New Layout. You like?
PRECIOUS: 
WOW.
I'm going to declare my major within the next two weeks. Thus, I had to plan out my classes for the junior and senior years.
FALL '10
DRAM 200a - The Experimental Theater (0.5)
DRAM 337a - Seminar in Para-Theater (1)
EDUC 263a - The Adolescent in American Society (1)
MUSI 101a - Fundamentals of Music (1)
SPRING '11
DRAM 202b - The Art of Theater Making (1)
DRAM 302b - Problems in Design (1)
EDUC 290b - Field Work (0.5)
ENGL 216b - Modern Drama (1)
FALL '11
DRAM 205a - The Director's Art (1)
DRAM 336a - Seminar in Performance (1)
EDUC 353a - Pedagogies of Difference (1)
RELI 150a - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (1)
SPRING '12
DRAM 317b - Dramatic Writing (1)
DRAM 390b - Senior Project (1)
EDUC 392b - Multidisciplinary Methods (1)
EDUC 399b - Senior Independent Work (0.5)
Things about Twilight:
This article on EW.com is just so…wrong.
It makes me wonder what, deep down, is getting the haters so flea-bitten scratchy under the collar.
Frankly, I think it’s this: The ascendance of the Twilight saga represents an essential paradigm shift in youth-gender control of the pop marketplace. For the better part of two decades, teenage boys, and overgrown teenage boys, have essentially held sway over Hollywood, dictating, to a gargantuan degree, the varieties of movies that get made. Explosive truck-smashing action and grisly machete-wielding horror, inflated superhero fantasy and knockabout road-trip comedy: It has been, at heart, a boys’ pig-out, a playpen of testosterone at the megaplex. Sure, we have “chick flicks,” but that (demeaning) term implies that they’re an exception, a side course in the great popcorn smorgasboard.
No more. With New Moon, the Twilight series is now officially as sweeping a juggernaut on the big screen as it ever was between book covers. And that gives the core audience it represents - teenage girls - a new power and prevalence. Inevitably, such evolutions in clout are accompanied by a resentful counter-reaction. For if power is gained, then somewhere else (hello, young men!) it must be lost.
Just…wrong! There's no other word for it. Moreover, the author labels me a "hater," and ipso facto, my opinion on the matter is worthless! What an asshole.
For some reason, I felt the need to write a comment.
Here are some other comments that jumped out at me:
Bella is a terrible female lead, her life is so dependent on men it is laughable. She has no personality, no goals or ambition of her own, just an infatuation (not love) with a good looking guy. She should get a life and figure out what her interests are before she devotes her life at such a young age to one guy.
I mean she’s weak because she is removed from the action around her. People, like the Cullens, make decisions for her, especially in regards for the Volturi. What solidified my dislike for her character was when I was reading New Moon and she just lost herself because Edward left. I know they are “meant to be”/ true love, but there are months of nothing. She cannot even find her way out of the woods- her own self-survival instinct is gone. And what helps her out of her stupor? Another man. I don’t consider her weak because she doesn’t want to be a doctor or whatever, but how she lets the men in her life shape how she lives her own.
Open your eyes. If you enjoy Twilight, that’s fine, but don’t pretend that the messages in that series are healthy. Bella IS passive in the series, she IS the damsel in distress. Yes that has been a prevailing character throughout literature, but I think one of the big reasons many people are upset about the books and the popularity is because these negative messages about women and relationships can be harmful to young, naïve readers. Hardly anything is accomplished in Bella’s life without a man taking control.
Well saying the hate is male-driven is just sexist. I’m a 22 year old female and I hate twilight more than the next person. I dislike it because it’s shameful that so much money and time can be devoted to some Schlock. It’s just more power behind the whole “females are idiots” argument. It’s taking feminism back 30 years. Twilight does have male fans, but the vast majority are female and I just think it’s sad that this is what they’re spending their money on. No matter how many different arguments you come up with…it’s simple fact that twilight is a horrible book series and an even WORSE film series. It doesn’t matter who plays Bella, she’s still a horrible role model and I’m sure regardless of what actress they got to portray her in the films, Bella would STILL be a whiny, weak, pushover. It’s a big deal because she’s the main character in the story. She’s the one that all these little girls are idolizing. She’s the one they want to be! What kind of message is that sending!? Not only does the story contain weak characters, but the story itself is weak, cheap trash! And yet all these women are going out to support it and the messages it sends. It’s really scary, especially since there’s already a problem with females trying to dumb themselves down to get attention and that’s exactly what Bella does in the books and films. It doesn’t matter how many big words you try to use to describe it’s appeal or how many times some people try to make the storyline sound like there was some actual thought behind it…the simple fact is Twilight is a cheap story that requires no thought, no intelligence, no heart and yet this is what hundreds of young girls and women are drooling over. Kristen Stewart is somewhat good elsewhere, but in twilight she doesn’t even try. None of them do because they know they don’t have to! The fans are dumb enough to love it despite how bad it is. This isn’t a male/female debate. We know men love shallow films too, but those films aren’t making millions of dollars at the box office. Films like Transformers 2 and Fast & Furious also have female fans as well.
And this article is pretty much right. And so is this one. Thank goodness for feminist authors. :)
A really probing excerpt from the second one:
According to the National Domestic Violence hotline, these are some signs that you may be in an emotionally or physically abusive relationship.
Does your partner:
Look at you or act in ways that scare you?
Check.
Control what you do, who you see or talk to or where you go?
"Stay away from the werewolves. I love you."
Make all of the decisions?
Check.
Act like the abuse is no big deal, it's your fault, or even deny doing it?
"If I wasn't so attracted to you, I wouldn't have to break up with you."
Threaten to commit suicide?
"I just can't live without you. In fact, I'll run to Italy and try suicide by vampire if anything happens to you."
Threaten to kill you?
On their first date.
View women as objects and believes in rigid gender roles?
Well, they are Mormon... (I know, I know, cheap shot.)
Accuse you of cheating or often become jealous of your outside relationships?
Check, wolf-boy.
Has your partner...
Tried to isolate you from family or friends?
Bella doesn't have time for anyone else!
Damaged property when angry (thrown objects, punched walls, kicked doors, etc.)?
Check.
Pushed, slapped, bitten, kicked or choked you?
Does tossing her through a glass table count?
Abandoned you in a dangerous or unfamiliar place?
"We're breaking up. And I'm leaving you in the forest."
Scared you by driving recklessly?
Check.
Forced you to leave your home?
She had to run away with him to flee from the other vampires in the first movie, and she had to drop everything and run to Italy in the second.
Prevented you from calling police or seeking medical attention?
Check. Even in the hospital, nothing is a big deal.
Now I'm pissed. According to the NDVH, "If you answered ‘yes' to even one of these questions, you may be in an abusive relationship." This list is fifteen.
From Family Guy Presents: Seth and Alex's Almost Live Comedy Show (if you sing it or read it slowly, it's funnier):
There was a man who shot the man
Who was a man who shot the man
Cal Johnson, Cal Johnson
He wore a hat, his favorite hat
He loved that hat. He hated hats.
Cal Johnson, Cal Johnson.
He was a dad to zero kids,
And yet he fathered five.
He got shot dead a year ago
And yet he's still alive.
He's rich beyond his wildest dreams,
Yet never had a dime.
A lawman to the very end,
He lived a life of crime.
In all his years of life on Earth,
He never fired a gun,
Yet when it came to Chinese men,
He shot down every one.
He had a horse named Bandit,
And the horse's name was Clyde.
Cal Johnson was born the day he died.
There's not too much going on in my life at the moment, which is why I posted everything above this. But when I have more time and things happen, I'll post more. ♥
WOW.
I'm going to declare my major within the next two weeks. Thus, I had to plan out my classes for the junior and senior years.
FALL '10
DRAM 200a - The Experimental Theater (0.5)
DRAM 337a - Seminar in Para-Theater (1)
EDUC 263a - The Adolescent in American Society (1)
MUSI 101a - Fundamentals of Music (1)
SPRING '11
DRAM 202b - The Art of Theater Making (1)
DRAM 302b - Problems in Design (1)
EDUC 290b - Field Work (0.5)
ENGL 216b - Modern Drama (1)
FALL '11
DRAM 205a - The Director's Art (1)
DRAM 336a - Seminar in Performance (1)
EDUC 353a - Pedagogies of Difference (1)
RELI 150a - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (1)
SPRING '12
DRAM 317b - Dramatic Writing (1)
DRAM 390b - Senior Project (1)
EDUC 392b - Multidisciplinary Methods (1)
EDUC 399b - Senior Independent Work (0.5)
Things about Twilight:
This article on EW.com is just so…wrong.
It makes me wonder what, deep down, is getting the haters so flea-bitten scratchy under the collar.
Frankly, I think it’s this: The ascendance of the Twilight saga represents an essential paradigm shift in youth-gender control of the pop marketplace. For the better part of two decades, teenage boys, and overgrown teenage boys, have essentially held sway over Hollywood, dictating, to a gargantuan degree, the varieties of movies that get made. Explosive truck-smashing action and grisly machete-wielding horror, inflated superhero fantasy and knockabout road-trip comedy: It has been, at heart, a boys’ pig-out, a playpen of testosterone at the megaplex. Sure, we have “chick flicks,” but that (demeaning) term implies that they’re an exception, a side course in the great popcorn smorgasboard.
No more. With New Moon, the Twilight series is now officially as sweeping a juggernaut on the big screen as it ever was between book covers. And that gives the core audience it represents - teenage girls - a new power and prevalence. Inevitably, such evolutions in clout are accompanied by a resentful counter-reaction. For if power is gained, then somewhere else (hello, young men!) it must be lost.
Just…wrong! There's no other word for it. Moreover, the author labels me a "hater," and ipso facto, my opinion on the matter is worthless! What an asshole.
For some reason, I felt the need to write a comment.
Here are some other comments that jumped out at me:
Bella is a terrible female lead, her life is so dependent on men it is laughable. She has no personality, no goals or ambition of her own, just an infatuation (not love) with a good looking guy. She should get a life and figure out what her interests are before she devotes her life at such a young age to one guy.
I mean she’s weak because she is removed from the action around her. People, like the Cullens, make decisions for her, especially in regards for the Volturi. What solidified my dislike for her character was when I was reading New Moon and she just lost herself because Edward left. I know they are “meant to be”/ true love, but there are months of nothing. She cannot even find her way out of the woods- her own self-survival instinct is gone. And what helps her out of her stupor? Another man. I don’t consider her weak because she doesn’t want to be a doctor or whatever, but how she lets the men in her life shape how she lives her own.
Open your eyes. If you enjoy Twilight, that’s fine, but don’t pretend that the messages in that series are healthy. Bella IS passive in the series, she IS the damsel in distress. Yes that has been a prevailing character throughout literature, but I think one of the big reasons many people are upset about the books and the popularity is because these negative messages about women and relationships can be harmful to young, naïve readers. Hardly anything is accomplished in Bella’s life without a man taking control.
Well saying the hate is male-driven is just sexist. I’m a 22 year old female and I hate twilight more than the next person. I dislike it because it’s shameful that so much money and time can be devoted to some Schlock. It’s just more power behind the whole “females are idiots” argument. It’s taking feminism back 30 years. Twilight does have male fans, but the vast majority are female and I just think it’s sad that this is what they’re spending their money on. No matter how many different arguments you come up with…it’s simple fact that twilight is a horrible book series and an even WORSE film series. It doesn’t matter who plays Bella, she’s still a horrible role model and I’m sure regardless of what actress they got to portray her in the films, Bella would STILL be a whiny, weak, pushover. It’s a big deal because she’s the main character in the story. She’s the one that all these little girls are idolizing. She’s the one they want to be! What kind of message is that sending!? Not only does the story contain weak characters, but the story itself is weak, cheap trash! And yet all these women are going out to support it and the messages it sends. It’s really scary, especially since there’s already a problem with females trying to dumb themselves down to get attention and that’s exactly what Bella does in the books and films. It doesn’t matter how many big words you try to use to describe it’s appeal or how many times some people try to make the storyline sound like there was some actual thought behind it…the simple fact is Twilight is a cheap story that requires no thought, no intelligence, no heart and yet this is what hundreds of young girls and women are drooling over. Kristen Stewart is somewhat good elsewhere, but in twilight she doesn’t even try. None of them do because they know they don’t have to! The fans are dumb enough to love it despite how bad it is. This isn’t a male/female debate. We know men love shallow films too, but those films aren’t making millions of dollars at the box office. Films like Transformers 2 and Fast & Furious also have female fans as well.
And this article is pretty much right. And so is this one. Thank goodness for feminist authors. :)
A really probing excerpt from the second one:
According to the National Domestic Violence hotline, these are some signs that you may be in an emotionally or physically abusive relationship.
Does your partner:
Check.
"Stay away from the werewolves. I love you."
Check.
"If I wasn't so attracted to you, I wouldn't have to break up with you."
"I just can't live without you. In fact, I'll run to Italy and try suicide by vampire if anything happens to you."
On their first date.
Well, they are Mormon... (I know, I know, cheap shot.)
Check, wolf-boy.
Has your partner...
Bella doesn't have time for anyone else!
Check.
Does tossing her through a glass table count?
"We're breaking up. And I'm leaving you in the forest."
Check.
She had to run away with him to flee from the other vampires in the first movie, and she had to drop everything and run to Italy in the second.
Check. Even in the hospital, nothing is a big deal.
Now I'm pissed. According to the NDVH, "If you answered ‘yes' to even one of these questions, you may be in an abusive relationship." This list is fifteen.
From Family Guy Presents: Seth and Alex's Almost Live Comedy Show (if you sing it or read it slowly, it's funnier):
There was a man who shot the man
Who was a man who shot the man
Cal Johnson, Cal Johnson
He wore a hat, his favorite hat
He loved that hat. He hated hats.
Cal Johnson, Cal Johnson.
He was a dad to zero kids,
And yet he fathered five.
He got shot dead a year ago
And yet he's still alive.
He's rich beyond his wildest dreams,
Yet never had a dime.
A lawman to the very end,
He lived a life of crime.
In all his years of life on Earth,
He never fired a gun,
Yet when it came to Chinese men,
He shot down every one.
He had a horse named Bandit,
And the horse's name was Clyde.
Cal Johnson was born the day he died.
There's not too much going on in my life at the moment, which is why I posted everything above this. But when I have more time and things happen, I'll post more. ♥