The Final Blog

This semester I've read around 2000 pages. A few books I skimmed more than read, but there were some that I read every word. My favorite book this semester was definitely Memoirs of a Geisha. It's about the struggle of a young girl who's family sells her to an okiya where she is forced to become a geisha. The movie is almost as good as the book. It won best picture a few years ago along with many other awards.

Often, I would sit down to read on a "thrown" I've made for myself on my couch after school. Sometimes I'd fall asleep immediately after I begin reading. I can only listen to music while I read. If any other noise interrupts me, I can't concentrate. Anyways, if I stayed awake and the book interested me I would read for a couple hours, usually getting past the week's required 150 pages. I didn't like how I had to split these up. I would read everything in one day and write the summary sporadically as the week went on.

As for poetry, I understand that some people cannot get enough, but I can't stand it. I always feel like it's people writing illogically and the public making their own interpretations and praising the writer for their "art". I struggled with the analyses we had to do. I think this is because I'm good with logic and reasoning which most poetry doesn't contain. However, I will give some poems credit for being interesting and with a deep meaning.

A Long Way Gone pgs. 58 - 96

The boys meet a man named Gasemu that they recognize from home. He explains that Ishmael's parents are just over the next hill. The group run to the top of the hill to see smoke and gunshots. The army has gotten to the village first. They go to where his parents were living and look at the ruins. He knows there's no chance they survived. Ishmael starts to get nightmares.

They seek help in the town of Yele where military headquarters are. Any boys ranging from seven to seventeen are immediately handed a gun and start training to be a soldier. If you refuse they kill you on sight. He had his first battle and watched an eleven year old die. He focused all his rage into the gun and killed as many people as he could.

After two years of this, Ishmael and a few other boys are picked up by a UNICEF workers and taken to a rehabilitation camp. There are boys from both sides of the war that are trying to get back to normal. The theory of the camp, as Ishmael explains, is that with the fighting and violence out, they could all merge together as one team. However, fighting breaks out from both sides and a grenade is thrown. By the end six boys are dead.

Amazing Half Court Shot

When I saw this video I couldn't believe it. This reporter makes a half-court shot without looking. Check it out here.

A Long Way Gone pgs. 1 - 57

A Long Way Gone is a true story about a boy soldier in Africa. He begins in 1993 talking about how the war had hit the continent but hadn't reached his village. Although, it did quickly. He, his brother, and his friend go to a talent show outside the village. Someone brings news that an army has attacked their home village. The boys flee into the forest. Ishmael is twelve at this time. They reach a road that is covered in dead and dying people. It's a brutal scene that shows how merciless the army is. They keep moving.

For a long time, the boys are on the move on the verge of starvation and exhaustion. If any villages take them in, the war soon finds them and they have to leave. One of these times, Ishmael runs into a bush without looking back. He doesn't find his brother or friend afterwards and never sees them again.

Ishmael roams forests until he finally comes across some boys he recognizes from school. They're heading towards a village called Yele. He goes with them. One night, a trio of soldiers comes across the boys, and they hide. Saidu passes out and they carry him to the nearest village. At the village, Ishmael learns his family is safe in another village. However, while they are there, Saidu dies out of no where. The boys bury their friend.

I like this book so far. The gory parts are very detailed. What makes it even more frightening is that it's a true story being told in first person. It's hard to imagine this kind of inhumanity happened just a few years ago and most likely still does today.

Be More Chill pgs. 255 - 316

Another kid, Jeremy doesn't know his name, sits in for Jake in the play. Jeremy has come up with a plan to get Christine to finally go out with him. His plan is to abruptly interrupt the play, make an announcement about Jake, and kiss Christine. He does this when Christine sprinkles "magic dust" on him. Christine pushes him off and continues with the play. Jeremy realizes the squip has turned off and won't turn back on. After the seen, Mr. Rhyes takes Jeremy's costumes and kicks him out. He runs into Christine, and she's furious. She yells at Jeremy and he just takes it. Michael finds him outside and talks to him. Jeremy tells Michael about the squip and it turns back on. The squip explains that it's faulty. Jeremy decides to have it do a memory dump. This is when the squip takes over Jeremy's motor controls and types his memories onto a computer. Jeremy would then get rid of the squip completely and revise the book. He then plans to give it to Christine. At the end it says, "Here it is, Christine. I hope you like it." Basically, it means I read the book he wrote for Christine.

I like the realistic touch at the end. However, I knew the plan to interrupt the play was going to be a bust from the beginning. Overall, this book was good, but not one of my favorites.

Be More Chill pgs 153 - 254

After a few days, Jeremy calls Chloe and she tells him about a party and asks if he wants to go. He says yes quickly, then Chloe asks if he wants to "roll" with her (use ecstasy). He's reluctant at first but agrees. The next day at school he gives Chloe money for the drugs and invites Michael to the party. He forgives Jeremy and decides to go. The next night Jeremy tells his parents he's going over to Michael's for the night. When Michael arrives, they swap Michael's car for Jeremy's mom's. Jeremy's never driven before, but it's easy with the squip's help. When they arrive at the party Chloe lets them in and takes Jeremy to the basement. They take the ecstasy and start to undress. All of the sudden, theirs a knock on the window and someone yelling profanities. It's Chloe's boyfriend Brock that she forgot to mention to Jeremy. Brock chases Jeremy throughout the party. Jeremy runs into a bathroom where Stephanie is throwing up. He hides under the sink and when Brock comes in Stephanie yells at him. Stephanie and Jeremy talk for a while until she's done throwing up. Downstairs, Rich grabs Jeremy and takes him to a big crowd that are spying on Jake (Christine's boyfriend) and Katrina having sex. He leaves and dozes away on a couch. When he wakes up, the party has calmed down and Christine is next to him. They talk for a while until Jeremy decides it's time to leave. He bumps into Chloe and Brock and they're drunk. Luckily, Brock's not mad anymore and appologizes for chasing Jeremy. They go to look for Michael and find him in a bathtub with an Asian girl named Nichole. Jeremy takes everyone home and gets Christine's number.
On the way home, they're passed by a lot of firetrucks. The next morning Jeremy calls Christine and finds out from his squip that there was a fire at the party just after they left. They talk about it for a while. Rich and Jake are badly burned and in intensive care. After the phone talk, Jeremy's mom asks him why he was out til four in the morning with her car and why his aunt is missing hundreds of dollars worth of beanie babies. Jeremy tells the truth about everything and his mom cries. She thinks he needs help but he shakes her off. The next day at school, Christine and Jeremy walk together. Everyone is depressed due to the two students who are in intensive care.

My Poems

My theme is love and the poems are:
1) Romantics - Lisel Mueller
2) The Rain - Robert Creeley
3) I Knew a Woman - Theodore Roethke
4) I Love You - Ella Wheeler Wilcox
*5) Love's Philosophy - Percy Bysshe Shelley
6) Winter - Timothy Liu

*I'll do my video on this poem

Vivian Maier

Vivian Maier (1926-2009) was a maid all her life. Switching from houses to house every few years. She lived in Chicago homes. As her past employers recalled, she always had a camera with her. An elderly couple whom were Vivian's final employers, auctioned off over 30,000 negatives of her images she had taken over the years to a young historian named John Maloof. Most of the negatives weren't even developed. However, after scanning the images and viewing them properly for the first time ever, he realized he had found something incredible. The pictures were amazing. He went back to the elderly couple and bought the rest of her negatives, over 100,000 all together.

He's still in the process of developing them, and it will take him a few more years. Meanwhile, her works have their own display in the Chicago Cultural Center. It's sad that most of the film wasn't even developed and that she never knew how amazing her photos are. At the same time, it must be exciting for Maloof to see new, wonderful photography everyday that's never been seen by anyone else. She took mainly street life photos. Most of the people in the pictures look like they don't know they're being photographed. Most of them take my breath away. She's my new favorite photographer. To see her works, you can go to his blog. Also, here is a great video that introduced me to this story.

Be More Chill pgs. 103 - 152

As soon as Jeremy has the squip it starts talking to him and telling him what to do. First, he buys some new shirts while he's at the mall. Afterwards it tell him to buy some frozen yogurt. When he gets to the booth, he sees two popular girls from his math class. He starts talking to them with the squip telling him everything to say. Michael shows up and asks if he's ready to go. Jeremy shakes him off and gets him to leave just like the squip says. He gets a ride home from the girls and gets Chloe's number. That night he works out and Michael calls him. He's mad for getting bailed on that day. The squip helps Jeremy get out of Michael being mad at him. The next day at school he hangs out with Rich and his group of friends. He and Rich skip class with two girls. They smoke weed behind some bushes. Jeremy starts to have his first kiss with a girl named Brooke. He starts to kiss her breasts but one just got pierced and is sore so she makes him stop. He's happy to get with a girl for the first time and doesn't object.

Be More Chill pgs. 27 - 100

Jeremy starts to talk to Christine some more but she's going out with Jake now. He considers them friends. She started to talk about the Halloween Dance one day and Jeremy decided to go. He wore a scary mask that he bought from a Halloween store. At the dance, one of his tormentors, Rich, comes up to him and gives him a drink. He's spiked it with scotch but Jeremy doesn't refuse. Rich starts telling Jeremy how he only got cool by taking something called a "squip". He explains it as a small computer that's eaten like a pill. It then travels to your brain and helps you accomplish anything you want. He says they cost $600 and Jeremy is skeptical but he goes to the bowling ally where Rich says he can get one. Once there, he finds the guy who says his cousin may have one but it will definitely cost $600 dollars. He also says to check out eBay. Jeremy searches "Squip" and there is a beanie-baby named squip that keeps popping up. He realizes beanie-babies go for over hundreds of dollars if they're collectibles. His dad tells him his Aunt Linda has "thousands of those things" so Jeremy decides to pay her a visit. He steals a couple beanies after cleaning her gutter and sells them for over $600. He goes to the guy who has the squips, buys one, and swallows it down. This ends Part 1.

I'm really excited to see what will happen after he takes the squip.