Review

I read reviews of TV shows and movies all the time, whether online or in a magazine, so it wasn't very hard to find one to analyze. Like my last blogger post, I'll be focusing on one of my favorite shows, Teen Wolf. I use TV.com mostly for the reivews that I read, or I stumble upon random ones every now and then. My favorite writers on TV.com is Price Peterson, and during the Teen Wolf season, he reviews the show weekly and I'm usually waiting eagerly for him to publish it to the website. For my example, I'll use the review he wrote for the season 3 finale, here. I'm not going to summarize the review because that will be just summarizing the episode, but I will say that Price uses a different sort of technique with his reviews. Instead of paragraphs of a simple, boring synopsis of what happened in 42 minutes, he takes the time to recap the episode with chronological photo shots, which usually totals to somewhere between 50 and 75 pictures. Then he captions each photo with a very brief, yet humorous rendition of what is happening in the photo shot. In between groups of photos, which consists of several shots of a single scene from the episode, he summarizes what happened and comments on anything important or relevent. It's both entertaining and it opens up theories and themes from the episode that I had overlooked after watching once. It also allows me to relive my favorite moments. By the time the review reaches an end, Price gives future predictions and/or hopes for the next episode/season, and final thoughts on the episode itself. I really love reading these reviews because it's something different and exciting and entertaining. It's also great that Price thinks like all of his readers, which I think is something to have when writing reviews. Obviously I won't be writing a photo recap review, but it's still good to see all the kinds of reviews and each has to offer that others might not.

Personal Profile - Holland Roden

As a film enthusiast, my options for a personal profile analysis was nearly unlimited. My first picks sprang from a number of my favorite tv shows, but I finally decided on my favorite red-headed actress, Holland Roden. I first discovered the up and coming actress from the MTV show Teen Wolf, but after reading several personal profiles on her, I learned that she is no stranger to prime time television. She's starred in shows like Lost, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and Weeds. Coming up on her agenda, between seasons of Teen Wolf, where she plays one of the lead characters, Lydia Martin, Roden is scheduled to film for Criminal Minds, Grey's Anatomy, and even lead in an independent horror film, House of Dust. The actress, 26, was born and raised in Dallas, Texas, where she was drawn to the arts at an early age. At only six years old, she put on one-woman plays for her family, primarily personating the Queen of England. Later, Holland moved to Los Angeles to start her career. She began studying molecular biology at UCLA, but after a year of schooling, she realized how much she missed acting. Two months into hiring an agent, she was booked to star in an HBO show, which later got cancelled before it aired. However, Roden would not let that bring her down, and she continued on her path.

Going into this assingment, I feared I wouldn't be able to find enough information to write a decent analysis and review, but I found several sources that gave me what I needed. Using websites such as IMBD, Hollywood Profile and Wikipedia, it was interesting to compare and contrast how each site created a personal profile for Holland. Each personal profile offered something different, but they all used the same basic structure. Starting with the actress and what she was best known for, they lead into her background information, beginning with where she was born, to how she got into acting, to where she went to school. One in particular offered a little more personal information, outside Holland's professional life, which I though was welcomed. Some of the profiles also supplied a more basic "profile" that included statistics of a general overview of Holland, like her appearance, roles, etc. Each profile ended with where her career was headed, and what roles she might pick up in the future, as well as a little more personal information on the actress like what she enjoyed to do in her free time. All in all, the profiles were structured in the same basic manner, but it worked for all of them because they flowed easily and were simple to read.

Hard News - Ellen Page Comes Out at Time to Thrive Conference

I chose to write about the news of Ellen Page, "Juno" and "X-men" actress, coming out at a Time to Thrive conference. I found an article on the Hollywood Reporter website, complete with the video of Page's moving speech. The article started out giving the 5 W's; Ellen Page; coming out; Februrary 14th; Las Vegas at a Time to Thrive conference, which promotes the welfare of youths in the LGBT community; because she was tired of hiding, and lying by omission. It then spews out a few key quotes from Page's speech, summing it up quickly. For seven minutes, Page talks about how the LGBT community has suffered, and hints at how weird it is for her to be making a speech, only then to reveal that she herself is gay, and that she is ready for change. Change, not only in herself, but in the world. Page also admits that, "It's weird because here I am, an actress, representing -- at least in some sense -- an industry that places crushing standards on all of us. Not just young people, but everyone. Standards of beauty, of a good life, of success -- standards that, I hate to admit, have affected me." Th article then points out one of the most stand-out facts, at least to me, of Page's speech, which is that when Page sometimes reads about herself in the news it can be a trying ordeal. In her speech, she mentions that a paparazzi commented on a photo of her leaving the gym in sweatpants, asking "Why does this petite beauty insist on dressing like a massive man?" to which Page replied "Because I like to be comfortable." Not only does Page point out the stereotypes and critisim people are put under, but she also acknowledges the discrimination toward people of the LGBT community. The article wraps up nicely by saying that Page has not submitted to any interviews, but she did post a few short tidbits on Twitter. She replied to "House of Cards" star Kate Mara who asked Page to "be my Valentine" with a simple "yes please."
Not only is this a huge deal to youths in the LGBT community who are scared to come out because of the way society looks down on being gay, but it is also a step further in the direction toward equality. What makes it an even bigger deal is that all of this is because of a celebrity. The article was informative, but all it really did was quote Page's speech and recycle what she had talked about. The video, however, was a welcome addition to the article not only because it served as a source so readers knew what they were talking about, but it was just a very heart-warming, tear-jerking, overall moving speech. And I think, moving forward, things will look better for more and more youths of the LGBT community.

Obituary - Philip Seymour Hoffman

I read an obituary written by the NY Times on the untimely death of Oscar-winning actor, Philip Seymour Hoffman. The actor, 46, was discovered by a friend in his apartment after an apparent drug overdose. A syringe was found in his arm with a supply of heroin nearby. Hoffman had been known to struggle with drug addiction, and, in a 2006 interview with "60 Minutes", said he gave up drugs and alcohol many years earlier. In 2013, Hoffman checked into a rehabilitation program for ten days after a reliance on prescription pills triggered a brief usage of heroin. According to David Bar Katz, the friend who found Hoffman on the 2nd of February, said that Hoffman was "clean and sober, his old self" the week leading up to his death. The rest of the obituary summarizes Hoffman's accomplishments, which consists of over 50 films in the span of 25 years, including big-budget films such as "Mission Impossible: III", "Hunger Games: Catching Fire", and "The Savages." Hoffman was also noted for his time as a director and actor in Off Broadway shows for the Labyrinth Theater Company. The article on this well-rounded and talented actor concluded with some background information on Hoffman's life growing up as well as life with his family during his years of acting. It also added the last project he had been working on, his role as Plutarch Heavensbee in the Hunger Games movies Mockingjay Parts 1 and 2, which he had largely completed filming for, but certain steps would have to be taken to ensure his role was filled.

All in all, this obituary was a fine example. Not only was it about someone well-known, but it also followed the basic format and flow of a simple obituary. First, the obituary included the name and a recognizable title for the deceased. Next, the age of the deceased was noted, as was the time and place of death. After that, the cause of death is explained in a little more detail, clearing up any questions the reader might have. Once that information is included, some background information is added to give the reader some inside knowledge of whom they are reading about. To wrap up, like all obituaries, the survivors were listed.

To summarize it simply, here is the essential obituary information found in the article:

• Name: Philip Seymour Hoffman
• Identification: Oscar-winning actor
• Age: 46
• Day/place of death: Sunday, February 2nd/apartment
• Cause of death: Drug overdose
• Birth date/Birthplace: July 23, 1967 in Fairport NY
• Background: Actor/director/Broadway
• Survivors: Wife and 2 children
• Funeral/burial information: Not mentioned