Author Archives: hjh

Arica’s Re-Mix

by hjh

I really liked the high school superlatives project that someone did for the Harry Potter characters. I don’t remember who did it or even what house they were from but I absolutely loved it. The board she created was really well done and she obviously put a lot of work into it. It was well organized and it looked like she had a lot of fun doing it. It was simple or creative and I was pretty impressed by it.

She must have thought about who what superlative she was going to us for which character and I thought she did a great job with what she picked. I really loved sitting in class and trying to guess who belonged to what superlative. I always like when people make their presentations interactive in that way because it usually means that they put a lot of thought into the project and it makes the project more interesting and memorable to those who are watching.

Overall I thought that the project was really well thought out and organized. It was clear that she put a lot of effort into not only coming up with the superlatives but with making the board. It was fun to partake in the project instead of being talked at because that is usually what projects are.

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The remix presentation I decided would be best to write on was the one done by Arica Zentner who made a game out of everyone’s personalities into something similar to what one would find in a yearbook and made something for the whole class to enjoy. Of course, Slytherin knew all the answers beforehand, but it was a lot of fun hearing everyone give their guesses to whatever the topic at hand was, even though they were told most were for students, they kept guessing the professors, which was funny if not tiresome after the twelfth unsuccessful attempt. Arica went to a lot of trouble to make that poster with all the categories and everyone’s pictures on it, it was a remarkable job well done, I thought it was the best thing one could do to showcase their talents and drive for a presentation other than making drawings by hand, but that’s a different presentation. What I think Arica did overall that surpassed my expectations was to make, or at least bring, cupcakes in addition to everything else she did for the class, the fact that she put such an effort into it, I think, is admirable. My favorite bit of all was for her “You don’t even go here” one for Voldemort, it made me laugh. Overall I think everything she did was very well researched, she clearly went to some lengths to bring in more obscure characters, and her presentation skills and effort put into it were very well done, indeed. It was a joy for the whole class, which matters most of all.

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The Re-Mix that I enjoyed for the first section of presentations was Arika’s superlative’s game. I liked this because she picked characters that were shown in both the books and movies enough to have a general idea of them as well as the main characters. I feel that her superlatives were well chosen and funny, and I enjoyed how she made it into a game so everyone had to guess and not just see them, like they would in a yearbook. Her choices were creative, interesting, and funny. I feel like the class really enjoyed the chance to interact with the project as well as fulfill the student’s obvious need for competition as our whole class seems to be fairly competitive. It was a smart, fun and interesting spin on characters that we might not have really thought of, as well as a chance to see what everyone else thinks of the different characters in the Harry Potter series.

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I liked Arica’s project about Hogwarts superlatives! I thought a lot of her “awards” were accurate and that it was cool that she sort of turned it into a game for everyone. I also really enjoyed the cupcakes. I think it could’ve been more fun if she sent out a survey to her house or even the whole class and then used those answers to make her presentation, but that’s just my opinion.

Her project made me think about what a Hogwarts yearbook would actually look like. It seems like it’s something that they would do, at least recently. Do they have students do it, like a club? Why don’t we ever hear about them in the books? I’m sure other students in Harry’s year would be mad because half the pictures would be of “the boy who lived” It’s cool that the pictures would be moving and maybe even signatures could be enchanted so that they changed color or you could hear a recording of your friend’s voice when you read their comment to you.

Emily’s Re-Mix

by hjh

After hearing the first part of Emily’s fan fiction I was definitely intrigued by it. I read the entire thing on Slytherin’s blog. It is honestly one of the better fan fictions that have been produced that I have read. Everything was well thought out and had a very catchy beginning that kept the audience reading. Another thing is that she left a cliffhanger at the end of chapter one. I would love to keep reading this if Emily would keep on writing it. She could turn it into a short chapter book and it will allow for a deeper plotline and more details. I loved how she changed the prophecy and turned it into the two of them and not just Harry. It truly changed the entire story line.

Game of Thrones and Hogwarts Houses

by hjh

Kylie’s take:

Since we’re supposed to use this journal as more of a jumping off point and less of a critique/praise kind of thing, I thought I would sort some of the characters from one of my current fandoms into Hogwarts houses. I’m not sure how familiar you are with the television show Game of Thrones, but I watched it over winter break and absolutely fell in love with it. I’m currently re-watching it with my boyfriend and I’m enjoying it almost as much as I did seeing it the first time. There are so many characters that I won’t be able to do all of them, but I’ll do a couple of main characters and give you my reasoning for why I put them there. Like Magdalena, I give the disclaimer that these are my opinions and so if you love GoT and disagree with me, I’m sorry! (Spoiler alert if you haven’t watched the tv show!)

Cersei Lannister: She’s obviously a Slytherin. She’s very cunning and ambitious, always trying to secure power for herself and for her family. Shewas able to take control of a situation where she had very few allies and get rid of all her enemies at once. She’s a Slytherin, through and through

Tyrion Lannister: I would put Tyrion in Ravenclaw. He is very intelligent and, more importantly, he values intelligence. He knows that he needs to be smarter than his opponents because they often are stronger than him and have more power. He’s also one of the funniest characters on the show, because of his wit.

Arya Stark: I had to think about this one a little, but I think that Arya would be a Gryffindor. She’s incredibly brave and has a strong sense of justice, which is evident by her wish to avenge her family member’s deaths. She also has a temper, which is a negative trait that is commonly associated with Gryffindor.

Daenerys Targaryen: Like Arya, this was a hard one for me, but I settled on Slytherin. Daenerys is incredibly ambitious and perseverant; she doesn’t let any obstacles stand in her way. She’s obsessed with success and taking back the Iron Throne, which bleeds into every other aspect of her life. I think she’s the perfect example of what Slytherins can be at their best.

Ned Stark: I would put Ned Stark in Hufflepuff (most people would probably put him in Gryffindor, but hear me out). The two things that define Ned to me are his loyalty and his refusal to play “the game” in King’s Landing. He believes in being loyal to Robert and doing the right thing all the time. He is brave, of course, but I think that his belief in loyalty and fair play outweighs that and puts him firmly in Hufflepuff.

Jaimie Lannister: I think that Jaimie would be in Slytherin. I don’t think Jaimie is ambitious as his sister, but he values his own life and acts in self-preservation a lot. He’s very resourceful and is good at getting himself out of sticky situations; he can think quickly on his feet and is a good fighter.

Jon Snow: He’s a Gryffindor. Jon Snow is all about being brave and chivalrous. He has a very strong moral compass and he won’t stray from it to the point of self-detriment. He can also be a little reckless and take unnecessary risks, which is a Gryffindor trait.

Sansa Stark: Sansa would be a Hufflepuff. She’s very conflict averse and loyal to her family. She cares about others and values friendship very highly. She is also very trusting, which can sometimes get her in trouble.

Stannis Baratheon: I think that he’s a Ravenclaw. The whole reason that people dislike Stannis is that he isn’t a very good people-person, which is (in my opinion) a very Ravenclaw trait. He’s also an excellent strategist, which requires a lot of intelligence.

Petyr Baelish: I had a hard time picking between Slytherin and Ravenclaw, but I ended up going with Slytherin. Baelish has said that he bases all of his choices off of whether or not the results will bring him closer to the Iron Throne or not, which is something a Slytherin would do. He’s very cunning and ruthless in his actions to get what he wants.

Magdalena’s Re-Mix

by hjh

I was really impressed by Magdalena’s project. Not only did she take the time to research what houses the certain characters would be sorted into from “Yuri, On Ice,” but she also took the time to draw each character and dress them in clothes of their corresponding houses.

I’m a sucker for art, and stuff like this just blows me away. I don’t think people like Magdalena get enough credit for doing artistry like this. If I were to try to draw something freehand, it would seriously look like a stick figure. She was saying after her presentation that one character, alone, took her a couple of hours to do and I’m betting that’s more time than most of us would spend on a project like this.

I was also really impressed at all of the research that she did. She took the time to break down each house and see what qualities a member of that house would have. She would also have to have a lot of knowledge on the characters from the show (which, I’m betting, wasn’t too hard if she finds the show enjoyable). I was even impressed by the slideshow presentation and how the sorting hat would come in from out of screen! And I think having the class interact with the presentation was the icing on the cake. She did a really good job. I just really appreciated how much thought and effort she put into it.

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Magdalena’s presentation on Yuri!!! on Ice characters sorted into their respective Hogwarts houses resonated with me not only because I enjoyed the show but because the ability to apply houses to characters outside of the Harry Potter canon is something that has allowed the series to remain relevant. Even on Pottermore the main appeal is for visitors to be able to find out how they’d fit into the Harry Potter universe with their own wands, patronuses, and houses. Like she pointed out, though, there can be many ways to interpret how characters would be sorted, which isn’t necessarily bad – it’s true in the canon of the books as well (such as Harry being either a Slytherin or Gryffindor, or Hermione being a Ravenclaw or Gryffindor.)

With that said, I would argue for different sortings for some of the characters she showed, most specifically with Yuri and Yurio. Yuri, for instance, although shy and uncertain in a lot of things changes throughout the series and shows a different side of himself on the ice (and when partying after drinking his sorrows away) that reflects more of a Slytherin than a Hufflepuff; he also needs to have external validation in order to believe in himself, and his shyness leads to a more individually-oriented lifestyle. Additionally, Yuri ignored a younger skater who looked up to him until Victor pointed it out to him, so he’s a bit more self-centered than things let on.

Yurio, on the other hand, despite his abrasive personality, performs best when driven by his emotions, which I would argue to be a stereotypically Hufflepuffcharacter trait. Also, even though he often gives other characters the cold shoulder off the ice, he has a change of heart when in the rink and generally cheers others on. And considering Magdalena shifted driven by passion toHufflepuff’s side, I’d say that Yurio is far more driven by his desire to be a great skater than any form of reason. Despite my disagreements, it’s still true that Magdalena’s sortings are well-thought out and just as “canon” as my own, because when it all comes down to it, the Sorting Hat takes the choice of the wizard into account.

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I really liked Magdalena’s Remix project! I could tell she put a lot of work into it and that she was interested in her idea. I had seen people sort characters from other fandoms into Hogwarts houses, but I liked that she did some actual research about the houses and looked at what the values are for each house before sorting the people. The information she had about the houses was cool to see, because it took dichotomous concepts and put them in the houses so you could see how certain houses were similar and different.

Michael’s Re-Mix

by hjh

Michael Van Etten did a remixed fiction work for his remix. He took the section of Harry training Hogwarts students for Dumbledore’s Army and reworked to be like the book Fight Club. I have never seen or read Fight Club, but I am interested in looking into it further after his presentation.

Michael spoke clearly and loud enough for his piece to be read sufficiently. His story fit well into the Harry Potter story and gave a new side to Harry. I think that it could be a popular fanfiction if Michael wanted to take it further. I liked that Michael only gave us a taste of the story, instead of a long project. The fiction piece was only two page, but it was two good pages. It was easy to follow along with the story without having many questions at the end.

On creativity, I think Michael did a great job. He took something, Fight Club,that he liked and was familiar with, and gave a Harry Potter twist to it. He didn’t do something typical and really thought about his audience when he was creating his remix. I liked how he gave us a background about Fight Club and how it inspired him growing up. He said that he learned about emotions through Fight Club, which is important when you study literature. This back story gave the fiction piece a personal meaning for us to connect to.

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I really enjoyed Mike’s remix. I too, am a fan of Fight Club and thought it was very clever the way he interwove Fight Club and Harry Potter. He adapted a similar writing style to Chuck Palahniuk to start with. This really helped to set the tone for the piece. It showed that he took the time to really look at how Palahniuk wrote to make his version fit.

I also loved the way he made Dumbledore’s Army the fight club. He could have easily made it dueling class, or something similar, but Dumbledore’s Army fit perfectly. The idea that it was a secret society that revolved around fighting was already there, he just had to twist it a little to make it work. And he did just that. He made it work very well.

I also loved how he included the schizophrenic aspect of Fight Club by having Harry and The Chosen One as two different people. That kind of attention to detail really made the piece stand out. He found literally every similarity I can think of and used it to his benefit.

Overall his piece was very entertaining, well thought out, and well written. I think he did a magnificent job. I’m still excited over it honestly, but that could just be because of how much I love Fight Club.

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This re-mix project got me interested in a non-Harry Potter story. I went and rented Fight Club after Michael read his fanfiction. I liked the darker feel the entire story had. It was cool to see a darker spin off of Dumbledore’s Army. I will admit to being confused as to who the story was in the perspective of. At first I thought that it would have just been a student from Harry’s year that had joined Dumbledore’s Army. After he had finished reading it I wasn’t too sure of that anymore. I think I’ve reconciled it to thinking that it was from Harry’s perspective the entire time. I like to think that it was some darker part of Harry’s mind, a part that had separated itself from The Chosen One. I didn’t ask who it was because it didn’t really bother me until later on that day when I had confused details left as to what actually happened.

I would like some clarity as to who the speaker was. I’ve also never really been a fan of such short one-shots. I would like to see that story expanded following the same darker line of thinking. Order of the Phoenix is really a turning point in the series with darkness in plot as well as in characters themselves. I would definitely read that story if he or anyone else wrote something along the same lines of Dumbledore’s Army being a secret fight club.

Sina’s Re-Mix

by hjh

I liked Sina Semsar’s take on the remix project and the fanfiction he created. I think I liked it because I appreciate the type of humor he had and the way he worked it into the fan fiction. It wasn’t the kind of thing that has you on the floor rolling but it was just there enough so it made you half laugh. I just appreciated the change of pace with the fan fic, a majority of them were very serious, dramatic, or sad, it was nice hearing something comical and mischievous. Sina’s presence and presentation of his work was fantastic. He seemed confident and he spoke clearly and audibly. All around it was one of the projects that stood out the most to me simply because of his creativity, content, and the way he presented his project.

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I am writing my review about Sina’s remix. I truly found it hilarious andentertaining. I always wondered what would have happened if Slughorn told Tom fake information about Horocruxes and what the outcome would be. Ithought his remix was thoroughly thought through and the storyline was there.I looked at it again on his blog and read it again. It was a fun read and therewas humor all through its a non-English major, I wish he would have added characters names to help a reader through and to keep the correct lines to each character. I kept forgetting which character was speaking at certain times. However, it was a fun read and had an interesting take on it. I do believe this can turn into a short story and SIna can go into more detail and a deeper plot line.

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While everyone has done a wonderful job presenting their projects, one that stood out to me was Sina’s. His project was so clever and funny that it made me want to hear more. He managed to tell a story in only a few pages. He covered so much ground in just those few pages that I can’t imagine what a few more pages would do.

He is always so quiet in class so I never really know who he is as a person. After listening to him read his project, I now know that he is hilarious. He mixed vampires and wizards, I think he referenced Twilight to Harry Potter. The way he did it was seamless too. He really touched on both plot lines and managed to have them flow together as if it was already an existing story.

His writing was very good and not only did it grab everyone’s attention, we all laughed too. Unlike others, he incorporated humor into his story and made it witty. It wasn’t just your average remix idea, he really took charge and created something great.

Advice from Krista Shellhammer, or, Dr. Powers is bad at technology

by hjh

Hi guys! When I made a new page for my reading journal, it showed up as a link above the house banner, but there isn’t an option to comment on pages. To fix this issue, and make all of the reading journals accessible, I’ve created a new category titled “Reading Journals” for us to post in, that way we have a section that specifically features our reading journals! All you have to do to post there is go to the top of the page like for a regular post, hover over “New” and click “Post.” Then, when you’re in the editing screen, scroll down to “Categories” on the right, and click the “Reading Journals” checkbox when you post your journal! A useful tool that you’ll also want to know about is the “Read More” button. It’s in the tool bar on the top of the text section – second one on the right. If you just post a summary of your journal, you can include the entirety of it under a read more link by using it, which makes it easier to follow through to comment on your journal. You can see an example of it on my reading journal post, which is up now!