Analysis on Adaptation

Adaptation was an interesting movie, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Perhaps one of my favourite things about the movie was the use of irony to make a point. I found the movie interesting enough before It suddenly became and action movie.
At the beginning of the movie, Charles has a rant about how he doesn't want to go mainstream and make cliché romance or action scenes. Yet when he gives in and goes to the seminar, he changes his mind and the movie gets more action-based, with romance, and much more corny. I personally, did not like the movie after the seminar, because it became brain-numbing and cliché. But I think that's the point. The movie became less appealing because he followed the seminar instructor's advice and the movie no longer became good, or original. It was obvious and two-dimensional.
I think the point to be made with Adaption is that the life of a writer isn't easy. There are easy ways out by following rules, but that doesn't make a good movie. When writing, it is important to go with what you feel is write, and write about what you care about, instead of jazzing up a story with what you believe the audience will like, such as romance and action.
I, personally, have seen too many cookie-cutter movie plots with two-dimensional characters. Sometimes I feel there was more effort in graphical effects than a proper script, and it bothers me. I agree with Charles, that if you remain true to yourself as a writer and focus on the things that you believe to be important, such as character and plot, then you will have a fine script.

Spoken Word Analysis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnSuR3bFWcQ

This spoekn word, "One Colour" by Neil Hilborn and Renee Schminkey, uses a very serious topic and brings up issues with the way society sees it. The thing I like about this spoken word poem is that the two of the presenters play off each other by saying things at the same time as well as in concession, without pauses in between. Thy tell two very similar stories that show that both genders can go through the same thing, and that sexual assault is not always the same story, and isn't always what we think of it to be. It brings up valid points with words that flow and that's why I like it so much.

Overview on meeting Teresa Toten

Teresa Toten was very interesting to listen to. she kept her speech moving and flowing nicely and walked around to make eye contact and make it more casual and personal. She spoke about many of her books, and how her hardships of her youth inspired some of them, and I find that is a reoccurring theme within a lot of authors, because we're told to write about we know, and so if you had a hard childhood, it's easy to write about one.
Teresa mentioned that all her books were failures to her, but its good to fail once in a while, and I think that's a really good message to talk about, especially to a group of kids who are stressing about marks and getting into university.
I also liked how she mentioned that doing good and donating to charities and helping people is good, not because of the good it does for others, but because it makes you feel better when you do it. She told us to do it out of selfishness, which is a very realistic approach. I liked how she made us see negative things like failure in a positive light and positive things like charity in an almost negative way.

Overview on Poetry

The titles in my poem could definitely use a lot of work. As opposed to finding creative titles that add to the poem, which I found hard, the titles became a last minute thing that I sort of jotted down.

I think I did my form quite well. My haikus have the right syllable count and my other poems have line breaks that, in my opinion, make sense and flow nicely. I think form is one of my strongest points in my poems.

I believe one of the other strongest points in my poetry is use of poetry devices, specifically alliteration and sound of the word. I also use repetition to emphasize.

I think my poems were only moderate in their impact. I used line breaks and other poetry devices effectively enough to create impact, but the content of the poems were not as impactful as they could have been, which I probably could have fixed in more time.

I definitely considered diction above all else when I was writing poems. I tried to use cacophonic words to describe things badly and euphonic words to contrast and describe something nice. Some of my metaphors and similes could use some work, but generally I did fairly well at using words and being consistent with my diction within the poems.

My spelling and grammar I believe I did well, although I recall I got a bit confused with punctuation, due to the fact it’s much different than writing prose. Still, I think I used punctuation moderately well to help with the impact of sentences.

I believe all my poems were an appropriate length, at a page each save for my haikus. They were short enough to keep the reader interested while being long enough to contain a story and many poetry devices.

Because of these things I would give myself a 3+ for my poetry collection.

Patchwork poem

I have been acquainted with the night,

The Angel of Death at his kill.

I can’t remember childhood.

Murder is losing its mind, I am losing my patience,

By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore.

The Snobby Princess (character poem)

Once upon a time,

In a castle far away,

There lived a lovely prince,

Whom I gazed at day to day.

He searched and searched and searched,

Though I was always there.

Why did he never notice me?

Why did he never care?

And one day a princess came,

And she was full of dirt,

And yet no matter how she smelled,

She had something up her skirt.

The queen placed me to suffocate,

Under the mattresses soft.

The princess tossed and turned all night,

And in the morning scoffed.

She blamed me for her painful dreams,

She turned the prince against me.

Her parents locked me away.

I am just a helpless pea.

And one day from in my cell,

I heard the ringing bell.

My lovely prince had married her,

The snob princess from hell.

Why I Didn't get my Homework Done Last Night (a sonnet)

When I go online and see gifs of cats,
I feel a happiness within my heart,
They laugh and play and wear their tiny hats,
And it is tearing my whole life apart.

My whole family teases me when they see,
The balls of yarn and fur mixed up in one.
They don’t understand what it does to me.
I’ve gone so far that I can’t see the sun.

The cat overlord whispers in my mind,
Of things that no human can understand.
I must resist this contract I have signed.
The cats now own my soul, and I am damned.

For every waking hour now I must face,
The cats of Facebook, Tumblr, and Myspace.