Failing to explian why i like specific movies

Star Wars (All)

The Star Wars movies are probably my favorite movies of all time.  I have so many star wars things it is not even funny.  I have so many star wars action figures, video games and you get my point.  Almost every Halloween I used to dress up as some Star Wars character.  Darth Maul is one of my favorite characters.  I mean who wouldn’t like an evil guy with spikes on his head?  The clones are my other favorite characters.     

Harry Potter (All)

When I was very young my dad read the first few harry potter books to me and my sister.  Later I started reading the books on my own and I loved both the books and the movies.

Lord of the Rings (All)

A family friend got me to watch these movies and I thought they were great.

Step Brothers

I saw it for the first time at camp this summer and I thought it was very funny

James Bond (Casino Royale)

I like the action of James Bond movies and this is the only one I have seen in a Movie Theatre. 

Back to the Future (All)

This was an extremely funny movie, what else is there to say?

Rocky (All)

I have watched all (except the last) of the Rocky movies and they are very inspirational.  They show that you can be successful if you put in the effort and work very hard.

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

Pretty sure I watch this one with my sister during a really long car ride. The movie was great because it was really funny.

Bill and Ted's excellent adventure

This movie was funny and I couldn’t stop laughing

Mission Impossible (All)

The Mission Impossible movies all have a lot of great action in them.

I don't know why it is so hard to explain why i like these movies. I know it shouldn't be

hard, but for me it is

Themes of a Salesman

A major theme highlighted in Death of a Salesman is how men and women were viewed differently in society.  Women at the time had very few rights.  Men were usually well respected while women were not respected.  Men did all of the work to acquire high monetary status for their family.  The job that women had was to make life better for their husbands. 

Two themes that go hand in hand in the story of Willy Loman are time and success.  Time is never on a person’s side.  Willy Loman knew that he was old and was going to die pretty soon.  Willy wanted to die successfully which is why he worked so hard.  He felt that he failed in life because he was not successful, and he was running out of time quickly.  Willy also lived in the past and wanted ever so much to be able to go back and fix his mistakes so that success would be possible.

                Another theme that is revealed in Arthur Miller’s novel is the decision of doing things fairly or cheating.  I think of Charley and Ben representing the Angel and Devil on Willy’s shoulder respectively.  Charley and Ben were both successful businessmen however Charley did everything by the book while Ben had no problem cheating.

DOAS (1-40)

Willy tried to teach Biff and Happy that hard work is necessary to succeed.  It is not likely that a person would become successful without doing something to get that far in life.  He also taught his children by example of his brother Ben that it is also a good thing to know exactly what you want.  You have a better chance at success if you have goals and are focused on completing them.

These are two great lessons for a father to teach.  I am taught these lessons by my parents all the time.  They tell me that I need to work hard to get where I want to be.  I do not like hard work however I know I need to do it to be successful.  They also tell me that now is the time when I should be figuring out what I want to do in life.  In order to find the right college and job you must know what you like to do and what you would want to do in the future. 

In many cases when a person constantly contradicts themselves they would be thought of as a liar.  I do not believe this is the case with Willy.  Willy has trouble remembering things which is why he is so inconsistent.  Willy cannot help his contradictions.

Linda chooses to just ignore Willy’s contradictions.  I believe that this actually hurts Willy because Willy would have no other way of knowing that he contradicts himself.  On the other hand Linda should not accuse him of lying.  The best possible thing that Linda could do is to gently inform Willy of his inconsistency.

TGI - (Thursday)

Okay I need to think of what to write about for this blog.  I cannot write about movies because I have already done that before.  I am not going to write about the essay because I believe that I have already sort of done that already.  I cannot really remember many other things that we have talked about in English class this past week.  One of the reasons is that I was not in class on Thursday.  Thursday will be my Blog topic. 

Thursday was a good day for me.  It was a day 3 with period order BAEFG.  My two electives are B and F period.  I started off my day working on trying to finish up the Harry Potter board game that I wrote about a couple of Blogs ago for Graphic Communications class.  Next semester I have Computer Graphics 2 after taking Computer Graphics 1 last year.  I cannot wait for that class.  Second period as everyone knows was English.  Like a few other people in the class I was able to skip English because we had a rehearsal for the NHS induction Ceremony that was later that night.  Then I went to E period Physics with Doc Seeley.  Doc Seeley is so funny; I’ll just leave it at that.  Now it is time for my second Elective.  I have Desktop Publishing F period which is usually pretty fun.  The only problem with having F period fourth is that I have 4^th Lunch and am always hungry in the computer lab where we are not allowed to eat.  Last period (G) for me is History.  History because of Conklin is my favorite class.  I am so glad that I have Conklin this year.  I had him last year and I have him again now.  On Thursday in History I started a group project with AJ, Jake McKinnon, and Joey Salvin.  I did not have to do a huge amount of work in any of my classes on Thursday.  It was a great day. 

Thursday night was also great.  Thursday night I got inducted into National Honor Society.  It is a great honor and I hope to get involved more because of it.  When I picked my three choices for Teacher inductors I picked Conklin as my first choice and my Freshman English teacher Ms. Popp as my second.  I was a little disappointed that I did not get Conklin, but I was happy that Ms. Popp wanted to induct me.  I was afraid that I would mess up or something but everything went smoothly (at least it did for me).  Ms. Popp on the other hand had to run around the Auditorium in front of everyone after inducting me in order to induct Nick Draper.  Nick was standing on stage with nobody to induct him and the next thing you see is Ms. Popp running as fast as she could from the left side (if you’re on stage) of the Auditorium  to the right side.  That was the only thing about the ceremony that did not run smoothly.  However embarrassing it must have been for Ms. Popp and Nick, it was funny.  Mrs. Corcoran wanted us all to write thank you letters to our teacher inductors.  What better way to do that than to write a teacher appreciation letter in English class the next day.  While I was writing the letter in class I was trying to remember who I wrote it to last year.  I believe that answer was Ms. Popp.

What will my weekend be like? Just so you know, the answer is confusing :(

            So I really do not know what to write about.  Actually now I know what I am going to write about.  I will write about how I don’t know what to write about.  If that doesn’t make sense now it might just get more confusing (at least it did for me).   As a kid I always had writer’s block.  It took me hours just to think about what to write.  Then it took me the same amount of time and maybe even longer to actually write it.  Luckily my writers block is not as bad as it used to be, but I still get it sometimes.  It doesn’t help when you sort of don’t even know what you are writing about.   

           I kind of feel this way about the English paper.  I chose the third option that asks how it is possible for people to be forgiven for their sins. My original thesis (word for word was “In puritanical society, one is never completely forgiven for committing a sin; some puritans are aware of this and do not even attempt to be forgiven, while others struggle unsuccessfully to be pardoned.”  On the day that the thesis statement was due I asked Mr. Bresnick if he was going to check it. As a result I got a (probably deserved) “what are you thinking” type of look from Michelle Cueroni.  I ended up staying after class anyway to get my thesis checked. Mr. Bresnick said ya this is a great thesis; maybe just add a little bit to it.  Add a little bit?  I wish that’s what I had to do. 

I guess the rules of a thesis statement change from day to day (or Mr. Bresnick just forgot what he said the day before).  So the next day when we actually went over the thesis statements in class, everything that could possibly be wrong about my thesis statement was wrong. On this day it wasn’t disputable, specific, clear significant, or detailed.  So I kept making changes to the thesis to try and make it all five of these things.  As I kept restructuring the thesis I kept getting farther away from what I was arguing.  In one day I went from having a great thesis that needed a few additions to no thesis at all right now.  I will have a fun time trying to finish this essay, reading, and doing all my other homework (which includes a History research paper and a Math project) over the weekend.  Let’s look on the bright side; at least the blog’s done.

Killer Controversy

I feel that killing is wrong.  There is an example of a way in my mind that killing could be justified.  Self defense is the example I am thinking of.  Revenge is not a reason to kill people either, even if a loved one was killed by this person.  As Gandhi once said, “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.”  My hatred of killing is probably what makes me so upset with the United States government about getting into the war in Iraq.  I feel that people should be treated fairly and equally even if they are different than others.  They especially should not be killed for it.

There are many controversial situations where people are treated unfairly.  I feel that people should be able to immigrate from Mexico and other places without a problem.  I also feel that if immigrants were able to make it here (legally or illegally) they should be able to stay.  Many people think that illegal immigrants take away American jobs however people think wrong.  Illegal immigrants do jobs that people don’t want to take.  People also are mistaking when they say that illegal immigrants raise the crime rate in the country.  Not counting the crime of being in the country illegally, these immigrants are more likely to be more careful about what they do and are less likely to commit crimes.  It is also a common misconception that illegal immigrants don’t pay taxes.  All of these things are wrong about illegal immigrants. Another thing that is wrong is that they can be (and are) deported and even killed just because they are different than other Americans. 

Another controversial topic is homosexuality.  You do not usually hear a lot about homosexuals being killed, however it does happen.  They are still people and should be able to do what they want.  If they are happy with someone of the same sex, so be it. Personal life is called Personal life for a reason.  Why does it matter to so many people if a person is homosexual, it’s their life not yours.  The fact of the matter is that homosexual people are killed for a choice that they make.  An example of this is Matthew Shepard being killed because he was gay.   I think it is a good thing that the school is doing The Laramie Project even though it is controversial.  What happened to Shepard was not okay, however some people think it was.  I know that people are protesting The Laramie Project being put on at FHS, but I think it needs to go on.  I forget the date and time of the show, but I will definitely go.

"A short time in the future in a galaxy not so far away...."

As a result of watching The Crucible movie in English class I have been thinking a lot about movies.  I have Graphic Communications class B period.  My current project in this class is to make a board game.  I am working with three other people to create this game.  We decided to make it a game about the Harry Potter movies.  The Harry Potter books were great.  As a young kid my parents read the first few to me.  As I got older I read every single Harry Potter book.   I have also seen all of the movies that have come out.  The Harry Potter Movies in my opinion were even better than the books. 

I might need to re-watch the first few movies for the game. Our board game is kind of complicated.  It is sort of like chutes and ladders, trivia, and Life all mixed in one.  It is a four-player game with each player representing one of the four houses (Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin).  The board is supposed to represent Hogwarts.  You start at the Sorcerer’s stone and need to get to the Chamber of Secrets.  You move by rolling two dice.  Although there is a starting point and an endpoint it is not just a race to the finish.  Throughout the game there will be chances to gain or lose “house points” (represented by Monopoly Money).  The point of the game is to have the most points when you get to the Chamber of Secrets.  There are many other twists and turns but honestly I can’t remember all of them.  We will work on this for the next few classes and hopefully it will be great once it is finished.

I know up until now this blog post has pretty much been about Harry Potter, but overall it is all about movies.  My favorite movies have to be all six of the original Star Wars movies.  I can’t pick a favorite out of the six because they are all good.  I don’t even know how many Star Wars movies I own, but I own a lot of them.  My favorite characters are the Clone Troopers.  Another character that I like a lot is Darth Maul.  Supposedly all six of the Star Wars movies are going to be back in theaters soon, and this time they will be in 3D.  I can’t wait for Star Wars to be in 3D.  The Star Wars movies are great as they are but just imagine how awesome they would be in 3D.

Matt "The Situation"

Reading back through both acts 1 and 2 in The Crucible I feel that one of the most important parts is the relationship between John and Elizabeth Proctor.  I know there are a lot more important parts of the story, but I just keep coming back to this one.  When I was doing the 5 themes homework I asked myself a question.  Why do I have only one theme that can possibly be related to Parris (who I thought was the protagonist at the time) and three (I probably could have thought of more) that relate to the situation between John, Elizabeth, and Abigail? 

          I feel that it is wrong to cheat on a boyfriend or girlfriend.  I also know it can possibly be hard not to want to be with another person while you are with someone else.  I was put in a really awkward situation when I got a girlfriend at camp this summer.  There was one girl who I liked at camp.  I liked her, but I didn’t know how to go about asking her out.  One night a kid who I considered to be my best friend at the camp and one of the girls there hooked me up with a girl who I hadn’t met before (even though we were both there for 4 weeks before) and who I actually started to really like.  She was my first ever girlfriend.  Maybe ten minutes after I got hooked up with this girl, two other girls came up to me and told me that there was a girl that really liked me and they tried to force me to ask her out.  This person who really liked me just happened to be the girl who helped hook me up with my girlfriend.  The girl who liked me was a pretty good friend and we joked around all the time that we were brother and sister because we have the same last name.  I never knew that she liked me and I feel bad that I found out right after she hooked me up with another girl.  I could have just asked her out, or found a way to ask out the girl I liked from the beginning of camp, but the best option (and the one I picked) was to just stay with my girlfriend.  After camp the long-distance relationship ended up not working out.  I hate guys who break up with their girlfriend over text, but I had no other choice but to be that guy.  However the point is at camp I made the decision that I would not leave my girlfriend for someone else.

It is especially wrong if you marry that person and then you decide to cheat on them.  The whole point of a marriage is supposedly you want to be with this person for life.  If you are married and cheating then you don’t really want to be with the person you married, so why did you get married in the first place? I know that Adultery is a sin but John Proctor didn’t. Could that be considered both situational and dramatic irony?  I feel that it is definitely wrong, but I don’t believe in sins or anything remotely having to do with religion.  I’m not Atheist, because I believe God could possibly exist, but I don’t practice any religion.   

School's open for Busyness

Mr. Bresnick was not the only teacher to talk about the open house in class today.  There is something that makes this year’s open house different for me than past years.  I can actually say that I went to my own open house.  Now that I think about it, I believe elementary school open houses allowed the students to go, but the difference this year was that I did not go for myself.  I did not go to any of my classes.  I did not even go to where I was signed up to go.  This year I went for the parents and for the school. 

I volunteered after school on Thursday to help out in the hallways to show parents where to go.  Out of the places that were available to sign up for I for some reason decided to pick where E and C hall connect (also called the T).  At 6:30 when I got to school to help out I didn’t know where exactly I should go.  One of the first people I saw was Mr. Welch, and I thought he would know what I should do.  I asked him where I should go, and he had other plans for me.  He told me I would help out with the PTBO.  My first job was to help bring things in from outside.  The best part about it was that it was pouring rain outside, so I was soaking wet after I got back inside (sarcastic). 

Next I had to make sure it was okay with Mrs. Colella that I do the PTBO instead of Hall duty.  By mistake I end up going to the wrong room. Situational irony because at first I signed up to tell people where to go.  Guess which room I went to? The answer is my sister’s homeroom, and of course both of my parents were in there.  Besides being kind of awkward, that was another example of situational irony because I didn’t expect to see my parents at all at open house and I end up almost walking into a room that they are both in.  Finally I make it to the correct room (only one room over), and it was okay with Mrs. Colella that I did the PTBO job.  That job was to sell things in the cafeteria.  While there I also helped parents find where to go.  I saw many parents I knew walking through the cafeteria including my parents multiple times.  I also sold a good amount of items for the PTBO and I feel that overall it was a good experience.

The Puritan Dream

          The Puritans were the people who started the American dream. They came to the new world and had to start all over. They had to have a plan and a dream of what this plan would eventually look like when it was fulfilled. John Winthrop said that “We must delight in each other, make others’ condition our own, rejoice together, mourn together, labor and suffer together.” If anything good was going to happen, the puritans would all have to work together.

          It is misunderstood that all puritans separated from the Church of England. Some puritans such as the ones who founded the Massachusetts Bay colony did not separate. The Massachusetts puritans did eventually form their own separate church, but overall were not as radical as the Pilgrims. There were many types of Puritans, but every type thought that the world could be reformed. The American Dream is all about change, and Puritans believed that the world needed to be changed. The puritans did not leave England for themselves; they left because of their children. They believed that in England, their children would be corrupted. They thought their children would have a better life elsewhere. The American Dream is also based upon the idea that children could have a better life.

          I do not believe the puritans deserve the reputation they have gotten. People have strong feeling against the Puritans, which I do not agree with. The puritans were a group of people who risked a lot by making the journey across the Atlantic Ocean. They did it to make a statement that there needs to be change in the world and the change should start in the English church. There were many different types of people under the Puritan label including a founding father of the United States. Since people hate puritans they also hate John Adams who became the second president of the United States. People are upset at the puritans for the killings of Native Americans. It has to be noted that they were not the only ones to kill the natives; however they receive the most criticism for it. People also called them puritans because they thought they were better than everyone else. In the present day almost everyone thinks they are better than everyone else, and I feel that it was not much different back then.

          The American Dream can be different for every single person. My family, like many others is affected by the American Dream. Some of the aspects of the American Dream that apply to my family include immigration, education, and working for money. My mother was not born in America. She was born in the Netherlands. She has lived in many different countries around the world and eventually came to America with her family. My mother became a United States citizen in Faneuil Hall in Boston.
          Education is also very important in my family. A good education could open up many opportunities for someone in the future. Both of my parents graduated from Boston College, and in a few years I will be in college. I still have no idea where I want to go, but all I know is that I will go to a school somewhere in the U.S. Although it is a lot of work, I am looking forward to college.
          Working hard for money is also a way the American Dream affects my family. Of course a college education helps to get a good job. Both of my parents got jobs after BC and they both still work at those jobs. My father works with computers, while my mother is a nurse. They do hard work in order to make their lives better.