The Sirens of Titan

I love Kurt Vonnegut's work and have read many things by him since high school. I have read Slaughter House five, Cats Cradle The Sirens of Titan and Jailbird.

I love this story because it is about the worlds richest man who goes on a trip from Earth to Mars, Mercury and Titan, a moon of saturn.  Malachi Constant and his american time and space flying partner Winston Miles Rumfoord start a new civilization on mars which leads to a mission to take over the planet earth and kind of do what we did with the native americans and other cultures and brainwash them to take on a new religion and change Mankind. Rumfoord uses Malachi as a god or Jesus in his religion.

What I find funny about the book is that after reading about them going all through space and to all these planets and doing things only people can imagine, the book goes in to detail about how Winston had his own ship which has changed shape to something called "chromo-synclasic infandibulum," Talking about how Winston materializes and breaks free from physical substances of materials when he is in different places he travels throughout the solar system. One of the places I thought was funny to include was his and his wife Beatrice's huge house in Newport Rhode Island. It is such a different way to go from space to Rhode Island.  The richest man gets invited to the estate which will make him the first person to be able to travel with Winston to his estate. They go bankrupt and whats funny is two martians that joined their faith bought the estate which happens many times in todays world.

Kurt Vonnegut usually incorporates things that are going on in todays world in his writing which I find really fascinating because he wrote most of his works many years ago which means he is writing a head of his time period.  I didn't like this book as much as other readings I have read by Vonnegut but his style is so different than most readings that I usually choose.

Dark is Rising

For this week, I chose to write about Dark is Rising.

I liked this reading because it is the way I always wanted to start my day as a child. I always wanted to wake up in another work or dimension and explore. When Will wakes up on his birthday and he is in another time, he wanders with a magical horse that helps him. His journey is to collect the six signs. The dark attacks him and he fights back.  I think this plot line is very popular with young children's fantasy because they always believe that there is another world because of their imagination. Will goes through any battles to get all six signs with the help of friends.  I love Merriman's role as a character because of the roll as Wills helper. Many kids play games like this with their friends so I think many kids can relate. That is the great think about fantasy.

This adventure is also well known in older movies, for example, the princess bride and many others. Journey to the Center of the earth, Eragon and many other movies are based on the same idea. A child needs help to complete his quest to get back to his own work.

I was never really into fantasy as a really young child but as I got older, I started to get more into reading and thinking into fantasy and the ideas behind everything I read.  Even in movies that show the same thing, they don't leave to to have your own idea or picture because the movies show these things to you. The great thing about reading a book like The Dark is Rising, is that you can picture the characters as you like.

The Hobbit

The hobbit is magical, long and full of detail. I was never really into the lord of the rings or the hobbit until i saw the movie.  Bilbo Baggins, the main character goes on a journey that every kid dreams of. Fighting middle earth and even the ascetics of the film are just so moving.  Every kid wants to go find treater and set of with dwarfs and magicians. I feel that after seeing the lord of the rings, i was kind of thrown off by the hobbit because of which came first.
The movie and book show how heroes are made along with fairy tales coming to life. Gandalf the greatest character is Bilbos protector considering he is yet a small hobbit.
The series lord of the rings and harry potter had the same effect on me, i was into the movies when they came out but didn't fantasize and read and watch them over and over again. The graphics in the movies were outstanding along with the acting and ascetics but I feel they had a time and then what was that. Everyone can agree that the shots are beautiful but there were many parts of the book that were left out for obvious reasons. Reclaiming the Lonely Mountain and saving the gold is always been a popular plot for young children. For example, even in pirate movies and older children films, kids latch on the a map that will find them treasure.
What i loved about the Hobbit, are all the fine details that build the characters backgrounds and really makes you think they were real. J.R.R. Tolkien took time to make the reader feel like there were times before the book was written where these characters were alive. It made me feel like i knew them more and really could picture their long beards and high beer bellies.

Feedback on Aunt Maria

I kind of like books like Aunt Maria by Diana Wynne Jones because I can really relate to the story. I have seen the ideas like the parents splitting and kids going to stay with family in many horror movies and also fantasy movies. Mig and her brother Chris are the average brothers that have to stick together but yet Chris is the one who acts our while Mig is more of the calm smart and doing what she has to do type girl. 

When my parents got divorced, i started to see my grandparents more and saw my mom a lot more than i thought i would. I was young so i didn't really know what was going on but my brother was definitely like Chris from the book. My brother never wanted to protect me and i always wished when i was a kid he would watch out for me. Mig shows more courage in my eyes which i can also relate too.  Do you think that kids act out in these situations because they are afraid of not being loved?  Because Chris is so rude and annoyingly rude to adults, do you think more people will like his character? 

The New Weird

For this week I decided to read Edgar Allen Poe's The Tell Tale Heart. I have read many short stories by Poe but I think this is now my favorite. I loved how he repeated some things to make it seem things to the reader. I also really like how crazy he is that he wants to kill this man and plans it for so long. Then when he finally kills him, and the police come, he confesses because he heart basically tells him to. The fact that he was laughing and smiling when holding the heart makes you really believe that he is a mad man and that he's crazy.

I have been watching the show Dexter and this short story kind of goes with the show. Dexter cuts people up into many different pieces and throws them in the ocean. He is kind of like Poe where he knows its bad but he has to and wants to. The way Poe writes makes you really want to keep reading because he shows that he wants to take the killing slow but then he jumps to burying the heart and the police coming. That didn't take very long but leading up to it did. I like that style about Poe's work. 

J Horror

I started reading A Wild Sheep Chase and didn't get very far into it. I couldn't really follow it and didn't get into it. I have a hard time getting into stories like this. 

I switched it up and wrote about the Kwaidan, the collection of traditional ghost stories. I am into horror and scary readings but what i found interesting is that they were for the younger generation i felt. It kind of brought back memories of being a kid reading scary stories under the covers in the middle of the night. I didn't think they were that scary but more beautiful because they really express the mood and feeling. I also found it very interesting how short they were to tell a whole story that could possibly be made into a movie type thing. They were not stories you read to someone before they go to bed or they might get a nightmare but i thought they were pretty cool and actually saved the link so i could send them around to some of my friends.

Vampires

I have a little thing for vampires.  I have always been fascinated by Van Helsing but the whole Twilight thing is kind of stupid to me. I don’t think that Twilight is a great example of vampires because it was more about making them look pretty and have every girl in the world in love with the series and male cast. I picture more of Dracula and older movies like that.

I kind of feel that vampires are kind of like the whole walking dead zombie thing. They are dead and walk around looking the same every time. Its almost as if they haven’t wanted to create something new that can be copied for the next 25 years like they did with zombies and vampires. 

I was never really into fantasy and all of that because I wanted to watch things a bit more believable but I also think that what made watching them good too. The fact that Dracula wants to love but the fact that he kills people and he lasts forever is kind of beautiful to me.

It makes a perfect story that many people can relate to. Well guys I guess. We want to love women and have them forever but it doesn’t always work out. For Dracula, it never works out. The fact that vampires look like they are still a teenager but are hundreds of years old is pretty cool.