Research Process

It takes time to really find the resources that are needed to undertake an assignment. It is those resources that play a key role in the overall quality of the work being done. For me I do tend to focus my research using the internet, but only because I can't easily leave my house. Undergoing the research process I learned in my English 102 class I developed my questions of what needs to be known on the topic. From that I begin typing in the key words and looking for prominent websites on the topic, as well as beginning more about the subject. My project is actually a good chance for me to learn more about possibly majoring in psychology. My topic at first wasn't hard to begin researching but it was more of finding sources on the other part of my topic. My topic I like to have it is, the neccessity of counseling for the famous. I then realised that finding a source about the differences between the famous and other people was practically impossible unless taking more than a month, maybe. So I realised my focus was on the necessity of counseling for anyone and will then have to apply it to whether or not suffering stars actually get counseling or not. This task was pretty helpful in learning more about what I might major in and also establish a better focus on my topic.

Evaluation Paper.

Trigun, Manga Series, Great Gunslinger Western

There are many stories of the western genre, but how does a futuristic western placed on a far off planet sound? That is a very basic description of what the series Trigun: Deep Space Planet Future Gun Action is, a graphic novel, Manga to be short, by Yasuhiro Nightow. Now to really get into this series one must know what Manga is. Manga is much similar to a comic book, it however originates from Japan and is read from right to left, instead of the western style of left to right. With this basic comprehension of what Manga is one can start to evaluate the series. Trigun, the series, is set on a faraway barren planet, in the future. The main protagonist is named Vash, known widely as “Vash the Stampede”, a bounty head worth 60,000,000,000 double dollars, the currency of the series, for the destruction of the third city July. It is this bounty that sets up the beginning of the story and the first conflicts that Vash encounters. For example in the first volume of Trigun Vash, a pacifist, is hunted by a town in dire need of money to repair their means of living. It is later after much ruckus that 2 officers of an insurance agency come and stop the trouble to announce that the bounty is invalid now, because Vash is labeled a natural disaster. During the ruckus Vash took down a different bounty head released by the townspeople to try and capture him and thus resolves the townspeople’s issue of money needed to repair the plant. The series is still ongoing for readers in the United States as the last volumes are being translated from the Japanese language to English. Trigun: Deep Space Planet Future Gun Action is a great story to read, and learn how a passive, kind man such as Vash becomes a sharp gunslinger in conflict with his “brother”, named Knives. Points to focus on while evaluating why this series is so good are the art, storyline, character, language, and popularity.

There will be those who don’t exactly agree with the view of the fans and dismiss the series as a pathetic piece of work. They base their judgment of the art on the comedic sketches calling it the artist a hack and lazy in these drawings. Call the characters second class to that of actors in a movie. And then call the story a bland, monotonous tale. Later on they continue to base their judgments on their ignorance never having read it, or any other Manga either. However it is not all who have not read it that would dislike the series, there are those who still plan on reading it when they can. Even some who have read it say it was a waste of their time in doing so, being fans to some other title and thus very biased in liking other things.

The art is evaluated because Manga is a unique medium to telling this story. It is also a point of quality for Manga just like illustrations for a mystery novel. It also sets up the tone for the scenes. The art of Trigun is well done by being detailed during the action. Just like when Vash rushing to stop a man from shooting a hostage he has, pages 172-3 in volume one of Trigun Maximum. It then becomes basic in transition scenes and during a joke being done , to accomplish a lighter mood. This use of basic and detailed art allows readers to really get into the look and feel of the Trigun world. It also does this as to not alienate the reader from joining in the laughs. Though, the artwork is not the Mona Lisa, or the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel it holds quite a value to be put on posters. It’s basic black, white, and shades of gray behind the covers as it is common in this medium of work. The artwork is a normal part of Manga that appeals to the reader’s eyes. The art appeals to the reader so they can go onward to really get into the action and story.

The storyline is important to analyze to tell how well the Trigun series does overall. So, analyzing the storyline is based on how well the plot of the story is understood. The storyline is very deep, but easy to comprehend as the main conflict, Vash stopping his brother, Knives, from killing innocent lives, is revisited during each major battle. The storyline is that man in the future runs out of resources on Earth and so starts a mission to migrate across space to find a new planet to inhabit. During this migration the ships are sabotaged by Knives and end up crashing on a barren planet. The surviving humans awake from their sleep to build civilizations from the broken pieces of the ships, specifically machines called plants, and begin to live an old western lifestyle. Vash survives the crash along with Knives and is in constant conflict with Knives’ ideals of obliterating the rest of the human race. The depth of the storyline clearly shows the huge amount of thought put into creating this series. The story and plot are fantastic, questioning reasons of conflicts, rationalizing them as either protecting something, or just the bloodlust of the characters.

Characters in this series play important roles such as how well they flow with and affect the plot. So it is the importance of characters that lead me to evaluate it to help determine the overall quality of the series. The characters of the series are very diverse and deployed where needed. And it is this diversity that makes the series capable of a wider readership. That wider scope of readers shows a higher quality to the story. That story being of Vash the stampede and his friends facing off against the dangers of Knives’ select lackeys, the Gung-Ho Guns. The characters range from the traveling priest carrying a cross shaped gun, Nicholas D. Wolfwood, to the demonic Gung-Ho Guns, such as Leonof the puppet master, meant to make Vash feel the pain of human life. Each character’s background is visited upon eventually to really grasp who they are and why they do what they do. It is because of the characters of the series that Trigun has such an intriguing feel behind it.

The language is a unique point in evaluating the series as Trigun is a translated piece so it is important to notice if certain jokes are actually translated or understood. The series uses very basic language to simplify the translation and not lose the context of the material. It also uses its own words for specific key points in the story. It has unique things such as the plants, angelic figures that have no real consciousness and produce the necessities of human life. There are also the specific names of the technology and moves that the characters use that make the series separate from other Sci-Fi’s. Having such uniqueness would usually alienate the reader if everything else wasn’t common knowledge. This mix of unique and common language is what allows the series to be popular as it is and a favorite for many.

The popularity of the series is evaluated by focusing on the impact it has on other cultures. This is important as it reflects how well the series is accepted and appreciated. The series started out being released in chapters in a popular Manga magazine named Shonen Captain. The series took off landing its own anime adaptation aired in 1998 in Japan and 2003 in America. Because of the series many fans went to anime and Manga conventions dressed as the characters, and continue to do so even today. Numerous copies of the volumes are sold to the fans looking to know more of the story. Some jokes are shared between fans, such as Vash’s love for donuts. Trigun has found much success in its sales and production of figurines and posters. Thus from the success one can easily see how the series is a good read and may even decide to read it themselves.

The Trigun series is a beautiful telling of man’s struggle with society and the destructive ideals of individuals. It has played a big role in the Manga and Anime culture allowing many to share in the joyful jokes of the characters and experience amazing scenes played out in the story. There are those who will count this Manga as another piece of basic entertainment, but is has so much more than entertainment as there is the vast universe behind the series that even teaches readers values of life and allows them to know to be optimistic even in the darkest of moments. To not know of the Manga culture and insult this piece of work is like slapping a fan in the face. Such an action would result in reticule from the Manga culture on the internet and on the street, as they can contact one another all around the world to deliver their opinions. It is with great satisfaction to say that this is truly a great piece and would greatly suggest it to anyone reading enthusiast.

Bibliography

"Manga goes mainstream? Library promotion will nurture new readers. (Opinion)

(Brief Article)." The Bookseller 5155 (Nov 19, 2004): 20(1). Academic

OneFile. Gale. Gateway Community College Library, Phoenix, AZ. 26 Feb. 2008

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"TRIGUN #1: Deep Space Planet Future Gun Action (Book)." Publishers Weekly 251.4 (26 Jan

2004): 233-233. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Gateway Community College

Library, Phoenix, AZ. 26 February 2008. <http://search.ebscohost.com/

login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=12072087&site=ehost-live>.

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FITZPATRICK, EILEEN. "Multimedia Magnate." Billboard 113.39 (Sept 29, 2001): C-

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Gyssler, Garrett. Trigun (Manga). MyAnimeList.net. 2008. 28 February 2008

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MacDonald, Heidi. "Dark Horse Hits Big With Digital Manga Line."

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Nightow, Yasuhiro. Trigun: Deep Space Planet Future Gun Action!!. Trans. Justin Burns.

Milwaukie: Dark Horse Manga, 2003.

Nightow, Yasuhiro. Trigun Maximum: Deep Space Planet Future Gun Action!!. Trans. Justin

Burns. Milwaukie: Dark Horse Manga, 2004.

Follow up on inspiration.

So I took a bit of my time and did some research on the show LOST. What I found was that LOST is a kind of mixture between Gilligan's Island, Lord of the Flies, Survivor, Cast Away and to my surprise Myst. To find out that one of my old computer games, Myst, was part of the inspiration behind of the show Lost shocked me and actually makes sense of parts of the show now. It was after finding out that Myst is behind some of the ideas of Lost that lead me to look up the old game of Myst and its sequels. The game's storyline is this, you find a book with no author and only the title "Myst" you open the book only to find yourself fall into it and land in the world of Myst. The world of Myst is one island with puzzles the player has to solve and find out how exactly you fall into a book and land up on an island. Oh but it gets even farther out there as you find more books linking to other areas called "ages". This was a really great game to play and learn some problem solving, following the hints to know which notes I should play on the organ in the broken spaceship. It was also very good graphics at that time and made me wonder how some of the mechanics could work in real life.
Wanting to be able to try the game again since it's been way too long since I've played it I found out that it is supposed to be released soon on the Nintendo DS, which is simply great as to a fan such as myself of the series. This way I get to play the game again on the latest handheld system and see what new things they've added to it.
Having found out how Lost was inspired by such a game it gives me the idea to revisit some of my childhood past and get some ideas on maybe a story I could write. And with that I wait to see what the next episode of Lost is aired, and when the game Myst is released on the DS.

Inspiration

Oh how it is a troublesome thing to keep, recently while thinking over the show LOST I wondered about how they come up with all the character development stories and the entire storyline. Where was it that the writers got this inspiration. I've had a couple of inspirations for writing and artwork but later when I go to write it down or sketch it out, it seems to disappear on me. I know the drill of how people always bring something to write their ideas down on, use everyday experiences and I still seem to lose my inspirations when I try to bring it together. Maybe it is just a false idea or a joke when really looking at it but it tends to annoy me as this constantly happens. When I do get to begin on work I often find a time to take a break and then when I come back to work on it my mind lost what it was going off of. So I'm planning to research on where the writers of the show "LOST" get there ideas from and how it keeps on inspiring them. That way it can help me reach another level of writing and creating.

Another for the road

Stress has become a real problem around the world, and it comes from many sources born from the growing knowledge and constant need to go faster. Having dealt with stress from pet peeves, school, work, and upcoming deadlines I've become very familiar with handling stress and now how to avoid it at times. The best treatment for stress in my case would be taking a day off and sleeping through all of it to relax and rejuvenate my body and mind. However that isn't the best if I don't have time, thus I usually resort to listening to fast paced music to relax and gain some rhythm to follow through with. This is exactly how I'm able to be so carefree in this time, learning that I don't need much to be content with where I'm at now.

Keeping the momentum, Thoughts on strength

While I'm on a roll here why not post 2 more rants about my thoughts. This may just be coming from having watched too many shows but the morals and philosophies behind them are really something to consider. One of the greatest morals behind most shows is that one must believe in oneself to truly reach and go beyond their potential strength. Many point out how ridiculous that is, saying how there are limits to a person's physical strength or the power of something. However I've been able to notice my own physical limits due to chronic fatigue, but it is from such fatigue I learn to push myself to grow and reach beyond what my potential can be sometimes. Sure I won't be the best at some things but I'll be really good all around in my knowledge, strength, and spirit. So why not do what most people say a man should do and stand up for myself against all odds no matter how bleak they may be. I grasp what knowledge I have and continue to learn, as being human I make mistakes and it is those mistakes I learn the most from.

More than one post in an hour

My interests and goals for the future.
To get a better understanding of where some of my ideas come from it would be best to post some description of myself and what I hope to accomplish, without giving out personal information to anonymous viewers. That said, some of my greater interests are in card games, art, origami, and a look into establishing some ideas of whats beyond mortal powers. The last interest will only be touched upon rarely as it is a more difficult subject to discuss with others if any. It is my interest in art that led to my knowledge in crafts such as metalwork/welding, Origami( the art of paper folding), and wood carving. I have a couple of finished art pieces that I completed while learning how to do these crafts and I feel satisfied by the results. With my knowledge of arts and crafts known it is one of my goals to complete a suit of armor that I can wear and in emergencies be able to defend myself with. I have already started work on it but have not continued for months now.
My interests in card games has led me to learn many solitaire games besides the one known commonly on the computers. It has thus lead to learning and buying collectible card games for so much entertainment. Card sets like Magic the gathering, World of warcraft ccg, Yu-gi-oh, and once upon a time the pokemon and digimon cardgames as well, I didn't buy into these games just for hype but for different challenges to myself. With the amount of cards I've collected I can easily play any set with 3 other people. So it is one of my goals to be able play card games with anyone I know, so go ahead and ask for a game and I'll gladly play.
With that there should be a better understanding of what kinds of things I do with my time.

A lack of a schedule

It is a problem of mine that I don't have a day to day schedule. There is very little that takes up my week and thus results in my procrastination of work or lack of updating such things as this blog.
So what is it that I'm supposed to do about this problem. I've had to address it many times before in my life and have yet to succeed in dropping this habit. However I vow on this post that I will begin a routine of posting at least twice a week on this blog, no ifs, ands, or buts. I will back this vow up by limiting my "free" time to focus on the tasks put forth in front of me, which will be the greatest challenge for me. It will especially be hard to become a frequent poster on blogspot only because I feel I will not get much out of it as I would a discussion with my friends nearby, but I will take the leap of faith into posting my thoughts on here to elaborate on some of my own ideas.

Final of English essay #1

This is a copy of my work on the letter to the editor and analysis

February 12, 2008

Dear Los Angeles Times and Fellow Readers,

A reply to “Ted Kennedy endorses Obama, citing his ‘extraordinary gifts’.” Jan. 29

Recently, I have been looking up information on Barack Obama’s campaign. While doing so I found interest in this article learning about Kennedy’s endorsement of Obama, and it certainly shows some goals of his campaign.

Obama is a force of change in the government. He works to be rid the problem of certain groups corrupting government. As Kennedy says, Obama changes people for the better. Where he lacks inexperience he makes up with creativity. Hillary Clinton also praised this quality of him. It was amusing that Kennedy made use of Hillary’s argument saying, Obama will be ready on the first day.

The most promising point of this article is learning that other officials in power also seek change in the government. Having been on a widespread search I found great details in this article about the campaign and will certainly learn more of it and other topics from the Los Angeles Times.

Sincerely,

Mr. Jolly

English 102

February 12, 2008

Letter to the Editor-Analysis

My writing has come a long way from the past few years, and it is in this letter that proves it. A reply to anything would be meaningless unless the person has some feelings about the subject. It is this letter to the editor of the Los Angeles Times and readers that I’m able to express some views on the 2008 presidential elections. Rather than just addressing it to the editor I welcome the view of other readers by addressing it to them as well. I create common ground with the other readers by saying “Fellow Readers” showing that I am one of them. Having established common ground, I set up the occasion of what brought me to write this letter, telling them of my interest in Barack Obama’s campaign. I praise the L.A.Times, Los Angeles Times, by saying how the article was interesting as well informative and so make it easier for even the editor of the L.A.Times to read this letter.

To establish credibility of the subject I point out that this is not the only thing I looked at about Obama’s campaign. I show that there is much more to his campaign and the topic by using the word “some”. The purpose of the letter is to possibly persuade the opposing views of Obama, or help indecisive individuals decide on whom to pick for the presidential candidate. I originally wrote “to be rid the problem of certain Lobbyist groups” but changed it to just “certain groups” knowing that if I went with the original that I would alienate those in Lobbyist groups. The main aim of my letter addresses the indecisive and opposing views from my standpoint.

The next step in my writing was to put down the evidence of supporting Obama, on example of Ethos is the quote of Kennedy pointing out how Obama change people for the better. The point of his lack of experience yielding to creativity is the use of Logos it being a logical thought that if he lacks something there must be a quality of his that makes up for it. For a Pathos appeal I used certain words throughout the letter such as “corrupting”, and “praised” that clearly identifies a side of good and bad.

In this letter I set my mood to a thankful, intrigued tone. That way I assure the editor that I might be a reoccurring reader to their establishment. I also add that the articles themselves are filled with new information that even lets me learn something. Sticking to a letter format lets me keep it professional and straight, showing that this is with the genre of letters to the editor. Clearly such depth shows a great change from my past writing.

Note for other english students.

Do not forget to email Mr. Jolly the URL of your blog by the end of the day.

First Post

This first blog post, will respond to the assignment writing blog entries. It better be thoughtful and developed