My childhood best friend

                                                                                                                              Jordan Drazen

I had two best friends through most of elementary school. Their names were Austin and Mauricio. I believe it was the beginning of second grade when we first started to talk. I’m not sure why we began to talk, but all we used to talk about was video games. All three of us played an online game called Toontown. We would go to school, talk about it, then when we got home all of us would meet up in the game and play for the whole afternoon. I think this is how we got to know each other so much. We played that game for a long time, but eventually it started to get boring, so we quit.

            I started to look for something new to play and eventually I found a game called Maplestory. I started playing it and loved it. I played for about a month or so before I told Mauricio about it. Once I told him, he started to play. We both played a lot, but Austin never got into it. We got very addicted to it and would play for hours nonstop. We would stay up all night playing. It was a very fun game and I have a lot of good memories from it. At this point Mauricio was pretty much my best friend. We were still good friends with Austin, but most of the time we hung out was online, and only Mauricio and I played. I would go over to Mauricio’s house a lot, and we would just play Maplestory. One time during the summer I stayed at his house for a whole week and we pretty much did nothing but play Maplestory. His parents would take me with them when they went to restaurants, theme parks, and stores. We used to go to Target so Mauricio could get NX cash, which was a type of money in the game that you had to purchase with real money. His mom would buy some for me too.

We were pretty close friends until around sixth grade. It was then that we both made new friends and stopped talking as much as we used to. We still occasionally played online together, but not as much. At the moment, Mauricio and I don’t really talk much. We occasionally say hi in the hallway, or have a random conversation, but for the most part we don’t talk. However, Austin and I talk a lot now because we have advisory and film together, which is really fun because I haven’t had a class with him since around fourth grade.

Song analysis : Dogs by Pink Floyd

                                                                                                                        Jordan Drazen

                                                                                                                                  11/7/12

The song I chose is Dogs by Pink Floyd. It is from the album Animals, released in 1977. The album is a concept album; this means that there is a story or central theme that connects all the songs together. The song Dogs is 17 minutes long. The song is written by Roger Waters and David Gilmour.

            The idea for the album Animals is that there are three different animals; Pigs, Dogs, and sheep. Each animal represents a different social class. The pigs represent the careless people who don’t care about anything, the dogs represent the controlling and violent government, and the sheep represent the mindless followers who believe anything they are told.

            For the literary terms, starting off is the song title. The whole album personifies these animals as classes in society, so the Dogs are an example of personification. An example of assonance is towards the end of the song. There are eleven lines of the song in a row that start with the word “Who”. Every verse of the song is pretty much a metaphor. For example, the first verse, starting with “You gotta be crazy” and ending with “..when the moment is right without thinking”, that whole verse is saying how you have to adapt to society, and the outside world to survive, everyone is hunting you, and you are hunting everyone.

            As with every Pink Floyd song, the music is a huge part of the song. It’s 17 minutes for a reason; most of it is instrumental with amazing guitar solos by David Gilmour. Without the instrumentation, the song would still make an amazing poem, as the meaning behind it is very powerful. However, the instruments really drive it over the top and give it a lot more emotion. The song starts out with an acoustic guitar tuned down a whole step and is played in E minor which makes it sound like it’s in D minor. The strumming pattern starts pretty aggressive. There are also synthesizers playing in the background. The vocals come in shortly after the intro section. In between certain verses there is usually a guitar solo. The solos add so much feeling into the song. Restating what I said earlier, the instrumentation and lyrics are both amazing in their own right, but together, they form the masterpiece known as Dogs.

            I could go on forever about the songs off of this albums because it’s my second favorite album by Pink Floyd, the first being The Wall. When Roger Waters writes songs about government, religion, business, or pretty much anything that is a very serious part of modern life, he uses a lot of metaphors. He sings about the serious matters in a very direct way, but describes everything differently. Going off topic, anything by Pink Floyd is good. 

The song can be found at : http://youtu.be/0bqZFp7dWbg   

(Don't let the 17 minute label scare you from listening to the whole thing. When listening to Pink Floyd time flies by due to awesomeness)

Is Odysseus an epic hero?

In The Odyssey is a character that is called Odysseus. Odysseus is portrayed as a strong, heroic figure. He leaves his family to go off to a war in Troy and in the process ends up being away from home for twenty years. He goes through all sorts of different challenges to get back to his home in Ithica. Not only does he have to get home safely, but he also has to protect his crew.

Odysseus is indeed an epic hero is some ways, but he isn’t in some ways. Some of the obstacles he encounters are easy for him to overcome, but some of the simplest things he fails to overcome. He falls in love with women very easily, even though he has a wife and family at home. He also tries his hardest to obey the gods, hoping they will help him on his way home.

When Odysseus is captured on Calypsos’ island, he ends up falling in love with her, and stays there for a year. He was trapped, and claims he couldn’t escape, but he is so powerful that he could have if he really wanted to. He also fell in love with Circe when he arrived at her island and ended up staying with her for a year. These are the kinds of flaws that keep him from being completely epic hero quality. These events held him from getting him and his crew back home.

Even though Odysseus has some major flaws, he does have some heroic characteristics. He risks his life to keep his crew safe and return home. Even though he takes his time and gets distracted often, he still tried his hardest.

So, is he an epic hero or not? It’s more of a yes and no answer. In some ways he is, and in some ways he isn’t. The fact that he is and isn’t just adds to his character and makes him more unique. 

Hero Analysis

In The Odyssey by Homer, there is a character named Odysseus. He is the main character and hero of the story. Homer portrays him as a hero, which means that he has some of power and a flaw or two. Odysseus goes through a long journey to return to his palace in Ithica. His heroic qualities and personality flaws play a big part in his return home.

            Odysseus is portrayed as a strong human. He leads his crew around, protecting them, making sure they don’t die. He risks his life to ensure the return of his crew. In book nine Odysseus comes up with a risky plan to get out of the cave they were stuck inside. It was very risky, but he led it.

            Odysseus definetley has some personality flaws. One big one I can think of is the fact that he falls in love easily. When he gets captured by Calypso and trapped on her island, he ends up finding it hard to leave. He actually got sad when he had to leave her. Also, when he got to Aeolus and met Circe he ended up liking her too. He and his crew stayed with her for a whole year before the crew convinced Odysseus that they had to leave.

            Both the heroic characteristics and personality flaws contribute to the story. They are what pushed him foreword and held him back. If he didn’t have all these things contributing to his character, he would have nothing interesting in the story. 

Heroes

                                                                                                           

Ancient heroes from the mythology stories such as The Odyssey by Homer are described as bold, noble, people. They have some sort of super-natural strength, or power. They usually go on a long, epic journey. They overcome the problems that get in their way of the destination they’re trying to reach. The gods are typically the ones who mess with them the most. They are typically very handsome and muscular.

Modern heroes in movies such as The Avengers or Spiderman are normal everyday people with super powers. They are normal everyday people, but have a special ability. They don’t normally look so overly handsome and strong like the ancient heroes. Gods don’t play a big role in modern hero stories, but they still have someone or a group of people who try to stop them. It’s normally a villain, or an anti-hero. These are also normally regular people, with a special ability.

Ancient heroes and modern heroes are very similar. They have the same goal in mind, and that is to help people. They both have someone or something who tries to get in their way and stop them. They are different because of their attributes, like appearance, and powers. For the most part they have similar powers, such as strength. 

Penelope's POV

                                                                                                                                                                                 

The suitors are in pretty much every room of the house. Five are following Penelope’s every move. “Can I not even work alone?” she asked. They scrambled away. Telemachus came home with some crazy idea that he was going to find his father and that he was still alive. “Mother! I need to go on a mission to find father.” Said Telemachus. “What? Why so sudden? We don’t even know if he’s still alive!” She replied. “He is alive! Athene told me so, she also said I would find him!” he replied. “That’s a crazy idea!” said Penelope. “No, he is safe and well, I will find him, and we will return unharmed.” Replied Telemachus. She sighed and said “You seem very confident about this. I guess I will let you go, maybe others will want to help.”

                The next morning there was an assembly to discuss the search for Odysseus. After a heated argument, it was decided that Athena would go disguised as a mentor with Telemachus to search for his dad. They went off on the journey, and left Penelope at the house. She continued to live with all the suitors who bothered her nonstop. They all wanted to be with here, mostly because of the fact that she lived in such a nice palace with so much money.

Epic

          Bob is a very tall man. So tall that nobody thinks he is a human. They all think he is a giant or something related. He has no friends, or parents. He raised himself on the streets of Galofogornikish. He would always cry and be sad. Until one day, a dwarf came up to him and asked “what’s wrong?”. He replied “Nobody likes me, I’m too big”. The dwarf couldn’t understand why. He replied with, “It’s okay, bud! I am a wizard and can grant you any wish you want!” the giant got really happy. He replied “I want to be normal sized! Like all the other humans!” “That’s no problem! Just let me get my sidekick to provide the magic dust.” The dwarf turned to the bushes and out popped his sidekick Gwizzlkofin. “I will now make you normal sized” said the dwarf. He started mumbling some magic phrases when all of the sudden an evil creature jumped out of the bushes. “Get out of here you giant freak!” the evil creature yelled. The evil creature was actually just a human, but to Bob, he is an evil creature because of the way he treats Bob. Gwizzlekofin went to sit down and tripped over something half buried in the ground. “What’s this?!?” he brushed the dirt off and pulled it up, “It’s a holy grail! We’re rich!”. “Put that down, we have to grant this giant his wish!” he put the holy grail down. The dwarf started mumbling more phrases. Colorful  sparks started to fly out of his hands, the giant glowed bright yellow and green. 
         He started to shrink down to normal human size. “Thank you so much! How did you get these powers?!?” Bob asked. “Well, Bob, I am in fact a god. I rule all the lands” replied the dwarf. “All of them?” asked Bob. “Yes, the Northland to the Southland, Eastland to the Westland, I rule them all.” Bob was amazed. “Well, I hope I can get a friend now, because friends are important and they help you get by. I hope you and your sidekick are friends forever, because those are the best kinds of friends. Either way, as long as you only have one friend it’s okay, as long as they’re a good friend. Those are the best kinds, the ones that stay your friend for a long, long time.” Bob ended his speech with a blank stare. The dwarf had left a long time ago. He sat down for a second, scratching his head, there never was a dwarf. It was all in his head! He was never even a giant, he just had no friends so he made it up in his imagination. In the end he realized that he had the power to grant someone one wish, so he set off to find people to help.

Archetypes

         Archetypes are universal symbols. We are born with these in our brains. We instantly recognize them. They can be wizards, heroes, or even children. There are a lot of archetypes, but most are instantly familiar to us.

      A common archetype is a wizard. When you think of a wizard you automatically picture an old wise man with a long grey beard, point hat, robes, and a staff. An example of this is Gandalf, from The Lord of the Rings. He has everything that your typical wizard would have, so you instantly see that he is a wizard.

     Gandalf represents the archetype of a wizard. He has long robes, a hat, a long grey beard, a staff, and is very wise. He leads the adventures to the right paths since he knows everything.

      This archetype is important because of how popular it is. The wizard is one of the most used archetypes in movies, games, and books. They lead the heroes around to the right places. They are very smart, and powerful.

        

Importance of myths

                                                                   Jordan Drazen

Myths have always been an important role in society. They come from the old tradition of telling stories to each other. They're important because of the topics they discuss, and explain.

They are not as important today as they were back then, but we still study them because of the history they can teach us about the time they were made up. Now we have pretty much disproved any of the myths, but they show how people in ancient Greece thought. They show how people were just wanting an answer for where they came from, and why they are there.

Myths are usually stories about Greek gods and goddesses. Most of them explain how humans came around, how the world started, and any other of those big questions. To us they seem pretty far-fetched but that’s all they had to go by. There aren’t really any people in present day that actually believe the myths are true. There are some people who think that it’s not impossible, as they have never actually been disproved.

So compared to today, ancient Greece’s mythology is pretty weird. It is how they lived, which is why we study it in the present. We don’t read it to learn about how the Earth was made, or why we’re here, but we read it to learn about what the people in ancient Greece thought about existing, and the universe. Another reason why we study it is because the stories are very good and put together nicely. They teach us about writing stories and plots.

Some common themes in mythology include gods, goddesses, floods, chaos, bad weather, and execution. These were the kinds of subjects that scared the people of that time. Plus, it all made since to them that the Earth was flooded, and they were created by a god.

So these are the reason why we study it, and how it is different today compared to ancient Greece. We still learn from it like they did, so there are some similarities, but we mostly look at it from a history perspective, not a philosophical perspective. Either way Greek mythology will probably always be important, just because of the history and storytelling skills it teaches us.

Introduction

           Hi, I am Jordan. I am 15, and I'm a boy. I'm not interested in any sports. I am obsessed with music. I like to listen to music, play music, and collect music. I play drums, bass, guitar, and a little bit of piano. My favorite genres of music are alternative and rock. My favorite bands are The Beatles (and their solo careers), Pink Floyd, Green Day, Coldplay, and Tenacious D. I love listening to the music and learning it. I learn to play my favorite songs on guitar and drums, sometimes even piano. I like to collect records too. I have a room in my house where I have all my records and a record player. I love the sound of vinyl records, they're great. I have all of The Beatles, John Lennon's, George Harrison's, and Paul McCartney's albums on vinyls.

   I also have most of The Beatles 45's with their original picture sleeves. I collect more than The Beatles on vinyl though, I also have some Coldplay, Pink Floyd, Green Day, and a few other more modern bands I listen to. My record player isn't the best right now, but for Christmas i'm hoping to get this brand new one that is really nice, I already have some nice speakers to hook up to it. I love going to the record stores that are around. I've collected all these vinyls myself, off of eBay and from the record stores. The record stores can be pretty overpriced most of the time, so I buy mostly everything off of eBay. Even if I have no intentions to buy anything, it's still fun to go to the record store just to be there and look around. The atmosphere is great, it smells like old cardboard (in a good way).