Literary Analysis: Kafka's "Before the Law"

     Before I start, I would like to mention that going into Franz Kafka The Complete Stories I had a certain expectation of what it was going to be like. I wrote an indepth analysis about the role of a kafkaesque journey in The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera for my English assignment, stacking my knowledge about Kafka through second hand testimonies and skims through his early short stories. Now that I am actually sitting down and reading through most of his writings, the first two I was introduced to were not merely stories but parables (example of parable), meaning that they were trying to convey a certain moral message through a story. I never really understood any parables without the meaning being glaringly obvious or having someone explain it to me so you can (hopefully) understand that I struggled a lot trying to understand Kafka's parables considering his unique, modernist views of life and I am still struggling now. Despite this, I felt a strong need to talk about "Before the Law", therefore what follows may be a bit messy. However, I assure you that I have abandoned the reckless way of writing I used for John Dies in the End (which is a reckless book), so I won't sound as lost and undisciplined.

New Section: Literary Analysis

I've just started reading Kafka and I can't review these stories but I want to talk about them prompting a birth of a new section: Analysis (used very loosely). Here, everything I want to talk about that does not fit neatly into a review format will be put there and considering I just started reading The Complete Stories of Franz Kafka - who I am obsessed with - expect some very confused thoughts.

Enjoy!

School Lit Mag!

So... I joined the school literary magazine this year and the first issue it out!
Here's my story:

Book Review: John Dies in the End - What the HECK is Going On??

I've been putting off this review for quite a while since I just can't seem to find the right words to describe this one. I actually finished it over a month ago and have read two more books since that time so it's not really fresh on my mind, but it's too long and wacky to actually forget. Maybe I should start with some basic info?

John Dies in the End is a story about a demonic apocalypse and two guys trying to prevent it. The main characters are David and John who are quite the bums of society at the start. It was written by David Wong (a pen name) who is also one of the main columnists at Cracked.com, one of my favorite internet satirical site. A movie has been made based off of it release in 2012.

I think that's all there is to say without going into the absolute batshit crazy details.

Also, as you could probably tell someone told me that it might be better to drop the formal tone and since this is such a crazy story, I've decided to make a more casual review.

Anyway...
Onto the review!

Gore Fest! And Crime :D

If you enjoy I Found a Body on my joint literary blog, you would probably like this new series I'm writing. It's about a cannibalistic murderer and a detective trying to catch her. If you want to skip the gore and just have the mystery/crime elements, I suggest you wait for the second chapter. However, I would greatly recommend you read the first chapter as it does contain a lot of clues about the girl murderer.

Anyway, just enjoy my sometimes sick, twisted mind!

New Rom Com Series!

Got another series going in Wattpad since I am slowly starting to feel like Jim Davis as I write My Strange Roommate and Me.

Ryuugajou Nanana no Maizoukin - New Ship Time!! (Favorite Scenes)

I just want to say, before I get into this that as a quick review, Ryuugajou Nanana no Maizoukin has been pretty interesting at least in the first 4 episodes that are out so far (Although the fight scene in episode 4 was total bullshit. The bad guy could have easily killed our hero in seconds if he just froze him then impaled him, idiot). The plot is unique and interesting, the characters are so far pretty likable to my taste (although I still don't get the deal with Daruko) and they interact well. Going with this theme it is time to announce that in episode three I finally decided on my ship. Obviously I'm not going to pair the dude up with a dead girl so the only other option was Tensai. I didn't really think much of her at first so I was planning to let this one go without a ship (since that novelist girl hasn't appeared again so far) but episode 3 and 4 set it. Tensai x Juugo to the win!

I think the reason I'm just so infatuated with Tensai is how much she reminds me of Taiga from Toradora. From her small stature to fierce personality just screams Taiga but she still maintains her own identity of a unique character. I'm looking forward to her development, romantic or not. Juugo seems to be in a pretty interesting situation too. This entire series is looking pretty good to me so far and I can't wait for more!

Screenshot time! (Warning, SPOILERS AHEAD!)

Book Review: The Almost Moon - HUGE Mommy Issues

I stumbled across this little book a few months back at a used book store and as soon as I saw it was by Alice Sebold, I knew I needed it. The Lovely Bones has been one of my top favorite books and has a gorgeous movie adaptation so I went into this book wanting to like it and I did. I have seen many negative reviews on this and I do have to say that this book is not one for everyone. In fact, the only reason I think I found this book so intriguing is my fascination of mental illnesses and how it affects a family and my love for Sebold's style of storytelling. However, even for me, this book was definitely one that had me squirm at some parts. Now onto the full review!

Book Review: Paper Towns - Questioning the Facade

As the first review, I've decided to do the book that I most recently finished while it's still fresh on my mind - Paper Towns by John Green. To be honest, as a huge fan of vlogbrothers and a budding Nerdfighter, I may have a bit of a bias but hopefully it was offset by my skepticism of Young Adult romance novels. Although I am an avid fan of John Green as a person, I had never really taken a great interest in his works as a writer. This may be because I first found him during the time of my first encounters with more mature works and my departure from Young Adult novels and I was really looking for something different. As good as they were, by then I was a bit sick of cheesy romance stories and was looking for something more adventurous and mysterious. That was when I stumbled onto the video of John reading the first draft of his prologue to Paper Towns and it gripped me straight away. I felt like I had finally found what I was looking for and it never left my mind. Although this happened quite a while ago, I only just got an actual copy of the book last Christmas and didn't open it until just a couple weeks ago. Now let's start on the actual review!

A Sense of Order

 To me this blog has always been something like a diary or an OMGLIFEISSOHARDINEEDTOTELLEVERYONE kind of thing but now that my friends blogs are starting to find a purpose or regularity, I want to do something here too. Of course I've been thinking of writing a lot more lately, but I already have a blog for that (hint hint: fictionallitostandaleatory.blogspot.com) so I'm thinking about something else I've been restarting these days: books. My love of books started in 3rd grade as a form of competition, escalated in 5th grade as a form of escape, but died down in middle school due to real life catching on. Now I've started to find more of a balance and my friends have been really getting in to them so I think this would be a nice platform to spread the word of great books.
This thing won't be regularly scheduled or anything since I don't like rushing when it comes to reading but I'll be posting after each book I read with regular intervals of my past favorites and some more daily life whining. If this goes well and I don't get lazy, I may expand my reviews to some more of my obsessions such as anime/manga but don't get your hopes up, you overly eager otaku.

See ya~

New Stuff I Just Started.

I HAVE STARTED AN ACTUAL LONG STORY!!! THE WORLD IS COLLAPSING!!!
To be honest, it's about time.

So recently my friend introduced me to Wattpad and suggested I write on it. I was a bit hesitant because I have looked at that site and the stories on their not really my cup of tea. However, there's always a good reason to try!
Here it is: http://www.wattpad.com/30221173-my-strange-roommate-and-me
I'm kinda busting out of my comfort zone here since I'm writing a paranormal humor story. Oddness.
I'm really going to push myself and make sure I finish this as an actual long novel!
Here's to hoping I make it!

Favorite Scenes From Kyousougiga

All four episodes (including episode 0) I have watched so far are AWESOME but I must say, episode 2 is so far my favorite. Maybe it's because I just love the Inari/Myoe x Black Rabbit Koto or just because child Koto is adorable but I loved it so much! Also, what's the thing with giving your kid the same name as her mother? Won't it be confusing when they are a family again (WHICH HAS TO HAPPEN!!)? Also, one more thing: how did they even have Koto? Didn't Black Rabbit Koto have to give back her body as soon as they left? And why is Myoe living under a different name and a lot shorter?? I know this will all be answered at some point but just putting it out there for now. Anyway, I'm going to make a gallery of my favorite moments here so I can get back to it whenever I want :D

I Just Want to Rant About My Favorite Manga and Anime

Okay, mangas are like my one of my more embarrassing obsessions. I'm not embarrassed that I'm reading it, but I'm embarrassed of my ongoing rants on them which you will know if you ask me anything about a manga I like or didn't like. Seriously. Every single time I read a good manga, I tend to go straight to my diary and just rant on and on about it and just now, while watching Sourcefed's new Anime Club for Fullmetal Alchemist, I couldn't help but want to SCREAM. First thing I must get out of the way and I don't care that the majority of you who hasn't read Fullmetal Alchemist wouldn't understand is that ALPHONSE IS NOT A ROBOT!!! GOD DAMMIT HOW DARE THEY CALL ALPHONSE A ROBOT! NO! JUST NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
And now most of you may skip the rest of this rant because most likely, you guys don't care about me and my manga.

Writing Again

Recently I haven't been writing a lot. In fact, I wasn't writing at all despite all the ideas that were floating around my brain because once I sat down and put down one of the ideas, I had no idea how to continue it leaving just a mass of unfinished work in my computer. However, just now I finally finished a story! All I really needed to do was dedicating the 5 minutes of getting to my math class to just writing. This made me keep interested and keep thinking about my writing until I finally found the inspiration to finish it which was what I did just now! Now I feel so happy and accomplished :)
So why not you also take just 5 minutes a day to something that you've always wanted to do to finally finish whatever you wanted to do.

My stories on my literary blog: http://fictionallitostandaleatory.blogspot.com/2013/08/blindfolded.html

Moving Around (This is getting a little depressing, isn't it?)

I've always moved around and the time period between every move seems really harsh to the little kid I was. Two to three years is definitely a sufficient amount of time for young kids to make bonds but especially because they are young kids, it's also equally hard to keep those bonds after you move and I felt that. A lot.

Sciences Hurts

I love science. No seriously, one of my favorite things to do in my past time is to look up interesting scientific theories or make up my own but this is one thing that no matter how many people explain it to me I just don't get. Please help stop the pain!

I Love This

I JUST CAN'T STOP WATCHING!!!!

http://31.media.tumblr.com/96650b63d82b941132ef103b3e9b9581/tumblr_ml3md6UQEe1qb5gkjo1_400.gif

So...

Not even two weeks has gone by since school started and we already have a holiday. Wheeeeeee! The rain here also gave me a reason to pull out my rain boots and Tweety Bird umbrella and get out. Unfortunately my mom said that I would look stupid with my bright yellow raincoat as well so that stayed on the shelf :(
Now what should I talk about in this little free time of mine?
I just finished this little article on my friend's blog: http://schizophreniaandcookies.blogspot.com/2013/08/lies-and-secrets.html?showComment=1377072706864#c8335580073781828940

After doing that, I thought "Why not get serious for a while?"
I never like to get "serious" in public because I like being a fun person but sometimes, a little bit too much goofy can make other people think that you are a completely unfeeling robot so here comes a touch of my deep thoughts!

Thoughts on Scary Stories

I have a love/hate relationship with scary stories. I absolutely love the thrill of reading a scary story. The chill that suddenly runs down your back as you read, your uncontrollable heartbeat, your imagination running wild.... I just love is so much! The only downside is the paranoia that follows afterwards. That feeling of someone watching your back, unexplained sounds, the feeling of someone in front of you in the dark, it just freaks me out. I guess that's the fun of scary stories :)
If you like creepy stories like me, hear are some really awesome creepypasta for you!

Back to School?

Well school is once again right around the weekend..... Dammit.