Mockinjay - My View Of It

            In the prior year, I have found the Suzanne Collin’s The Hunger Games was a truly amazing and entertaining book. It was not spectacular, to be looked at as a literary classic, though held higher than most books out at the time. Then came the sequel, Catching Fire, was, yet again, entertaining.  As was commented on the back of the book, Suzanne accomplished something that nowadays is not commonly seen, she improved herself since her first book. And then I read Mockingjay. I advise that everyone who reads this finishes the post, goes to the nearest library, buys the three books, and cancels their day’s plan. Read The Hunger Games and read Catching Fire, but do not read them solely for an entertaining read. No, read them to later read Mockingjay. Collin made a perfect book, with a mix of strong symbolism, characterization, tragedy, love, mystery, and thrill. Every page moved you closer and closer to the edge of your seat. While I will admit that the beginning of the book, like all others, is rather slow. But make sure you pass that checkpoint in the day. I did not, and suffered lack of sleep which came back to bite me in the butt the following morning. The story, the action, the characters: they all keep you itching to find out what occurs next. The story had strong literary devices, it had wonderful characters with beautifully depicted personalities, it had symbols that strong and persistent, the mockingjay and flames to name two. It was exciting, it had a tragedy, relations, and all the essentials in keeping a reader from shutting the book. I will not speak of the actual content, seeing as to how it is the end of a trilogy, and I would ruin the prior books. I will say, however, the world in which the book presents itself is strong, reinforced, and the reader will be emerged into the story. Suzanne Collin’s Mockingjay was a truly spectacular book.

Short Story

                On a cold winter evening, in a street of no particular interest, laid a man on the street. His beard, which had grown to nearly resemble foliage in the dark light, was smothered in blood and snow. His breath, slow and heavy, was nearly run out, his life escaping with every breath. His clothes were ravaged and left to rags.

                The man had lost all hope in living, he accepted the inevitable. He began to contemplate on recent events, question what he had done to end up where he was. He didn’t want to remember, but the brain naturally remembers horrible memories best. He shed a tear as he relived the events through his head.

                “Run, Schmael, run!” yelled the man’s wife, fear and terror on her face, all happiness left behind. The man got up and looked around, saw the room, ravaged through as if by a beast. Then he saw the body, and he realized what had happened. There it sat, bloody in the chest, shards of glass sticking out from behind, an expression of hate on the face, as if the carcass was looking at them, as if it was still alive.

                “Come on Schmael, we have to go!” she yelled again, urging at him to run. But the fact was, he couldn’t. He could only stare at the corpse, and realize what had happened. The Nazi had come to their house, and started interrogating his wife and children. Half realizing what he was doing, he sneaked up behind the man, and stabbed him with a broken bottle. And he couldn’t move. He had killed a living being.

                His wife realized the man would not leave, and ran for her life with the children. The man sat there, in shock. Soon more Nazi’s came to check what the origin of the screaming was. Within a few minutes of walking into the room, Schmael was on the street, being bludgeoned by the hilts of their guns, to the brink of death. Then they left him there, in the cold, to die.

                The man shed a tear. He longed for one more moment to be with his family. He longed to live out his life to its full extent. The man was infuriated with himself, for lying there, by the corpse, shocked, naïve. He wished he had just run, and he would be with his family, at this very moment.

                “But I’d be cowering for the rest of my life in fear…”

                The thought going through his head was more painful than all the bludgeoning he had so recently received. He would be in fear, hiding in an attic or basement his entire life. Slowly, he came to the realization that dying was the best way out. By dying, there was no hiding, no fear, just rest. He still longed for his family, but he decided to wait, to allow them the life he would never have, and when it was their time, they would be reunited.

                With a tearful face and bloodied body, the last essence of living was sapped from the man’s body. The man breathed his last breath, and with no regrets, accepted Death with open arms, and let it carry him over to the next world.

               

                

Winter Break

          Across the world dread and remorse are found on the faces of workers and students, as the winter break comes to an end. An entire month of escaping the rut of our routine lives has ended, and now we all meet together again returning to our everyday lives. But in the end, we should not "cry because it’s over, [but] smile because it happened". 

           I hope all readers have enjoyed their month off, as have I. For my break, after an excruciating few weeks of unexpected closure in which I remained within the contents of my home a large portion of my time, I traveled to Vail, Colorado. Vail is a wonderful city situated between alpine forests and mountains. In the summer it is a great destination for hikers, rafters, and hunters, and by winter it is a grand ski and snowboard resort. 

         Skiing in Vail had been fun; all in all it was a worthwhile trip. There was a great ski school for newcomers, the gondola and chairlift rides were efficient, and the slopes were abundant and enjoyable. It had its downsides, however. The temperature in Vail this year was very much unpredictable. At times cold enough to give me minor frostbite, at times too hot to go out in ski clothes, it was a pain keeping up. The night of New Year’s Eve was especially dreadful. The blistering cold from the evening reached an amazing  -20* atop the mountain peak. And on the 8^th, the sun came out and showed its bright face, and combined with the major electrical issues causing chairlift delays, it made for a sweaty days. It was not only the temperature, however. The ski boots were unbelievably uncomfortable. They are literally solid plastic boots, made to fit into the ski, and walking across town in them from gondola to hotel was painful.

          Apart from sweat, frostbite, and blistered feet, however, it was an enjoyable vacation. Once one gets down from the chairlift and begins to ski, the prior mentioned inconveniences disappear. No, one does not think about the pain in the feet, the hot or cold in their face, no. One does not worry of such petty factors. One worries of going down the exciting black diamonds, not crashing into a nearby skier, falling off the mountain, seriously injuring themselves and being in bed for weeks to come.

Vail Mountain - Front Side

Vail Mountain - Back Bowls

The Odyssey

                I constantly suffer from writer’s block. I am assigned a certain essay or paper, or in this case a simple post, yet I cannot think of a single topic of which to write about. Now there are many ways around this, each person preferring their own unique way. Mine are two choices, put it off until I come about inspiration, or write about my day. Fortunately for me, my day brought with it a more than blog-worthy event, drama rehearsal.                                                                
                                                                                                  (Map of Odysseus's Journey)

             

   My school is currently preparing for the showing of the modern day translation of one of Homer’s grandest poems, The Odyssey. The Odyssey is an epic poem written by Homer, a writer from ancient Greece. The story takes place around most of the known world of the time, the protagonist being a valorous man, ironically name Odysseus. Odysseus had gone to fight in the Trojan War (those events take place in Homer’s prior poem), as he was king of his land, Ithaca. He became lost at sea, and encountered various trials over the course of 20 long years. At last, he received help from new found friends, and made it back to his kingdom, alone unfortunately, as all his sailors had died. When he arrived, however, he found suitors attempting to marry his wife, Penelope. Penelope tricked them by proposing a competition; she would marry the first man to fire Odysseus’s bow (in the modern day version a gun), which he alone knew how to fire, ridiculing them and eventually murdering them.

                While the play is having a few issues, i.e. some of the extras not showing up for rehearsal, the play is coming along rather well. The cast is made up of several more than competent actors whom are putting a lot of effort into the production. While I will not linger on the topic of the cast on the public web, I will say I am confident the cast is more than worthy of the parts they were given, and prove it every day whether it should be by showing up to rehearsal, staying focused backstage, or bringing in their costumes.

The Much Needed Fall Break

                Very recently students and workers all around rejoiced as their final work hour ended two Fridays ago. They were not jubilant for another regular weekend, however. The cause of this excitement was none other than the much waited Fall Break. After three months of rotting in a school or work desk, after the leisure enjoyed during the summer, Fall Break was welcomed with open arms.

                But how do you spend this break? Some might travel to a nearby destination to enjoy the week, some would prefer cashing on the couch, leaving only to eat, and some could be found…working. I, however, chose to drive to the nearby beach for a few days.

                                                                                                                                    (An overhead look of the beach and nearby port)

                

              While on the hour long car ride heading there, I had high hopes for the few days there, seeing as to how none of the nearby schools were given this break and it was a weekday, thus leaving the beach unpopulated, and open only for me and my family. When I arrived, however, it was more desolated than expected. Although it was nice being able to have an entire beach to myself, I soon realized something that quickly ruined the highly anticipated break. Due to the lack of people, the resort had closed down all the main attractions.

                The resort offered a wide variety of entertainment, varying from movies, to jet skis and banana boats, to a pool, and so forth. When I got there, however, none of these were open. The Jet Ski deck was deserted, the cinema was quiet, and the pool was being disinfected and refilled. This left two unhappy boys alone on a small beach with nothing to do for three days, which eventually lead to recreational violence. While I could go on rambling about the horrible time I had during the break, I would much rather people continue to listen to me. So heed my advice, never, and I mean never, go to an empty beach resort. You’ll regret it.

Angels & Demon's (The Movie ) - My View Of It

                Welcome internet world, to the newest post on my blog. Previously, I had rated Dan Brown’s “Angels and Demons”, a historical-fiction book that took place in Vatican City, which was in danger of being blown up by a futuristic bomb. Today, however, I will turn my attention to the movie that was later produced, based on the book. 

                Starring Tom Hanks, the movie was as exciting and interesting as the book was, and the power to keep viewers on their seats during the entire production. The locations and key artifacts that were in the books were accurate in the movie; as each of them appeared on screen I could remember reading about them some nights before. However, the main flaw I found in the movie was that although locations and objects were the same on and off the pages, not much else was. 

               There were many changes made to the plot, which I could have idly ignored if I hadn’t read the book, but unfortunately I had. These were huge changes as well, not minor scenes cut out because they were unimportant to the progression of the story. Maximilian Kohler, and all of CERN as well, were cut out of the movie, Langdon instead being picked up by a Vatican officer. They also removed the marriage of Langdon and Vittoria, played by Ayulet Zurer, which was, in my opinion, a major part of the book, regardless of the fact it had no contribution to the plot. 

               All in all, however, the movie was a success, with a great cast and director. I believe the movie would have been even greater if they had extended it to show more of the important scenes. It is understandable that the unnecessary must be cut off to allow for the movie to have an appropriate time, but the movie was very short, and there was plenty of room to add a little more of the scenes that were removed, perhaps a shortened version of Langdon’s trip to CERN.

Angels & Demon's - My View Of It

Hello to all my viewers, all two of you! Like I said in my intro post, I was going to be giving my view of several general topics. Well I have just finished reading Dan Brown's Angels and Demon, and its time to give my view.

Dan Brown is, in my opinion, a great author. His writing style is unique, his plots complex and amazingly written, and it is clear that he put in a lot of time into research. Angels and Demons is the first book in the trilogy that made him famous. Robert Langdon, Harvard symboligist, was contacted one night by fax. The message called for him to meet the sender, and showed an image of a victim of an old satanic cult, the Illuminati. Robert is summoned to one of the world's top research facilities, CERN, in Geneva, Switzerland to help with a serious issue and mystery. The victim, Leonardo Vetra, was making using a particle accelerator to make anti-matter, which in the right hands could power a city for weeks with just a few millimeters. However, in the wrong hands, the same amount can detonate, annihilating everything in a 2 mile radius.Next thing Robert knows he is in Vatican City on a quest to find the antimatter before it blows up the biggest Catholic church in the world.

This story was written with clear expertise. I could not put the book down for a second, and the only thing that could make me shut it was the teacher telling us we were dismissed. The style in which he writes it makes it very real, and I pictured the entire story as I read it. Also, he clearly did great research, and showed it. Throughout the book famous artists and their works are mentioned, he got names and dates correct, he even had the distance and positioning of churches right so that in the end Robert's trail made a perfect cross, an Illuminati symbol. And on top of the research, he also made the story believable. He had great detail, didn't rush through anything, and really made sure people could picture what he was writing about.

In a story there are several factors to how good it is, some being details and style, but also the depth of his characters. His characters all had clearly independent personalities and relationships. For example, Maximilian Kohler, lead scientist at CERN, clearly was a bitter man, who was holding something in. He was not easily amused, and always very serious. Dan Brown did a great job in keeping his personality consistent, and really made me believe this man actually existed somewhere. Dan Brown clearly made his characters very believable, and thus made the story more believable.