Movie Etiquette

     So today after school, (no, Mr. Thompson, this isn’t one of those blog entries where I’m just going to tell about my day. J I actually have a point!) my friends and I went to the movie Hunger Games (again). I was really anxious and excited to see the movie all day, but it was a disappointment when we all got settled down and into the movie when six, obnoxious teenage guys with the attitude “I’m too cool for you,” strutted into the movie theater and sat down right in front of me and my friends.

     First of all, their heads blocked the screen. You know how much that bugs!? The entire movie I had to lean to see over their giant spiked lumps sticking straight out of their head that they probably called hair! Everyone appreciates kind people with etiquette during movies. Now what did these annoying teenage boys do wrong? Oh, just wait. The story gets better and better. 

     So the first thing that bugged me was their heads and hair in the way right as soon as they sat down. They were not off to good start! But as the movie continued, they continued to laugh (very loudly), make fun, and text with their phones on very bright!!!! I was being driven crazy!!! During the saddest part of the movie when Rue died, these obnoxious guys laughed and said “ANYONE NEED A TISSUE??” sooooooo loud that my friend sitting next to me put her feet up on the back of their chairs and pushed forward. Apparently they didn’t like that (they weren’t meant to!), so they pulled their arms back and pushed my friend’s feet off their chair!

   

     By this time, everyone was watching, and I was practically fuming I was so mad, that I just plain kicked their chairs! They got mad and turned around to see who had kicked them, except they thought it was my friend who had done it!

     The moral of this story is: 

1) NEVER TURN ON YOUR CELL PHONES AND TEXT OR DO ANYTHING WHATSOEVER DURING A MOVIE!!!!!

2) NEVER LAUGH REALLY LOUD DURING A MOVIE

3) BE KIND

4) REALIZE THAT EVERYONE ELSE IN THE MOVIE THEATER PAID THEIR OWN PRECIOUS MONEY TO SEE THE MOVIE, SO DON’T BE OBNOXIOUS!

5) DON’T MAKE FUN OF SAD THINGS THAT HAPPEN - YOU WOULD CRY IF THAT HAPPENED TO YOU TOO

6) DON’T SARCASTICALLY ASK IF ANYONE NEEDS A TISSUE

7) DON’T MAKE LOUD CLANKING NOISES WITH YOUR POP BOTTLES 

8) NEVER SPIKE UP YOUR HAIR AND SIT RIGHT IN FRONT OF SOMEONE IN A MOVIE

9) DON’T THINK IT’S FUNNY WHEN PEOPLE GET MAD BECAUSE YOU’RE ANNOYING

10) DON’T BE RUDE!!!!!!!!

I wish I remembered that you can always go tell a worker to kick people out of movies. 

Lindsay Stirling: Not Your Average Violinist....

     Most people think that the violin is strictly classical. Well guess what? It’s not! Sure, there’s Bach, Vivaldi, and Mozart who are phenomemal musicians (like the best out there!), but there’s other great, modernday composers too! Lindsay Stirling is one of my new favorite role models. She plays the violin. But she doesn’t just play the violin, she dances while she plays!

     Lindsay Stirling was born in September in 1986, and began her studies with the violin by taking private lessons when she was only six years old. She is twenty six years old right now, but stopped taking private lessons from a teacher when she was eighteen. That’s twelve years of taking! When she was young, she took jazz and hip hop dance lessons. Lindsay served an LDS mission in New York City and currently goes to college at BYU (Provo, Utah). She has also performed in places like half-time basketball games, “America’s Got Talent”, and many more!

     I love Lindsay and think she is a great example to young violinists. Most people think that the violin is a classical instrument, and sometimes it even gets looked down upon by people who don't appreciate classical music. But Lindsay is changing the way people see the violin. It doesn’t have to be Bach and Mozart anymore. It can be pop music and hip hop dancing!

     Lindsay loves to compose her own violin music, make up a dance, then film herself in cool places. I first found out about Lindsay Stirling on YouTube. After she records herself playing, she posts her videos online. She records her playing in cool places like the woods, old ruins with graffiti all over them, Medieval castles, and even man-made ice castles! I’ve seen lots of her movies, and my favorite of her videos is when she spontaneously picks up her violin at the beach and starts playing in front of everyone!

     Lindsey Stirling has inspired me to keep practicing my violin, and maybe even to do what she’s done and learn to do hip hop dances at the same time!

    If you get a chance, you should look up Lindsay Stirling on YouTube. When you’re finished watching, you’ll want to play the violin!

THE HUNGER GAMES

Okay, so there’s this new movie that just barely came out early Friday morning. It’s called The Hunger Games. Yeah, you’ve probably heard of it. In fact, chances are, you’ve read the book and seen the movie and are now a huge fan. Well, the Hunger Games books (and movie!) are really big right now, mostly because of the brand new movie. So I’ve never actually read the book (I meant to a while ago, just never got around to it….), but I saw the movie today. I didn’t really have any idea what it would be about, but I can honestly say that I LOVED IT!!!

I’m sorry if you’re reading this and for some foreign reason you hated The Hunger Games. Because for the next couple paragraphs or so, I’m going to talk about how amazing the Hunger Games are!

First, I loved how the director set up the movie. Again, I never actually read the books, but everyone who had read it and saw the movie said that the movie was exactly like the book! (I’m going to take their word for it…) I like that. I often find it frustrating to read a book and have perfect characters and settings in my mind, and then go watch the movie and be completely disappointed because the movie ends up being nothing like I imagined it should. Everyone I talked to said that each of the characters were exactly how they pictured them in their minds, and the director didn’t leave anything out of the movie that was in the book. I was happy about that. J

Second, I was sooooo relieved when there wasn’t as much gore and “graphic-ness” in the movie as there potentially could have been. I have always hated seeing blood and people in movies die, so I was extremely pleased when it didn’t show every gruesome act or dead body when something violent happened. I don’t like to have gross images in my head, but of course, it is hard to make a movie about killing without any violence, so there were a few parts that I had to close my eyes at. All in all, though, I was relieved that it wasn’t as bloody and graphic as I was expecting.

Third, I thought that the characters were all very well cast. Katniss played her role perfectly, and I was happy with who the director chose to play Peeta and the other main characters. I was also thankful that everyone in the movie acted well. If they hadn’t, it would’ve ruined the entire movie and storyline for me!

Lastly, I have to say that Suzanne Collins has a pretty good imagination. I’ve come up with and written stories before, but I don’t know if I could ever think one up as good as The Hunger Games! I loved the plot and the way Suzanne Collins avoided cheesy scenes when there could have been, since it’s also a little love story. I was so glad that there weren’t any slow, useless, boring scenes. The entire 2 and a half movie kept me on the edge of my seat!

Maybe I’ll have to read the book now! J

March

And now March is here, with her bright, cheerful sun and teasing winds. The clouds roll in the sky like they’ve not a care in the world, and the air itself hums a sweet melody. The shadows are pleasant and friendly; they tell stories in the evenings.

But something about March, even with all her confident, proud beauties, something is on edge. Something does not seem to me that it is quite right. The air isn’t as inviting and calm as it should be. I feel as if there was something I forgot. That is why I write.

But this is all probably only a miscommunication, a misunderstanding between nature and me. My expectations are too great. I crave Summer, with her cheerful, smiling sun, but all I’m getting is a mild Spring day. Which is typical for March, if you know what I mean.

Alright, I apologize and retreat. I’m being too harsh on Mother Nature. In time, Summer will come. I know that. It’s given. I look forward to that day when I will greet her. I know I won’t sleep until she is here.

Now, there is more to what I say than what I can write physically. I want to preserve this moment: the fresh breezes, the assuring sun, the grass growing ever-greener day by day. What can capture this essence? Communication can – some kind of technology….but I fear this form of communication does not exist. At least not yet, that is. No, this moment cannot be captured by video, nor writing, nor speech, nor paint, nor photograph. Perhaps by music it can… But even then no one would ever know exactly what I was seeing or thinking or feeling when I wrote the piece.

Well, I will wait until Summer. When she comes, time itself will capture the very time she brings.

Writing Calms Strife

When you get that feeling,

When you get that thought,

That something is missing

Found only by fraught.

When you think of time

And find no meaning there,

You know that its time

To ease your feelings with care.

So pick up your pen,

Take out a fresh page,

Put your feelings to words I just know you’ll engage!

For writing is magic;

It comes from the heart.

So write what you feel,

Your wisdom impart.

You’ll gain sense and direction,

New outlook on life.

Your soul will be thankful

Remember: Writing calms strife.

A Different Kind of Prom

A DIFFERENT KIND OF PROM

I wouldn’t know, because I’ve never actually been to a prom, but I’ve heard others talk about their experiences in this subject and prom sounds like a really big deal. To a bunch of teenagers, at least. And most of those people that I’m talking about are usually girls. Those high school girls who obsess over Prom are mostly worried about their looks. To them, looks determine the rest of their prom experience, maybe the entirety of school and socializing, possibly even their entire lives. To them, looks influence who their date is and how the dates act, who their friends are, what their social status is, what they are involved in outside of school, the list goes on. So, to summarize basically all of what I just said, the majority of high school girls (and some boys) obsess over their looks and social status.

Prom is just one example of a time when teenage girls get excited to measure the level of their popularity and beauty. They do this through their date (ex: who can get the cutest date, etc…), their dress and outfit (ex: which girl has the most showy, expensive dress), their friends (ex: am I in the “popular” group?) – am I making any sense? Again, I’ve obviously never been to a prom. I’ve only heard stories. But from what I hear, Prom is the time for high school girls to see how much people like them and how pretty people think they are.

Now, I don’t think too many people will be reading this, if any, so I’m just going to come out and state my opinions like they are fact. Because in my mind, my opinion is pretty much fact. J

Okay, back to the whole Prom deal. You know how much girls let popularity, beauty, guys and dates, and Proms control their lives. Well, they are going to be disappointed to find out later in life that all those hours spent grooming their long, over-curled hair was practically a waste. I’m not a guy, but I know that they don’t care about girls and their hair all that much. But for some reason unknown to me, Prom is just a sample of girls’ obsessions.

Girls who obsess the most over guys, dates, beauty, popularity, etc… are usually the ones to obsess over Prom. That’s given. But imagine for a moment that no one obsessed over Prom? What if no teenage girls thought they are only as good as their hair? What if they didn’t measure their social status daily? What if your soul determined your beauty?

What if there was a prom, just one prom, where everyone attending was as beautiful as their inside?

When Would You Live???

WHEN WOULD YOU LIVE???

If you could live during any other time period in the history of the world, when would you choose to live? I would choose one of these:

1)   Medieval times

2)   1700’s

3)    1800’s

4)   Now! J

1)   I have always been fascinated by castles and Medieval stuff. Yeah, I know that the Medieval era was not all princesses, princes, and magic. That’s given. That’s not what I like about it. I just love the time period. I think it’s really cool that remains of castles can still be found today.

I might add to this post a little later, I’m just spacing out right now and I have nothing else to say about time periods or the 1700’s or the 1800’s or now or the Medieval times. Whoop De Doo. Horray.

ATHENA: What I've Learned

ATHENA: WHAT I’VE LEARNED

 Okay, so the past couple of weeks in English, we’ve been learning about Greek mythology (of course, Mr. Thompson, you knew that! J ). Each person in my class was assigned a famous person (god, hero, etc.) in Greek mythology and had to do research on them to write an essay. Honestly, before this assignment I had no idea whatsoever who Athena was or why she was important. I didn’t even know that she was a Greek god! Some of my friends and I went and asked Mr. Thompson for a specific person to do our report on, and I asked for Athena. I only asked for her because I liked her name, not because I knew anything about her and/or thought she was interesting. I’ve learned, though, that Athena was a pretty cool Greek goddess! Now, I know that she isn’t real (obviously), but I’ll just talk for right now as though she is real. It’ll be much easier that way.

Well, anyway, I learned that Athena is/was the goddess of wisdom, peace, skill, strategy, war, fine arts, and crafts. I’m glad I chose to ask Mr. Thompson to be assigned to her that day, because after doing a little research, I think Athena is awesome! I love how she is tough, not the typical soft, sweet, beautiful, dough head goddess like Aphrodite, for example. Athena was the goddess of war!

Do you want to know how Athena was “born”? One day, Zeus was walking along (this is a really long story, but I’ll make it short….it might sound choppy and unclear, but it’s the only way, trust me) and saw a woman named Meitis. He swallowed her (I told you it would sound weird) because he knew she was the goddess of wisdom, and he wanted to be wise. A little while later, Zeus developed a terrible migraine. He ordered one of his servants to crack his skull open to rid him of the pain. When the servant obeyed, Athena came out of Zeus’ cracked skull, full grown and dressed in full armor.

I might add to this later, just so you know, but that’s all I feel like writing about Athena right now. J

20 Things To Do When You're Bored

20 THINGS TO DO WHEN YOU’RE BORED (like I am right now! J )

1)  Have a dance party: turn on your favorite music, grab some friends, find some snacks, be crazy, dance around just for fun! This is especially fun on a rainy day when you don’t feel like going outside (or doing homework!).

2)  Go swimming: Speaking of getting wet, sometimes you just do feel like getting wet! That’s great too!

3)  Do homework: Yeah, I guess you could if you wanted too….

4)  Squash Hopping: Okay, so I call it squash hopping, it’s a lot more fun than it sounds! Here’s whatcha do: Draw a face on a squash (the twisted, crazy shaped ones are the best) and leave it on a random person’s porch! This is so much more fun than it sounds!

5)  Tramp-Fort: During the winter when it’s all snowy and white, find a trampoline with lots of snow around/in it and build a fort underneath! I did this with my friends, and it was a blast!

6)  Make a movie: Find some props, sets, people, costumes, and film yourself as if you were a professional actor!

7)  Play Jenga: I don’t know why, I just love this game. Don’t you? I can never get enough of it.

8)  Public Humiliation: Go with a bunch of friends outside to a public place dressed like you never would in public! Depending on how adventurous and brave you are, this could or could not be complete public humiliation. Note: the humiliation level varies with the degree of embarrassing clothing/costume worn.

9)  Have a feast! Need I say more?

10) Set up your own business: Lemonade stands don’t usually work anymore unless you’re super lucky (or your lemonade is gourmet), but try setting up a neighborhood carwash or something and see how much money you can earn!

11) Go caroling: In the middle of the summer, get a bunch of friends or even random people and go caroling door to door! Or go out into a busy place to sing and leave a hat out to see if people will give you tips!

12) Window Art: On a Saturday before you wash the windows in your house, take a dry-erase marker and decorate the windows!

13) Grocery Shopping: Okay, listen. This isn’t the normal, boring grocery shopping you’re thinking of. Here’s what you really do: Go to a grocery store, talk in a random accent to everyone you meet, and buy lots of crazy, strange things you normally never would. Leave the store, then return a few minutes later and return all the things you bought. J

14) Have a campout! Go camping in your backyard complete with a tent, grill, and whatever else you take with you when you’re camping!

15) Play Taster’s Delight: Taster’s Delight: (noun) Game in which two friends challenge each other’s taste buds by blindfolding and feeding each other strange food, then taking turns guessing what they have eaten.

16) Write a dictionary: I know, I know, this one doesn’t sound too fun, but it actually is! Grab some friends and together, write a dictionary of your own; make up words and definitions, then talk in your new, made-up language all day long!

17) Paint War! Wait till you hear what you get to do on this one! Here’s what you’ll need: Paint, spray bottles, thirty or so friends, a large field, time to spare, a fun and crazy attitude, old clothes. Fill the spray bottles with paint, and have a paint war! (Hint: It’ll be extra fun if you stay in your paint war clothes and go somewhere public with all the people included in the fight. It’s super funny when strangers ask what happened!)

18) Create your own rock star concert! Write your own songs, choreograph your own dances, plan staging and lighting, and set a date for your concert! Invite lots of people to watch you perform, and feel free to even give out autographs and tee shirts with your name/logo on them. You’ll feel like a total rock star!

19) Blog! J (Ha ha)

20) See if you can do all of these things in just one day! I can promise you that it will be one of the best days of your life!

Just so you know, I have done each of these things before, except for number 20. Some I did alone, others I did on really crazy days with friends. Yes, I know you’re about to ask, I had a paint war with some friends last year. I have to admit, that was probably the most fun day of my life! Sixteen of us crazy, hipper girls smothered in paint piled into a truck and drove to Bowmans (the grocery store). We bought lots of strange, random things. That was fun too. One old guy at the store saw us all and asked my friend, “When was the last time you looked in the mirror?” I still haven’t figured out if he was serious or just being funny!