Pulp Fiction

Pulp Fiction is one of my all time favorite movies. I’ve probably watched it a million times since I first saw it when I was 12; yes my father let his 12 year old daughter watch Pulp Fiction, he also let me watch Jaws when I was 6(which is probably the reason why I’m terrified of sharks to this day) but that is not what we’re here to talk about.

The movie is about multiple people and their stories and how they’re all interconnected. There’s Vincent Vega and Jules Winnfield who are hitman for a crime boss, the crime boss, Marsellus Wallace and his wife Mia, a boxer named Butch, and then two thieves named Pumpkin and Honey Bunny. All of these people are in some way connected to each other and the movie goes through different scenes with all of them interacting in some way shape or form. Vincent take Mia on a date, Marsellus and Butch having a shootout, Jules and Vincent dealing with Honey Bunny and Pumpkin. Now I will not be going into a full summary because I know that there are many people who have not seen this movie and I don’t want to give anything away nor do I want to make you not want to see it because I gave you way too much and make it seem boring, I know a lot of people that can’t stand when people do that so I shall try to avoid doing that now.

As for the way that the movie is portrayed I absolutely love it. The way it is filmed is very interesting because I love that it has been shot out of order and that you have to, in a way, piece it together. It keeps you engaged and it keeps you from getting bored. Now I will admit when I first saw this I was confused but then I really got into it and was able to put everything together. Quentin Tarantino has always been one of my favorite directors and this movie is actually what made me sit up and want to see his other works. Having a movie shot as though you’re only getting snippets what’s happening is also very effective because then it doesn’t give the feel that everything is being explained to you like most movies do. With something like this, even though it is a light hearted crime movie, it makes you have to pay attention to what scene you're in and what is going on because if you don’t you’ll be totally lost. The way that they use the camera movements as well as the lighting in the movie also helps to portray certain moods during different scenes. For example, when Vincent is taking Mia to his friend’s house for help after she takes too much heroin and ODs we see the way that the camera keeps shifting position to show the panicked state of mind that Vincent is in and the darkness from the street with only a few lights on the two of them helps to make the scene darker and more urgent for the viewer. It evokes those same emotions that Vincent is feeling into us as an audience as well.

Overall Pulp Fiction very much earns being known as a cult classic because it is a very well made film with good actors, a great storyline, and amazing directing from Tarantino. I would recommend this movie to anyone that asks to see it, just maybe not to a 12 year old.

The Daily Show With Trevor Noah

The episode I decided to watch of The Daily Show aired on March 8, 2016. Sadly at this point in time John Stewart has retired from the show but Trevor Noah has done a pretty decent job of filling his shoes thus far. For the first five or so minutes Trevor went through a couple current events, one of them being an assassination on a training terrorist cell and another talking about Obama and how he will be helping in the production of a new "The Peanuts" comic strip, of course there were jokes to go along with it as there always is with a show like this. Next it cut to a segment with Jordan Klepper where he went to speak with white children that have only ever known a black president. The segment seemed to be making a joke about how white children wouldn’t feel like they could be in power just because they’re white, but at the end one of the children said that it does not matter and that they could imagine any colored president. Then, probably my favorite part, they brought on Lewis Black. He was there to discuss and make fun of Osama Bin Laden's will as well as other documents found on another raid in the terrorist's compound. Finally we get into the main guest for this episode, Ellen Page(on a personal note Ellen Page is one of my favorite actresses which is what made me choose this episode to write about). She was there to talk about her TV show Gaycation. The series is about how the LGBT community is represented around the world. Her reasons for creating the show have to do with wanting to show people how things around the world are different and to inform people about the LGBT community. Ellen and Trevor talked about some of the people that she had met during her work on the series, one of which was a former Brazilian cop that “prided himself on killing gays” and another being Ted Cruz(and we all know his stance on the LGBT community).
With shows like The Daily Show and others like it I think that they are probably more effective than regular news outlets. The reason being is that with comedy you can pull people in and make them comfortable as well as informing them about the issue you’re talking about. What I think is most effective with this show particularly is that it opened with comedy but when it got down to it they were series with only a joke or two thrown in there, which I believe were just to keep people interested in what they were talking about. I know for myself I prefer new outlets that have a little comedy in it as compared to CNN and Fox News. Those two shows actually depress me and make me turn the TV off rather than be interested in what they’re talking about. I believe that I’m not the only one like that either. Some people just can’t watch all the pain and suffering that’s on a regular news channel. A show like this one keeps people informed while also keeping people from feeling like crap.

Product Placement: 2 Broke Girls

For those of you who don’t know 2 Broke Girls is a sitcom about two women that want to start their own cupcake business as they work as a waitress. One of which was already living in poverty and the other was suddenly shoved into poverty when her father was caught running a ponzi scheme. Max, the one who was already in poverty, is a sarcastic and witty woman that has a dry sense of humor. Caroline is your upper class woman who went to a good business school and is very use to places that the rich frequent(i.e. The Hilton, Gucci, Prada, etc.). As for product placement I only caught two in this particular episode but there were most likely others.
In the first minute of the episode when we cut to the two of them they’re talking on the phone to their friends/boss/coworkers and in their hands are those mini alcohol bottles you get from the mini-fridges in a hotel room(which is where they were). When you look closer you can clearly see that the label is a Jack Daniels label. You can’t really see what it says but you can see the design of the label. Jack Daniels has a very recognizable look to it and for me to have been able to spot in in less than a second says something about how good this company is a advertisements and how popular they are. This is something that was very subtle and not something you would think about but since it’s such a well known brand it would be like a subliminal message. It will be there in your head the next time you want to pick up some drinks because you just saw actors on a show you like drinking the same thing.
The next thing that came up was a movie. The two were talking and they were going to be meeting an actress that wanted to some and talk to Caroline about playing her in a movie the girls were going to have made about their lives. Max says; “I can’t believe that star of The Hunger Games is coming to meet us.” Unless you live under a rock then I’m sure that you know that The Hunger Games is a very popular book and now movie series. While Jennifer Lawrence never makes a show appearance by mentioning her name along with the movies it creates a link in our minds. If you like Jennifer Lawrence you’re more inclined to watch those movies because you like her. It’s simple but effective.
The episode as well as previous ones never really make too big of reference to big name brands unless it comes from pop culture references or even small placements like the Jack Daniels bottles.

About Me

Hey there!

My name is Sam and I'm a Professional Writing major with a minor in English Lit. at Kutztown University. As I'm sure you can tell from my field of studies that I love to read and write, in fact that's probably what I do most outside of work and school. My huge goal is to one day be a best selling author but I'd also love to end up working at Buzzfeed, they're stuff is always entertaining.

Now to start this blog off let me give you a my reflection of the blog post my professor has. In it he makes the point to say that the internet has both news worthy information as well as shallow, for lack of a better term, information all over it. I agree with this but in my opinion I feel like the platforms for these two forms of information have begun to blend together. Take Buzzfeed for example, if you go on to the app/website you'll see a bunch of fun videos and articles there but in that mix you can also find actual news stories on there as well.

I feel as though websites such as Buzzfeed are actually pretty smart. It provides you with an outlet from all the serious when you need a break from it yet it also gives you the major information that is going on in the world and country.