Top Ten Movie Flicks

            So the assignment was to narrow down all the movies in the entire world, and decide on my top ten movies of all time. Although this should not be a difficult assignment, it took me a while to choose only ten. I would usually sort my top ten movies into different types, such as, top ten scary movies or top ten romantic comdies. Since I was not able to do that, it made this harder to accomplish. However, I did do it.

10.  Rent:  For those of you who do not know of this movie it is a rock opera about several people who tell all their problems. You may not think it sounds very interesting, but the passion they all sing with throughout the movie captivates you. Each person has their own hidden problem, some are obvious but others however, are not seen or told of until the very end.
9. Live Free or Die Hard: This movie, starring Bruce Willis, is full of action and suspense until the very end. Bruce Willis plays an FBI agent with a mission of bringing in a hacker back to the head quarters. However, the mission is interrupted when chaos breaks loose through Washington because of another powerful hacker who intends on getting what he wants, acknowledgement and power, by shutting down all electricity. Sound exciting? Want to hear more? Well, if you want to know, watch it!
8. Miracle: This movie is based on one of the greatest moments in sports history. In the 1980 Olympics, the US was to play Russia to go for the Gold. The odds looked bad for the US because their team was made up of college kids who were going to play against the strong Soviets. What makes the movie so great is that a team of various personalities, and talents came together along with the support of the rest of the nation, to beat the greatest team known. In the movie, the coach played by Kurt Russell, gives a speech to the team  to give them hope, and telling them to believe in themselves. This speech is used to this day to inspire other teams to succeed as well.
7. Twilight (Any):  These movies are all about passion between two forbidden lovers. Bella, a human, falls in love with Edward, a vampire, and everyone believes this love can never be true between such different people. They both know that this is not a normal nor safe thing to be involved in, but their love and passion for each other keeps them together. Several obstacles and people get between their love, but they always find their way back to one another in the end.
6. Mulan: Some may laugh at this being my number sixth favorite movie, but it is true. Some people have outgrown the Walt Disney movie faze, however, I can easily watch this movie over and over again and it never gets old. I can proudly admit that I know every word to the movie including every song. I had quite the obsession with this movie when I was little, that I dressed up as Mulan twice for halloween and even had a Mulan birthday party with a Mulan cake. Embarrassing? Not quite. Actually, not at all. I am not afraid to say that I still love this movie to this day.
5. P.S. I Love You: Every time I watch this movie, it brings tears of joy to my eyes. Though it is suppose to be a depressing movie, I think it is a beautiful story. A couple who was madly in love with several hopes and dreams together is broken apart tragically. The boyfriend dies. The girlfriend suffers traumatically and becomes severly depressed. She loses contact with her friends and family, lacks personal hygiene and is all around in a bad state of mind. Then she starts recieving notes and presents who we find out is from her boyfriend. He made several notes to her before died and each one takes her on an adventure. He has her relive the past in hope that she will be able to move on and let go and be happy. The fact that he planned all this before he died, shows how much he truely loved and cared about her and I think that is what makes this story so beautiful.
4. The Ugly Truth: This movie like "P.S I Love You" also stars Gerard Butler. A news director Abby Richter played by Katherine Heigl rarely goes on dates or finds anyone that moderately interests her because of her high standards. This is where Mike Chadway, Gerard Butler, comes in. He plays a perverted man who has a low ranking television show that degrades woman. After watching one episode, Abby calls in and complains during a large argument. Later, her boss highers Mike to have his own short segway on the news. Mike and Abby realize how they know each other and instantly hate one another. Later, Mike helps Abby become a suitable dater for men. Though he does not realize or admit it, he has made her into a girl that he falls in love with. Abby is currently dating someone and they become serious but something is holding her from fully committing to the relationship. It is her love for mike. Finally, by the end of the movie, they tell each other they love one another while shooting an episode in a hot air balloon.
3. Dear John: This romatntic Drama is about a soldier, John, played by Channing Tatum, who falls in love with a college student, Savannah, played by Amanda Seyfeild, while he is at home on leave. It took them only two weeks to fall in love, and then John had to return back to the army to fulfill his duties. He planned on leaving after his terrm but because of the 9-11 attacks, he re-signs causing troubles between their love while he is away. While at home, Savannah has to deal with her own issues and obstacles making their relationship almost impossible to hold onto. Throughout their relationship, they wrote letters back and forth between one another until one day, Savannah never sends back a letter to John. He becomes worried and after two months, he finally recieves one. She broke up with him in the letter proving obstacles at home got to be too much. Yes this movie is a total "chick flick" but it is indeed a great one.
2. The Notebook: Everyone had to know this movie was coming after seeing that "Dear John" was my number three. This movie is also about forbidden love between a high class woman and a poor, worthless man. Her parents do not approve of their relationship or him and that later proves to be a problem in the end. This movie is very long, but each and every moment is critical. I am not going to lie, this movie gets to me every time so if your a total sap like myself, I recommend having a box of tissues by your side.
1. Titanic: Yes, my favorite movie in the entire world is Titantic. This movie is an absolute classic and I love it. This movie captivates me, making me feel like I am almost like part of the movie and that just proves how good of a movie it is. The relationship and love between Rose and Jack is breath taking and beautiful. Several obstables arouse through out the movie but their love is never fully hidden. If you have yet to see this entire movie, well, shame on you. It is indeed a must see at least once in your life!

Themes in Death of a Salesman

          Within the story, "Death of a Salesman", two major themes are visibly shown multiple times. One of the major themes is individual vs society. Willy does not approve of himself or anything he has done in his life time because he is always comparing his achievements to others. He is making a bare minimum amount of money to support his family and he is discouraged about this because he wishes he could have done more. Because he is so disapproving of himself, he tries to live his life through his two sons, persuading them to do certain things he did not do or could not do. He compares himself to his brother who constantly tells the story that he "walked into the jungle, I was seventeen. When I walked out I was twenty-one. And by God, I was rich!"(37). Willy knows he can never top that success story so he battles the idea of disappointing the people around him every day.
    The second major theme in the "Death of a Salesman" is individual vs. self. Not only is Willy battling the idea of disappointing society but he is also battling this idea of disappointment within himself. He could never live up to his brothers standards or success so he ends up being depressed and angry with him. He is always trying to pretend like he is achieving great success when reality it is just the opposite. For example, how he drives to California and only brings back around fifty dollars, he lies to his family about how much he is making and where he had to put the rest of the missing money towards to make it seem like he is doing well when he is really failing miserably.

Death of a Salesman Responses

           As boys, Happy and Biff are taught the values of certain things in life by Willy. He tells them about how their Uncle Ben "walked into the jungle" and when he walked out, he was rich. He is trying to teach his kids to be upfront in life and understand the worth of money so that when they get older they can also succeed like their Uncle Ben. I believe these are worthwhile concepts for any father to teach his sons so they can learn how to be successful and responsible when they grow up. He is showing them that if they try hard in life, it will pay off in the end.
           These inconsistenet statements Willy is saying tells the reader that he is slowly going senile and has been for quite some time. When he describes Biff as lazy he was really describing himself and then he quickly contradicts himself by saying Biff is not lazy. Willy can no longer make up his mind about things anymore. Linda plays along with what Willy says to keep him happy. Biff and Happy notice he is going crazy but they do not confront him. I think Linda is helping him because he can not except he is going crazy so instead she chooses to keep him happy rather than making him suffer.

Its been awhile...

            So, the last time I blogged was about two weeks ago and there is a lot of catching up to do! A lot has happened in the past two weeks that needs to be discussed. Where do I start? How about with recieving our progress reports?! Well, I did fairly well on my progress reports, all a's and b's, but that is not the problem. Progress reports get me so stressed out, its awful. I hate the week before grades close when teachers are cramming in last minute tests and quizzes that are most definitely unneeded. I end up failing half of them and my grade goes from an A to an F in the blink of an eye. Okay, that was quite the exaggeration but still its crazy. 
            Another thing that was missed was Mr. Bresnick assign us that wonderful essay that is actually do tomorrow. I chose to discuss publicly bearing your sin instead of holding it inside. In general it sets you free from the burden you would be carrying around of lying and feeling guilty. Though others would chose to keep it inside, I would not. It is all just a personal preference depending on the situation itself.
            A final thing that was missed was our vocabulary quiz! There was thirty words to memorize for it and of course I chose to wait until the last second to study. I made flash cards the night before the test and crammed all night and until the morning of the test. Though that was not the smartest idea, I had memorized the words. I ended up walking in class that day and the test was bumped. I had more time to study to truly be prepared! How lucky was I? Now I know this will not always happen so I have to make sure I prepare earlier.

Coulrophobia.

            It was brought up in class today, a discussion about clowns. Why was this a part of classroom discussion? That answer I still do not know. All I know is that it was brought up and I hated every second of the conversation. If your wondering what I am getting to with this blog, well here it is... I, Claryssa Cunniff, absolutely hate clowns. Now your probably thinking that that is stupid and ridiculous, well, I begged to differ!
            I know your all thinking, what could have possibly happened in her life that was so traumatic that led her to her hatred of clowns. Just your luck, I am about to tell you! Ever since I was a little girl my fear of clowns only continues to grow stronger. When I was younger, one halloween, I dressed as Mulan. I had the dress, the stuffed animal mushu and the comb. I was officially ready to go trick or treating. I had gone to a couple of houses with my friends and parents and then I came to one house. The decorations were really creepy and at first I was afraid to go. Then I saw the best thing ever...a bowl of candy just sitting there on the stairs! Every kids dream to have a bowl of candy sitting there calling your name. Of course because I knew there was that much candy at the house, I had to go. So I began to trail over to the walkway followed slowly by my friends who were still timid about going. I reached my destination, the candy bowl and began throwing candy into my bag. I yelled to my friends I would save them some. Then out of no where a clown jumps out at me. I scream at the top of my lungs and begin to cry my eyes out. I throw my bag of candy on the ground and ran to my parents. The clown walked pacefully behind me honking his nose. I thought this was a nightmare that I could not wake up from, but that was not the case. It was reality and I was scared. I ran to my parents and they were laughing. It turns out that it was my neighbor playing tricks on the trick or treaters. Though he apologized, I was scarred for life. From then on my halloween has never been the same.
           Now obviously your thinking that that was the stupidest story you had ever heard, well that is not that only reason I hate clowns, that just adds to it. Now another reason I hate clowns is the movie "It". I do not recommend that movie to anyone because I am officially scarred for life. Clowns really freak me out for one other major reason. That reason being, the face paint. I can not tell the emotion of the clown because the smile and entire face is painted on. It just gives a creepy appearance and the clown is constantly smiling even when he might not be happy. Does that seem normal to you? I did not think so! So that pretty much summarizes why I absolutely hate clowns.

ATTENTION: DAN FRAZEE!

     On Wednesday, Mr. Bresnick gave us a chance to work in groups to fix our thesis statements for our essay. He put us in groups of two or three to discuss necessary changes that needed to be made in our thesis statements. I liked this idea because I personally needed helping starting and getting ideas for my thesis statement. I am not so good at writing them and this gave me a chance to get the help I needed.
      My group was Mitch Viall, Dan Frazee and I. Although we were in a group together, we each had different topics that we chose for our essays. Dan chose to write about Abigail William's motivation. Mitch chose to write about ignorance as a major theme in The Crucible . I personally chose to write about theme also. My theme talks about how people tend to ignore things that they do not want to believe is true.
 Some may not agree that this is the major theme and I would wish to hear other opinions. My examples for characters who represent this theme are Parris, Abigail and Proctor. Each character chooses to ignore the truth about reality because they cannot face it.
    Although my topic is a major theme in The Crucible, it is also a reoccuring theme in society. If someone does not want to believe a true statement, they tend to continue to ignore it to please themselves and some times others also. For example, when a person has a crush on someone who does not like them back, they try to ignore the fact that the person does not feel the same way. That example relates back to Abigail Williams who believes John Proctor is madly in love with her when truth be told, he does not.
   

Last Minute Blogging.

        In class we are reading "The Crucible", a play about the withcraft in Salem. The title itself seemed unappealing to me, so the idea of reading this book was almost dreadful. I decided to look up the definition of the title because I had never heard of such a thing before. The definition is basically an object made of material thats usually used with a chemical reaction because it does not melt easily. Now here is where I am confused... How could that possibly relate to the story of the Salem Witch Trials? Any ideas? Because I have zero.
       As I started to read the story, I became some what interested in it. The idea of women going to jail and being hanged because other people are pointing fingers at them saying they are involved in witchcraft is unheard of. With little proof were women arrested in put in jail. I would just like to know, how is that justified? Lives were lost for the belief that they were some how involved in it. However, some women were proven to be involved in such actions and were later killed.
      I think it's funny as kids for halloween we would dress up as witches and go around trick or treating. Little did we know that witches supposively existed in Salem and caused several problems in town. I know that I personally did not know very much about the witchcraft that accured in Salem. Yea, some times it came up in a conversation once in a blue moon but that was rarely. As I continue to read the Crucible, I learn more and more about the events that took place in Salem and it continues to fascinate me.

Randoming blogging

      So in class, we spent the first thirty minutes of class talking about Harry Potter. However, I did not include myself in the conversation about Harry Potter because I know little about the movies and books. I'm embaressed to say I have never read a full Harry Potter book nor have I seen many of the movies. I have absolutely no idea what is going on so therefore, I did not have much to say about the topic. Some may be in shock and others may be appalled by the news, but I personally have never had much interest in Harry Potter. Maybe some one could change my mind some day but as of right now my opinion is settled.
     I do not understand what is so great about Harry Potter in general. Can someone tell me? He is magical and he goes to a magical school. When I watch some of the movies I personally get freaked out by some of the characters and events taking place in the movie. I admit, the idea of Harry Potter is creative and different but alittle too different for my liking. Maybe if I had read the books I would be more interested in it today.
     So I am hoping because I wrote this blog that my questions about Harry Potter will finally be answered. I need someone to prove to me that Harry Potter is really as great as it is made out to be. From what I heard in class, there are several people who are quite fond of the stories. However, everyone has their own opinion and some could have the same feeling about Harry Potter as I do. So for the people with similar opinions as me, I am speaking out for them as well.

The Puritan Dream

           As it is described in the Puritan chapter, several cultures came over from their home land to America in search of finding a better life with more opportunities. America became known as the promised land for the idea of a chance of achieving and living the American Dream. The Puritans came over from England in the 1630s mainly to expand their religion which they believed could not happen in their home land. On page thirteen of "Dream of the Good Life" it says, "it is only because of their dream that those Americans who followed had theirs". They looked for greatness in America when they did not think they could fulfill it in England. The Puritans strived for success which inspired Americans to do the same.
        Puritan is the root word of "puritanical" which is a synonym for intolerance. The puritan people were known as very unpleasant people who believed they were better than everyone else. An English clergy-man wrote, "We call you Puritans, not because you are pureer than other men... but because you think yourselves to be purer"(12). I believe in the beginning, the reputation of the Puritans fit them well because they believed they were above all the rest and everything came easy to them. However that belief changed when they came over to America to achieve their dreams. They finally realised that nothing is easy and in order to succeed takes great sacrifice and hard work.

Achieving Greatness

      The American Dream has always been a topic of discussion throughout my life whether it was talked about in school or at home. I have heard of several definitions of the American Dream but I believe everyone has different opinions of actually achieving it. I personally think the American Dream is achieveing greatness and being able to improve one's future if they choose to do so. Someone's American Dream could simply mean having the basic necessities of life which includes shelter, food and water. Others could wish to achieve much more.
      Although this idea of achieving greatness is known as the "American Dream", all over the world people are striving to succeed in life. Whether its in Europe or Africa or still here in the United States, everyone tries to make the most of their life and they work hard each and every day to keep this idea alive. However, some must work harder than others to achieve the dream. For example, America is made up of immigrants from all over the world. These people come over from their home land to America for more opportunities in the life that they believed they could not get at home. With the idea of the American Dream comes many sacrifices. For example, immigrants who come over to America have to leave behind their home and sometimes their family. However, this is a sacrifice a person must be willing to make in order to improve their life.
     For my distant family, they mainly came over here from Ireland in hope to start a better life for their family. They knew that their were more opportunities over here and they made the sacrifice to leave their old life behind. My immediately family took advantage of the sacrifices my distant family made to make their life better and improve their futures. My parents say that their American Dream was just to be able to supply for my brother and I and give us a life where we could build our own American Dream. Even through the rough times with the recession, my parents continue to work hard to give my brother and I everything we need in life. Because of the recession, most families live paycheck to paycheck with little extra money after paying off bills. My parents gave me opportunities in life where I reach for greatness through education, sports and more. My parents taught me that in order to achieve success, I must work hard every day because nothing comes easily. I use to take everything I had for granted until I realized how hard my whole family has worked to build the basis of a good life for me and for that I thank them for making the sacrificies they made in order for me to have my own American Dream.