Well, Shakespeare made me feel smart through water

  Romeo and Juliet was a pretty intense movie that was full of ideas and intentional choices that I couldn't pick up all at once. Luckily, I was saved by the slide show Ms. Robbins posted. As I was taking a closer look at some of the scenes in Romeo and Juliet, one thing stood out to me that I shared in class when we discussed the movie: water is really important throughout the movie.
  Usually when I think of water, I think of it as calm but that's the thing; water has two sides. Meeting Juliet by looking through the fishtank made water seem calm, peaceful, and just really exotic in way. The fish weren't left out in the director's intentional choice color. They, too, were both blue and yellow (the Montague and Capulet colors). I remember saying that when people look at water, they see their reflection and for Romeo to see Juliet instead if himself highlights the fact that Romeo and Juliet are meant to be because together they become one.
  But then in the scene where Mercutio is killed, a hurricane is in the midst of the action, giving water a more violent personality. What made the movie better, visually, was that it was shot during a real hurricane. Though I don't doubt the work of the graphic designers, a real hurricane makes the movie un-cheesy if that's a word.
    "The dramatic storm scene on the beach in which Mercutio dies was shot during a real hurricane."
                                                                                                          -Director's Notes
  Interestingly we meet Juliet when her face is under water. Though her hair is flowing freely, she looks dead. Her hair is just flowing calmly and when she meets Romeo, she meets him through a fish tank. I kind of thought that the freedom of her hair in the water ironically points that her relationship between her and Romeo isn't all carefree and calm because they're equally bonded by a rivalry bigger than they can handle together. This scene is also related to the scene where Romeo has his face under water to wash away the effects of the drug. Like mentioned in the slide show, the scenes give us yet more evidence that they are closely bonded, even if it's in death as well as these scenes foreshadow.
  Another important role that water played in Romeo and Juliet was during the balcony scene. I don't remember clearly the whole scene but I do remember that once Juliet goes into the pool with Romeo, everything just seems all right because that's how the water is reflecting it. This is kind of off topic but the water in the pool seems sky blue and Juliet is wearing a white dress as if to represent an angel in heaven. Thinking of it, that kind of has two meanings. One, well Romeo and Juliet are so in love that it's like heaven and two, they're both in the pool and they're happy; when they both die they, in Christianity, go to heaven and don't have to worry about their past life on earth.
  Well, I believe every situation has two sides, just like water is both good and bad symbolically in Romeo and Juliet. Just because something or someone is presented as good to you doesn't mean that it's not ever going to be bad. The message I'm getting from Shakespeare is to enjoy the things presented to your life but to be cautious about them as well because there are always to sides to the situation.
  Overall, I think Baz Luhrmann did a good job of including water whenever it was necessary and to kind of do it in a subtle way was even better because if it just stood out the movie would've been terrible. Oh, and one last comment about the water, I'm just realizing that since it was heavily religious, water in Christianity also refers to holy water which cleanses someone... interesting.

They're Back!

  February 11th 2011. The best day to be alive. That was the day Never Say Never came out in theaters. Sorry, I just needed everyone to know that but that day before entering the movie theater, I entered the Barnes & Noble next to it. Though I first rushed to the magazine section first (no explanation needed) I looked through the young adult fiction section and came across the series I would die without having: The Vampire Diaries by L.J Smith.
  Curiously what seems interesting to me is that the book I'm reading is Stefan's Diaries Vol. 2: Bloodlust and it basically talks about the dark past behind the beginning of the deadly rivalry between Stefan and Damon Salvatore. I've already read the entire series so now I'm finding more about their past and not the present.
  Timing couldn't have been better. Since we're currently on our Shakespeare/Romeo and Juliet film study, I thought I could answer a few questions from class by reading this book. Love is a theme that heavily impacts the lives of Stefan, Damon, and Elena and it's what this series is mostly about. When I say it's about love I don't just mean the platonic love kind of thing but also the opposite of it; hate. Hate like the rivalry between Stefan and Damon.
  Now, it's sad how Stefan and Damon suddenly went from being the best of brothers to the worst enemies ever. And what caused this strong hate was none other than Katherine, the girl whom both brothers fell in love with deeply. I don't want to give the book away so I won't discuss Katherine further. But what I'm trying to say is, is it okay to hate someone for emotional reasons or does hate have to be caused by logical events?
  It's a bit hard to explain this but if a person killed a loved one then I guess that would be a good reason to hate but just because a girl you love loves someone else, is that a good reason to hate the person? In life, must we always think logically and not follow our heart for guidance? Is Damon's hate for Stefan really reasonable? Katherine just messed with their heads so shouldn't she be the one they turn their backs to?
  Hate and love are more similar than they are different. Love and hate go hand in hand and one emotion leads to the other and vice versa. The only real difference between love and hate is that they are complete opposites of each other. Other than that, love and hate are both strong yet complicated emotions that can be connected through one simple step. That step doesn't have to be literal. It could be Katherine when she came between the brother relationship between Stefan and Damon.
  Katherine.
  Stefan.
  Damon.
  From the great brothers they were to the beginning of the eternal battle between the brothers. Hate as a result of loving.

Inspirational Posts

  To start off, I'd like to say that there are so many amazing blog posts and the three people I pick posts from aren't the only amazing ones. So far, I've picked two posts; I have to look through everyone else's to decide which one to pick. So the following people are immensely

1st Mentor: ANNIE!!! (Obviously)

  Like many other fellow classmates of mine, I find posts by Annie truly deep, inspirational, and packed with emotion. What made me pick Annie is that all of her posts are well-written because she always has a firm understanding of what she's reading/writing. All of posts are phenomenal and her wide range of vocabulary just adds on to that. I love the fact that her posts are long, but they're not boring; on the contrary, each post is a piece of life in itself. I hope to one day write blog posts as amazing as her. Annie, you inspire me. Nothing else to say. Here's the link to deep writing... even her URL is amazing!

2nd Mentor: SAM!!! (Yay!!)

  Sam is a wonderful writer. I might not read her blog  posts weekly but whenever I read one, it's always great. I know, I'm an evil person for not reading Sam's posts weekly. Honestly, I'll make that a goal for this year. :) I stumbled upon her most recent blog post last week and I really fell in love with it (sorry, it still doesn't replace Justin Bieber.) Her post Follow the Line of Grapes was about a poem she write in response to a painting. I loved this post so much because it was really well-written and creative and had a lot of craft. What I found most creative was the 7th stanza:
                                                                   He heard from him

and he heard from him

and he heard from her

ans she heard from him

and he heard from her

and she heard from her

It's longer than that but I put an excerpt so you can get a sense of how it looks. I've just decided that this poem is on my Top 5 Poems. In the end, Sam: I wish I could write poems as creative as yours. :)

3rd Mentor: BEN!!! (Yeah... he's cool)

  I'm aware that we were only supposed to find one blog post but that's an almost impossible task when you go to Ben's blog posts. Each one is as unique as the previous one. What I love about Ben's posts is that almost all of them have some sort of picture to go along with them and that his paragraphs are always well-organized along with the interesting title he comes up with every time. If you're looking for a mentor for formatting, I think Ben would be a great mentor. Ben, keep up the fabulous work!! :)

  So those are the three blog posts/blog members I found captivating/inspirational/great in general. Of course there are so many other great posts and I wish I could put them all here but I would run out of space to write them all. Great job to Annie, Sam, and Ben for making this blog post possible; without you guys I would lose credit in ELA for missing a blog post. :) 

 

Tar Beach - Faith Ringgold

I stop
to think,
to wonder,
to dream,
to ponder.

In a myriad of stars,
one of them stands out;
the brightest of them all...
my grandma.
I know it's her
because her smile...
that smile
that always illuminated my days
reflects in the way that star glistens...
oh, and how it glistens!

I pause
to look,
to see,
to hear,
to believe

I'm a world of colors,
a world of emotions
where each part
makes up a whole...
this whole in which
I'm nothing...
without a piece.

I live
with my memories,
with my heart,
with my thoughts,
with my art

By: Me!!! (Jacky Cruz)

Listen to the Violin Master (Yeah... she knows how to live)

Music Is Time by Jill Bialosky

Music is time, said the violin master.

You can’t miss the stop or you’ll miss the train.

One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four,

one, two, three, four.

 

She clapped her hands together

as the boy moved the bow across the strings.

One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, the violin master shouted,

one, two, three, four,

 

louder and more shrill so that her voice

traveled through the house like a metronome,

guiding him, commanding him to translate the beat,

to trust his own internal rhythm.

 

Good boy, she said.

See how hard you have to be on yourself?

How will your violin know who you are

unless you make it speak?

 

 

     Music is my life. I don't how else I can express that to everyone that knows who I am. Perhaps if played a piece like Badinerie on the flute you might really understand my passion for the art of sound. I've loved music all my life but it wasn't until I first picked up a flute in 5th grade that I understand the meaning of playing music from the heart. The structure and sound of a flute is just so beautiful that I can't really put it into words. Time is everything in music... that's something I was told since the beginning and it really is. You can play the piece wrong from beginning to end and it wouldn't be a problem if the timing was right throughout. You could play a piece perfectly but it would be awful if the timing was wrong. I really don't understand why that is but I guess it's a matter of time before I get a firm understanding of that idea/rule in music. I remember how hard my teachers were on me if I didn't have the timing right. One day... one day I'll write a blog post in response to the question I once made on why timing is more important than getting the notes right.

   

     I noticed that this poem doesn't talk about a topic in general, it grasps a fragment of the boy's life; his violin lesson. I think grasping that moment made the poem more powerful than talking about how music is time in general because it made the complexity of the phrase, music is time, a bit similar... if that makes sense. As I'm sitting down and thinking about the title of the poem, I'm starting to create my thought on what that means. Music is time... it's true. It's true because the beat is just one, solid tone that needs rhythm to be added in order to create that art which I so dearly love: music. 

      A line I really found powerful was, How will your violin know who you are unless you make it speak? I found this line powerful because you would think that for someone/something to know you, you have to speak to it and introduce yourself but in music, the instrument knows who you are through the music you play and your level of knowledge on the instrument. I think that Jill is trying to say that music isn't just a sound, but a voice and that art, in all forms, isn't just art; art tells a story and portrays expressions through creativity, imagination, and feeling.  

The last line on the thirds stanza (to trust his own internal rhythm) means to play music that comes from you. As a musician, that means to trust that you're a good musician and that if you play something wrong, keep going but keep the tempo so the piece isn't thrown off balance. As a person, I think that line means that you should trust your instincts because they sometimes know more than you do. Your instincts help you make decisions and decisions are the structures of life because one choice leads to another and so on... your life is practically full of endless possibility.

 

      Since this poem is about music, it would make sense if I first draw an inference based on music. Now that I've thought about the title for some time now, I think that the poet is trying to say that to be able to learn something, in this case music, you must have a solid understanding on the basics; you can't play music well if you don't how to maintain a stable tempo (the timing of the piece). I think that she's implying what every good musician says/knows: timing is everything in music. To say that music is time is to say that time is the base of all music. When the poet writes commanding him to translate the beat I think of time being music itself... in disguise. The beat goes on but what makes it a beat and not music is that it's one simple tone that keeps the music from continuing fluently.

      But thinking of this on a deeper level the violin is a wise person guiding someone younger (the boy) into life, which in this case is the music piece that the boy is playing on the violin which can be thought of as the young person's heart and brain. Like I mentioned before, decisions are what move someone on with their life but their instincts are what lead them there. So when the violin master continuously repeating music is time, the wise person is teaching the younger one that decisions create life. I think that the last stanza was placed in the right spot. See how hard you have to be on yourself? how will your violin know who you are unless you make it speak? ; See how much you have left to learn about life? How are your heart and mind going to know the person you're going to be in life if you don't let them guide you?

    

      Music is my life... music is life... life is a music piece; it has to start as well as it ends. The beginning marks a first impression on a music piece as well as a person. The end has to leave an impact on the musician and the audience as well as the world in general. I follow my instincts... most of the time so I guess in life a task for me would be to keep the tempo and not go to fast or too slow because it would ruin the entire music piece (this was meant to be thought of metaphorically). The piece I play everyday has some low notes and some high notes, too. Each breath I take is one more note in the myriad of notes that I played and that I'm going to play as the piece advances. I want to make an impact on the world and on as many people as I can, whether the impact was small or big or great or not-so-great (which I hope isn't the case for anyone). My goal in life is to play music for a long time and that when the piece I was selected to play comes to an end, it would end on a good note... remembering those words of wisdom that the violin master spoke.   

How the Past Leads the Future

  It's a new year!! I haven't really made a resolution; I mean I always want to learn from the mistake and the praises I receive in order to help shape who I am and who I will be in the future. It's always the past that helps a person make his/her way to the future and its past (the present). Which brings me to what I want to talk/write about today.
  I'm reading The Vampire Diaries: Stefan's Diaries Vol. 1: Origins by L.J Smith. Since I just started the book today I haven't read much of it but I've read the series already. I've known how Stefan and Elena get through the various obstacles that try to tear their love apart in each and every one of the books. But I was most eager to open this book and begin reading because well the title is pretty self-explanatory; it's about the origins and how Stefan met Katherine, the girl he fell deeply in love with before discovering she was a vampire. This is the book that explains how it all started. It "reveals what really happened between Stefan, Damon (his brother), and Katherine - and how the Vampire Diaries love triangle began," quoting the blurb.
  How it all really began is what I'll find out as I flip each page of the book and let the Salvatore brothers' history sink into my mind. The past, I find, is as valuable or sometimes even more than the present itself. 
  One thing I've always wondered is if Damon is an antagonist or not? There are so many times throughout the series in which he has made it seem like the antagonist because of how he makes Stefan and Elena suffer but then there are times when I just say no, he's not bad because he wouldn't have saved Stefan and Elena's lives on multiple occasions if he truly was an antagonist. My hopes are that with this book, i get to know Damon as the person he was before the eternal brotherhood rivalry broke out between Stefan and him. I hope to get an insight on the fragment of humanity he had within himself before he decided to trap it and let ice freeze it inside of him.
  Considering that this took place in 1864 (it's not based on a true story) I'm keeping in mind that the 1860s are not much like today and that setting has a huge role in how Stefan and Damon have changed
over time... before meeting Elena and breaking out the rivalry that was lying restless inside each of them once more.
  This is the start of it all. The first time Stefan saw Katherine. The first time he knew that he couldn't go a day without seeing her. The day Stefan found out Katherine was a vampire. The day Katherine didn't want to choose between Stefan or Damon so she chose both of them. The day that made Stefan's and Damon's lives last for an eternity. And the rapid growth of a rivalry that was stronger than the love Stefan and Damon had felt for Katherine.

Vampires Again: They've Changed My Reading/Writing Life (no, it's not Twilight) *Mega Spoiler Alert*

  Well, this will be the last blog post I have to write for the year 2010. Wow, I've read so many books, each so well-written, intriguing, and just amazing in their unique ways. But there's one series that really has impacted my writing and reading style/life greatly.
  To start the year off, I was completely, totally obsessed with The Vampire Diaries by L.J Smith. I still am and I'm waiting for the next book in the series to come out next year. The way that she was so descriptive was, to me, amazing because trying to use very descriptive language in my writing always turns out boring or unnecessary to my story. It's the series in general that has impacted my style in the language arts. One thing I really learned from that series was that I'm a vampire; OK no, that's not true (umm... hehehe...).
  As a writer, I learned that in fantasy, there's always some sort of interaction between humans and fantastical creatures. In the Vampire Diaries, that interaction is the base of the plot. I learned that the bad guy, or antagonist, is the person you'd least expect it to be. Just like any other story, for the most part, the main character ends up changing in some way, whether it's helpful to their society or not.
  There has to be some sort of battle between good and evil throughout the book. In The Vampire Diaries, I used to think that the battle was between Stefan and Damon because Damon was always making Stefan and Elena suffer since he, too, loved Elena. But as I started to type up this post, I realized that no... he was never evil himself; it was his past and all of the painful experiences that he'd gone through that were evil themselves; he was just a victim of them, though he never wanted to admit it. This bring me to my next point.
  Moments. As tiny as they can be, together they form an event in life and eventually a life itself. We all have those good moments and those bad moments. And there are those moments that one would rather not share with anyone. Reading the series as a writer, moments must have purpose in a book, especially in fantasy because that one moment can be the one that changes the course that one character's life veers off to. Like when Elena walked in to Stefan's room and found him feeding on a white dove (book 1). It was that moment when she realized that hey, Stefan is a vampire. If L.J Smith would've decided to have made Elena find out later, the book would've been written differently.
  I would, of course, prefer to let the words of each page sink in as a reader because I enjoy the story more. God, Stefan and Damon are so attractive (but Damon more) in the actual T.V show, The Vampire Diaries (Thursdays @8pm on the CW11 *-*). Anyway, Stefan, as any other main character, has a rebellious side to him. But their stubbornness is what often leads them to their problems. You need to read the series to understand why Stefan is against drinking human blood but it's basically because he feels that he's taking someone else's life so he can get the energy he needs to sustain his life.  
  The biggest theme/idea I got from reading The Vampire Diaries was that there are times when trying to bring peace can lead up to creating war. I really hate turning on the T.V or reading the newspaper and constantly watching/reading the same thing; there's yet a war going on. War is caused by many reasons and in the end, it's the government that gains something from it. But is it necessary? I would love to say no because that's what I thought until I looked at the subject closer and realized that some wars are fought to bring peace to two different sides or to settle disputes that without war, would end up in massive chaos. In the end, the people don't have a voice if there's someone that's superior to them.
  To conclude my final blog post for the year 2010 (that sounded nice) I want to tie up these ideas that I evolved throughout this post. L.J Smith is undoubtedly an author that I admire both as a writer and as a reader because her series, The Vampire Diaries is packed with ideas and words that combined... combined... combined what? Well combined, are amazing, awesome, wickedly great, descriptive, and outstanding. I have so much more to say about this series so I'm definitely going to write about it in my next post because they're really powerful ideas that I would prefer to write about separately.
  Enjoy life, make new year's resolutions, make the holidays amazing because waking up early next year will be painful and just... chill. So yeah... watch the Vampire Diaries. =)