Jackson Bates

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Sparknotes isn't a substitute for not reading

    Obviously, the main reason that sparknotes.com or a similar website is not a substitute for reading a book is because it misses the little details. Sparknotes outlines the summary of each chapter as well as the whole book, but it does miss little bits and pieces that are essential for understanding the full meaning and theme of the book. I would go into specifics examples with my book, but I don't want to give anything away.
    Another reason why is because you dont get any feeling of self accomplishment or the enjoyment of reading a book by using sparknotes. I have read all of the Harry Potter books and because they are so long, it makes me feel good that i read a series of books that are almost all about 600 pages long. Also, if i would have just used sparknotes, i wouldnt have gotten the feeling of what the author had put into the book by spending so much time writing them.
    Books are written to be read, not to be shortened into small pieces that explain what some of the key points are. If the author wanted to give a summary, they wouldnt have put all of the hard work into writing them.  That is why there are things called short stories. If you like short stories, then use sparknotes, but if you really enjoy reading like I do, then don't use sparknotes for reading novels. The funny thing is, I will still use sparknotes if i forget to read or something along those lines!

Letters About Literature

Jackson Bates
1301 E Walnut St.
Carbondale, Illinois 62902
Dear Nathaniel Hawthorne,

I am very disappointed with your so called famous novel, The Scarlet Letter. It honestly just rambles on and on forever describing one aspect or characteristic of something that really isn’t even that important. Also, it was insanely boring. There was no action whatsoever and the main storyline was too simple. Yes, adultery was committed, what is the need to remind this to the reader on every page? Finally, who wants to read about the Puritan times anyway? They were just a bunch of extremely religious people that thought being perfect was everything.

I learned that you were paid for every word while writing The Scarlet Letter. That sounds like a pretty nice deal; however, being extremely redundant makes a book horrible. For example, there were spots in the book where you explained Hester Prynne using a whole chapter. I could see someone using about two to three good quality paragraphs explaining the main character, but why a whole chapter? The reader gets too caught up with that character after that anyway. Then, for the next couple chapters, you forget the conflict of the story and it is hard to remember with all of the pointless descriptions. In my situation, it made me want to just throw the book at a wall, which I did, because of its redundancy.

Another reason I didn’t like your book, Nathaniel, is because there was no action at all. It was simply a book with one crime that occurred before the book even started. There were no intense parts that left me wanting to read more. How come nobody has made a movie worth watching over The Scarlet Letter? There was no enthusiasm in the book that also made it boring. I pictured all of the characters just talking in a steady monotone the whole time. There really was no emotion and none of the dialogue was interesting either. I like books that have numerous conflicts throughout the story and the only one in this was the crime of adultery that was committed.

The final reason why I didn’t like your All American Classic book, The Scarlet Letter is because it takes place in the Puritan times. The main reason why I don’t like the Puritan times is because I did very badly on one of my essays over Puritan life. The whole Puritan unit was pretty boring to me and reading this just enhanced that feeling. The Puritans are not a good topic at all. They just try to be perfect in the eyes of God, even if that means informing the ministers that one of their family members did something illegal. In The Scarlet Letter, you made Dimmesdale die after he confessed his sins, which really didn’t make much sense to me.

Thank you for your time of reading this letter, even though you’re dead. I hope that you never write another Puritan book because you didn’t do very well with this one. Also, I would recommend that being less selfish and writing a more quality book, rather than trying to make a bunch of money will help you out in the future.

Sincerely,

Hater of The Scarlet Letter

Non-Classical Music for Ship Breaker

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_7baOCYg-Q&ob=av2n

I chose to imbed the song, "I Made It" by the Cash Money Heroes. This song is almost perfect for describing the different situations in Nailer's life. He started out dreaming of being rich and owning a clipper ship, which are the fastest ships in the book. Then, after a hurricane, he comes across one that was wrecked and finds only one survivor who just happened to be the daughter of a very rich family from a way better place. This relates perfectly with the lyrics of the song.
Nailer was born poor and lived on the beach in a little bamboo hut, but after his whole adventure, everything changes. In the song, they talk about how they used to dream about where they are today, but now they made it. Also, this is really ironic, Lil' Wayne says something about finding oil and getting rich, which actually happened to one of the characters in the beginning of the book. Nailer's world is one in which resources are depleted so, finding oil would make him rich and he always dreamed of finding some "lucky strike." Not only is this a good song, but it relates to the book in many ways. Thanks for letting us choose a non-classical song for this blog because it really opened up the choices and I didn't really know many classical songs.

Ship Breaker Vlog

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_btQgzF-aQ

Hey Mrs. Hayes and or Mr. Lukes this might not work at the school because it's on youtube, but you can always watch it at home!

Thursday, November 3, 2011

2nd Quarter Follow and Respond

Jackson Bates said...

Hey alex, i almost agree with you 100% about how i felt about the whole blogging assignment. I really liked it at first, but then after a little while and the grades came out, my feelings changed quite a bit. Also,like you, i can't wait to video chat with another class. I think that that will be pretty awesome. Ive never even skyped before and it looks pretty cool. I think you did a nice job with this blog, not only because you added lots of information, but you explained all of your opinions and that's what it's all about.

Hey Brandon, I really liked your letter to the author of The Great Gatsby. It looked like you really enjoyed his book and explained why in almost every way possible. I also wanted to read your letters about literature because i might want to read The Great Gatsby for my third quarter book. I have heard that it is a classic and you said that you really liked it, so i think that's what i'll choose after christmas.
Hey Sarah i cant believe how fast school has been this year either! We are almost to christmas, which means that the second quarter is almost over. That leaves only 6 quarters of high school left!!! I was also kind of disappointed with my grades as well so in the future i will work a lot harder and im sure you will too. I really liked your blog and cant wait to learn about your book.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Quarter Uno Blog Reflection!!!

    Overall, my grade for the first quarter blogs was ok. It wasnt that great and i wasnt extremely happy with it, but I got an A for the quarter.  I would have liked better than a B- on my blog so i will just have to try a lot harder this quarter! I think that my stronger blogs from last quarter were the animoto and the vlog because i enjoyed them the most so i put in the most effort towards them. If i would have put forth the same amount of effort towards the other blogs, I would have definately gotten a better grade. One point of weakness that I had was when i didn't write long enough paragraphs that were lacking detail. I also could have done the blogs when they were assigned instead of waiting until the last minute. I think that some of the blogs were rushed but that won't be the case this quarter.
    Blogging this year has been fun for the most part. Making the vlogs and animotos is probably the most fun. I don't normally make videos so it was cool to watch myself talk about the books that i have read. Some of the blogs, however, i thought were just kind of boring. For example, the website blog was in my opinion very repetitve. I felt like i was finding the same information just on different sites and that only about 5 were quality sites pertaining to my book. That's why i really liked how you let us choose the blogs for this quarters assignment, and i wont be doing a website blog this quarter if you were wondering. Im looking forward to having fun choosing the blogs and can't wait to do the Letters About Literature.
    For this quarter, I will be reading Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi. I saw that a couple people read this last quarter and it is really good so far. It is about a teenage boy like myself, and how he has a hard life because it takes place in the future and almost all of the resources like oil are depleted and must be scavenged for. He has to work very hard and keep his job otherwise, well i dont know yet because i havent read it all! Keep reading my posts to find out more on Ship Breaker.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Theo's Animoto