J.R.R. Tolkien

Well before I read the Lord of The Rings books what I'm gonna do is read a quick book on Tolkien  and his history. If you for some odd reason don't happen to know who J.R.R Tolkien is the-then you should, he's the amazing writer of The Hobbit, and The Lord of The Rings series. So it is short but I think it'll do the trick. Seriously though, am I the only one that thinks it's weird his name is "Ronald"
I just don't like that name. The book as well says that he lived in South Africa for an amount of his childhood.....wouldn't really expect that.
Now, the book says The Hobbit is a children's book, it was originally tested by a child but as far as the movies go it's anything but. Something to note is that he answered some of these questions when he was around 70 and he even says that a lot of the things in his past very well... kinda expected but you know, felt as if it needed to be said. Updates will be made on the book though.

The Carnivorous Carnival pt.2

Okay, so now I've finished the book. As I've said I don't read the books for the endings because they are literally the same every time. Predictable. I read them for the events pryer to them, that's the part that's always different. From just some old guys house to a reptile house with a man eating snake on the loose. Always different. I mean a giant pit filled with lions ripping people to shreds is just but a tad different than the first two examples.
That's not my point, my point is that it was a good book, and I'm not gonna end up reading anymore so why not spoil a the end of a book you're never gonna read. Eventually in the end book literally called "The End" Olaf dies. Whoop whoop. He dies in a weird way as well, like he gets shot by a harpoon by a character that doesn't matter currently. Don't worry it gets better, he miraculously manages to stay alive long enough to help a woman give birth and wait for it....recites a poem and "*ploop, just falls over dead*". Yeah gotta mention the children help with the birth and the mother dies right after, and hey guess what the orphans are now parents for an orphan....fun times. Also at least they burred their bodies and payed their respects. Not the best ending but still glad Lemony kept the common theme of people always dying in some way. Which sounds psychotic, slightly is, but still. So you're welcome for a book that doesn't really matter.....HOORAY! 

The Carnivorous Carnival

I have read all the eight prier books to the ninth one, this one,  in the series "A Series of Unfortunate Events" by Lemony Snicket, and a year or so ago I only began to read this one but I'm back where I left off. So here's a little bit of whats going on. For anyone who knows the series know that the main villain in the books is Count Olaf a terrible, weird, disgusting man. Anyway in this one the children find themselves in a carnival, surprise surprise, where they have disguised themselves as carny freaks to hide from the rechid....rechid? Is that how it's spelled, haven't found anything else. Anyway, rechid Count Olaf. Yeah, that's pretty much in as far as I've read.  I guess the children themselves need to be explained.
The Baudelaire children's names first of all are Violet, Klaus, and Sunny from oldest to youngest. It all began when their parents were killed within in their own blazing house while they were young. Ever since they've had to go from distant relative to distant relative, all ending the same way. They arrive, they have a miserable time, Count Olaf shows up, and people end up dead, then the cycle starts over.

The Book of Time

Well, so far and in general the book is about well, a book of time and. As well as a special stone. Whatever. So the boy , Sam, in the book is some 13 years old. His father hasn't been home for ten days so far. He said he'd be home in a few days from his business trip. He does this all the time so Sam isn't worried, but it's still a lot longer than normal. He decides to kill some time that day and ends up in his fathers old book store and looks around at the things and memories of his early childhood. He finds a secret cellar room downstairs and ducks through the whole into it. A stone is what he sees, and he begins his adventure in search of his dad through time.
I'd imagine it would be very difficult finding one person through time when you don't even know what year, but as far as I am in the book right now Sam's in medieval age right now runnin' around and getting stuff done.
In other things, Sam as a person to me is both a brave and cowardly boy. The reason I say this is because him being a martial arts student goes to tournaments he's generally scared of a boy named Monk. Much bigger than him, and last tournament he was crushed by him....literally. I say he's brave because I mean he went on a deathly adventure through time just to find his dad. So that's what I got about Sam from the book.

The Boy Who Dared

Well I just finished a great book, The Boy Who Dared, and to say the least, it's pretty good. Never mind, the reason I'm writing this  is to say what the book is about and all that blah blah blah. Getting right to it the main character is a boy named Helmuth Hübener, in Nazi Germany, but the thing that I really love about the book is it switches between the past and present and the past being his memories. So normal text is just his memories and his life, then when it switches to italicized text you know that what you are reading is present time for him. Of course there are side characters like his friend Rudi and Karl then his brothers Gerhard and Hanz. Nonetheless the story and plot are just great. Even though it being an easy read doesn't mean it isn't a good one, so in the end it's an all around great book.

Holocaust Blog

I'd say the reason for the people of Nazi Germany to be the bystanders was because the Germans had a very powerful and effective weapon, fear and intimidation. With the German public soon realizing what was going on there were a brave few that stood up, but for the mass of the public being bystanders they were influenced by the fear and decided to stay in there place and not go out of line with the Nazi. They were also being reasonable as far as most humans would consider reasonable. They would rather have their family and themselves alive and not punished rather than being like the unlucky Jews, Gypsies Gays, and up-standers, etc. Human nature kicked in and it was a fight or flight time, either you fight and risk dying for a cause or you can try and fly below the radar and stay safe and for the most part sound with their families.

As far as my opinion on being a bystander or up-stander, I for a fact would be a bystander I'm not one to back away from fear as well as I am one to be susceptible to intimidation. I'd first think I'm obligated to do something about it, but as time would go on I would think about it and realize there would be no way I'd be doing it for the same reason that the real German public (mass of German's) didn't stand up against the Third Reich's rule over Germany, Poland, France, and much of Europe.

Then again for the up-standers they would need to have a lot courage to be able to stand up against such a powerful force with such a small force of rebellion. Even with a large force it would be a massive challenge for them as they would need time, lots of it, to be able to go against the Nazis and make a large notable difference. Although the changes the rebels did make may not have been significant but it did give them hope, hope that in turn could have inspired more and more up-standers to stand up for a change against a super power such as the Nazis.

Coca-Cola and death squads?

"Coca-Cola Accused of Using Death Squads to Target Union Leaders"

 Coca-Cola was accused of using death squads to hunt down and kill workers who decided to speak up against the terrible conditions they faced working in a Coca-Cola bottle plant in Columbia. I was a little surprised at the fact that Coca-Cola would use death squads and have horrid conditions within the factories they owned, but most people would be. We all don't really think about things like that because our mind sets are really and mainly set to worry about ourselves so we just don't think and wonder about that kind of stuff because we have other things to do. Yet in reality the victims of the squads were kidnapped beaten and killed just because they knew they weren't in any way, shape, or form in an okay work position. That's not even the part that made me a little bit frustrated. No, the part that did wasn't that they were getting killed because people die everyday but the fact that there really isn't a way to stop it, that's what got me. Out of all that I'm pretty sure it's safe to say that it was a wrong doing.

 "Simone Weil: The Year of Factory Work (1934-1935)"

 As for a poem I read about the subject of sweatshops and factories, the message or idea i got out of this poem was that the the whole thing of working in a sweatshop or factories in bad conditions was that it just never seems to end. That it is just an endless viscous cycle. Personally I cant connect except for a way less extreme example of having a bad school/work week because it just keeps happening and happening like an endless cycle, not viscous, but just seems endless. Now most people can not connect at all or barely, just barely, can like I can. The poem in my opinion is better than the article because the article is jut facts being thrown into your brain, the poem on the other hand is more hard hitting I think, it's not just facts being thrown at you like i said but it's more of something that you can just let sink in. Which in my opinion is just better.