Shakespeare by the Sea: Romeo and Juliet Review

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This is my first time seeing something by Shakespeare by the Sea, and my first time actually seeing a show of the famous Romeo and Juliet play. Despite how famous the story of Romeo and Juliet is, I have never actually seen a live performance of it, until Shakespeare by the Sea came around. Shakespeare by the Sea is a nonprofit organization that performs theatrical plays for free in communities around California. Last year, they were not able to tour and perform and they have just started again this summer. I was really lucky in catching this show, as it was part of the 25th anniversary and the last tour with the original founder of Shakespeare by the Sea.

I hadn’t been interested in Shakespeare and had just come along to watch the play because my mom asked if I wanted to. There was nothing I had to do that day, and I had never actually seen Romeo and Juliet yet, so I had no reason not to go see it. I was not disappointed. It was your usual Romeo and Juliet play, following the original story, but I had plenty of laughs and it was a lot of fun. There were a lot of moments, especially in the beginning of the play, that made me laugh out loud and smile. They spoke in the old, english dialect, but I understood it just fine. The actors did an amazing job, in portraying their character, the emotion, and making it fun for everyone. The actors help set up the stage, perform the entire thing, and take it down afterwards. The entire venue is outside and they work and perform for over an hour. The actors and people who work with Shakespeare by the Sea are honestly so amazing and put in so much time and effort in it. 

Shakespeare by the Sea has sparked my own interest in Shakespeare and his works and I am so happy to have been able to see them perform. If you ever get the chance to see one of their performances, I highly recommend going because they work super hard for their productions, and it is completely free to watch them. It is super fun to watch them perform and if you do ever end up going to a performance, make sure to give them a donation for their dedication to performing!

-Nicole R.

Book Review: To Kill A Mockingbird

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The novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee is a well-known classic, deep rooted in valuable life lessons in perspective, respect, and that mostly of moral growth. In the beginning of the novel, the plot did not garner much intrigue for me personally. In my opinion, there was a little too much detail on Maycomb County and the society of it all. I just finished this book since this was a required read for all freshmen at our high school.

However, as I continued to read the book, chapter by chapter, I realized that this novel had taught some important life lessons that the author wanted to get out to the world. Scout and Jem’s demeanor from the beginning clearly showed that they had a child-like innocence of the entire Maycomb scene.

However, as they grew older and witnessed the racial tension, prejudice, and imperfections of society, they lose some of their innocence and mature into more understanding characters who are easier to relate to.

The quotes, “You never really understand a person until until you consider things from his point of view…until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” (Lee 118), and “Real courage is when you know you are licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what” (Lee 178) were really moving.

These quotes really touched my heart because Lee’s powerful themes throughout the book taught me the importance of not giving up in life and trying to understand people from their point of view before judging them.

Overall, the book definitely had some unprogressive parts in which there was a lot of unnecessary dialogue (typically between Scout and Jem), but these minimal flaws are overwhelmed by the powerful themes and life lessons that is expressed towards the readers.

I would recommend this book to many people because it really teaches you some important themes need for everyday life!

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is available to check out from the Mission Viejo Library. It is also available to download for free from Libby.

The Strangers

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If this movie doesn’t scare you then I don’t know what will! I personally have a strong love for any sort of horror/thriller films. I love anything and everything Horror related! The strangers is the perfect movie if you’re looking for something scary but non-paranormal. What truly sends chills down my spine is how it’s based off a true story. There were no ghosts involved and no sprites. Just real people who’re capable of re-acting the same crimes that once took place in that very house. Its terrify to me how they’re are people out there who have evil mentions.

In this movie you’ll soon see what I mean by this. It all starts at night. The couple are having a date night. Once they arrive home they’re both extremely tired. The finance who proposed to the woman has to go out and run some errands real quick. The Woman got angry that the finance was leaving her alone. She wanted him to stay with her. She felt uneasy. The finance managed to calm her down. He left. The woman then got lonely. She was wandering around the place they were staying.

Light footsteps. The sound is so faint. She spins around yet nothing is to be found. The paranoia doesn’t stop there. I hate to spoil such an amazing film for you all, but I have to warn you to always watch your back. As the homeowner noticed someone got in. Who? Where? How and when?

Why are these people targeting this specific house? Or is there a sinister reason behind it all. People aren’t who they seem? The scariest part of it all is not fiction whatsoever. Its based off of on couple. Who had little to no clue what would go down that very night. I wish you the best luck when watching. Moral of the story: Never answer the door for those who’re unknown. It can easily lead you to nothing but trouble. Or a traumatic death.

Never let your guard down. You never know who may be lurking.

Wolf Hollow

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Wolf Hollow takes place in a small, quiet town in western Pennsylvania. Initially, life goes on like normal for the characters. The main character, Annabelle, is one of the only people in the town who respects a World War I veteran named Toby. No one truly knows Toby’s backstory, but he seems to have been greatly affected by what he saw during the war. He now wanders around the town, barely saying a word to anyone. One day, a new girl named Betty moves into the town. Around teachers and other adults, Betty seems like an extremely kind girl. Meanwhile, when no one can see it happen, she bullies Annabelle. She threatens Annabelle with hurting her younger brothers and beating Annabelle with a large stick if she tells anyone about it. Soon, her bullying and attacks turn on Toby who is defenseless to prevent it. With no evidence but Betty’s false statements against Toby and nothing to even begin to prove Toby did not do anything, Toby is the one accused of what Betty does to hurt others.

I liked this book because of the fact that this type of story actually happens more often than we know. It represents how many of the internal struggles of those around you remain that way. This is shown through Toby, who rarely talks to anyone at all, and never speaks about the horrors he has experienced and seen. I felt like the plot was a little slow at some points during the story, but this was overall a great book.

-Peri A.

Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk is available to check out from the Mission Viejo Library. It is also available to download for free from Libby.

Coraline: Book VS Movie

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Coraline, by Neil Gaiman, is a fictional thriller, originally written as a novel, but later turned into a movie. The basic plot of the story is that a little girl named Coraline and her family move into a new house. Coraline finds a door in their new house that leads to a magical world where everything is perfect. Inside her perfect world, Coraline has ‘Other-Parents’ with sewn on button eyes. They try to convince Coraline to stay with them forever, on the condition that Coraline sews buttons into her eyes. This terrifies Coraline, who then tries to escape.

While I love both versions of the story, there are some major differences between the book and the movie.

Firstly, book Coraline’s parents are much nicer than they are in the movie. In the book, Coraline’s parents are stressed and tired. While they could have been nicer to their daughter, they were very busy and Coraline was being negative and bothersome. In the book, there is a very touching scene where Coraline tells The Cat about when her dad took her ‘adventuring’ and accidentally stepped on a wasp’s nest. Her dad took 39 stings to protect Coraline. So, in the book, Coraline’s parents are much nicer, and Coraline was mostly at fault. Throughout the book, she learns to appreciate her parents. In the movie, Coraline’s parents ignore Coraline and are unnecessarily snappish with her. In my opinion, the movie’s portrayal of Coraline’s parents makes more sense, because her parents’ unkindness is what drives Coraline to prefer the other world.

Secondly, in the book, Coraline visits the other world once and decides she doesn’t want to stay. In the movie, Coraline visits the other world three times before she decides to escape. Coraline in the book is very wary of other world and doesn’t trust her ‘Other Mother’. Movie Coraline was quick to accept the new world and wanted to stay there forever, until she learned that she would have to sew buttons on her eyes.

Thirdly, there is a character in the movie that was not present in the book. His name is Wybie, short for Wyborne. His grandmother’s sister was also taken by the Other Mother. Wybie finds a doll that looks exactly like Coraline, so he gives it to her. The doll was secretly a spy for the Other Mother, trying to find out what Coraline’s insecurities were to lure her to the other world. In the book, both the character Wybie and the doll he found did not exist.

There are many other small differences between the book and the movie (like Mr. Bobo AKA Bobinski, the singing rats, and Coraline’s blue hair), both the book and the movie were excellent. Would recommend!

Coraline by Neil Gaiman is available to checkout from the Mission Viejo Library. It is also available to download for free from Libby.

Michael Jordan’s Legendary Career

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Michael Jordan is regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time.  Drafted third overall in the 1984 draft, He won rookie of the year averaging 28 points a game.  But three games into the next season, Jordan suffered a broken foot which kept him sidelined for the majority of the season.  Jordan came back in 1986, averaged 37 points, and won his first scoring title. He also became the first player to win defensive player of the year and averaged 35 points a game in 1988. Jordan was a monster on both offense and defense.  He would go on to win six straight scoring titles from 1987 to 1993.  Jordan wins three consecutive championships from 1991 to 1993, but then shockingly retired after the 1993 championship season to go play baseball for two years before coming out of retirement at the end of the 1995 NBA season.  He would then come back and win three more scoring titles, three more championships, and three more NBA finals MVPs from 1996 to 1998.   He was the greatest scorer ever winning ten scoring titles, and averaging a record-high 30.1 points per game.  Michael Jordan was the most dominant player in his prime obliterating everyone he faced.

Jordan retired again after the 1998 championship run because the Bulls had fired his head coach Phil Jackson.  Jordan was not willing to play for any other coach so he retires for a second time.  Jordan would then return to basketball again for two more years in 2001 and 2002 to play for the Washington Wizards.  But everyone could tell it was not the Prime Jordan that had won 10 scoring titles.  He still played great averaging 20 points in both seasons, but it was not the same as before.  Jordan retires at the end of the 2002 season at the age of 40 and ended one of the great careers of all time.

Books about Michael Jordan are available to check out from the Mission Viejo Library.

Album Review: Ambient 1: Music for Airports

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One influential, yet fairly unknown album that has been under my radar for a while is Ambient 1: Music for Airports by Brian Eno. Today, I decided to finally give it a go, and, for what it is, it’s quite a good album.

The album cover of Ambient 1: Music for Airports

Ambient 1: Music for Airports is made up of 4 very long songs. The songs are extremely simple and minimalistic in nature, with the album goal’s being the defusing of the tense, anxious environment of a busy airport. Simultaneously, their production was complex with spliced tape loops being used quite heavily. Personally, my favorite song is 1/1, the opening track on the album.

The song is very piano heavy with piano loops making up the song. Apparently, the loops come from two pianists who couldn’t really hear each other well improvising, leading to different melodies that complement each other being played. The song meets the album’s goal, with it being a relaxing piece of music.

Ambient 1: Music for Airports essentially created the ambient genre of music. A large number of musicians would begin to consider the sonic textures of a work after the album came out.

This is a great piece of music to relax and play in the background while doing homework. Unfortunately, it doesn’t play well in other settings. It’s still good for what it is. I rate it a 7.5/10 and would recommend giving it a look.

The Little Prince book review

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When I first picked up The Little Prince, I thought that it was going to be a simple story with an easy-to-follow plot of a stranded pilot in the desert. However, as soon as I started reading, I knew that my preconceived notions couldn’t be further from the truth. Yes, The Little Prince is a short book filled with illustrations, but Antoine de Saint-Exupery has created a book in which not a lot happens, and yet everything that does happen has incredible meaning.

My favorite part about this novella was how the relationships between the small cast of characters were extremely dynamic. Antoine de Saint-Exupery uses their similarities and contrasts to build many beautiful themes including what our purposes are in the world, the give and take within friendships, and how sometimes we can take what and who we love for granted. I found his ability to convey all these themes very impressive considering how short the story is.

It’s clear that The Little Prince is not your average children’s book. The narrator speaks in plain words of great concepts, which I thought was unusually brilliant. The descriptions of the scenery were subtle due to the illustrations but the descriptions of the many emotions the characters experienced were very vivid and drew you even further into the story. I would definitely recommend that everyone, no matter their age, read this wonderful tale, and I’m looking forward to reading more of Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s books.

“And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Messenger is available to check out from the Mission Viejo Library. It is also available to download for free from Libby.

ESPN Fantasy Sports

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Fantasy Football - Leagues, Rankings, News, Picks & More - ESPNMany of you probably enjoy watching sports, whether it’s basketball, football, baseball, or even hockey. Now, what if I told you that you could have your own virtual team including your favorite players that help you get wins every week? Well, actually, you can!

ESPN Fantasy Sports is an app that allows you to play fantasy football, basketball, or any other major professional team sport in America (except soccer). 

To get started, you just need to create an account with ESPN Fantasy. Then, you can join a random online league and/or create your own league where you invite your friends to join. After creating a fantasy league of your choice, you need to send the invite link to your friends who you would like to join the league. Then, you can arrange a draft time when you and your fellow fantasy players will be able to draft your fantasy team. You can choose any player, from any team, to draft. 

After the draft, you can drop and pick up players onto your roster. You can also do trades with other teams, exchanging players, sometimes multiple at a time. 

I definitely recommend making a fantasy football league when the next season comes around (It might be too late now for this season) as it is extremely popular and fun to play. Since I enjoy basketball, I am also in a Fantasy Basketball league, but I suggest you make/join a fantasy league based on the sports you like. If you like hockey, maybe join a fantasy hockey league. If you enjoy baseball, maybe create a fantasy baseball league. In addition, the WNBA also has a fantasy league, so if that’s something you’re interested in, go for it! 

Fantasy football (and other sports) is one of my favorite activities to share with my friends. Whether it’s negotiating trades, trying to decide which players to choose on draft day, or competing in a neck-and-neck battle between fantasy teams, fantasy is a great way to socialize with friends, while competing at the same time! 

The Young Elites

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Spoilers Ahead!

Of the many books I have read, this is one of my favorites! The novel is bitter-sweet, and it keeps you interested till the very end. However, I do have to say that the romantic aspect of this book could have been developed a bit more. I wished that Enzo hadn’t died at the end, and that Adelina shouldn’t have been banished from the Dagger Society since she was only trying to protect her sister. I know what she did was wrong, but Raffael shouldn’t have banished her. Just my personal opinion. I do love the author’s choice of the special powers granted to Adelina. I have read many books and in general the only powers were limited to control over elements like water, fire, earth, or shapeshifting, etc. I haven’t actually read a book before where the main character’s powers are creating illusions! The uniqueness of this power allows the character to develop in different ways than I have been accustomed to. I also love how Adelina progresses in general as a person throughout the book and how she eventually falls in love with Enzo. It was quite disappointing, on the romantic front, but overall, I think this book could be made into an excellent movie. Out of 5 stars, I would rate this book around a 4.

The Young Elites by Marie Lu is available to checkout from the Mission Viejo Library. It is also available to download for free from Libby.