Last Week Of English 101 Class

For the last week of class we were getting ready for the final we took on friday. On Thursday we got to ready something in class. I decided to read two poem from a Persian poet name Rumi. This poet is my sister favorite one and i agree with her because he is really good with poem. i liked that everyone got to read something they have and liked to share with the class.

Finishing up w/ ENGL 101

1.) I knew we would have to write a lot so that didn't really surprise me, the only thing that surprised me is the amount of books we would read. I thought we would be reading a pile of books according the exaggerating  high school teachers. I think what complicated me was not wanting to read but having obviously, and writing my ideas onto computer. I think way too quick and add unnecessary information or put too little. 
2.) More reading plays as Professor Talbird said in class.
3.) I knew there were abstract writers in the world, not can compare to Moods. And i learned quite a lot of Malcolm X
4.) Talking in groups, giving helpful critiques to each others. Probably reading in front of the class
5.) It has to be Jared or Catherine, they would both write really good. And on interesting topics that i didn't know, so it was educational and interesting. 

For me it was better to see the people performing the play because it’s better when things are visual. As in it Paints a picture in my mind of the character acting out the play. If I were to just read the play I would be confused and forget most of the lines and words. Though the different groups broke it down the different parts of the play to convey the message and make it clear. I really liked this activity because it was something new and caught my attention because I like to act out things.

Did hearing/seeing/performing the reading make you understand it differently?

Yes, it made me see it from a different perspective because during the play I could see how the actor was interacting with the audience and asking these rhetorical questions. Also, I noticed that this play mixes funny things with sad things so it is very interesting how he starts with something that is supposed to be happy, but it always ends in a tragic way. Every actor knew the mood of the play, so when they started to act out had a lower voice and try to transmit like a sad feeling to put us in the mood.

Did hearing/seeing/performing the reading make you understand it differently?

Seeing the play acted out by people in my class made me understand the play in a different way. The reason why I say this is because, when I was reading the play in my head, I couldn't really visualize how the person would say things and the setting of where he was talking. When I saw people in my class reading the play and showing pictures and music in the background, I was able to imagine the way the story was being told since I saw a visualization of my classmates reading in front of everyone. Adding the music and pictures helped as well because it gave me a few ideas of how the mood of a play can be either dark or happy.

Thomas Pain

The monologue started off with Thomas smoking a cigarette. The monologue then started to show how Thomas is someone that says random things like talking about a cowboy and talking about how a dog died. He also said how a kid was laughing about it. I could tell that every word that comes out of Thomas is random because, he told someone to screw off and used a profanity word when someone left. It seems like he doesn't have a reason of why he says these things and appears to not have any emotion when saying certain things.

Finishing Up w/ ENGL 101

Since this is the last week of class and since we don't meet for a complete week, any entries you make on the blog this week will be extra credit. You can make any comments related to the course that you would like. However, I have a few questions:

1. In what ways did ENGL 101 surprise you? How did it meet or complicate your ideas of what a college writing class would be like?
2. What do you expect ENGL 102 will be like?
3. What is one thing that you learned this term that you didn't know before?
4. What was your favorite thing we did this term? What was your least favorite thing?
5. Which of your classmates' writing did you admire the most--either during group crits or on Thursday's in-class reading? 

Do you have any questions?

It's been a pleasure for me.

I have a theory about Thom Pain play

After Thursday class i don't know why but i have this weird feeling that it's either about his life or someone thats he knows. Why i think that because the way he was talking about the little boy in the book it's like it's his childhood but even thought he talking in a third person it made me feel he didn't want people to know it's his life he is talking about because maybe he doesn't want people to think he is weird or something is wrong with him. I hope my theory is right or at least close to it.

Did hearing/seeing/performing the reading make you understand it differently?

While i was performing the reading on Thursday it did make me understand it differently, because when i was reading my part i imagine what was going on in my mind and seeing what the scene would look like while i was acting out. It also help me understand what he was saying like i was in his shoes understanding what he was going though in his life or what he was going though when he was reading this.

Thoughts on the play

Hearing and seeing the performance about the reading did make me understand it differently. The actors expressions made it lively like I was engaged and so was the audience. I preferably like seeing plays and movies instead of reading a book so I thought this activity was really cool. When the actors spoke and as they read out loud and their background images just all gave a sense of drawing into their stories. It gives the experience of actually imagining the story.

Response to Thom Pain

I felt that me hearing the play and seeing it made me understand it differently in a way because watching a play is physically being able to see how everything plays out. I personally enjoyed the acting. It gives me the impression that the author is very much so all over the place. Honestly, it is still a little bit complex considering the fact that he is not really going in a specific direction when he talks about his experiences as well as the audiences.

Presentation of Thom Paine

I feel like hearing something upbeat would almost make his dark monologue seem more comedic then if one played a dark loud piano music, which just starts to put the monologue in a more depressing tone. And seeing it can actually put it in perspective, kinda like watching a movie when some happy music comes up you can picture there will be a happy ending, on the other hand seeing the same scene with some darker music will make it seem that there will be a sad moment. I feel that the music puts everything in perspective no matter the the scenario.

Thom Pain Play

Throughout the plays that were read and acted out, I realized that each set a different vibe, however, I found out that they fall moreover to a much more ominous side. Everyone sees this differently, but when Will Zeno writes this monologue, I also have to question what his vision was like in the play. We could simply say that what we have done just now was based on what we read and had different interpretations. Now it is more interesting to know what was going through the creators mind.

Thom Pain

Did hearing/seeing performing the reading make you understand it differently?
-Yes for me hearing and seeing the reading made me understand it differently.It made me understand it differently because as reading it in your head you get a different perception versus seeing it and hearing it from another person.With the sound and scenery you get a different perspective and you could visualize it in your head or it happening to you .

Thoughts on Thom Pain

During the play I thought the character seemed to be imaginative when he started to tell his audience to imagine things like birds or something on fire or anything. I was confused on what was really going on in the play. The character also sounded like he had this non caring attitude when he said to imagine all those things and the go F- yourself to the audience. I think he was trying to be funny and wanted his audience to laugh. He really speaks his mind as the character in the play and he doesn't seem to care what his audience thinks.

Thom Pain

Thom Pain its different from the other readings we have done because this is a play but its not only for that. Its because this play seems to have different genres for example, in the beginning when he turn on his cigarette and start to talk the way he does you feel like this is a mysterious play and we can infer that he will be an interest person but then there is drama also. I will said there is drama because he talks about this little boy but in way that he doesn't care or a least is what I understand. 

The opening of the monologue

My thoughts on the monologue were a bit hazy. It seemed like a lot of things were changing, and  It was a bit hard to keep track of. He just jumps from subject to subject, and it is really hard for me t understand what was going on.

Thoughts on the opening of Thomas Pain

When the play started I thought that it might be performing some dangerous actions. However, as the narrator starts speaking to the audience, it came out to be as not caring about audience perspectives like what they want to see, if they like this play or not? Even when a guy stepped outside he said "Au revoir, cunt." (page 16) this quote even signifies how he was being careless about audience sitting in the front watching him performing and their opinions after asking them some questions then saying "Whatever" like if you don't care then what's the point of you to ask the audience questions. This play according to me was kind of like friendly behavior at some point, but on the other hand, I believe it wasn't. I thought it was friendly behavior in terms of when you asks your friends and they give you their opinions then you responds to them like "whatever, I don't care about it."so that was the feeling I was getting whenever he stated "Whatever and F yourself." Towards the end, I did felt like what I thought in the beginning when he was defining the vocabulary words was kind of stressful when he stated "fear" which was not completely defined.

thoughts on Thom Pain

What I could notice about the opening of the play is that Thom pain has this peculiar form of telling the things in a painful way. It is like he express his pain trough his experiences I think there it is where his name comes from. Pain is the main topic of the play and he shows this trough his story and interacting with the public asking questions to the audience. The ending of the play is pretty suddenly and dry, when I say dry I mean he just say it and we, as audience did not expect that. That is the funny part of the play, it is like Thom tries to interact with the audience, but at the same time he doesn't.

In the opening Thomas is talking about himself first and trying to get the audiences attention by lighting up a cigarette in front of the audience. Then he begins asking about what people like but instead answers the question himself. Later  out of nowhere he starts to talk about a boy and dog. He talks about how the boy is alone and his physical appearance is worse. He mentions a dog dying and the boy trying to help it or hold it during the process of death. No one knows what the boy or the dog is going through and it shows that no one cares either.

OPENING OF THOMAS PAIN

The opening is a little different for me. Something is strange in the opening of the play. It sounded like he is doing something menacing. But when the narrator started reading it sounded like he was being rude to the audience and shows that he does not care about his audience point of view, what they want and don't want, what they did and didn't do. He is being rude purposely to his audience and I want to understand why.

Thom Pain

So far  i have realized that the author appears to be nonchalant about a lot of things. He calls himself whatever as if he does or matter. Like he is someone that is just passing through life, no actual purpose. He also discusses a story of a boy and a dog passing away. I am very taken back by the beginning oft the play. Everything appears to be all over the place.

My though on the opening Thom Pain play

The opening was very interesting because it started with my teacher lighting up two matches and  i got scared because i didn't know what the hell was happening until he was reading the play. it was very interesting opening a lot was going on at once and now i can confirm it's not a kid friendly play because of the langue. At the end things went south when the dog died which was so sad.So far the Tom Pain Play is very good, however while my teacher was reading the play i felt like i was in the theater watching the play while it was going on because while he was reading the lines i had so many reaction coming out of my mouth. and it was also good to see my teacher use props in the room so it's like your actually there.Therefore they go into more details on whats going on in the play too which is is good, so the audience will know whats going on too in the background too.

Thom Pain

So I don't exactly know what to make out of this short play, but from what I gather the author is trying ton convey that nothing is for sure, that anything can happen at anytime and its just "whatever." what happens to you won't effect me, and what happens to me won't effect you, most likely. unless of course I give you the details of what happened to me like my dog got electrocuted and then maybe you will also be a bit effected by what happened to me, you will feel for me. everything is very unspecific and unorganized and all over the place. he begins talking about fear, but doesn't seem to really define it correctly how we would know it as, so it leaves us guessing how our fear may be different than others. as the play goes on you can sense a general theme that nothing can really be predicted so the author continues to jump from one topic to another than back to the first and leaves the audience confused but still understanding at the same time in my opinion if that makes any sense. For example, there was no context to the boy dressed in the cowboy suit in the puddle at first, then topics changed briefly but then we geared back to this little boy and now his dog and although it says the boy loves the dog and the dog loves the boy that goes south real quick when the dog dies from a telephone pole and while the audience is left applaud that that was added into a play, then realize and understand that it is the truth that nothing is predictable and life isnt always just a boy loving his dog but also the tragedies that come with it.

Thom Pain's Monologue

Throughout reading this piece, Thomas Pain to me was more of a "random" person. Meaning, he came up with these stories out of the blues and then drifted off into some other argument or scenario. From what was said about the little boy in a cowboy suit riding in a puddle with a stick was one story of randomness. However, while Pain dictates this story he was kind of on to something. Just like Hoffman's extract every book, or in this case a script, has a meaning towards it. He made us try to think out of the box a bit. There is a purpose in telling this story. What does is mean? Why does he drift off from one part of the story to the next? Through my observation, Thom struggles to focus on what is at hand. He has one of the shortest attention spans i have ever seen. That then makes us, the audience, forget what is at task as well; and though he tries to stay on topic, a topic which is quite hard to describe, he always has something to point out in between.

Thom Pain

The pauses seem to be very important in this play. The silences between statements. It must be a very challenging play to perform. It takes about an hour and you're the only actor on the stage. You've got a series of jokes that you make, a story that you come back to again and again, but there's no central plot that you can hang your lines on.

Thomas Pain

 Why is the subtitle "based on nothing"?

- I believe the subtitle is ''based on nothing'' because maybe of emotions of memories that Thom Pain had in the past that caused him to feel emotionless or as some way say ''cold hearted .Another theory I have maybe when he was writing this play he didn't have a general  focus he just wrote what was on his mind at the time.

The opening to Thom Paine

Well it sounds something odd. It reminds me of of Dexter from the TV show would talk cynically about everything from the voice overs. The character feels like he's better then everyone, but comparing himself as the "modern brain" and from the beginning has a smoking problem. That story of the little boy and the dog, makes the child seem like a soon to be serial killer by the way he talked about how he "...laughed and laughed..." when he saw the dog get electrocuted from the live water in the puddle that he was drinking from.

Thom Pain

How is this text different from other texts we've read this term? In what ways is it similar? What is Will Eno's voice like? What is the character Thom Pain like?

Other questions:

• Why is the subtitle "based on nothing"? 
• Who was Thomas Paine?Why is the character called "Thom Pain"?
• Who is Childe Harold?
• Watch this clip from Michael C. Hall. How does it affect your understanding of the play?
• How is the audience supposed to interact w/ the actor? 
• What genre is this play? Comedy? Drama? Something else? 
• You'll probably read a play in ENGL 102. How will reading this play prepare you for that experience? 
• What questions do you still have?

Moods conclusion

The final part of moods or "Conclusion" was very shocking because the book seems to have no end, but how we discussed, the book explains the creation of earth and the book just left the story there, but we know how the story continues, it was there where my mind exploded because it is a mix between the book and reality. Hoffman ends the book with a beginning and that is simply incredible. The book was very complex and difficult to understand, but that complexity made the book pretty reflexive and a good introduction for ENGL 102.

Final thoughts of Moods

To be quite honest, I enjoyed the book because he didn’t really follow “rule” which I enjoyed. And I liked how he didn’t like like the “traditional“ way of writing, or story telling in a way, which being honest is not really a pleasure to read. While sometime I’ll read the book and cringe at how detailed he would go in some certain moments that I would have to stop reading and just pull myself together on what I just read. I like how he leaves his short paragraph are open for interpretation. Like he’s kinda like your grandfather telling you stories of his life which sometimes makes sense or most of the times can just be jibberish that he is speaking.

What i think Thom Pain ( Based on Nothing) By: Will Eno will be about

Before i start reading the play Thom Pain ( Based on Nothing) by: Will Eno i want to take a guess on what it will be about before i read it. By skimming through the book on blackboard its a one act play and it's not that long of an play. Also looking at the wardrobe and stage props it's not a big type of play just a small one. But they also explain what they are wearing and what will be on stage, and it's not a lot of stuff that's on stage maybe only 7 things that's will be on stage. But in my opinion i think it will be an interesting play to read.