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Printed from https://www.writing.com/main/books/item_id/2252355-Rising-Stars-Blog/month/7-1-2021
Rated: E · Book · Other · #2252355
For the Rising Stars Program
Welcome to the Rising Stars Blog! This blog will be different than my other blog "Soul's Windows in that it's dedicated to a singular topic: My Rising Stars Pursuits :)

July 31, 2021 at 2:28pm
July 31, 2021 at 2:28pm
#1014800
Release Date: December 13, 1985
Director: Jonathan Lynn
Stars: Tim Curry, Eileen Brennan, Madeline Kahn, Christopher Lloyd, Micheal McKeen, Martin Mull, Lesley Ann Warren, Colleen Camp, and Lee Ving.

Review:

Clue (1985) is a charming movie for families with slightly older children, due to some references to sex, prostitution (although not graphic), and rough humor (again pertaining to corpses, sex, and homosexuality), and gore. Similarly to the board game, the movie has 6 main characters with pseudonyms, those being Miss Scarlet, Mrs.Peacock, Mrs. White, Professor Plum, Mr. Green, and Colonel Mustard, as well as a couple of new additions, Mr. Boddy, Wadsworth the Butler, Yvette the Maid, and The Cook (unnamed). Unlike the board game, however, we’re given a reason for the murder of a person in the mansion, which is blackmail.

Summary (Contains Spoilers):

The movie starts with a lone car on a lonely journey up a hill, approaching a mansion gate. The man in the car then unlocks the door, and leaves it open, and goes on his way. He has a short conversation with the maid, Yvette, before leaving to let the first guest in, Colonel Mustard. Mustard is introduced to Yvette, and the pattern is kept up until all the guests have arrived, sans Mr. Boddy, their host. The guests get to know each other and discover that they all either live in Washington DC or have some connection to the government. At this point, Mr. Boddy arrives, and the talking shifts to mysterious double meanings and vague references. The group moves to the study, where the real reason they’re all there is revealed. Mr. Boddy has been blackmailing all of them, for various reasons. Boddy then reveals that he will prevent scandal from befalling them if they kill Wadsworth, who was his butler, and who has notified the police and has evidence. He then flicks the light off, and a gunshot is heard. The light is turned back on, and but instead of Wadsworth, the aptly named Mr. Boddy lies dead on the floor. Professor Plum, a psychiatrist by trade, pronounces him dead and the guests set about figuring out who the murderer is.

Wadsworth then admits to summoning the guests to the party, knowing that they were all being blackmailed, as his late wife, who committed suicide, was also being blackmailed. They all check the house for clues, before finding the cook dead, stabbed in the back with the dagger, which Mrs. Peacock had dropped in a fit of hysteria, meaning anyone could have picked it up. They decide to move the body to the study, where they find Mr. Boddy’s body has gone missing. They soon find him, with new wounds inflicted by the candlestick. Wadsworth decides to lock the rest of the weapons in a cabinet. The group tells him to throw away the key, but before they could, a stranded motorist shows up at the door and asks to use the phone. Wadsworth leads him to the Lounge and locks him in before returning to the door and throwing the key out into the yard, over the blacktop. Colonel Mustard then proposes that they split up to search the house for anyone else, and they draw straws. The groups are Miss Scarlet and Colonel Mustard, Mrs. White and Wadsworth, Mr. Green and Yvette, Mrs. Peacock, and Professor Plum. They split up, and team Scarlet-Mustard (A good name, if I do say so myself) finds a secret passageway into the lounge, where, you guessed it, the Motorist is dead, killed with a wrench in the still-locked room. They begin beating on the door, and everyone rushes downstairs to try to open the door. Yvette grabs the revolver from the cupboard and shoots the lock off, freeing them from the lounge and revealing the motorist. Questioning begins: “Did you kill him? What secret passage? Can you stop screaming?” before turning on Yvette: “Where’d you get the gun? It was locked up! Yvette must be the killer!” But no, the cabinet was unlocked! Someone had the key! But Wadsworth threw away the key! No, he didn’t! The tensions rise, and a chandelier falls from a missed shot by Yvette prior, nearly killing Mustard and Co. Then the cops arrive.

Well, one cop, and he asks why they’re acting all jumpy. Wadsworth says that it was caused by the falling chandelier, before locking him in the library. The search is resumed, and all goes well. Until the electricity goes out. In this period of time, The cop is killed, as is Yvette, and a singing telegram girl that came to the door, with the pipe, rope, and revolver respectively. Wadsworth flips the electricity back on and exclaims that he knows who did it. There's 3 possibilities, 3 different endings, and that’s what makes the movie so unique.

Ending 1: Yvette Had 2 Murders, Mr. Boddy and The Cook, and Miss Scarlet told her to do it. Miss Scarlet then killed Yvette and the rest of the other victims. She wanted to extort the other guests and sell government secrets out for the right price. Wadsworth Identifies himself as an FBI agent and apprehends Scarlet, who presumably goes to jail.
Ending 2: Mrs. Peacock murdered everyone. Wadsworth decides to let her go, as she did them a service, but then she is apprehended by the FBI on her way out, and Wadsworth is revealed as an agent.
Ending 3: Professor Plum murdered Mr. Boddy, Mrs. Peacock murdered the cook, Colonel Mustard murdered the motorist (and swiped the key from Wadsworth's pocket), Mrs. White murdered Yvette, and Miss Scarlet murdered the cop. Mr. Green is accused of killing the singing telegram girl, but Wadsworth reveals he killed her, and that he is, in fact, the real Mr. Boddy (the man Professor Plum killed was his butler). With the witnesses to each of their secret activities dead and the evidence destroyed, Wadsworth now plans on continuing to blackmail them all. Mr. Green suddenly pulls out a revolver and kills Mr. Boddy. He reveals himself as an undercover FBI agent who has been on Mr. Boddy's case. He brings in the chief to arrest the others.


Word Count 1000
July 24, 2021 at 1:29pm
July 24, 2021 at 1:29pm
#1014240
There was a disturbance in downtown Atlanta today when a group of who appeared to be Cowboys walked through oncoming traffic, causing an hour-long backup and many unhappy residents. They appeared peaceful, even cooperating with law enforcement and handing over any weapons they had, but refusing to be taken into custody. Law enforcement finally convinced the men to come with them, where they were taken into custody. Upon questioning, they appeared more confused than aggressive, not knowing how they got here or where they even were. When they were told “Atlanta” they laughed, saying that Atlanta was much smaller.

When questioned, the whole group had the same consistent answers… They range from 16 to 35 in age, the year is supposed to be 1881, and they’re all from Georgia. Police say that they have no records of the men, and are currently seeking answers. It’s still unclear how long the men can be lawfully kept in custody or how and why they’re here, but the answers are promised soon by science’s top minds. It’s also unapparent if there are any criminal charges against them, aside from disturbing the peace. We interviewed one of the men, Jackson Davis, and his answers were intriguing.

“What’s your name, sir?”

“Jackson Davis, Ma’am. Nice to meet you.”

“And when were you born, what year?”

“1863.”

“Where are you from, Jackson?”

“Georgia, around a place called Stockbridge, I wonder if it’s still around?”

“It is, would you like to see it?”

“Yes ma’am, very much.”

“Well, we’ll see what we can do.”

“Thank you.”

Just from that short conversation, I could tell several things about Jackson. He’s confused, out of place, and he wants to get back. I talked to a few more of the men, and their answers were all largely similar, they’re from the 1800s, and they want to go back.

But so many questions are still unanswered…where did they come from? How did they get here? What do they want? Can they get back? In search of answers, I looked up one of America’s top scientists, Dr. Alan Hayside, who has several PHDs in Theoretical Physics, Quantum Physics, and Temporal Mechanics.

“Hello, Doctor. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“The pleasure is mine. I understand you have some questions for me.”

“Yes. I understand that you’ve researched time travel somewhat?”

“Well, it’s highly theoretical, of course, but yes, research has been done.”

“Have you found anything that may explain why the men are here?”

“Well, in short, no.”

“What do you mean, in short?”

“Well, it’s classified, and I’m not at liberty to say.”

After that, the interview ended fairly abruptly, leaving me with little to work with. In all my 15 years as a journalist, I’ve never had someone walk out on an interview. I feel that something bigger may be going on, but I’m not authorized to explore any further, unfortunately. So the world may never know what happened to these men out of time, and they may never know either.
July 16, 2021 at 10:13am
July 16, 2021 at 10:13am
#1013735
My first encounter with Robert Frost’s poetry was in 4th grade when I read “Nothing Gold Can Stay”, and since then, he’s become one of my favorite poets. But who is he?

Frost was born in 1884 in San Francisco. However, after his father’s death, his mother moved the family to Massachusetts, where he would remain. Eventually, he graduated top of his class (co-valedictorian along with who would be his wife, Elinor White) and went off to Dartmouth for college, although he’d drop out after about a year. In the years following, in order to support their growing family, he taught school and farmed.

Frost went to Harvard for 2 years before leaving for Derry, where he operated a poultry farm, and continued writing poems, with little publishing success. He became discouraged, but decided to persist, until 1911 when the poultry farm fell to him. He decided to sell it and move to London, where he wished for more success.

The publishers in London did indeed give him better luck, and at the age of 40, he published his first collection of poetry. He was called back to the states soon after, as World War I was starting. While he was away a woman by the name of Amy Lowell had read and reviewed his work, gaining him some notoriety in the United States. Not long after, Frost started getting offers from magazines clamoring to publish his poetry.

From there, he bought a farm in New Hampshire in 1915, but the income wasn’t enough to support his family of 6. He taught part-time at Amherst College and the University of Michigan from 1916 up until 1938, after publishing Mountain Interval in 1916. He only continued to rise, with 4 works winning a Pulitzer Prize ( New Hampshire, Collected Poems, A Further Range, and A Witness Tree).

But who is he to the public? Some say that he’s one of the most authentic poets of all time. Some disagree, saying that he was to focused on the past and not enough on the present and future. The claims were never really refuted, and how could they be? Others still think his works are nostalgia in poetry form and the good old days of the past. I think it’s worth mentioning that most of his poems have some higher message or observance, like the poem Fire and Ice:

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.


Frost is musing on the nature of world-ending forces, and while it isn’t one of his most nostalgic poems, it’s one of the most obvious examples of pondering bigger things.

To conclude, Robert Frost was a poet of great renown, and his story is one of extreme perseverance and insight on the workings of the world. From a son of a single mother to one of the most well-known poets, up there with Poe and Dickinson, he shaped our world with his pen, his words sticking in our minds and teaching us about the ways of the past, with eyes straight ahead towards the future.


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