Class Recap 11/19

  Today, we talked about Movir Taglines. What's a tagline?
  1. Te last line of a play, story, or speech, used to clasrify or dramatize a point.
  2. A phrase or catchword that becomes identified or associated with a person, group, or product through repetition.
  3. An amusing or memorable phrase designed to catch attention in an advertisement.
 
  For us, movie taglines makes us review that we learned in class, Also, it's good way to recommed movies to others. We worte taglines of our own. There have eight movies we had watched in this semester.
1. Jaws.
2. Silence of the Lambs
3. Ghost Busters
4. Happy Gilmore
5. L.A. Confidential
6. Dead Man Walking
7. The Notebook
8. Lost in Translation

  I  think we could review all of movies when we wrote taglines. It is good for us. I hope it will help us in final test. Good luck to me and you guys.

Capital Punishment in the U.S., Part 2

Thanks, everyone, for a great class discussion today - I hope you found it as interesting and thought-provoking as I did!

When I read over the handout with information about the death penalty, here are some of the facts and ideas that I found surprising:

- that the death penalty is so much more expensive than putting a convicted murder in jail for the rest of his/her life (according to the handout, California tax payers pay as much as $114 million per year MORE than the cost of life-long incarceration).

- that the death penalty appears to be applied in such a biased, discriminatory manner (according to the handout, in California convicted murderers are three to four times more likely to be sentenced to death if their victims are white than if their victims come from other ethnic groups or nationalities).

- that the death penalty appears NOT to be an effective deterrent for criminals (according to the handout, the Southern region of the United States has the highest murder rate AND the greatest percentage of executions out of any other region in the nation; the Northeastern region of the United States has the lowest murder rate AND the smallest percentage of executions out of any other region in the nation).


So now, the next question I am wondering about is as follows:

Did watching the movie Dead Man Walking cause you to change or reconsider your ideas about capital punishment (in the U.S. and/or in your home country)? Why or why not?


Using the 'Comment' function on this post, please write a short paragraph that describes and explains at least one thing or fact you learned from reading the handout. We will begin our class on Wednesday by transitioning towards talking about romantic movies and what makes a good love story, so please make sure to write your comment BEFORE then.

Capital Punishment in the U.S., Part 1

After watching the movie Dead Man Walking, and reviewing the handout with information about how the death penalty is enforced in different parts of the United States, did you learn anything new or surprising?

Using the 'Comment' function on this post, please write a short paragraph that describes and explains at least one thing or fact you learned from reading the handout. We will begin our class on Monday with a discussion of this question, so please make to write your post BEFORE then.

Have a happy and healthy Halloween weekend, everyone - see you Monday!

The Music of LA Confidential

Using the 'Comment' function on this post, please write a paragraph or two (about 150 words) in response to some of the questions that we talked about in class today:

1. What are soundtracks like in movies from your home country? Do they feature popular songs? Songs without lyrics? Traditional music? Etc ...

2. Do you think music can reinforce the message or heighten the emotional impact of a movie? If so, how?

3. Look at your handout and re-read the lyrics to the Johnny Mercer song "Accentuate the Positive," featured in the movie LA Confidential, before answering the questions below:

3a. Where in the movie (in which scene or scenes) does this song appear?

3b. What is happening to the characters while this song is playing?

3c. Why do you think the director chose to include this song in the movie?

3d. How does this song contribute to the overall “point” or “message” the filmmakers are trying to convey?

The "Real" Stars of LA Confidential

As we discussed in class today, many of the events and characters from the movie LA Confidential are based on true historical events and real people. I have posted pictures of some of these people below. Where possible, I have included pictures of their movie alter egos (e.g., a picture of the real Mickey Cohen followed by a picture of the actor who played him in the movie).

1. Veronica Lake
2. Lynn Bracken (as played by actor Kim Basinger)
3. The Real Mickey Cohen
4. The "Movie" Mickey Cohen (as played by actor Paul Guilfoyle)
5. The Real Johnny Stompanato & The Real Lana Turner
6. The "Movie" Johnny Stompanato & Lana Turner (as played by actors Paolo Seganti & Brenda Bakke)
7. The Real Rita Hayworth
8. Model Amber Smith (who plays Sue Lefferts in the movie)

Class Recap 10/18 2010

Today, we discussed about what was story of LA Confidential, which is seen so far. At that time, we were struggling to remember what it was. Finally, we did it well. We could find out 4 main characters. Then we started watching movie from the beginning part because it was too long time ago to continue each scene.

After watching, Greer gave us homework, which is about what does American dream mean to you. Therefore, we should ask that to 3 people by Friday.

Class Recap 10/15/2010

today, i'll talk about our midterm test. The test have 4 paat. First is vocabulary, part two is about movie's timeline, part three is some questions about American Culture in movie, the last part is write an essay. About a what is your favourite movie why? and the movie how change your mind in American Culture. i think if we saw all the movie and review vocabulary. your tast will be good.