The Road: The Movie

Reading and discussing the book The Road really opened up my mind and got me thinking deeper than normal. With the video game project, I started to realize how good of a movie this would be. When we were making the plot for the video game, I began to think about how similar it was to many other games out there. I think that a movie version of The Road would be very creepy and sad, but would be a very good movie for those who don’t have a faint heart. I think that the movie could be very successful, and be a stunning image of what the world will be like if humans keep beating on the planet. Movies like that do very well in the box office, such as I am Legend, and it would open up the minds of millions more people, just like it opened mine. With great cinematography like I am Legend, The Road could be a wonderful movie. I would definitely go see it if it came out in theatres. The book already opened many people’s minds and got them thinking, but if done right, a movie could double or triple the audience in a clearer way, leaving an effect on the viewers.

The Road

Reading the Road really brings up some vivid images in my head, but the most recent pages of reading involved the man and the boy finding the house, and we already discussed today in class of what happens there. Reading this part immediately brought into my head the old abandoned house that used to be in the corner of my neighborhood. A couple of summers ago, I went with a friend to check out the old, weird looking house, because another friend lived next door and said that the old woman who used to live in there was very weird and left the house abandoned. So, feeling adventurous, we crept through the alley and into the foot-high weeds and grass of a backyard. We first went into the garage, which was just empty. Then we looked through the windows of the house and something about it was just creepy. I don’t know if it was the torn up carpet or the old wood balcony overlooking the backyard, but something about it just demanded that it needed to be explored. We tried the side door, but it was locked. We were just about to leave, when I tried opening the window on the side. The people that had locked this house up had forgotten this. We stumbled inside and the feeling immediately went from hot and dry to sticky and damp. There was a weird moldy smell everywhere, but it looked like a normal house. After exploring the cool upstairs, there was only one place we missed. The door in the corner, leading to the basement. I never went down there until I cane back with a group of 5 or 6, several months later. We were just having fun, pretending to scare each other, but then we decided to go downstairs. We tried opening the door, but it was a little jammed in. This is where the book starts reminding me of my time there. I shoved the door open and immediately came a whoosh of damp, cool, soggy air and the sight of an old, black set of stairs. We obviously didn’t see the naked half eaten humans, but we crept downstairs, scared, and looked around. Everything was dark and creepy, and the walls covered in sheets of metal, with what looked like knife marks in them. We huddled together, looking around with our imaginations racing. Someone then bolted upstairs, and without thinking everyone else did. Now, when I read that part of The Road, I can sort of see myself, scared, push open that door to the basement. Obviously this is not at all as extreme as the book, but I believe I have a good connection to think about when I am thinking about that part in the book.

P.S. That house was eventually torn down into a really nice big house, and the events that happened there are now just memories.

The last person on Earth

If I were the last person on Earth, after some sort of apocalypse, I would no doubt be living a weird life from that day on. I would sometimes like being alone, nothing is anyone else’s but yours any more, and you can eat everything in your house. It would get weird, though, when you eat all the food, or use all of the heat. What now? I would start to get depressed then, because I would not know what to do. I really haven’t had to do much for myself now that I think about it, but I think I could adapt. I would probably just break into Jerry’s across the street and take as much as I could fit in the car. I also would not like it very much, that things like money have no worth any more. Saving up for your entire life just for this? I would probably be mad at that. After some period of time though, I would probably get very lonely and go insane, and I would probably drive somewhere with the gas left in my mom or dads old car. When I ran out of gas, I would probably just sit there and think, why was I the only one that survived? I would wonder if there were any other people out there like me, and I would just try to live another day to find them and figure out what went wrong the day of the apocalypse.

behind neighbors

Just about a week ago, I was "between a rock and a hard place". I was playing catch with my brother in my backyard, and punted the ball over the fence into my behind neighbor’s yard. Now, you’re probably thinking no big deal, just go get it. Well, these people are scary. It is the real life Sandlot. There have been many frightening incidents in the past, one involving me and 2 friends being adventurous and trying to “spy” on a little party they were having. Well, let’s just say it ended up with a fire cracker, a fake bb gun, and me falling off the ladder and running away half laughing half being scared beyond belief. Even though I know they would never intentionally hurt us, they are pretty intimidating, with their rather odd characters that come and go from their property every day, to the 4 vicious (I’m sure their not as bad as my imagination has made them out to be after all of these years) dogs that bark constantly at us while we are outside. Anyways, my brother really needed that ball for recess, and I needed to jump over and get it. I guess I should have just gone over to their doorbell, but I don’t think they like me very much. So I crept through some yards to get to the side of their fence, and I jumped over. When I was in, everything just turns on and you get the feeling of being like a Marine. I ran at the ball and as I was running, guess what, the dogs came out. I luckily jumped over the fence fast before they could maul (probably just sniff) me. I skinned my knees jumping over, because I don’t have the biggest hops, but I got the ball back and I think I probably should have just asked them for the ball, because they probably aren’t as bad as I think they are.

High Heat

Last year, I read the book High Heat, by Carl Deuker. This book is about a kid my age who is a talented pitcher for his high school baseball team. When his dad, owner of a big company, gets busted for fraud ends up committing suicide, Shane (main character) loses all of his old riches, including his house and nice private school. He moves to a poor part of town, to a poor school, where he wonders if he even wants to play baseball again. He ends up playing, but he gets very annoyed at the kid who moved in to his old huge house. This kid also took his spot on his old baseball team, and is now their star player. This makes Shane very jealous. In a game against his old school, he beans this kid right in the head with a fastball, causing a serious injury to the kid and to both his and Shane’s potential scholarships. I have been jealous of many people before and what I do is I usually try to forget about the “cool stuff” or anything that the person has, and just be happy with what I have. It’s not getting what you want, its wanting what you’ve got, and I learned that sometimes the people that you are jealous of, also may be jealous of you. I would just try to be satisfied with what I have because if you are never satisfied, then why even try to be happy in the first place?

EFST and AP STATS

This year I am in a class that is technically called EFST, or Enriched Functions, Statistics and Trigonometry. For the enriched part, though, we are doing a whole new course basically, studying from a new book, and taking special AP quizzes and tests. Here's the problem though. We take basically a whole AP Stats course this year and get no credit for it. The quizzes and tests say AP right on them. We're taking the whole course, but getting no credit. The tests are harder than usual. They are timed and consist of weird grading styles. Four points for correct, zero for no answer, and minus one fourth if we get one wrong. It is truly unfair, because we don’t get the AP grading scale. I am almost at a C+ in that class, and I should be at somewhere like a B+. I am pretty angry because we are doing something that takes a lot more hard work, and a lot more studying, and not getting the benefits (AP grading scale) or the proper credit we deserve. I think that we should get proper recognition for what we are doing instead of just acting like it is a normal class.

Hero

A hero to me is someone who deliberately goes out of his or her way to help someone other than themselves. I think that soldiers are a great example of heroes because they go out into harms way to fight for all of the freedoms that we have right here today. This is why superheroes are called superheroes. They devote their lives to fighting crime and helping other people, and they rightfully earn the title of a hero. If superheroes were real than the world would be a much better place. I do not think that an American Idol contestant is a hero because they are doing it for themselves to make money and I don’t think that it helps other people. A presidential candidate could technically be called a hero because they appear like they want to help everyone else, but, as Machiavelli said in The Prince, a good leader must lie to the nation, and you never do know what is going on in politician's heads. A real hero is someone who can stand up for someone in a time of trouble, and go out of their way to help them. If you are someone who has gone out of your way to help someone, then you are a hero.

All I Needed to Know I Learned from The Office

Everything I needed to know I learned from The Office. The Office helped me learn three things; to never give up, to be yourself, and to always stay positive. I learned to never give up because Jim never gives up on Pam, and now they are engaged. From the start, Jim liked Pam, but she denied him twice. He soon transferred away from the Scranton branch to the Stamford branch but came back and asked her out again, and that time she said yes. I also learned to be yourself, because the people on The Office are all unique and have their own personalities. I learned that you should never be afraid of expressing your ideas, even when your boss is an idiot. Another thing I learned was to always stay positive, no matter what the situation. I learned this from the episode, "A Benihana Christmas" when Michael's girlfriend breaks up with him, He soon forgets it though, when they go to Benihana and have a good time, picking up the waitresses and inviting them to the office party. He eventually got over his ex. These are all reasons why everything I needed to know I learned from The Office.

Halloween

My favorite movies are probably all of the Halloweens in the movie series. There are 8 total, with a new remake that came out in 2007. They are about an indestructible evil killer, Michael Myers, who roams around killing people on Halloween night. The first Halloween came out in 1978. They are my favorite movies because they have great cinematic effects. They show the movie from different perspectives, sometimes just classic camera angles, and sometimes the camera is supposed to be what the killer sees, and you are in the head of Michael Myers. Also, during intense scenes, they switch up the camera angles fast and make the shot shaky for effect. They also use the darkness and shadows very cleverly. For example, one scene in Halloween 4, a guard is sitting in his rocking chair and in the background is an open door, and you can see nothing but the mask of Michael Myers, looking right at the man from the background. Another thing that helps people remember the movies is the scary but simple Halloween theme song. It was written by the director himself. These movies also have a very interesting and complicated plotline that goes through all 8 movies in order. The Halloween series are classics and use a very clever style while bringing fright to millions.

Inanimate Object

If I could compare myself to an inanimate object it would have to be a set of stairs. I am like a set of stairs because just like there are steps to the top on stairs, I complete any task because I organize my task into steps. This helps my mind become less cluttered and I finish my task more easily. For example, when I do my homework every night, I organize my tasks into steps like this:

1: Math

2: AP Euro

3: English

4: Spanish

5: Chemistry

6: Band practice.

This way helps me a lot. You see, if you just think in your head about what you have to do, and not what you are going to do first and at what time, then your mind becomes unorganized and you cannot complete your goal as easily or fast. Usually, when I write down my homework step by step with the times, I don’t get off track as easily and I complete my homework faster and better. If you do your homework by just thinking about what you haven’t done yet, than you jumble up your tasks and are unorganized. I am like stairs because I can do tasks step by step.

Procrastination

I have a problem with procrastination. I just can't seem to do my homework until later in the night. I just don’t have an interest in my homework and I cant seem to get on top of it and do it earlier. It relieves a lot of stress to do your homework ahead of time, so you don’t have it hanging over your head the whole day. When I do this, I feel a lot better, but my procrastination problem seems to be getting worse the past few days. I remember when I was in sixth grade, and I would be excited to do my homework every night and I would do it right away and have lots of time after. This is how I want it to be now, but I just cant because I have lost interest in most of my homework. Procrastination can affect your life a lot. You can lose sleep over it, if you don’t get something done on time, and if you have a more serious case, your grades can slip heavily. I don’t have this serious of a case, but I still notice that I procrastinate from time to time. I'm working on getting better though, and hopefully by the end of the year I will be doing my homework right after school.

The Office

If you know me, you know that I am a very big fan of the office. It is my favorite show because it combines hilarious humor with an interesting storyline. I am so big of a fan, that I know things about the show that not many others do, like every characters names, even the ones in the background, such as Luanne, who is seen from time to time in the office. Season 1 of The Office began on March 24, 2005 on NBC. It is based on the BBC series created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, and developed for American television by Greg Daniels. The show still runs today, with four seasons finished and 65 episodes. The Office begins the fifth season on Thursday, September twenty-fifth at Eight o clock with an hour long premiere episode called Weight Loss. Weight Loss (AKA Summer) is about what happened over the eight weeks of summer in the office. Also, Dunder Mifflin weight loss initiative causes the branch to diet and become obsessed with their weight, while Michael pursues a friendship with his new HR rep, Holly. Also, Jim misses Pam who attends art school in New York, and last but not least Dwight, Andy, and Angela attend to unfinished business (love triangle).

JohnTHOUGHTS

A Journey I Intend to Take

I intend to take a journey learning new languages. I have always been interested in speaking a different language. In school, I take spanish, and I intend to take spanish all the way through college.
I want to learn different languages because I would like to travel to many different countries. I am very interested in experiencing foreign culture. I went to Germany, Austria, France, Luxembourg, and Belgium over the summer and got to experience peoples lifestyles there. By learning a new language, I could communicate to people all over the world, and get a feel for their different cultures. The world is so diverse and full of excitement that if we don't explore, we will not know what we are missing. Also, If you want to explore, you should learn new languages so that you can communicate with the people who live in the places you visit.
In my life, I want to go to every continent on earth. I also want to learn new languages so that I can get the most out of my experiences in these unique places.

JohnTHOUGHTS

Blog Expectations

My name is John. this is my super cool blog, which i wil pesonalize and make my own (but not post pics of myself on or use my last name on). I will always use appropriate language on my school blog and follow the conventions of the english language.
The expectation for this assignment is that i post on my blog once a week for the remainder of the school year. I am expected to comment on text that i am viewing in the world around me. These might include, but are not limited to: books, magazines ,movies , internet articles, television shows, trips to museums, etc.
Each post should be at least 200 words. Each weekly post is due by 8 am on that Wednesday. Therefore, Q1 due dates are 9/17, 9/24, 10/1, 10/8, 10/15, 10/22, and 10/29. Taht makes for a total of 7 posts this first quarter. I understand that blogs are worth 100 points each quarter and are graded holistically (meaning theres no specific grading rubric). I also understand that blogging is a significant component of my quarter grade. By the way, what i have just typed is only 196 words! Now it is 200!