MEG(ALODON): the Trench

     Okay so I found the sequel to this book lying on the floor of the family car when we were all going somewhere and i decided to read it.  It was a really good book and I read it constantly!  Although, it kept making references to events that happened in the previous books so I was a little lost there, but it was still an easy read because it would describe the event it mentioned so you didn't feel lost which is a really good idea!  Anyway this book is about the prehistoric shark species, Megalodon.  A scientist who was hired to set up earthquake sensors in the Marianas Trench was doing so with his partner when the vibrations from the mechanical arm which was unwinding some cable attracted a male megalodon, which is around 30 feet long and a few hundred tons, and attacks his partner and kills him.  Meanwhile a female arrives and attacks the male which was wrapped in the cable which was being unwound. The ship above on the surface then started to retract the cable since there was too much tension and they needed to find out what was happening.  As they bring up  the caught male though, the female follows it out of the trench into the open ocean where it then proceeds to wreak havoc on the innocent fisherman and swimmers along the coast.  Its incredibly suspenseful and very well written!  It's one of my all time favorite books and I'd even be up for reading again which I never do.

Bad Teacher

     Okay so i haven't been reading as much and so there isn't much for me to write about book wise, so I think that i'll have one post each week about a movie or song and another about whatever i've read this week.  That being said, this week I saw the movie "Bad Teacher."  It's a comedy about a teacher who is really really bad at her job and cheats on a test.  It's got that one woman with blonde hair whose name i'm forgetting and Jason Segel, who is the gym teacher.  I thought it was pretty funny and my brother thought it was too.  A lot of it is partly dirty humor but some of it isn't! Jason Segel is the guy from "How I Met Your Mother" and that's my favorite show so I was already partially inclined to liking this movie.  Anyways she cheats on the test and eventually some snobby teacher tries to get her but the ending will surprise you.  It will make you laugh for sure, but still surprise you.  I wouldn't suggest this movie for people in elementary school, but anyone above that would probably get a kick out of this movie.  Then again, why bother setting an age limit?  The kids will probably be exposed to this kind of stuff anyways and the whole point of life is to enjoy it, so why not get a laugh while you can?  I'm not really doing a very good job at describing this but I really hate any sort of spoiler and so I don't want to cross that very fine line between detail and spoiler.  So just know that this is a funny movie which will make you laugh and feel better.

Blog Bingo (Close Reading Bingo)

1) "At the same time, he uses a figurative type of language when describing objects such as the lobby." mistake number 6.  http://mariahsetymologyblog.blogspot.com/

2) "The language used in Neil Gaiman's stardust was fairly scholarly." mistakes number 6 & 7 from That Peruvian Chick: http://thatperuviangirlathomestead.blogspot.com/

3) "The piece is calm and almost poetic. "...and dark falls here like a thunderclap and a cold wind sets the weeds to gnashing." mistakes 2 and 5 by Squirrelmonkey at http://the-squirrel-monkey.blogspot.com/

4)  "This is evident in his story “Catcher in the Rye”, which is written as if it were a personal account of the author's." Mistake number 9 by Viking Death Metal http://vikingdeathmetal.blogspot.com/

5)  "McCarthy writes, "Days of riding where there rode no soul save he. He's left behind the pinewood country and the evening sun declines before him beyond an endless swale and dark falls here like a thunderclap and a cold wind sets the weeds to gnashing." Stardust by Neil Gaiman is more denotative and specific however. His way of description is littoral, precise, and common. His description is seen by the excerpt, "The houses are square and old, built of grey stone, with dark slate roofs and high chimneys." The Help by Kathyrn Stockett is lower and blunt, but is still somewhat poetic with a figurative rhythm to it. One of the characters, Aibileen, says, "But I ain't never seen a baby yell like Mae Mobley Leefolt. First day I walk in the door, the she be, red-hot and hollering with the colic." Quite a few examples of mistake numbers 1 and 2 here by Running with Circles at http://ilikesoccer17.blogspot.com/

Worst: "Blood Meridian" by Cormac McCarthy is a very connotative and figurative piece. The piece is calm and almost poetic. "...and dark falls here like a thunderclap and a cold wind sets the weeds to gnashing." "Stardust" by Neil Gaiman is a low and common piece. Talking solely about a small town called Wall. "The town of Wall stands today as it has stood for six hundred years..." And Crescendo has very high language. Becca Fitzpatrick uses elegant and elevated words and grammar. "We waited until Scott had angled himself behind the steering wheel and backed out of the parking space before we exited the building."

- I thought that this one was so bad that I had to ridicule it publicy, but I don't even know where to start so I won't.  This was by monkey squirrel which is my number three for bingo. http://the-squirrel-monkey.blogspot.com/

Best: "In Nicholson Baker's work The Mezzanine, he uses elegant and intricate diction to create a formal tone. Baker states that the sun adds "long glossy highlights" to the handrails of the escalator, which "wavered slightly as the handrails slid on their tracks." This descriptive entry of the sun hitting the handrails emphasizes how bright it is and how it is a welcomed place to be." by skittles train at http://clayballl.blogspot.com/

Activity 2

     In J.D Salinger’s novel Catcher in the Rye, the incredibly low harshness of the connotative diction creates a sense of unfulfilled longing and insouciance.  The vulgar language of the passage hints to the rather childish attempts of the speaker to sound more mature as he unnecessarily depicts whatever he decides to talk about in his “goddam” biography as “crap” or “crumby.”  This unabashed overflow of foul language seems to suggest that he is trying to make up for his young age with his gratuitous choice of words in his attempt to be an adult.  Meanwhile the discordance of his stream of consciousness creates a shifting labyrinth of topics which seems to be heading in many different directions at one time.  This uncertain path of literary focus reflects on his on uncertainty over his future.  This passage also contains a slight connotation for objects which the narrator describes as he is quite imaginative. 

A Long Way Gone

     A long way gone is an intense story.  I first saw it when i was waiting to leave the room while standing by the book shelves.  I was looking over and I saw this picture of a boy and then I realized he was carrying a gun on his back with a rocket held behind his head.  This came as a complete surprise to me because when I had seen it before I thought it was just a little boy walking, I had never noticed the weapons.  In my curiosity over why such a young boy would be carrying such deadly items, I decided to read a little bit of it.  The story is told by a boy who used to live in Africa during the civil war which is currently raging.  He lives in New York Now and the story is told as a reflection by the boy on the events which he had to endure.  He begins with a telling of how he and his brother were trouble makers due to the fact that his parents were divorced and his step mothers were no nice to him,  He has an older brother, Junior, and a younger brother, Ibrahaem.  They all live in the same village, but one day the boy, I don't think he's mentioned his name, Junior and Juniors friend walk to a town which is about a day or two's journey on foot.  When they arrive they spend the night at a friend's house, but the next day news arrive that their town has been attacked by rebels and many have fled.  Immediately they run down to the docks where the refugees will be arriving.  Their parents are nowhere to be seen, and neither is their younger brother.  They walk back to an intermediate town where to scared and the wounded are passing through.  The sights that they see and the way the boy describes it horrified me.  And the worst part is: this is real.  These types of events are actually happening within Africa and to hear a 12 year old boy describe it is even worse.  I knew there was a war in Africa, but I was too far away to care.  This book was enlightening on the hoorors and evokes an intense sympathy for those who must endure it.

My longest Poem: it's not TOO long, but i don't have many that are extensive

The Last Wolf

Mary TallMountain

The last wolf hurried toward me
through the ruined city
and I heard his baying echoes
down the steep smashed warrens
of Montgomery Street and past
the ruby-crowned highrises
left standing
their lighted elevators useless
Passing the flicking red and green
of traffic signals
baying his way eastward
in the mystery of his wild loping gait
closer the sounds in the deadly night
through clutter and rubble of quiet blocks
I hear his voice ascending the hill
and at last his low whine as he came
floor by empty floor to the room
where I sat
in my narrow bed looking west, waiting
I heard him snuffle at the door and
I watched
He trotted across the floor
he laid his long gray muzzle
on the spare white spread
and his eyes burned yellow
his small dotted eyebrows quivered
Yes, I said.
I know what they have done.

Currently

This week I have read 155 pages from A Long Way Gone.

My three favorite sentences are:

"1984 by George Orwell uses straightforward and exact diction, colloquial formality, and dull sound to create a harsh feeling for the reader, much like how Winston feels the chill of the bright cold day and the enormous eyes of the face watching him." brought to you by: http://freefifteen.blogspot.com/

-  Simply put, the use of the word "colloquial" was what first brought my attention to this peice.  It is this one word that first took me in because its one of my favorite words.  Then, the description of the "chill of the bright cold day" is pleasing to my senses, if that makes sense.  I just think it sounds nice so I liked it even more.

"To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, uses the coarsely sophisticated literal language which accurately conveys the dialect of the narrator." brought to you by: http://bookwormsfiresidereading.blogspot.com/

-I thought this one was better than the rest since it uses plenty of nice sounding adjectives.  It uses a few too many while describing language, but it's description is paradoxical which is amiable to me.  After reading quite a few other blogs, this one won partly by default to be honest.

"In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by JK Rowling's words are very connotative, elevated, and magically musical." Stolen from: http://bradey.blogspot.com/

-I thought this line was pretty clever and so I liked it.  To begin, I've always liked the sound of alliteration, I'm not completely sure why but I just think that it enhances the writing.  Also, the fact that they describe it as "magically musical" is pretty clever because Harry Potter is a movie about magic.

MOVIE: straw dogs

     This is my first post about a movie because I still feel like i should mix up my topics in order to stand out among this blogging sea of uniformity, although it may just be mine that is too uniform.  Anyway, I saw the movie straw dogs last weekend and it was terrible.  The plot was weak at best and I'm the kind of guy who looks for a good plot in movies.  Its about a movie writer and his wife who move to her parents house after the parents die and then hire some of her old friends to rebuild the barn at the side of the house.  The trailer made it seem like the whole movie was about how the couple were trying to survive while these men attacked there house for some reason, and i've always like the suspense created by that type of situation as well as the strategy of defending the home.  However, the majority of the movie is pointless with no presentation of relevant plot information or surprising volte faces.  There were a few but they all occured within the last half of the movie.  I think they should have been spread throughout the movie in order to attract the viewers attention and then maintain it.  Also, the reason for their fight at the end of the movie is completely and utterly dissapointing it was all extremely far fetched and just not believable.  I like a little realism in a movie and it just wasn't here. 

Style Mapping

     The low, musical connotation of "Blood Meridian" is revealed by the diction in which there are no sophisticated words or those used simply for there pretty sound.  There is plenty of imagery and poetic description as he describes the sun as "the color of steel" and his shadow falling for "miles before him."  This also helps the flow of the passage to create a musical feel to it.  Nearly a complete opposite, a passage from "the Mud Below" consists of low denotation with a rather harsh sound to it.  The country drawl of the main character and use of slang emphasis the common diction as he gets ready to ride a bull with the supposedly inspiring words of " aw, this is a sums buck" tossed his way from a nearby helper.  The description of the bull and what the man is doing is just that, a description.  There is no embellishment on the details as he is preparing to ride the "Brahma-cross" known as Little Kisses.  The book Catcher in the Rye provides a excessivly low connotation with an evident harshness.  This story, narrated by a 16 year old with a disregard to manners, relays his story through a rambling onslaught of the chronological events of his life mixed with random bits of whatever pops into his mind.  This curving pathway of thoughts evokes a discordant mumbling in the mind as the story continues.  Meanwhile, the vulagarity of the boys lack of etiquette is repeated through the text as he repeats obscenities in order to describe nearly everything.  Through this low coarse diction his autobiography becomes a "goddam" autobiography and his brother spends his "dough" on a car which cost "damn near" four thousand dollars.  These diction types enforce the suggestivly imaginative connotation as he describes normal objects with a certain blunt hyberbolishness.  These three stories provide extensive foils for eachother and map the entire range of styles for diction.

The exciting conclusion of Zeitoun by Dave Egger- he's the author its not my name

     I finished the book and it really surprised and disguisted me.  Zeitoun was standing in his house with three others when national guardsmen burst in and arrest them.  They asked for identification but when he handed it to them they didn't even bother to look at it.  So he was taken to a makeshift prison which consisted of chainlik fences and barbed wire with a concrete floor that doubles as a bed.  Before being put into this cell he was interrogated because the soldiers thought he was a terrorist.  They repeatedly muttered things such as "taliban" and "al-queda" even though he was not affiliated with them.  I know that this is a book but the kind of stereotyping biggoted "stuff" really gets under my skin.  I don't understand how people can be so closed minded and stupid.  I realize that this is a book but the thing is: it happens.  There are people in the world that are actually like these soldiers and they don't deserve to be placed in the same race as the ones they harasse, because they are nowhere near as worthy of being called a human as the victims are.  I just hate stupid people and this kind of thing get me roling down a very intense hill of annoyance.  I won't tell you what happens at the end, I hate spoilers, but I will tell you that it gets worse for Zeitoun.  It's this kind of book that will make you happy to live in a place where there are no natural disaster to make things get this crazy.  Anyways, its a pretty good book overall and I would definatly suggest it for others.

Quarterly

     This quarter, which went by really quickly!, I have read more books in this period of time than ever before.  I tend to have periods of time in which I will read fanatically, as i have in the beginning of the quarter.  This usually only happens when I have found a new series which I find to be incredible and wprth my time.  This year I was surprised to find that I found this same intense pursuit for the Hunger Games.  I ended up reading all three books in about two days each.  Ever since then my reading has floundered and then fallen to the bare minimum since I have not been able to find a book that really captures my interest.  That is not to say, however, that I haven't found any good books, because I have found a few.  these books were just not TOO good.  I spent all of my spare time reading the Hunger Games but there hasn't been a book that makes me want to do that since then.  The type of reading that challenged me was when he had to read Jane Eyre.  The old fashioned type of speaking and sheer inaction of the plot drove me insane!  I couldn't stand reading the beginning where she just describe EVERYTHING in incredible detail.  I skipped all of that "stuff" and instead searched for anything that may be important.  A challenge that I may try for the semester is to find more books like that in order to attempt to find an understanding with the book.  It's not likely but it's possible.

Goodnight Goodnight

I've decided to change this one up and write about a song instead of a book.  The books are all starting to meld together into one big story so this should be a refreshing change of pace.  Goodnight goodnight is a song sung by a band named "Hot Hot Heat" they seem to prefer repetition.  Anyways, the song is really good and I think it may be my utmost favorite.  I'm pretty picky about songs and this one fits all of my requirements.  It has a pretty upbeat pace which keeps you interested right from the start and the guy's voice is captivating.  The lyrics are about this guy who is sick of his girlfriend who drags him out with her so called friends and is just with him for the fun of it.  This is his final goodbye to her and all of her trouble, which happens to be why it is called Goodnight Goodnight.  I'm not quite sure how to put music onto hear and I'm too lazy to do it anyhow so if you're ever on youtube, check it out.  I promise that you won't be sorry!

UPDATES for OCTOBER

Last week I read 169 pages. This may be different than what I put on my book mark because I forgot what I put and i've read a little more since then but it should be above 160.

My three favorite sentences for this quarter are:

1) "Valjean is hauled before the bishop for punishment, but the bishop says theres been a mistake, he gave Valjean the backet of silver as a gift but the ex-con forgot the silver candlesticks."
-This is the greatest line I've read this quarter because its a great story!  Even though the man tried to steal the silver the bishop adds more.  This is both slightly comical and sentimental at the same time.

2) "'Because whatever happened in the past is in the past. And no one in this arena was a victor by chance.' He eyes Peeta for a moment. 'Except maybe Peeta.'"
- I like this sentence mainly because I thought it was funny.  This is their trainer talking to them and he decides to single out Peeta who doesn't really have any special talents.  It was a very serious moment too which makes it even funnier.

3) "Plutarch's attempt to cheer me up- laced with the news of another four, possibly five, murders- somehow backfires."
- I liked this sentence because dumb people make me laugh.  This guy is clueless and doesn't even realize that he is making her feel worse.  It's a pretty simple reason for inclination but I don't care much; I'm a simple person.

Zeitoun

Pronounced (ZAY-TOON), this is a pretty good book! I've liked what i've read so far and i think it will only get better.  It is a story about a muslim man who stayed in New Orleans during hurricane Katrina.  He is a carpenter and a painter and knows a lot about many of the buildings all around town.  So as the storm hits he is at his home while his wife, three daughters, and son go to stay in Baton Rouge with her family.  Throughout the night Zeitoun is at his house placing buckets and trash bins below any holes in the ceiling.  When the flooding starts he then brings everything up stairs.  Then in the morning he goes around in an old canoe which he had bought at a yardsale a few years ago.  During the night he had heard dogs barking so he goes around to the houses with meat from his freezer in order to save the dogs.  He also helps some other people who he happens to come across during his trips to check on his neighbors houses and those that he was working on before the floods.  Eventually he finds a phone and he calls his wife to make sure everything is o.k. and promises to call her everyday at noon.  I haven't finished it so this isn't everything.  I'll tell you more when I know it.  It may not sound very good the ay i describe it, but it's actually a pretty good story. 

Life

School is becoming an even bigger pain... at first there wasn't much homework and the subjects weren't too complicated.  Now things are getting a bit more comple but i still had a half hearted outlook.  My grades dropped a bit but i still have all a's which is good.  The good news is that i've realized the problem and now i can do something about it.  At least thats what i tell myself.  I will probably still put off my work as usually but not so much for tests which is whats really hurting.  I've always been good about doing work, but not so much at studying.  I've never really found the need to study excessively.  Just reading over what i've written down but that the extent of it.  Recently i've found that i'm needing to study more because i'm not doing as well.  I think its because i've been distracted more.  Right now its an intense craving to play a new game i got which i REALLY want to play but i can't because of my homework!  Although, my little brother plays it and comes up to tell me "THIS GAME IS AWESOME!!!" and i'm doing homework... way too much homework...