Journal 3: A New Beginning

     “The Faceless: Autotheism”, by Dean Brown provides an intriguing review of the Faceless’ new album, Autotheism. The author begins by reflecting on how the band has reunited after a 4 year period following their previous album; and how this will affect their future content. He then goes on to reveal that the album has changed from their previous works, going from “the hyper-technical death metal” to a genre more familiar with Between the Buried and Me. Brown comments on how previous fans may be put off by the first song, Autotheist Movement I: Create, which has a more typical rock sound to it. He goes on to state that the songs progressively change and at one point sound very similar to their old sound. Brown believes that the end of the album makes it sound as if The Faceless are about to find their niche. As an avid fan of The Faceless, I am excited that they have gotten back together, and although I have not heard their new album, this article has gotten me excited to check it out. I truly enjoyed their previous work and I could not compare them to any other band. This article makes it seem as if they have begun to entwine many band specific sounds in an attempt to find a new sound. I am also a fan of Between the Buried and Me, and I am curious as to how these two bands could mix their sound. In any case, I am excited to find out exactly what The Faceless’ new sound could be.

Journal 2: A Turning Point

     Inception is a movie that focuses primarily on action, yet offers an interesting twist, in the form of dream worlds. This concept of dream invasion is important to understand the direction of the film. One scene that helps to explain this concept is of Fischer’s realization of being in a dream, from 13:26 to 14:35 of disk two. This entails Cobb using the Mr. Charles tactic on Fischer and convincing him he is in a dream. He uses the shift in gravity as evidence and reminds Fischer that he has been trained to detect false dream worlds. When told this, the subconscious individuals look at Cobb. When Fischer accepts it, they look away, and he asks Cobb to get him out. There are some interesting aspects of the audio and visual cues during this scene. One aspect is the music. Although it is intended to be loud from the shift in gravity, due to the van turning, it is apparent that ominous and intense music begins playing as soon as the heads of the subconscious beings turn. This music then shifts to a less intense sound as soon as they return to normal habits. Another of these aspects is the camera zooms. During each angle on Fischer, the camera is either zooming in or out. It zooms in while he is trying to understand his situation and determine whether he is dreaming or not. It then begins to zoom out while he is accepting the fact that he is dreaming. This scene is important in this movie because it is the turning point in the inception of Fischer. It is where Fischer begins working with instead of against the dream invaders.

Journal 1: Inception-A Movie to Inspire

      Inception, written and directed by Christopher Nolan, was one of my favorite films to date and is so for one main reason; the plot was philosophical. Typically, the formal elements of a movie invoke a response in me. That is not to say that the cultural values of the movie are not important, they merely have a less positive response in most cases. All of the lighting, sounds, and designs of the movie work together to enhance Inception and make it a more brilliant work of art. The acting in this movie is phenomenal and kept me on my seat. The way in which the movie was edited, switching from the different levels of the dream state held another captivating affect. The plot of the movie, was however, the most important aspect in deciding to love this movie. It had a similar feel to Andy and Lana Wachowski’s, The Matrix. The plot left you wondering what was next at each stage. This end of your seat affect is only effective if you answer the questions that typically manifest. An example of this was the beginning of Inception. You are left wondering what the beginning scene was all about throughout the movie, only to find out the importance and meaning of it near the end. This is done in a way that leaves you questioning without distracting you from the rest of the movie. This is but one of the important aspects of plot in a movie, but gives reason why Inception is one of the best films of its time.

Maraniss Essay Response

     David Maraniss’ “Winning actually isn’t the only thing” begins with a stating of distain towards Sheldon Adelson miss-quoting Vince Lombardi. Maraniss continues to reveal his initial hatred towards the call of the game. He then questions whether winning was the only thing, and if the packers were the ones who benefited from the call whether he would have been happy or not. He goes on to reveal Roger Goodel’s mistake in replacing the referees. He then looks at the reaction in Seattle’s coach Pete Carroll’s reaction and is quite displeased by his misplaced sense of accomplishment. Russell Wilson, former Wisconsin Badger quarterback and current Seattle Seahawks quarterback, was a different story for him as he has seen him perform and speak well in the past; he was however displeased with his speech after the game. He then speaks of Vince Lombardi’s past as a fair and honest coach and believes that if the Packers were in the Seahawks’ shoes, they would not have treated it as an accomplishment. He concludes by saying that the score is final, but the Seahawks should not feel as if they have accomplished anything.

      I agree with most of what David Maraniss has said in his article on winning and the Packer Seahawk incident. I am equally upset at the miss use of Vince Lombardi’s legacy. While I am bias towards the Packers, I believe that had they won from a bad call, I would not be happy with, nor expect the packers to be proud of a win like that. That would go against them as a team and their history with Lombardi. The Packers remain the only publicly owned institution in American professional sports, and due to this, they are responsible for upholding their honesty. The Seahawks addressed their win honestly, but not the questionable call that inevitably led to their win.

The Believing Game Part 2

I believe dogs should not be used to hunt wolves in Wisconsin. It is true that wolves have reached numbers that surpass social carrying capacity, and this is causing problems with farmers’ livestock. With this being said, a hunting season has already been established, and the amount of tags that will be sold has been decided by experts on this subject. The first season is meant to be a test to gauge the amount of kills per tags. In time, the wolves’ population will be brought down, but we should not rush into it and make the same mistake our ancestors made. It is cruel to use dogs to hunt wolves, they are both territorial predators, and will surely kill each other in non-humane ways. Using dogs to hunt wolves is not necessary and would put both the wolves and dogs into unnecessary danger.

The Believing Game Part 1

I believe wolves should be hunted using dogs in Wisconsin. Wolves have been endangered in the past, but they have reached numbers that far succeeded our expectations. It is becoming a nuisance, with livestock being taken right before farmers’ eyes. How long will it be before they begin killing children? This is why we must hunt them till they are down to social carrying capacity. Without the use of meat for bait, killing wolves will be very difficult, as they are one of the most intelligent predators. This is why we must use dogs to hunt them; this will ensure their being brought down to an acceptable population.