To Kill A Mockingbird

I really, truly enjoy this film. I want to buy it, actually. Just have to find a place that carries it. I am super into the classic black and white movies, so this was perfect. Also, I have always been totally fascinated by the social and political aspects of times periods such as this. I also have the book sitting on one of my many shelves right now and I want to read it so bad. Maybe as soon as I get home I’ll pick it up and begin… this actually reminds me I need to look through my books and decide how many I want to donate to the school. Anyway, classics such as this teach us lessons, but often times people overlook the great works that do this teaching because of small aspects of it that are contributions to the setting and historical placement. Books are often banned because of the use of a single word or phrase that needs to be censored out of the educational system because of political correctness. What upsets me about this is that history is beginning to be censored and abandoned because of the mistakes that we have made and shameful parts that politicians and modern liberals would like to see erased because they don’t align with our modern society’s beliefs. Anyway, I really love Atticus’s character because he is so strong and reserved but you can tell he is a true Southern gentleman, especially in contrast with those around him. They are all caught up in their class and place in society and they don’t hold on to the positive aspects of the South, just their hate, resentment, and illusion of a higher social position based on skin color. Atticus is able to move on. He moves past the thinking of those around him to be an accepting individual that recognizes that no matter what skin color we are all human. We are all people, and legally we are all equal. As a lawyer he is dedicated to the law, and he is determined to protect the innocent as best he can. It really is a fantastic story. To be honest, I never read the story or saw this before, but I knew how the story was going to go based on other true historical events that have been recorded. Women and men would have African American’s killed for their mistakes and to hide relations. Women would have intimate encounters with men of a different color and nearly the same situation would have occurred, but there wouldn’t have been someone to protect the accused when the lynch mob came for them. I can’t wait to read the book.

Precious

This movie… I hate it. Maybe the reason I hate it could be contributed to the fact that ignorance is bliss and people don’t like to think about things that they know occur in the world but are depressing. I will admit I don’t like thinking about the people who are abused and go through a life similar to the one depicted in this movie. I do think though, that movies like this help start conversation and get people thinking about the state of the world that they live it. It begins a movement. Hopefully this movie and movies like it made people begin to be aware of the quality of life that some people are just existing in, and maybe there were a lot of advances made because of this awareness. I think my biggest thought that may have been sparked from this film so far is that I don’t understand why people have babies when they have no means of providing for them. (I know that the main character didn’t choose to have the baby, so my statement literally is for real life situations where people can hardly provide for themselves but still have children.) Think of the Octomom. She was not really even able to provide for herself then suddenly she had so many mouths to feed it was almost a fictional story. She was on welfare before so imagine her life now. Anyway, I totally understand why the main character tries to escape through her day dreams. Anytime that I wanted to escape I would read, but she can’t and resorts to her powerful imagination. It is amazing how humans cope with such frustrating and impossible situations. In the words of Forrest Gump, “That’s all I have to say about that.”

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

I actually have never seen this movie straight through, and I really loved it. It was much stupider than I thought, but I really liked that. Usually I can't stand movies that make me feel like I am losing brain cells, but it was more classically planned and written than most of the modern movies like that. It might also just be that I sort of grew up with watching clips of this film, so I knew sort of what to expect. There were so many parts though that were so stupid that I had to face-palm or look away. Like, "What? What the hell? Is this really happening?" Yes, yes it was, To be honest, I don't think I even would have been able to come up with something as funny as that. Yeah, I am hilarious, but that is on the spot comedic genius. I wonder if any of this movie was left to improvising... It sure seemed like it in some spots, just based on how they were talking. This is making me think of the show "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" where the actors improvise all of the lines in different skits. You never know where all of that will go, and that is the exciting part of it all. Anyway, the movie was really good, but made me lose about three IQ points. What if writing these movies made you gain IQ points from all of the people that lose them due to your movie? That could get a bit intense...

Poem #8

The World Is Too Much With Us

BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

The world is too much with us; late and soon,

Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—

Little we see in Nature that is ours;

We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!

This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;

The winds that will be howling at all hours,

And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;

For this, for everything, we are out of tune;

It moves us not. Great God! I’d rather be

A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;

So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,

Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;

Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;

Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.

      In a way I really agree with what the speaker is saying. From what I understood, he or she is saying that we as a species have lost our connection or appreciation for nature. The speaker is saying that we need to begin to (as I am going to relate it to texting) “look up”. We need to take our minds off of the busy lives that we lead to look around at our surroundings. I can’t relay enough how annoyed I am when I constantly see people on their phones. Yes, I will admit that I do look at my phone more often that I should, but I mean even in the car or in an open space like a beautiful park. Look up once in a while to see the beauty that you are constantly walking by. Little moments/details make up the big picture that is our world. Believe me, we are all a little happier when we step back into real life. Anyway, I understand how the speaker is upset that we have become too much of a materialistic society. We focus on the consumption of products and not the impact our consumer society is having on the environment that we call our home. Even in the era that the author had written this he had noticed the changes in the values of the people around him. I wonder what he would think of the fast paced, consumer world that we live in now… He would be horrified I would think. I think about that a lot, if the people who helped build this world could ever imagine how it would have developed… could they ever imagine me sitting here typing this or having the laws we have today? I wonder if they would be proud of our advances or disappointed. In all honesty, I believe that a lot of the builders of our world would be disappointed in the changes/downfalls that we have followed. I wish I has lived in a different time period. then again, any time period has its benefits and negatives.

Poem #7

Rites of Passage

Sharon Olds

As the guests arrive at my son’s party

they gather in the living room–

short men, men in first grade

with smooth jaws and chins.

Hands in pockets, they stand around

jostling, jockeying for place, small fights

breaking out and calming. One says to another

How old are you? Six. I’m seven. So?

They eye each other, seeing themselves

tiny in the other’s pupils. They clear their throats

a lot, a room of small bankers,

they fold their arms and frown. I could beat you

up, a seven says to a six,

the dark cake, round and heavy as a

turret, behind them on the table. My son,

freckles like specks of nutmeg on his cheeks,

chest narrow as the balsa keel of a

model boat, long hands

cool and thin as the day they guided him

out of me, speaks up as a host

for the sake of the group.

We could easily kill a two-year-old,

he says in his clear voice. The other

men agree, they clear their throats

like Generals, they relax and get down to

playing war, celebrating my son’s life.

I really think this poem is sort of cute. I recently experienced a very awkward party like this one. Well, the beginning of it anyway because none of us knew each other. It was the “Get Acquainted Day” for my college. For this party they stuck us in a room together and sort of said, “Just socialize. Just talk. Try to make a friend.” Do you know how awkward that is? The people at my party were my age and older, we weren’t six and seven, but we still felt the uncomfortable situation of not having anything in common with these people other than one person or place. Once we start talking the similarities come out, but the initial throwing of a group of people together with no structure as to what we should be doing is what makes it difficult to come together. I love how at the end of the poem the little birthday boy says something that only a little boy would say, but it breaks the ice for the crowd and from then on they can let loose. Ice breakers are necessary for social situations to develop. I can’t remember what social situations were like when I was six and seven. I really wish I could remember because it would be awesome to relate my experience to the experience of these little kids, or to be able to relive it in memory. I think birthday’s mean something really special to the parents, even when he day itself can sometimes not have the same awesome feeling that those parents have. However many years before that the child was born and was something the parents made together. For the child it is a day of fun, but that special day to remember is very important to the parents. Their child came this far.

Poem #6

Holy Sonnets: Death, be not proud

BY JOHN DONNE

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;

For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow

Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,

Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,

And soonest our best men with thee do go,

Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.

Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,

And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,

And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well

And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?

One short sleep past, we wake eternally

And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

      This is a really interesting poem because of what I imagine when reading it. I picture a man who is sort of like a Greek hero and is staring down Death who has come to take him after an epic battle. The dude instead of going willingly insults Death and makes Death feel insignificant… maybe a little human. Even Death can be tames, and this is the one part of life that is guaranteed. This is the end and it claims everything. Death even claims the smartest and the strongest, but the reason for the claiming is what makes death weak. Death has an agenda where he comes to take people when he chooses. Maybe for fun, amusement, out of boredom, or just his will, but in the end Death must feel like he is always in control. Premature death is what compromises his agenda. It is cruel. It lies in the hands of accidents and even the hands of the person who died because they chose to take a premature exit from this life. I sort of love the last few words, “Death, thou shalt die.” The irony and power in them is so strong. Sort of thought provoking… when does death ever cease? What works to contradict and control Death? The obvious answer sounds like life but… life is so fragile, so temporary… and death is so permanent; forever imposing. The beginning of this poem is just as important though, were the speaker says that Death isn’t so scary. It shouldn’t be feared, but more accepted. Death shouldn’t feel as though it is all powerful either, though at the end of the day it does claim the lives… I am not sure if accidents and suicide can be counted as claiming life because Death ends up with the count anyway… Sort of depressing really.

Poem #5

To My Dear and Loving Husband

Anne Bradstreet, 1612 - 1672

If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were loved by wife, then thee;
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me ye women if you can.
I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold,
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that rivers cannot quench,
Nor ought but love from thee give recompense.
Thy love is such I can no way repay;
The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.
Then while we live, in love let’s so persever,
That when we live no more we may live ever.

      This is actually a pretty romantic poem from the viewpoint that I took. I pictured the speaker being a young woman who is talking to her suitor about what a possible future they could have together. Maybe the suitor has a few reservations about them being together, but the woman is trying to erase his worries and strengthen their bond. My favorite line in the poem was the first, “If ever two were one, then surely we.” This line makes the idea of soul mates have some support. It makes the idea of finding someone that completes you realistic. I have had this feeling at least twice in my life, which sort of contradicts the whole “one person made for you idea”. My grandmother has always said that love is hard because there are only a handful of people that God made who are perfect for us, but we have to search through all of the other millions before we find even one. Now wouldn’t it be complicated to have found more than one? How do you ever decide which is better for you or who you would rather love for the rest of your life? Do you ever stop loving one or continue loving both for your entire life? Will there always be what ifs? Anyway, this first line sums up the goals for most people who seek long lasting relationships. They wish to be a matching puzzle piece for someone. Personally, another fear I have is that I won’t be able to remain interested in someone for the rest of my life. That is probably just a fear that youth has, but I do want to fall so deeply in love with someone that, “My love is such that rivers cannot quench.”