Author: SEAN C.

The Loop Reading Update #5

On By SEAN C.In Book Update1 Comment

The Loop, by Ben Oliver, takes place in the future where one man and the government control everything about people’s lives. The book follows a 16-year-old named Luka Kane who’s been wrongly imprisoned in a nightmarish prison, called the loop, where the prisoners are tested on horrible experiments, brutally tortured, and in solitude every day until they die. But shortly after being in the loop for two years, things begin to change, and the daily routine of the prisoners begins to change.

The group finds a way to escape from the loop by climbing the giant wall of their recess area. While trying to get down from the wall, one of the group members falls and breaks her ankle. This creates a conflict in the group as some people want to go find their family, while others want to help the injured friend and look for painkillers. Luka decides to go with the group that wants to help the injured friend to find painkillers. While looking for the painkillers Luka and his friends get split up as a group of Smilers, the people that are infected with this weird virus that turns them into murderous machines, chase them.

The book is amping up the action and it is getting very interesting now, I highly recommend it.

The Loop Reading Update #4

On By SEAN C.In Book Update, Novels3 Comments

The Loop, by Ben Oliver, takes place in the future where one man and the government control everything about people’s lives. The book follows a 16 year-old named Luka Kane who’s been wrongly imprisoned in a nightmarish prison, called the loop, where the prisoners are tested on horrible experiments, brutally tortured, and in solitude everyday until they die. But shortly after being in the loop for two years, things begin to change, and the daily routine of the prisoners begin to change.

Where I’m at in the book, a lot of action is happening. Luka returns to the facility and frees the 2 A.M. club, a group of people that Wren trusted and would let out at 2 A.M. when the security systems were down. they then debate on whether they should leave or free the other prisoners so that they don’t die. they eventually decide to free the others, but after opening a door with an insanely strong prisoner, they quickly flee and decide to free another prisoner, who is very violent, in order to defeat the strong one. after they free the violent prisoner, Tyco, orders the group to stay and the cell while he fights him off. After a while, Tyco returns but now he wants to kill Luka, we learn that Luka supposedly murdered his younger brother and now wants revenge. The group decides to team up against Tyco and they eventually beat him up and lock him back up in his cell.

The book is amping up the action and it is getting very interesting now, I highly recommend.

The Loop Reading Update #3

On By SEAN C.In Uncategorized1 Comment

The Loop, by Ben Oliver, takes place in the future where one man and the government control everything about people’s lives. The book follows a 16 year-old named Luka Kane who’s been wrongly imprisoned in a nightmarish prison, called the loop, where the prisoners are tested on horrible experiments, brutally tortured, and in solitude everyday until they die. But shortly after being in the loop for two years, things begin to change, and the daily routine of the prisoners begin to change.

Where I’m at in the book right now, one of Luka’s friends, Wren, who is a security guard, goes crazy while trying to set him, plus a bunch of other cellmates, free. Trying to kill them for no reason at all. Luka manages to contain her in a cell and escapes from the prison into the city. But, life in the city isn’t any better, it’s actually worse. Almost everyone in the city has gone crazy, as well, with the same thing that Wren has mysteriously gotten. So, Luka goes back to the Loop to form a team in order to find out what’s happening to everyone.

The story is definitely starting to amp up the action. I would highly recommend reading this book.

“Tags” Static Character Argument

On By SEAN C.In Uncategorized3 Comments

The short story, “Tags” by Walter Dean Myers, is about a group of ghosts that all meet up at a wall to spray paint it in order to keep they’re names and memories alive. One of the protagonists, D’Mario, is a static character because even after he learns about the things he did to one of the other ghosts, J-Boy, he doesn’t care about his situation and doesn’t try to help or comfort him.

J-BOY “I ain’t leaving. You got no power over me, sucker.

D’MARIO “Fool’s dead and still talking smack! And tagging with a spray can. That’s old. You can’t tag with no spray can.”

This scene shows D’Mario’s personality towards other ghosts and how he likes to insult others, even when he’s just meeting them for the first time. His smack-talking personality also shows up when another character, Willie, talks about his death.

D’MARIO “How did you go down?”

. . .

WILLIE “Yeah, and all I wanted to do is get some cigarettes, let the fool know I could have robbed him, and walk out the damned door! but now I’m struggling with this old man and he’s holding onto my gun and crying and begging and carrying on. I ain’t letting the gun go and he ain’t letting the gun go. Then the two sisters come in ans see what’s going on and duck right back out. I think they might be calling the cops or something, so I let go of the gun and punch the old man, and it goes off and hits me in the neck.”

D’MARIO “You killed yourself!”

Even after Willie opens up and shares his story about his death, all D’Mario does is make fun of him, again not caring about his words or actions. Even during emotional moments, D’Mario doesn’t care about his actions, or the people around him. This type of characteristic appears again later towards the end of the story where he finds out that he had killed one of the ghosts that were also in the room with him,

J-BOY (Reaches for D’MARIO but goes through him) “You killed me, m***er***r! You killed me! you killed me!”

. . .

D’MARIO “Man, I didn’t know what was going on. It was an accident!” . . . “You can’t do nothing to me now. I can’t do nothing to you. It’s too late. The shit is over. We can’t turn it back.”

This scene is the most key evidence that D’Mario is a static character because after J-Boy breaks down in a state of emotional distress, learning that D’Mario killed him, all D’Mario says to him, is that J-Boy being killed, is just life. Never once apologizing for his actions, or comforting him as he breaks down crying.

The Loop Reading Update #2

On By SEAN C.In Book Update1 Comment

The Loop, by Ben Oliver, takes place in the future where one man and the government control everything about people’s lives. The book follows a 16 year-old named Luka Kane who’s been wrongly imprisoned in a nightmarish prison, called the loop, where the prisoners are tested on horrible experiments, brutally tortured, and in solitude everyday until they die. But shortly after being in the loop for two years, things begin to change, and the daily routine of the prisoners begin to change

So far in the book, I have still not found out why the main character, Luka, was put into the loop in the first place. What makes the book so compelling is that now the story is starting to progress more and the everyday activities that the inmates do in the loop are disrupted. All the inmates are sent to a new area that little is known about. But thanks to a guard that Luka is friends with, we learn that it has made the inmates going inside of it crazy. The author builds suspense by slowly giving the reader little details about the loop and the outside world to not only progress the story, but to keep the reader engaged in the story as well. The most complex character in the story, right now, is Tyco Roth. Every day since Luka has been locked in the loop he says that he is going to kill him. They have never met before their time in the loop and Tyco has been saying it for, seemingly, no reason. But when the inmates are about to go into the new area, instead of just yelling about killing him, he asks Luka what he thinks is going to happen to them. Confusing the reader and building even more suspense about the new place.

Overall, I am really investing into this book and would highly recommend it if you are into the sci-fi genre.

“Swimming Pools (Drank)” by Kendrick Lamar

On By SEAN C.In Music PoetryLeave a comment

Kendrick Lamar’s song “Swimming Pools” from his album good kid, m.A.A.d city is not only a song, but a poem. A poem about how many people get addicted to drinking alcohol as a use of escaping from one’s problems in the world, but it in fact, destroys the person’s life more, and that he also became a victim of alcohol abuse as well. Kendrick Lamar uses poetic devices to show how the environment that Kendrick Lamar grew up in, influenced his alcohol addiction,

“Now I done grew up ’round some people livin’ their life in bottles / Granddaddy had the golden flask / Backstroke every day in Chicago.”

Kendrick uses metaphors to show the listener how much his grandfather drank, which also correlates to the title of the song as well. Kendrick also uses hyperbole to reinforce the narrative of the type of environment that he grew up in. An environment where people drank so much, it was as if they lived in the bottles of alcohol. Kendrick Lamar uses repetition of the lines,

“Pour up (drank), head shot (drank) / Sit down (drank), stand up (drank) / Pass out (drank), wake up (drank) / Faded (drank), faded (drank)”

to further emphasize how much he is drinking, to the point where he is drinking all the time. Through the use of personification, Kendrick also shows his emotions and mental state,

“All I, all I, all I, all I have in life is my new appetite for failure / And I got Hunger pain that grow insane, tell me do that sound familiar? / If it do then you’re like me, making excuse that your relief / Is in the bottom of the bottle and the greenest indo leaf.”

telling the listener that his pain has a hunger to it that only gets stronger as he drinks, and does other drugs more.

The Loop Reading Update

On By SEAN C.In Book Update, Highly Recommended3 Comments

The Loop, by Ben Oliver, takes place in the future where 1 man and the government control everything about people’s lives and even the environment. The book follows a 16 year-old named Luka Kane who’s been wrongly imprisoned in a nightmarish prison where the prisoners are tested on horrible experiments, brutally tortured, and in solitude everyday until they die.

So far, I have been really invested into this book because of the extreme setting that the main character lives in and it’s interesting how he is able to survive and keep going, even though he has been stuck in there for 2 years. I like how the author doesn’t tell the reader why Luka was falsely imprisoned in the first place, and instead takes time to introduce the setting and all the characters.

Overall, I would highly recommend this book if you are into the sci-fi genre.

The Lion King

On By SEAN C.In Disney, Film1 Comment

In the 1994 film The Lion King, there are many scenes that reinforce many dominant narratives and stereotypes of the creatures and environments of Africa. The movie contains a wild and primitive land with no human life. Showing stereotypical environments, like wide open savanna landscapes, and stereotypical animal roles, which include lions being the king of the jungle. During the beginning of the movie, the viewer is shown stereotypes about Africa’s landscapes and terrain. Showing the viewer a wide savanna landscape with the sun rising in the background, which is often used in the media when talking about Africa. Reinforcing those single stories about Africa to the current and younger generations