Friday

Ah yes, Friday at last. We started watching the Truman Show, a man played by Jim Carey is trapped in dome world since birth. Everyone in his life is a paid actor which is creepy. Imagine if everyone you knew was an actor. He is unaware of this fact and is stalked by a thousand cameras daily all disguised as trivial things in this "Seahaven." Despite being unaware of the outside world, the quality of life is pretty good, because, he is the main character. The show has been running for thirty years before it collaspes due to the fact that Truman inevitable escapes.

There are many biblical references in the Truman Show, Christof sits in the man made moon/sun as the creator of the show, the world, that Truman lives in. He is related to God in a way that he created the world, where as Truman can be related to Adam because the world was created for him. Lunar control of the world can be related to the story of Noah's Ark, where God wiped the earth from sin by wiping out the entire world with 40 days and nights of endless rain. The ocean controlled can be referenced to Mose's parting the sea, as the ability of God imbued in Mose's staff.

Truman, deceived for thirty years finally figures out everything that's going on. He tricks the camera and departs for the sea, escaping in the basement through a secret tunnel. Ironically he sails on the Santa Maria, the name of the ship that Christopher Columbus used to sail to the New World.

Hump day at last, I still can't find out why hump day is so special, maybe I'm just missing out on football or something like Mr.Sauer says. Othello has been going by really fast, were probably going to be finished by the end of this week. We can probably expect an analytical critical paper in the distant future or a major assignment. At the conclusion of Act 3 in Othello, Iago is finally promoted lieutenant in place of Cassio and has provoked Othello into a state of vengeance. Is Iago finally satisfied? or will he continue to crumble the relations of everyone?

Next period we had a social quiz, the first component went by really fast and the written component was a notch up higher on the difficulty scale. Many people exclaimed, "I failed that quiz," when lunch passed, so people were probably really troubled. It was about time we had a quiz anyways. I enjoyed that last week of freedom, now things are starting to pick up the pace again.

Things are going fast in math, we're learning new concepts left and right. Each department is trying to get students to donate some money, or a food item to help the less fortunate. To do this, however they are bribing us some free extra marks, so I thought why not. I'm still troubled by our MDG presentations, we are planning that they will take place on the last week before Christmas break, however Christmas is usually the time where people go forth and do major volunteering work. Unfortunately, I may have to squeeze in some time before Christmas break.

Friday

Friday's are always nice, school starts later, ends sooner and all the periods are shortened.  It would have been a perfect day if there wasn't a Unit Test in math worth like 50% of our grade in this unit. Tony and I have decided to volunteer at the Sunrise community down at 17th av. The program strives to reduce poverty and increase the quality of life in Calgary in communities, so it is perfect for our MDG Pursuit. I have to suck up the fact that we have to wake up and go out into the blistering cold and snow.

The Sunrise Community tends the less unfortunate and provides foods and access to basic necessities. Tony and me are hoping to develop some new skills and give back to society. Volunteering would look excellent on a resume. We're hoping to go next week or when the sun rises again in Calgary and melts all the snow away. Originally we were looking at a different place, but this place is look the best so far.

This week hasn't been stressful at all, I'm thinking that things are going to pick up the pace in the distant future. This weekend is probably the best to go all out on any remaining work before we are drowned in a bunch of assignments again. There's no greater time to work when there's snow outside, everything is cold and dreary, and your stuck inside for the majority of weekend.

Shake Hands with the Devil

We watched "Shake Hands with the Devil," a movie about the Rwandan Genocide and centers around Romeo Dallaire, a general in the Canadian army. He is sent to Rwanda to settle down the dispute between the Tutsi and the Hutus. 800,000 people were killed in the aftermath and dead bodies were used to build bridges, it was an awful sight but delivered a powerful message. Although, Romeo Dallaire's intentions were right and just, he was unsupported by the UN council and was left to fend off with the little troops he had.

In the end, he saved many lives, but with the lack of resources, he was unable to stop this entire madness altogether. Romeo Dallaire was struck with a mental breakdown seeing so many dead bodies and being unable to do anything about it. There was a scene where the ground was littered with dead people, and Romeo Dallaire and his men had to actually lift up the dead bodies and move them away so they could pass through.

Mr.Sauer said that recently a year ago, a person got the chance to get Romeo Dallaire to speak at our school Father Lacombe, right before he carried the Olympic Torch. If only I was born a year later, I would have gotten the experience to see him in person. Shake Hands with the Devil is one of the most powerful films I watched, it opened my eyes to something that I've never experienced before, something I would never want to experience. With people like Romeo Dallaire, Canada can become a better place to live in.

The Gods must be Crazy

We watched a movie in L.A called "The Gods must be Crazy." It was the closest thing to "Things Fall Apart." In the past, the movie was popular that broke box-office records around the world. There are many sequels however, only the first two movies were directed by the original people.

The movie is about a tribe of bushmen who lived in the sub-Saharan Africa peacefully until a pilot chucks a bottle of Coke down and coincidentally lands near where the bushmen settled. The coke bottle was useful and made executing daily tasks easier to accomplish. It was a fire starter, a cooking utensil and an object of mere controversy. In a couple of days, the bushmen started fighting over who gets to use it, so Xi decided to travel and throw the bottle off the edge of the world.

I can see why this movie is related to "Things Fall Apart," because they are both similar in the way that something new is introduced in an old traditional the way of life. Needless to say,  "TFA" and "TGMBC," differ only in the way that the Ibo got colonized while the bushman continued their status quo after Xi threw the coke bottle off the "edge of the world."

Remembrance Day, Keynes vs Hayek

So today, in the aftermath of the Remembrance celebration, half of the class was present in Mr.Alger's class. Somehow we treaded off the topic of current events and went into the topic of sexism. In the end, it was a debate on who was tougher, the male, or the female? I'm relieved that by the end of this week, we have a four day weekend. This can either be great, or horrible depending on what people got on their report cards.

Next week we are starting Othello, written by none other than William Shakespeare, credited to be the father of modern English. I read like the first couple of pages and I am confused. Thankfully there is a little short summary on the left of very page because the way that Shakespeare writes is very hard to anaylze. Shakespeare's writing style was probably more easier to understand for people who existed during the times of the Renaisance.

On Monday, we are starting a brand new look on economics and why they differ. Hayek economics focuses on less government control where as Keynes economics focuses on more government control. These two different economic philosophies have been going head to head since the last century, the following video pretty much sums everything up.

William Ernest Henley

Yes, after a 24 hour period of unsuccessful googling attempts on Erin Moure, Patrick and me decided on a last minute attempt on Sunday to finish the project. The information on Erin Moure was scarce, and her poems were hard to find on the internet, so Patrick suggested that we do the poet who wrote "Invictus." William Ernest Henley was popular only to the literary class, for he was a journalist and admits that "there were as much readers as writers." Henley was the eldest of six children and throughout his life, he faced difficulties with his health already being the host of tuberculosis at the age of twelve.

Due to his health complications, his legs were forced to get amputated. He was the patient of Joseph Lister, a man who came up with the germ theory, stating that there were "microorganisms at work which created all the illness in the world. Many people started accepting this idea, because babies who were delivered by surgeons died more often that babies  who were delivered at home. The reason was that mothers wash their hands often, getting rid of any germs that were on their hands, while surgeons delivered baby after baby without washing their hands at all, spreading infections everywhere.

In the end, we were terribly unsuccessful in our last ditch attempt. Unfortunately, we weren't able to come up with anything unique because all of this occured on Sunday. We went to Mr.Sauer for help on the day before the weekend, but even him, had little information on Erin Moure. Since we couldn't find any more information after googling
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Gandhi

We've watched another movie! Thankfully for me that gives me something else to blog about! Gandhi was a strong political figure in Indonesia and is credited for his peaceful nature. When the British come to conquer, Gandhi came to the idea that India and Britain should have non-violent, non-cooperations. However the British ignored Gandhi's philosophy and massive riots took place and some lives were taken. The British took interest in India because the country it was a gigantic source of cheap labor. The British wanted to outsource and make jobs in India so they could pay them less and earn more.

The British wanted cotton for cheap, so they could make cloth and sell it back to them for a higher price. In the end, all it did for India is reverse its economy for the worse. India retaliated and burnt all the cloth they made as a sign of protest, the British thought Gandhi was the mastermind under the whole operation and went out to arrest him. India was seeking another way to make money, so they came up with the idea of exploiting their nature resource, salt. India is full of salt, you can take a bucket into the ocean, scoop up some water, drain it, and voila, there is a bunch of salt.

We didn't get that far in the movie, and what I've written is basically what I've gotten out of the movie. In the end, Britain finally acknowledges the rights of people. Gandhi is considered the national hero of India, for his non-violent campaigns and his quest for India's independence. Britain's economy was too wounded in the aftermath of World War 2, that they decided to hand over India, back to it's people, for they righteously deserve.

We watched a movie called "Simon Birch," where there was an adult man named Joe played by Jim Carey. He narrates his childhood about his best friend named Simon Birch who gave him faith to continue to believe in God. Simon Birch was considered an outcast, because he spoke the word of God which everyone had strong disbelief in. He is often alone except on most occasions where he hangs out with Joe.

Simon Birch died before the age of twelve. He died, saving children in a driving accident, and by doing so, practiced what he preached. Inevitably, the church community probably has a different perspective on Simon Birch for what he has done. Birch's message probably changed the lives of people around him, because he kept going on about God having a purpose for all of us, which is true.

Everyone in the world has a purpose, it's just that bad things keep happening in the world that we doubt the existence of God. Everyday we are faced with world catastrophes displayed by CNN headline news and people start to ask, "Is there really a God out there?" We need to stop worrying about our world and live life as it is, because before you know it, we'll be in Heaven with the big man up there.

Sigh, what a brutal week of math. Thank God, Mr. Alger was merciful enough to make the IA assignment due on Thursday. Apparently we are writing the Math midterm on Wednesday rather than today. We were intending to mark the Math midterm review, but it turns out that Mr.Green's class isn't planning to use the review as marks, so our class decided by a really unequal vote to not use the math midterm review for marks. I am really disappointed because I put all all into the review last night. It was brutal. I didn't have much time to work on my essay which really sucked. Sigh. I can only imagine what horrendous trials wait ahead for me on my report card.

Finally, this horrendous week has ended, and things are finally starting to settle down again. Term 2 is coming closer and closer, and I'm excited about going from Foods to Religion. My fellow I.B. students are envious because they have to take Science until December, hehe. Due to the surprising intensive nature of Foods class being replaced by Religion, I can finally have more time to focus on my other numerous assignments and projects.

Next week, I should begin worrying about my pursuit, I'm going to talk to Mr.Sauer if he has any ideas on where to volunteer. Snow is coming soon, so I want to volunteer before mother nature steers for the worse. I'm surprised that it's been this warm this year because by now we would be under 1 foot of snow already. I'm afraid that the library is after me, because I have an overdue book that I was suppose to hand in like a decade ago, they're probably going to put it on my school fees until I hand in the book.