Animal Farm - Post #1: "Four Legs Good, Two Legs Ba-aa-aad"

From left to right: Squealer, Napoleon, and Snowball.  Taken from the Animal Farm cartoon adaptation.

Summary pgs.1-42
We start off the novella at night in Manor Farm, owned by the estranged and negligent Farmer Jones, out drinking at the town bar.  While he was out however, the animals in the barn of the farm, consisting of domestic farm animals such as cows, horses, hens, pigs, and dogs (as well as one cat) were having a large meeting held by their elderly leader, Old Major, Farmer Jones' prize-winning boar.  Old Major informs his audience about his latest dream, in which he saw a society when all four-legged beasts of the earth banded together and overthrew the human race.  He also consoles them about their constant maltreatment by Farmer Jones, who to them is their most hated enemy.  Three months after that night, Old Major passed away, and his advisors, three pigs named Snowball, Napoleon, and Squealer proceeded to take his place as leader.  During their period of reign, the pigs convinced the other animals to stage a rebellion against the "wicked" Farmer Jones, by pulling out all the stops and confronting him when he was off-guard.  A week later, the rebellion was actually put into motion, resulting in Farmer Jones and his workers fleeingin panic for good.  The animals, being victorious, decided to create a new motto: "Four legs good, two legs bad".  Not only that, but the name of the place they reside in has been changed as well; "Manor Farm" was no more, for the name "Animal Farm" was now the permanent name.  From there, the pigs' reign of animal justice continued...


Quotation Explanation
"No animal in England knows the meaning of happiness or leisure after he is a year old.  No animal in England is free.  The life of an animal is misery and slavery: that is the plain truth" (Orwell 18).

My Reaction
Honestly, I never expected to read text this captivating for a book about talking animals.  It has been a while since I have read a book that incorporates personification, and that literary device being present in this novella was a wonderful surprise to me, making the book more enjoyable to read.  Orwell's style is very descriptive.  He uses his omniscient "point-of-viewing" to get inside the characters' minds and reveal their inner thoughts.

The Ultimate History of Video Games - Post #3: "Sega does what Nintendon't"

 This rivalry could be the start of something big.

Summary pgs.240-358
In 1985, the folks at Nintendo have recently released their instant hit, Super Mario Bros., for the Nintendo Entertainment System.  With merit to the booming success of the portly plumber's first adventure, the video game industry slowly began to grow popular once more.  Nintendo was defending their strong streak for quite a while, until a new competitor stepped up to the plate four years later.  Now, the competition began to heat up.

Sega (abbreviated form of the former name Service Games) came into the limelight with their first video game console dubbed, the "Genesis", launched in the United States on August 14, 1989.  The 16-bit Genesis had twice the power of Nintendo's measly 8-bit NES, meaning that whatever the latter could do, the former could do it much better.  It was capable of showing more detailed graphics, clearer and more high-quality sound, as well as simulating all sorts of fancy-looking effects to boot.  Michael Katz, the president of Sega at the time, wanted to dethrone Nintendo's place in the industry and set the company name in stone.  To do this, an advertising campaign had to be started, demonstrating the sheer superiority of the Genesis over the rinky-dink NES.  The Sega team wanted to show that their console is better.  Thus, the company's new "marketing mantra" was born.

"Genesis does what Nintendon't."

Of course, it should be "Genesis does what Nintendoesn't", but I doubt that marketing officials would care about proper grammar while selling a product.

Fortunately, Nintendo took this whole mud-slinging method well and still competed with all their effort.  Mr. Katz's second strategy for trouncing Nintendo was to introduce a wide array of well-known games with well-known names in them.  While the NES had games with... duck hunting, ice climbing, and Italian plumbers, the Genesis shelled out sports games starring professional athletes like Pat Riley, Arnold Palmer, and Joe Madden (sound familiar?).

The unveiling of Sega's secret weapon would now give the folks at Nintendo a run for their money (literal).  The secret weapon in particular: a speedy little hedgehog that goes by the name of Sonic.  The character, created by Yuji Naka, was designed to be Sega's iconic mascot (and still is to this very day), to rival Nintendo's Mario.  Sonic's games ultimately focused on speed, running across a level, collecting rings, while traversing loops and corkscrews as if he were some sort of bipedal roller-coaster.  When Sega released Sonic the Hedgehog to the public in 1991, the response was critical; everyone loved it.  As expected, Nintendo became jealous of the blue rodent's fame and remained unimpressed.

...but Nintendo still had some tricks up their sleeve.

Quotation Explanation
"After struggling for more than a year, Sega was suddenly seeing success.  The fiercest competition in the history of video games was about to begin" (Kent 271).

My Reaction
The style of writing has not changed; Mr. Kent still relies on cold hard facts to justify his findings.  Quotes are still scattered across the pages, but I digress.  With this book being a "documentary on print", I should have expected this.

I, Robot: Post #4 - An Epic Epilogue: The Book is Finished

This will be the final R.O.A.R. post of the term...  for the book that is.  At last, all two-hundred and twenty-four pages have been accounted for.  Now, as the book concludes, we begin to get a little peek of the future...

Summary pgs.169-224
"The Evitable Conflict"
Earth is controlled by a group of powerful and sentient contraptions, called the "Machines".  These computer-like beings stabilize the entire world's economy and working order, and they do so very well, until they started showing signs of glitches in their systems.  Dr. Susan Calvin (the same character from the previous story) addresses the issue, and reports that the Machines purposely concocted up these "glitches" to select various individuals that may pose major threats to the well-being of humanity.  The Machines then plot to take control of the human race, the entire world's population, to bring order to all humanity.  The story closes at that point, leaving a mystery about what is to come...



...which is later solved in the sequel!

Quotation Explanation
"Between the two was Great Britain, a tongue of the Region licking at Europe" (Asimov 216).

My Reaction
Overall, I must say that I have enjoyed this book.  Isaac Asimov's style of writing is definitely meant to keep the reader interested in the content.  Although the concept of robots developing human emotions and traits is highly considered as cliche today, this classic novel must have been the first to start this theme.

I, Robot: Post #3

Summary pgs.113-168
"Little Lost Robot"
On a distant asteroid, far away from Earth, was a small military research base dubbed Hyper Base.  Gerald Black, one of the scientists there, was developing an android that can obey any human's command.  At one point, frustrated with working without rest (and pay), he yells at the robot, telling him to "get lost".  Naturally, the little robot obeys his master's command, and does get lost by hiding in one of the many rooms of Hyper Base.  Knowing that trouble would eventually ensue with a robot on the loose, Mr. Black, and his colleagues Dr. Susan Calvin and Peter Bogert, formed a crack search party to locate the runaway robot.  The trio eventually find him in a storage room for other androids, but here is the catch.  Every single one of them was identical to each other.  Despite this being a worse case scenario, Dr. Calvin immediately recalled that Mr. Black's robot had a special trait:  it will always try to save a human being from any kind of harm.  With this in mind, Calvin conducted a test to make the real robot reveal itself, by projecting harmless infrared rays on her body, causing the robot to think that the rays were lethal to its master.  Alas, things take an unexpected turn, as the robot confesses that the only way for it to eventually become superior to all other robots is to keep hiding.  The robot then makes a move to hurt Dr. Calvin, the one who made it fess up, but Mr. Bogert jumps at her defense, and destroys the robot with a gamma-ray laser pointer before any harm was done.


Quotation Explanation
"Measures on Hyper Base had been taken in a sort of rattling fury - the muscular equivalent of an hysterical shriek" (Asimov 113).

My Reaction
Throughout the story, or better yet, the entire book, there are many occurrences of sentences like the Quotation Explanation above.  Asimov's style of writing did not make me feel like I was reading a book, but rather like I was watching an action-packed science fiction movie.  I could picture most of the book's events in my mind as if I was watching them.  Now that I think about it, perhaps the movie adaptation will be faithful to the true style of the book?  Let us hope for the best!

I, Robot: Post #1

For this term's R.O.A.R. (theme being Book into Film), I will be diving into Isaac Asimov's I, Robot.  It is not really a full story, but rather a collection of nine short stories.



Summary pgs.1-56
"Robbie"
We start this story with little Gloria Weston, running around playing tag with her android guardian, Robbie (as the title name implies).  The robot was bought by her father to serve as a babysitter of some sort.  Gloria enjoys playing with her mute robot companion, and she developed a very strong relationship with him.  Unfortunately, her paranoid mother believes that having a mechanical figure as company would greatly affect the child's social skills, meaning that she might not want to interact with other human being.  With that possibility in mind, Mrs. Weston persuades her husband to take Robbie back to the factory where he was assembled.  Naturally, Gloria disapproves of this, being very attached to him.  Due to the loss of her friend, Gloria became very crestfallen.  Her parents try to cheer her up by getting her a dog, but their efforts were to no avail.  Yes, she was in a very bad mood.  Mrs. Weston then had an idea: why not place Gloria in a different environment, one that does not make her reminiscent of Robbie.  So the family then decides to go to the bustling city of New York... City.  Gloria was taken all around town, visiting popular attractions, landmarks, and museums, such as the Roosevelt Building.  To put the icing on the cake, their last stop for the trip was a robot assembly factory.  Or to be more specific, the institution of the U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men.  After a guided tour of the facility, the Westons come across one last room, the main purpose of which is the assembly of working robots.  As they looked in the room (and to Gloria's surprise, here it comes), it turns out that Robbie was coordinating the workplace.  Happy to see her friend again, Gloria rushes to him with glee... right in the path of a fast-moving tractor.  Luckily, the bold robot steps in the way just in time before collision.  Thanks to this event, Mrs. Weston had a change of heart and thought about Robbie: maybe some robots are not so bad after all.

Quotation Explanation
"Her shriek pierced the air, and one of the robots about the table faltered and dropped the tool he was holding.  Gloria went almost mad with joy" (Asimov 21).

My Reaction
 As seen in the Quotation Explanation above, Asimov has a very descriptive way of writing.  His use of verbs, personification, and anaphora can (metaphorically) paint a picture in the reader's head depicting a certain scene.  His style of plot development is not dull either, but I must say that it was a little predictable.  I had a small thought immediately when I got past the first few pages: perhaps one of the short stories will involve robots turning against humans and taking over the universe.  It sounds quite cliche, but since I, Robot must be one of the first books to introduce the robot science fiction theme, it might be a possibility.

The Chocolate War: Post #5 - Now I know why this book is called "The Chocolate WAR".

Summary pgs.156-263

Don't you just love confrontations?  Well, Archie does not in his case.  When he ran into Brother Leon, he received a very vital warning from him:  if the chocolate sale goes down the drain, he and the Vigils will also go down the drain.  The next day, in the gym, Archie literally begged Jerry to sell some chocolates.  Jerry still (involuntarily) answers no, until Archie told him his new assignment.  This time, Jerry had to say yes, and accept the chocolate offer.  Later that day, numerous events begin to occur to him: prank phone calls, vandalism near his locker, taunts from his peers...  He thought they must all be connected to the whole chocolate scandal.  The following day, as the sales were being counted, profits had mysteriously skyrocketed up!  Brother Leon hears about this news, and he was (barely) overjoyed.  He still had his mind set on Jerry.  While doing the routine roll call, he asks if Jerry will accept to sell the chocolates, and Jerry (despite his assignment) still declines.  Tension greatly arises...  Everyone at school seemed to ignore Jerry, as if he did not even exist.  As Jerry left school that day, he was stopped by local tough guy Emile Janza, and received a quite brutal beating from him.  Eventually, he drives him away by vomiting, as a cause of this bruises.  Why does everyone seem to hate Jerry at this point?  The answer should lie ahead...  That same night, the school's big raffle was taking place at the football stadium, and Archie came up with a plan to do away with the chocolates Jerry owed.  The Renault boy had to be placed in the ring, head-to-head with Emile Janza, in a brawl to get even with him.  Jerry was frightened to the point he was shaking in his boots.  Janza impatiently started the fight by giving a blow to his jaw.  Jerry desperately tried to fight back, but unfortunately to no avail.  During the showdown, Obie notices someone familiar blending in with the large crowd: it was Brother Leon.  With a final uppercut by Emile, Jerry was knocked out.  Leon and a few other faculty members rushed over to assist, and Obie called an ambulance.  Archie reveals to everyone that this act was done just to support the school, and to help Brother Leon.  All the chocolates Jerry refused to sell were sold, and this was apparently his punishment.  Brother Leon reconciles with Archie, Obie, Emile, and the rest of the Vigils, ending the thick tension.  As Jerry was hauled away to the hospital with a damaged jaw and severe pain in his body, Archie and the Vigils swore not to ever pull off a stunt like this ever again... even if it does mean trying to make a large profit by selling chocolates.



Quotation Explanation
"Jerry pondered the question.  What should he do?  Play a game?  Tell it straight?  But he wasn't sure if it would make sense if he told it straight, especially to a roomful of strangers" (Cormier 169-170).

My Reaction
To be honest, I was very surprised with the epic climax.  In fact, I have never read a novel with a climax that put almost every main character into trouble.  The denouement also made me feel a bit sympathetic for Jerry.  Unfortunately, Cormier does not refer to him in the final chapter.  Hopefully, he would be able to recover soon if this book ever had a sequel.  I am pleased that Brother Leon and the Vigils set aside their differences, so everything is restored to normal at the school, and everyone seems to be getting along with each other... well, in the way they can of course.  I have really enjoyed this Bildungs-Roman, and I will definitely look into Robert Cormier's other works as well!

The Chocolate War: Post #4

The end is definitely in sight, and of course the intensity of the story dies down a bit.  So, let's finish this up, shall we?

Summary pgs.119-155

To continue where we left off, during the next day at school, Jerry was welcomed with a great surprise.  He was greeted and congratulated by most of his peers, for standing up to Brother Leon the other day.  Unfortunately for Jerry, he still regretted doing this.  Plus, he was still trying to find out why he refused to sell the chocolates.  Speaking of such, the chocolate sale was still in progress, but some students were starting to lose confidence, due to their unsuccessful selling and marketing skills...  Howie Anderson, the stereotypical high school jock-slash-popular kid-slash-straight A student, was one of those few, and when he heard about Jerry's bravery towards the seemingly daunting threats of Leon, he decided to jump on the bandwagon.  Being part of the school's highest social class, Howie's action of quitting the chocolate sale causes others to follow.  In a matter of time, almost half of the entire school started to give up on the chocolate sale.  Word soon gets out to Archie and Obie, and knowing that Brother Leon would be furious about this epidemic, they concluded that Jerry was betraying the Vigils.  The Vigils wanted to help Leon with the sale from the start, but Jerry's actions from the other day put a stop in their plans.  Leon was not too happy either.  As the sales kept plunging down, his rage for Jerry increases sharply...



Quotation Explanation
"It was like the third degree, only he was both interrogator and suspect, both tough cop and hounded prisoner, a cruel spotlight pinning him in a blinding circle of light" (Cormier 119).

My Reaction
As you could see in the Quotation Explanation, the author's diction starts to sound more... intense as the story progresses.  The context of the story itself begins to get darker as well, as our protagonist, Jerry, begins to come into contact with danger in his everyday life.  All because he just refused some chocolates.  As I finish this Bildungs-Roman, I hope for a surprising conclusion.