Reading Post 5/7

This quarter I'll be able to finish two of my three goals.  Those being the one I already finished (finishing The Well of Ascension over break) and finishing all Mistborn books currently available before the end of the year. I finished The Hero of Ages this weekend so to finish the series I just need to read The Alloy of Law in two and a half weeks.  My last goal of reading 30 minutes per night has been my least completed goal throughout the quarter and this week didn't help to change that.  However this week I read about 300 pages for a total of about 1300 for the quarter so far.

Reading Post 4/30

This week in The Hero of Ages I read a little over 100 pages and am now on page 324.  I read my nightly goal of 30 minutes contradicting the pattern I've set so far this semester.  In total I'm over 900 pages for the semester.  My pace of reading is up to par for the class requirements but if I want to meet my goal of finishing the entire series before the passing of the year I'll need to more than double my pages per week.  I also found out that Brandon Sanderson is writing 3 mini-series out of Mistborn.  The first, the one I'm nearly finished with, is a medieval setting.  He has one book finished for the next series, which will be set in a steam punk setting.  Then the series will transfer to a sci-fi/fantasy genre set in space.  Also I learned that every book he's ever written is all set in the same universe just different planets.  The inter-galactic sub-series, I hypothesize, will connect all the worlds from his books and be some awesome finale which makes me want read all of his books.

Reading Log 4/23

My goal of reading 30 minutes each night is my most difficult goal it seems.  In total I've probably read the equivalent to reading a half hour per night but I never spread out the reading to meet this goal.  The Hero of Ages still has my attention thoroughly in its grasp.  This week I read roughly 100 pages and I'm on page 212 at the moment.  In total this quarter I've read about 800 pages.  My goal of finishing the rest of the Mistborn series seems within reach if I read more than the usual amount, I'd have to read 1000 pages by the end of the year.

Reading Post

Diving full tilt into The Hero of Ages.  I wasn't able to pick up the book until later into the week and quickly ripped through the first roughly 100 pages.  I'm thoroughly hooked on the series by Brandon Sanderson.  At the end of each book in the series so far I wonder what would be the next book's contents without fabricating nonsense to fill the pages.  Each time he's surprised me with concepts that mesh wholly into the series.  I didn't read 30 minutes per night but I meant the 100 page minimum this week.

Notes 2 & 3

The Trouble With Henry

In Alfred Hitchcock's The Trouble With Henry a small town's peaceful life transforms into entropy when the restless corpse of Henry stirs up mayhem.  Stark contrast is seen as the distracted doctor blunders through the scene as comical upbeat music plays implying that death is no harsh and mournful occurrence but rather a lighter part of the cycle that occurs every day.  At first glance the bright and colorful fall landscape tells of more contrast between the vibrant leaves and the scythe of death.  However with a deeper look the leaves don't contrast death, but rather accentuate it, the leaves will soon shrivel up, fall to the earth, and be forgotten.  The autumn beauty of leaves advocates the shortness of life and abundance of it.

The Consent

BY HOWARD NEMEROV

Late in November, on a single night

Not even near to freezing, the ginkgo trees

That stand along the walk drop all their leaves

In one consent, and neither to rain nor to wind

But as though to time alone: the golden and green

Leaves litter the lawn today, that yesterday

Had spread aloft their fluttering fans of light.

What signal from the stars? What senses took it in?

What in those wooden motives so decided

To strike their leaves, to down their leaves,

Rebellion or surrender? and if this

Can happen thus, what race shall be exempt?

What use to learn the lessons taught by time.

If a star at any time may tell us: Now.

     Nemerov's detailed imagery appeals to all senses as he looks out into a "November night."  Watching as the "flattering fans of light" slump to the earth "neither to rain nor to wind" but to what?  What invisible menace struck down these once full of life pieces of nature.  If this genocide were to repeat, "what race shall be exempt?" he wonders.  The vivacity of the leaves being withered into nothing at the command of an astral being underlines that the end of life can be unexpectedly abrupt.

Reading Log spring break

I finished The Well of Ascension not before spring break like my goal but rather in the middle of it.  I didn't read 30 minutes per day but more read in large chunks at a time, mostly in car trips.  I liked The Well of Ascension a lot and look forward to reading Hero of Ages.  I may have enjoyed it more than I enjoyed the first book of the Mistborn series which isn't typical of most series'.  Brandon Sanderson is an awesome writer with a creative mind.

Since my last reading post I've read ~500 pages.

Exercise 3

http://www.teenreads.com/reviews/47
http://www.teenreads.com/reviews/a-darkling-plain-book-four-of-the-hungry-city-chronicles
http://www.teenreads.com/reviews/a-web-of-air

-Intro giving background information.
-Give reactions to the book
-Pass an overall judgment with points to back it up.

Reading Post 3/25

My first goal of finishing The Well of Ascension before spring break is distant but not out of reach.  I have one week to read ~480 pages, very possible assuming I'm not too busy.  Second goal of finishing the entire Misborn series before the end of the school year is also quite distant.  After finishing The Well of Ascension there are still two more books with ~700 pages each if not more.  My last goal of reading at least 30 minutes a night didn't go well.  Some nights I was more busy than others.  My total reading in The Well of Ascension this week are from 1-114.

Note 1

The birds, who, happily for their own peace of mind and personal comfort, were in blissful ignorance of the preparations which had been making to astonish them, on the first of September, hailed it no doubt, as one of the pleasantest mornings they had seen that season. Many a young partridge who strutted complacently among the stubble, with all the finicking coxcombry of youth, and many an older one who watched his levity out of his little round eye, with the contemptuous air of a bird of wisdom and experience, alike unconscious of their approaching doom, basked in the fresh morning air with lively and blithesome feelings, and a few hours afterwards were laid low upon the earth. But we grow affecting: let us proceed.

In plain common-place matter-of-fact, then, it was a fine morning — so fine that you would scarcely have believed that the few months of an English summer had yet flown by. Hedges, fields, and trees, hill and moorland, presented to the eye their ever-varying shades of deep rich green; scarce a leaf had fallen, scarce a sprinkle of yellow mingled with the hues of summer warned you that autumn had begun. The sky was cloudless, the sun shone out bright and warm; the songs of birds, and hum of myriads of summer insects, filled the air; and the cottage gardens, crowded with flowers of every rich and beautiful tint, sparkled, in the heavy dew, like beds of glittering jewels. Everything bore the stamp of summer, and none of its beautiful colours had yet faded from the dye.

In this excerpt from Charles Dickens' airy novel The Pickwick Papers, the inchoate stages of Fall prior to a hunting trip are molded into brimming words.  Though "everything bore the stamp of summer" still, little hints of fall began to poke through the "fine morning", notifying that "Autumn had begun."  The insouciant, docile language used by Dickens carries a simplistic tone hinting that summer will soon perish, to be replaced with the full brunt of Fall.  The writer observes the "scarce sprinkle of yellow mingled with the hues of summer" verifying the fact that it was "the first of September."  The plentiful account of personification portrays an imagery sopped vision of ambling through the felicity of the nascent Autumn.

Exercise 2

(7)  Not only is a bitterness tone expressed, but also pure anger with some words and even sentences being capitalized such as "...because her little sister will NOT shut up she will NOT shut up SHE WILL NOT SHUT UP and Roberta is about to BASH her little sister's HEAD IN IF SHE DOES NOT SHUT UP."

(4)  Finally, Barry also  consistently bashed the city without giving it a single positive feature with her saying, "Once upon a cruddy time on a cruddy street on the side of a cruddy hill in the cruddiest part of a crudded-out town in a cruddy state, country, world, solar system, universe" exudes a snobbish and ungrateful tone to the readers.

(5)  The " cruddy time on a crudddy street on the side of a cruddy hill in the cruddiest part of a crudded-out town in a cruddy state, country, world, solar system, universe."


Vivr Sonar Leer

Exercise

In this excerpt from Stardust, Neil Gaiman details the town of Wall in a matter of fact, gruff manner.  The town sits "on a high jut of granite amidst a small forest woodland."  The atmosphere surrounding "grey stone, with dark slate roofs and high chimneys" whispers of the subtle monotony that the quaint town has.  "Grey and tall and stocky as the granite outcrop their town was built upon" are the inhabitants described in an unvarnished plain-dealing diction.

Anthology Theme

 

I'm thinking of covering entropy as my Anthology topic.  Busy and chaotic schedules are something no one can escape.  It's a timeless aspect of life that through the eyes of a poetic thinker could be made into something very cool.  For artifacts I'm looking into a Celtic symbol meaning "ordered chaos" and aside from that the rest is up in the air.

Reading Goals

1. Finish The Well of Ascension before spring break
2. Finish entirety of  the Mistborn series by the end of the quarter (including the stand alone).
3. Read at least 30 minutes per night.

Reading Post 3/8

Being in between books but still trying to maintain the same pace of reading is a weird situation.  Although this situation will be coming to an end shortly, The Well of Ascension is no longer checked out, now my only obstacle is making the trip out to the main library, or waiting longer and having them ship it to the Aboite Branch.  This week my reading has been a purposeless collection of filler reading.  Wikipedia articles and a couple chapters of Artemis Fowl for the nostalgia, oh and after the vocab test I read the first chapter of World War Z.   That was pretty interesting and I'll come back to that later.

I'm echoing here but this is something I wonder about all the time, and that's the vast range of articles on wikipedia; the people who writes the articles, what possesses them to write them, are the experts on the subject or just internet dwellers who do their research, or perhaps those two things are synonymous.  Regardless I'm glad they do whatever they do, otherwise I wouldn't have the ability to read this article.  In a quick summary the article covers the war tactic of "dummy tanks", inflatable or wooden mock tanks used for a couple different reasons.  They can be decoys, say you send the decoys in one direction then flank from another, used for practice battle scenarios, or intimidation.  I'm left wondering how soldiers accompanying these fakes must feel.  I can't even begin to imagine how under normal circumstances a soldier must feel, but when you're surrounded by essentially blow up toys in hopes that the enemy will be too afraid to attack must be a completely different feeling.  I'm sure this is a thought that has been conceived and brought up many times, but under what circumstances had to occur for the plan to be instilled.  To me it seems like sending a lamb to a wolf only the lamb is wearing a bulky bear costume.  Of the articles I read this provoked the most thoughts.

I don't really have much to say about Artemis Fowl, it's a series I have and still do enjoy and read a bit of it to pass the time this week.  I'll skip ahead to my thoughts on World War Z.  The text book format while still being in first person perspective is an interesting way of retelling the series of events of a zombie apocalypse.  From what I read it appeared to be a promisingly entertaining book.  Perhaps it will be something I'll come back to after finishing the Mistborn series, we'll see how things unravel.

Reading Post - Perpetually Waiting

A fortnight, if not more is how long The Well of Ascension, next book in the Mistborn series, has been checked out.  Even when it does become available I will have to wait for them to ship it to the Aboite branch unless I want to make the trek out to the Main Library.  Regardless in the meantime I must find other means of reading.  Bored with my meager collection of books and not wanting to start a whole new book I find fulfillment from the random button on wikipedia.  From abusing the random button I've learned that the scope of articles covered on wikipepdia truly knows no end.  Article genres range from pleasantly interesting to morbidly obscure, it's a gamble as to what you'll get.

One favorite article that I stumbled onto was the tale of Hugh Glass.  Hugh is a man of legend, a man who conquered the wrath a nature, a man who makes Bear Grylls appear as a feeble boy scout.  A fur trader out with his cohorts adventuring in the wilderness of South Dakota when they get a bit too close to some cubs.  The mother attacks swiping the rifle out of Hugh's hands.  Glass slays the attacker with only a hunting knife.  However he suffered great wounds as well and was left unconscious.  His friends leave him for dead assuming he's long gone.  Glass awakens a bloody mess and has little more than his determination.  Glass proceeds to crawl 200 miles to find the men who left him to die.  The story is one I find myself reflecting over during my downtime from the world.  What must Glass have been thinking during such a trek lasting over six months of nonstop crawling?  A monument now stands where the mauling is guessed to have happened.  If I ever find myself traveling west of Illinois I think it'd be a cool trip to make to see the monument giving tribute to the impossible feats of Hugh Glass.

Submission 4

Circul

Wasting time on the internet is second only to one thing, wasting time on the internet with the aid of ambiance.  The accumulation of belligerent circles brawling for space in Circuli emanates an anthem of subtle entropy.  A system of balance through life and death is portrayed in that as one circle meets its death immediate rebirth follows.  The various shades of gray emphasize the somberness of the destruction of the short-lived bubbles.  They expand until bringing about the death of another circle, followed by them themselves meeting the same fate, like the internecine struggle of a bee stinging its prey.  A stark sense of confliction is present as the continuously chaotic combustion of the visuals is coupled with the graceful climate of the audio.

A sweeping entrancing effect is felt as the fluctuating sizes of circles clash in a perpetual battle creating a uniquely relaxing soundtrack, the kind of soundtrack that when coupled with rainymood could convert an insomniac into a narcoleptic.  In that the origins of the circles may be placed by the listener in any pattern there is a unique experience upon each time listening, a new symphony of soothing ambiance at one's own hand.  The combination of mesmerizing visuals linked with the docile sounds creates an elixir that mitigates all traces of tension.

Claims

1.  Vivir Sonar Leer - The radical range of color schemes, discombobulating object scale, unusual item combination, and drastic angling of geometric shapes combine to form a divine harmony in the middle of a flustering discord.

 Reading, Reflecting, and More Reading - A threatening soundtrack in the trailer to Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close creates the Jumanji atmosphere of helpless terror.

2.  While listening to the rain I find myself forgetting what's afoot and moving forward.

Everybody could use a break from reality every now and then, and where is a better place to do it then on the beach? 

Reading Post - 2/23

Had another sick day this week, I was that level of sick where the warden will let me stay home from school yet not too much to the point that I can't enjoy the day off.  Wait, what's that, there's something wrong, a different sort of air about the room.  I play it off and immigrate into the nirvana that is cinnamon toast and The Price is Right.  My doubts of the upcoming apocalypse in December were shattered when one of the few constants of my life was brutally ripped out of my grasp.  The Price is Right wasn't on whilst I was ill.  With my world shaken I had to find an alternative to get my mind off the cataclysm.  Having finished Mistborn I had to look to another venue of joy, the internet.

As it was once said, "Life's like a website full of fan fictions, you never know what you'll get".  This being said because of the variety and desultory nature of what you'll find in fan fictions.  One constant of life that is quite adamant is that if something exists, there are fan fictions of it.  Often ranging from creative genius to deranged lunacy.  Reading the plot twists, climaxes and alternate endings conjured from the minds of total strangers is perpetually interesting entertainment.  My favorite genre of these writings are the twists on movies.  One of my personal favorites of this denomination is a rendition of the patriotic retelling of the 1980 Olympics, Miracle, in which the Russians actually won, not the underdog youngins of America.  This wasn't a favored find of the day because it was remarkably well written or because I would've preferred that outcome.  It's because this one stuck with me like a weird dream.  What possessed the writer to think of completely doing a 180 on what the entirety of the movie was about, and what possessed him to punch out these thoughts into a keyboard for all the internet to see?  Regardless I'm glad he did because it brought a Price is Right-deprived lad some entertainment and food for thought on a sick day.  Hopefully in the near future I'll be stopping by the library to pick up the next book in the Mistborn series and will be able to post on its contents.

Submission 3 - Music Lessons

Music is one part of life that truly does have an effect on everyone's life.  While it's something we all are surrounded by we all have different favorite songs, genres, artists, and perspectives.  This American Life takes a look at a couple of these perspectives on music.  Looking through the eyes of Durrell we see a man struggling to spread the joys he feels for music to the teens of south side Chicago.  Then on the other hand we have David Sedaris who is just trying to flee from the love his father has for music.

Durrell traveled the world playing his music at a professional level.  Later settling down in Chicago to teach what he loves to the teens of the area he was met with hardship.  His deep calming voices compliments the mood as he expresses his comical laments, "No kid is gonna be shy about blowing in a horn, no matter how bad they sound", an image we all can relate to.  We all can empathize a bit with Durrell thinking back to the days of playing the recorder for school.  Reflecting on those days, it does appear that regardless of the fact I had no actual ability to preform musically, I didn't hesitate to take any opportunity to slaughter all insouciant silence.  We were forced into the realm of music music much like the way David Sedaris was by his musically aspiring father.  Wishing his children to be the next big jazz group he forced "The Sedaris Trio" into different instruments, David receiving a guitar.  Loathing the lessons he received he had only desires to escape to nautical themed room, with his guitar condemned cozily in the closet.  David and Durrell are polar opposites in that Durrell is trying to teach his passions of music to youth while David is the youth.  David is more than apprehensive about playing his role music.  Trying to escape the wrath of his father's dreams, he put up an aegis of humor to abstain from the experiences.  The two people are on opposites sides of the war over music, however both are similar in that they are working at their own mountain of a challenge.  The two are united in the journey, while being separated by the goal.

Short List 3

Locations like this make me glad I live in Fort Wayne.  The height of the cliffs and lack of a guard rail ensure the imminent fate of crashing to the ominous waters below.  The dull year round warm climate is sub par when compared to the excitement of having blazing summers and arctic winters.  These two climates occasionally separated by only a couple of days.

Spacializer combines everyone's favorite things into one cool and simple site.  Color blobs meander aimlessly around the screen, each producing their own tone when the cursor is hovered over them.  The result is obscure ambiance.

Yep, those are nerf guns, the nerf maverick to be exact.  Not that I know that off the top of my head or anything.  Is this a school or workplace?  Either way where does one sign up to join the effort.  Homestead needs to venture into the world of foam warfare, statistics show nerf battles boost test scores.  No citation needed.

Circuli is an interesting link that allows you to create your own ambiance.  Circles you place down expand at a constant rate.  When one circle touches the center of another, it pops creating a sound based on how large the circle had grown.  When you place multiple in different patterns you get different patterns of sounds.   The product always unique.

Informal response TAL Music Lessons

People look through mediums in which to portray their dreams.  "Music Lessons" by This American Life touches on this topic through the perspective of two similarly opposite people.  Formerly touring the world in his booming music career, Durrell had the desire to leave his mark and share the joy he found in music to the teens of the south side of Chicago.  It has been said that these teens are "an imprecise medium in which to apply your art", which may be an understatement.  On the other side of the spectrum, David Sedaris is not one to appreciate music.  Being forced to play guitar to fulfill the dreams of his father, his story shows us the other side of things.  Durrell wanting kids to learn to appreciate music while David loathes the thought of playing music.  Through the first hand stories we get insight to the thoughts of both parties in the debate.

Reading post

I sat perched, blood pulsing.  An overwhelming feeling of surveillance sweeps over me, as if surrounded by countless foe.  Only 40 minutes before it's time.  I check my knapsack, blast, what little provisions I had packed had already been depleted.  Two options lay before me; option one, conjure up the effort to power through this predicament,  take care of business, help myself out in the long run.  Option two, abdicate, give in, call it a day.  The time is nigh, I reached down pulling out my tools for option two.  Rather than studying for the imminent nuclear bomb of a math test, I pass my time in study hall leisurely reading.  My provisions, or gold fish as they're commonly known by the masses, would be nice right about now, but I'll fare well enough for the time being.


It's been longer than I'd like since reading more than miniscule amounts during the down times in class.  After refreshing myself on where we were in the story it was an easy transfer getting back into the plot.  Kellsier off on another nightly outing making preparations for their plan.  However this time Vin has had enough of not being included in his mischief.  Secretly trailing Kellsier she notices he's quickly widening the gap between the two of them.  Losing his trail something catches her attention.  A bronze ingot lodged in the ground.  Another further up, "So that's how he does it.. and Allomantic road between the two cities (Luthadel and Fellise)", thought Vin.  The sheer imagination that Brandon Sanderson possesses continues to impress me.  Using the bronze ingots in the ground Kellsier had made a sort of "train track" he can propel himself over using Allomancy.  When Vin catches up and sees his destination the events that follows are nothing less than climatic.

Submission 2

http://vimeo.com/30501143

Beauty is an item sought after by the masses of our world.  Inhabited incognito throughout the nature we repeatedly neglect in our daily meandering.  The shrinking minority with an eye for this beauty labeled "artists" stand out from the masses and allow passage to their world through their creations.  Bartholomäus Traubeck is one of these visionaries.  The beauty of nature often lies within the sight of a forest, the smell of a flower, the taste of a fruit, we scarcely appreciate the beauty that lies in that which is audible.  Traubeck invented a passage that allows an interesting look at the sounds of nature.  With computer aid a turntable actually plays a cross section of a tree trunk.  The labyrinth of lines and patterns allow for music to be interpreted by a turntable.

Nature is often associated with a happy upbeat tone.  When a cross section of a tree trunk was played on this apparatus, a surprisingly opposite result was heard.  Ominously eerie music emerged.  The dark piano symphony extracted out of this tree hints that maybe nature isn't as content with their lives as their beauty portrays.  Deforestation, climate change, forest fires, the song extracted from this tree was not coincidence.  The song is a retelling of the perilous battles a tree faces.  The saying "If a wall could talk, imagine the stories it could tell," is exactly what this tree is doing.  This invention gave us an ear that broke down the wall of language barrier.  Traubeck gave us a window in which to listen to the musical beauty of an otherwise mute object, but this window revealed much more than that.  The music is a venue in which tells of its hardships in its life.  The sobering horror soundtrack emanating from a tree is that tree communicating its woes.  Many of these travesties come at the hands of man, in listening to nature we hear the flaws of man.  The bleak notes revealed by Traubek's turntable conveys the melancholy felt by nature.  In listening to the discontent of nature the aspects of life tainted by man are revealed.

Short List 2

Drawn is a cool blog of many varying artists.  Updated daily the site possesses  portals to many artists and their drawings.  Having many artists gives many different styles of how the artists portray their visions.

Rainwave is a unique website that houses the portal to a surfeit of video game music.  The site allows you to indulge in old classics and find new favorites.  Their arsenal of songs includes genres from the spectrum of music in its entirety.

http://blog.makezine.com/2012/01/19/play-the-rings-of-a-tree-trunk-like-a-record/
What happens when you put the cross section of a tree trunk on a turn table? Who knows?  Bartholomäus Traubeck came up with the unique idea and put it to the test.  The turntable was hooked up to a computer which analyzed the lines and made music from it.  The results were interesting to say the least.

Reflection 2/2/12

With the flu being handed out on every street corner I was not one of the ones lucky enough to be missed in the distribution.  Monday was one of those mornings where all was null.  That achy sick feeling plagued me, my nose was stuffy, it sounded like everything I heard was coming through a filter.  It was a "Price is Right" day.  I call it this because there's this magic property that whenever one is sick, The Price is Right reveals itself for them and will be on during whatever time is convenient for that person.  This is more of a law rather than a property as it's accurate 100% of the time.  As I drug myself down the stairs equipped only with Mistborn, I made my way to the living room and planted myself into the couch.  Saddened once again that Bob Barker is no longer the host I cracked open my book and began.

Fantasy novels complimented with the background noise of game show antics is a therapeutic combo.  I've reached my favorite part of nearly all fictional stories.  When the new hero learns the ropes.  Vin is being taught by Kelsier the 8 basic alloys used by allomancers.  They do their teachings under the cover of night while the city around them lays dormant.  They move on to the steel push and iron pull.  The two alloys that allow you to control metals around you.  Pushing off a coin he tossed to the ground Kelsier demonstrates the ability to fly, or as close as you can come to it.  He ascends up a city walls using his momentum to land on top.  Vin tentatively follows his lead does not find the same success and finds herself eating the wall.  Next they descend down the other side and are in the openness of being outside the city walls.  Mist and darkness is all around them.  Then it appears, a thing of myth, a mistwraith.  Vin had heard of them but never thought they were real.  "Its body was bulbous and elongated.  It wasn't just a a blob, though... There was a strange logic to its form.  It had distinct skeletal structure, the creature flexed odd jumbles of muscles as it moved."  Mistwraits are scavangers of sorts who can't harm anything fast enough to outrun its scuttle.  While they're horrific in looks they don't have the ability to back up their front of power.  With the basics of allomancy and experience in the outside world under Vin's belt I know we're fast approaching the climatic unfolding of the plan to topple the Final Empire.

Submission 1

Music for many people has become a second nature response to many situations.  Step into the car; turn on the radio.  Sit down at your computer; open up itunes.  Music no longer is music, but a subconscious reaction to everyday situations.  Conscientiously responding to these situations differently is a rewarding experience.  All sounds evoke emotions and dictate one's state of being, the acute ambiance of rainymood soothes the mind into a state of earthly nirvana.

There is a therapeutic air about the impalpable whispers of the pattering rainfall.  Visions of sitting in the window seat of in a Victorian-style home, a warm familiar feeling wrapping over you.  Sitting perched watching the uniform chaos of rain hitting the window like the ever elusive mythical well tamed mullet, if one truly exists.  The effect the soothing sounds have over one's mood are similar to that of a fireside comfy chair.

As children the daunting effects of storms sent us underneath the shield of blankets, now at an older age the very same thing can be the perfect adjunct to lying underneath the covers.  Rain being one of the scarce constants throughout life makes it a sliver of infinity giving comfort throughout the many perils of life.  Times of peril such as the times when you're stressed with school or work.  The ambiance of rain works like a person untying knots, unraveling the day to day troubles.

Week 5 top links

1. Long Exposure Photography
A picture like this makes one wonder what methods are used to create such a cool shot.  I wonder what is the glowing orb featured in the picture shown, and what was used to create the mess of luminescent lines?  This site has a surfeit of incredible images capturing amazing shots.

2. National Geographic Best Trips
As I think of what Fort Wayne has to offer and look at the examples of paradise featured in Nation
Geographic it makes me want to start packing.  Especially this time a year, a beach side hammock has never sounded more appealing.

3. Noemie Goudal
Amongst the crinkly brown plant life this artist was able to see beauty, an uncommon talent.  What's even more impressive is their ability to portray their vision with the outside world.  Allowing us to look into their mind and what they see.  Sharing with us a part of them.  Looking at this image and exploring more into the provided website I notice time slip by as I'm locked into the obscurity.

Mistborn cont.

     I often times find myself magnetically attracted by my book, however no longer due to its appearance but by the content lying underneath its cover.  Most commonly I'm able to find the time to read before falling asleep at night.  In the morning I always have the privilege of playing "what impossible location did my book teleport to once I fell asleep reading it."  This is probably my favorite game and can be played in many varieties using phones, wallets, or iPods.  Due to this pattern of passing out while reading Mistborn my dreams have been filled with the movie my mind has created for the book.
     As the book unfolds Allomancy an element of the story formerly surrounded by an air of mystery is now a huge factor of the book.  An ability only supposed to be possible for nobility and impossible for skaa, allows for feats that shouldn't be possible for normal humans.  "Allomancy.  The mystical power held by nobility, granted to them by the Lord Ruler some thousand years before as a reward for their loyalty."  The basics of Allomancy is that in internally burning different metals you can harness different powers.  For example in burning tin you gain heighten sense, pewter increased strength, and steel allows you to push or pull metals.  While nobility are supposed to be the only ones capable of these ability there are half-bloods of nobility and skaa who have lived despite the Lord Ruler's people hunting their kind.  Allomancy is weird in that you either have the ability to use one metal, or can use them all.  Specialized users of one type of Allomancy are called mistings, while users of all the types are known as mistborn.  These are extremely rare, especially among half breeds.  Our protagonists, Kelsier and Vin, the only half bred mistborns in existence, plan to do what hasn't been attempted in centuries, overthrow The Final Empire.  Vin, motivated by the dream of freedom, and Kelsier, driven by the desire to take revenge on the Lord Ruler personally after taking the life of his wife and nearly taking his as well, are raising a small faction of the best Allomancers dreaming of freedom available.  Thus far in reading Mistborn I've been very captivated, Sanderson captures the action of whats going on perfectly while maintaining a lighthearted and humorous side to things.

Article Ideas

Rainymood - The simple ambient sounds of rain.  While doing homework, browsing, or doing nothing, I always require some form of white noise.  When music doesn't entice me, rainymood is the perfect substitution.  Rainymood also couples nicely layered on top of music to add a relaxing mood to your favorite tracks.

League of Legends - An online game I've been playing for around a year and a half.  A game where two teams of five clash to destroy the other team's base.  Internationally there are over 32 million accounts as the game is rapidly growing in popularity.  The community surrounding the game is what makes it most fun as they create a microcosm in every game and never cease to puzzle me.

None Like Joshua - A man pursuing his dream of rapping.  Rapping out of his makeshift studio in his home, Joshua began producing music for fun and is now slowly transferring this hobb to career.  He got started by taking songs he likes and remixing over them for fun and uploading them to his youtube and these raps gained a small following.  He raps over a range of genres of music from dubstep to more acoustic tracks.  He also creates his own original albums which are equally as enjoyable to listen to.  His original tracks are the kinds of songs that you listen to alone and internally reflect upon. I always enjoyed his remixes but his first album "Maniac Devices" is what hooked me.  Josh uploads about one song per week on his youtube while still working and producing his own albums.  His latest album "The Impermanent" will be available January 31st.  Eagerly awaiting his new album I find my self listening to his music nonstop.

Standing Out Blogs

Reading, Reflecting, and More Reading - http://rrr-nans.blogspot.com/

The set up of this writer's profile is clear and eye catching.  The diction of this writer is one that is original and flows well.  When I read the posts of "nans" I find myself interested in what they have to say.  The line reading, "Why in exploding diversity do people feel the need to conceal differences and create equality?" caught my attention the most and was very thought provoking.

 Much Madness Is Divinest Sense - http://curmudgeonsareus.blogspot.com/

The name of the blog is what caught my attention.  What I enjoyed most is that the writer made their posts a bit more personal than I would be able to.  "I came across The Picture of Dorian Gray some time ago, having been aware of its existence for years (the consequence of being raised by an English major, I suppose), and it was always one of those titles that I knew I wanted to read, really should read before I get too far in life, but never got around to it".

More Cowbell, Please - http://kaleidoscopeeyes00.blogspot.com/

The response looks much deeper into the intro of Dead Poets Society than I could ever hope to.  This writer connects the tolling of the school bell to the impact of the Black Death.  "The bell tolls, signifying the end of childhood, like a Black Death sealing away the life that they once knew."  This response made me wonder what inspired the writer to think of this connection.

Launching Into Mistborn

    I won't equivocate,  I couldn't wait to complete the reading of Things I find Funny by Judd Apatow once I got my hands on Mistborn: The Final Empire.  The worn edged embody the many hands that have held this novel before the eyes that indulged in its contents show tribute to the quality of what is to come.  The warm inviting scent of library beckoned me the instant I came into contact with this paperback gem.
    Rushing into the story I wasn't sure what to expect other than that I was into fantasy genre.  I began reading and was told of a plantation owner in a world where "ashfalls (from the sky) weren't that uncommon".  The skaa are an oppressed people who are used and abused in order to complete the farm work under these horrendous planting conditions.  The Lord Ruler is a terrible ruler who has taken over the world.  We're introduced to the criminal mastermind and free thinker Kelsier.
     The first 150 pages moved a bit slowly.  There was a lot of background as to why the darker situation is the way it is.  Though I suppose this can be expected in an unconventional book as this one.  The whole chain of order is flipped upside down from the norm with an evil Lord Ruler oppressing the protagonist right from the beginning.
     The story thus far has reminded me of the atrocities that happened during the Holocaust.  The Lord Ruler signifying to me Hitler.  The way the Skaa are an oppressed people forced to be beaten and working the fields.  At times Skaa are even beaten to death by their owners simply to make an example so the others work harder to tend to the brown and brittle plantation.  Mistborn is quickly picking up in pace and so far is looking to be a very thought provoking and interesting read. 

Dead Poets Society

      In the genesis of the Dead Poet Society, the lachrymose look of the fragile newcomers under the sharp symmetrical architecture emphasize the castigating voice of the professor.  The army of suits sits in agony while parents look on at the vessels that will carry on their successes.  The delicate silence surrounding formless murmurs is brutally lacerated by the serrated caterwaul of shrieking bagpipes.  Teachers aggressively glare at the new more youthful teacher, as if he alone took the proud banner representing "Tradition" and stomped it into the dirt.  Underclassmen look at the robotic mechanics of the already brainwashed upperclassmen and know soon the oppressive environment will morph them into zombified shells of their former selves.

Response

Perpetually waiting on Mistborn: The Final Empire, I picked up I Found This Funny  by Judd Apatow to complete my minutes and pass the time.  Going into this book knowing very little other than the fact that Judd is the writer of many enormously funny movies I expected a very light and humorous read.  After reading through the intro sharing background info and stating how humor is subjective I jumped into the first tale, "A Mother's Tale".  This story caught me a bit off guard.  A young calf rushes to his mother wonder what happens to the cows who are round up and taken off on a train.  "I imagine it's very nice,"(Apatow 16)  she falsely explained to comfort her children.  Another theory arose from a cow that escaped from where the train took then and he told of a much more horrendous location.  The mother comforts them in telling "It's an old old legend... We use it to frighten children with," (Apatow 32).  The short story concludes with the youngest calf asking "What's a train?" to keep things in a lighthearted mood and remind us that yes, this is indeed a story about cows.
     Expecting a carefree comical relief story to follow "A Mother's Tale" my perception of what this book was about was total thrown off-kilter.  I feel this isn't the proper venue to go into details over the subject over the next section titled "No Contact, Ass Hole" (Apatow 33-37)by Jonathan James.  The story was very unique and interesting.  In retrospect I believe it was placed in the book following a story of a loving mother to throw off the reader on purpose.  Somewhere Judd is sitting there laughing at the though of the look on his reader's face.
     I'm not able reflect on every short story in detail as this would become a book of my own, however I will present to you my favorite of the bunch.  The one that caught my attention the most was actually not a story.  A series of sketches by Hugleikur Dagsson (pages 115-121) had me audibly chortling (embarrassingly breaking the amicable silence of study hall).  The humor of it is the kind that when asked by Mrs. Rowe what was so funny I had to lie and conjure up some pseudo truth up I'm sure she didn't believe in the slightest, had I told the truth I'd probably be enjoying a detention.
     While this book isn't what I expected in the slightest it's very entertaining and most definitely worth the read.  Even if I obtain Mistborn prior to completing this book I think I'll delay reading it until finishing this "ultimate bathroom book" (Apatow 10).

Nighthawks Analysis

Setting
Characters
Action
Style

- City
- Dark
- Night
- Dismal
- Gloomy
- Diner
- Old Keeper
- Young Couple
- Young Loner
- Laconic Conversation
- Lonely Lethargy- Grainy
- Fuzzy Lines/Strokes
- Coarse
-Middle of the night

 This caliginous piece by Edward Hopper captivates with it's hazy look on the sleeplessly lethargic agendas of inner city insomniacs.

Literacy Narrative

    My reading habits that I have today have roots beginning fairly early in my youth.  Before I could read my mom would read to me before bed.  Once I had the ability to read myself she would have me reading on the same nightly schedule.  The books I read were determined by whatever she would buy me and whatever I'd check out from the school library.  My favorite books were any fiction or fantasy.  I liked reading out of the ordinary things as they're something unique from my day to day life.
    I continued reading for fun on my own throughout my earlier schooling.  The first book I recall earning the title as "my favorite" and one that I read countless times was Danger In the Desert by T.S. Fields.  I first found this book in the school library in Fourth grade and repeatedly would check it out and renew it.  As I got a bit older and books became assignments my interest in reading began to debilitate.  In Seventh grade I picked up Eragon by Christopher Paolini from a friend and this was the second book I considered one of my favorites.  After reading that series I haven't read many book worth noting outside of school required readings.  I still read however, mostly online reading of stories and fan fictions written by friends.
    Since beginning this class I've been more motivated to pick up my old reading habits and begin reading nightly again.  I'll be beginning with Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson and will be reading that series.  Currently my list of books to read after completing the Mistborn series is as follows:  A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.  This list may be subject to change and is very open to additions.