High School is Hell

I think "High School is Hell" was really intelligent and it made me believe that the writers of Buffy the Vampire Slayer are geniuses. The way that metaphors were subtly used to describe the common difficulties teenagers face in their everyday lives and how those difficulties are real life events occurring in the lives of those on the show is something that I wouldn't have even recognized if it weren't for this article. With that being said, I think someone may have been out of work when they wrote this article. To recount specific episode and events in those episodes is something someone with way too much time on their hands would do. Has anyone honestly ever found themselves bored and said, "I'm going to go write an article about how teenagers and vampire slayers are similar in completely opposite ways. Sounds fun." I find it difficult to understand how someone could write such an educated article about something and not to be convinced that they spent more time on it than they should have.



I guess what I'm really trying to say is that, though that content of the article was great, informative, and useful if you ever wanted to watch Buffy, the author could have just as easily gotten their point across in fewer pages. I don't have anything against long articles, but when it's the same point made with an abundant amount of examples, the article becomes less interesting and more stale, which is the exact opposite thing that writers try to accomplish.

Buffy- episode uno.

the scene when buffy tells giles that he doesn't understand how hard it is to be a slayer. not given the choice and having to hide it from everyone is almost as big a struggle as killing vampires. "you're standing at the mouth of hell" when buffy and angel meet for the first time. she says that she only wants to be left alone and he says no deal. "look at them flailing about, not knowing what dangers surround them." "lucky them."

I decided to watch the first episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "Welcome to the Hellmouth." The overal episode was about Buffy, who kills vampires as a hobby, moves to a new town in California that, unbeknownst to its citizens, is overrun with vampires. There are two key scenes in this episode that I find are really helpful in finding out who Buffy was before the show started. In one scene, she meets Giles, the librarian, for a second time. He knows she's a slayer, and she knows that he knows, so she comes barging into the library telling Giles that being a slayer is not something that she signed up for. She talks about how not having the choice of whether or not she actually WANTED to be the slayer is sometimes harder to deal with than the vampires are. Later in the episode, Giles is looking at a bunch of kids at a club and says, "look at them flailing about, not knowing what dangers surround them." Buffy sullenly replies "lucky them." This idea shows that Buffy, who in everyone's eyes is the new girl who got kicked out of her old school, is really the good Samaritan of the town, even if the town doesn't know it yet, and she doesn't want to be.

The next important scene has the same message to it, but instead of Giles giving the guidance and knowledge in positive, helpful manner, it's a vampire doing the chastising. Buffy finds him him following her and tells him to leave her alone because that's all she wants in the new life she has (and because she has super-slayer powers, she can tell he's a vampire without having to see any teeth.) He says that she's the slayer and has a duty to fulfill and that he, as well as his "family" of vampires, simply cannot leave her alone until she is destroyed. These scenes have the same idea to them, people seeking out her skills-either to harm or to help the world- and her not wanting any part of it. This is a conflict that, I believe, will eventually resolve itself in time when Buffy comes to realize who she is, how important she is to the survival of the human race, and how to handle living her new life.

Jackie's really long blog about blogging

When I first found out that I had the opportunity to blog in English class, all I could think of was "are you for real?" Doing something I already enjoy doing and getting a grade for it has to be one of the biggest scams around. I, personally, think that this is a brilliant idea for one main reason: everybody today KNOWS how to blog. Whether they have a Myspace, type emails, or even know how to type, kids all around the world seem to have been genetically altered to know how to blog, which is really convenient for the modern teacher, instead of the old passe of writing a paper. Blogging is something the modern student can connect themselves to on a more personal level because it allows the student to really feel like they understand what they're typing and really feel that they have full control of what they are saying and how they are saying it instead of having to follow an outline. With that in mind, when I get the sudden urge to tell the whole world my opinion on a book I just finished reading, I gravitate more towards writing about it in my blog than my thesis paper.

Blogging is also easier than one of the things students dread doing most: public speaking. Just the idea of speaking in front of a group of peers sends people off to change their pants, so giving them the opportunity to accomplish the same basic goal, to a much broader audience, without the physical audience, is a chance most students will never pass up. I know that I am much too shy to even introduce myself to people and face-to-face contact is incredibly more intimidating than face-to-screen contact. Having 1,000 people read your blog is an easier pill to swallow than having 1,000 people staring at you while you're speaking and staring right back at them. Becoming more confident in front of a bunch of faceless names sometimes helps in preparing for the dreadful day when a blogger emerges from under their rock into the real world because they're so used to typing their mind out that when they go to speak up in person on issues, they can gather their thoughts and speak like an educated person. However, more often than not, blogging hinders a person's social skills and can actually hold them back when trying to develop confidence and vocalize their opinions. Lesson for today: just because it's easier doesn't necessarily mean that it's better.

To sum everything up: blogging is easier to do than breathing; it's fun, informal with a educational edge, and really helpful- sometimes. Blogging in place of structured papers is helpful; blogging in place of public speaking is a hindrance. All of this is just preparing us for what is to come: an age where eerything is so easily accessible that the foundation of knowledge will change more than anybody can comprehend.

Firefly: Serenity

When I first started watching, I found myself checking to see how much time was left every few minutes. But when the creepy doctor came aboard the ship, I finally gained interest...a little. Finding out he's actually a fugitive on the run, a good fugitive, is an interesting twist. I think jayne cobb (the scruffy-faced guy) was probably my favorite character just because of his rugged intolerance for things. The special effects were AMAZING. Overall I think my favorite part was the chase towards the end with the big shark-like ship pining for the tiny fish-like Serenity. Then when Dobson was holding River by gunpoint right in front of her brother (adopted?) and the captain shot him right when Dobson was trying to prove how tough he was was really funny. Also, the theme music reminds me of Walker, Texas Ranger. My least favorite part, definitely, was when the captain shot and killed Serenity's horse. I hate it when animals die, it's not entertaining. Even though there were some good parts to this episode, would I really want to continue watching the series? My answer: meh.

About me...

Hey everybody! I'm Jackie and I'm from a little town called South Vienna, which is about halfway between Springfield and London. I graduated from Northeastern High School a few months ago with honors. I'm studying journalism here at OSU hoping, someday, to write somewhere. I love writing about anything, especially when it comes to blogs and writing about whatever pops into my head! I also love listening to music, and playing it too! I play the saxophone and I'm in OSU's athletic band, which plays at the home basketball games, volleyball games, etc. When it comes to stuff I listen to, I'm all over the place. I have everything from Motley Crue to N*SYNC on my iTunes right now, and I'm ALWAYS up for checking out new music! So if anyone has any suggestions, feel free to shout 'em out! Also, I'm uber shy in person, but not on the internet. I guess that's about it for now!