Olé, olé!!

I thought I'd post the final version of the DNC blog for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy - or ignore. Let me know what you think, either way!

(If the link works, you can see it posted at the @15 website, here. 

A Great Time to be in the Mile-High City

If we've learned anything from the Olympic games, it's probably that the weight of the world watching one city is a heavy yet important burden to bear. The Democratic National Convention must live up to this lesson, though maybe on a smaller scale. It's no small burden that much of the country will be watching both Denver and Minneapolis this summer as the presidential candidates are officially nominated. But, some people are still asking, why are these conventions important? After all, we already know who the candidates will be - it's no secret that McCain and Obama will face off this fall. In fact, you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who didn't know about it. But the convention's importance lies in its history. These conventions have been held every four years since 1832, no small amount of time. Each convention year, a city in the nation is chosen for political followers and politicians to descend upon. It's rare, however, that we get an election like this one, one that is so close, has so much riding on it, and carries so much excitement. Decision '08 is truly a landmark election. Its historic nature dates back to the caucuses and primaries which were held earlier than ever before, to the vast field of candidates that took months to narrow down, to the time it took to choose the final contenders. Most importantly, it's fueled by the final candidates themselves. Barack Obama has inspired more young people than ever to care about politics; while John McCain has the older, set-in-stone voters ready to defend the White House. And so, we now face an election that could produce the first African American President in the history of this country, or finally give McCain a chance to be the oldest President we've ever elected.

Of course, of all the years, this is the year that Denver has been chosen to play a part. Herein lies the true root of all my excitement. Going into the convention, I know I don't play a large role. I can't even vote in the election, and it's the same with most of my friends. Why, then, is there a Facebook group from my high school which has declared their choice of President? Why are there multitudes of squealing students who are overjoyed to be spending a few days at the DNC? Because it's momentous and we all know it. We know what we are a part of and we're proud of it. Personally, the excitement comes simply from having the opportunity to play a part - any part. It's the chance to say to my grandchildren that I was there - I was at the DNC in 2008. It's the chance to represent and to witness; to learn and to teach. It's an amazing opportunity and I feel privileged to participate.

Say Hi to Tolkien

Thought I'd leave one more quick post before I sign off for the day explaining my change of title (and URL - if you bookmarked my Blog, which I hope you did, make sure you add it again!)

I liked Cinematic Living and I might change back, but I'm still sculpting this blog like clay and I hope I can turn it into a good place to journal and think ... so I realized that the title I had chosen was a little to limiting and it didn't really reflect what I wanted this to be about.

Hence the change. The real explanation can be found in the little subtitle or description of my blog, but I have always loved the quote that I believe was by JRR Tolkien "All that glitters is not gold; All who wander are not lost." Words of wisdom, right there.

Anyway, leave me a comment with feedback if you want to, but most importantly, please keep reading.

I'm still just as in love with ... just as focused on movies, but I wanted a title that had room to explore... to wander... so expect some movie reviews, some more rants about the stupid move by Warner Brothers (see "Stop Right Now") but also expect some thoughts on real life.

Enjoy.

Musings with a purpose

Right, so, slight change of pace today... I actually have to write something. As in required. Responsibility. Grown-up stuff. Scary, right? Anyway, I was invited into this program called @15. It's just getting started, so don't expect to find much information on it, but it's a program sponsored by Best Buy (as in the big corporate conglomerate) and it's aim is to give teenagers a voice... in the world, in politics, all that. Anyway, as part of it, I have a chance to go to part of the DNC. I'm not sure how much of it, but at least a reception with some cool "big-shot" type people.

Rob, the guy who I've been talking to, asked me to write a blog. 

I am writing to see if you could lend your hand (and strong writing skills) in writing up a short “blog” type post on why you are excited for the Democratic Convention? The @15 web site will be launching pretty soon in its test stage, and we are looking to populate the blog section with some real teen-created content. Honestly, if you would prefer to write about an issue you are interested instead that is totally fine, but I thought that it might be easier to put down some thoughts on why you’re excited for the convention to come to Denver, and why you’re excited to be a part of it. This can be a few sentences or a few paragraphs (probably close to a paragraph is optimal) – the important thing is that it’s your thoughts.

Yup, that's my assignment. I know! ... not even officially back to school and I'm using the dreaded a-word. I said I'd try to get him something this weekend ... but I thought I'd put my thoughts up here and get a blog post and this done in one. Two birds with one stone, and all that. So, here goes. I'll muse on here for a while and then eventually refine it down to the smaller amount (one paragraph?!) that Rob asked for.

The DNC ... The DNC ... *puts on thinking cap*

If there's one thing we've learned from the Olympic games, it's probably that the weight of the world watching is a heavy yet important burden to bear. The Democratic National Convention must live up to this lesson, though maybe in a smaller scale. After all, much of the country will be watching both Denver and Minneapolis this summer as the presidential candidates are officially nominated. 

Why are these conventions important? After all, we already know who the candidates will be - it's no secret that McCain and Obama will face of this fall. In fact, you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who didn't know about it. But the convention's importance lies in its history. After all, these conventions have been held every four years since 1832, no small amount of time. Each year, a city in the nation is chosen for political followers and politicians to descend upon. It's rare, however, that we get an election like this one. One that is so close, has so much riding on it, and is so very exciting to many "normal" middle-class citizens. Conventions like this year's stand in a separate category; they aren't mundane rituals that have taken place for over 150 years, they're the kind that are written about in the history textbooks, that are referenced, and that are remembered. 

And so, of all the years, Denver was selected. 100 years after our last turn, we're playing the role of host once again. The election we play a part in, however, is a completely different one than that of 1908, where William Howard Taft beat William Jennings Bryan by an 8% margin. We now face an election that could produce the first African American President in the history of this country, or finally give McCain a chance as the oldest President in the books. 

Going into the convention, I know I don't play a large role. I can't even vote in the election, and it's the same with most of my friends. Why, then, is there a Facebook group from my High School who has declared their choice of President? Why are there multitudes of squealing students who are overjoyed to be spending a few days at the DNC? Because it's historic, and we all know it. We know what we're a part of and we're proud of it. 

Personally, it's the opportunity to play a part - any part. It's having the experience and obeying the call to adventure. It's the chance to say to my grandchildren that I was there - I was at the DNC in 2008. It's the chance to represent and to witness; to learn and to teach. It's an amazing opportunity, quite possibly once-in-a-lifetime, and one I'm overjoyed to have. 

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What do you think? Please leave me comments! I have to refine it down, so I'd love to hear what you think are my strengths and weaknesses, the best parts to keep and the parts to leave out. Let me know! Just hit the comments link below the post and then select "Name/URL" as your identity. Let me know if you have problems or email me your thoughts if you prefer. Thanks!

Stop Right Now...

It's a classic song among, well, virtually any teenage girl my age - give or take a few years. What Spice Girl song isn't "classic" for us? Given the lyrics, aren't we all amazed (and slightly sickened) when we all start singing along? But that's another matter entirely.

They had a good point, those girls... Some things need to "Stop Right Now." Especially lately, there have been several things where I want to wish a great big karmic reprieve; where I'd love the Spice Girls to come waltzing out of the nearest closet and sing this song right in certain people's faces.

What people, you ask? Good question. Those silly people who are making the Mummy movies come to mind first off. Goodness, gracious - enough already. Yes, the first two rocked, they're awesome, you rule, go die rich... but a third? Really? The Scorpion King AND a sequel for that? REALLY? 

This leads to a slightly bigger point that rumbles around my mind for ages after any jaunty trip to a movie theater. Stop with the sequels and three-quels, already. If you've got a series like Bond, Batman, or Harry Potter, movies that naturally continue, that feel no slow and painful slow of momentum, by all means, continue. I'm the last person you'll hear complain about the Pirates sequels, after all. My real problem comes with movies that are born with all the pain of real labor. Movies that don't have a natural story arc, but that are being forced. 

Spiderman. Goodness gracious. It's enough of a problem that they should have stopped at the second (don't even get me started on that third movie), but the fact that they're planning production on a fourth when the two main leads have already dropped out? Arrrrghhh! The Mummy falls in this category too. Maybe I would have felt a much higher inclination to like the third one if it wasn't missing one of its primary characters: Rachel Weisz. Of course, the character was still there, but filled by some random stranger pretending that nothing had happened. Not okay. 

This leads to my next point - the next "thing" that needs to stop. Greedy Hollywood C.E.Os. Sure, I don't know how the business works all that well, but I know when I see greed motivating a decision more than artistic drive. I know when I see upper-level studio executives interrupting an otherwise smooth process of imagine-write-film-voila! 

And, please, give a warm round of applause to Warner Brothers themselves for making a wonderful example of this. What are they thinking with this Harry Potter decision? ("What arrrrr you doing?" as Barbossa would ask). 

In case you haven't heard, Warner Brothers pushed back the release date of the next Harry Potter movie from this November, as it's been planned for a while now, to next July. When asked for a reason, they didn't really have one, other than they saw a better opportunity to release it in the summer than in the fall. Translation: they'll make more money. No, it doesn't need to be delayed - it's in post-production and everything is golden there ... they just saw that the writer's strike from this past spring caused fewer moves to be released next summer, meaning they could make more money if they release then. Stupid. 

My final point is basically unrelated to any of this, but goes to the sensationalism that Hollywood is playing into. Everything has to be more exciting. It's easy to see the connection between the money-making fever I was just venting about and this, but this goes a bit further. It annoys me even more, shall we say. If I could walk into a screenwriter's office right now and give them one word of advice that they'd have to obey, it'd be this: History and Literature are quite fine the way they are. You don't need to make them more exciting.

Robin Hood. A wonderful, er, horrible examples. It's a classic story, we all know it - Robin is in love with Maid Marian but can't marry her until King Richard returns and all is well in the land - until then, poor Robin fights injustice, robbing from the rich to give to the poor. One of the reasons I was so enamored with BBC's latest revamp of this story (aside from the gorrrrgeeeous Jonas Armstrong) was that you could count on the ending - that ending. This was very refreshing, especially when paired with drive-you-up-the-wall-uncertain shows like Lost. And then they went and did the stupid Series 2 Finale. (Spoiler Alert...) You don't kill Maid Marian. It shouldn't, it can't, it musn't be done. I don't care if the stupid actress wanted to leave - actors have been forced to keep their contracts before. Armstrong is only contracted through Series 3 anyway, so that girl would have only had to stay on for 13 more episodes. You can't change this story. 

Right, hopefully the Universe will hear me here and send these messages out into the void ... We're friends, you know, the Universe and I - I get emails all the time. 

Now, I would hate to leave you feeling down, so here's a final thought. Things that don't need to stop at all? Michael Phelps. You go, man. Rock on.