A Weekend in the Life

It's been a while, so I'll start off talking about where I've been, who I've seen, pretty much what you be doing if you were me.

On Thursday I decided to catch up all the sleep I lost to the "Grand Theft Auto 4" pandemic sweeping the nation.

On Friday I tried to crash a Memorial Day Family BBQ I found. Unforunatly none of my friends had the cajones to do it with me.

On Saturday I went into town and dicussed in a very formal and educational socratic seminar "The Dangers of a Zombie Invasion, and How it Affects You."
It was a very good discussion and If (I mean when) a zombie invasion comes I will be the man who survives. My friend Mr.Burke will not.

on Sunday I went to a sweet 16. I spent the whole night trying to fix my belt.. Its actually not as much fun as you would think.

On Monday I went paintballing, I killed 4 people. I'm a killing machine.

On Tuesday I reflected on all my memories of the weekend. I decided to never think of it again.

Then this blog post came.

Works of Me Part 4

What is the question you are answering in your own words?
Does Power corrupt good people?


What is your thesis statement? This sets up the entire paper with your focus and direction. Power corrupts, and turns good people into shells of their former self’s.



BODY PARAGRAPH 1
What is the topic/idea of this paragraph?
Power turned Napoleon evil.


What quote(s) ideas from research will you use to help prove your points?
a. “Napoleon was fair and just till he gained full power”

b. “Napoleon killed other animals.”

What example(s) from the book(s) will you use to help prove your points?
a. Napoleon is a good. And fair leader at first.


b. Then he oust Snowball, and took over leadership, but took away all fairness.


BODY PARAGRAPH 2
What is the topic/idea of this paragraph?
Power turned Macbeth Evil


What quote(s) ideas from research will you use to help prove your points?
a.” Macbeth is a hero turned villain”

b. “Macbeth killed his best friend”

What example(s) from the book(s) will you use to help prove your points?
a. Macbeth is a hero in the first act of the novel.


b. Macbeth kills the king, and takes the power for himself, and becomes corrupt with power.







BODY PARAGRAPH 3
What is the topic/idea of this paragraph?
Why Napoleon changed.


What quote(s) ideas from research will you use to help prove your points?
a. “Napoleon tried to kill Snowball”

b. “Napoleon wanted all the perks of being a humn.”

What example(s) from the book(s) will you use to help prove your points?
a. He was greedy for power.


b. He wanted the perks.

BODY PARAGRAPH 4
What is the topic/idea of this paragraph?
Why Macbeth Changed


What quote(s) ideas from research will you use to help prove your points?
a. “Macbeth’s wife wanted the power for herself, and pressured Macbeth into doing it.

b. “Macbeth was guided by a god-like prophets.

What example(s) from the book(s) will you use to help prove your points?
a. His wife forced him.


b. the prophets told him too.

CONCLUSION
What should we now understand after reading your paper? Where idea(s) does your paper lead to?
a. The Greed For Power is too much.


b. All Good people fall to power.

Works of me Part 3

Cornell Notes for Sources

TITLE: Themes of Animal Farm
AUTHOR:
YEAR PUBLISHED: 2007

Main Idea #1: Power Corrupted Napoleon

Summary: Napoleon has lots of power, but is always hungry for more.


Quote: “Throughout the story Napoleon’s power continually increases, be he is never quite satisfied.


Question: “Why does Napoleon want all the power? To do what?


Main Idea #2: Napoleon must have power over all.

Summary: Napoleon is always trying to make sure he as no competition. He even runs Snowball out of town, through force.


Quote: Napoleon’s standards are that he must have complete power and rule over everyone


Question: Could Napoleon ever team up with someone?

Main Idea #3: Napoleon is always greedy for more power.

Summary: Throughout the book Napoleon is making sure he has no one talking against him, and that no one fights back at him.


Quote: Napoleon is always greedy for more power.


Question: What was his purpose for using all the power?




How will this source help you write your paper? It has many good points about Napoleons hunt for power.

TITLE: George Orwell
AUTHOR:
YEAR PUBLISHED: 2007

Main Idea #1: Leaders Abuse their powers.

Summary: In the book “Animal Farm” the leader, Napoleon, abused his powers.


Quote: In every society leaders will, If given the opportunity, abuse their powers.


Question: Why do they do this?


Main Idea #2: The Pigs abused their powers.
Summary: In the book, the pigs abuse there power, and start to be “more equal’ then the other animals.


Quote: The pigs will abuse their positions and power in this animal society.


Question: Why couldn’t they stay equal?

Main Idea #3: Many Russian Leaders abused their powers.

Summary: The Pigs are based on many Russian leaders, and many of them also abused their powers.

Quote: “The pigs in the story represent the Russian Royal family, who abused their powers.


Question: Why is humanity so cruel?

How it will help?: It shows the parallels of power between the people in the book, and people in real life.

TITLE: George Orwell
AUTHOR:
YEAR PUBLISHED: 2007

Main Idea #1: Leaders Abuse their powers.

Summary: In the book “Animal Farm” the leader, Napoleon, abused his powers.


Quote: In every society leaders will, If given the opportunity, abuse their powers.


Question: Why do they do this?


Main Idea #2: The Pigs abused their powers.
Summary: In the book, the pigs abuse there power, and start to be “more equal’ then the other animals.


Quote: The pigs will abuse their positions and power in this animal society.


Question: Why couldn’t they stay equal?

Main Idea #3: Many Russian Leaders abused their powers.

Summary: The Pigs are based on many Russian leaders, and many of them also abused their powers.

Quote: “The pigs in the story represent the Russian Royal family, who abused their powers.


Question: Why is humanity so cruel?

How it will help?: It shows the parallels of power between the people in the book, and people in real life.


TITLE: Macbeth’s Power Role
AUTHOR:
YEAR PUBLISHED: 2007

Main Idea #1: Macbeth became power corrupted.

Summary: After ascending to the throne, Macbeth became corrupted with power and abused his powers.


Quote: Later on in the play Macbeth holds the thrown and after having total control of supremacy over the whole country he gets power corrupted.


Question: What happened to Macbeth?


Main Idea #2: Macbeth was greedy for power.
Summary: Soon after his promotion, Macbeth became power hungry, and demanded more, by killing the King.


Quote: By the king granting them power Macbeth over abuses it to achieve even a higher status


Question: What changed Macbeth?
Main Idea #3: Macbeths wife is also power hungry.

Summary: Macbeth’s wife is the one who gives Macbeth the idea, and is also trying to Pull Macbeth’s strings.

Quote: Not only does he have power but his wife is in control of him and all of his decisions, she controls his mind the way she wants the joy of power


Question: Would Lady of Macbeth kill Macbeth later on?

How it will help?: It gives insight into the themes of power in Macbeth.

Works of Me Part 2

Hello my loyal fan(s). You'll are probably wondering, "Oh glorious Blogger, where art thou High-Larious blog posts of yours?"

(Sorry about missing, the Socratic Seminar Blog, but I chewed my hands off to keep myself from strangling some of the speakers.)

Well I shall break my vow of silence to announce. Big changes are coming the "The 1080." Huge Changes! Yes, I have hired a crack team of blog-designers, scientists, and mental patients to bring to you all, a new, better, blog. It will feature many out of school blog posts, many of which will change your view of everything you know, and love. Yes, all coming to you my loyal fans, in the future! I shall give you all a hint, a tasty piece, of my new blog. Here it is....Ladies and Gentlemen! I present the new logo of "The 1080."



To also hold you over, I will post my bibliography for my Final Essay for English. Enjoy I guess.

Works Cited

Erin. "Themes of Animal Farm." slideshare.net. 8 May 2008      themes-of-animal-farm/>. - - -. "Themes of Animal Farm." slideshare.net. 8 May 2008      themes-of-animal-farm/>. 



"George Orwell." Cyber Essays. 8 May 2008 . 



Mr.B-G. "Macbeth's Power Role." Weblog entry. 7 Apr. 2008. World Lit 12. 8 May 2008      . <" 



Power Corrupts in George Orwell's Animal Farm:." Azete. 8 May 2008 
     53079>.



"The Theme of Power in Macbeth". Planet Papers. 8 May 2008 http://www.planetpapers.com/Assets/4332.php
  

Works of Me Part 1

One of the themes in “Montana 1948” by Larry Watson, is sibling rivalry. Sibling rivalry is a natural feeling between any siblings, which the Hayden brothers cannot escape. “When comparisons were made between the two, my father was bound to suffer” is a line spoken David Hayden whose is stuck between his fathers, and his uncles sibling rivalry. Uncle Frank, who is Wesley’s brother, is always seemed to be better then Wesley. Frank is handsome, athletic, and a war hero. Wesley is none of these, and has always felt inferior to Frank. It seems like they are in a competition for their fathers attention.


There is more then one way to skin a cat. The same goes for tactics for stopping sibling rivalry. One tactic is to walk away before someone loses their temper, and self-control. “Separating yourself from your sibling will help both of you calm down(Denise 2008)” said Henry Denise, an expert on Sibling Rivalry. It is a very good tactic because sometimes people can lose their temper while in argument. When someone loses their tempter they might do something they regret, like fight someone, or say something they do not mean. If you walk away, it never gets to this point. This is a very valuable tactic against sibling rivalry. This tactic is best shown in “Montana 1948” by Larry Watson. “At on point I looked up to see how my father was reacting to his brothers speech. He had drifted to the back and was picking up pieces of paper in the grass” Wesley did this because he did not want a confrontation, so he walked away to cool his temper. If he did not walk away he might of lost his temper and caused a scene. This is a good use of the tactic talked about above.

These two paragraphs look identical at first., but there are some subtle difference between the two. The 1st paragraph is about just “Montana 1948”” and is only talking about issues in the book and nothing else. The 2nd paragraph actually talks about real-world issues, and how the work in the real world, and also in the book. The 2nd paragraph cites a expert on sibling rivalry and also offers advice on how to deal with it. Then a example is shown from the book, that shows the tactic talked about previously in the paragraph. The 1st paragraph does none of this, and stays focused on the book and the sibling rivalry between them.

also check www.edintheshed.blogspot.com for a good example.

Glory and Guilt

I killed the Prime Minister of Malaysia! Not really, but if I did I would feel pretty guilty about it I bet. Guilt is a funny thing. It is what separates us from those uncivilized animals. See, I have a psychopathic dog named “Princess.” Princess actually seems to enjoy taking a piss on my favorite shoes. She also seems to laugh at me while I’m using my fresh tears of despair to clean it. Does my dog feel guilt and apologize? No. Do I feel the need to apologize whenever I take a piss on someone’s shoes? 75% of the time yes (some people deserved it).

Back in my day, I used to play basketball a lot. Basketball was my sport while I was in my prime. So I’m playing casually and going for a re-bound, when someone who we will call “Justin” decided he wanted the re-bound too. As any competitive player would do, I did the first thing that came to mind that would stop him. I broke his ankle. I jumped on his foot, shattering his ankle and even his dreams of being a tennis star. After listening to his high-pitched crying and moans of pain and woe, my guilt got the best of me, and I apologized. To this day he never apologized for when I tripped trying to break his ankle. Jerk.



Not everyone is as great a person as I though. Some people like say, O.J Simpson, are in-fact very very bad people, and have the morals and conscience of that “Justin” kid. O.J Simpson is a great case to look at. After O.J was suspected of murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Robert Goldman, he did what any innocent man would do. Get a Hostage, a car, and make a run for it of course! Never mind the fact that the prosecution found,
(A) His Glove, (B) his DNA, (C) his Knife, (D) His Hair, (E) His pair of keys, (D) His Blood, (E) Imprint of his Shoes.
You would think this mountain of guilt, both literally and non would have got the truth out of him. No, because O.J pulled “the race-card” and “The Chewbacca theory.” He got away with murder, literally. Then O.J did something a bit odd

O.J- “Yo I’ma gonna publish this book about how I killed Nicole and Robert”
Conscience—“Good you can finally get the truth out there, your doing the right thing”
O.J—“Good point, I meant how I WOULD have killed them, damn I’m clever, no one will suspect a thing.”
Conscience- “I hate you”


I believe that was bit of O.J’s guilt escaping from his conscience. It’s a step in the right direction I guess, but O.J since you seem to be able to escape anything, why not do us all a favor and kill Paris Hitlon? You would get a medal and parade!

Tell me you saw this coming, It’s Macbeth connection time. If you asked me a week ago “Secretary, do you think guilt will come into play in Macbeth?”
I would first promptly stab you many times in the chest for using a “pun” in my presence. I would then answer “most likely no.” I was proven wrong today by Lady Macbeth of all people. Guilt is taking its toll on Lady Macbeth, she seems to be on the brink of insanity. This guilt is going to lead to big things, and we will have to wait and find out. Perhaps it’s “How I WOULD convince my husband to kill King Duncan and become King: The Musical.”

A League of My Own

Feminism is to Noble Causes, as the "WNBA" is to sports. Both are stupid, pointless, and take up too much time on my TV. Anyone who is a actual fan of the WNBA, take a good hard look at yourself and say "I am a fan of a league some people don't believe exist. I Pity Myself."

Put down your torches and pitchforks, and let me explain myself. Back in the day of “Black Plagues”, “Knights,” and “Kings,” women were seen as “that annoying thing that I locked in the house so I can have a son, and some steak.” Women were seen as this until around the 1950s, when my 19^th favorite amendment came out, granting equal rites to all people, regardless of sex. All was equal in the U.S, and Feminism could now retire with honor, but NO, Femimsim decided “we got nothing better to do so, we are sticking around.” I figure this is how it all went down.

Feminist Mastermind: “Mission Complete, we are officially equal, cupcakes, and equality for all!”

Paris Hilton: “But like I want to be like MORE Equal then like Men, like why can’t we force them to build us like Pyramids of Equality for us to like shop at.”

Feminist Mastermind: “The goal was to become equal, not demi-gods of men.”

Paris Hilton: “LALALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU LALALA”

FM: “Your going to dismantle all we worked for.”

Paris Hilton: “ You’ll see, like I will like make my own clothing line that will like completely demean women, and like make sure that like men only like see our looks and like nothing else

Then I like to believe, the true feminists got on a spaceship to the moon or something.. I can’t see how they are standing for Paris Hilton.

See, I think feminism was a grand idea, and it did the job. Then someone decided that women must be more then equal then men. I call this Elite-ism feminism.

The role models of this new movement are celebrities such as Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, and Britney Spears. They are horrible influences on today’s young tweens, and I personally believes NASA’s next mission should see how long these so-called “Role-Models” can survive in space without helmets, I hear Paris can hold her breath a long time(HEY-O).

Now for your weekly dosage of Macbeth connections. Lady Macbeth is a (EXPLETIVE DELETED). She shows girls they can have power and control people, which is neat-o. Then she uses said power to get Macbeth to kill Duncan. Last time I checked a knife is just as effective held by a man as a women. She manipulates people and she should join Spears, Hilton, and Lohan in their (one-way) space re-hab vacation. Bon Voyage.

Comic Relief: Watch to see the horrors of Paris and Lohan ( safe, I promise)

When Good Blogs Go Bad....

A wise Vonage commercial once said "People Do Stupid Things", and indeed they do Vonage, indeed they do. "The Man" is demanding this week’s blog to be about "Good People who do Bad Things."

"Paging Governor Spitzer" or should I say Ex-Govna Spitzer. Unless you've been living in a cave the past month, you must have heard of my favorite ex-governor. You see my idol (or ex-idol) Spitzer has been pretty busy lately. Governor Spitzer was the baby of a D.A.R.E Officer, and Mr.Clean(probably). When he was elected to Governor, he cleaned up crime like a professional, nothing got past him, he spit at the thought of crime! This man was so clean you could eat off him. He was even the Attorney General, a very honorable position, held be other noble people such as Alberto Gonzales(not the best example in retrospect)! He never even thought about doing anything illegal....or so we thought!

Governor Spitzer never did anything wrong, until one day…. he spent 15 years with Prostitutes.

March 10^th 2008, I remember it well, it was oddly dark-out at 11pm, and my political scandal sense was tingling. Imagine my shock when I turn on the news to find out Governor Spitzer was with a prostitute, a $1,000 a hour prostitute! I was in denial at first, thinking how could the Good Govna spend this when he knows New York is in such debt! Then it hit me, the Good Govna has turned rotten! I had to justify it, but no, Spitzer had a wife! Then I thought maybe someone put him up to it! Perhaps my other ex-idol Bill Clinton! (I know I’m bad at picking idols, be quiet)

No, not Bill, at least Bill has the decency to go after staff members, and not “gasp” ILLEGAL prostitutes (the worst type of prostitutes, the illegal kind!). Start taking notes Spitzer. He must of done his on his own accord.

In all my grief of writing this, I realized “The Man” probably just wanted a connection to Macbeth, and connection he shall have! I think Macbeth changed his morals because he had power within his grasp. If someone went up to you and went “If you kill that guy with this tissue box, you be Secretary of the Grade!” (Trust me, not worth it, the parties are great, but the meetings are boring) It does not make his decision justifiable though. Macbeth is wrong, and a looser for doing what he did. He jumped to conclusions, and thought killing was the only way. I bet Vonage would love to get their hands on Macbeth……

Why Everyone Is Wrong and I'm Right

You ever had to sit there and listen to somebody talk for 40 minutes, and you know they’re wrong, but you can’t say anything because you might get in trouble or killed? If you’re “into” that sort of thing, then stop on by my period one class, and sit in on a Socratic seminar.

As you might have guessed, I was tied-up, gagged, and being tortured slowly during today’s seminar. In today’s seminar we (the victims) had to listen to the speakers (torturers) while they discussed “Macbeth.” It was the general questions “Do you like the book,” “Do you like the characters?,” and “Do you like the font Shakespeare choose?” Questions that a5th grader could answer using only 1 syllable words. So I was listening to it, and I decided to try and “piggy-back” on some peoples comments. For example

Someone in the class, who let’s just call “J ”was talking about how Shakespeare language was so hard to understand compared to ours, and it got me thinking(she might like this .) I wonder if in 500 years 10^th graders will be reading something we wrote, perhaps “Legally Blonde: The Musical?” (I hear that blonde character has Shakespearean-like qualities, buy your tickets here.)

On top of that, I wonder if like they will be able to like understand us and ummmm like have the patience to like read what we are like saying before like burning everything with the word like in it…like Legally Blonde…like. (Have we like doomed our great grandchildren to this? When’s the last time something Shakespearean was made? Star Wars barely counts)

To finish up what the school mandates me to write about, I did agree with many people such as Dina, and Aalap. I do dis-agree with Alex thought, unless Shakespeare writes in Sherlock Holmes, which I hope he’s above, I doubt “The Case of King Duncan” will ever be solved through detective work, unless “The Witches” are part-time Crime Scene Investigators by day, and scary-manly prophets by night.

Side Note: Macbeth has the most power, the witches just prophesied, not make his choices, If he choose he could kill himself, and I doubt he would get the crown that way.

Then again whatever happened to that “Captain” fellow…hmmm..

Pull up a Chair and Shut up

I can tell if I am going to like a movie or not within the first five minutes. Five minutes into “Superbad’ and I said to myself “Taylor, you’re in for a good time.” Five minutes into “Date Movie” and I said to myself “Taylor, I wonder how painful it would be to rip your eyes out and bleed to death.”

To this day, I regret not ripping my eyes out and bleeding to death in that seat. A little of me died in that seat that day anyways.

Some movies have introductions that are so powerful you find yourself stapled to your seat for the next two hours; a perfect example would have to be the “Star Wars” films, which forced me to ignore my bodily needs and everyone around me for the entire two hours. The first ten minutes of any piece of video, or literature are crucial; trust me I’m a director.

Books and movies are like babies, if they don’t come out swinging, they’re dead to me.

What makes the “Star Wars” introductions so great is the fore-shadowing, action, and wonder that is so strong you feel like if you leave your seat, you could miss something ever better then the already amazing introduction. The first minutes of “A New Hope” grabs you by the nose and kicks you in the ass. You are introduced to the main players of the movie, and already you feel like you know how they act, talk, and even think. If anyone reading this blog (All 3 of you) did not feel utter fear when they saw Darth Vader for the first time then you must have lost your humanity a long long time ago, in a place far far away(see what I did there?). From the intro alone, you saw fore-shadowing of a great battle, motifs of Good vs. Evil, and images so powerful you will never forget them, no matter how hard you try.

I could spend hours on “Star Wars”, but I’m sure you here for something much more “school-mandated.”

This brings me to “Macbeth,” which I think had a solid intro. We see the witches, get some fore-shadowing, meet the main players and even get a feeling for how they act and think. Was it action packed? No. Does that make it a bad intro? Not Really. The intro to “Macbeth” gives us a lot of information, a lot of fore-shadowing, motifs, and images. Such Motifs as betrayal, violence, and witchcraft, which I’m sure will come into play sooner rather then later.