extra response to romeo + juliet movie

I think that this movie displays the book and it's characters very well. by adding emphasis to the important events, they make the meaning of the book a bit stronger. it grabs your attention and makes you focus on the very dramatic scenes rather than the ones where; compared to the rest, are very plain.

i also think that they displayed the families' power very well in the beginning. they make all of the buildings seem super tiny and then BOOM smack in the middle are 2 huge buildings that look like skyscrapers. each with a family name over it. Whether it says montague or capulet, both buildings are very tall and your attention is immediately drawn to them. kind of like that really big annoying tree in van gogh's painting. at first, you kind of look at the scenery in the back, but it's difficult to ignore that big black thing there. just like these buildings. it's impossible to not see them. i think that the largness of these buildings kind of emphasises the power that both families have. kind of like the line "2 households both alike in dignity".

this movie also emphasises the street fight. first of all the place where they fight is in a gas station. just because they saw eachother, they began to fight. and in a gas station. of all places a gas station that is full of people. and their fights reach high levels of dangerosity. they have to get chased with helicopters so that they could stop the fighting. also, in my opinion, they acted like idiots. and the capulet's heel are so ridiculous, i literally began to giggle.

another thing that i think that they emphasise that helped, were the visual appearances of the characters. for example, tybalt capulet has a very funny haicut, and a pointy beard. this makes him look very silly. and benvolio's haircut also makes him look very silly in my opinion. it kind of states that they just use this as an excuse to fight with someone. i also think that alll of these 'silly' features were on purpose so that you can see, that the family feud wasn't necessary. like one of our ela teachers said, (i think it was mr. records) not even the families know why exactly they hate eachother. it's just a fact to them now. Capulets and Montagues hate eachother. so by making them act and look very silly while they fight, they emphasise the fact that he fighting just doesn't make any sense anymore. it's pointless.

i think that the people that made the movie were very clear on what they thought about the fighting between these families. and i think that perhaps maybe even shakespear meant it too. and romeo and juliet's love just states the fact the even the kids don't really care about the fight anymore either.



tybalts funny moustach and haircut

benvolio and his crazyness



cemetary dance

The book that I am currently reading, Cemetery dance, by Douglas Preston & Lincoln child, is a fast paced, suspenseful and therefore a very interesting book. it takes place in Manhattan. it starts off with a very successful New York Times Reporter, William Smith Back Jr., being murdered in his apartment. the murderer not only murdered him, but also injured his shocked wife on the way out. William's wife was Nora Kelly, an archaeologist that works in the Museum of Natural History.

the story begins to get interesting because, when the police begin to investigate and interview the witnesses, they are all positive that it was Collin fearing. he used to be a tenent in the same building and had asked Nora out on dates ignoring the fact that she was married. the first conclusion was that Collin was mad at nora for rejecting him and blamed William. The problem, is that when the people in charge of investigating the crime (Lieutenant Vincent D' Agosta, and special FBI Agent Pendergast) look up Colin Fearing, reports say that Colin fearing was dead and Burried 10 days before the murder. his body had been found in the Harlem River, and his 'sister' came to identify him. but there is evidence that the person who killed William was Colin. there are witnesses, such as the doorman, who knew him for 6 years, and most importantly, a camera. when Colin walks into the building, he glances up at the camera. as if he was taunting the people that saw the video. as if he was saying "hey look at me i did it. but guess what? i'm dead".

the most puzzling thing, is that when they go try to find Colin's body to make sure it's not some kind of mostake, his body is not there. but a bunch of small objects that seem to be voodoo are pesent. then the investigation turns to a place called the ville. where animal sacrifice is suspected to go on in it. it is kind of like another religion, but they are hidden in manhattan. they have owned that land since before the civil war, so the state can't really do much about it. but it is suspected that they are behind William's murder because he wrote a series of articles on them and on their suspected animal sacrifices.
Afterwards, when Nora gets impatient with the police, she decides to go with another reporter, Caitlyn Kidd to go spy on the ville and see what they are up to. Caitlyn begins to write about what they witnessed and what happened when they were in the ville. and a few days after, while she is giving a speech to a bunch of other reporters, William Smithback appears and murders her in front of every one (including his wife) and manages to dissapear before anyone realizes what is going on. Nora, very frantic and scared, goes to the morge where they are investigating her husbands body for any clues, and demands to see her husbands body. freakishly enough, he is not there. just some paper mache coffin with a toothpick skeleton in it.