21st century lit.

Jarhead

2008-12-08T23:49:00.000-08:00

Jarhead

Another great book we read this semester is Jarhead by Anthony Swafford. This book had a huge impact on me. Jarhead was based on Swafford’s experiences in the Gulf War as a sniper in the USMC. This book had a lot of sentimental value to it from the beginning to the end so that is why I took to it.
After the training when Swafford was send to Iraq, he had images of killing all sorts of people and conquering, but to his surprise there was little involvement with war which led this war phenomenon to no end leaving the troops all alone doing nothing but thinking, praying and hoping.
This long painful journey of seeking revenge and defending our country all led to the boredom stage in the Marines lives. The book involves sex a lot emphasizing to us what and who they rather be doing rather then sit there waiting for war. The letters and pictures they receive become more what they seem because that is their only way to have contact with the outside world.
What I have recognized is that being at war is a very sentimental time and moment in a Marine live. They are not only dealing with the struggle of being there but they are also struggling with the reality of LIFE itself.

blackwatch

2008-12-08T23:48:00.001-08:00

Blackwatch
Black Watch written by Gregory Burke was very interesting. The play falls a lot on anticipation which made it very catchy. Black Watch is a Scottish army located in Fife. They portrayed themselves to be a very happy army willing to serve and protect their country and army. The army is exceptionally important to the people because there is history behind it all. Their parents and grandparents were part of the army so they had a strong connection to the army and kept it on a personal level.The setting of the play was in the war in Fife and Iraq, the other setting was at bar/pool hall where the troops spent most of their time. A lot went on in this play because they are anticipating their lives and fates. By observing and reading about this play I came to realize that when you are faced and forced to be in certain situations, it may take a toll on you. The play gave us outlook on their experiences being in the army and facing everyday problems and emotions.
Being in the army is a very different lifestyle and very close-knit. Through this experience, you meet people who evidentially become part of you and who you are. When this process strengthens, you treat each other as family and as one.
I correlated the play Blackwatch to Jarhead because the plays/stories run on the same line and perspective. It shows a great sense of togetherness which is sincere and empathetic.

pillowman

2008-12-08T23:11:00.001-08:00

The Pillowman

The Pillowman was a very intriguing play that I found myself to be very engaged in. A writer named Katurian was being interrogated over the content of several of his writings and stories. Katurian at first thinks that he is being questioned by the detectives about political issues pertaining to his stories until he was informed that a series of child murders were being taken place a lot and that the killings were inspired by his stories which was very freaky. Michael was the psycho brother of Katurian who confessed to the killings of the children and as confessed to reenacting all of his psychotic stories that Katurian wrote. Katurian was a very unique writer and even though hid stories may be out of the ordinary and uncouth, his stories are his prized possessions. After these disturbing episodes, it gives the writer time to see if what he is writing about is safe and readable to his audience. Ariel and Tupolski said that they would not diminish Katurians stories being what his brother did was morally wrong but they wind up killing Katurian anyway which proves that destiny plays a essential role in life and in time.

4 PAGE ASSIGNMENT

2008-12-08T22:21:00.000-08:00

The Mercy Seat

The Mercy Seat by Neil LaBute was a very inspiring memoir with a lot of meaning to it. Throughout the memoir it portrays to us the love triangle to which Ben and Abby are involved in. It was inspiring because it seemed to be based on the events after 911. Ben and Abby both worked in the towers at a branch, and Abby happens to be Ben’s boss. They both are devastated about the events of 911 especially being that all of the employees are missing or dead. The twisted part of it all is that this affair has been going on for a long time and they portray themselves to be a married couple because of the way they act. Meanwhile he is married with 3 kids. The ironic twist in the memoir is that Ben kind of uses this tragic episode to justify his situation about him leaving to be with Abby to his advantage which was horrible yet clever at the same time. By him playing dead was an ingenious idea but at the same time he was just running away from his problems and issues. Not until the end did he realize what he has and what he could potentially loose just by making one bad decision. Throughout this journey I found al of our readings to be quite similar being that every reading had a problem and a twist to it.

HOUSEE

2008-12-03T10:10:00.000-08:00

THIS HOUSE REPRESENTS THE HOUSE IN THE BOOK. IT SEEMS TO BE VERY DEPRESSING AND LONELY . DANIELEWSKI PORTRAYED TO US IN THE BOOK HOW HE WANTED US AS VIEWERS TO SEE HIS HOUSE. HE WANTED US TO SEE HOW EVERYTHING GOES WRONG RATHER THEN BE ALL LAUGHS AND GIGGLES. THE IRONIC PART IS HOW HIS DAUGHTER LIKES THE HOUSE... THIS PICTURE CAUGHT MY EYE BECAUSE I PICTURED THE HOUSE BEING AND LOOKING LIKE THIS.

MIDTERM

2008-10-27T14:13:00.000-07:00

P.S. PROFESSOR PLEASE MAKE YOUR FINAL A LITTLE BIT EASIER AND A LOT LESS WRITING I FELT AS IF I WAS WRITING A NOVEL!

Pillowman Act lll

2008-10-27T14:07:00.000-07:00

In this scene they are interrogating Katurian and are about to torture him with a electric battery. Coolllll!!! lol... Katurian is essentially executed and all if his works were going to be burned because of "false information". But Ariel manages to save the stories. The good thing i guess is that Michael decides not to kill himself.. This play is another crazy play.

Pillowman ACT ll

2008-10-27T14:01:00.000-07:00

I didnt like this part for some reason because it talks a lot about Michael and Katurian in the cell and Michael admitts to killing the 3 children. That pissed me off because that is sick in the head. Michael seemed to use Katurian as a scapeway to why he did it and used him as a target by sayen thats what he spoke about in his stories. Michael is killing these children according to the plays written by Katurian. It seems to be a little freaky when i read this.

The Pillowman

2008-10-27T13:51:00.001-07:00

The Pillowman was very interesting to me because its about suspense. In the first act I found it to be interesting because Ariel and Tupolski begin to really interrogate Katurian in the room at the police station and it appears that Katurian is unaware of why he is being questioned. He is being questioned for the gruesome stories being told by him as a storyteller.Then Michael is apparently the one who is the murder of the 3 children. I enjoyed reading this because there is a sort of interesting mystery to it. The twisted part of this whole play is that the murders of the children were done according to the way the stories where sort out. These storytellers are psycho!

BLACKWATCH THE PLAY

2008-10-27T13:43:00.001-07:00

Wellll.. besides the fact that the play was like 2 hrs. and you couldn't leave not even to smoke a cigarette, it was actually good. By watching the play I got a better concept of what was going on opposed to reading the book. The language appeared to be more clear to me and the characters definitely exemplified their roles very strongly to us. I had a lot of fun and I hope to go to another play before class ends.

BLACKWATCH Play

2008-10-08T14:03:00.000-07:00

Wow... I don't know where to begin. This play confuses me because of the accent , but I feel in my comfort zone with the language used in it (being that my family curses so much it didn't phase me). Everyone in the books we have read seem to lack respect to the characters and that's one major thing that needs to be addressed. I did not get to attack the play like I had wanted to do because I had a computer problem, but I will tackle this issue this weekend to make sure that I understand everything by next class. But so far the play lost me.

War books?

2008-10-08T13:51:00.001-07:00

I am not really a war book fan. I was never interested in war films or books. This class is opening up my senses to what our country is undergoing and how the people are reacting to it. I thought in the beginning of this class that it was going to be a lot of different selections of readings not just of war. After reading like 10 war books, 4 articles and by reviewing, it clicked on how everything we have done so far works together with what we learned so far. I must say it is both interesting and boring at the same time learning about this. My whole thing is that everyone we read about seems to be a victim on war in some shape or form, and everyone stressed the harsh realities that they go through, but why do it and complain about it, if they knew what they were signing up for? it is what it is...But my emotions don't matter in this case. Just food for thought!!!!

Shooting War vs. Article

2008-10-08T13:39:00.000-07:00

Basically both Shooting War and the article were on the same line. I found the book shooting wars to be more interesting because it was made into a comic book point of view. The article however had a more real life effect on me. The journalist in the book Shooting War is stressing his views on the war and the horrible events that go with it leaving him time to bargain with life and make changes, whereas in the army/marines, you have no choice. What people need to see in this matter is both sides of the story. Burns was more or less speaking about the harsh realities and living conditions that the Americans endure. but not really focusing on the Iraq point of views.

The Things They Carried

2008-10-08T13:34:00.000-07:00

This article was very interesting. I like the fact that all of his thoughts were pit into this article. The story about Riley was very personal to him and the fact that he illustrated that to us in the article seemed interesting as well. People may perceive the article one way because as a whole everyone is apparently different. But yet their is deep meaning to it. He loved his friend who died but yet to the enemy it seemed to be a victory. It was sad because Reilys friend had his life taken away from him in an instant.

Shooting War

2008-09-29T18:44:00.000-07:00

Wow.. This book is a little wierd, but for some strange reason I happen to like it. I am a fan of comic books and such. I like the fact that Jimmy Burns is a very dominant and open character. I also like the fact that he is labeled as the "hero on Grand Street". He seems to be bothered about the war and his experiences. The news lady couldn't relate to Jimmy and what he has been through making him feel worthless and not of importance so she kind of became frustrating to me. I am sure this book is going to be interesting. I am looking foward to reading the rest. It is also interesting how the book is dated in the year 2011 and that John McCain is unfortunatly the President. I feel like the book is a written form of our governments future, which is scary. I am just wondering why he decides to make a terrorist bombing attack in a Starbucks in Brooklyn.????

Ending of Jarhead

2008-09-29T18:26:00.001-07:00

I think Jarhead was a great example that demonstrates to us the harsh realities of life as a whole. The Mercy Seat and Jarhead both exemplify to us a form of suffrage that people face in their lives and their reactions and feelings towards the particular situation on two totally different aspects. Swafford was a very powerful character in Jarhead. He helps us imagine the reality of being a Marine, and the shit that he signed himself into. Towards the end of the memoir I began to think about the imagery that Swafford demonstrates to us. Now when I hear the word "MARINES" I automatically think that they brainwash them into cold blooded murders. A lot of dramatic events occurred in this memoir either whose fucking whose wife, or whose family is not supportive. But i guess if i was in a desert for 7 months straight I would be pissed off that I didn't kill anyone either, and i would think me being their is pointless.

Its Life........

2008-09-23T13:13:00.000-07:00

I am having a long, annoying week so far and it is only Tuesday. Tomorrow is my birthday and I have to be in class all day. All of this reading is picking at my brain and it is so stressful. I haven't been in school in a long time so I am adjusting again. I feel overwhelmed with so much work, but i still have to do something to stimulate my brain. I guess its better then being in acting class.. lol.

The Military Sucks

2008-09-23T13:05:00.000-07:00

You know this weekend while I was reading the rest of Jarhead, I decided to re-read it because it was interesting to find out how fucked up the government is to the people who serve our country. They basically treat them like prisioners. My personal opinion is that if you sign yourself into military they should be basically kissing your ass because without them they have nothing. It irritated me when the press came and Swafford and the gang had to fabricate a story on how the Marines is this great place and how they " love being there serving out country". I used to kind of want to be a Marine because I thought it would be great to serve our country until I started to read this memoir. Now I look down upon the Government and the Marine Core.

JARHEAD PT. 2

2008-09-22T19:39:00.000-07:00

The second half of Jarhead was very intense. It deals a lot with Swafford and the gang in combat and their horrible living conditions during that time. I like this book because they(the marines) speak of the past a lot. They speak about the good times, the bad times, who they fucked or made love to, and i think its amazing how they remember every detail about everything. Its inn the obvious that they are there doing absolutely nothing leaving them with nothing to do but think, wish and hope. That can drive anyone fucking crazy. I couldn't fathom the thought of anticipating combat all day and all night and nothing happening and just sitting there staring at the same people, listening to some asshole dictate how to basically breath.. I would go stir crazy. Swafford starts to doubt himself a lot about why he is in the marines and basically why is he still there. The relationship with him and his father is very sad. His father didn't want him to go get killed and put in the same situations as he was. But to me that doesn't justify anything.

JARHEAD

2008-09-17T23:23:00.000-07:00

WOW I MUST HONESTLY SAY I FIND THIS MEMOIR TO BE EXCEPTIONALLY INTERESTING. AS I WAS READING THE BEGINNING CHAPTERS I STARTED TO REALIZE THE HARSH REALITY OF BEING IN THE MARINES.AND I REALLY BEGAN TO FEEL BAD. I TOTALLY LOOK AT THE MARINES IN A DIFFERENT LIGHT NOW. I THINK ITS INHUMANE THE WAY THEY TREAT THE MARINES AND I CANT SEE HOW THEY CAN BARE IT. I KNOW IT BENEFITS THIM IN THE LONG-RUN THOUGH AND IN MOST CASES BUILDS THEIR PHYSICAL AND MENTAL ABILITIES. THE BOOK IS SO INETERESTING BECAUSE THE AUTHOR MAKES ME FEEL LIKE IM IN THE SETTING OF THE BOOK. MOST OF ALL, I ADMIRE THE COURAGE OF ALL OF THE YOUNG PEOPLE WHO GO OUT THERE EVERYDAY TO SERVE OUR COUNTRY.

JARHEAD

2008-09-15T20:50:00.000-07:00

Jarhead is such a good book. I find it to be graphical and raunchy. ~~~~~> which i like. It exemplifies to us what war is like and it lets us know about past events in time that went on that we really never got into and made an attempt to notice. It makes me want to be a Marine and become a Jarhead. But then again it shows how fucked up our government it to allow these young guys to fight but yet their own kids dont serve our country. Twisted right?

http://jarhead.com

3 AM Hospital Visit

2008-09-15T20:43:00.000-07:00

Ok. so saturday noght i was completly popped so I decided to go to sleep.(well I thought I was) I get a phone call at 3a.m from my brother telling me that my dog needs to go to the hospital because he had a allergic reaction. I was s upset because he is so cute. When I was speaking to the Veteranarian she was asking me a bunch of questions and i answered them.Make a long story short, I found it so interesting to know that they have dermatologists for pets. I think that is so funny.

p.s. My dog is ok now

Vote

2008-09-09T18:29:00.000-07:00

I went to vote today and I realized how ridiculous our government is. We are always complaining how our economy is at a standstill because of financial issues meanwhile the government is throwing our money away by paying the workers for the elections meanwhile today's vote was for the Senate and Supreme Court Justice,only 2 candidates. That is a complete waste of money. Maby as a government we should come up with productive ways to splurge our money in beneficial ways that will help everyone out as a whole.

Invasion of Privacy?

2008-09-07T13:48:00.000-07:00

Feeling violated by living life the way you are accustomed to is a very harsh feeling. When I say Invasion of privacy that can mean anything from someone reading your diary to more graphical issues like "reality" when our towers came down. With 911 happening our economy had to grow accustomed to a different lifestyle that will benefit our lives, as well as our safety. It is sad how our misfortune can lead to someones advantage. My interpretation of invasion of privacy is how we lost our freedom, so quickly. I remember before 911 we used to be able to go in a train station without their being 500 police officers with guns searching our every move. In the City we were allowed to enter basically any building without "appropriate" I.D., now you are lucky if you can stare at it without being questioned by authority. One question that is sadly thought upon is, are people using the events of 911 as a window of opportunity? the media as well as the news and entertainment hype this situation up. Entertainment had to change as well to accommodate the tragedy. It's a cold world out there,

The State of Movies after 11 September 2001

Human CPU

2008-09-07T13:16:00.000-07:00

I recently read a interesting article that I thought people would want to look at and debate about. Human centric Chip Implants is the issue in the article. It is basically telling us about how the government is trying to implement a microscopic chip into humans and it will be a sort of "GPS". I don't see how anyone would want to be subjected to a chip and feel content knowing that anyone can access you just by touching a computer button. The article also stated how the chip will have your banking stored in the chip which will void out bank cards as well as accounts. What is your personal feelings on this issue?

http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1607&context=infopapers