Cameron Recommends: Angels and Demons

With the Christmas break I have had a more time to myself than usual. This translates into more reading, more TV and, believe it or not, more blog writing. Today I'll be reviewing one of the books that I have read during the break; Angels and Demons.

My friend, Kyle Dority, is a Dan Brown fan. He is also a reader. A couple of weeks ago, he mentioned that he'd be spending a couple of weeks in Dubai during the break (lucky jerk) and that he wanted something good to read. Without hesitation I offered my paperback copies of the Mistborn Trilogy, one of my favorite series of all time (I did a Cameron Recommends about it a few months ago, check it out). He felt like he ought to return the favor, so he lent me 3 of his Dan Brown books. He told me to start with Angels and Demons. After school got out and at the tail end of a week with the flu, I decided to pick the book up.

I have recently read a lot of fantasy novels, which makes sense seeing as how that is what I normally read. The last fantasy book I read was somewhat hard for me to get into, even though I really liked. What I hadn't realized was I needed just a good piece of fiction to help freshen up fantasy again. This book satisfied that need, and man did I enjoy it. Now, I must confess that I saw the film and so certain plot twists of the book had already been revealed to me. I really wish that they hadn't, I feel it would have made the book so much better. However, I knew what to look for. Even knowing the basic plot the author had me second guessing myself. At a couple of points I thought to myself "Hmm, am I remembering the film right" or "Maybe they didn't follow the book that well, lots of movies don't". You know that is good, thrilling writing when that happens.

Time for a quick synopsis of the story. Robert Langdon is a professor of symbology and history at Harvard University. He is in his forties and is an active swimmer. Early in the morning he receives an urgent phone call and fax with an ancient, never before seen symbol, the Brand of an dead society whose purpose was to bring down Christianity.  Langdon has written books about this group and even theorized as to what their brands would look like, but nobody in living history has seen them. It appears that this dead society isn't as dead as the world was lead to believe. The ensuing adventure is one of hidden clues, dark purposes, and murder. (Pretty good setting huh? makes you want to go read it)

I really did enjoy this book and I recommend it. One other note on the film. I really didn't like the movie, the twist felt contrived and didn't make a whole lot of sense. The book, on the other hand, makes the twist make a TON more sense and gives the ending a lot more weight.

Thoughts, comments, jokes? Let me know in the comments. Also remember to follow.

Cameron Recommends: Popcorn at a Movie

Yep, that is right, I am writing about popcorn today. But first check out this awesome video I found of a popcorn kernel popping in super slow motion.

Cool, right? Anyways, now that we have that out of our way, down to business. Popcorn is a movie goers favorite snack. Everybody knows this. The question is, why? For most people, I don't know. I love it because it is so darn tasty. I mean, popcorn is by far my favorite snack of all time. However, I think it goes deeper than that, it goes back to my roots. 

My family has always been big into movies, especially ever since my dad was put in a wheelchair. It is something that we all love and can all talk about. Even at times when things are a little tense or awkward at home, we can talk about movies. As a kid, getting popcorn (generally the microwave stuff) was a treat. My parents would go out and I'd be babysitting and get permission to cook some and watch a film with my little brothers. Those are great memories I have, just chilling with my brothers, enjoying movies and popcorn. 

So go pop yourself some popcorn, or get some at the next movie you go out to see. Maybe it can compliment some fond memories of your own. 

Cameron Recommends: Disney's Frozen

That's right. I'm an adult recommending a kids movie. Want to know why? Simply put, it is beautiful, not to mention hilarious. This movie has it all. But before I get ahead of myself, let's give it a little summary.

Frozen is loosely based on a fairy tale by Hans Christian Anderson, "The Snow Queen". This is a very lose basis, as the original story is much darker, and has some strange things in it. The story revolves around two princesses (also sisters), Elsa and Anna. Elsa, the older sister, is born with magic and can create snow and ice. After an accident, Anna forgets that Elsa has these powers and the king and queen think it best to hide from everyone, including Anna, that Elsa has magic within her. After some unfortunate events, Elsa accidentally freezes the entire kingdom in an eternal winter and it's up to Anna to find a way to change it all back. I found it interesting that Walt Disney tried to come up with a way to tell "The Snow Queen" and couldn't make it work, so it was never made during his time. Actually, Disney animation studios has tried several times to figure out how to make this story work, but it wasn't until recently that they found a story that worked. And folks, it works.

The music in this movie was fantastic, some of the best Disney has ever made. Just check out this video of Idina Menzel (who plays Elsa) singing "Let it Go". Goosebumps. I love a movie that sucks me in and helps me to feel some of the emotions of the characters. That happened in this movie, several times actually, and I normally don't get emotional. The humor in this film is also fantastic. Olaf the snowman is one of the funniest sidekicks Disney has ever animated. His song is one of the funniest moments in the movie.
Then there is the satire. Absolute genius. I don't want to spoil anything, but one of the best/funniest moments in the film comes when one of the characters totally makes fun of all Disney princess movies. Oh my, so funny.

So go see this film. It will brighten your lives for a little while, like it did for me.

Cameron Doesn't Recommend: The Flu

Yeah, this will be different from the usual postings, it'll be more of an update on life and things. Let's see how it turns out.

First off, I do have the flu right now and it stinks. How bad does it stink? I ache all over, especially my neck, I have a huge headache that even after a lot of medication hasn't totally left (it did get a little better though), and I just feel ultra weak and tired. Funny thing about being tired when you are sick, you can't really sleep well, hence writing this blog post. The other sad part is that this illness comes on just two days after what I think was food poisoning. At least I think it was food poisoning, I spent a lot of time on the porcelain throne. All in all, it's been a terrible couple of days.

Which brings me to my next topic I'd like to discuss: how I generally get treated by girls. As some may know, I was recently dating a girl. Her name was Heather. We had a lot of fun together, I actually met her a couple of years ago in a country swing dance class. I really had forgotten how much I enjoy country swing dancing. It did help that Heather was a pretty good dancer. Anyways we started dating back in October. This last Saturday she texted me. It was not a good text. First let me give you the situation leading up to the text.

We had hung out on Tuseday, when she had a break from school, studying and family. I knew she'd be busy with finals for the next two days and we wouldn't be hanging out, but we planned to celebrate her finals being over by doing dinner and dancing on Thursday, I was really looking forward to it. Well Thursday rolls around and I text her good luck on the last final in the morning. No response. I asked her later in the afternoon how it went. No response. Then I texted her to see what the plan was for the evening. A little while later I get a text. "I have the flu and won't be able to hang tonight sorry." I told her it was okay, asked if she needed anything and asked if I could do anything for her. No response. Friday comes up, I ask how she is doing in the morning. After a couple hours I get, "I'm still not well, sorry to be a poor sport but you don't want what I have." I text her that I understand. Later that evening I check in again. No response. Saturday morning, I call to ask how she is. She doesn't answer so I leave a concerned voicemail. No response. Later in the afternoon I text again, 'How are you?' No response. Finally, around 4 in the afternoon I get a text (actually it was so long it was 4 texts) that explain how she has been in contact with another guy and she will now be dating him. Ugh.

I am so tired of being plan B, the substitute, the placeholder, the disposable one. I get treated like this all the time. Girls that I'm interested in and ask out tell me how great I am but that there is this other guy. Girls I manage to build a relationship with, leave me for other guys. There is always another guy. Is it any surprise that I have low self-esteem when it comes to dating? I just don't know what to do. Maybe after a few months with the $400 dollar exercise bike I bought I'll be good enough for someone.
It's times like these that I hear Torrie's voice (for those that don't know, Torrie was first girl I really saw myself marrying). When she broke up with me she told me I wasn't enough; wasn't handsome enough, wasn't empathetic enough, wasn't wasn't aware enough, wasn't passionate enough, wasn't good enough. I've had a lot of great people, true friends, tell me that what she said wasn't true. However, it's hard when all the evidence leads me to believe that it is.

I guess for now I'll just keep chugging along, trying to finish my PhD and hopefully losing some weight. Sorry that this post was probably a real downer but I figure it's how I am feeling. I created this blog to help me express my opinions and thoughts. Anyways, I'll do a real Cameron Recommends here soon, probably before Christmas.

Happy holidays everyone.

Cameron Doesn't Reccomend: Redshirts

So it's time for another article, sorry it has been a little over a month since the last one.  I recently read the book Redshirts: A Story with 3 Codas. I had very high hopes for this book, I mean it won the Hugo award for best Science Fiction/Fantasy novel this year.  That is a pretty high reward. Unfortunately, it doesn't deliver.

The premise of Redshirts is part of what made me want to read this book so much, but first you might need a little background information. The original Star Trek television series ran back in the 60s. During this time it was plagued by fledgling Nelson ratings and NBC ended up cancelling the series, despite petitions and awards (including the Hugo). It soon gained cult classic status and ended up spawning multiple movies and other television series. In order to add a dramatic and dangerous feel to the show's many settings and situations, a random extra would, more often then not, die in some tragic way.  These extras were always ensigns, soldiers of low rank and their uniforms always included a red shirt. This fact has spawned multiple parodies and jokes (including this particularly nerdy shirt that I got for a gift and this hilarious de-motivational poster I found online). 

Redshirts takes this idea and runs with it. The story takes place on the Intrepid Starship, the flagship of the fleet.  The story focuses on a group of ensigns assigned to the ship. These low ranking people discover that the ship's crew has an extremely high death rate, except for the commanding officers. They discover further oddities: a magic box that miraculously finds the solutions to complex, near impossible to solve problems, a lieutenant that seems to recover miraculously from near death  experiences on an almost weekly basis, and times when the very laws of physics don't seem to work. These characters try to learn what is causing this and, upon finding a theory that, despite all logic, works come up with a plan to save their own lives. 

Sounds pretty cool right? The idea was cool and it was what made me finish the book. Why don't I recommend this then? Simply put it was the language and vulgarity that ruined this book. The book has so much major cursing (mostly the big baddie) in every chapter. I can understand this in some books where a character uses language and that is a device the author uses to explain that characters personality, but ALL the characters swear. Even the deeply religious ensign that was raised in a monastery curses and uses sexual acts to describe things. I mean come on. These are highly intelligent people with advanced degrees in xenobiology and linguistics, why is their vocabulary so limited?

So there ya go, an awesome idea that was poorly executed.  I was excited to read this book as it is by a very highly regarded author of Sci-fi, but now I'm not sure if I'll try out his other books. 

Have you read this book? Do you agree or disagree with me? Let me know. 

Cameron Recommends: The Wheel of Time

I just finished this. and in a word, amazing. I was left feeling "Wow, this was it. The end of the Wheel of Time." Man it has been an adventure. I started The Eye of the World back in February of 2012, about 20 months ago. The Wheel of Time has been a somewhat constant thing for me over that time. I did take time between books to read other books, I feel that was key to really enjoying the series, especially during some of the slower books (I'm looking at you Lord of Chaos, Path of Daggers and Crossroads of Twilight). I'm honestly a little sad that I don't have anything more of these characters to look forward to.
So is a a short summary. The Wheel of Time tells the story of many characters (at times you get a little lost, like in book nine where a character from book 4 is brought back and you have to strain your memory to remember all that they did), but mainly it is about Rand, Mat and Perrin. These three youth are ta'veren, people whose have an increased influence on events and people around them. 
Rand is the Dragon Reborn, a mythical hero whose destiny is to fight the Dark One at the Last Battle, Tarmon Gai'don. He can channel, a man who can weave magic using the male half of the True Source. However, the male half is tainted by the Dark One, any man who uses it will eventually go mad.  Rand's character goes through several transformations as he battles with who he has to become to win the Last Battle.  This part, the mental battle, was probably my favorite of his arc. It made him so much more real.  At times I wondered if he would make it. The fear of hurting those around him was real and it made for a much more dynamic story.

Mat is the reluctant hero, the man who wants nothing but piece and quiet but is incredibly loyal, putting himself in danger to save those he cares about. He is a hero, but doesn't consider himself one. He's also a gambler, and he can twist luck in his favor.  Many of my friends love Matrim Cauthon. His attitude is great, and there were many times during his POV chapters that I chuckled.  His complaints about the men of the Red Band being a bad influence on Olver, while simultaneously doing the very things he complains about are great.  Also his battle scenes are some of the best in the series (especially in the Tower of Ghenjei).   

Perrin is large in stature, but gentle in heart. He wants to do what is right. He doesn't want to make rash decisions or hurt anyone by being brazen. This makes him slow to speak and slow to action. he becomes a wolfbrother, a man who is able to communicate with wolves and gains some wolfish characteristics. There were a lot of times in the series where I wanted  Perrin to interact more with the wolves, but the end of the series, where he learns to master the wolf dream are some of the most exciting and visually stunning scenes in the books.  In the beginning of the series Perrin was my favorite. Then he hit a rough patch in the middle of the series, most people really disliked him during this time, though I was still hoping for wolfy awesomeness. Then he got there and was awesome again. Despite what many people think he might still be my favorite character in the books, but that spot is so close between these three.

The other heroes of the story, Lan, Moraine, Egwene, Nynavae and Elayne are also heavy players in the saga. While there were times that I wanted them to shut up (How many times are you going to complain about being pregnant? I don't want to hear it anymore) I really did come to care about these characters and their parts in the story. Especially Egwene, from book 11 onward I really enjoyed her story. 
Many other characters have major arcs in the story. Some of my favorites are Tuon, Noal, Verin, Talmanes, Egeanin, Androl, and Moghedien, just to name a few.
Reading this series is a commitment, as it is 14 books, all averaging about 750 pages. At times I wondered if it would all be worth it. I'm telling you, IT IS. Read it, even if it takes almost 2 years like it did me.  I am so happy that I did.  During the end of the series there were so many "That was AWESOME!" moments along with several "Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap" moments. 
The epilogue to the series left me very satisfied, though not at first. At first I was like, wait what happened later? How did it all turn out? I want TO KNOW. But after contemplation, I was happy. The characters have their destiny in their own hands now, and that feels real. 
Again, this was great. I am SO happy I started this endeavor(and yes it was an endeavor). The end was perfect, I loved it!

Cameron Recommends: The Emperor's Soul

I know, another Brandon Sanderson, but I love him and his books.  

This book recently won the Hugo Award.  For those of you who don't know, the Hugo Awards are a set of awards given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The awards are named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories.  One of the most prestigious science fiction awards, the Hugo Awards have been termed as "among the highest honors bestowed in science fiction and fantasy writing".

The Emperor's Soul is a novella, only 200 pages long, and a really quick read.  It tells the story of Shai, a forger.  Forger's can change the history of an object, thereby changing it.  Sounds weird but man is it one of the coolest magic systems Brandon has done.  Oh man, so good.  For those who have read Elantris this story actually takes place in the same place (but you don't need to have read Elantris to enjoy this). 
So go pick it up. It's only 4.99 for the ebook version. SO GOOD.

Cameron Recommends: The Cardturner

Many of you may know Louis Sachar for his incredible youth book Holes, which is a great read. He took a relatively simple idea and made an excellent story out of it.  In Holes you get to really know many of the characters without a whole lot of text.  Well, take that ability and multiply it and apply it to the game of bridge.  Yep that is right. Bridge.  The stereotypical game we assign to old people.  The Cardturner is the story of a boy learning the game of bridge with his rich great uncle.  That is the main of it.  I know, it sounds boring, but please TRUST me.  My friend Susan was skeptical but decided to give it a try.  Here is what she said " The narrator is a relate-able teenager, but isn't snarky or melodramatic. The plot moves smoothly back and forth between sections on how to play bridge and the actual story line. By the end, you know a surprising amount about bridge and you feel thoroughly entertained."
This book is amazing. Read it. You can easily get through it (since it is at a middle school reading level). You won't regret it.

Cameron Recommends: Rush

The classic rock band from Canada, Rush. Rush is the power house trio of Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neal Peart.  Geddy Lee sing lead vocals has a very unique quality to his voice.  He also plays the base and keyboards.  Listen to the song YYZ and you can hear some of his base solos which are fantastic, I mean awesome.  Alex Lifeson plays lead guitar and does backup vocals.  He has to be one of the best in the business.  And Neal Peart, simply put he is the best drummer who has ever lived. Period.  Watch one of his solos, it sounds like 3 people are jamming, but nope, it's just him.

I was first introduced to Rush by Tyson Lyons back in middle school.  He had their greatest hits album (at least their hits up to that time) and we listened to it in his basement while playing Metal Gear Solid.  Needless to say I asked for it from my parents shortly thereafter and received the same album, Chronicles (which apparently is out of print now).  I got my little brother Chandler into Rush as well and he got their album Moving Pictures (in my opinion their best).  He started to love them as well.  Just last month, on July 31st, Chandler and I got the chance to see them live on their Clockwork Angels tour.  And man, are they AMAZING live.  I daresay that this is now the best concert I have ever attended.  I mean wow.  These guys are 60 years old and they performed so well.  I was super impressed, and I had a lot of fun.  Thanks Chandler.

Cameron Recommends: The Book Thief

I usually don't get very emotional. It is rare, very rare, that I get teary eyed. I shed a tear over this book. It was beautiful.
I am usually a fantasy reader. I read this because I trust the opinions of a few people when it comes to books. I'm glad I did. This book is historical fiction. The characters, while fictional, felt more real to me than some people I know. The descriptions of people, places and emotions are poetic and, given the narrator, prefect.
The story is told from the unique perspective of Death himself.  He has a very visual voice, describing things in interesting ways.  The story revolves around a young girl named Liesel during the height of World War 2.  The story is very compelling and a perfect balance between sweet and bitter experiences.  The story is mostly about the goodness of people, which is even brighter when held against the backdrop of evil that prevailed during this time in history.  When talking about the human race, Death describes it perfectly  ". . . the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant."
I would highly recommend this book to anyone.

Cameron Recommends: Goodreads.com

Ever since I read Mistborn (see Cameron Recommends: Mistborn for my review of that), I have become an avid reader.  My Kindle e-reader helped a lot, increasing my books read per year from 10 to 25ish.  The other tool that I have used to help out my reading hobby is Goodreads.

Goodreads is a social site for people who love to read, and the designers made it great.  First of there are the bookshelves.  You can look up books you have read and rate them, this adds them to a shelf labeled "read".  You can then go to books and assign them to custom bookshelves that you create and you can write your own review of the book.  This makes it super easy to organize what you have read.  Then there is the "to-read" shelf, a true wonder.  With this shelf you can list and prioritize books that you'd like to read once you finish gobbling up your current book.  Have a friend mention a book at a party that sounds intriguing? Use the website, or the handy mobile app, to save it for later.  

Then there are the book look-ups.  Heard about a book that sounds interesting? Look it up on Goodreads.  It shows you the average rating the book gets, a short description of the book and then below that it lists the ratings and reviews of any of your friends that have read that book, followed by the most popular reviews of the book.  SO NICE!

Speaking of friends, that is the penultimate point I'd like to make. You can add friends on Goodreads (I use facebook to sign in to Goodreads and used it to see what other friends also use it).  You can look at your friends favorite books (which is simply a list of their highest rated ones) and their reviews.  Then you can compare books, to see how your tastes mesh with theirs.  It is super useful.  Have a book club? You can create or join groups on Goodreads and see what others are reading.

The last point I'd like to make in Goodreads' favor is the challange.  They have a challange on there to set goals for # of books read in a year.  With that you can look at how many total pages you have read in a year that you did this challange and what books you read.  It has some other cool plotting tools.  

So all in all, I love Goodreads.com.  I highly recommend it to the avid and casual reader.

Happy reading, 

Cameron

Wow it has been a while, probably the longest I've gone without writing in this thing.  Sorry about that to the whole 5 people that might read this.

So I have made a decision about this blog.  It will now be entirely a "Cameron Recommends" or "Cameron Doesn't Recommend" style blog, with maybe an occasional insert of news on my end.

Mostly these will be books, movies, television or products that I like or dislike.  I guess that is one way that people can get to know me better.  I have often thought what the purpose of a blog like this is, where I don't do any advertising.  I think I want to use this for just getting my thoughts out of my head, as a kind of winding down exercise.  So let me know what you think.  I'm going to make an effort to do this more.