The Actor

      From the time I was in kindergarten, I knew I wanted to perform. Back then, it was singing. Time passed, and I kind of forgot about it, until I auditioned for my first musical in 6th grade. After that, my eyes were set on Broadway. Musical Theater was surely it. Then, Junior year of high school, just when I am sure I have it all figured out, I see The Crucible. The movie with Daniel Day-Lewis.

      Turns out, I didn't have it all figured out. From then on, acting has been my passion. Looking back, it makes sense. I mean, I always obsessed over actors and watched and re-watched (like a million times) movies so that I can see an actor again. I have always studied the actor in films and was so intrigued and always wanted to re-create it. I guess I never thought of acting as its own thing. Until I set out for the Acting track.

      Movies to me have the huge potential to be such beautiful masterpieces. And some are able to do that. From low-budget indie films, to Hollywood commercial films, all have the capability of being life changing.

      If you know me at all, you know I am a huge movie fan. Each conversation I start with someone seems to be "Have you seen (insert movie here) yet?" I just love them! And being in a Theater Department, a lot of the professors don't like film or television because the truest form is theater, in their eyes. And yes, there are plenty of films and TV shows that are, well, useless and meaningless. But there are other movies that just take this audience on a huge adventure and, by the end, a person's life is changed for the better. Or a television series that puts things in just the right way that we can't help but follow this so intriguing story.

      It's storytelling. When I can escape from my world and be thrown in the world of another human being and want to take this journey with them, it's an intense relationship.

      I want to be a part of that storytelling. Time will tell where my path leads, but I will always make room to fulfill my passion.


Woo!
Mary Taylor

 

 

 

My current acting crush, Jack O'Connell of Unbroken

If I Can Take It, I Can Make It

      Two inevitable things come with this post:

1) I missed my first blog post day yesterday. But, I'm not giving up! I shall write a post every day!

2) I saw a movie last night and want to talk about it, so here it is!

   
      Today was my first day back on campus after winter break. Always bittersweet. Bitter because in no way do I want to go back to doing homework and stuff (but, I am lucky I get this education, I know, so I'll suck it up). Also bitter because I can never spend enough time with my family and friends! But sweet because I can never spend enough time with my friends here, too. And, of course, we're that much closer to Summer (score!).

      Last night, I spent the evening with two great friends of mine as my last night of freedom. One of them met me at the movie theaters where we saw a movie I had been anticipating for months, "Unbroken." Before I ever see a movie I anticipate that much, I do research on it. Whether it's just checking out some interviews, reading the IMDb trivia, or watching the featurette and/or B-Roll. So, I knew what I was going to see. Well, I thought I knew.

      Okay, before I delve into the awesomeness and inspiration of this story, the movie itself had some flaws. The beginning of the movie's flow was weird, I didn't really see these characters as wholly as I would have liked, there wasn't a structured theme or moral I felt I had to get out of the movie, really. Yet there was kind of little left to the imagination (But in a way, I liked it). And a lot of the stuff the brother said was weird and like these inspirational one-liners that didn't really fit. And my friend and I made fun of them all night.

      All of that being said, from the director and all of her glory, to Zamperini himself and this truly unbelievable story, I liked the movie. Maybe not as an awesome 20,000-star flick, but I definitely want to see it again.

      Okay, okay, okay. We get it, Mary. What does that have to do with your blog?

      Well, in case you don't know anything   about the film, let me (try) to sum it up briefly.

      Louis Zamperini starts out as this rascal of a kid, constantly running away from cops and getting into trouble. Finally his brother tells him to focus all of that energy into running and being a part of the track team. Succeeding in that, he makes it to the '36 Olympics in Germany. He didn't win the race, but at the final lap, just when he was in the rear of the pack, he sprints and makes it to 8th place (which is really impressive consider he was almost last and in the final lap decides "maybe I'll be awesome and sprint). Anywho, WWII hits. He joins the military and becomes a bombardier. In one of his missions, the plain fails and falls into the ocean. Out of 11 in the plain, three survive (Zamperini being one of them). They are in the ocean for 47 days. They finally get rescued! By the enemy, Japan. Zamperini goes through Prisoner of War camps throughout Japan (40% of all who entered Japanese camps died. Compare that to the 1% who died in Germany camps. Both tragic, but just to put the whole odds-don't-seem-to-be-in-this-guy's-favor kind of mindset). One particularly brutal corporal sets his sights on Zamperini and makes it, seemingly, his mission to make Zamperini's life a living hell. Yet he survives.

      All in all, you cannot believe all of this happened, like really happened to this guy! And the acting was just amazing and awesome and I'm obsessed with Angelina Jolie's warm soul and charitable work and passion for this story!

      Anywho, this guy really amazed me. As does Angelina, obviously. Sometimes when I see these movies, I just feel like "what do I have to complain about now? I mean, my life is pretty set in awesomeness compared to that!" And there are definitely a lot of times where putting things into perspective like that is so crucial and necessary. Like, we get fussy over the smallest things, relatively. Example: when the internet is slow. I just think: this is literally the cruelest form of torture. Of course, it's all, really, in jest. But there are times we complain when, really, there isn't a whole lot to complain about (#FirstWorldProblems).

      The author of Unbroken (the book the movie is based on), while writing the book, had chronic vertigo and nausea when she moved around too much. So, she would have phone conversations with Louis Zamperini, instead of live sessions. She wrote an article in the New York Times about her illness that she had been living with for 30 years. Zamperini then gave her his Purple Heart he had earned for his time and triumph through the war. In a note with the Heart, he wrote "You deserve this more than I do." When trying to give it back, he insisted she keep it.

      This man who, in my eyes, had suffered more torture than I can even begin to try to imagine. He saw her as such a brave soul for suffering through the torture for 30 years. Amazing (and just makes me love the guy more!). In her eyes, she couldn't complain much about a certain torture because he had survived this great thing. Yet he felt she deserved his Purple Heart because she has been suffering a great torture (and persevered) for 30 years.

      In an interview, Elie Weisel, author of Night, his memoir about surviving the Nazi Concentration Camps, said that no one can compare experiences and say "what right do you have to complain?" For in that time, that might be something quite huge in their life that is very important to them. No one persons' experience out-shines another's.

      So, what am I supposed to take from this?

      Well, there are still a lot of menial things we complain about. That perspective is a great thing and we should be hugely thankful for where we are right now.

      Yet, judging sometimes life can be tough for us. Sometimes life seems really bleak, and we can't find the light anywhere. In those times, I turn to God. Well, I mean, I turn to God for the good, too, and thank Him for the light. But I also pray harder than ever in those times of total darkness. And the darkness does come to me at times.

      Yes, I live in a developed nation, and I am hugely grateful that I am a woman who gets to study what I love in a university I adore, but dark times comes, nonetheless. Nothing to be ashamed of. And sometimes, it even means asking for help. In any way.

      Darkness comes to all of us at times. And sometimes we make up darkness that isn't there. And sometimes our friends are in a dark place. What is important is what we decide to do in those times.

"More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." --Romans 5: 3-5

"And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up." --Galatians 6:9

(go see the movie)

Woo!

Mary Taylor