Parflex Division 3

Sorry this is late again.
So I am done with my PowerPoint for harness #503. My sponsor checked it over and he said I am ready to present. All I have to do now is prepare my presentation, make some editorial changes on my PowerPoint, and have my sponsor sign my final papers.

This week was basically the same as usual. I worked at my desk most of the time, trying to make my PowerPoint a masterpiece. I would sometimes go back into the factory and check out a few things. One thing that was different this week is that I had one of the factory workers build the harness by following my PowerPoint directions. She gave me some great help by saying what is helpful and what can removed or replaced. It made me realize that I probably should have done this more often than just once.

Mr. Harris came in today for about 45 minutes. I gave him a little summary about what I've been doing and showed him the factory and built a little bit of the harness in front of him. He was shocked about how complicated the harness looked as a finished project. It isn't really all that complicated if you break it down into step-by-step format. IT just looks a little intimidating. He enjoyed how I've been working hard and the fact that what I'm doing is helpful to the company and will be used after I leave. He said that's a rare case for senior projects, which is nice to hear. I plan on putting some pictures up for our final post. Until next time =)

End of the American Dream?

At the end of McCabe & Mrs. Miller, McCabe may have defeated the bounty hunters sent to kill him, but he can only stumble through the snow, slowly bleeding to death. What does this film say about the small-time enterpreneur and the Goliath corporation? Is the American Dream dead?

Death of a Cowboy

After an extended stay in McCabe's whorehouse, a cowboy is ready to return to his cattle, but first wants to buy a pair of socks. The cowboy, not much of a shot, is accosted by a ruthless gunman at the bridge and shot dead as he reaches for his gun (so the gunman can "fix" it). Many of us in the audience gasped or shook our heads at this scene. What purpose, if any, is there to this scene? Or is it's lack of meaning itself meaningful? Is it an effective scene? What does it convey, if anything?

How the West Looked and Sounded

Robert Altman utilized disntinctive techniques of cinematography and sound in McCabe & Mrs. Miller. He used natural light during the day and subdued lighting to capture the look of gaslight during the night. He used sound that often captured all the noise in the room without differentiated individual voices. Thus much of the film looks dark and dingy and sounds noisy and unfocused. Does the lighting and sound add to the experience of watching the film -- or does it detract? Does it provide a sense of life in the West at the turn of the twentieth century? Or does it distract from the story?

Please Do Eat the Daisies

The two main characters in Daisies are constantly eating or at least playing with food. They have lavish dinners at restaurants, bathe in milk and playfully slice bananas and sausage. This trend culminates in the scene in which they sneak into a feast, indulge their palattes, and engage in a food fight. What is the point of all this food, glorious food? Can you make sense of the use of food in at least some of these scenes?

A Feminist Farce?

Daisies is the first film we have screened by a female director that focuses on women protagonists. Yet this film is far from an easy film to interpret. Do you see a feminist "message" in the film? Or is this film lampooning such a message? Is this film highlighting and ridiculing sexist views of women? What about the fact that the women protagonists are hardly the paragons of virtue? Please enlighten us.

The Music Inside My Head

Toward the end of Pierrot le Fou, Ferdinand encounters a man on a dock who hears a song that Fredinand cannot hear (and we the audience can hear it initially and then we cannot). The man then relates a story of love (and love gone awry) associated with the song. After the story, Ferdinand jumps on a boat and the man is never seen again. What is the purpose of the song and the story? Is it just another odd appendange, an experimental flourish? Or does it highlight an important theme or symbol of the movie?