Book Review - Killing Kennedy

Killing Kennedy by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard is about the life and death of president John F. Kennedy. This book takes you through the whole story of Kennedy's assassination, starting from about when he was elected into office. It includes many stories and details behind the scenes of Kennedy's time in the White House that you may not have known before and even shows you what was going on behind the scenes with his assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald.

The research done to put this book together is absolutely amazing. Since the 1960's wasn't too long ago, O'Reilly and Dugard were able to get some great first hand sources and even publish some information about Kennedy that no one has ever known before.

With all these amazing first hand sources, it is no wonder that this is such a personable book. Although it is classified and written as a biography, it really seems like it is a narrative about Kennedy's life. The way the authors tell the story makes it seem very interesting, almost as if you were reading a historical fiction book. There are just so many details about what was said and how people actually felt that it really makes you feel like you know the person.

Sadly, this book actually revealed some things about president Kennedy that we cannot be proud of; however, it also revealed some things that we can be proud of. For example, although Kennedy did have several affairs while he was married to Jackie, he realized the errors of his way and tried to turn it around. He cut off most if not all of his affairs and focused more on the true love of his life, Jackie.

Overall, I thought the book was very well written and researched. I am not one to enjoy biographies, but I found Killing Kennedy to be fascinatingly interesting and I'm sure you would, too.

The Deadliest Monster

In school, I've been reading a book called The Deadliest Monster by J. F. Baldwin. It is a book about the contrasting worldviews of the Frankenstein people and the Hyde people. The Frankenstein people are the people that believe that humans are inherently good, it's just that society corrupts us. The Hyde people are the people that realize that human nature is a nature of sin and that we are inherently bad. If you haven't guessed from my last two opinionated statement, I am a Hyde person.

To put it frankly, I am a Christian. In fact, all Hyde people are Christians. Can you think of another religion that says that people are inherently bad and cannot become perfect on their own? I can't. That's one of the main points of the book.

You see, Christians are radically different from other religions of the world because we are Hyde people. Every other religion believes that they can be perfect. Whether it is to get into heaven, to achieve Nirvana or just the belief that they are God, they believe that they can be perfect if they just try hard enough. This is false and it is very hard on them. Why? Because they can't be perfect.

We live in a world where they think you can be anything you want to be if you just try hard enough. You can be a football player if you're a 90 pound girl who has no interest in athletics. If you just work out and practice, you can become an AMAZING football player! In some extreme success cases, this is true, but what about those people who just can't do it? No matter how hard they try, what they do, they just can't figure out football. They think they're a failure. They think the will never be as good as everyone else. They think these thoughts constantly until it becomes an overwhelming stress on them everyday to get back in the game and keep trying and failing with no hope of success in the future. Why? Because they are trying to play like their favorite football player. They're actually pretty good at football, but they're not perfect and if they're not perfect, they consider themselves a failure, when the truth is even their favorite football player is not the perfect football player. No one is.

This is the world. Everyone thinks they can be perfect but they can't. It's a burden and a stress that no one should take on thinking they have the ability to be perfect and the best at something when in reality they can't. We don't have the ability to be perfect. That's where the problem lies. We're sinners each and every one of us and when we don't admit that we can't be perfect, we think we're bad people if we're not.

We are bad people. We are all sinners. That's why Jesus came. To die for our sins so that we don't have to be perfect (because that's impossible for us!) We just have to believe in him and we will be seen by God as perfect. It's so much easier to admit that you can't be perfect. It gets rid of that burden and we still get into heaven by believing and proclaiming that Jesus is Lord.

We don't have to be perfect anymore. Jesus died for us. Stop trying to be perfect. You won't be able to. You may be really good people, but you know you're not perfect. It won't get you into heaven. Only Jesus will. Be a Hyde person, because the Frankenstein person isn't all it's cut out to be. That's what I learned from The Deadliest Monster.

Live Performances

Last night, my family sat together and watched "Peter Pan" one of Leslie's favorite shows of all time! This version was the live one that premiered not too long ago. It was supposed to be like the "Sound of Music - Live!" that premiered last year. I didn't see that one, so I can't compare the two. Sorry!

It was fairly well performed. There was a couple small mistakes, which of course, is what people sometimes tend to focus on when they watch these live shows. That kind of bothers me though, that when something is advertised as live, people try to look for those small mistakes.

Live theater should not be a big deal, especially to the actors. Most actors have built up their acting skills over time. There are very few cases where actors just started out famous. A possible example of this could be Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen. They were cast as the cute baby on "Full House" and they did an amazing job! This is a VERY rare case.

These actors usually build up their skills and get their name out there by being in live theater. When you go for a night out to see a play, that is live theater. We don't make as big of a deal out of it then. Why don't we? They could mess up then, too.

Here are a couple of reasons why we tend to make a bigger deal about live theater on TV:

1. It's typically on National Television. It is a bigger audience than when you actually go to a theater. Plus, that means it is advertised a lot, and is made to be a bigger deal than it actually is. Both of these put more pressure on these actors if they mess up.

2. DVRs are a live actor's worst nightmare. With our modern day technology, we can record this live performance on TV and watch it over and over and over again. If they mess up, people can watch them mess up over and over and over again. That's also a lot of pressure.

3. Actors in these live television programs are typically already famous stars. On one hand, this means that should have live theater experience already, but on the other hand they haven't done live theater in a long time. Plus, people would expect more out of them. This adds even more pressure to these actors to do well - to not disappoint their fans.

These three pressure points are seen by the actor's fans which is why they tend to look for these mistakes. Sometimes it is more interesting for people to see mistakes that weren't supposed to be there, than just watch and enjoy the performance.

Changes

My grandparent's are changing their house. They are adding a bedroom on the first floor and taking out their back deck.

This struck me as absolutely shocking. How could they possibly change the house I know as Grandma and Grandpa's house? It's perfect just the way it is. I don't want it to change.

But it has changed before. From things as small to shifting furniture around, to adding a TV room (which I wasn't alive for, but it was a major change), Grandma and Grandpa have changed a few things about their house ever since they first started living in it.

We were also talking about tonight about how some of us don't like small changes. Like getting a new Christmas tree or new lights that change the Christmas tradition. These things make Christmas feel less like Christmas. I didn't see how this was different from changing the house.

The difference is that one has to happens, where the other is optional to change. We have to accept the fact that some changes must happen, so we might as well deal with it. We don't have to change the other optional things though.

As humans, we don't like change. That is the same with everyone. Even those who don't fret about the small changes don't like change. Things like moving, getting a new job and leaving your parents is a big change that most people probably don't like.

But there are a lot of benefits to these things, too.When you get a new job, it's most likely that you are moving up in the job chain. When you move, you get to make new friends. When you leave your parents, you are getting to start a new life on your own.

Changes can be difficult sometimes, but they're just a part of life. Let's not let these changes get to us. We can learn to love them.

Thanksgiving Break

It's finally Thanksgiving break! It's time for sleeping in late, staying up late and finally getting stuff done!

I've had this long list of things I've been meaning to do since summer ended and because of Thanksgiving break I'm planning to get a lot of it done.

Like for one thing, haven't you noticed that I've posted three blogs in the past three days? The last time I posted was forever ago! I've been able to post on all of my blogs more, including my Nancy Drew one. I've also posted three new walkthrough videos in the past three days completing my Nancy Drew walkthrough for The Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake! (Here's a link to the playlist if you want to see it:  Click this!)

I've also been able to get this many things done because it's my without technology week. (I know it seems like I'm on technology because I'm blogging, but it doesn't count because it's on the list). Every month I take a week without technology meaning computers and TV, so I can realize that I have better things to do with my life. Not sure if it's working, but at least I have that week to find new things to do.

Thanksgiving break for some people is a hectic time. Getting ready for family to come or getting ready to get on a big trip to visit them can be hard. Plus, you have to worry about getting all the food together for that big Thanksgiving meal.

But it's not hectic for my family. We typically don't have people coming for Thanksgiving except for this special Thanksgiving (my grandparents are coming). We normally get up, watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in our pajamas and eat cinnamon buns! Then we get dressed and go out to eat at some place like Cracker Barrels or Luby's. Preferably, Cracker Barrel (Sorry Luby's). It's a nice holiday.

Thanksgiving break for me is just a good time all around right now. I'm going to have to try really hard to stay focused on enjoying it and to spend every second of it wisely. I'm going to want to look back and saying that this was a good, worthwhile Thanksgiving break.

Two Plays

In my last post, one of the things I mentioned was that I had two plays coming up. It's one of the things that is very hard not to look forward to!

The first of these plays is "Pilgrim's Progress". It's a funny and entertaining version of it, not the long boring paragraphs version. I've been in it before and I'm super excited to be in it again! Auditions for it are in a week and I've been waiting for it since about October.

The second of these plays is yet to be announced, so I don't think I should say anything, but it is super exciting for me. For the first time in my acting life, I have been requested to be in this play. I was one of eight other actors requested. I have only been in one play there and a camp, and I was chosen with someone who has been there eleven years. It's so exciting!

The only problem that will probably come up is the stress of being in two plays... at the same time.

I want to be in both so bad, and it looks like I'm going to, but it's probably going to be stressful. With two plays and my schoolwork I might not have much time to myself, which means I'm probably going to be doing another month or so of catching up on new TV shows after these plays.

I am so willing to do both these plays, because I have been waiting since my last play to be in another. It will be slightly stressful, but at this point I'm willing to do it. Now I just have to patiently wait for my auditions. I hope it comes soon! (Stop looking forward to it, Eastin!!)

Looking Forward

I had a sudden rush of thoughts while I was trying to go to sleep last night. It's November. It's Thanksgiving break. We're halfway to summer. Where the heck has my life went?

Every once in a while I just get this feeling that my life is going by so fast. I mean, I'M in HIGH SCHOOL for crying out loud! Every once in a while that really makes me shocked. I get this feeling that I don't want to grow up so fast. I want to stay young and enjoy it!

But, time constantly goes by faster, because I'm looking forward to things. When I look back at the past three months, it seems like it went by so fast. But when I think ahead a week to my auditions for the school play, it seems like it's a long time to wait! My sister deals with this, too. In fact she recently said to me, "Three weeks until Zed comes seems like so long, but he's staying three weeks and it just seems so short!".

I've been looking forward to these two plays that are coming up in the winter that I'm going to be in and to various things about growing up like getting my learner's permit, a job, a driving's license, where I'm going to college and what career do I want to have. These things and little minor things that come up throughout the day have I been looking forward to. But every once in a while, all I want time to do is SLOW DOWN!

I think looking forward to things makes time go faster, whether we believe it or not, and sometimes we just have to try and not look forward to things. To enjoy what we're doing now, because it will be gone in an instant.

I think I'll remember this when I'm twenty something. I'll be saying something like, "Man, I wish I could be fourteen again. I would have no responsibilities and no stress about anything like jobs or college. That would be the best."