I'm Still Here (#4)

   I've not seen this mockumentary movie: I'm Still Here, directed by Casey Affleck (yep, it's Ben Affleck's brother), starring Joaquin Phoenix as himself, nor was I ever really interested in watching it. But, the poster really makes me want to change my mind. Before I get into it more, I'll explain what the movie's about. Joaquin Phoenix decides that he wants to quit his acting career and take up rapping instead, to do this he enlists the help of Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs. On this journey of supposed self-discovery, Phoenix partakes in several random acts, some thought-provoking, others... not so much (rated R, anyone?). Other than that, there's not to much to expand on.
   This can relate to society, even with this seemingly simple poster. It shows you how ready and able everyone is to just forget and throw away someone once they're deemed, 'not relevant anymore.' Joaquin Phoenix used to be a very popular actor that everyone knew about and had even been nominated for two Oscars. After he stopped churning out movies, he seemed to be forgotten about rather quickly by the populous. 
   The reason I find this inspiring is because of how the poster incorporates Phoenix's lost status of an 'it' guy in Hollywood. He's disheveled and uncaring in the poster, like his lost status has pushed him into a downward spiral. The font used with parts of the letters missing, is a play on the fact that everyone seems to be slowly forgetting about him, even though he's trying to reach out and show people he's still alive. The fact that this poster is able to convey such a message with a simple font and photo is very awe inspiring to me. It shows how powerful something that seems simple, can really be.

Dead Island (#3)

Dead Island

   The inspiration I picked is a trailer for the new game Dead Island, developed by Techland and published by Deep Silver. The plot of the game is to survive as one of the four main characters on the island of Papa New Guinea at a resort called Royal Palms. The four characters (Purna, Xian Mei, Logan and Sam B) in the game are known as 'Hero' characters because of their immunity to the zombie infection. The story officially starts with the character of your choice waking up after a party and finding out that the resort has been over-run with zombies, not with the trailer.  

   This trailer inspires me because of how it portrays humanity and society. The zombies, in essence, represent people who give in to their most basic of needs. In this case, hunger. When people are hungry, they will do whatever it takes to get food. A more recent example would be of Hurricane Katrina that struck New Orleans in 2005, people were breaking into stores and rushing to FEMA trucks and pushing people out of the way to get to some food. When people are hungry, they'll do what ever it takes to diminish their hunger, even if it means harming others. All common decency is gone. The family of the Mother, Father and Child are the victims of this need to feed. They represent those who don't know what it's like to be denied the most basic of needs: they live in a world of innocence.

   I picked it as my inspiration because of how the gaming company was able to portray zombies. Normally, especially for trailers, gaming companies try to show only blood, guts and violence of the game to get people interested in how 'realistic' it looks. They decided to try something different, more moving and emotional, showing to everyone that this game is not a gore fest, but actually has meaning.

Castle S03E13: Knockdown (#2)

S03E13: Knockdown (35:15 - 39:22)

This is kind of a weird inspiration, but I decided to choose it anyway because of how impactful it is. The .gif is from an episode of Castle called "Knockdown." In the episode, two detectives: Ryan and Esposito are captured by the antagonist at the time, Lockwood. He knows that the police have enough information on him to track him down, but what he doesn't know is how much more information, or rather, how much damning evidence they have against him. So, the only way Lockwood believes that he can get the information is by giving the detectives a choice: "[n]ow, I'm gonna make you a deal. You tell me what I need to know, one pro to another, and I will put a bullet in your brain. You don't, you jerk me around, and you will be begging me to before this night is up." These are the choices he presents to the detectives. If the .gif didn't give it away, they choose option B. You can see the affect that it has on Detective Esposito as he's forced to watch helplessly as his partner's being tortured. The reason I find it (oddly) inspiring is because of how it proves even a small part of a scene or image can portray a strong reaction. When you see the .gif and don't know what the context is, you automatically want to know more about it. That's what I believe art is: something that makes you interested or react and forces you to feel something, for better or for worse. This .gif inspires me because I realize how important a few seconds are; how much they can depict; how much they can mean.

Love the Way You Lie (#1)

Original (Demo)

Final

I've always been interested in the original versions of things. That's how I've come to love some of my most favourite shows, songs and movies. So when I was introduced to the demo version of  'Love the Way You Lie (part II)', I couldn't pass up the chance to listen to it. My first reaction to hearing it? Loved it; even more so than the final version sung by Rihanna with Eminem rapping a verse towards the end. When you first listen to the melody, it seems rather simple, especially compared to the final, but that's why I think it's better. The demo is very emotional and touches on some deep issues and the added percussion and rapping of the final version takes away some of the raw beauty of the song. Why it inspires me is because it shows me how the same thing can be done in different ways and still be good. Differences can be good and can be bad, and while I prefer the demo over the final, that doesn't mean I dislike it. It's helped me realize that just because I have a different version of  the same thing than someone else (especially if it's supposed to be the polished version), doesn't mean mine is bad or wrong.