The Alchemist

Hmmm.... It was an interesting book, but I am afraid it's life changingness was lost on me. I enjoyed the story and how everything pans out, but over all I would rather read a romance novel. I know that The Alchemist isn't uber lowbrow, but geeze even my romance novels don't have to explain everything, on every page of the book. They leave that little bit of mystery for you to work out on your own, then at the end everything is revealed, as it should be.
Yeah, for me The Alchemist is more of a cheesy book club book that everyone reads and then they ooo and ahhh over how much it has changed everything, when it tells you what you already know, but have ignored all your life. Needless to say, I am not a bookcluber.
On another note, I have discovered recently that I am not cut out to be a highbrow book reader. I enjoy the simple things in life when it comes to books. I would rather waste my afternoons reading sappy love stories that do nothing but make me happy because the girl and the guy end up and they live happily ever after, than ponder over words for hours on end, deciphering Joyce's cryptic writings. Yes I admit it, I am a mindless lowbrower and proud of it!

Paper topic and thesis..... kind of....

I have been having a lot of problems trying to decide on a topic, failing miserably at coming up with something that makes me want to explode with excitement. Therefore, I am going to just write about something that keeps popping up in my mind, baffling my comprehension of all that I know. It is a simple idea, but when I begin to ponder about it becomes this mess of ideas and questions that make go slightly crazy for a couple of hours. This is the use of time in the novels we have read. It relates to the myth of the eternal return, 20 min lifetime, world as fiction and dream, and so on. It will probably be a pain to write about, but I am going to try. I should be able to use examples from each book, but as of right now I am still trying to decide which to use.
*sigh*

To recap:
For my paper I will be covering the topic of time. How it is used, ignored, and emphasized in the novels we have read, and why it is so important.

A whole lot a bloggin'

We were supposed to blog about the one person whose blog made an impact on our way of thinking. But no one has my complete admiration over all others. I have not followed any one blog through out the semester, instead I browsed through everyones, reading the blogs of that week. Everyone has such different and wonderful views on everything we talk about!!! It is really fun to just flip from one blog to another and see how each topic takes a different turn depending on who wrote it. There are so many epic revelations that people come up with that make me think in a whole new way. Thanks for all the good reads!!!

PS: Next time, I think Mr. Sexson should keep a blog too!

A little bit of trivia

So for any of you who happened to pick up an exponent this week, you probably skipped to the good stuff, such as the "Ask Time Traveling Sherlock (from the past)" He is like the male version of dear Abby for our school. His most recent inquiry was from an Andy K. and it said:

"Dear Sherlock, I went to Butte for Saint Patrick's Day over spring break, and i somehow woke up in the middle of campus back in Bozeman, without shoes, a shirt or much of my dignity. All I had in my pockets was a quarter, a piece of paper with a number on it, and what I'm guessing was an old man's prosthetic finger. Is there any way to figure out what happened to me that night?"

Now I'm no Sherlock, but there is a certain book from class that this made me think of, how about you? Perhaps this Andy K. could read it find enlightenment.

P.S. if you cant make the connection you should probably drop the class sorry :(

Shakespeare: A love hate relationship

The Tempest, By William Shakespeare

Generally I liked this play, even though it is something I will hopefully, never have to read again in my life. I despise reading Shakespeare. He makes no sense, his characters are dull, and his humor is lacking. Yes I HATE READING SHAKESPEARE!

I love Shakespeare! All of his plays are epic and thoroughly entertaining. Each summer I try to go to Shakespeare in the Parks as often as I can! His words are soulful, his imagery is outstanding, and his humor is knee-slappable.

How is it that something so horrible can be so good? When I watch actors and actresses give life to the characters that are hidden within the depths of the monotonous text, I am always amazed. The characters become dynamic and it is so easy for me to understand what is going on. I know that the voice inflection and seeing the stage directions being acted out are the reasons for my understanding but still. Utter amazement!!

Matrix

Hmmmm what is the Matrix you ask? Well that's a tricky one. Since I am a terrible arguer when it comes to things that circulate back to the original question I shall simply state, I do not know. But since no one is here to fight back at what I say, I believe I shall go on!

The Matrix. In the movie it is explained as a false reality that A.I. created, essentially taking over our world with its virtualistic one. But since humans created the A.I. that created the Matrix, then wasn't it actually the humans that trapped themselves in this unknown state of being? Well I guess this doesn't even matter all that much, one way or another, the A.I. took over and put humanity into this contraption. Back to the Matrix, is it reality? Why not. Obviously it simulates the real world in all the ways that we know and understand to be real, so why not accept this as reality. Or how about one version of reality? Who's to say that it isn't real. If your mind is convinced everything around it is real why can't it be real? If our minds are what make us creatures of reason and are our reason for existence, I don't see why this can't be a reality that will suffice the needs of a human being. Since you can both live and die in the Matrix I think it is safe to say who cares. You still have your "free will", there are killers and teachers and everything else in between, so whats the problem... so what if machines are feeding off of your body, if your mind is happy shouldn't you be?
I understand the whole moral aspect of living in truth and wanting to know what is reality, but technically if you never learned about it, then would it still be real? Like when Neo is struggling with the truth, he would never of had to go through that if he had just been left alone, blissfully ignorant in the Matrix, living his dual life with no care whether it was real or not.
Hmmm I guess the Matrix is what you make it to be... if you do not believe that you are really here, that this life is a false one that is your choice. Personally, I believe that this is my temporary reality, for it could change in the blink of an eye, so I shall enjoy it while I can, and not question its existence. But if other information arises that makes me question this as a reality, I will reserve the right to change my mind without question.

Fiction: truth or lies?

The first time that I watched Stranger Than Fiction, I had no idea what was going on, the only thing I was sure of was that whoever wrote it was on crack. But like any fool I watched the terrible movie again, and low and behold I liked it. Why? I don't know. What changed? I have no idea, but for some reason, it just made sense.

I have not made it all the way through Beckett's stories, let alone gone through them more than once, so I have a feeling that even if I tried, really hard, I would never make a change to liking it like I did with this lower brow movie.

In both of these works, there are constant reminders that these are works of fiction. These elements push the reader/viewer out of the story in order to create an unsettling awareness of the goings-on that they are viewing are fake.