Practice Diction Analysis

In Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian" the dark, hopeless diction emanates the desperate solitude the man finds himself stuck in. The author describes the nature around the man with words like "dark" and "thunderclap" as a way to paint a picture much like the ones found in many of today's horror films. The word "gnashing" puts a fierceness into the passage, letting it be known that this is no calm evening about town but a daunting, unwanted venture.

Finalmente!!!!

I’ve never been a huge reader. Sure I can acknowledge a good but when it’s thrown my way but I’m not constantly out searching for the next new book that will get me through the weekend. Reading is just not really my cup of tea, in my free time at least. I really struggled this semester mainly due to the fact that I don’t find it easy to stir up the motivation to just sit somewhere and read, let alone blog about it when I’m done. English is really only enjoyable for me when I get to learn new words to throw around like a member of 17^th century British royalty and just watch how people’s faces take that subtle turn from really being into what you’re saying to where they are so lost they need a map to get back on track. I think I sat in my room and just read once the entire semester which left my reading to get done here at school. I’d read a lot in anatomy and government which are two classes I have a lot of free time in. I read a whole book pretty much in 5-10 minute intervals where I could sneak in a little reading. The book I read, Little Brother, was really interesting though. When I finished reading the first chapter I went and told my thirteen year old brother all about it to the point where he thought it sounded so cool that he’d pick it up and give it a try too. That’s when you know a book is good. Not gonna lie though, I’m glad to be done with the required reading and blogging.

Finished my book

Now I’m sure for some people in our class this is no big deal because it seems like all they do when they get home is read and read and I understand that. My girlfriend locks herself in a different world where I can’t get a hold of her when she gets caught up in a good book and that’s all fine and dandy! But I don’t work that way. I really like my book which was called Little Brother by Cory Doctorow but even then I only read during school in classes I wasn’t really caught up in or the occasional time at home when there was absolutely nothing on TV that caught my interest. But by golly I did it, all 390 ish pages of it. It was about a kid that was a techno-genius who happened to be in the wrong place during a terrorist attack in San Francisco and was accused of being an accomplice in the whole thing. He was interrogated illegally and eventually was released. He found that the government had begun to use outrageous means to keep track of people in a hope to find other potential terrorists so he vowed to use his knowledge of technology to sabotage the government to the point that the public would see that an unknown student somewhere was single handedly bringing down an ad hoc government institution made only to overly “protect” against future terrorism. It had a little bit of everything though. There was some romance, some mystery, some drama; it was pretty epic…not gonna lie. I’ll be doing that book review project on it so if you like how this sounds I’ll be giving more info about it whenever I get around to doing that….until then….stay classy San Diego!

Currently.....we meet yet again.....

Past two weeks pgs read : 160
I finished my book though! That's a big deal for me at least haha

Sentences of the week:
 "We win freedom by having the courage and the conviction to live every day freely and to act as a free society, no matter how great the threats are on the horizon." - Little Brother (Afterword)
"So close the book and go. The world is full of security systems. Hack one of them." Little Brother (Afterword)
"She kissed me then, and I kissed her back, and it was some time before we went out for that burrito." Little Brother

Close Reading Bingo

"Salinger uses words with mainly negative connotations that are easy to understand yet are somewhat hostile." http://bradey.blogspot.com/

Salinger first describes the parents as “touchy as hell”. http://letsgetawesome5.blogspot.com/

The style of writing makes the reader feel as though they are just having a simple conversation with the author, no fancy diction or confusing literary devices, the author just puts it all out on the table.  http://fifteen-to-twentyseven.blogspot.com/


Baker describes the appearance of the lobby of his work as a place with “towering volumes of marble and glass,” and he also uses figurative language when he mentions the escalator “as the handrails slid on their tracks, like the radians of black luster.”  http://mbutchko.blogspot.com/

This suggests that Holden Caulfield is somewhat uneducated.    http://bookwormsfiresidereading.blogspot.com/
Best analysis I read today      http://contemplationsxjones.blogspot.com/

Currently (Ahora)

Book : Little Brother

Author : Cory Doctorow

Pages read this week : 72

Total pages read : 225

http://thoughtful-attempt.blogspot.com/2011/10/style-mapping.html

http://harknessmonster.blogspot.com/2011/10/style-mapping.html

Style Mapping

In "The Mud Below" the Anne Pnoulx uses blunt, discordant language to suggest the blue collar outlook found in the society that the story takes place while showing how uncivilized and rough bull riding can be. In Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian" the use of a melodiously scholarly dictum that nearly seems archaic portrays a feeling of older times, more socially dictated times in which one follows the bonds of society instead of breaking the mold. And in Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre" the language oozed of a fancy intricacy that made the descriptive portions of the book seem like they drug on even though the story line itself was very well written.

Quarterly

I started my etymology reading kinda slow this year....i dont know if it was due to the fact that i wasnt really enveloped in my book or what but i found it hard to just sit there and read. That's kinda been the case my entire life, unless im in love with a book i dont really follow up with it. I found a book called Little Brother and it's pretty cool, im already on page 160 and ive only had it for like a week, and that's a big deal for me. I can see myself actually finishing this book. Im not one of those readers that just goes home, lays on a bear skinned rug all cozy next to the fireplace. I tend to read in school when i finish early with a test or when im just tired of doing what im supposed to be doing in that particular class.....its gonna definitely be a goal to finish this book though.

Currently

Book : Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
Pages read (today and yesterday) : 40

Favorite Quotes of the Quarter :
"She's slower than molasses running uphill in the middle of February...." My grandpa talking about how slow my grandma golfs
"We build with our hands what we have in our hearts" - August Burns Red
"Abnormal is so common, it's practically normal." - Little Brother (The Book, not the sibling)


Post:
So i picked up this book called little brother just cuz it looked kind of interesting. It's about this 17 year old kid who's really good with technology (specifically computers) and he finds that all of his hacking makes him a prime suspect in the terrorist attack that occurs in San Francisco. The book is actually really cool though cuz it has a lot of technological terminology that i've maybe heard of in my ventures on the web but really had no idea what they meant. I've acquired a much larger interest in messing with computers and things of that nature, essentially just wanting to know how they work and how to make them my puppets in my plot to become their puppeteer. It's actually made me question a lot about my life. I used to think that medicine was the only thing i'd be interested in doing for the rest of my life but in reading this book, i've realized that i've always had a subliminal fascination with computers and their computing properties. Now i'm certain that i'm going to have to take a couple computer apps classes in college to see if that is a career possibility that i'd like to pursue or maybe even just as a hobby.

Week 5 & 6 reading

I've had a ridiculously hectic last 2 weeks so I'm just gonna be honest.....I didn't even pick up my book in the last two weeks...........my bad!

Favorite Claims

1: DolphinCat - Dalton Stuart
Team iLuminate’s performance on NBC’s Americas Got Talent the groups [jerky but elegant movements, strange and breath-taking choreography, and rapid roaming use of space] express [a sense of aggressive romance and intense ghoulishness.]


2: Mariah
In Fighting Gravity’s final Performance on America’s Got Talent, the voiceless and light dancers use graceful, upbeat, and a unique technique that expresses a new and an explosive futuristic type of dance.

Analysis

Color: Dark, gloom, vintage,
Shape: jagged, rough, unrefined
Shades: gloomy, grey
Feeling: broken, solitary, lonely, internal, desperation


"The Hollow"'s dark, jagged scenery emanates the state of internal desperation and broken loneliness that is expressed constantly throughout the album.

Week 4 reading

Book : Ship Breaker

Author : Paolo Bacigalupi

Number of pages this week : 69

Total pages : 203

Sentences/Quotes of the week :
"That's what the pig in the pen says when his brother gets knifed for dinner.....You're still in the pen. Still gonna die." - Ship Breaker

"We build with our hands what we have in our hearts" - August Burns Red

"Everything looks perfect from far away" - Confide

Tough choices....and the choices that follow

Today in my book i read about how the main character of my book was faced with a really tough decision, finally made up his mind and ended up constantly second guessing himself later on. I do this A LOT and about pretty much anything. I hate life's uncertainty. You make a decision now and you know it always has the chance for it to come back to bite you later. I wish there was a button in life that let you see the end result of your life whenever you needed to know that it would all be okay in the end. I worry about the college i'll attend, my career choice, future wife, number of kids, how ill raise those kids etc....it gets to be overwhelming. By the time i finish thinking about it all, i feel like my entire life is beating down on my shoulders with no chance at rubbing it off anytime soon. Sometimes i wonder if my saying yes or no to a simple question will completely alter my life path. And i know we're all told god knows what you're going to choose before you choose but how? it doesn't make sense, and maybe it's not supposed to, but i cant help but feel like i need to be weary with everything and everyone, a sort of sense of paranoia but not necessarily that someone is going to hurt me, but that i'm going to hurt my self with a simple choice i make. Maybe that's why i feel like i can't trust other people, because i don't even feel like i can trust myself. I find it hard to put my total devotion into one person or one thing, whether it's due to a fear of being heartbroken, not good enough, deceived, or any other of the possible things that could go wrong....now this, i admit, is a sense of paranoia. I never seem to thoroughly enjoy life if i don't have something to look forward to, whether it be hanging out with a special someone, seeing family, hanging out with old friends or anything of that nature really. Without having that thing to look forward to, it's like i'm watching a youtube video but instead of it moving to another after one is finished, i'm stuck pressing the replay button over and over again, a never ending, monotonous cycle. i'm so close to finally being out in the world all on my own, but i realize that i've got a lot of growing up to do yet. Getting over my insecurities and just being able to be myself without worrying what others think being at the top of the list. how am i supposed to be able to trust others until i can trust the guy in my skin first?

Week 2 reading

Book : Ship Breaker

Author: Paolo Bacigalupi

Pages read this week: 25

Total pages read: 84

Sentences of the week:
"She's slower than molasses running uphill in the middle of February...." My grandpa talking about how slow my grandma golfs

"A tree flew past, flying as if it were a toothpick flung by a child" - Ship Breaker

"The monster's huge muscled form loomed over the rest of the thugs, its doglike muzzle snarling and showing its teeth to scare back the hungry people" - Ship Breaker

Rain > Weight of the World

Today I picked up my book again to read some more and it happened to be about a big storm that washed away the entire beach the main character was on. Now anyone that truly knows me knows that I'm infatuated with rain. I guess it all goes back to when my family was living in my grandparent's house in Ossian because they had a porch with a tin roof and rain made a distinct sound on it that I found and still find remarkably relaxing. Plus, being born in Costa Rica where it rains on and off constantly, gives me a weird connection to it. To this day I find myself running outside at any sign of a storm just to get a chance to be enveloped in the gentle shower. It's unlike any other feeling in the world. If you ever just watch it fall around you, the effect it has on trees and plants, it literally brings life to the things that we pass on the side of the road and pay no mind to. Its just like I go outside and as it runs down my face, it takes all of my cares and leaves me feeling renewed. I constantly find myself just laying down outside as I become soaked with them, watching it all fall from the sky, as if god were crying over everything we've ever done wrong, yet it manages to feel uplifting instead of feeling like a burden. It has such a caring feel to it, something that lets us know that no matter how bad something my seem at this very moment, soon enough, another downpour will come through to give us a clean slate to work with. All we can do is take that clean slate we've been given and try to use it to write a better story than we had before. Now, there are always going to be flaws in the story, imperfections, but it gives us the opportunity to use what we've learned to just put that behind us and make another solid stride toward where we ultimately want to end up. Ive taken a few steps forward and also have taken a few steps back throughout life, we all have. But honestly, if it weren't for those steps backwards....how would i even know what the right direction looked like?

Personality Test

This "all knowing" test just told me that I am an extravert, intuitive, judging, and in touch with my feelings. For the most part I think it was pretty accurate. I'm pretty outgoing but mainly with people I know, not just around random strangers. Comedy is probably my biggest example of that. I guess I'm kind of intuitive but when I think of intuitive, I think of someone whose intellectual solutions to everything get in the way of everyone else having a good time. I think sensible is a better description. I do judge but I at least give people a chance to defend themselves before I arrive at a final verdict and even then, I don't shun them for it. And last but not least.....I really am kind of an emotional guy. My feelings dictate a lot about how I react to things and how people look at me. If someone close to me is upset, people tend to notice that I'm often just as upset as they are. It can be nice but also a real pain. It's really a blessing wrapped in a curse.

This week's reading

Book: Ship Breaker

Author: Paolo Bacigalupi

Pages read this week: 59

Sentence of the week: "He sucked air, flooding his lungs with shining clean oxygen, starved for all the life he'd been sure he'd lost" Ship Breaker

Ship Breaker Cont....

Today I read a little more of the Ship Breaker and reached a part where the main character Nailer came home after a really bad day working in the ship to his drunk father who attempted to instigate whatever conflict Nailer would throw at him. Nailer avoided saying anything that his father could use against him and got to go to sleep without any major drama. What really got me, though, was that in the middle of his father's prying at him to try and get him to budge, Nailer contemplated making a run for it.......away from his own father. Now I understand that this isn't all that rare with kids that have strained relationships with their parents, but I have trouble imagining it actually happening. I mean I get upset with my parents, all the time actually, but I never actually fear for my safety. I'd like to think that I'm quite close with them and one of the reasons is that we have such an open relationship with each other, we're constantly joking around with each other and, for the most part, know that I can come to them with anything if I really need to. It's a really good balance of friendship and authority, a balance that I'd like to instill in my household when I'm older and married. I have friends though that don't even see their parents for days at a time or even talk to them for that matter. I can't even imagine the kind of person I'd be if that were the case....

A New Experience

      I've never been much of a reader so this class's requirements are proving to be quite difficult. Today i sat in my bed, under a mound of blankets (quite womanly I know) and for the first time in a long time actually opened a book with the intent to try to enjoy it. The book I chose was "Ship Breaker" by Paolo Bacigalupi. The first thing that really grabbed my attention was the amount of references to the "Christian church". There were multiple times that they used things found in the common christian church such as the church bell to appeal to the reader's senses. What struck me as even more unusual was the the use of the phrase "Scavenge God" as if they'd created there own sense of spirituality around the job that they do, day in and day out. I'm not going to lie to you, it kind of weirded me out. Coming from a pretty religious family it was odd to read about a god that was based on the materials the people worked with every day. It was awkward in a sense but it almost became normal the further I read into the book. The main character, Nailer, reminds me a lot of myself. Nailer has strong opinions of people and whether good or bad, he doesn't really let that dictate how he acts around them. Early in the book there is a conflict where Nailer's father is ridiculed by his boss but instead of exploding, he composed himself and put his response in a respectful yet slightly taunting manner. I find that I myself have a lot of emotions, at times it feels like an overabundance of them. But those emotions, whatever they may be, usually come out as a form of humor. I learned early that if I could make fun of myself and make other people laugh, they wouldn't even bother trying because they know I'm going to do it to myself eventually. It's that sort of on the spot adaptation that binds me to this character. Hopefully more things continue to present themselves to me throughout the book that help me develop a closer relationship with the guy.