"The Secret Agent"

   When I learned that The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad is considered to be one of the first works on spy work or espionage, I did not know what to think about how the story would be. Truth is, Conrad constructed a story more advanced than I had imagined. He uses the term agent provocateur to imply that Verloc is working two sides, the anarchists and the Embassy. I think the story surprised me because my impression or original thought about the first work of espionage was that it would be more reconnaissance or tapping in on secret conversations, or even perhaps just sneaking into the office of a big company and stealing some files. I certainly did not anticipate such a large scale mission like this for a man to blow up an observatory with a bomb. Aside from the action, I enjoyed how Conrad set up the story and characters. One gets the impression that Verloc is perhaps lazy and certainly that Stevie is unbalanced with a disease or disability that was not known about during the time period it was written.
    I felt the story was a tragedy rather than a comedy. Verloc attempted to work on his relationship with his brother-in-law just as he was asked to do; however, it resulted in a turn of events. He said he was just going to go for a walk with Stevie, but later the reader discovers Stevie died in the explosion. I believe that it is a result of Verloc's attitude on life. Obviously he did not mean for his wife's brother to get harmed in any way, but he comes off as a lazy individual and that may be the reason as to why he poorly planned his time with Stevie that resulted in his death. Conrad does a great job by making Winnie appear as more of a mother figure to Stevie, not just his sister. Winnie and Verloc do not have any kids, but Stevie is Winnie's pride and joy so to speak. She becomes passionately enraged when she learns of the death of her brother. That passion is strong enough that she murders her own husband. Later she drowns herself when she realizes everything that happened.
     In my opinion, Conrad used some of Shakespeare's tragic elements from Romeo and Juliet. He develops a tension in the family with the use of Stevie's death that brings the death of Verloc. Winnie then kills herself after the thought of her love being dead finally settles in her mind. It is not the exact same as Romeo and Juliet but Shakespeare begins the play with a tension between two families and the love between Romeo and Juliet is too powerful for the family to stop. Juliet is under a potion that makes her appear dead so Romeo drinks a poison killing himself so he can be reunited with Juliet in heaven. Little did he know she wasn't really dead, but when she woke from her potion she found her love dead and then killed herself by drinking the rest of the poison. As you can see they are not the exact same, but they have similar components that make them tragedies.
    
I thought it was very well written and the use of a minor character like Stevie to be a major part of the structure and plot is quite genius.

"The Lesson" by Toni Cade Bambara

     The other day in AP Lit. we were supposed to take a short story assigned to us and determine whether or not a certain critical approach worked for that story or not. I read "The Lesson" by Toni Cade Bambara. While presenting my critical approach and how it worked, I commented that this story made me think of my favorite childhood cartoon, Ed, Edd, N Eddy. This may seem like an unusual comparison, but bare with me. In "The Lesson", the main characters are a group of young girls that are rough around the edges and don't have a lot of money. Some readers may mistake them for boys for the first few paragraphs because of the crude remarks and explicit language used. Now Ed, Edd, N Eddy does not have explicit language because it is a kid's television program, but all that have seen it can agree the characters are crude and sometimes ruthless towards one another. Both character sets don't have a lot of money, as most of the episodes of Ed, Edd, N Eddy are about the kids of the cul-de-sac trying to make a few bucks on scams just to buy jawbreakers from the town candy store. "The Lesson" is similar in the aspect that the kids do not have a lot of money but are trying to figure out how they can get more to buy toys. They are in awe of how much certain things cost and want to find a way to beat the system. One lady, Miss Moore, found a way out of the bad area they live and made money, but she returned to teach the kids they can make it out just like she did. This is where Ed, Edd, N Eddy differs. The Eds and their neighbors aren't looking for a way out of their living situations, they just don't make an allowance because there is a small hint of a moral in every episode due to the scams the Eds set up against their neighbors. I felt the tone and set up were very similar and even the POV. One could argue that Eddy (the leader of the Eds) may be holding back Edd, also known as Double D, which is certainly prevalent in "The Lesson" as the narrator seems to be holding back her friend Sugar. This is an odd comparison and perhaps a very unique one, but I found that it worked and got a chuckle out of the class.

My New Musical Obsession

     I would say I have always loved to listen to music. Playing music... Well, I know very little about how to play any instrument as sports have taken up the free time of my life so far. I always thought it would be very cool to be able to play the guitar or even the piano, just for fun or to impress a girl. I'm sure just about about everyone in my generation and the parents of those in my generation will say they are familiar with the games Guitar Hero and RockBand. Not everyone may have played them, but just about everyone knows what they are. I am certainly guilty of owning and playing both game series. The Beatles' RockBand was my favorite and it came with the unique guitar and drum set to make the players feel like the legendary Beatles. The game concept was to clearly hit the note with the same color that appears on the screen in the order it appears. Not very hard to do and just about anyone can play.
     Now anyone that knows me well knows that I have a weird obsession with my iPad. It is like my best friend and I do everything with it. Watch movies, listen to music, play games, write this blog post, do my homework, take notes, and research. I even browse the app store and figure out what I eventually may want to buy or scan through the free apps and see what I think is worth using the space for on my iPad. This app called Smule Magic Piano appeared in advertisements for several of the other games I play, but I felt bombarded with ads for this one app. I thought what is so special about it. It looked like the same thing as Tap Tap Revenge but it played the notes as a piano. I eventually caved to the ads and got the app. It was free so the only thing I could lose is maybe three minutes of my time trying it out.
    I loved it! It reminded me of the fun times I had playing Guitar Hero and RockBand with my friends when I was younger. The first song I played was "Fur Elise" by Ludwig van Beethoven. My mom overheard the song as I played it and described it as "beautiful". Some songs are pretty hard to play, but that may be due to my lack of experience in playing instruments. It amazes me how much we can actually do with technology.

Social Media in the Kitchen

      My mother is not very tech savvy; however, she is an excellent cook that is admired by just about everyone that has been given the opportunity to taste her treats and experiments (most notably her chocolate chip cookies). Now with that being said, she decided to upgrade to an iPhone a few months ago which meant more work for me. I've been teaching her how to use electronics ever since I was two years old, but fortunately the iPhone can be considered a very user-friendly device. My mom has finally gotten away from asking me a question on how to work her phone every day. Surprisingly enough, she introduced me to Pinterest. I had no idea what it was until one day I glanced over and she was laughing over a picture that I found to be a tad amusing.
     Like a typical teenager, I could not allow for my mom to know about something technologically related more than me so I made my own Pinterest and taught myself how to use it. To my surprise, my aunt (my mom's older sister) also had a Pinterest and may be considered more technologically incompetent than my mom only due to the difference in exposure and experience. This was scary to think that these two were doing something other than Facebook, especially considering how many years it took for both of them to cave in and make one.
     Pinterest seems to be fairly popular now, as a good amount of people seem to join each day. I use it for three primary purposes. The first is to simply keep an eye on my om and aunt to make sure they're not opening things they shouldn't be that may cause computer viruses or give away their personal information. The other two reasons I use it require repinning. I love the humor section, mostly scenes from my favorite show FRIENDS and scenes from The Big Bang Theory. I constantly find something that makes me literally laugh out loud whenever I am just browsing. The final purpose I use Pinterest for is to find recipes that look really good that my mom can make if she needs an idea for dinner or dessert. I have a board title "Recipes Mom should try" with the hopes she will pull through for me.
     My mom has made several delicious recipes so far. One in particular for my birthday was a peanut butter chocolate chip dip that went well with a sturdy pretzel. She has also found a lot of copy-cat recipes that have been able to keep us home instead of spending the money to go out for dinner every now and then. The food and drink section make my mouth water every time I go on to look for recipes. The most popular repins I found tend to be a variation of a buffalo chicken dip.
    Pinterest is a nifty little app that inspires the minds of a lot of great people. It is a great place for sharing ideas, especially recipes and do it yourself projects to manage or organize things around the household a lot better. I applaud the creators of Pinterest for being practical and for the continued excellent results from my own kitchen.