The Graduate, directed by Mike Nichols, was released in 1967 and starred Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft, Katherine Ross, Murray Hamilton, William Daniels, Elizabeth Wilson, Brian Avery and Norman Fell. The movie was nominated for seven Oscars and won Best Director. It is ranked #7 on the AFI's Top 100 Greatest Movies. It is based on the novel by Charles Webb.

Running Time: 105 minutes
Rating: PG

The story revolves around a young man, Ben Braddock, (Hoffman) who, after graduating from school, finds himself confused about what to do with an affair with a sexy'n'cold woman- the infamous Mrs. Robinson, and his growing affection for her daughter. Perplexed about his future and unsure of what he wants in all facets, Ben represents many a young man (and woman) who have a tough time grasping what is expected of them and their futures. The storyline does a great job of making the viewer both love and hate Ben and his actions.

The music of Simon and Garfunkel works quite well throughout the movie. The film is loaded with symbolism- for instance, in the beginning, Ben gazes in wonder into a fish tank as Mrs. Robinson suddenly opens the door to the room, pouring light from behind her. Ben also tries out his new swim gear for his parents in their pool- we see his viewpoint through his goggled eyes underwater.

The most well known moments of the film are, of course, when Mrs. Robinson first "seduces" the nervous Ben, and the end scene where Ben disturbs a wedding.

A great movie in many aspects. One that should be seen.

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The Graduate is the fifth album released by MC Lars. It came out on iTunes on February 14, 2005, then as a physical disc in stores on March 21, 2006. Like all newish Lars albums, it has a number of guest artists who join the main guy as he raps about literature, society, relationships, politics, and other such topics.

The track list is:

  1. Download This Song No relation to the "Weird Al" Yankovic song with a similar title, which was created after this. This is a light-hearted pro-piracy song similar in message to pretty much every other pro-piracy song ever made. It got some play on the radio in its heyday. (features Jaret Reddick of Bowling for Soup)
  2. The Roommate from Hell Very funny song about someone whose roommate is literally the devil. mc chris is appropriately cast as Lucifer.
  3. 21 Concepts A rundown of some ideas Lars had for the album that never made the cut. With sampled Tetris tunes and a chorus that spoofs Jay-Z's 99 Problems, this is a really catchy song.
  4. Hot Topic Is Not Punk Rock Turns out Tinkerbell pillow cases are not punk rock. Very funny. (features The Matches)
  5. Rapgirl A friend of mine told me that this is the worst song on the album, but I think it's actually pretty good. It's a cute love song full of dumb similes and the sort of sincerity I like from MC Lars. Not sure what he was expecting!
  6. Generic Crunk Rap Hilarious song mocking everything crunk. "But I still have to write some lyrics!" / "It's crunk night." / "Oh, I guess that won't be a problem then."
  7. Ahab The obligatory lit-nerd song for this album. It's not as great as Hey There Ophelia on This Gigantic Robot Kills, but still a cool song about Moby Dick.
  8. iGeneration That's internet generation, not Apple generation. For a song that wants to define a generation of people, it's pretty bland and doesn't do a whole lot of defining.
  9. If I Had a Time Machine, That Would Be Fresh A really short song about time machines. Decent, but forgettable.
  10. Internet Relationships (Are Not Real Relationships) Really stupid song that mocks internet relationships for stupid reasons. Can't help but laugh (derisively) that it's on the same album as iGeneration. (features A Scholar and a Physician and Piney Gir)
  11. Space Game This is where the album starts to get good again. It's all about postmodernism, Star Wars, and Futurama references. Synth girls scream when they hear this one.
  12. The Dialogue A really cool collaboration between Lars and Ill Bill as they rap about politics (democracy and censorship, most notably). It's not especially catchy, but the lyrics are great. (features Ill Bill)
  13. Six Degrees of Kurt Cobain You'll find this funny if you like Kurt Cobain or at least know a lot about him. Otherwise, probably not; it's just a stream of 90s music references. Not bad.
  14. Signing Emo An awesome song mocking the record industry and emo music. I don't know if I should be worried or amused that Lars is so good at imitating the emo genre in this song. (The actual emo song within this song used to be available as a full, separate download on his MySpace, perplexingly.)

Overall, The Graduate is a really solid album full of catchy songs with great lyrics. A lot of the songs aren't the best from MC Lars, but the overall level of quality means that I don't have to skip anything, which makes it more of an actual experience than his other albums. Highly recommended.

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