Blog 7: Iron Man 3

Iron Man 3... Chinese Version?

The Movie Cover

Iron Man 3 is expected  to be one of the biggest movie openings of the year according to an an article written by John Horn and Gina McIntyre.  But thats not the biggest news. The article titled,‘Iron Man 3′: Chinese version unavailable to U.S. audiences, for now, is all about how Disney’s Marvel Entertainment and China’s DMG Entertainment joined forces to make the superhero flick an international collaboration.This is huge for comic fans and moviegoers! The film being directed internationally is similar to the process of what happened with the Japanese film “Godzilla, King of the Monsters!” in 1956. The scenes for Iron Man 3 that are shot in China include a few new characters whom are which doctors and played by Wang Xueqi and Fan Bingbing. Shane Black, The co-writer and director did not direct the scenes that were  filmed in China, and in fact the main character of the film, Robert Downey Jr. did not go to China for filming. The scenes are simply being added in, however, they will not be shown in American theaters. It would be awesome, and probably beneficial to box office sales, for there to be an option as to whether you would like to view the film in American or Chinese version.  

 The film is sure to make a lot of money because China has the second highest box office returns behind the US. Hollywood produces so many films that viewed all over the world and although China contributes to Hollywood Studios less than quarter in ticket sales, the returns can absolutely huge. The film is compared to the film “Avatar,”  which grossed more than $200 million in China.

I do not know about you, but I am excited to see Iron Man 3. Let me know what you think about the Chinese version of the film not being shown in American theaters. 

Blog 6: The Great Coachella

Coachella 

Coachella Music and Art Festival Indio, CA

For those of you who do not know what Coachella is, the article "Dust storms, Danny DeVito, and Blur: 10 things The A.V. Club saw at Coachella" may be an interesting way to learn about this crazy weekend long music and art festival. The article, written by Marah Eakin, explains briefly that the festival is held every year in California and it is the place to be for indie rock fans. This year the headliners included New Order, Blur and the The Stone Roses. However, with the dramatic change in music styles from voice and instrumental to electronic, the festival  had to include some modern musicians or should I say DJ's.

Nightlife at Coachella... Looks like a blast!

The A.V club attended Coachella and shared with us the top ten most interesting sights and trends they noticed at the festival. The top ten most interesting sights and trends were not entirely interesting to me. The list includes everything from the number two most interesting thing being The Postal Service's comeback performance to the number four reason, Violent femmes sound great; look horrible.  I was interested in the fifth most interesting thing being the list of celebrities that were spotted at the festival. The celebs spotted included Danny DeVito, Rob Pattinson and Kristen Stewart and even Paris Hilton attended the rocking festival.

I enjoyed reading this article because I hope to one day attend the Coachella Valley Music and Art Festival in California one day. First I just have to make half a grand before this time 2014. Wish Me Luck

Journal 6: Most Hated Stars

Most Hated

In the Grantland Article, Star Ranks the Most Hated People in Hollywood, and Other Absurdities From This Week's Tabloids, written by Molly Lambert, a number of today's hottest musicians and actors are called out. 

The article begins with Star magazines interpretation of the most hated people in Hollywood, this section is rather biased because it lists the top twenty most hated celebrities starting with Chris Brown at number twenty and Gwyneth Paltrow at number one most hated. After each celebrities name, a description of a time when they were caught acting like, for lack of a better word and pardon my French, an asshole or a recent scandal they were involved with, is posted directly after.  In my opinion they are not all fair justifications to call them the most hated celebs in town. For Instance, the number eight hated celeb, Justin Bieber, is hated because ”he addressed his haters saying "I would say to my haters, 'I love you. Thank you for supporting me by hating me.' When they write messages on my YouTube page, I get the money for that. So they're just giving me money to hate on me." This is not something to be hated over in my opinion. 

Most Hated

The next section of the article is In Touch Magazines most hated celebs and their gossip followed by OK! and Us Weekly's most hated stars. Following the bold heading of each 'hated' star is a description of the faults that have gotten them to land a place on the list of Hollywood's most hated. The most hated star ranked are actually some of the most popular and famous at the moment, including stars like Anne Hathaway, Rihanna, and Taylor Swift. The articles and assumptions that magazines are making today are so malicious to me and unjust. It is hard to find out and understand what these celebs are dealing with in their lives because they are human beings just like us... even if they are a lot more beautiful, wealthy and interesting to follow, these types of articles are the exact ones I try to avoid when obtaining my info on the latest celeb info. 

To read more about celebs check out the article at http://www.grantland.com/blog/hollywood-prospectus/post/_/id/73769/star-ranks-the-most-hated-people-in-hollywood-and-other-absurdities-from-this-weeks-tabloids

Michael Perry

Response to Michael Perry's Book Discussion:

Prior to reading Coop, I was rather skeptical about how a book about a farmer in Wisconsin would turn out. I thought I knew everything already and in all honestly I didn't know how a book of this sort would make it in the non-fiction literature world. But when I read the first few pages I connected instantly and kept going. 

Yesterday afternoon, I attended Michael Perry's discussion and Q&A on his book Coop. I was hesitant at first that Perry was not the Wisconsinite I had been picturing while reading his book because a man with dark hair and a sweater approached the room and began talking. The man was just warning us that MIchael was going to be speaking lightly due to his sore throat and then introduced the author the Coop, Michael Perry. Perry approached the center of the overflowing classroom in blue jeans, boots, a logo tee, and a flannel looking like he the Wisconsinite that he is. The classroom was overflowing with students who engaged in reading about his life, many of which who appeared to be very attentive and intrigued in what he had to say. 

Perry began talking about his career as a writer and how he became a writer which was one of my favorite stories that he shared. He began writing and sending his work out after he graduated college with a nursing degree. Perry would send his work out to journals, newspapers, magazines, basically anything he could write for so that he could earn some extra cash. When asked how he got his inspiration to become a writer he answered " My inspiration comes from the food on the table that I provide for my family". This to me was inspirational. It didn't matter that Perry had gone to school to be a nurse, it didn't matter how many times his writings got rejected or scraped, it didn't matter if he was stressed or tired he kept writing so that he could provide for his family. 

Perry shared many stories about his life in northern WI prior and post to getting his books published. Perry came off to me as very humbled so there wasn't much of a difference in his hometown after writing his books. People did not glorify him or treat him like a celebrity but instead same old Michael Perry, even one of his friends that was a character in one of his book informed him that he wasn't going to read it and he was perfectly fine with it. This shows me the familiar "easy going" side of Perry which is preeminent in many rural livers. 

Michael Perry is a great small time author with enormous writing talents. He is humble and  was very inspiring to a small town girl like me. UW-Stevens Point is full of small town rural going folk and Wisconsin native farmers which made the book a great one for many of the students to follow along with. I believe many of the students connected with Perry because he is just like all of them in one aspect or another. 

Response to Coop

The cover of the book Coop

COOP

The book Coop written by Michael Perry allows us to follow the adventures of a rural Wisconsin farmer as he manages his farm and starts a family. Now from my description one may think that a 350 page book about the life of a country farmer could get redundant but the book is surprisingly entertaining.

I was skeptical about the book at first but after reading the the first two chapters I could not put the book down. I was first intrigued because the book used so many vivid descriptions to portray life on the farm, it reminded me of childhood days spent on the farms of my family friends and neighbors.The book was easy to relate to for me for a number of reasons. One of the main reasons being that the book is about a real rural Wisconsinite. The book is not only about a real rural wisconsinite but it is written by one. I, being a fellow Wisconsinite attending UWSP, feel like I can relate to his small town stories and understand his crude WI humor. 

I can also relate with the author and the book with the fact that we were both raised very religiously. The religious atmosphere he explained growing up was almost identical to mine. Perry struggles with how to raise his daughter in terms of religion, which is something I know I will struggle with in the future when I have children. 

Another reason I enjoyed the book is because it is humorous  I enjoy that Perry is able to add humor into such situations and keep the book still relevant, well kind of relevant. There are many parts of the book where Perry trails off into somewhat irrelevant tangents. Tangents in a book is either a win or lose situation, either readers hate the random tangents or readers, like me, love the tangents. I love the tangents because it provides a further outlook into what the author is writing. I also enjoy the tangents because they remind me of the fast paced thinking I often get caught up in while trying to write or explain something to someone. 

Overall, I thought Coop was a great book. I would have never picked up a book about pigs, chickens, and farming in WI if it were not introduced to me in English 202 class. Who would have known that a book of that subject could display such emotional detain in writing and interject as many feelings into its readers as it did.  I feel like UW-Stevens Point is the best place to be if you feel like this book would fit your life.