Hamlet 2!

No, this is not a post in reference to the movie titled Hamlet 2. Rather, this Hamlet 2 is the play two of my friends and I are writing for a class. Our play centres around Horatio, the last surviving Dane from Hamlet 1. While lamenting how far Denmark has fallen since Fortinbras took control, he discovers the ghosts of his friends wanting revenge. So Horatio sets out on a journey into the bowels of Hell in an attempt to set the souls of his friends free!

Meanwhile, Fortinbras is making a pact with the Devil for troops to put down the revolting peasants. And Claudius is plotting to retake Denmark from beyond the grave!

I got to write Act 1 (there are three acts, as there are three of us). It was a lot of fun writing. Scene 2 is easily my favourite. I will be posting it eventually on Delivering Awesome (probably after it is handed in). I am also going to be drawing some pictures of scenes and characters for the play. If they turn out alright, I will post them on Delivering Awesome along with Act 1!

Home from Toronto

I know, I didn't really say anything when I was going, but now I'm back home! I was in St. Catherines and Toronto for a week, from Nov. 11 to today. I did waaaay too much shopping and barely managed to stuff everything into my suitcase! All in all, it was a great trip (although I was a bit sad that I didn't get to go and see Eagles of Death Metal).

While on my trip, I managed to read a couple of books (Twilight and Spud in Winter; see the List for my reviews), and take a ton of pictures (they will be on my Flickr account hopefully in the next day or two). I took in the new Bond movie. I went to some of my favourite Toronto restaurants as well as a couple of new ones that I enjoyed. I took in the ROM, and managed to catch the end of the Christmas parade. And I still had time to hang out with my bro, playing random video games and watching cartoons. The only thing I didn't get to was and writing; I wanted to get my Apocalypse Madness story written, but just didn't have time. But all in all, this was a great trip!

English Papers

This week, I have found out that I can't write an English paper to save my life.

Alright, that's not entirely true. I can write an English paper. It will follow the MLA format. It will even be written rather well. But I'll still end up with a crappy mark. And why would that be? It appears that I write the papers the way I write psychology papers. I guess that's what I get for being a psychology student in English.

What exactly does this mean? No, it doesn't mean that I'm psychoanalyzing Hamlet, or writing about oedipal complexes in characters. It is more of the style that I am writing in. I don't jump right into the texts and go; I give background information, acknowledging what came before. This isn't always a bad thing, but in the paper I was working on all week, it really wasn't necessary to go back to Plato.

Yes, the writing style may be alright, but it's my content that is lacking. I'm failing to analyze the literature properly. So I have worked on one of my papers since last weekend every day, getting help and trying to rectify the problem. Hopefully this time I'll do alright. I have one more paper due next week, and that's it for the term.

One way or another, this is a learning experience!