Alex Kippenbrock

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Watch and Learn

Monday, December 5, 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRps78mdzzE

I choose "When You Were Young" by The Killers for an embedded song that describes The Great Gatsby, and this song describes the book flawlessly. It actually really excites me that I found a song that matches so closely to the novel. The specific part of The Great Gatsby that The Killers sing about is Gatsby dreaming about the progression of Daisy and his love. Gatsby tells Nick Carraway the story of his first and only love. It is a beautiful story, and Gatsby shows that he has nearly lived his entire life trying to find and win back Daisy. I can imagine the music video staring Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan. I can't type fast enough to get all my ideas down.

The way I pieced together the song and the book is that Gatsby and Daisy were in love when they were young, but they grew up and have different lives. Well Daisy has a different life. Gatsby sort of stalks Daisy. The song talks about the memories of being young and how you imagine things differently. Gatsby does this all the time. Throughout the song I imagine Daisy sitting on a stool while Tom stands by a corner in deep thought. They are both unhappy and they now it. Gatsby then rolls by the Buchanans house in his expensive yellow car and both he and Daisy look up. Right now I'm still really excited and suspect that The Killers wrote this song about Gatsby's and Daisy's love. Maybe I'm just imagining things(It's 12:24p.m.) ,but I will never be able to listen to this song again without The Great Gatsby music video rolling through my head.

Frivolously Grasping At The Themes Of The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Time period

Their are tons of underlining themes and symbols in the book.

Jay Gatsby: Story is centered around him.

Nick Carraway: Narrator, young man, Gatsby's neighbor.

Characters are seeking the American dream.

Gatsby is the 1%.

Adultery is just a part of life

West Egg and East Egg are the two cities. Both symbolize money.

West Egg: New money, rowdy

East Egg: Money that has been passed down, old money, aristocrats.

The color yellow: Shows corruptness, the color of Gatsby's car.

The color white: stands for purity, worn to cover up immoral behaviors.

The color Green: Hope, the light across the harbor that Gatsby dreams about.

Gatsby lives in the past, Reality cannot replace his dreams.

Gatsby throws extravagant parties, show of wealth
.

Gatsby makes his money from undercover business.

Blog Observations

Brandon Blewett:

Well Brandon, we are reading the same book! I personally felt the same way about how the first quarter went. I felt I tried hard, I even thought I did well, but it is apparent from my letter grade that I did worse than I thought. However, like you, I also feel that my second quarter blog will be much better. Some comments after reading this post is it is obvious you worked really hard to make sure every grammar point is perfect. I don't have any negative feedback to give to you at this time. If you keep writing like this then you should not be worried at all about receiving an A. In the future we should get together and talk about the themes and symbols that are portrayed in The Great Gatsby. Hope this was helpful.

Jack Bryant:

Uhh Ohh Jack. It's late 2nd quarter and you are behind in your blogs! I have the same feelings about the whole idea of blogging as you do. I did some things right, which made blogging enjoyable, but many of the entries were bad. The main instance, and the reason my blog grade fell, is because of you Jack! (No sarcasm). You tried to film me for my Vlog, but your Droid Incredible can only save 2 seconds of recording... not very incredible. I don’t have any negative feedback for you, and if you keep up the hard work you will defiantly receive the A that you so badly need… Well, I read Ship Breaker first quarter so if you have any questions don't be afraid to talk to me about the book. Yea and don’t forget to keep your talons sharp. Peace!

Abbie Weil:

(Jellyfish) Hey Abbie! I liked your blog, and I agreed with a lot of what you were saying. Blogging allows for a different perspective to be conveyed about the books we read. It sure is a lot different than writing an essay. I especially like how you wrote this post. The blog sounds like a typical teenager surrounded by technology. You ask questions, use emoticons, and tell the reader how he feels about subjects. None of this could be done in an essay. However, even with all this new technology, nothing can beat sitting down in front of a fireplace with a good book. If you keep writing with this style you should be able to repeat your first quarter grade. Hope you like your book. Peace!

Thursday, October 20, 2011

1st quarter< 2nd quarter< summer

I thought that this assignment was enjoyable all the way up until when the grades came out. I understand that my vlog was not uploaded and i take responcibility for that, however, I didn't think that the rest of the blog pulled my blog down. Also, the Animoto was graded oddly. Having to take your own pictures and only being able to use maybe 5 or 6 pictures was not helpful. After reading the comments from the blog it didn't give me a lot of feedback, but as I said I understand why I got the grade I got... if this blog was being sent to the president.

This upcoming quarter, I am reading The Great Gatsby. I have heard it is a classic, and am looking forward to it. I'm approching this book with an open mind. Probably because I want to read the book, and a teacher isn't standing behind me mandating I read every page. I will read every page, but you know.

I am also excited that this quarter Mrs. Hayes said that we are going to video chat with students from another school. This sounds like fun. It also sounds like it could go badly. There is a lot of variables going into this project. Will the computer work, will I come prepared, will this, will that, but most importantly will I have a cool partner! Again I will have an open mind but I hope that second quarter blogging goes better than the first time.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Ship Breakers movie trailer