Plot
Like the story, Field of Dreams is also set in small town Iowa. The story also progresses the same as the short story but instead of ending after he meets Shoeless Joe the story continues. This time the narrator is given a name, Ray. The plot moves to various locations throughout the story that are relevant to the "voice". For example, Ray drives to the great Fenway Park because it, yet again, deals with baseball. Every place Ray goes has to do with baseball. Each scene is driven by the "voice" and Ray is compelled to follow wherever it tells him to go.
Point of View
The movie is portrayed through Ray's actions. In this way, the audience can see the struggles Ray faces when he is given a direction from the "voice". The "voice" causes Ray some deep inner turmoil because he doesn't understand what it wants until the end. Unlike the story, the visions/voices aren't clear to him until he receives some sort of sign. When he does receive the sign, Ray goes on to do what the "voice" tells him. For instance, the "voice" tells Ray to "ease his pain". This, Ray figures out, is referring to Terence Mann. The audience is able to see that Ray will not give up until he finds out what the "voice" wants and how far he will go to find out.
Characterization
Ray is characterized as a middle-aged man who has everything he's ever dreamed of until one day where his normal life is challenged. He has a strong sense of self because he acts purely on instinct. If Ray's character were different, this would make the story completely different. Ray is also strong willed in that he knows exactly what he wants when he wants it. After Ray hears the second calling and figures out the message, he decides to leave his wife at the risk of ruining their relationship. Along with this, Ray subconsciously regrets the relationship with his late father.
Setting
The movie takes place during the 80s which is concurrent with the short story. This makes the story more interesting because Ray and his family don't have all the modern technology that people do today. For example, instead of calling Terence Mann like many would today, Ray has to drive there to get his message across. The time is also relevant to when his dad played minor league baseball and when Shoeless Joe Jackson played as well. Most of the setting takes place in Iowa. Several of the "ghost" players often asked Ray, "Is this Heaven?". This makes sense because of Iowa's beautiful landscape and rolling hills. The small town appeal also makes sense because it gives Ray the opportunity to be called crazy by the everybody-knows-everybody type town.
Theme
The theme for the movie has the same ideas as the short story. Gut instinct appears a lot in the movie. Ray makes crazy decisions based solely on a "gut feeling". Another reoccurring theme is to follow your dreams. Ray never believed he would be able to mend his relationship with his father until he followed the "voice". Along with this is the theme of nonconformity. Ray made decisions based purely on what he knew he needed to do. He didn't care if the neighbors called him crazy, he did what he had to do. The last theme is to never give up. Half the time, Ray didn't know why he was being told to do certain things. Nevertheless, he did them anyways because he knew there would be a reward.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHTsQ9qePrQ

Plot
     The story takes place in Iowa where the narrator moved to study at age ten. He fell in love with the land which ironically is one of the major points in this short story. Through one single voice saying, " 'If you build it, he will come,' "(pg 1), he envisions a baseball field. He takes the land he loves and uses it for something that he has complete faith in. Had it not been for the farm and land he owned, he probably would not have had the same vision, let alone a vision at all. I believe that because of his love of baseball and the beautiful soils of Iowa that this calling was so clear to him.
Point of View
     This story was written in first person which I feel is important to the point of this short story. Without the author's detailed recollections of his father's obsessions with baseball, the story would fail to convey this man's complete faith in what he loves. For example, he recalls how instead of hearing common fairy tales such as, "Tom Thumb or Rumpelstiltskin,"(pg 4), he was raised on the hero tales of famous baseball players from the early 1900s. This also contributes to his vast understanding of the game that he fell in love with at such a young age. It also makes for a better conversation he has with his late hero, Shoeless Joe Jackson.
Characterization
     The narrator is a simple man who knows what he loves. This is expressed through his undying love for his wife, his daughter, baseball, and the land of Iowa. The truth of his love is proved by his total faith in each of these. For instance, he has a spiritual connection with the game of baseball, and more specifically Shoeless Joe Jackson. This connection alone was enough for him to build a baseball field purely on a voice that gave him very little direction at all. In fact he knew he was coming tell his wife " 'It's Shoeless Joe Jackson',"(pg 7) before ever seeing him. He seems to understand life and the boundaries of life so deeply that he was able to interpret this calling in such a way that not many people would.
Setting
    This story takes place in the mid 1900s, far after the Black Soxs scandal that still fascinates the narrator to this day. This is important because it shows how much of an impact a legend of baseball and his father made on this man. It was enough to make him believe that the impossible could happen. It was also set in Iowa, a conservative state, where his actions weren't well received with the community. This shows his nonconformity to society to pursue something the cared so deeply for. He knew he was a laughing stock and "must have a nickname," (pg 6) in the community but that didn't stop him from creating something that he was born to make.
Theme
    I believe that the theme of this story is to chase your dreams. The narrator was looked down upon and did not have the support of his extended family. Nevertheless, he continued to do something that seemed so odd to others because he knew it was in his destiny to build a field. Another theme is faith. He made a huge decision based on faith alone. He invested his time and money into his love of baseball, his father, childhood hero's, and dreams themselves. He knew he did not have much, but had enough to chase the impossible. "I built the field and waited, and waited, and waited," (pg 6).

sonnets, sonnets, sonnets!

     The Shakespearean sonnet, Sonnet 130, struck me more than the other three we read in class. It's blunt but I feel like it brings up a deeper meaning. The speaker says his mistress', "...eyes are nothing like the sun..." (line 1) and says her hairs are, "...black wires [that] grow on her head" (line 4). These examples aren't exactly compliments. Throughout the sonnet, he describes her as things she is not. He goes on to say that she treads when she walks and her voice isn't pleasing to the ears. Most women would find these types of comments offensive but he goes on to say, "And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare/ As any she belied with false compare" (lines 13-14). Here he is saying that he loves her regardless of the typical comparisons men usually make to women. 

    I think Shakespeare was onto something that still haunts people. Society, especially today, focuses on men and women looking a certain way. Pick up any Cosmo and you'll see exactly that. I agree with Shakespeare on this one; you shouldn't love some one because of the way they look or not love someone because they haven't yet conformed to society. Shakespeare also passed this idea on to the Transcendentalist, Henry David Thoreu. On a number of occasions, Thoreu refused to pay taxes or use the postal service because he didn't want to conform to society. He later went on to write books about doing just that. That was over a century ago, and while the modern world gradually takes steps away from the media's perception of lifestyle and looks, we still have this narrow mindset of the way things are "supposed to be". 

American Pie: The Modern Ballad

     "American Pie", a popular song from the 1970's, as well as one of one of my favorites, is comparable to a ballad. The eight minute song is a reflection of the tragic death of Buddy Holly. Don McLean wrote the lyrics "But february made me shiver/With every paper I’d deliver" which is what he was doing the day he learned that Buddy Holly died in a plane crash. The main chorus is extremely popular and is sung many times throughout the song. Although Mclean stated that the lyrics were "beyond analysis," many of the lyrics can be connected to his life and how he lived after his musical hero was no longer living. Most of the stanzas have simple lyrics and rhyming words. The song was meant to be poetic; a simple story where the deeper meaning is the actual fairness of life.


A long, long time ago...
I can still remember
How that music used to make me smile.
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And, maybe, they’d be happy for a while.

But february made me shiver
With every paper I’d deliver.
Bad news on the doorstep;
I couldn’t take one more step.

I can’t remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride,
But something touched me deep inside
The day the music died.

So bye-bye, miss american pie.
Drove my chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry.
And them good old boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye
Singin’, "this’ll be the day that I die.
"this’ll be the day that I die."

Did you write the book of love,
And do you have faith in God above,
If the Bible tells you so?
Do you believe in rock ’n roll,
Can music save your mortal soul,
And can you teach me how to dance real slow?

Well, I know that you’re in love with him
`cause I saw you dancin’ in the gym.
You both kicked off your shoes.
Man, I dig those rhythm and blues.

I was a lonely teenage broncin’ buck
With a pink carnation and a pickup truck,
But I knew I was out of luck
The day the music died.

I started singin’,
"bye-bye, miss american pie."
Drove my chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry.
Them good old boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye
And singin’, "this’ll be the day that I die.
"this’ll be the day that I die."

Now for ten years we’ve been on our own
And moss grows fat on a rollin’ stone,
But that’s not how it used to be.
When the jester sang for the king and queen,
In a coat he borrowed from james dean
And a voice that came from you and me,

Oh, and while the king was looking down,
The jester stole his thorny crown.
The courtroom was adjourned;
No verdict was returned.
And while lennon read a book of marx,
The quartet practiced in the park,
And we sang dirges in the dark
The day the music died.

We were singing,
"bye-bye, miss american pie."
Drove my chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry.
Them good old boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye
And singin’, "this’ll be the day that I die.
"this’ll be the day that I die."

Helter skelter in a summer swelter.
The birds flew off with a fallout shelter,
Eight miles high and falling fast.
It landed foul on the grass.
The players tried for a forward pass,
With the jester on the sidelines in a cast.

Now the half-time air was sweet perfume
While the sergeants played a marching tune.
We all got up to dance,
Oh, but we never got the chance!
`cause the players tried to take the field;
The marching band refused to yield.
Do you recall what was revealed
The day the music died?

We started singing,
"bye-bye, miss american pie."
Drove my chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry.
Them good old boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye
And singin’, "this’ll be the day that I die.
"this’ll be the day that I die."

Oh, and there we were all in one place,
A generation lost in space
With no time left to start again.
So come on: jack be nimble, jack be quick!
Jack flash sat on a candlestick
Cause fire is the devil’s only friend.

Oh, and as I watched him on the stage
My hands were clenched in fists of rage.
No angel born in hell
Could break that satan’s spell.
And as the flames climbed high into the night
To light the sacrificial rite,
I saw satan laughing with delight
The day the music died

He was singing,
"bye-bye, miss american pie."
Drove my chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry.
Them good old boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye
And singin’, "this’ll be the day that I die.
"this’ll be the day that I die."

I met a girl who sang the blues
And I asked her for some happy news,
But she just smiled and turned away.
I went down to the sacred store
Where I’d heard the music years before,
But the man there said the music wouldn’t play.

And in the streets: the children screamed,
The lovers cried, and the poets dreamed.
But not a word was spoken;
The church bells all were broken.
And the three men I admire most:
The father, son, and the holy ghost,
They caught the last train for the coast
The day the music died.

And they were singing,
"bye-bye, miss american pie."
Drove my chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry.
And them good old boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye
Singin’, "this’ll be the day that I die.
"this’ll be the day that I die."

They were singing,
"bye-bye, miss american pie."
Drove my chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry.
Them good old boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye
Singin’, "this’ll be the day that I die."




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNdEu9s5qUU  <---- studio version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMlzfpwJZuc  <---- live version

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's... my mom?

1) Batman
     Batman is a hero because he serves as a vigilante for the city of Gotham. In the Dark Knight he works to put away the mob and the evil villain, the Joker. There are also several occasions where he has to save the citizens from the Joker's sinister plans. He is a hero because he is daring but also compassionate for the  victims. Perhaps his most heroic moment was when he dove from a story building to save his love, Rachel, from dying.

2) My Mommy
     In my opinion, my mom is just as much a hero as Batman. She is a hard worker and has sacrificed so much for her family. She's also a huge risk taker, considering she pursued a career that has a tough market. Her accomplishments have been huge and I'm proud of all that she does to make sure I have what I need. She's independent, selfless, and has all the attributes Superman has and more! Just this summer my mom worked for the census, flipped a house, and catered to my needs. That, to me, is a real hero.

3) Frank Sinatra
     Although I do no know him personally, it is no secret that Frank Sinatra was a hero. His natural good looks and ability to carry a tune changed the movie and music industry forever. One of his most well know (and my favorite!) works, Singin' in the Rain, became a smash hit sending musical films to a new level. Not only did he become the face of modern media, he also served as a role model to aspiring young actors. His work made what movies and music what it is today.