Category: Junior Literary

Heyyy guys! So, today’s vlog is going to be comparing and contrasting the 5 rarest squish mallows. Before we start, I’ll give a bit of background information first. Squish mallows are a brand of snuggable stuffed animals that were launched in 2017 by Kelly Toys Holdings. The first squish mallow ever released was Cam the Cat.

     Every time he drops, he sells out within minutes. In all honesty, he’s not a personal favorite of mine. He looks pretty boring to me, he doesn’t have any fun colors, or patterns, and even though I love cats and have many of them he’s never really been appealing to me. The 5 rarest squish mallows are Jack the Black Cat, Santino the Platypus, Heather the Dragonfly, Blossom the Sheep, and Brina the Bigfoot. 

     The rarest squish mallow is Jack the Black Cat. He is a black cat with closed eyes, a pink nose, and a big smile. Jack is worth about $2,000 on the market give or take 2 or 300. I personally don’t understand the obsession with him. He is a pretty cute squishy but he’s not worth $2,000 he’s pretty, plain simple, and straight to the point, just a black cat, but most people want him, because there were only about 500 manufactured and available to be bought which is probably what all the hype’s about, because he’s not all that special. 

     The second rarest squish mallow is Santino the Platypus. He’s simple as well. Doesn’t have any fun colors or anything, but he still can from about $1,000-$1,500 at an auction. 

     The next one is Heather the Dragonfly. She’s not really considered an extremely rare squish mallow, but she is often sold with a high price tag. She is blue with purple lines cutting through. She also has metallic ombre wings with antennas to match. You can buy her with her eyes open or closed. She has a big smile on her face and 2 blush pink dimples on her cheeks. The price varies from about $16-$500. The cost all depends on the size and where you get it from. 

     The next squish mallow I want to talk about is Blossom the Sheep. Blossom the sheep is very rare and can get up to about $300 give or take. She is absolutely stunning in my opinion. She’s a smooth white, crème color, with a rainbow advertised right in the middle of her little tummy with clouds all around. Her eyes are closed, with her eyelashes spread beautifully out of her eyelids, I can see why she’s rare. 

     The last squishy is Brina the Bigfoot. I’ve never seen or heard of her before. She looks nothing like I expected. She is bright pink with fur spread all over her head and face. She doesn’t have any arms, only 2 cute tiny little legs. She has a straight line acting as a smile where her mouth is supposed to be, but it doesn’t take away the sweetness from her face. She also has 2 pink little pom poms or pigtails on her head which makes her 10x cuter.  

     Well, that’s all for today, my next blog will be about all the stuffies and squishy’s I own, where I got them, why I like them, and if they’re rare.  

Hello again, if y’all remember last week’s post I opened a series of characters in the MCU whom I personally believe deserve better and they’d be listed from the one I feel strongest about to the least. To start, I did Bucky Barnes. For part 2, I will be doing Wanda Maximoff/Scarlett Witch.

Photo from: Twitter

Wanda Maximoff first made her appearance in Avengers: Age of Ultron when it was her and her twin brother, Pietro. In the beginning of the film, they are introduced as “enhanced” as it was referred to in the movie who chose to volunteer as experiments for Hydra. They both had a hatred for the Avengers that began at the time of their parents’ tragic death and they saw that the weapon used was from Stark Industries. 

After the last Hydra base was taken down, the twins meet Ultron who has an equal hatred for Tony Stark and he believed that he could save the world but was actually going to destroy. When the twins discover this, they side with the Avengers and save the the people of Sokovia(a made up European country). However, things take a dark and very tragic turn when she loses Pietro to him sacrificing himself to save Hawkeye and a young Sokovian boy.

In CA:CW, Wanda and Vision began to become very close, even though they chose opposite teams. And in Infinity War, she and Vision get together and she feels like she’s gaining a new family. Some of my favorite but most heartbreaking quotes in that film are the “I just feel you” parallels. For those who haven’t seen it, that sentence wasn’t referring to anything physical, it was more of an emotional “feel”. You’d have to watch it to understand. And, of course, because Vision had the Mind Stone that Thanos was after, he was killed.

Wanda felt that all she had was Vision, and she ended up losing him. What’s even more heartbreaking is that she had to destroy the Mind Stone to ensure Thanos couldn’t get to it. But because he already had the Time Stone, he went back and took it himself. She had to do the one thing that would break her to save trillions just for it to be for nothing.

Because Vision wasn’t killed by the “blip”(what they called the time half the universe was killed), Wanda couldn’t get him back, so during the series WandaVision, she took that trauma and created her own reality where she had Vision and her two sons. Yes, that included mind-controlling the entire town of Westview, and it did kind of make her a villain because she chose to keep it going. But, however, that is what happens when someone is visibly in pain and no one helps them. It was very heartbreaking to see that her whole world was torn down in the end and she had just gotten the one thing she wanted- a life and family with Vision.

When I first watched the series, I felt it was a slow upbringing, but it was a good character upbringing and it showed a new side of Wanda, almost like she’s going through a psychic break. This can be applied to someone in real life, if they have been through so much trauma and have not had help from friends or family, this is what happens. They go through a break, and people get hurt. But people wanted to blame it all on Wanda, and personally, I strongly believe that is very unfair.

Wanda did not deserve the trauma and pain she’s been through and that she deserved so much better.

 

Thank you for listening to this week’s rant, next is Loki. Stay tuned:)

My favorite movies 😀

1. A Silent Voice

This movie I loved. It was very sad and emotional, but it was so good. Basically, a girl moves to a new school, and she is deaf. She writes her words she wants to say down into a notebook. Kids bully her the entire time she’s there. She tried befriending one of the bullies leading to her notebook being thrown away. It skips into the future when they are grown, and the boy that bullied her tries to fix his past mistakes. It may not sound to eventful in my own words but watch the movie.

2. Batman: The Killing Joke

This is my favorite batman movie. I love it because Joker is one of my favorite characters of all time. This movie is kind of dark, not really. In this movie The Joker attacks commissioner Gordon, and his family in his attempts to drive them crazy. In the process Joker shoots Barbra Gordon paralyzing her. For those who do not know Barbra she is commissioner Gordons daughter, or Batgirl. In this movie we also get to see a story line of Jokers past.

3. Scream

We all know why most people enjoy the scream movies. I cannot say I am not one of those people, but I also enjoy the movie itself. If I had to pick only one movie of the franchise to talk about it would be the first Scream. A killer in the town of Woodsboro starts killing several teenagers by the “rules” of slasher movies. The main victim is Sydney Prescott. In the end the killers were two boys in the high school. I will keep the name secret in case anyone has not seen the movie.

4. The Labyrinth

This movie is just a classic. I grew up on this movie watching it over and over again. As a kid it was definitely my number one favorite. In this movie the main character Sarah has to babysit her younger brother. As the babies crying progresses, she quotes from her fairy tale book “Goblin King, oh Goblin King…I wish the goblins would take you away right now!” leading to the summoning of The Goblin King. The king takes the baby, Toby, and Sarah to the labyrinth. He keeps the baby in the center of the labyrinth with his many goblins. Sarah has to make it through this huge Labyrinth to save her younger brother.

5. Why do ghouls fall in love?

This is a monster high movie. I really didn’t know what movie to put at number 5, so I chose this one. In this movie it is Draculaura’s 1600^th birthday and the other girls are trying to plan her a party. Toralie Stripe is a cat, and she poses as one of the mean girls at monster high. Toralie calls Draculaura’s ex-boyfriend Valentine pretending to be her inviting him to monster high. Now, Draculaura has a boyfriend, Clawd Wolf. Draculaura is put under Valentine’s spell. Valentine’s goal is to break hearts through his spells. She starts falling in love with him in front of Clawd. Eventually, everyone figures it out and stops Valentine and Toralie at Draculaura’s birthday.

     Hey guys! SOOO, today’s blog is going to be a little different. It will be very informal and relaxed as far as the writing structure goes. I’m glad you’re here and I hope that you enjoy it. Okay, so I just want to tell you guys about one of my obsessions. It’s a lot so buckle your seatbelts because I’m going to be taking you for a ride. Writing has taken over my life. I do it so much that I don’t feel like myself without it. I don’t know who I am, or what I feel without writing. My thoughts don’t help me understand myself until I have written them down.

     If you love something like I love writing, then don’t ever let it go. We all have a special talent that allows us to do what we’re good at, but you shouldn’t make that talent your entire life. I share this in hopes of showing others that it’s okay to have obsessions but be sure you’re careful not to let them consume you. Letting your obsession take over your mind will cause you nothing but trouble. You must have multiple things in life that you care about. Maybe not as much as your talent but love it just enough that it creates balance. It allows you to escape from what you’re good at sometimes, so that you have time and space to be great at other things as well. It’s good to like things, maybe even love things, but unhealthy obsessions will take you to the pit of the depths of hell that maybe even the devil himself hasn’t visited.

     Basically, what I’m saying is that you have to watch your heart and how fast it can get tangled up with something or someone to the point where they can’t be untangled. Tangled hearts can give you heart disease and cancer just like huge amounts of unhealthy fat that can weigh you down ready to kill you. Obsessions act in the exact same way. They strangle your heart preventing oxygen and blood from seamlessly passing through making your heart stop. Once the obsessions have a choke hold on your heart there is no stopping the cardiac arrest. There is nothing to stop that obsession from murdering you. There is no begging for mercy or waiting to be rescued, because obsessions take a lot of time to get over or sometimes you just don’t get over them at all. 

Yes, this part one of at least three. And these are in a particular order. For this, I’ll start with the one I feel strongest about. This is just my opinion, and if you don’t agree, that’s okay. Well, welcome to the first part of this series. If you’re as much into the Marvel cinematic universe as I am then, hopefully, this will be of interest to you. Hope you enjoy:)

We’ll start off with Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier. Some may already know (and if you couldn’t couldn’t already tell from my profile pic), he is my favorite character. So, yes, this list is a little biased, but you’ll see why I feel he deserves better and why he’s my favorite.

(no picture available)

From the beginning, Bucky was known for fighting and following orders in the Army. When his group, the 107th, is taken by Hydra, that puts a weight of guilt on his shoulders because as a sergeant, he’s put in charge of a given group. When Steve rescues them, Bucky appears to be the only one that was experimented on. He wasn’t, he was the only one who survived. Three years later, he falls off a train fighting alongside Steve and is once again taken by Hydra.

For 70 years, he’s forced to do things he had no control over. Consistently, he’s been tortured physically and mentally. Now, let’s think about someone who is kidnapped in real life. It doesn’t take a lot of time for that kind of abuse to have control over them. Much less 70 years.

When he appears in CA:TWS, he doesn’t recognize Steve because his memories were erased and then again just as he’s starting to get them back. Of course in the end of the movie, he knows enough that he knows Steve and that’s why he pulls him out of the river.

In CA:CW, the film shows exactly how Hydra was able to control Bucky’s mind: reciting a sequence of words in Russian. This was how he turned into the Winter Soldier. I’m sure y’all knew but I just feel it was scary because of how easy it was for him to lose himself.

The film also showed someone framing him for a crime, but because of his past, the government immediately took him into custody. And when he’s questioned by the person responsible, he was turned once again into the Winter Soldier. Of course, that leads to the whole civil war between the Avengers and Tony finds out it was Bucky who was sent to kill his parents.

One line in particular that was heartbreaking to me was in the scene Tony asks, “Do you even remember them!?”, and Bucky replied  “I remember all of them”. Every victim he was forced to get rid of. Not to mention he was a victim, too.

And then at the end of the movie when he’s in Wakanda and chooses to go back under ice until they can get what Hydra put in his head out. But then Infinity War and Endgame happened.

And lastly, in TFATWS when he’s finally free from what Hydra put in his head.I really liked that they touched on the PTSD that he’s suffered from. It shows that he’s still struggling but he’s getting better.

Because of the trauma and torture he’s been through, along with how people still treated him, and he still chose to make amends is why I feel strongly that he as a character deserves better.

Hope you enjoyed, next is Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch:)

hello!! today i will be continuing an older post, my “king’s crossing” literary analysis!

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hi, it’s been a while since you saw this title huh? i know i said i was going to post a part two last week but,,,,, things happened. anyways, here are the last two lyrics i’ll be dissecting!

“read the part and we turn out fine, it’s a hell of a role if you can keep it alive”

in many songs and interviews, elliott has described the music business as a slow path to death or self-hatred. here, he compares it to being the main actor in a movie that is slowly killing you. you want to keep the part, but it gets physically harder and harder the more you continue. in the song “fake plastic trees” by radiohead, thom yorke talks about this same theme similarly:

“and it wears me out, it wears me out. if i could be who you wanted all the time”

now, the final lyric. 

“don’t let me get carried away, don’t let me get carried away, don’t let me be carried away“

this is 100% the most powerful and beautiful lyric in the entire song, and lots of people gloss over it. it may seem like a simple repetition, but the contrast between using “get” and “be” in this sentence is drastic. “don’t let me get carried away” almost feels like a request, don’t let me go too far with it. and while “don’t let me be carried away” is also a request, elliott isn’t simply asking you to tell him when he’s going too far, he’s asking you to save his life. don’t let him be carried away.

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“king’s crossing” isn’t easy to listen to by any means. but i can’t recommend it enough. go out and listen and form your own opinions about the lyrics seen here. they have depth and are begging to be appreciated. thank you.

*genius was used for some background information on each lyric!

link to song (spotify):

https://open.spotify.com/track/2GsiKnbHHXDpoL7R6cJUTZ?si=7000bff9e908415b

link to live performance (youtube): 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D7vRObaTyo

Hey guys, it’s me again. For this post, I’d like to discuss my reading and writing preferences and interests. As I have mentioned in my last post, I love reading mysteries, thrillers, and fantasies. However, as I also said, I enjoy writing different topics and genres.

For years, I’ve loved reading April Henry’s books. One of my favorites is one of her recent books which, if I remember correctly, came out last year. It’s titled The Girl in the White Van and, yes, it is what it sounds like. For those who may want to read it, I won’t spoil it, but it’s about a teenage girl who is kidnapped and taken in a white van and fights to escape. If you wish to read it, I recommend it. Another favorite of mine is Holly Jackson’s A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series. Don’t be fooled, it’s not as bad as it sounds. It’s about a senior in high school who decides to solve a murder-suicide case that she’s convinced is not as open and shut as police think. I also like to read fantasy every once in a while. For example: Six of Crows is a good book. For those who have also read it, no I have yet to read the second one but I hope to soon.

Photo from: Amazon.com

Photo from: Amazon.com

Photo from: The Works

By now, y’all have gotten a pretty good idea of what kind of books I like to read. But, these are not the kind of things I like to write. Over the past month, I have found that I really like to write poems. Since I started this class and have written almost nothing but poems and short stories, I’ve really enjoyed it. I also really like to write short stories. There’s one that I am currently working on. I don’t really know how far I’m gonna go with it. I’ll just write until I feel like it’s at a good ending point. It was based on a prompt where the speaker starts in an elevator and ends at a beach.

Half of the poems I have written during freewriting time have been about childhood trauma and having fear and anxiety. I promise I’m getting help and they’re not all sad. All of the other poems I have written have mostly been about chasing dreams and standing while others say to sit. I know at least one of my pieces have even had romantic vibes. “Everblue” is a piece I wrote based on the prompt of giving my favorite color a new definition, and if it’s more than one color, combine them to make one and give it a new name and definition. I would let y’all read it now but because of the word count limit, I can’t. Maybe in another post if y’all are interested. Let me know:)

Now you know how different my reading and writing interests are: very. And, honestly, I feel that’s a good thing. If you’re like me and these two are almost polar opposites and ask “Why are my reading interests so different from what I write?” It’s completely okay, and if you ask this because you would like to write something similar to what you read, just give it time. Think of what you write about now as a stepping stone towards finding inspiration for writing in a genre you would normally read, if that’s what you’re going towards. Just remember: you can’t wait for the inspiration to come to you- you have to chase it and seek it.

* Authors note: This is about my best friend Ashton’s average high school day in the life. I didn’t feel like my day was exciting enough to post on here. I may do it one day but for now I hope this is interesting getting a peek into his life and how he balances his academics and multiple sports in a positive way. I hope you enjoy this week’s blog!* 

Day In My Life 

Waking up. 

My most recognized blessing 

I love the smell of cinnamon on my body 

I scratch an itch on my back 

Oh, how wonderful is that?  

Fed my dogs my most prized possessions of them all… 

What would I do without them I do not know, but I hope I will never know 

I feel alone as 3 buses pass me on my way to school 

I eat at home, so I pass the cafeteria 

So many souls in one place how do I reach them all 

Soul to soul heart to heart what will happen when we all part? 

I walk into class I examine all the sounds I am not a part of band, but I need it to make my world go ‘round… 

ACT PREP why can’t I just take the test? 

You cannot give me the questions so what am I prepping for? 

My next class is AP, how hard will it be? 

US history, do not get me started  

I do not want to be part of that party 

What history do I need to know about a place that industrialized and benefitted off the suffering of others… 

Now they are making me take college and career readiness 

What in the world am I getting ready for?  

An apocalypse?… 

Algebra 2 they just got that class out of the blue 

I have taken so much math I cannot fathom to add and subtract 

Athletics/ the only reason I come to school 

I hate learning but love running 

Going over plays is like making money 

I leave it all on the field and sometimes on the court  

The only way I could stop this cycle is to abort… 

The mission 

But that would mean giving up, and “momma didn’t raise no quitter” 

So, here I am every day getting on the bus, getting my way 

Whether it be in class or extracurricular  

The only way to succeed is never giving up! 

the songs im really into right now! (8/22/22)

hello everyone! im going to start a little *unoriginal* series where i show some tracks that are in rotation for me currently:) now onto the songs,,,,

nero forte – slipknot 

i found this song during algebra II from a conjoined playlist locklyn and i have! i’ve been getting heavily into slipknot recently and i think this song takes the place as my favorite. my favorite part of this song is around the 0:55 part. “wade through hate and fear, i haven’t felt like this in years. not much left, so uprooted, fists clenched tight in the pockets of my hoodie-” i love how he sings these lines so much, i always feel the need to replay them. 

mis- alex g

i love alex g. if you live on my floor and have been in my room, you have probably seen my alex g poster (and my four elliott smith posters-). i love him so much that i’m attempting to buy tickets to see him live in nashville for my birthday this october! as much as i love all his songs, this one never fails to make me emotional. i listen to this song as much as i possibly can, and a literary analysis of it is currently in the works!! look out for that one next week ;).  my favorite part of this song is at 1:17, when alex’s voice cuts out and the instrumental comes in. there’s something so mesmerizing about every little piece of this song. 

tomorrow tomorrow – elliott smith

yes, i’ve been listening to him for years, and yes, i’ve known this song for years. despite that, it’s been one by him i’ve been replaying more than usual. as with all of elliott’s songs, the guitar is absolutely mind-blowing. in live performances of this song, you can hear the crowd gasp as the instrumental comes in. because of that, my favorite part in this song is right at 1:35, when it comes in. i also seriously love the verse at 2:05. there’s so many things to say about this song and elliott, but just know it is a masterpiece. (along with every song he’s ever made). 

decks dark – radiohead

as i am writing this, i am listening to this song. i actually found it today! i decided to finish their album “a moon shaped pool” today as i felt like it matched the rain pretty well. (by the way, it did). my favorite part of this song is right at 1:48. “but it was just a laugh, just a laugh, just a laugh, just a laugh”. i love everything thom yorke does and i especially love the way he sings these lines in this song. 

entombed – deftones

this one might be on here for nostalgias sake, as my mom used to play deftones for me all the time as a kid, but it deserves its place. this song has been helping me cope with a lot of personal issues that have resurfaced recently. my favorite part is at 1:12, “shapes and colors are all i see”. i wouldn’t call it a calming song as it always destroys me mentally, it just seems to be a temporary antidote for me. 

the daily mail – radiohead

this is actually my favorite radiohead song out of their discography!! i found it about a month ago and ever since then i’ve never gotten tired of it. the beginning sounds so desolate and solemn that you never expect the ending when it kicks in. speaking of which, my favorite part of this song is right at 2:00. this song is so perfect and the long intro 100% pays off for that ending.   

bonus song! the tastebreaker:

helmet- steve lacy 

i just love steve lacy really. this song says everything i want to say about so many different things (and uh, people). i’ve also been listening to “bad habit” a lot, but i’m pretty sure everyone has. i don’t have a particular part that i enjoy in this song, it’s more of a general appreciation. but i do love the chorus. like, really love it.

thanks for letting me talk about my favorite thing ever:) (music, in case you didn’t catch it already) let me know if you know one of these songs! i’d love to geek out about them!

current rotation #1 playlist (spotify): https://open.spotify.com/playlist/68qQzmLv4qOm9SNv1W3sHu?si=fa20526ecf0f4629

Recently I picked up a wonderful book of poems from an unexpected place. Walmart, sure they have the one book isle of manga, cookbooks, novels, etc. but they are never very interesting. A couple weeks ago I saw a book titled Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur. This book was sitting alone, and misplaced. I picked up the book thinking it had an interesting solid black matte cover with a bee and the title. The cover was smooth and soft as the book was untouched.  I just read the first couple of poems from page one. I didn’t expect to find a piece in there that jerked my heart strings. I’ll include the piece at the end. This book includes many poems of different meanings, but I have not read them all so I’m speaking on what I know. It contained poetry to cater towards woman, and the serious female struggles in life from the huge issues to the smaller ones. There is a trigger warning if you decide to purchase this book. It discusses serious sexual issues among women. It also includes family struggles, significant other struggles. Here is the poem that got me to purchase this book.

“father. you always call to say nothing in particular. you ask what i’m doing or where i am and when the silence stretches like a lifetime between us i scramble to find questions to keep the conversation going. what i long to say most is. i understand this world broke you. it has been so hard on your feet. i don’t blame you for not knowing how to remain soft with me. sometimes i stay up thinking of all the places you are hurting which you’ll never care to mention. i come from the same aching blood. from the same bone so desperate for attention i collapse in on myself. i am your daughter. i know the small talk is the only way you know how to tell me you love me. cause it is the only way I know how to tell you.”

I loved this poem, because of my personal experience with my father. It really spoke to me, and I feel a lot of the poems throughout this book could speak to many more people as well. It speaks on many problematic things in this world. By spreading the word of this book, I hope for more people to see Rupi Kaur’s poems. I feel it could be an eye-opening thing for some people to hear. Also, it can make people who struggle with those things feel like they aren’t alone or bring awareness to people who haven’t. I know the wording throughout this isn’t very clear in certain sentences. It’s because I either cannot mention what’s in the book or its a suggestive topic for some people. -Rupi Kaur