April 18, 2010

Psych - Elements Of A Mystery


Fake Psychic.
Real Detectives.
Psych
~


Psych: The Pilot Episode

  • Crime: Fake kidnapping, murder
  • Victim(s): Kamden McCallum and Malcom Orso
  • Villian: Mr. McCallum
  • Detectives: Sean and Gus
  • Investigation: Police, Sean and Gus
  • Witness: Kamden's dog

  • Clues: Photographs in Katerina's bedroom, interviews, dog's bloody whisker
  • Evidence: Kamden's and Malcom's dead bodies, gun carefully placed in Malcom's hand, coffee mug floor, blood on the corner of the table, bag where ransom money was stored, dog bite medication, Mr. McCallum's "cut" wrist
  • Red Herring: bag with imprints from the ransom money, then it turned out that it was filled with Katerina's clothes for the thrift shop, gun in Malcom's hand
  • Danger, Suspense: Sean explaining what he "saw" to Mr. McCallum in his study (you could see the guilt on Mr. McCallum's face), when the Chief asks to see Mr. McCallum's "severe injury" on the driveway
  • Suprise Ending: Mr. McCallum killed his own son, when Sean and Gus thought that it was Malcom


April 11, 2010

The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games
Suzanne Collins
*****
Panem, is a city that rose out of the ashes of North America, is divided into 12 districts, each with its own special job to serve the Capitol. The Capitol picks 2 children, 1 boy and 1 girl,from each district to compete in the annual Hunger Games, a televised "sport" of 24 children fighting each other to the death, ending up with 1 victor. The victors district gets all of the good food and provisions for 1 year, while the other districts starve. 

Katniss Everdeen, is an independent hunter who goes out daily into the woods with her good friend Gale, also from her district. Nothing overly romantic has gone on between them, but still have strong feelings for each other. But when Prim, Katniss's younger sister,  has  her name chosen to be in the Hunger Games, Katniss takes her place. Joining up with Peeta Mellark, a 17-year-old friend of hers, they journey together to the Capitol. Remembering not to become to attached to Peeta (for she has to kill him), they train together. But during the interviews, Peeta drops the bomb. He announces to the crowd that he is and has been IN LOVE with Katniss. Now Katniss and Peeta can no longer avoid each other, for they have to act as star-crossed lovers for the viewers. They journey through the Hunger Games in "love" (includes lots of kissing and stuff) and both win. But the capitol is furious with Katniss because she used something illegal. Will she stay alive long enough to celebrate? And what will she tell Gale?

My favorite part of this book is when Peeta and Katniss are bunking in a cave in the ongoing downpour. Peeta has been injured by one of the other tributes poisonous knives, and is wounded terribly. Katniss's mother is the districts healer, but that doesn't mean Katniss is. She is so terribly scared when she pushes the EpiPen into Peeta's shoulder that she passes out. Katniss wakes up to find Peeta (and the wound) better and herself in love (not for show). This book is really fantastic. I'm so glad that Mr. Hughes suggested we took it home. I am currently reading the 2nd book and am almost finished! I just CAN'T WAIT for the 3rd!!!

~

(Just in case any of you guys wanted this, here are the links to Rue's Lullaby. Both versions are by the same person. The lyrics are in the info of the autotuned one. I will make a lyric video of this song soon.):

6 Elements Of A Mystery

Villain
The villain is the person in the mystery or WhoDunIt who commits the crime. They usually wear disguises when in public.
Crime
A crime is something that is in every mystery story (if it weren't, it would be pretty pathetic). The crime is usually murder.
Victim
The person who the crime affects. The victim usually gets injured (could be mentally, physically, or socially) because of the crime.
Detective
The detective, inspector, sleuth, ect. is the person who figures out the crime. They are usually appointed by the government, but can sometimes be hired.

Evidence
Evidence is a bit like clues, but are real, where as clues are more like ideas. Evidence is usually found at the crime scene.
Witness
A witness is a person who has seen the crime happen. The usually go into questioning by the police or judge for information about the crime.

Monk - The Voodoo Curse


What are the odds of dying from being hit by a baseball if you've survived cancer twice? Dying from a lightning strike while playing golf? Dying of a heart attack while taking a medicine PREVENTING a heart attack? Not very likely. Until now.


Voodoo Doll
Natalie and Mr. Monk are on the case. Left randomly in the homes of the recently dead, are small boxes with no return address. Placed inside, are carefully customized voodoo dolls with the victims name printed on a banner. The dolls all have a hint of what's going to happen to the reciever such as:

- a lightning bolt through the head
- a baseball attached to the head
- a heart that's ripped

The strange thing is the boxes have all been delievered to the victims a week before their prescribed death.

Natalie strongly believes in voodoo and tries to prevent Mr. Monk from working on the case, out of fear that some thing bad is going to happen. Mr. Monk visits the only exsisting voodoo seller in the city, Reverend Jorgenson, but he explains that he was in his shop at each of the victims deaths, so he couldn't be the villian.


Mr. Monk and Reverend Jorgenson
The last victim is a rich man who died of a heart attack in his home. His niece, Angeline, said that he was a very superstitious person, which explained why there were a lot of good luck charms strategically placed around his house. But Mr. Monk notices the horseshoe above the door is upside down, bringing, supposedly, bad luck. Angeline claims to be a paramedic, who Mr. Monk recalls was at all of the death scenes. Natalie quickly returns home and sees a small box on the table.

Mr. Monk arrives at Natalie's house to check on her and sees Natalie crying on the staircase. Mr. Monk goes on about how he can't work when she's in this condition, when Natalie shakily points at the box on the table. Mr. Monk walks over and opens the box. Inside he finds a personalized voodoo doll with Natalie's name enscribed on it. He looks it over to see if there is anything suspicious about it, but when he turns it over, the head falls off.
Natalie Being "Un-Cursed" By
 Reverend Jorgenson
Natalie is thouroughly scared and does all things humanly possible to ensure that she won't be maimed in any way, from sleeping in the bathroom to throwing away all her knives and hedge clippers. Mr. Monk calls Reverend Jorgenson, the owner of a local voodoo shop, to come and "un-curse" Natalie. He prepares a special potion for Natalie to rub onto her neck, but in haste, Natalie drinks it on accident and get sent into an ambulence with Angeline. When Mr. Monk asks if he can accompany Natalie inside, Angeline says nervously that there's no room, so Mr. Monk rides behind the ambulence in Reverend Jorgenson's van.

On the way to the hospital, Mr. Monk and Reverend Jorgenson start to talk about the case. Reverend Jorgenson says that Angeline is a frequent customer and has bought about 6 or 7 voodoo dolls. Mr. Monk puts the pieces together and realizes that Angeline is the criminal. The rescue Natalie from the ambulence before Angeline gets a chance to harm her.

If you are superstitious, beware...