Happy Holidays, especially Darcy.

Aside from Darcy's gentle prodding to update the blog, I did want to take a moment to just wish you and yours a very Happy Holiday.

We've just been through 3 months of Tuesdays and Thursdays without a break, so enjoy the next couple of Tuesdays and Thursdays in particular.

The rest of the course will fly by, but I hope that you get some time good quality time between then and now with loved ones.

Have a safe and Happy Holiday. See you January 5th.

CP

Directions to the library

From the QEW: Take Lake St. South toward downtown. Stay in centre lane after crossing Carlton so that you can veer onto James St. at Welland. Turn left onto Church st. from James. Library will be on your right hand side--54 Church.

From the 406: Exit at Geneva. Turn right so that you will be headed North (toward the Fairview Mall). Turn left on Church St. Stay right where Church and King come together. Library will be on your left--54 Church.

Parking is free after 6pm.

Library Assignment (ISU Component)

As I announced in class last night, I have devised a way to expedite some of the research expectations for the ISU. This activity will be IN PLACE of the Presentation/Mocktail party.
I like to call it:

"Generating a Working Thesis Relevant to your ISU novel"

1) Decide upon a topic or issue that is relevant to your ISU novel. e.g "cloning" would be relevant to a study of Brave New World.

2) Locate and record bibliographic information for three general sources (such as Encyclopedias or general reference books) related to your topic.

3) Scan your three materials and develop a "working thesis." e.g. "In spite of the objections raised by people who are against cloning, new advances in clone technologies can enable benefits to human health, without violating ethical standards."

*Keep in mind that the business of developing a good thesis is all about making it neither too broad, nor too narrow. A good thesis should be debatable. The example given recognises that there are opposing viewpoints.

Questions?

My Poetry Assignment

Hi class, thanks for your input last night. I think that it made my presentation more interesting with everyones great comments.

(ISU) Independent Study Unit

The CALENDAR is here.


There are two files you need to start step one of the ISU.

(1) ISU Overview

(2) Guided Reading Response

Stone Angel Essays

I just wanted to reiterate what I said in class. I am looking for everyone to bring a full draft of their Stone Angel essay for Tuesday. The reason that it is in your best interest to do so is that we will spend some time trying to make them better.

The way I figure it is that, hypothetically speaking, no matter what grade your first attempt at the essay is worth--55%, 75% or 95%, getting help from your peers and myself is bound to make it better. Some people won't avail themselves of this opportunity, but they never do quite as well as those who get it done early and redraft their papers.

I don't like to speak in terms of "rough copy" and "good copy." I discovered some time ago that some students (if asked to turn in a "rough copy") will actually take the copy of their essay that they wrote and then "rough it up." I prefer to think of the writing process as a never ending circle. Every time you get feedback on a draft of your paper, you casn write an improved draft. Therefore, every time you redraft your essay, it will be stronger. Some university papers I wrote I must have taken through 6 to 10 drafts.

Finding The Right ISU Novel

It will work best if you give me some options. You might want to look for something that has been awarded a Governor General's Award, The Giller Prize, A Pulitzer Prize or a Mann-Booker prize. You can just google the different awards and find out who the winners have been since the contests began. Any of the winners would be a safe bet.

Even novels that were short-listed would work. The 2009 Giller was just awarded Tuesday. The finalists are also listed along with a description of the winning novel, The Bishop's Man.

If you select wisely, this will become your favourite course novel.

Library Night- A Reminder

I know most of you know, but it occured to me that anyone who was absent on Tuesday may show up at Collegiate. Tonight we are at Central library selecting and reading our ISU novels.

I will be in the main foyer taking attendance by 6:30pm.

See you there!

Movie Review of The Stone Angel

In my opinion, The Stone Angel the novel and The Stone Angel the movie, have the same plot but are two different stories. I enjoyed both the novel and the movie, but as I would two different tales. Such differences as how the Hagar were portrayed, additional scenes, scenes being deleted or changes and the modernization of the film all played a part in creating a different story, which still followed the main event of the plot of The Stone Angel in text format.
The changes that the director made to the characters changed the story dramatically. Especially the changes made to Hagar. Hagar in the novel, in blunt words, is a prude. In the movie however, she is shown taking charge in the situation with Telford Simmons and allows other people to possibly see her and Bram pre/post-sexual activity. These scenes make Hagar out to be a hormone crazed individual prior to being with Bram, which is not the case at all. In the novel Hagar was surprised and somewhat unaware of what was suppose to happen on her wedding night. The director I predict was trying to make Hagar more modern, and easier to relate to a teenage audience. The director would do this mainly because the majority of profit from movies is made from teenagers.
The modernization of the story was a change the director thought was necessary in order to make the story interesting to the general public. For example, the change of Murray’s character from an unhappy husband hiding to a lover of a rebellious daughter, made that particular scene a lot more applicable to the audience. The change also allowed Hagar to get the reflection about John she needed, but did not require as much explanation. Also the fact that in the scene Hagar and the Murray substitute character were smoking marijuana made the hallucinations quite more realistic than if it had come from alcohol.
There was one additional scene not written in the novel that the director put in the movie that I did not like. In the movie it showed Marvin drunk, and speaking about sex to Doris. This changes how Marvin is look at completely. Marvin would be described as reliable, responsible, always trying to avoid conflict, honourable and respectable. The scene contradicts your entire view of Marvin’s good boy reputation.
As I previously stated, I enjoyed both the film and book. The movie was a good representation of the novel’s story, but not of the novel’s version of Hagar. The changes the director made definitely help the story to manifest itself in a smaller time frame, but unfortunately you lose part of the tale the novel is telling.

Movie vs. Novel

All the movies, that intend an abbreviation and a brief explanation of the written manner, have a short peek for the viewers for its clarification purposes. The movies that catch the eyes are less valuable to the seekers who prefer the depth in information compared to the novels that explain it in details. "The Stone Angel" film features the main contents of the novel. The people who do not inspect the visual manner, prefer to indulge themselves in the book contents. In contrast, the ones who are considered as visual learners, skip the reading and put their interests on the screen. Even though, the visual manner can reassure and clarify the viewers' imaginations, it does not increase or improve the viewers' literature skills. It is viewed not read, which makes it a scene of daily life that people pass by for a moment, understand the actions, conclude the theme, and forget what happened. But if it's read, it is maintained between the fingers and experienced as if being one of the characters and have an influence on personal life that would never fade away. When a person reads the novel by himself, either loudly or silently, he/she is able to understand it perfectly. But if someone else is reading it for that person, like the characters of the movie are reading for the viewers, the person will miss some of the important points that are valid to shape his conclusion.

"The Stone Angel" film is not necessarily similar to the novel. It misses some contributors and characters found in the novel. Hagar's brother Dan, as an example, was not present or even mentioned in the movie. Even though, he is not such a big contributor to Hagar's life, he plays an important role in shaping Hagar's hard personality. In the novel, Hagar underestimated him and failed him. This specific action clarify what type of a girl Hagar was. The main point here is that the spectators will have an idea that Hagar does not have a brother called Dan in the novel, which makes it a deceiving form of short expression. The producer wanted to make the movie a general expert of the novel, but actually it has some skipings and unparalleled contents compared to the novel's. The life with Dan, and the real vacation place, Shadow Point, for Hagar and Bram are some examples.

Reading the novel for several days and experiencing each step resulting in producing a "mature tree" idea that covers the whole contents, is rather than watching the movie and have a "short plant" picture that just covers what mainly happened in a short two hours period of time.

Roni.

ISU Authors

Please register your ISU author and novel with me by adding a comment here.

I will take everyone's choices and put them into a chart in order to avoid duplication.

Happy Picking! (The novel)

Response To Film Due Wednesday

Thanks again to Jessica, Rosalind and Mark for initiating an insightful (and inciteful) conversation about the film.

I suggested in class that I might assign Monday as a cut off date for the assignment, but given that most people still haven't posted yet I'm thinking Wednesday may be a little more practical. If you have not yet been added as an author, please email me at ewcwriter@live.ca. All you need to do is state your name (if it's not clear in your email address) and say "please add me to the blog." I can do it in about 25 seconds.

Cost-Benefit Analysis- "The Stone Angel"

I didn't hate the movie "The Stone Angel" by any means, but definitely found it less enjoyable than the book due to the following reasons:

First, I disliked the lack of detail in the movie, and felt that the movie version of "The Stone Angel" was more modernized than anything. For example, the language in the movie was more coarse, and most of the characters in the movie really weren't anything like the characters portrayed in the novel. I'll have to agree with Mark when saying that the "Murray character" in the movie was a horrible representation of Murray F.Lees from the novel. To be honest, I found the meeting between Hagar and Murray to be important in the novel, and didn't agree with the change in his character in the movie.

Secondly, Bram was made out to be irritating, rude and rather uncaring in the novel, whereas in the movie, I found him to be a decent husband/father and actually felt sorry for him when Hagar and John left him, especially because of the changes made during that scene in the movie, displaying Bram's emotional side, leaving him heartbroken and alone, rather than uncaring and sarcastic, as he was made out to be in the novel.

Finally, I thought Hagar's death was poorly recreated in the movie, and really didn't think it did much for her overall character, thus showing the lack of detail in the movie. It's not hard to understand that movies trigger a different type of audience, and in that aspect, I thought the movie was entertaining, however, I didn't think the movie did the novel much justice.

Jenn

Stone Angel Characters

Though I know it is easy to be critical and it is a hard task to make a movie from a book, I think "The Stone Angel" was a poor representation of the book, almost worst than "Eragon" and that's something.

One of the biggest problems I found with the movie was its characters; each and every one of the novel's characters was either missing or incorrectly portrayed.

Bram is a good example of this, if you could say that he was even in the movie. When I thought of Bram from the novel I saw a large, untidy, filthy mountain man, not some cowboy straight from a Western romance. In the movie, Hagar's marriage almost seems justified by Bram's appearance rather than being a rebellion against her farther thus taking away another example of Hagar's pride. The director probably did this to attract a larger audience, but I think he would have been better off adding to John's appearance rather than Bram's.

Another character with serious issues was Murray Lees, or rather the "Murray character" since Murray himself was not in the movie. In the novel, Murray was a character that could relate to Hagar. Also, despite the fact that Murray had vices (mainly drinking), he has a reason, his grief, and we the reader's can sympathise with him. The "Murray character" however was nothing than a sexually motivated, drug smoking ne'er-do-well punk with nothing relative to Hagar besides a scandalous, sexual relationship loosely similar to John and Arlene's. I don't know why the director made this change as Murray would have only cost him five more minutes or so.

If anyone has other ideas about characters left out or modified, feel free to comment.

Mark

Cost-Benefit Analysis (Media Assignment)

Just a reminder that I am looking for everyone to enter into a virtual conversation about the Stone Angel film. Jessica has provided a shining example of how to approach the topic. She's fairly critical but supports her remarks well with detailed references to both the film and the novel.

Is there anyone who would like to take a more favorable stance?

All I'm looking for would be a remark or two about some of the differences between the film and the novel, along with a consideration of what Skogland (the director) both loses and gains by making the changes.

It struck me while viewing last night that there may have been a scene or two that Laurence herself might have wholeheartedly applauded, like the scene where John lies down under the oncoming train. I think that's one of the best scenes I've seen in any number of films.

What do the rest of you think? Is it too much?

Opinion on the movie created from "The Stone Angel"

I disliked the movie created from the novel “The Stone Angel” for numerous reasons.

First, I thought the casting was poor. The actors did not represent the characters in the novel well. They appeared more modern and did not fit the descriptions given to them in the novel. Hagar was the main character in the novel and her main qualities were her “strength” and stubbornness, which were not portrayed well in the film.

Secondly, important details were missing. What I found important was John lying to Hagar about his elementary school friends, old Hagar spending her last night at Shadow Point with Murray in the old cannery, and during Hagar’s last days in the hospital forming a relationship with Mrs. Dobereiner. Those events played a significant role in the novel because they demonstrated how John and Hagar were changing over time. Perhaps including these scenes would have improved the movie.

Lastly, I found the novel was full of emotion, whereas the movie was focused on what would sell. I found the added curse words, drugs and alcohol scenes unnecessary. Although there were scenes with alcohol and minimal swearing in the novel, I found it overdone in the movie.

That being said, I understand that it is not an easy task to create a movie from a novel, let alone a Canadian fiction novel. If the director would have stayed true to the novel, I believe, they could have created something great even on a budget.

Jessica

Updated Calendar

The November calendar is here. Be sure to bookmark it so that you can find your way back later on. I will also put some links in the calendars themselves so that if you have one open you can click your way forward or backward to the different months.

This is about as simple as I can make it (I think). Be sure to keep an eye open for your poetry presentations. Send me or show me an early draft of your handout and I'll do what I can to help you revise it toward perfection.

Early Marks...

As I promised, I've put together some early marks. Since you may have difficulty figuring out your code name, just email me and I'll email it back the next time I am online. I will also give out code names in class.

It is very important that at this early stage nobody panics... marks will bounce around for a couple of weeks yet before settling down around midterm. If you are not where you would like to be, there is still sufficient time to turn things around.

Be sure to check the four entries that are included in your grade carefully--although I try to be careful, I do make mistakes. If you haven't handed in the Engaged Reading assignment, ASAP would be an excellent time.

Another point to consider would be your oral participation grade. I'll try to explain in class some of the variables I took into account. Keep in mind that I've said since the first night that participation here on the blog, or submitting a written response to discussions could be counted toward your oral language mark.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend and see you Tuesday!

Poetry Presentations

Please email ewcwriter@live.ca with your preferred poem and poet once you've decided. If you are looking for poems, try one of the following links which contain poems written by well known poets.

http://www.emule.com/poetry/?page=author_list

http://www.poetry.com/greatestpoems/PoetsCorner.asp

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/

1st Stone Angel Test Moved...

Happy Thanksgiving,

Since so many people (about 10!) will be unable to write the Chapters 1-3 test on Tuesday, for very legitimate reasons, I have decided to push the quiz to Thursday.

As always, information about what we do in class Tuesday will be posted here.

Regards,

CP

A Note on Email Etiquette

Hi All,

I'm going to post this email on all my course blogs because I've had a little something on my mind for a while.

I am getting a number of emails sent to the ewcwriter account that strike me as being "dashed off." When writing to your friends it is perfectly acceptable to write however you like and to take whatever shortcuts you wish. When emailing people in a more professional sense such as teachers, professors, business and government people, you should use the best possible standard of writing that you can manage.

In the same way that we make assumptions about people based on their clothes, their hair or their grooming habits, people who receive your emails will make assumptions based on what they can see. Not using capital letters, punctuation or spellchecking your email can suggest either a lack of skill or a lack of concern. Neither is the impression that you want to leave in the mind of the person who will be assigning you a final grade.

I'm not suggesting that our email communications have to be perfect, they just have to be the best of which we are capable of writing. I catch problems every time I compose an email by rereading it 2 or 3 times. Sometimes I'll read it even more than that if I am writing to my bosses.

By all means, I invite you to comment on this.

Regards, CP

Online Course Calendar

is up and running.

Click here to view the COURSE CALENDAR. You may wish to bookmark the page (or add it to your favourites so that you find it more easily in the future).

Also, thanks to those of you who have emailed ewcwriter@live.ca and asked to be added to the blog. You won't be able to post comments or questions until you do.

Mr. P

Welcome!

Well done, you found your way here. I hope you enjoy your time in ENG 4U--both in the classroom and online.

I've found that maintaining a course blog is an excellent way for me to communicate with absent students and to make sure that my expectations for your studies are communicated consistently. Please email ewcwriter@live.ca and ask to be added to this blog. Be sure to include your full name--I have many students this semester. Once you have been added to the blog, you will be able to create your own posts and add comments.

...which brings me to my next point. Ask questions and make comments! If you are the type of student who tends to be a little quiet in class, this is your chance to enter the conversation about the course and the course material. I will consider your blog performance as oral participation since it is really a virtual conversation.

Here are the first night handouts:

Course Overview

Policies

Plagiarism

Notes on Being a Student

Some Conventions

Engaged Reading Template

Engaged Reading Assignment

Verbatim Analysis # 1

For Thursday I will get the COURSE CALENDAR online.

Regards,

CP.