The blogs that definitely did not attract my attention were Bookslut, Emerging Writer's Network, Literary Saloon, Literary Kicks, a Commonplace Blog, and 3 Quarks Daily. These blogs were not pretty and I was bored within seconds of opening up the page. Honestly, they look like websites from the early 2000s. I mean there was nothing wrong with websites looking like that in the early 2000s, but come on, the internet has existed long enough for it to be easy for any old blogger to beautify their blog. Heck, it doesn't even need to be beautiful, it just needs to look neat, which not all of these blogs do. Some of them are even cluttered with ads, which is a big mistake. The fact that these blogs look so ugly turns me away from even wanting to read them. And I'm sure the content in these blogs is great...if I could manage to stay on the website long enough to read the actual blog posts.
Literary Minded and The Elegant Variation looked nice enough to be presentable. They looked like blogs and all the posts were easily accessible. However, they looked kind of boring, which made me kind of bored, so I stopped reading the blog posts. Again, I'm sure they're great blog posts, but I was too bored to really see if they were. One thing I really liked about these blogs was that they were both written in the first person, which I expected of most blogs, but weirdly, some were not written in first person. A blog is very personal, and when it's not in first person, it feels more like an article, rather than a blog post. Of all the blogs, these two were definitely the ones that felt the most like actual blogs that actual people would have, which I liked a lot.
Maud Newton and Andrew Rickard were just like the last two, and then some. The topics of the blog posts were more interesting, and they layouts were still simple, but a bit different, so they caught my eye. I enjoyed these blogs thoroughly, and they were very similar to Literary Minded and The Elegant Variation, but these felt a bit more hipster, for lack of a better work.
I loved they layout of Reluctant Habits, and it caught my eye immediately. After trying to get to some posts, however, I got confused and gave up. I guess they were all mp3 files, and the transcripts of them, but I didn't really know what that meant. Is it actually a podcast instead of a written blog?
The Guardian and The Millions were too much like news websites, and as soon as I opened up the page, I started looking for "articles" in the same way I'd look for articles on a news website. It didn't feel like a blog at all, and I don't know if it was run by just one person, but it didn't seem like it was.
Dani Shapiro was simple, but I really enjoyed the style of the author's writing. The things she wrote about seemed more personal than the topics of the other blogs, as well. This was one of the only blogs that I actually went through and read thoroughly. The writing was really beautiful, and I'm not even sure why it's considered a literary blog, because she mostly writes about herself. Even though she's a writer, her blog posts aren't about other writing, they're about her life as a writer. (Fun Fact: Dani Shapiro wrote a blog post for The Millions.)
GalleyCat was one of my favorites, even though it's more about the book publishing industry, rather than just a straight up literary blog. The articles were very different from the other blogs, and the layout was gorgeous.
Overall, what keeps me reading a blog is when it's (1) neat and nice looking, (2) written in first person, and (3) interesting, content wise, after a thirty second skim of the most recent post.
Dec 4, 2013
Nov 20, 2013
Blog Post #19: Changes
I have not changed at all, ever. I have not changed since I was ten years old and I learned how to play "Sugar, We're Goin Down" by Fall Out Boy on my flute. It was the first full song I learned to play on the flute and I had never heard it before, but I was obsessed with it. In fact, it wasn't until last year that I realized that the song came out in April 2005, and that I had learned it only six months later.
I have not changed since I told my teacher in sixth grade that I wanted the letter 'k' in my name and she renamed me Sinkdhu. I have not changed since I wrote my first finished story, "Cynthia and Maisy," which was about two sisters who find a note that leads them to buried treasure. It was sixteen pages, written.
I have not changed since the book release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows when I paired shorts and a tank top with a jacket that I had used in a dance months ago. It was the summer before seventh grade and I had never really put much thought into my clothes before. My best friend said that my outfit was "cute," and I'll never forget it. I stabbed her in the back a few days later, though, when I "accidentally" finished the book before her, even though we were supposed to be reading it together.
I have not changed since we were sixteen and we thought it would be a good idea to sneak into the secret tunnels under our high school. I still have scars on my legs from where I got scratched by some really sketchy metal poles. I have not changed since we were the last three left dancing at junior prom when everyone left to go to after-parties. I have not changed since the same thing happened at the senior year semi-formal. I have not changed since that last time we went to IHOP together. Or the time before that. Or the time before that. I have not changed since we almost got arrested for trespassing just days before we left for college.
I swear I haven't changed. I'm still the same person. I'm still your best friend.
I have not changed since I told my teacher in sixth grade that I wanted the letter 'k' in my name and she renamed me Sinkdhu. I have not changed since I wrote my first finished story, "Cynthia and Maisy," which was about two sisters who find a note that leads them to buried treasure. It was sixteen pages, written.
I have not changed since the book release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows when I paired shorts and a tank top with a jacket that I had used in a dance months ago. It was the summer before seventh grade and I had never really put much thought into my clothes before. My best friend said that my outfit was "cute," and I'll never forget it. I stabbed her in the back a few days later, though, when I "accidentally" finished the book before her, even though we were supposed to be reading it together.
I have not changed since we were sixteen and we thought it would be a good idea to sneak into the secret tunnels under our high school. I still have scars on my legs from where I got scratched by some really sketchy metal poles. I have not changed since we were the last three left dancing at junior prom when everyone left to go to after-parties. I have not changed since the same thing happened at the senior year semi-formal. I have not changed since that last time we went to IHOP together. Or the time before that. Or the time before that. I have not changed since we almost got arrested for trespassing just days before we left for college.
I swear I haven't changed. I'm still the same person. I'm still your best friend.
Blog Post #18: Onions
I am going to try and write the worst story ever because there's nothing more fun than writing badly on purpose. This story is called "Onion."
Mary was chopping onions for dinner when there was a knock on the door. She put the knife down on the cutting board and covered the onions with an upside-down bowl. She rinsed her hands and dried them on her apron. Mary opened the door. It was her son, James. He had a dead look in his eyes.
"I love you, mom," James said. Then he fell forwards on top of Mary. Mary squealed and pushed the dead body off herself. Gross, she thought.
Mary burned the body of her son by covering him in nail polish remover because it is extremely flammable. The liquid pooled in his collarbones, and that is where Mary put the lighter before dropping it and running away. Mary is an Olympic sprinter, so she was already 50 years away when the fire spread across his body and he was engulfed in the fiery dragon of fire and smoke.
Mary waited until the fire was not so huge and scary. Then she kindled it with wood and her Kindle Fire. She watched as the glass and plastic bubbled. I paid $200 for that thing, Mary thought. Then she got her skewers and her marshmallows and she roasted the marshmallows over the fire made of her dead son's ashes and her Kindle Fire, which she had just bought Fifty Shades of Gray on, so what a waste, really. Then she made s'mores out of graham crackers, chocolate, and the roasted marshmallows.
Then Mary remembered that she had twin daughters and a husband and a wife. She emailed all of them the following email.
Mary was chopping onions for dinner when there was a knock on the door. She put the knife down on the cutting board and covered the onions with an upside-down bowl. She rinsed her hands and dried them on her apron. Mary opened the door. It was her son, James. He had a dead look in his eyes.
"I love you, mom," James said. Then he fell forwards on top of Mary. Mary squealed and pushed the dead body off herself. Gross, she thought.
Mary burned the body of her son by covering him in nail polish remover because it is extremely flammable. The liquid pooled in his collarbones, and that is where Mary put the lighter before dropping it and running away. Mary is an Olympic sprinter, so she was already 50 years away when the fire spread across his body and he was engulfed in the fiery dragon of fire and smoke.
Mary waited until the fire was not so huge and scary. Then she kindled it with wood and her Kindle Fire. She watched as the glass and plastic bubbled. I paid $200 for that thing, Mary thought. Then she got her skewers and her marshmallows and she roasted the marshmallows over the fire made of her dead son's ashes and her Kindle Fire, which she had just bought Fifty Shades of Gray on, so what a waste, really. Then she made s'mores out of graham crackers, chocolate, and the roasted marshmallows.
Then Mary remembered that she had twin daughters and a husband and a wife. She emailed all of them the following email.
Hello daughters, husband, and wife,
I am afraid that your son and brother James has died.
Feel free to grieve appropriately.
Thanks,
Mary
A few minutes later she got the following email.
Hello Mary,
It is your fault that James is dead.
I am leaving you.
Thanks,
Your Ex-Wife
A few minutes after that, she got the following email.
Hello Mary,
The twin daughters are also dead.
Do you know who could have done such a thing?
Maybe we should sue.
Also it is your fault that they are dead.
I am leaving you.
Thanks,
Your Ex-Husband
Then Mary remembered that she had been making dinner. She went back to the cutting board. She uncovered the onions and picked up the knife. She began cutting the onions and she felt tears slip down her cheeks. She was not sure if it was from the onions or from the fact that all her kids were dead and that her polygamous marriage had fallen apart. She just was not sure.
Blog Post #17: Great Movies
Four great movies that I could think of off the top of my head are:
1. Seawall
2. In A World
3. Wristcutters: A Love Story
4. Now You See Me.
I think that these four movies are all great for completely different reasons. I honestly cannot even remember what "Seawall" is about, which I think only advocates for its greatness. All the movie is, is a man, played by Andrew Scott, talking in front of a camera, presumably set up on a tripod. Even though I can't remember what it's about, I do remember that there was a plot. The man was just talking, in almost a casual monologue fashion. Part of what made it great was that a really good story was being told, but not through seeing the story. It was kind of in between a movie and a book. We aren't seeing the action happen, but we aren't just reading it. We are listening to the narrator tell it, so we can see his expressions and his reactions to his story.
"In A World" was great because its plot was new and fresh. It was about a girl who is trying to break into the voice-over industry. Her father is one of the greatest voice-over people, but he doesn't believe that she can do it because she is a woman, and the profession, until now in the story, has only seen men. In the movie, the girl gets a job doing the voice-over for a trailer for a very important movie. She gets the job over her father and another younger man. Ultimately, she turns it down because she learns that they chose her voice just because she is a woman, not because she was actually better than the others.
"Wristcutters: A Love Story" ends up being a kind of typical love story, which is what makes it great, even though it's the opposite of what made "In A World" great. I can't really remember the details of this movie, but basically this guy's girlfriend breaks up with him and he tries to kill himself. He ends up in this weird new world with everyone else who has died from killing themselves. He meets and befriends a girl who claims that she doesn't belong there and that she is trying to convince the people that she shouldn't be there. The guy comes with her and, of course, they fall in love along the way. (Warning: this is a roadtrip story. I know, even more cliche.) At the end, the guy wakes up in a hospital because he didn't actually die from cutting his wrists. In the same hospital, is the girl. She was also ejected from suicide-land and they are both alive. I have no idea why I thought this movie was so great but it was.
"Now You See Me" is the only one of these four movies that was heavily advertised and then shown in a theater. It's about a group of four magicians who are pulling off ridiculously complicated tricks in order to enter some sort of secret magiciancult group. The reason this movie is great is because of the huge plot twist at the end. The cop who has been chasing after them through the whole movie is actually the guy that is making them do all this stuff.
1. Seawall
2. In A World
3. Wristcutters: A Love Story
4. Now You See Me.
I think that these four movies are all great for completely different reasons. I honestly cannot even remember what "Seawall" is about, which I think only advocates for its greatness. All the movie is, is a man, played by Andrew Scott, talking in front of a camera, presumably set up on a tripod. Even though I can't remember what it's about, I do remember that there was a plot. The man was just talking, in almost a casual monologue fashion. Part of what made it great was that a really good story was being told, but not through seeing the story. It was kind of in between a movie and a book. We aren't seeing the action happen, but we aren't just reading it. We are listening to the narrator tell it, so we can see his expressions and his reactions to his story.
"In A World" was great because its plot was new and fresh. It was about a girl who is trying to break into the voice-over industry. Her father is one of the greatest voice-over people, but he doesn't believe that she can do it because she is a woman, and the profession, until now in the story, has only seen men. In the movie, the girl gets a job doing the voice-over for a trailer for a very important movie. She gets the job over her father and another younger man. Ultimately, she turns it down because she learns that they chose her voice just because she is a woman, not because she was actually better than the others.
"Wristcutters: A Love Story" ends up being a kind of typical love story, which is what makes it great, even though it's the opposite of what made "In A World" great. I can't really remember the details of this movie, but basically this guy's girlfriend breaks up with him and he tries to kill himself. He ends up in this weird new world with everyone else who has died from killing themselves. He meets and befriends a girl who claims that she doesn't belong there and that she is trying to convince the people that she shouldn't be there. The guy comes with her and, of course, they fall in love along the way. (Warning: this is a roadtrip story. I know, even more cliche.) At the end, the guy wakes up in a hospital because he didn't actually die from cutting his wrists. In the same hospital, is the girl. She was also ejected from suicide-land and they are both alive. I have no idea why I thought this movie was so great but it was.
"Now You See Me" is the only one of these four movies that was heavily advertised and then shown in a theater. It's about a group of four magicians who are pulling off ridiculously complicated tricks in order to enter some sort of secret magician
Blog Post #16: Growers
1. When I first thought about the idea of "growers," the first thing that came to my mind was A Tale of Two Cities, by
Charles Dickens. I read the book for the first, and only, time in my
tenth grade English class and I immediately hated it. It was boring,
dry, and wordy-- this was only bolstered by the fact that it is
considered classic literature. It has been three years since I read the
book, and I can't remember any of the characters or plots of the book,
but I do remember that when I got to the end I was amazed. I had
accidentally fallen in love with it. While I still have not re-read the
book, if I did read it again, I'm sure that I'd enjoy it all the way
through because I'd know I'd like the ending.
2. When I was in eighth grade, my little sister began reading the Artemis Fowl series. I don't think she got very far but even so, I made fun of her endlessly for it. You have to realize that at this point in my life, I was transitioning between kid's books and Young Adult books. Furthermore, in the world of books for eighth graders, every book or series came with an implication about its reader, and the Artemis Fowl books were something I did not want to associate with. Let's fast forward to two years later, when implications don't mean anything, and I'm beginning to realize that I have less and less time to read for fun. At this point, I'll read anything that can hold my attention over the worries of homework. I can't remember what made me pick up the first book in the Artemis Fowl series, but I started it and I quickly realized that everything I had thought about the books were either untrue or didn't matter. I flew through all the books in the series and I fell in love with the stories. The tables had turned-- I was now making fun of my sister for not being able to finish the books.
3. I watched the first two episodes of the TV show Once Upon a Time when the show first aired, but then I got too lazy to keep looking for the episodes online to watch them so I stopped watching. I tried watching again halfway through season two because my sister and a bunch of my friends watched it and were really into it. I still couldn't get into it. I tried watching again when I got to college and season three started because all my friends watch it, so I just watch it with them. I have finally gotten into it and I really like it, so much that I based my Halloween costume off one of the characters. I still haven't caught up on the first two seasons, but I'm definitely going to because I actually really like this show now.
2. When I was in eighth grade, my little sister began reading the Artemis Fowl series. I don't think she got very far but even so, I made fun of her endlessly for it. You have to realize that at this point in my life, I was transitioning between kid's books and Young Adult books. Furthermore, in the world of books for eighth graders, every book or series came with an implication about its reader, and the Artemis Fowl books were something I did not want to associate with. Let's fast forward to two years later, when implications don't mean anything, and I'm beginning to realize that I have less and less time to read for fun. At this point, I'll read anything that can hold my attention over the worries of homework. I can't remember what made me pick up the first book in the Artemis Fowl series, but I started it and I quickly realized that everything I had thought about the books were either untrue or didn't matter. I flew through all the books in the series and I fell in love with the stories. The tables had turned-- I was now making fun of my sister for not being able to finish the books.
3. I watched the first two episodes of the TV show Once Upon a Time when the show first aired, but then I got too lazy to keep looking for the episodes online to watch them so I stopped watching. I tried watching again halfway through season two because my sister and a bunch of my friends watched it and were really into it. I still couldn't get into it. I tried watching again when I got to college and season three started because all my friends watch it, so I just watch it with them. I have finally gotten into it and I really like it, so much that I based my Halloween costume off one of the characters. I still haven't caught up on the first two seasons, but I'm definitely going to because I actually really like this show now.
Blog Post #15: Purple Hibiscus-- Final Reactions
OH MY GOD I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING AT ALL I HONESTLY THOUGHT HE WAS GOING TO GET KILLED BY THE GOVERNMENT. It kept building up to him dying because a lot of other people kept dying and Kambili kept worrying all the freaking time about her father dying and then the one time she doesn't worry, he actually dies!!! AND IT WAS THE MOTHER! Oh my god, Aunty Ifeoma, earlier in the book, was accused of killing her husband when she actually did NOT. AND NOW Beatrice is NOT accused of killing her husband whom she did ACTUALLY KILL OH MY GOD. And she kept telling people that she killed him but NO ONE BELIEVED HER because she's so quiet unlike Aunty Ifeoma. ALSO Jaja in the jail is like the son from CELL ONE like when I read that part about the family visiting I was like WOAH deja vu, right? It was SO similar I actually had to reread it and then reread "Cell One" to make sure they were actually different things. Did Adichie have some experience like this that affected her so much that she had to write about it in two different stories? Also wasn't it weird how Kambili was like "YOU POISONED THE TEA??!??!" to her mother after she found out but then literally no one said anything else for the rest of the book?? I mean no one really liked Eugene anyway, but, like, dude, your mother just killed your father, how are you not more traumatized? Also how did people actually believe Jaja when he said it was him because he was all the way in freaking Nsukka so HOW could he have possibly killed his father with poison over several weeks? It's not even possible, but people are so blinded. Frail quiet wife. Angry, rebelling teenage son. Which killed the father? Well it couldn't have been little Beatrice. Goddamn. I really do love a good plot twist, though, and was that ever a plot twist.
Blog Post #14: Potential Paper Topics
[SAFE] 1. compare Eugene's family to Aunty Ifeoma's family
The difference in the dynamic of Eugene's family and Aunty Ifeoma's family is very noticeable. Eugene's household is completely controlled by Eugene, a powerful, religious man, which Ifeoma's is run by a liberal, open-minded woman. Furthermore, Kambili and Jaja are living with both parents, while Ifeoma's children are only living with one. These factors affect the way the children act as they grow up. Under their father's strict rules, Kambili and Jaja are quiet and scared to speak up or question anything. Ifeoma's kids, however, question everything, and are far more outgoing than Kambili and Jaja.
[LIKELY] 2. compare Kambili's relationship with Jaja to her relationship with Amaka
Both Jaja and Amaka are sibling figures to Kambili, Jaja is actually her brother, and Amaka is her cousin on her father's side. The three are also close in age. I think it would be interesting to compare Kambili's relationships with them because even though she has just started getting close to Amaka, her relationship with Amaka is much different than her relationship with Jaja. With Jaja, it's more like camaraderie. Jaja is older than Kambili, but he acts more like an equal than an older brother. They try and take care of each other, especially against their father. Amaka, however, acts more like an older sibling, even though she is the same age as Kambili. She pushes Kambili to be better and to stand up for herself; she provides someone to look up to and to emulate.
[RISKY] 3. compare Beatrice to the girl from "Tomorrow Is Too Far"
Both Beatrice and the girl essentially killed people and didn't feel guilty about it. Guilt is a common theme among Adichie's stories, and it is especially noticeable in these two characters. What is notable is both characters' lack of guilt. Neither felt guilty for killing because they felt as though it was necessary. Beatrice had to protect her kids, and for the girl, she says that her brother had to die because he was taking up too much space. These two women are similar in their overall situations and motivations.
The difference in the dynamic of Eugene's family and Aunty Ifeoma's family is very noticeable. Eugene's household is completely controlled by Eugene, a powerful, religious man, which Ifeoma's is run by a liberal, open-minded woman. Furthermore, Kambili and Jaja are living with both parents, while Ifeoma's children are only living with one. These factors affect the way the children act as they grow up. Under their father's strict rules, Kambili and Jaja are quiet and scared to speak up or question anything. Ifeoma's kids, however, question everything, and are far more outgoing than Kambili and Jaja.
[LIKELY] 2. compare Kambili's relationship with Jaja to her relationship with Amaka
Both Jaja and Amaka are sibling figures to Kambili, Jaja is actually her brother, and Amaka is her cousin on her father's side. The three are also close in age. I think it would be interesting to compare Kambili's relationships with them because even though she has just started getting close to Amaka, her relationship with Amaka is much different than her relationship with Jaja. With Jaja, it's more like camaraderie. Jaja is older than Kambili, but he acts more like an equal than an older brother. They try and take care of each other, especially against their father. Amaka, however, acts more like an older sibling, even though she is the same age as Kambili. She pushes Kambili to be better and to stand up for herself; she provides someone to look up to and to emulate.
[RISKY] 3. compare Beatrice to the girl from "Tomorrow Is Too Far"
Both Beatrice and the girl essentially killed people and didn't feel guilty about it. Guilt is a common theme among Adichie's stories, and it is especially noticeable in these two characters. What is notable is both characters' lack of guilt. Neither felt guilty for killing because they felt as though it was necessary. Beatrice had to protect her kids, and for the girl, she says that her brother had to die because he was taking up too much space. These two women are similar in their overall situations and motivations.
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