Outside Reading for 7/1

Today in class we watched the movie Star Wars, Episode 4. I have never seen any star wars at all so I didn't really know what to expect. It wasn't a bad movie at all. I find things like this hard to follow because I'm not interested in space movies or battle movies...picky I know. One of the themes I noticed was when they were trying to rescue Princess Leia. The theme means the central idea or ideas that a play discusses. This is the main one in Star Wars when they are trying to save her from being killed. It was the whole reason Luke went looking for Ben Kanobi and they were battling all the droids. An incidental symbol is a thing or action that ordinarily would not have a deep meaning but acquires one in a particular story. I recognized this when Ben Kanobi told Darth Vader that if he did kill him the force would be stronger within him. I didn't understand it until they went to get on the ship and Luke saw Ben and Darth Vader fighting and Ben looked at Luke and let Darth Vader kill him. After that you could here Ben's voice inside Luke's mind helping him along the way. This is where the part comes in when Ben said the force would be stronger within him. Princess Leia's significance throughout the film is the fact that she knows what the bad guys want but she won't tell them. She plays an important part because she has valuable information Darth Vader wants. Princess Leia would be a protagonist because she is trying to protect her people. Her motivation could possibly have been a soliloquy when she was talking into R2D2 asking for Ben's help explaining what had happened on the ship. She was the only one talking and she was alone. I think this film reached its popularity because when it was first made it was something original and nobody had ever seen it before. The movie blended in so well with the culture. I liked the fact that they were on one planet and then followed R2D2 to another planet and it was kind of back and forth until they went to rescue the princess. The similarity between a shoot-'em-up adventure and an epic tale set in grand landscape is that there was always shooting. They all had "lightsabers" and used them in both settings. When they were at the bar and Luke told the droid to leave because his kind wasn't allowed they started shooting each other because they didn't like Luke. They sensed he was up to no good. On the ship when they were trying to avoid the bad guys, if they were caught they were shot at because they were trying to rescue the princess and to them it was bad and they were considered up to no good.

Inside Reading for 7/1

As an assignment we were supposed to read "Introduction to Drama" pages 779-801. I took Drama for a year in high school as a freshman. I loved it! My favorite was the Improv unit. This unit was when you had to get up in front of the class and the teacher assigned a setting and you had to make up a skit to that setting. You had no previous practice or script...that's what made it fun. A setting is where the story takes place. So for instance in the book I'm reading, Twilight, the setting takes place in Forks, Washington. I also read through the reading and it talked about characters. So for Twilight the main character is Bella because she is the one telling the story and it follows her story pretty much. Another character is Edward. He is also a main character, but in the beginning he is very mysterious. The reading also talked about the protagonist and the antagonist. You could consider Edward the antagonist right now because he knows that he wants to "get" Bella and he wants more than her blood so he warns her to stay away, but then continuously talks to her and tells her he can't stay away from her. Bella would be the protagonist because she doesn't know that Edward is a vampire. She is just a normal girl attending school like she is supposed to and staying out of trouble...for now. Another part the reading talked about was the rising action. The rising action could be when Bella finds out that Edward is a vampire...only I haven't gotten that far so if you have read the book don't spill! ;) I hope the end is an open denouement because I want to have unanswered questions so that the next book answers them. Normally I would want a closed because I have to know what goes on but in this case it would be ok for and open. Overall I liked this reading because I think it's something that I'm interested in. It had things I was familiar with and that I have used outside of class. I hope all of the rest of our readings are as easy as this one was.

Outside reading for 6/25

Last night I went to see the Wedding Singer at Eastlight Theater. I have never really seen the movie, just bits and pieces. The musical seemed more interesting than the movie. I enjoyed it. They took us back to 1985 and the music was hilarious and very good. Jarod Hazzard played Robbie Hart. He was amazing. He has only been doing musicals since last fall, but there was no way of even knowing that. He had an amazing voice. I think he fit his character well. He was entertaining to watch and never once did I feel he was boring. Rachael Waldon played Julia Sullivan. She also has an amazing voice. She has a degree in performing. During the play she realizes how stupid her name sounds if she married Glen. Her name would have been Julia Gulia. That made me laugh. Kelsey Burd played Holly. Holly was a very slutty character. Kelsey did an awesome job. She has been singing and dancing in plays for over ten years now. It showed because she was amazing with the character. Drew Overcash played George. He was probably the most amusing character out of the entire play. George is gay and he wore high heels the entire time he did the show, which lasted about two and a half hours. I would really recommend seeing this. Yes, it is a musical so it's constant singing, but it was very enjoyable. They also interacted with the audience by coming down into the aisles and dancing. They worked very hard and it payed off. My money definitely was not wasted and I would most definitely see it again. I encourage you to see it yourself. You will not be disappointed.

Outside Reading for 6/18

So I have been watching this show called "Charm School." It airs on VH1 on Monday nights. It's about these girls who were on previous "love" shows and a certain celebrity tries to break them of their old habits and teach them to be ladies instead of alcoholic whores basically. Whoever makes it through every elimination round and proves they were there for change and did change wins 50,000 dollars. I'm really into these "dumb" shows for some reason. I'm possibly one of the reasons why they keep making new ones =] One of the episodes I just recently watched was about the remaining ladies having to get into teams and build this group of children a swing set. Some of the girls didn't like their teammates but they had to put it aside to build this for the children. I think that it shows how they are willing to work with others even though being on previous shows and hating each other. I think it kind of shows you in a way that these people may do things that you don't like early in your life but later on your eventually going to run into them and you can't hold that grudge forever. Eventually you may end up having to be a team with that person or work together, or that person could become your boss. That's why I take the saying "Keep your friends close but your frenemies closer" so seriously.

Reading for 6/18

The short story that I had to read for my book club was called "Nipple Jesus." I thought that it was weird, but interesting in a way. I finally understood the point of the story when he was explaining when you look at the picture far away it's beautiful and when you get up close it's ugly. He described his wife in this way. If they are going out she will get all dressed up and put makeup on and look like she could be a model and then in the middle of the night if he happens to roll over he sees her with her hair all messy and bad breath and you would think they wouldn't want that as a model. I really liked the part when they were talking about the reporters wanting to arrest Martha and Dave was wanting to be interviewed because there was a sign right outside the room that said "WARNING! This room contains an exhibit of a controversial nature. Please do not enter if you feel you might be offended." So when people were going in the room they knew that they could possibly be offended by the painting but they went in anyway. I think the reason why most people were offended and made such a big deal is because it was a picture of Jesus made out of breasts. That is someone religious people look up to and it is kind of demeaning. I look up to my mom and that is like someone giving me a painting of a bunch of obscene things making it look like my mom. I would kind of be upset as to why they portray her that way. I think the text was very easy to read because it's kind of an everyday language. On the other hand it was very back and forth instead of a chronological sequence.

Outside Reading for 6/11

So I was sitting trying to figure out what I was going to do my outside reading on. I remembered a song that really got my attention. It's called "Already Gone" by Crossfade. You know when you get that tingly feeling when you really like something? I got that feeling with this song. I believe it portrays how so many people leave things behind. Whether it be a friend, family, loved one, or their own souls. It's a sad song but it brings forth all there is to know about how many people deal with losses and grief and how anger can overwhelm ones feelings and make them close off the world around them. In the lyrics Crossfade makes the point: "What could you possibly want from me Can't you see I'm already gone Everything we thought we'd be I still don't feel sorry for this loss" meaning that because someone left something/someone, they cannot understand why they are wanted back after being rejected before. Basically just trying to say it's not your fault that they left you and you can't blame yourself for it. He also kind of makes a sarcastic point as in he will be better off without her, he is going to show her he can make it without her, but deep down he still needs/wants to be with her. It's almost like the perfect song for a really hard break up. I would have loved to hear this song in high school when it seems like this is where you go through most of your heartbreaks.

Reading for 6/11

I really couldn't stand reading the Introduction to Fiction. It was so boring. All the information was going in one ear and out the other. There were a couple good parts that got me interested. One part was right at the beginning called The Telling of the Tale. I like the way Gwynn starts it off about a counselor who is telling a tale. It seems like something is going to happen the further you read on. I defenitely liked the plot part because the passage for "Reunion" really got my attention. It kind of leaves an open denouement because we don't know why Charlie never sees his father again, or if it was his own choice. I like open denouements because it leaves a little bit of mystery, so you kind of have to think and contemplate what is going to happen. Books that have open denouements are good for discussions. Descriptions of character are important because you kind of get an image in your head of what that person looks like so you get a better understanding of the story or that characters point of view. The setting can also be important because if you don't know where the story takes place it can confuse you or make it harder to understand why it's written the way it is. Its important to pay attention to theme because anybody can interpret different themes to the same story. Like with "Reunion" it could be a psychological confession for Cheever. I got the idea that he left Charlie for alcohol and Charlie doesn't think he deserves a second chance because he will never stop.