The Perks of Being a Wallflower Review

Last night I watched "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" and I have to say that I haven't been that impressed with a movie in a long time. Sometimes I choose movies that are upbeat or fast-paced. Sometimes I choose movies to make me laugh or smile. But for me, most of the time, I choose movies to make me feel. When I watch a movie I often rate the quality of it by the connection I feel with the characters in it. When I feel  a strong emotional connection with them, their sorrows, and their pains that's when I deem it a good movie. 

This movie was well made and well executed. Though I found some of the stereotypes a little tired and one demential, the main story and characters were quite profound. It was shocking, and moving in ways that I didn't expect going into it. It was original and different. I wouldn't recommend it for a younger audience and I would be a little hesitant to recommend it to my parents and even some of my friends. Why would I say this after giving it such praise?Well, some of the subject matter is a little intense and perhaps at times uncomfortable. That being said, I didn't necessarily feel like it was entirely unwarranted or that it had a dark tone about it. Often movies that contain intense plots or subjects can often come with negative repercussions as far as feelings go, but I didn't get the same impression here. What I did feel was speechless. And I don't know how to explain why I was speechless, other than this movie was something unexpected, powerful, and yet simple. It's a movie about overcoming trials, about friendship and belonging, and it's a movie about good and bad relationships. If you enjoy well made movies, good acting, powerful stories, and feel like you can handle some of the more sketchy  content then I would recommend this movie. Made my top 10 quite easily.

Media: The Bane of Goodness

So on Sunday I attended a "discussion" led by a power point presentation and kid who I felt knew very little of what he was talking about. And guess what, the discussion was on the media. He went on for perhaps an hour arguing that an over-exposure to media diminishes creativity, intimate relationships, and life in general. He made some ok points, mainly in that many of us should probably cut back on certain forms of media use, but after all that I've learned in this class and all that I've spent time examining this semester I couldn't help but be a little upset by what he was trying to say. I think often people want to blame various forms of modern media for all their problems and label it as the bane of all that is good. In essence I don't believe we're necessarily any better or worse as a people than when we didn't have all these forms of media. We have a lot of worse things we are exposed to in today's world, and we have a lot better things that we are exposed to. The ratio doesn't seem to change to me, we're just exposed to more and different things. Moderation on an individual level I think is important, but in all things, not just media. I don't think that we necessarily have to shutdown our facebook pages, turn off our phones, and limit our music intake to achieve proper balance in our lives. All of these things I believe are beneficial to an extent and well worth holding on to. Sometimes there are better things that we can be doing with our precious time, but let's limit ourselves through self-control and not elimination. I have had moments in my life where I felt the media (such as my TV intake) was controlling me a bit instead of me controlling it, and so I'm often one of the first people to rag on the negative and dangerous effects of the media. But overtime I have realized how much of a blessing it really can be, and how it's much better to see it and use it in that way.

Greater Control & Greater Abuse

Every morning I wake up and I hit the snooze button. Sometimes I hit it more than once. In fact on average I probably hit the snooze button about 3 times every morning. The night before I have all these high hopes of waking up at precisely 7 o'clock and then using all that lovely morning time to actually prepare for the rest of the day. My intelligent, high achieving, conscious side say's "Hey I'm going to wake up early and take the day in stride." Whereas my early morning, lazy, and still sleepy side says "If I sleep for 30 minutes I can quickly get dressed, run out the door, and just make it to school right on time." These two sides battle for dominion and often the one in the moment, the early morning side, wins out against the logic and the productiveness of the first side. Sometimes I think it might just be better if I didn't set the snooze button at all, but then I fear that I might just fall back asleep and not wake up for a least another few hours.

It's funny to me the control we have on waking up in today's world. I mean alarm clocks (and Ipods with alarm functions) have not been in existence forever. With greater blessings of control comes a greater chance to abuse such systems. This I think can be applied to all sources of technology or media. With greater variety and control over tv channels, for example, when you can watch them, and how frequently you can watch them, there is greater possibility to abuse these privileges and opportunities. We have greater control of what we can watch and how can watch it but in turn that means we can essentially watch anything and submit ourselves to everything if we so choose. Would it really be so bad if we didn't have a choice? Would it really be so bad if we just got up when the sun came up and stayed up out of fear that there would nothing else to get you up? We have been given blessings in the form of technology and media which allows for a greater amount of control in our lives, but I certainly think that that control can be heavily abused and taken advantage of.

General Conference

Is anyone else amazed at the scope of General Conference? How it can be broadcast around the world for everyone to hear if they choose to listen. That's my kind of media right there, the one the builds you up in a way that nothing else can. I hope you're all taking advantage this weekend of watching or listen to general conference, because it doesn't get much better or easier then listen to the words of modern prophets inspired by God. Internet, T.V., Radio... it's astounding how easy it is to listen to inspired men speak inspired words.

Amazon: The Best Friend?

Growing up I wasn't much of a shopper. My sisters loved to look for and buy clothes, but I did not. I was against everything malls stood for, all the time, all the money, and all that person to person interaction that to me seemed so insincere. Even when I grew up and came to BYU I still abhorred malls, and all other forms of shopping. It was so inconvenient, costly, and just overly unpleasant for me. Though since it has grown on me a little bit; I've had to do all my own shopping and can't always rely on Christmas to provide me with all my clothing and other item needs. But here is the great thing, this year I discovered online shopping and the wonders and pitfalls it holds. Amazon is my new best friend. It provides me with all of my needs in just a couple days time (Plus free shipping with amazon prime). And the really great thing is that not only does it provide me with things I can get at malls, or at Walmart, or other varieties of stores it allows me to also receive things of a more rare nature. For example, I threw a tea party for a friend who was turning 23, and I bought some biscuits and herbal teas that were most certainly an English export (which was only important because her and I had actually gone on a study abroad to England just last fall). Amazon is also great because it has significantly lower prices for things than you typically find in most common stores unless there is a sale. However with the great convenience of Amazon, it's killer deals, and it's non-existent personal interaction my costs for the year have far exceeded what I would normal spend in years previous (especially with my typical avoidance of all things store related). The Fed-ex man knows me individually by name. So is it so great? I don't know. Perhaps it shouldn't be my best friend only a friendly acquaintance.