Author Topic: The $%*! frustration thread  (Read 472907 times)

Romana

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Re: The $%*! frustration thread
« Reply #675 on: December 09, 2008, 09:45:26 pm »
Anyone want to write me an 8-10 page research paper, complete with notes and all research, on how vampires have evolved in literature? I'd give you money, but I has none.  :(

You could mention how they've went from their existence in stories, to books, to plays, to films, to video games, etc.
Oh, and despite being popularized in a pretty adult and violent book, they've featured heavily in tons of kids' books (especially these days) and are a general staple of Halloween and such.

Also how the original portrayal started out with Dracula sliding towards being more of an anti-hero, whereas over time he (and pretty much every kind of vampire) has been characterized as a full-blown villain.

Hm... Bram Stoker popularized several of the staple vampire weaknesses (e.g. weak to sunlight, being stabbed through the heart) and invented the whole 'no reflection' trait; these weaknesses have stuck around ever since. Ironically, the original Dracula didn't have a fatal weakness to sunlight (it just weakened him), and he was killed by a bowie knife rather than a stake (that was used on Lucy).

What else... Vampires were first introduced through old legends and a lesser-known book, the latter of which introduced most of the typical vampire traits.

Colour symbolism and sexual imagery plays a huge part in their portrayal in a lot of literature; red representing blood, lips, anger, danger, etc., white representing pale/cold/dead skin, and the blood draining aspect is written (by Stoker at least) with a ton of innuendo.

Dunno if that's of any use. o.o
« Last Edit: December 09, 2008, 09:47:59 pm by Pyt Fumv »

KebreI

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Re: The $%*! frustration thread
« Reply #676 on: December 09, 2008, 09:49:30 pm »
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_of_Darkness

The best imagining of the modern Vampire! As well an explanation of all sorts of Vampires through out history.

teaflower

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Re: The $%*! frustration thread
« Reply #677 on: December 10, 2008, 10:26:30 am »
I love you guys so much.

Right now, I SHOULD be printing my sources, but it's the internet! I love the Compendium!

I'm not allowed to use Wikipedia. It's against MLA format or something like that. I've been examining varying types of literature. One is Dracula, another is The Vampire Lestat. He's nuts. Unfortunately, I have to look at... *shudder* TWILIGHT. *covers ears as fangirls shriek as loud if not louder than if Vincent Valentine walked into the room* ... ow...

What's pissing me off is that we need to do this report in half the time we normally would do it.  Ugh... and we have to handwrite twenty pages of notes. I don't know if you guys have seen my handwriting, but it is deplorable. I'm faster with the keyboard than I am with the pen.

Plus, it hurts like hell!

Shadow D. Darkman

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Re: The $%*! frustration thread
« Reply #678 on: December 10, 2008, 11:17:52 am »
Wikipedia is not a credible source due to the fact that the information you're viewing might be either biased or inaccurate, or downright false. You gotta give them credit, it does make sense.

teaflower

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Re: The $%*! frustration thread
« Reply #679 on: December 10, 2008, 11:20:09 am »
I know. I didn't know that in seventh grade when I did a report on domesticated black foxes I got from Wikipedia.

I printed most of my sources, I have Dracula on the internet, Lestat is in my bag, and... that thing that's also called dusk... is most likely not at the library.

Um... gripes... I got a cat scratch from my cat. It's about an inch long, on my right pinky, and is now infected. It hurts.

Shadow D. Darkman

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Re: The $%*! frustration thread
« Reply #680 on: December 10, 2008, 11:23:14 am »
Um... gripes... I got a cat scratch from my cat. It's about an inch long, on my right pinky, and is now infected. It hurts.

Ouch.

Daniel Krispin

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Re: The $%*! frustration thread
« Reply #681 on: December 10, 2008, 03:21:38 pm »
I love you guys so much.

Right now, I SHOULD be printing my sources, but it's the internet! I love the Compendium!

I'm not allowed to use Wikipedia. It's against MLA format or something like that. I've been examining varying types of literature. One is Dracula, another is The Vampire Lestat. He's nuts. Unfortunately, I have to look at... *shudder* TWILIGHT. *covers ears as fangirls shriek as loud if not louder than if Vincent Valentine walked into the room* ... ow...

What's pissing me off is that we need to do this report in half the time we normally would do it.  Ugh... and we have to handwrite twenty pages of notes. I don't know if you guys have seen my handwriting, but it is deplorable. I'm faster with the keyboard than I am with the pen.

Plus, it hurts like hell!

Whoa, twenty pages of notes? Heck, I don't even take notes or do drafts for my papers, really. Like the ones I'm working on right now. They're 8000 words each, and I'm just writing them halt of notes or drafts.

So what's frustrating for me? Well, on one hand, that I have a 2000 word paper to write for tomorrow, an 8000 word one for Friday, and another 8000 word one for Monday, as well as my finals next week. The supreme joys of being a bit of a procrastinator in Graduate studies. Of course, having said that means that the frustration is entirely with my own self.

Oh, and to add a further frustration, I wish to quote Propertius: 'Huic misero fatum dura puella fuit.' That about sums things up.

PS
For any of you doing reports, the problem with Wikipedia isn't that it's against something like MLA... as far as I know, that's just a citing format, isn't it? Now, there is nothing technically wrong with using Wikipedia. As long as you properly cite your source, it's quite admissible, as is any other site on the internet. The problem arises in that it is not reviewed by professional peers, or at least doesn't have the assurance. While I've found most articles to be decent enough to be instructive, they only ever provide cursory glances, and as such are really not beneficial to writing a paper. That said, most articles do list sources at the bottom, and so if nothing else it can help point you in the proper direction.

Of course, this problem isn't just because it's online or Wiki. There are many published books that you have to approach with caution and scrutiny as well. All the same, as long as you are aware of this, there is nothing wrong with saying 'so says an article on wikipedia.' It might not provide a very strong source - and so won't endear you much to any teacher - but is technically allowable. And remember, you don't always have to quote, you just have to cite. That is, sometimes it's better to paraphrase what was said (especially in a long segment), then add a footnote saying 'see page such and such of this.' As long as you give proper credit, you don't technically need to do direct quotes.

As for printing out sources, I suppose that's because it's internet sources, right? I'm not too partial to them because they're wont to change. As it is, though, the internet can be a valueable source of stored articles from peer reviewed journals, such as at JSTOR.

By the way, how does MLA format work? I'm partial to Chicago style notation myself.
« Last Edit: December 10, 2008, 03:28:23 pm by Daniel Krispin »

Shee

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Re: The $%*! frustration thread
« Reply #682 on: December 10, 2008, 03:28:13 pm »
Teaflower I will never forgive you...I thought I'd never EVER hear the phrase "MLA format" again as long as I'd live.....thank you for RUINING that dream! :o

Radical_Dreamer

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Re: The $%*! frustration thread
« Reply #683 on: December 10, 2008, 03:32:55 pm »
My save file, first time to End of Time after visiting Spekkio and the Poke-Trainer loaded up with me in an impossible position; on the edge of the platform, unable to move. Fuck.

I've since replayed and passed that point. I have two save files, so hopefully at least one will load properly.

teaflower

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Re: The $%*! frustration thread
« Reply #684 on: December 10, 2008, 06:37:27 pm »
Yeah, Hytinen is kinda nuts. I'm sorry, Shee, but as long as Hytinen walks the earth, we will do the Proteus Project (my 8-10 page, 20 pages of notes, 10-12 source, a ridiculous amount of draft work... paper) in Honors Sophomore English while we read To Kill a Mockingbird.

I hate that book so... the way I read is all characters get a voice (it usually winds up being my own somehow) and the dialogue is said in their voice in my head. I keep hearing Southern drawl! GAH! I get enough of that from Alton!

Gripes... uh... um... my hands ache. And I'm beginning to feel that OMG-I-HAVEN'T-FIGURED-OUT-WHAT-I'M-GETTING-EVERYONE-FOR-CHRISTMAS-I-AM-SO-SCREWED-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! feeling that I get before Christmas.

Romana

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Re: The $%*! frustration thread
« Reply #685 on: December 10, 2008, 08:18:50 pm »
And I'm beginning to feel that OMG-I-HAVEN'T-FIGURED-OUT-WHAT-I'M-GETTING-EVERYONE-FOR-CHRISTMAS-I-AM-SO-SCREWED-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! feeling that I get before Christmas.

Join the club... I think I'll just head into Belfast for a day and see what I can find.

V_Translanka

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Re: The $%*! frustration thread
« Reply #686 on: December 10, 2008, 08:35:22 pm »
Wikipedia is not a credible source due to the fact that the information you're viewing might be either biased or inaccurate, or downright false. You gotta give them credit, it does make sense.

That's why you don't credit Wikipedia as your source, but rather the article's sources (all them lil hyperlink numbers that show up at the bottom)...And possibly even visit those sources instead of pulling straight from Wikipedia as well....

FaustWolf

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Re: The $%*! frustration thread
« Reply #687 on: December 10, 2008, 08:45:39 pm »
Oh, thank goodness I'm not the only one who turns to Wikipedia for academic research. All this time I thought it was something to be ashamed of.

V_Translanka

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Re: The $%*! frustration thread
« Reply #688 on: December 10, 2008, 08:53:45 pm »
There are far worse things you do with the internet that you should be ashamed of, FaustWolf...>_>

Daniel Krispin

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Re: The $%*! frustration thread
« Reply #689 on: December 10, 2008, 09:08:41 pm »
Wikipedia is not a credible source due to the fact that the information you're viewing might be either biased or inaccurate, or downright false. You gotta give them credit, it does make sense.

That's why you don't credit Wikipedia as your source, but rather the article's sources (all them lil hyperlink numbers that show up at the bottom)...And possibly even visit those sources instead of pulling straight from Wikipedia as well....

Well, doing it that way IS plagairism. If you quote Wiki which has taken its sources from elsewhere, and only cite those sources, you're in error. You must cite Wikipedia, and if you wish, add in the others as extras in your bibliography. After all, I couldn't just read an article in a journal, and cite someone's sources! No, I have to cite the article itself. Same goes for a book.

Not to mention, Wikipedia won't help you much past the most introductory first year courses of university, and even there would be shaky. Take the work I focus on, the Seven Against Thebes. The entry is fragmentary and almost useless. Take a look:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Against_Thebes

Not to mention this is an overall explanation of the myth, and has very little reference to the seperate traditions that make use of it, or of Aeschylus' work itself. Now, if someone were to go to this, they may well be greatly misled. I mean, it's mentioning Aeschylus all the way through, then numbers the Seven after the fashion of Statius' Thebaid, adding Adrastus instead of Eteoklus. Or yet, it speaks of some sort of alternation of co-kings (this in the references!) surviving into historical era Sparta. !? Where does that come from? Sparta's kings never alternated, they held joint rule, and were not absolute monarchs as it is. In the case of Thebes, it was (as we can tell from some fragments of the old epic) a case of an attempt to flee the curse Oidipous put on his sons. Or the commentary of this Burkert that the name Eteoklus, so near to Eteokles, is only invented by a poet who had no other names at hand.

To refer to such a silly theory as one of the main points of the article is madness! After all, such names would appear distinct to ancient eyes. And as it is, Aeschylus is certainly working off an older tradition, and can hardly be the creation of Aeschylus himself! After all, with all the potential names at his disposal, it's quite unlikely that there was not a single name suiting the metrical form of Eteoklus! I could name a few myself. The point is, here is an example of a scholarly subject where Wiki fails utterly.

For example, this isn't something big, but it could be problematic to some. The meaning of the name Polyneikes, if you go to his entry, before I changed it, was said to be 'many victories.' This was plainly added by some first year Greek student or some such that misread the -neikes for -nikos, taking what is 'strife' for 'victory.' I promptly changed it, but the problem remains that it does not always provide the best of information on more academic subjects.