Too Much.

I'm in the midst of reading this frivolous, comical yet touching novel called Slam by Nick Hornby. Just saying now, basically what this book is about is; sex, skateboarding and family. Anyway, it's about a blasé, adolescent boy named Sam. He likes to talk to his Tony Hawk poster in his room everyday, and Tony actually responds back to him! The characters in the book are really his two, divorced parents, Andrea and I forgot his Dad's name, Alicia and well that's it... for now. Alicia is his girlfriend. And this girl, I swear is a nymphomaniac. She is obsessed with sex! You know, a lot of people would feel weird about writing about sex on a school blog, I mean I am kind of but this is one of the most important topics & problems in the book.Grr, the way she acts bothers me so much, like she's a girl, she's not the boy who's supposed to be preoccupied with that kind of stuff. Whatever. I'm not really deep into the book, like 60 pages? So I can't say much. But I do expect things to happen.

In the story, Sam's mother is a young woman, "she’s only three years older than David Beckham, and four years younger than Jenifer Aniston," he likes to say. I think in the book, if not already, Sam's mother, Andrea becomes an important figure. Sam and his relationship with Andrea isn't all that great especially because of the divorce with his father. And also, because she had Sam at 16. That fact is really important to Sam, it seems because he keeps bringing it up, he always mentions that he was a "mistake". The part i'm up to right now is mostly about how Andrea feels about sex. She asked him if him and Alicia were sexually active and he was too uncomfortable to answer especially because of his Mom's "mistake". I wonder why his Mom cares so much? Like it was her mistake, and he could do whatever he wants. Maybe she's looking out for Alicia, what do you think? And they are sexually active too, just because Alicia's crazy, sex-driven chick. (Seriously, she wanted to have sex on the 2nd date... weirdo.) I predict that something really bad's going to happen to them, as a couple. Either they break up or i'm just so sure Alicia gets pregnant, or even both! I mean it would be predictable now, for girls to pregnant. But there's just something, i'm just more lenient toward the break up, because he did mention that they might so yeah. This book's kind of a lot to take in.

Basically, this is a very interesting story and everything that happens is just a page turner! I hope I actually get to finish (probably will). I recommend this to anyone, more to boys cause I think it'd be more relatable but if you're a girl or just any teen that wants to read this, then they should cause it's about adolescence. Oh and also, since the author, Nick Hornby is British (research) it has some British words like "bloody hell", etc... so if you like those kinds of books, definitely give this a try!

Even though it sounds too focused on one topic, I think it will show an important lesson in the end, I just don't know what. Mystery, mystery...

I hope you find this post as funny as I did when I was typing it! :D

If you want a better summary/overview, you should read the review from The New York Times here.

*Black, underlined words are for the Writing Challenge.  

Yours truly, 

Zarrin S Class 813. [: 

Smackin'

So, i'm done with The Diary of a Young Girl Annie Frank, yay! Now, i'm reading this book called Smack by Melvin Burgess. I started reading this book before I started reading the Annie Frank book, but then I read that and I kind of forgot about this. I actually really liked this book when I first started reading it, but then I kind of like veered away from it. Because I forgot what it was really about. I'm not going to write about the book, or the plot as much but just the way the book is.

The book is about a bunch of wanton teens and their lives. It's quite interesting and very humorous actually.  I kind of forgot the character's names and there are a lot so I can't tell you that. But, it's mostly about what happens, what goes on in a teenage girl's and boy's life. Which is pretty much; boyfriend/girlfriend, drugs, sex, etc...

I'm like 30 pages into the book, but I think i'm going to stop because I don't even know what's going on! I started reading it again in Project R.E.A.L again, and I was so confused. The book is written in kind of a unique way, that I have seen in a couple of books, but not much. It's unique, because it's not written by like chapters but by a character and their thoughts. Like for ex: Um... Emily and like Gabe. I don't know, haha. So it would be like how Emily sees what happens, what she thinks and then the next part would be like the same situation but in Gabe's perspective. And that's how it goes throughout the whole book, basically. It's also written in that like English type of way, with those English words/curses. And oh, I almost forgot! It has like a dictionary for the English words, which I found very amusing and informative. 

So, yeah. I didn't really want to post today, and so that's why it's crap blah. But I reccommend this to anyone who is an enterprising person, someone who is open to books. Because this is definitely one to check out so yeah. I'm just not reading it cause i'm a lazy person, who doesn't like to reread.

*Black, underlined words are for the Writing Challenge.

Yours truly, 

Zarrin S. Class 813 [:

I. Need. To. Finish. ASAP.

Yes, I'm still reading The Diary of a Young Girl Annie Frank, I know. I thought I would've finished it by now since it's just so good, and I read it as much as I can, in my free time and all. But I've been just so sidetracked lately err... Also, maybe because I've been becoming a slow reader, I just really want to peruse the text now. I don't want to miss one detail.And I deplore that decision as well, because I wanted to write a better blog post than the crappy one I'm about to type right now. *sigh* oh well. Here we go. This book or um, diary is a diary written by this beautiful, young girl named Anne. Anneliese Marie Frank to be exact. But I don't like the name Anne, so we're not going to call her that. We're going to call her Annie. This story is taken place during the Nazi War with Hitler in charge, her family is forced to go into hiding with 4 other people in a Secret Annex in her father's old work office. Anne writes about everything that happens there, as she notices many things. In all of the people in the Annex, she's the most talkative and least enjoyable person. She lives with her father, her mother, her staid, stubborn sister, Margot. Another family who she terribly dislikes, Ms. van Daan, Mr. van Daan, and their son, Peter, and also not part of the family Pfeffer.

In my last post, I talked about Annie being in love with this boy, who I forgot the name of. I said, he'd probably be included in the story more. But I was wrong, actually he's totally forgotten. Maybe because I did not expect them to go to the Secret Annex at all it was a total blow, when I found out. I actually don't want to really put a theory out, because if you think about it, this isn't a real book. Actually, it's a diary and a diary is your thoughts, it doesn't have a beginning, rising, climax and end. It just happens. And so, that's why I don't wanna whoops! I mean want to heh ;] 'risk' myself putting a theory that will most likely not come true, like the one about her love life. No wait. Actually, it might have been true. I wouldn't know because when they found her diary, they edited out anything with sexual content, so maybe. Huh. Well, I never actually thought about that.

I just find this story-no, diary so interesting and funny at times. This diary was ONLY published due to the fact of historical evidence, but really I don't care about that. That part really slips my mind. I care about her, her thoughts, feelings and humor. Her life, really. Annie is just so funny, like even if there are parts that are really serious I want to burst out laughing. I don't even know why. I think the most important reason why I can relate to her so much is because she is a teenage girl. Well, like me. She goes through what we go through, in a more old-fashioned way but still, she goes through it. It's just so good, her adolescence, her writing, her thoughts. Scratch that. It's freaking everything. Man, I really want to skip through the whole book and really read the afterword. But i'm afraid if I read the afterword, i'll hear what I really don't want to. DEATH. <Man, that's really really annoying. But if I had to pick one favorite thing about this diary, is that it's real. No, not some story. Hence on some. It's real, it happened. It's crazy. It's, it's nwhw1n01eee1henskskssnkss. Yeah it's that.

Overall, please go read it. Anyone. Please. Go. Read. It. Or I'm just going to have to tell you everything. Hahaha :P Oh yeah, and now you know what I mean my crappy ^

*Black, underlined words are for the Writing Challenge.

Yours truly, 

Zarrin S. 813 (:

Poor Annie Frank :(

I just started reading The Diary of a Young Girl Anne Frank today. Also, I like calling her Annie not Anne, Anne sounds like a Grandma's name to me :S. Well anyway, I decided to finally read it yesterday at night, but only because I read the foreword (I spelled it right!) The foreword was so interesting, it made me want to read the book, but also because so many people recommended it to me. I asked them if there were like sexual content in the book, considering it was a book from long time ago, and they said no so then I thought maybe the foreword would say why. To my compete surprise, the foreword was 3 pages long! Like, wow! It actually did have what I was looking for. Her father, Otto H. Frank who is also the editor of this book included that there was sexual content in Anne's original diary but he felt that, that was too personal and inappropriate at the time of 1940's, which I thought made complete sense. If it weren't for the foreword, I would have left it back down in my book case (it's my sister's book, not mine) because I don't want to read the life of a 15 year old girl during the war, how boring but it really isn't. It's actually quite humorous but also informative at the same time.

That was a long intro, well now to the actually diary. In her (Anne) diary, she talks about everyone she knows/meets. Everyone in her class, in her family, her friends, etc...everyone! She explains everything about them, and I think that was really unique because most people would write, not caring about explanations. Now in the book, there are A LOT of people mentioned, so much that I can't write everyone down but only the main people. Her family: her Daddy, who she loves so much and gets a long with more, her Mother, who she too loves and helps around with, Margot, her older sister that always does better than her, and Hello, her "crush", the boy she talks to a lot and hangs with.

This diary of hers is truly aspiring and thoughtful. But if my father sold my diary, made it into a book and made millions. I'd be a little pissed off, naw actually a lot pissed off! But then again, she was planning on giving it in for some information of the time period, since it was the time of Holocaust, it would've been a informative text for the government.  And I personally, think it is. She talks about what goes on and how she deals with it. I don't know if she will later on in the book, because i'm only 30 pages in. But I think she will. I think that she'll either talk more about Hello or not because of where she is in the part of the book, but then i'm more leaning on that she will. I think they have a connection that should last and it would make the story more interesting if it did. But, I have a bad feeling about the Hitler situation I am just SO sure that something's going to happen to her or her family members. Err *bites nails*

In the end, I venerate her. Because of her giving away her diary or that she was going to give it away. That's seriously amazing, I wouldn't want to give my diary away. I'm really enjoying this book or "diary." It's so much fun to read it from her perspective, but only because she's a 15 year old girl writing about her family, her love life and what's actually going on around her. Oh and something I forgot to add, I absolutely love the format of the book. Starting off with Dear Kitty (the name of her diary) and ending with Yours, Anne truly makes me smile. It just seems so ahh... I don't know the word, just happy? Blah. I think i'm going to actually finish this one, unlike the last book I attempted to read. I recommend it to everyone!

*Black, underlined words are for the Writing Challenge.

Yours truly, 

Zarrin S Class 813

Should I read on? Ehh..., Slawter [2]

Unfortunately, I am still reading Slawter by the more than good, successful and prodigious author Darren Shan. Unfortunately, because I wasn't planning on reading this book that long, but I am. Only because I haven't been doing as much as reading as I've done in the past [shh...] More about this book, there's a kid named Grubbs. Grubbs Grady. In the book, he has a uncle named, Dervish who is pretty chill and cool, he's a monster fighter! The monster is Lord Loss, or called the Demonata. They encounter a lady who offers them a role in her movie, Slawter only to have a surprise, she's working with the Demonata. When they try to escape, unexpected things happen...

In Slawter, there's a lot of different things going on. Well, it looks like it since i'm very little into the book. Especially in the part of the book i'm in, there's another character I forgot to mention, Bill-E Spleen. Bill-E is Grubbs' brother, but Bill-E just doesn't know it. He has a problem, he has Lycanthropy which makes him turn into a wolf who eats people. They are searching for him, in the book they try to run away from the Demonata but they end up in another "dream world" where he is captured. I think this book is more about like, "running away from your fears won't solve anything", because really that's what they're doing. And it's not helping. I think it's just making the problem worse. In the story, I felt that Grubbs, Dervish and Bill-E were a little audacious running away from the Demonata, because he can find you anywhere, anytime. I felt that was stupid as well. This book is kind of predictable, like I know or, I sense that Grubbs/Dervish will fight Lord Loss to protect Bill-E.

I think the story shows a sincere theme that reflects off of life too. "Running away from your fears won't solve anything" and it's true. When you're in a mess, neglecting it will just make it worse. I would know, that's what I always do. It's something I can seriously relate to. Even though I barely read, I think i'm starting to like this book enough to continue it.

Also, notice how I changed the picture even though it's the same book, yeah I'm so nice 8)

What do you think? Should I read it or just quit? Let me know!

*Black, underlined words are for the Writing Challenge.

Yours truly,

Zarrin 813 (:

Hide under your covers.

This is actually my third time reading a book from the Demonata series, which was written by the wonderful and famous author, Darren Shan. This novel is called, Slawter is a continuing book from the first book, Lord Loss. In this book, the main character, Grubbs Grady lives with his uncle, Dervish Grady in a town where he doesn't know anyone. In this book, his uncle, Dervish had just came back from a battle with the Lord Loss, and is still haunted with terrible nightmares from then. Lord Loss is this dark, evil Demonata who is who causes terror to Grubbs and his family. Although i am about 30 pages into the book, I didn't really pay attention to anything, just kept reading. I barely know what's going, but I still decided to write this post. 

Since I don't have much to say on the book yet, I have some thoughts on what I think might happen in the future of the book. In the story, I think Grubbs will [obviously] face Lord Loss again, but this time I feel that he'll meet new people along the way. I mean that's what happens in every book basically, but this time he'll meet enemies, friends and even fakes. And, I sense that he might have a love relationship with someone blah. Which I really don't want to happen, hopefully *crosses fingers* won't happen. I just sense a lot of it, a little because of the blurb and just instinct. 

I think the Demonata series is pretty graphic, the text and all. Even the front cover picture, that's what kept me from reading it first in 5th grade. I saw it first then, and thought OMG, this looks really scary. And decided not to read it, but then someone told me it's really good and started to read it last year. The point is to talk about a story: In 7th grade when I first read it, I was like a little scared that night. I would keep imagining Lord Loss and get a little scared, I would always hide under the covers when I thought about it. I know, baby stuff ;P so what? I was scared ahahaha. Main point is, that Shan's writing is stupendous, and really beautiful to read, but sometimes it can be a little graphic. So, people who like fantasy/horror, go for it. But, if you're on the "ehh..." side, I suggest not. Overall, my thoughts on this book is uncertain for now, but hopefully will be as good as the other ones I read. 

So you guys should comment and tell me, what fantasy books did/do you like? Do you have any interesting stories along with your books?

People should really check out some of Darren Shan's other books. You can see some of them HERE. They're just really good pieces of work.

Yours truly, 

Zarrin 813 (:

The meaning and issues of life in music videos.

 I know we weren't supposed to post this week and completely devote our time to our Social Justice project, but i'm done, and I've been really wanting to post this for a while. So, yeah:

Just recently, Katy Perry's video for her new song, "Firework" just came out. When I usually watch music videos, I don't watch the full thing, I just usually stop mid-way and declare that, "I watched it." Now Katy Perry's videos are really, I mean REALLY crazy, and fun. But, when I watched "Firework", I was really dumbfounded. 

I was literally like *:O* the whole time I was watching the video, because 1)it didn't start out with her craziness, I mean it did, but it didn't. y'know? 2)the video  showed issues, and problems going on for teens and well, people in general, and 3)the song is pretty catchy, and for a catchy song I didn't think it'd have such a profound atmosphere and theme. The song demonstrated that no matter if; you're fat/skinny, if you have a disease, if you're being bullied, if you're les/gay/bi/trans, or even if you're not the richest, I can go on and on about the message that the video represented you're still a person. And a person isn't perfect, but the real message was that even if you're all of those things, you can still show it, you can still make a difference. 

Basically, you can DO it, you can FIGHT against it. I clicked on the video to listen to a popular, catchy song only to find a beautiful video with a sententious meaning HERE . If you want to watch the video you can watch it . This wasn't the only video with a powerful message, there is also Handlebars-Flobots and World On Fire , which we watched in class. Those two are very captivating videos and songs, you should watch them to see the power I saw among them.

*The videos above may include inappropriate scenes/comments.

Yours truly,

Zarrin Class 813. (: