ED IN THE SHED

HI

2008-05-28T05:06:00.000-07:00

HI

Over break, I saw my friends quite a few times. I also watched some of my favorite movies on Tuesday, Ciitzen Kane and Raging Bull. They are old movies in black and white, but they are some real goodies. I also got a substantial amount of music while lounging around on Tuesday, dreading going back to school the next day. That's pretty much a general explanation of my break.

2008-05-15T04:42:00.000-07:00

Cornell Notes for Sources

TITLE:
AUTHOR:
YEAR PUBLISHED:

Main Idea #1: Equality

Summary: The word equal in Animal Farm is a large contradiction in Animal Farm.

Quote: In this reading the pigs want less equality, not more; being "more equal" means that you belong to the common herd, not the elite.

Question: Did Orwell intend to make the commandments very confusing and difficult to understand?

Main Idea #2: The characters in Animal Farm connect to the world

Summary: Orwell found the perfect metaphor of Eastern Europe ongoing fights.

Quote: The men who come to deal with the ruling pigs, Pilkington from capitalist England and Frederick from Nazi Germany, commiserate with the pigs: "You have your lower animals and we have our lower classes."

Question:

Main Idea #3:

Summary:

Quote:

Question:

How will this source help you write your paper?

2008-05-01T05:37:00.001-07:00

The main difference between a research paper and an essay is the topic of discussion. An essay usually talks about the importance of a novel. A research paper usually talks about real life. These two can be connected quite well to make a very strong point. Showing that a major theme in a novel is true in real life is probably the best thing possible for a well written essay. For example, in my first topic I talked about how sibling feuds were a major theme of the novel. I did not incorporate any research and only used a quote from the book. In my second essay, I talked about the theme of sibling feuds in real life. I used an actual research paper, and then I tied it to the book.

2008-05-01T05:34:00.000-07:00

In the book, many themes and motifs pop up right from the start. One theme that has been mentioned is the protagonists large family that is full of personality. On page 36 it states, “Frank was witty, charming, at smiling ease with his life and everything in it.” As the narrator describes his family, it seems like the majority of his family are kindhearted people. However, his grandfather is later described as a power hungry sheriff who always wanted to have control over the town. The grandfather used his son as a tool to keep power over the town even though he was not the sheriff. The protagonist could turn out to be more like his grandfather and less like his father. He is already thinking revolutionary ideas of escaping town life and living life in the fast lane. David Hayden also seems to know quite a bit about guns, the tool of violence.

According to the research, one of the tactics used to avoid sibling rivalry is to go your own way. I think David Hayden does not want to follow his family in the line of town life. He wants to do something his family is not interested in. He also talks about how he does not know how to behave as a civil person. He looks at people to try and find the “secret” behind being a good mannered, normal person. I think David wants to just be himself, as he wants to be and not behave like the other people in his town. He has stated he does not know how town life works and he wants to escape. I thought this was similar to Catcher in the Rye in the sense of phonies. David does not want to be a town phony and behave a certain way around other people.

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2008-04-29T05:42:00.001-07:00

Weekly, Publishers. “Sundown, Yellow Moon.” Rev. of Sundown, Yellow Moon. Publishers Weekly 2007: 31.

This article talks about the book Sundown, Yellow Moon by Larry Watson. It is written by Publisher Weekly, a very highly respected review magazine. The author talks about the main character. His father’s best friend shoots a senator and then hangs himself. The author talks about the important symbol of cigarettes in the novel. Nearly every character has a bad habit of smoking cigarettes. I thought this was similar the guns that are constantly being mentioned in Larry’s other novel, Montana 1948. Both books take place in older times, and violence seems to be an important factor of both books. The author makes a good summary/‌synopsis of the book for interested readers. I have gathered the main points of the book simply by reading this short paragraph.

2008-04-17T18:46:00.001-07:00

Guilt is a strange feeling if you think about it. You got away with the crime, and you will most likely suffer terrible consequences for getting caught. However, you feel the need to turn yourself in. Why do we feel guilt? One of my favorite examples of guilt is a work of Edgar Allen Poe. Most of you have probably heard of it, it is called The Tell Tale Heart. It is about a man who perfectly executes a plan to kill an old man with an eye he cannot stand. He executes his plan flawlessly, and he even fools the police officers who came to investigate the scene. He hears a weird ticking noise that gets louder in louder as the Police sit in his house, talking with each other. He eventually loses his mind and confesses to the police officers that he hid the body parts under the floorboards.

In a teenager's life, guilt can be a huge factor. Sometimes lying to your parents can seem like an awful deed. Our parents do a great deal of things to support us. They pay for us, care about us, and they protect us from the dangers of life. And teenagers lie to their parents non stop about a great deal of many things. However, parents sometimes forget the fact that we are young adults and it is only natural for us to explore in different ways, and I'm sure a lot of our parents have done their share of "bad deeds".

Guilt is also a large theme in Macbeth. Lady Macbeth kills herself because she was behind the corruption of Macbeth. He used to be a nice, great guy before his wife made him go crazy. Guilt was the root of the entire plot in Macbeth if you think about it. And in the end, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth both die and things go back to normal. You can start to see the guilt of Macbeth second after he kills Duncan. When he knows what is he up against, he states he wishes Duncan was back alive shortly after his death. It seems truly unrealistic that nobody suspects Macbeth until later in the play. He said that he killed the guards of Duncan but not Duncan himself? Why would he be at the crime scene?

2008-04-09T17:25:00.000-07:00

Feminism is one of the longest standing political topics of our time. Feminism began in America as soon as the Union was formed. Feminists like Susan B. Anthony thought women should have the right to vote and be independent. I found this website of feminist quotes. Susan B. Anthony makes a very interesting point, "It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the Union." Points like these are undeniable arguments towards Feminism. I believe that men and women should be pretty equal, but there has to be some biological limit. After all, the point of the women is to stay behind while the man does the physical bodily work. Many women such as Susan B. Anthony are strong role models for women. And of course, other women like Paris Hilton are horrible role models. A women who does not work thinks men should be politically equal to women. Many women believe that Feminism is undeniably true. A quote from Rita Mae Brown, "Any woman whose I.Q. hovers above her body temperature must be a feminist." I find that comment quite offensive, but the quote could have been said a hundred years ago. Women DO have a lot of power in today's society. Hillary Clinton is quite close to becoming president of the United States. The most powerful leader of the most powerful country could be a woman. Feminism is of course a huge theme in the play, Macbeth. The idea of Feminism is almost flipped in the play. The women call the shots. However, my definition of Feminism is the equality of men and women. Lady Macbeth is clearly not equal to Macbeth in terms of respect in any way. Lady Macbeth is a terrible role model. Feminism should not mean that women should use men as puppets to get what they want.

Stalin

2008-04-02T19:13:00.000-07:00

One of the many great figures in history was Joseph Stalin. Before he took complete power over Russia, Stalin was a war hero. He held strong in his beliefs against the Russian Tsar, and he fought valiantly in battle for his country. After the war, he formed a political party with Lenin known as the Bolsheviks. Years went on, and Lenin eventually died. One of Lenin’s advisors, Leon Trotsky, began to lose a lot of political support. Stalin saw Trotsky as an obstacle for him to secure full power. He leaked some of his anti-revolutionary beliefs to the press. He made sure he lost almost all of his support, and Stalin hired a hit man to kill him. Killing your political opponent was seen as a terrible deed by historians. Macbeth and Stalin are similar cases. They both had respectable pasts, and they committed crimes that they should under no circumstances have done. There was no reason for Macbeth or Stalin to change their morals so quickly. Macbeth should not have killed King Duncan and Stalin should not have become power hungry. Both of these individuals were heroes and looked up to before their decline. Macbeth is already showing his darker side by lying to the King’s sons and Macduff. As we know already, Stalin kept going and assumed full control of the Soviet Union. In Macbeth, Macbeth’s reasoning almost makes him look like a complete idiot. Without any hesitation or double-thinking, Lady Macbeth manipulated her husband. It took only a few lines to change Macbeth’s views on Duncan, and Stalin went from war hero to dictator with no reasoning whatsoever.

The Seminar

2008-04-01T19:14:00.000-07:00

In the Saxocratic Seminar today, many interesting ideas from the book were discussed. The main "mother" point of all the points that were brought up was the power of women. You cannot deny that Shakespeare intended the theme of women. One way to think of it is like this: The women are mentally strong, and the men are physically strong, so the women are being the minds of the men and the men are being the bodies of the women. Shakespeare most likely thought that our society was based on this or would be based on this in the future. I agree that this play connects more with Julius Caesar than with Romeo and Juliet. However, all three plays are packed with intense dramatic irony. It is funny that Shakespeare wrote a play on Julius Caesar's story. His death is one giant example of dramatic irony, and it is also very similar to Romeo and Juliet. At the end of Romeo and Juliet, Romeo kills himself seconds before Juliet awakes form her unconsciousness. This is possibly the most tragic incident of dramatic irony in any of his plays. If Romeo was told that she faked or death or if he arrived a few minutes later, they would have lived happily ever after. I still do not understand the full significance of the witches. Will they reappear? All they have said is but a few lines. I am also wondering if Macbeth will kill Duncan's two sons to become the King of Scotland. Clearly, one of the above will probably happen. We are only about half way through the book, and Shakespeare's plays always end in tragedies.

No Country For Old Men

2008-03-26T17:49:00.000-07:00

In the recent movie, No Country For Old Men, the beginning foreshadows the rest of the movie. It starts off with a very tough looking westerner, trying to take down a deer. The movie also has no soundtrack, giving the beginning a very dark mood. The beginning takes place in the desert, which also gives the movie a very intense mood. The main character then stumbles upon a drug deal gone bad, and the tragedy starts right in the beginning. He finds many dead bodies and shot out cars. Based on this introduction, you can tell that things are just going to go downhill from here. Based on the picture above, you can already see the darkness of the movie unfold. Notice the police car, the strange looking man carrying a strange weapon, and the emptiness of the shot . In the book we have been reading, Macbeth, many themes and motifs have already popped up. One of the main themes seems to be the power of women in the book. The first scene is of the three witches, who seem to have the power to read the future. It is later revealed that the witches have beards, physically showing that the women in Macbeth are the men in real life. Here is an article that deeply explains the power of the witches in Macbeth. We have also recently learned of Macbeth's week, Lady Macbeth, who seems to be a very dark character. She even tells her own husband that he is too nice to be king. From what we have read, it seems like the women are going to control what happens throughout the book. The witches have already brainwashed Macbeth to think he will become King. Lady Macbeth even stated that she is going to try to darken up her husband so that he will be a fierce leader. In the first few lines of the book, it is already obvious that the book is full of Hillary Clintons. You can read the first few lines here. The Witches talks about meeting Macbeth. They also state they will meet again "When the battle's lost and won." This clearly foreshadows that the Witches are going to cook up something bad in the play.

P.S. - Ignore the email I wrote you, I finally got my links to work

Ronald in all his glory

2008-03-18T05:27:00.000-07:00