The Road The End

Lately, I have enjoyed the book and it has the appropriate amount of twists and turns which are good for captivating a reader like me who usually isnt interested in reading anything at all. But the ending in my opinion was kind of cheesy. Even though the part where he got shot with an arrow and all the other parts where he is encountered by strangers where he is forced to show his gun are cool and all. I just think the ending of the story where the father dies and minutes later help arrives to save the what would have been helpless boy. It seems a bit too cliché. Also I don't think the boy was as ready as the father said he was. That boy would have been doomed al by himself. Like he gets scared of everything and he would never take any risks to find food. By the way they were almost out of food and he would ahve starved to death in a couple of days anyway. It's just too convineant that the only good person they have encountered so far was when they needed them the most. And now the boy is saved and everything just ends happily after a very depressing book. Thats how I liked the book and now I hope my outside reading book will be just as captivating.

The Road # 5

Ok, well so far I am very pleased with the book because it is very captivating because of all the twists in the text as well as jumps in emotion such as when they walk in on the prisoners being held until they are eventually eaten which was shocking. To the moment when he walks over the hatch to the bomb shelter with all the food and water and essentials which was very uplifting to me. Events like this keep a reader like me and I don't know about anyone else, but it keeps me interested. But, moments like the father shooting the trucker in the head to save his son even though I thought it was cool and all, I found it a bit unnessecary, I don't think the trucker would have even noticed them hiding in the brush, they should have just lied still instead of overreacting. Lastly, I find it very annoying that the boy is scared of everything, for example, he was afraid of going into the dad's old house, he was afraid of going in the mansion and lastly which is the dumbest of them all was when he was afraid of going down into the bomb shelter even though clearly nothing bad was going to happen. Also, It's getting kind of annoying when the boy always asks for confirmation on something over and over again until the point where you just want to hit him. In conclusion, that's what I think so far.

The Road Soundtrack

I think that the song "Lean on Me" by Bill Withers would be a great addition to The Road Soundtrack because it is sad and depressing and is talking about similar occurences in the lyrics that are also in the book. Such as when in the song says "Lean on me, when you're not strong And I'll be your friend I'll help you carry on For it won't be long 'Til I'm gonna need Somebody to lean on" Which could go well with the quote in the book when it says "Papa? the boy said. Papa? Shh. It's okay...the boy clung to him crying, buried against his chest. Shh. It's all right" (27-28). The quote and the lyrics are very similar in meaning because they are both talking about someone needing comfort from another and the other provides it. When the song says lean on me it is almost exactly the same as the boy being buried in the dad's chest. In conclusion, this song will go great with this quote and the book because they are both depressing and talking of the same thing. Here's the link to the youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ovDAF-VTPg .

The Road and Outside Reading Book

Well so far I like the road because it has great emotion and is a story that I think will turn out to be very catchy which will help me to focus on the book. This book so far is also very appealing to me because it is talking about the end of the world and survival instead of something else that i wuldn't care about. I have not officially decided on an outside reading book, but it is most likely between the boys of winter, the demon in the freezer, and life as we knew it. All of these books are options because in seventh grade science and two of those books i wanted to read but was not given that ca=hance and had to read something else and I had hoped I could return to those books someday. The book I had to read instead was Angels in Demons by Dan Brown. Even though this book helped me decide to read davincii code for my first quarter outside reading book, I still would have liked to read The demon in the freezer or life as we knew it. And lastly, the boys of Winter was on my maybe list a couple years ago to read because a friend told me to read it, I just have never gotten around to it yet. I thought now might be a good time. In conclusion those are my book choices, and The Road, I think is a great book and I hope it stays that way.

Thanksgiving

Well, over my Thanksgiving break I had some good times. While I was still in town, I hung out with several of my friends that night and we all had fun before we went our seperate ways for thanksgiving. Some went out of state, some went to their relatives, some stayed home, but me however went to my cabin with all family members from both sides of the family. There were ten of us but one is still at college and she couldn't make it. But, even without her we had lots of fun and a great thanksgiving. On thansgiving day we usually have just a light breakfast and wait until five o'clock when we have the biggest feast of all sorts of food ever. After all that we wound down by watching movies and playing games. The next day we returned home. I had to return early because I had a hockey tournament. The first games we played was one of the worst teams I had ever played in my entire life. We won 17 to 1. The next game was slightly more challenging but we still pulled off a 4 to 3 victory over wayzata. And lastly the championship, we were down 1 to nothing early in the first and it was hard to come back, but late in the second we scored to tie it up. Early in the third we got a fluke goal of a players skate and now the tides had turned. Shortly after the scored again they tied it up and there was only 4 minutes left. My teammate gave me the puck on a two on one and I scored. They pulled there goalie and we got another goal. We won the championship 4 to 2 against a very good team. And that was my thanksgiving break.

Odyssey #1

So far in the book Odysseus has been traveling all over the world with his crew trying to make it back to their home in Ithaca. After the Trojan War, with the victory by Odysseus and his men hiding in the trojan horse, they sailed to Cicones to get there reward where they got too greedy and will be punished by the Gods. They have encountered many people so far like Hermes, Athena, Polyphemus, Circe, and several others. Odysseus has battled many people tribes things, on several different islands, lands, and surfaces. But, he has still survived just on the will to go home to Ithaca to see his lovely wife Penelope. I think that this is really cool how Odysseus and his crew travel everywhere to make it back home and all the interesting people and things they see. I like the book in general so far as well because I have already read parts of the book in sixth grade and I wanted to continue. Even though it is written in somewhat of a wierd way, I like it none the less and hope that it continues to stay this way until the end of our unit with the book.

Halloween

Well I had a great Halloween for starters. I went to Valley Scare on Friday night with a couple people and that was a blast. Wild Thing and all other roller coasters at night are amazing because its so cold and its really dark and foggy at night. At the top of the wild thing, it is so cold and windy, you think your going to freeze. We also went in several haunted houses which was not as scary as one would think. Then after words I had a sleepover with some of the guys I went to valley scare and we had fun there. We sneaked out at night and had some fun. Then we got tired and went home and played some video games for a while. Later we talked and fell asleep. The next day I had to do house work all day and it really sucked, but that night, I watched the silence of the lambs for the first time and i was blown away by how good it was. The actor who plays lecter is unbelievable. And the escape he does is creepy and genius at the same time. I want to see the sequel now. Then Sunday I went to church and sang in the choir. We did great. Then I went home and finished the rest of my homework. Then to close this blog post on monday I had a hockey game and we dominated. We won 5 to 0. They had 3 shots on goal. That's it for this week.

My Week

Well, to start it off. Last weekend I hung out with some friends on Friday and we went out and eventually had a sleepover. We watched a movie called the shining, again. It is okay to see once, but it is so long that seeing it twice was a huge mistake. The movie is about a family with a son who has an ability to speak to others who have the same "shine" as he does, who go to a winter lodge and watch over it over the winter season. The plot thickens when the main character Jack Nicolas starts to turn crazy and starts trying to kill his family. I won't give away the movie because I think people should see it. But, I will tell yoou that this is the movie where the famous phrase "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" come from. As well as the slit in the door where his face pops in looking for his family. After watching the shining, we played some video games and eventually fell asleep. On Saturday, I did yard work all day and worked on my English book report. On Sunday I finished the report and all my other homework, and I went to hang out with some friends until it was time to come home annd go to sleep.

MEA

Over the long weekend I had many good times and hours in one sense well spent or in my parents a waste of time. I had some friends over almost everyday and eventually got to doing stuff. We went to play football several times down at the park, or if there wasn't time, we would play in the backyard. We also played a good amount of video games which even I thought I might have played a little too much in one weekend. But it was fun none the less. We went to valley scare on Friday night which was not as scary as most would have anticipated. It was very cold and lots of fog which made it hard to see. The rides were fun but most were packed because lots of people went on a friday night. There were some things that a few people in our group just couldn't handle. Like haunted houses. The haunted houses weren't that bad though they could have probably bee a little scarier. Overall I thought I had a pretty well spent weekend. I was with my friends all weekend. I played video games. I played football. And I went to Valley Scare. I hope next weekend is just as fun.

Vikings

Since the football season began, I had been looking forward to watching the Vikings paly and I had hoped that they would have a succesful season while they are at it. Well part of that fantasy came true. The Vikings as of right now are 3 and 3. THe last two games that they have played, one was against the New Orleans Saints which in my opinion was the worst game the Vikings had ever played. But, because of the Saints many fumbles and turnovers, the Vikings pulled off the win even though they hardly deserved it. And the next game they played against the winless Miami Dolphins, the Vikings were lucky that the new quarterback had made a rookie mistake and had stepped out of bounds in the endzone causing a safety and giving the Vikings two undeserved points. The Vikings managed to pull off a 12 to 10 win over the Dolphins even though they were lucky enough to even get that. The Vikings will hopefully beat the Bears next week in Chicago who also have a record of 3 and 3. This has been my report on the Vikings for this week and hope that this helped someone find out more info on the Vikings.

My Weekend

This weekend I did and I saw lots of and did lots of fun things. On Friday I had some people over and then I went to the football game with my friends. I was glad that we won but I was also disappointed that we only won by a little. We were expected to crush them. Good thing Mahtomedi didn't have a very good kicker. And then after the game I went to Perkins with some friends. There were more people there than I expected. There were about one hundred plus kids. Nevertheless, I had a good time Friday. Then Saturday, I had a soccer game that we lost but the day still wasn't bad. After that I went to homecoming where we ate at Maggiano's and had a really great time. Then on Sunday, I had hockey tryouts in the morning at nine thirty in the morning. I got about five hours of sleep that night. Although I was tired, I still played well at my tryouts and then I went home and took a nap. After that, I finished my homework. Since I didn't have that much, I went to play football with some friends. I went home for dinner and then I watched the movie Saints and Soldiers before I went to sleep which I thought was very depressing, but I still thought it was a great movie. I went to sleep at around eight thirty because I was so tired. That's what I did for my Weekend.

Soccer Season

As my fall soccer season comes to a close and my time with my teammates and others is drawing to an end, I can't help but reflect back on some of the great times I've had this year that I found are worthy to talk about. The players for example, I have made many new friends and gotten to know my old ones better. It helped me get to know others that weren't in my grade. I also was able to hone my skills more and pick up some new skills that I will apply to my future in soccer and when I tryout for the school again next year. Also, I am reminded of the good memories I have had with my teammates such as events on the bus to and from games, during games, the after parties, and the most fun of all, the practices. At the practices the players who showed up constantly goofed off and laughed with each other which made my experience that much more fun to see because of all the jokes we shared on and off the field. And last, but not certainly not least was my coach. He has told me things I will never forget and skills I will always use and practice to become the best I can be. And I will remember every word he said that made me laugh and repeat what he has said to others so that they can laugh at his comments as much as I have. I just hope that my season next year will be just as fun.

Traitor

Over the weekend I went to go see the movie traitor starring Don Cheadle. I thought that the overall price to get in on a Saturday night was a ridiculous 10 dollars, but I got over it. The movie was overall good and I thought that the movie had a pretty good plot and storyline that was fairly easy to follow. I personally thought that it could have had more gunfights, and explosions then they had in the movie. To summarize most of the main points, Samir also known as Don Cheadle is arrested for terrorism in Yemen then secretly makes a deal with the US to help them catch terrorists. He earns the terrorists group trust by blowing up an embassy. He then is filled in on their plan to blow up something so big that I cannot tell you or else I would give away the movie. This plan is so big that Samir is scared that they might be successful in their plan. Will they succeed? If I say anymore I would give away the movie so I will stop and let you find out for yourself. This movie if I was a movie editor, I would rate it a three out of 4 stars.

Soceer

Earlier this week I watched Liverpool, a soccer club in England, play a inferior team in their division, Marseille. Marseille put a good fight most of the game and scored first. But Steven Gerrard and Liverpool ended up winning two to zero with Gerrards equalizer in the 25th minute and his penalty kick 6 minutes later to seal the win. Even though it was close on the scoreboard, I think that Liverpool was probably placed to win the game before it even started because of their players, their reputation, and their ranking so far this season. I personnally love watching games like these because it helps me improve my own game as well as entertain and keep me up to date on what's going on in Europe soccer wise. I like it also because I get to see my favorite players in action such as Steven Gerrard as well as Fernando Torres. Also players on other teams such as Ronaldinho, Christiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Thierry Henry, Lionel Messi, Hernan Crespo, and Maxi Rodriguez. These players provide inspiration for me when I am trying out as well as during games which in turn helps me succeed. Overall there is so much soccer has to offer for players as well as spectators.

A Journey I Intend to Take

I intend to go see all continents of the earth.
I have wanted to do so ever since I began traveling when I was little. When I frist went to DisneyWorld, to when I went to the rockies, to just recently when I went to tour Europe for 2 weeks just over two years ago. It is occasions like these that make me want to keep exploring new and exotic places all over. There is so much to see and so much to do that I have never yet experienced.
To close, I plan on continuing to travel my whole life and continuing to go to new places.

Blog Expectations

My name is Blake Halva. This is my super fun blog, which I will personalize and make my own (but not post pics of myself on or use my last name on). I will always use appropriate language on my school blog and follow the conventions of the English language.

The expectation for this assignment is that I post on my blog once a wwek for the remainder of the school year. I am expected to comment on texts that I am viewing in the world arond me. These might include, but are not limited to: books, magazines, movies, internet articles, television shows, trips to museums, etc...

Each post should be at least 200 words. Each weekly post is due by 8am on that Wednesday. Therefore, Q1 due dates are: 9/17, 9/24, 10/1, 10/8, 10/15, 10/22, and 10/29. That makes for a total of 7 posts this first quarter. I understand that blogs are worth 100 points per quarter and are graded holistically (I will recieve the rubric from Mrs. B. soon). I also understand that blogging is a significant component of my quarter grade. By the way, what I have just typed is only 196 words! Now it is 200!