Blog #1 (semester 2); Hurricane Emily's damage

Hurricane Emily hit the Yucatan peninsula on July 18th, 2005. Although there was a lot of structual damage, there were few deaths. Most of the damage included the wreckage of power lines, leaving seventy percent of the population without power. The storm's strong winds were powerful enough to break a cellphone tower completely in half, collapse two gas stations, uproot street lights and much more. The streets were littered with uprooted trees, snapped telephone polls, bent street signs, and crumpled bilboards. Most resorts and hotels lasted through the storm and it's winds, except for Akumal (which is a popular spot for americans) was badly damaged. Thousands of tourists spent an uncomfortable night in a gymanasium in Cancun. Hurricane Emily also harshly affected Mexico's farmers. Corn, papaya, and citrus crops were completely wiped out. This article was called: Storm lashes out Yucatan, then goes out to Sea and it was written by, James C. McKinley.

Shoes thrown at Bush (Blog #11)

Yesterday, during a conference in Iraq, Iraqi photographer, Muntadar al-Zaidi threw shoes at President Bush. In Arab culture, it's a huge insult to show the soles of your shoes so obviously throwing shoes at someone is a much bigger offense then it would be here. The author said that Bush composed and defended himself really well after the incident. Bush compared it to being yelled at at a rally. He also said that obviously the photographer wanted to get a message across and now the reporters were asking questions about it to him. So, Muntadar accomplished what he wanted by drawing attention to himself. The author also related this incident to the one in 1991 that occured to President Bush Sr. Fortunetly for Mr. Bush jr., he was able to duck out of the way. Bush supporters reacted to the incident, considering it to be a mean-gesture to a man who has liberated the country from a vicious dictator. This article was written by Martin Asser.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7783325.stm

Twilight (Blog #8)

Mike invites Bella to go to La Push Beach along all their other friends, she accepts. There, she meets up with Jacob Black. Jacob is a member of the Quileutes and lives on the reservation. After one mention of the Cullens Bella is eager to find out more. She turns on her flirtatiousness with Jacob to get him to talk more. He's vulnerable and gives Bella his whole story. This was about the Quileutes and the Cullens running into eachother along time ago. They were known as the cold ones. Bella's eagerness continues so she researches "The Cold One". One day at school she doesn't give up the opportunity to go to Port Angeles with Jessica and Angela because she knows there's a book store there that she could hopefully get more information from. Jessica and Angela's intention was to have Bella help choose their prom dresses. Bella shows a lack of interest and excuses herself to go to the book store. When leaving the book store, she runs into some guys who follow her. It's night, she is cold and she's alone.

Twilight (Blog #7)

Now that Bella has settled in to a new school, new house and new friends, she's met many interesting people. There's Mike Newton who becomes obsessed with her right away. There's Eric, who also seems to be somewhat obsessed with her. There's also Tyler. There's also Jessica and Angela and Lauren. And then there's Edward Cullen. Just like the other Cullens, he's pale white, but very handsome, almost to beautiful to be true. When Edward first finds out that he's lab partners with Bella in biology, he becomes disgusted. She sits there uncomfortably. Then next day he doesn't show up, nor the next or the next. Although Bella tries to convince herself that she's not the reason he's gone, she can't help but wonder. After a couple weeks, he comes back as if he'd never been gone. In biology, he introduces himself and starts questioning Bella immediately about her life. At this point, Bella's obviously confused but has worked up her curiousity so much that she must find out more about this Edward Cullen.

Twilight (Blog #6)

So these past few months, the book to read as been Twilight. I didn't read it at first thinking that I wouldn't like it since everybody else did. I usually don't read on my own unless I'm assigned to. So, I let it go, until the movie came out. A friend invited me to go to the midnight showing so, even though I hadn't read the book like every other person in the theatres, I went, thinking it might be fun. Of course, I absolutely loved the movie and was surprised to hear the satisfactory but not overwhelming reactions around me. I thought for sure everyone would have loved it. Many people said they did but it wasn't as good as the book. I don't think that there has been one movie, ever, that is as good as it's inspiring book. So I thought if the movie was this good, the book must be amazing. I started reading the book and haven't been able to put it down. Of course it's hard to read alot with such hectic scheduals as a teenager but every moment I have, I'm reading. Since the premier, I've also seen the movie two other times and each time thought it was better than the first. I also own the whole soundtrack now and for some reason haven't been able to listen to anything else. It's like the whole Twilight phenomenon (books, movie, soundtrack, apparel) has nicotine in it or something, it's making me obsessed. Anyways, as most everyone knows, this amazing book by Stephenie Meyer starts out with a girl, Isabella (Bella) Swan who moves to Forks, Washington to be with her dad. She is not too enthused about this. She's never like the cold, wet climate, of course it's nothing like the previous climate she lived in, in Pheonix.

Twilight!!!! (Blog #5)

This past weekend's opener, Twilight got huge box office results! This article was written by Joshua Rich. The new Twilight movie, based off the book written by Stephenie Meyer, broke many records this weekend. First of all, it was obviously number one in the box office this week. Secondly, it's the best movie, directed by a women, in the box office ever! It's also number twenty-ninth best box office opener movie of all time. It's the biggest movie ever made by Summit. It's the fourth best opener of this year, so far. This movie has just been huge. Of course, seventy-five percent of the audience was screaming girls/women who had been waiting for this premier for ever! There was no surprise that, they have already declared they will do the sequel, New Moon. This weekend, in second came Quantum of Solace, then Bolt, Then Madagascar, and finally Role Models.

Quantum of Solace (Blog #4)

This article is about the opening weekend for the twenty-second james bond movie; Quantum of Solace and it's competing movie. Quantum of Solace came out in the Box officeat 70.4 million, that's is higher than any other James Bond movie. A little over half of the audience was over twenty-five years of age and about forty-five percent of those were female. The author says that women are really into Daniel Craig, and his bond-like features and personality. The men like him for his image and strength. Some of the viewers were also those who saw Dr. No when it first came out in 1962. The movie debuted overseas on October 31st and has made 322 million since. The feature film still hasn't debuted yet in Japan Australia, and Spain, which are some of the highest box office making countries. Other box office winners were last week's openers, Role Models and Madagascar. This article was written by Roger Vincent.