Steve - The Erlking

The Erlking was a fictional character that was used as the object of many German poems. This fictional creature would originally haunt forest and carry travellers to their deaths. The name originally means in Old German "Alder King".

The version of the Erlking that Johann Wolfgnag van Goethe used in his poem is a monster that preys on children. In 1815, Franz Schubert adopted the poem and turned it into a musical composition. Scubert's musical composition only used a piano and one vocalist. The musical composition has four main characters: the Narrator, the Father, the Son, and the Erkling. All four voices are don differentyl by the one vocalist in order to capture the individial character. The piano imitates in its hurried triplets (notes played together in three for one musical beat) the hoofs of a horse in order to create a sensation of fear.

The main idea of the musical composition is that the Erlking takes the Son away and therefore has him end up dead in the Father's arms. The theme of the composition is repeated huriedly and the music even gets louder in the final two stanzas of the poem. This helps create the helplessness that the Son is going through

"My father. my father and don't you see there
the Erlking's daughters in the shadows?"
"My son, my son I see it clearly;
the old willows look so gray"

During this stanza the music gets louder and louder until finally during this part of the last stanza:

"he reaches the courtyard weary and anxious:
in his arms the child was dead."

the music almost comes to an abrupt stop.The final musical parts of the composition are minor chords. Minor chords are usually used in music to create a sad feeling as well as a depressed mode.


How does Schubert's musical composition relate to other literary works that we have read in class

Maria - Fugue in c-minor

Assigned Reading: Fugue in c-minor

1. Definitions

A) Fugue: An imitative polyphonic composition in which a theme or themes are stated successively in all of the voices of the contrapuntal structure.

B) C-minor: refers to the key the fugue is being played in

C) Allegretto: refers to the tempo of the piece, moderatly fast and generally light

D) Clavier: any musical instrument with a keyboard, piano, harpischord, organ etc. etc.

2. Summarization

The Fugue in c-minor is one of 24 fugues and preludes in a book called the Well-Tempered Clavier. It contained one fugue or prelude in all 24 minor and major keys. It was intended to be sold as a book for people who wanted to either learn or practice their piano playing skills. The book was composed in 1722. Of all the fugues fugue in c-minor is the most popular and widely known and was an important influence on music after its publication.

3. Question

How does this piece of music connect to the work we're doing in class?

Bahram - Billie Holiday's Lady Sings the Blues

1. foundling-a child who has been abandoned and whose parents are unknown

2. commericial-Adjective used to signify a business activity, regardless of whether that activity has been undertaken by an individual or business

Billie Holiday who originally was called Eleanora, tell the story of her life. Her parents are poor and are in the early teens when they give birth to her. She almost never would see her father, he was drafted for the army and soon after he came back he went on to be a musician who was always on tour. Her father never came and gave Billie's mother a divorce and married another woman. Her mother left her with Billie's cousin Ida, when she left to work and save up money for them to have a nice life.While living with her cousin Ida she would be beaten and would have to fight of cousin Ida's son from raping her. She got sick of it and went to work cleaning people's house. After some time her mother came back and she had saved $900 for them to live on which during that time was a nice amount of money.Living with her mother was quite nice untill she was almost raped, sent to jail, and treated horribly at a catholic institution. When she grows up she becomes a singer, singing infront of a large crowd witha thirty-four-piece band behind her.

Question:
Her mother and her worked hard to save up money to live a normal life and she ended up becoming a famous singer. If they can work so hard and make money and have a successful life should the government support single parents who have no money and jobs or should they have them work hard like Billie and her mother without support from the government?

Jatinder - X-Men

1. Mutants- People born with superpowers

Professor X -Professor Charles Xavier, a mutant telepath

Cyclops- Scott Summers, a mutant with an beam controlled by his visor and glasses

Iceman- Robert "Bobby" Drake; a mutant with ice powers

The Angel -Warren Worthington III, a mutant with wings

The Beast -Henry "Hank" McCoy, a mutant with enhanced strength and agility

Marvel Girl -Jean Grey, a mutant with telekinetic powers

Magneto- a mutant with magnetic powers



2. Professor X trains his young students that he has called X-men. They are mutants born with abilities that set them apart from normal humans. The X-men are Cyclops (Scott Summers), Beast (Hank McCoy), Iceman (Bobby Drake), and Angel (Warren Worthington III). The Xavier school for gifted students gains a new student Jean Grey who will be called Marvel Girl. Professor X built this school to train mutants to use their powers responsibility. He recognized that more and more mutants were appearing ever day and that some mutant may decide they should rule the planet, Professor X called these mutants "Evil Mutants".The first evil mutant to threaten humanity was a mutant named Magneto. He made is presence known to the world by sabotaging multiple top secret US missile tests before demanding the surrender of a military base to him. He was able to take over the military base and hold the army out with a magnetic force field. He hadn't planned on the arrival of the X-men though. Cyclops was able to breach Magneto's force field. They were able to hold Magneto off until he fled the scene.

3. What could have been the message of this comic book relating to society in that time in history?

Daniel - X-Men

At first i was surprised to find that i would be reading a comic book and having to write a blog entry on it. I had felt that it would not have enough information write a good entry, however after completing the comic i had found that it actually had a lot of good information to write about.

The comic starts out telling the reader about this motionless character who is sitting alone in a room, and then later informing us of a certain institution which turns out to actually be a school for "mutants", who are people with extraordinary powers. As the comic continues we are introduced the different characters who are involved in this comic. we meet Angel,Cyclops, Beast, and Iceman, who all have individual powers of their own which we learn about as the comic continues, and are all members of the superhero team the X-Men. later on we see these characters training with there master, Professor Xavier.

As the X-men are training we see all of the amazing abilities that each of these characters have. I think that by showing these characters with all of these special powers it makes the reader more envious, and makes him almost happy to see the characters, and feels inspired by them that maybe the reader himself can also help do some good in the world that they live in. As the comic goes on we are introduced to another character who later joins the X-men, her name is Jean Grey. later Jean is given her codename, "Marvel Girl".

Later on we are introduced to the villain in this comic, whose name is Magneto who has control over all kinds of magnetic fields, and anything that is related to magnets. The reason that a villain is put into this comic is to instill fear in the reader and make him feel afraid. It also helps the reader get more excited as to what will happen to the main characters, who in this case are the good guys. After learning more about Magneto we see that he has taken over control over the military base and is threatening the world. after finding out about this news the X-men finally get to take action and do what they had been training for and that is to protect the humans. What follows after this in my opinion is the climax of the comic, and the most exciting part for the reader to read about. The reader does not know what to expect, and doesn't know who overall who is going to win the battle between good and evil.

The next scene begins with angel explaining to the military who the X-Men they are, and that they are here to help. After getting permission from the military to help, the X-men do what they did best and began to fight evil. After getting through magneto's protective barrier, and fighting off the missiles that he had fired at them earlier, they had ended up fending him off. However Magneto was able up escape, but the humans are left safe and the day was still saved thanks to the X-men. I think that the reason that this episode ended with the bad guy escaping was a very good decision. I feel that by having an ending like this it makes the reader get a sense of anxiousness as to what will happen next episode, and will make the reader want to buy another issue of this comic book. I also found that many movies these days will have a similar ending, were it is uncertain just what happened to the bad guy, this is because it makes the reader either want to see the movie again or maybe see the movies sequel. However in either case it will keep the movie and/or comic book on the readers mind, and that is what good authors do with their books. I also feel that this technique is used in most urban legends, due to the fact that it makes the reader remember the story, and keeps it on his mind so he wont forget, and will probably end up telling other people about it as well.

some definitions that the reader may need to know for this story is the definition of a mutant- which is a person who has super/extra ordinary powers or mysterious abilities. the reader should also know what each mutant in the story can do and that is that angel- has wings and can fly. marvel girl- she has the ability of telekenesis. the beast- a large mutant who is very large and big and has ultra super strength. magneto- he is the villain in the comic and he has super magnetic powers can can control all magnetic things. cyclops- a mutant who can shoot beans out from his visor over his eyes. professor x- he is the professor who founded and helped trained the x-men and he himself can read peoples minds. iceman- he is a mutant who has special ice powers and can create and control ice to do whatever he pleases.

Question- why do you think that they ended this issue of the comic with the villain escaping and getting away?

Damaris - A Few Words For Superstition Blog

1. Define important terms:

parapsychology- the branch of psychology that deals with the investigation of purportedly psychic phenomena, as clairvoyance, extrasensory perception, telepathy, etc.

deplored- to disapprove of; censure.

condemned- To express strong disapproval of:

divination- perception by intuition; instinctive foresight

idolatry- the religious worship of idols.

Deity- a god or goddess

supersisto- to stand in terror of the Deity

placated- to appease or pacify, esp. by concessions or conciliatory gestures

Cajoled- to persuade by flattery or promises; wheedle; coax.

2. Summarize main idea:

Davies discusses the idea that things such as parapsychology, UFO's, miracle cures, and all paths to instant enlightenment are condemned, but superstition is merely deplored, possibly due to the fact that so many people are unknowingly so strongly swayed by superstitions. Because being superstitious implies that one is naive and ignorant, many people do not admit to being superstitious, although many people are. Davies explains that superstition takes four forms.

Vain Observances: Not walking under ladders and such things.
Divination
Idolatry
Improper Worship of the True God
Robertson Davies explains that superstition seems to run a submerged river of crude religion, below the surface of human consciousness. The more the teaching of formal religion declines, the less God appears to be a God of Love to people. Superstition appears early in life when children fear that stepping on cracks in the sidewalk will cause misfortune. Different people do different things due to superstition. For instance, Orthodox Jews place a charm on their doorposts, Middle European people believe that when a man sneezes, his soul, for that moment, is absent from his body, and they bless him unless his soul is taken by the Devil.

When Davies states, “Superstition seems to have a link with some body of belief that far antedates the religions we know-religions which have no place for such comforting little ceremonies and charities,” this represents a great deal of what superstition is about. Also, he says, “Superstition in general is linked to man’s yearning to know his fate, and to have some hand in deciding it.” People are so superstitious because they think that bad things will happen to them based on absurd thoughts and judgments, so they figure that if they can do things to prevent them from happening, they can control their fate.

3. Question for discussion:

Is superstition something that arises based on religion or is it just something psychological? Why are people so supertitious? Do they really think that they can control their fate, or does it accommodate them mentally into thinking they can control it? Do you think of yourself as being superstitious? Why or why not?

Christian - 1408

1. Important characters in the short story are.
Mike Enslin who is the main protagonist of the story, is the author of three best selling books , Ten Haunted Houses, Ten Nights in Ten Haunted Graveyards and Ten Nights in Ten Haunted Castles. Mr.Enslin was looking to continue this series by writing Ten Nights in Haunted Hotels. This is why he becomes interested in room 1408.
Gerald Olin is the hotel manager of the Hotel Dolphin on 61st Street in New York City, he tries to convince Mr.Enslin that room 1408 is best avoided while telling him of all the deaths related to people of have encountered the room.
Sam Farrell is Mike's agent who under the rules of the state of New York gets Mike room 1408 through a lawyer. No person shall be denied a room if a room is vacant even if it is haunted.

Rufus Dearborn is the character walking the halls of the 13th floor who went to fetch ice and ultimately saved Mike Enslin's life. Mr.Dearborn dumps ice on Mike who had set himself on fire in order to escape room 1408.

Kevin O'Malley is the first suicide occupant of room 1408. He killed himself by jumping from the 13th floor. He was the first of many deaths related to occupying room 1408.

A concept that should be noted is that room 1408 seems to have a mind of its own.

2. Mike Enslin who is the main protagonist of the story is looking to write a book about haunted hotels to add to his other best selling haunted books. He himself is not a believer of the supernatural or the paranormal but still visits many haunted sites. Mike uses a tape recorder when he visits all these haunted places instead of taking notes. He finds that using a tape recorder he better able to capture to emotion. Upon arriving at the Dolphin Hotel, Mike is greeted by Mr.Olin the hotel manager. There they begin to small chat. After a while Mr.Olin tries to convince Mike not to stay in room 1408 as no one has stayed there since 1978. Despite this fact Mike insists on staying the night in room 1408. Upon arriving on the 13th floor his legs are heavier then usual and his tounge can't seem to come up.. As he walks toward his room he notices that the door appears to be crooked leaning to the left. He then looks at the door again which appears to be straight and upright. Shortly after he looks again and it appears to be crooked again (though this time leaning to the right instead of the left). Before entering the room he notices a security camera towards the end of the hall. This leads to his assumption that Mr.Olin only wanted to scare him for a simple joke. Upon entering the room, Mike takes out his tape recorder and his observations into it. He then walks over to a table and picks up a box of matches and puts it in his pocket. After he notices a menu on the bed. At first he reads the breakfast menu and thinks it is in French, then in Russian, then in Italian and then he sees it in English. Then things became chaotic from there. The pictures on the wall came to life with a lady showing ravage teeth. Mike saw a picture where he never saw one before. He begins to run for the door only to realize he is unable to escape. He reaches for the phone and picks it up and hears the words, "This is nine! This is nine! Nine! This is ten! Ten! We have killed your friends! Every friend is now dead! This is six! Six!". There Mike began to panic and picked up the matches he had pocketed before and set himself on fire. There he was able to escape the room and ended up in the hallway where Mr.Dearborn poured ice on his engulfed body. After his stay in room 1408 Mike was forever traumatized. The reason the story came about was through Mike's audio recording that Sam Farrell had found. All the detailed audio snippets of the chaotic stay in room 1408 is what lingered in the mind of Mike Enslin.

3. Question for discussion.
What was the voice on the telephone that yelled out "This is nine! This is nine! Nine! This is ten! Ten! We have killed your friends! Every friend is now dead! This is six! Six!". Ultimately what was room 1408 that drove people to suicide and people to there "natural deaths"?