Heard of the Movie "Sinister" that just recently came out?  Well, I went to go see it.  A few disappointments here or there, but solid.  I'll break it down for you:

***SOME NOT TOO IMPORTANT SPOILERS*** 

Basically, a non-fiction murder-mystery writer moves into the home of a recent family in which the entire family, excluding the youngest child (who is nowhere to be found), is murdered.  This sets off the red flag for me immediately.  The youngest child is missing?  Clearly, she plays a greater role in the plot of the story.  The father does not reveal to his family that they are living in the house of the murder victims.  Late one night, he climbs into the attic to find an old-time movie projector and some tapes labeled with very... ironic, cheesy, and bone-chilling (yes, all at the same time) names.  One by one, the murder mystery writer sits down and watches the films.  Each film reveals the death of another family in some gruesome way.  There was one in particular murder that was absolutely disturbing beyond belief, and yes, I shielded my eyes for it.  If you see it, I think you'll know what I mean.

Throughout the movie, the writer notices clues here and there, but the more clues he finds, the closer death approaches him.  I'll stop giving details of the plot there, and let you witness it for yourself.

My Opinion

I found the first hour of the plot to be extremely well thought out.  I like that in a movie.  However, there were the jump-scares that we all know and "love."  (Honestly, jump scares are a cheap way to scare the audience that require almost no thought or creativity, I have no respect for a jump scare ninety-nine percent of the time.  The good kind of scare is a well-thought out plot that haunts you for the rest of the night, gives you sleep trouble, makes you afraid of your own home, etc.  Anyways...) The first hour was creepy, heart-pounding, and just in general freaked the entire audience out.  I'll admit, most of the audience was pretty scared at times.  You could hear profanities screeched out whenever you'd see a certain someone appear.  The atmosphere the movie created was great, and the audience really was involved.  I felt as if I was trying to figure out the mystery myself, and I liked that.  I respect that approach.  Except... After about twenty to thirty minutes I had pretty much guessed what was going to happen, and for the most part, I was right.  Either way, I enjoyed the film up until the climax.  The climax was pretty scary, but from there, it all just went downhill.  The ending, to me, was too quick and too forced.  There was not enough struggle or resistance (if you see it you will know what I mean) and there just was a feeling of: "Oh... that's it?  It's over?"  The suspense kept building and building, but the ending disappointed me.  It just wasn't what I thought it would be.

I must admit that I was generally nervous and on-edge for a lot of the film.  I love when a scary movie has serial-killer type antagonists, but this villain was no serial-killer.  He was much more.  If you have not seen the movie, I definitely recommend seeing it if you are a fan of suspense and mystery.  I thought parts were a little too predictable, others not, but all-in-all, I did not regret spending my Tuesday night watching this movie.  And yes, incase you were wondering, I slept fine.  Go check it out!

Ms. Healey had the class read an excerpt from The Common Reader by Virginia Woolf the other day, and I must admit that I could relate myself to the work.  We related the paragraph to The Secret Agent, however, I related it to myself.

I found that the reading had a very blatant message: do not be the ordinary.

Cliché?  Yes, it is. But, that isn't the point.  Woolf discusses that the current fiction of her time became plain and unimaginative.  She mentions that life is not a series of symmetrical street lamps, but instead a luminous halo.  This had a much deeper meaning to me.

Do not be the ordinary... What does that mean?  What is ordinary? Why not be ordinary?

The answers are found within each of us, and they may be different, but they may also be the same.  My own view, though, is to not conform.  Do not let others shape the kind of person that you want to be.  In this world, this society that we live in, we focus too much on what really will not matter a few years down the road.  If something interests you, chase it.  Do not let somebody stand in your way just because they think it's weird.  Man, you get one chance to shape your future.  You don't get to redo it.  I find that too many of us take life for granted.  Too many of us need to look ahead, need to realize the opportunities we need to take advantage of and the relationships we need to treasure and form.  Life will go by faster than the blink of an eye, and when it does, it's over.  You cannot get it back, so do not waste time; If you want something done, go do it.  You cannot let others shape the outcome of your existence.  Follow your own path and let others judge you.

After reading the excerpt, I went online at home and read a few short stories that Woolf wrote.  I read A Haunted House, Monday or Tuesday, and Blue and Green.  I found each of the three to be bizarre with their own sort of moral at the end.  I found them to be short, sweet, and to the point.  The sentences were packed with long words, yet the flow of the read seemed just fine to me (only a few words threw me off!).  I felt a little uneasy reading these, a little eerie perhaps.  I cannot explain why exactly, there was just something about the style that struck me in a funny way.

At the end of the day, Woolf writes in a way that it takes emotion to understand and grasp what she wants the reader to take away from reading the work.  I admire and appreciate this, and I am glad I had the opportunity to read some of her works.

Recently, I have become obsessed with a certain YouTube channel, "BigThink."  The channel has over nine-thousand videos and (obviously) regularly puts out videos each day.  What is this channel?  A lot of things.

Various beyond-famous scientists, philosophers, and rational-thinkers are asked questions (questions usually sent in by viewers) and give, on average, three to four minute talks on the subject.  Physicist Neil Degrasse Tyson regularly appears on the "show."  He is bombarded with complicated questions about possibilities, theories, and space, yet manages to twist his words so that someone who has never taken a physics or math class can understand.  He is an inspiration to anybody that watches his videos.  Seriously, check him out.  Another one of my favorite regulars on the show is Michio Kaku.  Kaku is one of the smartest men in the world. Heck, when he was just in high school he built an atom smasher using four-hundred pounds of steel and twenty-two miles of copper wire.  For that project alone... BOOM. Scholarship to Harvard.  The thing about Kaku is that he is extremely talented with taken a presumed impossible idea, and telling how it is actually very possible.  Watching him inspires me because I realize if I pursue a career as a engineer or something of the sort, I could be the one making a discover or creating something that was once deemed impossible.  The possibilities he discusses seem endless, and that bewilders me in ways I cannot describe.

The videos are just so informative and packed with so much information.  I mean, I feel pretty cool when my physics teachers are giving lectures on a topic I know everything about.  I feel ahead of the game.



Many, well all, of my friends know me to be a YouTube addict.  My response to that label is that it's true.  I have spent countless hours on YouTube.  I do my homework to videos, I eat to videos, and when I am bored, I go on YouTube (don't worry, I do other things too haha!).  The difference between myself and the others, is that, although I do enjoy watching the funny and mindless comedy, I spend most of my time watching documentaries and informative content.  Big names such as "Vice" or "National Geographic" have found their way onto YouTube and post thirty minute, forty minute, or even hour long documentaries that are can also seen on TV.  I love picking and choosing what interests me, and when I'm finished with a particular video, there are ten more just a glance away (the related videos list on the side).

I do not just concentrate on certain topics; I watch a variety of videos.  I love learning about different places throughout the word.  Places I wish I could visit, and places that are a little to extreme for me (but are still cool!).  Culture appeals greatly to me, and the fact that there is so much of it within just a computer screen boggles my mind.

One last note: My friends tease me because nearly every time a teacher shows a video in class, I have already seen it.  In my head, I just laugh because they just have not realized the information and potential for learning on a site that they think's purpose is solely comedy, when in fact, just plain isn't.  I do not just spend time watching the funny videos that everyone knows and loves, I spend a lot of my time finding information on topics that may not be useful in school or interesting to others, but interests me and connects me to the surrounding world.

Going into "The Secret Agent," I prepared myself for a story jam-packed with action, top-notch espionage, and secrecy.  However, after reading through a hefty chunk of the book, I came to the realization that this was NOT the James Bond type thriller that I assumed it would be.  That does not mean that I am not enjoying the book thus far.  Although relatively slow, I am able to sift through Conrad's hand-crafted sentences a lot easier than "A Tale of Two Cities."  In my own opinion, the language is more modern than that of Dickens'.  I am able to catch the drift of what is actually occurring, as opposed to having the reread a section because my head is spinning. I've noticed that Conrad uses very accurate adjectives to describe a situation, although I still have a few questions on what Mr. Verloc looks like (I picture him in a large trench coat with a creepy hat).  I can honestly say that I went into reading this book with an optimistic attitude based on the title alone.  That has made the difference for me.  If the book did not have the mysteriously simply title of "The Secret Agent," I would not be so curious and eager to continue reading.  The reason that the title has such an influence on me probably has to do with the fact that I'm a boy.  Let's face it, we like that kind of stuff.  Although the sentences may have a few big words here and there, I must admit I am enjoying the slow-paced beginning that the book presents.  The fact that nothing really has happened so far is not an obstacle, because, based on spoilers that I've heard during class, I can tell that the action will soon pick up.