Month: March 2015

Paper Towns

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Photo Credit: pbs.twimg.com

The highly anticipated movie poster for author John Green’s Paper Towns was just released, sparking interest and excitement in all fans.

Journalists are scrounging for material to write about – putting out article after article on the movie, and the poster in particular. Some articles are reaching as far as to write about how actors Cara Delevingne and Nat Wolff look like siblings, simply from the similar appearance of their eyebrows.

However, since Cara’s popularity did stem from her brows, this could be relevant for her.

Other writers are confused about the message the poster is depicting – unlike most movie posters, this one does not give much of the plot away. Many fans are complaining about this, but some are appreciative of the mystery.

This poster has brought mixed feelings from fans of the book and fans of the actors alike. An opinion that has been agreed upon, however, is how much excitement the release of the poster has brought, and how highly anticipated this movie is.

Crow Craziness

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Currently, the human species is the smartest on the planet.

I repeat, currently.

I walked into the living room and my mom was watching a TED Talk on her iPad. About what you may ask?

How freakishly intelligent crows are.

Crows have the intelligence and communication skills of a six-year-old child.

Scared? I’m just getting started.

Crows have the ability to plan, recognize faces, hold grudges, conspire with one another, and have incredible problem solving abilities. 

A university in Seattle conducted an experiment where students wore face masks and tagged each of the crows with different colored anklets to identify them, which they didn’t enjoy.

Each time the students would put on the face masks, the crows who were tagged would find the student wearing the face mask that tagged them and proceed to swoop down and harass them

Talk about holding a grudge.

Remember that next time you shoo away a crow.

You’ll know who pooped on your car.

Photo Credit: thumbs.media.smithsonianmag.com

 

The Spiders Rise pt. 1

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Sunday
11pm (on Saturday) and I’m piling wet clothes into the drying machine. A few socks fall to the ground and I feel an ominous tingle touch my spine while reaching for them. In the gap between two machines is one of the largest spiders I’ve ever seen in my life, about an inch long with legs. Now, I’m not afraid of spiders, but I could’ve sworn that this one was looking right at me.

Photo cred – Spiders.us

That night (or morning), all was well until 3am. Alarms blared and the whole dorm seemed to shake as 40 girls fell out of bed. The fire alarm had been triggered, and the standard protocol was to all file outside into our circular driveway.

I was in such a rush that I forgot my shoes and glasses, which normally wouldn’t be a problem. It was dark out and the little moonlight we had were shadowed by the bodies of stumbling girls. Twice I nearly fell down the stairs.

The real kicker? There was no fire. And we all knew it.

Monday
While making tea that morning, a (rather normal sized) spider scuttled across my feet and made its way out the door. Spiders are very normal occurrences around the girl’s dorm, but most of them actively avoid humans. So this was a very, very odd thing to experience early in the morning.

Everybody went to bed that night as usual, not suspecting a repeat of the night before.

5am came around and the same shrill sirens went off, startling the dorm and ejecting the girls into the cold. I remembered my shoes this time, but it was still cold, dark, and disorienting. 5am was an odd time for us to wake up, as most girls wake at 6:30 anyways. I considered staying up, but I couldn’t keep my eyes open long enough to decide.

I knew that this was just the beginning.

White Students Terrorize an American Classmate

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I recently watched a shocking video where a little boy named Harsukh Singh is terrorized by his classmates who claim he is a terrorist. It seems to be a common occurrence when he rides the bus, because he felt the need to film it. Why is it fair that one child can be excluded from the rest of his fellow-American classmates, and be blamed for a series of horrible events that happened all over the world?

I guarantee that the boy is not responsible for the World Trade Center, the Boston Bombing, or Charlie Hebdo. In the video he says “Kids are being racist to me and calling me an Afghani terrorist. Please don’t act like this towards people like me you don’t know. I’m not Muslim, I’m Sikh”.

The bullies think they are different from a terrorist. But the definition of a terrorist is someone who inflicts fear and has a political aim. I believe it’s more than just scaring the government; it’s about inflicting terror into the people, making it seem like not even the government can help. Everyday, United States citizens make people who look like Harsukh Singh feel like they are the bad guy and go out of their way to verbally, or even sometimes physically, attack them.

Each person who contributes to creating the terrorist stereotype is, in fact, a terrorist themselves. Maybe not individually, but in the bigger picture a large number of people bullying people of one specific skin tone is a form of terrorism.

Harsukh Singh is a smart boy, and he has already changed many lives by realizing the real way for power is through social media. I hope that a big news story is written on this, and the title should be “White Terrorists Terrorize an American Student”. Nowhere in that story should they blame Singh, or even mention religion. Even if this video isn’t covered in the news, hopefully the bullies will look back on this and realize what they did was wrong.

Hot or Cold?

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The weather in Ojai compared to Portland is insanely different, and is treated in contrasting ways as well. It is so cold in Portland and so hot in Ojai, that whenever the weather crosses over into unknown territory, people react in extreme ways.

In Portland, as soon as the weather reaches 55-60˚, people are digging out their shorts and tank-tops, all the while raving about the wonderful weather. In these newfound outfits, they will venture out on hikes, set out to take pictures, or really do anything to be outside.

Californians, on the other hand, throw on their down jackets as soon as the sun ducks behind the clouds. If it’s below 75˚, sweatshirts and boots can be found as far as the eye can see.

What Portlanders consider to be the nicest possible weather, Californians refer to as freezing. After spending time in both locations, I can grow to appreciate both temperatures. However, I have to agree with the Portland mindset.

Photo Credit: photoblog/dynamic_media/photoblog/portland-sign-broadway-street.jpg

 

Generation Gap

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Most children rebel against their parents as they’re growing up, which is truthfully just a part of life. These children often swear to parent their kids completely differently than the way they were parented. Whether they follow through with that is a different matter entirely.

Parents constantly argue that they are helping their children, and that their actions are actually for the child’s benefit. However true this is, their actions are actually not always the best option.

If kids are unhappy with the way they were raised, they can always go on and raise their future kids in an entirely different manner. However, because of family norms, these children do often adopt characteristics of their parents’ ways, and follow them in that aspect.

Types of parenting vary from family to family, and the way one takes after their elders is entirely subjective. Depending on family history and personal experiences/beliefs, each generation is raised with individual values.

Photo Credit: http://www.singleforareason.com

 

Newsroom Newbie

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Photo Credit: keithsrevolution.com

Due to the fact that I am a seventeen year old girl, my general topic choice for T.V. shows is mainly based around drama and vampires.

Recently, in Journalism class, we began watching “The Newsroom”, realistic drama based around life in a newsroom. This show includes their struggle to have the most updated facts about major events that actually did occur in history.

I can honestly say no other show has intrigued me to this extent.

The realistic way this show is written involves it’s audience to the fullest extent. Every time our class has watched, I am completely zoned out and concentrated on the show.

The plot of “The Newsroom” consists of a team of news correspondents who work together to be the most updated broadcasting show on the air. Between trying their best to say the right thing (morally and politically), you learn about each of the character’s personal struggles along the way.

My blog does this show no justice, I guarantee it will be your next T.V. show obsession.

Now go watch.