Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Playing a Goodbye Tune

Dear My Sweetly Sounding Violin,
             Oh my lovely playing instrument that fills sweet music to my ears. You inspired me to become a different person who lives for the music that is not just played on the radio or recorded in recording studios. A different kind of music that has much more meaning as a whole and will bring tears to your eyes.
             Just thinking back to where I first started when I was only around 10 years old you were so exciting. Learning the strings and note names was like learning a whole new world that I had no idea of. I soon became dedicated to you, taking up summer lessons and involving myself in summer orchestra.
             My teacher thought I was getting more potential and encouraged me to push forward and play in ECMEA's. You were a huge part of my life in elemntary and middle school but it all just started to fade as more years went by.
            Now entering High School my interests changed. Volleyball took up my fall season, snowboarding my winter. I can't forget that I finally found out I have a voice that can actually be, good? Joining clubs left and right and taking classes that challenge me beyond belief! I barely have enough time anymore to finish any of my homework.
             I'm getting older and I feel like all that is important to me now is grades and schoolwork. I don't practice like I always did and I sure don't spend enough time looking at my music.
             As much as I love playing you and I love being able to challenge myself with playing new music I know for sure that once I leave high school you'll be in your stuffy case for a while. You will always be an important memory in my life that I will always remember but I'm moving in a completely different direction and today this is where our paths seperate.
                                                                                                                         Sincerely,
                                                                                                                         Gillian Flatley

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Revenge

              The idea of revenge is used in many common movies and media in the world today. Revenge could be easily defined as hurting something or someone because of wrong done against them. In some cases revenge could be considered good or bad. Some examples of revenge being portrayed are in the song "Before He Cheats" by Carrie Underwood, the song "Breaking Dishes" by Rhianna and in the movie John Tucker Must Die.
              In the song "Before He Cheats" by Carrie Underwood revenge is the common theme of the song. Carrie Underwood sings about going into a parking lot and vandalizing her cheating boyfriend's 4x4 truck with a baseball bat. Underwood realizes what her boyfriend is up to and automatically takes revenge on him, most importantly his precious truck. She finds solace that the next time he cheats, it won't be on her. Another song based on the theme revenge is "Breaking Dishes" by Rhianna. Rhianna sings about how she thinks her boyfriend is cheating on her and she becomes angry. She decides to kick his a** when he comes home because she is positive that he is. Rhianna is portrayed as a tough girl who won't put up with any of that.
              On a different note revenge is also portrayed in movies and a very good example of this would be in the movie John Tucker Must Die. In this movie a group of 4 girls plan on taking revenge on a boy named John Tucker. John Tucker dated 3 of those girls at the same time and broke up with all of them. They soon come up with a plan to get this girl named Kate to play with John and get him to fall for her to then dump him and embarrass him. A certain example in the movie is when Kate video chats John while they were in the same hotel and tells him to come up to her room wearing only a thong. She purposely tells him the wrong location of her room and he climbs outside to her window and comes in only wearing the thong. John gets a surprise when a teacher comes out of the bathroom and he gets kicked out of the room while everyone laughs at him outside in the hallway. The girls plan is to hurt John Tucker so he can feel how they felt when they got played by him and dropped. Kate is their key to their success in doing so.
              Another example of a movie that revenge is portrayed in is Spiderman. In Spiderman, Peter's uncle is shot and killed for no reason at all and this ignites a new side of Peter, a more angrier side. Peter's goal was to not kill people but to be a hero and save people but now he is angry with the world because of his father's death that he does otherwise. It doesn't help that Peter is constantly faced with a new villain to beat. In Spiderman 3 his old best friend becomes the New Goblin who is after Peter/Spiderman because he finds out that he killed his father years ago.
              All of these examples are similar to the revenge portrayed in the book Hamlet by William Shakespeare. In Hamlet, Hamlet seeks revenge on his uncle, King Claudius, because his uncle killed his father. It wasn't stated the exact reason why Claudius killed his own brother but for either the reason of him wanting to be king or to be married to his wife Gertrude. Hamlet soon finds out that Claudius killed his father from his fathers ghost. Hamlet decides to seek revenge by killing him but by planning all of this Hamlet goes mad and a series of events happen before he does anything to Claudius.