Picture Perfect Part 2

I finished reading Picture Perfect. After Cassie finally figures out the reason for her severe amnesia was because she had been beaten by Alex, her husband. and knowing she was pregnant had decided to run away but then woke up later not knowing anything about herself, which is where the book started out. After her memory comes back she realizes that she's been trying to rebuild her life with the man she was running away from in the first place and knowing that she is still pregnant takes off once again. Cassie ends up going to an Indian Reserve that her friend Will Flying Horse takes her to, as it was the place he grew up. While Cassie is hiding in the one place that Alex will never think to look, Alex is back in LA searching wrecklessly for her, while his career falls to shambles. After a couple months of learning the ways of Will Flying Horse's Grandparents she finally gives birth to a boy whom she names Conner. Finally when Cassie gets back in touch with Alex she tells him where she is but that she needs more time there to take care of their son Conner. Expectedly, Alex can't wait and shows up to take her back home with him, saying he'll do whatever it takes to never lay a hand on her again and to make their marriage work. After living in LA with Conner and Alex for awhile, Alex's abuse starts up again and she finally realizes that if she can't leave for herself she has to leave for Conner. She then tells the public about the the abusive behavior of Alex fully knowing this will ruin his entire acting career. She does this because she knows that to make it ok to leave she must make him stop loving her, although she sees him at the press release and they have a moment where she figures out that he forgives her and understands. This book is really sad because even though these two people love each other so much, and will probably never love someone the same again they can't be together because they at the same time have a toxic relationship. I was really proud of Cassie for leaving Alex for Conner because it was inevidible that Conner would grow up and most likely take the abuse as well.

Picture Perfect

I've decided to keep following my Jodi Picoult book trend, and have been reading another book written by her entitled Picture Perfect. This book is about a woman named Cassie who is an Anthropologist and is married to a famous actor named Alex Rivers. Behind their luxurious perfect lifestyle is a hidden secret that the couple keep, that Alex has anger management and abuses Cassie. Despite the moments when she is being beaten by him, she continues to love him way more than she loves herself. Therefore Cassie continues to stay with him, knowing that two minutes after he starts beating her he'll come back to reality feel sorry and hold her begging for forgiveness. Since this book shows all sides of the story, you get to read about how Alex is truly not a bad guy and loves Cassie so much, but can't control his rage when he loses control. This book really makes you have trouble figuring out your take on the situation, whether she should leave or stay. The reason being that while they are in good times, it's more perfect than you could ever imagine a relationship to be and you find yourself thinking why would anyone ever leave that. It goes back in time and you read about how they met on a movie set in Africa and how they had a private wedding there, and then how they came back to the US and Alex protected her from the insane papparazzi and public. But then when you read through the moments when he loses it and starts beating her, she always forgives him right after and tells him it's not his fault and that she forgives him. It always made me so angry that she could never stand up for herself and let him take full advantage of her forgiving nature.

Joker Nomination

I read an article on yahoo about how Batman The Dark Knight was one of the top movies this year, and is probably going to be nominated for best picture and best director. Also Heath Ledger may be in the running for posthumous nomination for supporting actor in the academy awards. It talks about how Heath would be very proud of the reactions to his acting in the movie and how people were very moved by his performance. I think it would be really appropriate for Heath to get a posthumous award because he did an amazing job in the movie and it would be a good thing in his honor and in the remembrance of all his great acting accomplishments.

http://movies.yahoo.com/news/movies.ap.org-oscar-knight-batman-rises-serious-contender-ap

End of Keeping Faith

I recently finished reading Keeping Faith. It was an overall very moving and meaningful book. One part of it that I really enjoyed reading was the chapters that were about the trial of who got full custody of Faith. I really enjoyed this because it really teaches you a lot of things about the law in general, and in this case a lot about munchausins by proxy and other kinds of different conditions. To me, it was like watching a movie, and the whole time rooting for Mariah. After watching numerous episodes of Law and Order: SVU and taking government last year it made it even more interesting to read this whole hearing because I understood how everything worked and could definitely picture it as a law and order episode. There were many emotional parts of it, including when they had Faith walk into the courtroom after her near death experience in the hospital followed by a coma. I won't give away the ending to this book because I think it's definitely a book that everyone should read. But I will say Jodi Picoult never ceases to amaze me with her writing and how she makes you understand everyones complicated side of the story.

Myspace Trial

I read an article about a mother who allegedly made a fake myspace of a boy named Josh, to see if Sarah Drew, her daughter's friend Megan, had been spreading mean rumors about her daughter. After trying to get back at Megan, Sarah Drew's mother proceeded with telling Megan to kill herself and that the world would be better off without her. Soon after, Megan was found hanging in her room with a belt and died the next day. This is the first cyber-bullying trial for the nation. Instead of being blamed for Megan's suicide, the mother is only being charged for violating the myspace terms of service. I think this is stupid, and she should be charged with homicide because she clearly created a person who Megan would fall for with the intent of turning on her. I think she fully knew the consequences of it all. Being an older adult, I think she should be held fully responsible for convincing a young gullible teenager to kill herself, and anything less is ridiculous.

The Year of Fog Take 2

I decided to go back to reading The Year of Fog and am almost finished with it. I just read the part of the book where Abby, after searching high and low, interviewing everyone she can think of, finds herself being lead to Costa Rica by the string of clues. During a surfing event she is walking on the beach, with little hope left when she sees a tanned little girl with braided hair in a swimsuit lying on a towel in the sun. She finds out that this is Emma, her Fiance's daughter who has been missing for a year. This heart wrenching part of the book when Abby sweeps Emma into her arms, at last bringing the little girl she loves to safety, was enough to make the whole long part of the book that had hopeful searching, which really didn't bring up anything, worth it. I can kind of relate to the feeling that Abby and Emma had when Emma was finally rescued because although I've never had long periods of time when a loved one was missing, I've gotten a piece of it from when there's times like not being able to find my dog when she gets out of the fenced backyard, and when you go into complete panic mode and think that life as you once knew it was gone. Then when you find that person or in this case dog, it's the best feeling in the world, knowing that everything will be fine, and can return to normal. Although I'm sure for Emma, after being away from home for an entire year will take a lot longer to feel like everything is back to normal. After Emma is taken back to a hotel room to shower and change, Abby calls Emma's Father (her fiancee) to tell him the good news. This is my second favorite part because much earlier in the book, Emma's dad gave up hope, coming to a conclusion that she was dead, and found himself turning to religion. When Abby calls him you just get excited for him to hear the news, just being able to barely fathom the amazing feeling of that.

Disney Heroes

There are many heroes in Disney movies. These heroes can range from anything like female, male, animal, creature, human, superhuman etc. The two groups that I found mostly are human Disney heroes and animal Disney heroes.

Human Disney Heroes;



Hercules was a God who was turned mortal by Hades' sidekicks. After learning his true past, he works hard to become a hero and defeats Hades and all the evil creatures.


Pocahontas was a heroine because she saved John Smith from being killed and stepped out to start peace between her people and John Smith's people, despite her father's objections.


HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME

Quasimodo with anguished heart
Alone in the cathedral bell-tower
Despised for his ugliness and hunchback
Needs the ecstasy of a woman’s love
But knows he will never father a child
Nor kiss sweet rosebud lips of true love.

Deformed limping ugliness sublime
Children flee from him in screaming terror
Dogs howl at his grotesque shape
As he limps in misery from place to place
Trying to hide among shadows
Distorted face turned towards the darkness.

He swings clinging to the great bell
Deaf to her thunderous peals
And for a brief moment of happiness
Forgets the torments of his troubled life
Gross deformity that shamed his mother
And his spirit soars free as a dove over Paris.

Colin Ian Jeffery

Quasimodo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a hero because even though he lived a horrible life, and had close to no one who respected him, he saved a gypsy woman, and humbly let her love the one she loved, when she was the one he loved. He saved her and even saved the man she loved. That to me is truly Heroic.

Animal Disney Heroes;


Simba in The Lion King was a hero because even though he left his kingdom after he was tricked into thinking he killed his own father. After awhile, he returns to his kingdom and rescues his people from his evil uncle Scar.


Marlin, from Finding Nemo is a hero because after his son, Nemo, gets taken by a scuba diver, he embarks on his long seemingly endless journey to find his son. He travels across the ocean without hesitating even though it means going through hardships including sharks, anglerfish, jelly fish, a fisher's net and many more without giving up.




Pongo from 101 Dalmations is a hero in the same way as Marlin, in the sense that he went through any obstacle to save his children. Pongo was smart enough to cover himself and his family in soot to make Cruella Deville and her evil sidekicks from recognizing them as their true identity of Dalmations.

CONCLUSION;
In Disney movies there are two different kinds of heroes, Animal and Human. Both need the same qualities to accomplish similar tasks that are put ahead of them. After finding all these artifacts on Disney Heroes, I found out that the major qualities these animal and human heroes possess are determination, intelligence, compassion, dedication, physical and emotional strength, and love.

Keeping Faith

The new book that I last jumped to is Keeping Faith. This is yet another Jodi Picoult book. This book is about a woman Mariah who was in denial about her marriage with her husband Colin for many years, until finally when she was scheduled to not be at home, she finds him with another woman. Colin quickly moves out but the thing that makes it so hard on his part is their seven year old daughter Faith. From the day that Faith and Mariah found out about the affair, up until a couple weeks later Faith didn't speak at all. After a little while of having a really hard time, seeing as how her dad hasn't been around and her mom and her don't have a strong relationship, she starts to have dreams and hallucinations of a girl in a white robe, whom she calls her "guard". Mariah finds Faith out on the top beam of the swing set at 3 in the morning, and Faith says that her guard told her it was ok. Another side of the story is talking about this guy who is an atheist who is filming his journey around the country trying to prove that God isn't real, and trying to come up with scientific reasons for everything that people in the christian faith believe is just God's doing. I think that the "guard" that Faith is seeing is an angel, or her interpretation of God, but I don't think she's having hallucinations I believe that in her hard time God is reaching out to her, for example in her dream, she asked if she knew the "guard" when she saw him/her for the first time and the guard said "Do you want to know me?" During the part where Mariah catches her outside on the swing set she hears Faith reciting scripture made into a song that Faith has no way of knowing, seeing as how she has no religious backround at all. I haven't really gotten that far into the book yet but I really like it and I'm going to actually stick with it instead of jumping around book to book.

Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult

I am am just starting to read a book called A Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult. This book is about a woman, June Nealon who lost her first husband in a car accident, ends up remarrying the police officer who came to their rescue at the scene of the accident. Living happily with her husband, Kurt and daughter, Elizabeth, they soon hire a man named Shay Bourne to work on their house. It turns out that this man Shay Bourne is mentally ill and he kills both her husband and daughter. After Shay Bourne gets convicted of murder, the jury now has to decide whether or not execution is necessary. I can relate to the part of the book where Michael, a college student who was chosen to be on the jury, is talking about how he can relate to June losing people she loved because he lost his grandfather. I can relate to that because I too, lost my grandfather five years ago. He talks about how someone broke into his house and stole a bunch of valuable things, but the only thing that hurt to lose was the picture of him and his grandfather that was in a sterling silver frame. I can really understand how that would be upsetting because I have a picture of my grandpa holding me as a baby that I would be upset to lose. This book is good, it has drawn me in from the very beginning and I wonder what will happen when i get farther into the story.

The Year of Fog by Michelle Richmond

I'm currently in the process of reading The Year of Fog. The book starts out with Abby taking care of her fiance's daughter, Emma, for the weekend. They go to a beach and Abby being a photographer is busy taking pictures. Emma, insisting on running ahead for a minute, gets lost into the thick fog and Abby finds herself frantically looking for Emma, who is nowhere to be found. I can relate to this book a lot because it has a paragraph about the feeling when you are in honest and true panic and i completely know that feeling. I remember being little and getting lost in a place like Target and Southdale and just that pit in your stomach and the feeling that you will never find happiness ever again. I can also kind of relate to this because the closest thing to a child i have right now are my two nieces, and i can't even imagine the feeling of being responsible for them and then losing them or the possibility of them getting kidnapped. This book really hit the feeling you get when something terrible happens dead on, and I'm anxious to find out what happens to Emma, whether she'll turn up or if she was kidnapped!

Bubble Map

Hallie and Codi

Codi and Hallie are two sisters who are very much alike, but at the same time have differences in personality that make them unique too. For instance a similarity between the two sisters would be their intelligence. Codi is very smart seeing as how she went to medical school and almost became a docter. Hallie is intelligent in the way that she is dedicated to her love of gardening and plants, and knowing what is happening around her. Both girls are also very humane and sympathetic. When they were younger they tried to save coyote pups, and now in the present time Hallie is out helping in Nicaragua and Codi is being there for her father while he suffers from alzheimers. Codi also cares about animals, as showed when she thought the kids were beating up a peacock. Not only are they alike in these ways but they also are alike in their physical appearance. Hallie and Codi are very tall, and look alike. The last word i would use to describe both of them is adventurous. Hallie travels to Nicaragua and takes her time sightseeing along the way, and Codi can never settle into one place. She has been all over the world and is always planning on leaving to go somewhere else. There are also some things about each Sister that makes them different from each other. Codi is lost and doesn't feel like she fits in anywhere and is self concious, where as Hallie can feel at home anywhere she goes, and is genuinely happy with who she is. Codi and Hallie are both very interesting and developed characters who I am eager to read about and see what happens in the final part of the book.

Born Into Music

One word i would use to describe myself with is musical. I would say that I'm musical because to begin with I was born into a very musical family. My mom, sisters, grandparents, aunt, uncles and cousins are all singers and play a variety of different instruments. One of the things that has always come easily to me is singing. Sometimes I won't even realize that I'm singing. I'll get a line of a song stuck in my head and sing it over and over again until my friends beg me to stop. I also play the piano, and am learning to play the guitar. I sing in school choir, church choir. I take voice and guitar lessons and hopefully will be able to sing in a church band this year. I will probably always love music and hopefully will be able to make a career of it someday.