Wednesday, April 25, 2007

The Story of the Weeping Camel


This movie was about all of the culture in Mongolia. It showed how important the camels were in the Mongolians every-day life. The mother camel was in birth for two days straight, and rejected her son at birth by not giving it milk. The only thing left to do was to summon a musician to come and perform a ceremony on the mother camel. As soon as the ceremony was complete, the camel accepted her son and let him drink her milk.

I loved watching this movie because it showed me all the culture in Mongolia.

The Parakeet by Victor Erofeyev

This story is Russian, and we were told to try to figure out what the grandfather's name was. I came to the conclusion that the word Vich, means "son of."

The son is Yermola Siridonovich
The father is Spiridon Yermolaevich
so, therefore,
the grandfather is Yermola.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Osama

This was a movie we watched in class called "Osama." It was the first movie filmed after the fall of the Taliban, but took place when they were still around. The mother's husband and brother both died. Women can't be in public, unless escorted by men, and they aren't allowed to work. In order to survive, the woman dresses her daughter up as a boy and has her get a job. After a while, the girl is discovered and is married off as punishment.

This movie reminded me of the book, "The Kite Runner", because it had the same setting and time period. They were both about the Taliban too. It showed me how bad things really are over there, and it's not their fault. Sometimes people in America are so focused on their own lives, that they can't stop and see all the bad around us. I think this movie shows us how bad things really are overseas.

Sunday, April 22, 2007

The Child Who Raised Poisonous Snakes by Can Xue


This story was about a boy who enjoyed playing with snakes. His parents didn't agree with the things he loved to do, so they sent him to a psychologist because he was a little strange. I think the narrator of this story is the psychologist. By the end, the boy isn't even noticed, the parents gave up, and now their hair is turning gray due to stress.

A Riddle by Antonio Tabucchi


This story is Italian and takes place in Italy. In the story, they mention the Gothic cathedrals of Normandy. To the right is the Coustances Cathedral. It's an example of the Gothic style of Normandy, which consists of many long, straight lines.


Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coutances_Cathedral