Dishonesty in Earnest

       Oscar Wilde uses many versions of literary enlightenment to describe not only the humor, but the truth in what happened back then.  Firstly, dishonesty relates to epigrams in a particularly humorous way because every time an epigram is used, it is either immediately contradicted or just instantaneously forgotten.  On the subject of satire towards social institutions, it's satirical because Wilde ostentatiously portrays the rich as obnoxious people that only care about themselves.  He also portrays them as being able to lie and get away with pretty much anything, therefore relating to the aforementioned, dishonesty.  Also, there is an obvious dishonesty relation to Ernest because he lied about his name to stay with Gwendolen.  The same goes for Algernon using the name Ernest.  Obviously, both Cecily and Gwendolen are being unfairly ridiculous in saying that they would only stay with Jack and Algernon if their name was Ernest and not only does it explain that it describes the pursuit of pleasure as well.  This pokes fun at many things, but the ending of the book, when Jack discovers his name was Ernest all along, I got a real kick out of that. 
       I think Wilde is trying to say that lying is everywhere.  I noticed that nearly every character had their own dark secrets.  For example, at the end of the book, when Miss Prism admits that she had left Jack at a train station as an infant and Lady Bracknell, being the obnoxious woman that she is, was not born wealthy.  I also think Wilde was trying to say that lying will get you caught in the end, no matter how elaborate the lie is.  It happened for Algernon and Jack, but while it turned out for the better for them, I think he was trying to say that not all lies turn out like it did in the play.
      

AF Project Evaluation

Dan Mongovin:
(Comic Strip)
Dan's comic strip was good, it showed a lot of visual realization of the book, but it looked like it took like 2 minutes to make.

Will/Paul
(Comic Strip)
This is a really good timeline and shows a lot of the main events in the story.  My recommendation is to show maybe some symbolism and what you guys found interesting and added that too.

Sherwin, Ketl, Chase, Zach
(Song, Video)
This video underlined a key part of the story and it was well played out.  It showed that the animals rights were being stripped away and its was shown exactly how I imagined it while reading the book.  Good singing and piano playing, guys.

Blog of the swimmer
(Poem)
This poem shows the tyranny of the pigs and how they eventually take complete control.  It was also really creative how they included tyranny in the poem.  Good job.

Kamron
(Artwork)
This drawing explains a lot of the main events throughout the story.  My advice, show more than just the main events.  For example, the pigs trading with the humans, or the pigs getting drunk.  Its ok to stray from the main storyline.

Sarah, Molly, Grace, Kady
(Movie)
The movie really expressed how the animals felt and showed their lifestyle and cruddy environment they lived in before the revolution.  An overall great job.  Also, the Farmer Jones part was pretty funny.

Matt
(Artwork)
Matt's picture was really good, it introduced a lot of main characters and even showed what Animal Farm could look like.  It was pretty convincing and I thought he did a great job.

Emery
(Video)
Emery described the characters very well and also proved his understanding of the book.  Its really good and it explains almost all of the characters in the book.

Rachel
(Game)
Rachel made a creative game that looked like it took quite a long time to make.  It's really cool and I enjoyed seeing it last week in class.  It looks like a game I'd want to play in the future.

Poop
(Artwork)
This is a wierd, cool picture of the farm getting rained on or something.  Not really sure what's going on in the picture but its cool anyways.

I think my project matched my classmates projects because I noticed a lot of Comic Lifes and they were pretty similar to mine so I think I did just fine.

New Year's Resolution Extra Credit

       A new year's resolution that would definately benefit me this year is waking up on time.  Last year, I always woke up around 7 and I barely had time to get to the bus so now I'm going to attempt to wake up at 6:30 each school day.  It'll give me more time to get ready and I won't be so rushed.  I could even finish the homework I didn't do the night before while I'm eating breakfast.  Not only is this a good idea but my sister, who's still sleeping will be waken up by my beeping alarm clock and she'll be forced to get up too!  I think this resolution will benefit the whole house, and I don't mind a few grumpy complaints from my mom and sister.  And besides, I can catch up on sleep while I'm riding the bus.

Animal Farm Project

My Poem

       Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening, by Robert Frost, is a very complex poem with more than one meaning to it.  For example, "he" admires the snow more than anything, and is willing to even die in it, or at least thats what i inferred from it.  I also noticed that he could be even a runaway, maybe from his hometown, noticing his neighbor's farmland and sneaking through it.  His little horse shows that he has been traveling for quite some time and is not even close to his destination.

        To me, this poem was at first, was something easy to memorize, but as I read the poem over and over and over, I started catching things I didn't quite catch before, understanding things I didn't quite understand before, and I never would have learned that much about poems if it weren't for Poetry Out Loud.

Urgent Extra Credit Blog

       This time around, my five part paragraph was improved in many different ways.  For example, my rambling on I tend to do that I pointed out in the five part paragraph critique blog is gone and I got rid of most of the unnecessary things I tend to say and made my paragraph not only more understandable, but much better too.  My punctuation greatly improved too this time.  I eliminated a lot of the red lines underneath words so the finished product was more legible.  My quote embedding felt better for me too.  I almost forgot to embed the quotes tonight but this blog reminded me and saved me from getting a bad grade.

       I think my paragraph is a lot better than its predecessor and I know people will enjoy it more than my first because it has been improved to the brink of perfection.(JK)
Sean

Poetry Out Loud

 Part One:                                                
1. Snowflake
2. Not Waving But Drowning
3. Dog
4. Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening & Nude Descending A Staircase
Part Two:
I enjoyed Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening because its a catchy poem and an easy one to memorize.  I didn't like Nude Descending A Staircase because I thought it was creepy and disturbing that an old man wrote it and it was just weird.  I would like to continue studying Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening because I think it may have more meaning to it than it appears.  I connected with this poem because I've been lost in the woods before when It's snowy and I remember being very cold.
Part Three:
I think I will do well on accuracy and voice and articulation because I can talk loud enough and my memory is good enough where I'll be able to pronounce the words correctly.  I don't think I'll do so well on physical presence and dramatic appropriateness because I'm not very good at physically showing that I know the poem and I'm not very dramatic at saying things because I'm not a very dramatic person.
Part Four:
I watched Stanley Andrew Jackson for my first video and he did an excellent job of dramatically portraying his knowledge of the poem.  For my second video I chose Shawntay A. Henry did a great job of articulating and physically showing her knowledge of the poem.
Part Five:
I think Poetry Out Loud is a great idea for kids to memorize poems for an educational/competition like purpose.  I think the competition will be a little scary at first, but once you get up there, you'll do better than you thought.  I think I'll do okay.  I'm going to memorize Dog, by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, because it'll be a challenge to memorize and I need a challenge.  I thought the website was very neat.
Thanks for reading,
Sean :)