Reading Notes: Inferno: Satan

I decided to read Dante's Inferno this week and read the beginning of the story to see how the author starts and hooks the reader. In this post, I want to read the final part of the story. The final part of stories, in my opinion, should wrap up the story nicely and close all ideas that were introduced in the story. There can be cliffhangers too. As I read through there was a specific part of the of the story that was interesting in one of the paragraphs, Dante talks directly to the reader. That was a rare thing for me. I have not read many works where the main character directly talks to the reader. Dante specifically says the word reader. I was shocked and intrigued at the fact the main character in the situation that he was in would take the time to talk to the reader specifically. Dante tells the reader to use their imagination which is crazy. Many authors want a specific image to be seen by the reader, but this paragraph suggests that the reader needs to use their imagination to envision Dante in the situation that he is in at the current time. The conclusion section of the novel was very interesting to me. It had a lot of moving parts to me. There were multiple things to keep track of throughout the last few paragraphs. The very end of the story was interesting and a cool coincidence for Dante. Dante had found his way out of Hell, but it wasn't easy as there were countless people grabbing at his feet as he tried to get out. It was Easter Sunday when Dante emerged from Hell. This is a cool coincidence for the reader as Dante entered Hell on Good Friday. It is weird as it definitely seemed they were in Hell for a lot longer than three days. The conclusion of the story was spectacular and was everything that I wanted. It had a lot of action and movement and had a really cool ending. I will definitely be recommending Dante's Inferno to anyone that needs a good book to read.

A version of Dante's Inferno https://images.app.goo.gl/3zTFcsd928LqmgdL9

Bibliography: http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/07/inferno-satan.html

Reading Notes: Inferno: Dante and Virgil

This week I decided to read the stories of Dante's Inferno as I had heard it was an awesome story, so I saw the opportunity and took it. As I read through all the stories, I was thoroughly entertained by the stories. As I read through all the parts of the stories and decided that I wanted to really look at the beginning of the story as the beginning is always the most important part of a story to me. The beginning hooks the reader so it must be amazing to get the reader all in on the story. It took me a few times to understand the story. It finally clicked after a couple of times reading it through. One of my favorite parts was when Dante meets Virgil. It was an interesting part of the story and it seemed very inconspicuous. Virgil seemed as if he was a monster and was scaring Dante the way he looked at him. I envisioned Virgil when I first read the story as a taller figure with a long face and the eyes that could stare a hole through anybody and anything. That image even scares me and I am just reading the story. As I continued to read I got more background on what Virgil actually was and it was interesting to see my version of him compared to what the story describes him as. As I continued to read and Virgil, who I thought was a monster, turned into the comforter of Dante which was very surprising. I would have thought that Virgil would try to take advantage of Dante and cause him to say with Virgil and not have a chance to escape. Virgil then becomes a guide through Hell for Dante. Virgil takes a role that I would have never thought he would. The way Virgil is described makes him seem like someone that would scare Dante and would make Dante want to stay away from Virgil. The beginning definitely did its job as it hooked me and sent me few different ways. All in all, this did the job and definitely made want to read the rest of the story.

A ghost version of Virgil https://images.app.goo.gl/b1ZeffdtvUsDJHTk6

Bibliography: http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/07/inferno-dante-and-virgil.html

Week 13 Story: Pat-Pasta

Once upon a time there was a family that lived in Northern Italy. They lived on farm in the middle of nowhere. There wasn't much for the family to do, which meant that the family could be experts in something else. The family became one of the best pasta makers in all of Italy. That is high praise for a country that is known for their amazing pasta. One day, the son of the family was wondering around the house and heard a bang. The son peered into the kitchen and saw the pot, that was on the stove, dumped on the floor. The boy scratched his head and began to investigate. All of a sudden, a clump of pasta ran out the door and began to run away. The boy knew the high value of the pasta and took off after it.
The boy yelled stop at the pasta as it ran away, and the pasta responded with, "You will never catch me boy! I am Pat-Pasta!" Pat-Pasta rana so fast that the boy lost sight of him. Pat-Pasta continued to run and came upon a couple of hungry miners. "I have outrun a boy and I will outrun you too!!" said the Pat-Pasta.
He took off as the miners gave chase, but Pat-Pasta was just too fast for them too. Pat-Pasta continued to run and run as he lost the miners and thought he was the king of the world. Pat-Pasta then came upon a goat.
"Hello goat, you are too slow for me and I will leave you in my dust!!" Pat-Pasta yelled this at the goat and the goat took offense to the statement and began chasing Pat-Pasta. Pat-Pasta was no match for the goat as the goat couldn't keep up with the fast pasta.
Pat-Pasta then came upon a fox. This fox was relaxing under a tree but was hungry. The fox saw Pat-Pasta running towards him and had a feeling that Pat-Pasta was going to stop and say something to him. "I have outran a boy, two miners and a goat. You are the next one to eat my dust!!" Pat-Pasta was adamant that he was going to outrun the fox. Well the fox was a little smarter than the rest. "What did you say??" said the fox. Pat-Pasta, being the cocky pasta that he was, got closer and yelled the exact same in the foxes face.
Pat-Pasta fell right into the foxes trap as the fox leaned over and gobbled Pat-Pasta up. The fox licked his lips, shrugged his shoulders and went to sleep.
THE END

Pat-Pasta memorial run poster https://images.app.goo.gl/HXp26YecYJTDrgsC8

Author's Note: I used the Johnny-Cake story as inspiration for my Pat-Pasta story. The family and the chasing parts of the story came from the Johnny-Cake story. Pat-Pasta is a spoof of Johnny-Cake but both had the same cocky personality to go with their very fast running. I used the same animal at the end of my story as the Johnny-Cake story was the fox. The sly fox eats both characters at the end and abruptly ends the story.
Bibliography: http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/03/english-fairy-tales-johnny-cake.html

Reading Notes: Johnny-Cake

For the second reading of the week, I decided to read a new story that I was not familiar with at all. Johnny-Cake seemed as it was a good story to read and it didn't disappoint. When I began to read the story it seemed a little familiar but I couldn't put my finger on it. I read the story a couple more times and it finally made sense. It was the Gingerbread Man story. I didn't recognize it at first but it clicked in my head and the story really came to life. As I read through the story, the beginning was pretty funny because I related to it so much. I felt the boys reaction when he left the oven. It is boring just to watch something bake so I definitely would have left too. The Johnny-Cake outrunning the family was really funny. I would have never thought that a cake would be able to outrun a whole family. The cake must have been running extremely fast with how small his legs are. It was funny to see the Johnny-Cake continue to challenge people to running as he ran through the land. The Johnny-Cake got extremely cocky as he continued to rack up the people chasing him. Even animals began to give chase which was crazy. Johnny-Cake definitely was on a sugar rush. His run finally came to an end when he was eaten by a fox. The Johnny-Cake became too cocky and got too close to the fox who just sntached him up when the Johnny-Cake got close and yelled on the fox about how much faster he was than the fox and the rest of the people that were chasing him. The story was a great read and it was pretty funny to see what the Johnny-Cake was doing throughout as he ran away from all kinds of people.

Johnny-Cake leaving the house https://images.app.goo.gl/LuWMRThfdCyoSAUZA

Bibliography: http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/03/english-fairy-tales-johnny-cake.html

Reading Notes: The Three Little Pigs

This week I excited to be able to read multiple stories that I had read as a kid. I was torn between the English Fairy Tales and the Alice in Wonderland sections. I ultimately decided on the Fairy Tales. I was not disappointed at all. I enjoyed all the stories and decided to choose The Three Little Pigs. I was a huge fan of the The Three Little Pigs when I was younger. As I read through the story I thought it was a great story. One part that I thought was interesting was the role that the wolf had. The wolf began to huff and puff and attempted to blow one of the pigs houses down. His attempts failed and I was confused as in stories that I had read before, the wolf had no problem with the first two houses of the pigs. Well this was different and it was interesting to read and see how it worked. The way the wolf handled it was funny with the offering of the turnips. The pigs second house stood tall and ended up getting turnips, but the pig went before the wolf the next morning which made me chuckle a bit. As I continued to read I loved the story. It was awesome to see a different take on a childhood story that had been twisted into another version from the original Fairy Tale. The craziest part of the story was the last paragraph. The pig devises a great plan to beat the wolf as he climbs down the chimney trying to get into the house. The pigs had boiling water as I am used to reading, but the pigs end up feasting on the wolf. The close the pot on the wolf and he dies in the pot and the pigs eat him. I was shocked to read that as the ending of such a sweet story.

Cover of a Childrens Reading Book https://images.app.goo.gl/YB4a8SyZYHduGCq1A

Bibliography: http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/03/english-fairy-tales-three-little-pigs.html

Week 12 Lab

I decided to do the lab for this week and focus on the creative writing video playlist. At the beginning of the semester I wasn't super prepared for the amount of writing I would have to do in the semester as a whole. I was excited for the opportunity but a little scared at what was to come. As the semester has gone on I have truly grasped creative writing and what it takes to do it at a decent level. I feel my writing has slowly gotten better and better throughout the semester and it was cool to watch and listen to the videos on the playlist to really give myself more information on creative writing and how to do ti even better than I am already doing it at. There were two videos that I really enjoyed. The first was the What makes a hero video. I love the graphics of the video and it made it very appealing to me. The content was amazing. It was cool to see the theory of how a lot of heroes in stories could be connected to each other and based off of myths and other older stories. The Hero's journey is such a cool concept and how so many hero stories follow the same storyline and I never would have thought that it would be like this. The other video that I thoroughly enjoyed was the How to build a fictional world?  The creation of worlds are so cool and it is amazing how writers can make it possible for readers to buy in and know the fictional world quickly. The faster the reader understands the world the faster they are in love with the characters and the world that has been created. A good fictional world makes a great story! It was a great experience to be able to watch and learn about creative writing and all the different things that go into to make it great!

Writer Painting his world https://images.app.goo.gl/Z3Sh1tJ1qHDZkXdx9

Bibliography: Story Lab: Style Playlist

Reading Notes: The Golden Arrow

The second Robin Hood story of the week is really exciting to me. I really enjoyed the ballad that I read in the first reading of the week. This story is another ballad that is awesome to read. The only bad thing is that there isn't a video included with this ballad so I wish there was an audio clip that went with this one to see how it goes in a song form. The story itself speaks to me so much. I am one to take chances all the time and sometimes I can not resist taking the chance to win something. Robin Hood in this ballad does the same thing as I would do. This makes it a great story for me to read as I can relate to the story so much. Robin Hood couldn't resist the urge to play a game to get something really cool or valuable in return. Robin Hood loves arrows and the thought of having a golden arrow made him extremely excited to have the chance to acquire it. The game that the sheriff devises to entice Robin Hood is interesting. I didn't really understand what it was at first so I needed to read it a few times to finally realize what the game was. The language of the story was, again, a barrier for me and I have a little trouble knowing exactly what is happening. I eventually figure it out and the story makes a lot more sense after knowing most of the actions that are going on. The king is the one that wants the plan to go into action which is not surprising at all as Robin Hood is a trickster and can cause a lot of problems for those in the kingdom.

Children version of the Golden Arrow story https://images.app.goo.gl/CjNEqQ1r9tPPnxpm9

Bibliography: http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/robin-hood-golden-arrow.html