The graphic novel given to me was Summer Blonde by Adrian Tomine. At first I was a little skeptical about this whole graphic novel assignment, but I was definitely going to give it a try. First looking through it, I felt I was about to read a comic book, but my friends laughed and told me there is a difference.

So this book has four different stories in it and none of them have the same characters. The first story is Alter Ego, and this one is my favorite. It is about an author, Martin who is trying to write another book. In the beginning he received a postcard from a girl back in high school names Samantha. He always liked her but never had a chance with her. When he went to find her, he met her sister Jenna. Jenna was in high school still, so there was definitely an age gap. Martin has a girlfriend, but for some reason I can sense that he was being drawn to Jenna. We know that Jenna likes Martin and I felt that he liked her back, but I was wrong. In the end, he pretty much explains that nothing can or will happen. Also, in the end, his girlfriend finds out about Jenna and dumps him. Finally, he knew what he could write about, his life.

The second story in the book is Summer Blonde it starts with a guy in charge of the Ads. He is a little lonely and goes to the card store to buy cards for different occasions, except he was no one give them to. Instead, he just throws then in a drawer in his office at home. His neighbor is Carlo and he is a bit of a man whore who tries to make these two girls make out, with each other. When the one friend wanted to leave, Nessa decided to stay and she and Carlo hooked up. One night, Carlo and Nessa were on the porch and Carlo was singing to her. The neighbor, remember he is very lonely, called the cops due to the noise.  From this, Carlo continues to play and he gets agitated. Towards the end, Carlo and Nessa start sniffing drugs, shooting heroine, and fool around. As Carlo and Nessa walk out of his house, we find out that Nessa has a boyfriend. So he proceeds to kick Carlo’s butt, and the story ends with Carlo in the hospital.

The third story is Hawaiian Getaway and I did not really like this one at all. It is about this girl who pretty much hates her job, and has the worst mother. Her mother rags on her for being fat, lazy, dumb, etc. and this girl has boy problems. So she gets fired from her job and wastes the day away. She gets by her windowsill and watches people walk by the telephone booth on the corner. She finally dials the number and has people answer. For the first few people, she says weird things to. Then she tries to pick up a guy and he actually goes on a date with her. To me this is just creepy! They go on a few dates, make out, have sex, and he promises her to go with her to her grandmother’s wake. At the end, she has this Hawaiian fantasy dream getaway, and then the story ends.

The final story is Bomb Scare. This story was alright, but it was not all that great. It is about this girl who is a total slut at her school and does anything with anyone. This one kid, Scotty, thinks his best friend, Alex, is gay. So he tries to not be too close with him anymore. The slutty girl, Cammi, gets so wasted at a party and makes a mockery of her. Everyone is not her friend anymore because she is gross and she is a slut. She tries to run for treasurer and Scotty helps her because he thinks they are friends. When the only reason they are talking is because she lost all of her friends. When she gives her speech to everyone, they throw toilet paper, diapers, and garbage at her. She runs out crying, Scotty follows her, and she swears up and down at him. A few days go by, and there is a bomb scare. Cammi and Scotty see each other and talk. She finds out how he has never kissed a girl, touched a girl, or anything of that sort. The story ends with her naked in his room.

Graphic novels are very graphic.  Mine had a lot of sexuality in it but the book was not that bad. I am not into picture books but I am glad I gave this book a chance. I am not saying that I will read graphic novels from now on but I might recommend people to try them.

My Top Five Favorite Movies

1.    A Walk to Remember
This movie is such an inspirational movie because of the plot. In this movie, the main character was diagnosed with Leukemia and instead of dreading about it, she lives her life. Jamie, played by Mandy Moore, sings in the choir, participates in school plays, tutors and really puts herself out there to accomplish great tasks. Also, she does not care what others think of her because she has her faith in God. No one knows about her disease except her father and her love interest, Landon, played by Shane West. A Walk to Remember has my favorite singer and my favorite actor, this movie is perfect. This movie is so emotional and it can really teach others a lesson. I cry every time I see this movie and A Walk to Remember is my favorite movie.

2.    The Notebook

Rachel McAdams is one of my favorite actresses and Ryan Gosling is also a favorite of mine. This movie is a love and romance and I am a sap for these kinds of movies. They are in love during their teenage years and when summer ended, Allie’s family moved. After many years they see each other and things are heated up from there. The acting in this movie is so real and the audience can see the intensity. I feel that Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling definitely had the chemistry offset to play their characters so well. I love this movie so much and once again, I cry every time I see it. It is so sad!

3.    Knocked Up

Knocked Up is hilarious and contains another great actress, Katherine Heigl. She stars in my favorite TV series, Grey’s Anatomy and is now in one of my favorite movies. She plays an E! Entertainment Interviewer and on the night of her big promotion, she goes out. As she is out, she meets Ben (Seth Rogan) and things get a little frisky in her room. From there, the movie is a comedy about these two complete opposites who are having a baby. This hysterical movie keeps the audience laughing and that is a main reason as to why I love this movie. 

4.    10 Things I Hate About You

10 Things I Hate About You, is an all time classic movie that I can watch numerous times without getting sick of it. Julia Stiles is an amazing actress who really uses her talents in this movie. She is a strong headed senior in high school and really does not care what others think. When Patrick, played by Heath Ledger, is paid to take Kat (Stiles) out on a date, at first she refuses, then caves in. In the end, he actually falls for her and although the bet is revealed to her, this still changes the way she thinks about life. This movie had a great theme and really pertained to high school students. 

5.    Rent

Rent is my favorite musical and when it came out as a movie, this was a must see. I thought this movie would not live up to the musical but I was wrong. The singing was phenomenal, especially major props to Tracie Thoms who plays Joanne in the movie. This movie is about love, hope, struggle, and triumph and is an emotional movie. I cried the first time I saw it, and to this day, I still do. The acting is exceptional, the effects were visually present, and this movie is a must see. I love music and acting, so what better than to take a musical and make it into a movie? I love it!

“All the world is a stage and men and women are merely players” -Shakespeare. These few words can sum up my favorite place from not only my childhood, but even now. Ever since I was little, the stage has been my favorite place to be and where I feel most comfortable. One stage that will always remain close is the stage at Resurrection College Preparatory High School. I first came there and saw how big it was and I knew this stage would be very close to me my four years in high school. During our first play, Little Women, I felt that it was too large to use all of the space. Quickly after the director helped us all, I quickly realized how wrong I was.

We had numerous crosses to do and furniture that took up the whole living room on stage. Not only did we use the whole stage, the stage crew put up an add on. This addition to the stage was on the left side, coming off of it and into the house area. After the show, this area or location quickly became my next home.

 I was always in the theatre at school and sometimes the hours I was there exceeded the number of hours than me being home. We would rehearse very late and the latest I stayed was around midnight. Leaving high school was very hard for me, especially knowing I would be leaving the stage. I knew I wanted to fulfill theatre in college, but I did not know if would be able to with the rigorous courses. I was very committed to the stage and I cannot wait to go back just to see it.

Now coming here to Purdue University, when I saw the stage, my jaw dropped. In the Elliott Hall of Music, the stage is magnificent and I cannot wait to embrace it. I saw it my first day during BGR and fell completely in love with it. It is huge and makes my other stage look small. Even though my high school stage will remain close to me with memories, I cannot wait to embrace this new stage, make memories and leave marks.