Lit circle 2 reflection

12/8/13

Lt Circle Reflection

Based on the last discussion, I needed to work on my discussion question which I think that I handled in the last discussion. I tried to improve my role in the discussion because i didn't do much in the first. My group is going pretty well. There are little to none moments of complete silence and we all contribute to the conversation so no one is talking much more or less than another. The group doesn't have many problems that need to be improved at the moment. We may need to work on some of our members talking more and some talking less. Overall were pretty set though.

The Beast V. The others

10\31\13

Tuesday Write #8

Both the others in Lost, and the beast in the Lord of the Flies are sources of terror .

The others are a hostile tribe that on the Lost island that pose an actual, physical threat to the group. They have proved that they are not afraid to hurt the group by multiple instances of shootings and kidnapping.The beast is an imaginary figure of terror created by one of the little-uns imagination. The beast creates fear and irrational thought for the boys, even though it is fake, until it takes the form of an dead parachuter that looks like a beast in the dark and the wind. The fear in the beast even goes as far as splitting up the group when they have to decide how to deal with it. Both the beast from the Lord of the Flies and the others from Lost terrorize their groups and create rivalries in the groups solely from fear.

All in all, the Beast and the others both represent fear in the eyes of the groups. Even though they both create fear and chaos, the others are the only ones to physically touch the protagonists, and represent much more of a threat.

Soldier X book review.

Mike Humphrey  

10/18/13

Harper English 10

Soldier X book review

Soldier X is a WW2 book by Don Wulffson about a young German boy living in Berlin with a secret Russian background. He grew up in a war torn country,  that is now on the defensive. As the fighting continues he is forced into the army, given a rushed incomplete training, and sent to the worst part of the war, the Eastern front. “From the battlefields, especially those of Russia, maimed and crippled German soldiers returned with blank, dead stares.” (7) During a Russian assault, he is knocked unconscious in his trench, he wakes up under a Stalled Russian tank, and a piece of shrapnel sticking out of his knee. Listening to the sound of Russians executing Germans, he switches uniforms with a dead Russian and crawls from out from under the tank. Shot by a dying German officer, he is rushed off to a Russian field hospital, where he is nursed back to health by a young Russian nurse, they start to fall in love, but she soon begins to grow suspicious of his past. The book has an expert blend of drama, horror and action. It strains the use of detail and description in setting and other surroundings. It submerges the reader into a world torn by war and chaos.The writing style is elegant yet simple, a perfect read for someone who can stomach the gore and slightly depressing storyline. All in all, a great read who wants an action packed read mixed with a bit of history.

Warren Harden blog response

The thing that most stood out to me in the chapter is that the author was able to trick both the characters and the readers into thinking that the senator would make a good leader just because of the way he was described. In the end the author tricked everyone by revealing that he was the worst president in history. One thing that we could learn from this chapter is not to pick a leader by the way that they present them self, or by the way people talk about him. You need to pick a leader by the way he speaks, his ideas, and his ideals or qualities. The IAT test revealed that i have a small preference for people of my own race and gender, it surprised me at first but I realized that people are always drawn slightly to people similar to them.

Tuesday post

Reality TV has become a main media source for trash TV. Shows like Jersey Shore, and Here comes Honey Boo Boo, are just a couple of examples that have ruined reality TV's image. It's not surprising that it is offensive, with Jersey Shore's excessive drinking and Here comes Honey Boo Boo's borderline child abuse and extremely unhealthy life style, they offend and supposedly entertain many. But even with all of it's faults, Reality TV has some redeeming qualities, American Idol, The Biggest Loser, and other shows in the same group show that people can achieve their dreams through hard work, and the shows give the contestants help with their goals, whether it be by getting them noticed by music executives, or losing weight, these shows help keep the entire genre afloat on the morality level, while the other shows keep it afloat on the ratings level in the kind of, the car wreck that you can't look away from kind of way.

intro redo

My hobbies and interests definitely include paint-balling, running cross country and track, and walking and playing with my friends, i also like to hang out with my friends and play x-box. My favorite book is a book about a dog handler and his dog during the Vietnam war, i don't remember the name of the book but it was really good and i would recommend it to anyone who can handle the violence. My goal is to get through this year and the next three with good enough grades and to do enough activities to help me get a scholarship to West Point. I don't have any quotes that i remember or inspire me maybe just one by MLK Jr. "a man that is not willing to die for something is not fit to live". That's it.

First blog post

First blog post, don't really know what to write about since this is for English class. Don't see how this is supposed to help me in English, just doing it cause the teacher said to and I want a good grade. I don't really see why English is a required course for high school, I've taken this for 10 years straight so I think that it should be an elective for people who want to be writers or want to get better at typing or writing, it's just another grade for me to worry about. Anyway I don't how much longer this is supposed to be, I'll go for a little longer since I don't have a book to read in class so this is my only way to kill time. It's a short day anyway. Skid row is an underrated band, they have some bad songs but their one of those bands that have mediocre music that noone knows about, even though they have a few top of the charts hits, like 18 and life for example. Quiet riot is almost the same way, except most if not all of their songs are great, but they were only popular for a year or two, so either someone OD'ed, or they got lazy and decided to ride the fame train for as long as they can and see how much money they can come out with. They were like most of today's artists, there is are a few super stars that everyone know about, and have been around for a while, but they are minuscule compared to the rest of the artists around, that resemble bottle rockets in the way that they quickly rise to the too and explode due to a major success with a single or in some rare occasions a full album, but then they have a quick decline to rock bottom and aren't heard about until they are found in a dumpster overdosed on all sorts of narcotics. I think that this is enough for now, but I have nothing to do in the meantime so ill just keep the screen on and listen to music. Last dance for Mary Jane is a great song. Tom Clancy an the Heartbreakers are a pretty good band, their obviously not from this millennium since their good, music today is always either terrible or mediocre, save for the one a year hit single, but the artist probobly didn't even write it, then they think that they can write a song since we all say their amazing, then the next song comes out and we realize they suck and quickly forget about them. The Walking Dead is an amazing show, it somehow is able to balance the right amount of inter-character drama and zombies. Michael Bublé is a great artist, he's new but he follows in the footsteps of the great big band singers like Sonatra. His best song has to be "I'm feelin good" it's been done by many artists in the past but he gets it right by adding just the right amount of his Sinatra flair and it comes out amazing.