Top Links for Spartan Reader.

http://books--n--stuff.blogspot.com/2012/01/short-list.html
The meme idea is absolutely brilliant. Happy someone else is well acquainted with the interwebs.

http://2eluce.blogspot.com/2012/01/short-list.html
I was going to use the burning house idea but I knew someone else would.
I am happy to see they have other wonderful ideas as well.

http://julie-bluepenguins.blogspot.com/2012/01/ideas-for-spartan-reader.html#comment-form
I love the third idea. Something I aspire to do one day.

Possible Magazine Ideas: short list

1. Amelie   'Amelie, an innocent and naive girl in Paris, with her own sense of justice, decides to help those around her and along the way, discovers love.' Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet in 2001. Remains to still be one of my favorite films of when I was younger. If you've never seen a foreign film before, I suggest this be a starting point for you. It's a wonderful story and it really gives you an idea of how different films are compared to cheeky American movies. "one person can change your life forever."

2. Nathan Hoeffel is a local fashion designer who now resides in New York. I grew up knowing him and his clothing is practically art. I've had the honor of wearing one of his dresses that he personally made for me. He takes clothing pieces and old rags and tr5ansforms them into something new and beautiful. He like old style, very floral and vintage with lace here and there. He ranges from short the maxi dresses. Though he may be expanding to men, he mostly focuses on women and their natural beauty. He's recieved: scholastic art and writing regional portfolio gold key award, scholastic art and writing regional american vision award, scholastic art and writing national gold key award, and been nominated for the sterling sentinel art award. He's never taken a sewing class, he makes every single piece himself, and he takes all of his promotional photographs.

3. Quiet, Please: Unleashing 'The Power Of Introverts' "From Gandhi to Joe DiMaggio to Mother Teresa to Bill Gates, introverts have done a lot of good work in the world. But being quiet, introverted or shy was sometimes looked at as a problem to overcome." This personally is something I've learned to live with so this article would have a lot of personal ties to it.

"To You," Kennth Koch. Today's poem can be found a...

No White Stone: "To You," Kennth Koch.
"To You," Kennth Koch. Today's poem can be found at the Poetry Foundation.

My attempt at a solo duo excercise.

I looked at the sources and decided on http://www.theselby.com/9_21_09_DanM_Shannan/index.html.

First of all I'd like to say that this house is amazing and definitely my dream home. From all of the pictures you can see all of the green and plants they have variously throughout their house. Not to mention that their house is in the middle of the woods with mother nature all around. They grow their own food in their garden so they seem to be very self reliant and they light their house naturally the best they can which shows they are also relying on mother nature. The couple doesn't seem to try and tame the nature which is good becuase they just let it do what it wants and they embrace that. They can the food they grow and share it with others. They also make their own art and have it around thier. The guy has tattoos and shows them by wearing short sleeved shirts. I think this shows that he is trully artistic if he can put masterpieces on his body and not just a canvas, though canvases are alla round the house as well. As well as art, there are tons of antiques around their house a lot of old things with character. Especially around their pool, the fence is old and rickity, they feel no need to buy a new one because this fence is just as good as a modern one.

Analyzing Dead Poet's society. A 1989 film by Peter Weir.

When the scene opens up you see bits of a mural on the wall. Though not much can be seen, it conveys a sense of high prestige, young men dressed to impress. Later the mural becomes more apparent. It presents a bigger picture; A women in the middle, grasping both an American flag and what appears to be a scottish flag. Instead of blue and white, like the traditional scottish flag, it's gold and red. Might this be the flag of the school? It pans down to a young boy whom, though dressed nicely, does not have a slicked back hair cut and a fitted suit. He's young and the hair, falling on his forehead, signifies his youth and how he's not yet made it to adulthood. Not yet like everyone else.
A few student make their way from one back area, into the main room. Gray and dark hues fill the scene and the only colours are the white peaking of the ink coloured suits and the pale skin of all of the bodies, dressed the same. The sound of a bagpipe fills the room and everyone's heads are turned to watch the boys make their way to the front of the courtroom like area. An odd hum is in teh bag ground. Maybe a sound from teh bagpipe? Or the echos of the applause. Either way, it seems a bit eerie and there's no clear reason why. An older gentleman, most like a head of sorts, starts of by saying:

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys."

showing that he was addressing, mostly, the men. He talks for a while then introduces a man who is replacing a newly deceased teacher. This new man has an expression on his face almost conveying that he knows he's equal amoung these other professors though he is new. A  strong sense of belonging.

It changes to a scene where the young men are settling in.The parents are telling them "shoulders back!" while they fix their hair hair and bid them adeiu. It shows that the parents care about them and all they want is for their little boys and young men to have proper etiquette and to learn the traditions that have, most likely, been passed down through the family.

No White Stone: John Ashbery, "At North Farm"

No White Stone:
John Ashbery, "At North Farm"

Death was singing in the shower, Death was happy to be alive.

I've decided to split my reading of this book into three different posts. (maybe two if I read ahead and finish) The title of this post was taken from text in the very first chapter of the book. The reason being, I found it humorous. The way he takes death and puts an amusing twist. So far the plot is about a modern day princess who has traveled to Hawaii with her servant that cannot speak any language other than espanol. So far, isn't really my style but I am open minded to it and will finish. Honestly, I just need to get over when they call her "princess". That's the only thing turning me off right now. But anyhoo. The princess, Leigh-Cheri, is a little bit kooky but not in an entirely bad way. Some aspects about her I can connect to, such as the fact that she's not super social but she was a cheerleader and she doesn't mind being alone. The others, however, are more typical "I love him. cry cry. why can't I find a man. blah blah blah." kind of stuff I don't really understand with females (no offense if you act this way, it's just not me). The book quoted "There are three lost continents.. We are one, the lovers." in the first page and kinda made me think right away 'oh no, this is chick-lit.' but I have a feeling the book with change. Mostly because my friend Pat, who is not a feminine man, loaned me this book giving it high recommendations and he doesn't seem like the type to read a chick-lit novel. But hey, who knows.
"Albert Camus wrote that the only serious question is whether to kill yourself or not. Tom Robbins wrote that the only serious question is whether time has a beginning and an end. Camus clearly got up on the wrong side of the bed and Robbins must have forgotten to set the alarm. There is only one serious question. and that is: Who knows how to make love stay? Answer me that and I will tell you whether or not to kill yourself."  
-Still Life with the Woodpecker

The Daddy of the Swinging, Psychedelic Generation:

JACK KEROVAC. I was supposed to post once I reached 150 pages, but I just finished it instead. This book, The Dharma Bums, was wonderful. Overall, I thought it was stellar but it was very difficult to get into at first. The beginning was hard for me to really feel like I was apart of and get in the mindset where I just can't stop reading. BUT I did eventually reach that point in the book and whenever I wasn't reading, I craved it. (like how I jokingly said in the previous post that I suffer withdrawal) That's how I usually am about reading and when I really get into books, though. One aspect of the book that I was fond of, was the fact that the plot wasn't entirely unyielding. The plot is so simple yet he takes his time to get through it. Jack Kerovac portrays himself through the main character and narrator of the book, Ray Smith. He is a young man who decides that traveling and hitch-hiking through the U.S is the only way to go. Ray constantly found himself in nature contemplating life along with his close friend, Japhy Ryder. To me I found it uplifting and the characters in it worked well together. The book takes place in nature most of the time and along the journeys that Ray takes. The plot ended with Ray in a wild fire watch tower up in the top of the mountains, which was a great place for him in the middle of nature and surrounded by nothing but mother earth. The word Dharma in the title refers to Buddhist idea of happiness where happiness is a state of mind. Towards the end Ray starts to reach this Dharma and feel at one with the Earth. He realizes nothing is really what it is and everything is no-thing until we say or are told it is; every thing is empty. It's a hard idea to put into words unless you are open minded and permissive to deep thoughts and Buddhist beliefs. I could connect to this book in a lot of different ways. A lot of it pertains to my Buddhist background and my love for nature. If I could, I'd live the life he did, but now days you can't just hitch a ride to somewhere and hop on trains. Too bad, right? Sounds like the life to me. "The Dharma can't be lost, nothing can be lost on a wellworn path. People have good hearts whether or not they live like Dharma Bums. Compassion is the heart of Buddhism."

Spent my first friday of 2012 with The Dharma Bums.

I can't put this book down. Well, I suppose that isn't entirely true because right now, in this very moment, I am typing my first post and listening to The Warlocks. (A new band I discovered within the last few days that I've grown fond of.) I will post later on this week once I reach my 150 page goal. Which should be soon because I practically suffer withdrawal when I am not reading this book.

I've always loved to read. I'm sure tons of people say that and don't really live up to it, but I really do. I have a vivid imagination so reading helps me to use it and I can almost physically feel myself getting so into the book that I see the word that's in text. I can easily put myself in the characters situation and feel the setting. BUT I am picky about what I read. If I can't get into the book, it's hard for me to focus and I find myself reading lines over and over again and still not understanding the plot. I love buying books. My parents like that I do but sometimes I go over board with it. When most people go on vacations, they buy t-shirts or coffee mugs from where they go, but I always seem to find myself in a local bookstore scoping out sales. I'm real big on local too. I try to stay away from the big, name brand book stores, and just big names in general. I grew up in Montessori education so I found myself spending more time reading than doing my required work, but it never became a problem. Reading was an entirely a positive experience for me, sometimes it was just hard to find the time to read. The only problem I really encountered was when we were assigned books in school that I didn't like, it was nearly impossible for me to understand simply because I had no interest in it. When I was younger I loved harry potter but most of the books I read were historic fiction or paranormal. I still like those now but I've more gravitated towards 'finding yourself' or biographies. Sometimes reading a biography on someone I look up to can really change how I feel about them since I am understanding who they truly are rather than the perfect picture painted by fame. It's hard to explain my literary tendencies because they're all over the place. I don't like pop-lit, chick-lit, fairy tales or sci-fi though. I think it's mostly because I can't connect to them and I like realism and depth in my books. I'm not a real social person so reading kind of makes me feel like I'm not just an empty vessel. Sort of like, it takes me somewhere when I'm really in the comfort of somewhere else. When it rains I love to sit on my porch and read. Best feeling in the world. I think the certain books I so read, help to form who I am only because I don't like those popular kid, rude, bad influence books that seem to be popular now. I try to stay realistic and positive with everything I read even if the realism is a bit deep. Reading is the best form of entertainment if I'm stuck indoors and they're awesome for when I'm traveling because they're easy to carry.