Category: Arts

Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller is a new documentary series presented by National Geographic, following Mariana, a reporter, as she goes into dangerous black markets and interviews the people who profit from them. She explores how these people get their goods, the scammers’ motivations, and the inner workings of the trafficking world from multiple different points of view. The show premiers new episodes every Wednesday at 9/8c. So far, in this first season, only the first episode has come out. But it has got me hooked already!

Mariana goes into the inner world of scamming, in Jamaica and in Israel. In Jamaica, she learns how people get rich quick by phone calls telling people they won a new car, or millions of dollars, if they just send a deposit to the person doing the scam. And, not surprisingly, many of their victims who actually fall for it are older, white, American people. Mariana talks to several different scammers, women and men, who hide their faces and have their voices distorted so as not to be recognized by the police force that specifically hunts down those who scam. What was interesting to me was that a lot of the Jamaican people explained that they felt they were getting reparations that they never received from their people being enslaved, used, and not taken care of by the United States, which I think is a pretty solid argument. They also said that it is a really easy way to make money, as high-paying jobs, or really, any jobs at all, are somewhat scarce. It was very intriguing, and Mariana also commented on this, that the people who scam and take thousands of dollars from others do not seem remorseful or guilty at all. In fact, some of them even seem proud of what they do.

In Israel, Mariana investigates a different kind of scamming- fake stocks. Many undercover companies, sitting in plain sight in the hubbub of Tel Aviv, set up a very legitimate looking website and convince people to invest in stocks that do not exist. As soon as it seems like the people will not put in any more money, the company disappears from communications and keeps the money for themselves. One man who is interviewed explains that he knows what he is doing is wrong, but he is so entrenched in the company and knows so much that if he were to try to leave, he would probably be killed. Mariana goes undercover in this half of the episode, and pretends to interview for a job at one of the scamming companies. From her hidden camera, we see the boss tell her that she does not need any experience in finance, just a strong want to make a lot of money, and proceeds to boast about the thousands of dollars she will make in a month.

This first episode was extremely interesting, and gave insight into a world I had never known anything about. I cannot wait to see what other dark corners of the world she explores and what else will be unearthed!

Watch the first episode here:  https://www.nationalgeographic.com/tv/shows/trafficked-with-mariana-van-zeller

I really enjoyed this performance by the students of the Pops Orchestra! I was a bit confused by the bit in the beginning because the show started with the orchestra trying to make orchestral music over Zoom. Then the director shared his screen with a video of the orchestra playing, and it was great! Between each musical performance, they had the director reading a bedtime story to a Pixar character spoon. There were a couple of jokes throughout that I think either went over my head or did not translate over video. But I still really enjoyed the music very much. Each performance was a video taken with the students spread far apart and wearing masks (unless they played an instrument with a mouthpiece) in a large hall.

The pieces were comfortingly familiar, which was a welcome change from the fact that most orchestral performances I attend contain all unfamiliar tunes. The first piece, Crocodile Rock by Elton John, really made me smile, as I had not heard that song in a long time! The different instruments blended well, and the students clearly had a lot of talent, so I knew it was going to be a good show. They also did a lot of Disney tunes, including a Pixar medley, a How to Train Your Dragon Medley, a Moana medley, and more. I had never heard these pieces done by an orchestral group, and I think they were really well performed. The Moana medley was particularly fantastic, with the harmonies of the flutes accompanying the brass instruments very nicely. I also love Moana very much so this was a great inclusion in their performance in my opinion!

I was also amazed by the breadth of pieces performed by such a small group of students! Although many of the songs were Disney based, they seemed like really hard pieces. They also picked up on a couple of different genres, from swing/jazz in the La La Land piece, to more Irish-sounding tunes in the How to Train Your Dragon piece, to more modern music in the Moana medley. I especially enjoyed the piece from La La Land, because I think the music in that movie is absolutely gorgeous. And the students who played that song absolutely killed it. I really appreciated all the different instruments and how nicely they played together, even thought they had to be spaced apart 6 feet, wearing masks, and performing without an audience. I really appreciate them doing this during quarantine so we could all enjoy the music!

The University of Michigan Pops Orchestra has prepared a wonderful orchestral presentation for anyone to watch free on their website! “Quarantine with Pops!” lead by music director Tal Benatar and executive director Jessica Wu includes a diverse repertoire, with songs from La La Land, Pixar, Moana, and others. The performance includes a combination of music, multimedia, antics, and special effects. I can’t wait to see the show! I miss orchestral music and the pieces being performed in this arrangement sound right up my alley. I am also excited to see the multimedia and special effects!

If you want to watch, it is available here: https://www.michiganpops.org

Well, unfortunately, Hillbilly Elegy has lived up to its 27% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Even without reading the apparently fabulous book, I would not say this was a particularly good adaptation, nor was it good as a standalone movie.

My first criticism is that the movie did not particularly feel like one, cohesive story. I felt like I was watching one episode from a series, and an episode that was not particularly important, just an inclusion of some plot points. When the movie ended, it was very abrupt, with no conclusion at all, and I was very confused as to why it was over because there was so much left unresolved. I was enjoying the story as it went along, and I thought that with another 30 or 45 minutes, perhaps there could have been a more thorough ending and wrap-up of the storyline. As it was, I sat there when the movie ended thinking, “Wait, that’s it? That is where they decided to end it? I thought there would be more!”

I will say that I really enjoyed the different characters and their struggles, and was sympathetic for the main character and his struggles. I thought the acting was well done, but I was disappointed that the actual plot of the movie did not live up to the skill of its actors. I thought that the grandmother was particularly fantastic as both the character she was playing and the actress herself. I really appreciated the dichotomy of her role as both a mother trying to protect her own child as well as a grandmother trying to make sure that her grandchildren do not suffer the same fate as her own children. I really did not expect some of the information we learned about her past, and I thought the character was well-written.

Much of what the online chatter about this movie spoke about was the misrepresentation of lower-class America, and the erasure of the political underpinnings of the original story from the book. I did not feel this movie was political almost at all, except for just a bit of discrimination based on where you are from and your roots. But I did not feel that the main storyline expressed a particularly political theme. I also don’t know much about the typical lifestyle of those in lower-class America, but the movie definitely felt a bit typified and cliche for sure.

Overall, I would not say this movie was worth the watch. I’m not exactly sure what they were trying to go for, but this was definitely a misrepresentation of the book and was not particularly cohesive as a story anyway. I would advise reading the book instead!