Thursday, May 10, 2007
Acting Ideas
I would like to be apart of the scene where Lysander and Demetrius are under the nector's powers which make them fall in love with Helena. I would especially like to do the part where Lysander and Demetrius are fighting over Helena. Either Lysander or Demetrius are fine but I would prefer to not be a girl. I like this scene because it is pretty dramatic and I also find it a little funny.
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Flatworld Project Reflection
1. What did you like best about the project and why?
The part of the project I enjoyed the best was how easily we were able to share our stories with one another. In previous English classes I have been apart of, we only shared our work through hard copies. Because we could only see our peer's work in class, we could only read a few different stories. But in this class, with the flatworld, we were able to share work online. By having our stories online we could access them anytime, even at home. Because of this we could see the stories of so many people, even stories from other countries. Because the stories were so easy to access, it also made it easy to edit. I was really impressed and valued how we were able to get our stories edited by so many people.
Another thing that I really liked were the podcasts. Creating the podcasts was a new skill for everyone and they were very easy to do. They were also extremely effective for expressing our story. By listening to the podcasts we get a better idea of how the story was intended to be heard.
2. What did you like least and why?
One thing I didn't like about this project was the small yet abundant complications. What I mean by this was that there were many different things that were slightly problamatic, but because they happened so often they became a big problem. One of these problems was how nearly everyone was unclear of what to do. The different countries seemed to have different schedules. I was constantly confused of deadlines. Another problem I encountered was how I didn't recieve feedback from everyone. The project would have been much more effective if everyone was responsible enough to edit each others paper on time. I know that many of these problems could not be helped. I also realize that this is the first time anyone has ever done a project like this, so of course there are going to be complications. So I hope that in the future these problems can be fixed so this project can reach its full potential of helping students.
3. What was something surprising that you learned about the other students (from other schools)?
One thing that I learned about other schools was honestly, how the skills of Punahou students seemed to surpass those of other schools. I was also surprised when reading stories by how their cultures and issues are very similar to ours. For example, the kids in South Korea have the seem to have the same values, talk the same and even listen to the same music and watch the same television shows as we students in Hawaii do. Also we shared many of the same types of experiences dealing with things such as school, family, war, etc.
4. How do you think the project affected your writing?
Honestly, I do not think this project helped my writing much. Of course my writing skills improved slightly but I don't think they improved too much relative to the time we spent on the project. I think we spent around six weeks on the project, but I think I could have improved the same amount through a regular writing project that would only take around one week. One of the reasons this project wasn't very effective was the feedback. Although we recieved feedback from many different people, it wasn't very helpful. We were given a format for the feedback that everyone used, and because of this all the feedback was pretty much the same. The format also limited the advice we could give.
5. Describe the most challenging aspect of the project.
The most challenging aspect of the project for me was generating the basic plot of my story. It actually took me days to think of my initial idea to build off of. I chose to write about something I experienced but I had to think of many different twists to extend the story and make it more interesting.
6. Offer some advice to future participants.
I would advise future participants to keep up with the deadlines, whether it be giving feedback or revising. Giving feedback is very important to finish in time becuase other students are depending on you and waiting for you to help them. Also, it is important for you to finish revising in time so you won't fall behind. I would also advise to take a lot of time of creating your initial idea. You will be writing a story about it for a very long time so make sure you like your idea and it is something that is interesting and something you can write a lot about.
7. Other Comments
I think this project has a ton of potential. The idea is fantastic but some complications need to be fixed. One suggestion I have is to get rid of the feedback formats. I think it would be better to just give a main subject to focus on each week but allow students to have the freedom to assist the writer with anything. I also think that the project could be shortened. It seemed that a week or two could have been cut. The deadlines for revisions and editing could be shortened to do this; they only take one night...
The part of the project I enjoyed the best was how easily we were able to share our stories with one another. In previous English classes I have been apart of, we only shared our work through hard copies. Because we could only see our peer's work in class, we could only read a few different stories. But in this class, with the flatworld, we were able to share work online. By having our stories online we could access them anytime, even at home. Because of this we could see the stories of so many people, even stories from other countries. Because the stories were so easy to access, it also made it easy to edit. I was really impressed and valued how we were able to get our stories edited by so many people.
Another thing that I really liked were the podcasts. Creating the podcasts was a new skill for everyone and they were very easy to do. They were also extremely effective for expressing our story. By listening to the podcasts we get a better idea of how the story was intended to be heard.
2. What did you like least and why?
One thing I didn't like about this project was the small yet abundant complications. What I mean by this was that there were many different things that were slightly problamatic, but because they happened so often they became a big problem. One of these problems was how nearly everyone was unclear of what to do. The different countries seemed to have different schedules. I was constantly confused of deadlines. Another problem I encountered was how I didn't recieve feedback from everyone. The project would have been much more effective if everyone was responsible enough to edit each others paper on time. I know that many of these problems could not be helped. I also realize that this is the first time anyone has ever done a project like this, so of course there are going to be complications. So I hope that in the future these problems can be fixed so this project can reach its full potential of helping students.
3. What was something surprising that you learned about the other students (from other schools)?
One thing that I learned about other schools was honestly, how the skills of Punahou students seemed to surpass those of other schools. I was also surprised when reading stories by how their cultures and issues are very similar to ours. For example, the kids in South Korea have the seem to have the same values, talk the same and even listen to the same music and watch the same television shows as we students in Hawaii do. Also we shared many of the same types of experiences dealing with things such as school, family, war, etc.
4. How do you think the project affected your writing?
Honestly, I do not think this project helped my writing much. Of course my writing skills improved slightly but I don't think they improved too much relative to the time we spent on the project. I think we spent around six weeks on the project, but I think I could have improved the same amount through a regular writing project that would only take around one week. One of the reasons this project wasn't very effective was the feedback. Although we recieved feedback from many different people, it wasn't very helpful. We were given a format for the feedback that everyone used, and because of this all the feedback was pretty much the same. The format also limited the advice we could give.
5. Describe the most challenging aspect of the project.
The most challenging aspect of the project for me was generating the basic plot of my story. It actually took me days to think of my initial idea to build off of. I chose to write about something I experienced but I had to think of many different twists to extend the story and make it more interesting.
6. Offer some advice to future participants.
I would advise future participants to keep up with the deadlines, whether it be giving feedback or revising. Giving feedback is very important to finish in time becuase other students are depending on you and waiting for you to help them. Also, it is important for you to finish revising in time so you won't fall behind. I would also advise to take a lot of time of creating your initial idea. You will be writing a story about it for a very long time so make sure you like your idea and it is something that is interesting and something you can write a lot about.
7. Other Comments
I think this project has a ton of potential. The idea is fantastic but some complications need to be fixed. One suggestion I have is to get rid of the feedback formats. I think it would be better to just give a main subject to focus on each week but allow students to have the freedom to assist the writer with anything. I also think that the project could be shortened. It seemed that a week or two could have been cut. The deadlines for revisions and editing could be shortened to do this; they only take one night...
Second Character Analysis of Helena
After reading the second act of A Midsummer Night's Dream, my views towards the character are the same. In this part of the book Helena is still in love with Demetrius and still has very low self-confidence. Helena's love for Demetrius is shown very well in this act of the book. Helena follows demetrius into the woods where he then tells her that he does not love her. But although Helena knows she has no chance with Demetrius, she continue to pursue him. THis shows how much Helena loves Demetrius; she is pursueing a man she has no possible chance just to be in his company.
In act II we also get a glimpse of the condition of Helena's friendship with Hermia. In the previous act, I thought that Helena may have told Demetrius of Hermia and Lysanders marriage plan partly out of jealously. But in this act, Lysander is given a nector which makes him fall in love with Helena. Helena could have easily returned Lysanders affection to get back at Hermia. But instead Helena tried to convince Lysander that he is actually in love with Hermia. This shows that she in fact does is not jealous and actually values her friendship. I believe that the sole reason she told Demetrius of Hermia's plan because she was driven by her love for Demetrius.
Another characteristic we see in this act is her low self-esteem. When Demetrius fell in love with her due to the nector she thought that he was mocking her. THis shows how low she thinks of herself. When someone actually thinks positively of her she doesn't believe it and thinks her is teasing her.Another area we see her low self-esteem is when she compares her looks to a bear. This shows how she still feels that she is ugly and far worse than Hermia. THis is of course due to the fact that the love of her life, Demetrius, loves Hermia.
In act II we also get a glimpse of the condition of Helena's friendship with Hermia. In the previous act, I thought that Helena may have told Demetrius of Hermia and Lysanders marriage plan partly out of jealously. But in this act, Lysander is given a nector which makes him fall in love with Helena. Helena could have easily returned Lysanders affection to get back at Hermia. But instead Helena tried to convince Lysander that he is actually in love with Hermia. This shows that she in fact does is not jealous and actually values her friendship. I believe that the sole reason she told Demetrius of Hermia's plan because she was driven by her love for Demetrius.
Another characteristic we see in this act is her low self-esteem. When Demetrius fell in love with her due to the nector she thought that he was mocking her. THis shows how low she thinks of herself. When someone actually thinks positively of her she doesn't believe it and thinks her is teasing her.Another area we see her low self-esteem is when she compares her looks to a bear. This shows how she still feels that she is ugly and far worse than Hermia. THis is of course due to the fact that the love of her life, Demetrius, loves Hermia.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
A Midsummer Night's Dream:Character Analysis of Helena
Just in the first two scenes of the book A Midsummer Night's Dream we have met many different characters. One character that especially interested me was Helena. In the story Helena is in love with a man named Demetrius. Demetrius previously loved Helena as well and gave her an oath of love. But now Demetrius loves Helena's friend Hermia. Unfortunately, Hermia does not return Demetrius' love, and instead loves a man named Lysander. Hermia and Lysander are planning to get secretely married. Hermia has told Helena her plan of marriage. Helena was supposed to keep this information a secret but she decides to tell Demetrius about Hermia's plan in order to win his affection.
From what I have read so far, I can interpret many different things about Helena's looks and personality. First of all, from the text I have found that Helena is just as fair as Hermia; they are both very beautiful. But Helena feels that Hermia is more beautiful than she is. I believe that she may feel this way because she can think of no other reason for Demetrius to love Hermia more than her. This conflict shows how Helena can be jealous. Also, Demetrius loving Hermia has made Helena lose her self-confidence. Helena seems to always be very depressed and feeling sorry for herself. Another way Demetrius may have altered Helena's personality is by breaking his oath. Before Demetrius loved Hermia, he promised his love to Helena. I can imagine that this must be very hard for Helena. Because of this I can assume she has lost some of her trust in others. But Helena can also not be so trustworthy. This is shown when Hermia tells Helena her plan to marry Lysander. Knowing that if she got caught she could get killed, Hermia still put her trust in Helena. Unfortunately, Helena wasn't as trustworthy as Hermia thought. Helena told Demetrius of Hermia's plan maybe due to jealousy but probably mostly to win Demetrius' love. Either Helena is not a very trustworthy person or she is tremendously in love with Demetrius, enough for her to backstab and risk her friend's life for him.
From what I have interpreted from the book I believe that the actor who plays Helena should be very pretty. Equal in looks to that of Hermia. But I think that the person who plays Helena should have bags under their eyes because Helena lives a very sad life and therefore likely cries a lot. I feel the actor should speak in a soft voice, for she is not confident in herself so she would be timid. Also she may not talk loud because she doesn't have much trust in people. The actor of Helena could also act very mad around Hermia due to her jealousy, maybe give her the stink eye. And finally, Helena should be in love with Demetrius. Her eyes should light up in his presence and she shouldn't take her eyes off him.
From what I have read so far, I can interpret many different things about Helena's looks and personality. First of all, from the text I have found that Helena is just as fair as Hermia; they are both very beautiful. But Helena feels that Hermia is more beautiful than she is. I believe that she may feel this way because she can think of no other reason for Demetrius to love Hermia more than her. This conflict shows how Helena can be jealous. Also, Demetrius loving Hermia has made Helena lose her self-confidence. Helena seems to always be very depressed and feeling sorry for herself. Another way Demetrius may have altered Helena's personality is by breaking his oath. Before Demetrius loved Hermia, he promised his love to Helena. I can imagine that this must be very hard for Helena. Because of this I can assume she has lost some of her trust in others. But Helena can also not be so trustworthy. This is shown when Hermia tells Helena her plan to marry Lysander. Knowing that if she got caught she could get killed, Hermia still put her trust in Helena. Unfortunately, Helena wasn't as trustworthy as Hermia thought. Helena told Demetrius of Hermia's plan maybe due to jealousy but probably mostly to win Demetrius' love. Either Helena is not a very trustworthy person or she is tremendously in love with Demetrius, enough for her to backstab and risk her friend's life for him.
From what I have interpreted from the book I believe that the actor who plays Helena should be very pretty. Equal in looks to that of Hermia. But I think that the person who plays Helena should have bags under their eyes because Helena lives a very sad life and therefore likely cries a lot. I feel the actor should speak in a soft voice, for she is not confident in herself so she would be timid. Also she may not talk loud because she doesn't have much trust in people. The actor of Helena could also act very mad around Hermia due to her jealousy, maybe give her the stink eye. And finally, Helena should be in love with Demetrius. Her eyes should light up in his presence and she shouldn't take her eyes off him.
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