Four Years

After four years of high school I have been expected to read many works for class and on my own. My favorite book I read for fun was The Hunger Games which may be a popular opinion that could be redundant to read and hear about but I think the concept was very well written and could have easily worked for my research paper but I did not think it would be a good choice because so many people would want to use it. I think the series could become a classic as we are seeing the Harry Potter series slowly work towards that status. After a few generations it may be up in that stature for its style and content. Jennifer Lawrence played Katniss for an excellent performance and she is certainly one of the top stars of today. Much of the book has a futuristic concept and I think could still be entertaining for the future generations. That is my favorite  book I read in the four years outside of class. My favorite one in class might have been The Scarlet Letter which is an odd choice but I feel I know that story the best and I have used it for a lot of my papers. I do not relate to the story but I think it has a large lesson behind it which maybe relates to how I feel about life. It shows that what is right is not always popular and what is popular is not always right. That is how I live my life. The Puritan society is very different and adultery is not right or popular but how she bounced back and made the community better with her presence is something notable. Hiding the truth is easy until it eats away at a person's soul. Owning up to sins can prevent torture and death of the soul. Dimmesdale drove himself mad for keeping it a secret. Hester worked hard in the community to negate her wrong and Chillingsworth died because he could not get revenge which is irony and karma.

 

 

 

Both are masterworks that I have enjoyed reading and learning about and I hope to one day walk into my kids' room seeing them reading these books that I have read and enjoyed.

 

 

 

Your typical Gatsby blog post...

So... Leonardo DiCaprio is Jay Gatsby. I am outraged with myself I have not seen the movie yet! But the book is one of my favorites. Leonardo has played many roles where his character is mysterious yet attentive and luxurious so he certainly is perfect to play Mr. Gatsby. I feel that Jay Gatsby will be a combination of Cobb from Inception and Jack Dawson from Titanic. He needs to be as mysterious as Cobb but have the ability to love Daisy as much as Jack loved Rose. Jay throws his legendary parties for one reason: to impress Daisy, the woman he met in 1917 that he loves. The trailer gives me a great impression to how Leonardo plays his role, but I definitely need to see the movie for a full judgment. I am sure I will love it! At times the book made me want to just go to a party to have fun but the sentiment behind it all draws in the reader. Jay's secret story that few knew about is one that I wanted to know and liked. But my biggest question about the movie is can Spiderman actually play a decent Nick? Tobey certainly has played in other movies but isn't known by anything other than Spiderman. He did not get the call back for the newest Spiderman movie which I have not seen (possibly because of his age and the new storyline) but can he pull it off? He will have to be nosey but relaxed and find his way into situations unexpectedly. I guess that suits Spiderman. Always spying on people but being relaxed when he's not in his suit keeping his identity secret. Now there is only one way to see the book in action... buy a ticket.

What is a research paper?

Research paper. The mortal enemy of most students. Or the task of cramming in a lot of information into a well organized essay by a certain due date. The idea of a research paper does not freak me out because I know what kind of writer I am. I always wait until the last possible minute on purpose. Junior year I wrote my research paper on my phone on a two hour bus ride going to a baseball game. My entire team made fun of me and some of them panicked for me in fear I would not finish. But knowing how I am, I finished with ease. If only Google Drive had an app sooner, that would have made my complications much simpler. This year I thought about my topic and gave it a week to simmer in my mind. I did not need any sources because I thought of three things I could tie together that I knew a great deal about.

 
But how are they related? Post-apocalyptic wars occur in the future and these are results of what those wars have done. The government systems organized in the aftermath all want to diminish the lesser man's knowledge of pre-war times and the ability to retaliate and overthrow the leaders. The writers and developers all saw a future of similar quality. Many of the goods and valuables are called pre-war but are things that would most likely be considered retro today. Everything pre-war in Fallout 3 is from the 1950s and 1960s but all of the historic references are accurate. The Book Of Eli has two of my favorite movie stars, Denzel Washington and the always fabulous Mila Kunis. In preparation of this essay I went for the harder two forms of art to come up with and I thought I would be creative by using my favorite game. But I also knew that it's merit would be questioned so I had to explain that it is actually very educational. I have learned a lot for things from playing the game because of all of its references. It gives me a huge appreciation as video game player. I went with the future war concept and thought of The Book of Eli because I watched it not that long ago. Then I needed a book and searched on Google for a post-apocalyptic book and did not need to go through the list when I saw 1984 appear first in the alphabetic list. I actually read the book a few years ago and made a comparison between it and Fallout 3 when I got the game but never put much thought into until the paper. I think I wrote a pretty well organized paper for not needing any sources due to my knowledge on all three works.

Thoughts on AP

Well after a full Senior year, AP Lit has come to a close. Thoughts on the class? Everyday was certainly a new adventure. I learned a lot about various things, literature for most but other irrelevant things. To many of my classmates surprise I did not use my iPad to search for answers I knew. I used it many times to look up words I did not know and to validate some of my points. Debating its purpose was certainly fun with some of my classmates that would joke saying I could not use the iPad for the AP test. I knew I could not use it but I knew I would not need it either. It was just a tool for me to use. The test was not as awful as I had anticipated. I felt that the multiple choice was a hit or a miss with some of the questions because the difficulty level did vary. I did not know some of the words so I made an educated guess. Essays were fairly simple in my opinion and I lucked out on the open ended question. I wrote about Their Eyes Were Watching God which I familiarized myself with again just days before the exam to participate in the Literary Deathmatch in class. I will be honest in saying I did not read most of the books but I made sure I knew the material well enough to understand its importance and be able to write about anything on the books. I think that it takes a good writer and a good understanding of more than just the plot of a book to be able to accomplish such a task. I can write on anything and make a case whether I know what I am saying or not and it could be very believable for most readers. This is precisely why I want to write a book one day after I develop an original idea to write about and have produced. I will also need time to sit down and do it... But taking AP Literature has given me an appreciation for the work put into writing. A unique style allows for most authors to stand the test of time and that is what I want to do with some of my works even though writing will be more of a hobby than a primary job. Some may find it odd that someone wanting to be an engineer would want to write books but I find it to be unique and have an aspect of being well rounded.

After thoughts

Giacomo Leopardi was the perfect selection in my opinion. He is not originally English and I can understand some of the references and allusions due to my experiences as an Italian student. His name popped up in my Italian class after I chose him while the Italian exchange was gone and I had a substitute teacher. I am glad I chose him as my poet to study also because I felt that he has some fantastic work. Read and spoken in both languages. I was capable of writing a majority of my paper in only a few short hours. A few revisions required the most of my time but I felt I understand the poems fairly well. They were very well written which helped determine the appropriate meanings behind the words. I wish to one day travel tonItaly and possibly study, and thanks to this paper I can say I know quite a bit about one of the greatest Italian poets of the nineteenth century.

My conquest continues...

I needed to annotate my other three poems and read them in both languages too. I chose Scherzo, To Himself, and L'infinto. More and more I began to realize how much pain and suffering the man went through emotionally and physically. To Himself is about him talking to himself about dying because he has done all he needs to do. To me that is very sad. As I read the poems and annotated them I started to realize making the focus of my paper about how the languages work together to make the poems great poems would have been too complicated and very short. The poems are how they are interpreted and it seems that they will be interpreted about the same way in different languages. Most translations seem more literal and lose some meaning which is true, but the difference of the poems in the two languages seemed too minuscule to talk about, partially because my thought process is in English so even as I read in Italian, I understand in English. I had to take a different direction with my paper and just wrote as if the poet were an English writing poet for meaning and structure but I wanted to make it clear that the sound is completely different and usually better in the original Italian. My written paper did not take that long.

First poem encounters

Giacomo's most popular poems are combined in I Canti which is Italian for the songs. I scrolled through all the poems that were listed on one particular website in a random order. I decided to choose two fairly short ones and I knew I needed a longer one. I looked for my final one by cross referencing for one of the important ones or more well analyzed compared to the rest. L'italia was the long poem which I read in Italian first. I surprised myself with how much I initially understood and I looked up the meaning for some of the more intricate vocabulary in the Italian language. Then I read it in English. I realized that things in your own language seem less original or appealing. It's may be common with most people as we are stimulated by things that are new or different. That may just be human nature working with my thought processes. I learned a lot about Giacomo as a person from this poem. He lived a lonely life, yet he was very patriotic because the love for his country was the only love he could ever encounter during his life. His parents were cruel and practically neglects him and his siblings in patently ways. He was at war every day with his health and he would not let that bother him. He would die for his country if he needed to. This poem also show boated his classical knowledge as he mastered Latin, Greek, and somewhat Hebrew as a young adult. I admired L'Italia and the symbolism and passion behind Giacomo.

My Poet

When the list of poets came out for who we could choose to write about for our quarter three essay, I was probably one of few people that didn't have the slightest clue who to pick before looking at the list. As I scanned through the long list of names I had never heard, I came across Giacomo Leopardi. I was sold. I had not heard about him until then, but the Italian name was more than enough to grab my interest. AP Italian is one of my courses this year so I thought that choosing Giacomo Leopardi would teach me a lot of things that benefit me in both classes. I figured he must be very important in Italy since he was on the list so it would be possible that I would come across his name learning about culture. I also assumed his original poems would have been in Italian and translated into English. Good news is... I was right. I couldn't wait to read his poems in both languages and compare them which I originally thought would be the main focus for my paper. The first thing I did when I chose him was just google his name to see what would come up. I saw he lived during the late 1700s and early 1800s and had a declining health as he got older which fascinated me. It was certainly unfortunate, but because of his health decline he had a different perspective on life and accomplished great feats in his work. I'm not usually excited to write papers even though I like to write, but I didn't think this one would cause any issues for me. His poems were something I didn't mind reading when I got to them.

I found my reason

I was preparing myself to write my AP Bio term paper, then I remember I need a book source. Well luckily I chose the topic I had a primary resource for. I chose to write about colon cancer because my mom had twice. Beat it twice more impoartantly. So it was pretty easy for me to ask my mom if she had any books that might help me write my paper, She handed me A Reason for Hope by Michael S. Barry. There was no chance of me reading the book just to see what I could learn for my paper which is due in a few hours, but I skimmed through and checked through the table of contents.

When Will I Catch Fire?

HUNGER GAMES. Part II.
Well... I read the first book then saw the movie. Now? Reading the second book! It's been about 6 months since I've read the first book but I've finally tried to get the second one started a little bit. I haven't gotten too far because I've had a lot going on recently. I started reading because I got that craving to read it almost like if people were to constantly talk about a food and then I would eventually want it... It's a bit like that. Rumors of the movie for Catching Fire have sporadically popped up and some of the girls I work with have been talking about the series as well. In fact, one girl I work with started to reread the entire series everytime she went on break so we often talk about it at work.

Boy Willie

The Piano Lesson was a decent film in my opinion. I saw it in my AP Literature class as the film would give me life and understanding than the play itself. Charles S. Dutton from Gothika and Secret Window played Boy Willie. Loud, obnoxious, selfish, but funny at the same time.

The Hobbit

I may have committed the Cardinal Sin for avid readers. I watched a movie before reading the book. I know what you're thinking... HOW COULD YOU DO SUCH A THING?! Well i must say, The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien will certainly be on my to do list for reading when I get the chance, along with the rest of the Lord of the Rings books.

"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.