Sunday, May 26, 2013

This blog is on the news. One of the main points of the news was extreme weather. There has crazily, been snow in New York, floods in Texas, and one of the most intense tornadoes in history in Oklahoma. The tornado in Oklahoma hit a town that had already been hit in the last 20 years. It also covered how Boston was recovering from the bombing. In addition, it spoke about an incident of sexual assault at West Point on a woman that dropped out of West Point, then sued West Point. Another story was about a child that created home made bombs, planning to bomb his school, but his plan was foiled after the police found the bombs under a board in his mom's house. But, to end on a happy note, it talked about the only professional barbecue critic in the U.S. That's tasty!

NBC Nightly News/ May 25, 2013 & May 26, 2013

Monday, May 20, 2013

Intentional Talk

The podcast i watched for my blog was Intentional Talk hosted by Chris Rose and Kevin Millar that is an actual show on MLB Network. It is a show on major events in baseball such as scandals, upcoming superstars, and game updates. It has many different sections such as Got HEEEEM!, That Was Awkward!, What Just Happened?, Best Interview In Baseball, Kevin's Highlights, and many more. They also run during the offseason, providing insight on the trading block, free agency, and minor leagues. My favorite part is Got HEEEEM! where they take an unsuspecting player, reporter, or coach that is either doing something funny or is getting pranked behind them. The podcasts I watched had an incident where they thought Boston Red Sox Pitcher Clay Buchholz had an illegal substance on his arm like he was throwing spitballs with sunscreen (The arm was shiny) but Al Leiter (Filling in for Millar while he was on vacation in Cabo San Lucas wth his wife for her birthday) demonstrated that it was powdered rosin with water and that the water makes it easy to get and lessens up the rosin's overpowering stick. They also talked about Brian McCann of the Atlanta Braves after being sent to the minors because of a shoulder surgery. Those were the main points of my podcast!

Monday, April 29, 2013

Conspiracy 365

             Callum Ormond is not exactly a normal teen, but he's not far from it. He and his friend Boges go to high school, he argues with his 9 year old sister Gabby and his mom Winifred, but his dad is dead. No, not a normal death, he got a "virus"... but Cal thinks he was murdered. The series is made into 12 books, one for each month. I'll explain the main plot of January.

January

               Cal gets startled by a frail, crazy looking man that says he needs to be careful for 365 days or "they" will kill Cal like "they" killed his dad and starts spouting stuff about an Ormond Singularity! Then taken away in an ambulance Cal goes to watch fireworks with his family confused and worried. Later, he and his Uncle Rafe (Cal's dad's twin) go boating in a bay but Rafe seems to space out as a huge gale starts and a wave destroys the boat. Luckily, Cal had his life vest... kind of. It doesn't work! He then has to battle sharks. He finally gets to shore only to find out his life vest was sabotaged! Now he's really scared. He gets home even more worried. After being out for awhile the next day, he comes home only to find his house broken into! He then gets a package addressed to him in the mail that Rafe takes and says it's his. Cal then breaks into Rafe's house because he believes the package was important. In it he finds a weird piece of paper with 2 points on it and 2 words. He also finds some weird drawings that his dad drew. He also sees a gun on Rafe's desk and after touching it (Remember he got his fingerprints on it then) and wondering, Rafe walks into the house and Cal hides under the bed. After Rafe leaves he exits still confused when he is suddenly kidnapped.

Friday, December 28, 2012

Hero


Zach Harriman's life had never been perfect with his dad traveling all over the world as the president's special adviser and "troubleshooting diplomat". Most kids would think having a famous dad would be the best thing in the world but not Zach. I mean, it's pretty cool being the famous Tom Harriman's only child and living with him in Manhattan, New York but his dad is gone all the time. But today he receives the most shocking, grievous, heart wrenching, surprise of his life that will change his life forever.... his dad is dead. His dad has died in a  air plane accident coming from Zagreb, Croatia on "official government business". The puzzling thing is that he didn't radio any airport towers and there was no sign of a struggle. Zach believes this is no accident and he's determined to find out what really happened. When he arrives at the crash site near Amagansett, New York he meets "Mr.Herbert" an old man who shows up at the crash site  in the middle of nowhere and claims      to know Zach's father. What would you have done? Well Zach doesn't trust him. At the end of their brief conversation Mr. Herbert says Zach's dad had the magic, zach had the magic, and then disappeared. WHOAAAAH!!!! Zach thinks "Herb (My personal nickname for Mr. Herbert)" knows about his dad. The actual interesting part begins now. As Zach fights the Bads (Basically all the terrorists and troublemakers in the world) he learns more and more of his magical abilities such as super speed, lightning quick reflexes, and a first step Allen Iverson and Derrick Rose could only wish for. Between fighting Bads, learning new magical abilities, and learning about his dad Zach learns nothing is as it seems.

Saturday, December 1, 2012

The Batboy

The Batboy

                                                                        My third Independent Reading Blog is about a book called "The Batboy", by Mike Lupica. This book is about Brian Dudley, a batboy for the Detroit Tigers (His local team). His ex-big leaguer dad, Cole Dudley, is now a pitching coach/scout for the Arizona Diamondbacks and is divorced from his mom, Liz Dudley. His dad loved baseball more than anything in life, even Brian or his mom and was no good at anything except for baseball, even being Brian's dad. Brian is shocked when his best friend (and ace starting pitcher on their 14 and under all-star team) tells him that his baseball idol, Hank Bishop, is trying to make the comeback of a lifetime at 35 years old. He was caught taking steroids a few years before and was given a 50 game suspension casting a shadow on all of the records he set and his whole career. Brian still is psyched when Hank arrives to the Tigers clubhouse, but when he tries to talk to Hank he is utterly rjected by a "Did I talk to you?......Then don't talk to me". "When Hank Bishop starts to show his true colors, Brian learns that life can throw you a curveball."

         I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in sports books and likes baseball. I would also rate it 5 stars out of five stars. Very, very good book. Some recommended books would be Heat, Heart of a Champion, Safe at home, and The Big Field.

Friday, November 2, 2012

Payback Time

Payback Time

Written by: Carl Deuker

Blog Author: J.P. Ardison

               My Independent Reading Blog is for a book by Carl Deuker called Payback Time. This book is about a mildly heavy school news reporter Daniel "Mitch" True who has big dreams of going to Columbia University. After he is not elected to be the editor of the school paper he believes his hopes are beyond reach. But as the sports reporter he and his photographer, Kimi, who is one of the smartest and nicest girls in his grade, find a story worth their while. Why is 6'5" Angel Marichal who can "throw a football through a brick wall", crush blockers, demolish running backs, and catch anything thrown within 7 yards of him sitting on the end of the bench almost all season? Why does he pretend to be a horrible player in front of the coach? Why did his friend pull out a gun when a car passed by them playing catch? Why did the Coach pull all of his records from Angel's personal file? Finally, why can't they find any trace of him at any schools in the nation? As Mitch and Kimi unravel the mystery they may get more than they bargained for.
                I would rate this book 5 stars out of 5 stars, 10/10, 2 thumbs up! I would recommend this book to anyone who liked Gym Candy, Heart of a Champion, Runner, On the Devil's CourtHigh Heat, Night Hoops, Painting the Black, or any other sports books. Likewise, I would recommend any of these books to someone who has read and liked Payback Time. It brings together the excitement and intensity of football with the sadness of being insecure, a very little romance, and a surprising, jaw-dropping, and overall fantastic mystery. If you need me, I'll be in the library curled up in a chair reading another book of Carl Deuker.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcYi72OGXr8&feature=related

Friday, October 5, 2012

Brisingr

 

Summary

My independent reading book was Brisingr. This is the third book in a series called the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini. This book is about a young man named Eragon and his young, blue, female dragon Sapphira. Eragon is a dragon rider otherwise known as a Shur'tagal or Argetlam. He and Sapphira are the protectors of Alagaësia. Eragon gets a new sword, blue like Sapphira, and names it Brisingr. Eragon, Sapphira, Roran, Arya, and the Varden are preparing to battle Galbatorix, Murtagh, Thorn, Shruikan, and the rest of the empire, and Oromis and Glaedr make their final stands. "Oaths are sworn... loyalties are tested... forces collide... who will win?"


 

Dictionary

Murtagh: Son of Morzan, forced to serve Galbatorix with his dragon Thorn.
Alagaësia: The land in which the the book takes place.
Shur'tagal: Dragon Rider
Argetlam: Silver Palm (Riders have a bond with their dragons through a gedwey ignasia, asilver mark on their hand)
Galbatorix: Crazy, evil, ruler of the empire, stole his dragon from his elders.
Thorn: Murtagh's young, red, stolen dragon.
Shruikan: Galbatorix's stolen, black, old, and crazy dragon who is forced to serve Galbatorix. He is a giant dragon, "When he flies he blots out the stars".
Brisingr: "Fire" in the ancient language, also name of Eragon's new sword.
Oromis: Eragon's elf trainer. He was 800 years old when he died fighting "Galbatorix". He and his  dragon, Glaedr, are crippled. Oromis suffers from constant seizures.
Glaedr: Oromis' dragon. He is gold, over 700 years old, and has only 3 legs. One of his legs was cut off by Formora, amember of the Forsworn.
Forsworn: Evil riders of the old who tried to kill all of the true, honest riders. Includes Morzan, Galbatorix, and Formora. Galbatorix is the only live member.
Varden: "La Resistance", the rebels fighting the empire. Maior people include Nasuda, King Orrin, Eragon, and Sapphira.
Roran "Stronghammer" Garrowson: Eragon's step-brother, uses a hammer for a weapon, and has killed over 190 soldiers in one battle.
 
 

Pictures


       Murtagh

         Alagaësia

        Gedwey Ignasia

                   Galbatorix

         Shruikan         


     Brisingr      

        Oromis  


                      Glaedr

                            Nasuda

        Roran "Stronghammer" Garrowson