And thank you for spending a part of yours here on My Ticket Elsewhere! Today there's quite a bit to talk about and that's never a bad thing. So let's get to it, shall we? Dawdling is for dawdlers.
FIRST I'd like to bring your attention to this thing that is going around called KONY 2012. The reason that I want to talk about this is... well, there are a lot of reasons:
1. Joseph Kony is a bad man and seriously, now that I have a name to associate with the horror that is The Invisible Children, I feel responsible to do my part in spreading the word.
2. The thing about causes is that, while most of them are good, it's very rare that we little people actually KNOW what they're all about. So I want to help you know what you're getting all riled up about. It'll help in the long run. Trust me.
*EDITED TO ADD: Ryan has recently made this video private! If you still want to learn more about KONY 2012 read on and watch the documentary linked to below.
KONY 2012 is an online initiative to "make Joseph Kony famous." But what does that mean exactly? Well this video by one of my favorite YouTubers, Ryan Higa, explains it well, but I'll do my part, too. The reason people like me and you are trying to spread the word about this terrible man is because, if we DON'T, if we let the world lose interest, and if we assume that someone else will do the work of bringing Kony to the attention of our governments and national leaders, then the people who are in the position to do something won't do anything. We need to show that we care so that our world leaders will stop him from continuing to build an army of child soldiers.
There's a documentary online that's only about 30 minutes that explains this situation in full. If you have a half an hour to spare, go ahead and watch it to be even better informed. But you can also check out Twitter and blog posts like this one to see what others are doing to support the cause.
"The Artist" is a modern black-and-white silent film that follows George Valentine, a silent film star, as the film industry enters a new age--- the age of talking pictures. Reluctant to jump aboard the "talkie" bandwagon, George gets left behind while a girl he helped out named Peppy starts climbing up. Throughout the movie we hope there is redemption for George and even though he can't actually say it, we know that's what he's hoping, too.
Well, that's my interpretation of the plot, anyway. You can click on the poster if you're curious to know what IMDB has to say about it. But I'll tell you right now that I LOVED this movie. My mom and my little sisters are fans of black-and-white pictures, but I've always adored silent films. And this is the first modern film I've seen that's dared to jump backwards not only in time but in technique! It was awesome. I feel like they filmed it with old-school cameras and everything.
Not only was it emotionally stirring, but it was actually a great plot, too! Although it felt a bit familiar (it rings a bell, but I'm not sure why...), the acting was phenomenal, the actors, themselves, felt fresh and were a joy to watch, and just at the point I was thinking, "This is getting a bit long," the story takes a turn which proves to me that the screenwriter knew exactly what they were doing. Love, love, love! I also loved George and Peppy as characters. As actors, they were brill, but the characters, too, were worth caring about. I admit this kind of movie is not for everyone, but I enjoyed it immensely. I hope that, if you see it, you enjoy it, too. I recommend it to fans of silent films and black-and-whites. Also, to anyone who's interested in film production, film technique, film anything, and/or Hollywood. I'm a big film geek so I enjoyed watching some modern technique mix in with some classic, and all the time thinking how authentic it felt. It's a great movie. Go watch it, please, the lot of you!
NEXT I have two things to share with you from YA authors Stephanie Perkins and Ally Carter. The first thing is from Stephanie and it's actually pretty serious. There's a movie coming out called BULLY for teens from the perspective of teens and parents of teens who've been bullied. It's a documentary you could say, about an initiative a town put together in order to end bullying there. And it wasn't until I read this post by Ms. Perkins that I realized such a movie was in the works. The problem is its MPA Rating is at an R right now, which would deny teens under the age of 17 to see it, but that's exactly the audience that this film was made for. So if you have a moment, visit that post and learn more about the film. And then, if you're inclined to do so, go ahead and sign the petition. But, in other news, Ally Carter's fifth Gallagher Girl book, OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF TIME is coming out THIS WEEK! And there's an awesome book trailer for it (see above) that will be playing in some theaters before movies like "Mirror, Mirror" and even "The Hunger Games!" Check out Ally's post about it, here.
So speaking of "The Hunger Games" movie, I FINALLY leave you with this! And also this! Both are fabulous, but you will only be rewarded if you take a leap of faith and click. I will say one of them is for fans of THE HUNGER GAMES and the other is for fans of do-it-yourself adventures. But you'll have to click one or the other or both to find out which is which. Let me know how you liked it and take a screenshot of your accomplishments before you exit (if you click the link[s] you'll know what I mean).
That's it for today! Hope you feel more informed about all of the things now and are ready to rock your weekend. Remember that this week on Elsewhere we're talking about DITCHED! My review will be posted tomorrow if you want to see what I think before you buy the book, AND don't forget to visit the March Calendar so you can check out the prompts for this week's Wednesday Writes Challenge!
Toodles,
Deserae
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