Star Trek 2 Into Darkness Trailer

I was nervous when I first heard that J.J. Abrams was releasing a second Star Trek movie. The first was god, but I wasn't sure how they were going to expand off it. As said in this article, it looks "Terrific and Apocalyptically Dark." Apocalyptically Dark!

I am very hopeful about the second movie, and I hope it's as good as the first trailer.

Here's a link to the trailer:

http://gizmodo.com/5966161/

Hobbit Release Soon!

With only one week until The Hobbit is officially released, there are a few questions that are left unanswered. For one, how is Peter Jackson going to be able to split a 270 page book into a three part movie? By looking at the trailer, it shows up to the part where they are captured by the goblins (1:10 into the trailer), which is well over 100 pages into the book. My theory is that many things will be added to the story did not occur in the book, especially towards the end of the story.

I want to hear what you think they are going to do.

Red Sox Winter Moves

     Over the Winter Meetings The Red Sox have made some aggressive and well needed signings. After signing a mediocre outfielder, Jonny Gomes with a .266 BA with 18 HR and 47 RBI's, Sox fans needed something else, and oh did we get it.
     All-Star catcher for The Texas Rangers Mike Napoli is projected to feel at home at Boston. And as long as he performs the way we expect, fans will welcome him warmly. Although only receiving a .277 BA, 24 HR and 56 RBI's, Napoli's behind the plate work is what has impressed most. And since before Jason Varitek retired from the game, The Red Sox have needed a consistent batter and catcher. Let's hope that's what The Sox get.
     Shane Vioctorino formerly of The Los Angelos Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies is the other pick-up The Red Sox received. Victorino has been a consistent lead off man and a speedy outfielder.. The Sox needed another outfielder because of their reputation of injuries. And after Jacoby Ellsbury injury filled past two seasons, The Sox need a fielder that they can count on. The projected first 5 men in the Sox line-up is Ellsbury, Victorino, Pedroia, Ortiz, Napoli, with Middlebrooks, Gomes and Saltalamachia to fill the bottom of the card. I feel good about these signings, but with a newly stacked Blue Jays to add to the mix, as well as as rebounding Yankees, Rays and Orioles, I can't rely on my own word.

Life of Pi (The Movie)

No, I have not read the book...yet. I know, I know I need to read it. And now after seeing the movie I understand why. The story takes place in modern day India following the Patel family, mainly focusing on the youngest son, Piscine. As a young boy, Piscine developed a nick-name, "Pissing." At school he got called Pissing so often that even the teachers start calling him it. So he developed his own nick-name, "Pi."
        As a teenager Pi gets an unexpected message from his parents. "We are leaving India." They left on a Japanese boat filled with other passengers and zoo animals. A loud, abrupt, and severe storm hit the ocean and only he a Zebra, an Orangutan, a Hyena and a Bengal Tiger on a life boat survive. How long will he survive with almost nothing?

Here is the trailer:

Earth Unaware

A "short" story in addition to the Ender's Game saga, Earth Unaware takes place during The First Formic War. This book follows a boy named Victor Delgado on a ship on El Cavador in the Kuiper Belt, a mining ship with a big family trying to make money. Through the "Eye" a way of seeing where ships, and asteroids are in space, one of the ship members sees a mysterious unidentifiable object deep in space, coming faster than humanly possible at that time. When it got closes enough they discover it's an alien species directly towards Earth...

What I Liked About It:
It is faster moving than most of the other Ender's Game books, and more fun to read because it takes place in a different time period than most of the other books. It also switched between three different characters, which makes it very different.

What I Didn't Like It:
Like I said, it mostly focus's on Victor, but it does switch to 2 other characters rarely. I do wish they expanded more on the other 2 characters also.

Ready Player One

Set in the future, Ready Player One is a Sci-Fi/Fantasy geek adventure. As technology advances with time, the enviornment is horrible, and for some, living in the real world unbearable.This is where OASIS comes in. OASIS is a video game-no, more like a virtual galaxy. A player uses a visor of their head and then use there mouth and movements to control their character. Overtime the game became wildly popular and most everybody that could, played it. But when it's creator dies, he leaves a quest in his will, and whoever completes the very difficult quest first, earns his fortune of billions of dollars.Let the games begin.

What I Liked About It:
 I usually don't tend to read geeky computer/video game novels but this one really stuck out. It seemed much more than a fantasy world, since it included all of the events and games that we have today. Also, the creativity of the author, Ernest Cline, is so imaginative which makes it very fun.

What I Didn't Like About It:

The only thing that made it confusing, was since I didn't know all of the video games, movies, and TV that were mentioned. But I easily figured it out.

Calico Joe

Though in the book it changes perspective, the main character of this book, is a young man named Joe Castle. A young phenom to the baseball world. In one point you listen to his experience being the new kid, and what it's like to go through the majors and have everybody looking at you.The other main character is Paul Tracey, son of Warren Tracey an MLB pitcher for The New York Mets. Warren is not a good pitcher, and he is not fun to have around. Especially after he loses.The book has many emotions, including, joy, heartbreak, and relief.

What I Liked About The Book:

I liked how even though Joe Castle is a fictional character, he plays with real stars of that era. Also, I really enjoy Grisham's style of writing. He really draws in as a reader and you never get bored. (I read the book in 2 days)

What I Didn't Like About The Book:

There wasn't anything I didn't like.

Theo Boone 3

The third and newest Theodore Boone book is full of drama. On a Monday an Electronics store was broken into and robbed of some tablets, phones, and Ipods. The police were still looking for a suspect. After Theo routinely parked his bike in the bike rack outside the school, one of his bike tires was slashed for the first time. This would end up happening three times in one week Also, the police received an anonymous that said to look inside Theo's locker, and they would find some of the stolen good. The police did so, and guess what they found.Would he be found guilty or innocent?

What I Liked About The Book:

In my opinion this is the best book in the series;. The reason behind this is because of how involved the main character in the book is. You never know what was gonna happen!

What I Didn't Like About The Book:

Like The Abduction there was one chapter that really had nothing tho do with the story. Besides that I loved it.

Theo Boone 2

The first Theodore Boone book is about the trial of Pete Duffy. It is a murder case, and so it is the talk to Strattenburg. The rumor, and The State's case is that while Pete Duffy was playing gold at the nearby golf course in Waverly Creek, (Where he lives) he drove his cart to his house (Which is on the 6th hole) and murdered his wife. Mr. and Mrs. Duffy had been separated once, and recently were determined to work out there problems. The thing is, Mrs. Duffy had life insurance policy, so if she died, Pete would get 1 million dollars.

What I Liked About The Book:

I love the legal/criminal aspect to the story. Because of this I learned a lot more about the leagal system and how things work inside a courtroom.

What I Didn't Like About The Book:

Compared to the other 2 books in this series, this was my least favorite. In the others Theo was involved in case, one way or another. Having him be separate from the action made it a little less intense.

Theodore Boone

Every time I was spotted reading this book, an adult would ask me, "John Grisham wrote a kids book?!?" And my answer was always the same. "Yes. He did write a kids book. Well actually 3" (so far). Pretty good ones, too.

Theo Boone and April Finnemore had been going to school together for a long time, and were very close friends. And Theo was one of the only friends that April had. Most night s the would talk for hours. Mostly April would tell Theo about how horrible her parents are. That was the case for this night in particular. This time, her dad was on tour with his god-awful band named Plunder, and no one had seen her mom for 3 months. This was a recurring theme and April was used to it. After Theo and her talked, they went to bed. Next thing Theo knows, he is being woken up by his parents, being told that April has been abducted, and they were going to drive to her house.

What I Liked About The Book:

I loved the mix of a fast paced mystery and a normal life of a 13 year old boy. Grisham's writing style also sucked me right into the story. I liked how it was easy and light, yet surprising and fun.

What I Didn't Like About It:

Occasionally there were that didn't seem related to the story-line, but that was a rare thing in the book. Besides that, I liked it!

The Son of Neptune

     The Son of Neptune started off, in the perspective of Percy Jackson. (The Lost Hero) When it starts he is in the middle of fleeing from two Gorgons chasing after him. But this is the least of his worries at the time. He remembers close to none of the last 16 years of his life.The only thing he remembers is a single name. Annabeth.On top of all of this he quickly finds himself at a strange place named Camp Jupiter, with weird ghosts calling Greek.

What I Like About The Book:

     For me, the books that I enjoy reading the most, are ast pace, action-y, fun stories. And those words fit the description of this book. I love how these books switch off between three characters, letting you get inside the heads of all the main stars. Also, who would love a flying warship??

What I Didn't Like:

     Like the first book, pages 100-200 are a little bit less face paced. But the reason of this is obviously. That section of the story is a set-up for some of the best endings of books I have ever read.

The Lost Hero

 

The Lost Hero is the first book to a prequel series that takes place directly after The Last Olympian ends. Throughout the book it switches off between three characters. Jason, Piper, and Leo. Three kids who were sent by their parents to The Wilderness School "Where The Kids Are The Animals". But there is one problem. Jason doesn't know who he is, where he came from, and why he is there. Throughout the book they go on a quest to save the world and return Jason's memory.

What I Liked About The Book:

Throughout the book it is fast moving, and never boring. Also, I really love how Greek mythology is involved so heavily. I also love the style of writing that Rick Riordan has.

What I Didn't Liked About The Book:

There was only one thing I didn't especially enjoy. In the beginning of most chapters, you are inside the characters dreams. At first it was really cool, but as it was repeated it occasionally got boring.                                           

Gregor

When Gregor (12) and boots (3) fall through a grate in there laundry, their lives will change forever. After falling and falling they land in "The underworld", a place of no sunlight and people with very pale skin. There are many spinners (spiders), gnawers (rats) crawlers (coackroaches) all over the place. And the rats are the bad guys. Gregor soon learned that he is the "warrior in an old prophecy, and must go and fight off gnawers.

What I liked:

It was an easy read, and always filled with imagination and action. The character of Boots was really great, and  it was fun to hear her talk throughout the book.

What I didn't like:

It is very cliche nd i felt like I could predict everything that happened in it. It was Suzanne Collins first novel, and I hear the others in this series are better, but it wasn't very difficult to read.

Shadows in Flight

It's a new life for Bean and his three children in space. they are in isolation from the rest of the human race. not like any humans would know who they are, anyway. While they have only aged 6 years, the human race has aged 421 years. The only reason they are in space is the hope of the people on Earth to find a cure for Anton's Key. But as so much time passed, nobody on Earth is even working on the matter. Did I mention how brilliant the kids are? The Giant (Bean) is so weak that he spends all doing work from a room, because of his size. His daughter, Bella (nicknamed Carlotta) maintains the ship, Andrew (Ender) works on research for Anton's Key, and Cinncanatus (Sargeant) does...well I don't know what he does. Together they work on the ship and...bond?...I guess.

What I liked:

I liked the personalities of the kids, but I also like seeing Bean as a father figure. From every other book, he is the kid getting his hands dirty, and messing around. But he passed that baton on to his kids.

What I didn't like:

I didn't like how different it was. There was no war strategy, no politics, no nothin'! I understand they aren't on Earth, but those aspects was what I liked most.

Shadow of The Giant

Throughout this novel, chaos strikes everywhere. Petra and Bean go try to find their "babies" who were taken to other families. I put quotes around babies because these are more than just regular children at that age. From the results of Bean getting genetically modified as a baby, he will never physically stop growing. The down side to this is that as he gets to be HUGE the Earth's gravity will pull so much force on him that he will die at a very young age, but since he never stops growing, his brain continues to get larger and larger making him smarter than anyone else. Back to the "babies", Bean and Petra tracked down all of the babies who were lost and given to other parents. After determining which one of the babies had Anton's Key passed down genetically, Bean and Petra had to make a tough decision. Take Bean and the other Anton's Key babies to space at near light speed in hope of finding a cure, or stay on Earth and die at the age of 20. They decide to go to space, and because of how fast they are going, Earth is aging 85 times faster than they are.

What I like:

I liked the emotions flowing throughout the whole book. There were many places in the story that had me wondering what was going to happen. I also like the ending. Yes, it made me cry but it was the most intense ending to a book I have ever read,

Shadow Puppets

The third book in the "Ender's Shadow" series was my favorite so far. It is so cool to watch the characters get older and change personalities. Since Bean learned he had "Anton's Key" that's really all he thinks about. I mean, if I had it that's what I would think about.

Since the Formics were destroyed by Ender, the battle school kids go back to an Earth in turmoil. China and Russia are trying to take over surrounding countries, and Ender's "Jeesh" have to stop it from happening.

What I liked about it:

The books in the series are not always full of action, but they're never boring. They are full of battle strategy and I love the characters. I won't give away anything but the ending was the best part.

What I don't like:

Sometimes in the story I don't know what they are talking about. For Example "Caliph." I never knew what that meant but after reading about it for a while i figured it out. It's also good to have someone in your class reading them too.

Growing up in Coal Country

Like I wrote in my last review, I researched a man named Lewis Hine. This book isn't directly related to him, but it was still about child labor. "Growing up in Coal Country is a book about the coal mines across America that children worked in. There were two places the kids worked, "The Breaker" and the mines themselves. In the breaker, the kids would sit on stiff wooden benches with no back, picking out slate from coal on a moving conveyor belt. If a kid fell into the moving belt, they could easily get strangled and die. In the mine, the older boys had many jobs; Gatekeepers, Mule Drivers, Spraggers and "Butty's" A "Butty" is related to the word "Buddy." The "Butty's" would help the miners carry their equipment and most of all keep them company. Working in the mines caused many tragic stories and horrible conditions for children.

What I liked about it:

I liked the realness about it and how it told all the facts from the workers stand-point. Learning about life in the mines was sad, but full of important facts.

What I didn't like:

I didn't like the tragic stories of cave-ins, and fires and horrible deaths. Just taking a break and realizing "This actually happened!" was startling.

Kids at Work

I recently did a school report on a man named Lewis Hine. He was a photographer from the late 1800's- to the early 1900's. His more memorable photo's were of the Empire State Building during construction, but the most meaningful one's, are of child labor. After college he became very interested and disgusted in child labor and he felt that someone needed to end it. So, he would travel all around the country to coal mines, glass blowing workshops, the streets of NYC, textile mills and cotton fields risking his own life so others would be better. As you can imagine the bosses of these factories, or mills, etc. didn't want citizens of America to know about the terrible working conditions, so he wasn't allowed to take the photos. But, he always found a way in. One time he even posed as a fire inspector, so he could be let in. The more common ways were going before the bosses would get (early AM) or he would enter during the bosses lunch break.

What did I like about it?

I can't say that i "liked" anything really about it, just because what he photographed was horrible. The kids worked 13 hour shifts 6 days a week! But I was very interested in everything. And it really showed (and scared) me what I and every other kid in America would have to go through if he didn't take the challenge of documenting this.

What I didn't like:

I didn't likehow horrible the bosses were. IN coal mines they wouldn't let the miners (or breaker boys) to wear gloves because they said it was "easier to tell the differnece between coal and slate." And how dumb, gullible and stupid the bosses were to let this happen to their next generation of kids.

Ender's Shadow

WOW! And I thought no book could compare to "Ender's Game"! This meandering storyline made me stay up late at night to read it. "Ender's Shadow" is a companion novel to "Ender's Game". It takes place at the same place and time, but it is in the perspective of Ender's right hand man, Bean. This short boy was named after his size. But it was definately not named after his intelligence. He is probably the second or maybe the smartest kid at Training School, and when he enters Ender's (Dragon) army. With Ender and Bean on the same army they blow up the scoreboards leaving every other army in the dust. Together they take on challenges, but can they save humanity?

What I Liked About It:

Like "Ender's Game" the kids are amazing. They may be 10 but they act and talk like they're a college professor. Also it amazes me how much humanity and the teachers at the school rely on these 7-12 year olds!

What I Didn't Like About It:

I really liked everything about this book but i guess i might be able to think of something...OH YEAH! The only thing I don't like about this book is Graff. He is a very important character in the book but I really don't like him as a character.

Fablehaven Five: Keys to the Demon Prison

With everything else going on, the Sphinx is on the loose and the Serenson crew doesn't know what to do. In the first book we meet the Sphinx as a wise, helpful leader, (Like Dumbledor) but as the stories go on the readers never really know what side he's on (Like Snape). Society of the Evening Star or The Knights of Dawn. As you learn in The fourth book, The Sphinx has control over the "All Seeing Eye," a powerful object that lets you see anywhere, anytime. But only a select few can actually use it. Luckily the Sphinx can't. In all of the secret preserves a secret item was placed years before in a place that no one knows. That's why the "All Seeing Eye" is important. In the last book of the Fablehaven series, the last secret item is up for grabs. And the final item may be the most important of them all. An amazing finale to series!

What I like:

Action, action, action. This series finale is full of it. Left and right, Kendra, Seth, Tanu, Warren, Grandma, Grangpa, and many others have to get of some sticky situations. In one part they travel to a preserve and they have to fight all these amazing mythotical creatures. SO AWESOME!

What I don't like:

In the beginning of the book Brandon Mull came up dry. Or maybe I just couldn't wait for them to fight Dragons, Demons, and everything in between,

Fablehaven Four: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary

This series never seems to disappoint me. Brandon Mull always knows how to keep me up late at night, wondering what's going to happen next. Without giving too much of the story away, I will tell you what the story line is. Kendra and Seth (brother and sister) return back to Fablehaven. But this time Grandpa and Grandma need them back. So lying to their parents, they escape. But, Kendra gets pricked by an EXTREMELY rare speices, a stingbulb. When one gets pricked by a stingbulb, the astonishing fruit creates an identical clone of the human it pricked. So, after Kendra mistakenlt gets pricked, the clone takes place of Kendra. Not to worry though, the clone only lives for a day or two. But while the look-a-like was living with Seth and everyone, she didn't act like Kendra. You see, the stingbulbs cloning abbilities can only do so much. The appearance of the clone is pin-point accurate, but the way it acts, not so much. The Serenson group eventually figures it out and all ends well...sort of. They have to steal many things, and sneak around places they shouldn't. Overall this book is a great read.

What I like about it:

I absolutely loved the fast pace of the book. Even though it is over 500 pages it go so fast that you can never tell when the climax is. It is the fourth book in the 5 book series so their should be good character developement, and there is. There are only few places in the book where I can predict what the Serenson kids are going to do.

What I didn't like about it:

Like I said earlier, the main characters have great personalities, but the other characters not so much. I found myself really only interested in a few of the other characters in the story. There was always things going in the story but, especially in this book there really wasn't that much action, compared with the other books.