The Odyssey

                I constantly suffer from writer’s block. I am assigned a certain essay or paper, or in this case a simple post, yet I cannot think of a single topic of which to write about. Now there are many ways around this, each person preferring their own unique way. Mine are two choices, put it off until I come about inspiration, or write about my day. Fortunately for me, my day brought with it a more than blog-worthy event, drama rehearsal.                                                                
                                                                                                  (Map of Odysseus's Journey)

             

   My school is currently preparing for the showing of the modern day translation of one of Homer’s grandest poems, The Odyssey. The Odyssey is an epic poem written by Homer, a writer from ancient Greece. The story takes place around most of the known world of the time, the protagonist being a valorous man, ironically name Odysseus. Odysseus had gone to fight in the Trojan War (those events take place in Homer’s prior poem), as he was king of his land, Ithaca. He became lost at sea, and encountered various trials over the course of 20 long years. At last, he received help from new found friends, and made it back to his kingdom, alone unfortunately, as all his sailors had died. When he arrived, however, he found suitors attempting to marry his wife, Penelope. Penelope tricked them by proposing a competition; she would marry the first man to fire Odysseus’s bow (in the modern day version a gun), which he alone knew how to fire, ridiculing them and eventually murdering them.

                While the play is having a few issues, i.e. some of the extras not showing up for rehearsal, the play is coming along rather well. The cast is made up of several more than competent actors whom are putting a lot of effort into the production. While I will not linger on the topic of the cast on the public web, I will say I am confident the cast is more than worthy of the parts they were given, and prove it every day whether it should be by showing up to rehearsal, staying focused backstage, or bringing in their costumes.

The Much Needed Fall Break

                Very recently students and workers all around rejoiced as their final work hour ended two Fridays ago. They were not jubilant for another regular weekend, however. The cause of this excitement was none other than the much waited Fall Break. After three months of rotting in a school or work desk, after the leisure enjoyed during the summer, Fall Break was welcomed with open arms.

                But how do you spend this break? Some might travel to a nearby destination to enjoy the week, some would prefer cashing on the couch, leaving only to eat, and some could be found…working. I, however, chose to drive to the nearby beach for a few days.

                                                                                                                                    (An overhead look of the beach and nearby port)

                

              While on the hour long car ride heading there, I had high hopes for the few days there, seeing as to how none of the nearby schools were given this break and it was a weekday, thus leaving the beach unpopulated, and open only for me and my family. When I arrived, however, it was more desolated than expected. Although it was nice being able to have an entire beach to myself, I soon realized something that quickly ruined the highly anticipated break. Due to the lack of people, the resort had closed down all the main attractions.

                The resort offered a wide variety of entertainment, varying from movies, to jet skis and banana boats, to a pool, and so forth. When I got there, however, none of these were open. The Jet Ski deck was deserted, the cinema was quiet, and the pool was being disinfected and refilled. This left two unhappy boys alone on a small beach with nothing to do for three days, which eventually lead to recreational violence. While I could go on rambling about the horrible time I had during the break, I would much rather people continue to listen to me. So heed my advice, never, and I mean never, go to an empty beach resort. You’ll regret it.

Angels & Demon's (The Movie ) - My View Of It

                Welcome internet world, to the newest post on my blog. Previously, I had rated Dan Brown’s “Angels and Demons”, a historical-fiction book that took place in Vatican City, which was in danger of being blown up by a futuristic bomb. Today, however, I will turn my attention to the movie that was later produced, based on the book. 

                Starring Tom Hanks, the movie was as exciting and interesting as the book was, and the power to keep viewers on their seats during the entire production. The locations and key artifacts that were in the books were accurate in the movie; as each of them appeared on screen I could remember reading about them some nights before. However, the main flaw I found in the movie was that although locations and objects were the same on and off the pages, not much else was. 

               There were many changes made to the plot, which I could have idly ignored if I hadn’t read the book, but unfortunately I had. These were huge changes as well, not minor scenes cut out because they were unimportant to the progression of the story. Maximilian Kohler, and all of CERN as well, were cut out of the movie, Langdon instead being picked up by a Vatican officer. They also removed the marriage of Langdon and Vittoria, played by Ayulet Zurer, which was, in my opinion, a major part of the book, regardless of the fact it had no contribution to the plot. 

               All in all, however, the movie was a success, with a great cast and director. I believe the movie would have been even greater if they had extended it to show more of the important scenes. It is understandable that the unnecessary must be cut off to allow for the movie to have an appropriate time, but the movie was very short, and there was plenty of room to add a little more of the scenes that were removed, perhaps a shortened version of Langdon’s trip to CERN.

Angels & Demon's - My View Of It

Hello to all my viewers, all two of you! Like I said in my intro post, I was going to be giving my view of several general topics. Well I have just finished reading Dan Brown's Angels and Demon, and its time to give my view.

Dan Brown is, in my opinion, a great author. His writing style is unique, his plots complex and amazingly written, and it is clear that he put in a lot of time into research. Angels and Demons is the first book in the trilogy that made him famous. Robert Langdon, Harvard symboligist, was contacted one night by fax. The message called for him to meet the sender, and showed an image of a victim of an old satanic cult, the Illuminati. Robert is summoned to one of the world's top research facilities, CERN, in Geneva, Switzerland to help with a serious issue and mystery. The victim, Leonardo Vetra, was making using a particle accelerator to make anti-matter, which in the right hands could power a city for weeks with just a few millimeters. However, in the wrong hands, the same amount can detonate, annihilating everything in a 2 mile radius.Next thing Robert knows he is in Vatican City on a quest to find the antimatter before it blows up the biggest Catholic church in the world.

This story was written with clear expertise. I could not put the book down for a second, and the only thing that could make me shut it was the teacher telling us we were dismissed. The style in which he writes it makes it very real, and I pictured the entire story as I read it. Also, he clearly did great research, and showed it. Throughout the book famous artists and their works are mentioned, he got names and dates correct, he even had the distance and positioning of churches right so that in the end Robert's trail made a perfect cross, an Illuminati symbol. And on top of the research, he also made the story believable. He had great detail, didn't rush through anything, and really made sure people could picture what he was writing about.

In a story there are several factors to how good it is, some being details and style, but also the depth of his characters. His characters all had clearly independent personalities and relationships. For example, Maximilian Kohler, lead scientist at CERN, clearly was a bitter man, who was holding something in. He was not easily amused, and always very serious. Dan Brown did a great job in keeping his personality consistent, and really made me believe this man actually existed somewhere. Dan Brown clearly made his characters very believable, and thus made the story more believable.

Hello and Welcome

Hello and welcome. This blog was made as an English assignment to post weekly entries to be graded. The entries have no topic and thus the blog is just a personal, published journal. Before I go on I will talk about myself. I enjoy reading and writing, my favorite book being Dan Brown’s Lost Symbol. I have just started the ninth grade, though it is not going so well. The teachers are nice, but homework comes in large amounts even in the second week of school, the classes seem to never end, and my bag is slowly giving me a slouch. Once I get home, I like to watch T.V. with my family or invite friends over for the weekend. I am pretty skilled with a computer, and thus my family thinks whenever something breaks I can magically fix it…I love Arabic food, except for a rare few, mainly the ones with vegetables. I play tennis after school; however I cannot improve because the others in my court can’t even hit the ball over the net in less than a dozen tries. Well that’s pretty much everything about me that I feel comfortable posting on the internet.
As I said before I like to write, and have written a short story or at least the beginning to one. It is a little long for something I wrote at home, but I’m hoping I can finish it soon. Comment on what you think if you want, or just read it, your choice.