I decided to go ahead and write my final blog today since i will not have access to the internet after class on Friday until next week. The video we have been watching in class is about a guys passion for a book that he had recently read called "The Stones of Summer". I believe the guy said that he was supposed to read the book back in high school, he started reading it but never really got into it. Many years later now the man is grown, he now has a wife and kids. I think the story goes that he was looking through all his books one day and came across The Stones of Summer again. The book was pretty much wore out, there was no cover on the book and most of the pages were no longer bound together. The guy eventually started reading the book again and this time he ended up falling in love with it. He got the name of the author of the book and decided to look and see what other books he has written.
However when he starts to look for other books written by this author he can not find anything. So he begins to do some research on the author and try to find out where he lives or what he is doing these days. Turns out he can't find anything on the guy, it's like he just dissapeared like a ghost. This seems to trouble the narrator of the video greatly. So he starts to do some major research on the author and see if he can find him and ask him why he hasn't written anything else since The Stones of Summer. I'm really can't remember what this guy did for a living but i remember him saying that the fall time was his busiest time of year. He eventually gets into contact with many different people such as college professors and book critics to see if he can find out anything. Turns out many of these so called people in high places had never even heard of the book or the author. This surprises the heck out of our narrator. I think its now been a year or two since he has started his digging on the author and he really hasn't found anything major yet. He does get into contact with someone one supposedly was in the same class with the author but that guy doesn't remember the author either.
Our guy finds out that the author went to college somewhere in i think Iowa, so he makes a trip out there to see what he can find. He goes to the library at the college to see if he can find some of the works that the author has done. He ends up finding boxes full of his scratch work with different revisions and things like that. I think after this he eventually gets a phone number for the author and when we stoped watching in class on wednesday he was about to call the author. I'm kind of anxious to see what happens and why the author hasn't written anything since then.
Not to sound like a complete suck up or anything but this to me is one of the best english classes i have been in. I enjoyed pretty much all of the stories we had to read except for a couple of them. Most of the stories were pretty interesting and kept me wanting to read on to figure out what was going to happen. With other classes we had to read stories that i really had no interest in at all. I really enjoyed the discussions we had in class about the stories and hearing all the different input from different people. I also enjoyed getting to see the different clips on youtube about the stories we read. Overall i really enjoyed this class and i have actually recommended it to a couple friends for next year.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Thursday, April 19, 2012
The Eye by Robert Bolano
Although this story was pretty quick and easily understandable, it just seems to me to be pointless. The story is about a character who is known as the "eye". I believe they call him this because he tries to avoid conflict and violence in any way possible, keeping a sharp eye out at all times, hence the nick name.
I think the eye was originally from chile but moved to mexico city which is where he meet the nararator of the story. The nararrator and the eye became pretty close friends while in mexico city. The eye eventually got a job as a photographer, which in turn earned him more money. The eye then started to dress better wearing nice collered shirts and sometimes even a tie. Then the rumors starting going around that the eye was gay, which some say was the reason that he moved from chile in the first place. Eventually the eye got a job offer in Paris and decided to take it. The eye and the nararator went out on the town one last night together and this is when the eye finally told him that he was gay. After the night was over both of them went back home and lost touch for a long time since the eye got the job in Paris.
Two or three years after the eye has left Mexico the narrarator also went to Paris to try and find the eye. Although he was trying to not be very obvious about it. After a while with no luck the nararator was walking home one night and just happened to find the eye sitting on a bench in a little park area. To me this is where the story gets a little weird. The eye gets sent to India i think it is, for work. Here he has to take pictures of the local underground prostitution ring. He gets taken around to all these sketchy brothels and eventually ends up in one with a bunch of young boys in it. Somehow something happens and some of the boys are supposed to be given to a God as some sort of offering and to do this the boy has to be castrated. Well eventually the eye is taken into the back with a young boy were he meets the doctor and sees another young boy waiting to be castrated. The violence factor kicks in for the eye and he grabs the two young boys and runs out of the brothel.
He takes the boys away from the town to a little village were he thinks no one can find them. He constantly worries about the police coming to get him for running away with the boys. When he receives word that the police aren't coming then he gets worried that some goons from the brothel will come get him, which terrifies him even more than the police. While living with the two boys he tells the local people that they are his children. The eye takes up farming and even helps some of the larger farmers in the area when they need it. The eye enjoys living with the boys and begins to think of them as his own children. Eventually a disease hits the area and the two young boys die. The eye is heartbroken and contacts one of his friends from Paris, who i believe was his gay lover while he lived in Paris. The man sends him money to get back to Paris and this is pretty much how the story ends.
Like i said earlier this was a pretty good story. Towards the middle of the story it starts to get a little weird and i really don't understand the point of the story.
I think the eye was originally from chile but moved to mexico city which is where he meet the nararator of the story. The nararrator and the eye became pretty close friends while in mexico city. The eye eventually got a job as a photographer, which in turn earned him more money. The eye then started to dress better wearing nice collered shirts and sometimes even a tie. Then the rumors starting going around that the eye was gay, which some say was the reason that he moved from chile in the first place. Eventually the eye got a job offer in Paris and decided to take it. The eye and the nararator went out on the town one last night together and this is when the eye finally told him that he was gay. After the night was over both of them went back home and lost touch for a long time since the eye got the job in Paris.
Two or three years after the eye has left Mexico the narrarator also went to Paris to try and find the eye. Although he was trying to not be very obvious about it. After a while with no luck the nararator was walking home one night and just happened to find the eye sitting on a bench in a little park area. To me this is where the story gets a little weird. The eye gets sent to India i think it is, for work. Here he has to take pictures of the local underground prostitution ring. He gets taken around to all these sketchy brothels and eventually ends up in one with a bunch of young boys in it. Somehow something happens and some of the boys are supposed to be given to a God as some sort of offering and to do this the boy has to be castrated. Well eventually the eye is taken into the back with a young boy were he meets the doctor and sees another young boy waiting to be castrated. The violence factor kicks in for the eye and he grabs the two young boys and runs out of the brothel.
He takes the boys away from the town to a little village were he thinks no one can find them. He constantly worries about the police coming to get him for running away with the boys. When he receives word that the police aren't coming then he gets worried that some goons from the brothel will come get him, which terrifies him even more than the police. While living with the two boys he tells the local people that they are his children. The eye takes up farming and even helps some of the larger farmers in the area when they need it. The eye enjoys living with the boys and begins to think of them as his own children. Eventually a disease hits the area and the two young boys die. The eye is heartbroken and contacts one of his friends from Paris, who i believe was his gay lover while he lived in Paris. The man sends him money to get back to Paris and this is pretty much how the story ends.
Like i said earlier this was a pretty good story. Towards the middle of the story it starts to get a little weird and i really don't understand the point of the story.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
"The Lazarus Project" by Alexksandar Hemon
The book starts out with Lazarus as a young man seemingly roaming around the streets of Chicago like a homeless person. Lazarus doesn't seem to have any family around him or at least anywhere close to him. It seems that he has come from Bosnia to America for work. One morning Lazarus tries to go to the chief of police's house, which to him seems like a very high scale mansion. But when he gets their the butler greets him at the door and tells him that he is to early to come back in a hour and he could see him. So Lazarus starts to walk around the city to pass the time until he can go back and talk to the chief of police. While walking around Lazarus stops in a store, mainly because he is hungry and the store he goes into smells good. While in the store the store owner and his wife seem to be very suspicious of Lazarus because of the way he is dressed and because he will not speak when spoken to. After a while Lazarus buys some candy thinking they will think different of him because he has money to spend on "pleasure items" as he says it. After that he pops some candy in his mouth and heads back to the chief's house.
When Lazarus knocked on the door the Chief opened it and Lazarus walked in a few steps. Lazarus didn't say anything and the chief just stared him down. At this time we get a glimpse of what the newspapers would say the next day, " In the brief all-comprehensive glance he gave his caller, William P. Miller will write in the Tribune, Chief Shippy took in a cruel, straight mouth with thick lips and a pair of gray eyes that were at the same time cold and fierce. There was a look about that slim, swarthy young man-clearly a Sicilian or a Jew- that could send a shiver of distrust into any honest man's heart. Yet Chief Shippy, never to be unsettled by malevolence, invited the stranger into the comfort of his living room.( page 7)". While standing there Lazarus threw an envelope into the chief's hand and from here seemingly for no reason all hell breaks loose. "I did not wait to examine the envelope any further. The thought struck me like a streak of lightening that the man was up to no good. He looked to me like an anarchist. I grabbed his arms and forcing them behind his back, called to my wife." (page 8) Seemingly for no good reason at all except that the young man looked like a foreigner there was a struggle and the chief eventually ended up shooting Lazarus killing him. Seems to me like racial profiling.
Next we get into the part with the main character. He mostly talks about the differences between American's and Bosnian people. His wife is a neurosurgeon and he is a writer. He seems to feel pretty bad or just simply embarrassed that his wife makes way more money than he does. He wants to do a story on the shooting of Lazarus that took place by this time a 100 years ago. But to do this he has to get some money and preferable a grant. He goes out the celebrate the Bosnian independence day and ends up meeting an older couple that own all kinds of foundations and surely have lots of money. The elderly woman finds out who he is and starts talking to him about all the articles and columns that he has written and about how much she likes them. Later on they start dancing it almost seems to me like he is just trying to get friendly with the old lady so that she will give him his grant. As the couple dance away he keeps stepping on her feet and eventually she falls down in pain and he drops down on his knees to see if he can help. But, everyone else thinks they are doing some kind of dance and pictures are taken and the old lady turns from pain to happy again. The book says, "Later on, all the Bosnians in the organization committee were delighted and praised me for giving Susie a good old time, for now that she and Bill had been exposed to the ecstatic joys of Bonian culture, a hefty check was doubtless in the offing." (page 16) So he pretty much did just get friendly with the old lady just to get at her money.
To me one of the more interesting parts comes up next when he runs into an old high school classmate Rora. He goes up to Rora expecting a big hug or slap on the back and ends up getting nothing. He then goes on to tell some stories of Rora back in high school. He seemed to be the cool kid in school always missing class never seemingly to worry about anything. He went to all kinds of exotic places, drove planes, fancy cars, sleep with older women, and ate lavish foods. All the kids were in awe of him and loved to here of his stories when ever he came back. There were lots of rumors about Rora's family, about his dad possibly being a spy or in some secrete agency, his family in some kind of mafia business and they were all killed so he lived with his dads friends and even some speculation that Rora himself was a spy. To me Rora seems like a pretty cool guy.
I know i havn't got into the story to far yet, it's kind of hard to find time to read towards the end of the semester but I think this story is starting to grab me a little more.
When Lazarus knocked on the door the Chief opened it and Lazarus walked in a few steps. Lazarus didn't say anything and the chief just stared him down. At this time we get a glimpse of what the newspapers would say the next day, " In the brief all-comprehensive glance he gave his caller, William P. Miller will write in the Tribune, Chief Shippy took in a cruel, straight mouth with thick lips and a pair of gray eyes that were at the same time cold and fierce. There was a look about that slim, swarthy young man-clearly a Sicilian or a Jew- that could send a shiver of distrust into any honest man's heart. Yet Chief Shippy, never to be unsettled by malevolence, invited the stranger into the comfort of his living room.( page 7)". While standing there Lazarus threw an envelope into the chief's hand and from here seemingly for no reason all hell breaks loose. "I did not wait to examine the envelope any further. The thought struck me like a streak of lightening that the man was up to no good. He looked to me like an anarchist. I grabbed his arms and forcing them behind his back, called to my wife." (page 8) Seemingly for no good reason at all except that the young man looked like a foreigner there was a struggle and the chief eventually ended up shooting Lazarus killing him. Seems to me like racial profiling.
Next we get into the part with the main character. He mostly talks about the differences between American's and Bosnian people. His wife is a neurosurgeon and he is a writer. He seems to feel pretty bad or just simply embarrassed that his wife makes way more money than he does. He wants to do a story on the shooting of Lazarus that took place by this time a 100 years ago. But to do this he has to get some money and preferable a grant. He goes out the celebrate the Bosnian independence day and ends up meeting an older couple that own all kinds of foundations and surely have lots of money. The elderly woman finds out who he is and starts talking to him about all the articles and columns that he has written and about how much she likes them. Later on they start dancing it almost seems to me like he is just trying to get friendly with the old lady so that she will give him his grant. As the couple dance away he keeps stepping on her feet and eventually she falls down in pain and he drops down on his knees to see if he can help. But, everyone else thinks they are doing some kind of dance and pictures are taken and the old lady turns from pain to happy again. The book says, "Later on, all the Bosnians in the organization committee were delighted and praised me for giving Susie a good old time, for now that she and Bill had been exposed to the ecstatic joys of Bonian culture, a hefty check was doubtless in the offing." (page 16) So he pretty much did just get friendly with the old lady just to get at her money.
To me one of the more interesting parts comes up next when he runs into an old high school classmate Rora. He goes up to Rora expecting a big hug or slap on the back and ends up getting nothing. He then goes on to tell some stories of Rora back in high school. He seemed to be the cool kid in school always missing class never seemingly to worry about anything. He went to all kinds of exotic places, drove planes, fancy cars, sleep with older women, and ate lavish foods. All the kids were in awe of him and loved to here of his stories when ever he came back. There were lots of rumors about Rora's family, about his dad possibly being a spy or in some secrete agency, his family in some kind of mafia business and they were all killed so he lived with his dads friends and even some speculation that Rora himself was a spy. To me Rora seems like a pretty cool guy.
I know i havn't got into the story to far yet, it's kind of hard to find time to read towards the end of the semester but I think this story is starting to grab me a little more.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
"Saints at the River" by Ron Rash
So far i have really enjoyed reading this book. I guess the fact that it takes place in South Carolina and and i have been in or heard of just about every place it talks about.
The story starts out with a young girl and her family having a pick nick on the bank of the Tamassee River. Since the river is on the the Georgia, South Carolina line the girl wants to wade out to the middle so that she can tell her friends back home that she has been in two states at one time. The girl, who i think they say was around 9 years old or so, wades out to the middle of the river and ends up getting swept downstream. The Tamassee River is very powerful especially during this time of year they say. The young girl ends up getting caught in a hydraulic and under a rock. The girls family tries to do all they can to save her, the mother dives in a few time but can't get her out and the father, who can't swim, just watches helplessly from the shore. But, the river is to powerful and they can't get the girl out.
After about 3 or 4 weeks the girls body has still not been recovered from the river. The girls father begins to raise hell about the situation, which i think is very understandable. The story eventually begins to attract the attention of some big time news media and that's when our main character Maggie Glenn comes into play. Maggie works for a newspaper company down in Columbia, but she is a native of the Tamassee River area and actually attended Clemson University. Maggie gets sent to cover the story, since she is a native of the area, with a rather famous writer Allen Hemphill. It turns out Maggie secretly like Allen but notices that he wears a wedding band on his finger even though everyone knows that he is single.
Maggie and Allen head out the next morning to cover the story. The car ride there seemed like Maggie was pretty nervous riding with Allen. She kept wanting to know more about Allen and why he wore a wedding ring. Once they got there Maggie seemed to know everyone and they all seemed very happy to see her. This is the exact same thing that happens when i go back home from school, everybody makes it seem like you've been gone forever, but i guess that's just the way things are in small town, I really wouldn't have it any other way. Anyways Maggie meets up with a few old friends and introduces Allen around to everyone. Allen ends up staying at a hotel the first night while Maggie goes to her house to stay with her father. Maggie's mother died when she was a junior in college and now her father lives at home alone but is dieing of cancer. Maggie and her father never really had a good relationship with each other so she is rather nervous about going back home to spend the night.
There is a meeting the next day about getting the young girl out of the river. The girls father has hired a portable dam company to build a temporary dam in the river to divert the water enough that they might be able to pull the girls body out of the river. But many of the locals especially Luke says that this is against the law because it would cause harm to the river. At the meeting many different people argue back and forth about what should be done. Personally i think that the portable dam would be a great idea as long as it could handle the power of the river. they say that the dam could be built, used, and taken out all in the same day without causing any harm at all to the river. I have to agree with the father i would be trying to do any and everything to get my daughter out. But the river rats don't agree with this. They say that this will cause harm to the river and led to other things such as roads being built and development taking place close to the river.
While at the meeting Allen records the whole things for his story. They next day down at the river they try to measure different depths and things in order to get some information to build the dam. Maggie and Allen get some good information from some of the major players involved and later on that night they meet up with Luke for supper at Moma Tilsons. Here Luke shows them all the paper work and some pictures of the laws protecting the river and says that if it were his daughter trapped in the river that he could image no better place for her to be. From this quote i can see where Luke is coming from but i still just doesn't seem right to let her stay in the river. Maggie also does some research on Allen and finds out that his wife and daughter were killed in a car crash and wonders how it feels to be covering a story like this. That night or either the next night Maggie and Allen head down to Billy's store for some guitar pickin and the two seem to hit it of pretty good. On the way home Allen skips past the hotel and drives down to the bridge. The two talk for a while and then end up kissing. The next morning they pack up and head back home.
Once back at the office Maggie gets praised for the picture she has taken. Allen is pretty close but has not yet finished his writting on the story. The two end up eating supper at Maggie's house that night for their "first date". Here Allen kind of opens up to Maggie about his feelings for his wife and daughter. He seems to really miss his daughter the most and feels like helping to get this little girl out of the river would make him feel like a better parent than he was to his daughter. When the night is over the two kiss goodnight and he heads back home. And thats as far along in the story as i have gotten.
Overall i like this story a lot. So far it is a pretty easy read and sort of hard to put down once i get going good. I strongly lean toward the side of doing everything i can to get the little girl out of the river. It can be done without the destroying the river like Luke and many of the other think it would.
bustling- a crowded space full of people walking around talking, lots of noise everyone very busy
rheumy- mucus disgarded from the eyes, nose, or mouth
juxtaposed- to place side by side, especially for comparison or contrast
The story starts out with a young girl and her family having a pick nick on the bank of the Tamassee River. Since the river is on the the Georgia, South Carolina line the girl wants to wade out to the middle so that she can tell her friends back home that she has been in two states at one time. The girl, who i think they say was around 9 years old or so, wades out to the middle of the river and ends up getting swept downstream. The Tamassee River is very powerful especially during this time of year they say. The young girl ends up getting caught in a hydraulic and under a rock. The girls family tries to do all they can to save her, the mother dives in a few time but can't get her out and the father, who can't swim, just watches helplessly from the shore. But, the river is to powerful and they can't get the girl out.
After about 3 or 4 weeks the girls body has still not been recovered from the river. The girls father begins to raise hell about the situation, which i think is very understandable. The story eventually begins to attract the attention of some big time news media and that's when our main character Maggie Glenn comes into play. Maggie works for a newspaper company down in Columbia, but she is a native of the Tamassee River area and actually attended Clemson University. Maggie gets sent to cover the story, since she is a native of the area, with a rather famous writer Allen Hemphill. It turns out Maggie secretly like Allen but notices that he wears a wedding band on his finger even though everyone knows that he is single.
Maggie and Allen head out the next morning to cover the story. The car ride there seemed like Maggie was pretty nervous riding with Allen. She kept wanting to know more about Allen and why he wore a wedding ring. Once they got there Maggie seemed to know everyone and they all seemed very happy to see her. This is the exact same thing that happens when i go back home from school, everybody makes it seem like you've been gone forever, but i guess that's just the way things are in small town, I really wouldn't have it any other way. Anyways Maggie meets up with a few old friends and introduces Allen around to everyone. Allen ends up staying at a hotel the first night while Maggie goes to her house to stay with her father. Maggie's mother died when she was a junior in college and now her father lives at home alone but is dieing of cancer. Maggie and her father never really had a good relationship with each other so she is rather nervous about going back home to spend the night.
There is a meeting the next day about getting the young girl out of the river. The girls father has hired a portable dam company to build a temporary dam in the river to divert the water enough that they might be able to pull the girls body out of the river. But many of the locals especially Luke says that this is against the law because it would cause harm to the river. At the meeting many different people argue back and forth about what should be done. Personally i think that the portable dam would be a great idea as long as it could handle the power of the river. they say that the dam could be built, used, and taken out all in the same day without causing any harm at all to the river. I have to agree with the father i would be trying to do any and everything to get my daughter out. But the river rats don't agree with this. They say that this will cause harm to the river and led to other things such as roads being built and development taking place close to the river.
While at the meeting Allen records the whole things for his story. They next day down at the river they try to measure different depths and things in order to get some information to build the dam. Maggie and Allen get some good information from some of the major players involved and later on that night they meet up with Luke for supper at Moma Tilsons. Here Luke shows them all the paper work and some pictures of the laws protecting the river and says that if it were his daughter trapped in the river that he could image no better place for her to be. From this quote i can see where Luke is coming from but i still just doesn't seem right to let her stay in the river. Maggie also does some research on Allen and finds out that his wife and daughter were killed in a car crash and wonders how it feels to be covering a story like this. That night or either the next night Maggie and Allen head down to Billy's store for some guitar pickin and the two seem to hit it of pretty good. On the way home Allen skips past the hotel and drives down to the bridge. The two talk for a while and then end up kissing. The next morning they pack up and head back home.
Once back at the office Maggie gets praised for the picture she has taken. Allen is pretty close but has not yet finished his writting on the story. The two end up eating supper at Maggie's house that night for their "first date". Here Allen kind of opens up to Maggie about his feelings for his wife and daughter. He seems to really miss his daughter the most and feels like helping to get this little girl out of the river would make him feel like a better parent than he was to his daughter. When the night is over the two kiss goodnight and he heads back home. And thats as far along in the story as i have gotten.
Overall i like this story a lot. So far it is a pretty easy read and sort of hard to put down once i get going good. I strongly lean toward the side of doing everything i can to get the little girl out of the river. It can be done without the destroying the river like Luke and many of the other think it would.
bustling- a crowded space full of people walking around talking, lots of noise everyone very busy
rheumy- mucus disgarded from the eyes, nose, or mouth
juxtaposed- to place side by side, especially for comparison or contrast
Sunday, March 11, 2012
"Glengarry Glen Ross" by David Mamet
I'm starting out at scene three here. Its seems like from here on out it's pretty much just everyone arguing with everyone else. In the beginning scenes we found out that Levene and Moss were planning on robbing the office to steal some of the better leads and sell them off to another guy for profit. Scene three starts out with Roma meeting a guy named Lingk at a restaurant and Roma pretty much runs his mouth the whole time. I may have missed something here but i really don't see where this scene fits into the whole play at all. But anyway act two starts out with the rest of the guys finding out that the office had been robbed and the leads had be stolen. This is where a lot of the arguing starts to begin everyone wants to blame everyone else for the robbery.
As usual Levene continues to act like a bad ass just because he closed an eighty two thousand dollar deal, which i have to admit i would be pretty proud of myself. But one of the things that i just don't like about him is that he just thinks he's better than everybody else, and that just drives me crazy. For example of page 76 when he is talking to Williamson he says, " Would you? Would you...? Or you're gonna what, fire me?" (page 76). And over on the next page he's talking trash to Roma he says, " What are you, you're a secretaty, John. FUck you. That's my mesage to you. Fuck you and kiss my ass. You don't like it, I'll go talk to Jerry Graff. Period. Fuck you." (page 77) I just don't see how Levene hasn't had his ass kicked yet, i just really don't like that guy. But anyways a little later on Williamson kind of puts two and two together and figures out that it was Levene that actually robbed the office. This is what Williamson tells Leven, " Well, I'm saying this, Shel; usually i take the contracts to the bank. Last night i didn't. How did you know that? One night in a year i left a contract on my desk. Nobody knew that buy you. Now hoe id you know that? You want to talk to me, you want to talk to someone else...because this is my job. This is my job on the line, an you are going to talk to me. now how did you know that contract was on my desk?" (page 99). After Williamson finally gets Levene to admit to it he also gets him to rat out Moss. The play ends with more arguing amongst everyone and with Levene trying to pay people off to keep him out of trouble but it's just not working.
To me my enjoyment of the play picked up a little more than it was in the beginning. It was a pretty quick read and once i got used to reading the "play" style format i was able to read it pretty quick. Overall i think it was a pretty decent play, kinda wish i could find out whats gonna happen to Levene though. Maybe he gets taken out by some mafia members or some hired guns by some of the other guys at the office haha.
schmuck- a surname of German orgin
prudence- is the ability to govern and discipline oneself by the use of reason.
As usual Levene continues to act like a bad ass just because he closed an eighty two thousand dollar deal, which i have to admit i would be pretty proud of myself. But one of the things that i just don't like about him is that he just thinks he's better than everybody else, and that just drives me crazy. For example of page 76 when he is talking to Williamson he says, " Would you? Would you...? Or you're gonna what, fire me?" (page 76). And over on the next page he's talking trash to Roma he says, " What are you, you're a secretaty, John. FUck you. That's my mesage to you. Fuck you and kiss my ass. You don't like it, I'll go talk to Jerry Graff. Period. Fuck you." (page 77) I just don't see how Levene hasn't had his ass kicked yet, i just really don't like that guy. But anyways a little later on Williamson kind of puts two and two together and figures out that it was Levene that actually robbed the office. This is what Williamson tells Leven, " Well, I'm saying this, Shel; usually i take the contracts to the bank. Last night i didn't. How did you know that? One night in a year i left a contract on my desk. Nobody knew that buy you. Now hoe id you know that? You want to talk to me, you want to talk to someone else...because this is my job. This is my job on the line, an you are going to talk to me. now how did you know that contract was on my desk?" (page 99). After Williamson finally gets Levene to admit to it he also gets him to rat out Moss. The play ends with more arguing amongst everyone and with Levene trying to pay people off to keep him out of trouble but it's just not working.
To me my enjoyment of the play picked up a little more than it was in the beginning. It was a pretty quick read and once i got used to reading the "play" style format i was able to read it pretty quick. Overall i think it was a pretty decent play, kinda wish i could find out whats gonna happen to Levene though. Maybe he gets taken out by some mafia members or some hired guns by some of the other guys at the office haha.
schmuck- a surname of German orgin
prudence- is the ability to govern and discipline oneself by the use of reason.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
"Glengarry Glen Ross" By David Mamet
To start with I really do not like reading plays. With the names up the characters constantly being on the side of the page i find it very distracting to read. Also to me i just do not feel like the story flows as well when its written this way.
Act one scene one takes place at a Chinese restaurant with John Williamson and Shelly Levene. The two seem to be arguing over some business. Although Levene is older it seems like Williamson has more power and control with the business. It seems that Levene has had a run of bad luck lately and is having trouble closing deals. I'm not sure what kind of work these guys do but it seems to me like they are in the reality business or something of that nature. From reading just the first act i can already tell i won't like Levene very much. He seems like a cry baby and somebody who is all talk. Also he seems to repeat words a lot even withing the same sentence for some reason this really just aggravates me and adds to my dislike of Levene. For example the very first words he says in scene one, "John...John...John. Okay. John. John" (pg150). After he finally finishes saying John for the twenty time he goes on to say something else. Throughout the first scene the two seem to argue back and forth with Levene mostly complaining and trying to push the blame onto other people. Levene just really gets under my skin. On page 24 he tells Williamson, who i think is his superior, "Fuck that. That's defeatist. Fuck that. Fuck it...Get on my side. Go with me. Let's do something. You want to run this office, run it (pg 24)". I would never talk to my superior that way unless i pretty much knew i wasn't going to have a job there the next day. The scene ends with Williamson getting tired of Levene's crap and leaving the restaurant.
Scene two starts out with Aaronow and Moss sitting in a restaurant as well. They also seem to be talking about business and they both seem as though they are being screwed. They both seem to want to be more like Jerry Graff who found a list of like a thousand nurses. They say that Jerry clears anywhere from ten the fifteen thousand dollars a week. Aaronow and Moss both seem to think that they are being screwed out of good leads just as Levene believes that he is as well. For example Moss says, "That's what I'm saying. Why? The leads. He's got the good leads...what are we, we're sitting in the shit here. Why? We have to go to them to get them."(page 34). Later on in the scene is seems as though Aaronow wants Moss to break into the office building and steal all the leads making it look like a robbery. After they steal the leads he want to sell them all to Jerry Graff and go into business with him. This is pretty much how scene two ends with both me arguing back and forth about robbing the office of the leads and whats going to happen to each of them if they get caught.
Seville- is the capitol of the autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville, Spain
Antagonize- a person or group of people who oppose some one else or another group
Polacks- a derogetory reference to a person of Polish decent.
Act one scene one takes place at a Chinese restaurant with John Williamson and Shelly Levene. The two seem to be arguing over some business. Although Levene is older it seems like Williamson has more power and control with the business. It seems that Levene has had a run of bad luck lately and is having trouble closing deals. I'm not sure what kind of work these guys do but it seems to me like they are in the reality business or something of that nature. From reading just the first act i can already tell i won't like Levene very much. He seems like a cry baby and somebody who is all talk. Also he seems to repeat words a lot even withing the same sentence for some reason this really just aggravates me and adds to my dislike of Levene. For example the very first words he says in scene one, "John...John...John. Okay. John. John" (pg150). After he finally finishes saying John for the twenty time he goes on to say something else. Throughout the first scene the two seem to argue back and forth with Levene mostly complaining and trying to push the blame onto other people. Levene just really gets under my skin. On page 24 he tells Williamson, who i think is his superior, "Fuck that. That's defeatist. Fuck that. Fuck it...Get on my side. Go with me. Let's do something. You want to run this office, run it (pg 24)". I would never talk to my superior that way unless i pretty much knew i wasn't going to have a job there the next day. The scene ends with Williamson getting tired of Levene's crap and leaving the restaurant.
Scene two starts out with Aaronow and Moss sitting in a restaurant as well. They also seem to be talking about business and they both seem as though they are being screwed. They both seem to want to be more like Jerry Graff who found a list of like a thousand nurses. They say that Jerry clears anywhere from ten the fifteen thousand dollars a week. Aaronow and Moss both seem to think that they are being screwed out of good leads just as Levene believes that he is as well. For example Moss says, "That's what I'm saying. Why? The leads. He's got the good leads...what are we, we're sitting in the shit here. Why? We have to go to them to get them."(page 34). Later on in the scene is seems as though Aaronow wants Moss to break into the office building and steal all the leads making it look like a robbery. After they steal the leads he want to sell them all to Jerry Graff and go into business with him. This is pretty much how scene two ends with both me arguing back and forth about robbing the office of the leads and whats going to happen to each of them if they get caught.
Seville- is the capitol of the autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville, Spain
Antagonize- a person or group of people who oppose some one else or another group
Polacks- a derogetory reference to a person of Polish decent.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
The Same River Twice
This section of the book follows the same pattern as the beginning. One chapter on him as an adult about to have a baby and the next chapter on him as a young boy exploring the world. The author spends most of his time continuously worrying about the baby's health, and if he will be the cause of it if something is wrong. For example at one point in the story he says, "I was against the test, afraid that if oour child turned out damaged, it would mean that i was too" (page55). I think his wife is starting to worry about the health of the baby as well simply because her husband is so concerned with it. On page 55 it shows an example of this by saying, "She wanted amnioscentesis to eliminate the worry of producing a baby less than perfect".
The author still seems to wander through the woods seemingly doing nothing while his wife goes to work everyday. He did however recieve some payment for a short story that he wrote. He feels that the payment makes his wife feel comfortable with her decision to have a baby with him. The payment he recieved was only 54 dollars and i think thats the only money he has brought in for a while now. It seems to me that he is pretty much lazy and just doesn't want to do anything at all. This is pretty evident in some of the chapter in which he is a young kid roaming around the world alone.
At one point he considers himself a drifter and doesn't know if he is running from something or running to something. Most of the time while he is our drifting from state to state as a young kid he finds work but hardly every stays at one occupation for a decent amount of time. At one point in the story he says, " Montana was a beautiful state but lacked employment" (page 67). At this point in time he seems to be wandering around looking for the perfect job moving from state to state. He did find one job that he like as a dishwasher. But the only reason he liked it was because he didn't have to do hardly anything including think. He even turned down a job with higher pay as a short order breakfast cook because he said he like the freedom of washing dishes.
To me so far the story seems to have a pretty continous patter of worried father to be and lonesome wandering kid. To me the worried father to be chapters are pretty boring but i do enjoy reading about his adventures as a young kid.
amnioscentesis- is a medical procedure used in prenatal diagnosis of chromosomal abnornormalities and fetal infections, in which a small amount of amniotic fluid, which contains fetal tissues, is sampled from the amnion or amniotic sac surrounding a developing fetus, and the fetal DNA is examined for genetic abnormalities.
dyslexia- a learning dissability that impairs a persons fluency or comprehension accuracy in being able to read.
trepidation- ossilation in the precission of equinoxs
corpuscles- a small free floationg biological cell, exspecially a blood cell.
The author still seems to wander through the woods seemingly doing nothing while his wife goes to work everyday. He did however recieve some payment for a short story that he wrote. He feels that the payment makes his wife feel comfortable with her decision to have a baby with him. The payment he recieved was only 54 dollars and i think thats the only money he has brought in for a while now. It seems to me that he is pretty much lazy and just doesn't want to do anything at all. This is pretty evident in some of the chapter in which he is a young kid roaming around the world alone.
At one point he considers himself a drifter and doesn't know if he is running from something or running to something. Most of the time while he is our drifting from state to state as a young kid he finds work but hardly every stays at one occupation for a decent amount of time. At one point in the story he says, " Montana was a beautiful state but lacked employment" (page 67). At this point in time he seems to be wandering around looking for the perfect job moving from state to state. He did find one job that he like as a dishwasher. But the only reason he liked it was because he didn't have to do hardly anything including think. He even turned down a job with higher pay as a short order breakfast cook because he said he like the freedom of washing dishes.
To me so far the story seems to have a pretty continous patter of worried father to be and lonesome wandering kid. To me the worried father to be chapters are pretty boring but i do enjoy reading about his adventures as a young kid.
amnioscentesis- is a medical procedure used in prenatal diagnosis of chromosomal abnornormalities and fetal infections, in which a small amount of amniotic fluid, which contains fetal tissues, is sampled from the amnion or amniotic sac surrounding a developing fetus, and the fetal DNA is examined for genetic abnormalities.
dyslexia- a learning dissability that impairs a persons fluency or comprehension accuracy in being able to read.
trepidation- ossilation in the precission of equinoxs
corpuscles- a small free floationg biological cell, exspecially a blood cell.
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