The Alchemist vs. The Road
The Alchemist
Some group members were saying the same things as others during the presentation which made it seem as though they didn't spend any time working on the project as a group. The summary and plot parts of the presentation were pretty much the same thing being said by two different people. There were a lot of references to a "personal legend" but there wasn't much explanation on what exactly that means. The book sounds like it is very straightforward and rather uninteresting and I can't say from this presentation that I am inclined at all to read it.
The Road
One thing for sure is that starting off a presentation that is aimed to promote a book by saying that it can be really boring at times is not a very effective sales tactic. The summary was very dry and lacking in energy. The book itself did sound interesting, it was just presented in a very dull way. After the summary was finished, the rest of the presentation was actually quite good. The story sounds like it would be a good read for the class and would generate plenty of conversations during discussion.
Overall vote for the day, The Road had better presentation and seems to be the better of the two books for the class.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Monday, December 8, 2008
Presentations Day 1
Alright, one day of presentations down, two to go. As far as the presentations went today, I would have to say that No Country For Old Men was the better of the two. This has nothing to do with the fact that I was in the group and think that if I say that I liked this one better then we will get a better grade, but rather that the first group didn't seem to put a whole lot of effort into the assignment. The group that presented Candy essentially did a book report on it rather than try to suggest that it has any value in a classroom. Personally I think the review that they gave of the book made it sound like a simple sex and drugs book that has no deeper value and will therefore never read it. The presentation on NCFOM however addressed the potential of the book for classroom discussion. Final score for the day, NCFOM wins both best presentation and the book that I would rather see in the next class.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Fight Club
When I had heard about Fight Club before, I never found any desire to see it because I thought of it as simply a straightforward fight movie which had no interest to me. After seeing it for this class, it has to be one of the most %^&*ed up movies I have ever seen. I still liked it, but it was certainly a trip. I noticed early on in the movie that other than the scene where Tyler steals the car at the airport, nobody reacts to him except for the real Tyler. At first I thought that was a bit weird, but of course as the movie progressed it made perfect sense. As for Tyler's comment about the moment with no distinction or great battles, it was kind of true at the time. There really wasn't anything spectacular going on in the world at the end of the 90's, and there wasn't a foreseeable war either. Of course now this is definitely a time of distinction with the Iraq war, history being made by black men leading the country and winning the super bowl... stuff like that.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Oscar Wao
What can I say? I can't bring myself to enjoy this book at all. I have a tendency to focus on how authors use language to get their point across, and in this case I spend most of my time trying to figure out what it is the author is trying to say. In my opinion, a novel should be something that I can enjoy reading, not something that I have to put down every two minutes to go online and look up a translation for words that are written in another language. I can appreciate books that make you think, but this one makes me do outside research, which I don't find to be enjoyable in this case. The story itself isn't bad, it would just be nice if either it were written in english, with footnotes for the foreign words, or if I spoke spanish already, none of which were the case. I may be shallow in my view on this book, but with how slowly the book started, my initial views weren't given a chance to change and have become how I view the entire book.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Kite Runner
This movie is a bit frustrating to be honest. I'm not against subtitles, but I think the planning on this one was a little bad. For a movie that has a lot of yellows in the scenery, thin yellow subtitles probably wasn't the best choice. I also found it a bit interesting that the boy who kept referring to the two younger boys as faggots was the one who ended up performing anal sex on one of them, seems to me that he is the faggot.
Monday, September 22, 2008
End of Meats
I found the end of My Year of Meats to be a little anti-climactic. I was expecting some kind of confrontation between John and the women, but instead it ended pretty abruptly. At the very least it would have been nice to find out what happened with the documentary.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Alternate Ending
Personally I liked the ending, but I suppose I could think of an entertaining alternate one. Sit back and enjoy.
They wrote away the night, filling the darkness with words until the first pink wash of dawn gathered strength on the far horizon. And still they continued. Page after page. Word after word after word.
Chapter Fifty-two
How to Be Miserable was a complete failure. After Tupak Soiree had denounced his divinity, new leaders of "The New Way" had begun to spring up all over the world. There was nothing that could be done to stop the spread. The United States was the first to fall, followed by Canada, Northern Europe, Japan, and slowly the rest of the world. Within five years there was nothing left of individual cultures. What I learned on the Mountain had spread like a wildfire across the surface of the world.
Edwin de Valu sat in the overwhelming heat of Jack's trailer. Jack had died shortly after the release of How to Be Miserable, and Edwin didn't know where else to flee to. The small, illiterate, backwater town of Paradise Flats had become a gathering place for those who did not subscribe to the teachings of Tupak Soiree and the New Way's leaders.
People came from all over the world to escape the plague of happiness™ as it swept through their homelands. Paradise Flats had filled with the angriest people you could imagine. From America to Argentina, France to Poland, Russia to Australia, even from South Africa, people slowly made their way to Paradise Flats to preserve their anger and hatred. Before long Paradise Flats had started to remind Edwin of life on Grand Avenue, with the yelling, pushing, screaming, and all around rudeness and carelessness of the people around him. Except for the heat, Edwin felt right at home.
"This is the way it is meant to be," Edwin mused. "People are meant to generate conflict with others for no reason whatsoever. This is what makes us human."
"Damn right," said Mr. Mead, who had followed Edwin to their new home after realizing that the world at large was coming to an end. "I'm sure that even Bob would agree with that."
Not too long ago, Edwin and Leon (he had dropped the accent from his name after years of debate with Edwin) had taken a gun to Mr. Ethic's head and done away with him. They just couldn't stand having him around once they no longer needed someone to ethically validate their unethical decisions.
"viver é lutar, para morrer é ser índice," said Edwin. "To live is to fight, to die is to be content."
Leon grunted his agreement and opened a new case of Southern Comfort.
"I don't often agree with you, but you've definitely got..." Leon stopped mid-sentence.
"I hear it too," said Edwin warily, already on his feet.
Silence.
Edwin grabbed his gun and slowly made his way to the door of the trailer. He was sweating profusely, but it had nothing to do with the heat. He took a deep breath and kicked the door open, just like he had always seen in movies.
Leon ran to the door as he saw the blood drain from Edwin's face. The two of them stood there, eyes wide and jaws hanging, not wanting to believe what they saw. Surely it had to be a trick of the desert. They were hallucinating. They had to be sharing the same hallucination. It could happen. Couldn't it?
One of the men from the town, a particularly distasteful man at that, was standing outside the trailer. His eyes were vacant and a soft smile was spreading across his face. The man held out his hand to Edwin and Leon, smiling wider as his hand moved nearer and slowly opened.
Two daisies.
Edwin nearly screamed with terror as he realized what had happened. It was finally here. After five years the world had closed in around them. There was no more running. The last angry place in the world was now flooding with happiness™ and there was nothing they could do about it. Well, almost nothing.
Edwin shot the man in the head.
"A well stated sentiment," Leon said. "But we can't kill everyone in the world. It's over."
Edwin turned to Leon and shrugged. "I suppose not, but it sure as hell felt good. I imagine this will too."
Edwin shot Leon in the head.
"What more is there to lose?" Edwin said to his dead friend. "I sure hope you would rather die human than to live as they do... then again if you wouldn't I suppose it's too late anyway."
Edwin turned and looked out at the desert. With a primal shout, one that would never again be heard in a land devoid of echoes, he turned the gun on himself.
They wrote away the night, filling the darkness with words until the first pink wash of dawn gathered strength on the far horizon. And still they continued. Page after page. Word after word after word.
Chapter Fifty-two
How to Be Miserable was a complete failure. After Tupak Soiree had denounced his divinity, new leaders of "The New Way" had begun to spring up all over the world. There was nothing that could be done to stop the spread. The United States was the first to fall, followed by Canada, Northern Europe, Japan, and slowly the rest of the world. Within five years there was nothing left of individual cultures. What I learned on the Mountain had spread like a wildfire across the surface of the world.
Edwin de Valu sat in the overwhelming heat of Jack's trailer. Jack had died shortly after the release of How to Be Miserable, and Edwin didn't know where else to flee to. The small, illiterate, backwater town of Paradise Flats had become a gathering place for those who did not subscribe to the teachings of Tupak Soiree and the New Way's leaders.
People came from all over the world to escape the plague of happiness™ as it swept through their homelands. Paradise Flats had filled with the angriest people you could imagine. From America to Argentina, France to Poland, Russia to Australia, even from South Africa, people slowly made their way to Paradise Flats to preserve their anger and hatred. Before long Paradise Flats had started to remind Edwin of life on Grand Avenue, with the yelling, pushing, screaming, and all around rudeness and carelessness of the people around him. Except for the heat, Edwin felt right at home.
"This is the way it is meant to be," Edwin mused. "People are meant to generate conflict with others for no reason whatsoever. This is what makes us human."
"Damn right," said Mr. Mead, who had followed Edwin to their new home after realizing that the world at large was coming to an end. "I'm sure that even Bob would agree with that."
Not too long ago, Edwin and Leon (he had dropped the accent from his name after years of debate with Edwin) had taken a gun to Mr. Ethic's head and done away with him. They just couldn't stand having him around once they no longer needed someone to ethically validate their unethical decisions.
"viver é lutar, para morrer é ser índice," said Edwin. "To live is to fight, to die is to be content."
Leon grunted his agreement and opened a new case of Southern Comfort.
"I don't often agree with you, but you've definitely got..." Leon stopped mid-sentence.
"I hear it too," said Edwin warily, already on his feet.
Silence.
Edwin grabbed his gun and slowly made his way to the door of the trailer. He was sweating profusely, but it had nothing to do with the heat. He took a deep breath and kicked the door open, just like he had always seen in movies.
Leon ran to the door as he saw the blood drain from Edwin's face. The two of them stood there, eyes wide and jaws hanging, not wanting to believe what they saw. Surely it had to be a trick of the desert. They were hallucinating. They had to be sharing the same hallucination. It could happen. Couldn't it?
One of the men from the town, a particularly distasteful man at that, was standing outside the trailer. His eyes were vacant and a soft smile was spreading across his face. The man held out his hand to Edwin and Leon, smiling wider as his hand moved nearer and slowly opened.
Two daisies.
Edwin nearly screamed with terror as he realized what had happened. It was finally here. After five years the world had closed in around them. There was no more running. The last angry place in the world was now flooding with happiness™ and there was nothing they could do about it. Well, almost nothing.
Edwin shot the man in the head.
"A well stated sentiment," Leon said. "But we can't kill everyone in the world. It's over."
Edwin turned to Leon and shrugged. "I suppose not, but it sure as hell felt good. I imagine this will too."
Edwin shot Leon in the head.
"What more is there to lose?" Edwin said to his dead friend. "I sure hope you would rather die human than to live as they do... then again if you wouldn't I suppose it's too late anyway."
Edwin turned and looked out at the desert. With a primal shout, one that would never again be heard in a land devoid of echoes, he turned the gun on himself.
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