Last Blog

    Wow, the semester went by really fast. I can't believe this is my last blog already. I really enjoyed the blog much more that I thought I was going to although some weeks it was a lot harder to write than others.
    The class overall was great. I've learned so much about graphic novels and comic books along with Judaism. Before this class I thought all of these kinds of books were just about superheroes fighting various bad guys but there's much more to it then that and also many other kinds of stories then just the ones that are about a superhero. I find comics much more interesting now than I did before the class and I can see myself reading a lot more f them in the future. The discussions in class helped so much and without them I would have been really lost during some of the graphic novels we read. Even after Megillat Esther The Rabbi's Cat is still my favorite because of the story and the art work.
    This past Wednesday class was pretty fun. All the food was great. I've had hummus spread before but not on pita bread. I usually eat it on bagels. The croissant thing was really good (sorry but I don't remember the name of them) and the Israeli salad reminded me a lot of the salad I ate when I was in France except that salad didn't have onions. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm really happy I decided to take this class.

    I found the second part of Megillat Esther very interesting. The story seemed to get a lot more crazy and confusing once you flip the book upside down. There are so many different stories that start getting intertwined. First there is the story of Esther than he brings in the fight between Rachel and Leah. Waldman also tells a kind of story with the descendants of Esau. Then there is the story that's going on while the story of Esther is being told.
    I'm really glad we discussed in class what was going on with Rachel and Leah and also with Esau's family because I didn't know any of these stories so while I was reading I didn't know what was going on with them. I enjoy how the art style changes along with all these different stories. There are the pen and ink drawings that are used for Esau's descendants and the kind of pointillism that is used for the events that are taking place as the story is being read, and also the main very detailed art style that is use through out the book. The different art styles really help to show that these things  taking place at different times.
    One thing that really interests me is that he shows the pointer that is used to read the book of Esther. It's interesting because he uses the photo realism and it isn't used anywhere else in the book which makes me think that the pointer is somehow really important. Maybe it's supposed to show that something else is happening outside the story and to foreshadow the part where the story is actually being read to a group of people.

    While comparing the graphic novel with the actual version of the book of Esther I was really surprised at how similar the two versions are. Besides a few small things they are almost word for word identical. One small difference I found between the two in the beginning of the story is when the decorations are being described for the seven day feast in the king's garden. The colours of the decorations are somewhat different. In the graphic novel the ropes with linens hanging on them are red and in the other version the ropes are purple. I just found it interesting that depending on what version you are reading the colours of the decorations change. Another difference I found was when the women are getting ready for the king. In the graphic novel the women must spend six months soaking in a tub of oil and in the other version the women spend six months getting oil massages.
    Something I liked better in the graphic novel is that the drawings of the characters show their emotions so well especially the part where the women are being taken from their homes and sent to the king. In the graphic novel you can see how scared the women were and that they were taken against their will whereas in the actual version of the story it doesn't seem like that horrible of an event. Nothing is actually said about how these women were kidnapped. It just says that some women were found and taken to the king. In my opinion this makes the graphic novel seem more real that the Bible version of the story.

Megillat Esther

    Overall I enjoyed the first half of Megillat Esther. It was a little hard to get into at first because I didn't quite know what was going on but after awhile I started to get into it and found it hard to stop reading. One thing I enjoyed was the art style. My favorite art work from the graphic novels that we've read this semester is the art work from the Rabbi's Cat however the style in Megillat Esther is also very good. I really enjoy Waldman's use of pattern and how he uses the Hebrew words and sometimes the English so that it becomes part of the drawings. His use of so many different patterns, textures, and also the flatness of so many of the drawings reminds me a lot of the art nouveau artist named Gustav Klimt. He did many paintings of different women and they are all very flat and illustrative looking. His work titled Adele Bloch-Bauer is probably the most similar to Waldman's art work. So if anyone really enjoys the art style in Megillat Esther you should check out this artist.
    I didn't enjoy the intermissions very much. The first one threw me off because I didn't see that it said intermission on the side of the page so I thought it was still a part of the story. I was really confused for a while. I only read half of the second intermission because I didn't really know what was going on and it didn't have anything to do with the rest of the story.

I found the reading Ben Gurion's Golem and Jewish Lesbians in the Jewish Graphic Novel book very interesting especially since I'm planning on writing my research paper on golems. I enjoy that they talk about the history of the golem and that humans and golems were commonly compared in different religious texts. They give the example that wise people don't interrupt, they think about things before saying them, and they give accurate answers among other things. The golem is then viewed as the opposite of this. The author then goes on to discuss that the golem has inspired films, art, and even music. I think I will look into some of these things when I do more research for my paper because I would like to talk about how golems have influenced pop culture. I never thought about looking for music or plays that have been inspired by them. The only movie I have found so far that had a golem is the movie Castle in the Sky. In this story the golem had been created the floating island called Laputa. I am vary interested in seeing if I can find any information on the artist Ido Shemi who according to the reading had an art exhibition that was inspired by golems.

waltz with bashir

I enjoyed the movie "Waltz with Bashir although it was pretty depressing.  I liked the fact that if was animated because there was a lot of violence whereas if the people had been actual actors I don't think I would have liked it as much.  The violence along with everything that happened in the movie would have been too much.  Another thing I enjoyed was the style of the animation.  Recently I've been watching a lot of movies by Hayao Miyazaki, a Japanese animator.  The animation style in "Waltz with Bashir" is a bit different.  It's a lot darker and less colorful, not to mention the way the artists draw the figure is completely different.  Something I found similar is how realistically the background is drawn.  The water and buildings all look so real that at times it's hard to tell it had been drawn but yet the people are all being animated looking.  I enjoy this contrast between the background and figures because it makes the characters stand out so much.  One of the most disturbing parts in the movie for me was the scene with all the horses dieing.  The looked like they were in so much pain and it made me feel terrible.  The couldn't even walk anymore and how they were just falling over was really horrible. I don't remember if it was actually said what had happened to them.  The other scene scene I found disturbing was at the end of the movie where they switch from animation to recordings of actual people.  It reminds you that the massacre actually happened, rather than just being a story portrayed through a cartoon.

    Every week after doing the other readings for this class I try to do the reading from the B.O.S. book and end up getting completely lost and board not even half way through the reading. I have not been able to finish one reading from this book so far.
    I thought that maybe the reading for this week "Jewish Memoir Goes Pow! Zap! Oy!" would be different because it's by the same author as Jobnik which we have read so maybe it would be easier to understand what she's writing about. I was very disappointed. Not only did I not understand what gonzo comics were until class but I haven't read "Portnoy's Complaint" which she talks about a lot or "Binky Brown" so I found it hard to follow along with her thoughts on these comic books. However, I did enjoy the part of the reading where she talks about her childhood and how she was first inspired by comic books. I just wish the rest of the book was more like this instead of people talking about other author's comics and how they feel about them with the majority of these comics being ones we haven't read in class.
    The B.O.S. book seems to be aimed more at individuals who have read and know about many different comics. Until I took this class I had not read a single comic book and knew nothing about them. If I did have more of a general understanding of these authors and the different comics mentioned I think this book would be a lot more helpful and a lot easier to get through.