Michael, I like how easy your website is to navigate. Like you, I stuck to the simple website format because I am not really technologically savvy. One wow moment for me on your website is the heading photo. It is really a breathtaking photo. I am confused on the home page because there is that same picture right below the header and it is cited. I am not sure if you meant to do this or not but I would look into it! Also, it may be helpful to add a little sentence on the home page saying this is a website for Mythology and Folklore at the University of Oklahoma. This will help people better know what is going on. Other than that, everything looks really good. I'm impressed by how your site and pictures on your site are really flowing together, kind of like it has a theme! That is definitely something that I need to work on for my website.
I like how simple and elegant your page is. The black and white theme juxtaposed by the cliffs looks really nice.
With regards to "Passing the Haters", I appreciate that you added dialogue and separated the story using spacing that helps kind of guide the reader along. It really helped me get a feel for how you were trying to lead the reader through your story. On another note, I think that you might want to consider going back through and looking at your verb tense usage. A lot of the story is written is the present, meaning that many of the actions in the story are simultaneously happening. If this story is operating from a stream of consciousness, you may want to explicitly acknowledge that in the opening and possibly change the story to be in first-person to help explain the blow-by-blow action of the story. Otherwise, it can be a little confusing to understand what actions are happening when. I think that, with just a few changes, you can make this a lot more clear.
I was confused when I first read your Introduction. I'm not a sports junkie so I was initially confused by all of the sports jargon. My suggestion would be to add some descriptive words to the text so that the context of what is happening isn't lost. I'm really glad that you included such a detailed Author's Note. When I was reading the story, I was confused where your inspiration was coming from. I think there are some ways that you could draw some more parallels from Odysseus to your story. For instance: You could elaborate more on the team dynamics, as Odysseus cries out to be freed, maybe your protagonist could call to his team to help with the losing game. You could possibly add some Greek inspired names into the plot to tie together the two stories. Altogether, I think you did a great job and I look forward to reading more!
Your take on the Passing the Sirens from the Odyssey was very interesting and very creative. I like how you made it modern and something a lot of people can relate to, not only in sports but in life as well. I have to admit I was confused by the basketball terms that you used, I think if you made it a little more "non-sport" people friendly it would be more effective in what you are trying to express. I also think you're wording and structure of sentences could be more clear. It's a great story line but sometimes I would get lost in the sentences and have a hard time following along. Commas when needed and rearrangement of sentences would make a huge difference! Great work and I look forward to reading this again!
Hey Michael! I really enjoyed reading your story, Passing The Haters. It was a very good example of what many athletes and celebrities must go through on a daily basis. It's kinda sad, but it's true! So I'm glad your story focused on that and had the viewpoint of an athlete. The theme of your story can apply to anyone, which is another reason that it's so great. We should learn to block out the negativity from other people just like Kevin. I also like that your blog is very easy to navigate and the font is easy to read. The idea of taking stories and putting them into a more modern setting is a really great idea, because it helps readers understand the original much better, so good job on that! I can't wait to read more of your stories throughout the semester! Good luck with the rest of the class :)
Hi Michael! First of all, I like the layout of your modern tales portfolio. It is very easy to navigate and find your stories. Plus I enjoyed the pictures you included. I enjoyed reading your story about "Passing the Haters". While I am not a big sports fan, your story was easy to follow and I could easily understand the point of it. At first I was a little confused on how you were gonna tie in an old tale with the one you wrote, but once I read the authors note I understood it. You took a very creative approach to the odyssey story, which I liked. Great job on turning an old tale into something we can all enjoy reading about, especially for the sports lovers!
Hi Michael. Your modern take on the story from the Odyssey is really interesting and different! It is a very creative spin on the story. I really enjoyed it. It was fun. The way you tied the narrator to the crew of Odysseus instead of making him into Odysseus himself was so innovative. To learn how to block out to cruelty of others is a fantastic moral and I am excited to see if you are going to incorporate that sort of theme into the rest of your stories. It is interesting that you have decided to take such a modern take on the stories, and I am excited to see how you will do the rest of them in such a way. Your "Passing the Haters" was extremely motivational, focusing on self-determination and staying true to one's own definitions of themselves.
Hi Michael! I'm going to be honest, I know nothing about sports. I'm talking I somehow manage to not know it's a game day on campus levels of oblivious. But I do think that the structure of your story was good. I may not have understood specific references, but I was able to get the gist of the story. I think that adding some more description other than the sports terms and jargon would help broaden this stories reach to a wider audience, like say the oblivious me. I do think that your twist on the story was interesting but could be further fleshed out with more information on the team and on the psychology of the game. Maybe you could add in specific examples to the plot or something like that? That being said, I don't know sports so there could have been something that was implied that you could spell out clearer for those without that knowledge base.
Michael, This is awesome!! I can see how you got the idea of "block out all the haters" from the Odessey scene with the Sirens, and I think your story was very creative. I like how your story includes comments from the fans because the comments from the angry fans seemed very realistic and added to your story's focus. I love how you end your story with, "In the press conference after the game, one of the reporters asks him how he can go from 3 of 28 shooting to 45 points on 50% shooting the very next game. He tells reporter that, "Sometimes you just got to block everyone else out so you can focus on what's important." Ending your story with this quote really helps to close it on a positive note, and I like this quote because it leaves the reader with an important lesson to consider.
Michael, I really liked your story. One of the things I am trying to do in my own story telling is to take stories that are originally set in the past and mold them into today's society with modern technology, but the same problems as the original. This was that exact format and you did it very well. That was very interesting to link a video in the middle of your story. I am not sure whether or not I liked it, but it is a bold move and I applaud you for making it. Another thing I like is that you made it somewhat relatable to everyone. We have all been in a situation where we let other people down and they told us about it. It is important to be able to know that you can do better and fix it next time, which is just what your story said. Well done.
Hi Michael, I'm back and ready to read your second story! I like the fact that you have again taken the story and placed it in the modern day. I think that the iPhone vs. Samsung element is an interesting aside, but it really just draws to the fact that the challenge docent function as it was supposed to. And why wouldn't they just place their phones on the ground and then wade it, coming back from there phones later? Could they not do this? It just seemed like the motivations were a little to... easy? for the story. It seemed like such a trivial way to choose a king. Overall, I really liked your twist on this story and I enjoyed the futuristic elements that you threw in. Can't wait to read your next one!
While reading your first story, Passing the Haters, I found it interesting that I was unable to detect mythical inspiration in my first reading of the story. I think that was a cool way of telling the story, because it kept me guessing at what you were trying to accomplish through your writing, and how it tied back to class readings. When I got to the author's note and learned that that Passing the Haters was inspired by the Odyssey: Passing the Sirens, I immediately understood. You did an excellent job of putting a modern twist on the story, but maintaining parallels to the original myth. Your author's note also clearly expressed how you had taken the story and adapted it, without loosing the story's intended plot. Overall, I felt that Passing the Sirens included a pleasant surprise, which I would love to see in more of your writing!
Hi Michael! I think I am beginning to see a trend in your writing (she says as she has read one of your stories and the two pages of your portfolio). You like to write about things of the modern world, changing old stories to fit today. I really like it so far. Your first story, the one about the athlete, was so relatable to today's circumstances that I nearly forgot it was supposed to be based on an older story. I thought it was interesting how you brought in so many recognizable components, such as the type of headphones Kevin wore and the social media platforms he used. It came close to feeling like a commercial, even! Nice job. Your second story was just as good, maybe even better. The story of the two men who have to choose to be brave to get a reward feels more like a story out of mythology than your previous one. I'm not saying the stories have to feel that way, but you did well writing to that effect. Nice work!
I thought your first story, “Passing the Haters”, was a really creative way of re-telling “Passing the Sirens.” I like how you made it relevant to things that happen today, it made it easy to read and understand the point. One thing that was a little hard to understand, at least for me, was in the first paragraph when you were talking about points and shots made. I don’t have very much basketball knowledge, and I stumbled through that section. I could tell what you were describing was bad from the way you wrote it, and I am not sure if there is a more clear way to write it out so non-sports people like me will understand it better. Other than that, the story was well written, very direct, and I liked the message.
I also enjoyed your second story. The futuristic setting was fun, and I thought the line about waterproof phones was particularly funny. I wonder if Gabe had not had a waterproof phone, would he still have done the trials. I liked how you showed that even in this futuristic, high-tech society, the city of people was still committed to their old ways of finding a king.
I'm a visitor from the site next door, Indian Epics, and I chanced on your storybook. Firstly, I never realized what kind of stigma gets attached to college athletes when a team (or player) is playing worse than expected, but that's probably because I'm just not into sports that much. With that said, your story was a fantastic riff on the sirens, and it even has (in my mind) a stronger logical base. I mean, if they were sailing, they could have gone around the sirens. But a student who has to get to class is forced to plow on through.
I also like the modern addition of music in the place of wax in the ears. Music really can transport people (ha, ha). And your second story had some serious sci-fi! I loved it. Overall, I didn't understand what the sports numbers meant, but that didn't detract from the story at all because there was enough background on Kevin's recent game performance.
Hi Michael! I'm from the Indian Epics class and came across your story! I don't understand much about basketball but I enjoyed reading your story "Passing the Haters". I did not realize athletes this happened on some college campuses. I like how Kevin blocks out his haters and keeps doing his own thing. At first I thought this story would be based off of Kevin Love and that Kevin was going to have a panic attack. I also liked how you added a morale to the end of the story. I'm glad you explained what was going on in your author's note otherwise I would've been so confused! I hope to read more of your stories soon!
Hey Michael, I am from the Indian Epics class. I have been very familiar with the Odyssey and have read Odysseus' siren encounter several times, its a classic. But I have never thought about the parallels between the sirens song and all of the distractions that athletes face from fans, both for your team and other teams in the league, as well as scrutiny from the media and others players. Being able to block out that noise can be one of the things that separates the greats from the average player. I read an article the other day that was talking about how Baker Mayfield keeps screenshots of negative tweets about him because it fires him up. Some people feed on the noise!
Hi Michael, and I am reading your portfolio for the Indian Epics course. I really liked both of your stories, I thought you did a great job of updating both tales to a more modern context. Whenever I adapt one of these stories, I tend to just update the language, but you really gave these both a face-lift, and it really worked. The only thing that felt a bit weird, was how you would mention certain things like the phones, and the headphones by their full names. It came across almost like product placement, and I think the stories could flow a bit better if you avoided that in the future. Overall, I think your stories are excellent and I want to keep checking in when you get a new story done. I really like the modernized versions of classic tales, so your portfolio is definitely one of my favorites.
Hi Michael, my name is Nikole and I am in the Indian Epics course taught by Dr. Gibbs. In "Passing the Haters," I enjoyed your modern take on the Odyssey because I believe it allows fellow students and peers to grasp the story in a better more complete manner. I liked how you stayed within the original storyline but added your twist on it in the fact that instead of beautiful sirens there were hateful comments from people and social media. I think not just student-athletes but every student can somewhat relate to the story and blocking out haters. In "The Two Travelers," it was yet another good modernization on the original story. My only comments are that to give readers some background information as to why Gabe and Sam were on the hunting trip in the first place, and that from the get-go maybe indicate that it is a modern interpretation by mentioning modern stuff (like the phones earlier). It just seemed that the modern setting was not understood by readers until halfway into the story. Overall, what a fantastic job on the two stories you have written!
Michael, I liked the fact that you went for a modern take in your stories, to try and update them in the readers minds. First though, I think a little text in your introduction page would help just add some explanation, just a simple sentence about how this website is dedicated to modernized fairy tales and a one sentence explanation of each tale would help your reader jump right into the stories. Your analogy of screaming fans and the sirens was a great touch in your first story, it was not an analogy that would instantly come to my mind, but fit so well, because the fame and adulation would be a siren call to many people. For the second story, a little bit more introduction to the setting would help the reader jump right into the story, either by the previously discussed addition to your introduction, or by bringing forth modern technology into the story sooner, just to emphasize your theme. Overall, a great project with a very unique theme, and one that I look forward to reading more of.
Nice work on your portfolio! I think that having the theme of "modern tales" really ties your stories together and allows the reader to get comfortable with a consistent factor. I think it's funny how in your second story, it was modern but perhaps a tad futuristic like a black Mirror episode that is set in the not too distant future. Will your stories continue to become more and more futuristic or will it stay around our current time? I think it is also interesting how both stories each have a shoutout to a piece of technology whether it's beats by Dre or Samsung Galaxy S7. While small details, it makes the stories feel real and pinpoint something we could recognize. I look forward to reading more of your stories and seeing how you continue your theme of "modern tales"! Good luck with the rest of your semester.
Your stories are so interesting! I was immediately intrigued with the first story "Passing the Haters" because in the first few lines, I was drawn in by Kevin about to have the worst basketball game of his life. That makes me want to know more! I love how you took this story from the Odyssey and made it modern because the original can be hard to read at times and isn't very relatable. You made this story very relatable to the audience because at some point in time, the audience has felt something like this. It probably hasn't been so public and to so many people but it can come in many forms. I also like the moral; everyone just needs to block out the haters. That is way easier said than done sometimes though. I really like what you did with this story and keep up the good work!
Hey Michael! I really like your portfolio idea and its a really unique concept. For your home page I really like the background image because it does a good job of giving the reader context to the settings and backdrop to your stories. I do think however you could use a description of your portfolio on your main page to let people know what it's all about. I really like your modern twists on these stories and it really does a good job of revitalizing some of the old and out of touch stories. I like how you break up your dialogue because it helps to separate the characters personalities in the stories. I also like how your stories are little snippets of modern life with the theme being closely related to your source stories. Overall great work and I look forward to seeing how your project turns out when it's finished.
Hi Michael! First, the layout of your website is super minimalistic which I love. It makes it very easy to understand! You also started with a great concept and storyline. The photos you chose to match your stories work well, so good job with that too. One idea I could give for the future is creating transition sentences from one story to the next, to give a foreshadowing of what's to come. Otherwise, great job paying attention to detail and changing the stories to incorporate your own personal touch. Your author's notes also help to understand exactly where you changed the story and what went on before, because I hadn't read either of these on your site. I always like when stories are different than the original, because too often I think it’s easiest to just change the type of animal or scenery or something. I love that your story is titled “Passing the Haters,” because it was really intriguing to keep reading. Good luck with the rest of the semester!
Hey Michael, I chose your project because I like when authors are able to take the diffident older tales we have read and change them into a modern story that is more comparable to life now. I am in the Indian Epics course now, but I took the Mythology and Folklore class last semester so I am familiar with some of the tales. I really liked your comparison of the Odyssey’s Sirens to trolls and hateful comments from people on social media. You brought up a good point on how it can be difficult for someone to have to listen/read hateful comments all day long and then try to play or be in a good mood afterwards. The best thing to do is just ignore them and block it out. Also, I don’t know if you did it on purpose or not but I thought the parallel between the Sirens songs leading the sailors to their death compared to the song in Kevin’s headphones being his savior was amazing. Great project and great story, good luck in the class!
It was so cool to come back to your blog after not having read it for a few weeks. You have added new stories since then, and I enjoyed getting to read them and learning how you are developing in this class! I was fascinated by the story about the argument over the charging station, and think that you have employed great creativity in modernizing the elements of all of your stories! I especially appreciated the Starbucks reference, and thought that you did a good job incorporating some of the problems with self-driving cars that we are experiencing today. I did struggle at times to follow the storyline, which is probably because I have not read your original source, the Donkey and the Rock. However, it all became clearer when reading your author's note, which I think is exactly the purpose of including such a note! Good work!
Michael, I like how easy your website is to navigate. Like you, I stuck to the simple website format because I am not really technologically savvy. One wow moment for me on your website is the heading photo. It is really a breathtaking photo. I am confused on the home page because there is that same picture right below the header and it is cited. I am not sure if you meant to do this or not but I would look into it! Also, it may be helpful to add a little sentence on the home page saying this is a website for Mythology and Folklore at the University of Oklahoma. This will help people better know what is going on. Other than that, everything looks really good. I'm impressed by how your site and pictures on your site are really flowing together, kind of like it has a theme! That is definitely something that I need to work on for my website.
ReplyDeleteMichael,
ReplyDeleteI like how simple and elegant your page is. The black and white theme juxtaposed by the cliffs looks really nice.
With regards to "Passing the Haters", I appreciate that you added dialogue and separated the story using spacing that helps kind of guide the reader along. It really helped me get a feel for how you were trying to lead the reader through your story. On another note, I think that you might want to consider going back through and looking at your verb tense usage. A lot of the story is written is the present, meaning that many of the actions in the story are simultaneously happening. If this story is operating from a stream of consciousness, you may want to explicitly acknowledge that in the opening and possibly change the story to be in first-person to help explain the blow-by-blow action of the story. Otherwise, it can be a little confusing to understand what actions are happening when. I think that, with just a few changes, you can make this a lot more clear.
Hi Michael,
ReplyDeleteI was confused when I first read your Introduction. I'm not a sports junkie so I was initially confused by all of the sports jargon. My suggestion would be to add some descriptive words to the text so that the context of what is happening isn't lost. I'm really glad that you included such a detailed Author's Note. When I was reading the story, I was confused where your inspiration was coming from. I think there are some ways that you could draw some more parallels from Odysseus to your story. For instance: You could elaborate more on the team dynamics, as Odysseus cries out to be freed, maybe your protagonist could call to his team to help with the losing game. You could possibly add some Greek inspired names into the plot to tie together the two stories.
Altogether, I think you did a great job and I look forward to reading more!
Michael,
ReplyDeleteYour take on the Passing the Sirens from the Odyssey was very interesting and very creative. I like how you made it modern and something a lot of people can relate to, not only in sports but in life as well.
I have to admit I was confused by the basketball terms that you used, I think if you made it a little more "non-sport" people friendly it would be more effective in what you are trying to express. I also think you're wording and structure of sentences could be more clear. It's a great story line but sometimes I would get lost in the sentences and have a hard time following along. Commas when needed and rearrangement of sentences would make a huge difference! Great work and I look forward to reading this again!
Hey Michael! I really enjoyed reading your story, Passing The Haters. It was a very good example of what many athletes and celebrities must go through on a daily basis. It's kinda sad, but it's true! So I'm glad your story focused on that and had the viewpoint of an athlete. The theme of your story can apply to anyone, which is another reason that it's so great. We should learn to block out the negativity from other people just like Kevin. I also like that your blog is very easy to navigate and the font is easy to read. The idea of taking stories and putting them into a more modern setting is a really great idea, because it helps readers understand the original much better, so good job on that! I can't wait to read more of your stories throughout the semester! Good luck with the rest of the class :)
ReplyDeleteHi Michael!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I like the layout of your modern tales portfolio. It is very easy to navigate and find your stories. Plus I enjoyed the pictures you included.
I enjoyed reading your story about "Passing the Haters". While I am not a big sports fan, your story was easy to follow and I could easily understand the point of it. At first I was a little confused on how you were gonna tie in an old tale with the one you wrote, but once I read the authors note I understood it. You took a very creative approach to the odyssey story, which I liked. Great job on turning an old tale into something we can all enjoy reading about, especially for the sports lovers!
Hi Michael. Your modern take on the story from the Odyssey is really interesting and different! It is a very creative spin on the story. I really enjoyed it. It was fun. The way you tied the narrator to the crew of Odysseus instead of making him into Odysseus himself was so innovative. To learn how to block out to cruelty of others is a fantastic moral and I am excited to see if you are going to incorporate that sort of theme into the rest of your stories. It is interesting that you have decided to take such a modern take on the stories, and I am excited to see how you will do the rest of them in such a way. Your "Passing the Haters" was extremely motivational, focusing on self-determination and staying true to one's own definitions of themselves.
ReplyDeleteHi Michael! I'm going to be honest, I know nothing about sports. I'm talking I somehow manage to not know it's a game day on campus levels of oblivious. But I do think that the structure of your story was good. I may not have understood specific references, but I was able to get the gist of the story. I think that adding some more description other than the sports terms and jargon would help broaden this stories reach to a wider audience, like say the oblivious me. I do think that your twist on the story was interesting but could be further fleshed out with more information on the team and on the psychology of the game. Maybe you could add in specific examples to the plot or something like that? That being said, I don't know sports so there could have been something that was implied that you could spell out clearer for those without that knowledge base.
ReplyDeleteMichael,
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome!! I can see how you got the idea of "block out all the haters" from the Odessey scene with the Sirens, and I think your story was very creative. I like how your story includes comments from the fans because the comments from the angry fans seemed very realistic and added to your story's focus. I love how you end your story with, "In the press conference after the game, one of the reporters asks him how he can go from 3 of 28 shooting to 45 points on 50% shooting the very next game. He tells reporter that, "Sometimes you just got to block everyone else out so you can focus on what's important." Ending your story with this quote really helps to close it on a positive note, and I like this quote because it leaves the reader with an important lesson to consider.
Michael, I really liked your story. One of the things I am trying to do in my own story telling is to take stories that are originally set in the past and mold them into today's society with modern technology, but the same problems as the original. This was that exact format and you did it very well. That was very interesting to link a video in the middle of your story. I am not sure whether or not I liked it, but it is a bold move and I applaud you for making it. Another thing I like is that you made it somewhat relatable to everyone. We have all been in a situation where we let other people down and they told us about it. It is important to be able to know that you can do better and fix it next time, which is just what your story said. Well done.
ReplyDeleteHi Michael,
ReplyDeleteI'm back and ready to read your second story! I like the fact that you have again taken the story and placed it in the modern day. I think that the iPhone vs. Samsung element is an interesting aside, but it really just draws to the fact that the challenge docent function as it was supposed to. And why wouldn't they just place their phones on the ground and then wade it, coming back from there phones later? Could they not do this? It just seemed like the motivations were a little to... easy? for the story. It seemed like such a trivial way to choose a king. Overall, I really liked your twist on this story and I enjoyed the futuristic elements that you threw in. Can't wait to read your next one!
Hi, Michael!
ReplyDeleteWhile reading your first story, Passing the Haters, I found it interesting that I was unable to detect mythical inspiration in my first reading of the story. I think that was a cool way of telling the story, because it kept me guessing at what you were trying to accomplish through your writing, and how it tied back to class readings. When I got to the author's note and learned that that Passing the Haters was inspired by the Odyssey: Passing the Sirens, I immediately understood. You did an excellent job of putting a modern twist on the story, but maintaining parallels to the original myth. Your author's note also clearly expressed how you had taken the story and adapted it, without loosing the story's intended plot. Overall, I felt that Passing the Sirens included a pleasant surprise, which I would love to see in more of your writing!
Hi Michael! I think I am beginning to see a trend in your writing (she says as she has read one of your stories and the two pages of your portfolio). You like to write about things of the modern world, changing old stories to fit today. I really like it so far. Your first story, the one about the athlete, was so relatable to today's circumstances that I nearly forgot it was supposed to be based on an older story. I thought it was interesting how you brought in so many recognizable components, such as the type of headphones Kevin wore and the social media platforms he used. It came close to feeling like a commercial, even! Nice job. Your second story was just as good, maybe even better. The story of the two men who have to choose to be brave to get a reward feels more like a story out of mythology than your previous one. I'm not saying the stories have to feel that way, but you did well writing to that effect. Nice work!
ReplyDeleteMichael,
ReplyDeleteI thought your first story, “Passing the Haters”, was a really creative way of re-telling “Passing the Sirens.” I like how you made it relevant to things that happen today, it made it easy to read and understand the point. One thing that was a little hard to understand, at least for me, was in the first paragraph when you were talking about points and shots made. I don’t have very much basketball knowledge, and I stumbled through that section. I could tell what you were describing was bad from the way you wrote it, and I am not sure if there is a more clear way to write it out so non-sports people like me will understand it better. Other than that, the story was well written, very direct, and I liked the message.
I also enjoyed your second story. The futuristic setting was fun, and I thought the line about waterproof phones was particularly funny. I wonder if Gabe had not had a waterproof phone, would he still have done the trials. I liked how you showed that even in this futuristic, high-tech society, the city of people was still committed to their old ways of finding a king.
Hi Michael,
ReplyDeleteI'm a visitor from the site next door, Indian Epics, and I chanced on your storybook. Firstly, I never realized what kind of stigma gets attached to college athletes when a team (or player) is playing worse than expected, but that's probably because I'm just not into sports that much. With that said, your story was a fantastic riff on the sirens, and it even has (in my mind) a stronger logical base. I mean, if they were sailing, they could have gone around the sirens. But a student who has to get to class is forced to plow on through.
I also like the modern addition of music in the place of wax in the ears. Music really can transport people (ha, ha). And your second story had some serious sci-fi! I loved it. Overall, I didn't understand what the sports numbers meant, but that didn't detract from the story at all because there was enough background on Kevin's recent game performance.
Very fun reads! Thank you!
Hi Michael! I'm from the Indian Epics class and came across your story! I don't understand much about basketball but I enjoyed reading your story "Passing the Haters". I did not realize athletes this happened on some college campuses. I like how Kevin blocks out his haters and keeps doing his own thing. At first I thought this story would be based off of Kevin Love and that Kevin was going to have a panic attack. I also liked how you added a morale to the end of the story. I'm glad you explained what was going on in your author's note otherwise I would've been so confused! I hope to read more of your stories soon!
ReplyDeleteHey Michael, I am from the Indian Epics class. I have been very familiar with the Odyssey and have read Odysseus' siren encounter several times, its a classic. But I have never thought about the parallels between the sirens song and all of the distractions that athletes face from fans, both for your team and other teams in the league, as well as scrutiny from the media and others players. Being able to block out that noise can be one of the things that separates the greats from the average player. I read an article the other day that was talking about how Baker Mayfield keeps screenshots of negative tweets about him because it fires him up. Some people feed on the noise!
ReplyDeleteHi Michael, and I am reading your portfolio for the Indian Epics course. I really liked both of your stories, I thought you did a great job of updating both tales to a more modern context. Whenever I adapt one of these stories, I tend to just update the language, but you really gave these both a face-lift, and it really worked. The only thing that felt a bit weird, was how you would mention certain things like the phones, and the headphones by their full names. It came across almost like product placement, and I think the stories could flow a bit better if you avoided that in the future. Overall, I think your stories are excellent and I want to keep checking in when you get a new story done. I really like the modernized versions of classic tales, so your portfolio is definitely one of my favorites.
ReplyDeleteHi Michael, my name is Nikole and I am in the Indian Epics course taught by Dr. Gibbs. In "Passing the Haters," I enjoyed your modern take on the Odyssey because I believe it allows fellow students and peers to grasp the story in a better more complete manner. I liked how you stayed within the original storyline but added your twist on it in the fact that instead of beautiful sirens there were hateful comments from people and social media. I think not just student-athletes but every student can somewhat relate to the story and blocking out haters. In "The Two Travelers," it was yet another good modernization on the original story. My only comments are that to give readers some background information as to why Gabe and Sam were on the hunting trip in the first place, and that from the get-go maybe indicate that it is a modern interpretation by mentioning modern stuff (like the phones earlier). It just seemed that the modern setting was not understood by readers until halfway into the story. Overall, what a fantastic job on the two stories you have written!
ReplyDeleteMichael, I liked the fact that you went for a modern take in your stories, to try and update them in the readers minds. First though, I think a little text in your introduction page would help just add some explanation, just a simple sentence about how this website is dedicated to modernized fairy tales and a one sentence explanation of each tale would help your reader jump right into the stories. Your analogy of screaming fans and the sirens was a great touch in your first story, it was not an analogy that would instantly come to my mind, but fit so well, because the fame and adulation would be a siren call to many people. For the second story, a little bit more introduction to the setting would help the reader jump right into the story, either by the previously discussed addition to your introduction, or by bringing forth modern technology into the story sooner, just to emphasize your theme. Overall, a great project with a very unique theme, and one that I look forward to reading more of.
ReplyDeleteHey Michael!
ReplyDeleteNice work on your portfolio! I think that having the theme of "modern tales" really ties your stories together and allows the reader to get comfortable with a consistent factor. I think it's funny how in your second story, it was modern but perhaps a tad futuristic like a black Mirror episode that is set in the not too distant future. Will your stories continue to become more and more futuristic or will it stay around our current time?
I think it is also interesting how both stories each have a shoutout to a piece of technology whether it's beats by Dre or Samsung Galaxy S7. While small details, it makes the stories feel real and pinpoint something we could recognize.
I look forward to reading more of your stories and seeing how you continue your theme of "modern tales"! Good luck with the rest of your semester.
Hey Michael!
ReplyDeleteYour stories are so interesting! I was immediately intrigued with the first story "Passing the Haters" because in the first few lines, I was drawn in by Kevin about to have the worst basketball game of his life. That makes me want to know more! I love how you took this story from the Odyssey and made it modern because the original can be hard to read at times and isn't very relatable. You made this story very relatable to the audience because at some point in time, the audience has felt something like this. It probably hasn't been so public and to so many people but it can come in many forms. I also like the moral; everyone just needs to block out the haters. That is way easier said than done sometimes though. I really like what you did with this story and keep up the good work!
Hey Michael! I really like your portfolio idea and its a really unique concept. For your home page I really like the background image because it does a good job of giving the reader context to the settings and backdrop to your stories. I do think however you could use a description of your portfolio on your main page to let people know what it's all about. I really like your modern twists on these stories and it really does a good job of revitalizing some of the old and out of touch stories. I like how you break up your dialogue because it helps to separate the characters personalities in the stories. I also like how your stories are little snippets of modern life with the theme being closely related to your source stories. Overall great work and I look forward to seeing how your project turns out when it's finished.
ReplyDeleteHi Michael! First, the layout of your website is super minimalistic which I love. It makes it very easy to understand! You also started with a great concept and storyline. The photos you chose to match your stories work well, so good job with that too. One idea I could give for the future is creating transition sentences from one story to the next, to give a foreshadowing of what's to come. Otherwise, great job paying attention to detail and changing the stories to incorporate your own personal touch. Your author's notes also help to understand exactly where you changed the story and what went on before, because I hadn't read either of these on your site. I always like when stories are different than the original, because too often I think it’s easiest to just change the type of animal or scenery or something. I love that your story is titled “Passing the Haters,” because it was really intriguing to keep reading.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the rest of the semester!
ReplyDeleteHey Michael, I chose your project because I like when authors are able to take the diffident older tales we have read and change them into a modern story that is more comparable to life now. I am in the Indian Epics course now, but I took the Mythology and Folklore class last semester so I am familiar with some of the tales. I really liked your comparison of the Odyssey’s Sirens to trolls and hateful comments from people on social media. You brought up a good point on how it can be difficult for someone to have to listen/read hateful comments all day long and then try to play or be in a good mood afterwards. The best thing to do is just ignore them and block it out. Also, I don’t know if you did it on purpose or not but I thought the parallel between the Sirens songs leading the sailors to their death compared to the song in Kevin’s headphones being his savior was amazing. Great project and great story, good luck in the class!
Hi, Michael!
ReplyDeleteIt was so cool to come back to your blog after not having read it for a few weeks. You have added new stories since then, and I enjoyed getting to read them and learning how you are developing in this class! I was fascinated by the story about the argument over the charging station, and think that you have employed great creativity in modernizing the elements of all of your stories! I especially appreciated the Starbucks reference, and thought that you did a good job incorporating some of the problems with self-driving cars that we are experiencing today. I did struggle at times to follow the storyline, which is probably because I have not read your original source, the Donkey and the Rock. However, it all became clearer when reading your author's note, which I think is exactly the purpose of including such a note! Good work!