It's Oscar Weekend

Columbia College Hollywood presents 'The Oscars ...with James Franco' Don't forget about our Oscar party at school Sunday @4 PM food, prizes and the Oscars. Have fun this weekend.

the part I left out: the premise

Every film, every play (like every person) has a premise.  The premise is the foundation, the natural law, what we take for granted.  What is the premise of Chinatown?  of Paris, Texas?

a pallindrome - So simple and yet so brilliant.

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=42E2fAWM6rA This is a video that was submitted in a contest by a 20-year old. The contest was titled "u @ 50" by AARP. This video won second place. When they showed it, everyone in the room was awe-struck and broke into spontaneous applause.

Some Like It Hot

We covered...
Plot Point 1: The men witness the murder/make the decision to hide out as women in band.
Plot Point 2: Mobsters show up at hotel in Florida.

My opinion...
GOAL/ Super-Objective: Security (also the response given to the question, "Why would a man want to marry another man?")
OPERATIONS/ Spine: impersonate women, get involved in romantic relationships (while trying to maintain their cover)
NETWORK/ Atmosphere: mistaken identity, bending and breaking gender roles
CHANGE/Given Circumstances: the identified plot points AND THE DEPRESSION/PROHIBITION THAT KICKS IT OFF AT THE BEGINNING.

What does everyone else think?

Side Note:   Liebestraum
This song played briefly in the beginning of the film; it is probably my favorite piano piece of all time.

Win $1000 on xtranormal

make a cute vid:  easy!  http://www.xtranormal.com/index

Hugs

45 minutes. 15 hugs. 13 male. 2 female.
Oxnard/ Reseda

Highlights:

Got kicked out of the AMPM Parking lot for not being able to give out free hugs.

Elderly man said he thought what we were doing was "just great"

Man on bicycle asked if he could "feel on me" to which I responded to "what? no"

Scaring a girl into hugging me.

Smiling baby.

Hugging 15 strangers =)

45 minutes. 9 hugs. 7 male. 2 female.
Oxnard/Reseda

Can I have a hug?

So, for my out of the "norm" assignment, Victoria and I sort of joined forces to do the experiment. We went to the corner of Oxnard and Reseda and basically asked for hugs. Victoria had a huge poster board that said "FREE HUGS" and I just had a small printing paper sign that said "Can I have a hug?" So Victoria was giving them and I was asking for them.
The plan was for her to get all dolled up and give hugs for free and for me just to be in regular clothes and ask for them. We wanted to see who would get the most hugs. The pretty dressed girl, who was looking like Minnie Mouse, or the girl that was just looking like a bum.
We started off with the experiment at 12 pm. at the ampm gas station. At first I felt really stupid and just couldn't stop giggling. We were at ampm for like a good ten minutes. A lot of people we staring and laughing. Some had confused faces. Everyone was just staring. Then the mailman made us move because he had to park there. So, we moved our stuff and continued to wave our signs. Two minutes after we moved, one of the workers of ampm came out and asked who we were with. Victoria replied "No one." He told us we couldn't be there and give free hugs. Victoria was very sadden by this.
Since we were kicked out of ampm's parking lot, we had to go to a different location. Victoria and I then moved across the street to the metro station. Soon as we got there and took out our signs, two men came running to us and hugged us. We got so many stares it was hilarious! At first it was just men coming to us and hugging us. No women. Then all of a sudden a couple came and hugged us and that was our first woman to woman hug.
All the hugs were going great. No weirdos, until a black guy on his bike stopped and asked where the cameras were. Victoria replied "They're no cameras. I promise!" and he said "Okay. Can I feel on you then?" I was shocked! I was like "Oh my GOD!" Victoria's face was PRICELESS! She of course replied "No!" but being the good sport that she is she still was up for giving the hug. Later, he read my sign and asked "How old are you?" and I replied "19." I was hesitant to tell him but I did anyways. As he was coming in to hug me, I was afraid he was going to try to feel on me too. He asked if I had a boyfriend and I was so nervous and said "No. Yes. No. I have a girlfriend." When I first said no I thought to myself "Oh no! Now he is going to try to feel on me because he knows I don't have a boyfriend!" So thats why I later said yes.
Anyways, he was just the one only weirdo we encountered. Victoria got a few more hugs than I did. He was all over the place being bubbly and perky with her sign and I was just calm and quiet with my little sign. I over all got hugged by seven men and two women. My favorite hug I must say was from this very nice and flamboyant student nurse that gave me the testiest hug ever. He was just so happy to give me a hug. It was cute. I also got to say that my last hug for the day was funny because it was a pity hug. The guy first hugged Victoria and walked away and didn't give me one. He then later came back and hugged me and said "I felt bad for not giving you a hug." I thought that was very sweet of him. People still care. But that just showed he preferred to give the nice looking gal a hug versus the not so good looking girl. That was sort of what we were going for.
Overall, those 45 minutes were the and craziest and funniest in a long time. It was great to get peoples reactions and all the honks by the drivers. It was great getting free hugs by complete total strangers.

Exercise

I honestly have been trying to figure out what rules to break and how not to get into trouble while doing them.

Right as I started writing this paper I though oh boy I haven’t completed the project but then I thought back to this weekend. I drove out to Las Vegas for a friends wedding and now that I think about it I broke some rules during my trip. The first rule I think I broke was at the gas station before I left. I only put a few dollars on my gas pump, there was a line of 3 cars waiting to get gas behind me, when I realized I had not put enough money on the machine I went inside to put more money on the machine to top off my tank. There was then a line of 4 cars behind me. I noticed that my windshield was dirty so I washed it my windshield. I felt kind of bad for the line of cars behind me but I needed the gas, and I didn’t want to drive to Las Vegas with a dirty windshield. Surprisingly no one beeped their horns at me or yelled in my direction. All of the other cars just waited a little bit and started driving over to the other gas pumps.

The next thing I subconsciously did was I drove extremely fast on the freeway. Normally I drive the speed limit or 5 miles over it because I don’t want to get a ticket for speeding or worse cause a car accident. While on the freeway in route I was going 65mph at first and I noticed cars were passing me every second. So I started to drive a little faster to keep up with the traffic, and I would randomly get stuck behind a car going the speed limit here and there and it would annoy me. So I started to drive even faster than that car so I wouldn’t be going so slowly and have cars passing me. At one point in time I found my self-going 93mph while I was in the right lane. I only noticed when I drove past a state trooper in the breakdown lane searching for speeders. So I was freaking out I thought I had been caught and would be fined. I slowed down to 65mph of course but I still felt like I would get a ticket. I slowly drove waiting for the cop to follow me but he didn’t. I was shocked that I didn’t get pulled over. I’m not sure if the cop was actually pulling people over or if he was just there to intimidate people. If that was his purpose it sure worked on me.

Another thing I did that is probably looked down upon is gambling while only playing with a set limit. The whole point of casinos is to take large amount of money for the players. Sure they make the dealers seem friendly and like they’re on your side but when it all comes down to it their not. Well I started my trip with only $200 I brought that with me for gas, food, drinks, and gambling. I told myself I could use my debit card only in emergencies, I wanted to have self-restraint so Saturday I only went out with $100. I bought a few drinks and some dinner but I was more excited to play some table games. My third round of Texas Hold ‘Em I won $300, and then I put away $200 of it and only played with $100. I went back to my hotel with $450, and I know that is a frowned upon thing from most casinos but I didn’t care.

The next day before my friends woke up to go out for breakfast I went to a small casino next to my hotel with $100 and I played some roulette and black jack. I was on a heater; I kept on cashing out when I hit $100 and bringing it back to my hotel and going back with my $100 I started with. Every time I left and came back I noticed the pit boss looking at me and talking to the dealers who I played with. After awhile of being looked at by the pit boss I decided to leave.

When I got back my friends were ready to get lunch we went out and I spent some of my winnings on food, then we went to another casino. I spent $20 at a poker table and walked away with $280. I was up a considerable amount of money and I told myself I wouldn’t let the Vegas taboo of wasting your winnings at casinos. My friends and me went to the wedding we had gone to Vegas for.

After the wedding my friends wanted to go to the little casino next door to our hotel where I stated my day. I left all my winnings except for $120, I slowly lost the money and I kept on thinking about all of my winnings in my hotel room. I kept on going back to the hotel and taking money out of my wallet. I ended up going back multiple times. At one point I was up $560 and then it decreased down to being up $200. So that night I went back to my hotel up $200 and I was content, sure I missed the other $360 but I was still content. But the Vegas bug hit me badly; I got way to greedy for my own good. I went back and wasted that $200 profit the next morning before I left.

I was still happy at the fact that I went to Vegas with $200 and I left with $200 after having a fun trip. I guess what I am getting at I was beating the system and rules of Vegas by cashing out while I was ahead. No one at any of the casnios said anything to me they didn’t get angry when I was walking around as a winner. I thought they would but they didn’t. However the one person who prevented me from being a big winner was myself.

Exercise

So I tried something that seemed fairly Easy on my part. I stayed in my bedroom til around 3pm on monday. The night before i stashed up on waters. This was partially so I can get school work done and I was killing 2 birds with 1 stone. I live with my older brother, who is impulsive and from time to time will open my door to yell something random. I also live with a close friend of mine. He also comes into my room from time to time to talk to me but the majority of the time we are all hanging out in the TV room. So normally I'll wake up and go in their room or in the kitchen or something. Basically to let everyone know I'm awake haha. But I decided to see what would happen if I didn't come out of my room. Well this didn't go as planned. I woke up at around 930 and could hear both my roommates in the living room talking so I knew they were both awake but to my surprise they never came in my room. I got the majority of my school work done. By the time 1pm came around I was so antsy I decided to start doing pushups. After that, I sat on my bed and thought to myself, what if I was dead? These guys could careless. They are consumed in a TV show on netfilx and have full control over the house. I started to watch TV and nothing was on so I turned it off and stared at the screen. This is when I wondered to myself what people in solitary confinement do all day. This really made me reevaluate how lucky I am that I can walk out of my room whenever I want, wake up whenever I want, eat whenever I want, talk to whoever I want....

Eventually 3pm came around and I realized the house was silent so I decided to step out to explore. I found out my brother and friend are both gone and never checked in on me but left me food in the oven. I forgave them instantly and ate like a king.

Exercise

I went to a rather obscure cafe in Beverly Hills and took my Olympus M-1 with a mounted 200mm Lens. Funny, there were supposed to be recognizable celebrities there, but I couldn't recognize anybody.

What was interesting was that the less recognizable the people were the more they tend to cover their faces. Silly me, I thought it was supposed to be the other way around.

The 9 Phrases that women use

http://www.flixxy.com/9-phrases-women-use.htm

The Exercise

After staring at myself for half an hour in front of the television, I discovered that I like the noise that is coming out of it and that sometimes I spend way too many hours not really staring at it but just leaving it on.

Standing in the parking lot in Sherman oaks gallery without anything to do was liberating and refreshing and people watching was fun. There were a lot of angry people, a lot of moms with babies and people that just finished their exercise at the gym, people that were in a hurry or just in a bad mood.

Me and a Friend went to see “The Roommate” (an awful movie) and the theater was empty except to this young couple so we set next to them. For 20 minutes we haven’t talked or moved and just stared at the screen and the couple thought we were weird, but I guess they were too polite to move. After that we got up and moved and you could feel that the atmosphere was lighter, because we took over their space and they weren’t comfortable.

Apparently when you stare at a guy that you don’t know and you are not saying anything, you are considered weird and you will be asked if you want a picture or a poster…

The exercise was fun and liberating and it’s nice sometimes to break the rules.

our planet, our species

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=2HiUMlOz4UQ&vq=large

nice episode of xtranormal & sociology

Youthquake

from this source
look at how many more young people in Middle Eastern countries as compared w Europe and US - and half or so of them unemployed over there.

Cancer from Colas

read this, folks http://www.naturalnews.com/031383_caramel_coloring_cola.html 

annual Film Festival for the Entertainment Industry

Thurs, March 3^rd at 7:30 PM  at the Harmony Gold Theatre / 7655 Sunset (northwest corner of Sunset & Stanley) . . . There are 100 free parking spaces in the building or in back.  When those are filled, the meters run ‘til 9 & the immediate street has permit parking (so beware).  U can park 2 blocks east on Genesee or 2 blocks west on Gardner.  Or valet at Darhma Greb, the restaurant across the street.   It’s a fun party.  There will be industry people there.  CCh is providing van transportation first-come-first served.  

Posts on Gender

ok - Victoria, Nell & PaulGasol posted on gender.  And I did.  Adam leaves us these 2 links:   ONE   TWO

What about the others among you?  Remember you were to post "gender items" this week.  - Well, now you have another week to do so - for the fit right into our calendar. 

Breaching exercise:  remember you can post your page or hand it in next week if you wish to "keep it private."  Postings will be fun. 

HIV Free Testing in School

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=144393175621561

Man marries his anime pillow

http://failblog.org/?s=anime+pillow

What is Love

http://www.dailycandy.com/new-york/video/96979/Children-Talk-About-Love

Valentine's Day around the corner....

The guy in this is a friend of mine:

Gender "news"

Men and women use the internet differently add more in comments - I'll put them up here

Valentines Day Gifts: Men/Women Venn Diagrams

Hilarious.

I don't know how much this has to do with Sociology, but all need to see this.

Marx, Durkheim, Weber and Mead links

http://maureentabor.com/FilmSoc/Marx%202011.htm

http://maureentabor.com/FilmSoc/Durk%202011.htm

http://maureentabor.com/301/Weber%202011.htm

http://maureentabor.com/301/Mead.htm

It wld NOT have been Regina George in "Mean Girls"

 Myth of School Bullies - and the "problem" of sometimes thinking sociology is indeed in movies

on "objectives"

Wire, Dust, Sugar Art

Just found this pretty amazing

Movies for Mid-term paper

Here's a 4-fold table
Paris, Texas and Chinatown. <-- Midterm, & paper now due Feb 16th.
Use the fourfold table. Use Marx, Durkheim, Weber - or Conflict, Consensus, Ideas (Subjectivity)

We need 2-3 for the final paper too.  How about "Waiting for Superman" and ... use same framework as above and can also add gender, postmodernism, and globalism.

two things for next week

1. watch these two YouTubes: do they capture some truth? assignment: write 1-3 sentences on each video.
2. "research" the meaning of the word "Islam". 1-3 sentences on this, on same piece of paper as above.

and