Link to the meeting room on Webex

 https://ctld.webex.com/meet/syying.lee

Online again! Things to do on 4/27 (Week 11)

Dear children,

Online again! Some of you will feel exhilarated because you can sleep more, while some may be disappointed because you like to be with your friends when having classes. I, actually enjoy the campus without too many people, XDDD! Anyway, let's do what needs to be done.  No matter where we are, I hope we make the best use of the time to learn together. 

I'll begin by sharing a short talk on photographing as a means to tell stories that leave impacts (not only impressions) on the viewers. Indeed, I'd hope some of you are willing to do the sharing, too. However, it'll be even more time-consuming when online. I am not so confident about the network on the 8th floor in T4. So if you are ready, please signal asap. 

As you have experienced, we have spent quite some time this semester talking about the effect of imaging. Although it may be an abstract, subjective point of view when discussing how we react to images, we practice by sharing and exchanging our opinions through sensible critique and analytical discussion. And, there is still a culture-specific principle about using images. We'll read an essay comparing two advertisements, Addidas vs. Nike, which may give you some ideas about how to compare and analyze ads of your choice. 

Apart from imaging, there are aspects we also need to include. We will see what they are. How's analyzing ads related to our final group project? Because you will design a video that will show your inventive idea and promote it, showing why it is better than others. 

Then we'll move on to introducing our final creative project. Still, lots of examples will be given. Please check if you have received the materials on Moodle.

Finally, you are done with log 6. Congratulations! Perhaps reading "is not your thing," and writing pains you so much. But, these two literacy abilities should be the "tools" you are supposed to possess and own well! Please keep reading! 

See you on air tomorrow morning! 

Reminders:

Reminders:

1. Individual video due tonight. 

2. Still, there are some who haven't submitted your previous drafts. 

3. Begin to work on your d1e3 to be due next week (Tuesday night online, paper form on Wed, if we resume our physical class next week). 

4. Begin to record your group discussion minute each week until the end of the semester. 

The Little Prince

 Hello, everyone. This is Chiho:) How was your midterm?

Today, I would like to share a novel called "The little prince." This book was published in 1943 by AntoineMarie Jean-Baptiste Roger, comte de Saint-Exupéry. This novel is the first English novel I read in my whole life. I read it when I was in high school. Unfortunately, I could not understand what the author wanted to tell the reader throughout this book. It has been around five years from that time, therefore, I decided to reread this book to see how much my English improved and to challenge myself how much I could get to know the message from the book. 

Story 

    The little prince is a story about a lost pilot and the little prince. The pilot had an accident in the Desert Sahara with his plane. After one night, he came across a little prince from another planet. The little prince arrived on the earth after traveling several planets. Unlike grown-ups, the little prince had a dream, innocence, and an optimistic view of the world and himself. His way of thinking made the pilot recall the memories of his childhood. When the pilot was young, he dreamed of becoming a painter, however, it was destroyed by the grown-ups; he was also the one who disgusted the adults. Since they met, the little prince shared many stories about the planets he explored and the incomprehensive adults he met. Once, it was about the planet inhabited by a conceited man; once, it was about a tripler. While the pilot was listening to the little prince, he realized that he was also becoming an adult who used to hate when he was young. Additionally, as the little prince learned from a fox, the pilot discovered that the essential thing is always invisible to the eye. 

Reflection

    There is one phrase that touched my heart a lot. It is a phrase from a fox, 

"Only the children know what they are looking for." 

Since I entered university, I frequently lost what I was looking for in my future, what I was dreaming of. In the modern world, most of us are deadly busy doing daily tasks and looking at the social networks to be envious of others' lives. By working on our duties and stoking someone else online, the days keep going by very quickly, one after another. However, the important thing is that we need to explore our own lives and focus more on the things, people, and anything we love. These are the essential things we've all learned through childhood. However, it is easy to get lost in what is necessary for us in this busy world. This book reminded me to rethink my life and stopped me from losing myself in the swirling vortex of society.  In addition to that, at the end of the story, the pilot told us we might be able to find the little prince in the African desert. I immediately decided to put the African desert on my to-go list. I wish one day I would see a little man from a different planet and exchange the story of our lives. 

Since this book is well known worldwide, most of you had might already read this story when you were young like I did. However, I believe that you all can get further messages behind the sentence after you turn into adulthood. 

This story also draws us into the world where we were young and enjoyed our daily lives without crises. So if you are tired of your life, I recommend you to read this novel and stay far away from this crucial world for a bit to refresh yourself.

The Book Thief: The intense PASSION of reading

The intense PASSION of reading  

Reflection: Liesel Meminger, a girl with pure mind and desire for literacy

I started to read novels when turning into third grader because I had gotten enough words stored in mind. I could have own comprehensions on twisted plots and imagination on protagonists that are depicted to have flawless appearances and personalities. It wasn't my choice to learn how to read, but without those knowledges, I would have lost the access to joy brought by the worlds constructed by creative thoughts and free-spirited minds. Perceiving it or not, most of students or modern people take the privilege receiving education granted because there are no barriers stopping people from being educated; instead, most are forced to. Not like us having some many freedom making decisions,  Liesel and the kids in the era of The Book Thief are deprived of rights to read books, not even owning ones. Either throwing books into fire or throwing themselves into fire, they choose live. Remember the times you saying that you gonna burn all of your textbooks once the graduation date comes? Not every being has unstoppable passion to literacy like Liesel, but we should be aware of the privileges we have and be grateful. 

Liesel learns to read books from Hens, her her affectionate stepfather, which starts her path exploring the unknowns, walking on the spacing between lines. Initially, she is a piece of paper without a single color on it. Pure, innocent, but tedious and hollow. Therefore, she can't help but fell in love with the feelings indulging herself inputting words in mind because that saves her by refilling the hollows that kills her–the loss of her family. Besides, in the era without high-tech, reading books spices her daily up, like a child receive a set of colorful crayons. we phubbers give all attention to phones and can stop scrolling. Isn't that similar to Liesel just can stop turning pages. A Book Addiction waters her withered spirit, but poisons her life. Despite the risk being sentenced, she tries to keep on reading at all costs. It is really fool of her doing so, for she put people around in danger. Meanwhile, it is brave of her being a thief stealing her rights back from Nazi authorities. She fights as  the rep for a group of people who are willing to devote themselves to what they love. She is the exact model that I would like to become. 

 Why do people read books or become life-long readers? 

☑︎To learn how to read so they acquire the ability to write

☑︎To entertain themselves

☑︎To seek a sense of recognition 

☑︎What's your?

Reasons of people opening books can vary form people to people, and for many, books are necessary to exist because it frightens them out by only imaging life without papers documented incredible stories. To think about it, many master pieces affects our life in art, movie-filming, romance, profound thoughts an so on. If literacy doesn't exist and no writers compose, pieces that we value in modern time would have been created. If people don't read, there would be no motivation to compose. 

I don't know about others, but I know my propose of reading. Sometimes when I find the figures in novels or authors hold same beliefs,  I somehow feel recognized by those I have never met and they later  become mentors that I can turn to. For instance, from time to time, I need space to be alone to collect myself and they help me go through the whole process. 

 It seems to me that having same mind sets with eminent authors  is thing worthy to be proud of. Although I don't write, someone gifted with writing  talents will, which is why I admire them, respect them and appreciate them. 

So what's your REASONS reading books? I really wanna know!  😆😆😆

 

 

 

 

 

 

Things to do on 4/20

Hi, all!

We are moving into the section on Comparison and Contrast. (Thank God! This will be your last essay for this semester. XD!)

So I'll begin with a PowerPoint presentation on Comparison and Contrast, followed by a reading of a student sample essay and a pro-essay by Mark Twain. Remember, this time drafts without a proper plan (outline) and clear thesis statements and topic sentences will be rejected instantly!

Then our TA Cathy will give a second mini-lesson on expression. She has been working hard on your drafts and trying to find ways to help you help yourself when drafting. Thank you, Cathy!

The third session will be me briefly talking about SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), and a world-class video done by your seniors will be shown to prepare you that our second SDGs-related video (group) project will begin soon! 

Finally, if we still have time, you'll be talking about your plans for your third essay and the group project. 

See you in the morning! 

ps 1. Some of you still have not submitted your d2e1, d3e1, d2e2, and d3e2. Please note that we will not always check  Moodle to see when you will submit your work. Write us when you do. 

ps 2. We only receive fewer than 10 storyboards version #2 with your texts. So we'll only check those works. Please give subtitles on your videos, the correct version. Re-record, if your first version has mistakes. Viedo 2 is due next week. Thank you!

A time management book: When

Hello everyone, this is Christy.

Book summary:

In this book it has talked about lots of time management skills. In my  practical experiment, most of the skills are really useful to me and that's why I really hope that I could also shared these skills to all of you.

In this book the author shared to us that our energy in a day could be plotted as a curve which consisting of peak and trough. This could be varies one to another. Therefore, we should record it, and recognized it.

- One key point is that 7 hour after you wake up is the average trough that one could encounter. In this period, we usually having the worst emotion condition in our day. Therefore, we should always prevent doing critical decision on that time.

- 10 to 20 minutes is the best time for resting. By doing so, you could restored your energy and make your performance better in the afternoon. People usually needs 5 to 10 minutes to fall asleep. So next time, set your alarm for 25 minutes is the best!!!

Self reflection:

This supposed to be the last required log post in this semester. Actually, I have read this book a whole month ago. However, I save this as the last log is based on two reasons. One, according to one of my teacher said, it should be the first or the last that make people more make a lasting impression.I think the skills that being shared in this book is really useful to me. And I hope I could shared those techniques to you too!  Second, I thought these kind of book needs some practical experiments to prove if it has worked or not, and I wish I could do that kind of experiment can be handle by myself so that I can shared my true feeling on it.

After reading this book, I do feel like I have learnt a lot of practical skills in it. For example, now when I want to take a small nap in the afternoon. I would alway sets my alarm as 25 minutes as this is the best time slot when it comes to energy recovery. It works!!

 

"Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen" chapter 8-10

StoryBrand Principal Five: Call to Action

Now, we have defined customers' desire, identified their challenges, and became a guide that gave them a plan. There's still one more thing we need to do, which is call to action.

Customers do not take action unless they are challenged to take action.

There are two kinds of calls to action, direct calls to action and transitional calls to action. Direct calls to action usually use short sentences, such as "buy now," "call today," and "schedule an appointment," to ask for a sale. As the author empathizes, there should be one obvious "Buy Now" button on the website. This is to make it clear to customers that to purchase and let us help to solve your problem. While transitional calls to action often use the way of offering customers something for free as the first step, such as free information, testimonials, samples, free trial, and so on. Oftentimes, brands need to do both direct and transitional calls to action since they work like two stages of a relationship.

StoryBrand Principal Six: Help Customers Avoid Failure

Stories or movies usually end in two ways, tragic ending or happy ending. When watching movies, the audience would like to see the hero succeed and have a happy ending. Just like movies, people are trying to avoid tragic endings and loss in life. So, brands can help customers avoid loss by warning customers about the potential consequences if they don't buy the products.

People are motivated by Loss Aversion

According to Prospect Theory, published by Nobel Memorial Prize winner Daniel Kahneman in 1979, people are more likely to be dissatisfied with a loss than they are satisfied with a gain. In certain situations, people are even two to three times more motivated to make a change to avoid a loss than they are to achieve a gain.

How to use loss aversion in marketing? Follow the four steps of fear appeal.

1. Tell customers the threat in their lives.

2. Encourage customers to take actions to protect themselves from the threat.

3. Let customers know that we have plans to help them get rid of the threat. 

4. Ask customers to buy our solution to the threat.

Don't worry about using warnings in customers' stories since adding moderate amounts of fear will do better in their attitudinal and behavior change. Just take a few terrible things to warn customers and they will know. Too much and the customers will resist, too little and they don't know how important the products are. Once we make the stakes clear to customers and show our ability to help them avoid loss, customers will be motivated to resist failures.

StoryBrand Principal Seven: End in Success

Never assume people understand how your brand can change their lives without telling them. Brands should clearly show what life will look like if customers buy their products or services. By picturing a compelling image of an achievable future, brands are more likely to get customers' interests. But be careful not to make the future too vague.

Reflection

After learning the full structure of the SB7 Framework, it's still not easy to come up with an appealing story script. But with these strategies in mind, we can clearly observe how brands do their marketing.

Pride and Prejudice

Before Mr. Darcy left, he gave Elizabeth a letter to explain the truth about Mr. William. After Elizabeth read it, she realized that she was wrong all along. She was full of regret and couldn't even face him. Sooner or later, he also helped the marriage between Jane and Mr. Bingely. What's more, he secretly found Mr. William and Elizabeth's younger sister and financed their marriage. It was Elizabeth's younger sister that told her the truth. At this moment, Elizabeth found she was more arrogant than Mr. Darcy. She used her perspectives to see the people around her, including her closest sister, Jane. Although they were close to each other, she still had no idea what Jane thought since she wouldn't reveal her emotion to others easily. Until Mr. Bingely proposed to her, she finally showed her true emotion. Thanks to Mr. Darcy, they wouldn't lose each other again. After Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy cleared the air between them, they expressed their affection for each other without any disguise or arrogance. Fortunately, they committed to each other in the end. 

After reading this book, I have learned a lot. From Mr. Benets, I have learned that women should be independent rather than depend on men completely. We are strong enough to feed ourselves. It is not wise to favor underdogs but follow only top dogs. It not only makes women inferior to men but also disgraces females. Moving on to Jane, I realize that one never judges a person by their appearance or behavior. You never know what others think if they don't want to show their true feelings. However, Elizabeth and Mr.Darcy taught me the most. First, they have taught me that having my own opinions is important. Consider things from different angles while listening to others' confessions. Think twice after listening. I like Elizabeth being straight and having critical thinking, but she trusted Mr.William when he made up his story, which caused misunderstandings between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth. Second, only when you tell the truth do people understand you. Until Mr. Darcy left that Elizabeth received the letter that explained the misunderstandings. It is not everything that can have a second chance to make up. If we have the opportunity to confess, people shouldn't hesitate, or the misunderstandings will go deeper. Most important, she married someone by heart instead of status and wealth. I believe it is the shape of true love and how it should be. 

Pride is that we think we are superior to others while prejudice is what we think about others before knowing them. Thanks to this book, I can have a better understanding of these two words and learn the lessons.

 

The Book of Moods: FAMILY

 

 
   (This log only talks about those ordinary families which do not involve in any illegal or criminal cases.)

 Family, a destined place that determines half of one's character from the day 1 they are born. We live with family members for years, and we are affected deeply by their behaviors and habits. Our family witnesses our bright side and our darkest side, for the first and the most imitate people we meet are our family members, and we rely on them so heavily. As a result, we share almost everything with our family, including anger and happiness.

 The author wrote about her story she had a fight with her husband, and she realized she was always treating her family in an unpleasant way. She started to reflect on why she could be so moody when talking to her family and also why she could be irritated so easily by her family. The answer to her reflection is love. That is, we love our family unconditionally, and we will never leave them behind. Furthermore, we know their love is bottomless, so we take it for granted.

 My family has put a great effect on me. I was raised and nurtured in the purest care and love from my parents, and I believe that taught me how to love and take care of others. Then my little brother came into my life, and he was a big trouble that bothered me all the time. Yet I still love him for no reason, though what he does is be a mess. After I grew up and went through primary school, senior high school, and high school, I met so many people who never had a loving family. It dawned on me that expressing love and receiving love may be a challenging question that kept puzzling those who were not treated well in their family.

 I always regret fighting with my family because I love them and think they should comprehend my feelings and embrace them. But the truth is, regardless of love, right and wrong must be put as a priority. Of course, we can share emotions and thoughts with our family, no matter if it is good or bad. However, we still need to do things right, and we should never overtake the advantage of the love from our family.

Hillbilly Elegy – 2nd Reflection

    What comes to mind when I say the word ‘hillbilly’? Before reading this memoir, a certain life style would drift into my mind. Men work construction or doing other labor work until their faces and necks are beat red from the sun. Women took care of the lousy and naughty children in the modest homes and cook for the family. Some houses in the neighborhood would have garbage littered in the front yard and the grass was never mowed. This kind of image might ring true in some areas in America; however, it does paint the areas in a negative or gloomy picture.

    The author, J.D. Vance described his family, a generation of Kentucky Hillbilly, as a typical family in the American South. The men worked in factories and came home exhausted. The women cooked and cleaned the house. The children played without a single worry in their minds. And at nights, the husbands and the wives would shout at each other with their full lungs; and sometimes closed-fists would fly out and cause mayhem. This was how J.D.’S mother was raised and how J.D. was raised to a certain extend. However, J.D. also described another side of the hillbilly that people outside of the community often do not see: the fierce loyalty they have for family.

 

    When J.D. was a child, grandma and grandpa took him to a mall. He went into a toy store and began playing with a miniature air plane. The teenage cashier shouted at him for playing with it without paying, and J.D. went outside of the store crying. Regular parents or guardians would probably say something alone the lines of: Well, you shouldn’t go running off like that and taking something without permission. Lo and behold, grandma and grandpa Vance went into the store with clenched fists and crashed everything in the store. Also, they threatened do something really awful to the young cashier because he made their grandson shed a tear. In retrospect, J.D. reflected on the drama and the unnecessary threats that their family often make to protect or get back at somebody else. But that was how a hillbilly treats their family; loyalty always comes first.

 

    Reading this part of the story was truly fascinating because it made the character’s motives clear as day. They did what they did because they believed that was for the greater good of the family. Sometimes, the intention was good; however, it was the execution that made life a living hell for J.D. when he was young.

Me before You

Hey yall, it's Katherine here. Today I would like to introduce a great book that I believe most of you have heard of. It's called "Me before You." I also recommend the movie that was adapted from the novel, both of them are touching, heart-wrenching, and will definitely make you cry. •̥ࡇ•̥

Summary

 The story begins with Louisa Clark, a girl with a boring life. First, she lost her job at the café and started to stand on her feet by applying for a job as a private carer of a disabled man. The close location and the money they offer push her to come to the castle, where the employer conducted an interview. She was doubted by Camilla Traynor, a mother of a quadriplegic man, with her inexperience. Still, somehow, she is fully employed by Camilla.

On the other hand, Will Traynor, the disabled man Louisa takes care of, is not an easy man to catch. He has sharp remarks about everything she has done and seems unattainable. As time passed, Will became more open to Louisa, and they started to communicate better. That is until Will has his sister, Georgina, visit.

Louisa listens to Georgina and Camilla's conversation and decides to quit her job. She figures out that Will plans to go to Dignitas, the suicide organization in Switzerland, within six months. She is not interested in being part of his crazy idea. After consulting with her sister, Katrina Clark, she has the spirit to be part of a good plan.

She discovers many things people with quadriplegia could do by researching. Although, it was Will who always encouraged her to do something she wasn't familiar with. Will push her to read books, go to a concert to accompany him, and do other things she did not know that she could. When they finally go to Mauritius, just counting days before Will's due to Dignitas, she says that she loves him and all she can do is try to change his mind. She also convinced him that they could do anything and that she had widened his horizons to live the way he is.

Reflection

"Me Before You" is the appropriate title for this story. It shows us the value of what ideal life we want to live in what we should do in our life to give it meaning. Will was the one that always pushed Louisa to do something in her life, to contribute her potential to something good, which he would do in a normal body. Will used to make decisions, travel worldwide, climb mountains, and accommodated his willingness to do something big in the previous years, and that goes to show his determination of searching for assisted suicide. 

A good story will give you another point of view, even a different way of thinking in life. It brings profound moral lessons that inspire you, change your mind about many things, and burn your spirit despite the controversial issues it might have. Therefore, you can find that all in this book. Despite the issue of Dignitas and people with quadriplegia, you could discover many positive things in this book that could light up energy in your life. 𓈒𓂂◌

The Last Lecture- 2nd refelction

 

Since Randy Pausch only had months to live, there were several concerns coming up in his head. What Randy worried about most was that his children, who were six, three, and eighteen-month, were too young to remember all about him. Randy wanted his children at least to know how much he loved them. 

I used to think about a question: If I have little memory of my beloved family who is about to die because of illness or die because of an accident, will I feel less grieving about losing family because I almost have zero memory of them. The answer I have is "yes" once. However, as I grow up, I realize that grief cannot depend on how much interaction we have or how deep our relationship is. After all, we're family. For example, a three-year-old girl lost her father before she could have more memory and interaction with her dad. She hardly feels grieving even though she knows the person she should call daddy doesn't exist anymore. A kid is too young to handle the death of her father. Grief is not coming, it's just coming later. During the little girl's upbringing, she cries a lot whenever she feels like needing a father instead of just a mother. She wells up when missing her dad so bad. Even when the little girl is an adult, sometimes she is down in the dumps when trying to recall her little memory about daddy or imagine what life would be like with daddy. What I say above could be the possible scenarios for Randy's children. Although everyone has various ways to see and deal with losing someone, I think one thing is sure–it takes time to get over the grief, no matter how late or early it comes. 

Oops, my last log is not supposed to be this heavy. This book reminds me of some experiences, so I relate to it quite strongly. (hahaha)

The Hand of God - Movie Review

 The Hand of God - Movie Review 

Hannah N Loo 

Date: 2022/04/16 

Life Update

Hi, everyone. I just want to quickly pop on here and share a life update with yall. Since it is midterm week, I am sure you all know we are under intense pressure to finish up projects, homework, and, most importantly, PRESENTATIONS. I also recently got into the dorm and I am getting to be familiarized with the place and my roommates. There is this whole exhausting process of moving in that I really do not want to get into, but in short, it has been a dread. Also, I am currently spending some of my time with someone special. Hence, I, unfortunately, do not have much time to get comfy on my couch and be immersed in a good book. However, I do still read from time to from when I have time to. It is just that I am currently on 'the escalating to the climax' part of the story, and it is taking me a while to find something worthwhile to say. 

That being said, I plan to share more intuitive, insightful, and intelligent movies. Personally, I do think movies are like books that are highly more focused on the sensory and auditory sensations of the senses. However, it does not take away from how books can influence our body, mind, and soul. They are no less than the other. 

One last thing, this weekend we are shooting and recording Project Let's Talk's Season 3. We had just finished recording the podcast episodes 1 and 2 today. I have been working my ass off in making up the script, and I am glad to say that it has paid off. I cannot be more ecstatic for you to listen to our heated discussions. (Sneak Peek: we talked about S3X in this podcast. ;)) Shout out to Zack and Lea. Thank you for being the best crew a host could ask for. 

Introduction 

The hand of God is a 2021 Italian film directed by Paolo Sorrentino set in Naples in the 1980s. It follows a young Italian teenage boy and his seemingly normal family. Through scenes where Fabietto motionlessly gazes through his family, we can see him having a hard time navigating through his mother's insufferable cries finding out about his father's constant infidelity with his colleague. He is even pushed to his boundaries and has an anxiety attack, while his older brother hugged him for comfort to stop his relentless shaking. Or his aphrodisiacal stare at his mother's younger sister. Diagnosed with a mental disorder, Patrizia's ageless beauty is the fundamental reason for her husband's distrust and insecurity, causing a series of abuse and physiological trauma. Yet, Patriza's spitefulness remains, and Fabietto is undoubtedly mesmerized by this older and seductive figure in his life, and he simply cannot take his lustful eyes away from her. Or when he is captured by a movie set directed by a renowned thinker. Through his encounter with the director, we can see him find his interest in filmmaking.  

 

Seeing is Believing 

Through Fabie's observations, we can see the people in his life are filled with fascinating stories, which is also a contrast to his mundane life. The first story we see is Patrizia. Alongside the crowded people waiting for the bus, her beauty and seduction stood out the most among the female passengers, as the shape of her breast is penetrating through her white sheer dress. It did not take long for Patrizia to catch the eyes of a wealthy man escorted by a driver in a black shy car. He chaperoned Patrizia to an abandoned castle, and he turned on the light of a fallen chandelier, a scene so surreal you doubt the legitimacy and authenticity of Patrizia's story. Without saying anything, the unnamed stranger somehow knew Patrizia's name and her inability to perceive a child, and he was a messenger to the "little monk" who grants wishes to hopeless people.  

Upon arriving home, his disturbed and uneasy husband is furiously waiting for her return. She tries to explain to him where she has been, but the story was too obscured for her already jealous husband to believe. Then it escalated into a series of violent brawls, leaving Patrizia with a bloody nose and she locks herself in their bedroom. Arrives the Schisa family to the rescue, we see the first time when Fabie laid his eyes on Patrizia, with her white dress hanging by a strap, and leaving her left breast exposed. All of them do not believe Patrizia, except for Fabie. 

The whole movie evolves through the eyes of Fabie, and Patrizia's strange and bizarre story is a made-up story of her mental disorder. Yet, the movie chooses to show us the weird interaction, almost symbolizing 

Fabie's lustful admiration has clouded his judgment of real and fake. 

Conclusion 

Of course, that is only one of the stories of the incredible shown in the hand of God. The movie seemingly follows the inspiring filmmaker Fabie, but stories from other side characters, like Patrizia's, remain as insightful, delicately-make, and compelling. It is truly worthwhile to be absorbed in the intertwining plot twist of Fabie's family. As of now, I have not completely finished watching the whole entire movie (I know, how cruel of me.) As I mentioned at the start of this log, a lot of things have been going on in my life lately. One thing the books and movies taught me is to live your life like their stories have shown me. Be the main character of your own book, focus on the important or inconsequential details of your own movie, and make a story that is worthwhile to write about. 

An Abundance of Katherines (part II)

 Hi, everyone! This is the last reading log. It's the same book as log 5, An Abundance of Katherines. 

Book Intro

    This book was written by John Green. The author has another famous book called “The Fault in Our Stars.”, which I think is more familiar to most of you. It also adapted to movie in 2014. The main character in ”An abundance of Katherines” is Colin Singleton. When it comes to relationships, Colin’s type happens to be girls named Katherine. Not Kate, Katie, or Catherine, it must be K-A-T-H-E-R-I-N-E. He had dated nineteen girls, all of them had been named Katherine. And all of them, every single solitary one—had dumped him!

    The summer of senior high graduation, Colin was dumped by the nineteenth Katherine. In order to get rid of the pain, Hassan, Colin’s friend, suggested to have a road trip. Then they embarked on a journey without destination. During the journey, Colin gave himself a task. Using the past experience to create a formula to predict the future of one relationship.

Reflection

    I finally finished this interesting book! Maybe not everyone had the chance to be in a relationship. But after reading the experience of Colin's failure, I could realize something. First, the main character, Colin, was born to be a genius. However, though he was very talented, he was still bad at love. I believed that god is fair. Everyone wouldn't be perfect, there must be some flaws in your personality. Second, in the book, Colin created a formula to calculate love. Actually, love is more difficult than a math problem. There isn't a standard answer to love. In a relationship, you need to understand the identity of your partner and try to fulfill his/her needs. Every successful relationship must undergo many frustrations. If you were Colin, your relationship may be more unpleasant.

    What I like about this book the most is the description way of the love. Use math formula as a metaphor of love. It makes the book more interesting and impressive to read. At first, I don't even think that I will read about math in a novel. XD (Because I'm not good at math, I hate it.)  The book also gave me the hope about creating our own future. There are lots of probability in the future because we can't predict it. Like Colin, in the end, he realized that he couldn't limit by those Katherines. He could find out other perfect people with other beautiful names, not only Katherines. In conclusion, this is a warm and humorous book. And I recommend it to those who just finish one relationship, maybe it'll be a comfort to you! :)

Review on Lord of the Flies

Finally, I have finished reading the book Lord of the Flies. If you don't want to spend time reading my reflection and review, I can tell you here at the beginning that it's not selected as required reading for high school students in the United States for no reason. But if you do decide to spare your time for my thoughts on the book, here they are.

Summary: 

A group of boys are dropped off on a desert island during a world war without any supplies and adults. To survive, the oldest boy, Ralph, takes on the job of leading them along with his right-hand boy, Jack, who is about the same age. However, the two strongest boys have different opinions on their priorities for survival; Ralph focuses on keeping fire and smoke for passerby sails to see them, and Jack focuses on putting their mind on hunting for food. Besides people with different opinions, they have to deal with unknown threats from the dark forest of the island. 

My Reflection:

In Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses a lot of descriptive writing that made me feel like I'm on the island with the boys. Every detail, from the way the sun shines, the wave of the ocean, the smell of the breeze, the joy, hopelessness, and fear in the boys' voices, to every step they take and every punch they throw, and every shiver they have. The techniques he uses, as I observe, include using verbs instead of adjectives to show the emotions of the characters. For example, when someone is scared, he doesn't use the adjective "scared" but verbs like "shiver" or "hearts pounding." Other techniques include using wrong grammar in some of the characters' dialogues to show their naiveness and lack of proper education and repetitive phrases to build up tension. These techniques helped me a lot with my essays.

(*SPOIL ALERT)

In terms of the plot, here are two of the things I see in the conflict between Ralph and Jack.

1. At the end of the story, Ralph loses almost all his people because he holds onto "keeping the smoke and waiting for someone to see it" but neglected his people's needs: comfort and enjoyment. Although it's a luxury to talk about these two things when you literally have nothing but a desert island, they are what human beings have been seeking since we have culture. Plus, those are just kids who haven't tasted the bitterness of the world, who are supposed to be exploring the wonder of the world. Thus, Ralph loses his people to Jack, who offers meat, safety, and feast and knows the people.

This reminds me of some events in the history of the world. Decades ago, a government in an Asian country focused on industrial development and ignored (worst than Ralph's neglect) what people really needed: food and a safe life. The policy turned out to be one of the largest genocides (in terms of number, deliberate or not) in history.  

Not that having hope is wrong, but I think having only hope is not enough. We need to put reality into consideration. In a time of crisis, the reality is that people's unity is a shot of adrenaline in the country.

2.  On the other hand, although Jack gets the people, he is an autocratic tyrant. Anyone who dares to defy him or have different opinions gets punishment. At the end of the story, he even burns down the forest just to kill Ralph who has been hiding because of standing against Jack. Under this circumstance, the people don't follow him out of respect and love but fear. This reflects the North Korean government in our world. The Kims force their subject to show respect and love to him, feed them their own values, and prevent the people from independent thinking and connection to the world. The only difference is that Jack does offer his people what he promises.

Plus, he is not a man (boy) of dignity. He raids Ralph's camp to steal a spec, the only way to generate fire on the island. I know when someone is thrown on an isolated island, survival comes before everything, but this happens in our world, on entities that have power especially. For example, in March of 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine to force them to give up their defending ability. Russia has almost everything, but it still does this to smaller countries without any dignity. I can even say what Jack does in the book makes sense, but there is no reason for me to stand with Russia.

It's really amazing how a piece from the 40s still applies to the world in the next century. 

These are all just my opinions on and interpretation of Lord of the Flies, and different opinions are more than welcome.

Revelation of Animal Farm: How Russia government is using propaganda to blocking news of the war

Book “Animal Farm” starts by narrating animals’ rebellion to overthrow the control of humans, live off of the central doctrine of rule, and build a new world in which all animals are equal. It is a miniature of Soviet Union history, from its transformation of Communism, which held high idea of “equality,” to totalitarianism, in which a single dictator and his chief propagandists exploit its civilians. 

As the story develops, we also witness the collapse of “idealism.” In the very beginning, the leaders of the animals, the pigs, claimed: “all animals are equal.” While with they gradually abuse their power, impose their will on other animals, and make them work harder and harder. In contrast, those pigs thus live more extravagantly. First, they did not do laboring work but directed and supervised the others. They command other animals as a human being used to do it. The missing apples turned out to be mixed into the pig’s daily mash, for they assert themselves need milk and apples to process those brain works. Here, it suggests that the working class is being manipulated and exploited, while their steadfast belief in governance makes them blind to their situation. 

 

For me, it is incredible to see that a book with merely 152 pages can portray the whole picture of ruling from ambition to deception. One of the most important commitments of animal farms, “all animals are equal,” ends up being revised for the dictator’s interest to “all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” The book illustrates the peril of government that people all have to face. If we stay apathetic, like the donkey Benjamin, who always holds a cynical attitude to the governance and believes that “nothing will change,” we’ll eventually be used as bargaining chips in the fighting of power.

Reading how the pigs use propagandists to control their regime reminded me of a debate held in our school. The discussion invited international students to share their opinions about the war between Russia and Ukraine. Students all have different thoughts about this issue, but what impressed me the most was a Russian girl in the debate. She told us that most Russians actually didn’t get the complete and correct information about the war. The Russian government uses propaganda to justify their deeds, proclaiming that Russian soldiers are decorous and careful about preserving Ukrainian civilian life, and Ukrainians greet those soldiers as liberators. With further realization about how Russian is using propaganda to cloud Russians’ understanding of the war, I also found that the country is cracking down on free speech, which means many independent media outlets have to leave the country, shut down, or they’ll face prison terms. 

   What struck me is that, after the book Animal Farm was released almost 80 years, the plots in this book are occurring again nowadays, corruption, exploitation, deception, etc. History repeats itself, and it seems that we are all animals somehow on the animal farm. Different animals symbolize different classes and kinds of people. At the same time, what remains the same is that being indifferent and blind to what is happening around the world is just a behavior awaiting our doom. 

Reflection: Three Sisters (5)

  

Summary for this week:

 

Cibi, the eldest sister. Magda, the middle. Livi, the youngest. Menachem, sisters’ father. Chaya, sisters’ mother. Yitzchak, sisters’ grandfather.

 

For my last reflection on Three Sisters, I would like to keep the ending as a secret. (Not to spoil it) And leave some imagination in your mind. If you are interested in it, go to read it now. Maybe you can borrow it from me. Hah 

 

 

Reflection

In each of my summaries, you might not deeply feel the emotion through the limited details I provided. But I believe, by connecting the story to your personal life, you are likely to find some similarities between them. A true story can always catch people's eyes whether it's a short or a long one. Although it might not happen in front of us, it did take place somewhere else. It's easy to get involved into the plots.

From a complete family, seeing their father go, forced to separate, reunion, again and again, this cycle didn't lead to an end before years of struggles and trials. I was afraid of seeing them get into a unescapable trouble; meanwhile, I was looking forward to know how they, by chance, made it every time. Gratefully, they were blessed for many times in the camps.

When seeing good people who are harmed for no reasons, I usually wonder, "Why the one who gets hurt  is always the good?" Their deeds and personalities do not deserve this kind of punishment. However, the truth is that, God wouldn't bless us all the time.  

I imagined several times, that I was one of their friends, who, unluckily, died before them. I think I would be happy for them. I hate seeing people suffer. If my sacrifice can save others, it's my pleasure to do so. Not to mention if I were one of the sisters. I'm always the one who doesn't care about the heavy price I have to pay in my daily life, since I can't stand aside doing nothing. Who knows, one day, we might have to face this situation and make a decision. I am willing to be well-prepared for any unpredictable event that would strike my life.

Sometimes, take a look at the people around you. Maybe that would be the last time you see them. We don't know what's coming next. Try to cherish everything you own now, and be appreciative.

I was born for this

 

 

Alice Oseman 

2002/10/18

The Ark was everything for Angel. For Angel, the Ark was not only a band. The Ark gave Alice the energy of life and let her meet new friends. The Ark was much more important than her real life. Her dream was to go to the concert and meet the members in person.

The Ark gave Jimmy everything that he owned. He was the main vocal of The Ark, and playing music with his friend had been his dream for a long time.

However, there was always a gap between dreams and reality. When Angel and Jimmy were frustrated, they met each other due to a sequence of accidents. Because of their meeting, they changed each other’s life.

The story was mainly about the life of an idol and a fan. For example, fans were confronted with others’ misunderstanding of the Internet culture. Idols were forced to face the trespass of their private lives. Also, they had to accept that they were no longer general people at all. In the story, Angel’s and Jimmy’s perspectives rotated; therefore, you can the façade of the idol from a fan girl’s eyes and from reality. The difference made the plot more appealing.

Through the aspect of Angel, the emotion from a fan to an idol was vivid and precise; also, it showed the importance of these feelings. The passion of a fan (especially teenage girls) toward his or her idol was mostly treated as valueless. What’s more, they might be mocked by others. Through Angel, the author said that it was precious to have this kind of passion because this passion might change one’s life, and give his or her the propulsion to live. Therefore, no matter the passion was toward a band, a book, or a movie, as long as the passion could give you happiness, it was worth loving.

Short book review - The power of regret

Author: Daniel H. Pink

Genre: Self-help book 

Why regret make us better?

Try to think of one thing that you regret lately. Is it not spending time more wisely like I did most of the time on something that doesn’t really mean much? Or the other way, we should pay more attention to the details. Let’s not discuss which behaviour is better first.

The author told us through the study by two developmental psychologists, Robert Guttentag and Jennifer Ferrell reading stories to a group of children that people without regrets often are seriously ill but aren’t paragons of psychological health. Regrets mean that we will look back on our lives and wish we had done things differently. Although this means we mostly will feel worse when we think about it, it helps us to do better tomorrow.

He stated three benefits including improving decisions, boosting performance and deepen meaning. We often decide with single consideration if we don’t have much experience. When the events process further, the effect of the decision will gradually appear. They might be difficult to resolve or improve to the ideal situation that we thought it should be. But this gives us a worthy message based on our own experience, which we will be more aware of it next time. In other words, regret, as I understand, makes us learn through our own feelings.

If the things aren’t reversible or zero chance to get over again, the most we can do is to develop the most of it while we still need to cop with it. The situation is slightly different, where we find another view or ways of the event.

The book also shows the most common regrets in 2021 between nearly 4,500 adults in the US. The proportion of relationships is the top 2 categories Americans regret the most namely families and partners. Life questions such as education and career follow up closely by only 3 per cent.

As a person who looks back on my life all the time, I didn’t find that surprising, but I also want to imagine that there might be a platform to let people in different stages share their valuable ideas to let these repent things stop looping. 

 Lastly, I’d like to share a quote from the interviewee in her mid-forty at the end of this non-regretted read book. 

‘I regret ignoring my inner voice and not heeding its plea to be more adventurous and for trying to live up to the expectations of society instead of focusing on myself.’

 

Log 6, Anxious people

 

Hello, this is Carolyn again. Here comes my last log. There is one thing that I need to confess I haven't finished this book till now; thus, the story's primary purpose still needs to be figured out. However, I have gradually found what the author wants to convey through this book. As I mentioned before, this book uses the robbery incident as the main story, but the core point of the book is nine persons. Those nine persons have faced different difficulties, and audiences could view different life and perspectives through those descriptive ways, which are constantly refreshing to me, so I focus on the meaning behind words and try my best to get my head around those brand-new perspectives.

As I mentioned above, there are nine persons appeared in this robbery. Yes, eight hostages and one robbery. "Where are those hostages from? "How can a failed robbery have so many hostages?" I know that your head must pop up with many question marks, but keep reading; you will finally learn about that. So, just let me do the quick clarification of the whole story for you guys so far. A failed bank robbery, turning an apartment of people viewing into a hostage situation. The core description of the book is how those nine "anxious peoples" in this apartment from different family backgrounds and different life experiences save each other.

To sum up, the plot of this novel is very cleverly set, and the author "slyly" designed every detail. The story laid out some seemingly obvious storylines on the robbery scene, and the backstories behind every hostage were excavated simultaneously and slowly. From the author's description, we can infer that the robber is a newly divorced person or tempted to get divorced with two children, but we do not assume the gender of the robbery at first. Also, we can be sure that this is not an impulsive crime, but what is the reason for the crime? Perhaps most people will guess that it is because of money. Based on my knowledge, a married adult with two children who has been crawling around in society for many years would not have made such absurd and unplanned actions. Therefore, when I read it, I thought for a while, "If I was this character, what would motivate me to do such impulsive behavior? "As my consideration, it may be sourced from the fear of the unknown future, a broken dream, or perhaps love for the children. "You probably have someone in your life whom you'd do something stupid for ."After reading this, I understand the significance of this robbery, and the word confirmed the reason for this "robbery ."In the strict sense, this is not a robbery about money, fame, and fortune, nor a long-planned crime, let alone making fun of it as a farce. This indictment is about life's powerlessness, which is both accurate and helpless.

The author wrote his sharp and real-life perspective into my heart, especially the sentence, "Because how happy can anyone really be, all the time? How could there be time for that? Mostly we're just trying to get through the day.". It touched my innermost secret. We all know that emotions are the norm in life over time, and with age, we seem to continually and unconsciously "avoid" ourselves from being unhappy. I wonder whether anyone has the same mood and situation as mine, but what I want to convey is that the word is ultimately a reflection of my current position, especially the word "trying to get through the day ."

Day after day, I seem to lose my enthusiasm for life under unchanged life. There seems to be only a "TO DO LIST" that must be completed in my mind every day; moreover, there are only tasks in black on a white background in this list, no colors, which made my life so dull and exhausted.

Furthermore, I woke up every morning saying to myself is only, "Just get over it," rather than any energetic words. Thus, I found that I seemed to understand the robber's helpless—overwhelmed behavior when I saw this sentence. Just imagine, how could you adapt when all your plans and lives for decades have been the same, suddenly, all those have been lost overnight? Although we all "get through" our lives, this kind of life has a rule. A simple change has disrupted all plans or even suddenly vanished at one moment; this result is also unacceptable and may do anything insane.

However, I want to discuss this time that life is not perfect if this is an authentic wonderful life. Although everyone wants to be an ideal person, a quintessential life will be the most helpless regret of life. As the author said, "how happy can anyone really be, all the time?" Only by accepting our imperfections can we have a more prosperous life.

The time keeper: Redefine time

Image1: The time keeper

Summary:

        The story's protagonist Dor is the man who invented the first clock on earth and tried to count the time. He was punished for measuring the greatest gift God has given to humanity, "time." He was banished to a cave for thousands of years and forced to listen to the begging voices of all those who followed him, who were against the clock and seeking more time: "If you can give me one more day, just a little more. Time..." Finally, the gods gave him a chance to be free, with a magic hourglass of time, teach the two people the true meaning of time, and save themselves from the fate of discovering time.

Reflection:

"Time" is fair to live beings or non-living things on the earth, and the elapsed time is the same. The difference is whether the existence of "time" has exacted and vital meaning to living beings or non-living things. Of course, "time" is also fair to human beings, and the reason is, of course, the same: because everyone has the same amount of time, not because of your status, gender, class, wealth... You don't buy time because you're rich, and you don't sell time because you're poor.

In Mitch Albom's new book "The Time Keeper," "time" is a fair term because the protagonists in the book are in different time and space environments and are experiencing completely different events. So, some people pray for time to pass faster; some people pray for time to give a little slower; some people feel that time is not enough; some people think that the existence of time is meaningless for them-in. In other words, some people want A little more time, and some people don't want it at all. As the two main characters, Sarah and Victor, are conversely situations. The girl Sarah considers she has too much time. She does not seem to like her body. I get the impression that she is stressing about a boy and what she will wear. The rich older man, Victor, learned from an authoritative doctor that he would die soon due to his illness. At the moment when he bravely asked the doctor, "How much time do I have?" I still have many things to do!" However, everyone knows that He does not seem to have much time left. These two instances reveal that humans will give additional meanings in different stages. From my standpoint, the novel points out that humans should cherish every moment. To me, this philosophy is SUCH A CLICHÉ! I want to set a "GOAL" for different life stages. If I were the two main characters, I would come up with some thoughts as they did. Hence, it is obvious their goal led to this decision to define time. This thought was inspired by the paragraph below. 

Birds are not late. A dog does not check its watch. Deer do not fret over passing birthdays. Man, alone measures time. Man, alone chimes the hour. And because of this, man alone suffers a paralyzing fear that no other creature endures. A fear of time running out." ― Mitch Albom, The Time Keeper

Image 2: Tuesdays with Morrie movie

I am addicted to this paragraph, showing how we should define TIME. Time could be slow and fast, depending on your purpose and mission. In the slow-paced lifestyle, I feel the nature creatures, including weather, wind, planet, and so on, in my garden. From childhood, we are taught that the human body has five senses. Equipped with my five senses, I explore the universe around me and call the adventure with my soul. I strongly sense that the greatest gift of the garden is the restoration of the five senses. In the fast-paced lifestyle, I am fond of ambition and tired. I quickly get tired during the afternoon. However, my heartbeat was so strong when I was doing my addictive things. The plot reminds me of the movie “Tuesdays with Morrie,” which is the same American author Mitch Albom with this novel. I was so moved by each lecture that the professor gave. I often try to feel how it would feel when I am dying. Each time I think about death, I would be more determined to do the things I really want to do. Once we will all leave this world behind; we should live our own lives. Both these two pieces of literature show me how I should adjust my mentality.

All in all, you know what your purpose is right now; it is better than keeping the time properly. In the long-term, humans will all die. Do what you love to do. Hence, you only come to the planet on your life once. Then you will become the true timekeeper.