Q3 Blog #8

For this blog post we had the option of switching the culture and Bollywood blogs. So I decided to do the bollywood blog and talk about Bride and Prejudice. So far it has been pretty interesting. I have not really enjoyed any of the recent musical numbers, but the first two were very entertaining. And that is just it, that is what bollywood movies are, entertaining. They are created just to entertain you while you pass the time. They don't really send any deep messages, and they certainly don't make you think. They just play on basic human characteristics like curiousity and our love for drama to keep us entertained. Also there is a certain comfort in knowing exactly what you can excpect from a bollywood movie. You know there is going to be musical numbers, love triangles, comedy, and drama. Overall Bollywood movies are fun, but don't really mean anything.

Q3 Blog #7

This outside reading had to be about change, so I decided to write about the book that I am reading. I am reading Diary by Chuck Palahniuk, which I talked about last time. In the book there is much change mostly centered around the island. The island used to be a beautiful secluded place which was only inhabited by the native families. Now in the novel the mainland shoreline is being highly developed so now the island is densily packed withrich tourists buying summer homes. It is much like the village in Nectar in a Sieve, where it is secluded and only an indian village. After the tannery is built it becomes a crowded town with both indian's and white people. Both of these novels shows the effects that outside sources can have on otherwise undiscovered places. Both of the places changed greatly when they were touched by their outside forces.

Q3 Blog #6

For this outside reading we were supposed to find a text relating to hope. So I decided to write about the current book that I am reading. It is call Diary by Chuck Palahniuk. It is about a woman who was going to be an artist but then got married, and had a child. Her husband then tried to kill himself and is now in a coma. She is just now (which is about 130 pages into the book) getting back into art. Up until now hope has not been a central theme, but instead the lack there of. Now hope has begun to show itself in the form of Misty (the main character) picking painting back up. Although her health is diminishing she feels perfectly well while painting. Also they have become very poor, but she is already getting large offers of money for her paintings. Oddly though she is not selling them because she says that they are her clues to a larger picture so she needs to keep them for her greatest work. This kind of confuses me, but hopefuly it will turn out in a really crazy interesting Palahniuk style twist.

Palahniuk, Chuck. Diary. New York, NY. Anchor Books. 2003.

Q3 Blog #5

This outside reading was supposed to be about religion in some way shape or form. I decided to talk about an article I read about the movie Religulous. The article was from the Rolling Stone website. It said that Religulous was very funny but also took a very serious stance on questioning the blind faith of many people within every religion. The film tries to expose this blind faith as dangerous, because it can spark conflict such as wars. This of course is a perfectly valid point, one need only look back on history to prove it. From the crusades to the French wars of religion to much of the conflict in the middle east (although certainly not all of it, because a large part of that is our fault) organized religion has been a large source of bigotry, hatred, and war. I plan on renting the film so that I can see in full what it has to say.

"Religulous." Rolling Stone. Fecruary 15 2009. .

Q3 Blog #4

For this outside reading which was about gender roles I read Declaration of the Rights of Women by Olympe de Gouge written 1791, during the enlightenment. It was a response to Declaration of the Rights of Man written during the same time. An obvious reason for the response was of course the obvious wording of Man. The author did actually mean these rights were mostly just for men. De Gouge called for reform to Rousseau's idea of "separate spheres" for men and women, which was widely excepted. This idea said that the only area in which women were superior or even equal was emotion. De Gouge of course had reason to complain, for as is now accepted women are equal in all aspects to men. One right that De Gouge calls for is the right to divorce your husband. A right that had been previously denied, and was causing many women to be shackled to abusive husbands. The gender roles of the enlightenment were clearly very different from that of ours today.

"De Gouge, Olympe." Modern History Sourcebook. February 10 2009. August 1997.

Q3 Blog #3

This outside reading was supposed to be about any aspect of a culture different from your own. So I read a book with a bunch of Irish jokes, stories, and proverbs. The book had a bunch of pretty witty jokes. For example one features a man who wears a pair of not matching socks, when questioned about them he says that he has a pair just like them at home. There are also a bunch of great stories, many of which have to do with the different fairies. Most of the fairies are very mischievous much like Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream. The stories in the book describe a rich Irish culture centered around much folklore. This can be proven by the example of the Irish language, or Gaelic. Irish is a beautiful language which is made to flow seamlessly while telling stories. The book certainly describes this type of language.

Q3 Blog #2

This blog is supposed to be about someone overcoming struggle or facing a difficulty so I decided to write about the book Diary difficulty. Her husband tried to kill himself but instead put himself into a coma. She now has to pay his hospital bills. She is a forty year old by Chuck Palahniuk. In the story the main character faces muchalcoholic who works as a waitress. She has to support her daughter and mother-in-law. On top of it she finds out that her carpenter husband was writing threatening messages in closed off rooms in the houses that he remodeled. It is clear that she faces many difficulties. So far she has not been able to solve these problems. Her mother-in-law believes that if she starts to paint again she can earn a lot of money. She on the other hand does not believe this. The author shows that the main character has given up all hope while facing her problems, she is content to never recognize her dreams of painting. She is okay with her job which she hates. I believe that later she will be inspired to paint again and overcome her struggles.

Quarter #3 Outside Reading #1

This outside reading was supposed to be about natural disasters, so I've decided to talk about the ice storms in Kentucky, Arkansas, and Tennessee. The article I read mainly focuses on faith based orginizations providing relief. I didn't particularly like the article. I don't think it was terribly informative. It didn't really seem to talk too much about the actual storms, and instead about the relief. All it said was that they were the worst in history, and that many people are without power. I want to know why it was so bad, and maby a small summarization about ice storms, because I wasn't aware of them happening down there. Overall I do not think that it was an effecttive article.

Skillington, Jim. "Ky. ice storm called worst in history." Disaster News Network. February 1, 2009. February 1, 2009. .