Vampires are so pase

I don't know how to make accent marks on my text.

So, uh, ever since Twilight became popular everyone is freaking out over vampires. I guess they've always been pretty popular but now its kind of ridiculous. Bram Stoker and Anne Rice are famous authors of vampire novels, Nosferatu has been done, Van Helsing, and Hellsing the Japanese manga. . . I could probably go on.

Boy, Nosferatu sure is quite the looker, isn't he?

Stefanie Meyer confessed that she had done no research on vampires before writing Twilight, hence the reason why she made them sparkle in the sunlight and the complete absence of holy water, crucifixes and stakes. That, and most of the vampires in Twilight are extremely good looking and have a special gift/super power, as if surviving on human blood isn't enough. They're also snake-like creatures, because in order to create another vampire they need to inject some sort of venom which takes 3 days to kill the person and "transform," if you will. They also never sleep.

But now others are just making up their own kinds of vampires, like in the HBO series of "True Blood." Its named after like some V8 juice for vampires; so instead of killing people they can just drink artificially made blood in different flavors like A- and O+ (by the way, I don't even know my own blood type :/). They live out in the open in human society and even have a political spokesperson xD. Their fangs are different teeth, too. They do burn up in the sun but crucifixes don't effect them, they can enter a church, garlic doesn't effect them, and they can't enter a person's home without being invited. Apparently people can be addicted to vampire blood, and there's a huge drug trafficking problem. Its almost considered a fad to have sex with a vampire and have them bite you, and you earn the name "fang banger" (lol). And in order for them to create a new vampire, first they drink all of their blood and them bury them in the graveyard where they undergo some chemical reaction with the soil or something, then claw their way back up to the surface. There's also the show "Moonlight" on the Scifi channel. I don't know much about this one, I just saw my mom watching it one day.

I'm just gonna restate the original myth so you guys can see how much its been exaggerated. You could find some sort of vampire myth in almost any culture, but its most popular in European countries, Romania being the most popular. Vlad the Impaler, known as Dracula, was just really freaking violent and was feared for his freaking craziness. It was rumored he was a vampire/son of the devil for this reason, and the claim that he dipped his bread once in human blood and ate it. As for living a ridiculously long time, there could have been an error in translating the dates.

. . . More like "Vlad the asshole," m i rite?

Peter Plogojowitz was popular too, apparently he rose from the dead a few times and was seen by his wife and some neighbors. Apparently he wanted his shoes back :/ They dug up his grave, and I guess what scared people the most and led to claims of vampires was the decomposition process. Nails tend to "grow" after death because the skin recedes, making nails (and hair) look longer. I guess they just expected people to turn to skeletons immediately. They just used vampires as an excuse for things that they couldn't explain at the time. Apparently when they staked Peter's body, he let out a shriek. Here's how: a dead body accumulates gas in the chest cavity. When shoving a stake into him, the gases where thrust into his throat, imitating a shriek-like noise. Needless to say, massive hysteria. http://tinyurl.com/mh56qa

"Oh shit guys wtf was that"

I could go on with the Chinese myth of vampires, but I don't really feel like it. :/ if you want me to I could do an update.

So here were the basic rules:
Vampires weaknesses included: garlic, silver, sunlight, wooden stakes, being burned, being cremated, being decapitated, holy water and holy grounds,the and inability to enter a home on their own free will. They were pretty sneaky I guess, because they slept in their coffins during the day and wandered about at night, killing those who they were close to during their existence. Maybe if they were out in the street or something at 2 am, considering they couldn't go in their houses. :/

If you want to kill even more time, here's the wiki article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire

Graphic Novels in the classroom

I've already talked about this in some of my classes: using graphic novels in the classroom.

I plan on being an English teacher for grades 7-12. Now that our society is becoming more technological, the newer generations are more visual. There's so much that kids can do these days with TV, video games and movies, and they're used to multitasking even when they are relaxing. In order to properly educate kids, we need to upgrade the curriculum to reach their level of interaction, while still maintaining ELA and NYS English teaching standards. I'm sure most of you have experience with things like the effects of media through journalism and propaganda, looking at posters, newspaper articles and some books (like Animal Farm by George Orwell) in you're English class. A current issue that is still trying to wriggle its way in the classroom is the use of graphic novels: books with pictures. They're even starting to come out with specific how-to books for teachers and using graphic novels in the classroom.

A common argument is that students are at a disadvantage with all the visuals because they're missing so much detail that could be in a book. A lot of people call them "comic books," but they're not called that for a reason. Comic books are for more entertainment and artistic value. Even the thickness is different- comic books are thin and made of cheap paper, where as graphic novels are manufactured like a paper back novel. What's more is that the biggest concern is teaching students how to become better writers. That's why using graphic novels could be helpful: you formulate a lesson plan to describe what they see in the picture. First start out with the obvious. Then make the sentences more compound, adding another verb. Do this five times in a row, and the students can see their writing skills evolve and improve their thinking process. And obviously, it helps visual learners. It not like you're only using graphic novels to teach, its ok to use them once in a while as long as you use "real" books. Here are some graphic novels that I know have been used in the classroom:


This was used in Nisky High school. Its a memoir about the struggles of a "man" during the second world war and the holocaust. I haven't read this yet, but it's pretty popular.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maus


I'm actually reading this one right now, Greg had to read it for one of his classes in ACP. Its about a little girl who grew up in Iran during the revolution and the effects of Arabic invasion and Iraqi attacks. There are a few things that could be a little. . . mature for highschoolers, it can get pretty graphic describing prison tourture and showing a man peeing on another's back after a whipping, the use of the f-word in one case. I haven't finished it yet but schools are so strict on censorship that this may need the district's OK before it's allowed into the classroom. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persepolis_(graphic_novel)


Ok, who doesn't know this one? . . . Well ok, I haven't read it but at least I've heard of it, and I know there's been a film adaption, like many other books/graphic novels. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_for_vendetta


I'm guilty of not reading this one too, and I haven't seen the movie either. I prefer to read books first before I see the film adaption. This book is expensive, its like 40 bucks in Borders, so I haven't bought it yet. This might be a bit too mature for highschoolers to read. I know this has been used in the classroom, but only on the college level. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmen

If you guys know of any others, let me know, I'll put them here :)

Funny look at the Odyssey/Trojan war

I hope I spelled the title correctly.

I stumbled upon this on a random website. I put some of my own commentary in there so you know who's who:

ODYSSEUS
or Homer's Iliad & Odyssey in 29 pictures 87 words

Now this guy had a vicious cootie infection ok it goes like this.

This guy (Odysseus) Leaves (His wife Penelope)

To help this guy (Menelaos) marry (Helen of Troy) .

But she meetsthis guy (Paris)

cooties happen!!!! (Not in the real version. This is Hollywood.)

(The Greeks) andfight (The Trojans)

until (The epic Trojan Horse helps the Greeks win the war)killing thousands.

This guy (Achilles) takes one for the crew (Shot in the tendon by Paris, killing him)

Greeks 1 Trojans 0

She gets stuck with
Meanwhile (I guess this means people back in Ithica are waiting for Odysseus' return)

On the way home
This guy runs into (Poseidon) And really pisses him off.
So. (The Hydra attacks them. Again, this is Hollywood, not the true version.)

and then, (Sirens tried to steer them to their deaths).

This guy (Polythemus) Gets a stick in his eye.
Meanwhile,

And then, (Circe the witch turns some of Odysseus' men into animals) ,

into (Oh ok, again, she turns them into pigs), almost a save.


But then, (. . . I'll remember this later)

And then this guy helps?

Only to find, (A bunch of suitors wanting Penelope)

Well, (Odysseus sneaks in incognito)

Then he kills em all. (Um, not really. . . not sure)
THOSE ARE MY COOTIES BEYOTCHES. (. . . Ok?)


THE END
did i get a 1000 words a picture?

. . . Posted for all you visual learners out there.

Oh! I'm still here!

And I haven't posted anything in a long time due to lack of interest, laziness, and being preoccupied with (le gasp!) more important matters!

I don't think I'm gonna follow up with my first post and write about some of the things I claimed I would write about.

An excuse: I had to buy a new lap top after my mac died. So I lost EVERYTHING that I previously had

Yet I do have some ideas brewing in my head.

1) Graphic novels: being used in the classroom and how they're different than comic books
2) Adventure time with finding jobs in a poor economy: what looks good and what's expected of my (or our) generation
3) A comical way of looking at the Trojan war :3 tee hee *dork*
4) Horror games and how they can be psychologically terrifying >_< (H.P. Lovecraft?)
5) Vampires, vampires, fuggin' vampires! Oh, my God, why. (ololol).