Sorry, guys!

Hi everyone! I apologize for not posting anything in a long time. Things have been pretty busy ever since school started back up!! Well, it's a new month and you know what that means... A NEW TOPIC! I was thinking that this month I would talk (type) about photography. Yes, this is a very broad topic, and that's partly why I chose it. There's so much to discuss!!

Lately I have been doing some photography. I would like some feedback. My pictures can be found on my facebook page, so take a look! I like to take pictures of nature. Natural light is something that I think makes my pictures look pretty neat. I usually take pictures of flowers and leaves. If anyone has any tips please comment!!!

My hands aren't feeling too good right now, so I'm going to have to draw this post to a close. Thanks for reading!! :)

Latptop

Hey you guys! Guess what? This is the first ever post I've made on my own school laptop! Exiting, yes? Well, I am extremely excited. We have been waiting and waiting all summer long. And to make things worse, we were supposed to get them last Thursday, but we didn't get them. They were having issues putting up software. Well, everyone was VERY happy today in homeroom. Everyone was going insane. Talking,yelling, and chatting about what they were going to do with their laptops when they got home from school.

I don't know about everyone else, but I named my laptop. His name is Jeffery. I think that one or two other people may have named theirs too. I think it should be a requirement to name your laptop. It'd make Middle School life much more interesting. Don't you agree? One of my friends named her's Eve. I thought that was a pretty name.

Well, sorry if this wasn't very interesting. I just wanted to share with you all!!

Thanks!

Hannah (:

Schoollllll

Ahhh... as the week goes on school is getting closer and closer. I am pretty much excited. I know some people hate school, but I want to see my friends! Now, for some people, school can be a little nerve-wracking and scary, but don't worry! I have a few helpful hints to help you still be alive when the final bell rings at the end of the first week.

First of all, you should not worry if you don't have any friends in your classes. Instead of thinking of this as the end of the world, think of it as an opportunity. An opportunity to meet new people and branch out from your circle of friends. If you're are scared to death of new people, and you think you'll never be able to meet new friends, read on! See, if you don't talk, people won't know that you like to (insert you favorite activity here) and they won't know if you share a common interest. So just go into each day with confidence and it'll work wonders.

Another helpful hint is that you should have fun in class without going crazy. Everyone loves a kid who's fun to be with, but not an obnoxious attention hog. So just be yourself! Don't act like a class clown and keep getting in trouble just to impress. And don't yell and cause drama so everyone else knows of your presence. Just be kind and friendly and you'll be fine.

Finally, don't change yourself to fit in with a group of kids. No one wants to be friends with someone who isn't their own person. You are an individual. That means you have your own opinions and ideas. So don't let someone change them or change your ideas just to fit in.

Well, I hope this helps! I know some people already know this stuff, but I thought it would be helpful (:

August!

Hey everyone! It's August and you know what that means! Back to school! As much as I love Summer, I am definently excited about going back to school. There's something about the sound of the first school bell thats so amazing. Call me a nerd, but it's true. I have already bought supplies and clothes and I'm just waiting for the first day! Here are a few things I think everyone should have for back to school:

• A spacious backpack. There's nothing worse than being trapped in a crowded hallway with a too-small backpack. Even worse, everything spilling out and getting them kicked around by your classmates. Think it couldn't happen to you? Well, better safe than sorry. I would recommend the Jansport backpacks. I have one and it works pretty well.
• Another must is a pencil pouch. Don't worry about looking like a nerd. Trust me, the only one who cares is you. For guys I would buy a black or silver one with a lot of room for extra pencils and pens. Now, I personally use a small makeup bag. It has zippers and just enough room for everything I need. Not to mention it's super cute!
• Now,if you're entering your first year of middle school a binder is a good thing to have. At Westside for 8th graders you are mostly doing things on your laptop, so a binder is kind of a waste of money. Just store extra papers in folders and the pocket in your laptop case.
• Finally, I would suggest in investing in a good pair of gym shoes. Why buy a bunch of cheap shoes that will get ruined in a month or two. Buy a nice pair that you can wear for that whole year, and maybe even the next. I have a pair of Asics (I don't know how to spell the brand name) and they are still in great shape after more than a year of gym classes.

I hope that you guys all have a great school year! I know I will!! :)

Scared To Death!!!

Hi, guys. Sorry I haven't posted anything in awhile. So, to wrap up this month's theme, I watched yet another scary movie.

The movie I watched today was called Scared To Death. It is a horror film from the year 1947.

Some General Info:

Director: Christy Cabanne

Starring: Bela Lugosi, George Zucco, Mat Pendelton, Molly Lamont, and Angelo Rossitto (Angelo grew up in the same neighborhood as my Grandpa!)

Now here are my thoughts and summary of the movie:

Plot: The movie started out in a morgue. Then in the Autopsy room a woman lies dead on the exam table. She shows no signs of being killed, and she

she did not die of natural causes. Then then they dive into the first of a long string of flashbacks. It is narrated by the dead woman.

She is being held captive in a house, with people who keep trying to scare her. Then we go back to the morgue so she can say a few words

to keep the story going, and another flashback! And, a few times, things got pretty crazy when they had flashbacks during a flashback! ( I notice a reoccurring theme

here, don't you?) Well, after numerous scares, she gets scared to death.

My Thoughts: First of all, I would definantly NOT recommend you watch this movie. I found that numerous times

throughout the movie, I was saying to myself When will this be over? With non-essential plot twists added into the mix,

you may very well fall asleep. The movie kept me confused the entire time because about every fifteen minutes they introduced

another new character or two. This made it very hard to follow the story. That is one of the reasons that my plot description

is small and I don't explain a lot. Because I don't know what to explain!

Clothes!!: Well, I have absolutely no doubts that this movie was made in the 40's. The fashion was very... interesting.

I think they may have spent too much money on costuming, though. They could have cut back on that budget and improved the quality

of the actual movie. I noticed that almost every character was wearing a hat at some point during the movie. Even indoors! But all in all

I liked the clothes they wore.

I wish I had more to share with you guys, but that's all. Hopefully if I ever do a movie critique again

I can find a better movie that I can share more information on. Have a nice weekend, everybody!

The Brain That Wouldn't Die

Yes, the title of this post is pretty weird. But it's actually a movie I watched today. I thought I would share my critique with you all. The movie was made in the 50's, so watch out!!

I will be critiquing the movie in the following categories:

• Plot
• Characters
• Reality Factor
• Fun to watch
• Escape Reality

These categories may sound weird, but just read on and they'll hopefully make more sense.

• Plot: This movie started out in a hospital. A father and son doctor team were preforming surgery. The son doctor likes to play by his own rules, and saves the surgery. After the surgery is over, the son's girlfriend runs into the room congratulating him on a successful surgery. They then hop into the car and rush off to the house in the country side where he and his colleague secretly preform organ and body part transplants. But not successfully. On the way there the son drives extremely recklessly, causing their car to drive off the road and spontaneously com bust. Somehow the girl friend get her head taken off, and her boyfriend saves it and brings it back to his secret lab, where he makes her come back to life, but without the rest of her body! Her boyfriend then goes back into town trying to find her a suitable body. She on the other hand toils away the days in the lab. She befriends the mysterious monster that is locked in the closet and they plot revenge. They manage to kill his colleague and when he comes home with a girl he is going to amputate her head so he can get the body. But the monster escapes! The monster kills the man and saves the woman who was going to lose her head. All in all it was a pretty good movie. I think they didn't have to take so long to introduce some characters. For instance, when they introduced one of the girls he was going to try to get the head of, they showed her being photographed in a swimsuit for about 45 seconds. Not very exciting.
• Characters: I thought the acting in this movie was great. It starred Herb Evers, Virginia Leith, and Leslie Daniel. They all were great actors who worked very well with each other. I especially like how good the woman who lost her body was. I think she mastered her evil cackle very well.
• Reality Factor: This category means "How real does it seem"obviously. I think it was very true to the time it was filmed. A great example of this would be people smoking in a Hospital. I don't think that would go over too well nowadays. Also, I thought the costuming was good. I liked the girls' skirts. Not that that matters much :).
• Fun to Watch: Definently! I thought it was a great film. It was ridiculous at some parts, like all old movies are.But for the most part it was very fun to watch. And like most good movies, you don't want to stop watching it. It was a little bit long,, but besides that, it was amazing.
• Escape Reality: I thought this movie helped me "escape reality". It me think about something else besides all of the things going on in my life right now. It was a very captivating film.

Now I have a few more notes that I thought I might include. I am pretty upfront about my opinions in these.

1. I think I could have done without the overly dramatic beginning. (Dark screen, scary music, women screaming, etc.)
2. BAD special effects. The fire looked silly. I think my favorite that made me laugh the most was the brain they tried to make. It looked like it had been made with a jello mold.
3. There were also bad stunts.
4. They ended the movie with the words: The HEAD that wouldn't die. Hey- I thought it was the BRAIN that wouldn't die!! :)

So that's what I thought of this silly horror movie. Youtube it! You may very well find it.

My Favorite Ghost Movies.

In spirit of this month's topic I though I would write about my all-time favorite stupid ghost movies. Haven't we all seen at least one ghost movie from the 50's or 60's? My dad has thousands of these types of movies, and I must say they are a great way to waste time. :) Here is a list of a few I've seen the past few years:

• House on Haunted Hill. I am not sure if they remade this movie recently to make it a lot scarier, but the original version is ridiculous. The acting was pretty good, but all of the ghost who are supposed to 'float' around looked they were traveling on roller skates. I wouldn't be surprised if that's what they really did. You never saw their feet.
• Attack of the Giant Leeches. This is one of the most pointless movies of all time. (what did I say? Time wasters!) The plot goes that a small town on a marsh or swamp is in shambles as more and more people mysteriously disappear when they go to the swamp. Well, of course they hunky, young male needs to take charge! So he takes his girlfriend down to the swamp and they get into a boat and explore. They then come into contact with the leeches. I'm not quite sure how the movies ends except that the leeches are killed and they get the humans back.
• The Birds. Who doesn't a good Alfred Hitchcock movie? This was actually a great movie. But the plot was kind of weird. I remember the end of the movie really well. They finally all sneak out of the house that is covered and surrounded by vicious birds. They then make it to the car drive down the road to safety. At the time I wasn't happy with the ending, but now I realize that movie was really long, and it needed to get over somehow.
• Attack of the 50 foot tall Woman. This was one of the stranger movies I watched. I watched this one a LONG time ago (almost three years, I think) and can't remember too many of the scenes in great detail. But I do remember the 50 foot tall woman going to a bar in the middle of town, and tearing off the roof. All of the men in the bar start screaming and yelling, and generally freaking out. Then she steals one of them. I think it was her ex-boy friend. I wonder who comes up with these movies?

So, now that you know a little bit about a few of the horror movies I've seen, maybe you'll watch them. Not that I'm recommending it. These movies should really be saved for those days when you're snowed in your house and you have nothing to do. Trust Me.