i hate complaining but..

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 20:11:45 GMT

Isn't that all this journal is good for? I never know what adult content rating to put here...like is swearing adult concept or what? Um it's probably in the terms of service or something v_v

Anyway so my room mates have had friends over the past few days and they've been keeping me awake late... waa...

Other than that....I got the new Utada Hikaru album, Heart Station. It's reaaalllllly good. I love Take 5, it's the best track. I also became obsessed with the song "Blue Moon" by Anna Tsuchiya, I think I listened to that on repeat ALL DAY yesterday.

I hope everyone had a good Easter... Or is having one. It's Sunday so I guess it's still going on... Anyway ahem. I got to see my mom, her fiancee and my lil bro and we went out and I ATE STEAK IT WAS SOOO AWESOME OMGGGGG I also got a SWEET! magazine at Chapters about digital painting and comics... It's called ImagineFX, if you go to their website they have lots of tutorials in .pdf's. My mom also gave me A FUCK LOAD of chocolate and cookies she made. Like, woman I am trying to lose ten pounds but thank you. And she got me a shirt o_O My mom is too nice to me. I didn't get her anything . . .

So yesterday I wrote a book report on Twilight for my Elective course, Reading for Recreation. So I thought I'd post for your browsing pleasure...

Author: Stephenie Meyer
Title: Twilight
Place of Publication: United States of America
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Date of Publication: September 2006
Page Count: 498
Genre: Fantasy
Sub-Genre: Romance
Rating: 5 stars out of 5 *****

Pacing

This novel starts off with the main character, Bella, moving to a new town to live with her father. It’s a big change from her previous home, Phoenix, to the small northern town of Forks, Washington. Therefore, the majority of the first few chapters are in-depth descriptions of Bella’s surroundings. The book is from her point of view so we also get to see the people of Forks, and the nearby reserve, La Push, through her eyes.

As Bella makes friends in Forks the story becomes more dialogue driven and we, as the reader, get more information on Bella’s feelings and opinions. She notices her classmate and lab partner, Edward, is extremely odd and secretive and begins prying into his life. As she learns more and more about his secret the pace of the story picks up and becomes driven by the interaction between Bella and Edward.

The place becomes fastest when the antagonists of the novel are introduced – a group of nomad vampires that pass through Forks and learn the Bella knows about Edward and his coven of “friendly” vampires that live there. The leader of the nomads, James, becomes obsessed with Bella’s relationship with Edward and the desire to drink her blood.

There’s a bit of down time for the reader between action chapters to learn about Bella and her relationship with her father, the legends of La Push, and the history of Edward’s family. This helps chop up the pace of the story, but these chapters are still fun to read and fundamental to character development.

Its chapters are also divvied up pretty fairly between ending in cliffhangers and having a closing to that chapter’s events or theme.

The book seems fairly big upon first glance, but when I began reading I noticed the font is rather large as this book is aimed at high school girls, with double spacing and large margins. Once the pacing in the book picks up I read through it pretty fast.

   The book is not complex at all. Just by reading the plot description on the back will let you know that Edward is a vampire, the mystery that plagues Bella for one third of the book. Even if you didn’t read the plot description, it’s pretty easy to guess what’s going on. The plot description also lets you know that Bella falls irreversibly in love with Edward, the big keystone, which was also pretty predictable. There’s a lot of characters in the book that are all pretty important so sometimes they can be hard to keep track of.

Characterization

Protagonist: Isabella Swan MAIN
             Edward Cullen MAIN

Antagonist: James, Victoria and Laurent, the nomad vampires SECONDARY

Foil: Jessica SECONDARY
         Alice Cullen SECONDARY
Stereotype: Rosaline Cullen SECONDARY
            Charlie Swan SECONDARY

Serial: All the characters in Twilight are present as (respectively) main or secondary characters in Meyer’s books

I’d say that Meyer does a good job of showing the different sides of all her many characters personalities, which is why I didn’t list any flat character types.

First and foremost is our heroine and the point of view from which the story is told; Bella. Bella is a remarkably smart, flies through high school with a natural ease in the majority of her courses. Physically she is described as average all around, average height, build and looks. She’s not particularly attractive and was pretty much a loner in her hometown, Phoenix.

When she moves to Forks, she attracts quite a bit of attention at her new school as she is the new face in town and the chief of police’s daughter. In her first few days of school she notices Edward and his brothers and sisters, who stand out from the rest of the student body as an isolated, unearthly beautiful and talented group. Her new friends explain to Bella that the Cullens don’t easily socialize with the rest of the students. After she is paired with Edward in science, he develops a strong aversion to her. Edward leans away from her and grips the desk until his knuckles are white throughout the length of the their class. But after he saves her life in a car accident, she is intrigued by his secretiveness and irresistible beauty. Bella is really relatable as she is really clumsy, an outcast and has a temper. She tends to blurt out things without thinking about them. She also has divorced parents, an issue many people of my generation (including myself) have to deal with. Since we see her story through her eyes we get a really intimate look at what’s going on and her feelings.

Bella’s dad, Charlie, is a typical dad – he really tries to be there for his daughter but he finds it intimidating and uncomfortable whenever anything really emotional happens. He wishes he could influence her decisions and doesn’t always approve of her boyfriend. Bella’s mom and her boyfriend also appear in the story as minor characters.

The other main character is, of course, Edward Cullen. Described as devastatingly handsome and the youngest son of a rich family. Edward is highly admired by all the girls in their school but has never dated. He is quiet, but his temper flares when something threatens his family or Bella. He can be extremely ferocious. Bella quickly concludes that Edward has such incredible beauty, is extremely fast, intelligent and leaves school for a few days every month because he’s a 100-year-old vampire that feeds with his family in the mountains on wild animals. Edward’s family is actually a coven of vampires, each created by vicious vampires centuries ago. They decide to try and blend into human society by only feeding on animals, and going to school or holding normal human jobs. Every couple centuries they need to relocate to start their façade over again.

When Edward falls in love with Bella, his character definitely softens. He is friendly and tender to other people. He is no longer bitter about his eternity of bloodlust.

Bella’s best friend at school is Jessica, who is the exact opposite of Bella. She is popular, talkative, boy crazy and as girly as one can get. Another foil to Bella is Alice, Edward’s sister. Alice is bubbly, cute and outgoing. She loves social events and throwing parties. Much to Bella’s dismay, Alive loves treating Bella like her personal dress-up doll.

The main antagonists in this story are a group of nomad vampires, James, Victoria and Laurent. We don’t see too much into their characters, except that they are cruel, evil vampires and exact opposite to the Cullen’s. James is the leader of the group and is outspoken and masculine. He basically tries to intimidate Bella and the Cullen’s. Victoria has a fiery red cloud of hair that matches her personality. She is described to have a feline stance and expression. Laurent is the third wheel in their situation and he seems to be tagging along just for the sake of having travel companions. He doesn’t stand out as being particularly evil or malicious.

Story Line

Isabella Swan’s parents divorced when she was a child. She had to spend every summer with her distant father in the small town of Forks. When her mom wants to with her new boyfriend she decides to complete her last two years of high school in Forks instead of burdening her mom and putting pressure on her relationship.

Bella is expecting a dull old time in her new home, but she is unexpectedly drawn to a boy named Edward Cullen, who is inexplicably repulsed by her. Bella’s knack for getting involved in accidents lands her inbetween her own truck and a van sliding out of control on ice one morning before school. A split second before she gets hit, she feels a strong arm grab her and the van about to kill her is thrown into the air and away from her. When she catches her breath, Edward is holding her up and asking her she’s alright. Bella is befuddled as to how Edward made it across the parking lot, and simultaneously lifted her and threw a van. Bella makes an ernest effort to get closer to Edward and slowly starts piecing together his secret. At first Bella is afraid of him, but finds that she can’t stay away from him.

Once Edward and Bella establish a relationship and Bella is introduced to his ‘family’ she starts learning a lot about the vampire world. And how some vampires, when they’re turned, acquire some sort of extra power. The Cullen family was drawn together because of these powers. Carlisle Cullen, the father figure, has learned to master his bloodlust and has been able to continue his passion for being a physician, and passes on this self-discipline to his coven. Emmett can affect people’s emotions by projecting his own. Alice can psychically foresee the future. And Edward can tap into other’s minds and read their thoughts. However, Edward soon confesses that Bella’s mind is the only one he has ever come across that he cannot read.

The Cullen’s are playing softball together when the group of nomad vampires interrupts them. Edward immediately tenses to protect Bella. The leader of the group, James, is obviously offended by the vampires that befriend mortals and makes it his mission to destroy the girl. The Cullen’s make a big fuss to make sure that Bella is constantly protected, which makes her extremely upset, as she hates to be a bother to anyone. The group of nomads refuse to leave forks, and instead of becoming hostile to them they create a Bella Decoy and the real Bella is flown to Phoenix to hide out with half the Cullen’s until the nomads can be convinced to leave Forks. However, James is an expert tracker and follows Bella to Phoenix. Bella would do anything to protect her family and James lures her away from the protection of the Cullen’s by threatening to kill her mother if Bella doesn’t give herself up to him.

Bella is kidnapped by James and brutally beaten and tortured by him. The description is likened to a cat playing with a mouse before eating it. Bella is seriously injured and beginning to black out when James starts to feed on her blood. Edward and his family burst in to save her, just in time.

After Bella recovers, the Cullen’s insist on taking her to her junior prom. The book ends with Edward and Bella having an intimate chat behind the school that night. Bella pleading with Edward that she is ready to become a vampire. Edward is really hesitant, but the last page leaves us hanging with the couple promising forever to each other and Edward pressing his lips into her neck.

Frame

Twilight actually has quite a few tones or motifs. I would say the primary one is Bella’s story of growing up, although in a very unusual situation. It’s relatable to the reader because of her parents divorce, moving to a new school and falling in love for the first time. Twilight also carries a dark undertone, with issue of the Cullen’s eternal damnation. Bella wants to be with Edward and his family forever but Edward doesn’t want her to also have a corrupted soul. The book was also extremely dark when James kidnaps Bella, and the description is pretty explicitly violent and gory.

This story takes place in the present day United States. I liked that Meyer introduced various settings in the book that are varied and interesting. Forks is a small town, which has a remarkably high yearly rainfall and is often covered in clouds during the day. Everyone in Forks knows each other. La Push, the nearby reserve, is a hangout for Bella and her classmates. La Push has a beach and seems like a pretty welcoming place. Another hangout is Port Angeles, a nearby city with shopping centres. However it had a dark shadow as Bella was stalked and harassed by men there. The last setting is Phoenix, a stark contrast to Forks. I think that Phoenix is really symbolic of how Bella’s life changed when she moved. Phoenix is a big city with blistering hot summers, and in Phoenix she was alone. Forks is cool and quiet, and she found Edward there.

I believe this book is aimed at high school girls, as it is about a high school girl and they can relate to her the easiest. But I read this book when I was well out of high school and a lot of my friends who are also in college have read and loved it. I can’t say that it identifies to any other group outside of young women, as it is mostly about vampires.

Summary of Appeal

I really liked this novel for a lot of reasons, which surprised me. When my best friend lent it to me, I was really expecting to hate it. I had a friend in high school that would always recommend to me Anne Rice and Stephen King, which frankly, I found really dry. So I tried to stay away from vampire books. But as I got more and more into the book I just could not put it down. And when I had to work and couldn’t read it, I would be thinking about it. I felt like I was falling in love with Edward as Bella was! I kept kicking myself for loving such a sappy and predictable novel, but I was hooked.

The most appealing part of the book, I can’t stress enough, is how realistic and relatable Bella is. She still gets the beautiful guy, but somehow she is not particularly pretty and she has realistic flaws. She’s self conscious and somewhat plain, but she’s far from boring. She was really refreshing from a lot of fantasy or teen fiction novels, as the heroines are often really pretty, a long lost princess, ridiculously talented, or endowed with some sort of magical power. The rest of the characters aren’t really too relatable, as humans, considering they’re not entirely human, but they’re extraordinary which makes them really interesting.

The pacing is pretty much perfect in Twilight. The opening chapter is dramatic and a look into the climax of the book, when Bella is kidnapped by James. It immediately hooks the reader into the story. I enjoyed how Meyer alternated chapters of action and background information on the characters.

The storyline is pretty predictable, as I’ve said before, since they whole thing is pretty much laid out for you on the back of the book. But I still couldn’t read it fast enough.

I also found the setting really appealing as Forks is a small town and I grew up in the tiny town of Perth. I could see Bella’s classmates in my own high school experience. It helped me understand the dynamic of the relationships between everyone in the town, and how everyone knew each other’s business. I like reading historical novels, but I also like reading about my own time and place. Reading about a modern time period is a different kind of escape then reading about ancient times, for example.

Twilight was really entertaining and completely absorbing. I really related to the main character and the setting, and before I was even done reading it I bought next two books in the series.

Ugh

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 00:45:58 GMT

Holy fuckkkkk worst fucking day ever...

I have failed my last two animation assignments (somehow...seriously don't know how in my final year I suddenly got worse and am failing even though I've spent more time on those animations that I handed in than I ever have anyway I'm going to appeal my marks to another teacher tomorrow)

I pretty much lost it in my teacher's office and started crying. And then cried in class.... I dunno I just get more upset when people try to comfort me and stuff.... ugh... god damn it's so embarassing to have people see me cry. I look like a fucking zombie when I get upset and GOD DAMNIT anyway my life is like ridiculously stressful lately.

And FUCK HAIKUS

#1 Hello

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 18:13:30 GMT

WHY HELLO THERE INTERNETS

I finally decided to start using my livejournal to describe the fascinating details of my life and to also post writings and sketchbook pages. Well... first I should start with a self introduction in case you don't know me. I am a third year traditional animation student at Algonquin College. Therefore I am highly interested in cartoons.

I love cookies, too.

So I wanted to try exercising my writing skills, because they've been pretty much neglected since coming to college. SO I HAVE DECIDED TO WRITE A DAILY HAIKU. In case you forgot fucking elementary school English, a Haiku is a Japanese poem that consists of 3 lines. The first line is 5 syllables and the second is 7 syllables and the third is again, 5 syllables. WOW

I am totally 12 minutes late for my class right now I guess I'll write one later.

edmidt

i hate complaining but..

Ugh

#1 Hello