Hamlet Sane Crazy or Little Bit of Both

   Hamlet is one of Shakespeare's most beloved and well known characters. But often times when people read Hamlet they question his sanity. Is he crazy or is he sane? Is he a genius or is he simply afraid and tactless?
   It is important to understand everything Hamlet is dealing with. For one he has sworn to his dead father's ghost that he will exact vengeance for his fathers murder by his uncle. Then his mother marries his uncle not long after her husband is murdered. The love of his life wants nothing to do with him do her fathers strict control of her life. He even becomes the very thing he wishes not to become a murder of another's father.
   Which leads to the first question, is he sane or crazy? Throught out the play Hamlet actions and words are what make him seem crazy. The fact that he cotemplates suicide and talks to himself.
  

Hamlet's Father and Sons

  Hamlet greatly demonstrates the bond between ones father and ones son as well. The desire to live up to thy fathers expectations and with hold their honor is scene throughout the play.
  First is Hamlet whose father was murdered by his uncle the new king of Denmark and husband of the Queen Gertrude. Hamlet has sworn to his father he will seek vengeance for his murder and thus become a murder himself.
  In the proccess Hamlet kills Palonius, Laertes father. Thus causing Laertes to seek vengeance for his father's death as well.
  Then when Hamlet is killed by Laertes and the King by Hamlet the cycle is complete. The sons have gained there long needed vengeance for their fathers, at the cost of their own lives.
  Ironically Laertes works with King Claudius in order to gain his revenge against Hamlet. But it us the King's fault that Palonius is dead. Simply because if King Claudius had never killed his brother, Hamlet's father, Hamlet would have no need to seek vengeance upon his uncle Claudius. In his desire to kill his uncle Hamlet kills Palonius.
  In conclusion, there is one final character dealing with father and son ties. A young Prince of the old King of Denmark, had it taken away. Thus the young Prince never had a chance to take back what was rightfully his till he arrives to the dead king, queen, and prince of Denmark. Thus begins and ends another father and son tie.

What to Ask for Christmas

It's that time of year again when everyone is running out and buying gifts for their loved ones. But what exactly are they buying, anything educational like books or just video games?
You can get gifts that are actually fun and yet educational at the same time. For example the new line of tablets offer you online reading. It may bot be the hard copy that we have used over the years but an online version of a book nonetheless .
Furthermore, there is the Kindle Fire, IPad, Nexus 7 . Name brand tablets that offer you apps that allow you to download your favorite novels. But with these tablets you can take more than one book with you by downloading them all on your tablet.
In the end when doing shopping for your loved ones try to give them something fun yet educational. Something they maybe read a book on, do some research for school and maybe write a story.

Dante's The Inferno

It seems as though the human race as a whole has always been really curious about the afterlife. If thete really is a heaven and help then what's it like. Is heaven peaceful and a place where God reigns over all and everythong? Is Help cruel and full of punishment inflicted upon the gruesome Devil himself?
Dante does a great job painting ten image of Hell. It's just a walk through Hell, Dante is your guide, and your along for the ride. You travel through what Dante defines as the nine circles of Hell and witness first hand the fates of sinners.
For the first time we have an understanding of what one part of our afterlife could be like. Each circle with its own terms of punishment and sinners. The circles are described all in vivid detail and incorporate details from history. Like people such as Virgil, Odysseus, Homer, the Pope etc...
Dante even uses mythical creatures such as the Cerberus and Minos. Both creatures told about through history. Dante even uses terra rima all throughout his book which is a fork of rhyming. In the end Dante paints a picture if the most feared place in afterlife, Hell.

Extra! Extra! Read All About it!

It's those very words above that back in the day, as one might say, were quite common to hear. A young boy would stand on the corner of his town, yelling Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Simply handing out the local news paper. Typically featureig articles, practically the same as recent times, such as the current election, a murder trial, or maybe a war.

News papers were a convient source of information for people to connect with what was going on in the world, simply because they were more accessible than a TV was or even perhaps even a radio. Times were tough and not everybody could afford one, but a newspaper was inexpensive, a dime a dozen.

As the years went on though people began going to stores to buy their paper or even had it delivered on a paper route. People were still trying to get on touch with the world, but got into lazy habits. Eventually TV became more popular, and more and more people could afford them. Why read when you could watch the TV?

Furthermore, the newspaper industry still holds its own and people continue to purchase it. But as people become busier they desire an easy way out. Now you can watch the news channel, listen to the news channel via radio, or go on the internet and read articles that interest you. The need to buy a newspaper is no longer a necessity, when there are so many other ways to access it.

Less and less people want to read the news the old fashioned way, and rather than purchase a whole paper. They will research what interests them. Slowly but surely the newspaper business is changing, but for good or bad, that's a question that only time can answer.

Encyclopedias, Dictionarys, Thesaurus Exist ??

When the last time you honestly opened up a dictionary and looked up the definition of word? How about the last time you actually used an encyclopedia to find information for a project? Or here's one, how bout using a thesaurus when your trying to improve the quality of your writing? All great questions, but really gets me is how did this all happen?
I remember growing up, teachers would take the time to use things like dictionarys, encyclopedias and maybe even a thesaurus. But now whenever we need to find out the definition of word, find out facts for a report, or when find a better word for perhaps food, you know what we do? We use the all mighty internet to get our answers. Instead of cracking open a book we go straight to our web browser.
Now simply because we have websites such as Dictionary.com, Google.com, Ask.com, the list goes on and on, there's no reason to look up things in a book. So why bother opening up a book and putting in a little effort. When all we got to do is type what were looking for in our web browser and within seconds we have what were looking for.

Scared to Read...

Well it looks like its that time of year again, a time when we intentionally seek new thrilling ways to scare ourselves. Whether it be curling up on the couch with the typical bowl of popcorn, a blanket, lights down low, a couple of friends and you  watching the endless classic horror film marathons. Even going out to Halloween parties, haunted houses/ hay rides, reading books etc...      

In addition, as many people know some of the most popular horror films were based off books. The film director would take a popular horror fiction and make a movie out of it. But unfortunately, like in most movies,some of the key parts are left out of the film or in some cases even altered. The different alternate endings and added love stories added to appeal to the audience but take away the thrill of the story.

Although what makes this different is the fact that while reading a book your visualizing what happening page by page. It's almost as if your there and you have no clue what's going to happen next until you turn to the next page. The detail in which things are described are horrific, breathtaking and chilling.

Now a days it seems as though many people are far more interestd in watching that scary movie . They have forgotten the thrill of reading a a classic horror story such as Dracula, IT, Frankenstein and many more. People much rather bore there eyes on endless tv, but remember where many of your movies come from.

Popularity Contest

Often times when writing the writer themselves tends to pick and write toward some general audiences including teens, adults, and children. But it seems in recent times pop culture has broken those groups even further down by their growing common interests, dislikes, opinions, thoughts etc... The very things that help to characterize people themselves are what writers are using toward their benefit.
Furthermore, since those three   basic audiences no longer exist there are now sub groups for teen fantasy romance dealing with the ever so popular forbidden human and vampire/werewolf love ties, children picture books have turned into the more fast track advanced books, and adults now have more serious life self help books.
It's just when you look at some of the most prestigious writers of our times like Charles Dickinson and Mark Twain. Their works are now being compared to novels like Twilight or Harry Potter. But truth be told those fantasy novels only have popularity not morals and ethics of the classic like Huckleberry Finn or the Odyssey books around for over thousands of years.
It's become more of a popularity contest, writers writing about the ever so desired fantasy love triangles it wizards novels. But in the end the classics will forever remain despite the onslaught popularity authors such as Stephanie Meyer and JK Rowling  have received. We will see whose story is really just a story for today and whose story is one of a lifetime.

Why read???

Through out history people have questioned the importance of reading and even writing. Common questions like what makes reading so important or why do we have to write? Ever since were old enough to walk we are read to, and taught how to read, count to three..the basics. These questions have pondered the minds of many but if you really think about it if we couldn't read then we wouldn't know when to stop at a stop sign cause we wouldn't know what it said. There be no newspapers so people wouldn't know what's going on in the world. We couldn't read menus at restaurants, the list is endless! Everywhere we go we are constantly reading but imagine if we didn't write. These are the things that separate us from other species, are ability to communicate with others. We take reading and writing for granted when there are those who do not know how to do either. It's a privilege that we confuse with as an annoyance. Our world history has been written down through the years and read repeatedly by many. If we couldn't read, history would be lost, books would be useless, everything would change. So why read?

Appreciate All You Got

Growing up we take alot of things our lives have to offer for granted. Whether it be the people who so willingly love us unconditionally, clothes we wear, or the roofs over our heads..That's why we have to take the time to really appreciate what we are given. Lessons like these are  something I learned when reading books by Dr.Seus or Shel Silverstein. One I recall the most is "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein. That book always stuck in my mind because of its message. The book talked about a young boy and his tree friend who gave him everything he ever wanted and needed to the day he was old and the tree was nothing but a stump. In the end the tree thought it had nothing else to offer the boy but it did cause all the boy wanted now was a place to sit. This book shows that you really must appreciate those people in your life who are willing to give you all you want and need but don't take advantage of them cause eventually you might lose them.

A beggining, middle and an end...

Whenever I go to the book store, the local library, just anywhere with books I can't help but stop and think on those very pages is a story waiting to be read, one with a beginning, middle, and an end. Someone's very thoughts, ideas, and feelings poured out onto those same pages for someone, anyone to read. But when that someone does read those pages they can become lost in another world in itself. They find themselves immersed in the everday lives of the characters, feeling as almost as if they're right there with them. But  when they stop reading they find themselves coming back to reality. That is why there are those who want to live the  fairytale life with the happily ever after ending Cinderella has, and the imaginary world of wizards, and witches such as in Harry Potter. Sometimes there lives seem much better than our realities and in a way our lives are like a book. We have a beginning, middle, and an end. And like in books we want to skip to the end, past the bad parts, but just like books its better just to wait and see what's in store. So why skip?