Sunday, November 19, 2006

   Welcome?
Hello, my first day here... actully no I've had other accounts, they've just failed horibly so I have this one now! Uhm... nothing's really happened with me lately, I just finished reading "Angels And Demons" By Dan Brown, it was good and now I'm reading "The Da Vinci Code" also by Dan Brown. I wrote a report for "Angels And Demons" because I had to read it for a calss so I guess I'll post it and that will be all... enjoy!

Angels and Demons written by Dan Brown was copy-righted in 2000 and published by Anchor Books. A plot layout of the book was written by Dan Brown as follows. “When world-renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to a Swiss research facility to analyze a mysterious symbol -- seared into the chest of a murdered physicist -- he discovers evidence of the unimaginable: the resurgence of an ancient secret brotherhood known as the Illuminati... the most powerful underground organization ever to walk the earth. The Illuminati has surfaced from the shadows to carry out the final phase of its legendary vendetta against its most hated enemy... the Catholic Church. Langdon's worst fears are confirmed on the eve of the Vatican's holy conclave, when a messenger of the Illuminati announces he has hidden an unstoppable time bomb at the very heart of Vatican City. With the countdown under way, Langdon jets to Rome to join forces with Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful and mysterious Italian scientist, to assist the Vatican in a desperate bid for survival.”
Some of the many topic’s that pertain to Crime and Punishment from this book would be many counts murder, theft, arsine, breaking and entering, armed robbery, illegal tap wiring, and auto theft. The main crime is the eleven counts of murder. Though this book is, as written on paperback, 710 pages long, the time span of this entire book is about two day’s in total. Every person who had committed a crime was punished in the end either with the loss of someone they knew and loved or cared for, or their own death.
In the beginning of the book, Robert Langdon, a world-renowned Harvard symbologist, was woken in the middle of the night by one Maxamillion Kholr to be flown to CERN, a scientist research lab in Geneva, Switzerland. Kholr called Langdon because he had found one of his employee’s and friend, dead in their office. Leonardo Vetra, the father of Vittoria Vetra, was killed by having his head spun 180 degrees, his eye gouged out, and the word “Illuminati”[1] burned onto his chest in perfect symmetry. His eye was stolen because he had, with his daughter, been working on a secret project dealing with matter’s complete opposite, antimatter. Robert is sent with Vittoria to Vatican City to try and solve the mystery of who killed Leonardo Vetra.
The Illuminati had been a satanic group of scientists who wanted to get rid of the catholic church. Langdon had even written a book about them but had thought they were dead. Now he feared he was wrong and that in fact they were still a living, breathing group. Entering the Vatican, Robert and Vittoria hunted down four cardinals, who had been kidnapped right before the papal elections began to take place. “Il perfetti” or, “The perfect ones” were the four cardinals who were the most likely candidates to become the new pope after the last one had died, 15 day’s prior of a stroke. Each one was taken and on every hour, one was killed. Robert and Vittoria search the Illuminati path to find the ’Church of Illumination’ . The four cardinals were branded and killed in the way of the four basic elements. Earth, Air, Fire, Water. Each element had a stature created by the Illuminati‘s sculptor, Bernini. Each coincided with an element and each pointed to the next element to where the next victim would be found. [2] Earth, killed by having dirt shoved down his throat. [3] Air, lungs punctured by a blade. [4] Fire, hung like a crucifix and burned, set aflame, till death. [5] Water, thrown in a fountain and weighed down by heavy chains. Langdon followed each path to the next, the four elements creating a [6] cross over Vatican City, till it led him to the ‘Church of Illumination’.
When Langdon reached the church, which in fact was actully more of a dungeon then a church, he ended up killing the assassin who killed the cardinals and Leonardo Vetra. But there was one more thing, the late pope’s secretary, a great man, was going to be killed by Janus, the leader of the Illuminati. Robert and Vittoria rushed to The Sistine Chapel to try and save him. Kholr had, in the last hour before midnight, flown to Vatican and gotten a meeting with him, confronting him. Kholr was shot and killed, and the late pope’s secretary was branded with the [7] ‘Illuminati Diamond’ . The secretary found the canister of antimatter, which, with one milligram of it could be more explosive then a nuclear war head, and rushed it towards the waiting helicopter. He and Langdon flew out over the nearest sea, left the canister there, and jumped from the helicopter. Both, miraculously, survived the crash from hundreds of thousands of feet in the air. Langdon landed in the Tiberina River, where he was taken to the closest hospital and patched up. When he was up again, he went back to The Sistine Chapel to confront the secretary because Langdon had figured out that he, was actully Janus, referring to the two-faced Greek god. He confessed in front of the assembled cardinals and then, took himself up to the balcony from the pope’s office and burnt himself to death. Langdon and Vittoria stayed, after their entire ordeal, at the Hotel Bernini, a fitting place Langdon thought. The book ends with Robert Langdon and Vittoria Vetra, going to bed together, having formed a bond so strong through the whole day and a half they had known each other.
A scene that is very memorable would have to be the prologue. Despite it’s shortness, it was extremely memorable. It was the first murder. “ Physicist Leonardo Vetra smelled burning flesh, and he knew it was his own. He stared up in terror at the dark figure looming over him. "What do you want!"
"La chiave," the raspy voice replied. "The password."
"But…I don't-"
The intruder pressed down again, grinding the white hot object deeper into Vetra's chest. There was the hiss of broiling flesh.
Vetra cried out in agony. "There is no password!" He felt himself drifting toward unconsciousness.
The figure glared. "Ne avevo paura. I was afraid of that."
Vetra fought to keep his senses, but the darkness was closing in. His only solace was in knowing his attacker would never obtain what he had come for. A moment later, however, the figure produced a blade and brought it to Vetra's face. The blade hovered. Carefully. Surgically.
"For the love of God!" Vetra screamed. But it was too late. ” This one scene set up tension and brought the reader further into the book. Just this one part could make the reader hooked in an instant.
Angels and Demons was an astounding book. If you have the chance to read this, I would highly suggest for you to pick it up and read. There is so much action and drama that it just goes from one high point to another.
Each reader reads something differently. Some have said that if you read Angels and Demons before reading The Da Vinci Code , also by Dan Brown, you will get more into the book. I personally am glad I read Angels and Demons first, seeing as it’s the prequel to The Da Vinci Code. If you can, read both books, but in order. After finishing Angels and Demons I’ve moved right into reading The Da Vinci Code and I couldn’t be happier. [Pictures labeled 1-7 are not avaliable to show]