The Golden Compass

The film the Golden Compass is attacking Christianity. The film mentinons origional sin and how it comes from ancestors, and ancestors are bad. That refers to Adam and Eve how they ate the fruit and it started the whole sin act. The author of the book Philip Pullman is athiest and presents the views in a watered down way in the movie by just referring to the magisterium as the authority figure. The magisterium in the real world could be referred to as the church and God. God is the authority figure to people in the church and to christains. The magisterium was the authority to the universe in the film. The magisterium is depicted as a fascist organization that is meant to have all the power.People have the right to think on their own to be freethinkers which the movie also mentions but under this control you cannot. Dust is mentioned in this film and it makes people rebel against its control which is the magesterium. Mrs. Coultier is a character in the film that is meant to take away the daemons from the children. The daemons represent the people in the movies soul. Author and film maker Philip Pullman has very harsh views of the church. He has written a series of childrens books called "His Dark Materials Trilogy." Geared towards young adults because they will watch the movie trailers and want to go and see the movie. Not knowing what they are watching and the damage that it can go to Christianity. Pullman says in an interview with NBC news, "What I was mainly doing, I hope, was telling a story,As for the atheism, it doesn’t matter to me whether people believe in God or not, so I’m not promoting anything of that sort. What I do care about is whether people are cruel or whether they’re kind, whether they act for democracy or for tyranny, whether they believe in open-minded enquiry or in shutting the freedom of thought and expression. Good things have been done in the name of religion, and so have bad things; and both good things and bad things have been done with no religion at all. What I care about is the good, wherever it comes from." Pullman says he wasn't penpointing religion but if you get into the argument and his beliefs it lines up. I believe that he was coming against his dislikes of he church whether or not he was exactly mocking christianity or not. This was made clear in this film and in his book which the movie was based off of.

After Graduation...Blog #11

My plans for after graduation are to go to beauty school and get the beginning of my life started. I hope to go to Paul Mitchell and have fun making people pretty. After beginning working my plans are to hopefully get married and have a family. I love to fix hair and and I think I would love to do highlights. I am thinking about going further in the makeup aspect of beauty school. I love doing those types of things. After graduation I will be nervous about beginning my real life and how I am going to turn out. I am depended on my socail skills in that business. I hope to build on my profit and to one day open up my own business. I want to at least be engaged by 21 and have get married after school. I want two kids and if I had more than that it would be okay. Senior year is the most substancial year of your life. I am going to enjoy it because it is the last year that I have it easy. After that its in the real world and starting the beginning of your life as an adult. I am ready for that step and to be the new senior class of 2009.

Blog #10

Fox News is the nervous system of democracy. There is a right wing and left wing to the news. The right wing is the conservative side and the left wing is liberal side. On Fox news they only show the right wing side and leave out left wing piont of view. Most people on Fox news are republicans which support the conservaitve piont of view. Cast members on Fox News bring poeple on the show and argue with them over topics that they have a view on or a topic that they have delt with. There goal is to win the argument in some way shape or form and they will so say muddy the argument until they win. Cast members on Fox have been persecuted because of the harsh terms they have delt to poeple they were talking with on the show. Like telling the guest to shut up. Fox takes the conservative side and only shows those arguments. Rupert Murdoch is a republican and he is the owner of Fox News. What goes through the show doesnt go unless it goes through him. Fox News is considered unfair and wrong for only showing a one-sided argument.

Free Write....

School is coming to an abrupt end. It is an exciting as well as stressful time in my life. It is stressful because I know that reality and the real world is coming fast. It is exciting because its my last year to be in high school and I know I have plenty to look forward to. Some things I will miss and some things I won't. I will miss the every day going to school and being surrounded by my friends. I won't miss sitting in a classroom all day. I am on colorguard at Ea and I take pride in my school at its functions. I will miss performing in front of the big crowds and my family there to cheer me on for all of my events. The scariest part of leaving high school is the enviroment that you are leaving and going into. You won't have your parents to make all of your decisions for you and the same routine every day.I want so bad to be on my own now but I know when its all said in done I will wish to be back in high school once again. East Ascension has played a big role in my life as far as growing up and teaching me what I need to know in life.

Blog #8

Murder is the unlawfully killing of one human by another. Life is a precious gift and people do to have the power to take it away from others. Murder occurs around the world and nobody has conviction about it. Murder is wrong because it is not up to humans to decide who lives and dies. Everybody has the right to live.

It has confused many that the crime rate has decreased and the murder rate has increased in Louisiana alone. Baton Rouge is ranked the 328th safest city in America according to The Most Dangerous Cities in America rankings (Specht). This proves that murder just in our state is high and doesn’t stop. People that commit murders and take the lives of others do not feel bad about it. This is shown through the media and television. Serial killers that have been arrested do not feel bad about what they have done but that they got caught. An example of one would be Derrick Todd Lee. He was the Baton Rouge serial killer of 2002 that made big news coverage.

Murders that are committed are done every day by normal people. People commit murders like they have the power to do so. We have a higher power and that is God. God created the earth and everything that inhabits it. By taking the lives of others you are stating that you have the power to do so. That is over reigning the most powerful thing there is, God. He wrote The Ten Commandments for his people to abide by. The 6th commandment states thou shall not kill. By murdering you are breaking God’s law and sinning against him.

In conclusion, any persons who shall commit murder are not just breaking the Law, but are also breaking the rules of God. Everybody has their own opinions of murder and death but ultimately it is God’s decision.

Inaudible Melodies by Jack Johnson....

Inaudible Melodies by Jack Johnson presents an argument. The argument is that life is moving too fast and that people need to slow down. I agree with this viewpoint because when you are rushing life you dont have the time to enjoy it. Throughout the first verse the writer uses paradox to say," Well shortcuts can slow you down." When in fact shortcuts are supposed to speed things up in life but that is not a true fact statement. In life people take things so fast that a picture or a snapshot could not frame them in time. The writer is appealing to the audiences emotions using pathos to try and get a point across. The writers tone is serious but happy in a way saying that life is fun and needs to be enjoyed. Another literary device used is assonance. Assonance is a scheme and the writer says," Chopping like an axe and maybe Eisenstein should just relax." Saying this he is coming to a conclusion that is how you should go through life just relxing.

"Jeremy" by Pearl Jam

Critics say that the song "Jeremy" by Pearl Jam had a negative effect in the school systems of today. This song was taken off of MTV because is was said to encourage school shootings and suicidal thoughts. Pearl Jam is not condoning murder/suicide but actually saying not to do it. It does not change the world and wont be remembered. The speaker uses antecedent and consequence to say that because people made fun of him and his parent didnt care that pushed him over the edge. For example."Daddy didt give attention to the fact that mommy didnt care." He is trying to convince the audience to have sympathy for Jeremy. This song evaluates what goes on in the real world and things that can push people to break. The speaker says. "Clearly I remember pickin on the boy seemed a harmlessl little ****." This quote establishes credibility to the fact that people picking on Jeremy turned him against them.