Am I Up For a Challenge?

Well then, I seem to be behind in my English is a Hard Language series of blog posts. I still have an interest in continuing those but not in the order I have planned (alphabets, language categorization, sounds, syntax, etc.) but maybe do it in an order in which I feel like. I do have incomplete drafts on my usb drive on things like the verbs 'to be' and 'to have', language families, gender, sounds, and word order and may pick up on one of those for my next postings, or maybe just work on intro posts for each section so whenever I do a random post from one of the section at least no one would be lost.

Speaking of challenges, I am going to tackle NaNoWriMo. The challenge: to write a 50k word novel within the month of November. I've heard of this years ago, through housemates back in university and from one of my Facebook buddies. I see myself the chance to do it as I'm not currently employed and not having to worry about writing a 5-10 page essay that needs proper citation about a topic in which I have a hard time writing about. In order to meet the challenge I have to produce 1666-1667 words per day and it cannot be something previously published.

Not that I have anything previously published but I still have an account on the site FictionPress. There were stories on there, albeit incomplete, but I took them down basically because if I want to post something there again, I sort of want to start off fresh. All of them were done during the period when I was still religious and with my views changed I don't really want to keep them up there. Pretty much the best one I had on there was a story about a team of high school students who fight monsters and evil spirits while at the same time attend a Catholic high school based on locations in my hometown/neighbourhood. I might've tackled my change in beliefs in there but that never happened. I was doing it on the seat of my pants and it pretty much stopped when I was doing a spinoff/sidestory with it along with the loss of interest. Now the only thing I keep on there is a poem I came up with when a student who would have been in my graduating year of high school died (if anyone is interested in the poem click here).

So I guess I'm just preparing for the upcoming month and hope I can beat this challenge.

You can't get every last detail (on adapting books to film and television)

We've all have read books and seen an adaptation of our favourite reads into film or a TV show whether it's animated or not. In some cases we watch a movie or TV show not knowing it's based off a book or some other source material like a play or a graphic novel.

So your favourite book or play gets adapted into a film or TV series. You have high expectations for who should play what characters and what their appearances should be. You also imagine how your favourite scene plays out. All of a sudden once you get to see production stills of who was cast (or maybe you googled the actor/actress once they were announced) your dreams get shattered a bit and when you see the screen adaptation (if you do make it past the point of 'improper casting made this movie/tv show not worth watching') your favourite moment has been cut. 

Sure you can rage about how the casting is all wrong, bad acting, and how the adaptation doesn't follow the book. First let's look at the meaning of adaptation: adaptation is a noun derived from the verb to adapt which means (taking it from the transitive verb meaning): 'to make suitable to requirements or conditions; adjust or modify fittingly'. So when adapting a book there are things to consider with the audience this will be shown to: people who have read the book, people who haven't read the book, age-appropriateness, and for international distribution (I may be missing one or two here but I'm focusing on the first two).

People who have read the book will know how the story plays out and possibly expect the adaptation to follow the book. People who haven't read the book of course will have no idea other than what is marketed of the movie and may or many not read the book after seeing the movie or TV series. Having the adaptation follow the plot and the storyline of the book to the very last detail is basically giving away the whole book. If all adaptations were made this way then why bother to read the book (or a whole series of them)? Changing up the story a bit makes it convenient for both the reader and the non-reader. From a reader perspective, the adaptation brings on surprises. The surprises can either be good, bad, or predictable and from there comparisons can be made between the book and the adaptation. (For example I just saw The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones and I read the book beforehand. Without trying to spoil it too much I found some things were rushed (minimal backstories), and characters who had smaller roles in the book were either given bigger roles or not included at all. I think some elements were borrowed from the second book City of Ashes and mentionings of the fictional country home to Shadowhunters is not mentioned at all.) From a non-reader perspective the adaptation can be something original (or slightly original if it bares any similarities to other stories and movies) and could interest people in reading the original books. It's how I was drawn to Sergei Lukyanenko's Watch Series.

So if you want your favourite book to follow canon down to the very last detail, make your own adaptation. You can't expect Hollywood or whatever movie company to follow every last detail or get your dream cast (even the authors can't get their dream cast in). Sometimes the writers themselves do contribute to the plot of the adaptation of have some involvement in production. Adaptations are meant to be viewed by anyone who is interested in viewing the TV show or the movie and it's not something to be made exclusive to the fans of the series. The adaptation in one way is the adapter's way of envisioning how the book will play out as a movie or TV series.

I can't argue with the choices of the adapter but what I think would make adaptations a bit better is to include a bit more of the lore and philosophies presented as well as having some fan input. What I feel makes some adaptations a bit dull and inferior to their book sources is getting rid elements such as lore (e.g. the main characters are magic users and in the adaptation the magic element is toned down or removed) or the cut back on the philosophical aspects (e.g. one of the main characters is openly atheist and questions the other main character's beliefs in the book while the adaptation makes no mention of the characters being atheist or religious). As for the fan input this shouldn't be restricted to fans of the book but should include people who haven't read the book but have interests in the same genre (for example fantasy, sci-fi, western) as the book being adapted. They may not speak for everyone but can at least provide some input.

And thus ends my rant/commentary. If anyone come across this post I am slowly still working on English is a Hard Language series. At the rate it's going I'm trying to run through learning Hindi script since I was unable to find someone who can write in it to make examples (but if you can, maybe you can contribute?). Know Chinese, Japanese, or Korean? I could use your help in future EIAHL posts.

Shaking off the dust and maybe start something new here?

Haven't touched this in a long time. Well technically I have but didn't really see to post anything during my time mostly because I wanted to (or at least tried) to focus my attention on papers for my teaching ESL certificate program.

So what have I tried to put on here? I wanted to discuss season 5 of Being Human pertaining to Facebook comments by "fans" who stopped watching the show because of a cast change that happened in season 4. (oh my spoilers for those who haven't watched it yet) One of the main characters died at the end of the 3rd season, 2 main characters died at the start of the 4th season, and at the end of the 4th season/beginning of the 5th another character got the boot. I was going to comment on how the writers didn't deliberately kill off all the characters that were removed from the story as actors and actresses have other projects that they are working on but got word that season 5 was the last one so there was no use in me publishing that post without some changes.

Second thing I was thinking of putting on here was advice on choosing people to work in your group for a group project. That came from me actually being in a group when one person disappeared for about a week without notifying the rest of the group. I was kind of pissed that he didn't tell any of us or the instructor of the course that he was going to be away for a long time but when he came back he apologized for being away. I didn't ask why but he could have been out somewhere where he had not access to a computer or a Wi-Fi signal. In the end he got kicked out of the group and had to do the project on his own but I think he expected that.

So what ideas do I have now? I guess I can summarize my semester but it will probably be me raging out against one course I didn't quite enjoy and complaining about how much work I had to do. I wouldn't call that exciting. What is somewhat exciting is I will be taking an intensive beginner course in Arabic over the summer (I'm sure it will be on as there are a number of people on the roster to make it so).

Arabic? Isn't that a hard language to learn?
I'm a native English speaker (mind my carelessness as I type). I say English is a hard language to learn. Even if it is a global language. Maybe some of you think that Arabic is hard to learn because it uses a different writing system and sounds nothing like English. Well Arabic does use a different writing system and it sounds nothing like English, even with English loans. Arabic has also given English a bunch of words such as 'alcohol', 'assassin', 'coffee' and more.

So I guess my next blog endeavour is to show how English is a hard language to some but easy to others. I'll be using whatever knowledge I know and whatever the internet has to say about it. Sure there are other places out there that do this, but this will be my approach. I will compare the writing systems, sounds, some grammar, and basic sentence structure. Anything I learn along the way I will add.

And now I must make that final push to finish off the semester.

No two universities are alike/my experiences so far

So I'm almost done my fall semester at Carleton doing their CTESL (Certificate in Teaching English as a Second Language) program. Not sure what that is? I refer to you one of my earlier posts.

One thing I noticed with Carleton is some of their courses are full semester courses. That is the course you sign up for in the fall will be in that very same time slot in the winter. With that I have to suffer with doing an assignment over the break whereas if I was still going to MUN I would be lying on the couch all day watching movies or maybe trying to get through 1 season of a TV show.

Second thing is the way the schedule operates. I'm sure Carleton has those 3x a week for 1 hour courses but I haven't encountered them in my program so I am uncertain what courses they are (most of my courses at MUN were like that). My schedule at Carleton is filled with mostly two 1.5 to 2 hours courses (meets every Tues. and Thurs for example) with some once a week 2-3 hour courses (meets every Mon. evening). Maybe this is their preferred way of scheduling?

Anyway . . . one of the courses I have to take is a practicum which is basically learn and experience what goes on in a classroom. If you remember in elementary school (maybe some of you in secondary school as well) you may have encountered the student teacher who maybe helps you with your schoolwork or on occasion teaches a lesson. Apparently that is what I have become except my setting was in an ESL classroom.

Now I have two practicum placements for the whole year. I have already completed my first placement and can't wait for the day I get to "choose" (it's first to raise their hand that gets the location) my next one (maybe because I'll hope to encounter a Russian, Croatian, or maybe someone from Turkey). For my first placement I chose a literacy classroom. What is it exactly? Teaching how to read and write. The class I was in was for those who are 1) literate in their first language but the "alphabet" in their first language does not use the Roman alphabet, 2) are illiterate in their first language, or 3) come from an oral culture where there is no written form or a written form is not really used (kinda like situation 2). Who I encountered in my class (including the ones who got promoted to the level 1 ESL classes along the way) came from the following countries: Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Somalia, Macedonia, Nepal, Bhutan (Nepali speaking person), Laos, and Burma/Myanmar (Karen people). From this bunch I think I may have an idea who I might expect to see in my next placement.

With the class I did my practicum in there was a routine: The students would write something dictated to them on the board then everyone would copy that into their journals/notebooks. Then the teacher would write something on the board, for example "Did you have a good weekend?" if it was a on a Monday and on another board write "Today there ____ ____ teachers and _____ students" to get them to practice their numbers. Usually the days I'm there the teacher would say something like after copying the first board raise your hand to let <insert my name here here> know you're ready but no one does that, they usually do so once they copied down everything. Not sure why they don't do it, maybe it's because they're more comfortable with the teacher or if they're thinking "I should copy down everything first" or "I need to copy everything". 90% of the time I would be thinking it rude to ask them "May I listen to you read what you have so far". Lesson learned there: assert yourself.

After the journals they would be doing some activity, whether it's a "fill in the missing letters" dictation or a worksheet. Sometime they would be learning something new whether it's through a 10 line story with related activities or a story from a handout. There were activities that would teach them certain concepts like "please speak slowly/louder", "please can you say that again?" I led a couple of activities as well and comparing the two I did I found it difficult to create one of my own versus organizing one that's already made. Also with leading activities it is to be expected that not everyone will be looking at you whether it's out of boredom or maybe they're still struggling with the first thing I said.

So that's what went down in my practicum placement. Someone else doing the same as me would have either a similar experience or something different. Anyway that's enough from me.

Your religion shouldn't speak for everyone who does not follow it

On advice of my doctor I should be sleeping by now as I'm typing this but I just recently heard about this woman in Ireland who died of a miscarriage. While still alive and in agony she wanted to terminate her pregnancy but was denied that because according to some law (at least I think it's a law from my understanding) the pregnancy could not be terminated because the foetus' heart was still beating and it can only be done if the woman's life is at risk. Clearly this woman's life was at risk but it didn't seem like it to the doctors.

Some thing to note: In Roman Catholicism, which happens to be the major religion in Ireland, there is the belief that life begins when Mr. Sperm comes into contact with Ms. Ovum. Yes, a bunch of cells that haven't developed into actual organs is considered to have a soul (cue 'Every Sperm Is Sacred'). I went to a RC high school growing up and no one was allowed to abortion in grade 11 and 12 biology for their presentations. I assume it has to do with that the topic is not in line with RC beliefs but on the other hand there's a lot of ethical mumbo-jumbo to deal with at the high school level. (On a side note evolution is taught because it's part of the province-wide curriculum but they remind students that creationism is what started it all.)

So basically my stance lies between "you run your own body so let me run mine" and "you're giving it up because you decided you don't want the baby anymore? Are you crazy?" Let me make this simpler: If the woman is in agony from the pregnancy or becomes pregnant from a rape it is the woman's choice whether or not she wants to go to full term or however long the foetus lasts in the womb (I had this belief even when I was still a practising Catholic). As for someone who wants to terminate her pregnancy because it's the wrong gender/has imperfections or has no real reason and just wants to end it, the decision is still hers whether or not to terminate the pregnancy as it is not my body and I cannot make the decision for her but I would offer to take in the child (provided that I am mentally sane to raise one) or at least suggest helping out couples who cannot bear children. If in the end she does not want to go through the pregnancy, it's her choice, not mine.

I'm pretty sure people have seen anti-abortion supporters (the reason behind my choice of words will be explained later) with their signs telling people to "choose life" along with a bible quote and pictures of aborted  foetuses. Quoting my friend (who happens to have a blog @ http://tseretniw.blogspot.ca/)

How can these people hold up signs saying "protect life" when they clearly don't care about the mother's

My thoughts exactly. If you say that you are protecting human life, and the multi-celled blob is considered human, then isn't the life of the mother just as important?

Also my friend's question happened to remind me of something that happened not too long ago. My parents had people over for dinner as they were helping out with cleaning up my grandmother's house (which she's selling by the way). They happen to be a couple with a 7-year-old boy who was a fountain of knowledge when it comes to telling about what he recently learned at school. At one point he asked what abortion is. It was either my mom or his mom that gave the answer. Can't really remember how they explained to him but one of the key words used to explain was "baby". If I were 7 years old again "baby" would signify something like Maggie Simpson and neither the multi-celled blob nor a foetus and this is what made him ask something along the lines of "why would the mom do that?" I think I tried to explain that foetuses do get killed in the womb in nature but that didn't turn out so well. Long story short: be careful when discussing or describing abortion to a kid. Even for a fountain of knowledge their world view is still quite limited.

Also for word choice using "baby" vs. "foetus" makes something easier to understand but at the same time generates images of someone of Maggie Simpson's age. Why I chose "anti-abortion" vs. "pro-life" comes from a quote from Penn Jillette:

Ethical means moral or proper which differs for every person, it's something to discuss. It's not an absolute. It just sounds nice, it's like 'pro-choice' and 'pro-life', I mean- c'mon! Everyone is pro-choice and pro-life. It's for or against abortion that your group is about -- Season 2, Episode 1 of "Penn & Teller: Bullshit"

 I am certain it's not just Roman Catholicism that advocates life begins when sperm and ovum and whatever their beliefs are should not mix with legal matters. Sure there are those who would stay true to their religion even if they die in the process of something like pregnancy but by allowing women to choose to have their pregnancy terminated or not, a woman can still choose not to terminate. By not allowing a woman to choose is pretty much saying "okay you have one choice and that is keep on going and it does not matter if you die in the process as long as the baby lives."

I'd ramble on a bit more but I need some rest.

Here are some articles:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2012/1114/1224326575203.html
http://www.cbc.ca/strombo/world/abortion-debate-reignited-in-ireland-after-woman-is-denied-an-abortion-in-hospital-and-dies.html?p=home&s=home