Aye & Gomorrahby Samuel R. Delany [short story 2]

At first as I was reading this short story I felt so confused, and slowly I felt less confused and then at the end I realized I still felt confused. Then I thought about what I had just read and realized I wasn't as confused as I thought I was. I actually felt like I really understood something important about the story and after listening to what other people had to say about it in class I know what that important thing was. After reading this and figuring it out I feel as if I've learned something about myself. The actions in the story itself don't reflect in my life in any way but the motives to those actions do.

I thought this story was about desires. In my mind it almost played a role of celebrity vs a fan. You have these characters who are Spacers; they are desired, there's a much more limited number of them compared to the Frelk, they're a bit of an outcast as a group, people want them but at the same time don't want them around. Then you have the Frelk who make it part of their lives to desires these Spacers. They pay them for whatever it is that they desire. They can't actually be with the Spacers, they can't actually do much of anything but at the same time they want something from them and it's something the Spacers are incapable of giving, even if what they want is just some sort of emotion. I don't think the Spacers are capable of giving emotion to the Frelk. The way they conversed about them amongst themselves in the story seems as if they think very low of the people who think very highly of them.

It was interesting to read the story from the point-of-view that it was given, even if it did make it confusing. I liked how when the Spacer and the girl were talking they tried to understand each other a little. She didn't want to be a Frelk but she came to terms of the fact that she just couldn't help it. She wanted someone who couldn't possibly want her back. At the same time the Spacer sort of felt like "he" [I'll use the word he because he was a male before becoming a Spacer] wanted something from her but even though money was the most common thing that they wanted from Frelks he didn't want money from her. Even though the Spacers don't have desires in ways I think they do. I just think they don't act on those desires, they almost don't know what they are, and they certainly don't let it shape who they are.

The one thing I still don't understand about this short story is why so many people wanted them to leave. I guess I understand why the girl, at the end of the story, wanted the Spacer to leave, possibly because she knew she had nothing to give in return. Also maybe she was just so used to being lonely that she wanted to just end her fantasy because he couldn't give her anything and the only way to end that thought is to do what you can to get rid of it, by asking it to leave and hope that it does go away.

11/20/10 class notes

What makes it Sci-Fi; my idea of sci-fi

• space adventure
• adventures
• ranks on a ship, usually mostly about the operating group
• mysterious planets and the adventure there
• a mission given to the spaceship
• new technology, technology in general
• spaceship
• isolation, usually
• unknown force they have to go against, usually a new monster
• a lot of the planets looks the same, dry & dusty, so areas might have more greenery
• sometimes new races/creatures, but usually the main race is human

In-class ideas

• the future
• robots, artificial humans
• I Robot
• Post-apocalyptic
• Aliens, cross species relationships
• Good/Evil
• Fashion of space
• time travel

Star Light, Star Bright By Alfred Bester [Short Story 1]

I enjoyed the way this short story started out. It really got to the action and point quite quickly. What I liked the most about the beginning of the story was how the main characters name continued to changed but I liked how the author added all those names together so that you could better realize that it was the same person. I think it was an interesting way to make you really wonder what this person was doing. Such as why he was interviewing these people with the same last name. And why he was asking them as a different person with a different occupation and what seemed to be different motives. As I was reading I knew there had to be a pattern in his questions and then I soon realized that it was strange that a man acting as someone from the Science Institute, Association of National Broadcasters, and the Better Business Bureau would ask so many questions about the families kids.

The next thing I liked about this short story was that the main character who is a teacher who is looking through fifth-grade homework about a very common subject, their vacation, and reads this story that seems completely exaggerated and he actually believes the child. I like that we get to read the child's homework to better understand what it is that the main character is looking for. What I think is strange that he not only believes this child but he wants to find him for money. I'm not sure how many people would invest in such a crazy idea about this ten year old boy who could have just made up. What I also think is that this idea is kind of sad that they want to take these kids and use their powers that no one fully understands and sell, or control,  them for money. I'm sure the children don't really think about using their power except for things that only kids are worried about such as having to eat stuff they don't like or if they're a lazy children then they worry about having to get up and walk somewhere. There are much more dangerous things that they could be using it for and those things are what adults would use the powers for. I know these children don't fully realize their powers and of course they never mean to hurt anyone all they know is protection and realize what they need to do to keep who they love and themselves protected.

Kiki's Delivery Service & Hayao Miyazaki

Kiki's Delivery Service, Hayao Miyazaki

I use to watch Kiki's Delivery Service during the summer when I went to visit my grandma because we never, and still don't, have tv channels at my house. But I remember Kiki's Delivery Service coming on. Back then I probably didn't realize what a work of art it is as well as the rest of Hayao Miyazaki's films are. I actually didn't really learn about him till last year when my sister practically made me watch Howl's Moving Castle. I really liked Howl's Moving Castle, at first I was just like wow this is a great movie but then I found myself needing to watch that movie. It was my favorite Miyazaki movie for a while till I watched Spirited Away, which was actually just a few days ago. I found that movie to be so amazingly captivating. I'm actually a little lost for words when trying to even describe his movies.

One thing that feels so great about going to an art school is that you find people feel the same way about things that a huge majority could care less about. It's not that maybe those people wouldn't like those things but they don't want to try anything new to appreciate something that they only think is going to be dumb. Being around the people at school has really opened up my eyes to new things and enhanced the things I was already interested in. I have bought all the books that we were suggested to read and I have found that I have liked each one. I'm happy to have been opened up to new books because I probably would not have found them on my own. I know the people from my high school would probably look down on me for enjoying animes or mangas, or probably even Hayao Miyazaki's movies.

One small thing I enjoy about Miyazaki's movies are the cute little characters that play little side roles. Like the cat in Kiki's Delivery Service, the baby who turns into a mouse, a little black bird, and the balls of ash in Spirited Away, or Turnip-head and the dog in Howl's Moving Castle. They have this comic relief to the serious parts of his movies. They are so adorable and sometimes you see them off to the side making these faces that are part of their personality. I just want to hug each and every one of them.

He has powerful characters, environments, and storylines. His storylines sometimes actually have me a bit confused. I love the needs and desires of his characters. How they really want to be good people and always have good goals. Of course the scenes are beyond beautiful. I find it so amazing how full of color they are but never appear over the top.

Anansi Boys [Novel 6] & Stardust [Movie 2]

Anansi Boys

I am reading Anansi Boys right now. I'm a few chapters into it and I really enjoy Neil Gaiman's writing style. It's quite captivating. After watching his interview from when he was at MTI today in class I really enjoy him as a person and a writer. After hearing that Fat Charlie and the rest of the characters are indeed of an african decent, I feel it should have been obvious to me, especially when Mrs. Higgler told Charlie an African Tale that seemed to relate to them and yet it wasn't obvious to me. I wish I could comment more about the book but I just feel as if it's one of those books where nothing is as it seems. Such as, when Fat Charlie talks about his father I feel this deep sense of dislike when I think about the father. But since I don't know that whole story yet I feel as if that feeling might change throughout the book, or maybe not at this point it's just a hunch. I enjoy how the story is flowing. We get the here-and-now, an ancient African Tale, past experiences, and past lives all within a few chapters. It's a nice and refreshing flow.


Stardust

I actually stumbled upon this movie a couple of years ago in a movie rental store during the summer and I thought it was a great movie. I don't find it cheesy at all. If it is at all cheesy the story flows so well that it doesn't bother me. The characters are lovable, maybe a little crazy but enjoyable. There's a lot of little messages in the movie like be who you are, what you always want is not always what you need, and other little messages. I like how there's this wall that no one thinks about crossing but really there's this whole other place/world just on the other side of that wall. My favorite character is Tristian. He sort of has no idea what he wants out of life. It's like he feels he has this life to live and so he begins to chase after this girl who is so wrong for him. I like how his adventure betters his life and it makes him happier than what he thought would happen.