Classical Greek Cont. & Ext. Class of 07 (1 Viewer)

[christmasbeetle]

I hope you did those things I set you, Steph D:<

Dostoyevsky is brilliant. I've mainly read short stories of his (plus some extracts from a novel -- stuff we've found lying around the house). I'm doing The Dream of a Ridiculous Man for one of my journeys related texts.

I'm halfway pro for 19th century literature now . All thanks to bleddy Individual and Society for ext english.
Whatever you do, avoid Henry James. It will murder you. Gaskell's alright (some nice class focus, but occasionally the writing is iffy). Wilkie Collins is fantastic (particularly The Woman in White), and Thomas Hardy is also absolutely awesome. I'm reading some George Eliot now, and it's been good so far. Dickens is also pretty good (although I lost Great Expectations before I finished it, and now that it's reappeared I'm midway through The Mill on the Floss...oh well). I have Sons and Lovers and some others waiting to be attacked after HSC. Robert Louis Stevenson is also quite good -- (another related text for journeys >.>). And yes, the Brontes are brilliant.
I also didn't mind Thackeray (although it would have helped if we didn't have to read it, I think), and Victor Hugo is quite good as well (but hard). Still don't like Austen though. And Carlyle is funny (uhm...I might need to clarify that. He wrote about industrialisation and its evils in article form, and the doom and gloom about it all is funny...)
And of course, Oscar Wilde...

*end wall of literary-related text*

And the BBC Bleak House is brilliant.

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Guys, shuttit about the legs. You're both fine.
Zaz, wearing the thigh-his plus flab? You have to be an utterutterutter stick not to have flab with thigh-his (have you noticed I always wear other tights underneath...for that reason? )
Steph, quit the sauce, and both of you quit the maccas. That way you'll both force each other to be healthy.


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*does the grammar ext latin trial*

Seminar day will be fun *maniacal cackling*

 

[Mr Gumby]

My thigh highs sometimes cut off the circulation in my legs...maybe that's because I have HUGE thighs. XDDD

Damn right that would be crappy revenge (if you really want decent revenge) seeing as there's a rather high probability (maths...is ruling my life..) that I will enjoy whatever opera you attempt to dump on me. You're talking to someone who loves the likes of Puccini, was upset that they missed La Boheme, and was sad that Pavarotti died, has sung in a school opera, plus thinks Mozart does a hot concerto...well a hot clarinet concerto. So yeah, basically dumping anything classical and opera-ish on me and hoping me to run away screaming is a bad idea. XD

Plus I've had Handel's Hallelujah in my head for ages. Didn't help choir teacher replaying it to us with funny high squeaks in parts.

Us revenge tragedy students know all about decent revenge...oh wait seeing all the revenge we deal with is tragic...nevermind.

I think it would be funnier to take you to something like Hair. Too bad the last time that was here was yr 8. Man that was awesome...minus my *cough* nasty shock. Way better than that Mama Mia Abba crap everyone was raving about at the time. Alright, Abba just makes the alright for karaoke category, but not stage show stuff.

Oh shut up you all! There's nothing wrong with Austen! I do prefer other writers from her time period much more, but she doesn't make me want to puke every five seconds. (like half of the 'romance' that is sold these days) BBC Pride and Prejudice is the bomb! (shut up not because of Colin Firth) I watched it a kazillion times in the summer holidays without dying, but that's probably because I'm not doing it in Ext Eng. Eng ruins everything...minus Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre. (shut up you bastards not for that reason)
I still watch R+J and manage to analyse the use of symbols, much to my dismay!

I get upset by creepy Mr Guppy-like so-called Byronic heroes on the topic of BBC drama. >> << >>

Thing is I probably wouldn't throw up. (actually I've thrown up more in the past 2 years than I have ever since I was cured from what used to make me all the time at age 2)
I have outrageous eating habits, just ask the other two. Things from having excess sauce/dressing with everything, eating/drinking sauce/dressing by itself etc. In fact I'm eating straight vegemite right now... my snack about ran out of crackers, alasity!

Well ignoring the title (if it really pisses you off that much technically) it's a wonderful song. Great for karaoke...we've done it on the way to/from most choir gigs without fail. Not my favourite song though. I agree with Ki. The less known songs are best. Don't Stop Me Now is still my all time favourite though.

Eww I hate the movie Madagascar.

Right I'm going to can it and continue to stick to the study time-table Ki has made me.

:wave:

I'll admit I'm not a great fan of Puccini's operas. I'm not a great fan of the Romantic movement as a whole, actually, in music or literature. But then I am a classicist. Handel and Mozart for me. Which opera did you sing in? I've just had to sit through 40 mins of my friend telling me about the time he sung solo as a shepherd boy in an Opera Australia production of Tosca. Mozart does do a hot clarinet concerto, but my favourite is the Marriage of Figaro. Especially this Austrian production I have on DVD with cross-dressing and slightly distasteful lesbian overtones. Good production though. And yes, Zara, Figaro is funny. Anyway, I didn't say forcing you to watch a DVD was all I would do to punish you.

I wouldn't say there's nothing wrong with Austen. Pride and Prejudice is pretty trite, although I too loved the BBC version. Northanger Abbey was bad; I read some of it for Gothic in English Ext last year (which I hated generally, anyway). And historical fiction pisses me right off.

In other news, it is now a week until the study day. Which means one week left of school. I've just had my last double Biology lesson forever, so I'm having a mini celebration.

 

[TheLadyDisdain]

Musn't forget Wilde of course! (he's so woody and definitely a fave of mine...plus for Skanks he called his son Vyvian )

Yr 9 English was the BOMB, but I do admit that I got sick of Mao's Last Dancer and analysing Romeo + Juliet eventually. Otherwise The Importance of Being Earnest and To Kill a Mocking Bird were definitely highlights for me.

Inspector Calls and Out of the Dust from yr 8 were also absolutely wonderful...but I couldn't stand The Pearl.

Yr 10 was Much Ado About Nothing year...which is one of my favourite Shakespearean Plays of all time (in case no one noticed already...). I absolutely hated Du Maurier's Rebecca. That protagonist chick really, well, pissed me off to the point where I wanted to throw the book out the window. Did love the character Rebecca though...I don't know! I do want to read it again though to see if I can change my mind.

If Vanity Fair wasn't such a brick I think I would have enjoyed it more...I only read 2/3 of it before I wanted to kill myself. I loved the story though and it's ability to get me a decent mark when I hadn't read the whole thing. But yeah Thackeray is cool, but a rambler, maybe? (I shouldn't be talking!!!)
Actually a lot of the novels for revenge tragedy are excellent and I want to look into them. I already had Electra so my second text type had to be a film, which is ok I guess? V for Vendetta is tres cool!

I do regret that I had a gross infatuation with teen romance in yr 7...those are days I would rather forget, but then again in those days I was still preferring to read Historically based things. Man I can't believe you don't like Historical Fiction Nicholas. XD

I absolutely and utterly abhor modern day girly romance novels.

Yeah I have some Dickens floating around too and other classics my mother has found...she recently dug up most of the Forsyth Saga at my sister's school fete thing, so I must read that too. I loved the BBC production of that!

Bleak House was absolutely brilliant! (even though Mr Guppy scared me XD)
I really enjoyed it and my mum's wanted it on DVD, so I guess I could get it for her eventually and steal it?

Oh yeah! Dumas! I must read Queen Margot! I'm a massive fan of the film, but I must read the book one day. Mum did say she'd get it for me after the HSC. The Count of Monte Cristo too (plus the Valois and Marie Antoinette romances as I worked out they're grouped). In English and maybe eventually in French. I read some La Reine Margot online in French and I got bits of it. Need to finish learning that language eventually.

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I know what you mean by opera braggers (if you can call them that). I've been around people like that too.

I had a friend who was really into Puccini and he sent me songs from La Boheme which I adored so that's really how I got into him. But no I lost it when my other computer died with my ipod. Alas.

At school we did Gluck's (I think?) Orpheus and Eurydice, but we unfortunately did it in English. We were "manes" or generally furies (either or) and we had decent costumes and make-up and sets so it was all good.

It didn't feel that opera like really. It still sounded alright though.

Mozart's Clarinet concerto is my latest music project. It was the only thing my clarinet teacher could get me to practice besides some German Duet or McCartney/Lennon songs. XD (but I've indirectly quit clarinet and I hardly practice anyway, hence why I reckon I suck when I could be playing if I practiced at a much higher level...but like I am with study, Steph=LAZY!)

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We finished Chem today. It actually wasn't really an exciting moment really. It was more "Oh by the way we're done now..." and us going ", really!?". But now I have to go and learn it all. Actually that's what I might do now. Start typing out my forensics notes.

I'm in one of those incredibly inspired academic moods, which is ironically laced with lethargy, if that makes sense? *rollypollyeyes*

I think I will miss class time, well in some classes.
In fact, Ki and Zara, did Emmy tell you that Lindley, Lama and I made up a wonderful story about our favourite people in Latin today? I would post the beginning of it on here, but that's against my better judgement. I will say that we're not sure if the grammar's all correct, but we did use 'variatio' and dialogue.

See if you can guess who the story stars and what inspired it. XD

No more school so soon!!! Thank god!

Anyway I'm off to work...hmm I think I will do Thucy, attempt an Ext English Essay/Creative and do some Chem.

Ki, I don't have any AOS Qu1s can I borrow some of you? I do have the start of a Telling the Truth essay which I have to edit/finish. *dies* I will try to finish my last maths trial paper too to make you happy too? That's Thursday's list my dear!

Oh yeah, I have to finish that grammar trial to and send off and do some unseens...I haven't done any Virgil and Livy and Electra and Thucy ones in AGES. *dies*...plus when is all that other Ext Greek stuff due? *stress*

>> << >> for making me work Ki

p.s Sorry Guys, I think this is the longest post on here yet. T_T

 

[christmasbeetle]

Heh. The ext greek's due tomorrow in latin. Then again, I told you to do a Homer essay tonight, didn't I? We're meant to be doing one among that. Also the Thucy learning and Livy learning.

You can get AOS section 1s from the board of studies past paper thingame.

Stephania, I think I'm noticing a trend - you don't like comment and you don't like section 1 - conclusion: you don't like short answer things.
So you're going to practice them, okay?

Hmm, I did different year 8 texts to you -- Inspector Calls the same, Merchant of Venice and Huckleberry Finn, and some poetry, I think -- they were awesome. That was our five-english-teacher year though.
I quite liked year 10 English, barring French reading Mills and Boon to us *still scarred*. Twelfth Night was awesome, and I did quite like Rebecca, though yes, the progatonist was annoying. At least you didn't have to do Rebecca's Tales after that? . Chain of Hearts was stupid, though it does make good light fluffy leisure reading.
Actually, doing the romance genre was so incredibly stupid. At least we didn't have to write a creative on it.

Year 9 was good, except Mao's Last Dancer. Interesting, but I couldn't stand studying it.

Year 7 was icky. A couple of scenes of Macbeth (good, but why couldn't we do the whole lot. We understood it more or less), Little Women (it was alright, I guess), and Our Town (*throws up*).

I also HATED Lifes and Loves of a She-Devil. *shudder*

I'm looking forward to getting through the rest of my 19th Century stuff. Now that I've read enough and know enough background to actually understand and get the references and the rest.

Oh, and Nicholas -- how long are your lessons?
I'm just hoping to god that you don't have 80 minute lessons, like we do -- we had about a term of double maths before the maths department chucked a hissy fit and had the timetables changed, and that seriously sucked.
You also finish school a week earlier than we do o:
(Although the last week will be awesome fun).

 

[TheLadyDisdain]

That's so not cool, I can't study Thucy + commentary, plus Livy and commentary, plus do all the stupid Ext Greek stuff, plus do a past maths paper, a THT essay and unseens and Ext English homework all for tonight, I will actually die.

But, yeah, short answery stuff just royally and utterly sucks, except in chem, sometimes when you can write in anyway really.

Mr F has really given us a TONNE of work and I'm sleepy. I came home and fell asleep and have been lethargic ever since.

I hated Chain of Hearts. Hated it so much I gave it to my mother to read for me. That failed as she said she wasn't discussing it with me until I'd read it. We had the option of doing Rebecca's Tale, but I headed for the hills!

In yr 8 only two classes did Midsummer Night's Dream and we were one of them. I can't remember how many did Out of the Dust and The Pearl, but I don't think it was that many. Some classes even did Jane Eyre. Everyone seemed to be doing heaps of different stuff. I loved yr 8 english though! Back in the days where all I got was excellents. I've read Out of the Dust at least 8 times and I'm still not sick of it.

I was the only one in my yr 10 English class that hated the protagonist of Rebecca. I thought the rest of them were on crack. Romance was a horrible unit, wasn't it?

Yeah, analysing Mao's Last Dancer was painful. I felt bad for being sick of it after he came and visited us last year and he was all cool and stuff!

I didn't like She Devil the first time I read it. The second time I developed a minor appreciation for it. It inspired a good creative though and I might develop that same creative to fit a revenge tragedy context.

That's where I miss out. That's why I've had my Anna Karenina spark notes up to read the character analysis and stuff. I need to learn more contextual stuff.

Anyway, I'm off to try and not die from over exposure to school work. T_T

 

[christmasbeetle]

Is Tolstoy 19th century too then? Because if so, the Victorian Web would be more useful (even though it focusses on England) -- it outlines all the religious, social, economic, technological and the rest changes throughout the century. It saved my life for the trial.

 

[TheLadyDisdain]

It's 19th century, published first in the 1840s, I think? Victorian Web would probably help actually because the Russian upper class/aristocrats had very 'western' habits, I think? The Russian Court even spoke French at one point, I believe, so I guess I think there will be some form of relevance there. Plus the bit I'm upto in AK at the moment is basically dealing with the morality associated with adultary, and I would imagine the way characters are conducting themselves would be seen as being the same as elsewhere. From my extensive procrastinatory readings on the European royal families that I think despite conducting themselves differently in terms of Etiquette, I do think a lot of the values and changes etc are the same.

I don't think I'll finish the ext Greek. I'm a loser I've been doing Ext Lat instead and I still need to finish off the trannies for Thucy and Livy...I'll probably do Livy at lunch and in our free. >.<

 

[Mr Gumby]

You did Orfeo ed Euridice? That's such a good opera, although I don't like the sound of performing it in English. The scene with the Furies is excellent, so I was interested to hear you played one, although they don't say much more than 'no! no!' over and over again, do they? A few years ago we did Dido and Aeneas with SCEGGS (the Henry Purcell one), but I didn't see it. That is a very strange opera, especially since Aeneas has about 50 secs of recitative, and not much more.

I'm not sure I'd call him an 'opera bragger', since there was a legitimate reason for him to be talking about it. And it's a great achievement, of course. It's just that having him go on about it for forty minutes got a bit boring.

Our periods are 40 mins long, so a double is 80 mins. It's usually fairly tolerable, but I don't like Bio because we're doing the Communication option (Zara, if that interests you) and that's quite boring.

I have to say, I've really liked very few of the English texts we've done since we started.

First Form - Julius Caesar for the Shakespeare. I'm not a huge fan of Shakespeare. He's never as good as I'm lead to believe, and half the time he's just plain dull. Julius Caesar was one of the worst. Other than that, I don't remember much. I think we did the Circe episode from the Odyssey, which I don't think I enjoyed much at the time.
Second Form - Romeo and Juliet; almost as bad as Julius Caesar. Huckleberry Finn, which I liked at the time, but have since realised wasn't that good. Wildcat Falling, about an institutionalised aboriginal convict trying to make his way in the world outside prison. I promptly threw it out at the end of the year. Some other stuff.
Third Form - Macbeth; fairly overdone, I thought. To Kill a Mockingbird, which I thought I should like, but didn't; it was very, very trite. Yolngu Boy, another film about troubled aboriginal youth. It was so bad, half the class laughed when the main character died at the end. Lord of the Flies, which I have no strong opinions about either way.
Fourth Form - Merchant of Venice, which I did like a bit. The Great Gatsby, which I really liked. I'll have to read it again after the HSC. Death of a Salesman, which was quite good. Some trashy Australian stuff (David Williamson or something - rubbish).
Fifth Form - Othello; vastly overrated. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, which was a lot of fun. Heart of Darkness, which was great too. Apocalypse Now, which wasn't bad. Some more Australian rubbish.
Fifth Form Ext - Gothic 'literature': Keats, Shelley and Tim Burton. All terrible.
Sixth Form - The Tempest; interesting, but not excellent. Wordsworth; interesting, and quite a bit like Cicero, philosophically. An Imaginary Life; I will burn this after the HSC. Citizen Kane; excellent film. The Fiftieth Gate; I will burn this too.
Sixth Form Ext - Postmodern 'literature' - Calvino, Sally Potter, Fowles. The Fowles was okay, the rest were terrible. None were fundamentally postmodern. A very stupid course.

When it comes down to it, I've liked about three of the texts we've ever studied in English. The stuff we read in Latin and Greek is so much better. Vergil and Lucretius all the way.

 

[TheLadyDisdain]

Dearest Nicholas,

1) This is Ki (Iulia), Kayley (Kalliopi) and I (Stephania/Garlands)

2) We think you're insane. (This is Ki telling me what to write to avoid me saying something...well..yeah... XD)

3) Yeah doing the opera in English was disappointing, plus we had more than one Orfeo (and they were all girls) which was GAY. Plus the Drama kids put on "Trojan Women", which pretty much "made the whole audience want to kill themselves" - Ki. The constant screaming got a bit much.

4) Dude you have serious problems! (referring to literary taste. Great Gatsby?! *death*) How can you basically *detest* everything that isn't Virgil and Lucretius? *cringe* If you were reading Ovid or someone *nice* like him we'd understand. You should read some of our stories. Plus we are most offended by your dislike of "To Kill a Mocking Bird" tut tut.

5) How do you actually get anything done in 40 mins? We have 80 minute periods.

6) That's it! (we think)...yeah need to go study Livy for a test next period.

:wave:

 

[christmasbeetle]

Goodo. Excuse for me to make a great long list of English texts (those I actually remember, that is >.>)

Year 7 -- Little Women, bits of Macbeth, Our Town, poetry

Year 8 -- Huck Finn, Inspector Calls, Merchant of Venice, poetry

Year 9 -- Romeo and Juliet, Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet, The Importance of Being Ernest, Mao's Last Dancer, Rabbit-Proof Fence

Year 10 -- (uh oh romance genre) random Mills&Boon extracts (what the hell), Rebecca, Rebecca's Tales, Chain of Hearts, Twelfth Night (which remains my favourite Shakespeare)

Year 11 -- Othello, Sax's Othello (the name's right, isn't it?), Jane Eyre, The Crucible (best. play. ever.)...was there anything else?

Year 11 Extension (course: The Virtuous and the Vixenish) -- Vanity Fair, The Lifes and Loves of a She-Devil, The Taming of the Shrew

Year 12 -- (best year for English. I love all the texts . And my teacher's brilliant) Wuthering Heights, Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (always fun to write in an essay >.> but awesome play), Coleridge (Frost at Midnight, This Lime-Tree Bower my Prison, Kubla Khan (which i have half-memorised XDD), The Rime of the Ancient Mariner), Geoffrey Robertson's The Justice Game

Year 12 ext (Individual and Society)-- North and South, The Portrait of a Lady, BBC series Pride and Prejudice



And you don't like Tim Burton?! D:
I'm just going to ignore the To Kill a Mockingbird comment. I might hit something if I don't. (The only worse thing you could have said was a dislike for the Crucible or Importance of being Ernest...)

 

[Fakhri]

Nicholas..i can not believe you don't like To Kill Mocking Bird...i have read it...and i hate reading...really only read like a couple texts in my life
1. To Kill a Mocking Bird
2. Out of the Dust (which technically is not a book but a poetry thing) it was excellent..steph you are totally right i have read it like a hundred (well..maybe only like 5) but it is still good...
3. Crucilbe..(which is a play)
4. bits of wuthering heights and bits of rebecca which as everyone know knows was complete crap..even worse than that was rebecca's tales..that was even worse....
5. i read all the poems/my related texts this year...very proud of myself...wish i had read all set texts though but oh well...instead i read all classics text...way more interesting

btw steph did i tell you i started anna karenina...yeah it was actually quite rivering but obseski (or however you spell his name) steve..sounded like a real bastard...poor dolly..i only got up to ch 5 though..might read some more soon

btw we are doing communication as well....apparently a very easy topic to finish the year with..but technically we finished the year with search for a better health cause we skipped bits for the trials..but have as of two days ago FINISHED THE BIO COURSE...thank god now all i have to do is memorise my hundereds of thousands of notes..

btw how can u not like communication..granted the bits about the eyes/ears are boring cause we learnt them like in yr 10 and the bits about other species vibrations stuff is a bit boring (although i found the colour blind stuff interesting)
i absolutley LOVE...LOVE everything about nerves...they are my new passion..and i love ACTION POTENTIAL...love i with all my heart.....

Btw random questions...my do people use the no. 3...like when referring to "give me three reasons for...." just wondering it seems to be a weird no...considering it means nothing much...

I did pretty much the same thing as Ki for my english life mixed in with steph for year 8..but i did Never tell me never instead of Moa's last dancer...man the book i did sucked...not that i read it fully but what i did read (stuff we did in class) was crap..
it was basically a girl, who was talking herself up..she sounded like a losert...very snobish...really annoyed me......


btw...on a completely different note...steph and ki..you know christina...the border....i had like an hour/45min conversation with her (after you left ki) it was actually really riverting...i think i should talk to more people in our grade..she is really nice..and she loves travel..like me (plus everyone else in the world) but hates the ancient history side but loves the culture/food/everyday life of the people..which i think is really interesting...anyway...never had a convo (learnt that from you steph) with someone i hardley ever talk to....

BTW STEPH, stop saying youze...and OMG and the other thing...oh really (but contracted)...

 

[christmasbeetle]

"Orly". And on that note don't say "yarly" either XD.

Zaz, you should read Wuthering >.>

I think I should learn how to make conversations with people I don't know
My guess is that 90% of everyone is really nice when they're by themselves.

 

[TheLadyDisdain]

You two are bastards! I will say "ORLY" "YRLY" "SRSLY" and "Yous" as much as I please and there has been no reason on this thread for you guys to stop telling me to do so. Soh there. Plus being half "wog" provides reason for the infrequent use of "yous" (yeah me and Kayley have a sort of club going on), actually I think I'm more than half "wog" because dad says his ancestors were Khazars or something and they're Turkic Jewish converts from ages ago who were settled around the Crimea and southern Russia etc...so yeah, I win?

Zara, we did FA in English in year 7 besides highlighting everything and probably coulouring in the witches from MacBeth. Actually recently I found the fantasy creative I had to write in yr 7. It was heaps long with pictures and I got a really good mark for it. That's right, didn't we do fairy tales at one stage?

Keep going with Anna Karenina. I do like for some reason Stepan despite what he does to Dolly (I think because he genuinely feels bad), I haven't read any of his bits lately. I might read some more tonight.

I never read Little Women...I had already seen the movie about 50 kazillion times and I had the DK picture/context/abriged version, so I was like "screw it". We did Good Night Mr Tom in yr 7 too...I absolutely loved that book! It made me cry too because it was so sad!

I loved the days of Wide Reading. I remember in yr 9 Nissa and I found this senior fiction book in the library we wanted to do. I can't remember what it was about entirely, but it was something to do with the oppression of African Americans in the south in the 1930s I think it was? Anyway, it was fun getting permission from my mum to borrow senior fiction in yr 9. She was like "Errr why?" and even though I was like I needed the book for school work my brother was like "Nuuuu she wants to read all the sexy books or something"...I just found that funny because for once I did have a genuine reason. Plus Nissa and my maturity about the only real 'senior' scene in the book was priceless.

But yeah, wide reading was great because of the creativity! That was the fun in English, not all the other stuff they make us do.

Anyway, I've done nothing today except for my UAC preferences. I haven't submitted it because I might change my mind, but I do have 9 courses now. You see I might rather want to go straight to global studies instead of int at UNSW because I might want to focus on Russia instead of doing French because I imagine less people would do that. Mum said she likes that idea but she wouldn't like me spending a year in Russia so I dunno how that's gonna work.

I had to baby sit Sadie for a bit...so now I'm covered in stupid labrador drool and after my driving lesson which is in 45 mins me and mum might go visit my cousin who's still in hospital with pneumonia...well I guess I started some work I just haven't achieved much. >.<

Anyway, I'm off to scam food and do work.

:wave:

 

[Fakhri]

well..evidently i don't remeber english in yr seven..

i do remember doing wide reading though...i actually never read anything..but still...

i had senior school fiction permission..but never actual got a book out..i think when i asked my mum she was suprised, probably really really pleased that i wanted to read or something...

btw steph thanks to your book suggestion...i am now at part II or volume one of anna karenina...its really good..k, i have a couple of questions...does anna love her husband..although he seems kind of distant he seems to love her??...and secondly is levin ever going to get married (i really love him cause he seems totally in love with kitty)?? Oh yeah, Vronsky...what is with him??? confuses me greatly...
you know what i really like about the book..it was romance (which i love) mingled with references to philosophy and ramdom stuff about class..it is good though..

k, going to go finish book/do some bio...damn stupid independant school trial paper..damn chatholic paper..stupid things make no sense...annoying...

 

[TheLadyDisdain]

I don't think Anna loves Alexei Alexandrovitch. Well if you think about it he's probably up to at least 20 years older than her and he's relatively unexciting and unaffectionate. I think their marriage was probably one that looked good rather than for true love which Anna probably agreed to due to all the social advantages (money, status and security). She may convince herself that she loves Alexei Aledandrovitch for the sake of Seryosha, I think?

I'm up to Chapter 18 part 3...yeah I know I haven't been reading regularly. I'm up to a juicy bit though.

I think Alexei Alexandrovitch probably did love Anna, but just didn't know how or generally show his affection towards her. She's an absolute beauty and incredibly charming so there would really be no reason for him not to love her...I won't say more about the subject because you should read it first.

Levin is going to get married (I was reading my character list at the beginning of my edition and I accidentally found out that fact). I won't tell you any more details about that though.

What do you want to know about Vronksy? Ok, basically Vronsky (Alexei Kirillovich) is this well born captain, who has a respectable career and is quite well born too. His affections originally are for Kitty, as you know, but upon seeing Anna I think it's pretty much love at first sight for both of them and Vronsky especially realises that he can't live without Anna. So he basically abandons Kitty, that's why Kitty gets sick. Vronsky is basically chasing something he can't have, that's whatelse probably drew him to Anna. But yeah all else I will say to you is that he is going absolutely mad with love.

I love this book because it is just so compelling and different. I love that it's not, say an Austen book, where you know that they'll most likely all get married and live happily ever after. I love that the story of Vronksy and Anna is riddled with lust and impossibility and that the book challenges your own ways of thinking. Is it wrong to want to feel love and affection and reach out to it when an opportunity presents itself?
Is it so wrong to fulfill your own desires even when society condones it?
I think there are issues of gender and religion as well as the obvious social and moral issues. I think Tolstoy (currently) is ambiguous in where he stands about all this, but then again this is coming from me, a modern reader who is very open minded.

Plus, unlike Harry Potter, despite knowing later plot details you just need to go on reading it.

Don't worry I'll read some more tonight too so we can have another discussion.

What do you think of things so far?

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Yeah I so don't feel like working. I opened up chem and ext Latin etc and I don't know what to do...it's all so draggish...but guess what I actually found that I have made notes on literary devices and Lucretius amongst my ext latin stuff, aren't you proud?

 

[Fakhri]

Extreemly proud that you are doing work...and you will do soo well i know in the HSC..cause you are working hard...and i am sure liking it more???

Oh yeah..i am now upto ch 23 part II..still volume one though...i really do love the book..for the reasons you were saying as well..i just found out that anna is pregnant, assumingly vronsky's child...i also by accident found out the Levin marries Kitty....and something happens with dolly and oblonsky again...i really hope that Anna stays with her husband..cause i think, like you say they really love each other..i don't particualry like Vronsky, cause of what he did (sort of) to kitty, and the fact he basically chased after someone who was (i think) happily married..although their love seems really intense..mabe too....cause when you compare it to Levin it seems wrong...cause i love levin soo much..so maybe i am biased...but i really do love him..he seems so genuine..and in love..its cute..

i also love anna...she seems perfect....with her strong personallity and such....but i just don't like Vronsky...maybe i will later who knows...

it is really good....and you always want to know what is going to happen..i also love the fact that it is from differnt persepectives...and so makes it more interesting...

k...i am determined to get up to part III..and then will stop and do some work...i have to do basically 3 trial exams (one for latin ext, one electra one and then unseen for homer..and a trial paper for bio)...good school is getting in the way of my reading (wow never thought i would say that)

 

[TheLadyDisdain]

No I'm not working nearly as hard as I have to even now I've got my choices ready to go in. I don't know whether to put Global Studies before Internation at UNSW or what yet...I'm very conflicted. If by some miracle I get a UAI of 93...which I'm highly doubting with the amount of effort I put in and my shocking assessment marks. Jesus Christ I have so much work to do and I haven't even started working today (got up late, went to visit couz, came home and skimmed the paper and went out to see the stupid dogs)...Argh I've got to finish that Ext Latin paper, but my botheredness levels are slim! Get some essays ready for handing in as well as unseens, learning Thucy and Homer and doing Essays for Classics and blarg...OMG I desperately need to do some chem...I know I can get good marks but 2 years of doing no work as MURDERED ME. *stress*

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Of course the child is Vronsky's...to tell you the truth say if Alexei Alexandrovich and Anna Arkadyvna have only had one child after say 9/10 years of marriage and Anna's only pregnant again now...I don't think they would have been having 'relations' all that much.

I don't think Anna loves Alexei Alexandrovich. She stays for Seryosha and Seryosha only and for her desire to stay out of scandal. She loves him because she must if anything.

Vronsky is very masculine. I think that's the appeal, somewhat? He's an image of rebellion and excitement.

Even though I knew both her husband and lover's first name was Alexei...I never noticed the significance before I read somewhere that there potentially is a significance.

Maybe Alexei Kirrilovich is how Alexei Alexandrovich used to be and that's what Anna wants?

I think Tolstoy made Anna perfect on purpose. It shows that she's human. etc.

I see Byronic tendancies (or maybe a decent into Byronic tendancies) slightly in both Anna and Vronsky in that they have succumbed to great passion and by doing so are rebelling from social norms (like showing contempt towards them)...if you know what I mean? Yet they are both socially conscious so it's just, complicated?

For some reason I don't like labelling "a grand passion" as "love".

Yeah. This book is truly awesome. It'd make a wonderful critical study text.

 

[Mr Gumby]

I did try to like To Kill a Mockingbird. It had the right intentions and I'm sympathetic with the 'message', but it was so crudely done. Harper Lee simply isn't a very good writer, and I'm not surprised she didn't publish anything else. I feel I should like it, but I'm afraid I just can't. The theme could have been handled so much better. As for Tim Burton, I don't have a problem with him as a director, I just didn't like Edward Scissorhands. And I haven't read the Crucible or the Importance of Being Earnest, so don't worry.

Orpheus would normally be played by a woman because it is (I think) a counter-tenor role, and there aren't that many men that can sing in that range. The recording I've got has a woman playing Orpheus. I've also seen Julius Caesar and Hercules played by women. It's quite normal. It can be disturbing. In my DVD of the Marriage of Figaro, Cherubino is played by a woman, and I get the feeling the director uses that for some fairly homoerotic undertones.

If you're offended by my dislike of To Kill a Mockingbird, I'm most offended by your dislike of the Great Gatsby. How dare you? And I don't detest everything that isn't Vergil or Lucretius. I do like Ovid (or, at least the Metamorphoses, which are one of my favourites; the rest is a bit so-so). There's plenty in English literature I would like to read, like Coetzee or Fitzgerald or Wordsworth, it's just that they've had a habit of choosing uninteresting or bad texts. The difference is, in Latin and Greek we're asked to read the unquestionable masterpieces of the literature. In English, some people study websites, or feature articles, or David Williamson, all under the pretence of relevance. If the English syllabus made more of an attempt to expose students to what's good in English literature, perhaps I wouldn't have hated the course.

We get plenty done in 40 mins. We'd get less done in 80 mins, just out of boredom. I think 80 mins is just too long.

I did my UAC preferences too. Did you notice that in the box about languages other than English you speak at home, Latin is an option? I was tempted to select it.

And how am I insane? And what would Steph have said?

 

[TheLadyDisdain]

I think we thought you were insane because of your literary taste? I can't remember! I also don't remember what I would have said...that's a very interesting question. XD

We had 2 sopranos and an alto/tenor who sang Orpheus, I think? The alto/tenor is absolutely amazing and she's a really sweet girl too!
I think that with these things if you can see that it makes sense for a man to be played by a woman then you can see beyond how odd or disturbing it could be.

Then you have stuff like The Rocky Horror Picture Show where Professor Frank n' Furter could never really be played by a woman despite him being feminine in bits...well yeah I guess it's not the same thing because Frankie sings in a very masculine way...well ok it basically definitely has to be a guy dressed up like a dominatrix (if you could call him that)...definitely a cross dresser.

Ok, so what are these books that you like about?

45 minute periods in yr 7 were way too short for us girls! We get so much more done in 80 mins, even though you can get bored after a while...

I'm still in conflict about my UAC choices order. I still don't know whether to put Sydney or UNSW first. It's very confusing and irritating.

Really they had Latin as an option? That's HILARIOUS, I somehow don't think that the "literary masterpiece" we've been working on in Latin in Latin class for the past few lessons counts as being able to speak Latin at home, or does it? We're really talented...XD But hey we reckon we could write a killer unseen that would be very interesting indeed, despite our probable lapses in grammar, I suppose?

Then again, you Nicholas, are just freaky when it comes to classics so you selecting that could pass as being believable, I would think! XD

:wave:

p.s Dude, Ki and or Zara have you done all the Ext Latin and the Electra essay yet? I have to do that all before maths party and then do Greek in the kazillions of frees we have tomorrow.

 

[Fakhri]

no...of course i havent done the ext/greek homework...i am as screwed, perhaps more so, than you...casue i have to leave from my ancient dinner in like 1.5h and have done nothing...and i can't do the unseen for ext which i was going to do...i can do the short answer questions (not attempt the essay) but screwed...this is all grammar's fault..if their unseen was easier..this would be easier for me..or wait no ebby's fault for making us do this...

do you think i can write the essay for greek in my free??? I hope soo..otherwise it wil be handwritten, whilst i am on the train tommorrow morning...or whilst going to ancient dinner...screwed..i tell you..damn stupid eb this is all her fault...damn her..

btw for tommorrow for ext greek...are we just learning thuccy lines (oh good have to do that on the train...or could wing it...lets see)...and no homer stuff right???

damn...steph/ki would you like to help me with my unseen...hence do it for me...????