Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Everything Else

Poetry can be either hard or easy. If you get inspired to do something then you could run off five or six easy.
However, if you aren't inspired it is an arduous process that can feel like it's ripping your soul into tiny pieces.
Hey, I could write a poem about that.

I think that poetry can be best defined by "Everything else" or, "If you can't classify it then it's a poem"

Anyway, we've been writing poems in class and I actually like a few of mine.
These couple were inspired by being led around and touching things while blindfolded.
Seeing as all the class pretty much knew where all the things in the school were it wasn't that difficult to guess what everything was.

Mine are in haiku.
Five-seven-five is cool.
It excites my mind.

Lock
Small and cold dial.
Expected. I thought of it.
Think of something new.

Vendor
Huh. No change in it.
I wish my hand was smaller.
No free drink for me.

Table
I can fit under.
I shouldn’t rub it too much.
I don’t want splinters

Another one we were told to write had to begin with "If someone put a gun to my head"

Oh dread
If someone put a gun to my head.
I think that I would wish them dead.
Should they ask “Is your name Fred?”
I’d say “I wish that I had stayed in bed”
They would say “Want to eat lead?”
I reply: “Of course not sir, for I am Ted”
“Oh dear” they’d say “You’re a herring, Red.”
A shot rings out. He falls, soon to be bled.Should this scene happen, I will have soon fled.

For this last one we were given slips of paper with places around town on them and told to go there and write.

The Sanctuary
The prickly limbs of the pine trees shield me from the harsh sun as the willow branches tentatively weave a cloak to shroud me from the blaring noise.
It is hot out, but in this sanctuary it is cool.
The ever encroaching din is silenced for a moment, the trees breathe a sigh of relief.
Almost as soon as the quiet began, the blare begins anew.
The neverending war between Tranquility and Dissonance.
A lone bird strikes up a chorus.
Fighting an everlosing battle he sings harmony to the peaceful lead of the trees.
Their music cuts a hole in the wall of noise and another sanctuary is born.
Perhaps this battle may yet be won.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

The Screenplay and I

One of the latest projects I have been assigned in school was to create a screenplay. My first thought was "GAH! Twenty pages!" my second thought was "Oh, the format allows me to put in extra spaces where there's talking" my thoughts throughout writing it were "Great, now I have to go back and put more spaces in" and "Why did I pick an action movie? It has almost no dialogue!"

I discovered that writing a movie isn't so different from writing anything else. Except you can't have your characters thinking without voiceover. And there's a load of formatting that really could be done without. And you can't even specify camera angles. (Even though I know a professional who says otherwise)
Not to mention you don't really have any say in the finished product. Ever hear of a Writer's cut? Neither have I. Why does anyone write scripts again?

In case you want to read it, it has the unoriginal title of "SAMURAI"

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Busses or Bust?

Every teenager, myself included, has wanted to just get away from it all at one time or another. Unfortunately for us, the only way out was owning our own car. And when you’re 17 the insurance rates go through the roof. Luckily an opportunity has presented itself: the new bus line.

Busses are great all by themselves: they are more fuel efficient than carpooling and can carry many more people. They also allow people without cars to travel far distances and can connect cities together. Elmira’s new bus line is currently in the second year of a two year trial phase. If ridership continues to climb, it will likely be made permanent.

The busses are pretty standard. They are wheelchair and baby buggy accessible and have bike racks on the front for in case you want to go exploring. They have plenty of seating and come every half hour.

Once you pay the fair of $2.50, or bought tickets in advance, you will be given a transfer which you can use to continue your bus journey to many parts of the K.W. area. Transfers are good for an hour and a half after you get them, and seeing as the Elmira bus goes to the mall this means you can get an hour of shopping in for just one ticket!
The bus drivers are helpful and will gladly tell you which bus you need to take to get somewhere and maps are available so you can plan your own routes.

The main problem with the Elmira busses is that they don’t run all day. The final bus from the mall is at 7:23 pm. When school ends at about 3:00, and it takes half an hour to travel there, it means that there are only four hours you can spend before you need to be back on the bus coming home. If you wanted to get a job in the mall there wouldn’t be much time to work at it, unless you could get someone to pick up after you’re done.

I give Grand River Transit 3.5 stars (out of five) and a ‘B’ for Effort.