Farming on Film

Farming is a subject that I am unfamiliar with, making this week’s Monday Movie Meme quite a challenge. The Bumbles says to share “set on a farm, focus on farmers or reference farming in some way” today and I’m at quite a loss to recall much of any films that fit the bill. Here are movies that highlight farming in one way or another.

“Babe”

I wanted to see this movie so badly when it was released but never had the chance to because as a teenager, I didn’t have the money or resources to get the the theater and the adults around me would not support my interest in this recreational past time. The closest theater to where I lived was not exactly one that my family preferred to visit. Thanks to the movie meme making me put on my thinking cap, I now plan to rent this movie. So what if I’m an adult now!

“Uncle Tom’s Cabin”

I saw this movie on a bus during a trip when I was younger and do not remember which versions this was among of the many film adaptations of the book. However, it fits this week’s theme since the story involves a farmer who sold two slaves to cover his debt.

I would add this movie to my collection, if only I knew which one was shown on the bus. Maybe it was the TV movie version starring Phylicia Rashad and Avery Brooks but I’m not so sure but the fact that this movie has both silent and sound versions should help to narrow down a search if I were to shop around for it on DVD. Hmmm. I’ll have to ask one of my grandparents about this, in hopes that some answers can come of it.

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5 Minutes in Johnny Depp Land

Word games can fight boredom, laziness and moments of being unmotivated to write. I found this out last weekend after timing myself to find out how many words I could come up with from Johnny Depp's name.

After five minutes past, it was interesting to notice that I found 10 words that could be made from his name but writing a post that consists of nothing else but a list of words would be rather corny, so here are some Johnny Depp related facts to go along with a five minute word list based on this actor. I'll add more information throughout the week if I find any of relevance to this post.

Hop
Where box office sales are concerned, the Johnny Depp voiced animated film "Rango" beat the bunny favorite "Hop" that was released around the Easter holiday this year.

Dye
After dying her hair to land a small role as an extra in Johnny Depp's gangster film "Public Enemies," actress Cary Mulligan now regrets doing so because she says that the chemicals damaged her hair so much that she had to cut her tresses off.

Pod

John
The actor's real name is John Christopher, which I did not know but I'm sure his diehard fans already knew. His son is named John Christopher III but they call him "Jack"

Phony
Johnny Depp is among those listed in Pop Eater's "Best Fake British Accents" for role in "Pirates of the Caribbean."

Pony
The My Little Pony company released a toy based on Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" movie.

Joe
In a 2009 Seventeen magazine interview, singer Joe Jonas of the Jonas Brothers mentioned an interest in an acting career in movies while also citing Johnny Depp as his role model.

Pep
Earlier this month, Johnny Depp was at Disneyland, where fans paid $1,000 to attend the premiere of "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" during an event that the L.A. Times called a "pop culture pep rally" complete with a concert, dinner, other live performances and a chance to meet some of the cast.....including our May King Dong himself!

Hoe

Joy

Seven down, three to go!

If you have something to match this word list, feel free to add it in your comments.

This post is dedicated to Alana of Writercize.

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Why Million Dollar Paychecks do not Justify Movie Piracy

If you didn't know by now, I do not recommend nor support piracy...specifically, movie piracy. Now with that said, I'm referring to instances where people buy or sell pirated movies, whether on the street or online. That is not to say that I am in favor of people copying movies or putting them up for others to download without the authorization of the studio or producer(s) who made these movies but that is another story and it is not a story that is worth addressing, at least by me.

What follows is my response to a comment left by someone named James on an old article titled "Why Movie Piracy is Wrong."

Many people seem to have the same feelings as what was expressed in his comment:

"I will believe the movie studios are losing money when they stop paying actors millions of dollars to be in films."

While paying millions of dollars to actors may be a bit extravagant for studios that claim loss of revenue due to movie piracy, it is still their right to pay actors whatever they please and even if they don't want to pay that much, actors have agents, managers and most often belong to a union that requires them to get paid more than the average service worker. There may be more to these million dollar paychecks than consumers think but even in cases where there isn't and it's just a move to cover the extravagant egos of top-of-the-line stars, that is still the studio's decision to make.

Supporting illegal transactions do not help the problem. If you want to really cause some changes in the way that they pay actors in Hollywood, then maybe it is better to hit them in the pocket using alternative methods other than supporting movie piracy. These alternative methods could include refusing to buy tickets for movies with stars that have paychecks that you find to be too much.

The CEO of a retail store is paid more money than cashiers and receptionists who work for the store so based on the million dollar paycheck argument, this should justify stealing. Are employees in the right if they still merchandise from stores or companies that they are working for and then sell it to other people for a profit? The answer is NO.

Jumping on that old and tired bandwagon of "actors are paid millions so money is not an issue in Hollywood" excuse to defend piracy or try to make the studios' claim of losing money invalid is nothing more than a scapegoat that defends (whether indirectly or directly) piracy....something that is ILLEGAL, no matter which way you put it or try to come down on studios and actors who get paid millions of dollars.

Why even pirate movies if you have a problem with the million dollar paychecks in Hollywood?

If you want to see one and don't want to pay for it, why not just wait until it comes out on DVD and then borrow that DVD from someone who owns it?

Just a thought!

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