Bollywood

Bride and Prejudice.

Bollywood, a type of film production in India. During class we vied the film, Bride and Prejudice, a make on a bollywood film. Although it was not a true bollywood film, because therefore it would have been around four hours long, it still had the same general pattern. The film reminded me very much of the novel we read in class, Nectar in a Sieve, during the film i found myself comparing and contrasting them multiple times. The characters were similar. The character from the novel, Rukumani and the character from the film, Lailita were very similar despite having a few differences. They are both Indian, literate, and traditional, althought Lailita is absolutely stunning while Rukumani is just a plan average women. They are many other similarities and differences from the novel and the movie as well.

Culture

Once again I was watching TV today flipping through channels, and I began watching E. As I was watching, I thought to myself what we consider important. Celebrity fashions, latest trends, must haves, newest cars, etc. The show went over the normall celebrity trends, and showed everything from the Oscars and every single latest must have trend you need to have. As I watched I got a funny feeling, thinking about what our priorities are. As I did this, I compared the culture of America to the other different cultures around the world. I thought about the book we juts finished in class, Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markanydama. The characters in the novel live in India, and live in severe poverty. They live their life to the fullest, and appreciate everyday they live. Every little tiny thing they get in life, they work their ass off for, the earn what they get, nothing is handed to them for free. They feel lucky to even be alive, living a life of suffering and starvation. While in America, we live a life of adundance, and feel like we need to have all these unneccesary luxuries and get upset when we don't get them. When I think about this, I feel as if we are spoiled, not everybody in America, but our country as a whole. I think about culture and appreciating things alot.

I watched this show on television, on channel 49, Mondays @ 9.

Change

Frey, James. My Friend Leonard. 1. New York: Penguin, 2001.

As I continue to read My Friend Leonard, I continue to realize it is all about change. James, the recovering drug addict and alcoholic, turning his life around to live a sober life because if he doesn't his chances of surviving are slim to none. When I first began reading A Million Little Pieces, I immediately made a connection to my life. I have two older cousins, who are both recovering drug addicts and alcoholics. As I continue reading this book, I become scared, scared of what my own cousins are going through. The scared times, the temptations and heartache. It breaks my heart to think about what they have been through, the choices that they have made, and how they were wasting their life away for so long. As I look at them now, I see Corey, the older one (27) who is turning his life around, he is in culinary school and looks to open his own resturant sometime soon. He is changing his life for the better, and becoming the person that we all knew that he could always be. While I look at Pete, the younger one (24) my heart breaks. His story doesn't have as much of a happy ending. He was sober for around a year, he was doing okay and everybody was excited. His daughter, Gabbie (3) who he named after me, loved her dad more than anything. When one day, he dissapeared. He was juts gone, no call, no nothing, just gone. He went to his parents house when he knew they were gone, stole their personal items, and sold them. His sobriety was lost, and he was gone. I wish I could say that things have changed, but they haven't. He still vanishes, abandoning everybody and everything, taking no responsibility. My big cousin, who I loved with all my heart, was changed and not for the better. As I read along in the story, I would find myself crying at times, wishing that Pete could have changed for the better and found his way to a better life. I wish he knew, how much I love him, how much we all love him, we just want him back. James had his family, they loved him but they couldnt support him until he changed his life around. I continue reading, almsot done and read the journey of James as it fills me with emotion. I have faith in Pete and wish he knew how much I am worried about him. I love you Pete, and wherever you are, I hope you're okay.

Hope

Frey, James. My Friend Leonard . New York : Riverhead Books, 2005.

Hope, intransitive verb1: to cherish a desire with anticipation. What does hope mean to you? My Friend Leonard shows the utmost of hope in a man's life. James Frey, recovering drug addict and alcoholic sturuggles through desires and temptations everyday of his life. While he struggles through these desires he faces heartache along the way, the love of his life Lily, taking her life. James was just released out of jail and was on his way to see her, when he received a frantic phone call from Lily. "My grandma died, what am I going to do now? I need you here James, you are all that I have that, I can't do this without you." (18) The phone call made Jame's heart drop, he was on his way but wouldn't be there for about 9 hours. He speed, and when he got there..he found out that Lily didn't wait for him, she had taken her own life, she hung herself in the shower. The tragedy drove James to a breaking point, he went down the street and bought a large bottle of alcohol..he sat in his car and stared at it. Was it worth it? Throwing everything you have worked for, to just throw it away? His unfailing faith carried him through, he left that bottle of alcohol in his apartment starring at him in the face, and it kept him going everyday, knowing he didn't want to go back. While I was reading, the novel seemed to be easy to contrast with Nectar in a Sieve, the novel we just finished in class. When I was thinking about it, when James goes through a loss of a loved one, he is heart broken and can barely do anything, and risks giving up his sobriety while when Rukmani goes through a loss of a loved one, she moves on right away, excepting the fact that there is nothing she can do about it. The different hope that each of them has, they each have a goal that they want to reach. Rukmani, wants to live a happy healthy life and return home to her family, while James wants to live a sober, clean life, and they are both willing to do what it takes to get that, and their hope is what pushes them to get through the heartache.

Religion

Frey, James. My Friend Leonard . New York : Riverhead Books, 2005.

Religion, spirituality, believing, not beliefing. These topics are strong subjects with wtrong opionions. Recently I have started reading the sequel to A Million Little Pieces by James Frey, My Friend Leonard. I was going to begin this book a while back when I first finished A Million Little Pieces but I was distracted. Though now that I have started, it is hard to put it down. The rugidness of the language and the story leaves you with chills. While James is continuing his journey with sobriety, religion enters his life. Everybody trying to get him to believe in God. "It will help you get through, this journey, believe me son. Nobody can give you what God can." (183) People pushed him towards religion more and more. He wasn't having it, one bit. He was not going to have people force him to believe, if he was going to believe he wanted to discover it on his own. Can somebody make you believe? Can you truly believe if its forced? The question comes to my mind from time to time while reading. The thought of having religion pushed on you, believe this, believe that. I don't think it could work, at least not on me. As James went on with his journey, he discovered God in his own way. Not forced, not pushed, but on his own terms. he discovered it slowly, but it helped him learn about himself. When I think about this in comparison to my life, I remember when I was little I had a nanny, her name was Laura. She was a very nice girl, who had recently transformed her life and become a strong student at the University of Minnesota. I was 6 years old at the time, and she sat me down one day, telling me about religion and God. "You have to believe Gabbie, your life won't be the same without God looking down on you." Once again, I was only 6 years old. At 6 years old, the information overwhelmed me, confusing me and making me think. I went to my mom and asked, "Mom do I have to believe in God?" She looked at me confused, my family is Catholic but they would never force it on me. I told her about Laura telling me I had to believe, she look at me concerned, than she talked to Laura to next week and said that she wouldn't need her anymore. I felt bad, but at the same time I was only 6, and I didn't need anybody pushing God on me. As I connect this to my life, I find myself relating to Jame's situation and i understand where he is coming from. Don't push religion on somebody, let them discover it on their own terms.

Gender Roles

In this blog, dicussing gender roles I am going to discuss a few different but very similar texts. This weekend I found myself flipping on the television a few times, as I flipped through the normal VH1 and MTV channels, I saw some shows that were quite frightening. Shows like "Rock of Love Bus" or "For the Love of Ray J" where women throw themselves at men, half naked most of the time. The discussion is indeed an opinion, but when you see these shows you think, does this make women look good? I suppose not all women on these shows are "trashy" but more than not they are not making themselves look like classy ladies. Than you take in the fact that the men on these shows just go through these women like they are nothing, "hooking up" and than telling them to go home and leave the competition. I sit there and think to myself, why? Why do these women do this type of thing? Young 22ish year old women going after some firty 49 year old man, tacky much? I guess this may not be a great text for talking about gender roles, but still maybe if you think about it a little deeper you can see there is something there. Women, seen as these people who should bow to men and throw themselves at them, while men can just use them and then throw them away like nothing. Maybe because, the idea of double standards has always bothered me, and when I watch these shows it just really makes me angry to think that women act like this. The idea of women can get called sluts for "hooking up" than guys get a high five for doing the same thing x10. Just something to think about I guess.

I watched "Rock of Love Bus" on VH1 (channel 32) Sundays @ 9.

Culture

In this blog, we were supposed to dicuss a culture different from our own. When I thought about this, one of the first things that popped into my head was; Exiled. The TV show on MTV. The show is about extremly spoiled rich kids who had a huge sweet 16 party, and depend on their parents and others for everything in life. They want everything, and expect to get everything they ask for. The show is supposidly the parents realizing that their children are spoiled brats, and that they want to change that. So they send their child away for a week to another continent to see how hard other people in other cultures have it. One episode that I found very interesting, was the one where Bjorne a self centered brat was sent off to the deserts of Egypt (or somewhere in the area, can't really remember exactly haha) But when he arrived, his attitude was the most horrific thing for miles. The change in culture and lifestyle was apparently too much for him, and he didn't feel like trying to adapt. So he spent his week with a horrible attitude and being disrepesctful to everybody and everything. The boy that was there to welcome him into his family, was disrepected all day long. His culture was unique, and different of one in the United States so to say, but that does not make it any less improtant. A culture is a culture. Wether you eat with your hands, a fork or a stick. Whether you live in a mansion, or under a tree. A culture is a culture, no matter how you look at it. Being put into a culture where you sleep on a piece of hard cement, and dress in a long sheet, hunting for all the food that you eat, and rarely getting to clean yourself, indeed would be an adjustment but is not impossible. This show really showed me to appreciate everything that I have, and to appreciate every other culture that is out there in this world.
I watched this show on television on MTV (channel 35) Tuesdays @ 4.

Facing a Difficulty

Meyer, Stephanie. Twilight. New York: Little Brown Bks Young Readers , 2006.

Facing a difficulty, a difficult time or situation does very much indeed depend on the person, although in Stephanie Meyer's, Twilight, I think we all agree it is a difficult situation. The first book on the Twilight saga, begins the story of Ms. Bella Swan and Mr. Edward Cullen. What you will soon find out after begining this delightful series, is that Edward Cullen is a vampire. The day Bella walks into her new biology class, is a day that Edward nor Bella would ever forget. The scent of her blood drives him crazy. "Your scent is like a drug to me." Edward admits. Now let's think about the situation, if you found a being like Edward, impeccable and flawless in every way imaginable, how could you not want every single inch of him? Than when you find Bella, stunning with her pale skin dark long hair, how could the two of them not want to be together? The burning urge to just touch his soft lips, and never let go of him burns through her. Edward only wants Bella, and will alwaya only want Bella, but he doesn't want to risk her safety in anyway. It's not that he doesn't have the same desires that Bella has, he just has to know how to control them. If things were to get carried away between them and they weren't being careful, at any moment Edward could loose control and could kill Bella. Not to mention whenever Bella is at the Cullen's household she was surrounded by beautiful impeccable creatures, all thirsting for her blood. This isn't a risk he could take. "I can't do this to you anymore. You need to live your life." He said multiple times that he had to leave Bella and that she had to continue living her normal life. He wants her to have everything in life, every "normal" experience that she may not have if she stayed with him. Bella never cared, she knew what she wanted in life, and it was Edward. She wanted him to make her a vampire, so that she could be with him forever, and not have to worry about any of this ever again. Edward wasn't having it, he could never do that to her he always said, but Bella never gave up. Nagging him constantly, telling him how in love with him she is, and all she wants is to be with him forever. Now think about the situation, what would you do? Finding this flawless being, who wants to taste your blood more than anything in the world, and is in love with you. Would you risk it? Would you leave him, and say forget it? I think you all very well know you would stay with him. The ice cold skin, the eyes changing clolors, the glistening skin, perfect smile, love that goes on forever, what's not to love? If you were continue to go on into the Twilight series you would see how this difficulty continues to go on. The decision lays in Edward's hands wheter or not Bella is to become a vampire. After long awaited anticipation, Edward decides to make Bella a vampire! Holy cow, good times. The difficult situation was overcome by long anticipation and thought put into an extremly hard decision. This will change her life forever, Edward thought over and over. But he did it, and now they can be together forever. Yay I love life.

Natural Disaster

Jacobs, Andrew. "Superstitions About Quake Meet the Web, Irritating the Chinese Authorities ." The New York Times. 16 May 2008. 2 Feb 2009 .

In the fascinating article, Superstitions About Quake Meet the Web, Irritating the Chinese Authorities written by Andrew Jacobs, the question is; can earth quakes be predicted? From toads flooding the streets left and right to cows going to the nearest enclosures. Animals don't normally act like this, so why did Chinese government ignore these signs? That's what the people want to know. "Did they not care?" The government does care about their people. Many were indeed killed in this horrific event, although many were saved. All this came about due the a rumor via internet and now a man is being punished for this information. So all it comes down to, is is the information true? Or Is it just a rumor and mislead information? Indeed some may differ and disagree one the situation at hand, but at the moment there is nothing else to do about it. Hoping the best for everybody in China and other struggling areas around the world, and any places in this world affected by horrific natural disasters.