Crazy Right?

So yeah..... I know that I am late with this weeks/last weeks blog but I have had just so much going on that I didn't have time to. Anyways... I will write it now (obviously I already did if you are reading this). Today was the second day that my stepsister had been out here, and we had big plans today. We were going to go snow tubing in park city at Soldiers Hollow. Well, after like the hour drive there we found of that they were sold out of tickets. So then we went to this store called Days Market that supposedly had tickets, that was about a ten minute drive in the other direction. Well...... when we got there we found out that their only tickets were ones that didn't start til five. It was two thirty. So we abandoned that thought and decided just to drive home. Well my sister decided that she was so hungry and needed to eat now (because she didn't think to eat before we left)...... (her boyfriend was there earlier). So she made us stop at McDonald's (What is even the point of that place, their food goes right through you and is so gross!! So we went home, another hour on the way back. When we got home we decided that we wanted to go do something fun since we couldn't go tubing. So we decided on bowling but....... everywhere was packed. So then we thought trampoline park but....... not everyone wanted to. Then we thought I fly but......... not everyone wanted to. So we had one final idea. Go see a movie at Station Park. Finally! Everyone agreed. I didn't even know what the movie was about until it had started because whenever I would ask my parents "What is it about?" they said, "Oh, about one and a half hours." GAHHH! It was really fun though. The movie however, that is another story. That movie was soooooooo creepy, and weird, and just strange. The movie was called Chronicle. It is like about this boy who decides to film his whole life so he buys a video camera and then his cousin convinces him to go to a party and he refuses to leave his camera behind. Then they end up finding this weird hole, and they climb into it. Suddenly they have these powers and they can levitate things and do other stuff connected to telekinesis. Eventually the kid with the camera starts to go crazy with power (he is the strongest out of the three). His mom is sick and he can't afford to pay for her medication so he starts killing people. He robbed a store and the owner had a gun and the kid threw it to the side and it exploded. He ended up in the hospital. From there he just went crazy and started killing people like non stop. Eventually his friend had to kill him because he wouldn't stop hurting people. It was strange. I think it was a good movie but I probably wouldn't see it again. It was really gross at the end.

Daughter of Smoke and Bones

I know, I know, I blogged about a book last week. Well I just can't help it. I've got to tell you about this book too. I just finished this the other night and was devastated when it ended, seeing as the sequel doesn't come out until this fall. This book is a little different that usual, but this is a lot more like all of the books that I have been reading recently. Once again I have to warn you. So here it goes...... SPOILER ALERT!!!

This book has a lot of interesting characters. Even better a lot of new interesting species. There are the chimaera and there are the seraphim. They are locked in a never ending war against one another. They even have their own world. The seraphim have been working on a way to finally destroy the chimaera for ever, and it might just work. Some how in this whole mess they have gotten into the human world and there is one girl that has gotten mixed up in it all, Karou. Karou is a seventeen year old girl that goes to an art school. She doesn't have many friends, and for an understandable reason. Karou is very different. She has blue hair and is covered in tattoos! She is an amazing artist and every one is always interested to see the latest work of her sketch books. In them she has created her own world, or so all the humans think. What they don't know is that Karou has a secret life. One that she always has to make time for. Karou doesn't really know much about her past and she is always forced to lie to her only friend about it. Zuzana never asks where Karou goes when she has to mysteriously go run an errand, and she never will. These errands are actually related to the chimaera and the seraphim. Only Karou doesn't know that. She does know that Brimstone is always in need of teeth, and she is the one that gets to retrieve them for him. Brimstone never leaves his shop and Karou can't get into it without someone from the inside. Brimstone's shop is in another world. One day Brimstone is really out of teeth and sends her to Izil to get some (the gravedigger). She gathers the teeth to find that there are baby teeth mixed in. Izil tells her that once upon a time he wanted them. She doesn't know what that means but Brimstone has never accepted baby teeth so she doesn't take them. Little does she know that she is being watched. By a Seraphim. Before she knows it he is attacking her, and he is winning too. She is an inch away from dying and yet he doesn't kill her. Now is her chance, she thrusts her hands against him and runs. Little does she know that that push held more power than normal. DUN DUN DUN!!!! If you want to read more of it then go buy the book! Muahahahaha! And if you read it you will have to wait just like I do for the sequel :)

Angel Burn

WARNING! SPOILER ALERT!!
Recently I read a book titled Angel Burn, and I just have to say it is one of my favorite books ever! It starts out with this girl named Willow fixing her friends car. Turns out that Willow can see people’s futures. This girl that she goes to school with comes up to her while she is fixing her friends car. Beth wants a reading, and Willow agrees, she tells Beth to meet her at her house later that night. Willow gives her a reading and what she sees shocks her. She has never seen anything like this before. Any future that she sees for Beth shows her sick, and dying. She might be really happy, but she is really sick. Then Willow sees an angel in Beth's future. This is the reason that her life is being destroyed; only Beth doesn't know it. Beth thinks that the angel is good, that the angel saved her life. In fact, she came to Willow to see if she should join their church. Willow tries to tell her not to that this angel is killing her. Beth won't listen, she storms out anyway. Little does Willow know that this is only the beginning.

This is one of my favorite books ever. I can't wait to buy the second one. I honestly recommend this book to any one and every one. Although I didn't give the full description of the book (only the beginning) it still is very interesting. I love this book because it has an amazing plot. It has the fighting, and the drama, and the romance. Later in the book Willow meets Alex, he is trying to stop the angels. Willow decides to go to the church to try one last time to talk Beth out of this. The night before she goes to save Beth a strange man comes to her door. He wants a reading, but Willow has a very bad feeling about this man. She refuses. The man grabs her hand anyway. All of a sudden images are flying past Willow's eyes so fast that she can't see them all. The man finally lets go; too scared to hold on any longer. As he stands there in her door dazed she says something to him. Something strange. "What are you?"

I'm not going to say any more about the book for fear of ruining this for any of you who haven't read it and are reading my post. But, if you haven't read the book, and are reading my post, and still want to read the book, why didn't you look at the warning at the top of this post? :P Well if you want to read it you can get it pretty much at any book store. I know you can get it at Barnes and Noble for sure. That is where we got our copy of the book. So if you want a good read that has all of the drama, fighting, and the romance; then read Angel Burn.

Disney 3D Movies

You know how Disney is making all of those old classic movies into 3D movies now and putting them back in theaters? Well I do :) My sisters and I have decided to make a tradition out of it. We only just started this tradition but we are going to keep it going until Disney stops making old movies into 3D (I doubt that will ever happen). We started this in September. My sister wanted to take my twin and I to a movie for our birthday (it was in the end of September). Well, as she was looking up movies, she saw that one of our favorite all time movies was back in theaters in 3D!!!! Can you guess what it was? It was The Lion King. We were so excited!!! Who knew that this would ever happen! That was the first of the Disney 3D movies that we went to. Then on friday we went to The Beauty and the Beast 3D. This has been one of my favorite movies. When I was little I always wished that I was Belle. Wanna know why? I wanted her dress. Her big, fancy, yellow dress. When we went to the movie my sister decided that when I go to prom I am going to go in a big, fancy, yellow dress just like likes Belles. She also said that we will put my hair up like hers. These movies were part of my childhood and I LOVE that disney is bringing them back in 3D. Because without them doing that I would probably never get to see these movies again (I don't own some of them). The movie that I REALLY wish that they would make 3D is Mulan. I haven't seen that one for years and it is my second favorite next to Beauty and the Beast. That is one that I don't own. I really wish I did though. If that were to become a 3D movie I would go see it with my sisters multiple times. I love that my sisters and I are really close and that we have the chance to have these movie dates with each other. We have a bond that many others don't have.

Disney was really creative in bringing back all these old movies. The adults who saw them when they were little will want to go see them, and they will take their kids who haven't seen them before. It is so brilliant! The next movie that they are putting into 3D is Finding Nemo. This is one that my sisters and I are especially excited for, considering we would always play the video game when we were little. It comes out in march and we will probably go to see it the week it comes out. This is a tradition that I hope we will keep for years to come. These are such amazing movies and I hope that generations to come will be able to enjoy these movies.

Poetry Contests

This last December I entered a poetry contest. It was for honors English and I didn't think anything of it since we always have to enter poetry contests. This contest is an online contest. If you want to check it out go to www.poeticpower.com, they have multiple poetry contests for year. They also have essay contests. So when I entered this contest I didn't think anything of it.... until the other day. I got this card in the mail (usually I ignore those because they are just junk mail). I had just gotten home from school at like 6:00. I had to stay late because I had a NAL (National Academic League) competition. Well anyways, when I got home my sisters told me that I had a surprise in the mail. After I set my backpack down in my room I went back upstairs to see what it was. To my surprise it was a letter/card from this contest saying that my poem was selected to be published. You can only imagine my excitement when I found out that I was going to be a published writer. To give you a little back ground on my poem; it is about World War II. I wrote this for one of my classes and it is my favorite poem that I have ever written. I used to think that writing was useless and that I would never like it. I thought that the only time I would write was for school, when I was forced to write essays on meaningless topics; but I was completely and truly wrong. I am truly honored to have my poem published in this book, called A Celebration of Poets. I hope that many others will get the chance that I have been given, to let the world (or the people who read the book) know of their poetry.  So here is my poem.

Breathing

In this world of violence

Failing to ease the pain

As the last enemy falls

Towards our goal, we march

Until the deafening blasts stun us

From the sky they drop

Like rain on a cloudy day

Before I know it my hands are gripping the earth

Underneath me the ground is cold like ice

With every breath I take I wince

Upon this dark hill

Atop which I shall die

Despite knowing the end is near

Around me they all cry out

Following one another till the end

Towards the victory they shout

Towards the victory they cry

This poem will go onto the next stage of the competition, where if I win I could win cash prizes or even a free copy of the book for my English teacher. Little did I know that my sister had also been accepted to be published in the same book! I don’t have her poem but I bet it is even better than mine. If you want to check out her blog go to www.binzax99.blogspot.com. Her blog is also for our honors English class but she tends to post on hers more than me. J

Pearl Harbor

So I know this is a kind of random topic, but oh well. Recently I watched the Pearl Harbor movie (I can easily say that it was the longest movie of my life! I mean seriously, it is so long it is on two discs!), and decided to write an essay about it. So here is my essay! :)

The Pearl Harbor movie tells us about the men and women who fought to protect us and those who died trying. The attack on Pearl Harbor took place December 7th, 1941 around 8 am Hawaiian time. One reason that the Japanese attacked is because the U.S. cut off their oil supplies while they were engaged in a war with China.

The Japanese were sending messages to the Japanese embassy in Washington D.C. knowing that the U.S. would intercept them; the messages were saying that they still wanted and were working on peace with the U.S. Mean while they were moving their carrier ships closer to Pearl Harbor for the surprise attack. They attacked while all the navy men would still be asleep.

Before the attack, a U.S. Army private noticed a large flight of planes on his radar screen and was told to ignore them because a flight of B-17s from the continental U.S. was expected at the time. Right before they attacked the Japanese sent more messages, this time saying that they no longer wanted peace with the U.S. and that the relationship was to be severed.

The attacks began, men were shocked as torpedoes hit their ships, the harbor was supposed to be shallow enough that torpedoes could not make it. However, the Japanese knew this so they added on wooden propellers. Then they were getting bombed and shot from above too. The Japanese attack force consisted of six carriers with 423 planes. 6 am was when the first attack wave of 83 planes took off. The Japanese hit 18 U.S. ships. The attack lasted for about two hours. The day after the war President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared war on Japan.

The U.S. planned a top secret mission where they had 16 planes they were going to use to bomb Tokyo. The men who were going to be flying the planes had to learn how to make a plane, loaded with fuel and bombs, fly using only 400 feet of runway, they said anymore and you're dead. They called this attack The Doolittle raid. Their planes were about 600 miles away when the Japanese reported their position. They had to launch their attack then and there, adding 10 jugs of fuel to every plane. The attack was launched a full 12 hours earlier than they had planned.

They hit all of their targets; but then they had nowhere to land, and the planes were running out of fuel. Then one of the pilots spotted the coast. They were going to make it, but it would be a rough landing. They crashed into Chinese rice patties, where Japanese troops were waiting to ambush them, they shot back at them with pistols. But then some came and snuck up and tied them up. However, as one American troop was being dragged and tied saw a pistol on the ground next to him. He picked it up and shot some Japanese soldiers. The pistol ran out of ammo, and he was about to be shot but his friend jumped in front of the bullets. He took the hits and soon died. They killed the rest of the Japanese soldiers and then the Chinese came to save them.

In the attack on Pearl Harbor over 3,000 people were hurt. Some drowned from getting trapped in sinking ships, while others were shot, and many got blown up by the bombs. The Japanese could have done a lot more damage than they did. They only launched two attack waves, and they had a third one waiting. Today there is a memorial over the USS Arizona ship that sunk. 1,177 people were trapped in that ship and died there. On the inside of the memorial there is a plaque with the names of all of the men who died in that ship. The memorial is off of the coast of Oahu, Hawaii.

I have heard that to this day the USS Arizona is still leaking oil. At least, it was when I took a trip there. Hence, the yellow looking color of the water around it.

To actually get to the memorial you ride on this big boat! It is so cool!

You can't read the inscription on the memorial in this picture, but it says "To the memory of the gallant men here entombed and their shipmates who gave their lives in action on December 7, 1941 on the USS Arizona"

Scout and Salamanca Comparison essay

            Scout and Salamanca can be compared in many ways. They are similar because both of their mothers have died. Both Scout and Salamanca have exciting friends who love to make up crazy stories. Even though they have many similarities, they also have many differences too. Scout is five years younger than Salamanca, and Salamanca has had to move to a different town, Scout hasn’t.

            Scout and Salamanca are alike in that they both have mothers who died. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout never knew her mother. “Our mother died when I was two, so I never felt her absence.” In Walk Two Moons, Salamanca went on a journey to see her mother’s grave. “On a little hill overlooking the river, and the valley, was my mother’s grave.” Even though they are similar in the fact that their mothers died, this is a difference too. Salamanca knew her mother and was close to her. Scout never knew her mom because she died when she was little.

            Another way that they are both alike is that they both have crazy friends with creative imaginations. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout has a friend named Charles Baker Harris, or Dill. “He had asked me earlier in the summer to marry him” This is crazy because Scout is nine and Dill is only eight. In Walk Two Moons, Salamanca meets Phoebe Winterbottom. “Do you know what I think? I think maybe she killed Mr. Cadaver and chopped him up and buried him in the backyard.” In this quote, Phoebe thinks that just because her (Mrs. Cadaver) last name is Cadaver that she killed her husband, so she made up her own crazy story for why there isn’t a Mr. Cadaver.

            Even though Scout and Salamanca are alike, they are different too. For instance, Scout is younger than Salamanca. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout is only about eight, four years younger than her brother Jem. “When I was almost six and Jem was nearly ten” Scout is very young and still understands a lot. In Walk Two Moons, Salamanca is thirteen years old. “I have lived most of my thirteen years in Bybanks, Kentucky” Scout is much younger than Salamanca, five years actually.

            Another ways that Scout and Salamanca aren’t alike is Salamanca moved to a different town. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout has always lived in Maycomb. “We lived on the main residential street in town” Scout has always lived in Maycomb, Alabama and doesn’t know anywhere else. In Walk Two Moons, Salamanca lived in Bybanks, Kentucky until she moved. “Just over a year ago my father plucked me up like a weed and took me and all our belongings (no, that is not true – he did not bring the chestnut tree, the willow, the maple, the hayloft, or the swimming hole, which all belonged to me) and we drove three hundred miles straight north and stopped in front of a house in Euclid, Ohio.” Salamanca has moved and knows what it is like to go to a place where you don’t know anybody.

            So although they are similar they are also different. Both of their mothers have died, and they both have crazy friends. But Salamanca is older, and she has moved to a different town. These are only a few ways that Salamanca and Scout can be compared.