Book Review 4-Simon Bloom (The Octopus Effect) - Michael Reisman

YAY! Here's my last required book review for Term 3. Hope you guys like it!

Book Review 4: Simon Bloom (The Octopus Effect) by Michael Reisman

This book is a continuation of Simon Bloom (The Gravity Keeper), so I should say that this is Book No.2.

Firslty, let me introduce this book to you. So in this world, there's this Knowledge Union, a secret organization responsible for making sure that the universe runs smoothly. This is already wierd: I don't even know this! (But yep, it's only a story) The most important people in The Knowledge Union is the Board Of Administration who then looks after The Council Of Sciences.They are like the Parliament of Singapore and some VIPs. Following that, it divides into three main groups: The Order Of Physics, The Order Of Chemistry and The Order Of Biology. Actually,there's one more group that's also important in this thrrrrrrrrrrrillllllling story: the Historical Society. They are the persona of the story, or I should say, the narrator.

Then comes the main characters. Simon Bloom is the Keeper Of Physics (in this book, yes, but in the previous, he's the co-keeper). He controls the gravity that pulls us to the ground, and can make things get extremely heavy or extremely light. He is joined by two of his friends: Owen Walters and Alysha Davis. Owen controls direction and speed, while Alysha can discharge electricity. However, not all things in the world runs smoothly. There will be bad guys who would LOVE TO blow up the universe (not me). Especially this woman called Sirabetta, or in her Union nickname, Sir. She's a rebel of the Union (if I'm not wrong), and she had already fought with Simon Bloom in the previous book. She lost, and was turned into a thirteen year-old teenager.

In this book, however, a few of the order members decided to rebel and made Sirabetta to return to her former self. Simon and his friends must follow Sirabetta to the Order Of Biology realm, a vast undersea dome filled with harsh terrain and fearsome monsters. They will get some needed help from their old friends and also use some biology to absorb some wild abilities! Yep. And another WAR happens and ya, an EPIC battle of EPIC proportions. What are you waiting for? Grab that EPIC book for the library or any bookstore NOW! While Stocks Last! (Wait a minute, this is not an advertisement)\

I would give it a EXCELLENT rating as this book already entices me to continue reading and reading it! Hope you guys like it!!!

HIP HIP HOORAY!!!

Book Review 3-The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Hey peeps, I'm back again. Need to hurry, coz the deadline is very near!

So here's my third book review:

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

This exciting book was written over 100 years ago, but it doesn't matter, because in the end, the story is still appealing to readers. This book, along with The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, is one of the most famous books of that time until now. Tom Sawyer depicted Mark Twain as a child, with a few of his childhood friends are also written inside the book (the names have been changed).

If I'm not wrong, the story is set in the 1840's or so in Missouri along the Mississipi River. Aunt Polly is raising Tom, his half-brother, Sid, and Mary. Sid and Mary are good children. Tom, on the other hand, is always in trouble. Even when he doesn't do something wrong, he finds a way to be in trouble. When the weather is good, he skips school and goes swimming. He goes out and plays Robin Hood (extremely familiar name- reincarnated or what?) with his friend Joe Harper when he should be studying. He sneaks out at midnight to meet Huckleberry Finn at the graveyard with a dead cat (something to ponder about? CREEPY). Aunt Polly keeps trying to get Tom to behave, but yeah, boys are boys. You should know why.
Tom knows how to exchange treasures for his own gain. He uses his treasures to get a Bible, show his love, or bribe a friend. He is a young entrepreneur of his age. Not bad, eh? I wish I could be like him, but alas, I'm a youth now....
Once, they went into a cemetery for some fun adventure. However, it brought extra trouble for them. They witnessed a murder. Afraid of their own lives, they swore to keep quiet. They knew Injun Joe would kill them as well if he knew they had seen his act. Now what do they do?

Tom is unforgettable and this book is just right for the young and young-at-heart. I would strongly recommend this American classic. It's definitely worth reading and re-reading. The books shows the joy of childhood as well as the acceptance of change.

Actually, I really don't know how long should we write for a single book review. Some write very very very long, while others are extremely short. Can someone answer my questions? Thanks.

Youth Olympic Torch Relay-7/8/2010

Hey wassup peeps!


By looking at the title, you will think that I'm talking about other torchbearers running the Journey Of The Youth Olympic Flame (JYOF)


You're half wrong then.


Tell you what, I'M A TORCHBEARER. 


Yep.


You don't believe me?
Oh well just go to http://www.singapore2010.sg/public/sg2010/en/en_youth_olympic_flame/en_singapore_leg_intro/en_route_map_day1.html and check out my name under Day 1 scheduled torchbearers. I'm running between 11.00am and 12.00pm, just at the junction of Marymount Rd (Sin Ming Ave is just before that).


You should be surprised. Yay.


Ok, enough nonsense. Let me share with you the experiences on that special day. 


So it started out on a rainy Saturday afternoon. I was too excited on the previous night so unsurprisingly, I didn't oversleep (which I usually do). After having a hurried breakfast, I made my way to the CHIJ St Nicholas (Toa Payoh), where the start of the journey of the Youth Olympic Torch will begin. That morning's torchbearers were numbered #1000 to #1253. I was actually a bit LATE, due to the drizzle and the fact that I didn't plan my time well. However, I still managed to get there in time (MRT to Toa Payoh, then transfer to bus). Even though I was in the morning schedule, it was still divided into 2. I am #1135, in the later part of the morning leg. It's lucky, I didn't have to wake up even earlier and get drenched in the rain.


So we had this briefing while we tagged on our number tags. They were actually quite cool, I never seen them before. As we waited in the porch of the school for the shuttle bus, we chatted among each other and made some new friends. That was when I found out that the person after me was not here. That means I'm running 200 metres instead of 100! Yay! What a coincidence! I didn't know where we were really heading to, until the friendly helpers told me that we were heading towards MacRitchie Resevoir, where the later half of the morning torch relay started. There was quite a lot of Mediacorp stars around, so I got some of their autographs. They were Shan Wee from 98.7 FM, Daniel Chia from CNA and Zheng Geping from some Channel 8 show. The torch started off at MacRitichie and we went back into our respective buses. There was quite a jam around that area, because the roads inside the resevoir was not big enough for this mega-big celebration. I also got some bottles of free Coke. NICEEEEEEEE!


Slowly, we went along the roads of the scheduled torch relay and started dropping torcbearers off one by one.There was quite a din wherever we passed, as the two Samsung and Coca-Cola buses were playing loud music and the people standing on the top of the buses were shouting stuff that I couldn't hear. Anyway, time flew past and I was also dropped off. The torch was still quite a distance away from the drop-off bus, so I took some photos with my family, before the moment of my life happened. I was given some quick instructions from the support runners, before running my 200 metres. 


Yah I waved at the random crowd which were 'situated; at the pavement and on the overhead bridge. They clapped and cheered, and it was simply wonderful. However, the 200 metres was over in an instant. I passed the torch on to the next torchbearer, #1137. Then the pick-up bus picked me up at my finish spot. We wrote our thoughts and feelings on this special guestbook, hoping that our legacy would be passed on to our future generations. After arriving at Raffles Institution (afternoon launch site), we were handed our badges and certificate. Then it was farewell time. We took some group photos before we left, and promised to keep in touch with Facebook.


That was only in the MORNING.


Evening, I went to Nanyang Polytechnic for the community celebration. When I got there, I realised it was jam-packed with people, there were not enough seats and even not enough standing space. Nevertheless, I found a suitable spot for watching the celebration and took some photos too! Basically, there was a few celebs present at the celebration, including Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. He made a speech before the torchbearer ran into NYP and lighted up the cauldron. Then some mass dance party, some YOG songs being played. This particular ' Oh Yeah, Oh Yeah , Oh Yeah, Hey.....' thing made me feel sick. I've heard this like numerous times over the radio and the crowd were also 'taught' to do the handsigns. Ok, that wasn't very bad. It didn't really end actually, there was two DJs blasting out some random tracks and then the people wearing the Samsung blue shirts were dacing madly. I soon got bored of it and went home. It was about 10pm already.


Yep! A great day happened! I wil remember this glorious day forever, because there won't be a second chance like this ever again.
:)

Alex Kava---Black Friday____Book Review

This book, Black Friday by Alex Kava, depicts a group of teenage suicide bombers striking the heart of America, the Mall of America in Minnesota during Christmas Eve. It has been one year sinve the 9/11 bombing and Robert Asante (A-Santay), the so-called Project Manager #2, has with him a few suicide bombers, who are high-school students. They are Dixon, Chad and Tyler. The relationship among them and their friends are quite confusing, so let me introduce them to you. Rebecca, Dixon and Patrick are old friends, while Chad and Tyler are simply Dixon's friends. They are hired by Asante, an infamous bomber.

As said, when the bombing happened on a busy Friday, many shoppers were caught unattended. Rebecca, especially, was standing about 10 feet away from Chad when the red duffel bag behind him exploded. She was knocked out by the impact straightaway. However, Asante is shocked when he finds out one of the 3 bomb carriers is alive. He then rushes to the mall, only to find out that Rebecca has the duffel bag with her, which hasn't exploded yet (Of course, Asante don't know who Rebecca is). When Asante confronts her, Patrick rushes in time to get Rebecca away from trouble. 

Back in Virginia, FBI profiler Maggie O' Dell is informed of the incident in Minnesota. She was immediately gotten rid of her holiday (not a good thing). She rushes off to the crime scene, only to find chaos ruling over the entire mall. She then joins a group of other professional agents to solve the riddle: Who's the man behind this bombing? As they scan through the security tapes (which were mostly unharmed), they found something disturbing: The red-duffel bags carried by the college students.

As the agents go deeper and deeper beneath to solve the crime, dark secrets are revealed and Maggie O'Dell realises that her brother is also in imminent danger when he is kidnapped by Asante. Coincidentally, her brother is..... Patrick.

Go read this book for yourself. It's just simply awesome! :)

Book Review 1 - Around the World In 80 Days by Jules Verne

Hi, this is me again, and this time I'm doing a book review. I'm feeling sleepy now, but I must finish this today, no matter what.

Around The World In 80 Days
-Jules Verne

Jules Verne is an exceptional writer in the 19th century, he suffered from a lot of troubles during his life of writing books. By 1870, he had already wrote several books, but none of them were a hit. Shortly after that, Jules' father passed away, and his own son, Michael, started to exhibit psychological troubles that landed him up in a mental institution (Or a mental hospital as we call it today). Jules would have given up at this stage, but persevered under the encouragement of the publisher.

However, things did not turn good for him. Germany had invaded France at that time (Jules was a Frenchmen), and it was as though the world collapsed for him. He was sent to defend the Bay Of Somme with twelve other people. He survived the war, but amidst all the fighting, he lost both his family and friends. It was incredible that Jules still managed to complete Around The World In 80 Days. Transportation was modernized, and Jules took advantage of that to list out all the possible forms of transport in the book. It is still widely read today, as it was considered a 'science fiction' book at that time. I believe that this book will continue sailing down the 22th century!


In this book, this peculiar man, Phileas Fogg, makes an seemingly impossible bet with his friends in the Reform Club that he can travel across the world in 80 days. However, with the possibility of delays and obstacles, it could be too much a daunting task for him. Being a quiet and solemn man, many people did not believe that Phileas Fogg can achieve his goal and not lose the 20 thousand pounds that he betted on.
\
With his newly hired servant, Jean Passepartout (A ridiculous name...), they set off towards Paris. A while later, Passepartout realises that he had forgotten to turn off the gas tap, which will burn even though there is no fire. However, things got worse when Phileas Fogg is identified as the robber of twenty thousand pounds in a bank (Which he actually didn't steal). Simultaneously, Dectective Fix is sent to arrest Phileas Fogg.

This was their travel plan:
Travelled by rail to Paris
Took the steamer Mongolia from Suez to Aden in India via Bombay,
Took the Great Indian Penisular Railway; passed Salcette, Tannah, Western Ghauts, Burhampoor, Bundelcund, Allahabad, meeting the Ganges at Benares, Burdivan, passing the French town of Chandernagor and finally reaching Calcutta.
I don't want to spoil the book review, so that you all can enjoy the book YOURSELVES.

I'm happy to say that in the end, Phileas Fogg succeeded extraordinarily, with Detective Fix finding the real crime suspect, while Phileas Fogg and Passepartout actually lost the race by thinkin that they had arrived in London five minutes after nine, however, they made a simple mistake which I initially did not thought of.

Phileas Fogg had,without suspecting it, gained a one-day advantage on his journey, by merely travelling EASTWARD; he would, on the contary, have lost a day had he gone in the opposite direction (WESTWARD). Here's something very hard to explain, I hope you all get it. In journeying eastward he had gone TOWARDS the sun, and the days therefore diminished for him as many times four minutes as he crossed degrees in this direction. There are three hundred and sixty degrees, multiplied by four minutes, gives precisely twenty-four hours-that is, the day unconsciously gained. I other words, while Phileas Fogg, going eastward, saw the sun pass the meridian EIGHTY times, while his friends at Reform Club only saw it pass the meridian SEVENTY-NINE times.

Clever trick, and so Phileas Fogg won the bet of twenty thousand pounds, but he had nearly spent nineteen thousand pounds on the way, so the gain was very little. Truly, would you not for less than that make the tour around the world?

:)