Aihearkisto: Arvosteltu

The Last Spin

Julkaistu , kirjoittanut
Vastaa

The Last Spin is a short story about two men whose gangs have chosen them to settle their disagreement’s by playing Russian Roulette. It is written by Evan Hunter who lived in New York where  the story takes place.

The story begins in a dreary basement where two men from enemy gangs ,Tigo and Danny, are preparing to start playing Russian Roulette. Before getting to the point they make clear that they have nothing personally against each other and then they start the nerve-wracking game of life. Tigo volunteers to go first. He squeezes the trigger but it clicks on an empty chamber. On Danny’s turn happens the same; it clicks. This happens again and again and again and then Tigo decides to add one bullet more to lower the odds .

During the game they have a conversation about their girlfriends, the army, guns, gangs and life…. When time goes by they realize that they actually have quite much in common. Soon Tigo decides to add a one more bullet. Now the chances are 3:6. At the same time Tigo suggests that they could tell the gang they don’t want to be a part of it anymore, get real friends and go for a rowboating on a lake just they and their girlfriends. Danny agrees him and they decide that Danny’s spin is going to be the very last one. He puts the gun to his head, pulls the trigger and against all odds the gun fires and Danny’s head rips off. The story ends Tigo putting his head on the table starting to cry.

The story is very compelling. When you once start reading it, you just can’t stop anymore. It has a very thrilling atmosphere, mainly because of the game; you never know when the fateful gunshot comes and to who. Of course the setting is ideal for creating the atmosphere; the dreary and dark basement where the gunshots echo. It reflects perfectly the death.

Hunter writes in a very descriptive and interesting way. For example “the lethal grace of the weapon” and “ a look of incredulous shock knifed his eyes” are very ingenious ways to express the matter. But still the text is mostly the two men’s dialog  which sometimes is quite hard to understand.

I didn’t expect the story to end up like the way it did; Danny shooting his head off and shattering his face in front of his new friend. I admit that it was quite thrilling to read it but in the same time, very depressing and shocking. I would recommend this story for everyone who would like to know a little about the life in gangs and who is not afraid of shocking and honest stories.

Why, Honey?

Julkaistu , kirjoittanut
Vastaa

This novel tells about a mother who can’t trust her son and starts to afraid him. The boy (Hartley) can’t tell the truth to her and he gets outbursts sometimes. In the novel mother finds out unpleasant things concerning about her son. There are happening several uncertain things that Hartley can to be a part. For example the mother suspects that her son is guilty of their cat’s (Trudy) death. The neighbour saw two boys in the field putting firecrackers in Trudy´s ears and one of these two boys ran towards to their house.

Hartley got a job and he lied to his mother about the wage. He said that he earned 80 dollars, but mother found later a stub from his pocket, where read that the wage was 28 dollar for real. He lied also when he was going to show but mother found out later that he went to the school dance or spent the evening riding around with somebody in a car.

The mother supposed that Hartley was gone on a field trip and he told to mother about the trip and what was happen on there. Next day mother found a note from school, where they asked permission for a field trip.

The mother was gone to seek groceries on the Hartley´s car, but she found shotgun, knife and bloody t-shirt there. Hartley saw that and told his mother that it was caused by his bloody nose and told to throw it away.

Hartley was often nights away from home and that’s why mother worried about him. He got nervous for mothers caring.

Mothers worry was sometimes understandable because his boy never told truth and he acted strangely. Hartley felt that his mother was too carrying. Mother´s claims were justifiable and convincing. If I was his mother I would also have been worried about him and his doings.
I can imagine that mother says claims to Hartley assertively voice what makes it seem sinister.

In the last section mother asks from sender of letter where he get know her identity, because she wanted that nobody will find out that. She wanted that her son think that she was dead. She is afraid him so much.

Mother is writing letter to man who was taken contact to her. In the beginning of letter reads “Dear Sir” that refers to a man. I think that person would be her son, because of the last section´s writings. While in the beginning of letter, writer seems to be for example Hartley´s father.

I think that the narrator of novel is reliable and she tells her real feelings.

Written by Elisa

The Last Spin

Julkaistu , kirjoittanut
Vastaa

The last spin is a short story written by Evan Hunter.

The story tells about two young guys, Tigo and Danny. They are from different clubs so they are supposed to be enemies. Their clubs have some things to settle, so Tigo and Danny need to play Russian roulette. That is a good way to settle problems because that doesn’t cause any law trouble or street fights. Danny and Tigo were picked up for this by accident; therefore they didn’t even know each other before this meeting. Tigo and Danny don’t have anything personal against each other.

Tigo and Danny meet in the basement. Tigo put one cartridge into the cylinder, twirled it and then the game began. Tigo said that he can start so that Danny could have a break. But actually Tigo seems to be as nervous as Danny. By turns they twirled the gun and fired it but they are lucky and nothing happens. Tigo added extra bullets to the gun because he wanted to end the game like his club told him.

During the game they have a conversation about their future, guns and their family. They also talk about their clubs. Tigo tells Danny that he doesn’t like his club members very much and Danny feels the same way about his own club. They realize that they have many things in common. For example they are both in their clubs just because they live in that area and they both like guns (and they know much about guns) and they would like to join the Army.

The game goes on and nothing happens. Tigo and Danny get to know each other better and they start liking each other. Now it’s harder for them to continue the game. Tigo suggests that they could stop the game. No matter what the club says. He wants to choose his friends by personality. Danny agreed and they decide to spin the gun for the last time. Before the spin they planned to go on the lake with their girlfriends next Sunday. Earlier they couldn’t think about the future because they didn’t know witch one is going to die. They were both excited about that they met by accident and now they have become friends. Finally a reliable friend outside the club.

Neither of them was scared about the last spin. They were so sure that nothing will happen that they didn’t even think about it. But they weren’t so lucky anymore. The gun fired the bullet at the last spin. Their friendship was over before it was even properly started.

All in all, the story was very good. At the beginning of the story Danny didn’t dare to close his eyes while pulling the trigger because Tigo was staring at him and Danny was scared that Tigo would do something to him. That’s kind of ironic because Danny should scare more the gun which was in his temple. I think Togo and Danny has joined their clubs because they didn’t have other options. Maybe they thought that if they don’t join the club, the members start molest them.

The language was quite colloquial and sometimes hard to understand. For example ‘’without a big street diddlebop, you dig?’’. But that style fit very well to the text. It would sound funny if those club members would speak a standard language. Language brings more credibility to the text. Writer has also use unusual words like club and piece instead of the better known gang and gun.

It was interesting and exciting to read the text and guess what’s going to happen next. The end of the story was surprising and sad.

written by meow

A peaceful moment

Julkaistu , kirjoittanut
Vastaa

It was a peaceful moment in the Shire, the home of hobbits, with the birds singing and everything being just perfectly fine. Even though Sauron had just been defeated and the long-awaited peace had finally come to the Middle-Earth, there were still those who needed action in their life.

Meriadoc Brandybuck, or Merry, and Peregrin Took, shortly Pippin, were lying on a soft and fresh grass, completely satisfied in every possible way. After all, they were one the heroes who had been in the Fellowship of the Ring and been part of saving the earth from the dark. Since they were heroes, they had gotten everything they needed, like cigarettes and food for example.

The both of them were just lying on their back, enjoying the gentle breezes of the wind, the touch of the slightly damp grass, the singing of birds, the flowing sound of the river and the utterly beautiful view of the evening sunset. Those were all things they couldn’t do after they were included to the Fellowship, they didn’t know, whether they could see tomorrow or not.

Pippin sighed, ”Hey, do you remember when I touched that stupid crystal ball and in consequence we got separated for awhile?” he asked, his words sounding more like sleep-talking than normal talking. Merry looked briefly at the other fellow slightly grinning, ”Of course. I was afraid that it would be our farewell..But. I’m glad it wasn’t though!” he said happily while sitting up and ruffled Pippin’s hair.

Pippin smiled and also sat up. A silence fell upon them, but it wasn’t an awkward one, it was a silence remembering the adventure they had been trough, a serene one. ”It was quite an adventure..” Pippin said almost inaudibly, yearning could be heard from his voice. Merry nodded thoughtfully.

Then at the same time, both of them looked up. The hobbits turned to look at each other simultaneously, ”Shall we go?” Merry asked enthusiastically and Pippin nodded smiling.

The Last Spin

Julkaistu , kirjoittanut
Vastaa

The Last Spin is a short story written by Evan Hunter. It tells a story of two young men who are chosed to settle a conflict which is going on between their gangs, instead of all the gangs members taking part in a street fight. These two men, Danny, who is the main character of the short story, and Tigo, a member of the rival gang. Danny and Tigo have to settle their gangs’ disagreements by playing Russian roulette until one of them is dead.

The story develops as Danny and Tigo take turns pulling the trigger (at first there is only one cartridge in the sylinder) and everytime they pull it, they learn more from each other and start realizing that they do in fact have very much in common. Both of them have joined their gangs only because the gang was ruling the street they happened to live in. And either one of the boys didn’t even like their gang’s members. In the end they realize that they can choose their own friends. In the very beginning of the story Danny thinks of Tigo as his enemy only because he was told so and later on he realizes how stupid that is. I think this is one of the important things that the writer has wanted to bring up.The story is located in a dark basement, which creates an istant tension to it. And also the story’s concept is very interesting and it sucked me in during the very first lines. The tension rises trhoughout the whole story as Danny and Tigo add more cartridges to the sylinder. Thew plot progresses mostly through the dialogue, and they speak colloquial language, they use the word ”piece” for gun for example. They also speak of their  gangs as ”clubs”, which was pretty prominent.

In the end, Danny asks Tigo to come to the lake with him next sunday, this is a sign that they have become friends and also means that they will leave behind their former lives with their gangs. They make a deal that only one last spin will be made, with rather a sad consequense. I must say that this novel suprised me really positively, the characters were interesting and had much depth. It also tells how cruel life in a gang can be.

Fan Fiction: Kaito’s Adventure in Wonderland

Julkaistu , kirjoittanut
Vastaa

This is a crossover about Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the story by Lewis Carroll and Alice Human Sacrifice, a song sung by Vocaloids. Vocaloids are voice synthesizer programmes produced by Crypton Future Media Inc.
It was a beautiful day outside. Warm wind was blowing and there were no clouds in the sky. The blue haired boy was sitting in a large garden, which was full of blossoming flowers, green bushes and trees. He was sitting at a water fountain, minding his own business. He heard a noise coming from behind a tree right next to the fountain. Surprised, he looked at the tree and saw a white rabbit with a red ribbon on its neck. The rabbit stayed there a while, staring at the blue haired boy and then turned its look away and ran towards the other trees in the forest. Something told the boy to follow that rabbit, but he did not quite understand what it was so he went after the rabbit.

Before the boy noticed, he was in the middle of a forest. He had never been there before and the further he followed the rabbit, the darker it got in the forest. Suddenly the boy stopped, which was not a very wise thing to do. The ground right in front of him started to open and sense it was too dark for him to see his feet, he did not notice there was a big rabbit hole right in front of him. When the boy finally decided to follow the rabbit again, he stepped right in to the hole and fell.
He did realise he was falling. He shouted as he fell. The falling felt like an eternity and he was surrounded by darkness. He did not know if he could ever touch the ground again. Then, he saw light coming from below. The blue haired boy knew he would finally come to the bottom of the hole. Softly he landed on the ground, right into a bush of hay.

Once he was done cleansing himself of the hay, he saw the white rabbit again. The rabbit looked at him and touched its ribbon with paw. The blue haired boy looked at the rabbit. It started to glow some kind of weird light and little by little it transformed into a girl with long silvery hair. ”I knew you would follow me!”, the girl said and smiled. The boy looked at her. He was still surprised that rabbits could transform into humans. ”So, what is your name, stranger?”
”My name? Why don’t you tell me who you are first and explain where I am?” the boy said calmly and irritated. ”Sorry, my name is IA and welcome to Wonderland. I am working for the queen, like everyone else here. I am on my way to a tea party with the Hatter. Do you want to join me, stranger?”, she said. ”Alright, but enough with that stranger thing. My name is Kaito. Instead, saying Wonderland doesn’t tell me much about where exactly I am”, the boy said. ”Don’t worry about it. Just follow me, to the tea party. However, we must pass through that forest right there. We have to be careful; a psychopath lives on that road”.

After hearing that the boy was not too sure if he should be with IA, but he thought that it is better to follow the rabbit girl than wander around the Wonderland while he knows nothing about the place itself. They wandered along a path, which lead to a field full of roses. There were many colored roses, but mostly they were red and white. The path was crossing the field right in the middle and lead to a dark forest. The boy thought that it must be just the forest the girl was talking about.
”Are you still there? Good. Now, we must be very careful, because the forest I mentioned before is right in front of us. I was not joking about that psychopath thing you know. She looks like an angel but she is a devil in disguise. Don’t answer her, no matter what she asks”, IA said and took her first steps on the path towards the dark forest.

The trees looked like they were crying in pain. There were some awful scratches on them and they were in very bad condition in any kind of way. The path was all dark and muddy. There were footprints on the ground. They looked like the person walking before had high heels. The boy thought the place they were heading must be a wonderful one since they really have to go through this awful forest.
”Well, well, well. Who do we have here? The little lost rabbit and a stranger, eh? Heading to the tea party again?”, a girl with brown hair, red dress and high heels said. ”That is none of your business. We are just passing through”, IA said. ”But it is my business! Who is this stranger with you? Do not tell me you suspect that he is Alice. You know very well what happened to the last ones,” the red girl said. ”I know that very well Meiko. No need to remind me about that. But it could be that he is Alice!”, IA said and turned her gaze forward, to the way they were heading. ”Please, do not give me that crap. You know Alice is not ever going to come. It’s just a sad legend that will never come true”, Meiko said. ”Just shut up. We are leaving now”, IA said and started walking away from Meiko. The boy just followed IA and looked once behind to see Meiko. She was grinning and waving at him but he just turned his look back forward and kept going along with IA.

”What is this thing about Alice? Is it some kind of a legend around here?”, the boy asked to break the silence. ”Yes, sort of. Not everyone believes in it but I want to believe that Alice will come and save us”, IA said. ”So is this Alice from another world or something? Like me?”, the boy asked. IA was quiet for a long while until she said: ”Yes”. The two did not say a word to each other until they were at the end of the road. There was a table full of sweets and teacups. By the table, there was the Hatter and a girl with green hair. ”IA! You are here!”, the Hatter shouted. ”Hello. How are you doing?”, IA said. ”We are great! And even better now that you are here!”, the girl with green hair said. ”So, who is this stranger with you?”, the Hatter asked. ”He is Kaito. From the other world. Kaito, these people are Gakupo and Gumi”, IA said. The boy nodded and looked at the Hatter.
”By the way. That girl in the forest said something like that there have been persons from the other world before. What has happened to them?”, Kaito asked. There was a long silence, dying to break. The three of them were looking at each other. Then the Hatter said: ”You are right. There have been people from the other world before. Even we three are from the other world. Nevertheless, none of us has been Alice, the person who will save us all and bring us back to the other world. Basically, many have come to Wonderland, but none have gone back”, the Hatter explained. Kaito looked at him. No one has ever returned. He does not stand much chance either. He wants to get back! He wants to go back so bad he never thought he would even miss his dull life back there.

”So, is there a way to get back?”, the boy asked. ”Of course there is, but no one knows it. Otherwise we wouldn’t be here right?”, the Hatter said. Gumi just nodded and looked at Kaito. ”The legend says there should be some sign on Alice so that we would know it really is Alice. Why don’t we check that?”, Gumi said. ”Wait! What are you going to do?”, Kaito shouted. He suspected that they might do something he does not like. ”We are just going to take a little look”, Gumi said calmly with a sparkle in her eye. ”Gumi. Wait. Let’s just ask him”, the Hatter said. ”Fine”, she replied and looked at IA, waiting for her to ask the question. ”Do you have a mark on your body? It is said to look like a note. A musical note”, IA asked. The boy thought about it. He thought and thought but he still was not sure if he had one. Then he remembered a thing that happened to him while he was in elementary school. All the other boys in his class had bullied him about a mark on his back. They called him the music boy, because the mark looked like a note.
”Yes. I have a mark like that. On my left shoulder”, the boy said. The Hatter, Gumi and IA were looking at each other. First, they looked a little dumb, as if someone had just hit their head with something. Then they started to smile and laugh. They were overwhelmed by the joy. They would finally find the way out! However, there were many problems ahead of these four. They just did not know it yet.

”We must celebrate this!”, Gumi shouted. ”You finally did it IA! You found him!”, the Hatter said. ”Gumi, Gakupo. You are forgetting one thing. Alice is finally here. Did we not dream about getting out of here? We do not have time for celebrating! The legend also says that even if Alice does come, there is a time limit! Exactly week after Alice has come, he has to find the way out or even Alice will be stuck here forever! This may be our only chance!”, IA said. The boy was only staring at them. Then he said: ”So I have just week time to find my way out of here?”
The silence fell over the four again. They were looking at each other. ”Yes. That’s right”, IA said and looked at Kaito. He nodded. ”The easiest way is probably to go to the Queen. She knows much more about everything than I do. She also knows how to get out of here”, IA said. ”I don’t know the way to the castle of hers. I need someone to accompany me”, the boy said. ”I’ll come with you”, IA told him and they said goodbye to the Hatter and Gumi.
”We have to go up there, right through that labyrinth. I hope that’s alright with you”, IA said. The boy nodded and followed her.

The labyrinth was enormous. It was made of rose bushes, so you had to watch your footing, if you did not want to trip on the roots. The most difficult thing was that you could not know where you were. For the boy’s sake, IA knew the route by her heart. She had been there so many times that it would have been strange if she could not remember the way up to the castle. Suddenly, a pink smoke appeared right in front of them. After the smoke cleared, there was a girl with long, pink hair standing. ”Hello Bunny. On your way to the castle? It is such a shame that the Queen is on a bad mood today”, the girl said. ”What do you want, cat?”, IA asked her. ”Nothing in particular. Who is this handsome young boy with you? An outsider?”, she asked. ”He is Kaito. He is also the Alice from the legends. But that is none of your business, Luka”, IA said and walked past her. Luka did not say anything. The smoke surrounded her again and she disappeared. ”You don’t seem to like that person much”, Kaito said. ”I and Luka have been at odds for years. Don’t worry about it”, she replied and the way up to the Queen continued.

The labyrinth finally ended and they arrived to a garden. There was a card guard right there when IA and the boy came from the labyrinth. ”Good day to you IA. On your way to see the Queen? Who is that stranger with you?”, the card guard asked. ”He is Alice. He needs to see the Queen”, she said and walked past the guard. The boy just nodded at the guard as he passed him as a hello. The stairway to the doors of the castle was right next to them. IA walked right in through the doors. She walked ahead past great halls and hallways until they arrived to the Queen’s room. ”Good afternoon, Queen Miku”, IA said and bended. The boy followed her moves and stayed quiet. ”Hello IA. Who is that person with you?”, she asked. ”He is Alice, your Highness. His name is Kaito”, IA said. ”Pleasure to meet you”, the boy said and smiled.
”No need to be so modest. He really is Alice? My, if that is true, we can finally get out of here! Only thing you must do to open the portal to the other world is sing!” the Queen said and got excited. ”Sing? What must I sing?”, the boy asked. ”Wait. You must prove me that you truly are Alice before I tell you anything!”, the Queen said. The boy took his shirt off to show the Queen the mark on his left shoulder. ”Fine. That is a good proof enough. We shall tell you now. But first, put that shirt back on”, the Queen said.
The boy put his shirt back and listened carefully. ”You must sing this song we will sing you. You must sing it right from the bottom of your heart or otherwise it will not work and the portal will not open. We will sing it to you now, so listen carefully. We will sing it only once”, the Queen said and started to sing. It was the most beautiful song he had ever heard. The Queen’s voice was pure, high and soft.
The song was a story about siblings that lived in a world of evil people. They were twins and they lived happily together until the other one of the siblings, the girl, was taken to a royal family where she will be raised to become the next princess. The other, the boy, was raised elsewhere. One day the boy was sent to the new princess as a servant. When he arrived to the castle, he saw his sister. She had become the princess and he would now serve her. One day, his sister told the boy to go to a town near by. There he saw a beautiful girl with long green hair and a handsome man with blue hair with her. She smiled at the boy. Back at the castle, the sister of his tells him to kill that girl he saw earlier. He did so, with tears falling down his cheeks. Later the man from earlier found out and wanted to kill the princess and she was ordered to be executed. The boy did not want his sister to die, so he said that they will change places and he will die in her place. He said that no one would notice the difference because they were twins. She left crying and went to see her brother get executed. In memory he said that he would play with his sister again later.
The boy started singing the same song. Out of thin air, a door started to appear. In front of the door, there were two childs, holding each other’s hands. When the song ended, they started talking. ”Hello Alice”, the boy in front of the door said. ”We are the ones you were just singing about. I am Rin”, the girl said. ”And I am Len. Through this door, you can get back to your world. Once you step through this door, Alice, the door will close”, he said. ”And it will not open for anyone else. When you are back in your world, everyone else who is from another world will appear there soon too. They just disappear into smoke in here and will appear in their world from smoke”, Rin explained.
”Alright. I shall get going then”, Kaito said and walked to the door. It opened and he stepped inside. He was flying up. A strong wind was carrying him up and soon he noticed light from above. He was almost back. He landed on his feet, right to the garden he was at before he left for his adventure. He was at the tree where IA had been before he started to follow her. He was back home. Moreover, he could not have been happier about it.

Wuthering Heights

Julkaistu , kirjoittanut
Vastaa

Wuthering Heights is a novel written by Emily Brontë which was first published in 1847. The Story is set in Yorkshire on the moors. Wuthering Heights is a story about doomed love and passion. The narration of the book is divided by several people including a traveler called Lockwood and a servant, Ellen who raises the Earnshaw children and is like a second mother to them.

The two main characters of the novel Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff create a very obsessive and unhealthy love for one another. They are brought together in the beginning of the novel by Catherine’s father who finds a young gypsy boy named Heathcliff in the streets all alone. Mr. Earnshaw decides to raise Heathcliff as his own son, so that Catherine and her brother Hindley would become the boy’s siblings. Neither of them, Catherine nor Hindley develop a normal sibship between Heathcliff. Hindley dislikes Heathcliff immensely and he hates living in the same household as a dirty, filthy little gybsy. Together Catherine and Heathcliff behave very badly and test the limits of Joseph, a servant at Wuthering Heights. Growing up Catherine and Heathcliff are like two peas in a pod, they spend every waking moment together. All this changes, when they spy on their neighbours, the Linton’s and a dog comes after them. The dog bites Cathy and she is taken inside by the Linton’s who want to care for her as long as she is ill. This is one of the main reasons why Catherine and Heathcliff fall out with one another. After these happenings their lives change irrevocably.

Wuthering Heights is a novel which contains a lot of dark and gothic tones. It is set on the Yorkshire moors which is a gloomy and daunting place in itself. The Wuthering Heights mansion is also filled with paranormal and unexplainable happenings. It is said in the beginning of the novel that this very building is haunted by Catherine Earnshaw. Emily Brontë has written a novel which captures the essence of a brilliant horror story. Even though Wuthering Heights is best known for its amazing tragic love story, it isn’t the only definition of this boundary breaking novel of its time. It is a story about an imperfect family and how they help a little orphan boy but also destroy the little goodness that is still left in him.

Catherine and Hindley seem to be spoilt brats even before Heathcliff comes into the picture. It seems that the only person that Mr. Earnshaw really loves is Heathcliff. He has tries to compensate, for the lack of love that he has forgotten to express towards his children, by buying presents and spoiling them. Probably one of the main reasons why Hindley treats Heathcliff the way he does is because he has been jealous of him, ever since that day when his father brought Heathcliff to Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff is a certain kind of replacement of a son, or that’s at least how Hindley feels about the whole situation. Catherine cares for Heathcliff much more than she cares for Hindley although in this case Catherine’s relationship with Heathcliff is a romantic one, and a platonic one between her and Hindley.

Although the novel contained a lot of violence which isn’t normally my cup of tea, I really enjoyed it. I also disliked both of the main characters vastly I really enjoyed the story. It was like, together Catherine and Heathcliff seemed nearly human. Together they were like one complete human being but separately two individual monsters. It felt like that the only real goodness in both of them was their love for each other. There are a few parts in this novel that explain the situation quite well for example Catherine says: “Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He’s always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being. “Also later in the novel Heathcliff says: “I cannot live without my life. I cannot live without my soul.” Even though it contained a lot of kinks, altogether it was an enjoyable read which didn’t disappoint.

Fan Fiction- The Witcher

Julkaistu , kirjoittanut
Vastaa

My fan fiction is based on a book series called ”The Witcher” which are made by polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. The series follows a professional monster killer, Geralt, who travels across the lands of Northern Kingdoms and The Empire of Nilfgaard. Geralt is not a traditional hero, and isn’t clearly good or evil.

One chilly morning, in the shady town of Flotsam, a nice little town indeed, the silence of the night was broken when a  wretched scream echoed in the village. One unfortunate thing there is in this town, as it is in all parts of the realm… Racism is easily seen around towns. Dwarves and elves live in slums and they are poorly treated among humans. Not to mention their own controversies. This morning the city guards punished one of the blacksmiths, a dwarf, on the town square because of him not being able to pay enough taxes.                                                                                                                              Geralt, ”The White Wolf”, as they call him, woke up recovered from the long trip he had made before arriving in Flotsam yesterday. He yawned as he rised from the bed and looked for his clothes and money purse. He only found the former… That treacherous woman! But no wise man would keep all of his belongings in one place, so Geralt had given most of his money and his weapons, except the dagger he keeps with him in case he needs to use it. Geralt dressed up and headed downstairs where the inn keeper was viewing some papers, consisting mail and reports from the staff. He was quite a short old man with a long brown beard and hair. He had big round glasses and was quite sturdy. He didn’t seem to pay any attention to Geralt when he walked across the lobby. Geralt cleared his throat as he stopped before the inn keeper’s desk, who looked at him under his glasses.                                                                                                                               ”May I get my belongings from the safe?”, Geralt asked.                                                 ”Yes, of course”, the inn keeper answered hastily and rose from his bench and walked to the door of the storage room, picked the right key from his keyring and opened the lock. He entered the room. A moment later he came back with a sack, a bag, and two scabbards. The other contained a sword made of steel, and the other a sword made of silver, meant to be more effective against magical creatures. The sack was filled with coins and the bag was used to carry Geralt’s other equipment.
”Who are you gonna kill with those?”, the inn keeper asked with a grin on his face.         ”Do I look like a mercenary?”, Geralt answered with a deep firm voice and began to walk towards the front door. He opened the door and left the inn without saying anything else.

Short story: A Shocking Accident

Julkaistu , kirjoittanut
Vastaa

The story begins when a little boy, Jerome is called into his housemaster’s room for a conversation with Mr Wordsworth. Mr Wordsworth tells Jerome that his father has died in a street accident in Naples, so of course Jerome asks whether his father was shot. Mr Wordsworth tells him that he died inexplicably when too a fat pig fell on him from a house’s balcony.

After telling about the accident Mr Wordsworth turns his back on Jerome because he smiles to Jerome’s father’s death’s circumstances which he obviously found funny. Jerome also told the story to some of her friends but before that, he practiced telling it so as not to make it sound ridiculous.

After his studies, Jerome got engaged to be married with Sally who loved kids. When she sees the old picture of Jerome’s father she wants  to know what really happened to him. While telling her, his aunt kind of says unintentionally that the pig fell on him. Sally was the one and only who didn’t laugh, which was surprising and this was the moment when Jerome started to love her more and more.

I found the story very odd partially because the subject matter but also because of its constrained humor. I had to read the text many times to totally understand it but I don’t think I still know exactly what it was about. I prefer reading books or magazines instead of this kind of short stories with strange plots but a positive thing is that I didn’t have to read longer text with this topic, so there was something positive in this exercise too.

Perks Of Being a Wallflower, the

Julkaistu , kirjoittanut
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The Perks Of Being a Wallflower is a 2012 movie directed and written by Stephen Chbosky starring Logan Lerman, Ezra Miller and Emma Watson. It is based on Chbosky’s epistolary book of the same name.

Charlie (Lerman) has just started his freshman year of highschool. The events of Charlie’s first year are depicted through a set of letters he writes to a friend who (it is let to understand) no longer, or never existed.

At first, Charlie has difficulty making any friends and talking to anyone, but his English teacher notices Charlie’s aptitude for English literature and starts to give him books to read.

Soon though, Charlie befriends two seniors, Patrick (Miller) and his step-sister Sam (Watson) towards whom he developes a crush. One night they take him to a friend’s party, where Charlie unknowingly eats a cannabis brownie. Being high, he tells Sam that his best friend shot himself merely months ago. Sam tells this to Patrick and they and all of their friends welcome Charlie as a wallflower.

At a Christmas party at Sam and Patrick’s house, Sam kisses Charlie just as friends leaving Charlie crushed and getting him high on LSD at a New Year’s party after seeing Sam there with her boyfriend. Charlie then leaves the party alone, starts seeing things from his past and passes out in the snow.

After New Year’s Charlie starts, rather reluctantly due to his feeling for Sam, seeing their friend, Mary Elizabeth. Charlie is unhappy in this relationship, but can’t break up with her either, being afraid he’ll hurt her feelings. Things end worse than anyone would’ve thought  though, when at a game of spin-the-bottle Charlie is dared to kiss the prettiest girl in the room, and instead of kissing Mary Elizabeth, he kisses Sam.

His friends then ’desert’ him and Charlie starts seeing traumatic things from his past again. He gets his friends back, after beating off a couple of guys at the school cafeteria because they were beating Patrick.

After the school year is over, Sam breaks up with her boyfriend and she and Charlie sleep together. But immediately after Sam and Patrick leave for college, leaving Charlie feeling abandoned. The things from his past come to haunt him even worse and Charlie trys to kill himself. He is then hospitalised for the summer, Charlie having to have therapy sessions.

When released from the hospital (and feeling a lot better) and starting his sophomore year, Patrick and Sam come to visit him and Charlie knows that even though they left town, his friends didn’t leave forever.

 

Charlie is the youngest of three, just starting high school. He has had a very traumatic past: his aunt and favourite person in the whole world died in a car crash when Charlie was very little. She was getting his birthday present at the time, so Charlie blames her death on himself. He started seeing thing and he was getting ”bad”. How, the movie does not specifically tell.

Sam is a senior at Charlie’s high scool and a step-sister of Patrick. She and Charlie become good friends, they even develop a crush on each other but Sam denies it well. Sam has a boyfriend, with whom she seems happy, but after her graduation it is revealed that the boyfriend had been cheating on her with several other girls. They then break up and Sam gets together with Charlie. Emma Watson depicts beautifully Sam’s rainbow of emotions.

Patrick is also a senior at Charlie’s high school and Sam’s step-brother. Patrick is dating Brad, one of the school ”cool guys”, in secret because Brad doesn’t want to tell anyone he’s gay. Brad’s father, however, finds the two boys in his house together and beats Brad infront of Patrick. The next day at school Brad calls Patrick ”faggot” which results in a fist fight. Patrick is a good hearted young man, who doesn’t want anyone to feel excluded or bad about themselves. He’s good-spirited and he always has a joke in him (mostly about the schools teachers).

One of the topics of the film is music. Sam and Charlie have an uncannily similar taste in music and the soundtrack consists of some of the songs they listen to. It is very fitting to Charlie’s, or the people surrounding him, mood. The bands whose songs are played in the movie are mostly 80’s and 90’s bands and they tell really well about who Charlie is.

All in all, the movie was a beautiful story of friendships (found and lost), the trauma of loss and mental illness.