My Memorial Day Vacation

On Thursday I rushed home after school, excited for the break when I realized, Oh no I have work. So I get changed very quickly, run out into my garage, hop on my bike, and started peddeling as fast as I could. After working for two hours I come home, and I get a call from my Friend alex. He asks me, "hey you wana come over, noahs coming and were just gunna chill." So I ask my mom if its okay, she says yes, but I would have to eat dinner before I went. So I get to Alex's and we decide to rent American Gangster, a great movie. Although the movie was great my mom came and picked me up before we could finish it. I then went home, surfed the web a little, watched some TV and then went to sleep. Friday I had work again, but this time I had to be there at 8'oclock am. I worked the whole day, from 8am-5pm with a lunch break in between. After work I went home, stripped down to my boxers and jumped in the pool. Greatly cooling myself off. After, I dry off, go inside and get changed I get a text from a friend telling me that everyone was goig to see Iron man. So I tell my mom to take me. When we get to the Theatre I got on line bought my ticket, and then headed over to CVS to buy some snacks. We then went back to the Theatre and watch the movie. After the movie we walked around westwood for a couple of hours and then we all parted ways. Saturday yet again I went to work at 8am but this time I was able to work till 1. Thats because at 2oclock every Sat I go to my uncles house so he can take me racing with him. Racing lasts from 5oclock to midnight so as soon as I get home I hit the hay. Sunday I worked again 8-5 and afterwords i just hung out at my house for the night. Then Monday I had the day off, but I went to my Grandmas to plant some plants at 10. Then at 1 went to the Old Mill and after to Fuscos. Strait from there I went to a family friends Barbaque until 7:45 when we went to see Indiana Jones. Tuesday I slept till 10 and chilled till 1 until I had to go outside and do some yard work, After I jumped in the pool, Then I went to work again and then I came home did my homework and sat out the rest of my weekend.

intro para.

In the novel Animal Farm, by George Orwell, political views and power corruption are as common as cheese steaks in Philly. Being the best book we read this year a more in depth look at it is necessary. We will look at two aspects we did not cover in the book, one new idea we of a topic we covered, and one idea that a critic has said that goes against our argument. Two aspects that we did not cover, and will be looking into are the political insight and vision of George Orwell, his opinion on communism, and the theory that Orwell plagiarized animal farm from a book written 100 years before. The one aspect we did cover that will be added to is power corruption. Lastly an idea a critic has that goes against my ideas is that the FBI edited Animal farm. This detailed look into the novel animal farm will provide strong opinions on topics you may agree or disagree with.

Final Assement sources

Mayeux, Louis. "Animal Farm Grim, Scathing Political Parble." The Atlanta Journal- Constitution 21 Dec. 2005, Home ed.: 1. ProQuest Newspapers. Pascack Hills High School Library, Montvale. 7 May 2008. Keyword: George Orwell's Animal farm.
This article talks breifly of the plot line and gives you a summary of it. How there is some grim humor, and that it is an "anti-charol" type of story. The author also talks about the history of Orwell and how he can rag on anything dealing with polotics in just one book, and have the plot line make sense. Finally the author says how even though the book was written 60 years ago we can still relate to it today.

Rubin, Merle. "An Allegory for Our Times; the Rebellion of the Beasts." Los Angeles Times 21 May 2004: 1. ProQuest Newspapers. Pascack Hills High School Library, Montvale. 7 May 2008. Keyword: george Orwell's Animal farm.
This article talks of how a similar book was written 100 years before called Rebellion of the Beasts. Orwell claimed he had no knowledge of the book exisited, but this article brings up good points against him. Its a very intresting article that I may use

Zuckerman, Laurence. "How the C.I.a. Played Dirty Tricks with Culture." The New York Times 18 Mar. 2000: 1. ProQuest Newspapers. Pascack Hills High School Library, Montvale. 8 May 2008. Keyword: george Orwell's Animal farm.
This article talks of how after george orwells death in 1950 how the CIA wanted to buy the movie rights to animal farm from his widow. The CIA did this in an attempt to tell the world that we were completely against communism. Although the CIA took this obession a little too far by putting in African Americans as characters in the movie because of the communists claiming we were racist. I felt it was wrong for the CIA to get involved because the communists are acting like bullies. They make fun of you to get a rise out of you. If we acted the right way, we would just tune them out, not even listening to what they have to say, but we did listen and they continued to critize us.

Brandis, George. "Top Twenty Books to Read Before You Die." Institute of Public Affairs Review 58.2 (2006): 31-32. EBSCO. Pascack Hills High School Library, Montvale. 9 May 2008.
This article talks of the genius of what Orwell put into this book. It also talks about how orwell was able to predict what communism was going to be at the time where people thought it was going to elminate poverty.

Annotated Bibliography

"Mountain States Telephone Plans $18.5 Million Outlay." Wall Street Journal 7 Jan. 1946: 1. Proquest Historical Newspapers. Pascack Hills High School Library, Montvale. 29 Apr. 2008. Keyword: Montana.
The article is about President Ogden approving a construction project worth 18.5 million dollars for the mountain state company to provide teleraph and telephone services for Colorado, Arizona, Idaho, New Mexico, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, and El Paso, Texas.

Girl Power at OCFS

The unknown female driver at the ocfs practice
You've all heard of Danica Patrick, Michelle Wi and Annika Sorenston. They're all females who compete or have attempted at competing in all male sports.Danica Patrick is the best example by far. Not only does she race but she is competive. She can race with the big boys, so to speak. Well on my trip to Orange County Fair Speedway for the open practice I noticed in the pits a female driver climbing out of the number 81 sportsman car. I thought "damn good for her," but I also thought that it maybe hard on her. The guys at OCFS are very competetive and really don't like it if you're slowing them down. Alot of the racers are competetive and if you want respect you better be up in the pack competeing. She may also have to find out a few unspoken rules in racing. For example if you know the car behind you is faster than you are, you give them a lane to pass you. A courtesy if you will. Like when you're driving on the highway in the fast lane and you notice a guy behind you is going faster than you are, you merge over to allow him to pass. Very basic common sense, but people can be so oblivious at times its astonishing. She seemed to race OK nothing special. As far as the practice goes, my uncle did very well. He said "The car felt free, and racey (meaning fast)." He also said that it was a litte loose in the middle, but that over all the car was very good. Last season was a different story, the car was either really loose, or really tight. We were making to many drastic changes to the car, and we got off the pace. Where now this year we have gone back to what we once had run. Winless last season a win this year would be extremely rewarding. All and all practice was fun, I took some great shots of all the divisions. I will have the photos featured on the blog. Read next sunday for the opener at ocfs report.

Feminism, it puts the O.M.G in the “omg what did paris do now”

Paris Hilton stumbling over herself from consumption of alcohol

Feminism is always a big topic in our lives. How you always hear women complaining about it as well. There are also women out there who push for a more positive feminist society, like Hillary Clinton. But there are other women who ridicule themselves to try and seem more independent. Cough Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan Cough Cough. My class mate Erick brought up a good point “if she’s aiming at the feminism of controlling a man, then she’s doing well. Which is a great point, but They do the exact opposite, checking in and out of rehab, awesome; Leeching off your family’s fortune to make yourself famous, that’s hot, yet still having enough energy in your life to go out party all night and then get pulled over for DUI the next morning, going to jail and then crying and complaining your way out of it, GENIUS, right? WRONG! Paris Hilton should be snuffed out like a old soggy cigarette, because that is what she is worth to me, nothing. She gives children a dream to pass your way through high school and then marry some fat rich guy that’ll buy you what ever you want. It’s horrible; she is pulling off every stunt in the book because she’s acting like the little girl who wants the spotlight on herself all the time. Like one of my friends, who happens to be a girl is having a sweet sixteen. It’s a great thing, the girls turning 16 all her friends are there, but it has to be perfect. So she tells everyone that they have to wear black and white. We ask “why?” and she responds “because I said so.” So now everyone who doesn’t have a black or white item has to go out and buy one because she says so. Then what do you know, she gets a red dress. So its completely obvious what she’s trying to do, put the spot light on herself, and it gets annoying. I just want to tell her “hey be happy, you actually get a 20,000 dollar party, where I got clothes and an ipod, you don’t have to push it to that next level you’re already beyond it.” So girls do yourselves a favor, do not look up to these type of women. Look up to women who inspire not sell themselves out. Oprah is a great woman, so is Condelisa Rice, Beyonce, Rachel Ray and more women today. So do the right thing, boycott Paris

Small town in Iowa turns into NYC over night

In life people are born, raised, and they grow up to become respectable members of society, but sometimes that's not the case. You always hear these stories of the one kid whose life was great, but he or she screwed it up because they were stupid. Every high school has that type of kid, and because I don't want to mention any that go to my school I have provided an example with an article from the NY times. The title of the article is "Good People Go Bad in Iowa, And a Drug Is Being Blamed." That right there just about sums it up for you. A small town (name unkown) went from a quiet little town, to proportional to the amount of drugs in NYC. Crimes were being served at a bakers dozen. Who did they blame? It wasn't anyone, but a drug called methamphetamine, also known as "meth" was bringing the town to rubble. Men with clean records their whole lives had been stealing. Why did these people revert to drugs and act in extreme ways as they did? To be honest it must be depressing in Iowa with all that farm land, and only 100 people per 100 square miles. I do apologize if I have insulted anyone, but I really cannot come up with a valid reason as to why they would start taking drugs. The article said it was popular in California, and it may have worked it's way up north and is now spreading sounds like b.s. Why would farmers from Iowa want to be like people from California? Not that California is a bad place, but that the lifestyle in Iowa seems completely different than California. If you do have any ideas please comment this post. Although people do change from good to bad in our lives it also takes place in books. For example in Macbeth, the main character goes from being King Duncan's most loyal soldier, to being his murderer. Macbeth did this because of what the witches told him and what his wife pushed him into doing. As soon as he killed him he regreted it, but the reason why he did it was because deep down inside he did want to be king, just peer preasure got to him. Although he is king now the last half of the story will be down hill. He will feel guilt, dispair and depression. Eventually, because of the mood the play has been giving off, he will kill himself. Who wouldn't with a "man-lady" wife like his. It just really sucks because he's married to a screwed up man with a woman's body. I would kill myself if I had her as my wife, or just get divorced. Macbeth basically made a bad choice by listening to his crazed wife, and he will listen to her through the rest of the story. She will lead him down a dark path and he will have no where to get out execpt for suicide. Therefore his idea to kill the king was a bad one.

McCumbee driving in "the everything's bigger" state

Pictured to the right is kyle petty, the current driver of the #45 car. Above is the driver who will be taking over for him this weekend, Chad McCumbee

Kyle Petty, the regular Petty Enterprises driver of the number 45 car will be sitting the race out at Texas Motor Speedway to give Chad McCumbee an opertunity to drive in the sprint cup series. Already having some track time in the Craftsman Series McCumbee is still pursuing to become a cup driver. Besides driving for Petty in the Craftsman series McCumbee has also been in the movies. Featured in 3: the Dale Ernhart story, he played Dale jr. a terrific Cup racer with hendrick motorsports. Eventhough this is a great chance for McCumbee to prove himself, but it is also upsetting. Kyle Petty a good racer, back in the day, seems to be on a path to retiring. He even has said that if his son was still alive today, that he would've stepped down for him. If you are unaware of what I'm talking about, about 8 years ago Adam Petty was practicing at New Hampshire speedway when he crashed into the wall in turn 3. In that crash he would loose his life, crushing his father and family. I think this is the reason why Kyle is still racing, it's something that reminds him of his son everyday, and almost keeps his son in his life. What's even more disapointing is that his racing career may end soon. My prediction is that if not next season, the season after that, Kyle Petty will retire, possibly having McCumbee as his replacement. It is a sorrow sight seeing 4 generations of racing come to an end. I just want to say good luck to Kyle this season, and rest in peace to Adam. I also want to say good luck to Chad McCumbee at Texas Motor Speedway this weekend. See ya until Thursday when the Nationwide Series will qualify at Texas.

VA kid wins in his home state

Hamlin crossing the finish line in the Goodys Cool Orange 500 (pictured left)
Denny Hamlin, the driver of the number 11 fed ex freight car has won today at Martinsville Speedway in the Goodys Cool Orange 500. On this small 1/2 mile track Hamlin was able to take patient-aggressive approach, by conserving fuel and brakes. A driver who was less fortunate, that fell to gas problems was Carl Edwards, driving the 99 Claritin Clear car, dropping back from 5th to 9th with 200 feet left in the race. Carl raced well, but mistakes by the crew chief cost him valuable points that he desperately needs standing in the 14th points position. Hamlin has gotten the win that he deserves, falling to gas problems at Bristol motor speedway two weeks ago, while in the lead. Right behind Hamlin was Jeff Gordon, who yet again finished second at Martinsville. Jeff Burton finished third in the race, and has taken the over all points lead. So now do you believe me? Childress must be ecstatic with his drivers. Like I said earlier championship is now in the picture for Childress racing. After Burton was Jimmie Johnson, another Hendrick car. Hendrick this week has picked up their speed, but not enough for any of their drivers to win. After was Tony Stewart, another Toyota, then Ernhart Jr., after was Casey Mears, yet again another Hendrick car. Next was Jamie McMurray, a Roush Fenway car, and then following him was his teammate Carl Edwards. To round up the top 10 Clint Boyer a Childress car finishes after Edwards. Kyle Busch had a rough day, getting tangled with his brother Kurt, and blowing a gear 2/3 of the way through the race. He has dropped from leading the points to 5th. Gordon and Johnson are now present in the top ten in points which seems to show light on their problems. Also Kevin Harvick, last years Daytona 500 winner has moved into second in points, only 39 points behind Burton. Although Harvick his high in the standings he still is without a win. So Kevin Harvick looks like he may be a contender for the chase championship. The racing was great on the short track; although, its tougher than super speedways, because of the constant breaking. The weather was also fairly bad, slightly raining the whole afternoon. But over all it was a great race day. Congratulations to Denny Hamlin claiming his first win in 2008, winning the first time in his home state. Until next week when the sprint cup series travels to Texas motor speedway.

Movie intro's: how its related to Shakespeare

In most movies now a days the plots are extremely predictable. within the first 30min. of the movie you're able to know the general idea of what's going to happen. For instance a movie that just came out recently, Dan in Real Life. The plot starts out with a single father of three daughters named named Dan (played by Steve Carell.) His wife had passed away a couple years earlier. Their plan is to go up to his parents house for a family reunion for the weekend. During his stay he meets a woman in a book store named Marie (played by Juliette Binoche.) They talk for a long period of time, and she gives him her number. Later in the movie you find out that the woman he meets is his brothers girl friend. After that point you can guess what happens. Dan falls in love with her, makes his brother upset, and Dan and Marie live hapily ever after. The End. I wasted 16 bucks on that peice of junk. The first time too see how it was, and the second because we couldn't get into any other movie. Bad the first time, horrible the second. I highly recomend you to not see this movie. It may look funny because Steve Carell is in it but it is not. There's about two funny one liners in the film, and that is it. Although many movies follow this format, not all do. For example, a movie I saw about a year and a half ago, The Departed. This great movie with Matt Damon, Lenardo DeCaprio and Jack Nicolson, has more lying, back stabbing, action and twists than any other "inside the box" movie you have seen. Two men graduating from the same Massachusetts Police Acedmey are on opposite sides. At first you think Matt Damon is the "good guy" and Leonardo is the "bad guy." As it turns out Mat Damons character is purpitrating the Massachusetts Police force, and Leonardo is purpitrating the Irish mofia. If you like action pact movies with drugs, sex, and violence, watch this movie. My prediction on Macbeth is that we really aren't expecting what's coming. It will be, more bloody, gruesome and twisted than we think.

NASCAR Nationwide Series at Nashville

Scott Wimmer pulling across the finish line in Nashville this Sunday (left.) Clint Boyer and Kyle Busch race each other(Busch in the black, Boyer in the red)

This week the Sprint Cup series has a week off, so the Nationwide has taken the spot light of my NASCAR report this week. Scott Whimmer of Childress Racing came up with the win on Sunday afternoon. A full time Nationwide driver, he is glad to take the win. After so many weeks of big time Sprint Cup drivers winning he felt greatly rewarded to beat them out this sunday. Childress Racing continues to be dominant in NASCAR, claiming both the Sprint Cup race and Nationwide race at Bristol. Could this be a sign for championship for Childress racing? With Both Jeff Burton and Clint Boyer in the top 10 of the Sprint Cup points, and Boyer holding the number 1 spot in the Nationwide series it just may be so. It seems pretty early to tell, but Childress is on fire. In the past three weeks all of their drivers, Sprint Cup and Nationwide Cars, have finished in the top 10 or higher, giving the well payed Hendrick motorsports drivers a run for their money. Last years champ Jimmy Johnson has been slipping, only finishing in 1 race above the top ten, which was at california where he finished 2nd. Holding a 13th points position he's on the bubble of the chase. This may mean a championship for a team other than a driver with the last name Johnson. It seems that Hendrick has lost their speed because right below him is Jeff Gordon in 14th. A rare sight to see, two Hendrick cars below the top ten. The only Hendrick driver to stay in the chase is the new guy to the team. Dale Ernhart Jr., showing much sucess after the move from DEI. Holding the 5th position in points he currently is a contender for the championship. It just goes to show, with the right equipment a good driver becomes great. Also contenders for the championship are Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch. Driving for Gibbs they both are now racing Toyotas. Tony who said "The car of tomarrow drives like a box with wheels" is making the new Toyotas go faster than ever before. Kyle Busch is also a terrific contender. Holding first place in the Sprint Cup points he claimed Toyotas first win ever in the Sprint Cup series since they were introduced last year. All these guys and their race teams are contenders in the points race for the Sprint Cup series and Nationwide Series. Although it seems disapointing Toyota seems to be a dominant force in NASCAR now. In the next 5 years almost all race drivers will have Toyatas in their cars, like todays Craftsman truck series. Watch the races to see who will come out on top. You can get the race on ESPN2, SPEED, or ABC.

Opener at H'town: a disapointment

Tim Fuller, the winner of last years opener(above)
Yet again for the third time in nine years the Hagerstown 100 has been canceled. Normally the opener for the Advance Auto Parts super dirt series, is canceled and will not be made up. Due to bad weather and track conditions were the reasons why the race was called off. Although it was a disappointment, the track officials were able to call the race on friday so any drivers who were to travel extensively did not have to drive to the track to find out there was no race. Last years winner, a great driver by the name of Tim Fuller from Watertown, NY has been with the series for many years. Along with being the runner up in The Super Dirt points behind Brett Hearn, Aka "Brett the Jet", he also drives in the World of Outlaws Late Model series. Where he is also fairly successful. The series will meet again May first at Virginia Motor speedway, where it will now start. I will say again, any cool ideas for my blog please throw them my way. Any criticism then get the hell out.

Racing is a true sport: no matter what you think

Everyone always says "well it's not that hard, all you do is turn left. I could do that." When people tell me that racing isn't a "real sport" I go CRAZY! First of all your insulting something that I enjoy, which is showing disrespect to myself, secondly I didn't ask for your opinion on racing, and lastly you are wrong. Racing requires leadership, team work, focus, stratagey, mental and physical stress, practice, practice, practice, and risks. Like all sports, racing has leaders, your crew chief, driver, and car owner are all examples of leaders in racing. The crew chief is like your catcher, he is a veteran to the sport, he knows what he is doing, and he can see everything throughout the race. The driver is the captin of the ship, so to speak, he drives the car without messing it up, he tells you how the car feels, loose or tight, and he and that car are all your hard work, time and effort go into that whole week. The pit crew are your team mates. They practice all week long, filling the tank, changing the tires, and jacking up the car. They all have to be a well tuned machine, one mistake can change the whole race. Many races are won and lost on pit road. the difference between a 13 second pit stop to a 30 pit second stop could be 10 positions or more. Pit stops are used to improve the cars, grip, the the looseness or tightness of the car, to repair damage to the car or replace flat tires, fill the gas tank, and clean off the wind shield. Local dirt racing is similar, but there are no pit stops. Dirt is much harder to race on though. Track conditions, tire size and preassure, gear ratio, and engine power can effect on how fast you can go. I prefer dirt racing to NASCAR because the races are shorter. NASCAR averages around 300 to 500 laps, where as racing at local dirt tracks range from 30 laps, to a once a year 100 lap race. Dirt racing has been around for a long long time, since prohibition. Starting out in the hills of North Carolina when illegal moonshiners raced away from police. It began escalate to sundays all the "shiners" would show off their hot rods. Just a little racing history there for ya. The last reason why I feel racing is a sport is that drivers are physically exterting themselves out there. They are driving for 3 and a half hours at the least to five hours strait during a time period. During the summer months that can take a toll on a driver, which is why they have a gatorade rig to their helmets. Why would race car drivers have to drink gatorade if they weren't athletes? The answer is that they are atheletes, and I've given you enough proof for you to believe that. If you still think otherwise please tell me your reasoning by commenting on this post, and if you do feel that racing is a sport, good for you. To those who agree, welcome to the biggest spectator sport in our nation.