A Clash of Kings Summary, random chapter

Summary

 Catelyn was visiting Renly Baratheon to speak for her son who was king of the north.Renly and his brother Stannis were currently fighting over which one deserves the throne their third brother left behind. Catelyn went to try and get them to join together with her son to fight the common enemy. Both Renly and Stannis thought they were the rightful heir to the throne. Catelyn had them meet together to try and come to terms. Neither of them would bend the knee to the other brother. Then they started taunting each other. Renly had at least ten times the swordsmen that Stannis had...but was still confident he could beat Renly. They agreed to fight at dawn and both vowed to kill the other. Right before dawn, Catelyn was watching one of the knights help Renly into his armor. Catelyn watched his shadow on the side of the tent and noticed his shadow unsheathed his sword when it was still sheathed in his belt. That instant, the shadow thrust his sword forward. Renly's throat burst open and spurted blood all over the knight. Sorcery, Catelyn knew that it was the only way a shadow can kill a physical being. The other knights of Renly's guard thought the knight dressing Renly killed him, and started to attack her. Catelyn and the knight fled from the tent and walked off into the wood where her guard waited. 

Reaction 

 I really liked this scene because of the sudden twist to the entire Game of Thrones series.This chapter was written in chronological order to show the order of events leading up to the climax. I think the author's intent for providing such a surprising plot twist was to develop the story in a way that is unpredictable. At first,  I thought that Stannis and Renly would join together to form a massive army to demolish the Lannisters (the hated house). But now that Renly has been killed, who was the more likable brother, Stannis will control the entire army that Renly controlled and dominate the realm. So now I can never predict the outcome of the rest of the story and cannot wait to finish this book, and the others afterwards. 

Game of Thrones, Prologue

Summary
 Three men of the Night's Watch, Gared, Royce, and Will, were in the woods scouting. One of the men had a bad feeling about that night. As they continued through the woods they decided for Will to continue on ahead of the others being the most silent of the three. As he continued without the rest he returned shortly after he left with news of a camp containing frozen bodies. So the three decided to head over to the campsite to investigate the bodies. Gared was an elder and had a sense that something was wrong with the night. As they approached the clearing they noticed the bodies were all gone. Ser Royce told Will to climb up a tall tree to keep watch as gared guarded the horses. Gared insisted on a fire knowing it would keep the dead away but Royce did not think it was a good idea. So Royce was surrounded by multiple beings which were the dead bodies Will saw earlier but now they were alive. Gared was right the fire would have repelled these invaders but since there was no fire the white walkers easily killed Gared and Royce but could not find Will so they left him alone. The white walkers were thought to be dead for centuries...

Reaction

 I really love the author's writing style in this book. I am having a wonderful time reading the book and I'm looking forward to reading the next in the series once I finish the first. As you progress further into the book it is a well thought out plot that the White Walkers are returning while many houses are fighting for the throne ignoring this dangerous fact. I am anxious to see what happens when the houses finally realize the looming danger.

Al Pacino Summary

Entire article from Wikipedia, summary

 Alfredo Pacino was born in Harlem but his parents divorced when he was two years old. He lived with his mother who moved in with her parents. At school Al was known to be a troublemaker. He started drinking and smoking marijuana at a very young age. At the start of his career his debut was as a minor supporting role in the movie Me, Natalie. After that he played the leading role in Panic in Needle Park. Al also performed on stage in plays. Later in his career Al was featured in The Godfather series, which defined his career, and he played Tony Montana in the hit movie Scarface. His latest role was in the film Jack and Jill playing as himself. He is going to be in the movie Gotti that will be released in 2013 also starring John Trovolta and Ben Holster.

Reaction
 I did not know that Al was born in New York, where I was also born, and I did not know he had to go through so many hardships. It really surprised me that he started drinking at the age of nine, and smoked “weed”. These things were probably a result of being a troublemaker in school and having his parents divorce when he was two. Him being my favorite actor and having the lead role in my favorite movie Scarface, he is one of my idols. I can’t wait for the new movie Gotti, A movie related to the mafia, because seeing how great Al did in The Godfather it will most definitely be a great movie.

02.07 Summary

Entire article from Wikipedia, summary

Marshall Bruce Mathers III was born in Missouri as an only child. His father left his mother when he was very young. When he was first introduced to hip-hop and rap he worked with and was featured on many songs of different groups. He moved to Detroit in his teenage years. Then his uncle who introduced him to rap committed suicide. His uncle was mentioned in a couple of Eminem's songs. Eventually, after signing to a couple different record labels, Eminem ended up in Dr.Dre's Aftermath Entertainment. When Eminem's debut album was released, it reached the attention of many people becoming 4x platinum by the RIAA. Eminem then proceeded to release more hit albums guaranteeing his popularity in the hip-hop world. Eminem had some issues with some other artists who fought through their lyrics. Eventually all the heat settled and Eminem ended up joining back together with Royce Da 5'9" to reunite the duo Bad Meets Evil who are still currently making hit songs.

Reaction

It surprised me that Eminem was put through so many hardships in his life. Having to deal with your uncle committing suicide, and your father leaving you and your mom before you even knew him is pretty tough. I'm glad that Eminem found a way to release this stress, by rapping. He ended up becoming one of the most revered rappers in history. Since the first time I heard one of his songs I instantly became an Eminem fan. For the selection I read the most useful form of notes to take would probably be cause and effect considering how most of the events in his life were results of something else.

My Reading Results

When I took the reading test, my results were far from what I really enjoy reading. The results were that I am the biggest sports fan and love to read the statistics, but in actuality I only like to read the results of games I find are important. I think that there are not enough answer choices so the results from the tests won't be completely accurate. It also said that I like non-fiction when I actually hate them. My favorite types of books are adventure books and comedy books. The last book I read was the Hunger Games series. I enjoyed it because it had a nice storyline and it had some pretty decent action scenes. All in all, I think the reading test is not accurate at all and needs more options.