a retarded donkey

So I'm pretty sure that class today was the best thing that has ever happened to me. i have not laughed that hard in a long time. and I know I laugh at really obscure things sometimes, but even "Bob Saget" or "Nigel" was laughing intensely. When you see him massaging his cheeks because they hurt from laughing so hard, it must be pretty funny.

Between the comments about the Easter Bunny, the 60s, and "my little pony," I just about peed myself with hysteria. My eyes still hurt from crying (not because of the mocking insults but because of the jokes). I'd have to say, of the letters I've heard, Emma and Kyla have got to to be my favorite. 

That's all for now.

~kd

didn't we read this already?

I don't know if anyone else feels the same way, but I am getting an extreme The Trial vibes from Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment. I was talking to Kyla about it.. and she made a sweeping generalization by saying, "It's Russian literature; they're going to seem like that." (Sorry Kyla, if this post is offensive in any way.) As far as I know, it makes a lot of sense. But then again, I'm thinking those are the only two pieces of Russian lit that I've ever read. 

I like this a lot better than Kafka's The Trial. Crime is a lot more interesting and it doesn't seem as tedious to sit down and read it, even if it is just about 100000000 pages longer. 

~kd

Russian Literature and us

A Russian novel published in 1866 seems to be a bit more relative to today's society than first expected. 

:"And what scares people the most? It's a new step, an authentic new word, that's what..."

Experiencing anything new is always intimidating. No matter who's doing it or when it happens.

:"He soon plunged into deep thought, or rather, into a kind of oblivion."

We are so consumed with our own thoughts and lives that we never take the time to listen or pay attention to what anyone else is saying or doing.

:"There are some people who interest us immediately, at first glance, before a word is exchanged."

Today, we as a society are very materialistic and superficial. Love (or more like lust) at first sight is a plague that many of us are infected with. Why are we so interested in someone who intrigues us way before anything intellectual (or not) is said? What have we all come to? 

~kd

sometimes, a quote just sticks with you

"After a whole month of concentrated melancholy and gloomy excitment, he was so weary he wanted to take breath in some other world, no matter what kind, and even if only for a moment. In spite of all the dirt around him, it was actually with pleasure he lingered in the saloon."
--Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment


~mr

If you were stuck on an island...

what 5 books would you bring with you?

This conversation started up in class the other day and I wanted to ponder a bit. I know two books that I definitely would want to bring. Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin and Richard Wright's Black Boy. I am very into historical fiction, and those are my two favorite novels. I think that's all I'd bring for books I've already read though. I haven't read too many where I feel the need to reread them. Joshua Ferris' Then We Came to the End was awesome though. That just may be one of my 5. 

I feel like I just got a new TMobile phone where I have to pick my Fav 5. There are wayy too many books to choose from. I would want to bring with me Tuesdays with Morrie. I heard it was not only phenomenal but also life altering. I love books like that. Since The Godfather is my favorite movie, I'm thinking I would want to bring that novel along with me too. It is very long, too long maybe. But if I were stuck on an island all by myself, I would have more than enough time to read it. 

So that's it. There's my 5. 

~kd

satire and chairlift

Wow, I haven't posted in awhile. I know you're thinking how I possibly could go so long without blogging, it being my faaaavorite thing since sliced bread. I'm not sure myself. However, I don't really know what to write about. I just thought I was due and since I had some time to kill, voila: a post. I'll start with what we have just finished reading, Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal". Swift's proposal set out to cure Ireland of it's poverty and suffering -- by eating babies. Ok..Who in their right mind would think that would solve any problems? But throughout the essay, I couldn't help but picking up on a tone of sarcasm. Sarcasms great.it makes life humorous. Especially the kind that's not blatantly obvious. Which is why I'm looking forward to this satire business.
I guess I did have something to write about. And it's been awhile since I've posted on something non-literature related, so I'm going to take this time to impart some music knowledge to you all. Listen to this: "Brusies" by Chairlift. You'll be glad you read this here post and found out about such a good song.

~mr

World Series Preview

So many of you may know that I'm an extreme baseball fan. The Yanks are my team, but since they didn't make playoffs this year, my next favorite has gotten my loud and obnoxious cheering. 

The Tampa Bay Rays (formerly the Devil Rays) have been my favorite team since the 7th grade(ish). That's when I really got into the wonderful game of baseball. And I'm sure many of you Redsox fans are going to say "you just like who wins." That's so not true. Not only have the Yankees not won in the most recent of year, but also the Rays haven't won much of anything beside the title of worst team in the mlb before this year. 

The Series starts tonight. And I'm hoping that the Rays win (obviously). However, Sportscenter analysts predict the Phillies will come away with the championship ring because of their offense and relief pitching. The only argument I have against that is: Tampa has a better starting rotation, thus their bullpen isn't going to be as important unless someone doesn't live up to their expectations/obligations.

We'll just see who's going to crack under pressure first. The young Rays team with little experience or the not-as-young Phillies who have a bit more experience. This should be interesting.

Hold the phone...

You can't say that there's no poetic justice at all in Shakespeare's King Lear. True, he wasn't a firm believer in happy endings, yet it wasn't like Martin Scorsese's film The Departed where literally everyone dies at the end. However, Shakespeare did deal out some poetic justice. Goneril and Regan, for example, who manipulated their father and his disintegrating state of mind and body for their own gain, both died in the end. Isn't that poetic justice? They got what they deserved, didn't they?
And then there's Lear himself. He chose Goneril and Regan, who lied and showered him with false flattery, over Cordelia, who was honest and true. Then, ironically, the two daughters betrayed their father and banished him from his own kingdom. (Well, Lear, that's what you get.) But this betrayal by two of his daughters led to the reconciliation with his other daughter. For a while, we all thought there might be a happy ending -- but that, of course wasn't the case. And thats what KD meant about no poetic justice.
And then there's Edmund. He set out to be evil because he believed it was his destiny, and he did his best to fulfill his destiny. He pitted his father against his own brother, Goneril against her own sister Regan, and was the reason Cordelia and Lear didn't have their happy ending. But in true poetic justic fashion, in the end, Edmund dies too.
Shakespeare wasn't a fairy tale writer -- at least not in King Lear. There's no happily ever after, but there is poetic justice. It might not be as relevant as all the unfairness and cruelty that goes on, but it is still there.


~mr

Poetic Justice?

In relation to King Lear, how might you respond to the following statement: "It is a mark of Shakespeare's uncompromising view of reality that there is no simple application of poetic justice to reward the good and punish the wicked"?

Shakespeare's uncompromising view of reality is that it isn't always sunny in life. There are some days where it's going to rain, and there's no way you can change or fix that. It is in the case of Cordelia where this is most apparent.
Cordelia was one of the very few wholesome characters in the play. Under no conviction was there any poetic justice used in her favor. After not lathering her father with copious amounts of flattery, she was exiled from the kingdom. Her sisters, on the other hand, foolishly praised their father just for the possession of his kingdom. It worked for them though. Although they were insincere with their appraisal, they were the ones that Lear believed.
Lear realized he lost his daughter after a long trudge through a storm where he finally understood himself. He came to obtain the knowledge that he is human, not just a king. He wanted his once-favorite daughter back in his life. As soon as Lear and Cordelia reconciled their relationship, Cordelia was sentenced to death by Edmund.
It was Shakespeare's uncompromising view of reality that shaped the plot line of Cordelia. She never caught a break, which is exactly what Shakespeare thinks of reality. This play depicts the struggles that still go on today, which means they are real life problems, and it's not just a fairytale gone wrong.

~kd

no footnotes!

I already like Richard Brinsley Sheridan's The Rivals, and I haven't even started it yet. The reason I'm not dreading reading yet another play is because I opened the book, looked directly to the bottom of the page, and was overjoyed not to see any footnotes! No fancy pants language that needed modernized translation; no going back and forth between reading the actual text and trying to find the number at the bottom of the page that corresponds with the crazy foreign language being spoken above. Already a major improvement over the last play we read.

That was kind of mean...so I guess its a good thing Shakespeare's not alive to hear my criticism, because I'm sure any harsh words from me would really dent his ego.

But I really am looking forward to reading The Rivals. But mostly because I think I'll be able to understand it, and therefore enjoy it more, instead of wanting to throw it out the window and drive over it with my car.


~mr

Hannah Arendt is brilliant!

So I'm getting ready to write my essay on "Between Past and Future" and I'm going through all my highlighted quotes and making sure I didn't miss anything. I came across this quote:

"The trouble is that if the mind is unable to bring peace and to induce reconciliation, it finds itself immediately engages in its own kind of warfare."

I would never have been able to put words together in this sequence to make such an ingenious statement; but it's so true. Anyone who has to ponder about the consequences of a decision always goes through either the reconciliation or warfare Arendt speaks of. If we find our decisions to be positive, we have a sense of reconciliation where we are at peace with ourselves. However, if we find our decisions to be negative, we beat ourselves up about it and we don't let it rest for a period of time until another decision is needed to be made.

Even if you don't have to write the essay, and you were planning on just going to class without reading this.. I seriously discourage that. This piece is moving. Read it, you'll know what I'm talking about when you finish.

~kd

College...

..is so stressful, and I'm not even there yet.

This whole application process with deadlines and all this nonsense is stressing me out to the max. 

I want to go to a good school. I don't care how much it's going to cost me. But it requires a lot from me other than the money. That's the part that's stressing me out. Between school, work, and my social life, this is definitely the last thing I want to be doing. But I (like everyone else planning on going to college) have to do it. UGH!

That's all I have to say.

~kd

"thou wouldst hit that"

yet another one of those somewhat intellectual comments made in class.

So I realize I have a lot of catching up to do. And I have a lot to say, but I'll give the abridged version because all of you that know me would say that the abridged version is much more effective in the end. 

So reading King Lear is confusing, tedious, and frustrating. Watching the movie makes it a bit less difficult. I, as a concrete learner, am having a much easier time understanding what is going on. I now can recognize who's saying and doing what. 

As nice is it is to see this after reading, and as awful reading was, the movie is absolutely ridiculous. I find reading more entertaining than watching the movie. And that's saying something if I'd rather read. The movie makes comprehending much easier, but it doesn't do the play justice. 

I realize that my previous statements seem contradictory, so I'll clear that up. The play has a good plot line-- it's fairly interesting. The reading of the play is tedious because of the language it is written in-- it's hard to understand. The movie is horrible, with dreadful acting and costumes, but it makes easier to fathom. I hope that clears that up.

~kd