Current Issues

Ever have one of those days when it seems that everything could pass as ordinary, and then something comes along and then something horrible happens and ruins what would otherwise be a perfectly fine week? My current issuse is that I'm having one of those days. Normally, since I started Writer's Craft, I would try to write a poem or maybe a song or something. I'd really like a song, because with a song, you can belt it out and burn a lot of stress. I can't think of a tune, and worse, words. I don't know what words would describe what I'm feelng now, making it difficult to write a song. Writer's block has nothing on this. Maybe I should work on my English Essay, and maybe I will. But right now, I think I need sleep more than anything else.

Screenplay

The screenplay I wrote is an adaptation of Rick Riordan's The Lightning Thief. The movie will be coming out in February, so be sure to compare my script to theirs and let me know what you think. Enjoy!

Time to take off the masks.

Thousand Foot Crutch released Welcome to the Masquerade this September. The album is the result of fan mail Trevor McNevan, the band's lead, received. From powerful stories of personal hardships and struggles comes this rawk-awesome collection that any TFK, or even Skillet, fan will enjoy.

The title track, Welcome to the Masquerade sets the album's tone well with an instrumental Invitation, followed by the Welcome itself, which introduces the idea that we live in a masquerade world. Fire It Up kicks it into the next gear with great rock.

The piano in Bring Me To Life sends chills through your spine, setting you up for the blazing guitars. E for Extinction binds the album's theme of insecurities and need for change to a gentle verse mixed with a powerful and head-banging chorus.

Watching Over Me is a prayer for help, a request for clarity of sight in a whirlwind of false faces. Scream ties into the theme by crying out like many do when they become frustrated with the masks. Outta Control is a statement about how we are lost and powerless in the masquerade we find ourselves in.

This moving album is a TFK masterpiece, offering no doubts as to their creativity and skill with words and music. I would recommend this piece for any rock fans.

Loves, Pastoral Poems and Dramatic Monologues

We were told to make a list of things we love, and then write about them. I wrote a poem called Loved. Then later, I wrote the longest work I ever have, my Ode to Nature. After writing that nine-stanza poem, we listened to music again. It was Mozart's Requiem. I didn't name my poem, if you have a suggestion please comment and tell me. After that we wrote an Epitaph, which is an enscribing on one's tombstone. After that we wrote an Elegy, which I wrote to my Aunt Audrey who passed away from a heart attack.

Later that week we tried a Native American technique of connecting to our spirit animals. The idea was that to the sound of a beating drum, one's spirit would journey to the Spirit world, or Underworld, and there meet an animal that would pass on its wisdom to you. My animal was rather unexpected. On quizzes and such things I have gotten wolves and otters and eagles, but the animal that appeared in my mind was a stag. The pastoral poem resulting is untitled, again please comment and offer names.

Today we tried Dramatic Monologues. They're ok, but I personally don't like the idea that much. Not when writing from my own experience anyway. I wrote two that I think are decent. The first is called Brother to Sister, which I wrote from my own experience and acutally liked, and the second is called And Jesus wept. The latter one I based on the Iraeli-Palestinian border war and something I heard about the wall dividing the two. A wall, much like the Berlin Wall, has been/was built to try and control movement between the countries at that spot. A graffiti artist known as Banksy managed to sneak up to the wall and draw images on it. One was of a Palestinian child and an Israeli child playing together near a hole in the wall. Another was simply the words "And Jesus wept". I will edit this post later with the poem added.

Metaphors in Poetry and a list poem.

We recently tried a different style of poems, metaphorical ones. I think they are more like similies, but whatever. The first we wrote was about what we felt like that day. A cloud, a conck shell...I chose a Wind. In the second one we were supposed to think about a place we went to for comfort and to get away from the world. I wrote from the perspective of Topps Road, which is the road at my Oma's cottage that I will often walk on when I'm up there. The third poem I'm adding here is a strange one. We were told to take an object, come up with a list of things it reminded us of, and then write a poem using the ideas in that list. I chose the clown that usually hangs in the costume room in our school and my poem is called, suprise, suprise, The Hanging Clown.

A Collection of Poems

We've tried different techniques to try and access that centre of creativity in the subconscious. We tried a few Buddist breathing methods, resulting in my poems Unicorn Running, Slowly Walking and Blind. We tried mixing and matching a jumble of lines and words, and we chose to do the subject of Fall, which is what I decided to call my poem. We also tried just listening to music and writing what we felt the music was saying, what it felt like. I don't remember the names of the songs, but my poems are called Waves and Stars and Cat and Mouse. Then, for no particular reason, we wrote of objects that we found around us. I used a rock for the first poem, and called the poem SparkleWhite. Its a different style that I wanted to try, combining nouns and adjectives into new words and meanings. After writing SparkleWhite we were told to go out and find the biggest thing we could and write about it. I chose the trees across the field, and dubbed the result Tree Line. I intend to keep writing poetry after we finish our unit and I will try to post my work on my blog, but I'm not making any promises.

People all have different ideas of the single most important human trait. To me, its imagination. Through imagination comes empathy. From empathy, understanding. With understanding, comes knowledge, wisdom, peace and creativity. Creativity is what our class has been focusing on. We have tried different meditation techniques to relax our mind and let anything and everything flow out. I think that the latest technique we tried worked the best. Tilting your head back and forth and breathing really lets you think clearer. I enjoyed working on poetry and I'll miss it when we move on to the next unit. I think I'll try one of those techniques again sometime. Just go off and sit somewhere and try one. Why not? Maybe it will help with writing stories too. I am really happy with my poem Cold Fingers. We wrote it in Gibson Park. From the name, you can guess what the weather was like. Enjoy and please comment.

Op-ed

I did it. I found something I liked enough to do an op-ed on. I simply chose to rant about how stage crew, and the drama club in general, needs a bigger budget. Maybe we should start fundraising, but it is my belief that the school should re-balance the funds between groups. Why should the sports teams get all the money? Stage Crew, bigger budget needed! is the name of my article, read and enjoy!

A journey back in time...to Africa?

Many EDSS students went to the Stratford Shakespeare Festival Theatre today, that is, Wednesday October the 7th, to view a re-telling of Macbeth. Macbeth is a Scottish thane who is visited by witches and decides to snatch the throne of Scotland for himself. This rendition of the play was based towards the end of the Second World War, in Africa. Rifles, cameras, army fatigues, the play was marvelous. I was very impressed with the acting ability and how the director chose to portray the characters. The transitions were incredible, my favorite was the transition from Banquo's murder to the banquet scene. The gun flash turning into a camera flash was beautiful. The ending, I found, was just magnificent. The soldier dropping from the ceiling and the jeep bursting onto the stage was incredible, I loved it! The ghost rising from the floor, and the cauldron were smoothly done and made me feel jealous. I wish we had a cauldron like that. All in all, an incredible production, one I most definitely recommend.

Op-ed Error

So, our current class project is to write an op-ed piece on something local. The problem is that there is NOTHING interesting in the news! The topics range from the current non-election which we may or may not be having, to the fact that the local Food Bank or Food Drive thinger has nigh emptied its shelves! Anything there really catch your interest and scream "Write an opinionated atricle about me!"? (I might have errored in my grammer there, but what can you do?) I need something interesting, something fresh, something that will allow me to burn off steam and yell at something that's going on. If you have suggestions, let me know, because otherwise this is going to be a rather dull project on how the repaved roads aren't up to everyone's standards.

I've often had troubles completing stories that I write. I start with an idea, but the idea often never concludes itself. Nonetheless, here is my short story.

Testing

This is a test to see if I can manage an imbedded link. And to see if I can add pictures.

Where do I get my info? How do I get it? How am I connected?

My first official blog! The purpose of this entry is to answer the questions I've posted as the title; Where do I get my info? How do I get it? How am I connected? Or, How do I get my information? Where do I get it from? How/Where does it come from? Ms. Stronach wants/wanted us to write how and where we get information from. Do we get it from Facebook, or maybe an internet newspaper?

I guess I'll start at the beginning, Where do I get my info? I like to get it from a variety of sources and compare what I have heard or read. When it comes to the outside world I rely on the radio and tv news channels. If we have it I will browse the paper, and I often talk to my friends and gather info from them. Maybe they listen to a different radio station, or read the paper when I didn't. Often I hear of things via word-of-mouth, which I find carries the most information but isn't as reliable as some. When it comes to checking up on my friends I usually use facebook or msn and hotmail. Facebook is great for letting you in on what's happening in other people's lives. Often friends hear something interesting on the news or from another friend and they post it in their status, where I find it.

How do I get it? I will get info from the radio, newspaper, facebook, msn, hotmail, word of mouth, tv news, and various other internet sources if I choose to research something. I don't usually go to internet papers and read the daily headlines, but if I hear of something interesting and want to know more, then I'll search the web.

How am I connected? The radio and facebook are my usual companions and devices from gathering information. If we have a newspaper, I'll read it, but we don't get it that often. Beyond the internet and radio, word of mouth is my main info source.

Comparing Online Papers to Print Papers

I can't get on the class wiki yet, so I'm going to take notes here for the whosamawhatsit. Thingermajiggy? I dunno. Anywho, I'll post my opinions here.

With the printed paper, I find you can read it easier. You don't have the screen glare, and its easier to go back and look at previously viewed pages. Its simpler and more efficient. As my classmates have mentioned, you can read it on the go. Such as on a bus, in the car, et cetera.

With online papers, you can access more info faster and cheaper than if you were to go buy a paper. It can be more organized, you can view videos, and searching for a certain article or topic is easier thanks to the search functions.

Personally I prefer the printed version. The conversations I have at home are more than entertaining and easily surpass the comments made by online readers. Reading and commenting with friends is fun too. All kinds of conversations are sparked by written articles, and its more fun to talk to friends face to face rather than posting every thought or opinion.

My Short Story (Sept. 23, 2009)

I will add my story soon. At the moment I don't have the file on-hand. Off the record, I think that the story is incomplete and requires much more work. I'm rather surprised I got anything written. I often have trouble finishing stories and other written works on mine. I can get them started, but I can never seem to finish them. Back on record, I know how to upload my story. However, I don't have the electronic copy handy so it'll have to wait till I get home.

First Thoughts

Today is Tuesday, September 1/2009. It is/was the first day of school in my grade 12 year. It feels weird to be in grade twelve. You feel like a giant or some huge monolithic object the haunts the halls of its hallowed home. You feel like you own the school. My first period teacher told me something that might help me over come the writer's block I so often encounter. She gave us a quote that was spoken by a man named Ernest Hemingway. His words were as follows "All you have to do is write one true sentence." Hemingway used this technique when he hit writer's block. This blog will probably be used to display post and various writings that I hope to create and expand on. Some might seem good to you, others not as much. I'm not apologizing for what I say, but know that you might not like what you read. You have been warned. I will try to focus this blog to contain my ideas and theorys for the purpose of Writer's Craft, but if I wander then just wait. I will try to keep things somewhat on track, but when my mind wanders and I write one true sentence after another, then I will go all over the place. Lets see what I can come up with, shall we?