The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie (79-137)

SUMMARY

Now the six girls are in senior school and aren't "taught" by Miss. Jean Brodie and they are split up among the four schools. They are expected to have school spirit so when Eunice wanted to become a cheerleader Miss. Brodie vetoed the idea and there was nothing any of the girls could do. Mr. Lowther, the music teacher, had lost his housekeeper and needed help taking care of himself and his house so many teachers went to help him out but Miss. Brodie did not like what the where doing to him so she decided to take it upon herself to help him. Now the girls met at Mr. Lowther's house every saturday for tea and to catch up with school but especially on Mr. Lloyd, the art teacher, and Miss. Brodie's lover while in her prime.

The girls would occasionally sit for Mr. Lloyd so he could paint them until when they were twelve and thirteen, he painted Rose the most. Miss. Brodie wanted to take advantage of that and have Rose start an affair with him because she liked the idea of them being together and for Rose to love a man that she loved. However, what Sandy didn't tell her was that she and Mr. Lloyd already shared a kiss. At the time Miss. Brodie was doing this, Miss. Mackay, the head mistress, was still trying to force her into retirement and was trying to get Mr. Lowther to help. He eventually became married to another teacher at school making him no use to Miss. Mackay or Miss. Brodie.

With the girls getting older, they began to develop their own desires. Jenny left to become an actress but Miss. Brodie told her she would never be like Faye Compton or Sybil Thorndike. Monica was caught up in math and anger, Eunice wanted to be a cheerleader, Mary was not around as much, Rose had a reputation for sex and Sandy, by the time she graduated, had been having a year long affair with Mr. Lloyd. Also, by the time Sandy left school she felt no reason to keep protecting Jean Brodie so when Miss. Mackay asked more questions to help force Miss. Brodie into retirement she told her that her personal life won't give any grounds for retirement but her politics would. Miss. Mackay took her advice and she did not return to teaching in 1940.

QUOTE

"It's only possible to betray where loyalty is due" (Spark, 136).

REACTION

Sandy said this years after Miss. Brodie was forced into retirement and years after she had died as well. It clears up the novella because the quote answered my main question as to why Sandy would tell information about Miss. Brodie that would incriminate her. She had no respect for Miss. Brodie because of the teaching style, if you could call it that, and even at a young age Sandy would always question whatever Miss. Brodie was telling her and that's the reason Miss. Brodie selected her to be a part of her set, because she had intellect. Its ironic that the reason Sandy stood out to Miss. Brodie was the one thing that brought down her prime.

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1-78)

SUMMARY

Miss. Brodie was a teacher at an all girls junior school, or an elementary school, where she taught six students how to be the "creme de la creme", as she always said. The six students were Monica Douglas, who was known for her temper and for being able to do math in her head, Rose Stanley, who was known for being promiscuous, Sandy Stranger, who was known for the way she talked, Eunice Gardiner, who was known for her gymnastic and swimming ability, Jenny Gray, who was known for her beauty and grace, and finally Mary Macgregor, who was known as the quiet girl that did nothing but everything was blamed on her. Miss. Brodie believed that she was in her prime and while she was in her prime she was not going to let anybody bring her or her teaching down. Although Miss. Brodie was no longer teaching the girls in school, they still looked up to her as if she did.

Six years early, in 1930, when Miss. Brodie did teach the girld there was not a lot of teaching going on. She would tell her class full of ten year old girls about her travels, lovers and beliefs while the girls held up their history books, or a complex math equation was written on the board just in case somebody, like Miss. Mackay the headmistress, walked in unexpectedly. Miss. Brodie said many times that Miss. Mackay, and other faculty at the Junior school, have been trying for sometime to get her to retire and that as long as she was in her prime she and her Brodie set would not let that happen, but overtime it did and it was one of her one that betrayed her.

QUOTE

"I wonder, was it Rose who betrayed me?"
The whine in her voice--"...betrayed me, betrayed me"--bored and afflicted Sandy. It is seven years, thought Sandy, since I betrayed this tiresome woman" (Spark, 63).

REACTION

The way this novella is written is confusing and intriguing at the same time. I thought the whole point of this piece of literature was a mystery in finding out who spilled the beans on Miss. Brodie but it's told who betrayed her on page 63, not even half way through the book. Even though its revealed, there are still so many unanswered questions like why she told and how Miss. Brodie gained the complete and absolute trust of these six little girls.

The Accidental Billionaires (151-196)

SUMMARY

Mark's sophomore year was ending and he and Eduardo needed to figure out what they were going to do for the summer. Eduardo got accepted to an internship in New York and Mark was not only concentrating on thefacebook, but also a new software. Mark brought up him going to Silicon Valley to continue working out there and with that Eduardo did not feel as bad leaving for New York. By May of 2004, Divya, Tyler and Cameron somehow launched ConnectU and they were waiting to see if this social network would take off like thefacebook had. Back in California, coincidentally, Mark and his team of programmers were living on the same street as Sean Parker. He took this as a sign, and wedged his way into becoming apart of thefacebook. He was suppose to be only staying as a house guest but he continued to set Mark up on business meeting without Eduardo, he even began to question Eduardo's dedication to the site. While he was doubting Eduardo's involvement, Eduardo quit his internship on his first day and spent a month in New York trying to get ads and successful got Y2K to be one. After a month apart, Eduardo was headed to California to see Mark and the progress but instead he was sent to a party, the types of parties Mark and his team have been going to all summer. They also went to business meetings and dinners in hopes of getting even more money and they were offering millions to buy thefacebook off of them but they were not willing. Meanwhile, thefacebook has become international, students in England are now on it and Eduardo is beginning to wonder if Mark respect him as the business man of their site. He sends Mark a letter airing his grievances to which Mark responds with stories of going out and partying with Sean. The final straw for Eduardo was when Sean set up a business meeting with VCs and Eduardo was not present. To get his point across, he went to a bank and froze all funds for thefacebook.

QUOTE

"--as cliche as it sounded, it was simply a matter of who had wanted it more" (Mezrich 187).

REACTION

This quote was taken after the twins had lost to a Dutch crew team in England. They lost the race by two seconds and then found out that thefacebook was in schools outside of the United States and used this saying again. It did come down to whoever had the ability of creating a social site faster than the other so I thought this quote was very fitting. What I don't understand is why is Mark letting Sean become a part of thefacebook because he's not really contributing to it any way, except for the publicity, but if Mark were on his own, he would have probably reached the same status he's at with Sean. Eduardo has a right to be concerned with Mark and Sean's relationship because Sean seems like he's trying to take Eduardo's place in the website and the twins seem like they're just bitter about the whole thing.

The Accidental Billionaires (100-150)

SUMMARY

Divya, Tyler and Cameron had just found out Mark created thefacebook febraury 9, 2004 and they were not happy about it. They felt like he was leading them on and then slapped them in the face especially after they found out Eduardo had been funding the website. They felt the only reason Mark asked Eduardo was because he knew he had stolen their idea and didn't want to face it. The three seniors sent Mark a cease and desist letter which Mark countered with a letter of his own by the advice of a pre-law friend. The twins were very upset by this and sought advise from many people until they got to talk to the President of Harvard. He basically told them there is nothing he will do because its not his concern. In California, Sean Parker, the co-creator of Napster was looking for the next big thing to attach his name to and that's when he found thefacebook and had to have a meeting with Mark.

QUOTE

"To Tyler Winklevoss --whether wrong or right--that damn kid had stolen his idea and made it his own. And if Harvard had its way, Mark Zuckerberg was going to get away with it" (Mezrich 131).

REACTION

This quote was taken after the twins had their very unsuccessful meeting with the president of Harvard. For me, if I was in this situation as the twins I would be upset to because the trusted Mark to help with the coding of their website but instead he did his own thing. I'm not saying that Mark stole their idea because I don't think he did, but what he should have done is finish the programming for them, then started thefacebook. Also, it seems like Sean Parker just wants to be part of the next big thing and if I was Mark again, I would have steered clear. Eduardo was right to have his doubts, both times Sean tried to make the next best site something happened were he was kicked out of the production. Sound suspicious to me.

The Accidental Billionaires (50-99)

SUMMARY

Mark is continuing to work on his website but the houses that had a more elaborate security system he has to break into the house and download the pictures while in the room. He almost gets caught because while he was in one of the rooms a couple comes in and they seem like they would stay awhile but they eventually leave. Within 72 hours after he completed everything the site was viral and every group on campus was using it. He felt he was in huge trouble so he shut down the whole thing. The Crimson did a story on Mark and his website and when Divya, Tyler and Cameron seen the article, they wanted Mark to be the programmer for their website. They emailed him and Mark shows the email to Eduardo, he told Mark that he should maybe steer clear of them but he decides it might be interesting. He met with the twins and this meeting only heightened his interest. In December after Eduardo is an official member of the Phoenix and has just gotten back from visiting his family in Miami, Mark tells him about the Facebook. He described it as a final club but online, exclusive, sexy and fun. The only thing was he needed money, a thousand dollars, and that's why he went to Eduardo and they decided to split the website 30 70. By January of 2004 Tyler, Cameron and Divya have had 2 months of emails between Mark saying that he was doing schoolwork and towards the last emails was the only time he brought up an issue with the site. The twins thought that maybe it was just Mark losing interest and that it was time to find an even newer programmer because he was all burned up. By the beginning of Ferbruary, the Facebook had been live. Eduardo sent it to all his Phoenix buddies and they hoped by sending it to them, the Facebook would go viral.

QUOTE

"Autistic wasn't the right word; socially awkward probably covered it. There were dozens of kids like that all over Harvard," (Mezrich 62).

REACTION

This quote was taken after Divya called Mark socially autistic and it made me really think about the facts that a lot of geniuses had a form of high functioning autism like Einstein and Bill Gates. Mark Zuckerberg is just another super genius that falls into this category. Also, the whole claiming of the idea of Facebook is so confusing. The idea was thrown around so many times, altered a little, then had a new name to it. Even the social networks there are today like myspace is almost identical.

The Accidental Billlionaiers The Founding of Facebook (1-49)

SUMMARY

Eduardo Saverin is a sophomore at Harvard University in the beginning of October 2003 and also during this time he is doing his "punching" into one of the most exclusive final clubs for Harvard faculty, alumni and students alike. The club interested in him is called the Phoenix and they are intrigued by Eduardo's potential to be a future businessman. Mark Zuckerberg is also a sophomore at this time. However nobody is interested in him and the only thing he is concentrated on is computers.  The Winklevoss twins, Tyler and Cameron, are seniors and are part of a different final club were the members come from old money and have a certain status about them. Tyler and Cameron were not punched into this club until their senior year because their father made his own money on his own, making it "new money", but since the twins were on their way to being on the Olympic team for crew, the rules were bended for them. Divya Narendra, who was also a senior, and the twins had the idea of creating a website for the percentage of the student body that was too busy to find their own partners. The site would show who was checking you out and from there the two would hook up. It was like a dating service for Harvard students. The only problem is that their computer programing guy dropped from the plan last minute and they needed to find somebody that would be able to create the correct algorithms to get the site running. By the end of October, Eduardo was entering his final days of initiation and with this new found social status a lot more girls were more receptive towards him. He used this to help his new best friend Mark out too. But after a bad date, Mark came home and created a website that compared the female students to each other and to farm animals. He called it  Facemash.

QUOTE

"A website geared toward socializing could fix that problem, could create a fluid environment where girls and guys could meet. The Harvard Connection would fulfill a need in what was mostly a stagnant social scene," (Mezrich 30).

REACTION

When I was reading the book and I came to this part it made me think about something I seen on the news the other day where students at the University of Chicago created his own social network where students go looking for hook ups. I wonder if those students were inspired by the ideas Tyler, Cameron and Divya had or if their social network was being worked on while Mark Zuckerberg worked on his. I watched the movie "The Social Network" so I thought I knew what I was getting into reading the book but the book is boring. The idea that the book is always better than the movie is not the case in this situation.

It's Kind of A Funny Story, a review

It's Kind of a Funny Story can seem abit mis leading because of the title and the actors in this movie but a person would not be disappointed when they leave the threater. Mr. LaSalle said "The presence of Zach Galifianakis in the cast might lead people to assume that the movie is funnier than it is. But "It's Kind of a Funny Story" is more of a drama with some laughs than a comedy with funny parts, and Galifianakis' role, as a husband and father who has fought suicidal depression his whole life, is a sober one. Bobby (Galifianakis) takes the newbie under his wing and, in a droll but straight-faced way, shows him around." (LaSalle, M). I agree. When I was looking for a book into film movie and found out the Zach Galifianakis was in thos movie, I was sold. I loved the movies I had alreay seen him in, The Hsngover and Due Date, so I thought to myself this has to be hilarious. It wasn't what I was expecting when I picked up the novel and began reading, but I wasn't disappointed by it either. "And then gradually, what seems awful becomes human, what seems foreign becomes familiar, and about halfway into this sincere and surprisingly lovable movie, a vacation feeling sets in. He doesn't want to leave, and neither do we." (LaSalle, M). The movie has a kind of quality that people can relate to without the person relating to it ending up feeling like they need to check themselves into the hospital too. Mr. LaSalle said they movie "has a feeling of randomness about it" but the shows how well the directors, Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, did on making a movie that mimicks the brain of a 15 year-old. The train of thought is going to be all over the place and I agree with Mr. LaSalle when he says they were able to capture that without taking my mind a million different directions.

LaSalle, Mick. "Review: 'It's Kind of a Funny Story' Has Charm." San Francisco Bay Area — News, Sports, Business, Entertainment, Classifieds: SFGate. 07 Jan. 2011. Web. 25 Feb. 2011. <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/10/08/MVTI1FOJSG.DTL>.

It's Kind of A Funny Story the movie (:

The movie adaptation was a little different from the novel but its necessary because the novel was written with the majority of the context inside Craig's head as he was thinking and this can be done in the novel but not so much in a movie. When it was done in the movie it was a voice over, because we heard Craig talking but we did not see him on screen at the time. The audience finds out the reason why Craig wanted to commit suicide by the voice over that begins the movie. In the beginning of the movie there is also a long shot which shows Craig riding his bike to the Brooklyn Bridge and once he is standing on the ledge, we see a Point of View shot or a high angle shot of all the traffic that he wants to plunge into. Then the camera swivels into a medium shot of his parent and his younger sister while they talk to him. A medium shot was used because if a long shot was used then you could not really see their facial expression and if it was a close up, all three people would not have been able to be in the shot. When Craig gets to the hospital, a mise-em-scene was used to set the atmosphere of the hospital for the audience already so Craig did not have to explain every character in the emergency room when he got there, it was already done for the audience. Then when Bobby shows up to give Craig a tour, and also when Noelle and Craig play doctor, a trolley shot is used because the camera is moving along with the actors to have movement but for the scene to look steady and not like somebody was simply running with a camera in their hand. Another device used a lot was over the shoulder shots, for example when Noelle and Craig played their question game and whenever his parents came and talked to him and also when he was talking to Dr. Minerva. At the end of the novel when Craig had his big switch, the author showed Craig's life after by using one word sentences. In the movie, the director showed it by creating a montage of what Craig would now be doing with his life. There was also another montage when Craig and Noelle escaped to the top of the hospital and it was just still shot with a voice over of Craig, so no acting but the audience still understood that those two moments were life changing for Craig.

It's Kind Of A Funny Story (297-444)

SUMMARY

It's Craig's third day in the hospital and he's thinking that he should be in school instead of at a hospital trying to get better. He checks his messages and response back to Aaron and his girl problems, Mr. Reynolds and all his work and Jenna a girl that wants to hang out because he has problems. Then he tries to get Muqtada out of bed and discovers the only thing he really enjoys is Egyptian music. Then he gets a call from Mr. Alfred Janowitz, his principal, but when he realizes who he's talking to hangs up and this sends his mind worrying about all his tentacles in the outside world. Dr. Minerva comes to talk with him and she made him confront his fear that he would be expelled from school. When he did so, he found out the school was actually calling him to tell him they understand what he is going through and they completely support him. Even though he got this closure, he began worrying about his emails saying he was going to have to sit in front of the computer for hours responding to everyone of them. They talk more about his tentacles and anchors and then she says she'll see him Wednesday before he gets released on Thursday. The card tournament that night did not go as Armelio planned. Bobby got a house, Ebony was keeping buttons in her shirt and Humble was taken to geriatrics because of his melt down brought on by the professor.

On Wednesday Humble still wasn't back and there was a musical activity with Neil the guitarist. He begins strumming "I shot the sheriff" by Bob Marley and all the patients with an instrument add to the melody. Then everybody starts dancing and Neil asks Craig if he would be interested in coming back as a volunteer once he gets out. He's never thought about it but it sounds appealing. Nia comes by to visit and they end up going to Craig's room to make out. Muqtada comes in to break it up and when Smitty comes to see what all the commotion. Buqtada covered for Craig and Nia left in disgust. Later, when he had his second date with Noelle, she had seen the whole event and was really hurt. But he reassured his feelings for her and made things better between them.

Thursday would be his last full day in the hospital. His dad brought Blade II for the patients to watch, Aaron brought Egyptian music for Muqtada to listen to, and he planned all this so he could have alone time with Noelle in his room. But before he would do all this, he wanted to draw his brain maps for anybody that wanted one as a final goodbye to everyone. Humble and Armelio got one and gave him their number to keep in touch, Ebony and Jimmy got one but they didn't have numbers for Craig to contact them later on and when Jimmy and Bobby came they did not want to give him a number because they did not want to disappoint him later on in life. Dr. Minerva came by and they talked about his love for art which made him realize that he wanted to pursue art and transfer schools but he had to break this to his parents. They were completely understanding but they wouldn't be able to transfer him until the end of the year.
Finally it's the day he is allowed to leave. His parents come bright and early and he says his last goodbye to Noelle. She's getting out in the afternoon, so he'll most likely call her that night. He tells his parents he wants to walk home alone. As he walks he feels his brain shift and he knew it was the shift he was waiting and hoping for. It doesn't cure him but it makes life manageable.

QUOTE

"Take these verbs and enjoy them. They're yours, Craig. You deserve them because you chose them. You could have left them all behind but you chose to stay here. So now live for real, Craig. Live. Live. Live. Live. Live, (Vizzini, 444).

REACTION

I enjoyed this book because it showed the transformation of a teenager from not having any problems, to being at the lowest of lows with his depression to ending the novel being able to, hopefully, manage his depression. Even though not all teens deal with depression, this book would be able to connect with a lot of teens because it not only deals with his illness but the stresses of school. And this quote sums up all he went through for me because he chose not to kill himself but to seek help and he deserves every moment from this point in life, on.

It's Kind of a Funny Story (125-294)

SUMMARY

Craig was eating dinner, or trying to, with his family but he ended up trowing it up as usual. Afterwards, he was really tired of his depression having control of his life so he decided he was going to kill himself. Before he went through with it, he wanted to make sure he told his younger sister, Sarah, and his parents that he loves them and he wanted to call Nia to tell her how he felt and to see if she had any of the same feelings. By 10 pm, he said his goodnights and decided to sleep in his mom's room because he felt that's the least he owed her since he wanted to kill himself. When he was all settled in bed, he called Nia and she basically told him the opposite of what he wanted to hear so he got almost no closure from her. He couldn't sleep so he stayed up all night and when he went to try and throw himself off of the Brooklyn Bridge, he didn't but instead called a suicide hotline that told him to go to the emergency room if he felt like he was going to hurt himself, so he went.

First he went to the emergency room and from there they put him in a holding room with his own security guard and everything. From the holding room, the hospital needed a parent to sign papers and to discuss with Craig whether he wanted to be admitted. He said yes so he went up to six north.

He entered the adult psychiatric on saturday and everybody kept telling him it was a good day because all the good doctors are on the floor on saturday. He met a lot of people his first day there. Smitty and Monica are care takers. Bobby, Johnny, Humble and Armelio are some friends Craig made, Muqtada is his rommate and Noelle is a girl he likes. While here, he was able to make some calls, to Nia and his shrink and even received a call, from Aaron. When he spoke to Aaron and Nia he was able to cut ties and when he told his parents about this, they were proud, they felt that his old friends had a part in his downfall. He was able to eat food here but was put to sleep with the aid of medication; he feels like a shift is happening but it's not "the" shift.

The second day he was in the ward he was looking foward to a date with Noelle rather than looking foward to the thought that if he wanted to he could kill himself. In the morning he met with Monica to talk about how his frist day went. She informed him that maybe it wasn't a good thing for him to begin making friends here but besides her concern, he became closer with Bobby and is trying to take it steps further with Noelle. He attened the daily activity, art, and he went back to drawing maps. That night he slept with no meds.

QUOTE

"I'm going to be here until I'm cured?" "Life is not cured, Mr. Gilner." Dr. Mahmound leans in. "Life is managed." (Vizzini, 239).

REACTION

Craig wants to be cured completely but there is really no person that is absolutely perfect and worry free because it is natural to worry about things in life. Going into the ward was probably the best thing that he did and really brave because normally a clinically depressed person would give up and end everything.

It's Kind of a Funny Story (3-122)

SUMMARY:

The main Character Craig Gilner is a teen aged boy with a best friend Aaron, a secret crush Nia and a battle with depression. During his last year of middle school he spent it studying every second to get into Manhattan's Executive Pre-Professional High School to path out his way to his future perfect life. But the night he found out he got into the school, his life was beginning to go downhill night Aaron had a "gathering" that turned into a party. He offered Craig marijuana and drinks were offered too (he took both), and by the end of the night he was completely out of it. Aaron walked him to the Brooklyn Bridge and there he got out on the ledge and thought that if a person wanted to commit suicide, this is the perfect spot.

Now he's at the school and the work seems to be something he was not prepared for. He was suppose to do reading and look at current events over the summer and he did not do either. He started to call his problems tentacles and the things that he does to keep his mind busy anchors. He had many tentacles but not enough anchors. He tried to sleep but his mind kept thinking of the tentacles in his life. He tried to eat but a man at the back of his throat kept tugging on a string that would close the entry of his stomach, as he described it, so he couldn't eat. It got so bad that one time while out with his parents he ran to the bathroom to throw up all the food he forced himself to eat. He told this to his parents and they supplied him with all the love, encouragement and shrinks he needed.

After visiting a couple of offices, they put him on Zoloft to ease his depression. One morning after hanging out with Aaron and Nia, Nia asked how he was, and he divulged that he was depressed and the doctors have him taking medicine to help with it. Then he heard something he did not expect, Nia is too; but she's taking Prozac. She told him to call her if she was ever feeling too down and this gave him enough happiness to last for a while because he thought that maybe there's hope for a better him.

QUOTE

"I was better. Okay, maybe I wasn't better but I was okay -- it was a weird feeling, a lack of weight in my head. I had caught up in my classes. I had found Dr. Minerva -- the sixth one that Dr. Barney and I tried -- and found her quiet, no-nonsense attitude amendable to my issues. I was getting 93's but what the hell, someone had to get them," (Vizzini, 122).

REACTION

It seems like Craig is making himself stress out and that is causing his depression. He was concerned with being perfect, because that's what he was use to, but at this new competitive school he was making grades in the high 90s, which is not bad at all. However, it seems like maybe he can have control of his emotions. It seems like it is more of a situation of mind over matter for him. I'm almost certain he is going to break his depression.