Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog - Analyzed

Recently I saw Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog... and I am in love. (If you don't know what I'm talking about watch the movie here and tell them Kimzy sent you!)

Possibly one of the best movies I have ever seen, it follows the story of evil villain Billy/Dr Horrible (Neil Patrick Harris) as he tries to successfully join the 'Evil League of Evil' and defeat his nemesis Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion), the self centered superhero, whilst also trying to woo their shared love interest, Penny (Felicia Day), a simple, caring girl who wants to build a homeless shelter.

Spread out in three acts of 14 minutes each, it is a tragicomedy web series directed by Avengers director Josh Whedon. Released in 2008, it is filled with jokes and singing and beautiful characters.

A theme that I found could be tied to this movie was that though ambition is important in achieving your goals in life, one must remember to not overlook the things that were once - or still are - important to them.

The way the story is told is untraditional in the way that it is told from the perspective of the bad guy. This leads me to the problem of using terms as protagonist and antagonist. From the traditional taught-by-my-third-grade-teacher perspective, protagonist is the good guy, antagonist is the bad guy. Done. End of story. However, in this case, the protagonist is very well Dr Horrible, aspiring super villain and not Captain Hammer, jerky jerk-faced self important super hero. Got it? Good.

So, to understand how I came to that theme rather than something along the lines of through ruthlessness, you can achieve any goal (which is a liable theme though, in my opinion, not the one best suited for this particular story), we need to go into our protagonists mind (quick reminder here, protagonist is Dr Horrible). He begins the story with one single goal -which would be to become part of the Evil League of Evil -  and a vague I-want-this-to-happen idea -making Penny fall in love with him. But, as the story progresses, Penny clearly becomes of higher and higher importance to him, so much so as he risks his projects for her. This, however, changes when she begins to hang around Captain Hammer. So you'd think that his priorities would change back to world domination right? Well then, you are a robot who clearly hasn't ever had a school girl crush on someone.
It doesn't change with the flip of a switch. So, even though he puts on the facade of needing only to join the League, deep inside, he truly cares for Penny. When he kills her, his feelings of dread and sadness and loneliness make for a empty victory. This is made all the more evident when he makes his final vlog in which he is dressed as himself (Billy) and not Dr Horrible. This is because he has gotten all he thought he would ever need as Dr Horrible and yet still feels empty without her. His feelings of accomplishment are squashed by the weight of the cost. (This is referred to as a Pyrrhic Victory)

I love this movie because the acting is beautifully done, the story is amazing and the singing is perfect.Though there are a lot of songs, none feel out of place or overdone - though I will admit that almost all of them are cheesy on some level. The beats are good, the lyrics add to the story and they're catchy. I've been singing the Bad Horse Letter and Phone Call at school nearly non stop and everyone's annoyed with me.

Simply put, thank you Josh for making such an engaging, hilarious, cry out loud movie thaat I have watched way too many times.

Another movie analyzed by me
-Kimzy

Notes to Strangers

Inspired by many different DIY projects that I found online (specificaly this brilliant blog post titled Love Notes for Strangers), I decided that I should go around good old Montreal leaving around little notes.
I made three different kinds of notes:

1. Being the Inspirational/Classic notes which contain things that go along the lines of "You're beautiful" and "Don't forget to be happy" and "I challenge you to make 10 people laugh."
2.  Being the Nerdfighteria related notes. Here you can find a lot of "DFTBA's" and "Thank you for Decreasing Worldsuck's". Each one has a link to the Vlogbrothers channel and is mainly to introduce more people to nerdfighters and to bring a smile to the face of actual nerdfighters.
3. Also being Nerdfighter notes; these however all have to do with John's books and I will be adding them to his books next time I go to Indigo.

 On most of them I wrote in English, but I live in Quebec so I wrote a couple French one's as well. They all have a link to this blog so I would ask that if you find one to please email me Seenityet@hotmail.com with a picture of either just the note or you with the note. I'll be sure to include it in my next post.

That's it! Find my note, send me a pic, become part of my blog :D

Just another project from me
-Kimzy

Smart?

I realise that I haven't posted in two weeks... Sorry but I had the blog assignment and doing more than 5 blogs a week was too much... But I don't have to apologize to you! I'm master of my own life!

Okay so I'm in class again: We've been given a lot of free time now because its almost spring break (YAY!) So this being the case, I have my class mates around me: I'm actually sitting next to this guy I walk home with. I want to talk about that a bit.

So I don't really want to name names but this kid is about a 75 average... But he's a GENIUS!

Anyway so just the other day I was walking with him right? And I don't really know why but I asked him

 "Dude your smart... Why don't you ever do your homework? I mean you understand it and it would boost your grades up..."

And he told me the weirdest thing... And it really made me think:

 "I don't see the point. You only need a 70 to pass college. Look at it this way: Let's say you made a cure to cancer. But then you spend an extra three hours making it taste good. What's the point?"


After laughing I realised that he was kind of right...But I honestly still think that we, as humans, want to help each other. We want to do things! We need to; that's how we are. Our brains are hard-wired to want to get things done. To help each other when we are in need, to keep our world functioning. And to do a lot of these things takes power: Power often stems from knowledge.

And that's all I really wanted to say :)

Another thought about philosophy,
-Kimzy

Romeo and Juliet -The ridiculous story that brought together millions

              Not to long ago, I finished my school term. Before it ended, in my English class, we were reading Shakespeare's famous Romeo and Juliet. 
              Something my teacher couldn't stress enough was how ridiculous the story actually is... And after laughing at our awe-struck faces (come on admit it you'd never expect a high school teacher to say that Romeo and Juliet is ridiculous!) she preceded to explain:
              When you think about it, R&J is about 2 teens who meet and who, 5 days (DAYS PEOPLE!) later, are the cause of 6 deaths; including both their suicides. Not to mention that within those 5 days, Romeo becomes a murderer, is banished from the city and breaks into his wife's coffin. On the other hand Juliet is engaged and prepared to be married to another guy (she's almost 14), takes a potion to appear dead on her wedding day to avoid the marriage and wakes up from her 'sleep' about two seconds after Romeo dies at her feet! I'm not even going to go into the Friar Laurence's story but let's just admit the guy married off two fourteen year olds.... let that speak for itself.

Romeo & Juliet from the film version
(with Dicaprio) making out in an elevator

               Okay let me go into more specified criticism. I like talking about Juliet. Now I understand she's a hormonal teenager. I truly understand that. But realistically speaking, what happened between her and Romeo? He flirted with her and they start making out in a corner. (Or, in the movie, an elevator) Then when he finds his way to underneath her balcony and answers her when she is talking to herself.... Okay. Wait. Can I just point out what's wrong with this image? He has essentially broken into her property and watched her whilst she is unaware. This is considered what in real life? Yes people, that is a stalker! Or a vampire.... (Anyone? Anyone? Twilight reference? No? Okay) Besides that they talk and stuff, whatever. He tells her to meet him and she says she can't leave her house... um what the hell? You lie to your parents later on in the book and tell them you're going to church anyway! Why not lie now and go meet 'your love' yourself? But no she sends her nanny. 

Statue of Juliet in Verona, Italy
Rubbing above her heart is said to
bring good luck in love

(Can I just say Romeo hangs out with some pretty big jerks cause the second they see this old lady they start making fun of her with all kind of sexual innuendo.) Anyway, then all of a sudden they're married. (I'd go into more detail but this part of the book is fuzzy so I'm not entirely sure of what happens.) Afterwards her dad comes up to her and tells her that she's gonna get married and when she tries to say no he has a spaz attack! Moving on. So obviously when you don't want to get married for a second time because it's against your religion, you go to the priest of your first wedding right? And then when he gives you some random potion you drink it? What if he's trying to kill you? He doesn't want to offend God; he's a priest! Maybe if he kills you he won't be against God because he won't have given you two husbands. Or what if he were to fail miserably and potion made you so ill you wouldn't be able to move?! Remember, it seems like this girl has only met Friar Laurence recently so he could be some deranged lunatic that convinced Romeo he was a priest! Who knows??? Then after she drinks that thing she's put into her coffin and there's her funeral. When she finally wakes up, she finds Romeo dead at her feet with a poison bottle in his hand. Right away she thinks 'why didn't you leave me any poison? If you die I want to come too...' Can you imagine that in our times? Your boyfriend of three days dies from cancer and you say 'well I want some cancer too....' And then she kills herself before she gets caught not actually being dead. (Side note, can you imagine what her parents must have said when they thought she had died twice? I mean, before Friar Laurence explained...) I mean come on. Well I do see why she is considered the most faithful wife ever: she died rather than 'cheat' on her husband. (Let the records show that I really do like Juliet as a character but I perceive some of her ideals and actions naive and frankly stupid which I guess is kind of the point... we are from different points of history after all)
                 Personally I love Romeo way too much to judge him so I'm not going to say anything about his screw-ups... I guess I'm going to judge the book as a whole now. (BTW Dicaprio was so hot in the movie, Oh My God it was unbelievable.)

The ever famous balcony scene where the line
'Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?' is said by Juliet

                 The story itself is UNBELIEVA-BLE! It's completely unrealistic! But Shakespeare filled the characters. He made it seem realistic and that is why he is an amazing writer! He is a linguistic genius and we all know that when we have all died, and our children have all died, his stories will still be around to be told and re-told. Heck when the aliens come down to our planet when none of us ever exist they will find the books, bring it to their planet and share it with their world. But until then Romeo and Juliet will be a story I hold near to my heart, partly because the beautiful use of the English language, partly because it gives kids like me a glimpse back into time to see how the world was like, but mainly because Shakespeare took the most unrealistic story ever and made it seem like it could be something that happened everyday. He made an unrealistic story real and I respect him -a lot- for doing that.

                       Just another thought about literature from me
                                                 -Kimzy

This Is It (Dance Aspect)

               As I'm watching genius Michael Jackson's This Is It, I am in total awe. As much as I'd like to say that I'm smothered by his artistic beauty or his musical talent, I'm honestly just absolutely in LOVE with his dancers. 
               As a dancer myself (not professional but recreational), I can really see the talent that they have. I mean they are amazing! I envy them with every pore of my body. They do all styles. From pop to krump to plain robot awesomeness. I mean damn I thought I was good at popping and locking but these guys put me to shame.
               But it's cool 'cause I'm still just a kid. I've got time to learn... but I'll never have the chance to dance with the man. The Legend. Can you imagine? They had over 600 dancers audition. Would you believe if you were one of the 11 they chose? I think I would die. I would melt on the spot. The janitor would have to come and clean up the little puddle of me on the stage.


               As a side note, I'm not the BIGGEST Michael Jackson fan on the planet but I do really like his music. Right now he's singing one of my favourites: They Don't Really Care About Us
               Also the director of that movie is Kenny Ortega, director of the High School Musical series. I don't know why I mentioned this, I am well aware that it isn't relevant but I felt as though that should be out there :)

               By the way, there were only two girls chosen as his backup. Wait no before I continue with this I just want to say something about the audition. All the girls are dressed basically in their underwear. WTH?! I know that the job is about looks and stuff but come on! Wouldn't it be cooler to stand out? That's what I would have done. I'd show up in joggers, a tee-shirt and a pair of Converse. That's another thing. During the entire movie the two girls always had to wear heels. Why? The guys got to wear running shoes! Wouldn't that have been more practical? Mind you it does make them look different and makes them stand out... But you have to realise that being one of the only two girls makes you stand out enough. Now back to the two girls thing. After thinking about it some more, well I realise I don't really care that much. But it is interesting to note that one does a 'cameo' with Mr. Jackson on the song The Way You Make Me Feel, while the other gets, well, nothing. No hate and I'm happy for the girl who got the cameo and I think they're both great dancers but yeah that kinda sucks for the blond chick.

               I'm pretty much finished. Um... do I have anything else to say. Oh yeah! If someone could tell me the name of the blond dancer (not the girl)? I've looked everywhere for his name but I can't find it... He's the blond one with spiky hair. Oh my god I find him such a good dancer.

           Just another thought from me
                                    -Kimzy