Cartman – Eric Cartman from South Park is by far the most notorious of any cartoon character and maybe even TV character of our decade. His ridiculously rude, obtrusive, and horrific behavior has shocked America but it seems that NO ONE can look away! South Park is on their 12th season now and is still on of the number 1 comedies on TV and the number one comedy on comedy central. People see him as an example of “The worst side of themselves”, always doing what we are completely unable to do but have thought to do or say.

Darth Vader – Is one of the most famous villains of all movie history. Absolutely famous for his deep breathing voice and” James Earl Jones” take on his character, He led a nation to the craze that is still continuing in Star Wars.

Joey Tribbiani – Joey was one of the 6 lead cast members from the number one show on television for a decade, Friends. This show led the entire nation every Thursday nights on NBC. More people watched the series finale of friends then the Super Bowl that year! He went on to create the Joey TV show to replace friends and the type of qualities and actions seen on that show are replicated across the country today.

Characteristics of a Story

Stories are some of the most important thing to include in a young child’s life. They get the child to first interact with words and sounds and relate that with reading and even hand eye coordination. A lot of these store is being taught too younger children tend to include some sort of a moral story as well, something to help the child better and further understand right from wrong.

These types of stories are referred to generally as novels. They include both fiction and nonfiction and include plots full of excitement and stories able to relate to the readers life. Readers reading these types of stories are able to comprehend much more and therefore can somewhat believe what’s happening is true, somewhere. For instance a fiction book about the CIA and secret agents and espionage, could be possible, somewhere. These kinds of ideas are possible for someone in an older demographic. These readers in turn learn somewhat what it takes to go “the whole 9 yards” as the saying goes, to accomplish whatever it is you need to accomplish.

Stories can be so many different things and can help us as an outsider gain a private eye into obtaining knowledge on such a broad array of topics. A very popular topic for stories or written work is politics. Many politicians publish books or novels based on the government and/or their time in office. This gives us Americans a better chance to learn the inside scoop on something previously unattainable. The NY Times is world renown for their extraordinary list of books. These books are representative of our nation’s interest and showcase our top ideas and talents in different stories for everybody to enjoy.

Some stories that I remember were specifically the magic school bus stories. I know my parents got those from the library for me to read. Another set of books I was very interested in was the Redwall series. It was a series of books that I read during 3-5th grade. The author even had a book signing at Barnes and Noble in Edina where I got him to sign 6 different editions of his many books. Some stories I was told orally are the Aesop’s Fables stories, teaching us of a moral compass, leading us towards right and away from wrong. I connect a lot of the way I act and treat people today with the stories that I was influenced by as a child.

1. Conflict – Some sort of a conflict that makes things more difficult for the main character.
2. Drama – Something that happens, not necessarily to the main character alone but in general during the plot to create drama in the story.
3. Honesty through a Character – A character somewhere that is pointing towards good and honesty to help impose values on the reader.
4. Written openly – For the author, they should hold nothing back in their story. They should be as open as they can be to express more ideas to the reader.
5. Humor – Humor is a fantastic element to a story and is certainly appreciated by every reader.
6. Length – The length of a story or book has a tremendous impact on the reader. Keeping things shorter can be very helpful for the reader in making a selection process, very long novels can seem quite daunting to on-lookers.
7. Emotion – Having strong emotions be shown through the story can relate extremely well with a potential reader and is a must have in any major book or story.

Today

Today I have a lot of things on my mind. The biggest thing I can think of is March Madness. This time of year is really important for me, I look forward to the NCAA tournament every year. This year there are many different styles of teams and the games are going to be even closer then they have been in the past. The overall number 1 seed is North Carolina, which is no surprise seeing how difficult their schedule was this year and how well they did. The other number one seeds are Memphis, UCLA, and Kansas. The hardest part about the tournament and trying to fill out your bracket correctly is just the fact that there are always so many upsets. For example, 38% of the time that a 12 seed has played a 5 seed in the opening round, the 12 seed has won. Many different 13 and 14 seeded teams have upset 4th and 3rd seeded teams respectively. I heard recently from ESPN that the probability of predicting a perfect bracket is 1 in 10 quintillion or in other words 1 out of 10 and 19 zeroes, or 1 out of 100,000,000,000,000,000,000. If you were to take every possible outcome in the NCAA tournament and make a bracket for it, their would be so many brackets and sheets of paper that it would cover the earth not once, not twice, but 158,000 times. We would be stacked 50 feet in paper.

So far for the tournament I am in 4 different pools. I have 2 different brackets into a pool with friends from school, I am in one online with friends who graduated last year, I am in one with my dad and his work and in one other with friends online. The first game has already happened, the play in game between Mt. St. Mary's and Coppin State. The game was last night, and Coppin State being the first school ever to be in the tournament with 20 losses, didnt look so good. Mt. St Mary's has plenty of reason to celebrate as they have advanced into the first round of the NCAA tournament, however, their luck looks to have run out as they now face the number one overall seed in North Carolina. A number 1 seed has NEVER lost to a number 16 seed in the first round but maybe Mt. St. Marys has the luck to pull off an unbelievable upset.

poetry

Wish You Were Here : Pink Floyd

So, so you think you can tell
Heaven from Hell,
blue skies from pain.

Can you tell a green field
from a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?

And did they get you to trade
your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
And did you exchange
a walk on part in the war
for a lead role in a cage?

How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl,
year after year,
Running over the same old ground.
What have you found?
The same old fears.
Wish you were here.

1. Read through 3 seperate times.
2. I chose this song by Pink Floyd because its always had that kind of sense to me as a song. It just seems like so much more then a song.
3. It fits with the message the band is trying to convey. They are mourning over the loss of another band member.
4. They try to create the same kind of sense of loss and understanding that they are feeling. They express this through the tone and musical rhythm in their song.
5. The tone is very sad. It involves that of death and the missing of a loved one and how to overcome that.

Creative Writing 3

1. When starting my play, I really had no where to go. I was lost for words and ideas and didn't know how to correctly and accurately portray my thoughts and ideas for a plot into a play format. However, once I started I couldn't stop. I kept moving through the plot, with event after event until before I knew it I had completed the 5 page requirement with ease. I had alot of fun writing a short play like this and am looking forward to writing more.

2. If I were able to give advice to a 10 year old about todays world and what it's like, the most important piece of advice I could give him would be the advice to always try to listen to your parents. Although they dont always agree with you and it doesnt always seem like theyre happy for you, they only want the best for you and know whats right for you. They have been around the block a few times and have had there on experiences, similar to the same ones which he will face, as referances. I have learned this through my own mistakes and shortcomings that my parents have come in and shown me where I went wrong and helping me fix it.

3. These works have survived generatin after generation not because of popularity, however, but because of there realtion to modern day. Even though they were written in completely different time periods, many comtemporary works have the acute sense to be able to still relate with the reader today. I dont think that I could ever posess the skill and ability required to be able to write such a work to survive for so long.

1. I think that theme, among many other things, is very important in writing. All great pieces of literature that I have read have dwelved into some territory of human emotion or feeling that have centralized the novel as a whole. These kind of ideas are often seen in movies and television, where the characters come to a realization or the plot as a whole portrays something the author or director wants to convey personally to the reader or audience. Theme is something that holds these works together and without it, the overall product would not be complete.

2. A theme that I have thought about communicating through my play is that of greed and materialism and the significance of both on our american culture and society today. So many people are rooted upon these thwo things, of having the most stuff and always wanting and feeling that need for more. I hope to demonstrate on the fulness of life and how not all of these things are important. This kind of a theme is important to me because it is something that I have struggled with in the past and have overcome personally.

3. There are a couple of different ideas that I have come up with for my short play. The first is that of two friends both competing with one another for a girl, going through hilarious antics in order to be able to go out with her. The second is a similar idea however it is that of two friends competing for a career or job, falling to the same routine.

Creatve Writing 2