Shooting War

Shooting War is a comic set in the near future. It is told from the perspective of Jimmy Burns who runs a liberal video blog. He unexpectedly captures a terrorist attack of a Starbucks on video. This marks the second attack on U.S. Soil. A news company called Global News recruits him on the spot and sends him to Iraq to cover the situation over there. His helicopter is shot down on his way over to Iraq, and Jimmy is captured. His captors force him to film and upload their proclamation to the network. Throughout the comic, Jimmy is continually coerced into filming several different videos. Eventually he is embedded with a unit of soldiers lead by a man named Crash. While being embedded in the unit, Jimmy experiences an ambush and is captured again by the same person as before. He is forced once again to film another one of this terrorist’s videos, but midway through the filming, Crash’s unit breaks into the compound and takes out the terrorist and frees Jimmy.

Shooting War is an amazing comic. Probably one of the aspects which I enjoy most is that it is so believable. The equipment is the equivalent to that which is being used today. This realistic aspect is most likely a result of it only taking place a few years in the future. I find it interesting how the tactics that the insurgents are using do not differ from those that the current insurgents are using now. This story is more driven by the happening truth than the story truth. I think that most adults should read this comic, because it gives a fresh perspective on what the situation in Iraq will become if nothing changes.

The Things They Carried

The Things They Carried is one to of the most interesting collection of short stories that I have ever read. Each story is different, though they all share one common theme. They all take place in Vietnam. In the short story “The Things They carried”, the narrator describes the things that different soldiers carried in Vietnam. Odd objects carried by one soldier were bars of soap stolen from a hotel. “Spin” talks about the positive moments in this horrible war. One of the soldiers finds an orphan puppy and raises it himself, feeding it with a plastic spoon and keeping it in a ruck sack. Only to have a fellow soldier strap the small animal to a land mine and detonate the device. “How to Tell a True War Story” gives several examples of the tall tales that soldiers tell to one another in their fox holes. “The Man I Killed” and “Ambushed” are both told from the point of view of a remorseful soldier. In both of these stories the soldier has killed a man and afterward has not been able to deal with the reality of what he has done. The personal accounts of the soldiers lend the book a sort of authenticity that news coverage cannot provide.

I find my self deeply interested by these stories, for I only just began to learn about the Vietnam War during my freshman year of high school. I found it hard to hear about the war from the point of view of the soldiers, for many of them do not want to have to remember what happened then. I think that if the rest of this book is not assigned, then I will finish the book for my own leisure.

Survivor#2

Tender Barnson’s life changes drastically. His caseworker dies, when she mixes two different types of cleaning solutions together, and they produce chlorine gas as a byproduct which causes her to suffocate. When the FBI investigates, they do not consider Barnson a subject of interest, because he is creedish. Later, a talent agent scouts Tender Barnson. In the blink of an eye Tender becomes a celebrity. He lands on the cover of Time Magazine and has his own book, ghost written by another. But his fame is short lived, and as it wanes, he makes appearances at two different Super Bowls. At his first appearance, he predicts a future disaster, as foretold to him by Fertility. His revelation effectively averts the casualties that would have been caused by this calamity. Between the two bowl games, Barnson has his own T.V. talk show, where he gives advice to callers. Also, the land that used to belong to the creedish church is turned into a landfill for old porn by Barnson’s agent. At the second Super Bowl, his agent commits suicide, and Tender is charged with the murder. His brother Adam with help from Fertility saves Tender from the police, and they hitch hike back to the creedish property. For some reason I cannot understand, they drive head long into a concrete wall. Then Adam tricks Tender into delivering him to heaven. Finally Tender meets Fertility, and they get on an airplane to Sydney, Australia. This is the same plane that Tender hijacks at the beginning of the book.

I find that this book has the most obscene and perverse content, that I have ever read. At the same time I think that this book is a good representation of the United States’ darker side. The description of bizarre sexual practices such as “glory holes” and the fascination with disaster that occurs when Barnson foretells of the impending calamity; these both show the sadistic nature of our society. Chuck Palahniuk is an interesting author, and I enjoy his work, even if it is extremely racy.

Survivor #1

Tender Barnson is a man who throughly disturbs me. In the beginning of the book, he hijacks an airplane, so that he can tell his life story to the black box. He was raised in a cult where he had no rights, because he was born three minutes later than his brother. This creedish death cult, to which Barnson belongs, has several bizarre restrictions, such as not eating refined sugar and not listening to radios. Being second born, he is forced to leave the community and work in the outside world. His phone number is mistakenly advertised as a suicide-help hot line, and he tells the people that call him, that they should kill themselves. While Barnson is in the outside world, the rest of his creedish comrades deliver themselves to heaven by killing themselves. As a result, he is given a disturbing caseworker, because he is deemed a suicide risk. After awhile, she begins to encourage Barnson to kill himself, because she is tired of dealing with him. At the same time Barnson is infatuated with a girl named Fertility. Her brother is one of the people who committed suicide with his help. Tender Barnson additionally works as a servant for two bankers and uses fake flowers stolen from a mausoleum to decorate his employer’s garden.

Chuck Palahnick’s book Survivor is very hard to understand for two reasons. First, it is written backwards and secondly, he likes to use very annoying word loops like, “the megaphone said”, to repeatedly start sentences. I do not understand what this confusing book has to do with the class topic games.

Hp love craft: Cthulhu

    H.P. Lovecraft’s stories “Call of Cthulu”, “Shadow Over Innsmouth”and “The Dunwich Horror” talk of other worldly creatures that have come on this earth before man was created. They sleep below the earth and sea, waiting for their human followers to resurrect them. The cult that worships them makes sacrafices to Cthulhu and proform orgies to honor him. Cthulhu wants control over the earth to again be his, and to do this the cult must clear the land of the vile humans.

These three short stories share several similarities. First they all take place in the northeastern United States shortly after the first World War.  The town of Arkham is present in all of them.  Each story follows one person as he slowly pieces together the bits of information that he is slowly finding about the ancient cult. The protagonist either dies or becomes part of the cult.

In “The Call of Cthulhu”,  we follow a young man studying his late uncle’s research pertaining to mass instances of bizarre dreams, all occurring at the same time. He then slowly unravels information about the cult that worships Cthulhu and the unfortunate sailors that awakened him.

In “The Shadow Over Innsmouth”,  readers see through the eyes of a different young man who is curious to learn about the mysterious town of Innsmouth.  Upon reaching this town, he discovers a deformed populace who shuns him, a normal looking old man who raves at him and a hotel which is meant to be his deathtrap.  He overcomes these obstacles and escapes only to learn that he is actually one of them.

In the first half of “The Dunwich Horror”, the reader observes a peculiar boy named Wilbur.  Wilbur grows so fast that by the age of fifteen, his body resembles the body of a seven foot tall twenty-five year old man.  He quests to find the necronomicon, a book regarding the summoning of demons from another dimension, so that he might tame his monsterous brother who has been growing inside his house.  Wilbur fails his mission and unintentionally reveals his brother’s existence to three scientists.  In the second part of the story, these scholarly men, knowledgeable in the occult, travel to Dunwich and banish  Wilbur’s invisible house eating brother.

Lovecrafts stories are incredibly vivid yet horribly disturbing due to the graphic concepts, images and behaviors in the stories.  His use of human sacrifice and  descriptions of grotesque amphibian bipeds who feast on human flesh creates images so haunting that I had trouble sleeping and dreamed bizarre dreams.   My only criticism of Lovecrafts writing concerns his style.  I find his prose long winded and his slang monologues torturous to read.  His use of detail and plot twists enhance his stories and make his work engaging.

Endgame

Samuel Beckett in his play the Endgame portrays the relationship between a man who cannot leave his bed and the man who has become his legs. The main characters are Clove and Ham. Clove takes care of Ham who cannot stand up. Clove does not have the capacity to sit down. There are two supporting characters, Nell and Nag. Nag is Ham’s father. Although one never learns Nell’s relationship to the rest of the cast, she appears to die during the play. Nell and Nag live in some type of container, but no more specifics are given. The fact that Nell and Nag are old signifies that this situation of the play has been going on for quite some time.

I think that the setting is post apocalyptic Earth. Ham seems to be in charge of Clove, though neither of them are sure why. Ham appears to be in severe pain for he constantly questions Clove, if it is time for his pain killers. Ham also frequently requests that Clove kill him, but Clove denies all these requests. Ham’s commands are quick, illogical, and contradictory. Clove responds to each of these with rapid answers which do not seem to relate to each other. There also appears to be hostility from Clove toward Ham near the end of the play. The author writes about a relationship which is based on need but not trust. The miserable conditions may contribute to Ham’s death wishes.

This play left me confused and frustrated for it is difficult to comprehend the actions of the characters. The dialogue seems to be no more than one line sentences pieced together. There is no attempt at an involved plot apparent to the reader.

Frankenstein-3

The wretch insists that if Victor Frankenstein make him a female reanimated companion he will live with her in the wilderness away from man. Victor reluctantly agrees to make the female. He goes takes a trip to Scotland with the understanding that he will marry Elizabeth when he returns. Henry, his close makes plans to accompany him. The beast it is assumed also follows him from the shadows. Victors works on the project in Scotland until he is jailed for the murder of Henry, who actually had been murdered by the Wretch. Upon seeing Henry’s body, Victor becomes violently ill for several months. He awakens in a jail cell and learns that his father is there. He leaves Scotland with his father and returns to Geneva to marry Elizabeth, his adopted. During their honeymoon the wretch kills Elizabeth. Enraged Victor chases his creation all over Europe and is forced to end his pursuit at the North Pole. There he becomes sick and is found by a ship on an expedition to explore the North Pole. It is on that ship that Victor dies due to over exertion.

Frankenstein-2

After the execution of the maid who was innocent Victor can no longer remain calm. To remedy this he ventures into a valley that he had discovered when he was a boy. He stays there until one day he is confronted by his creation. It demands that Victor listen to his words or the wretch will devote it’s efforts to kill all whom Victor hold near. Not wanting harm to come to his friends and family he understandably decides to listen. The creature imparts upon him the various things he had learned. how all people who gazed upon him reacted with fright and disgust. Even when he saves a girl from the stream his only reward is being shot by her father. After that the wretch decides that humans are not to socialized with and all those related to his creator must die. It is not long after this that he encounters Victors baby brother whom he tries to take as his own companion. William not is repulsed by the wretch and says that he must be released lest his father whom is a Frankenstein come for the wretch. Upon hearing the one name that the he hates more than any other the wretch crushes William’s throat.

Frankenstein

Victor Frankenstein has a relatively normal childhood in Geneva. The only noteworthy thing is that his parents adopt a child named Elizabeth with whom he becomes very close. He has a large appetite for reading all the books he can find and is an excellent student. His first mistake is to read a book by Cornelious Agrippa which talks about the the philosopher’s stone and the elixir of life, and he believes these tales to be real. He decides to persue the discovery of these objects in college, and after six years he does finally manage to bring the spark of life into a dead body. He experiences a horrific shock once he realizes what he has done. This cause him to flee his room and sleep in the courtyard. His long time friend, Henry, shows up the following day. Victor decides to show him his creation. Upon returning to the room and finding the wretch absent, Victor goes into a state of hysterical laughter. He becomes feverish and loses his senses for three months. Henry stays and attends his friend until Victor shows signs of recovery. Victor’s first memory after leaving this catatonic state is that he notices that the buds on the tree branches blooming. The illness that he has suffered is the result of six years of constant fatigue. Soon after his recovery, Victor receives a letter from his father stating that his younger brother, William, has been murdered, and that he should return home immediately. Just before Victor enters Geneva, he glimpses his creation in the forest, and this fills him with terror. He believes that his creation is responsible for the death of William. This knowledge cannot be told to anyone for Victor fears that he will be called a madman. He is therefore helpless and unable to save the person accused of the crime.