Potter Power by Craig Outhier gives a very satisfying review on the Harry Potter movies. The reason he obtains such a satisfying review is due to the wonderful descriptions, he gives from the movies. He goes into deep detail on the director of the movie and the characters in the movie. I think this review is more directed towards adults than children, just the way he writes his review is in a scholary manner. Most teen aged children would find this review tough to follow along with. Over all Outhier gives details that most people would never capture by watching the films.

Rachel Forrest writes a very tasty review on the Flatbread Frenzy. She walks the reader through many of the menu items giving them mouth water details. She gives an excellent evaluation on the Flatbread Frenzy. She does a wonderful job descibing the items to the reader, with the descriptions she gives, the reader is able to mentally image these tasty items.

“The Triumph of Hope over Self- Interest”

From the New York Times, David Brooks, Article “The Triumph of Hope over Self- Interest” really questions many American’s way of voting. Every four years when many American’s begin the whole voting process many look for the candidate that best benefits them or the candidate that supports the life style, they think around the corner. No matter which party you support the basics are that the republicans want to be rich or stay rich and the democrats want to distribute that wealth to the lower classes. Brooks wonders why the middle class votes for the Republican Party when they will be receiving the taxation, and the same concepts goes for the lower class. Many people vote this way because they believe that one day they will be in the wealthy class. The middle class is always waiting for the next big thing that will bring them wealth. While most of the people that support the Democratic Party, is mainly the lower class because they know that taxation will not be so tough on them. Maybe the next time voters begin to register, they will not look at where they could be, but where they are now, and the benefits they could be receiving.

Fortunes of Life

“Cookie Master” by Jeremy Olshan

In our journey through life, we encounter several different paths. Many times we think we know which path we are going to take depending on the career choices we make but we often we find ourselves on some other path that is beyond our wildest dreams. Such as Lau, Lau graduated Columbia with a degree in engineering and business. He worked in a bank and then found himself working for a company that exported logs from the Pacific to China. Later in the early eighties he was hired into a Chinatown noodle manufacturer that evolved into a fortune cookie manufacture. This was eventually bought out by Long Island city plant. Running the accounts receivable and payable for his company, there was a demand for new fortunes to place inside of the cookie. Lau was the only employee that could speak English well so he was put in charge of creating new fortunes. Life is filled with many twists and turns. No matter what you do to plan out your life, it will never turn out to your exact estimates.

“Johnny Depp: Unlikely Superstar” by Sean Smith

Captain Jack Sparrow is the most common name for a man that now loves where life has lead him. Jack Sparrow is Johnny Depp’s character of the “Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy’s”. Depp started out his life’s journey by dropping out of high school to play in a band; he later quit the band when it moved to Los Angeles. Johnny was right out of money and desperately need some job. His ex- wife introduced him to the famous Nicolas Cage, whom told Depp that he should try in hand in acting. He did just land landing a supporting role in “A Nightmare on Elm Street”, his started out his career and he continued acting in small screen films. Johnny was just living life; he was young and wanted to keep his persona away from the mainstream. So when he was signed on a television series “Jump Street”, he tried to get fired because he was becoming that icon that brought a lot of fame and he could not portray himself. After getting loose from Fox Network, he had a daughter with his wife Vanessa Paradis, a French actress. Spending time with his daughter and watching Disney films, Depp found his true self. Not until his moments from spending time with his daughter did he finally realize what really interested him and that was Disney. When he received his chance to be a pirated he took it. Depp was a real pirate because it’s the only thing he can really relate to. It makes him happy even though he is now more famous than he ever was before but he does not care. Johnny Depp does not know how his life’s journey lead him to where he is today because he is happy and he does not care about how he got here.

Memoirs

-A Killer Broken leg

It was that time of year again. When my private school hosted its annual spring fund raiser. I was in the in the fifth grade and I was very excited about the upcoming fundraiser. This was the only thing students would talk about in the spring because every year there was a carnival theme. The carnival would be loaded with food, fun, and games. This year there was going to be an inflatable slide and this brought excitement to everyone’s years. My two best friends were Andrew and Dave; we were always doing some adventurous activities. Saturday was finally here and the fundraiser was going to start that afternoon. So arrive that afternoon and the first thing I notice before meeting Andrew and Dave was the smell of freshly popped popcorn.

-Super Good Feelings

I did it, I passed the driver exam. I was now a licensed driver and excited to be able to finally to be able to cruise without my parents. My car, was a 1991 Mazda 626, it was white with blue cloth interior and a sun roof. I thought driving by myself was the coolest thing and it was. After I got my license, I purchased a parking pass at Cookeville High School, which was the school I attended since there is only one high school in the city I lived in. It was late spring when I first drove by myself to school, on my way to school I drove with all of my windows down included the sun roof and the wind left like freedom. I was also listening to Tokyo Police Club, and the music was just blasting out of my little white car.

-Black Diamonds Can Get You

We took the ski lift up the slope again at Winter Place, West Virginia. This was a winter retreat with my church, Trinity Assembly. I was in the seventh grade and this was the first time I had ever been skiing. I remember first stepping onto the slopes for the very first time that day, thinking how anyone could ever ride down these massive hills. I began the day off by skiing on the bunny slopes and I just fell in love with skiing. As the day went on I got progressive better but I was still nothing less than a beginner. I took a break from skiing around 5:00 that afternoon to eat in the lodge. While in the lodge eating one of our youth leaders Scott asked if I would like to ski with him that night. I agreed, so after dinner we hit the slopes again but this time we took the ski runs that Scott wanted to do. So we were waiting in line to get on the lift and we join Steven and Dave my friends from church.

"Us and Them" and "Mick Jagger Wants Me"

In David Sedaris memoir “Us and Them”, Sedaris is obsessed with spying on the Tomkey’s his neighbors. The Tomkey’s attracted Sedaris’s attention when his mother tells them that the Tomkey’s do not believe in television. Sedaris starts to analyze the word belief and cannot grasp the idea of the Tomkey’s not owning a television, he believes that they are ignorant and up to no good. So Sedaris begins to gradually spy on the Tomkey’s but notices that they are rather boring and could not possibly be up to no good. He still continues to spy on them because he feels sorry for them since they are not well educated without a television but his spying is interrupted when the Tomkey’s start going to the lake every weekend. Halloween falls on a Saturday this year and Sedaris is disappointed to know that the Tomkey’s would be out of town and he would not be able to disguise himself and go to the door trick-or-treating. Instead the Tomkey’s came to Sedaris’s house after Halloween to trick-or-treat but Sedaris’s mother is out of candy so she asks Sedaris and his two sisters to go them some candy. Sedaris does not want to share is candy though but his mother forces him to give it up. By doing this Sedaris learns that he is actually a generous person by giving the candy he had collected to his neighbors.

“Mick Jagger Wants Me” by Susan Jane Gilman is a very interesting memoir. I just love the all the attention grabbing details in this memoir, “people were taking speed, smoking grass, dropping acid, making out with whoever was around”, and this just keeps the attention of the reader very involved. Besides the interesting details, I like the way Michelle and Susie are just infatuated with the Rolling Stones. I adore Susie’s sincere obsession with Mick Jagger. She always dreams about how beautiful she would be if she was his girl and how life could not be anymore self satisfying. Even though he obsessed with him, she will not promote herself as being overly obsessive fans “who would wait all night on a urine-drenched sidewalk wait for him with a carnation and autograph book”. Susie was going to be more classy than that, so she decides to go home and I commend her that.