Jane, You a Hoe...

Honestly I think that the book was very well written, it was also has a very intriguing and captivating plot line, but when it comes to the ending I must say Charlotte Bronte seemed to have whored her original intentions.
She seems to indicate in throughout the book that sticking to her beliefs, and remaining independent is what is important to Jane, but in the end, she goes against her own morals and returns to Rochester without knowing that her morals needed no breaking. Apart for the disagreeable ending, however, I really have no more complaints about the book personally. I think that Charlotte Bronte demonstrates remarkable skill and subtlety in her writing. She also has definitely mastered the art of motifs and mystery, which is why I think it is a perfectly corresponding book for College Literature. She uses most of the literary techniques that we've been focusing on in class recently, and she also provides us with an example of how to read longer, duller, and more condensed books. So my general assessment of the book was that it is a great book to read for college lit, and I would personally read it again for pleasure, but damn that ending just didn't seem wright. It was like Jane couldn't help herself when faced with the idea of pleasure, and she never used to do that in the book. Hence the title.

Rendez-Vous

He likes to stare at me from afar, his eyes creating paths engraved in my skin. Why must I be here? It's far from being the cozy room I had in Boston, where all my friends are. There are no woods here, no singing birds, nor balmy weather, just a continuously barking dog and grey. There's so much grey. It's to think that all the green and blue in the world simply disappeared. My husband says we're meeting someone of importance, though he cares not to tell me who; but I don't care. I care for nothing now but my old room, why must I be here? I remember now that he'd managed to rupture the rope tying me to it, the one thing that kept me safe from everything else. I'm sure they'll come to get me soon now, for they've come overseas with me you see...I know they're here. John tells me to be quiet, I must go now, he doesn't like it when I write.

I've still no clear idea of where we are, although John keeps on telling me the location. His eyes pierce me more and more, every time he keeps on staring at me. His eyes like daggers. He surely must know that eventually I will bleed from it, but he does nothing to stop my pain. I hate him. I wish that he would go away, and give me back my yellow wall-paper and rope. I hate him. Does he not see that I will bleed soon? Does he not care? I hate him. Thankfully my friend will be here any moment. She is the only one that truly understands my pain. Once I get home I will show her the wallpaper, and she'll understand. She despises her husband too you see. Oh how I hate mine. He will not give me back the rope he cut off from me. Now I might have to go back out. I've been resolved to stay calm and still so as to not alarm him. He can't be aware of it.

The grey is finally uplifting, turning to a light red. Oh how pretty it all is, I'm sure you'd love it Jane, it's nothing like the stain yellow that I'm accustomed to. Every time I look over things get brighter and brighter, and I feel so peaceful. John's finally done it. His cold eyes look at me as if I were grotesque. He's found my writings now and I've not known how to react to his-- oh it's so beautifull now, the red's faded into pure white, and my shoulder hardly hurts anymore. I believe my friend should be coming any minute now, i'll be sad to leave, it's so gorgeous. I have but a minute to gather my thoughts and write them down for you. I'll be happy to present all this to you when I meet you, this has all been madness you know, just plain madness. And that dog won't quit barking.

Ghosts all around

In the movie ghost town, the beginning is admittedly kind of slow in the beginning. Two regular Salinger-esque Holden Caulfield-like girls that graduate from a high school they didn't like go out into a world they don't like either. The acting seems to be off-put and the characters too distant to try to understand what's the effect their trying to portray. Needless to say I didn't like it at first, but as the movie rolls on, the title seems to make more sense. Like ghosts themselves, the plot goes from transparent to fully visible, only to disintegrate at the very end before one can quite comprehend it. As the movie went along I found myself completely absorbed and enamored with the story of a girl who can't decide what is right for her in life. She seems to be mainly conflicted in whether or not she should force herself to like the present world more, or stay shelled in the world that no longer exists but she loves. Another analogy that relates to the title Ghost Town? I think so. Like a ghost town itself she stays transfixed on the past, and tries to maintain her ways until she disappears into thin air. (Which I even more maintain was her suicide since that would be even more fitting with the title) And even though the movie may seem a little strange or eccentric at times it was exactly those eccentricities that drew me in even more to the movie.

What was your opinion of the film? What analogies where you able to find to the title? And also what did the ending mean to you?

Which is better, graphic novels or novels?

I think that for many people it is a no brainer--regualar novels. Most people don't associate good reading to what they think is just regular superhero and action comics, but as for most things in life, there really are two sides to comics. There's the side that is all about showing an extravagant action pact world, and there's the one that visits abstract ways at viewing the same world as ours. I personally have no preference between the two because they both make for good reading to me, but unfortunately not many people get to see the second side to graphic novels. I'm sure if people read books like Watchmen, Persepolis, or V for Vendetta on a more regular basis, the original question I asked would be much harder to answer for many.

so what's your preference? and name some books or graphic novels that have shaped your answer.

Reaction to Catcher in the Rye

I must say that I was very pleased with this book, although I am majorly biased to a good piece of suspenseful writing. I think that Salinger's real tribute in that book was not in fact the book itself, but the uncanny ability he has to submerge into another character. It's almost as if to write the darn story, he lived it out scrupulously writing down every notable detail along the way. When reading, I felt (and I feel like many other people felt like this too) I knew Holden Caulfield personally. Red hunting hat, handsomely face, and sullen, lying profile and all.

I have to admit that it was still a decent novel, with some well-written and interesting quirks, but I just simply want to state that, that is not what made to novel remarkably. I'll remember back fondly at reading the book, and as a matter of fact I count on re-reading it one day again, but not for the story. Instead I'll read it for general effect, and puzzlement that I get from the main character--Holden Caulfield.

Holden Schmolden

It is important to understand, to me, that being a teen should never be completely generalized. the transitional period between being a child and an adult was only created recently enough. I think that the amount of attention that's been brought to light on this period has also caused a subsequent blow up in importance on the age. As a teenager myself I cannot relate completely to these characters like Holden Caulfield or Jim Stark because they share a philosophy on life that is entirely different to mine. Yes I am a teenager as well, and I do share some of the same thoughts as them, but it is simply blasphemous to tell me that because of my age I am like them. Some adults act more like what we assume teenagers to act like, then teenagers themselves.
Nonetheless, in terms of portraying a well rounded and intriguing kind of character I must say that the movies as well as J.D Salinger have both done a good job, but I simply do not think that anyone would be able to depict modern 'teenagehood' because that term should not exist.

Morphin' Orphans

In the movie 'the Orphanage' by Juan Antonio Bayona, childhood is depicted as being somewhere between the pure and innocent standard and the underestimatedly knowledgeable categories. Either they are trying to play with each other, or they are trying reveal deep hidden secrets that the adults are blind to. And maybe that's the magic with children, is that they've not yet experienced so much in life that they are free to see everything while not necessarily noticing everything. This was a key principle that I felt was emulated in the four stories we had read. In the story 'Bottle Caps' by Stuart Dybek, he tries to show that kids see more than meets the eye, by using the bottle caps as little bug graves. In 'Every Little Huricane' by Sherman Alexie, the kid escapes the fierce reality on his Native American reserve by dreaming and imagining everything around him in the form of storms. In  "The Sutton Pie Safe" by Pickney Benedict, the kid does realize everything that's happening around him and shows his distaste by refusing the snake skin belt that his father offered him. These books all show the children as being in a position to see everything in their stories, but they also all show different ways that the children interpret what they see, like in the movie. I think that it is a very accurate representation of what childhood is like, although it does lead me to wonder what the effect would come off as if they were able to completely understand what they notice.

I lie

New Jersey, 2000, sometime along my 7th year of birth, i did the unthinkable. I lied. It was most likely not my first lie, nor would it be my last. The act of it was as unremarkable as watching paint dry, but like drying paint it was the after-effect that was really important.
It had been a hot day in August, right before my birthday on the 24th. The ice cream truck made reagular stops in my block, because of our ideal placement next to the elementary school. On average it would come by 3 times a day. My parents would always give me money for when the ice-cream truck came by, but I only got one ice-cream a day. That day I had already had my first one, but it had gone by too quickly. I was still wanting for more.
A friend of mine had not finished his, but it was chocolate and I don't like chocolate ice-cream. We thought and thought of ways for me to make money to get some more ice-cream later. Mowing lawns was out of the question at our age, we were too small. We tried selling drawings to passerbies for a buck a peice, but we had no luck there either. (I mean who wants to pay that for a 7 year old's drawing anyway) So with my friend's ice cream sitting in his freezer waiting for the next time, we decided that I could go up to my parents tell them that I had taken the wrong one, and ask them for more money.
It worked.
That was my first memorable moment of lying, and in effect growing up. To me with age comes the loss of honesty, and lying. We need to lie to get alond with our lives in a more efficient and productive fashion. At 7 I had realized how not telling the truth can, and most of the time will get you what you want.

Identity

My name is Sisco Hollard,
Descendant from the Lollards,
The coolest kid in town,
The only one that's brown,
Wisconsin's where I'm at,
Food and beer until you're fat,
But I don't drink that's just for fools,
Instead I spend my time at school.
-Word.