What does it Mean to Call Something Romantic?

For English class, we are supposed to say what we think it means for something to be categorized as romantic.  For me, I don't believe that for something to be romantic, it has to be a mushy love story.  To be romantic just means to please something.  So if a painting is dull colored and ugly, then you could say that it isn't a very romantic painting.  I think that today's society views romantic as a certain idea, and that idea is love.  Even though it is its own category in literature and other works of art.

The Onion Articles

In English class, I had to read three different articles from the Onion.  Of the three articles I had to read, one that was most interesting was the new Staminator roller coaster.  It was designed by Busch Gardens to test the human endurance of a roller coaster.  It is a ride that lasts over 10 days and stretches from Tampa, FL to the west coast.  It is 9,600 miles long.  I don't think many people will try it just because you will have to free up over 10 days just to ride one roller coaster.  It really doesn't seem very fun to me.  Although I think it would be cool if they made a TV series with on-board cameras capturing things that the passengers say and go through.  Overall, I think it is an okay idea.

Responding to Jonathan Swift's Biography

Born in the mid 1600's, Jonathan Swift became a very famous Irish writer a satirist.  His best known work is "Gulliver's Travels".  Swift grew up in a broken home with no father.  He was raised by his mother for a short time, then his uncle took over the responsibility a little later.  He eventually turned to God because of his struggles which helped him tremendously.  He even became an ordained priest.  I believe that the reason that he wrote "Gulliver's Travels" is because of his early life hardship.  He had to work at an early age and bounced around from parental guardian to parental guardian.  This made him take on more responsibility than normal at a young age.  I believe this is some of the reason why he wrote a book about adventure and overcoming obstacles.

Why I Blog

I recently read a post by Andrew Sullivan who has great points about blogging.  Obviously this blog is required of my English classes throughout high school.  After I finished high school, I didn't plan on continuing blogging at all.  I had no plans on doing it.  However, as I read the post I realized that blogging can be a great thing or a bad thing.  On one hand, you have the freedom of speech to say whatever you want regarding something you have strong opinions on.  It could be about sports, art, politics, etc.  But it also has the potential of being a lighthearted sharing of interests.  I enjoy the second option.  There are some serious bloggers out there who have thousands of views on their posts talking about serious topics, but I prefer the idea of having fun with it and sharing my interests.  It has been a big part of my life through high school but I doubt I will continue blogging just because it can get too serious sometimes.

Hamlet Act One Scene One Summary

For English class, we are reading Shakespeare's Hamlet.  I have already read his other classic stories, such as Romeo and Juliet, and Macbeth in my previous English classes.  I really enjoy his writing and the tragedies he produced.  For act one scene one of Hamlet, are two guards in the opening scene.  One is and has been on guard for a while.  The other comes to relieve him of his duties at 1 A.M.  It is a dark and cold night with very little stars in the sky.  Two other guards come along and ask about a ghost that has been appearing every once in a while at night.  They say that it takes the shape of their former king.  One guard then responds with disdain and claims that it is just their fantasy.  Ironically, the ghost of Hamlet appears and the guards make him talk to the ghost.  They insult the ghost while trying to get it respond.  The ghost exits after a while and it returns to normal.  Shakespeare very quickly establishes the tone of the story.  It is already a dark, and eerie time when you first start reading. I am already hooked and look forward to reading the rest of the story.

2B or not 2B

Text messaging generated around 70 billion dollars in 2005.  That is over 3 times more than the Hollywood Box Office returns in that year.  That statistic is astounding considering there were only 35 texts sent per customer each month in 2001.  There is an article that debates whether or not texting is ruining the modern English language.  The argument is from John Humphrey who says, "Texters are vandals who are destroying our grammar, and pillaging our punctuation."  He has been proven wrong by a few studies that show that texting actually improves your variety and way of thinking of words.  You have to be very familiar with verbs and nouns to be able to punctuate so efficiently.  It is almost like creating a new language when people can understand one another when saying "TTYL" (talk to you later), "BRB" (be right back), or "G2G" (got to go).  Although you can understand Humphrey's point, it just isn't true.

English IV First Entry

I made this blog during Freshmen year for English. I made the title and background colors this way because it was for a DCA English blog.