Life is Like a Box of Chocolates... You Never Know What You're Gonna Get.

     Forrest Gump is a movie that captured the hearts of many people from all around that globe. It was directed by Robert Zemeckis and was released in July 1994 and was based on the novel with the same title by Winston Groom. The original book was published in 1968, but then again, we’re not here to talk about that. The movie became a hit back in the 90s and is considered one of the most popular and high grossing movies of all time. It was nominated in 59 awards and won 29 out of all those.

    The story starts with a little Forrest Gump having a problem with his legs and was forced to put braces on them. He would often hang with his friend Jenny near or on the big tree near their place and according to him, Jenny is the most beautiful girl he has set his eyes on. One day, a group of bullies started chasing Forrest and Jenny told him to run as fast as he can. Although he had braces on his legs, he didn’t let that obstacle hold him down. He kept running until the braces broke off and he was able to get away. Even though a lot of people thought that Forrest was mentally challenged, he excelled in different aspects through his love and devotion to those that were close to his heart, which in turn humbled everyone by the realizations. When he joined the army, he met his best friend Bubba and they talked about how his mother is a shrimp cook for a rich family. Bubba loved shrimp and they both envisioned a future in the business. The friendship was short lived when Bubba died in the war. Forrest stayed true to their plans and built the Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant and branched out in states everywhere. He gave 50% to Bubba’s mother which shocked her to see that the amount equaled to more than a million dollars. Even though he became successful in life, he was stayed humble and still longed for Jenny. Throughout the story, she would come and go in his life and in the end, it was revealed that Jenny gave birth to Forrest’s baby boy. He later asked for her hand in marriage and took care of her even up to the day that she passed away.

    In the beginning and ending of the movie, a feather was shown floating through the air and a lot of people were giving their own interpretations about it -- even Tom Hanks gave his own. As for my own interpretation, I believe that the feather meant how all of us are like feathers that are floating through air. Our fates are never decided by ourselves, even if we think we’ve planned everything. One way or another, a slight change in the wind can alter one’s direction. It doesn’t specifically mean that we’re going to be alone in the journey, because just like in the movie, wherever we may drift, there will always be other feathers that will flow and dance with us through the wind.

- Vieo

Sources:

forrest_gump-10693.jpg, Retrieved October 9, http://free-extras.com/images/forrest_gump-10693.htm

Forrest Gump Screenshot, Retrieved October 9, http://www.fanpop.com/spots/forrest-gump/images/1814957/title/jenny-photo

That's a Shirt? I Always Thought It Was a Skirt!

    Hey Arnold! No, I’m not calling you Arnold. It’s the title of a show back in the 90s. Hey Arnold is an animated series with the genre of comedy and drama. It was directed by Craig Bartlett and was published on Nickelodeon in 1996. It had five seasons and a hundred episodes, showing more or less twenty episodes for each. The show was cut in 2004 after their 100^th episode special which was an hour long, entitled “The Journal”.

    The story is about an orphan kid named Arnold who lived in a boarding house building that was owned by his grandparents, Phil and Gertude. He’s a fourth grader in a school called Publica School 118 (or PS 118, for short) who’s wise beyond his age. Helga, who has a crush on him, would often act mean and shove him away just to hide the fact that she likes him. His best friend Gerald on the other hand is a kid who loves telling urban legends that would make the story even more interesting. There’s also Harold who’s a bully but in reality, he’s actually a scared kid trying to make everyone feel inferior. There are a lot of characters in the cartoon that had his or her own problems and insecurities, but they would often confide in a solution that wasn’t either right or very healthy. That’s where Arnold comes in. He often helps his friends go through problems, giving them advices and showing them what’s right and what’s wrong. Often times, he’d be faced with his own problems, but in the end, he would always think rationally and choose what’s right.

    As a kid, I remember watching Hey Arnold for the first time and thinking: “what a strange shape for a head…” Then again it’s a cartoon and most cartoons have weird looking characters. I guess that’s what makes them memorable at times--the image and style of the art--but you know, I don’t think that that’s what makes Hey Arnold unforgettable. I honestly believe that it’s the story of the cartoon that keeps everyone entertained, because the story itself has its small values and lessons that can be applied to anyone of any age. There’s a wide variety of characters which can actually make viewers relate and see themselves in some situations that were being shown. That in itself is something worth cherishing especially when you know you learned your lessons through the help of a football shaped head kid. Haha!

See you all on the next run,
Vieo

Sources:

hey-arnold-viaduct.jpg, retrieved October 8, http://playingwithpolitics.wordpress.com/2010/08/23/hey-arnold-animating-the-benefits-of-urban-design/

Hey-Arnold-old-school-nickelodeon-295350_1024_768.jpg, retrieved October 8, http://www.fanpop.com/spots/old-school-nickelodeon/images/295350/title/hey-arnold-wallpaper

The Floating Palace

    One of the most popular movies and known love stories back in the 90s would definitely be Titanic. I mean, who wouldn’t forget it? The story of the movie was inspired by the real life Titanic that collided with an iceberg back in April 1912, off the coast of Canada. It was said that the ship was indestructible only to have their words backfire at them after the accident. So going back to the movie, it was spearheaded by Director James Cameron who has Leonardo DiCarpio and Kate Winslet as its lead stars.

    The story started with a group of explorers and treasure hunters searching the Titanic for a necklace called “Heart of the Ocean”. Instead of finding the necklace, they came across a sketch of a woman who was wearing the treasure. It was later published on the news and Rose Dawson became aware of the discovery. She contacts the group and informs them that she is the one on the sketch. Rose recalls the story of everything that had happened while she was still young and was on the ship. At first, she was under the pressure of an engagement that will save her family’s financial problems which made her thought of ending her life. Jack, however, was there and convinced her to think things through and not jump over the edge of the ship. They form a friendship that eventually developed into romance, but was short lived once the Titanic sank. Jack and Rose stayed together waiting for a life boat to rescue them. After hours of waiting, Jack froze to death leaving Rose no choice but to leave him. In the end of the movie, the 84 year-old threw the necklace into the water saying that it belongs to the ocean without the group having knowledge of the incident or that it was with her the whole time. She sleeps and was reunited with Jack once more.

    The movie was nominated in and garnered various awards including Best Picture and Best Director. It also grossed $1.8 billion with spending only $200 million, making it the first to have ever reached the amount. That being said, the impact it had on people was immense and was very memorable. The story itself touched most hearts and others were brought to tears. You definitely have to give props to not only the ones involved in the making of the film, but also to the ones who gave so much inspiration for the story.

Bon Voyage,

Vieo

Sources:

Titanic Movie Poster, Retrieve October 7, http://free-extras.com/images/titanic-11421.htm

Titanic, Retrieved October 7, http://free-extras.com/images/titanic-11431.htm

Omlette Do'froumage

    Dexter's Laboratory is a cartoon series made by Genndy Tartakovsky which was, at first, a project for the Cartoon Network channel, but it was later adopted into the network as a regular series which aired in 1996 but was halted in 2003. It showed 4 seasons of two segments of short stories for each episode, making each story fast and actually very enjoyable. The first time I saw Dexter’s Lab as a kid, I was amazed at how it had a different kind of art compared to other cartoons that I used to watch. The colors were bold and vibrant which made me tune into it even more. Over the years, it made game adaptations and various artists like will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas and Prince Paul helped build its first music CD entitled “The Hip-Hop Experiment”.

             

    The story of Dexter’s Laboratory (or Dexter’s Lab in short) revolved around an eight-year-old boy genius who has a secret laboratory in his room which only his sister and nemesis knew of. Despite so many odd happenings in the house, his parents were completely oblivious of their son’s doings and never had a clue about it. Due to his irritation of his ditzy older sister, Dee Dee, he made his lab a no Dee Dee zone. Even though Dexter had all the smarts to make his lab have high security, his sister still gains access to the lab with some stroke of luck and prances around destroying most of what Dexter builds. At one point, he met his arch-enemy at school, who prefered to be called Mandark, who exceeded his intelligence and made him insecure and low in confidence. Mandark falls for Dee Dee and Dexter plotted a plan that would transfer her to Mandark’s secret lab in order for her to wreak havoc and destroy his creations. Although the story didn’t revolve around just them, it also had cameos of Dexter’s pet monkey who’s a secret agent and his favorite superheroes, The Justice Friends (which was parody of the characters from Marvel comics).

    Thinking about the cartoon series now makes me remember and relive childhood memories of how I would stay up at night just to be able to watch the show. I am not surprised that it gained the title of being one of Cartoon Network’s greatest classics because it is definitely one for the books in my generation.

Au revoir,

Vieo

Sources:

3298.jpg, retrieved October 6, images.tvrage.com, http://images.tvrage.com/shows/4/3298.jpg
753.jpg, retrieved October 6, http://www.tv.com/shows/dexters-laboratory/