Alex the Talking Parrot

It kind of makes me wonder about all the hamburgers and chickens I've eaten. I really think he's communicating and interacting on some similar level that humans do. I wonder if he understands jokes. Probably not. I also feel like documentaries and the news you can make them say what you want them to say, something to be careful of. You might look at all the positives but don't document anything that would go against your thesis. I think it's good to be as honest as possible and answer any limitations that come up. One limitation of this video is well, did he get a banana and if so did he eat it?

Air Cars

If they them build we will come. This is one of the coolest ideas I've seen. I was thinking about a car that runs on gravity and I'm having a tough time working it out but this a lot more practical. I just hope they also get going on the air motorcycles. Or, air helicopters. Or air F-16s that Fort Lewis can purchase and the students can rent them.

That's it That's all Teaser

Here's the teaser of the movie that I'm going to go watch at the Abbey on Wednesday the 13th. From the teaser there isn't much that I can tell. They're not really giving a lot of real video footage so either they're hiding the suckiness of the film or the goodness of the film.

Love Medicine

I'm reading this book in Reading and Writing Texts called Love Medicine. I went online to see if I could find something about the book and one of the main characters, June Kashpaw. What I found was one thing I've been looking for. It wasn't about the book but it was about filming in such a perfect way. The way this person films this woman is to me so perfect. I can feel the lady's emotion and I can see through the eyes of the person filming. It seems really laid back- the way of filming, but it's so personal that it helps to tell the story. The person holding the camera is telling the story at the same they are reacting to the story so I get the feeling of what the story is about but also what the other person is feeling and what that person wants me to know.

Humans are amazing creatures

I just think it's worth seeing.

Keith Jarrett

Here's a video my friend showed me of one of my favorite musicians, Keith Jarrett. The split screen helps to give attention to important things going on at the same time. It works really good in music videos and I think it could work really well in documentary film making. We're thinking about using it our documentary of Turtle Lake.

Ground Zero

After watching Brian Barnes' short clip of Family Guy I thought I'd watch this. I like it a lot. I think it's a really good idea to convey really serious decisions like going to war and the rediculous justifications for doing it in a humerous way. Using humor, in the form of stupidity, helps to emphasize the stupidity of decisions like these.

Grizzly Man Review

The movie Grizzly Man by Werner Herzog is about a man, Timothy Treadwell, and his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, who have been killed by a grizzly bear. Treadwell has for more than a decade been living with Grizzlys up in Alaska. Treadwell's prime concern was for protecting the bears and increasing awareness of their lives in order to help protect them.


This movie does a great job of explaining who Treadwell was and why he was doing it. More than just explaining Treadwell's story through narration however, the director, Herzog lets the viewer see footage of Treadwell's own movie. This footage explain Treadwell's reasoning but also tells the story from a first person point of view. I really feel like I know something about Treadwell because I have seen him and also know a little about his past. That was another good thing- that Herzog interviewed Treadwell's parents and friends who told a little background about Treadwell's life. That helped me to understand Treadwell's background and even link together why he was the way he was.


One thing I didn't like very much was how close the narrator got to the friend of Treadwell, his older girlfriend. When Herzog listen to the tape of Treadwell's recorded death, it bothered me a little that he said that she needs to destroy it. he then goes on to hold her hands and though he's giving her support, and good adive perhaps, it makes me confused about the relatinoship of Herzog and his subjects. Also its just not fun to see bonding between people. That stuff is personal and I try to turn my eyes from it in real life and give it space but it just feels ackward to have to watch it and wait for them to hold each other. One moment in filming that didn't sit right was when he was interviewing the pilot and he just kept zooming and zooming in really slowly. The zoom didn't have any pupose and got too close to the guy's face. I felt that there were a few other instances of this throughout the movie. I found myself confused at the purpose of some shots.

For just a little something more- Treadwell makes me so mad. This movie really hit some emotions in me and I had to turn it off for a little while. What this guy did was not accurate. I'm not going to get all heartfelt for creatures that routinely eat their young, something that he knew was going on and even filmed the evidence. I've also seem footage of bears hunting their young. Bears are not happy play buddies. Anybody else feel the same way?