christmas break free write

I was about to walk into the building that my family hated. My dad hated it and so did my mom, but I had convinced them to let me go there to shop for Christmas. We were going to the mall of America for the first time in years. It was kind of crazy outside the mall because there were so many people trying to park but we found our way up the long parking garage ramp slowly and into the garage. We quickly parked and went inside through the Nordstrom’s side. It seemed kind of odd to me because one of the largest entrance into the mall lead you through Nordstrom’s so it was like you were forced to walk through their store if you wanted to get into the mall. My dad was not impressed with the vastness as he stood and said that we were wasting our time and that it was a waste of a day. We told him that he could just walk around or go into the book store but he refused and decided to walk with us instead. We walked up and down the mall past all of the stores looking for something that looked good. My mom tried to get me to go into American Eagle and Abercrombie but I hate that stuff and I really just wanted to get a couple sports tee-shirts and get out of there. She eventually forced me into a random store that I can’t even remember the name for because it was something I completely didn’t recognize. It seemed like a cool enough store and I decided to have a look around. I found a cool looking wind breaker jacket and decided to buy it because I don’t have any jackets. I also saw some cool jeans. I went to go and try them on but when I was about to go into the fitting room I realized that the pants didn’t have a zipper, instead it had buttons. I found that to be really weird. Who has buttons on their pants? I put them back and left the store with the jacket that I bought feeling satisfied. My mom felt differently. She found out where old navy was in the mall and lead me to it saying that I needed to find some jeans and nice sweaters. The next hour was extremely boring. I went into the store and looked at all the jeans. She had me take at least two pair that I liked to try on so I chose two that looked decent enough and we kept walking through the store. We then looked at the sweaters that they had but I guess everyone else had already snapped up the good sweaters and all the bad colored ones were left. It had some really bad contrasts that looked really bad, even to some like me that doesn’t really care about clothing that much. We kept walking and I noticed some cool looking tee shirts but yet again all the good ones had been snapped up. I then saw this really tacky sweatshirt that had headphones infused into the tighten strings. It looked kind of funny so my mom told me to buy it. I then went on to try the pants on with a couple dress shirts but I only wound up buying one pair of jeans and nothing else. That was an hour wasted. Next we met up with my dad and brothers and we walked into urban outfitters because my dad really wanted to go into it. They had some really cool looking graphic tees but the only one that I would have wanted was only left in size small and I needed a large. Plus on top of that every shirt ranged in prices of $30 -$40 which I thought was a little insane. My brother really liked that store because they had a lot of random things in the front that had to do with iPods and he is obsessed with tinkering with his iPod. I still wanted to find some sports tee shirts so I decided to try and find champs sports or some other sports clothing store. We walked around for about 10 minutes trying to find one of those location identifier booths and we found where camps was and a few other shops that I had been to before when we had come here about a year or two ago. As we walked looking for the stores I noticed that there were a lot of people there and it seemed almost like a madhouse and I wanted nothing but to find the stuff I was looking for and escape from that place. As we continued to walk around, we went past the spot where the shop was supposed to be but we found a toy store instead. So we found another location identifier and found that we were right and the store must have gone out of business so it looked as if we were out of luck. I was starting to get really tired of walking around for so long and my dad was becoming really aggravated. We found ourselves on the wrong side of the mall once again and by this time we had spent a grand total of 3 and a half hours in the mall, which really made my dad fume. By the time we finally found champs it seemed as if he was about to blow a stack so I quickly went into the store and had a look around. Nothing really jumped out at me so I decided that I was fine with what I had got and we made our way back through Nordstrom’s and back out to our car. I was really tired at this point and I was glad that we were finally back in the car and ready to leave. As we were leaving a jam occurred and you could see cars lined up for quite a ways just to get into the lot. I’m glad that we were out of there and I don’t really want to go back there anytime soon.

e.e. cummings

T

e

a

r

s

And

S

w

e

a

t

Determination and

Skill

The

Things

we

need to

Succeed

But then we

H

I

T

the

W

A

L

L

Modernism

Cross Country





In the feilds, a sea of flesh and bones; Sweat hitting the sand, grass and stone.

Elegy

Forever

Barren land and years go by

Lush forest's and mountains high

The times change and I watch

As everyone and everything passes by

I watch in amazement as they pass through me

Wars, Turmoil, Sickness, pain

The world has changed

And yet im still here

Time crawls for eternity

Im stuck here watching as it unfolds

The times have changed from year 1 to now

Forever is a long time to live, when no one can see me

Villanelle

Run away

Run away, into the night

Worries and troubles a thing of the past

Fight my way through the dark

I feel free as a kite

Running through the streets so fast

Run away, into the night

I run from day and light

I race the sun, the sun is last

Fight my way through the dark

My mind is saying im not right

My decision is made, its in the past

Run away, into the night

I turn around, im not in the right

My decision is made im going back'st

Run away into the night

Fight my way through the dark

Trochaic Tetrameter





By the fields of minnetrista


BY the crowds of sweaty people


Ran the runners short and tall


And the trees were short and tall


Sifting through the crowd of people


I find my parents and hug them


Watch out Im here dont have you fear


For im here and im here to stay





Anapestic Tetrameter





On the far away planet of dogabah


Yoda the wise was king of the swamp


He lived in a Hut in the swamp, It was nice


Everything peaceful and calm, Its alright


one day while resting in his hut


He heard a crash, a clang, "whats the fuss?"


Outside his hut, what did he see?


a young man bright and friendily

Blogging

Blogging is a form of writting down your thoughts on the internet for anyone to read and comment. I find that it is a cool way to share your thoughts on a variety of differnet things like movies and books. Though it is a good idea people have started using social networking sites such as facebook and twitter more then blogs. I dont use either, I dont have a facebook and i only use my blog for school related purposes. I enjoyed writing about movies that i saw and reviewing them for my own purposes and Art of Film Class. I think that Creative writing is going to be a fun class.

Unforgiven True Grit comparison

1. Stage Coach and True Grit can be compared with there theme and plot. Both are built around a journey that ends in revenge. Along the way both the Stagecoach and Rooster Cogburn experience obstacles and other disasters that get in their way. Rooster Cogburn goes on a journey for a little to kill a man that killed her father and Ringo goes on a journey to kill the people that killed his family. It is a common theme as both have villans that turn out to be hero as Ringo is a notorious killer and Cogburn kills people for any reason he deems true.

2. Unforgiven and True Grit can also be compare with there plots and characters. In both movies there is a character that must set out to kill someone for a bounty. In unforgiven the man is the notorious killer William Munney and in True Grit it is Rooster Gogburn the corrupt Marshall. Grit is considered to be a classic western while not including many parts of old classic western such as conflict between cowboys and Indians, but still having the common theme of revenge.

3. I feel that True Grit is more of a classic western exemplifying many classic themes such as the journey for revenge. Most of the characters talk in accents making the movie more authentic. The movie does leave out the conflict between cowboys and Indians showing that it is what i would call a mix breed between Classic and revisionist western. The movie is revisionist because of the strong role of Hallie Steinfeild as Mattie Ross. She is more of an equal character to Cogburn not showing that she is actually of lesser class then him as many women where considered to be at this time. I feel that this movie is actually centered around Mattie Ross giing it a revisionist twist while still keeping alot of classic western themes.

Oscar nominated rankings

*** EXTENSION ***



PRE WRITING -

Social Network

1. Good portrayal of real person

2. Well made

3. Entertaining

Toy Story 3

1. Dont like animation very much

2. Too much of the same

3. Good ending

True Grit

1. Hailey Steinfeld's good acting

2. Perfect ending

3. Good dialogue and plot

Inception

1. Great special effects

2. Intricate

3. Mol

The Kings Speech

1. great acting

2. camera angles

3. perfect ending

Winters Bone

1. Boring

2. like a detective movie

3. Average acting

RANKINGS

1. The Kings Speech - I was very impressed with this movie even though it is obvious Oscar "bait". One of the biggest reasons that i liked this movie was the performances from the actors. Colin Firth did an amazing job with his stammering impersonation, it made me believe that he himself had a stammer and that it wasn't just an act. The movie was truly enhanced with the directors keen eye for camera angle usage. The scene where the king is going to speak to some men before being crowned the director uses a low angle making it seem like the king feels lowly and then it switches to a high angle shot to emphasize his vulnerability. Overall this movie was my favorite of the Oscar nominees i have seen.

2. The Social Network - It was a hard decision between choosing this movie as my favorite or the kings speech. I found this movie to be a close second due to the writing and the casting. The cast was near perfect as Jesse Eisenberg did a superb job as mark zuckerberg while i feel that justin Timberlake wasnt the best choice to play Shaun Parker. The writing was great as Eisenberg always seemed to have snappy comebacks like when he was at the meeting and said " Wait, I am checking your math. I got that too." I really like lines like this as it is subtle comedy that i enjoy. The movie has the best ending of them all as Eisenberg waits to see if his ex friend will accept his friend request, showing his inner feelings about friends

3. Inception - This movie was a true puzzle that was so intricate I had to watch the movie multiple times to fully understand it. There is the concept that a movie should not rely on special effects alone, this movie successfully banks on its special effects with a few strong performances from Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, and Marion Cotillard. DiCaprio, Page, and Cotillard gave great performances in which they truly enveloped the characters they were playing while Joseph Gordon - Levitt was true dud as his character was very uninteresting. The movie did win me over with its amazing special effects along with its wow factor. Ultimately wow was the only thing i could say after this movie, just wow.

4. True Grit - This movie makes good use of the natural surroundings with many long shots to set the scene. This movie was wonderful with good acting coming from Hailee Steinfeld and amazing scenary. However, I felt that the plot was too simple and the Jeff Bridges character of rooster was annoying and winded. The way that he spoke was very hard to understand and kind of got in the way of the plot (in my opinion). Matt Damon does a good job as Mr. Laboeuf as a comic relif but it is kind of hard to believe that he can bee in the right place in the right time, all the time. The movie had great cinematography but lacked a good cast and i felt that it was quite boring during some parts.

5. Toy Story 3 - For the 5 and 6 spot I wasn't quite sure which one to put s the worst or second worst as both were terrible movies in my opinion. Toy Story 3 felt like the same old same old (the toys escaping from someone or something) with a few twists as the movie takes a dark turn (toy hell). I feel the movie series ran out of magic after the second movie and that they defiantly shouldn't have attempted to make a 3rd. It was kind of weird to see Andy's face in this movie as in all the previous movies i never remembered seeing his face. This movie series is burnt out and a 4th movie would be a horrible idea as this one was just the same old same old bland pixar Disney movie.

6. Winters Bone - The one good part of this movie was the performance from Jennifer Lawrence while everything else about it was less then spectacular. I was expecting this movie to be something like the success story that Napoleon Dynamite was. The movie was kind of disgusting as the viewers looked in to the lives of these people living in the middle of nowhere, living in filthy homes. The main turn off of this movie was the theme of as almost every person that Ree encountered was either a dealer or an addict. The cinematography for this movie had a french new wave feel to it as felt more like a documentary, using natural lighting and the use of hand held cameras. The realization that her father is isn't satisfactory as a true ending for a movie, as Ree feels no sense of accomplishment or closure. The ending is very odd and feels like it is quickly cut off due to the end of Ree's "adventure". Overall I thought this movie was uninteresting wiht the lone good performance from Jennifer Lawrence.

My first movie review

Lifeboat

BRAINSTORMING

1. Intense

2. wartime cultural Tensions

3. Thriller

4. Nazis

5. must watch in one sitting

6. "Old"

7. Black and white

8. Perfect movie about deception

9. planing ahead

10. Deception through trust

11. same scenery the whole time

12. Alfred Hitchcock

13. Keeping ones sanity

14. decency

15. marked playing cards

REVIEW OF LIFEBOAT

The movie lifeboat started out slow as you see a writer on a lifeboat big enough for 10 or so people. Over a matter of an hour or so the life boat fills up with 9 people from an American boat that had been torpedoed by the Nazi Germans. while these 9 people are tending to a wounded man a 10th passenger boards the lifeboat who happens to be the Nazi captain of the ship that sunk the Americans. When this happend i thought that the Americans were going to throw him overboard but he tricks them into thinking that is a lost cause. he proves his usefulness when the wounded man needs his leg amputated and the German offers to do it. he does it successfully and he gains more trust from the Americans. In gaining this trust he becomes more and more confident killing off one of the Americans but is eventually caught and thrown overboard. Ultimately i thought it was a great movie an is a great example of suspense.

1st post of Everlost

I decided to read the book everlost because it was one of the three books in the trilogy that included my last book (unwind). So far i really like this book because it fits my interests with the sci-fi category.

So far you find out that two kids both about the age of 14 or 15 die in separate but related car crashes and somewhere on their way to heaven they bump into each other and find themselves in a half/in between life and world called Everlost. They wake up in Everlost after a 9 month stupor that most children have when first entering the separate world. They meet a boy that they later name Leif, who had been waiting 9 months by their body's for them to wake up. I thought that this part was kind of weird because it shows that there is no stress on time in Everlost because the ones trapped there are doomed to stay in the half world eternally.

So far this book has really gained my attention and i read it as much as i can because it is so interesting and different.

Unwind blog 3

So far my book has been very fast paced and very exciting. It made me want to read the whole book and that's what I did. Right now I am waiting for the next book in the series to come from the library.

Since I last blogged Connor and Risa have been moved from the Unwind warehouse to a place called the graveyard, which is also a safe house for unwinds. The leader at this camp goes by "the general" because he is a retired army General. He is a very mysterious man and i don't know if I trust him. He keeps acting in weird ways sending kids off on missions and none of them return. All of the kids have sneaking suspicions about him that he is actually harvesting them himself and taking their body parts for himself. The General also has this group of older kids that he uses as guards called the golden ones. Suddenly one day the golden ones go missing and the General finds them in a crate. This part was really creepy and twisted but it started to explain a lot of things that the book hadn't cleared up.

The book Unwind is one of the best books I have ever read, it gives you the creeps but you still want to read more of it.

Unwind blog 2 pg 121 - 152

At this point in the book everything begins to become a little more confusing with Lev being separated from Connor and Risa. You also meet Cyfi in this section and Connor and Rissa are sent to an unwind warehouse.

I really enjoyed this section of the book mainly because of the character Cyfi. He is an Umber colored boy that Lev meets in a mall. Cyfi is very interesting though because he has another boys frontal lobe, causing him to have small premonitions/urges brought on by the other boys emotions. At first this was very confusing to grasp but I found that the boy transfers his emotions through Cyfi. After this the book switches back to the viewpoints of Connor and Risa. At this point in their journey they come to a safe warehouse for unwinds where they live for the next 2-3 weeks. During this time the character known as Roland starts to build alliances with people through psychological warfare. This part was also interesting because it is funny to watch connor get in many fights with people over silly arguments.

So far i really like the book and I am actually almost done with it. I will just have to go back and do my blogs after i finish it.

unwind post1

I chose this book because it seemed the most interesting in class and i tend to like books that deal with the future. Also the cover looked very cool so i also based my desicion off of that.

So far i find the book kind of confusing. The main characters keep mentioning unwinding without explaining it. So far the boy Connor finds out that he is going to be unwound and he decides to run away with his girlfriend. when it comes time to run away his girfriend Ariana decides that she will stay home. This kind of confused me because it came after along talk with Connor that she had where she promised to him sincerly that she would go with him. Eventually he decides to just leave on his own.

At this point the book seems a little confusing but I know that it will get better.

The White darkness pages 34 -52

At this point i am starting to get a little nervous when Victor's character is mentioned. He is starting to become more and more creepy in many different ways.

Now right here in the book Sym finds out that Victor had stolen her mothers passport so that they could have time alone in Paris. Victor also surprises Sym by planning a trip to the Antarctic, which is the place she has dreamed of going for years. Victor then suddenly starts to get rid of all of syms belongings as if she doesn't need them. I found this to be very unsettling because she has no idea what he is doing and she does nothing to stop him. And towards the end of this section she is sort of catching on to his plot to not return from the arctic but she doesn't entirely.

So this book is starting to get very intense and nerve racking with Sym not knowing what Victor is doing and With Victor being very sly with his actions.

The White Darkness pages 17 - 33

So far I have found this book to be very interesting and kind of different then the kind of books I normally read. I tend to read mystery books but this is more of an adventure book. So this book has been different to me as i have been reading.

At this point in the book Sym and Uncle Victor make it To Paris and they start to wander the city. I found this part a bit weird because Victor Wouldn't allow Sym to call her mother and instead suggested eating first. They Then proceeded to their hotel and as Sym feel asleep Victor leaves her alone while he goes out to conduct "business". As he is out and about Sym finds her mothers passport in Victors coat pocket. This I found very interesting because when they were leaving there house to go to Paris Sym's mother suddenly couldn't find her passport. If this had happened to me i would immediately try to get away from Victor since he stole the passport and he must be up to no good being out so late at night.

Now I am starting to not like Victor anymore since he stole Sym's mothers passport. This must mean that victor is planning something that would not have been approved by his mother. So it should be exciting to see what happens next.

white darkness pg. 1-17

I chose this book because it looked interesting and because it was over 300 pages. I read the inside cover of the book before I began to read and it seemed enticing. Those are the reasons i chose to read the White Darkness.

This book is about a named Symone who has little to no friends and she often confides with Titus Oates (an explorer who died exploring the south pole). At first i was kind of confused when she was talking to Titus Oates, I thought that she was physically talking to somebody but it turned out that she was having conversations with him in her head. I didnt really like the first 10 pages because they were rather bland and uninteresting, she mostly talked about her horrible life and she sidetracked from the main plot of the book by talking about how much she d her teachers. Towards the end of this section She and her Uncle board a train for Paris Without Sym's Mother because she forgot her passport. "Its a common mistake," said Uncle Victor, ing open the newspaper. "Lack of organization. Success comes down to getting organized. Keeping your eye on the ball. Think on sym." I think that this part was Interesting and true because if you become unorganized then you will lose or misplace things of importance.

So far i like the book and find it interesting while being funny. Uncle Victor is my favorite character because he is smart and witty, always knowing the answers to anything. I hope that the rest of the book is as good as its been so far.

Night Quotes

Quote-

"we no longer had the right to frequent resteraunts or cafes, to travel by rail, to attend synagogue, to be on the streets after six o clockin the evening."

The Germans are starting to have restrictions binding them/ not allowing them (the jews) to do things that they would normaly do in their normal daily routine. This restricted them to being able to do next to nothing.