Kevin's Blog

[kevinevin]

Research and Writing 2

So one of my literary criticisms tells me that my book is about TRUE love. And then my other criticism says that the entire book is satire and that anyone who believes otherwise is overtly sentimental, arrogant, selfish, and blind. Claudette Columbus is an angry woman and she will not hesitate to flame anyone. Michael Palencia-Roth needs to step up his game; I’m starting to agree with Columbus.

[kevinevin]

Research and Writing 1

Whoa! I thought something was off with the unrealistic representation of love in Love in the Time of Cholera, and it seems that the critics agree. According to this lady named Claudette Columbus, the entire book is a satire of people who are overtly sentimental, people that let love blind them in inappropriate situations. In this case, Florentino is so in love that he is unable to lead a productive life despite the cholera epidemic. Columbus even goes as far to compare Marquez’s writing with Swift, a writer known for satire. She also criticizes other analysts who only regard the book as romantic fiction.

I found the article for free on JSTOR.com, if anyone is looking for a free repository of criticism, this one is fantastic.

[kevinevin]

Reading the Work 5

So we learn that Dr. Urbino has had an “affair”, and so Fermina leaves him for a short while only to return later. By now, many years have passed and everybody is old, and finally, we reach the point in time where Urbino dies and the story continues. I’ve noticed that Marquez frequently uses the weather to set the mood in his story; he uses heavy rain to symbolize dramatic events in the story, such as Urbino’s death. After Florentino proclaims his love again to Fermina after so many years, he is actually pretty successful in building a relationship with her again despite her initial outbursts of anger. Finally, with persistence and patience, Florentino is able to get into Fermina’s pants. And that’s pretty much how the book ends.

[kevinevin]

Reading the Work 4

After Fermina’s rejection of Florentino, we learn of Dr. Urbino’s life and his difficult but successful courtship of Fermina. After learning of this, we hear of Florentino’s affairs with multiple women such as Rosalba, Nazaret, Sara, and Olimpia. So it seems that Florentino is quite a player, yet he proclaims that his love for Fermina is still pure. Which doesn’t really make sense. Marquez’s idealization of love is very strange, as he tries to write Florentino in a positive light, but I just find him increasingly annoying with his passive complaints and his inability to move on. Florentino does see Fermina every now and then, first at the poetry competition, and then again with Dr. Urbino, and he tries to stalk her again, but she disappears.

[kevinevin]

Reading the Work 3

So it seems that Dr. Urbino’s present story was just a prologue. After Urbino dies, this awkward man named Florentino Ariza shows up and awkwardly proposes his love to Fermina at Urbino’s funeral. Which is obviously a bad move, as Fermina kicks him out immediately. And then the real story begins, first with a background on Florentino’s early immature courtship of Fermina when they were both very young. It seems that Fermina led Florentino on for a very long time without actually meeting him, and then abruptly cut off relations after seeing him up close and in person. Yet Florentino pledges his love to her for the rest of his life while Fermina eventually runs off with Urbino despite her disdain for him. Marquez wants to make Florentino an important part of Fermina’s life in his story, but in reality, Florentino would probably be classified as a stalker.

[kevinevin]

Reading the Work 2

The Urbino’s marriage is described in great length, and it leaves me wondering how these two completely different people were able to stay together in marriage for so long. Fermina loves nature while Dr. Urbino despises it; Fermina is independent and strong-headed while Urbino is distant and reliant on his wife; Fermina is full of love and passion while Urbino seems to love his parrot more than his family. It actually just struck me how silly Dr. Urbino’s death is. He is such a dignified man, with so much education and prestige, yet he dies after falling off a ladder chasing a parrot. Maybe this is Marquez’s way of making fun of death?

[kevinevin]

Reading the Work 1

Love in the Time of Cholera isn’t the most infatuating book I’ve ever read, but it is quite interesting. The book begins in the present with a description of a old-timer named Dr. Urbino, who is a hot-shot doctor with a very attractive wife. Their marriage is described in a very strange way. It isn’t exactly troubled and it isn’t exactly happy, and although the couple says that they love each other, the relationship sounds very tense and methodical. It honestly sounds terrible, but when Dr. Urbino dies, his wife seems genuinely distressed. Something that stood out to me in the first few pages of the novel is the description of Jeremiah de Saint-Amour’s suicide and the evident age of Dr. Urbino. Marquez paints a very realistic picture of death and age very early in his novel.

[kevinevin]

Picking the Work 2

After reading a few chapters of The Count of Monte Cristo online, I decided to go to the library to pick up a paper copy. Looking through the shelves in the library and realizing how long the book was, I changed my mind. The book is 1200 pages! And I’ve read five chapters already without becoming significantly interested. So browsing through the “Classics” rack at the Troy Public Library, I stumble upon the novel Love in the Time of Cholera. Tales of romance are always interesting, so I’ve picked it up and decided to read it. It has much more critical analysis, it’s been made into a movie here (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0484740/), and it is interesting to see how modern romance compares to romance of the past. I’ve decided to wait until I’m halfway through the book to post this, just so there aren’t any more changes.

[kevinevin]

Picking the Work 1

After searching the internet for an “interesting book with literary merit” I found a forum with several recommendations for the book The Count of Monte Cristo. Quickly googling the title of the book, I find that it is an adventure novel about revenge written by Alexander Dumas, and that it is available online at this link. I ask Mr. Kreinbring for approval, and I make sure critical analysis exists for the novel, and now I begin reading!

[kevinevin]

Swimming is a big part of my life, at least for a part of the year. During the season, I'm in the pool for a good portion of my free time. Swimming can be fun, but it usually consists of hard practices. Waking up every morning and knowing that there's swim practice: that's a heavy feeling. But doing well in the pool is very lifting. Goggles and swimsuit, less than a pound. Swimming: heavy or light, depending on the day.

This is what controls my life right now. It's my senior year! I should be relaxing, but colleges man. I just finished my UofM app. That's 1/10 applications. College applications, stressful stuff. Really really heavy.

Music is one of the things I go to for stress relief. When I was younger, practicing was one of my less enjoyable activities. But these days, with everything going on, it's the only thing that has remained constant. I never thought that I could enjoy playing the piano or the violin. Weight: -20 stress-points.

Time. I waste so much of it doing unproductive things. And as a result, 17 years of my life have gone by so fast. This is the part of my life I want to last the longest, but that clock never slows. I can only be young once. Weight: crushing.

This is something that I actually carry with me. It demonstrates that I live in a new age, where everybody is connected. Everybody has one, and it serves as a distraction as well as a helpful device. Sometimes, I turn it off, and I somehow feel lighter, not being fed updates every second of the day. But I can't disconnect myself, otherwise I'll betray my responsibilities. Weight: heavy.

[laliberty]

I’ve written (or, more accurately, ranted) about the TSA before, and I’ve recounted my experience opting out of the porno-scanners over the summer that led to my 20-month-old daughter’s diaper being checked for explosives.

As it has for many of us, especially after the TSA announced...

[kevinevin]

Anti-war War Game

The game Fallout: New Vegas is an example of media that is stereotypically a war game, while also subliminally presenting anti-war views. New Vegas is set in a post apocalyptic world, presumably after a devastating nuclear war. The player plays as a recently escaped vault dweller and is presented vast wastelands filled with mutated creatures and dangerous bandits. Although the game is centered around violence such as assassinations, mercenary work, the landscape is clearly made to present anti-war views. The suffering and devastation presented by the landscape in the game warns against future nuclear conflict in the real world.

[kevinevin]

Poem

Solitude  Laugh, and the world laughs with you;  Weep, and you weep alone.  For the sad old earth must borrow it's mirth,  But has trouble enough of its own.  Sing, and the hills will answer;  Sigh, it is lost on the air.  The echoes bound to a joyful sound,  But shrink from voicing care.  Rejoice, and men will seek you;  Grieve, and they turn and go.  They want full measure of all your pleasure,  But they do not need your woe.  Be glad, and your friends are many;  Be sad, and you lose them all.  There are none to decline your nectared wine,  But alone you must drink life's gall.  Feast, and your halls are crowded;  Fast, and the world goes by.  Succeed and give, and it helps you live,  But no man can help you die.  There is room in the halls of pleasure  For a long and lordly train,  But one by one we must all file on  Through the narrow aisles of pain. 

Ella Wheeler Wilcox 

[beingliberal]

This text is retrieved from the guts of the Web as it appears that the original post from the blog of Duchess St. Rollins just disappeared… This is also a good reminder that ANYTHING posted on the Web starts the life of it’s own. The Web never forgets. (Original: ...

[kevinevin]

Moral Principle

"No pain, no gain." This clichéd phrase is one of the morals I believe I live by. Although it's obvious that I don't apply this mentality to everything I do, I have used it and I've seen it work. Applying this mentality that if you really want something, you have to work hard for it in education and sports have brought many people success. The satisfaction of being rewarded for grueling work is also a plus. 

[kevinevin]

Denby

Teen movies are filled with stereotypes. The jocks, the cheerleaders, the nerds; we are very familiar with these groups and can easily identify the characteristics are associated with them. But movies are known to exaggerate everything, and stereotypes are no exception. In teenage movies, the jocks and cheerleaders become unsympathetic demons that terrorize the nerds, that are helpless. Their pranks are unrelenting and over the top. Obviously, this is an exaggeration. In real life, most teenagers aren't single faceted; most of us are a hybrid of these stereotypes. The exaggeration of stereotypes in teenage movies is understandable, because otherwise there would be less conflict. If the jock wasn't bull-headed and stupid to an extreme, he wouldn't push the nerd to his breaking point, frequently demonstrated by mass murder in the movies listed by Denby. Movies will be movies; unrealistic and exaggerated things will always be entertaining.

[kevinevin]

Parent Movie Discussion

Neither of my parents have heard of the movie "Rebel Without A Cause", but when I explained some of the teenage stereotypes presented by the movie, they agreed that most of them are probably exaggerated. They told me that they have heard of knife fights and games of 'chicken', but have never actually witnessed them. I have heard of similar things from friends in my generation, but I have also never witnessed them. Perhaps these extravagant displays of bravery are just tall tales passed between generations of teenagers. When I told my parents about the violent outbursts of the teenagers in the movie "Rebel Without A Cause", they shook their head and explained that the situation was caused by a lack of discipline.