I finished reading the Curious Case of Benjamin Button a few days after finishing the blog post that was due last wednesday. Here is how the story continues:
Benjamin gets younger and younger and goes to fifth grade. He loses much of the knowledge he has gained over his lifetime and is worried with childish thoughts of being beat up at school by bullies. He starts failing each grade he enrolls in and ends up in Kindergarten, which he repeats a few times. The book ends as the lives of many people begin, Benjamin Button does not remember his life and is just a baby. The author does not say how Benjamin dies (or ceases to exist). I made the assumption that he merely vanished, and no one remembered that he existed, but that is just the pessimistic quality of my thinking. Another option I considered is that he may have become a baby once again, then he started getting older once again, and lived the same life he already had. Overall I liked the book quite a lot, and I thought it had an interesting plot to it, it was also very original. On the downside, I thought it lacked detail, which I suppose it had to if it were to cover Benjamin's entire life. I do not know how the movie will be. The book seems to be one of those which would not be a good movie, just because movies are supposed to be fast paced.
I;ll start a new book next week, since Benjamin Button wasn't long enough. Happy New Year!!

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Pt. 2

Recently I started reading the Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and it has turned out to be a good book. Hopefully I can finish it before the movie comes out, around New Year's... I think. So as the story continues Benjamin Button learns to fit in with his family. His father, who is a prominent figure in South Carolina, is ashamed to say that his son is different from everyone else. Benjamin and Roger Button (Roger=father of Benjamin) do not get along well, instead Benjamin spends time with his grandfather and is accustomed to his company. The story progresses quickly, as years of Benjamin's life are described in every chapter. Benjamin goes to school, not fitting in at all. He applies to college at Harvard, but is ridiculed when he tells them that he is only 16 years old, although he appears to be near seventy. Out of frustration he attends Yale. And that is all that is known about that. Several years later, when Benjamin is in his twenties, but appears fifty, he starts going to "fashionable dances" along with his dad. He meets a lady, in her twenties named Hildergarde. Hildergarde and Benjamin go out on several dates, and soon get married. Benjamin soon takes over his father's hardware business and continues to get younger and younger. Benjamin eventually is not attracted to Hildergarde, and decides to enlist into the army. He quickly advances to the ranks and when he returns, he finds that his wife has moved to Italy and decides to be taken care of by his own step-son, Roscoe. That's all I've read so far, and I'm almost finished with the book, so I don't really know where the story is going anymore. I'm gonna be looking forward to snowboarding tomorrow!!!!!!! Have a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

New book: Again

So the "Time Machine" wasn't exactly a bad book, but when I saw that "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" was coming out as a movie, I thought I had to read it. In the movie Brad Pitt asks as Benjamin. It is already nominated for golden globes, which means it must be good (although The Dark Knight was an awesome movie and it did not get a globe award). The story starts as Mrs. Button is pregnant and about to give birth. Mr. Button is going to the hospital, when he sees the doctor. The doctor acts very strange and Mr. Button is nervous about the health of his child. After stumbling over words the doctor manages to take Mr. Button into the hospital after swearing never to help give birth to any of his family members ever again. By now, Mr. Button is throughly frightened, as all the staff members are acting strange as well. When he goes into the room that Mrs. Button is in, he sees a 70- year old man in a baby crib. The nurse explains to him that is his son, Mr. Button thinks this is a joke but the nurse convinces him that it is not. Mr. Button is a man of high status in his town, and starts becoming weary about his image in society. He thinks that he will lose all his status and respect. Mr. button takes benjamin to a store to buy him clothes, he tries to find him boy clothes and hatches a plot to dye his hair to pass him off as a young kid.

That's all I read so far, and this is promising to be a good book already, I'll keep you posted.

Blog: Dec. 10

After hearing the same criticism every Friday that my "nine-year-old daughter is reading the same book", (referring to the Thief Lord), (if your daughter is reading this, consider an accelerated enlish program for her) I decided to start reading a new book, The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells. The first thing I realized about this book, is its style. For example: when a character speaks for the first time, it is written as "said Filby, an argumentative person with red hair"; the second time the book reads,"said the Psychologist"; the third time he speaks,"said the Provincial Mayor". This is an effective, although not very fluent way of introducing the character. The book begans as a character termed as the "time traveller" states the three dimensions as length, width, and height. But to introduce a new way of thought, he also claims that something must have duration, in order for it to exist. He is saying that the fourth dimension is time. The listener doesn't understand and tries to argue that his theory is against reason and that he is insane to think such a thing. The time traveller next puts an apparatus that represents a small lamp. He then pushes a lever and the apparatus disappears! The viewer is astonished and, and starts acting super weird (like anyone who just saw something disappear would). In the second chapter the POV switches to first person, and the new character goes to the time traveler to see for himself.

Research Question:

Should a lethal dose be administered to a patient if he or she has a terminal, or excruciatingly painful condition?

Girsh, Faye."Death With Dignity: Choices and Challenges." USA Today (Magazine) March 2000: 62-64. SIRS Researcher. SIRS Knowledge Source. Edina High School. 7 December 2008 http://www.sirs.com

Faye Girsh is the executive director of a right-to-die organization, known as Hemlock Society USA. He clearly supports a person's right-to-die, and discusses scenarios and statistics having to do with the controversial issue to allow a doctor to assist a victim's suicide. He argues that a many patients of "terminal conditions" suffer greatly and wish to end their lives with dignity. He also says that the friends and family members of the victim go through much pain seeing their loved ones dying. Girsh provides data of euthanasia, in the only state that it is allowed: Oregon. The data shows that 15 of 23 people studied, took their lives. Girsh uses this data to support the idea that a person should be able to choose to avoid pain.


Whitehorn, Katharine."How to Die the 'Oregon Way'."The Guardian 13 October 2008: 4. SIRS Researcher. SIRS Knowledge Source. Edina High School. 8 December 2008 http://sirs.com

Katharine Whitehorn describes the different countries which are fighting over legislations to legalize euthanasia. Currently it is classified as second degree murder in all states except Oregon. Whitehorn continues to provide history of the first country to legalize euthanasia. She says that euthanasia in the United States would be too commercialized, and doctors would use euthanasia to relieve over crowded hospitals. She also gives the example of Dr. Jack Kevorkian who assisted in killing 103 people, and got out of jail a year later.

QUARTER 2: Blog 4

So recently, I started reading "The Thief Lord" by Cornelia Funke and this summary is gonna start around 1/3 of the way into the book. Read the other posts for more info on the book:

After Victor learns that Bo and Prosper live in an abandoned theatre, he goes to the owners house to find out more about it. The owner is Dottor Massimo. When victor is at the house of Dottor, he is spotted by Scipio. At the mention of the Stella, Scipio's anxious face is easily read by Vicotr and he immediately realizes that he is one of the "orphans". As Victor is leaving, Scipio trips him and runs to the movie theater to warn the other's that Victor is coming. When Victor reaches the Stella he spots Bo and threatens to kill him. Bo figures out his gun is fake and runs around the theatre to avoid capture. Suddenly, Victor is overpowered by the others and they lock him up. They leave Victor tied up in a closet for several days, but treat him well. Bo tries to interrogate him, but the only info he gets is that his turtles name is "Paula". During this time the others keep watch on the Casa Spaventa which is the house that they are going to rob the wing from. When they come back, Victor is gone and leaves a note. . .

I would write more, but I want to keep some suspense, so I'll tell you what the note says next week. Dum dum Daaah (scary music)