9

9
PG-13, 79 min.
BLOGGERS OPIONION: This is no shocker that this is a Tim Burton film. Produced by Tim Burton, Timur Bekmambetov, Jim Lemley and directed by Shane Acker; this movie is just another 1 of Tim’s amazing masterpieces. The movie was based off of Shane Ackers short “9” that was released in 2005. The short was nominated for an Academy Award for Animated Short Film. It lost, but many out there ranked it their #1 favorite short. This movie is full of suspense and action. It’s so easy to see that Tim Burton was a part of this film. The cast was perfect. It’s hard to think that anyone else could play the roles in this film. There were too many familiar faces in this movie. For instance Elijah Wood (9), Crispin Glover (6), Jennifer Connelly (7), and many others. This movie was unbelievable. The plot was simple to understand, the movie didn’t drag, and the scenes were fantastic! Also the robotic monsters in hear were very fascinating and frightening!

SCALE FROM F – A+: Believe it or not I would have to give it an A. Yes the movie was incredible but I thought the film could be just a bit longer and there could be maybe a bit more monsters involved. There was only about 4 monsters plus the “creator” of them all. But I think overall “9” is a must see movie! (It’s in stores on DVD and Blue-Ray)

For previews, trailers and info about "9" vistit this website listed below. http://www.filminfocus.com/focusfeatures/film/9/

Avatar

Avatar
PG-13, 162 min.

BLOGGERS OPPINION: Avatar is the Blockbuster that we have been waiting for since the “Titanic” came out. Directed by James Cameron, this movie is probably 1 of the best movies of the year. It took about 12 years for the movie to be complete and won a Golden Globe for best movie. The casting was incredible. There were a few new faces like Sam Worthington’s (Jake Sully); but there were a few familiar ones like Sigourney Weaver (Dr. Grace Augustine) from “Aliens” and Zoe Saldana (Neytiri) from “Star Trek” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl”. The animation was beyond INCREADABLE! Never have I seen a movie that you actually felt you were a part of it. The part that mostly caught my eye though was the suspenseful battle scene. You never know what to expect from Cameron and I have to say, these scenes were no exception.

PLOT: Its starts off with an ex- Marine (Jake Sully) who is assigned to a moon called Pandora. His mission is to help pry a natural resource from the Na’vi tribe. Everything goes as planned until he finds himself falling in love with his guide, Neytiri. Everything changes when his Marine friends find out his secrets.

SCALE FROM F - A+: I would give this movie an A+. I couldn’t really find 1 bad part about it. This is 1 of Cameron’s best movies yet! If you haven’t seen this widespread phenomenon, you are missing out on something good!

First semester portfolio- piece I’d like to revise

One of the pieces I would like to revise would be my cause-effect essay. It was about the day my dog knocked out my 2 front teeth. She jumped over a vacume while my head was hanging over the couch. The idea came to mind when I was thinking of the title of the essay and I looked at my dog and it just came to mind. One of the reasons I didn’t like it was because the topic wasn’t the best. It was difficult for me to write about the effects and the causes were because I had never before thought of the causes and effects of that story. Also the introduction was short and the conclusion didn’t make much sense. There were a few points in the story that were good but most of it was pathetic. The absolute problem with the whole story was that there was not enough events to fit into four paragraphs.



A real knock out!
Vroom! Vroom! The vacuum cleaner whooshed out and in, out and in as my dad was cleaning our living room. He smiled at me while I barked and jumped higher than the moon on my couch. My dog was scared out of her wit, like she always was when we vacuumed.
She was trying to doge the vacuum again. As a result of her dodging the vacuum, I got this wild idea that I as braver than her. My 6-year old imagination took over my logic as I started to bark furiously at the vacuum. "She’s such a scaredy cat!"I yelled at my dad over the vacuum. The vacuum swung near the piano, around the chair, and under the couch. At this time my dog’s tail was between her hind legs. Still believing that I was better than her, my head was hanging over the side of the couch.
I held my head up high and started to bark even louder. Suddenly out of the blue, Sissy jumped over the vacuum. Because she jumped over the vacuum, she hit my chin. It was so hard that you could hear my bottom jaw knock my top jaw. Consequently when she hit my chin, my two front teeth were knocked out. The worst part was that they were not ready to come out, so you can imagine the surge of pain that I felt. As a result, I started to cry.
Six months passed and my teeth still didn’t grow back. At Christmas time brother teased me saying "All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth!" It really got on my nerves! My parents were getting worried, as was I. We went to the dentist which made me worry even more. When we told them the whole story, they mentioned "fake teeth". At this point I was completely terrified. The thought of fake teeth was crazy. About a month before our scheduled appointment, both of my sharp white teeth started to tear through my pink gums.
Although my teeth did grow back, it was a terribly long process to get them back. Since the day I lost my teeth, I've never been able to lean over when my dad is vacuuming again! But although I’ve tried to avoid being hit in the chin again, Sissy always manages to hit it again. It (in some weird way) actually taught me to be patient which I am terrible at. I now know that nothing can come back when you want it to. It takes time. All in all, I got my teeth back, and they’re healthier than ever!

First semester portfolio- favorite piece

My favorite piece that I created was a poem. This poem basically reflects on the ups and downs of life. You know that in life there are ups and downs. This poem is about that, but not entirely. When you read this, there is a part that is about a fork in the path. In this part, the character has a decision to make. It’s not one of those decisions where you have to choose whether you want ice cream of cake. It’s a tough decision that could change a person’s outlook on life (not try to be dramatic or anything to that degree). It could be whether to accept that cigarette that his/her friend gave them. Or whether to let go of a friend. Whatever the reason is they always find that voice. It might be a friend, or maybe it’s yours. Whoever it is be sure to listen. I like it because is like a reflection of my life as well as many others. It just makes you stop and think of if this is your life or not. The idea came to me when I was thinking about
the beginning of the year when our teacher read a poem to us. It was about a girl and her difficulties in life. She also took a path that was bumpy. Here is my poem. I hope you enjoy it. :)

I am the wander
I take this path, you see
I have taken this path all my life
I do not know where I will end
All I know is that the journey is long and tiring
I have full belief in this path, which is my life
It is sunny here and bright
The trees are alive full of happiness and wonder
They stand tall as if they were the mightiest king ruling a region
The flowers greet me with a happy wave of joy
They do not speak but I can sense them talking with the trees
Saying things that no one can understand except for them
The creatures sing a song as a walk right past them
They talk more than they frolic
They jump around my feet but I don’t notice
For my concentration is on something much bigger

There is a fork in my path
A small spacing that separates me from my palace of everlasting joy
I stop and stare at the unfamiliar gap for many seconds
In those seconds I see my life flash before
All the nightmares that were hidden when walking on my path
Seemed to appear when I walk to this strange fork
My curiosity is now running wild like a mustang on an open prairie
I wish so dearly to take the risk but there is a fear deep in my heart that resists the urge
Unexpectedly my curiosity takes the best of me and I have no choice but to take the path

I am a wanderer
I take this path, you see
I have taken this path all my life
I do not know where I will end
All I know is that the journey is long and tiring
My courage and faith in this path fades quickly
It is dark and cold here
The trees are bare and lifeless
And the animals that scurry do not sing but hiss
They hiss terrible things that deal with the horrid side of my past
The road is narrow and rocky
I cannot go back and there is no short-cut
I fear that this choice is one that I will regret
But I must take the path
I walk with nothing but what little belief is left in my bones
Every corner that I turn only leads to a narrower and darker place
I eventually stop and sit on a log
“Where am I”, I whisper to myself
“What is this path making me become?”
“It is not the path’s doing”, says a voice from the distance
but the wanderers.”
“Who are you and how am I supposed to get out of here?” I said in a panicky voice
He chuckled softly
“Trust yourself and you will see that you are destined to be on the path that you are taking.”
“I don’t understand” I said to him
“Trust yourself” said the voice as it drifted off into the distance
I sighed and gave a hopeless look
Then after a few moments I realized what he had said to me
I started to think about the happiest moments of my life
As I thought a light shined dimly in the distance
I stood up and started toward it slowly

I am the wander
I take this path, you see
I have taken this path all my life
I do not know where I will end
All I know is that the journey is not yet over
There is just more “forks” waiting for me
But with my faith in this path
I will conquer them all

First semester reflection

Language arts have thought me much this year. I’ve learned things that I hadn’t even heard of before. For instance an AWUBIS is a new type of grammar that I’ve used, but I just didn’t know I was. AWUBIS’ have really improved my writing. I think using those when I write a sentence and it’s so………blah. I’ve also learned many new smiley tricks like imagery, magic 3’s, dialogue, similes and metaphors, etc. Those have also improved my writing.

There were so many prefixes and suffixes. We learned (probably) them all. I like when we are taught all of them because I feel like it gives you a choice of what you can use for words when you write. Choosing a word when writing is 1 of the most important things to do. That’s why I like this class. One of the things that I’ve learned about myself is that I’m a better writer then I tough. No, I don’t think I’m the best; it’s just that my writing has definitely improved.

In this second semester, I think in order to succeed I should practice writing more often. As they say “practice makes perfect” and this is no exception. If I want to become a journalist when I get older (which I might) I must keep continuing my work. Although, I could never be a good writer without the help from my teachers.