"Jurgis was confident of his ability to get work for himself, unassisted by any one....

             ....He had gone to Brown's and stood there for no more than half an hour before one of the bosses noticed his form towering above the rest, and signaled to him. The colloquy which followed was brief and to the point:-

'Speak English?'

'No; Lít-uanian.' (Jurgis had studied this word carefully.)

'Job?'

'Je.' (A nod.)

'Worked here before?'

'No 'stand.'

(Signals and gesticulations on the part of the boss. Vigorous shakes of the head by Jurgis.)

'Shovel guts?'

'No 'stand.' (More shakes of the head.)

'Zarnos. Pagaiksztis. Szluota!' (Imitative motions.)

'Je.'

'See door. Durys?' (Pointing.)

'Je.'

'To-morrow, seven o'clock. Understand? Rytoj! Prieszpietys! Septyni!'

'Dekui, tamistai!' (Thank you, sir.)

And that was all. Jurgis turned away, and then in a sudden rush the full realization of his triumph swept over him, and he gave a yell and a jump, and started off on a run. He had a job! (page 35.)"

Zach Gardner

Mr. Cheng

4^th Hour

Things Fall Apart

            How do you want to live your life, by strength, or weakness? Will you live it by someone else’s standards, or your own? How will it compare to others around you, will you live how you want, or how others want you to live? The book Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, is about a man and his success and failure in living an exemplary life in the Nigerian village of Umuofia, in the mid 1900’s. In Things Fall Apart, the main character, Okonkwo, thinks he is a perfect man by being strong and determined, and not showing compassion or other feminine traits, which eventually leads to his tragic ending.

Okonkwo is the perfect man, according to his standards. Of all of the people in his Nigerian village, Umuofia, and all of the other eight villages, Okonkwo was the most exemplary figure of all. The following quote provides perspective on how ‘perfect’ he is by his standards. “Okonkwo was clearly cut out for great things. He was still young but he had won fame as the greatest wrestler in the nine villages. He was a wealthy farmer and had two barns full of yams, and had just married his third wife. To crown it all, he had taken two titles and had shown incredible prowess in two inter-tribal wars. And so although Okonkwo was still young, he was already one of the greatest men of his time” (pg. 8). The next quote describes how his achievements have affected his life, politically and socially. “His fame rested on solid personal achievements. As a young man of eighteen he had brought honor to his village by throwing Amalinze the Cat” (pg. 3). Because of all of these achievements at such a young age, Okonkwo lives a very successful life. Throughout the story, Okonkwo thinks very highly of himself and has the idea that because of his achievements, he is the most exemplary and perfect person throughout all nine villages, according to his standards.

Secondly, besides lots of great achievements, Okonkwo is very strong and determined, and this makes him a popular leader of Umuofia. The first quote describes Okonkwo’s  popularity, while the second explains what he is determined to do in life. “Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond” (pg. 3). “His life had been ruled by a great passion – to become one of the lords of the clan. That had been his life-spring. And he had all but achieved it” (pg. 131). The first quote illustrates his social life, while the second quote portrays how his social life will help with his life-long goal. To elaborate on this example, Okonkwo is extremely popular in all nine clans of the nine villages, and because his life-long goal is to be a lord of the clan, being well known throughout Umuofia and beyond will help him achieve his goal. This shows that Okonkwo is strong and determined because of his outstanding achievements at such a young age, and his great will power to never give up until his destination is reached.

Finally, Okonkwo feels that showing compassion, or other feminine traits, is a sign of weakness, and that it is not a good sign of manliness. Okonkwo describes how whenever he feels troubled by his father’s weakness and failure, he thinks of the manly things that he has done. “His mind went to his latest show of manliness. –‘I cannot understand why you refused to come with us to kill that boy’” (pg. 66). The preceding quote is part of a conversation between Okonkwo and Obierika. In their conversation, Okonkwo was describing how Nwoye is too much like his grandfather, which brings Okonkwo to feel disturbed by his father’s weakness and show of feminism. So when Okonkwo thinks of his most recent show of manliness, he thinks of the murder of Ikemefuna, and compares it to how Obierika did not go to kill him. In Okonkwo’s mind, this shows weakness and disobedience to the gods, by disobeying the message of the Oracle, which was to kill Ikemefuna. The reason why Okonkwo thinks of himself as so manly compared to everyone else, is because he compares his manliness to other people’s show of feminism. He compares his strength to other’s weakness. This shows that he only thinks highly of himself, and lowly of others, which in the end, is his greatest weakness.

In the story of Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo is the ideal man in his mind. He thinks he is perfect, by being strong and determined, and not showing traits of feminism. Although these traits show Okonkwo’s manliness, these traits also show how weak he really is. We see multiple examples throughout the story that elaborate on his manly achievements. Secondly, because of these achievements, he has very extreme goals for himself; he set the bar so high when he was so low. Finally, Okonkwo is always comparing his strength and manliness to other’s weakness and feminism. In the end of it all, we see that Okonkwo is a strong leader, and in the end of the story, he decides to attack the white men, and nobody follows him. Since he is still determined, he follows his plan anyway, and the story ends with Okonkwo taking his own life. This is significant, because throughout the story, we think of Okonkwo as a very strong man, but in the end, he shows the most amount of weakness.

Zach Gardner

Mr. Cheng

4^th Hour

Things Fall Apart

            How do you want to live your life? Will you live it by someone else’s standards or your own? How will it compare to others around you? The book Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, is about a man and his success and failure in living an exemplary life. In Things Fall Apart, the main character, Okonkwo, thinks he is a perfect man by being strong and determined, and not showing compassion or other feminine traits, which eventually leads to his tragic ending.

            Okonkwo is the perfect man, according to his standards. Of all of the people in his Nigerian village, Umuofia, and all of the other eight villages, Okonkwo was the most exemplary figure of all. The following quote provides perspective on how ‘perfect’ he is by his standards. “Okonkwo was clearly cut out for great things. He was still young but he had won fame as the greatest wrestler in the nine villages. He was a wealthy farmer and had two barns full of yams, and had just married his third wife. To crown it all, he had taken two titles and had shown incredible prowess in two inter-tribal wars. And so although Okonkwo was still young, he was already one of the greatest men of his time” (pg. 8). The next quote describes how his achievements have affected his life, politically and socially. “His fame rested on solid personal achievements. As a young man of eighteen he had brought honor to his village by throwing Amalinze the Cat” (pg. 3). Because of all of these achievements at such a young age, Okonkwo lives a very successful life. Throughout the story, Okonkwo thinks very highly of himself and has the idea that because of his achievements, he is the most exemplary and perfect person throughout all nine villages, according to his standards.

            Secondly, besides lots of great achievements, Okonkwo is very strong and determined, and this makes him a popular leader of Umuofia. The first quote describes Okonkwo’s  popularity, while the second explains what he is determined to in life. “Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond” (pg. 3). “His life had been ruled by a great passion – to become one of the lords of the clan. That had been his life spring. And he had all but achieved it” (pg. 131). The first quote illustrates

Osama bin Laden's Death

I think that his death is one of the most historic events of the century. I think that it brings our nation together, and brings pride and hope to America. I feel like this is a trigger effect of war, similar to World War I. It started with an assassination of a political figure, and it kept escalating with alliances until it was an all out war. Because of this, I feel that the death of Osama bin Laden is almost a mistake. The reason I feel this way is because when al-Qaeda retaliates, it is going to be big and it is going to be bad. I think that once they do retaliate, we will also retaliate, and alliances with both sides will get involved and it will start World War III. However, I also think that this can be linked directly to Harry Potter, and also Star Wars. Obama is Harry and Luke, while Bush is Dumbledore and Obi Wan Kenobi. Osama bin Laden is Voldemort and the Sith (in general). When Bush's term was up, Obama came in, and when Dumbledore and Obi Wan died, Harry and Luke came in. TeThroughout both stories, there are events between the pro/an-tagonists and in the end of it all, Osama bin Laden, Voldemort, and the Sith are destroyed. I feel that in general, the whole conspiracy with ObL directly relates to the Hero's Path/Mono-myth. Besides all of the events of the past and upcoming future, we need to concentrate on what is going on in the Present. Right now, Americans, Republicans and Democrats are together because of these recent events. Our nation has put aside it's differences and has focused on America being one country as a whole. I absolutely am glad that ObL is deceased, but I am nervous about the future and the war in the years to come.

-Zach Gardner

The Graduate

Zach Gardner



Right from the beginning, The Graduate shows character and the general "feel" of a classic movie. The kind of feeling you get when you know you're going to enjoy the next two hours. For me, i really admired the way the graduate uses various editing styles to portray the meaning and effectiveness of the story. I think that The Graduate uses sound editing to effectively portray the storyline of the main character.

The Graduate directly uses modern music (from that era) to portray the lifestyle of the main character. The first thing i noticed relating to sound editing was the opening song of "The Sound of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel. Right away you can tell that the main character has a slow, lonely life. Later in the movie, when his life is a little better, a happier, modern song plays. But then Sound off Silence is repeated multiple more times throughout the film. One thing that really caught my attention was how on song was played, then it finished, then it instantly replayed again. I thought this was very intriguing because it really shows how repetitive Ben's life is. Overall, I think that modern music really helped tell the story of The  Graduate.

Maus and Night Comparison

Zach Gardner

The books Maus by Art Spiegelman and Night by Elie Wiesel both observe the tragic events of the Holocaust. They are very different stories in the way each story tells its line of events. Though they have the same main idea (the Holocaust), they differ in the way the characters explain the atrocity of the death of millions of innocent people. Maus doesn't even start with anything to do with the Holocaust, but more of a short prequel. It is all about how the main character's normal life is completely ordinary and it slowly eases in to the mishap. In contrast, Night starts off pretty much right to the point, and that being the beginning of it all when Jewish people start to disappear and more and more mouths continue to exchange frightful rumors. At first Night and Maus seem different, but they have a much more important similarity and that is both tell the story of events of what the Jews did just to stay alive and fight for each other.

The first important similarity I noticed was that of the sorting of the uninformed Jews.  In Night, Elie first gets to Auchwitz with his whole family and Elie and his father go left and and Elie's mother and sister go right, straight to the crematorium and death, completely uninformed of their fate. This also happens in Maus at the gates of Auchwitz beneath the sign 'Arbeit Macht Frei,' which means 'work makes freedom.' I think both authors did this as a form of foreshadowing to show that only the people able to WORK will be FREE from death, for some time at least. I think that the main relevancy this example has is that both stories talk about how people who were selected to go to the right ran back to the left to try to be reunited with their family members. The terrible thing is that they had no idea they would be condemned to die immediately.

Secondly, I think another important similarity is that in both stories, the Jews had places that they could hide to stay safe from the Nazis. In Maus, they have special places in attics and cellars before they were taken to Auchwitz, and also they have the tunnel of shoes while in Auchwitz. In Night however, it is a little different. In Maus, all of the hiding places were either built by them or planned ahead, while in Night it was a spur of the moment and after Elie and the other prisoners ran forty-two miles, Elie and his father found a shed and they slept in it for the night. I think that the authors wrote these stories with this specific theme of hiding as an example of fighting for freedom and showing how harsh and corrupt the Nazis were to the Jews. In my opinion, any human would go to such extreme standards and risk so much just to survive, as the Jews tried, even though the Nazis did everything to stop them.

Finally, besides the Jews helping themselves to stay alive and find their own family members, they also helped people they had never met before, because they were all in the same situation. In Maus, they are hiding in the attic before they are taken to Auchwitz and they open the chandelier and see another Jew. He says that he is just looking for his family, so Vladek and his family help him. But the problem is that he is working for the Nazis. In Night, it is the other way around, where a complete stranger helps Elie and his father. When in the sorting line, a man asks them their age, and tells them to lie about it so they will both be able to survive. Elie and his father have never met this man before, but the man knew it was the right thing to do, to help more people survive the sorting. I think that both authors depict the story this way to show that instead of each Jew being one individual person, they are all together as one body of people, to fight together. During the Holocaust, Jews didn't only help themselves, but they helped each other too.

I think that the main similarity between the books Maus and Night is that of all the fighting to stay alive and fighting for each other. I think that this similarity is really important because it shows how during the Holocaust, all of the Jews, family, friends or strangers, all fought to stay alive and stay together. In my opinion, this similarity between the stories exists because even though Elie Wiesel and Vladek Spiegelman never knew each other, they both wanted to keep their families together for as long as possible. The similarity plays into the point the authors are making by showing that no matter what happens, your family needs to stick together and they need to do that by fighting to stay alive and fighting for each other. Overall, I think that both stories have the same effect on the authors in shoing the way families fight to stay together.

Zach Gardner

Fallen Angels

War is very serious and emotional. The quote "The real question was what was I doing, what were any of us doing, in Nam" shows that once you are actually a part of the war, theres no going back and that so many emotions mix together at once and makes war serious and emotional. In my paper, I am going to talk about how emotional war is and how it affects multiple aspects of life.

"Kenny, I love you." This quote shows how some of the more serious emotions come out at unexpected times. Perry is just on patrol with the squad in the dark. It is around midnight and Perry realizes that he can't see anything or hear anyone else so he becomes scared and feels emotions such as missing his family longing to be with them. He starts to even feel angry with himself when he realizes that if he were to die in Nam, there would be no one to really look after Kenny. Perry always did most of the work in Kenny's childhood and no one would be able too if he was gone. I think Walter Dean Meyers tells the story this way because it makes the reader feel sympathetic and share emotions through the story.

"...the thought that I was going to die. I was going to die." This quote shows that Perry not only feels loving and regret towards Kenny, but also against himself. Perry is hit in the leg and wrist and he feels excruciating pain when he realizes that he is scared of dying. He doesn't feel pain from the wounds, but from the thought of death overcoming life, and being gone forever. Even though he doesn't die he feels all the pain and fear of death. This causes new emotions to come out and Perry deals with it in the situation of combat. The reason Walter Dean Meyers does this is because it shows that even though you feel pain, it doesn't mean it is physical pain.

"I didn't feel any pain, but I couldn't move." Perry describes the situation as distant. He realizes that he is hurt and can't move, but he is slow to react that he is still in combat. Even though the hears the gunfire of automatic weapons and the screams of soldiers, he feels like they are not real. I think Walter Dean Meyers does this to make the readers feel death taking Perry, and it really connects to them but when he lives it all washes away. This shows how war can be emotional and death changes everything.

Slaughterhouse-5 Rewrite


"So it goes." This quote directly describes the view this book and its author have on life. It reiterates that no matter what, memory and time will continue to go on forever. I believe that Kurt Vonnegut looks beyond reality and displays his thoughts and ideas through a fiction story. I think that Kurt Vonnegut explains that Death isn't that important, because Vonnegut's view on time is that it is the fourth dimension and that people will live on forever even if physically they are gone because they will continue to be alive in memories and time.

One example of how Vonnegut sees time as the fourth dimension is that Billy dies not at the end of the book, but about two thirds of the way through. Since Billy is the main character, a regular story would have ended when he died, but Vonnegut did this specifically to explain how time is indeed the fourth dimension and that even though physically he is dead, he is still alive in memories and time. Vonnegut uses Billy to portray his thoughts and he does it perfectly showing that even though other characters die in the book, they are still a part of the story because time is used as the fourth dimension.

"One hour later she was dead. So it goes." This quote is referring to when Billy's wife pulls up to the hospital unconscious and then dies an hour later from carbon monoxide poisoning. This is significant to the story because it shows how it is different from a regular story. If this were normal, Billy would be extremely sad when his wife died, but this is not a regular story because Billy does not grieve because he knows that he will always be able to be with her in memories and time. Since Billy continually visits Tralfamadore, he starts to see that there is no point in missing someone so much because he can always be with them in memories and time, which he learns from his time on Tralfamadore. Vonnegut shows this by explaining that Billy's friends have died but he still relives memories with them that were significant to their lives, like being in the war. So at the end Billy realizes that physically, his wife's body is dead but Vonnegut shows that she continues to exist in the past, present, and future in time and memories.

"Because this moment simply is." This quote occurs on Billy's first encounter with the Tralfamadorians and Billy has just asked why HE was chosen and the Tralfamadorians retort why US, why ANYTHING, because this moment simply IS. Then they continue to explain how beings are stuck in time are just like bugs stuck in amber. That they simply exist there and there is nothing to change. This shows Kurt Vonnegut's point because it shows how there isn't necessarily meaning for everything or anything, just that everything simply IS. This is significant because it helps Vonnegut display Billy as not really a human, but a metaphor for time. And on Billy's first visit, he starts to look beyond reality and actuality, that there are physical dimensions, and also memory and time.

art of film.

I think that Stagecoach and True Grit are two completely different movies but also very similar. Stage coach is all about people traveling on a stagecoach while true grit they ride on horses to capture someone. I think that they are very different because in stagecoach, they try to run away from the enemy, the Apache, but in True Grit, the try to run into the enemy, Tom Cheney, to capture him. i think that Stagecoach is no doubt a classic western. it has all the key elements. however, i think true grit is more revisionist because the main character isnt a middle aged gunslinger, its a 14-year old girl who is trying to avenge her father.

Second, True Grit and Unforgiven are very similar. They are very similar stories. They both are trying to capture an enemy who wronged someone they know. In true grit, it is just tom cheney, who is in a gang, while in unforgiven it is two men, and one of them has a slow, painful death and he didn't even deserve it because he stopped his friend from cutting up delilah and also, he tried to give delilah his best pony, shwing that he qwants to be forgiven and he didn't deserve to die. I think the title unforgiven comes in in many ways and that being one of them. I think that both of these movie have classical western aspects but are both more revisionist than classic.

Overall, i think True Grit is a revisionist western. It does have classical western aspects, like an enemy who is the main antagonist and the protagonist is after them. and also the whole setting and misc-en-scene is very 'westerny'. how they are in the open west, kind of like the dustbowl era, lots of dry plants, dust, and dirt. And they are riding horses which is classic. i think that it is revisionist though for one main reason. The main character is a teenage girl. in stagecoach and unforgiven its a man, first of all, and second, he is between the ages of 26-66, not 14. I think it all adds to the title though, how not only cogburne has true grit, but the little girl who is trying to avenge her fathers death also. so even though it is directly stated in the movie that cogburne has true grit, really it is the girl who has true grit.

Overall, unforgiven was my favorite of the three. i think that it had a lot of classical western theme aspects, but the story adds a lot of the revisionist part.

world history

Zach Gardner

World History

McKeever, 6

Rene Descartes

      I, Rene Descartes, was born on March 31, 1596 in La Haye, which is in southern France. I died on February 11, 1650 in Stockholm, Sweden. Throughout my life time, I was interested in many different topics including Math, Physical Science, and Philosophy. Sometimes, I am referred to as the ‘Father of Modern Philosophy’ because of my achievements in that particular subject of study. I graduated from the University of Poitiers in 1616 and a few of my favorite subjects were Math and especially Law. After all of my schooling, I moved to the Netherlands and joined the army of Maurice of Nassau. A great thing happened during this time, which is when I met Issac Beeckman. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have had the great achievements I did. When I was done with that journey throughout Europe, I decided to settle in the Netherlands and live out my life there. One of my most important achievements was the geometrical Cartesian Coordinate Plane.

            I was really into math and especially geometry. I eventually came up with the Cartesian Coordinate Plane in 1635. You may ask yourself, what could such a complicated sounding thing be? The answer is simply that it is a grid where coordinate points can be graphed individually or in groups with other coordinates. The Cartesian part comes from my last name, Descartes(ian). It is a two-dimensional grid that is formed when two perpendicular lines intersect to form a cross in the middle, which is at the point (0,0), or the origin. Then you should have four quadrants around the lines. The quadrants go counter-clockwise from the upper-right starting at one, then two, then three, and finally four. But that’s only the beginning! If you have two specific numbers, one for each line, you can make an ordered pair which is this: (x,y). X being the horizontal line and Y being the vertical line. Back to the quadrants, I- (+,+), II- (-,+), III- (-,-), and IV- (+,-). So if the ordered pair was (4,-2), it would be in quadrant IV because it has a positive then negative number. So you would go four spaces to the right, then two spaces down and the ordered pair becomes a coordinate on the Cartesian Coordinate Plane. The very interesting thing is that since numbers are infinite, so are the values of coordinates on the Cartesian Coordinate Plane. The Cartesian Coordinate Plane is my greatest achievement.

            Since the Cartesian Coordinate Plane is my most important achievement, it needs to have other contributions to the world. The main contribution that my coordinate plane has had on the world is that of it being the basis for the mapping coordinate grid of the Earth, Latitude and Longitude.  Without this, we would not be able to do hundreds of different things we can do today. If you were on an airplane, and the pilots didn’t have latitude and longitude they might never find the right place to land. Latitude and Longitude is directly related to my Cartesian Coordinate Plane except that the axis’ are three-dimensional with a circular shape. The Equator would represent the X-axis while the Prime Meridian represents the Y-axis.  Also, the Cartesian Coordinate Plane has made all aspects of math so much easier, especially geometry and also algebra. I think that my Cartesian Coordinate Plane has had a huge impact on modern day society.

            One of the most important things I did in my whole life was creating the geometrical Cartesian Coordinate Plane. Overall, it is a two-dimensional grid with two perpendicular lines that allow specific points, or coordinates, to be graphed onto the plane. It allows positive and negative points to be plotted, which is a lot like plotting things below or above the Equator or right or left from the Prime Meridian. I think that being able to alter my Cartesian Coordinate Plane to be a map of the whole world is unbelievable and outstanding and has greatly helped humanity in multiple ways. I, Rene Descartes, invented the Cartesian Coordinate Plane and it is my greatest contribution to society and its greatest effect on the world has been its conversion to Latitude and Longitude, a three-dimensional map of the world.

           

Bibliography-

"The Server Side." theserverside.com. N.p., 2010. Web. 16 Mar 2011. <http://www.theserverside.com/discussions/thread.tss?thread_id=11742

"Cartesian Coordinate Plane." math.about.com. Web. 14 Mar 2011.      <http://math.about.com/od/geometry/ss/cartesian.htm>.

"Descartes, Rene (1596-1650)." DISCovering Biography. Online ed. Detroit: Gale, 2003.     Discovering Collection. Gale. Edina High School Library. 8 Mar. 2011 <http://find.galegroup.com/srcx/infomark.do?&contentSet=GSRC&type=retrieve&tabID=T001&prodId=DC&docId=EJ2102100489&source=gale&srcprod=DISC&userGroupName=mnkedinahs&version=1.0>.

awesome

Prewriting-

One similarity was how it showed the cleaning of the guns because then you have a visual of what the different parts of a gun look like. Another similarity is how Restrepo died on the helicopter and someone (I can’t remember who) also dies on the helicopter in Fallen the book and movie. Also in the book, people get in “fights” but they’re not that big of a deal and this also happened in Restrepo which shows how in war, everyone gets along well. I think that one of the most significant similarities was how they played chess/checkers a lot which shows that even though it gets boring after awhile, they don’t have anything else to do. In the book it Angels. One thing that I noticed right away in both the movie and the book was how the new people are kind of in denial about how bad war really is, then when they see action they know what it’s really like. Another huge thing I noticed that I made a huge connection with was how there wasn’t only fighting but they also went on pacification missions to the locals. Another thing about the pacification missions is that the locals didn’t necessarily know how to use American things, like an Afghan didn’t know how to put the straw in a juice box. Besides just the war aspects though, there were other things like how the barracks were called “hooches” in both talks a lot about not only sending letters home, but sending some sort of gift home also; in the book Perry sends home his purple hearts and in the movie the guy with the hat send a letter with drawings of the mountains. Overall, the most important thing was how the soldiers dealt with their fallen soldiers. In the book the were respectful and covered them with blankets and they did the same thing in the movie which shows how serious it all is.

Writing-

I have learned a lot about war from both the book and movie. The book described certain things and then the movie showed examples of it. I was kind of like a P.I.E. paragraph but with different forms of examples. One of the main things I learned was that all the soldiers who have never met each other before but they are all in it together. Also, there wasn’t only shooting, but also lots of talking with the locals and time just sitting around. In Fallen Angels they went on pacification missions and in Restrepo the talked about a dead cow. All of these things show how serious war is and always will be.

Zach Gardner

First Draft

Fallen Angels

            War is very serious and emotional. Even though it may seem like it is just a lot of fighting and laughing, its not. The quote “The real question was what I was doing, what any of us were doing, in Nam.” (pg. 69) shows how every motion mixes together at once to be confusing and indescribable. The theme of Fallen Angels is how serious war really is.

            “’You see a lot of movies?’” (pg. 73). This quote from Perry to Lobel shows that they are talking a lot about movies and how the only real things in life that are serious are movies. I think this makes a lot of sense because movies portray life through fiction stories that we watch and relate to. Its not complicated and I think it is the simplest way to look at life, seeing movies as the only real thing in the world that makes sense to humans the way we look at it seriously.

            “Kenny, I love you.” (pg. 123). This quote shows the emotional side of war. Perry is out in the Jungle when he realizes he cant see anything at all. He only hears noises around him while he thinks to himself ‘what would happen to Kenny if I were to get hurt?’ and then he thinks to himself “Kenny, I love you.” This is really important because it shows how much of Perry has changed in Vietnam, and especially his emotions, which will never be the same again.

            “…the thought that I was going to die. I was going to die.” (pg. 204). This quote shows the serious and emotional sides of war mixed into one. Perry gets hit in his leg and wrist and he realizes that he feels excruciating pain. Then he also realizes that it is not from the wounds, but from the thought of death washing over his body and taking life away from him forever. He starts begging God and crying for life and also he realizes how extremely serious his situation is right then. War is both serious and emotional in the thought, cause, and effect, of death.

fallen angels

Zach Gardner

Guys in lit

Fourth hour

Fallen Angels

            Fallen angels is one of my favorite books of all time. I really like it because it is about war. Especially Vietnam. I really, really like war books and this is by far my favorite war book of all time. It has all the right parts to it; suspense, action, happy, sad, joyful, not joyful, and all the aspects of war.

             I really like a lot of Walter Dean Meyers other books like monster. I first read that in eighth grade and it is also really good. I think it is interesting how one author can write about two completely different topics so well and make it so interesting.

I really like how the names of the companies are like A B C D E alpha, beta, Charlie, delta, and echo. I think it is significant and important how the main characters are in the main company, alpha company.

            What I really like about this book is how they go on lots of patrols and it turns out to be a lot more. There is so much action and shooting and there are also really  a lot of injuries but not a lot of death which is good because if it was too sad then the whole story overall wouldn’t be nearly as good, good as it is.

            However, this book is not perfect. There are some parts where it is a little slow or boring or not too exciting but it is usually used to describe or explain something important that has just happened or is going to happen soon. The thing that I think is really unique about this book is  that there is no definite climax to the story which is very good but a little bit of a downfall. I like it that way because there are lots of different mini climaxes throughout the book but none of them are even close to being the same. The last exciting part of the book is definitely a climax though and it is unique the Walter Dean Meyers writes it. However, it is a little bit of a downfall because there is no huge dramatic and extremely suspense full climax like most books have. For example: Lord of the Rings; at Mordor, Star Wars; the battle between Luke, Darth Vader, and also the emperor, and Harry Potter; the final duel between Voldemort and Harry.

            I also like this book a lot because there is a lot of humor in it. Peewee and Perry are really funny together and also not together. One of my favorite characters though is definitely Johnson because he is so awesome. The way Walter Dean  Meyers describes him is so Bad ass. It makes him seem like everybody is afraid of him and that if he wanted to, he could be in total control but hes cool because he knows that that wouldn’t be the right thing to do. I really like it how he is like “the guy” because he has the only machine gun in the squad and he is described as really big and tall and it makes him seem that much more important and cooler throughout the whole story.

            Another thing I really am interested about in this book is how it describes the companies and how they are broken down into the individual squads. From what I read, there are battalions, then companies, then squads, then individual soldiers. And each squad has their own hooch.

            Overall, this is one of my favorite books about war and ive read it multiple times.



evaluation of movie clips

A-
I really liked how right from the beginhning, it has interesting lighting effects. before i thought nothing of it, but now i can tell that there was lighting either coming from underneath or reflecting off the table on to them. it really adds a casino sort of effect. Also, there is somewhat unique camera work. i think that in some parts it looks like a handheld camera to show a point of view, but also a regular camera to tell a story. I also noticed a lot of match on action camera work when multiple people were talking, not just two.

C-
This is one of my favorite movies and i really like how it has a great example of parallel editing when it shows the FBI agents going to Buffalo Bills house and it also shows Buffalo Bill inside the house. This is significant because it shows the two main opposing forces of good and evil coming together for the dramatic ending of the movie. But there is a big twist! The way the camera work is edited, we think they are at the same place when we hear the doorbell but really they are at completely different houses. You realize this when it shows one guy at the door, but Clarice goes in. It is ful of suspense and the lighting and camera works add a lot of effect and emotion.

E-
Since this movie is about Mozart, it makes sense that there would be a lot of music effects. The first things i noticed was how the piano/harpiscord goes inbetween diagetic and nondiagetic. The way it does this is by showing the music playing at regular time, but then switching to something else and it suddenly becomes background music. And it goes back and forth. also, when he is playing something else and suddenly the other man starts singing is interesting and very effectful.

F-
This clip was very short, but had a lot of things we learned about. It had a lot of backlighting and it was very shadowy. Also, the first time the camera move it is a pan over a wall. The last part was showing the three different sides(rule of threes) and how the depth works. On the left, there was a man far away, on the right, a woman close by, and in the middle, a large fire far away to focus on. Also, the whole shot was one big long take and it had a soft light to it which really makes you interested in what will happen next. There isnt a lot of talking so it makes you think for yourself.

movie of the year ratings

Social network

• Intriguingly smart
• gloomy lighting
• lots of sarcasm
• relates to America today

Kings speech

• olden feeling (clothing, accent, speech)
• darkness of happiness
• based on a true story

Toy Story 3

• lots of action for an animated kids film
• better thank the first two combined
• lots of new characters and theme and plot

Winters bone

• depressing story
• shaky cameras make it look real
• not well lighted, adds depressing effect

inception

• amazing story line
• everybody relates to it while watching
• a whole new idea about dreams/levels of dreams
• intense, suspenseful ending

true grit

• a modern western
• great acting by everybody
• not a lot of action, but more story

1.) The Social Network
This was my first favorite because i think that of all the others, it relates so perfectly to America today. Whats one of the most popular things on the Internet today? Facebook. What kind of movie will attract Facebook users? a movie about the making of Facebook. There were so many great quotes that really make you look back on the movie in the end. The other thing was how there were multiple story lines going on at once, which makes it unique, intriguing, and exciting. The acting was phenomenal, even though if it was a little more exaggerated than what really happened. Finally, the lighting of certain scenes adds effect. Dark lighted scenes are either important or sad, while the well lighted scenes are happy or funny.

2.) King's Speech
This was my second favorite because it felt like you were apart of the story and that you went back in time. It portrays how something so small, can be such a big deal. it all depends on who you are. There were so many important characters in the storyline. It doesn't just show the happy parts where the kings voice is perfect. Its actually the opposite in meaning that it shows mostly only parts when he gets frustrated, then shows him learning more. The acting by Colin Furth was absolutely amazing. It was easily some of the best acting I've ever scene. Finally, the dialogue was so well written it adds to the effect of the great acting.

3.)Toy Story 3
This was my third favorite choice because it was so much better than everyone thought it would be. Not saying that it looked bad, it looked amazing, it was just better in a new kind of way. The first two movies were really good. but both of them combined and then compared the third is a huge difference. Not only was the third one just really good, but it had a whole new kind of story line. In the first one they try to stay with Andy. in the second, they try to save the other toys. in the third however, they do both in a whole new way. There are so many new characters introduced in this movie that if i hadn't seen the first two, i would have thought that one was the first. Its story line was just so fresh and amazing that it easily has a chance to win.

4.)True Grit
Overall, i really liked True Grit. After the first preview i saw, i thought it looked really bad. after the second preview, it looked really good. Even from the previews and trailers i could tell that it would have that traditional western theme. I thought that Jeff Bridges looked really good. After i had seen the movie, i was slightly disappointed. I was looking forward to a lot of shootouts, cowboys, and traditional western movie features. Not to say that True Grit didn't have these features, but just not a lot of them. I was thinking i would be an action movie but it was more like an action and drama. In my opinion, there were a few too many nights sitting around the fire talking about drinking water from horse footprints. But there were also lots of cool things i didn't expect; some of these were the man in the bear suit, finding Chaney in the creek, and the hung man in the trees. Overall, i placed True Grit in fourth place, not because it was bad, but because the others were just a little better.

5.)Inception
I think Inception is a lot like Avatar last year. Everybody thought the graphics and special effects were unreal and completely new and modernized and cool. The thing that everybody seemed to attach onto about Inception was the storyline. To themselves, everybody thinks about their dreams and how the work and what not. Like The Social Network, when something like that is made into a movie, people are going to want to see it really, really bad. I think the overall best feature of Inception was either the special effects or how they went further than just explaining dreams (dream levels, totems, inception and extracting ideas from other people). I think that Inception was more of a "cool" movie than a great storyline movie.

6.)Winter's Bone
There were some parts in Winter's Bone that were really good and intriguing. Most of the movie though, was her either walking, making food, or talking to people. Not the most exciting thing. But i do think that the effects, such as zoom, lighting, and camera work, really added to the sadness of the story. I think it was too much of a sad movie or "downer" to win movie of the year. My main opinion is that it didn't start getting really good until the end. But i still thought that it was a decent movie.

Slaughterhouse-5 Blog

Essay Improvement-

1. Put more depth into elaboration sentences
2. Have a more relative intrpductory quote
3. Have an effective restated thesis
4. Have an effective concluding statement
5. Have a strong topic to write about
6. Make sure of proper grammer and punctuation
7. Find appropriate quotes that fit theme of essay
8. Have a clear expression of the main point
9. Use an effective quote to correctly illustrate the main point
10. Have an effective explanation of the quote relating to the main idea

Thoughts about Slaughterhouse-5-

1. The original three dimensions make sense to humans because thats the way we see it on Earth
2. It was interesting how Tralfamadorians see Time as the fourth dimension because humans don't see it like that
3. How Billy talks about the Tralfamadorians AFTER the plane crash is significant because he could just be crazy
4. The book really makes you think about how time works
5. it is significant how when Billy's wife dies it just says "So it goes"
6. How the story revolves around three different times in Billy's life is interesting
7. i think it is interesting how little detail there is about what the Tralfamadorians look like
8. i think it is funny that Billy is kept in a zoo on Tralfamadore
9. i think it is also funny how the Tralfamadorians are green, what most people would picture an alien to be
10. it is also funny how "zillion" is apparently a made up number but the Tralfamadorians live over a zillion lightyears away from earth
11. I think that it makes you think about death and how real it really is
12. i really like how it talks about scenes of world war II
13. i think it is intrigueing how tralfamadorians have five sexes when humans only have two
14. I think it is suspenseful when it talks about billy's friend's execution
15. the book makes you wondre what sort of afterlife there is, if there even is one

Themes of Slaughterhouse-5-

1. Death is not as important as we see it
2. There could be other lifeforms in the universe
3. Time travel can be possible to a certain extent
4. we relive the significant times in our lives in the afterlife
5. time is the fourth dimension of the universe

Conversation-

B- Are you scared of death?
Z- A little yeah
B-its nothing to be scared of, its just part of everything else.
Z-well okay.... did it hurt a lot?
B-there was nothing painful at all. except for the mere feeling of knowing that you won't exist except for in the past, which is what i learned from the Tralfamadorians.
Z-so if i thought really hard about a past memory of you, i could relive it with you?
B-Not quite, if you and i were both dead, then yes, we would be able to relive memories from the past. the really significant memories of our life.
Z-Thanks! now i understand what you mean!

my first movie review

Brainstorm-The Shawshank Redemption:

1. a film elaborated on a short story
2. in an old prison
3. violence
4. intriging
5. corruption in prison
6. language
7. confusing story line
8. escape form prison
9. mindblowing when it all makes sense at the end
10. happy ending
11. great actors
12. suspense throughout the whole film
13. how tim robbins asks for the rock hammer
14. how it is rebellious when he plays the record player in the wardens office
15. Morgan Freeman is the 'Man Who Can Get You Things.'

Review-The Shawshank Redemption:

The Shawshank Redemtion is one of my alltime favorite movies. I think the acting by some of the main characters is phenomonal. Some of my favorites are Tim Robbins (Andy Dufresne), Morgan Freeman (Red), Clancy Brown (Captain Hadley), and James Whitmore (Brooks). I really enjoy how the story line goes into so much depth about how corrupt the prison is. Even though Andy Dufresne has been covicted for committing double murder, he knows he is innocent and throughout the movie you realize that he is indeed innocent. What i really like about this film is that it not only focuses on Andy, but on so many other things at the same time that end up relating to his escape. My favorite part of this movie in no doubt the ending when you realize how the rock hammer, posters, and him helping the warden all relate to him escaping in the end. I think that it is really cool how Stephen King started this story as an 80-page short story but when made into a movie, it is two and a half hours long. The movie provides so much detail and i feel that most of the time the books show more detail than the movies. The Shawshank Redemption is an amazing movie.

Siddhartha Blog

 I believe hat in the book Siddhartha, there are many spiritual scenes that relate to everyday life and religion today. Firstly, in life, I believe that if you want something, you have to work for it. Siddhartha says "I will stand and wait" to his father after he tells his father what he really wants is to leave home and join the Samanas (page 11). Siddhartha really wants to leave and go with the Samanas and he works for that want against his father by standing and waiting and being patient, which is used a lot throughout the story and can relate to everyday life because you won't just get what you want you have to work for it. Secondly, in religion I believe that you need to not care what other people think about it. Siddhartha says to Govinda "Tomorrow at daybreak I will begin the life of the Samanas. Let us not discuss it again" (page 10). Govinda and Siddhartha are both sons of Brahmins and they have known each other their entire lives and when Siddhartha suddenly says that he wants to leave for his religion, Govinda doesnt want him to leave but Siddhartha is planning on leaving with or without Govinda because he doesn't care if people judge him about his religion which is important about religion today.Besides these two examples from the book Siddhartha about life and religion, there are many more throughout the rest of the story.