Matt Harding Video Reaction

When I watched the video of Matt Harding, I immediately thought that, that was one of the coolest ideas for a video. Although it must have taken years and a whole lot of work to complete the video, It was important that he did it. This video can connect and bring people from different nations together. This video shows how music and dancing is a universal language which can create peace and friendship between people across the world.

http://www.edapple.net/catalog/MusicUniversalLanguagetb.jpg

Wishes, Hopes, Dreams and Inspirations.

I thought that Susan Boyle was amazing on Britain’s Got Talent. Her performance shows that everyone has a gift or talent, weather it is to sing, dance, play sports, act… The only thing left for us to do is to find it and get the chance to show it. As Susan Boyle said, the only reason she has not become a successful singer after forty-seven years is that she has not had the opportunity to show her talent to the world. I was amazed and surprised after watching that performance because like it has happened so many times before we judged her by her age, appearance and size although now I know it is so wrong to do so. At the beginning, everyone in the audience was laughing without taking Susan seriously. This was because of her appearance, but when she started singing, everyone stood up clapping loudly, all shocked and surprised by her voice.

I believe that when you have a talent, you are born with it. If you have a dream and believe in yourself, I believe that your dream will come true with some hard work. The You Tube video I watched of Susan Boyle had thousand of hits and in my opinion this is because people like Susan give hope to others. This clip is watched around the world not only because Susan was amazing, but also other people watch it to give them hope in accomplishing their dreams. I found Susan as an inspiration.

There are so many similarities between the clip and the poem written by Langston Hughes. The Dream Keeper explains the importance of dreams, while Susan Boyle’s dreams had just come true. The fact that Langston Hughes wrote “that I may wrap them in a blue cloud-cloth” suggests that dreams are precious and extremely important. Susan got onto the stage confident and sure of herself even when everyone else was laughing at her. This takes courage, but in the end she was an inspirational hero.



Langston Hughes poem - http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-dream-keeper/

Susan Boyle video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

Picture - http://www.writespirit.net/inspirational_talks/political/martin_luther_king_talks/martin-luther-king2.jpg

I Am Fire

I Am Fire

Glittering and glowing

I guide others

on dark winter nights.


Active and lively

I twist long streams of smoke

upward into the misty air.


Burning and crackling

I sprinkle small warm sparks,

upon my surroundings.


Once I am disturbed

I crackle and hiss with fury,

blue and white flames

turning all to ashes.


As the sun rises

I slowly burn out into white, hot ashes,

waiting to be fanned back to life.


I am fire.

I chose this painting because it shows the liveliness of both m e and the fire. The shape and flow of the picture shows the calm and soft side, while the color of the fire shows the dominace and destructiveness of it.This painting mainly represents the first stanza, when i wrote "I guide others on dark winter nights."

References:
Painting by Scott Nellis
http://images.google.com.my/imgres?imgurl=http://www.mythinglinks.org/FirePainting~ScottNellis~Untitled5.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.mythinglinks.org/ct~fire.html&usg=__TRZoHhHuuLvdWOiU7Y0ZykdSmvg=&h=372&w=292&sz=9&hl=en&start=4&um=1&tbnid=1TWdKbDmuOtBEM:&tbnh=122&tbnw=96&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpainting%2Bof%2Bfire%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG%26um%3D1

"Breaking The Frozen Sea Within"

‘A book should be an ice-axe to break the frozen sea within us’ By Franz Kafka

resources: http://ohr.edu/seasons/image/tammuza.gif

This quote stated by Franz Kafka suggests that good books should unlock ordinary thinking and give knowledge to the reader. I found that the simile in the quote above, about a good book being an ice axe was very true and interesting. I thought that this was an interesting comparison as the two objects can be similar in one way and completely different in another. Another literary technique used in Franz Kafka’s quote is opposites. An opposite is “frozen seas”. It took me a while at first to understand the phrase “frozen seas” but I managed to after some thinking. “Frozen seas” are two opposites because when you think of frozen you think about lifeless, motionless, still and quiet. On the other hand when you think of seas you would think of thrashing, moving and thunderous waves. This was very confusing to me at first but when I understood it was very interesting and made sense. In the quote above I think Franz Kafka is using the word “book” as the weapon or key to unlock imagination, creativity and thinking. In my opinion the “frozen sea” stated above is the wall or barrier blocking us from creativity and knowledge. The “frozen sea within us” could also mean the prison, which we are locked up in, and a good book is the key to freedom. The word “within” creates an impression of our soul, mind, emotions or thoughts, which should be unlocked and reopened by a good book.

I think that books are extremely important to everyone and without them we are unable to expand our thinking and gain knowledge. When I read the quote above I thought it was trying to explain how good books should break through and unlock our soul deep within us. I found that people who do not put effort into reading are unable to write as well as others. People who do not read are people without an ice axe surrounded by walls blocking them from expanding their knowledge and creativity. Some less fortunate people do not have easy access to books while we can go to a library or book store at any time. I believe that this gives us the responsibility to teach those less fortunate people and educate them. We are lucky and we should spread the knowledge we gain from books on to others.

Just two years ago I did not enjoy reading and only did read when forced to. All that has changed after the day I started to read non-fiction books and realized that there is so much knowledge and information to learn about. I then realized that books are the best way to spread thinking, creativity and knowledge. Books are a great way to pass knowledge you have learnt onto others and this is how the world will get more intelligent and new things will be invented to help us all. Fiction books will unlock creative thinking and emotions. Fiction books will get us to be more creative and we will get new ideas to improve our world as we know it today. Either way fiction or non-fiction books in general will help us all in many ways. I have only recently figured that out but it is the truth.

The image I have chosen shows a group of people burning hundreds of books, which means the same thing as burning knowledge. Without knowledge the world would not be able to develop and learn. This is why I think that this is a very wrong and disturbing image. As well as throwing out money you are throwing away valuable information, which could help millions of people. I do not know what the reason is for the burning of these books, but to me it does not do anything but kill knowledge, creativity and thought.

Tricko

Tricko, our first and only house pet. Who is Tricko? Well he is definitely not the average pet. He is our Iguana and we have had him for over three years and he is a big part of our family. He spends most of the day in our room eating leaves and fruits. Tricko has become one of our family members and it would be a big loss without him. In the beginning when he was only a baby, he would bite, scratch and even whip us with his tail. Now that we have tamed him he is able to roam around our room freely without anyone watching him.

Tricko now even recognizes our family but is sometimes unfriendly with strangers (our friends) who visit our house. We know when Tricko is hungry because he starts licking items in our room. Tricko loves hiding under pillows throughout the room where it is warm. This is sometimes dangerous in case we lie on our beds without noticing him. My two brothers and I love Tricko being around us and we are used to it as he spends most of his time crawling around the room. It was really hard to convincing our mom to buy us an Iguana but she finally gave in because we never were able to have a pet as my mom is allergic to fur. Tricko is now a massive part of our family and it would be a big loss without him.

Stay Persistent

I chose my title to be "Never Give Up" because I believe that it is very important to stay persistent. It's even more important to stay focused and keep persistent when the times are getting hard and you are having problems because if you do not give up you will find a way to reach your goal in the end. If you give up too easily you will regret it in some way in the future. I chose my picture to be the two snails racing because it reminds you that even though they are really slow and small they seem like they are fighting so hard to win the race.