TEOGROMITMM Act. 1

Well I like the story line but it seems like it should still be forming. What I mean is that I think normally a author would have given the reader more insight about what is really going on. But since this is a play its obviously going to be different. I find the strangeness of it also interesting. I don't think that makes much sense though. Another thing I liked is that it's an easy read everything continues to flow well. One confusion I had is what was going on with Ruth at the end of the act? Is she mental or something? We'll probably talk about this during class tomorrow :)

Until later,
-Madalynne

Reading This Week

Well I haven't read much this week except for last night. I had the third installment of the Twilight saga sitting on my nightstand for the longest time with a mere 50 pages to go and within the last week I finally finished it. Before you harass me for reading Twilight let me make my stand. The story is definitely of poor writing quality but it's something that I just need to know what happens. For example I am always seeing commercial for Horror shows or movies and they almost always leave me wondering what actually happens. The problem is that I am freaked easily and know that I wouldn't be able to stand watching them. But with Twilight I can stand reading past the terrible writing to actual see the story. Does that make any sense?

Well anyways I am on the the fourth book (Breaking Dawn) for a reread.

Until later,
-Madalynne

P.S. Bella is such a cross-eyed little twit!

You know you want to read this blog even though it doesn't have a title

Somehow after all my fretting I only have 532 words to write tonight! The words just disappeared. I swear there was at least 4,000 words I needed to write but it turned out to only be 2,000. I have to just take a moment and say... OH MY GOD I DID IT! I just can't believe that I did this. Over the long break I didn't do much socially and so last night I had a weird breakdown thing that happened last christmas break when I didn't see anyone besides my family for way too long. But now I am finished! One thing though is I have a big gap in my story. BUT I DONT REALLY CARE RIGHT NOW :D


So to overcome my bad work habits I asked my mom to take me to the library today. So the only reason I really got up this morning was to go to the library. When I got there I sat down and started working as I listened to my music. Today I added three songs to my iPod; Day 'N' Nite by Kid Cudi, Daylight by Matt and Kim, and Stephan Jerzaks cover of My First Kiss by 3OH!3, just in case you were wondering :P


I found that paranoia is something that drove me to work well. I was afraid to move because I didn't want to make any noise and get noticed (since I had already walked around the library with my huge backpack looking like an idiot while I found a spot to sit). So I sat and wrote really well because I wouldn't let myself fidget. I saw some friends... wait never mind just my friend Eric. Sorry I'm just telling you my whole day but I felt like writing it and I don't usually want to write so let's encourage this.


One thing that I had fun with is I needed some names for characters that are sitting at a lunch table. There is this really hot guy named Alex Evan and he is the inspiration for one of my two main characters named Quinn. Here's a picture

Alex Evan

At first I thought It was just some random Google picture when I first found it but somehow I figured out who this guy is. He is a photographer and he lives in Canada. At one point Quinn is sitting down at lunch and I wrote... "I plopped myself down in a seat between my friend Alex and my other friend Evan..." Yes that makes me happy. 

I have three other people at the table in this scene who are Quinn's friends Ryan, Jeydon and Charlie. They are also all real people that I found on YouTube, but since I don't know them personally I'm just using their names. Ryan is based off of Ryan Higa who is the most subscribed person on YouTube. He is a comedian and is super random and hilarious. You should check him out his channel is called nigahiga. Jeydon is based off of Jeydon Wale who is another Canadian. He makes comedy videos and music... stuff. His channel is jeyyounit11. Last but not least Charlie McDonnell. He is a British vlogger (video blog) and musician.  He is the most subscribed YouTuber in the United Kingdom. There is a dialogue between Quinn and Charlie and I describe Charlie as he is... "His hair was nearly maroon color because he dyed it one day and decided he liked it. He was also really nerdy. Of course not a loser-ish type of nerd more like a skinny quirky old video game nerd. The acceptable nerd." Charlie tends to describe himself as a nerd a lot so I thought this would be an acceptable interpretation. This blog is already long enough so I'll just add their pictures as well :D

Jeydon Wale

Charlie McDonnell

Ryan Higa

So I just had an idea after I named my blog post. If I can't come up with a title for my novel maybe I'll call it "You know you want to read this book even though it doesn't have a title'. Wouldn't that be fun?

Until later

-Madalynne

P.S. I would really love it if you commented on this blog, thanks! Wait why did I say thanks I don't even know if you're going to listen to me :P

J.D. Salinger

Jenna had posted a link on our talk page about an article written about J.D. Salinger. It was so amazing to read about how Catcher in the Rye was written as an autobiography. I think everyone should read the article. It's really informative, and personally I found it touching.

I was browsing the web looking at things about J.D. Salinger and found out he died two days before my birthday of this year (January 27). I have been strangely emotional lately and this made me shed a few tears. Pathetic I know.

Well here is the link. Just copy and paste. Thanks Jenna!
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/64156/jd_salinger_and_holden_caulfield_of.html?cat=9


Until later,
-Madalynne

Holden Caulfield

I found this really cool fan art picture of Holden on Google. Sorry I don't know the remarkable artist (though I wish it could have been me).

Until later,

-Madalynne

Lost In Myself

I have to write don't I? Well  again I find myself not wanting to write or having any useful prompts to write.

The other day I tried having my mom write what I say (I described it to her as scribing) but I don't like discussing specifics about my life with my mom (or dad in certain cases). Well that sounds harsh but I guess another way to say it is that I find my writing and poetry to be a secret that I don't want to share. Or a continuation of a part of my life that would take to long to describe. Isn't it just a teenager thing though? Most of my friends don't share their lives with their parents like they do with a friend (even then it's not like I tell my friends every possible detail). I think this is exactly what I'm talking about! I can't even describe to you why I don't like telling my mom my stories because that would go into another layer of my life!

Why don't I move back to the more pressing matter of 10,000 words. Thank goodness for thanksgiving break!

Until later.
-Madalynne

Writer's Block Solution

I calculated that to reach my goal of 10,000 words for my novel I have to write about 422 words a day for the rest of the month. This sounds so much more reasonable to me than thinking I had to write 3,000 words this weekend. Hopefully I can focus on writing each day. I will really have to take use of my free hour each day now.

NaNoWriMo

I'm really hating NaNoWriMo. I wish I would have had more time to prepare for this. I have just figured out some things I want to write and I'm have major trouble writing it. Nothing is falling into place and there is now way I will have 3,000 words this week or 10,000 words by the end of the month.

Catcher In The Rye: Some Thoughts For This Week

I have had an epiphany! Most people are catching on and blogging about Holden trying to reassure the reader of something. So I thought "Maybe Holden has anxiety/abandonment issues." He seems like he wants to impress someone. He has the opportunity to impress his teachers but I don't think he wants to impress them. It sounds like his parents weren't a huge roll in his life (Come one they shipped him off to boarding school!).

 I think he really needs his relationship with Phoebe. Or Jane. They seem like people who make him genuinely happy in life. It makes me sad to think about Holden this way. Someone want to give me a hug?

For those that have already finished/already read this book I think this may be related to the reasoning behind the title.

On a cheerier note,  two of my friends started reading Catcher in the Rye because the Grand Haven kids and I were raving about it. One was Varun (he did Comp. and Lit 1 last year) and my bestie Camden. I can't wait to hear what they have to say about it.

Until later
-Madalynne

Crew Cuts and Hunting Caps

I needed a better idea of what Holden looked like so I used the oh so trusty Google. When I Googled 'crew cut' there was a picture of David Beckham so from now on I can only think of Holden to look just as amazing as Mr. Beckham. Also I just love the hat so much :)

Until later,
-Madalynne

P.S I wonder if I can photoshop a picture of David Beckham wearing a hunting cap?

Oh No, Please No

I've continued to read forward in the Catcher in the Rye so fyi I might accidentally let something slip. I have thought about what I intend to say and it shouldn't ruin anything in the book but just in case I thought you should be aware.

I know Jenna had mentioned this before and now it truly has me worried. There is this inkling that Holden may be crazy. At first I was thinking "No way he's crazy he's just a teenager." But now I'm really afraid he might be crazy. I don't want him to be because then my whole outlook on the story would change. It's just making me so nervous. It really is.

On a more cheery note there is one line in the story that makes me so happy to read: 

"How do you do," I said. Suave as hell, boy.

I just think it's hilarious. I really do.

Until later,

-Madalynne

The Catcher In The Rye

WOW! A complete, wonderful, 360 from the Odyssey. 


I'm going to answer those questions now.


Do you like Holden so far? I think Holden is hilarious and so much more relatable (since he is a teenager not necessarily a teenage guy). 


Why doesn't he like school? Holden doesn't like school because no matter where he goes it's just filled with a bunch of phonies. I agree with him but I would never fail classes because of other people.


Is he dumb? No I don't think he's dumb he just doesn't want to apply himself.


Do you trust that he's telling the truth? Well I don't know why he would be lying. Also if he is an unreliable narrator (was our short short story leading up to this?) the author, J.D. Salinger keeps it hidden well. The other boys don't seem to treat him different in anyway (unless everyone is "mental") and his thoughts seem relevant to what, I think, a teenage boy could be thinking about.


Other Thoughts:
-His composition that he wrote about his brothers baseball mitt was really sweet/touching.
-I love the simple vocabulary. When it said crap, hell, goddam, and damn on the first page I knew this book was going to keep my attention.
-Are all boys this gross! BLECK!




Until later,
  -Madalynne

November

Guess what?! It's November 1st! Which means it's closer to November 2nd, which is closer to November 3rd, which is closer to November 4th, which is closer to November 5th, which is closer to November 6th, which is closer to November 7th, which is closer to November 8th, which is closer to November 9th, which is closer to November 10th, which is closer to November 11th, which is closer to November 12th, which is closer to November 13th, which is closer to November 14th, which is closer to November 15th, which is closer to November 16th, which is closer to November 17th, which is closer to November 18th, which is closer to November 19, which is closer to November 20th, which is closer to November 21st, which is closer to November 22nd, which is closer to November 24th, which is closer to November 25th, which is closer to November 26th, which is closer to November 27th, which is closer to November 28th, which is closer to November 29th, which is closer to November 30th, which is closer to December 1st, which is closer to December 2nd, which is closer to December 3rd, which is closer to December 4th, which is closer to December 5th, which is closer to December 6th, which is closer to December 7th, which is closer to December 8th, which is closer to December 9th, which is closer to December 10th, which is closer to December 11th, which is closer to December 12th, which is closer to December 13th, which is closer to December 14th, which is closer to December 15th, which is closer to December 16th, which is closer to December 17th, which is closer to December 18th, which is closer to December 19th, which is closer to December 20th, which is closer to December 21st, which is closer to December 22nd, which is closer to December 23rd, which is closer to December 24th, which is closer to... DECMEBER 25TH! That mean christmas is only 55 days away!!!!

No PATH

I was so upset when I heard there was no PATH. For two reasons, 1 I had finished all of my homework sooner then usual and 2 because that meant that almost everyone besides Grand Haven had school off -.-"

To Build A Fire

I read this in 6th grade and I hated it then also. I really don't like the story line. Very boring and it's based around a really boring subject. I don't have much else to say about it  besides that the guy was an idiot. Maybe this week we will read a short story that I enjoy as much as "The Most Dangerous Game".

The Most Dangerous Game

Two words. Loved. It. Now here are some more words. 


I think everyone is catching onto the fact that Mrs. Wierenga likes very morbid stories. I don't have a problem with it because I have really enjoyed them. Now I'm not going to be some murderer but I have always had a quiet passion for these sort of topics. 


One thing I really liked is how civilized Zaroff tried to be. Also how he tried to show that what he was doing was very logical "Simply this: hunting had ceased to be what you call ' a sporting proposition.' It had become too easy. I always got my quarry. Always. There is no greater bore than perfection." I do like that quote though ("There is no greater bore than perfection."). I didn't like that Rainsford set those traps. It seemed to interrupt the story, despite the fact it was necessary for his survival. 


Also I wish the story was in a more modern tone. I think it could have really added to the story for me (Are older styles of writing another passion of Mrs. Wierenga's?). I didn't have many other complaints with the story itself but I was very disappointed with the summary at the beginning. The story would have been so much better if I didn't know what was going to happen. Also The questions bothered me. I was thinking "Just let me read the story!" Especially questions like this "Have you ever become bored with something that you were good at doing? Did you have the same feelings as Zaroff?" or the ones asking you to underline things. I would rather they asked me a couple bigger picture or opinion questions at the end. These reminded me of assisted reading questions for 4th graders that can't grasp a topic as they read (by the way I wasn't like that).


Lastly I wish the author (Richard Connell) would have written something like "Zaroff waited for Rainsford to process everything. Then with an evil smile said "Yes, people are the game I speak of." Mr. Connell probably tried to refrain from this to keep the story a little less creepy than it is (even though it didn't change the fact that the story is creepy overall) but still in my case I would have appreciated if he would just be blunt with us.


Now it may appear that I didn't like this story. Though really it's just little things I didn't like. But I really liked the story as a whole.

The Odyssey

So glad it's over! I loved the battle at the end though. Especially because Odysseus shot one of the suitors in the liver. I wish he would have just told everyone who he was it would have made things a lot easier. I don't have anything else to say right now, I'm just thrilled to be done with it.

The Lottery

This story was very interesting. Though I found it creepy and inhuman, I was additionally intrigued. I want to know more about the setting and why they did the lottery. It's also quite sad to think about these children stoning their own mother.

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

I love this movie! George Clooney is just spectacular. My older brother  read the Odyssey for school and his classed watched part of this movie. He then bought it. The first time I watched it I had no connection to the Odyssey. Watching it in class I picked up on other things. Some I am sure are not correct but it's the way I interpreted them.

 -The old man on the railroad reminded me of Circe and how she had told Odysseus about things he was to encounter.

 -The hospitality of Ulysses and crew with Tommy, such as the common hospitality strangers in the Odyssey

 -Of course there is the Sirens. I found this very easy to pick up on (sometimes I'm not a very deep thinker).

Procrastinator

I wasn't very focused last week at all and my time management skills were slacking. This week my mom bought me a book from Barnes n' noble called "Speak" I started it 4 or so days ago and I spent a couple hours finishing it this afternoon. I really enjoyed the story. It is about a girl with a secret. From the beginning all we know about her is that something went wrong at a party and now going into high school all of her friends hate her. I was on the verge of tears throughout the book and when I read the last page I broke down and sobbed. I was full of emotions. It was really amazing.


My next literary venture is "The Bourne Betrayal" (Eric Van Lustbader). Thanks go's out to Daniel for letting me borrow it. My parents were really into the movies and I had never questioned if it was based on a book or not. I am really excited to read it. I have gone from a tear jerking high school drama to a spy adventure. I sometimes question if I am truly a multiple personality.


Oh I almost forgot I have "Eclipse" (The third installment of the 'Twilight' series) sitting unfinished on my nightstand. I decided to reread this monstrosity after seeing the midnight premiere with Stephanie. That was a lot of fun considering we laughed at all the wrong parts.


Earlier my mom was questioning if she was going to let me read "Cutting for Stone" because of some sexual content. Though she came to the conclusion that I am mature enough to read it. I don't know when I'm going to read it though,


I don't even know if I've started reading the Odyssey yet this week. I was really interested in it at first but now it's just lost me. If it not being our main focus at the time I would surely put it down and find chapter summaries instead. Hopefully I can muddle through this last half. Fingers crossed Pistachio shows back up!

Reading

This week my mom has been pushing me to read a book called "Digging For Stones" (I think). She read it for book club and said it could top "The Book Thief", but I doubt it.  


I haven't completely finished reading the Odyssey for this week yet but I like it more and more. Maybe after were done reading we should all get assigned a chapter and do a summary on it so that we can completely shrink the story to only the necessary information. This  could help get rid of those long drawn out stories that most of us don't like.
    
I am one of those people who are to anxious to wait to the end of the book to find out what happens so I always read the last 2-3 paragraphs. Luckily for this book there wasn't much of a giveaway. Though accidentally when I flipped my book open the other day it opened to the middle and a couple of sentences caught my eye and totally ruined part of the story for me. Or at least I think I have a guess of what it was talking about and I was disappointed.


I will have another post when I have finished reading The Odyssey for this week but until then A bientot! (I'm taking French this year and am trying to use it as often as I can because it's so much fun)

The Odyssey 5-8

I was reading other peoples blogs and noticed a common trend. No one likes Telemachus. I don't know why I think he's amazing. What I don't like though about this part of the book is that I was really focused on Telemachus and Pistachio that when it switched to Ulysses it felt like I was starting a completely new story. Though it was nice to start hearing about him. Some things that I put little notes in my book about were,

- I hadn't realized Calypso was a goddess

-The messenger for the god's is called Mercury in this translation but I couldn't remember what his name was in the Greek translation

-I laughed at a lot of the phrasing when Mercury was talking to Calypso cause it sounded so strange

-When Ulysses was building his raft there were a lot of words I didn't know

-How can the gods keep an eye on everyone is they pay so much attention to individuals? 

I still really enjoy the story. Especially when my science teacher thinks I'm really smart for reading it in homeroom :D

Write, Just Write

I finally decided on a topic for my hero's journey. I am really excited about it. Last year the stories I wrote really weren't that good but this year I am really passionate for the topics of my stories so far. But I can't take all the credit the basis of my hero's journey is a scary story my friend Madison told me about cannibals in Allegan woods. The rest of it is completely made up. I hope this year I can elaborate on a topic that is a major part of my life. It has been the result of several poems and inspiration for my character sketch. I want to be much more "me" in my writing this year. I feel that to accomplish this I need to just write what comes to me not trying to sugar coat it. Just being real I guess is what I'm trying to say. This makes me think of the movie "Precious" which I viewed last night with my parents. How her teacher tells her to just write. She didn't say this quote exactly but I expected her to say "Write, just write so that I can know your story."


Oh my mom told me that she did say that exactly but I still don't think she did. 

The Odyssey 2-4

I am so mad at all the characters (well not all of them)! Why does no one support Telemachus? It seems like almost everyone is against him. I love Minerva though. She has such great authority over everyone. Then we come to Nestor. I almost fell asleep at the first part when he was introduced because he started telling stories that were getting to no point at all. Then finally! I found a point to his stories and I let out a long "Ohhhhhhh!" The best part for me was when Nestor was telling Telemachus about Ulysses not knowing that he was speaking with Telemachus. I love this part so much because of the emotions I felt. When he started to cry I almost did as well I just wanted to reach and and give him a hug! This is definitely turning into a very enjoyable story, dare a say a favorite?

What I've Read This Week

Nothing. Unless school papers count. 

The Odyssey

Well that was quite a difficult read. I hope they don't add a billion more characters. I found that it helped to rewrite the first several paragraphs in a more modern english. It helped to understand what was going on at first. I had a couple quick comments. I really liked Minerva she seemed to be a mother type figure, very compassionate. Also I liked that Telemachus stood up to those suiters (what pigs). Here are the first three paragraphs that I rewrote just in case it might help you in any way (I realized how long it would take to rewrite the whole thing once I got to this point).

So some guy defeated the town of Troy. Visited many cities and learned a lot of cultures. Further more he suffered a lot on his boat trying to keep everyone safe. But they were stupid and ate the Sun-gods cattle (Sun-god=Hyperion). So Hyperion said they couldn’t go home. 

Everyone who escaped death in battle or in a sinking boat got safely home. Except this guy named Ulysses, even though he wanted to go home to his wife, the goddess Calypso kept him in large cave because she wanted to marry him. Years later the gods let him go home to Ithaca (is this were he lives or the name of his wife?). Even when he was with his own people he still had troubles. Despite this the gods pitied him except for Neptune, who would not let him get home.

Neptune had gone to the Ethiopians, who lived at the world's end (Africa? And I think it’s saying it has miraculously split in two). He went to accept a Hecatomb (A public sacrifice, originally of a hundred oxen) and was enjoying himself. But the other gods met in the house of Olympian Jove, and the male leader of the gods and people spoke first. He (Whoa way to throw in a random character) was thinking of Aegisthus, who had been killed by Agamemnon’s son Orestes; so he (again who is this “he”) said to the other gods:

Summer

My summer's are typically not productive in any way. Well this summer I am proud to announce... is no different. I think I read maybe four books.


The first book I read this summer was Be More Chill (The authors name has successfully avoided me). It was 280-some pages of freakish reality that I would not care to revisit.


I also found a really cool resource at the library. Quote books. They are exactly what they sound like. Huge books filled with quotes. I found them to be very interesting. Not necessarily a novel but it was indeed "a written or printed work consisting of pages glued or sewn together along one side and bound in covers" as described by the dictionary built into my laptop. One of my favorite quote's was "Make yourself necessary to someone" (Emerson, Conduct of Life:Considerations by the Way)

Now I am not sure if this next book was one I had read this summer, or at the end of the school year but I will include it none the less. It was called Snowflower and The Paper Fan. It was about a little girl growing up in China. It brought us through her life from the young age of foot binding to her lonely old age. Along the way she became a friend with another girl her age. It was a noble honor. I can't recall what they called this type of friendship but I would describe it as an arranged best friendship. It was a wonderful heart-breaking story.


I am ashamed to admit this next two books. Yes I am talking about the Twilight Series. This summer I reread the second and third installment of this terrible series. The only way I can describe my reasons for reading these mindless stories are that it's like a car crash. You can't just look away. You have to keep watching.


Finally to cleanse my literary pallet I read the most breath taking story that has ever existed. It was titled The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. It was set in Nazi Germany during the second World War. It was told through the eyes of death. And followed the life of Lisel Meminger. A young girl who's mother couldn't care for her and her younger brother. She and her brother are sent to live with a foster family. But on the way her brother falls ill and dies. At the grave site she sees a book. Even though she can't read she "stole" the book anyways. And the story unravels from there. I must stop myself before I explain all the wonders of this story.


I don't believe I have read anything else this summer. If I had it obviously wasn't good enough to be remembered.