post 7

For this week, I've continued reading Parsifal's Page...Again. This time, however, I have read a reasonable chunk of the book. I had some time on my hands this weekend so I read chapters six, seven, and eight. I won't go too in depth for these chapters considering they're pretty lengthy.

Chapter six begins with Piers in a state of complete misery, having lost his dearest friend. It's not long until the boy meets up with Sr. Gawain (a famous knight from all the other books) who recalls meeting Parsifal at one point. Sir Gawain also has a squire named Terence (also important from the other books) who is known to always be with Sir Gawain. This very famous partnership of knight and squire decide to let Piers come along on to find Parsifal. In the beginning of chapter seven, the three ride off towards Wales where they hear Parsifal was winning battles of all sorts. They clumsily ride into a castle where Sir Gawain is declared to be a murderer. A battle quickly begins and is soon ceased. Unimpressed, Sir Gawain, Terence, and Piers leave the castle and journey on into the forests. In chapter eight, Terence temporarily goes away leaving Piers and the great knight alone to journey on. They soon come upon an unexpected castle where everything very odd and blurry. In the main tower of the castle, Sir Gawain and Piers find themselves trapped. They successfully battle a "magical bed", shooting walls, and a colossal lion. Finally, after these events, two ladies come out of nowhere and aid them.

In my opinion, I find the change between chapter six and chapter eight very radical. The story goes from being depressive to being one full of action and excitement. I was also surprised how everything in these chapters happened so fast. Piers had just met Sir Gawain, and now he was struggling to stay alive through the many tests they must face. One last thing that I noticed is that the character Parsifal was completely replaced by Sir Gawain in the story. This sudden turn of events really has me thinking. Will Parsifal turn out to be bad after a matter of time? Or will Sir Gawain and Piers survive their brutal injuries? This book once again leaves me in a cliffhanger.

Post Six

So for this week, I’ve continued reading Parsifal’s Page by Gerald Morris. Unfortunately, I have only managed to read one chapter this week considering I’m busy. This chapter was about 30 pages.

Chapter five starts out with Piers being completely dissatisfied. His dream of being the page to a great knight had all backfired once his master Parsifal saved and married Queen Connie. But fortunately for him, Parsifal decides to leave the castle to do more great deeds. In the scene of their departure, Piers comes up to the queen and mutters, “Forgive me, your highness, but it is a noble thing that you do. He could not love you, queen, so much, loved he not honor more.” I thought this was a really good quote representing Piers’ struggle to fit in and be ‘knightly’. Although it doesn’t make much sense (as pointed out by Parsifal), it demonstrates the work he must put in to try to impress everyone. I like to even consider how much time he must have put in to memorize such a line. Anyways, back to the story. Parsifal and Piers journey on to the Other World, home to fairies. They follow a river and find two men who point them in the direction of a castle. Although the book was getting a little cheesy, there was an urge in me to find out what was going to happen next. In the castle, Morris gives a description of the fairies, “They seemed to be dressed entirely in flowers, and flower petals flew from their fingertips as they danced.” Now that is the stereo typical fairy, all flowers. Going back to the book, the two friends are welcomed to the castle with much gratitude and then they attend a feast. Some mysterious sights occur and before they know it they wake up the next morning. The castle, which was completely full the day before, was now completely empty. Parsifal decides to go outside the castle walls and once the two do so, the castle disappears. Enraged Parsifal gallops. This leaves Piers with nothing, except a route back to King Arthur. This ending was a complete surprise to me, not only did the fairy castle make no sense whatsoever, but the two greatest partners and friends drifted apart as well. This cliffhanger really makes me want to read more. And what is going to happen to the poor boy, Piers? I’m just going to have to find out next week.

Post 5!

For this week, I continued reading the novel, Parsifal's Page. I read chapters three and four which covered a little more than 30 pages. These chapters give us a better understanding of the main characters, Parsifal and Piers, as well as illustrate some of the conflicts found in the novel.

Chapter three begins with Parsifal and Piers, who are journeying to do great deeds. They quickly run into a young knight who challenges Parsifal in jousting. Pier's master unfortunately losses to the young knight who claims to be the worst jouster in the county. This makes Parsifal eager to learn in the ways of the sword and lance. They also run into a woodcutter who is skilled with weapons. This unique man by the name of Jean shows Parsifal how to skillfully fight. After three long months, Parsifal is finally leaving the hospitality and training he received from the peasant. However, not long before this, Piers encounters a fairy who whispers a riddle to him. When the two finally leave, they adventure on to find a castle. This is where chapter four begins. At this castle, they meet Queen Connie and her starving people. The cause of all this is King Clamide, who has apparently been laying siege to the castle for quite some time to get the queen's hand in marriage. Parsifal, eager to do great deeds, openly confronts the enemy army. There he defeats several knights and turns this cavalry back which saves the castle. His first great deed.

These two chapters show how enthusiastic Parsifal is to accomplish great deeds. He acts as if that is his only purpose in life. They also show how Piers and Parsifal are slowly becoming better friends. There was also foreshadowing in chapter three when the fairy talks to Piers, which shows how they will probably follow a river or something which could mean that something big will occur.

Post 4

This week I started reading a novel called Parsifal's Page by Gerald Morris, which is the fourth book in the series of The Squire’s Tales. I really liked reading the other three books last summer so I decided to continue with this book for my outside reading.

I managed to read about 40 pages which covered the first two chapters. The first chapter begins with an eleven year old boy names Piers who is desperate to escape the dirty and dull labor of his father’s blacksmith shop. To his surprise, a knight shows up one day at his father’s shop announcing that he is on a quest. Piers begs to go along as the knight’s page. Amazingly, his stubborn father allows him to. However, Piers’ knight runs into several difficulties and is killed by a peasant named Parsifal. Parsifal on the other hand, is also on a quest to become a knight and do great deeds. With no other choice, Piers goes along as Parsifal’s page. Chapter two is centered on Parsifal’s education. Unlike all the other knights, Parsifal doesn’t behave or act like a knight. The two friends soon encounter Sir Gurnemains and his daughter who offer to show Parsifal the ways of the knight. But Parsifal’s education doesn’t go well and he leaves with Piers ending the second chapter.

These two chapters lay out the storyline and show how this book is filled with many journeys yet to be read. The two main characters also have very radical changes in their lives. A blacksmith’s son turns into a page and a peasant turns into a knight. Thus, I predict that this book will continue to show how even the craziest things can happen.

Post #3

"The latest findings from the Martian Arctic offer more hints of a wet past but paint a very arid present, scientists reported Monday." This was the first line of a science article I read from The New York Times. The article talks about NASA’s Mars Lander, Phoenix, which spotted evidence of snow falling on Mars. This gives even more reason for believing in Mars’ wet past. The article also states that, “Instruments analyzing samples of dirt dug up by the Phoenix have now identified signs of clays and calcium carbonate, materials that on Earth form only in the presence of liquid water.” Phoenix has given us enough evidence now to come to the conclusion that Mars has liquid water on it and with water comes life. Thus, we are getting closer and closer to finding out if alien life actually existed on Mars before and if it still exists today. This article made me think about alien life and how it could be so close to us. Nowadays, scientists are always trying to find alien life outside our galaxy, but we should explore and study nearby planets more. If we can get enough Landers on Mars, we would probably find alien life considering the fact that there is ice and snow on the planet. Therefore, Mars is probably the closest ‘alien inhabited’ planet to us. And this means that we should explore and study it more than ever before.

The URL for this article is: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/30/science/space/30marsw.html?_r=1&ref=science&oref=slogin

Post Two

For my second outside reading, I found an article titled Pirated Arms Freighter Cornered by US Navy in the New York Times. It talks about pirates who hijacked an arms freighter near the Somalia coastline. The article also states that this vessel has “...33 battle tanks and large supply of grenade launchers and ammunition now in the hands of a band of pirates”, which could lead to a catastrophe in the wrong hands. The US Navy was also involved in order to seal off any escape for the hijacked ship. The Kenyan government was also stated to be involved in the transportation of the hijacked cargo. I think this story is very fascinating. Not only does it talk about the long-forgotten pirates, but it brings another possible conflict between African governments as well. I am also impressed that pirates still exist. As I grew up, pirates have always been something very interesting to me but I never thought they could survive in the modern day world. I’m also surprised that these pirates could have a big enough effect to bring the US Navy in. This armed freighter must be really important. The article also stated that, “The pirates holding the ship have said they are not interested in the cargo and will release it and the 20 crew members if they are paid a ransom of $20 million in cash.” Such a demand will probably not be paid, but for some pirates to demand such a ransom from all the other nations is impressing. I also predict that if these pirates succeed, other pirates will be motivated to do the same. Thus, this could be another age of pirates resembling the one in the sixteenth century.

The URL is http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/30/world/africa/30pirate.html?hp

Post One

"London taxi passengers have left more than 60,000 hand-held devices in the back of black cabs during the past six months, a survey has found." I find this hard to believe. Are taxi passengers really that ignorant? In only one city, this survey suggests that about 10,000 items are left in cabs every month. The survey also says that most of the forgotten devices have very valuable information on them which could become disastrous in the wrong hands. For instance, the survey shows that two discs were lost that contained the entire child benefit records of about 25 million people. Also, a memory stick containing key details on tens of thousands of prisoners was lost in August. Losing such crucial information in cabs just shows how careless people can get. The article also says "Print-outs don't need to be ferried from pillar to post, yet it seems too many people regard sensitive data with the same careless regard they have for their umbrella". I don't think the carelessness of some people will ever be fixed but at least we should try and use the best security for such valuable devices. Something needs to be done.

I found this article on BBC News; the URL is http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7620569.stm.