Idiocracy

Idiocracy was a fantastic way to end the semester, this movie was completely hysterical and on point. The issues they mock in the movie are completely true to todays society. It can really be broken down and put into perspective that we as society have so many man made issues, and sometimes we over look the simple solutions until they are so far out of reach its as if we almost give up.
This movie is one I simply feel everyone should watch to get a good laugh and a new perspective on issues we deal with in society everyday.

Blood Child

Reading "BloodChild" was a good example of just how weird Sci-Fi can get. In my personal opinion this story may have been one of the strangest pieces of literature I have come across in my life.
The thought of aliens coming down and implanting humans with creatures that come to eat us from the inside out just freaks me out.
The imagery within the writing on the other had was phenomenal, I could really feel myself creating images of what I thought everything to look like, and I realized imagery within the writing played a huge part in shaping the short story.
You could really draw your own conclusions about what the characters and settings  because of how powerful the writing was.
Over all, the writing and over all story was well done, I just simply am not into this type of story telling, its creepy

Cyberpunk

Cyberpunk for me, was one of the more fun genres we have dealt with in class. When I was younger i loved the 90's punk trend that was going on and was always bummed out that I was old enough to know about it, but to young to truly understand.
For this particular genre I did decide to take an easier route and watch Tank Girl, which I personally thought was a completely badass movie.
The main character Rebecca is your typical 90's punk girl, she was loud, independent, and ready to fight for what she believed in.
Through out the movie she faces struggles, and attacks, shoot outs, and having her little sister abducted.
When she is taken prisoner she refuses to bow down and finds a good girl side kick to help her manipulate her captures and escapes their prison, to find Sam her sister.
Rebecca is not your typical damsel in distress, she  embodied the punk 90's era, where we were no longer looking at women as a helpless lesser, to the male, but the equivalent, if not the overtaker. You can walk away from a movie, or book like this and feel confident that as a female you can be a strong protector of yourself and your family, its not just the mans job.
I think this genre could have potentially be the most powerful genre we read, because it broke the molds completely on your typical archetypes for both males and females.
I would encourage anyone who hasn't to watch Tank Girl or something similar, its a refreshing break from the typical damsel stories.

Shards of Honor

"Shards of Horror" started off on a fantastic note, from the beginning you are thrown into the story, it starts instantly rather than taking a while and leading up to something. Cordelia is our main character who is discovering a new world, when her camp is ambushed. Also your typical female archetype she seems to be the biggest victim in the novel and always in trouble captured, tortured. As well as talking about camps where other women were being tortured and raped, playing out the typical helpless female story. 

That to me made it  slightly hard to get into, the typical female struggle book tends to wear on me especially when Ringling has such a high population of feminists. 

But they love story a but abrupt in the story, but a nice touch most certainly  held the story together for me. As well as having the underlying factor of teamwork and achievement. They characters all worked together to help each other survive the trials and tribulations they faced within the story

The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Coraline, was my first encounter with Neil Gaiman as a child, the powerful imagery that was created within the story, the plot and just over all the general writing style used slipped under the radar. So reading "The Ocean at the End of the Lane" was quite and enjoyable experience for myself. 

Taking these factors into account really gave me a second chance to read his work for what it was, to understand what was going on within the story, as well as to see some of the literarily risks he took while writing. 

He possesses the ability to capture you typical "myth" and create a world around it like no other. You are forced to continue to read what you start because of the way he hooks you with his words. 

I feel like Neil Gaiman work, was something that makes this class complete, his work, most certainly contains all that fantasy is, even just by looking at how Coraline translated to a movie, was in my opinion executed as well as it was because of the imagery you could take away from the writing. 

Night Circus

My entire life, I grew up around the Circus, the people, lifestyle and mystery have always intrigued me almost more that anything else in the world. Before this class I had actually gone out and bought the book "Night Circus" as a personal read.
"Night Circus" being similar to "Harry Potter" having the magic aspect, as well as being in the set in the 20th century was enough to instantly hook me, the dark alluring discriptions Erin Morgenstern created were breath taking, I knew exactly what it looked like whenever Prospero the Enchanter, was doing his illusions, I could place myself within the Circus and the lives of the cast. 
Not to mention every girls favorite type of story the love story, which is a huge factor into making this book successful so far. 
Now I have no gotten very far within this book, simply because I would really like to take my time and enjoy it. This might be my favorite book we have looked at this semester. 

The Hobbit

Normally, I would honestly have to say I would stay away from reading "The Hobbit" or similar literature.  But since it was required reading for this class, I decided to go ahead and give it a try.
Biblo the main Hobbit in the story, like many others finds this gold ring is the all powerful, when you possess it you become invisible.
Now it seems a little silly,yes but as I read more into the story, it was completely evident that this was  their God, and how these Hobbits felt about the ring is similar to how Catholics feel about God.
Now this completely intrigued me, because I was raised Roman Catholic and was taught God was all powerful, for reasons that some choose to believe while others do not. I always questioned wether or not my Religion was always completely correct or not. Reading something about a culture, of some sort real or make believe, so devout to one being or object, made me want to  continue reading because the idea of having something that one could believe in, and feel so strongly about they truly believe with all of their being that this powerful object is so important to a community.
Although I still feel that "Hobbits" are silly creatures, the message I took away from this read was most certainly appreciated.