Mr_Shank

This book is truly mind blowing.  What I mean by this is that it has so much excitement, and is almost portrayed as a mystery.  I would like to discuss a couple of concepts from the story; such as Denn and his problem, Cattie and her problem, and how Jimbo is portrayed.  Also, we have to discuss the game and how it is played as well as how old  Jimbo really is.

Denn, to me, seems as a very intelligent looking man.  However,in the story  we learn he is only seventeen, a drop-out, and addicted to gambling.  What is your first reaction of him?  Mine was that this guy is totally a a fake trying to be somebody he is not.  I mean no offense to anybody, but he wears baby sunglasses, a jump suit, and probably does not even have a full beard.  He is definitely seen as a kidthrough the narrator’s point of view, and the adult charcters can see this too.  So, all the other Poker players do is try to swindel his money throughout the game.  I also think Denn is a very good observe. I know all poker players have good observation skills, but he knows everything.  It is a shame because if he went to college, maybe he could manage his money better.  Also, I want to discuss how he is losing all his money.  Pete relates Denn’s situation to a fold, raise, or call as a major problem for him.  He does this because poker is like life, as anything can happen, so you choose the best option for yourself.  What do you guys think of the situation he is going through?  I truly think he won’t stop gambling.  He has a passion for the game, and I think he wants revenge on Frisk and Morty for their scheme to try to ruin him.  Do you guys think he will stay and get revenge?

Next let’s talk about Cattie.  She is a non-intelligent girl who is very mean since she was born.  She is almost like a “player”.  Whatever she can do to get money, she does.  What I don’t understand is what Denn did to her to make her want to set him up him.  What do you think he did to casue this?  I think that he either abandoned her, or she just needs money.  I am really leaning towards the money one because in the story she is said to be untrustworthy and greedy.  So, I think it is more of her trying to get money than getting revenge on  Denn.  Also, I want to ask  what  your thoughts are on them getting back together in the book?  It seems that he does love her, but in Poker does love exist?  I think that Cattie and Denn will team up and begin to fall in love again.  I say this because a lot of the book so far is taken up by him thinking of his past with her.

Then we have Jimbo.  He is a poker player who is pretty old, and was in the World Poker tour.  What age do you think he is around?  I feel he cannot be in his 40’s because that is too old to be gamblingdue to his techniques at the table not being a secret anymore.  I think he is in the late 30’s.  Also, I feel that he wants to mentor Denn, because he is so intrigued by his skills at such a young age.  Therefore, I think that they both will become a team and run the game of Poker into a new era.   Do you get the feeling that Jimbo is narrating the whole thing?  I do because the narrator, from the beginning, describes Denn with interest at a Poker table.  Then I get this because as you follow the thoughts of possibly Jimbo because they are the same as when the story started.  So, do you guys think that he would be a good role model to Denn?  I say no, because Denn needs to not blow his money, which is what Jimbo had done in his past.  Soon, he won’t have a single penny, and Jimbo says that he has lived his whole life like that.  This is not good, but I want to find out what will happen next in this financial crisis.

Some other key things I would like to point out is the game of Poker.  We have to realize that some people live life by this profession, and things can get out of hand.  What I mean by this is with money.  People will cheat, and do whatever it takes to win.  Also, we have to know that there is luck involved.  Denn may know all the tales about everybody, but some of the game is how the “cards fall”.  So, he is running his life on the flip of a card.  This is not right and I thinkit is very wrong that people gamble their life on chance.  What do you guys think?  In addition, I would like to add that the title is “All-in,” so when do you guys think it will happen?  I think that there will be a build up through the narrator, and it will happen, as he is playing Morty and Frisk either in a championship, or at a huge club.  It will be a no-limits game.

The last thing I would like to say is that we have to watch the development of Denn, and we have to find out how he could beat the odds after being set-up.  Also, I would like to add the language being presented here is unique.  This is shown by “how foxy a lady,” and “my crib,” are being used by Jimbo.  This story is written for a teen age audience, I feel. As it uses words that teenage kids can relate to.  It seems that the language used by the author brings humor to the story, because he uses two different eras with his choice of words, phrases, and also how he is so old saying them.

-Alex

P.S.  Keep blogging there is a lot to blog about so far!

As we can see after reading the first part of this book, it has a very similar feel to “War of the Worlds”. What I mean by this is that it should be pretty obvious how these two books are very similar in the way that they were written. Ok, I just wanted to fill everyone else in on that and now I will get to the actual topic my given posistion requires.

First off I would like to ask everyone what they think of the time traveller’s theory so far. Do you, much like Filby brush it off to the side as complete rubbish, or do you keep your mind open and accept him for his true genious. His whole proposal of the world that we know having four dimensions instead of three is very intriguing whether or not you truly believe him and that fact must be acknowledged. And even if you do not truly believe what the time traveller had said, you must take into consideration the amount of hard work and thinking time he had put into this. So the question arises; do you think that the time traveller is the real deal, or is he just a magician of time?

The second topic that I would like to touch upon would be the topic that the narrator had been talking about at the beginning of the second chapter. That topic was that the people at the time traveller’s meeting had not completely trusted what he had said due to the fact that he thought on a higher level than them. And since he was on a higher track of thinking it was impossible to tell whether or not the time traveller was serious or if he was just toying with people of smaller intelligence. So then my next question arises; do you think that the reason why they didn’t trust the time traveller is due to the fact that people who are more relatable to one’s self are more quickly to be trusted?

Thank you very much in advance for commenting on my rambling post.

         So far we have the narrator going to the time traveler’s house every Thursday talking about time travel. This Thursday the time traveler actually time travelled. What I thought of when I read about his future world was the story A Wrinkle in Time. The time traveler is talking about how perfect everything is and how it is so peaceful in the future. The same happens in A Wrinkle in Time. They go off and discover this wonderful world were everything is perfect.

         In the Time Machine the time traveler starts talking about how things might have fallen apart and how things probably are not perfect here. Things were not perfect in the world in A Wrinkle in Time. It was all a trick and The brain tried to kill the main characters.

         So my question is, is the world really peaceful and happy in the future or is it really a trick and will the “people” try to kill the time traveler? If so do you think the time traveler step up and be a hero and “fix” the future or will he coast along and just observe this world. Be creative

-Taran

In this first section i am going to look at the protaganist John Grady Cole.  The book starts out with John arriving at his grandfather’s funeral.  He is very shook up by this because he lives on his grandfather’s ranch and knows that his mother doesn’t want it.  he loves the ranch and wants to take it over but she won’t here of it.  Grady’s parents are divorced and they had stayed together for a while just because of John.  Now John Grady was only 16 years old when all of this happened and his mother was in a play.  he went to San Antonio from San Angelo to see her.  After the performance John sees how distant he is from her.

My question for you is why do you think that John Grady wanted to run the ranch so badly as a 16 year old teenager and not be able to live his life a little before sttling down?  And do you think that his idea to run away from home was a good idea why or why not?

-Kody

“He stood and touched the brim of his hat and turned and went on up the street.  He didn’t look back but he could see her in the windows of the Federal Building across the street standing there and she was still there when he reached the corner and stepped out of the glass forever.”

This is the last scene of John Grady Cole before he departs towards Mexico with his friend Lacey Rawlins.  I think that it gives a good view of the kind of person he is; we already know from the conversations he has had so far that he is quiet, unsociable, and almost emotionless.  This is a perfect example of his personality.  He is talking to his ex-girlfriend Mary Catherine Barnett before his departure.  Their conversation sounds awkward and a little forced, but so do most of them at this point.  As he turns around and leaves, he does not look back and shows no sadness or regret whatsoever as he leaves.  I think that this is an important scene because it reminds me of a cowboy walking away into the sunset and leaving everything behind, which seems to be a major theme in this story.

“This is how it was with the old waddies, aint it?”

“Yeah”

“How long do you think you’d like to stay here?”

“About a hundred years.  Go to sleep”

This short exerpt from a conversation between John Grady and Rawlins reveals more about the protagonist, as well.  First of all, it expands on his emotionless attitude and dislike for discussing things about himself.  It is also one of the many examples of his love for being a cowboy, or a “waddie”, as Rawlins puts it.  He enjoys the sound of cattle, the open country, and sleeping under the stars.  If you had to describe a cowboy, John Grady would fit the description perfectly.  However, the year in the novel is 1950 and cowboys are beginning to have a much less important role in western culture.  Grady does not want to accept this and so he decides to travel south where he can continue to experience this lifestyle.  So it seems that the plot of the novel is him trying to persue being a cowboy.  Considering this, what is your prediction of his success?  Do you think John Grady will find his dream and live the life of a cowboy, herding cattle and traveling the western land on horseback, or do you think that his real triumph will end up being something he gains along the way, such as a certain wisdom or perhaps love?  Finally, which do you think is more important; reaching your dreams, or what you gain along the way? What do you think John Grady’s opinion is?

P.S.

I would like to inform a certain english teacher of mine about the absolute and unreasonable due date set on these blogs.  I am a busy, dedicated person who has many many things to do on friday nights.  I am involved in the very prestigous and tiring sport of track and field here at Cedar Crest High School, and when i return home from a hard practice at 7 O’clock at night, i do not enjoy having the responsibility upon my shoulders of posting a blog by friday night instead of the convenient time of saturday morning.  Please be aware that this is not a complaint, but a simple recomendation.  Perhaps if you extended the due date of these posting to their standard time of saturday at noon, you would see a vast improvement in their quality.  This is a proposition that i would like you to seriously consider.

Sincerely, Shaun H. Ditzler

Sofar we have read about 2 main characters: Colonel Behrani and Kathy Nicolo.

Colonel Behrani: He was a once wealthy man, who is now nearly broke. He works two jobs, one as a freeway clean up worker, and another working in a convenient store. Even though he has little money, him, his wife, and his son still live in an upper class type house, just to keep up their appearance. He is not worried about his daughter because she is married into a good family. One day he takes off of work to go to a house action he saw in the paper. He goes prepared with a check to buy the house. Heout bids the other person at the auction and gets the house. When he goes home he tries to tell his wife about the hosue , but she doesn’t  want to listen to him. It seems like their relationship is a bit tense. He tells his son about the house, but he doesn’t seemed that happy either. He would rather stay there. After buying the house Behrani quits his job on the freeway.

Kathy Nicolo: So far we have learned that he husband has left her, and she is being evicted from her home. She inherited that house from her father, who has passes away. The house was already paid for, and she legally owned it, but the county officials are evicting her saying that she hasn’t been paying taxes from a home business. The thing is that her and her husband never had a home business, and she has already gone in and signed a paper stating that. She has also been throwing away mail from the county officials. In these letters it was telling her that her house was going up for auction. Now she is staying at a motel, and she has a lawyer who is trying to get her house back for her.

So far we have learned about these two people, but why they are both in this one story was unclear at first, until we learn that the house that the colonel bought is the house that Kathy got evicted from. Now this could happen to anyone, but the colonel did want to move into a more modest home until their financial state was secure.

Do you think that in anyway the colonel could have planned for Kathy to be evicted from her home so him and his family could move in?

Do you think that it is a coincidence that Kathy got evicted around the time when the colonel wanted to find a more reasonable home?

Do you think that the county’s choice was a fair choice to evict Kathy fro  her home?

Do you think that even with the colonel’s financial situation he should worry about what other people think of him, because it says that on his way home from the freeway cleanup he has to duck down so people from his building will not see him?

Okay this is gonna be pretty short because we only read 2 chapters.

Chapter 1:

In this chapter we meet the narrator, who is a man named Nick Carraway. He starts out by describing himself, saying that he is very moral and tries not to judge people. Nick has just moved to West Egg, one of the richest parts of New York. Gatsby, the hero of the story, lives right next door to Nick, who has lots of connections in East Egg. This is the more social of the Eggs. Nick goes to East Egg to have an awkward dinner with his cousin Daisy and her husband Tom. Daisy’s friend Jordan is there and Daisy and Tom hint that they want Nick to like her.

Chapter 2:

In this chapter Tom and Nick are riding a train into the city and they cross the valley where New York’s ashes are dumped. Tom makes Nick get out at one of the stops and the two go to George Wilson’s house. George is the husband of Myrtle, the woman Tom is having an affair with. The men take Myrtle with them on the train and then the three go to a party in the city. The people there are drinking heavily and are very obnoxious. Nick doesn’t like it and wants to leave. Myrtle grows increasingly obnoxious and starts talking about Tom’s wife, ignoring his warnings to stop. Tom ends up breaking her nose and abruptly ending the party.

Words:

Levity-This means lack of seriousness, or being lighthearted.

Privy- When you participate in something secret.

Pathfinder- This is an original settler.

-Alyssa![:

Through out this book I will follow Daisy and see how she changes through out the story.  Just a reminder that we only read the first two chapters and Daisy was only in the first chapter so this post may be short.

So far we know that Daisy is Nick’s (who is the narrator and also lives next to Jay Gatsby) cousin.  She is married to Tom Buchanan and lives in New York.  We also know that there is the rumor of her husband having another woman on the side.  Yet Daisy doesn’t seem to be upset about this.  We can tell by this chapter that Daisy is very independent.  She doesn’t let things upset her such as the rumor of her husband having and affair.  She seems well educated and also by her description she is beautiful.  My question for this week is:  What is your first impression of Daisy?  Do you like or dislike her, why or why not?  As a prediction do you think Daisy will change through out the story and if so how?  Enjoy!

~Lauren Gress~

Anil had a had a very different kind of life growing up. She was treated very strictly and had a regimented lifestyle. Even as an adult she seems cold and unmotivated.

So why is it that when she realized that the one body she found was murdered was she so intent on bringing the killer to justice?

Also, why is Anil so suspicious of Sarath?

He seems like he only wants to help her and hasn’t given her a reason to not trust him.
Adam Elizabeth Higgins Berkshire Lough

P.S. I wrote this blog after I came home from a long day of work and after a school sport and before i had to participate in the very time consuming and preplanned activities of my Friday night. Therefore i propose that the blogging dates should go until Saturday morning, there is hardly anything planned on then and they were much easier to do.  Thank you for your consideration.

Adam Lough

Edit-

Guys-still Tag your posts ROTN so that they are easier to find. Brian will tag everyone’s this time.

            First off, I want to say that I had my doubts (and still do, to an extent) about reading the book Dracula. I will stop complaining to you Brandon, at least refraining from complaining about this book. Other matters…I make no promises…

            Well, Bram Stoker is a very proficient writer, making well rounded characters and going into detail about the settings and other such things. I, as was written, am the illuminator for this little “excursion” of Dracula’s meanings. I found a passage on pages thirteen and fourteen, a very interesting paragraph. It reads as follows:

All at once the wolves began to howl as though the moonlight had had some particular effect on them. the horses jumped about and reared, and looked helplessly round with eyes that rolled in a way painful to see; but the living ring of terror encompassed them on every side; and they had the perforce to remain within it. I called to the coachman to come, for it seemed to me that our only chance was to try to break out through the ring and to aid his approach. I shouted and beat the side of the calèche, hoping by the noise to scare the wolves from that side, so as the give him a chance of reaching the trap. How he came there, I know not, but I heard his voice raised in a tone of imperious command, and looking towards the sound, saw his stand in the roadway. As he swept his long arms, as though brushing aside some impalpable obstacle, the wolves fell back and back farther still. Just then a heavy cloud passed across the face of the moon, so that we were again in darkness.

            I found this passage important because it is foreshadowing the coachman’s master, Dracula. It is relating him to the wolves and darkness, also managing to intertwine them to all of the superstition that Jonathan Harker has heard of. Why do you think that the coachman has power over the wolves? Do you think that Harker really did dream this? If the wolves are under Dracula’s power, why did he send them/ allow them to go after his guest and coach?

There’s my blog!

-Jenni Kantor