Seventeen Magazine Post

I was reading a post on " Are you happy with your jean size" and was appalled when size 9 girls said were dissatisfied with their bodies. It seemed only the girls with size 1 or 00 figures were happy. Im proud to say i am a size 10 and find nothing wrong with it. Im the perfect weight. I like to be active and i think having a little extra weight helps me build muscle and keeps my performance up because i have the extra energy supply. Thats why i think im good at swimming. Yea sure i have curves but shouldn't every woman!

Frankenstein Letters and Chap 1

I firmly believe that Shelley uses Walton as a lead in because the end of the story is going to be Dr. Frankenstein dog sledding in the Artic, being saved by a ship. This is a forshadowing of what is going to happen. From this beginning, I got the impression that the book was going to be hard and boring to read, but the further you get into the story, the more intense and exciting it gets. Even though the language is a little old school, I can make out what Mary Shelley is saying because of the way she uses it in a sentence. For example, countenance is used alot and it means facial expression. What gave it away was "his countenance was of grief". I have read ahead and it makes you question the making of the monster. As you read, the story answers why Victor wants to kill the monster. I find grieving, and sadness is a huge plot of the story. Not much happiness is portrayed so far. I really enjoy the figurative language used in this book because it paints an image in my mind. I can't wait to read the rest! Not even joking.

Frankenstein

I have started to read the book, Frankenstein, and have succedded to reach half way through chapter 2. So far all I know is how Victor's parents met and a bit of their lives. This is when Victor, the main character, introduces himself and tells how he came upon his step sister, whom be loves and wants to protect. Now knowing a bit about the family, I am yearning to learn about how Victor and his family have anything to do with Frankenstein. My possible ideas are Frankenstein falls in love with Victor's stepsister and he wants to protect her from him because he is a "monster". Or Victor is the creator of Frankenstein because Victor always says how he divines over how things work. Both ideas could be possible for this book but I guess I will have to wait and read the book to see if my hypothesis is correct.

Spellbound

Out of both documentaries, I liked this one the best even though it dragged on and got a little boring. Spellbound didn't narrarate the subject like Roger and Me, which I really liked. He also showed the views of the contestants and contestant's parents before and after they had won or lost at the National Spelling Bee. I liked this because you saw the truth of what was behind the work of a spelling bee. This let me take in what I was being shown so that I could decide my opinion on the thesis Blitz was trying to state. Spellbound also left me at a cliffhanger because he gave me different perspectives to think about. Are spelling bees a form of child abuse, a way to a better education or a hard way to learn the truth of hard work? But the one major question I want to know is...how did Blitz know which contestants to pick, especially because he chose a student who won? Out of 250 kids all over the US, there is a pretty low chance of picking a winner.

Documentaries

After our disscussion, I am second guessing the truth in documentaries. Some relevant points were cut out. I feel this is unfair to the audience because they only see one side of the objective and not the other. I think documentaries would be more liked if both sides of the situation were told, this way the viewer could decide for themselves what they believe. This also leads to my distrust in other media forms because in order for the producer to keep the audiences attention, they lie and can be biased. Now I feel I can't trust everything I see without first hand proof to back up the statement. I don't want to feel so negative about documentaries because I like to watch them and find out facts but if I know they leave out important info, that could swing the opinion another way, then I would rather do my own research. Documentaries are supposed to document the truth about major events, but if they leave out info that happened during the event, I don't consider it a documentary anymore. I see documentaries as a way to learn about the past, not a way to create a bias.

Informal Essay

I found the informal essay to be a whole lot easier then the formal essay. You can state your opinion, not have to worry about using personal pronouns or following a strict format. The one problem I did have was figuring out what to talk about. Once I had my topic choosen, I needed to find several relevant subtopics and summarize the main importance of each one. This was hard for me because I chose to do my essay on " Is our generation environmentally friendly?" You may think I am crazy finding this topic hard to talk about but that is not it at all. It is finding information that will portray each topic precisely and be kept short in 2 pages, double spaced. There was so much information on what our world is doing now to be environmentally friendly and how our world is researching and experimenting to become even more earth savy. I know that everyone knows alot about this topic because we are in this generation, so I decided to get the most interesting ways our world is discovering new technology. I was amazed at what I found. Scientists are genetically altering trees enzymes to soak up toxic waste in the ground! I never even knew trees had that power in the first place. I suggest, even if you are not doing your essay on being environmentally friendly, that you should look up some of the cool ways our world is changing day by day. I am still shocked to learn that even the unquestionable resources can benefit our world in some way.

Book Talks

I think the class did an excellent job on the book talks. I loved the presentions with movie clips, game shows and enthusiastic attitudes. The choice of books was great because you had different genres and stories to choose from so the book talks never became boring.
In my opinion, too many people used their author posters for props. I think they should have used props related to the plot of their books. Overall, I think some people could have summed up the author description more because I think the class is more interested in the book, not author.
For my seminar, I am going to add more fun activities to my presentation to get the class involved and get to learn my subject better. I also plan to do a slide show on my topic so that I can included info and pictures all in one.

Beginning to watch Marley and Me

Over the weekend, I rented the movie "Marley and Me". Sadly, I only got to see half of the movie. But I also started reading the book but also never got very far because it didn't catch my attention. To compare what I read from the book and saw in the movie, I like the book alot better. Not only does the plot start better but it gives alot more detail about Marley and John Grogan's life. The movie is very cute though. I LOVE THE PUPPY!!!! HE IS SO ADORABLE!!!! I can relate to this movie a bit because I had a dog for 13 years of my life and a new one now. I love my dog Tucker. I consider him my best friend because he is always up for a walk with me and he is excellent company. I think its funny how horrible Marley can be because Benny, my old dog, was just as bad. Even though puppies can be quite the hassle when they are little, their affection is ten times more rewarding when they get older. I also enjoy how realistic and truthful this story is about having a dog. You don't even need to read the whole book or watch the movie to get a sense of how much a dog in your life can mean to you.

Issue Problems on my ISU

The problem with my ISU is I need to change the topic of my essay. Instead I have decided to tell what the book says about love in relationships. As I am on my second reading of the book, I see more details about the story, that I missed earlier. Charlie says he doesn't love his brother or father and isn't sure he loves Rosie anymore after she sleeps with Spider. Relationships are a huge part of the story because even Anansi's stories tell about his bad relationships with others. The relationship topic even comes into play with Rosie, who isn't the main character. When Daisy kissed Charlie, I knew their relationship would snowball because Charlie said her kiss was passionate and it meant something. From this you know the author has to keep her in the plot because Charlie has feelings for her and the reader is interested to see where it will go next. This little affair helps you keep your attention on the book. It gets even better when she is the dectective and he is the suspect. I think the story says love is hard to find and can take a long time to realize but overall, there is always someone who loves you, you just need to be patient.

The Theme of Anansi Boys

I came up with a few theme options for my book which were love, family relationships and relationships with gods. Out of all these choices, the most relevant theme was family relationships. The book strongly emphasized Charlie's bad relationship with his brother and father. Charlie held a grudge against them for past and present events that occured. Once they were both gone from his life, he started to realize the importance they had. For example, after Charlie's dad died, Charlie came to say he loved his dad. This is totally opposite of what Charlie thought in the beginning of his father. He thought his dad was embarrassing and hateful towards Charlie. Later when his brother came into his life, Spider started to ruin his life by stealing his girlfriend, moving into his house and annoying him with his presence. Eager to get Spider away, Charlie went to the lengths of going to the land of Gods to find the "Bird Women", who made a deal with Charlie to get rid of Spider if she could have Anansi's blood line. After the deal was done but before Spider died, Charlie came to his senses and figured out he needed his brother even if he was a pain in the neck. This theme shows that we take family for granted and don't understand how much they mean to us until they are gone.

If you don't pay attention to someone, it might mean you don't care about them. If you go through alot for them, even if it means to get rid of them, they must mean something to you if your willing to spend your time on them.

The Lottery Ticket

I found the story plot to be original and truthful. Its not my most favorite short story that I have ever read but its not the worst. I like how in depth Ivan gets into his dreams of winning the lottery. It almost seems he has been planning it for awhile. What I dislike about him is he only thinks about himself in his day dreams. His wife, who would receive the money, because she has the ticket, isn't included. I think this is truely rude and ignornant because if he married her, he should love and care for her, not disrespect and try to get away from her.

At the beginning, I feel Ivan is a good man who takes care of his family but at the thought of being rich, he slowly turns into an evil, selfish man. I can't say his wife is any different though. I was shocked at the end when both the man and wife turn against each other over something they don't have. It is a completely different perspective of how a family is supposed to act in society. Families should stick together through good and bad.

My favorite part is when the truth is strongly shown as reality hits their thoughts and they are back to their old lives. The story also tells the truth of how your dreams can be crushed so easily, even by a simple number. I found what helped me keep my attention is the quick paced, second guessing conversation and thought in this story. Every time an idea is stated, there are always second opinions about it like the consquences of that action or what the wife thinks of it.

Overall, I think this story is good for everyone because it shows the hard truth in people's lives and how quick a person's personality can change at the thought of being more powerful.

Chapter 9 to the end of the book...

Maeve Livingstone is one of Grahame Coats many respected clients. She has suspected that Grahame has been stealing from her over the years and goes to confront him. If I were Maeve, I would have demanded my money along time ago because there was millions in the account being wasted by Grahame for his house. While she is there, he bribes her with jewellery and other merchandise in order to pay back the money. As she is examining the merchandise, he comes up behind her and hits her over the head several times with a hammer until she falls to the ground unconscious. For a quick escape, he changes his bloody clothes and picks up his fake passport that he had made years before. His destination is Saint Andrews.

As all this is happening, Charlie and Spider are constantly attacked by birds until one day; Spider is engulfed by black birds and transported to another world where his hands and legs are chained to stakes in the ground. Charlie is left alone in the park after this incident wondering what to do next. Charlie regrets going to the Bird Woman, as would I, because he never expected that his brother's life would be put in danger. Later, he realizes that he must trade the feather; he was given by the Bird Woman, with her promise to save his brother. The only problem is that he lost the feather. On a quest, he flies across the ocean to Mrs. Dunwiddy’s house where he was exorcised. She explains to him that she doesn’t have it and the only other person that could have it was Mrs. Higgler, who coincidently is on vacation. Once again, he goes to the airport and gets on a plane to Saint Andrews, in the Caribbean. Charlie, in my opinion, has alot of courage to go to great lengths to get the feather back to save his brother. I think this act of love helps the brothers realize how much they are a part of each other later in the story.

In the land of Animal Gods, Spider was tortured. The Bird women slashed his face and body with her claws and to silence him, she tore out his tongue. To make matters worse, Tiger was creeping around ready to devour what was left of Spider. Tiger comes across to me as vicious, cowardly, and overconfident. With his powers and little strength, he was able to keep Tiger at bay until he could get loose. But his intelligence proved me wrong when he made a spider out of dirt and blood, so he could get help. When the spider returned, he brought an army of spiders of different varieties. I liked this part the best because when Tiger returns, the army uses its venom and teeth to injure him and leave Spider alone. The best motivator for me to read further though was Tiger told Spider he had Rosie, his lover.

Tiger is right. Rosie met Grahame in Saint Andrews while she was on a vacation cruise with her mother. They bumped into each other at a local restaurant in town and he invited them to his vacation house. At this part, I was yearning to tell Rosie not to go because I knew Grahame would try to pull his off another murder scheme but I couldn't. As we all know, Grahame has a psychopathic side to him which over powers his sane self and he locks both women in the meat locker where Tiger is lurching.

Now as you have probably noticed, everyone is in Saint Andrews, even Daisy who is following Grahame because of the crime he committed in England. The only reason Grahame knows Charlie is on the island is because Charlie stops at his house and wants to fill up his water while on a bike ride to find Mrs. Higgler. Grahame thinks Rosie and her mother are a decoy to trick him but really Charlie doesn’t even know Rosie is on the island. He tries to run Charlie off the road but failing to do that, he confronts Charlie and Daisy at dinner by holding a gun to Daisy stomach. As a distraction, Charlie sings on stage and proposes to Daisy. He uses this line to get away but I believe deep down, he meant it at that time. This event takes both of them away from Grahame so he can’t hurt them and then he disappears. Here, Charlie also finds Mrs. Higgler who gives him the feather.

Charlie has to go to the world of the Gods to give back the feather. On the way, he meets his father and he gives him a green fedora (a type of hat) to put the feather in. This hat was his father's favorite and it means alot to Charlie because it smells like his dad and reminds him of his childhood. He then moves on to find the Bird Women who exchanges promises and hands Charlie Spider’s tongue to give back to him. After awhile of wondering, Charlie comes across Spider who reattaches his tongue. On the way back to the real world, they converse about their childhood and how they are both part of each other and that their separation made them stronger. But while they are leaving, all the animal's eyes were watching them. To keep peace in the "land", Charlie sang his song, which was of his life, and the animals began to dance and forgive Spider and Charlie of their wrong.

Back to Rosie and her mother, who are in the meat locker and surrounded by Tiger. Grahame cannot let them go so he is prepared with machetes and other large knives. When he opens the door, Ms. Noah shakes her bare bottom which causes him to go into a short state of shock, while Rosie takes him down with a chain left in the room. One of the knives digs into his leg as he tumbles to the ground, unable to get up. As the ladies try to make their escape, Tiger comes to Grahame insisting that he will enter his body to kill the ladies; otherwise he will die of blood loss. Grahame agrees and becomes part animal because now he can get his revenge on them and Tiger also on Spider by killing Rosie. Grahame and Tiger are similiar in personality and have the same motives to kill. To save her daughter, Ms. Noah distracts Grahame/Tiger. She fails but to her rescue is Maeve who wants revenge on Grahame for her murder. Maeve cannot touch humans but because he is part god, she can. She kicks and punchs him until he retreats and she has her revenge. While this is going on, there is enough time for the Saint Andrews Police and Daisy to come to their aid.

At the hospital, Spider is waiting to see Rosie. News spreads that Grahame is dead and Ms. Noah is in terrible condition but is surviving. Rosie accepts Spider back and Charlie falls in love with Daisy. Charlie later properly proposes to Daisy and they have a child named Marcus. From when Charlie met Daisy and Rosie met Spider, I knew that both couples would end up together. Charlie realized that he loves to sing and that everyone has their own song to sing. He passes this knowledge to his son and they sing with the mermaids, Charlie's father used to say were in the ocean.

Anansi Boys- Chapter 7 to 8(*alot goes on*)

The plot is thickening! Mrs. Dunwiddy, Mrs. Higgler friend, knows exactly what to do about Charlie's problem. What I found creepy in the book is when Mrs. Dunwiddy said she was making turkey because Charlie was coming for supper the next day. The question running through my mind is Charlie is in England, how is he going to know to go to Florida for supper tomorrow. But when the story switchs back to Charlie, it seems like there is a psycic message sent to him and he ends up calling taxi and going to the airport, headed for Florida.

When he arrives, Mrs. Higgler is awaiting him. She takes him to Mrs. Dunwiddy where they stuff him full of food. At the end of the meal, they all gather around the table and pull out black candles, sherry(liquer), salt granules, herbs and soil. When all the props are in place, all the ladies start to chant and make low hums. To me this sounded like they were performing some type of exorcism which it turns out they were. As Charlie watchs, he is slowly overpowered by the noise and moves to a land of animals. But these animals aren't really animals they are partially humans and gods. I like how Neil Gaiman describes the animals in such a way that you can imagine how realistic they are with human faces naturally blended in to an animal's face. Charlie was sent here to find someone to help him get rid of spider but the only animal that will is Bird, who still hates Anansi for killing a bird before. Charlie trades promises with Bird and is awkwardly awakened by water being poured on him. Later on, another disturbing incident happens. Charlie seems to attract birds now. I didn't think this could be true but now I do beleive that he did go to the land of Gods.

The Cask of Amontillado By Edgar Allan Poe

In the Cask of Amontillado, I enjoyed Edgar's writing style of irony, foreshadowing and black comedy. I think it enlightens the grim topic of death. Montresor is quite observant of his enemy, learning all his weaknesses, which is wine. I noticed he caught Fortunato at the right time when he was drunk, therefore making him more vulnerable and less able to think. It didn't take alot of effort to persuade Fortunato to come. This is why I believe he is a fool. But it is also cowardly on Montresor's part that he needs Fortunato to be vulnerable to kill him.

The death plot of Fortunato is a creul and disturbing one. It makes me feel sick inside knowing he was buried alive. I think I feel this way because I fear death and I have a fear of being trapped in small spaces from which I can't get out of. I don't know how someone could murder a person this way and not have any morals while doing it. For Fortunato, I think it would be a terrifing and painful death. If his cough doesn't kill him, the dampness, dehydration or starvation will.

I have concluded that I dislike Montresor because I think he took his revenge too far. There are other ways of coping with anger instead of death. Examples could be just ignore and stay away from Fortunato, or even just go to someone else with matters on wine. Montresor is just as bad as Fortunato in his revenge because he sunk down to Fortunato's level. If Montresor was the better man, Fortunato would still be alive. I think at the end, Montresor starts to come to his senses of the wrong he is doing but decides to kill Fortunato anyway. Evil still prevails good.

ISU: Anansi boys Continued (Chapter 5 to 7)

Recap from my last blog: Charlie finds out he has a brother, who is an Anansi God like his father. He tells a spider he needs his brother and Spider, the name of his brother, comes to Charlie. They drink and have a wonderful time. Charlie wakes up next to Daisy, a girl he met the night before, and is confronted by his future mother-in-law. When he is asked about Daisy, he lies that she is his cousin.

My thoughts so far: Before Daisy leaves Charlie's house, she kisses him on the lips. Charlie feels it was passionate and meaningful. He has never experienced that feeling before even with Rosie. So now I am thinking, if Rosie is distracted with Spider...maybe Charlie will fall in love with Daisy.

Because Charlie had a dreadful hangover from the night before, Spider took his place at work. One positive Spider does is earn Charlie a two thousand check and 2 weeks off of work with pay. They don't look alike at all, but because Spider is a God, he can make any human believe he is someone else. This leads to Rosie, Charlies fiancee, believing that Spider is Charlie. She describes how she falls in love with him all over again. She never noticed how beautiful his smile was and how good she felt around Charlie when in reality, its not Charlie. I founds this to be the humourous part of the story. Spider shows Rosie a wonderful time and asks her out again. When I first read this, I thought "How could Spider do such a thing to Charlie!!!! He is making Rosie cheat on Charlie. What an awful brother Charlie has. Spider has no sense of self or respect in my opinion".

To make the situation even worse, Spider won't leave! Instead he makes a room for himself with a waterfall outside his window and a hot tub built in. I have added ignorant to Spider's list of personal traits. The worst thing Spider does is he takes Rosie home and has sexual encounters with her. Charlie unforuntatly sees this act and goes hysteric. All he can think to do is walk off his anger and confusion. Meanwhile, Grahame Coats, Charlie's boss, is planning on hiring a dectective to find out if Charlie has been stealing money from the company. It is a coincidence that the detective is Daisy. Dum dum dum.

A mystery is starting to show who everyone really is and what their role is in the story. I am at a cliff-hanger right now in the story and am excited to see how this story unfolds.

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

Fat Charlie was a lonely child who's mother, left at a young age and was mentally abused by his father. For instance, his father told him that there was a law stating on "Presidents' Day", you dressed up as your favorite president. As gullable as Charlie was, he went to school dressed as a president and was bullied by the other kids. Of course when he got home, his father laughed because there was no such thing as "Presidents' Day". I thought this to be a very cruel trick and created a living hell for Charlie in his childhood. Charlie resented his father for all his mean tricks and grew away from him. Only did Fat Charlie have to see his father again when his fiancee, Rosie, makes Charlie invite his dad to the wedding. When he phoned up an old neighbor, Mrs. Higgler to invite her and get his dads number, he discovered his father has just passed.

Charlie flew to Florida and attended his funeral, meaning burying his dad, literaly. Mrs. Higgler met Charlie at the funeral and later announced Charlie's father was an Anansi God and the brother he never knew about. "Anansi was said to be a spider. He used to get himself into trouble and he used to get himself out of trouble."(Gaiman, Neil,pg 42). She said that if Charlie ever needed his brother, all he had to do was tell a spider. I thought it sounded like a crazy idea, talking to a spider to send a message, but sure enough, Spider, his brother, shows up on his door step. The day after they met, Spider took Charlie out drinking and singing in memory of their father. The next morning, Charlie woke up to another girl, Daisy, and had a painful hangover. Lucky for Charlie, they never slept together. But Rosies mother came later, when Daisy was still there, to talk to Charlie about wedding invitations. Charlie lied that Daisy was his cousin and would be invited to the wedding. What a close call!

So far the book has caught my attention and is keeping it well. There are alot of different scenes of Charlie's life in this book, and plenty of details to remember. It is a little confusing to remember everything that has happened so far and to piece it together but I tried to keep it short and simple.

The Blue Helmet

Over the last week, I completed reading "The Blue Helmet". The author,William Bell, lives in Orillia, Ontario and has received several awards for the books he has written over the years. I really enjoyed this book because you can see the changes in Lee when he meets new people and how it makes him a better person. I found the stories from the journal give you a clear image of the disgusting and appalling places he saw, with burned houses and people. The character of Cutter is my favorite because even though he has unusual theories and thoughts about people and life, he is always right. Lee realizes from Cutter that no one is really normal. This realization could be a factor of Lee's acceptance of himself. I think alot of people could relate themselves to this book. But my absolute favorite part of this book is the last sentence when the theme is explained.

The main character, Lee, is a troubled kid who loses his mother at a young age and his father works two jobs to pay the bills. He gets caught trying to break and enter into an auto shop while doing initiation for the Tarantulas, a local gang in Hamilton, Ontario. The Tarantulas set him up and now he is under arrest. He is sent to live and work in his Aunt Reena's cafe in Toronto. There, he sets up a currier business and meets a strange but intelligent man named Bruce Cutter. Weeks after meeting each other, and becoming close friends, Cutter commits suicide. Lee is devastated and shocked when he finds out Cutter has left his whole estate to him. Lee knows there is a reason Cutter left everything to him and he is determined to find out. After hours of searching, he finds a journal, a blue helmet and bloody child's shoe. The journal contains stories of Cutter's war adventures as a peacekeeper between Serbians and Croatians. All the death and horrific sites sent Cutter into a state of anxiety which he could never recover from. Finally, Lee realizes the message Cutter was trying to tell him, you have to face the war inside yourself before you can find peace.