Assignment # 8

Throughout my high school career, I’ve had my ups and downs and all the other events that follow. Looking back on the last five years is surreal and exciting. I honestly think I wouldn’t want to change much as in big changes, because what I have done or not done and said yes or no to have made me the person I am today. Every kid is different and through high school you can really change your perspective on life. I have found that grade twelve has had the biggest impact on my attitude in life and helped me become more self-aware in general. There has been lots of incidents where as a young teen you might know the right decision, but don’t go through with it. This can be regretful to some, but you learn from those experiences and become more knowledgeable and are able to make the right decision in the future.

Assignment # 7

The music video, “Hello World” by Lady Antebellum is a powerful video and truly expresses the songwriter’s emotions towards the song. It reaches out to the viewers in a sensitive way with the life and death situation in the video. The imagery I pictured in my head when listening to this song for the first time was similar to how the video played out. The little girl is a strong character present in the song/video, because she makes the man realise about his life and to always love his family.

I don’t disagree with the production of music videos; I feel it gives the artists to portray their imagery of the song. With that said I think people should listen to songs with only their ears for the first time and then watch the video, so you can create your own images and feelings about the song and then observe the artists. Music videos make it possible to combine that side of art to the music and present it as great production of two arts. It’s interesting to see someone else’s imagery from a song on a screen.

A lot of music videos will incorporate the band performing the song with their instruments. It gives the viewer a chance to see the actual making of the song along with the imagery. Personally, I still prefer to listen to music without the video, just because you can really feel what that particular song means to you.

Assignment # 6

The best part of my spring break would definitely have to be my cruise on the Oasis of the Seas. It is the largest cruise ship in the world with its new sister ship, the Allure of the Seas. I couldn’t believe my eyes when we pulled up to the departure bay, it looked like a few hotels put together on water. The ship could hold over five-thousand passengers as well as around two-thousand staff. These numbers almost add up to the population of Osoyoos in the winter time! It was my first cruise and definitely had a positive impact on me, all the inclusive buffets and restaurants, including fine dining every night in a dining room. There was so much to do and so much to see it was almost too much to take in at once. There were plenty of pools and hot tubs everywhere you turned, paradise at sea. Up to 17 decks it must have been a necessity to have twenty four elevators on the ship.

The ship had three separate stops including: Haiti, Falmouth, Jamaica, and Cozumel, Mexico. Haiti was a magnificent stop, but there wasn’t any civilization where we docked. It was a part of the island that is run by Royal Caribbean and only has guests from the cruise ships. Jamaica was a new stop to the ship so you might have guessed it was a grand arrival to the beautiful land. We climbed a water fall and did a bobsled run while we were there. The final stop was on the eastside of Mexico on an island just off from Playa Del Carmen. We took a ferry to the mainland and did zip lining, river raft, and a river swim through caves.

It all happened so fast I couldn’t believe it was time to leave the ship when we returned to Florida. It was an amazing vacation and one I surely will never forget.

Assignment # 5 - R U LSNG YR ABLTY 2 US TH ENGLSH LNGG ??

The English language has changed in my many ways over the years, changing accents or pronunciations, but in the last decade or so there has been a newly developed language. Teen-speak as it has been named, is the language developed through use of social networking sites on the internet and the massive amount of texting on cell phones. Naturally humans are always looking to complete a task the easiest and most efficient way, when cell phones came about and internet chat it seemed efficient and easy to drop letters and alter words so you had to type less. It was so simple to understand and many young people were able to connect with each other with relative ease, which made it so popular. Today it is used more than ever and gets debated all the time if it really is diminishing the younger generation’s vocabulary. In 1984, Oceania has the new language “newspeak”, which involves a limited amount of words altered slightly for changes in the use of the word. It is difficult to take the language people have been using for hundreds of years and change it so much. With republishing dictionary’s and common use, the language becomes more popular to the citizens. This closely relates with the subject of teen-speak, except it is not trying to change the original language completely in every use. I like the point that Ben Macintyre makes in his article about how the teen-speak was developed by the young and for the young and it will be welcomed. He asks the question that maybe it is just the way kids have developed their communication in technology to be semi-secret from adults, as kids have always done. Whether or not the teen-speak language is good or bad, it is accepted by many to keep it going for a while. I believe it will keep changing slightly, because of the efficiency it has in communicating between young people using these devices. It is quite interesting I find, that the generations of teenagers and younger people have been able to actually create something that becomes so well-known and used frequently, intelligent some might argue. A language will go through changes and for all we know this could be just a phase that never makes it through. I believe there are enough people in the world interested and using the original English vocabulary/language to ever destroy it completely.

Assignment # 4

My plans for once I graduate is to attend The University of Victoria and continue my studies in fields of Social Sciences and obtain a Bachelor’s degree in something. I’m looking forward to the freedom of living on my own, probably on residence. It seems like it was just the other day I was walking into my first day of grade 8. High school went by so fast and I’ve learned a lot throughout the years attending it. At one point, either through post-secondary school or not I want to do some travelling to New Zealand and maybe South America. I don’t know what I want to pursue as a career yet, but I like that, because it gives me a chance to experience many different areas to see what I like best. After graduation it seems like you’re starting something new in life, having been in school for the past 18 years. I’m excited to see what the world has to offer.

Assignment # 3 - Album of the Year....

For the 53rd Grammy Awards I would have chosen Lady Antebellum - Need You Now for Album of the Year. I don’t know the group that well, mostly from it being on the radio, but if it was nominated as well as the others I assume it was a very well made album. I might add it is a catchy tune, hearing it often you will pick it up. Like many other artists, they all work very hard to produce songs and albums that are going to amaze people and make them more popular. Being able to create music is a great talent that I bet many people would also like to have. I did a little research on the album and checked out some of the songs on it, I thought it was very well presented and produced. I believe they put a lot of time in effort to make that album one of their best and if it was up to me, like in this assignment, I would choose them as the winner. Besides having a good voice and being talented at an instrument it takes a lot of dedication and time for artists to make something that’s going to make people want to buy it. Music is a very big part of many people’s lives and for those that can do it and make a successful living, it is very fascinating. I hope the band will make another great album and possibly win the award next year.

Assignment # 2 - WRITE THE END...

A man in a modernized future body suit comes in through the roof and reveals himself as the future successor of the flavour master and warns her to banish the Onion Rings n' Ketchup chip immediately.

"If one consumes an entire bag of these awful chips they will become under mind control of the maker and he plans to take over the world!" he explains.

The chip maker gets a frantic look on his face and discards the unknown man’s remarks as beads of sweat drip down his face.

He stutters, "This, this is preposterous, this man is not real. My chip is the greatest flavour ever created!"

The unknown man reveals to the flavour master his extra taste buds and she's in shock.

She quickly stands up and yells. "I shall never let such a terrible event occur with the wonderful snack of Doritos! Be gone!"

She hits a button on her throne and the floor drops beneath the Onion Rings n' Ketchup chip maker. The end.

Assignment # 1

The picture I chose to post is the album cover to one of Pink Floyd's greatest albums, Dark Side of the Moon. I can remember the first time seeing this picture when I was younger before I knew where it came from and it hit me with so many curious thoughts. I knew it was a prism with light going through it and separating into each colour on the other side, but it symbolised something else to me. I couldn't help but think of different meanings to it, especially when listening to Pink Floyd and their psychedelic rock music. One interpretation I thought of was hearing all the rules and philosophies throughout your life and then opening up your mind through experience and let it explore into different areas. Taking different perspectives and making up your own ideas helps you think broader and more openly. This picture has a bit of everything colour wise, with a bold black background, to the white light and all the other colours. It also reminds me of anything being freed, hitting the prism and then being unrestricted and almost liberal. Every time I look at this picture I can come up with a different way to think about it, which is why it's so interesting to me. I think it was a perfect fit to the album.