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The main antagonist in Eclipse is Victoria. While she is suspected to be behind the newborn vampire attacks in Seattle, she stays in the shadows and Alice fails to forsee her in the attacks. Near the end, they realize too late that Victoria is coming after Bella to kill her to get back at Edward for him killing her love; a vampire named James. While she sends the newborns after the rest of the Cullens family and the werewolves to keep them occupied, Victoria and one other newborn go after Edward and Bella who are hiding a while away from the main encounter. After they find Edward and Bella, Victoria thinks that it will be very easy for her to distract Edward with the newborn and then go for the kill on Bella. Seth, one of the werewolves, comes out of nowhere and hurts the newborn and goes on to fight him while Edward takes on Victoria. The biggest advantage that Edward had over Victoria was that he could read her mind and so he could easily keep up and out manuveur her while they were fighting. In the end, Edward kills her after she makes the fatal mistake of turning her back to him. She is then dismembered along with the newborn that was killed by Seth and then burned so that she will not live again. Sad ending, especially considering that she was trying to get revenge for someone that she loved.

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Another member of the Cullens vampire family is Rosealie. Rosealie, or Rose as most of the family calls her, is one the oldest members of the family, made a vampire by Carlisle after Isme (Carlisle's wife) and Edward. She is said to be a very beautifule vampire and almost just as beautiful when she was human back in the 1930's. One of the things that Rose doesn't get is how Edward would fall in love with a human such as Bella and not even consider her. Back, way before the beginning of the first book, when Rose was just starting to become a more mature vampire, she made several advances on Edward, although none of them worked and she eventually fell in love with another man, Jasper, who she had Carlisle turn into a vampire after he was severely hurt in a car accident. Another record that Rose is very proud of is that she has one of the "cleanest" records out of the whole family; only 8 murders and no blood drinking. The 8 murders consisted of a rampage she went on after she was turned into a vampire to get revenge on her fiancee who almost killed her in the street while he was drunk with some of his friends. She tries a few times to discourage Bella from becoming a vampire, but is overall indifferent and thinks life for everyone in the family would be easier if Bella was a vampire instead of a fragile human that they all have to take extraordinary lengths to protect her from threats from the vampire world.

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Another friend of Bella's is part of Edward's family. Her name is Alice. One thing that Alice is good at is predicting the future of planned events. She has a foresight ability that comes in handy when the rest of the family needs to know something that might be helpful to avoid any unnecessary confrontations. Another funny usefullness of her ability is when she is playing chess or any other kind of board game; she is able to predict her opponents moves for every move that she makes and is able to counter every one of them giving her a completely unfair advantage. One weakness that is very annoying to the rest of the vampires and very useful for Jacob and the rest of his werewolf (we established that they are shapeshifters, but it is just easier to refer to them as werewolves) since Alice cannot predict what happens to anything that werewolves get involved in. Another characteristic of Alice is that she is very fashionable and loves to get involved with any kind of parties and get-togethers that they plan. One thing that really gets Alice going is a graduation party that she wants to throw for Bella to celebrate her first graduation from high school. Another time that really annoys Alice is when she sees that Edward and Bella are going to get married and aren't telling anyone about it. She begs Bella to let organize a more proper wedding and outfit everyone, which Bella finally concedes to.

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One of Bella's friends in Eclipse, and throughout the entire series, is a native american named Jacob. Jacob has an unusual power. He can turn into a wolf whenever he wants to. Most of the wolves that are dangerous to vampires are werewolves. The difference between what Jacob and the rest of his tribe are and what a real werewolf is that a werewolf cannot choose when he wants to turn into a werewolf. He has to be exposed to a full moon and has no control over what he does while he is a werewolf. The fact that Jacob and the rest of his tribe can turn into wolves is, according to the Volturi, just coincidence. The Volturi regard the tribe more as shapeshifters rather than werewolves due to the key fact that the can consciously choose when they want to become the animal they can transform into. Another difference between Jacob and his tribe is that one of the girls in his tribe is able to transform into a wolf. Not something you see everyday and it would be very awkward being the only female shapeshifter in your new group of friends. Jacob is a good friend of Bella's and got to know her right after she moved to Washington. Although he and Edward do not get along very well, they do cooperate very well and work together to make Bella happy.

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Carlisle is the oldest character in the Twilight series. He is also called the father of the rest of his family with Isme as his wife. Edward, Jasper, Rose, Emmet, and Alice. Since Bella is about to become a vampire, and part of their family subsiquently. Since Carlisle is the oldest amoung the 6 other vampires, that are all vegetarians, you might suspect that he has the worst record of biting humans. Truth is, he actually has the best record for not ever having even bitten a human in his entire life. He has bitten the rest of his family to turn them into vampires, but according them, doing that doesn't count as biting someone. Also, since the family has to move every couple of years, Carlisle needs a job so that the wealth that he seems to own won't look quite as suspicious. Turns out, he's a doctor and helps cover up any nomadic vampires that pass throught wherever they are living at the time. This is very useful because he is then able to determine and state the cause of death, usually some wild animal attack. The way that he is able to use this excuse because they usually live in a remote town outside and away from a large metropolitan city. also, they tend to live in the northwest portion of the United States where there is less sun and since sunlight makes the vampires skin shimmer as if it is coated with millions of finely cut diamonds.

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The protagonists in Eclipse are Bella and Edward. Though Edward is a vampire and the story is told from Bella's perspective, things just work out for them one way or another. Bella has known Edward and his vampire family for about 2 years now and they have had a hard time with a vampire government known as the Volturi and another nomad vampire group with a vampire named Victoria who has a grudge against Bella and Edward's family for killing her love, James back in the first book. Now, she is back to try to kill Bella to get back at Edward since he loves her so much. Now, Bella is considering becoming a vampire a bit sooner than she had epected, and wanted to be, or, she could end up a snack for Victoria, especially since she apparently has blood that is completely irresistible smell that Edward, who is a "vegeterian" who only has animal blood instead of human blood, has a very hard time resisting himself from biting Bella. A creepy fact about Edward is that he doesn't need sleep. So, he spends his nights, since he met Bella, watching her sleep and listening to her dreams through her sleep talking. Creepper.

Q4 Post1

I chose to read Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer for only a few reasons. The main reason I chose Eclipse is because my sister recommended it to me instead of the second book in the Twilight series. I had also just seen the movie Twilight and had liked it a lot more than I thought I would. So, I decided to try to read the rest of the series.

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Another myth (or legend if you want to call it that) that I read recently is called "Finn and the Goblin" which is of Irish origins. It is about a boy whose father was a prominent military leader for one of the old clans of Ireland. The father was killed before the boy was born in a clan war in which he lost. The boy was raised in secret and becomes a skilled warrior himself. He eventually gains a vast amount of knowledge due to eating a mystical slamon that gives the eater intelligence beyond belief. Finn then confronts the king of the clan and takes a challenge that will make him a prominent warrior amoung his father's enemys. Finn is asked to kill a wicked goblin that was going to terrorize the city and Finn uses a mystical spear and his vast knowledge to defeat the goblin. He returns a hero and becomes a captain in the kings military. This is kind of akward since he is more healing wounds with his enemy's rather than fighting them.

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A tale about love that I read this week is called "The Sea Monster" which is based directly off of its Greek mythological counterpart. It is about a city that is visited by a sea monster that destroys all the trade going to the city. The oracles in the city find out that if they give the monster the king's daughter, Andromeda, it will leave the city forever. So, they chain her to a sea wall and she waits for a day and the sea monster does not come. The next day, a man named Perseus finds Adromeda and falls in love with her. He will not defy the oracles of her city however and so he ends up fighting and slaying the creature (called a Schyllia in ancient Greece). In return for the service he provides the city, he is allowed to marry Andromeda as a tolken of gratitude from the city's king. Oh, another reason that Andromeda was the one chosen by the oracles is because she was also considered the most beautiful in the city.

Q3 Post13

The book Stalingrad is a war-time book written by a woman who lived in Stalingrad during the time it was under siege by the Germans. The people in the city at first are happy and peaceful and enjoying life while the war is going on a long ways away. That winter, they get news that the Germans have advanced to the outskirts of Stalingrad. The people have to deal with food shortages and constant artillery fire from the blockading Germans. It also talks about how the civilians helped stop the Germans from ever entering the city as a combined militia. In February, they find a way to get supplies from a little ways across the Baltic sea to the city by using rucks provided by the Allies. In the end, the Russian army finally arrives and drives the Germans back and away from the city, relieving the people of their oppressive blockade. Many people died during that winter due to starvation and poor sanatation was rampant since their was very little electricity.

Q3 Post12

I found a text that has described the colonization of the Americas by the Spanish. In 1492, Columbus sailed from Spain to the island of Haiti in the Carribean. During the next few voyages that Columbus took, he believed that he had reached Asia which was his main goal. Of course, he didn't find a western root to Asia. In the following centuries, the Spanish set up many colonies in the New World in the Carribean, Mexico, and South America. They used natives to mine silver and farm sugarcane that they planted on plantations in the Carribean. This led to a dwindling native population. Many natives were treated a lot better and had more rights than the slaves that the Spanish brought over from Africa. This also led to a complex social hierarchy with pure Iberian Europeans at the highest of the hierarch. The colonies eventually revolted against Spanish rule in the 19th century and all of the American mainland colonies won their independence.

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I read an article from the Star Tribune on the uprisings in Pakistan. Prime Minister Sharif has been trying to talk and reconcile with President Zardari who competes with him for power in Pakistan. However, Sharif seems to be a hypocrite when he later on as he calls on a demonstration to overthrow the government that is being led by President Zardari. Sharif has said that he will talk with Zardari as long as the president keeps his word, as it appears he has gone back on promises several times. It seems like Sharif is a peaceful person who is willing to negotiate his way out of this political mess, but the demonstration seems to show a more violent side that says that he is prepared to start maybe a civil war with Zardari. Maybe Sharif is just keeping his options open in case the talks fail again or the president desides to not talk and just use the military to surpress the demonstrators.

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I read an article that describes the history of Christmas, a religious holiday celebrated by Christians as the the birth date of Jesus Christ. Christmas comes from the words Cristes Masse which is an early english phrase for Mass of Christ. Christmas is thought to have originated from a Roman holiday that had celebrated their goddess Saturn and Mithras. It later became a date that celebrated the birth of Christ after the official religion in the Roman Empire changed to Christianity. Many nations continued to celebrate this holiday as a feast after the harvest was over. In the 16th and 17th centuries, during the Reformation, Protestants outlawed Christmas as a pagan holiday since many un-holy things were performed on Christmas in England and her colonies. Christmas has evolved now in the past 150 years or so with the decorating of Christmas trees and the sending of cards to relatives and friends. Christmas also in the past century has been an important economic boost to places like the United States as people spend a lot of money on gifts for relatives. It is a fun and joyous holiday that I celebrate with much joy and hope.

Q3 Post9

Bollywood came out in the mid 1900's and took a while to solidify itself as a huge movie-making set. Many movies made in Bollywood are loved all over Asia and some parts of Europe. So many people seem so attached to the place that they seem to only focus on the movies made there. It is sort of like America's Hollywood, but people seem more fanatic about it and there also seems to be a better reputation for it than Hollywood has. Also, there seem to be a lot more fans than Hollywood does. Many people love the movies that come out of Hollywood, but don't care much for all the underground, really bad stuff that the media seems to indulge upon all the time. It seems that Bollywood has a more positive outlook on the watchers and people seem to enjoy it a lot more as well as its movies.

Q3 Post8

A book that has a really different kind of culture than us is Eragon. A major difference is that its military is very archaic and apparently has been so for thousands of years. They rely on important beings known as Dragon Riders that are considered neutral, peace-keepers to their continent of Alagasia. These Riders, and a few other lucky humans plus all the elves in the book, can wield magic that can be used to simulate modern machines that could be just as devastating. Elves also add a twist to the book by being almost a completely different species although they are very human-like. This is very different from our culture in that we live with many more material good than they could ever realize in the book. They also would notbe able to match the population and exploration that our world has acheived within the past 800 years pobably.

Q3 Post7

One documentary that I watched on the History Channel talked about the Industrial Revolution. It was time of very dramatic change in social standings and how economies worked. For instance, the steam engine dramatically changed how some goods such as textiles were made. They could be produced faster, more cheaply, and produced anywhere so long as they could put up a factory there. Also, the fuel for the engines was constant and didn't require nature which was never constant in its power. Coal was very abundant and burned very hot to produce the heat to produce steam to drive the engines. Another invention that came from the United States was the cotton gin. The cotton gin could take the cotton seeds out of cotton that was picked by slaves on southern plantations faster and more effectively than the slaves doing it by hand. It also increased productivity which made cotton even more cheap and a common source for clothes-making factories.

Q3 Post6

One book that I think has a lot of hope about it, is Brian's Winter. This is a sequel to Gary Paulsen's Hatchet and offers an alternative ending where he isn't able to set off a radio signal that saves him. Brian figures out that he should get ready for winter and hope that nothing big, furry, and has claws doesn't decide to hibernate in his shelter. He also breaks his rifle, so now he hopes that he will be able to hunt again with his bow, which he does fine at. Also, he hopes that the winter won't be a really harsh one and that he will be able to stay warm enough even when he goes outside. One thing that I really like about the book and other books that Gary Paulsen writes is that he is able to make everything that he writes sound completely realistic even though it usually is an entirely fictional work. His descriptions as to what happens such as the rifle breaking, sound realistic and like something that could happen at any given time.

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A series of books I am reading is the Fullmetal Alchemist series. A major influence that I have noticed throughout the books is religion. The Homunculi in the book, which are major secondary characters, are all based off of the seven deadly sins in Christianity, even though the book sports a primarily aetheist group of people. In the first book, a religion that bases itself on a sun god with followers that think that their prophet is able to resurrect them if they die. Totally a farse. Turns out the Homunculi were behind the cult and just wanted to cause massive bloodshed in the region in order to fulfill their primary purpose. A huge concept in the book is a science called alchemy, which they have learned to wield to turn any element into anything they can think of, while following the law of equivalent exchange (conservation of mass). This leads them to believe that there isn't any god since they can do just about anything.

Q3 Post4

I read a book on (and called) Joan of Ark. This book talks about how Joan was able to overcome the gender boundries of her time and rise to command the entire French Army during the Hundred Years War between France and Britain. Most women during this time had very few roles other than doing housework, helping their husbands out in the fields, and working as servants. Yet, somehow (most people think that their was some sort of divine influence in her), she was able to convince the Dauphin, the leader of France, to let her command the armies and begin retaking France from the British. Her first major victory won here the hearts and loyalty of the entire army. Oh, and by the way, she was only 14 when she received command under the Dauphin. There wouldn't be another female general in any army for several centuries to come.

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A book that I have read before has a very different culture than what we are used to living in. In the book The City of Gold and Lead by John Christopher, the world is under the control of foreign aliens known as the Masters and have been limiting human existence with their powerful machines known as Tripods. The subjected humans are "capped" at a certain age to prevent disobedience and resistence from the humans. However, a group of humans has been able to avoid being capped and tries to re-learn what their ancestors had known. The present science level is at about the mid-19th century with the resisting humans at a little later point and gradually progressing due to recovered books and articles from the 20th century (the present day for them is a while into the future). The free humans are constantly fighting to prevent the Masters from taking control of the whole world and soon begin a race against time as a spaceship from the Master's homeworld is coming to Earth that would kill the world for humans and make it entirely the Master's planet. Supression is a key component that is very different from our culture.

Q3 Post2

The book Hatchet by Gary Paulsen with Brian as its main character is a great example of someone overcoming adversity. Brian gets stranded in the Canadian wilderness for some time and has to learn how to survive on the land. His first nights are miserable since he has just escaped death in the crashed airplane and mosquitos attacking him make life miserable. He is left with some money, his clothes, a hatchet his mother gave him, and a broken watch. He learns how to make a sturdy shelter that will keep the bugs, critters (a skunk surprises him one time when he comes out), and keeps the rain off of him at night. Eventually, he makes a bow and a quiver of arrows so that he can hunt rabbits and little birds. Surprisingly, he gets good at the archery and is soon living well with herbs and meat in his little hut. Brian also makes a little live well by the lake he is on to keep little fish in their for when he can't kill anything when he goes out hunting. His lifestyle steadily improves and he soon is living well and comfortably in Canada.

Q3 Post1

Pope Benedict XVI has promoted a pastor to a bishop with one of the reasons being that this pastor wrote an essay on how hurricane Katrina was divine retribution for all the sin in New Orleans. Many priests and other Catholic officials have to disagree with the Pope's decision on the reasons for this promotion and how disturbing the article on Katrina was. Many other high ranking Catholic officials in Austria, where the promoted bishop is from, find this move disturbingly conservitive and likely to produce many people leaving the church. This has also brought up very one-sided (although heatedly debated) argument that Katrina was a man-made pollution or whether it was spiritual pollution.

Q2 Post14

Along the way to the Cape of Good Hope, most of the sick men from Batavia start to get better, but do not recover 100 percent. Most of the crew has time off when not attending to the sick or doing other little necessary chores aboard the ship. Nich and his companion (Francis) that helped him slip aboard Endeavour spend a few times teaching Francis how to read and write. He has been coming along slowly, but keeps learning and gets ever more excited the more he is able to read. Later on into the Indian Ocean though, Endeavour comes upon a monsoon storm which has the healthy portion of the crew working hard to keep all the sails from tearing and to keep Endeavour afloat and the sick even more sick from all the swaying. Other than a few days of a setback through the storm, Nich and Tarheto (since Tupia died in Batavia) spend a bit of time together. Only one problem, Tarheto is starting to become a little homesick of Taihiti and longs to see breadfruit trees and palm trees.

Q2 Post13

Upon their departure from Batavia, the Endeavour and her crew have so far lost more than 20 men from her original crew, most of them from sickness, a few others from accidents or clashes with natives. Nich is one of the luck few who has always been able to stay healthy and pull his (and some others, especially while teaching one of the crewmembers who helped him sneak aboard Endeavour how to read) weight aboard. Batavia had been a real problem for the crew since the dry docks had to overhaul a huge section of Endeavour's hull entirely and that took months with other ships in the yard as well. Although Captain had the sick and most of the crew move out of the city to see if the clearer air would help improve their health, it only slightly improved it. Sailing across the Indian Ocean now is coincidently timed right since the monsoon winds were going towards South Africa and the Cape of Good Hope, the vertex to their final leg of the their journey.

Q2 Post12

Another few days at the shoals and then Endeavour was able to get back out into deep ocean and sail for the East Indies. After a week or two, they sight land that is recognizable on their charts as parts of the eastern parts of the Indies. Landing on a island, the captain and some of the marines are attacked by some strange natives that are very brazen compared to the other natives they have been encountering so far in their journey. Eventually, they arrive at the city of Batavia, one of the most eastern cities in the East Indies. Endeavour and her crew must rest here for a while so they may restock and tend to their sick, although more people seem to be getting sick than recovering. This is very disheartening for the rest of the crew. A great problem is that some of the crew members are actually dying from the sickness, making the Captain more uneasy about the city and its sanitation procedures. Nich's health stays well, but Tarheto's older companion does not have such luck and ends up dying before they leave Batavia.

Q2 Post12

Endeavour and her crew are having a great run of bad luck. The weather is not cooperating with them and still won't allow them to set sail north for the East Indies. On the days that do allow them to sail, they must be guided by the Pinnace, a smaller boat that they use for river or shallow water exploration. This also means they cannot make much headway since they must be so careful not to run upon a shoal or more coral. One of the crew is able to shoot a kangaroo and it is served up to the men with little taste. Most of the men do not like it because it is bland and flavorless. Over the next few weeks, the crew works frantically to save Endeavour from the shoals since the wind has left them and the tide does not always favor them either. Twice, they have to take another passage between the shoals to a calmer, somewhat shallow spot so they could drop anchor. The captain figures that with the rations they have now, they will be able to last for about three more months, which is also when the winds will completely change direction and Endeavour will never be able to reach the Indies to restock for their journey home to England.

Q2 Post11

By the time the crew gets to work on Endeavour they find that ther was a huge peice of coral stuck in the hole that it had made. If it had not stayed in the hole, water would have come in at a much faster rate and the ship would have surley sunk. Nich helps around the camp with various chores such as well-digging, foraging for vegetables, and helping Mr. Banks find new plants to record in his books. After the carpenters pronounced Endeavour sea-worthy, it wasn't for several more days until the tide started coming in that they could get her back into the water. On one of Mr. Banks' exploratory trips, they found what they thought was a very starnge creature that was able to walk, or rather jump on two legs (turns out it was a kangaroo). After even more days passed, they were finally able to get Endeavour back up and on the water. Most of the sick are recovering which is cheerful and fils the men with good hope for what is to come. Nich and Tarheto have been learning about the place and growing increasingly knowlegable of the land.

Q2 Post10

While traveling north along the eastern coast of Australia, Endeavour and her crew sail into the Great Barrier Reef and get caught in one of the coral pieces during low tide. The crew has to work frantically to keep the ship from sinking by working the pumps on the ship. After several hours, everyone (except the captain and other commanding people) has worked the pumps and one of them is broken so that just allows more water to come into the ship. Eventually, the tide rises and lifts Endeavour off the coral and allows the carpenters to fasten a makeshift bottom to the hole and the water level in Endeavour finally starts to go down. During the next couple days, the crew has to carefully guide Endeavour through the reefs to land so the can fasten a new hull for the ship. Nich is by now incredibly worn out by all the pumping he has been doing and is grateful for the dry land once they finally make landfall to repair the ship. This is probably the hardest anyone has ever worked onboard Endeavour this whole journey.