Revision: Witches of all Power

It was assigned to use to revise and improve one of our blog post to make it show how much we've learned while taking the class. It was hard for me do decide since I put some of my feelings into certain subjects while discussing them but when making the decision it soon started to make sense. I choose the subject of witches to revise since I realized that I didn't cover a few things that I learned about the Novel and how it directly relates to witches.

 Witches have been known through literature to be either  mischievous, manipulative, or powerful women that use their skills to either bind people to their will or pull cruel tricks to their expense. They are usually seen as old and wicked, which is similar to how they are depicted in the book "Aunt Maria" (Black Mariah). In the story, Aunt Maria came off as manipulative by forcing her family to take care of her and do situations that they didn't like doing by acting weak and helpless. They said she talked in a tone that made them feel guilty and that they owed her since her son (I think) died. Maria pertains an old, weak exterior but uses it to control people to do her biding.

Going a little off subject to the book, witches have many portrays other than old, manipulative women. One example is from a movie called "Kiki's delivery service". This showed witches in a different lights as something positive that people were excited to see instead of something to fear. Kiki's tale was a coming of age story for her to travel to a town and settle down and find her place in the world. Her abilities were limited to flying in her broom and having a black cat, a more simplistic way of showing a witch without casting spells and hexes. This type of directions to how witches were treated in the middle ages is different for how they are interpreted do the stores around them. Even Hermione Granger is seen as a positive witch in stories instead of being something to be feared because of her power.

Females having power was something that men feared since their egos like for them to feel dominant and in control. But with the new development with Kiki and many more, witches just seem to be a mythical part of the fantasy world and have even lowered to things like Sabrina the teenage witch. All and all, there are now a different type of ways to show women with power whether it's with manipulation or flight or even a laugh track and a talking cat.

While there are many similarities between the witches of Black Maria and today's society it was a good read and brought back a lot of old memories to how manipulation and control works in civilization.

Reading of Harry Potter Series: Wizards and Magic and Spells, Oh My!

I've only had time to read the first book of the Harry Potter series after seeing the movies recently. I wasn't and still am not all that into the fantasy world of Harry Potter but the lore is interesting to get into for first time readers of a novel series. Besides length, the reveal of Voldemort was more tension worthy in the book than just viewing it in the film, or maybe it's just me since I created a similar scenario with Psycho. The pacing was boring for me with Harry living with his step-family being much longer than it was shown in the book. Quiditch matches were more common than just one scene like in the movie and  the locations of where events happened like Harry spying on Snape in the forbidden forest instead of the hallway. There might have been other changes that I didn't mention but I'll admit I asked friends since it was also a while since I've seen the movie as well.

Back on the case about me not having a huge interest in fantasy. I love the imagination it came from thinking of a whole universe in the series but I feel this whole finding your place in the world can be used by many other type themes. The magical one just feels overused now and I would like to see more done like have some of the spells be very dangerous to use that it could kill or have them summon creatures as guardians. Just a little more variety on the spells and not just the world around them. But that's just what I'm into

All in all, fantasy is such an open topic for things I feel it should go beyond the fairs and trolls and go all the way to the extreme of the effects it can bring to a different group of people.

The re-reading of Frankenstein

Frankenstein is another of the novels that Ive read to refresh myself in what happened in the story. Basically The tale starts Victor Frankenstein who plays god and creates a monster. After creating said monster he becomes freighted of the very creature he was brought to life. He runs off and leaves the monster to experience the world for himself. While finding it suffering, the Monster than turns to Victor to take responsibility for his creation but he refuses to do so. So the monster kills each of Victor's loved ones one by one and he in no way excepts his role in the story.



When first reading this, I noticed that maybe if Victor just excepted this role rather than be afraid of the creature himself than maybe his family could have been spared. Maybe he could have even thought of the consequences of his actions on others instead of just his own goals then maybe this tragedy could have been fixed and not suffering would have occurred.

Sadly I will admit I was one of the few people of this Earth that thought Frankenstein was the monster and not the creator himself. Than again, could it be argued that Victor wasn't a monster himself by letting all of his family die and not taking responsibility in his creation.

In class assignment: the Future

How the future will look five years from now.

I can imagine that the teens of the future will either be into the latest sensations about celebrities and they will be dressing in more provocative clothing like it’s natural. Technology is changing everyday so there might be new i-phones like the i-phone 6 with the ability to call someone with voice command and have it sync up into your brain. I would be working in my career in designing logos and maybe switch up to explore a more active style.

How the future will look in ten years.

I would hope we will have hover boards and school equipment’s will be electronic and holographic. There will also be new programs that people would use artwork with. We would have fast food delivered to our houses to make people more lazy and gluttonous. The government will be more corrupt and lay down excessive rules just to show dominance. Jails will still be the same but more strict and uneducated. Japan might be developing robots.

How the future will look in twenty years.

I will think about having kids at this time but some kids might need parental guidance. Robots will be our slaves and might try to overthrow us that it will make all of humanity work against them. I hope we fix teleportation and have ways for society to evolve further than what we already are. Might lose a few grandparents and we would have television and movies only shown through holographic computers. We will also have these functions on our phones. The internet lingo will transfer as common language among society and it will cause us to try to do stupid crap like troll in real life.

How the future will look in fifty years

I will have my savings from working as a motion designer and money from my family. I will be an old man who will still try to understand programs and reminisce about the good old days in my childhood. I’ve felt like I’ve lived a good life and hope to have someone help take care of me. Society will do things that were once considered taboo but are now a necessity for living in the future.  Society will be able to make an environment in space and we start to think about words rather than type them. Everything is through thought process rather than through hand work.

Reading: a Clockwork Orange

After finally reading the book I was shocked on the changes it was compared to the movies. This was one of those moments where I saw the movie first and read the novel later. And here I thought the movie was bad when I first viewed it. The book seems to be more violent and harmful than the film with the drugged and rape of 10 year old girls and the sexually assault and murder. The ending had more of a resolution than the film did with having Alex grow up and learn his lesson rather than just being cured. The scenes while Alex was in prison were painful to read since it showed the results of the  Ludovico Technique. Despite it's effects being harmful I believe that in the future, humanity can create something like this in the future. It's a real literary speculation for events like rape and drugs be common and popular in a alternate like society. While a Clockwork Orange gets praise and a lot of love for it's story and character development it still feels unsettling to me and leaves a bad taste in my mouth for what might come in the near future.

The Blood Child and humans role

Reading the story "Bloodchild", it first started out confusing with names and settings. But soon I got into the story and was still confused but understood the difficulties the main character has to go through in deciding that he would take the burden that his siblings didn't know about. I've felt before the struggle in experiencing making a tough decision that you just want to run away from. If reflected values that I've also seen in society. It's like it's hard to see a different species that isn't human. The story showed humans as the side characters rather than the main focus. I think humans role was seen as just objects rather than superior creatures. It was a first for me since society wants to be the dominate species. It goes right back to race, religion, sex, even extraterrestrials for them to be the ones to succeed and the unknown to falter. I wonder does society always like reading about their own species to relate to or separate themselves into other things that we don't know about. It was refreshing to read about a different sub group that others can't relate to since not all of things that are relatable the things people want to view themselves with.

The "Aqua-cockblock" uncle

While reading the aquatic uncle, it felt a little weird to read a literary speculation about a fish and his family evolving and going through changes throughout the world. It was sure a different experience than to what I was used to reading but it was also expected as well. The story was about one stage in evolution left the sea and goes to land. The family wanted their old uncle to get out of the sea and live like civilians but he didn't want to escape his old ways. The story continues with a family member's fiancee taking an interest in the uncle and was fascinated with his life. While he was embarrassed about his uncles life, she embraced it like it was a new experience.

Why I titled this post the way I did was because the main character's fiancé who was interested in the uncles foreign life style, decided to live with the uncle and leave her fiancé for him. It's something I consider weird since it's someones uncle. I understand why she was fascinated by his life but to leave and stay with him rather than convince her fiancé to change his ways seems really scumbag to me. In which cans it goes to "cock blocking".

It felt a little weird to read about aquatic life being exhibited as a change in lifestyle. It's more about a story of evolution and it seems important for a distinction from how humanity lives but also a connection. Humanity considers itself superior to other life forms rather they be aliens or animals. It's just our desire to be the dominant species. I've seen society want to be dominant and not looked down on. It could even go back to race since for me being an african american I've felt and seen people that just don't want to be looked down on upon others and they want so show their evolution being shames. It wasn't wrong for the uncle to not want to change his lifestyle, but I've also felt that he could also understand the society is forever changing and the old ways will never be continued as a part of life (unless it's like a hipster fad).

It was an interesting read and I've found interesting depictions about literary speculation but as it effects my life along with everyone else we all might have speculations based on our own ego itself.

Literal Mind Fuck

The type of reality that was presented by the film, Paprika is through entering people's dreams as a form of therapy. It's a more surreal type of world where they've created devices that can enter people's subconscious and confront different reality of species. It sort of like a world of steampunk world and the cyberpunk world, it focuses on how the world is changed through a single product. The effects of this reality are like a hypnotic form of therapy for the subconscious.


The movie is about a detective who has been troubled with recurring dreams and this scientist uses a persona to help him through the dream world. The world is weird but seems to have a hidden message about people's thoughts taking on life and tap into the mind of people's thoughts. To most people the effects of these types of movie make people freak out. However, this also fascinates people to understand a deeper meaning behind the story.

I see the change in body modification, use of steam powered objects and as the movie Paprika did, have   yourself transferred into the subconscious, ways for society to want to improve themselves for imperfections that they noticed about humanity. It's more of the extreme for me but it could have been seen as the potential for the unknown. For most readers this sort of genre is strange and surreal but for others it could be the start of the future.

Space Opera

I've recently re-read the book "the Stars my Destination" after reading it in high school and I loved the book. The lore, the settings, even the telekinesis amazed me to read it all again. The book was written by Alfred Bester and it was on of the few science fiction books that really connected with me. I felt "this is how a science fit ion book should be written and how to engage with the emotions of the audience."

The story of the book stars Gully Foyle, a man who was abandoned by a ship named "the Vorga" when he was in need of rescue after being lost in space for six months. Enraged he vowed revenge against the ship and that's where his journey began.

It was a little different reading about a space themed adventure filled with plot twist and amazing character development. I never considered this a space opera until rereading it for this class. I've found it weird that I've enjoyed this book so much since I'm not the type of person that is really into soap operas. But with all the twist and love scenarios I'm surprised I didn't pick up on certain events since reading it. The romance Gully has for Olivia, the sexual assault on Robin, the scheming for information. All of it is primary soap opera drama that most who watch them relate to it being a theme.

From what I remember about the book I read in high school was our schools discussions about how Gully's actions were understandable but not heroic. We covered how the audience was viewing an "anti-hero". His morals were questionable but near the end he showed some signs of change and guilt for his actions. Even reading this again it was nice to know that he was interesting to read and even when he did disapproving methods I was still rooting for him one hundred percent.

While it was hard to relate this much with Space Opera, I've found this story a fantastic read and recommend that more people have a chance to read this at least once in their lifetime since I had the special privilege of reading it twice.