Bravery Is Rewarded

Film: Raise Your Voice
Director: Sean McNamara
Written by: Sam Schreiber
Produced in: 2004
Stars: Hilary Duff, Jason Ritter, Oliver James, Lauren Mayhew, David Keith and Rita Wilson.

Raise Your Voice is an American drama that was first released on 2004 (Wikipedia). The setting is in Flagstaff, Arizona, where Terri Fletcher is from and Los Angeles where the music school is. It tells of a teenage girl named, Terri Fletcher, played by Hilary Duff who wants to go to Los Angeles for the summer to take part in a performing arts school. This movie was written by Sam Schreiber and directed by Sean McNamara.


It is the last day of school and the excitement is creeping into everyone. Terri and her family are putting on a celebratory BBQ for her older brother, Paul Fletcher, played by Jason Ritter, before he leaves for college. The tension is high, when Paul is slightly late and Terri kicks off about wanting to take part in the summer music school. Paul and his dad, played by David Keith, have their usual difference in opinion and it ends with Paul being grounded.
Terri felt slightly bad about this whole scenario and later follows him up the stairs. Meanwhile Paul has snuck out to the garden to post a DVD of Terri singing, in an attempt to get her accepted into the music school. When Paul comes back he finds Terri in his room, and has he shock of his life when his sister breaks the news that she has bought tickets for Three Days Grace, their favourite band! Paul honestly admits that he can't go because he has been grounded and the concert is that night. However with the slightest persuasion Terr changes his mind and they sneak out of the side window and into the car. Their Aunt Nina, played by Rebecca De Mornay is watching them and chuckles to herself, as it reminds her of what it was like to be a teenager again.
The siblings arrive at the concert after the talk they'd had in the car, Paul warned Terri that it was now or never to escape from their dad and do want she wanted to do for a change. They start to get into the spirit of things and open up, singing and cheering along with the band.
After the concert is over the pair set off home and are still singing and talking about the thrill of meeting their favourite band. Then, suddenly, BAM!! A car had come out of the blue with their headlights on full beam, Paul stared in panic. I thought this was very original and unexpected because the tragic events normally happens towards the middle or end not right at the beginning. Terri wakes up to find that she is in hospital and Paul is dead!
She blames herself for his death, forcing him to come out that night and torches and bright lights bring everything back.
Terri’s mum, played by Rita Wilson wants to do what is right for her child and sets up a plan where it looks like Terri is going to go and stay with her Aunt Nina, but is really going to Los Angeles to the music school. This fools her dad, and she is soon on her way.
When she arrives in her new destination she isn’t given the warmest welcome by Jay, English actor Oliver James but nevertheless gets on with things. She tries to settle in to her new room and get to know her roommate, but it doesn’t go to plan when her roommate simply states that she doesn’t want to get close to anyone in this fierce competition as she needs the money the most. The winner gets a $10,000 sponsorship.
The tutors are surprised with the depressed and quiet teenager they have on their hands and shows Terri the DVD Paul had sent in of her being her usual cheerful self. This turns out to be all too much for the girl and she storms out, finding a shoulder to cry on in Jay, who is with Robin, played by Lauren Mayhew. He supposedly dumps her but Robin doesn’t seem to quite understand it. Terri catches them out whilst she was about to practice for the final night along with Jay, as a team. However she isn’t pleased with what she finds and feels betrayed. When Terri finds Jay at her door, in a bad state she spends all night with him on the roof, making sure he doesn’t do anything stupid. He wins back her trust and they continue practicing for the final night. The pair attempt to try out their music in front of an audience at a local bar, but the bright lights are all too much for Terri.
Will she be able to pull it together for the final night? Will her dad smell a rat? Watch the film to find out, and trust me, it is worth it!!

This movie went to the top of my list because it was so emotional and the chemistry between the characters was remarkable, it seemed so real!! I cried in some parts, like when Paul died, aged 18. Also the music was so well timed into the scenes, like when Johnny Maglone, played by Nick Wald, plays Amazing Grace in the opening sequence in perfect rhythm on the recorder. It is simple things like these that really make a difference to whether you watch the movie or not, I personally think that it is a MUST to go and watch it!!
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed reading it!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raise_Your_Voice

Mr.Frog rules!

The Hopper Times


Breaking News:

Mr.Frog jumps to victory

The votes for the post of London Mayor have been counted and by a clear mile, Mr.Frog has dominated the election.
It has been this young frog's dream for many years to become a powerful politician, and now it's become reality. Members of the public have been saying that, with all due respect Mr.Frog had no competition, but a few critics and other politicians have been accusing the government of corrupting the vote, but this has yet to be proven.

Written By: Charlie

Robert Kazinsy's Biography

Robert Kazinsky was born on 18th November 1983 in Haywards Heath, which is in West Sussex, England. However he grew up in Brighton. He was born Robert John Appleby but later took his grandfather's middle name, Kazinsky, as his stage name. Robert is a British actor, who supports Brighton and Hove Albion FC, and is a very strong fan.

Robert's parents are Phyliss and Paul Appleby and has an older brother called Michael. Robert, although British, has Polish and Russian bloodlines, hence the name Kazinsky.

Robert attended Hove Park School in Hove during the years 1995-2000 but was expelled from that school and his future college. However Rob admitted to begin bullied at school, saying "When I was younger I was the ginger, pale one who got bullied", a quote from Wikipedia. It wasn't the best start for Robert Kazinsky, but despite the disappointing records, he made his way to the top as an actor with a grade B in his drama GCSE in the year 2000.

To start his career off, he starred in his former school and college productions. They were Bugsy Malone and Midsummer Night's Dream. He then attended the Guildford School of Acting from 2002 to July 2005. He appeared in a few Israeli television commercials, but really made his mark in the acting industry as a guest star for an episode of the CBBC's children's programme, the Basil Brush Show.

His character was called Sven Garley. However, the role he is most famous for is that of Casper Rose in the Sky One television football drama The Dream Team from late 2005 until 2006. Kazinsky announced his decision to leave the show towards the end of the 9th series and was then killed off. He is good friends with many co-stars from Dream Team to this day. Some of them are: Jamie Lomas-Hollyoaks, Kara Tointon-EastEnders and Ricky Whittle-Hollyoaks.

On 18th May 2006, it was made public that Robert Kazinsky had gotten the role of Sean Slater in the British Soap Opera, EastEnders. His first appearance was on 22nd August 2006. Rob confirmed in an interview, being good friends with Matt Di Angelo, despite playing enemies in EastEnders. However on 18th January 2008 it was announced that Robert was going to leave the show to become a Hollywood actor, and would carry on filming until November and will stay on our screens until the end of 2008/beginning of 2009. However, during an interview with This Morning on 31st July 2008 Robert Kazinsky said that he would not be going to Hollywood, but would instead be fulfilling a life time dream of his and begin an apprenticeship as a mechanic. He quoted on This Morning "I pay my mechanics very well, as my car is in there every other week, so they have agreed to let me fulfill a dream of mine to do an apprenticeship to become a car mechanic."

On Youtube, Robert Kazinsky was shown as the presenter in the EastEnders launch video after they had set up a new video channel on Youtube.

On 29th September 2008 Rob won two awards at the Inside Soap Awards, these were the Best Actor and Best Looking Actor. These were his first awards during his time in EastEnders and he put stars like Robert James Collier, Coronation Street to shame.



Robert Kazinsky (2008). Wikipedia. Retrieved October 1, 2008.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Kazinsky

This video is to show how good he became as an actor during his time in EastEnders:

Anticipation Guide Response- Taste of Salt

1.) Politics and political problems are a subject for adults to deal with.
I agree because children shouldn't be expected to understand or get involved in issues like that, which won't concern them for many years. Yes I think that children should be aware of what is going on because that makes them more knowledgeable. However, adults have studied politics and political problems for years, that's what they wanted to become a part of. A child doesn't know what they want to study or become yet, and asking them to understand and express their opinions on a subject that not even some adults understand is just not very fair!

2.) All stories can have a happy ending if those involved work towards it
I disagree because not all situations have a happy ending. Yes, you can try and make light of it in certain circumstances but in many cases you can't make the situation happy. For instance, if someone dies, how can you make a happy ending out of that? Unless you were extremely mean and wanted them to die, it's just impossible to be happy about it. It is possible to make the situation better by maybe comforting each other and looking back on good times, but a happy ending, no way!

3.) Literacy (being able to read) is a form of freedom
I agree because if you read and write, you are able to voice your opinions and say what you feel or want to. It is an even bigger form of freedom in a situation like if you moved country, for example. Let's say I moved to France, if I can speak French and write it then it would really benefit me in terms of being able to say what I needed to or wanted to in a situation like in a supermarket and being able to write down what was necessary. In terms of reading, well that would be very important because I would be able to read signs on the motorway or even a menu in a restaurant. So, yes I think literacy is a form of freedom.

4.) Civilizations without a written language cannot document history
I disagree because in the past civilizations have used cave paintings to document history, which we have discovered and been able to learn about their civilization from them. Cave paintings were first started during the Upper Palaeolithic period , which was 40,000 to 10,000 BC. From these cave paintings archaeologists have found out when they were first started and during what period. In modern times we do use written languages to record things, but it is possible to record history in other ways!