Book Review: Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut

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From the moment you first begin reading Sirens of Titan, Kurt Vonnegut makes his distinctive voice and writing style very apparent.  When I first picked up the book in the science fiction section, I expected to find a run of the mill sci-fi epic, but instead I found a book that I think is one of the most unique I have ever read.

It begins in Newport, Rhode Island at the renowned Rumfoord estate, where a crowd has gathered, as usual, to watch the materialization of a man and his dog. The crowd is denied access as always, but they continue to show up, as they hope for even the smallest of chances to witness this miracle. This miracle is the appearance of a man by the name of Winston Niles Rumfoord and his dog Kazak, which has happened once every 59 days, due to a mysterious concept Vonnegut has concisely named “Chrono-Synclastic Infundibulum”. This phenomenon stretches Winston and his dog Kazak out across all of space past present and future, making him extremely sought after as a sort of fortune teller who has almost absolute knowledge about the human race and their future as a civilization.

By giving Winston the ability to basically know everything at all times I think Vonnegut makes him a very interesting character, as his actions are the driving force in the story but the purpose behind them isn’t revealed at all until the very end. I would definitely say this makes him the most intriguing character in the book, because from different perspectives he can be seen as the protagonist, antagonist, or even an omnipotent third person at times.

The story begins when a man named Malachi Constant gets a rare invite to this materialization, and ends up on a grand tour of the solar system that Vonnegut uses to question the concepts of free will, friendship, and loneliness. Winston tells Malachi that him and Winston’s current wife Beatrice will fall in love, and end up living out their final days on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. Malachi and Beatrice’s absolute refusal of their fate and the futility of their actions in the end makes a powerful point about free will, and the progression of these two characters also give the reader insights into Vonnegut’s opinion on loneliness and friendship.

Personally, I really liked this book, because the plot is very unconventional, and Vonnegut’s vision of space and the story he writes are both extremely imaginative. The book also frequently employs the use of satirical and dark humor, which I thought was pretty fitting with the tone of the book as a whole. However, because of the unconventional plot structure of the book the writing can come across as a bit hard to follow, as the story is not made entirely clear until the very end and at many times the setting and focus of the book completely shifts out of nowhere.

Overall, I think this book is worth reading for anyone who is interested in sci-fi used as a medium for a greater message, such as the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey or the Dune Series by Frank Herbert, but also for anyone who wants to try something new or wants a unique and interesting read.

Album Review: Disintegration by The Cure

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I am not a big fan of the popular music of the 1980s. However, the Cure has to be one of my favorite bands of all time. With frontman Robert Smith, the band’s music went through many phases from the dreary, borderline gothic “dark trilogy” of the early 1980s to its poppy phase in the mid-80s to a middle ground in the early-90s. Between the later two phases, we find the album Disintegration, a beautiful work of art.

The album cover of Disintegration

Disintegration represented a return to the Cure’s “goth” phase from the early-80s with Robert Smith having fallen into a depression not long before the making of the album. The album has songs with somewhat long, yet stunning instrumental openings. Out of all the songs on the album, “Pictures of You” and “Lovesong” are my favorites.

“Pictures of You”, like many songs off of Disintegration, starts with a lengthy slow, instrumental opening. It’s a beautiful one either way. This beauty is amplified by Robert Smith’s unique voice which tells us a tale of love. A happy sadness looms over the song, but it’s a good one. “Lovesong” is similar to “Pictures of You” in this regard, although it is more melancholic in my opinion. The song’s 30 second long instrumental opening sets the stage for Robert Smith to show his love which he does in a beautiful fashion.

Nearly everything about Disintegration is perfect. The production is great, the singing is incredible, and the band was playing better than ever at the time of the recording of Disintegration. It’s a 9/10 and would be a 10 if some of the songs didn’t sound somewhat similar. Check it out. It’s the perfect album to listen to while doing homework on a rainy day.

Subnautica

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Subnautica is a survival game that takes place on an alien planet called 4546B. The planet is covered almost 100% with either shallow or very deep ocean. This amazing game contains many different types of fauna, flora, and locations for you to discover.

It is the late 22nd century, and humans have began to colonize space. The Aurora, the large spaceship you are on, was assigned a mission to construct a phasegate for hyperspeed space travel. While performing a slingshot maneuver around planet 4546B, the Aurora experiences a large energy pulse (basically a laser beam) coming from a mysterious source within the planet. Only half of the 50 lifepods aboard launched, as the other half were completely destroyed. 9 of the 25 lifepods launched made it to the planet, but only one was undamaged. You are the one in that lifepod.

With the backstory out of the way, now lets talk about the game content. After landing in your lifepod, you have to immediately find resources on a planet you are unfamiliar with in order to survive. You can craft many different things with one machine due to the insane technology they have in the 22nd century. In some point in the game, you will receive radio S.O.S. signals from the other 8 lifepods, but by the time you get to the pod, the survivors have already been killed by the planet’s creatures.

In the game, you can craft submarines that aid in you in going deeper into the ocean, which is one of my favorite aspects of this game. However, my absolute favorited thing about this game would be the biology/ecology within it. There are vast biomes that contain many unique creatures and plants that has specifically adapted to that biome for them to survive, from things like fins for them to swim faster, to plants removing pigments due to the lack of nutrients in an area.

Now you may be asking: How do you escape the planet and go back home? Well, you’re going to have to play the game on your own to find out 🙂

I simply cannot tell you every single little thing about the game in this one article because there are just way too many. But there are many different lores and aspects to the story I didn’t cover, so I 100% recommend you to try this game on your own, especially if survival games are your type of thing.

-Torres H.

The Diary of a Wimpy Kid Animated Movies

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Many people know the hit book series Diary of a Wimpy Kid, written by Jeff Kinney. It’s a cult classic among playgrounds and elementary schools alike. Chances are that you, yourself, have read at least one of these books.

Then, in 2010, the first live-action adaptation came out. Grossing over 76 million dollars, it became a hit, spawning two more movies soon afterwards. There was also The Long Haul of 2017, but we’re not going to speak of that. Instead, I would like to focus on our star, Greg Heffley’s, newest adventure. 

The animated movies.

It started on December 3rd, 2021. The movie had been teased for a while beforehand, but it was that simple day that the world saw its true colors. 

The movie follows the same general plot of the first book, as our protagonist, Greg, makes his way through his first year of middle school. Greg is a scrawny, “wimpy” kid (hence the name of the book series), looking to ascend the ranks of the school hierarchy. With his best friend Rowley by his side, plenty of wacky antics ensue. Sounds fine, right?

Until you actually watch it. 

For some, these movies were seen as cheap ways to make more money off of a well-known brand. Many find the animation to be a significant step-down from most content of Disney+, where the movies are available. With the first one standing just under an hour, and the second one just over, people have suggested that maybe it should have been a short film, or even a TV show. I personally am happy with any new addition to the Diary of a Wimpy Kid universe, but I can see where many people are coming from with their critiques. What do you think?

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

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The Help by Katheryn Stockett was the first book I had to read when I entered my freshman year. They gave it out as a summer reading assignment and now, we’ve been doing essays and connecting it to other stories we’re reading. 

The Help is a historical fiction novel, and is set in the 1960’s in Mississippi. Skeeter, a young woman straight out of college who aspires to be a writer, begins to interview and befriend the black women of her town in order to write about their lives in hopes to help them and show what they go through and the racism they face. Aibileen and Minny, two black women who work as the help, or housekeepers, in the town are the first two that Skeeter interviews and befriends. Despite their differences in society, they each work together to get other black women to help and create their book. As the story goes on, these three grow and learn more about themselves and others around them.

The book is told through three different perspectives. First is Aibileen, a black woman that is the help, or the housekeeper, of one of Skeeter’s friends. She is a hard worker and has been working for a long time as a help. She is kind and is the first person to help Skeeter write her book. Minny is another black woman who is Aibileen’s friend and the help of another one of Skeeter’s friends. Minny is stubborn and hot headed. She takes much more convincing than Aibileen to help with Skeeter’s book due to her distrust in white people, but she eventually comes around as the story goes on. Skeeter on the other hand, is a white woman, young and aspires to become a writer, despite what other people’s views of her are. 

This book was a fun read, despite having to write and take assessments on it. To be honest, I had fun writing essays on this book because I understood the story and the characters even more. Skeeter was one of my favorite characters. She broke the society norms, had her own dreams and goals, and really grew throughout the story. Two other characters I enjoyed reading were Celia and Johnny. Celia was Minny’s boss and Johnny was Celia’s husband. They were immediately different from all the other characters. Despite the time period and the fact they were white, they didn’t mistreat Minny and really cared for her. Like Skeeter, they were kind and weren’t racist like many of the other white people in their town. Treating others with human decency is a pretty low bar, but considering the time period, this is a pretty important and unusual thing to see. I’m glad Stockett included these characters, otherwise, it would have been very difficult to read this book. 

The plot overall was really good; each character had their own story and path with their own aspirations, needs, and problems. Aibileen has lost her own son and wants to teach young kids the right things while taking care of them, but also wants to become free to live her own life. Minny wants to care for her own children; wants them to have a good life. Skeeter wants to pursue her dreams although society is against her. Each character has their own set of issues they must overcome and their own story to complete while also creating their own story together, both within the story and plot wise.

The Help is a great book and would be a book I’d recommend if you were looking for one in this genre. Historical fiction is definitely one of my favorite genres but I’m sure that even if it wasn’t one of your favorites, it could still be a fun read.

-Nicole R.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett is available to check out from the Mission Viejo Library. It is also available to download for free from Libby.

A Fun Weekend Trip Idea – Death Valley

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If you are looking for a fun weekend trip, look no further than our Nation’s largest National Park – Death Valley! Death Valley is about 270 miles from Mission Viejo and under a 5 hour drive time. There are various ways to get there by car, but I recommend heading out on the 1-15 and going through Baker, CA. In Baker, you can enjoy a quick stop at Alien Fresh Jerky, a really bizarre road side stop that houses a beef jerky shop and all the alien encounters you never wanted to experience. It’s basically just a cool store to look around, stretch your legs and maybe buy a quick snack, but definitely a fun experience. Once you reach Death Valley you’ll want to make sure you have a pass or purchase one there. After that, it’s up to you what to do. There are many interesting parts of the park to experience and all have their own unique features.

Furnace Creek is the main tourist area in the park with 2 different hotels, The Ranch and the Inn. There are very few places to sleep and eat in the park so be prepared to spend a lot of money if you want to do either. I do suggest bringing as much of your own food and drinks as possible. Furnace Creek also has the Visitor Center where you can learn the history of Death Valley and talk to a park ranger to get information on the best places to visit during your trip.

There are many points of interest in Death Valley and you could spend way longer than a weekend there, but I’d recommend starting at the Borax Museum where you can learn about how Death Valley was mined for Borax before it was a National Park and the company and people who pushed for it to become one. From there you can visit Zabriskie Point that overlooks a row of peaks and ridges that are multicolored and the Badwater area deep down in the canyon below. Then you’ll want to drive down into Badwater Basin which is the lowest point in North America at -282 feet below sea level. While there you can take a walk out to the salt polygons which are the result of the bottom of the lake that once was and is now all dried up.

After visiting Badwater Basin, you’ll want to head back North where you can drive through Artists Drive which is a 9 mile scenic one way loop drive through a lot of canyons where the hillsides are all sorts of colors. There are also some fun dips and narrow canyons to drive through on the way. If you are inclined to take a steep hike, you can stop at Artists Palette, named because the mountains look like an Artist just walked away with his empty color palette. They are actually truly amazing and like nothing you’ve probably seen before. On the same drive you can also stop at Golden Canyon or Natural Bridge, both of which are amazing short hikes of 1-4 miles where you can take a deeper look into the canyon walls and experience bridges carved out of rock and ancient petro glyphs.

On the other side of Furnace Creek from Badwater area is Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes which is another area you won’t want to miss. It’s almost like a scene from Star Wars with sand dunes reaching out as far as you can see. You can walk out as far as you want and run, slide and even roll down the dunes if you want to. Near Mesquite Dunes is the turn off towards Scotty’s Castle and a whole lot of other more off road vehicle type roads, many of which are currently closed due to flash floods that washed out roads this past summer.

As a last note, you’ll want to visit all these amazing places when you can actually walk around enjoy them without it being 120+ degrees outside. The weather in Death Valley can change quickly so definitely be prepared for anything that might come by checking the weather ahead of time and always carry lots of water and snacks, just in case. Death Valley is also known as the hottest place on Earth with the all time recorded temperature of 134 degrees Fahrenheit on July 10, 1913, so the best time to visit is now, or any other time between November to March.

Book Review: Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

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When I picked up Chains, a historical fiction novel about a slave during the American Revolution, I did not expect the endearing story that awaited me. The Revolution is typically portrayed as a war battled for the freedom of the people; a truly revolutionary struggle of heroic bloodshed that a nation with redefined ideals of liberty was built upon. Thus, it was extremely intriguing when a different narrative about the Revolution was brought to light—that of a slave living in the colonies during the war.

After Mary Finch, owner of the enslaved sisters Isabel and Ruth, passed away; they were to be freed as was written in her will. However, when her money-hungry nephew Robert Finch arrives at the scene, he sells them away to Loyalists Elihu and Anne Lockton, who live in New York. Isabel and Ruth’s new owners have no disregard for their feelings, or even their existence as human beings. Treated cruelly, abused, and absolutely overworked, Isabel will do anything to grasp freedom and ensure the safety of her little sister.

Throughout the novel, Isabel meets many different people and learns lessons about freedom, power, and loyalty. These run directly against the common portrayal of the Revolution, as they reveal to readers new insights, such as the idea that maybe the two opposing sides of the war weren’t so different after all.

Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson is a novel that dives deep into the past and explores a common narrative of a historical event from a not-so-common perspective. It is extremely well written and incorporates incredible figurative language, including the use of motifs, into the story. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Chains, and would definitely recommend it to readers, especially those who enjoy historical fiction.

Happy reading!

-Lam T.

Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson is available to check out from the Mission Viejo Library.

Investopedia

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Investopedia is a website that provides financial advice about stocks. There are countless sources that teach you how to invest. Also, you can look to Investopedia for information about how stocks are doing, as it shows if they are falling or rising. 

However, all of these aside, my favorite resource on Investopedia is the Stock Simulator. This feature allows users to “purchase” fake stocks with virtual money. This way, beginners along with more advanced stock owners can experience the stock market without having to risk their own money. 

In order to play this Stock Simulator, you only need to create an account with Investopedia. After you get that taken care of, the website is free to access. To start off, you are given 100,000 dollars (buying power) to purchase whichever stocks you would like. But, don’t worry, Investopedia also shows you if a stock’s value is projected to increase or decrease, and whether you should buy or sell the stock. Fortunately, Investopedia provides this type of help on purchasing stocks, so you can choose the right stocks to virtually invest in on the website. 

Some stocks that I have found to be successful on Investopedia and in the Stock Market recently (as of November 2022) are the Goldman Sachs Group Incorporation share and the stock of Costco Wholesale Corporation. 

If you’re interested in purchasing a share in a stock in real life, I highly suggest you try Investopedia first to research a bit about it. You can learn how to manage your stock as well as how to choose stocks wisely. Also, purchasing the stock in Investopedia before you buy in real life can help show you the patterns of that stock. Enjoy trading stocks on Investopedia! 

My Thanksgiving Week

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Thanksgiving

 Amy Leigh Mercree, a best-selling author once said, “Thanksgiving is a joyous invitation to shower the world with love and gratitude,” and I couldn’t agree more. Thanksgiving is a day to express gratitude for all the people and things in your life.

Thanksgiving is observed in various ways by many people. This year on Thanksgiving day, my family made lots of mouth-watering food, such as stuffing, cranberry sauce, and ham! For dessert, we had bread pudding with ice cream a la mode. I know it might not sound like the traditional food most families eat on Thanksgiving, but I enjoy it nonetheless.

But to be honest, no matter what family meals, or fun traditions you attend on Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving is truly an amazing holiday! It is a time to be thankful for what you have and spend time with your family. My favorite part of Thanksgiving is spending time with my family and enjoying the delicious food that we make together. On Thanksgiving, me, my sister, my mom and dad all work together to make an appetizing meal. Sometimes, I don’t just like to celebrate America’s traditional type of Thanksgiving, I like to mix in a little bit of other cultures as well. In our family, because we are part Chinese, we like to include that culture as well.