Hey everyone,
I've decided that I'm going to move this blog to the new, exciting...
THE BLOG 2.0!!!
So, right now it's still unde construction, but I promise to update it soon. In the mean time, here's the URL:
www.noahss2.blogspot.com
-- Noah
WotW is postponed for now...
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
Tell-Tale Heart Analysis
Hey everyone,
Sorry I didn't post the blog ON TIME, I just had no idea that it existed because of AP testing (I was signed out all day Friday). Had a pretty bad weekend, and it kind of sucked. Most of it related to how my parents got pissed about my APHG grades. Not only that, they took away my computer, which, to a computer addict like me, is like the ultimate form of torture. On top of that though, they said they won't give me my computer back (except for scholastic purposes) until I raise my grade in AP Human Geography. I did the math. That'll happen in approximately NEVER.
Thus, I'm gearing up for an EXTREMELY boring summer.
Ah well.
So, anyways, on to the topic of "The Tell-Tale Heart". Surprisingly, this isn't my favorite short story/poem of his. My favorites are The Masque of the Red Death, The Raven, and then it's a toss-up between "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "The Pit and the Pendulum".
One thing I like about it is the ambiguity, and the sense that you can't really separate fact from fiction. It's like the ending for Inception. That ambiguity make it really interesting to interpret. I think the guy was insane. If you have to affirm to people that you're not crazy, you're probably nuts. I also think he did really kill the guy, and that he is probably (a) in a trial or (b) trying to explain what he did to a warden or inmate in the prison. If he's in a trial, it shows his proud and arrogant nature, because he's trying to prove himself sane even if it'll add to his sentence.
So, that's my take on it. Comments?
--Noah SS
Words of the Week(that's right, this week there's two):
gabelle
n. - tax on salt.
sciolism
n. - pretence to wisdom; conceit due to it. sciolist, n. sciolistic, adj.
Sorry I didn't post the blog ON TIME, I just had no idea that it existed because of AP testing (I was signed out all day Friday). Had a pretty bad weekend, and it kind of sucked. Most of it related to how my parents got pissed about my APHG grades. Not only that, they took away my computer, which, to a computer addict like me, is like the ultimate form of torture. On top of that though, they said they won't give me my computer back (except for scholastic purposes) until I raise my grade in AP Human Geography. I did the math. That'll happen in approximately NEVER.
Thus, I'm gearing up for an EXTREMELY boring summer.
Ah well.
So, anyways, on to the topic of "The Tell-Tale Heart". Surprisingly, this isn't my favorite short story/poem of his. My favorites are The Masque of the Red Death, The Raven, and then it's a toss-up between "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "The Pit and the Pendulum".
One thing I like about it is the ambiguity, and the sense that you can't really separate fact from fiction. It's like the ending for Inception. That ambiguity make it really interesting to interpret. I think the guy was insane. If you have to affirm to people that you're not crazy, you're probably nuts. I also think he did really kill the guy, and that he is probably (a) in a trial or (b) trying to explain what he did to a warden or inmate in the prison. If he's in a trial, it shows his proud and arrogant nature, because he's trying to prove himself sane even if it'll add to his sentence.
So, that's my take on it. Comments?
--Noah SS
Words of the Week(that's right, this week there's two):
gabelle
n. - tax on salt.
sciolism
n. - pretence to wisdom; conceit due to it. sciolist, n. sciolistic, adj.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Neighborhood Fiction
Okay, so here's my neighborhood fiction draft. Still no title as yet...
It was a beautiful summer morning. Clouds raced across the sky, and the wind rustled the trees in a pleasing manner, making a sort of swishing noise that made it plain to everyone that it truly WAS summer. And in Chicago, it's nice to have a confirmation of that. People were flocking to the Bucktown Arts Fest to look at tons of art, walk around, and listen to cover bands. I had walked over there early in the morning, at about 8-ish, and on the way there I noticed their bandstand taking up a whole sidewalk, with chairs littered all over the street, about 90 of them, almost all of them empty but for a few, mainly filled with jaded people looking for an escape from the crowd crush that existed even THAT early in the morning. I was sitting on a step in front of my house, reflecting on this, feeling the gentle warmth of the sun, drinking in the swishing noise of the trees.
Thus, I failed to notice the small wooden table making its way out of the door. I also failed to notice my sister was carrying it until she set it down with a jarring noise that made my head swivel in her direction.
In order for you to understand why my sister was pushing a table out in front of the house, I need to explain something. See, my sister, (her name's Isa, by the way) had gotten into a Tinkerbell thing. Don't ask me how, because we hadn't rented Peter Pan at all, and we didn't have Disney Channel (or even cable) up until February, so I don't quite know how that happened. Come to think about it, there were a lot of commercials for some stupid Tinkerbell movie, but that's not the point. The point is that she was desperate to get a Tinkerbell costume for Halloween. I thought that spending $90 on a costume was a little outrageous, because it's a single-use item and she would outgrow it, but my parents decided to pay half if she paid half (the same deal that got me this shiny new MacBook Pro that I'm writing this story on, but I digress) in any case, she came up with the idea of the lemonade stand.
The stand was to be positioned in front of the house, which was on a prime route to the Art Fest, so that many people would be coming through the area. You could tell that people had had the same idea for yard sales, because suddenly every other house had a sign for a yard sale. One even had a table full of stuff with a "free crap" sign on it.
My sister had already made the lemonade, and was serving it to customers, when we spotted the first potential difficulty: another lemonade stand had sprouted like a toadstool across the street and around the corner from us, near the church. They had also placed chalk lines up and down the block, pointing to their lemonade stand. they had even put one on our stand while we were eating and not paying attention. My sister decided to take a bucket of water and slop it over all of the chalk arrows.
I had decided about then that I was going to go and check out some of the garage/yard sale going on, so I trekked around the neighborhood. There were a variety of yard sales that caught my eye, but I was broke and had just had my birthday, so i couldn't beg for stuff as an early birthday gift. There was a DVR, several cool-looking mirrors and such, cookware, an office chair, and I think there were some videogames, though I can't be sure. It was later in the day when I returned to the stand, and I found Isa had another problem: cookies.
See, the kids nearby had rolled out cookies, and were handing them out with every purchase of lemonade, or selling them individually. They had also raised the price of lemonade somewhat. However, their jacking up of the prices didn't matter, because people wanted the cookies. So Isa decided to use the power of advertising. She had downloaded Tux Paint, a free program for drawing featuring the Linux penguin as its mascot. She mad a sign saying "Isa's lemonade stand" with a picture of lemonade being poured into a glass. And of course, she had me hang them all up around the block.
Advertising helped bring in some money, because it cost us nothing thanks to our laser printer. People saw the signs, and I like to think that that spurred them to go and buy my sister's lemonade. Eventually, she raised the $45 she needed, even though I took a cut for helping her with the lemonade. The neighbors probably got the same Isa did, though I forgot who they were, if I ever knew. The costume is probably sitting in the closets somewhere, forlorn and forgotten, a remnant of the halcyon days past, when our lives were worry-free. Even to this day, the Bucktown Art fair brings back vivid memories of the lemonade stand, and I sit and reminisce about the days gone by.
-- Noah
Word of the Week:
metonymy
n. - figurative use of a word for another closely associated with it, especially of attribute for its subject (as the crown for the sovereign or monarchy). metonymical, mentonymous, adj.
It was a beautiful summer morning. Clouds raced across the sky, and the wind rustled the trees in a pleasing manner, making a sort of swishing noise that made it plain to everyone that it truly WAS summer. And in Chicago, it's nice to have a confirmation of that. People were flocking to the Bucktown Arts Fest to look at tons of art, walk around, and listen to cover bands. I had walked over there early in the morning, at about 8-ish, and on the way there I noticed their bandstand taking up a whole sidewalk, with chairs littered all over the street, about 90 of them, almost all of them empty but for a few, mainly filled with jaded people looking for an escape from the crowd crush that existed even THAT early in the morning. I was sitting on a step in front of my house, reflecting on this, feeling the gentle warmth of the sun, drinking in the swishing noise of the trees.
Thus, I failed to notice the small wooden table making its way out of the door. I also failed to notice my sister was carrying it until she set it down with a jarring noise that made my head swivel in her direction.
In order for you to understand why my sister was pushing a table out in front of the house, I need to explain something. See, my sister, (her name's Isa, by the way) had gotten into a Tinkerbell thing. Don't ask me how, because we hadn't rented Peter Pan at all, and we didn't have Disney Channel (or even cable) up until February, so I don't quite know how that happened. Come to think about it, there were a lot of commercials for some stupid Tinkerbell movie, but that's not the point. The point is that she was desperate to get a Tinkerbell costume for Halloween. I thought that spending $90 on a costume was a little outrageous, because it's a single-use item and she would outgrow it, but my parents decided to pay half if she paid half (the same deal that got me this shiny new MacBook Pro that I'm writing this story on, but I digress) in any case, she came up with the idea of the lemonade stand.
The stand was to be positioned in front of the house, which was on a prime route to the Art Fest, so that many people would be coming through the area. You could tell that people had had the same idea for yard sales, because suddenly every other house had a sign for a yard sale. One even had a table full of stuff with a "free crap" sign on it.
My sister had already made the lemonade, and was serving it to customers, when we spotted the first potential difficulty: another lemonade stand had sprouted like a toadstool across the street and around the corner from us, near the church. They had also placed chalk lines up and down the block, pointing to their lemonade stand. they had even put one on our stand while we were eating and not paying attention. My sister decided to take a bucket of water and slop it over all of the chalk arrows.
I had decided about then that I was going to go and check out some of the garage/yard sale going on, so I trekked around the neighborhood. There were a variety of yard sales that caught my eye, but I was broke and had just had my birthday, so i couldn't beg for stuff as an early birthday gift. There was a DVR, several cool-looking mirrors and such, cookware, an office chair, and I think there were some videogames, though I can't be sure. It was later in the day when I returned to the stand, and I found Isa had another problem: cookies.
See, the kids nearby had rolled out cookies, and were handing them out with every purchase of lemonade, or selling them individually. They had also raised the price of lemonade somewhat. However, their jacking up of the prices didn't matter, because people wanted the cookies. So Isa decided to use the power of advertising. She had downloaded Tux Paint, a free program for drawing featuring the Linux penguin as its mascot. She mad a sign saying "Isa's lemonade stand" with a picture of lemonade being poured into a glass. And of course, she had me hang them all up around the block.
Advertising helped bring in some money, because it cost us nothing thanks to our laser printer. People saw the signs, and I like to think that that spurred them to go and buy my sister's lemonade. Eventually, she raised the $45 she needed, even though I took a cut for helping her with the lemonade. The neighbors probably got the same Isa did, though I forgot who they were, if I ever knew. The costume is probably sitting in the closets somewhere, forlorn and forgotten, a remnant of the halcyon days past, when our lives were worry-free. Even to this day, the Bucktown Art fair brings back vivid memories of the lemonade stand, and I sit and reminisce about the days gone by.
-- Noah
Word of the Week:
metonymy
n. - figurative use of a word for another closely associated with it, especially of attribute for its subject (as the crown for the sovereign or monarchy). metonymical, mentonymous, adj.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Worst. Song. Ever: My Analysis
Hey everyone,
If you notice the reference in the title, 10 internet points to you. If not, then nevermind.
So, a flurry of assignments from a variety of classes. 18 geographers to memorize, and a c***load of Key Issues Worksheets, plus the dreaded SPRING BREAK MATH ASSIGNMENT (if you ask, I can tell you the story, otherwise just know that it contains rain, internet access, and Puerto Rico). Finally, we have this blog post and an independent reading project, in which I'm going to be making a full-sized House Stark banner and carrying it around school all day (okay Sydney, I'm a nerd. I admit it). If anyone knows what House Stark is, and can tell me that in a comment, again, another 10 points. Plus 90. So, without further ado, let me introduce you to the worst song ever, and its many complexities (ha). Of course, I'll use a favored medium of the blogger, the rant.
So, by now most people here must have heard about "Friday" by Rebecca Black, quite possibly the worst song ever (hence the title). Also, you might have heard about my penchant for using it to annoy people *COUGH*Mr. McCarthy*COUGH*. However, I have to say that it makes for a good laugh, especially when you watch someone absolutely destroy it.
BTW, here's a link to an extremely funny video analysis of the song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y53om423Rj0
And so it begins. (my comments are in red)
(Yeah, Ah-Ah-Ah-Ah-Ah-Ark) This entire part really talks about the tortured soul of the artist, because it resembles tortured screams.
Oo-ooh-ooh, hoo yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah
Yeah-ah-ah
Yeah-ah-ah
Yeah-ah-ah
Yeah-ah-ah
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Seven a.m., waking up in the morning - Amazing that's she's getting up that early...
Gotta be fresh, gotta go downstairs -This part is talking about the media's corrupting influence on teens
Gotta have my bowl, gotta have cereal - WTF? if you're having cereal, I'm pretty sure it's in a bowl
Seein' everything, the time is goin' -Amazing, Rebecca! you have an awareness of time! you have the I.Q. of the average kindergartener!
Tickin' on and on, everybody's rushin'
Gotta get down to the bus stop
Gotta catch my bus, I see my friends (My friends)
I think this part's really weird. I mean, she goes to the bus stop, and gets to the bus, and suddenly her 9 year-old friends show up in a convertible, and she gets in it instead of getting on the bus like she's supposed too. OOOH, she's a rugged individualist, just like everyone else in the world. I personally think that she's talking about the allure of crime to the modern teenager, and how it's glamorized in the media (BTW, take these comments/analyses with a heavy dose of sarcasm)
Kickin' in the front seat
Sittin' in the back seat
Gotta make my mind up
Which seat can I take?
DEFINITELY talking about restrictive socioeconomic cliques in modern-day America. Definitely.
It's Friday, Friday
Gotta get down on Friday
Everybody's lookin' forward to the weekend, weekend
Friday, Friday
Gettin' down on Friday
Everybody's lookin' forward to the weekend
Okay Rebecca, I think your idea of Fridays is a little bit overblown. They're not really that great. The only thing they're really good for is waiting for the weekend, and watching Fringe, not "partying", because there's this thing called "SCHOOL", Rebecca. She's not being a very good student, is she? I mean think about what she's doing: driving in a car, skipping school, etc.
Partyin', partyin' (Yeah)
Partyin', partyin' (Yeah)
Fun, fun, fun, fun
Lookin' forward to the weekend
It's lyrics like these that make me lose faith in humanity. I mean come on. "fun fun fun fun"? Really? is that really the best we can do? to think her parents paid money to have her sing this crap is just saddening.
7:45, we're drivin' on the highway
Cruisin' so fast, I want time to fly
Fun, fun, think about fun
You know what it is
I got this, you got this
My friend is by my right, ay
I got this, you got this
Now you know it
I have more than a few complaints about this. One, she never specifies A.M. or P.M, so she could basically be driving on a highway, at night, at 7:45 in the morning, somehow being in a black dress-thingy almost 45 minutes after she got up. Also, the people next to her (who by the way, can't dance) are creepy, and the way she talks about them is very interesting. "My friend is on my right" appeals to the popular fairy tale that a little angel goes on your right shoulder and tells you good things, so a devil goes on your left shoulder and whisper the bad action. So, from that lyric, I can reasonably extrapolate the fact that she's implying that her friend on the left is the devil incarnate, or participating in a satanic cult, or attempting to get Rebecca engaged in an illegal action.
Kickin' in the front seat
Sittin' in the back seat
Gotta make my mind up
Which seat can I take?
Already talked about this one
It's Friday, Friday
Gotta get down on Friday
Everybody's lookin' forward to the weekend, weekend
Friday, Friday
Gettin' down on Friday
Everybody's lookin' forward to the weekend
Same
Partyin', partyin' (Yeah)
Partyin', partyin' (Yeah)
Fun, fun, fun, fun
Lookin' forward to the weekend
Again, same
Yesterday was Thursday, Thursday
Today i-is Friday, Friday (Partyin')
We-we-we so excited
We so excited
We gonna have a ball today
Tomorrow is Saturday
And Sunday comes after ... wards
I don't want this weekend to end
This lyric makes me want to cry. In a bad way.
R-B, Rebecca Black
So chillin' in the front seat (In the front seat)
In the back seat (In the back seat)
I'm drivin', cruisin' (Yeah, yeah)
Fast lanes, switchin' lanes
Wit' a car up on my side (Woo!)
(C'mon) Passin' by is a school bus in front of me
Makes tick tock, tick tock, wanna scream
Check my time, it's Friday, it's a weekend
We gonna have fun, c'mon, c'mon, y'all
Okay, I've highlighted lines that indicate that at this point should have had people scrambling to call the police about this weird guy following a school bus.
It's Friday, Friday
Gotta get down on Friday
Everybody's lookin' forward to the weekend, weekend
Friday, Friday
Gettin' down on Friday
Everybody's lookin' forward to the weekend
Partyin', partyin' (Yeah)
Partyin', partyin' (Yeah)
Fun, fun, fun, fun
Lookin' forward to the weekend
It's Friday, Friday
Gotta get down on Friday
Everybody's lookin' forward to the weekend, weekend
Friday, Friday
Gettin' down on Friday
Everybody's lookin' forward to the weekend
Partyin', partyin' (Yeah)
Partyin', partyin' (Yeah)
Fun, fun, fun, fun
Lookin' forward to the weekend
And that's a basic analysis of this song. Just to sum it up, I'll state the interpretation below.
"Friday" is a piece of crap.
The lyrics don't rhyme, the rythm's off, there's a creepy rapper guy talking about how he's going to have fun on friday while tailing a school bus, and singing so autotuned that they could have replaced them with computer-generated voices and nobody would have noticed the difference.
Which is why it's so funny.
NOTE: if it seems like I'm being extremely uncharitable in this analysis, I am. Though it's not meant to offend someone in particular, someone should really be ashamed for coming up with this song. Seriously.
--Noah
Word of the Week:
hadeharia
n. - constant use of the word 'hell'
If you notice the reference in the title, 10 internet points to you. If not, then nevermind.
So, a flurry of assignments from a variety of classes. 18 geographers to memorize, and a c***load of Key Issues Worksheets, plus the dreaded SPRING BREAK MATH ASSIGNMENT (if you ask, I can tell you the story, otherwise just know that it contains rain, internet access, and Puerto Rico). Finally, we have this blog post and an independent reading project, in which I'm going to be making a full-sized House Stark banner and carrying it around school all day (okay Sydney, I'm a nerd. I admit it). If anyone knows what House Stark is, and can tell me that in a comment, again, another 10 points. Plus 90. So, without further ado, let me introduce you to the worst song ever, and its many complexities (ha). Of course, I'll use a favored medium of the blogger, the rant.
So, by now most people here must have heard about "Friday" by Rebecca Black, quite possibly the worst song ever (hence the title). Also, you might have heard about my penchant for using it to annoy people *COUGH*Mr. McCarthy*COUGH*. However, I have to say that it makes for a good laugh, especially when you watch someone absolutely destroy it.
BTW, here's a link to an extremely funny video analysis of the song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y53om423Rj0
And so it begins. (my comments are in red)
(Yeah, Ah-Ah-Ah-Ah-Ah-Ark) This entire part really talks about the tortured soul of the artist, because it resembles tortured screams.
Oo-ooh-ooh, hoo yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah
Yeah-ah-ah
Yeah-ah-ah
Yeah-ah-ah
Yeah-ah-ah
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Seven a.m., waking up in the morning - Amazing that's she's getting up that early...
Gotta be fresh, gotta go downstairs -This part is talking about the media's corrupting influence on teens
Gotta have my bowl, gotta have cereal - WTF? if you're having cereal, I'm pretty sure it's in a bowl
Seein' everything, the time is goin' -Amazing, Rebecca! you have an awareness of time! you have the I.Q. of the average kindergartener!
Tickin' on and on, everybody's rushin'
Gotta get down to the bus stop
Gotta catch my bus, I see my friends (My friends)
I think this part's really weird. I mean, she goes to the bus stop, and gets to the bus, and suddenly her 9 year-old friends show up in a convertible, and she gets in it instead of getting on the bus like she's supposed too. OOOH, she's a rugged individualist, just like everyone else in the world. I personally think that she's talking about the allure of crime to the modern teenager, and how it's glamorized in the media (BTW, take these comments/analyses with a heavy dose of sarcasm)
Kickin' in the front seat
Sittin' in the back seat
Gotta make my mind up
Which seat can I take?
DEFINITELY talking about restrictive socioeconomic cliques in modern-day America. Definitely.
It's Friday, Friday
Gotta get down on Friday
Everybody's lookin' forward to the weekend, weekend
Friday, Friday
Gettin' down on Friday
Everybody's lookin' forward to the weekend
Okay Rebecca, I think your idea of Fridays is a little bit overblown. They're not really that great. The only thing they're really good for is waiting for the weekend, and watching Fringe, not "partying", because there's this thing called "SCHOOL", Rebecca. She's not being a very good student, is she? I mean think about what she's doing: driving in a car, skipping school, etc.
Partyin', partyin' (Yeah)
Partyin', partyin' (Yeah)
Fun, fun, fun, fun
Lookin' forward to the weekend
It's lyrics like these that make me lose faith in humanity. I mean come on. "fun fun fun fun"? Really? is that really the best we can do? to think her parents paid money to have her sing this crap is just saddening.
7:45, we're drivin' on the highway
Cruisin' so fast, I want time to fly
Fun, fun, think about fun
You know what it is
I got this, you got this
My friend is by my right, ay
I got this, you got this
Now you know it
I have more than a few complaints about this. One, she never specifies A.M. or P.M, so she could basically be driving on a highway, at night, at 7:45 in the morning, somehow being in a black dress-thingy almost 45 minutes after she got up. Also, the people next to her (who by the way, can't dance) are creepy, and the way she talks about them is very interesting. "My friend is on my right" appeals to the popular fairy tale that a little angel goes on your right shoulder and tells you good things, so a devil goes on your left shoulder and whisper the bad action. So, from that lyric, I can reasonably extrapolate the fact that she's implying that her friend on the left is the devil incarnate, or participating in a satanic cult, or attempting to get Rebecca engaged in an illegal action.
Kickin' in the front seat
Sittin' in the back seat
Gotta make my mind up
Which seat can I take?
Already talked about this one
It's Friday, Friday
Gotta get down on Friday
Everybody's lookin' forward to the weekend, weekend
Friday, Friday
Gettin' down on Friday
Everybody's lookin' forward to the weekend
Same
Partyin', partyin' (Yeah)
Partyin', partyin' (Yeah)
Fun, fun, fun, fun
Lookin' forward to the weekend
Again, same
Yesterday was Thursday, Thursday
Today i-is Friday, Friday (Partyin')
We-we-we so excited
We so excited
We gonna have a ball today
Tomorrow is Saturday
And Sunday comes after ... wards
I don't want this weekend to end
This lyric makes me want to cry. In a bad way.
R-B, Rebecca Black
So chillin' in the front seat (In the front seat)
In the back seat (In the back seat)
I'm drivin', cruisin' (Yeah, yeah)
Fast lanes, switchin' lanes
Wit' a car up on my side (Woo!)
(C'mon) Passin' by is a school bus in front of me
Makes tick tock, tick tock, wanna scream
Check my time, it's Friday, it's a weekend
We gonna have fun, c'mon, c'mon, y'all
Okay, I've highlighted lines that indicate that at this point should have had people scrambling to call the police about this weird guy following a school bus.
It's Friday, Friday
Gotta get down on Friday
Everybody's lookin' forward to the weekend, weekend
Friday, Friday
Gettin' down on Friday
Everybody's lookin' forward to the weekend
Partyin', partyin' (Yeah)
Partyin', partyin' (Yeah)
Fun, fun, fun, fun
Lookin' forward to the weekend
It's Friday, Friday
Gotta get down on Friday
Everybody's lookin' forward to the weekend, weekend
Friday, Friday
Gettin' down on Friday
Everybody's lookin' forward to the weekend
Partyin', partyin' (Yeah)
Partyin', partyin' (Yeah)
Fun, fun, fun, fun
Lookin' forward to the weekend
And that's a basic analysis of this song. Just to sum it up, I'll state the interpretation below.
"Friday" is a piece of crap.
The lyrics don't rhyme, the rythm's off, there's a creepy rapper guy talking about how he's going to have fun on friday while tailing a school bus, and singing so autotuned that they could have replaced them with computer-generated voices and nobody would have noticed the difference.
Which is why it's so funny.
NOTE: if it seems like I'm being extremely uncharitable in this analysis, I am. Though it's not meant to offend someone in particular, someone should really be ashamed for coming up with this song. Seriously.
--Noah
Word of the Week:
hadeharia
n. - constant use of the word 'hell'
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Recalled to Life/On the Reservation
WHOOOO!
It's good to be back!
Also, let's see if anyone gets the reference to a certain Charles Dickens book I'm reading.
Hello faithful reader who may or may not have checked The Blog,
If you're wondering why I haven't posted, there's two reasons:
1) My english teacher does not allow us to post things extraneous to english on our blogs, but I swear to ... well, whoever that if he does a pause this long again, I'm posting no matter what.
2) My busy social life (that's sarcasm, BTW). It's actually that I've had a ----load of homework and projects to do, and I also got a bunch of new games.
Anyways, on to the important, english-y stuff.
This week's blog is called "On the Reservation", which relates to this book we're reading called Montana 1948, and it's about a boy who finds out his uncle (who's a doctor) has been abusing his Native American patients. Given that this blog is about reservations, let's start by talking about what a terrible idea they are. I wonder what idiot woke up in his bed one morning and thought "Oh, let's relocate hundreds of thousands of people from their lush, fertile, productive lands and stick them in the most barren, crappiest parts of the desert, and see what happens". I mean COME ON now, could you be any more boneheaded? In any case, they're crappy plots of deserted land that people can barely grow crops on. Then, they're forced to go out and get terrible jobs so they can earn a meagre living!! Not only that, they never paid them restitution for the total value of their land, so they essentially stole their land. Do people really think that them being tax-exempt is fair repayment?
Think about it.
--Noah
P.S. The word of the week is:
It's good to be back!
Also, let's see if anyone gets the reference to a certain Charles Dickens book I'm reading.
Hello faithful reader who may or may not have checked The Blog,
If you're wondering why I haven't posted, there's two reasons:
1) My english teacher does not allow us to post things extraneous to english on our blogs, but I swear to ... well, whoever that if he does a pause this long again, I'm posting no matter what.
2) My busy social life (that's sarcasm, BTW). It's actually that I've had a ----load of homework and projects to do, and I also got a bunch of new games.
Anyways, on to the important, english-y stuff.
This week's blog is called "On the Reservation", which relates to this book we're reading called Montana 1948, and it's about a boy who finds out his uncle (who's a doctor) has been abusing his Native American patients. Given that this blog is about reservations, let's start by talking about what a terrible idea they are. I wonder what idiot woke up in his bed one morning and thought "Oh, let's relocate hundreds of thousands of people from their lush, fertile, productive lands and stick them in the most barren, crappiest parts of the desert, and see what happens". I mean COME ON now, could you be any more boneheaded? In any case, they're crappy plots of deserted land that people can barely grow crops on. Then, they're forced to go out and get terrible jobs so they can earn a meagre living!! Not only that, they never paid them restitution for the total value of their land, so they essentially stole their land. Do people really think that them being tax-exempt is fair repayment?
Think about it.
--Noah
P.S. The word of the week is:
| adoxography | |
noun | |
| fine writing in praise of trivial or base subjects; "Elizabethan schoolboys were taught adoxography, the art of eruditely praising worthless things"; "adoxography is particularly useful to lawyers" |
Sunday, February 20, 2011
PROPAGANDA 2011 *dramatic music*
Hey everyone,
Finally, a post I can actually enjoy because I can heap a ton of abuse on Fox news.
Hey, it's the best example of propaganda I can think of.
So, I pulled up the definition of propaganda:
Finally, a post I can actually enjoy because I can heap a ton of abuse on Fox news.
Hey, it's the best example of propaganda I can think of.
So, I pulled up the definition of propaganda:
–noun
1. information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement,institution, nation, etc.
2. the deliberate spreading of such information, rumors, etc.
3. the particular doctrines or principles propagated by an organization or movement.
4. Roman Catholic Church .
5. Archaic . an organization or movement for the spreading of propaganda.
Now, let's think. Which of these definitions apply to Fox?
Not the Catholic Church one, that's for sure. How about the " rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement,institution, nation, etc."Well...
Anyone remember the "Death Panels"?
Also, I'm absolutely sure that the spreading of those rumors were intentional.
And, I think that Fox is just devoted to spreading these rumors.
I actually believe that they're only doing it because they hate the fact that an African-American guy is president. I also think that's why the Republican top priority is "to make sure Obama is a one term president". It just sickens me.
Now, what do you readers think? Is Fox secretly overtly trying to destroy Obama? I'd honestly like to see some debate...
Anyways, til' next week
-- Noah
P.S. Word of the Week!
malinger
\ muh-LING-guhr \ , intransitive verb;1.To feign or exaggerate illness or inability in order to avoid duty or work.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
"Black Boy" Response
Hello readers,
I'm sitting here and blogging, even though I feel like crap, or more accurately, my throat does.
Ah well.
So, for those of you who haven't read 2/3rds of the way into the book:
SPOILER ALERT! Be forewarned, the following text might contain spoilers!
There.
Now, on with the blog.
I actually really like this book (as evidenced by the fact that I read 2/3rds of the way into the book...). It's a far cry from "The Scarlet Letter". I don't want to say it was boring, but I mean COME ON, the guy spends 3 pages describing a BROOK!! This one, however, is different, and I like that. I also like the way that he did an in-depth analysis of everything he's feeling at the moment. It really brings across his emotions, and the way he was thinking at the time. Consequently, it really makes you sympathize with the character, despite the fact that's it's almost as if everything Wright has done in his life has been to make his younger self unlikeable. He also is able to justify all of his actions with a motive, and I think that also helps to make him more sympathetic. For example, the system he rigged in the movie theater was justified because he was trying to get enough money to go north and escape the persecution of the South. It also has that sort of gritty, realistic quality afforded to it by his detailed description of how horrible white Southerners are to him.
Well, that's the blog for this week. Stay tuned for more, feed the fishies, and check out the RSS feed.
-- Noah
P.S.
Word of the week:
Prosopagnosia:
A disorder in which one is unable to remember faces
I'm sitting here and blogging, even though I feel like crap, or more accurately, my throat does.
Ah well.
So, for those of you who haven't read 2/3rds of the way into the book:
SPOILER ALERT! Be forewarned, the following text might contain spoilers!
There.
Now, on with the blog.
I actually really like this book (as evidenced by the fact that I read 2/3rds of the way into the book...). It's a far cry from "The Scarlet Letter". I don't want to say it was boring, but I mean COME ON, the guy spends 3 pages describing a BROOK!! This one, however, is different, and I like that. I also like the way that he did an in-depth analysis of everything he's feeling at the moment. It really brings across his emotions, and the way he was thinking at the time. Consequently, it really makes you sympathize with the character, despite the fact that's it's almost as if everything Wright has done in his life has been to make his younger self unlikeable. He also is able to justify all of his actions with a motive, and I think that also helps to make him more sympathetic. For example, the system he rigged in the movie theater was justified because he was trying to get enough money to go north and escape the persecution of the South. It also has that sort of gritty, realistic quality afforded to it by his detailed description of how horrible white Southerners are to him.
Well, that's the blog for this week. Stay tuned for more, feed the fishies, and check out the RSS feed.
-- Noah
P.S.
Word of the week:
Prosopagnosia:
A disorder in which one is unable to remember faces
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Reader Response Journal "Civil Disobedience" Edition, w/ Digression About New Blog Setup
Hey everyone, exciting new development in "The Blog" history:
NEW TEMPLATE AND NEW EVERYTHING!!!!
Now, I know, I know, but I'm getting to the post in just a sec. Now, THE BLOG comes equipped with an RSS feed on it. If you somehow are totally enthralled by my blog, you can add it to your bookmarks bar and thus get new updates for the blog every Thursday, and when school ends, possibly every day. Now,it also has a few new addons, like the most popular post addon, the "fish" addon (feed the fishies) etc. Don't get carried away staring at the ...SHINY... new template though, because the real meat and potatoes of THE BLOG are the posts... I think...
Now, on to the real portion of the blog:
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE
Now, this essay (at first) kind of seemed like the Tea Partiers would be all over it like flies to honey. It's got so many "anti-government" statements in it that it seems like it would fit their agenda perfectly. Now, reflecting on it, it would seem like it would actually hurt their agenda. You see, they talk about the Constitution with reverence, so this essay, with its anarchist tone, would only appeal to a small subset.
Now, do I agree with it? No. I know he was doing it to stop another slave state from entering the U.S, but he did the wrong thing. I'm not saying that the government back then was the most morally righteous, and that Thoreau was a horrible demon, but what you need is a huge, coordinated effort, not a small-scale "one person not paying their taxes" thing. That helps no-one, and injures the government, which then has less money to provide services. Also, you go to jail. What he needed was a large-scale protest, one that would shake people to their senses. I don't really know what a good alternative is, so I'm opening it up to a reader discussion. Win, and you get 100 points.
--Noah
P.S.
Word of the week:
Grangerize:
NEW TEMPLATE AND NEW EVERYTHING!!!!
Now, I know, I know, but I'm getting to the post in just a sec. Now, THE BLOG comes equipped with an RSS feed on it. If you somehow are totally enthralled by my blog, you can add it to your bookmarks bar and thus get new updates for the blog every Thursday, and when school ends, possibly every day. Now,it also has a few new addons, like the most popular post addon, the "fish" addon (feed the fishies) etc. Don't get carried away staring at the ...SHINY... new template though, because the real meat and potatoes of THE BLOG are the posts... I think...
Now, on to the real portion of the blog:
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE
Now, this essay (at first) kind of seemed like the Tea Partiers would be all over it like flies to honey. It's got so many "anti-government" statements in it that it seems like it would fit their agenda perfectly. Now, reflecting on it, it would seem like it would actually hurt their agenda. You see, they talk about the Constitution with reverence, so this essay, with its anarchist tone, would only appeal to a small subset.
Now, do I agree with it? No. I know he was doing it to stop another slave state from entering the U.S, but he did the wrong thing. I'm not saying that the government back then was the most morally righteous, and that Thoreau was a horrible demon, but what you need is a huge, coordinated effort, not a small-scale "one person not paying their taxes" thing. That helps no-one, and injures the government, which then has less money to provide services. Also, you go to jail. What he needed was a large-scale protest, one that would shake people to their senses. I don't really know what a good alternative is, so I'm opening it up to a reader discussion. Win, and you get 100 points.
--Noah
P.S.
Word of the week:
Grangerize:
1.To add to the visual content of a book by inserting images not included in the original volume, often by mutilating other books.
2.To mutilate books in order to get illustrative material for such a purpose.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
King... still king?
So, Martin Luther King Jr...
Inspirational, greatest civil rights leader of all time, etc. But.. the million dollar question...
*drumroll*
Is he still relevant?
I think yes. He provides a great, homegrown example of what one man can do with a vision and some good speechwriting. He's an example for kids everywhere. Heck, he gives us a day off from school! Just for that, he should be relevant today.
Also, there are still racists and bigots.People that want to destroy the foundations of equality that this country is built upon (okay, not exactly true, but still). I mean, no offense to Gandhi, but we need a homegrown idol of equality, so to speak. Especially today, with these crazy people going around listening to Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh's racist rhetoric, and then going around shooting people (yes, the Tucson shooting was not a race-related shooting, but still, if we leave things like this, it'll happen eventually). We need a positive icon that people risk serious damage to their self-image by attacking.
We need MLK.
At least, that's my humble opinion.
By the way, why is the word monosyllabic more than one syllable?
Also, yes, I know, this post is a little short, but don't worry, i'll have the next post up to scratch...
--Noah
P.S: Word of the week:
Logorrhea
Inspirational, greatest civil rights leader of all time, etc. But.. the million dollar question...
*drumroll*
Is he still relevant?
I think yes. He provides a great, homegrown example of what one man can do with a vision and some good speechwriting. He's an example for kids everywhere. Heck, he gives us a day off from school! Just for that, he should be relevant today.
Also, there are still racists and bigots.People that want to destroy the foundations of equality that this country is built upon (okay, not exactly true, but still). I mean, no offense to Gandhi, but we need a homegrown idol of equality, so to speak. Especially today, with these crazy people going around listening to Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh's racist rhetoric, and then going around shooting people (yes, the Tucson shooting was not a race-related shooting, but still, if we leave things like this, it'll happen eventually). We need a positive icon that people risk serious damage to their self-image by attacking.
We need MLK.
At least, that's my humble opinion.
By the way, why is the word monosyllabic more than one syllable?
Also, yes, I know, this post is a little short, but don't worry, i'll have the next post up to scratch...
--Noah
P.S: Word of the week:
Logorrhea
–noun
1. pathologically incoherent, repetitious speech.
2. incessant or compulsive talkativeness; wearisome volubility.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Reader (Journal? Response? Whatever) to "Children of the Sea"
Hello all,
Today's post is ... well... not so good a topic, let's say. The "Trick of Writing" one would have been better, but we have to do the reader response journal.
However, I do have one thing that's interesting that i noticed while reading Children of the Sea. If you notice, the guy on the boat says "Now they'll never mistake us for Cubans". From that comment, I thought I could pinpoint the precise time, however, I needed to do some research. So, where did I go?]
THE 1NT3RW3BZ!!!!
(that's "interwebs", for those of you who don't speak 1337(leet)speak.)
So the first place I went? The place EVERYONE goes to check stuff out: Wikipedia. Because I have a short attention span, however, I ended up clicking on random links for a while, until I finally remembered what I was doing. So, let me give you the background: Basically, at various points in Cuban history, people have left in order to escape the economic conditions blah blah blah, and they usually came across in boats. Sometimes, the U.S. government was complicit in these acts, for example the Pedro Pan incident. The U.S. government thought it could destablize Cuba by taking the brightest Cuban kids and essentially kidnapping them. They took them to the U.S. with the promise that they would bring the families later. For most, that never happened. Anyways, I thought that the story could be taking place during the mass exodus that took place in 1980.
So, naturally, I checked the history of Haiti.
Bingo.
The year 1980 took place during the dictatorship of Jean-Claude Duvalier, or "Baby Doc", son of the previous tyrant, "Papa Doc" Duvalier. In 1980, he married Michéle Bennet, and kicked his father's widow out of the country. However, I ended up not being able to find any record of violence on a scale that the book was talking about, so I went to the next chapter in Haitian history: 1996-1991, the transition government. The military took over and committed terrible atrocities, like the killing of thousands of voters across the country. It was probably then. Then again, it could have been any time in Haiti's recent history. *sigh* Oh well.
Anyways, if you somehow made it this far, congratulations!
You're not lazy like some people who might not even have read the whole thing *cough* *cough*
This is Noah, signing off.
P.S. The word of the week is "Stochasticity". Don't believe it's a word?
You might say my choice of this word was very "Stochastic"
although it really isn't, I came across it listening to RadioLab on my iPhone.
Today's post is ... well... not so good a topic, let's say. The "Trick of Writing" one would have been better, but we have to do the reader response journal.
However, I do have one thing that's interesting that i noticed while reading Children of the Sea. If you notice, the guy on the boat says "Now they'll never mistake us for Cubans". From that comment, I thought I could pinpoint the precise time, however, I needed to do some research. So, where did I go?]
THE 1NT3RW3BZ!!!!
(that's "interwebs", for those of you who don't speak 1337(leet)speak.)
So the first place I went? The place EVERYONE goes to check stuff out: Wikipedia. Because I have a short attention span, however, I ended up clicking on random links for a while, until I finally remembered what I was doing. So, let me give you the background: Basically, at various points in Cuban history, people have left in order to escape the economic conditions blah blah blah, and they usually came across in boats. Sometimes, the U.S. government was complicit in these acts, for example the Pedro Pan incident. The U.S. government thought it could destablize Cuba by taking the brightest Cuban kids and essentially kidnapping them. They took them to the U.S. with the promise that they would bring the families later. For most, that never happened. Anyways, I thought that the story could be taking place during the mass exodus that took place in 1980.
So, naturally, I checked the history of Haiti.
Bingo.
The year 1980 took place during the dictatorship of Jean-Claude Duvalier, or "Baby Doc", son of the previous tyrant, "Papa Doc" Duvalier. In 1980, he married Michéle Bennet, and kicked his father's widow out of the country. However, I ended up not being able to find any record of violence on a scale that the book was talking about, so I went to the next chapter in Haitian history: 1996-1991, the transition government. The military took over and committed terrible atrocities, like the killing of thousands of voters across the country. It was probably then. Then again, it could have been any time in Haiti's recent history. *sigh* Oh well.
Anyways, if you somehow made it this far, congratulations!
You're not lazy like some people who might not even have read the whole thing *cough* *cough*
This is Noah, signing off.
P.S. The word of the week is "Stochasticity". Don't believe it's a word?
| stochasticity | |
noun | |
| the quality of lacking any predictable order or plan [syn: randomness] |
You might say my choice of this word was very "Stochastic"
although it really isn't, I came across it listening to RadioLab on my iPhone.
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