#cpsapentathlon

[letras-temporales]

Te voy a seguir conquistando, hasta que mi corazón se canse de latir  por ti, hasta que mi mente se canse de pensarte, solo ahí dejare de perseguirte, hasta que pase eso, me voy a esforzar por tener tu corazón.

Torres

[viy12]

Pentathlon Event Four

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World on Netflix April 17th, 2020 @ 11 pm

Usually, when I choose to watch a movie, I know pretty much nothing about it. All I knew about Scott Pilgrim vs. the World was that Scott dates a girl and has to fight her 7 evil exes. Which isn’t an incorrect premise, but it’s one that masks a wealth of humor and incredible detail put into this incredible film. The entire movie was amazing line after amazing line; the movie starts out sort of normal and quickly gets bizarre, but by that point you’ve become invested. By the end of this movie, I was ready to go back and rewatch the entire thing. And that’s another thing about this movie: there’s so much you could miss, because there’s so much detail and genius packed into it.

A lot of times a movie will be considered inferior to others because it falls into the comedy genre on some level. I think this movie proves that a comedic movie can be well-played and smart about how it progresses, and that there is a commendable way to do any kind of “inferior” art. It makes me kind of believe that if you put your all into something, even something you consider to be “lesser,” it could turn out to be a masterpiece anyway. I would think that could apply to any subject in life, and it’s advice that I feel could bring me more confidence in my actions and projects. For example, for my CPSA Write-A-Song workshop, if I put my all into the song I’m creating, I can make something better than if I automatically assume that my work will be shallow or inferior to other songs out there. I feel like Scott Pilgrim vs. the World showed me something different, and I’m glad.

[darylperryarts]

Year 2, Pentathlon 1: Watching Palm Springs

After a very hectic week filled with many assignments, I sat down to rewatch Palm Springs, one of my favorite movies of the year, with my mom. It was nice to watch a well-thought out film because as a writer, my job is to tell a good story. The character development, pacing and overall message of the story (change is hard to get used to but you need to allow it to happen so you can grow) connected with what I’ve learned in creative writing—that characters need to evolve over time in the store and end a changed person. It’s something I can definitely incorporate more into my writing, along with characters that are raw and honest (this film does that well).

[vijayvanathayan]

The Tree of 40 Fruit

This week, for pentathlon, I watched a Ted Talk by Sam Van Aken, a Syracuse art professor who created the well known “Tree of 40 fruit.” Of course, I was amazed to hear about how he created the tree and the process of how he got to his final product. He had to graft the tree almost branch for branch and that process isn’t one that can by assessed for success overnight. In fact, it takes years to know whether or not the tree is viable and can produce fruit. What really interested me, though, is what he had to say about why he did it. Originally, he said that he did it purely for artistic purposes, but eventually it became more than that. He wanted to educate people about the food that they’ve been eating. So many people don’t even know that humans have been genetically modifying foods for centuries. He spoke about how there were hundreds of varieties of apples before humans genetically selected for a few specific species. Many fruits now are genetically identical to their “ancestors” because they can only reproduce through grafting, rather than seeds. I knew this about bananas, but I didn’t realize how prevalent this process was. Although I’m not necessarily opposed to genetically modified foods, because most of the time they are safe, it did make me feel strange to not know so much about what I eat on a daily basis. Watching this talk really made me appreciate the fact that there are ways to bridge the gap between science and art and that the two subjects have more in common than we think. 

[angiefcpsarts]

Movie night 3/30/2020

Joe and I watched a movie together over FaceTime and our pick was Big Hero 6. We’re trying to find a good system of keeping in touch while quarantined and a movie night is a perfect way to do it. This is definitely one of my favorite Disney movies and after watching I was reminded of some stories I used to write in high school about sibling relationships! Since I have a very strong bond with my sister Hero and Tadashi’s relationship hit close to home for me. Overall, 10/10 movie and I highly recommend. The plot and characters are amazing.

[bopsonly]

☺ High School ☹ March 7th, 2020 ☺

Like we did last year, we went to Rock and Roll Revival at Abby’s old high school, where we listened to some amazing tunes for two and a half hours. Rock and Roll mostly does songs from 50s-80s, but they were a couple more recent ones. My favorite songs from that day were YMCA and Somebody to Love Me because they are bops and they remind me of my childhood (Ella Enchanted.) That was also an amazing day because Abby’s family fed us Greek food (amazing!) and I got to spend an afternoon with all my friends (yay!) I’m sorry it took me so long to post about this--the event was a week before we left for Spring Break, so in all the confusion and chaos of being home, I forgot about this afternoon with my friends. I miss them all...

[cubancurry-blog]

A Night at the Movies: Quarantine Edition

Last night, my dad and I treated ourselves with an ice cream and movie night after a busy day with work and school. We decided to watch Agent of Influence on Amazon Prime and... it lived up to its 3-star review. Overall, it was fine, I guess. Christopher Plummer is a great actor and executed the role well. My main issue was with the plot. In under 2 hours, you can only cover so many plot lines well, and adding extra ones in for the sake of drama is distracting from the rest of the story. I think the movie had a lot of potential to be great and fell short by seemingly trying to fit a checklist of cliche subplots or character backstories. 

[gabifcpsarts-blog]

Last night, I streamed and watched Dark Waters, a movie based on real life events. It’s about a lawyer named Robert Bilott who, after being approached by a West Virginian farmer about his cows dying from what he suspects to be some sort of chemical-induced sickness by the DuPont chemical company, discovers that DuPont has actually poisoned the water of Parkersburg, West Virginia for years and lied about and hid the super dangerous chemicals they were using in products and dumping in local water supplies. This movie was very interesting and enlightening and really got me thinking about how power-hungry and unethical some companies can be. As someone considering a future career in public health, events like this motivate me to want to create a national environment of transparency among chemical companies in order to promote better health and wellness for our country’s citizens and overall environment. The timing that I watched this movie happened to be super apropos, since I just wrote a paper for a public health class about Flint, Michigan and the massive health consequences of an unethical study that exposed its citizens to lead-contaminated water. I definitely recommend this movie, as watching it strengthened my passion for achieving greater levels of public health protection and safety via the field of public health, in addition to it being a well-produced and entertaining movie in general.

[rachelwxtt-blog]

April 20, 2020

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

I watched Scott Pilgrim on Netflix today. It’s easily one of my favorite movies due to the transitions, double entendres, and video game references. The line execution and timing by the actors is what makes the movie super funny and fun to watch. It has an insanely talented cast, including familiar names like Anna Kendrick, Brie Larson, Chris Evans, Aubrey Plaza. I’ve been recommended by my friends multiple times to read the comics, and after watching I’m definitely eager to.

[adrisartscholars]

I’m just now realizing I never got a picture of the actual movie and only have this video of the setup. My family and I gave our basement a mini makeover and then had a movie night where we watched the new Pixar movie “Onward.” I was really excited about this movie and was bummed I couldn’t go see it in theaters cause I’d made plans to go the week everything got closed. I was really glad they put it on Disney+. I thought it was a really good movie. The new world we were introduced to was really cool, I’ve always loved fantasy stuff. I also thought the story was very touching. No spoilers here but I almost made it through without crying haha. The adventure they went on was very fun and it portrayed the sibling relationship very well.

[explorinthearts-blog]

On April 10th, I watched Onward on Disney Plus, from the comfort of my own home! Onward is the newest Pixar movie that stars Chris Pratt and Tom Holland as brothers that go on a crazy adventure to find the truth about their dad, while exploring the long-lost history of magic in a modern fantasy world. This movie had an original theatrical release of March 6th, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting closures of many movie theaters, Disney and Pixar released it early on Disney Plus, the new streaming service, as a way to give people who were not able to see it in theaters a chance to experience this film. 

This was amazing film. I had high expectations when I began to watch this movie, with all the great success Pixar has seen with its past movies. Any Pixar film automatically becomes a classic and a major part of Disney’s history. With all this in mind, this film exceeded those expectations and more. Not only was the animation beautifully executed (some of the effects looked like they were appearing in a real world), but the story really made this film jump off the screen. 

Without giving too much away, this film is about family. It is a story about two brothers and their strained relationship that grows throughout the film. It’s not a Pixar movie if you don’t cry at least once throughout the whole thing, and boy did that ending hit me hard. Being compared to Frozen and their familial relationship centered plot, I think Onward edges out of the race. Its a classic fantasy tale with a twist that is like an emotional sucker-punch. It was honor to shed tears over this film and I hope to find new easter eggs every time I watch it. 

[viy12]

Pentathlon Event Three

Ephrat Asherie Dance @ The Clarice

March 4th, 2020 @ 8:00 pm

In past experiences at the Clarice, I’ve always sat in the back of the theater. This time, however, I sat in the second row, and I have to say it is so much more engaging. Not only that, but this performance was so lively and exciting, I wanted to get up and dance as well.

Ephrat Asherie Dance was a street and club dance influenced display, with improvisation dotted throughout the piece. It’s a dance that I’m interested in, so I was super absorbed during the entire show. Each dancer was able to show their personality, in both moves and facial expressions. As someone who dances, I tried to understand the performance elements rather than just enjoying it. I saw how they were living in each move, enjoying every moment, and I want to translate that into my own dancing. I think that is the most significant information I got out of the performance, more than any specific dance move, that enjoyment of every move. It’s something that could even be applicable to more than just dance; enjoying the process of something regardless of the finished product, in general terms. I’ve noticed that when I am enjoying myself in dancing, the dance turns out better, and in other subjects I become more efficient, and look back on the work more fondly. So, being reminded of the benefits of reveling in an experience, I will work hard to ensure that I do so in everyday activities and in Arts Scholars as well.

[darylperryarts]

Semester 2: Pentathlon #2

The Washington Post’s Dave Jorgenson’s Presentation and Q&A (hosted by UMD’s Society of Professional Journalists) on February 4, 2020

Jorgenson makes video and TikTok content for WaPo, and did a presentation on his job, how to efficiently use TikTok, and what led him to where he is today. It was inspiring to see that there are such modern social media jobs and that it’s more than moderating a Twitter account. Jorgenson showed various TikToks that went viral, and how these bite-sized videos are giving nuggets of news to so many people. What I found most interesting was how some people have actually bought a The Washington Post subscription because of his TikToks! Digital journalism is growing and showing to be very beneficial.

[joeygcpsarts]

April 19th, 2020

Space Jam

I recently watched one of my favorite movies as a kid, Space Jam. It was a nice trip down memory lane and had me laughing along the whole way. It was particularly interesting how far animation has come since this movie came out and although it was a classic, it seemed to be outdated in terms of animation style. However, for its time it was very incredible and as a movie was one of my favorites.

[bellacadirola3]

Pentathlon #4

I watched the Documentary Series “Tiger King” on Netflix. It was very entertaining and I learned a lot about Joe Exotic and the tigers in captivity in the United States. It felt unnecessary to me that the situation had to happen because in my opinion, it just makes sense to put tigers in their natural habitat and not make money off of them. This show doesn’t relate to my major, but I was curious to see the popularity behind this show. 

[greatmatate]

Barry Lyndon, Stanley Kubrick, 1975

I watched Barry Lyndon, which is a movie I had never seen let alone heard of before. It was my first Stanley Kubrick movie, and I can say I wasn’t disappointed. It was your typical rags to riches plot line, but the difference was that the protagonist Redmond/Barry went from being a kind, determined boy to a cheating, inconsiderate man in the process. I guess the movie’s message is that money can’t buy you happiness and that being rich can make you an asshole? I definitely appreciated the moral more than the story itself. Other than that, the soundtrack was incredible and multiple scenes were so simple and breathtaking. I’m glad I watched.