The following is an article that I wrote for a class of mine as a part of a project that was supposed to promote sustainability and spread awareness about environmental issues. I chose to wrote about how “green” messages are cropping up in films more and more. However, there is a good and bad side to this. I figured I may as well throw this up on the Chez as I haven’t posted in a while and more people will see it this way. Enjoy.

Green Movies

Films often act as reflections of their times. Culture influences what kinds of films are made and the opposite is true as well. The two share an interesting relationship, as films seem to have a special ability to capture the attention and imagination of the general public. In recent years, it has become increasingly that many films are featuring one message in particular. However, although it is undoubtedly important for a popular medium like movies to disseminate an important message, film-makers must nonetheless tread lightly to ensure that the message is not overlooked.

In particular, one film that ignited a veritable maelstrom regarding the issue of global climate change was Al Gore’s provocative documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. Met with critical acclaim, it also fared well at the box office, becoming the sixth highest grossing documentary film ever. However, although it certainly brought the issue of climate change to the forefront of the public consciousness, especially given Gore’s prominence, that same prominence could be seen in a negative light. Inevitably, the film would be misconstrued as having a political slant or as some way for Gore to gain public favor. Even with the film’s detractors, however, it is generally seen as a successful and seminal film on climate change.

It should come as no surprise to anyone who’s read more than a few articles here on the Chez that fellow blogger Dukemich and I are big Paramore fans. We’re also both big fans of ripping off each other’s ideas for blogs. And one of the most frequent ways we do this is with countdowns. I already did a Best of Linkin Park second take, so why not go with a Paramore version now. Just as a heads up, mine’s gonna have some unusual choices, but hey, what can I say, I get a weird satisfaction out of being different. I’ll post videos and if I can, make them Dragon Ball Z ones, although I realize how much more difficult it will be find Paramore/DBZ videos that Linkin Park/DBZ ones. Anyway, let’s get right to it.

Honorable Mentions

My Heart (The Final Riot Version): I like the song My Heart well enough… until the screaming comes in, which fits so poorly it’s downright anathema to the rest of the song. It literally ruins it. However, the live version takes that out and seems to do this song how it was meant to be. I’d love to participate in this version at a concert. But the screams? No thanks.

Whoa: This is one of those songs that I’m not entirely sure why I like it so much. It’s just…. fun. It’s relatively simple, but it’s just a fun song to sing along to.

Pressure: Oh, how closely Paramore skirted the line of being emo in their early days. The video for this song is probably the prime example of that. Nonetheless, it’s a good song, but for the most part, pretty unremarkable. Good, but not great.

Miracle: Miracle is like the poor kid that always gets left behind. Among all the other very memorable songs from Riot!, it just gets lost, so much it was the only song from the album not included on The Final Riot. But it’s a nice song and I don’t think it gets as much as love as it should. But it’s still not good enough for the top 15. Okay, here we go!

When Paramore broke out back in 2007 with its hit album Riot!, people started comparing Hayley Williams to Avril Lavigne. Actually, I’m not sure anybody knew Paramore was a band and thought Hayley Williams was known as Paramore.

Anyway, I hopped on the Riot! bandwagon when my friend Jeremy said he wanted to play “That’s What You Get” on Rock Band. Originally, I laughed at him. But upon playing it multiple times I had a change of heart and decided to give them a chance. Now I know every word to every song Paramore has made.

I liked Avril from the beginning but I never admitted it because I was young and embarrassed to let everyone know I liked Avril’s music. Now I realize that’s stupid and don’t really care if anybody likes my musical tastes. With the reemergence of Avril’s career, I started listening again. Even though her newest album isn’t as good as her older music, I still think she’s awesome and as long as she’s making songs I’ll be listening.

I don’t know how to explain some of the things that happened last week:

• Cam Newton threw for more than 400 yards in his NFL debut in a loss.

• Tom Brady threw for 517 yards (Not that Brady sucks but 517 yards is almost record-breaking).

• The Buffalo Bills defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 41-7.

• Ryan Ftizpatrick threw for four touchdowns.

• Rex Grossman looked great against the Giants.

• The Ravens forced seven turnovers against the defending AFC champions.

• The Bears put up 30 points on the Falcons who some people thought would win the Super Bowl this year.

Despite the rarities, there were also some things that weren’t surprising:

• The Browns lost.
• The Colts can’t win without Peyton Manning.
• The Packers and Saints both have high-powered offenses.
• Every time Tony Romo drops back to pass he looks like a deer in the headlights.
• The Jets always find a way to win.
• The Broncos always find a way to lose.

I think that sums up Week 1. Let’s move on to Week 2:

After experiencing a scare because of the lockout, the NFL is back! As you can see by the picture above the Packers were last year’s Super Bowl champions in case you forgot and yes I am a Packer fan.

However, this is a new season and the biggest off-season story was the free agent signings of the Philadelphia Eagles. I’ll admit they look great on paper but we’ll see once the season starts. They could’ve won it all last season. For a time the Eagles were thought to be the best team in the NFC. They lost to the eventual Super Bowl champions in the first round of the playoffs but they were one pass away from sneaking past the Packers. Who knows what could have happened after that?

Anyway, they stocked but their defense from last season and are ready to make a run for the Super Bowl. I don’t think the “Dream Team” will do it but I will make no more bets. Last season I said if the Chargers didn’t make the playoffs I would get my cholesterol checked. The Chargers didn’t make the playoffs and I got my cholesterol checked. Granted, it was like seven months later much to the dismay of my friends but I finally came through on the bet. It turned out my cholesterol is fine but I have high blood pressure. I got it checked while I was working at Gerrity’s so of course I had high blood pressure. So that is why this time I’ll keep my mouth shut because I don’t win bets no matter how sure they are.

Anyway, it’s Week 1!!! Football is back!!! Let’s get to the picks!

It’s been only two years since the last X-Men film and now the latest entry brings us up to five total in the franchise that effectively jump started the superhero movie craze that dominated the list of blockbusters during the last decade. However, the mutants have fallen from grace a bit, it seems.

X-Men: First Class

First Class was the only new wide release this weekend and is still based on a popular brand, although it is without the series’s most popular character in Wolverine. However, it was Wolverine himself who seems to have to perhaps irreparably damaged the entire franchise. After the debacle that was X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the only thing to do really was to try to effectively start the whole franchise over. To see just how much damage Wolverine did the franchise, the opening weekend of First Class barely managed to beat the first weekend of the original X-Men movie, which came out eleven years ago. Over a decade of ticket price inflation and First Class could barely eke out a victory.

Well, it’s been about a year and a half since I did my first celebrity crush list. Looking back on it, I think there are some spots for revisions. I originally had a 300 word opening to this post but I don’t think you wanted to listen to me go on about nothing. I’ll just get to the point of my post. Here are my updated celebrity crushes.

12. Emma Watson, Age: 21

Emma Watson has cracked the crush list this time around but what has she done with her hair? I’m hoping that it’s not permanent and she just lets it grow back. Putting that aside, Watson is gorgeous and has a British accent. We were also born about a month apart so we’re both 21. It will be interesting to see what she’s going to do when the Harry Potter franchise ends. I’ve heard that she’s happy it’s over. Oh yeah, Emma, what a rough patch you went through making all that money.

Wow, when was the last time I did a box office wrap up? I literally used to do these every Sunday. But then porn school got in the way. But it’s summer, so I’m back baby! And it feels good. And what better weekend to come back than when we see the return of one of the highest grossing movie franchises of all time, Pirates of the Caribbean. I felt as if first three films got steadily worse and I really didn’t see any way On Stranger Tides could buck that trend. But, the true question is, why did America think? Well, read on, visitors.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

The fourth entry of the POTC series opened to 90 million this weekend. You know it’s a testament to the absurd strength of your franchise when a massive debut of 90 million is disappointing of all things. It’s strange, though, ten years ago, 90 million was an absurdly high amount at the box office, while now we’ve reached a point where it can actually be disappointing, especially for a franchise that has reached the heights of this one. But, hey, with At World’s End being so shitty and taking out 2/3 of the main characters–well, what did you expect? Bear in mind, also, that this 90 million is buoyed somewhat by 3-D.

May 20

All right, I’m a little late to the party here, but I do like to be fashionably late. Anyway, we’ve already had a gigantic opening for Fast Five and that was only April. The first weekend of May kicked off the summer movie season with Thor, which opened to a solid 65 million. The Norse God of Thunder kicks off a summer that features a ton of superhero flicks, as well as several sequels. So, pretty much standard. But there might be a few gems somewhere in there as well. But I doubt we’ll have anything near the quality of Inception. Anyway, I’m kinda late on this, but let’s just get started anyway.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

My Thoughts: All right, time to be honest. I actually have very little interest in seeing this movie. In my eyes, the POTC flicks got progressively worse and At World’s End was just plain bad. And now you take out two of the three main characters? Yes, Jack Sparrow was always the best and Johnny Depp is the main appeal, but I just don’t think that’s enough. But I’ll give this flick a chance anyway.

My Predictions: Hmmm, hard to say. I do think AWE did some serious damage to the franchise and the departure of 2/3 of the main characters can’t help. 3-D will off set those a tad, but I think still might be the lowest grossing POTC flick. However, it was a smart move to put the weekend before Memorial Day, which will help ease its sure to massive anyway second weekend drop.

Opening Weekend: 102 million

Total Gross: 305 million

Likelihood of Seeing It: 75%

I always liked Avril Lavigne. I just never openly admitted it. With her reemergence back into the music world with her latest album “Goodbye Lullaby” I really started listening to her again. I first admitted it a while back (about a few months ago) when I let my friend Jeremy drive my car and listen to his IPod as he drove. The only stipulation was that I got to pick the songs. So I went to shuffle and stopped on an Avril song. Then I stopped on another and another until we listened to about four or five Avril songs. Eventually he turned to me and said, “Are you in an Avril mood or something?” I replied, “No, I just…like her.”