Book review for The Child Thief

'Peter glanced up at the stars and a wicked smile lit his face. "Time to play," he whispered to the stars and winked. And the stars winked back, for Peter's smile is a most contagious thing.'

This phrase sums up a lot about Peter. Charismatic, not even meaning for people to follow him, but knowing exactly what he is doing. Wanting to play, but not many people survive playing with him. In Brom's The Child Thief, the classic story of Peter Pan and Neverland is turned on its head and given a dark makeover. This book retains several elements of the original story of Peter Pan, but I can almost guarantee that you will never look at it the same way again.

One part of the book that really captivated me was the setting. Peter's Neverland is replaced in the book with Avallach, a land of magic, populated by elves, trolls, and all manner of fairy tale creatures. The only difference between the two lands is the fact that Avallach is slowly dying and the magic is fading away. The author paints a disturbing picture of how the land is slowly losing its magic, and his descriptions are vivid and realistic. From the barren forests to the stormy coast and back, a mental picture is painted to show the land of Avallach.

The story was what really pushed me over the top on my opinion of this book. The author took the story of Peter Pan and changed it enough to put his own spin on it, but still have readers recognize the story. The story starts out by introducing two characters who will be important later on in the story, Nick and Cricket, before switching to Peter's point of view. Peter helps both of them to escape from their abusive situations and takes them to Avallach to join his small band of soldiers, the Devils. In Avallach, Peter and his group of fighters join forces with a group of renegade elves to combat the Flesh-eaters, led by the evil Captain. If you are not able to get that reference, then you probably need to leave the blog now and go watch Peter Pan. The story takes surprising twists and turns that startle the reader and add to the mystery of the story. The story of how Peter became the leader of the Devils and how he ended up in Avallach is also explained and creates a new mystique for Peter as a person.

All in all, I would recommend The Child Thief to anyone who enjoys the story of Peter Pan or a good book. Just be warned that you probably will never be able to watch the Disney movie again without thinking about this book. So, if that doesn't bother you, I say go for it.

476 pages

Persuasion

This blog post is supposed to be about persuasion, to tie into the literature unit we are going through now. Persuasion is everywhere, all over TV (many people usually watch the Super Bowl just for the commercials), magazines, the Internet, and even in movies (those carefully displayed but still hidden advertisements always seemed out of place to me). It is just impossible to avoid.

Persuasion is not really a technique I use very often. Often when I want something, I'll either buy it with money I have or I will wait until my birthday or Christmas. Most of the items that I receive, like my Stratocaster, my PS3, and my iPod, are rewards for good grades or Christmas. I don't do a lot of persuading to get things. I'm not a very persuasive person anyway, so it's probably better if I don't try. Everything works out better that way anyway.

Persuasion doesn't affect my life too much. I go with the flow of things usually, unless I think something isn't right. I'm also not one of those people who are watching TV at night and have to get up to go order some useless junk that I will not ever use. Not that there is anything wrong with people who do that, I'm just not an impulse buyer and don't see the point.

Well, there's my little opinion about persuasion. If you're reading this and don't agree that I am a persuasive person, please come and persuade me I am wrong.

Olympic Commitment

This blog post has to do a little with the Olympic games and a little with myself. The athletes who compete in the Olympics have a drive and an ability that takes years of practice, determination, and commitment that is matched by very few people in the world. This post has to do with the task that makes me want to commit to and to give my all to succeed in. The task that makes me want to do that is becoming a doctor.

To become a doctor, you have to put in nearly as much, or possibly more time, than the Olympians in their training. This makes sense though, because how many people want a doctor who put in the minimum time and effort to be their doctor? The same goes for the athletes. My uncle is a doctor, and has told me many times to do as much as I can now, and that may help to lessen my load in school slightly. Between college and med school, my uncle really didn't have time for much else. It may be hard at first, but eventually the rewards make up for the work.

Doctors are also thought of as the elite of society, usually, and the same is thought of the Olympic athletes. The glory of winning your event or of finally getting your diplomas are probably the best feelings in the world. Proving to yourself that you can do it can make anything worthwhile.

This is my commitment. Hopefully, just like all of the athletes wanting to compete, maybe my dream can come true and I can experience the fruits of my commitment.

Blog topic with bolded phraes and a link to another site

For my blog this time, I will get into another argument about music. My argument this time will be about how BB King is the greatest bluesman on the planet. This is not much of an argument, but, because there are people in the world who wouldn't agree with me, I'll give it a go anyway.

First of all, BB has influenced nearly every major guitarist that has came after him, from fellow blues legends like Buddy Guy and Stevie Ray Vaughan to rock legends like Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton. A quick look at Youtube will quickly prove this, because there are hundreds of videos of BB performing with the people he influenced, from the aformentioned to John Mayer and Robert Cray. His phrasing, licks, and trademark vibrato have become such an integrated part of soloing that it is hard not to hit a BB lick every once in a while. Just listen any modern blues or rock player and see if his influence is not there.

Along with his playing, BB has penned many of the greatest blues songs, including outright classics such as The Thrill is Gone, Payin' the Cost to Be the Boss, Sweet Little Angel, and Everyday I Have the Blues. These songs have been covered thousands of times by just about every blues and rock band in the world (Even John Mayer, who isn't readily associated with the blues, covered Everyday I Have the Blues on his albums Try! and Where the Light Is). From contemporaries to his fans, BB's songs are as big a part of the blues as his playing, maybe even more.

Well, there is my argument about BB King's greatness. They don't call him the King of the Blues just because it sounds cool. If you need to see another opinion, go to
http://www.bbking.com/bio/ to read more.

Book Review for I Am Legend

"I am legend."

These were the last words of Robert Neville, after he had survived through a horrifying plague that turned everyone in the world into blood-sucking zombies. Because we had to pick a book that had to do with taking a stand, I thought this book would be good to read, because I liked the Will Smith movie of the same name, but I was very surprised. The movie used their creative license very well because the book is very different form the movie. I will say this though, Richard Matheson's I Am Legend creeped me out completely with its startling realism and story. Also, this is not the book to read at night after everyone has gone to bed. Not the brightest thing I've done in a while.

The main theme that we had to look for in our book was the main character taking a stand. There were several in this book. The most obvious stand was Neville trying to stay alive and destroy the vampires that attacked him. So much prep was put into Neville's home to make it safe from the vampires that crowded around his house every night. Then Neville took things into his own hands by hunting down the vampires by day. Another stand that Neville took was against himself. Because he had been alone for nearly ten years, Neville was losing his mind slightly and would argue with himself often. One part of his mind wanted to just give up and die, while the other wanted to stay alive and fight. This was one of the bigger struggles Neville went through and was a major theme of the book.

The chilling realism of I Am Legend was another aspect of the book that kept me reading. With everything, including disease and science discoveries, it is easy to see how this book could actually happen. A worldwide plague that destroys humanity may be a little out there, but it could still happen.

The plot also helped to keep pushing the story forward. Throughout the book, Neville gets more and more caught up in trying to discover what caused the plague and how he could possibly cure the infected. With each discovery he makes, the cause of the disease becomes more clear, but Neville nearly loses his mind completely when he is trying to find a cure. It makes for a good story, hardly anything like the movie, but the story is really depressing.

As I said before, I Am Legend is a good book, but don't come looking for the movie in book form. As long as everyone knows that much, this is a pretty good read. Depressing, but good.

174 pages

A time when I took a stand

The time that I took a stand was not a very epic affair by any means. I'm a very boring person and I have no problem with admitting that. My stand basically consisted of getting a kid to just shut up and play during a soccer game. This was accomplished by me throwing the kid down the field. Literally.

We were in the Lakewood Tournament in Little Rock and were playing Russellville. They had a forward who, every time he came down, would end up coming at me and I would stop him. Instead of showing sportsmanship and going back up the field, he would end up repeatedly kicking me in the legs and knees. Finally, after I told the guy to knock it off, he turned to me and said, "What are you gonna do about it?"

In case no one knows, I had a volatile temper back in the day, and that dude just set me off. So as he turned to run back up the field, I grabbed the guy by his jersey, and then I slung him flat on his back and up the field, into the mud. When he jumped up, he looked back and I just raised my arms a little, hands up, in the traditional "You wanna go right now, son?" pose. Needless to say, he didn't. And whenever I get mad, I always seem to play better in any sport, so the ball never got past me the rest of the time I was in.

Well, that's my stand. Pretty pitiful that this is the only interesting thing that has happened to me in fifteen years of living. But, at least it got the assignment done.

Someone I respect taking a stand

Whenever people talk about taking a stand, my mind always goes to the story of King Leonidas, 300 Spartans, and a few hundred other Greek warriors taking a stand against the Persian empire. The Greeks didn't want to be under Persian rule, under the tyranny of King Xerxes, and they took a stand for Democracy, and for the rest of the world. The Spartans actually saved the entire western world, because the Persians probably wouldn't have stopped at just taking over Greece. They would have gone on to the rest of Europe and maybe even to America. Think about that and how this was probably the greatest stand of all time.

The Spartans stand was so impressive because of how badly the Spartans were outnumbered. There actually were more than 300 Spartans in the battle, mainly a few thousand Greek soldiers added to the Spartans forces, but when compared to the Persians estimated army of a quarter of a million, give or take a few, it doesn't make it look better. The Spartans had to have had a death wish or something because, if I saw a quarter of a million people coming at me wanting to kill me, I would hightail myself away from there. But to stand and fight, and take down quite a few of the Persians along the way, that is just beastly.

As I said before in the intro chunk of the blog, the Spartans helped to stop the Persians from conquering Greece and the rest of Europe. When the Persians conquered Greece, they probably would have gone on to the countries surrounding Greece, then Italy, then Spain, France, Germany, England...who knows how far they would've gotten? Everyone in America may have had a name like Xerxes or Achmed instead of Bob or Steve if Persia had been able to conquer America. But the Spartans held up the Persians so long and gave them enough trouble that the rest of Greece could unite and stop the invasion. Pretty impressive, huh?

The Spartans stand, not only being an impressive military event, but is also an example of why people stand up in the first place: to protect their homes and their families. That's what the Spartans were doing. They knew that if they waited until after the feast for the gods or whatever religious ceremony( I don't remember correctly), they would give the Persians time to set up a foothold on Greece and the whole nation would be doomed. The battle ended in the Spartans losing the battle, but Greece eventually won the war in triumph.

The Spartans took a stand and are now famous for it. Nearly everyone has heard of this stand thanks to the movie 300. While the actually battles probably weren't as dramatic as the movie made them to be( but how cool would it be to go in slow motion when you did something cool?), the basic theme was there. This was the greatest stand of all time, in my opinion.