In the last post we discussed how a community of readers gives new life to a blog. The great thing about blogs is that they can be about anything and it is a fresh perspective from outside the mainstream. Do you love to travel? Start a travel blog and it becomes your unique view on the topic. For this post I want you to pretend this is your blog. Write a post about a recent experience you had with something you have a strong opinion about. It can be negative or positive. Your post should be 6-10 sentences at a minimum. Compare and contrast what you are writing about with other things similar to your topic. For example: If you are writing about a record from a particular artist, compare it to similar artists or the artists earlier work. Same for restaurants, etc. See examples for ideas. The key is to be passionate.
Ideas:
- Movie review
- Music review
- Travel experience
- Restaurant review
- Fashion review
- Technology
Examples:
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteA series that I, a fantasy series fanatic, am deeply invested in recently divulged its final volume. This series is A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas. The first book was a very loose retelling of Beauty and the Beast, with a myriad of plot twists and surprises and a slightly disappointing ending. In the second book, a loose retelling of the myth of Persephone, Maas succeeded in adding an entire new dimension of depth to her series and managed to change the setting, characters, villain, and love interest of the protagonist without ruining the book. On the contrary, Maas' complete turnaround made the series twice as good as it had originally been, because suddenly all the doubts that snagged on your subconscious as you read the first book were validated and explained. Unfortunately, while the third and final volume of the series was just as beautifully crafted as its predecessors, it failed to give the reader the same feeling of the utter brilliance of the retelling of Persephone, ACOMAF. Maas gave her readers the happy ending that they asked for in ACOWAR, but we failed to realize that sunshines and rainbows might not be what would make the end of the series great. Maas accelerated the climax of the book all the way to the very end- and suddenly brought two characters back to life, defeated the enemy swiftly and surely, and put our favorite couples together. Maas is one of my favorite writers and some of her books are my favorites of all time. There is no denying that she is an excellent writer, but I was disappointed to see that her third ACOTAR book ended like a best-case-scenario fanfiction. While we would have lamented this choice to the end of time, the book might have actually been made better by a few happy endings not ending as happily as they did. This is shown in the Deathly Hallows, where several characters that we had grown to love were killed for the good of the story. While we can still cry over Tonks, Hedwig, Lupin, and Fred's deaths, there is no denying that it made the story better. It is left for future authors and book critics to wonder: what truly makes a good story? And do the fans really know what they want to happen?
ReplyDeleteI just finished watching the nine season long, CW television show, One Tree Hill. It was nine seasons full of friendships, music and basketball. We begin in high school, junior year. We meet Lucas Scott, Nathan Scott, Peyton Sawyer, Brooke Davis, and Haley James. Nathan and Lucas share the same cruel and pushy father but Lucas lives with his mother resulting in an immediate rivalry. There is competition on the basketball team that grows and changes as the season progresses. The characters undergo major character development throughout the nine seasons. It is a show that includes relationship drama and love triangles like Glee but differs in genre as Glee is a comedy/musical. The show also changes from a show about teenagers to a show about adults as the years go by. It is a long ride where you meet new characters and find new surprises all the time. Music is also a big part of the show. There are constantly different bands playing on the show. I would 10/10 recommend this show.
ReplyDeleteI recently re-read a book by one of my favorite scientific authors, Dr. Michio Kaku, called Physics of the Future. This book explains what the technology of the future really entails, and how we plan on getting there. The premise may make the book sound like you need a PhD to read it, but the language is such that even a student such as myself, with no formal physics education, can understand and enjoy it. He introduces many complicated ideas and technologies in a way that makes the reader feel like they can understand it.
ReplyDeleteOne such technology is a room-temperature, tabletop superconductor. Currently, these devices are not only huge, but require immensely low temperatures. However, if this vision comes true, and unlimited source of energy is literally at our fingertips. One concept that he introduces is that of different "types" of galactic civilizations (proposed originally by the Russian astrophysicist Nikolai Kardashev.) Each type is separated by a factor of 10 billion: a Type III civilization consumes 10 billion times more energy than a Type II civilization (because there are roughly 10 billion or more stars in a galaxy), which in turn consumes 10 billion times more energy than a Type I civilization. We as a planet are estimated to be about a Type 0.7, as our energy is mainly from dead plants! However, Kaku speculates that within the century, we can achieve Type I status, with a global federation harnessing the power of the sun for our energy. After this discussion, he delves into such topics as maglev streets for flying cars, and what a day in the life of the average human in 2100 looks like. [Plot twist: it’s very different!]
This way of presenting very complex information in layman’s terms differs significantly from one of his other books, Visions. That book was an incredibly dense book that you needed prior knowledge to truly comprehend, so my hat goes off to the good doctor for adapting this book so it could be enjoyed by people of all ages and spheres of knowledge.
Just like Grace I just finished watching One Tree Hill. This show was hands down my favorite show ever. With all the drama the characters faced, allowed people to connect to them because they were real life situations. Lucas Scott and Nathan Scott are brothers since they share the same father. This event occurs in my family and I see it in my friends around me. The game of basketball is a very big completion in the show. Being a basketball player, I am able to connect to the struggles they face. All the characters show dramatic change from Season 1 to Season 9, especially my favorite character Brook Davis. I would recommend this show to anyone because it hooks you in (after the first 3 episodes which are horrible)
ReplyDelete