Save the Earth, Do This!

           Everyone now is riding their bikes and what not so go ahead and give in to the pressure cause it's actually a GOOD thing. :) Biking is also really fun...if you're with people you like that is. If you're with your whiny little three year old cousin in the middle of a three hour bike trail...then that's not so fun. Also, since being all hipster and eco friendly is the coolest thing ever now you can find a lot of cool bikes and accessories for them practically anywhere. A good website to check out is republicbike.com, if you have money that is since this whole eco craze is kind of expensive ya know. Anyways, they have an amazing 3D bike shop where you can completely customize your bike and choose everything from the frame to the housing to the rim and the crank and okay I think I made myself clear. Being 5'4" kind of sucks though since the original Aristotle fixies are only for people 5'5" and up, oh well. Oh! And you can also get some really awesome accessories such as tube pad for protection and cable clips and all these really jazzy stuff. They also have some bike apparel but I personally would not get it but go ahead if it's your thing! So yeah go ride your bikes, they're way cooler nowadays than cars anyways.

Invisible

In the world, there are a lot of invisible things. Not because they’re physically invisible but just because people are not aware that these events are happening around the world. A good example is when we went to go see the Invisible Children presentation because many high school students are not aware that there are children that are younger than them are going through abductions and whatnot. Most of the time, things are invisible because we don’t take the time to go out of ways to see the poverty, crime, and other negative things that exist in the world just because we don’t feel like stepping out of our comfortable box. If more people became aware of invisible things, both good and bad, then our world really would be more peaceful and beautiful and all that good stuff. Many people don’t know all the good things that are a part of our world. For me personally, I’m trying to be more open minded towards things I’ve ignored before whether it be in big ways such as going to the Galapagos Islands and appreciating its beauty that few people get to experience or in smaller ways like realizing how pretty the sunset looks today or tomorrow or any day as cheesy as that sounds.

A Book to Read

My complete favorite book of all time is Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman. It’s part of a series that mostly deals with prejudice and racism in a new light. The title references to what tic tac toe is referred to in Britain and it takes place in a world in which blacks are seen as superior to whites. It has references to real life events such as the apartheid in South Africa and also parallels Romeo and Juliet since the two main characters, Sephy and Callum, come from two families that have very different views in society and of course they’re in love. Also, races are not referred to by color in the novel but instead are referred to as Crosses or Noughts with Crosses being blacks and Noughts being whites. Overall, I like how Blackman is able to intertwine serious universal issues such as bigotry with more personal issues like love.

Movie Review

    My favorite movies of all time are classical Disney movies. These movies are amazing because they not only fascinated me when I was a child with all the animation and songs but even up to this day, I cannot get tired of Aladdin or Mulan or just about any other classic Disney movie out there. The latest movie I saw was Bambi so I guess I’ll review it. Bambi is a pretty simple movie that follows the life of a fawn trying to make it to buckhood with the help of his friends Thumper and Flower and his mom of course. The hidden meanings inside of Bambi are what make this movie one of my favorite Disney films because they teach you valuable priceless lessons such as never giving up and learning how to grow up. Also, I like how both the obstacles and highlights of Bambi’s life are emphasized throughout the movie to show that the cycle of life consists of both good and bad moments. I obviously think that Bambi is the most adorable fawn ever and pretty much all the animals in the movie are really cute when they’re little babies. The best part of the movie is the ending though because it leaves a lasting impression on you without being over the top but I won’t give it away for those people who have not  yet seen this amazing movie.

Art Review

Until a couple weeks ago, I never really gave art much thought. I knew that it surrounded me and whatnot but I never really went much further than that. One day though, while reading my APUSH book, I came across a type of art that was popular in the 1950s called abstract expressionism. It was really interesting to me the whole concept of letting your subconscious take over the art and just letting whatever you really feel go into it to make a creation. It’s probably my favorite kind of art just because it doesn’t even necessarily have to follow any rules. The only rule that seems to be implied is just having confidence to let yourself go and really paint whatever you feel like painting, instead of painting things that are conventional or traditional. The freedom of this style makes it appealing is what I’m trying to say.

            My favorite artists that use this technique are probably de Kooning and Rothko. I especially like Rothko because his paintings are really simple but they can mean a lot depending on how you want to view them, if you want to view them at all. I really like his use of color and how he doesn't really care whether it's completely coherent or not, it really is just his form on expression that comes out of it. Kooning uses more complex techniques and uses more colors in one painting. He tends to follow Picasso's method of abstractism. He was also more straightfoward with the messages he tried to spread through his paintings, especially those of society and culture criticism. Overall, I really do enjoy these two artists that sprouted out of the infamous abstract expressionist movement from the 1950s.

We Have the Right

          This is pretty broad because I feel like while we may have a lot of rights/freedom in some cases, in others we don’t. It’s only because it’s kind of hard to have a successful productive nation without having some regulations which we have to follow. These regulations in turn create restrictions for us and our rights as well. Sometimes that’s a good thing because the benefit of security is better than having the right to go on a killing rampage without any sort of consequences. Other times though, our restricted rights doesn’t equate to having security. I guess it really depends on your perspective of what rights are to you. I personally think though that our government is okay so far in trying to keep a balance between the two. I mean it could improve but when you think about it, essentially everything has room for improvement.

McCarthy's (Chicago's) Birthday Week

           I guess I’m a little late on this so happy belated birthday Chicago and McCarthy! Uhm so I’m not sure what I should really say other than happy birthday but I have 250 words to spare so I’ll say about how MY birthday week went last year. My birthday fell on a Saturday last year so it was a pretty awesome week because I had all week to anticipate it. My birthday week pretty much consisted of counting down the days until my actual birthday and eventually came down to counting down the hours. When it finally came, it was amazing. Well not really, but it was pretty great. I went to the Hard Rock Café with my friends where we ended up sitting next to this bachelorette party which was a little awkward since they had like veils with penises on them, I’m not even kidding. But other than that, it was a fun birthday weekend for me. So I hope you guys have awesome birthday weeks as well! J