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Showing posts from June, 2013

Madame Cyrus

As one present Disney Star rises, a former Nickelodeon star falls. In light of the Miley Cyrus fiasco, do you believe celebrities have a social responsibility to behave in a particular manner? I have a niece who is now 10, however she was 3 years old watching Hannah Montana when she first appeared on television in 2006. She now sees Miley as a young woman(no longer a child kiddie pop star) completely naked swinging on a wrecking ball. I'm all for women's liberation, but wow. Can this even be considered ART? I don't think my niece will travel downtown in her birthday suit anytime soon looking for a suitable piece of construction equipment to climb up on; but, will this drastic change in behavior and image affect how my niece, or any little girl for that matter, handles herself as she grows?

Spared No Expense

Jurassic Park is a timeless film. It transcends all movie genres by seamlessly placing dinosaur and man in the same time era, "two species separated by 65 million years of evolution...how could we possibly know what to expect". I'm not sure when I saw this movie for the first time but I've probably watched it over 300 times or more since then. Jurassic Park intertwines a variety of intellectual and controversial subjects such as gene splicing, theory of evolution and unpredictability. If "smart movies" was a genre, this film holds a spot, alongside The Social Network and Cloud Atlas. Many of the people who worked on this film admitted they didn't expect the phenomenal success of the movie. Spielberg's dedication to the realness of the film spilled onto the screen. I used to try and look for the smallest thing that made these creatures look like they were digitally placed or auto-erotica; the vision is clear, the design is inexplicably flawless and ...

Queen Bey

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If you didn't dream of being in Beyonce's world when you were little, you may want to take a peek now. Bey is establishing herself as Queen in her video for "Bow Down/I Been On". Mesmerizing. The transition of the video is something I've never seen before. It starts, reverses and begins again. Beyonce steps out of her lavish quarters in a stunning Elizabethan-age inspired ensemble that can be described as nothing short of superfluously crafted and designed specially for the Queen. She struts forward with her head held high and clasped in her right hand is a diamond and ruby studded scepter past royals would envy. Her highness is a walking piece of art, occasionally stopping to lean this way or that. At one point, when everything seems chaotic around her, she remains poise with a gaze that would shut Tyra Banks down. The video symbolizes power, no doubt. Her husband Jay-Z, never far, hangs as the charm on her neck lacing, also encapsulated by rubies. Hats of...

Losing/Finding Me:

When I was preparing to go to college, I applied for a scholarship that required you to come out and participate in a series of activities with other perspective scholars.During these activities, you were grouped and assessed on your communication skills, strategy development and how well you worked with the others. The school I was applying to was predominately white I was one of three black students there on this day. One portion of the day required a one-on-one interview with one of the staff of the university. In an office that wasn't hers, used for the purposes of conducting the interview, sat a petite silvery haired white woman with a fanny pack on her hip. This was the school nurse and she was very pleased to meet me. She asked about my family, what I did in high school and other etcetara things. But the moment I lost myself came when she asked, "Do you have any talents?" I replied, "Yes." Interested, she inquired as to what my talent was and without ...