The shawshank redemption

Plot
  The movie compared to the story itself was pretty similar.One difference was that the book left the audience guessing if Andy was actually guilty or not. The movie shows that he had a chance at a re-trial. This shows that he may in fact be not guilty. Both showed how Andy was able to escape prison through the sewer system and tunnel.

Point of View
  The point of view the story and movie was from the character Red. He gives the audience the notion that he doesn't know whether Andy was truly guilty or innocent. What makes the movie great is that you can actually see what Andy does, instead of coming from stories told from Red himself. You can really get a feel of how Andy reacts to everyone around him and how quiet and shallow he may seem at first. This also doesn't help him because this allows the warden to say that Andy is too self centered. Because the Warden says this, Andy is then not allowed a re-trial to prove his innocence.

Characterization
  Andy in the story made him out to be a very shallow and quiet man. That he rarely if ever showed emotion. The movie although made him out to be much more outgoing then his story counter part. One major key element was that it took a few months for Andy to ask Red for a hammer, when it took 7 years in the story. This element really changes the timetable for each the story and movie. Red was shown to be more forgiving as a character from a audience perspective from the movie then the more evil counter part of his past in the story.

Setting
   Both the movie and story kept the main setting of the high security prison. The story and movie does a great job making the stories told by Red and the situation of Andy more realistic and dramatic as well as interesting. It really sets the tone for each character and the dark past that haunts them and the struggles and pain that they go through everyday. Because the story and movie was based in the mid 1990's, it made it a bit more realistic for this type of prison escape to be made possible. If it was a story in the modern era, it would be allot more unrealistic. This is what makes this setting just perfect.

Theme
  The theme that was shown in the story was hope. The theme that was displayed in the movie was hope as well. the desire of Andy to lead a better life then in jail is what gave the notion of both story and movie to have hope. Andy had a bad misfortune and was blamed for something he didn't do, or believed by the audience he didn't do anyways. and yet he still was able to show a great amount of hope to escape and live out his dream. He showed great persistence and his escape efforts and what he did and what he went through was evidence enough that this man saw the hope he still had in his life and went after it.  

Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption

PLOT
    The story starts of explaining the basis of Red's life and how he got there and so forth. The stories Red tells of usually don't have much great meaning in the beginning. This may be the fact that they were in a high security prison and it resembled the drawn out atmosphere of being in jail for an entire lifetime. It wasn't until the story began to progress that the stories Red told became more exciting and had more meaning to them. The dialogue was a bit hard to follow as it was more written sporadically instead of being consistent. in other words with more of a flow to it.

Point of View
     Red had a lifelong sentence without the possibility of parole so his look on life was very low. As well as it should for being in prison. No one ever really dreamed of ever escaping prison. Sure some thought about the idea, but to actually go a head with a plan like Andy wanted to was inconceivable. Andy still believed he had allot to live for. Especially since he was wrongly convicted of a murder he never committed. Andy's determination is what changed Red and his own perception of life.

Characterization
     Andy himself was very shy and timid as he really never talked to or mingled with the other inmates. This is probably what caused him to be convicted of the murder because he wasn't very outspoken.He was so laid back that he almost gave the feeling that he was indeed a cold blooded killer. On the other hand, Red was described as a man who's been around the prison for many, many years.  This gave the reader the feeling of a great narrator and gave the reader the most powerful voice to interpret what was happening in the story. Being that Red had the powerful voice also gave the reader the feeling that Red was very honest and educated about what he was talking about.

Setting
   The setting was obviously in a prison. It gives the reader an easy way to picture everything that was going on around Red and Andy.  It may not relate too much to the reader to the sense of not very many people have been to jail, but the story does a great job involving the setting around the characters. It was pretty easy to follow on most occasions, as Red does a great job narrating the stories. The sewer pipe although was very well described. The reader could easily feel what Andy had to go through and it wasn't pretty at all. Andy obviously shows he is more determined to get out of jail then he was his own health or hygiene for that matter.

Theme
   The theme of the story is pretty much the feeling of hope. It may be hard to see the light of day, or hope because the way most of these men are in jail for a lifetime for crimes that they may have or may have not committed. But the theme is there, and it is hope. Red when he first was in jail had little hope for his life. But as time grew on he came to term with what he did wrong, and Andy helped him realize there still was plenty of opportunity to his life if he could believe in it. "a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies."  Andy preached that to Red, and helped him try to achieve his dreams.

Shakespearen Sonnet

   Sonnet 130 is about shakespears description of his mistress. He says shes eyes nothing of the sun, that they arnt bright and beautiful like the sun is. She has wires for hairs and thast her hair is black and not very atractive looking. "If her hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head". He says that her breath is absolutely horrible and that it reeks. He loves when she speaks but he would rather hear music. As music would sound so much better then her awful voice. When she walks, she treads the ground. But yet he feels her love is like heaven. And nothing else would compare.
   The message of the poem is saying no matter who your love might be, you always have to show your profound love to them. I know of a distant family member of mine who doesnt have the greatest looks in the world. And he's not always that perfect guy. But his wife still loves him for who he is. Even though she could have done much better with a guy who had better looks, she still found that whats on the inside is what matters most. Just as shakespeare had to go through with his mistress. This is how your love life is supposed to be.

Ballad Blog

The modern song i chose for my ballad was Alligator Pie by the Dave Matthews Band. The type of folk ballad this song covers is tragic accidents and sudden disaster. The song first comes of as Dave talking about how his youngest daughter wonders when her name is gonna be used in a song, her name is Stella. Dave repeatedly uses the name Grace which is the name of his oldest daughter. Once you get past that meaning of the song, the actual ballad its referring to is the disaster of New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina. He explains how the first night the water rised, the second day the sun is high and shows the destruction that the floods have caused. Finally the third day Stella cries because the night is as dark as the dead man's eyes, which is a pun saying rescue never came after 3 days had past and they were on the verge of dying themselves. This song characterizes a true event with Hurricane Katrina and the devastation it left in New Orleans. It tells a story of a father and daughter trying to survive and uses the refrain of asking when help is gonna come, when will grace return.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21mfogxzzr4

Dave Matthews Band ~ Alligator Pie

Floatin' in the lower nine
Waitin' for a boat to throw me a line
See my Stella smile
Sittin' on a roof eatin' alligator pie
First day the water rise
Second day the sun is high
Third day Stella cries
'Cause night time's dark as a dead man's eyes

Lord
Tell me when help is gonna come
Stella said Daddy when you gonna put me in a song

Storm went right on by
Thanked the Lord everybody's alright
Don't mean to throw off a second line
But the devil broke the levee and left us here to die

Stella said Daddy when you gonna put me in a song

Need a dance hall to get y'all down
Need a dance hall to get y'all down

All the things we know and
Everything we hope for
All the things we wanted
Everything that was sure
Now there is a scar where
The old men used to be
The corner store and market
Where Stella used to sing to me
Grace is all I'm asking
When will grace return
Grace is all I'm asking

Remember how it feels
Lazy days in the summertime
Then my Stella smiled
Stella said Daddy when you gonna put me in a song

Hero Blog

My literary hero that i choose is Mike Lowrey from the movie Bad Boys 2. He is a Miami Police Officer who has a partner named Marcus Burnett. He is a cop who has to protect the streets of Miami from being taken over from a drug dealer who is infecting the night clubs and streets with drugs. The Miami Police haven't been able to be bring down the drug lord until Mike and Marcus tackle the case. A heroic quality that he shows is the bravery to head down to Cuba where his girlfriend and his partner's sister was being held captive and goes there to free her. Eventually she was freed without much harm done, and that to me is a hero who puts there life on the line in harms way to save a loved one.

My personal hero would have to be my dad. My dad is a hero in my eyes because of all the hardship he went through about 7 years ago. He went through one of the most stressful and life changing time of his life when he went through a very ugly divorce. He showed much courage and strength towards me even know he had a worry in the back of his mind that we might lose the house we live in. To see the struggle to put food on the table each week during that time left a big impression on me of how hard he fought for his kids. That to me is my hero of the love he had towards us and what he sacrificed for us.

My popular hero is John Wooden. He is a hero for me because of his extraordinary coaching abilities and his ways of teaching his players about life as well. He was one of the most winningest coaches of all time in college basketball. He won an unprecidented 10 national titles during a 12 year period which has never been done and probably never will be done ever again. He to me is a hero not only for his winning on the court, but the class he did it in. He is referred to as the man who never cursed. He always had a way or saying to his players that would help them in life and that is what i most admire him for.

posting for class

hopefully its working? hmm....