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Below is the link to my final project

https://moralityinstorytelling.web.unc.edu

I found all my materials through the Library (Pierre)  My parents Netflix accounts (The OA, Russian Doll)  Amazon Kindle/Audible  (The Night Circus/ Also Pierre)  Or links provided in class/google (S Town, Other articles) and Steam/YouTube (Life is Strange)

Questus Libris (1)

I first heard of S-Town through a friend last summer and was immediately interested. I’ve always liked listening to murder stories and podcasts, but haven’t necessarily found one that I’ve loved until S-Town. I’ve enjoyed listening to the stories shared on “My Favorite Murder” with Georgia and Karen, but I found this one to be more interesting with Brian Reed doing a real investigation. I don’t think I’ve binged a story like this since watching Sons of Anarchy.

When I first started listening to S-Town I was lured in after the first episode. Brian Reed has a real calming voice which made it easy to follow along and remember the important details that he brings up throughout the series. The eerie setting of a rural Alabama town was something I thought that really added to the intensity of the story. There was something about this John character that made me want to continue listening after every episode. The mix of a wealthy landowner with a rural Alabama mad scientist was the perfect character to add to a fishy murder story.

My first takeaway is that I felt that the maze that John had was very representative of the story as a whole. The maze, with 64 solutions, felt like the perfect depiction of how the investigation and story unfolded. The more and more Brian spoke with John and the people of Woodstock, the crazier the story became. I think this is a reason that I and many others found it so easy to binge-listen to S-Town. As soon as you thought you know what was going to happen and where the story was headed, something would pop up that would change the entire story.

John’s witty comments and funny sayings for everything kept me intrigued, but more importantly it was the way that Brian Reed and the creators formed such a narrative for the investigation. I felt invested in this little, small town and wanted to get to the bottom of what was going on. Listening to the podcast makes you feel like you’re there investigating the crime with Brian Reed. I think they did a good job of this through Brian Reed giving his personal thoughts and comments on different situations (for example: the tattoo parlor with Tyler).

I didn’t enjoy the way that the podcast ended and felt kind of empty. When John died, I really wondered what direction the story would go. I noticed that after he took his life, I found that I wasn’t as eager to listen to the next episode as I was in previous episodes. John was such an important character in this podcast and I feel like that is what made S-Town so successful. It is a story that is so weird, but you just can’t stop listening because it is so entertaining. Overall, I would recommend S-Town to anyone and think that it is one of the best podcasts in the last three years.

Stranger Than Fiction… this screenplay/play write was most definitely one of my favorite materials we’ve looked at in my English 137 class. There aren’t many negative things anyone can say about this work of literature. First and foremost, let’s talk about the plot. The plot is extremely unlike any other narrative I can think of. Harold Crick, the main character, is a tremendously OCD guy that doesn’t really have much of a life other than his work at the IRS… until he begins to hear a woman’s voice narrating everything he does in his head. Meanwhile, Karen Eiffel is writing a novel about Harold Crick without even knowing of his existence. Long story short, Eiffel was planning to end her novel with Harold’s death, but it turns out to end with a love story between Harold and Ana Pascal and a happy ending.

 

The way that Harold gets over his OCD by trying to cope with the thought that he could die any day soon is interesting and sweet. Harold goes from a boring IRS agent to a man that falls in love with not only a girl but with playing the guitar, eating cookies, and living his life to the fullest. I was nervous in the beginning that Harold really was going to die, and that Karen wouldn’t change the ending to her novel, but I was pleasantly surprised with the ending of the plot.

 

Now on to the topic of Harold’s watch. Harold has a watch that seems to have a fictional aspect of it in the movie, and it represents the way that Harold is so OCD over time and numbers. For example, Harold gets to the bus at the exact same time every single day and brushes his teeth the exact same amount of times every single day. The watch plays an important part in this plot because when Harold’s watch stops working, he sets it to the wrong time which leads him to get to the bus stop at a slightly different time than he normally would, saving a child’s life and almost dying. Furthermore, the topic of time has been something we have focused on in my English 137 class which made the relation of time to Harold’s life all the more intriguing.

 

Overall, I found this play funny, sweet, and a great life lesson: live in the moment and stop worrying so much about what your next move is – focus on the now. This was not only a great play but an awesome movie and I rate it 5 stars.

#questuslibris

Here is a PowerPoint presentation on how I acquired materials for English 137!

 

Cheap Ways to Read in English 137