Archives for July 2012

Yesterday i went to Broadway Lafayette to interview the New York State Youth Leadership Council. The meeting was great, the atmosphere was full of energy and the people were so generous. We sat in a circle, played a game called ZIP, ZAP, ZOP. It was a great start to meeting new people. They went over the Deferred Action Workshop, NY dream act, federal dream act and lots more. After the meeting, i interviewed a college student who is currently attending Lehman College. She was so open and polite. I also interviewed the coordinator of the organization. I received great quotes from both of them. I felt like a real journalist, i felt that rush in my body when you have to write quickly because the other person is talking. I used all the steps that we have been learning the past week. To me it was a great experience and i will return to the meetings to learn more and also to help out.

Last week my family and i saw the movie Ted. sorry to admit that this was not a movie i should have seen with my parents. Like Seth MacFarlane’s shows Family Guy and American Dad, his movie Ted was both funny and inappropriate.

Although i knew the movie was rated R i didn’t expect the main character Ted to be so…..explicit. I was laughing throughout the entire movie, but sometimes had to look over at my parents to see there reactions. Luckily they enjoyed themselves as well.

I believe Ted was the funniest movie I’ve seen in a long time. I think most other comedy movies have gotten lazy with the jokes they provide to the viewers. This movie had all the same types of jokes like family guy but was still worth watching.

I recommend everyone go see this movie, just do not take your parents or little siblings with you.

The book How to be a Wallflower was published in 1999 and tells a story about a quite and innocent teenage boy during the 1990s, entering the stages of adulthood.

Charlie, his aliases, writes a letter to a person, depicting his experiences in high school. He does not want to mention his name or his friends and families names to the person he’s writing to.

The book starts out with Charlie an innocent young boy writing a letter to a person, telling this person that he is about to enter High School and is scared about his first day.

Weeks pass by and Charlie starts making friends slowly through his schools social gatherings, he also becomes great acquaintances with his English Teacher, a man with an equal passionate for reading.

The story goes on with Charlie dealing with problems and secrets from his family and friends that he must not whisper to anyone.

The Author Stephen Chbosky has a great way of writing and informing the problems of the teenage world in a humorous way.

An example of this comedy can be extracted from this scene. Charlie has just attended his first high school party and then the host started passing food around.

Charlie innocent and naïve, picked up the brownie in a house covered in smoke. “I ate the brownie, and it tasted a little weird, but it was still a brownie, so I still like it. But this was not an ordinary brownie. Since you are older, I think you know what kind of brown it was.” Charlie said in the novel.

Chbosky, also refers to hot topics during the time, such as openly gay teenagers, religious views shifting, drug use among teenagers, the trauma of suicide from both sides, rape, and puberty (Always a hot topic).

The author also used great symbolism, referencing modern day shows and old American texts as his literature techniques

Overall I would give this book a 9 out 10 for it’s original comedy and reference to teen problems in a learning environment for both parents and teenagers.

READING AGE 15 AND UP

9 OUT OF 10 STARS

It began in a school dedicated to the disabled children and a desire.

For 4 years, teachers at the school sexually abused and molested the children.

Defenseless, the children could only cry only to be silenced.

 

Even after this was revealed, not many people knew about this incident and the perpetrators only received minimal punishment.

 

How could this happen?

 

Why would people do this to children?

 

This is a horror that no one wishes to reoccur, and as a result, this incident was adapted into a novel by Gong Ji Young and later a movie, Silenced (Dogani, in Korean). Upon the release of this film, many had created protests and petitions fighting for a reinvestigation of the original case as well as a law that ensured the disabled victims sex crimes to obtain the justice they deserve.

 

I had only recently gotten the chance to watch this movie and the horrors disgusted me. I felt infuriated and aggravate at manipulation of the legal system and the negligence by people at the education department.

 

I developed the same emotions as millions of views had when they watched the movie. It was heart wrenching to see that no one was properly punished for their deeds and victims did not get the justice they deserved.

 

But what surprised me the most was how easily the lawyer for the children and the judge of the trial was so easily manipulated by money and power. It unveiled the repulsive and horrifying aspects of society that many have no idea existed.

 

The portrayal of the strength of religion was also extremely shocking. They displayed the dark side of religion and what happens when one becomes too bias and subjective to their points of view.

 

Through the excellent cast of Gong Yoo, Jung Yoo Mi, Kim Hyun Soo, Jung In Seo, Baek Seung Hwan, Jang Gwang and many more, the story became alive and it not only told the story of this incident, it allowed a spotlight to shine on sex crimes in general.

 

“The reason we are fighting so hard is not to change the world, but instead not to let the world change us.”

 

Those that were originally silenced by sex crimes now have a voice. 

    The most recent movie Brave, released by Pixar is one of the best movies I have ever seen. First of all, I am a huge Disney fan, so this post may be little bias.
[Spoiler Alert]    
The movie is basically about a princess, Merida, who is always pushed around by her mother about her misconduct as a princess. Then she goes to a witch and gets a spell that turns her mother into a bear. (LOL)
    Through the movie, there was not a point where I got bored. Merida is adventurous and plays archery (obviously, I mean this is like the Hunger Games effect). The movie is very entertaining and funny. The behaviors of the 3 candidates for the prince, the 3 little princes, and the queen kept me entertained throughout the whole movie. They kept parts real and linked somethings to others, which was fascinating. There was another bear in the story and later, it turn out to a the legendary prince of what everyone thought was a myth. The end really brings out your emotions since it portrays a mother and daughter connection which we can all relate to.

    The most recent movie Brave, released by Pixar is one of the best movies I have ever seen. First of all, I am a huge Disney fan, so this post may be little bias.
[Spoiler Alert]    
The movie is basically about a princess, Merida, who is always pushed around by her mother about her misconduct as a princess. Then she goes to a witch and gets a spell that turns her mother into a bear. (LOL)
    Through the movie, there was not a point where I got bored. Merida is adventurous and plays archery (obviously, I mean this is like the Hunger Games effect). The movie is very entertaining and funny. The behaviors of the 3 candidates for the prince, the 3 little princes, and the queen kept me entertained throughout the whole movie. They kept parts real and linked some things to others, which was fascinating. There was another bear in the story and later, it turn out to  the legendary prince of what everyone thought was a myth. The end really brings out your emotions since it portrays a mother and daughter connection which we can all relate to.

So surprisingly The Amazing Spider-Man was….Amazing. As corny as that sounds its relatively true. The movie had action but included just as much humor. What makes this movie different from the previous Spider-Man movies part of the franchise are the actors. Emma Stone (Gwen Stacy) is original in this movie and gives us something new and different from Mary Jane. Andrew Garfield (Peter Parker) is not the best actor but compared to Tobey Maguire he fit the role of Spider-Man/Peter Parker better. The movie seemed more believable with Andrew Garfield.

Last Weekend, I went to a very cool water park, Splish Splash, with a bunch of my friends. Splish Splash is one of the best water parks and it has a lot of interesting a fun rides. When you come in, you have to get a locker for your belongings. There were a ton of people there therefore leading to very long lines. The rides were really fun and the wait was worth it. For many rides I had to go into a float tube and I especially loved the 2 or 3 seater tubes because I love going on rides with my friends. There were a lot of little kids there as well but a lot of rides you have to be a certain height so I felt bad for them. There were teenagers there as well and I made friends with them and went on some rides with them. By the end of the day I was so tired and worn out but it was worth it because I had a really good time and can’t wait to come back again as soon as possible. I recommend everyone who is looking for something fun to do to go to Splish Splash.

Tumblr is a social network blog that gives people opportunities to express themselves. People can have Hipster blogs, grunge blogs, nature blogs, personal blog, girly blogs, etc. Tumblr is a very good way to make friends with people all around the world from Australia to Africa. You get to the opportunity to meet people you never thought you would and it is the most amazing feeling. You get to learn about different places as well through communication with various people. Tumblr lets you get as creative as you like. You could choose your own theme, add your own links such as an ask box or your favorite blogs, add banners, choose your own cursors and different creative things like that. You could even get others to make things like banners for you. You could send people nice messages anonymously or not as well as fan mail. If you like a blog you follow them and you could unfollow if you don’t really like the blog anymore. You could learn about new people and you could write about yourself on your blog. If you have a lot of followers you are considered Tumblr famous and it is especially very exciting when you get followed by someone famous. You have a dashboard and are allowed to reblog whatever you want.

     The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City is showing a temporary exhibit called Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations, which shows the fashion styles of Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada. Both are of Italian origin but both come from different eras. The exhibit is very interesting because you learn about their styles of fashion. Schiaparelli’s style focused on the body, or “waist up” because in her era, women were expected to sit in cafes and only their top half of their body would be seen. Prada’s style was to focus on the bottom half, or “waist down”, because women were working hard and walking around, and used her style to give an expression of modernity. Schiaparelli’s line of clothing focused on elaborate tops and jackets with plain skirts and plain shoes. Prada’s line of clothing focused on beautiful skirts or dresses embroidered with sequins, mostly on the hem, and the exhibit showed a whole case of her shoes. The exhibit showed the clothing based on several themes. They were “Waist Up/Waist Down,” “Ugly Chic,” “Hard Chic,” “Naif Chic,” and “Classical Body,” “Exotic Body,” and” Surreal Body.”

     In my opinion, I love most of their clothing because in their styles, I can feel that both designers designed their clothes to help women feel and have power. However, I really disliked Prada’s shoes. They were very bulky and had unique “hippy” colors that I feel would just destroy the beauty of the clothes. I also disliked some of Schiaparelli’s hats because I felt that there were too decorations on them. I understand how in their respective era, they were trying to express their “modern feminism” but in our current society, their fashion styles, in my opinion, are more masculine than feminine.

      This exhibit is open until August 19, 2012 so if you live in New York City, you better take a look at this exhibit! As a student, it’s free to go, as long as you show them your student ID, you can probably use your high school ID, and by the way the prices to enter are “suggested”. It doesn’t matter your gender, or your age, you will enjoy this exhibit and appreciate it for its unique beauty.