Amazon: American Hero or Over-Powerful Dynasty?

Amazon. 10 years ago, if you looked this up, you’d see results for a beautiful rainforest located in Brazil. But now go ahead and google “Amazon”. You will have to click through not 1, not 2, not even 3 or 4 pages of search, but 5 to see a first result for this “sacred” rainforest. The word Amazon now represents a billion dollar online shopping company, used by millions daily. This company supplies everything you need, from books, to toys, electronics, food, and more, often at a lower price. With fast 2-day shipping, you usually don’t blink twice about checking out your cart. This is all good… right? Maybe not. Let’s take a closer look into what you’re really buying.

Amazon sells everything, and fast. You probably think this is great and very convenient, so why not use it?  You are just proving my point. Amazon, as it has grown to power is able to do these things like fast delivery, putting small businesses out of the picture. It is so easy for you to order off Amazon, that they don’t stand a chance. Amazon has taken away thousands of retail stores and small businesses across the United States, and will continue to do so as they grow in power. Although they currently aren’t the only store currently doing this, they will keep growing as our world keeps becoming more technology oriented (and we get lazier), until they monopolize, well, retail fully. Although you may think this is an exaggeration, think of how they have already put big companies out of business such as Borders, and soon enough Walmart, just because Amazon is so much easier. Whatever happened to living the American dream? America is not supposed to be run by an all powerful company. Yet, there is Amazon. So next time before you add an item to your cart, think again.

~ Jackson

The Hunger Games App

 

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire came out not too long ago, but before you run to your local movie theaters to find out what happens to Katniss and Peeta, you can start  running through Panam with an official app on Android and iOS. Both (The Hunger Games and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire) movies were very thrilling, intense, and of course good. The app is a simulation in which being one of the characters from the movies, you run through Panem and the districts. The link for the trailer of the game is: Hunger Games App. If you have not seen the movie or read the books yet, you should do so.

I saw the movie The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and it was amazing. I also saw the first Hunger Games movie. I read all of the books in the series. I downloaded the Hunger Games app on my IPad and it is a lot like Temple Run but with a few twists. Like the landscape changes from district to district and the power ups are different from the ones in Temple Run. The app is very fun and addicting and you should definitely download it. Also if you haven’t seen the movies or read the books you should do so.

~Brett

Big-Time Books

I have always been a lover of books, and I still am.  When I was 2 years old, my mom would tell me to take a nap, and when she came back upstairs, I was in the closet with my books, looking at the pictures.  Many of my free choice pieces in school, such as this blog, have been about books that I have read.  In 5th grade, I read over 100 books, some of them twice within the 10 months of school.  I have been asked by both teachers and students, some of which I have never met, if I have any recommendations for them.  I have always been happy to answer, so that’s all this is about.  These are some of my favorite books for teens, and most of them are OK for both boys and girls.

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

I just finished this on 9/29, but it’s really an amazing book.  I flew through all 485 pages in 2 days and started the second book in the series 5 minutes after I finished City of Bones.  It’s about a 15 year old girl named Clary who drags her best friend, Simon, to a club called Pandemonium.  While they’re waiting in line to get in, there’s a boy Clary sees who instantly peaks her interest.  Once they enter, she watches him slip through a door marked “NO ADMITTANCE” with a beautiful girl, trailed by two dark shadows of boys, one of which has a knife.  To find out who these mysterious  characters are, READ THE BOOK!!!!!  (Fantasy)

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

Of course I have to include Harry Potter, quite credibly the best series ever written.  Most people have read it, but for those poor, book-deprived few who haven’t, I’ll explain it here.  The story begins at number four, Privet Drive.  Vernon and Petunia Dursley live in a house that is the prime example of normal, but not everything is what it seems.  The Dursleys have adopted Petunia’s nephew, Harry Potter, who suddenly starts getting strange letters mailed to him after 10 years of abusement.  To try to escape these terrifying pieces of paper, Vernon drags the entire family to a  dilapidated hovel on a deserted rock in the middle of the sea while a hurricane is whipping the water into a frenzy all around them.  While everyone but Harry is asleep, the now-11-year-old boy is silently celebrating his birthday alone, but there is a loud THUMP coming from the door that interrupts his “festivities”.  Then, with a loud crash, the door is ripped off its hinges, with a huge, hulking shadow blocking the lightning.  Who is this intimidating giant?  You’ll see.  (Fantasy)

Holes by Louis Sachar

       I have read Holes  at least three times, and it’s just that good.  The main character is Stanley Yelnats, whose family is cursed to always be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  That’s why when he was walking home from a bad day at school, a disgusting, smelly pair of sneakers hit him square on the head, as if they fell from the sky.  A few minutes later, a police car rides up and accuses Stanley of stealing the sneakers of the most famous baseball star ever, who also has a bad case of foot fungus.  The case is taken to court, where no one believes Stanley’s story of the shoes falling from the sky.  He and his family are given the choice of sending Stanley to juvie or Camp Green Lake, a camp for juvenile delinquents who need to be taught responsibility and respect.  Want to find out their choice, and the tons of exciting variables it controls?  Read it. (Realistic Fiction)

~Stephanie

James Patterson has written over 50 books within ten years.  He and his wife currently live in Palm Beach, Florida with their son Jack. He was an advertising executive up until 1985 when he quit to become a novelist. He published his first book The Thomas Berryman Number, in 1976. His best selling detective novel Along Came A spider, introduced Alex Cross, a psychologist detective, from Washington DC. The series is 18 books long in counting. Two of the Alex Cross books were turned into movies starring Morgan Freeman; Along Came a Spider and Kiss the Girls. Cross, another Alex Cross book is also being made a movie. It will come out on October 19th.

I have read five of the Alex Cross books and they’re amazing. They keep on the edge of your seating and guessing page after page. You might think you know what’s going to happen, but you will change your mind again and again. His books have short chapters, but don’t let that discourage you. I personally like short chapters. They make you feel like you are moving along in the book faster. If you only have a short period of time to read, the books are perfect so you dont lose your place in the middle of a chapter too.

~Emily Bodurtha

The Hunger Games vs Twilight

Recently the hit Twilight Series   written by Stephenie Meyers, just finished filming their final  movie Breaking Dawn Part 2 coming out  November 16, 2012. This series has made quite an impact on the nation because of  it’s thrilling action and heated romances. But sites say that the New York Times Bestselling  Author Suzanne Collin’s new Hunger Games Series might be the “New Twilight”. The first film which is coming out March 23, 2012 is told to be the movie of the year and to be even  more successful then Twilight.  This upcoming movie has had an even bigger impact not only because of the thrilling action and love interest but because of its story line .

“In a not-too-distant future, North America has collapsed, weakened by drought, fire, famine, and war to be replaced by Panem, a country divided into the Capitol and 12 districts. Each year two young representatives from each district are selected by lottery to participate in The Hunger Games. Part entertainment, part brutal intimidation of the subjugated districts, the televised games are broadcast throughout Panem. The 24 participants are forced to eliminate their competitors, literally, with all citizens required to watch. When 16-year-old Katniss’ young sister, Prim, is selected as the mining district’s female representative, Katniss volunteers to take her place. She and her male counterpart Peeta, will be pitted against bigger, stronger representatives who have trained for this their whole lives.” (Suzanne Collins)

In my personal opinion  considering that I have read the books I am more excited for The Hunger Games Series then I was for the Twilight Series. I believe that it will be just as much of a success.

~Callie York

Pretty Little Liars

The series Pretty Little Liars is about four girls: Alison Dilaurentis, Hanna Marin, Spencer Hastings, Emily Fields, and Aria Montgomery and how they are all keeping big secrets from each other. The girls keep receiving notes from someone called A, threatening to tell their friends and family their secrets that only their dead friend Alison, knew.

I would recommend this book to people that like drama and mystery because the girls are also trying to figure out what happened to Alison, how she died and if someone killed her. I liked this book because I like mystery and once you read the first book you can’t wait to read the second book, you get hooked on right after the first page. My friend showed it to me and I can’t wait to read the third book.

 

New Ways To Read?

Times have rapidly changed. Nowadays most kids spend their times hanging with friends, participating in sports, or surfing the internet.  Actually witnessing kids our age reading books seems to be like finding a needle in a haystack. Each day, more and more kids drop their books as they go on to do something ‘more exciting.’ Now, think about yourself. When was the last time you picked up a book and really got into it? Chances are it’s been awhile. Although this doesn’t always fit everyone, most kids in 7th and 8th grade have admitted to finding reading ‘boring’. Hopefully that’ll all change.

 With help from companies like Amazon and Barnes and Noble, that can all change in the near future. These companies came up with the great idea of converting books to digital readers called Kindles and Nooks. You’ve probably seen one before, considering lots of kids in Dodd bring them to school everyday. With great book prices and the ability to get new ones anytime, anywhere, these readers seem like a great option to change the way people read. The real question is- can the Kindle bring back leisure reading in middle school students lives? I believe the answer to that question is yes. These devices can help students read more, which will help with future outcomes.

~Devin Savold

The Best Books into the Worst Movies

Some successful books are popular enough to get them turned into a movie. Some of these movies turn out to be extremely successful, such as the Harry Potter or Twilight series, but some movies get some of the worst ratings in the movie business, despite being extremely successful as books, such as Percy Jackson and Eragon. Now I think that the movie producers who made these movies where simply blind to the opportunity that they had. They had a ready-made target audience, tons of free publicity, and a perfectly fine script. Yet somehow they got it in their heads that they needed to change all that. Now don’t get me wrong some changes that they make are sometimes good but never the less deviate greatly from the story line, therefore making any and all fans that just wanted to see their favorite book on the big screen, angry. I believe that the people who make the movies should take their success on a silver platter without changing it, as this will just anger fans of the books.

Now while the movie producers are somewhat to blame, the fans of the books should not judge a movie by it being similar or not to the book. Many books are simply too long to have all the parts put into one movie and they must cut parts out to get it to movie length. I find that many fans will dismiss a movie simply because it was not close enough to the book. From there they will continue to spam websites with bad reviews and ultimately make nobody else watch it because of their reviews Even people who didn’t read the book do this. All together most movies that deviate from the book aren’t bad but crash and burn because of all the bad publicity from die hard book fans, without giving non-book people a chance to decide for themselves. So next time you are about to give something a bad review just try to remove your bias for a second and think of it as a movie not a book turned into a movie.

~Jack Pepper