A Discovery of Witches Dream Cast

 For me, I just can't really imagine the characters being as old as they actually are in the book (except for Martha), so for most of my characters they will look a lot younger than they are really described to be. These characters I pick for my dream cast for A Discovery of Witches are what I pictured the characters to look like while reading the book.

 Matthew de Clermont- Henry Cavill.....For me, the actor who I found  looks the most Matthew like is Henry Cavil. From his similar features to how Matthew was described on the book as tall, board shoulder, lean, with green-grey eyes to short black hair. Even from Diana's description of Matthew as "Board shoulders narrowed into slender hips...thick equally black eyebrows..high-angle cheekbones meeting brows that shielded and shadowed his eyes." (18) fits Henry Cavil's features, especially his strong defined jawline trademark (described in IMDB) all screams perfect vampire material. Also, he is known for many of his roles (The Tudors and Immortals)  and has won/nominated Golden Globe 2007 and Emmy 2008.Even Stephanie Meyer called him the perfect Edward Cullen for her Twilight series (but he was too old to play Edward by the time they started filming).

Diana Bishop- Amanda Seyfried...As for who I pictured Diana to be, it has to be Amanda Seyfried. As the book describes Diana as having a sharp nose and  long chin, and shoulder length blond hair. In this photo of Amanda, I think it fits Diana's physical description really well. It also shows  a bit of Diana's "unruly" hair from all her pent up magic, that she describe as hard to manage. As for acting, she is well known for many of her roles in shows and movies such as Mean Girl, Mamma Mia, Red Riding Hood and Veronica Mars. So I think with her acting experience, I am sure that she will be able to protray Diana well.

Ysabeau de Clermont- Charlize Theron...When I was browsing through actress to see who looks the most Ysabeau like, I stumbled upon the actress Charlize Theron. For why I think she looks like Ysabeau is because she has the mature yet youthful look to her in this picture (since she is Matthew's mother but also has a appearance that looks younger than Matthew), and also feels as if she could protray the cold, witch hating Ysabeau when she first met Diana, and then gradually become warmer and have a softer expression.Diana describes Ysabeau as "Elegance...high slash cheekbones..dazzling white skin and hair the colour of honey"(224), so I think that the physical description fits Charlize Theron quite well. So overall, I feel that Charlize Theron is the most fit to play Ysabeau de Clermont.

Martha- Miriam Margolyes..Probably the only character that I could picture as really old was Martha. Since when she was first introduced, she was described as "stout old woman with skin like snow and a mass of incongruously dark hair" (225). So I chose Miriam Margolyes as Martha because she is a kind character who supports Diana during her stay in Sept-Tour and is also a parental figure for Ysabeau. With Miriam Margolyes, she has alot of acting experience and she was even in Harry Potter and Romeo+Juliet! Therefore, with her looks and acting experience I think that she would protray the warm grandma feeling that martha gives in the book.

Sarah Bishop- Diane Lane..She is the actress that I think fits the role of Sarah Bishop, Diana's aunt the most. From her looks, she fits the description of Diana's aunt as having bright red hair and feels as if she can pull off Sarah's spunky and quick-tempered personality.She is also known for some of the smash hit movies from a decade or so ago called The perfect storm(2000), The glass house(2001)and Hard Ball(2001). Even when I was searching who looked most Sarah like, I'll have to say it was Diane Lane, therefore I think that she is the most fitted to play Sarah Bishop.

Miriam Shephard- Mila Kunis...Miriam is an vampire who has known Matthew even before the Crusade, but is describes as looking younger than him. Miriam has dark wavy hair past her shoulders and is short like a child.I think that Mila Kunis fits being Miriam because, she has this look that is young yet mature, and seems to fit the personality of Miriam well. Also, she is described by Diana as "fineboned and like a china doll" (465). I also feel that Miriam is a bit of a complex character as even though she dissaproves of Diana and Matthew being together, but still has to obey Matthew's hotheaded command and suck it up. With her acting experience in popular show and movies such as The 70's Show(1998) and Forgetting Sarah Marshall(2008), I think that Mila Kunis will be ideal to play Miriam Shephard.

Marcus Whitemore- Alex Pettyfer..."late twenties, with the blond hair and blue eyes of a California surfer...average height..wiry and energetic" (155) I think that Alex Pettyfer can definitly protray Marcus, since his physical features is just like described with the blue eyes and blond hair. Not only Alex Pettyfer's age is also close to Marcus, so that he can protray him well, he is also English like Marcus! Also when I think of surfers, it's definitly with the blond hair,tanned skin and toned body for sure! Let's not forget some of his amazing roles in movies such as Alex Rider, Wild Child, I am Number 4, Beastly and Magic Mike! Thats why I think Alex Pettyfer is definitly the person I'll pick as Marcus and I am sure that with his acting experience he will be able to protray the fun loving yet sort of mature personality that has.

A Discover of Witches - Too much detail can be confusing！

   Ever heard or read the book A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness? Well, many say that it is an amazing book with great details and I agree that it does have a great use of detail to describe the themes and setting…but ever heard of the quotes “Our life is frittered away by detail... simplify, simplify.” by Henry David Thoreau?  Well for me, what I think of this book is that it is too much details, and that it took a whole whopping 579 pages to finish, it really dragged the story on to a point that it just got boring and finally the details really made this book confusing from a prospective of a teenager (who has to finish reading this book for English class).

 Now to start off, A Discovery of Witches is really a book that has great details from the beautiful description of the Bodleian Library at Oxford University where Diana, who is a historian, stays all the time. This really help the readers put themselves into that setting and make the library come to life with “Elizabethan reading desk…three ascending bookshelves...scarred writing surface…gothic windows…. coffered ceilings” (2). But, this book is just too overly detailed with some parts being unnecessary to some parts where I just have to ask did I miss something or what? Especially with the part where Matthew said they were married
 "Did I miss something ?" I finally asked.
 "When were we married ?"
  Matthew's eyes lifted. "The moment I came home and said I loved you. It wouldn't stand up in court perhaps, but as far as vampires are concerned, we're wed." (354)
    Also, sometimes I can't help but wonder, isn't the author just giving Diana a little too much abilities, like she couldn't decide on this a few but must give Diana every single ability to have her become like the "unbeatable" female protagonist, but is still just a damsel in distress waiting for Matthew to save her.  Just like from Truth,Beauty,Freedom and Books  where they commented on how "feels like the author is just vomiting up words. The book's almost 600 pages long and it isn't because the plot's complicated." .In addition,with the book being so long and detailed, the author really dragged the story, especially at the ending where it was made obvious that the book was going to have a sequel to it. Even from other book reviews blogs such as  The Washingtonpost "The ending, in which Diana and Matthew beat a hasty retreat, made me wish the book had started there" just screams that the book was really too dragged on. Lastly, as a fantasy, paranormal lover who just love vampires, magic and historical stories, I haven't been this unsatisfied since reading Twilight! Since this book is made for adult, the words are quite complicated to understand, especially with all those science words such as "mtDNA" where no teen would understand if they don't take science (and the author didn't even do a good job explaining what it means and I had a hard time understanding all those talk about DNA, genetics..etc). Not only was the book confusing, but it was like reading an mature version of Bella and Edward  that just made me wish the story was over already.

Overall, I have to say the book was a disappointment, from it being too overly detailed, to the story dragging on and on without anything really happening except for all the wine and difference places Matthew took to hide Diana from the Congregation and all the confusing detail and language really made this book too much to handle. Details is something extremely important in a story to help make it come alive, but too much detail is just way too confusing!

Ann Liebau - Midwife

    When people say midwife, the first thing that pops in your mind is a person who help deliver babies at home. Today our guest speaker Ann Liebau, who has been a midwife for 13 years came to talk to us about how it was like to be a midwife. Some people might think this job is cool or this job is kinda weird since you have to deal with the birthing and a lot...lots of blood. Well we got an idea on how the job was from how they have to be on call 24/7 if something happens and they do things like home visits, help the mother plan her pregnancy and also do tests like a doctor would. Now speaking of doctors, sometimes midwifes would work alongside with them if the mother has problems like diabetes and such half way through her pregnancy, since they only work with healthy women who has lower risks. To be a midwife one must 4U english, science and social science to get into the program. From there, they will have to take a 4 year program to become a midwife(though mostly the program is dominated by women, in Ontario we have 1 male midwife who just recently graduated! exciting right?) When you become a professional midwife you go through 6 stages of different annual wage depending on your experience totaling from $80 000-$110 000.

  Now this job may appeal to somebody, but to me it's just kinda hard to picture myself being one since I hate seeing blood :(  For people who wants to be a midwife must have a passion and dedication to become one. Sooo I think that our final guest speaker was a pretty good way to finish.

Richard McDonald - Corporate/Screen/Comedy Writer

 I'm sure some people have heard or know the Red Green show. Well guess what, today our guest speaker was the screen writer of the show for 5 years! But thats not the main point, today our guest speaker Richard McDonald talked to us about how it is like being a writer and how in everyones life, there are 7 careers choices. His 7 career choices were auto mechanic, cabinet maker, filmmaker, film critic, freelance magazine columnist, a comedy writer and a Corporate writer/worker. Now with that said, that is alot of different career paths from something like a auto mechanic to a writer.

  Well one thing I definitly learned today is that being a write DOES NOT PAY　THE BILLS! Definitely many people who write also have other jobs supporting them since (espically freelance writers) only earn $0.25 per word in Canada... that is definitly not alot. But also the benefits are that you get to travel and sometimes even meet or talk to famous people! So being a writer is pretty neat especially for me if it is writing fiction novels since you get to be creative and create your own story~

  All in all, todays 2 guest speaker definitly have something in common about writing and how it doesn't pay the bill but also, how it is rewarding to have your writing published and how if it is something you like go for it!

Mark Morton - A Professor for professors

 Today in class, our first guest speaker was Mark Morton a professor at the university of waterloo who teaches other professors on how to teach. Probably what I learned today was that usually people with a Ph.D tends to go into teaching as professor.Though, being a professor isn't all about teaching since you will also have to research and public books to be able to keep your job (this is totally unrelated but it kinda connects to the novel I am currently reading called A discovery of witches, where the two main character are professors at Oxford who teaches and also do alot of researching manuscripts). We also got a review on how much you get paid as a university professor, which is quite alot from $70000 starting to $130000 mid career. But of course, it takes years of schooling (12 years) so your just basically paying off your student debt with those earnings, so if you want a higher earning job go be a dentist.

  Now for his job as a professor for other university professor, people might wonder why the heck do they have professors teach other professors. To start off, most professors are paid to research on any subject they want, so they aren't really good at teaching and such. Also, those who are professors need to be "tenure" to keep their jobs which mean they will have to publish articles an 
d books from their findings.(and publishing books definitly does not pay the bill but people tend to get grants and such, and it is also pretty rewarding in a sense after you publish a book.) As for the books Mr.Morton has published in the pass are Cupboard Love, Dirty Words, and The End

Harold Albrecht - MP

Today we had the honor of meeting Harold Albrecht, the MP for the Kitchener Conastoga riding. We also learned a great deal about how it is like to be a MP and how you can get there.

  To start off, you can be a MP at the age of 14. But of course,you must have supporters who are willing to support you if you want to be a MP. So the advice he gave us was that, get to be known in the community as much as possible by volunteering and putting yourself out there by being active.He also tells us about his busy work hours from about an 80 hour week to traveling to and from Ottawa. Harold Albrecht also told us a bit of his background from how he became a MP. Starting with being a dentist first, then to being a pastor for a local church.So with that said, you don't need to major in politics to be a MP.

  With being a MP, they have to go through elections that if they lose, they will be jobless. Now that is what I call a pressure job! Long hours of work, none stop traveling and events,and lastly it is not a stable life job as there are always chances thta you will lose your seat. It definitly is not an easy job and will need alot of dedication!

 

Sarah Leishman - Child and Youth Worker

Today we got an insight on what it is like to be a child and youth worker, who works with troubled children and youth up till the age of 18. To start off, there are many different types of CYW who works in hospitals, schools and even groups homes.With the different types of CYW, the shifts and annual wage also varies from $35000-$60000 to higher paying positions. Now for what they do, they provide counselings to help children and youth cope with problems such as being abused,drug addictions, low self-esteem to anxiety. They also keep the conversation confidential, unless it breaks a certain rule. There are also positions where they talk with the whole family of the child/youth on how to handle the special needs that the child/youth may have.

  Now for my prespective on this job, I think it is a very dangerous job since if they tell you that they done something illegal and then was caught, you will also be involved in the case too. But not only that,by being a counseller you must also keep your mind calm and have this sort of personality that would make your client want to pour their heart out to you after just 20 minutes of knowning you. So I think it is quite a difficult job that I wouldn't want to persue in the future. But if it's someone who likes working with children and wants to help them then it might be a good career path.