Week 14: The Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy

For this week I listened to a little bit of “The Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy”. Whilst listening to this I have to say that it heavily reminded me of the “Twilight Zone” and I was pretty interested to begin with. But as I continued to listen on, and how the Alien crew started to take over the planet for demolition it certainly reminded me of current events in the real world. That the minute this started to happen Arthur and Ford began to look for other places to dwell. It was reminiscent of when Trump was elected and several people tried to look for refuge elsewhere. 

I was very interested in listening to this. As previously noted this sounded like the “Twilight Zone” to me and I was automatically willing to listen to more. As well as the fact that what was happening related to current events made it even more enjoyable to hear. The details of this was very funny, very enjoyable. They were sometimes a little ridiculous but coming into this I wasn’t expecting an intense set of details but I couldn’t help but let out a laugh whilst they attempted to use fish like a sort of hearing device. The descriptors of it went beyond what I thought I’d receive. I was entertained thoroughly by listening to this and I strongly feel that I’ll come back and listen to the rest. 

Week 11: Johnny Mnemonic

For this week I read “Johnny Mnemonic”, and to start off this isn’t my typical cup of tea when it comes to my personal readings but I gave it a shot. I was pretty entertained, at least enough to finish the reading. I wish this wasn’t a short story and I really wish this was more fleshed out. Just based off of my tastes and preferences I had to reread this a few times to try and comprehend what exactly was happening. I felt as if I was thrown into this universe with a very vague guide to how everything works here. 

I did appreciate the part about the weird shaped codes. And the details were interesting to try and decipher. But personally this type of story ins’t enough to make me ask for more. 

Week 9: Song in a Minor Key

I read “Song in a Minor Key” this week and I have to say for the shortest piece of work I’ve ever read the story was pretty hefty. Starting in the beginning I began to relate to our protagonists emotions relating to nostalgia and goals for the future. When his mind wandered to his past and his life before everything he had done up to this point it struck a cord with me and I began to feel for this character that I didn’t know as well as I had known some other characters in other stories. 

Logically speaking I think he embodies your typical protagonist who is struck by past struggles/ conflicts and while striving for the future is desperately trying to overcome them himself. Seeing as he’s alone it was just a heart to heart moment with the protagonist and his subconscious. Which to me read as if he was talking to the reader which is why it was helpful and capable for me to relate so easily. 

I enjoyed this for what it was and I personally got a bit of inspiration from this read and the way it was written. 

Week 10: The Drowned Giant

This weeks reading choices were interesting, I chose “The Drowned Giant”. As short as this was I really enjoyed this. For just a short story it had details suited to my liking. I loved reading about the interactions of some of the people and the giant. For something so surreal it seemed sort of real to me and the descriptors helped immensely with fitting the words to an mental image of the scene. 

It was depressing though, to slowly read on as the giant was being dismembered piece by piece. It was gruesome to think about when I wished the best for this giant. The main depiction we were given was that of something serene and it was unfortunate to see these people take this apart. I only want happy endings when the subject at hand is rendered “defenseless” in a sense. I think the point was for this to be a sadder look to perceive as well as even something to learn from, and yet whilst knowing this I still wish for a nicer outcome for this giant.

The way that the narrator thought about this giant sounded respectful and I found this to be enjoyable as I had similar thoughts. The ending I found was also respectful. Im not one to read into short stories and while this short story is pushing the short sense it was enjoyable to me in a few ways.

How do you see your future 10 years from now?

- I see the future as being optimistic towards everyone and their circumstances. Technology has gone far in all aspects of human life, probably too much that it cripples things like basic human interaction which is starting as of now to already be a problem. I am hoping for education in the states to become more proactive with teaching the future generations but with Trumps presidency and his choice for education as well as budget cuts for the simplest of basic funding it doesn't look good for the future generations. Plans for helping the environment were starting to look up with technological advances to clear out the oceans of debris, yet again with budget cuts towards environmental organizations the future of the planet is looking to be very bleak and maybe even scary but at least we'll accept each other more.

How do you see your future in 2050, job, life etc.?

- I see my future as being average to anyone else. Maybe I have a decent job and possibly a family to go home to. As much as I would like to say that I have high hopes for the outcome of the environment I can't say how it will turn out. Given the circumstances of global warming in 2017 and how worried I am about the complete neglect of the problem by the government; with good thoughts in mind we'll probably have more jobs for people coming in to the states in order to cope with living in a more difficult environment.

How do you see your future in 3000?

- I couldn't see myself having children in my young years so my ideas of the future wouldn't make me reconsider my ideas to have children. I think the states wellbeing is rapidly declining, there are some things about modern life that I appreciate and give me some hope for improvement. But if I were to ever have children I would want them to live in a world with little to no problems and as of right now I don't see that as being an outcome or the future we are to face. The world is showing signs of decay, our newfound presidency is neglecting issues as well as making new ones to deal with. I don't wish to grow old watching my children/ grandchildren have to overcome a war or the brink of the worlds end. If things do start to improve drastically and the planet starts to heal, someone gets Trump out of the office, harmony begins to link between all our neighbor nations and everyone is being treated fairly then I'll reconsider. Then maybe I can see a future down the line with my future children/ grandchildren.

Bloodchild Assessment: Week 12

1. What is the reaction to the text you just read?

- I found it to be interesting, it isn’t my typical read when it comes to stories. The world it was written in was very different than what I was expecting just looking the title. The characters seemed to be intriguing and I rather enjoyed reading the bits where it discussed what they looked like. The mother especially, I thought had a big difference than what I was expecting when reading her responses. I got really interested when they were attempting to help this human give birth to these alien grub creatures. Kind of grotesque, but it felt very suspenseful to me. The only bad thing I can point out is that while I was reading I found it difficult to follow the names of the characters. I had to go back and re-read several times to try and pinpoint who some of the characters were and who they may have been talking about. 

2. What connections did you make with what you read? Discuss the elements of the work with which you were able to connect. 

- While reading I was interested with this world that they created but it was a bit of a stretch for my imagination to make a mental/visual image for it. When I was able to deduce who the characters were and what role they were suppose to play it made it somewhat relatable. They were helpful and cared for one another. I mostly connected with the suspenseful scenes with the egg birth inside the human, only because of the inner thoughts of the speaker and how terribly scared they were. I was so interested in this scene because of how suspenseful it was to me and how much I wanted to know what happened afterwards. 

3. What changes would you make to adapt this story into another medium? What medium would you use? What changes would you make?

-Knowing that this is a short story I would very much like to get more details on things as the beginning just seemed kind of blurry to me. There was quite a bit of information that didn’t seem to flow well enough for me to make a definitive mental picture on how I would like things to look. As well as more character development, the more I read the more I realized that characters who were mentioned seemed a bit neglected. Given that this is a short story it’s understandable, but I just felt as if some didn’t need to be mentioned because they held such little importance. I can see this as a movie, visual depiction I feel would help this quite a bit. And based on how long the film is I feel that if characters were to be mentioned they would be able to have some definitive importance if there was face to go with the name at least. Possibly even a short film would be alright, but even with that I feel that you could kick out some characters as they were just standing in the background waiting to be mentioned. 

What the Moon Brings- The New Weird

For this week I read “What the Moon Brings” and I honestly had to re-read this a few times. It was somewhat difficult for me to pin-point a perspective. I felt this was more poetic than anything. But I thought of this all as if it was just a person standing still and watching what was happening.The atmosphere seemed very pretty at first but it quickly started to turn into a wonderland of death and even despair as far as detailing goes. This short story was very interesting and it kept me entertained with how quickly something sounding so calming and beautiful could turn into the opposite and I felt the change in scenery even. 

I do feel a bit neglected as a reader though, as I wished to know why everything was happening. I understood that this is a very short story and it stands from a more poetic spot in perspective. I wanted to know what this person was doing under the moons gaze and why the chosen scenery. The perspective that we view this from seems nothing more than an innocent exploration which I did find nostalgic in a sense; especially with how they found something that maybe shouldn't have been found. It was an enjoyable read for me, the drastic change in detail is something that I don’t see often and it did put a spark in me to continue reading on.

Harry Potter and the "Philosophers" Stone

For this week I read “Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone”. I grew up on Harry Potter in the sense that I saw the movies before I read any of the books. I’ve never read the very first one before this but I do have a very firm grasp on the film. It helps to make the comparison between the two to see what did or didn’t make the cut in the movie version when it was present in the book. 

To start off I was pretty startled to read the personalities of the characters. Without seeing the faces of the actors I had a different take on how the characters would be acting. I saw Harry and Hermione as having a lot more sassiness in the book and Ron didn’t seem as funny to me. He was still a very fun character to follow along with but instead of how they portrayed him in the movie as the pure comic relief at either the best or worst time I felt his presence was a bit more serious than how he is portrayed in the film. 

Something else that I was sad to learn didn’t make it into the film was close to the end when Hermione is suppose to do a potion trial to help Harry progress to see Voldemort. They focus on Ron taking charge during the chess match and Harry using his talent from quidditch to solve the trials while Hermione just mildly helps beside the two to finish these two trials. When this came to my attention it made me a bit upset that it didn’t make it into the film version. And upon learning in future books that she does more to fulfill a strong role like Ron and Harry. She does quite a bit to begin with but learning of what she could’ve been doing is a slight disappointment. But I was thrilled to learn of this and imagine what could’ve been. 

Week of the Witch

For this week I read “The Witch’s Daughter” written by Paula Brackston. I was thoroughly interested from the start of the book as I thought the author had done a fabulous job of setting up this world. It starts off with a normal girl named Elizabeth who loses her family to a terrible disease. She soon learns that her mother has been performing witchcraft and tries to learn the ways of craft from a warlock named Gideon after her mother dies. Learning of Gideons true desires, Elizabeth runs away from him and manages time travel for centuries trying to be free of Gideon’s debt. Elizabeth meets a young girl named Tegan and become quite fond of her, she begins to teach Tegan all she knows and soon has to make a choice when it comes to protecting Tegan from Gideons grasp.

The way the author details the environment was very enjoyable for me as it made things more believable in my mind. Elizabeth’s surroundings change constantly whenever she tries to make a new name and life for herself. So I felt that the constant change of scenery was very fascinating to read about especially with the extensive scene creation from the author. As well as the character development. There are a few side characters that only are used to move the main characters along, but they are developed pretty well alongside the protagonist. I had never read a witch themed book that involved travel before this and It was a nice combination of themes and to see how well these themes intertwine and what it turns the story into. Another thing to note about the book is the passing of knowledge in a sense. Elizabeth does a parallel to her mother, even though it takes her a few centuries. But once she finds Tegan she treats her like the daughter she never had and she begins to teach her the ways of craft just like her own mother started to do. Overall it was fun read into the world of witches but with a twist to the typical witch story.

Chinese Ghost Stories

I read Chinese Ghost stories for this week. I had high hopes going into this as I am a fan of ghost stories. Yet I was unaware of how Chinese ghost stories would differ from the ghost stories Im used to hearing about. I read over The Soul of the Great Bell. While it was short it seemed almost poetic and metaphorical; on purpose Im sure. I was very thrilled with the more that I kept reading. The ending was ever so bitter sweet and while I was satisfied with the idea of the daughter being the haunting force behind this bell it was incredibly sad to read of what she is eternally looking for which is her lost shoe. 

My knowledge of Chinese ghost stories is very limited but it seemed to carry some themes from some Japanese ghost stories that I’ve read about. If a female dies and becomes the ghost in the stories I’ve read its described as being sacrificial purely for the sake of saving lives of others or appeasing gods etc. While in this story you have the girls father who is attempting to create this bell and he’s failed to make it correctly on previous attempts, nothing he’s done has worked so far. The way his daughter died seemed to mimic how the female would be sacrificed in Japanese ghost stories; where she dies for a good cause and yet she is the ultimate one to pay the price as she is eternally haunting her place of death. 

I really enjoy ghost stories in general, but it is even more exciting to read about how ghost stories are perceived in other cultures. They seem to hold very similar themes because of the subject material but some are more poetic than others. Some even hold lessons for life.  

Vampires Everywhere

For this week I read the first book of “Twilight”. I’ve seen the Twilight films as well as read “Interview with a Vampire” previously and coming into the first book of “Twilight” wasn’t as bad as I thought it’d be. I wasn’t expecting the intense environment set up like from “Interview with a Vampire”. But it does it’s job in a teen romance novel. Just enough to keep you satisfied with what is going on. The story in itself felt more genuine in the book than in the film. The characters felt more developed and their situation seemed a bit more intense. 

I felt that the author did a pretty good job of making the myth of this relationship sound a bit more sincere than they made it seem in the film. While the characters have a lot at stake to handle and accomplish in both; in the book it was drawn out more and given slightly more detail as to why this may be a problem for both characters. The film made it seem slightly superficial and not as intensive in my opinion. The villains had more character in the book as well as secondary characters. And I rather enjoyed reading how different the author made the characters in tone. I felt as if I could distinctly tell who was talking and what there personality was. Where as in the film they made all of the characters revolve around Bella a bit too much as they formed personalities based on her actions. Bella's character especially, she had a lot more personality and even sass in the book. I even related to her a bit when she I realized she was capable of showing emotion and a mind of her own for moments when Edward wasn't in the picture. Even with Edwards character I felt that he had a lot more development to become attached to and in some ways fawn over if you were a young teenager of course. 

Overall I enjoyed this a bit more than I thought I would and I would go back and read it again before I watch the movie. 

Frankenstein

When I read Frankenstein for the first time I was rather fascinated by Frankenstein and his monster. It was easy to me to see the comparisons of the two as well as the similarities. Both of these characters could be misunderstood in a sense that for what they do it does or did have ulterior motives that were perceived as “good” to their respective owners. 

With Victor Frankenstein; he finds the secret to the creation of life and designs his monster to be brought to the world of the living. Perhaps in his head he has nothing but good intentions for his creation. But whens he’s faced with the truth of what he’s created he rejects it. Leaving his creation defenseless in a new world, but strangely in the same position as his creator. Starting off with nothing but good intentions the things that should innately be his are either taken or destroyed. Since he is feeling neglected and alone by everyone he takes from the only person he see’s holding the sole responsibility. Starting off with nothing but good intentions the things that should innately be his are either taken or destroyed. 

I really enjoyed this main similarity between these two characters. Yet there was something else that I felt about this situation. It could be just my opinion but I believe the author made this as a metaphor for life. Something along the lines of life being an unattainable resource. I see Frankensteins monster as Victors eternal punishment for trying to mimic the creation of life. From the moment Victor grasps his “achievement” he rejects it. Leading to the life he had created to destroy his own. You cannot create a life from nothing so the resource has to come from somewhere.