“You Always Hurt the One You Love” – The Mills Brothers

Back in April, one of my assignments for class was to pick any movie and review it. The following is that review. Keep in mind that this is my first movie review, so be kind.

Kill Your Darlings is a 2013 biographical film, directed by John Krokidas. It first premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to positive reviews. The film is about the 1950s beat poet Allen Ginsberg (Daniel Radcliffe) as he enters his first year at Columbia University in New York City. It plays heavily on his relationship with fellow student Lucien Carr (Dane DeHaan) as they band together to bring the Beat Generation to life.

“Stayin’ Alive” – Bee Gees

I received that text from my dad a few months ago, and wrote him an essay in response, which frankly, I’m very happy with. This is that essay.

Of the bad guys (including Snape, because while he was “okay” and “the bravest man [Harry] ever knew,” in the end his love for Lily was essentially his only good quality – he was a horrifically bad person in every other respect – that’s an entirely different essay, though) they were the most good, but they had some messed up principles. I quote from J.K. Rowling (Pottermore): “Draco was raised in an atmosphere of regret that the Dark Lord had not succeeded in taking command of the wizarding community, although he was prudently reminded that such sentiments ought not to be expressed outside the small circle of the family and their close friends ‘or Daddy might get into trouble.‘” That shows that the Malfoys (or at least Lucius) knew that what he believed in was, to put it lightly, the “unpopular opinion” of the wizarding world. 

“A New Beginning” – Alexandre Desplat

I don’t really know what to say. Tomorrow is the last day. I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet, understandably. I say understandably because for the past three years, the end of the year meant a brief hiatus from Booker T. and a new start in a few months’ time. But this is different (obviously). This time, I’m not coming back – not as a student. In just a few weeks, I’ll no longer be a student at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, and that’s something I can’t quite bring myself to say aloud; it leaves a strange taste. 

“Run Boy Run” – Woodkid

We observe today not a victory of Inner Party but a celebration of unwar–symbolizing an unbeginning as well as a beginning–signifying unchange as well as change. For I have sworn before you and Big Brother the same solemn oath our comrades prescribed almostful 100yp and 3rd quarters ago…

“There’s a Beast and We All Feed It” – Jake Bugg

Matthew was only a child when the war began. If his memory served him right, he was five years old – although if he thought about it, he’d remember turning six just before the War Time began. Now, his mother told him stories of the old Gratia. There was a time when there was no war. The streets were overrun with crime. Men killed their fellow men for no reason other than an unwanted look. Everyone hated one another and no one was to be trusted. Even families lived in fear that they may say or do something to lose the love and care of their kin. Then came the war.

“505” – Arctic Monkeys

The lights evacuated the stage once more and the foggy room turned into a flurry of whistles, screams, cheers. Bodies rubbed uncomfortably against each other, each one trapped in an effort to be closer to the action. There wasn’t a vacant seat in sight, and the small area just in front of the elevated stage remained filled to capacity, despite the threat of incoming curfew determined by the setting sun. Thirty feet above the heads of the musicians, lights cast their mixture of reds greens and purples, illuminating drum sets and guitars, temporarily blinding the guests, all weary from their travels and from the lateness of the hour. As the screams of hundreds of young adults died down, the frontman – a slim man with a face you’d recognize if you saw it in a lineup – stepped forward, and soon his self-penned melodies overpowered the room. His voice was reminiscent of red velvet cupcakes. Rich, with a smooth, sweet frosting. He crooned in such a way that put Elvis himself, the King of Rock to shame. Hitting every note with shocking precision, he poured his heart and soul out of his lips and into the metal netting over the microphone. It would be easy to get lost in his voice, and the way that he accented every word with his origin story. Sure, the stage had seen many great acts in its time – and surely would see many more, and this night would be forgotten over the days and months and years past its happening, but to the crowd at hand and to the four characteristically well-dressed men on stage, all that was happening now – all that was important now – was this hour, this minute, this second.

“Icarus” – Bastille

Every good work of literature, television, or movie has it: hamartia. Hamartia is a really bad decision – the tragic flaw or the tragic mistake. There is no way to go back; this is the mistake where there is nothing you can do to fix it. However, hamartia has two common definitions. One of them is the former (bad decision), and the other is also known as the fatal flaw, or the unavoidable character trait that will undoubtedly cause a character’s demise. Fortunately, there are several examples of both definitions.

“Blue Moon” – Sam Cooke

‘Tis the season to be thinking about the monsters that hide in the bushes, under your bed, and within the pages of a book or behind a television screen. When I think Halloween, a few monsters come to mind: vampires, ghosts, and most importantly, werewolves.

Caves and Hobbits and Wizards (oh, my!)

Chapter 12.

I remember my 8^th grade English teacher saying on a number of occasions whenever people had different opinions on a certain symbol (as was often the case in Of Mice and Men) that all of us were right. I mean, not ALL of us, but what she was trying to say was that there were enough interpretations that it really became more of a personal matter – none of us were going to read the book in the same way, and so long as we got the main idea of the book (the American dream and all that), we were free to interpret most of the symbols however we wanted to.

Of Animation and Flight

Chapter 15.

Prepare yourself: this entry will be full of discussion of animated movies.