Post 3 for The Sea Inside

There were many scenes that made the movie have more meaning. In the scenes where he would look out the window and fly. They used a dolly shot in those and it actually made me feel like I was flying and looking at the ground and sea. In the scene where he was being tried, they used a low angle shot on the judges to make them look more powerful and a high angle to make him look helpless and disabled. They also used a series of medium shots to show like you are in the conversation with them. They used establishing shots to show you where you are/ the setting. In the scene where Julia is looking at the pictures with Ramon, they use an extreme close up on the pictures to make it seem like you're the one looking at the pictures. They also used truck movements when Ramon went in the car to go places. They did this to make it seem like you were looking out the window with Ramon.

Post 2 for The Sea Inside

The Sea Inside and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly were very similar. In both, the main characters were quadriplegics. They both suffered a condition that they hated dearly. What made them different was the fact that one wanted to die and the other lived it out until the end. The Diving bell was about a man telling his story and telling people what it's like. Where as The Sea Inside was about a man fighting for the right to die. They both expressed the struggles they went through and hard times they had to endure. Overall, I would say the Diving bell was more powerful, all because of the fact there was more things you had to interpret. Such as hidden meanings, with all the dreams. You had to think about what the author was trying to say to you. They were both very sad and both very compelling, but in The Sea Inside there wasn't as much description. But i guess thats because it's a movie. They both made me thinka bout how lucky I am to not have a serious condition like that.

Post 1 for The Sea Inside

I'm actually very surprised with the outcome of the movie. I thought the whole time Ramon would end up realizing that he did have something to live for. I think that his request to die is understandable, because if you are a quadriplegic life is hell. So I could see how after 28 years of living like that, that he would want to die. It would get tiring having someone do every last thing for you and you just sit there helplessly. I think that the court was wrong to rule that he couldn't die. I hate how the government thinks that he can make peoples' decisions for them. They think they know what is right. No, it's Ramon's life, he shouldn't have to ask for permission to die. They don't know what it's like to live like he did. And he gave it a try. He was like that for 28 years. I thought that his plan to kill himself was the only way he could get what he wanted. I'm glad he got what he wanted but I'm also saddened that it came to that. But, if he truly couldn't take it anymore and his only happiness would come from dieing, then that's the right thing. I think that his friends who helped him are his best friends he's ever had. Someone that will put their life and future on the line for you is a great friend. They risked going to jail to help their friend achieve happiness. I think they are great people for helping him. But the people that didn't, such as his sister-in-law, his brother, his nephew, they're still great friends even though they didn't help him in that way.

The book Angela's Ashes turned out to be one of the best books i've read in awhile. The message I think that the author was trying to send was that no matter how many downs or problems you have in life, you gotta keep striving for your dream. In this case, Frank's dream was to make it to America again, and he finally did in the end, even though he had a very tough childhood. Frank McCourt wrote the book because he wanted to share with everyone that life is no breeze. He wanted to show people what he had to do to survive. In the book there were many deaths and money problems that he put in there to show that he went through alot. Pretty much the whole book was him overcoming each problem thrown at him. The fact that his dad was a drinker, his siblings dieing continuously, his mother being sad all the time, having no money, no food. Overall the book was great and I would highly recommend it to people.

Final Post

Angela decides that she doesnt want anymore babies. As all the families continue to get money, Angela's is still broke. Malachy refuses to work in England but finally he is made to. He never sends any money back to the family because he spends it all on drink. Angela gets sick with pneumonia and the boys are forced to live with their grandma. Malachy returns to Limerick to watch the boys instead and when Angela gets beter he leaves once again. Angela is now forced to continuously beg for food at churches and shelters. Frank gets a job at the post office. He them falls in love with this girl named Theresa, whom he met delivering packages. She grows ill and dies. Frank keeps going on and on about his desire to go back to America. He saves part of his money each week and gives the reast to his mother Angela. Frank turns sixteen and gets drunk. He goes home and gets in a fight with his mother. Eventually Frank gets promoted and is almost ready to go to America. Frank steels alot of money from an old lady who just died while he was in the house visiting. He got enough money to go to America from it. He tells his mother that he is leaving and she cries for a long time. Frank goes to America, but is saddened that he left Ireland and his family back home. When he arrives he loves it.

Reflection of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was a very interesting book. It's quite an accomplishment and statement that a man wrote a book just by blinking one eye. The book was good. There were a lot of hidden messages that I didn't catch until we went over them in class, but I almost felt at times that I was Bauby and I was feeling his pain and frustration. He did a very good job of telling you his pain and suffering which made the book that much better. There were some chapters of the book that i didn't get why he had them, because they may have described just a random thought. People say that it does have significance though because it symbolizes the butterfly part of the book. The part where he wanders away and doesn't let his body bring him down until later, but i feel that he did that too often. I felt like I would be reading along and he would go into one of his random, meaningless dreams and then he would snap back and talk about important things. Not all of the dreams were meaningless. Some showed you him before the accident which was very important. And the one where he is with Napoleon's wife is important because he sees himself in a mirror and it shows him what he looks like, which comes as a shock to him. And the other one where he goes to the religious place and everyone is getting healed it shows him making fun of the people, so it shows what he thought of people like him before it happened to him. But some like remembering his friend are just....i don't know, rambling on. Some parts were boring for me. Maybe because it was a memoir it made it not as exciting. I wanted to hear from another persons standpoint and hear what they thought. I wanted to know how crushed the family was and what they were thinking. I wanted to know what the doctors and nurses thought. I feel if it was like that the book would have been more.....informational maybe. Overall the book was a good meaningful book that made me realize that there are some pretty bad things out there but no matter how bad it gets you gotta try to keep going and that's what i felt Bauby did. Even though he had locked in syndrome he still try to make the best of it by writing a book.

Reading 3, Part 2

1) The book Angela's Ashes has many strengths and some weaknesses about it. I like how the book makes you feel terrible as you read. It makes you actually feel like your in the narrator's shoes. Your worried if your not going to have food. Your sad about all the deaths that are happening. I don't like some of the writing though. Sometimes I cant tell when they are talking to each other untill im done reading acouple sentences. He doesnt have quotations so it makes it hard in some cases. I feel that its truly amazing that Frank and his brothers lived the way they did. How could someone survive the hell they had to deal with. It seems as though nothing good ever went their way. I relate the book to me cuz im Irish too and I have alcoholics in my family too. So when I hear Frank talk about his father drinking their money away, I think of some of my relatives. I predict that things will turn around for the McCourts and maybe they'll finally get a lucky break.

Reading 3, Part 1

1) Frank's mother and father are both from Ireland and meet in New York city where they immediately fall in love. They have their first son Frankie. Soon after they have their second boy Malachy named after his father. Then comes the two twin boys Oliver and Eugene. Finally Margret is born. The family suffers many hardships. They barely make enough money to eat since it is the depression and their father, Malachy, has a terrible drinking problem. He usually gets his pay and goes and drinks it all away. The family starved until Margret was born. Malachy loved her so much that he quit drinking and always brought home his pay. Margret got very ill and died soon after she was born causing great sadness to the family. Angela, the mother, had her cousins come see her since she was so sad. They told her to go back to Ireland where your mother and Malachy's parents will help you. So the McCourts go to Ireland where all they find is more suffering. They can't seem to make much money and are barely making it by. Oliver grows sick and dies. Shortly after, Eugene dies too of pneumonia(if thats how you spell it). Frank and Malachy jr. start going to school where they are made fun of for their poverty. Angela has another baby named Micheal. When Angela returns from the hosiptal with Micheal, he is sick with a cold. He eventually stops breathing so Malachy Sr. sucks the mucus out of his nose. Frank gets his first Communion. Later on Angela and Malachy need to have their teeth pulled because of smoking so much so they get fake teeth. Angela also makes Frank take up Irish dance lessons. Frank hates it so he starts using the money to skip and go to the movies. Eventually his parents find out and make him confess his sins. Frank keeps going to school and meets this new boy named Fintan who invites Frank and this other boy named Paddy over all the time. THey only go for the food though. Fintan starts to get weird though and says that he likes to watch the two boys go to the bathroom. Frank and Paddy get scared and runaway. Angela finds them and is very upset cuz she was very worried. Angela gives birth to another boy named Alphonsus. Frank gets confirmed and gets a nose bleed that wont stop. The doctor comes amd tells him that he has typhoid fever. Frank is close to death but lives and gets out of the hosiptal in November. He goes back to school and learns that he has to reado the 5th grade. He goes to church to pray to be moved up to the 6th grade with his friends. THe next day he writes a big paper that is so impressive that his teacher moves him up to the 6th grade.

2)Frank McCourt grew up in America and moved to Ireland. He had 3 brothers: Malachy, Micheal and Alphonsus(Alphie). At agre 13 he quit school and got jobs to support his mother and brothers. At 19 he returned to the U.S. and went to New York University. He got a Masters degree at Brooklyn College and went on to teach english at McKee High School. He went on to write Angela's Ashes which one the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_McCourt)(http://www.achievement.org/achievers/mcc1/large/mcc1-007.jpg)