Tunnel in the Sky by Heinlein, and next on the list

Hello again,

Finished the book a tad late due to vacation timing, and the off chance of reading could only be done at around 12 to 3 am.  However, the book is over and I'm at the moment trying to find another to replace it.

Heinlein's Tunnel in the Sky...was awkwardly disappointing.  The story basis itself on the fact that a group of kids that join a class go into a new world as a final exam, 10 days of survival.  People can die, animals from alternative planets can exist, and there is always the possibility of backstabbing.  However, this book feels more like the polar opposite of Lord of the Flies, where any arguments were truthfully petty.  The kids are definitely more mature being at around 16-25 years old (being from highschool to college), but I would imagine the impact of finding out that one could not go back home might be more substantial than what was depicted by Heinlein.  Imagining my homeland, my family, my crushes, my disappointments, my goals, my hopes, my dreams, all disappear in an instant, starting with the ultimate blank state is probably one of the hardest impacts ever whether for good or bad.  I feel as though none of my pertaining knowledge base would be useful in a survival situation, and I feel like the psychological impact is underscored by that fact that these kids are hyperintelligent/government makers that build  society within months.  No.  I have seen DayZ long enough and witnessed the true backstabbing of humanity to know that finding resources, finding supplies, and doing everyting with strangers in hope that cooperation spurs with the inclusion of guns and knives is nearly impossible.  It is almost like a slightly lighter hearted Watership Down in this case.

There are moments in the book, where I feel like custom and the times probably effected how Heinlein looked at this crises.  I mean marriage and baby-making was considered in formality and would be done by "mayors" and honeymoon-suites are made...yes...this is a thing when you are dropped into a new environments for a month...For some reason, it doesn't suit my notions of what happens in long-term survival.   There are moments where I hoped certain characters would be together...and it never happend (which is kind of teenage-girl-dramaticism, but I mean the signs could not be more apparent), , and the awkwardness involved in coed circumstance in sci-fi was obvious in the perspective of the prestigious author.

The book was not as impactful and did not delve much into the psychological aspect of happenstance, but I feel like this idea could be made seamlessly into a movie.

Beautiful, but shallow...creative, but lacking...I hoped for more, but it's okay.  I hope his other works will be better.

Next...I will say so in a bit...I have no idea, and I forgot to bring some books with me thinking it'd take longer.  I HOPE YOU ALL THEBEST...good bye.

Advent Calendar 12/25 Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone, thank you for following along with this calendar. I'm going to try to wake him up now.

Advent Calendar 12/24

It was the day before Christmas. Not a creature was stirring, not even Padawan Kannan.....

Advent Calendar 12/23

It's almost X-mas, can he finish his hibernation before the 25th?

Review on Palmer Eldritch and Start of Heinlein

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch is simply about the product Can-D.  Can-D is a drug mainly used by the people of Mars to deal with the horrid boredom that exists with the conditions of colonization.  People living in small collective hovels take this drug, discorporate, and become new individuals.  However, the synopsis given and this is probably the biggest issue I have with the book, is not what it sets out to be.  The tag line was that a person wakes up to a new world and finds a note in which the world he inhabits isn't real, and it would seem it would be about the story of that man finding reality.  This is not the case.  The book is about the idea of leaving identity, reincarnation, drug states, monopolies, time-space adjustments, God, religion, and government scandal. Philip K. Dick constantly makes me question what it means to think about the world, and he does it again with the Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch.  Nothing I thought would be there was, and every single notion I had coming into the book was dissipated.  I would suggest highly for anyone to read this book.  It starts out slow that builds intensity over time, though it gets a bit awkward in the fastest part.  During the climax, the wording changes and perspective alters weirdly between time and between planets.  The only other issue would be Philip K. Dick's fascination with "pre-cogs" (future tellers) feels more like a stand-in rather than any plot device, and doesn't really do anything to the other all story.  Besides that, I found it a wonderful read that everyone should check out.

Now to continue my book week special, I'll try to finish Robert A. Heinlein's Tunnel in the Sky.  The Synopsis in the back reads "It was just a test...just a test...just a tests, but something had gone wrong.  Terribly wrong.  what was to have ben a standard ten-day survival test had suddenly become an indefinite life-or-death nightmare.  Now they were stranded somewhere in the universe, beyond contact with Earth...at the other end of the tunnel in the sky.  The small group of young me and women, divested of all civilized luxuries and laws, were being forced to forge a future of their own...a strange future in a strange land where sometimes not even the fittest could survive!".  Sounds interesting, but I'm kind of worried it's going to be too obvious or simple.  However, time to hope for the best.  Heinlein is considered one the three greats of science fiction, which include Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, and the current author Heinlein.  This is going to be another adventure...HAVE A GOOD READING WEEK.

Advent Calendar 12/22

Double trouble: Day 22

Advent Calendar 12/21

On December 21, the man still slept. Someone from a pillow company should hire him to be their spokesperson.

Advent Calendar 12/20

December 20: And then they left him in the dark once class had ended.

Advent Calendar 12/19

December 19: A second blast from the past

Advent Calendar 12/18

Day 18: A blast from the past!

Advent Calendar 12/17

Day 17: Gangster on the prowl

Winter Hopes and Resolutions

Along with my advent calendar, there is one more December task I must do, read one book a week.  It can be any book, and it was just something that I would be interested at the time.  This is mainly a task to be more reading capable and to learn more at the same time.  Lately, I have been sick of jus not being able to read really because its a task that usually drains me.  I usually sleep immediately when I start.  This time, I will try to strengthen my ability to finish something I am starting instead of just chillin.  Right now, I am reading:

I hope if anyone is reading this, may they read with me :).

Advent Calendar 12/16

Day 16: Sleeping in class was never so easy to do especially if you don't show up to class.

Advent Calendar 12/15

Day 15. The competition continues....

Advent Calendar 12/14

Day 14: 2 for 1 special

Advent Calendar 12/13

Day 13. A new challenger appears!

Advent calendar 12/12

12 days and he's still asleep....

Advent calendar 12/11

And he was still sleeping on the 11th day... He still hasn't bought a pillow yet.

Advent calendar 12/10

On the 10th day, he slept some more

Advent calendar 12/9

Day 9. Check back tomorrow at 10 AM PST. That kid needs to shave his mustache.

Advent calendar 12/8

Day 8. The week hasn't begun yet and he's still sleeping. Thumbs up!

Advent calendar 12/7

Day 7. He doesn't seem to care that his friend is passed out.

My Chemical Reaction

I'm stuck in a class that has taught me literally nothing...I have slept or have been absent physically or mentally everyday of this class.  I have no reason to be here, and I have not done anything to deserve the grades I have received in this class....Why am I here? Because of a woman...What am I doing after this?  Mastering the subject this class has taught me nothing in.  Soooo, LET'S BEGIN...As my teacher gets ready his lesson plans, I decidedly take a break...This class is my hour-break from the world, to do whatever I want in the privacy of my own silence to give respect to a teacher who has taught me how to write words on a page, but not really know what any of those mean.

Besides that, I feel like as the year ends, I will be a little happier knowing that this quarter, a quarter in which I have learned literally nothing extraordinary in...is over.  This quarter could have bene spent with me sleeping on a bed 24/7 writing on this blog, but I decided to spend time to go over the fact that I am a little dimmer because of the not-work I'm doing.

Truthfully, I think I sleep because I'm bored, or un-motivated.  Maybe I can learn more in my dream state than what I learn in class...maybe I can figure out what I need to without actually paying attention...

Whatever...in about 15 minutes I'll sleep in class...a new Advent calendar post will be put up and I will laugh...Today is December 6, 2013...and I am bored...hoorah

Advent calendar 12/6

Day 6. Good old bunny ears on the resident sleeper.

Advent calendar 12/5

Day 5. Too much Salty Bet... not enough school work occurring. I think he needs more coffee.

Advent calendar 12/4

Day 4. He's not sleeping in this one, but it's definitely photoworthy. Rock climbing was never so fun.

Art in my life

My dreams of a writer mainly occurred when I was a child, in middle school.  I used to dream of weird stuff all the time, imagining epic battles between fierce gods, creating scenes of drama between two detectives finding a missing link in a case, defining belief systems of a civilization many years in the future that depict different hierarchies.   My childhood was kind of strange like that, awkwardly lonely yet filled with potential and incredible landscapes.  I would never tell anyone about these images until only recently because I feared the extreme judgement of the people around me.  I would just use my hands like action figures, designing the movements of each fight scene, each star battle, each magical power, each stroke of the conductor.  Everything was imagined....so as a child/naive slightly sex-driven slightly moronic high-school student, I decided to tell myself something . A kind of truce was begun between me, myself, and I.  I told myself to write one book, make one movie, and draw/make one comic book.  I had listed ideas done on my computer to papers in an old notebook.  I look back in utter fear and hilarity, but I decided to turn the tables because I found a movie I made my freshmen year of high school for a class.   Today, I will show you "The Virus", a student film for a class called "Science Film" hoping it was more sci-fi, but more Bill Nye...Here it is...voila...

Advent Calendar 12/3

Day 3. Kinetics class has gotten the better of our hero.

Advent calendar 12/2

Day 2 of the Advent Calendar. If this continues for the rest of the month, I would recommend investing in a nice pillow.

Advent calendar 12/1

If you weren't familiar with this blog's author, he is notorious for sleeping in class. From now until Christmas, you'll be getting a photo of him sleeping. Enjoy!