Skim

I thought that Skim was a very interesting book to read. This was my firt experience reading a graphic novel and it was hard to follow at first but it really let you see the story in the way that the author envisioned it. The only downside that I see with graphic novels is that it does not allow you to imagine the story in your head as much as in a regular novel. I found that instead of picturing the story as a movie in my head, as I do with most books, I focused on the pictures to create the story.


I think that Skim is a modern "coming of age novel" because it is a story of a girl trying to find herself as she goes through the struggle of adolescences. Skim is different from coming of age stories like Romeo and Juliet because there is no dramatic romance between a man and a woman and her problems are not as severe as trying to make up your mind to kill yourself to be with the person you love. Instead of that type of story Skim struggles with everyday problems of a person in her age group who is trying to fit it and find who they are. The romance in Skim occurs between her and her female teacher which gives and interesting twist to it. By the end of the book Skim grows out of her stage as a wicca, an awkward friendship with her "best friend", and she finds a new friend that she can be herself around. Skim may not be a book made for children but I think it does show that even though the struggles of trying to find who you are is hard, it will work out in the end if you a true to yourself.

Image Representations

Voice: Literal representation of voice

Feminism:"an organized movement for the attainment of such rights for women. "

Logic: "the system or principles of reasoning applicable to any branch of knowledge or study"

Kinky

I found the book Kinky to be really interesting. At first I thought how do you make a whole book of poems about Barbie dolls but after reading the book I tried to see what the author was trying to do by using Barbies as a subject of her poems. I think that the author used Barbie as a representation of women or the idea of a perfect woman. Barbie is the perfect representation of how women have been idealized by society because as the author discussed through her poems, she never ages, her body is perfect, she is never in a bad mood and she can be whatever you want her to be. You really have to use your imagination to see the meaning behind some of the poems and some of them are a tad bit odd but I think the author is helping her readers see that like Barbie, there is more to women which meets the eye.


Some of the poems that I liked/ found interesting were:
Blindfolded Barbie
Kinky
Black Barbie History
Beatnik Barbie

BJD Movie vs. Book

Like a lot of people in our class I saw the movie of BJD before I read the book. When I started reading the book I was looking to see if the book had the same feel and humor as the movie did and overall I would say that the feel of the two were the same. The book and the movie both had the central themes of relationships, body image and Bridgette’s neuroticism and they both relied on humor and emotion to appeal to the audience. One thing that I did find different is how they portrayed Bridgette in the movie versus the book. Not only was Bridgette heavier and frumpier in the movie, she was more absent minded and silly. I think that changing Bridgette maybe makes it funnier to see the situations that she got herself into but it also kind of takes away from the character being relatable to women because not many women like to be look at as ditsy or to make a fool of themselves in public. Overall I think that they did a good job making BJD diary into a movie. It had the same basic themes and kept the same feel. I also think that changing the situation with Bridgette’s mom changed the story in a way which made it more believable and placed the focus more on Bridgette.

Ginuwine - When Doves Cry (Official Video)

Prince - When Doves Cry

Cover Songs " When Doves Cry"

Prince Orginal Version
lyric link


Ginuwine Version
lyric link

I heard the Ginuwine version first back in the days when I was in love with Ginuwine ( lol) and I was surprised to hear that this was not the original version. The main differences about the two songs is that each performer brings their own feel to it. Prince brings his rock, pop, sexy/strange feel to the song and Ginuwine brings his mellow, sexy cool, R&B feel to the song. After hearing the Prince version I would say that I think of him first now when I hear this song but Ginuwine definitely did a nice R&B style cover.