Maus by Art Spiegelman

Maus as a book worked excellent for me. If I had to wait each week, month, or whatever length of time to be able to read the next strip of comic, I would not be as thrilled. To be able to knock out the whole book in one day really kept me curious to figure out what was going on. I really enjoyed it as a comic as well. It was less reading and more viewing which is good to have after finishing Into the Wild. Yes, there is a lot of imagery and text that is excluded being a book, but the comic was very interesting. I feel like it is able to reach out to a larger audience being a comic.

The only parts I think that would work as a comic are the exerpts where the creator is talking with his family and the viewing of the creator’s comic of his mother. These two scenarios would be difficult to be interesting and also to be easily fitted into a novel. The parts of the comic that deal with the author trying to glean knowledge from his father really brings the comic to reality as I know it. Then diving into what his father’s personal narrative of the Holocaust prepares the reader for the tragedy about to commence. The other part of the comic that would be difficult to express in a novel is the author’s representation of his comic about his mother’s death. It would be very difficult to describe it without actually presenting it.

If I were to choose any book to be a comic, it would be The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Granted, it would be a massive, I mean massive,  comic, but it would be an excellant read. It would give the long, descriptive Tolkien much more ground to reach out to readers. It would strengthen the interest because you could see with your own eyes how the story is unfolding. Instead of just being a novel, a comic version of The Lord of the Rings would capture all of the ideas Tolkien presents and show the reader just how it would look. But now that I think about it, the movies of the LOTR already do exactly what I just mentioned and more. The movies did an amazing job capturing the detail and storyline of how wonderful this book really is.  The only difference is that there would be very few parts of the movie to read, only when there is something to be translated. But this is exactly what our society feeds itself upon: media. It is so much easier to sit down and watch hours worth of movies than it is to spend even more time reading a book. In a way media really steals a lot of value that books encompass. A comic is a good mediator between a movie and a book. It has words and images. It plays off of the imagery of the film, but the ideas of a book. So after writing this blog, I decided a comic of the LOTR would be an excellent mediator between the film and the books.

A New Life

If I were to start a new lifelong journey while trying to escape my family and friends, I would go west just as McCandless did. After graduating college, I would sell my belongs except my vehicle, books, and a few clothes. I wouldn’t want my car to be held down by the weight of useless things. I would have a garbage bag full of winter, summer, and casual clothes. I would have an even larger collection of books ranging from the Bible to survial in the wild. I would also have some survial gear such as an axe, knife, and rifle. While it is still warm outside, I would live in a forest just like the one McCandless convinced his older friend, Franz, to live in. As soon as I arrived at my destination, I would build a single room, wooden shelter to protect myself from nature. My car would be parked nearby, but I would not live inside of it unless I had to. I would spend my first couple of days building this cabin, hunting food, gathering resources, and reading. For food, I would eat meat that I could shoot with my rifle or trap with snares. Other than meat, I would search for berries and whatever vegetation I could grow or find in the wild. After my cabin is built, I would have more time to read and enjoy nature for what it is. It would be a lonely lifestyle, so sometime I would like to get in my car and visit the world. I would spend the whole summer at my cabin, and when the winter arrives, I would stay until I was sick of the cold weather and drive south. On my journey through the south, I would visit wonders of the Earth such as the Grand Canyon and others like it. It would be a more nomadic, traveling adventure than that of the summertime. For food and gas I would try and be crafty and sell things. I would try and be as resourceful as I possibly could on the road. Now that I think about it, I would sell my car to buy a horse. I would use the horse to travel and have a companionship. The horse would not cost money. I would just have to feed and water the horse just as I feed and water myself. We would be a traveling duo and become very close companions. I would store all of my belongings in a backpack, which reduces the accessibility of how much I could carry with me at times. I would also love to have a camera to be able to recall the sights and adventures I would have traveled. I would scrounge change to be able to develop these photographs and power my camera. That would be the only piece of modern-day technology I would keep with me, unless it was too much of a nuisance to care for; then, I would simply try and draw what I saw.

Chris McCandless/Zine

Thus far in reading Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, I get the impression that Chris McCandless is your average person who wants freedom, excitement, adventure, and new experiences that everyone wants in their own life. It is the reoccurring theme in this class of escaping reality that I also find in Chris McCandless. The difference with McCandless is his approach and his courage to actually pursue these goals. His approach to essentially living his own life and his own dreams is by hitchhiking, living off of the land, and being completely nomadic. This is just one extreme of an extended vacation that almost everyone dreams of nonstop. For example, people who go hiking, camping, and rock climbing to name a few are just not extreme enough for McCandless. His love of nature drives him to be one in one with it. For other people it might just be relaxing on the beach, sunbathing, and swimming for months at a time. The other aspect of McCandless is his courage to actually pursue this dream. People fantasize about these extended vacations but claim they cannot possibly make time or money for them. McCandless will stop at nothing to do exactly what he wants to do when he wants to do it. This type of independence is extraordinary and inspiring. Though, at times, McCandless does seem a bit odd, but who doesn’t? For one thing, who wants to burn all of their money, or even donate nearly $25,000? Though noble, that seems absurd. In one sense its amazing to see him sever all connections with his culture, but our culture has been founded on the idea that money equals survival. He disproves this blatantly. His ability to just roam the Earth in modern times with simply a sack on his back is amazing. Granted, I would never go to this extreme even though I love nature. I would rather sit on a cozy couch with the comforts of the home-life with my family watching on the Discovery Channel, “Planet Earth.”

My zine is going to be a minimalistic design covering the topic of happiness: what creates, adds to, or takes away from a person being at the peak of happiness. It will be a simple design with interesting illustrations and ideas. My goal is for the context to be just as stimulating as the images in order to make people think about their lives. It will be printed on regular 8.5×11 inch paper in a landscape view, folded in half, and stapled in the middle to create a book/magazine reading style. It will cover many personal ideas of how I successfully achieve happiness and even fail which creates sadness. It is a way for me to try and connect with people at a higher level of philosophy and thinking that may or may not be thought of daily by other people. It is something I feel passionate about and want to spread the message to as many people as I possibly can. It is my goal to help people if at all possible and make their lives a little more happier.

Summary on MTV Articles

Near the end of May 2007, Stephen Totilo from MTV News interviewed on two separate accounts “ex-Donkey Kong world champion”, Billy Mitchell, and also the “new world champion,” Steve Wiebe. The two articles summarize the documentary “King of Kong” with some behind the scene input. In particular, the articles discuss some things that the movie had intentionally left out.

In the article “’Donkey Kong’ Record Holder Says New Flick Settles His Score,” Totilo interviews Steve Wiebe. He gives the reader a background of the situation and then asks Wiebe about his feelings over the whole situation. In this article, Wiebe said that he and Mitchell met for the first time at the 2004 Classic Gaming Expo in California. “He seemed like a fine guy face to face,” Wiebe said. “He wasn’t trying to beat me up or anything” (Totilo 2). Wiebe then goes on to say that after watching the film “King of Kong” he perceived Billy Mitchell as a different person. It really showed the difference between Wiebe’s family and Mitchell’s gang. Wiebe really played into the character as the protagonist especially after viewing Mitchell on the documentary.

On the other end of the playing field, Billy Mitchell’s interview in the article, “Ex-’Donkey Kong’ Champ Finally Speaks After Getting Bruised By New Doc,” is more or less Mitchell trying to redeem himself. It is one of the first times Mitchell has publicly talked about the film. Mitchell states, “They paint Steve as the family man and I guess they paint me as a son of a gun” (Totilo 1). In this article, the 2004 Classic Gaming Expo was also mentioned. Mitchell stated that he joked with Wiebe there about their rivalry. Mitchell claims he and Wiebe played the Donkey Kong there. He said he got off on a great start with a nearly seven digit score. Mitchell said Wiebe spent most of his time at the expo playing and coming up short of his score (Totilo 2).

Totilo mentions that Wiebe had a different memory of that situation. Wiebe stated that Mitchell was having trouble with the controls, so he “…got to about 50,000 and ditched the game” (Totilo 2). This is just one example of how Mitchell tries to redeem himself and fight with the documentary about his character. The reason it was so hard to get an interview with Mitchell after the film was released is because he was probably afraid of letting the public feel assured of his personality. Even in the interviews, Mitchell does come off as a “son of a gun.”

After reading the articles, I feel like the director did manipulate and edit things to fall in place for the perfect storyline, but it does not deny Billy Mitchell’s personality which was molded the day he became the original “Donkey Kong world champ.” Mitchell’s and Wiebe’s personalities’ are portrayed accurately in the documentary, and the directors happened to take notice of this and take full advantage of it.

Les Misérables

The movie image.

During my senior year in high school, I was supposed to read the book Les Misérables by Victor Hugo for my English class. I did read some of the book, but the majority I read from Sparknotes. Even from the beginning Hugo starts the novel with a very touching storyline as he critiques the unlawful French justice system of his lifetime. The more we read and discussed in class the more involved I became with the book, but I never offically read the entire book. After we took the test, we watched the movie and it is one of the most inspiring movies I have ever seen.

At the beginning of the novel/movie, Jean Valjean was trying to help his sister raise her children. They were extremely poor. Desperate times called for desperate measures, and Jean Valjean decided to steal a loaf of bread for his starving family even though he could have asked. He ends up getting charged with theft and sentenced to several years on the chain gang. After trying to escape numerous times, his sentence multiplies into a total of nineteen years. Upon his release, Jean Valjean has a sinister outlook on life. He is a criminal on probation and is required to make sure every town he enters knows this.

One of my favorite parts of the entire novel/movie is when Jean Valjean enters a town, Digne, where he is denied food or shelter. He decides to sleep on a bench in the town when an old lady asks him what he is doing trying to sleep outside when the weather gets severely cold at night. He replies that no person would allow him, a criminal, food or shelter. She asks Valjean if he tried the door of the bishop. He tells her no. Then she convinces him to do so.

When Valjean knocks on the door late in the evening, the bishop and his sister are startled, but open the door. They see Valjean and he tells them he is a criminal and needs food and shelter. Ironically for Valjean, they take him in, feed him, and give him a place to rest for the night. During dinner, Valjean notices the pure silverware. The bishop catches his eye but says nothing. In the middle of the night, Valjean gets up and steals the silverware out of the cupboard, and he heads off into the night. The next morning the bishop’s sister scolds her brother for ever letting a criminal stay, because he stole their silverware.  The bishop reassures her that they did not even need pure silverware and that everything will be alright.

Later on in the day, two police officers bring Jean Valjean to the bishop’s door, and they ask him if the silverware belonged to him. The bishop smiles and tells the police that he had given them to Valjean as a gift, but he forgot to take the silver candlesticks as well. While handing Valjean the silver candlesticks, the bishop whispers in his ear that this is his chance to start a new life. Astonished, Valjean walks away a free man and does as the bishop told him.

The story goes on with great action, drama, and enertainment. Overall, this is one of my favorite inspirational movies because of all the emotions, actions of selflessness, and wisdom to be gained.

My ob·li·ga·ble tattoo

If I were to get a tattoo, I would get something that is symbolic and carries a lot of meaning. It would be a simple design, nothing fancy. Preferably, the only color would be black. The location would be somewhere that is not visible while I am wearing clothes. I would probably get it on my back on the upper right corner. I would only be able to see it in the mirror so that I don’t keep reminding myself of any regrets about it. The size would not be any larger than my palm. It would definately be related to religion, my heritage, or something that has a bigger meaning than myself.  The meaning would go for more than one person, possibly relating to Christians or my ancestors. It would not be a tattoo that someone else has. Although the only way of me finding it would be from someone who already designed it. I would want it to be unique. It would set me apart from other people. I would be upset if someone I knew copied my tattoo for themselves because it would be a special piece of art specifically for me. I’m not trying to make a trend or style for people I know to copy. I have thought about getting a cross tattoo or something like a fish. I would not get a tribal tattoo, even though when I was younger I thought they looked cool. I would not get a tatto that is in another language because I do not like that style. If I would get something that is related to my ancestors, it would be something Irish like the outline of the country or a four leafed clover. I would not get a generic tattoo without any meaning because it would be a waste of my skin. The committment you are forced into with a tattoo scares me because it will never go away. That is the reason why I would be so picky and so anal about getting a tattoo. I would not get a tattoo that has color or looks cluttered. I would not get a tattoo that is about anything I am interested in such as fantasy because it would just be an example of something I was interested at one point in time and a tattoo would make it permanant even if I grew out of that phase. The reason for me wanting a religous or something that involves my heritage is because I would never grow out of either of these phases. They are a part of my life that is going to always be there. That is something I would feel comfortable committing my precious skin to. The Bible does mention tattooing. In Leviticus 19: 28, it states “You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh on account of the dead or tattoo any marks upon you: I am the LORD.” To me this is an important factor in getting a tattoo. Just because of today’s fashion trends or people being more open to tattoos doesn’t mean I am willing to get one as well.

Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing

Summary: Roger Sipher presents the problem with attendance laws in public schools. He believes that there should no longer be any attendance laws requiring students to be in school. He argues that this only causes distractions for students who earnestly want to learn. Another point in his essay is that the grades earned by students in a school without attendance rules are the grades he/she deserves and honestly achieves. Sipher goes on to say that schools are for learning and not a social gathering place.

Paraphrasing: Roger Sipher states that private schools have more success than public schools because the private schools do not have attendance laws.

Quote: According to Roger Sipher, the problem with public school policy is that the “students know they will be passed from grade to grade until they are old enough to quit or until, as is more likely, they receive a high school diploma” (Page 2).

Religion = Subculture

In my art history and medieval history classes here at Purdue, it is fascinating to learn about the impact of religion throughout the world since it came into existence. I also find it interesting to compare modern civilization’s view with our ancestor’s beliefs. While growing up, my parents never “raised” us, my siblings, in the church, so it is not a subculture I was born into. My journey with religion is accredited to many people. It took a couple of people to sow seeds of thought about God for me to finally take an interest. Mostly, I would commend my significant girlfriend, Josie, with blessing me with the curiosity of religion. It only took a couple visits to the church a few times during our relationship to motivate me to want to learn more about God. One day I decided to pick up the Bible and read something from it. That didn’t last long. It is such a huge, challenging book to try and read. I had no idea where to start or which translation to use. Only some months pasted by when another person, John, witnessed to me his beliefs and questioned mine. I felt so naive to say that I didn’t really have a religion, and I was clueless about who such substantial people were such as Jesus Christ. With his help, I was able to really concentrate and learn more about religion. After more visits with John, I had a concept of religion underway. That summer, I became more affliliated with Josie’s church and eventually became a member. I felt better informed and a part of something bigger than myself and even the world with the more I learned about religion. I have been told that college could present a barrier to someone who is trying to grow closer to their religion, but my experiences have revealed the opposite. One day after eating at the dining court, I was asked to fill out a survey for an organization known as CRU. Not long afterward, two representatives of CRU came to my door in my dorm for a follow-up. I was introduced to a Bible study group that was only a few doors down from mine that meets once weekly. I quickly acquainted myself with them and learned a great deal about God. My association with Christianity as a subculture has been the most enlightening experience of my life. As a Christian, I strive to live my life as close in accordance with Jesus Christ’s own life. I try to help spread the word of Christianity whenever possible. Also, it is good to be around other Christians such at the CRU meetings, because you have a sense of trust and concurrence with everyone. Because I trust the Bible as the word of God, I endeavor to read it and follow it as closely as I can. My religion holds the answers to all of life’s mysteries and answers from science to the afterlife. Everyday I keep God in my thoughts and plan to do so until the day I die.