Maus

I actually liked the book. I found it to be an interesting way of portraying the Polishes’ life experiences under Hitler’s command and the pain and suffering that they went through the war. It was a very interesting way of knowing more about the holocaust and Hitler’s command and what he did to the Jews. I also really liked how the author used to break every once in a while and go back to the present life, from Poland, to New York. It made me want to read more and learn more about what happened to Vladek during the camp and how it had affected him and his wife, Anja. I did not expect the book to end the way it did. I was hoping to know more about what had happened to them in the concentration camps, but unfortunately, it didn’t talk about that. The way the author started the book was very interesting too because it kind hints that the father has experienced the true definition of friendship and knows exactly who he should call friends. And its true, throughout the book, we see situations where friends are sacrificing for others while other friends care more for themselves than anyone else. I actually found the graphics to be a positive thing since the author jumps a lot between the different times. Having the graphics helps the reader identify when a certain situation is happening and it helps the reader picture the situation. It also lightens up the reader’s mood and doesn’t make the book so intense, since its topic is already. I really liked how the author had the grammatical structure of the sentences incorrect, so as to make the story even more real. It was kind of difficult in the beginning to understand what the characters were saying, but later I got used to it. There are a couple of things that were unclear to me. First, why did the author choose to have the characters to be mice instead of normal human beings? Second, I never really understood the part of the son writing the comic about his mother. “Prisoner on the Hell Planet.”  

My favorite panel in this book was the very first one where Artie was skating with his friends to school and he falls and asks for his friends to wait for him but they don’t. So he goes back home crying because his friends did not help him when he needed them. Then Artie’s dad asks him what happened and Artie mentions that his friends did not wait for him when he fell off his skates. His dad then told him that its only when you lock them in a room for a week without food, then you can call them friends. I really like this panel because it really does stress so much on the definition of friendship, and that it should not be taken lightly. Not anyone you spend time with would be a friend, but only after they have showed that they really care about you to the extent that they would put their lives in danger just to help you out.

 

If I were Chris Mcandless

If I were to go away and just take a break from the life I have right now and live a different one for a couple of years, I would probably spend it traveling all around the world. I have this great passion for traveling and visiting new places and experiencing new cultures. I have lived in three different countries ever since I was born. I was born in Egypt, and then my family moved out we lived in the U.A.E for 15 years, and now I am here in the U.S.

I would probably start off my trip going around Europe and visiting Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Holland and a couple of other places too. I always wanted to go to Malaysia, since I’ve heard from a number of people that it’s the most beautiful place that they have ever been to, so that would probably be my first stop in Asia, and from there I’ll probably go around the area and visit China and Japan and learn more about their culture. Then I would go down to Australia, and then go to South Africa and a couple of other places in Africa and from there I would go to South America where I always wanted to visit Brazil and Argentina. I would probably end my trip by going to Cuba and the Caribbean islands.

One thing that Chris did that I can never do is travel alone. If I were to go on such a trip, I would not be able to enjoy it, or feel safe unless I’ve got someone else with me. So I would probably have my best friend, who is just as crazy about traveling as I am, to come with me. Also I would keep in touch with my family and friends all the time and let them know where I am going, who I am with and what my plans are and I wouldn’t exclude them from my life ever.I would probably leave after I graduate and spend around 2-3 years just traveling the world.

Unlike Chris, I would, without doubt, carry a lot of money with me and I would keep a phone on me all the time so that I would be able to keep in touch with my family and friends and that way I can get help if I ever needed it. I would carry a camera with me all the time and I would probably have a diary too. I am not sure about the supplies that I am going to need but I would have to be certain that i have a professional explain to me exactly what I am supposed to carry with me at all times.

Changing my name would not be something that I would do since I have no reason to do that. If it happens that I run out of money then I would probably end up working in a fast food restaurant or something similar and obviously my job wouldn’t be prestigious or anything. I am certain that I would enjoy this trip a lot more than if I were to do what Chris did simply because I have someone with me and I would feel a lot more secure and positive about what I am doing.

Chris McCandless

My opinion of Chris McCandless so far is that he was a young man that was so distressed by his parent’s stifling world, filled with too much security which prevented him from finding himself and doing what he loved the most, which is being in the nature and getting more acquainted with it. He was just so excited to leave his parents and his peers and start a new life for himself in which he would be the one that’s deciding the experiences he wants to go through.

I believe he was a very hard worker and an extremely reliable person, we see that from his academic history and from his performance at work. Also, he was a very determined person, resolute to reach and achieve what he wants to. For example, the time when he was on  the canoe and he was trying so hard to get to the ocean, and even though he failed so many times he still kept on going until he got his way out.

I believe that Chris was being selfish and taking his ideas way too far when it came to his relationship with his family and the way he treated them. I don’t exactly know what his parents had done for him to cause them so much pain and suffering but whatever it is, I am quite sure that they don’t deserve all of what he has put them through. I also think that Chris had overestimated his abilities, and it was his overconfidence that led him to his death. Even though he was warned by a lot, he was stubborn and insisted on doing things his own way which again caused him to lose his life.Another problem that Chris had was that he doesnt seem to notice that most of the time he survives a certain difficulty that comes across him because he is always saved by others, and we see that more than once. One example was the time when he was on the canoe and was trying to get to the ocean but kept on failing and when he was so distressed and was so frustrated he found a group of duck hunters that agreed to take him to the ocean.

I am against the way he is likes to isolate himself and just not have anyone know where he is and what he is doing and how he is surviving, and this is another factor that led him to die. He said that he doesnt feel comfortable in society while we later see that he does so well when he is around people and many find him charming and enjoy his presence, so what I don’t understand is why he enjoyed isolating himself the way he did. Right now, I have mixed feelings towards Chris.

Well I am not so sure what I want my zine to be about, but i was thinking of having it be about shopaholics. I enjoy shopping so much and i do shop frequently and it has always been the reason to why id end up being broke sometimes. Since i can relate to this topic, I’d probably find a lot that i can say in my zine.

King of Kong

According to the interviews that MTV had with the two popular Donkey Kong top scoring players, Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell, there are many opinions and thoughts on different aspects of this documentary. Some of the different things that the articles bring out are the mixed feelings that people had about those two characters and the way they dealt with the situation. In addition the articles point out at how some believe that the directors of the film had inaccurate information put into the documentary. Also the articles show how some people, especially Billy, believe that the film makers were biased in favor of Steve.

 In the article about Steve, there were mixed views of Steve’s success and ability to beat Mitchell’s high score that was set for many years. “To us there was that question: Did he cheat, whether knowingly or unknowingly?” the movie’s producer Ed Cunningham, told MTV news. Even though both the producer and the director of this film followed Steve and Billy for 2 years, they are still questioning and aren’t sure if the score that Steve has managed to achieve real. Those who side with Billy wonder if the support that Steve got from Roy Shildt, Twin Galaxies’ rival, had to do anything with his achievement. On the other hand, those who are siding with Steve believe that he truly did achieve that high score without any cheating done, neither from his side nor from the hardware that he bought from Roy. Not only that, but also Steve’s fan would probably leave the movie feeling pitiful for Steve, since most of the people that he dealt with were siding with Billy, and they did everything possible to prevent him from claiming the   record long help by Mitchell.

There are plenty of examples in the two articles that show how people believe that the information that was in the movie was inaccurate. For example, in the Ex- ‘Donkey Kong’ Champ Finally Speaks After Getting Bruised By New Doc article mentions that Walter Day remembers that Billy agreed that a tape he sent from his home, tape with a “Donkey Kong” performance that trumps a new world record Wiebe had just set there in person — was an official submission for a world was an official submission for a world record. This then explains why we see Day going over to the computer and inputting Mitchell’s score. On the other hand, Mitchell doesn’t even remember having this conversation with Day.

Day objects, in the article, about the way the film makers made it seem like Billy and his friends are the evil one while Steve is the saint. In an interview with Billy, he showed how distressed he was about the way the filmmakers portrayed him to be the bad guy -“They paint Steve as the family man and I guess they paint me as a son of a gun.” Also Billy’s best friend, Steve Sanders, thinks that the movie is true but is not fair at all.

All in all, I would personally believe that the film makers might have exaggerated a little bit, left out some information, or even put in inaccurate ones, giving the audience the impression that Wiebe is the saint while Mitchell on the other hand is the evil one. Nevertheless, I would say that the movie, to a very large extent, is true and fair and that the film makers where only giving us a general idea of the different personalities of the two characters- Billy Mitchell and Steve Wiebe .

 

 

 

 

Movies

Watching movies is one of the things that I enjoy doing so much and there are plenty of movies that I have watched, and it’s extremely hard for me to identify one as my favorite. Whenever I want to watch a movie, my preference would be a comedy, and most of my favorites would be comedy, and my least favorite would be action.

My favorite drama/romance movie would probably be The Notebook. Everything about this movie made me simply fall in love with it and every time I’d watch it, I would end up tearing so bad. I think the best horror movie would probably be The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, only because I knew that it was partly based on a true story, and that added to its effect of being a horror movie. I am a huge fan of the Pirates of the Caribbean and I can’t wait till the fourth part is released. I love this movie mainly because Johnny Depp is by far one of my favorite actors, and the way he acted out Captain Jack’s Sparrow’s role, in my opinion, was superb. Also I loved the theme of the movie. Its funny how even though comedy movies are the ones I watch the most, but I can’t come to think of a single comedy movie that I enjoyed, but I must say that there are a lot.

I think the one movie that has affected me greatly is The Kite Runner. I remember crying while reading the book, and so watching the movie was a complete disaster for me. It made me realized how unfortunate some people in other parts of the world are, and how they are leading very dangerous lives filled with hardships. The part that affected me the most, was how the slave boy, was so loyal to his friend, to the extent that he wouldn’t let go off the kite, and would rather get hurt than betray his friend, and even though his friend was watching him getting hurt, he stood there doing nothing. This movie made me consider so many things in my life. First of course, it made me appreciate everything I’ve got since there are plenty out there who can’t even get the benefit of being educated. Secondly, it made me realize how true friendship is very important, and the most important part is being faithful and having each other’s back. The boy in the movie lived all his life with the guilt of not stepping up and helping out his friend while his friend was being so loyal to him. This movie, the kite runner, I believe is an extremely successful movie that points out significant aspects of life in it.

Tattoos

If I were to get a tattoo, I would probably get an average sized cross with a small heart in its centre, and that would be on my wrist. I would like this cross to be fairly simple, but I am not so sure about what color I’d like it to be .A lot of the people I now have a small cross tattooed on their wrist, a sign for their Christian faith. Recently I have given it some thought to get one, even though I am not a big fan of tattoos and stuff but I think a simple tattoo that means something and represents something important would be cute. I thought a cross would be nice since my religion is significant in my life so  having a cross with me wherever I go would just make me feel safe and close to God. The heart would stand for my parents, family and friends who all mean so much to me. Since it is a cross, it is important for it to be tattooed on a part of the body that would not offend Christianity. Why the wrist though? Well I am thinking of it in a way that God is there with me holding my hand and guiding me through every step I take in my life. Also if a Copt gets a tattoo then it is usually on the wrist, and there is a reason behind that that I am not so sure of. Because this tattoo would be on my wrist, which is exposed most of the time, it would be very difficult to hide it from the public, but it would never be of my intention to go around showing off this tattoo.

 

 

Example Summary: Roger Sipher belives that the american education is in trouble and that one of the reasons behind this is the attendence law which forces everyone to be present at school, whether they want to or not. He thinks that this law should be abolished for three reasons.One would be that this would allow individuals that want to learn to recieve the education they are hoping for without any obstacles. Another reasonwould be that the grading system would truly reflect the standard of each student. The last reason would be that the cost of enforcing this law would be banished.

Example Paraphrasing: Roger Sipher states that compulsory attendance in public schools is causing those who dont want to be there to hinder those who care to be educated, and the system of the school as a whole.

Example of Quoting:According to Roger Sipher getting rid of the compulsory attendance would help preserve public schools ”public schools would be freer to oust students whose academic or personal behavior undermines the educational mission of the institution.”(page 1)

Being a Coptic Orthodox

I am a Christian Coptic Orthodox, which is something that makes me so proud. Orthodox means following traditional beliefs, and ways of life. This type of Christianity originated in Alexandria, Egypt and the founder of this church was St. Mark the Apostle and Evangelist in the middle of the 1st century and has been around for almost nineteen centuries now.

The word “Coptic” was originally used in Classical Arabic to refer to Egyptians in general, but it has undergone certain changes in its meaning to mean more specifically Egyptian Christian after the bulk of the Egyptian population converted to Islam.

 The majority of the Egyptians in the past were coptic orthodox, but after the rise of different religions and many other events occurring, the percentage of Coptic in Egypt dwindled and nowadays it reached to be around ten percent of the whole Egyptian population. There are about ten to fifteen million Coptic Orthodox Christians in the world but they are primarily found in Egypt under the jurisdiction of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria.

Traditionally the Coptic language, a language spoken in Egypt until the seventeenth century, was used in church services but due to the conversion of Egypt to an Arabic country, services in Egypt started to witness increased use of Arabic , while preaching is done completely in Arabic. During services outside Egypt, native languages are combined with Arabic. The Coptic Orthodox Church uses the Julian calendar which is also called the Coptic calendar or the Alexandrian calendar.Using different calendars is the reason behind why Coptics celebrate Christmas on the 7th of January according to the Gregorian calendar, which coincides with 25th of December according to the Julian calendar.

Coptic architecture is one of the touristic sites in Egypt and it truly does amaze a lot with its beauty and grace.Coptic architecture ranges from great cathedrals like St.Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral to the small churches in towns and villages.One of its most famous architecture is the Monastery of Saint Anthony, which is the world’s oldest monastery.The Hanging Church in Cairo is another significant site in Egypt, this church carries important historical value to the Coptic orthodox church.

The Coptic art consists mainly of icons.Icon as a word stands for a religious image.As it is known that the ancient Egyptians started painting from the dawn of history, they progressed so much and eventually were able to reach perfection in their paintings and art.The Coptic museum in Cairo has the largest collection of Egyptian artifact in the whole world.This museum traces the history of Christianity  in Egypt from the beginning till this very present day.

Besides all its history and its long lasting foundation, what makes me very proud to be a Coptic orthodox are its core values and belifes. Love one another, help the poor, visit the needy and the sick; all of these concepts and ideas are just very pure and noble in my opinion.This church has great values and principles that at first might seem hard to apply to our daily lives, but once practiced makes a person feel joyful and content with their self. I believe that being a Christian orthodox satisfies a basic need sought by many; happiness.

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