Day: April 30, 2010

Update From an Admin

Hey everybody, just wanted to let you all know how the blog is doing. We’ve added a new page which explains the services which we are offering to the community. Please check it out via the link bar above or by clicking on the logo to the left.

There is also a new poll to the right where you can suggest changes and improvements to the blog.

Winthrop High School Graduation 1997 will soon be available on DVD. Yes you read that correctly, 1997. A VHS tape containing the entire ceremony was recently discovered. We have logged it onto a computer and will be burning one or two copies to DVD for the archives. If per chance you are interested in a copy talk to Ms. Shaw.


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Monty Python’s Life of Brian


Chris here. And here’s another movie I should have seen a long time ago. Well, anyway, even though most of you have probably seen it, I’ll give you a recap.

The movie starts out as Brian Cohen, is born a few doors down away from Jesus, which confuses the Three Wise Men, as they are both Jewish. Brian grows up not liking the Romans, who are occupying Judea, and he eventually joins the People’s Front of Judea, one of many splintered anti-roman groups who fight each other more than the Romans. I won’t ruin a lot of the humor for you, but I will give you my opinion of the movie.

About halfway through, the humor starts building up. At the beginning, there isn’t much funny about much of anything, which is what I didn’t like about it. It’s kind of slow. There’s a chuckle or two later, but eventually all those chuckles build up, and a single scene contains eight different things that made you laugh, so it gets good after a while. Also, there are two scenes that just made me laugh outright, simply because they’re so funny. (I’m not going to ruin it for you.)

I don’t believe in ratings, but if I did, I’d give it a 879,416,742 out of 1,000,000,000.

Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog

Now some people might say that this is not a movie, but it is I tell you! This movie was shown to me by Spencer and I have to give him a lot of credit, this movie is fantastic. The movie is about Dr. Horrible (Neil Patrick Harris) as he tries to get into the Evil League of Evil, which is a very high league of super villains. It sounds foolish at first, but it is amazing. The acting is very well done. Dr. Horrible has a crush on a girl named Penny (Felicia Day) who he sees at the laundromat weekly. He accidentally hooks up his nemesis Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion) and Penny up during one of his heists. Dr. Horrible must figure out how to get his dream girl and defeat Captain Hammer.

The movie is a musical, I forgot to mention that. The songs are hilarious and very well done. One might not think Neil Patrick Harris has a good voice, but he actually does. The songs are highly amusing and very funny when one listens to the lyrics of the songs. My personal favorite is either “A Man’s Gotta Do”, or “Brand New Day.” They are probably two of the best songs in the movie. I have come to love Dr. Horrible to the point that I have made my parents watch it, though their lack of humor made it less funny for them than myself. I would recommend this movie to people 100% and even if you are like my parents and do not have a very good sense of humor you will still enjoy it, just not as much as I have.

Chris Balcer Says: TV Is Dead!

Hey, all. I’ve been saying it for quite a while, and now it’s being confirmed– traditional TV and video as we know it is dead. Quite a few factors are contributing to its demise.

The first would be an end to filming standards. There are at least four video quality ratios on YouTube alone, and there are a slew of other formats. The only standard is the one that the cameraman chooses. Another factor is 3D, one of big video’s main gimmicks. Avatar… or Avatar in 3D? Unfortunately, it is referred to as the “flying car” or “jetpack” of the movie industry- cool concept, but nobody cares.

There is also the rapid evolution of bigger and better aspect ratio available at home, and cameras are getting cheaper and easier to use. Any idiot can buy a good video camera and make a crappy movie in 1080p with 60 frames per second. Editing is also going to get easier, and anybody is going to be able to do it relatively well. Distribution is already a large factor in killing traditional movies- why pay ten dollars to see it in theaters, or twenty to buy a DVD that’s incompatible with your system and you’re only going to watch once, when you can pirate it for free? Why pay $100 for a thousand cable channels you don’t watch when you can just watch it on Hulu? TV is dead. Dump your stocks and accelerate the process. Please.

Monty Python


And Now for Something Completely Different, actually that is the name of the movie. Released in 197, it is a masterpiece of British comedy. Created and produced by the same people who produced the infamous Monty Python and the Holt Grail, this film was intended to be a compilation of the best skits produced by the Python’s for the intent of getting U.S. citizens hooked on their acts. Although this movie is not the best acting, filming or based on story line, the skits in general rival that of almost all current comedy.

They have set the bar for current comedy acts and within this movie, they give it their all to show what they have formulated. The general Idea that I see is that if you look at the movie as a movie, it is not very good. However if you look at each skit individually they are works of art. They never get bored or dull and use the transition to great extents mixing comedic artwork to the changing of scenes, even at some points creating a joke by not even allowing the punchline to drop before switching.

Even today I can ask my brother about “The Lumber Jack Song,” and they will instantly burst out in laughter or start rehearsing it for me. If anyone has the time I would suggest watching this or any of their works. Not only that, but the countless documentaries which I have just recently become addicted to allow for hours of sitting back and actually learning about people that are funny. All in all the skits individually get a 5/5, but the movie in general lacking basic composition gets a 2/5!