Monday, April 28, 2025

Harry Potter?

    Like so many others, Harry Potter shaped a huge part of my childhood. The books were magical, and the movies thrillingly brought the books to life. The story of The Boy Who Lived going through the wizarding world and battling impossible odds was immediately one of my favorite stories. Which is why when I heard that HBO plans to reboot the original series, I felt hesitant. 


Do we really need to tell the same story again????


    Honestly, I don't think so. The original movies, while not perfect adaptations of the books, hold a special place in my heart and many fans' hearts. I feel that trying to recreate the magic of the series with a new cast and style is setting up the new series for failure, and here is why.

    No matter how carefully they cast or how amazing the visuals are, people will spend more time comparing it to the originals than actually enjoying it. This is a common phenomenon seen in recent remakes of movies such as Snow White. 

    I feel that instead of trying to recreate the series we know and love, HBO should take this opportunity to do something new within the wizarding world. J.K. Rowling created such a large world that goes much broader than just Harry's story. There are plenty of directions this could go, as Rowling created thousands of years of history and plenty of quickly brought up places that could have a series dedicated to them. 

    Even though I am not a large fan of the Disney Star Wars movies and series, I feel like they did one thing right, and that was making shows for a lot of individual characters and continuing to add to the story of many characters that didn't get a lot of development in the original movies. If HBO made a series following Draco Malfoy and his life, I feel that a lot of people would really like it (granted, as long as it's well made), as his story was never really expanded upon. Some other topics would be the founding of Hogwarts or a magical family in a completely different country. 


I think that I represent a majority of the Harry Potter fans when I say that we don't want to see the same thing done with "shinier" special effects; we would much rather see an expanded world. 


-Jameson



Friday, April 18, 2025

SZA song Broken Clocks Analysis - Brandon lee

 Greetings, my fellow classmates! I hope your journey of educational prowess is successful so far. This week, I wanted to try something different and try to write a blog post about a song I enjoy listening to with my friends. This song is Broken Clocks by Solana Imani Rowe, aka SZA. For some background information, SZA is a musical artist famous for her R and B and collaborations with famous artists. She was born on November 8, 1990, and grew up aspiring to become a singer. Broken Clocks is one of her most famous songs, being the Number 1 hit on her album Ctrl. I figured doing a whole breakdown would be too long, so I picked 3 verses to cover. Thank you for reading my blog and checking out this song. You won't regret it!

Verse 1: 

Run fast from my day job, runnin' fast from the way it wasJump quick to a paycheck, runnin' back to the strip clubI'm never goin' back, never goin' back, no, you can't make meNever goin' back, never goin' back (nah), they'll never take meI've paid enough of petty dues, I've heard enough of sh- newsI had a thing for dirty shoes since I was 10, love dirty men alike 

This first verse focuses on her regretful past as a bartender in a strip club during hard times early in her life. She looks back on these times as times and the past and promises to never return to these times in her life, showcasing her maturity and growth as a singer. 

Pre-Chorus: 

Ooh, better day than yesterday (keep cuttin' up)Ooh, I just take it day by dayOoh-oh, never hearing what they say (uh)Ooh-ooh (uh), I just do it my way 

This Pre-chorus delivers a message of self-improvement every day and proves that she would continue to ignore other people's opinions and focus on herself. 

All I got is these broken clocksI ain't got no time, just burnin' daylightStill love, and it's still love, and it's still loveIt's still love, still love (still love), still loveIt's still love, but it's still love, nothin' but love for you (nothin' but)Nothin' but love (nothin' but), nothin' but love

This main verse references the Peter Pan movie when Captain Hook mentions all his broken clocks and how they all ticked until their last tock, and now all is good. Lastly, she finishes the verse by repeating and expressing her love for her significant other. 

Friday, April 11, 2025

Review of Wonder- By Naomi

 Hi everyone! I’m back with another blogpost and today I will be reviewing Wonder by R.J. Palacio. 

Wonder by R.J. Palacio is a book about a 10 year old boy, August (Auggie) Pullman. He has common interests, such as Star Wars, outerspace, his dog, and Minecraft. However, he’s been homeschooled all his life because of a birth defect he has called Mandibulofacial dysostosis. As a result, he’s always been ashamed of his face and even tries to cover it with an astronaut helmet whenever he goes out. However, he ends up going to school in 5th grade and the story follows how that went for him. In addition, the story follows different characters who have played a role in August’s life, which gives the reader an idea of their role in August’s life and their own life as well.

Overall, I quite enjoyed this book and here are the reasons why:

  1. I really liked the character development of the characters and how they all have their own story. It doesn’t feel like characters are just thrown in randomly and the author does a good job at revealing the characters lives, both through Auggies lens and the other characters lens. It also shows their impact on Auggies life and Auggies impact on theirs.

  2. I enjoyed the overall plot of the story. Realistic fiction is probably my favorite genre and this book did not disappoint.

  3. I liked the new perspective and awareness the book gave. I found it sad how some kids would refuse to be Auggies friend just because of his facial difference, but I thought it was good R.J. Palacio decided to show this, because it’s definitely true about real life.

All in all, I would definitely recommend Wonder to anyone who hasn’t read it yet. It’s such a sweet story. There’s also a movie of Wonder and other books that involve characters from Wonder, which I would also recommend. Wonder is definitely a 10/10. Thank you for reading my blog!


Saturday, April 5, 2025

Fanfiction in Modern Literature: How Ginny Weasley X Draco Malfoy Became a Bestseller


Fanfiction is generally regarded as a fictional work relating to one or more preexisting media that serves for entertainment rather than commercial purposes, (as profiting from these works goes against copyright laws). Fanfiction typically takes a written form and can range in length. These stories have been produced for hundreds of years, though began exponentially increasing in popularity within the past three decades. Now, in 2025, most (young) individuals have heard of the term, but lack context. This post will discuss how fanfiction has progressed in the last century and how common fanfiction "tropes” appear in popular literature of the last decade.


Although fanfiction may be dated back to the 14th century, it became more prominent during and after the 1960’s, where “fanzines” and conventions began slowly growing in attention. The term fanzine refers to a (relatively short) physical fanfiction; it was often a combination of written and artistic mediums as they typically included fan made art (fanart) of characters from either the original media or fanfiction story itself. For the next three decades (until the end of the 1980’s), a community began to form, although separated and heavily outcasted. (Fun fact: there are some accounts detailing the passing of fanzines in high schools in the 70s, similar to today with online fanfiction). While fanfiction today has become comparatively more normalized, it heavily deemed individuals partaking in anything fanfiction related as “nerds.” 


It was not until the introduction of the World Wide Web (WWW) that fanfiction became more interrelated with published literature (specifically novels), though the changes are better associated with the early 2000s, when the community had had time to evolve. During the beginning years of the WWW, fans of different fandoms (communities centered on (typically) one specific media) created small websites dedicated to their fandom. These sites included discussion boards, places to submit fanart, fanfictions, and more. In particular, Star Trek, Daria, and X-files sites were some of the most popular. There will be some links at the end of this post to explore, if you, the reader, are interested. 


However, these sites lacked longevity. Typically, each website averaged (approximately) seventy users, with the most popular having only a few hundred at most. Therefore, as users slowly lost interest over time, the sites died. Yet, the fanfiction community continued progressing thanks to the creation of Fanfiction.net in 1998, a site that is still used today. Fanfiction.net connected all fandoms, as previously, each group had been secluded to their individual sites. This website allowed for posting of any fanfiction, introducing individuals already accustomed to fanfiction to new and different fandoms, therefore growing the fanfiction community as more interacted with one another. As the site became more popular, entirely new individuals too heard of fanfiction, also aiding in growth, as more joined the community. 


Like any other community, the fanfiction community began having unique tropes, niches, and its own culture. Some tropes began being specifically associated with fandom culture, creating different writing styles and common themes (eg: MESSY BUN AND KIDNAPPED BY ONE DIRECTION). In the mid 2000’s came Wattpad, Tumblr, and Archive of Our Own (Ao3), which are other highly popularized fanfiction sites that spread the community to multiple platforms. Fanfiction also started being more openly talked about on other social media, such as YouTube. Therefore, it became common for new YA (young adult genre) authors and writers to also peruse these sites, likely finding it of interest as other story-enthusiasts did. Ultimately, many were influenced by these newer elements, and began incorporating the themes that originated in fanfiction within their own, published works. 


For example, both Cassandra Clare (popular YA author, known most for her “The Mortal Instruments” book series) and E. L. James (author of the bestseller “Fifty Shades of Grey”) have admitted to their novels having been heavily influenced by fanfiction. Specifically, Cassandra Clare said that, originally, characters Clary Fairchild and Jace Herondale (from “The Mortal Instruments” series) are meant to be representative of, respectively, Ginny Weasley and Draco Malfoy from the “Harry Potter” series by J.K. Rowling. She told audiences that she had originally written fanfiction about them, but later revised her drafts for publishing. Likewise, E. L. James said her book was inspired by Twilight fanfiction. Both authors, while of the 2010 era, were (and are) quite popular, and heavily contributed to book trends at the time. Notably, “The Lunar Chronicles” and the “Red Queen” series also depict typical fanfiction tropes, mimicking the aforementioned series, “The Mortal Instruments” with their similar character archetypes and overall themes (supernatural elements/magic in modern world featuring relatively young main characters with strong personality).  


As years progressed, these same patterns continued, lodging themselves in most YA books produced today. For example, “Red, White, & Royal Blue,” “Powerless,” and “A Court of Thorns and Roses,” can all be comparable under fanfiction-influenced fiction, despite their having relatively large differences in terms of general plot and setting. Fanfiction also further encouraged people to become authors themselves, as can be seen with the influx in the fictional book genre, where now lay home to more books than ever before. Arguably, they are accredited to fanfiction spaces specifically because, as rates of online writing have gone up, so has the number of individuals aspiring to write fiction. While some of these novels tend to be of relatively bad quality, with incorrect grammar and incoherent plot (something also often attributed to fanfiction, as those spaces are generally against negative or constructive commenting), they still grow in popularity, therefore influencing others as they once were. Overall, fanfiction has changed from an incredibly niche subject, to something that has greatly impacted the ways new authors write and think about their books, inspired by the grown community.


ANYWAYYYY THAT’S IT FOR THIS BLOG POST–HOPE U FOUND IT AT LEAST SOMEWHAT INTERESTING


Links to old fansites:


Fanzine (gray poster) and convention poster (blue poster): 


ALSO, SHOUTOUT TO NONA FOR FINDING THE FANZINE INFO 'CUS WE WENT OVER SOME OF THIS IN OUR AGORA CLASSSSSS 


AND GO CHECK OUT OLIVE’S BLOG POST FROM SIXTH PERIOD ON THE DOWNSIDES OF FANFICTION


-Karina

Friday, April 4, 2025

Kobe!

 Spoilers, I guess…

Hey everyone, I'm back!!! I hope you guys had a very peaceful and fun spring break. Anyway, I went to Chicago way back on the weekend of March 1-2, and on that road trip, I just completely devoured Kobe Bryant’s The Mamba Mentality: How I Play. To quote the man himself, Mamba Mentality is “to be able to constantly try to be the best version of yourself.” For those who don’t know, Kobe Bryant was a professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers and is considered by many one of the greatest players of all time (he’s easily in my top 5). Kobe also recently died in January 2020 at age 41, in a tragic helicopter crash that included him and his daughter.

In my recent years, this was one of the few books I read start to finish in that short of a timespan (It helped that it was a picture book with not a lot of words). This book details Kobe’s work ethic: how he works, how often he works, and why he works. It also talks about the different matchups he faced in the NBA, from Michael Jordan to Kevin Durant. The book includes amazing photography on every page, done by Andrew D Bernstein, and the book wouldn’t be the same without it. The pictures include Kobe getting focused before games and him hitting a crazy dunk or move during games. The pictures were one of my favorite parts of the entire book, and I spent days before actually reading it flipping through the pages, gazing at the imagery. 

This book was part of a streak of sports books that I read in a row. After and during my freshman basketball season, I got into the sport more and more, visiting the Y frequently to play there and working out during the offseason. The great season wasn’t necessarily part of my excitement (4-26), but the thought of great seasons to come contributed heavily (*ahem* two 6' 3'' twins in our grade). This book both helped start the passion and fed logs into the flame. As of right now, I’m still experiencing the effects this book had on me, and I would recommend this to anyone who is super dedicated to something or wants to be (or anyone in general: as I mentioned, the pictures are top-notch).

Thank you for reading! Luke


Tuesday, April 1, 2025

The CodeBreakers Secret

 Hi all,


    The Codebreakers Secret is a WWII book set in Hawaii written by Sara Ackerman. This book follows Ackerman's pattern of writing about Women in WWII. The book follows the war in the Pacific. Isabel Cooper, our protagonist, is a code breaker working in Pearl Harbor in the year 1943. They are in a race against time to break codes found in enemy transmissions to slow down and take down the enemy. She is motivated to avenge the death of her brother, but is soon brought into other secrets with the people she works with. 

    I am an avid WWII book reader as I find the topic extremely interesting, but for some reason, this book didn't have the same lure to me. I found myself slowing down and not wanting to read as some parts of the book were confusing, and the motivations for the characters to do what they do weren't always clear. This made it hard to read sometimes and caused me to take a break from the book. Maybe if I read the whole book through immediately, it would have made more sense and redeemed itself, but even when I worked to finish it, I still found myself questioning whether I was really enjoying myself. 


I personally wouldn't recommend reading this book, but if someone who has read it wants to try and change my mind about it, feel free to leave a comment down below. I would love to hear differing opinions.



Jameson



Book analysis The Visible Man by chuck Klosterman - Brandon Lee

        Hi guys! Sorry for the late post, but I am back with another book review. This is called The Visible Man by Chuck Klosterman. I firs...