Author Archives: wasem

Film Reflection

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I really don’t know where to start here, so I’ll start by thanking my group. It was really a blessing to have a great team. Looking at the video, all I can say is wow! I can’t thank each team member enough whether it be for painstaking memorization, grueling editing work, and worse of all dealing with me asking to retake scenes that even I will tell you turned out prefect at the end haha (sorry for that but, better safe than sorry right :P).

I gotta say however that there are many frustrations I must point out, starting out with the play itself. I really didn’t and still don’t like the play for several reasons. 1. the cursing (and yes Meriam I agree with you 100% I was gonna show my mom, but then when I warned her about the cursing, she was like I don’t want to see it, so yea thats kinda a bummer). The second was the layout. Short. Choppy. Lines. Can Kind of. Get. A Bit…Annoying. If..you know. What? I mean. Even though I wasn’t acting with Arlene, Rachel, and Steven, I can feel your pain. As a result, I really could not really grasp what was going on. I feel that had Garces portrayed a more realistic play in which characters act and think strategically rather than reacting emotionally to a distressing situation, that our full acting potential would have been showcased. Breaking the script down piece by piece was a rather scary feeling. Will this thing fit together at the end? It just like going on a road trip with the GPS telling you information for the next 1/3 mile. God knows if when you reach half a mile you have to take the exit, and you just so happen to be in the farthest left lane.

Thankfully however are highly trained professional group fixed that problem. Arwa primarily edited and put the tiny pieces together as we filmed. Mistakes were caught early on and all our brains worked collectively and highly efficiently.I can’t tell you how much I love efficiency. Everything working all at once and in synchrony. Just like a race car engine with thousands of computers monitoring air flow, gas milage, heat, etc.. Assembly-line production. Before I start talking Karl Marx, lets just say everyone did their part without que, a job well done.

As the cameraman, my biggest struggle was the fact that we were kind of confined to a small area. Room to move was limited, and I worried that it might seem rather boring at the end. Rachel’s wonderful idea to incorporate the pictures in the background helped not only give some life to the walls, but later became important as scenery when the C and S came in at the end. Lighting was another challenge. Filming at day and night differed, and we kinda had to adjust the lights accordingly. A last pet peeve of the job is the zooming. Who do i zoom in on, for how long, and when? It kind of came naturally at the end, and of course with superb editing, came out looking great.

Perhaps the hardest thing of all, that we can all attest to was fatigue. Chem Tests and sleepless nights studying before filming didn’t really help either. The funny thing is that there always seemed to be a mood we all shared. It could be:

a) Yes! Lets get this film done Whoooo!!!

b) Laughing Historically and can’t stop

and c (which is the funniest when I think back) Let me get the heck out of here, my stomach is growling, my eyes are drooping, and all I want is to sleep

It was really a physically demanding and time-restrained situation. As much fun and laughs I had, I did not expect the overwhelming feeling of exhaustion that set in towards the end of each session. One trick I learned to boost morale (Arlene’s especially :P) after this production, just mention Dunkin Donuts coffee. I think imagining the coffee stimulates more than the actual drinking haha.

I don’t think this experience affected my view of actors. I don’t think the difficulties we faced can be compared to a professional movie production. Pay me a million bucks, have an assistant follow me around wiping my sweat, bringing me cheese cubes, and a $5 million camera with my lines right above the lens and perhaps we can call it even. Of course that with professional stunt sets, fancy cars, and airbrushing my already beautiful face until its no longer Waseem also may help.

At the end of the day, definitely an experience. Mission Accomplished! I wouldn’t want to repeat or relive it though.

NYC: An Ugly Girl with a Pound of Makeup

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Choosing a favorite movie is quite hard to do. I find it much easier to choose certain aspects that I enjoyed about specific movies. But, if I have to choose one, and only one right off the bat, I would have to say The Muppets Take Manhattan for the simple reason that it did not contain any offensive material to me. It’s the only movie out of the list that I would personally feeling comfortable watching with my younger sisters and parents. The plot is rather childlike and unrealistic, however it brings back the innocent Sesame Street days, and I don’t mind.

Aspects that appealed to me from Wall Street include the suspenseful plot. I really didn’t care much about class and status while watching the movie. I really didn’t even pay attention to the NY setting as much. Instead I thought it was pretty cool (for a lack of a better word) and exciting film. I particularly enjoyed the challenge of trying to decode the business messages the stock brokers shuffled around and understanding exactly how (the more technical side of things) Bud was able to save Blue Star at the end of the movie. As realistic as it seems (and perhaps it is in many ways), it is funny that the plot centers on an honest man being in a Wall Street setting having to choose between his conscience and money. Hahahaha. What a joke! You want reality? Any guy that comes in pitching stocks better be one heck of a crook. The better they get, the more trustworthy they seem. The words “conscience” and “morality” mean nothing in these firms.

As far as truthful to New York, I don’t know? When was the last time you saw a pizza shop burn to the ground because of loud music playing? Or a criminal that pulls over while being chased by police to put a bleeding dog in his trunk? In all honesty, I am having a hard time recalling all the scenes in all the movies that would happen on the moon before they would happen in NYC, but as I have said time and time again, Movies make money. That’s their job, and thats what makes them successful (and the reason they have gained enough fame for us to even be watching them in our class). Bits and pieces can be put together from the movies to create some type of  “NYC,” but I’m not sure how close it will come.

As much as I love NYC because I’m born here (well actually oceanside, but close enough) and study here, I can tell you straight up, its a pretty nasty, mundane, depressing city. Rat infested, rude people, crime, potholes, and a downright selfish city. Nudity, obscenity, drunk people, people high on pot, crack. You name it, we got it. Center of the world. Feeling the Taxi Driver in this? Every man for himself. Every women for herself. Sense of community…in your dreams. You don’t get anything here unless you fight. Fight with your teachers, your boss, your whatever. Your always under someone. You always worrying. Your always planning.  You live here working until your last breath…and if your lucky, if..you can possibly claim to be happy (for Friday night so you can actually sleep). Parking tickets, parking meters, bumper-to-bumper traffic, taxes, sky-high prices. Rules and regulations every where you go. Makes you wish you lived in a suburb where you can actually go outside and sell some lemonade without a cop demanding your permit (I got shut down by a cop when I was selling water on a summer day with my brother, I was 13). But guess what, at the end of the day, you have that badge in your pocket that you can whip out to brag about living in the city that never sleeps (just please explain to them after that you don’t actually live in Times Square and that the official city you live in is called Flushing. Yes, same spelling for flushing the toilet, as my 1st grade teacher taught me).

Real “Nigga” ?

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“Selling out”? I’ve never heard that term. Scrolling through the blogs I seem to get an idea, but still…I’m confused. To orient me I looked up several definitions including “One who betrays a cause for personal advancement” and “compromising of integrity, morality, authenticity or principles in exchange for personal gain, such as money.”

Let’s break things down: An “artist” is a person who creates “art.” A “commercial artist” or “commercial whateveryouwanttoputhere” makes money. Commerce = $$$. In the latter case, “art” is a means of producing money, the same way you can make money by driving a taxi, teaching at a NYC school, or mopping the bathroom. Just because you mop the bathroom doesn’t necessarily mean– well, hey you know I have a passion of scrubbing toilet bowls, that why I do this–No. Art is a lucrative business. Movies and songs are an industry, and as Loon repeats over and over in his videos, there is a lifestyle that you are forced to accept to make it, even as an entry level commercial rapper/singer/actor.

For a time, I dreamed of being a politician. The thought of being able to help people on such a massive scale appealed to me a lot. I soon realized how naive I was. The best piece addressing who a politician I read was “The Problem of Dirty Hands” by Walzer. The argument was simple enough:

1. Those “good” politicians who appear moral to us are the ones with “dirty hands.” They are the ones who undertake backhand deals to fund their political campaigns. They are the ones who know how to play the political game and are perceived to be representatives of the people. In reality, their causes are only for themselves.

2. Those politicians that appear to be “bad” and “immoral” are the ones who don’t have the skill to play the political game. Elliot Spitzer, Anthony Weiner anyone? Their causes are the same as those “good” politicians.

3. That leaves those who really want to genuinely change society. These are the politicians who can never become politicians, because they refuse to compromise their integrity.

Its a robust argument and extends not only in the political realm, but also in the music world as well.

Napoleon, born in Harlem and a former member of Tupac’s Outlawz group (today ALL members of the outlaws have become Muslims), left the music life and turned to a life of Islam. He describes how he would write his raps by thinking of the most evil and most dirty words that could possibly be heard by others. His record sales are a testament to his “success” in the industry. He speaks about the people of the industry by describing how “fake” the music was. Most of the rappers coming from the hood would rap about the struggles of the hood while living in the fanciest white neighborhood. Other rappers like Emenem have rapped about killing and burying their own mother. In his piece “Cleanin’ Out My Closet” he calls his own mother a “selfish bitch”  and hoped she would “burn in hell.” In another of his pieces “Living Life in the Fast Lane” he talks of selling his soul to the devil. Talk about selling out. Selling out your mom, your honor for the sake of money. Selling your soul for money. I would like to see someone defend such a worthless slime bucket.

Tupac gained a reputation of being the opposite of a sell-out. As he says in his interview, he wants to be a “real…nigga” The interview below is quite interesting. I definitely think you guys should watch it. His personality seems genuine, and in many ways relatable in the interview. As a matter of fact, I actually feel some sympathy for him after he tells the funny story of how he thought he made a friend of Jannet Jackson after he was her lover in a movie, only for her to change her number the day after it was all done. He seems like a relatable character. That is until you see his music video “Hit em Up.” The host mentions how his life was full of contradictions and his music videos that were commercially produced prove that instantly. His voice, words, tone, and character make him seem an entirely different person when he’s recording and when his not. Whether you say by circumstance or by choice, inauthenticity or downright confusion exists within the heart of such characters.

Not all sell-outs are on camera though. Throughout your life, Im sure you were tempted to be a sellout. How about that infamous college application essay question in which you describe how your mandated community service project became the reason for your care of African hunger? For God’s sake, my friend told me a story of his professor that told him a girl offered him a good time over the weekend for an A!

I have seen (and have a keen sense of immediately sniffing out inauthenticity). Too many experiences to recall. But as far as I’m concerned, I will never think about compromising any of my core values for anyone or monetary benefit. I can’t say I haven’t been tempted. Often times I stick out (ex. having to kindly and quickly explain to several representatives this Friday that I don’t shake hands with females during the Internship fair). But thats fine with me. It makes me who I am, and if you don’t like it, tough tittliwinks, what can I tell you, this guy ain’t bending for nobody. (Not to say of course that I won’t recognize criticisms and acknowledge faults, but I think you guys know exactly what I mean)

One of Napoleon’s mannny talks  about his life, the music industry, and his decision to leave it

 

 

**Post Update- Waseem

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After reflecting on my last post, I feel compelled to willingly offer some (hopefully not too long) elaboration on some points that I made, particularly at the beginning of the piece. I want to clarify my intent of the piece to serve as an evaluation of my feelings, and not a judgement in any way, shape, or form any person in the class. I also did intend to attack any person’s moral code- or assume anyone is of lower moral character for liking any film. I simply have to say the definiton of  morality is subjective, and depending where you are in the world, will differ significantly. True to the diversity of New York, I hold more than one standard, and depending on the situation will choose to view a piece, situation, action, or proposal through one or both.

I recognize that my writing is sharp, and more than anything, I feel that it stems from a deep concern I have over the issues I speak about. I certainly don’t intend my writing for the faint-hearted (and before saying/writing anything I keep my audience in mind), and hope that it allows anyone reading it to self-reflect deeply about the issue presented even if it may seem “harsh” upon first sight. Having said that, I sincerely apologize if the piece offended anyone due to its rather harsh tone/ word choice, and reiterate that it was not written as a personal attack towards anyone.

 

NYC- The World’s Madison Square Garden

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I am not a movie person. I really am not, and for good reason. Never in my wildest imagination would I have thought that my first semester in college would include the viewing of seven R-rated films carrying warnings due to their shameless sexual indulgences and carnivorous displays of violence, just like cigarette packages’ general surgeon’s message warning of death. I feel dirty after viewing such films, as if emerging like a rat from a cesspool, covered in feces and urine. By viewing, recognizing, laughing, and commenting on aspects of such films, I am forced to lower my moral and educational standards to suite an audience, similar to a highly educated adult that is forced to speak to a three year old child. You can futilely attempt to argue otherwise, but guess what, this is how I feel and thats something that’s not going to change. I am not posing a debatable claim, I am interpreting my feelings, and no one can do that except myself. I am forced to accept a moral standard that deeply conflicts with my core values, just to offer any valid objective analysis of the film. And to be quite honest, that makes me quite angry on the inside. In fact, when you think of it closely, watching a movie is only one means of recognizing social inequality, racism, or privilege within an environment.  An objective analysis of such aspects can be gained through documentaries (which I love), statistics, history, and social experimentation.  For someone to tell me that he watches a movie to gain such “insightful information” is like someone telling me he drinks wine for the purpose of hydration. I’ll let you digest that ludicrous statement.  Whatever possible messages a movie is trying to get across, there is one element, one thing, one ingredient that MUST always be present…an aspect of entertainment. And oftentimes this necessary aspect distracts the viewer from any potential messages a film had to offer.

For the sake of this blog however, I will put this aside regardless of my feelings and provide an analysis of the works with my true feelings out of the picture, and simply assume the place of the main character in the film. I must emphasize ardently that my ability to do such a task not only makes me uncomfortable, but automatically detracts from the expression of my real underlying feelings about the film, its actors, and messages. I hate to start of the blog on such a sour note, but I feel compelled to provide such an explanation to relive my conscience and provide an earnest, complete reflection on my thoughts and analysis.

With the exception of The Muppets take Manhattan, every other film I have seen in this class has affected me by reinforcing my realistic/cynical (whichever word you prefer to use) view of the city. The films provide a depressing, struggle of survival among the poor and the rich, among the White and the Black. Most of the films are simply a mush in my head, partially because they are so similar to each other. The reoccurring theme in all the films was the status of an individual. In some films, this took on the lens of racism such as Do the Right Thing and Taxi Driver. Other films addressed on the question of status through materialism such as Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Wall Street.

I feel that one specific scene was enacted in three of the films ( if my memory serves me correctly) which an “F everyone” mentality was portrayed. In taxi driver, the the scene took place when the lead character (I can’t remember his name) described the scum of the city. In Do the Right Thing and The 25th Hour, the scenes were almost identical as the director showed people of different nationalities with the main characters shouting racial slurs in the background. My first instinct was a feeling of amusement, havibg come across practically all the statements in the past. Even though we all carry such thoughts in our heads ( or at least know that they exist), most choose to keep such thoughts to ourselves to avoid potential trouble.  The interesting thing for me to ask however was if such a vast array of stereotypes exist in less diverse areas. And if they do, how can someone make any type of generalization against any group they have never seen in real life? What about is? Would our views of a certain ethnicity hold if we visited a person’s country of origin? Or do such views exist only within New York? All quite interesting questions to contemplate if you ask me.

What does seem to be clear from the movies and my personal experience is that tension due to differences does exist, and will continue to exist just like it has from the beginning of time. NYC definitely serves as the Madison Square Garden of potential racial tension in the world. It is no wonder all these films choose to depict some form of it in such a diverse environment