Cold Day Post

I have learned that I like reading books that are non-fiction.  People that know me know that I cannot stand things that are not even close to being realistic.  Sometimes, I do not get the jokes that my friends tell me.  That just bothers me so I read non-fiction and sometimes realistic fiction.  I mentioned that in my book talk.  I have not found a book I didn’t like in the beginning and at the end, I like it.  I have been drawn to books that involve airplanes throughout the whole story because I can easily relate to that topic.  I can understand the story a lot better because I have lots of experience in and around various airplanes.  I am also drawn into books about either survival and/ or World War 2.  I do not know the exact reason why I was drawn into this topic but I have noticed that I started reading about those books in Mason Middle School.  Some events such as US Airways flight 1549 and Asiana flight 214 combine airplanes and survival and make me want to read how people survive.  Watching Survivor Man also makes me want to read those books.  I started reading World War 2 books when I was assigned some homework, researching about the Pearl Harbor bombings and when I met some people who liked the military.  Also, my grandpa was a World War 2 veteran.  This trimester and the school year, I have read lots of airplane books.  I have read Flight of the Intruder, Airport, Down Around Midnight and a few more I cannot name off the top of my head.  For Unit 3, my book group will read a biography book and my book will most likely be a book about a famous pilot like Chesley Sullenberger.  I will be looking forward to reading a biography.

Where the Wild Things Are

I think this is a successful and unsuccessful film adaption by the director.  Spike Jonze was good at the beginning of the movie.  He showed how Max’s character was.  The quick flare of his temper when his small igloo was stepped on by his neighbors/ friends shows that he can get angry even when he was the one who decided to start the snowball fight and then hide in his igloo that would not protect him at all.  Also, the quick forgiveness of Max shows the other side of him.  When he ripped the heart, he had just realized what he had done and calmed down.  And then again when he talked back to his mother in a way a child would and should not do shows the way Max grew up and how it affects him now.  If it was not for his behavior, he would not have traveled to this imaginary world.  This basically shows why Max ran away to the boat.  In the story he did not go out of his house.  The world just grew around him. I think that was the only successful parts of the movie.  The rest of the movie was boring, uninteresting and just random add on for the movie that didn’t need to be there.  To be a children’s book, I think you need to make it a children’s movie as well.  The monsters looked fine but the whole plot was not good.  In the short story, the author doesn’t go into much of Max’s experience in his imaginary world but the movie does.  While in the woods where the Wild Things live, all kinds of activities happen that the story never explains.  I think the story said they just had fun and then Max had to leave for the human world.  Spike Jonze did what directors are supposed to do, try and recreate the story from their understanding.  The story never said anything about a dispute after having fun.  That had Carol fighting against every other member of the Wild Things because he thought Max was the real king while everyone else knew that Max was just a human being that was pretending to be a king.  Carol did not believe them and started chasing Max to ‘eat him’ because Max never came out to him to say that he was not a real king.  I think that was the reason why Max lost touch with the Wild Things and left the land.  His relationship with Carol went down and then wanted to say good bye one last time and none of that was ever said in the book.  I believe mostly to sticking to the book instead of expanding and trying to explain the book.  Spike Jonze should have only done what was necessary for the movie yet not over do the scenes because that is what made this movie a not successful film adaption.  

Blog 5

One of my favorite books is 9 Minutes 20 Seconds.  I think the book would be a great movie for anyone, plane enthusiast or not.  The film would reenact the flight, the crash, and the post-crash.  The book starts off with the introduction of the flight crew, the flight attendants and the passengers.  Each one of these people will play a huge role later on in the story.  With good actors, the movie will be a great hit.  The flight itself was routine.  The crash was caused by a propeller that was not maintained the correct way.  The good part of the story is after the impact.  The survival instincts kicked into the people at that time.  It is great seeing other people helping other people out.  This is really when you the best of people and how kind they are.  They put their life on the line and the whole world loves seeing stories like these (who doesn’t?).  This will touch people’s hearts and get a good reputation for the movie.  This good deed will stand out from the terrible crash.  It really is a great scene and will be even better on the screen.  

If I was a director, I would keep everything realistic as possible.  I would keep the age very close, looks very close, and the names the same.  I don’t want to deviate too far from the story or the actual event itself since this is based off of a true event.  The dialogue of the passengers may not be word for word because of memory of passengers and the death of some.  The communication between the pilots and air traffic control tower will be word for word because that was all recorded on the cockpit voice recorder (CVR).  When the film is being filmed, the inside of the plane will be the same looks of the 90’s.  It will be a one- two seating abreast with the passengers sitting.  As to the outside of the plane and scenery of the land, I may need to use a flight simulator good enough to get a three hundred sixty degree of the same weather and the route taken by the plane.  All of the data is recorded on the flight data recorder (FDR).  That will take a lot of money out of our budget because I want it realistic as well.  The propeller being ripped off will be animated with the smoke.  The post-crash will mostly be relied on the actors’ acts.  This is where most people will remember the film.  They must know what happens before they can be directed.  I will make them read the book first because I want them to know what actually happens before they are directed for the film.  They need to feel like they are part of the crash and work with each other to make this movie a success.  Then the first responders will come and take the crash victims to the hospital where they will recover.