Watchmen Squid of Doom.

Remember when Veidt cloned a human psychic, turned it into a giant squid, and blew up half of New York? That was awesome. Also Obama won the election :) So here is something relevant to both.

"Never compromise"

Ramses II

"His vision of a united world... well, it was unprecedented. I wanted... needed to match his accomplishments, and so I resolved to apply antiquity's teaching to our world, today. And so began my path to conquest. Conquest not of men, but of the evils that beset them."

Adrain Veidt speaking of Ramses II

Watchmen, 2009

Matt Romney 2012

Please disregard my last post entirely, although Obama seems like the sensible choice, he is not. This new up and coming candidate is rumored to take the swing states by storm!! Yes, that's right, Matt Romney, no not Mitt Romney, Matt Romney. Here are some point made by Mr. Romney himself.

• "Whenever you are feeling blue remember, somber is only two letters away from sombrero, food for thought, bust out the tequila and guac, food for partyn'"
• "I wish I had a fat son"
• "MITTENSCARE* USED TO BE OBAMACARE. DUH."
• "When Abe Lincon said "four score" he literally ment 420, that's why I named my dog after him"
• "Weird how grape is a fruit but there is also a grapefruit...... also grape nuts aren't nuts, at least grape leafs are leafs. The world is a confusing place in this economy. Thanks Obama."
• Matt Romney wants to "LEAGLEize" Cannabis Sativa, the eagle is because we live in America.

(* MITTENSCARE is referring to Mitt Romney's health care plan when he was governor) 

Matt Romney for prez!

Follow Matt Romney on Facebook because he is hilarious.

"Just let me be prez"

Election Season!

Presidential Election

In the upcoming election it is important now more than ever to make sure your vote is heard! The two main candidates Mitt Romney and Barrack Obama are essentially neck and neck and election day is tomorrow. When considering who you are going to vote for I would greatly encourage you to vote for Obama. It is clear after analyzing both candidates Obama is the superior choice, I will show you why you should vote for Obama using three key points.Firstly, Obama supports a woman’s right to choose by ensuring abortion in cases of non-consensual rape, incest, and unwanted pregnancies. In the constitution we are granted certain inalienable rights, surely the right to your own body is one of them! Even if you don’t support abortion don’t make it illegal for those who have unwanted pregnancies, this law isn’t forcing you to get an abortion.

Obama also has a very notable position on another social issue, gay rights. Obama is pro gay marriage whereas Romney is very anti-gay. If you feel gay marriage should remain not an option think about it this way, if a gay man and a gay man get married one thousand miles away how does this in any way infract on the sanctity of your marriage? In fact some of the main reasons for being pro gay marriage aren’t spiritual at all, not allowing gay marriage prevents gay men and women from visiting their spouses if they are terminally ill because they aren’t considered legally married. Pro gay advocates don't wish to hurt you, or diminish anything you believe in, we only wish to grant certain privileges associated with marriage to the gay community because we believe everyone needs to be treated equal.

My last point in showing you why Obama is the superior candidate is Obama supports the people who need help. This is evident through Obama’s tax policy versus Romney’s, I will warn you now however, if you are a rich, white, male making millions of dollars you will probably oppose these ideas. Obama’s new tax policy is comparable to Robin Hood, Obama wants to raise taxes slightly on the upper class and lower taxes on the middle classes because the middle class is struggling in this economy and the very wealthy together can spare small amounts of money to better the nation as a whole.

Ultimately if you don’t vote for Obama, I would still encourage you to vote (for Obama) tomorrow, what’s the point of having a democracy if the people aren’t heard!

"Well, Walter? What is it? What can you see?"

"A pretty butterfly."

-Alan Moore, Watchmen

Presidential quiz results courtesy of ProCon.Org   

More Ozymandias

"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"

-Percy B. Shelley, 1818

"Killing millions to save billions"- Ozymandias

Papa

I recently finished reading a book entitled Papa for my school. Papa is written by Gregory Hemingway, son of Ernest Hemingway, and it takes on a brutally honest approach as to who Ernest Hemingway was. Gregory Hemingway spends the novel by selecting miscellaneous events and describing them through the eyes of his six year old self and analyzing them and his father with an almost haunting realness. Gregory describes his father loving with a love unique enough to know he truly loved you, but with a remoteness that made you hate him a little at the same time.

To help give a good analysis of the book I want to use a strategy called SOAPSTone, what this means is you analyze the speaker, occasion, audience, purpose, style, and tone of a piece of literature.

Speaker- As I said the book is written by the son of the writer Ernest Hemingway, Gregory. Gregory is the youngest child and his mother is Ernest Hemingway's second wife. Most of the book is written when Gregory was a child describing the time he loved the most, the summers he spent with his dad.
His childhood is clearly abnormal and every summer him and his dad spend together gives you more and more insight into who Ernest Hemingway really was. Gregory spent many summers in Cuba on his dad's estate with his dad's countless lovers. Gregory went to strange Chinese restaurants with prostitues and opium bars, searched remote caves for signs of Nazis and searched the ocean for Nazi submarines with a yacht full armed with 50 caliber machine guns. He spent summers getting drunk with his when he was as young as nine, he spent summers lusting after his dad's mistresses, and he spent every summer and the rest of his life trying to please his father, the lengend Ernest Hemingway. It is clear Gregory as a child only wanted to make his dad happy, he imitated his dad in every way possible. Gregory would go on fishing trips with his dad all the time, despite his crippling sea sickness, he would go hunting with his dad as much as he could even though he loved ducks as much as anything and described them as his only friend. This imitation of his father continues until the very last page, "I confess I felt profound relief when they lowered my father's body into the ground and I realized he was really dead, that I couldn't disappoint him, couldn't hurt him anymore."

Occasion- The book takes place over the array of an entire life which makes the occasion hard to define, however, one thing about the time period I thought was consistant and very notable. Throughout the entire book  Ernest Hemingway is always trying to be something that he isn't. This book took place in the 1930's-1950's mostly, a time when gender roles were extremely defined, this is clearly apparent in Papa. Ernest Hemingway worked as hard as he could to be a womanizer, he would drink like crazy, challenge anyone to a boxing match despite his impotence as a boxer, and distance himself from the world of writing, the world of the intellectuals. The book takes place mostly in Cuba and Sun Valley, Idaho with Gregory, his dad, and two brothers.

Audience- Since the book is a biography of a famous writer it is safe to assume the writer knew you liked who he was writing about. This is evident in Papa by Gregory Hemingway's usage of referencing work by Ernest Hemingway without out explaining it. An example of this is when he begins talking about For Whom the Bell Tolls then transitions directly into talking about his dad's philosophy on death and his attitude towards it while never explaining that For Whom the Bell Tolls  is about a near death experience. Papa is intended for a mature and educated audience, this is apparent by the adult themes which appear in this novel and the usage of college level vocabulary.

Purpose- I believe this book was written because Gregory Hemingway wished to provide unique insight into the life of his dad. In the introduction to the book he talks about all of the different memoirs and biographies about Ernest Hemingway and why his is different. Gregory Hemingway saw sides of his dad that he never would have shown around interviewers, the real side. Gregory saw the most tender, most vicious, most modest, and most megalomanic sides of his father, Gregory wanted to show the people who he really was.

Style- Much of the style that made this book unique and much of the style that made this book enjoyable was the blunt tone used, as if to make the reader feel if they are looking onto Ernest Hemingway through a child's eyes, but this is discussed in more detail in the next section. Another writing aspect which I found stylistically interesting was the point of view. Gregory Hemingway truly was the perfect person to write a memoir about Ernest Hemingway, he idolized his father in way fans of Ernest Hemingway only wished they could understand. And while the book focuses on his father you can't help but constantly relate your father and your relationship with the Hemingway's. Accompanying the appropriately blunt tone used is Gregory's very precise sense of diction. Even though his words don't always spin elaborate pictures the message he is trying to get across is always well received. Whether he is talking about the complexities behind the father-son relation or the simple cool summers in Sun Valley Gregory's message is always crisp.

Tone- The tone throughout Papa is most often blunt but always eloquent, Gregory describes events using few but very descriptive words. He speaks very matter-of-fact-ly about his father, everything said seems calm and natural because there is no mystery as to who Ernest Hemingway was in his eyes, he spent his entire life trying to be like him. An example of this appears in the first line of the book, "I will never get over the sense of responsibility for my father's death". The bluntness of the tone allows for you to see Ernest Hemingway through a child's eyes and become immersed in the profoundness that was Ernest Hemingway.

Ultimately I enjoyed reading this book quite more than I expected, when I started reading this book I had very low expectations because I have had very little exposure to Ernest Hemingway as a writer. However because the book so accurately described the ever-changing but always familiar relationship between a father and son I enjoyed reading it a lot. On a scale of zero to five little monkeys I would rate it four. I would recommend this book for anyone who wants a fast but enjoyable read.