PERSEPOLIS

This is the first graphic novel that I have read. I have read comic strips before and I love them. I really enjoyed reading Persepolis. I am anxious to read the second part of this book. I thought Marjane Satrapi was able to portray how her childhood was while growing up. I think that the black and white pictures are more effective than color pictures would be. It's almost like life is supposed to be black and white. Satrapi was able to convey what growing up in an unstable country was like. Considering what is going on in Iran today, this graphic novel was a perfect choice for this class. Satrapi was able to write with the innocence of a child and was able to make us feel like we were experiencing things too. One scene that I was particularly affected by was when the Rex Cinema was burned down with 400 people inside. I thought that the drawings described the helplessness of the people that weren't allowed to help. The scene where the fire is licking at the souls of the victims got the point across that so many peopled died and they probably suffered.
I liked how Satrapi described her schooling also. I liked how the teachings changed with what was popular or with who was in control of the country at the time. The history books were changed when power changed. It shows that history is what people make of it and is not always the truth.
Satrapi shows that her dad questions things that the Iranian government is telling them also. He waits for confirmation from the BBC radio program before he accepts things. Satrapi shows how her parents conform in public but not behind closed doors. They show their disagreements with family members but they don't attract attention to themselves so they don't get hurt.
Satrapi allows us to view her life and how she remembers growing up. I think that by using the graphic novel, she allows us to really see how her life was. We are able to picture her growing up in the midst of the revolution.
I think that politics and sentiment are not meant to mix. Politics should be based on facts but more often than not, they are based on sentiment and on people's opinions. Politics should be about what is best for everyone in that particular country. That is not how the world works though.

GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS

I didn't like this play at all. It was very easy to read and I could picture the scenes in my mind while I was reading but I couldn't identify with the content at all. I don't think that Mamet thinks that women are bad, but I think that he is trying to show that in the MAN'S working world, women have no place. Women are inferior in this type of business and they are only there to take things away from the men. Women are the ones to say no to the sell, women are the ones who make life miserable. Mamet wants men in this play to be seen as tough manly men. There is no room for femininity in their business. The "secretary" in the play is even looked down upon even though it is a man.
I liked the movie interpretation of the play better than the play itself. It may have to do with the fact that I like most of the actors that were in the movie. The characters were brought to life better and we were able to see what their motivations were for making the sells. Levine was trying to sell so he could pay for his daughter's hospital care. He was motivated to do something good even while trying to sell crap. I think that Roma is motivated by the money and the fact that he knows that he is good at this selling scam and he wants to remain on top.

rear window

I really enjoyed this film. I had only seen “The Birds” and I really enjoyed the similarities in the Hitchcock films. In both of the films, the main female character starts out almost perfect in their appearance and in their demeanor. By the end of the films, the beautiful women have become more normal (less perfect) in their appearance and in their mannerisms.I like that the relationship between Jeffries and Lisa is focused on while we are watching the relationships of the other apartment dwellers. We are watching people but at the same time, we are watching Lisa become less perfect in her attire and less stand-offish in her mannerisms. At the beginning of the film, she is wearing a designer dress and is almost floating around the apartment. By the end of the film, she is wearing jeans and is lying down on the bed. Jeffries looks at Lisa as a perfect woman and he can’t marry someone who is so perfect. As the film progresses, we see that Lisa is getting more involved in what is happening to the neighbors and she is letting us see into her character. We get the sense that she is looking for something just like Jeffries. They are both starting to see the other in a new way. We see Lisa getting involved in the neighbors’ lives and not just being in the background like an accessory. In the beginning of the film, Jeffries pictures Lisa’s home life like Miss Torso’s. Miss Torso has lots of male callers and Jeffries thinks that Lisa, since she is also beautiful, must have the same thing going on in her life away from him. Lisa tells him that he is incorrect in his thinking this way because he doesn’t come to her home. At the end of the film, we see that Miss Torso was waiting for her boyfriend who is in the military. Hitchcock allows us to follow what is happening in Jeffries and Lisa’s lives by making the similarities to the neighbors’ lives very obvious. We see what is happening to the neighbors and then we see the reaction shots that are focused on Jeffries and Lisa. We see that they are becoming closer because they are involved in finding out what has happened to Mrs. Thorwald. When the dog’s owner is screaming, all of the neighbors stop and pay attention to what she is saying. She is screaming that no one ever pays attention to what is going on all around them but Jeffries has been paying attention because he “had” to. He was forced to watch because of his injury. He couldn’t do much else to pass them time away.

King Lear

I don't necessarily agree with Kahn's entire argument but I do agree with certain parts of it. I definitely agree with point #2 about how Lear finally manages to let the woman's feelings in after a lifetime of defense against it. The entire play is about how King Lear is finding himself and how things can change in an instant. I think that he is realizing that in order for him to succeed in relating to his daughters, he must try to think like them. Since there is no "mother" figure, Lear must assume that role also so he can try to understand how his daughters can do such terrible things to him in his old age.
I like the fact that Shakespeare makes King Lear realize how vulnerable men and women (fathers and mothers) are when it comes to their children. King Lear doesn't think that his daughters will do anything to hurt him and that they will take care of him. He expects it. That is not what happens though. He is very upset and hurt when he finds out that two of his daughters only want what is best for them. He realizes that he doesn't understand how they would not take care of their own father.
I definitely understand King Lear's hesitation to embrace the "feminine side" of his life. Shakespeare doesn't portray women very kindly in this play. Either women are wives (and in this play very sneaky and cunning) or they are courtesans which are to be enjoyed by men and then left.
Shakespeare portrays King Lear as an aging man who is crazy. Kent consistently refers to him as his wits being gone. I think that King Lear has always been a little off in his wits but that with his advanced age, it has gotten much more noticable. I think that this is why it is such a big surprise to me that his two daughters won't care for him. They can clearly see that his thinking is not rational but they won't even try to apease his sense of self. After he gives up his land to the daughters, he seems to have lost all value to them. It seems that they were only being nice to him to get what they wanted. I don't think that King Lear really understands what is going on in his life until he sees his daughters turn against him.

the Moviegoer blog....S. Reining

I don’t think that Binx has resolved his search successfully. I think that he doesn’t really know what he is searching for. I think that he is trying to find something different in his world and he is not sure how to go about changing his normal day-to-day life. I think that he is feeling that he should be doing something meaningful with his life but he is unsure what he should be doing. I think that he is unsatisfied with his life choices and he wants to try to not be like everyone else. He doesn’t want to be “so sunk in everydayness that he might just as well be dead”. (p13)
I think that Binx is very intimidated by the thought of being responsible for someone else. He seems to go along with his aunt whenever she wants him to talk to or check on his step-cousin Kate to make sure that she is alright. It’s almost like Binx is still a child when he visits his aunt. He mainly sits and observes things that are going on in the house. He doesn’t really fit in with the other family members. He doesn’t particularly care for Mardi Gras and the activities that go along with the Carnival celebrations like his uncles.
Binx’s mother and aunt both tell him that he is just like his father. He says he doesn’t remember much about his father but he has the impression that his father didn’t fit in with the family either. When he is looking at a picture of his uncles and his father (p25) he describes “my father is not one of them”. He doesn’t quite know what sets his father apart from his brothers but he feels connected to his father because they are both different.
Walker Percy seems to make turning 30 a big turning point for Binx. By the time most people turn 30, they have a family, a career, and some inkling of where their life is headed. Most people seem content with following that path. Binx is not one of those people. He is still flirting with his secretaries and his step-cousin, Kate, and he has no desire to settle down and get married. He seems to enjoy managing the small branch of his uncle’s brokerage firm but he doesn’t seem to have any aspirations beyond that. He says that “it is not a bad life at all.” (p9) But he still is on this “search”.
By the end of the book, Binx and Kate have gotten married. He seems content to look after her and direct her life. She is looking for someone to tell her exactly what to do and when to do it. “What I want is to believe in someone completely and then do what he wants me to do.” Kate wants someone else to lead her. Binx has been a follower also in his life and he seems to be ok with leading Kate in their future. He has become comfortable with his life and it seems that his aunt has accepted that he is just “a very ordinary fellow”. (p237)