Sunday, April 21, 2013

Perks of Being A Semi-Mediocre Writer

The title should already give away what to expect in the next following passages.
It would be a mistake to say this here is a review on The Perks of being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky since it will barely make the cut of one.
However I'll still write it down, because I believe that story deserves one.
To be honest, I had watched the movie based on that novel which was released late last year. I had gone against the book-before-movie rule(which is unspoken of until now), but I could not ignore the voices around me cheering for this one simple movie. Much like the hype with many other novel based films, the people run and chant the name for days on end, groping at the familiarities, clinging to the relevance of the characters and how it relates to their own lives, they fan base them, ship them, all that is until another new amazing film comes out and the other is laid to rest.
Back to the subject, I won't give out what the movie is about, because 1) spoiler and 2)the movie and book is at your disposal so it wouldn't be a problem to find out yourselves. There's also a PDF availability online that is to your convenience FREE and so you may refer to that.
I have to admit, I felt a tad bit skeptical at my own review of this since I the characters and setting had already been made for me through the movie. I feared that my view on the story itself would be jaded because of the experience the movie had offered me. But to my surprise, I found reading it more pleasurable than the movie itself. Although I wasn't able to shake off the image of the protagonist, as I imagined him the way the movie portrayed him, I managed to make up my own image of who Charlie was; and he was a fine protagonist indeed. As J.W. Eagan said, "Never judge a book by its movie."

As my review begins, I will here put it in terms even a 5 year-old would grasp; this book made sense.
That's about all I can or could say about the book, because unlike the scarce amount of books I have read prior to this one, I didn't have to read between the lines, or try to figure out what was going, or even so relate to the characters.
It just made sense.

I don't know how you as an individual among 7+++ billion people on this earth would react to this ONE single novel, where it describes ONE single person facing life on a new perspective, but as for me, the book was good.
To simply put it, good.

Coming to the topic of the actual perks of being a, as I have written, 'semi-mediocre writer', I here am able to speak(or to put it literally, type) my thoughts into font, words, sentences, paragraphs and ultimately piece of composition without having my class teacher point out my flaws and corrections. Though receiving such end to that would be helpful in my writing, I would be grateful to receive any feedback you have on this. I'm not one who likes to discuss about how my thinking is narrow or that my writing doesn't make any sense. If I understood it, I'm sure one of you out there will.

So here I am, being the semi-mediocre writer that I am, bringing you my innermost thoughts on the book I am sad to have put down: The Perks of being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. My copy was the PDF file I had earlier mentioned, and after reading this book, I intend to go to the nearest bookstore, and purchase a copy of this delightful book.

After all, a book this good, deserves to rest between my palms and journey with me through life.

Here's the official trailer of the acclaimed movie to get you excited, if you haven't been in touch with the world lately, like myself. 


Monday, April 15, 2013

Of John Green and Spongebob

Realizing the amount of events that I have so UNFORTUNATELY encountered over the week, I've decided to outline in the most neat and shortest way possible starting from the previous Wednesday.

Wedenesday

  1.  As a gift from my dearest friend, I had painstakingly finished reading Looking For Alaska.
  2. Discovered Pinterest
  3. Tried out the various Do It Yourself activities from the above website mentioned
  4. Contemplated going to school due to the high increase of creative activity from crafting in my room.
Thursday

  1. Began a steady hate for John Green but started reading The Fault In Our Stars anyway, because it was a gift and my friend had favored me to read it for her personal survey.(I will explain more on this later, including a book review. So if you haven't read either books, don't proceed any further.)
  2. Was reprimanded for absentees from school, and therefore made me relatively upset. The term 'I don't want to' is rarely ever taken seriously.
  3. Grew so mad for the lack of understanding people have towards my daily undertakings, and thus, sat down to a grueling 8-hour study plan and finished an entire textbook. 

Friday

  1. Attended class, completed a test and finished reading TFIOS. 
  2. Cursed almost everything and anything my eyes set upon.(post book depression, I believe, was the root of this rage.)
  3. Questioned my very existence
  4. Engaged myself in a very 'tearful' situation( I refuse to say anything that can or will be used against me.)
Saturday

  1. Woke up in a delirium. Very unhappy.
  2. Argued about time internet time slots shared among my sibling and I.
  3. Sibling 1-0 Me
  4. Cursed to glory.
Sunday

  1. Attended service where the Priest shared an unfortunate yet familiar event of his week; death.
  2. This day was so called a New Year to my racial background and so it was celebrated in a discreet manner, but all the wise unnecessary because I am not in favor of those superficial celebrations.
  3. Nausea overcame me, having not touched a single edible item from lunch on. 
  4. Continued in a thought provoking rant between my wall and myself( for as you may be unaware of, my socialism doesn't exist outside the house. or anywhere for that matter.)
Monday
  1. The family and myself had gone to collect our renewed IDs and on the way back, i had a Big Slurpee.
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I've not been a master at outlining events into a neat arrangement, but you can't say I didn't try. Language Arts was the subject that introduced this method, wherein you construct and use outlines for compositions, essays, reviews and etc. I for one found it a complete waste of time because 1) no one apart from myself will be able to see it, 2) it gets messy and hard to look at 3) it complicates your message/point/theme of whatever you may be writing 4) THE TIME wasted on constructing something that will end up in the trash can one fine day and thus sending a piece of your work into the forgotten file drawers of the writers' heaven(I cannot stress this enough) and finally 5) I don't really have a point for 5, but the 1-4 have pretty much summed up my concerns on this. However, others who do need the aid of outlines to further clarify their work, please don't take my points to heart(or pen). This is simply MY view on it. Read and know.

Back to my perfectly wonderful and fascinating events I have had over the past week(yes I can be a terrible sarcastic being, please excuse me for that). Just noticed I add a frightening amount of inside texts in parentheses. Adds to the flavor. I'm going to go with that reason whether you like it or not.
Reading is a past time of mine, as you know. IF you haven't, now you do. So when my friend told me to read the highly acclaimed Looking For Alaska by John Green(brilliant author might I add), I was thrilled. The Hunger Games trilogy was also introduced by this same friend and I thank the heavens my mind has been set free and the taste of heaven itself could be savored from those mind-blowing three books. Uber gratitude to her for sharing that precious piece of literature with me. Seeing as she has known my taste in books/novels, I trust she had reason to hand me a copy of LFA. After much positive comments and reviews I had read over Tumblr(because John Green is apparently a God there and his books are manna to the brain and heart), I assumed this book would overtake my expectations.
True enough, it did. It passed my expectations way up and above my head, did an air somersault and returned quietly back to the ground behind me.Little did i realize it was going to push me to the ground, turn my body to face itself, step on my lungs, chest, face and basically every vitally sensitive part of my functioning body, and spit right into my face, leaving me unconscious and dying on the cold hard ground.
I know some of you may be reading this in the hopes of getting spoilers on the book, as John Green had foreseen in his books, you will not be given that privilege. I will contain as much possible and give you my strict point of views on the book, but not on the story itself, so nice try.
First, let me tell you, that whatever I say about the book and/or plot of LFA, it does not bend my opinion on John Green himself. His writing style in both LFA and TFIOS were astounding and impressive. I recall a conversation from an episode of Spongebob Squarepants(don't judge me) that went:

Squidward: Now, repeat after me. I have no talent.
SpongeBob SquarePants: I have no talent.
Squidward: Mr. Tentacles has all the talent.
SpongeBob SquarePants: Mr. Tentacles has all the talent.
Squidward: If I'm lucky, some of Mr. Tentacles' talent may rub off on me.
SpongeBob SquarePants: If I'm lucky, Mr. Talent will rub his tentacles all over my art.
Squidward: Whatever.

In this case, I am Squarepants, and Mr. Tentacles is Green. I beg of you to not take the second last phrase from Spongebob into any second meaning or perverted manner.It is solely the substance of the conversation and not the sailor mouth ramblings of Spongebob.
Now John Green is a talent i have not seen, but if he did read this, he might shut me up and say his work is for the purpose of the reader and not of his own account to anything. As I have learned, and i quote "Books Belong To Their Reader"
This book, Looking For Alaska, was a mistake I wish I hadn't taken though. However, it as also a book I cannot stop re-reading. Looking For Alaska, is a young adult novel, and most definitely since I am not a young adult( those days are behind me) I found this book depressing. You may refer to Thursday Item #1, this fact makes sense. The questions that came to mind was "Why would any teenager find this book comforting?" Because of it's reality? The closeness of real only kids in that age group would understand?
I mean, i was a kid learning to live a purposeful life and deciphering the many aspects of life. Still I couldn't relate to it.
For me personally, reading has always been a portal to escape reality. I particularly chose novels with as much distance from reality as it could possibly provide. Fantasies and mind-mapping through others' stories were my escape. It channeled a stream of hope,which this book did not have. Then it hit me. Hopelessness. That was what the teenagers could relate to. Hopelessness in a world filled with ambiguity. In a sense, I could not relate, for my life has always been a path of hope. Yes, I and most of all adolescents have gone through hopelessness. There's no denying it. Despite that, I see life as more than what the book was placing out into the open. It was clear that the only way to hit the heart, and surface the feelings,emotions and sentiments, was to make a story so abutting to reality, that you couldn't for a second ignore it.
That was the effect Looking For Alaska had.
This fact, of course, didn't occur to me, until I had read a few words from the author himself. He noted that BBTTR(books belong to their readers) but that in fact, he wrote it to stress his point, which was; How will you live a thoughtful, hopeful life in the face of unresolvable ambiguity?

I made a point to reread LFA, in respect to these new revelations.
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I shall continue my reviews, thoughts and opinions of the above outline in the coming days. Until then, stay bright.


Monday, April 8, 2013

Salutations

Hello and thank you, as you've been kind enough to organize time out of your busy schedule to read my rant on 'fighting hunger' and it's so-called awareness. Well alright, to some of you who believe that it may be relevant in any given time, for the reason of somehow relieving people from starvation, then by all means ignore me. My putting of opinions out here in the open is for you to know, and that is but all i do, my take on the matter.
Moving on, seeing as I've not formally introduced myself, i feel like an incompetent fool. Though there is much less anything to say, still you must have already cracked your head times over(or maybe not) who i must be.
Just a brief introduction, I'm past my teens and like to put my thoughts out in the open harsh world of criticism and disapproval. IF you have a bone to pick with whatever I've unintentionally said and/or offended you in, mind you, I'm a vegan.
This should comfort you for the moment, for I've not made such literal impression yet.
I read books.
Fickleness and impulsive composure are my unfortunate traits.
I don't wish to further my introduction.
Stay if you wish; spectate in the nothings that go through my mind and leave.
My gratitude to you all.

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Can you save by enduring?

I stumbled upon an article a couple of days back, concerning the rise of world hunger. The piece, as it was written in a weekly periodical, was raising awareness for poverty and world hunger through the setting up of an event, that required people to come and support the cause. The event was for anyone, in the community, to step forward to a 30-hour fast, and experience the pain and suffering the unfortunate beings endure in poverty stricken homes and lives. Now, i'm one who is very much into volunteering and contributing to a good cause, but this however proved pointless.
How does starving myself for 30-hours, help those dying of hunger?
Will my starvation feed hundreds of people suffering from malnutrition? from hunger? or from death?
And it doesn't end there. Anyone who wishes to participate in the cause, has to pay a 20 dollar registration fee. Don't worry, a goodie bag is provided.
I'm hardly convinced that the 20 bucks actually goes to feeding the starving children, let alone the event itself.
It only does to raise awareness.
However I can't fight the feeling of imagining what will actually go down on that day. Let's take a peak through my mind for a moment.
So everyone's huddling up by the venue,in their expensive casual clothings and oversized bags filled with bottles of water perhaps, bumping through excited bodies and chattering people. They all file up in a crooked line to pay their 20 dollars over the counter. Slowly one by one, everyone gathers around a center, with a stage up front. I assume the stage is to keep the participants excited about their 30-hour fast, and hold some events or shows lined up for the 'starving' people. A sir, probably the MC, comes up on stage and commences the beginning of the fast, and everyone roars in applaud. Most likely there would be an opening act followed by a string of shows, acts or performances in support of the cause as well. It's so exciting and exhilarating, the people can't wait to tell everyone in their friends/followers list about what's going down in the event. Out comes the 'smartphone', and statuses go out, pictures are taken and shared on instagram,tweets like "omg!30-hour fast for starving ppl. this is so fun :D" get tweeted, topics such as #fighthungercampaign  are trending, and endless videos are streaming on youtube. What an event it is. Almost everyone in the town knows about this cause and are supporting their friends, and even joining in.
Hours pass, and the participants experience real hunger for the first time in their lives. The temptation to run out and grab a full platter of food begs. But they keep their will and fight on. Another load of statuses,tweets, pictures and videos get uploaded. "Getting very hungry and tired. but fighting to raise awareness!gambate! ^-^" (gambate; japanese for what the English would say as 'keep moving forward')
Night falls, people moan and groan, but are still engaged in the performances and gathering just before the last hour. Candles are light, people outside the lines are watching in awe and spectate in such a feat only first-world people would consider an accomplishment.
The minutes are closing in and everyone,though tired and weak from a whole day (and 6 hours) of food deprivation, they slowly rise to their feet and wait for the countdown; the countdown to mark the closing of their effort, participation and contribution to the awareness. And so it goes, 5,4,3,2,1,0.
What happens next?
Everyone rushes with whatever energy they've mustered up and crowd near the banquet and buffet spread out for the VERY hungry participants. They line up, serve themselves and devour the food mercilessly. They leave the venue, satisfied with their contribution, and their now full stomachs.
End of event.
Can i say the same for the starving people in Africa maybe? Or in the slums of India probably?
will they get a banquet of food after their starvation?
After all, they're participating in a lifelong cause. They starve everyday, of every week, of every month and year. Don't they deserve a buffet spread too?

Nevermind me getting all 'save the world' on you, after all, there are causes to support, and marathons to run. Never mind my rant on how this is pointless and that we're not helping poverty stricken people. What's more important than owning a very 'smartphone' and keeping up to date with trends, right? Nevermind causes on the internet, in society, or by friends that require money to be shared among them just to 'raise awareness'. What's a tenner to a starving child anyway?

I'll just  stay at home, starve the whole day, and  send a 20 dollar check to The World Food Program.