Final Rewrite- James Bond

James Bond is a man of action; His life consists of fast cars, beautiful women, and dangerous missions in which he must use his intelligence and physical abilities to overcome.  In fact, his character is often interpreted as the perfect man; Someone bold, charismatic, and dutiful who would have made a decent model for any man of the 50’s.

While Bond’s life may seem exciting and glamorous in the pages of Ian Fleming’s first novel in the series, Casino Royale, readers and viewers of the books and movies tend to focus only on the excitement and privilege of the spy life. If one looks past the highly lavish and romanticized descriptions of the Bond world and into the physiology of the man himself, some troubling truths are revealed: Underneath all of the excitement, we must never forget that James Bond is a trained killer, hunting for his prey with an almost animalistic sense of dedication and determination. In fact, his entire existence seems to be based around the idea of being nothing more than a privileged hunting dog, receiving whatever he wants and living a life of excitement, but when the time comes, he must kill without hesitation. He allows himself some creature comforts, such as spending time with his Bond girls, food, and his meticulous enjoyment of alcohol, and minor basic indulgences such as the love of his Bentley, which he cites as his “Personal hobby”, his enjoyment of gambling, and an occasional massage to calm his nerves, but the rest of his persona seems to be nothing more than an entirely self-aware robotic killer, out only to achieve his objectives at any means necessary.

Imagine living alone in a hotel room for months at a time with rarely a single soul to comfort you. Now imagine that your only living in said hotel room in order to hunt down and kill some sort of danger to the world. With the added pressure of saving the world or country and the constant need to watch one’s back for those who are trying to keep you from thwarting the evil mastermind’s plan. Underneath all of the gambling and women, this is the life of James Bond. His life is his job and everything else seems to be a nuisance, holding him back from his mechanical duty to fulfill his missions and get out alive. Even when it comes to the partner he is told he will be having, upon hearing it is a woman, he utters “Bitch” loudly without knowing anything about her. This cold disregard for anything that he finds unnecessary is evident through key phrases in his behavior, such as “cold showers”, “black coffee”, and “dreamless sleep,” all seem to suggest a mechanical perfection he has achieved, cutting out the need for anything unnecessary or time consuming. As idealized and James Bond’s life may seem, one must never forget while reading it that this man is a trained killer, but ultimately, this side of him also has its allure. His penchant for danger should remind us all to let lose our animalistic side from time to time, and perhaps achieve a little of that idealized life for ourselves.

Oryx and Crake

You can be whatever you want to be. This simple phrase is told to children and young adults time and time again, encouraging them to be original and shoot for the stars in every aspect of their lives, but how much truth does it actually hold? “You can be anything you want to be” is a wide exaggeration. Can we really be “anything” we want to be? The answer is no. As a human being, one cannot simply decide to become a dog. Sure, technology can improve so that we may change some very prominent things about ourselves, such as gender and overall appearance, but can anything really be changed?

The book Oryx and Crake addresses the idea of changing ones self in a future where genetic manipulation and extreme plastic surgery are the most common of everyday practices. This future, while horribly frightening, resonates with the reader in a very personal way. In these days of extreme beauty worshiping, its no secret that everyone has something about their physical appearance they wouldn’t mind changing. Oryx and Crake suggests that in this future, changing things such as height, weight, and even gender are the most common and overused practices in their world. While we may not have the technology to make such extreme ideas an everyday practice, we often find ourselves emulating said ideas, especially as children. “Avatar” websites are highly enjoyed amongst teens and younger children alike. Kids are able to pick their body type, hairstyle, clothing, and even more extreme features such as race or animal appendages. These sites give body-obsessed teens the opportunity to be all of these things and change everything about themselves using only a computer and a little imagination; They are free to be as unique or as simple as they so choose. Perhaps one day these choices may be as simple as clicking a mouse around on a computer screen. Perhaps through our societies’ body obsession, we may finally take changing ourselves to the extreme and finally become the person we truly want to be.

Pattern Recognition

Modern day mystery stories are in high demand right now. Stories like The Da Vinci Code are in high demand these days, but a truly ideal mystery for this day and age lies in Pattern Recognition. The mystery thriller stories of old are taken from the streets and the crime labs and thrown onto the Internet. Problems are solved with constant access to the Internet and sending long emails to sources halfway around the world. The main character, Cayce, is the typical specialist hired in said novels to sniff out the patterns behind a long set of videos being posted on a secret chat room. Transplanting the feel of a thriller novel onto a modern day science fiction prose is becoming more and more popular. Writers are taking the changing times and slowly integrating them into classic plots.

Imagine if Harry Potter and the other students at Hogwarts began downloading all of their magical textbooks onto a kindle. That is the feel that Pattern Recognition captures. Cayce uses the Internet and her handy laptop to connect to the underground film scene that houses the film clips, her informant Parkaboy, and the companies she works for. In that right, Cayce is an everyman heroine, using the same kind of technologies we use to get her wherever she needs to go. A fully modern girl, she finds no time to settle down and develop a relationship. She suffers from insomnia from all of her job-based travels, focuses entirely on her job, and is never afraid to jump head first into a dangerous situation. Despite these typical alpha-female character traits, we begin to she ourselves in her through her various Internet connections. So much of our lives nowadays revolve around the Internet and for someone to not have a relationship based solely on the Internet is rare.  Cayce and Parkaboy’s relationship is entirely Internet-based, the two of them communicating only through emails, and a rare phone call or two that Cayce herself admits are awkward. The understanding of these relationships and the integration of said relationships into a traditional thriller setting is a fantastic connection to today’s lifestyles that makes Pattern Recognition such a unique spark.

Future of Media.

When I think ahead to the future of media, I consider how far the immersive quality of movies will go. I’ve always pictured the 3D movies as a passing trend but now it seems like its here to stay. I imagine the new technologies will eventually break the will of all those still holding out on said technologies. I have always refused to carry a smart phone or see movies exclusively in 3D, but I think eventually that will be all that is offered. We will one day realize that there things cannot be escaped and finally take advantage of all of these extremely modern indulgences. 3D will also find its way even further into video games and cell phones, so that eventually we will be able to carry a tiny 3D theater with us wherever we go.

In fifteen years, I imagine buying my children the latest video game system. With the advances in video gaming technologies, the consoles with be far more readily available and entirely more immersive. With motion-action systems like the Wii and the 3D portability of the 3DS, full immersion gaming appears to be the future. Said immersion could go as far as movies and the Internet as well. I don’t believe we’ll be living in a Futurama world where you can walk around in the internet, but that will be a close idea of what to expect. 3D virtual display screens may very well be a reality and interfacing with phones and computers could implement this technology as well.

In 50 years, everything we know of technology will have changed. Eventually, there may not even bee a need to leave home for anything. Work, play, and pretty much all of life could be accomplished through the airwaves. Global, fail-free internet will be a possibility, and the devices for communicating on these networks could go as far as to beam directly into ones brain. Hopefully, with the advancement of medical technology, I will be able to enjoy said technologies in my old age. I just hope the TV is still good.

The female body analysis

Even when given fantastic powers and responsibilities, women’s bodies are continuously subjected to man’s overall desire. No example better proves this that comic book heroines and villainesses. The anatomical disproportions of a Barbie have been causing girls to strive for the perfect figure for years, but it doesn’t help that comic book females adopt that same body type. Yes, the super heroine may be able to rip your car in half, but what does that matter when you can’t stop staring at her chest long enough to notice?

These women are obviously strong and independent, but none of that is important when she is designed. The heroines look strong, but not too strong; they are kept submissive looking by an ultra feminine body. Sure, well-toned arms and rock-hard abs keep our super ladies looking fit, but does a pencil thin waistline and a gigantic pair of breasts really imply a proper picture of health? This is living proof that no one can escape the Barbie figure standards. Where is the proper anatomy in there girls? Can all their organs really fit into that cinched waist? Shouldn’t it be entirely impossible to grapple with villains with those huge double D breasts? Is “defying gravity by having a tiny split costume hold ones boobs in” considered a super power? The writers and artists of the comic book industry seem to think so.

The Medium is the Masage - my page

Your Meal


Man eats. Constantly.
Man began by stabbing wild game to death with rocks and sticks.
Now, whole fields are harvested in one sitting and food can be kept on hand for years and years.

Americans eat three meals a day.
We eat whatever we can get our hands on, be it good or mediocre.
The same thing goes for our information.
Whatever is the most convenient
we immediately accept as the truth. We absorb it, digest it, and let it fuel us until we’ve milked it for all it is worth a pass it on.
Many foreign countries eat only when they are hungry.
They eat what they like and what gives them the most nourishment and energy to tackle their days.
America is truly a country of media gluttons.

Just as our stomachs gain nourishment, our minds and souls require the same.
Feeding one more than the other can make a person sloppy and unproductive or rigid and uptight.
As with food, the higher quality of information, the better it will serve ones mind.
What do you consider the junk food of the mind?
Is TV the equivalent of an entire chocolate cake?
Is newsprint a carrot? Is there a committee to decide where this information lies?
Are there really media gluttons?

Auteurship - Francois Truffaut

The filmmaker Francois Truffaut has had a long, prolific career in the film industry, with acting, writing, and producing all under his belt, but its his skills as a director that are most remembered. The 400 Blows, Jules and Jim, and Shoot the Piano Player are three films of his and all bear his distinct style. Each is a simplistic portrayal of life for the working class French and involves common, relatively unstylized situations for the characters. Weather it be a child in prep school or two friends falling in love with the same woman, the situations are undramatic, giving each film a simplistic charm. The films are driven not by action or explanation, but by simple, everyday dialog between friends or family. Simplicity is indeed the charm of each of these movies, with only a few locations in each film. All are common, everyday locations such as a classroom, café, or small apartment, but are given such a naturalistic feel with simple decorations that could be found in anyone’s apartment or home. It can be inferred that Truffaut had a specific artistic vision in mind for each scene and location, making the naturalism all the more believable. Natural lighting and poor sound quality also makes one feel as though they were in the room or on the streets with these characters.

With the simple working class being portrayed, the characters themselves are highly relatable to the audience. There is one character in all three of these films, however, that stands out from the rest. Truffaut had a thing for brunets with a playful outlook on life. His female leads were often portrayed as wild storms of positive emotion and independence. For example, Catherine of Jules and Jim acts on impulse constantly, leaping from a street into the river and having multiple affairs after marrying. These girls are only independent to a certain extent, however. Every film housed a conversation between two characters about marriage, usually making marriage seem like a necessity for women and a burden for men. A conversation in Shoot the Piano Player reveals a man’s desire to get rid of his wife after years of marriage, but he instead decides to stay with his wife. One can see from these views on women that Truffaut wanted the focus on the actions and deviations of the men.

The most distinct element of Truffaut’s films is his character’s long voice-overs explaining certain events in the film or expressing their innermost thoughts on the situations at hand. Such voiceovers provided chances for the films to move quickly throughout time, watching the characters advance in their lives. Truffaut uses all of these elements in his films to place character development first and foremost. By simplifying all other elements in the film, his characters shine even brighter. His attention to dialog and understanding of modern French life allows Truffaut to fully express his vision throughout his multiple films.

Pulp Fiction - Casino Royale

Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale is the first novel in the James Bond series. Writen in the mid 50’s, Flemming manages to turn some of the Cold War drama into an interesting spy drama. The main character, James Bond, is a man’s man; the ideal male figure of the time: Handsome, bold, athletic, smart, and dutiful. Whats more, he lives the ideal existence: boldly serving his government, trumping huge threats to his people and the world, driving amazing cars, using interesting gadgets, and most importantly, bedding gorgeous women. To any other man, James Bond would seem like a godly character that they could only strive to, but such characters are not created to cause envy, rather they are used to escape.

Men of the 50’s had a certain stigma attached to them; Almost all were expected to be hard working pillars of the home, dedicated to serving their respective countries, and serve as well rounded members of society. Such expectations surely lead to mundane and uneventful lives. James Bond, however, was nowhere near this. Bond spent his days gambling in casinos, fraternizing with lovely women, and taking down threats to his people. By reading James Bond, modern British and American men could fantasize about being that ideal man, living an exciting life rather than their average everyday life. Reading about Bond put men in his position of power, able to do anything he pleased so long as he gets the job done in the end. Romantically, both Bond and ordinary men view women in the same light: Irrational nuisances who only get in the way when it comes to work. Women are viewed only as objects of desire.

Screenplay - Boogie Nights

Ashley Lacour
October 4, 2010

The film Boogie Nights takes place in Torrance, California in the late 1970’s. The plot of the film, in a nutshell, follows Eddie Adams, AKA Dirk Diggler, A high school dropout and male prostitute turned highly successful porn star. With the help of his mentor, Jack Horner, and leading lady, Amber Waves, he rises to fame quickly, but as the times change, he and his friends discover that their seemingly decadent and desirable lifestyle choices may have been a good idea at the time, but are slowly ruining their lives. The dangers and temptations of the celebrity life is the obvious lesson to be taken from the story, but I would like the focus of the film to be less on the morale of the story as a whole, but specifically on the individual problems of each character. Each character has a very distinct personality and a very deep set of problems. I would like each actor and actress to play their character with only their problems in mind; Do not think of your characters as a part of a story, but as a story on their own. The audience should be able to see the hidden suffering behind all the lavish Hollywood partying.

Eddie Adams, Dirk Diggler - Jared Padalecki

We start out with struggling high school dropout Eddie Adams. As soon as he is drafted into the porno industry, we see the complete abandonment of his original identity as Eddie and a full-on adaptation of his alter ego Dirk. He immediately abandons his past life of prostitution and a broken home life and embraces the glamorous and dangerous life of porn, drugs, parties, and women. In the beginning we see, through a fight with his mother, his desire to make something of himself. He has a deep desire for success and that desire manifests itself through his work. Even as his involvement in drugs and prostitution worsens, he still holds tight to his principles of dedication and drive that he first started out with in the film.

Amber Waves – Ali Larter

Amber may seem like a glamorous porn star living a charmed life, but underneath it all her maternal instincts make up a majority of her personality. She engages in a custody battle with her ex-husband after losing her child due to her drug use and criminal past. Her maternal instincts are what leads her to care for Eddie early on. Her helps him transition into the world of porno and the two of them soon develop a relationship. Her drug use should be seen as a means of coping with the loss of her child rather.

Jack Horner – Aaron Eckhart

Jack, the legendary porn producer, stands alone in his principles. While he has produced some of the best porn in the business, the times are changing and he faces the dilemma of either conforming to the changes and compromising his vision or remaining the same and losing business. He sticks to his principles throughout the entire film however. His drives for excellence and dedication to his artistic vision are the main things that connect he and Eddy.

Rollergirl - Gillian Jacobs

We meet the young Rollergirl in the club, living a crazy life of all night parties and prostitution. While she may seem like just a girl in the party/porno crowd, she is actually still a high school student. Unlike Eddie, shes chosen to stay in high school for the most part, despite being teased and harassed by classmates over her sexual deviance. She still holds on to her youthful ways throughout all the drama, having fun in her roller skates and snapping Polaroid picures everywhere, but underneath that, there is a hurt, attention starved little girl yearning to get out.

Maurice Rodriguez – Rick Gonzalez

Maurice is the owner of a popular club that the porn stars frequent. He is a well-known, friendly figure in this circle of friends, yet he is somewhat of an outsider. He has no role in the production of these pornos, despite being around them. He has a desire to be as famous as his friends and let his family back home know that hes a success. He tries multiple times to land a role in one of Jack’s films, but to no avail. He begs Rollergirl to take a nude photo with him, but said photo doesn’t come out right. He has a strong desire to impress his friends and cousins by sending them these pictures and videos so that they think he has a glamorous life.

Lolita

The novel Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov is the ripping story of Humbert Humbert, a man completely asphyxiated by the beauty and charms of prepubescent girls, especially those of his new daughter, Lolita. Humbert narrates his own story, going into great detail about these girls that he has become smitten with and the lengths he went to stay with Lolita. Humbert, as a narrator, is quite captivating; He makes short work of drawing the reader in with beautiful descriptions of his young love interests and long, enchanting rants about the nature of his love for Lolita. Such beautiful language and imagery almost makes one forget that what he speaks of is pedophilia and rape. One almost feels sorry for this old man and wants to see him find happiness with this little girl. If one ever finds themselves identifying with the struggle of this man, feel that he is truly in love with these girls, or hope that he can get away with the terrible things he is doing for the sake of the story, you have probably been taken advantage of by an unreliable narrator.

Humbert reassures the reader that “under no circumstance would he have interfered with the innocence if there was the least risk of a row,” (19); He avoids any kind of physical contact in order to preserve their innocence and going to extreme lengths to avoid any kind of trouble with the law, exaggerating that he could face “ten years in jail if you only show her you are looking at her.” (20). He insists upon all of these things, all the while attempting to work his daughter into a sense of comfort so that he may indeed get his sexual kicks with the nymphets of his dreams. We realize now that his content in just observing these girls has been a straight uo lie. Only when he is sure that there are no consequences for having intercourse with his daughter, that no one will find out and that her innocence has long since been taken from her, Humbert goes in for the kill, so to speak, and forces sex with this girl using narcotics. Even as their affair continues across the country, he still insists that he loves Lolita and would never do anything to hurt her, and yet he plays to her good side, buying her gifts and taking her places, in order to win a little caress or some kissing. In that right, this man has turned his daughter into his own private prostitute, shattering all illusions we may have had of his pure hearted love in the beginning of the story. His unreliable narration gets taken a step further when he realizes that his daughter once cried while observing her friends interacting with their parents. He finally sees that he truly had ruined her life and robbed her of her childhood, the very thing he insisted he would never do to any young girl. In the end, he manages to regain the reader’s respect by having himself arrested for rape. Nabokov truly tests his readers with Humbert’s seesaw of morality, a truly gripping and thought provoking strategy.

Fairy Tale - Pixie's Doom

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Luanne who lived in a small town in the middle of nowhere. Her family was a happy, healthy family, with two twin brothers, her mama, papa, grandma, and Luanne living in a small house in a field. While Luanne was happy and grateful for her lovely family, she was easily bored and often caused problems around her home while looking for something to do. When she was four years old, she destroyed a ceiling fan by tying sheets to the blades and trying to climb them. Her father locked her in her room for three days, all the while yelling at her every time he passed her door. When she was five, she made a game of bringing buckets of water into the house and pouring them down the stairs to create a waterfall. When her mother found her, she nearly fainted from shock and frustration at her daughter’s antics. Luanne was not allowed dinner for two nights after that. At the age of seven, her games became far more devious as Luanne matured. She would constantly lie to her grandmother and brothers in an attempt to trick them. One day, she convinced her little brothers that eating grass would cause them to produce milk like a cow. Her brothers, Dale and Carl both age 4, naturally believed her and spend the afternoon on the lawn eating grass. They then spent the next two days throwing up said grass. Luanne’s father nearly sent her away to boarding school for that trick. Her grandmother intervened, however, calming her father down. “This child has a pixie spirit.” Grandma began. “One can not deal with a rotten child with punishment or she will continue to punish those around her in return. No, what a child like Luanne needs is an outlet for her mischief and mayhem. Such a distraction will keep her mind mischief free.”

The nest day, Luanne’s father visited a pet shop in the city. He picked out a small mixed-breed puppy and brought it home to Luanne. “Luanne,” he began, “This puppy belong to you now. Weather you want it or not, he is your responsibility now. If anything happens to him you’ll be in big trouble. But other than that, the two of you can play together. I’m sure you’ll have a lot of fun.” Luanne scowled at the puppy at first. “This must be some kind of mind trick,” she thought. “Well, a puppy can’t be worse than boarding school.” So Luanne did as her father told her and within a week, she and the puppy were the best of friends. Luanne let all her aggression out by chasing the puppy around the yard and throwing a tennis ball as hard as she could for the puppy to chase. Weeks went by and Luanne remained relatively trouble-free, but unbeknownst to her parents, one of her usual storms was brewing on the inside. The puppy could only provide her with so much entertainment. She soon found herself searching for her usual means of entertainment; Mixing up every drink in the refrigerator and feeding it to her brothers, hiding her father’s shoes about the house, and doodling on family photos became her new favorite pastimes. One day, Luanne’s mother caught her rearranging all the furniture in the living room. Her mother forced her to put the furniture back in its place, all the while scolding her. “You need to grow up, young lady! My floors are all scuffed up! What if your Grandmother walked in here, huh? You know her sight is going bad! She could have tripped over something and seriously hurt herself! You need to think about someone other than yourself for once!” Luanne, barred in her room, sulked to her puppy. “I don’t care about any of them! I hate it here! I wish my entire family was dead!” She began to calculate even worse ways of messing with her family. She had daydreams of starting fires in the garage and watching the entire house burn down. She drew pictures in her notebook of her mother breaking her leg or her father cutting his arm off with a chainsaw. She finally drifted off into a bitter sleep, dreaming only of her puppy and an empty house.

Luanne awoke the next morning to a sharp, piercing scream. She bolted upright and dashed out of her room and down the hall to find her mother and father standing in the hall around a puddle of blood. “Luanne!” her father cried. As he stood staring at her, his face held an expression of both disbelief and rage. “Luanne. Your grandmother is dead,” he stammered, trying to keep his voice calm. “She tripped over a trunk… the trunk from your room.” Luanne hesitantly peaked around her father. Indeed, the large cream-colored trunk that usually sat at the foot of her bed had been placed in the middle of the hallway and was now surrounded by a pool of blood. All the color drained from Luanne’s face; She knew immediately she was in huge trouble. “My trunk… How did my trunk get down here…” Her mother sobbed as she hid the twin’s faces from the horrible sight. Luanne began to wonder if this mishap really was her doing. She had been so mad the night before, in fact she wanted something like this to happen, but she knew she didn’t do anything. “Luanne,” her father began, taking her by the shoulders, “ This isn’t your fault. I know you like to cause problems but this isn’t your fault.”

Luanne’s Grandmother was buried five days latter in a cemetery on the outskirts of town. The funeral was small and quick and within a week, everything seemed to click right back into place. The family had fallen back into their normal routine, going about their business like nothing had changed. But Luanne knew something was different. She had never managed to figure out how her trunk made it’s way out into the hallway. Not only that, but she was sure her parents were treating her differently. Her mother stared at her own and on, and her father did nothing but smile at her. She knew that her parents suspected her of having something to do with her Grandmother’s death, but refused to admit it to themselves. Luanne spent her days locked in her room, thinking only of seeing her grandmother’s dead, bleeding form, and the terrible things she thought of doing. She was sure she had caused this incident with her evil thoughts. Little did Luanne know that everything was about to get much worse.

One day, Luanne’s mother peaked into her room. Luanne had left the house to walk her puppy, the only time she’d left the house in days. Her mother looked frantically around her room for proof that her daughter had indeed committed murder, but found nothing, as Luanne kept her notebook of evil drawings with her at all times. Giving up with and sad sob, her mother collapsed onto the floor and stayed there for minutes. After gathering herself, mother tidied up Luanne’s room and gathered her dirty laundry. “My daughter couldn’t be a murderer,” she concluded, walking down the hall towards the stairs. “Sure she has her moments, but shes not that evil.” Luanne’s mother took a step towards the stairs, but felt something catch her foot. She tried to catch herself, but fell anyway, down, down, down the entire stairwell and slammed onto the floor with a loud crack.

Luanne stood in an empty lot, a lighter in one had and her evil drawings in the other. “I have to get rid of these terrible things.” She thought, “Mom and dad think I’m evil. Maybe I am. But if they find these, I’m doomed.” She burned the drawings to ashes, with her puppy barking at her side. As the crayon sketches curled in the flames, Luanne could feel a wave of relief washing over her; the evil was gone for good and she’d begin to work on being a better person as soon as she got home. “I may not have killed Grandma, but it was a good wake-up call. I’ve got to do better.” Luanne enjoyed the walk home with her beloved puppy, climbing happily up the porch steps into the kitchen. There, she saw her mother, legs twisted about, lying face down in a pool of her own blood.

Luanne’s father burst through the door in a panic. Luanne could hear him yelling in anguish from her closet. It had been fifteen minutes since she called her dad in a wild panic and had spent the rest of that time crying in her closet. Her mother was dead, just like her grandmother, in a gruesome accident. She had no idea how such a thing had happened, but feared her father would immediately blame her. She herd her bedroom door burst open, and her father storm in. “LUANNE!” he called out, “Luanne! Where are you?!” She timidly peaked out from her closet at her father’s flushed, tear-streaked face. Her puppy ran towards her, barking sharply. Her father turned to her, breathing heavily. “Luanne…. You…. You did this…..” “NO! No, no, no! It wasn’t me! I was out in the field all afternoon! I just found her like that!” “DON’T LIE TO ME, YOU LITTLE MONSTER!” He yelled. “YOUR MOTHER WAS MURDERED! YOU TRIPPED HER USING YOUR BLANKET! ITS TIED TO THE BANISTER! YOU TOUGHT I WOULDN’T NOTICE?!!” “NO!!” Luanne cried, tears streaming furiously down her face, “IT WASN’T ME!! I’M NOT A MONSTER!! I’M NOT EVIL!! STOP YELLING AT ME! MOM IS DEAD!!” She fell into a ball on the floor, sobbing uncontrollably. Her father left the room, yelling obscenities the whole time. “I’m not a bad girl, I’m not a bad girl…….” She cooed to herself, rocking back and forth. She was so distraught she failed to notice the looming shadow enclosing the room. She felt something hot and wet on the back of her neck. “GO AWAY!!!” she screamed, swatting at what she thought was her puppy. Instead, her hand hit something hard and furry. She slowly lifted her head up, eyes wide with fear and tears. She found herself face to face with a giant snarling wolf beast with fur of auburn, teeth gnashed and eyes hungry. Luanne opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out. Soon, everything for her went black and quiet.

Luanne’s father hung up the phone. The police would be there in about five minutes he was reassured. He stepped over the corpse of his wife, covered with a bloodstained sheet. He knew he would surely regret telling the cops that his daughter was a murderer, but he was too distraught to care. He bound the stairs to keep an eye on his daughter, whom he was sure would try to escape, and surely enough, she wasn’t in her room. Only her puppy sat with a piece of paper in his mouth. The tiny auburn puppy that he’d bought his daughter months ago trotted his way over to the man and dropped the piece of paper at his feet. The man smoothed out the paper and saw upon it a sketch of a woman labeled mom falling down a flight of stairs. As soon as the police arrived, the man showed them the drawing and the search for his daughter began. They turned the house upside down and fanned out across the town looking for Luanne, but she was nowhere to be found. Flyers were put up across all of the surrounding towns and on the local news, but no word was herd of Luanne. Indeed, she was never seen again. Eventually her puppy was found abandoned on the side of the road, waiting to be adopted by another ill behaved child.

Dialog project - 8/28/10

Heres my dialog about media! Enjoy (hope its not a total rant......)!

A:  I’m so upset!

K: Why’s that?

A: My favorite magazine of all time has gone out of print and is now released exclusively on the internet. That’s such a drag!

K: Well it makes sense, don’t you think? It was a manga anthology. That’s over two hundred pages printed a month. It makes far more sense to just put them right on the internet.

A: You’ve got a point, but honestly it takes away from the traditional value of manga. The traditional style was made with ink, pen nibs, and plain old paper and bound with several other series in a phonebook-sized magazine. That’s how I believe it should be read.

K: Well, times are changing. Illegal downloading isn’t just for music anymore. Most kids don’t buy manga; they read it online. That is just how times are these days.

A: Well call me old fashioned, but I just can’t click and scroll for hours on end. Staring at a screen is nothing like holding a graphic novel in your hand and flipping through it. I don’t think I could ever use an E-reader and still enjoy reading as much as I do.

K: Have you ever used an E-reader?

A: ……No.

K: Well you’ll never know until you try. Not only is it convenient to have thousands of books at your disposal at any time, but they’re slightly cheaper and not a hassle to carry around.

A: I understand all that, but is it really any better? Everything since the beginning of time has evolved substantially: science, medicine, technology, and surely the way books are written, printed, and bound. But the basic principle has remained the same; You read written words printed with ink on paper or hide. That is how its been since the beginning of time. Why is it changing all of a sudden? Why now of all times? Do books really need improving or is it just our selfish 21^st century obsession with convenience?

K: I don’t know. Is it?

A: ……… I have no idea. I just believe that “The farther technology advances, the lower we fall”

K: That’s so closed-minded. E-readers and the internet aren’t just convenient ways to force-feed media to the world. They’re apart of technology, tools made to improve our daily lives. Just think about it; a book-addict college student in a tiny apartment can have all the books he or she wants at a low price while taking up no space. People can read newspapers or novels on 16-hour plane rides without having to pack the books. One can access any given newspaper from any given country whenever they want. Internet devices are bringing us closer to the world around us.

A: Well, I suppose its good to have news and global communication, but how far can the internet go before people realize that books are superior?

K: That’s totally subjective! Maybe people prefer the E-readers and such to books!

A: I just can’t picture a world where libraries are merely computers filled with downloadable files. Part of the joys of reading are holding the book in your hands, feeling the texture of the page as you flip through the volume, and sticking your nose in the spine of a book to smell that warm scent. That could never be duplicated by pixels on a screen.

K: I don’t think society will go that far. Technology is the backbone of modern society, but some people still find themselves computer illiterate.

A: That’s one of the big differences between today’s youth culture and the culture of our parents: We grew up with computers and internet to some extent. We were taught to use these things early in school, unlike our parents. Our kids will be better versed in the ways of technology than we are. Technology is always moving forward, but I believe that books will always remain the same and that’s something that all of society can count on. I know I’ll always buy paperback novels and manga for my children.

K: Nothing beats a good comic book, right?

A: Damn right.

[The end!]