#9 Take Two!

Since we've been focusing on movies of late, it's time to dissect one of your favorites. Go to YouTube and choose a clip from one of your favorite films. I realize it might not be exactly one scene, but choose something between 1 and 5 minutes long. My example above is from one of my Top 5 movies of all time, Rushmore. Once you've found your clip, embed it into your blog entry. Then, write at least eight sentences on the sorts of details in your clip that would be included in the script (specific to this scene-- think Juno's pipe). Write at least eight more sentences regarding the details added by the director, actors, and other crew members once filming began.

To embed:
1. Choose your clip from YouTube. Please pick a PG-13 or under clip, even if the movie is rated R. Be sure to pick something from a movie or TV show; no video games, music videos, etc.
2. To the top right of the video screen on YouTube, underneath the "Subscribe" box are two text boxes labeled "URL" and "Embed."
3. Copy the entire text inside the "Embed" box including <> on either side of the code language.
4. While posting on your blog, click on the tab labeled "Edit Html" above where you type your entry.
5. Paste the code from the "Embed" box at the very top of your post. Be sure to leave any other code as is.
6. Return to the "Compose" tab to write the rest of your post.
7. If you have too much trouble with this, at least link to your video clip.


For your comments, choose two people from your block on whose blogs you have never commented (or whom you at least do not know). Pretend you are involved in the making of this movie. Write at least 6 sentences on one major change you would make while filming, such as casting, setting, directorial choices, props, etc.

Have fun!

#8 Haiku-Doodle-Doo

Welcome back to the blog, fellow poets. This week, we're just going to get a glimpse at the huge world that is poetry. To get you into it a little, you're going to write some haiku for the blog. A haiku is a very short poem with one simple topic for each. Traditionally, Japanese haiku were about the seasons, but you can do yours on whatever you wish. The following are the rules:

1. You must write 3 haiku, which are all tied together to one theme (i.e. three colors, three seasons, three stooges, etc.) It is not a bad idea to title your blog with your theme. Example: #8 The Seasons.

2. There are three lines to each haiku.

3. The first and third lines are 5 syllables each.

4. The second line is 7 syllables.

Be sure to have one idea per line; it is extremely difficult to write a successful haiku when one sentence bridges more than one line. Here is an example from the movie Fight Club:

Worker bees can leave

Even drones can fly away

The queen is their slave

As for your comments this week, you are to write one haiku which also goes with the original poster's theme of three. So, if someone posts three about summer, winter, and fall, you might write one about spring. Get it? For this week, comment on anyone's blogs; however, you must comment on one person's blog from Block 1 and one person's blog from Block 2. Have fun.