Today I will talk about a story that I recently came across again and believe that it is one of the most powerful short stories, especially for how short it really is. Kate Chopin's "Story of an Hour" takes no longer than ten minutes to read but will leave you thinking for much longer. The story is about a woman who finds out her husband has been involved in a train wreck. She begins acted as anyone would expect with hysterical disbelief at the occurrence but it does not take her long to turn that hysteria into a euphoric state. The ending is the best part and is open to a wide amount of interpretation and something that you must read on your own to come up with your own opinion. The story speaks strongly on the role of women in that time period and how society was forced to view women through the point of view of a man without input from anyone else. The stereotypes were strong and expected of the women. Many things have changed since this story was written but there are still prejudices from that period of time that still hold today. More people should read this story and other work done by Kate Chopin, it would do the world some good. But who read anymore?

I'm going to venture off topic yet again for today's blog. Several months ago I started a television show called Dexter. It is about a serial killer who only kills other murderers in attempt to "balance the scales." It is the first television show that I have watched consistently that wasn't a mindless cartoon. I always prefer a book version of a story over a recorded version but it was not until I was a couple of seasons into the show that I found out it was a book series, should have guessed. The sloth inside me told me that I was to far into the show to begin the books and I just went along with it. Every now and again I regret it because some of the characters on the show aren't working out for me. I won't say any specific names but if you watch the show, you may agree with me on a few. If it wasn't for Michael C. Hall playing the character of Dexter to the point where anyone else would seem wrong, I might have given up on the show already.

Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club may be the only book with a movie that exceeds its brilliance. I do not say that lightly either because I have not read any other book with the same haste quite like I did Palahniuk's masterpiece. Having Brad Pitt and Edward Norton as the two main characters is bound to help any movie but the story they had to work with and the ways they bent the original story were nothing short of perfect. It is difficult to explain knowing that someone who reads this has potentially neither read or seen this story so I will do my best. The ending in the written version laid the story to rest ending it in a peaceful manner that does not exist in the rest of the book. Almost the entirety of the book has you forgetting to breathe but quickly lands you on your feet recollecting all that has happened and even with the way it ends, wondering how it got to that point. The cinematic version of the film breathes in a chaos polluted world and reminds you that once you have reached a certain point that there is no turning back or easy way out. The ending still has serene qualities to it but is nothing more than searching for the beauty in chaos. If you try hard enough, it is there.

Without any other thoughts on my mind I will continue on with my trend of story reviewing.

Ray Bradbury is my biggest inspiration when it comes to writing and literature as a whole. His ability to write about moral impurities in the world and how they affect the entire world through science fiction is a revolutionary style. Often times tales that hint at a moral lesson beyond the literal meaning tend to be a chore to read but with mixing in time travel, aliens, different planets and all the other wonders that make up science fiction he was able to connect with an entire different breed of people that the "classics" were incapable of doing. Even then, he was able to bring many people into the world of science fiction as well.

To get into the story, it is titled, "Marionettes, Inc.", and it is in his collection entitled, The Illustrated Man, about a man who replaces himself with a robot that is exactly like him in down to the distinct characteristics. He does this because he cannot stand his wife anymore and needs a way to occupy his wife while he goes on vacation with friends. The story told me how you should not turn away from your problems and always confront them because when you put road blocks in between you and the problem, it only makes it more difficult when the time comes and you have to confront the issue whether you want to or not. This is an option that I am sure many married folk would enjoy the use of but head this warning that it is not a good option unless your wife is into trying something "different" but I won't get into that. Either way, the story tells so much more than what I have said but if I write anymore I will have concluded the story without you having to read it and where is the fun in that?

I know I said that I would discuss what I've read recently but I have to retract that for today because I want to talk about music. There will be plenty of days to talk about literature in the future. Like math, I believe music to be a universal language that the human population shares. You would be hard pressed to find a person that does not enjoy some type of music whether be a hymnal or a heavy metal band. That is the beauty of music. Maybe it is the lyrics that dig deep into your emotions and leave a mark that you share with that artist or it could be the flow of the instruments that has your head swaying like a boat in the middle of the ocean. No matter what it is, that feeling that you get does not come from anywhere as effortlessly as it does through listening to music.

I've had my prejudices against genres of music or even specific artists as do most people but I have had experiences lately that changed my mindset. About two weeks ago I got back from a music festival called Bonnaroo. First off, I want to say that anyone who has the opportunity to attend a music festival should not hesitate and also do the best that they can to make the opportunity. While walking around the enormous festival grounds I knew there were bands I had no desire to see. To my surprise I ended up at a few of those bands and not only gained a new found appreciation for them but for music as a whole. I thought about how for every band on the set list was bound to have at least one of the 80,000+ people at this concert as their favorite band. This meant that all the work the band went through to become an artist paid off because they reached out to someone through music more than any other artist has for them and that has to mean a lot to them. There are the artists who are in the music business to get rich and famous but the majority is in it to share what they have done and hope that their music is being played in someone's car at full volume while they yell every word of the song along with the band and during that moment their is nothing more than them and that song. I continued to walk through the concerts and saw that every venue had people at it whether is was 500 or 50,000 and that solidified the thought that musicians will always thrive for the purpose of being able to reach out to someone whether it is a few or it is an innumerable amount.

Lastly, I want to say that you should listen to whatever you enjoy. You may be judged for what you listen to but that is only because they do not understand how you feel when your favorite song is playing. Don't ever let anyone believe they make the law for what music is good to listen to because they are not the only ones listening to it and no one is forcing to listen to what they do not enjoy. If listening to dial up tones makes you happy, listen to dial up tones.

As an English Education major I already read more than the average person. This yearn to read has carried past required reading and on to pleasure reading. Chances are most of my blog posts will be about something I read but I'll try to mix it up every once in awhile. Recently, I read Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" in a classic American short story anthology. It was a good story but was drawn out way to long in the beginning. It is hard to not give anything away by speaking about the story so I will keep it short and say that when Ichabod Crane encounters the Headless Horsemen the reading is worthwhile but I felt that Irving could have written so much more around it than he did. It was still worth reading and I now understand how so many alternate takes on the story have been created since his story. If anything he paved the way for stories to come inspiring people for the last several centuries. Branches of that story are always popping up and that is sure to be a story that is used as a template for many more years to come. If I were to suggest a Washington Irving story to people it would be "Rip Van Winkle" over "Sleepy Hollow" but it always comes down to preference. I guess just read both.