Dreams from my father is a (non-fiction) book by Barack Obama. It's about Obama's life story, written when he became a senator. It's pretty long, but it's a good book! I shall go on and
begin the
posting of larger sentences in the next paragraph. (Warning: No spoilers, because it's not fiction.) Boom:
The book starts with him being 21 years old, and just getting the news that his father died. He doesn't know exactly how much he lost because his father was more not there then there. He goes on to talk about how all the info he's gotten about him being from his grandparents and mother, and how he's barely seen him in person.
The next part is about him realizing how blatantly racist America is, and about his mother's second marriage with another man, and how moving to the separate area was different from what it was in Hawaii. He also talks about how quickly and dangerous it is to fall out of power. He also talks about previous life experiments.
The following part is about his teens and the clubs, groups, and his life in the gutter during the time period. He'd gotten drunk in the past, went on drugs, but managed to stop himself before getting addicted. He went and slowly pulled himself up, to the point where some friends talked about how boring he'd gotten.
The final part is how he managed to become part of a group and get some problems solved, but not enough and not fast enough. He also relates visits from his sister and cousin, both of which seem to have gone in separate tracks. He decides to visit his sister in Kenya, and learns about his father's life, how he himself got into the gutter and pulled himself up, and how he went on to become successful.
D-O-N-E.
Adventure Van, out.
Thursday, August 25, 2016
Monday, August 22, 2016
Book Report: The Book Thief
The Book Thief is a book by Markus Zusak. It's from Death's (Yup, Death.) perspective, where the reader followes Death's following of a girl named Liesel while she goes thru a large transformation in Holocaust Germany. It's saddening, dense, horrifying, but good. I will begin writing about it in the next section. (!Spoilers :Warning) Baddam Ching!:
The beginning is about Death, and the Book Thief's first book. After being introduced to Death, and his obsession with colors, we get shown the first time he sees Liesel. Her brother dies on the train bringing both the children to their foster parents. Death gets interested in the girl and watches her for a while. She, during the grave digging, sees a book fall out of the grave diggers pocket. She goes and grabs it.
The next part is about her beginning her next life with her new parents. Liesel refuses to get out of the car, then refuses to come inside. Eventually, she's coaxed inside, and she meets her two new parents, Hans and Rosa. She slowly gets used to life. She makes friends with Rudy, who seems obsessed with kissing her from the start. She also gets stuck with the goalie position in the kid's soccer group, but does a really good job with that anyway.
The following part is about her going back to school, and the second book stealing. She gets sent to the 'midget' class, but advances out quickly. Hans helps her learn how to read, and she gets better. Kids make fun of her, and she beats them up. She also attends a pro-Nazi burning, and steals a book that didn't fully burn. She feels like she was being watched, and realizes that she was. She figures out it was the mayor's wife, but she doesn't seem to know about it. However, she tells her about it later and shows her the largest library she ever saw.
The next part is about hiding a Jew in the house. Hans helps a son of a old friend be protected, and makes sure that Liesel never tells anyone about it. She talks with him, learns about him, and even brings snow inside for him. He gets deathly sick, however, and she brings trinkets from the outside world for him. However, once Hans helps a old man in a Concentration Parade, he gets worried about the safety of him and gives him a safe spot to hide in. But he decides he's been enough strain on them and leaves with a note.
The final part is about the bombs. She begins writing a book about her life, and writes it in the basement. She also gets reads more and more books, and steals one more as well. She and Rudy help each other out at stealing food. However, the bombs become a threat and they usually evacuate to a better basement. Unfortunately, during one night while almost everyone is sleeping, she is writing her book downstairs. A bomb hits, and everyone in the entire street is slain. She cries, and finally kisses Rudy's dead body.
The FINAL part is about after the bombs. She loses the book and Death picks it up. She moves in with the mayor and her wife, and after the war sees the Jew again. They meet up together. Time passes, and we go to when she dies married in Australia, and Death gives her back her book as she comes with him. It's a real sad story, and everyone dies at the end. Expect tears.
*Finishes sobbing and writes a little thing about being done here.*
Adventure Van, out.
The beginning is about Death, and the Book Thief's first book. After being introduced to Death, and his obsession with colors, we get shown the first time he sees Liesel. Her brother dies on the train bringing both the children to their foster parents. Death gets interested in the girl and watches her for a while. She, during the grave digging, sees a book fall out of the grave diggers pocket. She goes and grabs it.
The next part is about her beginning her next life with her new parents. Liesel refuses to get out of the car, then refuses to come inside. Eventually, she's coaxed inside, and she meets her two new parents, Hans and Rosa. She slowly gets used to life. She makes friends with Rudy, who seems obsessed with kissing her from the start. She also gets stuck with the goalie position in the kid's soccer group, but does a really good job with that anyway.
The following part is about her going back to school, and the second book stealing. She gets sent to the 'midget' class, but advances out quickly. Hans helps her learn how to read, and she gets better. Kids make fun of her, and she beats them up. She also attends a pro-Nazi burning, and steals a book that didn't fully burn. She feels like she was being watched, and realizes that she was. She figures out it was the mayor's wife, but she doesn't seem to know about it. However, she tells her about it later and shows her the largest library she ever saw.
The next part is about hiding a Jew in the house. Hans helps a son of a old friend be protected, and makes sure that Liesel never tells anyone about it. She talks with him, learns about him, and even brings snow inside for him. He gets deathly sick, however, and she brings trinkets from the outside world for him. However, once Hans helps a old man in a Concentration Parade, he gets worried about the safety of him and gives him a safe spot to hide in. But he decides he's been enough strain on them and leaves with a note.
The final part is about the bombs. She begins writing a book about her life, and writes it in the basement. She also gets reads more and more books, and steals one more as well. She and Rudy help each other out at stealing food. However, the bombs become a threat and they usually evacuate to a better basement. Unfortunately, during one night while almost everyone is sleeping, she is writing her book downstairs. A bomb hits, and everyone in the entire street is slain. She cries, and finally kisses Rudy's dead body.
The FINAL part is about after the bombs. She loses the book and Death picks it up. She moves in with the mayor and her wife, and after the war sees the Jew again. They meet up together. Time passes, and we go to when she dies married in Australia, and Death gives her back her book as she comes with him. It's a real sad story, and everyone dies at the end. Expect tears.
*Finishes sobbing and writes a little thing about being done here.*
Adventure Van, out.
Sunday, August 21, 2016
Book Report: Speaker for the Dead
Speaker for the Dead was a book by Orson Scott Card. It's from the third person view with thoughts from the perspective, where you follow Ender and some others while going thru a tense relationship with an alien species. It's slightly dense, but it's awesome. I shall go on and begin the
posting of larger sentences in the next paragraph. (Warning: Spoilers! !sreliopS) Boom:
The first part is about Pipo's friendship with one of the main characters. Pipo was a Xenologer, who studied the other civilized aliens nicknamed 'piggies'. He goes, talks to them regularly, and then one day he goes and gives the test to become a Xenobiologist to a girl named Novinha. After a long period of working together, Novinha discovers something, and Pipo sees something in it and leaves without telling her what. She and Pipo's son, Libo, find him dead with his chest open and the organs moved around.
The second part is Ender's entering of the planet. Novinha calls for a Speaker of the Dead (Even though the planet is Christian.) but recalls it 5 days later. However, he's already on his way, and as 22 years go by (Only 2 weeks to Ender, because of the speed of light.) and two calls for a speaker come in. Ender enters the planet. One is for Libo, and the other was for Marcos, who died 3 weeks earlier. The bishop orders that NO ONE is allowed to give him any information, but he finds a way to get it anyway. He goes to the house and meets with the several children of the late Marcos, before Novinha comes home. When she does, she refuses to talk to him.
The third part is Ender slowly figuring out not just Marcos life story, but Novhina's one as well.After some small arguments, he leaves. He gains info about the late man, and is forced to threaten someone in order to get some important information. He also learns about Novhina and Libo. He goes and becomes like Sherlock Homes. Just kidding, but he's really good at telling the Truth.
The fourth part is Ender's 'Speaking'. He talks 'about' Marcos, but he instead tells the truth about Novhina, Libo, and the kids. He figures out that Libo and Novhina were having a affair, and loved each other, but she could never marry him because of how he'd look at the locked files and die the same way Pipo did. Everything goes insane, he's called the devil, and other stuff that's going wrong.
The final part is about the rebellion of the planet. Someone reported that the Xenologers were artificially helping the 'piggies'. The planet cuts off it's connection to everyone else and begins helping them openly, with both electricity and agriculture. While it would take 40 years for the evacuation group with the weapons to stop them come, the war started as soon as it was revealed that they had a weapon of mass destruction with them. The piggies tell them that they fought they were doing Pipo a honor, and almost goes hyper on each other in pain. Ender plants himself there even though he has his starship, and that's where the book ends.
Whoowh, done.
Adventure Van, out.
The first part is about Pipo's friendship with one of the main characters. Pipo was a Xenologer, who studied the other civilized aliens nicknamed 'piggies'. He goes, talks to them regularly, and then one day he goes and gives the test to become a Xenobiologist to a girl named Novinha. After a long period of working together, Novinha discovers something, and Pipo sees something in it and leaves without telling her what. She and Pipo's son, Libo, find him dead with his chest open and the organs moved around.
The second part is Ender's entering of the planet. Novinha calls for a Speaker of the Dead (Even though the planet is Christian.) but recalls it 5 days later. However, he's already on his way, and as 22 years go by (Only 2 weeks to Ender, because of the speed of light.) and two calls for a speaker come in. Ender enters the planet. One is for Libo, and the other was for Marcos, who died 3 weeks earlier. The bishop orders that NO ONE is allowed to give him any information, but he finds a way to get it anyway. He goes to the house and meets with the several children of the late Marcos, before Novinha comes home. When she does, she refuses to talk to him.
The third part is Ender slowly figuring out not just Marcos life story, but Novhina's one as well.After some small arguments, he leaves. He gains info about the late man, and is forced to threaten someone in order to get some important information. He also learns about Novhina and Libo. He goes and becomes like Sherlock Homes. Just kidding, but he's really good at telling the Truth.
The fourth part is Ender's 'Speaking'. He talks 'about' Marcos, but he instead tells the truth about Novhina, Libo, and the kids. He figures out that Libo and Novhina were having a affair, and loved each other, but she could never marry him because of how he'd look at the locked files and die the same way Pipo did. Everything goes insane, he's called the devil, and other stuff that's going wrong.
The final part is about the rebellion of the planet. Someone reported that the Xenologers were artificially helping the 'piggies'. The planet cuts off it's connection to everyone else and begins helping them openly, with both electricity and agriculture. While it would take 40 years for the evacuation group with the weapons to stop them come, the war started as soon as it was revealed that they had a weapon of mass destruction with them. The piggies tell them that they fought they were doing Pipo a honor, and almost goes hyper on each other in pain. Ender plants himself there even though he has his starship, and that's where the book ends.
Whoowh, done.
Adventure Van, out.
Thursday, August 18, 2016
The Odyssey / Oh Brother, Where art thou? / Report
The Odyssey
The Odyssey was the book credited to Homer, a supposedly blind storyteller who was telling the story of Odysseus in his quest to get back home. In a 20 year period where he would be captured by gods, attacked by ogres, eaten by Cyclops, and making their way down to Hades’ underworld, it was one of the first recorded ‘Epic’s of human history.
The beginning, surprisingly, doesn’t start with Odysseus,
but his house, 12 years after the story actually starts, where his wife,
Penolope, and his son, Telemachus, who are currently holding off hordes of
suitors who are making themselves at home, eating and drinking Odysseus’s food
and wine. Telemachus goes off to quest for information about his father, while
the suitors plot his death for when he gets back.
Then we get shown the pass, when Odysseus is just released
from the god who has kept him captured for 6 years, trying to make him
immortal. He uses a raft to escape, and while Poseidon wrecks his raft, he
manages to make it to the island of the Phaeacians, where he makes friends with
the royal family, participates in sports, before finally telling his 2 year
long story to the king and queen.
Odysseus’ story does not start at the start of his journey,
but when the fleet splits after a argument installed by Zeus. From there, he
finds the land of the Lotus Eaters, who almost steal away three of his crew, to
the land of the Cyclops, who destroys a ship and eats some of his crew, and the
underworld itself, where he would meet with a seer, his mother, and Hercules
himself.
After having his crew all slain by wrath of Poseidon and the
sun god, he’s shipwrecked on the isle where he meets the goddess, and spends 8
years. He is then given a large tribute, and is given straight passage to the
land of his house. He disguises himself as a beggar and scopes out his house,
finding who is loyal him and who isn’t. The gods to come back, and with help of
his swineherd and cart pusher warn his son, Odysseus kills the suitors.
Oh Brother, Where art thou?
Oh Brother, where art thou? was a 2000 film, where
experimenting with CGI was just beginning. Using a color filter and some CGI,
this film that’s mostly based of The Odyssey is a great tribute, changing the
B.C. epic into a 1930’s based flick, and it is a GRAND masterpiece.
The beginning starts at the beginning this time, with us
seeing Ulysses (The N.A. name for Odysseus) escaping with Pete and Delmar.
After a quick vote to see who really is the leader of the outfit, they meet a
blind seer who tells them of the road ahead. They meet with Pete’s brother, who
betrays them. His son, however, uses a car to help them escape.
After having the car bust down, (and not being able to find
proper hair gel), sell a trinket from Pete’s brother to buy a new one. They
pick up a black man named Tommy, who ‘sold his soul to the devil’ in order to
play guitar reeaalll good, and then become the Soggy Bottom Boys for 60$
dollars after making a soon-to-be hit ‘Man of Constant Sorrow’.
After a near miss with the police that sends Tommy running
and loses the car, the crew gets picked up by a George Nelson, 10 feet tall,
who’s a robber who hates cows more then coppers. Pete gets turned into a ‘horny
toad’ after a mishap with sirens, and then Delmar and Ulysses buy some lunch,
get into a conversation with a one-eyed bible salesman, who robs them and
squishes ‘Pete the Toad’. Delmar dies inside.
Pete, who was captured by the police, spills his guts about
the treasure, but after seeing a picture show where he was able to meet the
others, he gets busted out. He’s extremely sad and annoyed at himself for
telling them about it, and then Ulysses says that there is no treasure and
never was a treasure. Pete attempts to kill Ulysses. Delmar follows them as they
roll down a hill, where they see a KKK ritual in progress.
Tommy was taken prisoner by the KKK, and the crew attempts
to rescue him. Cyclops reveals them before they can, so they run using the
confederate flag as a missile. Cyclops catches is, but then the cables for a
burning cross snaps. Cyclops dies. They escape to a Homer Rally, where they see
that Homer was the leader of the KKK. They disguise as the Soggy Bottom Boys,
where they see that the song has been extremely popular.
Divergent: Book Report
Divergent is a popular book by Veronica Roth. It's a book from a first person view, in which the reader follows Beatrice/Tris as she goes thru changing her alignment, the initiation, and the collapse of several factions.. The New York Times
bestseller (Yup, second one.) has a cast of people as the antagonist. I shall begin
posting larger sentences in the next very long and definitely not a paragraph sentence. (Warn-Warn-Warn: Spoilers.)
Behold:
The first part is about Beatrice choosing who she actually wants to be. After test results for her in the simulations are inconclusive, she debates with herself about which faction to join, and why she had a non conclusive report. During the ceremony, she is suprised that her brother joined a different faction then she thought he would, and chooses the guardian faction of dauntless. The last time she sees her father in a while is when he's glaring at her traitorous skin.
The second part is her getting trained in the art of fighting. She makes friends and enemies quickly, and sees someone fail before starting and another one die with the trip there. She meets with the counselors, gets a short rest, then begins training with the others. After a large amount of training, the person who came in first got a stab in the eye, removing him from the lead. She gains muscle, power, fighting techniques, and best people who are much bigger then her.
The third is about training about facing her fears. She accidentally discovers that she can trick the serum that makes the simulations, letting her win in record time. She goes and begins winning the simulations like heck. However, once the rankings show up, she gets kidnapped and almost killed, but gets saved by a counselor. Everyone gets injected with a special serum that lets them be tracked, then the party happens as they are all finished with the initiation. After the wild party, everyone goes to sleep (Or stays in a intoxicated state.). The section ends with her going to sleep.
The fourth part is about the final showdown. The serum mind controls most of the guardians, who begin suiting up. She and one of the other counselors can control the serum, and managed to escape it. They try to escape, but fail. She gets captured and they try to drown her, but she gets saved by her mother. Her mother dies shortly after, but she manages to escape, even though she has to kill one of her mind controlled friends to do so. She meets up with her brother, and they manage to go and find the base which is controlling the serum. She goes and fights with the counselor, and finally manages to turn it off.
Somehow, it's been finished.
Adventure Van, out.
The first part is about Beatrice choosing who she actually wants to be. After test results for her in the simulations are inconclusive, she debates with herself about which faction to join, and why she had a non conclusive report. During the ceremony, she is suprised that her brother joined a different faction then she thought he would, and chooses the guardian faction of dauntless. The last time she sees her father in a while is when he's glaring at her traitorous skin.
The second part is her getting trained in the art of fighting. She makes friends and enemies quickly, and sees someone fail before starting and another one die with the trip there. She meets with the counselors, gets a short rest, then begins training with the others. After a large amount of training, the person who came in first got a stab in the eye, removing him from the lead. She gains muscle, power, fighting techniques, and best people who are much bigger then her.
The third is about training about facing her fears. She accidentally discovers that she can trick the serum that makes the simulations, letting her win in record time. She goes and begins winning the simulations like heck. However, once the rankings show up, she gets kidnapped and almost killed, but gets saved by a counselor. Everyone gets injected with a special serum that lets them be tracked, then the party happens as they are all finished with the initiation. After the wild party, everyone goes to sleep (Or stays in a intoxicated state.). The section ends with her going to sleep.
The fourth part is about the final showdown. The serum mind controls most of the guardians, who begin suiting up. She and one of the other counselors can control the serum, and managed to escape it. They try to escape, but fail. She gets captured and they try to drown her, but she gets saved by her mother. Her mother dies shortly after, but she manages to escape, even though she has to kill one of her mind controlled friends to do so. She meets up with her brother, and they manage to go and find the base which is controlling the serum. She goes and fights with the counselor, and finally manages to turn it off.
Somehow, it's been finished.
Adventure Van, out.
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