On the Verge of Lunacy

It's not just a game. Five years ago I could not sleep without playing even just one round of it. Five years ago, I walked through dark alleys and endured hunger just to get a taste of it. Five years ago, I could go head-to-head against the toughest gamers. It was the best thing the world has ever created. And it took me months to stop playing Counter-Strike. It's not just a game. Few people realize that virtual games are no different from books, music, movies and other forms of media and recreation. They all have the same function: an escape. We watch television, listen to music and read because we want to experience what it's like to be in another world as a different person or place. I'm a CS addict, but I also know that life will be so boring without it. There is an art in playing. All people have the ability to learn how to do it but not everyone can be good at it. Battle Realms and Generals require strategic and tactical skills. Counterstrike requires pr...

Analysis of the movie "Babel" based on Stanley Cavell's "Audience, Actor, and Star" and Alexander Sesonske's "Space, Time, and Motion in Film" Brad Pitt became famous as a screen actor when he played a starring role in the Dark Side of the Sun in 1988. Like most famous "stars" he is well-known in some of the roles he played in his movies. According to Cavell, "the screen actor is essentially not an actor at all: he is the subject of the study..." In popular culture the roles these stars have played are overshadowed by the fact that they played them. The audience knows immediately what to expect from the movie through the actors' names.The characters they play in the story are created by them, not unlike in plays where the characters roles have already been established. In the example given in the essay, King Lear has been portrayed in flesh just like he is in the story. While in some movies, the roles are specifically ma...

I don't usually wake up before nine o'clock in the morning during weekends or vacation. If it wasn't for Abe no Yasuaki, the Genbu of Heaven and his green hair, I'd have spent my spare time playing Battle Realms and Generals. The last time I watched anime was more than five years ago. The last characters I was interested with were Sanosuke of Samurai X and Ryu of Streetfighter. Nothing about the story caught my attention. It was the animation that was superb. The fact that they have captured the spirit of the Heian Era was quite unusal for something that is usually associated with elementary kids. The clothes looked real. They were very detailed and beautifully rendered. They match the color of the hair and eyes of each character. The music gives a different quality to the series. You can sense the power and the tension of the opposing forces. * * * I found Tactics very interesting for its story and animation. Haruka's mysterious side and his relationship t...

Comment on the movie "In the Mood for Love" based on Laura Mulvey's "Woman as Image, Man as Bearer of the Look" "The presence of a woman is an indispensable element of spectacle in normal narrative film, yet her visual presence tends to work against the development of a story line, to freeze the flow of action in moments of erotic contemplation." Personally I never liked women in movies. Most of them are fragile, foolish and always in need of another person for help. I don't want to think of myself as that kind of woman and so I cannot identify with most of the female characters. * * * Women always have to look good. Li-zhen's sexuality is emphasized through close-up shots of erotic zones. The angles in some of the scenes have that voyeuristic quality. The viewers intrude their lives.Like most female characters, she is a passive counterpart to Chow. The male protagonist provides the actions of the story to keep it going. In the end, the...

AN ANALYSIS ON ORSON WELLES' " CITIZEN KANE " PHOTOGRAPHY, MISE EN SCENE and MOVEMENT Orson Welles' use of theatrical techniques in lightning has an unusual effect in the movie. Some shots exaggerate the symbolic features of the story such as separation and loneliness. The contrasts are very obvious and early in the film, the audience is provided with a foreshadowing of the protagonist's fate. The play of light and darkness overstates the contrasts in foreground and background, the textures and the characters' demeanor. The positions of the characters also perform the same functions. What I like most about the film is that the director can place all the elements in the film without overshadowing the rest (the deep-focus shots for example). He can maximize the space making it possible for the audience to different characters at the same time. The camera movements are very dynamic and give the audience another side of the story aside from the dialogues o...