Reading due March March 10,11 (Homework to do during my absence).

Read "A Good Man is Hard to Find", by Flannery O'Conner

listen to "True Detective" by David Sedaris (linked below under "listening")

This American Life, did an episode with Davd Sedaris about detectives and detective stories This American Life broadcasts in 3 Acts. You may skip ahead to start of Act 2, as this is where Sedaris reads. The story is meant to be heard. You may stop listening after the David Sedaris story, I have linked the transcript so you can read the story here:
                       "True Detective" by David Sedaris
                           -> (Skip just below the "prologue" and you will the story in written form).

For each story, you may download the PDF onto an e-reader if you prefer and annotate from there using Evernote or Diigo or Google Docs. Otherwise, for each story, you need 1 full page of notes minimum. We will review the stories upon my return. It will be helpful to have an annotated copy of each story Your notes should include:

• at least 15 plot points, ie main character, narrative structure, main obstacles etc
• 5 vocab words 
• 3 most important quotations, cited with 1-2 sentences expalining importance
• at least 5 pieces of personal commentary

MId Winter Break Reading Assignment

Both of these readings are due in class, Monday Feb 23. 

1. Read "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", by F. scott Fitzgerald

2. Read "It had to be Murder", by Cornell Woolrich

Extra credit:

Read "A Good Man is Hard to Find", by Flannery O'Conner

For each story, you may download the PDF onto an e-reader if you prefer and annotate from there using Evernote or Diigo. Otherwise, for each story, you need two full pages of notes minimum. Your notes should include:

• at least 15 plot points, ie main character, narrative structure, main obstacles etc
• 5 vocab words 
• 3 most important quotations, cited with 1-2 sentences expalining importance
• at least 5 pieces of personal commentary
• for Ben Button, pay particular attention to how he is treated and why
• for Murder, pay attention to the clues as to who committed the crime

We will need this when we come back, so I am putting it here for anyone who may want to listen ahead. This American Life, did an episode with Davd Sedaris about Detectives. You may stop listening after the David Sedaris story, "True Detective". 

Memento Reading Assignment and (possible extra credit)

Read and annotate “Christopher Nolan’s Memento – Analysis of the narrative structure of a noirish revenge film"  by Torben Schmidt.

As you are reading make sure you understand the elements of Neo- Noir Films and the definition of a femme fetale. There are a few typos, but it gets to the point of explaining Memento's narrative structure.

Also below is an interesting interpretation of the mementos in Memento. from Hartzog.org, a professor who has linked several very interesting pages about the movie, including the script and original story- "Memento Mori". Read and annotate it for extra credit by the end of mid winter break.

Another technique Nolan uses to keep the b &w story visually engaging is the use of mementos. Mementos are a key idea in the film because mementos--objects, notes, photographs, almost anything--are concrete means of remembering important events, people, things, etc. from the past. So it's appropriate that Leonard uses many different kinds of mementos as ways of trying to cope with his short-term memory loss. Mementos are a means of preserving at least a few short term memories.

The most important mementos in the b & w segments are the tattoos. Using tattoos as mementos is a brilliant stroke for two reasons. First a tattoo is permanent. It isn't easily destroyed or misplaced like photos or written notes. But more importantly tattoos are visually fascinating. The current cultural rage for tattoos is a testimony to the tattoo's power to arrest attention.

His tats visually dramatize Leonard's condition. The bewildering array of tattooed messages, which we know mean something to Leonard, communicate to us the opposite: a chaos of fragmentary and cryptic messages that make no sense. By means of the tattoos, we can see engraved on his body the radical disorientation of his condition.
In the scenes in the motel room, one of the key means of keeping the audience engaged is the focus on Leonard's tattoos as he's speaking. We also see him in the process of making his own tats with needle and a ball point pen.