An Ode to the French Fry

This afternoon, when several other IB students and I were all huddled together on the Sea Isle Elementary School stage, directing the 4th and 5th grade CLUE students' performances of their own original spins on various Greek myths (whoo! What and intro, eh?), it hit me: I'm getting old!

I mean, here I was , surrounded a bunch of ten-year-olds still squeamish over holding each other's hands for fear of cooties, and all I could think was Holy crab-cakes, I'm getting some serious mileage! In reality, these kids were born when I was like what? Five, six,years old?  Now they're all looking up to me in wide-eyed wonder, fascinated that my best-friend can drive, and I have a true-blue cell phone! Which brings me to french fries.

When I was ten, I had an obsession with fast food, or, more specifically, McDonald's french fries--that and Joe Jonas. As a child, my whole world revolved around who was dating 'my man' and whether or not my mom would make that pit-stop at the Mickey D's around the corner everyday after school so I could get my french-fry fix. These kids, however, have their eyes set on Harvard, and Broadway, and making a real difference in the world--not that I wasn't, considering I had my whole life planned out at age six--but all I as a young woman, ready to leave the comfort of home and brave the unknown of college life, can think of is how simple life back then was and wish for a day to go back in time when all that really counted in life were french fries...and the Jo Bros...

*Yes I do realize this was not an ode, but I felt like calling it an ode so an ode it will be :P *

Sherrod's note: pseudo-ode

An Open Letter To Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines"

It's been brought to my attention that this is becoming one of the most popular songs ever. Like, it's surpassing even some of Michael Jackson's most famous hits. This frustrates me for multiple reasons and I"m going to create a list for you all, just so you can understand my frustration.

• I understand that the song is catchy, I do. But, the music isn't even originally his. The melody was taken from some older song that I can't remember the name of but my mom loves. And, yes, I understand that he is not the first person to use other people's mixes for his songs. That's been done millions of times. It's just annoying that almost everyone is acting like he's some producing genius when it's not even his music.
• Then there's the lyrics. The words are just down right rude and degrading to women and, if he used these actual lines on actual women, there's like a 99.9% chance he'd get slapped or have a drink tossed in his face. Also, some of these lines are words that rapists have said to their victims. If one more person tells me it's "just a song" they will probably get smacked.
• Now, let's talk about the video. The video for the song is full of women parading around naked. All of them look absolutely miserable, for one thing. Then, they're being followed around and touched by these men who are all fully clothed. It's not even the fact that they're wearing clothes. It's the fact that they're wearing suits, a form of clothing usually associated with power. When people say they are "naked" metaphorically, it means they are vulnerable. So we have all of these "vulnerable" women being followed around by "powerful" or "dominant" men. 
• The "Blurred Lines", in this case, are the lines between saying "No" and saying "Yes". By constantly saying "I know you want it", Robin is basically saying "You don't mean no. You mean yes." But I'm saying that there are no 'blurred' lines. No means no.

This song is rape culture in its purest form and I despise it with all my heart. I don't care if I'm "overreacting" because a song like this should not be as popular as it is. It's disgusting, to be honest.
But, hey, maybe I am overreacting and maybe it is "just as song". I'll be able to sleep so much better at night knowing "it's just a song."

Why I can't finish my math tests on time (besides them being really hard)

So our IB mathematics teacher keeps telling us that these tests he's giving are easy and that we should have learned all of the things we've been covering from algebra 2.
Well, there's a problem with that: the only thing we learned in algebra 2 is how to sing the quadratic formula to the tune of  "all around the mulberry bush," and even that is debatable since some of us learned that in geometry.
Long story short, the average grade on the last test he gave us was about a 33%
He maintains that it was an easy test
I wanted to flip a table
(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
Anyway...
I've decided that one of the many factors contributing to my low test grades is that I get distracted too easily (you'd think I would have thought of this sooner since I have ADD, but, nooooo)
To illustrate just how distracted I get, and just how easily, I whipped up this video.
Coincidentally, I did the whole thing in the middle of my math homework... 
I mean, I did this in my spare time...

Yep, that's me... and yes, I do have green hair, and no, this is not an exaggeration. Just ask Michelle and Mariatu.

So, I should get some sleep now, because, well

When do teachers all assign important projects at the same time?

I wish you all minimal homework and maximum GPAs.



Live long and prosper
Sherrod

U8RTENJFH39E

An Open Letter To Hollywood

There are plenty of places I can go with this, but I want to talk about the accuracy of book-to-movie productions. Sometimes you get really close and that's great. I applaud you. But, sometimes it seems like you just throw the book in the blender and do what you want with the pieces that survive.

I understand that it may be difficult to find talented actors that perfectly match descriptions in the books, but if that detail is vital to the plot or is brought up constantly (i.e. Harry Potter having his mother's eyes) then maybe you could try just a little harder to at least edit it to match the description. It's not that hard to get colored contacts.

Also, I really hate what you did with the City of Bones movie because there are so many things wrong with it. The Nephilim are European, yes, but European does not equate to British. Based on the book, Idris, the Nephilim nation, is closer to Germany than the UK. Plus, an accent wasn't even necessary considering that the three main Nephilim characters grew up in America.


***SPOILER ALERT*** 
hopeful movie viewers/book readers DO NOT PROCEED!








Then there's the fact that you completely ruined the concept of the second movie! When they went to see Madame Dorothea, no one but Clary knew where the Mortal Cup was, so having Jace point it out immediately was ridiculous. Also, when Valentine was finally physically present, he didn't know that Clary was in the room. Oh, and, at the end? Yeah, Valentine was supposed to have the cup, not Clary. The main point of City of Ashes is that Valentine obtained the Mortal Instruments. If Clary still has it, how is that going to work? Oh, yeah. It's not! Valentine's whole entire plot has basically fallen apart in your incapable hands!

Please refrain from making movies based on books if you are not going to do it properly. It would save every book lover a lot of grief.

Michelle

A Review (or critique depending on how you look at it) of the Teen Icon

It's times like these, when I'm holed up in my room doing homework, that I realize how lucky I am to not be a teen superstar and/or sensation; their life sucks and in some instances, they're straight up awful people.

As an average teenager, I am allowed the luxury of sleeping whenever, for however long I'd like (until my mom walks in and screams for me to get up). These teen idols, however, are forced to live on a routinized schedule prohibiting them from just sleeping in or gallivanting around the town with their friends.

I, unlike the 'perfect' teen idols, can eat what I want--which I take full advantage of--and don't have to worry about whether studio executive will whine at me for not being fit and trim. This is not to say I eat excessively--well actually I do, but my metabolism loves me right now--but teen idols don't get to just have a nacho party when they're craving some nachos really badly. So really, I have nothing against these people, in fact I sympathize with them; that is until they become self-centered brats with intense god-complexes. That's right, I'm talking Bieber, Aaron Carter, and all those other teen idols that went cuckoo bananas the second fame hit them in the face like a sack of elephants.

I just can't understand what would prompt these children to believe themselves to be so superior and therefore have the right to spit on their fans, urinate in mop buckets, and do other horrendous atrocities. It just doesn't make sense! Perhaps the exhaustion of being worked like pack-mules for so many years zapped their brains or something; frankly I don't know nor do I care, but whatever the reason, it's no excuse to be a butt. Just saying.

-Mariatu 

Because English...

Commonly held idea: babies keep their parents up all night
Equally common expression: "to sleep like a baby" meaning to sleep well or soundly
What the juice box, English speaking world!?

The Great Gasby

Recently, on one of my many book hunting expeditions, I picked up a used copy of The Great Gatsby. I am slightly ticked off that the copy in best condition still had loads of extremely bad writing in it, however it's not worn or anything like that, so I'll ignore that. What I wanted to talk about, though, was Gatsby himself.

Now, if you've seen the movie (original or modern, it doesn't matter) or read the book, you understand that Gatsby is a very extravagant man. He's wealthy, throws parties almost every night (we'll talk about why later), and is supposedly Oxford educated (a lot of their characters have their own opinions on the validity of that).

Here's my problem with Gatsby. He's very odd. Let's back up to the parties. He threw these parties in hopes of seeing an old flame, Daisy, yet he never actually invites her to these parties. He bought a mansion so he could live across the bay from this same woman. Who is married. He hasn't spoken to this woman at all and is getting all of her friends to set up a meeting between the two of them. I just found the whole "I read the Chicago paper in hopes to see her name" creepy. It's almost an obsession for him.

I'll admit that I am only halfway through the book, so maybe my disliking of him might change by the end. Maybe not. We'll just wait and see.

Michelle

A Commentary on Popular Culture and the American Psyche

First, this is a video of Tom Hiddleston reading Shakespeare's sonnet 18.

Now, hear me out, I won't take long (we only have a few moments until every fangirl on the internet faints, anyways). As most of you (at least those of you who aren't living under a rock... and aren't my mom) probably know, this man, more specifically, this British man with a nice accent and immeasurable fame, played Loki on the box office smash The Avengers. He recently took the stage at Comic Con in full costume and the crowd basically obeyed his every whim. Frankly, he was exponentially more successful at Comic Con than he was in the actual movie. You need only read one of the many articles describing the incident, or watch a video, or read the comments on the above youtube clip to determine for yourself how many and devoted are his fans.
And to this I say... Seriously?
I mean, forget Loki! Tom Hiddleston could rally a veritable army without any Norse or Marvel cannon behind him. If all the time the internet devotes to Tom Hiddleston was devoted, instead, to volunteering at homeless shelters or otherwise helping the community, how much would our neighborhoods improve!? Think about it...
Not that there's anything wrong with people being famous, or with non-famous people being interested in them and their lives, it's just that it's such a funny thing to think that we allocate so much of our time and resources to keeping up with these strangers who we don't know and who don't know us.
Like the internet.
Or professional football.

Given virtually unlimited knowledge and monetary resources, what do we do?
We procrastinate and we pay people ridiculous amounts of money to give each other brain damage.
At the very least we watch the commercials.

And on that note I will leave you with your thoughts.


Live long and prosper
Sherrod

An Open Letter to the Slackers

*From now on, the majority of my posts will be made in pink as I find the color pretty :)*

Dear teenagers that come to school high, drunk, and/or wasted,

It is nearly impossible for me to fathom. I will not, do not, and cannot understand your lackadaisical approach to life. No disrespect intended, but honestly, don't you care about anything?! I get it: you're only young once, but dude, you can only fail a grade so many times.

Perhaps as an overachieving self-proclaimed dork, I am not able to comprehend how cool it is to just not worry about my college resume, and future, but at the same time, don't you want to succeed at something or be able to say you got an 'A' at least once after you got past the first grade?

You can't be young forever, despite what Twilight, One Direction, and whoever else says; wise up, crack open a book, and be realistic about the road you're headed down.

Sincerely,

Mariatu

Introducing Me

Good morning, afternoon, night (depending on where you are)

I'm Mariatu, that's Mary-ought-to...it's kind of like a pun. Like any non-normal teenage girl, I spend my free time practicing my Spanish via one-sided conversations with my mother, long walks on imaginary beaches, dreaming of moving to Canada, and spending countless hours with my face glued to my laptop screen so I can get my latest fix of Netflix.( I'm currently watching The Gates, which I highly recommend if you're bored out of your mind.) I'm actually quite bubbly and also quite tall, and very much of a dork. Someday I plan to pursue a career as a lawyer, but for now I'm toughing it out as a junior in my school's IB program. I hope you enjoy our blog...well even if you don't we'll continue to post anyway, but...

Comment if you like us, don't comment if you don't and remember to just keep swimming ;)

-Mariatu

An open letter to everyone who sags

I really don't understand the purpose of sagging. I mean, really. For those of you who don't know, sagging originated in prison to show everyone that you belonged to someone. Now, it's one of the most popular fashion trends among men and some girls. I honestly don't see why people find that appealing in any way. 

I do not want to walk down the hallways and catch a glimpse of your Ninja Turtle boxers. I just don't. And, the people who try to justify it by wearing basketball shorts underneath, you're still doing it. There are even people who manage to sag while wearing a belt. What is the purpose of even wearing the belt?! You're not using it! If you haven't realized by now, belts were created to hold pants up at your hips or waist or wherever pants are meant to sit. They are not meant to keep the fabric clinging around your knees.

That's another thing! At first, it was just a little sag, maybe just a bit of boxer. Now, there are guys walking around having to hold their pants up because they're almost below their knees. How about, instead of holding them up, you pull them up. Jezzum Crow, just pull your pants up and spare everyone the sight of your underwear. Please. It's not that hard. 

Introducing: Me

My name's Michelle. I am a proud Whovian and Sherlockian. Why? Because British television is just better. My favorite song changes faster than the Memphis weather, and this is not an exaggeration. Okay, so what if it is? I've been told I'm rude but, if you're offended by my honesty, then maybe you deserve it. My list of "Books To Read" is longer than Dumbledore's beard. Currently in the process of aspiring to be a writer, I am also in IB, which means any social life I had beforehand (hahah what social life?) is pretty much over. I am pretty open to most things, however, I despise reality TV more than anything else. I'll be here for Creativity hours with two other IBers, so... 

I'll see *you* later. 

An open letter to John Cage's 4'33"

For those of you who are unfamiliar with this particular piece of music, John Cage's 4'33" is a three movement composition consisting of... wait for it...



silence.
I just watched the orchestral version.

I do heretofore deem John Cage "the Original Hipster". Who else but the original hipster could have sat down and said to himself "you know what would be a really GREAT way to utilize the time and talents of an orchestra full of trained musicians and a professional conductor? Four minutes and thirty three seconds of silence!"? And the funny thing is, apparently people pay to *not* hear this. Talk about irony.

Sure, I understand that he was trying to get a message across that you should be as attentive to the sounds around you as the sounds of an orchestra, that silence can be music too, that there's value in the negative space, beauty in the everyday, and that you should stop and appreciate what's around you. I get that he wanted to make a statement, and that this was more effective than just saying it. I appreciate that. But, man, do you think you could have done it in, maybe, like, two minutes instead? I'm busy.

Introducing: Me

The name's Sherrod (pronounced like Sharon with a 'd'). I am an IB student (read: I have no free time and I'm only doing this for the creativity hours I need to get the IB diploma and avoid gym class). I like Star Trek and Star Wars, and in that order, and anyone who tries to dispute the validity of this is in for a rude awakening from an ace debater. My favorite mediums to craft in are snark, sarcasm, and irony. I figuratively die inside when people throw around the word "literally" like it's parmesan cheese on the spaghetti of conversation. I love to read, but I only read what I love, and if I don't love something, you can count on me to tell you all about it. I'll be writing, ranting, and reviewing alongside my two classmates who will introduce themselves later on.

Live long and prosper
Sherrod