Ozy & Millie

Imagine yourself on the first day at a new school. You’re only ten years old, and you’re worried. Will you fit in? Will you make friends? And there are bound to be bullies to watch out for. You know, those mean kids who push you around and make fun of you for no apparent reason. And you just know when they make fun of you they’ll use one of those cheesy rhymes with your name. Uh-oh, here come the first.

“Ozymandias, Ozymandias, he’s a big, a big, uhhh…”

Well at least you’re lucky if you have a name that doesn’t rhyme with anything.

(Due to sizing isues, if you want to see the full picture, click on it)

This is the opening of my favorite web comic: Ozy & Millie created by D.C. Simpson. Obviously from the title, the two main characters are Ozy and Millie. Ozy is a 10-year-old arctic fox who was named by the author because of the poem “Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley. He is always wearing a top hat, and a vest, but no pants, which makes him immune to “pantsing” from the schoolyard bully, but a target for Millie’s jokes. He often ignores Millie’s pranks on people by using his philosophy of Zen, making him very serene.

Millie is a red-fox girl of the same age who can be quite a maniac. She and Ozy are best friends despite some controversies. Very unlike Ozy, Millie always gets into trouble, whether by trying to avoid work, or by scheming. She also has some odd creations, such as the George Bush sock puppet, used to make fun of everything he does. Regardless of her personality, Millie does have philosophical moments, probably due to being around Ozy.

The comic often deals with varying issues, such as politics, trends and advertising, and popularity. The first issue is politics. As mentioned before, Millie finds a way to criticize the government in a very humorous way. Second are trends. There is an secondary character in the comic named Avery who is obsessed with keeping up to date with all of the modern trends. Trends and advertising are made fun of to the extremes through Avery. The third thing the comic often makes fun of is popularity. The secondary character Felicia is a typical schoolgirl whose life revolves around popularity. These along with many other recent happenings are expressed comically in this comic.

The comic Ozy & Millie is possibly the best web comic strip ever. Its many characters give different perspectives on life and happenings. The very funny takes on certain issues also give the reader something to laugh at. Above all, the actual drawings are extremely well done. Ozy & Millie is an amazing comic, and you should give some of it a read.

P.S. I commented on Andrew's blog

Grease

I’m not the kind of person who likes to see plays and musicals, but just last weekend I saw a truly exceptional musical. I was with the Upper School choir on the CISMF trip, and on one of the nights we went to see a major production. It is called Grease, and it’s full of music, dancing, and a great story. Of the very few shows that I have seen, this is definitely the best.

Some of the amazing elements of the musical include, the great songs, astonishing actors, a famous country singer, big, grand sets, and a fluid plot. Some of my favorite songs of the musical are: Summer Nights, Greased Lightnin’, and We Go Together. The actors who perform these songs are brilliant; like Ace Young and Emily Padgett. Another famous name is Taylor Hicks who performed many old-fashioned country songs. For one of his songs he appeared out of a giant ice-cream cone that seemed to be solid. All of these elements came together for an amazing performance.

With each and every song, you wanted to get up and dance. The singers sung perfectly without any noticeable mistake. And the orchestra played the 50’s music very well too. The choreography for the singers was pretty cool; after a couple seconds of seeing them, it felt like you could do it too. The whole thing came together to be a truly remarkable performance.

P.S. I commented on emily M's blog

HTTYD

HTTYD

Mild Spoiler Warning

How To Train Your Dragon is an amazing movie. The story follows Hiccup, a weak, scrawny Viking, who is unable to fit in due to the fact that he can’t kill dragons. During one attack by the dragons on the town, Hiccup manages to take down the most rare and dangerous dragon called a Night Fury. Nobody sees the dragon fall past a ridge or Hiccup actually hitting it. Because no one believes that he took down a Night Fury he sets out to find the dragon and kill it. Once he finds it he decides not to kill the dragon, but to let it loose. After a couple of visits to the injured Night Fury Hiccup befriends the dragon. With time on his hands and craftsman skills, he makes a harness so he can ride his newfound friend.

            Toothless is the name given to the Night Fury by Hiccup because when he first saw the dragon he didn’t have teeth. After the first encounter though, Toothless is much more like a pet then a dreaded Night Fury, but he does show aggression whenever Hiccup is in danger or threatened. Because Toothless is injured, Hiccup makes an artificial tail wing to replace Toothless’ missing one, which Hiccup has to control when flying. So when Toothless and Hiccup fly together they appear to be in perfect harmony. Another odd thing about Toothless is; he has an uncanny resemblance to Stitch from Lelo & Stitch.

            The animation in this movie is really something to admire. For some of the scenes that take place in the air, it all seems so majestic with detail of the land below. The fire from the dragon’s mouths is also something that is very difficult to make realistic. And overall, the people look so real, and because they’re Vikings, it adds a very specific, and good, feel to it all. All in all How To Train Your Dragon is a must see movie that has stunning animation and a very good plot.

P.S. I commented on will's blog

Animal books are awesome. Anything book with talking animals will immediately be accepted onto my bookshelf. Aside from Harry Potter and other books like that, animal related books are the only kind I’ll read. Some of my favorites of this “furry” genre are: Redwall, Silverwing, and Warriors. Every summer when I’m at my cottage I always read and reread all of these books as I can.

There is one book that I have been holding out on for a reason, and that is Watership Down. I purchased Watership Down a while back but my sister, who was in grade 8 a while back, that I would be reading it for LA, told me. I’ve heard many good things about it from my parents, and I’m eager to read it. Now I’ve been told that we aren’t going to read it in term 3. Although I could read it on my own time, I would love to be able to read it for school. And now with our teacher asking us what we might want to add to the term 3 curriculum, this is the perfect time to bring up this argument.

Watership Down hasn’t been read by the grade 8s in a while but I think it is a very good book to bring back. One of the reasons it’s so great is that it’s about rabbits; how many books can you think of that are like that? Another thing is that Watership Down is a very known book, and gets a lot of praise. Finally the book is one that can provide a lot of work (not that I want work) for our teacher to give us. I think that reading Watership Down for class in term 3 would be great for us students and our teacher.

P.S. I commented on Andrew's blog