Reading Log

Pages read this week: 130
Pages read total: 2984

The day has finally come. This is it. After this reading log, I, along with my fellow classmates, will be done with keeping anyone who reads this up to date on what I'm currently writing. Pretty crazy how just some odd weeks ago, the syllabus was just being given to us. I decided to pick up the book Steve Jobs which was written just shortly before Jobs' death. It is interesting to see who Jobs was as a person other than the Apple genius that he obviously was. The book explores his life to solely give the purpose of his kids knowing who he was since they're too young to probably remember him when they grow up. This book was boring at parts but a funny story would be told and I would be re-motivated to continue reading it. The cover really struck me as interesting with the white background and the gray scale Jobs. As a whole over this semester of reading, my goals were very hard to reach and I hardly was able to accomplish them. Reading 20 minutes a day was one of the harder goals as I am busy with piles of homework a night and working part-time at a local frozen yogurt shop. Better luck next time?

Reading Log

Pages read this week: 240
Pages read total: 2854

I decided to take a quick little break from Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins as I was getting slightly tired of reading about the same characters that I had been reading about for quite some time. I picked up the book Here's the Deal: Don't Touch Me by Howie Mandel. It's an autobiography that describes Howie's up and rising come to fame. I enjoyed this particular part of the story because it I was fascinated about reading road Howie had to take to become so famous and how he met his wife. However, even today, the most interesting part I found of the story was his germaphobia. He explains that he shaved off all of his hair because of his fear of germs. He then goes into a comical story about how his daughter had to go to the bathroom while they were driving on a high way. He then pulled over to the side of the road and carried her into the woods. He decided to hold her up high while she urinated forgetting that she couldn't "aim" resulting in him being covered in urine on his face. Talk about a germaphobe's worst nightmare..

Good times in Etymology...

Spartan Reader: Tengo Hambre

Unless you are fluent in Spanish, you're probably wondering what the title "tengo hambre" means. The literal translation is "pin this," and that is exactly what people are doing on the fast-growing website, Pinterest.

Myself and my commrade were able to accomplish a fantastic joke on one of our fellow classmates. We'll call this fellow classmate "Raelynn." She wanted to write a blog about Pinterest so I suggested she name her blog title with "Tengo Hambre" and I told her it meant, "pin this." In reality, it means "to have hunger" so already this is an awkward situation because she is believing everything I'm saying. Once she finally buys into this scheme and names her blog, she then proceeds to describe the phrase as if she actually knows what's shes talking about but really, just looks, well, stupid to an actual fluent Spanish speaker.

:) April fools.

Reading Log

Pages read this week: 127

Pages read total: 2614

This week, I read a total of 127 pages of  Divergent. This particular book was recommended to me by a friend who really enjoyed it and said I would love it just as much. She said it was similar to the Hunger Games, in which case, I fell in love with that book so why shouldn't I with this one? Although it may be somewhat similar to Suzanne Collins' book, it has its major differences as well. For example, once you reach a certain age in your teens in which you must decide what faction you will belong in for the rest of your life. Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent) are the 5 factions you can choose from. Be aware. Choose wisely.

Notes 4, 5, & 6

Note 4

"War is Kind"

by Stephen Crane

Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind,
Because your lover threw wild hands toward the sky
And the affrighted steed ran on alone,
Do not weep.
War is kind.

Hoarse, booming drums of the regiment,
Little souls who thirst for fight,
These men were born to drill and die.
The unexplained glory flies above them.
Great is the battle-god, great, and his kingdom--
A field where a thousand corpses lie.

Do not weep, babe, for war is kind.
Because your father tumbles in the yellow trenches,
Raged at his breast, gulped and died,
Do not weep.
War is kind.

Swift blazing flag of the regiment,
Eagle with crest of red and gold,
These men were born to drill and die.
Point for them the virtue of slaughter,
Make plain to them the excellence of killing
And a field where a thousand corpses lie.

Mother whose heart hung humble as a button
On the bright splendid shroud of your son,
Do not weep.
War is kind!

Within the context of Stephen Crane's poem "War is Kind," the speaker creates a vividly morose tone. The phrase "war is kind" is being repeated at the end of each stanza resulting in an emphasis on the expression. However, the war-infused imagery does not support its claim. The comfort given "born to drill and die" is not consoling but in reality, it dehumanizes the soldier. "Virtue of slaughter" is one of the most graphic parts of the piece that creates  a contradictory tone of churning sorrow while being held under a supposedly lightly casual "war is kind" thumb. As the poem continues to seemingly try and comfort a woman who is dealing with the mourning of a soldier that was tragically killed in a war, it becomes evident that the more the speak discusses the matter, the more he's not helping at all but rather making the situation worse. Near the end Crane begins to incorporate a patriotic tone with the description of the eagle and flag giving the readers the assumption that he has been describing an American soldier the entire time. Crane also manages to intertwine a romantic quality to the piece of literature as it describes the soldier as being her lover. 

Note 5

"The Soldier"

by Rupert Brooke

If I should die, think only this of me:
That there’s some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England’s, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.

And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

Rupert Brooke provides an interesting take on the narrator of his poem, "The Soldier." He's the narrator. The setting that is easily identifiable is England as he constantly refers to it and is describing the rivers and air all being an "English heaven." As the reader continues to grasp the character Brooke is trying to portray, it comes across as if he is completely in love with a girl and wants nothing but the absolute best for her. Not only is he addressing this mysterious woman, but it also screams that he has accepted death and these are his final words as he expresses in the first line saying "If I should die." Brooke wants readers to understand how nice the woman's life will be with him describing things in thick detail. Aside from the first line briefly touching the death tone, it is a rather joyous tone for the duration of the rest of the poem giving the reader relief from the typical war poem discussing nothing but blood and gore. Brooke manages to give readers a fresh breath of air.

Note 6

"In Flanders Fields"

by John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

"In Flanders Fields" is a peculiar piece for literature as the narrator is dead and is speaking from beneath the grave. The deceased narrator illustrates their burial site with the poppies and fields. A present day historical connection that can be made to the graveyard is Arlington Cemetery as it is described as there are crosses row after row. The narrator is not bitter about their untimely death but is actually just the opposite in saying "we lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow/Loved and were loved, and now we lie/In Flanders fields." This particular line demonstrates how life was lived to the fullest and now are at peace in Flanders fields. It is perceived as if the deceased want the living to live for them and not to let them down as they pass down metaphorically a torch of their lives. It is then explained that if the living fail to "break faith with us who die," they will not be at peace but in distress as they "shall not sleep." A reference to an after life is also alive within the context as the poppies grow, so do the deceased. 

Reading Log

Pages read this week: 226
Pages read total: 2487

Watch the Hunger Games trailer here!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNxb28j5C1w

I finished the Hunger Games and boy, was it quite the adventure and nail bitter. So many twists and turns existed page after page which made me wanting more and more. When I first started reading it, I told myself that I had to read at least the first 100 pages and if I enjoyed it then, finish it. Once you get into the actual hunger games, you witness alliances, desperation to survive, a "romance" (read the book to understand why that's in quotes), and death. This book takes place into the future and seems highly unlikely to actually occur in reality but even with that said, it's hard to to think if these games were to actually exist and I was chosen during the reaping to represent my district, I would survive? On my personal behalf, I know there is no way to survive for I am no way able to survive with practically only a bow and arrow in my possession like Katniss does. If you are debating about reading this book, I highly encourage it! It keeps you guessing one what's going to happen next, there's plenty of action, and if you're a girl, the most important part, there's romance. I recommend that you read the first part of the book (the book is divided into 3 parts at approx. 120 pages a piece: "The Tributes," "The Games," and "The Victors") so you can get into the actual games themselves and I guarantee you'll be hooked. May the odds be ever in your favor.

Notes 2 & 3

Note 2:

In the opening sequence of Saving Private Ryan, a sheer American flag is violently waving in the wind with trumpets replacing the silence which expresses a patriotic tone for the rest of the sequence. As the movie proceeds, soldiers are being shown shaking, vomiting, and saying prayers out loud expecting death to be knocking on their door at any moment. The struggle to be the men they were trained to be slowly begins to get the best of them resulting in tears flooding down their cheeks producing a desperate way of grasping their current situation. Not only are the soldiers struggling for survival but alongside them is the camera who appears to even be drowning in the water after arriving in Normandy and also periodically is having blood being splattered onto the lens. With the shadows in each scene being a more contrasted than in other movies, a vicious and  bleak tone are showing their colors, or lack of colors in this case. While the film is generally in muted colors, such as army green, beige, and gray, the ocean is a bright read in result from the number of casualties being killed showcasing a violent battle currently underway. 

Note 3:

VIETNAMESE MORNING
by: Curt Bennett

Before war starts
In early morning
The land is breath taking.
The low, blazing, ruby sun
Melts the night-shadow pools
Creating an ethereal appearance.

Each miniature house and tree
Sprouts its, long, thin shadow
Stretching long on dewy ground.
The countryside is panoramic maze,
Jungle, hamlets, hills and waterways,
Bomb-craters, paddies, broken-backed bridges.

Rice fields glow sky-sheens,
Flat, calm, mirrored lakes
Reflect the morning peace.
The patchwork quilted earth,
Slashed by snaking tree-lines,
Slumbers in dawn's blue light.

Sharp, rugged mountain peaks
Sleep  in a soft rolling blanket
Of clinging, slippery, misty fog.
Effortlessly, languidly, it flows
Shyly spreading wispy tentacles out
To embrace the earth with velvet arms.

In Curt Bennett's poem "Vietnamese Morning," it takes a different approach to war by not describing the brutality of war but rather how peaceful it is just before it. It backs up the quote that there's always a "calm before the storm" describing the fog as it begins to "embrace the earth with velvet arms" producing a gentle and caring personification of the fog. This poem as a whole exudes a peaceful tone with the even thought of war being ignored aside from the first line.