Summer Assignment Part 2

Liesel: A young German girl, who has been given to the Hubermann household as a foster child. She becomes fascinated with books and other literature. She is very close to her foster father and has a rough but loving relationship with her foster mother. She befriends Max, a Jew who shares the same love for reading and books that she does. She also befriends the mayor's wife who allows Liesel to read her collection of books.

Hans and Rosa Hubermann: They are the foster parents of Liesel and care for her very much, though each have a different way of showing it. Rosa is a bit rough around the edges, swearing frequently and being a bit over protective. Hans is more loving towards their new daughter. Teaching her how to read and write.

Rudy: He is Liesel's best friend and has a small crush on her. He works very hard to be an athlete and eventually achieves his goal. At a Hitler Youth competition, he wins three gold medals. He is rebellious by nature and his mouth tends to get him in trouble. He acts on impulse alone sometimes and wanted to be Jesse Owens to an extent where he colored himself black and ran around the track. He is the only boy in his large family besides his father, who is taken by the Nazi Party after Rudy declines the offer to join himself.

Max: The Hubermanns hide Max in their basement due to a favor Hans owes to Max's father for saving his life in WWI. He grew up as a fist fighter on the streets and made an unforgiving voyage to the Hubermann's home.

Summer Assignment Part 1

For my summer reading assignment, I chose the Book Thief by Markus Zusak. It's centered around a nine year-old girl named Liesel Meminger. The book is set in Nazi Germany. During this time period, any books that, in any way, promoted going against rule and social acceptance were banned. Liesel is a curious young girl who was fascinated by a book she found during her younger brother's funeral. Said brother died during the train ride to Liesel's new home, where she is going to be given new parents. She learns to read and write from her new parents and met another kid name Rudy, who has a crush on her.

I can predict that her fascination with books will eventually get her into trouble. Both within her town and her government. There was a movie about this book that came out last year. I haven't seen it, but have heard that it did a good job of keeping the original plot and story. One peculiar thing about this book, is that it's narrated by Death himself. That could be a foreshadowing of the characters perishing or just something to keep in the back of your head as a reader. Either way it is very strange.

I hadn't heard of this book until looking on the list, but it seemed somewhat interesting. At first I got it confused with the book Thief Lord. After reading the summaries and reviews for the book, I realized my, mistake. The book is very interesting, due to who is narrating, the circumstances of history, and how it all plays into what Liesel is trying to do. And that is simply read a few books.

The Hardcore Diaries Autobiographies

I really like this book. I really like this book for many reasons. The way the book is written is amazing. It's the complete opposite of a Quentin Tarintino movie. The story is told chronologically and it makes sense. I like how well the story falls into place. It goes through the final third of Foley's career and I still can't believe how intelligent Mick Foley sounds. I enjoy autobiographies more than normal biographies because I'd rather listen to the story from the subject person themselves because they truly know what they're talking about. Not that the historians don't but I believe that no one can ever understand what the world looks like from someone elses perspective. Especially when that person is Mick Foley.

You an research Mick Foley many different ways. The internet, television, documentaries, biographies. But I think the best way to find out about Mick Foley is to read the book(s) by Mick Foley. He has three NY Times best sellers and not just because of his popularity, because he's the only one who can tell the story labout himself. You can have as many interviews with someone as you want. Be their best friend,know how the like their eggs and bacon, bu you will still never be able to see the world through their eyes.

Tri Two Blogging Assesment

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: Rationalization & WTSD (What They Should've Done)

I am familiar with the concept and characters of Harry Potter through listening to wizard wannabes and hearing about the movies. I own the Sorcerers Stone on DVD. I haven't seen it in 7 years but you've been living under a rock for the past decade and a half if you don't know the general plot of Harry Potter. Its about a kid with dead wizard parents who tends to take the most indirect route to solving his problems. Kind of like parkour and free running. You run and take the most unnecessary path to get from Point A to Point B. Don't get me wrong, I'm really enjoying the book and I love to watch parkour, my brother does it all the time. I just rationalize too much, I guess.

So far, instead of trying to contact anyone when the Dursleys left him at home, he just sat and thought about how strange he is. He is strange, everyone is. He went through Hell and Creation for 10 years for a hot dog and a handshake until he was revealed to be a wizard. The Dursleys even knew about this. Why Harry didn't go balistic without an explaination from them is ridiculous. The kid must have self control that no one in this day and age has. He then procedes to not accept that he is a wizard. He tells Hagrid that he's not a wizard. As if Hagrid will go "Okay kid, your right and the best wizard ever is wrong and the kid we're looking for is an identical replica of you but actually has the stones (no pun intended) to go to Hogwarts and leave the demons England calls his guardians."

 

1. The lines, "It's about  a kid with dead wizard parents who tends to take the most indirect route to solving his problems." and "Why Harry didn't go balistic without an explaination from them is ridiculous. The kid must have self control that no one in this day and age has.". Those lines are the ones thst I believe stick out as showing my voice. They give my opinion and show how I understand and view Harry Potter.

2. The sentences are short to medium in length and I don't really have a punctuation trademark. I tend to use sarcasm to show my voice and opinion to the subject. The diction is informal largely due to the sarcasm.

Harcore Diaries Post

The Hardcore Diaries by Mick Foley is very weird. You'd think that a guy who got thrown of cages and set on fire voluntarily wouldn't be that bright of a man. Well you get the complete opposite. Mick Foley is a 3 time NY Times best selling author with 3 autobiographies. He's no Winston Churchill but he knows his stuff, especially when talking about the prowrestling business. The book is suprisingly well written as Mrs. Foley's Baby Boy tells his stories of the more recent era.

WWE has gone through many eras. These eras have been defined by superstars, moments, matches and more. The eras go as followed:
1.Hulkamania (1980's) Hulk Hogan, Roddy Piper, Sgt. Slaughter, Randy Savage. The era that put wrestling on the map, infulential superstars such as the Hulkster ran wild and made wrestling the phenomena it is.
2.New Generation (Late 80's early 90's) Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Yokozuna, Diesel. This new brand of superstars brought in greatness in all shapes and sizes. A 228 lbs Shawn Michaels to a 505 lbs Yokozuna
3.Attitude Era (Late 90's early 00's) Triple H, Mick Foley, Degeneration X, The Rock, Stone Cold. Wrestlings most popular era. This brought back the @$$ kicking people wanted. You witnessed the emergence of stars like The Rock and Stone Cold in their immortal careers as the two greatest of all time.
4.Ruthless Agression (Early 00's 2007) Edge and Christian, The Hardyz, Y2J, Dudley Boys. This is self explanatory. Wrestling was feeling absolutely ruthless at this exact point and time and whoever could combine body and soul was the top dog.

5. Universe or PG era (2007-present) John Cena, CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Roman Reigns. This era has later 7 whole years and is difficult to predict what will be ushered in. This era is about the selling of your product. If you get people to buy what your selling, you have become successful.

All the things in each era that makes people great are adjectives describing the greatest superstars ever. Mick Foley is on that list.

The Three Faces of Foley

Mick Foley's illustrious Hall of Fame career wouldn't have come to fruition if it were not for his three personnas. Cactus Jack, Dude Love and Mankind. These three faces were all very different but they were all Mick Foley. You could see how HE played into each character. Here's a look at each character.

Cactus Jack: Cactus Jack was a hardcore brute who took a beating day in and day out. He got smacked with barbed wire bats, his face smashed onto nails, he got the crap kicked out of him daily and then some just for the sake of entertainment. Cactus Jack would bleed like a stuffed pig and then stand up with blood seeping through his teeth and do his traditional "Bang! Bang!"

Dude Love: This is who Mick Foley always wanted to be. When Mick was in highschool, he made a movie for a class and he was featured as the main protagonist, a wrestler named Dude Love. Mick Foley believed that when he would win as Dude Love he'd get all the girls and everyone would love him. Too bad Mick Foley looks like Mick Foley does but that didn't stop him as this tye-dye shirt wearing, self proclaimed "hippest cat in the land" took center stage.

Mankind: No doubt the most famous of Foley's personnas. Mankind brought the humor of Dude Love with the extreme of Cactus Jack and it turned into one of the weirdest wrestlers ever. Mankind took the beatings that were handed to Cactus Jack, but always got up and smiled like Dude Love to say "Have a nice day". Mankind won championships. Mankind was thrown 25 feet through a table. Mankind was lit on fire. Mankind is one of the most popular legends ever.

In the book, you can see all of Foley's personna's in the writing. His silly nature in Dude Love. His pain in Mankind and, in the pictures, his beatings in Cactus Jack.

The Hardcore Diaries

I got a new book over Christmas written by best selling author and WWE legend Mick Foley. Foley had an illustrious career as a sports entertainer and was always one to take big hits and falls for the good of entertainment. He was thrown off a 20 foot cage onto a table. He was tackled through a table that was on fire. He had his face slammed on thumb tacks and nails. Mick Foley was a true player of the game and still continues to make guest appearances on WWE television. The Hardcore Diaries is an auto biography of Foley's life and career and will showcase his travels up the ladder towards greatness as a top notch superstar to an eventual Hall of Famer. 

The way the book looks will let any wrestling fan, such as myself know that it was written by Cactus Jack (one of the many alias' of Mick Foley, others include Mankind and Dude Love). The book looks like a composition book held together with duct tape and paper clips with classic typewriter print. Mick Foley is a best selling author even after taking so many blows to the head throughout the 90s and early 00s. Imagine how smart he'd be without all those bumps.