Happily Ever After

Not only is my Title the ending of most fairy tales but also the ending to this year. We are all moving on with our lives and ending this chapter (High School) with a happy ending. We are going to college and leaving behind the small towns of Montvale and Woodcliff Lake. It's going to be sad and difficult, but we will be fine. To lighten the mood, if you are scared to move on, you can try reading my project I will be doing. I plan on writing two fantasy stories this marking period, but thats not all. The greatness behind there stories are that one will be from the prospective of Walt Disney and the other one will be from the prospective of the Brothers Grimm. How awesome does that sound...i know hold back those emotions of astonishment back till you read them. They will be pretty legit.
Just wanted to give a shout out to my boy "two eight" aka "marinpiece", aka "marinsac", aka "marini" aka "da tank" but formally he is known as Matt Marini. Kid has been slacking a little doing his blogs and work. I need to find a way to motivate him because he has so much raw talent. It's a shame the kid doesn't want to put in the effort. I bet if Sharon found out then he would start doing his work.
-Deuces bloggin' out

3,2,1.....buzzer goes off

This is the last week for my research paper to get done and it's time to get ballin'. The clock is running down and much work is left to do. Before I write about my goals for this week I will give you a little preview of what I got done last week. I was able to get a lot more sources and some great information to help me get my paper done. I finished my intro paragraph and I'm almost done with some paragraphs. It's been pretty difficult finding stuff on how Disney and Grimm's stories affected their time era but I feel like its going to end up well. Here is a look at my first body paragraph. "Two of the most influential fairy tale tellers in history were the Grimm brothers, Jacob and Wilhelm. They preserved many of the original oral-tradition fairy tales into written form. The Grimm fairy tales are probably the most accurate versions of these tales in existence today. Corruption, sleaze, and gore, festers within every version of the Grimm’s fairy tales. But, as social attitudes change, so do the fairy tales. Stories of magic, love, and wishes coming true are the whimsical tales Disney has recreated. By comparing and contrasting the Brothers Grimm and Disney’s version of Snow White, it is clear that Disney commercialized the originally dark tale. Disney has been praised for his masterpieces, but one cannot forget where they originated." I'm looking for some feed back on this paragraph. I want my viewers to respond to my writing. Tell me what you think. Do you like my ideas? How is it coming so far? What should I add or take away? Now to get back to my first sentence of this blog. My goal is very obvious this week, I must get my paper done. Its due in a few days and time is flying by. Its also not going to be easy to get this done because I have baseball games Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week. This leaves very little time for homework but thats life. Speaking of life, if you want to get a reality check on life check out Marini's blog. Kid is down to earth and speaks da truth. His opinion may hurt your feelings, but at-least he tells it like it is.

Work in Progress

"Several things about fairy tales are known to be true. They begin with "once upon a time" and end with "happily ever after." Filled with witches, dragons, damsels in distress, and heroes, these tales stay in the minds of children for years to come. However, these young listeners are getting much more than a happy ending. Fairy tales are passed from one generation to another. As societies develop, fairy tales are changed to fit the needs and morals those societies want to impress upon their children. Therefore, the style and content of a fairy tale is directly affected by the social attitudes of a particular society at a particular time. There are hundreds of fairy tales that have traveled the world for centuries. But there are only a few names that have stood the test of time as the ultimate fairy tale writers." I thought I would start off my blog with the opening paragraph of my essay. I'm looking for some positive or negative feed back. I put a lot of thought into this paragraph and I want to know what my viewers think. Is it to broad? It is to short? Are there some things I should add or take away? My essay is a work in progress and I feel I'm moving along pretty well.
This paragraph is just a small piece of the master piece that will be finished next friday. I'm hoping to get a lot done this week. I want to go online and read some articles on Walt Disney and The Brothers Grimm. I need to find out the differences in their stories and how they have changed over time. It should be interesting and I'm excited to do the work.
I have a lot of motivation to do this especially with "two eight" (Matthew Marini) right behind me every step of the way. He is more then just a friend and a great role-model he is my blog partner and he knows what I'm capable of doing. And if you're impressed by the work I have done so far, then check out Marini's blog he is like a knot of excellence ready to be untangled, and I mean that.

And for all my fans out there this is a historical day for drizzle is burning. It is my 14th blog and its a huge landmark to reach in the blogging world. The year is almost over, I got like 7 weeks left but I'm hoping to reach the century mark by the end of this year. I know I got it in me.

Lets try this again

I would like to start out by apologizing to my avid readers of Drizzle is Burning, but I have decided to go in a different direction for this fourth marking period of our senior year. I have chosen to read fairy tale stories but the Brother's Grimm and Walt Disney. After I read this famous stories I will then compare how the stories appeased to their time era and the differences and similarities of the stories. Its going to be an interesting project, which will be fun at the same time. For the project part of this assignment I will be making two short stories. One from the prospective of Brothers Grimm and one from Walt Disney's. This should be a good project for me to do to finish out my senior year. I think a lot of people will enjoy reading my paper and listening to my stories. So be here for next week when I post about how my project is going and far I have gotten. I may put a few parts of my paper or stories into my blog to drag all my fans in.

Don't forget to check out my boy Matt George Marini's blog the kid has something brewing for his project and is one short step away from excellence.

But wait there's more...

You all thought it was over huh? Well I'm back and ready to embark on another journey aka "fourth marking final period project." This marking period we as a class are going to do what ever we basically want. I chose to do my research on steroids and the effects it has had on baseball. Baseball is America's past time and has been around for about 100 years. For the first 90 years of baseball it has been a beloved and clean game. But recently this innocence has been tarnished. Players have been using substances like steroids or HGH (Human Growth Hormones) to improve their game. This is completely unfair and embarrassing to those who love this sport. People who don't deserve starting spots, the up and coming next best player, or those who have secured a spot in the Hall of Fame have used these illegal substances. It's terrible to think that all the greatness we have seen like Roger Clemens record his 4,000th strike out, Mark McGuire break the all time homerun record in a season, Barry Bonds a few years later come and break that record, then see Barry Bonds pass Hamerin' Hank to be the all time homerun leader ever has only been possible because of these drugs. These records and milestones may be in the record books now but there are ways to make sure this never happens again. Not only will I be informing more people about the usage of steroids in baseball, I will also speak about my plans to stop this and what penalties there must be if caught. This is just the appetizer for what is coming up next. So stick around and find out. This is drizzle bloggin out.

My last blog

If you are reading this then I am dead...just kidding it’s my last blog. I know its going to be hard to move on knowing that there is no more Drizzle blogging, but I have faith the world will continue. I bet you’re all happy to not have to read any more embarrassing and stupid blogs made by Jake Strasser though. Jake couldn’t put any less effort into his blogging; he makes Charlotte Perkins Gilman look like an EFFORT MONSTER. And we all know what I think about CPG; don’t even get me started. Over the past two months I have grown to love blogging. I was skeptical at first, but I feel I have brought my blogging skills up to probably the best in both classes. If there were a draft in blogging, like there is in fantasy baseball, I would most likely go first overall. I feel blogging has not only made me get a deeper understanding of the novel but also brought some fun, which always makes learning easier. That’s what I feel is the hardest thing to bring to the classroom and Mr. Saxon touché, you nailed it. Some people still feel that blogging is stupid but lets be honest it was fun and different from anything we ever did. It challenged us to write what we thought about the book and at the same time it left it open for discussions between students. Leaving comments on blogs caused students to intermingle and get a better understanding of the novel. These days, I live to blog. It’s like a terrible heroine addiction and I don’t know if I’ll be able to kick it once this marking period ends. I’ll probably relapse, but let’s be real here, that wouldn’t be that bad. Also if you want a blog that is as good as here is a website that can help. Don’t expect to be as good as me because that may never happen, but good luck. Blood, sweat and tears were put into this thing I hope you enjoyed. I just want to say one last thing before I leave. Marini you were a great partner even though you weren't always on top of your work, you hated blogging, and you had a terrible attitude. Our blogs were probably the best in both classes and no one wanted us in the beginning. When all doubted me and I thought I had no one left in my life you appeared from the shadows. You put your trust in me to preform and gave me a reason to blog. You believed in me and gave me a chance and I thank you for that. There will always be a place for you in my heart. When ever someone doubts you too, I will be there to motivate you. Don't let anyone put you down kid because I believe. This is Drizzle blogging out.

Spring has arrived why not read THE SUN FLOWER

I had a lot of time on my hands over this weekend because of the Lansing Airport. With my combined 15 hours of delays due to weather and mechanical problems, finishing this novel wasn’t very difficult (If you want the full story about how I hate North West Airlines and The Lansing Airlines just ask me its a long story). As I kept reading i found it harder and harder to put down and it was a quick read. The Sunflower is a novel about forgiveness. One day when a Jewish man was working outside of a hospital a nurse leads him into a room where a dying Nazi confesses his sins and asks for forgiveness. He had nothing to say when faced with the choice between empathy and righteousness. This difficult decision still lingers in the back of his mind. Still questioning if he did the right thing. Now here’s the kicker, what would you do? If I were in the room talking to this Nazi, there would be no way I could forgive him for what he had done. I am not the most religious person out there, some may say I’m a Hebrew school drop out but, this man doesn’t deserve to be forgiven. He was part of killing 6,000,000 people of my kind; this man deserves nothing. I would be so angry that I would not even be able to look at this man and I would most likely enjoy the fact that he was in pain and dying.
I usually leave a note at the end telling you to check out Marini's blog but it looks like the kid is falling behind. He has an ego problem someone should tell him he's not tough and needs to get his blog done.

Done with A Clockwork Orange

Class please be seated, no running in the hall, put your cell phone away. These are just some thoughts that have been brewing my head the last week. One may ask why I have been thinking this, and that’s a good question. While I have been writing a Unit Lesson plan on Clockwork Orange. If I do say myself, I thought of some good projects and some challenging questions. Is teaching in my future…who knows but maybe? I guess I could see myself yelling at kids, or joking around maybe even making one cry. I would feel a lot of power when kids would look up at my 6’3 muscular frame and call me Mr. Herzon. It has a nice ring to it. Getting back to the project I did, I was able to come up with 10 different things to put into my Unit Plan. It was a very interesting project, it made you think a lot about how students would react or be able to learn from what your teaching. I highly recommend doing this project though. It was fun coming up with essays and projects to make other people do instead of being the person that has to do it all the time. The novel I thought it was pretty good. I was surprised how the book ended, but I wont ruin it for those who have not read the book yet. The book will take you through a crazy world of Nadsat Writing, drinks with drugs in it and violence everywhere. Its definitely an entertaining yet extremely weird and kind of scary. I found the book hard to follow at times because of the weird language but you will get use to it. As you get more into the novel the more the language makes sense as if you are party of the story. I recommend you read this book even though it’s a pretty messed up novel. If I had to guess Anthony Burgess wasn’t the most stable person. I found a great article on the book. I suggest you read this before you read the novel so you can learn some extra stuff. It talks about some of the weird language, it talks about a reoccurring theme in the novel which is good vs. evil and it gives some background on Burgess. In my last post I mentioned how the book is like 1984. In parts two and three there were some similarities. Alex was tortured and forced to give into the government and do what they want. This is like when Winston was tortured until he would give into the government and betrayed Julia. Alex in the end was eventually given back his abilities to do what he wants unlike Winston who was forced to live the rest of his life like a zombie. The end disappointed me a little but it doesn’t mean it will disappoint you. So now that you know what I think go out there and read Clockwork Orange. And do be afraid to check out Marini’s blog kid knows a word or two about Clockwork Orange. Believe dat!!!

SECOND BOOK CLOCKWORK ORANGE

For my second book I have chosen to read clockwork orange. It seemed like a class favorite a lot kids in the class read it or will eventually read it. I’m pretty into it I have read about half the book and I would like to share my feelings about it. Some parts are better then others but it has a lot of violence and what teenage boy doesn’t like violence. The main character in the story is Alex and he is also the narrator. I have some mixed feelings on him so far, The fifteen-year-old boy is the vicious leader of his gang of friends. He is extremely violent and crazy but he has a soft side to him too. He loves classical music and finds that violence and music provide him with similar kinds of aesthetic pleasure. The book has many similarities to the book we recently read 1984. They both are about dystopian societies but they go about it in different ways. In Clockwork Orange everyone has so many freedoms and can do basically what they want. They promote individualism but this obviously leads to a large amount of crime, which Alex and his friends take advantage of. In 1984 its all about the government have strict powers. The government has control of everything even including what you think. If someone is to break a rule or law they are horribly punished. Barely any people dare to take on the government in 1984 compared to the people who are not afraid to break the rules in Clockwork Orange. I’m extremely interested to find out what happens to Alex now he is arrested and what direction the book is going to go in. I wonder what’s going to happen to him in jail because he is use to being the top dog and in jail he won’t be. I wonder if he is going to try to escape or learn from his mistakes. I really enjoyed 1984 and should be interesting to make comparisons and similarities as I read between these books.

DONE WITH HERLAND

Well I’m done with Herland and if I may quote the famous James Alfonse Coleman “it was mediocre at best”. I just recently wrote my essay and I answered the question where you had to read three other blogs and agree or disagree with what they said. I went over Kermit the Blog made by the great Doug “E-Fresh” Horn. I also looked at the original “StevesBlog” made by Steve Cohan, and class favorite Jake Strasser’s “The Blog Cabin”. I found that I had a lot in common with what they said and if I do say myself I wrote a pretty good essay. I had some problems with the book and here is something that really grinds my gears. I’m all for women’s suffrage and support the idea that women are equal to men. But if the reader is supposed to have an opened mind on such a radical plot, like an all women civilization, how are they expected to except such stereotypical protagonists? Terry is a hot head and full of himself. He thinks that men are superior and follow different rules than women. Terry represents your classic anti-feminist, “Terry possesses the male dominance personality of women as objects and nonsense like that” (Strasser 2008), what a surprise in a feminist novel. The softy, Jeff, embodies the type of man who idealizes women and worships the very ground they walk. Moreover, Gilman could not resist bridging these two opposing personalities with a perfect middleman; Van. Van is the character that does not have a set in stone opinion, but is "willing to entertain new and even radical ideas" (Strasser 2008). Flawlessly calculated, these characters could not be any better to help carry a plot about women’s equality. What are the odds? Almost mocking the reader’s intelligence by the overwhelmingly obvious choice of character traits, not only did it offend me but also my attitude towards women has remained unchanged. Did Gilman really expect me to become a feminist after this? If you read this I feel it wont have much change on the type of person you are but will make you think how funny it would be if there really was an all women society. If you have enough time to read this book they you should have the time to take this
feminist. test. GOODLUCK!
And don’t be afraid to check out blog buddy Matt Marini’s blog its pretty sweet.

From the Brain of Jake Strasser

This next blog I am going to pretend I am inside the brain of Jake Strasser and write what he thinks about the book. Harry I took care of it, so is your sister, that’s what she said, men should rule the world women stay in the kitchen are immediate thoughts I come into contact with inside Jake’s brain. As I dig deeper towards Jake’s non-egotistical and logical thoughts I come across what he truly thinks about Herland. I think its great and all that over time, the women of Herland developed a peaceful, orderly, highly efficient society in which competition, crime, and antisocial behavior no longer exist. But its ridiculous to expect a society to last so long and be able to remain hidden from the world. How could it be a peaceful society when all women do is get upset and like to cause drama? The term drama queen originated from describing a girl not a guy. Lets be honest it wouldn’t be peaceful girls first things that comes to my mind is pulling hair and screaming. The society also would not be highly efficient. Men made all the most important inventions such as the phone, the car, light bulb, football, beer and video games. I mean I guess maybe a few important ones are made by women but I’m sure a guy would have eventually came up with the vacuum cleaner. And claiming there is no competition between women is pretty ridiculous. Women constantly compete to look the best, have the most friends, and who can cook the best. And to say that men are antisocial is wrong. Men are very social with each other and get along better then girls get along with each other. Us superior guys don’t fight over little stuff like if you wear the same clothes, or who clean the best. Guys get along so much better and barely ever have problems. In conclusion men are needed in a prosperous society. The male sex brings so much more to the table then women there is not a shot that society would still be around after thousands of years. “Women are good and stuff but so is a movie but how many times can you watch the same movie?” is the last thought I hear as I leave the deranged yet strangely eloquent brain of none other than Jake Strasser.
To learn more about what goes on in the brain of Jake Strasser visit his blog.

I read more of the book

I have read a lot more of the book since my last post, the three friends found the all women society, and have started to live and adapt to this new type of civilization. The men are amazed that this utopian society is completely full of women. I think it’s a great read but pretty ridiculous how the women get pregnant like Virgin Mary style. Also I don’t think that women by themselves could run a civilization that could prosper. A huge theme in the story is how women don’t get treated as equally as men. The men’s relationships with Ellador, Celis, and Alima (three women they met) show the difficulties that arise when women want to be considered as equals in a relationship and a society. Terry and Alima fight a lot, while Jeff and Celis cannot understand one another at all. Van is able to relate to Ellador as a human being, not just a woman. It is evident to see that their relationship is the most successful one. Once men and women can see each other as one and the same, the man and the woman together are able to truly understand each other. To get a deeper understanding on women’s rights and how they struggled go this link .

Herland First Post

I have started reading Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The book starts out with three friends, Vandyck Jennings (referred to as Van), Terry Nicholson, and Jeff Margrave, going on a journey to an uncharted area. As their voyage continues they hear some rumors of a bizarre land somewhere in the mountains that is run by women. The friends are interested in these stories so they decide to try to find this civilization. During their search they do find evidence that an advanced society may exist in the mountains. They do not believe that an all female society exists but they are still interested in exploring new land so they decided to find this female country. After reading the synopsis of this book I thought I really wouldn’t enjoy it. Know after I have begun to read the book I realized it is a great book and it’s hard for me to put down.