Just before 9:00 I learned that I was supposed to post a 150 word answer to a question posted by my TA. She'd put the question up on Friday and said that we had until 9:00 this morning to post answers. I typed something but when I was done it wouldn’t post because the question was locked at 9:00 and I’d gone until 9:15.
A little before 11:00 I logged onto the U of T Blackboard site for my first Introduction to Canadian Literature tutorial.
I was nervous about it because I was afraid that I would be expected to text when I haven’t figured out how to do it in these chat rooms.
After we’d started Kelly Whitehead said she'd prefer to see our faces and so we turned on our webcams. It took a while for mine to show up on the site. I think it was because I’d opened it on my desktop first. After closing it on my desktop and clicking the camera icon on the site it eventually came up. But then all the webcams seemed to overload the system and so she asked us to turn them off. She suggested that later we might do it on Zoom and that way it would work.
She said that her fiancé’s grandmother tells stories of Mordecai Richler visiting their home in Montreal.
We all turned on our mics to introduce ourselves. I seem to be one of the only students who has had much exposure to Canadian literature.
We discussed the idea of discovery it was declared that discovery negates those that were there before. But I said that discovery doesn’t necessarily mean being the first person to find something. It can be a personal experience. I also talked about the indirect references to Brahma the creator and how discovery can be a type of creation.
I mentioned that the two most interesting characters, Sara and Freya are both named after goddesses and each have characteristics similar to those in the descriptions of those deities. Kelly agreed that Sara and Freya are mythical women but didn’t want to get too much into Freya because she didn't want to spoil it for those who haven't gotten that far in the book. She urged us all to finish the novel so we can start talking about everything.
For lunch I just had a bowl of potato chips with chili sauce.
In the afternoon I went to Freshco where I bought a watermelon, two bags of green grapes, a can of peaches, orange juice, cheddar and a I splurged on a bottle of maple syrup.
When I went to post my blog I discovered that the legacy blogger is no longer available and I was forced to use the new one. Why would they come up with something new that’s not only not an improvement on the old but actually more difficult to use? The old blogger generally posted the text exactly as I composed it in Word, but now there are spaces between the paragraphs that won’t go away. I had to paste the text directly into the HTML so could do a clean edit without the paragraphs being indented every which way. It took me at least half an hour longer.
I got caught up on my journal.
For dinner I had two small potatoes, my last chicken leg, and gravy while watching The Count of Monte Cristo.
In this story Zorba, a Greek shopkeeper and seller of copies of ancient Greek statues happens to be an amateur archaeologist. He has made some small discoveries which he has sold to a collector named Baron Von Hanstein, although the law demands that all Greek antiquities found must be turned over to the Greek government. Recently Zorba has found something too important to sell and so he decides immediately to inform Palamas, the Minister of the Interior. But it turns out that Palamas also works for Hanstein and so the baron has Zorba killed so they can acquire the life size statue of the discus thrower that he has uncovered. Zorba’s young son Niki and their friend Elena come to ask the Count of Monte Cristo for help. The count learns that Zorba had made an appointment with Palamas but Palamas says Zorba never kept the appointment. The count baits a trap for the killer by posting an ad in the paper stating that he is willing to pay large sums of money for Greek art. Many people answer the ad but the count is looking for someone willing to sell illegal antiquities. The baron comes to see him but senses a trap and so he pretends to be honest. Instead the baron sends his man Constantine to pose as a dishonest art dealer and to offer the count the Disc Thrower for one million francs. The count agrees to come with the money to a certain location but when he gets there it is an ambush. Hanstein’s plan was to have the count killed and to take the money but when the assassin comes up from behind he sees him. Constantine pulls a pistol but Jacopo appears and shoots it from his hand. Rico ties up the men loosely so they can get away and be followed. They lead the count back to Hanstein. When the count comes in Hanstein’s window to tell him he will turn him over to the police, Hanstein says he is holding Niki and Elena captive until he can leave Greece with the sculpture. The count figures that they are being held at the excavation site but he doesn’t know where that is. The count gets a hunch that perhaps Zorba did keep his appointment with Palamas after all he sends Rico to pretend to be one of the baron’s men to trick Palamas into revealing that he works for Hanstein. Rico tells him that the baron needs to see him and Palamas goes but is instead led to the count. The count threatens to turn Jacopo and his knife on Palamas if he doesn’t talk. He finally tells the count the location of the excavation site. The count finds Hanstein in a cave about to leave for his boat. They duel with torches until the baron is knocked out. The Greek government posthumously rewards Zorba for the sculpture by paying for Niki’s education.
Elena was played by Louise Gainsborough, who co-starred in “Trapped by the Terror" and "Shadow of the Past".
No comments:
Post a Comment