Book Review: Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon

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I honestly had no idea what this series was even about until I found this book one day and started reading about it. It turns out that the full story of Nick Gautier, a high school student destined to become a monster known as the Malachai, is revealed, as he goes through poverty with his mom desperate for jobs and finding one as a club dancer and his father, who is the current Malachai, is in prison. Even though Nick tries his best to live his life right, he finds himself in dark corners and often unable to find anyone in his life, tormented by bullies and yelled at by his mother despite acting in defense of his bullies talking bad about her. Even today, I feel like some high school students have similar experiences with bullying, as it is still ongoing today and victims often face harsh conditions such as poverty like Nick, and even struggle with mental illnesses, with the bullying adding to their problems.

However, Nick unknowingly finds a glimpse of hope when he meets a girl named Nekoda Kennedy, a new girl at his school in his grade who he ends up making a friendship with. Although Nekoda acts friendly to Nick and treats him nicely, she is secretly tasked with the duty of ensuring that he does not become the monster he is destined to be, known as the Malachai. Although Nick believes he can trust Nekoda, his trust in her can completely be shattered once he hears about her duty. Despite this task for Nekoda, however, she sees some good in Nick and pushes herself to try to save him and keep the good in him, garnering feelings for him in the process.

Nick learning of his destiny is also a pivotal part of this book, as he tries to keep the good in himself alive to ensure that he does not become his father. This is shown in his many interactions with Nekoda, Bubba, Mark, and Kyrian, as he sees his friends as a guiding light to a straight and narrow path to preventing his destiny. His friends are primarily what separate his father from Nick, as his father seemingly has situational allies only and no true friends, although Nick has plenty of good friends and people he has helped in the past. Without his friends, Nick would surely embrace the darkness and become the monster that Nekoda has sworn to destroy.

Overall, I thought this book was very interesting despite my lack of understanding in mythical creatures and beings. The correlation to human life and mythical life is very well executed in this book, and putting Nick in a sympathetic light makes the readers want to root for him and ensure that he does not repeat his father’s history. The warfare between good and evil is also very prominent in this series as well, as each character faces their own personal demons throughout the story. I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a good series to read.

Lawrence B.

Alternate Ending for “The Landlady”

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I recently read a short horror story called “The Landlady,” which was left on a cliffhanger. I decided to write an alternate ending for it! I would highly recommend that you read the original short story before reading the alternate ending. You can find the story at https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/landlady_text.pdf

Alternate Ending for “The Landlady”

Something, just something about this whole affair bothered Billy. He couldn’t quite place his finger on what it was, a stirring of the mind, a brief flash of thought. He attributed it, of course, to the heat of the room and the time of night. “I think I should like to go to bed now,” he said.

“Of course, dear,” cried the old lady, fussing over him, “I should think so!”
Billy sighed, stepping gingerly over the dachshund to make his way to the stairs. He turned back to look at the landlady. She had her back to him, serenely gazing into the dying embers of the fire, petting the dachshund, a cold, stiff travesty of a dog. Yes, something about this whole bloody business just wasn’t quite right. Shaking his head, he stumbled slowly up the stairs and into his room. He sat down heavily on the bed, still thinking. The fourth floor? The men were still here? But how? Eyes drooping, he fell straight to sleep, questions still echoing around his head.

3 a.m. the following morning
Billy started out of sleep, thrashing wildly about his bed like a trout out of water. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he looked blearily around the room. A quick check of the nightstand clock confirmed his suspicion that it was indeed very early in the morning. Just a minute! A voice was coming from the landing above his. It was a mere mumbling, but a voice nonetheless. It was a crooning, haunting tone that rose and fell eerily; yes, it was a voice as smooth as silk, yet as sharp as glass. Billy was wide awake now, no chance of ever falling asleep in this cursed house again! Pulling on his robe, he slowly pushed open the door to investigate.

He crept up the stairs, thoroughly examining his surroundings. He was on the third floor now. Looking about, he saw a small sewing machine, overflowing boxes of cloth, and shelves overflowing with a large variety of small bottles. The room itself smelled faintly of hospital disinfectant. Intrigued, Billy slowly stepped closer. A curious smell came from the flask closest to him. Reaching out, he pulled it from its place and gave it a cautious sniff. The flask reeked of bitter almonds and garlic. Covering his nose with his sleeve, Billy replaced the cask on its shelf and continued his trek.

Something wasn’t quite right. Billy was tripping now, stumbling and coughing. His vision doubled and his eyes watered. In front of him he saw the landlady, crooning gently to- to- he collapsed, the cold, dead face of Christopher Mulholland still swimming in his memory, mouth affixed in a plastic smile, ghastly and preserved.

The face of the landlady, cruel and hard, stared down at him. In the light, she looked a hundred years old, like the old Greek demons Billy had learned about in school. His head felt like a lump of stone. The woman leered down at him, spinning a scalpel expertly between her fingers. He rasped out one word. “Why?” The landlady’s lips turned down. She looked put out to see him awake. “Why, darling, I must keep you! You’ll wither away otherwise.” Billy coughed again, then screamed as a sharp pain sliced into his flesh, below his abdomen. As he floated in and out of consciousness, he heard the landlady singing. My Bonnie lies over the ocean, my Bonnie lies over the sea, my Bonnie lies over the ocean. The landlady smiled cruelly as she pulled her final stitch. “Please bring back my Bonnie to me…”

I hope you enjoyed it!

-Vaidehi B.

Film Review: Venom: Let There Be Carnage

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First of all, let me just say that Venom, the 2018 prequel to this movie, was pretty good considering it was the first real Venom movie marvel fans have ever gotten. It had a strong antagonist, protagonist, and had a central problem of the movie. But Venom Let There Be Carnage blew me away.

The movie was really well directed and I couldn’t wait to see it. Featuring Tom Hardy, Woody Harrelson, and Naomie Harris, the movie follows Eddie Brock and his symbiotic parasite Venom as they uncover the story of local serial killer Cletus Kasady.

Along the way, Cletus picks up a symbiote of his own and becomes Carnage, the main antagonist of the movie. I feel that Carnage had a strong reason to do what he did and was overall a really good villain in the movie compared to the original villain of the Venom movie, Riot.

I liked the fact that Venom and Eddie kept arguing throughout the movie and even splitting up for part of it, because it shows just how much they need each other for survival, and really brings forth a comedic aspect to their relationship.

The villain and hero in this movie are based on the original Marvel comic books and having read some of those I can say that these characters fit their original molds pretty well. However, in the comics Carnage is more evil and crazy, and I think that they could have incorporated his nature from the comics better into the movie, even though this would have required a more serious viewer rating.

The fight scenes in this movie were way better than the original Venom movie, and I just think that this movie was a really great addition to Eddie Brock’s storyline and I think that Andy Serkis did a really great job of directing this movie. It had funny moments, serious moments, and was just really good in general.

So, overall, this movie is really great, and I definitely recommend that you check it out. Hope you enjoy it!

-Brandt D.

“Ohio” by Neil Young: The Greatest Protest Song

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Tin soldiers and Nixon’s coming

We’re finally on our own

This Summer I hear the drumming

Four dead in Ohio

This is the introduction and hook of Ohio by legendary musician Neil Young. It was released a month after the Kent State massacre, an event in which the Ohio National Gaurd opened fire on a group of anti-war protestors. It tragically killed 4 of the protestors, paralyzed one, and wounded 8 others (History Channel, 2021). The event cause mass outrage and there were many responses, the greatest was from Neil Young. 

Young starts the song by referencing Tin soldiers and Nixon, the men who carried out and allow the attack. But there’s more to the ‘Tin soldiers”, firstly Young is calling them out for being pawns to their masters, following orders without any empathy. But he’s also calling out the fact that many in the national guard were young, inexperienced, fake soldiers parading as real ones. Next Neil explains the feeling of his generation, on their own, the older generation and the government have abandoned them. They spend their summers hearing the drumming of marches, and the drumming of guns. Which eventually culminated in four dead in Ohio. This leads into the verse,

Gotta get down to it

Soldiers are cutting us down

Should have been done long ago

What if you knew her

And found her dead on the ground

How can you run when you know?

This of course describes the event more, but it also pleads for empathy. Neil wants the soldiers and those in charge of the war in Vietnam to imagine if they knew one of the victims. He accuses them of cowardice, running away from something that should have never occurred. He also informers them of the protestors’ message, that the war in Vietnam should have been done long ago. 

The bridge of the song is a repetitive chant of “na na na na na na na”, which allowed the song to easily sang at protests. The recording of the song itself uses multiple voices for this portion of the song. The ending is also repetitive, with Young sounding more and more desperate as he echos out

Four dead in Ohio

-Parker K.

Bibliography:

History Channel Article https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/national-guard-kills-four-at-kent-state

Game Review: Sky Beneath

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Sky Beneath made by MindHaven Games is a third-person puzzle game that utilizes gravity to create challenging and exciting levels for players to solve. This puzzle platformer allows players to play as Cassie, a scavenger working with a friend named Annie, as the two try their best to infiltrate and loot abandoned mining facilities. On your journey, players need to use their most powerful and useful weapon, gravity.

The game itself is extremely well rendered, and has great graphics! The controls were pretty standard, and easy to get used to. There was a short tutorial at the beginning of the game, and the game was pretty easy to get good at. The map in Sky Beneath was huge! It had tons of doors and extra areas that players could explore. There were also a couple of cutscenes and letters that players could find, that gave the game a little bit of lore and depth.

I want to talk about the best feature in Sky Beneath, the gravity. Throughout the game, players wear a suit that allows them to change gravity in any direction they want. Because of this, players can run on walls, ceilings, etc. I found this concept to be really innovative, and it added a lot more to the game as a whole. If the player decides to switch the gravity too much, it can get very disorienting, and it may be hard to keep track of where you are. I think this game mechanic was the most confusing, but it was pretty easy to get used to and it was very fun.

Throughout the game, I felt like the levels and puzzles were getting more and more challenging. The game first started off as a platformer, and was very easy to progress. The game started to add more and more mechanics, such as gravity suits and wrist launchers that allowed players to pick up and move items. Eventually, I was stuck on a certain level, and I had to spend lots of time trying to solve that one level. Sky Beneath is definitely a hard game, and requires a lot of patience and skill.

I definitely enjoyed playing Sky Beneath. This difficult platformer game introduced a lot of new game mechanics, while still sticking to the original puzzle games such as Portal or Portal 2. If you enjoyed either of those games, you should definitely give this game a try. Adding the gravity suit and wrist launchers opens up the possibilities of new and game changer tech, and I can’t wait to see the future of platformer games, including Sky Beneath. I would rate this game a solid 8 out of 10.

Daniel C.

“The House” Short Story

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I strolled down the sidewalk on the sunny Thursday morning, lost in my thoughts and worries. Was I ever going to find a home that was perfect? I idly examined the mansion I found myself in front of. Manicured lawn, tall hedges hiding the home, marble fountain bubbling up on the walkway… “I could live with this,” I mumbled to myself. I peer through the hedges, trying to catch a glimpse of the house. Suddenly, two boys sauntered up the lawn in front of me, no more than three yards from me! I fervently prayed they wouldn’t notice me, and they didn’t. Breathing a sigh of relief, I strained my ears to hear what the taller of the pair was explaining to his squat friend. “Yeah, the house is nicer since Dad put the new stone siding and fireplace in…” Hmm… a fireplace? I listened closer, sneaking around to the back where I could hear the boys’ voices through the open kitchen window. Newly painted living room, nearest house a quarter mile away? “Lovely, lovely,” I thought. Damp and musty basement? Could get a discount for that… But new plumbing was an added plus. A den was rather unnecessary but perfect for a home theatre system. “Speakers, projector, screens..” Quite lost in my reverie, I came to when the boys were already upstairs! I put my ear to the wall, and was barely able to hear Tall’s voice over Squat’s rapid questions. Three upstairs bedrooms… Perfect for a study and a recreation room. I could hear Tall’s voice more clearly now. “The bathroom in the hall is mine, since Dad added one to my sisters’ room for them… yeah, this is a leak; the roof finally rotted…” A leak! That was worth a hefty price reduction… Grinning to myself, I decided that I had heard enough. As I ambled down the street, I imagined myself putting in an offer, one they wouldn’t be able to resist. How did I know so much about their house? Well, that was my little secret… 

Linwood Custom Homes Named Finalist in Six National Home ...

-Vaidehi B.

Poem of the Day: Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening

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I recently came across the poem “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost, and really enjoyed it, so I thought I would share it here!

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening -

On the surface, this seems like a very simple poem, speaking of a traveler and his horse stopping on a snowy forest, on an unknown plot of land. The woods here represent wildness, and nature in its purest form- they are past the outskirts of the village, past the bounds of human settlement. Still, the speaker acknowledges his humanness and worldly responsibilities, sadly admitting that he must keep them. However, this poem has a darker undertone- and there are other reasons that the speaker cannot stay in the woods. They are to be admired from afar- if the traveler becomes trapped in the snow and loses his way, he may well freeze and die. The horse, representing human society, seems confused at his owner’s admiration of the woods- representing society’s inability to appreciate nature in its fullest, rawest capacity.

-Vaidehi B.

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

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Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens is a raw, poignant novel about the realities of poverty, especially for children, in Victorian England.

The book centers around a young orphan named Oliver, who was given to an orphanage at birth after the death of his mother. Worked to the bone and severely malnourished, Oliver falls in with a gang of pickpockets and quickly turns to a life of crime. What follows is a powerful tale of Oliver’s desperate struggle to survive in the heartless world he lives in.

Although this book was quite bleak and depressing, I really appreciated it as an accurate retelling of poverty in Victorian times. The deep class divides affecting society even then are tangible, and Dickens’ fury and contempt towards the excesses of the rich are clearly felt throughout the novel. Overall, I would recommend it!

-Vaidehi B.

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens is available for checkout at the Mission Viejo Library. It can also be downloaded for free from Overdrive.

You CAN Handle that Workload!

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Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

Now that most high schools have returned to in-person school everyone is feeling the academic and social pressure. The teachers were not hesitant to give a large workload for all students. I want to share some tips for time management that helps me manage my time while still taking 8 classes. 

My first tip is for those procrastinators out there taking many AP classes, feeling the work pile up faster than imaginable. This first tip is very helpful but may seem crazy to some. Personally, I set screen time on my phone from 5pm to 10pm. I get home from school around 4, I give myself a little mental break but once it hits 5 my phone blocks entertainment. I first thought this idea was going too far, but after several months it has really helped my procrastination. If I want to open instagram or tiktok I get a reminder that I should not be on my phone. This way I have a 5 hour window to sit down at my desk and simply work.

My next tip is to create a google sheet to plan both your homework and reminders for the day. Make a column for each of your classes on the top. On the right put each date and fill in the homework for each class. Whenever you finish an assignment turn the cell block green to show that you completed that task. This is a simple way to keep organized that does not require buying a planner. Also, personally I find motivation to turn all of the blocks green as soon as I can.

My next tip is to know your limit of classes. Some people, especially as they enter their junior and senior years, attempt to take as many AP, IB, and honors classes as possible. But, I would recommend taking the workload you know you can handle while still pushing yourself. This way you are not overexerting yourself to a point where you are not doing well in any classes.

My last tip is to take advantage of given class time and homework times during class! Oftentimes teachers leave 10-15 minutes to work on assignments. Many people tend to spend that time talking to their friends. I say get as much done as possible, your future self will thank you for it. During this time you are often more productive, have the teacher to ask any questions, and can get some of that work done before you even reach home. 

Overall my tip is find the best time management plan for yourself, as it differs from person to person. Once you find that schedule that fits your workload and personality perfectly, you will find dealing with all of the assignments will no longer be as daunting.

-Lilly G.

Book Review: Wonder by R.J. Palacio

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Wonder by R.J. Palacio is a beautiful and heartwarming book about the power of friendship and a community in the face of hate.

August, by all accounts, is a normal ten-year-old kid- except for one thing. He has a rare genetic disorder and despite twenty-seven different surgeries, he will never look like other kids his age. This makes life extremely difficult for “Auggie” and his family. His older sister is overprotective of him, and gets angry when people stare at him funny in public- and his parents, who only want what is best for him, do not want to send him to a public middle school where he may be bullied. However, what Auggie finds at school is something much different- he discovers friendship, and the power of love.

This novel was an incredible journey from beginning to end- and it is no ‘wonder’ that it was adapted into an award-winning movie. Wonder is essentially a book about discomfort- the discomfort we feel when we see a person that looks different from us in public, the discomfort they feel at the inordinate stares and whispers. However, it shows that this discomfort and pity can be overcome- to make way for community, love, and acceptance.

-Vaidehi B.

Wonder by R.J. Palacio is available for checkout at the Mission Viejo Library. It can also be downloaded for free from Overdrive.