Blog Post #7

Netflix playlist for Macbeth 

The Emperor's New Grove 

The Emperors New Grove is a movie about Emperor Kuzco who is poisoned and turned into a llama by the conniving Yzma and her side kick Kronk. Cuzco is accompanied by his soon to be friend, Pacha on their quest to help get Kuzco back in power. This relates to Macbeth for Macbeth is very similar Kronk in the movie. Kronk is greatly influenced by Yzma just as Macbeth is controlled by Lady Macbeth. This is a quality film and relates back to the motif of ambition, for Yzma and Kronk are very ambitious in their plan to get rid of Kuzco and become Empress. This reveals that Kronk like Macbeth does have a desire for power because he is associated with Yzma who is assuredly craving power.


The Office 

The Office is a subtle comedy that takes a look at a simple paper company in Scranton, Pennsylvania and shows all the shenanigans that go on in the work place. Manager, Michael Scott, and his colleagues Dwight Schrute and Jim Halpert run most of the pranks in the show. Macbeth would appreciate the awesome character that is Dwight Schrute, and he would appreciate Dwight’s quest to hopefully one day become regional manager of Dunder Mifflin, Scranton. This classic show relates to the motif as ambition as Dwight hopes to one day no longer be the right hand man, but instead become the manager. This shows that Macbeth does have a desire for power and will complete shenanigans in order to one day become more powerful, whether that is regional manager or King of Scotland. 

Blue Mountain State

Blue Mountain State is an interesting show that takes a look at what it is like being on the football team at the college, Blue Mountain State. Back up Quarterback, Alex Moran experiences college with his roommate and mascot, Sammy Cacciatore, along with captain of the team Thad Castle and kicker Harmon. This show examines what it is like being part of the football team at a wild party school and all the adventures that come along with that. Macbeth would appreciate the character of the kicker Harmon and would understand his practices to the motif of supernatural. Harmon takes his pregame routine very serious and believes that everything he does must be done in a certain way to give him “good luck” in order to make a clutch field goal. Kickers are a special breed. Harmon and Macbeth both turn to the supernatural to see what their future holds.

Breaking Bad

Breaking Bad is a highly accredited show about chemistry teacher Walter White and his journey of cooking and selling Crystal Meth with past student Jesse Pinkman. Walter is diagnosed with lung cancer and enters the drug and gang world in order to make money for his family and to pay for his cancer treatment. The two go through many adventures in order to evade the law enforcement of New Mexico in order to sell their Meth. Macbeth would appreciate the character of Walter White and his attention to the motif of appearance vs. reality. In the show Walter White keeps up the appearance of being a simple high school chemistry teacher, but in fact he is a knowledgeable drug dealer. This reveals that Macbeth finds his appearance to others very important, especially when it comes to being accused of murder. Macbeth and Walter White both use their identities to try to remain innocent from prosecution. 

Blog Post #6

"Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." - Lord Acton

To what extent would Shakespeare agree with this statement? Use the play and your own experience as your support.

Shakespeare would agree to a large extent with this statement. I too can agree with this statement. For instance, many relationships break up due to power. In teenage relationships the key for success is a balance of power. If one feels minuscule compared to the other, then a break up is inevitable. If one feels superior than the other, they gain absolute power. This causes a large separation between the two individuals which will cause the relationship to corrupt. 

This same concept is represented when Macbeth meets with the three witches for a second time. The first time he meets them, they tell him that he will become king, the third witch says, “all hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter” (1.3) This has a great impact on Macbeth’s ideology for he just gained a lot of power from this knowledge. This marks a major turning point in the characterization of Macbeth. He no longer relies on the encouragement of Lady Macbeth for assurance that he can be king for with his new found confidence from the witches, he himself believes that he can be king. With this new power he starts to become corrupted. The second time he meets with the witches we can tell he is corrupted with power for he goes to the extent of cursing the witches. Also, Macbeth begins to go insane for he becomes paranoid and kills Banquo. Where there is an unbalance of power there is always corruption.

Blog Post 4 10/26/2015

 How would you best describe the central idea of this chapter? Which phrase from the chapter best helps develop the central idea?  

On the surface, the central idea of the passage is for Mr. Brocklehurst to teach the girls how to live a life where they are patient and self denying. This main idea is best developed by the phrase, "Madam, allow me an instant. You are aware that my plan in bringing up these girls is, not to accustom them to habits of luxury and indulgence  but to render them hardy, patient, self-denying." Here we had just been informed that the girls had received some form of a treat. For example, two girls needed to meet for tea time so they received a clean cloak to put on and also, all the girls were given a spoiled meal so Miss temple replaced that meal with a edible one, saying that she didn't want the girls to remain fasting until dinner. Mr. Brocklehurst did not approve of these special conditions. He believed that they pampered the body and as a result would obviate from the aim of the institution. Mr. Brocklehurst is very set in his ways and has very strong beliefs. What is interesting about this excerpt is to see how the different characters react to his beliefs. The teacher, Miss Temple, does not necessarily agree with Mr. Brocklehurst, but she does what she is told anyway. She is a conformist, even if she has to cover her face with her handkerchief if necessary. Another interesting character is the narrator. She dropped her slate which crashed to the floor. She was brought to the front of the room and yelled at for her careless behavior. It is interesting how despite being  yelled at and shunned for the rest of the day how she conducted herself on the stool. She never got upset or outraged but instead she sat on the stool with a lot of pride. She received this pride from the smile of a girl who walked by, that girl was viewed by the narrater as a martyr. Lastly, it is interesting to acknowledge the group of lavishly dressed girls that appear in high quality furs and velvet cloaks. It is interesting that these girls are introduced right after Mr. Brocklehurst finished his speech about the importance of modesty. The introduction of these women almost diminished the importance of Mr. Brocklehurst for his views were combated by a group of high class teenaged girls. Looking deeper into the excerpt it is clear that the central idea is in fact how to deal with struggle. And struggle in this excerpt is symbolized by Mr. Brocklehurst. 

Blog post #3

Freebie!

My Name

My name 

Lit Lang Post 2 

9/27/2015

My name is Wrenn Daniel Pallas. In order to explore the meaning of my name it is important that I state my heritage. I am half Greek and half Italian. In Greek and Italian culture names are very important and respected. A baby is always named to honor someone in your family and to keep the family lineage alive, that is why both my Dad and my youngest brother share the name Nicholas. My name Wrenn, was created to honor my Italian grandfather, Rinaldo. Wrenn is a shorter name from Rinaldo. My last name comes from my Greek grandfather. My Greek grandfather was born with the last name Paterekas. When he moved to the United States he shortened it to Pallas, so it was easier to pronounce. I feel a lot of honor having my name and knowing that it carries the legacy of my family. I was not named after a bird.

I often experience the dilemma of having two selves when I am playing soccer. Soccer is the ultimate team sport that takes a complete group effort in order to be successful. With that said, everyone wants to be a hero. At practice it is really easy to make the right decisions that will benefit the team, whether that be cross the ball instead of shoot, or pass instead of dribble. When it comes to the game, that simplicity goes away. Everyone remembers who scored the goal, but no one remembers who got the assist. Personally, when I play I consider myself a maestro. That is due to my position on the field, as a midfielder my job is to orchestrate my teammates in order to make the right plays, this is why I have more assists than goals. However, late in the game I still find myself struggling whether to go for glory myself or pass the opportunity to someone else.

Wing Young Huie

We are the Other - David and Lou, South Minneapolis, MN (2012) 

A denotative examination of the text (little picture- what do we see on first examination? 

At first examination you see two men, a white man and a black man. They seem to be taking a cigarette break for they are smoking a cigarette on the porch of a low income house. 

A connotative examination of the text (big picture- what do we "discover" by looking deeper?)

By looking deeper at the picture it is clear that there is an obvious relationship between the two. They both have the same facial expression which indicates that they have similar values and opinions which is key for a good friendship. By reading the caption at the bottom of the picture, it confirms my assumption that the two are very similar. I think it is really cool that these two have such connection that we as the viewer look more at the connection between the two people rather than the obvious fact that these two are of different races.  

How do Wing Young Huie (in your selected photograph) and Margaret Atwood (in The Handmaid's Tale) present the concept of "othering" through  image, layout/format, language, and/or color? You may compare the two texts/approaches, contrast, or both. 

I find it really interesting how Huie presents “othering” in the image above. The photograph shows a connection between two people that most people dont usually associate together. What I mean by this is that some people might this strong connection between two people odd because they are of two different races. One way Atwood is similar to Huie is she presents “otherness” based on physical qualities. Huie uses race, while Atwood uses fertility. In The handmaid’s tale the women who are infertile are the ones that are outcasted by society. In a sense Huie does the same, for the men you see photographed are stereotypically the image that comes to mind for people who do not contribute greatly to society.