Reading Log for Week of 1/27/12-2/2/12

Friday 1/27/12 1 hour and 30 min Pgs: 61-199







P.S. This is the newest edition and style for the books. I own this version, but I forgot I had it so I read the previous version that I checked out from the library. P.P.S. Here's the link to a 2 minute recap of all 9 books that was filmed right before the final (10th) book came out. It was made by Meg Cabot, the author, and goes past the book that I read, as this one Princess in Training is the sixth. PRINCESS DIARIES SERIES 2 MIN RECAP
In the past, Princess Amelia Mignonette Grimaldi Renaldo Thermopolis (heir to the throne of the principality of Genovia) was a regular reject going to high school in Manhattan. No one liked her, she was invisible, and Lana Weinberger (the most popular girl in the school) hated her. Then she found out that she was really a princess with a grandmother/queen who wanted to teach her how to be a princess. Really, she ended up basically controlling her life and making her miserable. Mia also had a secret crush on her best friend's brother, Michael Moscovitz.
In the present, Mia is going out wiht Michael. She is adjusting to being a princess quite well and is actually not doing too shabby. The problem is, Mia is only a sophomore in high school and Michael is a freshman in college! Plus, Mia heard a disturbing tidbit from Lana about college guys and what they expect from their girlfriends! When Mia finds out that this is true, she is not very sure about her and Michael. What to do?! And, her grandmother and best friend are teaming up to make her run for president, whcih Mia thoroughly DOES NOT LIKE! Or does she? And, Genovia might be kicked out of the European Union because of Mia's enviromentalist sympathies that will save the bay's ecosystem by dumping snails into the bay!
I think that in the future Mia might break up with Michael because he is so much older than her and seems to be maturer on a lot of levels, which Mia doesn't seem to handle too well. Though Michael is Mia's dream, is he really the best thing for her? I also think that, since Mia did so well in the election, she will make a great ruler someday since she showed an innate ability for it at the debate.
                                                                                                                                                                        
"Nurse Lloyd says I'm not crazy, though. She says everybody has their breaking point, and when I walked out into the hallway after receiving a B in English, and saw my grandmother standing there in her ermine cape, handing out pens that say PROPRIETE DU PALAIS ROYAL DE GENOVIA to everyone walking by, I reached mine. Nurse Lloyd says it's not my fault I went mental, grabbed the box out of Grandmere's hands, and threw it at the security camera hanging outside the door to Principal Gupta's office (Cabot 153)."
and
"WHY CAN'T I HAVE  A NORMAL GRANDMA WHO TAKES ME TO SERENDIPITY FOR FROZEN HOT CHOCOLATE WHEN I'M DOWN, instead of making me fondle petrified body parts?????? (Cabot 208)"
                                                                                                                                                                      
In the first example, Mia is describing why she is in the nurse's office. She "cracked" under the stress of Michael, the election, and the snail problem, especially when she saw her grandma in the middle of her school hallway all dressed up queen-like handing out HOTEL PENS! Mia therefore has a very strained relationship with her grandmother, is too worried about Michael, and has some troubles with being a princess (like worrying about snails in a bay).
In the second example, Mia is describing her frustration about her grandmother and how she wishes that she would sometimes act liek a normal grandma instead of showing affection by trying to contriol her life.
                                                                                                                                                                    
                   Friday 1/27/12 30 min Pgs: 1-43       






Here is the link to Meg Cabot's trailer videos that she made herself for the books. (They're amazing!) Runaway Airhead Video #1  Runaway Airhead Video #2  Runaway Airhead Video #3  Runaway Airhead Video #4  Here is the link to her YouTube Channel: MegginCabot's Channel
                                                                                                                                                                   
Stark Enterprises. The world's leading company in anything innovation. With Stark, the world just can't go wrong, right? WRONG! Stark actually is making the world a worse place, just in ways so secret, no one ever knows. How do they accomplish this feat? Mainly by blackmail and irregular murder while still maintaining their megastores that carry their smartphone, laptop, TV, home furnishings, food, clothing, and beauty lines that rule the world's economy. Stark Enterprises was founded by Robert Stark, the current (before the end of the book) president and CEO of the company. For Robert Stark, life has always been about increasing the profit margin. Never friends, never ethics, never morals, never family, never life, never rules, never anything but money. Which is why he's so fabulously successful. Robert Stark has found a way to literally increase his profit on nearly everything, finding a way for the consumer's needs to be met easily, efficiently, and primely while destroying everything else. Stark Enterprises has been transplanting people's brains into other people's bodies illegally and against the will of the body donors for years. But this time (as in the case of the book), they get rid of their top model and the "face" of their company by killing a young, innocent girl and putting her brain into the model's body. That's because the model knew too much. She found out about their secret project, Project Phoenix. To prevent her from blackmailing them, they killed heer while still keeping her body in use for their personal gains. Stark has been bugging things, again for years. Now, all their new laptops, the Stark Quarks, come with an undetectable spyware that spies on every user and reports back mainly about the healthiest young adults . Using their personal information, they find out when and where they are going to be alone and kidnap them. And then they take out their brains and replace them with older millionaires' brains. Just the kind of thing Stark does every day. And that's just some of Stark's issues. If they aren't stopped soon, Em Watts (the innocent girl), Nikki Howard (the supposed to be dead supermodel), and the gang might be dead (literally), and the world might be taken over by Robert Stark.
                                                                                                                                                                     
" 'Em,' Christopher said. He was still speaking fast and still panting a little. 'Listen to me. Robert Stark is a marketing genius. He's dedicated his life to finding a demand, then supplying the product for that demand at a price that drives all other competitiors out of business. The question isn't whether he's doing this. It's why hasn't anyone caught him before now?' (Cabot 221)"
                                                                                                                                                                     
In this quote, Christopher, Em's boyfriend, is describing to her his newfound revelation about what Project Phoenix really is. Em doesn't believe him and she is desperately trying to explain to her the core of Stark's beliefs, and how this would be very characteristic of them to do this. Christopher talks about what Robert Stark is like, which was the basis for my argument about Robert Stark's character and how he founded Stark Enterprises.