The fast and the Rebel

"Live fast, die young, leave a good-looking corpse." - James Dean

Living life in the fast lane, may not be always good, young actor James Dean had to learn this the hard way. Born in Indiana and raised by his uncle and aunt, he always loved theater and acting, and starting to study in the University of California after moving to Los Angeles. Before getting the immortal part of Cal Trask in East of Eden, he did some minor characters in two movies, a commercial, and a big Broadway play.

In East of Eden, he did a really good work playing a melancholic, passionate and introverted young man. It seems director Elia Kazan chose him because for the similarities between James and Cal. It was with this movie that he got his first nomination in the Academy Awards, for Best Actor in a leading Role. Shortly after finishing it, he starting filming Rebel without a cause and later Giant, and once again he was nominated for Best Actor.

And when everything was going perfectly, his worst addiction made him a bad turn. James always liked to race too, since his early years at Hollywood, he was on the routes racing. Even though he won just once, he was still competing. But, sometimes being ticketed is not the worst part of driving off limits. He was driving his Porsche Spyder, when a 23 year old, driving a 1950 Ford in the opposite direction, hit him in the front part. Luckily for the Ford driver he was just unconscious, but Dean's fate wasn't as good, when both cars crashed his neck broke provoking an instant death.

James Dean may have not acted in a lot of movies, but being a teenager and after his role in Rebel without a cause, most of the American young men and women were devastated. Speculation may lead us to think that he could have been one of the greatest actors of his era, but we will never know for sure. We can only remember him for his great acting and good-looking corpse.

Definitely not a despicable movie

In a world where animated movies are ruled by two big and really competitive companies, Pixar and DreamWorks, it seems anything will be as good as Toy Story 3 or How to train your dragon. But, they were wrong, Universal Studios comes up with a really cool, funny and interesting movie, not only it will have an original idea, but also, spectacular and fantastic characters. Despicable Me, the movie that showed us that being bad may not be what we thought it was, a movie that is simply brilliant.

First, there is this really different story, which makes it an original and funny movie. Have you ever thought how villains live? Or how they really are? Besides doing bad stuff, they sure have other cool things going on their heads. Well, no need to worry, because Gru will show you how he manages to get some money from the bank, to try his new plan. But, not everything is going smoothly for him, he needs 3 little girls in order to accomplish it, 3 little girls that will open his eyes and show him that been a villain doesn't mean you have to be grumpy all the time. It's this fascinating event that will help Gru evolve into a better human being.

Second, imagine you have a top class villain, with a plan for stealing the moon, 3 girls, wanting to be adopted, and a million of yellow pill-shaped minions, the result........ a funny and really entertaining movie that will make you laugh out loud. All of the characters have really special traits that you will either love, or laugh at them. There's this little girl named Agnes, she will be as cute and funny as any little girl can be, also, you will not stop laughing when the minions start acting, this strange characters are really entertaining in many different ways.

Lastly, the animation is really great, and it has a really good quality, even a lot more than expected from Universal pictures. Although it may not have the complex scenes or movements that Pixar and DreamWorks are capable of achieving, it sure has enough advanced parts in order to be competing against both companies in a near future. Every character in the movie moves in a fluently and good looking way, and the facial expressions done by most of them helps enhancing their different personalities.

Despicable Me is a heart-moving and funny story that will be liked by adults and children alike. With a unique story, which will help you understand that being a villain doesn't mean you are one of the bad guys. Also, the awesome personalities of all the characters within the movie will have you laughing so much you will want to watch it again. For all of these reasons and more, Despicable Me will always be a brilliant animated movie.

The Viking's Realm

Four years ago, when I was 16 years old, I went to Sweden to visit my cousins. When I got there I noticed everything was really quiet, and that everyone minded their own personal business. First, it seemed to me that was the way things should be, because at the end, it is only you and no one will take care or worry about what you do or don't do. For me it was the perfect world, at last I was enjoying myself without having to worry if someone else is bothering me because of how I dress, or the way I talk, even my not so good English was really cool for the flight attendant.

After some weeks of hanging out with my cousins and doing really cool things, we went to some amazing castles and big Viking villages, where we learned a lot of not so useful, yet really fun stuff, like throwing axes. Actually, I still don't know why I would need to know how to throw an axe, but it was something I will never forget. Also, we went water skiing, which is something that requires not only a lot of strength in the legs, but also in the upper part of the body, and in that specific time of my life, I lacked both. But alas, everything was going smoothly, for some strange reason I was able to keep myself in the correct position for a good amount of time, until I decided I was ready to jump from a wooden ramp.

Yeah, me, a wimpy kid, with any kind of strength whatsoever, in my first water skiing class, thinking I could do something cool with just being 1 hour on the water. Even though I was able to perform a really decent jump, the landing part was actually the tricky part, the water strike, when you crash with it, is really strong, I would say you need double the toughness in order to get on your feet again. I guess you can imagine what happened next, my legs when backwards and the water pulled me so strong I couldn't handle the rope you are supposed to have in your hands. The bad part, I hate cold water, which being in Sweden means it wasn't cold, it was almost frozen!!! The moment I felt my body starting to chill, I knew it was it for me. Nevertheless, being 16 years old made me think that it wasn't the way I wanted my life to end, I hadn't done anything I was really proud of, and I really wanted to learn how they do all those awesome animations in videogames. Also, there were a lot of things I wanted to do, other countries I wanted to go. So I started to fight back, or swim in this case. By the time I reached the surface, the boat was already over me, so they just pulled me away from the water, gave me a strange hot drink and a blanket.

Before that moment, I never thought if what I was doing was being helpful or at least meaningful, if I had to change how I was living or any kind of philosophic thought. I assumed everything was ok the way it was. To be honest, I learned 2 things that day, the first one, dying as a frozen Viking isn't as awesome as it may seem. And second, you have to live everyday trying to do something useful for you and for the people around you, trying to enjoy every minute, not like your last day, because that is depressing, but live it like if it is going to be the best day you will ever have!!!

Snow Warrior

by WolfBerserker