New Book?

Since I finished the first Hitchhikers Guide, I figured why not read the sequel. Well now I am reading the sequel and it is not even close to as amusing as the original, as is the case with almost every sequel. I still have set out to finish this book, and hopefully it will get better. Similar to the last one which took a while for me to like, I hope it gets better. The random sidetracks which were my favorite part of the first book have come to a halt quickly, as I have only counted 2 or 3 in the first 30 pages. I'll keep reading and see how it goes.

In Class

In class we have been reading Much Ado About Nothing. I hate the book which I believe I have addressed in previous posts. Now I'm going to address the parts of the book that I like. First of all I like the character Don John. Even though he is evil for no reason, he still seems pretty cool, and I like his sly moves to ruin peoples lives. He is basically a total baller. Second, I like how stupid the plot is. As much as I've said I hated it, now I just think it's funny. Claudio wants to marry Hero. Don John is going to try to ruin it. Don Pedro thinks it's funny to make Benedick and Beatrice love each other so he does. The end? It's amusing.

Hitchhikers

I finally finished this crazy unrealistic book, and although it was very interesting and rather funny, it was only decent because of all of the crazy terminology and sci-fi words it had. It was really interesting though. The whole book is centered around a book called the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy. The book explains how to hitchhike for spaceships nearby, and how it is helpful. Arthur a simple man from Earth, gets tangled into this by his friend when they leave the Earth ASAP because its being attacked and destroyed by aliens. They go around the galaxy getting in trouble and have all sorts of adventures. The book also had many side-stories, and would drift off which by the end I started to like. Last year, when I read "Devil and the White City" that author side-tracked as well, but I hated it because the stories were irrelevant and unnecessary. The hitchhikers guides side-stories were very interesting. My favorite was probably when these people made a super computer that knows everything there is to know in the universe, and they asked it what the meaning of life was. The computer responded to give it a thousand years to come up with the answer and when the time came to answer the question it responded, 42. I thought it was funny and a little bit kooky that these poor people waited a thousand years to be given a number. The book was funny, and I might read the sequels as another outside reading book, but I'm still contemplating if it was really that good.

Shakespeare

This whole post is going to be about how I dislike the play Much Ado about Nothing. I despise this play is the easiest way to put it into words. The main reason though, is because Don John is being evil for the sake of being evil. He has no reason to try to sabotage the marriage, and he has no reason to be evil. He's probably the worst villain ever. Additionally, I'm not a fan of the whole falling in love in a day that Shakespeare continually writes about. Last year when we read Romeo and Juliet they fall in love, get married, and kill themselves in a day. This year, they fall in love in a day, and I'm guessing they are going to get married very soon. That's so unrealistic to the times of today, which makes me wonder why we are reading it. Most of the books we read are classics, which means they will be relevant to the current day forever. This play doesn't seem to have a point, and I rather dislike it.

Shakespeare

After last years Shakespeare unit and play, I feel like I don't need to read yet another play. I don't see the point of learning about one author a lot, instead of learning a vague knowledge of many authors. Although I'm aware that Shakespeare is the greatest play writer ever, his works don't compel me, and more or less are confusing. I think a more modern version of it would be better for class, so I can understand what I'm reading. Also I see no point in watching a video with a worksheet to go with it, because we already got a fairly good amount of information about him last year before we read Romeo and Juliet. I'm not really happy with the selection of readings we have in this class so far, but if I must I'm going to try to make the best of this unit.

Hitchhikers guide

The hitchhikers guide is getting better. Although I'm still clueless to what all of these sci-fie words are, the plot is thickening. The main character Arthur is now trying to run away from what we on Earth would consider the police. I'm not really sure what he did wrong, because its a little unclear at this point but there have been some interesting side stories now. Like for instance, I have figured out that a long time ago a super computer was created so that we could learn what the meaning of life is, and now I know that the meaning of life is 42. I don't believe this, and I doubt very many people do believe it, but it was a fun little side track from the main story and plot. Overall so far, words are becoming more confusing, but the side stories and plot are getting muuuuch better.

Research Essay

For my research essay I have chosen the topic of gambling. Why do people do it? What makes them keep doing it? Is it an addiction? Should it be illegal? These are just a sample of the questions I have come up with, but the main one that will be the center of my paper, is should gambling be considered illegal? Very few states do consider it illegal, in fact only two do. Gambling is only illegal in Utah and Hawaii. This was odd because I saw gambling as merely a time for adults to have a little fun, but many people take it too far. Many people are willing to risk there family, job, home, and future just to get black jack. Also, compulsive gambling is one of the most overlooked addictions of all. There are only about 130 gambling help programs in the United States, verses alcoholic help programs which are in the thousands. Many people will go broke, and lose there family before they admit they have a problem and seek help. Quite simply, gambling is a serious problem.

Hitchhikers guide

My book the hitchhikers guide to the universe has gotten a whole lot better. I still don't understand a lot of the space mumbo jumbo but I'm getting better. So far in the book, this guy Arthur is about to have his house ran over to make a bypass. Arthurs friend who isn't actually human comes and informs him of an alien attack on Earth. The two of them quickly "hitch" a ride from a passing by spaceship and go off. Arthur coincidentally finds his ex-girlfriend on this ship, and too our knowledge these are the only surviving humans. Right now they're still on the ship, and it seems to be setting up for something big. The writing style of the book is my favorite part, because it is so simple, yet he makes the word choice and fluency so complex. He writes of a new character and then quickly lists off the characters characteristics. Also, he goes on certain sidetracks, and seems to fall off topic for multiple pages at a time, which I will be the first to say, can get annoying.

in class.....

I'm sorry Mrs. West but I don't know what my second post should be about so it's going to be about class. So far class has been different. I say different because we r usually reading a book, or watching a movie, but now we are learning about plagiarism. Unfortunately, I find this subject to be rather boring, because it is so tedious about how I phrase things. I also think that there are too many rules for it, and not enough flexibility. It seems like the consequences for plagiarism are deadly, and most of the time, we don't even mean to plagiarize, but rather accidentally do it because we don't know the rules!

HITCHHIKERS GUIDE

I'm reading the hitchhikers guide to the universe, as many of you know, and so far it is decent. I'm starting to understand it, because it is fairly confusing with all of the hypothetical space talk and ideas. Also it twists and turns through characters and that can get very confusing because I forget who is talking to who. The writing is also very diverse with it's word choice, I don't think I've read a book with such odd words, especially when they are made up for space traveling. I don't really know how it will get moving but I hope it does soon, because it's getting kind of old.

On The Waterfront

This movie was unfortunately dissapointing. Although I appreciated it much more than the original movie, I couldn't get by the fact that the characters all couldn't act very well. Most of the acting, besides the priest, was poor and inadequately done. When a character was supposed to be sad they would start laughing and smiling a bit. Otherwise, I thought the plot was phenomenal, and for a school movie, it was pretty action-packed. Overall I liked it better than the previous one, but not by that much because of the poor acting that I saw.

The More Than Complete Hitchhikers Guide

The book I'm reading is called The More Than Complete Hitchhikers Guide. It has 610 pages and was written by Douglas Adams. So far I'm at the early beginning of the book. It's somewhat interesting, but setting itself up for a good plot. As for the writing, it's pretty good. A lot of word choice, but it isn't really that strong or good of writing. I hope that the book gets stronger, which it looks like it will, but I don't know how it will set up, which is exciting.

All My Sons

To be quite honest this book/play wasn't my favorite piece of literature although it did bring up some very important themes. Most of the themes are shown through the characters individually. For example the theme to always put your family first is shown through Joe Keller, and how he allowed plenty of flawed warheads get attached to planes which resulted in 21 men dieing, just so he could provide for his family. The theme of to get what you want is shown in Chris Keller in multiple ways. First of all his unrealistic idealism that says that you can always be better, and that you are obligated to achieve all that you can. Secondly through his need to marry Ann. He wants to marry her so badly that he is willing to throw away his entire relationship with his family, and he is willing to give away the family business. Most of the characters were also very bland to me. Kate, Lydia, Sue, Frank, and Jim are very boring and don't add anything to the play in my opinion. There is no need for them to be there in my mind, and they all show no real strong emotions ,except for Kate, during the entire play. Additionally, I don't like George because he has two different personalities. He comes into the play screaming and fighting and acting like a lunatic while talking with Chris and Ann, and when Joe Keller comes out he turns into a scared and confused man. That made little sense to me. Quite simply the whole play was unrealistic, because there is no way that all of these events could happen in one day, and I am not exactly rooting for it to win any awards.

ALL MY SONS

400 Blows

Oddly, after seeing the movie and making fun of it for a week, I'm starting to feel bad. I think that I didn't give the movie a chance. Once it was boring in the beginning I stopped liking it and then I gave up on the movie. I just thought it was so bad at the beginning that I wouldn't let the rest of the movie have a chance and looking back at it, it wasn't that bad. I want to apologize for my acts of meanness towards the book, and I think that it was a decent movie, not good or bad.

Bourne

I'm nearly done with the book, and it isn't as fascinating as I hoped. I have about 80 pages to go and the book didn't manage to live up to its potential. It's not that it wasn't good, but the suspense and thrill caused by the search for Carlos has not been met. Still with 80 pages to go, anything could change and it could get better. I really hope it gets better, however it doesn't look to be too likely.

400 Blows

The film 400 Blows was not as fascinating as I anticipated it to be. It did not show a recurring plot throughout the entire movie which really detracted from the overall film. I think that even though it was a memoir it could have used more intriguing scenes and dialogue. It seems to me that the whole story was just the boring tale of a corrupt boy. Another feature that took away from the film was the fact that it was in French. I can’t speak French, so reading subtitles for an entire movie is not exactly enjoyable.

Bourne

I'm still amazed with this book. It keeps throwing curve balls and twists. First Bourne is nearly killed and we find out that he has lost his memory (beginning of the book) and now he's going to Paris to kill the world's most dangerous assassin, who's name is Carlos, which Jason randomly remembered from his past. I wander if he will succeed? I'm pretty sure he will because Jason Bourne is unbelievably smart and cunning, plus he's strong. I think it will be a very interesting fight...

400 Blows

So far this movie has been fairly boring. I have no idea what's going on because the only plot is that Doinel skipped school. Speaking of plot, there is none so far. I really don't think there's a plot, but there are subplots. For example, Doinel skipping school and trying to cover up for it. Doinel getting in trouble at school, but nothing that really jumps out at me and clearly states, THIS IS THE PLOT! It kind of reminds me of Napoleon Dynamite. It has no plot, but a lot of sub-plots. I don't like the movie that much so far... Sorry Mrs. West...

Bourne

What an amazing book. I went over this earlier how the author uses great word choice and dialog throughout the book, but now I want to emphasize the plot. This is such an addictive book, the action never seems to end. One minute Bourne's shooting someone, and the next he is being chased for his life. I really hope it stays this good.

Black Boy

I think that the ending of Black Boy was too sudden... I think that it was really quick and out of place. He was going throug his life, recalling things from when he was a young man and saying what he should have done differently, and then it transforms into this quick ending that is the equivalent of writing The End after the chapter. He doesn't connect things at all and to be honest I am rather disappointed with this sorry excuse for an ending.

Bourne

This book has been amazing so far. The author, Robert Ludlum has done an amazing job conveying whats happening. His imagery only furthers this and really helps the reader to understand how the story moves along. I can barely put this book down is how good it is. I think the only thing that needs work is that the very beginning was a bit slow, but most books are. I can't wait to continue reading because it's a phenomenal book.

Black Boy

I think that Black Boy shows the innocence of a young man in the early 1900's. Richard doesn't really understand what racism is or why we treat people the way that we do. He doesn't understand why his Uncle Hoskins is murdered or why countless Black people are killed. He is revealed this unforgivable truth later as he joins gangs and gets jobs. I think the book so far has been pretty good and fairly humorous, and I hope that it continues to get better.