67th Academy Awards

Writing for an audience was not my strong suit before coming to UMass. My writing always focused on speaking to whoever stumbled upon it. To me, literature, in any form, was always meant for the masses. I composed my words in a manner anyone could understand. That my ideas were understood was always more important than impressing my audience. Why place your ideas on top of a tower of words built from the depths of your lexicon? People only do it to build the tower so high its onlookers…

to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation. He is a recipient of the AFI Life Achievement Award for his contributions to the cinema, and has won an Academy Award, a Palme d'Or,Cannes Film Festival Best Director Award, Silver Lion, Grammy Award, Emmys, Golden Globes, BAFTAs, and DGA Awards. Scorsese's body of work addresses…

I have personally read Wes Moore’s book and went to see him speak in McCain Auditorium this past week. Personally I thought it was very interesting how he really didn’t talk as much about the book as I thought he might. He talked about how the title was created and more about the backstory of the book. While I was reading the book I could see many theories from our lectures, and also picked up on some things he said in his speech. In the book Wes talks about his own life and “the other Wes…

When one searches Elizabeth Taylor on Google today, about 221-228 million results emerge. This number is exceeds Bill Gates and Marilyn Monroe’s results combined. She became an instant hit after she starred in National Velvet (1944). While other girls her age were playing with toys, she was becoming increasingly aware of the effect her appearance had on people. She married several different people, all whom exhibited similar traits: manly and protective. Because of the lack of a father figure in…

In the short story “Eleven”, Sandra Cisneros depicts Rachel as a shy and awkward child who is alienated in her social life due to being insecure. Cisneros uses various figurative devices and language to show Rachel’s exterior personality as well as her wise, but arrogant thoughts. Rachel’s lack of dialogue showing her adversity to speaking up and going against the social norms shows the reader that she is insecure about her personality. She is so opposed to speaking against her teacher, an…

The film American Beauty, directed by Sam Mendes, views the American Dream as a constricting force that forces people into a materialistic, consumerist facade that adversely impacts their happiness. The characters are almost trapped by this ideology, and they have come to focus more on their material possessions and careers, rather than their family and those important to them. Throughout the film, we see constant examples where the characters value their material possessions over family, such…

The Island of Dr. Moreau challenges the readers view of how to define a monster. Some would say Dr. Moreau is a monster, some would say Montgomery, and some would argue that the beast people are the real monsters. Some people would even say that there are no monsters in The Island of Dr. Moreau. First, to address the most literal “monsters” in the book, the beast people. It is easy to say they are monsters because they are physically the closest to a monster. Moreau could be considered a…

American Beauty shows a modern everyday family that appears to be happy and normal on the outside but very dysfunctional with serious problems. On the surface the film American Beauty is about the dream so many Americans have today, and have had for many years. The perfect life. Although American Beauty encompasses an example of emotional sleepwalking and living life as it passes by. The film was made and released in 1999, directed by Sam Mendes and written by Alan Ball. The title of the film…

Jane’s three best friends from high school, Sam, Jack, and Rick, obviously love her, but she is in for a shock when they tell her they are in love with her and want to share her. They each went to different colleges but come back together to live in a New York City apartment to start their careers and, unbeknownst to Jane, their courtship of her. These three men are very different but they form a whole that is perfect for their Janie. Sam is smooth and diplomatic, Jack has no filter, and Rick is…

I watched the movie Fifty First Dates produced by Nancy Juvonen, Jack Giarraputo, and Steve Golin. This movie was based on a woman who has Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Harry Roth is works in Hawaii as a vet, trying to earn money to study walrus in Alaska. He never catches feelings for women due his passion for his career. Until, one morning he goes to a local restaurant and is drawn to this woman named Lucy. Before Lucy got into the accident that caused her TBI she was an art teacher at a…