Saturday, March 30, 2013

In Procrastination, There is light....er...Fire

While procrastinating on my lit. analysis, I made this:



Quote of the Day March 30

Life is a succession of moments, to live each one is to succeed.   -Corita Kent

Back of my Mind

I completely forgot about the lit analysis.....I promise it will be out by tonight or tomorrow morning!

Friday, March 29, 2013

People Are Confusing

Senior ditch day is this day...No, it's that day...I heard it was in two weeks...Nope, tomorrow...God.....please...figure it out

Quote of the Day March 29

Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.   -Joseph Addison

Spring Break!!!

And how do I spend it?  By doing absolutely nothing

Quote of the Day March 28

The things we know best are the things we haven't been taught.   -Luc de Clapiers

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

One Small Step For Mankind....


Steps to Become A Certified Skydiver


The Elite Few...


I Just Fell For This Opportunity


Lit circles AP-style

My group members are:
Alex Lane
Sarah Gutierrez

Now, In Nylanders, We decided to give each other nicknames for whenever we did a group project:

Alexander Lane, The Celebrated
Sarah Gutierrez, The Krono Criminal
Josh Montero,  The Golden Scribe

We are going to read/analyze The Life Of Pi over the next two weeks



Quote of the Day March 26

An effort made for the happiness of others lifts above ourselves.   -Lydia M. Child

I Feel Special

I started my blog oh so long ago.  It started with a simple get the assignment done and quote of the day.  It has grown so much more than that now.  I am starting to see "_______ of the day"s around on other people's blogs.  Even if I didn't have a part in deciding whether or not to publish those on the blogs, I do feel like I am the main factor of why they want to now.

Monday, March 25, 2013

Film Haiku Example

Film Haiku?

I was wandering around the internets when I heard someone suggest this:

A film version of a haiku

1   5-second shot
1   7-second shot
1   5-second shot

That is 17 seconds to tell your story

Right up my alley!

Water Wise Results!


One of my contests came back!  I won something!  Woo!


An Amazing Office Escape

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rgox84KE7iY

(Didn't want the thumbnail on my blog)

Out with the old, In with the new


Here is the old Musical

I see the mistakes (a lot!)

I plan to make the next one 100 times better!

Quote of the Day March 25

Expect problems and eat them for breakfast.   -Alfred A. Montapert

I see a Competition Coming Along

Preston is stepping up his game.  I can match that!

Sunday, March 24, 2013

AP Resources

1. http://www.collegeboard.org/
-The first has got to be college board.  They hand out all the AP tests.

2. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/class-struggle/post/ap-good-for-high-school-bad-for-college/2013/03/19/37a1e4e8-90ee-11e2-9cfd-36d6c9b5d7ad_blog.html
-Not much of a resource.  More of an argument for the good/bad sides of AP tests

3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Placement_English_Literature_and_Composition
-The wiki has a page for the course we are taking...

4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Placement
-...As well as for all the tests

5. http://www.appracticeexams.com/ap-english-literature - 
-Great AP resource for practice tests

6. http://quizlet.com/subject/ap-english-language/

-A study guide created on quizlet

Quote of the Day March 24

The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life.   -William Morris

Skydiving Video!


My Skydive!


Sky Diving!

I got to go skydiving!  Sadly, they wouldn't even allow me to bring my gopro, let alone write an essay











Saturday, March 23, 2013

Quote of the Day March 23

If you want a quality, act as if you already had it.   -William James

Quote of the Day March 22

Life will always be to a large extent what we ourselves make it.   -Samuel Smiles

Sorry

Sorry I didn't post yesterday.  I had to put my dog down due to various complications with his health.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Fortune #4

Now is the time to set your sights high and "go for it"

Lucky Numbers: 01, 04, 08, 09, 16, 26

Quote of the Day March 21

Only passions, great passions can elevate the soul to great things.   -Denis Diderot

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

BNW Essay Draft 2

Alienation in literature is key to bring out the morals in a particular society.  Being alienated serves two purposes, it allows for society to continue to be normal and allows all the "wrongs" in the society to be corrected.  By choosing someone as a scapegoat, or alienating, society reveals its morals and assumptions on topics.

The purpose of alienation is to bring out the negative effects society doesn't want.  Take Bernard for example, He is a little on the strange side.  Seeing this, and it not being normal, makes society push him away.  Just the process of being alienated reveals a lot about a society.  It can reveal what is wrong about a certain item and why that item is bad.  Being judged can tell a lot about the person (novel) doing the judging.

Another point about alienation is how a person out of the circle can see how leadership affects the members. Using John as an example, he sees how controlling the government is, just by the simple administering of soma.  It is usually the outsider who sees all the cracks in the system.  Alienation was the prime way of seeing these cracks and questing to mend them.

The reason characters are alienated is to show the wrongs society has committed.  Especially in literature, a different point of view changes everything.  Does the color look different to two different people?  At times, alienation of a character is the only way to bring out the hidden characteristics of others.


BNW Essay Prewrite 2


SKYDIVING

For my 18th birthday, my parents got me a gift card to go skydiving.  I just called the place and I got booked to go this Sunday! Stoked!!!  Been waiting for this for a long time!

Fortune #3

Stick to things as they are, distrust novelties

Lucky Numbers: 16, 24, 28, 30, 35, 41

Fortune #2

You desire to discover new frontiers

Lucky Numbers: 01, 13,14, 33, 40, 42

Quote of the Day March 20

Never was anything great achieved without danger.   -Niccolo Machiavelli

BNW Essay Draft 1

Writers often highlight the values of a culture or a society by using
characters who are alienated from that culture or society because of gender,
race, class, or creed. Choose a play or novel (BRAVE NEW WORLD)

in which such a character plays a significant role, and show how that 
character’s alienation reveals the surrounding society’s assumptions and 
moral values. 


Prewrite:

John ----> How the citizens are being controlled by the government

        ----> How unnatural this whole utopia really is

Bernard -> How people who are different are outcasts
             -> How judgmental the society really is

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Fortune #1

You will have Gold Pieces by the bushel

Lucky Numbers: 12, 21, 22, 25, 28, 44

Look Who Is Going Skydiving!


Maybe...just maybe...Still deciding if I want to write an essay....I might have to do two or three jumps before they let me do it though

I'm 18...Woah....

I had forgotten all the benefits that come with being 18. A family friend got me a whole bunch of scratchers and I was genuinely surprised. I can vote now! So many things! Open! Ready for me!

Quote of the Day March 19

I don't measure a man's success by how high he climbs but how high he bounces when he hits bottom. -George S. Patton

Monday, March 18, 2013

A Single Button

Brave New World (18)

-John stays behind to live in a lighthouse
-Reporters keep coming to interview him.  John wants silence so he uses violence to force them away.  The violence attracts more reporters.  Recycles.
-Orgy happens.
-John wakes up, decides he can't live with himself anymore, and hangs himself.

Brave New World (17)

Mond shows John all of the banned religious writings.
John questions and protests hiding the writings from the public.
Everything would be fine and dandy with the texts around.
John wants God

Brave New World (16)

-They arrive in Mond's office.
-Shakespeare, recently found out by John, is a forbidden text.
-Soma is creating monstrous and repulsive human beings in John's eyes.
-Science is suppressing people instead of aiding them.
-All three of them are exiled

Brave New World (15)

John encounters more and more deltas and begs them not to take any more soma rations
"BRAVE NEW WORLD" -John
Deltas get mad at John when John throws the soma out the window
Police arrive after a brawl is started.
After soma vapor, the Deltas become extremely passionate towards each other.
Bernard, Helmholtz, and John go with the police quietly.

Brave New World (14)

John's mother dies.
He has to sit at her side as she doesn't even recognize her own boy.
All she can say is Pope and some of her hypnotically phrases.
John tries to get help but she dies too fast.
John runs out of the room.

Brave New World (13)

-Lenina really really REALLY wants to sleep with a savage.  One particular savage.  John.
-Lenina confronts John but is horrified when he talks of growing old with her.  After all, she only wanted to sleep with him.
-Removing her own clothes, John is disgusted.  He slaps her and calls her a whore.  She locks herself in the bathroom while John gets a phone call and leaves the apartment.

What.

I turn 18 tomorrow.  Where has time gone?

Quote of the Day March 18

Life is a series of collisions with the future;   it is not the sum of what we have been,   but what we yearn to be.   -Jose Ortega y Gasset

Sunday, March 17, 2013

St. Patty's Day

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick's_Day

Go Wiki it up!

Quote of the Day March 17

Our prayers should be for blessings in general, for God knows best what is good for us.   -Socrates

I'm READY

I have been waiting for this ride for 6 months!  BRING IT ON





End product should look like:


Quote of the Day March 16

Wonder rather than doubt is the root of all knowledge.   -Abraham Joshua Heschel

Should of posted this awhile ago...

BEWARE THE IDES OF MARCH

Friday, March 15, 2013

THINGS!!!

Oh the things you can get done at 1 in the morning!  Late (Early?) = Productive

Brave New World (12)

-John arranges for people to meet John but John won't come out of his room
-Lenina is saddened by John's dissappearence
-The story of Romeo and Juliet is found hilarious by Helmhotlz

Brave New World (11)

-The Director resigns
-Linda takes soma almost immediatly
-John is popular among the other workers
-John finds millions of identical workers sickening
-Sexy time between Lenina and John is denied by John

Brave New World (10)

-The Director plans to transfer Benard to Iceland
-As the Director tells him the news, Linda and John walk into the room
-The workers around them fall silent as John falls at his father's feet
-The Director rushes out of the room

Brave New World (9)

-Lenina is discusted by the reservation.  She goes home and takes a crap load of soma
-Bernard gets the necessary paperwork together to get John and Linda out of the reservation
-John fears that Benard left him so he brakes into the cabin Benard had been staying at.  He finds Lenina but is scared off by Benard's helicopter before he can do anything

Quote of the Day March 15

Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.   -Soren Kierkegaard

Thursday, March 14, 2013

PI DAY

Guess who is having Pi(e) tonight!





Quote of the Day March 14

In order to succeed, we must first believe that we can.   -Nikos Kazantzakis

Quote of the Day March 13

I look back on my life like a good day's work, it was done and I am satisfied with it.   -Grandma Moses

Ideas in! Pen at the Ready!

Got five more ideas for Sphinx Challenges!  Starting to seem more like torture than an essay writing session...

Quote of the Day March 12

Perhaps I am stronger than I think.   -Thomas Merton

Monday, March 11, 2013

What is the Next Big Thing?

I need another idea for hacking Sphinx.  Hmmmmmmmm   (Insert Evil Laughter)

An Underwater Essay Expirence



Sorry if you can't read it.  As you may of guessed, it is kinda hard to write underwater.  Kudos to Pablo!

The Toughest Tongue Twister

The sixth sick sheikh's sixth sheep's sick  -  Rumored to be the toughest one in the English language

Preston Says

"I want to drive the family car, so keep driving the family car so I can keep telling you how much I want to drive the family car."  -Preston while referring to Students wanting to hack the course

Quote of the Day March 11

I make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes.   -Sara Teasdale

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Musical In Action

I just need to plan a time for the Musical sound recording to take place and we will be set to go.  I'm really really REALLY excited for this one!

Sphinx Challenge 2 - Underwater



Underwater was the next step we took.  What can we do next???

Quote of the Day March 10

The first duty of love is to listen.   -Paul Tillich

Quote of the Day March 9

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.   -William Butler Yeats

Almost There!

My goal is to double the amount of posts Preston has on his main blog.  200 more posts, HERE I COME

Quote of the Day March 8

Where we love is home - home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.   -Oliver Wendell Holmes

Videos, videos, videos...

It seems that I get up, go to school, come home and work on videos.  Every. Single. Day.   This is the ideal lifestyle!  :D  I want to do this for the rest of my life!

Quote of the Day March 7

Forgotten is forgiven.   -F. Scott Fitzgerald

Thursday, March 7, 2013

March Lit. Analysis Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe


I choose this short story because I am currently working on a film based around it.  I found it quite interesting to try to adapt a film from this story.

GENERAL
1. Briefly summarize the plot of the novel you read, and explain how the narrative fulfills the author's purpose (based on your well-informed interpretation of same).
The narrator is bothered by this eye.  Not just any eye, but the big blue eye of the old man.  He watches it for a week and then decides the old man has got to go, the eye is bothering the narrator too much.  He kills the man and hides his body under the floor boards.  Following noise complaints, the police show up.  The narrator gives them a tour of the home but begins to hear a quiet heartbeat.  They eventually end up in the old man's room.  The heartbeat gets louder and louder until the narrator can't stand it anymore.  He breaks and confesses to the crime, yelling at the policemen to pull up the floorboards.  Poe does an excellent job at fulfilling his purpose.

2. Succinctly describe the theme of the novel. Avoid cliches.
Guilt overpowers bad deeds.  The guilt was too strong for the narrator to keep it hidden from the police.  You WILL feel bad for things you do, sometimes stronger than you can handle.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Brave New World (8)


-John tells Bernard about "the other place"
  • Felt rejected; Mom slept with too many men
  • Village never really accepted him
-Mescal become an addiction to Linda
-Linda taught John everything
-John decides to go with Bernard back to London
-John brings along Linda
-Bernard tells John to not get entangled with the Utopian world

Lit Analysis #2 Robinson Crusoe


GENERAL
1. Briefly summarize the plot of the novel you read, and explain how the narrative fulfills the author's purpose (based on your well-informed interpretation of same).
How brief? Robinson Crusoe is born into a wealthy family, wants to sail.  Becomes a wealthy merchant but then is capture by pirates.  He escapes, raises a successful plantation in Brazil and tries to sail back to his home in England.  A storm ship wrecks him and he is stuck on a deserted island.  Robinson sticks it out for a couple years, gathering supplies and saving others from cannibals.  He is given the chance to go home and takes it.  His plantation was successful the 20 something years he was shipwrecked and obtains a small fortune.  The author did a superb job of getting the purpose across.

2. Succinctly describe the theme of the novel. Avoid cliches.
The importance of Self-Awareness.  He notices his bad condition and acts upon it.  His calendar not only counts the days passed but also the days spent on the island.  He is careful not to lose his own consciousness.
 
3. Describe the author's tone. Include a minimum of three excerpts that illustrate your point(s).
The whole story is basically an autobiography.  It is the story of Robinson's sins and repenting. 

4. Describe a minimum of ten literary elements/techniques you observed that strengthened your understanding of the author's purpose, the text's theme and/or your sense of the tone. For each, please include textual support to help illustrate the point for your readers. (Please include edition and page numbers for easy reference.)
-Symbolism-The island Crusoe shipwrecked on is life.  We barley survive but can escape to a better land (wealthy/happy) if we try-
-Dialogue-Simple enough-
-Syntax-Do I really need to go in depth
-Diction-See above
-Allusion-The bible appears in many sections of the story.  Why is it there? (see tone)
-Motif-Counting, eating, conflict at sea
-Imagery-The novel is filled to the brim with mind pictures
-Irony-I don't know.  I find it kind of funny when a Sailor is ship wrecked.  Aren't they supposed to be better at steering a ship then the average joe?

CHARACTERIZATION 
1. Describe two examples of direct characterization and two examples of indirect characterization.  Why does the author use both approaches, and to what end (i.e., what is your lasting impression of the character as a result)?
Not really any direct characterization as the story is told through Crusoe.  Any description is in Crusoe's eyes.

2. Does the author's syntax and/or diction change when s/he focuses on character?  How?  Example(s)?
Nope, not at all.  The story is based on Crusoe and doesn't deviate.

3. Is the protagonist static or dynamic?  Flat or round?  Explain.
Robinson is a dynamic character.  He changes from a wealthy merchant to a low life stuck on an island, effectively getting both sides of the spectrum.  He is well rounded with his characteristics.

4. After reading the book did you come away feeling like you'd met a person or read a character?  Analyze one textual example that illustrates your reaction.
Nope, never.

Look What I Found

I was looking through my computer for a video and I found a folder called Rules For Life.  I didn't remember making it so I opened it...

Rules
#1 Full time vegetarian    No Exceptions
#2 No candy or soda
#3 no going out with people during school
#4 Never give up on my movies    Try to make each one the best               it can be

This is what I found inside.  I had to have made it in the last year since I have been a vegetarian for a little less than a year...

Jeez...Looking back..I have failed each rule except the vegetarian one... That really disappoints me that I couldn't live up to my own expectations.

Quote of the Day March 6


If thou must love me, let it be for naught except for love's sake only.   -Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Post 300!

Now I need to double Preston's post count!

Brave New World (7)


  • Lenina complaining about the reservation isn't just normal aversion to nature, it's the hypnopaedic conditioning at work
    • "I wish we could have brought the plane"
    • Emphasis on consumerism, like with their equipment dependent sports
    • "Yes, and civilization is sterilization"
      • Bernard obviously does not mean this in a positive sense
  • Bernard goes out of his way to make controversial statements
  • Lenina finds the "remorseless persistence of the drums" appealing, why?
    • Drum beats provide structure and order through repetition, much like the BNW
  • The ritual Bernard and Lenina witness is traumatic even by today's standards
    • Represents the polar opposite of life in the BNW
      • deliberate self-punishment, rather than forced self-indulgence
  • Linda is an interesting character
    • Even after all those years, she still retains habits from the BNW
      • Testament to the power of conditioning?  Or is it natural to cling to the beliefs one had when growing up?

Wow...

I read those chapters twice...and failed that quiz...

I need to pay attention to details...

Quote of the Day March 5

Change your life today.   Don't gamble on the future, act now, without delay.   -Simone de Beauvoir

Monday, March 4, 2013

Active Reading Notes BNW (4/5/6)

-Benito Hoover is just TOO DAMN HAIRY
-Lenina and Benard want to go to New Mexico
-A small simian creature operates lift?
ROOF ROOF ROOF
Tsk Tsk Red Rocket... Why are you seven minutes behind time?
Hypnopaedia works...FOR LIFE
I'm glad I am not a Gamma -Lenina
This place seems very odd for a Utopia....I am skeptical of the actions of some of the characters
Everything is built for efficiency
"All men are physico-chemically equal" -Henry
Be glad for who you are

Soma is my Anti-Drug

FORD IS GOD

T   TTT   TT  The model T

Benard and Lenina decide against New Mexico and instead go to a Woman's Heavyweight Wrestling Tournament
Benard stops the helicopter above the channel and Lenina starts crying.  She feels appalled by the rushing emptiness
I find it VERY weird that it is now socially acceptable to go around fondling breasts....
Blame it on the alcohol again...Lenina...why?

New Mexico?  Again?  Or did it ever go away?
Director threatens Benard to clean up his act or be transferred to Iceland

The reservation sounds terrifying...wait...It is basically described to today's setting...
These people DEPEND on soma


A Random Quote from Axe Cop

‎"Tomorrow, we do it all again, because my job is not a day shift or a night shift. It's always shift"
-Axe Cop

Lit. Terms Test

Yea....Maybe I should of studied....I only recognized the simple examples of lit. terms.  Study?  Next time?  Probably

Bill Moyers Interviews Isaac Asimov

Answers to questions found here

1. Asimov's choice way of learning is not the most efficient but the most effective. He wants to change the classroom to better suit the student.

2. The vision doesn't necessarily have to be science fiction. The business could be biased on social trends or what will make you the most money. Rarely is it based on something just dreamed out of thin air.

3. That is freaky...But the process to it is relatively structured. Experiments and yes, a Science Fiction type goal, are what lead to us hooking brains together. The try and try again, hoping to reach that goal

Brave New World (4 and 5)


  • The name Benito Hoover, every time I look at it from a historical perspective I think of President Hoover who abandoned the people during the Great Depression. (Allusion?)
  • Rhetorical Question - "Dared he face that risk of being humiliated by a contemptuous refusal?"
  • Vernacular - "Delta-Minus" is a common term used by people in a like class to Bernard Marx (Last name historic reference to Marxism)
  • Allusion - Fleet Street is a real street in London
  • Characterization - of Helmholtz Watson (Sherlock Holmes best mate)being really attractive and not unlike Bernard Marx in the smarts department, while also showing the effect of "mental excess" on the body for Marx

Quote of the Day March 4

Friends and manners will carry you where money won't go.   -Margaret Walker

Monday... (Morning)

Woke up and then it clicked.

HOMEWORK

F*CK

Quote of the Day March 3


Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand.   The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus.   -Alexander Graham Bell

Sunday...

Filmed a video we have been planning for weeks!  Big project, all adult actors.

Homework Status:  In a ditch

Quote of the Day March 2

From the errors of others, a wise man corrects his own.   -Publilius Syrus

Saturday...

Filmed a unexpected video, and spent the night at a friend's house.

Homework Status: Forgotten

Quote of the Day March 1

The quality of life is more important than life itself.   -Alexis Carrel

It's Friday!

Yay?? Should I be happy there is a weekend now or sad that I have a crap load of work?