Christmas!

Hello people's. Today I'm talking about what I got for Christmas.

One of the main things I asked for this Christmas was The Shining by Stephen King. I wanted it because I loved the movie and seeing that Stephen King recently released the sequel Doctor Sleep made me want to read the original book. Also I wanted part of the Dead Space series because I've heard of it for a long time but the M rating was preventing me from getting it till now. I chose Dead Space 2 and 3 because I already know the basic story so I don't need 1, Dead Space 2 is supposed to be the scariest, and Dead Space 3 is the newest and has multiplayer. Christmas morning I got all I asked for and more. I got Dead Space 2 & 3, The Shining and Doctor Sleep which was awesome.

I also got other things that Mom and Dad did a great job picking out. I got two board games, one called Dominion and one called Mage Wars. So far I'm really enjoying Mage Wars because your Mage and the spells you choose to bring into each game are customizable. Also because there is an enormous amount of spells to choose from just in the starting set I got and the fact that they are expansions to the game. I haven't played the two games yet but I'm sure I'll enjoy them both. I really enjoyed Dead Space 2. It was very scary and fun and so far I haven't had the bravery to turn the volume up more than 15.

I've only played Dead Space 3 a little because I'm saving it for playing multiplayer at least till I beat Dead Space 2. The Shining so far has been a really good read and my uncle tells me that the movie plot differs from the book even though they're both really good which excites me because that means more surprises. I'm not far through the book but so far my favorite part is when Jack Torrance is thinking about his accident when he was drunk and furious and accidentally broke his three year old son's arm. Stephen King perfectly describes that haunting, extremely guilty feeling Jack gets when he hears that chilling little snap of Danny's bone. I also got a Codigo cube, some new earbuds, a small Nerf gun, zombie targets for my Nerf guns, a maze ball, and more. And the best part... Almost my entire stocking was filled with meat.




Christmas morning

Have a Merry Christmas everybody! Bye.


By Ashton

The Rot and Ruin

Hello people's. Today I'm writing about a book. Here it goes.

The book is called The Rot & Ruin. It's another zombie book but it adds a lot of new and interesting ideas. The book focuses on a small town in California around 14 years after the apocalypse, what they call first night. Fences and guards protect the citizens from the slow moving zoms past the red zone. There hasn't been a death to zombies in years. Carpet coats have been invented that protect from most bites, combination locks protect both sides of every door in case someone passes and comes back, cadaverine masks smell, and yet... Nobody tries to take back what they've lost.

A good size armed group of men could take back a town, eventually entire states. The major cities are gone, they were nuked during the late parts of first night and the surrounding areas are crowded with radioactive zoms but we could take back this world... But for fourteen years there's been nothing. The only people that ever go past the fence, into the Rot & Ruin are bounty hunters. Bounty hunters clear out trade routes and are sometimes sent by surviving family members to "quite" zoms, who often are trapped in their homes by closed doors or just standing in their yards for years with no movement or sound to attract them.

Benny is a kid living in the town called Mountainside he's just turned fifteen and needs to find a job to earn his ration dollars. Reluctantly he decides to train to be a bounty hunter under his older brother Tom who he considers a coward for running away from his already "turned" father leaving his mother to die. Benny was very young in Tom's arms but he could remember that memory as bright as day. Ben now has to go out into the Rot & Ruin and quickly he learns that he knows very little about the outside world and zombies are not the worst things out there...

You should definitely pick up The Rot & Ruin. Bye.


By Ashton

Infinity Blade 3

Hello peoples. Today I'm blogging about another videogame, this time for iOS. Here it goes.

So after I finished Infinity Blade two I was loving the Infinity Blade series. As soon as I finished I started researching when the next game would come out. I found the Infinity Blade Dungeons trailer and was impressed. Unfortunately the due date for the release of the game kept being pushed back farther and farther. Anyway eventually I lost track of the game.

At least a year later I was browsing the app store and I saw an add pop up... For Infinity Blade three. I instantly freaked out and tapped the add. It had a release date in around a week. After more research I found out Infinity Blade Dungeons had been cancelled for a while now but this new game looked even better the graphics were amazing even for the already great Infinity Blade games. It offered multiple settings that were even more dark and mysterious and I practically peed myself when I saw the end of the trailer... A dragon hurtling towards the main character, Siris. Siris has fought people that were five times bigger than him before but they obeyed the aegis forms which is like an honorable dueling tradition. He's even fought monsters that didn't obey this but this thing had wings and there didn't seem like a lot he could do about that.

So one thing this series has done is put out a book between each game explaining what goes on between games. I've read the first one between IB one and two called Infinity Blade: Awakening. It was ok and was a must if you wanted to understand what Siris is doing in IB two but it was very mysterious and weird and throughout progression in these games there are more and more of what looks like advanced technology even in this medieval type world. This was in the ending of IB one and put me off a bit and it was implemented even more in that book. The book, called Infinity Blade: Redemption between IB two and three, has all the answers. It tells all about how this technology is here completely catches the reader off guard and wraps it all in a nice little bow. I highly recommend reading these books if your gonna play this game series.

Now down to the actual game itself: I've already beaten it and I loved it. The storyline is amazing and unexpected and if you do beat it then watch till the end of the credits and if you've read all the books what you see is shocking. The game seems to be lacking in weapons, armor, and items compared to the other games but with the ability to play as Isa and utilize her own unique weapons it more than makes up for it. The game also adds an interesting new mechanic. Instead of just doing things as you go along like the other games, in this you actually have a base you visit between missions with useful people like the gem cutter, potion maker, blacksmith, and the merchant. (you can still buy things without the merchant but whenever she visits she comes with a select few discounted items.) I do have a few bugs about the game though. The story is a bit short and there is not as many things to do in it after you've beaten the game, however these things may come out in additional content packs in the future like the previous games. Also the final boss is much to easy. I had more trouble with his predecessors and they either should have made him much faster and more damage dealing or given him more than just one sword. Other than that the game is amazing, definitely worth it's 6.99, and you should pick it up soon.

Bye.


By Ashton

The House of Mystery

Hello peoples.  Today I'm looking into some comics.  Here it goes.

     Specifically I'm reviewing The House of Mystery essentials 1,2,3 and The House of Secrets essential 1.  When my dad still went to the comic store I used to get an essential every time.  So we were redoing my dad's old sanctuary... which was also my old room, to be Katie's bedroom so I was moving my things out and rediscovered them.  Of all the essentials Iv'e gotten I liked these horror ones the best.  A few of the stories are actually pretty good and creepy.

     I've found that the stories get better as the comic gets older. (And by better I mean no story in essential 3 have happy endings.)  As the series contiue they become less mystery story and more horror story and I like the change.  My favorite stories from The House of Mystery essentials are, Nightmare, The Little people, Brief Visit, The Lunatic, A Breath of Black Death, The Demon within, Phony Face, This Little Demon Loves People, Oh Mom! oh dad! You've sent me to summer camp and I'm so sad!, The Death Clock, The Night of The Teddy Bear, The one and only fully guarenteed super 100%, The Curse of the Macintyres, and Monster in the House.  The stories get better as the comic gets older and 2 and 3 are the best ones.

     My favorite from The House of Secrets is, If i should Die Before I Wake, Please Don't Cry Johnny, After I Die, Creature, The Monster, and Domain of the Damned.  I love the style of these old, short horror stories and I love how most of them have little cliffhangers that are only explained by the pictures.  I also love the relationship between Cain, the caretaker of the House of Mystery, and Abel, the caretaker of the House of Secrets.  The two are brothers.

Bye.

The Shining

Hello peoples. Today I'm blogging on The Shining. Here it goes.

The shining is a very different horror movie. I have not read the book yet but I hope to. It is directed by Stanley Kubrick and it is amazing. Here is the basic story with no big spoilers. It's about a man named Jack Torrance who is going to be the winter caretaker of a hotel and he is taking his family with him.

Due to the hotels location in the mountains it is virtually inaccessible in the winter so he's there alone with his family for a few months. The main horror feature in this movie is not so much blood and gore or physical things like a monster, (but it does have plenty of things like that.) Its mainly about Jack descending from a loving father to the brink of madness to do... Horrible things. It also has very good supernatural events and Jack's only son Danny is tied into those events.

It's not the kind of scary where something pops out of a closet and scares you it's something where your like... Wait, what just happened and then you think about it for a while, realize what happened, and pee your pants. It also has some very disturbing scenes involving gore but it's not really like movies today it's more... Horrifyingly artistic. My dad tells me Stanley Kubrick was an artist so I guess that makes sense. It is such an artistic movie that many of the most terrifying scenes are open to interpretation but in such a way there's no real interpretation that's not extremely creepy. I really loved this movie and I was very excited to see that Stephen King, the author of the book, has released a sequel, I think it's called Sleep Doctor which is one of the reasons why I want to read The Shining as well.

Bye

Hello peoples. So today my topic is my girlfriend and it has been picked out by one of my favorite people, my girlfriend. Here it goes.

So I guess I better start from the beginning. It was the first day of fourth grade when I met her. Since then I've always liked her but it took me quite an embarrassing few years to get things started. In those few years I was stuck in something you've probably heard of. (the friend zone). But I guess I started really working for this girl in seventh grade. It was towards the end of the year and she and I had art class together and the seating chart changed a few times until pretty soon she was sitting next to me. She tells me this is when she started liking me but then I was still just hoping she did if she dropped any hints I was probably pretty clueless. I still look at that class in my memories and remember the laughter and the looks we gave each other sometimes. Nevertheless I still didn't ask her the question until a bit through the eighth grade. Once again we had most of our classes together and we spent the most time together in Spanish class and English class which unfortunately was not our favorite class. (neither of us like the teacher). So it had been a while now since I had decided to ask her but I was still looking for a good moment. So it was one Friday the 27th of September and it was a reward after the first report card and everybody was outside sitting on a hill in the grass watching a flag football game with the teachers and some of the more athletic 8th grade boys. (so naturally I was in the audience). I was sitting with her playing with a piece of grass under the early autumn sun getting closer and closer to asking her.... But no. No this is me your talking about it couldn't be that romantic. So school ends and we go home and I'm pumping myself up to ask her through texting doing the laundry home alone blasting my music. The music is really good and a lot of them have to do with love and I felt really good afterwards. So I'm sitting in the living room later with my Mom and siblings eating dinner and I just grab my phone and start typing. One slow letter at a time until, finally the message is written and I sorta closed my eyes and my stomach clenched and I sent her the message... She said yes! I was up for most of the night thinking about this happy, giggly, beautiful girl from North Carolina who, somehow, somehow, had said yes. So the next morning I jump out of bed and check my phone just to make sure this wasn't a dream. So the weekend continues and we nervously text each other until it's Monday morning and I'm heading inside the school knowing that there she is somewhere behind me getting off her bus. And there is she smiling beside me and just like... hi.

So here I am with this wonderful girl today and here I hope to be for a long time. Bye.


By Ashton

My Notebook

Hello peoples. Today I'm writing about some writing I plan t do at school and an example of it. Here it goes.

So recently I've gotten a notebook to write in for entertainment at school. It's not just for entertainment though it's also because lately I've been feeling a need to write some of these things down. Some of them are stories or poems though they often don't rhyme. Other things would just be sayings I've made or bits of wisdom I want to remind myself or stories about my life. Kinda like a journal but more interesting.

Here is an example of something I'm going to put in.

It's Friday and I'm outside running around my neighborhood. This is my third lap around the block and in spite of the chilly fall winds I've taken my jacket off at my last pass by my house. I've gotten to that point where I've gone far enough I won't be stopping for a while. No, I'm not done with it yet it just pushes me to continue. I come to one sharp hill with bright autumn trees on either side of the road. I speed up to get up the hill and my earbuds keep pumping music. Sweat steadily streaks down my temples and then I'm there. At the top of the hill, the view is amazing and I can see both the sun and the moon like rulers of the sky. The clouds have blended in with the oranges and the purples and the sky is split in half between the day and the night. The sunlight shines almost parallel to the horizon and pronounces the fall trees. I haven't stopped running and I'm sprinting down the street like a rocket. The sunlight is beautiful and I close my eyes for a moment and soak it all in like a sponge. It seems to give me a reason, motivation for my every purpose and reason for everything I do. I keep my eyes close and spread my arms out, greeting anything it's gonna throw at me. I was untouchable.


By Ashton