Last Blog Ever: Advertisement

If I were to make a television ad for When You Are Engulfed in Flames I would make it appealing to the older crowd and young adults.  How I would start out the ad is by possibly having a short clip of Sedaris when he was younger, a more serious part of a story.  From there have it build up as he is getting older, still using the parts of his stories when he is more serious.  Then, all the sudden it will be abruptly interrupted by one of his sarcastic comments that will make the audience laugh.  Since this novel really takes place throughout Sedaris' whole life, it would be very appropriate to include clips that show him as a young boy and clips that show what Sedaris has grown up to be.  After the sarcastic comment, that comes from one of his short stories of course, I would continue with the comedy.  Even though the stories about Sedaris do not really match up, I do think that there is a theme among them.  This theme would probably be how Sedaris has grown as a person because of his experiences and the people he has known and met throughout his life.  I would try to somehow portray this theme into the commercial too, that way people would not think that it is just a bunch of pointless stories thrown into a book.  It is kind of hard to explain this though, and I do not think that it would appeal to many people if they did not think there was a message or theme, at least it would not to me.  I would then continue to show clips of his stories, but cutting them off so it does not reveal too much.  Since Sedaris does use dirty words in this novel, I think it would be pretty funny to incorporate them into the commercial, but every time someone were to say a curse word it would be beeped out.  That way it would be made clear that it is a book for a mature audience, but at the same time it would add a little humor into it.  I would make sure that it is like a build up and the guy narrating it would have a deep and intense sounding voice.  At the very end of it would flash the picture of the book with flames rising from the bottom of the screen.  The deep voiced man would say the title like it is leaving a clif hanger.  I know that this book is not that intense, but you got to make it appeal to the twenty to forty year olds.

What highschool has taught me..

Show school spirit: Although this may not seem very important, high school has showed me that it is.  I have connected with a lot of people by being goofy and showing spirit.  Without this I would have never been able to branch out and be my weird, crazy self.

Always have teamwork and dedication:  I have played in multiple sports throughout my years in highschool, but my swim team has showed me more than I ever expected.  Not only are these people some of the most talented highschool students I have ever met, they also have some of the best personalities also.  Most of them are very funny and unique.  They support everyone on the team while also competing for their own life time best.  They have left such a large impact on my life when it comes to dedication and teamwork.  I never knew I could get so close to a team.

Be creative: As Mr. Becksfort would always say, do not use other people's work creative commons is the way to go, I apply this to my own art work.  My teachers have influenced my artwork in certain ways.  I study and look at other people's art work to help me with ideas, but I never copy.  My creativity has flourished in many ways because of this type of advice.

Be independent:  I know that friends will come and go and there is no way to control relationships in life.  Because of this I find it very important to be independent.  There is no one else that you should ever rely on more than yourself.  Next year in college I will litterally have no one there except for myself, therefore it will be up to me to make new friends, force myself to study, ect.  I will no longer have my parents telling me what to do.  I will no longer have my friends since first grade there with me. 

Make new friends: During junior high I had a set group of friends, I never thought that I would need to branch out and meet new people, even in this small community.  After being in highschool I have learned that it is very important to make new friendships with all different types of people.  I no longer have one set group of friends, but instead I have a large amount of people that I have become super close to from different grades and even different schools.  I know that I will be set when it comes to making friends in college.

Why the Author Wrote the Story

David Sedaris has many stories to tell, they can range from extremely important to dumb little stories he remembers while growing up.  We all enjoy expressing stories from our past, things that make us laugh, things that remind us of love, and I think that Sedaris had the same exact reasons while writing this novel.  Most of the stories tend to focus on a certain person and how they have left an impact on his life; some characters are focused on more than others, such as his friend Hugh, while others may be mentioned only in one chapter.  I think that this book was meant to be dedicated to the people that surround him.  It is almost like a "thank you" to these people, even though sometimes he makes fun of them in certain ways.  That is just what adds the humor to his stories though.  Without his dry sarcasm and humor, it would not be the same and the impact these people had on his life would definitely not show as well.  Not only is this a way that Sedaris says thanks to his friends and family, I also think it is similar to a diary.  It is not a secret diary where it is not supposed to be expressed to anyone, it is more of a way that Sedaris can write about his day, past, or whatever.  I think in a way that Sedaris is trying to connect to his audience through similar stories and events.  He seems to be a normal guy that just has a way of explaining

Society Reflection

What is interesting about this novel is that it is already reality.  It is simple stories that are told in a way to alter perspective of life.  With the sarcastic tone, it is Sedaris' way of lightening the mood on somewhat important issues, such as smoking.  Sedaris notices little things about himself that also can describe his personality.  Such as the second chapter that is called Keeping Up depicts his relationship with his good friend Hugh.  He tells a story of when he is so excited to see a prairie dog for the first time ever, and he has to drag Hugh along with him.  Hugh is to the point and wastes no time, therefore he finds the prairie dogs in the zoo while Sedaris is chasing after him.  Other stories encounter relationships that Sedaris has with random people such as his trashy babysitter or his weird neighbors.  He hits home with depicting the average, middle class American life growing up.  Every family has their stories about life lessons and ironic situations, Sedaris just knows how to make it funny.  Most of the stories are things that everyday people go through such as starting up conversations with random people and getting to know their story, whether you really wanted to or not.

Lunch Date

As I may repeat myself for the third time, this novel is nonfiction, therefore the most recurring character is David Sedaris himself.  He would be the perfect person to take out for a meal because of his dry humor, fluency in sarcasm, and his memories and stories that range from his early childhood until his present life.  I love people who can make me laugh, so I am 100% positive that someone who can make me laugh from reading can certainly make me laugh in person.  Through his memories, I can tell that Sedaris is a very down to earth kind of dude.  He likes simple things, like he says in one of the chapters that he can fix something himself or call a repairman.  Therefore we would probably eat a simple lunch, such as hotdogs or hamburgers and it would definitely be at lunchtime.  He is worthy of my time because I enjoy hearing stories that are worth telling, and he has definitely got those.  He is able to create something funny out of really nothing which amazes me.

Characters

I guess I picked a pretty hard book to do these blog assignments on because it is so different.  The stories are all different, including a lot of the characters that fall into these stories, but the one thing they have in common is they are revolved around David Sedaris himself.  We, the readers, get to know and understand Sedaris a little better with each story and each chapter through the book.  It is easier to get a grip on his type of humor through the tales that he tells.  What makes these stories worth being told is that they are so relatable to normal people.  David Sedaris is really just an average guy with a really good sense of humor, therefore people can relate to his stories, such as his very last chapter called The Smoking Section.  That chapter is dedicated to his tough journey trying to quit smoking.  Many people have this same exact issue that they are dealing with in their life, David Sedaris's humor helps lighten the mood with the people who are also dealing with this problem.  As much as I hate to admit it, because this character drives me up the wall with his complaining, Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye reminds me a little bit of Sedaris with his strong sarcastic tone.

If it were a movie...

My book is not exactly the easiest book to make a movie of, but it could also be because I have not finished it yet.  Each chapter is a different story coming from the authors life and past experiences.  This book is nonfiction, therefore these are all true stories.  I was thinking if I were to make a movie out of this novel I would make the story line more choppy, showing different parts of the authors life on and off from past and present.  Now I would not be able to make this movie strictly off of this novel since, so far, most of the stories do not have relevance to one another.  Therefore I think it would be good to find, or possibly even make up a connection, between each story to lead to an over all theme or message.  Again, I could not go exactly by the novel.  David Sedaris is a pretty funny guy, so an actor that would play his part would have to be funny, such as Jim Carrey, Ben Stiller, or Will Ferrell.  There are many other characters throughout his story, I do not know these characters personalities as well yet so I can not exactly name people who could play the roles of people such as his mother, and friend's mother, Patsy, ect.