Week 10 Reading: Divine Beings

Reading: Divine Beings: Airavata, Jatayu, Nandi and Others, Amar Chitra Katha

The hellhounds that I used in my storybook are apparently called Shyama and Sabala aka dusk and dawn. The second story in this collection told their origin. I didn't expect this it was pretty cool. Apparently the Asuras built their own version of the Tower of Babel.  Indra struck it down and turned the two strongest Asuras into Yama's guard dogs.

Maybe I could make the Asuras overrun heaven for my storybook. That could make for a heck of a climax.

The last two stories are about Airavata, the last flying elephant (Yeah, apparently they used to fly. What's next pigs? haha.), and the last story is of the aftermath of Narasimha killing Hiranyakashapu. That second one is a straight up Kaiju battle.This one would have gone very poorly if Vishnu hadn't looked around and noticed the destruction, like if he was blinded or something...

Giant monster battle between Shiva(left) and Vishnu(right)
Taken from Divine Beings

This little graphic novel was really good from coming up with some subplots for storybook. There was a lot of good stuff.

Tech Tip: OUCreate Website

For this tech tip, I wanted to briefly go over the process for creating an OUCreate site and some of the benefits.

OUCreate sites are really useful for more advanced users. The content management system on the back-end gives the user almost complete control of the website. You can do FTP, build your site from scratch, or upload a CMS stack like WordPress. You can even do things like create emails, connect aliases, and build a database. Basically, if you'd want to do it as a web developer, you probably can.

All that being said, most beginners won't really need most of what OUCreate offers. However, even if you don't really need it. The basic version is completely free, and it's pretty simple to set up a blog site. I'll go over the process for creating a new site below.


To get started visit: http://create.ou.edu/

You'll come to a login page. Enter your OU 4x4 and password to login.

OUCreate Login Prompt

Next, the site will ask you to choose either a subdomain or custom domain. Domains cost $12/year (a pretty good deal), but subdomains are free. If you're not sure, choose a subdomain. You can always add on a custom domain later. To continue, enter your domain name and continue through the menu agreeing to any prompts that come up.

That's it! You now have own little section of the internet to do whatever you want with. You'll be emailed shortly with login info for the default admin account. Make sure you keep that stored somewhere safely; it's really important.

From now on, you can access the back-end for the website by logging in through create.ou.edu. Upon login you'll be brought to a page like this:

OUCreate Content Management System

For most of the stuff in here. If you need to use it, you'll probably know how. But, I'll go over some of the important stuff:

The Files Section -- This is where you can manually edit the file structure of your site. If you're creating your site from scratch, this is a really useful section.

The Web Apps Sections -- Click this link to go to a list of apps that can be auto-installed. Some big ones include WordPress, Known, and Drupal.

The Domains Sections -- This is where you can go to add new domains like I mentioned earlier.

That's a pretty brief intro to OUCreate. The rest of the interface is pretty intuitive, and I definitely recommend exploring the various sections. If you're having trouble, you can always check out the documentation linked under "Support" at the top of the page.

Week 9 Reading, continued: Divine Beings

Reading: Divine Beings: Airavata, Jatayu, Nandi and Others, Amar Chitra Katha

The story of Jatayu and Sampati was pretty close to the one I read previously, but there a couple of subtle differences. The first thing I noticed is that the vultures are give a humanoid appearance. I had been used to picturing them just as large birds, but I think this depiction make them a little easier to feel for.

Depiction of Jatayu and Sampati
Source: Divine Beings, Amar Chitra Katha

The relationship between Jatayu and Dasaratha was a little different than what I had pictured. It was a very isolated event in this story, but I had always pictured them going to war alonside each other. Also, Shani Dev is an interesting character. I'll have to look into him.

I think Nandi is very cool character. He reminds me a lot of Nachiketa, at least early in life. I think the story of he and Shiva drinking poison from Halahala to save the world might be good for my storybook. I like the imagery of Halahala as a multi-headed snake. He could make for a good villain. Likewise, I didn't realize that he was the one who cursed Ravana to die by the hands of monkeys. Since he and Jatayu both have something to hate Ravana for, it might make some good conflict for my story.

Week 9 Reading Diary: Nachiketa

Reading: Nachiketa: A Collection Of Stories From The Upanishads, Amar Chitra Katha (Volume 702)

I enjoyed the minimalistic style of these stories. Each story is quite short, but it never feels too short. They did a really good job of conveying the needed information clearly, and they left out anything that didn't serve the story.

The story of Nachiketa learning about the Hindu life cycle was a little unexpected. There were Brahmin in the story who didn't believe in the concept of the self going beyond the body (or enlightenment). This is really weird since it's one of the core concepts of Hinduism. There wasn't too much context around it (There might be more in the original Upanishads.) I'm guessing it's sort of an origin story for the concept which might be cool to do my own spin on.

Yama greeting Nachiketa
Edited by me (Original)

The portrayal of Yama in this comic is a lot like the one in my storybook. He looks almost exactly like the Asuras in the last story, but he has a kinder face and attitude. He is also with his water buffalo. I'll have to look into that creature. It might be useful for my storybook.

The last two stories dealt with concepts important to living a satisfied life. The second talks about being truthful and seeing the presence of god all around us, and the last details the three cardinal virtures, self-control, charity, and compassion. I think these might be good themes for my stories.

Tech Tip: SoundCloud Embedded

Just doing a quick tech tip with SoundCloud here. I haven't messed with the website much prior to this, but it's pretty cool. I'll have to look into it some more after this.

I was looking through the tracks thinking of what I wanted to post, and I thought of this song. I think it's very fitting at this time of year.

This one's for Bowie.

Reading Plans

Ok, so I started looking through the readings for the rest of the class, and there are a lot of options. That said, I think I found the next thing I want to read:

Cox's Tales of Ancient India

As I was going through the options, I thought that it would be cool to read a little more about Krishna, but I also felt like I didn't know too much about the Hindu gods. Low and behold, I found both, in one book. So, I think I'll start with this. I think it will help fill in the gaps of my Hindu knowledge and might give me direction on where I'd like to go next.


I'd also like to read some more of the graphic novels in Bizzel. I really enjoyed the story of Ravana,and I'd like to see more in the same vain. Besides, I'm a sucker for good art. Here's some of the ones I'm looking at:

Ramayan 3392 - They had me at SciFi, enough said. Apparently it's post-apocalyptic. Wait, I have a picture for this:

Hokuto no Kenshin "poem"
Source

Divine Beings - I don't know a whole lot about these characters, and I think they may be a useful supporting cast for my storybook.

Krishna - Krishna's an interesting character who is hard to nail down, and I think a more modern take on him might help.

Lastly, I wasn't able to find anything really focusing on Yama but I'd like to read a story or two about him to help me visualize him as a character. I think I'll look around and see if I can find anything out there, but for now, I think I've got enough options to move forward.

Blog Ideas: Theming

Here are links to some interesting blogs I found while looking through the class sites:
http://jasminepyeo.blogspot.com/
http://honeyandhenna.blogspot.com/
http://lexiconoflore.blogspot.com/

 After looking through several of the blogs, I have to say one feature stood out to me the most. It was good theming.   Jasmine, Dijon, and Lore all did a great job of give their website a cohesive nature.  That's something I'd like to work on for my blog. It definitely needs a face lift. I haven't done much with it since the start of the semester. I mean, it's just too orange, but I haven't decided on a color yet. Maybe red, or green. Green might be good. Anyways, I'll have to contemplate it, but I think I'll try to do some updating this week and give my blog a theme more in line with myself.

Time, It's all relative

Wow, it's week 8. Just, wow.

So, my schedule was pretty close to what I had originally planned. However, Electronics Lab took up a lot more time than it should have. But, I think I've got a steady pace in there now.

Tuesdays are working pretty well, but Thursdays are where I've had to make a good bit of change. I originally planned to do the whole second half on Thursdays, but my time for this class was also the only time my E-Lab partner could meet up to finish up our labs, so I've only been able to do a quarter on Thursdays, and I do the remaining over the weekend. My goal is to do all the extra on (or by) Saturday. I think I'll break it up into thirds for the new plan.

Here's my plan for the second half:

Tuesday: Reading 1 and 2

Thursday: Storytelling, Start Project

Saturday: Finish Project, Project Feedback, Blog Comments

Motivational Meme
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Week 7 Review

Announcement Post

This past week was hectic. With our robot project in Electronics lab in full swing, and midterms coming up in a lot of classes, I haven't had any free time. But, I'm getting caught back up now, and working on getting back on track.

Anyways, a particular post stuck out to me last week. It was actually the post that came out on Saturday. The free book listed on that post was the original Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs. That book is actually particularly special to me because it's the first Burroughs book I ever read.

When I was about 10 or 11, my grandpa game me a case full of books written by Burroughs; it at least 20 or so inside. He had heard that I read Tarzan and liked it. My grandpa had saved all the books from when he was that age. I started reading them and was instantly hooked. Sure, Burroughs' books aren't perfect. In fact, they are quite dated, but he is just great at capturing your imagination and taking you to fantastic places. So, that book is pretty special for me, both for my childhood and my grandpa's. I've still got the case of books.

Cover of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1914)
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Week 7 Storytelling: The Drunken Naga

It was late at night, several hours past sundown. The sky was mottled with dark heavy clouds. Indra was still contemplating whether or not to allow a storm to commence. In the breaks between the clouds, the stars could be seen hovering above, and occasionally, when the weather parted enough the large crescent moon would shine down illuminating the night.

The crescent moon
Source

At one point, such a break occurred, brightening the street that is our setting. Set in the darker side of town, the windows of most of the buildings were boarded up, and very few of the lights were still on. However, one building stood out, the Drunken Naga. Serving as the local pub, the Drunken Naga had seen better days. Its siding was crumbling all over, and many of the windows of the two story building were either cracked or completely broken. A lone sign of a stumbling snake-like creature holding a large beverage hung by a single chain above the entrance, swinging back and forth at a steady pace.

It was at this point that a young man with long, dark hair crossed the street and entered the bar. Slightly hunched over, he wore long, dark robes, obscuring most of his features. The inside consisted of a large, dimly lit room with a set of stairs in the back. There were tables scattered across floor with a long bar to the right of the entrance. Maybe a dozen figures were sitting the different tables, a few more seated at the bar.  The figure walked across directly to the bar, took a seat, and slammed his hand down.

"Bartender, desi daru!" yelled the figure. The bartender, who had been cleaning his counter, walked over and filled a small cup with liquor from a clear bottle. Several hours and a many drinks later, the young man had become extremely intoxicated, swaying back and forth. He could barely stay in his chair. "Ooone moere!" he exclaimed, asking the bartender for another drink.

"I think you've had enough for the night, sir," replied the bartender, taking the man's cup. "Why don't you go home."

"I'll say when I've had enough!" screamed the man. "Dooo you know whoff I am?! I am Duryodhana, prince of Hastinapura! I tell you what'ss what, not the other way around!" He had clearly become quite agitated at the bartender's statement.

"Sir, please calm down," said the bartender. This only agitated the young man further as he jumped out of his chair.

"Calm down! Caaalm down! How am I supposed to calm down with the Pandavas alive! That gigantic Bhima has always been a thurn in maaah side, taking all of the limelight for himself. And Yudhishthira, uurggh!! Did you know that he was going to steal the throne right out fom under me? My birthright! But, I took care of it. They had all gone on a nice 'vacation' and been immolated in a fire. Of course, that was until yesterday. It turnss out they've been alive the whole time, and I'm sure they've been planning their revenge while they were hiding out. My life is in danger and you tell me to calm down?! I think I more than deserve of anootheer drink!"

"As you say," replied the bartender with a strained smile. He turned his head to the back of the room and gave a quick nod. Almost immediately, a large, burly man stepped out from the shadows and laid his hand on the young man's shoulder.

A few moments later, the doors to the tavern flew open as the "prince" was thrown bodily into the streets, which had become muddy from rain. Pulling his face from the mud, the man yelled, "How dare you! I'm a prince! You'll pay for this. I swear it!"

The bartender closed the door to the tavern, muffling the cries of the young man outside.

Author's Note:
This story is based off of the life of Duryodhana in the Mahabharata. It is set briefly after the reappearance of the Pandava's and their marriage to Draupadi. They had disappeared after an attempt on their life by Duryodhana, so he is worried by their return. In my story, he is worried about what may happen and sets out to a bar to drink away his worries, away from his family and the royal palace.
I tried to be more visually illustrative with this story, and I also had a little fun giving the prince some slurred speech from his drunkenness.

Bibliography:
Reading: Epified Mahabharata by Epified (2015)

Week 7 Reading Diary, continued: Epified Mahabharata

Reading: Epified Mahabharata by Epified

 I'm really enjoying this version of the Mahabharata, although it is a little weird to watch all the episodes at once since each one will recap on the last, most of the time. There is definitely a lot of skipping around though, as compared to Narayan. They get the part where Karna becomes king, stop the episode, and never go back to that scene. They also never discuss the Pandava's attack on Drupad.

There was more focus on Bhima's strength in this version, I think. The focus of one of the episodes is him carrying his family after their escape from the wax mansion and caring for them almost by himself. I kind of wish they had gone into more detail on his battle with Drupaka though. That was a actual pretty hilarious fight.

Drona asked for quite a bit more in this version of the story. Being denied a cow seemed a little ridiculous, but if someone came and asked me for half my kingdom because of a promise I made as a small child, I would probably turn them away too.

It seems like everyone is hating on Karna. From this perspective, I can kind of understand him despising his brothers. His treatment could almost be called cruel between Drona and Draupadi.


There is definitely a lot going on underwater in this version of the story. Those are actually some of my favorite scenes in the drawings. The one below is from when Arjuna meets Ulupi at the bottom of a lake.

Arjuna meets Ulupi
Screenshot taken form Epified Mahabharata

Week 7 Reading Diary: Epified Mahabharata

Reading: Epified Mahabharata by Epified

I really like this style of storytelling. The illustrations are very well done. I think what I like most about this though, is the voice-overs. Some of the names in the Mahabharata are pretty difficult to pronounce and hearing someone say them properly helped to clear the confusion up in my head.

The perspective of the story is definitely different from Narayan's. The Pandavas are treated even more like perfect heroes in this version (so far). Narayan treated them more like humans taking time to talk about mistakes they made, but this version looks at them more as gods and focuses much more on the mistakes of the kauravas.

I don't remember Bhima talking to his snake king grandfather at the bottom of a lake in the other story, but a lot happened, so maybe I just forgot. Either way, it's just awesome. I don't have anything else to say. The idea itself is just awesome.

It got really, really dark towards the end of this part. Ekalavya becomes the greatest archer and is forced to cut off his thumb. This was just to please a young boy who was mad because someone was a better archer than him. It seemed out of character for drona, but then again, he does jump back and forth between being very peaceful and very vengeful quite a lot.

I also just realized that Yudhishthira is basically old school superman. He embodies truth, justice, and... okay maybe not exactly, but it's a good simile.

1940's Superman
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Week 7 Reading: Narayan's Mahabharata

Reading: The Mahabharata by  R. K. Narayan

Duryodhana's obsession with beating the Pandava's becomes quite ridiculous towards the end. They try everthing they can to obtain peace, and he shirks it aside, even attempting tricks like trapping Krishna. In the end, he even brainwashes himself, convincing himself that he wants nothing more out of life and all his suffering was due to the Pandava's greed. It's almost like a story of descent into madness.

That war was a very long 18 days. I found it interesting because it is the first time I know of that Narayan has described, in detail, military tactics, e.g. the lotus formation. Of course, these were integral to the story, but to me it feels unusual for the author.

Bhishma's death was... umm... different. At first, I thought he fell onto the bed of arrows and died a few days later while the war waged on, but no, he stayed alive through the end of the war, a coronation ceremony, and funeral rights. Then, he talked to Yudhishthira for two days straight. That's a long time to sit on the arrows doing nothing. It's probably the greatest feat of discipline I heard of yet.

Bhisma lying on his death bed of Arrows
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I like how the Pandavas get around lying to Drona. We killed him (but he was an elephant)! I think that sums up the sometimes silly double standards of honor in this story. The characters will chastise someone for some form of trickery, then turn around and do something even worse themselves.

I kind of wonder why Krishna let his kingdom fall into Civil War. He supposedly all-knowing and should have had plenty of time to prevent it, but he lets it happen, and his entire kingdom disappears as a result. To me, he seems like a terrible ruler, leaving his country all the time to help others and never taking care of his own.