Adaptation of The Orchid Thief

To conclude writers’ craft, we watched a film titled Adaptation. The film was based Susan Orleans non-fiction book The Orchid Thief. This movie is about a self-loathing screenplay writer named Charlie Kaufman who seems unsure and doubtful of writing abilities and suffers from writers block. In the movie Charlie Kaufman is assigned to write a movie script based off The Orchid Thief. Charlie Kaufman finds it challenging and encounters many obstacles when trying to adapt The Orchid Thief. He finds it challenging because he find the book boring and wants to make it more exciting, however without adding the Hollywood cliches. He wanted to make a screenplay that was accurate to the book and bring it justice but he didn’t want to make identical because it would lack a certain element. He struggles to do so throughout the movie while his identical twin brother Donald creates a script that contains all ideas and cliches that Charlie despises. What makes Charlie even angrier is that his brother’s script becomes quite a successful accomplishment. After seeing his brothers success Charlie questions his reasoning. Charlie decides to visit Susan Orlean in New York for advice on his screenplay, however he cant find the confidence within himself to face her and attends one of Robert McKee’s seminars to seek advice on current writers block situation. Donald accompanies him to help him with the story structure and to pose as Charlie when he interviews Susan Orlean. However when Donald interviews her he finds her doubtful on the account of the events and because her story line seems flawless. So they decide to investigate. In conclusion they discover her storyline was perfect, too perfect because it wasn’t true Susan Orlean fell in love with the orchid thief (Laroche). It is also revealed that Laroche was stealing the orchids to make a drug. Unfortunately while Donald and Charlie were investigating Donald was killed In conclusion I find it very ironic that the clichés that Charlie Kaufman was trying to avoid when writing the screenplay for The Orchid Thief were the exact same clichés used to write the screenplay for Adaptation. What I learned about the creative process from this film is that writing takes time depending on who you are and how you think. Sure you may use the typical clichés but that doesn’t mean it will make a bad story, depending on how you use them and place them within your story. Nevertheless, Adaptation was a very entertaining film, which started out dull but took a very unexpected twist thus making the film entertaining. 

Poetic Reflection

When writing my poetry collection many thoughts and ideas bounced around my head. The only obstacle I had to overcome was trying to transfer my thoughts into words and make them flow in rhythmical elegant poetical manner. This indeed was a struggle. The first poem I wrote was a haiku titled Do you Want to Keep Your soul. Like all of poems, I always write the poem first then make up the title. So what inspired to title my haiku that was a story my father told me. My dad told me that in Africa, where he is from voodoo and black magic is a daily occurrences and he knew a singer who actually sold his soul to devil for power and fame. During his concerts, he would perform live “Satanic” rituals on stage. At the time I wanted to be a singer, and my Dad told me that if I want to be successful in the music industry that I have to work hard and be careful because you never know who people really are. When writing this haiku, I should have tried to capture a moment, such as an individual about to sign a contract with the devil. Aside from that at least I used the right syllable count.

I didn’t like that haiku so I chose to rewrite that haiku. The haiku I replaced that with was titled “Lost in the Breeze”. That haiku was about a man whose wife passed away and he was visiting her tombstone. I titled it Lost in the Breeze, because I was trying to explain how the man feels. He best friend and life long companion has left him and he feels lost without her. When writing this haiku I used the proper structure and poetry devices effectively. I feel that this haiku evokes a feeling of sadness, because the readers realize that someone that was once loved my somebody passed away.

The third haiku I wrote was titled A Race against Nightmares. I titled this haiku that because I relate nightmares to fear. I’m not encouraging others to run away from the fears; on the contrary I’m encouraging others to face their fears. In my haiku, I state “Your nightmare won’t follow you unless you let them”. What that line means is that you can face your fears; however it’s up to you to find the strength and courage to face them. To improve this haiku, I could’ve used better diction. I used the correct structure and was consistent with spelling, grammar and punctuation

The last haiku I wrote was titled Dancing with the Ocean. It’s about an individual whose committing suicide by jumping into the ocean but the individual is hesitant about their decision. But the individual realizes that once there in the ocean they feel at peace and they let the ocean decided their fate. I titled that because the individual is allowing the Ocean to decide their fate so there dancing with the Ocean to the tune of death. In this haiku I used good diction by words such as majestic, resist, beauty and embrace. Those words to me seem very elegant. It was the proper length and there were no errors in grammar and punctuation

After writing 3 haikus, I wrote a poem title Beauty Hidden Behind the Veil of Africa. I titled it that because often times a bride or women wear veils because there hiding their beauty. The veil of Africa is the media that is often times showing the negative elements of Africa such as poverty and aids. Africa has those things but it also has beautiful things such as the people, the nature and the culture and the media doesn’t show that. This poem was supposed to be a sonnet but I failed because I didn’t follow one rule. I didn’t have 10 syllables per line. In addition I needed more line breaks because some of the lines seemed to long. I had a good use of rhyme throughout the poem. I think I had decent diction because I was very descriptive when describing some features of Africa. I think my poem would evoke a strong response depending on who you are. If a black African individual read this they might feel more of an impact than if a Caucasian individual read this. I was slight lacking consistency in my grammar and punctuation and I should make an effort to look over my work for grammatical errors before submitting it in for marking.

The second poem I wrote was titled the Innocent Criminal. This poem was about a woman named Soraya M who was stoned because he husband accused of her of adultery. I titled this poem that because Soraya knew she was innocent but in the society she lived where men had the first and last say in everything she was guilty. This was completely unjust. My poem was the appropriate length and I think I used impressive diction. I think I did that because I wanted the reader to somewhat feel what she was feeling as she was being stoned. In this poem I should have used more line breaks and space. In addition I also should have made sure to check my punctuation.

The last poem I wrote was the worst poem I ever wrote. I have absolutely nothing positive to say about this poem.  I titled this poem A Glimpse of Paradise because it was suppose to be my opinion on what heaven looks like. I’m pretty sure my opinion isn’t accurate. I didn’t really use and poetry devices effectively and my poem doesn’t evoke a strong response. I think this poem makes readers unsure of heaven because I provide no information of why heaven is like that. I consider the diction in this poem weak and I lack consistency in spelling, grammar and punctuation. Aside from all that the poem is the appropriate length. I had a good idea for this poem however I should have spent more time writing it using proper poetry devices and diction.  

If Education is the Key, Is School the Lock?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_ZmM7zPLyIhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_ZmM7zPLyI

The spoken word performance that I chose to analyze was performed by a youtuber known as Sulibreezy titled “Why I hate School but Love Education”.  When I first heard it I came to realization that society really brainwashes us. Society brainwashes us to believe that if we go to university and get a degree, we will live less stressful lives and become successful individuals and we be considered “educated” individuals. However what is the meaning of educated? Do you have to go university receive a degree to be considered educated? When you think about it going to school doesn’t make you educated, sure you learn some things here and there but doesn’t make you educated. A majority of things I “learned” in high school were facts that I temporarily memorized in order to pass a test or exam. In addition after I completed those test and exams, I simply forgot everything I memorized. In addition a degree doesn’t guarantee you a less stressful life or success. In the end a degree is just piece of paper you frame and mount on your wall for everyone to see. It’s a great achievement but what is it to you when you die, nothing. Look at Steve Jobs, his net worth is $7 billion; he didn’t graduate from a prestigious institution. However when he died look at what he left. A great legacy. He did all that without a degree. Now I believe education is what information you acquire. For example look at Michael Jackson, he was very educated man. Educated in music and dance, and his legacy lives on today.  Education is something you excel and you feel confident sharing it with other individuals. Another example would be Malcolm X, he was a drop out, but look at what at Malcolm X has done. Look at all his accomplishments. He did all that without degree. Making the decision to receive a post secondary education isn’t wrong at all, but you should be doing it for you. Not for society, not for mom and dad but for you. Do it because you have vision, a dream for yourself because in the end, no one is living your life but you.

In conclusion I believe what made this piece effective because the performer really got his point across by making examples of very well known individuals. Not only has that he also used accurate facts, statistics and life experiences to back up his argument. I also enjoyed how at some moments in the performance he used clever rhyme schemes

Failure: The Stepping Stone to Success

I took a seat next to one of my fellow classmates and prepared myself for an uninteresting 75 minutes. For 75 minutes an author known as Teresa Toten would be talking to my classmates and I on what it was like to be a published author. Despite the excitement of some of my fellow classmates, I was lacking enthusiasm and was plotting a way to subtly doze off without being noticed by the watchful eyes of a certain individual. To my avail, my plan was unsuccessful and in result I decided to make an effort and give Teresa Toten my undivided attention.

I must say I’m glad that my plan failed because I wouldn’t have been able to hear the wise and encouraging things Teresa Toten had to share. Teresa Toten made it very clear in firm but gentle way that in life we will fail. Not a little but a lot. She also made it clear to us that we shouldn’t allow our failures to drag us down deeper into a ditch but rather to learn from our failures and fix them and climb out of that ditch and keep on moving forward to success. I admired how Teresa Toten used experiences from her mother’s childhood and her own childhood that influenced her work.

Teresa Toten was quite a captivating speaker. She was very well spoken, and the way she put her words together kept me interested in what she had to say. I admired how she described to us the hardships and obstacles she had to face throughout her life and now successful career.

However I didn’t quite comprehend how she explained her books as failures because they didn’t meet up to her expectations. In my opinion, the fact that Teresa Toten books were published I view that more as an accomplishment rather than a failure. However to each her own, because we all have our own definitions of success and failure.

After hearing Teresa Toten speak, I came to the conclusion that I, myself would never dedicate my life to becoming a published author. I would write stories for my own amusement, and if they were to become published, then power to me.