My type of movie

            Inside Man has been my favorite movie since the first time I saw it.  It’s smart, intense, funny, and best of all, a bank robbery movie.  I don’t know what it is about them, but bank robbery movies just happen to be extremely exciting for me. 

            The movie itself is very intriguing even from the beginning and as it continues it seems to get even better.  Maybe it’s not to others, but after seeing a movie for the first time as a youngster it’s always going to seem just as good as that first time.  Anyway though, I like how most of the movie was a combination of actual real-time footage and then integration/interview footage from after the robbery.  Also, they way the robbers made it seem as if every criminal was a hostage was mind-blowing yet so obvious of an idea.  So, unless the Coen brothers, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and Martin Scorsese team up, I’m pretty sure this will always be my favorite movie. 

            On another note… Why are bank robbery movies so interesting?  I think it’s because they make the average Joe feel like a criminal; plotting and scheming along with every movie the actual criminals make.  These movie make you feel like even you could pull that off, and a lot of times the criminals seem like real nice people so it doesn’t even feel like it would be stealing.  In reality though, this obviously couldn’t happen.  Bank robberies like the one of Inside Man should be kept within the confines of movies and books. 

            Also, after reading online reviews it seems like a lot of people don’t like the movie, giving it one, two, and three out of ten star reviews.  I know the ending is given away quickly in the beginning, but to me that doesn’t matter.  Obviously they’re going to pull it off the criminals just seem to slick.  The heist and its intricacy are what’s important.  This isn’t Dog Day Afternoon.

"The Second Coming"

I’m pretty sure we read and analyzed “The Second Coming” in class last year.  I can admit though that compared with now, I didn’t have a clue what the poem meant.  Today I can say that I am beginning to understand it.

The poem speaks of Yeats’ disappointment in society and its recent worldwide failings between 1910 and 1920.  In it, he uses his idea of a gyre to express the next coming of a new “god” or ruler.  It seems to him that this new ruler will not be a happy one. 

This poem really made me admire Yeats once I understood it more.  At first, after reading about Yeats’ automatic writing with his wife, I thought he was a little nuts.  I mean seriously, writing subconsciously? In his poems though, it is obvious that all his elements come together. 

            Do I agree with Yeats idea of gyres? Of course I don’t.  I don’t believe that every two thousand years a divine impregnation begins the process of a new ruler or leader being born.  The idea is just a little too crazy for me.  What isn’t crazy about the idea though, is a poet dealing with real-world and current issues.  To me, that is what qualifies an author, poet, artist, or anyone as great.  Anyone can talk about horses and meadows, but slipping real world issues into their work is what’s impressive, especially when they’re not saying

Sailing to Byzantium…with the Elderly

“That is no country for old me”

            Yeats begins this poem with a self reflection of his old age.  His body is weak and he has decided that he no longer can live in the world of the young.  It is far too demanding and the people there “commend all summer long”.  That is no matter though, because Yeats is wise.  His knowledge is all he needs now, and with it he has sailed to Byzantium to join the others like him. 

            Maybe this is the same feeling older people have when they move to elderly communities.  They have everything they need and they’re surrounded by people of, mostly, the same physical and mental states.  It actually seems pretty smart.

            A few years ago my grandparents moved into one of these neighborhoods.  When my mom first explained to me what it was, I didn’t really understand her.  I was confused.  A community of just old people; the idea seemed weird to me.  After countless visits to my grandparents’ house though, my views have sharply changed. 

            You’d think being around other old people would just make you feel even older, but nope.  It’s like a second High School, except there no school part and everyone’s really nice.  There’s also tons of clubs and organization you can join.  Even old people can get involved.

So maybe this is their “holy” city, where they have sailed, as to escape the faults and needs of younger generations. This even further exemplifies Yeats’ understanding of himself and the world around him.  He was old at the time he wrote the poem and he knew it, but he wasn’t going to let it hinder him.

I believe these are Yeats’ thoughts in his first two stanzas, before he gets into the whole idea about immortality.

"The Lake Isle of Innisfree” and Me

Those striking words, “I will arise and go now,” begin William Butler Yeats’ poem “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” so powerfully.  The poem is short with a simple idea, leaving home for a quieter place, but Yeats somehow makes this theme seem so majestic.  In the poem, the speaker is not only leaving his home, he dreams of leaving his way of life.  With his natural imagery Yeats paints a picture of the new way of life that his speaker seeks.

            This new home of Innisfree, is a beautiful, quiet, and peaceful haven, and like it speaks to the narrator, it speaks to me.  I can relate to this idea; that sometimes you just want to get away and go chill in nature.  As a kid, going out with friends and exploring the backyard woods of my neighbors was always the best way to spend a Saturday.  Leaving out early and coming back just in time for dinner, always with mud soaked shoes, was a great thing to have growing up.  The best way to learn about nature is to surround yourself in it, and doing this myself, at such an early age gave me an idea of what real beauty and silence are. 

            Another idea Yeats is speaking of is leaving home, and pretty soon I will be able to relate to this.  In a few months all my friends and I are going to be leaving for college.  We’re almost all grown up, and we’ll be leaving home to go to another place.  Also, even further I think that Yeats is explaining that in a new place you must make it your home.  Even if it seems different we must build a cabin and plant bean-rows to feel at home.  Only then can we find peace in a new place. 

            The last thing I think Yeats is speaking of is a calling.  Not a place to leave or go to, but something you have always wanted to do, something your heart has always been set on.  To me, Innisfree could represent anything and the beauty is found in how different people relate to it.