Center Field

I read all four books in the Twilight series just so I could properly judge it instead of just blindly hating.

It seemed like she completely ran out of ideas to keep the series going. Suddenly in the 4th book half the vampires had superpowers? One could control the elements? What on Earth was that, it was like she was watching X-Men on tv when she was writing her book. What a pile of drivel.

Center Field, on May 02, 2011 - 06:35, said:

You misunderstand. Of course Americans started the firefight; it was a mission that was planned, passed by Obama, then executed. I'm not sure what you're trying to get at. All I'm saying is that instead of trying to belittle or diminish the legal frameworks of Western democracies to suggest why bin Laden was shot, you could instead say, "hey, it was a firefight: hard to handcuff a guy with bullets whizzing past your head!"

I would have preferred to see bin Laden arrested, tried, and executed (which is what happened with Hussein, and what happened at Nuremberg; bin Laden here is flaunting precedents), but am I upset that he was shot? No. I'm more concerned with the lack of faith you've shown for your country's judiciary.

When I said "gut reaction", I was referring to that no-holds-barred mentality that is the immediate aftermath of such news, in regards to bin Laden's capture/death. It is now evident that there's a personal undercurrent of cynicism regarding the American populace at play. Listen, I'm Canadian, I'm usually all for cynicism against Americans. My citizenship in context to the US would hardly qualify as "international", and I'm not looking to partake in any gang-related activity here, press or otherwise. You seemed to have mistook my feeble, sleepy admonishments as an outright condemnation. Don't. I don't know why you have so little faith in the American people, and I don't need to know. I would suggest otherwise, but it's your country, not mine, and you know it.

nametaken, on May 02, 2011 - 06:37, said:

This is completely true. In practical terms, the death of bin Laden should make very little difference. Al-Qaeda has been fractured and functioning without central organization for years now. Pundits already recognize that this will change the ground game very little. It's the social effects stretching tomorrow, next week, and the next month that will be more difficult to tell.

Besides, those college-kids in the D.C. area need a reason to drink on Sunday night. Probably good excuse for some girl to flash the BBC cameras.

I'm not meaning to say that you shouldn't rejoice that some justice has finally come about, but somehow from the perspective of a person who has been an onlooker from the outside to the events, it seems to me almost like falling to their level just murdering him like that. Okay, given the circumstances of a military operation it was probably one of the few options, but isn't it unethical that justice is brought upon him without ever bringing him to real and fair justice of some judicial system. I mean this seems to me almost like asserting the right to have war by bringing justice of one's own hand upon one man. Surely there is significant evidence that Osama was a person who was involved in the planning of numerous terrorist attacks, but wouldn't it have been more just if the evidence had been weighed out in a court  

I'm biting my tongue for now. It wouldn't be much good at this time anyways.

Congrats US. 24 Canadians died in the 9/11 attacks as well, and it is good to see the last symbolic remnant of that event taken care of. You guys - and Obama too - could use a break like this, so enjoy it.

I'm very interested to get all the details as the story is fully revealed. There are a lot of questions to be answered, not the least of which is the potential repercussions in the Middle East, as alluded to above. Westerners typically have a very skewed sense of that part of the world, so I won't be so bold as to say there will be wholly rejoice or retaliation. When will we see the body? Will Fox be parading the SEAL who had the kill shot around on its networks, or will the entire country do so? How involved was the Pakistini government? What effect will it have on American foreign policy, if any? What domestic effects?

The fun has just begun.

Center Field, on Mar 22, 2011 - 04:47, said:

The awkward moment when you walk into the IB exam and don't know WHICH SEAT TO TAKE?!?!

I'm not sure you want to say "amplify the tension" - to me that suggests the symbolism (which one assumes the characters are not aware of) is increasing the tension in the play. Maybe it's not as nice vocab, but I think "show the tension" (emphasize, underline, draw attention to, bring the focus to) is more appropriate.

Other than that, sounds awesome. Nice and VERY specific (particularly since you like writing a lot - btw according to my teacher, who marks WLs, you're allowed 10% leeway on the word-count).

i honestly think your topic sucks

saunders is god, on Aug 09, 2010 - 01:29, said:

well your narcissictic ego is wrong, SL man.

I just pray to Stalin, Hitler, Bismarck, Ebert, Wilson, Churchill and couple of other guys for wisdom and support on my way to passing IB. Always helps.

Some important ones which crop up all the time like alliteration, assonance, sibilance, end-stopping and simile (and some less )...

Alliteration - repetition of initial letter (people prod penguins repeats 'p' sound)

Assonance - repetition of a vowel sound (like flub dub dub repeats the 'uh' sound)

Chiasma - pattern of sentence, ideas or words which follows the pattern ABBA. e.g. 'flying freely freedom flew'; most often in english it happens with ideas in a sentence rather than words.

End-stopping - line of poetry which ends the line with a full stop. Simple xP

Portmanteau - mostly in nonsense poetry, the fusing of two words to make a new one e.g. 'fuming' and 'furious' to make 'frumious' in Lewis Caroll's Jabberwocky, or 'smoke' and 'fog' to make 'smog'.

Sibilance - reptition of an s sound (seven silky sausages slinked slowly repeats the 's' sound)

Simile - similar to a metaphor, but rather than saying that x IS y, you say that x is LIKE y (she danced graceful as a swan)

The repetition of 'sound' bit is important, because it's about how it would sound if you said it out loud. Silent letters don't count, in other words!

I made a list and some notes on literary features to look out for (especially during the unseen commentary). Feel free to use this list to help prepare for your own May exams.

List of Literary Features

- Allegory
  o a figurative mode of representation conveying a meaning other than the literal, usually through symbolism

- Allusion
  o a brief reference, explicit or indirect, to a person, place or event, or to another literary work or passage

- Analogies
  o Something unfamiliar explained using an equivalent familiar example

- Anecdotes
  o Short, entertaining side stories that related to the plot

- Antithesis
  o used to describe a character who presents the exact opposite as to personality type or moral outlook to another character

- Aphorism
  o a concise statement containing a subjective truth or observation cleverly and pithily written

- Characterization
  o Direct – author/narrator talks about the characteristics
  o Indirect – revealed through interaction with themselves and with others
  o Anything can be characterization because Characters Carry the Plot

- Conceit
  o An extended metaphor with a complex logic that governs a poetic passage or entire poem. By juxtaposing, usurping and manipulating images and ideas in surprising ways, a conceit invites the reader into a more sophisticated understanding of an object of comparison

- Denotative/Connotative Meaning
  o When something has both a literal meaning that is significant, as well as a figurative meaning that is equally if not more important

- Diction/Word Choice
  o Can be used to create an effect – tone, mood, or reinforce the theme or a style

- Enjambment
  o The continuation of a sentence or clause over a line-break.

- Epiphany

- Flashback

- Foreshadowing

- Framing device
  o When the narrative is starts and ends with something, which frames the said narrative to create and effect

- Grammer
  o Dashes and commas, parentheses and sentence fragments – usually a lesser form of stream of consciousness but also used to reveal the thought process of a character at a given time

- Imagery/Sensory Detail
  o Brings the audience into the scene by immersing them in the experience, in the setting

- Irony
  o Verbal irony is a disparity of expression and intention: when a speaker says one thing but means another, or when a literal meaning is contrary to its intended effect. An acute example of this would be sarcasm.
  o Dramatic irony is a disparity of expression and awareness: when words and actions possess a significance that the listener or audience understands, but the speaker or character does not.
  o Situational irony is the disparity of intention and result: when the result of an action is contrary to the desired or expected effect. Likewise, cosmic irony is disparity between human desires and the harsh realities of the outside world (or the whims of the gods).
  o Verbal and situational irony is often intentionally used as emphasis in an assertion of a truth. The ironic form of simile, or the irony of sarcasm or litotes may involve the emphasis of one's meaning by deliberate use of language that states the direct opposite of the truth, or drastically and obviously understates a factual connection

- Juxtaposition
  o When the author places two themes, characters, phrases, words, or situations together for the purpose of comparison, contrast, or rhetoric.

- Magic Realism
  o When magical elements are blended into a realistic atmosphere in order to access a deeper understanding of reality. These magical elements are explained like normal occurrences that are presented in a straightforward manner which allows the "real" and the "fantastic" to be accepted in the same stream of thought

- Metaphor

- Metonymy
  o is a figure of speech used in rhetoric in which a thing or concept is not called by its own name, but by the name of something intimately associated with that thing or concept. For instance, "Washington," as the capital of the United States, could be used as a metonym for its government

- Mockery
  o A form of mocking – deriding a character or a group of people, can be employed by another character, or by the narrator

- Mood
  o When a scene is emotionally charged, although the emotional may be one such as melancholy or apathy. Used to supplement setting and sometimes to create its own effect

- Motif
  o A symbol that is repeated throughout the narrative that relates to a specific theme of the narrative. Rarely obvious

- Narration
  o First person, Third person limited, Omniscient

- Narrative hook
  o Conscious, sometimes obvious attempt to grab and hold onto the audience’s attention

- Overstatement/Hyperbole

- Onomatopoeia

- Oxymoron

- Paradox
  o a method of literary composition - and analysis - which involves examining apparently contradictory statements and drawing conclusions either to reconcile them or to explain their presence

- Parody
  o Imitation of something meant to ridicule it

- Pastiche
  o Imitation of the style of another person

- Pathetic Fallacy
  o A form of personification – the reflection of the mood of a character (usually the protagonist) in the atmosphere or inanimate objects

- Pathos/Emotional Appeal
  o one of the three modes of persuasion in rhetoric used by the author to inspire pity or sorrow in the reader towards a character

- Personification

- Plot Device
  o an object or character whose sole purpose is to advance the plot

- Poetic Justice
  o when virtue is ultimately rewarded or vice punished, often in modern literature by an ironic twist of fate intimately related to the character's own conduct

- Polyphony
  o is a feature of narrative, which includes a diversity of points of view and voices

- POV
  o can be shifted with or without warning to create an effect

- Sentence Structure/Argument Structure
  o Watch for: subject first vs. verb first, double negatives, interesting construction, intricacy and discrepancy in the argument.

- Setting

- Stream of consciousness
  o Usually devoid of grammer, reflects the innermost thoughts and workings of a characters mind during the stream’s text

- Symbolism

- Theme

- Tone
  o Character specific, or narrator specific
  o Ambiguity, philosophical, sarcastic, ironic, surprise, condescending, detached, etc.

- Understatement
  o Giving an expression with less strength than would be expected, can be used to the effect of highlighting the importance of the thing being understated
  o Litotes is a form of understatement  in which a certain statement is expressed by denying its opposite

- Unreliable/biased narrator

- Verfremdungseffekt
  o An effect that prevents the audience from losing itself passively and completely in the character created by the actor, and which consequently leads the audience to be a consciously critical observer

- Voice
  o Voice of the author is a combination of a writer's use of syntax, diction, punctuation, character development, dialogue, etc., within a given body of text

Please post any other literary features/devices that I have not included! My teacher for English A1 was pretty thorough though =D