Pic of the Day #11

Canterbury Tales II: What a Character

The Sea Captain's Tale:

The author uses direct characterization to describe the monk, the merchant, and the wife. He starts off by saying the wife is beautiful, the merchant is stingy, and the monk was handsome and well liked. Chaucer's tone is somewhat mocking and sarcastic when he is speaking of the wife and how rich men's beautiful wives like to be sociable and plan parties and buy dresses, but the husband doesn't want to pay for it so they must find some other man to pay for it. The tone is satirical in the case of the monk because the monk is conniving and when the wife asks him for money he secretly borrows it from the husband so that she will sleep with him. It is also ironic because the wife couldn't directly ask the husband for money, and the husband was rich but he wouldn't give money to his wife. The author was also being very ironic when the wife said the husband wasn't good in bed, but at the end he was very...vivacious. Chaucer used a really funny pun at the end when he said, "So my tale ends: and while we live may God give us tail in plenty!" The meaning of the pun was to say he hopes he gets to sleep with a lot of women while he's alive, and the pun was on the words "tale" and "tail". There is a lot of sexual humor in this story especially at the end when the wife says she'll pay her husband back in full for the 100 francs she spent.

Character Study 1

It's weird to think that last year around this time I was stressing over college applications and personal statements. I've learned a lot since then, like the fact that college is just like high school except with a bigger vocabulary, and it's actually cool to be obsessed with coffee and cats. I was actually really surprised I got in to UCSD considering up until the last month I had no idea what I was going to write in my essays. Procrastination and idiocy at its finest. Don't worry I'm only studying the prerequisites for medical school everyone. And now the surgery scheduling starts flying in, I'm sure. Anyway, like I said everything is pretty normal, too normal. It's like I just packed up my crap and my mom dropped me off in to a state of limbo. "Bye Charlie! I love you!" she said as she drove off in to the sunset, leaving me in the middle of a nerd congregation. The thing is that I'm bored, and I forgot to bring Maurice, my five foot tall teddy bear, with me to school. It’s a good thing I didn't take him though, because San Diego is pretty sketchy and he would have gotten stolen. 

There are two types of people in this world. There are the people who when a stranger yells, "Someone help me my cat got away!" will keep walking like assholes. Then there are the people like me who will immediately start chasing after the alleged cat, and straight in to the arms of a kidnapper. In my defense we were by a busy intersection and the cat could have easily gotten ran over. It was my duty as a human being and cat lover to potentially put my freedom at risk. That being said I would take a dead cat any day over being bound and blind folded in the back seat of one of those sketchy, white pedophile vans. Honestly, could you get any more obvious? These kidnappers are seriously lacking in their profession, and the one next to me smells like that liquid ass spray. My eyes are watering and I am gagging, that is so gross. I'm guessing he's not married. 

“Let me go you stupid ham planets!” I yell in the direction of the odorous one. “We can’t! Do you know how much money we’ll get for kidnapping that guy from The Maze Runner?” said a rather high pitched male voice. I guess it came from Smelly. “Are you freaking kidding me? I look nothing like Dylan O’Brien! I’m a girl with long hair! How idiotic can you get?” I yell back at the imbecile. “Damn it Marty! I can’t believe you did this again! You told me this was the right guy!” said a new voice from the front of the vehicle. Next thing I know someone presses a cloth to my mouth and the world goes dark.

I’m jostled awake some time later, and suddenly I’m thrown out of the moving van. I go air born for a second and then my fall is cushioned by grass. “Yeah that’s right! Drive away you pieces of crap!” I yell after the van that I hear tearing away from where ever they dropped me. I’m still bound and blind folded and I can hear kids playing in the background so I’m guessing they dropped me off at a park. At least they didn’t drop me off in the ghetto. Well this is awkward, I have to find a way to untie myself. “Excuse me! Can someone please untie me?” I yell loud enough for the people to hear. Next thing I know I hear a bunch of soccer moms screaming and running away while grabbing their children. “I hope your implants fall out!” I scream toward those assholes. “Can I help you?” I hear a bubbly female voice say from behind me. “Yes actually, if you could untie me that would be awesome.” I say to the girl. After she unties me I take off the blindfold and look down at a short girl with blond hair and big green eyes. She looks nice enough. “Hi my name is Annie!” she chirps at me. “Hey, my name is Charlie. Thanks for untying me!” I say gratefully. “So umm, what just happened? Why were you blind folded?” she asks me. “It’s a long story…” I sigh.

Annie takes me to coffee and tells me those jerk-offs tossed me in Seattle, Washington. “That is so rude! They could’ve at least dropped me off in California! People these days…” I exclaim after hearing what state I’m in. “That is pretty rude. I still can’t believe they thought you were Dylan O’Brien. You look nothing alike!” she says agreeing with my earlier thoughts. “How am I going to get home? They took my money, all twenty dollars of it.” I say wistfully, thinking about all the coffee I could have bought with that money. Hey, college is expensive. “Well you could work at the magazine with me! It would be so much fun!” she says smiling. “That would be perfect!” I say smiling back at the small girl who saved me from the impending soccer moms. “We should probably get you some clothes though,” she says eyeing my shirt. “And I should probably call my mom…” I say while shuddering at the thought of her freaking out.

Six months later…

          As I stare down at my article in the new magazine I work for I realize two things. Seattle has really good coffee, and being kidnapped makes for a great story. After my mom finally sent over all of my stuff I started working at the magazine with Annie, and she suggested that my first piece be about my kidnapping. It’s kind of embarrassing writing about how I was mistaken for a guy though. Next time someone asks me to chase after their runaway cat I’m going to have to pass. 

Bede and Canterbury Notes

Bede (pp.74-82) & the Prologue to Canterbury Tales (pp.90-115) Collaboration Notes

Pages 74-82 Taylor

From A History of the English Church and People:

• most people were illiterate so Bede got documents through the monastery
• Britain and Ireland: Britain is an island off the coast of Germany
• land is good for grain and timber
• good pasturage for cattle/draft animals
• alot of fish
• pearls and scarlet dye extracted from shellfish
• land has many metals: copper, iron, lead, silver
• has a lot of coal
• 28 noble cities: five languages and four nations (English, British, Scots, Picts)
• Britons were first to colonize, a common language is latin
• Scots settled ireland and Picts showed up and asked permission to join their island
• Scots refused so Picts settled on Britain, Picts took Scottish wives so the king comes from the female royal line
• Scots migrated to Britain under chieftain Reuda they are called Dalreudians

From the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle:

• The Vikings split up in East Anglia and Northumbria
• vikings defeated many earls/lords of the British king in Sussex, Kent, Essex etc.
• King Alfred ordered new longships to be built against the ash-ships
• The english engaged in a naval battle with the danes
• The danes made king edward break the peace by taking a woman
• they got into a huge fight and a lot of people with weird names died
• they negotiated peace with northumbria and the anglians

Pages 90-98-michael

• Bio
• ·         Written by Geoffrey Chaucer(circa 1343-1400)
• ·         No one knows what inspired Canterbury Tales, the tale embodies medieval literature such as romance and comedy.
• A Closer look
• ·         The story tells of a pilgrimage of all people both rich and poor together, and starts with a prologue.
• ·         There are 24 different tales through the eyes of different people on the voyage.
• ·         Captures the essence of the time, shows all parts of medieval society.
• Prologue
• ·         Canterbury is a town outside London where a cathedral stands that is the place where Archbishop Thomas a Becket was murdered in 1170
• ·         The pilgrimage began in April 1387, at an inn on the way the narrator meets a group of people who are all going on the pilgrimage and he joins their fellowship.
• ·         Among the company was, a Knight was told of many heroic tales and battles he had been through.
• ·          With him was his son and squire, some 20 years of age. He is described as being fresh and yet experienced and knew what he was doing.
• ·         There was also a Yeoman( Attendant) for the knight and squire, “he was properly Forester I guess”
• A nun, Known as Madam Eglantyne. She was pleasant and friendly in her ways; her way of smiling was very simple and coy.

Pages 99-107 Hikaru

• the monk has a great horse, and is a hunter
• the friar is benevolent, a beggar
• the merchant is known for his money handling skills, but is in debt
• there is a clerk who likes philosophy books, spends his money on them
• the Sergeant of Law was well respected and erudite
• several craftsmen as part of a guild - Haberdasher as hatmaker, weaver, carpenter, tapestry maker
• a shipman who knew the seas from Tunisia to Sweden, a great seaman
• a doctor who was excellent in curing people, saved his money

Pages 108-115 Annie

the plowman was an honest worker, was a good man living by the gospel (Ten Commandments)

the miller was a big man, very strong and hearty. He played bagpipes and stole grain. He was a brawny looking dude.

The manciple was illiterate but very good with money.

The reeve was old and thin. He played his bussiness by the books with taxes and such. He had his rich treasure stored away. He and from Norfolk.

The summoner resembled a cherub. He had bad boils on his face. He was mean looking and scared children. He resembled an ogre. Some thought he was insane.

The pardoner rode with the summoner. He had waxy, yellow, rat tail hair with no hood. With bulging eyeballs. Small voice. a man of  God with many relics.

This is the story of the ranks of an aseembled company in southwark at the high class hostelry know as the tabard.

They were all drinking. A manly man came. the man proposes that they all tell two stories on the way to Canterbury Nd two stories back, the winner gets dinner at the tavern paid by all. The man will go with them and be the judge. They all started off on the journey.

Pic of the day #10

Masterpiece 1

The Psychology of American Serial Killers:

·         Bloody Benders: family who killed guests at their inn in Labette County, Kansas in 1872

·         David Berkowitz: also known as "Son of Sam"; convicted of killing 6 people in New York City in 1976-1977

·         Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono, Jr.: also known as "The Hillside Strangler"; killers of 12 women and possibly involved in three other killings

·         William Bonin: also known as "The Freeway Killer"; with several accomplices, claimed the lives of 20 boys in California

·         Richard Angelo: Also known as "The Angel of Death". New York nurse convicted of 4 murders, linked to 6 other deaths. Suspected of killing up to 25 people.

·         Ted Bundy: law student who raped and murdered more than 35 women in six states; escaped from prison twice before being executed in 1989

·         Ricardo Caputo: also known as "The Lady Killer"; strangled 4 women across North America in the 1970s becoming one of the FBI 10 Most Wanted

·         David Carpenter: also known as "The Trailside Killer"; murdered 5 women on San Francisco-area hiking trails between 1979 and 1981

·         Richard Chase: also known as "The Vampire of Sacramento"; murdered 6 people in California in the 1970s

·         Joseph Christopher: Also known as "The Midtown Slasher"; racist who killed 12 people, all but one of them African Americans, in 1980 and 1981, between upstate New York and Georgia, mutilating 2 of them.

·         John Norman Collins: also known as "The Co-Ed Killer"; Murdered 3 women and 3 young girls, beat his own sister very badly, had an obsession with mutilation and excessive gore.

Dean Corll and Elmer Wayne Henley: Along with David Owen Brooks, committed the Houston Mass Murders in the 1970s; abducted, raped, tortured and murdered 5 men and 25 young boys

·         Juan Corona: California killer convicted of murdering 25 men in 1971

·         Jeffrey Dahmer: Milwaukee,

 Wisconsin cannibal who kept heads, skulls and body parts in his apartment for sexual gratification; murdered 4 men and 13 young boys. Dahmer was a known sex offender, he sexually abused and violated a young boy.

Thomas Dillon: Serial sniper who killed 5 men in southeastern Ohio between 1989 and

 ·         Walter E. Ellis: also known as "The Milwaukee North Side Strangler"; convicted of killing 7 prostitutes in Wisconsin between 1986 and 2007.

·         Albert Fish: also known as "The Werewolf of Wisteria"; sadist and pedophile who cannibalized several children; convicted of one murder, confessed to 2 others, claimed to have molested 100 children

Joseph Paul Franklin: racist serial killer who targeted interracial couples and attempted to assassinate Larry Flynt and Vernon Jordan; convicted of 11 murders and confessed to nine others; executed in 2013

·         John Wayne Gacy: also known as "The Killer Clown"; killer of at least 33 men and boys; kept bodies buried under his Chicago home; executed in 1994.

·         Ed Gein: From La Crosse, Wisconsin; Ed Gein committed his crimes in Plainfield, Wisconsin ; two known victims, one suspected victim, four missing persons; elements of Gein's life and crimes have inspired, at least in part, the films Psycho and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and the novel/movie The Silence of the Lambs

·         Harpe Brothers: also known as "Bloody Harpes"; Micajah "Big" Harpe (1768? – August 1799) and Wiley "Little" Harpe (1770? – January 1804), America's first known serial killers were credited with the murders of 40 men, women, and children.

·         Keith Hunter Jesperson: also known as "The Happy Face Killer"; killed 8 women between 1990 and 1995

·         Patrick Kearney: necrophiliac convicted of 21 murders in California and admitted to seven other murders

Delphine LaLaurie: Tortured and maimed her slaves

·         Bobbie Joe Long: also known as "The Classified Ad Rapist"; killed 10 women in Tampa Bay, Florida in 1984

·         Dennis Rader: also known as "The BTK Killer"; killed ten people between 1974 and 1991 in Sedgwick County, Kansas

·         Richard Ramirez: also known as "The Night Stalker"; terrorized Los Angeles in 1984 and 1985; convicted of 14 murders; died in prison 7 June 2013

·         Gary Ridgway: also known as "The Green River Killer"; convicted of murdering 49 women in Washington state

·         Heriberto Seda: New York City copycat killer of the "Zodiac Killer" active from 1990 to 1993; convicted of shooting eight individuals, killing three; sentenced to life imprisonment in 1998

·         Edward Spreitzer: also known as "The Chicago Rippers"; as part of a satanic cult, raped and mutilated at least four women and also killed a man in Chicago

·         Axeman of New Orleans: killer of at least eight people in the New Orleans area from May 1918 to October 1919

·         Boston Strangler: 1960s deaths of 13 women (five young, eight older), mostly with their own stockings as ligature. Albert DeSalvo confessed to the murders, but was never indicted; DNA evidence has recently suggested his guilt in one of the cases

Charles Manson- Cult leader who influenced his followers "The Family" to carry out murders of Hollywood's elite. Spawned the book and song Helter Skelter.

Gary Gilmore- Shot two men in cold blood during robberies. Executed by a firing squad in Utah.