"Death 9000"

Embarking on a journey that deals with finding one’s “way” implies to “ABANDON ALL HOPE.” Or it could have total different meaning, something like: catharsis. Dante the pilgrim has changed some of his ideas, but we can still see him as the same person. It is important to recall that Dante has two characters, the poet and the pilgrim. Most of his expedition through hell happens to Dante the pilgrim. He is the one travelling with Virgil to every circle of the Inferno. The experiences that Dante lives while being at “… the city of weeping…eternal pain and … the lost people” affect Dante the poet. These effects are exposed when he steps out of the character to talk as the writer directly to the audience. Showing that at certain stages of Inferno, Dante wants to emphasize the importance of an idea he has concluded or an event that has happened.

At the beginning of Date’s journey (the actual path once entering the gates of hell) show his fear or confusion about this place. Virgil tries to encourage him to continue with his course and acts as a voice of wisdom to Dante. This type of actions done by Virgil are shown in Canto III lines 13-15, he is an allegory of knowledge in Inferno. So far we have seen how difficult it is to walk this track, hoping in the place of hopeless. Throughout hell Dante encounters creatures, friends, enemies, sins and punishments among others. He shows how pity can be felt while watching others suffer during the first cantos. And later we see a pilgrim showing that going against God’s will (commandments) should be penalized with a severe punishment. This is the stage in which we can’t define his journey as abandoning hope or a road to find the ideal “way that does not stray.”

Catharsis can be a valid topic depicted in Dante’s expedition throughout the inferno. It could be an allegory of his journey. This is seen by the change we see in both the poet and the pilgrim. We understand how losing our way maybe the only way of finding our path. As to say, how contradictory situations can lead to relief in a longer term. As we can recall: “Those who are subject to the emotions of pity and fear and the feelings generally will necessarily be affected in the same way; and so will other men in exact proportion to their susceptibility to such emotions. All experience a certain purge [catharsis] and pleasant relief. In the same manner cathartic melodies give innocent joy to men.” (Politics VIII: 7; 1341b 35-1342a 8, trans. J. Burnet). This excerpt proves that catharsis is shown in Dante’s behavior. He at the beginning seems confused or repressed because he feels he has lost God and the motive of his existence. As he moves along the rings of hell he realizes others can’t look for forgiveness while he can. He does not feel compassion for the sinners he has is relieved because he knows he will be able to escape from “divine justice.” At the end of chapter XXXIV as he admires the stars of the ceiling he once lost, we see his satisfaction (leaving hell) and his motivation to reach heaven. Through a tough treatment his emotions (fear, disappointment, frustration,) are now gone by understanding there is still hope for his soul.

"Paradise for all"

The Republic of Paradise does not admit questions
Remember to cooperate with the chores
Sin among our inhabitants is not acceptable in our nation

Respect has to prevail among all
No harm to others property or you’ll leave by the back door
Firm rules and harmony above all, Dante’s Inferno we should not recall

No straying in the way, remember to be ashore
Mind open, direction sky
Call upon perfection, conformist existed long before

“An eye for an eye”
Feelings of hate and disgust
So much pain not needed, unnecessary eternal cry

Our society shall live for ever, remain clean and pure without a trace of dust
Wanting the impossible, never looking back
Perfection is our motive and achieve greatness, we must

“The love we share Seems to go nowhere.”- Tainted Love

The “twilight zone” series have a real “horroshow” music theme. As Alex (main character of clockwork orange) I also share a great interest in music. This episode from “twilight zone” is well known for its captivating subject, poetic justice. The beats that are heard at the beginning of the show leave a trance in the spectator. These combination of white and black shapes with music create an indefinite environment. I was being immersed in the “twilight zone”.

The main idea of this episode is having society and fate against human nature and unexpected events. As the clip begins we listen to the description of the setting in which the story takes place. “This is a jungle. A monument built by nature honoring disuse. Commemorating a few years of nature being left to its own devises. But it’s another kind of jungle: the kind that comes on the after math of mans battles against itself.” The woman who appears in the screen is bewildered, she is confused. We are just watching carefully for details, we want to understand the story as it moves along. The place where she is seems destroyed, it’s typical postwar scenography. She decides to enter a building, she is exploring her surroundings. Suddenly as she is looking for food she encounters a man. This moment of the episode is where allegory can be found. They begin to fight, to show their instincts. Society is depicted on the uniforms, gender and situation of a rivalry. The characters barely talk, they seemed doomed and brainwashed. Their behavior is primitive, the man knocks her out and then pours water to awaken her after the quarrel. Finally she regains consciousness again, the woman stares at him while he says “The only reason I can see for our fighting, is that your uniform is a different color than mine.” As mentioned before this encounter is the main idea in which poetic justice revolves around. The man has realized that society (war and uniforms) and fate (survival and destroying the other) are obsolete when it comes to finding another human in times of destruction. As the story continues we see the shift of how “twilight zone” has a clear idea and suddenly alters to end up with a counter unexpected ending. Finally this odd couple walks in harmony with no apparent direction, but the one of “tainted love”. As I recall an excerpt from the song it summarizes this episode “The love we share Seems to go nowhere.”

"Noodles and some other banal stuff"

Luke-god of nothing-Loving noodles: Hey. How are you, Mike?
To the M to I to the K to the E: I’m just right, Luke. I just finished my English homework. What are you doing?
Luke-god of nothing-Loving noodles: Nothing, I was watching TV. Did I tell you what I had for supper?
To the M to I to the K to the E: No, you didn’t mention anything about your dinner.
Luke-god of nothing-Loving noodles: Dude my mom just bought instant noodles. The box contains like colorful noodles hahaha!
To the M to I to the K to the E: Dude that’s sick. I mean why don’t people create such marvelous inventions before?
Luke-god of nothing-Loving noodles: Don’t really know bro. Don’t bother thinking about it. You should rather tell me about your date with Shirley.
To the M to I to the K to the E: Dude totally forgot about that. Well, we were just chillin and we began, you know, making out. So her dad came in…
Luke-god of nothing-Loving noodles: And he saw you? Now you are totally screwed bro!
To the M to I to the K to the E: Wait, its not what you think it is, its even worst.
Luke-god of nothing-Loving noodles: He kicked you out of the house or what?
To the M to I to the K to the E: Haha I wished… Well it happen to be that her dad is blind and she didn’t care he was present. She kept on kissing me, it was so awkward.
Luke-god of nothing-Loving noodles: Hey dude your story is crazy, I mean what an experience. Hey bro mom is telling me to go do my chores. Bye!
To the M to I to the K to the E: Take care bro, see you tomorrow at school.

"Go Blog Yourself!"

This blog or article that Sarah Boxer wrote tries to capture the evolution and importance of blogging. Blogging is a new concept that “for those who don't know, is a journal or log that appears on a Web site. It is written on line, read on line, and updated on line.” With this definition we can enter our journey to understand what seems to be a new writing genre. It is like discussing “neoliberal” economies or “free trade”, these are concepts that have gained popular appeal in the past decades. In this case, blogging has suffered a very fast evolution. “At the beginning of 1999 there were a few dozen blogs, Blood reports. By the end of the year there were thousands, and it was impossible for anyone to keep up. At the end of 2003 there were two million blogs and the number was doubling every five months. In early 2006 Technorati, a search engine that tracks blogs, counted 27 million. In late 2007, the count passed 100 million.” It is shocking to read these facts, and we wonder “how blogs increased at this rate and why?” When we arrive to this question we have “linked” ourselves to blogging itself. The information written on blogs is vast; it ranges from a taboo such as sex to an essay from a scholar regarding classic literature.

Blogs are a source of information that interest everyone, are fast, are available (just need internet) and can relate topics in a progressive manner. You can begin reading a blog about the Iraq war. After a while you decide to look up for the definition of war (Wikipedia). Then probably you will find its etymology. As you read “etymology” you wonder what it means. So you decide to do some further investigation, you click on it. While you “surf” through the definition of the word etymology you find a link to the word “Portuguese.” Click on it, it eventually will transport you to another world of knowledge. So now you scroll down this window and at the bottom you will see the word “Pimba.” Then by just clicking on it you have now entered “a Portuguese depreciatory term used for qualifying a variety of popular Portuguese folk solo singers and bands whose songs are frequently driven by metaphors with sexual meanings.” You decide to continue reading until you find the word “Shakira”, and eventually click on it. Now you have found yourself reading about a “singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, dancer and philanthropist who emerged as a musical prodigy in the music scene of Latin America in the early 1990s. Born and raised in Barranquilla, Colombia, Shakira revealed many of her talents in school as a live performer, demonstrating her vocal ability with rock and roll, Latin and Middle Eastern influences with her own original twist on belly dancing.” Keep going down until you find the subtitle “2008-present: She Wolf and forthcoming Spanish album.” Swift your eyes through this paragraph and find the words “She wolf”. Clicking on them will reach out a window with different meanings of these words. Click on the last one, “a female wolf”. Continue searching in the subtitle “Physical and behavioral differences”, find the word xenophobic. So let’s stop our journey at this point, we can realize that with seven reference points we have read from the Iraq war to xenophobia. This is a clear example of the variety of topics we can investigate once we read a blog. Blogs provide the audience infinite possibilities of searching, either directing you to another blog or to a webpage. Some contain comments that incite the reader to explore more about a subject, they create an interest in the public. With this simple clicking expedition we have found the essence of blogging. “Go blog yourself.”