English 9 Class Blog

The Corona Virus. Now that the number of cases in the U.S is growing every day, more and more public events are closing, including schools and workplaces. This has left tons of people left at home, with nothing to do. Most schools that have canceled have moved over to the temporary online school, but after all of a student’s work is done, there aren’t many options to help deal with their boredom. A lot of stores and public events have been closed due to the coronavirus, leaving many people with nothing to do. And with all the time in people’s hands, it’s very easy for people to become lazy and unmotivated. That’s why everyone should try their best to make this dreadful situation better by becoming motivated and doing stuff that they never had time to do before. With my new time, I am beginning to try new things, like reading comics online, and watching videos on how to draw things. Even though I can’t see my friends face to face at school anymore, I still fa...

Many could say that 1917 was the movie of the year. What made 1917 so successful, even when WWI movies generally do horribly? Pictured above: Lance Corporal Schofield, searching for General Mackenzie to call of a doomed attack. Based on the true story of his grandfather in WWI, Sam Mendes’ film 1917 follows two young British soldiers that are tasked with delivering an urgent message, crossing no-man’s land to call off a doomed attack by the second battalion of Devonshire. A supposed war film but more a dramatic thriller, 1917 provided us with a unique, seemingly one-take cinematic experience and an accurate and tragic depiction of the front lines in WWI, keeping me and other movie watchers on the edge of our seats, tense with anticipation. In past years, WWI films haven’t garnered much attention or support; films like Flyboys score low on the box-office due to generic plots, information inaccuracies, and bad CGI.  So, what made 1917 different from all these other WW...

Over the past couple of months, the Coronavirus (COVID-19), has rippled through our world and made its way to every inhabited continent on Earth. Businesses specializing in finance and travel are t aking big hits. The entire country of Italy has been shut down. Every restaurant is closing, as well as movie theaters. Grocery stores have empty shelves. Every major sports league worldwide has shut down its operations, including the NBA, MLB, NHL, UEFA Champions League, Europa League, and English Premier League. The NBA shut down its operations after Utah Jazz stars Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell contracted the disease. The NCAA canceled all spring sports, as well as its annual men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. The global financial markets are tumbling. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has plummeted 10,000 points in the past month. To date, there are over 170,000 cases worldwide of COVID-19, including about 8,000 deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO)...

If you ever go to Bigfork, Montana, one of the best places to eat is Pocketstone Cafe. They have the best breakfasts I have ever had in my life. My parents and I, along with the close family friends we stay with, would go to Pocketstone for most of our breakfasts. The owner knows our spot and saves it for us, the long booth on the right side closest to the front so we could people watch.  You’d see people carrying kayaks down to the bridge on the Swan River. We’d count how many people would go by; who ever won got to get on our kayaks first. The smell of the deliciousness in the restaurant is something that I will never forget. The room was filled with the scent of hot cinnamon buns and pancakes combined. That smell always comes back to me when I think about Pocketstone. Here are some of my favorite breakfasts from there... Heres a virtual tour of the cafe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuxSJoDV_zg Pocketstone has the best hot chocolate out there. And y...

Thomas Sanz My favorite show on TV is ridiculousness. This show is very funny. During the show they invite guests. During the show, there's a big audience. MTV produces the show. The clipse the show uses has categories to state what kind of stuff they're going to be showing. Usually, the categories have something to do with the guest they invited.           Categories that the show has are very funny and I got the idea from their guests or if they don't have it guess they make categories with something random just to be funny. If the categories about dogs they show a bunch of dogs being idiots in a funny way. But it depends on the guest they have to see what kind of categories they'll have. The categories also depend on stuff the guests may have done in the past. Some of my favorite categories are called kidiots, K8, and freaky farmers. The name sounds weird but these are really funny categories.  The guests they inv...

With the 2020 elections coming right around the corner, everyone has questions, the main one being who will make the best president? But that brings up another question. How do we chose a president, and can this system be improved? As of now, we use a two-party system. Even though it works fine, it can be improved. The first step in doing so is looking at the pros and cons of our system. Here are 5 advantages and disadvantages of our system. The Democratic and Republican parties Advantages of a Two-Party System 1) A Two-Party System is Less Complicated for Voters Imagine a voting ballot with the names of every candidate that wants to run for the presidency. That list would be miles long and would take hours to read. The two-party system ensures that this won’t happen. On ballots nowadays there are usually three options to chose from, the Democratic candidate, the Republican candidate, and a write-in candidate. This decreases the work needed for a voter and makes voting...

The show must go on. This has been the motto of Broadway since the day the first show opened. But now, the bright lights of the marquee’s are going dark as all Broadway shows have been closed until further notice. Governor Andrew Cuomo has recently decided that all gatherings of 500 people or greater have been banned in New York State in an attempt to flatten out the curve of the Coronavirus. But what does this mean for the thousands of actors, musicians, stagehands, ushers, and other people who will be out of work for at least a month? How will this affect the future of these shows?  Important note: I'm not in any way saying that this wasn’t the right choice for Cuomo to make. We absolutely need to prioritize actors, theater employee’s, and theater-goers' health. There are so many ways that this will immediately affect theater employees. First of all, it has been estimated that Broadway will lose over $100 million from ticket sales. With this much money lost, ther...

The Wuhan coronavirus outbreak has become a global catastrophe , leaving thousands dead, millions vulnerable, and sending stocks plummeting. It is an unanticipated disaster of epic proportions that has exposed human fragility in an interconnected world. China, from where the virus originated, has been the worst hit. To combat this disease the Chinese use many new technologies to help contain the disease. So that is what I will look at today. This is an example of the app where a checkpoint guard could scan the QR code to see medical history and what color this person is marked as. We start simple with an app. The app helps Chinese officials decide if someone should be quarantined or not. The app assigns one of three colors to people green, yellow or red on the basis of their travel and medical histories. Only those people who have been given a green color code can be allowed in public spheres after using the designated QR code at metro stations, offices and other public places. Th...

Coronavirus and Travel Bans The Coronavirus, up close and personal As the disease we know as Covid-19, or the Coronavirus, has started to take root and spread throughout most countries in the world, governments are shutting down and locking doors, trying to keep the virus contained. Many governments have instituted travel bans, which prohibit travel to and from any countries of their choosing, in order to slow the virus down. President Donald Trump of the United States has not hesitated with this strategy, banning travel to and from 24 European countries starting last Friday (13th), and adding the UK and Ireland starting Monday (16th).  Pres. Trump has closed doors to 26 European countries With the virus infecting at least 85% of countries in each continent, bar Africa, many nations have followed suit, and are shutting borders. But will this work? More than 130,000 cases have been confirmed worldwide, and the death toll has surpassed 6,500. Almost every count...