4/5 Questions on High Fidelity

1. What was the movie about?

It's a love story about a guy named Rob Gordon, who has had many failed relationships in the past. This time he had just broken up with his latest girlfriend, Laura, who left him because the guy was unable to change. Change as in growing up and maturing. However, Rob doesn't seem to know why all of his relationships were a failure. Throughout the movie, he tries to figure out what he's been doing wrong by tracking down his previous relationships and asking them why his ex's left him.

2. How is it different from the common fiction?

There are quite a lot of thing that differentiate this love story from the typical love fictions out there.

a) Rob is not such a romantic man. Usually in typical love stories, the men are very romantic. They are able to fulfill their lover's needs. But Rob is such a clueless regular guy who doesn't seem to be able to figure out why his relationships end tragically. He doesn't say the most charming things either. Take his proposal for example. It was in a bar and he just blurted it out like it was nothing special. More like "you want to or not?".

b) I think the way this story took off was very different from your old love stories. Instead of having a boy meets girl plot, it began with a girl leaves guy plot. You don't get to see how this actually came to be. You only find out where and how they met during the flashbacks. Other than that, we're only seeing how they're handling the breakup.

3. Who's your favorite character? And why?

Rob. Mostly it's because he represents most guys out there. Men can be clueless at times but that doesn't mean they are emotionless. I feel that I could relate to the character with my own relationship. Like Rob, when I get into a fight with that special someone, I always find it hard to figure out what I did wrong or if it was even my fault.

4. Provide and alternate ending.

My alternate ending would be Rob succeeding in a career as whatever that has to do with music. He doesn't end up with Laura until a few years into the future. They meet again after she had left Ian and had been living by herself. She's surprised by the success he's had and by the change that he'd gone through. He had missed her so much since the last time they had seen each other which was on Laura's dad's funeral. They had spent a lot of time catching up and end up getting back together again. The end.

5. Personal reaction after watching the movie? (will be submitted in class)

Difficulties Faced When Writing

I have written some shorts stories of my own when I was very young for my school's publication department. If I'm not mistaken, I was only able to publish two of my short stories. Most of my stories were science-fiction. They were inspired by Power Rangers, Dragonball, Star Wars and the like. I never wrote anything original. Nowadays, I don't write stories at all. I've lost the spark that I had during my developing age. The only thing I write is my blog.

After reflecting on my experience in writing when I was young, realized that even then I've faced some difficulties in writing. There are many stages in writing. At least I think there is. The pre, while, and post-stage.

During the pre-stage of writing; coming up with a stroryline. I used to be a very imaginative kid. I loved day dreaming. Pretending I was Goku from Dragonball and flying around fighting an evil alien. I thought of my own fighting scenes. I ran that scene over and over agian in my head so that I would be able to watch it again. I imagined these kinds of things every chance I had. This went on for so long to the extent that I was able to make up my own characters and memorize each of them. This is where most of my ideas come from.

When an idea was formed, it's time to think of a plot. That's where I usually get stuck. I know there are techniques in creating a plot. But I usually just start writing whatever it was that came to mind. But the plot just dissolves into the white pages. I quickly loose inspiration to keep writing. My teacher used to say that my story had a very untidy introduction. She said I needed to smoothen the edges. As my stories went on, my teacher had a hard time seeing the relevance of the events. Not only that, the ending was so quick, my teacher thought the story wasn't finished yet.

That's 1 problem I face while writing. Another problem I face is the use of language. I don't know how to express my ideas in way that is exciting to read. Other than the plot, I think language comes second in writing a good story. I love Harry Potter so much. I've read all 7 of them. What kept me reading those books was the language. J.K. Rowling is so good in getting the readers see what Harry sees and feels. That's something I wasn't and may still not able to do.

Nowadays I don't write at all. The only things I write are my assignments and my blog. That's pretty much it. I think even from reading this entry, you'd get a picture of the problems I face. The only reason I started a blog is to improve my writing. I hope this course will inspire me to start writing stories again.

Entry 1 - The New Semester

I have always perceived the new semester as another chance to achieve greatness. It's like being given another chance to live another life but not making the mistakes that you've made in the previous life. Cats have 9 lives. I guess you can say I have 8 lives. 8 semesters. After 8 lives, I will be judge by God. In my case, my overall performance during that 8 semesters will be judged according to my CGPA.

I'm half-way through the 8 semesters. My current CGPA is nowhere near impressive even with all 4 semesters combined. But what's done is done. There's no use crying over spilled milk.

In the beginning of every semester, I do an annual reflection on the previous semesters. Basically it's like finding out what are the dos and donts for the new semester. Other than that, I try to pin point my strengths and weaknesses. Having done that, I try to list it down in hope that I will never repeat the mistakes from the previous semesters that may have jeopardized my chances towards excellence.

This may sound like a great initiative taken by me. Well, it should. Sometimes I even impress myself with this. Too bad it's never worked. I want to change. I really do. But there's some kind of force out there that just keeps the same cycle going every single semester. I procrastinate when I know that it never ends well. I submit my assignments after the due dates. I waste my money for fun when I know I'll need it later for something much more important. Is it in my nature to be this way? Or maybe I just haven't tried hard enough? I'd rather think that I can do better then to be destined to fail! I won't let history repeat itself.. Again. I will make this my new semester. I know where my flaws lie. It's up to me now.

Well, that's my reflection on last semester. I've inspired myself through this entry and hopefully this semester will truly be my 'new' semester.