Final Entry Blog

This is my last blog entry for this page. I have lots of fun in this class mainly because my professor Dr. Jason Smith was one of the coolest and funniest professors in the whole school and also his unique way of teaching and the subject he taught with us. Supernatural was something I always interested in and his class kept feeding my interest.

Looking back over my work, I realized how much I have learned in this class. From understanding how to research thing online a better way then just using Google and clicking the first site that pops up but to visit the other sites and see what checks out and what does. (Blog entry 1.2) I also learned about symbolism which was kind of difficult but thanks to professors supernatural class it was easier then before, mainly because with supernatural I got a better understanding of how symbols were portrait or how they foreshadowed and how one symbol could mean something completely different from what I thought it too be. The reason why it was easier for me was because I found it more interesting reading about goblins and ghost and understanding symbols then reading some boring poem about someone staring at rain or something. (Blog entry 1.3/2.1) One of the most useful things I learned was about archetypes more importantly my archetypes (The Warrior/The Innocent); I found this very useful and interesting because everything about those too archetypes were spot on or close enough to me. Including the pros and cons of them, it was amazing to me that someone that didn't even knew me some how knew me. Also how I could relate to people I really didn't know at all.

One of the most interesting works I saw in my class with my classmate Thibaut's final research project. I never heard about the beast but then again it was a French monster, I didn't think much of it. But after seeing the research the he did that number of people killed though questionable was shocking. But what I liked the most of his project was the creativity in his videos also his art skills in making the beast, blow me away. Overall it was one of the best presentations I saw.

This class was one of the most interesting and fun English classes I ever took. This class as opens my eyes to new ways of teaching and Dr. Smith as cool English teachers. But I'll miss the fun times of this class. It's been fun guys.

Revision of Coraline Entry 3.5

In everything we read and write there are always symbols in them, we may not realize them some times but they are there. Symbols are defined is a letter, object, mark that represents something completely different. In Neil Gaiman’s “Coraline” and Hayao Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away” were see many symbols that are in some way quite similar. Coraline is about a little 12-year-old girl named you guessed it Coraline, who moves into a flat with her parents. On one rainy day she is stuck inside the house and decides to explore and finds a locked door in the drawing room she decides to open it but finds it a brick wall behind it. But when she’s home by herself the door turns into a passage way to the “other world” which is the complete opposite of her world. She finds it completely better then her own world but it soon turns to fun and games to battle to save herself and her parents. Spirited Away is about a 10-year-old named Chihiro, who is moving into a new town with her parents. They get lost on the way, and stumble upon an abandoned amusement park. Chihiro's father decides to explore it with Chihiro and her mother. They soon discover a stall with food, and Chihiro's parents start sampling the food, but find themselves unable to stop eating. Chihiro soon realizes that she's in a magical world when she sees her parents literally turn into pigs, now she has to escape the world and save her parents.

Some of the symbols that Coraline and Spirited Away share are in one was food. Food played a huge role in both stories, in Coraline when ever Coraline would visit the other world, her other mother would feed her as soon as she got there in a way it was a way for her to stay in the world or some kind of mood switcher for her, similar in Spirited Away, when Chihiro had to eat some food in the abandoned amusement park for she would disappear in the spirit world. Another symbol was the use of a “magical” item, In Coraline’s case it was the stone with the hole that she received from Miss Spink and Forcible when she first introduced herself, a with the stone came the advice to not to wear green. The stone with the hole symbolizes that no matter what you can always see through the fake personal people but on. In Spirited Away, Chihiro receives a plant like ball that has special healing powers, from a very rich and well-known river spirit. The ball becomes really handy after Haku is hurt. Twins is a big symbol is both stories. In Coraline, her real mother has a twin the “other” mother, who is the complete opposite of her in the forms of cooking and dressing etc. but looks just like her minus the button eyes. In Spirited Away, Chihiro works for the evil which Yubaba who is the owner of the bathhouse; Zeniba is Yubaba’s twin sister and is the complete opposite of her, where Yubaba is mean, evil, greedy Zeniba is a sweet old lady, and is called granny. The twins symbolize to me that there are two sides to a person it’s up to them to choose which one they show.

One common theme that I saw in both stories other then the food was the parents. In both stories the parents were too busy with their own work to pay attention to their kids. Coraline’s parents were too busy with their work that they rarely paid any attention to her, resulting in the other mother knowing how to make her think the other world was better. Chihiro’s parents ignored her wishes of them not to enter the amusement park and to not eat the strange food the just appeared out of not where. But they ignored her and got themselves turned into pigs, where in Coraline, where the other mother trapped her parents. Another theme is the battle of good and evil, Coraline was the battle between her and the other mother to save herself and her parents. She had to go toe to toe and challenge the other mother to a game to find her parents and to free the souls of the children before her, which the other mother took and hide them in the world around her. Spirited Away the battle of good vs. evil was between Yubaba and Chihiro, where she had to save Haku from Yubaba’s control and she also when toe to toe with Yubaba and tells here she will go to Zeniba to save Haku and to save her parents where Yubaba tries to trick her but fails.

The differences in the two stories are for one the regions of where the stories take place. Another one is that both are allowed to leave the world they enter but in Coraline’s case she can come and go to that world as she pleases, while Chihiro can’t leave because there is no telling where the bath house may appear also what would happen to her parents. Another difference in the stories is the way they are treated in the stories. Coraline is pampered in the other world, she is given everything she asks for while Chihiro is put to work in the bath house so she has a place to sleep and etc., while Coraline as to do nothing but to eat, sleep and visit her other friends in the flat. Some of the similarities were for one both of the main characters where girls, both had to save their parents, also the change from winy kids to adults. In the beginning of the story both characters were winy like kids, and through the story they made a change and started to mature responsible kids. Also how both villains tried to trick the heroes but they didn’t fall of it.

We often talk of stories being the same as other but with different twists, which is often true in every story there is an outline of what happens but some times put into steps or parts in the story. I think that’s why people think the stories “speak to each other” but they are just saying the same thing, same concept different stories.

Research Paper. Artemis Fowl

For my research paper we have had to about the supernatural so I decided to write about my niece's favorite book Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer. I've read this book a couple of times to my niece during her bedtime. Artemis Fowl is about a 12 year old son of a Irish crime lord, and his military trained man servant Butler. In the book Artemis decides to capture a fairy with the help of Butler after researching fairies online. He travels to a alcohol addicted fairy who was posing as a healer in Vietnam and obtains the "Book of the people" from her and decodes it and starts his plan. The theme of this book is the basics of good vs evil and a very big thing to do with greed. The fairies gold played a huge role until the end of the book, where Artemis gives up a sum of money to give out a helping hand. In the beginning of the book Artemis takes somewhat of a evil characteristics and the fairies good but sometimes it would vary with some of there actions, example; the troll and bio bomb.

The hero’s journey or know, as Monomyth is separated into three parts. The three parts are the departure, the initiation and the return. The hero must take on a bunch of task and test. They will venture into different and unknown worlds and choose whether they want to leave or stay in the new world.

The first stage in Monomyth is the departure; it is broken down into five parts. The first part is the Call to Adventure. This is where the hero is given a adventure. In “Artemis Fowl”, Artemis doesn’t really have a ordinary normal life, being the son of a Irish crime lord and all. Artemis is given a new adventure after he researches online about fairies and automatically believes they are real and makes a plan to kidnap one for it’s gold. Even though he as all his research done he still doesn’t know what he’s getting himself in. Next up is the Refusal of the Call this is where the hero has second thoughts of the call, in Artemis’s case he has second thoughts of dealing with fairies because he already is on a quest to find his father who has gone missing. The next part is Supernatural Aid where a guide or mentor gives the hero supernatural aid. Artemis is given aid by a fairy in Vietnam who Artemis tricks into lending the “book“ to him buy giving the fairy whiskey mixed with holy water and making a deal to give the fairy a antidote for the book. The book is the fairy bible in some cases built with rules and laws on must follow. The book becomes his guide to the fairies world. After getting the book Artemis Crosses the First Threshold, which in Monomyth is when the hero crosses into the adventure, leaving their world and venturing into an unknown, when Artemis and Butler venture into the forest to kidnap a fairy which they do, capturing Captain Holly Short a LEPrecon officer. In this stage was also the Belly of the Whale where Artemis knew there was no going back from capturing Holly, and holding for ransom.

In the second section in Monomyth is known as initiation, where the hero will be tested and thrown into many challenges and task to see if the hero succeeds. First part is the Road of Trails, in this stage Artemis is put into his first test, when the LEPrecon retrieval team comes to recuse Captain Holly, Artemis has to stop them, he does that by sending Butler equipped with a hunting rifle and a special goggles that can see through the fairies shields which makes them invisible, which was a advantage that fairies had for decades until now. Up next is Meet with the Goddess & Women as the temptress In “Artemis Fowl”, Artemis’s mother plays the part, his mother has not been the same since his father disappeared, she spends most of her time in her room in the dark, talking to herself, there are times where she doesn’t recognize Artemis and thinks he’s a worker or her grand father. His mother has him sometimes trying in the book that he should give up this fairies gold and continue looking for his father. The next part is The Ultimate Boon, where the hero achieves his goal in the quest, for Artemis’s case he receives the ransom gold from the fairies.

The last section in Monomyth is the Return where the hero questions why should he return into his own world. Artemis for a quick moment wondered why should he return into his old life, but remembers his previous adventure to find his father who was still gone missing. Up next is The Magic Flight where the hero escapes with boon or in Artemis case the gold. Artemis takes the fairy gold and locks it in his vault. The last part is Crossing the Last Threshold this is when the home returns to the heroes own familiar world. In “Artemis Fowl”, Artemis crossing the last threshold when he escapes the fairies time stop spell by drugging himself and his comrades with sleeping pills, and waking up with the metric ton of 24 cart of gold.

Artemis's archetype is a mixture of the Innocent mainly because no matter his actions against holly, he's still a 12 year old boy looking for his father. Also the Cynical Anti-hero has even though he is some what of a hero his action are questionable. Butler is more of Wise men/Comic Mentor for Artemis who even though is his servant is some what the closes thing he has to a father figure since Artemis's father had disappeared and the warrior as Artemis's bodyguard willing to do defend Master Artemis no matter what. Captain Holly Short's archetype is of course the hero, since she was kidnapped but Artemis and as a officer that protects and serves even though it's for a different species. Also a Trickster for her magic spells see uses to trick Artemis and his conglomerate.


Work Cited:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis_Fowl_%28novel%29

http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/smc/journey/ref/summary.html

http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/smc/journey/ref/summary.html

http://www.listology.com/list/character-archetypes

4.1 project update

I'm currently reviewing the book and the heroes test.

Entry 3.4

A description of what the product will be:

I will be analizing the first Artemis Fowl book.

What you have done already:
Started reading and finding the symbols are themes

The steps you think you will take to get it done:
Finish reading it.

An approximate schedule with deadlines (Due Date: Prior to Class 12/7 and 12/9 respectively) What are you going to get done when? :
A rough draft of the first 5 or 6 chapters.

Entry 3.3

The ideas for my final project are

1. A music video for Kanye West's song. Lost in the world. The song will be a remake of the runaway video.

2. I will analogize one of my all time favorite books Aremtis Fowl.

3. Recreate a scene for the new harry potter movie.

3.2 Macbeth Video

I found this video on youtube when Macbeth goes to see the three witches. The witches are very different from one another and look even scarier. In this video the witches take up more of a supernatural image with there constant transformations when they talk. One is in all white which most mean she is the oldest and most powerful and one in the red most be the middle child or middle witch and the last witch that seems like she is wearing a coat of some poor unlucky soul must be the youngest. Later on in the scene they are holding hands, dancing and start chanting symbolizing the beginning of a spell, or some type of spell to help then vanish. The witches are also more animated not just because they are cartoons but because they are flying, transforming into different objects, from Macbeth's amulet to a crown. Macbeth is show with a constant shadow on his face making it seem like he's up to no good and is evil from the start. Later on we see Macbeth take a darker tone then before we his eyes in giant black circles, and then see a dagger in his mind which is telling him to kill.