Disney/Pixar’s 2012 project Brave released a full trailer recently and looks to have in droves the charmingly delightful delightfulness that Pixar seems to achieve so well. Disney/Pixar will be looking for cinematic redemption after its 2011 release Cars 2flopped hard both at the box-office and with critics. Brave is centered around a Scottish Princess named Merida, and will be Pixar’s first ‘fairytale’, and it’s first film with a female protagonist. A brief synopsis tells us that Merida ‘confronts tradition, destiny, and the fiercest of beasts’. Let’s jump right in and take a look at our red-haired heroine Merida who is voiced by actress Kelly Macdonald (Boardwalk Empire).
Merida is described as the impetuous daughter of King Fergus (voice of Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (voice of Emma Thompson). Determined to carve her own path in life, Merida defies an age-old custom sacred to the uproarious lords of the land: massive Lord MacGuffin (voice of Kevin McKidd), surly Lord Macintosh (voice of Craig Ferguson) and cantankerous Lord Dingwall (voice of Robbie Coltrane). “Searching for the meaning of existence,” and believing in a “world pregnant with possibilities,” Merida indeed seems quite optimistic. Extremely courageous, highly independent, deeply mystical, and on a search for life’s truthsMerida is a classic Idealist. Indeed Merida turns to an “eccentric old Wise Woman (voice of Julie Walters) for help, she is granted an ill-fated wish.” In order to find out what happens I suppose we’ll have to just watch the film! Brave is slated for a June 22, 2012 release date.
If you had the chance to change your fate…… would you?
Peter Gene Hernandez a.k.a Bruno Mars is a Filipino-American singer and songwriter who was born in Honolulu, Hawaii into a family of musicians. Mars began making music at a young age, and after graduating high-school moved to LA to pursue a career in music. A talented producer with a great voice and a charming smile, Mars drew from a wide variety of styles and influences, and quickly found his place in the music industry. Using his childhood nickname Bruno, Hernandez added Mars because “a lot of girls say that I’m out of this world, so I was like I guess I’m from Mars.” Mars’ debut albumDoo Wops and Hooliganswas released this October and gave him 6 grammy nominations. The album is riddled with altruism, romance, and intense emotional experiences. A hopeless romantic, highly in-touch with his feelings, extremely expressive, and fiercely independentBruno Mars is undoubtedly a Champion Idealist. Indeed Bruno exudes a kind of “spontaneous personal authenticity”, and communicates such through his unique musical style. Bruno is characteristically positive in his outlook, and is surprised when people or events do not turn out as anticipated, as evidenced by his somewhat somber ‘trophy song’Grenade. Despite seemingly having his heart broken something tells me Bruno is gonna be ok:
Often their [Champions’] confidence in the innate goodness of life and human nature is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Please Understand Me II, p. 156
“On the back of the slip was written ‘Read 5.25.34’ and the signature of my father. The file — indeed the whole ‘case’ — gave me a heavy sinking feeling. I kept leafing through the documents trying to understand. Shouldn’t there have been some kind of logic to these stories? Did the Chekists’ machinery really so senselessly gobble up people? Perhaps my life would have taken a different turn if been able to see my father’s file earlier. If I could have been convinced without a doubt of what ordinary, banal horror our industry, our powerful Soviet reality was steeped in.”
“My father never spoke about any of this with me. He blanked this piece of his life out of his memory as if it had never existed. It is forbidden to speak of this subject in our family.”
“I was only three years old at the time of my father’s arrest, but I remember to this day all the horror and fear. One night people came into our barracks room. I remember my mother shouting and crying. I woke up and also began to cry. I was crying not because my father was going away (I was still too young to “understand” what was happening to him). I was crying because I saw my mother and saw how frightened she was. Her fear and her tears were transferred to me. My father was taken away, and my mother threw herself at me, hugging me until I calmed down and fell asleep.” Continue reading A Child's Memory→
The 2011 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show aired on CBS last night and WOW what quality television programming. Like seriously. The $12 million ‘marketing marvel’ is aired in more than 180 countries and features the worlds top models (36) wearing intimate apparel. The show featured hard-hitting musical performances from Jay-Z and Kanye West, Maroon 5, and Nicki Minaj. “It’s one giant PR stunt” that was held in New York, and helps Victoria’s Secret “put our [their] brand in front of millions of people around the world during the crucial holiday period.” And it works, as Victoria’s Secret raked in $5.5 billion in net sales last year. Australian model and new motherMiranda Kerr sported the most expensive digs in the form of a $2.5 million Fantasy Treasure Bra—designed by London Jewelers and embellished with nearly 3,400 stones including 142 carats of diamond. As is the new trend in these Victoria’s Secret Fashion Shows, a recent mother was given the honor of wearing the coveted Fantasy Bra, last year being Adriana Lima. Indeed most of the lingerie giant‘s top models are now mothers including Gisele Bundchen, Heidi Klum, Kate Moss, Adriana Lima and Alessandra Ambrosio. With all that ridiculously good television going on it was hard to catch the fact that there were also musical performances. Were there? I had no idea. Since analyzing the temperament of models wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense let’s take a look at burgeoning dynamic duoJay-Z and Kanye West.
Shawn Corey Carter was born into poverty on the streets of Brooklyn December 4, 1969. Today his net worth is estimated at over 450$ million. An extremely talented rapper and musician, HOVA has 11 number one records, being beat out only by The Beatles. Music however, is definitely not Carter’s only talent. Indeed Carter is a very successful and renowned entrepreneur: he was President/CEO of Def Jam Records for several years, he has founded multiple corporations including Roc-A-Fella Records and Rocawear, finally he is co-owner of a variety of organizations including the 40/40 Club and the New Jersey Nets. Whether it be music, fashion, food, or just cold hard business; Jigga clearly knows how to get sh*t done. A self-admitted former crack dealer, Shawn Carter clearly will use any means or ‘tools’ necessary to be successful. A brilliant Crafter Artisan from the streets, Carter knows that the most important things in life are ‘a gift and a curse’.
Kanye Omari West was born June 08, 1977 in Atlanta Georgia. The Chi-town native is characterized by his flamboyantly loud personality, outrageous fashion sense, and skills as a music producer. Indeed it was Kanye’s beat-making prowess that got his foot in the industry door. However once his foot was in the door, his mouth did the rest. The rapper’s flashy personality may come across as a bit egotistical, but also made him a powerful media darling, and helped propel his career to what it is today. Kanye’s uncensored attitude has indeed gotten him in trouble: when he claimed that “George Bush doesn’t care about black people,” or his infamous mic-snatching incident with Taylor Swift. In fact if at any point during the day you want to hear exactly what Kanye West is thinking about, you can check out his highly utilized twitter account, or even his website. Although the guy may come off as a bit brazen or overconfident: at the end of the day Kanye West, a blazing Performer Artisan, simply wants to entertain his audience.
Shoot for the stars, so if you fall you land on a cloud.
And she was a Character — a very interesting, and complex character.
Having entered the science community as a woman, when men still dominated science, and being charmed by a huge scientific ego, Carl, she luckily had to explore the backwaters of evolutionary biology at the time, bacteria, not getting much support from him or her male contemporaries. Of course, like all good science, that estuary of knowledge contained biological riches totally ignored by well established conventional scientific community. Like Darwin before, she was sui generis: a driven, feisty, no holds barred, idea brawler — an intellectual maverick — by necessity and choice. Initially ignored, she generated a fair amount of hostility from the conventional scientific community when they were challenged.
And intellectual mavericks, with persistence, are the only type to challenge the major ideas of conventional science, and win — somewhat.
Kourtney and Kim Take New York Season 2 premiered last night and oh how sweet it is. The Kardashian Family (especially Kim) will be looking for ALL SORTS of PR after meeting with considerable public backlash regarding Kim’s divorce to obscure athlete and general idiot Kris Humphries. The family of course has since launched a damage-control campaign, the cornerstone of which will be Kourtney and Kim take New York. According to sources the show will be heavily portraying Kris (Humphries) as a villain, as Kris (Jenner) is an executive producer of the show itself and therefore can doctor it’s content however she wants. God forbid after making 18 million dollars off of the wedding Kim couldn’t even suffer through more than 72 days of a bad marriage. Whereas most people suffer through a bad marriage their entire lives. For free. If someone offered you 18 million to marry an idiot would you do it? Of course you would. Let’s be honest. All you have to do is ignore everything he/she says. With 18 million you could even buy them a separate house and you wouldn’t even have to ever say a single word to them. After typing Kim as a Promoter and being presented with some pretty solid arguments to the contrary let’s take a closer and more in-depth look at Kim Kardashian and her dear and beloved sister Kourtney Kardashian.
Kimberly Noel Kardashian was born October 21 1980 the daughter of attorney Robert Kardashian and his wife Kris Kardashian. Her father was of Armenian descent, her mother Dutch-Scottish. Kim led a pretty standard young Los Angeles socialite life until tragedy struck and her father died of esophageal cancer in 2003 at the age of 59. Kim is a self-described obsessive-compulsive neat freak and is actually very shy and timid in large groups. While much of her behavior comes off as being a Promoter, this is no doubt through the guidance of her overbearing and strong-willedPromoter ArtisanmotherKris Jenner. Indeed Kim has essentially done exactly what she has been told, in order for Kris to create an ’empire’ with. Kimcares deeply about her family, and takes great pride in protecting the health and welfare of those she cares about. Self-admittedly uptight, extremely hard-working, actually quite shy, and very loving of her family Kim Kardashian is undoubtedly a Protector Guardian.
Kourtney Mary Kardashian was born of the same ilk of her dear sister a year earlier. The oldest of the Kardashian children, Kourtney was the one who kept them all in line. Indeed Kourtney is the most serious of all the Kardashian kids, and can sometimes seem cold and unforgiving. Earnest, attentive, dedicated, and highly strict and thorough, Kourtney Kardashian is undoubtedly an Inspector Guardian. Certainly Kourtney can seem like a downright b*tch sometimes, but let’s not hold it against her.
Artisan parents have little or no difficulty rearing Guardian children. They enjoy encouraging their Guardian children to get into all sorts of sports and arts and adventures, hoping to help loosen them up and show them that life is for living here and now. With such modeling on how to have fun Guardian children can overcome their natural caution and seriousness, and can thrive both at home and school. There is a danger that highly aggressive Artisan parents can communicate dissatisfaction with their Guardian child’s over concerned attitude, letting it be known that they aren’t happy with a goody-goody child of either gender—teasing them about being a mama’s boy or a little pris. If SP parents expect (or demand) boldness and impetuosity from their SJ children, they will only frighten or inhibit them, and teach them they are a failure. Fortunately, it is unusual for both parents to be Artisans, and quite usual for the other parent to be a Guardian. So the Guardian child often has the best of both worlds: someone to show the way to joy, and someone to show the way of duty. Please Understand Me II, p. 277
Taylor Alison Swift was born on a christmas-tree farm in an obscure town in Pennsylvania, and since early childhood has showed an exceptional talent for poetry, music, and writing. Her artistic talentsblossomed quite early, as she won a national poetry contest in the fourth grade, and wrote a 350-page novel at the age of 12. After learning to play the guitar, Taylor had found her passion and started devoting most of her time to singing and songwriting. Taylor admittedly got picked on in school, and used songwriting to express her emotions as an outlet for the pain of not fitting in. After her family moved to Nashville, Tennessee, Taylor was able to display her talents and quickly became recognized. Her breakout single “Tim Mcgraw” was the first of many hits, while “Love Story” subsequently shoved her into the national spotlight. Highly emotional, musically harmonic, adorably sensitive and gracefully timidTaylor Swift is undoubtedly a Composer Artisan. Composers (like Taylor) “prefer to have their fingers on their compositional tools and through them feel the pulse of life”. Indeed Taylorspeaks almost exclusively through her music, as when Composers“find a mediumof expression, some art form, then they will express their character quite eloquently via that medium”.
“Although Composers often put long, lonely hours into their compositions, we must not assume that they are working on their art in the sense of careful planning and dutiful execution. On close observation, ISFPs prove to be just as impulsive as other Artisans. Indeed, they covet their impulses and see them as the center of their lives. They do not wait to act or to consider their moves, for to wait is to see their impulse wither and die; rather, they live intensely in the here and now, and as gracefully as possible, with little or no planning or preparation. Submergence in their artistry is not preparation for something later, and neither is it artful play, such as Crafters engage in with their tools. Composers are seized by the act of artistic composition, as if caught up in a whirlwind. The act is their master, not the reverse, and, in a sense, the doing is elicited by the action itself. ISFPs paint or sculpt, they dance or skate, they write melodies or recipes—or whatever—simply because they must. They climb the mountain because it is there.” Please Understand Me II, p. 73
And it seems to me you lived your life
Like a candle in the wind.
Never knowing who to cling to
When the rain set in.
I´d have liked to have known you
But I was just a kid.
Your candle burned out long before
Your legend ever did.
She had been in foster care most of her childhood. She wasn’t wanted, her mother was too unreliable to take care of her. She was convinced to marry young for that way her guardians could go to Florida without her.
“My marriage didn’t make me sad, but it didn’t make me happy either. My husband and I hardly spoke to each other. This wasn’t because we were angry. We had nothing to say. I was dying of boredom.”
The Dark Knight Riseswrapped principal photography in New York last week and in a recent interview with Empire Magazine, Christopher Nolan discussed his final Batman film. Nolan revealed that the films’ events will be taking place 8 years after the events of the previous film, during a time when Bruce Wayne is “not in a great state”. He also talked about choosing Bane as the primaryvillain, saying that the goal was to testBatman both physically AND mentally. Since Bruce went and got everyone excited by going to ninja school in Batman Begins, some critics were largely disappointed with the lack of martial arts in The Dark Knight, which evidently will not be a problem in this film:
“He [Bane] is brutal. Brutal. He’s a big dude who’s incredibly clinical, in the fact that he has a result-based and oriented fighting style. It’s not about fighting. It’s about carnage. The style is heavy-handed, heavy-footed, it’s nasty. Anything from small-joint manipulation to crushing skulls, crushing rib cages, stamping on shins and knees and necks and collarbones and snapping heads off and tearing his fists through chests, ripping out spinal columns. He is a terrorist in mentality as well as brutal action.” — Christopher Nolan
Well that sounds pretty dope Mr. Nolan. Thankyou for that. I think we’re all glad to see that this Batman franchise is finally headed in the right direction. The direction of ripping out peoples’ spinal cords. Regardless of whether that ends up in the movie or not lets take a look at Batman and his new nemesisBane.
Bruce Thomas Wayne had the unfortunate luck of witnessing his parents murder when he was a child, an event that birthed his life goal of ridding Gotham City of evil. Bruce has since evolved into an arrogant billionaire industrialist and notorious playboy by day, and a ruthless masked vigilante by night. Characterized by his physical prowess and technical ingenuity, Batman‘strikes terror into the hearts of criminals everywhere’. Indeed Bruce Wayne is a martial arts ‘prodigy’ and excels specifically in japanese jujitsu, ninjitsu, Keysi, and Aikido. Bold, daring, and audacious with a strict adherence to utilityThe Caped Crusader is undoubtedly a Promoter Artisan. Indeed Batman has a thick skin and is a hard-nosed utilitarian, doing whatever it takes to get the job done. The Dark Knight however knows all too well as most Promoters do, that “he who travels fast, travels alone”. Until Bane shows up.
Banespent his childhood and early adult-life in prison, serving a sentence for his fathers crimes. Bane’s ‘natural abilities’ allowed him to develop ‘extraordinary skills’ within the prison walls including a plethora of brutalmartial arts. Bane has since evolved into a ‘super intelligent world-class fighter’ and a ‘tactical genius’. Bane is most known for causing a prison break to overwhelm Batman, and then breaking his back while he is weak and tired. Impulsive, fearless, and ridden with brute strength, Bane is undoubtedly a Crafter Artisan. Certainly, Bane like all Crafterscommunicates primarily through his actions. Bringing his prison mentality to Gotham City, Bane decided to go after the man that everyone feared: Batman. Indeed a physical specimen, actor Tom Hardypacked on 30 pounds of muscle to play the role. Like his fellow Crafters, Bane is ‘fascinated by weapons of all kinds’ and wields them with ‘lethal virtuosity’, taking ‘pride’ in his ‘prowess’. In other words if I saw this dude on the street, I probably wouldn’t talk sh*t.
If you had the chance to change your fate…… would you? 
