Susan And Helena

I know our whole A Midsummer Night's Dream unit is almost to an end but I just had to make this connection. Today I saw the new movie Monsters VS Aliens and Reese Witherspoon's character Susan totally struck me as Helena in the beginning of the movie. Susan is a normal woman from Modesto, California and she is engaged to the local weatherman, Derek. On the day of her wedding she is hit by a meteor and ends up growing like really abnormally tall. She is then captured by the government and put in this secret facility where only "monsters" go so the world doesn't find out about them. Throughout Susan's whole imprisonment the thing that keeps her sane is thinking about Derek. Once Susan is allowed to visit her friends and family she is really excited to see Derek, but when she gets home she finds out that he is working. When she goes to see him, he gives her a rain check (don't you like my weatherman humor?) and tells her that he can't marry her because it would ruin his image as a perfect weatherman. Susan learns the only reason that Derek loved her was because she wasn't out shining him. In some ways Susan and Helena are alike because they are both oblivious to reality and that the one they love doesn't truly love them. If you've seen the movie what are your thoughts? Even if you haven't seen the movie but you still see comparisons or differences between the two characters from my description, comment! 

So Far?

So far how do you feel about the movie A Midsummer Night's Dream? Do you think Calista Flockhart does a good job grasping the psychotic, desperate character of Helena? How about Dominic West playing Lysander? Do you think he acts like a hopeless romantic or do you think he doesn't portray Lysander the way you pictured him? Everyone knows Christian Bale from The Dark Knight, do you think it's weird to see him play Demetrius or do you think he jumps into the character without your mind popping to Batman? Do you think Stanley Tucci catches Puck's mischievous character? All these burning questions probably were answered in 1999, but what's your opinion? Do you think Rupert Everett's character Oberon acts like he's too much in love with Michelle Pfeiffer's character Titania in the beginning when they are discussing the little boy? (the only question that might not have even been brought up was Christian Bale playing Batman)  

Rosalie: ONLY IF YOU READ ECLIPSE!!!

Okay so I know a lot of people dislike Rosalie because she is a totally mean to Bella, but in Eclipse you learn more about Rosalie's past and why she is the way she is towards Bella. I was wondering how you felt about Rosalie after reading about her story. Did you feel bad for Rosalie or did you still feel the same way? I felt bad for her and I didn't hate her as much anymore because it wasn't like she hated Bella for no reason but because she was jealous. Tell me what you think... 

Act 5: A Midsummer Night's Dream

In Act 5, Theseus and Hippoyta are married and so are Demitrius and Helena, and Lysander and Hermia. Philostrate gives Hippolyta and Theseus the option of their entertainment and they decide to choose "a tedious short drama about young Pyramus and his love Thisbe, a very sad and tragic comedy." which stars the working men of Athens. The play goes on and it ends up entertaining the audience enough for them to be captivated and have funny comments throughout the play. In between the lines of the actors they would sometimes get out of character and explain what they were doing but that's okay because no one got executed! At the very end of the play Robin (puck) comes out and tells the real audience (us) that all of this never happened and it was all a dream.  

Act 4: A Midsummer Night's Dream

In Act 4,  Hermia, Helena, Demetrius, and Lysander all wake up to see that Theseus, Hippolyta, Egeus, and other Athenians are in the forest were they fell asleep. They all have a discussion on how Lysander is in love with Hermia while Demetrius is in love with Helena. Theseus understands that Demetrius doesn't love Hermia anymore so he forgets about Egeus' wishes to force them together. Theseus invite the two couples to get married at Theseus and Hippolyta's wedding. 

Titania and Bottom fall asleep and Oberon sprinkles the "unlove juice" on both of them. Titania wakes up thinking it is a dream and her and Oberon end up coming to the conclusion that they really do love each other. They also realize that the only thing that was putting a strain on their love was the Indian prince, and because that issue was "fixed" they could move on. Bottom wakes up and talks to himself about his awful vivid dream he had. He goes on and on about how indescribable it was, he leaves the forest to find his friends.  

The Tables Have Turned

Check this video out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk1MANaha9k&feature=channel_page  

It is very corny but I think that it totally fits what just happened in Act 3 Scene 3 of A Midsummer Night's Dream. In the beginning of the scene Demetrius was feeling hurt because Hermia didn't love him, in fact she hated him, just like how Helena was feeling about Demetrius. Then Lysander and Demetrius were head over heels for Helena and Hermia was the "ugly" one of the two girls, just like how in the beginning Helena was the"ugly" one. When you think about it reverse roles are coming into play and "the tables have turned".

Act 3 Summary: A Midsummer Night's Dream

In Act 3, Scene 1 Puck finds the craftsmen in the woods and is disgusted with how awful their attempt at putting on the play of Pyramus and Thisbe. Puck turns Bottom's head into a donkey's head. Once all of the other craftsmen see Bottom's head they run away thinking he is some kind of a monster. Bottom is oblivious to the fact that his head has been turned into a donkey's head. So he thinks they are all playing a joke on him. After the craftsmen have all ran away (except for Bottom) Titania wakes up and sees Bottom and falls madly in love with him (all thanks to Oberon sprinkling the "love juice" on her while she was asleep). Bottom begins to enjoy the affection Titania shows him because she is giving him servants and compliments every two seconds. 

In Act 3, Scene 3 Oberon realizes that Puck has made the mistake of sprinkling the "love juice" on the wrong man. Puck and Oberon then take a step back and watch as Puck's mistake turns into a tragedy. Hermia starts to accuse Demetrius of murdering Lysander because she has yet to find him anywhere, after he left her in the forest alone. Hermia leaves Demetrius in anger and Demetrius falls asleep. Puck sprinkles "love juice" on Demetrius to try and fix his mistake. When Demetrius wakes up he sees Helena who then he falls in love with. Helena is running away from Lysander. Once the three of them are all together Helena believes that both Lysander and Demetrius are playing a trick on her because she is "ugly". Then Hermia comes to get Lysander and she starts to act clueless to what is happening. Helena also thinks that Hermia is in on the joke. Hermia and Helena start to argue. After that Lysander and Demetrius leave to battle for Helena, while Hermia's heart has just been crushed. Oberon orders Puck to drag them far away from each other so he can fix Puck's mistake. Puck tires out both of the men causing them both to fall asleep, then Oberon sprinkles "love juice" on Demetrius and "unlove juice" on Lysander. All in the hopes that things will end up the way they are supposed to be. Helena and Hermia fall asleep in the forest too because everyone is too lost to find their way back to Athens and it is too dark. 

I predict that everyone will wake up and they will all think it was a dream hence the name. The only question I have is what do you think will happen if Demetrius loves Helena, will Egeus still force Hermia and him to wed? What do you think?

Is Rosalie Really Like Bottom?

Okay, so today in Language Arts class, Mr. Gallo asked us if we could think of any other characters from books or movies that remind us of the character Bottom from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Immediately my hand and Sarene's hand goes up and we look at each other both knowing what character we are thinking of, Rosalie Hale, from the Twilight saga. Now that was just a quick reaction but when you think about it Rosalie is self centered, but she has a reason for being obnoxious towards Bella (I won't explain it because if you haven't read Eclipse yet this would spoil it). Bottom on the other hand has no reasoning or none that we know of to be obnoxious towards everyone. This is just what I think, but what do you think, are Bottom and Rosalie alike or not alike, do they have some similar character traits? 

Summary of Act 2: A Midsummer Night's Dream

In Act 2, Scene 1 we learn about the relationship between the King and Queen of the fairies, Oberon and Titania. Both have a strong dislike towards the other and they fight over almost everything. The most recent fight they are having is over the Indian baby that Titania took with her because his mother died and Titania was good friends with her. Oberon sees the baby as someone who would be a good asset to his guard. Titania disagrees and wants the baby to have nothing to do with Oberon. Oberon comes up with a plan to use "love juice" from a flower that was shot by cupid's arrow, to make Titania fall in love with someone to keep her distracted so he can take the boy for his guard. Oberon also sees Helena and Demitrius in the woods fighting; and once Oberon sees how poorly Demitrius treats Helena he sends Puck (his jester) to sprinkle some of the "love juice" onto Demitrius' eyes so he can fall in love with Helena. When Oberon gives the directions to Puck he is extremely vague and does not tell Puck exactly what humans to sprinkle the "love juice" on, so Puck can end up putting it on the wrong humans.

In Act 2, Scene 2 Oberon sprinkles the "love juice" on Titania as she is asleep. Then when Puck finds Hermia and Lysander in the woods sleeping he thinks it is the two humans Oberon was talking about so he sprinkles the "love juice" on Lysander. After that Helena finds Lysander in the woods and she doesn't know if he is dead or alive so she wakes him up and he immediately falls in love with her. When Lysander starts to declare his love for Helena she thinks he is making fun of her, so she runs off deeper in the woods to find Demitrius. Meanwhile  Hermia wakes up after a bad dream and hopes to find Lysander near by but doesn't so she starts to look for him not knowing that he has fallen out of love with her. 

I really enjoyed these two acts because it seems like this is the rising action , I am super excited to see what happens next! Plus I got to play Helena today, finally and it was fun! Does anyone have any predictions of what might happen next?

Least Favorite? Parallels?

Ok so a lot of blogs have been asking you who your favorite character from A Midsummer Night's Dream is, well I am asking you this: who is your least favorite character and why? I am pretty sure we have all read parts of every single character so it should be easy to know how they act around their opposite characters. Also you know how Mr. Gallo has been talking about a theme in the book being parallels, well what are some parallels that you are interested in learning more about and why?

Summary of Act 1: A Midsummer Night's Dream

In Act 1, Scene 1 we find out that Theseus and Hippolyta are getting married in four days (on the new moon). Theseus has also given a deadline to Hermia of his wedding to make her decision whether or not she wants to marry the guy that her father, Egeus, has told her to marry, who is Demitrius. If Hermia has decided she doesn't want to marry Demitrius then Theseus will either kill her or turn her into a nun. The thing stopping Hermia from obeying her father is the fact that she is in love with Lysander. Lysander comes up with a plan that him and Hermia will run away at midnight the next day into the forest and elope a couple of miles outside of Athens at Lysander's Aunt's house. Hermia tells her frenemy Helena of the romantic plan, but Helena still being mad at Hermia for "stealing" Helena's one true love, Demitrius, away from her comes up with the plan that she will tell Demitrius of Hermia and Lysander's plan to runaway. Helena hopes that Demitrius will be so grateful that Helena told him of this plan that he will want her back.

In Act 1, Scene 2 we learn that some of the middle class workers of Athens will be putting on a show at Theseus and Hippolyta's wedding. Quince (the carpenter) is the director of the show and will also be playing the part of Thisbe's father. Bottom (the weaver) has been given the role of Pyramus and he has also shown that he is a very scrambled and bossy character. Flute (the bellows repairman) has the role of Thisbe. Flute will have to talk in a high pitched voice because he is playing the part of a young woman in love. Starveling (the tailor) is going to be Thisbe's mother in the play. Snout (the handyman) will play Pyramus's father. Snug (the cabinetmaker) will play the part of the lion. Snug is afraid that his roar will scare the women of the audience and that could get everyone in the play executed. Bottom has made it clear that he believes he can do each part better than everyone else. Quince has set the first play practice to be the next night in the forest a couple of miles away from town. 

I predict that Helena's plan to win Demitrius back will backfire, while the cast of the play will run into Hermia and Lysander as they are trying to runaway and that will create some problems. What do you think will happen in Act 2?

Love Conquers All?

Okay so I am loving A Midsummer Night's Dream, are you? The hopeless romantic in this story is Lysander. He is just encouraging Hermia that she shouldn't worry about what happens because he knows that love will conquer all. Now I might be wrong but I think that Lysander reminds me of Romeo from Romeo and Juliet. Lysander also reminds me of Edward Cullen. All three have some sort of forbidden love. 

Romeo is in love with Juliet who is from an opposing families. They are basically "star-crossed" lovers. In the end their love brings them both to die, but it is one the most famous love story in history. Lysander is in love with Hermia, but her father wants her to marry someone else. Lysander knows how forbidden love goes and (as much we know) he has set up the perfect scenery to run away, at midnight in the forest, so romantic? Then there is Edward Cullen who is in love with Bella. Their love is not forbidden in the sense that their families do not approve (even though there is Charlie and Rosalie who are both working against them at one point) its they come from different worlds. Edward is a vampire and Bella is a human. Basically the part that is forbidden is that Bella would have to give up everything to be with Edward. 

So all of you probably knew all of that, but its nice to be reminded. Do you think that these three leading characters in three great love stories are alike? Or are they nothing alike? 

King Henry V

King Henry V 

Arrogant, Immature, Powerful, Naive 

Son of King Henry IV

His Entourage include, Bardolf, Nym, and Pistol

Who loves Princess Katherine of France, 

the idea of conquering France, and his country

Who feels that France should belong to him

Who needs the help of his soldiers to take over France

Who fears that Katherine will not love him, 

that he will lose the battle against France, 

and that he will fail to prove that he is a good king

Who gives good pep talks, love to Katherine, 

and a leader to his army

Who would like to see France in his control, 

who would not like to see Katherine's heart with another man, 

and who would like to see Katherine happy with him

Resident of England

Edward Cullen?

ATTENTION: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS AND FACTS FROM ALL FOUR OF THE TWILIGHT BOOKS!

Okay, I was thinking about Edward Cullen (big surprise I know) and there are a lot of weird things that I've never questioned came to mind. When he left Bella and told her that she would get over him, did he really think that she would? I mean she loved him just as much maybe even more than he did. I also thought that deep down inside Bella was destined to be a vampire, so its like her feeling of loving him can never go away just the same with him. Another thing is that he always doubts Bella especially when she says she's strong enough to handle things. He expects her and a lot of the other women characters in the book to be really fragile and I think that shows that Edward is kind of sexist. There are also good sides to him too just like anyone but I don't really want to type them because most of it would be me babbling about how amazing he is. Does anyone agree or disagree with me?  Photo Provided by:http://www.flickr.com/photos/ordeman/2831162566/ 

Depressing Books!

After reading Twilight I am so not happy to read other books because they all seem like not good enough. Does anyone know of any amazing books that would be worth reading? Right now I am reading some book that is like a knockoff of Twilight called Dreamland. Its not very interesting...

A PINK DOLPHIN!!!

Look at how cool this is! This is a real dolphin and it's pink! The reason for it being pink is because it's albino. If only the book The Island of the Blue Dolphin was The Island of the Pink Dolphin, it would so much more interesting of a book. 

New Books?

Does anyone know any good books that would be worth reading? I like books that are like interesting, if that makes sense? Or like a book like Twilight. Picture Provided by: http://www.flickr.com/photos/anthonylibrarian/2497419895/