The history of Michael Jackson as a monster!

I love Michael Jackson very much.  Today, I'd like to introduce the history of MJ as a monster to you.  Surprisingly, MJ has many songs about monsters.

Firstly, I'm sure that everyone knows the most famous his song, "Thriller."  He is made up as a zombie in the music video.  Not only he, but also many zombies appear in the music video.  They dance, and sing in an awful way.  However, the dance and song are still attractive so much.

Secondly, he made a short movie called "Ghost."  This short movie is the music video of his song, "Ghost."  However, this video contains a kind of story, so this is close to movie.  This short movie is high-quality.  Special makeup and CG technologies are used in this short movie.

Lastly, there is the song named "Monster."  This song is in the MJ's last album, "MICHAEL."  MJ sings

 "Everywhere you seem to turn there's a monster
when you look up in the air, there's a monster
Paparazzi got you scared like a monster"

in this song.

So, maybe he wanted to tell us that paparazzi are more horrible and terrible than any monsters.

              I post a picture of the short movie "Ghost."

About Neal Stephenson

I read the novels of Neal Stephenson in a class. I'd like to introduce him. Firstly, I found his home page. I noticed that he has bearded chin ,but he has bald head...However, actually, his looks has nothing to do with his works. Second, I found the thickness of his books is quite thick. I mean, his works have plenty of volume. It seems to be difficult for me to read all of his works. Third, there are some pictures of his handwritten manuscript. These were changed by him again and again. I feel his passion for novels.

I read two works of him in a class. The one is “Anathem,” and the other is “Quicksilver.” The former is a kind of SF story. The later is one of the series of historical epic. However, these two works have a common point.

The former has a lot of difficult metaphors. For example, the story says that “'When a child gets sick, do you pray? Sacrifice to a pained stick? Or blame it an old lady?'” This story might be difficult to understand. However, there is a key of this story; religion. So, “sacrifice to a painted stick” has a religious meaning, and “an old lady” means a witch.

The later is story about witch trial. So, this story also has a religious meaning.

Metaphor

I learned about the difference between metaphor and simile in the class. Actually, I like reading both of metaphor and simile! These expressions stir my imaginations. These words remind me a writer. He is Haruki Murakami.

Firstly, Haruki Murakami is famous for metaphor. He uses many metaphors in his novels. I think his novels are metaphor itself. I mean, almost all parts of his novels are metaphors. I like the way he compares something to something. For examples, here is the book which I love the best; “Sputnik Sweetheart.”

This book starts with a long part of metaphor.

“In the spring of her 22nd year, Sumire fell in love for the first time in her life. An intense love, a veritable tornado sweeping across the plains - flattening everything in its path, tossing things up in the air, ripping them to shreds, crushing them to bits. The tornado's intensity doesn't abate for a second as it blasts across the ocean, laying waste to Angkor Wat, incinerating an Indian jungle, tigers and all, transforming itself into a Persian desert sandstorm, burying an exotic fortress city under a sea of sand. In short, a love of truly monumental proportions.”

What do you think about it? Maybe he uses metaphors too much? However, this part is interesting, so, we will find that the rest of this book would be interesting.

In conclusion, I found that metaphor is used to make us understand easily. However, it is also used to make the text more interesting.

"Wuthering Heights"

I read the beginning part of "Wuthering Heights."  I learned many things about it.  However, I still have a question.  I can't get the character of Lockwood.  Is he an innocent person or an ill-natured man?

              Well, Lockwood might be an innocent!  According to the story, Lockwood recognizes the place of Wuthering Heights as "a beautiful country."  He also regards Mr. Heathcliff as "a capital fellow."  In addition, he seems to like Mr. Heathcliff.  The story says that "he little imagined how my heart warmed towards him," and "I felt interested in a man who seemed more exaggeratedly reserved than myself."

              However, Lockwood might be an ill-natured man.  I studied that the part which Lockwood addresses Mr. Heathcliff persistently might be harassing behavior.  The part is; "'Mr. Lockwood, your new tenant, sir. I do myself the honour of calling as soon as possible after my arrival, to express the hope that I have not inconvenienced you by my perseverance in soliciting the occupation of Thrushcross Grange: I heard yesterday you had had some thoughts—'‘Thrushcross Grange is my own, sir,’ he interrupted."  I mean, Lockwood knows that Mr. Heathcliff hates being addressed for long time.  So, he did this because he wants to tease Mr. Heathcliff.  In addition, he recognizes himself as a "misanthropist." 
              Which is true character?  However, these mysteries make me fun!

The Rule of Three

I learned about the rule of three.  This is a very powerful method.  This can be seen in many novels, poems, and even in catch-phrases.  However, I thought that I might find it in not only literature, but also movies.  I love Disney movies.  For examples, "Sleeping Beauty," "The Lion King," and "The Three Caballeros."  All of them have threesome relationships.  Firstly, in "Sleeping Beauty," there are three fairies; Flora, Fauna and Merryweather.  They are very small and gentle.  Three fairies contribute the happy ending of this movie.  Second, in "The Lion King," there are three hyenas.  They are enemies of Simba (The main character.)  Their characters are very similar; evil, ugly, and ill-natured.  Their names are Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed.  Lastly, there are three main characters in "The Three Caballeros."  Their names are Donald Duck, José Carioca, and Panchito Pistoles.  You know, one of the main characters, Donald Duck, became one of the most famous characters in Disney movie.

As just described, the rule of three appears in Disney movies.  This makes movies more powerful.

In addition, did you notice that I used the method in this text?  I used three movies for examples.  If you think this text is weighty, it is because of the rule of three.

Introduce of my drama life

I love drama!   I belong to E.S.S. drama section.
Last year, I made a big effort at autumn performance.  In drama section, we play drama in English.  It’s not easy for me, because playing drama is already difficult for me.  We played "Mamma Mia!" as autumn performance.  It was a musical, so, we must sing and dance at this performance.  So, I practiced very hard. There was no holiday from September to October.  I was so busy that I couldn’t care about myself.  As a result, I caught a cold.  In addition, I'm not good at singing and dancing.  So, I was always told "You must practice more!" by my seniors.  It was hard.  I sometimes felt like I was the worst actress in this world.  I cried many times, and I took out on my friends and my boyfriend and my mother.  Preparation for autumn performance was very very hard.  I decided to quit drama section many times.
 However, during performance on a real stage, I felt I really enjoyed playing my role, singing in front of many people, and dancing with a big smile.  I had the best time during three days of real stage.  I was very confident of being my role.  I also enjoyed seeing others' performance of "Mamma Mia!"  All members made big efforts to play their roles, so every performance was very good and moved me!
 Through "Mamma Mia!" I realized that my friends and seniors in drama section are very precious.  I decided to quit drama section many times, however, I could keep being a member of drama section, because of them!  We always cheered up, laughed by same thing, cried by same thing.

A Princess of Mars

In this world, there are many different faces.  There are pretty girls, funk boys, sulky ladies, and handsome men.  However, in the world of novels, almost all heroes have clear-cut features.  For example, there are many handsome heroes in Disney movies; "Aladdin"; "Pirates of the Caribbean"; "Peter Pan," "The Lion King," "High School Musical" and so on.  Captain Carter, who is the main character of "A Princess of Mars" by Edgar Rice Burroughs, is also good-looking.  Why do they have nice-looking faces?  Well, the reason is easy to imagine. That is, people like handsome heroes better than bad-looking heroes.  I suppose that everyone likes handsome main characters.  If main characters are handsome, we can enjoy imagining them.  It is sure that there are many main characters who are nice-looking.  However, is there no main character who is bad-looking?  The answer is NO.  The main characters of "Harry Potter," "Spider man," "Spirited Away" are not good-looking.  Then, why do they have ordinary faces?  I think we tend to empathize with main characters who are similar to us.  In addition, when main characters are not perfect, we feel like giving aid to them.  This is one of the most important thing for novels; we can feel main characters are very similar to us, and enjoy growing up with them.