What's in your future?

There was an article in the New York Times Magazine website that asked seniors in high school where they'd find themselves ten years from now. Most unrealistic: Some of the people, I must say, have dreams that aren't too realistic. For instance, the girl named Shauna Casale who wants to be an actress. Personally, I think anyone can read a monologue and sound ok. Better than she did anyway. The monologue was average. A tad monotone (wink, wink) in my mind. That was probably the most unrealistic future I saw from the entire article. Funniest: Andrew Benedict-Philipp was the funniest one I listened to! He's currently undecided (which probably isn't a good thing... considering he's a senior in high school and all). His interview was short and sweet and left me with a little giggle. The second funniest definitely had to be Salome Zakora with Jeremy Land not too far behind. Salome, the marijuana baker, and Jeremy, the E.M.T., would be good friends I think. They'd get along just fine. The Most "Say WHAT?!": Raquel Reynolds... She's apparently insecure about herself. Not sure how that could be possible, considering she's very pretty. Raquel is my middle name! Anyways, Raquel said she wants to be a hair/makeup artist for photo shoots and different productions. My teacher even joked about how she looks like she's already taking up the occupation of being a stylist. What I see in my future, ten years from now: Well, I'd like to be a teacher. That's my biggest goal for 10 years from now. A family would be nice, but I guess I could live with being a single elemtary school teacher for awhile. I'm hoping I'll be able to get a job... My biggest worry is having to be jobless for a long time. I'm sure my parents would support me, but it'd be reassuring knowing I'd be able to live on my own without aid from my parents. Until next time, GLG.

Picture Books!

There's a timeline of picture books here on this site: http://www.picturingbooks.com/picture-book-timeline.html ! The first book I recognized being mentioned was The Tale of Peter Rabbit which was written by Beatrix Potter and published in 1902. The sad thing about this is that the timeline started with the year of 1658. I'd never even heard of the picture books that were published prior to The Tale of Peter Rabbit. This book though, used to be my favorite book only because I liked the actual book... I've never read it or had it read to me for that matter. I would carry the book around because I liked the bunny on the front cover. I still have the book. Seeing it in this picture book timeline makes me want to go home and read it. Maybe make some nostalgic adolescent memories. That sounds fun!
The next book I recognized was Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. It was written by Lewis Carroll and published in the same year that The Tale of Peter Rabbit was. The original "Alice" picture book was illustrated by John Tenniel. I've read this one. I've even seen both movies. The original cartoon version and the movie that was released recently in 2010. I must say, I liked the cartoon movie more because the new one was a tad-bit scary. The characters were so real...
I know of the Madeline books but once again, I've never read them. I've seen some of the cartoon Madeline shows but as far as reading them, I didn't own any of the books. I guess when you're a kid, finding great reads isn't your first priority.
From here on out, I'll just list books I've read and/or liked! Here it is:
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
The Runaway Bunny
Goodnight Moon
The Story of Babar, the Little Elephant
Curious George - Kind of annoying!
The Carrot Seed
Harold and the Purple Crayon
The Cat in the Hat
Little Bear - Still Love!
Little Blue and Little Yellow
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Frog and Toad Are Friends - I have a special connection with this book!
Alexander and the Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
The Polar Express - Loved! The movie was magical too!
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
If you haven't checked the picture book timeline yet, please do! It'll let your reminisce in old memories! I loved being able to take a look at books I've read as a child and when they were written. I bet you will too!
Until Next Time, GLG.

Utopia, pg. 1-33

My brother read this book and recommended it to me. I think he left out the important detail of the number of deaths. Just in the first 33 pages, 2 people have died. One in a freak accident, the other in a murderous exchange. The prologue tells the story of how a nine-year-old boy, named Corey, died. He was on a roller coaster in this fantastic amusement park. He was so excited to be going there to ride a certain coaster. It's called Notting Hill Chase. I guess I should explain more about this place called Utopia so you can understand it a bit better. Here's my simple run-down of the place:
Built on top of the Grand Canyon. There are 4 separate theme parks inside of Utopia: Gaslight, Camelot, Boardwalk, and Callisto. Largest, best theme park in the entire world (an average of 70,000 people come everyday). It's in the future. Everything's an illusion.
That's all you need to know, really. It's a massive place that pretty much explains itself.
The main character is a guy by the name of Andrew Warne. He's beginning to work at Utopia in the robotics field. The robots in Utopia were actually created by him, but he's never been inside of the place. When he arrives, everything seems to take his breath away. Warne (people go by their last names in this book for some reason, so I will too) brings his daughter along. Her name is Georgia and she's a typical teenager. That means she's rebellious and is ashamed to be even near her father. Everything seems to get on her nerve. Enough about her though, she's only been in like 2 pages that I've read so far. Hopefully though, she'll show up again. I like her personality. It's very stereotypical for a teen.
The sections are labeled with times. Utopia opens at 9 in the morning and closes at 9 in the night. It takes 12 hours to prepare Utopia for the next day.
I'll just start where I left off. It was 9:00 A.M. when the second person died. He was taking little gadgets to a secret guy. He was giving the secret guy things that would allow him to go in and out of Utopia as if he were a worker there. As soon as the secret guy hands him money for his deeds, a gun comes out of the secret guy's pocket and kills the helpful guy. I guess helpful isn't the right word. He was bad, actually. He broke the law, and he could've been fired from his great job at Utopia. Now, secret guy has total access to Utopia. This doesn't look good. I'll have to see what happens next!
Until next time, GLG.

Postcards from No Man's Land, pg. 1-135

This book was actually quite strange. I'm not going to go into very much detail because the main character, Jacob, says more than necessary. Half of the pages I read contained unnecessary details. Anyways, it's a well-written story so I shouldn't be complaining. I was entertained, in good ways and awkward ways.
The beginning section of the book has a bang in it. Jacob is in Amsterdam, hoping to "honor" his grandfather that died during World War II. His grandfather's name was Jacob, but I won't call them both Jacob. Jacob is Jacob and grandfather Jacob is grandfather. So, Jacob is visiting a foreign city and he decides to go to an outdoor beer place. I'm not sure what they'd be called here in America. It's like an outdoor beer cafe. Jacob is at an outdoor beef cafe and this girl comes up to him and asks to sit at his table. Jacob accepts. Jacob's attracted to her sexy boyishness. (If that's what you call it.) So they talk and talk and talk. Her name is Ton, BUT she really isn't a she. She's a he. It messes him up. He gets a message from she/he but Jacob doesn't know what it says. Then, she/he leaves. Jacob is left there completely dumbfounded, and then some kid steals his sweatshirt. He had everything in his sweatshirt. Money, map, everything. So then, Jacob is all alone, in the rain, with nothing. He has no idea where he is, and that starts his adventure.
About half of the book is from the perspective of Geertrui. Geertrui is Jacob's actual grandmother, but Jacob doesn't know that. Jacob's grandfather was one of the soldiers Geertrui tended to during World War II in her basement. They fell in love. Geertrui talks a lot about the status of the war. The war takes over her family's life. Their house becomes shelter for the tommies. Tommies are the English soldiers that have come to liberate Geertrui's home country.
Jacob goes through a lot during his visit in Amsterdam. The truth unveils to him about who his grandmother really is. Jacob was raised by Sarah, not Geertrui. Sarah was Jacob's best friend and she would've gone with Jacob to Amsterdam if it weren't for her injury. Anyways, Jacob meets Geertrui and that's when the real truth unveiling happens.
It was a good book from what I've read so far. I would recommend it to anyone that enjoys books about characters trying to find the truth in themselves.
Until next time, GLG.