reviews

The reviewer of watchmen strongly disliked the film.  He thought teh movie was to lengthy and dragged on way to long.  He thought there were far to many characters which made it impossible to focus on one main story line.  The reviewr thought that the movie lacked a strong story line.  lastly its fair to say the reviewer was left dissatisfied with the book.

The reviewer of syriana thought it was "endlessly facsinating". They explained how it was about texas oil men in kazacstan. the author of the article really liked the movie.  He thought the acting was superb. The review made me want to see the movie.


The Scary Harry movie review was great!  The author descibed how the second harry potter movie took a darker turn than its predisessor. The author also descibes how the director of the second movie used more imagination in his second book which makes it more fun to watch. But the author also says that the movie can be sluggish at times but ultimatly a "must-see".

On Turning Ten

I think Collins is saying that as we grow older, (in his case he was ten) we realize that we must leave our make believe world and enter the real world where we no longer can be what we want like a prnce or wizard but must make do with the mundane of ordinary life. Collins does a good job of capturing the melancoly he felt as he became ten, he knew that his childhood was ending and that he would soon have to grow up and face the trials of adolesence. i think what makes this poem so effective at capturing his feeling is the stanza:

It seems only yesterday I used to believe
there was nothing under my skin but light.
If you cut me I could shine.
But now when I fall upon the sidewalks of life,
I skin my knees. I bleed.

this shows how in childhood he was never faced with any real challenges in his life, because those were aken care of for him by his parents, but now he expierencing the world for himself and realizes that when he stumbles in life he feels the repercussions.

This poem doesnt match what i felt when i became 10. I was excited to finally have two digits under my belt and felt more ready than ever to take on the world with my decade of expierence. i never felt bad about leaving my childhood behind because i never thought about leaving it behind, i never considered that growing up meant leaving parts of your past behind, especially your childhood. I realize that you do lose your innocence as you grow up but i don't think that is what collins is touching on. he seems to be pretty upset with growing up, but since i didn't share his view when i was ten i can't sympathize with him.

Definitions

Beauty- The author of this article talked mostly about the cosmetic company Dove. They spoke of doves beaty campange about how beauty can be found in everyone, how dove has incorporated "regular" women into their advertisments and so on. I feel like what dove is doing is good; to promote the message that beauty is not the perfect bone structure or flawless skin, but at teh same time i am puzzled by this, Dove is the same company that owns AXE bodyspray and hair gel. If they really meant what they were saying wouldn't you think they would change all of their products? I guess AXE is marketed to men rather than woman but it still shows that Dove is in this for the marketing/advertising publicity rather than a real message.

Denial- The author of this article spoke of how negative denial is, how denial can be evil and only comes from bad things. How alcoholism is the "disease of denial" and that Denial kills more people every year than any other disease. I think this is a little bit ridiculous, denial is not a disease. It is a mindset,and if it helps people cope with their reality, i say let them deny whatever it is that they are hiding from until they are ready to face it. I'm not saying denial is a good thing, i'm just saying don't put so many negative feelings with word. Its obvious if someone is denying reality they are either misinformed or afraid of the truth, theses people need to be helped not ridiculed.

Evil- This author defined evil as an everyday occurance, that evil is a sickness that infects people and stays around if you let it. Evil is everything against good intentions and all it seeks is destruction. I felt the author did a great job of defineing evil in present times as well as giving its meaning to Judeo-Christian thinkers as well.

Being a Yankee

1) In the essay "What is a Yankee?" the author presented the idea that a Yankee is a reserved saint. They are friendly and generous to a fault but they will only help or assist you if asked to. They do this becasue they don't the person they are helping to feel "beholden" to them, or feel like they owe them something for their services. I had never thought of what it meant to be a yankee and this idea was refreshing, its good to know their are still Yankees out their but sad to know that they are a dying breed.

Ideas i could use from this could be: "what is the southern rebel" "what does it mean to be generous" "what is it to be christian"

2) Yes all the allusions refer to the "Yankee" the musical 'damn yankees' refers to how the south hates the north for being yankees. The bible parable refers to the yankees demenour; how they are eager to help anyone with unyielding friendlyness and genorosity. The robert frost poem shows how the yankee won't cros a lline until asked to do so.

if you didn't understand the allusions, you probably didn't read teh essay.

3) The author develops his essay with what the world thinks a yankee is, then he tells a story of someone who he believes is a true yankee then he himself tells you what he thinks a yankee is and backs it up with references to mark twain, the bible and robert frost. I do think the writer put time and effort towards writing this essay it was well written and thought provoking.