Creative Writing VII

Character I: Darth Vader

One impact that Darth Vader has had on our culture is the roles of fathers in kids lives. Darth Vader is the parent of Luke Skywalker and reveals that to him in The Empire Strikes Back. We find out that Luke never knew his father when he was growing up, a sign of a bad father. Also the sole person whom Luke is trying to kill is Darth Vader is father, another sign of a bad father. All of the messages between father and son that are bad are shown in the relationship between these two. But one good thing happens in the end, they reconcile with eachother and Vaders love for his son overcomes him and he throws the sith down that big pit of electricity. This shows that there is possible hope for redemption in father-son relationships.

Character II: The Cookie Monster

The cookie monster is an interesting character. He only needs one thing, and thats a cookie says Mr. Oz from the In Character NPR article about the cookie monster. This shows that only one thing makes him happy and that is a cookie. Unlike most of us where we need many different things, or we say we need things, the cookie monster is happy with one cookie. This impacts our culture to either motivate us to live more simply or to twist his logic to say that we need more and more cookies, or in our case items. This Monster can be taken in two different was and how we view him is dependent on how we take his philosophies of needs.

Character III: Homer Simpson

Homer Simpson is seen on the TV show the Simpsons produced by Matt Groening. Homer may seem like an idiot that has no affect to anyone, but quite the oppisite is true, except the idiot part. Homer Simpson is a very intriging person because of his stupidity. The view never knows what Homer will do next, and he always manages to get out of it alive, thanks to Mr. Matt Groening. Even though this is a TV show and the impossible becomes possible, he affects our culture by wanting to try the stupid things he does. Homer doesn't always do the smartest things, and neither do people, but we can almost learn from our mistakes by taking off of Homer Simpson.

Creative Writing Blog V

1. I think stories are very important in childhood because they allow the child's immagination to run free. Most of us when we were little kids probably had a wild immagination and maybe even an imaginary friend. The stories allow the kids to go into their immagination and pretend they are a hero going to save a princess or a little kid who has to escape an island of monsters.

2. When you get older people start to relate to the stories. People take events from their own lives and relate them to the lives of the people in the story. Older people may read stories to fuel their immagination but it seems mostly as entertainment or to create a relation of their own lives to the story. Also, usually with the main hero, people want to become that person, they may forget part of their life which is boring or dull and image that they are the hero and going through the fun adventures.

3. Stories in the nation are kind of like legends. For example the story of George Washington and how he turned a bunch of farm boys to defeat a world power in the Revolutionary War. Stories of the underdog winning is a popular theme in America because America is known as the country with the phrase "rags to riches." Those types of stories is what seems to fuel the desire for stories in our nation. Stories allow people to do the impossible. What we normally may not beable to do in the real world we can make into a story.

4. One story that stands out in my is when I threw a rock at the playground and it accidently hit our car window. My mom was furious and I didn't even mean to hit the car. This story stands out to me because it was a time when I felt guilty of doing something but also terrified for my punishment. I usually connect this story to people who didn't mean to do anything wrong but accidentaly created a problem and get punished for it.

5. Characters should have depth
Characters should be developed throughout the story bit by bit till we know the whole story
The story should have time a place and have that time and place explained and set up
The story should have more than one conflict
The story should be somewhat realistic and not completely farfetched
The Characters should have their own style of talking and acting
The conflict should make sense and have a resolution that makes sense to the conflict
The Story should have some mystery until the end when the resolution is revealed

Creative Writing VI

Today I feel like writing about some of the music theory that I learned the otherday while I was sitting in on a college class. The class was called Music Theory I but it is actually the second music theory class. The most interesting part was towards the end of the class when he was talking about overtones. Essentially he was talking about how notes came about. Each note is a frequency based off of the sequence 1/n. The first note has a fraction of 1/1. This could be any not which you please(depending on the frequency of the waves for the notes). So you could start on a lower A, which starts as a frequency of 55. The next fraction in the sequence is 1/2. So you would multiply the frequency by two, so the new frequency is 110. This frequency is one octave above the lower A, so the first step in the overtone series is an octave jump. The next fraction is 1/3. So the next frequency would be 165. This frequency would result in a new note, E. This is a major 5th about the A (the fifth note in the A scale). The next note would be the fraction 1/4. 1/4 is half the frequency of 1/2, so it would be one octave about the 1/2 frequency fraction, which was an A, so the new note would be an A at frequency 220. The next fraction would be 1/5. This would yeild a frequency of 275, which is the note C#. This jump would be a major third (third note in the A major scale). The next note in the series is the fraction 1/6. This is half the frequency of 1/3, so it would be an octave about the note with the fraciton of 1/3, which would yeild the frequency of 330, which is the note E. The next fraciton in the series is 1/7, which is frequency 385. This note doesn't exist on a piano. The reason is because a piano is tuned to play all the keys in music, not just one. So, the next step for the 385 frequency or a 1/7th fraction is a step size that is greater than a minor 2nd and less than a major third. In other words a note between F# and G, one a piano. Just an interesting face, that a piano cannot play all the notes, unless the piano was tuned to just one key. Then we would beable to play all the notes in the overtone series, which is what defines a note. The first people to use the fraction 1/n to define notes was the greeks. ANd essentially this is how the piano/guitar was made, based off of mathmatics. So, all the music you hear today is really just some mathmatical relationship in harmonics and waves vibrating to create a sound in which you hear. Kind of interesting eh??? Well thats all i remember from the class. Continuing onto music, I would have to say it is one of those things in which you must be super outstanding in, and yet have a hard time making a living out of it. Unlike the buisness world and other markets, it takes a lot of practice and detication to beable to make a decent living as a musician, and takes a lot of talent. With that said, other markets do take a lot of talent to make a living in, and they are talented people. Especially those who compete in the olympics. The atheltic ability and the way they push their bodies is insane. Who could think someone would jump over something eight feet tall. Well thats it.

Creative Writing IV

Masquerade
Author: Andrew Loylld Webber
http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/thephantomoftheopera/masquerade.htm

Masquerade!
Paper faces on parade . . .
Masquerade!
Hide your face,
so the world will
never find you!
Masquerade!
Every face a different shade . . .
Masquerade!
Look around -
there's another
mask behind you!
Flash of mauve . . .
Splash of puce . . .
Fool and king . . .
Ghoul and goose . . .
Green and black . . .
Queen and priest . . .
Trace of rouge . . .
Face of beast . . .
Faces . . .
Take your turn,
take a ride
on the merry-go-round . . .
in an inhuman race . . .
Eye of gold . . .
Thigh of blue . . .
True is false . . .
Who is who . . .?
Curl of lip . . .
Swirl of gown . . .
Ace of hearts . . .
Face of clown . . .
Faces . . .
Drink it in,
drink it up,
till you've drowned
in the light . . .
in the sound . . .

2. I chose this poem/song because it fits well into the Musical in which it is featured. It talks about masks and different faces and the whole musical is about a man with a mask who tries to deceive a girl. It is interesting because although it is meant describe a man who is trying to hide his appearance, but yet people do it in everyday life.

3. Masquerade is defined as a party, dance, or other festive gathering of persons wearing masks and other disguises, and often elegant, historical, or fantastic costumes according to www.dictionary.com. This fits the work because the song talks about different people who wear masks, for example "Queen and Priest." It also fits the musical because of the man who wears a mask and hides his identity. Also the piece as a whole can describe someone who has all the attributes described in the song, and takes on many different faces to hid their true apperance.

4. "Drink it in, Drink it up" is a metaphor. It is a metaphor for all of the faces and noise that is going around to something a person can drink, like water. This helps create imagery of people taking in the people around them and what they are doing. It helps create a sense of no one knows who the other person is. Everyone becomes annonymous the phrase Drink it in Drink it up helps create the feeling to adapt. "Hide your face so the world will never find you" is a metaphor for hiding. Someone can't just hide their face and then the world won't see them, thats impossible, but it means to hide your identity from the world so they will never know who you are. This is one of the opening lines, so it sets the tone of the song as a cheery song, but yet has a distrubing side to it, just like the Phantom.

5. The tone of this piece is cheery yet creepy at the same time. The music behind the words make it a cheery song, but if you listen to the words, some of them are kidn of disturbing. Like "Hide your face so the world will never find you." This is saying that you should hide whatever you are so people don't know who you are. This relates to the Phantom in the musical, because he hides his face from the world so they never know of his amazing muscial talent. But it is also a cheery song because they are celebrating something and that is Raoul and Christine's engagement. But it has a creepy side to it because the Phaontom isn't finished with those two yet.

Creative Writing: Writing Territories

1. Writings that I like to read usually include some articles in the Newspaper and mostly science-fiction/fantasy novels. Some of my favorite books are science-fiction/fantasy, like Lord of the Rings, and the Redwall series. These intrigue me because I love all of the epic storytelling and the adventure that takes place. The most fun style of writing, I think, is that of a narrative. Unfortunately outside of the class I do not write at all. I do read books outside of class, but he only time I write is for a class assignment. When we do have school assignments, I find that the topics that essentially have no bound of styles are the most fun. Usually just telling a story, or a narrative is the most fun to write. I like to write those because I can add epic tales into them and have huge battles, and do it all without trying to prove a point.

2. Once upon a time there was a little man, about four and a half feet tall. He was known as the outcast of his village. Even thought he was very small for a grown man, he knew how to fight. He was very proficient in sword fighting and archery. He wanted to join the village army, in case of any attack, he could help the people protect their village. But they declined him, only because of his height. This little guy was named Jared. Now Jared had grown up in a "normal persons" house, and had a "normal" mother and father. When he was a teenager he was often made fun of for being so short. But his parents kept telling him that he would grow, he was just a late bloomer. But as time passed he never bloomed. Once he was old enough to live on his own, his parents kicked him out of the house and banned him from the village. Jared, being torn by the love for his parents and a girl named Catie, decided to hide in the mountains near the village. Always looking after it, especially Catie. This girl Catie was his childhood love, and still is his love. He admires her, and wonders at her beauty. But no one knows of his secret love for Catie. And Jared cannot tell anyone of this love because he is an outcast and Catie is the daughter of the mayor. Jared waits in the mountains until his day may come, when he can ride off into the sunset with Catie, on horseback. One day, towards dusk, the warning bell of the village rang. This warning bell warns all the people of an attack. The army mobilized near the gates of the village, men clad in heavy armor with swords and shields, and archers behind them. Jared ran to the top of the mountain overlooking the village and saw the enemy running in, an enemy village had gathered an army to attack Jared's village. Jared became outraged. He ran over to the pass where the army would have to come through, ready to pounce. As the enemy village's army walked through the pass he set off his little trap. He pushed a boulder over, blocking the pass from the back and spliting the army in two. Then he released a lever, this lever was holding the latch that held up a pile of logs, which spilled into the pass. The enemy army was dumfounded. The back half ot he army retreated while the front half surrendered. After that attack the village was never in danger again, due to Jared's craftiness and knowledge of the hills.

Creative Writing Post III

1. I thought writing the play was a fun activity. It was definitely time consuming and took a lot of thought but overall the play writing went well. I found it especially hard to finish the play. I had five pages of the play, the required page amount, and I was about to finish the play, but it was hard to have a finish that is so short. I ended up setting up the ending in another five pages and wrapped it all up in the last page. That's what I found most difficult, was showing the reader the thoughts in which the writer really wants to convey.

2. If I could give advice to someone, it would be to a five year old. I would say to him, now don't people walk all over you. And then he probably would say, what does that mean? I would respond, well it means, don't let people use you for their own pleasures. You [five year old] must be able to stand a lone and be perfectly fine. Then the little five year old would try to take it to heart, but since he is only five years old wouldn't remember it much. Another piece of advice I would give him would be about humility. I would tell him to not think of himself as "superior" than others. Even though he may be better at certain things than them, he should still stay humble and know that people have their own talents. He then would try to take that advice to heart. Then the five year old would ask for a piece of candy, and I would give him a kit-kat.

3. Well I think that great works of literature last because of their relevance to the time period they were written in. For example, The Aeneid by Vergil has a ton of alliterations to events during Augustus's ruling time, that it would be almost impossible to count. Also that he wrote it all in poetic form is quite impressive. I also think that a good story lasts a long time. Like Lord of the Rings. It is essentially a whole new world that was made by Mr. Tolkein. These stories and relevance to the time is what sticks to people. I would most likely never be able to write a great piece of literature, although there is a sliver of hope for a chance to write a great piece of literature, but highly improbable.

Creative Wrirting II

1. Theme is important to a piece of writing because it is what give the story meaning. It sets what the story line will be about, it influences where and when the story takes place and what type of characters are present in the story. A great piece of writing does need to express and idea to the reader, otherwise it seems like the story has almost no point at all. For example, if the story of The Aeneid didn't portray as many points as it does, then the book would be pretty dull because all of the events that influence the theme would be taken out. In return the book would be very boring the reader couldn't think about or ponder what the book actually means.

2. The theme of my play could be Epic Battles. It is important to me because I tend to fight epic battles everyday, whether it be mentally, maybe physically(usually not) or within a relationship. I also think that epic battles portray an underlying theme of fighting for what you believe in. I think that is important because if there is nothing to fight for, then life seems much more dull. One thing that might be misunderstood is that Epic Battles are a bad thing, but I view them as a wonderful thing. Luckily in these epic battles no one gets killed. In most epic battles througout life people usually learn things. For example, in Lord of the Rings, Aragorn had to fight an epic battle against a bunch of orcs. Besides winning the battle, he learned he had to take his rightful spot as king of Gondor. This can translate to real life, but without the killing of orcs.

3. A conflict that could appear in my play would be the epic battle of surviving in the world today. One story that I've experienced could be the main conflict for this play. Sang Li is a sixty year old man who has had many epic battles and learned many things through them. I will just talk about one epic battle he experienced and that was his journey to America. After leaving Vietnam during the Vietnam War he had to come to America and try to make a living. This alone is an epic battle in itself. He had some conflicts, he barely could speak english (if any at all) and he didn't know how the American economy had worked. His epic battle was still under way when I met him at place called R.E.S.T. He learned to be patient and also taught me to patient with others in the short time I met him. This bit of an epic battle could be a conflict and part of a resolution to the problem.