The sea inside: post 3

In my mind one big shot in the movie was in the end when he was recording his death. this was very big to me because it was a shot from a camera at his height at the end of his bed. Putting the camera at his level made it a much more personal shot. It was like we were actually sitting there watching his death and to me that was very very sad. As he started to die he looked very uncomfortable and the camera just stayed very still and recorded the whole thing. this shot was very touching to me because it was very personal.

The sea inside: post 2

One big similarity in the sea inside and diving bell and the butterfly of coarse is the in both stories an accident caused these two men to be quadriplegic. A difference was the In the Diving bell the guy was only injured for a small period of time but i was much more devastating then in the sea inside. Another difference was in the sea inside the guy wanted to die but in Diving bell the guy had a huge will to live as long as possible but unfortunately died from medical reasons. I similarity is also that they each wrote a book before they died. although powerful in different ways i think that each of these stories are equally powerful. The sea inside was powerful because it was a man fighting for his right to die and the diving bell was powerful because of this mans fight to survive even though the extent of his movement was a blink.

The sea inside: post 1

think its the courts i thought this film was pretty good but very sad at the end. in the begging it was a little slow for me but as it progressed i got more into the story and started liking the characters more. seeing the events develop as they did was exciting to me and very sad. In this situation i disagree with his decision because he wasn't completely paralyzed, he could still talk and write unlike the guy in the diving bell and the butterfly. Although i was against him killing himself in this case, i still don't decision. In life no one gets in trouble for killing them self and just because he was incapable of doing it himself shouldn't stop him. it would be very sad to be the friends that helped him because although he wasn't the same as before they still loved him and didn't want him to die. He kind of made them help him by telling them that if they really loved him they would do it for him.

final week

In the last part of my book, mike finishes his expedition by sailing into the exact same place where he started! In the last part of Mikes expedition he walks through Russia and bikes through to the coast and off he sails to the finish line. In one part of this section mike stays in a town with only one other person. an old man who was staying by himself waiting for his death. when it is finally time to leave the old man bags mike to stay. I think this is worth mentioning because mike had made a major impact on this mans life. It just shows that even the most lonely people are very friendly and compatible. It is weird to see that the authorities in Russia were so much different then the people in the rest of mikes trip. They are mean and entrusting and treat mike like a dog. Other people looked up to mike and did what ever they could to help him. this just shows how government and culture can influence people. All and all i thought this was a very good book and enjoyed it.

week 5

In this reading mike travels through Alaska to Russia. it is now summer in the arctic so it is a whole different type of travel for mike. much of the snow and ice and melted and he traded out his sled for a kayak and all his other winter material for summer material. some obstacles mike was forced to overcome on this new part of his trip were walking though and climbing over bear infested cliffs. He found himself face to face with a mom grizzly bear and her two cubs which is a very dangerous situation. Mike lived because of both luck and experience. He had learned from dealing with polar bears to keep walking a straight path and waving his hands to make himself look as big as possible. Mikes next obstacle was kayaking, since the ice had melted he could no longer walk over frozen oceans he had to kayak him. Other then his arms being a little out of shape kayaking worked well for mike. But i one day when he was gonna land mike discovered there were large icebergs blocking his path to the shore. He was thrown against these icebergs by the waves over and over again until finally he got back into open water and was forced to pitch his tent on a piece of pack ice. As mike traveled into Russia he had issues with being able to travel on the land and he was not aloud to have any guns or global positioning systems. He ends up smuggling his contraband in but it was a close call.

My over all reaction to my week five reading is very good! I have very much enjoyed this whole book and think that it is very exciting to hear about all of mikes experiences. It would take a great amount of fitness, skill, wisdom, and experience to even attempt to do what mike is doing in this book. It is weird to think that anyone would want to walk around the Arctic Circle by yourself but finishing it would be one of the greatest accomplishments ever. In his many stops at different Inuit villages along his trip Mike meets a bunch of nice exceptionally generous people. To me it is amazing how the need to survive brings people together so much. Up in the far north everyone is more than happy to give up rooms in their homes for mike and his family at times to stay in, give mike free food whenever he needs it and teach him their ways and special techniques he can use to survive. In his whole trip he has only met two people that weren’t more than willing to help him and that was mostly due to laws. In my opinion it is amazing that mike just sets out everyday not knowing whether he will drowned or freeze or get mauled by a bear at any moment.

week 4

"Simon disappeared over the horizon, and once again i was on my own. But i wasn't as alone as I had been before meeting Simon."(135) Conquering the Impossible. This quote is significant to this book because in this part Mike had started a fire in his tent so he was forced to get picked up by snowmobile and dropped of at a Inuit town where he stayed with a man named Simon. Being Inuit Simon knew almost everything about the arctic and what mike was facing. With this knowledge he trained mike in many different things include knowing bears by their tacks and building an igloo. both of these could be life saving things to know.

In part four of my outside reading book Mike continues on his great journey. He travels through a wolf infested lake and is forced to stay in a hunters cabin so he is not eaten by hungry wolves. as he keeps going mike continues to run into many problems most of which are Minor. One major problem happened one morning when his fuel gauge for his stove read 0. Of coarse it does this regularly but on this day it created quite an issue. The past few days in the arctic the temperatures had risen a lot causing the fuel to expand in the tanks. When he took off the empty bottle the pilot light should have gone off but it didn't. Then because of the expanded fuel when he opened the new tank the fuel exploded like champagne out of a champagne bottle. This ignited on the pilot light causing everything in his tent to light on fire. Since his servile gear was all burnt Mike was forced to take refugee in a small Inuit town. Here he was taught very valuable thing by a Inuit man named Simon. Now mike is back on his trip with new information and new confidence.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Overall i thought this book was interesting and enjoyed it. There were a couple of confusing times where he would be imagining something and not explain he was just imagining it. This book was a rather short read considering he had to write it by blinking. This meant less minor details and more overall story. To me it was very interesting to learn about his locked in syndrome but very sad at times. I think that this would be one of the worst things possible because basically it just took away all of his freedom. Another thing that was hard to follow about this book was how it jumped around a lot. In one chapter he would be explaining the hospital and then in the next without much transition He would be talking about his past. I think that his analogy of his body being trapped in a diving bell but his mind being as free as a butterfly explains his situation perfectly. He has all day to think of whatever he wants, he creates storeys for himself even writes a play in his mind. But since his body is trapped in a diving bell he cannot capitalize on any of his great ideas. In my mind this book was really amazing considering the state in which the author was at the time it was written. I would have enjoyed it even more had it had more detail and been long but seeing as that would have been quite hard i think it is perfect how it is. Although this book has some depressing parts in it I think it is a good example why to always make the best of any situation.

week 3 part 2

My feelings towards this book so far have been nothing but positive! I think that it has been written very good and i am interested by these types of survivor thing. A few weaknesses in my mind might be the length as interesting as all this is he might go into a few too many details in certain areas and a really long book doesn't make this assignment much easier. This book hasn't really brought up much issues except for in one part Mike talks about global warming. I agree with him in his opinion that this is a major issue that needs to be taken care of fast. An example would be the weather we had this weekend it was in the 80's in October. This book is real life so I'm not sure how I'm supposed to relate it to real life and i cant relate it to my life other than i think its cold in Minnesota when its below 30 Fahrenheit and where he is warm would be 30 below 0 Fahrenheit. I predict that Mike will encounter many hardships in his trip but in the end due to his experience, skill, and some luck he will make it threw and be the first man to solo walk around the world at the Arctic circle.

Week 3 part 1

Summary:
In this part of the book Mike leaves Greenland by boat. During his boating trip he runs into some weather issues. All the ice around him begins to freeze so he is forced to get on an ice breaking boat and accompany it to a small mining town. Right when he gets there he discovers the mine is being shut down and the town demolished because they must leave everything in its natural state. He has a while before everything is completely destroyed so he calls his family and they come and visit him for a while. After the town is destroyed Mike lives with a Inuit family because weather still disallows him to continue on his journey. As he is staying with this family he is taught everything they know that will help him. Finally after enough ice has formed so he can walk mike sets out again to travel around the world at the arctic circle.

Biography
Mike was born on July 16, 1966 in Johannesburg, Gauteng South Africa. In 1990 he left south Africa to travel Europe where he became a ski instructor. In 1991 he went on a a paragliding and rafting expedition in the Peruvian Andes.
After he came back he requested to become a member of the "Sector No Limits" sports team. In 1995, Mike created the "No Limits" Outdoor Activity Sports Centre in Switzerland. In 1997, Mike started his first big expedition. A solo traverse of the South American continent that took him 6 months. In 1999, Mike launched another Major expedition. He circumnavigated the world along the equator. His biggest adventure was the circumnavigation of the world around the Arctic circle which is what this book is written about.
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc Oct. 7 2007.

memoir 2

1) summary
In this next part of the book Mike is air lifted to a hospital where they try a new form of treatment on him to try and get rid of his dead parts of his fingers. This works a little but in the end he is still forced to get small parts of his fingers amputated. When he is done recovering he begins preparing for his next attempt at the Arctic. He gets even better tools because now he has experience and knows exactly what he needs. He has a custom tent made with two layer so the perspiration and other water in the air can leave his tent without freezing inside. He also has a special thing made so it was easier to pee well it was so cold. He also has his skies and sled redone so they are even better! After much preparing and training he is ready again. This time instead of getting dropped off by helicopter though he sails to Greenland then crosses that and sails to the arctic. This part ends with mike beating the record across Greenland with the help of his kites.

2) Loaded Words
Solitude-p 90, this is loaded because he is actual alone. He wont have any human contact for months. The author chose this word because he was entirely alone at that time.

Brothers-p 91, this is loaded because many people think of a brother as different things, for instance some people this of it as a close friend well others only think of it as a blood relative. I think he chose this word cause the people he was talking about felt like brothers.

Limits-p 91 this is a loaded word because different people have different limits. He chose this word because his limits were the thin line between life and death.

generosity-p 92 this is a loaded word because it reminds people of a good thing usually. He chose this because a member of the Inuit community had been especially nice to him.

abandoned-p 93 this is a loaded word because it usually reminds people of something bad or sad. He chose this word because the boat in his story had been abandoned.

Stuck-p 93 this is a loaded word because being stuck in almost any situation is bad. He chose this word because in his case he was at a stand still in his adventure.

wasteland-p 94 this is a loaded word because it basically mean nothingness. He used it because the land in front of him had absolutely nothing but snow and ice.

impossible-p 94 this is a loaded word because no one likes to hear something is impossible. He chose it cause he was frustrated and in issue with his path.

potential-p 95 this is a loaded word because potential creates hope. He chose this because he had hope of different paths opening up.

die-p 96 this is a loaded word because it causes sadness in everyone. He chose this to show the severity if he did anything wrong.

3) reaction
My reaction to this part of the book is that of amazement. I think it is amazing that mike would go back to the arctic after failing the first time, almost loosing his fingers to frostbite, and realizing what he will be up against. I think that mike is an amazing person and that it would take tremendous strangth to be able to do what he is doing.