Orson Welles

Last week we finally finished Julius Caesar.  It was okay.  Then we started to go over the history of Orson Welles, and his significance in history.  I think that the book about him will be a lot more interesting than the last couple units that we've done, mainly because it's from the perspective of someone around our age. 
Also, I just learned about him in history class, and am sort of excited to find out about the person who made War of the Worlds so popular.
Hopefully it lives up to my expectations.

My castings for Julius Caesar

If I had to re-cast Julius Caesar, it would look like this:

Julius Caesar-

James Franco

because he is very cocky, and would probably make a stupid mistake in order to keep his reputation.



Brutus-

Brendon Urie

...I just wanted to add him to the list. :)

Antony-

James Marsden

Because he's always cracking jokes, but can also take on serious roles.

Calpurnia-

Jennifer Love Hewitt

because she's good at playing the "worried wife".

Portia-

Angelina Jolie

because she's known for being tough.

4/9/2011

This week in English, we started talking about William Shakespeare and his play Julius Ceaser.  So far, I'm definately not looking forward to this unit.  I don't really have a problem with Shakespeare, personally.  In fact, that was one of my favorite parts of English last year. However, from what I've heard, this play is pretty painful.  On the other hand, I heard the same thing about To Kill A Mockingbird, and loved it...so we'll see.
As for the movie we watched; I have no clue what happened in it.  But aside from that, it was alright I guess, and it seemed to follow what we talked about on Tuesday in the packet. 
So...yep.

Murder and The Shining

Dear Reader,
      In this post, I will talk about murder and how it relates to The Shining.  I chose the theme of murder because it is hidden throughout the entire book.  For example, Danny (one of the main characters), has psychic visions about the word 'redrum' while staying in the Overlook Hotel.  However, it is later revealed that he was seeing it through a mirror, and the word was really 'murder'.  As you read The Shining, the references to this theme become more and more frequent.  The parts of the book that aren't about murder, tend to be foreshadowing for the parts that do involve it.  Without the theme of murder, this book would be about absolutely nothing.  I hope you enjoy my project.
       -Bailey

"Once that you've decided on a killing
First you make a stone of your heart"

The Torrance Family

"And if you find that your hands are still willing
Then you can turn a murder into art"

"Because murder is like anything you take to
It's a habit-forming need for more and more"



"You can bump off every member of your family
And anybody else you find a bore"

      The first genre that I chose was a character sketch of the three main characters; Wendy, Danny, and Jack.  I did this because there were only a few characters in the book to begin with, which helped add on to their feeling of isolationism.  I wanted to show how few important roles there were in the book, and how I imagined those people.

      My second genre was a postcard that I made.  I decided on this because I wanted to give the reader an idea of what the plot may be about.  I also wanted to, again, add on to the feeling of isolation throughout the book, by showing the setting that this all took place in.

      The final genre that I chose was a wanted poster, featuring Jack Torrance.  Although he was unsuccessful with murdering his family, I thought it would be pretty important to get him behind bars before he tried again.

Works Cited:

"jack-torrance-2." The Tentative Apologist. Web. 26 Mar 2011. <http://blogs.christianpost.com/tentativeapologist/2010/10/im-gonna-bash-your-brains-in-the-shining-and-the-psalms-14/>.

The Police.  "Murder By Numbers".  Synchronicity.  1983.

My Greatest Achievement

What I consider to be one of my greatest achievements, was probably my participation in the colorguard team.  The reasoning for this was because I never wanted to join in the first place, but was eventually convinced to audition with my friend.  I didn't even know what colorguard WAS when I auditioned- that's how much I wanted it.  However, they were desperate, and if they didn't put me on the team, it was going to be cut from the school.  So, I made it.  After that, every day for the next 5 months was spent doing hours upon hours of various training excercises.  I gave up half of my summer to go to band camp- which, believe it or not -was grueling.
By our first performance, I was still terrible, as compared to the rest of the girls.  In fact, I was so bad that they made me sit out for a couple of songs.  Ouch. 
The last game that we ever performed at, we did our routines for Fame and Hawaii 5-Oh.  Looking back at our season, they were definately our hardest songs.  After being out on the field, I felt like I did a terrible job, like I usually did.  But, then we watched a recording from our first performance, and I saw how much I really had improved.
Now, despite how lazy and clumsy as I used to be, I am just as equally good as all of the other girls who have been doing this for years...and that's why it's one of my biggest achievements. :)

My Mystery Story

      I took a sigh as I began my usual morning walk. If it weren’t for the empty streets, you would never be able to tell that I had woken up earlier than usual. Being outside at this time was a federal offense. You see, there’s a strange rule around here, stating that you must be asleep between the hours of 12-10 A.M. And, in order to assure the obedience of the citizens, a nightly dose of sleeping gas was released into the air. No one in town had any idea why it was administered; but it was the way that we were raised, so we never asked. It’s just the way that things have always been in the colony.

      It was approximately 1 o’clock in the afternoon when I got the call from Calvin. He had always worked down at the local bakery, which happens to share a building with the sheriff’s office. Because of this, Cal often got a hold of the juicy stories long before they were ever released to the public.

      “Claire, have you heard yet?” He whispered, in a barely audible voice.

      “Heard about what? Anyway, you know that I probably haven’t…” I replied, rolling my eyes.

      “Mr. Chris is dead.” He took in a deep breath, waiting for my response.

      “Mr. Chris…as in Mr. Chris from school? Are they sure?” I struggled to find the words.

      “Well…not dead necessarily, but they can’t find him anywhere. And I mean ANYWHERE, they even looked outside of the inner wall. Nothing.” I knew that he was right. In this town, there wasn’t really anywhere to hide, let alone disappear to. If you were missing, you may as well have been found brutally murdered; in the eyes of the sheriff, anyway.

      “That’s terrible...” I sighed.

      “I know!” He shouted, with almost too much enthusiasm. “But that isn’t all. Thirty others were missing this morning, too. Thirty!”

      I couldn’t move. Finally, I managed to squeak out “Thirty?”

      “Yeah, without a trace. It’s like they vanished into thin air. It’s pretty crazy, you should see the commotion going on next-door.”

      “I can only imagine.”

      “Yeah, well I should probably get off the phone. My boss will be here any minute. Actually, here he is now. I’ll keep you posted.” And with that, he hung up.

      The rest of my day was spent wandering aimlessly through the town, wondering how such a thing could be possible. At 9, the story was headlined on the local news, followed by complete chaos outside.

      By the time the sleeping gas was released into the air, the entire town was in a panic. I was almost relieved to hear silence slowly fall upon the night. It’s probably for the best. We will all have to think clearly tomorrow. I thought, as I began to drift off to sleep.

      The next morning, I awoke to another call from Calvin. This time, however, the urgency in his voice left him breathless.

      “Claire! You’ll never believe it: 60 others vanished overnight! They’re starting to think that we may have a serial killer sort-of-deal here. Did you know that there hasn’t been a case like that in over 50 years? Especially not with this many victims!”

      “Wow, Cal...are you sure you should be telling me this?” A shiver went down my spine.

      “Yeah, no it's fine...I'm sure that it'll be all over the news tonight, anyhow.” He hesitated before starting his next sentence. “Claire, what if it doesn't stop?”

      I wasn't so sure how to answer the question, myself. I half-whispered “Don't worry, the sheriff will find out what's going on in no time. Just stick with a buddy for a little while. It'll stop soon enough.” I didn't know who I was trying to convince more: me, or Cal.

     

      Either way, it turns out that I was wrong. As the week went on, the number on the missing toll rose. The colony was beginning to look smaller and smaller, to the point where it was a rare occasion to see anyone you knew. On Thursday night, I got another call. This time, though, was different than the rest. I knew that from the moment that I heard the ring. It was Thursday, and Calvin had work off; he would never call on his sleep-in day. I cautiously picked up the phone.

      “Hello?” I managed.

      “Hello, is this Claire?” I recognized the voice as Carson, the city Sheriff.

      “Yes, it is.” I replied.

      “I'm sorry, but we have reason to believe that you and a Mr. Calvin C. are very close?” I could hear paper rustling in the background. “Is that true, ma'am?”

      A lump began to form in my throat. “Yes, that's true...why? Is he alright?”

      The silence on the other side of the phone was unbearable. “Is he alright?” I cried, letting the panic show in my voice.

      “I'm sorry...” He started. “But, this morning we could not-”

      That's when the rumbling began.  From a gaping hole in the sky, a bright ray of light blinded everyone, as they ran for the safety of their homes.

      “If you eat that now, you're buying more tomorrow.” A booming voice said, seemingly from the light source.

      I could hear shrieks of terror coming from the streets, as the entire colony began to turn on its side; and then eventually, upside down entirely. The roof of my bedroom failed me, as I started a free-fall into the light.

      Looking up, I could see the entire city- where I was born and raised -slowly disappearing. The sheer beauty of it all took me aback, as the world around me transformed into a bright nothingness.

      Once my eyes adjusted to my surroundings, I looked back up towards what once was our colony. I had never seen it from the outside. The outer wall was a bright color that we often used to paint our homes. Right in the center, there was a giant picture of everyone in the colony. Above that, was the name “Cheerios” written in fancy letters. I couldn't believe the amount of color and artistry that was obviously put into making this, and we had never even known that it was there!

      It's beautiful. I thought, as a tear slid down my cheek, and I plunged into my milky grave.

My favorite movies

As I mentioned in my last post, I watch a LOT of movies.  However, I tend to watch only a couple genres of them, which makes it hard to say what my favorite is.  Personally, I'm big on horror and comedy.  I'm just gonna make a chart-thingy like Mr. Potter did.

Action: Live Free or Die Hard
Adventure: The Poseidon Adventure
Comedy: Scary Movie
Drama: A Walk To Remember
Horror: Tie between Saw and Final Destination..
Musical: The Sound of Music
Romance: 10 Things I Hate About You
Sci-fi: The X-Files
Thriller: When a Stranger Calls (the remake)

My time-wasters

Some things that I do may be considered a waste of time, depending on how you look at them.  For example, I play many instruments; guitar, flute, and viola.  However, since I don't intend on pursuing a profession in the music industry, doing these things will get me virtually nowhere.  Another thing that I like to do is write songs/poetry.  This skill may be somewhat productive, if it weren't for the fact that I usually throw them away afterwards.  I also tend to play pointless games online; but, only when I get extremely bored.  They calm me down when I'm stressed, but are otherwise, well...pointless.  Finally, the thing that I do most often, and waste a significant amount of my time on, is watching movies/tv with my friends.  I find this to be my biggest time-waster, because time with my friends could be spent on a lot more productive activities...but we instead prefer to stay home and turn on a scary movie.  Like playing games, it often comforts me or offers a thing to do when I'm bored...but is useless.
So, in conclusion, most of my time is spent wasting time.

My siblings 2/5/2011

Up until the age of 7, I was an only child.  However, in second grade my dad married his second wife, who also had two children; Alyssa and Codey.  Since I had been friends with both of them for years, I thought it would be amazing to have them move in with us- it would be like a never-ending sleepover!  I was wrong.

 ^Our Christmas picture two years ago^

That's not to say that we didn't have our good days, too.  For the most part, Codey and I got along just fine.  He protected me, like brothers do, and I gave him advice for all of his relationships.  We had an understanding.

^Codey^

Alyssa was an entirely different story, being two years older than me.  As we grew up, she wanted to hang out with me less and less; and I soon found myself taking on the role of 'annoying little sister'.

 ^Me and Lissa, back when I was blonde^

 When I was in 5th grade, a new brother came into the picture.  My dad and step-mom decided to name him Dallas; after their favorite NFL team. 

 ^Dallas^

Unfortunately, my dad and step-mom divorced last year.  So now it's just me and Dallas.

My relationship with all of my siblings has been both good and bad throughout the years.  Even though they aren't 'technically' my brother and sister anymore, I can't imagine thinking of Alyssa and Codey as anything but family.  And, in the end, I wouldn't trade any of our memories for the world. :)

01/09/2011

Our most recent unit that we've been studying in English is mystery and suspense.  My personal favorite was the radio drama that we listened to called "On A Country Road" or something like that.  I liked the way that it took a really unexpected turn in the end, and also showed how people's paranoia can get the best of them.  Another story that we read was one about a guy who bets people that they can't light their lighters 10 times in a row.  The weird thing was that if they missed, he got to chop off their finger, and if they succeeded, they got his car.  After reading this story, we also got to watch the movie version of it.  I tend to like books better.  However, in this case, I liked the movie a lot more because of it's added twist.  So far, this is my favorite unit because they are the type of stories that I would consider reading outside of school, too.

12/11/2010

This week I was only at school for two days, so I'm not entirely sure what they did in class most of the week.  On Monday, my group shared our opinions and discussion questions about homosexuals in school.  It was interesting to hear everyone's opinions and ideas regarding the issue.  Then on Friday, we read a story about two enemies facing each other, and being unexpectedly peaceful.  I liked the story because it had a lot deeper of a meaning than it originally seemed to have.  After that, we watched the older version of When A Stranger Calls.  It was kind of random, but fun.  And that was my week in English.

12/04/2010

This week in English, we read a lot of stories dealing with concentration camps in Germany and in America.  It kind of surprised me, because I never knew about the internment camps that they placed Japanese Americans in.  Ironically, we started learning about them at the exact same time in History.  Also, we watched most of a movie about a family in the holocaust.  Which, I'll admit, almost made me cry.  I stand by my previous comment about liking this unit better than the last...it's a lot more interesting to learn about.

The Great Debaters, Nightjohn, and Mascot. 11/27/2010

      During the chapters that we read of Nightjohn, John was brought to the same place as Sarny to work as a slave.  One night, while most people were asleep, she gives him tobacco, and in return, he agrees to teach her the letters A, B, and C.  Later on, Alice ran away and was whipped until her back was bleeding terribly and opened up.  The story also told about two other men who had also attempted to run away.  Later, Sarny finds out that John was, at some point, free.  But, he had come back to the south for the sole purpose of teaching people to read.
      The chapters from Mascot were a little bit different.  The main character, Malcolm X, was sent to live with Mrs. Swerlin at a reform school.  He was given a large amount of freedom, but soon began to realize that the Swerlin family thought of him as no more than a pet.  He then went to visit Ella in Boston, and realized how diverse and non-racist it was there.  When Malcolm returned back home, he became very bitter and annoyed with the people around him, because before going to Boston, he had never noticed how differently everyone had treated him.
      The Great Debaters related to these two stories in many ways.  For example, Nightjohn and the movie both had a white man torturing a black man for no reason.  Also, both were in the time period that all white people considered themselves superior.  However, the major difference was that in Nightjohn, the main characters were slaves, while in The Great Debaters they were all free. 
      Mascot was a little bit more like the movie, in the way that all of the main characters were free.  Another similarity was that the city of Boston had a big impact on the story.  However, in Mascot Malcolm X went to a mostly white school, while The Great Debaters went to an all black school.  For the most part, though, they all had a similar message.

11/21/2010

Well, I just remembered that our blogs were due today, so I'll probably lose a few points...oops.
Anyway, this week we read a lot of stories about civil rights', and then we watched a movie called "The Great Debators".  So far it's really good, but a couple of people have told me that I'm going to cry...which I'm not looking forward to.  I'm glad that we finished the whole trial section (or so I hope), and moved on to civil rights'.  In my opinion, it's much more important to know about, anyway.
Well, that's about it...except next week we only have school on Monday and Tuesday :D.  I'm super excited to go to Indiana with my mom.  Hopefully we won't have to do a blog this week...?

11/14/10

Basically all we did this week in English was watch 12 Angry Men.  Except, on Wednesday all sophmores got to go see the play To Kill A Mockingbird during 2nd and 3rd period.  For the most part, it was good, although I feel like it left out a lot.  In the book To Kill A Mockingbird, Boo Radley had a huge role in ithe beginning.  However, in their play he wasn't really mentioned until the final scene.  I think it would have been a lot better if they had explained it more along the way.  If I hadn't already read the book, I probably wouldn't have known what was going on.  Still, the acting was really good, and they did fit most of the important scenes in...so it was a fairly good play, and I enjoyed it.

11/06/2010

This week in english, we started reading the play 12 Angry Men.  I really wasn't looking forward to it because I've already seen the movie, and I remember how riveting that was (sarcasm intended).  Then again, I was like seven at the time, so I can't say that I understood any of it, either.  I remembered the ending, as well as bits and pieces of the rest...so I guess that was somewhat amusing to see what I forgot.  I'm kind of hoping that we DON'T watch the movie, though, because it was pretty dull.  Honestly, I don't understand the whole connection between trials and English that this class has seemed to take on.  I couldn't care less about these kind of things, which has made it difficult for me to get into any of the projects/assignments that we've done.  Although, I will admit that To Kill A Mockingbird turned out to be a lot better than I'd expected.  I was suprised about how easy it was to understand (for the most part), and also liked the realistic aspect of it.  Overall, I'd say it was my favorite unit so far this year.

Yep..

Well, here I am writing my first ever blog post...woo!  Yeah, I probably should have started this thing a while ago.  I'm not even sure how many I'm supposed to have posted xD oops.  But, since I don't have any intentions on failing English, I figured that I'd give this thing a go sooner rather than later. 
So, this week was pretty crazy.  I'm liking the whole 'only 3 days of school' thing, expecially since I was absent for one.  Wednesday had a late arrival, which was also a nice bonus.  Although, I was a little panic-y last night because I hadn't done my colorguard routine for a week or so.  But then we got to Grove City and performed, and it was all good:).  Except I ended up on the complete wrong side of the field, but the audience doesn't have to know...  So yep, that's all I got.  Hopefully that will be enough for this week.