Minecraft- the Obsession

Hey guys, so its time for some direction in this blog, so to start out, i will go in a complete tangent to what im used to. I would like to introduce all of you to the wonderful addiction that is Minecraft. This wonderful experience of a game involves the destruction, creation, and placement of blocks in your own randomly generated world. The way i describe it to friends is legos without the whole 'imagination' thing.

So, my friend Zach and I have been playing this game nonstop lately. let my show you our two mines:

 Yes, this took a long time, and yes, the time was probably a waste, but still. Awesome. The top mine is Zachs, a lot bigger than mine, but not nearly as deep. my mine goes all the way down to bedrock and branch mines at the bottom. Together we have mined over 7000 blocks, just in our mines alone.Holy crap.

So yes, minecraft has taken over my life, and apparently my blog. Here is Zach on the matter:

"ever since my world has... changed... everything is blockier. i have nightmares that my reality has randomized and that everything is gone. i wake up and i can't find anything. the halls are different. my room appears in a field. i think it's getting too me. my parents say that they find me outside in the middle of the night punching the ground talking about making a mine. i remember none of this. is it a disease? am i insane? i'm not sure, all i know is whenever i see something green and in the shape of a creeper i run, and i'm seeing them everywhere ladies and gentleman. they're all around me waiting to destroy our world. run"

This is minecraft. This is heaven.

Its been a while

hey guys, i know its been a while, but i just put a new link up. expect a lot more from me in teh next couple of weeks, along with some big blog changes!

Intro to Denouement

Denouement is the series of events that follow the plot's climax. It is the conclusion or resolution of the story.

Example:

"When we are children we seldom think of the future. This innocence leaves us free to enjoy ourselves as few adults can. The day we fret about the future is the day we leave our childhood behind."
— Patrick Rothfuss (The Name of the Wind)

Explaination:

Denouement is the resolution of a story. In Patrick Rothfuss' “The Name of the Wind” he ends with this quote. The basic premise of the story is around this character named Kvothe. As an old man, he tells a story of his adventurous childhood. His is better than any ones. It is full of adventure, fun, danger, love, excitement. Pretty much the Princess Bride in a fairy tale. Throughout the book, you see this contrast between the old Kvothe, who is wise and knowledgeable, and his younger mischievous self. Finally, after finishing his story, Kvothe says this, which really shows how he thought life should be lived. The old man Kvothe doesn’t like his life, no where near his younger youth. What he is trying to say is that the planned nature we set ourselves up in is what is bad for us, not the danger and excitement.

a brief introduction to tone

Tone:

The attitude of the author towards the subject of his work.

Example:

“Had we but world enough, and time This coyness, Lady, were no crime, We would sit down and think which way To walk, and pass our long love's day.” (Line 1-4), “But at my back I always hear Time's winged chariot hurrying near;...”(Stanza 2, Lines 1 and 2), “Now therefore, while the youthful hue Sits on they skin like morning dew, And while they willing soul transpires At every pore with instant fires, Now let us sport us while we may,” (Stanza 3, Lines 1-5)

Function:

In the poem, “His Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell, we follow a brazen courtier talking to his mistress. He begins his proposition by complementing his lady. How beautiful she is, and how much he loves her. If he had enough time in fact, he would spend thirty thousand years admiring her body. “An age at least to every part”. However, these promises of love and affection end quite abruptly in the second stanza with, “But at my back I always hear Time's winged chariot hurrying near;...”(Stanza 2, Lines 1 and 2). He is saying that death is coming fast, and there is no way to avoid it. That doesn't make sense, however, without the first few lines of the first stanza. “Now therefore, while the youthful hue Sits on they skin like morning dew, And while they willing soul transpires At every pore with instant fires, Now let us sport us while we may,” (Stanza 3, Lines 1-5). So since they don't have time to be this loving couple because death could come at any moment, they should have sex. This unearths the courtier's true nature. He doesn't really care about the girl, but instead he only cares about the sex he can have with her. The authors objectivity of the woman is irreverent, because he gives her no respect as a person. This tone also changes the way you read the poem. At first it seemed like you started the conversation with them, but after understanding the tone, we can see that the conversation began much before we came in. The courtier seems a little annoyed because he cant get what he wants from the girl. So instead of the talk being clever and biggotory, we can see it as a flustered pleading for sex. The insight we get from that can tell us a lot about Andrew Marvell, who is probably much like his character in the poem. It can also tell us a lot about the time period, and the mans desire to strip away the coyness and formality of sex.

a brief introduction to diction

Diction is the choice of words the author uses, or more specifically, the effect those words have upon the style and feel of his or her literary work. There are two subcategories that fall under diction, which are denotation and connotation. Denotation is the literal meaning of the words on the page; without diction, nothing would make sense at all. Connotation is the effect those words have upon the reader, and how the reader interprets them. Connotation, in essence, shows how literature isn't written in a vacuum. Without our experiences, slang, and knowledge, no word would hold any significance in our mind.

Example:

The outside pattern is a florid arabesque, reminding one of a fungus. If you can imagine a toadstool in joints, an interminable string of toadstools, budding and sprouting in endless convolutions--why, that is something like it.

Function:

The narrator begins The Yellow Wallpaper by telling us of an amazing summer cottage that her husband and herself have rented for a summer vacation. Her description of the house is one that makes you expect a mystery, speaking of ghosts and abandonment. However, this idea fades away to a discussion of herself. She says that she had been suffering from nervous depression, of which her husband does not believe. As a physician, he scoffed at her idea of the illness, diagnosing her only with inactivity and bed rest. In her boredom she starts a journal, and entertains herself by describing her surroundings. Eventually this comes to the yellow wallpaper in the room. This wallpaper is the cornerstone of the story.

“The outside pattern is a florid arabesque, reminding one of a fungus. If you can imagine a toadstool in joints, an interminable string of toadstools, budding and sprouting in endless convolutions--why, that is something like it.”

The key word that Gilman uses is 'fungus'. Dennotatively, the word fungus is “A eukaryotic single-celled or multi-nucleate organisms that live by decomposing and absorbing the organic material in which they grow, comprising the mushrooms, molds, mildews, smuts, rusts, and yeasts, and classified in the kingdom Fungi or, in some classification systems, in the division Fungi (Thallophyta) of the kingdom Plantae.” However, connotatively we get a much different meaning. Fungus is infectious. It lives and survives on dank, damp things, decomposing whatever is near it. With many fungi poisonous to humans, we also get a negative connotation towards fungus. 'Fungus' leaves us with a scathing view of the wallpaper. Imagine how it effects the woman as she interacts with it, rotting her brain and infecting her mental state. The wallpaper is ugly, and disturbing, giving the reader a dank and oppressed feeling when we interact with it. With this single word, Gilman portrays this complex and detailed emotion about the wallpaper, and with it one of postpartum depression. This oppressive, omnipotent feeling is one she wants us to carry about the experience that the narrator and she went through.

To further clarify the constant use of diction, there is a word in the last paragraph specially added to portray a certain emotion.

“'Fungus' leaves us with a scathing view of the wallpaper.”

The word scathing changes how this sentence feels. Although its definition: “bitterly severe, as a remark; harmful, injurious, or searing” can be denotatively imitated with words like 'nasty', 'bad', 'severe', or 'cold', they don't bear the same weight as scathing does. Connotatively, it is much harsher, and almost violent. It brings forth feelings of hate and anger, almost vengeance. This was the meaning scathing was meant to put across: mean and cruel, because Gilman's explanation of the wallpaper is very similar. Without the word scathing, the meaning wouldn't have come across the same way, and the narrator's interaction of the wallpaper could have been interpreted differently.

a brief introduction to syntax

in a very literal sense, syntax is the order and placement of words in a piece of writing. However, as the skill of a writer increases, their ability to play with syntax effects the paper's tone. The length of sentences, the use of different words, and the placement of words and sentences completely change how a piece of writing is read, and what it might say.

Example:

“I quite enjoy the room, now it is bare again.

How those children did tear about here!

This bedstead is fairly gnawed!

But I must get to work.

I have locked the door and thrown the key down into the front path.

I don't want to go out, and I don't want to have anybody come in, till John comes.

I want to astonish him.” Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper.

Function:

The narrator begins The Yellow Wallpaper by telling us of an amazing summer cottage that her husband and herself have rented for a summer vacation. Her description of the house is one that makes you expect a mystery, speaking of ghosts and abandonment. However, this idea fades away to a discussion of herself. She says that she had been suffering from nervous depression, of which her husband does not believe. As a physician, he scoffed at her idea of the illness, diagnosing her only with inactivity and bed rest. In her boredom she starts a journal, and entertains herself by describing her surroundings. Eventually this comes to the yellow wallpaper in the room. This wallpaper is the cornerstone of the story. As she interacts with the wallpaper and deals with her illness, we see her slipping into insanity. During the beginning of the story Gilman expresses the narrator's sanity with complete and well thought out sentences. “It is very seldom that mere ordinary people like John and myself secure ancestral halls for the summer.” This sentence expresses a complete thought, and narrator's fluidity of thought gives an air of intelligence and sanity. Towards the end, however, as the narrator's mental health deteriorates, her sentences become less complex. The length of the sentences alone show signs of this.

“I quite enjoy the room, now it is bare again.

How those children did tear about here!

This bedstead is fairly gnawed!

But I must get to work.

I have locked the door and thrown the key down into the front path.

I don't want to go out, and I don't want to have anybody come in, till John comes.

I want to astonish him.”

Her statements are short and choppy, and their erratic nature cause the reader to think the narrator is not mentally well. Gilman chooses short words, that seem to follow the narrator's thoughts as soon as they pop into her head. The extreme change at the end gives no doubt of the sanity of the narrator, ultimately proving that her sickness was real in the first place. This transition into insanity was Gilman addressing the issue of postpartum depression. Herself suffering from this condition, she was mostly ignored. The extreme change in the narrator's personality is remnicant of the change a woman can go through, and in the past, postpartum depression was given no heed,leaving women without the treatment they needed.

Marvel vs DC

 my friend said that Marvel was better because of the costumes.

if the outfit makes the superhero, whatever. I just dont seem to be interested in a superhero that is an absolute clone of the one to his left. At least DC introduces new plotlines to each character. and dont start raving about Xmen having the most origional storyline ever. yes, the Xmen story line is amazing, thats my marvel had to tie every other super hero they had to them through the avengers. DC, however has invintive characters whos only problems arent daddy, government, or girlfriend related.

Case and point:
Batman wont kill, but he would save more peoples lives by killing. This problem was created because he doesnt want others to go through the same pain he did.

Green lantern was a pacafist who got drafted into the military for WW2. He killed a man to save his own life after his plane crashed and was then introduced to the Green lanterns. Now, with the constant guilt of betraying his own character, he defends his planet, so others dont have to make the same choice he did.

Flash: hated by the entire world, not because he id anything wrong, but because he could. He defends the people that hate him.

Wonder woman: Cast out of her Amazoness homeland because she was not willing to deal with the death of her sisters in battle. She is introduced into a new world, where instead of being the weakest, she is the strongest and fiercest. She must learn to adapt, and when she goes back home, she has changed so much that she becomes the leader of the island.

Quick run down of Marvel:

Iron man: daddy dies. boohoo. revenge.

Hulk: government screws him up: boohoo. revenge.

Capitan America: Government screws him up. boohoo. revenge.

Fantastic 4: Gamma radiation. Anger. boohoo. conflict

Spiderman: Uncle dies (father). boohoo. revenge

Wolverine: Government screws him up. boohoo. memory loss(which is what makes him so interesting) revenge.


Now lets look at the similarites between the marvel characters and the DC characters (which came first) since apparently marvels powers are SO original and unique.

http://www.comicbookmovie.com/images/users/uploads/18830/Avengers_vs_JLA.jpg

Without DC, marvel wouldnt have existed. They created the concept of the superhero, and they did it better than anyone after them. period.