Gardens and Villa

This is a pretty neat song. Not amazing but it a soothing quality to it. At first I thought that if was just going to be a song without words but 30-1:00 they started singing . Check it out.

Blue Valentine

Well, I've decided that I will still blog even though the blogging is over in ETY class. It's become such a habit. Recently I watched the movie "Blue Valentine" Its about a failing marriage between two young people. It's kind of depressing but I liked how everything flowed.

Just Kids 50-110

Well, while working at the bookstore Patti meets Robert Mapplethrope, a young aspiring artist with very curly hair and slightly bowlegged legs. He comes into the store and ends up purchasing a medallion a necklace that Pattie really liked. When he buys it she states " Don't give that to any other girl but me." and immediately resents saying such a odd thing. Robert doesn't seem to mind though. Well they don't see each other for a while and she ends up going on a date with this old creepy poet man when she meets him again. The old creepy poet man asks Patti if she wants to go up to his room and she happens to see Robert in the knick of time. She pleads him to her her boyfriend and he accepts right away. I guess they just hit it off after that because he asks her if she needs a place to stay and they bunk at a friends house for awhile until they can find an apartment of their own. Roberts into LSD because  he claims it helps him paint, I think its interesting that Robert uses Drugs but Patti barely does throughout the book (well at least not as hard core). So after awhile things with Robert start to get shady, he starts to question his sexuality and later ends up going to San Fransisco to have a self learning experience. When he returns he still seems to be a little off. He starts to put sexual references and drawling within his art, maybe to shock people or maybe just to experiment, I don't know.  Later on after moving to another shady apartment, Robert becomes very sick and Patti ends up moving him out to find a doctor and to live in the Chelsea Hotel.

Black and Whites

Another picture post. These pictures were featured in National Geographic's.....they are pretty cool. I'm going to miss blogging for this class it has to be one of my favorite things involving school...maybe I'll keep blogging. Well here are the pics.

Sounds Good.

So recently I watched the trailer for the movie The First Grader and it sounds like it would be a very inspirational movie. Check it out.

Adele

 

So I've been listening to Adele for a while, a friend of mine named Ayesha introduced me to her. She has such a powerful voice and at first you probably wouldn't assume she’s a young English woman. She grew up with her single mother who continually supported her. She later ended up in one of the top performing colleges in London and then her career just took off. What an amazing voice.

Just Kids 1-50

So, I have already finished this story.  I read it while I was up in Wisconsin for the weekend.  We stayed at a friend’s cabin in Green something....I don't know, it was near Madison. The house was really cool, it resembled the homes from the blog post we had to make earlier in the year. When you walked inside there was a big branch hanging from the ceiling with a bunch of ornamental objects dangling as well. They even had a music collection from around the world. It was pretty cool. While there we went to a food co-op store (It would be cool if we had one here) and the farmers market in Madison. Later on we went Morel hunting with the whole group, I guess we went pretty deep in the woods because Austin ended up with a tick and so did my sister. It's actually a funny story, because my sister was upstairs getting checked for ticks when we found on her arm. She started screaming "GET IT OFF!! GET IT OFF!!!," So I grabbed it of her and flushed it down the toilet, it wasn’t to deep so it was easy to remove. To end the weekend we ended up playing Apples to Apples (there wasn’t a Helen Keller Card ) and then I ended up sick so that’s why I was not at school today!

Okay so the story starts off with a brave a tom boyish kind of girl named Patti. When she was still young her family moved to New Jersey where she spent the rest of her childhood as a outsider. She end up becoming pregnant at the early age of 19 by a younger guy. She gave the baby away, while in labor her nurses were very cruel calling her Dracula’s wife and a bunch of other crap. She worked at a factory for a while and went to college for a bit, but both didn’t seem to work out for her. She decided to move to New York City and her family seemed to support her. When she got there she was pretty much homeless and she hung out with a man who was a Jimi Hendrix look alike but a couple of days later he vanished. Later on she got a job at a bookstore where she had to sneak in the back to sleep (She still was homeless). Then along came Robert...and that’s where we are going to end it.

Interesting book.

The Bell Jar 45-100

So the main character Esther is living in New York City right now because of the scholarship she won. While there she meets Doreen and Betty two girls who end up being her close friends, however Doreen is kind of a party animal and Betty is a preppy good girl if you want to give them stereotypes. I guess Esther is dating a boy named Buddy. Buddy and Esther's relationship is a little strange because of her odd beliefs that shes set up when it comes to a relationship. At one point she even admits that getting married is not her thing, but Buddy stays fascinated with her. So through out the book Esther starts to form this belief involving her be neurotic because of something Buddy says. After a couple of chapters she describes everything as dull, even food taste gray to her. She ends up fleeing New York City to go back home where she finds out she did not make that writing course she wanted to take. This bad news ends up messing her up even more, so her mom sets up a appointment for her with a special Doctor. He concludes that the only way Esther will get better is by shock treatments, but these treatments do little good and may have even worsened her issues. She starts to think about ways to die and she even tries to kill herself with her moms bathroom rope. It's very depressing in this book at the moment. I don't know if I can keep on reading.

This book is really sad and the character is so rational about the whole situation as if killing herself is the most logical option. Reading this book at the moment is a struggle.

The Head and the Heart

Another band. A friend of mine recommend this band so I thought I would give it a go. They kind of sound like Mumford and Sons, except at times they have stronger country feel if you know what I mean. Their sounds is kind of car music-ish but its calming at the same time. Not my favorite band in the world but their nice. Calming kind of like Norah Jones. They can be a little depressing at times....

Video/s:

The Bell Jar 1-45

Hm, so I decided to read this book even though I not sure if I;m going to like it, but hey everyone needs to challenge themselves every once in awhile. The book The Bell Jar is by Sylvia Plath ( A famous Poet? I think.) The summary on the back says it relates to Plath's Early life which is kind of interesting.

It starts off with a girl named Esther Greenwood. At the moment she happens to be living in New York on this scholarship thingy that allows her to go to fashion events and receive free cloths for a month (I know cool right?) Anywho, she has a dormish mate named Doreen. Doreen must be truly gorgeous because that's all Esther talks about for a couple of pages, she also seems to have a great sense of humor. So Esther is about to go out to a lunch-in (is that what you call it?) with Doreen. When their cab stops and young man incites them to drink a little at bar and they decide to go. While there Esther orders pure vodka because she believes that it may be her chosen drink and she ends up liking it. Doreen becomes all lovey dovey with the man who invited them out in the first place, his name is  Lenny. Later Lenny ask if Doreen wants to go back to his place and she agrees if Esther can come to.

Okay well it seems like a Chick Flickish book right now. However the back cover implies that it is about a girl who has a mental break down (Esther) right now she seems perfectly fine but hey, who knows.

Poems and Poets

(This picture may seem irrelevant when it comes to this post but manatees are animals therefore they relate to the nature aspect in a way, plus manatees happen to be my favorite or at least one of my favorite animals.)

I've picked my theme, well at least I think its my theme. I've chosen human interaction with the natural world. It's a broad topic, I could of said just nature but I wanted to look up poems having to do with feelings when it comes to nature, relating to nature , animals relating to peoples, etc.....Anyway, I probably rambling so if you look down below you will find my poems and poets.

Into the Mud- Joyce Sidman

The Search for Lost Lives-James Tate

The Birds-Linda Pastan

Caged Bird-Maya Angelou

In the Tree House- James L. Dickey


Possible  poems....

To crave what the light does crave-Kevin Goodan

The Kiss-Robert Graves

Elemental Conception-Heid E. Erdrich

Life of Pi 150-200

Well, Pi is still lost at sea with the 450 pound tiger named Richard Parker (every time I hear that name it makes me laugh). For some reason the tiger avoids Pi. He seems to peer over and look at Pi every once in awhile. Pi starts to read the survival book that was on the life boat. It has strange things in it such as do not drink urine or bird blood and put your feet up for five minutes each hour. It also says that Turtles are easy to catch and are excellent meals. Pi sits in the boat for another good 2 days before going over to Richard Parker's area and stealing some water in a bottle. Richard Parker still does not make a move to attack Pi. Maybe Richard Parker can really talk. That would be weird. I really don't know if I would read the book if all the animals were able to talk. But hey, who knows maybe Richard Parker has a bond with Pi or something.

Good good. Okay so these couple of chapter were kind of a bore but they still were okay. I mean the books great it may not be my favorite but its still pretty awesome.

Natural Disasters

This week I decided to create another picture post and the theme happens to be natural disasters (I'm hoping you noticed the title). I have been terrified of tornadoes for a long time, I even had a dream once about being chased by a tornado. I was in Chicago (were I used to live) it must of been by the south side which is strange because I never ventured to the south side. Anyway, the tornado was chasing me down the street and I decided to run into a brick house, but when I entered the house the walls turned into glass and then I ran under a glass coffee table to protect myself. That was a horrible dream, but to get back on track or to the main point..whatever you want to call it; natural disasters can be fascinating in their own way. Maybe its because we have know control over a tornado, we can't stop a hurricane from causing destruction, we can't tell a earthquake to knock it off. We have little or no control over these mind blowing things. It makes you feel small.

"One family. One room. Four screens. Four realities, basically."

I read about today's family and our addiction to electronics. It was interesting I've never really thought about our society's addiction to computers, cellphones and Wii. Recently my little sister received a IPod Touch for her birthday and she is addicted. It's almost like the IPod is her only friend, the only person she can really trust; that's how much time she spends on it. But hey look whose talking, I find my self lost in the world of Face book for hours. It's horrible, kind of like going into a trance, I always feel guilty after being on it. A recent study shows that Facebook can lead to depression and that teens who read more seem to be more content than the teens who listen to a lot of music. We have been swallowed by the machine.

Fleet Foxes

Interesting band. There are five members in the band...in less I'm mistaken (Well there is five in the picture). I think they started off in Seattle, I read about it in  a magazine somewhere. It reminds me of zoning music if you know what I mean. The kind of music you can just listen to without having to commit to it. They originally went by the name Pineapple which is funny but I like their new name over Pineapple. To many bands are named after inanimate objects such as green band aid or orange or lamp. I think it's pretty funny that all of the band members have  really intense beards except one.

Strange video...

Life of Pi 100-150

Adorable

In the next couple of chapters Pi remains on the boat. I guess the boat is bigger then I expected because the tiger is on another level of the boat or something. So we already know that the monkey and the zebra have been eliminated by the freaky Hyena. Now Pi and the hyena and the tiger are left. Well after a couple of more days go by Pi becomes thirsty and hungry. So he has to ventures in the boat to look for food. He finds a ton of survival supplies such as water bottles and some weird kind of dried foods. After eating he becomes content and takes a nap. Well later on the tiger gets up and walks towards the hyena and kills it. The tigers name happens to be Richard Parker. Haha that name is just so random. Imagine going to a zoo and walking up to the tiger exhibit and finding out that the tigers name was Richard Parker. Its just doesn't flow like Frank Robert or something

Well anyway, the chapters were interesting Pi has such a weird personality but it's not like I'm one to talk. He just seems so blunt. lacking a personalty in a way. For instance when the Hyena was killed he was like Richard Parker just killed the Hyena. It didn't scream. I don't know, I'll keep reading.

Life of Pi 45-100

Okay well Pi talks more about his everyday life in the next couple of chapters. We already know that Pi is a very religious boy and practices several religions and even though his parents are not so fond of the idea they go along with it. Well his dad decides that moving would be the best option for the family and Canada seemed like the best place. If you don't already know Pi is living in India...well for now at least. Anyway, the dad starts to pack up the zoo a year prior to their trip. Why you may ask? Well, a zoo requires a lot of care when it comes to maintenance so he needs to find a place in different zoos for certain animals and supplies that the animals will need on the long trip over. When they finally get on the boat everything is good. Until Pi ends ups on a life boat with a 450 pound tiger, a monkey, hyena, and a Zebra. The Hyena who ends up being a really aggressive creature and  kills the Zebra in the first day of being lost at sea. A couple days later after killing the Zebra the Hyena decides to kill the monkey (I know sad). The Monkey puts up a good fight but ends up losing and then dying. Pi becomes more and more freaked out as the days go on because he suspects that he will be the Hyenas next meal. Who knows...but remember that the Bengal tiger is also aboard.


Interesting scenario. I like the book a lot, well at least I do for the moment. Pi has a very odd way of looking at the world. The way he describes things, as if everything makes sense. I don't know I cant quite explain it.