My Classes According to The Office

As a general note, these aren't how I actually view my classes. I made this just for the laughs.

PRODUCING

SCREENWRITING

DIRECTING

EDITING

PROD MOD

CINEMATOGRAPHY

MOVIE REVIEW - The Book Thief (2013) - NON SPOILERS

I had the amazing privilege of seeing an advance screening of the upcoming movie by Fox 2000 Pictures and Studio Babelsberg, The Book Thief. The film is based on a novel by the same name written by Markus Zusak. The film won't be released until November 8th, which puts me in a prime position to write a review of this movie. Don't worry, I know when I do reviews of movies based on books, I typically write for those who have read them, but in this case I have not yet read the book, so I won't say anything that will spoil the story. I promise.

First off, I will give a brief summery of the plot (again, no spoilers!). In late 1930s Germany, young Liesel is sent to live with her new adoptive parents. She develops a keen interest in books and learns to read with the help of her new father, Hans. Their relationship deepens as World War II breaks out and Germany goes to the front. Liesel begins "borrowing" books from the mayor's wife while Hans shelters Max, a jew, in their basement, and tension runs high in this epic emotional journey.

I'm not the best at creating my own log lines, so if that wasn't good enough, here is the description straight from Internet Movie Data Base: "While subjected to the horrors of WWII Germany, young Liesel finds solace by stealing books and sharing them with others. Under the stairs in her home, a Jewish refuge is being sheltered by her adoptive parents."

Sophie Nelisse as Liesel, Emily Watson as Rosa, and Geoffrey Rush as Hans in The Book Thief (2013)

The film stars Sophie Nelisse as Liesel, Geoffrey Rush as Hans, Emily Watson as Rosa, Ben Schnetzer as Max, and Nico Liersch as Rudy.

I'll just start off with my initial thoughts on the film in general. It is VERY well done. The look is pretty accurate to the time period, and the emotional arc of the story is steady and heart-felt. It is interesting to see WWII from the eyes of the Germans, something we the American audience don't see as often. The narrative follows a little girl as she adjusts not only to her new life with new parents, but with how the world itself is changing around her.

Geoffrey Rush as Hans and Sophie Nelisse as Liesel in The Book Thief (2013)

For acting I must say, Geoffrey Rush is plain old AMAZING. He gives another compelling and engaging performance to rival even his role in The King's Speech. Yes, he is that good. He really sells the movie. Emily Watson is the perfect counter balance to his character as well, and there are many comedic yet heartwarming moments with them.

Sophie Nelisse as Liesel and Nico Liersch as Rudy in The Book Thief (2013)

Liesel is played by Sophie Nelisse, a young Canadian actress with only three films currently under her belt (including Book Theif). As the protagonist of the film, she has a lot riding on her shoulders, and she certainly delivers. Not having read the book, I cannot judge her on how close she is there, but going strictly by her performance in this film, she is really good. Her fellow young cast member, Nico  Liersch, also delivers a great performance as Sophie's friend and neighbor, Rudy. Their on screen chemistry works very well for the story and feels very natural.

Ben Schnitzer as Max and Sophie Nelisse as Liesel in The Book Thief (2013)

Being a jew hiding in the basement of a German's house, Max's story brings a sense of tension and excitement to the film. The friendship that develops as a result between Liesel and Max only heightens that tension, and every actor's performances really shine.

There wasn't much of anything in this movie that really disappointed me. I'm sure if I read the book, I would probably find something to complain about because I'm a bit of a purist in that respect, but other than that, there was one thing at the very very end that did annoy me a bit. I won't say what. It had nothing to do with the story, it was just a little visual problem I had with the final scene.

I would give this film a solid 8.5/10. A very deserving film. I highly recommend seeing it when it comes out. Geoffrey Rush alone makes it worthwhile.

My Adventure: Stumbling Upon Transformers 4 Filming Location Accidentally

This month, I start school at Tribecca Flashpoint Academy in downtown Chicago. There, I will be studying the aspects of film making. Today, my dad and I went downtown to scout out the school and make sure I could find my way there and back from the train station. On our way, we crossed a street that was blocked off. We didn't think anything of it right away, but then Dad noticed a helicopter hovering around down the way. Once at the school, we found this truck parked outside.

A truck that had a sign that reads "operated by Paramount Pictures, Los Angeles, CA". In the back there was a crate filled with what seemed like filming equipment. I didn't get a good look, though. We were about to start walking back to the train station, Dad and I soon realized that there was actually a movie being filmed on LaSalle. We decided to take a closer look and we discovered that we had stumbled upon the filming site for Transformers 4!

Obviously, we couldn't get too close, but I got to see a quite a lot, all things considered. No actors were present, but there was a large transformer part out in the street (I couldn't get a good picture of that, it was too far away and my phone doesn't zoom). I did get to see a car with a camera crane on top. That was cool. We thought we had seen all that we could see, so we headed back to the train station. BUT! There was more! On the way back, there were several Transformer cars just parked on the street! Most of them were covered in tarps (including one I think was Bumblebee). One of them was OPTIMUS PRIME. He was not covered, as he was being washed. It was super cool.

 I went and looked them up on IMDB as soon as I got home. There indeed was Optimus and that military vehicle.

Opportunities like this don't happen very often, and I just happened to be passing the street when they were setting up. And there were very many people there, so I could get clear pictures of the cars. It was a cool experience. I may not be the biggest Transformers fan, but still. That was cool.

Top 5 Minecraft YouTubers

Before I get into my list, I just want to acknowledge the fact that there are a lot of Minecraft YouTubers out there, and a lot of them are good. I am just doing my personal top five. These five YouTubers I am subscribed to and watch their uploads frequently, and it is a bit tough to chose. That being said, here is my list.

5. HUSKYMUDKIPZ
Husky does a variety of Minecraft videos, from mini-games with friends, seed spotlights, mod showcases, and his weekly Saturday demolition series. Husky is pretty funny on his own, but he really shines when he is playing with friends.

4. XRPMX13
xRpmx13, "the incredibly good-looking gamer", does some serious player-vs-player games. His Hunger Games videos range from hilarious to epic in an awesome combination. His best trait, however, is his famous Morgan Freeman impression. After playing the mini-game Cops and Robbers, he gained the nickname "Warden Freeman".

3. JEROMEASF
Jerome is one of the funniest Minecraft YouTubers out there. His channel has been growing recently, and for good reason. He puts out some great funny content. Jerome primarily does mini-games, however, so his content is a bit limited. That being said, he does a great variety of mini-games, which makes up for it. A lot.

2. SKYDOESMINECRAFT
Sky is well known in the Minecraft YouTuber circle. His channel had a fast growth, and several of his jokes have become ingrained in the Minecraft legend on YouTube, including his hatred of squids, his only referring to gold as "budder", and several hashtags like #ty'sfoot and #splavacodo

1. CAPTAINSPARKLEZ
Jordon of Captain Sparklez was the first Minecraft YouTuber I ever subscribed to. Apart from Freddie Wong and friends in LAN party on the NODE channel, Captain Sparklez was the first Minecraft series I ever watched with his Survival series. I subbed right around the time Survival season 1 ended, and I got to see season 2 and now season 3 as they come, which is great. Jordon also does mini-games, and possibly my favorite videos he does, he does adventure maps with friends Nfen and AllShamNoWow. The current Minecraft videos he is doing now are some of my favorites, including SkyDen and Hexxit.

So what about you? Do you agree with my list? Or do you want to rage at me (please don't do dis)
Let me know!

Top 10 Best Captain Sparklez Minecraft Series

Captain Sparklez, aka Jordon Maron, is known on YouTube for posting Minecraft Let's Plays and other gameplay videos, and a lot of them are really entertaining. Today, I am going to be counting down my personal Top 10 Series that he has done. NOTE: This list is only dealing with Minecraft, so no other games that he has played are included. Also, I'm not going to include series that are not complete, so Hexit, The Code, and Ather are not going to be on the list.

10. Hunger Games PVP

There are plenty of these videos in which Jordon plays the popular PVP (Player VS Player) map based on the popular franchise, and he typically teams up with Ryan (xrpmx13). There was a short stent where he played Hunger Games with Nick (NFEN), but it is always entertaining to watch Jordon and his team mate face off against twenty other players. However, there are two things that detract from the overall ranking of this series, including the fact that almost every episode ends with Jordon and Ryan being the only two remaining and fighting to the death, and it is harder to remember which moment goes to which episode. That being said, it is always fun to watch.

9. Gloria 1 & Gloria 2

Jordon, Mark (AllShamNoWow) and Nick (NFEN) tackled the two-parter adventure map, Gloria 1 and Gloria 2. This map features multiple signs that are written in poetic fashion, but it always throws Jordon off whenever it doesn't rhyme. That combined with Mark and Nick's hilarious bickering and sarcasm makes both Gloria maps good for a laugh. One of the best moments is in the second map when Mark and Jordon make Nick read an in-game book in a Bane voice. This is then followed by Mark falling out of the map, typing in the chat "Le Lapis!!!" instead of a teleport command.

8. Herobrine's Mansion

Another custom adventure map made by a high profile map maker, Herobrine's Mansion starts out with just Jordon and Mark, until Nick joins in at the beginning of the third episode. This map introduced the "Midget Baby Zombies" to Jordon's videos, which would also appear in their next adventure series, Wrath of the Fallen. The story tackles the Minecraft myth Herobrine attempting to summon a Wither Boss into the world, and sets a series of bosses onto the player. Jordon, Mark, and Nick's fights against the bosses are hilarious, but nothing tops their battle against the witch.

7. Wrath of the Fallen

They mistakenly refer to Wrath of the Fallen as the sequel to Herobrine's Mansion, but Wrath of the Fallen is an adventure map made by the same creators. This is currently the last Minecraft map to feature Mark, as in all subsequent series, Jordon is only joined by Nick. There are numerous funny moments in this series, including calling a Wither Skeleton wearing golden pants "MC Hammer", a Blazeman boss they refer to as "Blaze-At-Us", and Nick doing his "@Police, Please help" joke.

6. Survival, Season 1

One of Jordon's primary series, Minecraft Survival Mode has since spawned a second successful season as well as a third season currently in the process. The series follows Jordon as he makes his way through the regular Survival Mode of the game. Many of Jordon's recurring bits and jokes come from this series, including his most popular, Jerry the Slime. While Jerry himself is only in like two episodes before "dying", Jordon holds his memory dear, naming his home tree-base "Jerry's Tree". Jerry the Slime has become so ingrained in Minecraft lore that people have made mods and even a spin-off game about him. Also a part of this season are Evil Kenevil the Iron Golem and Mine Sheep, the sheep Jordon encountered inside of a mine.

5. Modded Survival (Survival, Season 2)

The sequel-spinoff-thingy to Minecraft Survival, Modded Survival took the existing Survival world and added multiple Mods (modifications) to it, including two major Mods, Divine RPG and Tale of Kingdoms. Divine RPG was probably the most important to the series, as it added hundreds of new items, mobs, and dimensions into the game. Tale of Kingdoms added a guild and kingdom into the game, and Jordon quickly became the king and a rich man in game. Apart from the portals and weaponry that was an essential part of the game, Jordon collected several new pets in game, including Mary the bunny, Gary the bat, Carrie the cat, and Larry the Azurite Wolf, who died two episodes later. While things may have bogged down towards the end with the Vethia dimension, Survival Season 2 surpassed the number of episodes from Season 1 and became Jordon's longest running series.
Unlike above where I catagorized Gloria 1 and Gloria 2 together, I've separated Survival Season 2 from Season 1 because Season 2 is different enough from Season 1 that it can stand on its own.

4. It's Better Together

The hilarious series of videos in which Jordon and Mark tag-team through a long set of puzzles, It's Better Together is a gut-busting barrel of laughs. This map was based on another popular game called Portal, and uses many of the same ideas. From certain puzzles not working due to game updates, from Mark not being able to jump across a parkour challenge, this series will make anyone laugh. I've gotta warn you, there is strong language here, but then again, that holds true to any of the series including Mark or Nick (and sometimes Jordon drops a bad word when he's angry). The funniest part (and most full of language) is when Jordon and Mark reach a puzzle where they continuously mistime their jumps into opening and closing doorways. This segment is done through a "fail" montage that literally had me laughing out loud.

3. Skyblock 2.0

Whenever Jordon is joined by Mark and Nick, it is guaranteed to be a good time for us the viewers, and a series of nineteen episodes of the three? Priceless. This series is so full of laughs that Jordon even made a "Best of" video for it as well as an outtake video. It is a sequel to the original Skyblock series, which Jordon played solo, but this time, the challenges are all different. The best part has to be when Mark, whose hunger bar had fallen to zero, ate the only watermelon the trio had to plant (and make more watermelon to eat). Jordon and Nick's reactions are epic. Mark continues to die several times in that episode, adding to the laughs.

2. Revenge of the Gods

An older map, this is defiantly one of the most hilarious series they've ever done. From a vague-ish story, to easy-to-overlook rules, Jordon, Mark, and Nick stumble their way through this map, often screwing up major puzzles and rules. They even manage to screw up the entire plot in the second episode, causing them to restart the map.

1. Emperor of Minopia

Easily the funniest of the misadventures the trio has ever embarked upon, Emperor of Minopia is a poorly written and laughable story that never ceases to confuse, amuse, and abuse the players. From misspellings and poor grammar like "He be hidin' up under the roof alot" to the best-named villain ever, this is easily my favorite Minecraft series ever. The best part is... too hard to pick. This map is too full of them to pick just one!

So what do you think? What is your favorite Captain Sparklez series? Let me know! And please don't rage at me if you don't agree, this is just my personal picks.