Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Fashion The Twentieth Century (The 90's)

Summary
The Nineties fashion carries on to what individuals wear today. The Nineties look focuses mostly on functionalism rather than "fashion" itself. All the looks have come more universalized, anyone from anywhere can wear the same clothing. According to the Fashion, Th Twentieth Century book, originality in the 1990's to now is extreamly low. In the book it says "Calvin Klein advertisments proclaim "Be Yourself" and yet the company's huge success lies in selling identical T-shirts to the same social groups all of the world". This quote is a prime example about how the author feels about the new style of clothing. In the past fashion was all about originality...it was a celebration, but now its all about money and buisness.


Reaction
I agree with what the author is saying about societies clothing today. I feel like there is no originality anymore, they is no beauty and uniqueness to people's clothing because everyone looks the same. Even in school all the students look the same. They all have on the same skinney jeans, same designer shirt, same sneakers/sandals. Everyone basically is a copy of another person in another color. I wish that society could have more freedom in the clothes that they wear like they had back in the 80's.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Fashion: The Twentieth Century. (The 80's)

Summary
It was not until 1985 that everyone began to talk about the 80's look. In the 80's party clothes and retro were extremely popular. Women wore mutiple colors and dresses that emphasized the shape of their bodies. Top models, rich women, and many pretty girls loved the style of Azzedine Alaia. His style mainly consisted of clothing with a combination of leather, lace, silk jersey, and tweed. As time went on the style for women became more and more sexier and less conservative. The 80's is also when the famous Adidas sneakers came into play. Overall the 80's was a style that expressed people having parties and enjoy themselves.

Why I like this Style
What I love about the 80s look is the fun multiple colored look and the sex appeal of the women. I think that it is very nice to be able to show enjoyment through clothing. The only thing that I do not like is that as time goes on the women become more and more showy. For example, in the 50's women covered up most of their bodies but they still had a elegant sexiness to them. In the 60's and 70's the switch begins to happen and the women begin to wear more revealing clothing. In the 80s women begin to show much more skin than in the 60's and 70's and it continues as time goes on.

Fashion: The Twentieth Century. (The 70's)

Summary
The 70's is remebered most for the amazing afros and outrageous outfits. This time period was also a very dramatic change in fashion. Just like in the 60's the men were able to wear multiple colors and patterns. Many different designers came up with new ideas to enhance the new look. High wedge heels and Fur coats, for example were very famous for both men and women. Floral print was also another popular look. People in the 70's used floral print on everything, pants, shirts, shoes, necklaces, etc. This time period was a way to express a person's personality using colors, splits, accessories, flowers, converses, and much more.

Why I like this Style
I love the 70's mainly because of the hairstyles that they wore. I love the fact that noone really cared about matching colors. They wore whatever they felt like wearing at the time using any type of accessory. I wish that in the millenium that people could just wear anything that was on their mind to wear and not have to worry about being mocked or ostracized because of it.

Fashion: The Twentieth Century. (The 60's)

Summary
Fashion took a dramatic turn in the 60's. The original elegant European look was not scene as often. The 60's style was unpredicatable. There was not just one type of style but it was a various kaleidscope of possiblities. Magazines soon were able to be seen with color which made them more popular and displayed fashion easily. The 60's was the first time that independent youth fashion was not based on older age groups. Everyone had a chance to be original. Women could wear almost anything from large colorful sweaters to laced back dresses. Multicolored tights were also very popular. Men wore multicolored jackets which expressed their personalities and originality.

Why I like this Style
I like this style because the 60's fashion allowed people to become more open with the things that they wanted to wear. Instead of everyone having to look a certain way, everyone had their own chance to be original. I also love that everyone did not have to worry about what people thought because they were allowed to dress in any color even if it did not match in any way.

Fashion: The Twentieth Century. (The 50's)

Summary
Throughout the 50's there was a large division between people who wanted everything to stay the same, and people who wanted dramatic change. In the early 1900's Paul Poiret balanced out the two different perspectives. He introduced a more "up to date" dress code which changed the whole centires style of dressing. In the 50's the bikini come into play. People (particularly women) were excited to see a normal swimsuit which was sexy enough to be used for swimming. Paul Poiret opened the doorway to a new scence of fashion. Eventually many different designers started to expand on the "50's look", such as Christian Dior. He believed that a woman's skirt length should be 16 inches off the ground. This would give the woman a more classy, sophisticated look. Basically all the women from the 50's wore elegant hats, skirts, and shoes which made them look very classy. The men's clothing was used so they looked really manly. They wore broad shoulders, straight legged trousers, and more shirts tucked in.

Why I like this Style
I like this style mainly because of the way they make the women like. I appreciate that they were able to dress the women in a way that made them look classy and elegant without having to show all their skin. Its nice to see women be naturally beautiful instead of being "so called" beautiful because of showing excessive skin.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

The Five People You Meet in Heaven (Film Review)

Review Summary
In the DVD Verdict Review by Judge David Packard he says that he was amazed at the actors and how wonderful they did. He also stated that near the end of the film, where Eddie met the fifthh peron, he was amazed at how the fifth person was relevant to his life. He felt that the scene with the fifth person was very sweet and heart warming. Even though he had mostly nice things to say about the film he felt that some of the narration may have been obvious and unnessasary. His example was the scene where Eddie and the rest of the soldiers were walking through the jungle with riffles in their hand ready to fire and the narrator says "War changes men. It fills them with fear, with courage, with a sense of adventure. Eddie had wanted to see a world beyond Ruby Pier. And for a while, he did." Judge David Packard felt that this quote was unnessasary because it was a very obvious statement. Overall, he felt that The Five People You Meet in Heaven was a nice movie.

http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/fivepeople.php
Reaction
I agree with almost everything that Judge David Packard said. I was amazed at the ending when Eddie finally saw that the fifth person he met in heaven was the little girl that he thought he saw in the fire. Even after reading the book, I still felt that this was a very powerful scene in the movie. I do not agree with him when he says that the narration was obvious and unnessasary. I felt that the narration was on point, and very much needed. Without the obvious narration the scene would have been really quiet and awkward in a way. I personally felt that the film was very well organized and put together.

The Five People You Meet in Heaven (Film)

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The Five People You Meet in Heaven in my opinion is one of the most enjoyable stories I have read and seen. I loved that the story line of the movie was very accurate, if not identical to the novel. The makers of the movie did an incredible job desplaying Eddie thoughts and actions throughout the whole movie. Throughout the whole film, Eddie kept flipping back and forth between his past and present experiences. The makers of the movie continuosly used fades to smoothly transition from one time period to the next. The fades made it convincing to its audience watching (or reading the film) that Eddie was reminiscing about his past events. What I loved most about the movie is that with each person that Eddie (played by Jon Voight) visited, they each gave a very valuable lesson about life and how one can make it better for themself. Even though the actors said the same lines that were writen in the book, they each said the words with such power and meaning that made me personally want to be a better person. The only thing that I was not nessasarily happy with was that the movie is a more romanticized version of some of the events that Eddie went through. One example of this would be when Eddie met the fifth person in heaven. When the fifth person revealed what she looked like when she was burned in the war, the book described her in a way that made her look grotesque. She looked so bad that Eddie was afraid to look at her, but in the movie it looked like she might have gotten a second degree burn rather than a burn that killed her. Overall I love this movie, and I would recommend it to anyone.

Quote
"Holding anger is a poison...It eats you from inside...We think that by hating someone we hurt them...But hatred is a curved blade...and the harm we do to others...we also do to ourselves..." (Ruby)

Even though this is the same quote that is said in the book, I believe this is the most valuable quote throughout the whole movie. I loved how Ruby explained to Eddie that keeping anger is never the answer, and does nothing more than hurt the person who feels all the hatred. This movie is a great example of how people should live their everyday lives. If people would listen to the values that are listed in this movie, the world would be a better place.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Pages 146-194 (End)

Summary
In these last few pages is when Eddie met the last two people in Heaven. After Ruby disappeared, Eddie was in the dark with doors. In each one of the doors a wedding event was happening. When he went through one of the doors Eddie saw a beautiful woman with a straw hat walking in his direction. When he looked at the woman he was in shock to see it was his deceased wife Margurite. Margurite told him about her death and how she was sorry that he felt like she left earth to early. She taught Eddie about love by telling him that even though she was in Heaven she was still able to feel the love that Eddie still had for her. Eddie was in shock to know that love is so strong that even the dead can feel it. Eddie asked before she left that if they can have one dance, but he did not want to see her in her young form, he wanted to see her in old form. While Eddie and his wife Margarite were dancing, Margarite slowly transformed back in her old form, then she disappeared. A little while later Eddie found himself in a blank white place alone. Then he heard the sound of laughter from children. A little Asian girl came up to Eddie and told him his name is Tala. Eddie was confused to know how he was connected to this little Asian girl. The girl explains to him that he was the one who burned him the fire back when he was a soldier in the war. Eddie was in shock to know that he was the one who killed the little girl, and the image of the shadow in the hut that had haunted him for years was actually a little girl that he had killed. When he turned around the little girl had all kinds of burns and scars all over her body. She asked Eddie to wash her. When Eddie washed her he felt a little relief, then he asked her the one answer that noone was able to tell him, did he pull the little girl with the animal made out of pipe cleaners out the way from being killed. Tala told her that no, he did not pull the girl out the way but he did push her out the way. Eddie was confused because there was no way he could have pushed her when he felt her hands. Tala explained to him that it wasn't the little girls hands he felt, but it was her hands, she brought him to Heaven to keep him safe.  She also told Eddie that Ruby Pier was Eddie's Heaven and he was was supposed to be because he kept the children safe. Then he stayed in his Heaven surrounded with children and his beautiful wife margurite.

Quote
"Children, you keep them safe. You make good for me"

Reaction
This was a very emotional part in the book because even though Eddie burned the girl in the fire she still felt that he makes the world safe for kids. With this final lesson Eddie learns his true purpose and gains his own Heaven.

Pages 50-146

Summary
In this section of the story Eddie meets the second and third people in heaven. The second person was Eddie's old general. The general reminded Eddie of all the advetures they had been through in the war. He reminded him of the enemies that they had fought together, and the time when they burned down the coal mine. When the Eddie and the general burned down the coal mine Eddie thought he saw a shadow inside the burning mine.  He continuously asked the shadow to come forth so he can save him/her from harm. The more time he spent trying to save the person the closer he was at being killed from the exploding mines. The general immediatly shot Eddie's leg to stop him from getting any closer to the building. This made Eddie irate, the tramatic damage in his leg caused him to not accomplish everything that he wanted to accomplish. The general explain to him that if he didn't take his leg then he would have lost his life. Even though the general lost his life in an explosion, he told Eddie that the sacrifice of his life was worth it all. With that he left. Next Eddie saw an old woman named Ruby. At first Eddie did not understand his connection to Ruby, but she told Eddie that the place he where he worked (Ruby Peir) was made in honor of her by her husband Ellie. Ruby main purpose was to tell Eddie of his father and how he died from phemonia from saving a person, and not just from being a drunkie like Eddie thought. Ruby told him that hatred is like a poisen that eats one up from the inside, and the best thing that Eddie can do in order to move on was to forgive his father. Eddie took Ruby's advice and truely forgave his father for everything. Ruby became young again and disappeared.

Quote
"Holding anger is a poison. It eats you from inside. We think that hating is a weapon that attacks the person who harmed us. But hatred is a curved blade. And the harm we do, we do to ourselves."

Reaction
I thought this quote was very important because it relates to everyday life. Holding anger never makes anyone happy and I loved that this quote was completely relevant to Eddie's life and all the hatred he had towards everyone that ever made his life hard.

The Five People You Meet in Heaven 1-50

Summary
The story begins with the death of an old man named Eddie. Eddie works in an amusement park by a grey ocean named Ruby Pier. The amusement park had all kinds of different rides including the new Freddy's Free Fall. Eddie not knowing that he was going to die within the hour went on with his normal everyday routine, making sure the rides were fixed, and everyone was happy. A little girl with blond hair came up to Eddie and asked him to make her an animal out of pipe cleaners. Eddie made the little girl happy by making her the balloon. He started thinking about his life and all the people he had lost in his past years. While he was thinking, he automatically heard a large scream. One of the rides was breaking. Eddie tried everything he could to stop the people on the ride from dying a tragic death. Once the co-workers of the store got everyone of the breaking cart, Eddie realized that the cart was not the problem; it was the cable which was holding the cart together.  When the co-worker cut the cable the cart immediately started to fall. Underneath the falling cart was the little girl who asked for the animal shaped pipe cleaner. With as much power as he could, he jumped and tried to get the little girl out the way, being crushed by the cart in the progress. A little while later Eddie woke up feeling better than he had every felt in his life. He was able to run, skip, and do everything that he wished he was able to do in his old age. A blue man came to him and told him that he had been expecting his visit. The blue man explained to him that he was the reason why he died, but he does not regret his death because it was a way to help him live. Eddie felt awful and felt that his death was pointless because he was nothing but a stranger to the Blue Man. The Blue Man taught Eddie that a stranger is just family that he hasn't met, and with that advice he left.

Quote
“Strangers are just family you have yet to come to know.”

Reaction
I was in love with this quote because I felt that it was really true. Even though people may seem like strangers in a way all people are connected with each other. Someone who you would walk by in the street might be a person that is a friend of your family, or someone who might save your life. This quote is very powerful and should show people that it is important to be careful about what you do to other people.