Photo Collage

For Digital Media, we were asked to find pictures in nature that spelled out “Franklin Road Academy,” and our first names. I had a lot of fun with this project. I went around campus to take pictures, and I found some really interesting things. There are certain things I will look at on campus, and they will be letters to me now, like to cracks in the sidewalk. Cracks in the sidewalk aren’t just cracks, but they are Y’s or R’s when I see them now. I definitely brushed up on my photo shop skills also. collage2

Shark Night 3D Movie Review

Shark Night 3D is a horror movie directed by David R. Ellis, and written by Will Hayes and Jesse Studenburg. Sara Paxton as Sara, Dustin Milligan as Nick, and Chris Carmack as Dennis are the main characters. These are very different roles for the main characters. Sara Paxton is known for the children’s show Darcy’s Wildlife, starring as Darcy Fields. Dustin Milligan is known for playing Ethan Ward in the remake of 90210. Chris Carmack is most well known for playing Luke Ward on The OC. The movie is rated PG-13 for violence.

When college friends go to Paxton’s lake house the the weekend, they experience something they never could have imagined. While water skiing, Sinqua Walls, as Malik, falls into the water, where he dissapears for a while, then re-emerges with a missing arm. The friends find out there is a shark in the water, and immediately call for help. When their next friend gets eaten by a different shark, they start to think there is something suspicious going on. After discovering an enemy of Sara’s is trying to kill and film them getting eaten by sharks for Shark Week, they try to get away from the island.

The acting was mostly believable, but the ever changing plot did not help the actors realistically act like they were actually getting eaten by sharks.

Music is horror movies is crucial to letting the audience know when something scary is going to happen, and the music did just that.

The special effects were terrible. The sharks were made from plastic, which anyone could easily tell. If the sharks weren’t made from plastic, they were CGI from a computer, but this looked just as fake as the plastic sharks. It was very easy to tell the actors never actually dealt with sharks. On the other hand, the blood in the water did look very real.

Shark Night has not won any awards, but I am seeing Razzie’s in it’s future.

Shark Night was very unbelievable. A new category, Comedy/Horror, should be created just for this movie. I would give this movie a 4 out of 10 for the simple fact that the movie provided me with some good laughs.

movie poster

Grammys

This past February, I was lucky enough to go be invited to the Grammys. If you don’t know what this is (but I’m assuming you do) I will tell you anyways. The Grammys are held at the Staples Center in LA every year. The Grammys are considered the most prestigious award in music, it is what most artists dream of their whole lives. You’re probably wondering how I, the least musically skilled person you will ever meet, got invited to the Grammys.

My uncle, Adam Zelkind, is an ASCAP composer. He has too many awards, shows, movies and hours of music on TV for me to even try to begin to count. Because of all these honors, he has become a member of the Recording Academy. Only select members of the Recording Academy are invited to the Grammys. For the 2011 Grammys, he decided to take me, his girlfriend, and my cousin (his daughter).

The trip began on Friday, when I took the five hour flight to LA. This was especially a big deal because I had never flown by myself, but thankfully everything went very smoothly. I was on the plane with the Jane Dear Girls, James Otto, and Mayor Karl Dean. After arriving in LA, I did the typical tourist things like, Rodeo Drive, The Santa Monica Pier, Hollywood, and the other touristy things that I could fit into a two day trip.

Grammy night was one of the best experiences I have ever had. Getting to see the biggest names in music perform was indescribable. One of the most exciting moments of the night was seeing Lady Gaga perform for the first time. Grammy night was February 13^th, and I was seeing her in May in Nashville, so this just got me even more excited for her concert. I got to see her perform the world premiere of Born This Way. Yes, this includes the egg. (A picture of the egg is on my Interviewing post.)

The next morning, after only getting four hours of sleep the night before, I woke up to catch my 8 AM flight. The flight back was really smooth. The whole time I was on the plane I was listening to people talk about their Grammy experiences. I was on the plane with Mayor Karl Dean, again, and a countless number of behind-the-scenes people. I only know this because when I wasn’t secretly reading the Spanish version of People that the person next to me was reading (I felt like I at least wasn’t missing too much of Spanish or Mrs. Moix that way), I was eavesdropping on conversations of all the people on my plane.

Going to the Grammys is something I will NEVER forget.

 

Seventeen

With my 17th birthday in just a mere matter of hours, I feel the need to talk about my birthday. Since my 17th birthday has not happened yet, I started looking back on my previous birthdays. The ones that stick out to me the most are, naturally, the most recent ones.

On my 15th birthday, I remember one thing sticking out in my mind: getting a permit. This meant I was one step closer to freedom, which meant driving whenever and wherever I wanted. I remember studying the 127 page long driver’s manual to get ready for my permit test. I studied the packet until I knew every word front and back. Thankfully when I went to take the test, I passed the first time. I had never driven before, not counting the few times I had driven in the Ravenwood parking lot, so my parents decided to enroll me in Driver’s Ed. After spending what seemed like a lifetime stuck in the classroom every Saturday beginning at 8am, I finally passed Driver’s Ed. The next step in Driver’s Ed is to drive with an instructor, who THANK GOODNESS has their own steering wheel and brakes. I took these driving lessons in December, when it gets dark at 5 PM. Of course my lessons had to be at 5PM. The night before my first lesson, I realized I had never driven at night. I hopped in the car with my mom, and we drove aimlessly. One minute I was on a seemingly nice road, the next I was on a windy, dark, unmarked road. Needless to say I was scarred, and I switched seats with my mom in the middle of the road. When the instructor came to my house the next night, the first thing he asks is, “You’ve driven before so your not going to kill me, right?” I just laughed, and didn’t answer. I got the hang of driving eventually, and was starting to drive everywhere, with a licensed drive over the age of eighteen in the front seat of course.

On my 16th birthday I decided to get my license. Little did I know you have to make an appointment at the DMV before getting your license. Making an appointment the day of my birthday, the soonest I could get in was October 6th. I wasn’t too nervous going into the test, but I got nervous as I was sitting in the car waiting for my instructor to come. He told me where to go, and I listened. We got back to the DMV, and he told me I was getting my license. I was embarrassed when we got out of the car seeing that I had parked in two parking spaces. Thankfully, he didn’t take my license away because of my bad parking job.

I am now 17, I have a car, and I drive everywhere. Driving isn’t as big a deal now as it was when I was just starting out. I now consider driving a part of daily life, but I never stop getting excited over birthdays!

Permit Manual

This brings back wonderful memories.