Tuesday, March 17, 2020

Scared to Death Best Halloween Pranks to Try

Scared to Death Best Halloween Pranks to Try Halloween is the time of year when you start craving candy corn and the delicious sounds of your roommate’s screams. Instead of just giving out treats this year, consider some of these amazing tricks that are sure to lodge themselves in your friends’ memories (and nightmares) for years to come. Attack of the Killer Toilet Seat You know those snap fireworks that you used to get every year as a kid in the boxes of firecrackers? It seemed like they were only good for dropping on the ground and leaving tiny bombs of gunpowder all over your driveway. Not any more! If you live with a bunch of girls, there is nothing funnier than getting them where it really hurts – right in the toilet seat. How To Set It Up Get a handful of leftover snap fireworks from the 4th of July. Gently place them around the ring of the toilet bowl underneath the toilet seat supports. Then, carefully lower the toilet seat so that it rests on the fireworks but doesn’t set them off. Then, when your roommate needs to desperately use the bathroom, they’ll get the surprise of their lives. Zombie Pizza Is your roommate constantly eating your food? Well, its time to stop that. With just a little bit of effort, you can scare that stolen breakfast right out of their stomachs. How to Set It Up Get a handful of empty pizza boxes, about 7-10, and cut the centers out of the bottoms and tops except one. On one, cut out the bottom, but leave the box top attached. Stick them together (glue or duct tape) and leave the one with the whole top intact on top. Then, get a cheap card table, or a piece of thick cardboard that you can set up on top of some boxes. Cut a whole in that which will be covered by the boxes and that you can fit inside. Get a black sheet or tablecloth and cut a hole in that as well. This will cover up your legs. When you know your roommate will be coming home, set up the pizza â€Å"table† where he or she will see it. Leave a note saying that you got some pizzas for you to share. Then, when he opens the top box, pop out – preferably in full zombie makeup! Perhaps you will need to read this blog post on how to apply Halloween makeup. Flesh-Eating Slug Floor If you are living with someone who is a bit squeamish when it comes to bugs and creatures, this is the perfect prank for them. Not only will it guarantee a scream, but it will motivate them to clean the floors before they head to bed. How to Set It Up First, you need to psychologically set this prank up by gradually explaining that you’ve seen a type of slug (the â€Å"wherever you live† Flesh-Eating Round Slug) in the morning or at night surrounding the beds. You can even plant one somewhere in the house to really get into their heads. Once he or she finds that one, you’re ready to move to the next phase of the plan. Get a bag of grapes at the store and peel them. After your roommate goes to sleep, place the grapes on his or her floor. Then, scream. Watch the hilarity as your roommate wakes up and tries to find out what’s wrong – and walks into the Flesh-Eating Slug infestation! Bloody Shower If you think the shower scene in â€Å"Psycho† was scary, just wait until your roommate gets to play the leading role. The best part about this prank is that it’s easy to do, won’t harm your house, and will be completely unexpected. How to Set It Up Unscrew the top of your showerhead and fill it with old Easter Egg dye, KoolAid, or food coloring (as red as you can get it). Screw it back on and test out your chosen method to make sure the color and consistency is what you want. After you get the perfect color, set it up for real by screwing the shower head back on and wait for your roommate to come home from the gym or work. If you want to know more tricks, you should also consider these April Fools Day pranks for college. Though they are not related to Halloween, you can still use them to play pranks. Happy Halloween! Do you have some other prank ideas youd love to share? The comments below are here for you!

Sunday, March 1, 2020

1984 Study Guide

1984 Study Guide George Orwells 1984 is such an influential novel that you neednt have read it to notice its effect. With its chilling examination of totalitarian regimes, 1984 changed the language we use to discuss those very regimes. Popular terms like Big Brother, Orwellian, or Newspeak were all originated by Orwell in 1984. The novel was Orwell’s attempt to highlight what he saw as an existential threat posed by authoritarian leaders like Joseph Stalin. It remains a vital commentary on the techniques of brutal totalitarian regimes and only becomes more prescient and applicable as technology catches up with its nightmarish vision. Fast Facts: 1984 Author: George OrwellPublisher: Secker and WarburgYear Published: 1949Genre: Science fictionType of Work: NovelOriginal Language: EnglishThemes: Totalitarianism, destruction of the self, control of informationCharacters: Winston Smith, Julia, O’Brien, Syme, Mr. CharringtonNotable Adaptations: A film adaptation released in 1984 starred John Hurt as Winston and Richard Burton, in his last role, as O’Brien.Fun Fact: Because of his socialist politics and connections to the Communist Party, Orwell himself was under government surveillance for years. Plot Summary Winston Smith lives in what is known as Airstrip One, formerly Britain, a province of a large nation-state known as Oceania. Posters everywhere declare BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, and Thought Police could be anywhere, watching for signs of Thoughtcrime. Smith works at the Ministry of Truth changing historical texts to match the current propaganda being distributed by the government. Winston longs to rebel, but confines his rebellion to keeping a forbidden journal, which he writes in a corner of his apartment hidden from the two-way television screen on his wall. At work, Winston meets a woman named Julia and begins a forbidden love affair, meeting her in a room he rents above a shop in the midst of the non-party population, known as proles. At work, Winston suspects that his superior, a man named O’Brien, is involved with a resistance movement called The Brotherhood, led by a mysterious man named Emmanuel Goldstein. Winston’s suspicions are confirmed when O’Brien invites him and Julia to join The Brotherhood, but this turns out to be a ruse and the pair are arrested. Winston is brutally tortured. He slowly gives up all outward resistance, but preserves what he believes is an inner core of his true self symbolized by his feelings for Julia. In the end he is confronted by his worst fear, a terror of rats, and betrays Julia by begging his torturers to do it to her instead. Broken, Winston is returned to public life a true believer. Major Characters Winston Smith. A 39-year old man who works for the Ministry of Truth. Winston romanticizes the lives of the non-Party proles and indulges in daydreams in which they rise up and spark a revolution. Winston rebels in his private thoughts and in small actions that seem relatively safe, like his journal-keeping. His torture and destruction at the end of the novel is tragic because of the sheer lack of necessity; Winston was being manipulated from the very beginning and never posed any true threat. Julia. Similarly to Winston, Julia is outwardly a dutiful Party member, but inwardly seeks to rebel. Unlike Winston, Julia’s motivations for rebellion stem from her own desires; she wishes to pursue pleasure and leisure. O’Brien. Literally everything the reader is told about O’Brien in the first half of the story is revealed to be untrue. He is Winston’s superior at the Ministry of Truth, but he is also a member of the Thought Police. O’Brien therefore represents the Party perfectly: He is changeable as needed, weaponizes information or the lack of it, and ultimately serves solely to perpetuate power and snuff out resistance of any kind. Syme. A colleague of Winston’s, working on a Newspeak dictionary. Winston perceives Syme’s intelligence and predicts that he will disappear as a result of it, a prediction that quickly comes true. Mr. Charrington. A kindly old man who helps Winston rebel, and is later revealed as a member of the Thought Police. Major Themes Totalitarianism. Orwell argues that in a one-party political state where all other parties are outlawed, perpetuation of power becomes the sole purpose of the State. Towards this end, a totalitarian state will restrict freedom increasingly until the only freedom that remains is freedom of private thought- and the State will then attempt to restrict this as well. Control of Information. Orwell argues in the novel that the lack of access to information and the corruption of information makes meaningful resistance to the Party impossible. Orwell foresaw the rise of fake news decades before it was named. Destruction of the Self. The ultimate goal of all totalitarian regimes in Orwell’s opinion. Only by replacing individual desires with a template created by the State can true control be asserted. Literary Style Orwell writes in plain, largely unadorned language and a neutral tone, which evokes the crushing despair and dullness of Winston’s existence. He also ties the point of view tightly to Winston, forcing the reader to accept what Winston tells them much as Winston accepts what he is told, all of which is ultimately revealed as a lie. About the Author Born in 1903 in India, George Orwell was an incredibly influential writer, best-known for his novels Animal Farm and 1984, as well as essays on various topics covering politics, history, and social justice. Many of the concepts Orwell introduced in his writing have become part of pop culture, such as the phrase Big Brother is Watching You and the use of the descriptor Orwellian to indicate an oppressive surveillance state.