Final Week

This has been overall great class to be apart of. Before this class I didn't get a chance to read a lot of different genres and I have always been stand-offish of new genres as well. I do have to say that the science part of this class had to be my absolute favorite. I have always loved science and I enjoyed learning about the different genres that make of science. Each week I learned something new including, new authors. There was so much stuff that we talked about that I never knew existed and now I feel more educated and ready to explore more genres in the future.

Week 15 Future

When I think about the future I can see the world being merely technological. I don't really know if that will be a good or bad thing but just from experiencing the world with technology now, it might become quite overwhelming. In a couple of my other classes I am already working on projects that involve interactive glass walls and floors for the future. I think as the years come, designers will work hard to come up with new ways for technology to interact with humans on a more personal level. We are already so connected to our devices that it can only become more addicting with more and more technological advances coming out. I also think that virtual reality experiences will become more popular and people will be able to experience it more often through roller coasters, other rides, and even just on their tv sitting at home. Virtual reality roller coasters have and are in the process of being made in different places. With technology advancing there will be more opportunities for people to go to other planets and have the ability to make advanced spaceships for the future.

Week 14 Starship Titanic

This week I read Starship Titanic, and I instantly wanted to read it when I saw that the title had Titanic in it. I have always been intrigued with The Titanic and I love that this story is a twist on the titanic but instead it's a starship that crashed and landed on earth. This was an easy read in my opinion, and I genuinely liked reading about it because it all started with brief ideas and developed into something unique. It was a good laugh kind of read also because it was the "greatest ship that was ever made" and there would be no reason for it to ever have problems just like the Titanic. People have always been interested in the great Titanic and how it sank, so I think it was smart that the author brought in a futuristic outlook on the overall story by making the titanic fly into space and then land on planet earth. The author has a bold imagination of what the future could hold for us with new technology and potentially interesting space ships.

Week 13 Aquatic Uncle

Are there any prominent symbols in the story? If so, what are they, and how are they used? 

My take on the story was that the symbols were simply the land and the sea. The whole story revolves around the family. The grandparents and the rest of the family were all on shore, but the great-uncle was the one who was a fish. In story they really go back in forth between the aquatic world and the land. I enjoyed reading the details of the story when the family goes to visit the great-uncle and how they get to him is very interesting. Lll was the most interested in the great-uncles world while the rest of them were trying to find their identities in their world. The uncle is kind set in ways in the story while Lll is willing to convert to fishdom because she is nostalgic of the past and wants to be apart of that world.

What connections did you make with the story? Discuss the elements of the work with which you were able to connect.

I connected with this story in many ways, one way I connected is that I am very close with my family like they all are in the story. I have always been intrigued with listening to what my relatives have to say about their experiences in life. I have always thought it was important to have clear knowledge about the past and hearing people's take on life. In the story the great uncle is the type of person to always speak his mind, which in most cases we all have a relative that does the same thing. I felt that the uncle in the story made it more relatable for the reader because the author brought in so many aspects of what older relatives are actually like.

What changes would you make to adapt this story into another medium? What medium would you use? What changes would you make?

I liked the story but I feel like it was too crammed into a couple of pages. I think it would be interesting as a short film where they author could expand the story. I would rather watch this story then read it in my opinion, I think it would make more sense. I wouldn't necessarily decide to make more changes other than the names in the story are little hard to relate and understand. I would also just like to see the story expand more since it was very short. Overall it was a nice read because it was very different and I haven't read a story like it before.

Week 12 Bloodchild

This week I decided to read Bloodchild by Octavia Butler.  The author slowly reveals the science fiction and dystopian elements of the story. I found it interesting how the story opens up with "My last night of childhood began with a visit home" because it automatically makes the reader curious as to what the story will unfold with. The story has themes such as: coming of age, and loss of childhood. These themes are what is gradually bringing in the dystopian elements of Bloodchild. I think the story did reflect the majoritarian culture because the story brings in a lot things that they would do in their culture while bringing up gender rules.

Week 11 Johnny Mnemonic

I read Johnny Mnemonic by William Gibson, this week and while reading this I was definitely confused. I found this story interesting even though the writing style was different than what I am used too.The story was still very hard to follow because I felt that it was all over the place. I often found myself going back to re-read many parts of it. Although I found it difficult to read, I did find it interesting from what I took from it. I am intrigued with the future and it's nice to read stories that discuss what the future may unfold for us one day.

Week 10 The Drowned Giant

This week I read the Drowned Giant which is a short story by J.G. Ballard. After reading this, I think the author really wanted to use disturbing ideas in the story. In the story, people witness a giant dead washed up on the shore and everyone begins to observe and explore what the creature is. The author is most likely trying to bring up body and identity issues while adding in the horror aspect into the overall theme of the story. The story is not meant to be solved in the end, it is just supposed to be a reminder to the readers about body image while using the giant as the main character.

Week 9 Shards of Honor

I decided to read Shards of Honor and I found it interesting. I have a hard time reading and watching other science-fiction because I am such a huge Star Wars fan and nothing will ever compare in my opinion. This had a nice story line and compared to Star Wars and other popular science Fiction because it included big ships and unknown planets. Many of these stories are based off of other similar known story lines. It took me a while to really get into this book since I have high expectations but overall it was better than I intended it to be.

Week 8 The Man Who Sold The Moon

This week I read The Man Who Sold The Moon, and I enjoyed reading it. This story is pretty short but an good read for the most part. I picked this one because I am very interested in space and try to read books and articles about it. The myth of the story was different because the Man in the story was trying to sell a moon and typically in stories, the person goes to the moon but doesn't try to sell it. This book had a contemporary spin because it talks about how the main character is obsessed with going to the moon and nuclear rocket fuel is very space which makes it difficult to get to the moon. These little touches in the story makes it more realistic and relatable.

Week 7 Night Circus

This week I read Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and I didn't know what to expect going into the book but I once I started to read I couldn't stop. This is an interesting twist to the typical Circus theme because it's at night which makes it stand out compared to the rest. The book starts off with sharing details about Hector Bowen who is considered a big character in the book. Hector walks in one day to a young girl in the room, he starts to look at her and realizes that it's his daughter. He immediately becomes a father (which means OH NO) because her mother sent her with a suicide note. With this, the author introduces that his daughter Celia has powers because she breaks her cup without even touching it.

The author did a good job with presenting issues right off the bat. Hector becomes a father and he's not quite sure how to be a father which creates challenges in his life. He discovers his daughter has magic powers which starts to intrigue him.

Week 6 The Hobbit

This week we got to read a fantasy novel: The Hobbit, I had never read it before this class. I always enjoyed the Hobbit film, so It was nice to finally get a chance to read the book. Bilbo Baggins is the main character of the story and he is considered the hero of the journey that they embark on. I enjoyed watching his character in the movie after reading the book because you can really get to know him better. What I like about Bilbo is that he is just a normal hobbit hanging out in his miniature house, when a group of elves and the wizard arrive at his house and take over. Bilbo doesn't know what to do because he never invited them over. It ends up working out in his favor because, Bilbo goes on a journey with them. What makes the story fun to read is all the characters within the book. Bilbo meets all kinds of creatures on his journey to the Mountain. At the end of the journey, Bilbo becomes wise and confident in himself. He saved the day in many circumstances in which he saves the dwarves and other creatures. Bilbo was truly the hero of the story with his bravery.

Week 5 Aunt Maria

After reading Aunt Maria, I can say that the witches in this story are archetypes. I find that their characters are strong powerful women and can manipulate. In our society witches are not looked at as good people. Women in general with power are not always looked at in this society. In this book, Aunt Maria is almost relatable because she is a cute old lady with a manipulative personality, someone that most of us have in our lives.

Week 4 Monster Island

This week I decided to read Monster Island by: David Wellington and I didn’t really know what to expect since it was a week-by-week blog by David himself. This was written back in 2004 and he would post a new chapter as soon as he could. I found Monster Island to be kind of funny in the sense that it was trying to be scary but it wasn’t. The story was based out of New York City and the vampires basically took over New York. The great thing about this series is that David would write back to the readers as they made comments on the chapter.

I have never read anything “new weird” before so this was a first for me but I found the new weird genre to be more interesting to read than a regular horror book. I specially liked a part of this series when David describes the girl scouts to be demonic and scary and the main character was trying to hide from the girl scouts because they were zombies. This series is considered new weird because it’s got horror and sci-fi elements to it without being too scary. I also like that new horror tends to have more of a parody background to it which makes it more enjoyable to read. I really ended up enjoying this series because of its parody, and its here and there scary remarks.

Week 3 Kwaidan Stories

This week’s reading was interesting to me because I have never read Asian supernatural narratives before. I ended up reading all of the recommended short stores. After reading them and watching the movie I noticed that they don’t really focus on evil like many other horror books and films, they focus more on morals. In the short stories they only hurt the character if they did not keep their promise, if they don’t keep their promise something and will happen to them.  I didn’t notice any murdering or hurting others just because like most scary films and stories. In the movie I wouldn’t consider the woman of the snow to be evil because she only killed that man because he would die anyways from old age and being too cold in the snow. She was very set on morals and she held Minokichi to his promise to never speak of that evening she killed the man. Minokichi of course did not keep his promise so she ended up leaving him after having 10 years with him. The worst part of it all was that she left her kids whom I think in a lot of ways made her out to be a terrible person. While I was watching this I did consider her kind of evil until I sat down and thought about the moral of the story and why she acted the way she did.

I didn’t expect to enjoy this weeks reading as much as I did, I had never thought about reading anything like this before. The film was really interesting too, I would like to finish watching the entire movie to see how her character progresses, as (evil) as some would say.  Our version of horror or gothic is defiantly different; we have a different way of expressing it through our films and books. We focus more on it being scary instead of it having a moral story. I rarely find a scary movie with a huge background and moral story background within the film. I would be interested in reading more Asian super natural stories in the future.

Week 2 Interview with a Vampire

In Ann Rice’s Interview with a Vampire, the relationships are very interesting throughout the story. The three individuals in the book are bonded by immortality and loyalty. The book starts with Louis, who is the one talking in the interview about how he became a vampire. While he goes through tragedy he meets a vampire that changes his life, which he discusses a lot in the story. Louis is constantly trying to find out who he is and what it means to be a vampire and why other vampires are betraying him. One of the relationships is Louis and the boy he meets to conduct the interview. They meet in San Francisco, which is where it all began. He starts off by telling him about when he was a normal man in the eighteenth century in New Orleans; once he looses his family he then encounters the vampire Lestate who makes him into the vampire.  Another one of Louis’s relationships is with Claudia. Claudia was his first human that he killed and then Lestate made her into a vampire. Claudia became furious with him because she will never be an adult. Claudia ended up cutting Lestate’s throat and killing him, which then prompted Claudia, and Louis to travel to Europe so that they can find more of their kind. Louis then meets Armand and falls under his spell while gaining attraction towards him. Claudia ends up getting jealous thinking that Louis would leave her for Armand.

A big part of this book is how they show their sexual tension with the relationships involved. The author makes it clear that there are many different sexual orientations in this book as well. The book has tones of bisexuality, homosexuality, and heterosexuality. The relationships in this book are very different compared to other books because there is so much tension of hate and love all in one story. Anne really makes the reader question what is actually going on in the story, all you can think about is how this story has both good and evil. The book can also make the reader uncomfortable with the descriptions between the people. Overall the story was very interesting and unlike anything I have read before.

Week 1 Frankenstein

Movie and Book Blog Post 1


In Mary Shelly's novel, Frankenstein there are many Gothic elements. When I think of Gothic elements I imagine eerie, dark, and creepy scenes. Frankenstein has all of these aspects throughout the entire book and film. After Watching parts of the film I saw these elements really come to life. I had read parts here and there of Frankenstein in high school but never got into liking the book until after I read it for this class. I enjoyed reading it because I don't typically read horror books which is a reason that I decided to take this class and experience a new genre. I really captured the emotions that Mary Shelly was getting when writing this book. She was very creative and knew how to make the reader feel anxious. 

Monsters come into play in a lot of scary/horror movies. He was a different kind of monster, he was unique in the way that he was made by a human being. The monster was often just trying to find his place in the world and wanted to make friends and to please Dr. Frankenstein. The letters in the book really set the book up perfectly because it was between Frankenstein and his sister, Elizabeth. I enjoyed the perspective that was thought out and used in this book. 

Another horror book and movie quality is lighting; lighting was a big aspect used in the book and movie to create dark emotions, and to make the viewer/reader more anxious. Mary Shelly really knew how to set the mood by using candles, castles, wolfs and bad weather. The scene also took place at night which is a key aspect in every scary book/film.