Reading Notes: Mahabharata: Karmic Revolution

I like how the Mahabharata is going to be shown in a different view. Using karma as the main driver will be interesting to see in the stories. Karma seems to appear when Ganga put her children in the river to release them. I really like the animation for the telling of the story because it can be helpful in distinguishing who a character is between the all the names.


The vow of Devavrat is presented with much more significance than in the Mahabharata by Narayan. That must be part of the benefit of telling the story in this way because the narrator can break out of the story telling to discuss a topic. In hindsight, I know how important this oath is because I already know about the Pandavas and Kauvaras, while when I first read this, I didn’t know how important this oath would be.


It’s nice to see this again because I had forgotten the earlier lineage of the cousins and didn’t really understand it the first time through. Now, I can remember a little bit so it’s good to hear it again. The Amba story is one that I definitely forgot and might be a depiction of karma to come. I don’t see how Vyasa’s children would become the heir because they would not be descendents of Shantanu. I have to say I completely forgot who Vidura was when reading the story. This makes a lot more sense for him being in the Mahabharata. Now I also know where Sakuni came from as well and it seems like he is the main issue.

Bhishma coming back to his father

Wikimedia Commons

Bibliography:

Epified: Mahabharata, Part A

Tech Tip: Embedding YouTube

I embedded a video for a song from Rocky into my Week 7 Story.

Tech Tip: Favicon

I wanted to change my website's favicon because the blogger logo just isn't that appealing. So I went to look for an image that would work well. I decided against using an image as the source because I didn't like the compression of the existing images. The favicon I have know is the outline of India with the Indian flag's colors and I think that it matches this class pretty well. Plus it was made to be low in pixels so it looks better. It was a task to get it to actually show up and I had to do some external searching, but it all works now!

Basically what my favicon is

Pixabay

Week 8 Progress

My progress has been pretty steady so far. I started early and was a week ahead for about two weeks until I realized that I needed the deadlines to give me the drive to finish, hehe. Now I am on pace with the class and usually do okay with the assignments during the week, but could do better with the weekend ones. Because I have those extra days, it's just more time for me to procrastinate away.

I don't think I fit to my old schedule from the beginning because I usually do the same thing each week now. Start on Monday with the first reading, then Tuesday is the second, and so on until Sunday is a free day, unless I procrastinate. I really want to work on finishing up my project posts earlier so that the feedback came come back a little quicker.

Shia LaBeouf telling you to just do it

Do It! Shia Labeouf (Super Pack)

Week 8 Comments and Feedback

The comments are hit or miss for me from everyone else. Sometimes the comments have a healthy amount of criticism and sometimes they are just way to nice on me. Obviously the nice ones just feel really good to read but probably don't give as much to improving the writing as the "means" ones. But I don't really like those either because at some point you want to feel like you're doing okay. I guess a mix of both criticism and praise would be best for my progress and morale. I hope that I do an okay job of providing this balance and I try not to be too hard or soft on someone. Using the WWW method helps me to give this balance as you can be wow'ed but also suggest something in the same comment. 

You can really see someone's personality if you wade through enough of their posts and if you were to see what they have commented. The introduction really hits the big points but you can only get the nuances from their stories. I want to keep giving comments with a healthy mix of criticism and praise so that people can get new ideas in case they are looking for some. I know that I got some cool ideas from other people's storybooks this weekend that I might use to help write my stories. 

cheezburger 

Okay so I just really liked this cat when I was scrolling through the images. I guess I might also be surprised when seeing super good feedback. But the real reason is that this is a good lookin' kitty.

Week 8 Reading and Writing

In the beginning of the semester I didn't think that I would fare all too well with the reading and writing. I have managed to slightly change my mind. The reading went really well even though I am not the best or quickest reader out there. I think it was because I actually started to like the readings. If they were just some bland topics, it would have been the end of me. However, I really got into the Mahabharata at some points were I was just reading a story for fun. I got physically mad when Yudhistira kept losing at the dice game, I mean come on man. Stop being dumb. It was like yelling at the character in a horror movie so that they don't go in the dark house. 

Writing was my other concern and it has gone okay so far. The assignments for storytelling usually take me a little longer than those for other people, but I get them done. I also feel like they don't completely suck, which I am proud of. The website introduction and story are the ones that are my favorite because I easily put the most time into them. It's also really cool to read about these characters (the comic books really make this enjoyable). My blog is also gonna get some aesthetic changes soon, but those are for the tech tips. 

This was definitely my favorite picture by far from my Sita Sings the Blues Part 1 post.

(Image created with imgflip)

Reading Notes: Prahlad Comic

I remember reading about rakshasas and asuras earlier in the semester and they, specifically asuras, were described as being good or evil. I'm not sure that I have seen either be labeled as a "good guy" yet.

Interesting. So I wanted to read this comic as a way to get some backstory to the Hiranyakashipu incarnation of Jaya as he faces off against Hopefully I can learn more about Hiranyakashipu because Vijaya's incarnation was dead in the first page. Prahlad will be an interesting element to use in my story but he can't be the main focus of the story. Making it so that Hiranyakashipu has no recollection of his time with Vishnu as Jaya is very important. Vishnu's avatar may get to know his true identity as it seems that Krishna was omniscient presence. 

Prahlad is a sleeper agent for Vishnu and his faith cannot be stirred. His father has an arrogance to him that will be exploited. However, Prahlad still appears to love his father. This long story of how they tried to kill Prahlad might be omitted. Seeing the hate of Hiranyakashipu is great to see as it shows a complete reversal from his time as Vijaya. There is a direct hatred of Vishnu. 

There is our Vishnu avatar. Narashimha. I might want to get him more involved into the story, maybe a little bit more dialogue. Perhaps it will relate to the gatekeepers and all of Vishnu's avatars are aware of the situation. I think that having each one of the incarnations be purified of their sins will be good for wrapping up the story and having them all come back to Vishnu.

Prahlad Cover

Indian Epics: Amar Chitra Katha

Bibliography: 

Prahlad: A Tale of Devotion from the Bhagawat Purana by Kamala Chandrakant and Souren Roy