Two essays I want you guys to critque
The first is my college essay for CU Boulder. I was in a wierd mood when I wrote it, don't blame me. The second you don't have to read if you don't want to, it's my movie review for Lost Boys I wrote for Spamp's class. I gave it 3 out of 5 stars.
Question: Provide information about any events or circumstances that may have affected your academic record.
I do not believe any one event has ever influenced my academic record negatively or positively, rather, a chain of events in my life have helped me to become the way I am, and that was the private schooling during my elementary years. I can point the exact beginning of this chain, and that was the decision my parents made to put me into said private education in my kindergarten. A conservative, catholic school, there were many faults I later found with it, but one thing that I still appreciate about that school is the rigorous programming it provided. You either excelled in this environment or dropped out; there was no room for goofing off or procrastination. Some people might find that overly harsh, especially for elementary school, but that is where I first felt the need to excel. The kids there were rich, pretty, and popular. I was not. The only way I could distinguish myself from the crowd was not by the billions of jelly roll pens that I had, or the millions of giga pets on my key ring, no, it was only by my grades that I could rise above the pack and feel like my life was meaningful.
They say that the beginning is when it really counts, where they lay the foundations for later life. Needless to say, I have English and Reading foundations of concrete, a history foundation of brick, and a useless religious trivia foundation of steel. The only foundation that held cracks was my math. Even now, the lack of emphasis on math hurts me. It has taken me many a years to repair the gaps and cracks in my math. Even then, I still have trouble with even and odds, but admit it, who sometimes doesn’t?
They were harsh graders there too. I remember the first C I ever got was in 3rd grade when my poster did not hold all the required information. That made you learn, though. Even in 3rd grade, you didn’t half-do your homework. Oh no, perfection was the magic word at that school. One thing I am particularly glad that they emphasized there was our English and Reading classes. Spelling tests were the bane of my existence back then, but thanks to them, I can now successfully spell Czechoslovakia and ambidextrous without the use of a spell check. Then there was Reading. Ah, reading, the love of my life. Never has anyone taught me a more useful skill than the ability to read. I can truthfully say that there is never a more nirvana like feeling for me than sitting down with a good book.
Needless to say, because of my conservative, private catholic schooling, I gained quite a need to excel at everything that I tried (although middle school did bring a bout of procrastination and lethargy that I eventually overcame). It also opened many doors that would have under other conditions remained closed, and gave me a springboard for me to launch myself into even more challenging programs, such as my acceptance into the IPM at Hamilton Middle School. As much as I have to blame it for my incurable geeky ness and useless religious trivia, I wouldn’t trade those experiences for the world.
Leather coats, beautiful women, and big hair, Lost Boys embodies everything that defines the 80’s, that is, if the 80’s were crawling with vampires. The tagline describes the movie to perfection. “Sleep all day. Party all night. Never grow old. Never die.” That is what this movie is all about, all glam, and no guts. Set in Santa Carla, Mass ‘Murder Capital of the World’, the movie follows Michael (Jason Patric), his widowed mother (Dianne Wiest), and his little brother (Corey Haim) as they try to adjust to their new life. The movie starts out with, what else, a beautiful, mysterious girl (Jami Gertz) who catches the eye of Michael and eventually introduces him to David (Kiefer Sutherland). David is the leader of the leather-clad biker gang that patrols the boardwalk at, quite ironically, only nighttime.
The movie’s photography makes a sharp, fantastic contrast to other generic horror and vampire movies. While blue and grey are the new black these days, Lost Boys has rich, deep colors, with predominate reds and yellows. One particular scene is on a beach, where David and the rest of the gang have brought Michael to finish up his ‘initiation’ into the gang. On the beach are bunches of 80’s metal heads rocking out to music around a fire as the vampires watch from a tree, the firelight hellishly illuminating their faces. The battle that ensues looks like it is being fought in hell’s domain with the flickering fire the only light.
The acting is, surprisingly, well-done and very convincing, another thing today’s horror movies are in short supply of. Kiefer Sutherland stands out particularly as smooth talking, seductive David. In the end, though, no amount of well-filmed scenes or brilliant acting can infuse life into this decaying plotline.
The idea behind this movie itself is quite intriguing and almost sad. Teenage vampires that are poised on the brink of adulthood, yet they never are allowed to make that final leap. The movie title is also an interesting double entendre. The first, and obvious, is an allusion to Peter Pan’s own gang of lost boys, who, just like these vampires, will never grow up, living in perpetual youth and freedom. The other side, the darker side, is a loss of innocence. Whether given up freely, or in the case of Michael, not, it is something that will never be regained.
That is about as deep as the movie goes, though. With a quite unsurprising ending, and many questions left unanswered, the movie leaves you high and dry. There is a slight flicker of hope, though. That lost innocent might somehow be regained, but the message is quickly lost in the glamour and glitz of the movie, just as many other things were lost in the 80’s. Although I can’t express the sheer relief I felt when I realized there was not a single “all-knowing” child to be found throughout the entire movie.
Wow after writing all of this I feel so creative.
Question: Provide information about any events or circumstances that may have affected your academic record.
I do not believe any one event has ever influenced my academic record negatively or positively, rather, a chain of events in my life have helped me to become the way I am, and that was the private schooling during my elementary years. I can point the exact beginning of this chain, and that was the decision my parents made to put me into said private education in my kindergarten. A conservative, catholic school, there were many faults I later found with it, but one thing that I still appreciate about that school is the rigorous programming it provided. You either excelled in this environment or dropped out; there was no room for goofing off or procrastination. Some people might find that overly harsh, especially for elementary school, but that is where I first felt the need to excel. The kids there were rich, pretty, and popular. I was not. The only way I could distinguish myself from the crowd was not by the billions of jelly roll pens that I had, or the millions of giga pets on my key ring, no, it was only by my grades that I could rise above the pack and feel like my life was meaningful.
They say that the beginning is when it really counts, where they lay the foundations for later life. Needless to say, I have English and Reading foundations of concrete, a history foundation of brick, and a useless religious trivia foundation of steel. The only foundation that held cracks was my math. Even now, the lack of emphasis on math hurts me. It has taken me many a years to repair the gaps and cracks in my math. Even then, I still have trouble with even and odds, but admit it, who sometimes doesn’t?
They were harsh graders there too. I remember the first C I ever got was in 3rd grade when my poster did not hold all the required information. That made you learn, though. Even in 3rd grade, you didn’t half-do your homework. Oh no, perfection was the magic word at that school. One thing I am particularly glad that they emphasized there was our English and Reading classes. Spelling tests were the bane of my existence back then, but thanks to them, I can now successfully spell Czechoslovakia and ambidextrous without the use of a spell check. Then there was Reading. Ah, reading, the love of my life. Never has anyone taught me a more useful skill than the ability to read. I can truthfully say that there is never a more nirvana like feeling for me than sitting down with a good book.
Needless to say, because of my conservative, private catholic schooling, I gained quite a need to excel at everything that I tried (although middle school did bring a bout of procrastination and lethargy that I eventually overcame). It also opened many doors that would have under other conditions remained closed, and gave me a springboard for me to launch myself into even more challenging programs, such as my acceptance into the IPM at Hamilton Middle School. As much as I have to blame it for my incurable geeky ness and useless religious trivia, I wouldn’t trade those experiences for the world.
Leather coats, beautiful women, and big hair, Lost Boys embodies everything that defines the 80’s, that is, if the 80’s were crawling with vampires. The tagline describes the movie to perfection. “Sleep all day. Party all night. Never grow old. Never die.” That is what this movie is all about, all glam, and no guts. Set in Santa Carla, Mass ‘Murder Capital of the World’, the movie follows Michael (Jason Patric), his widowed mother (Dianne Wiest), and his little brother (Corey Haim) as they try to adjust to their new life. The movie starts out with, what else, a beautiful, mysterious girl (Jami Gertz) who catches the eye of Michael and eventually introduces him to David (Kiefer Sutherland). David is the leader of the leather-clad biker gang that patrols the boardwalk at, quite ironically, only nighttime.
The movie’s photography makes a sharp, fantastic contrast to other generic horror and vampire movies. While blue and grey are the new black these days, Lost Boys has rich, deep colors, with predominate reds and yellows. One particular scene is on a beach, where David and the rest of the gang have brought Michael to finish up his ‘initiation’ into the gang. On the beach are bunches of 80’s metal heads rocking out to music around a fire as the vampires watch from a tree, the firelight hellishly illuminating their faces. The battle that ensues looks like it is being fought in hell’s domain with the flickering fire the only light.
The acting is, surprisingly, well-done and very convincing, another thing today’s horror movies are in short supply of. Kiefer Sutherland stands out particularly as smooth talking, seductive David. In the end, though, no amount of well-filmed scenes or brilliant acting can infuse life into this decaying plotline.
The idea behind this movie itself is quite intriguing and almost sad. Teenage vampires that are poised on the brink of adulthood, yet they never are allowed to make that final leap. The movie title is also an interesting double entendre. The first, and obvious, is an allusion to Peter Pan’s own gang of lost boys, who, just like these vampires, will never grow up, living in perpetual youth and freedom. The other side, the darker side, is a loss of innocence. Whether given up freely, or in the case of Michael, not, it is something that will never be regained.
That is about as deep as the movie goes, though. With a quite unsurprising ending, and many questions left unanswered, the movie leaves you high and dry. There is a slight flicker of hope, though. That lost innocent might somehow be regained, but the message is quickly lost in the glamour and glitz of the movie, just as many other things were lost in the 80’s. Although I can’t express the sheer relief I felt when I realized there was not a single “all-knowing” child to be found throughout the entire movie.
Wow after writing all of this I feel so creative.