Percy Jackson- Are the Protagonists Believable or Not? (SPOILER ALERT!!!!!)

Percy Jackson (Series, since I’ve read the whole series)

                     (Are the Protagonists Believable or Not?)

Have you ever read a book, or watched a TV show or movie, and then wondered why the characters acted the way they did? Why were the teenagers in one movie were happy, but then dark and moody in the other? We were assigned the task of reading a book that had a teenage protagonist, and then decide whether or not we thought the characters were an accurate portrayal of teenagers. 

I have read all of the Percy Jackson books (except for "Blood Of Olympus", which doesn't come out until next year,) and I have to say, Percy really is believable. He and Annabeth (demigod daughter of Athena) start out not really getting along very well. This progresses until they are friends, and Percy starts to seemingly have slightly romantic feelings towards Annabeth in "The Titan's Curse". Later on in the series, Percy and Annabeth start dating. This is pretty normal for a teen, to like somebody, to even start dating. Also, Percy struggles with bullies. Clarisse for instance, and they have had a rivalry ever since Percy's "initiation ceremony", where Clarisse (demigod daughter of Ares) tries to dunk Percy's head in a toilet. Percy, being a son of Poseidon and all, proceeds to blow up the plumbing, and humiliate 

Clarisse. Again, many teens report being bullied, or seeing someone being bullied. Percy has issues with his father, Poseidon, as Poseidon couldn't see Percy for many years after he was born, leaving Percy feeling abandoned. His stepfather, Gabe Ugliano, is a horrible man, who later is disposed of. This varies between the book "The Lightning Thief", and it's film adaptation.

In the book, Gabe gets turned into a statue, and the statue is sold, but in the movie, Sally Jackson (Percy's AWESOME Mom) kicks him out. Later, Mrs. Jackson marries Paul Blofis, a very kind and friendly man, who makes Mrs. Jackson and Percy very happy.
These things are normal for a lot of teens, and thus, why I believe that Percy, with all that he's going through, is a very realistic character. In fact, I believe that most of the characters throughout both "Percy Jackson and The Olympians" and "Percy Jackson and The Heroes of Olympus" are realistic.

I hope you enjoyed reading this post, and that if you haven't read any of the books to either series, that you will consider giving them a try. Rick Riordan is an AMAZING author, and it's almost like he brings the books to life. Mr. Riordan skillfully blends mythology with our modern era, to create a stunningly fantastic way of writing and reading. I'd would, however, also recommend that you read the series' in order, as the plot would make a lot more sense, and so would some of the references made to past books.
(Also, try reading the Kane Chronicles, but this time, instead of it being Greek and Roman mythology, it's Egyptian.)

Thank you for your time :)

~Sylvie

Miss Representation~ Sarcasm

   

This blog post is about the movie "Miss Representation". As you can see, the title is a play on the word misrepresentation. The whole movie was about the way us girls and women are being represented and treated by society and social media, and how, although it has gotten better for girls and women, it's still looking a bit grim.

  This blog post is also about sarcasm. Sarcasm was the literary device that my partner and I were assigned to look for and take notes on during the video. The definition wasn't too hard, but since the movie was so compelling, and it literally just sucks you in, we only have one example for the use of sarcasm in the video. That example was when a female actress was talking about a show she had been in.  While she was on the show, many of the people on set were harassing her about her weight. Yes, she wasn't super skinny, but she was by no means  overweight. Soon after that, they cancelled the show she was in, and replaced it with Drew Carey (and I quote the actress who's show was replaced by his on this), " Because he's SO fit!"   

  

       What is sarcasm?

Sarcasm is a way of saying something with a bit of an attitude, and not usually a nice attitude either! Quoting the dictionary, sarcasm is "the use of irony to mock or convey contempt".

Sarcasm was used to add a bit more flavour.  It shows that the women and girls in the movie have a bit of attitude. And aren't going to take anymore junk. The sarcasm was used to help develop and portray how the filmmaker really felt about the whole subject.

     "Miss Representation"  was a real eye-opener, and I would encourage you all to watch it, no matter who you are. It is very compelling.

 Thank you all for your time, 

~Sylvie

Miss Representation, Thoughts, Feelings, and What it Made Me See.

                                                                        Intro
               So, as any of you who read my last post know, we watched a movie called "Miss Representation" in English class.  My partner and I were assigned to look for sarcasm in the movie, and also to give the definition of sarcasm. For those of you whom didn't read my last post, if the idea of reading it strikes you as something that you might like to do, go right ahead, but if you don't want to, that's fine too. However, this particular post, is about what I thought, how the movie made me feel, and what it made me see. So, without further ado, let us begin.

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         The movie made me think about how media is representing girls and women in an unrealistic way, and setting impossible standards. My initial reaction to the film was "We can't continue to let this happen! We need to take a stand!".  However, I do realize that this has been going on for a long time, and it would take a while to get things going. Many people have tried to take a stand, and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But if we all work together, we can solve more than just the way media is portraying us girls and women. But I won't get into too much detail on that in this post. The impossible standards are those based on photoshopped images of the models that can be  seen in a lot of places. In real life these women are beautiful, but apparently they are not beautiful enough. These doctored-up images are so perfect, that it is impossible to look like them, unless you edit a picture of yourself, or have lots of surgery done. People have developed eating disorders trying to look like these images, and even models have developed eating disorders trying to look "good" enough. Some men and boys whom have grown up in this kind of society can even begin to believe that if a girl or woman doesn't look or do things the way they are portrayed, then they're  not good enough. Like in politics. Women have been harassed for being in politics, and have been told that it is only for men. This is not true. Yes, men have good ideas, but so do women. It  takes the point of view from both sides to solve a problem. It is very hard to resolve an argument, or a problem, with only one party speaking.

    It's sad, but even girls and women think this way about themselves. In fact, since I couldn't go to the grocery store, or watch t.v, or even go on some online games without seeing these images, or highly sexualized video game characters, I began to doubt myself, and they way I looked. I didn't as much as I should have, and felt that I was always being negatively judged no matter what I did, even by complete strangers! It has taken a toll on my self confidence, and I still struggle with that. My Mom and friends found out about my not eating as much as I should, and helped me through all of that. I am trying to regain self confidence, but it's very hard in a world where women must meet certain, impossible standards to be "perfect".

    Media not only portrays women and girls by their looks, but, as pointed out in the movie, they also portray girls and women by their "attitude". In lots of T.V. shows and cartoons, women and girls are shown as catty, only wanting to get the boy, if their smart, then their considered a know-it-all. But if they're "dumb" they're considered cute, and easy.
In both television and real life, names that I can't post here,  are used to demean and insult women and girls.
All of these things are touched on and  explained in the movie "Miss Representation", and I will include a link to the site at the end of this post.
This movie was a real eye opener, it was very interesting and compelling, and I learned quite a bit from it. I would encourage you to watch it, no matter who you are! I hope you enjoyed reading this little rant, and if you wanted to, maybe comment on what you liked, and/or what you think I could do better? I'm always looking for feedback on what to do better, and it's nice to hear what other people have to say.

Thank you for your time,
~Sylvie

(Link to website mentioned in paragraph)
Link to Miss Representation website

Wasted Lives Story Video

Wasted Lives Introduction Post

Hi there, this post is about my "passion project" that I did in Humanities. It is initially a video, but due to the fact of me needing to learn how to speak up when presenting, the sound may not be very good. If you can hear it, I ask that you please close your eyes, and imagine yourself as the main character. If you can't, then I will supply a written copy as well. This story was initially written when I was in 7th grade, but after much editing and revising, two years later, this is my final copy. The reason for me writing this story, was that in 7th grade, we were studying the war in Afghanistan. We were very driven and compelled by what we learned. I tried to write the story in such a way that you are transported to another world. The country, age, gender, and name of the person are not mentioned, so that anybody can imagine themselves as the main character. This will be one of three posts. One with this (the introduction) one with the video (the initial post) and one with the written copy (in case the sound quality wasn't good). Thank you for your time ~Sylvie

Over Consumption Project.

Hey there. Our science/math class did a project on over consumption. We had to compare our data for modern day, with the data we had found of an older civilization. Each group also had to create a model displaying our information. Our group did a model based on the water consumption of a single person in Canada, and how much water they used in ten days. Since one person in Canada uses 350 Litres of water each day, and we based the model on ten days, we just had to multiply 350 by 10, and we got the final amount. It seems that on average, a single Canadian uses approximately 3500 Litres of water every ten days!

This is a picture of one of my partners and me. Ming is the girl in the Pink shirt. I'm the one in the hat. :D

This project gave us a good chance to practice and display Creativity(for making the model, and giving ideas), Critical Thinking (Thinking hard about the science and math, and scrutinizing the information we had gathered.), Math (doing the calculations, the graphs, and the charts.), Science ( The project itself, finding how much water we each use.), Social Studies ( It showed us how much we sue in this country), Social Responsibility ( Making sure that everyone had a job, that everyone was heard and had a chance to contribute to the group), and Personal Responsibility (Brining in the supplies, being on time, doing your fair share of the work, asking for help if need be).

In line wit

Hello, a little about me and school.

Hi there, this is for all that I do, whether it be in school, or on my free time. I love the arts. All of them. Writing, Painting, Sculpting, Drawing, Drama, Just creating things in general.  That's probably why I love steampunk. For those of you who may be wondering "What's steampunk?", Steampunk is a sub genre of science fiction, the industrial revolution, and the Victorian era. I will quote on of my substitute teachers on this "It's Lace meets machinery". Steampunk is very creative and very accepting, no matter who you are.


Alright, enough about the non-school part of this blog. I shall now come to the school biased part of this. Our class goes by these rubrics called the cross curricular competencies. They consist of rubrics for
Communication Skills, Creative Thinking and Innovation, Critical Thinking and Problem Solving, Social Responsibility, Personal  Responsibility and Well Being. I believe that these are a good idea to go by, because they push our selves to be honest about where we are in our learning, and to see what we need to improve on , and how to improve on our work.


  My goals throughout high school are goals that will be easy for me sometimes, but will feel like I'm trying to claw my way trough solid rock. These goals are to improve my dramatic skills and flare (like I need to), improve my writing and drawing,  get work with horses, riding lessons, and hopefully become and apprentice jockey.

    That's about it. If I don't stop now, I'll just talk for ever and ever and ever. Oh yeah I like using herbs to heal people. SEE!! I won't stop talking :D!!

Isn't a mermaid a fish/human hybrid? So when people went looking for people with fish tails, they could have looked for fish with human eyes?
MY SOLE PURPOSE IN LIFE IS TO MAKE PEOPLE LAUGH AND BE HAPPY!!! :D And a whole lot of other things.

Hello, this is just a little thing saying that I may post poems and writing, anyways, have a good day.