REFLECTION ON THE ACADEMY AWARDS

     As a person who likes to watch movies very much and is interested in actors and actresses, I would like to inform you about the Academy Awards, which I take a great pleasure in watching and reading about. Known as, informally, The Oscars, Academy Awards are a group of awards given yearly according to the greatness of the cinematic productions. The awards are given at a formal ceremony, and many actors, actresses, film directors, scenarists and producers take part in this ceremony with a great excitement. This awards are being given since 1929. Just like me, many people all around the world wait for the Oscar Awards ceremony impatiently and watch it on their televisions live. We can call the Academy Awards a ‘visual feast’, because participants consider this event very important and start to get prepared for this special occasion months ago. How the people got dressed or put on their make up is mentioned on magazin programs and journals for weeks. The reason for why the Academy Awards are taken so seriously is its members who work pickily with a complete attention. The members who have the right to vote on the films are selected according to their experiences and excellence in cinema. Currently, there are 5830 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. To be a member of the Academy is so hard that getting a high grade from all of them is a really praiseworthy success. The awards are given  in many categories. Some of these are: best film, best actress, best actor, best design, best scenario, best feature, best film editing…  This year, Academy Awards ceremony will be held on February 24, 2013. I highly recommend everyone to watch this visual feast to broaden their horizon internationally.  

                  

CORRECTION OF JOURNALS

I have corrected both of the journals, journal entry 2 & 3, i made the corrections on the original entry without opening a new heading for them.

MULTIMEDIA REFLECTION 3

    CHARLIE CHAPLIN

 Charles Spencer Chaplin was an English comic actor, movie director and composer. Chaplin is one of the most important figures of the silent movie era.  He is among the essentials of the early days of Hollywood.

     He was born in London in 1889. His mother and father were music hall performers which made him accustomed to stages and help him be discovered by others. Chaplin’s mother had mental problems and spent most of her life in asylum which led Chaplin to move to America.  

     Though he was born in England, he started his acting career in America. The character, Charlot, which is the most popular symbol of the silent movie era, is portrayed by Chaplin. Most of the people remember him as ‘Charlot’. In addition to Charlot, he took part in many films both as an actor and director. He can be counted among the most     prolific artists of the film sector 

     There are two main reasons why Chaplin is considered among the most talented film makers of the history. Firstly, he was an innovative actor. He used many different methods, choreographies and acrobatic gestures in his movies, which most of the people would regard as impossible. Another reason is the time of his debut which coincides with the end of the First World War. At that time, people needed fun, laughter and relief, which was brought by Chaplin to them as a gift. To sum up, Charles Spencer Chaplin arose as a talented comedian and managed to provide the people with a sense of humour, which makes the world a livable place.

VIDEO REFLECTION

I chose this video, because the best known character portrayed by Charlie Chaplin -Charlot- takes place in this video. One can imagine how people used to watch movies in the past when there were not sound movies. It is easy to see in this video that making people laugh is harder when the sounds are not involved. I would like to have stated a better version of Chaplin. However, due to the impossibility of reaching to the resources of these movies, I found this one appropriate.The lack of quality of the scenes is obvious, which makes the old films more valuable, because it shows what kind of periods people experienced before reaching the very well developed technology of the current period. I hope my journal about Charlie Chaplin has entertained you while reading and led you to learn more about him. 

I commented on 4 journals of my friends. These are:   http://bayraktarayla.blogspot.com/  (metu slogan), http://emel3celik.blogspot.com/ (Hesse for a good start to German Literature),  http://lifeasgnc.blogspot.com/     ( lana del rey), http://orhanaydin61.blogspot.com/ (orhan in metuland)

MULTIMEDIA REFLECTION 2

THE PIANIST

    I like to watch movies both as a pastime activity and a way of being a person of general information. My particular interest is for historical movies and among these movies, The Pianist has a special meaning and value for me. I would like to enlighten my friends about this masterpiece which evokes striking feelings and pushes people to think about the bloody history of racial and religious segregation. The film is adapted from the book ‘ Death of a City’ and is based on a true story. The Pianist tells the story of a Jewish musician, a very brilliant pianist in Poland, who experienced very harsh and unbearable events throughout the German invasion of Poland. The main character is Wladyslaw Szpilman, who lives in Warsaw  with his family in the course of inhumane implementations on Jews by the Nazi Germany. Polish Jews are exposed to persecution, forced to leave their homes,deported to ghettos ,which is separated from others by walls, and sent to death camps as the final step. After being deported to a ghetto, Wladek ( Wladysalw Szpilman) is obliged to quit his job and he and his brother try to make some money to meet their  family’s basic needs such as eating, accomodation by selling books.Unfortunately, he is under the necessity of selling his piano. A friend offers him a job in the Jewish police force which is in charge of regulating the ghetto; however, he declines the offer, because he is against violence and has the spirit of an artist. While people in the ghetto were being taken to extermination camps in a mass, including Wladek and his family, one of Wladek’s close friends, who was an official in the Jewish police force, saved his life. He had to hide as a refugee under harsh conditions until the oppression and invasion was over. He managed to sustain his life despite all the difficulties he faced.

   The leading man , Wladyslaw Szpilman, is portrayed by Adrien Brody. The film is a co-production between Poland, France, Germany and the United Kingdom. It is directed by Roman Polanski and written by Ronald Harwood. The movie is praised by critics with admiration, and received many awards and nominations. The film was awarded the Palme d'Or at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival; Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actor at the 75th Academy Awards; BAFTA Award for Best Film, Best Direction in 2003 and seven French Césars including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor. I strongly recommend everyone to watch this masterpiece.

         

                                                         VIDEO REFLECTION

This part of the movie is a very impressing one. It is the moment of emancipation from all the terrible and heart rending events that Wladek went through. I was deeply scared by the idea that he would not make it through after  all those things he suffered from. Wladek's helplessness turns into a hopeful anticipation for a better future with a miserable smile on his face when he hears the sound of a car with the National Polish Anthem.He gets curious and gets out to see what is going on. When he sees the people going around freely after such a long time, he attempts to go towards those people and try to hug them in an affectionate manner; however, those people think that he is a German because of the coat on him. Polish Officers fire their guns to shoot him, luckily, he manages to make his voice audible and tells them he is a Polish. When the officers ask him  why he wore that coat, he answers ‘ I AM COLD’. This is the moment when everyone who watched the film, including me, burst into tears.

MULTIMEDIA REFLECTION 1

   I would like to introduce you the most entertaining way of doing sports and dancing. Last summer, I was excessively bored and did not know what to do. Luckily I came across some Zumba workout videos and had a lot of fun until the holiday was over. I want to give information about Zumba to my friends so that they can spend enjoyable moments at their odd times and become knowledgeable about a worldwide trend- Zumba. Zumba is a dance-fitness program developed by Alberto Perez who is a Colombian dancer and choreographer. It is the most widespread dance-fitness program all over the World and practised by the people who want to dance, lose weight and have fun at the same time. The discovery of zumba rises from a simple coincidence. In 1986, Perez forgot to bring his aerobics music casettes for the workout class he was training and used traditional salsa music instead, which is unusual for aerobics. At the end of the class, he realized that the attendees enjoyed this improvised style of dance very much and he decided to improve that style. He called it ‘Zumba’ which means ‘buzzing like a bee’ in Colombian  language. Zumba incorporates samba, hip-hop, soca, merengue, mambo, martial arts and some Bollywood and belly dance figures. Zumba has captured a number of people’s interest around the world that 

approximately 14 million people take zumba classes weekly in more than 150 countries. As a result of  Zumba’s speedy spread all over the World, a company called ‘ Zumba Fitness’ has been founded to meet the increasing demands of people for Zumba workout DVDs and additional equipment such as colourful Zumba socks, bracelets, shoes… People who practise Zumba professionally wear colourful costumes and accessories which reflect South America’s warm climate and  active, good- humored people.Zumba Fitness Company gives the license for being a Zumba instructor after training the fitness coaches. One has to take Zumba Instructor Training course and keep his/her instructor license current through a variety of courses offered by the Zumba Academy, or by joining the Zumba Instructor Network. The effects of Zumba on people’s physical appearance is amazing and satisfactory.  There are many people who wrote their success stories about losing weight and keeping fit on the internet. Finally, everyone who wants laugh while exercising or learn basic figures of all kinds of dances should give Zumba a try . 

                                                   

            

                                                                  VIDEO REFLECTION

   I chose this video, because it is the first video which made me acquainted with Zumba. It includes many figures of Zumba which incorporates many other dance styles’ movements. One can learn how to do Zumba to some extent by watching the video.  The video reflects the mood boosting effect of Zumba with the colourfully dressed and joyfully exercising people in it. As I stated in the journal, there are a number of people who perform Zumba as shown in this video. The song playing in the background is an oriental music which shows that Zumba is influenced by many cultures. ‘Girls dancing on the stage’ scenes show that people organise parties to make Zumba more well-known. In my opinion, Zumba is very appropriate form of doing sports at home especially in these winter times thanks to do videos which instruct us how to do it. You can find various types of Zumba workout videos on internet if you are interested. HAVE FUN !

FOOD PRODUCTS - KEREBİÇ

                                                   KEREBİÇ

Kerebiç is a Turkish dessert which is famous in Mersin. It has a unique flavour, which gives pleasure to people tasting it. It is widely consumed at religious festivals. The secret of the inimitable taste of this dessert is the Çöven root ( soupwort root ). We plan to market this product to France. We believe that Kerebiç will be in a huge demand in France soon, because French people are keen on the food which include sugar. We aim to attract them by introducing new tastes such as pistachio and almond. Although cheese is not involved in this dessert, we will use some in its cream, because the French like and consume cheese very much. We will use some techniques to make our product well-known all around the country. Firstly, we will offer the dessert for free at several occasions such as wedding ceremonies, festivals and important meetings. Secondly, we will allocate a considerable amount of money to advertise our product on billboards and tv. We estimate that Kerebiç will be popular in a few months in France provided that we follow these steps. For the debut of Kerebiç, we agreed on a very reasonable price- 9,99 Euro for 1 kg. Our product is intended for the people of all ages. We hope that everybody in France will enjoy Kerebiç from the age of 7 to 70. We found a slogan for our  product, which is THE PERFECT COMBINATION OF FRENCH CHEESE AND TURKS' KEREBİÇ.

  Here is the recipe of kerebiç :

  INGREDIENTS

  FOR THE CREAM

 2 branches of soupwort

 5 water glasses of powdered sugar

  FOR THE COOKIES

 1 tea cup of vegetable oil

 100 gr melted margarine 

 1 tea cup of powdered sugar

 2 eggs

 1/2 tea cup of farina

 enough flour

  ENJOY KEREBİÇ :)