free write. The Shining review

Another free write. I never know what do write about, so I will most likely review something like I always do. After much peer pressure, I finally gave in and watched the movie, The Shinning. This movie, without a doubt is one of the creepiest movies I have seen. Although it was not the creepiest, it was near the top of my list. That spot is reserved for Donnie Darko and the Sixth Sense. The Shinning was creepy in a different way. The director of this movie is brilliant. Kubrick’s style of movie making is much more unique than any other. The way he provides fright to his audience is completely different than any I have seen. For example, in the scene where Jack is swinging an axe at the bathroom door to try and kill his wife is shown where Jack takes a swing of the axe and hits the door. Another director would show his wife crying and randomly show an axe burst through the door to “shock” the audience. Kubrick feels no need to force a small adrenaline rush on his audience by not showing you what was happening on the other side of the door. Jack is trying to kill his wife. Is that not scary enough? Kubrick easily is among my favorite directors after I saw this movie. It has an amazing story and a very scary feel to it. As a matter of fact, the scare factor goes up upon each viewing of the film. As of now this movie is the best horror film I have ever seen. Kubrick made no mistakes with this movie. Each piece that could potentially be misconstrued as a mistake has a valid explanation as to why Kubrick left that piece in the movie. Once you discover the meaning it reflects Kubrick’s genius. There are no mistakes. I rate the movie an 9.5/10    

bias news report

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcPF59CoGvs

I know that this particular video has already been analyzed. Although, I have seen the original story a few times so I have enough information to analyze the story for bias myself. The reporters obviously have negative opinions on marijuana. They are trying to force their opinions on to the views through this story. By saying that this kind of thing is happening in a gated neighborhood suggests that people and families are not safe from this “problem” anywhere they go. They also say that the marijuana is “deadly.” It is as if they are telling that this story will kill your when in fact marijuana does not physically harm any body if it is just growing in someone’s house. The reporters are trying to project their negative opinions by scaring you into thinking that you are unsafe from someone growing marijuana in their house. If you truly think about it, this report does not make any sense whatsoever. The also refer to the reefer (do you see what I did there?) as “dope on steroids” as if this special method of growing marijuana is extremely dangerous. It has in fact been proven that marijuana is no more dangerous than cigarettes or alcohol. This whole report is extremely bias and makes no real sense at all.   

self evaluation

So, I recently finished my body biography project for Ayn Rand’s novel The Fountainhead. This was probably the most fun I have ever had working on a school project. I listened to Percy Grainger’s Lincolnshire Posy about 25 times in one week. I love that piece and will never get tired of it. Connecting the piece with my project was a fairly easy task since I know the piece very well. I played it last year and heard it almost every day. I am very proud of the way I tied each character of the novel to each movement of the piece. A lot of the comparisons I had originally thought of before I began typing the paper, but while I was typing the paper I thought of many more excellent comparisons that made the connections even better. Not to brag, but I feel like I was able to be very creative and my ideas were very well put together on paper. Although I do have one issue with my project. I was not entirely understanding with the directions. It was to my understanding that the entire project had to be a page long when in fact the character relations had to be a full page itself. I thought I was exceeding the expectations by making my entire project two full single spaced pages. It was not until I came to class on Friday that I realized that I did not understand the directions. So Mrs. Andrews, I am sorry about that. That explains why my character relation is only one paragraph. On the other hand, my presentation was, in my opinion, pretty original. I also got the feeling that the class enjoyed my presentation and enjoyed listening to some good music during AP lang class. Overall, I think I did fairly well on this project.  

character analysis: Gail Wynand

In Ayn Rand’s novel, The Fountainhead Gail Wynand is described as a ruthless man who gains power by what ever means necessary, even if that means selling out. Wynand comes from ghetto New York and he is self taught in every thing. His goal was to become powerful in order to rule the corrupt, but he ended up just like the people he set out to control. Howard Roark is the first man to restore Gail Wynand’s lost integrity. For a long while, Wynand became Roark’s good friend until betraying him later. Gail Wynand is a powerful man who is in complete control of the cities printing center. Wynand is a lot like Roark in characteristics, however his success is due to his ability to sell out and manipulate the general public. This character flaw leads to the destruction of the only true friendship he has. Ayn Rand describes Gail Wynand as “The Man who could have been.” Wynand sells his soul by utilizing his publishing company in order to give the people what they want while reaping all of the financial benefits. Wynand falls in love with Dominique Francon. However, she does not love him in return. A reader could interpret Wynand’s story as somewhat of a Faustian story be claiming that he sells his soul to remain in power and to remain successful. Wynand’s entire career is based off of lies. He is told that he is only giving the people what they want. He is also convinced that he can manipulate or perhaps hypnotize others to think as he does and support him. These lies ultimately lead to the public turn against him.    

character analysis: Howard Roark

Howard Roark is the protagonist of Ayn Rand’s novel, The Fountainhead. He is a very smart man and a great architect of absolute integrity. Roark is a young and egger architect. Roark believes that not anyone can create art. He believes one must be what is known as a “prime mover” to become an artist. This person is not helped by others. Howard Roark is an individualist. He is not into architecture for material or personal gain, but rather he does it to express himself and his individuality. Throughout the novel, Roark is depicted as a rebel. One might say he answers to no one. He was expelled from his school of architecture for what was described as “drawing outside the lines” and for refusing to do what he was told. Roark does associate himself with his friends but does not rely on them for work as did Peter Keating.  He is tall, gaunt, and angular, with gray eyes and distinctive orange hair. Roark was born poor but he supported himself in high school and college by working various jobs around construction sites. Roark expresses an egger attitude in every job he is assigned. Roark was a very tall man that when he looked down at people, he made them feels as if they didn’t exist. He was also a very well built man. His hair colour however, was rather strange. His hair was orange. Roark was an insecure yet charming man who was more “to the point” as opposed to his colleague Peter Keating.  He is always true to his beliefs and offers to help others a lot. He was also quite rebellious but he also made a good leader.

character analysis: Peter Keating

Peter Keating is one of the few aspiring architects in Ayn Rand’s novel, The Fountainhead. Peter is almost the exact opposite of Roark in almost every way. He lives for fame and wealth and could care less of how poor his work actually is as long as he got money. His original goal was to become an artist however; his mother told him that an architect would be a better line of work with better pay.  Keating is mildly successful which is mostly because of Howard Roark. Keating was unable to create designs so he had Roark help him with his less inspired designs. In fact, all of Keating’s good ideas are stolen from Roark. Keating steals all of the credit while Roark is left almost completely broke. At one time in part one, Keating offers five hundred dollars to Roark for his help in the designs which Roark refuses. To Roark, his creations are not about the money but rather about the art he created. This is a mindset that Keating does not have. Keating is willing to do anything to become successful. He lies, steals, and flatters his way to the top while creating a bad name for himself. However, his mother is partly responsible for his lust for material things. His mother pushed him to become an architect in pursuit of material things rather than artistic creation. Had his mother not planted the idea that money is everything into his brain, Keating might have pursued his artistic career and gone much further in life. In Ayn Rand’s novel, Keating is described as a man with a warm smile and a strange voice. He also seems fairly unconfident towards his colleague Howard. He also seems very dependent on others, especially Howard which results in Keating’s current attitude towards Howard.    

free write (review of memento)

Just like every week we have a free write, I never know what to write about. So I’ll just do what I always do and review a movie. Since that was once our blog topic, I figure it is appropriate enough to blog about. I am going to review a movie called Memento. This movie is my favourite psychological thriller that I have ever seen. The movie is about a man whose wife is killed. The man is on an endless hunt to catch and kill who is responsible. However, the man suffers from short term memory loss which makes tracking down the killer very hard. In order to remember information, he takes Polaroid pictures of people and places and adds a short description to remember who they are. For very important information, he has it tattooed to his body. The movie begins at what is portrayed as the end of the story. Throughout the entire movie, it shows what steps were made to reach that point in the story. The plot works backwards in this sense. The movie is full of interesting twists that will keep you guessing until the end. In fact, the end of the movie reveals a secret that you will never see coming. I was blind sighted by the outcome of the movie and it was a very well thought out plot. This movie is nothing short of brilliant. This is a type of movie in which you must focus on the development to understand how it actually happened, but if you can concentrate to the end, the outcome proves to be very worth it. I have not met anyone who has watched this movie and not liked it. It was easily the best movie of the year (2000). I give this movie 9.5 stars out of 10.