kajfoewyofiyhdklshf: the blog

Totem pole – Feb. 23rd

kdschmidt12 — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 04:16:57 +0000

This week, we were asked to give four characters from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens a totem pole to represent themselves.
I think Lucie Manette should be a pygmy fainting goat because although she’s fairly one-dimensional, she’s always feeling ill or light-headed and faints so much throughout the book.

I think the Defarges should be betta fish because bettas have a violent disposition and are also known as fighting fish. This fits the Defarges well because they are revolutionaries and took part of the storming of the Bastille.

I think Miss Pross should be a bear because she is a caretaker. When someone is described as being a mama bear, this means that they are very protective of their young. Since Lucie’s mother is dead, Miss Pross takes over this role and tends to Lucie until she gets married to Charles Darnay.

I think Charles Darnay should be a dog because he’s loyal. After receiving the letter from Gabelle pleading to be released and to save France, Darnay leaves for France to take up the throne of Marquis Evermonde.

Freechoice – Feb. 23rd

kdschmidt12 — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 19:48:44 +0000

Some people are getting excited for the Vancouver Olympics. Meanwhile, us indies are giddy for the Sundance Film Festival, as hyped and promoted on the Sundance Channel (go figure!). This is the largest independent film festival and takes place in Utah every year. It’s composed of everything between documentaries, short films and dramas.
The Sundance Film Festival was started in 1978 by Robert Redford’s company, Sterling Van Wagenen, to attract more filmmakers to Utah, although the festival wasn’t called this until 1991 after Redford’s character in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The goal was to showcase and conduct competitions for only American-made films and highlight the potential of independent film, although now Sundance is home to many international films. During the first year, over 60 films were shown at the festival. Robert Redford deserves much credit because if he wasn’t associated with the Sundance Film Festival, it wouldn’t have received the popularity that it gets today. This is also in part thanks to the US only having one other independent film festival, which was in Dallas. And, if it weren’t for Syndey Pollack, the Sundance Film Festival would be taking place in the summer instead of winter. This is because of Utah’s famous tourist attractions–ski resorts.
Think indie films don’t make it? HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF NAPOLEAN DYNAMITE?!?!?! That’s right, this movie got it’s big break at Sundance. Say you like slashers. Well Saw and the Blair Witch Project were there too. And if you like really, amazingly good movies, then here’s a big thank you to Little Miss Sunshine and Garden State. What I’m trying to say is, some of these movies that are coming to theatres today actually came out a year or two ago, and if it wasn’t for the audiences’ reactions, not only would we not be watching these movies, but some of them wouldn’t become classics.

Reading Strategies (out of state when due) – Feb. 15th

kdschmidt12 — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 04:48:15 +0000

In the last assigned blog, we researched reading strategies to help us in understanding difficult text like Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. I researched annolighting, which is the highlighting of key words and phrases in a book and annotating those highlights with marginal notes. This is supposed to help formulate questions in response to the text and while analyzing and interpreting. After reading, you draw conclusions and make inferences based on the literal and figurative meanins. This is used during and after reading.
While reading, I underlined major events that we might be tested on and annotated possible symbolism throughout the reading assingment. This helped in interpreting Dickens’ writing but it required me to read much slower in order to comprehend the text. This resulted in spending more time than necessary reading, but I feel that I retained the information better so I’d probably continue using this strategy.

Freechoice – February 8th

kdschmidt12 — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 04:43:43 +0000

Lately I’ve been awaiting for when my uncle gives us Flight of the Conchords back. It’s my favorite show (and they’re my favorite band) so this may be like a withdrawal. Luckily I have a couple of their music videos and my favorite song by them on my iPod if I get desperate.
You might ask yourself, “What the hell is Flight of the Conchords?”
My reply: “Get your head out of that cave and watch some HBO!!!”
Actually, I’m just kidding about the first part. I didn’t discover these guys til after they announced they’d stop filming the show. But here’s a brief background of the band: Flight of the Conchords is the self-proclaimed New Zealand’s formerly fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo. The band consists of Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement. As confirmed by Wikipedia (the most trusted internet source), the two met at Victoria University of Wellington where they were studying theatre and film and formed the band in 1998.
Bret and Jemaine had made many television appearances, released a couple CDs under Flight of the Conchords and even started their own radio series before offered a comedy show on HBO in 2007 yet in December 2009, the band announced they wouldn’t be continuing the show.
There you go. The reason I love these guys so much is because of their humor through music. I don’t think any other band can write such funny songs that stay catchy and audio appealing, for lack of better words. Even “Brave Sir Robin” from the Holy Grail (which I also have on my iPod and I have the DVD) can’t make you laugh this hard, unless you insist on sticking to the classics.
P.S. Just to clear things up, I’m not dissing you, Monty Python and Co.

Reading strategies – January 27th

kdschmidt12 — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 03:13:24 +0000

This week, we were asked to look up reading strategies that we could use while reading difficult texts, like the book we are currently reading, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.
One reading strategy I found was annolighting, which involves highlighting key words and phrases in a book and annotating those highlights with marginal notes. This is used during and after reading. This helps formulate questions in response to the text while analyzing and interpreting. After reading, you draw conclusions and make inferences based on the literal and figurative meanings.
The other reading strategy I found was key concept synthesis. This is also used during and after reading and helps to identify the most important ideas in a text by putting those ideas into your own words and making the connections between the ideas. This condenses and summarizes the ideas within the text, distinguishes between relevant and irrelevant information, compare and contrast the information and make text-to-text, text-to-self and text-to-world connections.
Both reading strategies were found on http://www.greece.k12.ny.us/instruction/ela/6-12/Reading/Reading%20Strategies/reading%20strategies%20index.htm.

Freewrite – January 27th

kdschmidt12 — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:35:36 +0000

So…lately I’ve been thinking of making a new mix CD. I’m thinking about using my podcasts from the KEXP Seattle station and their songs from the day. Here are some of my favorites:

“Blood Bank” by Bon Iver (which I am currently listening to)
“Hurt Feelings” by Flight of the Conchords, my favorite band and TV show
“Lisztomania” by Phoenix, a French band that went from being completely underground to their songs being used in car commercials (get the pun of commercial music and TV commercials???)
“Home” by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros (another good song by this band is “40 Day Dream”
“Stillness Is the Move” by Dirty Projectors (if possible, look up their interview with Jenny Eliscu. She’s my favorite journalists. This is what we journalists call an interview gone SNAFU)
“I Want You To Know” by Dinosaur Jr. (an homage to my dinosaur obsession)
“The Wanting Comes in Waves/Repaid” by the Decemberists (I’ve been listening to these guys a lot lately. I have another album by them that doesn’t have a sour song)
“Nikorette” by Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band (Conor Oberst is the guru of indie music – Bright Eyes, Monsters of Folk, his solo work – GOLDEN!!!)
“Baby Boomer” by Monsters of Folk
“Percussion Gun” by White Rabbits (I LOVE the drums in the beginning of this song. This is such a catchy song)
“I’m Sorry Baby, But You Can’t Stand In My Light Anymore” by Bob Mould (there’s another song by him called “The Silence Between Us” that sounds a little bit like Jakob Dylan)
“Daylight” by Matt and Kim (you may recognize this from an alcohol commercial with different eras of parties. I heard this song WAY before it was in this)
“People Gotta Lotta Nerve” by Neko Case (she was on Spectacle: with Elvis Costello, another one of my favorite shows)
“Oklahoma” by Bishop Allen (I was first introduced to this band when their music was in Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist. I really like their style)
“Gold Gun Girls” by Metric (this band is Canadian. Another good song by them is “Help I’m Alive”)
“Norway” by Beach House (this song was produced to sound very dreamy. This seems to be their universal style. Some people think it sounds boring but I like it; they pull it off pretty well)
“Invisible Girl” by King Khan and the BBQ Shrines (they’re getting really big on the indie scene. Their music reminds me of some of the stuff off the Nick & Norah soundtrack)
“Higher Than the Stars” by the Pains of being Pure at Heart (this song was being played a lot by the Sirius XM U station for awhile. Maybe it’s just me but it seems a little sad)

Once again, these are just songs being CONSIDERED for my playlist, not all of them may end up on it.

Freechoice – Jan. 19

kdschmidt12 — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 01:51:19 +0000

I’ve been listening to a lot of indie music. I’m to the point now where I don’t even know what’s popular. As far as I know, everyone listens to Lady Gaga. Anything mainstream is a guilty pleasure (a.k.a. Katy Perry). About 95% of the music on my iPod, including my podcasts, are indie music. And that 5% that isn’t? I don’t even listen to it; I only listen to my indie playlist of about 300 songs. Even the movies I watch are normally indie. Now all I have on the TV is the Sirius XM indie station, the Sundance channel, and IFC (Independent Film Channel). I mean, my favorite movies are (500) Days of Summer and Wristcutters: A Love Story (which isn’t nearly as emo as it sounds). And look at the speeches I gave in Speech. The history of indie rock. I’m pretty convinced that the people that SAID they know what it is were just BSing, though.
I used to like the SLIGHTLY more mainstream music (alternative) because the songs had more structure but that’s a pretty big generalization. It completely depends on the band. If you listen to something like Animal Collective, then yeah, you’re going to get something kinda out there. But if you listen to something like She & Him, then it’s easier to understand.
My biggest beef is when people say that indie music is retarded. Well think about this: indie music is unsigned/college/underground/independent music. I’m pretty sure that the sell-out band that you’re listening to right now wasn’t always signed with Capitol records. In fact, you could consider it, at one time, an indie band…
I’m not saying that all mainstream bands are sell-outs, but seriously, what’s wrong with opening yourself up to something different??? I think that judging and stereotyping is a worse act.

Tale of Two Cities – Jan. 19

kdschmidt12 — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 20:13:27 +0000

In English, we are reading A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. This novel is about Paris and London during the French Revolution and how it affects the character’s lives. Jarvis Lorry is an English banker and Lucie Manette is a French client who learns that her father is still alive. So far in the story, Mr. Lorry has traveled over Shooter’s Hill to tell Lucie that she isn’t really an orphan. Before telling this to Lucie, Mr. Lorry had nightmares about telling this to Lucie.
Our class is reading this to improve our diction and syntax in our writing and to introduce us to different literature that we normally wouldn’t read.
I don’t like the story so far because it’s hard to follow and understand, and the story is written in a complex way. It is also harder to connect with the characters as opposed to a story I would choose to read because the characters seem to be one-dimensional.
This story is similar to our world today because of the injustices which will always exist. Poverty is still an overlooked issue. To this day we can only estimate how many homeless people there are. During Charles Dicken’s lifetime, the majority of the London population was poor. Although child labor laws have been in effect long since Dicken’s times, teenagers are still expected to get jobs by the time they can drive. This story also translates well over the years because in A Tale Of Two Cities, France in the middle of the French Revolution and currently, the US is still overseas in Iraq.

Why Blog? – 1/8

kdschmidt12 — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 19:31:00 +0000

According to the articles, the top reason for blogging to to communicate with others.
I want to go into journalism, and because some consider blogging to be journalism, I may be using blogging as a form of getting my work out to the public.
Blogging helps people in their careers by promoting their businesses.
Blogging is more about the readers than the writers because when reading a blog, it helps develop your writing while introducing you to new ideas.

http://www.blogcatalog.com/blog/diary-of-a-loverock-fiend/3dbdbd125e50b76412394953371cdf86. City of A-holes is part of Diary of a Rock/Love Fiend. This particular blog is about the author’s loved car that gets keyed.
http://www.blogcatalog.com/blog/bagel-on-a-tree/215151645a0c0c2d3707bdfa1d7f810c. Transitions, Rituals and New Year’s Resolutions is part of BAGEL ON A TREE (BOAT). This blog was about a writer who is struggling to give up blogging and change his life.
http://fortheloveofretro.blogspot.com/2009/07/action-jeans.html. Action Jeans! if part of For the love of Retro. Action Jeans! features an ad of Chuch Norris promoting jeans that “won’t bind your legs.”

I will be writing my blogs about entertainment as it is a broad category (music, art, movies, writing).

my hands are cold and this website is really confusing

kdschmidt12 — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 00:21:00 +0000

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!