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Showing posts from July, 2011

Life in a Day Documentary

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I have not seen this film yet. All I've seen in a trailer for the film and also a little blurb in the Sunday paper. However, from what I have seen and read, it sounds brilliant. It looks heartwarming and funny. I'm sure there are some heart wrenching things in the film as well. I love the concept of telling the story of a day. To have the main character as a thing, as time, is just brilliant. The whole film celebrates humanity and how richly full the world's life is. It makes every insignificant moment feel it truly matters. The promo video makes me feel connected to humanity and appreciate the world we live in. It makes the world appear more beautiful, brilliant, and vibrant than I could ever imagine.    Even though this is a documentary, there is a distinct story to this piece. There appears to be a beginning, a middle, and an end. I will assume the film starts out with the day and ends with the night, but that's beside the point. I will also assume it starts with a

The Book Blurb

Inspiration can come from anywhere or from anyone. Some might find inspiration in art or music, while others might find inspiration in people. For those who get their inspiration from people, just want a novel to read that isn’t for class credit, or just enjoy reading memoirs, than Erin Zammett’s novel, My (So-Called) Normal Life is wonderful choice.             She is a witty, passionate young woman who is just twenty-three. Her wit and passion shines through her words in this nitty, gritty and truthful novel about her life with cancer. Zammett is rarely down in the mouth about her life or her cancer nor does she have any major pity parties because of what she has been dealt. She takes a lighthearted as well as a very real approach to what she has.             Yes, she has cancer. Yes, she has to take medicine. But, no, she does not let the cancer or the medicine stop her. She lives her life to the fullest. Zammett is an editor at Glamour Magazine as well as an advocate for cancer

Shakespeare's Time

History is not just the events that took place; it’s the written account of what happened. Writers often put their own spin on the past, be it for political reasons or personal ones. Shakespeare isn’t excluded from the history altering group. His reason for tweaking history was to appease Queen Elizabeth I and then King James I, whom both he served. There are several plays in which this “tweaking” is obvious. On such altered account is in The Tragedy of Richard III . Shakespeare crafted Henry VII, Elizabeth I’s grandfather, to be a hero by killing Richard III and ending the War of the Roses between the house of York and house of Lancaster. Shakespeare was trying to show that the Tudor family, Elizabeth’s lineage, was powerful, as well as protectors of the innocent, therefore appeasing Queen Elizabeth.             Richard III wasn’t the best leader, although he was not the barbaric man portrayed in The Tragedy of Richard III . He probably did murder the Princes of the Tower (Richard,

The Tea Party.

Here is something different. This is my take on Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. “Where am I,” wauled the babe tersely. In the dark, her eyes shined with unshed tears. “I liked where I was. It was nice and warm.” She toddled forward with an unsteady walk. “Can anyone tell me? Tell me? Tell me?” “Oh, oh, oh, dear Alice, you are at the tea party,” exclaimed Hatter Mad. He slapped his gloved hands together as a opossum smile crept over his mouth. “And here you will stay until the end of dazzling days.” With a wave of his hand, the clearing was no longer dim. “Then to the white, wonderful wispy skies of Heaven.” “But, what if I don’t like tea?” demanded the minor. She stared crossly at the mountainously tall man. He smiled at her as tea cups rained down Atop the lengthy table which was decked desirably. “What then?” “You don’t like tasty, translucent tea? Oh, well swell,” sighed Hatter Mad. He stared at the trees hued in emeralds and majentas Where a corpulent ca

Who is McMurphy?

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            Ken Kesey’s book One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a book that had a message to convey. This message is that people are trying to stifle us – to make us robots. There are many characters in Kesey’s book who are at first submissive to the world around, but in the end they begin to fight “the system,” and the world sees these people as crazy. In the beginning of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest , Chief, the narrator of this tale, knows that the world is trying to make the non-conformists kowtow. He tries to fight it, but Chief does not know how to go about rebelling (Kesey, 2002, pp. 3-8) until Randle Patrick McMurphy shows up. McMurphy is a gambler, loves intimacy, a good drink and freedom. He believes that the world is wrong to make people submit, and McMurphy is not going to stand for it. Randle Patrick McMurphy is a man who is an individual in the way he thinks and acts.             Who exactly is McMurphy? Kesey’s book gives the reader a glimpse into who this char