Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Winner!?


Hi Everyone! Thank you all for voting for me in the past few contests I have done (I love contests, if you did not notice) However, the contest I ask you to help vote for, is more exciting than the res, because it was more of a competition, than a contest (Talent vs. Chance). My friend Bailey and I created a video of using math in the real world, for a contest sponsored by Dartmouth College, and we endded up in the top ten finalists. It all comes down to your help, and we have some hefty competition. So, vote by following these directions

Click this link
https://www.facebook.com/mathovision/app_524327117577295
Click "Gallery"
Vote for the video "Trig in a Tree"

You can vote once every 24 hours, but any amount of votes helps. Thanks a million everyone, I have such amazing friends and relatives who support me in things like that, and I am forever grateful.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Contests

Allright, I warn you now that I absolutely adore contests. They make me look forward with excitement and joy, and I love winning too. So of course, I have entered several contests, and won several of them too. In 5th grade I entered a childrens inventing contest, and out of over 2,000 people, I got in the top 5 finalists (I consider that winning). In 5th grade I won the all school talent show. In 6th grade I won the class science fair, and in 7th grade I also won the class science fair. In 8th grade I won an award in the county youth art show. Recently I won the contest by "The Animated Woman" (please check out her glorious blog, for the sake of your happiness).

Obviously, I love contests, and am pretty darn lucky when it comes to winning. I do however know not to get my hopes up for winning, and I enjoy the thrill of waiting to hear who wins, just as much as winning. What I am trying to get at, is that I know my chances of winning are slim in some contests, but that does not make them worth not entering.

Ok, so here is the deal, I am currently trying to win a contest, and I need your help to win. You are also welcome to enter, if you have not yet. You need to be 18 to enter, and I am 17, but my mom helped me out, and let me enter my idea under her name, so technically she would win, but she would give me the prize of $2,000!

Do I have a plan for the prize money? Why yes, I do. I need $400 to cover the fee of the event center I am renting, to host a charity ball in December. The rest of the money, will go toward college, or possible my trip to Nepal, or buying a car, I might just put it in savings.

So help me out, share the link with your friends, I have less than one week to get lots of votes. My chances are slim, but that really means nothing.

You do not need an account or anything to vote, you just nedd to click the button. Thanks
Please enter if you love contests like I do, enjoy it too.

http://www.freecreditscore.com/contest/?textId=2070
(you need to wait a few seconds for the box to pop up to vote)

Thank you so much, although my viewers are few, I love every one of you! (yes even the people who come here to spam, and advertise your products)

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Whats Up

Hey everyone, sorry about the last post, it was greedy and innapropriate. Anyway, I wanted to write this post just to cath you all up on what I am up to.

As you may have gathered, I went to the sundance film festival about a month ago. It was in every way delightful, but additionally nerve-racking. Several moments, I was afraid I would walk into a place where I was not allowed. I want to post a few films that I recommend you see when they are available:
Touchy Feely
The Rambler
Toy's House
When I Walk
Wajma

Those are four films that really stood out to me. I saw a total of 11 films,  including 2 shorts programs. If you enjoy independt film, are interested in a career in film, or just want to experience the incredible experience, head to Park City for Sundance sometime.



I have also been writing lots of essays for school, fun stuff I tell ya. My high school does not give grades, and determines our pass or fail by how well our evaluation (essay) of the class, reflects our personal, social, and intelectual learning in the class.
I am currently working on writing a story in spanish, which is due yesterday, and our teacher told us she would shame us and hate us if we failed to turn it in. She said it in a joking matter, yet we all knew she was telling the truth. I am terrified for seeing her tomorrow.


Aside from school, I am working on raising money fpr me to go on a trip to Nepal this summer. I have primerily been having fun entering contests online, but I will be planning on getting a job soon.

In addition to that fundraising, I am trying to to raise $400 for a charity event I will be funding. (I will put more information about this into my next post)

Lastly, I am enjoying the snowy weekend, annd making clay sculprtures with my time.


Thursday, February 21, 2013

Touchy Feely Film Review!

I am sorry I have not been posting, I have been buisy with other stuffs. Anyway, In January (yes I am talking way back in January) I went to the Sundance film festival in Park City, Utah. I went with my film class, but was able to go wherever I wanted whenever I wanted. Yes, my school is unique in the way that I rarely saw teachers on this trip, and was allowed to go to whatever film I wanted to attend. It was a fun trip that I hope to attend next year.

Apart from that, I saw this one film at Sundance that really stood out to me. I am writing my evaluation for the trip (essay on what I learned and experienced on the trip) and started to write a review of this amazing film. The film is called "Touchy Feely", and I would like to share the review with you all. I am no professional in reviewing films, so keep in mind that while reading. It is cut out of my full evaluation, so it starts with the word "Speaking of" Just  ignore that. If you want my true oppinion, skip to the bottom two paragraphs.

Touchy Feely  a review by a me (17yrs)


Speaking of connecting with a film, one of my favorite movies was a film called “Touchy Feely.” I had been looking forward to this film and was nervous it would not live up to my expectations, but it easily did. The film is a compilation of three peoples stories, the main story being about a massage therapist who develops an aversion to touching skin. Beside this story, the film shows the life of her (the massage therapist) introverted, and boring brother. Throughout the film he learns to enjoy life, and to give his daughter freedom in choosing her own path through life. The other story beside those is the story of the woman’s, brothers, daughter, and how she does not want to disappoint her father, but learns to tell him what she really wants. Although the story sounds unique, it is rather bland, and many reviewers gave the film a low rating because of its slight dullness. However, if you can see through the blandness to unique points that are made in the film, you can see that beautiful ideas are conveyed in Touchy “Feely”.
Although lacking a great plot, the acting, and filming was stellar. The actor Josh Pais played the brother in this film, and pulled off a solid performance. He has a quirky appearance, which perfectly fit the part of this socially awkward, and over all generally awkward character. He was able to keep the character the same throughout the film, while showing relief, confusion, joy, and sadness at different points in the movie. They could not have cast anyone better for the part.
The second amazing actress playing in this film was the ever adorable, and incredibly talented Ellen Page. I have loved Ellen’s acting since I saw her hit film “Juno” in 2007. Ellen had a smaller part in “Touchy Feely” where she played the daughter. Although her part was small, she put emotion into every moment, and how she was feeling came across very smoothly. It would have been easy for her to over act the part, but she kept her actions gentle, and let the other actors take the stage. I was impressed with her ability to work conservatively, and assume she is a great actress to work with. Her part was played well, and I enjoyed seeing her in a minimal but key position.
Rosemarie DeWitt is the actress who plays the protagonist, massage therapist. Her performance topped the rest in the sense that she had to portray so many different emotions to define her mental downfall. The most beautiful performance she does, is illustrating anxiety. When her character developed a sudden aversion to touching skin, Rosemarie was able to act out anxiety. As a person who has anxiety, I could easily relate, and while watching other films let me down with their view of anxiety, I was thrilled with the performance in “Touchy Feely”. I do believe someone making the film had anxiety, to be able to have such an accurate depiction. A main struggle for many people with anxiety is the confusion that comes with it. People without anxiety may not realize this, but in the film, Rosemarie showed the emotion of utter confusion of why this happened to her. Confusion may just as well be the most defining piece of the term anxiety, so I was very glad that was a big part of the film. She tries to fight her fear, and continue with her massage career, but this results in a panic attack, and breakdown. She is able to pack all of these emotions; scared, confused, and sad, into a single scene, which is incredibly beautiful, and relatable. I have never seen a film represent basic struggles in such a perfect way. I was far more than impressed with Rosemarie’s performance, and look forward to seeing other films featuring her.
Another beautiful part of the film “Touchy Feely” was the creative filming. There were two specific things that the director did with the filming, one was playing with the cameras focus, and the other was doing extreme close-ups. The part about the focus was very interesting to me, as I have never seen it so intense, in other films. What I mean by playing with focus was that many scenes had a main focal point, and the four edges of the scene were blurred. It was beautiful, and unique. Recently I was inspired to buy a video camera, and was looking for one with a manual focus, so I could make films in the way “Touchy Feely” was done. The close-ups were another fun feature in the film. Often extremely close filming can be seen in science documentaries, but rarely in a drama. The director used a high magnifying camera lens, to capture different visuals in the film, mainly skin. Showing the skin close up was a way let people see how Rosemarie’s character is feeling, and to see how strange skin really looks. The close-ups were an interesting and beautiful way to put the audience in the position of the characters. I was very impressed with the bold choices of filming, and can say it was the most enjoyable “filming” to watch at the Sundance festival.
The film sucked me in and swallowed me whole, as I watched in pure amazement. It was not intense, or scary, or upsetting, it was just plain old lovely. Many films chosen to show at the festival are often very invigorating, and important, and I can absolutely say that this is a calm film that brought an indie style to the genre: Drama. Needless to say, the film can be, and should be, looked into deeper. Below the surface, this film portrays anxiety, emotion, family relationships, independence, and trust. They are important, and are well represented in the film. Even though it is not as dramatic as people going through serious tragedy, the everyday struggles, for a middle class family, are beautifully illustrated.
There is much more to the film “Touchy Feely” than what is written here, and I absolutely recommend seeing it. As long as the audience can see past the light storyline, it is a stunning film that people can relate to. I connected so deeply with this film that I waited till many of the people in the audience exited the theatre, so I could give praise to the writer director, Lynn Shelton. I was sweating, and shaking as I walked up to thank her for illustrating anxiety, and for making a great film. As I got my turn to talk to her I was out of my mind afraid. I gave her a brief praising, told her I had anxiety and related to the film, did the classic drop my paper because I am so nervous, and thanked her again and then casually ran out the door. She said thanks to my praise prior to my departure, but I was too afraid to stick around. If anything, the amount of courage I put into walking up to the director, should show that I really loved the film, and absolutely recommend it. I am unsure if “Touchy Feely” has been picked up yet, I truly hope it has so I can see it again, and add it to my list of favorite films. I forgot to mention the amazing soundtrack, and do want to recognize that it was perfect.






I should have underlined the movie title, sorry about that