Princesses

            There are many Disney movies that involve princesses. I for one enjoy a lot of these Disney movies because they are completely fictional and I just love a good story about princesses when I was younger.

            One thing though that really irritated me was that the princess movies would higher the expectations of the child by being all perfect looking. I think that by higher the expectation of the children that it would make them set up for being depressed that they can’t achieve those expectations. Another thing that is kind of a bummer about Princess Disney movies is that you can’t be a princess, so as much as you dress up as a princess over Halloween the child will just never be able to be a princess. Plus, it kind of just makes the child think that there is a prince charming and it will happen like that; which usually doesn’t quite happen like that…

            My favorite ‘princess’ movie is Beauty and the Beast because the movie actually has a point to it. First off it shows that what is on the outside shouldn’t matter it’s what’s on the inside that counts. Then Belle is really smart while the other Disney Princesses are blander and stuck up in my opinion. But I just have always liked Beauty and the Beast; I also think that the talking candlestick and clock are hilarious, so they just add some spice and humor to the movie. Plus, this is just the best movie since she really isn’t a legit princess.

            I think overall that princess movies can be really educational for the child, but there are some drawbacks to it. Like if there is absolutely no moral to the story, only that the female ends up getting the guy in the end of the movie, I mean that’s a pretty pathetic moral because it will just make the little girls think that it happens like that always. So if you are bored and haven’t checked out some of the Disney princess movies I really recommend them (some of them). Like I think the Little Mermaid counts as one, and I liked that one whereas I didn’t care that much for Sleeping Beauty.

            Of course there are other movies that aren’t made by Disney that are princess related like the Princess Diaries which I love that book series and the movie series too. I suggest those as well. But overall princess movies can be great to watch. 

The Amazing Spiderman 2

            There have been several spiderman movies and all of them are basically based upon the same characters. The oldest spiderman is just called Spiderman and it has to do with Peter Parker taking revenge over the guy that killed his uncle Ben. The actor for spiderman is Tobey Maguire and then he has a love interest which is Mary Jane. Those are for the first three spiderman movies. Now there is a ‘second’ one where they completely just redid the movie series and they have a new actors and actresses. In these there is a new story line, but it still is based upon the same thing that there is a guy that can shoot spider webs out of his hands and saves the town from bad guys.

            About two years ago the Amazing Spiderman came out with this new actor and then the series with a new love interest which was Gwen something. The movie was really good and it was different from the other series of spiderman with the bad guys they were facing. I personally like the first spiderman movie just because it was the first and usually first movies are pretty great. Now the Amazing Spiderman was a great movie too. It had a lot of action going on and was just an overall good story.

            So I saw the Amazing Spiderman 2 that just came out like two weeks ago or something and this movie has a lot going on in it. Basically, you have the love interest, the electric guy, and then Peter’s friend Harry. Actually, the movie at the end has a pretty shocking in my opinion because usually movies (that often) don’t end like how this one did. But I seriously did like this movie because it had so much going on and it hooked off from the ending of the first Amazing Spiderman. But one of the main reasons to watch Spiderman movies is because he’s a better ‘super hero’ than the rest of them. I usually don’t like superhero movies, but I don’t really count spiderman as that much of a superhero; I just think he’s more so a hero than a superhero.

            So go see the Spiderman movies they have a lot going on and it keeps the girls interested with the romance going on, but it also interests the guys since there is a lot of action and fighting occurring. Also it just is fun to watch the actor in this movie because he’s pretty funny.

Avatar

            Avatar is one of the best movies with all the graphics and details the movie has. I remember the movie came out in 2009 (so like 5 years ago) and I went to see the movie with my dad in 3D. Ever since then I think I’ve watched the movie at least twenty times.

            So what is Avatar about? Well, in short terms of describing the movie it’s about these blue people called the Na’vi that live on Pandora. And cue music to I’m Blue by Eiffel 65. Actually, thinking of that, how cool would it have been if the Na’vi when they meet this foreign guy, Jack, if they just all started singing I’m Blue? That would have made the movie even more awesome than it already is.

           One thing about the movie it’s about a three hour movie where usually most movies these days are around about two or maybe two and half if it’s a really good movie. One thing that was really creative on this movie was the people (Na’vi). I don’t know if it was graphics or make up, but it looked really cool. Actually, the overall background was really cool looking. The places where the filmed the movie seemed mainly in Hawaii which is probably why it looks so pretty in the movie. The amount of time they must have spent on the film must have taken awhile because it really is pretty and a rather long movie. Another thing is that it's actually a good story line like I found it highly interesting as a viewer of this movie. In regards to the story line at the very end of the movie there is a big war that occurs and I actually got really into the movie once it got to the fighting part and the awesome creatures that the Na'vi fly on. 
             But overall I think that Avatar was definitely one of the best movies of 2009 (which it came out right when 2009 ended because it came out about Christmas time). So if you are bored out of your mind some day and want to watch a movie I suggest Avatar since it has a good story to it and it’s pretty easy to get into it. One thing though is I believe they are having a sequel to the movie eventually and though it’s not out yet…I just know that Avatar will be way better than anything they try to do now. So go watch Avatar it really is a movie for both teenagers, adults, and of any sex.

The Sunflower

            So last year in my Ap World class after the ap exam was done we were required to read a book called the Sunflower by Richard Paul Evans; which in a way it really wasn’t buy him, but he put it all together. Basically, this book is about the holocaust and forgiveness.

            This book is actually pretty interesting to read because it’s about how this Nazi wanted to tell his story about why he did what he did to a Jew. So basically he tells the story and here this Jewish person is just listening to this person and at the end of the story he has to decide if he should just forgive this dying Nazi for all of the wrong that he did or to not. I thought it was a pretty interesting book, but I wouldn’t have read it if it weren’t for my Ap World teacher because I’ve never cared too much about wars or any books or movies relating to wars (that’s not science fiction). I just thought that this book was really worth reading and it shared a lot about forgiveness and whether someone has the right to forgive one for something that has nothing to do with them in a way.

            The ending of the book is remarkable because Richard Paul Evans wrote this story and then says what the Jewish guy (I can’t recall the names of either of the characters) ends up doing. At the very end of the book though there are comments or quotes from people and their perspective of what they would have done in that situation.

            Personally if I was in the situation where a dying guy is telling me a story about ‘my people’ that just are the same religion of me, I feel like I wouldn’t have the authority to be forgiving because it’s not like he killed my family or friends; he did it to people I don’t know, so if they were still alive would they forgive him? I mean it really is a hard decision as to what to do, I feel also on the other hand if the person showed remorse for their actions and wanted someone to say it’s okay you’re forgiven that it might be pretty easy to just do that if they’re dying anyway. Another thing is I would probably say I forgive you for what you did, but I can’t speak for other people just myself and hearing the story you just told me.

            Anyway, it’s really cool to read about what people would have done and if they think that the Jewish guy had made the right decision in what he ended up doing. I think that this book should be read in literature classes or history classes since it takes about perspectives and history. But if you want to read this in your free time, go for it, I really liked it. 

Textbook Reading Importance

            Reading the textbook in the appropriate class is important in the development of who you become. A lot of people in classes disregard reading the textbook because they think it’s boring or they feel like they don’t have the time, but there is really a lot you can learn from it. In your spare time I’m not saying to read a textbook, but if you are a student usually you have a class that has a required textbook to read and honestly who tries to read any of it? Like teachers give reading assignments, but it’s always one thing that leads to another and then the student ends up not reading the textbook at all.

            From my reading experience of reading from a textbook it can be quite boring and you might not be that interested in the topic. Some textbooks are actually kind of fun to read like the Ap Psychology textbook, but others like the Ap World History textbook are just impossible to read; why it that? Well, first off the Ap Psychology textbook is shorter because it has less words per page and less chapters while the Ap World History textbook is longer and has more chapters. But the main part is that Ap Psychology in my opinion is more fun to learn about than any history class. I say this because I really have never cared for history that much and I feel like it won’t really help me whatsoever in life. But Ap Psychology, now that I can apply to people around me and myself, and just figure out why people act the way they do. Also I swear the Ap World textbook’s goal was to put you to sleep because even in my Ap Us textbook it wasn’t as boring as the Ap World one. Now that it probably because some textbooks put too much detail into it and it just makes you confused and then you just end up falling asleep while reading it.

            But the main point is that you can learn a lot from a textbook. I wish I could go back and actually read my Ap Biology textbook, but I didn’t and I just ended up getting a 3 on the ap exam which I might now have to retake the class in college anyway just because I didn’t take the class all that seriously. So even though it seems like a waste of time, just read your textbooks because it will help you with your grades and maybe even later when or if you decide to go to college. Plus, just having that knowledge in your brain will make you appear to be smarter since you can just spew out random facts. So really just read your textbooks even though they are extremely boring sometimes. 

To Kill A Mockingbird

            A book read in school my sophomore year of high school was a book called To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. There is also a movie to this book that we watched in class as well. So this book is actually a pretty good book to read for a language arts class because there’s like the whole lessons going on within the book.

            My reading experience for this book was that it was actually pretty interesting since it was a school book and I don’t usually care for books read in school. One thing I did not enjoy about this book was all the characters within the book. My teacher made quizzes over characters and events that happened and sometimes I would forget the character’s name because I’ve read so many books that one just blurs in with another over time, but ask me to describe the character or anything like that and usually I do pretty good…It’s just really hard to keep track of all these different names in books. So anyway besides that fact it had a lot of life lessons in the book about discrimination and what not. I think that it also told a lot about lying and being a good person. There were some rather good quotes in the book like one of them was about how you never know what it’s like to be that person until you’ve stepped or been in their shoes. I think that there is a lot of truth to that because sometimes people try to act like they know exactly what you’re going through, but really they have absolutely no idea. There were some other important life lessons in the book as well that I just can’t completely remember that are on the top of my head…Oh, one could be to just to not discriminate. I mean the whole book revolves around discriminating of African Americans and then even of Boo Radley.

            The character Boo Radley is probably one of the most interesting characters in the book just because no one really knows anything about him and it just leaves everything to be really mysterious. But the book was pretty good. Now in regards to the movie I thought that the book was of course better than the movie, but I enjoyed the movie. The movie portrayed the characters as a bit differently than I imagined in my head, but I think that overall there wasn’t too many difference between the book and the movie; which is what I like (unless the book was just awful). But for reading in school I think this book is great to read because you learn a lot of lessons from it and it’s just an overall fun book to read. 

Animals

            Animal movies are some of the cutest movies. One of my favorite animal movies is called Milo and Otis; it’s about a cat and a dog. I’m not sure about the breed of the cat, but the dog is a pug and it’s a really cute movie. I just overall love animal movies.

            When I was younger I liked to watch all these different animal movies like the Fox and the Hound, Charlotte’s Web, the Lorax, Marley and Me, Racing Stripes, and many other movies that are adorable. Though my favorite is Milo and Otis basically the movie has a narrator that explains what is happening to Milo and Otis in the movie. I find it quite entertaining and used to love that movie when I was younger (actually I still do). My favorite part in the movie is when Milo and Otis are playing hide and seek and Milo tries to find creative ways for Otis to not find him. But then that’s where the story begins from there. The music at the end of the movie is pretty entertaining as well it goes with a song that I believe is like Walk Outside or something like that it’s a pretty cute song. Here’s the link if you want to listen to it. But I think that these movies that are about animals are great movies for little kids to watch, and as a kid I absolutely loved animals, so I think there should be more movies that have animals in it like Milo and Otis.

            Another cute animal movie is the Fox and the Hound which is a Disney movie and it kind of is like Milo and Otis, but Milo and Otis have more of an adventure whereas the fox and the hound (Toad and Cooper) is more of a movie about friendship. But animal movies are inspiring to kids because they put little life lessons within the movies for the kids to learn upon. Now Marley and Me is a complete tear jerker because at the end Marley is getting old and he’s dying and you know it’s coming, but it’s just so sad and depressing. Oh, and another good movie is Planet Earth, a lot of the focuses are one plants, but it also has real animals and real footage. It’s very educational as well because it has a narrator giving you all these facts about plants and animals.

            Overall I just think more movies should revolve around animals because I just absolutely love animal movies and think they are the cutest thing though they are meant for a younger audience I still will go back and watch some of these movies since I loved them so much as a kid.