Extra Credit Blog

Charisma as Natural as Gravity
Christopher Nolan
Jan 26, 2008
One night, as I'm standing on LaSalle Street in Chicago, trying to line up a shot for "The Dark Knight," a production assistant skateboards into my line of sight. Silently, I curse the moment that Heath first skated onto our set in full character makeup. I'd fretted about the reaction of Batman fans to a skateboarding Joker, but the actual result was a proliferation of skateboards among the younger crew members. If you'd asked those kids why they had chosen to bring their boards to work, they would have answered honestly that they didn't know. That's real charisma—as invisible and natural as gravity. That's what Heath had.Heath was bursting with creativity. It was in his every gesture. He once told me that he liked to wait between jobs until he was creatively hungry. Until he needed it again. He brought that attitude to our set every day. There aren't many actors who can make you feel ashamed of how often you complain about doing the best job in the world. Heath was one of them.One time he and another actor were shooting a complex scene. We had two days to shoot it, and at the end of the first day, they'd really found something and Heath was worried that he might not have it if we stopped. He wanted to carry on and finish. It's tough to ask the crew to work late when we all know there's plenty of time to finish the next day. But everyone seemed to understand that Heath had something special and that we had to capture it before it disappeared. Months later, I learned that as Heath left the set that night, he quietly thanked each crew member for working late. Quietly. Not trying to make a point, just grateful for the chance to create that they'd given him.Those nights on the streets of Chicago were filled with stunts. These can be boring times for an actor, but Heath was fascinated, eagerly accepting our invitation to ride in the camera car as we chased vehicles through movie traffic—not just for the thrill ride, but to be a part of it. Of everything. He'd brought his laptop along in the car, and we had a high-speed screening of two of his works-in-progress: short films he'd made that were exciting and haunting. Their exuberance made me feel jaded and leaden. I've never felt as old as I did watching Heath explore his talents. That night I made him an offer—knowing he wouldn't take me up on it—that he should feel free to come by the set when he had a night off so he could see what we were up to.When you get into the edit suite after shooting a movie, you feel a responsibility to an actor who has trusted you, and Heath gave us everything. As we started my cut, I would wonder about each take we chose, each trim we made. I would visualize the screening where we'd have to show him the finished film—sitting three or four rows behind him, watching the movements of his head for clues to what he was thinking about what we'd done with all that he'd given us. Now that screening will never be real. I see him every day in my edit suite. I study his face, his voice. And I miss him terribly.Back on LaSalle Street, I turn to my assistant director and I tell him to clear the skateboarding kid out of my line of sight when I realize—it's Heath, woolly hat pulled low over his eyes, here on his night off to take me up on my offer. I can't help but smile.

I think this article is well-written simply because it comes from the heart. I also like it because it got me thinking about something that I had never realized I admired in people: passion for their talent, and dedication to their craft. I think it's very hard to come across people who not only have a talent, but are able to use it in an innovative way. I always see this happen with actors, when they spend their life making romantic comedies, then along comes a movie where they completely transform themselves. All of a sudden their unknown talent emerges and they gain their respect. Kate Blanchett is one of those actors who are innovative in their craft. I can't get over the fact that she played Bob Dylan...and well. I mean, I'm aware that she is not the first to play a gender-bending role, but I admire the way that she did it. So I think my whole life, I have and will always be attracted to talent. Someone who can make me see acting or painting in a whole new light, to me, is worth a thousand times more than anyone else.

Blog # 3

As you know, I was born in Cuba. My grandmother, grandfather, 6 aunts, 6 cousins, older sister and nephew all still live in Cuba. Although the embargo hasn't been "temporarily" lifted or at all, the amount of money and family aid that exiled Cubans are allowed to send has increased greatly due to Hurricane Ike. When I see pictures such as the ones in this post, I ask myself how we are capable of complaining, especially when some of us might have a house with six rooms and we only need 3, or a car with four doors when a bicyle would be sufficient to get through our daily activities. I think that we have grown up so used to seeking comfort in every way possible, that our "necessities" have been brought up to things like a phone that you touch and don't even have to think about, rather than something like, oh I don't know...FOOD. I think that the photographer has alot to do with evoking a certain feeling, but in situations as disastrous as Ike's toll on these poor countries, there doesn't need to be any photographic technique to shock or evoke a feeling. The situation speaks for itself.

In the summer of 2006, I visited 5 different cities in the country of Morocco. Although its economy is considered to be growing at a rapid pace (compared to other countries in Africa,) many of the people in Morocco live in devastating conditions and 19% of Morocco's people live below the poverty line. When I was in the city of Fes, I visited the medina. The medina is an immense medieval marketplace where people sell all kinds of typical foods, jewelry, furniture and even animals. As I walked down the medina (which was only lit by the sun penetrating through the branches that wrapped themselves around pergolas overhead,) a boy of about 7 or 8 came up to me and asked something in arabic, while showing me some bracelets. I looked at him a bit confused and before I could say I spoke English he asked again, the same thing I presume, but in Italian. Still I gave him a puzzled look, so he looked back at me, very determined and said, "Deseas comprar una pulsera," before I could answer, he quickly responded to his own question with another, this time in English,"Would you like to buy a bracelet, only 8 dirhams." I smiled and asked how many languages he spoke and he replied eight. I bought two of the silver bracelets, giving him 16 dirhams, the equivalent of two dollars. The point of this story is this: coming from the United States, where most kids 7 or 8 are still in Elementary school, I was so surprised that someone so young was out on the street, doing what he had to do and learning what he had to learn in order to sell things to tourists. I realized that it was not work ethic that drives people to do these things, but the principles of necessity.

{Part fo the medina where leather is dyed with bird excrement and pigments}

Every day I thank god for everything I have, and simultaneously wonder why I have everything while others struggle to have anything at all. I have, on my favorites on my computer a link called "thehungersite.com." On this website all you do is sign up and when you click, they display an ad from a sponsor, the money that the sponsors pay goes directly to charity,(whichever you click for, theres animal rescue, hunger, breast cancer etc.) I click twice a day, it only takes a second and I also have links on my myspace, so that anyone that visits it can also click. I feel like I'm doing my part to help people less fortunate than me, but its such a small part and I would like to be more proactive rather than click from my comfort zone. But if you're the kind of person who doesn't care enough to actually do something, click for hunger is a pretty good option. I feel a little bit helpless trying to change things, especially since I have never seen my "charitable acts" (if you can call them that,) directly affect anyone. I feel like for every person in the world who cares about these issues, there are 49 others who either aren't educated or don't give a damn.

ENC 1101 Blog 1

In an age when technology reigns over paper and pencil, and when machines are made to facilitate our lives day to day, it is only natural to resort to writing your thoughts in an online journal. Before this class I had made this blog, created the title for it and that's about it. I planned to use the blog as a collage of sorts (a collection of miscellanious material such as videos, paintings, pictures, and anything else that I like.) I guess this online journal took a backseat to, well, my real life.
Since this journal is now for this class, I plan to write in it as if I was writing constant e-mails to you, my English teacher. I will not use any kind of slang (not that I would if this journal was for my eyes only anyway,) other than the occasional spanish word or phrase. So basically, I will treat this journal as if two, not four eyes were examining it, but only answer those questions which are written by you.