"Best Film of the Season!!!" (Blog 13)

Four stars, five stars, six stars, two thumbs up!...Where does it end? (and couldn't this guy give three thumbs up if he really loved the movie?) Ever read a movie review that promised "the best family movie of the year" but really tricked you into seeing a cheesy holiday film that was shown in the smallest theater the first weekend it was released?

What makes a great film? Well to answer that question we have to narrow it down to not what kind of film it is but rather to what audience the movie is meant to appeal to.

Since I am sixteen years old I will begin with the type of movies that are named after my very own gender:  Chick Flicks. I have a very large family which consists of ten plus women all between the ages of twelve and forty with one thing in common: those tear jerking, heart-breaking, epiphany giving films that have all females swooning and/or crying by the time the credits are trickling down the screen.
    Pride and Prejudice (starring Keira Knightley), for example, is a classic "chick flick". First and foremost because it is based of the world famous novel by Jane Austen. Second: Who doesn't love a perfect romance?And all females love it. Last year in my tenth grade English class my teacher, Mrs. Pillow, played Pride and Prejudice for the class. I had seen it so many times before, but I didn't mind seeing it again because it made me feel something-the movie was a full-length day dream that the teacher wouldn't yell at you for. And I could tell by the looks on their faces, all the girls in my class felt the same too. As for the male population of Mrs. Pillow's fourth period XL English class; they were pretty bored. Nothing exciting about the movie. In fact a few fell asleep.
    And that's just it. Depending on how well the response to the film was tells you if it was a great movie. If the audience absolutely loved it and wished that the film was their life, then it wasn't a waste of time.
   Now, drag all those girls out of the theater where The Notebook is playing where Noah and Allie just met at the carnival and put them in front of a screen playing Machete (starring Robert De Niro)...there might be a small problem.
 

Blog 14

I distinctly remember that once every month in my fourth grade class we would have a discussion circle after lunch recess. We would organize the desks so each student was facing the center of the room. Then, my teacher would pass out a small square of paper to each child and have them write down anything that has been bothering them: bullying, lying, stealing, cheating etc. My teacher would have the kids drop their note into a jar and she would anonymously read them aloud and ask my peers what they thought.

This was always an uncomfortable time for me. I never had anything to write about so I thought it was a waste of time. But now that I am much older than a fourth grader I see that some of my peers very much needed that fifteen minutes of "therapy" that my teacher's syllabus did not require her to give.

Public schools should be allowed to teach personal values and ethics to their students because not every child has the opportunity to learn them at home. Some parents act like children forcing their kids to be the adult. Kids learn by examples. If a parent does not behave then the child will not know how either. Some kids aren't taught how to be good citizens at home-what's a better, safer place to learn them than at school?

As for subjects taught in school, everyone remembers "Family Life" , don't you? I'm sure that this subject has been debated over many times but not every child has to sit in on the class. Permission slips are sent home and if a parent doesn't want their child to be in that class, all they have to do is check the box. There aren't many subjects that have been taught at school that I can think of that are truly unethical. Everything from healthy eating to how to be a "Peace Builder" (that's what I learned at my elementary school) is taught with good intentions for the students.

The Plastic Pink Flamingo (Blog 12)

Self-Check:

1. When I finished writing my essay and when I reread it, I wasn't entirely confident that I had thoroughly answered the prompt but after a peer read it, I was reassured that I had answered the prompt.

2. In my first body paragraph I have a thesis statement but it isn't very clear.

3. My essay is focused on a main theme but the two body paragraphs don't blend together very well.

4. I developed two ideas for the essay but I feel like I ramble on a little too much. I could edit it to make my point clearer.

5. My essay included quotes to support my thoughts and it is analyzed but only to a certain point. I could have gone a bit more in-depth to explain myself better.

Reflection:

1. I was surprised to find that I was able to complete my essay within the time frame I was given.

2. My organization of words and sentence structure could have been stronger.

3. If I was given more time to expand my thoughts in my essay I would clarify that America's culture is artificial and use more examples from the text. I would also strengthen my last paragraph.

4. The organization of my essay came out like I planed it to.

5. As I was writing, it became more and more evident what the author was trying to communicate through the text. A waterfall of words just poured out  as I wrote.

Money Can't Buy Me (Real) Love (Blog 7)

    The Great Gatsby poses many arguments and controversial ideas. Out of the many, I believe that the main argument circles around money...after all, it's what makes the world go round, right?
    In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald creates a dysfunctional world where nothing ever gets accomplished.
Every character in the story has riches but are still in search treasure. The tone is nostalgic which helps to communicate the message that when money becomes the main focus in life, it distracts from what people really need. Money makes you think that life is a party and everything goes...nothing  is ever taken seriously.
    Ever heard of someone getting married because their "significant other" has money? Well, that's what happened in this book. Many people might say that the message of this book is that money can't buy you love. This is a false statement. In the Great Gatsby, Gatsby's money is what brought Daisy, his former girlfriend, back to him. She wasn't attracted to he himself, but to what he possessed. In a society where money is carelessly tossed around, there are no true relationships, there is no satisfaction, there is no real love.

I'll Get You My Pretty! And Your Little Dog Too! (Blog 8)

    People's laughs are the funniest things. They make me laugh all the time because they are all so unique. Some people giggle behind their hand, some let out a few chuckles and others wheeze in and out: these are all laughs but they mean so many different things when used by different people

   In  The Wizard of Oz, after the Wicked Witch of the West  threatens Dorothy and her dog Toto  and poof! disappears behind a cloud of red smoke, her cackle echoes on leaving poor Dorothy shaking in her ruby slippers. Now imagine the same scene: "I'll get you my pretty and your little dog too!"...now picture the Wicked Witch buckling over with laughter, slapping her knee, letting out a few piggy snorts here and there, tears of humor running down her green face. Does that make any sense? If I was Dorothy I wouldn't take the witch seriously...I'd continue skipping down that yellow brick road! 

   You see a cackle gives off such a different impression; monsters do it, villains do it mad scientists do it. They are all evil out to ,well, do evil! 

   A giggle is so much sweeter than a cackle and so much more gentle than a laugh. Giggles come out at some of the happiest times: when you receive a compliment, when you are shy-when no words can suffice what you feel. Babies giggle. Babies giggle because they cannot talk, it's their way of expressing without words. Giggles are precious little things  that usually have important attachment to them; a wedding proposal perhaps or maybe you will giggle when you meet your movie-star heart throb and just don't know what to say. You never hear a baby cackle-unless you're watching family guy of course.

BLOG 6

"Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us."  Pride and Prejudice

Would you consider pride a fault or a virtue? 

Most people,upon being approached with this question, would view pride as a fault because it is often times associated with being selfish or conceded. I, however, see it as a a strong opinion about who you consider yourself as.

 Pride is the way we carry ourselves, it is the way we represent ourselves to others without a formal, verbal. introduction. Pride does not mean that you think you are better than others, but it means that you take yourself seriously and do not want people to have the wrong impression of you which -ofter times- leads to the wrong impression because we all have it. We all have pride but not every person is prideful. When two people meet and do not get along it is usually because they are not able to agree on something. Pride is perceived this way too because people with pride cannot pinpoint what they are hindering their pride in besides themselves. 

There have been many times when an acquaintance has approached me and confessed that they had never spoken to me before because they felt that I thought I was better than them. Why? I would ask them to explain but all they could say was that they didn't know-something about my "aura" saying go away, I don't want to talk to you, back off! What's ironic is that I don't feel that way at all. I never thought of myself as a person who comes off as being proud. In my case, the pride I was showing was not purposefully shown. I began to ponder over why this friend of mine would consider me to be this way. I have always been sort of shy and quiet around others and I've never been much of a chatter box. Maybe this person didn't talk to me because they were afraid of what I might think of them-perhaps my presence made him think about the way he presents himself. 

The next time you feel that someone is being proud and snobby think twice and ask yourself if your pride is the one deciding that this person is stuck up. Maybe it's really you.

BLOG 10

I'm Nobody! Who are you?
Are you -- Nobody -- Too?
Then there's a pair of us!
Don't tell! they'd advertise -- you know!

How dreary -- to be -- Somebody!
How public -- like a Frog --
To tell one's name -- the livelong June --
To an admiring Bog!

-Emily Dickinson- 

 A nobody is someone with no importance and no purpose in life. Someone who considers themselves a nobody should evaluate if the really qualify to feel that way. There are two reason's as to why a person may be a nobody. A matter of esteem comes into play when we hear a person calling themselves a nobody. If a Person is confident enough to be comfortable on their own, then they are somebody. If a person doesn't accept who they are nobody will accept them. Being a nobody means that you are lacking something right? Charm, intelligence, friends, love, a sense of humor, athletic ability, anything.  When someone feels bad about themselves, they are usually depressed. Depression causes people to be unsociable and uninterested in participating in life, it makes you feel alone and helpless-like a nobody.

In a different light, some people might see being a nobody as being different in a most unconformisist way.

People like this feel  they have nothing to add to daily conversation and  activities of the day . Perhaps this is because they feel like they are entitled to a better way of life-a life where they are their own friend, where they do not have to deal with others. These types of people choose to be a nobody because it gives them a sense of being somebody without being like the people around them. 

One chooses to label themselves as being a no one and the other doesn't-in fact- they might even be  unaware that they are viewed as a somebody who is a nobody!

A nobody doesn't know if  they really are alone until they find  somebody that is a nobody just like them. Then they realize that they mattered all along.