Reading Post #6 & 7

This week I was able to finish Catching Fire the second book in the Hunger Games series.  I really like this series and plan to read the next book as soon as possible.  With the completion of this book I have finished all of my reading goals for this quarter.  During the quarter, I read 3 different books, I read a literary fiction book, and I finish reading the Hunger Games before I saw the movie.  Overall these goals have made me more of a reader and my total number of pages reading this semester was around 2000.

Reading Post

This week I read another 100 pages of the Catching Fire, the second book in the Hunger Games series.  I really enjoy reading this series and am excited to finish the second book and move on to the third.  My goals for this quarter were to finish 3 books by the end of the semester and right now I am very close to completing my goal.  After reading The Hunger Games, Tale of Two Cities and finishing Catching Fire I will complete all of my reading goals for the quarter.

Reading Post #4

After finishing the Hunger Games during Spring Break, I quickly moved on to the next book in the series, Catching Fire.  I really enjoyed the first one and have been enjoying the second book too.  I am through the first 100 pages and nothing has really happened so far but I am very excited and I have built up a lot of anticipation for the action that will come soon.  Last quarter I had a problem with starting books and then never finishing them, so this quarter one of my goals was to finish 3 books.  Thanks to the Hunger Game series this goal has become a lot easier and I plan to read all three books before the end of school.

Note 2&3

Clip from The Sandlot

        This stunning and patriotic scene from the Sandlot utilizes colorful fireworks and the soothing voice of Ray Charles to express the beauty in a warm summer night in the beggining of July.  As the summer sky turns dark and the fireworks begin the boys of the neighborhood assemble at the baseball field, as if the field was a large magnet pulling the boys towards it.  As the boys play their game they can not help but stare off into the sky as the fireworks continually explode into beautiful colors above their heads.  The selection of red, white and blue fireworks and Ray Charles singing America the Beautiful in the background promotes a very stong sense of patriotism.  The expressions on the boy's faces as they gaze at the fireworks truly embodies the feelings felt on a beautiful summer night.

Poem by Liam Rector Soon the City 

       Liam Rector's direct and matter of fact diction perhaps portrays his feelings towards the boringness and tortures of summer.  Rector opens with a lamnet thought over the loss of spring," Now the pleasant purgatory Of spring is over."  His feelings towards the heat of summer are not very cheerful and he repeats the word humidity many times.  Because of the heat, Rector believes there is nothing to do during summer "And in the avenues Wander restlessly To and fro." Rector's straightforwardness displays his unwelcoming feelings toward summer.

Reading Post #3

For this reading log I read and finished the first Hunger Games.  I read alot more over these two weeks and read over 300 pages during the week before and during spring break.  I got hooked during the car ride down to Florida and I didn't set it down untill I finished it.  This completes my first goal for the quarter and 2 days after I finished the book I went and saw the movie.  I really enjoyed both the book and the movie but honestly I perferred reading the book more, which was the same for others series I have enjoyed like Harry Potter and the Percy Jackson series.

Reading Log

This week I found a copy of the Hunger Games in the etymolgy library and read the first 100 pages.  One of my goals for the quarter is to finish the Hunger Games before I go and see the movie.  Its very hard to keep myself away from the movie theatre when everybody else is talking about it and going to see it but I think I will be able to wait till I finish the book.  So far I have really enjoyed the book and I find the storyline very interesting to me.  Hopefully I will be able to finish the book in a week or two so I can see the movie sometime soon.   

Exercise #3

Book Reviews:
Black Boy White School, Curve ball, Last Dance: Behind the scenes of the Final Four

Contents of a book review
1.) It starts off with a hook in the intro that usually describes the main character and explains the problem that will be addressed in the story
2.) Reviews usually include some partial quotes from the book
3.) Talks about the deeper messages and themes of the book
4.) Talks about the author
5.) Conclusion ends by trying to persuade readers that this is a good book to read

Note 1

My anthology theme is summer and I got this passage from Holes by Louis Sachar.

There is no lake at Camp Green Lake.  There once was a very large lake here, the largest lake in Texas.  That was over a hundred years ago.  Now it is just a dry flat wasteland.  There used to be a town of Green Lake as well.  The town shriveled and dried up along with the lake, and the people who lived there.  During the summer the daytime temperature hovers around ninety-five degrees in the shade- if you can find any shade.  Theres not much shade in a bid dry lake.  The only trees are two old oaks on the eastern edge of the "lake"....

 In the book Holes by Louis Sachar, the author has a straightforward and common diction while also having a choppy almost jerky sentence structure and voice.  The desert setting is described by the author as "just a dry flat wasteland."  Sachar illustrates the barrenness of the desert  "the town shriveled and dried up along with the lake, and the people who lived there."  In this passage Sachar is very straightforward while describing the setting, he even estimates an average temperature to describe the heat "the daytime temperature hovers around ninety-five degrees in the shade."  Sachar's structure of utilizing short sentences gives a feel as if the whole first chapter is just spilling out facts to describe the setting.

Exercise 2

Rule #2 "Cruddy time on a cruddy street" paints a gloomy even crusty town.

Rule #1 Barry comes across as a bitter woman with the constant negative and degrading word diction saying "Roberta was writing the cruddy book of her cruddy life."Rule #4 She informs the reader that she lives “in the cruddiest part of a cruddled-out town in a cruddy state.”
Drop the World had a very good post

Exercise 1

In the excerpt from Cruddy, Lynda Barry diction is plain, repetitive and straightforward.  "Once upon a cruddy time on a cruddy street on the side of a cruddy hill..." the repetitive use of cruddy creates a negative feel for the place she is describing. "...which bubbles up very weird smells that evil genie themselves up through the cruddy dark rain..." in this passage Barry chooses to use vocab that is very elementary, the adjectives suchas weird and dark are very plain. The description of the setting and the characters is also straightforward and gives no feel of poetecism.

Reading Goals

1.) Try to finish reading atleast three books this quarter

2.) Read the Hunger Games before I see the movie

3.) Try to read a book catogorized as literary fiction

Anthology Theme

I think for my anthology project this semester I am going to focus on the theme of summer.  Summer is probably my favorite season and I there are a lot of movies and literature about the season.

I already have a few ideas I could use in my project.  There a ton of different poems about summer on the poetry foundation website.  I am also thinking about using a scene from the sandlot, which is a great summertime movie.

Submission 4 Evaluations

The submision from Vivir, Sonar, Leer is well-written and has a very good analytical arguement.  "The radical range of color schemes, discombobulating object scale, unusual item combination, and drastic angling of geometric shapes combine to form a divine harmony in the middle of a flustering discord."

 Book about a book is also very analytical, " Ryan's artwork, distinct in style and whimsical in ideas, instills a childlike gayness and a twirling bliss in the eyes of all who see it."

These claims were more evalutations than analytical posts

"Tom Friedman is an artist who created a piece entitled "1000 Hours of Staring."  This piece is simply a blank piece of paper upon which Friedman gazed for, as the title suggests, 1000 hours." and  The sonic animation clip created by Versis and Dibiase, which was directed by Ruffmercy check out his other videos!!)." 

Spartan Reader: Linsanity

In the past few weeks Jeremy Lin has transformed himself from a mediocre bench player in the NBA to a starting point guard and a top news story all around the world.  Linsanity has taken the world by storm, and his story has become popular on all news and sports websites.  Grantland an online sports website has six articles just covering this popular story.  Underdogs stories such as Lin's have been very prominent throughout sports history, they create fans and make for unbelievable stories.  The most recent hysteria was Tim Tebow's amazing fourth quarter-comebacks.  Grantland usually has many unorthodox writers that are not alway worried about being politicaly correct make for some very intersting articles with insight as to what drives these hysterias. 

One article discusses his importance in sports and in China.  His popularity has grown everywhere, because of him, people in China have tuned in to watch him play.  His humbling story and attitude make him likable to fans everywhere.  His hobbies are eating junk food and playing video games.  People have begun to really like him because he seems like an ordinary guy instead of a superstar basketball player.  While his story is being covered 24/7 grantland is one very interesting place to learn more about him. 

One of grantlands articles took a different and more pessimistic approach to the Jeremy Lin story.  While most writers are addding fuel to the Lin hysteria and giving his story a Hollywood feel, Amos Barshad wrote an interesting article predicting how the Jeremy Lin show would end.  Some guesses were simple such as a broken leg while others were more complex.  One of his ideas was all the other teams got sick of his populartity and would kind of ally together to shut Jeremy Lin down everytime he played, untill the Knicks had to stop playing him.  Another was that he would go crazy from the sudden populartiy and he would quit playing basketball and move up in the mountains secretly and live the rest of his life in solitude.  The thinking outside of the box creativity in these scenarios was very amusing and interesting to read.

Reading Post

This week of reading was a mizture of several different books.  After finishing my last book I had the problem of being stuck on a waiting list for the next book in the series and not knowing what else to read.  After starting a couple books and stopping after reading a few chapters I went on to the class blog to see what books other people were reading.  I decided to read the Dart League King by Keith Lee Morris because I saw some people reading it and rembered Mr. Hill talking about the book.
The majority of my reading came from the Dart League King where I read about 50 pages.  So far this book has been very interesting and I think Mr. Hill's commercial project he showed in class has made me even more interested in the story.  The details and descriptions the author uses adds to the characterization which makes the characters realistic and relatable to the reader.  The plot is very complex which keeps the story moving and keeps me wanting to read more.  I also like to play darts and enjoy competitions so this book may be the right book for me.

Short List

1.) Linsanity has grabbed the attention of the entire nation and the improbable rise of Jeremy Lin and the success of the Knicks has become a very popular topic right now.  Charles P. Pierce, a writer grantland, did his own interesting take on how Jeremy Lin has become so famous.  I think it would be interesting to write about what powers sports hysterias such as this one.

2.) On It's Nice That, a website mostly about the arts, there is a very interesting story of a women who collected as much stuff as she could in her lifetime.  Her son Song Dong recieved all of her collections when she died and has turned it into somewhat of an art show.  He describes the objects and tells stories about his family during the show and dives deeper into the meanings of some of the objects.  The art show consists of over 10,000 items and is quite extraordinary.

3.) Play the Part is a podcast for This American Life.  It talks about the important roles people play in our society.  There are is one story I found very interesting in this podcast and it was about Louis Ortiz who is a Barack Obama impersonator.  Ortiz had lost his job and was very poor, but one day while Obama was still a presidential candidate his friend noticed how closely Ortiz looked like him.  Now there is a documentary being done about Ortiz and his life has completely changed.

Podcast Resonse: Music Lessons

In the Amercan Life Podcast, "Music Lessons" there were two stories that really contrasted each other.  The story of Durell who was a former professional musician and now a frustrated music teacher and the story of David Sedaris who is forced to play music because of his parents, were polar opposites in their views of music.  Durell was a professional musician and toured all over the world, and he really appreciates music and takes it very seriously.  He becomes frustrated because his students do not take it as seriously as he does, and he finds they don't have an appreciation for music.  Oppositely David is forced to play but doesn't like music.

Durrell takes music very seriously.  He is a professional, making his own CD's and touring around the world, his appreciation for music and instruments are much higher than his students at the ages of 13 or 14.  He talks about the frustration he goes through when he tries to teach kids to play music.  Durrell's schedule was very hectic and he was very discouraged by his classes’ effort and singing, so he threatened to quit teaching or at least cancel their last concert.   But he was encouraged during one of his choir’s last practices and decided to keep teaching.

David Sedaris was a kid whose father was very enthusiastic about listening to music but he never was able to play.  After going to a concert his dad became inspired to make his children into a jazz band group.  He got instruments and signed his kids up for lessons.  David really wanted to be a singer of commercials but his dad wanted him to play the guitar.  After getting a guitar and taking a few lessons David told his father he was done playing and his siblings followed, breaking up the Sedaris Trio.

Although the two stories were very contrasting of one another, they did shares some similarities.  They both felt very frustrated about the situations with music they were in, but both wanted to continue with music just in a different way.  Durrell wanted to make CD’s and make music for a living while David wanted to stop playing guitar and pursue a career in singing commercial slogans.  This podcast was very fascinating and the stories were interesting to anybody who has played an instrument.

 

Podcast Response: Music Lessons

In the Amercan Life Podcast, "Music Lessons" there were two stories that really contrasted each other.  The story of Durell who was a former professional muscician and now a frustrated music teacher and the story of David Sedaris who is forced to play music because of his parents, were polar opposites in their views of music.  Durell was a professional musician and toured all over the world, and he really appreciates music and takes it very seriously.  He becomes frustrated because his students do not take it as seriosly as he does, and he finds they don't have an appreciation for music.  Oppositely David is forced to play but doesn't like music.  These characters are very contrasting and they are very interesting to write about.  

The Lost Hero

This week I finished the Lost Hero by Rick Riordan.  I really enjoyed reading this book, and I am hoping to keep reading the series.  the book ended with quit a big cliffhanger and I am looking forward to reading more.  The author, Rick Riordan, is a very good author and his writing style is full of action.  His books would be classified as popular fiction because his books are action packed but he still does develop his characters very well.
I prefer to read popular fiction books that are adventure or thriller novels because I like to read books that are faster paced.  So while I get used to free reading, I am going to continue to read these types of books that interest me from beginning to end.  This book was based on mythology which I find a very interesting subject.  The author style was very interesting in this book.  the book was divided into three characters and they all had different problems going on.  Throughout the book the author wold drop a couple of hints as to how their problems would work out and finally at the end the stories came together and made for a very good ending.

The Spartan Reader

Precipitados is a series of "theatrical clashes between culture and nature" done by Pablo Genoves.  The artwork done on these is exceptional but the creativity and originality is even better.  All of the pictures in his series are of buildings being overwhelmed by great floods.
First of all the artwork done by Genoves in his collection is done exceptionally well.  The small details in the water and the setting add to the amazing quality of these pieces. The buildings appear to be abandoned but fancy, as if some wealthy man left and forgot about the house and mother nature unleashed a great torrent of water to collect it.
The waves are very intense and furiously flowing around the room, overpowering everything thing in its way. The waves appear to be violent yet they are not destructive or devastating to the objects in the room.  The gate and the statues stand their ground while the water aggressively crashes into and flows around them.  The artist's use of shadows give the waves flow and make the water look 3D.  The black and white pictures and the light coming in through the windows give the art an epic event feel.
Throughout the series of artwork, which include around ten different works, there are similarities and recurring themes the author keeps bringing back.  Each of the rooms are very fancy and the elegant chandeliers and the intricate ceiling designs adds to the beauty of the setting.  The artist made the rooms sophisticated to reinforce the idea that these floods are truly devastating. The use of lighting and the detail used in the waves give his art an apocalyptic feel.

My Short List

1.) Searching for Silver Linings in Indianapolis is an articlce written by Phil Simmons on the always interesting Grantland.com.   "How could THAT happen again? This was like watching one of those lazy movie sequels — like Another 48 Hours, or The Hangover Part II — when they don't have any inventive ideas, so they overpay everyone involved and shoot a script with the same beats. They brought Eli and Brady back. And Coughlin and Belichick. And Welker. And the scary Giants' defensive line... Everyone dressed the same —blue jerseys for the Pats, white and red jerseys for the Giants. Same movie"  This take on the Superbowl is very amusing and the author's witty remarks makes this article appealing to read.

2.) Precipitados is a series of "theatrical clashes between culture and nature" done by Pablo Genoves.  The artwork done on these is exceptional but the creativity and originality is even better.  All of the pictures in his series are of buildings being overwhelmed by great floods.

3.) Fat Cat Art is a type of art where cats are doctored into famous classic pictures.  There is a whole series of paintings like this called Famous Painting Improved by Cats.  I find these pictures to be very humorous and the artists created a very innovative way to improve these already classic masterpieces.

The Spartan Reader

The Gatorade Kids was an advertising campaign done about two years ago promoting Gatorade by taking famous pictures in sports history and reproducing a similar picture using kids.  This is a very interesting and brilliant marketing tactic because is not scoped in on just athletes but the campaign is focused on an audience of a variety of people.  These pictures can bring back good memories to those who remember watching these grand sporting moments as well as promote Gatorade for the youth and inspire young kids to aspire to be great athletes.

These pictures retell the stories of the epic moments in sports history.  Emulating their heroes these kids posed as Muhammad Ali celebrating in an intimidating fashion after knocking out Sonny Liston, dunked while their tongue out with Michael Jordan’s style in or leaped in the air as Pele did during the World Cup Finals.  The re-make photographs still have a vintage feel although being made recently and the replication of the famous Muhammad Ali picture is done exceptionally well.  The lighting gives it a musty classical feel and the setting and props make the reproduction seem real.  This is a very appealing campaign because of the realistic replicas they were able to produce.

Week 5: Top Links

These are some blogs that had some good links to visit

http://flynapmoruge.blogspot.com/

http://lifeisgood.blogspot.com/

http://willkrudop.blogspot.com/

The Lost Hero

This is my second week  reading "The Lost Hero" by Rick Riordan.  I am reading this book because of a recommendation I got from a family member.  And I now that I am over halfway through, I would recommend this book to anybody else that is interested in mythology. Since getting back into free reading about a month ago I am getting better at making time for reading and remembering to do a little reading almost everyday. But this week flew by very fast, and I had a more difficult time getting all my reading in, good thing we had a snow day which helped me catch up.
I have been reading this book for two weeks and have read through the first 300 pages.  The author Rick Riordan has a very unique writing style that I find interesting.  First, he has three main characters and each chapter is titled one of their names.  This division of chapters helps me keep track of each characters story and helps me follow the events throughout the book.  In the book each of the characters has many different conflicts they are dealing with and the author only hints at how they are going to be solved.  There are many cliff-hangers and a lot foreshadowing in the book which keeps  very interesting.  For example Jason one of the three main characters has lost his memory almost completely but he has dreams and can do things he didn't know he could do, like speaking a different language.  The author uses these to give hints of to who Jason really is and as I am getting to the end of the book these hints are starting to come together giving me so idea of who he is.

My Short List

1. Gatorade Kids posted by Will Hudson is a very interesting advertising campaign done by Gatorade.  The campaign includes more kids posing in famous sports pictures throughout history including an imitation of Michael Jordan and another of Pele.  Although the boxer in the picture is only a kid and not Muhamad Ali his facial expressions are still kind of intimidating.

2.  Does God Love the Patriots? an article written by Charles P. Pierce is a very amusing article about how the Patriots got to the Superbowl.  The author's opinions of the game is very entertaining and he uses many witty comments such as this one, "God has decided to cast His lot with the Patriots, just to screw around with the rest of us a little. (He does this kind of thing. This, I believe, also accounts for why there are mosquitoes and why Richard Nixon was elected twice. Your theology may vary.)."

3. Upside Down Faces are paintings done by Darren Coffield.  The artist is very unique and his painting style is very distinctive.  He tries to be the first to expiriment with differnt kinds of art and his originality is inspiring to me.  The faces look very peculiar but besides the fact the face is upside down the artist made the persons features very life-like.   

Blog Stars From Mars

While looking through some of the blogs from our class I noticed some exceptional blogs.  One criteria for becoming a blog star from mars is the creativity of the blog title and the author's name.  The writings in in (http://thedirtyplatypus.blogspot.com/) and (http://flynapmoruge.blogspot.com/) were well written and thoughtful insights towards the subject.  The best post I read about The Dead Poets Society was from http://king-neptune.blogspot.com/ because the author had great details and selected powerful words to describe the scenes.

The Lost Hero

The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan is the first book in a spin off series from Rick Riordan’s original Percy Jackson series.  I had read the first Percy Jackson series in middle school and I really enjoyed them but I stopped reading the series a while ago.  When my brother checked it out from the library and we got a copy for my cousin for Christmas I was reminded of the series and I decided to check Rick Riordan’s books out again.  I am a fan of Greek and Roman mythology and these types of books are appealing to me.  After reading the first 150 pages I am interested in reading more.

The author is very clever and the book is set up very well.  The book follows 3 main characters and each chapter is named after the character it follows for that chapter.  It is a very interesting way to set up a book but it is effective by describing the 3 character’s stories in full detail and it makes sense when reading it.  By dividing the chapters by characters it is easier for me to read and follow along with each person’s events that take place in the book.  The author also uses a lot of dialogue and diction in his writing and it makes his characters seem more personal which enhances his writing.  The dialogue also helps the book flow and keeps the story going.  Another technique Rick Riordan uses is foreshadowing.  He will slip in subtle comments about the future, that will let the reader know what is going to happen soon.   At the end of most chapters he will leave cliff hangers.  Personally I do not like cliff hangers because I want to know what is going to happen next but it keeps me interested and keeps me reading.

Dead Poets Society

In the opening scenes of the Dead Poets Society, the well dressed people and the prestigious appearance of the school depict the school’s determination to education. The young students wearing formal clothing demonstrate the strict and proper attitude towards creating and preserving a good learning environment. The teaching staff appear to be old and wise intellectuals serious and determined to instill proper values in their students. As the kids get set up in their rooms and say goodbye to their parents, the younger kids feel nervous and overwhelmed in the new and rigorous school, while the older students, who have already been molded by the school’s principles, appear to be very mature for their age.

Elements Observation and Claim

Pharrell William's Home

Elements- Design, Setting, Artwork, Furniture

Observations- Animated, Celebratory, Cheerful, Complimentary, Fanciful, Effervescent, Peaceful, Playful, Vibrant, Smooth, Comfortable, Euphoric

Claim- In Todd Shelby’s pictures of Pharrell William’s home in Miami, the design of the house emphasizes the setting, artwork and furniture giving the feeling of being comfortable and luxurious home.  The house is given a vibrant feel, perfectly positioned high in the stunningly light blue sky with a beautiful view of the Miami city and water below.  The use of furniture, such as the chairs and couches outside, bolster the feeling of the home to be relaxed and peaceful.  The artwork of Stewie and Brian from Family Guy suggest the homeowner is young at heart and gives an animated feel to the home.  The colorful and odd-shape sculptures add to the vivacious look.

Quiet Strength

"Quiet Strength" an autobiography by Tony Dungy is a very fascinating and inspiring book for anybody interested in sports.  Through the first 100 pages this book has covered his childhood and family and through his football playing days in high school, college and the NFL.  I found his family to be very interesting.  He grew up with a brother and sister and both his parents were teachers.  His father was a professor and his mother was a grade school teacher.  Because his parents were educators, he was able to realize that he had the potential to do or become anything he wanted, where most of his friends didn’t understand that.  He was a very successful quarterback in high school and college but in the NFL he had a tougher time finding his spot the team.  During a period where he was switching positions and had a chance of being cut from the team he prayed and worked hard every day to get better.   And when he became very sick he found his strength in God.  His first team he played with was the Pittsburgh Steelers he had good relationships with his teammates and I found it remarkable that he and many of his teammates would pray and go to church together.  And also some would read the Bible in the locker room, which I thought was astonishing and not what I expected from professional football players.  His playing career was fairly short but he stressed the importance of the good relationships that he made while playing.  When he retired from football around the age of 25 he had many opportunities to become a coach because of the relationships he built around the league.  This qoute perfectly discribes Tony Dungy's character.  “Tony Dungy’s life is a living testimony of a man’s faith in God.  He has given us a new picture and definition of a ’Coach’.  Good guys do come in first!” –Lovie Smith

Literacy Narrative

The first person to introduce me to reading was my mom.  I remember from a young age my brothers and I would all come together in my brother’s room before we went to bed and my mom would read us short picture book stories or bible stories out of the Little Children’s Bible.  My parents were a big influence on my reading and made sure I grew up an educated kid.  In the car during long trips we would listen to book on tapes.  When I learned how to read, my parents would make sure I read for at least a half an hour in the morning before I watched TV or played videogames.  During my reading time I slept or read books like Where’s Waldo or the Guinness Book of World Record.  I have never really liked reading in my free time and for the most part the only books I freely read were the Harry Potter books, sports illustrated magazines and the Hardy Boys series.  By the time I was in middle school I was already forced to read many books for school and I mostly gave up free reading during the school year.  During the summer I would participate in the Library’s summer reading program and I would read fairly often and for the most part I liked reading mystery or action books.  In both Middle School and High School I did not read books much outside of school.  I was interested in mystery books and I liked too read about my favorite athletes such as LeBron James, Peyton Manning and Michael Jordan.  Reading has been a small factor in my life because of school, but outside of school it has been fairly small.  Hopefully I will be able to learn to like reading while taking this class.