Steve’s Blog

This book, to me, was one of the most creative and interesting that I have read. I’m usually not a fan of comics, but this obviously was not the every day type of comic. For one, it conveyed a true story. Also, it used symbolic characters instead of actual realistic depections of them. To me, this was an amazing way of telling this story. The author provides the perfect amount of imagery to enhance the story without taking away from the imagination. My favorite aspect of reading a book is having the ability to create my own visualization for it, and this is why I usually don’t go for comics. If I wanted to see a story, I’d watch a movie. However, this was not a usual comic, like I said before. By depicting the characters as mice, cats, and pigs, the author gives us only symbolic pictures. The reader is still able to create an image of the events for themselves.

One part of the book that illustrates the advantage of adapting this story to a comic is in the first chapter of the book, when the author’s father is telling him about how bad it was getting for jews. There is one frame that shows a small town with two rows of houses on either side of a street. There is a banner hanging at the opening of the street that reads “This town is jew free.” It looks like it is night, and the moon is sitting large behind the town. However, the moon is actually a large swastika. When the author’s father is telling this part of the story he talks about the perils of what was happening, but this small picture does so much to reinforce it to the readers.

I think there is something inside of all of us, at least I know there is within me, that wants to do things differently. A part of us that wants nothing more than to run away from our current predicament and try to start all over again – with the ability to take on a whole new set of circumstances. Sometimes I think about how it would feel to be someone else. Someone that has different friends, a different job. Someone that has different struggles and worries. Someone that is completely different.

I would start my new life without knowing what was going to happen. I would open up a book of names and throw down my index finger in the middle of a random page. Robert. Ok, maybe not exciting enough. Let’s try again. Hezekiah. That’s more like it. I’d take the first train I see. Better yet, the first plane scheduled to leave from an airport. That way I don’t necessarily have to stay in the same country. I walk past an arching restaurant sign. My new name is Hezekiah McDonald, and I have a ticket to Amsterdam.

From here on out everything that happens to me is going to occur by chance. This is the purpose of this new existence. I would want to not only take on a new life, but to take on a different mentallity. I would want to live life to the fullest, and I feel that the best way to do that is to keep myself guessing. Sometimes I feel like I have no excitement in my life. I always know what’s coming next, and my Mondays are rarely any different than my Wednesdays. If I was to rid myself of the life I currently live, this would be the number one reason why.

As soon as I get to Amsterdam I notice a driver holding a sign that says “Gabriel” I’ll have to change my name again. I walk up to the man and introduce myself. He speaks English, but is confused as to why I’m not in the proper attire. I shrug the comment off and ask him to lead me to my limousine. As he drops me off at a hotel, he wishes me good luck at the meeting and gets out of the driver’s seat to help me with my luggage. I have very little luggage. I tell him that I want to skip the meeting and go out on the town. After all, it’s my first night in Amsterdam. The driver flashes a smile and tears off onto the highway.  

Obviously a certain amount of stability is a good thing, and thats why the whole Hezekiah ordeal is a hypothetical situation. Leaving my life entirely to chance is an exciting notion, but would have its downfalls. What I can do is start taking life a little less seriously. A little bit of chance every now and then could add some flair.

We are now six chapters in to our book Into The Wild, and it is easy to see that Chris McCandless is a very colorful individual. The author Jon Krakauer introduced him as someone that has received mixed reviews from people that have heard about him and noted that we, the readers, would develop our own opinions of him quickly. To begin my assessment of Chris, whom I will call Alex from now on, I must note that I always start with a good opinion of anyone I meet or hear about until I learn enough about them that I can change my views. In Alex’s case, my thoughts of him never went sour.

The first thing that I look at when I’m judging a person (I don’t try to be judgmental, but it comes naturally in all of us) is whether they have good intentions. The most necessary quality is a positive regard for other people and things around us. Alex has the best intentions in what he is doing. He is not attempting to go out of his way to harm anyone or push for something that will be detrimental to others. He merely has found his own personal meaning in life and wants to pursue it, like anyone else would or has when they find/ found their purpose.

Also, on a personality level, Alex is a very interesting person. I’ve come to see him as a person that I would have liked to meet. He is charismatic and enthusiastic. A person with those qualities can put a smile on the faces of people around them. Along his journey he did nothing but make better the lives of those he encountered. He did, however, put his family in quite the predicament by taking off without them knowing where he was going or when he would return. He felt it was a necessary evil to pursue the life that he wanted to live. Although it is definitely not commendable, it may be justifiable in a sort of way.

As of right now I have not made a decision about the theme of my zine, but I do know that I want to do something that I am thoroughly interested in. It may not be something that everyone else will care about, but if I don’t pick something that is important to me I feel that it won’t turn out the way I would like it to. I have two options in mind but have not narrowed it down to these ideas alone. One of the options is to create the zine in the spirit of some of the great movies I have seen in my time, including my reasons for liking them and some interesting tidbits of information about them. I am quite the movie buff and have always enjoyed doing my fair share of critiquing. My other idea is to make it a small preview about the future of the Purdue basketball or football team, or maybe both. For some reason I have always been obsessed with predicting all things sports related (I love March Madness). Most people don’t get into analyzing the small details in sports the way I do. Don’t ask why, I just enjoy it.

            In this article we get to see the filmmaker’s side of King of Kong as the writer interviews director Seth Gordon. The writer of the article, Hunter Stephenson, is very condescending of the stars in the movie, especially Billy Mitchell. The article is written from the perspective of an outsider to the video game world that does not want to take the time to understand these gamers, but rather laugh at their obvious social shortcomings. I do feel, however, that Seth Gordon did a good job during the interview at staying away from attacking the movie’s stars the way Stephenson did. He expressed his respect for them and what they do. I do think it’s obvious though that Seth Gordon intended for the film to be humorous, and what’s funnier than a bunch of 30-40 year old men acting like schoolchildren while bickering and competing for a title that no one outside of their subculture cares about? His intentions are not to exploit the gamers, but I think he definitely expected to get some laughs at their expense.

 “People should be thinking about larger themes; authority, government, what it means to be an outsider, a winner, a loser, and the psychology of all that when they see [King of Kong].” This quote by Seth Gordon gives us an idea of what to look for when watching the film to break it down. He wants us to see the bigger theme behind the documentary than the comical side of it. There is a definite reference to these themes in the very opening of the movie that Gordon talks about in the interview.

 “We are a war universe. War all the time. There may be other universes, but ours seems to be based on war and games.”- William S. Burroughs. This statement prepares the viewers for the struggle throughout the film not only between Billy Mitchell and Steve Weibe, but also the struggle of Steve Weibe to break into this gaming society and have his score accepted officially. There are several other struggles that occur throughout the documentary including Brian Kuh’s attempt to break down Steve psychologically while he is playing DK and the loathing that “Mr. Awesome” has for Billy Mitchell’s available fame compared to his own.

Overall this article is a good representation of what the humorous intent was in the film but also makes us aware of the fact that Seth Gordon is trying to accomplish much more than pulling in a few cheap laughs. It also really puts in perspective what a lot of the viewers think of the film upon first viewing because of the way Hunter Stephenson wrote the article.

Every now and then a movie comes along that really gets to you. The kind that really alters how you feel. Movies can affect your mood in profound ways. Some movies can make you so happy that you just want to jump up and click your heels. Others can have you feeling gloomy. Some horror flicks can leave you up late at night in your bed making double takes at the tree branches outside your window. Hell, after I went to see 300 I was so pumped up that I drop kicked a small tree outside the theater. It would have hurt worse when I fell backwards on my head if my adrenaline wasn’t pumping so much.

Not only can a movie effect the way we feel, but some hit us in such a way that we really change the way we act. When walking through the aisles of a video store one weekday evening I skimmed over a copy of Fight Club. I heard it was a good movie, but I thought it was nothing more than a boxing movie. After rummaging through a few more aisles  and finding nothing worth while, I decided to give it a chance. Mostly because Edward Norton is my favorite actor. And Brad Pitt is hot. I’m a straight male but I still feel I can use that word to describe him.

This movie blew me away. It has a very edgy feel to it, and is chock full of action, but the aspect of it that really nailed me was the theme behind it. Tyler Durden was a very strange character in the movie. Especially since he didn’t really exist. He was the antagonist for the most part, but was not necessarily evil. He did some things that are considered widely to be evil, but his intentions behind them were usually good. For example, he took a clerk back behind the store he was working at and put a gun to his head. This obviously seems like a horrible thing to do. However, through the power of a near-death experience, Tyler managed to convince the clerk to quit wasting his time and follow his dream.

Now its not that I am condoning his antics in any way, I am just stating that I realized when I watched this movie that good and evil is not always so black and white. It taught me to look into things with greater detail, to find the motives behind a person before I made a judgment on their character. It is pretty amazing how a great movie can change us.

I intend to get a tattoo soon. I’ve known what it would be for a long time. I haven’t gotten it yet because I haven’t had any extra money, and I haven’t worked up the mustard to do so against my parents’ wills. But I think I will soon. It will probably be the only one I ever get. Then again I could be wrong; I’ve been told that tattoos can be addictive. Like Pringles. The reason that I only want to get one is that it would serve me as a reminder, not a statement of my individualism. The tattoo would be just one word. Probably in some sort of spiffy font, to add the extra flavor. That word will be LIVE.

 No, the purpose would not be to remind me that I need to eat, sleep, and breathe. Although it may come in handy during my later, more senile years. What it would be meant to express is that we’ve all got but one life to live, so we should live it to the very best. I sometimes feel that I need a reminder like that, because I get caught up in the day to day routines of life instead of focusing on the big picture. Any time I get frustrated with someone, I need to remember to just live. Anytime I get stressed out about an assignment or test, I need to remember to just live. Anytime life just has me down, well… yada yada.

Not only would it serve to keep my morale up, but also it would remind me to experience the things that I want to experience and accomplish the things I want to accomplish. No more putting something aside until “tomorrow”, or saying that I can’t do something that I know I could if I really set my mind to it. I am a person with a lot of goals and dreams, most of them being very difficult ones to achieve. A tat like that could really help a fellow out.

Now I am going to type the word that I am going to get as a tattoo a large amount of times so I can get to 500 words, even though it probably won’t get me a better grade. Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live Live.

Summary: Roger Sipher is standing against the current laws that require mandatory attendance in schools. His argument is that the children that do not wish to be in school and put for no effort are obstructing the intentions of education. In his opinion if there were no laws that require attendance grades would be reflective of performance and public schools would save funding and have a better reputation.

Paraphrasing: Roger Sipher begins his essay with a cause and effect relationship in reverse order. He first states that standardized test scores have been taking a hit. He then explains that a contributing factor is the current mandatory-attendance laws that force children that do not want to be in school attend regardless.

Quotation: Roger Sipher explains his position on mandatory-attendance laws by claiming that “compulsory attendance hampers the ability of public school officials to enforce legitimate educational and disciplinary policies and thereby make the education a good one”. (pg. 1)

All it takes is a phone call. Or maybe a text. Once that message is received a number of others will be made. Then those recipients may make contact with a few more people. In the matter of minutes a message will make it to all those that have been deemed worthy. It contains information about a meeting of members of a subculture. It reads: party Friday night at so and so’s.

The party scene is the one of the most popular subcultures among college students. It may also be the most frowned upon. For one, its practices are often illegal. It is made up of facilities (anywhere), traditions (getting hammered), and most notably, devoted followers. Members of this subculture wait impatiently from Monday through Thursday. The only purpose of these days is to find out about what is to come. Then Friday comes around. The followers map out their weekend. They contact their “hook-ups” (older friends that will make all necessary purchases). They make sure to have an abundant amount of cologne or perfume on hand. They make sure their lucky undergarments are clean, males their boxers, females their butt floss. When all is ready and the time has come, they swarm to the gathering place and begin the festivities.

At the start of the night, everyone will have their mind set on how they would like the night to turn out. Some people hope to break their record of tally marks made on their fore arm, indicating the amount of drinks they have consumed. (From my experience this is usually not an accurate measurement. I often question my friend on how he ended up with eighty-seven.) Some people hope to go undefeated at the beer pong table. Others hope they will not wake up spooning with the toilet the next morning. Then there are the guys that aspire to fulfill the same dream every time. To get laid.

The drinks pour in to the body. What was once your goal is now your obsession. Or maybe you completely forgot about it and end up wandering around picking flowers without a shirt on. But that is another story. You have to get what you set out for, or else the night is not a success. There is nothing worse than waking up the next day knowing that you did not accomplish what you wanted to, right?

Wrong. You made it to eighteen and a half. Your record is shattered, but so is your lamp. The pain is enormous and you curse yourself for doing what you did, swearing you’ll never do it again. Or maybe you finally scored a chick, after all these times of finishing the night off in bed by yourself. She was really hot too. At least you think she was. Oh, shit. What did she look like? As you make your slow turn you can tell you made a mistake by the size of the lump under the sheets. Yet, even after a terrible morning after, the members of this subculture will find their way to get back in the swing of things. It’s a vicious circle that I have come to love.