MUSIC

I am so old I was alive when much music actually played music- a quote said by ex-lead singer of Skid Row, Sebastian Bach, which says it all. Music isn't music anymore. It's all fake and computer generated. Justin Beiber, for example. He is not a very good singer and there are no real instruments in his songs, yet he is very famous. In today's society if someone is attractive or they are a star on TV or a movie they can be turned into a singer, even if they can't sing. Computers can make anyones voice sound great. All the stars on family chanell have at least one song.

It is also much easier to become a famous singer today then it was years ago. Today you can put videos on youtube, and get a record deal, even if you can't sing (Justin Beiber). When music was music you had to be the very best to even come close to making it big. You could be one of the best guitar players anyone has ever heard and not even be noticed. You actually needed talent, you needed to work your way to the top. There was no computerized instruments, no auto-tune, nothing but your musical talent.

bands were much more of a real thing before. Most bands like Guns N' Roses are still around to this day, when guys like Justin Beiber will be gone in maybe a year. Listen to Baby by Justin Beiber, and then to Sweet Child O' Mine by Guns N' Roses and tell me which one is music. Which of those songs will last. Real music will never die, it will live on forever on iPods and radios. So please remember when you are listening to all the new hits on the radio that it could very well be your dog singing.

SUPER POWERS

If I could have any super powers in the world, I'd want to be able to fly/super-speed, to have a power like the force in star wars, and to know all languages including those of animals.

Flying is a pretty obvious one. I bet that most people will write it, but it is still a great power. Wouldn't you love to just leap in the air and start soaring through the sky with all the birds and airplanes. You would never need to use the bus, car, bike, or airplane again. You would never get stuck in traffic (unless it's migration season), and you would always be on time. That last one is big for me. If I had super speed I would no longer be the last one out of the class at the end of the day, or the last one done lunch. Although even if I could fly super fast I still would probably get distracted by something in the sky and be late for school.

If you had the force you could do so much. You could pick up the t.v. remote from the other side of the room without moving, you could sharpen your pencil at school without walking all the way to end of the class, and you would never have to ask to pass the salt again! Also you could just lift random things around your house up without touching them, just for fun. The best part is that I could tap someones shoulder and actually trick them!!!

Imagine being able to talk to any body in the world fluently, no matter where they are from. Even your pet dog! That would be amazing. I have always wanted to know what my dog is saying, and what is outside when he barks. The most important benefit of this power is that I would ace french class.

Of all the powers in the world I chose those 4. If I had those powers I could do almost anything. I could be the first one done lunch, I could ace french class and if i tapped someone on the shoulder they wouldn't see me doing it!!!

Well, my only experiences with this was when I watched Bridge to Terebithia and then had to read the book for school, also when we read Helen Keller and then watched the movie. When I started reading Bridge to Terabithia I knew everything that was going to happen exactly, but it was still a good book. I haven't read Lord Of The Rings or Harry Potter and I thought the movies were really good. But people who read the book probably thought it was better.
The reason for this is that when you read you can let your imagination run free. The characters can look like whatever you want, and the images you develop from words are your own. A movie doesn't allow as much imagination, but you have picture, sound effects, it is a lot faster and it can be more realistic (you see the people, instead of reading about them). When we read Helen Keller I got a very distinct image of what I saw the characters as. When I watched the movie no one was how I thought of them and the movie had a much different feel than the book.
I enjoy reading books but my problem is if I am reading a book and I travel somewhere or for some reason take a break from my book I never usually start reading it again. When I watch a movie I always finish it, and I can finish it in one sitting. Another benefit of watching a movie over a book is that it can almost feel real. Especially now with 3-D when you watch a movie the sound, picture, music, and 3-dimensions really bring it to life. Surround sound can make the movie sound like it is really happening all around you and your in the centre. Music can very easily set a mood. It can help with tension, thrill, and emotions. The picture really makes you think of the characters as real people and you can easily connect with them. Also picture can vividly show gruesome, or detailed scenes. 3-D really put it over the top. The characters look like they are standing right in front of you. It feels like you can touch them, and like you can interact with them. It also makes you think that you are in the movie.
When people watch a movie after the book they are generally disappointed because often what they imagined isn't on screen. If someone watches the same movie without reading the book they may find it amazing, because they have no mental comparison. Perhaps it is not the adaptation itself, but the expectation one may have.

So What Does It All Mean?

Our world is evolving rapidly, and changing in so many ways. The first segment of the video was about population growth. Are world is in exponential times, so in a matter of years are population will increase drastically . As a result food supplies could be a concern along with the lack of living space and privacy. It appears that the population growth in India and China will be far greater than North America. This could lead to these countries becoming more dominant and influential in the world tomorrow.

The second segment was about jobs and how some jobs are no longer necessary while others are being created. In the past, some one could get a job and keep it for the rest of their lives. Now, some people switch between jobs at a much more frequent pace because of the continuously changing technology. It also becoming a little difficult to choose career paths because people don't know what jobs will be available in the near future.

The last part of the video was on our constantly evolving technology. More and more so life is being based on computers. Dating, shopping, playing, sending mail, talking to people, watching movie, reading, working, as a few examples can all be done using Internet. Our society is becoming more and more technology and computer based as the days pass. The upside of this is that our world is more connected with each other. Facebook and similar sites allow you to talk to people on the other side of the planet very easily, which just a few years ago was thought to be basically impossible. It is very simple for someone to work out of the country with his laptop which, opens up a vast amount of possibilities. The scary thing is that in a few years there will be a computer smarter than a human. Maybe terminator 5 will be based on a true story.

What does it all mean? It means our future will be very unpredictable. Our planet is changing faster than we think. We are in exponential times and we are heading to a total computer age. The world is currently evolving faster than it ever has in the past. So who knows what we are in for? We are all just along for the ride.

P.S. Im in Aruba

Singing In Front Of The Class

Tomorrow in music we have to sing in front of our teacher and the whole class. This really frustrates me because I don't see the point of us singing for our friends. I know I speak for many people when I say that I am not comfortable in singing in front of people by myself and I don't think I can sing the songs we have to very well. If someone was to make a mistake while singing everyone would laugh and that person would get very embarrassed. I personally think that my singing is negatively impacted by how nervous I am. 

Another point is that I think we should be able to pick our own music to sing. As long as the music is appropriate, and not something like rap or hip/hop, I don't see what is wrong with this idea. All the songs we have to sing are very high pitched and I don't like them very much. It wouldn't be hard for you to bring in a CD or an i-pod and play it through a radio or something of that sort, and it would be a lot more fun. If we were given a choice as to what we will sing I think I would sing much better and enjoy singing a lot more.

If we have to sing we should sing in our teachers office to her alone. In grade six we did this and it was a lot easier and definitely not as nerve racking. In grade eight everyone is at the age where we are very self conscious, and singing in front of people is a very hard thing to do. Also boys are at the stage where our voices are changing. Another thing that frustrates me is that we get marked on how well we sing! A lot of people don't really have a great singing voice and they can't help it. We shouldn't be graded on how well we can sing we should be graded on how much effort we put into it and how much we try. Everyone who has the guts to go on stage should deserve a good mark no matter what. In conclusion I think that we shouldn't have to sing in front of the class but if we absolutely must there are a few ways of making it easier and more fun.

Eva Olsen

last monday an amazing person came to our school. She is a women who was brought into concentration camps, who was bullied by Nazis, and who was fed nothing but a measly peice of saw-dusty bead. Her name is Eva Olsson, and she survived the Holocaust. Survived the Holocaust! Can you believe it! When I heard we were going to get to hear her speak I was so excited and astounded. Eva Olsson is a remarkable women, and when she spoke to us she gave us so much knowledge and lessons to think about in such a short visit it was increadible. 

Eva had so many stories and lessons, one is to never use the word hate. I think this is one of the biggest lessons she had. Hate started WWII. I think that in our school we use the word hate so much without really realizeing what it means. Nobody really hates anybody or anything at our school we just use the word as a faster way of saying dislike. My dad always used to tell me not to use the word and now i fully agree with him. Hate is so strong. Hate is when you dislike something so much you act out so harshly and wrongly. Like the Holocaust.

 Another lesson was to never give up. Eva was in concentration camps and was fed close to nothing and was living the worst she could possibly live but she didn't give up. If she didn't give up in such horrible conditions why do we give up so much on such small things? Of course it's easier to just give up, but if you don't and you stick it through I guarantee that whatever your doing will be better, and you will be much happier when it's over. Can you imagine what would have happened to Eva if she gave up? She would probably be dead, or worse. 

This women suffered unthinkable torture, pain, and agony, yet she still has the power to come up to a stage and retell it all. I am so surprised thats he could go up there and do that without crying or even looking really sad. Even though it must be so hard to think about it all and remember all the pain,  she does, for the good of us and everyone else she talks to. Eva Olsson is a selfless, honourable, admirable, and strong willed hero. I don't think I will ever forget her and I hope her wisdom and lessons live on forever, and every young person gets to hear about the Holocaust from her perspective.

Teams

In case you don't know already, there is no 'i' in team. Last week we went to Norval team building day and realized that this really was the case. In the morning we had a few activities. First we did an Inuit blanket toss where someone goes in the centre of a sheet and then they are flung into the air by everyone else. Anyone who goes into the centre must have full trust/confidence in the group. I'm pretty sure that just about everyone went in the centre, even though some people were really scared at the start.

The next thing we did was an activity where one person puts on a harness and gets attached to many different strings. The goal of the event was to make the person 'hover' around and pick up 'treasure'. This requires excellent communication, because each group has a different string and in order to move the person we had to figure out when each person pulls hard on their string. I think we did it very well because everyone got to each 'treasure' and they did it pretty fluently. Our team worked together and figured out how we would get everyone around and it worked.

The final activity was by far the best. In this one we had to climb a fifteen foot wall with nothing but each other and our bodies to help. Our team collaborated very well and figured out the best way to climb the wall. Our team worked well for about three quarters of the time but then there was an accident. One of our team members went up to climb, but had to come back down. The people at the top of the wall let him go but the people at the bottom weren't ready and he fell down the wall and hit his back. If we would have had better communication we could have caught the person or eased him down.

I think a good team requires a few things. First is communication. Communication is one of the most important things because it is key for each member to know exactly what they are going to do and exactly how it is going to plan out. The next thing is confidence and trust. To succeed you must trust you're group and have confidence that they can do whatever is necessary. If you didn't have trust and confidence the team would never go smooth and not much would be accomplished. The last thing is that teams need to listen to everyone's ideas, collaborate with each other, and include everyone. You can always get better ideas and have a better final product if everyone works together and everyone helps equally. So remember, two heads are better than one, and many heads are better than two.