Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

"Pan's Labyrinth" is an adult fairy-tale in which was directed by Guillermo Del Toro. The story is about a young girl named Ofelia who has lost touch with reality, she set her mind somewhere in a fantasy world. This movie is one of Del Toro's best directed movies,  aside from his latest movie, "The Hobbit," he has also filmed "Hellboy I and II", "Blade" and "The Devil's Backbone." Del Toro put his heart and soul into "Pan's Labyrinth" which took two years to make, he was willingly giving up his salary just to make sure that the finished product fit his vision of the movie. His efforts definitely paid off, it won critics over, and became one of the highest Spanish film ever in the U.S Box Office. The movie won three academy awards, each for Makeup, Art Direction and Cinematography.

Del Toro added a prologue in the beginning of the film which captivated the audience's attention, it explained how the movie was made. It also showed how it affected Del Toro both mentally and physically, the movie slowly killed him. It was emotionally disturbing for the audience who watched it, for it showed how he dedicated his time turning his visions into reality. It was a huge accomplishment to Del Toro, after two years of making the film and watching it go on to winning three academy awards.

"Pan's Labyrinth" is a film that you are guaranteed to have your eyes glued to the screen. Although you may want to look away at times because of the disturbing scenes, it is still a movie that you are automatically drawn to. The cast of the movies each uniquely fit the attitude and personality of the characters they play in the movie,  and each character makes the movie itself more realistic than the vivid colors, wonderful artistic background in the film.

In result of Del Toro's hard work, the movie "Pan's Labyrinth" was nominated several times, it won numerous of awards including the Academy Awards whereas Del Toro won two individual awards. Some of the cast were nominated as well for their acting skills. Iv"Pan's Labyrinth" is an adult fairy-tale in which was directed by Guillermo Del Toro. The story is about a young girl named Ofelia who has lost touch with reality, she set her mind somewhere in a fantasy world. This movie is one of Del Toro's best directed movies,  aside from his latest movie, "The Hobbit," he has also filmed "Hellboy I and II", "Blade" and "The Devil's Backbone." Del Toro put his heart and soul into "Pan's Labyrinth" which took two years to make, he was willingly giving up his salary just to make sure that the finished product fit his vision of the movie. His efforts definitely paid off, it won critics over, and became one of the highest Spanish film ever in the U.S Box Office. The movie won three academy awards, each for Makeup, Art Direction and Cinematography. Del Toro added a prologue in the beginning of the film which captivated the audience's attention, it explained how the movie was made. It also showed how it affected Del Toro both mentally and physically, the movie slowly killed him. It was emotionally disturbing for the audience who watched it, for it showed how he dedicated his time turning his visions into reality. It was a huge accomplishment to Del Toro, after two years of making the film and watching it go on to winning three academy awards. "Pan's Labyrinth" is a film that you are guaranteed to have your eyes glued to the screen. Although you may want to look away at times because of the disturbing scenes, it is still a movie that you are automatically drawn to. The cast of the movies each uniquely fit the attitude and personality of the characters they play in the movie,  and each character makes the movie itself more realistic than the vivid colors, wonderful artistic background in the film.

In result of Del Toro's hard work, the movie "Pan's Labyrinth" was nominated several times, it won numerous of awards including the Academy Awards whereas Del Toro won two individual awards. Some of the cast were nominated as well for their acting skills. Ivana Baguero who played the little girl, Ofelia in the movie won an award for being best young actress. That's quite an accomplishment coming from someone her age! I stated earlier that the movie won three academy awards- one for Best Makeup. Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography. Del Toro used vivid colors, graphic scenes and a eye-catching fantasy world filled with creatures that are so out of this world, as well as the descriptive Spanish violence portrayed with sadistic Captain Vidal. This film is highly recommended by those who have seen it, and for those who haven't. I know it seems scary looking at it but don't you judge a book by its cover, it is definetly worth seeing! Pan's Lanbryith took a lot of Del Toro's energy and time, and has now won approval that this is one of the most influential videos that have appeared in our society. Although some people crictized about his work, I believe that Del Toro has some wild imagination which can help us paint a picture in our minds about what it taking place. Del Toro's dedication to this movie really paid off, he's one of a kind. So what are you waiting for?! Trust us! Go watch it!

Purdue Owl

Purdue Owl

As I was looking through the Purdue OWL website that was designed for students like myself, who like to write. I noticed that the website is beneficial for anyone who wants to improve their writing skills. In some sections, I was able to point out some topics that we've already discussed in class with Dr. Wood. Although we have other reading materials such as the Lunsford et. al (2008) to help us, this is a great tool because it has a lot of necessary tools that we use on a daily basis. For example, one section explained about rhetorical analysis, thesis statements, and supporting evidence. Also they had an article for students who use English as a second-language, as for reading it, I felt that it would provide some assistance to some struggling students. The website itself was written in a clear manner, it provided a lot of instructions and examples which helped me see the message that was being sent out more easily. There was an article written specifically for professional writers, teachers fall under this category. The purpose of this article was to help these writers write persuasive, creative resumes, letters, memos, reports, etc. It outlined the concept of rhetorical awareness and self design, by supporting examples of individual ideas.

I really enjoyed checking out the OWL website especially when it comes to the examples. In this website, it showed how other people wrote their mistakes so that way we are able to look at it, and see for ourselves what is to be done and also prevent it from happening to us. It was very visual and helped me see what I could be doing wrong in terms of my writing. For example, I don't excel in writing essays that aren't personal. If I ever need help for the next essay I write, I wouldn't be surprised if I came back to the Purdue OWL website for some references. Even though I can't complain about Lunsford et. al 2008, it does a wonderful job at explanations but I feel that OWL is clear when it comes to explaining what to do, how to avoid making mistakes, etc.

Purdue OWL Website used various sources of evidence which was helpful to me because then it showed that they had enough research to have these accurate, helpful information in terms of writing. Evidence is always important to writers because we all need a reliable source, right? Well the OWL accomplished that very well. It also allows other viewers to compare their work with the OWL website. This section provides excellent readers' comments which could also be a wonderful way for the audience to use tips and apply it to their knowledge of writing.

As a student who loves to write, I have to say the OWL website would help many other students like myself to gain more skills in terms of writing, espescially Gallaudet University students. The rubric we use for our writing applies to this website, because both fall under the same categories- grammar, critical thinking, rhetorical analysis, organized thoughts and citations. Both sources share these important key points, I recommend this website to all writers out there in the world who could use a tip or two to improve their writing skills espescially my GSR-101 bloggers, this applies to you guys as well!

Guillermo Del Toro: Pan's Labyrinth (2007)

In the movie, "Pan's Labyrinth" (2007) directed by Award-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro comes an "adult" fairytale where a little girl named Ofelia tries to "escape" from Spain, her hometown that has a lot of facism issues occuring at the time. She creates this fantasy world, where she is the princess of an immortal kingdom.  As the movie starts, it shows Del Toro's prologue about the making of the movie followed by a scene where the little girl's lifeless body hangs by a well, nose with a single trail of blood dripping into the well. I believe that this was Del Toro's way of grabbing the audience's attention at the beginning of the movie, leaving us full of curiousity.

In the movie, the topic "Facism" was often present in the scenes. It also showed evidence of the Spanish Civil War that was taking place in the movie. The suffering of people whether they were poor or rich was shown to create a realistic view on the issue at hand. The movie itself portrays a lot of different emotions throughout the scenes, especially at the endng when Ofelia  is sad about losing her mom who she was very close to,  but she was also overjoyed because she has a new brother.  The excitement she felt as she was to become princess in the immortal kingdom, the confusion she felt as she was to go through obstacles that she felt unsure about. The nervous feeling as the faun tells her that she failed an obstacle and can no longer complete her task to become a princess. The movie is definitely not recommended for young children as some of the scenes contains \a lot of violence, inappropriate character features that might scare the young viewers.  Although Del Toro did a wonderful job setting up the scenes, using his vivid imagination and applying his creative ideas to his work,  the way the props seemed realistic because of the added detail to his film.

I believe that this movie was Del Toro's best pieces of work. It was a very interesting movie that managed to captivate the audience's attention well, the way he managed to draw the audience into the immortal world and allow us to get an insight inside the kingdom, as well as a spectacular view at the characters that he invented. The topic that he used, "the Spanish Civil War" was a good topic because it's a strong subject that almost everyone can understand and relate to.  Del Toro's purpose of this movie was to let us think beyond ourselves and look at others, and see how poorly they were treated and it should make us feel thankful for what we have because WE are very fortunate. In order to understand others, we have to understand ourselves. Although I believe that Del Toro did a good job, I have to agree with others that he could have improved in some ways. I feel that he could have done better when it came to explaining the audience about the Civil War. Perhaps he could have added a few more descriptions to make our understandings more clear.

Overall this was a good movie and I enjoyed watching it with the class. It was very interesting and I was too drawn into the movie to even glance away from the screen. A job well-done for Del Toro!