Reflection 10

Villains are so interesting to us because they are bad. They make us fear that tipping point, because at some point or another Villain is good, something along the course of their life drastically changes them, and causes them to become evil. I believe that as a society we are attracted to their evil, because it keeps us on our toes, it cause us to ask ourselves, “ what’s my tipping point?” it makes us scared yet excited that any moment of any day a small event could cause us to become that evil person. Take my favorite villain Lord Voldemort he is so evil that he wants to wipe out an entire population just because their blood isn’t pure. Now yes that is evil and when reading the books I makes you against him, but before Voldemort was evil he was Tom Riddle an intelligent and very powerful wizard. At the end of the series there is a scene between Voldemort and Harry where Harry is accused of being just like voldemort, - in that instance as a reader you see the line to be there the line that keeps it distinct the thing that attracts us to villains because this moment you’re on the edge of the seat franticly wondering if harry is truly capable of being evil?- It’s not until Harry answers the question that you know he is good, that is the only difference is love Harry has and can love and voldemort has lost this power. That’s something that has happened to all villains they have lost the ability to love. That what makes them evil, and because for us as a society Love is so important the mere absence of it could cause us to become Evil.

Book 3 Project

Literary Hero
 

In Nicholas Sparks book Safe Haven, the protagonist of the story is not the Hero. This is because the story is about a girl in her late twenties who moves to the small town of Southport, North Carolinian in attempts to leave her past, behind her running away from an abusive husband, starting from scratch. Kate tries her best to keep to herself and cruse by unnoticed. She is the protagonist but because her main goal is to just go by unnoticed, not fight her previous life, but instead just escape it, she is not the hero of the story the hero needs to stand up for something. Because of this the hero in Safe Haven is actually a supporting character - Alex.

 To be more specific Alex is a modern-slightly-epic Hero.  Alex is a modern hero because he is fighting the mental battle, of his past. His wife died several years ago, he’s left to juggle raising kids, and owning a store at the same time. He goes through the struggle of keeping his kids happy and preoccupied always worrying about them. On top of all of this he worries about Katie. He notices that “ as she was debating what to buy . . . the fingers of her right hand twisting around her left ring finger, toying with a ring that wasn’t  there. The gesture triggered something both familiar and long forgotten.” (Sparks 48). This on moment shows his heroism, because besides all of his struggles and all of the people that come through the store, the one girl that wants to go unnoticed he notices her, he recognizes that she has had a troubling relationship in the past and amongst all of this he wants to care for her an notice her.  He is a modern hero because he selflessly cares for others, being there for them never letting his past or own problems get in the way.

Alex however is an Epic hero because he cares for Katie and his kids. He is unselfish and brave saving Katie from her past, allowing her- instead of running from it- to become aware and accepting of it. Becoming a comforter for her promising to always be there for her telling her “I’m not perfect either, so maybe it’s best if we take all of this one day at a time. And when you’re ready, if you’re ever ready, I’ll be waiting.” (130). This action may not be considered heroic when compared to actually hero’s like Odysseus.  But to Kate being there for her at all times, waiting for her even when she may never come is exactly, what Kate needs. This one gesture is saving Kate from her past allowing her truly start anew. Because of all of this Alex is a Hero.

Reflection 9

Edge of the seat moments from Safe Haven:

• When Alex and Katie first trust each other and become friends. In this secen Alexs son Josh falls into the creek behind Alex's story and is drownding.The suddeness of this sceen cause your heart to beat and for you to be as scared as Alex is. Making this scence a edge of a seat one.

"He flung open the back door, adrenaline surging through his system as he hurdded a row of bushes, taking a short cut to the dock. He hit the wooden planks at full speed. As he launched  him self at the dock, Alex could see Josh chocking in the water, his arms thrashing." (Sparks. 28)

• The next moment is when katie is describing "her friends"( really its Katies) past to Jo. This is the first time that Katie has opend up to anyone about her self, and because of the serousness of the past and this scene it makes you feel right on the edge of your seat wanting to comfert her.

" ' And she couldn't tell anyone anything,because her afamily was gone and she knew the police wouldn't do anything.If he so much as suspected anything, he would kill her.So she stole and saved and found coins in the sofa cushions and in the washing machine. She hid the money in a plastic bag that she put beneath a flowerpot, and every time he went outside she was sure he would find it. It took so long to get the money she needed because she had to have enough to get far away so that he'd never find her. So that she could start over again.'
 Katie wasn't aware of when it had happend, but she realized that Jo had taken her hand and she was no longer watching her self from across the room. She could tast the salt on her lips and imagined that her soul was leaking out. " (66)

• The next moment is When Alex and Katie have finally accepted one another Alex, told katie in the past scen that he knew of her abusive past, and that he only waited until she was ready to talk. This moment after Katie felt scared and he was there patiencently waiting for her. This scene puts me on the edge of the sceat, because its so perfect and still i feel that sparks is alowing me to peak into this small and perfect moment in their ever cachotic lives.

" WIth the last of the sunlight fading from the horizon, twilight descended,turning the flat,cloudless sky a pale violet. They stood at the railing and Alex watched as the southern breeze gently lifted wayward strands of her hair. Her skin took on a peachy glow; he saw the subtle rise and fall of her chest as she breathed. " (124 )

Reflection 8

Reflection 8

Book 2 Project

Book 2 Prezi

Book 2 Reflection 3

I would say the genera of “Sign of Four” are strongly sorted into being a mystery genus. The subgenera’s is simply a general mystery. The book is filled with mystery of- just put simply- “who done it? “In the story Sherlock Holmes has to solve the mystery of how someone was murdered in a completely locked room, which is leaving behind the message of The Sign of Four and what does that sign of four even mean. What also makes this a mystery is that Holmes must put together clues to solve the case. For example, the clues of a change in handwriting lead him to the crimes scene. He uses skills of trickery and deduction to solve the crime, for example after Watson and Sherlock had found who the suspect was, he used a dog to find out where the suspect went after committing the crime, he then noticed that the trailed stopped at a marina, and that he was obviously on a boat. He then asked a nearby child if he had seen a man, the child then informed him that he left on the Aurora. Sherlock then manipulated the situation (as seen in many mysteries, to get more information about the crime) telling the boy that he knew of such a boat was it still blue with white strips? The boy (not knowing Sherlock was just guessing the descriptions) told him the correct color and look of the boat allowing Sherlock to then further fallow the suspect.

Reflection 7

I agree with the point David Shields is trying to make through his book. I see him being the author of the book because he arranged the book into ideas. Even though the specifics of his ideas were from different people the arrangement and logic was his. Think about this when you write a paper you tend to cite then information that’s new or something that you do not already know, however there is stuff in that paper that is “Common knowledge” that people tend to already know that seem to be your idea. You wouldn’t take the time to site where you got that Idea from, even though a good chance is that that idea originated through a teacher or person around you. For example if I were to write a paper saying: Democracy was first founded by the ancient Greeks as a system that represents people however today we know that democracy is a government that “fairly and freely”(government book) represents people. In ancient Greece it was more the wealthy men who were represented.  The idea that the Greeks were the first people to have a democracy was not an idea that popped into my head, no it was something taught to me and after a while it just became a fact I know. Then new Idea was something taught to me as well but more recently. I sight the book because it’s a new idea and   do not site the teacher or book that taught me a bout Greeks because it’s common knowledge. What’s wrong with that? In my opinion nothing. Over time something one person may know is spread and you don’t have to site it that’s what David Shields is saying that all of the ideas he took from people but his usage makes it his words because of how he’s using them, in my paper I don’t have to site the source that about the Greeks because I rearranged it to be my own idea. That’s how is see non-fiction vs. Fiction, we don’t need to label something non-fiction or fiction because a non-fiction book could be not 100% your ideas or actions making it fiction, parts of it could be exaterated to hold a better story, that’s all. You could take a fiction work like Nicolas sparks and say that’s my story the note book is my wife’s actual story, and yet it’s still considered fiction. If titles were eliminated then people could better enjoy books, and not worry about picking out the truths.

Reflection 6

The genera I read depend on what I am doing. When I was little I would mainly read magic realism, and fantasy novels. I think I choose to read those novels because I could be transported of to a land that was somewhat like hours but also at times impossible for anyone else but me to go there. I found that I could become who ever I wanted to be and not worry about the outside world. As I got older I have begun to stray away from these genera’s reading dystopian fictions, reading books like the “Hunger Games” and “Matched”. I think that the older I got these alternate universes added a bit of thrill causing me to think what if our society became like that? What if I was like this person? How would I react? Then in the summers I now read completely different genera, I read more realistic fiction. Books that seem to coincide with my life allowing me to see it in a different view, or in the case of my summer series, “the Au Paris” it allowed me to step away from a summer of work and imagine/ enjoy the life on the beach enjoying the girls lives without really experiencing all the drama they experienced. On A whole I feel that I cannot always liable this year I was only this genera and during the summers that one. I read an assortment of genera’s on a whole, it’s just depends on my personality during that part of my life will make one genera come up more often in the books I select.

Book 2 Review 2

My book does not ha e a cover, the hardback version on all the copies I looked through were just a fancy define and nothing more. As for the online version I have of It is just a black and white picture of two men ( presumably Sherlock and Watson ) standing investigating something. as. I look through the online. Library. I find similar covers on all of them a little tweak on who's on the cover and the angle of the pic.( is it just sherlock or a chair with some one in it ? Is it his whole body or just a face ?) Each online cover is different and each I do not like. Not because the pictures do not fit the book, I mean it is  about  Sherlock Holmes. However, I find no "cover" to be best. The Book was written in the eighteen hundreds. A time where more people read not based of the look of the book but more for the past time and enjoyment of reading they didn't need to be drawing into the book by flashing colors and pictures as we need to day. I fell that with out a cover the book is simple and left to be a good story, nothing more. With the picture that the publishing companies are putting on it, they are doing little respect for the book, they are taking ( what my books says to be 1600) pages and Turing the wonderful amount of entertainment and adventure into a meaningless picture of two guys "investigating something" you just can't sum up a two hounded year old series into so that. no a blank cover. Induces the. Main genera and reason of the book. mystery.
A variaty of covers: 

 

                                                

Book 2 Review 1

I would say. The specific challenges the director would have trouble incorporating was Dr. Watsons view point since its is in first person the story is written  and every thing we see is in his eyes. The movie would need to incorporate his point of view as well as bring his character to life, since he rarely is shown.  also another challenge the director faces is how to work with the dialogue. During the book, for example when Sherlock and Watson first meet Mr. Sholot, their whole interaction is the three of them cramped into a musty study , whilst Mr. Sholoto tells them of the treasure that is being graded and caused Mary's father to be murderderd, linking the whole story  to the Sign of Four and Shelock Holmes into a deeper mystery. I fell it would be very boarding as an audience to watch the dialogue. With this being said the author must then choose do I show the scene of the treasure, and how it is hidden in a completely new scene ? Do I have the scene start as Holmes and Watson visualizing the scene in front of them as a small semitransparent scene unfolding becoming clearer as Holmes is putting the scene together in his head? Or do I just cut to a new scene with Sholot as a beginning over voice? All of these things will need to be analyzed and changed by the director to better adapt the book into a movie. With this being said I find this scene very essential to be kept because it illustrates the possible reason for the crime, due to. The treasure being hidden in this scene and even Sholot, goes into details of how Mary's father died. Which is the begging mystery of this case ( those as this scene illustrates her fathers death becomes the least of their worries.)   I also find they need to keep the scene where Sherlock is investigating Mr. Sholot,s brothers death, because the clues come to be very important to the case and if the directer were to cut out the scene then people would be wondering how his solving of the crime came to be. However right after he investigates the death,Sherlock finds a trail of ash that he believes can lead to the killer.He then sends Watson of to get a dog from a near by shop and Take Miss. Mary home . I felt the whole scene if put in a movie to be very long and a bit out of order if I was the director of the film I would cut out the scene of Watson getting the dog leading it to be that the police arrived with one and they happened to use it to track the killer. The whole back story to. Me. Just seemed useless . as for the scene with taking Miss. Mary home, I fell that it should be kept,for the sack of romance so that girls are attracted to enjoy the movie, and that it adds a bit lighter side to the story line, instead of just dark rainy and gruesome mysteries.  Though with the deletion of Watson getting the Dog and now having no excuse to take Mary home I fell that as a director I would have him take her home before the investigated the murder after they found the body though. So that as an audience we get a break from the murder, and have the mystery of what will be found at the crime scene, knowing that smoothing important must be there if the director would cause a break.

Watson taking Mary home:

Reflection 5

I really don’t pay attention to the book, when I am looking for a book, it is usually because someone recommended it to me or I googled it. The things I only pay attention to when, it comes to book covers is spine art and the back of the book. The spine is the most important thing for me; it tells me everything I need to know about the book. It allows me to see the length of the book (by how fat or skinny it is) the font of the letters combined with color gives me the tone of the book. Some books have a small simple picture or item with the title of the book that makes me wonder why was that put there? What is the significance of it? As for the back of the book the reason it is significant is after choosing my book the first thing I do is look at the back of it. I always am looking for a synopsis of the book, if it’s in the jacket that bothers me. The reason is because most books with synopsis on the jacket are there because the back is filled with commentary about the book. Having commentary annoys me, it shows me the author cares more about peoples impression of the book than the book its self, they want you to buy off the fact that some one important likes the book not that their book is just a good book. If a book has a synopsis and little commentary then that is a book for me. So if you want me to read your book, then make a nice spine and put the synopsis on the back and I will possibly buy it.

The Hungergames trilogy spines:

 

 

The Top Best and Worst Book Adaptations of All Time :

Best :

Hunger Games

This beloved book adored by teens all around, it has everything fighting, a heroine and a great plot line. However what makes this book the best Adaptation is the way the characters and setting is incorporated into the movie scene. The characters were well casted with the majority of the cast being how I pictured them to be. The scenery and setting was hard to picture it was gloomy, but with hope and the time was a post-apocalyptic America, with each city having different resources, they scenery in each place and the arena was extremely hard to picture, and the director took what I personally saw and put it on screen.

Worst :

Twilight saga

This movie frequently gets bashed, but it’s the acting that makes it so bad. The book holds the main character Bella swan to be this complex girl whose thoughts translate her emotion and what’s going on in the world beautifully. However the cast was poorly casted having her be some mentioned thinking girl, that nobody (the viewers) likes. Also the dialogue is very rough and harsh between Bella and Edward in the book, making their romance just seem weird, however in the book the dialogue has more of a flow to it.

Best :

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

This movie really brought the adventure of harry potter in a great light, the way the magical double decker was perceived, in the beginning of the book, was extremely hard to picture while reading it, however the movie greatly visualized what J.K. Rowling was trying to show. Also the boggar lesson was extremely funny it showed the fun side of magic and the hilarity of the scene that the book was unable to show. Also with added music and looks of terror on the students face made magic of morphing something scary into something

Worst : Lemony Snickets Series of Unfortunate Events.

The Books had a lot of fun information, like pages going on and on with one word, interrupted side commentary that helped you enjoy the book even more. However the Movie just plane out stunk it was rushed, there was three books, which took you six hours each book to read, all condensed into a two hour movie. Like that is just crazy! This Was the All time worst adaptation for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doxxfXqpKYA

Project One

These past couple of weeks I have been reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s books A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of Four. Both books have very different cases but the thing that I notice the most is how important point of view is. Whether it be (as I previously mentioned) the book being written in the point of view of Watson; Or in both A Study in Scarlet and A Sign of Four. The book was in the point of view of the case, showing how they solved who the killer was, having at the end of each a story or reason behind the murdered from a different point of views than what they had. This poster shows how Sherlock Holmes sees things and how Watson and other people see things. The difference being Sherlock Holmes seeing things “with more color and not just things being black and white, then showing that Watson sees things only in black and white and seeing things with judgment and assumptions.

What is a book?

I believe a book is a bike. The reason it’s a bike is that like a bike a book transports you somewhere. Bikes all have different gears, you can go fast, peddling hard and actually accumulating a distance, or you can switch gears peddle like crazy and move not even a foot. For Books their gears are the genera they are written in. Because when reading, which ever genera it is depends on how far you will get into a story. For me personally, a fantasy mystery would be a high gear, I would read through it effortlessly enjoying it and finishing the book quiet rapidly. But if I read a history book, it would take me hours to read, and I would probably have worked hard to even finish it. Books are also like bikes because depending on the make of the bike depends on how many places you can go. If you have a bike that is old with a handle bar basket that’s meant for a simple quiet ride around town, but if you get a bike that’s new and is multi-terrine you could ride the bike all over the place hours at a time with our worrying about wearing them out. A book is the same way, unlike what some people believe that new kindles are ruining reading and we over time will run out of books are not true. Hard cover/ paperbacks give you one book and on book alone, they are like the old bike simple well used something to hold on to. Kindles, nooks or any other tablet devise, are just new flash bikes; they allow you to store many books at once and enjoys them all with one simple device. I don’t belie we will ever get rid of hardcover/paperbacks because they are like old bikes people still enjoy to hold on to them and have them for leaser they love the feel of a brisk ride down the street just like paperback/hardcover lovers love those books because they have something to hold onto or the way it feels in their hands or that like an old bike its soft on the eyes. New bikes will be bold and flashy like kindles, some may not like them because they can’t read them or they think the old books will be lost . But I believe like old bikes. Old books will never be forgotten and will still be used.

Review #2 Sign Of Four

This week I read Sherlock Homes The Sign of Four pages 4-36. Something I really appreciated the way Doyle describes Sherlock’s quick thinking. I Knew from watching the movies that he was very quick witted, thinking several steps above his opponents, seconds before they make a move. When I started the book I was very curious about how Doyle would show this due to the fact that the books are all written from Watson’s perspective and in a movie all you do is add a narrative voice, allowing the audience to understand his thoughts. However this scene really came to show Doyle’s how well he writes due to the fact that in order to get Sherlock better understood and at times read his thoughts, he must think of creative circumstances to put him in. I feel that Sherlock’s vast knowledge was shown well in when they were blindfolded in a cab “I lost my bearings and knew nothing save that we seemed to be going a very long way. Sherlock Holmes was never at fault, however, and he muttered the names as the cab rattled through squares and in and out by tortuous by-streets. “Rochester row,” said he. Now Vincent square. Now we come out on the Vauxhall Bridge Road. We are making for the Surrey side apparently. Yes, I thought so.” (Doyle. 23) I find this a brilliant technique to show Sherlock’s thoughts by putting them in a situation where he is A. needed to share them out loud ( for rarely in the books he shares his “secrets”) and B. is in a situation where his expertise are at dire need. Now the reason I say this is if it were any other case, he wouldn’t really need to show his knowledge or immediately use it he would probably solve the case then and there, and then actually make an arrest based on others actions that lead to conform his original suspicion. In this scene however Doyle beautifully demonstrates Sherlock’s skills through changing the situation and putting him, where he needs to know where they are in the vast city of London, just by listing to his surroundings and then his knowledge is conveyed to us by rattling off the streets in a matter of seconds.

Here is an example of a scene that shows his quick wittiness, through his thoughts, something Doyle is unable to do writing as Watson, and thus must devise more imaginative ways to show Sherlock ability.

Redicide

I believe that we need to stop teaching literary fiction exclusively. However, it’s not because I hate reading and what teachers are giving us to read are pointless and out dated. I feel that teachers are focused only on their one subject alone and that if they taught you the true meaning in their class and what is required for them to teach they did a great job. But the problem is as students we have no idea about the outside world or how to really relate that to the outside world. I feel in this day and age where technology is advancing and we are begin to become more immersed in other countries and worldly things we need to get our heads out of the books, and focus on articles. Now that does not mean teachers should just stop everything they are doing and make us read news articles. No it just means we can stick to the books we are reading but to help show us the underlying universal themes and see how it is actually applied to real life; they show us news articles, recent books and more genres to broaden our connection of the lesson and truly understand why we are learning what we are learning.

Review 1 A Study in Scarlet

For my best seller’s project I will be reading the Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Author Conan Doyle, the first book I am reading will be A Study in Scarlet.

 When I first opened up the book and began to read I found it very interesting on what was happening. Due to society especially the film industry  ( making the new Sherlock Holmes films )I always think of the great Sherlock Holmes . . . and Watson but on the contrary in the books there is about an equal appearance/ effort put in to both Sherlock Holmes and Watson. However what I found the most interesting about the characters was that the book was not in the point of view of Sherlock Holmes himself, but in the point of view a Watson. This was deeply puzzling to me but then I found that the reason Doyle wrote it in Watsons point of view was to better appreciate the multifaceted personality of Sherlock Holmes; For example when Watson first living with Holmes he makes note of his living habits “Holmes was certainly not a difficult man to live with. He was quiet in his ways, and in his habits was regular. It was rare for him to be up after ten at night, and he had invariably breakfasted and gone out before I rose in the morning. Sometimes he spent his day at the chemical laboratory, sometimes in the dissecting rooms, and occasionally in long walks, which appeared to take him into the lowliest portions of the city.” ( Doyle  12) being form Watson’s point of view this shows Sherlock Holmes to be a quiet average and bit odd fellow. However once you really get into the book you begin to discover how exceptionally bright he is and that almost all of his actions are on purpose. If Doyle A. wrote the book form Sherlock’s point of view then you would not have much of a mystery to read, and not appreciate his brilliance. B. if he were to write it any other view then you wouldn’t appreciate the humanistic thoughts and questions that Watson brings up when on a case with Holmes and/ or is just merely observing him. By reading it from his point of view you get to better envision the greatness of Sherlock Holmes.

A Readers Reflection

~ A Best Sellers or Literature ?~

 I believe there is and there is not a difference between best sellers and literature. Literature at one time or another could have been a best seller. Literature is also very popular, most literature is known by many people, as many schools use literary works, in their teachings. Also when people discuss books or when we think of books, the first ones we normally think of are literary works, not best seller. However in regards to best sellers, I find that they are very popular and people can talk about them frequently, but that does not make them good literature. The best sellers would have to be well written holding a good story and giving us a new perspective on something in order to be considered literary. For example the Book Fifty Shades of Grey is at the moment a best seller however in my opinion I do not see it as literature.It is about the intimate relationship between a woman in her early twenties and a business executive in his twenties; the topics of this books is just something people should not really read and to be honest it doesn’t portray a message. Fifty shades and best sellers are just fads. A best seller must be on the list for years at the time being well written holding a good story line to be considered literature.

Why I Read.

Why do I read? Well there are many reasons why, but if I narrowed them all down to one specific reason it would be to escape. Now I don’t try to escape my life because it’s real horrible or because it’s extremely fun. No. My life is pretty simple, I read to go on adventures and try something new.  I escape because things like the life of a girl in a utopian society or the life of a teen spy are things that I do not encounter on my day to day bases, and I want to experience them. I read books like Harry Potter, to try out the adventure of being “the chosen one”. Being a kid who sure is sent to a boarding school, but the school is a enormous castle where he and his friends live together and get to go on wild adventures. In the book of the Secret Society I get to be a teen wrapped up in the lushes of Manhattan getting anything I want as long as I can keep a secret.  The danger and excitement of that story is what drove me to read it not wanting to leave the adventure. Both of those stories are things that I would never have the chance to experience in my life. Thanks to books I am no longer a girl living her life in the Mason bubble, but anyone who I want to be.