Thursday, April 24, 2014

5 10 and 50 years from now

Five years from now I don't see a whole lot changing in landscape however I think by then our resources will be almost gone because no one uses moderation any more. Oil will probably run out, the Earth's ozone layer will be more messed up and I am sure more violence and riots will ensue. I definitely think stupidity will rise because like the movie says all the stupid people have a shit ton of kids and because of that smart people don't because lets face it the stupid will rub off them. Parents let kids talk back to them, they cuss up a storm and even worse when I am on duty at my job I have to baby sit because parents just let their kids run ramped through the store. Honestly I see more of a Hunger Games theme going on in the near future. Where we get separated by how rich or poor we are. States are already making talks of separating from the union so I would imagine we would be living a life style like the civil war times. I would imagine that all the past fashions would become popular again (because thus far thats what happens) except instead of wearing shit like YOLO and Swag they will probably be wearing some other stupid abbreviation.

I will hopefully own my own business and give more than I receive. There are tons of foundations out there and causes that I myself have lived through that need help. I am a cosmetologist and a photographer so that is what my business would consist of and a coffee/bakery shop next door for my mom so she is taken care of. I don't think I will be married because I am too ambitious and because I am constantly moving forward it just never seems to stick with anyone but I am sure I will have a boyfriend. I won't have kids due to my outlook stated in the above paragraph. I bet my best friend and I will get a reality tv show because everyone will love us and we will either live together or really close. 

I doubt much will happen with entertainment, however Korea is very advanced in their technology that I am sure it will spread. Cure for cancer or HIV will never be made at least not announced publicly because too many people would lose their jobs. 

Hopefully in 50 years I will be dead.   

Thursday, April 17, 2014

week 13

This week we read Aquatic Uncle in class, for the last week I have been trying to understand what you meant by written in a genre or with elements of a genre and after reading this story I understand what you mean. For this particular story I felt like this was a mix between a sci fi and a fantasy story, which I actually prefer reading over straight sci fi. I especially liked this story because even though it didn't go too much into detail about the characters I can totally get a read of who they are by the way they interact with each other and what they say which I didn't get from the reading last week. I found the relationship between the great uncle and the boy very relatable because I feel like I have that kind of relationship with my grandparents because we grew up in different times we don't always see eye to eye. Because of that relation to the story I really enjoyed it.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

week 12

We read Bloodchild in class and I feel like it wasn't bad but I didn't I didn't walk away wanting to read it again or read more. I have read short stories with more description with their characters and descriptions as well. For me I am very empathetic and I just couldn't understand the characters at all. Not saying she is a bad author or her story wasn't good because the reproduction scene was really well written but I just prefer to make a connection with the characters.

Sunday, March 30, 2014

week 11

I found this week's choice very interesting. The piece I chose to read was Snow Crash which was really interesting to me because it was surrounded by the advancement of technology and the entire universe even the characters were run by it. I also loved the movie choice this week, the visuals were so awesome and I love the transition of the worlds or situations. It was so inventive how the artists and the director came up with such beautiful alternate universes and even though they are beautiful it's almost like they are scary as well, like when the man is in the elevator with the young girl and then he gets stuck on the 17th floor, or the dolls on the parade float or even the fairy almost getting caught by the tree limbs. It's just a really awesome balance I think and really innovative.

Saturday, March 29, 2014

week 10

I feel like week 9 and week 10 have a lot of similarities as far as the type of style this topic is. I decided to focus on Dune this week which as I have just stated I find very similar rather than different than last week. I found a lot of anthropological type fiction. It is very in-depth as far as worlds, governments and economics go. for example the spice planet where people gather up the spice needed to uphold the economy and the people who live there adapt with the environment and one of those ways is their eyes change. I think of it as a very advanced version of the world today in the setting of other worlds.

Friday, March 28, 2014

Week 9

I read Stars by Destination for this weeks assignment and I find a somewhat common theme to these science fiction novels about space life and futuristic realities. One of which is political and economic governments of different planets or ships which I make a connection with the differences in the economics and politics of the world we live in now. It's almost like an anthropological advancement in the species, taking knowledge of present time and pushing the boundaries to evolve it in a way where it could happen that universe. Another thing that is very aware in these stories are good verses evil. Especially in Star Wars where Luke spends a lot of his life being good and learning the right way of things and wanting to defeat "the dark side" then come to find out he is of the dark side. In this particular example good and evil are defined by color especially in their weapons. I guess in a way they are trying to condition people to choose a side and know the consequences weather good or bad that come with that decision, which a lot of people might find helpful in their moral compassing strategies.

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Mythic Fiction

This week I read Ananzi Boys by Neil Gaiman and I have also read the Sandman graphic novels too. I love his writing style because he has such a sense of humor that's subtle but noticeable. I find myself laughing throughout his books that I read. Any way I liked Ananzi Boys however I wish that I would have picked a different story to read for this week because this book was taking place in the real world and I guess I wanted to read something a little less familiar. Since I have read the Sandman books I would rather talk about that because I thought it was so unique to recreate the mythological stand points of several different myths. There was some Greek mythos and I also recognized Thor and Loki being in the midst of this series which is Norse mythos. One example of recreating a myth is the Thor and Loki example. Loki is portrayed in this story as a bad guy I mean it's stated that he is a trickster but the way he talks and what he does goes beyond basic trickery. I also found it really interesting the way they were drawn and designed for this project. I think next year or maybe in a year further down the road you should offer that as a reading choice for one of the weeks.

Friday, February 28, 2014

Spiritual Education

I was never really read books like this however I did watch a few of the Harry Potter movies and I see how magical this type of book is. First of in books like Harry Potter or The Night Circus you go into this fanciful world where really crazy and awesome things happen and kids totally dig it because authors who write this genre I feel are bringing out their inner child and just as an example with the Harry Potter books when you in a way grow with Harry Potter through the books you can go back to that magical childhood moment you experienced with him in the first book. As far as the book for this week Night Circus it has a few of the same components as Harry Potter like the girl Celia has an abusive upbringing but I see a big difference in the magic of this book. It isn't so much like witchcraft but an advanced illusion. I guess that would be my best way of explaining it. But regardless this genre of books appeals to children (even inner children) and gives us all a chance to experience magic.

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Heroic Journey

Tolkien's stories The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings is perfect for this segment of class. I have been a huge fan of his work for many years and the thing I like most about his stories is that even though there is a main character who is a hero that hero doesn't succeed without a support system or a group of friends to help guide the hero through (in this case) his adventure. What I really like about this series of his is that it is so in depth and it focuses on relationships between characters. For example the relationship between the dwarfs at the dinner scene and they are all just gathering together and having a good time and then as they are making fun of Bilbow they are all singing about destroying his house and it just goes to show how loyal they are to each other and their friendship can withstand distance and   time to pull through for each other and that is how it is with all relationships built through his books so I think that speaks a lot about his character and that is why I enjoy his work.

Witches

I found this story very interesting, and in response to weather I see any stereotypes I did see a few however I feel like this story is way different than I had expected. I think the fact it's a group of old women is a stereotype but at the same time these women were completely average everyday old bitties. Something I thought was an interesting twist was the all the animal morphing. I can see how that is connected with witches and witches produce magic but I wasn't expecting that as a witchcraft. This is definitely kid friendly the witches aren't particularly scary like in the movie we watched Suspiria where there was a clan and the witch was scary and ugly. In fact most witches in the older films were portrayed as old, ugly and scary and I feel like movie makers made a point of that because back then witchcraft was something feared and unaccepted and now there are all kinds of different witches. Men, women, young, old and in all actuality anyone can practice witchcraft.

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Weird Horror

I find that weird horror is just plain weird, which does kind of state the obvious but I can elaborate on that one. I had seen American Psycho a few weeks ago and it fell under your weird horror category and I totally get that because this movie was just plain weird. I feel like it was a joke in a way which I can also connect with cabin in the woods. I feel like weird horror has a twist of humor about the way horror films are made. They use cliches to make statements about how unrealistic horror films can be and over exaggerate the relationships between characters and settings but its executed in a way that makes a great horror film but also shows that its made for movies and not real life and give the audience a sense of security in the horror.

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Japanese Horror

I would like to begin with this type of horror that we covered this week blows America's horror right out of the water. I spend a lot of time watching horror films (and mostly to empathize with the killer because there is usually a reason as to why they are killers and that is especially the case in this horror). The second film we saw in class and Audition was scary to me and that says a lot. I feel like Audition was a very psychological film and I really do feel bad for the girl no matter how psychotic she is. Not saying that's how you should respond when your love life goes wrong but I can still level with her. Another thing about this movie is that I couldn't tell what was real and what wasn't. I couldn't tell if maybe he dreamed the whole thing up or if she really annihilated him and he was dreaming about dreaming about her annihilating him (which would cross into inception territory) but regardless it was a very good film that kept my attention the whole time guessing what would happen next and questioning what was real and what wasn't. Another connection I made (as far as ghost and spirit stories go) is I kind of feel like people want to put a face to tragic things. It's like the question why would bad things happen to good people but these ghost stories kind of give a persona to why. Like the Greeks when they created their gods and demigods. When ships wrecked at sea the Greeks created Poseidon in the Snow Woman they created a female spirit to explain why people froze to death in a snow storm (or at least in that film).

Vampires

I love vampires, I love old style, new style and the evolution between it all. To me a vampire is the ultimate "bad boy" and for most females that is very attractive and seductive and I feel like that's a main portion of what makes vampires so popular. The lust factor between a vampire and the person they are seducing is very intriguing to people and as that has progressed vampires have become these lust symbols but also in newer generations they have adapted ways to still have their humanity. In the example of interview with a vampire Lewis tried to hold on to as much humanity as possible by eating animals rather than killing innocent people and in newer things like The Vampire Diaries and Twilight that is the "definer" of their humanity where as in older versions they don't they just drink people's blood. I am a huge fan of The Lost Boys and I find that a very interesting movie because they stick pretty close to the original vampire rules or myths but vampires are seen as damned souls and The Lost Boys has a lot of biblical and religious points in the movie. One of my favorite examples of this is when Michael asks "Where is Star, David?" (as in the star of David).

Gothic Post

When I think of gothic I think of dark, cool color pallets, I think of tragedy (in most gothic films or stories there is a line of tragedy flowing through the story) I think of large towering castles and cathedrals. In my generation I feel like the sense of gothic was in a "clique" I saw at high school. They wore trip pants painted their nails black, all they wore was black, had long dyed black hair and the majority drank and did drugs. Also I think it started carrying into cartoons and shoes such as Invader Zim, Elvira, or even the recent movies made of The Adams Family but as the years went on and the gothic genre grew they added some comedy. But something prominent about the gothic genre is a love tension. A thin line between lust and love and weather its feasible to enter into that relationship. One of my favorite versions of Frankenstein has Robert De Niro as the monster and it is a perfect fit for what I see as a Gothic film. The tragedy would be the relationship between creator and the created or in this case the lack there of. Also the night Frankenstein's wife dies at the hand of his creation which would then cause him to bring her back to life and she was so disgusted she then destroyed herself. It's all about love and the lack of such for the first creation (even though he has sense of good morals which is why I like this version) and a long line of tragedy.