A Strange Connection

You all want to know something weird? You know the whole "rosebud" mystery? I've had this nagging feeling for the past few days that the word "rosebud" was somewhat significant to me at some point.

Now I remember.

It was used as a cheat code in the original PC version of The Sims. Now, for those of you that don't know how The Sims works (I assume most of you do), you basically create a family and a house and simulate their lives. You use your family's money to help build the house and buy things. The Sims is currently in its third series, but also has several spinoffs. Though the game isn't overly realistic, it's pretty fun and has its quirks. Anyway, so "rosebud" was used as the cheat code. It gave your family $1000 and you could enter it as many times as you want. However, there was a quicker and more efficient cheat code that basically maxed out your family's funds without having to retype it over and over again. It was pretty useful for when you wanted to create the ultimate house or to just relax and have a game where you did whatever you wanted to.

Anyway, so I started wondering: Does the "rosebud" in Citizen Kane have to do with $1000 or free money? But then I looked it up and almost spoiled some of the details of the movie. I say "almost" because I only saw it very quickly and refuse to believe what I thought I may have read until I see the entire movie. The use of "rosebud" in The Sims isn't exactly related to Citizen Kane's plot from what I can tell, but it IS meant to be a reference to Citizen Kane.

So yeah, talk about a weird connection there. I know I really didn't discuss some of the more important things that we've seen in the movie, but I couldn't help but post this.

All Quiet on the Western Front - Final Thoughts

Well, we've finished our first movie. I really enjoyed it. I'm actually really happy that I took this class because I wouldn't have seen this movie otherwise. Moving on to the actual movie discussion, I really liked the way the ending was done. I know that Mr. Bennett mentioned that the butterfly scene was filmed after the original ending for the movie was done. I believe he said a different person's hand was used in the scene. I'm curious. How long after they had originally finished filming the movie did they decide to do this?

What I liked about this scene was that it wasn't just an ending. It was almost like a mini-story, told within the constraints of a minute. The hand is reaching for the one beautiful thing left in the world, but just as it reaches it, the hand stops and falls to the ground. Despite the fact that I've watched scenes similar to it in other movies, scenes like this always hit me straight on. The feeling of desperation oozes and you become hopeful that the character will be happy for a split second, even though you know that it's impossible. That's what hurts the most.

...I need to go watch something happier now. Maybe tonight I'll watch my favorite movie, Spirited Away.

First Film Day

Well, today was our first day watching a film. We were watching All Quiet on the Western Front. Most of us that took AP Global last year saw part of it. It sort of brought back memories, though they weren't all that memorable. It was just kind of funny to see a movie that I never thought I would see again after AP Global was over. I mean, we only saw the part where all the students in the classroom are enlisting, but it still has the same effect that it did. It's almost kind of disturbing to see that everyone is so excited to go to war when the reality is that war is a harsh, cruel monster that you can never truly get out of once it swallows you. You may escape its stomach, you may escape the shells, but war forever leaves psychological effects on the soldier. It's pretty depressing that we have to see this carefree mood take a nosedive early on (when we see the former postman issuing orders and speaking like a true general), but such is the way of war.

I can tell that this is a depressing film already, but I kind of wish it wasn't. Then again, I'd rather it be a little bit more down to earth than be something disgustingly sugar-coated. That's all for today, I guess.