Week 3: Famous Last Words

To start off this weeks Famous Last Words I want to give you all this amazing website called Zombiepedia. It is really going to help me with making this storybook project go more smoothly. I have decided that I am going focus on historical text from around the world. I think the text from Zombiepedia are going to really intensify the website and make it very personal to myself.

Zombie Walk (2006)

Talking about the Website. I have just finished creating it and if you’re interested you can check it out here.

Now for the formal write-up:
This week I read a folklore called Ovid’s Metamorphosis. I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed these stories. I had forgotten how crazy the greek and roman gods and goddesses are! The stories from this section are super easy to read, which I enjoyed, but they are also interesting. These stories do not only captivate the reader... They almost seem to enchant you. While reading I was questioning the whole time. Why in the world would a god do this? What is the meaning of the story (Never reviled until the last second). I think my best writing this week came from my storytelling post this week. For this weeks storytelling post I decided to retell the story of Io. It was my favorite story from the tells of Ovid’s Metamorphosis. When I was retelling this story I want to give it a modern twist. The story of Io was a very powerful one, and to me it contained all the necessities to a good story (all powerful gods, helpless women and a jealous wife. One of the things I liked best about retelling this story was the style I used of retelling the story in a modern or contemporary aspect. I used factors that are recognizable today that were not necessarily relevant in the culture this story was written in, such as homosexuality and the oh so clever, Ice Bucket Challenge.

As for this week, I would say classes are continuing to go well. Today something strange happened. I had three courses and every single one of them today discussed culture as a social construct and how it shapes our lives. The idea of a culture as a social construct is very interesting to me and it made me think about how people were affected by their culture and how that affected their writings. It is interesting to think that the writing of people can be so affected by culture.

Oh and BTW the game on Saturday was awesome! Hope you all had a good weekend!

Brainstorming Storybook Styles

Part I - Identify Your Topic:
My Storybook Project will be about Zombie Myths. I will be focusing on a story from the African Congo as one of my stories; Found in the Un-Textbook. I am planning on finding at least three more Myths or Folklores about Zombies or Zombie Culture that I can Retell; I think I may have some trouble finding stories I really like to Retell, but I am up for that Challenge. I have found many stories online so hopefully this aspect of of the assignment will not be as bad as I am thinking.
Bibliography: “Tales of the Zombie War,” from Apocalypse fiction and stories, by Crown Publishing Groups (2007). Web Address: http://www.talesofworldwarz.com

Part III - Storytelling Styles
1. First Person Storyteller in the form of a Diary, letter or Social Media Updates. I have chosen this style because it will allow me to look at the emotions of my characters easily and I definitely want my characters to have a strong connection to the readers. Using the Diary method I will be able to look at the life of multiple individuals throughout their individual lives at different times in history, such as the 1800’s or 2140. I would like to include a futuristic aspect to this assignment.

2. Another style I would like to consider in my storybook project is a tour guide as a storytelling style. I was inspired by another storybook project to use this style as a possible style for my project. I would like to use this style as a very easy way to transition from story to story. I think using this as a transition style would make it comfortable for the readers. For my storybook project I would transition from containment unit to containment unit that holds zombified people, or scientist working on research.

3. My next style I choose is a Television News station. I think this would be a really interesting way to broadcast the myths about zombie culture and to get a first hand review of zombie actions. I could see this storybook project style being a lot of fun to work with. I think I would actually like to do this style as a mix with the diary. I would want to use the Television Report as the introduction page and the Dairy as the other pages. For the idea of a zombie or the undead I think this style would be very well used if I used a modern day approach to the storybook project.

4. Player 1 style. When I saw this style I kinda fell in love I think. Player1vs Maya gave me a lot of inspiration for this project and I am very excited to explore more of this style. I really like this dynamic of this presentation. As an aspect of the undead, I think this would be a very neat style to do. I can definitely envision a project with a video game storytelling base.

Week 3 Storytelling: Trevor and Tyler

As the president of a large Fortune 500 company Trevor was very used to getting what he wanted. In fact, there was only one instance in his life that involved him being denied what he wanted and that was a boy that he had fallen in love with during high school; You see, Trevor came from a family that frowned upon being gay, and so it was not meant to be. Years later, after college and working his way up the corporate later, Trevor met a beautiful women name Nikki. They became best of friends and to them it seemed only logical to complete the next step and get engaged. Stepping forward again a few years Trevor now had two children, a wife, A large house and was CEO of his company! 

All was going well in Trevor’s life and for years he lived happily. But, like many men in positions of power Trevor soon became uninterested in the life he had built. Some would call this time in his life a “midlife” crisis, but Trevor recognized that he wasn’t just unhappy with his life, but he was missing something. He soon turned to alcohol and drugs trying to dull the thoughts away. Unfortunately it didn’t work. Trevor’s lust grew and grew until he was no longer able to control it. 

One day walking from his limousine to his hotel room in the Grand Hotel of New York. He saw a young man doing the Ice Bucket Challenge. Interested in what was happening Trevor decided to strike up a conversation with the guy. His name was Tyler and he was a student at the University of New York City. Trevor invited Tyler to stay the night with him in his hotel room. Tyler agreed and Trevor’s emptiness he had felt was dissipating. Later that night, while things were getting heated in the bedroom, Trevor’s wife was trying to enter the bedroom, but the door was locked. She left to get a key. Alarmed at his wife’s presence Trevor decides that he will dress up both himself and Tyler in slacks and a pressed shirt. Trevor had successfully transformed Tyler into a business partner. When she returned she found no incriminating evidence of her husbands betrayal, but instead a business meeting that had gone well. Trevor went to the grave with his secret and continued to live a happy life with his wife and kids. 

Authors Notes: Greek Myths: Ovid’s Metamorphosis: Io
For this story I tried to retell it in a contemporary setting. I included details such as a gay relationship and my favorite the Ice bucket Challenge. The story if Io was very gruesome, but also interesting. The story was about Jupiter raping a young women name Io. When Jupiter’s wife came to find Jupiter, he quickly turned Io into female cow. Juno, Jupiter’s wife, was unsuspecting but eventually she finds out about Jupiter raping this women. 

Illustration of Io as a Heifer

Week 3 Reading Diary: Ovid's Metamorphoses

For this weeks reading I chose Ovid's Metamorphoses; listed below are my favorite sections from this epic poem.

Reading A:

Deucalion and Pyrrha - Jupiter has ordered all rivers and streams to overflow.  Eventually the water swept away all life including animals and human until the world had no land and was only sea. The whole world drowned swallowing towns and countries. Animals had no use to try to survive because their adaptation could not help them. Those who did survive had no food and were defeated by slow starvation. There was however, land that rose above the clouds that is where Deucalion and his wife survived. They prayed to the gods. When jupiter saw that only one man and one women was left and that they were good and worshipped he calmed the sea and allowed for their survival. Deucalion pleads for the human race to be “repaired” to a temple goddess. She take pity on them and tells him how the human race could continue. Oh this part is weird... The two surviving people are told by the temple goddess to cover their faces and throw stones behind them. When they threw the stones onto the ground the stones began to soften and start to take human form! Thus new humans were made... That is a really weird way to make new humans.

Io - Okay, so right off the bat we learn the Jupiter (Zeus) sees a pretty lady and deems her worthy of being with him. So he rapes her as she tries to run off. Yay gods?! Oh, BTW Jupiter is married to the Queen of Gods (I wouldn’t want to mess with her). This part was confusing, but it seems like Juno, Jupiter’s wife, was looking for Jupiter. He did not want her to see him raping another women so he transformed into Io into a Heifer. Juno then claimed this women as a gift...? Whatever that may mean. Io could not speak now and so she could not tell her story. Okay, these stories are ending weird, but I like them. So Juno is pissssssed at this women that Zeus raped. Juno calls this girl a slut... which is obviously no true in todays understanding of the word. Jupiter calms Juno and Lo begins to take back her natural human form from the Heifer. The End?

Phaethon and the Sun - So, Lo had a child from Jupiter and her child was friends with this guy named Phaethon. Phaethon is trying to prove he is the son of the Sun god. People do not belied him so he decides to ask his mother for proof. She send him to meet the sun god himself, and so he does. When Phaethon meets his father in his temple he ask his father to give him proof that he is his offspring. The sun god confirms that Phaethon os his offspring and lets him ask something of him to prove he is his child. Phaethon ask for the ability to control the Sun god chariot for the day. The Sun god regrets his decision to let Phaethon ask whatever he likes. He tell Phaethon that controlling the chariot is difficult for even Jupiter and Phaethon is only mortal. He warns him many times about the consequences. Cool story, again they leave it without a ending. It was left off with a warning from the Sun god about what might happen.

Phaethon’s Ride - In this part of the story Phaethon has decided that he realllllllyyyy wants to ride in the chariot... in fact, he is determined. His father tried and tried to warn him not to ride in the chariot. The sun god pleaded and said he could have anything, but this is an exception! “Please make a wiser choice”. Phaethon is still insistent so his father directs him on how to use the Chariot. Now Phaethon takes off and is soon finding himself in a pickle when he cannot control the Chariot. Now Phaethon is regretting his decision. He is facing horrible mythical creatures that are trying to kill him. Phaethon lost control of the chariot and crashed sending the earth into flames!

Callisto - Callisto is a virgin women who is devoted to serving Diana, the virgin goddess of the hunt. Jupiter set his sights on Callisto and decides he want to “get with her”. He transforms into the goddess Diana and meets with Callisto. Jupiter then rapes Callisto. After the rape, Diana, the real one,  and Callisto met again and it turns out that Callisto was impregnated by Jupiter. Because Diana is the virgin goddess Callisto was expelled as a follower of Diana for no longer being a virgin. Callistos son is born. Juno, Jupiter's Jealous wife, transforms Callisto into a bear! Years later Callisto’s son, a hunter, meets his mother in the woods and is about to kill her when Jupiter tosses them both into the air. They then became the Great bear and Little Bear!

Reading B:

Narcissus - As Narcissus becomes tired he rest in a very beautiful spot covered by tress and untouched by others. Since he is tired he goes to take a drink of water from the pond, but as he leans over the water to take a drink he find another beauty. Himself... He tries to catch his reflection in the pool, but he cannot. He is so fixated on his own reflection that he does not eat or sleep. He finds himself so attractive that he can only look at himself. Narcissus is confused by the reflection. He seems to think his reflection is for some reason evading him. Eventually Narcissus dies from I believe starvation. Sad.

Narcissus Looking at His Reflection

Pyramus and Thisbe - This is a very cute story about a boy and a girl who could not be together because of their families. They decided to run off in the night together. The girl, Thisbe, gets out first and goes to their meeting location, but she leaves because she sees a lioness that has just killed a cow coming toward the meeting place. While running away Thisbe drops a piece of her clothing. When Pyramus gets to the meeting location he sees the piece of clothing stained in blood and he notices the tracks of the lioness. he assumes the lioness has killed Thisbe. Upset of the thought of losing his lover, Pyramus kills himself with his sword. Thisbe returns to the meeting place to see her dead lover. Now a distraught Thisbe picks up Pyramus’s sword and kills herself out of love!