Into The Wild Blog.

1. So far, I've liked the book. The author has a very intriguing style of writing; I feel like it's more casual than most novel styles of writing. Usually authors will go to extreme extents to edit and make sure their writing is picture perfect. It's clear that this author has edited their writing, but it doesn't seem to be to the extent of most novelists.

2. One word I'd use to describe Chris is stubborn. He is so gung-ho on trying to live in the wild while in reality, it's basically impossible to survive in the wild for that long on the little amount of supplies that he has.

3. A theme I see arising in the book is that once you have your mind set on something, you can never see what it is in reality and how it may be good/bad for you.

4. This book reminds me of a book I had to read in 8th grade. I can't remember what it's called, something about a bear, but a boy is forced to go and live in the wilderness because he committed a bad crime. Both of the antagonists in these two novels have similar personality traits and similar mindframes. However, they both have different outlooks on living in the wild. Obviously, Chris wants to live in the wild, while the main character in the other book is being forced to live in the wild.

5. I can relate this book to myself because sometimes, I'll have days where the only thing I want to do is go be somewhere else and live alone for a long time.

6. I can't really find a situation in the world to relate this to. We don't often hear about people running away into the wild and people finding them dead four months later. It does, however, remind me of people attempting to summit Mt. Everest and their efforts coming up short.

Reviews.

The album Continuum by John Mayer is your ideal lullaby to sleep album. The flowing lyrics mixed with slow-moving guitar riffs and occasional solos are a perfect combination and they piece together perfectly on this album. Mayer's honey-sweet voice is pinpoint perfect on the album and his clean-cut guitar parts make the album as good as it could be. John Mayer, the 31-year-old Connecticut native, had released two solo albums previous to Continuum. The two previous albums had been very successful, so Mayer had a lot to live up to. Fortunately, Continuum did not disappoint all the hype it had been receiving before its release date. Mayer can be compared to Mat Kearney, whom he toured with in winter 2006. Both of them have the same style of music; slow-moving, soft rock type music. However, Kearney just can't compare. Mayer has that something about him that draws the listener in and makes them crave more. One particularly strong song on the album is the song "Slow Dancing In A Burning Room." Not only does the song have metaphorical messages, but its smooth flowing lyrics and soft guitar chords create a perfect melody which effortlessly show the height of Mayer's talent as a vocalist, writer, and guitarist. One other strong point on this album is the song "Bold As Love." Mayer covered Jimi Hendrix, a legendary artist. Mayer attempted to fill a huge pair of shoes, and he did it quite successfully. Mayer obviously doesn't have the same voice as Hendrix, but their guitar styles are similar. This album is definitely worth the $14 or so you'll pay for it. It perfectly embodies what you'd look for in a slow-moving soft rock album. Mayer is an extremely talented guitarist, vocalist, and writer, and his talent shines through very brightly on this album.


Amnesty International tried to do a very daring thing by getting different artists of all different styles to cover The Beatles, and I'm not quite sure how well it worked out for them. The original songs, by both John Lennon alone and The Beatles, are phenomenal in their originality. Lennon's voice and keen sense for words craft his songs together flawlessly. However, getting artists amont the likes of Avril Lavigne and Christina Aguilera to cover these songs was, in my opinion, a huge mistake. I don't see how anyone could think that a new punk-pop artist like Avril Lavigne could compare at all to the name The Beatles had built for themselves. I'm not denying that Lavigne is a talented singer; I do think that she has potential to be great. However, her voice just does not flow well with a song like "Imagine," which she covered for the album. There aren't many other compilations that try to do the same thing as this album; this is pretty much the first of its kind. However, all the songs can be compared to the original versions made by The Beatles and John Lennon. A particularly low part on the album is the song "Mother," covered by Christina Aguilera. Aguilera attempts to do too much with her voice, dragging out notes that really did not to be dragged out in that manner. However, there are a few songs worth your time on this album. The Jack Johnson cover of "Imagine" turned out better than anyone expected. Johnson's usually playful style of music turned serious for his cover of the classic song. Johnson was able to divert the image of Curious George that usually comes to mind when people hear his name and show off his raw talent in this song. Overall, this album did not cut it for me. Artists trying to hard to compare to something that is just uncomparable was not a good move. There are a few good songs, but in general, this album was a nice attempt at something that could never be.

20 minutes with Obama

Part One:

I'm not exactly sure what I'd bring up if I had 20 minutes with President Obama. I'd probably ask what he plans to do about health care, and I'd ask him about abortion. I know he's pro-Choice, but I want to get more of a view from him. I would ask him what he wants to do about the troops in Iraq and his overall view on the war and where it's taken our country. I don't have any solutions/ideas for any of these because I'm not the president and I don't know what would fix this. These are the most critical issues because they're where all of our country's tax money is being spent, it's where all of the government's money is going and I want to know the real importance of these things.

Part Two:

I'm hoping our nation will be a better place for everyone in four years. I'll still be pretty young, only nineteen. I'm hoping the economy will be a better place for us to live. Personally, I hope that the troops will be out of Iraq. I wish there won't be any war in four years, but we all know that that can't happen.

In 2035, I'll be 42. It's hard to say what the biggest issues facing our nation will be because everything changes so quickly. I'm guessing that we'll still be facing a huge national debt. I hope our economy will be stronger than it is now. I think we also might be facing running out of critical elements to survive. I don't know if the world will be a better place. We could have made good decisions, and we could have made bad decisions. The choices we make are what are going to determine the fate of our world in 2035. It's hard to say now, but hopefully, we'll be stronger.