Bird's Epics of India

Okay, Josh, I figured since you're our webmaster general, your blog would also be gorgeous, and no surprises, it is! I love the minimalism in the design. The grey text on the white background works really nicely, and is all in all easy to navigate and read. I might have to look at whoever made your theme and see if they've got others, because this is great.

You probably have the best layout of anyone that I have seen so far. If I had more time, I would totally try to do something fancy like yours, but for now I guess I'm stuck with my background full of cats. :(

Okay, Josh. Your blog is making the rest of us look bad. I am so impressed with how professional it looks! I am not so tech savvy and have never built a blog before, so I have not done much at all with my blog. I love how clean and simple yours looks. The white and grey color scheme and font make it look so much nicer than your average blog. If I had more time on my hands I would definitely try to figure out how to make my blog look a little better like yours, but unfortunately I do not. I am definitely jealous of your computer skills!

Wow! Your page looks incredible. It looks like with matches very well with your topic. What made you pick Dorna as a character? I also like how you took the flaws of the story especially the endless amounts of characters and your going to fix them. I like the intertwine webs idea because i think the epics need something to help keep new readers in the loop of character relationships. though your content page is a white background with a picture. I think you should keep it. I feel like it helps keep the story serious and more down to earth with the realistic natures of Drona's life. You said, "We will see him go through the grueling process of becoming a successful teacher." but in the rest of the introduction you refer to him as a entrepreneur. Im not sure if this is mistake but i would change because it might confuse the reader,

Introduction:
Your website looks stunning! It looks like you have been a lot of time into it! Don't look at my storybook. It is nowhere near as nicely formatted as yours! What I really appreciate about your introduction was that you actually explained the theme of your storybook. You explicitly told us your character and what themes will be portrayed in your stories. So now I know exactly what to expect when I read your storybook. It was really creative that you making Drona into an entrepreneur who resides in Texas (just wondering, why Texas?). Also, just out of curiosity, what made you think Drona as an entrepreneur instead of a mentor or teacher? I figured his two best pupils will be Arjuna and Karna (if I am not mistaken). Oh and kudos to you for furthering your research on Drona! It shows that you're really devoted in developing this story! I'm really excited to read how you will incorporate all of your elements into your story.

Hi Josh!
I am commenting in regard to your story book. I clicked on your storybook link because I saw the title “Entrepreneur” and took an interest in your storybook. After I clicked on the link I was expecting to see a website made with google sites, however I was blown out of my mind! Your website is super cool, I really like it. I was a little confused about how to get to your storybook, however I finally figured it out! Your choice of topic is a unique and an interesting one. I liked how you made Drona your main character and placed him in Austin , Texas and made him an entrepreneur. I am so thrilled to read your stories. I always get lost when it comes to the family relationships of the characters in epics of India readings, so I am pretty sure Drona’s ‘web of connections” will certainly help the readers too.

Your website is very visually pleasing. I like the video that you have on the front page. However, I was not sure that I made it to your introduction correctly. You might consider having your entire storybook on one scrolling page. Your introduction reads a lot like an outline blog post. Instead of directly telling us what you plan to do in your storybook, tell a story that introduces us to the characters. Try to remove first person from your introduction. Instead of saying, “He will be placed in Austin, Texas as a rising entrepreneur,” tell us about his background, tell us how he ended up in Austin, and say what type of business he is in. Expand your last two paragraphs into a story about Drona. You said that you are going to show Drona’s connections. Are you going to introduce other characters and stories through business interactions? This seems like an interesting approach. I look forward to reading the rest of your Storybook.

Although the storybook page was beautiful, it was a bit difficult to discern where to go for reading the introduction and such. Your project certainly sounds ambitious. It’ll be exciting to see how it develops over the remainder of the semester. I just hope you don’t overwhelm yourself either. I think a character map is a great idea! We were constantly introduced to new character’s throughout our readings, only to have them taken away just as quickly that it became difficult to keep track after a while. I also think having the drama of the Mahabharata place in modern society could be a truly interesting spin on the series of the events that take place within the story. By the way in paragraph four, you have the sentence, “He will have to overcome inner hurdles and avoid otter obstacles.” I’m guessing you don’t mean the small, adorable aquatic mammal so I just thought you should know about the typo.

Hey Josh, I'm really glad I chose to read your storybook for my free choice and I hope you like the information I give you. I already know that you're great at building web pages and websites and I admire that, however I will admit that your website is a little distracting and hard to navigate. I actually had a little trouble finding your introduction because I had my browser window too far to the left and couldn't see the little dots. Despite that I still think that you put a lot of effort in it and it does look really cool, maybe just too complex for me personally.

However I did like the way you laid out your plan for your storybook, it's different and unique and that in and of itself is a way to pull readers into your story. I think you still need to look through it to make sure all of the spelling and grammar are spot on but I didn't see a whole lot of errors while reading through it. I'm really happy that you put so much effort into your storybook!

Josh,
Your storybook site is actually AMAZING! You need to stop being so creative because it is making the rest of the class look bad! I am just kidding, but really, your storybook site is incredible. It definitely is encouraging to me because I know now that I have a lot of room for improvement on my own site and I want to spend the time to make it look better just like you did. You also have such creative ideas for your writing and it really is fun for me to read. I like the whole concept of “The Entrepreneur”. It really brings an interesting modern aspect to all of the Indian epics we have read so far and I am very excited to see where you take your storybook project next! You are an excellent writer and a very creative web designer, I would even hire you to do my project if that was allowed!

Hey Josh!

I would just like to start off by saying that your storybook is amazing. It is so advanced and goes beyond the “basic” storybook. I am really impressed. The way you formatted your storybook made we want to look more into you storybook.
I read your introduction. I really enjoyed reading your introduction. I did not notice any grammatical or punctuation errors -- so good job on that part.

I like how you are planning on focusing on pulling modern lessons out of these stories. Sometimes reading ancient stories can be hard to relate to. Therefore it is always nice when someone points out how they can be relatable. I do not know much about Drona so I look forward to reading more about him through your stories in your storybook. The one thing I wish you would have included was an image of him. It would have been a nice visual aid. Good Job Josh!

Your blog layout is very impressive, but it is a little confusing. While it's definitely complex, professional, and, frankly, gorgeous to look at, finding your storybook entries could be a little simpler. The complexity of your site does add to the business theme of your story and I like the image of Drona as an entrepreneur. It's an interesting twist.

The choice to make Drona a modern business person and map out his connections through that is very interesting and your approach of pulling lessons out of these stories is also very creative. Your introduction was informative, but it was succinct and it added to your whole 'professional' voice for the blog. You don't seem to have any major errors in your intro. I also like the photo you chose. It adds a lot to your theme and the voice of your storybook. You seem very talented at coding! Good job!

Josh, I chose to visit your storybook site again this week because I was curious what new things you added to the site! I think your storybook project is definitely one of the best projects in the class, if not the best. You do a great job of implementing creativity and facts into your storybook. Whether it is the creative way of uploading “Drona’s Resume” or writing about how he is going to be an entrepreneur and succeed in the city of Austin, Texas (I think this is a great place for him to become an entrepreneur- “the land of opportunity”- I am a Texan, so I am very proud)! I like the small details that you included in his resume such as being employed by Khan Academy or attending Stanford and Brown for school. He is way smart apparently, but I would expect nothing less from a god in Indian epics.

Wow. This is pretty incredible. I am really glad I chose to go through the Storybooks randomly. Otherwise, I do not think I would have found yours. I completely agree with everyone else in saying you are making the rest of us look bad. The whole thing looks amazing and I am going to have to look into the resources you used because I enjoy developing websites myself but I think I need to step up my game.
Anyway, back to your story. This looks great and I think you have a lot of ways you can go with this. I really like the way you are building this as a modern twist on the story and I cannot wait to read your conclusion. I do not think I saw any grammatical errors and the entire storybook as a whole reads well. I am really looking forward to what you add for the last few weeks!

wow i read your first story, "Arrogant Bennings." It was a great read. You created a great back story over Drona, although I feel like getting revenge to a person who look down on him is not something a teacher would do. You make Drona out be a caring, hardworking man who is the wrong person to get on their backside. Your story flowed pretty well and was quite an easy read. I loved how you ended the story with trying to find The Panadavas and Kuradavas as the problem students who he raised which in my opinion went amazing along with the actual plot of the story. You did much grammar mistakes. one question I do have, Is the tile spelled right? It sounds like it was supposed to be, "Arrogant Beginnings?" Your site looks amazing! It was a little confusing fining story but that was because I just scrolled down way to fast.

Hi Josh! First I want to say that I love your story book and thought it was very creative. I don't think I have seen other story books like yours in this class. The layout and design is so creative and lively. I was confused at first where to go but I eventually figured it out. The picture you included in the introduction reminds me of Steve Jobs. I really like the theme and aspect of your story book. I thought you did a great story over Drona. You portray Drona as a good guy if you are not on his bad side. Your story was well written and easy to follow. I also like how you ended the story. Your story book looks great and I didn't find any grammar mistakes. Overall, great job!

Josh, first of all, I LOVE the layout of your website. Wow! I’m so impressed! I’m going to keep you in mind if I ever need to hire a web-designer for some reason! I also loved the creativity you expressed through your writing. I read your introduction and the story titled, “A place to start”. I also read Drona’s resume which was a very cool and unexpected touch to your overall project. I love the way you are retelling the original story in a completely modern setting, while maintaining Drona as a passionate teacher. The idea of Drona creating an “alternative” school is such a creative plot, and very realistic. My cousin lives in Plaino, TX, and she is applying to a special school high school with an emphasis on business that allows students to work on real industry projects and solve actual problems. She told me that one the projects from last year was with South West Airlines! I was very impressed and intrigued, and enjoyed reading about your version of an alternative school. I did notice just a few typos in your writing, but those will be easy to fix to really polish your project. Overall, awesome work! I plan to revisit this project!

Hey Josh. I just wanted to drop in and let you know that I was a huge fan of your work this semester. While my blog is extremely bland and straightforward, yours is far from it. Navigating through your blog is honestly fun just because it so appealing to the eye and there is so much going on. I am not very tech savvy, but your blog inspired me to try and spice up my posts as best as I could. It was great getting to read follow your blog this semester.

This week, I read your first story, “A place to start.” Using Drona as the entrepreneurial head of a new school is an interesting concept, and you were original while still maintaining the heart of the original story. Good job! I think this story would work better as your introduction because it lays a foundation for the rest of your Storybook. I also liked the images that you chose; they complement your story and provide good sense of setting for your locations. However, it seemed like your tenses were all over the place. Instead of attempting to tell the story in the present tense, which is very difficult, you can make the story much more readable by writing in the past tense. Another issue is that you mix Drona’s personal experience with his aspirations for a new school, which is somewhat confusing. You also say that he went to both Brown (which needs to be capitalized in your story) and Stanford. Here it just seems like you are name-dropping instead of giving a good picture of what Drona’s educational background is. Instead, I think it would be better to first talk about Drona’s education and experiences and the problems with each. Then discuss how he plans to fix these issues in his new school. Overall, I think this is a very good start. Just work on the issues with tenses and organization.

I read your introduction a few weeks ago and was interested in your creative take on your storybook. Drona being an entrepreneur is very interesting and I like the way you incorporated Drupada into the story. I wrote a story on their relationship and the events that took place between them where Drupada was a successful businessman, but yours is a lot more developed than mine. The plan that Drona has for the school is very detailed and interesting. It seems like a legitimately good idea for a school and I that's interesting. Are you planning on using that as Drona's way of training the Kauravas and the Pandavas? Because, if so, that will be very interesting and exciting to see it play out. Also, I like the pictures you chose. They fit well with the picture you created of the school and I like that you chose two. Overall, this was a great first story! Great job!

Hello again Josh. I wanted to revisit your storybook one last time before the semester came to a close. This time around I chose to read your story, “Capture the Flag”. That story was extremely interesting and creative. I thought it was really cool that you used the theme of computer programming and electronics to adapt the story since it is something that you can directly relate to (and probably beat Arjuna and the gang at as well). The stories about the brother were probably my favorite part of the stories we read this semester, so it is always fun to read about them. It is nice to witness how people put their personal adaptations of the stories, and yours was very captivating. It was very well written and I did not notice any errors in grammar or punctuation. It flowed nicely and is very easy to follow. And also, I have to mention again how suave the layout of your storybook is. Truly a masterpiece. Great job!

Greetings, I have read your story, A Place to Start. I really like the format of your story. The spacing on your story was good and was easy to read. I think that you did an excellent job maintaining the story and rewriting it. I like how you used more than one image. Many times I just use an image so that I can say I had completed that portion, but you used the image effectively so that it really adds to your story. I could really see the original story throughout without having to work. I did not see any typos or anything of that nature it looks like a very sound story. I think my only suggestion would be to add in some dialogue just to mix up the story a little bit. It does not have to be a lot just some. Again great story and good job.