Into the Wild arguements

I remember that I watched Into the Wild with my friends who all enjoy the wilderness and think that the movie is really cool on representing somebody that risk to live in the wilderness. When we watch this movie, there is always a lot of arguing between everyone during the movie and a lot of people have different opinions and reasons for thinking that Alexander Super Tramp was doing something very stupid, or he just got unlucky or whatever it is that someone thinks. My point on his decision and his are weak and nieve. I think that he doesn't pack nearly enough food and thinks that hunting will be a lot easier then he would've thought. In the first chapter, the man who drives farther into the wilderness even suggests he take him to get more food and supplies but Christopher insist he go on. I do understand that he wanted to get away from society but honestly, if your going to be living up there for days you might as well become prepared. Anyone who has comments or arguements that they would like to comment on please go ahead. I will not be insulted if you think otherwise.

My Book

I have yet to get really into Into the Wild but I am kind of excited for it. I know the vague outline of what happens from the movie but I have already read some and their are just so many more details. For example I have read the first chapter which is about him hitching a ride to get into the wilderness. A native alaskan is very surprised to see this traveler going to the wilderness with such a light pack after Alexander Supertramp, or Christopher McCandless is headed too. On their way, they get to know each other pretty well and get into deep conversation about certain things. He even tries to persuade Alex not to pursue the wilderness. He also tells him he will buy him some more supplies and bring him back later but Alex refuses. The man drives Alex as far as he can then drops him where as he can go no farther in the deep snow. As Alex is leaving, the man gives him some water proof boots and thanks him very much for it. He also gives him his number and tells him to call him if he makes it out alive.

Extra Credit

For my song picked "Never Forget," from the Halo soundtrack. It doesn't have any lyrics and thats is not why I picked it. First off, I think it is similar because in Halo, the Covenant is trying to extinct the human race and there are more similarities then you think. Also, it has a different beat of stronger and tougher music but not too happy. I think it would be a perfect part for when they go into the house because there was some hope and first, then the song kind of dips back to desolate sounding. Another scene where it reminds me of is when the dad is showing the child how to swim. I sounds more of a learning experience and not the worst thing that has been happening in this book. Overall, it might not be the best due to no lyrics, but the piano in the backround sums it up for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju1qJ8hhy2A

The Road

So far, I am really enjoying the Road. I think Cormac McCarthy is a really interesting author. He also wrote No Country for Old Men which I have yet to read the book but I really liked the movie. His ideas are so interesting and I think I will be a fan of his by the time I finish the book. The road is really descriptive and paints vivid pictures in my mind. When I think of the man I just picture Viggo Mortensen because he seems to be the perfect person in that spot, because he is in the movei. So far there have not been a lot of awful and grotesque scenes which I know there will be. I can already see the bond between the father and the son. It will be an essential part of the book so as to show that there is some light in the novel. The man seems to be very wise and smart when it comes to survivng in the wasteland. So far, he seems to pick the right things for scavenging while trying to make the 10 year old boy happy in the awful times. For example, when the man goes into the barn and sees three dead bodies. He knows there could be food in there but would not like to see his son go through the pain of remembering awful things like that.

Into the Wild

For my outside reading I am going to read Into the Wild, by Jon Kraukaer, I don't know how to spell it. Anyways, I am choosing this book because I really enjoyed the movie and I am interested to see how the author portrays a lot of the characters. I have also heard that this book has a lot more insight then the movie when he is in Alaska. I am curious to know more and am somewhat excited for it. Whenever I watch this movie with my friends, it is never quiet. Everyone seems to have their own opinion on how dumb Alexander Tramp is or what else he should have done. Honestly, I kinda enjoy the arguements as I do have my own point on a lot of things. I think a lot of people can agree that although he was trying to escape civilization his choice to go into the dangerous wilderness was a foolish and somewhat selfish move. He really didn't take into account more about his parents, his sister, his hippee friends that he met along the way, and turned down to be adopted by Ron(Hal Holmbrook). For me, the parts with Ron saying good bye to Alex were really sad because Ron had lost all of his kids and wife.

Ending of the Odyessy

I can see how this book has such a good reputation and people all over the world still read it but I really did not enjoy it. It felt like one of those movies where there would be scenes that just went on and on. I thought the characters were all pretty vague and didn't have very much description in them. Anyways I thought it was way too long and I really was not able to get into the story. There were too many long and boring scenes. As a reader I have kind of a short attention span and I like to read books with lots of story and action behind it like Vince Flynn. Going from Flynn to Homer is quite a change but it helps me get better as a reader. Honestly, the end did not have much to it and I didn't like the end because it was way too predictable. I think everyone knew that the great king was going to get back at the suitors for what they had done to him and his family, especially Penelope. I also thought it was disrespectful of Penelope to do some of the things she did because she really had lost all faith in Odyesseus.

Thoughts on the Odyessy

At first glance, the Odyessy appears to be a very painful book to read because of it's length and diffucult words. I was not at all excited to read it, because I thought it would be too long and diffucult. At the beginning I thought it was quite boring and I really was not very enthuiastic about reading it. I thought the parts of Telemachus were boring and kept going on and on. As we started to read the parts where Odyesseus would recount his tales after and during the trojan wars I would started to get a lot more involved in the book and I actually became much more interested. The chapter with the cyclops was quite entertaining and was a chapter I had no problem reading. The one thing I do not enjoy about the odyessy are it's long and complicated words that really are only relevant in the times of the greeks. There are many words I don't know but I think it helps your reading skills. I hope we continue to watch the Odyessy movie. Even though it is cheezy, I think it helps the story line and remeber some of the not so well known characters.

The Office

Well, so far I think this season of the Office has been very awkward and has a lot of twist and turns. Pam and Jim's relationship has been really odd because sometimes Jim goes to New York to see her because I think he is making sure she doesn't do anything bad. Also, Jan had her baby without telling Michael and all of sudden he feels like he has nothing to do with the baby and does not want to be a part of anything that has to do with the baby. He has started to date Holly and they are going really fast. Later in the episode, the office is broken into and many things are taken. Due to Michael's awful idea, he decides to start a charity auction to raise money for all things taken. The auction is a huge fail because Michael told everybody he had Bruce Springsteen front and back stage. He actually lost those tickets and everybody was very disapointed because really, they were the only thing good in the auction. So the episode ends where Jim is driving to go see Pam but then for some odd reason decides to turn back and says hes not that kind of guy. I am excited to see the next episode because it seems as though Jim and Pam are going through an awkward time because they keep missing each others calls.

Minnesota sports

Is it just me or does it seem like in the state of Minnesota, our professional sports always fail. The vikings are now known as the vi-queens. They are known for their horrible defense and their horrible quarterbacks. Brad Childress, head coach of the vikings is just as pathetic. Star running back Adrian Peterson is the only gleam of sun in this crumbling football team. As for other teams like the Twins, they have a small payroll to work with and this decreases their chances of winning even though they are usually competitors for the AL Central. The twins have one of the lowest payrolls in the league. You wouldn't think of that because they tied the home run hitting Chicago White Sox for the American League Central. Unfortunately, the twins lost in a dreadful tiebreaker to the Sox and the sox went onto the World Series as the twins headed home to the Twin Cities. On an ending note, the Minnesota Timberwolves are even worse, they had one of the worst records in the National Basketball Association last year and many expect the same from the lowly wolves. Ever since they traded their star Kevin Garnett they have only been in a downfall since then.

400 did kinda blow

After the first day of watching the 400 blows, I was very interested in it so far and was excited to continue watching the French Adventure. Although, towards the end of the movie I felt like the story never fully developed or went anywhere. I think that it was not interesting enoughr for me at the end and I found myself seeking for a lot more then just Antoine face at the end. Maybe showing him where he was going next and what exactly he was going to do. On another subject I thought it was odd how the personality of his mom and dad changed a little bit throughout the movie. In the beginning his mom was just kind of a brat and his dad was on Antoine's good side. Then after his mom saw him while she was with another man made her turn very nice and a lot more helpful and tolerant to his behaviors and troubles. Then when she talked to him at the reform house, she was even ruder and worse then before stating that neighbors heard to much and that his father has totally forgotten about him. What awful parents. Overall I thought the movie was decent.

Dumb Construction and Browndale Bridge

There is Construction everywhere!!

As my Mercedes sped past the police station and over the hill onto Browndale Street, I flipped my blinker on and waited to make my left hand turn into beautiful Edina Country club neighborhood. When I searched at oncoming traffic, out of the corner of my eye I saw men in bright orange jackets working on the bridge into the neighborhood. As I gave them the “get the hell out of the road” eye, I noticed the bridge was exited off. I quickly merged back into a lane and drifted back into traffic.

Sadly enough, I really don’t own a Mercedes or a driver’s license, but my above frustrations are reality for the paying residents. The renovation does not come without a hefty cost to residents, a total of $ 460,000 for a 31 foot long bridge. The100 year old bridge is being replaced by a replica of the original which had became a crumbling hazard to the many drivers who crossed it.

Some students must go around the bridge many times a day and are becoming frustrated with the construction.

Workers are still removing and replacing the crumbling bridge which will not be finished until the end of October.

Twins Lose!

I watched the whole twins game last night it was awful. Only two hits for the twins. The pitchers on both teams did great, holding the twins to 2 hits and the white sox to 7. The only run scored was Jim Thome's bomb to center of Nick Blackburn. Blackburn did exceptionally well. One run doesn't hurt much but it will did if your offense can't pull together any runs. Michael Cuddyer started the inning with a leadoff double and he eventually was at 3rd with no outs. When there was a fly to center to Ken Griffey Junior, Junior sniped at home plate, with the help of AJ Pierzinski. Everybody hates Aj so it made the runner out at home even more frustrated.
The twins deserved the Al Central because they hustle and they work with one of the smallest payrolls in the big leagues. It is amazing a team can almost beat out the big payroll team and they hit the most home runs in the league. I think the twins had a good season overall and I hope they come back next year and can hopefully get to the playoffs and get farther then they did this year.

The Office

The Office is a very good show. It's awkward humor sets the tone in the modern day office, in Scranton, Pennyslvania. Michael Scott is really funny and has decents jokes that are mainly funny because they are awkward. My favorite episode is the final episode in season 4 when Michael is getting ready for to leave. Michael hates Toby with a passion. He made the security guard escort him out of the office so he wouldn't take anything which obviously he had no intentions of stealing anything. The episode was dramatical because Andy proposed to Angela right before Jim was about to propose to Pam which really left audiences stunned. We also saw Dwight and Angela up in the office afterwards sneaking off and doing there thing if you know what I mean. I am curious to see if Dwight lets this marriage go through because thats just how intense he is. Another mystery waiting to be solved is the one between Michael and Holly Flack the new human resources employee who took over Toby's spot. Michael looked interested at first but then there is still his ex girlfriend Jan who is pregnant so those two could wind up together again. It begins on thursday night and I am very excited to see the mysteries be reveiled, or at least some.

Outside Reading

I am going to read Act of Treason for my outside reading, by Vince Flynn. It is about two politicians running for president and the race is very close. 3 weeks before the election, Joe Alexander's limo is bombed and his wife is killed. Presidential elect Joe Alexander survives and later wins the election by a landslide.
Mitch Rapp, CIA man, is hired to find the assassin and bring him back. After he is captured their is still much to be found out. Somebody inside Washington hired this terrorist to do this job. Weeks later they find out that Joe Alexander's wife, who is now dead, had an affair with a Secret Service agent, making some things tie together. Mitch Rapp is trying to uncover mysteries, along with CIA director Irene Kennedy. This political thriller really rushes the reader and makes it tough to put the book down. This is the second Vince Flynn thriller I'm going to read and I think they would also make great movies. They would almost be like the Bourne Movies with more politics and terrorism. I plan on reading many more Vince Flynn thrillers because they are action packed just like the Harry Potter books which I also liked and was disapointed when there were no more left to read so I have always thought about more books coming out because they would be awesome but it probably won't happen anyway.

A Journey I Intend to Take

A journey I would like to take in my lifetime would be a trip with all my friends to several different ball parks. My friends and I would rent an RV and bring our xbox 360's along with us. An unlimited supply of Cokes would have to join us. We would go to Cellular, Wrigley, Bucsh Stadium, and many others. This would be the ultimate trip because I love to watch baseball, especially with friends. I can't wait to try this trip, it would be da best.

Blog Expections

My name is Matt. This is my super cool blog, which I will personalze and make my own(but not post pics of myself or use my last name on). I will always use appropriate language on my school blog and follow the conventions of the Englisg language. The expectation for this assignment is that I post on my blog once a week for the remainder of the school year. I am expected to comment on texts that I am viewing in the world around me . These might include, but are not limited to: books, magazines, movies, internet articles, television shows, trips to museums, etc.
Each post should be at least 200 words. Each weekly post is due by 8am on that Wednesday. Therefore, Q1 due dates are: 9/17, 9/24, 10/1, 10/8, 10/15, 10/22 and 10/29. That makes for a total of 7 post for this quarter. I understand that blogs are worth 100 points per quarter and are graded holisically (I will recieve the rubric from Mrs. B soon). I also undertand that blogging is significant componet of my quarter grade. By the way, what I have just typed is only 196 words! Now it is 200!