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 The language used by the characters and the writing style were very outdated, but this was actually a book that was a decent read.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.