Book review for Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar, like many other works of famous literature by Shakespeare, is one of those books that everyone has to read at one point or another. It's a play that is considered to be a classic, like most of Shakespeare's works, and was a fairly decent book. The language used by the characters and the writing style were very outdated, but this was actually a book that was a decent read. Julius Caesar by Shakespeare was better than I expected it to be and was also a fairly good book.

The plot of Julius Caesar helped to keep the story moving fairly well. Basically the story of how Caesar is murdered and the events that happen afterwards, the plot sticks fairly close to history, but adds elements in to make it more interesting. Also, since this was written as a play, the story doesn't have boring drop off points and does a fairly decent job of keeping the reader interested throughout the story. It was a little like a soap opera towards the end, when everyone started killing themselves. People were pretty weird back in the day.

While the characters were not very well explained in the book, the way Shakespeare had them speaking made you imagine what they could generally look like. Very vague character descriptions were used probably to ease the burden of finding an actor for the part. That way you could find a good actor and not worry what they looked like.

Julius Caesar is another of the books that are part of the big list of "classics". Everyone reads them eventually, and you usually have to like them or everyone thinks you're weird. Julius Caesar was actually a fairly good book though. Even though I'm not a fan of Shakespeare, I moderately enjoyed this book. The writing style is the one thing that will keep many people away form this book though, as it is extremely hard to understand at times. Other than that, the book is alright.

209 pages

Book review for Glorious Appearing

"We've only got a thousand years."

These were the words of Rayford Steele talking to his son after all of the believers were reunited together after the Glorious Appearing. By a thousand years, Rayford was talking about the millennial kingdom that Christ had set up on Earth. During the final chapter of the Left Behind series, the Antichrist begins his assault with his seemingly invincible army, and set out conquering Jerusalem and the other believers. At least until Christ appears with his heavenly army and defeats them. LaHaye and Jenkins' Glorious Appearing was a great end to the series, full of action and triumph of good over evil. The end of the world won't be so bad.

Glorious Appearing is another great entry into the series and, to me, had the best plot. The plot mainly consists of the Jewish Remnant and the Tribulation Force, with only one original member remaining, struggling to hold the Antichrist's forces back until Jesus returns. The believers seem overwhelmed, but riding down from the clouds comes Jesus and his army of angels. From then on it is mainly a slaughter, as Jesus speaks the Word of God, and Antichrist's being torn apart like being slashed with a sword. Maybe I like the action more than anything but the parts like that were my favorite parts.

The characters in this book were also another of the best parts. While several characters who played minor roles in the past, like Razor and Naomi, get to fill bigger roles, the biggest additions are Jesus, his archangels Michael and Gabriel, and the Angels of Mercy. The book does a good job describing them to how we maybe would see them or at least the best way the Bible describes them. The way their dialogue is written seems to make me think of respect and admiration to them, but I guess that's what anyone would give the son of God.

Just like the other books in the Left Behind series, Glorious Appearing is an extremely well written book, capable of holding you and getting you to keep reading. The book is a good way to end the series and is another of my favorites in the series. I fully recommend this series to anyone who likes a good book.

399 pages

Book Review for Armageddon

"He was unarmed, falling, and mortally wounded. And the enemy was coming." These were the thoughts of Buck Williams, shortly after the Global Community Unity Army launched their first assault on Jerusalem. As the Tribulation is nearing its conclusion, Nicolae Carpathia has began the biggest military operation in the history of mankind, all as a last ditch effort to wipe the believers of God off the face of the Earth. All of the remaining Tribulation Force members, now numbering in the hundreds, are in Petra, the temporary home of the Jewish Remnant, preparing to defend against the Antichrist's assault and the Glorious Appearing of Christ. Lahaye and Jenkins' Armageddon is a very interesting climax to the Left Behind series, and, in my opinion, was one of the best so far. Maybe that's because I like the action parts in books the best but maybe not.

Like the rest of the books in the Left Behind series, the setting is one of the best parts of the book. The authors portray the end of the world with such great detail that you can very easily see the Israeli desert with the Antichrist's army waiting to begin their assault. The Bible says that the army will be as numbered as the sands of the world, and the author does a great job of letting you know just how big this army actually is. Reading a good book should be like watching a movie and that's how I felt through out my reading of Armageddon.

A theme from this book that is very easy to discern is that everyone should be saved. The judgements from God and the frustration of being part of the largest army in history, but still losing to a few million people are just the beginning of the troubles the supporters of Antichrist have to deal with. And then there's the whole business about burning in hell for eternity, so it's not a good situation any way you look at it. I'm glad I'm saved.

The most obvious connection that you can make from this book, in fact the whole series, is its connection to the Bible. I know this is a big duh, but some people may not realize that. The story in the Bible is basically the same story that is in this book, just with out the characters and everything being explained in great detail. The Bible liked metaphors and similes, so this is a little easier to understand.

All in all, like the last book I reviewed from the Left Behind series, I thoroughly recommend this to anyone who wants a good read. People are sometimes turned off by religious books, but this is a good book whether you know the Good Book or not. See what I did there? Clever, huh?

395 pages

What makes a leader a true leader

In this blog post, I'm supposed to talk about what I think makes a leader, I guess of any kind, a true leader. So, here we go.

What comes to mind whenever I think about leaders is probably the typical generalization. To me, a leader needs to be able to speak with many people, convince them all to follow his view on a certain topic, and then to guide them to act on his plans. While many people are considered leaders, for example preachers, teachers, coaches, and political leaders, and are able to do many great things with their authority, their are every once in a while people who abuse that power to accomplish things that shouldn't have been accomplished, like Hitler, who thought that the mass murdering of several million people was the only way to gain world dominance and recognition. This was before reality television, so I guess that's all he thought he could do.

I guess that the test of a true leader is to see what the leader will do with the power once he obtains it. There are those among us that probably don't need power over anything or they will go crazy trying to get more.

Well those are my thoughts. Tune in next time for another (hopefully) exciting glimpse into our strange little world and what I think about it.

Choose a topic

For this post, we get to choose what we get to right about. Most people would choose to right about an off the wall subject or just about randomness in general. But I am not most people. I will write a well thought out, structured thesis about a very important life altering subject.

Ha Ha Ha, I crack myself up sometimes. No, I will be doing my blog post on music, asking some tough questions that I have thought of and maybe even answering a few of them myself.

Are the Rolling Stones going to be around forever? I, along with many other music fans around the world, hope so, and I believe they may be. While not the best thing in the world to do, the Stones have been major partiers since the sixties, and I think the only effect that has had on them is to pickle them. To preserve them or make them sour, either way, they will probably be here a while.

This may be the most difficult question in the entire music world but here it goes: did Elvis, Tupac, and Michael Jackson really die or are they really everywhere in the world? I'm afraid not even I know the answer to this. The papers and television said they did, and we should believe them because they always tell the truth. I don't know what fantasy world that would be true in, but not in this one. I don't know and I'm sure we never will know.

There are my stupid questions for you to ponder on and I'm sorry if everyone thinks I'm a doofus now, but oh well. One last thing, Chuck Norris isn't as high and mighty as everyone thinks he is. There is one man who has bested him: Bruce Lee. Yeah Bruce Lee is better than Chuck Norris. I said it. What are you gonna do about it?

Being Thankful

As Thanksgiving rolls by, with Christmas hot on its heels, sometimes it's just good to be thankful for what we have. I know that is hard to do most of the time, with everybody wanting to get the newest and biggest whatever most of the time, but it is possible to do. For your enjoyment, and to get the points for this assignment, here is a top ten list of the things I am thankful for.

1. Family
2. Good home
3. Good school
4. Food
5. Water
6. Air
7. My guitar
8. Athletic ability
9. Music ability
10. Intelligence( Not only my own but also for the intelligence of others. I mean, who wants to have to deal with a bunch of morons all the time?)

Well there is my list. Read it, scan it, do whatever you wish to do with it.

7 Habits of Effective Teens

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey is your typical self-help book, just directed at teens, and is a little more entertaining. In the book, Sean Covey talks about-get ready for the shocker- seven habits that will help teens to succeed. Crazy right?

The habit that I thought about that I really needed to work on was Habit 2- Keep the end in Mind. I am not good with time or school or any combination of the two. Usually, I'm busy with something other than the project I should be working on, at least until a few nights before the project or paper is due. Then, I scramble and stress to get everything done. Especially during basketball season, time is a precious commodity. If I learned to manage time better then maybe I wouldn't have to work so hard all the time. I probably won't be able to learn that cause I won't have the time, but I can manage.

From the whole book, my favorite habit was the seventh habit, the sharpen the saw. It basically says to try your hardest in school and all of the extra stuff you do, but to also just put on the breaks and relax sometimes. Everyone likes to relax, so that's the best habit. Just not to much. I'm easily distracted, and may goof to much, but I enjoy any breaks we get from school. I'm a nerd, but even a nerd needs a break every once in a while.

This book was a decent book, but I don't really like self-help books that much. I don't like anyone telling me that I'm doing anything wrong, but I just take it and let it go. If you won't to become more effective as a teen, then I guess this is the book for you. Have fun with it.

Troubles of a musician

I'll just tell everyone up front that, if you have never had to restring a guitar, it is a pain in the butt. Just one little mistake can ruin an enitire set of strings, and then you're out the money for the strings and the fifteen minutes that it took to string them. And then the worst part is when the strings are put on wrong, and they mess up the neck, creating buzzing spots and an uneven fretboard.
If you're a famous musician who has roadies to do all of this for you, I guess you visited my blog for nothing. On the other hand, if you are like me and have to do all of this yourself, I've come up with a short list of steps that can be a big help.

1. Always buy good quality strings. Not the cheapo dollar kind that you can get at Walmart. Usually a major name brand like Ernie Ball or GHS will do the trick.
2. Have a good work area to begin restringing. An area where you have to get in an uncomfortable position ( like the kitchen table, especially when your mom is trying to cook dinner, and yelling at you for getting your guitar in the potatoes) is not the best place to work, causing you to rush and maybe make a costly mistake.
3. Leave enough string on, so if you mess up you can do a retry. The companies who made these strings knew what they were doing when they made the strings. A good rule my guitar teacher told me to follow is to go about three to four tuners up and that should be good.
4. When stringing, give the string a little slack and keep a firm hold on it to keep the string from winding to quick. The more times the tuners go around the better the string will sound due to resonance and tension. No one wants loose strings right?
5. Safety first. You, as the reader may be thinking, "Man, how could restringing a guitar be so dangerous?" Well, sharp fine wire, a lot of tension, and bending over the area where you are stringing and cutting, could turn from a easy project to learning to wear an eye patch. You may look more like a pirate after, if that's what you want, but I think if God put something on our bodies, it needs to stay there. Wearing safety glasses can help with this.
6. Make sure your guitar is in tune. This is one of the most redundant statements I will make, but is the most important. Just stringing the guitar is only half the battle. Then the fun of trying to get the guitar in tune begins. If you have to play a concert and need new strings, I would suggest putting them on at least a week before (unless you are at the gig and a string breaks; in that case just slap on the new ones and go).

These simple rules have served me well and hopefully you too. Until I get my fame and fortune from music, I'll be stuck doing all this to, so just know you are not alone. Also be sure to remember to tell everyone in several years that the legendary Chris Elms taught you via blog how to string a guitar. Hey, it could happen.

Book review for Mutation

"Somehow she would have to face this last demon child, and with Joe's help, end forever the nightmare that her husband had begun."

These were the words of Marsha Frank, thinking of the experiment that her husband, Frank, had done at his laboratory, that had caused her son, along with several other children to become geniuses. Unfortunately, this also caused them to become so smart that the children were able to realize how much they could accomplish, and they would take out anybody who tried to get in their way. Mutation is the story of what happens to the Franks when they bring home their new baby, whom they call VJ, after his father Victor Sr., and the events that happen during the next few years. After the death of the Frank's first child, David, and their maid, the Frank's life seems to settle down for a time, until many seemingly unconnected events begin occurring. Mutation captivated me with its realism and also scared me as I thought about how, with all the advancements in technology, this story could actually happen.

In Mutation, the characters are easily one of the best parts of the book. Each character has their own unique personality, and the way they interact with each other is extremely believable. VJ has all of the air of an evil genius around him, his father acts like the proud father that every father would act like if his son was a genius, and his mother is uncomfortable with certain aspects of VJ's behavior, just the way he acts and how he seems to have no emotion. All of these aspects give the reader clues often times to the way the story may be going or what may happen next. The way the author has the reader watching the parents as they find out more about VJ, and the different ways they react to what they discover, gives the book an air of mystery. I found myself not liking VJ and being a little creeped out by him and his plans for science. An author who can actually elicit emotional responses from the reader shows a good author, in my opinion.

A theme from this book that I interpreted was that, even though we may have the ability to alter and modify the human body to how we think it should be, should we? This issue has affected the lawmaking system many times and this book shows how doing this could affect the humanity of a person. This book could very well come true, and unlike the sci fi stories people read and then go and report seeing aliens in their backyard, the situation in Mutation could very well happen. It really makes the reader think, and some people may disagree with me but I think that some of the best books that I've ever read have made me think other than the time that I've been reading the book.

In conclusion, if you like a well written book that will make you think or if you are a biology nerd like me who wants to read an entertaining book, Mutation is a good choice. This book will keep the reader interested and entertained throughout the book. As the saying goes, "This will keep the midnight oil burning", or electricity or whatever you may use to make light to read by. If Mutation is put on your to read list, I doubt that you will be disappointed by it.

338 pages

Book Review for The Mark

"But Nicolae Carpathia was evil personified, and the next day Buck would be in the line of fire when the battle of the ages between good and evil for the very souls of men and women would burst from the heavens, and all hell would break lose on Earth."

These are the thoughts of Buck Williams as he is in Jerusalem during the Great Tribulation after the Rapture, told in the book of Revelations in the Bible. Buck is one of the believers who is in hiding from the forces of the Antichrist, and is in Jerusalem waiting to witness the desecration of the temple in Jerusalem by the Antichrist. Buck, along with Rayford Steele and his daughter, and Buck's wife, Chloe, are the leaders of an underground organization called the Tribulation Force, who work to help other believers and do as much damage to Nicolae Carpathia's, also known as the Antichrist, regime. The Mark begins shortly after Carpathia is resurrected and is indwelt with the devil, and deals with many of the events that come to pass after he is resurrected and decrees that every citizen of the Global Community, the world order set up by Carpathia, must receive a mark of loyalty, like it says in the Bible. Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins' The Mark is a very good book, painting an extremely realistic picture of how the world would be in the time after the Rapture. The situations the characters go through could easily happen tomorrow and will make the reader wonder what they would do in a situation like this.



The setting is a major factor of the book, and helps the book to become very believable. From the safe house of the Tribulation Force in war ravaged Chicago to the eerie details of the Global Community mark application sites, the environment is always very well thought out and fits the time and location in history perfectly. One page of the book may be at the Global Community headquarters in New Babylon and a couple of pages over, the view will switch to the safe house in Chicago. The authors did a great job of showing the reader how the actions of someone in one corner of the world may affect someone else in a completely different location. The setting helps to tie the whole book together and show how the world will be during this period of history.


The characters are also another aspect of book that I thought the authors did a great job on. Carpathia just makes you disgusted with the way he rules the world, especially during his speeches when he tells the public what he wants them to hear, but the reader knows that he actually caused the disaster to happen. As the main characters in the Tribulation Force go about on their missions, the reader just can't help but root for them to succeed and get home safely. The character dramatics are what help to make this book just so realistic, like actually reading the real account of someone who went through this. The way the characters contrast and still have everyday problems, like uncertainty and fear, that people go through everyday, even without a mission from God, and how they manage to get through them, shows how deeply the authors thought about the characters before creating them. Poor character choices or uninteresting characters are often why books lose the readers interest, but The Mark has plenty of characters to entertain the reader.


Number eight in the Left Behind series, The Mark is another great book in a series that seems to get better with each book. Full of terrifying realism, apocalyptic scenes, and an engaging storyline, The Mark will keep the reader hooked on the book and wanting more. My only advice though is to read the first seven books first. This one won't make as much sense as it should if you choose not to read them beforehand. Other than this one hitch, this is a good read.

381 pages

Book review for The Time Machine

"Nature never appeals to intelligence until habit and instinct are useless."

This was the time traveller's assessment of the people of the future, the Eloi. He was describing how the Eloi seemed to have lost all of their intelligence as time went on and are now ignorant and dependent on the Morlock people for their needs. This book describes the time traveller's visit to the year 802,701 A.D., but, unlike most stories about a character visiting the future, I found the time machine an extremely uneventful book. This book is a good read, full of great descriptions of the future world, but most of the book was spent with the time traveller just marvelling at the scenery. H.G. Wells The Time Machine may be considered a classic, and it is still a good book, just, as advice, don't go into the book expecting cliffhanging action.

Throughout The Time Machine, a major theme of the book is the time traveller's desire to get home and the plans he comes up with to return home. Shortly after the time traveller arrives in 802, 701 A.D., his time machine is placed into a large compartment in the pedestal underneath a statue of a sphinx, and he discovers that he can not get into the pedestal. This sends him on a crazed, determined spiral to try to get into the pedestal. Once he discovers he can't get into the pedestal, he decides to go and find the Morlocks, who he believes put his machine in there, to have them get it back out. He travels to several places, including an ancient museum, looking for something to use against the Morlocks, but he only finds matches and cephalocor. The time traveller uses the matches and cephalocor to start a fire to protect himself and his companion, Weena, from the Morlocks, but only succeeds in starting a forest fire. The threat of the fire though does get the Morlocks to open the pedestal, revealing the time machine, but it is only a trick to get the time traveller alone, in the dark, where the Morlocks will be able to capture him. The time traveller manages to escape them, though, and makes his way back to his own time. I just really don't understand though why the time traveller went to all of the trouble to make a time machine if when he travelled time, all he wanted to do as soon as he got there was to want to come back. Maybe it's the fear of the unknown, but I'm not sure.

The one aspect of the book that I found that the author did an extremely good job on was the setting of the story. As the author describes a building, it's almost like looking at the building through the author's eyes. Vivid descriptive words describe the landscape of the book, allowing a picture of the author's world to be painted in the mind. The people, from the small, diminutive Eloi to the near blind, apelike Morlocks, are also very diverse and each have their own specific personalities and traits that make them similar to people today and, at the same time, different from them. H.G. Wells' ability to provide a descriptive, vivid landscape and characters is second to none, and, in my opinion, is one of the highlights of the book.

The characters of The Time Machine are very diverse, with the stereotypical characters such as the skeptical doctor and the newspaper editor always looking for a big story, all the way to the people of the future, the Eloi and the Morlocks. The Eloi and the Morlocks symbolized the social and economical status of England during the time of Wells's life, with the Eloi symbolizing the rich,who live above ground and benefit from the working class, and the Morlocks symbolizing the workers, living underground, forced to provide for the Eloi. This showed how Wells tried to alert people about the unfairness of this system and showed how people were never going to be able to escape from it, even in a seemingly perfect society. This aspect of the characters hints that Wells was a very observant thinker and was trying to combat this way of life for society, showing them how the Eloi eventually began to fear the Morlocks and loocked themselves inside their shelters at night, scared of an attack. The way Well's described the Eloi's fear and by allowing the time traveller to discover why they feared them, showing how society had crumble was almost like a warning to them. Only good characters make you think about a subject like this, in this deep of a level.

Considered a literary classic, The Time Machine is one of the books that nearly everyone has read, and I expected a very well written book, full of action and adventure. A well written book was what I discovered, but the book was lacking eventful action and wasn't as entertaining as I expected. Maybe I interpreted the book a different way than other readers have usually interpreted it, or I'm just hard to impress, but The Time Machine was not as good as I thought it would be. Nevertheless, this is still a good book, and an interesting look at what the future may have in store for humanity.

83 pages

Book review for Clapton: the Autobiography (328 pages)

"I had no desire for fame or recognition; I just needed to make the best music I could, with the tools I had."
These were the words of Eric Clapton, as he was speaking of his career in music. During his long and successful career, Clapton has experienced the ups and downs of fame, and managed to come out the other side alive. Eric Clapton's Clapton: The Autobiography is an extremely in-depth look past the music and allows the reader to see the true Eric Clapton.
Eric Clapton, in my opinion, is an extremely fortunate man, and is lucky to be alive. A major theme of this book is how Clapton overcame several types of addictions and how he tries to help others with the problems he overcame. Alcohol, cocaine, and heroin troubled Clapton throughout his career and nearly ended his life on several occasions. Car crashes and bad encounters with other addicts were just a few of the situations he had been in. His addictions were also, unfortunately, what caused many of Clapton's most famous bands to break up, including Cream, and Derek and the Dominoes. After reading this book, no one should ever want to drink or take drugs, based on many of Clapton's mistakes while he was taking them.
As the book progresses, the evolution of Clapton from a young kid in Ripley, England to the world-famous guitarist he's known as today, shows how his childhood affected his music and other aspects of his life. From his illegitimate birth in 1945 to the discovery of who his real parents are, accounted for many of Clapton's social problems and his music. Clapton used music as an escape route from this life he had and forged on to become the best musician in London. With his reputation established, he set off on new quests, and, before long, became one of rock's greatest guitarists. Clapton's drive and determination throughout his life is very inspiring, and shows that anything is possible.
The one aspect of Clapton that made me want to read this book the most was the music he has made. In John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Cream, Derek and the Dominoes, and as a solo artist, Clapton has managed to capture the imagination of more musicians, arguably, than any other guitarist before or after himself. Throughout classics like "Layla", "Sunshine of Your Love", and "All Your Love", Clapton's pioneering guitar playing turned an entire generation to the blues music Clapton loved so much, and turned these songs, along with many others, into rock standards. The back-story behind these songs, and more, are revealed in his autobiography.
In conclusion, I give this book my full recommendation to anyone who enjoys Clapton's music. The book is a revealing look inside the man who brought us so much timeless, classic music.

This is the first blog I have to do for my English class, and I have to pick a topic from my writers notebook to blog about. I have decided to blog about what would happen if there were no more television in the world.

If television just disappeared one day, I think there would probably be chaos for a small period of time, but everyone in the world would eventually get used to not having television. There would be the initial shock of it disappearing, and news would travel much slower, but it would not cripple the world, as some may think. People would actually start going outside more often, instead of watching the same shows on television they have seen several times. If I had to guess, the problem of many people being overweight would get much better if the main source of entertainment for people around the world disappeared.

A down side of this though could also be that news wouldn't travel as fast as it does today. Every time something big happens, several television stations are always there, reporting on it. Without that exposure, an area that is a disaster zone may not be closed off to the public, and more people may go in the area, making a bad situation even worse.

With any luck, however, we hopefully won't have to worry about this problem.