Monday, January 30, 2012

Speaking of Villains

So I FINALLY finished the book, The Help, and as I had previously blogged, it wasn't as well written as I had expected it would be, but it does raise an interesting topic.  I had also seen the movie, and the changes from the book to the movie were an improvement in the overall story.  It is so sad that we have not been able to move beyond these deep prejudices in our society, and these feelings are still boiling just below the surface.
In my last blog I wrote about villains, and in the book The Help, the villain was Hilly Holbrook, and I thought this was a very well portrayed character, movie and book.  She is really the essence of a bully, demeaning the African-American people who work for her and pressuring her peers into following her example.  She's a villain whose demise I cheered on.

On another topic, I have been trying to make some changes on my blog but it has been difficult.  I spent WAY too much time trying to figure out how to post my picture, and my husband, a computer programmer, finally figured it out, but it took him a long time as well.  One thing I'd like to figure out is how to post pictures from the web, just to make it more visually appealing.  If anyone has any suggestions? 

10 comments:

  1. I liked the movie better than the book too. And don't count on me for any computer related advice. I'm terrible.

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  2. That's okay. I can continue to wait on my husband to set it up, I just hate not being able to figure it out myself. Looks like the actors from The Help won big at the award show last night too!

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  3. I have a mac - I drag and drop and then upload...

    I thought the movie tied things in better, too. Fun all the way around.

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  4. Posting pictures directly from the web is not always a good idea because often the address will change without notice and you'll lose the pic. There is also the issue of copyright. If you find pics that are free to use it would be better to save them to your computer (right-click the image and click 'save image'). If you want to insert a pic in your sidebar use a picture widget. If you want to use a pic in your post use the insert picture option while composing. Hope that helps.

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  5. Jolene- Thanks, I'm clearly doing something wrong 'cause I tried that!

    Lynda- I've tried looking for the free stuff since I don't want a problem, but didn't know that about the address change thing. Thanks for the tips!

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  6. Oh and that black square with the exclamation mark? Have no idea where that came from. My husband was messing around with my blog last night!

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  7. I saw the movie and I liked it but I haven't read the book. I think my mom has it though, but I haven't had time with school and all that boring stuff. That's unfortunate the book isn't as well written, I'll probably agree with you, since I had high expectations for it from the movie.

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    1. The movie was really good, but just one example of a problem I had with the book, (which isn't a major spoiler because it was just downplayed a bit in the movie) was the mother's illness. Supposedly it was stomach cancer and she was terminal until one day she decided she didn't want to be sick anymore and that was it! Cured! As a nurse, I found that a bit silly.

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  8. I thought they were both good but I liked the book better. Personally I don't think her cancer was cured. I think it was more her determination to be in charge and she lived a little longer on the force of her vitality. I've seen people do that. She did die from the cancer in the book.

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    1. I'm sorry, but are we talking about the same book? The Help? Because her mother does get better. Pg. 499 of my book is the mention of it, and that is part of the reason Skeeter decides to go to New York. And yes, positive outlook can definitely make a difference, but I guess I needed a little more explanation then just that to make it believable. That's just one of the things that lost me a little bit with the book, but it's just my opinion.

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