I’M BACK!

Wow, it’s been forever since I’ve been on here. 332 days to be exact. But I’m back and I’m here to stay. I won’t forget my password this time (thank you Hadley, at Hadley’s Planet, for helping me remember).  I’m going to start posting regularly now. Or at least try. Not that anybody really looks at this site. I’ll be writing about books I’ve read, movies I’ve seen, and anything else I feel is blog post worthy. Thank you for any comments and please, if you have different opinions than me, feel free to express them, however please just do it in a positive way.

Release Dates

Several (four) new things are coming out that I’m excited about.

1. Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty – July 27, 2010 (Computer Game)

2. Mockingjay-August 24,2010 (Book)

3. The Heroes of Olympus: The Lost Hero-October 12, 2010 (Book)

4. Call of Duty: Black Ops-November 9, 2010 (Xbox 360 Game)

I had never heard of Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty untill my uncle got it for me for my birthday.

Mockingjay is the third book in The Hunger Games series.

The Heroes of Olympus: The Lost Hero is the first book in The Heroes of Olympus series, which is a fallow up series to the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.

Call of Duty: Black Ops is a Call of Duty game (DUH!) and the sequel (belive it or not) to Call of Duty: World at War.

Can’t wait! (Even if it means school has to start before 75% of them can come out).

Books to The Big Screen

Don’t you just hate it when they make a movie out of a book(s) and then everyone buys the book(s) and watch’s the movie instead (well, maybe some read them), then to make it worse they pretend they were die-hard fans of the series from the beginning.  Your probably thinking, nobody does that, but believe me when I say THEY DO.  Examples: Harry Potter, the Twilight Saga, the Inkheart series, The Hunger Games series (this one is yet to happen since the last book isn’t out yet and the movie is still under production) and the Percy Jackson series. 

All of these are good books (minus Twilight since I haven’t read it and don’t plan on it) and yet some people don’t even read them. All movies do is take out/replace parts because they can’t figure out how to meet the author’s description and, they ruin your idea of the character’s appearance (if you read the book first). Don’t get me wrong, I like movies but sometimes they destroy the book.

Sorry if you think reading this was a waste of your time (especially when you could be watching that movie you just bought) but if you get anything out of this let it be, READ the book.

A Nauseous Nocturne

There is a poem by Bill Watterson, creator of the Calvin and Hobbes comic strips, (if you have never heard of Calvin and Hobbes, read no further) called A Nauseous Nocturne.  I highly recommend that you NOT read this poem if you are afraid of or believe that monsters live in your room, unless you have a stuffed animal tiger in your room.

A Nauseous Nocturne

By Bill Watterson

Another night deprived of slumber,
Hours passing without number,
My eyes trace ’round the room. I lay
Dripping sweat and now quite certain
That tonight the final curtain
Drops upon my short life’s precious play.

From the darkness, by the closet
Comes a noise, much like a faucet
Makes: a madd’ning drip-drip-dripping sound.
It seems some ill-proportioned beast,
Anticipating me deceased,
Is drooling poison puddles on the ground.

A can of Mace, a forty-five,
Is all I’d need to stay alive,
But no weapon lies within my sight.
Oh my gosh! A shadow’s creeping,
Omnious and black, it’s seeping
Slowly ‘cross a moonlit square of light!

Suddenly a floorboard creak
Announces the bloodsucking freak
Is here to steal my future years away!
A sulf’rous smell now fills the room
Heralding my imm’nent doom!
A fang gleams in the dark and murky gray!

Oh, blood-red eyes and tentacles!
Throbbing, pulsing ventricles!
Mucus-oozing pores and frightful claws!
Worse, in terms of outright scariness,
Are the suckers multifarious
That grab and force you in its mighty jaws!

This disgusting aberration
Of nature needs no motivation
To devour helpless children in their beds.
Relishing despairing moans,
It chews kids up and sucks their bones,
And dissolves inside its mouth their li’l heads!

I know this ’cause I read it not
Two hours ago, and then I got
The heebie-jeebies and these awful shakes.
My parents swore upon their honor
That I was safe, and not a goner.
I guess tomorrow they’ll see their sad mistakes.

In the morning, they’ll come in
And say, “What was that awful din
We heard last night? You kept us both from sleep!”
Only then will they surmise
The gruesomeness of my demise
And see that my remains are in a heap.

Dad will look at Mom and say,
“Too bad he had to go that way.”
And Mom will look at Dad, and nod assent.
Mom will add, “Still, it’s fitting,
That as he was this world quitting,
He should leave another mess before he went.”

They may not mind at first, I know.
They will miss me later, though,
And perhaps admit that they were wrong.
As memories of me grow dim,
They’ll say, “We were too strict with him.
 We should have listened to him all along.”

As speedily my end approaches,
I bid a final “buenas noches”
To my best friend here in all the world.
Gently snoring, whiskers seeming
To sniff at smells (he must be dreaming),
He lies snuggled in the blankets, curled.

HEY! WAKE UP, YOU STUPID CRETIN!
YOU GONNA SLEEP WHILE I GET EATEN?!
Suddenly the monster knows I’m not alone!
There’s an animal in bed with me!
An awful beast he did not see!
The monster never would’ve come if he had known!

The monster, in his consternation,
Demonstrates defenestration,
And runs and runs and runs and runs away.
Rid of the pest,
I now can rest,
Thanks to my best friend, who saved the day.

The End.

Just so it is clear I did NOT write this, Bill Watterson did.

Poem from: http://calvinandhobbes.wikia.com/wiki/A_Nauseous_Nocturne

D.A.R.E Essay

Nash Crosby

This year in D.A.R.E I have learned many things about drugs, tobacco and alcohol such as, there are many ways to say no, like using humor and changing the subject.  I have also learned that smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, and the number one cause of lung cancer.  I personally think that tobacco and alcohol should be illegal.  I know that I will use the knowledge that I have gained in D.A.R.E to help make good decisions in the future.

In D.A.R.E we learned things about tobacco like that, over 400,000 people die each year from tobacco related causes and that about 3,000 non-smokers die each year from second-hand smoke.  I also learned that cigarette companies lost their rights to TV commercials and billboard advertisement because they were selling cigarettes to children. Something else I learned is that cigarettes have a lot of tar that can get in your lungs and cause lung cancer.

In D.A.R.E we learned about marijuana.  Some things that I have learned about marijuana is that it is very addictive and has more tar in its smoke than cigarette smoke.  I have also learned that marijuana users have an increased risk of cancer and have more colds and upper respiratory problems.

In D.A.R.E we also learned about alcohol.  Some of the things I learned are, alcohol can affect you even if you don’t drink it, because you can be abused by someone who is drunk.  I also learned that alcohol can have more severe effects on teens than adults. Something else I’ve learned is drinking large amounts of alcohol can lead to coma or death and that alcohol can damage every organ in your body and it can go to your bloodstream and cause all kinds of diseases.

In D.A.R.E we have done lots of things like the DUI goggles.  The DUI goggles really mess up your vision and make it hard to walk in a straight line, like your drunk, so, of course you have to walk in a straight line and then catch a ball at the end. We saw the Jar of Tar, a jar of tar from cigarettes. We also played D.A.R.E Family Feud and none of the sixth grade classes let Deputy Thomas get any points.

I have learned a lot of things in D.A.R.E and have had lots of fun. I am going to use this information to make wise decisions in the future.  I pledge that I will not use drugs, tobacco or alcohol.

Integrity

On the Reading Workshop we posted a comment about integrity. So, does integrity matter to a sixth grader? This is my comment on integrity.

I think integrity does matter to a sixth grader because if someone told me to steal something I wouldn’t even if I really wanted it. I also think it should because if I do steal it I could get in serious trouble.

I think integrity guides how you live because if I have low integrity then I’ll probably get in trouble a lot and that could effect how I grow up and my job(because who’s going to hire a thief or a liar?).

I think Kevin’s integrity and my integrity are the same because I am honest, try not to hurt anyone’s feelings and try to help people whenever I can.

Do You Control Your Destiny?

On the Reading Workshop we had to comment on whether we controlled our destiny or not.

Here is my comment.

I think I control my destiny because I work hard in school and get good grades and make good decisions. If I continue to work hard and get good grades I know I’ll be successful in life. I know next year it will be harder to keep my A’s because I’ll probably be in harder classes.
I suppose there are some things I don’t control like if my parents decided to move to Melbourne, Australia, I wouldn’t have much say in the that.

Potential

Today we watched a video called Death Crawl from Facing the Giants on the Reading Workshop.

This is my comment.

I think I am close to reaching my potential. I know I need to work harder on the Ohio Achievement Test because sometimes I make stupid mistakes or don’t read all of the question, but I usually realise it when I check over my work (thank goodness). I think my score on the potentialmeter would be an 89.

Peter and the Starcatchers

If you think Peter Pan is for little kids then you should read the Peter and the Starcatchers series, and see if you change your mind.

Peter is an orphan at St. Norbert’s Home for Wayward Boys, who is being sent away on a ship called The Never Land. On The Never Land Peter meets a strange girl named Molly. Peter learns that Molly is a Starcatcher. Starcatchers are a group of people(and porpoises) who return starstuff (star dust from shooting stars)to the sky, and try to keep it away from the Others. The Others are a group of people (and some other things) who want to use the power the starstuff to rule the world. After The Never Land is attacked by Black Stache and his pirates, and then wrecked into an island, Peter has to help Molly find a trunk of starstuff that was on the ship, and save his friends from the Mollusks(primitive natives on the island) and the pirates.

After you read this you won’t think Peter Pan is for little kids any more.

Dissension

Dissension is the sequel to Guildpact and Guildpact is the sequel to Ravnica.

In Dissension by Cory J. Herndon, the Guildpact is falling apart. The Rakdos Cult is planning on unleashing Rakdos the Defiler, their demon guildmaster. The Simic Combine is planning on unleashing Experiment Kraj, a giant biologically engineered plant monster. The former Golgari guildmaster, Svogthir, is working with the Simic to let Project Kraj destroy everything in its path, so nature can rule all of Ravnica once again. The angels are all dead except one. And all the while Grand Arbiter Augustin IV, is secretly trying to take over the world for the Azorius Senate and create a “perfect” law. It’s up to Agrus Kos, a dead wojek in a very fat lawmage’s body to stop them all.

Dissension is filled with action and suspense and I would recommend it to anyone who likes fantasy books ( I would suggest you read Ravnica and Guildpact first).