Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Monday, November 28, 2011
Gothic Horror and Modern Horror
The video above is of Edgar Allan Poe's classic tale, The Tell-Tale Heart. He incorporates elements of the gothic--dark settings, etc. But he also prefigures the modern horror story with his everyday settings like eating food, etc.
Take a look at this and hear the words of Poe used to make a movie.
Remember when you are writing modern horror, you must have
- Suspense
- Believable characters
- Shocking ending
- Everyday settings
- Supernatural elements though not always
- Short Titles that leave the reader guessing like Scream, The Exorcist
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
A Repeating Poem
Here is an example from By the Light of the Halloween Moon by Caroline Stutson and Kevin Hawkes
Go watch a video here.
A toe!
A lean and gleaming toe
That taps a tune in the dead of night
By the light, by the light,
By the silvery light of the Halloween moon!
A cat!
A thin black wisp of a spying cat
Who eyes the toe
That taps a tune in the dead of night
Go watch a video here.
A toe!
A lean and gleaming toe
That taps a tune in the dead of night
By the light, by the light,
By the silvery light of the Halloween moon!
A cat!
A thin black wisp of a spying cat
Who eyes the toe
That taps a tune in the dead of night
By the light, by the light,
By the silvery light of the Halloween moon!
A witch!
A watchful witch with streaming hair
Who snatches the cat
When he springs through the air to catch the toe
That taps a tune in the dead of night
By the light, by the light,
By the silvery light of the Halloween moon!
A bat!
A bungling bouncy breezy bat
Who bumps the witch as she snatches the cat
When he springs through the air to catch the toe
That taps a tune in the dead of night
By the light, by the light,
By the silvery light of the Halloween moon!
A ghoul!
A ghastly drooling graveyard ghoul
Who swats at the bat
Who bumps the witch as she snatches the cat
When he springs through the air to catch the toe
That taps a tune in the dead of night
By the light, by the light,
By the silvery light of the Halloween moon!
A ghost!
A williwaw ghost
Who trips the ghoul
Who swats at the bat
Who bumps the witch as she snatches the cat
When he springs through the air to catch the toe
That taps a tune in the dead of night
By the light, by the light,
By the silvery light of the Halloween moon!
A sprite!
A grumpy grungy hobglobin sprite
Who bites the ghost
Who trips the ghoul
Who swats at the bat
Who bumps the witch as she snatches the cat
When he springs through the air to catch the toe
That taps a tune in the dead of night
By the light, by the light,
By the silvery light of the Halloween moon!
A girl!
A small bright slip of a smiling girl
Who smacks the sprite
Who bites the ghost
Who trips the ghoul
Who swats at the bat
Who bumps the witch as she snatches the cat
When he springs through the air to catch the toe
That taps a tune in the dead of night
By the light, by the light,
By the silvery light of the Halloween moon!
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Cultures You Can Write About for 5 Paragraph Essay
Here are the civilizations I would prefer you stick to for your next essay.
Sumer (and any ancient Mesopotamian)
Egypt
Assyria
Phoenicia
Korea
China
Babylonia
Hittite
Mongolia
Here is a good overview site.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Sumer had the World's Oldest Recorded Joke
Those Sumerians not only nurtured and expanded irrigation, writing, and government, they also wrote down our first known joke. I can't tell you what it is because your parents wouldn't approve but I can tell you it involved passing gas.
Remember that if the ancient Sumerians could tell jokes so can you. Anyone who posts a joke (Parentally approved) on their blog before October first gets 5 points extra credit. (And 8th graders this means you, too.)
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Comic from here
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