects on Kickstarter, the first movie that caught my eye was Paper Chase, by Lauren Domino and Angela Tucker. Now, what is Paper Chase? Well, according to their page, in one sentence, Paper Chase is  "A comedy set in New Orleans about a young girl raising money for college by any means necessary!" This movie was written out of a desire to give more representation to women in color in film, as well as to present their town, New Orleans, and issues like race and class through a different perspective. Domino and Tucker have also cited old 80's teen comedies such as Sixteen Candles and Say Anything as inspiration for their film.

I think that Paper Chase is a project that will (or should) be a successful film project because of the film's content, subject matter, and genre.

My Favorite Media

Hey, I'm back after three long years. Since nobody reads my blog anyway, it will be turned into a landing space for posts for my media class. Who knows, maybe in the future I'll continue writing. But for now, enjoy.

My Favorite Media

My favorite media is the TV show Pretty Little Liars (PLL). Based on and inspiring the continuation of the bestselling novels by Sara Shepard, PLL is  “set in the fictional town of Rosewood, Pennsylvania…[following] the lives of four girls whose clique falls apart after the disappearance of their leader, Alison DiLaurentis. One year later, the estranged friends are reunited as they begin receiving messages from a mysterious figure named "A" who threatens to expose their deepest secrets, including ones they thought only Alison knew. At first, they think it's Alison herself, but after her body is found, the girls realize that someone else is planning on ruining their lives” (Wikipedia). Despite being catered to  a young audience, PLL offers something for everyone. Pretty Little Liars is one of my favorite shows because it is exciting, relatable, and a pioneer in social media.

The Crucible (1996) Review

I know I haven't posted in a while, but here's a review I did for English. For now, I do not plan on updating this blog anymore so enjoy!

The Crucible Movie Review

Based on the 1952 play by Arthur Miller, The Crucible is centered around the Salem witch trials of 1692. After Abigail Williams, a wily and vengeful girl accuses the townspeople of being witches to cover up her own indiscretions, mass hysteria breaks out in Salem in the form of a witch hunt. Many are no longer safe as the accusers begin to target their rivals. When Abigail Williams’ (Winona Ryder) plan to get her lover, John Proctor (Daniel Day-Lewis), back by accusing his wife fails, she disappears only to leave them to their fate. Although The Crucible may drag on sometimes, fantastic actors and the integration of new scenes make the film worthwhile.

First of all, the leading aspect of the movie is it’s characters. The actors accurately and effectively embody their characters. Winona Ryder transforms the cruel, spiteful Abigail Williams into a three-dimensional, manipulative girl. Her portrayal of Abigail is accurate and at the same time, even more dramatic than the character in the play. Similarly, Joan Allen transforms Elizabeth Proctor from a initially helpless wife to a woman with an important and much bigger role in Proctor’s life. When she says to Reverend Hale, “He has his goodness now, and God forbid I take it from him”, it is undoubtedly the best depiction of Elizabeth’s power to save Proctor’s life and of Allen’s portrayal of her. Both Allen and Ryder drive the plot with their strong and passionate acting.

In addition to a compelling cast, the elements that make the movie excellent is the integration of the setting and scenes not included in Arthur Miller’s play. From originally only having three main settings, the director, Nicholas Hytner, expertly incorporates different location without making the plot too jumbled or confusing. Instead, it adds visual excitement to the movie as well as clarify and accentuate events that happened offscreen in the play. For example, it is much more interesting to watch the scenes where Proctor initially approaches Abigail and the scene when Proctor and Elizabeth talk on the cliff due to the different locations. Also, the opening forest scene and the scene where Abigail stabs herself with a needle is successfully able to emphasize the escalating hysteria and hypocrisy of the accusers. These elements greatly enhance the viewing pleasure of the movie and clearly give the viewer a better sense of the insanity and desperation of the young girls.

At times, the plot is heavy and slow. An example of this is in the courtroom, when Francis Nurse (Tom McDermott) and Giles Corey (Peter Vaughan) present a list of the accused to the judges. The lack of action and constant courtroom-talk drags the scene too long, leaving the viewer bored and uninterested. Furthermore, it takes too long for Proctor to make his point at the end when he decides not to betray his friends and trade his name for his life. Scenes like these bog the story down and can only be revived by the excellent acting in the following moments.

Overall, the powerful cast and innovative scene integration makes this adaption a must-see. The cast transforms Miller’s words into an amazing performance that  showcases the characters in a manner that cannot be captured by anyone else. Additionally, the new scenes and locations made the movie clear to understand and stunning to watch. Despite some sluggish and boring moments, The Crucible is a movie that is made captivating by all of these elements of this adaptation.

PLL 2.25 unmAsked (Spring/Season 2 Finale)

Pretty Little Liars-

Pretty Little Liars- Spencer, Emily, Hanna, and Aria at the Masquerade ball.

So, this is the season finale of Pretty Little Liars, which means, recaps will continue after June 5, which starts the third season. Enjoy!

PLL 2.24 If These Dolls Could Talk

Pretty Little Liars - 

Creepiest show ever.

Pretty Little Liars - Aria, Emily, Spencer, and Hanna come closer to finding out Alison's secrets.

(Not in chronological order. But it mostly is.)

Pretty Little Liars - Alison is seen by Spencer in the middle of the night.

A drugged-up Spencer wakes up in the middle of the night and sees Ali in her house, and later thinks that Ali really visited her, just like the time Emily saw Ali. And later, she shows Melissa the video of her storming into Ali's room the night of her murder, which she shrugs off because she also has video of the Liars doing something incriminating.

Pretty Little Liars - A little boy from the doll shop talks to the Liars.

Jenna takes off her bandages early to test out her new eyes, but apparently, it didn't work because she just cries and returns to school with an apology for the Liars. Meanwhile, the girls uncover more clues about Ali's connection with "A" right up until her murder. Later, while putting a note on her mother's desk, Aria discovers a note from Byron asking for her transcript so it can be sent to an all-girls boarding school. But anyway, the girls head up to the doll shop where they discover that the owner, an old lady, and a little boy knows more that they're letting on. Well, at least the old lady does. The boy just keeps blabbering on about Alison's murder and "A" like nobody's business.

At home, Aria confronts her mother about Byron's note and threatens to reveal his secret to get him off her back. And Ella's like, "I'm not disappointed in you, I'm ASHAMED of you." That's cruel, Ella Montgomery. Just cruel. And so Aria goes to Ezra's and they begin kissing, leading to ... well, you get the picture. I guess they're now officially illegal. Also, Jenna gives Toby page 5 of the autopsy report and they go off to the police station to hand it over.

Pretty Little Liars - A scene of Alison's death depicted with a doll buried in dirt.

So now Hanna is convinced that Melissa is "A", and to prove it, she carries out a "foolproof" plan in which she plans for Melissa to see Caleb and Mona to kiss, which will trigger another "A" text, somehow proving her guiltiness. They then decide to go to the creepy doll house where they hear a scary mechanical doll voice going, "Follow me, end up like me. Follow me, end up like me. Follow me, end up like me." And I don't understand how they could not expect a severed head or something buried in the dirt, but they don't. Instead, they still jump and scream like wild hyenas when opening the cabinet and seeing an Ali doll in a mountain of sand. And, in "A's" true fashion, multiple shelves are knocked over and doll parts fall all over them.

Pretty Little Liars - Jenna looking in to her mirror, able to see.

They go back to Spencer's house where Garret and Melissa are constructing their evil plans when suddenly, he gets arrested! Finally right? But while all the drama's at Spencer's house, Jenna is secretly plotting her revenge as she expertly squashes a fly against the mirror, revealing her non-blindness. In the end, "A" hands over a wad of cash to the old lady of the doll shop as compensation for destroying her precious dolls and a lollipop to the possessed little boy.

Can't wait for "A" to be revealed! Well, actually, I can. Nonetheless, I'm excited!

It's bedtime, watch, don't wait.

PLL 2.23 Eye of the Beholder

Pretty Little Liars -
That title = The Twilight Zone
Yea, I suck at posting. How about some updates?

Pretty Little Liars - Duncan talks with Aria.

That guy that recognized Aria is named Duncan, and apparently met Ali a while ago and for some reason connected to Alison's murder because he saw her the day of her disappearance. She meets him later and tells her that he used to fly Ali around sometimes, yes, fly. He hands Aria the wheel and gives her a panic attack while extracting info about Ali in the process. And at the end of her near-death experience, Duncan reveals that he flew Ali back to Rosewood about 7 hours before she supposedly arrived. Also, Ezra gets confronted by Byron but stands his ground about not taking the job. 


Emily gets a text and email from Maya saying she's fine, and telling her not to tell her parents, but she does anyway.

Pretty Little Liars - Toby escorts Jenna while Spencer watches.

Toby's back helping Jenna with her stuff since she got eye surgery, but he still isn't talking to Spencer because of the whole "Wren" thing, and partly because he supposedly knows what the girls did to Jenna.

Pretty Little Liars - Jason talks to Spencer.

Jason has found a duffel full of Ali's stuff, and the girls go through it, not knowing what they might find, which was actually nothing. But, when they take a step back and look at the newspapers the stuff was wrapped in instead of the stuff itself, they see a pattern. So, Spencer sends Hanna to Jason's back porch to retrieve the bag they returned to search for more clues, when suddenly, the house emits smoke and Jenna face-plants against the window right in front of Hanna. While Hanna rescues Jenna, Spencer runs to help and they stagger away just as the house explodes. In the end, "A" randomly plants a police badge on dirt, which doesn't seem to relate to anything- for now. 


It's 6 hours 'till bedtime; I say watch, don't wait.

Hunger Games mall tour LA

So, I went to the Hunger Games mall tour in LA, its first location. So I get to Westfield Century City mall at around 6am, thinking that I would have a chance to be the first one hundred, which means you get to be part of the meet and greet. What I saw however, was at the same time beyond and below my expectations. Thanks a lot Westfield Century City. =[ What I mean is this:
[actually, I couldn't find a picture but there are links below that might have some]
This is what the line looked like. So, I couldn't be the first hundred. What's even more ridiculous is the fact that I was sitting in the waiting area for HOURS thinking that if I left, I couldn't get back in, when in reality, the venue was so under booked that it only reached the thousand person capacity after (I'd say) 1pm. So, bored as hell, I sat on the ground, sleeping. At least they passed out posters and H2O water.

When the event inched closer, a dance contest commenced for people to win wristbands for the meet and greet. Fun right? Not really. Later, KIIS FM showed up with additional wristbands to hand out, and everybody went crazy. They encouraged people to scream at the top of their lungs and "dance" for the prizes. What they see as "fun" I felt as harrassment. My eardrums nearly shattered and I did not enjoy the girl jumping up and down rubbing her sweaty body against my back. And ladies, keep you hair to yourselves! I don't want your dirty rags swinging and whipping my face every fives seconds.

Hunger Games mall tour poster

And what was really stupid was that they kept saying "We got the last two wristbands here for you!" and everybody would scramble to get them, then after they'd whip out 50 more. And let's not forget the segment when they asked fans why they love the Hunger Games. "Yes, I just heard about this event and got here 5 minutes ago, but I LOOOOOVE the Hunger Games!" Bullshit. At least the singing was decent. Almost everyone the mic was handed to had pretty good vocals.

                            Hunger Games movie poster.                Hunger Games holographic bookmark.

Then things started getting intense as it neared 6:00. I was literally packed against people with no room to move. I couldn't see my feet, that's how close we were. And seriously, it was disgusting. I mean, where should I start? There were a couple of open packets of mayonnaise on the ground and it just made the bottom of your shoes slippery if you stepped in that spot. And who the heck wears high heels to this type of event? When she finally realized that high heels weren't going to work, she took them off and stepped into another disaster: chili cheese fries. Thank goodness that was all to my right, but it was gross to see her bare feet squishing the fries into the ground. Have you no shame?

Speaking of, keep you bags and belongings at your side people! There was a girl in front of me with her phone sticking out of her back pocket, and I (meaning anybody) could have stolen it during the frenzy. Another example of this type of unawareness was this girl with a should bag, who had her bag unzipped by a stranger and could have easily have her things stolen from the bag on her body. I even saw a full backpack on the ground, which seemed to belong to nobody, so, being short and unable to see, I stepped on it. I instantly grew 4 inches taller but later stepped down because I was moving past the backpack and closer to the barricade.

All hell broke loose when the actors came out. Screechy noises pieced by ears and everything just stank of B.O,. I couldn't get a breath of fresh air. Multiple arms reached up against my face and I struggled to hold my place as hundreds of sweaty bodies pushed the people in the from up against the barricade. Aside from the physical uncomfort, I was really annoyed by the "team" aspects of the movie. There are no teams, okay? It's not centered around the "love triangle" of the characters. It's about a girl just trying to survive for her sister. It's about survival, not whether Peeta or Gale is hotter. Ridiculous people. No, I do not want any "Peeta bread". 

One last thing, I saw a photo of Gary Ross signing a fan's copy of the book. Seriously?? Gary Ross had nothing to do with the writing of the book, so why would you even ask his to sign it. He is the director of the movie, something unrelated to the book (just roll with me). Likewise, Jennifer, Josh, and Liam shouldn't be signing the books either; they only portray the characters in the movie. I just don't understand how they can be so obsessive over these celebrities. Anyway, the Q&A was short and I couldn't really hear or see them over the irritating screams and goddamn posters blocking the view.


Right now there are various official articles out there about the event, which is pretty amazing since I initially didn't know it was such a big deal. I mean, I drove 30 minutes to get there while some drove 6 hours or even flew across oceans. Here's a link to this blog that I stumbled across which also gives an insider's experience to the event, as well as explain the "100 or 1000" people thing (among others) that I didn't bother to explain. And here's another perspective. This is a great explanation on the conflicts of rules setup. Oh, and I do have more pictures, but I don't think you'd be interested in the blurry ones. Everything you see was actually crazier than it looks. 


Thanks for reading!
It's 6 hours 'till bedtime; I say watch, don't wait.