Thursday, October 30, 2008

Maus 2

I really liked part 2 of this book, because it was well drawn and it really connected me with the Holocaust, even though the characters were animals. I have read other books about the Holocaust, and this one seemed to be one of the more realistic. Somehow, telling the story with mice made what was happeneing seem more real, and not less as I would had expected. This book opened my eyes to the actual fear that the Jews actually had during that time. I thought that the style of pictures and words that Art Spiegelman used in this was very effective, because on one hand, he was telling the story that many other people have told with the Jews suffering in hiding, but on the other hand he made the characters, that were all animals, seem more human than the humans in the other stories of the Holocaust that I have read. Art's modern day descriptions made it even better, because he showed all of the characters' weaknesses instead of just telling about how they were being strong and surviving. I saw some depiction of time on page 25 when he flashes back to the Holocaust telling his son about it. And also as they sit down for breakfast he flashes back from modern time to the Holocaust telling him many details of things that he experienced.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Maus 1

Well, right away Maus is much harder to read and comprend compard to Blankets. It is written more like Fun Home which I as well didn't enjoy a whole lot. The story text along with the speech bubbles confuse me quite a bit making it harder to read. I don't really like the way the father speaks either because I have to reread what he says and still am undersure sometimes what he means. For Depiction of time he refers to flashbacks throughout the story talking about surviving the Holocaust. Other than that it was kind of hard to find any other time shifts through panels.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Blankets

Reading Blankets seemed to be a little easier to understand than Fun Home. Page by page it just seemed to be a quicker read where I could follow what was going on. Containing mostly dialog on each page rather than text and dialog I think made it significantly easier to comrehend. Although reading through the first few chapters of Blankets I did notice that the pictures did not tell the story as well as Fun Home did. The pictures of Blankets contain a great deal of detail, but don't help explain really as well as the pictures of Fun Home. My group this week had transitions. I found many transitions throughout the first couple chapters mostly being moment to moment. Starting with the first couple pages around page 11 where phil and craig are sleeping you can see some moment to moment transition as well as page 22 and 23 when the bullies are rocking craig back and forth. Moment to moment comes up a lot as we can also see it on pages 36 and 37 coming home from school talking to his brother on the couch, 50 witht the teacher talking about heaven going on and on, 68 through 71 when craig and phil are trying to sleep on the hot day but can't because they are uncomfortably sweaty, and 83 to 85 when he sneaks out of the cabin at church camp to walk around. As well as moment to moment, you can also see action to action, scene to scene, and aspect to aspect come up rarely. Page 12 as phil throws craig out of bed, page 40 as craig plans his escape from home, and page 95 as they are running through the snow at church camp you can see action to action. Scene to scene can be found on pages 75 and 82 when craig and phil are playing outside in the snow and when the camp counselor comes and yells at the boys to go to sleep. Lastly aspect to aspect I found once on page 118 when there is caos in the rec room and different things are going on.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Fun Home 2

Following chapter 3 the relationship between words and pictures became very connected. For every picture captured in a scene you knew exactly what the words were going to be. This made reading and comprehending much easier to be able to look at the words as pictures. There was also a lot of action to action scenes where one frame to another would fit together perfectly. That also helped greatfully to be able to see a connection between what was happening moment to moment. There was a great deal of detail in the back of scenes including the Sunbeam Bread which came up in several occasions. I thought she and her father got much closer once realizing that they were living the same life. It got a little confusing when trying to follow the transition from college to home and back to when she was a child, but pictures helped sort it out. It took a couple times over to understand what was being said it what time instants. Throughtout the ending part of the book interacting with her mother you could tell was very weird and uneasy for her, but as for with her father she opened up and told him everything. I wonder if that encouraged her or gave her a slight push to the way she became. I did like the references to Cather in the Rye with the school teacher being brought up for being gay and Holden staying at his house. Really enjoyed the ending connecting everything together.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Fun Home

I really enjoyed the start of Fun Home with the father and son playing airplane because that is an experience I once did when I was a little kid too. I could relate to the boy very well because my father too liked everything to be perfect. Make it be furniture or cleaning the house, he was always doing something around the house to make it look better than it did. The pictures really helped me understand what was going on as they illustrated very nicely what was being said in the text. I like that much better so you can actually feel what is going on instead of just reading it and imagining from the words. It shocked me to read the question of the father having sex with little boys while they were attending mass. Talking about an ideal husband and then saying something drastic like that through me off. When the boy talks about his father dieing it gets a little depressing to see him reliving the happy moments he spent with him. I too thought about the moments I used to spend with my dad. It got even more strange for me when I found out the family business was running a funeral home. It was difficult to read about the father comititing suicide, but what really got me was how the family reacted to it. Being around the funeral home all those years made him dieing in a way not so much of a big deal. I would be defistated if I lost a parent and they acted by grinning at one another. My favorite part was the connection between the children's favorite story about their father getting stuck in the mud and the ending line where the boy says his father was stuck in the mud for good this time.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art

Starting to read this it brought back memories of when I used to read comics. It is very true that comics have recieved a bad reputation I guess to a point where people only think they are kiddie, crude, disposable, and cheap. I don't think people understand the true meaning of comics and often times define it as to narrow. There are many different types of ways to write comics seeing as there are many different styles. Understanding Comics is definetly a really good way to comrehend comic books if you don't know a lot about them. It breaks down definitions and shows accurate drawings of how things are done and thought of. It breaks down for you action shots and sounds to get a full effect of what is happening in the scene. It also shows how to capture different frames to connect all together to string a story line. I really like the begining as it was very helpful and informational to a non-comic book reader.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Benson / Orlean

Benson was a rather short essay. Reading it went by quickly and it barely had a relevant meaning. The younger sister was telling about her life living under her older sister. Nicely describing the things she does and her as a person. As well as making it very obvious that her boyfriend does not love her, but loves everything else he does. The older sister was becoming a bad influence for the younger sister and in knowing so showed some of her innocence. In the end I did not expect the boyfriend to fall for the younger sister, as she then rejected him although stating she was different and maybe a better person than her sister.

Reading Orlean I wasn't interested until it starting getting weird. Although that sounds funny this is what I mean. She was going off about herself and all these things she did and what not, but when she told the story of Colin really got me. The way she started of her and Colin one day being married was strange to me. Going on about all the things they would do and be good at and like together still had me confused. As she then turned to talk about Colin's life I finally understood. Everything she mentioned of his life was the same as when they were to get married. The college he was going to, what he would study, the games they would play, etc. Once I caught on I started to really enjoy the essay. It was funny and the exactly what a ten year old kid thinks of and does. It had a great wrap up to the essay.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

The Fishing Story / Bumping into Ravioli

Reading The Fishing Story made me feel a sense of sadness for the grandmother. People around her trying the help with on every occasion, but nothing could save her life. Her family around her having to put up with hearing stories 3 and 4 times in a row in just an example of sadness I felt for her and toward the family. In a way I was a little depressed to see how much she remembered and cared about the people around her she loved and lost. The way she talked about the times she spent with her husband even though they didn't say more than 10 words to each other on their boating trips really had an impact on her. The description of the yard and people were great as I could make out a wonderful picture of the scene. Although I was expecting the end to come I was still sad when her monitor crackled and hummed as a sign she had died in her sleep.

I connected more with the story Bumping into Ravioli. Every kid when they are young make up an imaginary friend they can talk to and play with. Olivia living in New York had trouble making friends probably so she made up a imaginary friend. I suppose living in New York with so much going on is hard for a little kid to take in. Charlie Ravioli always being busy and not being able to play is just her way of expressing living in the city as a child. There was no one to play with or just relax and have fun with. Her parents were mostly busy working and her brother was also on a very busy schedule. This deprived her of having fun with family close to her. Her sister in California thought that the city was making her think of this busy friend because of her surroundings as well. Olivia had a very creative mind making up stories to almost think that Charlie was real. My gut reaction was waiting for Olivia to bring Charlie over for dinner and have a shocking ending. I liked Olivia as a character because she was very spontaneous and creative.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Bernard Cooper's: 101 Ways to Cook Hamburger

After reading 101 Ways to Cook Hamburger I find my self uttlery shocked by the memoir. I did not expect that story coming from a title about cooking hamburgers. I did although enjoy the story it told. I think that in every class you have a student who is curious of his or her surroundings and lurches around to find unusual things going on. I really liked Theresa Sanchez portrayed as a character above anyone else of her age. Being more safisticated, mature, and having a better understanding of everything around her. It seemed as she was so powerful that when conversing with the boy and asked if he was a fag it almost changed his mind and made him think he was really gay. I don't know if he was ultimately gay to begin with or if her saying that kind of made him question himself. My favorite part was going to Debbie's make-out party which is a typical high school thing, but again it showed the repent of him kissing a girl and the thought of Grady's wet chest everytime he stopped kissing. When he asked his mom what a fag was it seemed he was asking for a sense of acceptance in her eyes. Seeing as he quickly said Bobby Keagon was called a fag and not himself. I thought this story was telling of a confused hard decision that people are forced into making everyday. As I too make these hard decisions I felt connected in a way. I do think it might of been a little over the top to go on about the two teachers being gay as well. Toward the end it kind of threw me off a bit not fully understanding where they were going with the letter from Gerald to Mr. Kendrick. I didn't enjoy the ending as much as the overall story because I felt it got a little to weird. Such as the description of his nights he had thinking of what would have been different if he had just told Theresa he was gay. With that exception I was entertained and it was enjoyable.

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Just a little Something!


Knowledgeable fun facts about me! Most importantly I am a 3 sport runner here at the University of Hartford! I run Cross Country, Indoor, and Outdoor Track and Field. When I am not competing or practicing you would probably find me hanging out with my wonderful friends :)! I enjoy many outdoor activities such as running!, swimming, skim boarding, snow boarding, or anything that keeps me busy. I'm very adventurous, curious, and couregous and will try anything twice. I am from a small town called Ludlow which is in Massachusetts where everybody knows everybody. An unusual fact about me is that I am a Math major and I absolutely love it! My future plans are to graduate with a Masters in Math and become an actuary. I occasionally enjoy browsing through facebook, relaxing and playing cards, and taking naps! My favorite animal is a turtle because I believe that slow and steady always wins the race. And they are slimey and adorable. My idols in life are Steve PreFontaine, my dad, and Tom (for creating facebook! haha). I'm very goal oriented and always push myself to accomplish the impossible. Im hoping this class will help improve my writing skills and open up my mind to visualize everything in a new perspective allowing me the capability to accomplish all that I can!