Blogger Reflection

     I believe that I have demonstrated growth as both a reader and a writer throughout this trimester. Although I did not reach my goal that I had set out to achieve in the beginning of the trimester, I still firmly believe that I have advanced my skills as a reader. Before this LA class started, I read at a pretty slow pace, just because I couldn't concentrate very well when reading. However, finishing John Dies at the End took a significantly shorter time than my summer reading book. This was because it really grabbed my attention and entertained me. The author’s style of writing, as I referred to in my previous blog post The End Has Come, “Jason Pargin writes in a satirical manner that conveys Dave's thoughts as captivatingly strange and I just become enveloped in his thoughts. He also is very descriptive when he writes and I can imagine every detail of the ridiculous monsters in the story.” That is why I really enjoyed this book, easily becoming one of my favorites.

     Also, there is a great amount of figurative language cleverly put into the story to enhance the setting and characters. One example is when the narrator falls into a trance after seeing a mural on the wall. This starts a brilliant description of every minute detail painted by the artist. This part of the story helped me find figurative language within a text and be able to pull meanings and symbolism from it. In the mural from the book, the woman represented how he felt lonely sometimes and wanted to find a girl that he could talk to about anything and would love him no matter what. I think this skill taught me to analyze writing in a more intelligent way.

     This novel has also influenced my writing techniques. One strength I gained with blogging from reading this book was that I wrote stuff that was entertaining to the readers. My independent book was extremely captivating to me, which gave me the idea that if I am interested while I am typing, then readers will feel the same way while reading. This improved the quality of my writing by making my blog more interesting.

     Over the course of this class, I have also gained a better understanding of theme and characters. My lack of understanding is shown in one of my earlier blogs, Drugs Theme. In this post I wrote, “A thematic statement for the book, JDATE (John Dies at the End), is that when a person does drugs, terrible consequences might follow.” Looking back on this post, I now realize that this was a very generic theme with no real value to it. It might be true, however it is not a well written thematic statement for the book. In my last post The End Has Come, I showed my better understanding of theme by creating a new one for my novel. “That theme is Friendship. This is very present throughout the entire story and even when John dies, he and Dave still communicate and make each other laugh… This theme is not only a theme for this story, but also in countless others including ‘SpongeBob Squarepants’ and ‘Shrek.’” This post demonstrated my knowledge of theme because I explained how it was constant throughout the entire book, and also gave connections to other stories with the same general theme.

     My comprehension of characters has also improved after having experience with blogging. In another one of my first few blog posts called John Dies at the End, I tried to give examples of characterization stating, “If John wasn't as crazy, curious, or always partying as hard as he did, John wouldn't have stayed after the party to talk to Bob Marley. This means that neither John nor Dave would've taken the Soy Sauce and the story would never have happened.” I believe this was a bad example of my understanding of characters. It sounds more to me like just cause and effect sentences. This has changed throughout the trimester as shown in The End Has Come, where I blog, “Dave, the narrator, is extremely apathetic towards everything in his boring life. The author makes it very easy to imagine him mumbling in a monotone voice everything that he says at the beginning.” This gives clear explanation of who Dave is and a reader can fully understand what this character might look, sound, and act like in the book.

     These are just some of the many ways I believe I have grown as a reader and writer. After this trimester of reading and blogging, I feel like I have advanced many of my skills, including writing more descriptively and entertainingly, analyzing the text, and understanding of theme and characters. These are very important skills to have, especially as I continue my path through the Honors English classes, but also in the real world. 

The End Has Come

     For starters, John Dies at the End was an amazing book. Literally, the best book I have ever read. I don't want to give any important plot points away, just in case you might go check this novel out for yourself, but the story is an insanely interesting, intriguing, creative, and hilarious piece of modern literature. I fully recommend this to anyone who is looking to read a less serious book with a lot of laughs, however keep in mind that if books had a rating, this one would definitely be rated R.

     I enjoyed this story for many reasons, one of them being the incredibly dynamic characters. The two main characters change dramatically over the course of the text. Dave, the narrator, is extremely apathetic towards everything in his boring life. The author makes it very easy to imagine him mumbling in a monotone voice everything that he says at the beginning. John, the other main character is a careless, irresponsible person with no direction in his life. In chapter 1 Dave says, "Basically, my daily life consists of going to my minimum wage job that I hate to pay the rent for my crappy, dilapidated apartment that I hate. Then every night John and I go to some party that sucks and talk to some boring people that suck. And repeat." However, their lives soon drastically change because of the street drug nicknamed Soy Sauce. Lots of people die and they go on a crazy adventure to other dimensions, but I won't spoil anything. At the end of the story, the two best friends become professional alien killers, which is just about the least boring job and life someone could ever have. No longer are they pessimists, and they live their lives to the fullest.

     The author also gave John Dies at the End a nice overall theme. That theme is Friendship. This is very present throughout the entire story and even when John dies, he and Dave still communicate and make each other laugh. They are always together and interacting in humorous ways, which makes the book so funny. This theme is not only a theme for this story, but also in countless others including "Spongebob Squarepants" and "Shrek."

      The author's writing style is my favorite part of the novel. Jason Pargin writes in a satirical manner that conveys Dave's thoughts as captivatingly strange and I just become enveloped in his thoughts. He also is very descriptive when he writes and I can imagine every detail of the ridiculous monsters in the story. One fun fact is that the word "bratwurst" is used in the story over 80 times, which just fascinates me.

     These reasons, and many more like the overwhelming amount of dark humor, make this my favorite book. I already want to read it again just to laugh a bunch more times and relive the extremely entertaining plot line.

   

Prophecy

     This post will be about John Dies at the End by David Wong, again. I will tell you my predictions for this book, but this post is titled "Prophecy" because it is a much cooler word than "predictions." What I have come to think will happen in this story is that Dave will soon reunite with his pal John. I believe this to be true because John is somehow communicating with him through a bratwurst, so is he really dead? I mean, think about it. Dave never actually saw John keel over and die. He only took Morgan Freeman's word for it, whom I think is lying and he might return later as an antagonist. Also, the title of the book indicates that John will actually die at the end of the story, which leads me to believe he is not yet lifeless. That is my theory for the overall conflict of the novel, Dave and John vs. Morgan Freeman. But since this book is so unpredictable and quite random, so I might be way off. Currently in the story, Dave is under Bob Marley's abandoned crime scene trailer in the secret, dark abyss. There is a duffel bag on the floor that starts moving towards him when the dim lights completely go out. He jumps backwards when WHAM! He lands in a heaping mass of warm, vile excrement. I think he will get out of there as quickly as possible and not go back into the creepy place. Then he will probably take a quick shower because that is nasty. Let me know what you think will happen next in the story in the comments below:

Blizzard Bag Post

     I am still reading John Dies at the End by Jason Pargin and many events have transpired since the last time I typed up a whipper snapper summary on this internet. When I left off last, Dave was walking down the street after leaving the police station and talking to John, now dead, through a bratwurst. (By the way, I read a fun fact earlier that this miraculous story uses the word "bratwurst" over 80 times. Dr. Pargin is my idol.) Now you might be thinking to yourself, "Dave is communicating with the dead through a bratwurst? What a jabroni!" Now that me be fair, but remember that he is still tripping on Soy Sauce, the extremely sketchy street drug that can make impossible things happen to you. So John tells Dave to go to Bob Marley's abode, which is just a dilapidated trailer in a ghetto trailer park where there was a homicide not 24 hours ago. Hmmmm...... Anyway, he goes there and just kind of walks inside. He is surprised to see that there is no trace of blood or guts anywhere. The cops really did their job, febreezing the place and everything. He is mesmerized by a beautiful, exceptionally detailed painting of a cabin on a mountainside in the snow. There is a deer and a woman, and she has a baby in her arms. And the infant has a horn coming out of its forehead. Also there is a pond in the background with hands sticking up through the frozen ice. Dave falls into a trance and just stares at it for a while, thinking that it is real until he snaps out of it and trudges onward. He goes into the bathroom and notices that the toilet is not where it should normally be. He takes a closer look and notices that where the toilet would normally be, there is a hole that dives 20 feet straight down. And a rung ladder leads down into the deep, dark pit of doom. Or maybe not doom, I don't know yet because that is where I left off. Very suspenseful and intriguing, isn't it? What do you think will be at the bottom? A depressed, fat leprechaun with daddy issues or a heaping pile of fecal matter? Leave your answer in the comments below:

   For my English class, I am also reading the famous play entitled Romeo and Juliet written by Shakespeare. Right now, I am in Act 2 Scene 2 and it has genuinely exceeded my previous expectations for the script. Before I began reading this, I thought it was going to be a boring love story with fancy literatures that I would not be able to understand. However after perusing it, I have become enveloped in the plot and characters. I like Shakespeare's use of characterization because each character has a very distinct personality. I feel like Romeo is a little bipolar in a way because at the beginning he is depressed about not being able to have the love of a nun, but the next day he completely forgets about her and falls in love with another girl. Also Tybalt is a huge jabroni. The play has also made me laugh a couple of times because our language is very different from the lingo of the 16th century and that Shakespeare wrote about some sketchy subjects in some parts of the story. One example of this is in the very beginning: "Sampson - Ay, [cut off] the heads of the maids, or their maidenheads; take it in what sense thou wilt." I was a little speechless at that point because of my previous expectations for the story. The only thing that bugs me about reading the play is that it really can be very difficult to understand what is being said at times, but after reading over it carefully I can usually comprehend the message. So, overall I enjoy this story and would like to keep reading it during our class.

Why I Chose To Read JDATE

     I was browsing Netflix a couple of months ago when I came across a movie with the same title of this book. The title made me laugh, so I read the bio on it and it was interesting and sparked my curiosity. I watched it and I was out of breath from laughing so hard. After I finished watching the film, I googled the John Dies At The End and found out it was a novel before a film. So, I got my mum to buy it off of the Apple Store so I would have something enjoyable to read for class. Usually, in other LA classes, I end up reading a novel I do not like and I am bored of it. However, this book is always making me laugh and read on.

     I have read about 500 pages on my iPod and there is about 1,000 of them total. I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that you actually read slower on a computer than you do on a paper copy, but I should still try to read more. The story is still very weird and now John is dead and talking to Dave telepathically through a bratwurst. Basically, there is never a point in the story where it gets boring and that is why I love it.

Drugs Theme

     A thematic statement for the book, JDATE (John Dies At The End), is that when a person does drugs, terrible consequences might follow. In the novel, the beginning of David's story is when he and John take the Soy Sauce drug and becomes addicted to the deadly, black substance that burrows into them. Almost instantly, they start their journey filled with lots of problems, violence, and death. One example of a consequence from the drug is that John overdoses and dies the next day. Also, David gets "side effects" which causes him have crazy physic powers. This might seem really cool to you, but he describes them as horrible effects that make him go insane and last forever. David Wong could never go back to his earlier, simpler life, even if it was so boring and depressing.

He Drifts To Another Dimension And Is Feeling
Insane And Paranoid

Wong Accidentally Injects Soy Sauce Into His Veins

     
     This theme relates to real life because the Soy Sauce can be symbolized by a real, harmful, and dangerous drug like cocaine, crystal meth, or ecstasy. When an addict takes these drugs in the real life, many consequences happen. They could become a completely different person: unsocial, lazy, crazed, violent, unhygienic, and many other terrible traits. Drugs also cause relationships to be torn apart and can cause potentially great lives to be ruined. A text to text comparison I made is from JDATE to Breaking Bad. When John takes the drug in the story, he dies and Dave is traumatized.  This ruined their lives and relationship just like in one of my favorite TV shows, Breaking Bad, where Walter White becomes a crystal meth cook and slowly destroys his family and relationships of everyone he loves. This is why this thematic statement is an underlying theme for JDATE and other stories alike.

Jason Pargin Author

     I thought that  I would take a break from talking about the book briefly and tell you guys about the writer of the book I am currently reading, John Dies at the End. His name is real name is Jason Pargin, but he writes under a pseudonym, David Wong (just like the main character of the book.) However, the character is not based off himself. He was born in 1975, making him 38 years old. He is a humor writer and has written 2 books in a series: JDatE (John Dies at the End) and This Book is Full of Spiders. He is also the senior editor and columnist for Cracked.com, a website dedicated to posting humorous articles.



Jason Pargin a.k.a David Wong

      The funny thing is that he actually grew up in Illinois, but his pen name, Wong, is a very common Chinese last name. Jason writes as Wong because he wanted to keep his blogging and personal life separate, however know because he has become famous, it only takes a Wikipedia search to find his true identity. JDatE was originally written as a web series for his old website, "Pointless Waste of Time.com", in 2001 and slowly transformed into a novel in 2007. The book has also been adapted into a movie by director Don Coscarelli, but like most books made into movies, it is not as humorous nor entertaining as the writing. The writing style of this author is very humorous and dark. A lot of the comedy comes is black comedy and comes from the main character's always paranoid thoughts. I am a fan of this author now because of this book and will probably read the sequel to this book when I am finished with it.