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Great Praise Received!
12 JulI just thought I’d let all you readers know that I was recently in our school play Comic Book Artist and I played the villain. I unfortunately have no footage of our performance, but trust me when I say it’s nothing like the stuff you’ll find on YouTube (which I looked up by the way and most of it was so horrible it caused me physical pain). I had quite a bit of fun with it and so did the rest of the cast. We all received extremely high praise and to this day (this happened many weeks ago) I’m still getting congratulatory remarks about it. Playing Doctor Shock Clock was just so much fun, and I was told that when my henchmen (one of which was my little brother) and I did our first scene, the entire energy of the audience changed. Hearing that made me smile so hard it hurt. Anyhow, thanks for reading this quick post. I hope you enjoy my future writeups, and thanks for all of your support.
~D. Alexander~
Removing “Brother” Post
25 AprHey guys. If you got a chance to see the video of my brother dancing, you’re very lucky. It got taken down because apparently it violated some copyright laws having to do with the music (even though there was something in the video crediting the song and even directing viewers to a place where it could be bought). I’m removing the post because of this. Sorry you never saw it, if you didn’t that is.
PAINTBALL!!!
21 FebMy little brother recently invited me to watch him play paintball at PSI Xtreme Sports, a paintball/airsoft gaming area. After using the back door of the shop and entering the large setup area, my father and I walked over to the side of the city ball arena (city ball being paintball with wooden barriers). After only one game I was hooked and pulled out my wallet. I bought a jersey, got the extra rental equipment (helmet and pod holder (pod being an ammo pod)), my bro let me use his old gun, and I hopped onto the field.
My father and I formed some great strategies off the field, and then I executed them well. One of our strategies was carried out so well (by me leading half our squad) that we took out nearly everybody on their team, save one guy. Paintball is the single most exhilarating sport I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing. The speed, the strategy, and the teamwork all make paintballing more exciting than any other activity. I love it.
Here’s a Quickee!
14 FebJust made a mini city on myminicity.com called Scarleus. Don’t ask me why I called it that. Go to it so that it grows! Here’s the link:
My Recent Meeting With Gus Bilirakis
16 JanHey guys! It’s me, Liak (or if you saw the “Oldie But A Goodie” thing you probably know me as Dylan now). I just thought it’d be pretty cool if I told you all about my meeting with congressman Gus Bilirakis just yesterday. It was really cool and he answered a lot of interesting questions.
For one thing, he’s totally against the new Healthcare Bill, saying that if it passes it will be the beginning of a sort of “Socialistic Era” where the government is in complete control of everything. Even though it’s just one part of the country, it is the first step (is successful).
He also told us (being me and my class) about Guantanamo Bay, or “Gitmo” for short, to those of you who don’t know. He told us that when he went there it wasn’t at all what it was depicted as in movies and on the covers of magazines (a lot of those pictures on magazines were actually taken at Afghanistan apparently, and not at Gitmo). It isn’t a dungeon, but really a top notch facility where the prisoners receive proper treatment from their, for lack of a better term, captors. He said one of their favorite DVDs to watch is Seinfeld, and that if ever do they feel depressed they can go talk to somebody about there troubles (sort of like a psychiatrist without the drugs they use to kill their customers and the fake disorders that have no proof of existence. Just the listening to the problems part). He also mentioned that the method of interrogation known as water boarding has only been used twice in American history, though my memory fails me as to whether he said it was used in or out of Gitmo. The method they use there is really just asking questions and getting answers, and that the prisoners who leave and say they were tortured are liars.
He’s also against Cap & Trade for the very same reason as the Healthcare Bill. He said it would hurt small businesses a lot, and he also mentioned that there’s no real proof that humans are what’s really causing this climate change.
He gave us these lucky pennies too with the Bilirakis seal around them. He’s a Greek descendant so it was kind of a part of his tradition. They were cool coins, except whenever I want it to land on heads it lands on tails, and vice versa.
Anyhow, I’m hoping I’ll be able to do an internship in his office this summer. It would help with my writing carrier a lot to know what goes on in the world of politics first hand.
An Oldie But A Goodie
2 JanThis video was made by me and my brother back when I was 12. It’s totally awesome…ish…
Here’s the link:
Dylan Alexander on Art
17 DecWhat is art? I honestly want you to consider that question right now and define the word “art” to yourself, from your own perspective, from your own viewpoint. What is it? Where does it come from? Why has it stayed with us for so long? Well, I believe the reason it has managed to stay with us all this time is because there is one thing that makes it different from other things in every way. It’s different from doctoring people, teaching people, working with chemicals, discovering new animals, digging up fossils, building roads, washing cars, solving equations, baking cakes, chopping wood, and many other things, because of an attribute it has, a feature it holds all to itself. You see, each of the actions listed above has its limits. Art’s limits: none.
Art can also be many things, the primary being illustrating, painting, writing, film, drama, and music. All of these are passions of mine. All of these are also dropping like flies from public school programs. Mathematics is important. Grammar (or English, if you prefer) is important. Science is important. P.E. is important. Guess what else is important? Art. Most people have said that this is because it is a way for children, teens, and adults alike to express their inner feelings. Although agreeable, if you think about it, it is also a morale device. Here’s a perfect way to prove this to yourself. Grab a piece of paper, right now. Go ahead and get one. Now that you have this paper, I want you to get a pencil or pen. Do that now. Get it. You have one now? Good. Take this pen, and draw a circle on it. Now it is merely a circle, but you see that you have created this circle. Give it dotted eyes. Now give it a smile, and a nose. Don’t worry too much about how detailed it looks, just do all of that. Now draw small hairs on its head. Just little lines that are like hairs. You make them smooth or make them stick up in the air, it’s your creation. It’s yours. You can even make an afro if you want. You done? Good. Now write its name under it, and be creative with this name. Make it a name you’ll never forget, and one that relates to you or who you want to be. You have that down? Good. Now under his name, give him a title (i.e. Lord of the Lollipops). And you can make it serious, silly, whatever you like. Are you finished? Great! Now in any corner of the page write your name and the date under it. Now, tell me how you feel after that?
I know you probably feel quite pleased with that new creation. And you know something, so do kids, teens, and everyone else on this planet. Art is a piece of the soul. It breathes life into people, and brings them joy. No matter how little or small the joy may be, it brings it. If students were already feeling joyous as they entered a classroom to study, how do think they might do? Well, I know how I feel whenever this is the case: I soar through my courses. If the faculty of schools cutting these classes really gave a damn about the products that they would be getting when their students graduated, they’d be using art to fuel their students, not stripping it from them. And I really hate this excuse, “The students are doing enough art on their own time now, so the art class is useless.” Bull. That’s merely a justifier for taking it from the kids. It isn’t fair to make excuses like that.
I understand that there’s a budget to deal with. I also understand that the other classes are important. But outright cutting art down is wrong. I honestly believe this is just some plot to rid the world’s children of creativity. If their budget’s been cut down than maybe (and I said maybe so hear me out) one could have parents pay a small fee for art classes every months or every few months, and the profit would build up from the amount of kids being given back their art classes on these terms. This would be a nice plan and it would be better for everybody.
Art is a subject that isn’t given enough consideration. It needs more. It needs to be viewed with more importance. And if some suppressive person wants to drive it into the ground, then by God, fight back people! Because this isn’t just education we’re talking about anymore. This is the future. Without good, intelligent, creative, inventive kids to take charge when the adults of today kick the bucket, this civilization will be lost. Without culture, it will die. And that is the cold, hard truth.
Sincerely,
Dylan Alexander, Age 14
Artist
LIVESTOCK RELEASED! READ ALL ABOUT IT!
13 OctAnother book has come flyin’ out of the editing room and is in the My Published Works page. You can check it out right now. It’s called Livestock. Look in the My Published Works page for more info.
Also, new episode of My Thoughts On…. coming soon!
My Sister’s A Guitar Hero
29 SepMy little sister is so funny. She dressed up as a Guitar Hero one day (it was a Rock Band guitar, but saying she decided to be a Rock Band isn’t as catchy). Here’s a picture:
Dylan Alexander 