Ready Player One by Ernest Cline REVIEW!

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Title: Ready Player One

Author: Ernest Cline

Published:  Random House NY

WARNING!!! THIS BOOK MAY CONTAIN TOTAL GEEK OUT MOMENTS!!! lol

I would just like to say first of that this book reminded me of a game I play called Second Life so some parts really made me laugh because I have experienced them first hand playing that game. I also love the references from old TV shows,movies,games,and music.
The book takes place in a dystopian world in the future where jobs,food,and housing is scarce and the only way for people to escape this reality is to play the OASIS game that a man named Halliday has created. With the OASIS letting you do anything you can do in real life most people don't even leave their houses anymore.
Halliday feels that his end is near and since he has to children and no wife he has no one to leave his fortune to so what does he do? He puts an egg into the OASIS game in which a player must find three keys and complete three gates in order to find and once they have finished the final gate they can find the egg and obtain full ownership of the OASIS and Halliday's fortune. Sound easy? Well think about the whole world looking for this item at the same time and if that isn't enough there is also a company called the IOI looking for the egg as well and they will stop it nothing to find it even if it means.....DEATH.

Rating:

Thoughts: This book was a total page turner and I would tell anyone and everyone that this book is a must read!

Quotes: "Three Hidden keys open three gates where in the errant will be tested for worthy traits, and those with the skill to survive these straits will reach The End where the prize awaits."

                                 READY PLAYER ONE!

"Three hidden keys open three gates  wherein the errant will be tested for worthy traits, and those with the skill to survive these straits will reach The End where the prize awaits."




    Ernest Cline Interview

I Won a Book Bundle!

The people of my house descended upon me when they learned that I had won a book bundle from a book club named From Left to Write. They were as shocked as me when they heard the news and quickly got puppy dog faces so they could each pick a book from the bundle that they could have. I gave in since it is the holidays and I love to see people's faces when I give them gifts so of course my husband chose first. Sheldon (husband) chose Ready Player One by Ernest Cline ( I am currently reading this book) and Skeletor (roommate) since his birthday is coming up got Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.

I would like to say that the book club stayed in touch with me right up until I got the books in the mail which didn't even take a week to reach me which is AWESOME! I got the box just a few days after learning that I won it and I turned into a little kid again as I held the box and jumped up and down with happiness. I am also on good terms with all three cats since they got the box the books came in. Below is a list of the books in the bundle and don't forget to check out the From Left to Write blog!

Book Bundle List

Gone Girl  by Gillian Flynn

 Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking   by  Susan Cain

Lady Almina and the Real Dowton Abbey  by The Countess of Carnarvon

Ready Player One  by  Ernest Cline

The Black Count  by  Tom Reiss

The Expats  by  Chris Pavone

Double Cross: The True Story of D-Day Spies  by  Ben Macintyre

The Headmaster's Wager  by  Vincent Lam

I Am Forbidden  by  Anouk Markovits

Buddy: How a Rooster Made Me a Family Man  by   Brian McGory



Home Page  of  From Left to Write

Unicorns?! PART 2

In this post I will tell you about the Unicorn in two different cultures. I hope you enjoy!

The Chinese Unicorn..

The Unicorn is part of the Chinese mythology but they don't resemble the white horse that many know as a Unicorn. The Chinese Unicorns are described as having the head and body of a stag or deer, the tail of an ox, and the legs and hooves of a horse. Some accounts say that they possess the green scales of a dragon and a voice like a bell. Even the horn of the Chinese Unicorn was different, it wasn't hard like most stories today lead you to believe but soft and fleshy. The horn was covered with fur in 5 colors which was considered special by the Chinese. The fur consisted of red, yellow, blue, white, and black color.
Accounts of the Chinese Unicorn are consistent regarding it's appearance and almost always describe it as "gentle, beneficent, delicate in diet, regular and stately in pace".
Called the Ki-lin or Qilin ( pronounced "chee-lin") the Chinese Unicorn was one of the four special animals who lived in the heavens right next to the dragon, phoenix, and the tortoise. It is said that these special animals would appear on earth on rare occasions to herald the birth of a wise person/benevolent emperor or to intervene in human affairs. Five thousand years ago it was a said that a Unicorn taught the emperor Fu Itsi the secrets of written language.
For most of China's history, pictures of the Ki-lin were displayed in the rooms of pregnant women in the hope of granting them the good luck of bearing distinguished sons.
Are the two Unicorns the same creature even though their appearance is different?
Some scholars believe so and they think that the look of the Unicorn is different due to environment.

The Unicorn of India...

Ancient religious literature of India show a very different type of Unicorn. The Unicorn of India isn't an animal at all but a boy/young man with a single horn growing from his head.
The story comes from book 3 of the Mahabharata: The Book of the Forest. Written around 200 B.C., the Mahabharata "which means :great story" in Sanskrit) with it's collections of myths and ancient stories is one of the foundational documents of the Hindu religion.
The story of the Kasyapa is of a boy who left his family to become a holy man dedicated to mystical meditation. Kasyapa shunned human company after the death of his teacher and lived in the forest with only animals for company. As the story goes he encountered a beautiful doe deer or antelope, the animal ended up staying with him in his hut and some months later gave birth to a baby son.
You are probably asking yourself how that could happen. There are different explanations for how something like this could happen, one account has kasyapa spilling his "seed" in the lake water which the doe then drinks. Another story says the doe became pregnant just from seeing the mans body.
Either way the child who was mostly human except for one horn growing out of his forehead. This child was named Risharinga/Rsyasrnga meaning "antelope horn".
The doe soon died after the birth so the child was raised by it's father away from other humans. The horn of the child was said to represent the childs special, even divine, nature.
although it's appearance is quite different from what most of us envision a Unicorn to be, many scholars believe that the Unicorn boy of India may have influence Unicorn stories in other parts of the world.

So now you can ask yourself...do I believe in Unicorns?



    North Korea's secret unicorn lair found! Link to the Article

  Unicorns in NY?!



  Unicorn in Italy?!

 

   Last Unicorn song from the 1980's animated film

Unicorns?! PART 1

"If God had not created the Unicorn, man would have invented him, for he has a form and nature that must exist." - Welleren Poltarness, A Book of Unicorns
The word unicorn comes from the Latin word Unicornis meaning "one horn".
There have been sightings of Unicorns in Africa,Asia,and other parts of the world.
Do Unicorns really exsists?
It is said that unicorns reside in deep dark forests, remote deserts,and mountain peaks. They don't tend to live in places close to humans. Which could explain why most people have never seen a unicorn. First mentioned by the ancient Greeks, it became the most important imaginary animal of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. It is said that a Unicorn's horn has the power to render poisoned water potable and to heal sickness. Until the 19th century, belief in Unicorns was widespread among historians,alchemists,writers,naturalists,physicians,and theologians.
Cosmas Indicopleustes, a merchant of Alexandria who lived in the 6th century, made a voyage to India and subsequently wrote works on cosmography. He gives a description of a unicorn based on four brass figures in the palace of the King of Ethiopia.
A one-horned animal is found on some seals from the Indus Valley Civilization. Seals with such a designare thought to be a mark of high social rank.

Unicorns can even be found in the King James version of the Bible!

Some bones were found at Unicorn Cave in Germany's Harz Mountains. Some of the bones were reconstructed by the mayor of the Magdeburg. Otto Von Guericke, as a Unicorn in 1663 but the bones were later found to just be woolly rhinoceros and a mammoth with the horn of a narwhal.

One suggestion is that the Unicorn is based on the extinct animal Elasmotherium,a huge Eurasian rhinoceras native to the stepps, south of the range of the woolly rhino of Ice Age Europe.
The power of the Unicorn rests in it's singularity. Despite variations in the mythology relating to this most elusive and remarkable of creatures, a persistent aspect of Unicorn lore is that there is only ever one of them. This adds to the most extraordinary beast, and makes it the object of passionate quest by generations of mystics, who see in it a universal symbol of the greatest prizes of all - enlightenment and spiritual transformation.
If you wish to see a historical Unicorn then look no farther than NYC were you can find the Cloisters. The Cloister was built in the 1930's and includes parts 5-centuries-old that were actually disassembled from monasteries and other buildings in France. The cloister houses the medieval collection of metropolitan Museum of Art. Were am I going with this you may ask well the high light of the collection is the Unicorn Tapestries known as The Hunt of the Unicorn. The tapestries were created around 1500 and consists of 7 tapestries. The tapestries measure 12 ft high and up to 14 ft wide.

The Tapestries were owned by the same French family for generations before being purchased by oil billionaire John D. Rockefeller Jr. in 1922. John the donated the tapestries to the metropolitan Museum of Art in 1937.
The Unicorn tapestries are immensely popular in the United States and have done much to cemnt a certain visual image of the unicorn in the minds of the American public. Nancy Hathaway who is a writer and Unicorn researcher describes the image of the Unicorn as "a graceful,horse-like animal,creamy white,with a long spiraling horn,cloven hooves,a curled beard,and a delicately plumed tail". To this day people still think of Unicorns as white horses with a spiraling horn.

Getting Back To Work!

I know I have been slacking a lot with posting blog entries but I am working hard to make the next research blog a good one. It will be about unicorns through history to today and already I have learned so much about this subject from reading up on it that I can't believe I have gone this far into life without learning these things. I am super excited about this post because I love horses and I have always wanted to own one but also because the first word I learned to spell when I was little was Unicorn. I learned how to spell that before I learned how to spell my name.
Life is crazy at the moment with surgery,Thanksgiving,black Friday, and the weather is having quite an effect on me. Even with all the crazy crap going on we have gotten the Christmas decor up and it is being enjoyed as we speak! I love the lights they are so pretty and I cry when everything is over and we have to take them down :(.

WHAT ARE YOU READING?

I just finished reading Seraphina by Rachel Hartman and I have given it 5 stars because I just loved the dragons they were such complex characters and their mingling with the humans kept me on the edge of my seat at times.
I also started reading the next book in the Tiger's Curse series by Colleen Houck Tiger's Destiny and these books always get good ratings from me because I love the whole plot of the series and Colleen Houck has a way with words that makes you feel like your right there with her characters.

 WHY HAVE YOU BEEN SLACKING?

Alright I will admit it I have been sleeping quite a bit and I have also been watching vlogs on YouTube like a crazy person. My favorite vlogger is mandaelysepanda and I like her because of how dorky she is. Watching her vlogs makes me feel like I am not alone and on more than one occasion I have watched one of her vlogs while I have been depressed and even if it is for a moment she makes me smile.



   mandapanda vlogs

      Colleen Houck book signing

Real Vampires PART 2

To nights post will be about the most popular type of real life vampires the Psychic Vampire. Down below are my findings I hope you enjoy reading them and become interested in the subject.

A psychic vampire is a creature in either human form or phantom-like form that feeds on psychic energy. Some human psychic vampires don't know that they are so they will feed unintentionally on those around them leaving the victim feeling weak with a tired drained feeling.
Night time psychic vampire attacks...

Sometime during the middle of the night sometimes as soon as the victim goes to sleep a feeling of dread is felt. The victim will then find it difficult to move, and might noticed that something is in the room or approaching. If the victim notices the figure in the room it usually appears to be a dark figure this would be the Phantom-like psychic vampire.
The entity is said to move on top of the victim which gives the victim a feeling of weight on their chests. The pressure on the chest can be felt even if the entity isn't on top of their chest directly so the weight felt isn't from the weight of the entity it's self. Victims have reported seeing the entity surrounded by color. There have also been reports of people hearing voices or a wind tunnel like sound during an attack. The sensations of a night time psychic vampire attack also match up with Astral Walking which is when a person's consciousness detaches from their body.

Day time psychic vampire attacks...
The daytime attacks are almost always because of a human with the ability and it might not be on purpose. Their victims are usually those around them at the time. The attack will usually leave the victim feeling drained of energy and on extreme cases can cause the victim to pass out for a short period of time. If the psychic vampire doesn't know that they have the ability and doesn't learn to control it then those around them will continue to be attacked. Energy from electronics has also said to be drained around psychic vampires. Everything runs on energy so it is very important for the psychic vampire to learn to control their ability properly.
There is a theory that vampirism of the psychic kind predates popular folklore versions of blood drinking vampires. Some would even go so far as to say that psychic vampirism was the cause of the folklore in the first place. I have also come across some theories that everyone is a psychic vampire in one way or another because we all feed off the energy of each other.
Scientists who have studied psychic vampirism say that the people who engage in vampire behaviors  is because of the way they see themselves. In certain situations these vampires behave in ways that make sense to them based on their perceptions, and in turn see no other alternative. Extremists with the ability may seek domination and in some cases even destruction of the victim.
There Are three types of psychic vampirism today.
Type 1: One-on-One Psychic Vampirism
This category includes any form of psychic vampirism between two people with one being the vampire the other the victim.
Type 2: Group Psychic Vampirism
This category also called collective vampirism includes any form of vampirism that involves a group,organization,or institutions.
Type 3: Parasitic Psychic Vampirism
This category is the most different of the three. Parasitic vampirism is an internal form of psychic vampirism turned against the self. This type is the vampire and the victim. Parasitic psychic vampires attack from within so each time they take in energy their bodies ability to cope weakens to minor stress so they feel the need to always feed.

Above are some pictures of studies done on psychic vampirism also make sure to check the important links to continue the knowledge of the subject.


  An interview with Joe H. Slate, PH.D. he studies psychic vampirism



 An episode about Psychic vampirism from the History Channel

 

     A website with more information about Psychic vampires

Real Vampires? PART 1

Type 1: Immortal Blood Drinkers
This type of vampire is the base of most if not all fictional vampires. Due to ethnic changes there are several species in this category. There is a theory that demonic possession after death was the cause of vampires which would explain why they are said to dislike religious items. No matter the amount of species there are in this category none of them have even come close to the amount of powers of the fictional vampires that are based off this type. Most of the evidence on Immortal drinkers is unconvincing. This type of vampire is the least likely out of all the vampires to actually exist in real life.

Type 2: Mortal blood drinkers/Occult
Some common humans feel the need to drink blood. Some drink blood for religion while others believe that blood has powers. In some cultures it is believed that drinking the blood of an enemy would give the drinker great wisdom and power.
However there are some people who suffer from a disorder called Renfield's Syndrome (named after the character in Dracula) feel the need to drink from living things to stay alive. Renfields is considered a form of insanity and is responsible for some people to commit violent crimes to get blood.
Most people who claim to be real vampires described traits from popular fictional vampires. Those people are the fakes among the occult vampires. There is a theory that people who fake being a vampire do it because they like the attention or they want to act out a fictional vampire from the stories they loved.
Some of the "mortal" blood drinkers claim to be immortal but they lack the wisdom that comes with the age they claim to be which lead me to believe that these people are also fakes.
Why would someone do ? well they might just like book vampires a little to much or it could be that they think that being a vampire is cool.
The real mortal drinkers might suffer from a psychological need to drink blood. There are also those whith Renfield's syndrome. If a person has Renfield's syndrome they usually tend to show signs of having it at a young age.
How can a person get Renfields?
Most people with the syndrome are male and it is usually sparked by an event in childhood in which the sufferer associates the taste and sight of blood with excitement. As the person gets older the attraction to the blood becomes sexual.
Renfield's syndrome has three stages...
Stage 1 is autovampirism which is when the person will drink his or her own blood even if it means cutting themselves to get it.
Stage 2 is zoophagia, this stage is when the person eats or drinks from live animals. Some might obtain animal blood from a butcher.
Stage 3 is true vampirism. In this stage the person drinks from humans. some have even gone so far as to break into blood banks to steal blood. Most of the people with syndrome that have committed violent crimes are at this stage in the syndrome.

That concludes this posting but to continue your search for real vampires got to the Important Links below. Until next time folks stay safe!



  an episode from Paranormal TV

 

    Modern Vampires episode from A&E