"The Evolution of Frankenstein's Monster" by Liz Ukstins

The Evolution of Frankenstein's Monster in Pictures by Liz Ukstins

 Original Portrayal of the Monster from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein 

An Early Twentieth Century Portrayal of Frankenstein's Monster

A Mid 20th Century Version of the monster known as "Frankenstein", contrary to the original story.

A Late 20th Century Version of Frankenstein

The Monster in the 2015 film, Victor Frankenstein

The evolution of Frankenstein's monster has been plentiful since the original story published. The first visual portrayal of the Monster is much like the Frankenstein we see on Halloween or on TV- shows that parody the original piece. The monster has stitches, bolts in his neck, and very pale skin. The early 20th century version of the Monster, just as the first portrayal, is similar to what we imagine as "Frankenstein". The mid-20th century rendition of the Monster, now in color, is slightly different than the two previous versions of the monster. He appears more human-like because of the colored skin. This version was one of the first times that Frankenstein's Monster was being referred to just as Frankenstein. The Late-20th century version of the Monster has demonic qualities and visually, does not share many aspects with the first three depictions. The last, and most recent interpretation of the Monster stayed true to the book, refusing to call the monster "Frankenstein". Though he has more humanistic qualities than the original portrayal, he still appears to be man-made just as Mary Shelley intended.

Poem about Change

Change by Hannah Transier

Some change can be bad
And often misunderstood
It can be overwhelming
But sometimes it is good

Change is sometimes unexpected
It can happen in the blink of an eye
Although it can make you smile
It can also make you cry

But change is part of life
It helps you learn and grow
It will teach you some valuable lessons
That are very important to know

So if you get upset
About something changing like the seasons
Just remember that all change,
Happens for a reason

Caitlin Scarpa

The Maze Runner summary and review

*WARNING SPOILERS*

The Maze runner, by James Dashner, is a book about a young man named Thomas who is thrown into a confusing world full of unfamiliar people and monstrous creatures.  These people are all boys of around the same age, and they all have no memory of who they really are; all they know is their name.  All of these young men were placed into a giant maze full of terrifying creatures, called Grievers, and they have to find a way to get out.  The only way out is through the maze.  The Grievers: giant slug like creatures with mechanical spikes jutting out in every direction, are what's keeping them from escaping.  The maze doors open every morning and the grievers leave, but every night the maze doors close and the grievers come out to play with anyone who didn’t make it to the door in time.  The only ones who are brave enough to go in the maze are “the runners.”  The runners are the people who run through the maze and try to track its movements to find a way out.  The maze itself moves every night and forms a new shape, making it harder to track and map out.  The boys aren't making any new progress until Thomas shows up, and everything changes.

The book The Maze Runner was heavily inspired by The Lord of the Flies, which we are going to read later in the year, so there will most likely be many similarities.  The boys who are sent to the maze were sent there by a government group called WICKED.  WICKED is trying to study them to find a cure for a disease, called the Flare, which is plaguing the rest of the world, making them into zombie like creatures.  Almost all of the boys in the maze are immune to the disease, which is why they are being studied, they want to see what makes them immune and try to replicate it in others. Every month, one boy is sent into the maze by WICKED, and when Thomas shows up, the whole maze starts to change.  Only a few days after Thomas arrives, a girl, named Teresa, is dropped off by WICKED, she is the only female to ever be sent to this maze.  This is what triggers the “end of the trials.”  The whole maze is sent into dire situations and deadly circumstances.  All of the kids are now facing the clock to find a way out of the maze, and Thomas is the only one who has been able to make any progress in the escape.  

Thomas gets help from a few other people trapped in the Maze including, Minho, Newt, Alby, Chuck, Frypan, and Teresa.  With all of their separate strengths and abilities, they are able to solve the puzzle and find a way out.  

The book series is full of adventure and excitement that really keeps you on the edge of your seat. There are five books in the series so far, The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials, The Death Cure, The Kill Order, and The Fever code. All of the books help to elaborate on the story and really make the world feel real.  The Kill Order and The Fever Code are both Prequels, which help to shine some light on what the world is facing and why WICKED is experimenting on children to cure the disease. It also helps to give different points of view for the story, and what different people living in the world might think of WICKED and what they are doing.   The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials, and The Death Cure are all part of the main story, following Thomas and his friends through the trails and their escape from WICKED.   While reading the books myself, I came to love the characters and the story, which fascinated me and made me want to keep reading.  As with any good book, this one contains lots of very happy and very sad moments which send the reader on a roller coaster of emotions, which only makes the reader more immersed in the story.

Even though the book series was phenomenal, the movies were disappointing for anyone who is a fan of the books, for various reasons.  Many scenes and events of the story were cut out in order to make it have more action scenes, which ruined elements of the story.  If this series seems interesting to you, then I suggest giving the books a try first, and holding off on the movies until later.  I would suggest this book to anyone who is a fan of non-stop adventure, suspense, mystery, and action.  

Work Cited

Dashner, James. The maze runner. New York: Delacorte Press, 2009. Print.

The Generation That Ruined Comedy

The Generation That Ruined Comedy

        Stand-up comedy has been used to help people relax and laugh at creative, fun jokes. However, due to the PC culture today, the millennials have scared some of the world’s funniest people to “go into hiding”. Jerry Seinfield, famous for his stand-up work and his show Seinfield, was asked why he refuses to perform at college campus’. He told ESPN’s Colin Cowherd that college kids today are too politically correct. “They just want to use these words: ‘That’s racist;’ ‘That’s sexist;’ That’s prejudice;’” he said, “They don’t know what they hell they’re talking about.” Chris Rock has also come out and said he doesn’t perform at campuses too because the students are “way too conservative”. He recently has been getting heat for his some of his jokes for being “too dark”. These comics don’t want these students judging their jokes and have completely given up performing for them. Should these comics censor some of their humor or should the millennials allow this humor to be performed?


- Evan Silberstein

The Canterbury Tales: Creative Story Telling
By: Luke Romano

In class we recently finished our unit on the Canterbury Tales. Now since there was so many stories in this book, Mrs. Kopp (our teacher) came up with an extremely efficient , creative, and fun way for us to learn the different tales! What her idea was, was to join in groups and read one story that you selected and find a unique way to present it to the class so its one-entertaining and two-telling the tale. My partner, Beck Godzenovich and I had the ingenious idea to turn our presentation into a sock puppet show. We believed that this childish and whimsical setting would be able to relax the audience and allow them to retain key moments by bringing them out in the play. This would work as they would say," Hey remember when..." and they would say the moment and thus remembering our plot to the friars tale. Now this is one example of a type of story telling, the creative ideas that were created in my class surprising. When I first went into the presentations I was expecting to see the same thing over and over again with different plots, but after seeing two, I realized how different they could really be. I saw raps, reality TV shows, Star Wars imitation, children books and the list goes on. And with Mrs. Kopp's idea to present them how we did, I learned much more about the stories then if I was just assigned to read the tales. Alas, we did not have enough groups in our class to learn all of the stories that are in the Canterbury Tales, but I did gain information on a sufficient amount of the stories and I found them quite interesting. Along with finding them interesting I did find many funny with groups putting a comedic twist on their story telling which helped me remember key parts of the play that were the funniest. So, I'm extremely glad we did this project and I have a strong feeling, I'm not the only one.

Frankenstein by Rachel Raffino

Frankenstein

The new book we are starting in English is Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. The following post will be all about the background of Frankenstein.

Shelley was born on August 30th, 1797 in London England. In 1816 she married Percy Bysshe Shelley, and shortly after wrote her most famous novel Frankenstein also known as The Modern Prometheus. The idea of writing Frankenstein started when her and a small group of friends read ghost stories on a rainy day, and wanted to try handwriting their own books. Since then Frankenstein has been adapted into films, tv shows, and children's books and even halloween costumes. The story of Frankenstein has even inspired real life procedures, like the head transplant we will be discussing in class.

Everyone knows the basis of the story; the scientist named Frankenstein creates a monster made from the body parts of dead people, and when the monster comes alive, Frankenstein get scared and runs away. Only to go back to the laboratory to find the monster has fled. The story is told mostly through the perspective of Mr. Frankenstein. A few other characters by the names of Frankenstein (the monster), Dr. Henry Clerval, Elizabeth Lavenza, and Captain Walton.

Today, there are many new versions of Frankenstein such as Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, and The Curse of Frankenstein, and many more. One famous quote in this book spoken by Frankenstein states “So much has been done, exclaimed the soul of Frankenstein — more, far more, will I achieve; treading in the steps already marked, I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation.” This is just the start of Frankenstein's fascination and lust for exploration of strange experiments.   

Hopefully this book will interest us, and spark lots of discussion in our classes yet to come.

A summary of the Novel Compound By George Mysh

A Summary Of the Novel Compound

                                                                         By George Mysh

  The novel Compound reveals the mysteries a young boy named Eli encounters after living six years in an underground compound because his father claimed there was a nuclear attack that made it deadly to live above ground. S.A. Bodeen, the author shows the struggles this boy goes through as each day he has to do the same thing with his two sisters, mother, and his father Rex. His brother Eddy is believed to be dead because he did not make it in time to the compound. He begins wondering if it is safe to come up from the compound. Food starts to become a problem for the family so Rex, Eli's father comes up with a solution where cloned humans could be a food option. The family is shocked when they find out this information.This pushes Eli's curiosity to leave and see whats outside of the compound. Eli's mom gives birth to three different children as supplements for the family's new diet. Eli and his sisters become attached to the new children. 

Then Eli goes into his father's office which was accidentally left open and discovers that there is internet connection and his brother Eddy is alive. He then figures out from Eddy that no nuclear attack occurred so Eli approached his father and his father admitted he used them for an experiment of human survival. Eli knocks out his father and helps his pregnant mother while trying to figure out the code do the main door. He finds success with code, but his father awakens and holds one of the small babies as hostage for the codes. Rex gets the codes, but Eli remembers them and escapes by himself. Eli then finds out from his father's associate that his father was moving his family to a different compound and destroying the original using a bomb. A fight breaks out between the associate and Eli accidentally triggering the bomb. The rest of the family is saved with Eli's help, but Rex returns to save his research. Eli does not know if Rex is alive and as the family waits in the woods, Eddy shows up with a search party in a helicopter. Rex's location is unknown and Eli goes back to living a normal life with his family.