First Impressions: Nightmares and Dreamscapes

I've finished reading the first story of Steven King's: Nightmares and Dreamscapes, and it is safe to say that this novel can hook you in incredibly fast, without any warning on its part. Previous Steven King novels have deemed themselves rather uninteresting in my eyes. The incredible lengths of the books utterly overshadow any sort of intrigue I used to have, and the lack of any tense moments that could absorb me into the story are few and far. However, Nightmares and Dreamscapes is a book composed of short stories that prove themselves to be far more interesting. You see, the short lengths of the stories encourage them to be straight-forward and not draw out a ton of detail to keep the plot going. Instead, these stories are filled with interesting characters with enough of an stimulating premise to satisfy. Being halfway into the next story, it appears that this intrigue shows no intrest in dying down.

The first story opens right away with an ex-third grade school teacher stalking his wife's killer. The killer, in this case, lives like a king and is near impossible to touch. The plot develops through telling the struggles of this teacher as he attempts to trap the killer after months of learning his routine. It also becomes established that his teacher is clearly insane, as he keeps hearing the voices of his deceased wife guiding him. Eventually, he hears a second voice that puts his actions into doubt, and almost tears his humanity apart entirely. While the premise may be very simple, it is executed in a very compelling way. Despite the teacher being a mad man, you cant help but support his actions as he slowly reveals his story. The ending is powerful enough to satisfy, as the teacher realizes his actions and leaves satisfied with his work. Its truly interesting how much he takes pleasure in knowing his trap worked and the outcome was just to his liking. It is exactly how a psychopath would expect to act, like that of a bomb-maker, considering his invention to be a work of art. The plot, characters, and conclusion are all compelling and left me wanting more as continued through the novel. 

Nightmares and Dreamscapes, thus far, is quite an interesting venture. The story becomes very tense at times, but dosen't attempt to throw any loops. However, the suspense is what made the story come to life and the energy flowing in parallel with the teacher's actions. All in all, Nightmares and Dreamscapes surprised me with how engaged I became. I truly hope the Steven King sticks to his well-crafted short stories, as this one proved to be one of the most tense and suspenseful I have read. 

Four Qualities

These are my takes on the personification of four qualities from the list.

Blame

Blame is a figure of many disguises. He spends his nights preparing his lies and etching them into his sweaters. His closest friends are Anxiety and Grief. He makes sweaters for people to wear. It is rather itchy at first, but eventually they fall in love with its design. Children love to buy these sweaters for their friends, but their parents are infuriated when they see them wearing it. Perhaps it was a little too unique for their tastes. Sometimes, Blame puts on one of his own sweaters, and finds something very wrong with its design and how well it fits him. This happens time after time again, sometimes his friends come to visit, sometimes they bring cake, sometimes they don’t come at all and he corrects it himself. Still his corrections are followed again and again by another mistake. His disguises do not help him and others forget his pain. He thinks sometimes he should invest in a new hobby.

Panic

Panic is the brother of Fear and Blame, and a time traveler of sorts. As a child, he was very nervous in public places and finds comfort in cheating on tests. He preferred to stay at home on weekends, where he is afraid he will encounter someone he knows. When he was boldly threatened like his other brothers, he does not face them directly, but goes to his need to survive. Panic was most effective when he loses his homework. He reacts faster than anyone else would, but deals with his issues differently than everyone else. Panic has visited many of the kings, presidents, dictators, leaders, princes, and traitors of history. He loves to create his own stories with them, along with the help of his brothers. Often, Panic thinks of what history would be like if he had not been there. He knows for a fact that they would certainly have been a lot less entertaining.

Forgiveness

Forgiveness is a very rare, stubborn, and entirely self-sufficient person. He loves to grow seeds in Blame's garden, but forgets to give him the fertilizer. Forgiveness rejects sharing his fertilizer with anyone else and nourishes them himself, despite Blame constantly interrupting him. When Blame tries to grow them himself, he finds that he has only made things worse, and soon a storm begins to approach. By the time this storm passes, Forgiveness has already grown its plants to its full height past any plant in the garden. It’s thick branches gleam against the sun, each of them blossoming a lovely flower that any person is allowed to harvest. It gives off a lovely scent that entangles anyone its radius that injects them with euphoria. This is what makes people crave its special medicine, but just as it had grown, when it is forced to by others, it will no longer sprout. That is when Blame will return to water its roots, thinking it will sprout just once more.

Resignation

Resignation is a stubborn teen. He refuses to listen to others, nor his superiors. He has a bad influence on others with his uncaring attitude, and only cares for his closest friends, Blame, Panic, and Regret. His days in school were dull to him, and his friends wouldn’t cease to pester him in classes.  Soon he found himself out of school, without work, and completely content. His days and nights are empty, uneventful, yet still entertaining. He no longer speaks to his parents, his siblings, and even rarely to himself. His stubborn nature has earned most of the admiration of others around class. Now he locks himself away, with little education, disconnected friends, and parents filled with regret.  All he wished was that he was back in class, but things would still be the same. Hopefully for him, things will change one day, when things change, but for now, his seat feels quite empty. 

Mitchell's Qualities: 

Power

Power is the loud principal that you were always afraid of as a child. He was mighty and forceful to the point when your teacher spoke those terror-stricken words “GO TO THE PRINCPAL” you knew you were in for it. Yet when you have done something good, he will congratulate you. He is a hypocrite and a friend. Power can control you or fight with you. He can try to make you like his subjects, Hate and Courage. Power has a hand over all that you do, but swears to be setting you free. Power is the almighty and is told to be in control of everything but Power has a challenger, Anarchy. Power and Anarchy have had a long history together, fighting one day and in hand and hand the next. You see Anarchy is Powers only weakness.

Honor

Honor is much like her siblings, Trust and Devotion, but falls under her own category. Were Trust does not have Devotion and Devotion does not have Trust, Honor has them both. As the eldest of her kin, she has grown up learning of many different ways to show herself. She has had many jobs, but not because she was fired, it was more because she was needed elsewhere. She can be seen in the face of a soldier going into battle not knowing if she will come back. You can see Honor in the face of a Policeman or Firefighter as they go into that burning building or hostage filled bank. Honor is said to be everywhere, and that is true. Honor is every man, women, and child as well as in the ground, waiting to be unearthed.

Shock

Shock was not born like he is now. He was much more like his friend Innocence and Protection. He learned everything from them as well as his parents Discipline and Confidence. He learned that the world was a good place, that crime and misfortune was all an illusion. His friends and family made sure he was sheltered and misleaded about reality. Then one day he started hanging out with Greif and Guilt. He began to see the world through a new set of eyes. Ones filled with reality and lack of imagination and creativity. He saw why Depression, the girl who always sat alone on the bus, was like she was. One fateful day he came home to his parents, screaming and full of terror, because of what Greif and Guilt showed him. He blamed his parents and friends, especially Innocence. He was full of horror. Know a days people don’t see much of old shock, because they are programmed to see certainty and realism. We were all told by Discipline to stop bother him and his family, but now we are all sure of one thing, he would wake up from that attentive and cognizant coma.

  Guilt 

Guilt is the small child full of worry and anxiety. He often brings home failed tests and assignments he swore to his mother he didn’t have. He and his friend Penance often go to Church and see their friends Faith and Confidence there. They confess their sins and wrongdoings to be saved. Penance always feels much better after doing so, but Guilt just feels worse. He confesses things like shoplifting, gluttony, and greed. Though he feels good doing these acts during the time, he doesn’t like the aftershock of it all. You see Guilt is always tied up with happiness. He has always admired happiness, but only from afar, just close enough to see her. He likes what she has to say, but has heard bad things about her. People say she is fake and impossible. If Guilt was better and could become like his rival Confidence, maybe he would be able to help her. Guilt always has a concerned look on his face, even more so than the school’s scapegoat, worry.

Qualities

A quality is something hat a person forms throughout their experiences in life. It is through these qualities that society judges that person, and how that person judges society. They are the very characteristics that make up most of modern society and how people often describe one another. Most often, a quality helps inspire a person to meet their goals or validate others.

A few of my qualities are being:
-Hardworking
-Humorous
-Creative
-Thoughtful
-Charismatic
-Cynical
-Commited
-Forgetful

The Plague (Short Story Prompt)

This is a short story I finished just yesterday, based on the scenario of a plague afflicting most of the population, and former members of the general public being sent out in sweeper teams to diminish the infected. I would have gladly made it longer, but I felt it would have gotten a bit too long for a short story. Who knows, maybe I'll catch up to it in the future. 

The van rumbled a bit as he took a quick look out of the window to look at the silent street. It was incredibly desolate, which was nothing new, but there was something odd about this one in particular. Usually, the streets were piled with bodies so many that by the time we got back to base; the tires had a new coat of red paint. Except now, the streets were completely barren, aside from the occasional broken-down cars, traveling cases, and the discarded food items and papers from the trash bins. Now, unlike everywhere else, the streets lack any evidence that people were once here.

Inside the van, were six armed men with standard military outfitting, each of them most notably wearing gas-masks. One of them was standing at the front, talking with the van’s driver. Amongst the group was a factory engineer, who continued stared out the window, wondering how much longer he would be forced to do this. To be sent out each day and be reminded of the world they once knew until they were driven into a massive complex within the Earth, which so many people referred to as “home”. Those with any actual military experience were thought "too valuable assets" to be sent out into the field this often, and were forced to stay back to operate things at "home", but most of the operating they did was very little, thus many people just made their own plans to live, which was fine. He wasn’t the only one who thought like this, but maybe that’s what happens when you take away someone’s life, they learn to adapt.

After a moment, the man standing at the front turned back to them.

“All right everyone,” he began, the gas mask muffling his voice.  “We’re going to be in the red-zone in a few minutes. You all know the procedure; we stick together, eliminate all infected individuals, but remember to tag them first.”

At this moment, the engineer handed out scanners to the rest of the group. Just as he finished handing them out, the van suddenly stopped. He turned back to the driver and asked what was wrong, who simply gestured to the blazing wreck before them. The man turned back to the group.

            “Okay, apparently our trip is being cut a bit short.  We’re taking a sweep-and-clear route up the street here until we can find a way around this blockage.” He pointed to one of the men in masks. “You, stay with the driver, I don’t want this van missing when we get back.” The man nodded his head in compliance. “Okay, let’s get going.” The sounds of guns being cocked and loaded were followed by the back doors flying open. The group stepped out onto the rather dark street corner. The ground had attracted a large amount of dust, so much, in fact, that it acted almost as mist going no higher than their knees. A gust of wind sent a nearby pile of papers flying before them and down a dark, long street, which forbade a sense of light due to the rising skyscrapers and lack of street lights.

            The group kept close together in a half-circle formation, moving cautiously down the street, keeping their eyes open to any dark alleyways and the many open doors of empty buildings. Eventually, one of them caught movement coming from inside a nearby hotel. The instructor gestured for them to enter, which they did rather unskillfully, as one of them tripped on the steps, and they were all clustered together as they entered. Nevertheless, they entered without much fault. Despite its fancy architecture, the hotel was not very impressive. It appeared to only have a few floors, and the breakfast room was visible from where they stood, and it looked as though it could barley house three families. After entering, they found a man lying beside a fountain that was centered in the lobby. He raised an arm and let out a moan:

            “Help…” he said, weakly.

As if he had just remembered his training, the engineer pulled out the scanner and a flashing blue right ran up and down the man’s worn out body. It gave off a rhythmic humming noise and a red light from the top of the device. On a screen beneath this light was the device’s recommended “course of action” for the user. The engineer turned to his instructor, who simply nodded his head. He adjusted the barrel of his submachine gun to the man’s temple, murmuring an almost inaudible “I’m sorry” before squeezing his finger and seeing the man’s forehead suddenly protrude a red color.

            Soon after, the group was on the move again. They eventually came to an entrance within a back alleyway that would take them past the wreck. While in the relatively small building, they heard sounds coming from up the fire escape, supposedly someone was running. They slowly made their way upstairs and one of them looked into the hallway before giving the all clear. Eventually, they heard sobbing coming from a nearby room. The group lined up against the wall and prepared to enter. The instructor gave the signal for them to enter, and with a swift kick to the center of the door, it flew open to reveal a women lying on her bed, crying into her hands. She gazed up at the group as they entered slowly. One of the members pulled out their scanner. Upon seeing this device, the woman gave a horrified, then angered expression.

            “No…” she said, her throat still tight from the sobbing. “You’re not taking her, not now!”

Then, from underneath the messy blankets, she pulled out a revolver, aiming it at the man with the device.

            “Gun!” One of the group members shouted.

The woman fired a round into the man’s chest, while the rest of the squad fired one quick burst of bullets, all of them entering her body. The man stood up, unharmed due to the protection of his vest. The engineer then heard more sobbing coming from within a nearby closet. He opened it and found a beautiful little girl on the ground, her face dug into her knees. She couldn’t have been more than nine years old.

            “Oh my god…” The engineer let out.

He knelt down and the girl looked up to his eyes through the gas mask.  He quickly pulled out his scanner and began to take readings. The rest of the squad was busy watching the doorways, searching the rooms, and taking reading from the woman’s corpse to pay attention to what else was happening in the room. As the scan continued, an amazing thing happened, or more what didn’t happen.  The device didn’t go off. He looked back at the little girl to see the tears streaming down her cheeks, but she wasn’t sobbing anymore.

            “It’s alright. It didn’t go off. You’re not infected.”

She continued to look at him for a while, until she finally found something to ask him.

            “Can I come with you?” She whispered.

            “Why?” He asked.

She was silent for a moment.

            “I think I might run out of food soon. They don’t want to leave here but…they’re all crazy.”

            “Wait, you’ve been getting food by yourself. Like…traveling the streets?”

She nodded.

“Then….how have you not-“

            “Can I come with you?” She interrupted him.

            “Um…yeah. Yes, of course. Just let me-“

He was interrupted by yelling coming from the hall.       

            Gunfire broke out in the hallway, with the group returning fire.

            “The Hunters!” He heard a man yell. “The Hunters are here!”

The engineer quickly stood up and moved toward the doorway. He saw every door fly open at once and people run into the halls shouting and firing their guns at the group.

            “Ah, shit! We’re trapped!” Yelled the instructor.

            “This way!” Came a young, feminine voice from behind.

Behind them a window was open, and on the other side of it was the little girl, waving the group towards her. Quickly, the group exited the room and made their way down the fire escape to the street level. Unfortunately, the attackers continued their purist, as they rushed out the back door toward the group. The group immediately turned and ran, with the engineer holding onto the little girl’s hand as they ran. After a hasty pursuit, the van came into view, with the member they left behind opening the doors and waving for them to hurry. They piled into the van and shut the door.

            “Get us the hell outta here!” Yelled one of the group.

The driver attempted to turn the wheel, but the van refused to turn.

            “The hydraulics must be screwed!”

The engineer quickly rushed out of the van to examine it, and found that the only problem was a piece of debris wedged into the hydraulic. He attempted to remove it, but it was stuck in far too tight. Behind him, he could see the crowd emerge from the mist, yelling for the girl back.

            “Here!” He heard the girl yell.

He turned and saw here wielding a wedge tool.  She tossed it to him, and using it, was able to wedge the blockage out. Grabbing hold of her, he helped her back into the van and shut the door.

            “Punch it!” The instructor yelled.

The van then swerved into reverse, and sped off back down the road.

            A wave of relief passed over the van and its inhabitants. The engineer sat back down at looked at the little girl.

            “So…you feel okay?” He asked.

She nodded.

            “Everyone else started feeling really sick. Even my mom. She started talking to my dad, even though he wasn’t there. A lot of people started bleeding too. From their mouths I think.” She described.

            “But, you’re alright? You haven’t gotten sick at all? Ever?”
She shook her head.

“Heh,” he went on “That’s good. Well, were going…somewhere else. A lot safer. There are no crazy people there. And there’s lots of food.”

She smiled at this, but it quickly faded when a memory popped into her head.

            “What about my mom?”

Even though it wasn’t noticeable, he frowned very quickly through the mask. He felt himself become overwhelmed by grief.

            “She, uh, didn’t make it. She wanted us to look after you.”

She looked down at the floor.

            “Oh…” She whispered.

He leaned forward.

            “Look, I know it’s a lot deal with right now, but I’ll take care of you, deal?”

She looked up again and smiled.

            “Yeah, deal.”

The other people within the group looked at them for a while, and there was a brief silence.

            “So…are there any kids there?”

            “Yeah. Not a lot, but…yeah, a few.”

This put her in higher spirits.

            “Cool!”

            “You’re pretty quick to adapt.”

She looked at him for a bit.

            “It’s alright.” She stated, looking out the window. “It just takes a bit of getting used to.”

The engineer looked out the window with her, as the dusty ruins of the city trailed off behind them.

Dandelion Wine Discussion Questions

1. The metaphor tells how the summer itself is just but a memory. The entire theme within the novel is but memories and how people have come to love, forget, cherish, and hate these memories, but how they make up a certain individual. This was what the importance was of the Dandelion wine, they were but memories to be remembered, but digested by those who made them. He in way is saying the memories in your past make you who you are.

2. He was putting to much attention into the machine rather than his family. She also likely believed that the machine was a solution to something missing in their marriage, which she failed to notice. They are unhappy because the machine showed them images of places they wished to be, but could never visit, thus when it was over and they exited the machine, they were unhappy because they could never visit it. Ultimately, the machine ironically made people sadder than it's original intention to make people happier. It reflects on how the very things that originally made people happy near completely alters their character, most often emotionally.

3.It represents the battleground between the town and nature. Its shows the unexplored regions that society has long forgotten, or wished to leave unexplored, for danger of what lurks within it, or just the pure sight of it. The deepness of the ravine and its unsettled area makes it that much dangerous, how it remains unaltered by man.

4. Yes, because it represented how she could no longer live in the past, or more focus on it, when her present was still there. It wasn't more that she was denying she had a past, but more that she was letting go of it instead of keeping it in the back of her head that she will always be that same little girl. No, since his novel is more based around how memories change people, not that people have to let go of those memories if they wish to move forward. It is simply in this depiction that Mrs. Bentley was so wrapped up in her past that she had to force it away from her instead of hoping for it to return.

5. Yes, because the point of the records were to keep lessons about the summer that they learned from the people within their town. As young boys, they take everything they learn from adults literally, as if it is the truth.

6. He is a serial killer, who at night, stalks the ravine and dumps the bodies into it. Yes, she does. They are angered, because there is nothing to fear anymore, thus no exitemnt.

7. It is believed that from the heat, he has gotten some sort of stroke. Jonas gives him to bottles of pure air to breath in through his nose.

8. No, because that is the entire point of the dandelion wine, they are memories that he has stored for each summer, until he is ready to take these memories. He must really dislike summer, considering his entire focus is how it is merely just a memory.

Short Response To Dandelion Wine

Thus far within the book, I have really enjoyed what I have been reading. While the book at first was hard to understand, I may have the gist of how things are working now. It at least follows the events of a set of characters, but they may not be necessarily in chronological order. The chapters themselves have been quite interesting, with the one that intrigued me the most would be the part where John is moving away. While Douglas remains in disbelief, John continues to grieve over the regrets he has had. Apparently, he has a short-term memory, so he is afraid that when he moves away he will forget about Douglas and his life here. It becomes more evident that Douglas is afraid of Tom leaving as well, when in a last game of freeze tag (or statue tag apparently). Before the game begins, John notices how it was the first time Douglas, or anyone for that matter, volunteered to be it. Everyone is forced to stop by Douglas (as part of the game), and he proclaims that everyone must remain still for the next three minutes, supposedly enough time to make John miss his train. John purposely becomes it and forces everyone to freeze, then slugs Douglas in the arm, and says goodbye before away behind him. When Douglas stops hearing him running, he realizes he has left to go pack, at runs after him, becoming very furious and proclaiming him to be his enemy at the chapter's end. The reason I believe these chapters are connected is because in a later chapter, it shows Douglas hearing John's train depart while walking with his friends, and accepts the fact of him leaving and starts a race with his friends. These types of scenes have made me come around on the book, simply because it becoming much easier to understand. Like one chapter in particular, with Mrs. Bentley, and how she desperately attempts to prove she was younger, when all along she just had to accept that she was now aging, and those times were behind her. Slowly this novel has grown on me, and hope that it remains as intriguing as time goes on.

Rules of Writing a Film Script

After a quick read of an example script, here's a few rules embedded within the story:

• Publish a master header at the beginning of the script
• Names should be in captials when a character is introduced for the first time. 
• Actions that are important to the narrative should be in capitals.
• Create a new paragraph suddenly when something new has happened and the shot has changed. 
• Names should be in captial letters every time a character speaks, 
• Dialogue is formatted in the center of the page.
• Action can interrupt dialogue with a paragraph.
• V.O. is used to indicated that a characters voice is over their thoughts. 
• O.S. indicated that a character is saying something off camera.
• After changing locations, describe the scene with a new header, which is indicated with a cut to indicate a transition.

Camera Shots

Here are a few attempts at a crane shot and a dolly shot. Keep in mind that this is filmed entirely on a camcorder, and our only resource being a skateboard for the dolly shot. Nevertheless, they seemed to turn out okay.

Crane Shot 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=iwN3SD-Amp0

Crane Shot 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuFa7GoRWyI

Dolly Shot 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqnQuO8jkgY

Dolly Shot 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jewCsMnDDzk

"The End of Poverty?" Reaction

Thus far in the documentary, I am really enjoying the personal stories of the numerous people dealing with poverty in foreign nations today. The film does a really good job at showing the meekness of those in desperation in their faces, how they aren't particularly upset by their conditions, but just hoping they would change sometime. I really enjoy the film's narration as well, personally because I have encountered Martin Sheen's work elsewhere in the Mass Effect video game trilogy. It is very informative and I have no qualms with the picture thus far.

Quick reaction to Something Wicked This Way Comes (Thus far)

I have currently not finished the movie, yet I am excited so far into the movie's atmosphere. The most chilling scene obviously would be where the Will and Jim are stuck in Jim's room, as tarantulas are sweeping in out of nowhere. The lack of lighting and the continuous wriggly feeling of the music helps to create a really dark and compacted atmosphere. The camera likes to keep close to the boys as they become swarmed by the arachnids. The story has also become quite interesting, as the townspeople are reverting back to their young ages as children. Being the only kids that know of the circus' evil, they are being hunted by Mr.Dark since they "know to much". The music matches the atmosphere and architecture perfectly, and is helpful for creating a lot of dramatic effects. I am very immersed in the plot and hope the conclusion is promising.

Video Game Violence

While doing research on this topic, I came across some interesting details from a few websites. For instance, not only do kids play video games, but it would seem that exclusively kids play video games.
-According to an article on the Huffington Post,  97% of children play video games, which is why violence in video games in such a sore topic.
-During the aftermath of the Columbine High School massacre, news reports confirmed that the students played violent video games such as Doom, Wolfenstien 3D, and Counter-Strike.
-Sometime after the events of the Virgina Tech Massacre ,where Counter-Strike faced controversy for its supposed influence in the shooters behavior, Brazil banned any sales of Counter-Strike.
-The video game industry has now grown larger than both the film and music industries.
-Video games now have a huge influence over the sales of songs, albums, an artist popularity. More largely than that of the film industry.


With video games having such a large influence over today's culture, its no wonder why parents have stepped up to defend their children. The problem with addressing mature topic in video games is that they have such a large influence on those that play them. Interactive storytelling is by far the most immersive form of entertainment, so when people view it as wrong to address things such as racism, sexual themes, or extreme violence, it not only causes outrage, but limits the potential of the developers. I suppose the only true way to tell what games a child or pre-teen can or can't play is to be judged by the parent. They simply need to be more involved in the ideal of video games, along with studying their children habits or attitude so they can more easily tell which games they will be affected by, and which they can play without having a large effect on them. 

Ray Bradbury

With the upcoming viewing of our next film, Something Wicked This Way Comes, it seemed appropriate to research a bit upon Ray Bradbury. He was a very well-known author, with his greatest known work being Fahrenheit 451. Bradbury had written 27 novels and over 600 short stories in his lifetime, each published into about 36 languages around the world. He had written in many genres, from fantasy to science fiction, from mystery to horror. Millions of these copies have been sold worldwide and critically acclaimed to have attracted a massive audience.
In his early life, Bradbury had written his first story at the age of elven, during the time of the Great Depression. His greatest and earliest influences were Edgar Allen Poe and Edgar Rice Burrows. Thus, a year later at the age of twelve, he imitated Poe's writing of horror stories until the age of eighteen.  He spent most of his time at the library in Waukegan, where he read many authors including Burrows' Tarzan of the Apes. He was so enthralled with this book that he eventually wrote his own sequel to it at the same age of twelve. At twenty years old, he stopped reading genre books and moved into authors such as Alexander Pope and John Donne. In high school, he joined the Poetry and Drama clubs, with plans to be an actor, but as the years went on, he became more serious with his writing. Bradbury never went to college though, claiming that libraries were what raised him to know literature, and during the times of the Depression, he had no money, so he didn't believe in colleges or universities. It thus came to that he worked in the libraries for three days a week, for ten years.
With such an aspiring past, and no post-high school education, Bradbury's rise to becoming one of modern history's most successful authors was truly achieved through inspiration and hard working natural talent.

Memorable Scene

My favorite and most memorable scene is from Zombieland. Near the film's end in the carnival, Columbus if faced with his greatest fear, clowns. To free Wichita and her younger sister from atop a drop tower ride, he is forced to deal with an undead circus clown. The one on one with this zombie does a really good job at bringing about Columbus' fears. He's spent the entire film killing countless of the rotting meatsacks, but now that he's run out of ammunition and faced with one that represents his deepest, darkest, and, as of now, only fear. As the camera slowly turns toward a medium shot of the clown zombie, blood and meat protruding from its mouth, you can almost hear the "oohhh" of the theater audience. The music slowly builds in the background, creating an intense atmosphere as he looks up a Wichita and realizes something very important. Columbus' only reason for his survival is his personal set of rules that serve as the entire premise of his character and the decisions he makes. It is in this moment that he makes the realization that in order to save the one he loves, some rules are meant to be broken. Thus he shatters one his most important rules, "Don't be a hero.", and the music almost instantly swells back in, as he rather quickly disposes of the clown and rescues Wichita. 

This is what I liked most about the film, it had strong character development where the audience could connect with the main characters in the movie, well, a ZOMBIE movie. A lot of films dont lack this quality, but most horror/zombie films center around putting a large group of displaced survivors in one enclosed area as they are each slowly picked off by the horde, until they finally decide that while they're most weak with fewer amounts of survivors that they should actually make an effort to leave. Here, it actually centers around the fact that people have knowledge of what to do in the event of an apocalypse, hence the purpose  for Columbus' set of rules. I mean, this scene takes place in a carnival, what do you think they were there for? They traveled there in hopes of finally finding it to be a place of salvation where they can just manage to outlive the apocalypse, whining infinitely about how much they wish they could go back to their old lives, seeing how this one holds absolutely no benefits? No, they came their to have fun, an aspect that the film manages to understand very well. Its not trying to be a tongue-in-cheek overriding with clichés comedy. Its trying to be exactly what it is, a huge joy-ride from start to end filled with twists and turns and a few shocking moments here and there like that of a roller coaster. 

Nevertheless, this is why I liked this scene so much. It imprinted a lasting impression into my mind of how Columbus, a social outcast to the modern world, slowly became forced to deal with reality, and this scene showed his final tug away from the his set of rules that kept him both alive, yet torn away from others. Similar to how he was before the outbreak.

Scissorhands Critique

Written By:

Jacob Gilbert-Mahoney

Mitchell Duncan

In the film Edward Scissorhands, Johnny Depp plays the lead role of Edward Scissorhands. His entire performance is rather silent, as he only speaks 169 words throughout the entire film. There are many themes within this particular movie, including romance, hatred, and fear. All of these incorporate into Depp’s character as an isolated monstrosity. This antihero, who dominantly speaks without speaking, can be very powerful and influential to the viewer through acting with his eyes. Once his secluded character is finally brought into society, he undergoes a slow change as to adapt newfound home.

Johnny Depp made many choices in the film that we make throughout our daily lives. The only difference is that his isolation caused him to never develop his common sense and difference right and wrong and good and evil. The more he stays within reality; he becomes more enabled to develop these traits. It does not come fast though, halfway through the film; he is tricked into robbing a house, and is then arrested. Soon after these events, his neighbor Joyce enacts to seduce him, but is rejected, causing her to take revenge by claiming he tried to “rape” her.  This combined with the break-in cause his former chums to turn their backs on him along with Peg and her family for taking him in.

The colors of the people’s clothing, houses, and cars contrast largely to Edward’s costuming. While everyone and everything appears colorful and flashy, Edward’s attire is of very black clothing, pale complexion, facial scars, and crazy hair. This was likely as a way to display Edward’s difficulty to blend with reality and the people he is surrounded with. His attrite also matches his disposition, which is very different from the happy and out going personalities of the community members. We find this very important because it displays the uniqueness of Edward and the similarities of everyone in the small neighborhood. Costuming is clearly of the essence in this motion picture because the actor can portray a monstrosity to his heart’s desire, but if he doesn’t appear different from the others, the full effect cannot sink in to the audience. We thought this was well used through the entirety of the screenplay, as it matched very well with the musical score.

The portrayal of his role uses different techniques. The director uses full-front position to help display vulnerability and silence as a character. His entire role is reprised through acting with his eyes. In variation, Tim Burton (director of the film) also uses the three-quarter turn at the first reveal of Edward to make appear hostile. As the plot evolves, this impression changes from a violent figure to a passion-driven character. This excellent use of camerawork and angling helps the viewers understand the characters and plot in a deeper meaning.

To establish an effective use of mystery, Burton uses many different techniques for lighting in the film. One example is his use of low-key lighting at the first reveal of Edward. This particular use of lighting is used to create a mysterious and somewhat ominous view of a character. At first glance, you can only see Edward’s silhouette as he emerges from the shadows, and revealing his scissorhands. This helps create this ominous feeling, exciting the viewer, and giving the deceiving sense that Peg, for example, felt in that instance.  Another easy to spot lighting technique is used is backlighting. This type of lighting is used effectively most during the romantic scenes. In Edward Scissorhands, Kim realizes her feeling for Edward when she is dancing in the “snow” (shaved ice from Edward’s ice sculpture). In the background you can spot bright flashes of light as if an aura around her, even though the scene was shot at night.

The film still has its share of flaws to it despite its overall positive appeal. Kim’s brother, Kevin, played by Robert Oliveri, plays a very small, and rather unimportant role throughout almost the entire film. The only major set piece he plays is near the film’s end when Edward saves him from a drunk driver, but his actions have the consequence of mistakenly cutting him while trying to help him up. Also, at the film’s end, it is revealed that the elderly woman speaking is Kim. She believes that Edward is still alive, even after all this time, because before he came down from the mansion, there was no snow, but after he did, there always was. The film claims that the ice sculptures he makes in his mansion, he uses to make snow, which falls upon the neighborhood below. The problem with this theory is how in the world he managed to get the ice, minus actually brining it into the mansion. It isn’t possible that he managed to carry those tons of ice into his home. Kim claims she never went up to the mansion afterwards because she wanted to remember her as a young girl and not as an elderly woman. That means had to remain entirely self-sufficient as he went back to his old life of isolation, so how does he manage to get all of that ice? This plot hole appears to be the only major one, but it is quite a big one.

To conclude, Edward Scissorhands is very well a good movie. It teaches high moral values, an obvious one being: “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” It’s symbolic, enjoyable, and delivers an outgoing message to the audience. Yet the film has its issues, with a major plot hole, and the protagonist can be a tad over-the-top. Its understandable that Edward was secluded from society, thus has no common sense, but the only missing components were his hands. Cant he still portray emotions on some level rather than evolving them when finally in society? It is easily a Tim Burton classic to be preserved through the ages.

Follow Mitchell's blog here:  http://www.mitchellsblog14.blogspot.com/

Post-Edward Scissorhands (Questions!)

After finally watching Edward Scissorhands, I was asked to answer a few questions based on my analysis of the film. Fantastic.

The entire neighborhood is constructed, describe the colors used in the neighborhood scenes? 

The neighborhood is quite bland. All of the houses appear to be painted one color and the grass is as clean and green as a golf course. Besides the colors, they all appear quite symmetrical with the same green hedges and backyards. 

What could be the desired effect in use of color?

It was likely used as a way to represent how everything appears so regular and alike within the neighborhood. While the colors do appear a tad flashy, it does give a sense of how everything appears normal or otherwise basic within the community.

As the woman drives up to the haunted house there is background music playing. What is the desired effect of this music? Describe two other places in the film where the soundtrack or film score affected your viewing of that scene.
In that particular scene, the desired effect was to make a sort of mysterious tone. This actually matches well with the sudden changes of the bright green grass of the neighborhood to the half-dead forest and black surface of the mansion. The background music assists in this moment to immerse the viewer in the first exploration the woman has into the mansion and the first in-depth look the viewer has into it. The film impressively uses the music in the opening credits as the chimes of bells in the music help to create a chilling tone. This matches perfectly with the first glimpses of the dark architecture of the mansion and the apparent winter weather. The film also uses its music to its advantage when Edward is trapped within Jim's house. The fast pace of the music helps sets a tone as you can see the panic in Edward's face as he desperately claws at the door knob trying to escape.

How does the costuming set the main character, Edward apart from the other community members and why do you think Edward to be so visually different? How does this help the actor portray his role? 
This goes back to the original idea of how the rest of the neighborhood is so colorful, as well as its residents. Everyone appears so expressive, which matches their personality, as well as connected. This is why Edward's appearance looks so different from everyone else. His dark clothing, pale complexion, facial scars, and rough boots make him so diverse from the rest of the community. This is something, however, that you would expect from a monstrosity that is brought into society, but if he doesn't LOOK like a monstrosity then it wouldn't be as effective.This is something the director was likely going for, if a person acts like a monster, talks like a monster, and even believes he is a monster then that's good acting, but if he doesn't actually appear like a gloomy person than everyone might as well suspect that he's a social outcast that has stayed out of the sun for far too long. His clothing, like the rest, also matches his personality. He's been disconnected from society and therefore lacks common sense and learns these traits as he goes. This sort of portrayal can help the actor understand that since he doesn't appear like any of the extremely colorful people on set than he shouldn't act like hes at a Halloween party, he should act like someone he doesn't fit in.

What is Tim Burton (Director) saying about the nature of conformity in this film? How does he use color and visual imagery to drive home this point? 
Likely saying how in terms of the nature of conformity how the socially unaccepted are accepted. Edward, who has been isolated from reality and society for all of his time alive, is suddenly pulled into reality, and is almost immediately accepted as the highlight of the neighborhood. He even cooperates with others better than the others within the neighborhood, and even befriends the local police after his arrest, which later saves life (oh, spoilers). Tim uses colors very well within the film, as described before, to show how different Edward is from the rest of society. His pale complexion and dark clothing doesn't correspond well with the rest of the bright and flashy environment. It shows how disconnected he is from everyone else and his inability to blend, even though he is virtually accepted in everyone's eyes.

Is Edward a tragic figure? Why or why not based on the outcome of the film. 
Originally, I was going to say no, seeing as how since Edward isn't really getting involved in these situations so much as he is pulled into them. Being disconnected from the rest of reality, he simply has no common sense and learns the difference between right and wrong and good and evil as the story evolves. I never though of him to be a person that does these acts selflessly as a human, but is just an ironically popular figure that is exploited. Halfway through the film that opinion changed when it is revealed how Edward's true love, Kim, is unfairly taken from him and this shows his first negative emotion as an actual person. Later he accidentally injures Kim, which practically turns him against everyone else, except Kim...because she loves him...and all those little things. It feels a bit symbolic when he removes his attire that he has kept on since he first entered the neighborhood, and quickly sinks back into that ideal of what an actual monstrosity is, as he wreaks havoc upon the works of art he made for everyone else, utterly destroying them. Then in a final scene, he mistakingly injures Tim, and like a scene out of Frankenstein, is forced back into his mansion by an angry mob. Then I took a look back: He rejects one person who is in love with him for the one he loves, he injures the one he loves, he becomes isolated from society yet again, and the people who once trusted him now perceive him as a threat. All of these changes I felt rounded him into a tragic figure rather than an inconveniently placed one.

What are some of the highlights, twists and turns of the story? 
-When Edward rejects Joyce, she becomes infuriated and claims he attempted to "rape" her.
-Edward mistakingly injures Tim with his "scissorhands" after pushing him out of the way of a moving car.
-He mistakingly injures Kim with a clumsy move that causes Jim to force him away.
-He falls back into isolation within the roof where he was first discovered by Peg.
-Despite his rather off-putting appearance, he appears to be quite the ladies man, as two women fall in love with him.

Research online what people Tim Burton consistently works with for his productions and list three here. Discuss why creatively this might be important for a Director. 
-Johnny Depp (this film! :D)
-Danny Elfman
-Helena Bonham Carter
I feel as though this technique is a way of sticking to a style. When you have a certain flow of writing or managing that you like, you don't tend stray from that path, at least too far. So, working with certain collaborates offers the chance to remain within the same style of writing without suffering from loss of experience. Knowing an actor's or writer's strengths and weaknesses makes them a whole lot easier to manage and puts a relief on the director so that he can maintain his way of creativity without sacrificing anything. 


Well, those are my views on Edward Scissorhands, and as expected, Tim Burton didn't fail me (at least yet.). Overall, it's very memorable, symbolic, can appeal to most audiences, and delivers a positive message. Except to children. The only positive message they would get is not to run with scissors.

The Arts in Propaganda

While researching the social institution of the Arts, something that grabbed my interest was how effective arts have been used in propaganda.

The Arts have had its origins far back in the prehistoric times of human history. "Cavemen", as we know them, began to discover the methods of cultivation and animal domestication. With these new methods of living, they began to focus different aspects of life. Cave paintings serve as the primary evidence of the origins of artistic expression, with the earliest found in Spain, in the cave known as El Castillo. Dating at over 40,800 years old, University of Bristol's study lead,  Alistair Pike, claims this to be"...currently Europe's oldest dated art by at least 4,000 years". These paintings commonly depicted animals or methods of targeting or spotting animals. Others were used to depict gods, which can also depict religion back to this era.

Today, the Arts are very commonly used in propaganda to support politics, religion, government, education, and many more topics. This type of art is used to influence one side of a community to one side or of an argument or cause. These depictions are commonly very racial, but proved to effective in many ways. Although, propaganda is also used as a form of communication, illustrating a time or event within places of history.

 Propaganda had its uses throughout the U.S., with the most famous likely being during the World War II era. There were often depictions of a Japanese man encouraging a worker to take the day off, showing people that if they were to work less, it would help the Axis powers. Others date back to 1887 at the start of the Russo-Turkish War, depicting the scenes of rape and slaughter by Ottoman forces.

These ways of propaganda had many psychological influences over the modern world, as propganda is used as a very effective
way today to influence society as a whole as it has done in the
past.

This image of Uncle Sam is

possibly the most famous in

American history.          

Chew On This

The book "Chew on This" is a investigative journalistic novel based around the fast-food industry. From the beginning it starts to tell the origins of fast-food itself, which is something I really like. It goes with the old saying from Sun Tzu, "Know your enemy...". Eric Schlosser and Charles Wilson understood that for people to truly understand why fast food is bad, they had to go into its origins.

What I like about this method though is that the book keeps it interesting by going into the personal lives of fast food employees. It shows how their lives have been affected by their jobs and how lowly they are respected for them. For example, a 16-year employe named Sadi worked from eight o'clock in the morning until 11 o'clock at night, due to a lack of helping hands and different managers coming in to ask for her help. She was then asked to help close the restaurant and left at three o'clock in the morning. The next day, her manager gave her a thank-you gift for working nineteen hours and a half with only a half-hour break: a bag of candy. 

The book keeps sticking to its side of the argument, which is another thing that I found very important. It doesn't completely bore the reader with just facts on how fast-food came to be, but how these innovations affected the economy. It even goes as far to tell how these corporations have targeted children as their marketing and outside help. Although, the book can be inspiring as to show how many of these entrepreneurs started off as total failures and high school dropouts, then came to be millionaires. It was only by trial-and-error that they managed to succeed.

Sadly, I haven't managed to finish the book, but I still find that it is very informative and interesting.

Edward Scissorhands

As an upcoming film we are about to watch, I predict Edward Scissorhands to be a very interesting film. Edward Scissorhands is a film created by Tim Burton, whom I have a special place in my heart for due to his producing of Batman Forever. To jog your memory, he also created these other famous works:

-The Nightmare Before Christmas
-Corpse Bride
-Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

There are also some interesting facts about the film as well. For instance, Johnny Depp, throughout the entire 1 hour and 40 minute film, only says 169 words. His love interest within the film, Kim, played by Winona Ryder, was also dating Depp coincidentally at the time. To prepare for his upcoming role, Depp watched many Charlie Chaplin films to learn to create sympathy without needing dialogue.

Considering I haven't seen the film yet, I decided to make a prediction. Its about a mobster named Edward. With scissors for hands. Who falls in love with the daughter of the rival family named Kim. And theirs a lot of jam in it. Like I said, I haven't seen the film yet, and its hard to find facts without wanting to spoil it for yourself. Nevertheless, I expect a lot of good things from Tim Burton as his most personal work.

The Slender Man

Over the break, I spent a decent amount of time reading "The Slender Man", by Dexter Morgenstern, as opposed to an informative book called "Chew On This" (sorry Mr. Craddock). Anyway, the book is a horror/mystery novel based upon the internet-born urban legend known as The Slender Man.

 

He blends in very well. 

As a bit of background, the Slender Man is a specter of legend made famous and created by the internet, known to be stalking humans for centuries. He is depicted as a tall, thin man with no face hair or face, pale, a black suit, and red tie. As expected from a novel born from the internet, it is a rather simple read. Difficult words are few and far and the author sticks to a common style. Sadly, there are quite a few grammatical errors within the book, and the style has an odd way of writing dialogue that can leave readers confused.

The novel follows the perspective of a freshman named Alyssa Redwood. After a tragic accident that claims the lives of numerous elementary students, with her brother being the sole survivor, she is stalked by the legend himself, the Slender Man. As people begin children and teens alike begin disappearing within the rather small town, Alyssa soon discovers that she must learn how to combat the being before she and her brother become then next victims. 

Once you are able to get past the grammatical and formatting errors, the book is actually very enjoyable. The plot extends past the baseline knowledge of the internet and revolves around its own original ideas. It appears the author knows that if anyone buys the book, it will largely be people that already have background knowledge of the Slender Man. As one of those people, I found myself rooting for the Slender Man as opposed to the main character, but that may be because she can be hated by the reader, if that was intended.

I mean how could you not love that face?

I still found some issues, such as: *SPOLIERS* The grandmother had a bit too much of the information surrounding the Slender Man. Plus, the excessive use of the word "fiend" got a bit ridiculous. 

Nevertheless, the book is still worth the read, despite its issues.

Welcome to the blog

Hello and welcome to the blog. I'm Jacob. Needless to say, I run this place.

Currently, this is only being used for my creative writing course: Writing for Publication. As the years go on, this will eventually expand to future courses and different practices. So, if your one of my classmates, welcome! If your a visitor just stopping by (but that's still kinda creepy), still welcome!

Now go away.