Young Adult 2011

From the director and writer of the smash hit JUNO, Diablo Cody comes the comedic tale of one "popular" high school girl's return to her home town of Mercury, Minnesota. Played perfectly by the lovely and, of course beautiful, Charlize Theron its almost hard to believe she won an Oscar for her awarding winning role of a female serial killer in Monster. Through this character, named Mavis, she dragged me almost kicking and screaming back to the place where she returns in order to "win" back her high school jock boyfriend, Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson). Who now has a new baby and a wonderful free spirited wife, played by Twilight star, Elizabeth Reaser. The fantastic direction by Jason Rietman of such films as Up in the Air and Thank You for Smoking it is no smaller wonder that I enjoyed this film, because both of those films are equally entertaining and thought provoking.

From the moment "sleeping beauty" awakes to her life of writing young adult romance novels and climbs out of bed peeling off yesterday's clothes, you are instantly drawn into an abyss of Mavis's narcissism mixed with depression washed down with lots of hard alcohol. And I mean lots of it. Everyday it seems she passes out and awakes with a hangover, and is constantly getting messages from her boss wondering where her latest book chapters are. There is a great scene with her and a book seller at the local book store about "her" books. As she is trying to write her possibly last edition to her book series, she sees a email with the announcement of Blade's baby. Thus begins her journey back to Mercury and perhaps back into the arms of Buddy. She oozes so much confidence with her tight outfits, loads of make-up and hair pieces that she thinks she can actually "win" over Buddy despite his happy but exhausted family life. Mavis in her very selfish haze is oblivious to her narcissistic ways continues to go after Buddy even at a very important baby naming ceremony back at his home. During a confrontation between Buddy and Mavis in which he asks her to leave, she bumps into Beth and a major scene ensues. I remember thinking I hope this is a major wake up call for Mavis, but it only lasts as long as her sobriety, unfortunately, but realistically I am glad it did not turn into an ending that might otherwise occur with certain stories.

I was really annoyed, but was so transfixed on Mavis's multitudes of eye glares that could freeze you on the spot if you looked at her too long. I remember thinking that it must of been uncomfortable for Ms. Theron's face to keep doing those glances. I am always impressed by Diablo Cody's writing and this character is not different in that we have all probably faced someone like Mavis in our own high school days. I remember running into a few of those myself and stayed as far away from them as possible. There is another character who I thoroughly enjoyed and recognized, which was Matt, a mutual high school friend of both Mavis's and Buddy's. He (Patton Oshwalt) starred in the television show United States of Tara, also created by Diablo Cody as the very quirky best friend of the husband of Tara (Toni Collette). I highly recommend watching this show, by the way. Matt first sees Mavis at a local bar in Mercury that she happens to be drinking at and he immediately recognizes her, because she had her locker next to his in high school. Not surprising is Mavis's lack of recognition, for Matt is not exactly her type of person she would hang out with. However, this duo hangs out quite a lot and Matt plays Mavis's devil's advocate by being brutality honest with her at every turn. The dialogue between them is very tongue and cheek and this very unlikely pair is a delight. I highly recommend this film and give it a 8 out of 10.

Here is the trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar_-v7dEEoo

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO FILM BY...

David Fincher, which is the American adaptation to the Stieg Larsson's installment of the Millenium Trilogy novel set. This is a mesmerizing tale of  intrigue, sexual violence, crime solving, cold case set in the freezing  winter in Sweden. First of all, let me just say that I am a huge fan of this director, who has produced such films as my personal favorites, Se7en and Fight Club (I highly recommend for viewing). Last year he directed the critically acclaimed, The Social Network taking us inside of the creators of FaceBook. Fincher has won numerous awards, as well for his cinematic creations. Currently the film has 2 Golden Globe nominations, one for best score and the other for Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Rooney Mara, who you will see transforms herself into the lead female character of Lisbeth Salander.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo's opening credits is accompanied by the musical score created by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross which is based on the famous song by Led Zepplin called Immigrant Song. I remember when I viewed this movie trailer, the first thing that drew me in was that score, and how it accompanies itself so well to the tale as the camera leads you down, a tree-lined snow covered road that ends to a infamous mansion. It was during those moments, I thought OMG, I have to watch this film and I could not wait!

The casting of this film is impeccable with the acting chops of Christopher Plummer, Daniel Craig, Stellan Skarsgard, and Rooney Mara, who I found out that she was the ex-girlfriend to Jesse Eisenberg's famous character, Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network. She had the look of the girl next door, pretty blonde and highly intelligent. The character of Lisbeth is a very emotionally disturbed, a lets go as far from the grain as I can, person with a multitude of layers that are only scratched at the surface within the first installment in this film. The transformation from butterfly neophile (social butterfly) to the extreme opposite a neophobe in which she takes anti-social to a whole new level. Here is a link about Ms. Mara. http://www.reelz.com/trailer-clips/49876/the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo-interview/. and her IMDb link http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1913734/.

Mara fills some pretty big Doc Marten boots, because the first actress to portray Lisbeth is Noomi Rapace, who is a incredible actress in her own right. Currently Rapace is in the film, Sherlock Holmes with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, in which she aides the famous crime solving duo. I will be writing up a review for that soon. Anyways, Mara has to change her hair color, eyebrows, and dons the famous Dragon Tattoo, which honestly I am not sure if she actually got the tattoo for real. It certainly would be a permanent souvenir of her role. In my most humble opinion, Mara kicked some serious ass in this film and having watched the Swedish version, I feel she did just as stunning a performance as Rapace did. You will pleasantly surprised!

Mikael portrayed by Daniel Craig is a incredible actor in his own right having donned the famous character James Bond and can kick ass in any role he takes on. I just saw him in the somber film Dream House with the luminous Rachel Weisz, which was a switch from the action roles he usually portrays. So Mikael the male lead  is a financial journalist who works for the publication Millenium, and in the beginning tries to expose a corporate mogul without success and looses his life savings over it. Lisbeth incidentally runs a very thorough back ground check on Mikael for Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer), who wants to hire him for the task of solving the possible murder or disappearance of his niece, Harriet, who has been missing for 40 years.

Mikael of course takes on the case for Mr. Vanger and the plot is afoot. Henrik first takes him on a tour of the grounds in which the Vanger family lives. They are quite the talk of the town of Hedestad, Sweden. To get to the Vanger residence you must drive over a bridge that is shows up in a lot of scenes, because of its importance to the story. Right away when Henrik tells the story of his missing niece, Mikael is drawn in to its many  mysteries and intrigue. This family is no ordinary family, for it is full of many horrible and dark secrets by some of its despicable members. Right away I am pulled into the Vanger family tree and its members are introduced some times confusingly but I finally "get it" by the end.

Whilst investigating this cold case, Mikael decides he needs the aide of someone who can do a more thorough back ground checking of the Vanger family and wants Henrik to employ Lisbeth, the one of course who did his back ground check. The work together incredibly well, almost too well, because Lisbeth starts a sexual relationship with Mikael. I am sure as the other installments are adapted from the other novels we will see their relationship become closer and more complex.

Without giving away to much of the plot and its conclusion, I will just state that the cold case is solved and during so, it keeps you guessing and wanting to solve said case on your own. This film keeps you on your toes and leaves you wanting more. The cinematography was breath taking in its wintry cold scenery, the homes of the Vanger families, and the costume designs are impeccable. I was impressed and this film exceeded pleasantly my expectations and more! I give this film a 10/10 as well as its musical score.

I wish Mr. Fincher  and Trent Reznor best wishes in their nominations for the awards in which I hope they will win, but in my mind, they have already won in so many ways for me. 

The DEVIL'S DOUBLE (2011)

This film by the director Lee Tamahori  (Die Another Day) is the incredible and shocking story of  Saddam Hussien's son's body double and the horrible things this man had to see and endure because of Uday Hussien's bidding's. The film is based on Latif Yahia's novel The Devil's Double and how he was forcefully asked to be Uday's stand in or his parents would be killed. Before Yahia was asked to be Uday's double (fiday), he was in the Iraqi Army as an officer. If you want to read more here is an article: http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/07/17/my-life-as-uday-hussein-s-body-double.html

I have also added him to my blog list for further reading, and I plan on reading his book. It should be a fascinating account on his life with Saddam's eldest son. Also Saddam himself had several body double's. With the lives that they led its no small wonder they did have someone stand in for them.

The film was absolutely fascinating to me, and the main actor, Dominic Cooper, who had the arduous task of portraying both Latif  and Uday was brilliantly acted. If he does not get a Oscar nomination for this role, then it would only be because of the politics of the Academy Awards themselves, I would suspect. I even read in Yahia's blog that he will be a part of the discussion about Mr. Cooper and his possible nomination.

In order to make the Latif be turned into Uday, he had to endure some dental work. In the film Latif would place a dental piece into his mouth to emulate Uday's buck teeth essentially. Then Latif learned his mannerisms and speech. There is a scene in which Latif has to go before Saddam to get a once over for approval. Latif also passes Uday's younger brother, who right away knows that Latif is indeed not his brother. Incidentally, Uday asks his brother "how did you know he was not me?", he said its because "he was sober and not foaming at the mouth."

Throughout this film you are opened up to the world of the most brutal dictators of the Middle East. Uday was a psychopathic, narcissistic, and serial rapist, who would kidnap young students off the street. Uday had one female that was made to stay by his side, named Sarrab. The actress who portrayed her is French actress, Ludivine Sagnier, and I feel she made quite an impression and she certainly did for Latif, because they ended up bonding together, which I thought was pretty predictable. Latif took a huge risk in being with her, so they always met clandestinely.

There were a lot of graphic and brutal scenes that were almost too realistic in nature, particularly when Saddam's main guard is confronted by Latif. It is a battle of who insulted who the most and the guard suffers the consequences of being disrespectful to Latif. The scene is very bloody and the make-up was well done.

The places where the movie was filmed was in Jordan and Malta. The scenes with the palaces are amazingly beautiful and extravagant. I just thought this was a incredible film all the way around, especially since it is based on a true story of a person who was able to escape the clutches of Saddam Hussein's psycho son. There are times in the film in which Latif almost does not make it out alive and the risks were high with regards to his families safety always being held over his head.

Here is the trailer of this brilliantly made film:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auE1FAGP1Kc

Summer 2011 Hit - BRIDESMAIDS

This is one of my favorite comedies of 2011, besides "Bad Teacher" and "Hangover 2". To say that Kristen Wiig is a comedic female genius would not be doing her justice. This film is completely over the top and I love it. I think I almost peed my pants several times as I laughed so darned much. It was too bad that when I saw it in the theater, the there was not much laughter, such duds I thought! Oh wells to each their own. I remember when watching "Four Weddings and a Funeral" years ago also at the theater with my best friend, we had such a blast we never laughed so hard and loud with no accompaniment from others in the audience. 


Okay moving on. In the opening scene Annie is having hot steamy sex in multiple positions with the very cheesecake actor, named Jon Hamm ("Mad Men"), and WOW! What can I say, he does cheesy and hotness way too well. He is her resident booty call of a doof, who tries to tell her very politely to leave, and so when she leaves his Hollywood type pad she cannot get through the gate to her car, so she then very awkwardly proceeds to climb over the fence in her very short skirt. As she is doing so, someone opens this gate as she is "riding" on top of it. Hence, the merry laughs begin! In the end, Annie finds a very lovely man in Officer, Nathan Rhodes, ("Pirate Radio"), who does not exactly sweep her off her feet in the beginning. Its really a sweet love story that takes place during all the chaos of preparing for this wedding. 


More incredibly talented actors/actresses take center stage, such as the delightful Melissa McCarthy ("Gilmore Girls") as her stand out role as the "in-your-face", "say-it-like-you-mean-it" friend, who is Annie's tough love cheerleader. Her over the top antics made her one the most entertaining actresses to watch. She truly reminded me of Zach Galifianakis's character in "Hangover", who I absolutely love, and who never fails to crack me up every time.


Next up is the lovely Maya Rudolph as Lillian, who is actually a  personal friend of Kristen Wiig's from the iconic SNL show, and also gives a good performance as Annie's best friend, the character who is the "lucky one" getting married. They are truly such a great pairing of the comedic minds.


Then there is Rose Byrne, who was in the movie "Troy" and "Insidious", whose character is the very competitive and ever wanting to be perfect nemesis for Annie's character. They continually compete with each other for the best friend spot for Lillian, and incidentally, the ladies will do whatever it takes to one up each other.


In the end and with no surprise, everything comes together and Lillian has the perfect, heavenly wedding thanks to a little help from her Bridesmaids topped with a concluding song by the group Wilson Phillips, who are one of my favorite groups belting out "Hold On". So thoroughly entertaining it will have you laughing so hard, you will pee your pants and some may need to change their "Depend" undergarments. It certainly is no surprise to hear that this film and Kristen Wiig are both up for Golden Globe Awards. I wish her much good luck!

St. Louis, Missouri - Trip of a Lifetime

I had never been to the state of Missouri before and so I had no idea what to expect. I did know of one thing, that it would be very cold. It actually got down into the 20's there at night. For me being a Northern California gal this was super chilly. When I returned home last night to 50 something degrees, I realized that it is quite comfortable here even though there was frost on the ground this morning.

When we arrived in Missouri it was late in the afternoon and the sun was setting fast. We had not much time to see our surroundings, so the next morning I was quite pleased and cold to see the St. Roberts area. St. Roberts is 2 hours away from St. Louis and not much to it really, except the very bare trees that surrounded us at every turn. It is quite a flat area in geography, but still quite nice. What impressed me the most was not the town itself, but in fact its residents. Their politeness and hospitality mixed with the sweet accents they have when they talk to you is quite lovely. It was ma'am and sir the whole time. Except for the Mexican restaurant we went to in which the people with their lovely Spanish accents and cheerful demeanor...well...just reminded me of the restaurants we frequent at home. One of these days I am going to be fluent in Spanish. I have this on my "bucket list".

We mostly spent our time in Fort Leonard Wood, which is the Army post were my daughter, Clara did her military training. This particular post was quite huge in size and reminded me of the many bases that my father was posted when I was a child. There is something to be said about men and women dressed in their uniforms whether it be in the light camos or "dress blues" they wear. They just look so "smashing"! Plus, they are just so formal and polite in their manner. I mean, I know they are trained to be this way, but I still appreciate it and their service to our country. I do not always agree with our government, but I will always support our military personnel and the self-sacrificing they do for the United States.

When we left Fort Leonard Wood, we headed back up to St. Louis. This city is just amazing and really not that much different than Sacramento, CA. Its environment is such that there are a lot of trees, but they are mostly bare, because of its very cold climate I mentioned before. This city is also located near a very famous river called the Mississippi River. I did notice that there are not many evergreen trees in this area. The one other thing I noticed was that the drivers there are very much like what I would call "Sunday Drivers" for they drive slowly even on the freeways.

This city is loaded with rich history! We were able to see the Gateway Arch, which is their main attraction. Here is a link to all things St.Louis. http://explorestlouis.com. This attraction marks the opening in which Louis and Clark started their very famous exploration of the west. Included in the Arch is a museum which highlights their discoveries and other historical artifacts and the like.

I have to admit I was very nervous to go to the top of this Arch which is 630 feet tall. So after they security checked us in the lobby we went downstairs to where we would catch a tram that would take us to the very tip top of the Arch. Talk about kind of scary riding this tram 630 feet above the ground. There was a little window we could look out of and I noticed that there were stairs we could go down if in the slim chance something could go wrong.

So we made it to the top and we had to climb a little bit of stairs to get to the observation deck, which btw, is all enclosed, of course. The views were breathtaking! I found myself taking a multitude of pictures with my easy breezy snap and shoot camera, I received as a Christmas gift from my wonderful mother-in-law. There was this carpeted area that you could lean way over on to get even views of the bottom and I actually "leaned" in quite a bit to get even better shots.

After all of the amazing views were taken in, we left and headed down to the gift shop and museum that were there. So much history around this area. The Arch way was actually is Jefferson National Expansion Monument. If you want to know more here is a great link about the Arch: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gateway_Arch

When we were at the top of the Arch, we noticed an incredible building that was actually the original court house for that area and it was the place where the Dred Scott Cast was held. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dred_Scott. So we then headed over to this court house but decided to eat lunch first. We dinned at Caleco's, which is an incredibly tasting Italian restaurant. I loved the ambiance and the food was molte bene (very good - Italian). I ordered the linguine with olive oil and bacon...wow and so yummy! The guys ordered hamburgers and chicken strips of all things.

By our table was an incredible salt water fish tank with the most spectacular fish I had ever seen. We loved looking at the coral and the various fish that I cannot name, but their colors were so beautiful and iridescent. Throughout the restaurant was Christmas decorations all over and gorgeously done too. It was just a great relaxing lunch and then we were off to the court house. This place was amazing! So rich with important history  of the a case that decided African American slavery and their rights to be free. We actually could sit where the judge sat and over saw the case. Above is a link covering the Dred Scott Decision.

We were getting very sleepy, so we decided to head back to the hotel and take an hour nap, because we wanted to go to a museum near the hotel. So we rested up and headed to the Missouri History Museum located in Forest Park area. Such an amazing park too. What made the visits so wonderful was not only what they had to offer, but also the fact that their admissions were free, except for special exhibitions, such as right now there is one about Mammoths and also an exhibit on the Civil War. But trust me there was so much to see and explore that we really had no time to see it all in a few hours. Such an incredible and I took a ton of pictures that I will share at another time.

The sun was already down when we left the building, so we took a drive around the area and to our surprise and amazement, we found the most spectacular historical college called Washington University http://wustl.edu/. Oh my goodness this place is massive and very old. Like I said earlier it was dark, but we knew we had to come back and take pictures in the morning before we headed home to Sacramento.

The next morning we packed up and headed out to the zoo, until we realized it was way too cold to be visiting an outside zoo in 25 degree weather. We figured also that we have a membership to the Sacramento Zoo that we could just wait and go to ours. Maybe another time and visit we can. With our change in plans we decided to go check out Washington University and its surrounding neighborhoods. What I noticed about Missouri is that a lot of houses and buildings are made of brick. I would hazer a guess that it is because it with stands the snow and tornadoes that are known to "visit" the area. I really loved looking at the homes that are much more affordable to buy than in California.

Back over to the Washington University and to our picture taking moments. It was established in 1853 and is associated with 22 Noble laureates. Rated top 10 in U.S. News and World Report. 14,000 students attend this university. I would have loved to have attended this college, but I am sure my grades would not have let me in. I was just taken in by its architectural brick buildings with such Victorian ornateness and decorum. I took a ton of pictures of  just the goblins that adorned the edges of the main building alone. The place looks like either a very old sanitarium or a castle, truly it is a sight to behold if you love all things history which I certainly do.

After our brief visit to this fine University, we had a little extra time to kill before our afternoon departure to Sac Town. We decided on driving across the Mississippi River and into Illinois. Ethan says "cool...now I can tell my friends that I was in three states in less than a week!". So we drive to Illinois and only stayed a little bit, because to get anywhere of any consequence it would take about 5 hours driving time, and you would hit Chicago. I would have loved to visit there so much, but alas no time.

Our very last place of interest we stopped was St. Louis's Union Station, which is an incredible place to behold with its also teeming of history and decorum. Before you even get to the historical main area, you go through a mall of sorts and buy cheap souvenirs or grab a quick bite to eat. Here is a link about this station www.stlouisunionstation.com/. I was completely blown away by this place and its elegance. Such incredible ornateness and class just runs through and through this place. Such a nice way to end our visit of St. Louis. I would love to go back and also discover and explore Illinois the place of all things Abraham Lincoln, my favorite American President.


I am now back at home in Sacramento, CA and I already miss Missouri, but now have incredible memories that will last a life time, plus so many, many pictures taken that I have not even seen yet. But, alas there is no place like home, because a least here there are still leaves on some of the many trees we have around here. I love Christmas time here and look forward to the holidays and 2012. I will have to for now just dream of our next travel destination place. 

My early Christmas present

This year Christmas came early for me and my family. We were able to travel to Fort Leonard Wood Army post to see my daughter graduate from military police training on Thursday. Words cannot describe so eloquently my proud and happy feelings towards Clara, my dear daughter. I would have never in a million years thought she would join the Army. My father retired from the Army and was a Vietnam veteran while he served. He always told me this "if you are going to join the military do not join the Army." I bet despite this advice to me, he is smiling with pride from heaven over his granddaughters major achievement.

The first night we arrived in Missouri, we had a very delightful dinner with Clara's adoptive parents, Diane and Kim. From the moment I met them in 1992, I knew in my heart they would raise Clara with much love and happiness. They are such wonderful, energetic, and the kindest people I have ever met.

We had such an amazing time getting the priviledge to know them as people, but perhaps knowing them now as family. Because of their openess, I was able to watch my daughter grow up in a very loving home. This fills my heart with such joy and comfort knowing that because of Clara's parents, she is a well adjusted and confident young lady.

Spending time with Clara's dear family as well as with her was an honor and I will be forever grateful to have had this experience and will treasure this time always.
I now say thank you to Elizabeth, my very supportive and helpful social worker who was able to find a wonderful home for Clara. I will never regret my decision to place her with the Windingland family and now because of them she now also has two wonderful brothers in Sean and Yuri.

Within ten years or so, I met and married my soulmate Michael and now I also have a wonderful son Ethan, who is also Clara's half brother. My life is so full and complete now knowing my daughter and son are both so happy and full of confidence and love.

One more thing, I was able to get to know Clara's grandmother, Jole. She is such a kind and very wise woman. I am so thrilled that Clara has such a wonderful grandmother. I can see this lady being a mentor for me. We both have studied Psychology in  college and she actually practiced clinical psych for many years. I am so happy I was able to spend time with her and had so many enlightening conversations with Jole.

Today is our last day here in Missouri for we fly home to Sacramento, California this afternoon. We had a marvelous time here in St. Louis and Fort Leonard Wood and will leave here with a multitude of wonderful memories and pictures. I will be sad to leave but look forward to the holidays and I am so happy Clara will be home with her family. She certainly deserves a much needed break from her military police training. I only wish her the very best in her future and I know it will be a bright one to come, because that is what she so very much deserves. I love you so dear sweet Clara, my beautifully pure daughter.

My trip to Missouri.

In less than 24 hours my family and I will fly to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri to visit my daughter and her family. What makes this trip extra special is that I will be meeting her for the 2nd time in our lives. When I was 21, I gave birth to a very beautiful baby girl. I knew that I was not ready to be a mother, nor was her father. I decided that she deserved to be raised in a home that could take good care of her. I worked carefully with a social worker and she helped provide some families that I could "choose" from. I finally found the perfect family who were also from the state I live (California). After she was born, I met them and fell in love with them right away. I knew in my heart of hearts that she would be well taken care of and that she would be loved. It was decided on that day that her parents would write to us 2 times a year, on her birthday and Christmas time. It was truly the hardest experience I ever had to face in my life thus far. I knew though that if there really was a God that him or her was watching over us to make it all turn out perfectly. The result is an amazingly wonderful young lady, who I will love the rest of my days and then some. I will be writing in my blog while we are away and sending out pix as well. She will be graduating as a military police officer for the Army on this Thursday. I am so proud of her and so would my father, who also served in the Army and since retired as a Vietnam Veteran. He passed away last year. I miss him everyday.

“ADVERTISMENTS THAT ARE SUBLIMLY NOT SO SUBLIME”

The documentary on “Killing Us Softly” by Jean Killbourne, shows very profound messages being created in the advertising world, and how they market their products in not so subtle and subliminal ways in regards to women as well as men. Killbourne makes the case in the revealing of various commercial and magazine ads designed to market products in a very artificial and sexual way. She has done this research since 1960 by collection of ads, and has created four editions to her “Killing Us Softly” documentaries.  She says that not only has the media not changed in the way they do advertising, but it has in fact gotten much worse.   Women, men, and children are still being objectified in these media ads. Women are depicted as skinny, flawless and defenseless in ads that bombard us on a daily basis. As young gals or guys “take in” these ads they show  us what societies values are in regards to love, sex, normalcy, and tell us who we are and how are we “supposed to look”.

       Here are a few staggering statistics on ad placements and how much they truly bombarding us. Produced are 250 million advertisements a year in America alone. In an Americans life time, a person will view 2 years worth of commercials on television and even on the cinema screens. Not only are these advertisements displayed on our television sets, they are also placed on billboards, buses, bus stops, and splattered all over sports stadiums. It has been said and researched that only 8% of these “messages” are received through our brain waves consciously. The rest are stored away in our subconscious to be “figured out” and processed.  91% of surgeries that are performed are plastic and enhancement based. 450% of these surgeries have gone up over the years and 754% are Botox procedures. Besides the procedures that are being performed at an alarming rate, ads are being placed for enhancement of breast products, such as a one called Natrelle breast implants. Even the bras that support such breasts are marketed to enhance or push up and make them look bigger, such as the Wonderbra.

       The affects of these advertisements are not positive, especially for young ladies and women. As teen as girls “take in” the ads, they are taught that they are not accepted unless they are big breasted and very skinny. Not to mention they have to look perfect in every way. However,  what these innocent and naïve girls do not know is that these ads are not being true and in fact a lot of the images are airbrushed and photo shopped to look as perfect as they can possibly achieve. In trying to fit the standards by which these ads are selling, young girls are starving themselves to look “perfect” and the diet ads that are placed are not helping matters. Everywhere you look there is a Jenny Craig ad placed alongside a celebrity as their spokesperson, who was overweight, but now is thin and even more gorgeous than before, and if that was not enough, there are products sold for young babies with T-shirts that display the words “Pimp Squad” or the selling of high heels to infant girls. Even thong bikinis are being sold for 7 year old girls and the mothers are buying them up. Thus, teaching these young girls about their sexuality early on and before they are even knowing what the word sex even means.

       The one thing that is resulting as time as gone by are the fact that the fashion industry is “waking up” and realizing that their models do not have to be a certain size in order to sell their clothing. In Madrid only models of a certain size can be used and in Germany the magazine Brigette no more professional models are used. The author states that by only making people aware of affects on public health and so on can changes be made in the advertising industry. A wonderful campaign ran by Dove is an ad about a “normal looking” female being transformed to look “perfect”.  More ads like these can change the way the consumers are “taking in” these ads and maybe change the thought before purchasing a product or perhaps not buying said product, but the choice is always the consumers.

Red State (2011)

This is story of a fundamentally religious community who use the guise of Christianity in order to exact punishment upon those "sinners" that go against their beliefs. This film was directed by Kevin Smith, who is also an actor, who was in the film also about religion, called Dogma. Great flick! Even "GOD" was portrayed by Alanis Morrisette. Anyways, I had heard of this controversial film on a horror forum site that I frequent and I thought why not give it a go. Here are my thoughts on RED STATE, starring Michael Parks, Melissa Leo, and John Goodman.

Let me first say that I have always been drawn to dramas about religion. Whether it be about contemporary or past religions, no matter the creed, religion just fascinates me on so many levels. Raised Catholic, I had always had that "fear of God" notion planted in my head. As I got older, I realized, I have to have faith in myself before I give up blind faith to a God, I perhaps may never meet. I truly believe in free will for myself and others, as long as you do right and help one another.

In Red State, the lead character named Mr. Cooper, played by the very convincing and charming Michael Parks, as a father, grandfather, and minister to his family and friends is very compelling in his unwavering faith  in God no matter at what cost of human life. In this film teenage boys are lured to a "religious compound" with no idea of course they are being lead to the jaws of hell spearheaded by of course, Mr. Cooper. His daughter Sara greets them at her trailer and offers up drinks before she "beds" them, when all of a sudden plans change and the boys are instead chained up and put in metal crates and brought to the chapel.

Minister Cooper thus starts his sermon while the boys and a man are tied up and covered up in sheets awaiting for Cooper to serve his sentence upon them. When he is finished up with his sermon and his granddaughter takes away the children to Bible study, then he decides to exact his punishment. First is a man who punished for his homosexual acts that were performed to his "partner" in a car parked in a wooded area. The "punishment" is not worth "crime" and becomes instead a victim to Mr.Cooper's house of the horrible sinners who must go straight to hell.

The teenage boys now try and make their escape from these wicked Christians who will stop at nothing to rid their home of sinners and disbelievers. Mr. Cooper's entire family are brainwashed and really do believe they are doing "right" by God. This community is fully loaded with ammo and gun power that they created almost a small Army for God. Heavy fire is placed upon to the FBI officers that are out there trying to stop their cause. Because the FBI has been investigating them for some time, the higher up's decide they are domestic terrorists and must be stopped no matter the lives lost. One agent, John Goodman wants to follow orders but his morals get in the way, for he knows innocent young children will ultimately pay for their grandfather' sins.

Once the FBI arrives to the compound the religious cult community immediately fires out incredible firepower in order to defend their home. The agents also fire back extremely heavy and give the compound a run for their money. In the end, a very loud siren ends the feuding and the "the cult" is forced to surrender. Because they are thought to be known terrorists, they will be locked up for the rest of their lives, especially Minister Cooper, because most of his family died during the gun fighting.

Excellent premise, acting, and cinematography. Michael Parks stood out to me as the outstanding calm minister, who believed he had the right to "punish" and "kill" Gods sinners. The directing, of course is impeccable. Kevin Smith captured the story of Minister Cooper and his "clan" quite colorfully and exacting. This film kept me interested and riveted until the bitter end.

I highly recommend this film, if you are a fan of Kevin Smith's body of work or even if you have not even heard of him, please watch it.

8.5/10