spaceace12 Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 The Shamwow infomercial (2 minute version) ran during the newscast tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerd.muller Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 ^^ ...too much toxic 19th century wax poetic and asbestos ceiling makes little boys say funny things!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
holyblakbelt Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 I just went to a pepfest with no pep. It was just a fest. The music cut out twice and the seniors (us) had the most pep, which barely was more than the others. I could closely but loosely compare it to the music video to Smells Like Teen Spirit. At least they did the Royalcoaster! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebl Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 ^ A pepless pep fest isn't very festive. Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerd.muller Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 Toxic 19th century wax poetic overdose! ...isn´t that a funny word? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kumba830 Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 I just had one of the best tuna sandwiches to ever enter my esophagus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jds03 Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 esophagus is also a funny word. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kumba830 Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 Speaking of esophagus's...I watched my friend cut one out of a cat at school today! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebl Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 ^ Bet that was the cat's meow... Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerd.muller Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 ...what´s better than a cat without a esophagus? A cat without a esophagus in a clown costume! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spaceace12 Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 Bought a Wii on Friday. Played it a few times on the weekend, now I shuld have used the money I used on the wii for what it was for. Bills and a mini vacation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerd.muller Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 ^ The same happened to me, bought a Wii and a Wii Fit Bundle, used 4-5 times, now it´s a very decorative element near the TV Screen that waits to be put on ebay. But I have to admit, the blue light of the CD-slot is very reassuring. The same was the fact when I bought a PS2 some Years ago, I thought I hardly needed one, because one of my buddies had one and I was adiccted to Gran Tourismo 2. But when I had it at home, it bored me after a couple of days. Now the PS2 earns its money as DVD-player in our Guest-room. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kennyweird Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 I'm coming down with something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jds03 Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 I'm going to post my English paper here because this topic is about randomness and pointlessness!!! Josh Sehnert 2/16/09 Use of Juxtaposition in The Trip Back In Robert Butler’s short story, The Trip Back, the narrator of the story, Mr. Khanh, and his grandfather-in-law, Mr. Chinh, take a long, uncomfortable car ride home from the airport, during which the short but important interactions between the two cause the narrator to acquire a stronger understanding of himself. In order to convey this process in depth, Butler let the narrator take readers into his thought process to show how the seemingly insignificant moments of interaction lead to his epiphanies at the end of the story. However, in order to lead into this commentary, a story line that would trigger it is needed. By placing the narrator, an Americanized Vietnamese next to a man of only Vietnamese culture who is suffering from Alzheimer’s, the differences in each other’s memory stand out and can be seen clearer. Butler uses this literary device known as juxtaposition to depict the narrator’s thought process leading to his realization of the Vietnamese traditions he has lost and what remains valuable to him in the present. Mr. Khanh, the narrator, is one of the figures in the juxtaposition of the story. He represents memory that is affected by acculturation, since he is loosing his Vietnamese customs because he has been a resident in America and has adopted the culture “That is the only thought I had, that the food had been ruined. I did not worry about Mr. Chinh or wonder what the matter could really be.” (32) The narrator is concerned over the loss of material possessions and money, instead of worrying about the wellbeing of a family member, which is a strong Vietnamese custom. This quote shows that the narrator is letting a Vietnamese custom fade away in his memory; however the structure of the sentences suggests that he realized he has changed. A more literal realization of letting a Vietnamese custom fades away would be found in the quote “ I found that I myself was no longer comfortable with the old way. Like the extended family. Like other things, too. The Vietnamese indirectness, for instance.” (36) The narrator has become uncomfortable with the custom because he has forgotten it. Because the narrator was placed with Mr. Chinh, he became uncomfortable with him, causing him to discover the extent of his change to an American. “But I say these things not from any vivid recollection, but from a thought in my head, as real only as lines from a travel brochure. I’d left behind me the city on the coast and the sea as well.” (37) The narrator is forgetting his original home, and only can remember that it exists. He forgets the image and the feeling of his home, but he remembers that it is still there. This quote explains the aspects of the narrator’s memory being lost and explores in depth the structure and nature of human memory. Mr. Chinh, however, is the second part of the juxtaposition at work in this parable. He represents memory that has not been affected by acculturation and change in surroundings, but memory that has been altered because of changes in one’s self, such as the development of Alzheimer’s. “My favorite car of all was a Hotchkiss. I had a 1934 Hotchkiss. An Am80 tourer. It was a wonderful car.” (38) Mr. Chinh recalled descriptions of cars in vivid detail, whereas he cannot remember his granddaughter. It shows that the development of Alzheimer’s makes one less connected with the world and more surrounded with themselves and their interests. This aspect of Mr Chinh is a different type of memory loss, which when placed next to the narrator who is losing memory because of acculturation, lets the reader see two aspects of memory loss and its different causes. “But Mr. Chinh could not remember. Worse than that, he was certain that I was wrong.” (40) Mr. Chinh thinks he is correct since he does not know he has memory loss because of Alzheimer’s. He is more certain the narrator is wrong because he views him as an American, not a Vietnamese family member who would strongly know the family heritage. “I could not put my face into the wind and see her eyes as clearly as Mr. Chinh saw the eyes of the rabbits in his headlights”. This quote is important because it compares the narrator to Mr. Chinh. The narrator is still actively connected to the world, and with so many things in his life, he is discovering that not everything can be contained in his memory. Mr. Chinh however only has one connection to the world left, which is his car, and all the remaining memory he has is focused on the particular memory of the Hotchkiss and the rabbits in the headlights. The juxtaposition between the two brings out the differences in their memories, which leads into the narrator’s thoughts. Because of Mr. Chinh the narrator starts to think about the aspects of memory and then starts to explore his own memory, thinking about the differences between being in the presence of his wife and thinking of her from memory. “But separated from her, I could not picture her clearly. I could construct her face accurately in my mind. But the image did not burn there, did not rush upon me and fill me up with the feelings that I genuinely held for her.” (42) The narrator starts to think about what he can remember of his wife during the uncomfortable experience in the car with Mr. Chinh. The car ride triggered his thought process about how he cannot generate the true feelings he has for his wife without being in her presence. “I drew close to my wife, but only briefly did my arm rise and hold her. That was the same as all the other forgotten gestures of my life.” (43) After the narrator realized what his wife meant to him as a result of his experience with Mr. Chinh, he began to cherish her more, and he surprised himself and his wife when he picked her up and gave her a ride on his back. It was apparent that giving his wife rides on his back was something in the past that had helped them bond, and he realized he had almost forgotten the importance of his wife after the ride with Mr. Chinh. When he returns to his wife, realizing what he has lost and what she means to him, he suddenly begins to remember all that he has forgotten of his homeland since he has moved to America. “I felt her breath on the side of my face as warm and moist as the breeze off the South China Sea.” (43) This, the concluding sentence of the story, is important because it shows that the narrator has been taken back to the memories he had forgotten. To a time when they still lived in Vietnam and lived the customs of Vietnamese culture. He earlier mentioned that he only knew his homeland as well as a tour brochure could describe, but after he had the experiences in the car his memories started to come back to him, and with the returning joy he had from his wife also came the true feeling and not just the memory of his homeland. The Trip Back is a perfect example of juxtaposition being used to convey a story’s theme. Butler was clever in his writing to construct the plot line of the story around juxtaposition. Not only does the juxtaposition fit into the plot, but it is the key element to conveying the theme of memory loss and change. The thoughts and commentary of the narrator are what truly give depth to the theme, and his thoughts were a result of juxtaposition. The use of Juxtaposition is the key element in holding The Trip Back together as a work of literature. Butler, Robert Olen. A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain. New York: Henry Holt and Company Inc., 1992. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calicoasters Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Why do the Holiday Reese's Holiday shapes taste so much better than all other Reese's? The Trees (Christmas), Hearts (Valentines Day), and Eggs (Easter)... They need one for every month! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonOfBeastSucks Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Now the PS2 earns its money as DVD-player in our Guest-room. Haha! Thats pretty much all I ever use my Xbox for. My Wii does get a decent amount of use, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaneymon Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 All packed and ready to move to wellington in a couple of days Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
socalMAN123 Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Meowwwwww ---Brent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XII Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Woof Woof Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
socalMAN123 Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Mooooooo? ---Brent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pagemaster_b Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaneymon Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 Right. It's moving day today. Goodbye Levin you will not be missed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebl Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 Today I was behind a Saturn with a license plate frame that read "My Saturn Can Kick Uranus." What he didn't know was that my Honda can run rings around his Saturn... Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrancew_hod Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 I was over my dominatrix friend's house working on her new laptop: Me: It looks like the screen is 17 inches. Miss Laura: Let me check (pulling out measuring tape). Yep it's 17 inches. Me: (Look confused to why she has measuring tape in her room) Miss Laura: Oh. This keeps the men honest when they come over here. I charge them extra for getting my hopes up with their lies. Me: Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebl Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 ^ Too bad hers isn't a metric tape measure that measures in millimetres! Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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