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.  

Animated Movies

            Animated type movies are becoming more common to watch. These can also be called cartoons. There are animated movies and then anime derives from Japanese shows/movies, but basically it’s just drawings and with someone giving them voices. Anyway, a lot of movies that people like to watch are anime type movies. One cartoon type movie that I enjoy is Ratatouille which is about some rat that is some fabulous cook; though that sounds weird and I wonder how anyone came up with the idea of a rat cooking…It’s a pretty great movie. A lot of movies though are cartoon or anime based today.

            I actually love a lot of shows that derive from anime type shows, but have the Japanese translated to English; these shows are like Pokemon and Digimon for just two examples. But even anime type of movies that were just made in Japan are really good like the movies the Grudge are extremely scary and though they aren’t cartoons or drawings they are seriously really scary. Japanese movies are usually scarier than American based movies, only problem is to understand what’s going on if you don’t speak Japanese is having English subtitles which usually takes away from the scary happenings that occur.

            Another movie that is like this is Frozen which they draw instead of having actors or actresses. I think I like when movies are just drawings because think of all the time spent creating that. A lot of old Disney movies do drawings instead of the whole having actors and actresses, but lately more movies have actor and actresses in them instead of the drawings. I think that more movies should be like Frozen and the Lion King and all the other movies that are cartoons. One movie that comes to mind is Garfield where they turned the cartoon into a realistic movie; which I thought was okay, but would have been amazing if they had created it like the show.

            Finding Nemo is one movie that was created by Pixar that was about a fish lost in the big blue ocean and was just overall a great movie. Though this movie came out awhile ago it is still a favorite for people these days. Usually, when these movies come out they are really popular, so more movies should be like this.

            I think that a ton of people like movies like these, one reason might be because you don’t have to worry about looking at people because a lot of the time these animated movies are about animals instead of people. Which I love movies about animals. But overall this blog post is just about my love for animated movies. 

Blogging

            Blogging is one of the most pointless things to do. Every week we have to blog three blog posts and have it at 400 words each and have it relate to a specific topic. This is different from the way the Ap Lang class operated a couple of years ago; it used to operate where they didn’t have to put it on the internet and they could talk about whatever they wanted. I think that at least if we are made to blog we should be able to talk about different themes than what we chose at the beginning of the year.

            So I honestly don’t care for blogging all that much, but every week I blog because I know that it’s a part of my grade and honestly for typing only about 1,200 words a week it sounds like a good deal for me to get an A in terms of blogging. Blogging is worth about 20% of our grade, so if we don’t blog at all the highest grade we would get for the term would be 80% (yeah, I’m a magician at math). So of course no one really wants to blog (if you do, you need to get out because you’re irrelevant in my discussion about blogging). But I feel like each week I’m wasting my time blogging about pointless blog posts that I know for a fact no one cares about, not even me. Now I think if it was something education it might be worth my while, and I know there is the choice of doing that, but if I have the choice to blog about something fun or educational…Trust me I’m going to be blogging about fun type subjects.

            I think that if we were allowed to blog about any topic and not have to try to relate it back to our subject that I would have so much more fun blogging, but instead I see it as a chore for school. Though we can change our blog post topic if we ask, I for one just like to talk about whatever comes to my mind and not have to try to relate it to a topic. I think that Movies and Books is a pretty fun topic compared to what some people blog about, but it gets very repetitive and then I just run out of ideas of what to blog about. I chose this topic (Books and Movies) because over the years I have read many books and watched plenty of movies that I thought I can just pick any and write a blog post about it, but it’s not that easy…I have to try to come up with a way to get to 400 words with every post I do.

            So why do I think blogging is pointless? Because I already practice my writing skills in all my classes when they require us to write essays, but I think that essay writing is pretty boring because usually it’s voiceless (no tone) while as on here I just kind of type like how I speak. So really is requiring us to do blog posts all the time really helping us? I know it helps us ‘practice’ writing, but other than that it is rather pointless for me to do. Besides who really cares about movie and book reviews? 

Why don't we read dictionaries?

            Why I don’t read dictionaries in my free time? So teachers are always saying how us students and kids of this generation need to expand our vocabulary because we don’t know squat. Well, there is a reason I don’t read dictionaries in my free time, and I feel like this isn’t just me, but also is the same for other kids around my age.

            My first reason for not reading dictionaries is ain’t nobody got time for dat! Like the amount of homework we get in classes each day is ridiculous! It’s like teachers think that we can function with no food, no sleep, and no social life. I don’t know about anybody else (I’m guessing it’s the same with other people too, since humans don’t like to be alone), but I would go insane without social contact! Like I’ll start talking to my cat if I don’t talk to anyone for a really long amount of time, and I’m not just meaning like texting someone, I mean face to face interaction. Which while I’m on the topic of having a social life it is also equally ridiculous when you try talking to friends during class and your teacher is like socializing is for other time. Oh please, you tell me what other time since during passing time you have to quickly get to class, during lunch you’re eating, and then all the time outside of school is dedicated to sports and homework. But anyway back to my original point, I don’t have time to  read the dictionary and expand my vocabulary because if I were to do that I’d be like the walking dead (well, I kind of already look like the walking dead with the lack of sleep I get…). So my solution to this dilemma is for teachers to give us some words that we don’t know so we can actually expand our vocabulary because were supposedly at school to learn, so we should be learning vocabulary!

            Second reason I don’t read dictionaries. Have you ever actually tried to read a dictionary? It makes no sense! It’s like I’m trying to read a different language because none of it processes in my head. Oh, what’s hilarious is when you look up the word for a word you don’t know and then it gives you a definition that is another word you don’t know. You just got to love when that happens, not.  So anyway, dictionaries are boring, and it’s really thick too! You know how many words are in the English language? A LOT! I don’t exactly know the ‘exact’ number, but I just know it’s a number I wouldn’t care to know (if that makes any sense at all?)

            Lastly, I’ll give one more reason why I don’t read dictionaries in my free time. I just really don’t care too much to actually expand my vocabulary. I mean it’s not like I’m the one bitching about needing to expand my vocab. I think I talk very rad, and it makes me, me. By learning new words it would change my view on the world, because knowledge is the key to life, and I’d rather live in my fantasy world and just be myself. So dictionaries…..Read them or don’t. And if you really want to expand your vocabulary I suggest using a thesaurus, I feel like it would be so much more useful. 

Uglies

            Uglies is a book by Scott Westerfeld that is all about plastic surgery and living in a conformed society. In regards to my last blog post, Mean Girls, this blog post is going to be centered on the same idea of beauty/ugliness.

            So all the way back in 7^th grade (wow, four years ago, I’m getting old) I read a book for my language arts class called Uglies. I actually chose to read this book because it was back when the language arts teachers I had let us read what we wanted that wasn’t made only in the 19^th century. So the goal of the class was to read this 425 page book; which I had already wanted to read it, so I finished it all over the weekend and began to read the next book in the series. So this series actually has four books in it the first is called Uglies, the second Pretties, the third Specials, and the fourth Extras. I have read all four of the books, my opinion the fourth book isn’t all that great, but the series as a whole is a rather simple to comprehend and has a well established story line going.

            So now to actually talk about the book and not just tell my own personal narrative of how/why/when I read the book (oh, I forgot to add I had wanted to read it because my sister had read it before). I’m not going to lie, I hardly remember the exact details of this series because I’ve read so many series that sometimes I mess up names and details from one series into another, but considering I have the book sitting right next to me as I’m blogging this blog post….I can tell you that the main character is Tally and she has a friend named Shay who is quite rebellious. Anyway, the main thing to get from this story (at least the first book) is that society shouldn’t be conformed in the way that you have to get plastic surgery to be controlled by the government.

Now that I’m thinking of the series as a whole I feel like if I reread the series I would probably understand the concepts better than I did when I was in 7^th grade….But I really do think this series teaches a lot about loving who you are and you don’t need to be ‘pretty’. At the beginning of the book that’s all that Tally could hope for is becoming pretty, but really prettiness is all a matter of perspective and if Tally and all the other people in the book would have just realized they already are pretty than the government would never have been controlling them. I just think that this was a very fulfilling series to read, and though I don’t remember a lot of it, I remember the main ideas and think that this is an amazing book for middle schoolers and even some high schoolers to read because it’s all about accepting yourself (and being a rebel!)

Mean Girls

            Mean Girls came out ten years ago starting on Wednesday. The ‘anniversary’ of Mean Girls is April 30^th and that happens to be this Wednesday (always wear pink on Wednesdays.)Why is Mean Girls still popular and people still make references from this movie if it came out ten years ago?

            So the first to know about Mean Girls is it centers on the cliques of high school like the whole plastics, nerds, potheads, and all those different labels. For about the past month different pictures have been making references to Mean Girls by different rules from the movie like the wearing pink on Wednesdays, only wearing your hair up once a week, and no sweatpants. Also of course Twitter, Tumblr, and all the different social networking sites have been making quotes from the movie that are just hilarious (which I won’t share if your that curious either watch the movie or look it up).

            We come back to the question, why is this movie popular? Well first thing this movie is hilarious it has all the drama in high school, romance, bitchy fake girls, and just the way they talk is humorous, totally talk more valley girl than I do. Another reason that this movie is popular is it like I said in the former sentence it has romance and fighting over who will end up getting the cute guy in the movie, Aaron. The movie portrays some pretty hilarious scenarios/situations of Regina and Cady fighting for Aaron.

            The reason my friends and I seem to like this movie is because though it seems to over exaggerate the situation of cliques and girls being mean it honestly couldn’t be closer to the truth. In high school people get made fun of all the time for their appearance and not how they are as a person. It seems that usually the ‘plastics’ or popular people are so focused on their appearance that nothing else about themselves matter. I feel like that is kind of how it is in high school, so many girls are so focused on their appearance, so they can have that cute guy in their class to notice them. Women totally subject themselves to men and making themselves is what they think guys want and if that means getting a nose job like Regina in Mean Girls than girls will look into it.

            Mean Girls is a comedy, but the movie definitely has truth in the dialogue. Girls (even some guys) talk behind each other’s backs and gossip to try to fit in and it’s kind of just human nature to want to talk about yourself and other people because we all love to compare ourselves to others. I think that’s why Mean Girls is still popular to this day, because there is truth in how girls treat one another and if girls can just open their eyes and not start rumors about others maybe, just maybe, high school wouldn’t seem too bad.

                                                        

Spelling

            Spelling in life doesn’t seem like it would be all that important, I mean we start spelling tests and everything as soon as we learn to write. But that’s the thing, no one really seems to know how to spell anything. So why are people unable to spell simple words anymore?

            The major thing is that people will talk face to face and use that as a form of communication. The other big thing is more people text, tweet, email, and communicate through electronics. Now that’s the thing you think that since people would be using these devices that it would increase their ability to actually spell words correctly, but it doesn’t. Spell check is used widely now usually before you send something via electronically then you’ll spell check it if it’s an important email or in cases of texting you’ll use texting lingo which usually no one uses correct punctuation, grammar, or even spell words correctly since no one wants to take the few extra seconds to actually type on their keyboard correctly. This was very common in some of the first cell phones since spell check wasn’t a real big thing a couple of years back, but now with cell phones like the iphone it automatically corrects your spelling errors, so that there is no need to know how to spell. Honestly, it’s pretty pathetic if you get some people to try to spell simple words and they just can’t do it! It’s like they never learned the rules to grammar and keep an e in a word that you’re supposed to drop off the e and just add ing.

            But if you go on Twitter or Facebook or any other websites (maybe even possibly blogging) people are spelling words incorrectly and it’s getting to the point where it’s just incredibly sad since some people are in college and high school and they can’t even spell words like management correctly. Texting and texting lingo has completely altered the way people write papers even during class. For example a teacher tells a student to handwrite a paper and the student will want to type it on the computer since there is no spell check when you handwrite a paper. I think it would be very interesting to see the differences between a paper typed up on the computer and a handwritten paper to see how many words people spell wrong. Even in books now in days, it’s really easy to find errors in books, publication companies need to hirer better people to check for grammatical errors and spelling errors all throughout the book because many books I’ve read before have errors.

            Overall, in high school language arts teachers should start with spelling tests again because it’s pretty pathetic if people are spelling even simple words incorrectly, just look at what some people have posted online, it makes absolutely no sense!

The Role Music Plays

            Imagine a movie without any music in it, pretty quiet right? Music plays an essential role in how you are supposed to feel during a movie. For instance think of any movie you have ever watched; was there music there to make you feel a certain way? If so then you probably see where I'm coming from when I say music is everything.

            I’m a big listener of music, it’s actually quite sad how much time I spend listening to music. I listen to music during passing time, while doing homework, when I’m taking a shower, in the car, and just about all the time! I think on average I listen to about 5 or more hours of music PER day. But how does this relate to putting music into movies? When going through the movie the director (or honestly whichever job gets the role of music) goes through the movie and adds in music in a certain spot to make you feel a certain emotion. For example, during a horror film the instrumental music is usually used to make you feel more frightened because you end up anticipating something bad is going to happen and then boom, you jump a little. What makes up a great horror film is definitely having music in the correct spots. So next time you’re watching a horror film think of how it would be without the music.

            Music doesn’t just have to be in horror films, it’s in every type of movies like romantic, sci-fi, action, comedies, and of course musicals. But what makes them determine what music to use? Well, first off if they want the movie to sell, usually they’ll end up using music that people like. Obviously not everyone likes the same genres of music, but usually theirs a majority that like a certain type for this day in age I would probably guess it being rap, pop, or dub-step (which I consider to be electronica, but others look at me like I’m crazy when I say that). But if they had music that people found annoy they might end up reinforcing the idea of annoying music and this movie and then end up hating movies like that.

            Another thing is music can get people to actually watch the movie. I like a lot of different types of genres, but if I see a commercial on the telly with a song I love or by an artist I love then I might watch that movie just because of the music it played. This happened with the Great Gatsby to be honest, I love Nero, and I think their music is great, so since I liked that artist I decided to watch the Great Gatsby. I’m not saying that will happen to everyone, I’m just giving an example of when it occurred for me. Also music at the beginning of the movie might influence what you think of the movie. I love the Fast and the Furious movies, and the 6^th movie that came out had the song We Own It at the beginning and I thought it was catchy, which influenced what I thought of the overall movie.

            Music is all around us. I mean you can try to cut music from your life, but it’s in shows, movies, commercials, on the radio, and just everywhere. So whether you like certain genres it is true that music will affect how you react to a movie because it will make anticipate a certain moment, or emphasis that moment. 

Going to the Movies or Not?

            Why people should or shouldn’t go to the movies? Everyone gets really bored every once in a while and usually a solution to this problem is why don’t we go to the movies and go check out a movie that looks not half bad? Well, there (in my opinion) are some good reasons to go see movies and some really bad reasons as to why you shouldn’t see movies.

            The first reason I have is that if it’s nice outside, seeing a movie is probably not the best choice. Since movies take place indoors you shouldn’t waste the beautiful day by spending it inside watching a movie, go play sports, go for a walk, or honestly do anything, but waste the beautiful day spending it by watching a movie inside the theaters. Now there is exceptions to this rule like if there’s an outdoor theater then it’s okay to go watch a movie because you’re outside. One reason that you should go to a movie in regards to the weather as well is if it’s raining, no one likes the rain and unless you want to go dance outside in the rain (which I actually love to do…) then seeing a movie is probably the best choice if you want to get out of the house and actually DO something, but keep in mind there is so much more to do then just see a movie. Oh, and of course it’s during the winter, no one ever wants to actually do anything we like to store our fat, or you know just don’t want to do anything in the cold. But usually, people can never think of what to do, (especially in Iowa), but you just have to be creative and not always go with doing the boring things.

            Another reason to not go to the movies is that it’s pricey. I mean considering a ticket is about $9 and once the movie comes out on DVD you can buy it for like the same price. Also the food there is not even worth it, add all this together for going to the movie and you end up spending too much on just wanting to see a movie. So if you want to see a movie I’d do it maybe every once in a while like once a month or something (besides there is other activities besides seeing a movie.) In contradiction to that, maybe you just love seeing a movie with people surrounding you, I for one seem to laugh more when I’m at the theaters since I feel awkward laughing at home by myself. Besides it might be a movie you really want to see; which then it’s okay to go see a movie in theaters.

            I also think that it's really weird when people go to the movies together. I mean I know no one wants to go to the movies by yourself, but think about it, whenever you go to a movie with a friend you just awkwardly watch a screen together because it's not like you can talk during the movie for the people around you will probably end up shhing you. But as for going to the movie on a date it's a bit weird unless you don't think being quiet is awkward at all. So just overall think of other activities to do besides a movie.

          But overall sometimes going to the movie is a good idea while other times you should just get off your lazy butt and do something besides watching a movie, even if it’s walking in a circle at the park. But all depends on the situation, and seeing a movie at night is always a best bet since there’s not much you can do at night besides partying….So yeah, movie might be your best bet. 

Movies During School

            I think that during school teachers should show movies because it allows the students to relax for once instead of having to learn something new all the time. Teachers are always stressing out about lesson plans and what to do during the class period, so by just showing an educational movie it will allow the students to learn from the movie and have the teacher be less stressed on trying to get a lesson plan together.

            During middle school I remember watching a ton of different movies, and now in high school my teachers rarely have us watch any movies, and it saddens me because I think that we learn a lot from just movies. One reason teachers should play more movies is it allows the student to just relax, and yes I know that this means an opportunity for a student to be sleeping since us students never have time to sleep! But anyway I think that if teachers played movies during class it would allow the teachers to be able to get caught up on grading the students work, creating other lesson plans, and just in general get to relax.

            I think especially during the time after Ap exams are all finished that teachers should play a couple of movies for the class to watch because like I said before, you can learn a lot from a movie, just like you can learn a lot from a book. I would love for more teachers to allow students to watch movies, since I feel like sometimes were not doing anything in class anyway and it would allow teachers to use their time wisely by showing an educational movie.

            Some teachers think that showing a movie in class is a waste of time, and to a certain degree I agree with them like there’s not really a movie you can watch that’s based upon math that will help you learn math…But I definitely think that in subjects like Spanish, Ap Psych, Ap Us, and just a ton of the subjects I’m taking this year that it would be very productive of the teachers to show a movie from time to time.

           Overall, I think that teachers should show a movie every once in a while so that the teachers can get caught up on their work since us students are always wanting to quickly know what we got on a test or different homework assignments. And it’s good for us students too! Because it allows us to not have to think for once and just relax and take it easy for a bit. So I think that teachers should show a movie in class every once in a while; I’m not saying all the time just maybe like once a term or something. 

Energy Drinks

            I’m always tired all the time and what is my solution to staying awake and finishing my homework at night? Caffeine.  Caffeine is actually really bad for you, but what other choice do students have to try to stay awake during class? Teachers assign so much homework that students have no choice to stay up late at night to finish their homework, since many students are involved with other extra circular activities like sports, clubs, and music students either chose sleep or achieving good grades.

            I am one student that I strive upon trying to achieve good grades during school, so I stay up late about every night trying to finish my homework for the next day and end up being exhausted. My solution is caffeine. Every morning I have to drink coffee or I’ll be exhausted the entire day, and even sometimes I drink my coffee plus an energy drink in the morning just because I had to stay up late to finish my homework and without the caffeine I would end up falling asleep during class. Which teachers get mad when we fall asleep during class, but what they expect? That we are robots that can just function without sleep? So a lot of students are having to make a chose to whether get good grades or to get sleep.

            So if you’re wondering how this relates to books and movies…How does it? Well, it sort of does in a way because during class usually you’re forced to read some sort of text and how can you read something when you’re half asleep? So anyway that’s how this relates to books and movies. Ever try reading something when you’re half asleep? It’s like you read the page and when you finally get done with the page it’s like what the heck did I just read!? That happens to me all the time, but with my junior year I decided to start every morning off with coffee, and occasionally the energy drink if I’m really tired.

            Energy drinks are not good for you. I’ll say that simply, they are not. With people that are really sensitive to caffeine they should not drink them because it seriously has about three times the amount of caffeine and sugar that normal can of soda contains. But I mean what choice do I have? A lot people that get good grades I know end up falling asleep in class because they had to stay awake late to finish an assignment. One thing that I don’t get is that schools encourage extra circular activities, but how is one supposed to do extra circular activities, get good grades, and get a descent amount of sleep? It’s really hard to do, so my way of being awake all the time is to drink an energy drink or have some coffee. And though caffeine consumption is really bad, so is not getting enough sleep, and I (along with many other students) don’t get enough sleep either.

Dark Visions

            One of the best books I’ve ever read in my opinion is a book called Dark Visions by L.J. Smith. L.J. Smith has wrote some really good supernatural books in my opinion, but my favorite one is this one because it doesn’t exactly seem like a carbon copy of all the other books out there. Yes, it is a romantic book, and has to do with supernatural abilities, but instead of werewolves, vampires, or some strange other species this is all about psychic abilities of some teenagers.

            The reason I like this book so much is because first of all it has romance in it and I sometimes love romance books, but the main reason is the writing style. I mean the words are pretty easy to interpret and it’s not really hard to understand or anything and that’s why I like it. The age group for this book I’d say is about middle school and maybe early high school (so me being a junior now would probably be an extremely easy read for me), but I definitely suggest to about middle school students and to the high school students that are tired of looking up every other word in the dictionary because you have no idea what it means, or sparknoting the book to figure out what the book is trying to tell you to begin with.

            Dark Visions focuses on three guys and two girls (if I recall correctly) Lewis, Gabriel, Rob, Katlyn, and Anna. I think the psychic abilities makes the book a little different from most romance novels and there is way more action occurring than would usually be in a plain romance novel. And honestly it’s one of those romantic books that doesn’t really seem like a romance till about the very end (or a bit in the middle).

            I love the characters that L.J. Smith created in the book you have this golden charming guy, Rob, the bad boy, Gabriel, the comedian, Lewis, and then the sweet Anna that’s always there for everyone. Now the book takes place from Katlyn’s perspective and so like most romance novels she thinks she’s nothing important and by the end of the book….blah blah blah like most clichés.

            I just think that if people want a rather simpler read (but not too simply of course because that is just highly irritating) that they should read Dark Visions. My guess though is that probably only girls would like this book, but you never know…But this is definitely one of my favorite books and I think that others will enjoy it as much as  I did (I read it like five times). Now if they had a movie for this book, I think that would be really interesting, but there can’t necessarily be a movie for every book I enjoy sadly. 

Repetition

            So some people say why should you read books more than once? Like what is the point of reading a book multiple times since you already know everything that happens? I enjoy reading books multiple times, not like back to back though.

            I have re-read multiple books and book series because I just love the story like I can’t even count the number of times I read Dark Visions by L.J. Smith I just absolutely love that book. The reason I like to re-read a book is the first thing is I really enjoyed the book the first time and I think that if I read it again I’ll enjoy it even more the second time. My second reason for re-reading a book I have already read is you get more details from the second or more times you read it than the first time reading it; I can’t say the number of times that I read a book and I forgot a part that wasn’t in the book before, so by reading it more times I can remember more of the details. Not only do you get more details, but when you’re reading it the first time you don’t know what happens at the end, and a lot of books end up foreshadowing and when re-reading it you can see all the places in the book where you should have realized what the ending was going to be.

            I just like re-reading books some people say it’s a waste of time if you’ve already read it, but I don’t think so. Especially, re-read a book or series if the movie is coming out soon and you read it a while ago, re-reading will jog your memory and have you all pumped up for the movie. So I just think that people should re-read books because of that as my main reasons.

            Another thing is when reading the second or more times you can pay more attention to the vocabulary and word choice and it will help expand your vocabulary, or if you don’t know what a word means you can go look it up in a dictionary since you won’t be as eager to read the book since you already know what happens, it will just help you overall. Also I like to do a fun thing where I edit the book and see how many mistakes I can find in the book overall (usually I find a lot). But overall I just think re-reading books is a good idea and people should do since they will get more from the book the second time than the first time they read it.

Divergent

            The new movie Divergent came out about two weeks ago and is a complete hit for a movie to see. The movie can be seen by both females and males, and also young and older people, so it is a really good movie to see.

            The movie is based upon a book series called Divergent by Veronica Roth about a dystopian society that has to live by the rules and follow the structure within the society to follow the rules. I have not currently read the books, I believe there are three of them and I have heard from multiple friends that the book series is extremely good, and contains three books (so it’s a trilogy). Maybe in the future I will read them, but for once I have actually watched a movie of a book series I want to read before actually reading the book. But I heard from people overall that compared to the book the movie was okay, that they left out some major details, so most people if you have read the books might kind of be annoyed by the movie in that aspect.

            I thought that the movie was really good, then again I didn’t actually read the books for once. I honestly think this kind of reminded me of like the Giver, the Hunger Games, and City of Ember because the main focus of those books is like a dystopian type society that must follow and obey all the rules or will be punished. I think though compared to the Hunger Games movies I definitely prefer the Hunger Games movies (the first and the second, Catching Fire) and I really liked the movie; City of Ember because the main actor and actress I really liked, I think they did a really good job in that movie. But back to Divergent, the movie was overall good since it had a lot of action and suspense going on; and of course some romance to add to the spice of it all between the main actress Shailene Woodley who plays Tris and Theo Games who plays Four in the movie. Also they add some humor in the movie between all the characters within the certain faction that Tris had chosen.

            I think the movie did a good job, my favorite part in the movie was during all the action at the end and the whole really cheesy part of where Four wakes up and remembers Tris, but the part that was the worst part in the movie is when Shailene Woodley starts crying because of her characters mum had died, I just thought it was a pretty pathetic way to cry and just seemed so fake, so that’s the part I disliked the most. But this movie is definitely one of the top movies to see of this year. And it’s even funnier since the movie that comes out later in the year called the Fault in Our Stars is a romance with Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort…And in the Divergent movie they are brother and sister which I just think is hilarious. So yeah, this movie was really good and I recommend seeing it eventually whether it be in theaters or at home.

Switching Out Textbooks

            Why should schools get rid of textbooks? Textbooks are heavy, and no one likes to carry them around. Schools should get rid of the textbooks and have online textbooks it will save many of us high school students from severe back pain.

            So like many students including myself they have about six subjects in a day, so that can mean up to six textbooks, or even more if that certain subject decides to have more than one textbook that they use. Ap World History is an example of a class that used two textbooks, and unfortunately with one of the textbooks you had to bring to and from school. Just carrying one textbook around wouldn’t be that bad, but it adds more weight to our backpacks, because yes the adage of papers adds up with all the papers teachers give us students. So all the loose paper and a few textbook is a complete pain to always be carrying around. Some teachers I know they will tell you when you need your textbook in their class that day, but not all teachers do that for instant my Ap United States History doesn’t say when we might use the textbooks in class. All this adds up to is back pain and the annoyance at the teachers for dragging the textbook around. And like I said before, all these textbooks add up.

            I think that if the school’s got rid of textbooks and replaced them with nooks or tablets (honestly any device that is lighter than a damn textbook) then it would really benefit the students and save money for the school by not having to buy new textbooks every few years. To be able to download all the textbooks that the student would use in one device would make it easier for the student as well. And the student just needs to bring that back and forth from school to home. Another reason the schools should replace the textbooks with an electronic device is students could easily access Microsoft programs on their tablet or the device and so students that do not have internet access, a computer, or laptop don’t have to worry about staying at school late or coming in early to finish their homework since they would be able to access it all one the one device.

            The schools should just get rid of textbooks because it’s a pain to always have to be carrying them around, and even if they don’t provide an electronic device they should still get rid of textbooks and make everything online. I’m not saying that’s the top solution they should do, because I for one think it’s really awkward to read a textbook with a computer or laptop, but it’s better than having to carry around textbooks. Or another suggestion I have to solve this problem of having to carry around textbooks is make an app for it; that way people can read it right off of their phones. Obviously though, with this idea they’d still have to provide textbooks to the students who don’t have a phone or a phone that has apps, but at least that would make it a bit easier for more than half of the school.

            I think that the schools should get rid of textbooks, it’s really annoying to always have to be carrying them around, and honestly they cause back pains with all the stuff that gets put into our backpacks we don’t need the weight of textbooks as well. My suggestions are to get electronic devices and start using technology, textbooks are ‘old school’ and we need to keep up with the whole world and move on from those nasty heavy textbooks. Though I know overall the cost of providing every student with an electronic device would be costly, it would really benefit the students and the students could raise money in order to achieve the switching of textbooks to tablets or another device. 

Doctor Who

            Why Doctor Who make an amazing book series? Okay, so I’m a bit obsessed with Doctor Who along with many other people. There is seven seasons right now that I’ve watched and the show is extremely interesting. Each episode is completely different and there is a lot of humor to keep you interested in what’s happening.

            I think that some people have made short stories about Doctor Who, or there could possibly actually be a book series that I’m not aware of and if so they should make it widely known there is a book series like Doctor Who because I have a feeling the series would be really popular as the show is widely popular, I mean you have to love those British accents…And I know that a book series would have no British accent, but I just really adore this show.

            So many movies get based upon books, that if someone was creative enough they could make a book based upon a movie. I feel like the same thing can be done with shows; the people that write the scripts should give their ideas to an author and let the author mess around with the word play and putting everything into a legit story that sounds like something someone would want to read. And I’m not saying the books would have to follow the show completely they could go off on their own thing. It’s just an idea, someone creative enough to write a book based upon a show….Which I bet a ton of people have tried, but that is what I call fan fiction that usually isn’t the best and they end up doing something insane like for instance making Rose come back and marrying the doctor? Another thing insane like is even making multiple doctors, so all of his companions will get a doctor to love.

            Overall, my point is that with shows that are this interesting, they would have to be really good books as well, right? Since usually people enjoys books more than the movies I think that the same thing would go for shows, that with a little bit of added detail and books based upon shows would be magnificent.

            Doctor Who was just an example since I love the show so much and science fiction/fantasy makes really interesting books (well, again my opinion). So with asking permission to steal the director who wrote the script I think that books would be amazing based upon shows; maybe they already did this, but if so it isn’t that popular. 

Why read?

            So the big question is why should people read? Actually, I can go both sides to this as to why we should read and why we shouldn’t read. But basically, reading broadens our concepts of the world; it allows us to learn new things.

            Reading allows people to sound more intelligent in everyday life. Well, maybe depending on the book. You learn a new word you haven’t used before and then you start to use that word in your everyday vocabulary; which we all know if you say words average people don’t know then people think you’re smart. Another thing reading does is it allows us to see how others use their words to get their ideas and concepts across to us. I believe it is so interesting to ask one person to describe a situation and then ask another person to describe the situation, no one will say it exactly the same way (unless they rehearsed it) because people talk differently and that’s what makes everyone unique. If we all kept saying like and omg or the same words everyone else does we just kind of just group all those people into one category since they clearly talk the same. But anyway to get back on track; while I’m typing this up no one will say it like I do because I have my own voice and own thoughts that cause me to have a different story than other people do.

            Now I will say one reason to not read, you should not read because it ruins your eyesight. Well, maybe, when reading it’s important to look up at least every 20 minutes and stare at a distant object or your eyes will just mess up. I’m not really sure the science behind it, but that’s one reason to not read, if you get so engrossed into a book that you can’t even look up every 20 minutes or so. But reading allows learning, I mean we read textbooks during school to learn new concepts the same goes with any book, you will learn something from it. Whether it be some useful information in life or something like this author was terrible I wasted my time reading this book; you still learned something.

            So read it’s good for you…mostly. And there are so many different books out there to choose from and all these different subjects you can read about; you just need to figure out what you like and pick that book up and begin to read. It’s honestly like watching a movie or watching the telly except there is more detail that will go up to your head. So just pick up a book and read. 

Free Reading

            During school especially in language arts classes many teachers make students read a certain amount of pages that they have to read and then eventually the end of the year or whatever they do a project on the book. I think that students should be able to pick the books that they want for the free reading.

            One big reason that us students should be able to choose the books we read is because the books that are already free chosen for us we have absolutely no interest in it. I understand that by having to read books we wouldn’t originally want to read is expanding our horizons, but as long as the book is at a high school level we should be able to read what we want.

            I for one read books that I would consider them past high school level for reading and I think that since I already read these difficult for free reading that I should be allowed to use that for counting my pages. Some books I understand are pretty simple that students shouldn’t be able to use for their free reading assignment, but most of the books us students read are usually at a teenage/ high school level and the few students that are reading easier books are completely ruining it for the rest of us.

I think a solution for this idea is to let the students read what they want, honestly the students reading the easy books that are at a lower reading level than what they should be reading are only hurting themselves. Or another solution is to simply search the book into Google or something and it will be pretty easy to tell if the book is at their reading level, if we seriously have to read books at our reading level.

My teacher last year just let us pick what we wanted, and I know sometimes there is restrictions to books we should read like Fifty Shades of Gray, but isn’t the point of reading books to expand our vocabulary and recognize the lesson from the story? And of course entertain ourselves, but students don’t want to read books that are chosen for them essentially. So they won’t want to read them and will just pretend they did when clearly they didn’t. I’m not saying all books that teachers say we should read are bad, but some of them are a little out dated for my and other students taste that’s why we should be able to read what we want.

The Great Gatsby

            The Great Gatsby the book compared to the movie (or at least what I can remember of it.) So out of order I saw the movie the Great Gatsby (the new one because I think there’s an older version too) and then about a year later I decided to read the book. So which do I think is better? The book obviously since it has more details and always more happens in the book than with the movie.

            Comparing the book to the movie I was actually quite surprised at the length of the movie compared to the length of the book, because the book only has between 200 and 300 pages and the movie is about two hours long. But now that I’m thinking of it I guess with the first Harry Potter book, the Sorcerer’s Stone (the Philosophers Stone) it was about 300 pages as well and the movie was turned into a two and a half hour movie. Well, anyway like Harry Potter since the Great Gatsby is a shorter book more of the details are within the movie.

            During the movie I felt that everything went by slower in the events that occurred compared to the book, I don’t know why, but the movie just seemed to have a slower pace while the book it seemed like one thing happened and then the next thing happened and so on and so forth. One thing I will say is I thought that Daisy was a conniving evil little witch in both the movie and the book, but I feel like in the book it described her as being a more petite, sweet, and later mean than the movie did. Some of the actors and actresses in the movie fit the role quite well; while others I just didn’t seem them exactly like that as I had while reading the book.

            One thing that I think is a big difference between the book and the movie is I believe that no one shows up to Gatsby’s funeral except for Owl Eyes, but in the book Gatsby’s father shows up, but maybe I’m just recalling it wrong, but I think that if you liked the book you’ll like the movie since they are a pretty close fit to each other in my opinion.

            One good reason to go see the movie is that it had Leonardo DicCaprio in it (though he is older now sadly) and Tobey Maguire in it. Of course both of those people are famous for roles in other movies like the Titanic and Romeo and Juliet, and with Maguire he’s Spiderman and they will always be known to me by those roles and nothing else. But anyway the movie is pretty good, I don’t think they could have done any better, and the writer F. Scott Fitzgerald created a marvelous book for his time period. 

Non-Stop

            The movie called Non-Stop is a surprisingly interesting movie. It’s kind of like an action movie in a way and reminded me of a different movie I had seen before, I can’t recall what it was, but it was definitely better.

            The main actor in the movie is Liam Neeson who if you don’t recall the actor he is famous for his role in Taken. Also some other movies he was which were called the Grey and Unknown. Taken was released in 2008 and is well-known the famous quote from the movie, “I don’t know who you are, but if you don’t let my daughter go I will find you and I will kill you.” That is one of the movies that have Liam Neeson in it that’s worth seeing; there is also a Taken 2; which I can’t comment on at this time since I have not gotten around to seeing the movie yet. Unknown is quite a confusing movie, but since it has Liam Neeson it’s a pretty good movie, he acts really well. So how does this relate to Non-Stop? The movies main actor is Liam Neeson, and with the other movies he’s acted it they have turned out quite well.

            Liam Neeson in the movie Non-Stop plays his role of protector of the airplane extremely well. I thought that the start of the movie kind of just jumped right into it; which is good because some movies try to explain the back story to everything that has happened in the person’s life at the start and it just bores people, with this movie it doesn’t really tell the main character, Bill Marks, past till the middle/end of the movie which I actually kind of liked it like that, it let the movie unfold.

            One thing I didn’t like about the movie was all the texting going on; if you can’t see really well I suggest not sitting in the very back of the theater because there is a lot of reading you have to do. Some of the messages I feel like it went by too quick, but then again I probably have bad eyesight compared to most, since I need glasses or contacts. I will admit like Unknown the movie is kind of confusing, but you’ll catch on eventually and understand (with Non-Stop) what happened in the end of the movie.

            I liked this movie, it’s not going to be one of my favorite movies, but it’s interesting to see and action packed. It’s not horrible, and I actually at the beginning of the movie thought I wouldn’t like it all that much, but surprisingly the middle/end turned out to be good. So go see Non-Stop since it has Liam Neeson in it. 

Banning of Books

            There are many books that throughout the year’s public schools have decided to ban these books for reasons like language, general offensiveness, sexual content, witchcraft, and many other reasons. Generally, the books that are being banned by schools are known to be the ‘classical’ literature books like the Great Gatsby, the Catcher and the Rye, Fahrenheit 451, the Scarlet Letter, and just a lot of books that language arts classes usually read. Why shouldn’t schools be able to ban these books?

            Language arts classes are all about reading, writing, speech; which is just language in general. They focus upon books that are written a certain way that makes the books popular for the theme, language, and style of the books. So why are certain schools banning these books when a lot of language arts classes focus upon them? Because of how it’s written is usually why schools ban certain books; which is kind of ironic since language arts teachers make their students read the books because of how it’s written, but anyway since many of these ‘classical’ or older books have inappropriate language or have sexual mentioning’s in them they get banned from some schools.

            The banning of these books is significant because it’s changing the curriculum of the language arts teachers since they can’t use books like these since they are inappropriate for students. Though, public schools (in turn the government) do have the right to ban books at schools, they shouldn’t. The reason they shouldn’t is because first off especially in high school, the teenagers have already been exposed to content and everything else that is far worse than some of these books. The second reason is that students learn from the books, like in the Pride and Prejudice and Of Mice and Men, the students can learn about discrimination and judging others.

The significance of this is that since the students are learning, so teachers should be able to choose whether or not they want a book like that in their curriculum, the drawback to adding these books though is that it may be considered inappropriate, but the students will end up being exposed to concepts in the books eventually anyway. By banning different books it will just make the students more interested in topics that are banned and they may eventually read it, so by banning books they’re sparking the inevitable and basically drawing attention to books that are bad enough to be banned at school.

            Schools shouldn’t ban books because of it being considered inappropriate at school, the students learn from them. Though, some books like Harry Potter may not seem at first to have any learning from them, all books you can learn from. So even the books about witchcraft shouldn’t be banned from schools because students may read it whether the schools provides the books for them or not, so why not just allow the books at schools in the first place? Books are a great way to learn, even in classes like Ap Biology they go into major detail about sex, so guess that means teachers aren’t allowed to teach about that either. The point it just because there may be a book that has something a little ‘bad’ in it, it shouldn’t be banned from school. For more information about the banning of books check out http://www.ala.org/bbooks/about 

The Vampire Diaries

            So another series that I liked is called the Vampire Diaries (no, it’s nothing like Twilight), okay maybe in a sense it is, but it seriously is a good paranormal series. The reason I like the Vampire Diaries series is because not only is it about a vampire and a human who love each other, but it’s about other dimensions, other creatures, the originals, and just so much more. The series is all focused along Elaine and her two loves or the two guys that love her; Damon and Stefan who just happen to be brothers and both vampires.

            Now the first book if I remember correctly is kind of slow and a lot of stuff happens in it, but that’s the book that is more along the cliché portion (except for the fact Elaine basically has a twin, Katherine.) I’m not going to lie hear, I honestly vaguely remember what happens between the five books…But the first contains the two books the Awakening and the Struggle, the second book is Fury and Dark Reunion, the third book is Nightfall, the fourth book Shadow Souls, and the fifth book is called Midnight. So the series is kind of confusing the series is in parts where the first two books is the Vampire Diaries and the third through fifth is the series called the Return. Now there is the other part of the series which is the Hunters and have a red cover, these books are also books that are not by L.J. Smith they are written by Aubrey Clark.

            So out of all the books I loved the fourth and the fifth book because so much things happen that it is really unexpected and shocking that it keeps the reader intrigued and wanting more. I think that L.J. Smith’s books got better as the next book came out, because the next book is always better than the prior book. So definitely a fun series to read to have it keep building up. I think that the reader though really has to keep an open mind because so much happens that’s unrealistic and unexpected.

            My suggestion to the series is to read it only if you like paranormal books and if you have read other L.J. Smith books and liked those. I don’t suggest reading the sixth book, it’s a different author, and I thought it completed sucked, just my opinion if you want to know whether to read it or not.

            Another cool thing about this series is there is also a show based upon it, but let me tell you I watched the first three seasons of the Vampire Diaries (fourth season was getting to weird for me), I think they are currently on the fifth season, but I’m not exactly sure…There also is a spin off show to the Vampire Diaries called the Originals. As well as with the books there is many spin off seasons to the Vampire Diaries, but I’m not exactly sure who writes them or if they’re any good, I’m just aware that they exist.

            So my overall suggestion is to read this series you won’t regret it, it’s not a total cliché like most vampire books, and I found it highly interesting up until the new writer started. So read the series, it’s a fun series and L.J. Smith has quite an imagination.