Maus…

This week, the powers above, or those in charge of my grade, decided that I should read the story Maus: My father Bleeds History.It was an interesting novel. It was in the graphic novel style of printing, and it was a Jew’s view of the Holocaust. I have many personal issues with how the jews treated people after the Holocaust. They often saw that it is the Poles that sold them out and crap like that. It just strikes a strong chord in me when I read how the jews were treated. At least they got to work. The poles have been treated like crap all the way from the 1800’s to…hell, 1990’s. I mean…*sigh*…I need to get back on track.

The graphics in  the book where helpful in a basic sense. They showed the Jews as mice / rats, germans as cats, poles as pigs, and other animals for other ethnicities. At a first glance, the animals make sense. cats hunt rats / mice, much like the germans hunting the jews. It took me a while, but I realized that the pole were represented as pigs. That….irks me greatly, since I am a pole ethnically. I mean, some of the scenes are made, such as when the dad tells art about the bunker, and then illustrates it. I also like the one page when they nearly break the 4th wall about how art needs to get a pencil to remember the joke his dad told him.

It was a ‘plus’ in the idea that the concepts come across well, as well as what happened at various stages. Art also has some scenes play out in a manner that invites the reader to be in the scene, as well other stuff…

On the negative… I really did not like how the poles were portryaed. I have this thing against jews treating poles badly. Every time I was reading this I kept having that feeling come upon me. Every time.

On a side note, I was not very sure why Art came back to draw about his father in the present. I mean, I guess the second part leads up to the present, but still. The father was a very nasty person. I myself have issues with ideas of propriety, so I am just using my views as a filter when I read this novel, but I thank my parents that I was born here, in the USA, where there is no over arching tradition to bind me. Most of my friends are considered….wrong, in the sense that they are not mainstream. I mean, the way that Anja and the father nearly broke up, because of a stupid letter, reminds me often about how some people are so hidebound to tradition that they no longer live. It is sad, but true. Also, when Anja talks about how the poles did not need to be riled up further… I hate it how nearly every one around Poland used to treat pole like they were sub-human, and the jews always pull out the Holocaust card. We Poles had it bad for most of history.

New life

Hokay, time for a new blog entry. I have a wonderful ‘zine article going, but know I must switch tracks and concentrate on Alex Suppertramp / Chris McCandless. “If I were to create a new life for my self, what would I do and where would I go’” was the question posed to us by our teacher. Almost immediately I thought of a wonderful Blog of how I wouldn’t leave, because life with my friends would be much more interesting than anyone I would meet. Alas, the teacher then added, “[A]nd no blogs about how you wouldn’t make a new life.” I was crushed, why would I leave my loving, caring parents, my wonderful, odd friends. I mean, I am in college and there are certain responsibilites that go along with that. However, if I were to type about what I would do after college, that is a different story entirely. my big plan for what to do after college is to go backpacking across Europe. I am not sure if I will make an alternate identity, because I already have one for my hiking trips in America. My Trail name is Karma, and there is a funny story that goes with it. It started when my high school created a summer class that would involve going to the Appalachian Trail and Hiking there for three days. Granted, we only made two days, but that is neither here nor there. The class was 16 students, and 5 teachers. We were split into 2 groups, for some reason or another. I was in t6he second group. I like to think that my group was a better behaved one, so thats why we only had 2 teachers and were allowed to hike at our own pace, unlike the first group who had to march in file. At the start of the second day, we were in the first park dedicated to George Washington. It was a nice place, there was a tower nick-named the ‘milk jug’ at the start of the trail. The first group started out roughly…2 to 3 hours before us. I didn’t mind, the view at the tower was fantastic. We saw a atate prison. However, it was eventually time for us to start hiking. My partner and I, along with one of the faster teachers, started at the front of the group, because we usually hiked twice as fast then the rest of our group. On average, there was a significant distance between the start of the group and the end of it. I think this was the day when the girls started talking about sport bras at lunch, but I digress. The first group had a 2 and a half hour lead on us, yet my partner and I reached them within a half hours time. I found this funny, and attempted to joke about it. I started to call out, “Hello slow…” Thats as far as I got before I tripped. I tried a second time, tripped again. Finally, I stopped, grabbed onto a tree, and finished what I was saying. Good times. Thats when my group decided to have me be known as Karma, since when ever I tried to insult someone, it failed. That is how I was known in the travel logs. However, in Europe, I might go as Ed Christoper, or Chris Edwards, a combination of my middle names. I have a passport, so that might spoil things.

The only new lifwe I would make for myself would involve hiking.

Critique of Alex Supertramp.

Okay, this may not seem like it has any relevance to Alex Supertramp, who will now be reffered to as S.T. from now on, but I don’t like Russian authors. That may seem clesed-minded to you, but thats okay, i have my opinions and you have yours. Any way, S.T. is an idiot for many reasons. There are parts about him that I think are interesting, but for the most part I think he was an idiot. Now I explain my dissertion about Russian authors. Russia is one of the things I pity the most. More to the point, Russia has never caught a break. During the balck plague, when Western European peasants created the middle class and told noble whats what, Russian peasants were crushed by their lords, who feared even the vaguest idea that MIGHT lead to ideas of freedom. After that there were the Czars and more recently the Soviets, but I digress. Russian authors create very, and I know I am using this term wrong, exiexistentialist novels. I now that they are recreating life as they see it, but I think the novels more acurately portray the mind set of the civilization. The main characters often do with less then bare need, and either go insane or die. The reason I shared my opinion is because it helps me create a mind set appropriate to bashing characters.

S.T. was, from what I read so far, an idealist, that died because of his idealism. Now I’m not bashing idealism, I am an idealist as well, but I fear I have become jaded, but I believe that one must atleast have a toehold in reality. S.T. doesn’t, and that is the reason he died. I’m actually envious that he took a car ride across America, but I don’t like how he treated his parents. Granted, someone spoiled part of the book and told me that the parents were uber-controlling, so I guess I can’t blame him. I feel that S.T.’s idea’s on gifts is flawed; I mean, people aren’t trying to buy your, ah…respect with gifts, they are professing their respect of you when they give you a gift. A gift comes from the heart, it’s not a bribe. Usually. Another part of his personality that I didn’t like is his belief that works of fiction that involve an area, Alaska, are the gosple truth. Granted, my interpretation came from what Jon Krakauer wrote, so that may not be accurate of what S.T. thought. The biggest problem I have with S.T. comes from his naive confidence about how he could survive anything. From the chapters I’ve been through, S.T. has been rescued many times, yet he convinces himself that it was his abilities that saved him. I know that he gives credit where credits due, but he doesn’t take the lessons to heart. Maybe he does see the leasons, but refuses them because of his beliefs. His Tolstoian beliefs lead him to think that he doesn’t need any one else nor rely on anything that isn’t his. He talks about how he does this, yet so often he takes hand outs from people to to the point of near insanity. He hates the government and its currency, yet the government rescued him from time to time and the time spent using money is equal to the time spent denouncing it.

I myself am a proponent of careful planning when thinking up of trips, and my ideas clash violently with thoses of S.T. If I have offended any one, I guess I should apologize. People tell me the book gets better, but I can’t see how.

BONUS:

Thought I was done, eh? I know my rant was very negative, but it is what it is. I am know going to talk about my zine that may get created as I envision it. My zine will be about Dungeons and Dragons 3.5. I think I might have some pages about some unique and bad-ass equipment, as well as an intro into a dungeon along with various traps. I most likely will interview either the people I go spleunking with, or the characters that we paly as. The thing that stops me is this; should it be a real-life zine, or a zine that my character would find in the game. If its the former…yippee. If its the latter, I could have classified adds and what not…

Either way, it will be a success.

Madness, mayhem, and I just don’t care

wow. I mean, just wow. That was my reaction after both watching this movie King of Kong: A Fist Full of Quarters and reading what some of the people in the movie had to saw about what, in there opinion, really happened.  all I could think was, “there are people who really are…intense…about their free time activities.” 

Okay, someone one out there is probably wondering what the heck is King of Kong: A Fist Full of Quartersis, and what it is about. The basic premise, with out all of the back biting and what have you, is one man’s international score in the classic arcade game Donkey Kong and another man’s chance at beating it. The main entertainment value of this movie is the fighting that either happened naturally or do to the editors choice of putting the movie together. What is interesting is how the director puts forth the idea that Twin galaxies is a bastion of corruption that worships the gaming legends of the eighties and stands in force against any who dare to try to defeat the records of the eighties. That and how Steve Weibe is our unlucky protagonist that fights his way to the top, is crushed, then rises again to crack the bastion and allow other gamers to be recognized and be shown to the world at large.

What this blog is about is the accused party in the film fighting back against the nagative publicity recieved in the movie. For the most part I have been set with the task of reading the responses Walter Day has created so as to tell the world how they have been wronged, and that the directors have created a nasty, dream destroying monster out of very, very good editing and staging.

The main point of contention that Twin Galaxies has is that Steve Weibe is portrayed in the film as a person who just kept getting stepped on, that all of his submissions were denied because it might damage Billy Mitchel’s ego and reputation. The fact of the matter, as told by Twin Galaxies, is that Steve Weibe has held the Donkey Kong title for three years, and that there was a submission that was accepted before the video tape was denied because of  Roy “Mr. Awesome” Schildt’s involvement. The movie portrayed that the denial caused the score to fall to Mitchel’s score where as in reality the score dropped from Weibe’s taped score to… Weibe’s earlier High Score.

Another point of contention is the break in scene, where the movie gives the idea that Twin Galaxies has many minions to do its evil bidding and sent two of them to destroy Weibes machine. They originally tried to get in but were stopped by Steve’s wife, but then they tried a second time, overpowered the granny, and destroyed the machine. Twin Galaxies maintains that the two that went to Steve’s hous were on a kind of pilgramage to Steve’s house, because he is a record holder. They were stopped by the wife, but the grandmother allowed them in. Steve came home to people playing his Donkey Kong game, but he joined them and they asked if they could see the mother board. Steve agreed, and showed it to them. It was during this time that the two pilgrams saw the box from “Mr. Awesome” and they told Twin Galaxies.

I’m not sure who is right, or if there is a right party at all. It’s just a game of he said-she said, and I leave it up to you to decide who is correct.

Film Blog

Great…now we have to write a blog about the movies we like. As if I have favorite movies. Actually, I do. They are mostly Sci-fi but there is some anime in there as well. My all time favorite, will watch if I have any time is…,drum roll please, Master and Commander: Far side of the World, staring Russell Crowe. I really liked this movie every since my Dad dragged me from the house for some “bonding time.” I originally had no idea what it was about, but the opening scene was really nice, what with the fog and the change of the shift. The movie, in my opinion, started off running and stayed that way for the length of the film. In fact, a part I liked is when they ended the film withthe same, not note but idea, that they started it. Mainly that the doctor and the captain were playing their instruments again, except that in the last scene the captain’s quarters were exposed to the elements after they defeated a French ship twice their strength.

That movie is one that will always bring me and my Dad scurrying to the living room. In fact, I think that my Mom, when she wanted to be alone, would set up the movie so that we would be out of her hair. Another movie that I like to watch with my parents, mainly my dad, is Star Wars IV: The New Hope. When ever we start the movie and we see the star destroyer come down the screen my Dad always starts to reminisce about how that was a BIG deal in the old days when the movie first came out. 

Cripe, since we can’t make a summary of the movies…what to do. I really don’t watch many..movies…Iron Man, Dark NightOh, =what to talk about. I liked iron Man, that was the first movie I went to see in the summer and I, I mean, I really liked it. I have been an off again, on again Iron Man fan and the thought of a movie just set a chill in my heart. I have seen franchises bomb when they went on the silver screen. I mean, Star Wars III anyone, I just rented it when it came out and ended up fast-forwarding it most of the time. But Iron Man actually was good. I really liked how they introduced Tony Stark, since originally he nearly died in Vietnam and I thought that today Vietnam doesn’t have the societal impact it once had. When they went to the Middle East, the producers both updated it and kept the origin strong. my only mark against the movie that they didn’t have enough Iron Man scenes. The battle with Iron Monger was too short. I did, however, enjoy the credites when they showed a blue-print for War Machine. Sequals, here we come >:)

The first Batman movie was the all time greatest Batman movie, what with Jack Nicholsan as the Joker. I mean, I really liked how he played the Mad Prince of Crime, and I was afraid that Keith Ledger was going to try to imatate Jack, and ultimitely fail. Surprisingly, Ledger didn;t and developed a whole new form of Joker. It’s too bad that that he died with out making a sequal. I mean. Joker is the one person that IS Batman’s oppisate. Every one else barely leaves a mark on Wayne’s ego, but the Joker can burrow in and squat there.

Oh great, I have no more movies to…talk…about. Huh, 596 words. nice. Taa.

Nifty Ink

     Oh yippee. in taking time out of trying to understand how my paper is supposed to be cited, I am forced to type about what kind of tattoo I would get if I had to. Alas, this is both easy and painful to me. On one hand, i want to get a tattoo and the other hand is slapping me and writing out the words “YOU CAN’T AFFORD IT!” I mean, parents are no problem. My Mom wants to get her own tattoo of a gnome. That particular story will be recounted latter on in this blog, if only for word count. 

     Tattoos, a ink painting on a human canvas, a scourge to the decency of the innocence of our youth. Love it or hate it, tattoos are a significant part of our culture, regardless what the conservatives believe.  There are the tattoos that have special significance to the navy, what with the various imagies meaning varios accomplishments have been achieved. They are also used in prisons by gangs, where the tattoo might mean that you get respect or have it pulled off with a hot iron before thaty kill you.

     The tattoo that I want is a rather unique thing. For the longest of times I have wanted a tattoo, but never sure if I should have a large one or a small one, hidden or exposed for the whole world to see. Then there was the problem of the image. I was never sure which one I wanted. I mean, this thing will be on you for the rest of your life…baring any expensive and painful removal procedures. I always bounced the idea around in my head, sometimes I would place a picture on my body and see how it would look. Nothing ever stuck. I often talked to my Mom about what I should get. Early on in life, she would be very closed to the idea, because it is a proven fact that having a tattoo, on a exposed part of your body at least, meant that employers would not higher you, or that the process would be extremely difficult. Eventually however, my Mom started to chill out, if only because some problems she had in her childhood were being faced and overcome. Now, at least, she was some what open to the idea. The same warnings still applied, employers will look down on you and so on. But at least she was suggesting that I get an inoffensive image. Granted, I thought that was dumb. Why should I care what people think of my tattoo? The answwer came to me one night when my Mom told me that my cousin got into a heated confrontation with a gangbanger over nothing. I think the foriegn exchange student he was with was wanted by the gangster. I realized that people can hurt you for no reason, so why give them one? A year or two later my cousins got some tattoos because their parents gave them money. The money was for College, but they thought they were getting mana from the heaven, as it were. My eldest cousin, Nick, got the image of an old style razor on his arm. Myy second eldest cousin, Pete, had the image of a tree tattooed onto the lower part of his leg. There was no apparent reason for that beyond them having money and that it was the cool thing to do.

Heh…572 words and no talk about my tattoo, right? Well, I found two perfect images at a Saturday arts and crafts show thing, when I went to Portland , Oregon last summer. They were both stylized dragons. One seemed benevolent and the other less so. I was thinking of getting one on my left shoulder. I think it would look good there. They were at a Hena tattoo parlour. My mom recieved her gnome there. If we ever get any tattoos, my mom and I will get these.

quotes to summarization

Direct quote:  Roger Sipher  belives that the “[A]bolition of archaic attendance laws would produce enormous dividends,” by having a class of only students willing to learn, which will increase test scores (page 1).

Paraphrase: Roger Sipher belives that with the abolition of mandatory-attendence, people belief in schoolswill rise and that the teachers will be allowed to teach, instead of punishing mis-behaving students. He cites private-schools as an example of how an ideal school would be run, with the school not allowing students whose behavior undermines the learning proccess.

Summary. Roger Sipher makes a case favoring the ending of mandatory education by stating that the remaining students will have an increased ability to learn, that the schools will save more money, and that teachers won’t feel compelled to pass failed students. He does this after he describes only the ways that mandatory education has failed and none of the way that it has succeeded

subculture

ah…i started writing a different post, not realizing that it needed to be about my subculture paper. subculture, what a word. at first glance it seems that it would have a negative connotation, sort of like how poles were considered to be sub-human by the nazis…but i digress. my subculture topic for my paper is parkour. i really want to know more about it, and that this paper would be more for me then class. ahh…but wouldn’t you know it, i know nothing at all about parkour. there is, apparently, a club about it on campus, but i don’t know how to find it. damn. i’m only 1/5 the way through my blog. it needs to be 500 words. the teacher said that this would be a short thing, but it’s not. i’m used to writing short papers. my essays are an example about an economy of words. in the stories i write, i might write 50 words and consider that alot. this is insane. i also learned that i need to write a 2 page essay for tommorow. again, another short paper.  great… i screwed up again. this isn’t about the subculture that we are supposed to write about, its about one were in. thing is, i don’t consider mt self a part of any subculture. i guess that i daly in between a few subcultures trekdom, video gaming, hiking camping, civil war history, manga, swimming. i can be considered well versed in any of these cultures and more that i can’t really think of the names now. i…just don’t consider my self a part of them…except hiking. i am an incredibly individual person. i don’t like going to peoples houses, going to movies or anything like that.  i’m most comfortable about doing things that get me outside. i went hiking once on the AT, in the appalachian mountains. that was for a school project and i felt my self lucky to get in, even though the teacher in charge told me that i was an easy first pick. most likely on account that i have attained the rank of eagle in boy scouts of america. apparently that will give me an increase in pay if i ever join the military. but i’m not and this is a major side track. back on course now. people do consider me parts of various groups. they have told me so. i disagree. i don’t go to conventions and i DON’T like death note. some anime / manga people might want to burn me for that, but i don’t care. i think the idea of some kid with the ability to kill anyone he wants by writing their name on a paper is sheer stupidity. it will NOT make the world a better place. with swimming, i just don’t have the drive. going on, swimming for miles every day just killed me. finally, out of desperation to get a break, i stuffed my head in a bucket of ice for 15 minutes. the coach let up on me after that. i didn’t really care about the competition, and the coach knew it. i probably infuriated him. if i exerted my self, i could keep up, for a short time, with the second best swimmer in the state. i could beat others easily. i just didn’t want too.

all i like to do is be outside and hike.

thank you