Agree to Disagree

Murder is a crime and a sin – it can never be justified.
Agree/Disagree.
Yes, murder is bad, it’s an obvious statement, but there are cases where it could be justified. On one hand, taking away someone’s life should not be a choice someone can make. No one should have the power to decide when, where and how someone’s life will end. On the other hand, there are possible situations in which murder is the lesser of two evils. For example, if someone would kill a dictator it would save hundreds or even thousands of lives. Had someone killed Hitler there would be no holocaust. Another example could be a person suffering. A mother in Texas had children with Huntington’s chorea, an incurable disorder where the muscles literally deteriorate over time, and they begged for their suffering to come to an end. What would a mother, or any human being with a soul, do other than try to end their pain? In my opinion, what she did was justified, and quite honestly if I were in her position I would have done the same. I could not, however, take one side of this argument. One the one hand it’s a crime and those that commit it should be punished accordingly, but on the other situations can exist in which the murder can be justified.

Children learn their behaviors by watching and mimicking adults.
Agree.
I have no trouble completely agreeing with this statement. Not only do I know from personal experience but anthropologically speaking it has been studied and documented for years. The nature of humans is purely based on imitating what they see. How does one learn to swim, or play a sport? They watch and do what the others are doing. Monkey see, monkey do. As children we learn to do things by mimicking what we see our parents do. They say something and we repeat it. That’s why our parents would sit with us for hours on end trying to make us say “mommy” or “daddy” by repeating it over and over again until it doesn’t sound like a word anymore. This isn’t just consistent with humans but with many other animals in the wild. They learn to survive but doing exactly what their mother does. Whether or not children learn their behaviors by watching and mimicking adults is not an opinion to be made, it’s a fact.

Someone’s ego will cause a tragic fall.
Agree.
There is no doubt in my mind that anyone with an overinflated ego will eventually lead him or herself to their own downfall. Over estimating your ability at anything would surely not end well. Take Caesar, for example, who was murdered by a group of senators led by Marcus Brutus, meant to be one of his most loyal friends. His “subjects” grew tired of being under his rule. A scenario in which this statement can be shown is if an egotistic warlord overestimates his ability and accepts a challenge to go to battle. Believing he could defeat him with no difficulty whatsoever he goes to war and is completely caught off guard when he notices he’s met his match. On a smaller scale, say at a school where someone puts themselves above everyone else, the person will quickly come to discover just how small they are when they attempt to make others feel belittled. If you give no respect you will get back no respect. The bigger ones ego is, the harder the fall.

Preclude

(I used http://bighugelabs.com/motivator.php instead of brainyflix to create my picture.)

A Dream Within a Dream

(Made that myself, hence the A54.)

Epistolary

13 Hillbilly St.
Pinkerton, W. VA 25301

July 15, 2009
332 New Flamboyant St., 16th floor
San Francisco , CA 94105

Hey there Ms. Van Derbilt,
So glad to finally get in touch with ya. My cousin, Irwin, gave me this address, hope it gets to ya. Anywho, just wanna ask you for a lil bit of help. See, my cousin, Mary-Lou, she wants to act. There’s not much for her to do over in a lil town in West Virginia. We only got 321 people in our lil ol’ community. I was just hoping you could help me out. I heard you was a good musician, and you’re in California so maybe you could give me the name of someone that could get her a job in acting. Don’t matter if it’s small at first. Heck, she’s only 16. Write me back if you can. See ya, Jiminy Billy-Bob Pinkerton



July 17, 2009
Dear Mr. Pinkerton,
Such a gentleman! Please, call me Florance! I’d be very happy to help you, I’m sure one of my band members knows someone that could help. I’m the guitarist in “Fisherman’s Toy” I’m sure you’ve heard of us. Well, I’ll ask around. You must be very fond of your cousin for you to be doing such a favor for her. Just give me some time to make some enquiries and I’ll get back to you as soon as something comes up.
Sincerely,
Florance Van DerBilt

August 13, 2009
Hi Ms. Florance,
It’d be great if ya could, but I’m a bit worried, it’s been a month and maybe you aren’t finding no one. Gee, I haven’t been having such a great year, this would really help out. I ran for mayor, but my cousin Chuck won. Mary-Lou sure is a great girl, but she doesn’t pay any attention to me cause after all I’m just a country boy that works in one of them pig farms. I write some poetry though and when I sent a couple of poems last year to Roy L. Spinks, my favorite poet, he tells me they was pretty darn good for a farm boy. Maybe I could send you one or two poems for you to put some music to. I’ve got some great ones bout porky the pig, my favorite animal. Whatta ya think? Hope to hear from you soon, Jiminy Billy-Bob

August 25, 2009
Hello Jiminy Billy-Bob,
Sorry about taking so long to write, but I’ve been quite busy with the band. We were on Tour in Northern California. Now we’re back, though, and I’ve made some connections with people who work in Hollywood, who could help. There’s a small problem, Mary-Lou’s only 16, but we’ll see what we can do. One of the people I spoke to is an assistant director in one of the studios and he told me that they’re shooting a new teenage movie and they may have a role for Mary-Lou. Please, send me her portfolio of photos and her resume.
Write back soon,
Florance



August 28, 2009
Hey Florance,
Thanks for all your trouble, and thank God you’ve found someone to help Mary-Lou. I told her about the portfolio and resume and she aint got one. She was real excited, though, and I’m gonna drive her down to Charleston tomorrow where Cousin Buck works in a grocery store and he should know how to do one of them portfolios. I’ll send you the package as soon as we get it ready down in Charleston. Thanks againt, Jiminy Billy-Bob



September 3, 2009
Dear Jiminy Billy-Bob,
I gave the portfolio to the director and he really liked Mary-Lou. He wants to see her as soon possible to audition her for the role of a cheerleader. By the way, I really appreciate the fact that you’ve been really respectful of the fact that I’m a gay man and a Polish one at that. I wouldn’t have expected that a guy from West Virginia would be such a gentleman and so understanding. I’m going to do my best to help Mary-Lou and I’d really appreciate it if you’d come to California with her so maybe I could meet you and we could get to know each other better.
Love,
Florance

October 15, 2009
Hey Jiminy Billy-Bob,
I haven’t heard from you for a while, everything ok? When can I expect to see you in California? I’m waiting for your visit.
Love,
Florance


(Any spelling mistakes done on Jiminy’s part are all on purpose. There shouldn’t be that many, I mean he has had 6 solid years of schooling.)

A Work of Art by Anton Chekov

A work of art, no?

Incredible

http://www.breathingearth.net/

Pretty interesting.

54

Total Eclipse of the Heart: Literal Video Version

"I guess that guy just flipped me the bird."
"That angel guy just felt me up."

And since I'm posting literal versions of videos, might as well put this up here:

Silent

“Are you-?” asked Jay.
“I’m fine” answered Jenny while she frantically packed her school bag as if she wanted to form a distraction. The last thing Jenny wanted to do was make eye contact. The bell rang.
Jenny threw her bag over her shoulder, slammed her locker shut and began walking down the hallway. Jay followed; he wasn’t going to let her leave without getting an answer. He was worried, to say the least. Jenny had been acting strange lately, like something wasn’t right. Jay grabbed her shoulder and then realizing being rough wouldn’t help loosened his grip.
“Listen, if there’s anything bothering you-“
“No! I’m fine, ok? Just go home,” Jenny wiggled her way out of his grip.
She walked away fast, almost running, and didn’t look back.


“It’s malignant,” the doctor put up the MRI on the screen. “We could start treatment but it would only slow it down.”
Jenny’s mom wiped away her tears with her scrunched up Kleenex. Her dad laid his hand on her shoulder to calm her down. Jenny felt dead. No tears. No words. As if the tumor had already killed her. What do you say to the person that tells you they can’t help you? The person that tells you you’re going to die? What do you tell your parents? Your friends?
“…metastasis. Which basically means it’s spreading, fast.”
Jenny sat there, waiting for the good news she knew was never going to come. Her head yelled, why me, why me, while her mouth stayed closed; silent. The same way it will be once she’s dead. Forever silent.
A list, she thought, I’ll write a list of things I want to do before I die.
It was ironic, really. Jenny almost never goes through with things. All her life she’s lived by the rules, done what she was told. Now she was just meant to do what she wanted? Ignore all advice and just go by it? She could say she wants to go sky diving, but would she really go through with it? Would she just chicken out and run away? Could she really let herself die like that?
What was she going to do?


Jay looked over at Jenny. She was staring at the ground. He hadn’t seen her smile for few days now. Jay ripped out a piece of paper from his note pad. He scribbled something on it, scrunched it up and threw it over at Jenny. Jay watched as she opened it, read what it said, wrote something underneath and threw it back to him. He opened it and saw a dull “hi”. He knew she only responded like that when she didn’t want to talk. He’d ask her about it after school.


The machine made that awful noise. That consistent annoying beep. Over and over again. She was hooked up to 2 different monitors. If either stopped, they would know.
Jenny looked at herself in the mirror; her bald head, her pale skin. It was killing her and she knew it. She was going to spend her last days in this bed. She couldn’t stand the thought of it. Living the rest of her days being tested again and again with no definitive results. Just theories on what the tumor could be, what it could be doing to her and how long she has until it sucks the life out of her. Jenny looked at her list. Something she was never going to do. She was staying here. She was dying here.

Jenny wanted out. Her aching head throbbed as she tried to stand up.
“What are you doing out of bed?” Her mother had caught her and laid her back into the bed.
I don’t want to stay here anymore. I don’t want to be here when it happens.” Jenny’s mom could hear the hopelessness in her voice. Her mind raced to find something to tell her daughter that it would be OK. How could you tell someone it was going to be OK when you know as much as they do it really wasn’t?


Jenny had told her parents to go home and rest for the afternoon. “I’m not going anywhere” she had joked. Jay went over to the hospital instead. He brought her chocolates and a DVD; he didn’t want to bring her flowers, it was too normal, too sad.
“It’s your favorite movie,” Jay whispered as if he didn’t want to interrupt what the machines were saying.
“Thanks,” Jenny shot him a small, quite smile.
“So how’s the food here?” Jay wanted to distract her, keep her mind off the tumor.
“Oh it’s great! I recommend the jello,” she answered sarcastically.
“Good! Then I’m going to run down to the cafeteria and get each of us a cup of jello!” He smiled and walked out the door. Jay jumped down the steps, thinking of all the wonderful conversations he and Jenny would have.


The short beeping stopped and became solid, long, dead.
Doctors and nurses rushed into the room, charging the paddles, but the beeping stayed the same.
“Time of death, 3:23 pm” the doctor called it. Nothing anyone could do now. No one was there. Her parents were at home and Jay was walking back up the stairs, jello in hand.
He walked in. The doctors turned to look at him. No words had to be said, Jay knew what this meant. The jello fell to the ground and all he could do was hold her. She was gone. Dead. Silent.

54 - Hope you like reading.

Twilight and other unrelated pictures

Interesting...


KILL IT! KILL IT WITH FIRE!









On a completely unrelated note:



~54
--Bringing you pictures that make you laugh until you can laugh no more.

Spring Break

Over the spring break I stayed in Cyprus. In the first week I went to drama rehearsals and then guitar class. In guitar class we had a profound discussion about the theory of music and how it has changed or affected the way people act. We also discussed how people use music to send a message and bring people together. My music teacher is a superlative and profound person. The discussions we have in theory class are interesting and deep. Next, I celebrated Easter with my family and relatives. After incoherently completing my homework and going to another two hours of drama rehearsal, Anabella came over to my house for a four day sleep over. Over that time period we watched the Office, the O.C. and even the latest episode of Grey's Anatomy. We also played pool (12-9 to me). We then played Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 (it has become a tradition to play that game when she comes over) where she was one of the only people to beat me. Once Anabella left I finished Season 2 of How I Met Your Mother.

P.S. Thank you so much for assigning this to our blog. It's truly an honor to show the whole world how boring my spring break was...

~54

Everyone's a Critic

Wow on effort! Just thinking about how long that must have taken is amazing. I really enjoy the little "meanwhile" scenes. And the fight scenes are also quite cute. I like how he had a small introduction, telling us which stick figure represented which character in the story. It doesn't seem like much but without it I would have been completely lost.
I feel they could have improved by simply taking the sound of so we don't have to here a click from the flip book and just hear the music instead of both overlapping each other. I also think it was very vague. Someone that hasn't read the story, or at least known what it was about, wouldn't understand it. For example, it doesn't explain that Juliet when to the apothecary to get a potion that will make it seem like she is dead. It only shows her going in and then drinking it. What he could have done is had the apothecary explain it in a few words.



54 seconds of my life...gone. The only thing I found even remotely entertaining were the drawings, but why have a hippo as Juliet and an "Indian" as Romeo? I felt like I was watching a really old, and horrible, Disney clip. Were they trying to say something by using those particular characters? Or were they simply trying to make it seem funny? Which brings me to my next point; I didn't find it funny...at all. Juliet falling off the balcony? Where was that in the story? And why was that meant to be funny? Apart from the names it bares no resemblance to the original story of Romeo and Juliet.
That little bin on your computer? Yea, toss it in there.



I also appreciate the effort on this video, but boy was I lost. I feel the creators of this Lego stop motion should have included the very beginning of the act. At least then it would be easier to understand why all the little Lego men were running around and getting beaten on top of the head. What about the little scene that kept repeating in the beginning? That kind of went on for a while. I suggest they cut that short a little bit. The original dialogue is used which I actually liked about the clip. What I found strange was the unnecessary explosion. That wasn't in the story and I don't think it was necessary at all. I wouldn't say it was horrible, but it could use improvement.



I enjoyed this a lot. I really like the animation and the voice over is excellent; the people don't stumble and you can clearly hear what they are saying. It wasn't hard to understand what was going on even though it was really simple. Mercutio dies and Romeo goes off to fight Tybalt. In a sword fight, Romeo manages to kill Tybalt. It's easy to understand and there isn't too much going on at once. The original dialogue is used. I think the way they presented it is great and nothing needs to be added.



The little 20th Century Lego's made me giggle, very creative. Maybe it's just me being picky but they could have actually done the Star Wars credit type thing where everything is moving far away instead of just upwards. I enjoyed the brief introduction to the scene, helped me understand what they were trying to show. I really liked their creativity and humor: "...on the planet of Tatoonie, uh, I mean Verona." "Little do they know that fate shall shape events in such a way that the feudal families shall be brought together, but at a terrible price..." Notice something? FORESHADOWING! I was entertained by the sound effects. "WOO WOO WOO" "Oh no, it's the cops, let's get out of here guys!" I really liked the Rosaline - Princess Leia reference, then the "single 14 year old chick" - Juliet. "This speach is over rated, let's just get married." Everything is easy to understand. It's obviously not in the original dialogue but the humor makes up for it.
It was a really entertaining clip; funny, creative and had cute little references to the original story of Romeo and Juliet.

~54

Jenny Walters

(Click Here to see image above clearly)


Jenny Walters, born on March 15, 1982 in Virginia, is best known for C.H.A.K.R.A.M., the organization that corrects mythology. Following her studies in archeology at the University of New Zealand, in 2005, she was admitted to the team of renowned archeologist-writer professor Alekos Katsikonouris to work on a research project concerning Greco-Roman Mythology. During her time on professor Katsikonouris’ team (2005-2007) she made a significant contribution in the compilation of the first complete mythological anthology of Greece and Italy.
Jenny went on to produce numerous publications on the subject of Mythology that have earned her world wide acclaim. Jenny is most famous for her book, “Beware Greeks Bearing Gifts” which topped the New York Times best seller list in 2007 and earned her the American Literary Society’s: Best New Young Author Award 2007.

Contents
1. Family/Early life
2. C.H.A.K.R.A.M. (Center for Historical Accuracy of Key Research in Ancient Mythology
3. C.H.A.K.R.A.M. International
4. “A Search for Xena”
5. Publications

Family/Early life
At age 8 she moved to New Zealand with her father, Richard Walters, and her mother, Mavis Clark. Richard Walters is a professor in Willabong University of New Zealand (or WUNZ). He specializes in the field of the Greco-Roman Classical Period. Mavis Clark, who kept her maiden name, is a published fiction writer. She has written such books as, “The Cloverfield”.
Currently only 26, Jenny heads the organization C.H.A.K.R.A.M. which she quickly established as the leading authority in mythology studies across the world.
Her older sister, Nikki, comments,
“We’re all very proud of her. It seems only just yesterday that she was playing with her toy chakram and watching Xena. I still remember how she would run around doing Xena’s battle cry. (Laughs) She wanted us to call her Ephiny because it was her favorite Amazon. Xena had a great impact on her life.”

C.H.A.K.R.A.M. (Center for Historical Accuracy of Key Research in Ancient Mythology)
At age 23, just after completing her study of archeology and whilst working with professor Katsikonouris on researching Greco-Roman Mythology, Jenny went on to create the organization, C.H.A.K.R.A.M.
“We here at C.H.A.K.R.A.M. strive to verify to what extent mythology is based and derived from true events in history. Furthermore, we aim to salvage and record the unwritten mythological record from across the world for posterity.” – Jenny Walters

C.H.A.K.R.A.M. International
Over the years C.H.A.K.R.A.M.’s research and verification work has spread around the world from New Zealand to Italy, Greece, countries in South America, mainly Colombia and Mexico, and the Southeastern Asian area where ground breaking work has been accomplished in collecting and recording on paper for the first time the spoken mythological record of Indonesia. Jenny has gone to thousands of conventions to spread C.H.A.K.R.A.M.’s message and promote its work.

“A Search for Xena”
Soon after her success with C.H.A.K.R.A.M., Jenny created a TV Show out to search for known Xena sites around New Zealand. So far only 4 episodes have been produced. Several planned future episodes are said to feature Lucy Lawless, Renee O’ Connor and Ted Raimi in person. In the second episode, Jenny visited the grave of Kevin Smith, who portrayed the character Ares, God of War, in the TV production of Xena: Warrior Princess.

Publications:



Click here to see bigger version.

In addition to the above publications, Jenny has written many articles for news papers around the world including the Washington Post, the Kamal Dank of Jakarta, Sumitori of Finland and The Guardian.



References:
www.willabonguni.com.edu
www.cloverfield.com/MavisC
www.CHAKRAM.org
www.Hellenic.gov/moe
www.PromethusPublications.com.gr
www.RCHC.uk.com
www.UOAthens.com.gr/Katsikonouris

External Links:
www.CHAKRAM.org
www.NYTimes.com

See also:
Xena: Warrior Princess, University of New Zealand, Royal Society of Human Cultures, American Literary Society, Mavis Clark, New Scientist.

Violence, Political Unrest and a Basic History of Haiti

Violence and Political Unrest in Haiti

The political unrest in Haiti is caused by a group that is attempting to banish President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. They are trying to get control of approximately a dozen towns throughout the country. Many people have died and despite that, Aristide chose to stay in power until the end of his term which ended in 2006. Back in 1994 Aristide disbanded the Haitian army which leaves gangs freedom to roam the streets. In 2004 the people burned down the police headquarters and took over. They became the new police and their purpose was to, “protect and serve”. On February 4th that same year the police attempt to take back the city but are ambushed and most are killed.

Dead bodies lay in the streets. On a video about violence (see below) one youtube poster commented, “Sometimes you would drive past a body on the way to work at 7 AM and leave work at 5 PM and drive past the same body.” So imagine, there is no one to pick up these bodies, they’re left there to rot.

After Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide, or Titid, was elected the US marines went into Haiti to try and keep the people under control. They were there to secure the area so that Titid could come back. The people were very excited that he was coming back. Like other former leaders of Haiti he starts off great but then he becomes a dictator.

Jean-Bertrand Aristide

The US marines, brought in by the UN, came in to make Haiti safer so that Aristide could come back.

The Cannibal Army was the Pro Aristide group. They practically did what the Macoutes did, killed people, but the only difference was that the Macoutes did it legally. Amiot Metayer, Cuban’s brother, was killed by the Cannibals; they took his eyes and heart. His funeral became a protest.

Amiot Matayer’s funeral became a protest against the Cannibals. I would post the picture of his body with no eyes but I feel it is far too graphic. The thought alone is horrible.

Papadak Douvae created a group that could hit and kill people with machetes legally to “control” the people. They were called the Tonton Macoute. They were voodoo bogeymen that ruled with cruelty and superstition. When Papadak died his son took over and he made no changes; the violent Macoute continued to kill.

A Macoute holding his Machete, their weapon of choice.

The following video is a demonstration of the violence in Haiti. Notice how no one manages to stop the fighting from going on. There is no police to keep them under control. At one point they begin throwing bricks at each other. After a good few minutes of fighting the US marines finally step in, with maze, and tell them to stop.


This video begins off with a few statistics of the deaths and injuries due to gun violence. Then it takes you into the lives of certain women who tell their story.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4maco6h7aM
(Embedding disabled by request)

A Basic History of Haiti

The island Hispaniola shares two countries, Dominican Republic and Haiti. On Dec. 6 1492 Haiti was discovered by Columbus. It was named the island Hispaniola. Once the Spanish settlers moved in Haiti the population was almost extinct, after 25 years. It became a French colony of Saint Dominique. Haiti soon after this incident became a leading sugar cane producing country which was dependent on just slaves. It is the first republic of African descent and the second oldest nation in the Americas. It also is one of the only countries that still has not gotten over slavery.
Haiti’s rebellion started of as a slavery one, blacks Vs whites. But it’s misunderstood. It was much harder. It was much harder because black and ethnic groups had a specific class of mulattoes. They were highly important in businesses and as land owners.
In 1991 Jean-Bertrand Aristide became president of Haiti. At first he was adored by the people but as time progressed he was considered a dictator. After a 2004 rebellion, Aristide was forced to leave Haiti for the second time.

Haitian flag.

Bibliography:

Pan, Esther (February 13, 2003), Q&A: Unrest in Haiti, Retrieved February 16th, 2009, from http://www.nytimes.com/cfr/international/slot2_021304.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print&position=

Pina, Kevin (October 17, 2004) Haitian Violence, Retrieved February 16th, 2009, from http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/7667

Armed Violence in Haiti (n.d.) Iansa: International Action Network on Small Arms Retrieved Febuary 18th 2009, from http://www.iansa.org/index.htm

~Natalie and Mimi

Beware Greeks Bearing Gifts

So, if anyone brought you gifts from Greece, make sure there aren't little army men hiding inside them.

...Just kidding...


NOTE: I will be editing this blog as soon as I get the rest of the pictures from Emilio.


My trip to Athens, Greece:



The group traveling to Athens took a bus to the Airport. There we all got our boarding passes, or tickets, and checked to see who we were sitting next to.




We had about an hour to kill so I thought, "hey, why not get something to eat?" So I did. Chips was my choice of snack food.



Now I had a snack but what drink was I to buy?



Ah, Lucozade of course.



So, I bought my chips and my Lucozade and sat down to enjoy them. Of course, that was hard to do, what with all the people around me asking for some chips. Emilio went to the gate with Neff and Anna(bella) and I stayed with the rest of the group, chomping down on my chips and gulping down my Lucozade.



When the time came we all met up and got ready at the gate. We got onto the bus that took us to the plane and found our seats.



The group buckled down their seat belts and got ready for take off. The screens came down, the flight attendants came out (no pun intended) and none of us payed attention.
...Hey, at least I'm being honest.



Soon we were more than 2000 miles up in the sky. We all had a little sandwich snack and a drink while we watched some show on those little screens. After 1 and a half hour of flying...



...we reached Athens, where a bus awaited us. The bus took us straight to the hotel. Sure, the girls drooled over a few guys on the way over but that was pretty much it.



Here you have the group with our luggage and all sitting (or in this case, standing) in the hotel lobby. At the hotel we split into little groups of 2 or 3 and got our key cards. I shared a room with Rianna.



The little groups of 2 or 3 settled into their hotel rooms and acquainted themselves with their neighbors. Panayiotis, Marco, Emilio, Michael, Rianna and I had rooms in a little section. It was like a mini neighborhood! :D



We had a few hours and we were off again, on a guided tour. The picture you see here was taken from a bus. That shiny silver thing near the flag is my camera.



Here you see the first Olympic Stadium ever made. It's where everything began. The stadium is called Kalimarmaro. I'm guessing they really liked their marble back then.



This was also another thing we saw on the guided tour but I chose to post it because it's in the middle of the road. You don't see that in Cyprus. I find it so amazing how something so ancient is still standing. And not only is it still there, a whole city has been built around it.



Our tour guide took us up to the Parthenon. On the way over we stopped and got a good look at the scenery where you could see the ancient market (agora).



We reached the top of Acropolis and came to the entrance which would take us to the Parthenon. We were told a brief history of the building and moved on to...



...the Parthenon. I know what you're thinking, "finally!", and believe me, we were thinking the same thing. The tour guide told us all about the Parthenon. 8 by 17 columns. Architects now still study the building. It is considered one of the most marvelous buildings in history. The Parthenon took a lot of studying and took quite a while to build. Certain parts of the Parthenon are in England and the Greek people are waiting for England to give them back now that they have a museum to keep them in. Eventually we went back, had something to eat and rested at our hotel room. And by rested I mean we hung out in each others rooms. Later on that night we went to the Hard Rock Cafe.

NO PICTURES OF THE HARD ROCK CAFE (or the mall). I'll try to get my hands on some as soon as I can.



While we were driving back from the Parthenon to our hotel rooms we passed by the guards. The reason I have this picture here is because you see them in their uniforms. However, on Sundays they change into more traditional clothes for the changing of guards. It's a wonderful ceremony.



On Sunday, at around 11 am we went to the Sintagma where the ceremony took place. We saw the guards marching and the band playing music. There was quite a few guards but only two stayed there. The rest marched off.



You can just tell he loves what he does. No but honestly, the guards didn't move. It was amazing. No matter what you did or what you said they didn't say or do anything. The group that gathered around to watch the ceremony took pictures with the guards.



After shopping we had a quick visit to the Zappio. If I remember correctly it's where important people would meet and discus issues that need to be dealt with. It looked beautiful on the inside. It was perfectly round with a fountain in the middle. I was impressed by the columns. They all looked the same and were very detailed.


More pictures coming soon.
Featured next time on Mimi's blog...
- The tiring walk all the way up to Likavito
- Museum
- A visit to Zappio
- Last day shopping
- Plane sickness all over again
- Coming home (which incidentally is the name of episode 1 Season 6 in Xena! :D Which I now have on DVD!)

Agree/Disagree (Taste of Salt)

Teenagers should not be involved in politics:

Agree and disagree.
While adults have more experience and are more educated in certain areas younger people are the future. Adults have seen more, gone through more, they know a little more about political structure and such. With this they'll be able to have a better judgment when it comes down to making certain decisions for a change. On the other hand, teenagers are going to live with the changes, so they have a right to stand up and let their voice be heard. They know what they want for their future. However, some teenagers are immature to deal with certain problems or don't follow the news to know what is going on in the world. This is where I believe adults can interfere and point out where they are being "wrong" or unreasonable, but they should not overrule their ideas completely because they would obviously have a reason, as silly as they may sound. So, yes, teenagers should play a major role in politics but there should be a certain involvement from the adults.


The troubles of all young people (besides money and class) are the same everywhere:

Disagree: It really depends where you are and who you are. The way you look could, unfortunately, play a major role in how others view you. If you have dark skin some may discriminate and bother you while on the other side of the world a white man or woman does not have to worry about such a problem. Also, there are many children in the world that must suffer through poverty and starvation. While in places like Napal children must survive with just a few grains of rice every few days someone all the way over in England, for example, is getting bullied. Another example can be teen pregnancy. Someone in one part of the world would be worrying about her baby which she had at a young age, while someone on the other side of the world does not have that problem. I do believe that there are certain problems that do occur in many young peoples lives, but that does not mean it will be everywhere. A very common problem is bullying or even self esteem which can lead to depression. These kind of problems can occur in many places. However, that still does not mean everyone in the world will have those very same problems.

Everyone can achieve happiness if they just try:

Disagree: "Some people are just straight up depressed. There are some really down people, who just really aren't happy." Remind you of anything? That was quoted from our teacher Mr. White. And I do agree with his statement. Sometimes it's just not as easy as it seams. There are some people that can try and try but won't reach happiness. For example, children that don't have enough money to buy food and shelter won't be happy. They won't be able to have the necessities reaquired for them to live a healthy and normal life. Put yourself in this situation: Your parents passed away while you were young, you were forced to live on the streets and you sell your body just to buy bread to eat so you won't starve to death. Would you be happy? Of course not. Could you try to be happy? Yes, but you may never be able to reach that state of being happy. Sometimes, no matter how hard one tries, they may never achieve happiness.

~54

The Working Actor Podcast

Title - The Working Actor Podcast



Episode - Straight Cash
Date – Mon, 17 November 2008
Time – Approx. 40 minutes
Website - http://www.workingactorpodcast.libsyn.com/

Description of Episode (from the Podcast producers) - Ah, the money edition. Chris and Jon break down the myths and legends of an actor's income, giving the latest info on WHAT WORKING ACTORS MAKE in commercials, TV & film. In the process they uncover a species that until now was believed only to have existed in industry folklore... the middle-class actor.
A great listen for working and aspiring actors alike.

Why did I pick this podcast?

I want to be an actress. I felt that since Mr. White had posted the title to a podcast about two working actors it would be a great chance to find out what it would be like. And there's no substitute for experience. What's even better, is that they're not actors who make tons of money or George Clooney, they're just regular ol' guys doing what they love.
So, I googled "The Working Actor Podcast" and found their website.

It's hosted by Chris Marrs and Jon Wellner. They are both working actors trying to make it in the business. In their podcasts they tell the listener everything there is to know about acting. I chose to write about their latest podcast: Straight Cash.
Chris and Jon break down how much money and actor would make in different situations. In their opinion, a successful actor would work about 10 times a year.

First they talk about commercials. Commercials are "the lottery". An actor would probably get more money in a commercial than if they were given a small part in a TV commercial. They can give you a great amount of income. Well in commercials, you have a Session fees, which is the amount of money you get for just showing up. The session fee is the only money you can count on, you can never be sure if it will air. It can be around $565.10 and that is usually a fraction of what you're going to make in total. The actor will be paid one of two ways. Either they will be paid a one lump sum, where they will give them a certain amount of money and will be aired as many times as the advertiser wants, or they will be paid every time it airs. They both have their advantages but they both have their disadvantages. If the actor is paid a one lump sum and the commercial airs quite often, then they would have gotten much more money if they were paid every time it aired. But, if the actor was paid each time it aired, and it didn't air much, or at all, then of course, they would have gotten more money from the on lump sum. The one lump sum, usually applies to cable TV commercials.

Later on, they move on to the topic of TV shows. In a traditional sitcom, like How I Met Your Mother, someone with a small role, like a bartender, that has just a few funny lines would get about $26.34 per week. If the actor was only there for one line, and wasn't very important to the show, would get a day rate, which would probably be around $7.59. The actor would get that amount of money, each time it runs (omitting the first time, since you were paid for showing up and doing your part). However, most TV shows do not run more than once. So, the actor would probably just get a day rate or would be paid for the week that he worked. Some TV shows, like the show John Adams, that are about 1 hour long would offer the actor more money. An actor with a small role could get up to $6,527 per week he works there. I'm sure our fellow Paul Giamatti makes more money than that, since the whole show is based on his character and he is in almost all the scenes and as you can imagine that is very good. Guest stars on a TV show are usually hired for the whole week. For example, if you work 9 days on CSI you could get around $65.27. In some cases you could work for 2 days and get the same about of money if you worked for 4 days. But it can get much more complicated than that. Actors usually get quite a bit of money for looping. Looping is where they don't catch the actors voice well or some other problem occurred with the sound and they go into the studio and record it while trying to match their lips to the sounds they make. Actors would probably be payed half their pay rate, just for saying 1 or 2 lines like this. So, not only do you get paid for showing up on the set and doing your part, you also get paid for looping.

Extras on a TV show or commercial can get quite a lot of money. On a commercial you can get around $3.60 and on a TV show you can around $120 (every 8 hours).

The one downfall do all this is that, if the actor is not getting paid a lot of money and some of it is going to their agent or manager then they're going to get very little money.
So just imagine the check you get will be like this:
Check = (what you got paid) - what the agent gets - what the government gets(taxes) - what the manager gets (if the actor has one).

Acting is one of the few industries where you have no idea how much you're going to get. In certain other jobs you have a solid salary that you can count on. In acting, the only thing you can count on is your session fee.

I'm definitely going to continue listening to the Working Actor Podcast and it's going to be very beneficial for me. I would definitely recommend this for any aspiring actor, like myself.

~54

Merry Christmas!

~54

Mischief?

Oh how I love this lolcat! ^-^



In other news...
I just thought Lucy's eye's were worth posting.
They're to die for!


I just thought these pictures were funny:





~54
--Bringing you pictures that make you laugh until you can laugh no more.

I can has friendses, please?

Gollum wants friend. We're very skinny, we are. Not much meat on our bones. Not much meat down here anyway. Mustn't be bothered by our dark, smelly cave. Not much sun here, no place for Gollum to sun tan. Our skinses is very pale. We don't look so good. Not the healthiest thing there is down here. We talk to each other to pass time. He won't go away. Scary, he is, but he keeps me company.

We likeses jewelry, particularly rings. No thieves will be accepted. I don't like thieves and bad Bilboses! He steal precious! Then he escaped with precious! It was ours! OURS! But he meant no harm. NO! He is evil!
...If you have background in psychiatric help, it would be very much appreciated.
Must have pulses and brain. No goblins allowed! Scary, scary things, they are. We don't like goblins! Hobbits are nice. They can cook! We haven't had a decent meal in a long time. Femaleses would be preferable. We like riddles very much. In fact, when you apply, you must answer riddle to win! We learned new tricks now! SHHH! Gollum mustn't say! HE MUSTN'T SAY!
We like chubby ones, we do. Little Hobbits, we like. Fat, chubby and hairy, they are. He mustn't trick Gollum, no, he mustn't. Gollum would like it if they can take pictureses. Not much of us can take pictures down here. YES WE CAN! NO WE CAN'T! We wants photographer. We're trying to beginses our model career. We have thought about hair styling but we don't want others to steal our hair style! Mr. Bilboses! WE'LL GET YOU!

Contact us at: bilbo-is-a-0ildo@caveland.com
or
Number: 555-874-RING

_____________
~54

Potato!

Heidi Montag...speaks for itself:




~54
--Bringing you pictures that make you laugh until you can laugh no more.