Blog for week 3/10/16 After Ever After

Prompt: what you are reading is going to be made into a movie. Create the movie poster.

          On my photo one of the things I added in was a guy and a girl holding hands. The reason why I decided to add this was because of the crush that Jeffery has on a girl named Lindsey. Both of them so far in the book seem to be getting along quite well and so far she is one of the only nice people in the class. Jeffery seems to have a really huge crush on her and she seem s to be a bit interested as well. In the book it says, "'By the way' she said, 'there are two thing you really ought to know. First of all, classroom windows are very reflective. If you're not careful someone siting from you might be able to look at them and read your computer screen.' Oh, geez 'what's the other thing?' 'You're cute when you blush."(P.24). This quite shows how she not only likes teasing him but finds him cute and I find that really cute.

          Something else that I added in was a laboratory flask. The reason why I added this was because this was the class where Jeffery not only struggles in but also sits right by Lindsey his crush. In this class the teacher is very mean and expects a lot from Jeffery however Jeffery doesn't pick up material as quick as some of the other students. Above the photo I have the words perfection and the reason why I added this was to show how the Science teacher expected perfection.

           Another thing that I added was a pile of journals on the right side to represent how in Ms. Palmas's class he had to write journals. This is very interesting because his older brother had her as a teacher when Jeffery had Cancer. Jeffery's older brother would write in his journal on how he feels neglected and how his world was now flipped upside down. Just like his older brother, Jeffery has a tendency of derailing from the topic and venting about his life problems.

After Ever After Blog 2-6-16

Prompt: Why did you chose this to read? Give at least three reasons why.

          One of the reasons why I chose to read After Ever After was because of the author of the book who is Jordan Sonnenblick. Jordan Sonnenblick has wrote other books that I personally really like such as, Drums Girls and Dangerous Pie, and, Notes from The Midnight Driver. I really like his books because they are very realistic and tackle things that are relatable like trying to fit in and making huge mistakes. I think that we can all in someway relate to characters in his books because they are all realistic books and some of the things you might be going through or maybe you know someone going through the same things that the character is going through.

Spoiler...

          In the book Drums Girls and Dangerous Pie the main character Steven has to deal with his younger brother Jeffery and his whole life being changed. The reason why I am brining this up is because I didn't at first notice that After Ever After is the next book and that in this book Jeffery no longer has cancer and now he is trying to live a normal life. The similarities between both his older and younger brother are noticeable however they do differ a bit. The reason why I wanted to read this book was to find connections and see how his life ends up because the thought of having cancer is very sad and I want to see if he would get it back or not and if he would truly live happily ever after.

Everything is good...

          The final reason why I chose to read this book was because my cousin recommended it to me and gave me a speech on how it was very inspirational. My cousin told me how the book would help you learn to appreciate the things you have and to live day by day. I find myself to have a lot of anxiety at times due to the fact of trying to be perfect, and I would stress myself out on trying so hard that I would grow anxiety. This book helped teach me in a way that it's okay to just be you and don't try to be something that you aren't because then you would be missing out on yourself. In the end you are who you are and you shouldn't change for anyone or anything and no mater what happens you have to keep on moving forward.

Life is Beautiful

Prompt: Based on the holocaust literature and poetry we have read, what connections can be made between "Life is Beautiful" and our reading? What events, scenes, or situations are similar or different about the mood or tone of the pieces? Analyze how differences in points of view of characters create suspense or humor.

How is life shown as beautiful throughout the film. Pull at least two examples from different parts of film and explain your rationale.

*Four Paragraphs Minimum.

          In the movie "Life is Beautiful" and in the book Night the characters are sent to concentration camps and throughout everything both Elie and Giousué were able to get through it. Both of these people were cared for dearly by their parents. In the movie "Life is Beautiful" and in the book Night both Elie's father and Guido cared for their sun and were with them almost the whole entire time and sadly in both cases both of the fathers die and give up their life for their son's life. In both the movie and book the characters try to show hope and in the book Night Elie starts to lose faith however goes back to it. In the movie Guido tries to make not only his son but wife hopeful. The father tries to tell them that things will get better. When he plays the music and also tells his son that everything happening was a game he shows how he cares for them very much.

          A few things were different between the movie and the book. One of the things that was different was how right off the bat you knew that Night was much more serious and in the movie it was very funny. In the book Night one of the saddest things was how at the end Elie had no one but himself, he had lost his whole family and it was a very morbid book. In the movie "life is beautiful" its starts off showing how this man really loves this woman and it mentions in some areas on how Hitler is coming to power and they vandalized the horse calling it a jew horse however the beginning wasn't focused on that it was focusing on his love for this woman. The man himself is a very funny character and he does some outrageous things that make him seem funny however it isn't until the end where it gets serious because even then the man is still kind of funny. Another big difference was how in the book Night it really focused in on religion and how to keep it when in "life is Beautiful" it never truly focus's in on religion.

          The tone in Night was very melancholy and morbid because it focused a lot on losing faith and death etc however it seemed like a more honest version because he wasn't sugar coding anything he was giving us some honest information. The tone in "Life is Beautiful" is defiantly a lot more happy and hopeful and this was because he had a young son who was probably five so he told him how everything was a game and not to worry because I  doubt you would go up to your kid and say how were all going to die no matter what so your done because that is pretty harsh for a five year old to take in. However in Night his father never really said anything about were all going to die and he didn't sugarcoat anything he just let Elie find out himself.

          I think that one point of view that was really funny to watch was in the movie "life is beautiful" when the little kid was hitting himself in the head with a spoon because it shows how he was innocent and was bored and how he was just trying to entertain himself. This created humor because it shows how he didn't know right from wrong and how he was really bored. another point of view that was really funny was when  that main Character Guido was trying to impress the girl by walking around her with a pillow on a stick and he used this as an umbrella. This was funny because it shows how this guy is really awkward and funny and the girl was kind of like what is he doing. A point of view that I found very serious was when in Night Ellie Wisel would step out and say how he didn't know that this would be the last time that he ever saw Tizpora and his mother which was very sad because he is telling a story and goes into present time and talks about how he feels or what he didn't know.

          Life in the movie is shown as beautiful in multiple ways. One way that life is shown as beautiful is when we switch views and see the mother going through a pile of clothes that belonged to the people who were just gassed and when she is about to break down because she wonders if one of the clothes belonged to her son she hears over the loudspeaker her husband and son speaking and saying "buongiorno principessa". This gives the wife a ton of faith because now she knows that her husband is with their kid and that they are still both alive. Another way that life is shown as beautiful is when the husband (Guido) and the son are in a house serving food and luckily the son is sitting down eating with everyone else however they don't know that he is Jewish. What happens is when Guido is walking by a record player he notices a record and it is from the opera that he went to see and ironically his now wife was there and he played the song that they first heard when they looked into each-others eyes out of the window. Soon she heard it that night and she was reminded of the wonderful times she had with her husband and is reminded to not lose faith.