James Rolfe, "Angry Video Game Nerd"

James Rolfe is creator and main actor in The Angry Video Game Nerd web series. His videos are seen by thousands every day and were a huge part of my childhood. The series depicts and “angry gamer” who takes on terrible retro NES games and posts comedic, cinematic reviews on the games. Each of his episodes includes miniature stories and foul language which appeals to a younger audience for its shock value. James Rolfe is an inspiring filmmaker who recently was given a movie deal where he was allotted around $ 200,000 to make a feature length film for the Angry Video Game Nerd.  The film has been in production for several months now and should be availed to watch online in the next few months. His website includes every video he as ever made, including everything from his child hood, to his polished current videos.

His videos play on the nostalgia of gamers, highlighting the horrors of retro games on the NES.  However, for me, The Angry Video Game Nerd is nostalgic in itself. Watching his videos bring me back to 8^th grade, watching the series in my friends basement, laughing hysterically at his foul language and crude jokes. I’ve been following him since then and watched nearly all of his videos. His videos are not exclusively video game reviews; he also works on his own personal short films and movie reviews.  He is a huge inspiration to me as I’m trying to follow the same path he has.  This is why I think his video have such a large impact on me, all the similarities we have in common. Ultimately James Rolfe’s videos have had such a influence on my choice of career path and is one of the strongest reasons I want to go into the film industry. 

http://cinemassacre.com/

Skyler White

After watching Breaking Bad, most people come to the immediate conclusion that they hate Skyler White, Walter’s wife. Skyler is the character that everyone loves to hate – with good reason too. She’s betrayed Walter, taken away his Children, spent his money and tried to divorce him. However most people fail to take the time and actually analyze Skyler’s character. It’s easy for us to hate her because we see everything from Walter’s perspective and never from hers. Initially she’s dealt a blow when she finds out that Walter has lung cancer, she is shocked but swears to stay by him through it. As Walter fades from his family by lying and disappearing for hours at a time she begins to worry. She had every right to be upset about her husband disappearing and lying to her on a constant basis. We are easily frustrated with her because we never take the time to actually think about how we would feel in her position – she’s upset that she’s left out in the dark and Walter gave her no information about where he was or what he was doing. When she finally finds out what Walter has been up too, it’s an incredible shock to her, almost traumatizing. She sees Walter coming home with bruises, cuts and gashes on him, she learns that he’s had a gun to his head, that weapons and drugs have been in her house where her children are. She finds out that they had a death threat against them, all because of Walter. Almost all of her actions were completely justifiable. She removed the kids from the house because she wanted to protect them, as any other mother would do. She removed herself from Walter for her own protection. She asked for a divorce because she did not want to be dragged down into Walter’s abyss of crimes and lies. Finally, she had an affair with Todd because she was upset and broken, she fell into the only comfort she had, an old friend. She isn’t perfect but all most all of her actions are justifiable. We shouldn’t hate her, she is acting as any human would. 

http://laist.com/