I know the opening of Hamlet's soliloquy. Almost everything I know about Hamlet comes from these resources.
-Bo Burnham
-The Lion King
-Being a T.A. for Dr. Preston
Bo Burnham what a help he was! That sounds sarcastic, but it's not. One of his albums is called "words words words", a direct allusion towards Hamlet. A lot of his stand up and songs also revolve around the play.
Examples(WARNING, LANGUAGE)
-"Like Hamlet, all about words, words, words. Dividing wholes into thirds, thirds, thirds."
-"You hold nature as 'twere a mirror of yourself. Just because you're messed up doesn't mean we are too. Just because you want to bang your mom doesn't mean Danish princes do, what Who? Yeah, Hamlet, Shakespeare, that's right, the young prince whose
father died at the hands of his uncle with whom his mother lied, sound
familiar? It's the fucking Lion King. You stole from a Disney movie, you androgynous douche, what's next The story of a French king on a quest to find his lost son... Nemo? Oh, and by the way, poetic talent is really easy to fake when thy sentences doth no fucking sense make"
- At one point Bo even recites To be or Not to be up to "must give us pause" following up with "pffft, like what?"
The Lion King. That's pretty self explanatory, and if you're confused go to example number two of Bo Burnham.
Being Preston's T.A. I had to hear to be or not to be over and over and over again. I also had to hear all of them discuss the entire play in detail.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Literature Analysis: The Picture of Dorian Gray
First of all, let me say, OH MY GOD WHAT AN AMAZING BOOK. People reading this, shift your eyes elsewhere, more specifically shift them towards this book. Go get it. Don't allow me to spoil anything. Actually my analysis probably won't do the book justice so I guess you can read this.
Theme theme theme. Multiple themes stuck out to me. There's the large theme revolving around art and its relation toward the youth. How the youth somewhat is art. Poor little Dorian is young, naive, and so easily influenced. The easily influenced part is where I find the relation of art. I see primarily Lord Henry Wotton (everyone else that influences Dorian, such as Basil Hallward, are also important though) as the artist. He corrupted, manipulated, and of course influenced Dorian Gray in a negative light. What used to be an innocent man became a man that question everything and became overtly consumed with his youth. This big theme got me to the little one that I prefer, the theme of influence. How influence is an artform.
Characters, characters, characters. Well of course there's mister Dorian Gray. Along with him are Lord Henry Wotton, Basil Hallward, Sibyl Vane, and James Vane. (There's also Victoria Wotton, Mrs. Vane, Lady Agatha, and others but they're not as important.)
Dorian is directly characterized as beautiful, handsome, young, and indirectly characterized as naive and easily influenced. He is the subject of Basil's best portrait, and through that portrait (and Henry's words) he becomes concerned with becoming ugly and horrid so he seeks all the pleasure of youth, no matter if they be morally right or not. As he indulges in these pleasure he finds the portrait of him turning ever so slightly crude, taking all the moral flaws that he has committed. Don't want to spoil to much so I'll stop there.
Lord Henry Wotton. Best character out of the whole thing. He's witty, sarcastic, and to be honest confusing(in a delightful way though). Throughout the whole story he has these long epigrams that just get you thinking and kind of erk you. It's great though..... I can't explain it. He influences Dorian with his philosophy of new hedonism which is basically indulging in pleasure for the sensory feeling without any moral concerns for others, only yourself.
Basil Hallward. This man is the painter. He is madly in love with Dorian and feels that the portrait of Dorian he created exposes too much of himself. He grows obsessed with young Dorian and incredibly protective of him when his friend Henry begins to corrupt the poor lad.
Sibyl Vane. Sibyl Vane is a young and incredibly beautiful actress. She works as a theatre and often plays many of Shakespeare's wonderful leading ladies. Dorian quickly falls in love with her incredible acting and her ability to influence the audience with certain emotions by engulfing herself into characters. She shares the aspect of naivety with Dorian and quickly falls in love with him, not even knowing him and instead calling him "prince charming". She tells her mother and brother of him and while her mother is approving, her brother is a little skeptical of the young fellow. One night she decides that the true love she shares for Dorian outweighs the fake love she portrays onstage and thus makes that onstage love not real. She begins to act horribly from them on on purpose and I won't reveal what happens after that.... read it...
James Vane. I don't want to give up too much about this fellow either seeing as how most of characterization comes about after what happens to Sibyl. Let's just say he's very very very protective of his sister and deeply cares for her.
I'm just going to list off some literary elements I noticed in the book rather than indulge in the plot so I don't give anything away.
Epigram: This book is full of them, all of them mainly from Lord Henry Wotton. They're clever remarks that get you thinking.
Colloquialism: The book is written with a Victorian era language.
Imagery!: Best example of this is in the first few pages where Basil and Henry are outside in the garden talking about Dorian. Go forth and conquer.
Symbolism: It's pretty obvious how the portrait of Dorian turning crude is symbolic of his true self and how he's developing.
Last words. Sorry for being so vague. Take it as me having read an amazing book that is too complex and beautiful for me to explain through words and also take it as me not spoiling anything incredibly cool(which I did, thank me later). It's a must read.
Theme theme theme. Multiple themes stuck out to me. There's the large theme revolving around art and its relation toward the youth. How the youth somewhat is art. Poor little Dorian is young, naive, and so easily influenced. The easily influenced part is where I find the relation of art. I see primarily Lord Henry Wotton (everyone else that influences Dorian, such as Basil Hallward, are also important though) as the artist. He corrupted, manipulated, and of course influenced Dorian Gray in a negative light. What used to be an innocent man became a man that question everything and became overtly consumed with his youth. This big theme got me to the little one that I prefer, the theme of influence. How influence is an artform.
Characters, characters, characters. Well of course there's mister Dorian Gray. Along with him are Lord Henry Wotton, Basil Hallward, Sibyl Vane, and James Vane. (There's also Victoria Wotton, Mrs. Vane, Lady Agatha, and others but they're not as important.)
Dorian is directly characterized as beautiful, handsome, young, and indirectly characterized as naive and easily influenced. He is the subject of Basil's best portrait, and through that portrait (and Henry's words) he becomes concerned with becoming ugly and horrid so he seeks all the pleasure of youth, no matter if they be morally right or not. As he indulges in these pleasure he finds the portrait of him turning ever so slightly crude, taking all the moral flaws that he has committed. Don't want to spoil to much so I'll stop there.
Lord Henry Wotton. Best character out of the whole thing. He's witty, sarcastic, and to be honest confusing(in a delightful way though). Throughout the whole story he has these long epigrams that just get you thinking and kind of erk you. It's great though..... I can't explain it. He influences Dorian with his philosophy of new hedonism which is basically indulging in pleasure for the sensory feeling without any moral concerns for others, only yourself.
Basil Hallward. This man is the painter. He is madly in love with Dorian and feels that the portrait of Dorian he created exposes too much of himself. He grows obsessed with young Dorian and incredibly protective of him when his friend Henry begins to corrupt the poor lad.
Sibyl Vane. Sibyl Vane is a young and incredibly beautiful actress. She works as a theatre and often plays many of Shakespeare's wonderful leading ladies. Dorian quickly falls in love with her incredible acting and her ability to influence the audience with certain emotions by engulfing herself into characters. She shares the aspect of naivety with Dorian and quickly falls in love with him, not even knowing him and instead calling him "prince charming". She tells her mother and brother of him and while her mother is approving, her brother is a little skeptical of the young fellow. One night she decides that the true love she shares for Dorian outweighs the fake love she portrays onstage and thus makes that onstage love not real. She begins to act horribly from them on on purpose and I won't reveal what happens after that.... read it...
James Vane. I don't want to give up too much about this fellow either seeing as how most of characterization comes about after what happens to Sibyl. Let's just say he's very very very protective of his sister and deeply cares for her.
I'm just going to list off some literary elements I noticed in the book rather than indulge in the plot so I don't give anything away.
Epigram: This book is full of them, all of them mainly from Lord Henry Wotton. They're clever remarks that get you thinking.
Colloquialism: The book is written with a Victorian era language.
Imagery!: Best example of this is in the first few pages where Basil and Henry are outside in the garden talking about Dorian. Go forth and conquer.
Symbolism: It's pretty obvious how the portrait of Dorian turning crude is symbolic of his true self and how he's developing.
Last words. Sorry for being so vague. Take it as me having read an amazing book that is too complex and beautiful for me to explain through words and also take it as me not spoiling anything incredibly cool(which I did, thank me later). It's a must read.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Sunday, September 9, 2012
A Pop of Beowulf via Quiz
The quiz wasn't terribly tough. I had taken some pretty good notes so I only missed a few. I guess if I had to pick something to improve on it would be...... maybe being more nit-picky. I need to write down exact names and write them correctly I suppose. Tis all!
Tinkering with old English
Let's look at some cute words and see how ugly they turn when they're old english.
A plump knight found a bear, horse and dragon north of Germany and killed them with a sword.
Bear=Bera
Plump=Full
North of=benorþan
Knight= Ridend
Horse=hors
sword=beaduléoma
Dragon=draca
A=sum
Found=ceala
And=ond
Germany=carendre
Killed=slieht
them=hie
with=eac
Now let's put em together!
Sum full ridend ceala sum bera, hors, ond draca benorþan carendre ond slieht hie eac sum beaduléoma.
A plump knight found a bear, horse and dragon north of Germany and killed them with a sword.
Bear=Bera
Plump=Full
North of=benorþan
Knight= Ridend
Horse=hors
sword=beaduléoma
Dragon=draca
A=sum
Found=ceala
And=ond
Germany=carendre
Killed=slieht
them=hie
with=eac
Now let's put em together!
Sum full ridend ceala sum bera, hors, ond draca benorþan carendre ond slieht hie eac sum beaduléoma.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
You can either look at that title as an allusion towards Paul McCartney or Batman. If I were to say it relates to a hero though..... nope, Paul McCartney could still be up there.
A man with a cape! The connotation is batman right? Now, I don't know much about this fella, but he's the super hero I know most about out of all of them.
I'm also not sure what we're supposed to do with this superhero... a sort of dissection I suppose?
SO. There's this kid Bruce Wayne. His father, a very well respected man, is very wealthy and known for his contributions to the city of Gotham since they better the city as a whole. Back to lil Bruce. He has a fear of bats (I do too, but I fear just about everything). One day, lil Bruce falls down a well and gets "attacked"(it wasn't full out attack) by bats and he gets very afraid. His father comes to get him and says one of the most important lines in the movie. Something along... ",why do we fall? so we can pick ourselves back up,". Later at some sort of extravagant event, lil Bruce witnesses his father and mother's deaths by a Gotham city hobo trying to score himself some nice pearls and a wallet full of cash.
To be honest, I don't know what happens after this (and to think I went to see The Dark Knight Rises movie marathon featuring all the Batman movies). Point is, he becomes a hero for the people Gotham and a nemesis for all authorities in Gotham.
Transitioning into how and why he's a superhero looked up to. How? He's somewhat able to be related to. Not in the essence of being afraid of bats and becoming this sort of vigilante of a city in trouble, but in that he has a fear like all of us. We all have fears that we either submit to, or more often try to overcome. Not only that but his situation is sort of possible. Let me expand on that, because as I re-read I see it makes no sense. It's not like he has "spidey-senses" or can fly or has super strength. He's just kind of a normal guy. A normal, rich guy with lots of connection, but hey, that's a lot more possible than miraculously being able to lift cars and fly away with them. There's a feeling of possibility there. That maybe we could make a difference like he did and overcome our very own fears while helping others at the same time.
A man with a cape! The connotation is batman right? Now, I don't know much about this fella, but he's the super hero I know most about out of all of them.
I'm also not sure what we're supposed to do with this superhero... a sort of dissection I suppose?
SO. There's this kid Bruce Wayne. His father, a very well respected man, is very wealthy and known for his contributions to the city of Gotham since they better the city as a whole. Back to lil Bruce. He has a fear of bats (I do too, but I fear just about everything). One day, lil Bruce falls down a well and gets "attacked"(it wasn't full out attack) by bats and he gets very afraid. His father comes to get him and says one of the most important lines in the movie. Something along... ",why do we fall? so we can pick ourselves back up,". Later at some sort of extravagant event, lil Bruce witnesses his father and mother's deaths by a Gotham city hobo trying to score himself some nice pearls and a wallet full of cash.
To be honest, I don't know what happens after this (and to think I went to see The Dark Knight Rises movie marathon featuring all the Batman movies). Point is, he becomes a hero for the people Gotham and a nemesis for all authorities in Gotham.
Transitioning into how and why he's a superhero looked up to. How? He's somewhat able to be related to. Not in the essence of being afraid of bats and becoming this sort of vigilante of a city in trouble, but in that he has a fear like all of us. We all have fears that we either submit to, or more often try to overcome. Not only that but his situation is sort of possible. Let me expand on that, because as I re-read I see it makes no sense. It's not like he has "spidey-senses" or can fly or has super strength. He's just kind of a normal guy. A normal, rich guy with lots of connection, but hey, that's a lot more possible than miraculously being able to lift cars and fly away with them. There's a feeling of possibility there. That maybe we could make a difference like he did and overcome our very own fears while helping others at the same time.
Monday, September 3, 2012
The Picture of Dorian Gray
I will be reading The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. Very excited. I read about thirty pages of it last year and that tiddy bit that I read was amazing. I got caught up with schoolwork and couldn't finish it so I am very excited to finally get to read it all.
Mormon Vocabulary Sentences
I was listening to the Book of Mormon Soundtrack whilst I wrote these, so it kind of stuck.
To any mormons reading these, please take no offense! I'm sure most aren't accurate seeing as how I know very little about the religion.
1) Accolade: any award, honor, or laudatory notice.
The Broadway Musical The Book of Mormon receives accolades nation wide.
2) Acerbity: harshness or severity, as of temper or expression
The mormon commented with acerbity about the Broadway musical.
3) Attrition: A reduction in numbers; a wearing down or weakening of resistance.
The Book of Mormon has high attrition regarding the attendance of mormons.
4) Bromide: a platitude or trite saying.
This book will change your life is a bromide mormon saying.
5) Chauvinist: aggresively patriotic or sexist.
6) Chronic: constant, habitual
Mormons are chronic doorbell ringers.
7) Expound: to set forth or state in detail
Mormons are capable of expounding their religious missions.
8) Factionalism: the splitting of groups into factions
I don't know if factionalism is involved the in the Mormon religion....
9) Immaculate: free from moral blemish or impurity
The mormons polygamist past is less than immaculate.
10) Imprecation: a curse, malediction
Mormons would never imprecate another person for fear of losing their planet.
11) Ineluctable: incapable of being evaded
Mormons are ineluctable when they come to your door.
12) Mercurial: Subject to sudden or unpredictable changes
Mormons must keep calm and are not normally mercurial.
13) Palliate: to relieve or lessen without curing
14) Protocol: official procedure or system; an original draft
Joseph Smith claims the golden plates to be his protocol when regarding the book of Mormon.
15) Resplendent: shining brilliantly
Maroni is looked at as resplendent by the Mormons.
16) Stigmatize: to set some remark of disgrace or infamy upon.
Mormons stigmatize other religions.
17) Sub Rosa: confidentially; secretly
Joseph Smith kept the golden plates sub rosa.
18) Vainglory: excessive pride over ones achievements.
Kevin Price was full of vainglory before he went to Africa.
19) Vestige: a trace that something is no longer present
20) Volition: The act of willing
The entire mormon religion requires volition.
Again, no offense to any of ye mormons out there.
To any mormons reading these, please take no offense! I'm sure most aren't accurate seeing as how I know very little about the religion.
1) Accolade: any award, honor, or laudatory notice.
The Broadway Musical The Book of Mormon receives accolades nation wide.
2) Acerbity: harshness or severity, as of temper or expression
The mormon commented with acerbity about the Broadway musical.
3) Attrition: A reduction in numbers; a wearing down or weakening of resistance.
The Book of Mormon has high attrition regarding the attendance of mormons.
4) Bromide: a platitude or trite saying.
This book will change your life is a bromide mormon saying.
5) Chauvinist: aggresively patriotic or sexist.
6) Chronic: constant, habitual
Mormons are chronic doorbell ringers.
7) Expound: to set forth or state in detail
Mormons are capable of expounding their religious missions.
8) Factionalism: the splitting of groups into factions
I don't know if factionalism is involved the in the Mormon religion....
9) Immaculate: free from moral blemish or impurity
The mormons polygamist past is less than immaculate.
10) Imprecation: a curse, malediction
Mormons would never imprecate another person for fear of losing their planet.
11) Ineluctable: incapable of being evaded
Mormons are ineluctable when they come to your door.
12) Mercurial: Subject to sudden or unpredictable changes
Mormons must keep calm and are not normally mercurial.
13) Palliate: to relieve or lessen without curing
14) Protocol: official procedure or system; an original draft
Joseph Smith claims the golden plates to be his protocol when regarding the book of Mormon.
15) Resplendent: shining brilliantly
Maroni is looked at as resplendent by the Mormons.
16) Stigmatize: to set some remark of disgrace or infamy upon.
Mormons stigmatize other religions.
17) Sub Rosa: confidentially; secretly
Joseph Smith kept the golden plates sub rosa.
18) Vainglory: excessive pride over ones achievements.
Kevin Price was full of vainglory before he went to Africa.
19) Vestige: a trace that something is no longer present
20) Volition: The act of willing
The entire mormon religion requires volition.
Again, no offense to any of ye mormons out there.
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