UNITY HEALTHCARE SYSTEMS, Rochester, New York

 Stay As Far Away From Unity As You Can

TRY NOT TO NEED THIS HEALTHCARE SYSTEM, because if you do, there is a possibility that they will let you die if you are dying.

I say this, because I had a dental appointment on January 27, 2017 when Maria J. Abeyounis, DDS informed me that I had no cavities.  I haven’t been to the dentist in 3 years, and when I chew gum or floss, my cavities tear the floss apart, and the gum gets tangled in them.

On January 31, 2017 I went to my 3:00 pm appointment with Dr. Chrystal Jenkins, my physician, only for her staff to tell me that I did not have an appointment; and my 3:45 pm appointment with a mental health therapist, Emily Good, I was informed that I did not have an appointment with her either.  Notwithstanding that on January 30, 2017, Emily called and scheduled the appointment for today (January 31, 2017), because she thought that it would be convenient for me, since I was seeing Dr. Jenkins today.  I was irate.  Rochester businesses have a tendency not to obey and regulations for businesses that are there for the protection of the public and themselves alike.  Even the corner stores that sell bottles and cans do not honor them back, even though we pay a deposit on the containers.  I called Environmental Health in New York State, but they never followed up on this.  This is only one incident that I have observed about business practices here in Rochester, and in New York State as a whole.  They seem to do only what pleases them, not what the customers need (which they are there to serve), nor what any regulatory statutes dictate.

That is why I am exposing them on this Blog.

If anyone has any suggestions as to what to do to comfort myself, other than leaving the state which I plan to do, please, please email me at cdenisebee@yahoo.com.  Your input would be very appreciated and taken literally to heart if it can help.  Thank you.

 

2 Bedroom Apartment Search

I’m having trouble locating a 2 bedroom, upper apartment in Buffalo, New York.  Apartments used to be easy to find here, but the difficulty that I’m having now must be due to so many foreigners coming here.  If you can help me find a 2 bedroom, upper apartment, please email me at cdeebillyard@aol.com.  Thank you very much.

Holiday Heart/Week 4 Discussion/Carolyn Billyard

In the film, Holiday Heart, the main character, Holiday Heart (Ving Rhames) plays a drag queen who befriends a drug addict named Wanda (Alfre Woodard), and her daughter Niki (Jesika Reynolds).

Ving Rhames, a versatile actor who I would classify as a “wild card’ because of his many different roles in various films.  Ving Rhames has played the gay guy as in the film Holiday Heart, a prison inmate, a big, tough bad guy and even a Mafiaoso.  His realistic role as a gay made me believe he had true life experience with being gay, with his gay mannerisms all the way down to the way he carried himself in women’s garb.  He is truly convincing in his roles.

I would consider Alfre Woodard a character actor, because she has played in a lot of different films such as a drug addict, , an advertising executive and a psychic.  She has also served as an impersonator, reciting Sojourner Truth’s (slave abolitionist) “Ain’t I a woman?” poetry.  Alfre is also versitile, putting her best into her roles very convincingly.  She seems to portray the personalities of the characters she is playing very well.

Jesika Reynolds, a child actor, whose role in Holiday Heart, made her recognizable as an up and coming talent for film.  I would classify her as character actor because of her apparent adaptation to her role as a neglected child of a drug addict.  She portrayed the true pain of the neglect of her mother, with emotional pain displayed on her face as her character Niki.  Now Jessika Quynn, she is a singer with samples of her music at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKiqKkyMoI8.

Based on his roles in other films, Ving Rhames truly still fits into the category of wild card.  His flexibility gets him roles in the best of films, probably due to his ability to convince audiences that he truly is the characters he plays.  Refer to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUOag7lulOE and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=165_xTQiALs

References

http://www.youtube.com

http://www.IMDb.com

The Godfather/Carolyn Billyard Week 3 Blog

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068646/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1

In films, “sound is one of the industry’s most expressive tools”.  (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2014, “Film: From watching to seeing”, para. 8.3).  The three categories of sound are dialogue, sound effects and music.  Without them in my chosen film, one category wouldn’t make the film as interesting as it was without the others.  I feel that the film’s sound added it to its genre of crime/drama, with the hard core dialogue, sound effects such as gunfire, and music to reinforce the mood of the scenes.

Dialogue refers to what the characters in a film say to each other.  A film is more easily understood with dialogue, as opposed to silent films, where the audience had to pay close attention to what they saw, and still had to use their imaginations to get an understanding of what they saw.  The sound effects are added noises to the background of the dialogue, which aid to get the film’s theme, story and plot understood.  It is an aid to understanding who, what, where, when, why and how.  I consider music in a film add to the mood(s) and emotion(s) that the director is trying to portray.

I chose The Godfather for this week’s Blog mainly for the sound features throughout the film. Many of the scenes where there were discussions among the mafia members were without background music, which to me, focused the attention on what was being said (dialogue).  This made the film all the more intense, for the theme was based on detailed plans to kill and intricate instructions on how to execute those plans.  Secondly, the music scores ranged from somber to gaiety according to each scene’s mood.  The sound effects of heavy footsteps in the desolate hospital hallways, and the sound of gunfire could have given the viewers anticipation of the dire events to come in the scenes.

In the scene where Apollonia, Michael’s wife, was blown up in the car, if there had been a music score there, I feel the viewers would have been tipped off as to what was going to happen. Instead, the eerie quietness of the scene, other than Michael’s foreboding to her, made the audience surprised to see her character perish in the explosion.  The lack of music made It truly unexpected.

References

Puzo, M. (Producer), & Coppola, F. F. (Director). (1972). The Godfather [Motion picture]. USA: Paramount

Goodykoontz, B. & Jacobs, C. P. (2014). Film: From watching to seeing. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

IMDb. (2015, August 29). The Godfather [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068646/?ref_=nv_sr_1

 

Carolyn Billyard Week 2 Blog/Revolutionary Road

In the opening scene where April (Kate Winslet) and Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio) met, I feel that flat lighting was used.  The reason I think flat lighting was used is because surface detail in the shots were minimized.  Also I feel that there was a sepia-colored overcast, which gave the impression that the film’s setting was early twentieth century.  During the filming of April’s acting, the sepia tone of movie she was acting in really added to the effect of early twentieth century movies.  During the rest of the movie, the lighting was a bit brighter, but still muted, adding to the film noir effect.  Then at the times when shooting was done outside, the “golden hour” effect was used.

The benefits of the style of the lighting made me get the feeling of the 1950’s, whereas I feel the women’s role in marriage and family life was sort of oppressed.  In my opinion, those conditions kept the woman’s role restricted to caring for the home and the family.

The technique contributed to the theme in that the blandness of April’s lifestyle was depicted through the gloomy overcast of the lighting.

Since I feel the genre was film noir, the lighting confirmed to me the darkness in the description of the genre.

If the film had been played out in, let’s say, high-key lighting, one may not have gotten the feel of April’s mood, which was somewhat depressed.  High-key lighting would have made the mood lighter, which wouldn’t have captured the theme of the film very well.  A low-key lighting technique may have also spoiled the mood of the film, as with the deep shadows and bright highlights that low-key lighting incorporates, the mood may have been presented more macabre than the film would have needed to portray.

References

Mendes, S. (Producer), & Mendes, S. (Director). (2008). Revolutionary Road [Motion Picture].  USA: Paramount Vantage.

Goodykoontz, B. & Jacobs, C. P. (2014). Film: From watching to seeing. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week 1 Blog – Steel Magnolias

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=steel+magnolias+the+movie

Title:  Steel Magnolias

Writer:  Robert Harling

Director:  Herbert Ross

Actors:  Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis, Darryl Hannah and Julia Roberts

Story:  The story is about five women (with one of the women’s daughter, which makes six) who are experiencing different situations in their lives, who all come to get to know each other better and become good friends.

Plot:  MaLynne’s daughter Shelby is a diabetic.  She has diabetic episodes where she trembles and somewhat seizures.  Shelby is about to be married.  All of the women prepare for the event in their own ways.  Weezer is an eccentric who trusts no one and is somewhat bitter with life because of her experiences.  However, through it all, she ends up becoming more relaxed once she realizes that not one of them has it easy.  Truvy owns a hair salon where Annelle works as a stylist.  Clarice is a logical minded and competent woman who contributes her strength and stability to the women in the movie.

The women at one time are all gathered at the salon while Shelby is getting her hair done by Annelle. Shelby all of a sudden goes into a diabetic episode to the surprise of the women except her mother who is quite familiar with it all and what to do about it.  Shelby is calmed down by her mother administering orange juice to her to reduce her insulin output, which brings Shelby out of the episode.  Now all the women know about Shelby’s condition.  They also learn that Shelby is forbidden by her doctor to have children because it childbirth could kill her due to her diabetic condition.  Nevertheless, once Shelby is married, she becomes pregnant and indeed does eventually go into a coma and dies.  MaLynne is heartbroken and angry, and only relieves herself from it by an angry outburst, which is uncharacteristic of her.  But it does bring her relief, which will begin her healing.

In the end, MaLynne is Shelby’s child’s caretaker and MaLynne becomes content with that.

Chronologically.  The film was told in chronological order which made the build-up to Shelby’s death and MaLynne’s bereavement so touching and heartening that it moved me to tears myself.  No one really believed Shelby was really going to die.  It was a shock to watch.

The story employed situational irony which is when something happens that we weren’t expecting, when Shelby really passed away.

If the film had been in non-linear order, it would not have made much sense, as Steel Magnolias was a movie whose characters “evolved” rather than were automatically known for who they were.  Time made them all change and non-linear order could have destroyed their evolution from who they were in the beginning to who they became in the end.

Resources:  Steel Magnolias – Official Trailer (1989) bigvoice313.  Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2IGgZgWj0k

Ray Stark, Producer, TriStar Pictures