Deer

You always hear about the pigeon problem in New York City or San Diego, but never do you hear about the deer over population all over the east coast.







Last night while driving I was this close to hitting a deer crossing the street at night. I stopped really short and realized that there were two deer, a baby and her mother, about to cross the street.











In stead of issuing more hunting licenses to kill the deer I think that the east coast should solve the over population by protecting more land for the deer to live in and also maybe put birth control in the food for deer to try and control the population.

Isla Mujeres

Water at the north end of  the beach.

I recently just took a vacation with my mother to Isla Mujeres, a 5 mile long island off the coast the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. The views of the beach were absolutely gorgeous with clear turquoise water endlessly hitting the golden sand. The beach surrounds the east side of the island with turquoise clear water that goes on for miles. When I would swim in the water, I would go much further out than i had realized because the water was so clear that I could see the ground of the beach bellow me. However, actually I couldn't touch the ground at all!

Waves crashing on the west coast

The west side of the island was filled with a coastline of deep blue waves and turquoise waves crashing into the  rigid rocks. This side of the island was loud and powerful as the waves crushed the sharp rocks. It was too dangerous to swim on this side of the island because of all the rocks but it was absolutely gorgeous to watch the waves crash. This side of the island was much less calm than the east side because of the gushing waves. I drive along this coastline in a golf cart as we drove from the south side to the north side of the island and the view was absolutely amazing.


The island is less divided by east and west but more divided by north and south. The north side of the island is where most of the restaurants are and big hotels. Most of the stores are on the north side as well. Tourists generally stay on the north side because it is famous for its clear water beaches.


The south side of the island is more for the locals who live there and is less built up. There are however three tourist attractions on the south side. One there is the sea turtle park. There are lots of different turtles and some other animals such as a few sea horses and  fish. There is also Garafon Park which has zip lines that cross the water and other interesting paths to take hikes on. It is most popular for its dolphin park where people can pay to swim with dolphins. Finally there is a sculpture garden at the very south tip of the island and it has a ruin there, however it is mostly destroyed because of the recent hurricanes there.

In Isla Mujeres the island is painted with colorful and unique architecture which makes the place lively and fun. Especially the cafes that I went to. One had different patterned tiles bordering the entire ceiling and tucan mobiles hanging from the ceiling. Another cafe had bright blue tables and chairs. The tables a clear glass table so you could see the sea shells inside of them.

Most of the tourists who visit Isla Mujeres travel by golf cart. There are some cars but not many and some bikes as well but most of the people on this island travel by golf cart or motor cycle.

Isla Mujeres is absolutely beautiful with stunning views, delicious food, great music, and tons of things to do.

Shenandoah Mountains




As we drive, there are endless hills with beautiful colors in the fall.

This weekend I went to the Shenandoah Mountains which are absolutely gorgeous. My family and I try to visit friends who live out there 2 or 3 times a year. Our family friends have girl who is about 9 years old now and two twin boys who are in third grade.

I love to visit their family and almost remove myself from society and civilization. I live in a pretty urban place where you can always hear the sounds of buses on the streets and it's noisy, but out here it's so much more quiet.

I also love visiting them out here because the family has a really cool house. There house was transformed from a one room school house in the early 1900s. The basement has a stage on it where the students used to preform, and you can still see the lights hanging from the ceiling that would shine on the actresses and actors. Up stairs they have huge windows reaching from the ceiling to the floor in the dinning room and you can see the endless mountains and green land that stretches beyond the house.

This time we decided to go on a walk.  Apparently this real estate agent had bought a lot of land and had plans to turn it into houses, however with the economy; only one was built. All three kids went into the woods where there was a path parallel to the paved road that went to the end. We walked down the road as the kids followed. We got to the end of the read and below was a beautiful view of the hills and a lake. You could also see part of the Shenandoah River. It was absolutely gorgeous.There were no cars or houses nearby except for the last one at the very end of the road.

I was so glad to have come back here to visit friends and get away from the loudness of where I live for just a few hours. It was nice to see them because we hadn't in a really long time and I liked taking on this new adventure and going for a walk on this empty road.

In the Process of Knitting

So I've been wanting to knit for a while now and I decided this winter to learn how to knit. I went to the knitting store and bought needles and yarn. They're technically called skeins of yarn. Anyways I learned actually from a few videos on youtube.

1st. I learned how cast on.

Its actually really easy! I had to watch the video a few times but then I got the hang of it.

2nd. I learned how to knit

It took me a while to understand this part, but I sort of got the hang of it plus I had some of my friends help me.

So I'm in the process of making a scarf. That's my ultimate goal, but I keep adding on stitches after each row, so I'm still in the beginning fazes of learning how to knit.

Some of my friends are really good at knitting and I think its cool that one skein of yarn can turn into a headband or scarf or hat. My friend from camp is so good at knitting that she can knit under the table.

Maybe one day I will eventually finish my scarf.

Getting Letters

From tumblr: http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lqw5ebtTqc1qh239s.jpg

The feeling of getting mail from friends that is handwritten is such a nice feeling. I was on the plane coming home and now you have to turn off all electronics for about the first 15 or so minutes at the very beginning of the flight and at the end. So I couldn't listen to my music on my phone, but I'm the kind of person who always likes to be busy. So I decided to pull out the barf bag from the seat and started to write a letter on it. I figured it would cool and funny to write a letter on a plane barf bag.

I wrote the letter and stuffed it into my backpack and then got off the plane. So normally I write letters to camp friends but I never send them because I don't have their address off hand. My camp makes a "yearbook" sort of booklet where everybody can put their address and then people can write letters. But in order to send the letter, I have to find my booklet, and then find the address and make sure I still have the letter. I loose things easily so actually getting it together to send the letter is the most difficult part for me.

Anyways I actually did send this letter and I was really excited about it. My mom keeps giving me all these random cards that she gets in the mail, so I always have cards to write on. So I sent it to my friend in Massachusetts and it got there maybe 3 or 4 days later. When I got a text saying "I GOT YOUR LETTER" it made me happy because I had forgotten by that point that I had even sent the letter in the first place.

I think that my generation barely knows what the postal system is let alone how to write letters. It's such an easy thing to do but its one of those simple things that make you smile. I think that my generation should stop texting, tweeting, face-booking  and just write a letter for one time. Letters for me, seem so much more genuine, because the person took the time to hand write the letter and send it. It's nice to get letters and then send other ones.

I'm going to try to send more letters to my friends from camp and even maybe to my friends who only live about 10 minutes away from me. Although it may seem like a waste of money for postage stamps, I actually think that it's a really nice way to say hi!

Vermont Ice Cutting

Over the long holiday weekend I went up to my camp call Tamarack Farm. It's one of the five camps all apart of an organization called farm and wilderness that run wilderness and farm quaker camps. They have 3 work weekends during the year plus they run summer camps.

I've gone to SAM Camp the coed wilderness camp for 10-14 year olds and last summer I went to Tamarack Farm for 15-17 year olds. I really enjoyed both camps and this year I won't be able to return to Tamarack Farm.

I am disappointed that I can't make it but I understand that I need to start working and my mom and I have already started planning our trip to China. So I decided this winter to go up to ice cutting, one of the weekends that my camp hosts.

We all went and cut ice out of a frozen pond for one if the camps called Flying Cloud. During the summer they use absolutely no technology or electricity including a refrigerator. Therefore, in the winter we cut ice to store in the ice house so that by the time summer camp starts up again, they can have a place to store their food and keep it cold. Without a refrigerator.

I mostly ran ice down. So basically there was a pulley system in which runners would run down a hill to pull a sled filled of cut out ice blocks up to the ice house. From there people would unload them into the ice house. There were also people down at the pond cutting and lifting ice blocks from the pond.

It was so much fun and an interesting way to still stay in touch with camp. I spent time with old counselors and friends. I also met new people and on the last night 5 of us teenagers stayed up until 1am knitting, talking, and laughing. It was such a nice way to still connected to this special place and I hope to go to other work weekends like this.

Cluedo

Cluedo

 

We only had 1 week to plan, shoot, and edit a film that included a specific object.

Our group got a bloody plastic head so we decided to recreate the game  clue, also known as cluedo in England. This week we had students from England come to our school on an exchange trip so we all brainstormed for the first day to figure out an idea for the film. 

So we ended up choosing cluedo and planning out our script and shot list. We even drew a story board. The next day we filmed all our shots with a cannon video recorder and I filmed most of it. At the end of class we imported it to the school computers.

Finally on the last day to work on this project we edited the film. I am really proud of myself because I actually helped edit and add music in final cut pro. I was so proud that I could figure out how to import music and then actually edit it. This is the first time I have ever used final cut pro so I was really proud of how our video turned out. 

This project was great because we got to really bond with our english exchange students while developing our film skills. I though our idea was creative and the process was really effective because on filming day we didn't waste any time.

Dive Season

I'm on my high school's dive team and I find it really useful to have people record my dives so that I can see how they look and what I can improve on. All the footage was shot with my iPhone and then I used iMovie on my iPhone to edit it. This is surprising to me since I'm not talented with technology and I didn't think it could all be done on my phone, but I tried it anyways and surprisingly i didn't have too many difficulties.

When I thought about what I think it means to live in silver spring of course there is the downtown area that people hang out and the local food places across from the the high school. But then I got to thinking about what it means to live in silver spring during this time of the year for me. Well that would be diving. We have dive practices on Wednesday from 3:15-4:30 and then I normally go with a few other people on the team to a nearby pool on Friday nights to get in some extra practice.  We have meets almost every weekend normally at 9 or 10 in the morning at pools in the middle of nowhere. Also this winter I did a diving camp from 7-12 in the morning during winter break.

This year was a lot different for me because last year I had two senior friends to dive with.  This year I have dove the entire season alone. Well not completely alone. There are three boys who I dive with and have become good friends with but all swim and dive competitions are divided between genders, so I am the only girl diver on the high school team. I wish there was another girl, but I'm glad to have gotten to know some of the boy divers who I didn't get to know as well last year because I was already surrounded by my two friends.

I really like diving because its the closest I can get to gymnastics. I dislocated my elbow last spring and have recovered but I can do any sport other than gymnastics. I spend my time busy as always and during the winter I do diving.

Diving is scored out of a 10. You get points marked off for flexed toes, bent knees, or bad entry in the water. A dive ultimately wants to go really high up with nice form and then the entry in the water should have the smallest splash possible. Then you also have degree of difficulty (DD) so dives with a higher DD are harder. This way a really hard dive is given credit even if It has ugly form.

It's funny when swimmers tell me oh I could never dive. It seems so scary. And while water hurts ALOT, if you smack the wrong way, diving is also about precision and moments where your body slices through the water. Diving is scary and sometimes I am terrified to try new dives, yet it feels amazing when your body rips through the water and you nail that entry.

Trip to China??

This summer I have plans to go to China with my mom. Nothing is finalized, but we are trying to set it up since I won't be going to summer camp this year. The trip should be really interesting since, I haven't ever been back to China since I was adopted, so this will be my first time. I don't know the language at all and I will have to chance to go back and visit my orphanage.

It's interesting because I wouldn't consider myself to have a real interest in finding my birth parents unlike many internationally adopted children;  yet I feel almost a moral obligation to go back to China at least once in my lifetime. My mom always promised me that we would go back to China at some point but I never really acknowledged that or cared.

So now that the opportunity has come, I assume I will be going back to China next summer. There's a lot of questions that come up when I think about going to China. The first will be, If I don't know the language how will I be able to do anything? We will most likely have to get a translator for part of it at least since learning Chinese takes years. I'm also curious about where we will go. China is HUGE, so what do I want to visit.

My mom and I also discussed finding a program and doing a project to help an orphanage in China. I'm definitely interested in finding a project to do, because it can help an orphanage so much. My orphanage does not accept any programs to help, and they recently switched directors. Hopefully this will be good because the last lady who ran my orphanage was not very nice. She wouldn't accept toys or blankets, and didn't want families to really contribute to the orphanage. She was very secretive about the place, and when my mom went to China to adopt me, my mom was the only one who went into the orphanage. This was only because the director was in meetings that day.

So I'm curious about who the new director is. Also, technically once I am 18 years old I am supposed to be able to get my files from the orphanage. Supposedly they found me with a note on my head that said my birthday and maybe something else. I am curious about what the note says, but the likelihood of the orphanage having my files is pretty small.

Either way, this trip to China will definitely be a really interesting experience for me.

Washington DC Holiday Market

On Saturday night I went shopping downtown with my mom and as we were walking to dinner, we passed through a bunch of tents called the Holiday Market. It was a really nice set up with tents on both sides all lit up with white lights.   There were tons of different things sold such as really interesting jewelry, paintings, and scarves.

A necklace made out of bolts, and nails

The tents with lights

 There was one tent with all different kinds of jewelry made out of nails, keys, bolts, and other metal tools. It was really cool to see a key shaped into a ring, or nails and bolts welded together to make a bracelet. We got a bracelet for my cousin for graduation this spring. 

 Another tent had all this really interesting jewelry with unique cutouts and shapes. My mom got a necklace there for my aunt as a holiday present. 

I thought it was really cool to have a bunch of small businesses coming together to make this holiday market. It's completely unexpected, and there was some really nice stuff there. It had a great holiday spirit to the whole set up and it just goes to show you that life is full of surprises.

Mad Hot Ballroom

This is by far my favorite documentary. It's about  600 kids from inner city, New York public schools who have participated in a ballroom dancing competitions. The movie follows the story of several schools who have competed in the ballroom competition and talks about the positive influence of dance on these students. The story is told from many different perspectives. You see the kids from each high school and their interactions. You also see the teachers inspired by this program, the students who have changed as a result of the competition. The story is inspiring and it focus on this high school who wins the competition.

There isn't too much dramatic aspects of the documentary because it shows real kids. Most kids don't wear make at this age and there isn't really acting because its just the kids being kids. It's great to see the kids different outlooks on life, and see the diversity of students in New York City. There aren't really costumes either because the students, teachers, etc. wear what they have always worn.

There is great music to go along with the film, because ballroom dancing has such defined music for each dance. They use a lot of fades to go from one school learning the tango, to another school dancing the tango. The film mostly consists of the students practicing the dances for the competitions with interviews in between. There are interviews with the different teachers, and students from all the participating schools. I like how this film is real. It doesn't make anything overly-dramatic and it really shows the diversity of young students who have participated in this program. The film doesn't include fancy editing yet it tells a magnificent story. The film has text slides to identify the schools, people who are interviews, and days until the competition.

The film informed the public about an incredible unknown program for inner city schools. Some of the kids have parents who don't speak English, and one of the dancers himself doesn't speak English, yet his school wins the competition. You see the interactions between boys and girls as they become teenagers. The students learn the Rumba, Tango, Swing, Merengue, and Foxtrot as they grow up in the big city.

Mad Hot Ballroom, 120 minutes, 5 out of 5 stars

Kellogs Gymnastics Tour

Last weekend I went to see the Kellogg Tour of the Champions which is a tour of the Olympic gymnasts from London and Beijing. I took lots of photos and got to see some of my favorite gymnasts. The tour was awesome and I really enjoyed seeing the Olympic gymnasts. Not only did they show artistic gymnasts (they compete, vault, bars, beam, and floor) but I got to see trampoline gymnasts, the men's gymnastics team, and rhythmic gymnasts. I used to do gymnastics, but quit last spring after I injured my elbow.

Aly Raisman about to do a leap in her floor routine

To the right is Aly Raisman.  She is 5.2 and is one of the tallest gymnasts on the team. She is from  Massachusetts. She began gymnastics at a very young age, like most of the other gymnasts and Aly trained at Exxcel Gymnastics until level 8. Then Aly moved to Brestyan's American Gymnastics Club and trained with 2008 Olympian Alicia Sacramone. Aly is Jewish and competed her floor routine to Hava Nagilia which was absolutely amazing to watch. After the Olympics Aly was invited to Israel to perform her gymnastics routine for the prime minister of Israel. Aly helped her team win first place, and in the individual competition she won third on beam and first on floor.
Click here to see a video of her routine

Jordyn Wieber starting her floor routine

To the left is Jordyn Wieber. She is 5.2 as well and is from Michigan. Jordyn has three brothers and sisters and she is the oldest. Jordyn Wieber stopped gymnastics for a little bit to dance, but then started up again with coach John Geddert who picked her for the SIlverstars program. Jordyn Weiber helped her team win first place.

 Click here to see a video of her routine

Gabby Douglas's floor routine

To the right is Gabby Douglas. Gabby 4.11 tall and was born in Virginia. Gabby also has three siblings and trained at Excalibur. Gabby Douglas is the first African American gymnast to win the individual all-around champion and the first American gymnasts to win gold in the individual and team competitions.

From left to right, top to bottom:
Jordyn Weiber, Gabby Douglas, Aly Raisman, Nastia Lukin (2008 Olympian), McKayla Maroney
Note: Kyla Ross, the fifth Olympic gymnast from London was not there

 _________________________________________________________________________________

US Men's Gymnastics Team, London 2012

Jake Dalton, Jonathan Horton, Danell Leyva, Sam Mikulak, John Orozco, and alternates Chris Brooks, Steven Legendre, Alex Naddour (not all of them were there)

Fall's Peace

Fall to me is a time of peace because it's the time of year where everyone goes back to school or work and settles down for the year.  Although the year really begins in January I've always thought of the year starting in September, because that's when my life starts up again after my crazy and wonderful summers.  Since I was eight I've been going to sleep away camps where there is always something to do.  Fall is the time of year where my life is a little less chaotic before the holiday season starts up.

I called my video "A Peaceful Day at the Farm" because Andrea and I went to the farm the morning before Hurricane Sandy hit the east coast.  The roads were barren and it felt like driving through ghost towns.  We drove up to Homestead Farm where I have been going since I could ever remember.   I've always gone to this farm to find a pumpkin to carve for Halloween.  My mom always gets apples to use for the apple sauce that she usually makes for Thanksgiving.  I end the day with picking out some unusual gourds and a caramel apple.  I even got stung by a bee for the first time at Homestead Farm. Anyway, normally when my mom and I go we expect there to be tons of families and children running around everywhere.  I've never seen the farm that empty.

I used my cell phone to film my video which explains why the quality is pretty bad.  I then edited my film with Windows Live Movie Maker. Shot #1 is an establishing shot of the hills past the main part of the farm where they grown tons of vegetables and fruits.  The morning before Sandy it was already pretty windy so shot #2 is a close up of some plants blowing in the wind.  Shot #3 is another establishing shot of the main part of the farm.  It shows a very big picture of the different buildings across the lake where the animals are kept and the main store is held.  Then I changed from shots the scenery to shots of the produce that the farm sells.  Shot #4 is a medium close up of all the pumpkins being sold for Halloween.  Shot #5 are some of the many peppers that are at the farm and shot #6 are all the interesting gourds that are sold.  Shot #7 and 8 are two types of the apples that they sell at the farm.  I moved from outside to inside the main store where more produce is sold.  Shot #9 is kind of an establishing shot of the jarred foods that are sold along the walls of the store.  Shot #10 was a dandelion that was being blown in the wind, but I shot it in an aerial angle. The last shot is Andrea skipping down the road which finishes the film with a happy mood. I used an instrumental music called "Makros-Hope" by Markos from Sound Cloud because it helped evoke a peaceful and happy mood to my film.

Somewhere Between

Somewhere Between

Last weekend I saw the documentary "Somewhere Between." It talks about the stories of four teenagers who are adopted from China. It was really interesting to see the differences between the girls' stories.
The movie was really well done, but I would have liked to see more of the social interactions between the girls within their schools and communities. I wish the film could have emphasized more on the concept of the banana that based on first impressions people judge us upon our outside which is Asian. But culturally we were raised by white parents and we don't conform to the racial stereotypes of Asians. 

Then there was a girl from Philadelphia named Ann, who actually came out to the screening and participated in a question and answer session with the audience. It was interesting because she told the audience that now shed to is studying Chinese and wants to be an adoption social worker but in the movie had little interest in her adoption. Ann seemed to be the girl I related because of her easygoing attitude towards much of the ignorance about adoption. 

Fang from Berkeley California Fang remembers the day when her cousin brought her into the city and abandoned her on the streets. Because Fang was not brought to the orphanage as an infant her mother learned Chinese previous her adoption. Interestingly she is from the same orphanage as me. Fang has continued to speak Chinese and has visited over 20 times. Fang got to the point where she travels to China by herself and helped another family when thy went to adopt. Fang is really interested in knowing about her biological family and each time she returns to China she wants to know more.

Haley's story was completely different from Fang's. Haley is from Nashville Tennessee where she is "the only

Asian person within 500 feet." It was really interesting to hear Haley's connection with Christianity and the church. She said that even if she hadn't been adopted she would have found a way to become christian even in China. She said that god had a path for her to become christian.Haley ends up finding and meeting her biological family on a trip to China. Haley also wants to be the "first Chinese person to play in the Grand 'Ole Opry." She also competes in beauty pageants like her older sister who is not adopted. Geographically where you live can determine who you end up becoming. 

Jenna, from Newport Massachusetts was the final girl and it was interesting to see her opinions about how she identified herself as a first generation immigrant. Jenna is somewhat of a perfectionist and does multiple sports while attending a prestigious academy in New Hampshire. Her mothers are the ones to remind her to breath and take a break.

Sleep

In Fairfax County, they recently switched the elementary school schedules with the high schools. Studies show that sleep directly correlates with academic performance so why hasn't Montgomery County switched the schedule yet? I remember waking up early for school, in elementary school. Now I am lucky to make it to school on time. I've talked to many of my friends in other states and they all start school later so this idea of starting high school later is common. Starting school early affects our academic performance, common sense, and overall happiness. Kids should come to school to learn, not sleep though 1/2nd period or get to 1:00 and start napping. For me I'M so tired that when I get home I take a nap, from exhaustion, and then my sleep pastern gets all messed up and the cycle continues viciously. High school should start later to improve high schoolers' well being and academic performance.

Dystopian Trailer Music

explosion- for beginning shot of the world exploding. Automatically dramatizes the trailer and tells the reader that its a dystopian post-apocalyptic society.





base music- has lots of tension and different variations and combinations of drones. This creates an eerie mood.

futuristic scary music. The creates a scary, negative, futuristic mood.



final sciency futuristic ambience sound that can be used to create an eerie, futuristic mood.

Sunny Afternoon along Sligo Creek

Sunny Afternoon along Sligo Creek

Scene 1: Me walking down a neighborhood street to get to Sligo Creek. The sun is glistening through the trees that surround the street.
Scene 2: A close up shot of water trickling in Sligo Creek
Scene 3: Another scene of the sun glistening through the tress but in a different location. I'm not walking for this one either.
Scene 4: A close up of water running through the creek, but then an establishing shot of the whole creek.
Scene 5: Sun shinning bright on a field. A tree comes into view and blocks the sunlight temporarily.

I created my 5 by 5 by taking different shots of the scenery near Sligo Creek. To shoot the 5 by 5 I used a basic point and shoot camera. I edited my clips with wevideo, which was surprisingly easy to understand. 

I'm pleased with how my 5 by 5 turned out. I wish that I could have maybe turned down the volume a little bit on some of the scenes but I couldn't figure that out on wevideo and it wasn't a huge issue. 

For my next video challenge maybe I can do a theme of the aquarium. I think that shooting different sea animals would be really interesting. A shot of a jelly fish could be really interesting.

Total Recall

Total Recall (2012): Len Wiseman 

David Quaid, (Colin Farrell) an average factory worker questions the happiness of his life and goes to Rekall, a company that embeds memories where Quaid realizes that he was a former spy whose memory has been changed. The movie is about how Quaid finds his real identity while escaping the obstacles of the government and more importantly his own memories. 

The trialer is exemplary of a dystipoian trailer becuase it shows a government that uses science to control society's memories.  The trailer uses intense and dramatic music which emphasizes the thrill of the movie. Once can tell from the trailer that the protagonist is trying to a make a change in society and the catalyst for change is his realization of another identity that was erased by the government. The director manages to summarizes the plot without giving the ending in the 2 minute trailer. Also flashy bolded text is shown to emphasize certain themes which is another technique that the director uses to show that this is a dystopian movie.

The very beginning of the clip has a voice over of the protagonist questions the happiness of life to his friend who says "Yeah, why shouldn't  I be?" This automatically tells us that the society has no specific reason for feeling happy in life and one can infer the the government has controlled people's happiness since it is a dystopian movie.Then, there is a clip where the government officials break into Rekall and try to shoot or arrest Quaid which exemplifies a totalitarian government, where fear is used to control the people.In addition, the viewer then realizes from a later clip, that the government controls the society's memories's to controls their happiness and thought.  

Our group plans on using a similar plot to Total Recall. Our plot will be about a society where their feelings are controlled by a chip in their brains, similarly to how in Total Recall, the society's memories are changed to stay happy. The protagonist of our premise will also work in a factory manufacturing warfare materials. 

The Lucky One

The Lucky One

I read a review of The Lucky One by Todd McCarthy on The Hollywood Reporter online. The movie review comments of all three aspects of literary aspects; literary, dramatic, and cinematic. The review of the movie, based on the Nicolas Spark's book, mostly explains the plot.
 The Lucky One and tells the story of a veteran named Logan who finds the picture of a woman who, by some mysterious fate, saves him from many of the disasters at war. Logan promises himself that when he returns from war he will find the woman who saved him and thank her. He ends up falling in love with the woman and realizing the problems of her life with her abusive ex-husband and bullied 8-year old.

McCarthy touches lightly on the dramatic aspects of the film. He talks about Efron's performance and comments that his potential was not shown. He also talks about the limited use of sets in the war zone.

 He talks about the cinematic affects, commenting on the interesting use of camera angles. He also talks about the beautiful light from the set in Louisiana.

All About Me

hi my name is ceci-

im a sophomore in highs chool and this is my first time blogging, second time if you count tumblr. im an only child and i have two cats named ollie and mittens.  i used to do gymnastics and now i dance. this summer i went to farm camp in vermont. my favorite desert is cupcakes. i just started playing ultimate frisbee and i have a lot of  energy. i really don't like capital letters because i think they look ugly. if i could travel the world i would visit greece, and i want to travel around europe in general. i like to have fun, not stress too much and just enjoy life.

in the film process i like to direct or be involved with the cinematography process. i like using the camera and in past projects i directed a live show. this year i think we can use these blogs to communicate with our teachers and create a network where students can also talk to one another. our teachers can tell us the homework or update new information. they can also post websites that would be helpful for projects or studying for tests. i also think it would be helpful for us students because we can work on our change projects together in an efficient way through our blogs.