Tibet

Ok, so today in Socratic, I noticed in the history books how it kept talking about Tibet, but never explained what it was. Curious with the matter I researched it to find out what was so important about it. I was expecting it to have some rare metal, or grow some kind of funky fruit, something interesting. Turns out it's just another empire (which is interesting). It mainly ruled the Himalaya are, the areas north of India, and the Stans. In fact, it controled China for a while (15 days). Then, the Mongols took it over and by...I think Kubli Khan. But before that, the empire was ruled by Dalai Lamas, which I used to think were a bunch of monks which traveled around Asia in a Trolley (I have no clue why I thought that).

So, what did you guys think Tibet was?

Why Eragon Should Never Have Been Published Part Two

Okay, so I forgot to add other things to that other post about Eragon, so here's some more in depth stuff.

Ok, I've noticed that his charcters aren't motivated enough for what Paolini wants them to do. Eragon says he's going to kill the Re'zac to revenge Garrow and Brom, but he's almost never suffering from their deaths. Right after they die, yeah he's sad, but he doesn't even bring it up again. There's no pain, there's no ravenous desire for blood, he just says, "I'm going to kill the Ra'zac cause they killed my family and friends." Okay...explain your pain. How does that make you feel? I just don't see any emotion.

Even Roran who's supposedly madly in love with Katrina, yet, I don't see it. He reasons too much and he has too many plans. If you're insanley in love, can you have any plans or reason? Shakespeare has said that reason and love have no company together...or something like that. (Jack A., could you give me the qoute for that? You said it a few times today.)
There's a part in book three, where they're about to storm Helgrind (the Ra'zacs' lair) and Roran goes, (let's attack in the morning. They're too strong right now." Oh my heck! If he's madly in love with her, he'd take on his enemies anytime of the day! Eragon should have to hold him back and persuade him to attack tomorrow but no.

Another point, the writing in the third book is sucky! The first one I could understand. This one, I'm taking a trip to the dictionary every other word. I don't know what you're saying, and I have no desire to look it up. The flow of his words is even stupid. Speak not in riddles, as he would say.

In my opinion, the only reason he got published, is because his daddy was a publisher and said, "Oh sonny boy, this is a cool book! I'll go and publish it to make you happy." I don't even think he got put through an editing process cause any editor for a major publisher would've pointed out every last thing that I have said.

Seriously, don't be ignorant of the facts. It is what it is...AND IT SUCKS! Crap is crap, nothing else.

Why Eragon Should Never Have Been Published

So some of you out there are probably all ecstatic about the new Eragon book out there, Brisngr. I too was interested since a read the books when they first came out. A read a chapter out of the book while at the store deciding whether or not to buy it, when I remembered some things I'd thought of from the first books.

The plot line of Eragon follows the plot line of Star Wars, and has taken ideas from Lord of the Rings.

How? Let me show you. If you haven’t read the books, or seen the Star Wars movies, I’m afraid I can’t explain everything so this might confuse some of you.

Ok, so the Star Wars a New Hope starts out with Princess Leia being captured by Vader for a valuable item she had. The Death Star Plans. She stored them in one of her droids and sent it to the planet surface.

Eragon starts out with Ayra transporting being captured by Shade for, what do you know, a valuable item. A Dragon egg. Ayra transports the egg away with a spell.

Star Wars: Teenage farm boy (Luke) finds droid and finds a hidden message in it.

Eragon: Teenage farm boy (Eragon) finds Dragon egg and it hatches.

Star Wars: Talks to an old hermit about the message, Hermit (Ben) tells him about
the old times and the Jedi. Gives him a light saber and says it was his father's.

Eragon: Talks to an old hermit about the Dragon, Hermit (Brom) tells him about the old times and the Dragon Riders. Gives him a sword and tells him it was his father's.

Star Wars: Goes home, house is destroyed; Ben tells him he should go to the Rebels.

Eragon: Goes home, house is destroyed; Brom tells him he should go to the Varden.

Star Wars: Learns about the force, and rescues Leia from the death star.

Eragon: Learns about the ancient magic, rescues Arya from Gil'ead.

Star Wars: Ben tells Luke he was a Jedi, and had taught his father, and then died.

Eragon: Brom tells Eragon he was a Dragon Rider, and had taught his father, and then died.

Star Wars: Luke makes it to the rebels; tells them the Empire is about to attack, and he is praised for bringing back Leia.

Eragon: Eragon makes it to the Varden; tells them the Empire is about to attack, and he is praised for bringing back Arya.

Star Wars: Big Fight at the Rebel base between the Rebels and the Empire.

Eragon: Big Fight at the Varden base between the Varden and the Empire.

Star Wars: Rebels win.

Eragon: Varden wins.

Star Wars: Next movie. The Rebels move their base and Luke goes off to train with master Yoda.

Eragon: Book two. Varden moves their base and Eragon goes off to train with Oromis.

Star Wars: Luke leaves Yoda promising he’ll come back.
Eragon leaves Oromis promising he’ll come back.

This is basically where Eragon let off leaving Brisngr to continue with this unoriginal plot line. There’s a few things I’ll now list that will further connect Eragon to Star Wars, and a couple of things from Lord of the Rings. This is just my perception; let me know if you think otherwise.
Luke Skywalker - Eragon
Ben Kenobi - Brom
Princess Leia - Arya
Darth Vader-(In the first one I’d say Shade, but in the second I’d say) Murtagh.
Darth Sideous-Galbatorix
Jedi-Dragon Riders
The Force-The Ancient Language
Rebels-The Varden
The Empire-The Empire (The idiot didn’t bother changing that one!)
Uncle Owen-Uncle Garrow
The Tower of Mordor-(I thought this was) Helgrind
Yoda-Oromis
Light Saber-Elf Sword
Ring Wraiths-The Ra’zac
There's even something from Marvel, The Hand (A gang Wolverine was in)-The Black Hand
That’s about it. Another thing is Paolini stole Tolken’s elf language.
So, how do you like Eragon now?

So So What?

"So So What? Who cares what I do with my life?" That's my average response to anyone who asks why I do things that I do. Personally, I don't really care what others say about the things I do. I get a lot because I read the Twilight series and loved it. That isn't really accepted by most guys my age, so I just say, "So So What?" Honestly, I don't anyone else's opinion matters when you're doing something that you like, or something that's good.



But then, I have an exception to that rule. The other day I was reading a friends blog about violence. She had a comment on there from one of my other friends; she said that violence (especially in video games) is pointless, stupid, and ruins lives. I totally agree with that. There's so many more things that you can be doing instead of blowing up halo or whatever. If I was playing games instead of going to the gym, my life would be pretty suckish right now. Altough every once in a while with friends or family, it can be fun if it's like a racing game or Wii sports.

Anyways, my big question is, what motivates people to do what they do, and why? Not for critical analysis, but to try to see how the world ticks.

If you look at my profile, it says I love writing, so much that I'm writing a book. Why? Because I've been writing since I was little and I've loved it. And now that I'm older and have honed the skill a bit more, I can use it to express myself and some of the feelings I feel, or, to make someone else feel something. Also, I love to workout. Why? Because I don't to be some weak person who feels insecure about myself at school. I want to bit, healthy, and feel good about myself. I also love to run. Working out helps me slowly reach my goal of 6 minutes a mile (right now it's 8). I like the Twilight series. Why? Because it's not all gushy as guys have stereo typed it to be and it's an awesome story.

So, what's your story?

More Recent Thoughts

Today I had something to write about, but I took a nap and forgot what it was. :-) So, just shooting the breeze with different stuff.



Ok, so I'm way excited for the Shakepeare competition coming up for my school! I think we have an awesome scene (It's Twelfth Night with a 1930's movie set twist to it). My role got changed to something I'm liking tons better. Not that I wasn't all gun hoe about the romance stuff I got to do, I just like the gangster role a bit better. (My role switched from Duke Orsino to Antonio). It's so awesome! I get to wear an amazing Zoot Suit with a Fedora, kind of like the old time Mafia. It's sweet! Way better than the Russian Monkey suit I had to wear for Orsino. If any of you are in my Drama class, please tell me how I'm doing so I can fix my screw ups.


Also, I went to an awesome school dance last night. We had black lights, and glow sticks, and an awesome DJ; It was pretty fun for the first dance of the year. Although I was a bit mad when my glow stick cracked and stained my favorite polo shirt. Oh well. At least it looked cool in the black light!

Bush is planning on putting 700 Billion Dollars into the ecomony. I'm curious to see how that turns out and see how the government plans on paying off their huge national debt. Also, the dow went up 300 points the other day. If you're into stock markets, I've heard rice is high on the market right now.

Also, in our History class, we are reading the Qu'ran. I've found it pretty interesting so far. It's pretty similar to the Christian Bible.

Anyways, hope everyone's still alive and kicking out there.

Poll

Would everone who comes on this blog mind doing the poll to your right? I'm really having a tough time with picking a name so I need some input.

Thanks!

An expression of recent thoughts that weren't big enough to make a post.

OK, so for some reason today, Math decided to be easy, so I actually finished my Math homework today. It was odd since most of the time I don't even understand what the teacher's saying (probably because I'm usually half asleep). I think it might have to do with the Monster M-80 (my favorite flavor) Energy drink I drank before Math started which somehow helped me suck all of the info in.

Also, I'm not looking forward to Christmas this year. Don't get me wrong, I love celebrating Christ's birth, but something about the season just depresses me. I think it;s because I hate snow. Or because everything is so commercial (I hate commercialized Christmas!). Or maybe it was because I was having relationship problems last Christmas and when I think about Christmas I think about a bit of the depression I felt last year. You know what, I don't really want anything this year I just want to like help the rest of my family have a good holiday or go and give some food to homeless people living in my city. That sounds better all of a sudden.

In Drama, I'm really lacking in my role for the Shakespeare act. I can do funny, I can do action or drama or anger, I can do depressed, but I haven't had any experience with romance so this is going to be one heck of a puzzle to crack. I think it might because the girl I'm getting romantic with is being TOO romantic, so it's kind of making me go, 'oh, what do I do now?'

If any of you have anything to say about this post, PLEASE comment. Especially if you have advice for drama. Thanks!

Violence

Okay, so today in our Socratic Seminar class, we talked about violence and I was deeply annoyed by most of the comments that were made about it. I don't if I see violence different than others so...help me figure this out.

Okay, so our teacher asked, "Is violence okay?" I immediately thought 'yes,' but my classmates were like, "No! It's wrong! It should never be used! It's never okay!" And I just sat there and thought, 'OK, I don't really agree with that.' I didn't say that in class because in the area that I live, I would've gotten a ton of people chewing me out for my thoughts. Anyways, I believe violence is justified when someone is aggressively attacking you, and in war. If you fight someone back for attacking you, would you get in trouble? No! Because if you just stand there and do nothing, you're going to get hurt worse than trying to fight back. In war it's okay because some things have to be settled that way. Even in religious doctrine they accept it for certain purposes (I think the majority of the people reading this would be familiar with the Jews in the Bible fighting their way into their promised land-Israel).

Also, I stand by the quote, "All is fair in Love and War." That's when violence is good. But Violence is bad when it's the slaughtering of the innocent. Now you may question how violence is okay with love. Well, say someone starts harassing your (in a Male's case) wife, and won't listen to your pleads for the assaulter to stop. So, you punch him to get away from your wife. I also stand by violence and love for other reasons that most people wouldn't understand until I published my book.

Anyways, I think some people get a little to carried away with the whole 'peace' thing, and don't understand that sometimes violence can help bring peace, cause really, could anyone have stopped Hitler by trying to talk to him?

Price, Quantity, and Quality.

In the world of business (especially businesses that you hire for services) they say that there is two of three things you get from different companies. Price. Quantity. Quality. Every company will only offer you two, you can't get all three. The question is, what will you choose?

If you pick price and quantity, you'll get a lot of something, for a low price. However, it's quality will be pretty low.

If you pick price and quality, you get something very nice, for a low price. Therefore, you won't be able to get much of it.

Finally, if you pick quantity and quality (my favorite combo) you get a lot of something that is very nice. You'll have to dish out a lot of money for it, but that's just how things are.

Now if I were looking for something, I'd never pick price, especially if I was hiring an artist, architect, or photographer. Why? Because what they do is a skill which deserves proper pay for the amazing work they do. Anyone who doesn't charge a lot will have very low quality work. You pay for what you get. This seems to be a problem in the state I live in, cause no one wants to pay people for what they're worth. And not just that. There's tons of amateurs (mainly photographers) in the area that think they can make a quick buck by snapping a few photos. It's not like that. It takes skill and passion do perform a work of art, not just a desire of money. And because of all the amateurs, they steal customers from the real artists making life hard for them.

So, next time you're shopping for something, keep this post in mind, and pay those who actually deserve your pay.

What will the Future be?

What will the future be? How do you imagine it? Do imagine the mainstream version, or an alternative version?


Personally, I see the future like this. Cities will be filled with gleaming skyscrapers which will stretch like fingers towards the heavens. Streets will be filled with people doing this and that while electric cars pass by soundlessly. At night, the city becomes an array of colors. Neon lights everywhere advertising, lighting streets, drawing attention to different locations. The streets seem to glow with light being reflected off their glassy surfaces. Music fills the streets at night while acrobatics are performed during the day. Acrobats jumping between buildings and doing tricks with the unique architecture of the various things that covers the streets. Water is the common art; it pours off the sides of buildings into a spiral funnel that shoots it out in a stream across the street into the arch which drips the water down it's middle to form a wishing well. Stress is a rare thing since a large dome building provides relief for it. Within the dome are many platforms which hover in the middle of the air with people sitting, laying down, or standing upon them. It's surprisingly peaceful to be far off the ground in a quiet, humongous white dome.

Teens gather at music halls where they can rent their own room or group rooms and play any music they want. The light and colors follow the music and the way they dance. They're even able to walk on the walls and ceiling. Movie theaters use not only 3-D, but use feeling and scent too in their movies, almost putting the watcher into the movie itself. Outdoor malls have dominated indoor malls allowing stores to be put into odd places such as underneath a bridge, or balanced on top of supports which raise it off the ground.



I'm not sure if this is what the future's really going to be like, but, this is the way I'd want it. What about you?

The Past vs. the Future.

Last week, my family and I took a trip up to Park City to explore the streets there a bit. For some reason, I always was annoyed when I visited Park City, or any other city/town that hasn't done much to keep up with the times.


As I walked up and down the streets observing each building I passed, I noticed they all were old, and not up to date with technology. I asked myself 'Why hold onto your past? Sooner or later people are going to lose interest.'

Now don't get me wrong, I appreciate history and everything that we can learn from it, but trying to hold onto it won't do any good. I'm all about advancing towards the future. If you dawdle around putting your history on a pedestal without paying attention to the future, the future will either force you to avert your attention, or will conquer you. What I mean by that is, if you own a farm, and harvest your crops with a scythe, you'll be a lot slower then a combine, and eventually you'll go out of business or have to update your methods.

Or, if you're country ignores technology and does everything the old fashioned way, a more advanced country is going to come in a dominate you. Whoever has the latest toys, whoever has the better evolved methods, whoever has the faster production rates will be dominate in any time.

What do You Look for?

What do you look for in a book? Comedy? Action? Romance? Fantasy? Suspence? Mystery? Something else? What kind interests you? What kind's your favorite? What kind of things should the book have? What shouldn't it have? Does it matter if the endings happy or sad?

Personally, I love a book that has a mix of comedy, romance, action, and suspence.

I'd REALLY like to see what anyone's idea's are cause I'm writing a book and want to see what people like in a book.

Thanks!

Grendel

Ok, so we read a couple of chapters from Grendel's point of view and I really liked it! I think I like Grendel better than Beowulf now. I mean, sure he's a monster, but I think he thinks we're monsters, so he hunts us like we hunt him. And for those of you who've ready Twilight (especially Breaking Dawn) I think he's a bit like Jacob.

Who Would Win?

The other day when I was reading Beowulf, I wondered how a fight between History's greatest hereos would turn out. Like, Beowulf, Achilles, Ajax, Odysseus, Hector, Paris, and Alexander the Great. It'd be interesting. I think it'd come down to Achilles vs. Beowulf because Achillies is practically invicible, and Beowulf is so macho and has uber amounts of strength. I don't know how that one would turn out.
What do you guys think? Who would win between Beowulf and Achilles, or if the last two would be one of the others I mentioned?