Too Much Information...
Too much Myspacing not enough Toasteewebing. Sorry for the lack of updates, guys. There isn’t much to report, but I’m sure I can scrape up something for you faithful readers.
I’ve got my reading list for October, November, and December. If you want to follow along with me (which I encourage) then you can check out the list at the bottom of the page.
I have also got the list made out for January, February, and March made out, but I’ll save that for later. And since March is my birthday month I went a little crazy with my book choices. Maybe not crazy to most…well…all of you, but they are books I have been itching to read for some time now. If you need or want a reminder of the Summer Reading List or you just want to keep tabs on my progress then you can check that out too at the bottom. Just a blip: I loved The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. It was an awesome book. I’ll be posting some book reviews once I get around to actually finishing them. Stay tuned.
My mild obsession with BBC America has resulted in me following the course of three shows: Jekyll, Doctor Who, and How Clean Is Your House?. As some of you may be able to tell by the title, Jekyll is a spin off of a classic short story by Robert Louis Stevenson about battling inner demons. The one Tom Jackman (played by James Nesbitt) thinks that he is just an ordinary man living an ordinary life until his life starts to take some very odd turns. The series begins right in the middle of Dr. Jackman’s turmoil of battling his dangerous alter-ego, Mr. Hyde (also played by James Nesbitt. Don’t be fooled though, it can be convincing what makeup artists these days can do to make one person look like two different individuals). Like the short story by Stevenson, Dr. Jackman lives a double life. The only problem is that he doesn’t know what the other half of his life consists of. When Dr. Jackman figures out that when he falls asleep or lets his temper run away with him, Mr. Hyde takes over their shared body (though there is a noticeable difference in the appearance of the two characters). Jackman tries everything to keep the child like narcissistic murderer from wreaking havoc on his beloved wife and children. The battle rages between them as the dark tries to devour the light and the light tries to rid itself of the dark, but what neither of them know is the depth of deception that they both live in. As the series goes on secrets about their origins and life are revealed and they find out that they are being hunted and watched by an organization that has been in control of their life from the beginning.
I teetered on the edge of liking and hating this series many times. It isn’t a program I would recommend. It was an interesting concept, I will give writer Steve Moffat that much credit, but I felt that it shamed Stevenson’s original work. No justice was served to The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and over all the series was a disappointment. I only followed it because I was intrigued and wanted to see where it would end up.
Now I must be honest with you, I did not go crazy over Doctor Who because I happened to see an episode on BBC. I actually hardly ever watch it on BBC America. I heard bits and pieces about this Doctor Who shows from Thinkgeek.com, commercials on the Sci-Fi network, and finally on Netflix.com. The first time I saw Doctor Who it was on my computer using my sister’s Netflix account and their new online movie viewing program. There was an add for a Doctor Who series and I finally said fine, I’ll watch it. Wow! I got sucked in in no time. At first I was simply oblivious to the shows’ history and details as I sat there with my eyes fixed to my computer monitor. My first emotion connected with this cult classic was confusion. You see, the speakers I have for my computer are rather old and don’t turn up very loudly. That combined with the British accents made understanding monologue and dialogue very tricky and difficult. Before I knew what was going on there were plastic manikins chasing a girl through a garage at a department store and a strange man running around saying something about being “the Doctor” and running for your life. Needles to say, for the first twenty-five minutes of my introduction to this show full of aliens and “Living Plastic” I was not very impressed, but then I repositioned myself closer to the speakers and gave my imagination over to The Doctor and the young girl named Rose. I went away from that first episode a changed television viewer. My father said that he thinks Doctor Who is one of those shows that you have to watch for a while to really get into and after he said that he looked at me to see if I agreed. I smiled and turned my head away because as soon as those end credits started playing and that theme song along with them, I knew I had just sold my soul to the devil, or at least to The Doctor.
The BBC cult classic, Doctor Who, has been airing since 1963 and has received a place in the Guinness World Records as the longest running science fiction television series in the world. The series features time travel, aliens, and science. What isn’t there to love (especially if you’re me)?
The Doctor (played over the years by a total of ten different actors) is a smart and witty alien whose entire species, save for him, was wiped out along with their strongest enemy the Daleks in the great Time War. Because of the obliteration of his species, the Doctor suffers from extreme loneliness on his ventures through time and space in his ship, the T.A.R.D.I.S. So to help ease the lonely pain of being a Time Lord, the Doctor picks up humans who want to be his companions through his travel in time correcting wrongs and giving a helping hand when one is needed. Being a Time Lord isn’t easy even with the companionship of humans. A Time Lord may look human, but looks really are only skin deep. Underneath the human skin are two hearts and a secret to living as close to forever as any species can get. The series Doctor Who has lived on for so long is because it is a perfect show to carry out. Whenever The Doctor (whomever is playing him at the time) is about to die he is transformed into a new being by assuming a different body, though all are human. And with the companions being human themselves it is easy enough to dispose of one character and bring in another. After all, the Doctor is over nine hundred years old himself so there is bound to be some kind of turn over in his companions.
Sure, the ten actors over the years have all played the same character, but each man brings something different to the Doctor’s personality and because the majority of Doctor Who fans are very loyal to their first Doctor (as am I) it is difficult to get used to the new face with every regeneration that takes place.
I will miss you Christopher Eccleston. All of us ninth Doctor junkies will miss you.
As far as my mild obsession with How Clean Is Your House? goes, well, let’s just say that my room and three of my friend’s rooms are very very clean.
So you have finally reached the end of this BLOG! Congratulations. Like I said earlier, I posted some booklists at the bottom of this post so feel free to check those out.
Some Things to Look Forward too in my Next Post
Updates on website development
School for this year
And oh, oh, oh Christmas List
Booklists
June -
(13th-20th)
The Children of Hurin by J.R.R. Tolkien edited by Christopher Tolkien
Number of pages - 259
Number of chapters - 18
Chapters to read per day - 2-3
(21st-30th)
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
Number of pages - 152
Number of chapters - 25
Chapters to read per day - 2-3
July -
(1st-10th)
The Last Sin Eater by Francine Rivers
Number of pages - 324
Number of chapters- 23
Chapters to read per day - 2-3
(11th-20th)
Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
Number of pages - 185
Number of chapters - 32
Chapters to read per day - 2-3
(21st-30th)
Saint by Ted Dekker
Number of pages - 345
Number of chapters - 44
Chapters to read per day - 4-5
August -
(1st-10th)
Android at Arms by Andre Norton
Number of pages - 288
Number of chapters – 18
Chapters to read per day – 2-3
(11th-20th)
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Number of pages - 203
Number of chapters - 24
Chapters to read per day - 2-3
(21st-30th)
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Number of pages - 359
Number of chapters - 27
Chapters to read per day - 2-3
September -
(1st-10th)
The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
Number of pages – 222
Number of chapters – 26 + Epilogue
Chapters to read per day – 2-3
(11th-20th)
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Number of pages – 231
Number of chapters – 20
Chapters to read per day – 2
(21st-30th)
The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
Number of pages – 168
Number of chapters – 10
Extras -
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Number of pages - 180
Number of chapters – 9
Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling
Number of pages - 165
Number of chapters (stories) – 12
Sea Siege by Andre Norton
Number of pages – 221
Number of chapters – 9
Showdown by Ted Dekker
Number of pages – 366
Number of chapters – 52
October –
(1st-30th)
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Number of pages – 603
Chapters – 135 + Epilogue
Chapters to read per day – 4-5
November –
(1st-30th)
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
Number of pages – 632
Chapters – 67 + Epilogue
Chapters to read per day – 2-3
December-
(1st-31st)
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo
Number of pages – 505
Pages to read per day - 100
January –
(1st-10th)
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Number of pages – 191
Number of chapters – 34
Chapters to read per day – 3-4
(11th-20th)
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Number of pages – 192
Number of chapters – 24
Chapters to read per day – 2-3
(21st-30th)
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
Number of pages – 195
Number of chapters – 30
Chapters to read per day – 3
February–
(1st-10th)
Obsessed by Ted Dekker
Number of pages – 495 + Epilogue
Number of chapters – 52
Chapters to read per day – 5-6
(11th-20th)
A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
Number of pages – 268
Number of chapters – 37
Chapters to read per day – 3-4
(21st-30th)
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
Number of pages – 429
Number of chapters – 4-5
March-
(1st-10th)
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Number of pages – 139
Number of chapters – 10
Number of chapters to read per day - 1
(11th-20th)
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Number of pages – 214
Number of chapters – 26
Chapters to read per day – 2-3
(21st-31st)
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Number of pages – 202 + Notes
Number of chapters – 12
Chapters to read per day – 1-2
Extras –
Call of the Wild + White Fang by Jack London
Number of pages – 225
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Number of pages – 217 + Notes and Afterword
I’ve got my reading list for October, November, and December. If you want to follow along with me (which I encourage) then you can check out the list at the bottom of the page.
I have also got the list made out for January, February, and March made out, but I’ll save that for later. And since March is my birthday month I went a little crazy with my book choices. Maybe not crazy to most…well…all of you, but they are books I have been itching to read for some time now. If you need or want a reminder of the Summer Reading List or you just want to keep tabs on my progress then you can check that out too at the bottom. Just a blip: I loved The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. It was an awesome book. I’ll be posting some book reviews once I get around to actually finishing them. Stay tuned.
My mild obsession with BBC America has resulted in me following the course of three shows: Jekyll, Doctor Who, and How Clean Is Your House?. As some of you may be able to tell by the title, Jekyll is a spin off of a classic short story by Robert Louis Stevenson about battling inner demons. The one Tom Jackman (played by James Nesbitt) thinks that he is just an ordinary man living an ordinary life until his life starts to take some very odd turns. The series begins right in the middle of Dr. Jackman’s turmoil of battling his dangerous alter-ego, Mr. Hyde (also played by James Nesbitt. Don’t be fooled though, it can be convincing what makeup artists these days can do to make one person look like two different individuals). Like the short story by Stevenson, Dr. Jackman lives a double life. The only problem is that he doesn’t know what the other half of his life consists of. When Dr. Jackman figures out that when he falls asleep or lets his temper run away with him, Mr. Hyde takes over their shared body (though there is a noticeable difference in the appearance of the two characters). Jackman tries everything to keep the child like narcissistic murderer from wreaking havoc on his beloved wife and children. The battle rages between them as the dark tries to devour the light and the light tries to rid itself of the dark, but what neither of them know is the depth of deception that they both live in. As the series goes on secrets about their origins and life are revealed and they find out that they are being hunted and watched by an organization that has been in control of their life from the beginning.
I teetered on the edge of liking and hating this series many times. It isn’t a program I would recommend. It was an interesting concept, I will give writer Steve Moffat that much credit, but I felt that it shamed Stevenson’s original work. No justice was served to The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and over all the series was a disappointment. I only followed it because I was intrigued and wanted to see where it would end up.
Now I must be honest with you, I did not go crazy over Doctor Who because I happened to see an episode on BBC. I actually hardly ever watch it on BBC America. I heard bits and pieces about this Doctor Who shows from Thinkgeek.com, commercials on the Sci-Fi network, and finally on Netflix.com. The first time I saw Doctor Who it was on my computer using my sister’s Netflix account and their new online movie viewing program. There was an add for a Doctor Who series and I finally said fine, I’ll watch it. Wow! I got sucked in in no time. At first I was simply oblivious to the shows’ history and details as I sat there with my eyes fixed to my computer monitor. My first emotion connected with this cult classic was confusion. You see, the speakers I have for my computer are rather old and don’t turn up very loudly. That combined with the British accents made understanding monologue and dialogue very tricky and difficult. Before I knew what was going on there were plastic manikins chasing a girl through a garage at a department store and a strange man running around saying something about being “the Doctor” and running for your life. Needles to say, for the first twenty-five minutes of my introduction to this show full of aliens and “Living Plastic” I was not very impressed, but then I repositioned myself closer to the speakers and gave my imagination over to The Doctor and the young girl named Rose. I went away from that first episode a changed television viewer. My father said that he thinks Doctor Who is one of those shows that you have to watch for a while to really get into and after he said that he looked at me to see if I agreed. I smiled and turned my head away because as soon as those end credits started playing and that theme song along with them, I knew I had just sold my soul to the devil, or at least to The Doctor.
The BBC cult classic, Doctor Who, has been airing since 1963 and has received a place in the Guinness World Records as the longest running science fiction television series in the world. The series features time travel, aliens, and science. What isn’t there to love (especially if you’re me)?
The Doctor (played over the years by a total of ten different actors) is a smart and witty alien whose entire species, save for him, was wiped out along with their strongest enemy the Daleks in the great Time War. Because of the obliteration of his species, the Doctor suffers from extreme loneliness on his ventures through time and space in his ship, the T.A.R.D.I.S. So to help ease the lonely pain of being a Time Lord, the Doctor picks up humans who want to be his companions through his travel in time correcting wrongs and giving a helping hand when one is needed. Being a Time Lord isn’t easy even with the companionship of humans. A Time Lord may look human, but looks really are only skin deep. Underneath the human skin are two hearts and a secret to living as close to forever as any species can get. The series Doctor Who has lived on for so long is because it is a perfect show to carry out. Whenever The Doctor (whomever is playing him at the time) is about to die he is transformed into a new being by assuming a different body, though all are human. And with the companions being human themselves it is easy enough to dispose of one character and bring in another. After all, the Doctor is over nine hundred years old himself so there is bound to be some kind of turn over in his companions.
Sure, the ten actors over the years have all played the same character, but each man brings something different to the Doctor’s personality and because the majority of Doctor Who fans are very loyal to their first Doctor (as am I) it is difficult to get used to the new face with every regeneration that takes place.
I will miss you Christopher Eccleston. All of us ninth Doctor junkies will miss you.
As far as my mild obsession with How Clean Is Your House? goes, well, let’s just say that my room and three of my friend’s rooms are very very clean.
So you have finally reached the end of this BLOG! Congratulations. Like I said earlier, I posted some booklists at the bottom of this post so feel free to check those out.
Some Things to Look Forward too in my Next Post
Booklists
June -
(13th-20th)
Number of pages - 259
Number of chapters - 18
Chapters to read per day - 2-3
(21st-30th)
Number of pages - 152
Number of chapters - 25
Chapters to read per day - 2-3
July -
(1st-10th)
Number of pages - 324
Number of chapters- 23
Chapters to read per day - 2-3
(11th-20th)
Number of pages - 185
Number of chapters - 32
Chapters to read per day - 2-3
(21st-30th)
Number of pages - 345
Number of chapters - 44
Chapters to read per day - 4-5
August -
(1st-10th)
Number of pages - 288
Number of chapters – 18
Chapters to read per day – 2-3
(11th-20th)
Number of pages - 203
Number of chapters - 24
Chapters to read per day - 2-3
(21st-30th)
Number of pages - 359
Number of chapters - 27
Chapters to read per day - 2-3
September -
(1st-10th)
The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
Number of pages – 222
Number of chapters – 26 + Epilogue
Chapters to read per day – 2-3
(11th-20th)
Number of pages – 231
Number of chapters – 20
Chapters to read per day – 2
(21st-30th)
Number of pages – 168
Number of chapters – 10
Extras -
Number of pages - 180
Number of chapters – 9
Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling
Number of pages - 165
Number of chapters (stories) – 12
Sea Siege by Andre Norton
Number of pages – 221
Number of chapters – 9
Number of pages – 366
Number of chapters – 52
October –
(1st-30th)
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Number of pages – 603
Chapters – 135 + Epilogue
Chapters to read per day – 4-5
November –
(1st-30th)
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
Number of pages – 632
Chapters – 67 + Epilogue
Chapters to read per day – 2-3
December-
(1st-31st)
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo
Number of pages – 505
Pages to read per day - 100
January –
(1st-10th)
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Number of pages – 191
Number of chapters – 34
Chapters to read per day – 3-4
(11th-20th)
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Number of pages – 192
Number of chapters – 24
Chapters to read per day – 2-3
(21st-30th)
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
Number of pages – 195
Number of chapters – 30
Chapters to read per day – 3
February–
(1st-10th)
Obsessed by Ted Dekker
Number of pages – 495 + Epilogue
Number of chapters – 52
Chapters to read per day – 5-6
(11th-20th)
A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
Number of pages – 268
Number of chapters – 37
Chapters to read per day – 3-4
(21st-30th)
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
Number of pages – 429
Number of chapters – 4-5
March-
(1st-10th)
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Number of pages – 139
Number of chapters – 10
Number of chapters to read per day - 1
(11th-20th)
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Number of pages – 214
Number of chapters – 26
Chapters to read per day – 2-3
(21st-31st)
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Number of pages – 202 + Notes
Number of chapters – 12
Chapters to read per day – 1-2
Extras –
Call of the Wild + White Fang by Jack London
Number of pages – 225
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Number of pages – 217 + Notes and Afterword
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home