Down the Rabbit Hole... Into the Cinema Scope

The Greatest Book Ever Written

2011-03-17T07:32:00.000-07:00

The Greatest Books Ever Written and WHY!

THE GREAT GATSBY- F. SCOTT FITZGERALD

The longevity of The Great Gatsby derives from the somber moral of the story. Since the beginning of time it has been in our nature to migrate to another country and adopt new traditions for a better living. During the early 20th century, the empire of America became the symbol of hope that it is today. Immigrants over the world found refuge in a country founded by immigrants. Our Founding Fathers were immigrants when this country was declared freed, now our country bestowed its right to succeed on this willing to work for their happiness. It is called the American Dream. I have been influenced by the idea of the American Dream. I have a script that is generating buzz and one of the causes of the main character’s demise is his grasp on the American Dream. George Carlin once said, “It’s called the American Dream because you got to be asleep to believe it.” Accomplishing your American Dream is a beautiful event but if in doing so, you become a persona and turn your back against those who love you despite your flaws then, the American Dream is null. I was influenced by the depiction of a generation. F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda ushered in the Jazz Age. The maligned romance between Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchannan was overshadowed by materialism and disintegration of our moral values. Jay feverishly became the embodiment of the nouveau riche, opting to forget what made him human, that he died while he was alive, and only when he awoke, did he realize the failure of his dream. His dirty empire attracted spectators whose cynicism and greed defined his wild parties. His attempts to fill his delusions of grandeur were suppose to attract the girl but in the end, he became nothing. In death, he was carved out of the memories. He was just another casualty of the hollow existence of the prosperous new America. My influence from The Great Gatsby is to have a better understanding of your peers. Everyone has a story to tell and their stories live vicariously through the actions of others. I believe the absence of an identity creates the portrayed of disturbed sheet of flesh. To me a persona is like jelly; we can mold that creation to appease our ideals and pleasures. A persona is vacant. He is a parasite that sucks the nutrients of his host. A person and a persona live through symbiosis. I love to study weak people who allow themselves become the puppets for somebody else. I love how when they latch themselves to someone, like a lackey, they believe they are being selfless. It is those kinds of lost souls that deteriorated our society in the 1920’s. What I love about this book is that nothing really changed. Every few decades, we hit the fan with too much excess and freedom. In that time we think we are invincible. We are irreplaceable creatures. Then reality strikes and we are hit with a devastating blow. In both cases in the 1920’s and the 1980’s, we had a decade of prosperity followed by a crushing blow and Depression. After the Jazz Era died, Black Tuesday unfolded and America was hit with Depression followed by World War II. In the 1980’s, everything was done in a big way. Just like the shoulder pads and hair fads, we partied hard and became consumed with the capitalist downfall of greed. Wall Street was where the movers and shakers made their Devil handshakes. The train did not lose steam in the 1990’s but by 2001 America’s empire was attacked. Our symbol of hope burned down in flames and now we are in war once again. My influence in this book derives from the hollow realities that nobody changes because of a traumatic event. We will continue to live in our shallow existence, just as long as we are exonerated from the consequences. The American Dream heavily influenced me because of the desperateness to succeed is daunting.

THE DIVINE COMEDY- DANTE

I have a lifelong obsession with the seven deadly sins. The beauty and the moroseness of this subject fascinate me. I have been craving to get my hands dirty. I want to write a feature full length film that metaphorically implicates the seven deadly sins. My influence in the seven deadly sins came from reading Dante’s The Divine Comedy. I was captivated to read Dante and Virgil’s mythical journey to the divisions of the Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise. I love his dissent to the different rings of hell, purgatory, and heaven. In his journey, Dante, Virgil, and Beatrice realize that our sins have different degrees based on the irreversible motives. Taking the journey with Dante, I realize we all fall under sin. The gravity sin intensifies as the levels rise. Lust is the least punishable whereas Pride is the ultimate fall of man. Pride of is the center of all sin. The Devil’s demise derived from his desire to eclipse God. Pride is the Father of Sin. I have been intrigued by the idea that sin consumes us all and without repentance for our sins we are dammed with guilt. I have two ideas to intertwine my obsession with the seven deadly sins. I am fascinated by their punishments such as the sinners of Wrath are dismembered alive and the prideful dwellers are broken on the wheel. I came up with the idea for a screenplay about a young doll collector whose inspiration to write comes from the cruel child’s play of the dolls she collects. As the doll collector writes her magnum opus, the words on the screen become a reality for her and each principal character is attached to a deadly sin. Her characters derive from the personalities she chose for the special dolls she recently bought. The morale of this tale is that her own creations punish her for her pride. Proverbs 6:16:19 states, “There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, among brothers.” Even in all its wickedness, my influences in the sins derive from the knowledge that all man is created equal and in equality we all sin. Sinning is fun, it is like a recreational drug yet everyone accountable for the sin shuns away from the consequences at hand.

HERLAND- CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILLMAN
If there was one book in which the prose and the values are a matrimonial entity, it is Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s novel Herland. What influenced me about Herland was Gilman understands of relationships. She creates a utopian society dominated by women through parthenogenesis. She implants three men in a society dominated by women. I am influenced by this book because it teaches me to understand the opposite sex through role reversal. Gender definition is a subject that interests me. What defines our gender is our appearance and what I loved about Herland is the way women physically looked strong. This book dispelled the myth of women’s fragility. I was influenced by this book to write my stance female empowerment in a society of corruption called Mesmerized by Confusion and The Arts of Chaos. In my screenplay and its sequel, I wrote my main male character to have sympathies for four female criminals. The story is a look into the world of the corruption of elite government. The four women have a motivation and each girl is way different from each other. Kirsten is the ranting eccentric. Vanessa is the chess player; she’s incredibly resilient. Jacqueline is the schizophrenic. Leslie is very naive and innocent. Each girl has their own agenda. Vanessa is to destroy the elite establishment. Kirsten wants to erase racial barriers and eliminate the inferior races (survival of the fittest) through eugenics. Jacqueline wants to denounce psychiatry and modern medicine. Leslie wants to eliminate the government funded institutions. Ethan's sympathies lie with them because he used to apart of their group. In the end, because of my Herland influence, my women dominated the game and presented the true corruption of the black government. Herland takes a gander at the wider scope of the male and female stereotypes and exposes them for a social look at reform, equality, and the identification of male and female roles. I want to write scripts with social messages about the world around us. I hate meaningless films and books. I need characters that go through a journey together. I need my couples to feel equal and understand the complexities of love and intellect in a society full of prejudices and hate. Van and Ellador succeeded because in plain view, they were the most equipped. They were equal in their competitive nature. I am a romantic. All my stories entail a love story. Herland influenced me to have my characters re-imagine a society where the leading man and woman are both dominating and equal. I love competition but competition of the mind is not fun when one is far more inferior then its opponent.

FAHRENHEIT 451- RAY BRADBURRY/HARRISON BERGERON- KURT VONNEGUT

As an entertainer, the one thing I hate the most is censorship. I want to have free reign of whatever I produce. Ray Bradbury’s masterpiece Fahrenheit 451 and Kurt Vonnegut’s Harrison Bergeron has the same effect on me. The censorship of books and knowledge comes from deep-set envy towards those who are clearly superior. In Vonnegut’s short story, the government placed shackles on the intellectuals and masks on the beautiful people. In Fahrenheit 451, the firemen confiscated books and burned them. Both stories displayed Communistic ideals of the banning of intelligence and other freedoms such as speech and religion. The governments wanted them to be equal at a bare minimum. I have a keen fascinating with overthrowing a government. Many of my stories, Mesmerized by Confusion and The Arts of Chaos implicate in a corrupt government and my want for anarchy. My inspirations from that subject come from learning the difference between knowledge and ignorance. Communism wants to destroy the people’s knowledge and promote ignorance as an equal stabilizer. There is a difference between knowledge and ignorance. Someone who is "stupid" lacks the ability to gain knowledge and someone who is "ignorant" has the capacity to gain the knowledge but does not have the knowledge at the time in question. Therefore, the stories of Fahrenheit 451 and Harrison Bergeron resonated with me because they had an unforeseen villain censoring the intelligence of a nation, lowering their capacities to civilly function as a society. Unfortunately, events like these are happening around the world and I cannot help to think that in this day and age, it is happening now. The mind is a powerful think which is why it has become a reoccurring theme in my films. I am influenced by these books because I want to write scripts pertaining to the preservation of our freedoms to think freely and uphold a resistance against the machines that are attempting to control us.

These authors ushered a movement where fear and cruelty where above the things we see. It is that fear that control us.

Left: F Scott Fitzgerald

Right: Kurt Vonnegut

Left: Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Right: Ray Bradbury

Center: Dante Alighieri

The Descent of Black Swan

2010-12-14T15:57:00.000-08:00

THE DESCENT OF BLACK SWAN

Jennifer Brigitte

Academy Award nominee Natalie Portman stars in Darren Aronofsky’s critically acclaimed film, Black Swan. Portman plays Nina Sayers, a 28-year old prima ballerina at the cusp of achieving her lifelong ambition to star in a production at her ballet’s company. Her ambition to dance is spearheaded by her controlling mother, Erica Sayers, played by Barbara Hershey.

Black Swan follows the story of Nina Sayers, a docile ballerina working for Thomas Leroy’s (Vincent Cassel) ballet company. When Beth Macintyre (Winona Ryder) becomes too old for Leroy’s vision of the Black Swan, he employs Nina to take her place. Beth, Nina’s mentor, is infuriated. Overwhelmed with excitement and fear, Nina practices for her role as The Swan Queen and The Black Swan. When her controlling instructor and her ever-present mother, Erica Sayers (Barbara Hershey), push Nina to her limits, a young beautiful new ballerina—Lily (Mila Kunis)— who bears a striking resemblance to Nina takes over the role of the Black Swan. Infuriated by Lily’s grasp in Nina’s life, she practices for hours to prove that she encompasses a duality that includes beautiful and bestial qualities.

Mathew Libatique’s breathtaking cinematography pulls you into a dark, morose fairytale. Not since 1948’s classic The Red Shoes has ballet expressed such feelings of macabre. As Nina breaks into a psychological breakdown between the beauty and the bestial depths of her depravity, Libatique’s cinematography is introverted and personal as we watch Nina Sayers leave everything on the dance floor. She is standing, center stage and with his beautiful selective coloring and tone, Nina is the prime object on the stage.

Darren Aronofsky’s go-to composer, Clint Mansell never fails with his bombastic adaption of Peter Tchaikovsky’s sweeping ballet of the same name. With Black Swan, Mansel l keeps it simple and dark. The music sublimely marries the ugliness of Nina’s descent to her first-rate performance. Art director David Stein rejuvenated the Art Deco decadence for Black Swan. Stein’s promotional blitz, alongside the art direction in the film, is an ode to the Art Deco movement. With Black Swan, Darren Aronofsky directed a cinematic masterpiece with a somber portrayal of a fixation for perfection.

Natalie Portman gives us a tour-de-force performance. Her role as Nina Sayers is Oscar-worthy. Kunis is a surprise method actress as she embodies the grunge-era ballerina. She is graceful and elegant with the conniving intelligence of a snake. Kunis perfects the role as Portman’s doppelganger while Cassel is the strong, commanding ringleader. He pushes Nina to the edge but he never loses his gallantry. Watching Cassel’s Leroy is as frightening as watching Nina become the Black Swan.

Milla "The Spellinbing" Kunis

Vincent "The Gentleman" Cassel

Natalie "The Captivating" Portman

Black Swan’s repulsive hallucinations of claustrophobia and power are the film’s main themes. It taps inside our biggest fear of failure and enforces our most primitive desires to conquer. It forces us to question how hard we work for success and makes us realize that if we lose sight of what’s right, we lose everything.

Calarts Portfolio, my first short Sick Dreams

2010-10-14T12:38:00.000-07:00

Sick Dreams

My first short film will be made for my CALARTS portfolio and it is a dream come true

Be the first to read my script, Sick Dreams.

Sick Dreams DRAFT 2

For California Institute of the Arts, I have to send them a comments page of films, books, plays, television shows, etc. that influenced me. I have to send them an outline of a film project I want to realize and I have to make a film.

Sick Dreams is my ambitious short film about a mid-twenties, early thirties, registered sex offender who kidnapped a young girl and held her in captivity. As she fights to stay alive, young Baby Anne Cassidy makes herself over and becomes the child he wants her to be. The disturbed couple fall in love. They blur their mental disturbances with carnal ecstasy.

The characters in this film are as follows:

Baby Anne Cassidy

Baby Anne Cassidy is Thomas Hudson's victim. She is being held ransom. She becomes aroused by her captor's magnetism. She develops Stockholm syndrome. She has a fugitive mentality. In love of the man who hasnt killed her yet, she becomes the object of his affection. She stars in his homemade pornographic videos where she portrays innocent children. She has an innocent, fragile adult child quality.

Thomas Hudson

Thomas Hudson has a history of mental disturbances. He's diagnosed with anxiety problems and is a registered sex offender. He lives alone preying on young women. He kidnaps and takes care of Anne Cassidy. He sees her as an immaculate creation, pristine and beautiful, untouched by the age of consent. His suppress rage for children is manifested when he uses Anne as his scapegoat. She becomes his Savior. He is morally depraved. He directs Anne in her pornographic videos. He's abusive. He's afraid her innocence will fade out, just like every child. He reverts Anne back into an objectified child.

"Peeping Tom" photo by James Hill

TREATMENT

The Man wanders inside Baby Anne's bedroom. The lovers' happily lie together and kiss. The lovers' caress each others' face. Thomas cusp Anne's face and tenderly kisses her pink cushion lips. Thomas lies on his belly. Anne sits on his back and straddles her legs on the bed. They coyily toy with each other and kiss.

The happy times come to an end. It was all a distant memory.

A young, attractive girl sits on the kitchen counter eating a bowl of cereal. Her legs are spread. A man walks in with the mail and sees her seductively sitting on the counter. He quivers and schemes. He grabs his camera and begins taking photographs of the girl. The girl steps down from the counter and walks over to the sink and gargle the sink water. The young girl seductively poses on the floor. She is uncommonly innocent. Her master is aroused by the girl’s big brown eyes that seem to evoke demure childhood glee. Her rosy pink pout is adorable. The wanton man cherishes the stark photographs of the girl lying on the floor clutching her teddy bear in one hand and her underwear in the other hand.

The pedophile puts down his camera. He picks his video camera and records the garish young darling. She cutely poses in front of the Man. The Man cannot contain his stern demeanor. Her preciously provocative sexuality is making him uneasy. He begins to pull down his pants. He masturbates while recording the home video.

The pedophile and the girl kiss. He chases her to the girl’s bedroom. The bedroom is decorated with heavy influences of young little girl’s room. The pedophile throws the girl against the wall. He lies in the bed. He clutches the sheets and gnaws on his skin. The young girl crawls into the bathroom. She takes off her shirt and walks inside the dry bathtub. She silently cries to herself.

Inside the living room, the pedophile photographs the young girl. She provocatively models in front of the camera as she wears barely any clothing. The girl massages her owner’s shoulders. They kiss as she reaches over for the keys. The man takes her hands and throws on the floor. He grabs the video camera demands her to kneel on the floor facing the wall as if she was a little girl. The young girl is terrified. The Man sits back on his chair watches kiddy porn video he produce starring her. He gets aroused. The video is a creepy, puerile dollhouse set with the girl dressed up in a little girl’s dress. She is surrounded by porcelain dolls. She wears a pink dress. She crawls inside a cardboard box and pleasures herself. Surrounding the box is the sea of destroyed and desecrated Barbie dolls.

The Man giggles as the girl kneels against the wall. She continuingly begs for forgiveness. The Man takes her by the hair. She begins screaming.

The Man takes her to the bathroom and throws her inside the bathtub. He takes her a shower. He scrubs her dirty body. Images of them have sex races across their minds. The girl sinks inside the tub.

Outside the hotel room, the girl crawls on the floor in lingerie. Montages of the pedophile’s eyes are the only visible string in her memory.

The girl sits inside a dark closet. She hears the rambunctious screams getting louder. The zombie girl opens the door. The bedroom looks like an attraction at Disney World. The man envisions the girl as giant child-like marionettes on display. They speak to him. The man sees her and interrogates her. The story comes full circle from the beginning. He asks her why she ran away from him. The young girl wears the same grey long-sleeve tee and low cut Care Bears underwear. The girl reprimands him and violently tells him she wants his old life back. He has kept her and she stayed because she developed Stockholm syndrome. She tells him she’s grateful she’s still alive but this is not the life she wants. She becomes aggressive, womanly, stripping her performance as a doleful child. She rapidly screams with vengeful tears and she pounds her chest at him. She demands to be released from his imprisonment. The man cries out at her and tells her she is the object of his affection. He is enchanted by her, obsessed with her beauty. She tells him she does not love him and she never did. The man envisions the marionettes crawling towards him with their thin strings attached. The girl screams at him. She’s abrasive and fiery. The man holds up the gun and radically pulls the trigger. He shoots her in the chest. She falls on top of the heap of dolls.

The Man runs inside his bathroom, desperately sobbing. His inspiration is dead. He looks inside the mirror. He takes of his clothes. He grabs the rope from his medicine counter. He walks inside the shower and hangs himself.

Inside the bedroom, the cops and paramedics find her corpse. The cops see the sex tapes and disintegrated childhood icons. They bring in boxes of child pornography. The forensics covers her body with a white bed sheet. The police officers find hostage tapes of the Man touching her and locking her up in the bedroom if she disobeyed. The paramedics drag out the corpse of the Man. They cover his body with a white bed sheet.

On the television, a video of the Girl dressed in sexualized popular childhood icons is being shown. She looks like a desecrated mannequin. The Girl smiles at the camera when she playfully dances. The television set is turned off.

Sick Dreams is a disturbing portrayal of a doomed love set in the most dire situations. I will soon update this post photographs from this movie. Hopefully, you guys will enjoy this script as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Here are other ideas that I had for a short film. Maybe one day, I'll complete them:

To Love You, Caesar Augustus

At the funeral of Caesar August, four special women in his life remember the life of the Old Casanova.

Josephine was his wife. They met at a family picnic. He told her was going to war. Josephine was a rich girl. They secretly marry because she was pregnant. One morning he bags his belongings and leave her.

Housewife

He traveled and met Georgina Bayer, a journalist and novelist. They meet at a cafe. They dance. Georgina soon begins to write her magnum opus detailing her torrid romance with Caesar. Caesar tells her must explore the world.

Virgina Woolf

Checking out work at local theaters, he sees actress, Theresa Spencer, on stage. She recites a monologue from Gigi. Caesar gives her standing ovation. Theresa, at first, is abrasive with Caesar. She believes he is patronizing her. They strike up a conversation about politics. Caesar is impressed. He takes her to the lake, their spot. Theresa puts up a wall. She tells him she cannot be with him because it is harmful to her career. He leaves.

Joan Crawford

Caesar rents a hotel and meets Ava Ryan at a photo shoot. He directs her poses and they become one of her most famous shots. The have a torrid romance in the hotel. They barricade themselves in the hotel for two weeks straight.

Betty Brosmer

In the end, Caesar goes home to a pregnant Josephine, but every summer, he visits his three other girls. June is for Georgina. He dedicates July to Theresa. August is his month with Ava. He fathers their children and sends them trinkets.

In the end of his short life, the women meet for the first time at his funeral.

Sex Feet Under

Untitled Art-House Film

This is the story of my friend's hilarious life. Her escapades as a steampunk Queen to a bonafide academia starlet clash with her musical intusion, intrusive conscience, and inane friends and romances.

Glee

Lady GaGa "Bad Romance"

The Alpha Female

A young girl is sent to an all-girl boarding school. She has plans to take over the world one manipulation at a time. In the boarding school she feels the attraction with her teacher and blackmails him.

Siberia

Two women are sequestered inside a mental institution. As the murders that united them become infamous, they lay low in oblivion.

The Murders at Cielo Drive by Charles Manson and his family inspired me to write this hypothetical tale of two women from the opposite spectrums of the murders come together in grieve and trauma. The script is a retrospective look of who they were in the past and the people they've become. We see the motivations of the murders and the lives of the victims with an insider's look into the new lives of the survivors.

The Repugnant Charles Manson

The Angelic Sharon Tate

Every now and then I think about Sharon Tate, Paul Tate (Sharon and Roman Polanski's unborn son), Abigail Folger, Jay Sebring, Voytek Frykowski, Stephen Parent, and the LaBiancas. I hate the idea that their lives and legacy are marred with their deaths. Manson and his minion are repulsive figures in history and they should not be in the same sentence as these people. To take a life and steal their acclaim is the most offensive act against a man. You robbed them of their lives and killed a child's dreams before they even began. Innocence perished the day Sharon, Paul, Abigail, Jay, Votek, Stephen, and the LaBiancas.

Good Day Sharon

One day, these works will come alive or perish with me. Either way, my brain is collectively gathering exciting ideas to create. By December, I'll post my Calarts Portfolio. Hopefully, you'll enjoy the sneak peak.

Sex in America

2010-10-13T19:35:00.000-07:00

Sorry that I do not write more and I should. Over the past month, I have been hit with a heartbreaking crisis over my talents. I feel inadequate. I cannot help but feel this way. Promise me you will never allow pseudo-intellectuals break your stride.

I am going post my Sex in America piece in my blog. I feel strongly about this piece and I worked very hard on it. Thank you very much.

Sex in America

By Jennifer Brigitte

Sex is a paramount topic within a person’s life.

If sex were to be banned in America, the consequences would be catastrophic. There would be absolute anarchy, jobs would be nonexistent, and we would breed sniveling, insane sexual deviants. As a nation, we would become so sexually frustrated that bestiality, pedophilia, and rape would be morally ethical through statute. Citizens would be breeding like rabbits, while our government slides back into Communist China. It would be the Prohibition of Alcohol all over again. The act of sex in itself would be subjected to the obscenities of our repressed America. The common folk would be no better than a sex-depraved maniac.

Of course, sex will never be banned in America, but that scenario is not entirely imaginary. Across the United States, conservative states have banned sexual education classes as part of their curriculum. Some states allow abstinence-only education. In 2007, during the Bush Administration, Wade Horn, former Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services resigned. Horn was a supporter of abstinence-only education, encouraging students to practice celibacy until marriage. In its absence, educators discouraged students from learning the preventive role of contraception altogether.

Miami Dade College students were asked about their beliefs about sex and sex education classes. Many students answered that they had while a few admitted to still being celibate. Most of our students believe in having sex before marriage. Jean Paul St. Hubert said, “Why do you have to get married with a person and find out you are not compatible with him” His friend, Stephanie St. Come interjected with, “When you are with somebody, there’s chemistry. You can tell you are sexually compatible with somebody. You can be intimate with someone and not have sex.” When asked about sex education in schools, Stephanie St. Come also said, “Kids should know about sex. Sex is not bad but you have to be careful because they need to know about the consequences.” Felix Guzman included, “It [Sex] depends on the person. If they want it, they can. It doesn’t matter how early you teach it, they’re still going to do it.”

President Bush once said abstinence is, "the surest way, and the only completely effective way, to prevent unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted disease." This is the same man who once said, "Too many OB/GYN’s aren’t able to practice their love with women all across the country." Obviously, sex education is an imperative need. Abstinence-only education simply invites curiosity to those interested in sex. This probably ends up leading to unprotected sex regardless!

Many of our students agree that we must be ready for sex. Young students across America lack the maturity; therefore, they see sex as child’s play. Jean Paul Hubert, a young student from Haiti gave a retrospective look on America and sex. “A lot of girls get pregnant in America. I believe in protect sex before marriage. I went to Sunset High School and seven girls over there were already mothers. In Haiti, the kids who have a chance to go to school, we teach them the precautions of unprotected sex. I don’t know if I ever met a pregnant teenager in Haiti. Sex is lacking and there are too many teenage pregnancies in America. Girls have to juggle too much. Girls who want to become doctors and lawyers but get pregnant at eighteen are counterproductive.”

It is hard to stop this trend when Americans are infatuated with pop culture. In recent years, the glamorization of teenage pregnancies have been in forefront because our role models are pregnant teenagers. Even fashion-conscious stores such as Forever 21 recently unveiled its line of maternity clothes called Love21 Maternity, targeted at the trendy tween and teen expectant mothers. We can’t allow celebrities like Jamie Lynn Spears or Bristol Palin or movies like Juno and television shows like Secret Life of the American Teenager to influence our decisions. A big applause goes to shows like Glee who present the hardships of being a pregnant, unknowledgeable teenager. In the show, Quinn Farbray was raised in a conservative state and has been taught to uphold the virtues of chastity. As President of the Celibacy Club, she becomes pregnant. Farbray struggles throughout the show with losing her body, popularity, home, family, and reputation. Although it’s realistic, examples like Glee and Quinn Farbray aren’t enough to undo the depictions of glamorous teenage pregnancy. For harsh topics like these, we need to teach our own children. We cannot expect them to learn for themselves.

Without our parents’ advice or educators’ consent, underage youth can end up sliding off into the American wasteland. The harsh reality of underage sex is teenage pregnancy. This includes the possibility of living on welfare, working menial jobs, and suffering an intensely harsh life to support our offspring. Sex is a choice with consequences, but if you make your bed, you must lie in it.

Music Videos of my Life

2010-09-16T21:43:00.000-07:00

MUSIC VIDEO VAULT

THE GREATEST MUSIC VIDEOS OF ALL TIME:

Remember when MTV used to show music videos? I must have been around 4 or 5 when I watched my first music video. I remember MTV used to stand for Music Television. The times change. Now, in order to watch videos, we must go on YouTube. MTV has become a farce. What was once a music revolution, has now become a place for pseudo celebtards to dish about fabricated gossip. The Hills are alive indeed and they have destroyed our medium.

In 1928, Swedish engineer John Logie Barid invented the first working television system. The first transatlantic television transmissions were held at the Bird Television Development, LTD. It transmitted the waves from j England to Hastings, New York.

If I was a female music artist, I would be a cross between with Lady Gaga,Madonna, and Fiona Apple . I don't even like Lady Gagga as a persona but she is radical just like me and I love to push the envelope. I would also be like Madonna because just like her, I will find a way to be original. I hate artists like Gaga herself who shock us for the sake of shocking us. They want to be avante-garde but they come off as completely banal. I also love the element of incorporating a jazzy noir tone to the voice. Apple sublimely tormented us with her seducing voice. I love the way she haunted us with her instrument. I think it is special and I would love to add that quality into my creation.

If I was a male music artist, I would be a cross between David Cook (singing and songwriting), David Bowie, and Johnny Cash. I love the idea of creating an enigma. With that subtle image, we allure our fans by the sound of our voice. David Cook has that powerhouse, almost Celine Dion-esque voice. It makes me sad that such a proficient talent was discovered on American Idol. This boy is nothing short than a prodigy. He has pitch perfect voice and his falsetto is to die for. But what makes Cook brilliant is his lyrical prowess. With lyrics like:

The painting's worn pale
Your eyes have started fading
Were they ever even really there
Nothing to give with everything you take
The cracks in your smile make it impossible
To decipher something legible
Your porcelain face and a heart of glass

-David Cook, "Porcelain"

His writing is awe inspiring and Cook needs to get more recognition for his talent but he is the new generation's leading man. In the 60's and 70's we all hailed at the sight of rock's most enigmatic and provincial talents. One effeminate Londoner and one Memphis rebel blazed the trail of Rock N Roll. Before there was Cook, we had a King named David, that's David Bowie. He was the man of many characters. He lived his life on Mars and went through the changes but he was always Ziggy Stardust. Cash, on the other hand Talent is not what you display for everyone to see. Talent is the natural born gift coded in your DNA. It's the criteria that doctors would die to recreate. Bowie was a pioneer in the androgynous movement. He eradicated gender characterization and parlayed human rights to his masses. Mr. Johnny Cash was the enigmatic man in black. His richly deep songs cemented his stay as the Man in Black. Cash ushered in the decades as main presence. By 2003, at the end of his life, he was still on top. His rendition of "Hurt" was fresh in its solace. I personally thought it was better than the original, written by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails.

Before MTV was corrupted by The Hills and Jersey Shore, music videos took center stage. I love the art of music videos and what they used to stand for. Videos were not just a collection moving images. They were short films with a purpose. Whether it was to shock or move you, music videos became the catalyst of our music industry.

Artists used to solely rely on touring and radio to garner sales and recognition. With MTV, music videos became the vehicle to promote their products to the public.

Here in a vintage ad for MTV, 80's pop icons like Cyndi Lauper, David Bowie, and Billy Idol declare their want for MTV.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxTE3YlV1vM

Here are a list of music videos that changed my life:

The pain inside this video is harrowing. Eddie Vedder championed the cause for the decease Jeremy. His life was heartbreaking and difficult yet in his honor, we were educated about the importance of being loved. A living man that is not loved is not alive at all. He is indeed dead. Jeremy is loved and Jeremy proved it.

Madonna- Vogue

Madonna's ode to fashion and old Hollywood immortalised her as a pop culture icon. She is no longer apart of the 80's, 90's, and today but a symbol of reinvention. She popularized the subterreanean world of vogue dancing and ushered a wave of eroticism in which most pop stars now abide by.

Nine Inch Nails- Closer

I love the world of the freaky and disturbed because I believe we are all a bit crazy. Some of us are just better in hiding it. Nine Inch Nails' Closer video embodied the depravity of our subconscious. It was not afraid to show us our thoughts and fetishes. Closer is the want and desire for companionship, in mind, body, and spirit. We will never be honest with ourselves if we do not treat ourselves in little bit of debauchery. We hedonistic humans with cravings. It is normal to act upon them. The more we supress it, the more bitter we grow.

Britney Spears- Stronger

Britney Spears' Stronger is a song about human empowerment. We are strong because we have the power to walk away and become better human beings. We have the ability to learn from our mistakes and overcome our adversaries. We are pillars of strength. No matter what happens to us and the hardships that we encounter, we can see past that and overcome it. Britney Spears is a brilliant example of a person that overcame her struggles with the media, yet she has pushed through. She has survived. We are flawed yet we are not broken. Our flaws are what makes us beautiful.

Michael Jackson- The Earth Song

I have been called many things in my life: pretentious, snob, harpie (none of them are TRUE and if they are true I will gladly admit to them) but I have never been one to be deemed as an environmentalist. With that said, The Earth Song punctures your soul with its vivid imagery about how the pollution is killing our animals, Jackson described a world destroyed by our selfishness.

A DREAM WITHIN A DREAM

2010-08-26T20:45:00.000-07:00

A DREAM WITHIN A DREAM

INCEPTION

Marion Cotillard- The Shade; Leonardo Dicaprio- The Extractor

Tom Hardy- The Forger; Ellen Page- The Architect

Joseph Gordon-Levitt- The Point Man; Ken Watanabe- The Tourist

Cillian Murphy- The Mark

Inception is a deeply profound cinematic masterpiece. Christopher Nolan has not failed us. The wizardry in this movie is unlike any movie experience I have encountered. I'm beginning to think we must abide by a need creed; In Nolan We Trust.

Inception is one of the most original endeavors ever to make a splash in the box office. We gripe when a beloved film is remade and justified it with "nothing is original." Nolan takes that idea and like Inception, he goes inside our minds and implants us the idea to make us believe we were the authors of that new idea.

The film talks about exploiting one of the most private possessions a human possess, a dream. Dreams are the visions that lie inside our subconscious. In our dreams, we create levels of alternate realities where we can create new lives very different from our reality. But when the dreams takes a life of its own, the line between reality and dreams are blurred.

An Inception is when you go inside someone else's dream and implant them with an idea. The person can take that idea and use it as their own. The Dreamer is the Architect. He creates the blueprints of what we see. The Subject is the person of interest in the dream. Everyone else are projections.

Dreams are mysteries. Everyone has dreams. I should know. I dream about people I have never met. I know so much about a person because of my dreams. Through dreams, a person can travel to mysteriums they've never visited before.

Inception changed my life. I have never seen a film were I felt so in tune with the characters. For years now, I have felt this eternal struggle with the visions I see at night. I hate going to sleep because the man is waiting for me. I've become an insomniac because the subject is taking dominance over my life. With Inception, not only are dreams are real but they serve has a common thread who are in sync with your mind. Dreams can be horrifying when you realize someone else knows your thoughts.

We can debate the truth about Inception. Does Cobb dies? Is he in limbo or in the reality? Who's to say the world we know is real. For all intensive purposes we might be awake only when we're dreaming. Sometimes I believe that's true. I'm happy when I sleep, even though the constant presence of the man who will remain nameless lingers on. His is like my Mal before the inception was planted on her. Inception is one of those movies where it is up to you to solve the maze for yourself. I cannot do it. I have my theories.

I believe Cobb's totem was his wedding ring. He only wears his ring when he's dreaming. With Mal, his ring is present but when he's in the real world, his ring is off his finger. In the final scene, Cobb does not wear his ominous ring, therefore, proving my point that Cobb is really seeing his children for the first time since Mal's death. Then there's the toppel. I believe the toppel was close to fall before the credits roll around. But this ending is subjective and what's my idea might not be yours.

In the end, dreams are powerful because everyone dreams. Dreams are unavoidable. I wish I can never dream. I have had dreams were the events have come true. I have predicted things I should not know. I have learned things about people that I have wished I've never known. Some say I'm clairvoyant. I do not care but I do believe in inceptions. People come to strangers in their dreams to solve the ties between them. Dreams reveals bonds between the unknown and the subject.

"You create the world of the dream. We bring the subject into that dream and fill it with their subconscious."

LIFE... LIBRETY... AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS

2010-07-19T10:45:00.000-07:00

I AM BACK... AND I'M INSPIRED

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." Ralph Waldo Emerson

I am back. After two enteries, I took a prolong hiatus. Somewhere deep inside of me was an angry person that would not let me succeed. Somewhere in the bottomless pit called a soul, a purille jealous monster craved my potential prosperity. I just could not succeed, until I heard the voice within.

I steadily became me again. I used to be a straight A's student. I faltered but I finally picked myself up again which leads me have found my next theme for the week.

INSPIRATION

Tonight's film is the spectacular The Pursuit of Happyness by the wonderful two time Academy Award nominee Will Smith and his gifted son Jaden.

The Pursuit of Happyness is the inspirational story of Chris Gardner, a genius, who in 1981, gambled his life savings to invest on a Bone Density scanner. Unfortunately is family was shattered and his wife left his son and him in complete destitude.

Chris believed in the quote: "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," a famous quote written by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence. The powerful triparite motto motivated him to pursue his happyness and dug his family out of the hell he created. It was a beautiful, optimistisc look on determination. At ttimes, it was saturated but the meaning of hope still lied in the words of Chris and his son.

Will Smith and his son, Jaden

Will and Jaden were the powerful protagonist of the film. From the delivery and pathos of the young Jaden, it is clear he has inherited the wonderous talent Will possess. Like the father, Jaden is charasmatic and magnetic. His beautiful eyes express the many intricacies that his character needed. It is safe to say Jaden has never been poor and he will never be poor. His father's global box office is $5,771,022,176. The elder Smith gets $20 million dollars plus 20% of backend for almost every film. He is the most bankable star in the world so chances of his son knowing anything about poverty is none. Yet, even with all the money, just like his father, Jaden delievered an earnest depiction of a child coming to terms with his temporary poverty. He assess the situation like a young man. His connection was nothing short than a discovery of a child's untapped talent.

The Pursuit of Happyness will make you cry. It will make leap out of your seat and praise the Heaven's that we all have angels guiding us through the hardships. Through the path of poverty, they found out the only person worth fighting for is each other.

"Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe.” Gail Devers, three-time Olympic winner.

The Art of Fight Club

2010-04-20T19:49:00.000-07:00

Welcome to fight. The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is: you DO NOT talk about Fight Club. The third rule of Fight Club: if someone yells "stop!" goes limp or taps out, the fight is over. Fourth rule: only two guys to a fight. Fifth rule: one fight at a time, fellas. Sixth rule: the fights are bare knuckle. No shirt, no shoes, no weapons. Seventh rule: fights will go on as long as they have to. And the eighth rule and final rule: if this is your first time at Fight Club, you have to fight.

These words were spoken by the egnimatic Tyler Durden. Fight Club is originally a 1996 novel by Chuck Palahniuk. David Fincher acquired the rights to the book and in 1999, the film starring the seriously underrated stars Brad Pitt and Edward Norton, alongside the novel, became cult classics.

Fight Club is a morbid tale of how we are beguiled to be consumed by the things we owe, so much so that they end up owning us. The best quote in the film the relationship between The Narrator and Tyler Durden is “the things you own end up owning you.” We are obsessed with the things we don’t have and the people we were never meant to be that we become blinded and we create an image of ourselves to fill up the void inside. We buy things we can live without because we are vacant inside. What influenced me about Fight Club is how beautiful the violence is and the brutality is rightfully exercised because we live vicariously through The Narrator who walks us through his deranged self in form of Tyler Durden, his alter-ego. He walks us through his propensity to use the vulnerable to make himself feel alive. What fascinated me the most about Fight Club is the way David Fincher used Tyler Durden as a device to mask The Narrator’s hidden desire to fight the hierarchy; those who deprived him of sleep, those who lied to the public so they can use us. Together with Tyler, his alter-ego, he creates fight club to release his repressed male aggression against a society of liars. I’m influenced by Fincher’s ability to set up an alluring mystery with an unusual dark whimsical touch. He aggregates a beautiful brutality and demonstrates a graphic glimpse into a world verging on cognitive insanity. I love how his film plays the minds of the viewer which is great because it is the glue to having a sustaining fan base.

Brad Pitt and a bar of homemade soup.

Fight Club Synopsis

An unnamed narrator works as a Product Recall Specialist for an unnamed car company. He is responsible for determining if product recalls of defective models meet cost-benefit analysis. The stress of his job combined with his frequent business trips leads to perpetual jet lag. He comes to recognize that his identity is imposed on him by his job and by his possessions and that he is not in control of his life.

At his doctor's - perhaps facetious - recommendation, the narrator attends a support group for men suffering from testicular cancer, to "see what real suffering is like". He finds that crying and listening to the problems of others cures his insomnia. This treatment works until he meets another impersonator, Marla Singer.

The possibly disturbed Marla reflects the narrator's "tourism", reminding him that he is a faker and does not belong there. He begins to hate Marla for keeping him from crying, and, therefore, from sleeping. After a confrontation, they agree to attend separate support group meetings to avoid each other. The truce is uneasy, however, and the narrator's insomnia returns.

The Many Faces of Marla Singer

The gorgeous Helena Bonham Carta, Marla Singer, blowing smoke from her ciggarette

The narrator soon meets Tyler Durden, a cooler version of himself, and he begins to let go of his pinned up masculinity in the form of violence. He has a breakthrough euphoria when he fights. He soon realizes the man he truly is and hates the monster inside.

Fight Club catapulted the writing career of Palahniuk and cemented Norton and Pitt as icons. Fight Club did poorly at the box office but through word of mouth, its excellence signified its cult status. Fight Club spoke about how materialism is the death of a human. We've become walk endorsements for the companies we by for. We are slaves to consumerism. Fight Club helps the lost find refuge by taking out their rage against the world. The soon want to destroy the world for enslaving us to their propaganda.

Promotional DVD Cover of Fight Club starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton

The man who was once a slave is now the master. He takes the reigns and prepares the judgments. With the help of Durden, his alter ego, the narrator chooses his freedom.

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk is apart of trangressive fiction. Transgressive fiction have characters who are confined in social norms and uphold high expectations in society. They usually break free from the confines through illicit acts. The subject matters of this genra are taboo such as pedophilia, drugs, and crime.

Fight Club represents the death of GenX. The kids who grew up with Kurt Cobain...

Kurt Cobain

Were now unhappy 20somethings. They were slaves to materialism. The men of Fight Club used violenced to regain their lost masculinaty. Through violence it was man vs. himself. They fought against the beast that was dormant. We are beast! Repressing our anger to please the world is an excuse for slavery. Slavery is dead and so are we if we haven't realized it.

Thank you, Chuck, for waking up the dead.

Man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off.

That's Fight Club in a nutshell. All hail Tyler Durden. Remember kids, "The things you own, end up owning you." Don't believe in the hype of buying the latest trend to compete with your peers. You're only competiing with yourself and nine times out of ten, you lose.

Are You MESMERIZED BY CONFUSION?

2010-04-19T14:06:00.000-07:00

Apparently the people on Massify are. Massify is an amazing site that allows filmmakers to collaborate and make films. I am on the brink of discovery as my film Mesmerized by Confusion is getting buzz from that website.

Last Monday, I realized my life will never be fulfilled if one of my scripts never gets made into a film. Years ago, I suffered a heartbreaking wake up call when I realized my film, The Arts of Chaos, was actually a disaster. It really was. I never gave up. I hate quitters. I got back up and wrote.

Since then, I have written two scripts I consider my magnum opera: Under Canvas Skies (more on that soon) and Chameleon (more on that soon). The only problem is that these two scripts are sweeping epics. I needed a smaller film. Nobody is going to give me a huge budget. I need to wait and rewrite.
With Mesmerized by Confusion, I submitted a sample seven page script about a criminal psychologist studying four deranged female criminals who have turned their backs on authority and civilization. Together the women defy the law and uphold an anarchist regime.
Sounds simple, right? Many complimented it as a female Fight Club meets V for Vendetta.

Brad Pitt, Tyler Durden (left)

Edward Norton, The Narrator, (right)

Hugo Weaving and Natalie Portman

I submitted my sample script at a comedy competition for Lionsgate and Massify. Although I got complimentary reviews on the script, [see here at http://www.massify.com/projects/mesmerizedbyconfusion, http://www.massify.com/partnerships/lionsgate/makingcomedy/concept/entry/mesmerizedbyconfusion] it was obvious my film didn't fit the comedy mold. I was getting that although my script would make an amazing high concept thriller, it’s not a comedy! Quite frankly I'm not a good comedic writer. Actually, I'm quite terrible. Yet, I can act comedy well. My forte is physical comedy.

Needless to say, I lost the competition. No hurt feelings. People still loved the script. The girl who won, Barbara Gray, had a timely script called The Wrong Guys for the Job. The sample was a brilliant piece about two buddies helping worthy job applicants find jobs by applying and blowing their interviews and in the process, helping the more qualified applicants get hired. Guess what it is? It's a comedy and a damn good one at that [check it out: http://www.massify.com/projects/thewrongguysforthejob]!
Last Monday, I had euphony. I spoke to my friend and asked, “How can I find investors who are willing to fund my independent debut?” He told me about product placement. Restaurants, cars dealerships, artillery, anything that I will use in the film! I think that's brilliant. Three years ago I wrote a thorough business plan for my failed script that was well loved. Eighty-two pages of dissecting the power of a failed script! Well last Tuesday, precisely at midnight, I posted jobs for the massify crew to come and audition for my film. By six o'clock that evening, as I waited for MJSBIGBLOG to post the song spoilers on American Idol, yes I watch American Idol but if I have to put the blame on someone a-la Rita Hayworth in Gilda [see the caption below] I wholeheartedly blame David Cook, season 7 winner for his breathtaking performances.

Still from Gilda (1946): The most beautiful movie starlet of all time, Rita Hayworth, singing "Put the Blame on Mame"

David Cook, thanks man for turning me into a fan of the largest glorified karaoke show on Earth, but in your defense, "you can sing the phonebook" among other things. That does take talent.

Anyways, I'm getting distracting. For now on, blame him! I was utterly shocked that in less than one day, I had eight incredibly gifted independent directors sent me submissions to direct my script. It's been a week and I have fourteen director submissions, three Ethan submissions, five Ethan submissions-in-waiting, two Kirsten submissions-in-waiting, three Leslie submissions, two Leslie submissions-in-waiting, and two sound production assistant submissions! WOW! Their resumes are amazing. I guess Mesmerized by Confusion is a good thing. I also submitted my project for funding at Indiegogo. I present the links and yes, I'll keep you guys posted on my project. We can make events. Word of mouth is the way to go. The internet is your friend.

Spread the word around! It needs your love!

This Mesmerized by Confusion plot and logline:

Logline:

A psychiatrist studies four deranged girls who terrorize a city. The girls turn their backs on civilization and juncture an anarchist regime.

Synopsis:

Outside his ideal world in the asphalt jungles, Ethan Donovan dwells among the vultures he once denounced. A former vagabond, he has become a bureaucrat working for the right side of the law. Ethan is a noted criminal psychiatrist and journalist. The FBI enlists in Donovan’s expertise to solve the breakout crimes of four notorious female assassins. The bright-eyed articulate man takes the case that changes the course his life.

Quickly, Ethan submerges himself in the case. As he studies the different women, he realizes their sole purpose for the city’s crime sprees.
The four female assassins take a grasp at the world of the powerful and corrupt. They are out to weaken them as a way to prove that our society can be easily bought. They want to eradicate the rules, the orders, the systems, and the hypocrisies. Their message is anarchy among the corrupt and the gullible. Ethan’s obsession leads him to stalk them. He will stop at nothing to bring the women down.
How far can Ethan go without realizing his sympathies for the beautiful women transcend in his loyalty to his criminal past, a past that intertwines him to criminal mastermind Vanessa Millian and Kirsten James. Together, they tie him to a schizophrenic assassin, Jacqueline Evans, and a sly silent killer name Leslie Adams.

Spread the word around! It needs your love!

If you want to read the sample come here:

http://www.massify.com/partnerships/lionsgate/makingcomedy/concept/entry/mesmerizedbyconfusion

If you want to audition, come over here: http://www.massify.com/job/manage

Help make Mesmerized by Confusion happen at http://www.indiegogo.com/Mesmerized-by-Confusion

Thanks... Let's blame Cook when this film happens. The soon-to-be MBC fans need someone to blame. I'm kidding. He's a wonderful singer. I watched American Idol because I wanted to but again, in my defense, he's a breathtaking singer and quite a looker. Mesmerized by Confusion is a possible dream and I need your help. I'll do whatever it takes to make it work. We'll all fight together.

Calvin Coolidge once said, “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”

I belive in that quote. The script's core theme is "Press On." Let's "Press On" with Mesmerized by Confusion together.